**Our Blondie Turns 8**

Brinlee turned 8 yesterday. She has been anticipating this birthday for quite some time. In fact, she started asking for her birthday present about 6 or 8 months ago or longer. All she wanted was a Nesting Doll. Her teacher had a nesting doll at school and it was all Brin could talk about. She begged and begged for one. She even told me that I should "google" it so I could find a place to order one on-line. Well, as luck would have it Grandma Lori has a neighbor that actually was working in Russia this past winter and in April he brought one home for Grandma Lori to give to Brin. Whew. Mission accomplished.

She had a great day. She was treated to a breakfast of crepes that her dad made her. Then she was able to take 2 friends to the movie and out for snow cones after. She came home and we celebrated with dinner and more presents from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Gene. It was a day to be remembered.

8 things we love about our Brinlee are:

1: She is quite the comedian. She comes up with some of the most hilarious things to tell us and keeps us laughing.

2: She is thoughtful of others.

3: She is always good to share things with her sister and brother.

4: Brin is a great student in school. She reads fast and does well in all her subjects at school.

5: She is usually helpful. She will do what needs done...if you can get her attention.

6: She is truthful to a fault. She tells you EVERYTHING she does wrong. And I mean EVERYTHING!!!!

7: She has a contagious laugh and she laughs a lot. (She also has a sad face that she uses a lot and at times can be heartbreaking...but only SOME times!)

8: She loves to color, paint, draw, create. Anything crafty or creative this girl is all about it!

We love this blonde haired, blue eyed little beauty. She keeps our lives entertaining. She is about to be baptized so we are so excited for her decision to do that. She is a joy in our lives!

**My hour of Terror**

On Wednesday Aidan was outside playing. Next thing I know the neighbor boy had let Aidan out into our front yard through the gate and they were playing. So, I made them come into the backyard again and I shut the gate once more. I had the screen door open and was ironing while listening to them talk and play. Then silence. I went outside and called for them and more silence. I picked up the neighbor boy's shoes and marched over to the neighbors house to retrieve Aidan for a punishment of a lifetime. Unfortunately the boys were not there. So, I proceeded to go on a boy hunt. Calling for Aidan and wondering where 2 barefooted boys could have gone. Luckily there wasn't water in the ditch near our house. But after a quick walk to the local park, I didn't find any trace of them. I began to get a little panicky. I called MJ and wondered what to do. I got in my car and drove around the big block. I came home and went in the backyard again. At this point most of the neighborhood was out looking and checking every backyard and place they could think of. Still nothing. 45 min into the search the police were called. They came to our house and began taking descriptions of the boys. I was walking back to our house with a couple of neighbors and one of them heard little voices and after looking through the slats in our fence we found the missing duo. They were crouched down under our canoe in the backyard playing a great game of hide and seek I guess. I was so relieved that I broke down crying but so angry I wanted to whip them both. Aidan always answers me so I am amazed that he would be so quiet for an hour and not move.
Needless to say the outcome could have been different and I realize how blessed I am to have all my children safe at home. I am so grateful Aidan was safe so I could spank him. :) But only after the audience had left. :):)

**A Sad Day for Me...**

So today I was finally going to update my blog with dance pictures, Easter pics and everything else from the past month. But as luck would have it, I completely erased it all. So, all those fun pictures are just a distant memory... :(

Here is a quick word recap:
Cambree and Brinlee had a dance recital on the Saturday before Easter. They did a really great job and had a fun day. Grandma Lori, Grandap Jerry and Grandma Judy were able to come. My BFF Mic does such a great job with dance and the girls absolutely adore her. Their costumes were amazing this year and I just wish I had a pic to show it. Sob, sob...

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on the Saturday before Easter. How lucky is that? So, we were able to see what he brought then head over to the Easter Egg hunt at the park right by us. It was fun and Aidan had been well trained by his sisters to go for the EGGS! That's where the real prizes are after all. So, we ended up with 12 free ice cream cone certificates to DQ thanks to Aidan and his need for some eggs. :) Cam had fun at the hunt as well, but Brin thought hunting eggs in the big kid section was a major rip off. So, we had a few issues with blondie over that one. Life is never fair to her...

I can't think of anything else that is too exciting in our lives. We are in some countdowns right now to major happenings in our lives. Only 3 weeks til school is out. Brinlee turns 8 on June 20 and is baptized on July 2. And we are in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy. WOW! This should be great! I promise to take pictures and keep them safe this time! And if we are lucky, I might blog them too!!!

**Spring Cleaning or Baby Nesting??**

Either way, many changes...

It all started in February when MJ was home all the time. (Before the job...) I decided that I wanted to paint the main color of our house. So, after seeing what my BFF Mic had painted on some of her walls, I got the same paint. We painted the front room and hallways in the shade of October harvest. And, we changed the furniture and wall hangings up a bit. It was a refreshing change...

Then I decided that the girls needed new bedding. So, we purchased bedding that can be reversed and changed. (According to the package it can have 384 different looks...or something.) We painted their room the colors of a watermelon. :) Green on top and pink on bottom. I have accented things in their room with blue like the bedding and orange and every color in between.

I remodeled a lamp from DI (actually I started painting it orange and failed so MJ took over and painted it so amazingly great!) Then I took an old lamp shade I had and covered it with ribbons. (Inspiration for this project from my friend Rhonda!)

I loved the design of the curtains they had up with the old room, so I found matching fabric and copied the old curtains. (Design by my mom who is a creative genius!!) Sorry, the photo isn't so great. But you kind of get the idea!

After their room, I moved on to my room. With help from my friend Lisa, I decided to paint it a blue gray color and do stripes on the main wall. It was a fun project!! I convinced MJ that we also needed new bedding to complete the look and I was able to sew a lot of pillows and also a valance that is quite lovely if I do say so myself. :)

And, with the addition of a new baby and a 3 year old boy who is not the greatest sleeper, we decided to move Aidan to the middle room and give Baby Dirt (story of name to follow...) A's old room. So, he also got some new stuff. Thanks to MJ's mom Judy, we have an AMAZING bedspread that she made to match the curtains and car theme that I loved. Seriously. Isn't it great?? The curtains were too long so I had to cut those and hem them and I made the pillows on his bed to match. (I can't get enough of sewing and painting I guess!) MJ helped me make the name board to add something to his room for decoration. :) We just need a little table to go next to his bed and cover the cords. They lead to the computer that we had to store in the closet because we are just running out of bedroom space around this joint! :)

Now, on to the last untouched room in our house...Baby Dirt's...I will be working on that in the next couple of weeks and will post the final outcome. I have the bedding and am so excited for the vision of it all. I bet you can't wait either! :)

Side note: With the moving of bedrooms, the remaking of rooms, I have cleaned every closet in

our house. I still need to work on the kitchen, and when MJ has spring break, we are clearing out our crawl space. I am having a yard sale and there is a lot that is going!! Whew. I can't decide if spring is in my blood or just nesting. Either way, it's madness around here. (According to my hardworking assistant Mikey!)

The story of Baby Dirt: When my kids found out we were having another baby they didn't think it was true. We must tease a little too much around here. They were excited when they realized it was true and after seeing the ultrasound pics. :) (Great parenting huh?) Anyway, at Christmas when we were at my parent's house, my mom asked Aidan what we were going to name our new baby and he said Dirt. It stuck and that is how we refer to our baby. Sometimes to be funny we call him Joe Dirt and other times Mud. Just kidding. We just refer to everything about him as baby Dirt. If it had been a girl it would be the same way. At least boys like dirt more. :)

Here is a little mischief our baby A has been up to lately. He loves to color... :)

But he has been saying some of the funniest things: "This is gonna be GREAT!" "Thanks Mom, you're the BEST!" I will say, "Aidan, you are such a good boy." Aidan then says, "Yeah, I am." Or "I know, I am." "I love Mom, and Dad and Girls." "My favorite color is pink." "I am a girl!" Some things will come back to haunt him I hope! :) :)

The girls are busy lately with dance. It is ending in a few short weeks so we have had a few performances lately. I will post pics of their recital that is coming up soon.

Brinlee was able to celebrate her June birthday in March so we sent these treats to share with her class. They were bookworms and it was perfect cuz it was National Reading week. She loved being the star of her class for a whole week!

Cambree is loving 3rd grade and has a great teacher. I help in her class every Tuesday and it has been fun getting to know the kids in her class. She is a good student and kind to everyone which I really admire about her.

And that is the finale! Thanks for reading or at least looking at my long post. But it really has been awhile. Tomorrow we are headed to Utah for Spring Break!!

EXCITING NEWS!!!!

This past week we have had some exciting things happen in our family. Sorry no pics...just a quick post to record the happy times! The first thing is that Mike got a job teaching! He is endorsed to teach either Biology (which he really prefers) or can be a Business teacher and teach Economics/Business classes, etc. The job he has now is an Econ teacher and a computer teacher. He works about 10 miles away so it is great! He was thrown right in without a lot of guidance and it has been interesting but so good! We are so grateful for employment!!

The other exciting news is that in July we will be having a wonderful addition to our family. A new baby. On Friday the girls and I were able to go to the ultrasound together and see that we are having another baby BOY!! We are so thrilled and can hardly wait!!

My New Year's Resolution Success

...and a new tradition...

This year I made a New Year's Resolution and I am still sticking to it! You will love what it is: My resolution this year was to make my kids in charge of the dinner dishes. They each have a week and I of course supervise, but they do it every night and they don't complain!! Why I didn't start this earlier you ask? Well, I did...But it was kind of a hassle and I gave up. They are older now so it seems to be easier. Also, it has two benefits: The first being that dishes are being done by someone besides me and the second is that it becomes a great time for catching up with my girls. They sure can chat it up! Does Aidan have a part in the dish doing you might ask. Well, his new job is to help me unload the dishwasher and to sort the silverware into the drawer. He is actually quite good and very willing! (For now!) So, life here is progressing in the right direction. It only took me many years to figure out the dishes part of parenting! :)

This Valentine's we adopted a new tradition in our family. The kids each have a new pillowcase for Valentine's and starting on the 1st of February, they recieve notes and the occasional treat in the pocket on the front. It has been a great way to express love for each other and also it is so exciting to see what was left in the pocket. They check it everyday after school and so far have not been disappointed!

**Aidan's B-Day Post**

(Several Days later...)

Okay so it is like 11 days later, but who's counting right? (We celebrated his birthday on the actual day so that is what is important!)

This year for Aidan's birthday, we celebrated it with my parents and sister Em at my Grandparents. They live in Star Valley so we met there on Aidan's bday. My grandma's birthday was 3 days earlier so we celebrated her special day at the same time. It was a fun night and I am glad we went!

This is Aidan's new pose for pics. Not sure why he thinks a monster face is the way to go, but whatever. What a fun 3 year old...


Aidan loves Curious George so for his birthday he was determined that he would have a George cake. I didn't feel ambitious enough to make one so we ordered it instead and loved the results! Aidan picked the picture and was so excited that George was holding a banana!

Here is a picture with a nice smiling Aidan and my Grandma! Her last name is Erickson but my kids have always called my grandparents Eriskins.

It was a fun day for our little fella. He missed the Primary deadline by 2 weeks so he is the largest child in the nursery. He doesn't care though. He makes us laugh everyday and is spoiled rotten to the core. Mike has been home a lot lately so Aidan gets the undivided attention of his parents and struggles when the girls get home. He loves to wrestle and play. He loves watching TV and playing the computer. He is always saying something hilarious. He taught himself numbers and letters and is pretty smart and knows it! We love our Aidan and can't wait to see what the next year brings!!



In other news:

Just look at what our front yard looks like!! Makes you cringe doesn't it? Think about how long that pile is going to take to melt! I am relocating to a warm sunny place.