A post about me...

A lot of my posts are about the kids, but I never really put much about my self.  Anyone curious about what I am up to these day?  To start with, I am currently working at a daycare.  I was working half-days, but recently extended my days a little longer.  The older girls really like going and would complain that they didn't get to go, so if I work a few more hours a day, they get to spend a little time there playing rather than just going to school and then home.  The best part about it is that I am in the same room as Kim.  I get all my work done, but still get to be a part of her day!   We started out in the baby room back when she was seven weeks old, but now we are in the one's.  Up to fifteen one-year-old kids can make for a crazy day, but I like spending the day with Kim and my other girls are close by.

 

At work, we are in the final three weeks of a biggest loser contest.  I have been going back and forth with the owner for first place.  It has been fun to push myself and I can hopefully win it and get a little spending money for new clothes.  It is awesome to be the master over at least one aspect of my life!  To date, I have lost 20 lbs and hope to lose about 4 more.  After doing that, I will weight a little less than what I did before having kids!  I am excited.  (As it stands, Taylor only has claim on about two pounds and then all my 'baby' weight will be gone!)  I was fine with the way I looked before starting, but it is fun to set a goal and try to reach it.

As always,my favorite hobby is reading.  I have a Kindle Fire and I love, love, love it.  Moving past that, one of my new favorite things to do is trying new recipes.  I am super excited.  Last week I splurged and bought myself a scotch laminator.  I don't know why, but I have always wanted one. I have been transferring my favorite recipes onto note cards and then laminating them.  It will be nice to have all my favorite recipes in one spot.  Well that's pretty much it in my life right now.  Tune in next week to see more about the kids!

New Tastes

 Have I mentioned that we love nice weather?  We like to play outside a lot after we get Taylor from school.  Kim discovered the girls' stash of sidewalk chalk the other day.  She tasted a piece or two but wasn't impressed.  She figured out chalk works better to color with than to eat.

 We are soo excited.  Kadie decided she wanted her hair cut the other day so we went to the store and she actually went through with it.  She has not had it cut since the end of two, beginning of three.  It was long and getting kind of scraggly.  We have tried a few other times where she said she would do it, but she would usually freak out as soon as she was sitting in the chair.  Once they even got the wrap on, but that was the end of it.  All the other times we would just leave since a hair cut isn't worth the scene she would cause throwing a fit.  This time she climbed in the chair and did great!  She didn't cry and sat very still like a big girl.

 We love the new look...and she likes that it doesn't take as long to brush!

Warmer Weather

 We've had a couple of days that have been warmer so we have taken advantage of the nice weather to be outside.  Remember this car that Kim got for Christmas?  She was finally able to use it.  Judging by the look on her face, I think she enjoys the car:

 

 We love to go on walks and on weekends, we drag the kids along too. 

 We spent two days at the park this weekend since it was so nice out.  Kim wasn't sure what to think of it.  She was afraid to walk on the wood chips and would either cry to be picked up, or hold her feet up when you went to put her down so that her feet wouldn't touch the ground.  Silly girl!  The park was a popular place to be and the older girls enjoyed running around and finding friends to play with.

In an unrelated post, Kim is continuing to feed herself:

It's getting messier!

Growing Up Fast...

 Kim is so funny.  Any time anyone in the family is eating anything, she feels that she should be eating too.  Lee was eating a snack and she got to sit in a big girl chair to join in on the food.  She looks so grown up...

Remember the "cheese" smile from last week, here it is again:

...and again:

 At daycare with mommy, Kim gets to use a spoon and feed herself.  Anytime I try to help, she gets mad at me.  Apparently she wants to be like the rest of the one-year-old kids and do it herself.  She is starting to get the same attitude at home.  Rather than fight it, I let her eat a yogurt by herself.  She did a pretty good job.  Most of it actually made it to her mouth:

Taylor is growing up so fast too.  She performed in her first grade class music recital of "Down on the Farm."  She got to be a chick out on the floor for the first number.  It was adorable!  She also got to play a rain stick for another number.  She did a good job singing and we are proud of her.

Oops...

 I have fallen behind yet again in my weekly Sunday blogging.  It isn't Sunday, but I am going to play catch up.  First up, Valentines day:

 ( I don't know why some of these are sideways.  They don't look that way on the computer but won't turn for me.)  The girls both had parties at their schools and got lots of valentines and candy.  We went to Taco Time for dinner.  This wouldn't normally be that exciting, but our home town didn't have one for a long time and they recently built one ONE BLOCK AWAY from our house!  It was open Sunday, closed Monday for technical problems, so we went as soon as it was possible for us on Tuesday.  Yum.  We love Taco Time!  I painted the girls' toes that evening just for fun.

Lee and I exchanged thoughtful gifts this year.  They were a lot of fun.  I made Lee a deck of cards with reasons why I love him.  I am in a Biggest Loser competition at work, so he thought it would be fun to get me a box of chocolates.  I groaned at first, but upon opening it, each chocolate was replaced with a rock and a cute note/memory wrapped around it.

Next up is President's Day Weekend.  We took time off work and made a mini-vacation out of it.  We met up with Liz's family in Billings.  This is the only picture of kids that I got.  The two girls taking a bath together.  Probably the only time anyone sat still long enough to get a picture.

The main purpose of our trip was to go to the temple.  We learned that you shouldn't go on a stake temple day as the sessions will be full.  We were able to get in to do some sealings though so it was still a neat experience:

Side Insert...This is Kimmy's cheese face.  

She loves to dish out this smile and I absolutely love it!  What a ham!!!

The big girls had a Zumba party for their last class on Friday. 

Where was Kadie for all this?  Throwing a tantrum and then sitting in the corner pouting.  She has been on an antibiotic for an ear infection and it has made her a little moody ("little" being an extreme exaggeration).  I think the parents watching made her shy.  She did enjoy the cupcakes and prizes later at home.

 Kim enjoyed watching and would occasionally try to dance too.

Randomness

 Kim loves taking a bath.  The second she hears the water turn on she is headed towards the bathroom.  I had to take a few pictures of her like this because I have very similar ones of her sisters. (I would post them along side these but I would have to track them down first.)  Nothing cuter than a little naked butt ready for a bath:

 I was supposed to go on a date this past week with Kadie.  Needless to say, by the time I was ready to go, she was not.  I got stood up!

(She had been sick the past week and must have been over tired.  We went on our date a few hours later and got an ICEE and purple fingernail polish, and then later painted her fingernails!)

While it is a little late, I found this picture on my mother's camera.  Taylor and Kadie were ringing in the New Year in style!

Taking A Break

I am slacking on my blog.  I didn't post last week and I haven't really taken any pictures to post this week either.  We did have family pictures taken that need edited and I will post them soon. 

It was a crazy week for us.  Kadie got sick at daycare with a high fever.  I couldn't get her into the doctor that day so I took her to public health for a strep test.  She clenched her jaw shut and was totally uncooperative.  The test there was negative.  The next day I took her our normal doctor.  It turns out she had strep and a burst eardrum.  She behaved WAY better for this doctor.  Poor Kadie.  Two days later the school called while I was at work.  Taylor had similar symptoms and ended up with strep as well.  So we spent the week with a couple of sick girls. 

Thankfully, Kim has not gotten sick.  She had eventful week herself.  She really started taking off on her walking.  Her first steps were on January 13th, but this week she decided that walking is the way to go and walks everywhere.  I could sit and watch her all day.  She is really getting vocal as well.  She tells us no,no,no (sometimes while shaking a finger at us), uh oh, tickle tickle, mama, dada, grama, thank you, woof, boo, and Taylor.  She has also discovered she can sniff and walks around making a constant sniffing noise, and has discovered how to blow a kiss.