Jack Turns 3- wheeee!

I can't believe Jack is 3. Really hard to fathom that 3 years have passed so quickly and that my baby boy is potty trained, riding a bike, throwing a ball, kicking a ball, playing with little friends, talking all about everything, starting preschool in just a few months, and swimming, diving and cannonballing into every pool he can get into! STILL SO SWEET. Jared and I got him a really cool scooter for his birthday, which he LOVED temporarily until it was stolen within a few weeks. (I'm still mad about that if you can't tell!)

Since he was born, I have told myself, "This is the last time I will be pregnant. This is the last time I will feel a little kick inside my tummy. The last time I will get to do labor and delivery. The last time I will get to nurse. The last time I will get hold my own newborn baby and smell the sweetest, softest baby skin so close to me. The last time I will get to rock him, cuddle, comfort, and sing him to sleep. The last time I will get to see him take his first steps. The last time I will cheer when he goes on the potty the first time. the last. the last. the last." So- seeing him grow has been painful. Seriously painful.
I absolutly LOVE my children. I adore my job as their mom. I wish it paid more generously, and with cash. But, nothing could fill my emotional bank account like the pain, joy, love, respect, happiness and pure tenderness I get from being their mom.They are just FLAT OUT growing up way TOO fast for my liking.

Happy Birthday Jack. Your mommy loves you!

List of your adorable quotes:
are you happy mommmy?
why him do that?
what him doing?
me wants that.
me like doggies.
me like scooters.
me no like pineapple.
me no want cake.
why izzy run way from me?
the story of Jesus you told me after nursery...
jesus. him died. him died 3 days. him dead. then him moved the rock! him lives! him not dead!!! HIM LIVES! HIM LIVES!!!

how can this really be the last time? my heart is broken.

a Valentine's Day

Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar but never doubt thy love ~Shakespeare

The true romantic in me loves every detail of February. Valentine's Day, Jared's birthday- just the feeling of love in the air. Hope you found love around you this month!

THE NEW YEAR 2011

January 2011

Our task must be to free ourselves...

by widening our circle of compassion

to embrace all living creatures

and the whole of nature and its beauty.

~Albert Einstein

It's Jared- always good looking and looking good! I love him. I love his embrace, I love his words- and I love his constant and unconditional love.

Jack, Ava & Izzy- comfy at home.

Ava & Izzy. Ava has a special little bond with our new puppy. She holds her all day, I wonder if the dog can walk, actually. My kids rarely put her down- I hope Izzy survives. :)

Sweet puppy loves

My inspirational quote for the year...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most fightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually who are you not to be?"

~Marianne Williamson

Rockettes Kick it in SLC!

FOur sisters Nat, jen, Liz, Annie

Paris, Paje and Preston

Family night seeing the Rockettes was WOW! We loved it! What a night!

Sugar and Spice and EVERYTHING NICE!

Paris Ava Paje

That is what MY little girls are made of! Oh! A day of pampering, pedicures, manicures and fur galore- my 3 little beauties and I had so much fun!

I love you Paje! I love you Paris! I love you Ava!

A borrowed thought... What NOT to do as a parent...

Yeah- as you'll probably notice, I only have photos posted of 2 of my 5 children- OOPS! AAAHHH! So- here's my list of this week's total blunders as a mom of 5:

10-Don't take a 2 and 3 year old to a neighborhood spook ally, put on by the teenagers! It took us 3 days to recover!

9- Do not let your kids find the 20 pound bucket of Halloween candy for the trick-or-treaters.

8- Do not take a 3 year old little girl or boy to the Halloween Costume store- traumatized is all I can say!

7- Do not dress up so well that your 2 year old doesn't even recognize you.

6- Do not miss the annual Halloween parade.

5- Do not give 5 kids actual knives and let them go at the pumpkin carving as an unsupervised activity!

4- Do not think getting 5 kids and yourself ready for Halloween will only take 2 hours... try 4~!

3- Do not throw a MAJOR Halloween adult party. OK- DO! I can't lie- it was a blast!

2- DO NOT FORGET WHICH DAY TO SEND YOUR KIDS TO SCHOOL IN COSTUME....

1- DO NOT FORGET TO TAKE PHOTOS OF ALL 5 KIDS IN THEIR COSTUMES!!!!!

I'd like to think I'm a good mom- most days... :)

FALL into October & Halloween

Ava's Preschool Halloween Party

Ava- Our little black and white kitty!

Paje- Giesha Girl! age 8

Paje - beautiful in any language!

2 of our spooky jack-o-laterns. Jack and Ava thought the faces were way TOO scary, and would not even look at them once they were all lit up!

5 little pumpkins!

leaves on the tramp- recipe for FALL FUN!

Paris, Ava, Jack and Preston jump and play in the leaves!

We just got our first tree in our back yard, but it is not big enough to produce this many leaves, so- Preston worked really hard raking and gathering neighbors leaves to haul back into the back yard and dump on the tramp. I think he made like 10 trips filling a bucket with leaves, to get this fantastic pile of leaves for the tramp!

I love the Fall.