3 Jan 13

Today we went to the children's museum.  It was small but had some great stuff, like did you know that the first video phone was made in 1966. Crazy huh!
Favorite quote of the day where when mallory was serving me a meal and i complained like she sometimes does. She promptly told me that " somebody needs a nap".

Finished

Before Preston read the last chapter in the Book of Mormon we gave him his very own Scriptures with his name on them.  He finished read in those. We are so very proud of him.

New Years Resolution

A couple of years ago my friend did a goal of taking a picture and writing a blog post everyday for a year. It was fun to see her days and really get to know her family. Since I have all but given up on my blogging I have decided that I need that kind of motivation. So one of my goals this year is to picture blog post eveyday. Yeah!!
So here we go
Preston turned 8 and was baptized on his birthday. We ordered 50 invites and he had a blast giving them to just about everybody at school. We had lots of friends come out, including our bus driver, Frank, he is awesome. Preston was truly ready for baptism. He had read the Book of Mormon completely, his dad had given him the missionary discussions and he prayed to know the truthfulness. I am so proud of him for taking this step.

Preston really is a great brother. He and Spencer are best friends a fact that I know because their teachers tell me that they always play together at recess if they can and are so excited to see each other in the bus line at the end of the day. Preston is also great with Mallory. He plays dolls with her and reads to her and lately he has learned how to include her in games without really including her in the games, which makes her happy so I am ok with it. Preston still has a little nervous twitch but he can control it better which is a good thing. I am glad that in the church they start giving talks and such at an early age because that have helped a lot. Preston has an amazing imagination and has started to tell stories at night to his siblings because Dad is not often home to do it. His "not family" best friend is Teancum who is in his class at school and church. He is a great influence on Preston because he loves to read and do school work. Prestons favorite color is orange, favorite food is still Peanut Butter and Jelly and he still hates sauces in any form. He plays soccer and is actually pretty good at it but doesn't love it enough to push himself. He did swim team this last year and improved leaps and bounds. I look forward to see what he can do this year. He also does Parkour and loves it. And because Mom and Dad love basketball so much he will be playing in January. We love Preston and so glad that he made us parents.

Every year it happens

Every year I think, Wow I can't believe he (Spencer) is ONLY (fill in the blank). I know it is supposed to be the other way but with Spencer it is different for some reason. I don't know if it is because he does everything that Preston does or if (because I am an honest person) he is a little bit of a difficult child. But I can't believe that he is ONLY 6. Having said that....I really do love this kid. He is super smart, and funny and is so nice to everybody but his sister. We had a great day on his birthday and we are excited for his upcoming birthday party (he has decided to wait until our neighborhood pool is open so he can have a swimming party- it is under construction for repairs).

We started the day with our traditional cake for breakfast and because it is a year when he gets a cake at his birthday party I didn't have to make this one super cool or anything. (side note. we only have friend birthday parties on even birthdays)

 Spencer wanted to go to the rain forest cafe for dinner. I am not a big fan of the place. It is really expensive and always crowded. But I couldn't talk him out of it not matter what.

 He got some really cool presents this year, these water guns and a microscope (which dad got some blood samples from work)

 Vaughn was a big fan of the food, as always!

 Mallory was just so excited about the place that she kept giving daddy loves.

 Afterwards, in a moment of weakness, Garett agreed to go on a horse ride. The kids likes it and so I guess that is all that mattered.

Spencer, we love you so much. We are proud of the young man you are turning out to be. Thank you for all the cuddles and love that you give us. Happy Birthday

April ( a little back tracking)

Just a few random pictures from April.

 Vaughn is growing super fast like all babies do but he just keeps growing and growing. The kids is a beast and I love him. He loves to crawl and stand up all over the house and as a result he always has bumps and bruises all over his face. He looks a lot like Spencer and when he get a bump he looks exactly like Spencer did at this age, minus the red hair. He is a really good kid and already listens better then Mallory does. He loves Salta and in fact that was his first word, before mama and dada.

In April I got really sick, actually we all got really sick but I seemed to have gotten it the worst. So Garett got this great idea to give me an IV. Well the first time didn't turn out so great. Let's just say that there was kids screaming, eyes totally dilated, breathing stopped and Mallory calmly telling Garett that I was dead. Somehow he conviced me to let him try again the next day and here is that picture.

Vaughn is the 4th kid and has learned how to take care of himself. They boys no longer leave their lunch on the ground.

Mallory, Mallory, Mallory. What can I say. I love her and it is a good thing that I do cause I would have sold her a long time ago. Garett says that I created her to be the way she is but I totally disagree. Just because I dress her in amazingly awesome outfits does not make it so she can't hear. She has her moments. Like when she is at Dance class, which she has her recital in 2 weeks. She is also in Swim lessons. She loves to play make believe but only if you play with her and Vaughn playing with her is not good enough.

We busted out the Signing Time videos to help Vaughn but Mallory loves them more. Here she is signing dirty after she put on her black lipstick. So pretty!

He is a little of that standing up action that I told you about.

They love watching things cook. They will sit there for  30 min. just watching the German pancake rise up.

We moved Vaughns room over to the other side of the house. Farther from Garett and I am in a room that has better air conditioning. The first night the kids wanted to welcome him so they all slept in his room with him.

This is Vaughn on the other side of the room. So basically I am not really sure why we bought such a big house cause we could totally make do with a 2 bedroom.

We have taken pictures of the kids almost every Sunday. I just thought these ones where cute.

He still looks just like Garett. He is really starting to grow into a man. We have been working on being a gentleman alot lately. There is a girl here who is just his buddy but she sure likes to push Preston's buttons and she knows that he is supposed to be a gentleman and so she makes sure that he is.

Love this kid!

It's funny that he looks so different in clothes then his brothers did. I am still trying to figure out what colors and stuff look good on him. But in the end it doesn't really matter cause he will get whatever is handed down to him

When we go to the store, every old lady has to stop us and ask me where he gets his red hair. Now I like old ladies (my mom is one) but sometimes I just don't have time. So I decided that it was time to cute his hair, hoping that if it was shorter then people wouldn't notice the red as much.

Actually all my other kids got there first haircut when they where just a few months old but Vaughn with his hair being so light never really needed one.

Oh and I just wanted to show off my latest project. I glass etched my front door. It used to be just glass and anybody could just see in. It turned out pretty nice.

Mother's Day(S)

We don't really do anything big for our anniversary and at Christmas time we really just focus on the kids, and most years I buy my own birthday cake but Mother's Day is my day. My first Mother's day I told Garett all my expectations(snobby, maybe) and he has never failed me. But this year was EPIC.
So Thursday before I was a little grumpy...I don't remember all the reasons but I know that I had dropped our camera and broke it that day, hence no pictures. So Garett gives me a card and immediately I was giddy. The card had the next 3 days planned out. It gave me the times, dress code and a hint (which was in scripture form). Now just to clarify I would have been happy if that was all I got because I could see that Garett put a lot of thought and effort into planning. Cheesy I know but he works a lot and doesn't have a lot of time so the fact that he gave some of the time to planning this for me was awesome. Ok so I don't want to make this super long, especially since I don't have pictures.
Friday- Temple and dinner
Saturday- Corsage making with the boys, this year they really helped and it was so much fun. I made a total of 16.
-Then a hike, picnic and cold stone. Oh and we went shopping for a mother's ring. Ended with a chick flick.
Sunday- Breakfast in bed. Then Garett took all the kids to deliver the rest of the corsages while I took a extra long shower (best gift ever). Then dinner and desert followed by presents. I got an outside trashcan, bike rack, bedframe, and a bunch of other things that was on a honey do list. Best gift was the boys made a angry jar. So when I get mad at them, I go and pull out a piece of paper. They say stuff like "mommy you are beautiful and stuff. They thought of it all by themselves. I also go all the cute homemade school stuff.

Oh but wait there was a bonus day...Tuesday we went the the 5th game and saw the SPURS play. Yep, we are now spurs fans. Go Spurs Go

Thank you Garett for all the awesomeness. Thank you kids for all the love and attention (Spencer gave me his bell to use for the day, all I had to do was ring it and they all came running). And thank you to a Father in Heaven who gave me the opportunity to be a mom. Best thing ever!!!

 I told you I drop our camera so these are all from my phone and I don't have a cool smart phone so...
Above is the boys making corsages.

 Garett and I on our hike

Yummy

He's got some skills

10 years ago if you would have asked me if Garett was handy with tools I would have laughed in your face. 5 Years ago, I would have shrugged and said a little. 2 years ago I would have said he was more of a brains type of guys but he could hold his own. Ask me today and I will tell you he is amazing. Since we moved into this house nine months ago he has built from scratch..Washer and dryer stand, bunkbeds, turtle cage, garden planter, bench (not really the whole bench but he did some serious overhauling), bike rack, and literally 5 min ago finished a bed frame.He has also put together a half dozen Ikea pieces. We have realized that over the years he can't do fragile and cute stuff. He does heavy, sturdy and unbreakable. It is up to me to make them look nice. Below are just some of the projects he has done. 

  This is our garden. It is growing so well. In fact in another day or two we will be eating our first squash. (Shout out to Garett's day who helped to build it)

 Here is the bike rake that he finished today. Super cheap, super easy and make the garage super organized.

 The bunk beds that he put together. They can either be in an L shape or as is. They are stained blue and it looks way better in person.

He is a link to the bench http://ncjacksonfive.blogspot.com/2012/07/vaughn-everett.html. I will take pictures of the bed when I get it all finished and pretty.

Turtles Cage. Which we are to the point where we almost have to get him another one. He is growing so fast. As you can see I haven't put much effort into making this one look good. It is just so low on the projects list. Turtle doesn't seem to mind.

As much as I love him and am so proud of his skills. I can't end this post without tooting my own horn. All of the above projects (except turtles cage) were thought up/designed by me or pinterest (which I found). He of course wished I would stop thinking and searching pinterest.