The kids and the babysitter

We don't have babysitters a lot at our house, but we do have them enough that our kids are familiar with us leaving them with youth from our ward. Everyone is always happy and calm when we leave. But tonight was another story. I walked out of the house listening to Porter scream and Brooklyn yell at the top of her lungs, "Please take Porter with you. We never get to do anything fun with him around." The report from the sitter - Porter calmed down after about five minutes and Brooklyn had plenty of fun.

Buried Alive

All I have to say is my kids were DIRTY after this day at the park. Baden looks like he really was buried alive, but I promise he was having fun.

Missing Our Far Away Friends

Two weeks ago, our good friends moved to Australia to live for a year. We met the Norton's when Jenny and I were both pregnant with our second children. We both had cute little boys - Colin and Baden (6 months apart). And then we both had a Brooklyn (3 months apart) and two years later we both got another girl, Isabella and Ella (9 days apart). And two years ago we continued our child matching trend and both had little boys - Jared and Porter (4 weeks apart). Eight cute little kiddos who are all best friends. I am convinced this is rare and uncommon to have kids so much alike and I am so glad we have had the opportunity to have the Norton's as our friends. We miss them and think of them often. I already have a stack of notes to Brooklyn N. and Bella (my girls write them letters almost everyday) that I am supposed to mail when the Norton's have their final address.

When we told our kids that the Norton's were moving, our Brooklyn threw her hands up to her mouth and gasped in shock. We told her that it was going to be sad to have our friends so far away, but it was only for a year and it was really exciting because they were going to have great adventures living in Australia. That made her feel better about them leaving, but then she wanted to know when we were going to get to do something exited. Dear Brooklyn - we will probably never do something as exciting as moving to Australia for a year, but we can live vicariously through our friends:)

So Norton family - for a year we'll miss you terribly, but we can't wait to hear about all your adventures down under.

Gettin' Crafty

I do not claim to be a crafty person, but every once in awhile I get a little bug and I pull out the craft supplies. I saw these cute little dolls on a friend's blog and thought Ella would love them. I made enough for all of Ella's friends at her birthday party and then I made a set for Ella to play with and one for our cousin Carli. I have to say that by the end of this project I was pretty much over making crafts but everyone has enjoyed playing with these cuties. The only problem - I can't find a glue to keep the ponytail balls on. I used wood glue for the heads, but it doesn't adhere fast enough for the little balls and I don't want to sit and hold all of those ponytails on until they dry. I used hot glue and I just keep regluing, but if I could find a solution that would be fantastic.

Hurricane Ike

This post is very delayed, but I loved these pictures. While Hurricane Ike did severe damage to Galveston and Houston, it just brought a lot of great rain our way. And playing in the rain is one of our favorite past times. My kids were really intrigued with the idea of a Hurricane, so we did some research and they knew a lot about them. So, when a hurricane (really a small tropical storm by the time it got to Dallas) hit us, they thought they were really brave to play in the storm.

Why sweep?

I have decided that sweeping up after meals is a fruitless endeavor when this is what occurs at many mealtimes at our house. I try not to give Porter any bowls, plates, spoons, forks, cups without lids, etc. It all ends up on the floor (he actually broke a plate today) and quite frequently on his head. So, keep in mind that my floors will no longer be "so clean you could eat off of them" (ha - like they ever are), but there will probably be plenty of food down there so you could have something to eat if you wanted - it just might be a little crunchy and Porter probably chewed on it first.