Our baby is now a BIG boy...

I have always hated when our babies cross that line between babyhood into childhood. It usually puts me into a sad mourning period... Well, it has now happened with A-Dawg. He has been climbing in and out of his crib for quite some time now and finally I decided to breakdown (not mentally) and get the toddler bed out. My mom got this toddler bed at a yard sale and it has been through all of my kids. It is the cutest little bed and it has always made moving from the crib to a bed so much easier. Anyway, he slept in his bed last night after climbing, jumping on and off and laying all over the ENTIRE thing (before bedtime!) He was pretty excited and so was I after he slept the whole night through without getting up once. So, it is official. Our baby is a little boy....

I asked Mike and the girls to please do a little yard clean up last Monday after Halloween. A minute later, I heard the kids and Mike laughing and he was taking these pictures. I just can't understand how he convinces these kids to participate in such unusual activities. :)

Happy Halloween!!

We like all of you celebrated Halloween in style this year. We did the traditional carving of pumpkins, attended the school carnival and went trick or treating. My kids loved it and what else is better than a happy child high on sugar? :)

This is the box of crayons I made for Cambree this year. She is such a good sport and loves to wear boxes for Halloween. It was a huge success with the kids in her class. They were pretty impressed!

Brinlee was a red crayon that I made out of felt and we sprayed color in both the girls hair. Cambree's came right out, but Brin still has little pink stripes in hers. Oops.

I did not make Aidan's costume...He loves Elmo right now so we borrowed it from Michelle and he loved it! He actually really does love the costume. He is wearing it right now in fact. But, he does not love having his picture taken and really, really doesn't like to be in the same picture as his sisters...Too bad we couldn't borrow an Oscar the Grouch costume. :)

Yes, everyone got involved in pumpkin carving this year. The girls each made their own faces on the pumpkins and Aidan played with guts and sawed on this piece of pumpkin the whole time. It was actually a good time....

We did Aidan's pumpkin with lite brites...we got the idea from Bonnie's blog. :) It was pretty fun to do and looked pretty cool!

I made these eyeball cookies for Mike to take to pack meeting. They were a big success!

Two oversights...

First of all, I understand that an apology is in order. (When posting the baptism day, I may have over looked a few people on my blog...)

The following are some more pics of Cambree's baptism day...


With her sister Brinlee...


And with my AMAZING sister, Emily, who is such a great friend and the best aunt in the whole world!!! She bought Cambree a coat and snowpants this year that are darling and we really appreciate it!



And FINALLY, this is my brother Andy and his new wifey Kristin or as he calls her "Kiki". They made such a HUGE sacrifice to come up for the big day and we really, really appreciate it. We wouldn't have been able to cope if they hadn't made a showing. WE LOVE YOU GUYS! (There, I did a blogging shout out for you Andy..:))

Mike worked in the Spuds this year driving truck for my BFF Michelle's husband Joel. (Did you get all that?) Anyway, he really seemed to enjoy it and they finished last Thursday. If you can believe it, I never remembered my camera to take pictures. The girls and I were able to ride with him one evening and Aidan actually got to ride down a road with him for a minute and we all enjoyed the experience. It is quite the process and fun to be a part of! Luckily, my friend Colette took a picture for me and was kind enough to email it. So, I do have this to remember the "good times"!

The Big Baptism Day!

Cambree has been counting down the days until her baptism day for about 8 years! The big day finally came and she was the happiest little person on the planet. We had such a good day and so much support from family and friends. Here is the rundown of the day:

Here is a picture of most of those in attendance. There were some late comers...You know who you are... :)

Sadie is Cambree's very best friend and she was so glad that Sadie came. Here are the 5 girlies that are the best of friends!

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Gene!
Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Lori!

My mom made Cambree's dress and it turned out beautiful. She was so thrilled with it and asked my mom to take her up to the temple for pictures. It was such a frigid day, but Cambree didn't mind. She wanted pretty pictures at the temple...

This dress was such a special labor of love. One the front of the sash, are three butterflies that came from Cambree's great grandma "Eriskin" (Erickson) (my Grandma). She had them in some of her sewing things and my mom came across them and asked if she could put them on the dress. They were perfect and now it is just that much more special!!I just thought I would put this picture in. It is every parents desire to see their children love each other and I love that they are walking toward the temple.
My mom bought new pj's for my kids so I am putting this pic in too. They are made of the softest microfleece material and are such cute prints. Just a shout out to Grandma L. Thanks for ALL the new stuff!!!

It is GREAT to be EIGHT!!!

Well, it has finally come and gone and Cambree has been one very happy little girl! For the past 9 months we have been on the birthday countdown. I am not sure that there is another being out there who loves birthdays to the point of distraction. She loves for people to have birthdays and counts down for them, but she REALLY loves her birthday...I mean really!!
Here is the rundown of the festivities:

I made these "Oreo Pops" for Cambree's school class and dance class. They turned out pretty cute and they actually tasted really good too!


Cambree wanted the new flavor of Cookie Crisp cereal, so we teased her by wrapping it up as a present for her birthday.

She really wanted a bike this year, but the one we really wanted wasn't to be found around here. So, we ordered it online and it is supposed to be here next week sometime. She had to open a picture of a bike and at first I don't think she was so sure about what was going on. She was a good sport though!

Every year, a new Barbie movie comes out right before her birthday and she really wants it. This year it was "Barbie and the Three Musketeers". Cheesy, but it is what dreams are made of for a little girl I guess...

Brinlee was pretty happy until Cambree wouldn't let her see the movie up close and personal. This face says it all....
Aidan just showed up for the cupcakes. Mainly the frosting I guess. :)

Grandma Judy got Cambree a set of blue scriptures and she was SO excited because it had the Doctorine and Covenants in it. This is what they are studying this year in Primary.

Now begins the b-day party portion. We had it 2 days after her birthday because of school...
I actually made a pinata for the party. My friend helped me make my very first one! It was pretty fun and the girls were all about hitting something filled with candy. They didn't care what it looked like, but I actually think it turned out fairly cute! (It's supposed to be a daisy for those of you in question...)

We had a pizza party with little pizzas that they made themselves. The girls loved this and were so cute making them. They finally got to eat what they made...Some were a little anxious for them to be done. :)

This is the cake that I made for the party. I made a filling for the middle out of a little bit of the cream cheese frosting and some raspberry jam I had made. It was really tasty and yet some of the girls didn't seem to be so impressed with it. What's with that?

Just a cheesy game I threw together at the last minute. Inside the balloons were little jelly rings that they got when they popped their balloons...kind of dorky, but whatever.

Everybody loved watching the gift opening! Their reactions were so cute and fun. It was a really fun party....thanks girlies for coming!

Because the 1st one didn't take....

Today Mike is applying and registering for classes and getting ready to go back to school. (It started a week ago, but Mike thinks he is special and will start on Monday.) I guess that the 1st bachelor's didn't really do much for us or something, so now we are going to try again. So, he is now taking Education core classes and next semester we hope to see him student teaching. By this time next year we hope he is a certified teacher with a teaching job and that our lives can be somewhat stable...Here's to hoping.
In other news. It is that time of year when the garden starts producing and the fruits of our labors pay off. We have eaten potatoes, corn, cucumbers and carrots from the garden. We have 3 pumpkins...Just the right amount for us this year and we have this amazing onion that is about to sprout legs and break free from the dirt. I can't believe how huge this thing is!! It makes me laugh when I see it and I just can't bring myself to pull it up yet. I don't know why.