You are the World

Ok, here is another one. I didn't even realize that I had uploaded some of this video to one true media. We lost an entire hard drive a couple of years ago and away went thousands of memories. In this you'll see video of Mason standing and dancing. It is the first time he ever stood up. He wanted to bust those moves out that bad! I almost cried when i saw that it was here. I thought it was gone forever!

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Spending the day looking at old videos from when the kids were little. This is our all time favorite!

As we have been looking through old blog posts I have done my share of crying. I can't believe how fast these kids have grown. I love who they are and how much they have learned but the baby phase was WAY to quick.

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Happy NOON years to you!

Ok, so this is a little late but I am trying to resume blogging more often for the sake of memory preservation. This is a memory definitely worth preserving!

We had our first annual "Noon" Years Eve Party! It was a Pancake Pajama Party! It was awesome!

Ok, so here's the thing...I love New Years. In the past I have had some pretty fun nights ringing in the new year. Since I've been married the celebrations have been less than awesome. Not that being with my hubby isn't awesome but honestly he is usually asleep long before the clock strikes 12. So, for the sake of kids that need to be in bed and a husband that just can't stay up that late we decided to move the countdown up a bit!

The guest list consisted of all of our kids best friends and their families plus my best friends and their families as well. We had around 30 people there. It was a little crazy but luckily crazy is what we are made of around here!

Upon arrival the kids constructed their own party hats. I don't think one kid still had it on when we counted down but they had fun making them. We had kids playing outside, some playing just dance on the wii, and most of the kids were just running around like mad! Seriously it was awesome!

We were supposed to count down to noon but once people had eaten there were lots that were ready to escape the craziness around 11:30...so we moved the countdown up (something that you can't really do when you are counting down to the ACTUAL new year). Next year I will plan on starting @ 10:30 instead of 10 for sure. The countdown was complete with confetti balloons and noise makers (you know because kids can't possibly make noise without official makers of noise).

Yes, it was CRAZY but it was CRAZY FUN!!!! It'll be a tradition for sure!
(and yes Olivia IS wearing a tiara...she was the queen of the party I guess)

Digital Express

So I used to be really into digital scrapbooking. I love using photoshop and I love that digital sets can be used and reused time and time again. I especially love that I can leave a project right in the middle and there isn't a mess all over my table (well not a scrapbooking mess anyhow). Life has gotten busy though plus I move quickly from one creative outlet to another. But it is time to get back into this...for the sake of memory preservation! My kids love looking at the pages that we do have.

My little sister works for Storytellers, a scrapbooking company. She is specifically handling the digital portion of the business which is fairly new. She set up a new blog with fun ideas, layouts, design team opportunities, and even some freebies. This week my layout was selected as the layout of the week. Go here to check it out!

My new strategy (and hopefully a manageable one) is simply to do a two page layout for each of the kids each month and then maybe from time to time I can do extras to get caught up on the last 3 years that I have been lazy. I figure I'll just gather all of my favorite photos from that month and include at least one funny story. Lets hope this works!

icky sicky kiddie Os

We've been sick! See the photo below...that has been us for almost 2 weeks!

Right after this picture was taken Mason reported to me, "mom, I am cold but my skin is hot". Yep, fever time!

We had to make use of our time...so up went a spectacular tent! The kids called it their circus tent. And believe me, in the moments when fevers were down and coughing fits few they did PLENTY of clowning around in that circus tent!

One day the fevers were especially high and both kids were so sick. After 5 days of the Family Room Circus tent we decided to let the tents dwell in the bedrooms. Mason's is still up!

Being stuck outside of the real world and being trapped inside due to sickness is not my favorite. However, we actually had a great time together. Plus I don't know how much longer these 2 are going to want to cuddle with me so all of the extra sick cuddles were definitely treasured!

Sure was Merry!

There were presents!

Crazy photo test runs (you know before we brought in the "real" children) and crazy siblings!!!!

Cute and fun cousins!

And there definitely was the Savior. "He is the reason for the season".

Me & Mr. Nikon

I had a couple of opportunities to get to know Mr. Nik while I was in Utah for Christmas. More on the festivities another day. For now I wanted to show you my cute family members. I've been having fun in photoshop! It helps to have such gorgeous subjects!

Littlest sis, Jamie. She was only a year old when I left home and entered the world away from home. Now she is about to do the same and it breaks my heart! I can't believe she is graduating. Isn't she stunning though?

Katie and her little guy Cooper. Getting a shot of him not licking his mom's face was tricky but that is just how it goes with little ones. And check out that red head with gorgeous eyes! Seriously every shot I got of the two of them Katie looked amazing in. We were joking that she got all the "photogenetics" (among other things...) in our family, but as you can see from the previous picture that is not entirely true, but almost!

This is Chloe, my newest neice. She had a rough weekend of Christmas with lots of ailments making her miserable. She and I bonded a lot. I was the self-designated Chloe holder. She has some of my unique qualities (like funky toes that turn inward) so I know she and I will be super close friends in life. I mean that is what friendships are based on right? hahaha. This is a pic in her beautiful blessing dress. Being held by her mommy was the only shot I had at getting her not crying. Isn't she pretty?

And then there was this picture. It is amazing what goofing around and being silly can produce. Wowza!