11 Reasons I love My Kids

1. I love that they each use three cups and there designated water bottle every day just so I can have a full dishwasher every night!
2. I love that they don't know how to throw anything away, they must think the silver canister in the corner of our kitchen is to hold treasures.
3. I love in church when they run their hands up my dress to reveal to the ward what I have on underneath. (We all know that it is very exciting!)
4. I love how genuinely surprised they are every day that they have to do their work, homework, make their bed and practice their piano.....again!
5. I love when they have built the greatest blanket fort and can't believe that they have to clean up the mess and not me!
6. I love that they think I am magic when I can hear them running around upstairs after I put them to bed.
7. I love that Porter asks me for cold cereal for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack!
8. I love that Kelsey is consistent in saying her prayers every night.
9. I love that Connor loves family home evening and knows all the answers and asks great questions.
10. I love that Macey did really, really well in sunbeams today!!!!! (I am her teacher)
11. I love when Gage lifts his little pointer finger and wags it in the air and says NO, NO, NO!

What a busy weekend!!

We had a great but busy weekend! Porter kicked off the weekend by turning the BIG 7!!!! Wow what a big kid. He got moon sand and a magic set, he was so gracious about only getting two gifts that it made giving him his big present even more fun. He got his very own pet turtle! It is actually a Russian Tortoise, and after thinking about it for two days he named her snapper. He celebrated his birthday with a few neighborhood friends! They came over Saturday and played games, ate pizza, broke a pinata and had a wrestling tournament, (that Tyson instigated after I gave strict instructions not too, but I left to get pizza and "when the cats away the mice do play")! The boys had a great time!

Friday night Kelsey had a school performance in honor of Presidents Day. What a wonderful program, they sang many national songs and each child had a speaking part. The very last song was "I Am Proud To Be An American." I teared up watching hundreds of 2nd graders singing with enthusiasm that they were proud to be Americans! What a great honor to live in this land, that my children have the opportunity to go to school, that we can worship freely, and that we have the freedom to vote. How grateful I am to the founders of this Country. Kelsey's goal for her performance was to make Grandma Freestone cry, she succeeded!

Tyson was in a stake play this weekend as well. Last year our Stake Presidency asked the members of our stake to submit stories of their pioneer ancestors. This year a stake play was put together sharing those stories that were submitted. It was done very well, with a full choir and orchestra. Tyson was asked to participate in the play and he graciously accepted. They rehearsed for several months and their efforts paid off. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of his play. (it was a hour and half and I attended with four children and it was work to keep Macey focused.)

I added this picture because I think it is gorgeous and it was taken by Connor my ten year old son! He has been taking pictures since this summer and for the most part they are all awesome! He took my camera outside one morning and told me about the beautiful sunrise that he saw and later I found this picture on my camera!

Valentine Cookies

We had our traditional Valentine cookie decorating party! When I was a kid my Grandma would make a million sugar cookies and on the Saturday before Valentines day, she had all 30 or so of her grandkids come over and decorate sugar cookies. There were every kind of candy you could think of to decorate your cookie with. A kids dream come true!!! We had so many cookies that they would sometimes last a week after going to Grandma's!!! My mom has continued the tradition with my own kids and they love it as much I did when I was little. Thanks to both Grandma's for keeping such a fun tradition!

Friday night we had the Blue and Gold Cub Scout Banquet with Connor! This is his last one, next year he will be an eleven year old scout. I can't believe he is getting so old!!! The Banquet was done very well, they brought in a magician to perform for the scouts which of course they all loved! Connor earned several of his sportsmanship pins, for running, biking, and hiking that he has done in Weebelos with Brother Rudd and Brother West (who are awesome!!!) At the end of the program they had an area set up so that you could get a picture with your scout. There were three moms, including me who could not find our scout. I think it is a requirement for the cub scouts to be running the halls at any free moment that they have. I thought it was really funny so I grabbed my other two girlfriends and we got our picture while the dads tracked down the boys. It was a great night with Connor!

Deceptively Delicious

I LOVE this cookbook!! It is the best idea I have ever heard of!! You puree all kinds of vegetables and hide them inside your recipes so that your kids will eat them. My kids have always been pretty good about eating vegetables. But, now I can get them to eat BEETS, BUTTERNUT SQUASH, ASPARAGUS, SWEET POTATOES and of course all the normal stuff too like carrots, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini. But here is the real kicker, I put the vegetables in their breakfast, snack, dinner and sometimes dessert!!!! This picture is of my kids eating cupcakes with beets in them. They thought I was the greatest mom for making cupcakes for their snack one day after school. It was a great day, even later Connor said with a moan, "Mom those cupcakes were sooo good!" Everyone should try this! Macey and Gage were coming down with a cold when I started doing this and with in three days their cold was gone. It is soo much fun.

Wild and Crazy Girls Trip To LA

My mother in law and sister in laws and I went to LA for the weekend, and we had a blast! We laughed all the way to California, got lost on the crazy freeways for three days, saw Wicked, ate yummy food, stayed with our wonderful and gracious host Aunt Jenny, shopped in the fashion district, went to a girls movie and grew closer together as girls!!! We had so much fun, being with just the girls. We were able to spend time with Tyson's cousins that we haven't seen in a long time, and I so enjoyed getting to know them better. We are looking forward to them coming out to see us sometime soon we hope!

Gage's First Birthday

SOOO! Gage's first birthday started out pretty great. We spent most of the day at the zoo. He loved having so much to look at, all the animals, the funny people and his funny Grandma Freestone. He loved it when people would sing Happy Birthday to him, he'd do a little jig! After the zoo we played in Grandma Freestone's backyard which I think he enjoyed more than the zoo. When we got home we were getting ready to have birthday dinner and he fell out of his high chair. It was sooo sad. His black eye got progressively worse over a three day period, to where he could no longer open it. We celebrated his birthday a week later when he could see again. Happy first Birthday Gage Alan Cook!