Has it been that long?

I was realizing that it has been a LONG time since I posted, but I didn't realize HOW long it was. 2011? REALLY!?! Where does the time go? I have plenty of pictures to share, now I have to decide which ones. Many things have happened in these two years. Here are a few...

Uncle Jon came to visit 6/11

We had a hurricane 8/11

Brock went to Preschool 9/11

Jon got married and we drove out to IL stopping in St.Louis 10/11

I met Ina May Gaskin! 11/11

Had a Redneck New Year with the Naylor's 12/11

Milaya won an award for Epilepsy Awareness 1/12

I turned "21" and took my kids out of school early to go the beach. (Yes, in January!) 

Brock turned 5!

Milaya had a cool pinewood derby car and almost won the competition! 

Hali turned 8 and was Baptized in TX by Papa.

Captain America(Hayden) turned 3! 5/12

Took Family pics in TX on our visit. 

Went to CANCUN with my husband and attended a DONA Conference. 6/12

Brock started K

Hali started 3rd

Milaya started 5th!! 

Milaya turned 11! 

Went to Montpilier 2/13

Milaya played soccer this year

Brock turned 6!

Hali turned 9 and got boots! ;) 

Hayden turned 4!

We went to the Children's Museum of Richmond 5/13

Milaya had a great band concert

Girls did a great job on their dance recital. 

We had two students from Italy come and stay with us for almost three weeks, the kids were super excited!

Uncle Mike and family came to visit the day the our Italian girls left with Uncle Jon and Aunt Janet. We had tons of fun for the weekend. 

And the kids in general are growing like weeds! 

I am going to try and get a few pics of each those things up soon. That post will be just pictures probably! 

We also just got back from TX and the kids are staying with Grammie & Papa for a few weeks. I am feeling a little lost with out them, but I have tons of things to do.....as in I am supposed to be writing a Primary Program for September right now instead of blogging!!! So many things to do and it seems so little time. I also am on call right now for a birth. I have been busy with births this past two years as well. Still loving it. I don't know how I do it all, but the more I do the things I am supposed to, the more it works out. I love the gospel and my Heavenly Father and thank Him for all that He has given me. I know that I couldn't do it without him and of course my sweet hubby! I have been blessed. 

The Bottomless Pit

I have been reading Parenting Illustrated with Crappy Pictures. It is the funniest.thing.ever! She just blogs about her daily life with her 4 and 2 year old boys. She did a post about the contents of her purse before and after kids and it reminded me of this....

This is all of the stuff I had in my diaper bag at one time. As I was taking everything out it just seemed like a bottomless pit! Stuff kept coming out. I no longer have that diaper bag. And I can't even remember what I had in my purse before children. I know one day there won't be a need to carry all of this stuff as the kids get older. But there is one thing I don't think I will ever be without....

WIPES!!!! Those things are amazing. :) 

So, if you are ever having a bad day with the kids, just go check out her site and have yourself a good laugh, and know that you are not alone. (even though you may be outnumbered!) 

Hurricane Irene

Here are some pictures of the aftermath of hurricane Irene.

 In the above picture you can see 3 of our trees that fell. On the right are 2 trees that were about 10 feet from the side our our house. The top of the tree that goes straight to the left is against the neighbors house. It hit another tree on it's way down and that one is leaning against the neighbor's house. All you can see of the 3rd tree is the root ball. It fell across the road.

Here is the third tree as it blocked the road.

Here is the neighbor's yard. This tree tore up the water line to their house which is why the hole is so full of water. I found their shutoff valve and closed it so it would stop flooding the yard. This tree also fell across the road, blocking it completely.

 This is the neighbors house with our tree against it and another leaning on it.

The root ball of the third tree with M standing in front for perspective.

We were very blessed that none of the trees fell on our house and that we were only without power for about 24 hours. The eye of the storm passed by around 8 or 9 pm Saturday night about 60 miles to our south east.

Dinner Conversation

We had spaghetti last night for dinner and here are a couple of things we heard:


Milaya: I don't want to eat it. 
Brock: Sorry, too bad, so sad. (mom and dad laugh) 
Brock: What? That's what you two say! 


A little later


Hayden: Whoa that's a big one! With his eyebrows raised (meaning the big bite on his spoon)
Family: laughing
Hayden: doh, I broke it! (his food fell off of his spoon onto his plate)


These kids are funny somtimes. :) 


I love them. 

Calling All Superhero's!

Yes, this is way overdue, but I had a minute or two and thought...post. JUST DO IT!

So, Brock's birthday was in March and we did it at the end of Feb because I had a client due and I didn't want to miss his party! He wanted a Superhero themed party. I tried once again to make a cake that I saw online. Well, now I can't find the link to it anymore. Maybe that isn't such a bad thing ;) Anyway, here is how mine turned out.

I didn't realize that you didn't have to put the fondant in the fridge. When I did, it dried it out pretty good. Again, lesson learned. 

So anyway on to the fun stuff. B had some of his little friends over and we had one of my hubby's friends be the "bad guy". He came in dressed in black and threw "bombs" (black water balloons) at the kids to defuse by stepping on them. They also got to decorate their own superhero mask and take it home. Somehow, I didn't get any pictures of them doing that. :(

 Some of the kids weren't too sure what to do. It was so loud with the popping and kids yelling, but it was hilarious. Thanks George. 

After we ate cake, we went outside and the kids sprayed their "spider webs" (silly string) on the bad guy and chased him around the yard. 

 This one was right before Brock sprayed me and the camera. Silly boy. 

Carl knocking the bad guy (A.K.A. Dad) down. 

He was so excited to open his presents and to find all the good stuff he got. Thanks to all. :) Over all, I think we had some pretty happy superheros on our hands! 

P.S. Pictures of the decorations coming soon. Gotta get them off of my phone! ;) 

Resolution and Randomness

Does anyone still make new years resolutions and keep them? I have never been one to do that, but I do want to be better about keeping up with my blogs. I have a family one and a crafty one. I need to start another one for my Doula stuff, but I keep thinking of the upkeep of that too and that seems overwhelming sometimes. I sometimes forget about the blogs because I post things to Facebook that everyone is addicted to posts too!

So, it is February already and a lot has happened. I had a birth at the beginning of January. Went great. Mom and baby are doing well. I had a birthday, went on a date with my hubby to an Italian place for lunch. SOOO GOOD! I could eat there every day if my budget allowed. Got a new calling at church to teach in Primary with Brian. Met with more clients. Went to a Hypnobirthing class. Then proceeded to catch the flu and have it pass to everyone in my family but one. That was one expensive week! We spent $350 just on Tamiflu. It helped and is continuing to help. I got it first then two days later Brock and Brian. Two days after that, Hayden. Then two days after that, Hali! CRAZY! I am so glad that Milaya hasn't gotten it. I hope that she doesn't. It is really frustrating to have sick kids and be sick yourself. Oh well, I know...suck it up!

Anywho, we are all getting better. So I am just going to put up some random pics of the past few months. I will probably do a separate post for Christmas pics.

Yes, he is in the dryer. What possessed them to do that I have no idea. At least they can't reach the button to turn it on.  

His usual craziness.  

I don't remember why I put the skirt on him, but it was funny to see Brian's reaction to it! Hmmm...maybe that is why I did it! ;) I wore that skirt when I was like 5. He isn't quite two. Sad. 

Isn't he just the cutest! 

I know...random. I had the windows open and kept hearing things. Looked out the back porch window and saw this. DANG SQUIRRELS!  They crawl across the screened in porch all of the time! 

Again...isn't he just the cutest!  

His new eyebrow trick.  

Drop your sword!  

I love my chicken...gotta have my chicken!  

Milaya helping clean up the leaves in the yard. She was so excited to use the blower.  

Cheese! 

Happy New Year!

Hayden wishes y'all a Happy New Year!