a nutshell . . .

Moving Tommy and Joey to their new room means Anna and Sara

also get to make a move!

First night in the new bunkbeds.

(It was not as hard as I thought it would be to move my last baby out of a crib! Not even one single tear was shed. That's progress . . . .)

Anna turned 7 . . .teen. ;)

And, because I still have influence, it was a donut cake again!

It was SO FUN to watch her open her presents. SHE WAS THRILLED.

Completely and genuinely thrilled! With EVERYTHING!

We got her a pretty new dress, and because we can, got Sara a twinner dress!

Anna got to open both, then give the little one to Sara. And they both wanted, immediately, to wear them!

Valentine's Day:

My funny Valentine! And, quite frankly, the only really good thing about that wretched day!

Tommy's soccer team had a tournament in St. George President's Day weekend. And, OF COURSE, it was the one weekend that the weather was bad ;)

I've never been to St. George - still- and am kinda glad that the girls got to stay home!

I do intend to make it there someday, though. :)

Tommy Turned Twelve.

unbelievable.

Because T.R. was taking everyone down to my brother and sister in law's house later that day (I had the second of two weddings to do flowers for, and Tommy had a merit badge pow wow in Provo early the next morning. So dear of dears, T.R., took all the kids. And dears of dears Robert and Rachel {mostly Rachel!} hosted them all. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!)

we celebrated in the morning. This meant ICE CREAM CAKE FOR BREAKFAST!!

How cool am I? Letting my children eat ice cream cake for breakfast!!

They all informed me that they never wanted ice cream cake for breakfast again ;)

Tommy and his loot. Not pictured is the camping backpack/sleeping bag/tent combo. For scout camps. I have a child old enough to go to scout camp. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

His favorite gift (besides the camping stuff...) was the cash!!

I do not recall giving him permission to turn 12. And it's a little upsetting.

And finally:

would you please check out the head of hair on this young lady.

I grew up with, and continue to have, the worst hair. EVER. Day after day of bad hair days.

AND LOOK WHAT SHE GOT!! I hadn't even brushed it yet in this picture!

Further proof that Heavenly Father does love us - - AND has a sense of humor!

Lately . . .

We've been up to some things - -

some things that took WAY LONGER than originally planned.

Darn you, HGTV. Darn you for making me believe that a room transformation can

happen in a reasonable amount of time.

I could've had a BABY in the time it took us to move Tommy and Joey into their new room.

((*SHUDDER*))

But now it's done - and they've officially moved in - and now on to the next room.

See ya in nine months :P

Tommy won 2nd place in the DISTRICT Science Fair!

I will refrain from inserting numerous "nerd" jokes

'cause dang, I'm kinda proud!!

and, well, let's face it. This kid's gonna be rich one day.

And momma needs a new pair of shoes! ;)

B is for bathroom . . .

I DESPISE cleaning the bathroom. (who doesn't? I know, I know.) But I think I've done it. I've come up with a solution to my current method, which is "putting it off and putting it off until it's an even more undesirable task". I've devised a plan that helps me clean the bathroom to a "T" without having to spend hours at a time... it shall henceforth be called "Cleaning by the Letters", and it goes something like this:

Monday: Mirrors

Tuesday: Toilets

Wednesday: Walls/Window

Thursday: Tub/Shower

Friday: Floors

Saturday: Sinks

Genius, right?! I haven't decided if this makes it better or worse, since my least favorite chore will now have to happen DAILY! But, I'll take ten minutes a day over hours and hours of talking myself into just doing it, and then hours of doing it!! And this way, at least PART of the bathrooms will be clean whenever my parents come over!!

The sweet life . . .

Haunted . . .

Sara likes to "revisit" Halloween.

It it not unusual to have a Spooky Green Spider costume

running around our house, filled by a cute little girl!

However - it becomes really frightening when it is, instead, your

oldest boy sausage stuffed into said costume!

(tired of simply stepping over the discarded spider skin, he decided to don it!)

1.1.11...

Four ones? I can work with that :D

I've spent the day with this princess . . .

who dresses to dance . . .

to Bruno Mars!

(one of his songs plays in the movie Tangled - thrilling when you're almost 3!)

These next few pictures are of some signs that have brought me great joy as I walk past them multiple times a day!

Tommy, Joey, and Anna made up a game to play with Joey's rubber duckie collection (20+ and counting!) It has something to do with the duckies earning points/money - and then they can choose where to spend it. They each opened some "stores" in hopes of the other duckies coming and spending their points/money there. :) I have put them in order of amusement:

This is one of Anna's...

Another of Anna's .. . (cold = called, hou = who)

Joey's . . . (please note the fine print at the bottom! It says:

price $15. holiday store is not responsible for the injury of you, or your kids. No refunds.)

hmm - - is his dad a lawyer or something?

Anna's . . .

(the only thing she asked for help with, on all of these signs, was

"how many zeros come after the 2 in 2 billion?")

And, MY FAVORITE!

Anna's swimming class:

:D Joy, I tell ya! Just Joy!

shhhh. . . .

don't tell . . . but mom didn't make any resolutions for the New Year.

That way

*Target can keep that feeding tube - it's attached to the checking account*

*the laundry can stay in a clean, mangled, wrinkly pile in the dryer*

*those extra 6 pounds don't have to pack up and move - 'cause really, who likes to move?*

*all those unread books can keep that cozy layer of dust*

*as a matter of fact - it's safe to assume that the whole house will keep it's cozy layer*

*the candy can stay in the cupboard*

*and, seriously . . a big fat savings account for braces, college, weddings, and/or rainy days is overrated*

LIFE IS GOOD - WHY shake it up just 'cause there's a new calendar?

Plus, it's an odd number year . . . . no good can come from making resolutions in an odd year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ;)