The Lost Year

This year will forever be known as my lost year. I was so focused with teaching and Michelangelo kept the camera at his studio so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked during the year. So some pictures are borrowed and some events are not recorded with pictures. I think I got most of the important ones though. Here is my attempt at a quick catch up.

In the spring Monkey turns 8 and Bug turns 5!

 For my Dad's Birthday we went on a Penguin Excursion at The Living Planet Aquarium

. This penguin laid beneath Bug's feet for most of the visit and kept all the other penguins at bay. It was pretty funny.

 I took the girls to our Friend's campout this summer all by myself. Michelangelo had to work and I was pretty proud of myself for pulling it off. It was also nice to know there were plenty of friends around to help if I needed it. We had a lot of fun.

 For my side of the family's extend family reunion we went to Cove Fort and Bryce Canyon. It was beautiful! I love being with my family.

 All the girls started school. I started teaching for my first full year. Monkey started 3rd grade in the Spectrum program. Bug started Kindergarten. Boo started Daycare at the High School. They take great care of her and she gets to be with her sister for part of the day.

I began the school year with my own class of 2nd graders. They are the cutest people in the world. I love being their teacher!

 Monkey and Michelangelo entered the State Fair. This was Monkey's first time.

 Michelangelo won the Grand Prize award and First place in the Professional Sculpture category! In other art related news; Michelangelo made a strippling warrior sculpture to go along with the 2000 young men that marched in the Bountiful Handcart Days Parade. It was so popular Deseret Book has started selling them in their store. He also continues to receive orders from all over the country for his Native American Lacrosse pieces. Things are going really well for him.

 We spent alot of time on the Soccer Fields this year with both Monkey and Bug playing Soccer. Monkey is getting pretty good! Bug is starting to get the hang of it and loves making new friends each game. Boo loves to play games on the sidelines.

Boo and I had our Birthdays. Boo turned 3. I am 10 times that plus a year. Boo loved blowing out the candles but got a little confused when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Mommy as well.

Thanks giving was wonderful. Monkey was in the school musical, "Annie", and she and Bug were also in a singing group called the Gingerbread Kids. Monkey had 5 or 6 solos depending on which night it was and Bug kept us laughing withe her antics. She finally figured out that if she wants a solo next year she has to sing all the time this year. Needles to say the last two performances were much improved. Lets just hope she gets a solo next year.

Christmas was wonderful! The girls were so cute together and we had a grand time with family. I may post more about this later.

I got a camera for Christmas so hopefully I will be better at posting. My goal is once a month.

Photo taken by Amy Carlston at http://serve-sunshine.blogspot.com

 Despite being a lost year 2012 was a great year. I am so excited for 2013!

Mike's birthday

January included Michelangelo's birthday. My brother and our brother-in-law have birthdays really close to his, so I decided to have our own celebration at our house the day of his birthday. Monkey decorated with crepe paper and we invited some family to come over. It was small and simple but I think Michelangelo really enjoyed it. We had a great time.

I was working at my first long-term substitute job at the time, so poor Michelangelo had to go grab his birthday cake. He ran into one of our high school kids from our Sunday School class working at the bakery and decided to not tell her that the cake was for him. He picked up some icing instead. I loved it because I could put whatever I wanted. Captain Awesome is a character on a TV show we used to enjoy watching. ;) Michelangelo is my Captain Awesome.

Boo tried to blow out the candles. This is when we lighted them again and told her to let Daddy do it. She's having a bit of a hard time with that. Needless to say Michelangelo let her help blow out the candles with him.

 Our favorite things to do with Daddy:

• Monkey: Practice soccer with him. He is the best soccer player in the world!
• Bug: Go to Daddy's studio to draw and eat
• Boo: "Daddy my best friend."
  
• Vee: Dancing, teaching the 16 and 17 year olds with you at church, watching Downton Abby and Psych together, going to the theater and going to the park with you and the girls.

In other news. Bug lost her first tooth that day. Sorry you can't see it the tooth behind it was practically already grown in. I was also growing out her bangs before a miscommunication happened and they got chopped. So we will try again.

Some catch up

Boo with aunt Grace on her 2nd birthday

I've been so busy trying to graduate and then with my new job, it's been a while since I've been able to do much of anything else. So here I am trying to catch up.
In October Boo turned two. She has been so much fun. Her words and comprehension have increased dramatically. The terrible two's didn't hit until a few weeks ago. Generally she is a pleasant little girl.
I got to take pictures of my sister as she got ready for the dance, and I had a big birthday.

Lou is so grown up, it makes me feel ancient.

Halloween was so fun this year. The girls chose simple costumes with Bug wanting to be a cowgirl, Monkey a cat and Boo a flower. Boo started to really catch on to the trick or treating this year and it was so fun to watch her try to keep up with her sisters as they went door to door.

November brought around my cousin's baptism and my friend's daughter's baptism. They are really close in age to Monkey and it was fun to see Monkey get so excited about her own baptism coming around the corner.

Holidays brought Christmas parties and my graduation. I made my girls costumes for our family nativity and thought they turned out ok for the amount of time I had to do them in. Boo was a sheep, Bug a cow and Monkey was a shepherd. It was so fun to be with family.

Boo and my sweet sister Max

Right before graduation, a windstorm with 100 mile winds hit our area. It turned the power off and there was a lot of damage done to property. It took out our fence and ripped our big pine tree out of the ground. Luckily the tree fell perfectly without damaging the house or our car. Now we have a big hole in the ground until our landlords decide to fill it up.

I graduated December 9th. I decided to walk and I was so glad I did. It felt so good to celebrate the hardest thing I have done up to this point. Monkey and Michelangelo came along with my parents, mother-in-law, grandparents, and sweet sister-in-law.

We celebrated later with everyone else. I hope my girls remember that their momma worked hard for her dreams and accomplished her goal, and that they will do the same with their own dreams and goals. I sure love my family and I couldn't have done it without them, especially my wonderful Michelangelo. Thanks sweetheart. I love you!

Monkey's birthday

April is also Monkey's birthday month. She is such a sweet girl. She is the one who will work on presents for months and for the past two years she has been the first one up on Mother's day to make me breakfast. This year has been a hard one for her at school. She's a smart cookie and understands the content pretty well, but there are some classmates that don't appreciate that. She's never been one to be quiet when she knows she's right.  She is also a really good helper with her sisters and her sisters can't wait for her to get home everyday. They both want to be just like her. At our most recent primary program for Mother's day they sang Armies of Helamen and Monkey belted out the words and was right on key. It was so beautiful! She has a great singing voice. She loves to work on craft projects, so when Bug was with me on a shopping trip she saw this bead maker and knew Monkey would love it.

The only thing Monkey had been asking for this year was a doll. Specifically an American Girl Doll, but that wasn't going to happen this year. We found the next best thing and Monkey was so excited.

Monkey wanted a Strawberry Shortcake birthday. Thanks to a talented sister-in-law who frosted and did the writing on the cake, it turned out beautifully. I did the strawberries. :)

My mom made her a pillow case. She is so talented.

Happy Birthday Monkey!

Bug's Birthday

It's my 100th post!!
  
Bug's 4th Birthday!

Bug's stats:

Height: 3ft. 4 3/4"

Weight:43.7

Favorite things: spaghetti, chicken, green beans, Spiderman, being a princess, coloring and writing letters(she is really good at this).

Favorite quote: I'm a beautiful expert (said with her legs crossed and her hands clasped together)

Goals: She wants to be an art teacher, and a teacher teacher.

Randomness of Bug: recently at a ward party, face painting was happening. Bug really wanted a tiger. When it was her turn she requested a Pink Tiger.

I was trying to finish all my papers and projects when Bug and Monkey's birthdays came around so I wasn't sure there would be any kind of party at all. Bug is turning 4 so it is her turn to have a friend birthday party. She wants a Spiderman Tea party. We decided to wait until after finals were over and she is still waiting for her party. I am working on it.
The day of her birth was kept very low key. Mike's parents were out of town and my parents had a wedding reception to go to so it ended up being our little family and my sister Lou, who got the girls these cute little hats that they love!

Monkey had been working for months on Bug's present. She had enlisted her art teachers help and made a blanket/pillow for Bug's dolls.

She sewed it all by herself and stuffed it with fabric scraps her teacher had. Look at this detail. A lot of love went into this gift.

I had fun wrapping this present. Monkey wanted curly ribbon on top so I put a lot of colors into it and Bug said that it looked like a firework.

I had found a doll so she could do it's hair instead of chopping her own.

Michelangelo had bought her a pack of markers. Can you tell what the favorite gift was?

My girls love to color even when it's sunny outside. It drives me crazy because Bug has a hard time remembering to put the lids back on and then the baby always finds them. With the rule that if I find them without lids, I throw them away, they don't last long.
I called my parents to let them know their youngest child was safe and would be home as soon as we finished the cake. My parents, hearing that there was still cake to be cut, came over with my grandparents. When Bug saw both cars pull up, she exclaimed, "Oh, my heck!" It was funny because I've never heard her say that before, and with such gusto. I think she was feeling pretty special.

I had grand plans for the cake, but I am striking out with cakes. I need some practice. Michelangelo came to my rescue and having never drawn with frosting before whipped out a Spiderman cake, which was all Bug had asked for.

Happy Birthday, my goofy princess!