Growing up...

So it has been forever since I did a "real" post so many things have been going on that I seem to get overwhelmed and think, "I can't post until I get caught up". Well I am going to post anyway. The kids continue to grow and it makes me sad to look at the pictures from last year to now and see how much they have changed. Riley's last day of school was on Thursday. He had grown and changed so much this last year. He reads so well and we were so lucky to have him in such a good school. I am so excited to get to have all my little ones home with me for the summer. The house just feels better when everyone is home. Another big development is Elle and her growing interest with the potty. Last Friday I ran to target and they had the cutest potty chair. It was only $12 and I figured we would give it a go. She had tried sitting on the toilet but always hopped off as fast as she sat down. I brought it home and figured it would just be a toy for a while as I didn't really think she was ready to start potty training. Well she dragged it into the bathroom and started stripping down. Sure enough she peed in it. I couldn't stop laughing, here is my 22 month old baby using a potty chair.



I thought it might be a fluke thing but she consistently uses is 2-4 times a day. I am not really pushing the full potty training yet, I am letting her set the pace. She is dry in the morning when she wakes up so we take her then and she is like "Speedy Gonzalez". Such a funny girl and just shows me how fast she is growing up. Brooke is her same cute self and just a busy body.



We are looking forward to a fun summer spent in the pool working on our tans. Work for me has finally slowed down and I will finally have a set in stone schedule that will start in July. I will work Wed and Thurs nights and that is it!!! It really hasn't been that bad as of lately but the days have been flip flopping around a lot which makes it hard to plan stuff on the weekends. But we have been blessed to only need a babysitter for about 5 hours once a week as it is so that makes it easier. In fact this morning my kids were devastated to wake up and see me here instead of the babysitter as they think she is more fun. (Some days I would have to agree). So the real true benefit of the new schedule will be that I will only need a babysitter for 1 morning and then I will have 5 days off and no weekends. Yipee!! Well I will try and write more often and keep up on this beast of a blog. I need to blog about all of our fun little vacations and Tom's graduation. Maybe tomorrow. Adios...

9

9. Nine moves....literally.
8. Eight Semesters of School.
7. Seven Sleepless years.
6. Six different cars (Mazda, Altima, Dodge Pickup, Blazer, Chevy Truck, and Minivan)
5. Five awesome Vacations (Orlando, NY, Hawaii, California, Yellowstone)
4. Four different jobs.
3. Three Beautiful Babies.
2. "Too" many kisses to count.
1. One very lucky girl.

Happy Anniversary Babe. I love you more than anything this world can offer.

Yummy....

So I have been fighting a nasty cold for a week now. Last night I finally decided to go to the Dr. and see what the deal was. It turns out I have "Walking Pneumonia".....yummy huh? I was able to get some antibiotics and some awesome narcotic cough syrup (what's not to love about that?. Needless to say, My house is a mess, my kids are a mess, and I am a mess. Once again I give praise to whomever invented Redbox, as "Bolt" has been a lifesaver over the past week. I'm off to order some pizza for dinner, and get in a hot bath, I don't think Tom has ever found me more attractive than I am now in my hacking, runny nose, pajama wearing hotness. Oh the joy!!!

Silly babies....

So today is another day spent in our pj's we watched "Over the hedge" and had a delicious lunch of peanut butter sandwiches. I was looking over some pictures that are overflowing on our SD cards and came across this video. I had to laugh out loud. This was last Sunday night while I was at work. I guess Tom decided to have a band with the kids. I like to think Brookie got her awesome air guitar skills from me. Tom is better at remembering to just "play" with the babies than I am. What a good daddy Tom is, I'm one lucky girl...

Momma snow day!

So we are having a blizzard here today and tomorrow...literally just watch the news. It is snowing so much that I was sent home from work today and told not to come in tomorrow! Yipee!!! I came home and took the kids with me to run the babysitter home, after we got back inside we were all soaking wet due to the snow and the fact that our apartments refuse to shovel the sidewalks....ever. So I made an executive decision to get back in my pj's to which all of the children followed suit. We have spent the hole day curled up on the couch in our pj's watching movie after movie and just enjoying being lazy. My kitchen is ferocious, but I really don't care. For breakfast we had homemade cinnamon rolls (it was also lunch for me) and I am making french dip sandwiches for dinner, followed with chocolate ice cream for dessert. All in all a nearly perfect day.

Riley

I had Riley's parent teacher conference on Monday night. It went great, it is so nice to go and have someone other than family tell you how awesome your baby is. Riley is doing really well in school and he is one of the best students she said she has. The teacher said he is the "sweetest boy" and "just so kind", and "so helpful" and the teachers "favorite student". Now mind you they could just be stroking my ego but I know Riley and they are all true. He is the only student in his class that has not had to “flip” a card for the whole year. It was so nice to hear that they think he is wonderful and gave me a little mommy pat on the back that though I make huge mistakes when it comes to raising him he is turning out to be an awesome little man. I was so proud of him, that I brought him home a dozen Krispy Kream donuts as a reward (for him and me). He was one happy little boy. I usually write the kids a note on the days when I am going to work, as I leave before them. Well last Thursday I didn’t have to work and this is what I woke up too, I mean honestly isn’t that the cutest thing ever? Way to go Riley, We love you!!!

TITLE: "This is not what I signed up for!!!"...or..."Somebody shoot me now!!"....

OK so it really isn't that dire but I have never remembered being quite so busy in my life. As many of you already know I got a PRN (on call) job at a local hospital. I actually really enjoy what I do and the pay is great. Now when I was hired on I wanted to be a "team player" and really help out, so they needed someone to cover on of the other girls maternity leaves. I figure OK, this could be crazy but it is only a couple days a week and the extra money will be nice. Well I have for the last month been working on average 46 a week. This has been so crazy, and stressful. As you can imagine this has left little time for housework, church callings or let alone all my girlfriends that I am missing terribly. I usually have Monday and Friday off and think OK I am going to catch up with everyone and everything but when it comes down to it, I end up spending the day cuddling with my kids and maybe doing some laundry. You should see the pile of laundry on my couch it would make blood shoot out of your eyes (Glenn Beck anyone?). Needless to say I know I have not be the best Mommy, Sister, Wife or Friend lately and I hope you can all forgive the lack of posts. Luckily I only have about 3-4 more weeks of pure terror and then things should slow down. I am looking at switching to a part time weekend position that would leave me home with the babies all week long. So that would be great. I miss them so much when I am gone at work and hate the thought that someone else is spending more time with them than I am but luckily it is only for a little longer. So sorry for the lack of posts, phone calls, emails and blog comments. I am still around and keeping track of all of you and soon enough it will all quiet down.......right? I am off to take a hot bath, cuddle with my babies, and hopefully get to bed before 11:30pm. Adios....
P.S. Angie, I am so glad you found my blog, shoot me an email @ Tom_Dani_Lillywhite@hotmail.com so we can catch up.

Hello again....

Wow, how fast time flies by with all the holidays and other busyness. We had a great Thanksgiving here in Colorado. It was so nice to be on our own time schedule with the meal and all but it was also soooooo quiet. We were able to go home the next weekend for Josh and Steffany's wedding and it was so nice to have everyone together. It was the 1st time in several years that all 8 of the siblings were together and it was a super fast trip but filled up my soul for at least a couple of weeks. Tom and I decided that he would take off the day after new years and we would head out to Utah for the New Year. Christmas was memorable. We had Papa Murphys for dinner on Christmas Eve and had a great Christmas day. We took the kids to see "The Tale Of Despereaux." Its a cute movie and movie popcorn and Christmas just go together. It was a fun day though we missed our families horribly. Luckily we knew we were going "home" in less than a week and that gave us something to look forward too. We left Wednesday night for Utah and Elle as usual got diarrhea about 1 1/2 into the drive. In Aspen Colorado we pulled over for the second time to change her and Tom ran into a grocery store to get some "bum cream". I started changing her not realizing what exactly I was getting into. Brooke started dry heaving.....literally, and I got poo all over myself. My hands and all of my left thigh were covered in a horrible stinky mess. Elle was also covered and at this point screaming at me. Tom came back around this time and after a change of clothes for both Elle and I. We made it to Frank and Amy's house in Payson around 1:30am. Tom and I shared a new years kiss in the car though it was less than romantic considering he was chowing down on some dill pickle sunflower seeds....blech! Frank and Amy were sweet enough to let us camp out at their house and we were able to spend sometime with them the next day. In fact Brooke and Ava got their picture taken at kiddie kandids for free and were soooo excited.
Brooke is still talking about "her" Ava. That evening we went to my parents house for a "New Years" party and got our "karaoke" on.Wow, Tom was never so excited to be married to me for all eternity...but it was fun and I think we all had a good laugh. The next day (Friday) we all just kind of hung out and played some games, then we went on a couples date to Tepanyaki and I had my first sushi. I ate part of a cucumber roll, it had eel, and had fish eggs in it. All night I just kept envisioning baby fish in my tummy. Riley almost died when I told him about it. After dinner we all went to watch Valkyrie. I actually really liked it though as a mom it made me worry about what my kids might see and have to experience in their lives. The next day was Saturday and we went sledding and then had dinner at Jed and Suzanne's. It was so fun to see everyone but as usual went by much to fast. I had wanted to see Krystal and her cute little baby girl, but we just ran out of time. Luckily we did run into Chris and Luke (he is getting sooo big) sledding so that was nice. Any how we are back and you all can expect posts on a nearly daily basis.