What have I been up to?

hmmmmmm...... A LOT! Isn't everyone!?!?!?!? :)

Well, I posted awhile back that I had started working for a friend that is a professional photographer. Can I just say.... her work is amazing!! I have learned so much from her and I have so much more to squeeze out of her! :) I have done a 6-7 weddings, newborns, and maternity shoots so far and I think it's SO MUCH FUN! I'm so grateful for Cheeto allowing me the time to go with Amy and for Mom and Lettie for always being so willing to help with the kids when Cheeto isn't around. The weddings have been lots of fun. Wow... very different from the Mormon weddings I'm accustom to. LOL! Check out this LINK to see some of the pictures I have taken and then head on over to SIMPLE MOMENTS PHOTOGRAPHY to see some of Amy's phenomenal talent!

A memorable Birthday for Cheeto

Wow... did Cheeto's birthday start off crazy! I had been sick for 3 days. I went to the doctor the day before and got some cough medicine. That night I was so excited to take the stuff to finally get some relief from coughing and finally sleep! I took the stuff and was feeling great, until 2 hours later. I woke up with crazy pain in my upper abdomen. I wake up with this pain about 3 nights a week but usually after standing up for a bit and drinking something it will go away. NOPE! Not that night! After 2 hours of this pain, Cheeto called Sissy to watch the kids and he took me to the ER. A couple hours later, we find out that my liver enzymes were 220 (normal is 50). Not sure why my liver does this or if it really was the cough medicine that caused it but for now, no tylenol or any medicine that has alcohol in it. The doctor at the ER really doubted me when I told her that I had NEVER drank even a drop of alcohol. Then because I had laryngitis I couldn't talk well and it hurt to talk, when the nurse asked me a few questions, Cheeto answered a couple of them. She then said, "Oh, does she not speak English?" Hilarious! Do I not look American English speaking? We got home just before 5am. Got up at 6 to get the kids out the door and Cheeto left for work. I felt so bad for Cheeto all day. Mom kept the girls in the afternoon so I could take a nap. But for the rest of the week I had to get through coughing and such without meds. Not many OTC medicines don't have alcohol as the #1 ingredient. Thanks to family and friends for helping with kids and lots of suggestions to make me feel better.
OK... back to Cheeto's birthday.

I know this picture is dark, of course, I didn't feel good still and I just turned on the camera without adjusting the settings yet. :) But I still had to post it. This is classic Cheeto and Marcos together. And it was one of the few that Cheeto didn't look dead tired in. :(

It doesn't look like anyone was even paying attention to Cheeto opening his presents.

Check out Sassy.

Is this little girl related to her father?

Our kids were a little disappointed that cheeto didn't want a traditional birthday cake. He requested banana pudding. C asked, "who doesn't ask for CAKE on their birthday?" My response..... YOUR FATHER! :) LOL!

Marcos is quite the leader singing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy/girl!
Our boys are always more than to join in.
Cheeto's face says it all in the above picture. :)

Happy 5th Sassy Girl!

Wow... time is flying by. Sweet Sassy turned 5 last week.
5 things We love about our sassy girl...
#1. Your giggle!
#2. Your Hugs!
#3. Always letting me do your hair- even when you don't care. :)
#4. For being mommy's right hand almost everyday.
#5. For being a great sister to your brothers and sister.

One of the kid's favorite shows is Cake Boss on TLC. He made a castle princess cake for his daughter in Disney World. Sassy saw that episode and was hooked. She wanted that EXACT cake. For a week she kept asking me if I would call "Buddy" and have him make her a cake and bring it to her. Because she also saw an episode where he came and built a nascar in Charlotte. So "he knows how to get to North Carolina!" :) Well, I told her I would do my best to make her a cute "Princess" cake. As I made her cake she got impressed. She said, "Wow... mom, you do know how to make a princess cake like Buddy and it's even tie-dye!" Ok, I make fair cakes in my opinion but my kids opinions are the only that count for me. If they are happy... I'm happy! Thank you Martha for making the cake possible and about $30 cheaper!

This is a classic Sassy picture!

Two princesses for a evening.

I got this little hair dresser set years ago just waiting for A1 to get big enough to play with it. I had pretty much forgotten about it. I stumbled upon it while looking for wrapping paper to wrap her presents. :) Little did I know that it was the gift she was most excited about.

She literally fell over with excitement! Crazy girl!

Thank you G'ma and Papa C!

JACKPOT!

I thought it was funny she was thrilled when I told her we would go open her a savings account the next day. She never complained when she handed her money over to the bank.

Thank you cousins!

SO cute! They all did each others hair for days following.

Christmas Ornaments

2006 Thanksgiving we spent in a chalet in Asheville, NC. As an activity to keep the kiddo busy I packed a ornament for the kids to make. Growing up my Grandma Bullock liked my mom to have a craft to do on Thanksgiving. I loved that tradition. I carried it another generation but I have specifically made it an ornament that we make each year. Some the kids have needed no help from the adults and others have really needed our help. This year I decided to take pictures of all our ornament ideas. I get the ideas from various places and then my "Shena" flare. :) I have to make them "ours" somehow. We have lots of fun making them and our kids are going to have some fun memories to share with kids someday.
2006 - Painted Snowflakes
(Can you tell whose ornament the above picture belongs to?)


2007 - Paper Roll Ornament Balls
These were super easy and the boys loved making their own.

2008- Wish List Scrolls
These are fun to unroll every year and see what it was that we wanted and to see some of those items are still on our wish lists and some we wonder why we ever wanted it.

2009 - Snowgirls, Santa Claus, and Reindeer Bells

2010 - Photo Cubes
And seriously my all time favorite!

More Snow Fun

The Day after Christmas
A2 was in awe just looking out the window most of the morning.
Shocking... but church was canceled. :)

But we had our "Idaho" dinner anyway.
Snow doesn't scare real Idahoans. :)

Our kids were very good keeping the sabbath day holy and waiting until Monday to play in the snow. But you better believe they were knocking down Papa's door EARLY trying to get him to get out there and play with them. Papa A builds the best snow forts!

Cold Snow angels!

I'm so happy outside in the snow...

Until I fall down and face plant it!

Christmas 2010

Oh... the anticipation!

SO EXCITED!

C's face is priceless!

He's asking why we enter as youngest to oldest. :)

yay... for harry potter wands!

Such handsome young men

I made all the kids these cinch bags with their names on them. They work great for holding their PJ's and such for G'ma sleepovers.

G'ma and Papa C got the girls this awesome Dora Dollhouse, completely decked out with LOTS of dolls. We were having a hard time keeping A2 from just ripping through all her presents at once. So I suggested the girls open the dollhouse, even though the rest of us were still looking through Santa stuff, just to get A2 distracted from her presents. WOW! That worked great! We literally had to talk her into opening the rest of her presents after that. She was in HEAVEN! What's even more hilarious is that ALL the kids played with this dollhouse the rest of the morning. :)

A2 got a Dora stable and car to go with the dollhouse. She opened the box and didn't even take the time to remove the stuff before playing with it. She was almost in the box head first trying to play with it all.

Boys got some really fun walkie talkies. They are real "grown-up" ones. They have been talking lots of taking them camping and hiking. It just needs to warm up so we can go.

Cheeto is awesome! He got me some really soft, cozy, nice, WARM sheets. I suppose he benefits from them too. ;) I have been freezing all night. He had them in the washer before I could even really see what brand or what the fabric was. I love them.

I made the boys "invisibility cloaks" from Harry Potter. It's shiny on one side so you can't see through it, yet from the other side you can see through it great. K opened his first and saw the fabric and said, "Awesome, a shiny tuxedo!" LOL!

All excited to watch Daddy open the kids present.

This year a friend of mine shared a little saying they stick to at Christmas to help them from over doing it.

Something you want, something you need

Something to wear, something to read.
Nola did awesome with the something to READ. All the kids LOVED their books.
A2, shockingly, got a Dora book and Papa is trying to read it to her (in Spanish of course!)

C got big into Harry Potter this year!
Fancy Nancy was Sassy's favorite series this year.

Not quite as thrilled with the baby doll after she got a paper cut opening the box.

Still asking for the HESS trucks after all these years.

Our sweet K is so creative and thoughtful.

He made Lettie this ring out of paper and tape and wrapped it up all by himself for her.

A friend of Lettie's was giving away a UNC coat earlier this fall. We had Marcos and Haley for Christmas. I decided to keep the coat and wrap it up as a gag gift for Marcos. I had made them a scrapbook of their wedding for their real gift and gave it to them earlier in the week since Haley was going to spend Christmas with her family.
Marcos unwrapped and saw the color of the coat through the crack in the box.
He said, "I'm not liking the color of this!"

He is always such a good sport. It seems like every year someone always gives him a gag gift.

I was surprised he even put it on to model it. :) LOL!
It made for a good laugh for everyone.

About 4pm A2 seriously could not go on. Her battery DIED!

No matter how many times I tried moving her to get her to stay awake she wouldn't.

Still no budging.
That's when I decided to take a quick family picture in front of the tree all decked out in our PJs.
Then... go 'outside' in the snow. I figured the snow would really wake her up.
(I did not want her taking a nap so late in the day!)

Family Picture take 1
Family picture take 2

It snowed here on Christmas for the first time since the 1960's. It truly made for a magical Christmas. :) I had to take pictures of us out in it.

Boys are so silly!

Running with joy that mom didn't make her put a coat on! We fight every time we ask her to put a jacket on. She was thrilled to run through the snow jacket-free. But it wasn't surprising that she even argued about not wearing a jacket. "MOM! I'm going to freeze!"
UGH... I can never win!

Ok... I'll stand in the snow mom.

Ah.... IT TOLD!!!!
:)
I had one more gift for Cheeto.
Can you tell he's excited!?!?!

I have a friend that is an amazing craftsmen. He built this box for me from scratch.
It's gorgeous! Cheeto and I have "Why I love you" books we write in. I thought this box would be a good place to keep them. Up until now they get lost in the stack of books on my nightstand, kicked around Cheeto's car, or looked at by the kids. This will be our place to keep them. :)