Great-Grandma's B-day

Great-Grandma's 81st birthday was on Thursday, the 8th. Brayden worked very hard on making her a card and a BEAUTIFUL cake! He copied all these letters from a piece of paper that I wrote on. I couldn't believe it!

It doesn't get any prettier than this.

Great-Grandma and B blowing out the candles. B wanted to take 81 candles to their house, but I convinced him three would be enough.

Cake and Ice cream!

YUMMY!

Dani and Great-Grandpa. It was a very fun morning, the kids even got to eat baloney sandwiches there for lunch. They were thrilled!

Top 10 list for 2008

Lins, here is my list. I am just typing away as I think of the past year, and there is no logical order to any of it (surprise, surprise).

10. Brayden started his second year of pre-school and he can now write his name by himself, and knows alot of his alphabet letters and his numbers!

9. Dani and Ellie are talking and starting to put two words together! AND they usually like each other!

8. My dad had rectal cancer surgery and is now in remission.

7. My brother had open heart surgery and is now recovering and doing amazing.

6. Kent, Brayden and I went on a cruise and got to enjoy quality time with each other. It was an amazing vacation! The girls got to spend time with Auntie Kalin and G & G.

5. I turned 30 and Kent planned an amazing weekend for me that I will never forget.

4. Kym and her boys came and visited us for a long weekend when they were home from Africa.

3. I got quite a few new clients for my speech and language private practice, which I love!

2. The Arctic Blast of 2008, where we got 6 feet of snow and schools were cancelled and we were housebound FOREVER!

1. I started a blog (thanks Kelsey) and now I feel like I know what's going on in my friends' lives. It is such a great way for me to feel connected when I am homesick for the 'couve girls, or anyone else who I can't drive to see within a half an hour!

Alot of Tid-Bits

Wow! This took me forever to upload all these pics. I haven't posted in a while and there's a bunch of random stuff.

First of all, we all have serious cases of cabin fever. I was almost angry with Kent because he got to go to work the past two days. How long has it been snowing??? 20 some days, AND school was cancelled these past two days. I know, B only goes to P-school for 2 and a half hours, 2 days a week, but still, it is a break!

So what is a crazy mom to do? Well today, we went sledding with some neighbor friends. I didn't take my camera, because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle that and three kids. Luckily, everyone helped out and carried a girl or two up the hill over and over with me! They really are unbelievable friends, even the husbands who didn't know me. Sledding was fun and the best workout I've had in a few months!

When the girls took their nap today Brayden and I worked on his Lava Bugs that Great-Grandma Wagener gave him for X-mas. What a project! It was an ooey gooey mess, and they have to dry overnight, then we get to add more colors tomorrow. Wonderful, thanks so much G-ma! B does love it though.

Shelbi, our baby-sitter who also works at Papa Murphy's brought us FREE pizza and bread sticks! We were all thrilled and devoured most of it pretty quickly! When does Weight Watchers start again???.....maybe tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that........

YAY! Cousin Keegan turned 4 on X-mas eve! They had his party on Saturday at the YMCA. It was so fun! We had cake and then ALL of us went swimming! I wasn't too thrilled to put on a swimming suit the week after X-mas, but I didn't realize they had a twisty water slide! It was great, I took Ellie down in my lap and she screamed, "WEE" the whole way with a big smile on her face.

Kent came down with Dani next, and she had her serious look on her face, and wasn't sure what to think. As soon as I let her know she was having fun she smiled and laughed. It took Brayden a good 20 minutes to work up the nerve and trust us enough to catch him at the bottom. Then we were hiking up the stairs to the slide constantly after that. Thanks for a great party Keegan!

Cake faces!

No, we aren't officially starting potty training yet, but Dani told me she had to poop and I took her in and she did it! Pretty exciting, then of course Ellie had to have a turn. (Cousin Sandy, I think we do need two toilets in the same bathroom, potty party here we come)!

I don't know why my pics. don't line up how I want them to, but these are the adorable outfits Cousin Sarah got for the girls. I feel like such a hip, chic mom when they wear them. Everyone always comments on them. Thanks Sarah!

On one of the safer snow days, my friend Sara came over with her son, Johhny, and her new twin babies, Molly and Ryan. It was so fun to see her and her kids, and know that I never have to go through that stage again. hehehe. Sara is incredible, and I couldn't believe how calm and together she was, plus she's lost all of her baby weight and looks amazing! (It's been 9 weeks). I know, I really don't know if I can be friends with her. :) I didn't get pics. of the babies, shoot, they were either eating or sleeping most of the time, and when they were awake I was just staring at them and didn't think to take a pic.

The girls got strollers from us. They love them and play with them non-stop. The first night they had them out, they thought it would be fun to push each other in them. It was so cute, I had to take pics. But sure enough the strollers ripped and I ended up sewing them a few days ago. Hopefully they'll hold for at least a few more weeks!

Christmas with the whole Phillips Clan

When we got back home, we celebrated Christmas with Kent's family, with the exception of his sister, Shelby, and her family. You guys were missed! Cousin Ally inherited Auntie Shelby's cradle for her baby dolls. It was a big hit! All the girls loved it, and fought over whose doll was whose.

Keegan, Grandpa Chris, Grandma Phillips and Ellie.

Brayden opening his cool magic set from Grandma Phillips!

Dani riding Keegan's life-like dinosaur.

Ellie crawled into the cradle and surrounded herself with every baby possible and all the nai-nights (blankets).

It was a fun, hectic morning. As you can see, I didn't get many good pics. Some of the highlights were:

1. Dani and Ellie got cabbage patch dolls from Grandma Phillips and Grandpa Chris. Who would have thought my daughters would have the same kind of dolls that I did?

2. Brayden got a cool Handy Manny TV toy that he has been "fixing" all day, from Auntie Sarah and Uncle Kelly. He already made them a thank you card!

3. Kent and I got gift cards to two different restaurants, now we can go on dates! Those are the best gifts ever!

4. Sarah and I got to play the WII while we were watching six kids. We tried to do the dancing (which is super fun, but difficult with kids running across the mat). Kent and Kelly had to go dig Great- G & G and G & G out of the snow in Couer d' Alene. I guess the snow was unbelievable out there. Luckily everyone made it back to the house and we could all be together!

5. It was a very fast, chaotic, fun couple of hours!

Our Christmas

After sledding outside, we came in and the kids got a warm bath in the big tub! I thought with the picture failure in the snow, I might be able to get one of all of them in a contained area. No such luck, this is as good as it gets.

Daddy with his beautiful girls.

Frosting X-mas cookies with Grandma.

Reading the tooting dog book from cousin Sarah. I think Dad liked it just as much as Brayden.

Opening a present from Great-Grandma Wagener.

Sassy Danielle Claire.

Ellie trying on her new pants from Cousin Sarah! We love them!

Uncle Steve and Ryan recovering with a caffeinated beverage.

Cousins Loren, Jeremy and Diane.

Getting ready to see what Santa brought!

The dinosaur Brayden asked for! He must have been good (for the most part)!

Dani trying on new dress up shoes, not too steady yet.

Ellie balancing on her own.

An attempt at a family pic. Only one is eating her shoe!

Home safe and sound

We are back home, safe and sound. It was a horrible drive and one that I don't think we will do again anytime soon. I just realized I posted all my pics. backwards. I HATE that! Oh well, I am too tired to redo all of it. I am horrible choosing pics. (I always want to use all of them) so there are a lot! I will have to do another post tomorrow with the X-mas pics. and our other activities from the week. G & G's house had LOTS of snow! We had fun playing in it and going sledding down the ENORMOUS hill!

Brayden being a nice big brother!

The princess did not like falling in the cold snow.

Strong Grandma helping Princess Ellie.

I have been trying to get a pic. of all three kids together for the last few weeks. It hasn't happened yet. This is how it started.....

This is how it ended! Dani was in tears and Brayden went stomping in the pond.

Kalin and Tyler took on the huge task of making a gingerbread house with Brayden. I love them for that! I am not good at it, and it is so messy! He had a ball with them and it turned out really cute!

Mom and I tried to work on a puzzle and entertain the girls at the same time, it wasn't too successful. I am loving my outfit here... pajama pants on early, were my pants already too tight one day into the trip? It was down hill from there...

Uncle Ryan up and dressed in real clothes and eating nachos two weeks after cardiac surgery, who would have thought?

This pic. cracks me up. This is us heading out for the 'couve. We got the girls up and dressed and gave them breakfast to eat in the car. I came downstairs after gathering more stuff and Dani was sitting in the drivers seat. She did NOT want to move. If she could have sat there the whole way, maybe she wouldn't have screamed most of the way. Control issues???

Dad got back into town and we went sledding the night before we headed to the 'couve, but it was COLD!

Thanks for the cute hats Shelbi!

This is rudolph and it is adorable on his little head!

Speed racers!