May 2011-while the cats r away....

The mice (all us girls) can play!
Since the fathers and the sons were camping, us girls decided to hit the town! We went to a fun restaurant in town called Farrells that is a classic diner/ice cream parlor full of loud fun and activity! As you can see, our girls were the life of the party!







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May 13, 2011-Father & sons Camp Out!

This was Carter's first time going camping with just him and his dad! They also brought along his best guy friend Scotty and his Dad. Carter was so excited we had to type up a packing list for him to start working on days ahead of time:

Sleeping bag
Flashlight
Tent-three man tent
Tarp
Dad knife
Pillow pet
Jammies
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Baseball gear and underwear
Water bottles
Bug spray
Snacks

He came home dead tired and filthy the next day but full of stories about the adventures with his dad!

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May 2011-Kennidy as Betsy Ross

As part of the fifth grade, Kennidy acted out the American Revolution with her classmates. We had to dress her up like Betsy Ross and Nancy Morgan Hart while delivering her memorized speeches. Our overflowing dress up boxes come in handy again!



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May 12,2011-Another ladies' night

My good friend Heather is always a good sport about letting me use her birthday as an excuse to plan a crazy party. We've been to Disneyland as couples, rock climbing with women and even went roller skating last year! So this year we decided to play women's volleyball while rocking out to our favorite tunes and celebrating at the end with a yummy (but healthy) fruit smoothie! It was a blast and a great way for all us moms to blow off steam and feel 19 again:)




A few of us were even crazy enough to wear tutus...



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May 2011-Activity Days-Paper Quilling...

It was my turn to lead this week so using an old card I made for my dad when I was a girl, I taught all the little girls about paper quilling! And as Olivia would say, they got PRETTY good!

May 10,2011-a new cousin!

Big things are happening at my brother Eric's house and I tease him that he and Megs are on our same path (see last picture below). What wonderful AND busy times...








I told Eric and Megan that we could REALLY relate to their recent situation..... 'Graduating from Master's program while pregnant with your third child and also the first son'! Madison is classic in this picture-hilarious and soooo her!



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May 7, 2011-Piano Recital!

My favorite part was when Mrs. Hanson had Kennidy and Madison play a piano duet 'Love is Spoken Here' one day before Mother's Day! It was the perfect gift!! And they played it perfectly...





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May 2011-McKinley's 3yr old pictures!

I remember when my weekly schedule seemed to revolve around getting my little ones photos done every six months or so....Now I am lucky if I squeeze in McKinley's annual pics between school drop off and preschool pick up! This time I decided to take Carter too! Here they are walking out the door...










McKinley has started to dress herself and is developing definite opinions on clothes she will wear so I have started sending her pictures like this to have her pick the one she will wear to minimize clothes drama. Only thing is, if I come home with something different, I am in major trouble cuz she will remember it wasn't the one in the picture! Which one do u think she picked??









The blue with ruffles of course:)

Speaking of fashion Divas....have u seen the latest trend with girls putting feathers in their hair? Well, since I wouldn't pay for it, right after dance class Kennidy asked me to take her straight there so she could use her birthday money to put feathers in her hair. And now I am still getting used to it...at least it is not a duck tail from the 80's right? :)






Of course, once Kennidy does something...Madison wants to do it too!

May days at play-2011

I love watching the kids play in the backyard through my kitchen window. Here are the boys playing football with the neighbors while the girls have a tea party.





When it's warm outside, the kids pretend they have their own luxury pool & resort in the backyard! (Did u notice the floating plates?)



I also spend a lot of time doing projects out on the sidewalk so I can watch the kids play crazy games like this in the cul de sac...




Of course it's always fun to get a little down time with each of the kids too. Here's how Carter and Kinny like to spend the time between preschool pick up and 'early-out' carpool...Ok I admit it, it was my idea first:).













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April 2011-Carter and his T-ball buds

Everyday he asks me if it is saturday yet cuz that is his game day! (And also his favorite day of the week!) I love that thru Saddleback league our friends can all request to be on the same team so we always have a carpool partner! Otherwise I have no idea how u would do more than two kids in a sport with games on Saturdays!





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April 25-May 1st, Brandalyn visits!

It was so nice having my cute cousin Brandalyn stay with us for a week--almost like having another mother in the house! She helped so much with cooking, cleaning, and babysitting--she just knew what needed to be done and did it! I finally talked her into pampering herself a bit so she and McKinley got their nails done....(it was McKinley's third time in a month so Kennidy and Madison were jealous!)






Then another night we packed up all the kids and went to an angels game with great seats we bought for cheap online!






Of course we had to hit the beach in Laguna for a little sun and sand...



















On Friday night she came with us to the Flash Mob performance for our church where 450 kids all danced in unison at an outdoor mall-- it was so amazing!





One of my favorite moments was listening to Brandalyn and Kennidy play piano/violin duet! Such beautiful and talented girls!!



Thanks for a wonderful visit Brandy! Hopefully now more of the cousins will come! :)

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April 26, 2011-Kennidy turns 11!

As we drove home from Mammoth, Kennidy, her Dad and I put the finishing touches on her 11th Birthday Bash at Boomers in Irvine the next day!


I did some crazy shopping the night before finding Kennidy her dream shoes at Nordy's as I remembered the good old days of shopping in the doll aisle at Target instead! Here she is in her favorite new outfit--at least I still got to put a flower in her hair! :)


Brandalyn came for a visit this week and so she helped me make these cutest party favors for each of the 8 girls! I was so excited to have her teach me a little photoshop!!


Kennidy and her cute girlfriends rocked the night away playing miniature golf, riding fair rides, climbing rock walls and finally getting to play laser tag!






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April 22, 2011-Mammoth Easter Ski trip!

So fun and memorable to have our 3 oldest kiddies on the ski lift heading up the mountain with me! For the first half of the day, we put our kids in ski school with our good friends the Belnap's while the adults got to ski their hearts out! (It wasn't hard to tell I was the gimp of the group!)








However, towards the end of the day with these two H.P. (High Performance) athletes Scott and Chris teaching me, I won the award for Most Improved! I learned more in two hours on the mountain with them than I had in my whole life! I just felt bad for my friend Heather who waited for me most of the time although she could have kept up with the men!!





It was a perfect getaway for us to head up to this tiny town in the mountains complete with hot dinner date nights, easter egg hunts in the snow, gondola rides, and beautiful views! Thanks for the party Belnap's!!
















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April 2011-my Girls r getting so BIG!

Now the school play is over I told Madison she could get her hair cut. I took her to my same hair dresser and boy doesn't she look older?


McKinley--the shirt says it all! This little girl LOVES to dress up and even asks for a spray of mummy's perfume after she gets her hair done!



Kennidy left us for the first time OVERNIGHT for the 5th grade science camp the week before her 11th Bday and as you can see, she wasn't nervous one bit! This was my last glimpse of her and I could hardly believe she was old enough to be doing this!!


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April 15-17, 2001 Kara's Wedding

I really wanted to be there when my cousin Kara married her darling Grant in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in April and so Chris promised he would take me!


It was so fun to be there with my parents, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and cousins to celebrate in amazing style! It was a beautiful weekend, right down to the gorgeous bride and her mother and the perfect wedding cake that my sister-in-law Kylie made All By Herself!!
















We also got to see Grandma& poppy Johnson's new home in Cedar Hills--so lovely and HUGE for us Californians! The best part was we knew all our four kids were happy and safe at home with our Favorite nanny Brooke before she went back to college. Chris toasted his thanks to the whole wedding party for an excuse to be on our second honeymoon--so embarrassing! :). First trip away since Asia in 2007 so I guess he was right.


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