Happy Birthday Sage!

Sage turned 3 years old yesterday! I can hardly believe how fast those years have gone! She just wrote her name really well today on a picture she drew of herself. The S is backward, but other than that, it looked really good. I was totally impressed.
I took the kids to my parents house for a few hours yesterday while I went into Roy's office to learn how to bill insurance companies since I'll be doing his billing for his private practice. The girls always have fun at their grandparents' homes. It was fun to see them interact with my parents when I came back. At their request, my dad was telling sillly stories of when the girls were born and all the funny made-up names that he said we were going to name them. He had them giggling like crazy! It was so cute!
We had chocolate chip pumpkin bread and ice cream to celebrate her birthday, but we're having her real family party on Sunday.
The day before her birthday, Grandma Jeanne took the girls to Build-a-Bear since she and Al left town yesterday morning. She chose a pink teddy bear, which she named Sunshine. I have cute pictures to post, but I'll have to post them later.
We're so lucky to have both sets of grandparents so close! They're great!!!

Cleaning Party

I told the girls they needed to clean their room before getting anything else out to play. McKinley decided to have a cleaning party and invited me to come. When I went to the door, she told me I couldn't come in . . . I had to pay first! That is one smart girl if you ask me. She earns a little money while getting help cleaning!

The Little Grown-up

The Sunday after McKinley's birthday, we took a little stroll to deliver cookies to some of our friends and neighbors. I had been roller blading most mornings at that time, pushing the kids in the jogger (McKinley would usually ride her bike). She got roller blades for her birthday --(Thanks Trina and Gary:) -- and loves to practice, so she decided she would push her doll in her stroller while I pushed the younger two kids in mine. She looked so cute and acted so grown up! When we got to one of the houses, I told her I was just going to go up to the door since the driveway was a hill and I'd be right back. She said, "Okay Mom; I'll just stay here and watch the kids." I thought it was so cute that she said that and wanted to share the adorable comment, but she got embarassed and didn't even want me to tell her daddy. I debated writing about it on the blog, since she wouldn't want anyone to hear the story. I almost didn't blog about it, but I am afraid I will forget about it before I get it written in her private journal. She is growing up so fast and is so nurturing and loving toward her brother and sister (most of the time). She'll make a great mom someday! By the end of our jaunt, all three of them were exhausted!
Also, soon after her birthday, Sage opened the front door and almost went out. McKinley stopped her and said, "No Sage. You have to have a grown-up. You need to wait for Mom or me to go with you." A few minutes later, I heard her singing, "I'm five. I'm a grown-up now." over and over again. I'm pretty sure she was thinking of a song her great Uncle Michael sang to her when he was in town recently, which says, "I'm five, I'm five; I'm a big girl now I'm five."

When I Was Four

McKinley turned five years old on Monday! It was a fun and busy day since several of Roy's family members were in town. In the evening, McKinley sat on a little baby push-along bike/walker and said, "I'm kinda too big for this. When I was four, I used to sit on this and scoot around sometimes." I thought it was hillarious. It took effort to keep from laughing out loud. :)

Little Puzzler

Sage is following in her big sister's footsteps. They both love puzzles and do very well with them, but Sage amazed me today when she put a 25-piece puzzle together all by herself! She's 2 1/2 and this was a box with pieces in it and no outline on a board to help. It took her a while, but she patiently turned pieces around and tried them in a few places until she found the right spot. I was so proud of her! I would post a picture, but I didn't have the digital camera. I did however take a picture with a film camera, but it will take a while to get them developed.

Roley Poley River

For those of you who were around when McKinley was a baby . . . Do you think River is on his way to her chunk statis?

It seems to me that no baby could be quite as chubby as McKinley was. He seems so much more solid, but River does have about three chins and some rubber band lines on his arms and legs. He's just so cute if you ask me.

Cute McKinley Stories

McKinley and Sage say and do cute things all the time. Unfortunately, I haven't been the best at recording them. There were a few days in February that I wrote down some cute things that McKinley said to or about River. These stories are kind of old now, but I wanted to record these before they get lost. I wrote on the back of a pad of construction paper that was handy at the time.

2/6/08
McKinley was holding River in her lap on the floor, singing a made-up tune:
I love your legs cuz they kick, kick, kick.
I love your arms cuz they move up and down.

I love your (?) cuz they don't do anything.

I love your ears cuz they hear.
I love your eyes cuz they see.
I love your teeth -- you don't have any teeth.
I love your whole body cuz it can rock.
Cuz everything can matter -- like dancing!
I love you!

2/9/08
McKinley to River: "So . . . What are we going to do together -- just you and me? Play a game?

2/11/08
McKinley picked River up when he started crying and I was in the middle of trying to make dinner or something in the kitchen.
Me: "Thank you for calming River down."
McKinley: "No problem. It's just a little stand up and rockin. I could do this all the time when he cries . . .(a few seconds later) . . . That's enough holding for now." (River is pretty heavy)

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

A few weeks ago on a Wednesday (when Roy doesn't have to work during the day), we went to the park down the street to take advantage of the perfect kite-flying conditions. We had been busy doing other things during the day so we didn't leave ourselves as much time as we would've liked. We were having such a good time, we stayed a little longer than we should've. Roy tends to time things extremely close and had to rush to work without eating, but amazingly made it there in time. It was a fun family activity.

Preparing Our Garden

Last year, we tried planting a garden and put a lot into it (we even brought in more soil) but it didn't do well at all. This year, Roy set it up a little differently and it has already been doing much better.


Roy tilled the ground and made it really soft and rich. The kids love playing in the parts we haven't planted yet. Roy is really determined to make it work this year.

You've all heard of making snow angels. Well, this is a dirtier version -- dirt angels.

River is getting so big and has a smile on his face most of the time.

Thanks Erin!

Well, it's been over a month since I last posted and I miss sharing events with everyone! Since I haven't been blogging, I haven't been on the computer much and therefore haven't been checking everyone else's blogs. Thanks to Erin and her suggestion to try Photobucket, I'm ready to start again. I need to figure out how to do slide shows and everything since there will be a ton of pics I want to share. :) We'll see how I do. I don't have a lot of time right now, but I'll post soon. Thanks a bunch Erin!

Hot Dog

After church today, the girls wanted hot dogs for lunch. I always cut the hot dogs in half lengthwise before placing them on the buns. Since Sage never eats a whole one, I cut hers in fourths (once crosswise and once lengthwise). I asked her if I could have one. She told me I could, so I ate one of the fourths. As I put the last little bite in my mouth and started chewing, she scouled and said, "hey". McKinley responded, "Well, you can't have it now." (pause) Actually you could, but you'd have to wait for her to poop -- but you wouldn't want it then."

River's Blessing

Roy blessed River in church this past Sunday. He did a great job and we were grateful for the support of both of our families! We had a great weekend for the most part. The only negative was a result of Teton's disappearance. Luckily, we found him today at the nearest animal shelter, about 20 minutes or so from our house. I can't upload any pictures as I've already exceeded my photo upload quota. I'll post pictures again when I figure out how to archive my blog thus far.

Temple and Valentines

River had a doctor's appointment in Boise Thursday, so we took advantage of the day in Boise. We visited my Grandma, my parents, and stopped and walked around the Boise Temple. It was a beautiful day, so we just couldn't pass by without stopping. River was asleep and had sore legs from the three immunization shots he'd recieved at his appointment. I just let him stay asleep, but I got some cute pictures of the girls.

Valentine's Day came too quickly for us this year and we didn't get the kids' presents made in time for their daddy. I bought the stuff to do it in January, but planned on doing the project early February. Time flew and we just gave it to him this morning. It was not just a one day project since we had to let the molds dry and then paint them, but it was fun. The girls were so excited to give them to Daddy, we wrapped them last night while they were still damp from the paint.

Making Pinatas

Grandma Spaulding tries to do something once a week with her grandkids that live close by. Last Tuesday, they made pinatas, which she'll let them decorate another day. Hunter didn't want much to do with it at first, but ended up enjoying himself. McKinley had a great time, but went to play with Hunter after a little while. Sage, however, had the longest attention span of the three. She could've done this for hours. She was the first and last one at the table working on hers and was so focused! River was just plain happy.:) Thanks for the fun, Grandma!

Swimming in the Tub

Yesterday, I let the kids go "swimming" in our bathtub. Sage has been talking about going swimming for a long time and we haven't done it, so they put swimming suits on and splashed around. I put River in a swim diaper so he could join them. He loved it! He kicked his little legs, splashed with his arms, and smiled so big. I was holding his head most of the time, but I did manage to let go long enough to catch this happy expression. The girls loved having him in there with them. "Swimming" just wouldn't have been complete without all of them. :)

Snow is Falling All Around

We've gotten so much snow lately! The mountian close to us where we go skiing got 4 feet last week. I'm not sure how much we've had in the valley, but it's more than they've had here in years!
Our Stake President even cancelled church Sunday. How often does that happen? I think he must be a California transplant. :)













We took advantage of the snow this weekend to go sledding. Although we don't have actual sleds or big hills close by, we didn't let that stop us. We went to Roy's parents' house and tied one of our kayaks to the back of Grandma and Grandpa's 4 wheeler. Grandpa drove us all around the fields surrounding their house.
We even got high centered a couple times going over big snow drifts. Sage had fun at first I think, but didn't last the whole time. She ended up riding on the 4 wheeler for the second half.
Roy started out on the innertube, holding on to the rope attached behind the kayak while I rode on the back of the kayak with the girls.
Later, Grandma rode on the back with McKinley while I rode on the innertube. While I was riding, I kept having to lift up my behind to keep it from dragging. My body kept having to go straighter so I was practically lying flat. I kept yelling to Roy (now on the 4 wheeler with Sage) to ask him if I was losing air. It wasn't long before I was just dragging the deflated tube with me while I slid on my rear end. I have to say, it didn't make me feel too good to think that I was the one who popped the tube. :/ It was rather funny though. Roy and I then took each other on a little more wild ride. We all had a good time. River slept through the whole thing, which was nice.




When we were nice and warm inside, Sage took to her favorite banana chair. She ran as fast as she could to knock it over and roll off. This was her favorite part of our snow day I think.

Skiing

McKinley learned to ski last winter and was anxious to hit the slopes! She went skiing over Christmas break too, but unfortunately, I wasn't there to take pictures. She did three runs before calling it quits so Sage could take a turn. We forgot the Edgy Wedgy to keep the ski tips together, which wasn't a problem for McKinley, but we worried a little bit about Sage.

Sage skiied last year in the backpack, but this year she said she wanted to do it by herself. Sage was so bundled up and the ski boots were too big (they're the same ones McKinley uses). She reminded me of the little boy in A Christmas Story ("I can't put my arms down!"). Most of you are probably familiar with that movie -- it's a classic as far as I'm concerned. :) Roy had to keep grabbing her harness to help her trek through the snow. Having skis on her feet was a new and exciting experience. She smiled and giggled, but couldn't move very well on flat ground without her Daddy's help. He finally picked her up in his arms and carried her to the lift.

She struggled a little bit at first standing up on her own. She kept leaning forward and relying on her Dad to keep her up. At first, I wondered if Roy was going to have to hold her up the whole way down the mountain. That was not the case. It didn't take long before she started allowing Roy to lengthen his hold on the straps. She did a great job by the end even without anything to keep her ski tips together. She's a natural just like McKinley! :)

Roy's mom was kind enough to come skiing with us and take turns with the kids. Truth be told, she only got to ski about an hour of the time we were there. She was so great to let Roy and I ski with the girls and with each other. When we finished skiing and were packing up for the day to hurry back for Roy's evening of clients, I rushed out to get a picture of River on his first trip to a ski lodge. He was asleep when I picked him up and put this bunting on him.

Obviously it didn't affect him too much to be put against a few skis or tree trunk in the snow since he kept on sleeping! :)