Zzzzzz....

Another Year Older and Wiser too...

My little baby Carter just turned SEVEN!!!  I can't believe it!  We usually have a couple of parties since Randall and I both have HUGE families, but this year Carter really wanted one big party.  We decided to be CRAZY and let him have his way.  It was tons of fun, even though we had 17 kids here (15 of them boys), all armed with light sabers.

I originally started making my kids Birthday cakes to save money.  However, when you buy 3 cake mixes, a box of rice crispies, 3 bags of marshmallows, Crisco, corn starch, 5 tubs of frosting, 2 bags of powdered sugar, 2 Wilton food colors, writing icing, a package of dowels, and who the heck knows what else...you may as well just buy a cake from the store. But where are you going to find a cake as cool as THIS:

That's right folks...it's time for my annual Birthday cake brag-a-thon.  Only this time, I actually made it myself!  (Okay, so I did have a little help from Tara, Bob, and BreAna, but I really did most of it myself. Ü)  Carter and all the kids LOVED it!

 

That being said, it took me HOURS to make...most of which I thought it looked like total CRAP.  However, I am pretty happy with the end result.  I guess it's sort of  like labor,  you eventually forget about the pain and agony because the final product is so adorable.  

The main event at the party was Uncle Jay and his awesome light sabers.  Each child got a turn to try to defeat Jay, and it was the highlight of the evening.  I'm kicking myself because I was videotaping instead of taking pictures.  The rest of the party was kind of a blur, but there was some present opening, cake eating, and crazy loud kids running around the house-ing.  As Carter says "It was good."  

That's A LOT coming from him.  Most of the time when I ask if he had fun at the zoo, Lagoon, etc. he says "not really" because "Lydia was just annoying me" or "I was just so tired of walking" even when he really had a great time.  Don't ask me why he does this, because as a mother who spends endless amounts of time and energy planning activities for nothing more than to see a smile on my kids' faces, it's VERY frustrating.  Carter even went so far as to thank Heavenly Father for his party during his bedtime prayer and also thank him for "Uncle Jay and his light sabers." 

 

 I can't think of anything better to showcase Carter's personality than by sharing his valentine to his Dad.  

 

They have actually never been ice fishing before, but they talked about doing it someday. 

 

Very short and to the point.  Not overly cloying or affectionate.  Carter actually hates kisses unless they're from girls his own age (which doesn't include his sisters).  I am fortunate enough to be allowed to kiss his cheek or his forehead, but Dad is not given that privilege.  Of course, Randall just considers this a challenge and wrestles him down to kiss his cheek every night.  Thus, the valentine.  

Carter can be very sweet, however.  He loves to take care of his little brother, and he can't wait for the time when Cameron's old enough to really play with him.  He also has a routine of saying "I like this better than Dad" every night at dinner.  Randall of course disputes this, and so the argument continues...

He and his Dad can often be found debating about subjects.  The latest one is whether his "real" Birthday was on Thursday or Friday of this week.  Randall tried to explain that he was born on the 25th, so even though his party was on the 26th this year, Thursday was his real Birthday.  Carter rebutted that he didn't have nearly enough people over/presents given on Thursday to make it his real Birthday, and thus he dubbed it his "fake" Birthday.  No amount of explaining will make either of them budge on this issue. 

FAVORITES

Food - "Chicken Fettuccini"  This is what he requested Grandpa make on his real fake birthday only over mashed potatoes instead of noodles this time.  

Movie- "Buzz" 

Color - "Red, Purple, and kind of white"  Is it weird that it bugs me a little that all the kids at school have finally convinced him that pink is a "girl color"?  

Toy - "DS"  His Birthday gift from us.  (Thanks Rach!)

What do you want to be when you grow up?  "A cop and science teacher"
TV Show - "Tom and Jerry"

FUNNY PHRASES

"I can't wait til I'm a human (grown-up)."

"CarTeR means the same as CTR."

"I'm going to go to my mission to the rainforest."

"I like it the last number percent:" (Try and beat THAT Dad!)

Carter may not be the cuddliest kid I've ever met, but he makes me smile every single day.  I love you Car2-D2!   

H2O

Mommy:  Make sure you eat your oranges.  That's the healthiest thing you're having for lunch.

Carter:  I thought you said water is the healthiest thing.

Mommy:  Water is the healthiest drink, but you need the nutrients you get from food.

Carter:  So, what does water have...old-trients?

3 Things

My ward just did an enrichment activity where everyone brought "a few of our favorite things."  For some reason, I love to know little tidbits of info about people, so I had a great time.  Here is what I brought...

I brought a pair of tennis shoes because
a.)  I love shoes.  I can still buy them and not get depressed because they're the ONLY thing that hasn't changed size since High School.  Tennis shoes are definitely not my favorite pair of shoes, however.  I prefer shoes that don't require socks and preferably have a heel so I don't look so short next to my husband.  The reason I brought the tennis shoes is to represent how much

b.)  I love walking.  It's starting to get a little bit warmer here, and I'm SO excited!  I used to walk around every neighborhood in the area back when I only had one kid and there were a LOT fewer neighborhoods.  Now I'm lucky if I can squeeze in a walk to the school to drop off the kids.

 

I also brought my computer mouse.  I don't really love the mouse per se (although it is cordless, which is a nice feature), but I love to 

a.) blog

b.) find good deals online

 

Then when I was reaching into my purse to grab this spatula to represent how much I love cooking my hand brushed past this -

 

and on an impulse, I pulled it out.  I'm sure my life would be much more difficult without disposable diapers (especially since I still have two kids wearing them), but I really meant for it to represent babies.  I  love babies.  Every time my baby turns a year, I start feeling a little sad that they're so big.  Don't get me wrong, I totally love the toddler stage.  They're so fun to watch when they're taking their first steps, calling me "ma-ma," and even when they're pulling all the crap out of my cupboards...but I still miss having a tiny little baby to hold all the time.  Don't worry, I'm still not quite ready for baby #5, but I think it's definitely time to start getting Randall used to the idea.  

So...what are your favorite things?  

Mullet-eah

I'm going to start out this post with a quote from my husband:

"Why do you even ask my opinion when you know you're just going to do whatever you want anyway?"

So...I have not cut Meleah's hair.  I think I sort of enjoy the challenge of coming up with hairstyles that actually work with the hack job.  I also can't think of a cut that would look normal aside from a buzz.  I don't know if you could tell from the horrible pictures, but there are sections that are literally half an inch long.  Therefore, I've been using the long hair that she has left to try to cover up the "business in the front" region.  The only problem I'm having is that I have to pull pretty tight to get those little snippets of hair in there, so now every time I tell her it's time to do "hair pretties" she says "No, I not like owies."  I do intend to cut it eventually, I just want to wait until it's a little bit longer in some areas.  I appreciate all of your input, but I'm afraid that for the sake of my vanity and pride I must go in a different direction at this time.  I hope that this will not discourage any of you from making suggestions in the future, and that no one's feelings have been hurt by this decision.  Ü

1st Birthday!

My little Cameron just turned 1 on January 7th, and I'm finally getting around to posting about it. 

Tara made cakes for Kayleigh and Cameron while my Mom was still in town for Christmas.   Aren't they cute? They were also DELICIOUS!

I used the leftover marshmallow fondant to make cupcakes when we got together with Randall's side on his actual birthday.  My kids LOVED helping me decorate them.  I bet you can't tell which ones I made and which ones the kids did! (I don't know if I'm complimenting the kids, or insulting myself with that last comment.) Ü

The cousins liked how the fondant made their tongues turn colors.

Cameron wasn't too afraid to dig right into his cake.

I'm pretty sure he's my messiest kid so far, which is kinda sad considering this is the end result.

 

 

He received lots of fun gifts...

 

and played with TONS of fun cousins!

Cameron is in such a cute phase right now.  He pretty much can walk, he just prefers to crawl.  Grandpa Bob is determined to get him walking, but for now Cameron's just content standing nice and tall while clapping his hands and looking around for praise...then carefully lowering to his knees and taking off.   He's been standing up in the middle of the floor without any assistance (no chairs/tables for him to pull himself up with) for a really long time now but he's just recently figured out how to lower himself to his knees rather than just crashing to the floor.

He also has a really funny laugh that he does all the time.  I wish I could describe it better, but it's just a really long, somewhat deep aaaa haaaaa sound that is just HILARIOUS!  It almost sounds like he's trying to impersonate our laughs instead of just having the usual baby giggle.  He especially likes to do it when his brothers and sisters are entertaining him or when we're watching America's Funniest Home Videos. 

We always seem to come up with some sort of a nickname for our kids and for some reason we call him Cameronian.  I have no idea who came up with it, but I love it when I hear Meleah call him "Cam-ern-on-i-an."  It's just so cute! We also call him Cam on occasion. 

Cameron is very similar to Meleah in nature.  He's very busy, determined, and curious.  It's very rare to see him sitting in one spot for more than ten seconds unless he's playing with something that he thinks is very cool.  The cool item doesn't even have to be wildly entertaining with lots of bells and whistles.  He just latches on to things sometimes (one day it was a pez dispenser) and then he hauls it around with him all day. 

Cameron also has a thing for Grandpa Bob.  Now that he's discovered how to go up and down the stairs safely (it only took FIVE trips down the stairs the unsafe way to teach him), poor Bob just can't get a moment to himself.  He'd much rather be with Bob than me, which is a little hurtful I'm not gonna lie.  I mean, I've spent the last year nursing him, changing his diapers, and waking up every two hours at night to soothe him back to sleep. Not to mention the nine nauseating, back-breaking months that I carried him in my womb.  I can't complain though, because Randall's the one that should really be upset.  Cameron calls Bob "Da."

I just want to write down all the cute little things that he does lately so that I'll never forget...like holding out his little chubby upturned hand when he wants something, or pulling his sister's hair over and over to hear their high-pitched reactions...but in an effort to get to bed before he wakes up, I'm going to just say that I'm so blessed to have such a fun little guy to chase around every day. 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Well, it happened.  The most horrible, upsetting, horrendous thing has actually happened.  Somehow I thought it would never happen to me.  I thought that maybe my children sensed how insanely devastated, how completely crushed I would be.  But alas, it has happened.

I originally thought that the only victims of the heinous crime were poor Hannah Montana Barbie and brand new Barbie Loves to Ride Her Bike.  Yes, I know...I need a new camera.  

But upon further inspection I found this...

I made an appointment to have her hair fixed IMMEDIATELY, which was unfortunately canceled.  I then took a moment to think about it and an image came into my mind...  Pretty sad that my scanned picture from 1985 is more clear than the stinkin' pics I just took yesterday!

Do I really want to re-create this?  My brother Steve cut me a cow-lick(?) when I was a little girl (I would NEVER have done such a naughty thing) and this is what my mother was forced to do to "fix" it.  I decided to experiment a little bit and came up with this...

I would probably have to do this exact style every day for MONTHS, but is it worth it?   Unfortunately, a couple of hours later it looked like this...

In her defense, she just finished throwing a massive tantrum minutes before I took this picture, which is part of the reason why she looks so tore-up tired.  Right now I'm just grateful that she doesn't look like this...

I found this random picture online when I was googling haircut ideas for little girls that chopped their own hair. 

Ever since the incident, whenever I mention pretties, brushing, or anything that has to do with hair, Meleah promptly says "I not cut my hair anymore, Mom."  That would be quite comforting if she didn't have the same response about eating my lipgloss, because I just found her slurping down my last tube of Victoria Secret Beauty Rush two days ago.  (I know... DISGUSTING!)  So, now I have to decide.   Shall I work with what I've got?  Shall I chop it all off (if for nothing else than to stop Randall from calling her mullet-eah)?  And while I'm asking...does anyone know where I can find an affordable camera that takes great pictures and lasts for more than 3 years?