Haylie's 4th Birthday

Haylie turned 4 on December 1st. She was pretty sure that she would all of the sudden be able to read and tie her shoes on the day she turned 4. Luckily the excitement of her party made her forget because she would have been disappointed. She chose a puppy party at our apartment for her party. I kept my homemade cake tradition up with a puppy cake and managed to keep 6 little girls occupied for an hour and half for the party. We played Pin the Tail on the Doggie and Doggie Doggie Where is your Bone. Here are some current facts about Haylie. She loves dogs and puppies. She still pretends that she is a dog but not quite as often. She knows all the letters and sounds, can rhyme, and even spell some words with a little help. She loves to go to preschool and often asks us to raise our hand if we want something and not call out. At least she is learning the rules if nothing else! She loves to play with Polly Pockets, Barbies, her brother Zander, and her newly acquired Littlest Pet Shop toys. We love you Haylie!!

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures taken over Thanksgiving by my niece, Janelle. She is pretty talented and is awesome for doing it for us, especially since our kids are not exactly the easiest to take pictures of. I don't think Zander actually held still once!

Thanksgiving...a little late!

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents and some of my family members in Perry, UT. My whole family goes there every other year for Thanksgiving but this was the off year so it was just a few of us. My brother Darin, us, my niece Janelle and her roommate, and my parents were there for Thanksgiving and then by brother Ryan and his wife Arika and their baby Afton came on Friday. It was a fun and relaxing weekend. We played lots of games, and lots of delicious food and had lots of good laughs. The only down side was that Haylie was sick the entire time we were there. She got sick on Tuesday and we thought she was better on Wednesday afternoon so we loaded up and went. We walked in my parents house and she looked and everyone and then proceeded to throw up all over me. It is times like these that I realize just how glamorous my life is. Cleaning up all kinds of bodily fluids is really the ultimate display of love for someone. It is a good thing that when you become a mother you get some sort of super power to deal with totally gross things as long as it if from your own offspring!

Getting ready for dinner

Poor sick Haylie. At least I got a nap too!
Haylie perked up a little for dinner.

Honesty List

My friend Rebecca passed this on to me and after reading her list I thought it might be fun to do so here we go.

Honesty-list ten honest things about yourself.

1. I am a terrible housekeeper. I don't quite understand myself because if I know I have someone coming over I can clean the house in record time but if it is just my family things can get pretty ugly before I find motivation to clean. I feel so much better in a clean house so I don't know why I don't make it more of a priority. Maybe it is the two tornadoes that follow me around undoing everything I do!

2. I have an amazing memory for song lyrics. Especially dorky jingles from old commercials and TV Shows and songs from my childhood. I often sing them when they are in my head. It drives Dave crazy but I don't do it to bother him, they are just in my head!

3. I cried at the beginning of each school year until I was in 9th grade. I would try to explain why but there really is not a good reason. I just pray that I don't have any children like myself. My mom and dad are wonderful people for putting up with it. I always thought as a teacher I would be more understanding of my students on the first days of school but I was surprisingly impatient.

4.I regret not playing volleyball in college. I had an opportunity and didn't take it because at the time I was completely burned out on volleyball. If I would have known all the different ways I would be involved in it later in my life I think I would have pursued playing.

5. I would rather inconvenience myself than someone else. I don't like to ask for help and there have been many times when I think "why didn't I just ask for some help?"

6. I could take a nap everyday. This was great when I had two kids that napped everyday. I could catch a few minutes to re-energize myself. I am probably a little lazy, but sometimes 2:00 rolls around and I can barely keep my eyes open. I must have inherited this from my dad. He is the greatest napper that ever lived!

7. I have a glass of milk almost every night before I go to bed. Ok, since this in an honesty list, I also have a little treat with my milk, some cookies or a brownie. In fact, I should be getting some right about now...

8. I am not sure if I want to be a classroom teacher anymore. I loved my days of teaching, and I am good at it, but I also think I could be happier doing something else. I am not a good classroom manager. I like the theory a lot more than the practice.

9. I wish I didn't care what people thought of me but the truth is that I do. I have noticed that as I get older it matters to me less and less. I always wonder, but spend a lot less time worrying about it these days!

10.I have an unreasonable fear of spiders. Since I have children to protect now I have become a lot more brave and don't freak out quite as much. I hate squishing them worse than seeing them. When I was growing up and would get home after my parents were in bed I remember waking my dad up to come kill a spider for me. Luckily Dave has pity on me and kills them when he is around now.

There you go. That was kind of fun. I pass this on to whoever want to try it out. Another honest fact about myself--I hate making decisions so I don't know who to pick! Just do it if you want!