Happy BirhTHDaY to ME!

Yesterday was my birthday and I had such a GREAT day. Greg got up super early and decorated the house with balloons and streamers and the girls and him made a yummy crape breakfast. Then I went to lunch with a friend (Thanks Jen!) and then just hung out all day with my girls, going to the library and reading books. Then we went to dinner at Thai Delight YUMMY!! with my mom, grandma, and Marty came with the kids. After that we came back to my house and set my cake on fire! I can't believe I'm 33.... wow I'm old!

Fall Drive

Dognut Falls

ZING ZANG ZOOM

My Mom and Grandma took us to the Circus on Thursday. It was a fun show and the kids LOVED it! Thanks!

The Paris' came with us... and as always my kids loved that!

Its amazing what they get the animals to do...

Its all about the babies

I have been dying to go to the zoo and see all the cute babies. We finally went on Tuesday with my mother-in-law and Holly and Tyler with the kids. It was so much fun!! The babies are so cute and there are so many of them. A baby elephant, a baby giraffe, a baby snow leopard, and 3 baby tigers. But the best one for the kids was the baby orangutan (who really isnt a baby anymore) but she was so cute and fun to watch!

Remember that time?

For family night we took a drive up Butterfield Canyon to see the beautiful changing leaves and the wildlife. I really had no idea never having been in the canyon, how beautiful it is!!! Well worth the drive and super close to home!
As we were driving up the canyon we say tons of deer, we almost hit a mommy and baby dear (nearly).... then about 5 minutes later up the road. The conversation took place:

Brielle: "remember that time we saw a mommy and baby dear?"
Greg and I: "Yes honey wasn't that so long ago?" ha ha

So this picture doesnt really do it justice but the road can get really narrow up the canyon and it winds around corners. We almost hit head on to a few cars.... well Katie and I thought so anyway. She takes after me and is very nervous driving. There was a cliff on one side and a mountain on the other and passing cars was very scary. Katie on the way home said "I am just going to go to sleep back here so I don't freak out!"

When you get near the top of the canyon it really opens up into a large mountain range... I had no idea all this was so close to our house.

Good friends and food

We had our good friends the Paris' over for a hot dog roast on our fire pit the other day. We always have so much fun with them. My kids LOVE Addison and Carter, we are so lucky to have moved here and made such great friendships!

Fun for "almost" everyone

Last night Katie's cousin Ella invited her to go mini-golfing. Ella's grandma (Holly's mom) and sister Trisha took Ella and her cousin Cait and each got to choose a friend. Katie had so much fun!!! She couldnt talk about anything else. Especially something about a fire breathing dragon of somekind and squirting water!

Cait, Jane, Ella, and Katie--- cute bunch of girls girls!

Since Katie got to go out with Ella and have fun, Greg decided to take Brielle on a "Dadda Dodda Date" to Chick-fil-A. They had so much fun (I don't have any pictures, no suprise there!)
Since everyone was gone I decided to have the most fun of all! I went to the gym and worked out....OK you got me... it wasn't fun at all!!!

Today's school lesson

Greg: "Brielle what did you learn at preschool today?"
Brielle: "I learned to share with friends"... "and to not eat my boogers "

Thanks Jen!!!

Loving it

I forgot how much I love to do preschool. I haven't gotten a chance to teach yet and its still a ways off, but I am having so much fun doing cute posters for circle time. Most of the stuff could be reused from when I did it 2 years ago, but I wanted to make a cute personalized helper chart. I think it turned out so cute. Aren't the kids in Brielle's little class so adorable! Such a fun group!

Maybe I should think about teaching preschool for a job. I really love it.... but lets not get carried away!

Brielle starts preschool

This year I am doing another co-op preschool with some neighborhood moms for Brielle and her cute friends. I am so excited about it. I loved doing it with Katie and I think its going to be so much fun!

Brielle was so excited but when I went to drop her off she had the death grip on my leg. Can't say I really was sad about that. At least I know my baby still needs me! But she is growing up (WAY TOO FAST!!!) I can't wait till its my turn to teach, just 4 more weeks.

Daddy Dollars

Some of you may remember the "Pom-Pom" idea from a while ago (click here). It worked well for a while but then the kids sortof lost interest... or maybe it was me. I have a tendency to do that. But the other day I was reading my friends magazine (Family Fun) and came across this article about "Daddy Dollars". You can add your own picture to the dollar bill (nope that's not George Washington!) and then print them out to use as rewards for your kids and then they can spend the dollars at the "Mommy Mart".
In our Mommy Mart the kids can pay for things like playing with a friend, watching TV, candy, family date night at IHOP etc... pretty much anything that they love to do that is a privilege.

If you want to make your own click here