A Classic Party

Addie chose to celebrate her 3rd birthday party at Classic Waterpark. Sometimes I still can't believe this place is around, considering I used to go there as a kid...and it was also Dave and Jenn's first job! It's fun in an old-school kind of way (and maybe a touch ghetto?) but the kids love it and they actually do a pretty good job of keeping it clean.

Addie surrounded by her BFF's. She is quite the social butterfly and everyone loves her.

Just recently Emmy has started reaching for everything in sight! No one ever wants to sit by her at dinner for fear our meal will end up in her grubby little paws...good thing Reece can hold her own!

If you look close, Nat is eating 4 pieces at once!
Emmy has been my best eater! She will chow on anything I put in front of her and I love it!

Addison loves her Daddy!

She went on the shark slide that is SO fast and got a little upset afterwards. Lots of sun+too much fun+ 3-year old = random crying for no apparent reason...luckily it didn't last long.
Here she is trying to keep herself together...luckily cake was next!

Emmy has some serious chub on those thighs!!

This Cookie Monster cake was the cutest thing ever. It made you smile just to look at it. The kids all had blue frosting on their mouths afterwards and it was pretty funny to watch. Ashley begged for an eyeball slice so I obliged and her and Addie each got one.

Grandma hates to miss anyones birthday and always tries to come to Utah to celebrate with the grandkids when she can. We joke that the basement can be her "wing" because she's always welcome.

The kids had a blast playing in the arcade. Addie had no shortage of friends, every time I turned around she had a new friend to boss around.

The air hockey table is the perfect size for little kids. This was Addie's favorite game to play and she'd get SO excited when she scored a point!

Natalie and Ginny went to the same pre-school for a year and they have always been cute little cousin-friends.

Addison and me celebrating our actual birthday at Market Street for breakfast w/grandma and grandpa Alas. Grandma got Addie a Leapfrog magnetic alphabet game that she loves. Breakfast was so tasty - we love that place!

Addie got some cute gifts from friends and family...

Addie had a fun day and a great birthday. Thanks to everyone for making it so memorable!

Potty-training part deuce...

Today I am going to potty-train Addison...again (or still?) This cute pic of Addie going potty was actually taken on January 7th...fast forward 6+ months and wow, Deja Vu!

I don't really know what happened our first go round. I guess I thought it would be easy to potty-train a kid the third time around. It started off SO awesome and she went #1 AND #2 in the potty the VERY first day...and I was so proud of her, so smug with personal satisfaction that my daughter had acheived this awesome milestone in one day, and borderline arrogant that I had this parenting thing nailed. Funny how quickly you can get knocked off your high horse by a 2 1/2 year-old...
Ever since that one day in January, Addie's poop has not come anywhere near that potty again. At first, she loved the cute potty charts her sisters made for her and would get so excited to put stickers on...then she was over stickers and we moved on to candy bribes...I guess my candy sucks around here because she slowly regressed back to pull-ups ALL the time and only goes in public now (I know, she's a weirdo that way). Any time we're out, the kid has to go (FYI, this is not a fun habit at Walmart)

So today I am done. I am done changing disgusting 3 year-old "man poo" (term courtesy of Dave). So far Addie is doing great. She has gone potty 5 or 6 times today...still no sign of the other but I am not going to put another pull-up on her again (except for an night) even if it means chucking undies left and right.

I started our "Potty Party" by going to the Dollar store and loading up on $15 worth of junk (a.k.a. bribes) and wrapped them all up. Addison thought it was Christmas all over again and couldn't wait to open all her gifts. I am hoping that this does the trick because I am so done with 2 kids in diapers (you'd think I was 26 instead of 36!)

Nice wrapping paper huh? Merry Potty-training?

Gotta love Christmas in July!

So I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this is it. I am hoping that Addie stops wearing her potty-watch as just a fashion accessory and I REALLY hope that Emmy is not this big of a pain in the butt to train!

Speaking of, I love sleeping babies (who doesn't) and Emmy is such a cute sleeper that I've been stalking her and snapping pics lately. I can't get enough of how cute she sleeps!

Happy Birthday Addison!

It's hard to believe that this was me 3 years ago pregnant with Addison. We were doing fire works in the circle and I was supposed to be induced the following morning. The next morning I got a call saying that my induction date was going to be bumped because I was voluntary and they had a backlog because of the holiday. I was disappointed because for some reason (that I can't remember now) I really wanted her born on my birthday. So I went and worked out that morning hoping it would make me go into labor...that didn't work so Janet and I went and had spicy mexican food...no go on that...then my neighbor Lorna convinced me to try Castor Oil...what was she/I thinking? Not only did it bring on labor, it did it with a vengeance! Within 2 hours of taking that nasty, vile, most disgusting liquid ever I was in labor!! I will spare the gory details of what else the Castor Oil brought on since the experience is forever carved to memory, but suffice to say that it was not pretty and I'm sure nurses everywhere curse and roll their eyes at patients (like me) who do stuff like that on purpose! But I got my way, and welcomed sweet little Addison into the world...on my birthday no less! She weighed in at an impressive 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches. My biggest kid at birth! She had a ton of hair and I remember that you could even see it in the ultrasound pics that Jenn took (as well as those CHEEKS!).

Addison was so sweet and loved Grandma Janet to rub and hold her feet. She was a good baby and never fussed much. She was and still is an awesome sleeper too. All the girls love to cuddle with Grandma and have her tickle their backs.

Addison's blessing picture. She looked like such a little angel...hard to believe I'd EVER want to put this sweet baby in time-out 3-4 times a day!

Right away we were taken by Addie's cheeks and sweet smile. She still has that sweet smile...but now it's used for alterior motives or to conceal something she doesn't want me to know about.

We did our best to take advantage of free flying under age 2 by going to San Francisco for Thanksgiving...

Rocky Point, Mexico with the cousins over Halloween...

And Stein Erickson in Utah over Labor Day one year. I look back and don't remember any of this being a big deal, probably because Addison was a great traveler and an easy kid (maybe she was priming me for the terrible 3's...). It's funny though, now just the thought of packing for 5 girls makes my head SPIN.

Cute little Addie posing for her 1-year pics.

She was so good to listen and the pictures turned out absolutely gorgeous!

Hey Mom, I've got my shades now so hurry and finish this post already so we can go swimming!

Hey sis, I can't believe you've been around for 3 years now! You are such a nut and we love you so much! You are so full of life and energy and we love your silly personality and the way you always make us smile. I don't love that as I'm blogging this post you are currently NOT potty-trained AND that you still steal poor little Emmy's bink sometimes...BUT that is you, and we will take the good with the bad since you are so dang adorable. I hope you will always know how much you are truly loved.

4th of July!

We started our 4th of July weekend by going to a BBQ at Aunt Diane's house. The girls had a blast hanging out with their extended cousins, eating and swimming most of the night. I love when all the cousins get together, they are so much fun to be around it's always a guaranteed good time (especially when Krista is there!!) and the kids all get along really well. Uncle Kent cooked up some tasty burgers and hot dogs and then we all sat around and caught up on life. I appreciate Diane having the fiesta at her house on the 4th for a couple of years now and I hope she keeps doing it.
Saturday morning Marianne and I took our girls swimming at Riverton pool. The kids love, love, love swimming and will jump at any chance to go. It was fun and Emmy had a great time playing in the water. Later that day we went back for the carnival. The kids had a blast on the rides and Addie kept saying she wanted to ride the "rolla costa"...a girl after her dad's heart.

It's always an interesting crowd at Carnivals... mulletts and muffin tops galore! Addie is either thinking hmmm, nice "who farted" t-shirt...or someone just told her what's really in that corn dog (but they were sure tasty!).

Ladies man. Can you tell who's the fave in our family? Look at Nat and Addie perfecting the art of people-watching.
Yum. Can't go to a trashy carnival and not eat FUNNEL CAKE! Natalie's probably going to be a crazy driver just like her dad! I think Dave likes to wear a wife-beater when he drives fast too!
The hay dive for the kids was pretty funny. They threw a bunch of candy, prizes, and money into piles of hay and then let the kids loose. It was madness, but pretty funny to watch. Oops, I spy a crack-a-doodle-doo! Nat, don't you know that crack is whack? I love sweet sis pics like this one... And this one...

Sparklers. So lame, but yet so fun at the same time. The girls love sparklers and Addie especially loved the king-size ones we found this year.

"Fire Marshall" Dave tried to get Ashley to light a firework and she wouldn't do it for anything. I don't like lighting them either, I always think they are going to blow up in my face.

Addie thought some of the fireworks were "TOO LOUD DADDY!"

Grandma Janet is so loving and sweet with the girls. They all love her so much and I'm so happy they have all had a chance to spend some great quality time with her. Addie was so silly during fireworks, she kept clapping and saying "yay Daddy!" or "good job Dad!". She is hilarious.
After doing fireworks in the circle Marianne, Grandma, and me and the girls all drove over near Riverton Park to check out how the professionals do it. Riverton did a really nice job...but after about 15 minutes the kids got a little restless and whiney - spoiled! Next time maybe I'll just go and put them all to bed.It was a fun 4th of July weekend and we were so grateful that Grandma and Grandpa were here to celebrate it with us. It has sort of become somewhat of a tradition to have Grandma here in July at least, and hopefully she'll keep coming. Janet I love and appreciate you so much and I'm so lucky to have you as my mom-in-law!