Water

Alex got himself a drink of water and noticed that it was running low so he took it out of the refrigerator and started filling it up without being asked. I thought that I would blog about this because it is so rare that any male notices something and does it right away:)

Father's Day

Today for Father's Day the kids made a gift certificate for "one romantic candlelight dinner for two." They made menus, made salad fresh from the garden, cooked potatoes fresh from the garden (okay I helped them cook all the hot things but they organized it), hot dogs and Dinty Moore stew from the can. They got all dressed up in waiter outfits and made us tickets for our reservation.

Then they started a "jacuzzi" hot tub for us (bath tub). After the hot tub they came in and gave us foot rubs. I'm not quite sure how I got treated so well for Father's Day, but I liked it. They were so thoughtful and creative. They even cleaned up some of the dishes after dinner.

I'm pretty sure that we have some of the greatest kids in the world:)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband who is always there for me, my rock. I love how all you have to do is hug me and all my worries go away. I'm so proud of you and all of the hard work you do for our family. You are such a fun dad, and you are such a wonderful husband! I love you so much!!

And Happy Father's Day to my dad. Thanks for always being there to help us fix things around the house. Thanks for your awesome ice cream, for convincing us to buy an ice cream maker, and thanks for your delicious cookies and for teaching me to make them so that I can eat them whenever I want. Thanks for playing with my 2 year old so I can have a break because for some reason he behaves the best when he's with you! Thanks for being such a great example of what a father should be! We love you!!

And Happy Mother's Day to my mom, because I don't think that I did a post because I think I forgot. Thanks for your great example. I try every day to be as great as a mom as you were. You did so much for us, and you were always there for us. Thanks for teaching me how to sew, sorry it took me until I was grown to want to learn:) Thanks for playing with all my babies, and thanks for taking Ben for me when you can tell I need a break. Thanks for listening on the phone when all I do is whine, you always make me feel better!! We love you!!

And thanks to Kristin for doing a blog post for father's day so that I could remember to do one too!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

6 months old

almost 8 years old!!

Should have posted this yesterday but we were so busy having so much fun celebrating Alex's 8th birthday! He is so excited to go to his first cubscout meeting tonight and wore his new uniform last night until right before bed. He also can't wait until his baptism next month.

Alex is a really great, loving, helpful, fun guy. I am so lucky to have him as my son! Love you Alex!!!

NIGHT 7!

Huge success!!

Thanks to grandpa Clift our bunk bed is fixed. So today Joel put it together. Benjamin was soooo excited to help daddy. He stayed with him the whole time. He got a screwdriver and was screwing in screws, and learning names of tools. So cute.

Then when the bed was finished he was saying it was "my bunk bed," and for those of you who know him well you might be shocked that he wasn't saying "baby's bunk bed." He tried to claim the top bunk, but once I put his Thomas the Train sheets on the bottom he was on board. Tonight Alex laid in the bottom bunk with Benjamin.

I went into the room to give Ben a bottle, he held my hand while I sang him a song. Then I said I would be right back. By the time I got back he was asleep cuddling Alex.

I must admit that "all you people" might actually be on to something. I actually stuck with this whole bed thing for a week and it has gotten easier and easier. However, I want to add that I have always had a hard time leaving him in his bed crying. I can just see him telling me when he's older that he has to take sleeping pills because he has abondonment issues from when he was 2. So, I made sure this was never a cry thing, it was an exciting thing. I stayed with him to comfort him, and left a little earlier every night.

Now I just need to keep up with it. 21 days I heard is how long you do something before it's actually a habit. But don't worry I won't blog for 14 more days.

Thanks for keeping me motivated to make this milestone!

Cupcakes

This was a mini cupcake.

This was a big cupcake.

I got this idea from my awesome friend Nikki. You divide your white cake mix batter into however many colors you want. I did three: orange, blue, and green. Add food coloring until you like it. Then you take a spoonful from each color and layer into your cupcakes. When the kids bite into it they will see a burst of color. It was so much fun, and so much easier than I thought!

Night 6

Success! It was a crazy busy day, Alex's birthday party, a baptism, and a wedding. I worked nonstop all day long on saturday! When we got home, Joel, without being asked, took Benjamin into his room and put him to bed so I could get a break! It was wonderful! He had to stay with him for a while, but Joel had a lot of fun singing a bunch of primary songs with all three kids.

Ben woke up around 6 a.m. but then went back to sleep and woke up after 8. Ahhhh. Joel was already gone for church for his first Bishopric's counsel meeting and I got all the kids ready for church by myself. And I'm guessing that it was extra blessings, but this sunday morning was much easier than we've had in a while. I'm going to go with blessing, not that for some reason maybe dad makes it a crazier morning. :)