Faster on the outside!

9 months on the outside of the womb goes by so much faster than on the inside. I can't believe that Deacon is already 9 months old. What's probably more surprising is that I'm not pregnant!

Here are his 9 cupcakes. It was the month of the Tiger and I was a little busy with Valentine things so my Dad made the Tiger for me. Sorry the picture doesn't do it justice. The cupcakes don't have any icing because we killed two birds with one stone this month and decorated them for Valentine's Day afterward. Jarron was very against PINK cupcakes for his picture.

Deacon has really grown up a lot this month. He got his first tooth.

and is now a crawler. He is the earliest crawler I have ever had and he already gets into EVERYTHING! My 3 very silly boys! Ayden just had to take this picture.

Deacon is 21.2 pounds and we only found that out because he had to go to the ER at 2 am just a little while ago. The poor little guy had a bacterial and yeast infection and some very red and swollen baby boy parts. To say the least he was a very sad little boy for a couple days. He has fully recovered and his usual smile is back!

Interesting!

My sweet Valentine got me a new camera for Valentine's Day. Can you say SUPER EXCITED!! I have been wanting one so so bad since mine broke. Anyway it has this crazy feature on it called facial recognition. I was so excited to start using it...don't ask me why just cause. So, I took the time to program it and take pictures of all my family and it was working great for awhile. I would take a picture of Bentley and sure enough when I was focusing on her it would say Bentley right on the screen. Well, by the time I got all of my little ones programed in I went crazy and started taking lots of pictures of all of them. It didn't take me much time at all to realize that all my children come from the EXACT SAME MOLD! All my children look incredibly different to me and I don't have a problem telling them apart but my camera does! Their faces are all so similar that if I have all of them in the photo together none of them have the right name under them. Deacon is Ayden and Ayden is Bentley. I guess technology isn't always perfect. So much for having fun with that feature in my family. However, I couldn't be more excited for my new gift...get ready for LOTS of pictures!!

Valentine Frenzy!

This Valentine's season I felt the need to show immense amounts of love to my husband and children and, to say the least, our family had an incredible time.

I made this Valentine sock banner (idea stolen from a wonderful friend whom if my husband could would ban me from her (J/K) but we do get into a good kind of trouble crafting and sharing ideas). Anyway, I made these cards:

and starting Feb. 1st you draw a card out of the socks and do what it says. They also all have a "Love scripture" that goes along with it. Some examples are: decorate cookies and deliver them to friends, heart attack a family, who can give the most hugs away?, spend the day in gratitude and say "thank you", A heart hunt (same as an Easter egg hunt but with hearts), we picked a secret Valentine, and A hershey kiss scavenger hunt, just to name a few. We had a BLAST doing all these things and really enjoyed the love that was shared within the family and outside the family.

I saw these incredibly super cute Valentine chair backers and just HAD to make them. After I got going I found them to be very time consuming and rather difficult for my stage of sewing (which is just UNDER beginner level) Good thing my Mom was there to help. I did end up making ELEVEN of them (for future children and yes we plan on that many of us) However, besides my children I haven't ever made anything so worth my time! We put these on the backs of all our chairs and we would put fun surprises in them for the 2 weeks leading up till Valentine's Day. We filled them with love notes, balloons, candy, heart champagne glasses, heart straws and anything else we could find. It was a lot of fun to open them up in the mornings and see what someone had given you. Jarron wants me to make some that can be just for "anytime" but that I'll have to think about.

I made this "Be my Valentine banner" when I was making my "happy Birthday" banner. Before this season I didn't have ANY valentine decor because I couldn't ever find any I really liked so now all my decor is hand made and that much more special.

Valentine countdown. All the kids had one of these and if I was more on top of the ball they would have candy wrapped in the tulle...14 pieces to be exact. They got to eat a candy a day till Valentine's Day. Since it is passed V Day the candy is all gone.

In case you don't get it A-Ayden B-Bentley C-Cayton D-Deacon

The Valentine Wand. I made this wand and the purpose was to do a secret kind deed or act for someone else. When you did you left the wand in it's place and then that person had to do something for someone else. To my great surprise the wand was passed around quite often!

I wish that we had pictures for everything that we did but I don't but Valentine's Day and the season will forever be changed in our home...for the better! Some really fun things we did was: started writing fun notes on the walls in the shower with crayons, hid secret love notes in funny places for others to find, went miniature bowling, decorated cookies, delivered cookies and "love buckets" ate pink mashed potatoes and rolls on V Day (thanks Gma Wallace!), made candy bar bouquets and most of all expressed love for each other in ways he never had before!

Up to date...almost

Sorry I took so long updating everything. However, even as I write this it still isn't current. We have been having a really great time celebrating Valentine's day and the days leading up to it. I have been very busy making lots of really fun crafts especially for Valentine's Day. Pictures to come soon...hopefully before March is here! :o)

8 months

What a handsome boy! January 11, 2010

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas season was really a great one. We really bonded as a family and focused on things that we could do for others. One gift I really wanted to give my children this year was the gift of service to others. We went in search of those who needed a little extra love. There isn't a ton of pictures my camera was dropped and broken by a couple little hands and so I have been at the mercy of really good friends and family that have let me borrow their camera every once in awhile.

Of course we couldn't miss our picture with Santa. Bentley wasn't really excited but the boys really were.

Making gingerbread cookies was a huge highlight of the season. We all had a blast decorating them and then we delivered some to friends.

Our Christmas Eve portrayal of the birth of Christ. Cayton was Joseph. Bentley was Mary, Jarron was a Shepherd/donkey, Ayden was a shepherd, Deacon was a sheep and I was the narrator.

Joseph is leading Mary to Bethlehem on a donkey.

Mary is wrapping the babe in swaddling clothes.

The shepherd is leading his sheep to see the new born King.

How happy we all our for our Savior's birth and life! He has given us so much and the most important thing is each other!

All the kiddos in their Christmas Eve pajamas just before we went to look at Christmas lights.

Ayden made magical reindeer food at school so we sprinkled it outside for them to find.

Christmas morning which thankfully didn't come too early!

Deacon is 7 months!

I can't believe the pace that this little guy is growing! He is about 19.5 pounds and is starting to move all over the place. He hasn't lost his cute little smile for a moment!

December 11, 2009

Bentley turns 2!

I can't believe that my baby girl turned 2! Having Bentley as part of our family has been pure joy and we all love her so much!

December 7, 2009

Bentley and her first cabbage patch doll.

For some reason this poor girl was scared to death of this blow up cupcake. She screamed and screamed whenever we turned it on. Silly girl!

She was also scared of the candles on her cake. Funny story: I accidentally put the candles on that keep re-lighting so we had multiple screams.

Her cake that I made her. I didn't think it turned out that bad.

These I really adored. I loved making them and thought they were super cute! Cupcakes with candles.

And she was also scared of putting on the wedding dress. All these will make some memorable moments!