::cITy creek::

A couple of weeks ago (I'm a little behind) a new mall opened downtown.  I knew it was going to be CRAZY busy, so I wasn't really planning on going right away.   But the more I heard about it and how amazing it is (!!) the more I HAD to go.  I knew Mom would be up for it, and I happened to mention it to my friend, Robyn, and she sad she wanted to go too, so we made it a girl's day.  It was so fun!

We got there early (about 9:45-it opens at 10), so we had a little time to look at the fountain, have some juice and a muffin,  and grab a few pictures (like dorks!!).  We had to get there early before the crowd was too crazy.  We just wanted to see it really, we weren't planning on staying too long.

Laney & Chloe.  Scrabble @ Restoration Hardware.

This photo doesn't do justice to the size of the crowd.  It was HUGE!  They were gathered around to watch this group sing and dance.  This was right before we left.

So we walked around a bit, shopped a bit, had lunch at Cheesecake (a new one at this mall!), and ended up leaving somewhere around 5.  We didn't stay too long.  It was so fun!  The girls were so great!  They shopped for somewhere around 8 hours!  8 year olds!!  Awesome!  They got a couple of things, which always makes it easier :]  Plus they had each other, which is just plain fun.  It's the nicest mall ever!  There were live statues, live music everywhere, a creek running through the whole thing, some parts of it even had fish in it.  Some of the mall was indoors, some was out, and you're right downtown, which was so neat.  You could look out from the mall and see any major downtown landmark. I can't wait to go back!  Would you believe I've had dreams about it?  Yup.

::a little birthday::

She did it.  She turned 1.  I was kinda hoping she wouldn't, but she did!  She's 1!!  We had a little family party with her on her birthday (Wednesday).  A few presents, some singing, a candle, some cake, and that was it!

Bubb, Avie, and I picked up her cake in the morning, and ALL.DAY.LONG  Bubb begged (begged!) me for a piece of it!  It kinda made me mad!  Then Port came home and asked for a piece!  Really?  You think we're going to cut up her birthday cake and hand out pieces before she even has her party and blows out her candle and gets "happy birthday" sung to her?!?  Jeez!  Hungry boys.

So she opened her presents first 

(before she got all cake-y).

Then she had her cake.

...and she liked it 

:]

She's not walking on her own yet.  I guess she's kinda close.  She loves to walk around like this...

...and along the furniture.  Sometimes she'll get brave and let go of the couch for a second to switch to walking along the table.  She stands all by herself for a few seconds at a time, but not too often.  She pushes stuff (her lion walker, laundry baskets, big toys, etc).  She's super busy!!  Always taking stuff apart, pulling stuff out, putting stuff in, pushing buttons, switches.  She "talks" a lot.  It's baby babble.  But it's lots of questions.  Blegliglooglih??? And then she'll say almost the exact same thing again.  It's funny.  She says "uh oh"  A LOT, and she seems to know what it means.  She says it when she drops stuff, or throws something on the floor (which she does a lot!!), or when other people drop things, or when something/body falls.  She waves bye, and claps when we do or when we all say "yea.". She is super smiley! She laughs alllll the time!! She gets the hiccups when she laughs too hard (just like Chloe), and when we keep going after her she squeals this really loud cute, happy little squeal. She's really demanding. She lets you know when she's not happy, or when she wants something-usually she squeals. She's pretty attached to her mama. She likes to be held, and she always has to see what's going on. She likes to play peek a boo, and she likes when I hold her facing out and chase the other kids around the house. She puts her hands up when we hide stuff and say "where'd it go?" She dances any time she hears music.

Her one year stats...

weight:  18lbs 12 oz (14th)

height:  30" (77th)

head circ.:  44.7cm (38th)

Happy Birthday to our Teeny Moo!  We love her so much!  She's such a sweet baby sister.  She's so much fun, and we're so glad to have her in our family.  

::drawer cleaner-outer::

This is Ave's new favorite pastime.

PS

She'll be 1 tomorrow.

::long time, no post. right??::

It says on my dashboard that my last post was something like 3 weeks ago. I almost don't believe it. I don't think I've ever gone that long without posting! I don't know what the deal is. I guess it's due in part to life just not being that interesting, and partly to some computer program switcheroos.

A couple of Fridays ago, Chloe had a lip sync concert at her school. It was smack in the middle of the day. I thought I'd get there about 10 minutes early so we could get a seat up front. Pshah!! Try maybe if you get there 10 minutes early you can park within walking distance of the school!! So, Avie, Bubb, Portie, and I walked a little ways to the school (Ave in her stroller, Port and I on foot, and Bubb on my back-piggy style). It was fun. Lots of fun. It was standing room only in the auditorium. I found Robyn (my besest girlfriend (if that's allowed as an adult)) and stood kind of by her. I caught Chloe just before she went on stage, and grabbed a quick photo of her in her Hawaiian get up. We did the best we could. I swear, one of these days I'm just going to buy a dang grass skirt one summer day because inevitably there will be a beach/Hawaiian day at school in the middle of winter and we will need it and no store will have one! Anyway, she wore a little Hawaiian-ish print dress and a bow that Grandma & Papa Kitty brought back from Hawaii and a Hawaiian bracelet along with a lei and a shell necklace.

So they sang "Love Train." The costumes had to do with that part "people all over the world..." so that tried to get kids to dress up. She was on stage for about 2 minutes. It was fun to watch her. She was glad we were there.

Life's pretty normal. School's still going-but only for about 2 more months! Isn't that crazy?? They get out on May 31! Winter officially ended yesterday. There's still snow on the ground, but that's a new thing-we've had great weather lately. Bubba's driving me COMPLETELY nuts lately! It's over such dumb things too. Like he'll want to shut the door, and if I shut it, he loses it! He's scream and cry and tell me he hates me (or he says he hates Ava, when she didn't even do anything!), and it'll completely ruin his day. He's hungry all.day.long. He likes to come in about every hour and tell me he's hungry, and if I don't hop to it and give him something to eat he gets very upset. I don't mean to sound like I hate him or anything-because I love him SO much! He's so fun and so funny and makes us all laugh and he's so sweet, but some days... I guess we all have our moments. Portie's a sweet boy. He likes to play with Jaken-his BFF (but I'm sure that's not what he calls him. Dude! That's what he calls him!). Port and Jaken play about every other day. His mom and I are trying to see if we can get them in the same class again next year. We hope it'll work out. Avie has 2 teeth. They came out at about 11 months old. She also had her first ear infection a few weeks ago. It was so sad! Poor Teeny! She liked her medicine though, so that made it a little easier. She's trying to walk. She pushes her little walker around until it hits a wall or a piece of furniture, then chirps at us to turn her around.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Well, so there is one major thing that happened this last week. Our cousin/nephew, Jordan left on his mission on Wednesday. He'll be serving in the Argentina, Salta mission for 2 years.

We got to hear him speak in his home ward on Sunday before he left on Wednesday. Oh, what a great talk! It was darling! And very Jordan! I loved what he said about the temple. He said how special of a place it is, and that you don't even have to be inside to feel the spirit, that just being on the grounds allows you to feel the love of Heavenly Father and feel at peace and forget the world. What a lovely thing to say.

I met him when he was 9. He's grown up a lot, and grown up well. Chloe made him a card she forgot it, so we went back home to get it. He got a little teary when he read it. It said something about her going to miss him but being glad for his example. I agree.

I'm so happy and excited for him! We'll miss him, but we'll be here when he gets back :]

(Matt, Ava-almost 1, Me, Porter-5 1/2, Cooper-3, Chloe-8, & Jordan)

The end.

::snow::

On March 1st...


We're having the biggest snowstorm of the season. Nice.

A little late, don't ya think??

4ish inches so far, and it's still snowing.

Where was this in December/January??

We've moved on. We're ready for Spring!

Sheesh!!

::leap day::

Happy Leap Day!!!







We celebrated (inspiration here) with some froggy cupcakes, reading a little history on leap day, and writing down a few things about ourselves to put into a time capsule (most likely a shoebox) to open on the next leap day (in 2016), oh and also taking a little group photo to stick in there too. It was a little crazy to think of how old we will all be in 4 years. Avie will be 4 (almost 5!), Bubb will be 7, Port will be 9 (going on 10!), and Chloe will be 12. How crazy is that?? We won't even talk about how old Matt and I will be.

::Coopish::

Coopish is almost exactly like Portish, but with a few differences. It's SO funny! A lot of it he doesn't even say anymore because the big kids have corrected him, or he's corrected himself. But I thought I better get it down before I forget.

oil: "boil"

shelf: "shelth"
myself: "meself" then "myselth"

flip-flops: "fliplops"

use: "nuse"

computer: "greepeetuh"

iron: "ireen"

Chloe: "Kiss"

Baby Ava: "BeeAva" then "BeeBeeAva"

kitchen: "chicken"

belly button: "boodinah"

tootie: "toodilah"

four wheeler: "whidiloo"

chocolate milk: "hot chockameeo" then just "hot chocolate mile"

chocolate chips: "hot chocolate chips"

dinosaur: "dine-wih-suh"

Diego: "Digeigo"

Max and Ruby: "Woobymac"

Cheerios: "Chuh-yoes"
Cookie Monster: "kihkie wizzin"
marshmallows: "smahmullows"
fingers: "fuhguhns"
your: "zuh"
use: "nuse"
picture: "picki-chah"
Tahoe: "Hahoe"
iPod: called it the "tiny bit iPad"
Amberlee: "Amblee"
diapers: "da-buhs" then "die-puhs"
camera: "cramma"
pancakes: "pampakes"
Woody: "Woodity"
Mario: "Mahdio"
Luigi: "Leegie"

He calls his blue and brown blanket a "mummah."

He calls his little slip-on skimmers "big boy shoes."
He didn't (and on some words still doesn't) say his "r's", so those words end in "uh" sounds.

Some of this he said, some he still says. I hope I'll add to the list as he says new words. I love (LOVE) how he talks! It's so funny, and so then we all say things the same way he does. It makes me a little sad when he starts to say things the right way, or when the big kids correct him.

We love him. He's so much fun.

::it's all about love::

We had a fun valentine's day. The kids had their class parties and got lots of treats, and then they shared with Bubb when they got home (Bubb kinda likes candy). Then we stayed in. We cooked a heart-y dinner, exchanged valentines, and just had a lovely evening.

Our Valentine's Day in pictures...











xoxo.

::pay day::

So we made it through our first 2 weeks of our "jobs," all the way to pay day! And a happy day it was! The kids were so excited to get their money and go spend it (after their 10% to tithing, of course). We tried to explain to them that they'll get more money in another 2 weeks and they can get something bigger and better (like a Wii game or save for a 3DS or something), but it seemed to fall of deaf ears. It was burnin' a hole in their pockets already, and they'd only had it for a few minutes!
'


So here's our system...

Chloe and Port each have 10 jobs worth 10 cents each (so they can make $1/day.) If they do their job with a happy heart, they can double their money (20 cents) and possibly make $2 for they day and even possibly make $20 for the 2 weeks! Awesome, right? They really did pretty well. Bubb only has 5 jobs 'cause he's little. They didn't quite make the full $20, but they did pretty good :] Chloe bought some Poke'mon cards (it's some kind of "thing" with the kids in school) and had money left over. Port bought Mario Kart for the Wii (he had some left over Christmas money), and we split the cost with him since he wouldn't be the only one to play it :) , and he had some money left over. Bubb got a blue car that makes LOTS of noise and even drives by itself (he had some leftover Christmas money too), and had some money left over. We were big on them having money left over.

Glad to have 'em on the payroll.
:]

::lakers game::

Last Saturday, we, along with Jared and Sarah, took our tickets from Santa and went to the Lakers/Jazz game in Salt Lake.  First we went to Z-Tejas for dinner.  Oh!  It was goooood!  And there were TONS of Lakers fans in there, so that was kind of fun :]

 The game was not s'good.  The Lakers lost.  Matt and J made sure to zip up their jackets over their Lakers shirts after the loss.  That's alright, it was a fun night.  I hear their road record is turrible.  TURRIBLE!

(The only photo of the night.  Pre-game.  I was all ready to get a photo of Matt and I with the court down behind us, and realized the memory card was NOT in the camera!  My specialty.  So I was left with my phone, and one not very good picture.)

In other news...

What's new this week?  Not a whole lot with us.  We've all just been tickin' along.  The kids are good.  Parent/teacher conferences went great.  Chloe and Port are doing awesome.  Their teachers say they are super proud of them and think they're awesome.  We agree :]  Bubb gets to go to a preschool open house in a few weeks, and he's so excited about that.  He thinks it's awesome that he's going to go to preschool (I'm a little nervous about it).  And the teeny girl might be teething.  I'm not sure.  She doesn't have any teeth at all (they've all been late teethers), but she's been kind of clingy, a little warm, super drooly (which actually isn't abnormal for her), but she's been really tired and cries a lot.  I don't know, I guess she could be trying to get sick, but I think I felt a bump when I stuck my little finger in there for a quick second before she knew what I was doing.   I guess we'll see.