Scary Santa

Deryk is still not liking Santa this year. He was really brave until it was time to sit on his lap. Then he grabbed the candy cane and was outta there. Mission accomplished. Then he ran around stabbing his candy cane into people until we left. He cracks me up!

Thanksgiving!

What a fun long weekend we had! Lots of family time, a few fights between the kids, and yummy food. What else could you want? I am truly thankful for my wonderful family and extended family. I was able to learn a little bit how they really feel about me while playing "What If." :) We truly miss those that we aren't able to be with on holidays. And I am grateful for the gospel and all the blessings it brings to my life. Thanks to Aunt Marge for gracefully hosting so many people again this year. Here are a few pics of the weekend.

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween! The kids dressed up as Pocahontas, Minnie Mouse, and a dragon. It was fun to carve pumpkins and have Shaylee do her own this year. Thankfully she didn't cut herself. :) We did our usual: eat pizza, kids go trick-or-treating with Josh, Mel passes out candy, and then we have hot cider when it is all over. And it was so nice not to have snow or rain to trick-or -treat in this year! Now we have way too much candy around here. Might have to throw out a few pieces every day when nobody is looking.

Where did October go?

It seems like this month has gone by so fast, yet it also seems so long. Probably because the kids have all had a turn at being sick. Too bad it wasn't all at the same time. Don't know if it was the H1N1 or not. Maycee had the hight fever, stuffy nose deal for a few days. Shaylee and Deryk had the stomach flu. That is never good with a 2-year-old. They can never make it to the toilet. :) I covered our family room and hall with towels and wouldn't let him come downstairs. Poor little guy. Hopefully we are all done being sick for a long while.

We had a great visit with Shayee's birthmom, Janae, the last weekend of September. She is adorable and has an amazing family. It was so great to see her! Shaylee has been telling everyone about it and showing her picture around.

Haven't done anything else very exciting. Just playing at the new park (which IS exciting in Twin Falls) and keeping up with school and piano. Now to get ready for Halloween.............

We had an early snowstorm that the kids had fun in!

Fair Time

We went to the fair this morning. Walked around all the buildings and finally found Shaylee's dinosaur that she made at school last year. And she also had a painting on display from Art in the Park. We saw all the animals, got lunch, and the kids each rode 2 rides on our way out. (nothing like throwing money away :) Deryk thought he was the coolest person in america on the motorcycle. He loves them. And he had fun driving the little car. Maycee chose the Tornado and a roller coaster. Shaylee chose a fun house and the Zipper. The Zipper didn't work out too well. Thankfully nothing came out of Shaylee's mouth but the loudest scream I have ever heard. And apparently I am getting old because I went with her and its just not the same as it used to be. Took me a minute to get my footing when I got off. :)

My Little Garden

Mmmmmmmmmmm......... We had the best meal from the garden today! I love this time of year. Corn on the cob, creamed peas and potatoes, and sauted zucchini and summer squash. I've never seen a two-year-old go crazy on a corn on the cob like Deryk did. He loves it and licked the cob clean!

First Day of School - 2009

The girls were so excited to go to school. (one of them was actually VERY nervous) They both like their teachers so far and being back at school. Maycee is in first grade and is going all day now. She didn't like the lunch at school, so she takes a peanut butter and apricot jam sandwich every day and couldn't be happier. Shaylee is in third grade and is very bored with the first week. Hopefully the reviewing won't last much longer!

Maycee is 6!

I can't believe Maycee is 6 years old! She is such an adorable little girl. She had a fun day with the family. On our family party years (even # birthdays) they get to choose where to eat out for dinner. She chose to go to Golden Corral. Not one of my favorite places, but she loved it and we had two "kids eat free" coupons, so that worked out well. Then we had a little family cake, ice cream, and presents party with Uncly Austy, Aunt Kim, and Aspen. All Maycee wanted for her birthday was a webkin. That was easy! Maycee, Shaylee, and Josh slept out in the tent that night after we played games and star gazed for a while.

Summer Fun 2009

We've been doing lots of little fun things this summer, trying not to spend any money. The girls took swimming lessons and loved it. We spend a lot of time in the backyard playing in the water and using Deryk's little pool. Deryk got stung by a wasp last week on his arm. He didn't really cry, but he was REALLY mad at that wasp! Now we have to explain every bug he sees as a good bug or mean bug. And a lot of our time has been spent feeding the three kittens. The mommy cat decided to run right under our tires as we pulled into the garage and that was the end for her. So we bottle feed the kittens 4 times a day. They should be ready to eat on their own this week. (whether they like it or not) :)

swimming lessons

little pool

wasp sting

orphaned kittens

Deryk is 2!

Deryk loved his birthday! He had no idea what was going on, but he blew out his candles and was excited to have presents. Such a cutie. What happened to our little baby?

Short Camping Trip

We went on a one-night camping trip towards the end of June. It was so beautiful on Friday and then the clouds came in that night and we headed home by noon on Saturday. So much rain!! It was a fun time, though.

family

Kids hiding in the tall grass

Josh and Deryk laughing about something.....

Waiting in the cabin to see if the rain would stop. It didn't.

Wedding Week

Last week was a crazy, fun week in Utah at my sister, Monica's. Three of her daughters had big events going on, so we stayed for the whole week. Katelin graduated from high school and will be heading to BYU in the fall. Way to go, Kate! We missed her graduation, but the next day we made it for Kelsey's first time through the temple. She went to the Draper temple and it was a really neat evening. The next day was Collette's baptism. We played all day (Josh took Deryk on the scooter for hours and Deryk had the time of his life, but really wanted on the motorcycle) and went to the baptism late that afternoon. She was so adorable and excited to be baptized! Josh came back home that night so he could do church stuff on Sunday and get back to work. He discovered we had some baby kittens in the garage. We knew this was going to happen, but didn't expect it quite yet. This was probably a good thing we were gone for several more days so they could grow a bit and not be injured by children/Deryk. They are so tiny and cute. The girls LOVE them! We will be giving them away in a couple of months if anyone is interested.


Sunday night the girls and all the cousins went down to my niece's house in Payson and had a sleep-over. Deryk and I went to visit my cousin Brittany and her family for a while. He loved having some boys to play rough with. Monday and Tuesday were spent doing flower prep for the wedding. When we went to pick up the flowers at the wholesalers I was so thrilled to be in a huge flower cooler again. Something about it gives me a little rush of adrenaline. :) Tuesday the girls went with some cousins and Uncle Roger to Lagoon while I worked on flowers. Everything turned out great after a couple of flower tragedies, but what's a wedding without some unexpected problems along the way? Kelsey and Danny's sealing was beautiful. I am excited to see the pictures at the temple because it was the hugest downpoor and hailstorm ever. Lots of great memories! Now we are home and getting back into a schedule and trying to enjoy the summer. If it would ever stop raining.........

Riding the scooter for hours.

New kittens

Riding a pretend roller coaster since I wouldn't be at Lagoon to take pictures.

Kelsey and Danny Lambourne outside Draper Temple

Some wedding flowers

Graduation Day

Maycee graduated from kindergarten yesterday. She was so adorable! They each had to say in the microphone what they wanted to be when they grow up. Maycee wants to be a superhero and a teacher. She has been practicing all her powers to make them stronger so she can save people when she is older. :)

May 2009

I am way behind on the blogging thing, so hopefully I can get caught up in one posting. Our May has been busy and fun. I've spent lots of time this last year with Maycee's kindergarten class and I was able to go on a fieldtrip to a farm with them and eat lunch with Maycee for her first time in the cafeteria. Have to practice for the big 1st grade. Her class has the funniest little characters in it and I will truly miss going in every week to help with math. At the farm we went to they had animals just roaming all over the place. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, dogs, and goats. Deryk happened to love this little pygmy goat that was just his size. All of a sudden the goat butted Deryk right in the stomach. Deryk was a little shocked and mad at that darn goat. He just stood there and glared at it like he wanted to tackle it down and teach it a lesson. It was so funny to see his face!

Shaylee did great in her piano recital. She always gets extremely nervous (sick to her stomach), but does an amazing job and loves the feeling when it is over. She loves taking lessons from her Grama. Shay is excited for school to be out in 3 days, but also sad. She gets so attached to her teachers and has a hard time with change. But we have a fun summer ahead that will help her adjust.

We got the garden planted and have signs of plants coming up! Can't wait for August to have some fresh veggies. We left a little corner for Deryk to dig in since he's obsessed with dirt. So far all the little plants are still there. We'll see how long that lasts..... :) He loves to wear this bike helmet around the yard. So funny!

We have been to the cabin twice this month. Once to help clean up and prepare for summer. We also had a fun bridal shower for my niece, Kelsey, that day. She is getting married next week and I get to do her flowers. So exciting! Hopefully I remember how to do them. And the second time we went to the cabin was for the annual Manning family reunion on Memorial Day. It was a gorgeous day and it was great to see people we only see once a year. However, that same day was also kind of not-so-fun. Deryk was happy as could be all morning and then started slouching and wanted to be held while he moaned and wriggled around. He got a really high fever, but no signs of anything else. Poor little guy. He was not happy. And then we went on a little hike and ran into a herd of goats that were up there eating. They sometimes come onto the property to eat down weeds and pretty much everything in sight. Three of the goats followed us for about a 1/4 of a mile while the dogs tried to herd them back and the goat herder tried to carry them back, etc. They really like us for some reason. One of them decided to bite onto Maycee's arm and got a good kick to the side by me. But it still stayed by us. Maycee had four raised teeth scratches down her little arm and was very upset. Apparently we have problems with goats in our family.

We stopped by the cemetary in Oakley to see Daddy's grave. The girls love to see it and bring a flower and a special rock they have chosen for him. They still miss their Grampa. Don't we all?

Oh, and my favorite part of every May is Mother's Day. I am so grateful to be a mom! That is what I have always wanted to be since I can remember and my kids' birthmoms made that possible. I want to thank them again for making me feel so complete and have these amazing children to raise. I usually hate putting pictures of myself up, but I like to take a picture every Mother's Day with me and each of my beautiful angels. So here they are......

So we have had an eventful month with a lot more excitement coming soon in June. If anyone wants to take a few minutes to teach me how to do a slideshow, feel free to email me or call. I would love to figure that out.

Funny Family Videos

For some reason we used the video camera a lot this weekend and caught a couple of funny and/or cute moments. Mostly Deryk because he seems to crack us up so much lately. The video with the family doing Easter eggs had us laughing all weekend. I was taking the picture and everyone was saying cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese and then I realized I was taking a video instead of a picture. That's one of those that might not be funny unless you were there. :)

The Park

We bribed the kids on Saturday and told them we could go to the park if they did all their chores and helped around the house. We saw some friends while we were there and Deryk had a fun time with their little car. He pushed Benson around in it for a while. The other picture is so funny because it shows a typical moment in our family. Deryk loves to pull Maycee's hair for some reason. Maybe its because she likes to stick her face right up close to his and bother him?