Slowly catching up....

Yes, It's been a long time. I don't think I've ever gone this long without a post. I do wish I was better at updating and I'm going to try to be better, because I know someday I will be glad that I did  So Jenn keep on me!!! 

I was going to post the pictures of the kids going back to school, but as I was going through pictures I realized I hadn't post any of their graduations from June so I decided to start with that. 

So here is Ellie's graduation. She  had so much fun at  preschool. She loved her teacher. Her teacher has been teaching for over 30 years and you can tell she still enjoys every minute of it and really loves these kids! They put on an adorable program!

Ellie was Suzy the snowflake in the program . She loved wearing the princess dress.

She was in Heaven!

She sang her little heart out.

All graduated!! She is ready to go to kindergarten !

She loved her teacher. Mrs. Tammy.

Ellie with her friends Carson and Hunter. The teacher promised

them M&M's if they sang good!

I'm so proud of her. She learned so much at this preschool and really had a lot of fun while doing it! She is loving kindergarten and I love how excited she gets about homework. She loves to sit with me after school  and work on her homework.  She tells me about her day and I've been really enjoying this time with her.  I ran into her teacher tonight at the grocery store and she told me how well she was doing in school and how fun she is in class. Ellie was all embarrassed and hiding behind my leg and that kid never gets embarrassed. It was funny. We love you so much Ellie and love your  fun personality you bring into our family!

Baptism day and more birthday fun!

with dad on her special day!

so pretty in her dress!

4 generations... I thought this picture turned out

great  AND everyone is smiling including my husband. (That's about

the biggest smile we ever get from Matt)

 Grandma and Grandpa Crookston

Grandma and Grandpa Drown

It was kind of crazy at the house I was trying to get food ready so I had told Matt to get

pictures of everyone who came but this is all he got.....darn it!

 Lexi's Baptism day was such a beautiful day shared with family and friends.  She was so excited to be baptized and was so happy that day. She is such a sweet girl and always wants to do good.  I get compliments all the time on how well behaved she is and how sweet and kind she is to others. I'm so proud to be her mother.

I love Lexi's excitement to learn about the gospel and how she is always asking questions about it and reminding us as a family that it's time to read our scriptures or wanting to help with planning family home evening. She keeps me on my toes and I'm grateful that my heavenly father sent me such a sweet spirit.

That night of her baptism after everyone left she told me she didn't want to forget the feeling she had that day. So I told her to write it down in the journal that our  friends had given her earlier at her baptism. She went into her room and wrote in it and it was very sweet. We love you so much Lexi. You are such a beautiful girl and we are very proud of the sweet person you are and the great example you are to others.  Love you sweet girl.

After the baptism we did Lexi's family birthday party. She got spoiled by everyone. Here are a few pics of her little celebration!

This is the cute bow holder Aunt Jenn made for her. She also made her

a bunch of flowers for her hair.

YAY!! I-tunes gift card  from Uncle Jed and Aunt Lisa

 Opening her American girl doll from Grandma and Grandpa Crookston

She got a fun game for her ds from Paula and Josh's family and a nice case

to hold her ds and games from Aunt Heather.

!!!!!!!CAKE TIME!!!!!!

MAKE A WISH!!

It's great to be Eight!!

My Lexi Lou is finally 8. It seems like she has been talking about turning 8 forever. She is so excited to be getting baptized tomorrow. We are busy busy getting ready for her special day. She had her friend party last weekend.  This was our first time doing a Pinata at a party and the kids had fun and really seemed to like it. It was fun to see all her friends that she talks about at school. Her cousins and her friend Paige came up to the party and spent the night. They had fun staying up and giggling till all hours in the night.

cheeeese!!

silly kids!

her friend Zach getting ready to hit the Pinata!

eating pizza

YAY!! Justin Bieber!!

She was very excited to get the Justin Bieber cd  from her friend Paige. After opening presents some of the girls went up to Lexi's room and they turned on his cd and were singing at the top of their lungs and jumping on the bed.  The boys that she invited were downstairs saying how they hated Justin Bieber and  that he sings like a girl. It was pretty funny! 

My baby is growing up....

Harrison turned 2 years old on December 9. It's hard to believe he's already 2. It's fun to see his personality developing and become more talkative, but it's also sad to see him growing up so quickly. I love this red headed little man so much. He is so snuggly and such a sweet boy. I know you are out numbered by all your sisters Harrison, but they love you to pieces. You are so loved by many!! We are truly truly blessed to have you in our family. We love you sweet boy.

more birthday fun!!!

Addie had a fun birthday weekend! She had her cousins Mia and Jayna sleep over on Friday night.

And then on Saturday she had her friend party.  

She invited some kids from school and was so excited that they came.

The kids had fun watching Alvin and the Chipmunks and eating pizza and cupcakes and playing with lots of Polly Pockets. I had like 4 parents from her class tell me how brave I was when they dropped their kids off. The kids were really well behaved and they seemed

to have fun!!

The whole gang!!

She got so excited when she opened her presents...silly girl

She got a lot of fun presents! 

We finally got to meet her friend Zachary. She has talked about her friend

Zachary since the first day of school. As she opened his present he was 

telling her how he got the toy at Toys 'R' Us and their was a receipt taped on the back

just in case something was broke.  He was a funny kid.

the kids making silly faces

Addie was very excited about her "BIG" Minnie. She has been talking

about it for months. She sleeps by her every night. It's so cute!

Another year older....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDIE

Can someone PLEASE slow down time. How does this happen??? It doesn't seem that long ago that I was snuggling this baby girl . Now my 5 lb. 18 inch baby girl is now 6 years old.   Yes, I know our children HAVE to grow up and every year they have a birthday and get older, but this is one of the hardest things (at least for me). Looking through pictures today made me realize how quickly they grow......These precious children are babies for such a short time.

Addie came running into our bedroom this morning and yelled "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY". I love how excited Addie gets about everything. She makes the little things seem so BIG because of how excited she gets. She is also such a good helper at home and also at school. Her teacher told me at parent teacher conferences that she is always so willing to help her friends at school with things and her teacher really appreciated that. I'm so happy that she loves school so much and loves to learn.  I also cherish our "cuddle time" that she always wants to have and hope she never grows out of that :)

We love you so much Addie . We are so grateful you are in our family!!
  Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

sweet baby girl

 

All grown up!!

Halloween

I always loved Halloween as a kid but now as a mother it's so fun to see the smiles and excitement of my kids dressing up and getting candy. The kids had so much fun trick or treating with their friends at the neighborhood /ward trunk or treat.

 There is a house by us that goes all out for Halloween.  On Halloween night he has a hearse on his front lawn and decorates his whole yard and you can walk through it. The kids have been talking about going to it every time we drive by.  Well, we went over there with my friend and her family and Lexi and Addie were too scared and wouldn't go. They stayed in the car and missed out on full size candy bars.  It was amazing how much work he puts into it. The guy must love Halloween!

 After that it was pouring rain so we decided to take them to the mall and trick or treat. MISTAKE..... That place was insane!!! We didn't stay long but as we were walking out we saw a double rainbow.  The kids were so excited. I'm sad to see Halloween gone but I'm so excited about the upcoming holidays. I'm very excited about Christmas this year and just think soon we will be putting Christmas decorations up!

my cute little spider