Lately

I feel like we have been so busy lately between preschool, dance class, park days, play dates, birthday parties, blessings , dinner to friends, missionaries over for dinner, keeping the house clean, doctor appointments, bunco, baby showers, crafts, family in town, stressing about our rank list and match day,  nursing every three hours and all the little things, we are always on the go .  This past week I finally felt like I could take a breather and just relax for a couple of days, it was so nice, I hardly did any cleaning, played lots of games with the kids, watched lots of movies and played at the park almost every day.   Life was a lot less stressful this past week and much more enjoyable and my kids were happier too!  Here are a bunch a pictures from the last couple of weeks. 

 Playing at the new park, my kids love it here and Leila especially likes that they have monkey bars that she can reach and cross by herself

 Asher enjoying his bath especially since he only gets them like twice a week (I always forget or he's napping when I actually have time to give him one)

 Playing puzzles with cousins, I think they each had their own puzzle going.  There were some fights over who got which puzzle but overall they all got along.  It was so fun to have family in town!

 We went to the new park with our family but it was super crowded by the playground so we played over by the maze and luckily we brought scooters and roller skates to play with.

 Leila could jump two footed across the patches of grass and in some spots they were as wide as she is tall, she's got some major jumps!

Greydon has figured out how to ride a razor scooter and loves it!

A couple of Saturdays ago we went hiking with the Larsen's and most of the Karren's on the Historic Railroad pass trail.  It's not really a hike but mostly a walk but it was still fun even though towards the end I was carrying Leila and Asher and Asher had a huge blowout in the carrier and got poop all over.

 Cute kids hanging out in bed in the morning

 Most nights when we put the kids to bed Leila will fall asleep pretty quickly but Greydon isn't quite ready to go to bed.  We put them to bed at the same time but about ten minutes later we usually hear Greydon in the hall.  He usually plays quietly with toys in the hall or his bedroom and then puts himself back to bed when he's tired.  This particular night I found him in the hall with his pajamas stuffed with toys, Paul and I were laughing pretty hard, the things he comes up with. 

Quick story about this cute little boy.  He loves trucks and cars and one day we were driving by a construction site, we were stopped at a the light and pretty soon I hear Greydon cheer, "go, go, go, dump, dump, dump, YAY!!!!".  He was watching a truck with a load of dirt and he was cheering for it to dump the dirt. 

 Love this sweet girl!  She has gotten pretty sassy lately.  One day I asked her to clean up a wrapper or something and she says, " I'm so tired of you telling what to do, you're always telling me things and making me do things, who made you the boss?!"  What? You are only 4 (at the time) not 16. 

Trying to fit his entire fist into his mouth, he really likes to suck on his hands

Erica and I braved the crowds to get us some free frozen yogurt and toppings at Yogurtland.  There were 6 kids and two adults between us and it acutally went suprisingly smooth and the crowd wasn't that  bad.

Baby shower for Jamie

Back row: Jamie, me, Emily, Paige, Marci, Erica, Robyn

Middle Row: Melanie, Rachele, Kirsten, Amanda, Casie

Front row, Lisa, Hannah, Whitney, Melynda

I had more pictures to add to this post but I don't have time to get them all loaded so this is all for now.

Fabulous Five

Leila turned 5 last week!  I can't believe my baby girl is 5 years old, it just boggles my mind.  Leila is so wonderful and definitely keeps me on my toes. I swear she is always one step ahead of me, my parenting skills are constantly being put to the test.  I think year 4 was a tough one, we went through a lot of phases and she did a lot of growing emotionally.  But I have a feeling 5 is going to be great!

Things she loves: playing with friends, cooking, baking, going to the park, learning new things, learning to read, riding her scooter, going to preschool, PBS kids, doing puzzles, playing board games, doing crafts, ice cream, anything mint, and princess stuff

Things she dislikes: going to timeout, getting her hair done, crust on bread, cleaning up her toys, jam, most vegetables, and mom and dad telling her what to do.

Leila is super excited for kindergarten and can't wait to start in September.  Leila loves playing school and likes having homework assigned by mom.  Anything school or learning related and she is totally into it.   She is sounding out words and working really hard to learn to read. 

Leila loves to help me around the house as long as it is on her terms.  She doesn't ever wants to pick up her things when I ask her to but loves to help me clean bathrooms and fold laundry. She  also loves helping me cook and asks most days if we can make cookies or cupcakes. 

Leila loves primary and reminds us every night to read the Book of Mormon.  She has also started learning the Articles of Faith, in just the last two weeks she has learned the first four. 

Leila is our little gymnast, she is constantly doing head and hand stands and cartwheels.  We really need to get her in gymnastics. 

Leila is  very opinionated and passionate about the things she wants.  Leila doesn't do well with change or not having things a certain way but if we give her plenty of warning and prep her for possible changes or things not going as planned she seems to do pretty well.

On Leila's birthday she requested to have a friend come over and play and to have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, pretty easy.  We had Daisy over to play and then Leila and I played board games all afternoon and then opened presents when Paul got home.  We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and then planned to go out for frozen yogurt but Leila started feeling yucky so we decided to postpone it until the next day. 

She got a Lolaloopsy doll, a tinkerbell barbie, Chutes and Ladders, and some new spring/summer clothes

Leila had her birthday party on Saturday.  She requested a princess party with no boys allowed, she barely allowed Greydon to come to the party.  She was also lucky to have her Nana, Pop, Nene, Aunt Heather, Uncle Sean and cousins Mari and Mylee come to her party.

Leila had a hard time choosing which princess to dress up as but finally settled on Snow White.  Leila had specific ideas on how she wanted the party to go.  She wanted princess plates and napkins and pink cupcakes with crowns on them.  She also wanted to play princess bingo and pin the princess on the castle.  I tried suggesting other games but she already knew what she wanted.  We also made princess party hats for all the girls, they wore them for about 5 seconds and then pulled them off.  All my hard work for 5 seconds of cuteness, oh well.

Back row: Alyssa, Alessia, Mari, Abbie, Melanie

Front row: Mylee, Abby, Daisy, Leila and Olive

 Silly faces!

 I barely got the candles lit and Leila blew them out.  She also did not want us to sing to her, so we all just yelled Happy Birthday!

 Cute princess party hats

Greydon ended up sleeping through most of the party but woke up in time to have cake.

I can't get over the fact that we have a 5 year old.  She has grown up so much this past year and even looks like such a  big girl and not a toddler.  It's so fun to see all the things she can do on her own now and things she can help me out with.  She is always grabbing things for me, clean up messes and just acting like a big girl.  She makes her own toast and sandwiches, She can buckle her seat belt, ride her razor scooter like a pro, take a shower  without me having to wash her, brush out her own hair, and even fold an entire load of laundry and put the clothes away without any help. We love our Leila girl and even though she gives us a run for our money we can't imagine life without her.

You are the best little 5 year old out there!

Birthday Interview

I interviewed Leila the other day and here are her answers.  It was really fun to hear how she answered these questions some were much different then I expected. Most of the answers are her exact words.

1. What is your favorite color? Red, purple and pink
2. What is your favorite toy? Playdough Dentist.
3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples w/out the peel and strawberries with sweetener
4. What is your favorite tv show? Caillou or anything on PBS
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? What do I eat most days? umm...Grilled cheese 
6. What is your favorite outfit? Jeggings 
7. What is your favorite game? Guess Who 
8. What is your favorite snack? Graham crackers 
9. What is your favorite animal? Monkeys
10. What is your favorite song? Tonight Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae, then she proceeded to sing it
11. What is your favorite book? Ladybug Girl
12. Who is your best friend? Ryder but he moved so Daisy 
13. What is your favorite cereal? Cinnamon toast crunch  
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride scooters and bikes 
15. What is your favorite drink?  Water.
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas duh, Santa comes
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My favorite blanket and sometimes stuffed animals 
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  waffles, french toast, and cereal 
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Spaghetti and meatballs 
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A dentist

Dance Class

These pictures are from last May but I just barely got them from her dance teacher.  We decided to take a break from dance last fall because Leila wasn't really wanting to do it and since I was pregnant and Paul was out of town I just didn't have the energy to make sure she got to dance class.   I think she is just the cutest little dancer and I'm really excited she is taking dance again this spring.  She loves dancing with her friends Alyssa and Daisy and her teacher Ms. Lori is so great and just loves these little girls. 

Spring dance recital

Leila had her dance recital on May 31st and we couldn't have been more proud of her.  Earlier in the month Leila had her dress rehearsal and it didn't go well.  She didn't want to leave my side, and refused to go out on stage unless I went with her and wanted me to stay by her side through the whole performance but didn't want me to look at her.  So I was a little bit worried about how she would do for the actual performance.  The other things that were stressing me out were her costume and doing her hair.  She has refused to wear leotards for the last couple of months and getting her hair done is all dependent on her mood.  Well the day of the performance came and she was already telling me she wasn't going.  She went swimming that morning and really needed a bath.  So that afternoon when I began to get her ready she had a major melt down.  I decided to take her to the store and let her pick out some makeup to get her excited.  That did the trick, she came home got bathed, let me do her hair and put costume on with no complaint.  It was a miracle!  We got there a little early so we could get decent seats and we did a lot of talking about walking out on stage all by herself. 

(she loved the lip gloss I bought her and spent about 30 minutes just putting it on)

When it was her classes turn I walked her back stage and she started to freak a little.  When the girls went to lineup and all the moms left and I just told her that I had to go.  She kind of freaked so I gave her a few more minutes and then she finally yelled at me to leave.  She walked out on the stage like such a big girl and did her entire dance.  We were so proud of her and so excited for her accomplishment. 

(she is the second from the left, sorry the picture is aweful)

She came off stage just smiling and so excited.  When it was time for her second dance she went back stage easily and just waved and smiled at me as I walked away.  I knew she was proud of herself when she finished and she couldn't stop smiling and telling me how much she loves dance.  Good job Leila girl!

 Leila backstage with her friend Alyssa

 Jazz dance to "Good day Sunshine"

Tap is her favorite to do but she loved dancing to this song and her teacher told me Leila knew the routine better than anyone in her class (so I'm glad she actually did it)

Back stage with her friend Daisy

Fire House

A couple of weeks ago Leila's preschool went on a field trip to the fire department.  Leila was super excited to go and was looking forward to it all week.  But then on the day of the field trip she asked if the firemaen were going to be there when I told her yes she decided she didn't want to go.  She is so shy and nervous around people so the whole time we were there she clung to me and I don't think she cracked a smile the whole time.  She did say she had lots of fun, loves the hat they gave here and everytime we drive by the fire department she waves and talks about the field trip.