Snow Much *{FUN}*

Since it's starting to look like spring is upon us, I thought I had better squeeze in a little post about *sNoW.

 
Ava was kind of small to be out in the snow last year, so this year was super fun for her.  She had a new coat, boots, snowpants, gloves etc. 

She looked the part!

So off she went to play with Molly.....

....and Jillian.

But soon it was getting too cold & dark, so it was time to come in.

But Ava didn't want to of course.

How did she go so quickly from this.....

To this??!!!

*sigh*

In Your Face!

God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.

-William Shakespeare

Gimme a big 'ol hug and make it all better!

...this.

Ava, after tripping a little bit and bumping the shower enclosure:

"Shower hurt me!  I got a boo-boo on my skin. I need a sticker(bandage)."

I just love toddler talk.

Ava Turned *~2~*

Whoa baby! This is my ~6th~ post in 6 days! That's a first for me!!!!

I love this new blog frame from Megan! These are a few recent photos of Ava that were taken in March & April. No, she isn't on the bottle any more. She went cold turkey in March and never looked back. Yay!

Ava turned *2* on Saturday! I still can't believe that Heavenly Father sent her to us. Isn't that weird to say? I look at her every day and think to myself how lucky we are to have her here. We really thought we were done with kids. Brycen was my last and he was already 9 by the time Ava was born. I just figured our family was as complete as it was supposed to be. Delightfully, I was wrong!

She has been a complete joy! I guess I'm realizing how busy I was when I had the others. Macie, Molly and Brycen are all a year apart. I didn't really have time to enjoy the baby years like I am with Ava right now. Having 4 kids ages 5 and under was soooo tiring. 3 were in diapers at once. Jillian was just entering Kindergarten, so they were all home most of the day. And how much can a 5 year old do to help Mommy anyway? Now...I'm not saying I didn't enjoy those years with the kids. I'm just saying that it flies by so much faster when busier. I wish I had taken more time to just slow down and soak in all the moments.

This time around, the 4 older kids are SUCH a big help! They have all done their share of changing diapers and I have built-in babysitters. I have alone time with Ava while the kids are at school. It's nice to be one-on-one with her. Things aren't as busy when there is only 1 small one at home. I feel like I have all the time in the world to enjoy her.

Whew. 2 years old already. I wish I could freeze time!

Lanie's Layouts

Elements by Maelia Designs, Jaelop Designs, Delicious Scraps

Paper by Maelia Designs

Ok, so I made this layout last week and I really like it, BUT I feel like it's missing something! What is it missing? Am I missing some sort of element? Or, am I just being too critical? Don't answer that one.

I'm new to this whole digiscrapping thing and I can't afford Photoshop, so I strictly work with my own cheap program and now I'm starting to use Paint.net. Paint.net is a free program. I like it, but man, I'm lame when it comes to learning it. I certainly need to use tutorials all the time to use it! It is supposed to be close to using Photoshop Elements, but I have no idea if it actually is because I've never used PE.

All I know is that I really like digital scrapbooking and I really need to figure out what the heck is wrong with my camera so I can take more pictures! I've been using Jillian's, which is fine, but I'd really like to use my own since it's a Canon EOS. I think I could get better quality photos to work with if it actually functioned.

Anyway, here is one more layout that I did recently. I loved

that I found word art that goes perfect with it!

Elements by: Digi Designs by Nicole , Jaelop Designs. Word art by Digi Vickie

Oh, by the way, all the elements, paper and word art I used in these 2 layouts were free! You know i luv freeeeee.

Macie's a teenager now!

What am I going to do with ~*2*~ teenagers now?! Yikes!

My sweet little Macie Boosies is now an official teenager having turned 13 today. She has grown up a lot in the last 6 months. She does NOT like Hannah Montana any longer. Oh no, she is beyond her. Now she is into top 40 music and IM'ing with her friends. No more cartoons...just bring on the telephone. -sigh-

I'll miss my little girl, but I'll now enjoy the young woman she is becoming.

*~*~Happy Birthday Macie~*~*

EDIT***One more thing I forgot to add about Macie turning 13....she is super excited that she can now sit in the FRONT SEAT of our van! She is old enough and weighs 2 pounds over the recommended weight. Weeeeeee!

Try it Tuesday.....Smuckers Uncrustables ~A KIDS REVIEW~

This post is a little late because the kids had school today and then we went to Molly's Christmas choir concert. She played a cute mouse in the Nutcracker. She did an awesome job. Dad missed it because he is snow plowing, so we bought a dvd that was made so he could see it at home.

Anyway, I waited for the kids so that they could do this review. Why not? Smuckers Uncrustables are meant for kids anyway right?

Before I let them take over, let me say that we were able to try these Uncrustables for free. Weeee! I am a Bzz Agent, so I try products and services and then give my feedback on them (www.bzzagent.com).

Uncrustables come in these flavors:

-PB & Grape Jelly
-PB & Strawberry Jam
-Cheese
-PB & Honey on Wheat (couldn't find this one in Meijer or Wal-mart)
-Peanut Butter

I also saw at the Uncrustables For School area that they will have a soy one coming out (might already be out somewhere).

Ok...enough of me...now for the kids review!

*Jillian* says:
(age 15)
Hey, since I get up for seminary. I pull the Uncrustable from the freezer, and it's unfrozen by lunch. Which is 12:04pm eek. I tryed the Strawberry and PB one when my mom first found them. [Which is my favorite!] Then I had a PB&Grape one today. I thought they were gonna be soggy but, there not :] The sides of the Uncrustable are harder than I would like though. :[ The bread is soft also :D I think that being a teenager, I'd love to have a PB&Marshmellow Fluff one.

*Brycen* says:
(age 10)
I like hockey and when I eat it, I get strength to play hockey and football. My favorite kind is strawberry. I like how they are frozen and you just take them and put them in my totebag and just go on the bus and wait until lunch time. And then it will be all thawed out and ready to eat. And I always want to take 2, but I take one because my Mom tells me to. I wish they were bigger so if I want to take 2, I would have one big one instead of taking 2. I want them to make one that has bacon in it or a BLT.

*Molly* says:
(age 11)
I like the Uncrustables. I like the grape one. I wish they had a smores one. I like the grape one because it's the same taste as the regular PB and J sandwich I can make at home. I like when I go to school, I can just heat it up. I like it hot. I want to try the grilled cheese one. I wish they had more flavors in a box, so I could just bring one to school and then when I come home, eat a different one.

*Macie* says:
(age 12)
They're good. I like the edges of the thing cuz it's squishy and hard at the same time. It doesn't let the insides out. It's easy to carry around. I like the PB and grape one. There is too much pb though in it. I want them to try and make a cotton candy or bubble gum one. They can also make, if they want, a chocolate one or snickers one so that it's a snack and a sandwich at the same time.

So there you have it. A kids review of Uncrustables. Boy, my kids want some strange concoctions don't they?! But hey, it's their opinion :)

Trick or Treat

This was Ava's first year to dress up for Trick or Treating. She loves "The Bee Movie", so since I already had a bee costume, she was a bzzzzing bee :)

My camera is still messed up, so Jillian used hers to take some shots. Ava is very much like a buzzing bee and doesn't sit still. So these shots are the best we could get. She had cute little antenna's on her head, but they kept flipping back, so it was hard to get them in the photos. Ugh. Plus she ate a sucker before she left (to keep her occupied so that I could put her costume on), so her hair and hands were sticky even before we left to trick or treat.

I love how The Munsters was on t.v. in the backround. Perfect for Halloween!

Geesh! Excuse the druggy look on my face in the background. Or maybe I just look evil. I'm not very photogenic.

Since the time change isn't until tonight, it was VERY bright outside when we first left to Trick or Treat. But that was good since there were so many trick or treaters to watch out for on the roads.

All tuckerd out (and stickier of course) on the way home. She fell asleep early after all this fun, so I'm sure she had a good time. :)

I didn't get any photo's of the other kids because Jillian didn't take any. Oops. Poor Brycen had a fever, so he missed his class Halloween party PLUS all the trick or treating. I knew he MUST be sick if he didn't want to get candy. We tried to get the other kids to carry his bucket, but people aren't so nice when they think they are being cheated. Poor Brycen. He did sit with me in the car all cuddled up in his blanket while the other kids trick or treated. Not really much fun for him, but there wasn't much we could do about it. The other kids shared a bit (reluctantly of course), so he won't have an empty candy bucket.

You can see in the following picture...he was looking a little out of it, poor kid.

I have one last picture, but it's a bit scary, so get the kids out of the room....-hee hee-...................

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Jillian wanted to be a dead prom date. Scary! Even Ava couldn't keep her eyes off of her. I never used to let my kids be scary things for Halloween. Now that they are older, I guess I have decided to let them decide for themselves (within reason of course). Jillian is in the SADD group at school, so she says she wanted to look like she got hit by a drunk driver on prom night. She had a SADD message with a heart shape on her chest. Ok...I guess I can't complain about the scary part when at least she has meaning behind it right? Hmmm.

P.S......Today is my niece Christi's birthday! Hope you had an awesome day girlie!

Beep...the kids can't come to the phone right now...they are back at school! Whoo hoo!

It was back to school day on Tuesday for the Weihl kids. They aren't little any more, so not all of them would let me take pictures in their school clothes and back packs (oh, I'm sorry...according to my kids, they are called,'tote' bags).

Like Holly's post, here is how Macie really felt of Mom taking photos.

And here is one where I forced her to smile and act like she was luvin' every minute of it.
Notice that she is matching from head to toe! She really likes the turquoise color along with brown. We didn't notice that her outfit matched her tote bag perfectly until later in the day. Too funny.

Here is Molly in one of her new outfits.
She is the only one who actually enjoys getting her photo taken.


Jillian would smile for the camera, but didn't want her whole body to show. -sigh-


Brycen ran to his room as fast as he could to avoid Mom's need for documentation, so there are no pics of him this time.


I won't show the picture that we took of Ava today because I didn't realize until later that she had a small amount of gag-me-with-a-spoon dog poo on her nose! She found a little pile of the disgusting stuff in M&M's room today. Ew. Anyone want a min-pin who can't be trained for nuttin'? Blech.

At least I'll always be able to find some poo for my famous p sandwiches or p salad though right? Ugh. Sorry. It's been one of those days.

Brycen-isms

I am raising a comedic crazy boy. Brycen does and says things that crack us all up. It's hard to keep a straight face while telling him that it's not appropriate to squat down with his knees in his shirt and do the, "boobie" dance. Yeah, I'm one proud Mom.


Here are a few things that he has said (2 of them as recently as a day ago) that make me crack-up, yet may be on the inappropriate side (eek!):


1. After coming home from a friends house without eating dinner because he was too busy playing sports, Mom asks why he didn't eat when the rest of the kids did. After all, it had been all day and he hadn't eaten. He replied, "I didn't need to because I'm a MAN." Guess you had to be there for that one.



2. I was sitting at the computer the other day and in walks Brycen. He starts to sniff me all over. I ask him what the heck he is doing. He sniffs me again and says, "I smell a HOT Mama!"



3. Mom showed Brycen the pretty roses on her 7 sisters bush and of course he had to touch the thorns. He exclaimed, "Mother of Pearl! I poked myself!". What kind of kid says - mother of pearl?! According to him, one who watches Sponge Bob.



4. After calling to Brycen asking what he was doing (hadn't seen him in awhile), he called back in an irritated tone saying, "Mom...I'm ta-king a dump!". Gee, I wonder where he got that one from? Hubby's don't always set the best example for their sons do they?





Oh how I love my personal blog giving me the chance to jot down these experiences. It's sooo important to record precious moments like these. They make me feel like the best Mom in the world! (<---insert sarcasm here)

I guess I'm partly to blame. I'm the one who goes around saying that if the kids are lucky, they will be eating poop sandwiches or poop salad for lunch. And then I go on to sing the Poop sing-a-long, sung to the tune of "Fruit Salad", by the Wiggles. Poop salad, yummy yummy. Poop salad, yummy yummy.
Hey, life can't always be serious. There is a time for fun and a time to get down to business. I like to mix it up a little so as to not go totally insane ;)



Now, aren't you glad you read this poop....I mean post today?

Paper Palooza

Christmas is over...thank goodness! The mess was actually quite tame this year. We didn't spend too much money on the kids, so there were less gifts. I have to trick the kids every year before the big day though. They find the gifts that I hide EVERY time! They also tell each other what they are getting so I have to make sure I shop alone. Grrr. This year I hid the gifts in a great place on....um....guess I had better not tell where that is in case they read my blog! But they never did figure it out. Yesssss.

Like I said, they didn't get as much this year though.I creatively wrapped the gifts that they did get so as to not give away what they were. My kids are really good at knowing before unwrapping. I double wrapped, triple wrapped, wrapped in strange shaped boxes etc. As the kids get older, the gifts change from too many toys to electronics etc, so it was kind of nice to not have tiny pieces of Polly Pockets all over! But, the mess will begin again as soon as Ava gets a little older. That's ok though....she is just one kiddo. We used to live in a toy store, but it's getting better now. Now I just live in Aeropostle and Old Navy stores. They all love clothing this year. Well, not Mr. B. He prefers his xbox and hockey gear.

Anyway.....anyone else take a picture of their paper palooza mess? I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoys the new year :)

Caramel Appley Day

It's fall and fall wouldn't be complete without making caramel apples would it?

Ok, I don't make them every year with my kids....but I did this year!






After a trip to the grocery store, we got started on our caramel apple making. Nope, no homemade caramel here. I'm not Martha Stewart. I have 5 kids for heaven sakes. Ok, one of these times I will do it homemade. But since I remember doing this activity with my own mother and sisters, I decided to keep the same tradition and use the round caramel pieces packaged on wax paper. As a bonus, we also bought some in a tub that just needs to be microwaved.


Not much work here....just place the circle of caramel over the apple and push the stick in. Next, microwave them for about 40 seconds.








I love how you can see Brycen's reflection in the granite!


Next we decided to add some pizazz to our apples. We didn't have any nuts or the "normal" things placed onto caramel apples, so we just decided to use red and blue sprinkles that were left over from sugar cookie decorating. That wasn't good enough for the 3 kiddos, so we crushed some Whoppers (malted milk balls). The kids had messy fun with this!





All done and ready to eat!





Trouble is.....after all was said and done, only ONE of my kiddos actually wanted to eat them!



Macie.



Both Brycen & Molly said they didn't like caramel. Go figure.

By the way, Jillian did complain that she missed the fun. But per her request, I'm stating the fact that she couldn't join since she was being, in her exact words, "righteous" by going to the Stake Youth Activity instead. :)