Birthdays, Baptism, and Chalkboards

My sweet girls.

A lot of things going on.  This Saturday Haley is being baptized...we're all super excited!  My grandparents will be here for it, and also my brother Andrew and his girlfriend are making the trek out to be here as well!  So we'll be having some good quality family time this weekend!  

I have tackled another project: a chalkboard wall in the kitchen.  I'm totally copying Clover Lane...hopefully mine looks just as good!  And I'm desperately trying to have it done by Saturday. Pictures to come.

And of course Haley's birthday is Thursday!  My little 8 year old!

Birthday Party for the Girls

It's always hard having Haley and Morgan's birthday a week apart.  I never know how to celebrate.  One time we had a combined birthday party with a bunch of kids, but somehow most of them didn't get the memo that it was Morgan's party too and only Haley received gifts...that was a birthday fail!  

Another time I did two separate kid birthday parties a week apart for each of them.  That worked out well, except for the fact that it gets expensive buying different decorations for each party, different cake, etc, etc.  Plus, it's just plain exhausting for me.  

Then another time we had a combined kid birthday party, each of them inviting their own friends complete with different invitations (so there was no confusion about gift giving).  This would work, except that each girl didn't have the same number of friends that could come to the party.  One girl has 6 friends that were able to come and the other had maybe 4...then we have another problem with the gifts...one kid has more than the other.  I know, I know...life isn't fair and they need to learn this...blah, blah, blah.  But, I don't want to hear the complaining and yes, I try to make things as even as possible because why should I add chaos to my already chaotic life.  Believe me, they have plenty of other opportunities to learn that life isn't fair every other day of their lives!

So, this year...I wanted to keep things simple since we're having a big whoop-de-do for Haley's baptism next week and I just don't have the energy to have two big-whoop-de-do's for birthdays as well.  We decided to have a birthday outing to Build-a-Bear and they each got to bring a friend.  We loaded up the Burban with six little girls (thank heavens my mom came with me) and off we went!  The girls had a ball, and then we came back to the house for some lunch with cake and ice cream.  Perfect.

Plum Jam

I feel like this week as just flown by!  Since getting back from Sedona on Sunday I still haven't caught up...in fact, Piper's duffel bag from the trip is STILL sitting at the top of the staircase needing to be unpacked!  One of these days I'll get to it.

But, I DID finally start on making jam this week!  Plum jam in fact.  I'm up to my eyeballs in peaches and plums around here so I have to get crackin' on it.

Today we're having a birthday party for Morgan and Haley...it will be a busy day!  Pictures to come.

Pioneer Day

July 24th was Pioneer Day in Utah!  My parents, the kids and I went to a local park to celebrate.  They had a band playing (they were very good too!), booths with tons of activities for kids, pioneer village, and the pioneer museum.  

My little music lover watching the band.

Thank goodness my parents were with me!  There is no way I could have kept track of those kids by myself...I would have lost them for sure!  

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Morgie Porgie!

Today you are 6!!

Oh, how we love you!

Sedona Part II

One of our favorite places to visit while in Sedona is an outside mall type place called Tlaquepaque or Wacky Packy as we like to call it.  They have a beautiful grassy area next to the river where the girls love to feed the ducks, play on the playground and look at all the javalina sculptures.  

The girls also did tons and tons of swimming in the pool. 

Rory watched.

Haley found a toad in the garden!

I would like to say that the kids did super on the drive home.  I think they were all tuckered out...which made it quite nice for Ryan and I.

Sedona Part I

So, road trippin' with kids.  Never a dull moment.  We left Wednesday morning by 9:00...not too bad with four little kids, but it definitely made for a very long day in the car!  What should have been about 7 or 8 hours turned into more like 10 hours with all of Piper's pee stops in the middle of no where!  And my nursing Rory every few hours did help either.

But yeah...kids in cars...never a dull moment.  

Remember this commercial?

The Allstate Mayhem guy showing what it's like to drive with a toddler in the car.

That is EXACTLY what it's like to drive with Piper when she's hit her limit.  Enough said.

  

Pee stop #1 out of like 25.

Ah, the joys of road trips with a newly potty trained kid.

I'm sure Ryan will be glad I posted this picture.

But we did make it to Sedona and we had a grand time!

First stop: Slide Rock.

 The girls had a ball!

Ryan took Haley and Morgan down some of the rock slides and Piper stuck to the shallow areas.

And as for Rory, we made a little canopy for her to nap in the shade.

Stay tuned...Sedona Part II tomorrow.  Oh, and how do you like the pictures?  I'm a proud owner of a new fancy shmancy camera!  Now, I just have to learn how to use it!