Uncle Ben and UVU

Last week uncle Ben invited us to the UVU kids night. It was SO much fun!

As we walked in they handed each of the kids their own basketball and UVU T-shirt. They also played ball with the kids. They had dinner and fair type games for the kids to play for prizes. Lily liked watching the dancers and cheerleaders.

 They were able to have the entire men's basketball team sign the balls.

 She was so excited to get her own ticket to the game the next night.

 

 Uncle Ben at the end of the line signing balls.

 This little one was having fun crawling around too.

 Lily and Jake playing around with their new stuff.

 All the stuff we walked away with. I love the little onsies they gave to the babies!

 I had to take a picture of Tyler making our gear look "just right" fr the picture.

 Here are couple of pictures from the pepperdine game the next evening. Alyssa liked her new shirt and enjoyed watching everything.

 Daddy and his girls. (Alyssa has found her nose and her finger is usually up there.)

 Lovely Lily.

Today's Agenda

8:30 AM: Wake up (late) and get the kids ready and eat breakfast for school.
8:45 AM: Run Ty and Jake to school.
8:55 AM: Finish feeding Lily and Alyssa (and myself) breakfast
Clean up breakfast/kitchen
9:30 AM: Put baby down for a nap
Continue cleaning and get lily dressed and hair done.
10:30 AM: Pick up Jake from Kindergarten
10:45 AM: Go to playgroup and hangout with other mommies who are also going mad.
Try to enjoy some mommy time, but end up with a screaming Lily who cut her ankle. She wants to go home. Entertain Jacob by constantly giving him ideas of what to do with the other children. Feed Alyssa cheerios and help her avoid getting hit in the head by the basketballs flying around.
12:30 PM: Pick up Tyler from school (because it's raining)
12:45 PM: Make and feed everyone (5 of us) lunch.
1:15 PM: Put baby down for another nap
1:30 PM: Get Lily and Jake to have a "quiet time."
1:30 PM: Enjoy MY quiet time by catching up on the 'Parenthood' episode I missed last night and fold laundry while I watch.
Clean up and chat on the phone with my sister. Fix lily's hair for dance.
2:45 PM: wake Alyssa early and take Lily to her ballet dress rehearsal.
Come home and nurse Alyssa and read to Jake.
4:00 PM Send Tyler to scouts
4:00-4:30 PM: get everything ready to leave for the night (or blog for a few minutes. :))
4:45 PM Go pick up Tyler from scouts, pick up Lily from dance
5:00 PM: Hopefully on the road to pick up Randy from work.
Pick up something cheap for dinner
6:30-6:45PM: Be seated and ready for Uncle Ben's basketball game at Weber state.
Enjoy the game. Hopefully not too much whining and boredom from the kids because their cousins will be there.
9:00PM: Head home for an hour and a half. Hopefully with happy/content children! I said "hopefully!"
10:30 PM: Feel guilty for getting the kids home late on a school night. Usher them to bed through the screaming and late night tantrums. Nurse baby again.
11:00PM: Enjoy a few minutes of alone time with Randy before we both collapse from exhaustion.
 Sleep. Repeat some of the same tomorrow. 

It figures

I made some beef and bacon bundles with Worcestershire gravy for dinner the other night. The house smelled heavenly.

 Dinner looked tasty too!

 The kids, however didn't appreciate the smell, taste, or time it took to prepare. What did they eat instead?

 

Cold cereal. And they each enjoyed it so very much!

It figures.

Lily's hair

I really should post my hair dos for Lily, but I never quite remember before it is all messed up! Anyway, here is Lily's hair the other day. I thought it was cute. No, that's not a bun in the front! That's Jakes head. ;)

9 months

Guess who is 9 months old?! Well, it was technically 9 months on Thanksgiving, but as you can imagine, we got super busy with Thanksgiving family stuff. We were able to get some cute shots of her that day though.

 It is hard to get her to hold still. she crawls around like a pro now.

 Isn't she a cutie?!

 Amanda was sweet to take these pictures for me. Thanks Amanda for the fun visit too!

 Some photos are cuter than others. Hahaha

 me and my girl.

 

 she loves pickles and is gnawing on one in this picture

 I had a hard time getting her to hold still today for a photo shoot.

 She kept making this scrunchie face instead of smiling. It was hilarious

 Or she would look at her distracting brother and sister

 She didn't cooperate, but that's the way it goes for a nine monther right?

 My wonderful baby girl facts
Favorite foods: she loves cheerios.Seriously, she really loves them, no other cereal/baby snack food will do. She also really enjoys squash, pears, applesauce, and sweet potatoes.
Favorite things to do: Crawl and stand. She can crawl up the stairs so fast now. She can go anywhere she wants in no time at all, even climbing over obstacles to get where she is wanting to go. She enjoys watching her brothers and sister and laughs at whatever they do. (They can't get enough of her either) She isn't quite walking yet and that surprises me. At the rate she was going, I thought for sure she would beat Jacob's walking at 8 and 1/2 months old. Alyssa can stand up without using anything, but when she wants to go she just sits back down and crawls. She is so funny. She has recently discovered her nose and can be found with her finger up her nose a lot of the time!
Favorite bedtime things: Alyssa loves her pacifier. She also loves her "Minky" blankee. She goes to bed fine with them, but if she doesn't have them with her it is sure hard for all of us.  She sleeps through the night still and is an angel as far as sleeping goes.
Favorite words: Alyssa can say "Mama" and knows what it means. She also says "bababa"and loves to spit with her tongue hanging out.
Teeth: she has two bottom teeth and I can see the top teeth starting to break through.

She adds so much to our family. She is so very loved. The moment she wakes, everyone is in her room trying to get her attention. All the kids love to hold, play, sing, tickle, maker her laugh, and whatever else there is to do with a little baby. I can't believe she has been out of my tummy as long as she was in! It is crazy how time flies. I am trying my hardest to appreciate the little things that she does as she grows. I have learned that the first year goes by so so quickly. I give her lots of kisses and cuddle her anytime I get the chance.  She doesn't like to cuddle though, so nursing is pretty much the only time I get to cuddle. Love you baby girl!

Halloween

 We are kind of crazy Halloween freaks at our house! We have so much fun with it though. Jakey, Tyler and I have dressed up as three different things each this past week! So of course I have to post more photos of us dressed up as different characters.

Lily was the only consistent one. She was Rapunzel every time we dressed up.

 Jake

 Jake was a fantastic 4 character. I didn't know which one he wanted to be, but he wanted his face painted, so I copied his costume and made a 4 on his face. Hahaha. he loved it though.

I decided last minute that I would dress up as well and I did face painting makeup...again. I went with a corpse bride. I thought it was cool. Then I added the fake blood and had issues with it. Oh well.

 Tyler wanted to be Buzz Lightyear. He asked me to paint his face and I nearly died of shock!! I wasn't entirely sure how to paint Buzz because, well, he has sort of a normal face. I decided to paint the swirl on his chin and his crazy eyebrows. Tyler liked it, so I guess that is good enough.

 Jake with his "shades"

I have to give a big THANK YOU shout out to my sister-in-law Lisa! If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have all these fun choices for our boy's Halloween costumes!

Ward Trunk or Treat

We had our ward Trunk or treat last night and it was really fun! I decided since I didn't have a costume (I know shocker!) that I would paint a mask on my face instead. 

This is what I came up with.

 Lily decided that my hair wasn't good enough so she had me throw on a purple wig! I look terrible with purple hair! And now I know that I should never cut my hair in an A line! hahaha.

 Jacob was a skeleton. I only had about 5 minutes to paint his face. He was pretty disappointed in the outcome. :( He didn't let it get him down though.

 Tyler the Grimm reaper.

 My princess Rapunzel in her wedding dress. I asked her to pose for a picture. This was the clearest shot I got considering there was a lot of spinning around involved!

 Ready for action! It looks like Rapunzel has been taken by some scary bad guys!