Bristol Turns Five

So once again it has taken me a couple of weeks to post. Bristol turned 5 on November 10th. I can not believe how fast she has grown. She is full of imagination, loves to learn, draw, dance, and play with her baby sister. We had her birthday party the Saturday after her birthday. She chose several people from school and church. She was so excited for her birthday that she has been planning it for about 7 or 8 months or so now. She was so excited that she couldn't even sleep that morning and woke up early. I hope she enjoyed everything and am glad that all the birthdays are over for the next little bit. Now I just have Christmas left and then I can relax and breath a little.

She wanted a Cinderella cake again. I made one when she was two as well, but it was her birthday so I made what she wanted. This time I made a marshmallow fondant. It was pretty tasty and fun to make. I was tempted to use her Cinderella barbie doll for the top instead of the doll the pan comes with, but her barbie is pretty loved and has crazy matted hair now. So, I opted for the more tamed doll.

I was so lucky that the weather was actually really nice. I was hoping to have her party at the YMCA indoor play area, but it was already booked. I was not looking forward to having all of these five year olds in my house for a few hours. I had one game planned, but I wasn't sure what else I was going to do. Luckily since it was nice out we played some old fashioned games like red light green light, simon says, and duck duck goose.

Present time

The thing about the Cinderella cake is how to put the candles in.

Thought I would throw in a picture of Gwyn at the party to show you how big she is getting.

Five Little Pumpkins

Kali has requested this video to be on the blog.

Happy Halloween...

...Just a couple weeks late. We had a fun time this Halloween. The girls are really getting into it this year. We first went to our ward Halloween party (which Nate was in CA when we went). Then trick-or-treating is called beggars night here and they move it to whatever day works best for going around. For instance I have been told it will never be on a Sunday (because of church) or a Friday night (because of high school football). It works out nice for us. It is also scheduled from 6-8. So you know how long people will be coming around for. Also everybody sits out on their driveways to pass out candy. It is nice because there is no need to go up to people's doors and wait for them to answer the door or not. I think it makes it faster and it is fun to have the whole neighborhood out. Nate once again worked this Halloween (well and the Saturday before which is the day we celebrated, hence my long explanation above) so I took the girls to a pumpkin patch during the day and then we went out trick-or-treating that night. Nate was able to come and join us for 20-30 min around the neighborhood which was nice. Let me tell you it is crazy though trying to get all the kids fed and dressed in Halloween costumes and out the door by 6 and by myself.

Halloween Night. Gwyn was a bumble bee, Bristol was a butterfly, and Kali was a ladybug. I should have had them stand up to get a better picture of their costumes, but hey the fact I got a picture taken was a miracle in its self. Kali's tutu has black spots on it and Gwyn's has stripes of yellow. She liked to suck on the tulle.

Pumpkin patch hayride.

Carving pumpkins. Sorry all of these pictures are backwards in order.

Before the ward Halloween party. Gwyn was not too happy.

Happy 3rd Birthday Kali!

Kali is 3! We had a party for her the day after her birthday. It worked out perfect because my mom had come to visit for Bristol's fall break from school and came just the night before. It was a crazy day with the primary program practice in the morning and then getting ready for her party. So her requests were to have balloons, a Dora the Explorer cake (or cupcakes), and presents. I think we fulfilled her desires and I am sure she had a great day.

I put Nate in charge of the games for the kids. He blew up the rest of the balloons and had them do a balloon waddle game. We were so lucky that the weather was absolutely beautiful for her party and the kids were able to play outside.

Kali has seen these cupcakes being made on TV and had wanted them for a while. They actually took less time to make then I thought they would. I was able to make different parts of them ahead of time so I am sure that helped. I just had to assemble last minute touches right before the party.

Mmmmm...cake is so good!

This was a scavenger hunt of sorts. I drew a picture of "Map" and drew a map with directions to the party favors (I used the idea from my sister when she made a treasure map for her son's birthday, thanks Lisa). They had to go to the waterfall, up the mountain (the stairs), through the tunnel (table with a blanket on it), and find the treasure box. It was a pretty big hit and super easy to do.

The waterfall.

Through the tunnel.

The treasure to be enjoyed by all.

Hope you had a happy birthday our little bug. We love you and are so grateful to have you in our family. You have quite a personality and keep us smiling and laughing often. We love you!

Gwyn Update

Can you believe that Gwyn is four months old? I sure can't. Time has flown by and she is growing so fast. She is still loved, almost too much, by her sisters. She is a little petite thing. She is really pretty easy going, but when she has had enough of something or is sick of something she lets you know by screaming. In other words, she doesn't give you much warning, all of sudden she is screaming. She is not a big fan of being in the car and knows that when we are putting her in her seat it is a sign of having to go in the car. She starts crying almost immediately when putting her in her seat. I am afraid part of her dislike for the car is that her sister is within arms reach and pesters her constantly. It is getting better though and I think Bristol is getting more used to her next to her so the constant hand holding and touching is slowly starting to lessen. Gwyn has rolled over now three times, but they are more fluke incidents. She would much rather play with toys sitting rather than laying down. She loves to stand while you hold her and is quite alert and loves people. She is our little joy and we love having her in our family. I can't believe how fast the time flies. These are just a few pictures from the last couple of months.

She doesn't fall asleep in her swing much any more, but whenever she did she always put her little hand on the tray.

We just started having her sit in this little walker. We have to stuff a few things in it to keep her propped up, but she prefers sitting up so this is a way that I don't have to constantly hold her.

Once again a monthly update

So here a few things that we have been up to lately. I accidentally put them in reverse so it goes from most recent to last month. Not that it really matters. One day I will post more regularly. We have been really busy this last month and I keep saying well hopefully after this next Tuesday things will calm down, but no it just keeps being the next Tuesday after that. Between the many doctors appointments we have been going to with the different kids to Bristol starting school to potty training Kali. The list goes on. Then to top it all off I for some reason thought it would be a great idea to start my own business by selling Mary Kay. Luckily there are no quotas or anything to fulfill or anything, but just learning the business and getting everything in order and ready to get out there and sell some stuff to make some money. I am excited for the opportunity to maybe bring in a little extra money because we all know that although Nate works crazy long hours the money it makes is not the greatest. Also it is nice to have some girl time and leave the kids at home for an hour or so. So if anyone is interested in ever getting anything Mary Kay then please visit my website at marykay.com/nicole820. I would love to be your beauty consultant :)

This is at a park by our house. They have a green house called the Butterfly House. It is full of flowers that butterflies like and full of moths and butterflies. The girls love going there and we just happened to go on the last day it was open. They have this little picture up for people to take their picture. Bristol really wanted the other person standing behind to be the wings. Kali didn't really get the idea if you can tell in Bristol's picture.

These are just pictures of the silly girls. They love their picture to be taken lately.

Kali loves sitting in Gwyn's car seat. Plus I love that she is wearing snow boots, underwear, and a sweater. So random. That is not what she started wearing that day, but she decided to go and put her own outfit on later.

The girls love to play in the yard with the hose. They also prefer to wear their clothes while doing so because it must be more fun and a novelty.
We found this little lake with a beach not too far from our house. It is not a beach at the ocean (which Bristol informs us of regularly), but it is nice to have some sort of pseudo beach nearby.

This was a picture my friend took for me because I was taking Bristol to the bathroom at the time. I had forgotten to take Kali's diaper off before she went into the water. Can you see how huge her diaper is?

Bristol's First Day of School

So now that Bristol has been going to school now for a few weeks I finally got her pictures loaded onto the computer and finally posted. She has been enjoying school, but also says it is boring. Especially the first week she said they just kept talking about the rules. I guess if she thinks it is boring now it is a good thing we put her in this year. She is enjoying it more and more each day as she gets used to the new routine. She told me yesterday how during music class she got to play the bongo drums which was very exciting. It was nice because Nate was able to be home to see her off to school the first day.

She looks so little in this picture. I tried to convince her to get a smaller backpack that would still fit her folders, but she insisted on the Tinkerbell backpack. It goes halfway down her legs I