Brynlee's Seventh Birthday!

This Year Brynlee wanted to do a movie party. She talked to my brother Josh and he gave her permission to use his projector while he was gone and we set up a sheet in the living room. We made popcorn and Brynlee picked out several treats to eat during the movie and I set up a make your own pizza station. Brynlee invited 10 kids and my mom brought Jakobee and Remi with her. One friend couldn't come but Brynlee still had plenty of people over to celebrate with.

Joel had mutual on the day of Brynlee's party so a few people came over that day and had a cupcake with us while we waited till the next day to do her party. We had chocolate cupcakes and for her party we made a two layered heart cake. Brynlee decorated it with all kinds of candy including almost an entire box of her favorite candy, Hot Tamales. It looked pretty fancy.

On the day of Brylee's party everyone came over at 5pm and we started to make pizzas. The kids played while we waited for them to cook and then we ate them. They turned out to be pretty yummy and all the kids seems to like and eat them.

As soon as we were done with the food Brynlee opened all of her presents. She got spoiled with all kinds of fun toys and craft things. Brynlee was still trying to open up one of her presents while we sang to her. The kids didn't seem to enjoy all of the hot tamales on the cake but everyone still ate quite a bit of it.

After the cake we turned on the movie. It was a hard decision but due to time constraints Brynlee chose to watch Trolls with all of her friends. We had all kinds of blankets, pillows, and mattresses set up for the kids to sit on. Brynlee and a few of her friends were really engrossed in the movie but most of the kids wanted to talk and play still so Brynlee said it was a little frustrating that everyone kept talking during the movie. After the movie everyone danced to the music and then helped to pick up all of the blankets and get ready to go home. The party lasted for 2 and 1/2 hours and it was the perfect amount of time. Everyone played outside for a little bit until all of the parents came and everyone went home.

At the end of the party I looked at Joel and said, "well, that wasn't too crazy." Joel looked at me like I had lost it and declared that to be an extremely crazy party. Really it turned out better than I expected. Joel just isn't used to being around so many excited little kids. Brynlee seemed to have fun so I say it was a huge success. 

Kyla's Third Birthday

Kyla turned three on the Sunday that we returned from our trip to the mountains. We had planned to have all of the family over for cake and ice cream that night of her birthday after Joel and I went to the temple dedication for the Idaho Falls temple. There was no church that day so we had a babysitter lined up for the kids. Brynlee ended up waking up that morning with a fever and she was feeling pretty miserable so we ended up calling and warning everyone about the potential to catch something. Joel stayed home with the kids while I went to the temple dedication with Joel. My mom and dad, my brother Josh, and grandma had all been around Brynlee the night before so they decided to risk it and still come over.

Kyla could not wait to open presents and since we weren't sure if anyone would get to come over we let her open them first thing that morning. We got her a "pee baby" which is a baby alive dolls that wets it's diaper after you give it water. It is what she asked for and she was beyond thrilled to get it. Annalyn was pretty upset because Kyla got one just like hers except she thought Kyla's was cuter because it had fairy wings. Kyla let Annalyn play with it right away.

     We made a cake before we left on our trip. It was a cute green/yellow and purple color. We also made cupcakes at the same time and froze them to use with friends later in the week. On her birthday she got to eat her heart cake and we had ice cream, sang, and Kyla blew out her candles. She got to open her new church dress from my mom. She was pretty happy with the way things went but was still talking about her birthday with her friends.

Kyla wanted to do a beach/water party in the backyard and I really wanted to make that happen for her. Because of our trip I procrastinated inviting anyone but I figured we could have a few friends over for a playdate later that week. I was already supposed to be babysitting some of Kyla's friends so I figured we could turn that into a fun party if we had to. The day after Kyla's birthday she ended up waking up with a fever. Brynlee had a fever for three days, Kyla's lasted for three, almost four days, Annalyn had a really bad tummy ache the next day and felt yucky and was whiney for two days that week and then Summer ended up getting sick.

We had planned to do a big family picnic and pictures on Thursday of that week and I was hoping that everyone would be better by then but Summer and Joel both woke up that morning with a fever. Joel got the sickness pretty strong and was sicker than all of the kids. He had a fever and was throwing up and achy all over. He was sick all weekend. This was the last chance we could do family pictures so we tried to minimize everyone's exposure to Joel and the baby and had everyone come over anyways. Kyla was feeling good so we got out her cupcakes that night and got to eat them with the family. She got to blow out more candles and we ate pizza. Then we went down by the little river in Kuna and took some pictures with my family. We did them ourselves so they are not professional pictures but I think they turned out well. Afterwards we went and got snow cones. I know Joel felt miserable the whole night. I would have liked a family picture but I knew it was not a good night for that. In the end Kyla was happy with the way things turned out and she had a fun night. I really wish it would have been a better celebration but sometimes simple is just fine. She was happy that her friends Remi and Jakobee got to come over. We have done lots of fun things this summer and Kyla got to spend the day before her birthday up camping in the mountains. I think that is pretty lucky. We sure do love little Kyla and we are glad she was born.

Brynlee is Seven!

I am getting behind in my blogging. Brynlee turned seven last month but I am just now getting around to writing all about her now that she is seven. She sure can be such a sweet and helpful kid. She will often go up to people and say something nice or compliment them on their clothes or something like that. She likes to be the boss and is a natural born leader. Her sisters don't always appreciate her keeping them in line but she makes sure that they follow the rules. She hates to be late for things and can be super organized and she thinks things through and has a good plan of how she wants things to go. Here is a little list of some of Brynlee's favorite things.

Favorite Food: Homemade French Fries
Favorite Dessert: Hot Tamales
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Song: Gethsemane
Favorite Movie: Dolphin Tale
Favorite TV Show: Avatar
Best Friends: Tatum, Abbey, Maggie, and Rori
Favorite Toy: Littlest Petshops
Favorite Animal: Crocodile
Favorite Place to Go: The Zoo
Favorite Game: Candy Land
Favorite Book: A-Z Mysteries
Favorite thing to do: Watch Shows and Movies and eat popcorn
Things she doesn't like to do: Watch bad movies and eat chicken with skin on.
What she wants to be when she grows up: A Teacher

Bynlee is usually pretty happy and is constantly singing. She still makes up a lot of songs and sings the songs she learns at school or church while she plays and walks around the house. She loves school and can't wait to be in second grade. She did pretty well in school. She loves listening to books on tape and will listen to the same book over and over again. Lately it has been the A-Z mystery books. They only have the first six books on CD at the library so we have listened to them about 20 times each. She will turn a tape on in the morning and listen to the tape while she plays and does stuff around the house. She can read pretty well and has a pretty storyteller's voice but she would prefer to just be read to.

Brynlee still loves to wear flip flops and sandals every day and only wears sock if it is absolutely necessary. The winter was rough. Brynlee would bring her tennis shoes in her backpack on PE days and change right before PE. This summer she has mostly just worn dresses with little shorts underneath. She lets me fix her hair on several occasions but also likes to just leave it down.

Now that Brynlee can read she has been baking things all the time. If is comes in a box, she can bake it. Her favorite things to make are muffins and cupcakes. She still loves crafts and creating things. She hasn't asked to play with friends very often this Summer. We have been pretty busy and she has spent a lot of time playing with her sisters.

Brynlee has still been taking medicine every day to help with her constipation. At this point she isn't embarrassed by the fact at all. I have heard her telling a few friends all about the medicine she has to take for her constipation on several occasions. She still makes the sh sound for all of her s sounds so we have been working on that all summer. She seems to be getting better but she has to think about it before she can do it.

Brynlee really is a super hard worker. She likes to accomplish the tasks I give her super quickly and then be done with them. She has been wiping off the table and taking care of her breakfast dishes every morning. If she wants to go somewhere she is really great at cleaning up so I will be more likely to say yes to her request. Honestly she just puts her heart and soul and works hard at whatever she does. She loves to learn and ask questions and is an overall great girl to be around. She still gets upset easily and whines and yells when she doesn't get her way. She reminds me a lot of her dad. She is pretty close to her dad and hates it when he leaves. I can also see my personality in her too. She got my inability to fall asleep at night and will often lay in her bed for hours before she falls asleep.

I sure do love this girl and her love and passion for life. She is one sweet, smart, fun loving girl and we wouldn't have her any other way. She is sometime a challenge to parent but mostly she is just a fun kid to be around. Our home just wouldn't be the same without her. Even though she fights with her sisters sometimes, they all look up to her so much and they love being around her. I can't wait to see what all things she will accomplish this year while she is seven.

Kyla is Three!

Kyla is officially three years old. Her hair is getting much longer and is pretty blond right now. She still has hazel/dark blue eyes and she loves to get her hair fixed. She loves playing with baby dolls and playing with her sisters. She loves playing with water and eating treats. She also loves to color and paint. I asked her all about her favorite things and here is what she said. Some of her responses were kind of funny and yet so like Kyla.

Favorite color: Purple
Favorite Food: Lettuce, Salad, Hotdogs, Meatballs, and Ingredients
Favorite Dessert: Cake with ice cream
Favorite Toy: A butterfly
Favorite Song: Going on a Bear Hunt
Best Friends: Remi, Jakobee, Jakobee's dad Randy, and Heather
Favorite Movie: Barbie movie
Favorite Animal: Bear
Favorite Place to go: School and the store
Favorite Game: The shark game (Get Bit)
Favorite thing to do: Fix mom's hair
What she wants to be when she grows up: A Grown up and I will go to preschool.

Kyla does love to eat. She will sit and watch whatever movie her sister's want to watch most of the time and is constantly asking to play on my ipad. She doesn't get to do it very often but when she does she likes to watch kids play with dolls on YouTube. She does love to play with her cousin Remi, those two have such a fun relationship with each other and now that Remi lives close they get to play together lots. Kyla is usually good with going wherever we want to go. She gets shy sometimes and is mostly just content to sit and watch whatever is happening. She talks about growing up all the time and being a mom. Every time she gets in trouble she is always quick to remind me that she is "just little. Just a little girl."

Kyla talks all the time and has a very extensive vocabulary. Her speech is pretty clear most of the time but she still talks about how she will go to speech when she grows up. She just wants to go because it looked so fun when Anna did it. Now she keeps waiting for her turn to go.

Kyla doesn't take naps very often but when she gets tired she will often come and tell me she is tired and then ask me to tuck her in her bed. Then she takes a good two hour nap. She will sometimes fall asleep on the couch while watching a movie or in the car on a trip somewhere. If she does take a nap then it takes her an extra hour or two to fall asleep so I don't encourage her to take a nap unless she is really grouchy and wants to take one.

Kyla still sucks on her thumb all the time and rubs her belly while she does that.  For a while she went through a phase where she hated to be buckled in her seatbelt because she couldn't rub her belly button very easily while she was in there. Now she has gravitated to rubbing her neck when she can't reach her belly. She has always been very wise for her age and is also self aware of her feeling and will often tell me how she feels. One day she came up to me and said, "Mom, I is frusterrated! I need to suck on my thumb. That makes me feel better." Sucking on her thumb will usually cure any bad day. She keeps telling me she can still suck on her thumb because she is just a little girl but she has promised to stop when she is a mom. I am hoping she will stop before then.

Kyla loves to write and draw and is getting better but drew all over the wall of our office not to long ago. She loves stickers and sticks them all over the place. She also loves scissors and I caught her almost cutting the hair of her doll once but so far has only cut paper. She cut a few bills before they were paid so there is no way she can be trusted alone with scissors. When she sits on the ground she often sits in the V shape and can sit like that for hours.

Kyla is still afraid of most animals. We had ants in out house for a while and Kyla would climb on the kitchen table and cry until I came and got her cause she was so afraid of those ants. She still doesn't like them but she hasn't been as afraid of them lately and has gotten brave and pet a few small dogs and cats.

When Kyla doesn't get her way she will often say "dis is not fair." She is going through a phase right now where she wants lots of help with things I know she can do on her own. She waits until the last possible second to use the bathroom. If I ask her if she needs to go she lies and says no or will vehemently promise that she already used the bathroom just a few seconds. Then she will cry and refuse to use the potty unless I help her or do everything for her. Suddenly she will be incapable of pulling down her pants or sitting on the toilet. There have been a few times where she has cut things so close that she ends up making a mad dash to her bedroom to retrieve new panties cause so doesn't think she is going to make it. For a while she used to pee in front of the toilet several times a month and she would pee her bed almost once a month. She hasn't done that in a long time now though and accidents have become more rare but she is always cutting it close and begging for my help. She also wont use the toilet if someone else forgot to flush, I must come flush it, and if the toilet is dirty she cleans it first.

Kyla loves to be the helper. She hates cleaning but if someone says that I need something, like a diaper for the baby or something, she will often run so she can be the one to get it for me. She is also compassionate and is often able to tell what someone needs and help them out. If someone is sad she will play with them and try to cheer them up. She can sometimes be naughty and will not listen or do something wrong but she really has such a great heart and is always trying to help and please others. She always gets sad when someone is mad or unhappy with her. She sure is such a cuddly and sweet part of our family and we all love having this girl in our home. She is one happy little ray of sunshine and we wouldn't trade her for the world.