Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Recent Tyler Quotes

"Wow that's awesomer than an eagle eating a dead penguin" said in reference to the fact that the wii remotes can be player 1 OR 2. Upon being asked what sounded good for dessert he replied, "Chocolate chip cookies with strips of chocolate across the top - that sounds better than a frog eating a bug on a tree trunk!" Said as sweet as a 5 year old little boy can, "It's so hard to choose whether to eat dinner or be hungry til breakfast when you don't like fruits and vegetables and your mom makes such bad food full of fruits and vegetables." As Tyler was getting dressed after his bath he says, "dad, where did you put my underwear?" Craig says,"they're right there on the stool" Tyler says, no they aren't. Craig says yes they are, I'm looking at them. Tyler says, "no you're not, you're looking at me"

What A Mess!



This is what happens when Mom relaxes and Dad goes to work on a Sunday :)

It Quit Raining!



So it quit raining one day and the next day it was 85 degrees! The kids thought they were going to die of heat exhaustion so out we headed to the pool! It did take them a few minutes to adjust to the cool temperature but they did swim for about 1 hour that day. And just a note, the hot tub was not heated when they were in it!

Tyler's a Baby


My sister recently moved and found our old backpack we had when Tyler was a baby. He decided to see if he still fit and wouldn't you know it he did lol! So Ashlie packed him around like that for about 10 minutes until she decided he was too heavy for her.

A Day Without Rain






The central Valley has received a record amount of rainfall this year! We finally had a day without rain so we took advantage all headed over to the park for some exercise and fun! Here are a few pictures we took!

Sari's First Acting Gig!


Last winter Sari auditioned for the school play. Before they cast the actors her drama teacher approached Sari and asked if she would be the Assistant Director working directly under the teacher. Sari was absolutely thrilled! She worked very hard every afternoon staying for play practice. She spent many weekends making and painting stage props. I was able to go to the opening night of the play and they all did a fabulous job. After the play was over they called Sari up on stage and gave her a bouquet of flowers in appreciation of all her hard work! She looked beautiful and did a great job!

Sari's Choir Festival



Each year in the spring all of the choirs perform for a panel of judges. This year one of the pieces that Sari's choir was performing had a flute part descant. Sari's teacher asked her to play that descant part on the piano along with the pianist instead of using a flute. You can't see Sari very well but she is there :) She did a great job, the part was not very difficult at all but playing in front of a panel of judges and about 15 other middle schools from across the valley is a little intimidating none the less. She did great and her choir got Superior's across the board from all judges on all 3 songs.

Birthday Pics





More pics

Opening presents


Eating snackies


Tie dye Cupcakes

Birthday Pics Take 3

Hanging out at the piano


Richard & Karen aka Craig & Melissa
More Candles - only did it one time but lots of cameras :)





More pics

Coming into the party in the garage.

Waiting on dinner

Deliberating in the kitchen - who took Mimi???



Sari's initial reaction to the garage - there are a few different angles - we had a few cameras.



Blowing out the candles

Birthday Party Pics

Me and Mimi the Butler (Debbie)


Sari and Emily working on a word game
Craig - like the bell bottoms???



Stephen, Emily, Sari, and Allie



Pamela the Maid - Jen

A 60's Mystery Party!

We (I) decided to make this a super fun birthday party for Sari. Sari is so easy going and laid back that we just don't usually do a lot of unique stuff for her birthday. So this year, since she turned 14, I decided to be original. I planned a 60's themed mystery dinner. I worked for a couple of weeks almost non-stop. I wrote out a script and had everything planned down to the smallest detail. Craig and I had fun shopping at the goodwill stores looking for decorations and hippie clothes to wear! On the day of the party Craig took the girls to get their hair cut and that allowed me a couple of hours to do those few details that I couldn't get done with her around. I had asked my sister to be the "maid" that night and my friend Debbie filled in as "Mimi the Butler"! When the guests arrived everyone hung out in the front room, gushing over Sari's new hairdo, playing a game I had ready and snacking on rolled lunchmeat and cheese I had on toothpicks and then stuck into a pineapple. We had changed a few key lightbulbs from white to red and green to help create a more cozy atmosphere, we had 60's music playing in the background and had made a beaded doorway separating the two key rooms. After everyone was here we brought them to the dining room where we served dinner - homemade mac n cheese, crabbies (crab and cheez whiz on toasted english muffins) and jello salad. During dinner they played games where they all earned alternate identities and learned clues about each others personalities. After dinner was done and everyone was just talking around the table (we had waited until it was completely dark outside) the "power went out" and went the lights came back on Mimi the Butler had disappeared. The rest of the party the kids had to follow different clues that had been left and solve puzzles to help them figure out who took Mimi and where she was at! The activites included hoola hooping, musical chairs, word puzzles and a lot of laughing. At the end they discovered that I had kidnapped Mimi because I thought she was trying to break up my family. After more clues they had to search the house and finally found Mimi hidden in the garage and tied up. While they were searching the house, Craig, Tyler, Jennifer and I all went to the garage with Mimi so when they came through the door we all yelled surprise. We had decorated the garage with balloons and streamers to actually look like a birthday party. I had set up a table and filled it with cookies and cupcakes and all of the presents. It had been so hard to keep all of the details away from the kids during the planning stages but I didn't want them to know anything or else they wouldn't of been able to participate during the party! All of the hard work was sooo worth it! They all had a blast, especially Sari! And even the adults had fun. In fact, I told Craig when it was over that it had been one of the funnest parties I had been to in a very long time!

Sari Turns 14!!!

So my sweet little 5lb 13oz baby is now 14!!! How does that happen??? I look back over all of the scraped knees, broken glasses, doctor visits, teacher conferences, class parties, sleep overs, and birthday parties and I realize that while life is racing past we are creating memories to last a lifetime! We are so blessed to have Sari in our family! She is an amazing young lady full of spunk and charisma and talent! Like any parent of a teenage daughter knows, we certainly have our moments of frustration, loss of priviledges, and emotional breakdowns, but when we hear stories of other girls her age we are still so thankful that we have the challenges we do! Our Sari never ceases to amaze us and is always full of fun new things to do! We love you Sari!

Valentines Day


Tyler is most definitely a content communicator. That means that he describes in detail exactly what he expects of you. So he came home from school one day about a week before Valentines Day and informed me he would like for me to make cookies for him to take to his Valentines Day Party. But he didn't want just any cookie, he wanted them to be in the shape of a heart with white frosting and he wanted them to say Happy Valentines Day in pink writing for the girls and blue writing for the boys. From the picture I'm sure you can guess how I made his Valentine's Day treats, except I forgot and tinted all of the frosting pink so the boys had to eat pink. He came home that day and said that the boys said their cookies tasted just fine even though they were pink.

Honor Choir Festival


Sari auditioned at the beginning of the school year and made the Honor Choir at school. They worked so hard 4 mornings a week before school for about 3/4 of the school year. Their performance was on a Saturday where they were put with all of the Honor Choirs from all of the surrounding schools and were able to work for 2 days straight to put on a performance! We were able to attend the actual performance and they were just amazing! It's hard to see Sari in this picture but she is on the left side, 2nd row from the top about 5 people in!

Sari gets an award!


Sari came home from school one day and gives me a note that says she will be receiving an award at the school assembly that week. Unfortunately, the same day as the school assembly, her choir was performing at a special event in Fresno and would miss the entire day of school. Sari said it was no biggie and that she would just go to the office the following day and pick up her award. So, a few days later she comes home and says, "Hey Mom, you know how I said I was getting an award??? Well, this is what I got!" There she stands with two certificates, a medal around her neck, and a small trophy!!! When Sari says she is getting an award she means it!!! We are sooo proud of her! Such an amazing young woman and works so hard in all she does!

A Healthier Me



Last fall Craig decided he wanted to be a "healthier" him by making better food choices and by
being more active. I was so impressed with his weight loss and his example of making better choices I decided to start the year off by being a "healthier" me! I need a little more of a push than him though so I decided the best way to make sure I was more active was to pay some money!!! So I convinced my sister and Sari to sign up and do a 5k with me! It was my first 5k ever!!! I honestly wasn't even sure if I could do it - so we started training with 2 weeks notice! And guess what - we made it!!! I walked the whole thing - but I felt so good with myself for actually doing it! Since that time I've made it a priorty to get in my walking every week. I joined a group that walks every Saturday morning and it feels great! Since I walked the whole 5k and was sooo proud of myself - I set my next goal to jog my next 5k! Since I'm a slacker on keeping up on my blog I will actually tell you that I have signed up for my 2nd 5k and it is this coming weekend. My goal is still to jog the whole thing - we'll see how I do - keep watching for posts!

Trip to New York



Our niece Emily went on a misison for our church. So far with each of our nephews we've been able to go to their farewells to see them off. New York in January was a bit of a stretch for the whole family so only Craig was able to go. We missed him lots but he had sooo much fun. The top picture was taken the morning he was flying home. He was gone for 8 days and the kids were so excited for him to come home. I've also taken cupcakes to each of the missionary events but Craig didn't think he could fly across the country and keep the cupcakes unmangled so we opted for sugar cookies this time around. He said amazingly enough that many of them survived the trip with only a few broken pieces.

Drawing Time



Tyler and Ashlie drew portraits of each one day. Ashlie drew Tyler as a Santa Hippie and Tyler drew her including the flower on her shirt.

My Friends Love Me!



Two of my friends showed up with presents for me :) I was so excited to do some baking wearing my new apron :)

Dangerous Driver!!!




One day when Tyler got out of school we met my sister at Chuck E Cheese, a local pizza parlor with arcades and toys for the kids. We ran into a little girl, Abby, from Tyler's class there. Abby and Tyler decided to ride the monster truck together with Tyler driving! I love the expressions on their faces!