February

Still behind... It seems like February just started and now we are halfway through March. 

This year is flying by!

1. My Nick. This was a Sunday afternoon driving to my mom's for dinner. LOVES baseball and LOVES his Angels! 2. I picked up the kids from school and Chloe came strolling out with her sunglasses all cute! 3. Aubrey went through a "Twice Upon a Mickey Christmas" phase, watching it over and over. Every time  Mickey got mad at Pluto she was so sad. It was the cutest thing! The very first time it happened Cooper came running to get me, Aubrey was in tears like she was hurt and Cooper said, "she is crying, cause Pluto ran away." 4. Poor girl not feeling well. And poor Mommy because she was difficult ALL month. 5. Aubrey came down with a nasty bug and was down for days. 6. Went to pick up Chloe's corsage. Aubrey got her own flower. 7. Chloe's flower. 8. Went to a "13 going on 30" birthday party for a friend. We played Truth or Dare and I almost died taking the cinnamon challenge. Not really! But I felt like it! Fin night! 9. Jordan got my phone during Sunday night dinner and got on my FB and announced I was pregnant. I got SO many nice comments I was sad when I had to tell everyone I wasn't. 10. Chris got me roses! 11. Cub scouts had their Blue and Gold dinner. I am sad I forgot to take pictures of all the boys and the cute western night that they had. I was given the We are "nuts" about you award as Primary President. 12. We watched Lucy for a week and the girls had a fun time playing together. They were trouble together but they had fun! 13. We went to BK and bowling to celebrate Cooper's birthday early. 14. After picking the kids up from school Cooper took his shirt off as soon as we got in the car. Such a hot day! It was only in the 70's, not sure what they are going to do when it gets in 100's. 15. Going crazy getting Chloe's costumes stoned for her first competition. 16. The night before Cooper's birthday we went to Red Robin with Grandpa Victor since I would be leaving early the next day. 

Chloe and Chris went to the Daddy Daughter dance at school. She was so excited about it. Jenny came over after school and curled her hair for her first date. They went to the dance, Chris embarrassed her with his sweet dance moves and then they were off to dinner. 

 

 Cooper was chosen to be V.I.P. at school and had to bring in some pictures to share with his class.

 Part of being V.I.P. means that you get to take Mickey home with you for the week and keep a journal of the stuff that you do together.

Cooper and Mickey did some self photos!

You also get to sit at the special V.I.P. desk and have glitter glue. That is a BIG deal!

Mickey came to the park with us for a picnic one day.

 Since I would be leaving on Cooper's actual birthday we celebrated a week early with Burger King and bowling with some of our family and friends.

 CHEESE!!! All the kiddos while we were bowling, minus Lucy who refused to let me take her picture.

We celebrated again the next day with Sunday dinner at my mom's house so that her, Jenny, and Katie could come. Grandma made Cooper his favorite, meatballs and rice and Aunt Amber made Cooper his cake. Cooper requested a monkey cake like when he turned 2 and Amber made the monkey a ninja because Cooper has been into Ninja Turtles, which is mostly what he got for his birthday.

{Valentine's Day} 2013

I LOVE making subway art!

I do love Valentine's Day! Yes we should tell the people in our lives everyday that we love them, but a special day to do that is always fun.

The kids had pink smoothies and donuts for breakfast. It is always fun to see them so happy.

Aubrey and I went to Alex and Cooper's class parties. Aubrey was spoiled rotten with all the treats and attention she got in the boys' classes. When we were in Cooper's class she asked me to leave because she wanted to stay in kindergarten.

 My mom and dad offered to watch all the grand kids so we could all have a Valentine's date. So the kids had pizza and Valentine's cookies and Chris and I went to Serendipity for dinner with Jeremy and Mical.

{2 and a half}

The 23rd of December Aubrey turned 2 and a half, and "terrible twos"  officially set in! 

She is definitely TROUBLE with a capital T. But she  is also so sweet and funny that it makes the temper tantrums a little easier to handle. She is finally potty trained! We started way back in the beginning of October. It took forever to get the pooping thing down. But we have been accident free ever since I got home from China. That is definitely something to celebrate!!! Aubrey is LOVING all of the princesses! She says that Ariel is her favorite, but she likes all of them. She even loves watching the older ones, like Snow White and Cinderella. She loves dressing up in her princess dresses and playing with her princess castle from Christmas. I have a couple of princess soundtracks on my phone and she listens to them all the time and knows almost all the words to some of them. She is really into dancing right now! She is always telling (not asking) someone to dance with her. I love it when Nick dances with her, it is pretty sweet. She can't wait to start dance class, she is constantly asking. Soon. She is still a picky eater. I don't think she is going to outgrow this anytime soon. She is talking more and more everyday and she is growing like a little weed. I need her to slow down a little bit and be my baby!! And we still love her to pieces!!

January

 Now that February is already half way over, let's see if we can't get January documented!

At the beginning of the month while the kids were still on winter break the Anderson kids spent some time with us. Trying to keep 9 kids happy and entertained is quite the chore. We spent a couple of days at the park letting them get out some of their energy!

And then I was off to China! That was the longest I have ever been away from home. It was a great trip, but after I got home I was completely overwhelmed and it took a while for me to recover. I do know now that jet lag is a very real thing!

Some randomness from January:

1. When did my kids get so BIG??!!

2. Aubrey is lucky she is cute because most days I want to give her away!

3. Aubrey has been loving the days when Lucy gets to come play.

4. Chris has been working on his truck quite a bit. Whenever he has a spare minute anyways. 

5. Dad mastered girls hair while I was away. Now he does the girls hair on the Sundays when I have ward council.

6. The kids had hat day at school.

7. Ever since I got back from China Aubrey has been sleeping with Chloe. Most nights when I go into check on them they are sleeping on top of each other.

Grandma took the girls and I to see Disney On Ice. It was a princess one and the girls LOVED it! All the princesses were there, but the show featured Cinderella, Tangled, and Princess and the Frog. And since then we have watched all of those movies countless times!

Everett had a cute super hero party. It is always fun when every one dresses up and gets into it.

The following week Jordyn had a super cute princess party. Cinderella seemed to be the most popular princess!

To end the month I hosted the "8 is Great" fireside for all the kids in Primary who are turning 8 this year and will be baptized. I wish we took pictures because everything turned out super cute! Amber made big 8-shaped sugar cookies that each of the kids got to take home. We had such a great turn out too. Of the 10 kids in the class, we had 9 of them with their parents. It was a great night!

The BIG 3-0

 I celebrated my birthday in China and the celebrations only continued when I got home. Chris hung streamers EVERYWHERE, a "Happy Birthday" sign and got me my favorite,  a Nothing Bundt Cake. My kids were so happy I was home, boy did I feel loved!!

Alex and Cooper even gave me some of their animals for me to sleep with when I got home.

 And as January went on I had birthday lunches with friends and family, we went to dinner several times to celebrate with different people, and treats and cakes just kept coming!! Thirty seems to be the birthday that just keeps on giving!! I am so thankful for good friends and family who made me feel special!

Sad I didn't take pictures of any of our outings!

{CHINA}

 I am so thankful for my dad giving me this opportunity to travel with him to China. He gave up his business class tickets traveling back and forth over the next couple of month so that Jeremy, Jenny, Katie, and I could go with him. My dad is such a good example to me. This really was a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel like this with my siblings and we had a blast! Thanks Dad!!!

Dad' apartment. A little nervous walking up the stairs when we first got there, but I was pleasantly surprised when we opened the door. Super, super clean and bigger than I had expected. Still small though! The bathroom is way small and has the washer machine in there too. No dryer, so you have to hang everything outside to dry. Not that big of  a deal unless you are 5 floors up and you have lots to hang on 2 small rods. The fridge was so tiny too. 

We like the Royal. Kind of like a Wal Mart. Groceries and lots of other stuff too.  I don't know if I would ever eat chicken though if I lived there. Do NOT want the whole bird!! And we loved those candies!

They have Pizza Hut. BUT, it is NOT the same. Lots of interesting pizzas though. And since everyone drives mopeds, so do the pizza delivery drivers.

 

I didn't try this!! Just so CRAZY gross!!

{China} Day 8

01.12.13

Hong Kong in pictures.

Lunch: a Dim Sum Restaurant

Biggest, busiest Apple ever.

My dad's friend Johnny Chan, his wife Eliza and his nephew Dickson were our tour guides for the day.

Jeremy, Dad, Johnny, and Dickson

Eliza, Me, Jenny, and Katie

On the train. this day we rode the ferry, train, taxi, tram, bus, cable cars and walked!!

going a little crazy

so many people. no personal space.

This is the building in The Dark Knight Rises that Batman pulls the guy out of.

Dinner