Part II: Saturday party pictures

"I remember how this goes!"

She was so excited! Good job, boys!

New bath toys!

Rachel just loved on Dianne the whole night!

Grandma go Rachel Mario Kart since Trey accidently ran over the old one with the bike he got for his birthday. The last few days he kept telling Grandma he wished he didn't get a bike so then he wouldn't have broken the game!

Making faces for the camera!

Trey waiting 'patiently' for the party to start!

We made pizzas for dinner. We did one with whole wheat flour. It wasn't bad!

In classic 1 year old tradition, she just wanted to touch it.
The girl can wail on the recorder, but didn't want to blow out the candle!

She touched it a little...

but she liked it better with a fork. What a girl!

What a pretty princess cake! Thanks, LeRoy!

Be sure to check out the previous post with Trey and Kyler's efforts!

Rachel's One!!

That's right, Rachel turned one last Tuesday. We had a quick little party with Grandma since I had a church meeting that night. Trey and Kyler helped make her a little cake. Kyler insisted that Dora be on top. He was so excited to find a playdoh with Dora on it at the store. It worked perfectly! On Saturday we had a little get together. LeRoy was in charge of the cake. I thought for sure it was gonna be a pink basketball cake or something. But in true LeRoy style he amazed with the sweetest little princess cake ever. It even came with a free little baby cake. The bummer of being the third baby and getting treats much sooner than the brothers is that she was as impressed with the cake as she might other wise have been. It was fun to celebrate Rachel and the joy she brings to our home!

Helping Grandma make the cake!

Trey is such a good helper

"I can do this."

"I'll do it myself, Kyler!"

She didn't like the hair in her face, but she loved the belly button.

Climbing........Climbing.........Climbing!

I imagine some of you won't really find this that impressive, but neither one of my boys were really much for climbing. Especially not until they were a little older. Rachel on the other hand. Well, you'll see..........







I imagine some of you won't really find this that impressive, but neither one of my boys were really much for climbing. Especially not until they were a little older. Rachel on the other hand. Well, you'll see..........

I think we've found a new Friday night tradition!

I'm hoping someday when I get over the fact that it's gonna cost me as much to pay a babysitter as it does to go to dinner that LeRoy and I will go out on dates Friday nights, but in the meantime we enjoy the occasional break courtesy of my mom and we just enjoy being together as a family most Friday nights. After tonight's successful dinner experience, I'm thinking that making pizzas in all their varieties every Friday night has endless possibilities! The boys have been snacking on the Costco size bag of pepperoni lately. A couple of days ago Trey complained of a sore throat and I'm guessing he must have eaten a few too many. Ever since he's a little nervous about pepperoni, so he decided he wanted broccoli and carrots on his pizza. What kind of a mom would I be to say no to that? We grated some carrots steamed some broccoli. He only one piece and then was ready for something different, but I was more than happy. DJ, our adopted son for one more night, also opted for the shredded carrots in addition to his pepperoni. Kyler, my picky one, was more than happy with just pepperoni. He ate 3/4 of his 8 inch plate sized pizza. I was floored! It was a great dinner and everyone had lots of fun!! I tried a new pizza dough recipe that uses brown sugar and italian seasoning.

Pepperoni with Carrots

Plain Old Pepperoni

Trey's Broccoli and Carrots

Since I don't know how to do the link thingy yet, I will just have to cut and paste. I did it all in my kitchenaid and I am pretty sure I used more than 3 1/2 cups of flour. Here you go:

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 teaspoons fast rising yeast
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 1/2 cups flour

Directions

1. In large bowl, dissolve yeast and brown sugar in the water.

2. Let sit for 10 minutes.

3. Stir the salt, oil and italian seasoning into the yeast mixture.

4. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

5. Turn dough out onto a clean, dry surface and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

6. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth.

7. Let the dough double in size.

8. Should take about 1/2 hour if in warm spot.

9. Punch down and let rest a minute.

10. Roll out, and prepare your favorite pizza.

I wanna be BIG! I wanna be B-I-G!

This is Rachel's newest place to hangout! It's the base of the basketball ball hoop. I am just absolutely amazed at her ability to balance for extended periods of time. I really think she likes the perspective up there!

*Update* LeRoy requested a picture with the whole hoop. Here you go!
I told her to pull her skirt down, but she said it got in the way of her jumpshot! Sorry.

What's better than two boys?

Three boys, of course. We just have an extra five year old this weekend. So far they have been playing very nicely together! Last night we were trying to get them to calm down for bedtime and somehow LeRoy convinced them to watch the basketball game. It was just to cute of a picture to pass up. Though I wish I would have made LeRoy get down lower, but it works. And as you can imagine the calm didn't last. It was probably only five minutes before the sweet picture turned into this.................

BOYS WILL BE BOYS!!!!

We thought this picture was going to be amazing because he had the best smile, but the photographer must have taken the picture right before the full smile came out. Bummer!

So, I missed posting about Trey's birthday because the pictures are on my mom's camera! I'm such a bad mom. I decided that this year was probably the last year that I was going to be able to get away with a family so that was what we did. My mom made a really cool bat pinata which Trey thought was amazing. Trey and Kyler has a blast busting that sucker open. Grandma Keith sent Trey on a little scavenger hunt complete with rhyming clues that led to his new bigger bike. Too bad it's so cold now! Hopefully it will at least stop raining soon. I can't believe I can possibly be old enough to have a five year old! I am so proud of what he has become! He really is such a big boy. I love you, Trey!

It was a first for me!

As a girl who has been playing the piano since I was seven, I can honestly say that I have played in a lot of different places. Though I still have a few dreams like playing at Christmas time in a mall somewhere or learning to play the organ in the LDS Conference Center, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined playing in the church by flashlight! You see it is a relatively common for the power to go out in Cheney and that's what happened last Thursday at our ward building right in the middle of practicing for Young Women in Excellence. We decided to make the most of it and someone found a flashlight so that I could see my music and all the girls used their phones to see their's. I have to say, it was pretty funny! The weirdest thing was that the lights came back on, but then went off again before they came back on for good. My mom was watching my kids since LeRoy had a meeting. She was such a good sport and just found some matches and tealight candles. The boys thought it was great except for the fact that it interrupted their computer game! I figure it won't be an experience that I will soon forget, but I wanted to write it down just in case. After we finished practicing we went on our way to the temple where the youth were able to participate in Baptisms. What a wonderful fun day! Oh how I love to be in the temple no matter what the occassion...even if I spend it wiping up water. I can't express enough gratitude for the blessings that come from serving. If you ever need a 'pick me up,' do something for someone else. It works every time!!

A day in the life of the boys........

At first I thought I should probably do a post for each boy, but the truth is that they spend most of their day together........They would love to play computer ALL day, but I limit it to after school. At least then there is NO way for them to play more than five hours a day. Ha Ha!

The second favorite thing to do is play with Dad. I am so blessed with a husband that gets down and rolls around with our kiddos. Thanks LeRoy!

They really loved playing on Uncle Victor's motorcycle this summer!

Do you think he's scared of happy? I can't tell.

I wish you could see my shoes better in this picture. They are a strappy wedge type sandal. Pretty cute on Trey!

I think he only managed to take about two steps in these. He thought he was pretty hot stuff!

He can be such a happy boy!

Always being silly!

Pretending to go on an adventure. At least he interacts with the television!

Kyler dancing to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's 'Ole Bamboo'

Last spring Kyler wanted to go outside to play in the snow. He had his gloves, but didn't think he needed pants!

I LOVE MY BOYS!!

The joys of being the mother.......

This is going to be kind of a random thoughts post that I want to have documented so that I can refer back to them later. I came to the conclusion a few weeks ago that if all I had to do was be the mother to my children that I would have 10 kids. Let me explain. If I had an endless supply of resources and was able to have someone to do the cooking, cleaning, picking up, taxi driving, organizing, laundry, and all the other cruddy stuff life would be cake. I could spend my day reading books, playing trucks and trains, writing letters, doing projects, taking walks, kissing scraped knees, rocking baby, cuddling, teaching, even disciplining. What a life that would be! That being said, I obviously don't have endless resources and so I spend my day attempting to implement routines and habits that will help me get control of all that cruddy stuff in an attempt to convince myself and my spouse that I really could handle another baby without letting my house go to pot. The last week or so I have been doing pretty well and it made me come to another conclusion. I had mentioned to LeRoy and my mom that Trey had been amazingly well behaved the last few days. It wasn't until after I had mentioned it more than once that I realized that the picked up house and Trey's behavior were on a very similar schedule. Coincidence? I think not. I know what my brain does when things get messy. I can only imagine what a little boys brain with probably the same tendencies as my own would do! And so my efforts continue as I strive to make my home a haven for my children and a place where they want to be.

The coolest picture I've ever taken!

Rachel playing peek-a-boo with herself in the pressure cooker. I love it!!

A day in the life of Rachel........

I've been thinking about this post for a few weeks now. I kept snapping little pictures of Rachel doing the things she does everyday. She's such a fun little player. I love that she entertains herself most of the time. I keep saying that she is the perfect third baby!!