Diaper baby bums!

The kids thought it would be really funny to put on Juliet's diapers. Juliet thought it was hilarious. First it was just Dash......They are soooooooo funny!
Then the other 2 ran out with diapers on too! I have no idea how they got them to fit! It was hard not to laugh! They are pretty funny! Darby's legs crack me up! They are so long and skinny!

New Couch!

This is our new Couch! It is a hand me down! (Like most of our stuff:) It came from a friend in our ward's daughter. They didn't have any kids. No stains. No smells. No one gets to eat on it or near it. I don't know that I would have ever chose a floral pattern couch but I really love this super comfy, clean, free couch! They floral cushions flip over too so that you can have just plain red ones! I think this is my favorite part of the couch and obviously Callie's favorite too. This is the mommy seat. The chaise lounge! So comfy! I love love love it! Free stuff is the BEST!!!

MORE GROSS.... DON'T LOOK IF YOU CAN'T HACK IT!!!!

I taught 2 classes this morning with a pretty pink bandaid on my bummer toe. When I came home and took off my shoe and sock this is what I saw. SICK! I yelled out loud! What do you do with that? I had trimmed down the prior injury so it wouldn't catch on anything! I guess none of my toe nail wanted to stay on! GROSS GROSS GROSS GROSS!! Body injuries are just disgusting no matter how you slice it!
Trim it down and this is what you get. A sad old lady toe. Frankly even with a nail my toes need all the help they can get. They are long with a ball on the end, making them look like little alien suction cup toes and my pinky toe lays sideways. My toes are ugly. Plain and simple. Now they are uglier.

Welcome to our zoo!

We have these four crazy animals.......SUPER hard to care for. Require constant feeding and bathing! Ugh!

And we now have 2 turtles...... Link and Peekachoo! (they are really cute and easy to care for)A new Hamster.....ChewBecca! (to replace Calvin....RIP) She is pretty cute and sort of easy to take care of!
The Queen BEE!..... Callie.... thinks she runs the house, loves Darby and doesn't care about the rest of our pets. Seriously, ChewBecca ran in front of her in her little ball and Callie didn't even raise her head. I think she may have only opened one eye!
We also now have 2 Beta fish the older kids got at a birthday party! (They came with bowls and gravel, and a water tree thing and food and water purification stuff....... who does that for a party favor!? Only in L.A.)

Welcome to our zoo........

ANOTHER SUPER FAST EASY F.H.E.

So I sat the kids down and asked them if they were super "Smarties" about the Savior! I had some sweet tart candies and called them Smarty pants candies. (My cute book that had this idea used Smarties for the candy but my kids don't like them so we used something different!) For every one thing they could tell me about the Savior they got to have a candy. Hands were flying in the air!!!! There was everything from Mary was His mother to He was Baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist and even a few of His miracles. It was amazing to see what my smarty pants knew. After they had a small pile of candy I asked them to please think of these things they knew about the Savior during Sacrament meeting. That was the end of the lesson and we moved on with night.

Fast forward to Sunday. I am not a big treat giver during sacrament but I brought a small baggie of our "Smarty Pants" candies and during the passing of the Sacrament I handed each of the kids a few and winked at them. It was really amazing to watch them ponder the things they knew about the Savior as they put candy in their mouths one tiny piece at a time. They would scrunch their noses and close their eyes to think of something so they could plop a piece in their mouth. At one point Dash couldn't think of any more so I witnessed Max lean over and whisper things in his ear. After each sweet whisper Dash would reverently put a candy in his mouth! Amazing......

This F.H.E. payed off that one week. I brought the same candies the next week and they went much faster with whining for more. When it did pay off though it was really a great thing to watch!!!!

More road show!!!!

We did the road show again for a young women's fundraiser for camp! It was a ton of fun. Brandon played Mr. Big this time and Jenna got to be a twin and the missionaries filled in in two other big rolls and we had a great time with them! We were happy to do it one more time and also happy that we got to retire it! All and all they made a good chunk of money for girls camp! This is our last rehearsal before the show!
Brandon running for the red button in slow motion before the computer shuts down!
Still running in slow motion right before the "boomarangatang" hits him!
Ending number "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"!

I would really like to say the dancing was amazing but.........
Mr director man being bossy......again! :)
This is the whole cast and some crew the night of the show! I was a judge.....that is why I have a judge wig on! Not flattering. This time some more of the primary kids got to be in it! I think they all had a great time and are looking forward to when it is their turn to star in a road show!

New niece!

Welcome to our family (a few months ago) our sweet new niece Lydia! Brandon's step brother Bryce and his wife Chantelle had a little girl! She is adorable and I can't wait to get to hold her when we go visit! I wish I had a better picture of her (hint hint sister in law:) The announcements were actually really good. I just can't scan them in so I have to take a picture of them if I want to document cute Lydia'a arrival!
Congratulations Chantelle and Bryce! We love you and can't wait to see our new niece!

Daisy's birthday party!

Daisy is Anna'a niece and one of our cute friends. She had a birthday party and turned 5 and invited us to her party. Max absolutely adores Daisy! The pinata!
They also had a blow up water slide! Too much fun!

Darby was cornered by some 5 year olds. She is such a good sport to play along with them!
They also had a chocolate fountain to dip/drown your fruit in! Max's first shot at a chocolate covered Banana! (I think his new favorite treat with Smores a close second!)
I love watching Max "enjoy" his food. He REALLY enjoys eating accompanied by cute faces and happy noises!
Here he was shaking his head back and forth with his eyes closed saying "Mmmmm (breath) mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm"
Dash playing in a little sand!
Me and Darby! It was pretty windy that day! Happy birthday to Daisy! We just love you! Thanks for inviting us to such a fun fun day!

OWIE!! (This is gross so if you can't hack it don't look!)

We were moving our new dresser and this happened! Rammed the dresser into my toe nail. The toe nail popped up and I started to cry and NOT say any bad words. (very proud of myself) The doctor wants me to see a pediatrist so he can CLIP it down. WHAT? "Don't worry he will numb your toe with 2 needles!" OHHHHHHH! In that case! BYE BYE! This is the boy that took care of the toe! He bound it and sanitized it and even let me yell at him when he would cut the bandaid off! I love him and seriously don't know what I would do with out him. This is on a date night! I loved the view behind us and loved the picture of him so I had to post it even though I had "fat face"!

YOGURT LAND!!!!!

Yogurt Land!!! One of our favorite treat places! Chris and Tiffany first took us there in Vegas. I have never liked yogurt places because they are sooooo expensive! When we saw they were building a Yogurt Land by us we were thrilled!!!

We used to go to Pink Berry. It's a lovely place but a little pricey. You were aloud to have 2 toppings and not that much of them. (You could have more but they cost more of course.) SO we would walk out of there with our ultra small cup size with 2 toppings and be happy that we made it under 25$ for our family. (Juliet usually had to share with me or have the sample cup/s) BUT NOT AT YOGURT LAND!!!!! At Yogurt Land the yogurt and toppings flow freely!!!! (29 cents an ounce) You get your own yogurt (choosing from about 18 flavors) and you put on your own toppings. Everything from fruit, brownies, cereal, nuts, candy, sauces....you think of it and they have it!!!! My kids LOVE it! It is the land of YES and not NO!!! Everyone gets what they want and all for under $20!

A VERY happy Juliet!
Dash is very serious about his Frozen Yogurt and LOVES to eat half of it there and take the rest home for the freezer to pull out when nobody has any and eat while they envy! (His flavors and toppings are to "creative" for me to ever want a taste of his!)
Darby gets a lot of the same things every time like me. My favorite is toasted coconut yogurt with a tiny bit of red velvet cupcake yogurt. Then add strawberries, coconut, and fruity pebbles and the occasional hot fudge or choc. chips. Don't try to mix in anything else or change the yogurt. You will just wish you had the other. (Seriously the fruity pebbles are the best topping! The perfect mix of fruity sweet and crunchy!)
Max and Daddy! Brandon loves fruit and cheesecake bites. This go round he surprised us all with a bunch of candy in his yogurt. Max LOVES a LOT of yogurt and a good mixture of toppings, but ALWAYS add the caramel topping! It is a great place and won't brake your budget. If you get one in your area be sure to give it a whirl. You won't be disappointed!

Busy Week and it's only Wednesday!

So far we have...

Filled our first cavity (Dash)

Prepared for the R.S. Activity (me)

Learned how to say and use the phrase "What the heck?" (Juliet)

Had our first playdate of the school year (Max)

Closed the chapter on the road show (daddy)

Had our first tragic death of family pet (Calvin the hamster)

Had a funeral and buried her friend and pet (Darby)

We will miss you Calvin the hamster. We will not replace you too soon. (Is 2 hours after the funeral too soon?)

Welcome to the family ChewBecca Chauncey Jeffords! May you live long (longer than a year) and run fast (in your wheel)!

Pictures of ChewBecca to come!

Open House!

Last week we got to go to the school to see what the kids had worked on all year in their classes! This is Dash with his teacher Mrs. Bell! WE LOVE HER! She is super fun and super sweet! EVERYONE wants to get her for kindergarten and every time we said we had her someone would say "Ohhhhhhhhh, you are lucky!" Kind of reverently. She really is all that and a big ol' bag of chips!
Darby with her self portrait and all her other things she had worked on.
Darby and Ms. Green. We like her a lot too. She has been really fun and is really "artsy" and that is perfect for Darby!
These are some of Max's projects that he worked on. One is a fossil dig, very cool, and a tri-amma on Charles Lindberg, a self portrait and a story!
Max and Ms. Scott. She is the perfect teacher for him. I don't know that she would work for my others but it is a perfect fit for Max. I have heard other kids on the court yard saying that Max is her favorite! I don't know about that but I also don't know how he could not be! She is out of school for the rest of the school year for a surgery and she will be sorely missed! She is going to visit on the last day of school though so we can say our good byes then!

Dash's and Caden's Jedi Training Birthday Party!

You will read all about this a little lower. I knew I had this picture and didn't know how to put it further down after I had blogged everything else! She just wants to be like the big kids!
This is Dash's friend Peter! All the boys had to be silly with the M&Ms! We had tons and tons of fun! Dash shared his party with his friend Caden! Peter, Dash and Noah! They are his buddies from school.
Noah's turn with the M&M eyes!
Dash and JoJo. She is NOT his girlfriend! He only likes her a little. She is in his class at church and was the only girl that was not family invited to the party!
Being silly!
Dash's turn! You can see Juliet in the back trying to put M&M's in her eyes too!

Aaron, Austin, and Tyler. They were all at the party the night before and stumbled in (in the same clothes) for Dash's party. Yes, these are some of the boys Dash invited. They were huge helps for the Jedi training too!
The boys line up for the Master Jedi to come out!
Master Jedi Obi Wan Kanobi (SP?) AKA Brandon Stephens (Caden's dad)
All the boys got suited up in their Jedi gear.
Then they were loaded up with their light sabers for the training! The light sabers we made our of pool noodles and duck tape. They were easy and cheap and don't hurt if you get bonked on the head! (we totally stole the training from the Disney Land Jedi training. Thankfully Taryn and Brandon have season passes so they had seen it a few times) We had Star Wars music playing during the training!
Master Jedi
OH NO! The music changed to Darth Vader's march and out came Vader! It was a very exciting moment! This was the only thing that really was expensive for this party. Stupid Vader Mask. (50$) The Darth Vader costume to rent was 75$ for the cheap one. I decided to invest in a cool mask so we can use it over and over. Brandon took care of the rest with a cape and some of my work out pants. He used duck tape to make the chest piece. Very cool and very effective!

Time for the Jedi's to show off what they have learned!

Jake succumbed to the dark side and just knelt before Vader! (SO FUNNY!)
Even Caden's baby brother Weston got in on the action. It was adorable!
All the kids loved the party and had a ton of fun in the bounce house with their pool noodle light sabers. No one got hurt either because it was a pool noodle. We went down town to the fashion district for the fabric (1$ a yard) and just cut a big circle out for their heads and tied a sash. SO easy! They got to take their gear home with a Jedi training certificate. It was too much fun! (ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BORROW THE JEDI MASK IS WELCOME BECAUSE I WILL GET MY MONIES WORTH FOR THAT BAD BOY!!!)

Dash is whispering to Caden what they should wish for when they blow out their candles!

Because our party was combined we took the gifts inside to open later. The second the last guest left I couldn't find Dash. He had gone inside to tear into his gifts. He was a very lucky boy. His friends were very thoughtful and very generous! We had a great time at his party and I loved planning it with my friend Taryn! I highly recommend sharing a party to anyone if you have a close friend. It cut the cost and made it so we could splurge on some cool things! Tons of fun!