Giggles, Grief, Guesses, Gumption & Good Times

All the 2011 Birthdays

2011-09-01T08:27:00.000-06:00

I've been really remiss in blogging or just posting photos this year so when I went to post some of Josilyn's birthday I realized I need to post some for the others, so here it is the all birthday encompassing post. Going in date order starting with Erica. Little "E" turned a big 5 this year, but Mom still calls her "Baby". I tell her that she'll always be the baby to me. She wanted a bunny cake that was modeled after one of the cards in the "Kinder Bunnies" game that she got for her birthday.

Erica's 5th Birthday

The Bunny Cake

The family standard 5th Birthday gift.

Kylie turned 8 and was baptized this year. She really likes penguins, thus the cake and gift follow the theme.

Kylie's 8th Birthday

Penguin Cake

The Penguin Pillow Pet

Josilyn's 10th Birthday came on the day before our big summer trip, so she got a bit slighted out of the typical Mom made to order cake, but got to pick out this cute Ice Cream themed ice cream cake at Baskin Robbins. The candle was a very interesting contraption that we had found at the grocery store and were going to use for Kylie's Birthday but it was bigger than the penguin cake. Upon lighting it shot out sparks like a sparkler and then the petals fell down with a candle on each petal all the while playing "Happy Birthday".

Josilyn's 10th Birthday

Ice Cream Cake

Lego Lighthouse

Good Fun @ Snowbird

2011-08-31T13:18:00.000-06:00

We had a great time at Snowbird in August. As always there was lots of swimming and fun times with cousins. I experimented lots with my new camera and the kids obliged me with crazy antics.

A crowd of crazy cousins

Testing out smile recognition on the new camera. Not sure who it thinks is smiling?

More camera testing

Puzzled Potgut

Kylie's Baptism - June 2011

2011-08-23T09:45:00.000-06:00

Look Mom no training wheels!

2011-08-04T22:24:00.003-06:00

Erica riding her "2 wheeler".

(In Gatrell Girl Speak its a "4 wheeler" if it has training wheels!)

The smug smile after the stop is so Erica!

Dance Classes

2010-04-05T16:31:00.004-06:00

The girls have been participating in a city program that offers art & dance classes for kids at the libraries and recreations centers. I signed them each up for a Visual Art Class and a Dance class, but the age groups were arranged so that Josie and Kylie were in separate classes. That meant 2 hours at the library on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, and made for a rough time entertaining Erica. The girls made lots of fun art projects and had a lot of fun dancing in their "Tips & Tricks" dance class. In Josie & Kylie's last classes they made up their own short routines that consisted of 3 of the moves they had learned class and 3 of their own moves. I am obviously not a cinematic artist but I did catch them on video!

Josilyn's Routine

Kylie's Routine

Erica's Ribbon Dance

The consensus among the girls was that all the classes were lots of fun. Erica kept telling me "You're the best Mommy!" after each of her classes. We'd definitely do it again just not so many classes, but for now they are looking forward to their spring swimming lessons! Thankfully, I was able to get them all at the same time!

Josilyn is already 8!

2009-11-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that 8 years can go by so fast!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Erica's Bed Making Phase

2009-11-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

One of the fun occurrences this summer was Erica's bed making phase. For a week and a half she decided that she was going to make her bed every morning. I didn't ask her to and its not a common occurence for her sisters to make theirs so I'm not sure what set her on her tidy kick. She's was pretty good at it for a 3 year old so one morning I asked her to show me how she did it. She obliged happily and was very descriptive about her techniques (to bad I don't have a video camera). I did take some progress pictures as she hammed it up.

Tucking in the sheet sides. Very thorough!

All the way down!

Pulling the blanket to the top.

The flip to spread out the blanket.

Now for the stuffed animal friends

Not bad for 3 years old!

Unfortunately, the fun of this new skill wore off fairly quickly.

Days of '47 Youth Parade

2009-09-28T14:57:00.002-06:00

This year our stake primary had a float in the Days of '47 Youth Parade. The girls were very excited to get the chance to be in a parade, so I took the opportunity to use my rusty sewing skills and make them matching dresses. With a lot of help from Mom and Kris, they turned out great! The girls still like to wear them to church with short sleeved blouses and without the bonnets of course.

Josilyn and Kylie rode on the float and Erica and I walked behind the it with our wagon. Erica was a real charmer waving almost the whole way. We had a great time even though it was a hot day with temperatures above 100 degrees. After the parade and a welcome change out of the pioneer garb, the girls enjoyed playing in bounce houses and giant inflatable slides.

Kindergarten graduation

2009-09-25T10:35:00.003-06:00

Well I'm getting a good run at June now and with this brief post I might even "graduate" to writing about things in July. I couldn't wrap up June without these cute pictures of Kylie at her Kindergarten graduation program. She was soo excited for this day and kept telling me how much fun the program was going to be. She was right!

Silly Snapshots

2009-09-24T09:48:00.063-06:00

Silly Slippers

Kylie after Erica tried to feed her raisins
and some gum when she was asleep!

Crashing on the couch

I don't know what she was burglarizing.....

But she fell asleep without leaving a print!

Kylie turned 6!

2009-09-22T12:49:00.005-06:00

Obviously I'm 3 months behind the times but I always want to share the girls' milestones. Kylie turned 6 in June and its amazing how short 6 years is when you look back. Shopping for this birthday was tough but a lot of fun. She really didn't ask for anything specific, but Greg and I knew she would love an aquarium with fish. Her birthday was on a Monday so I knew I had to do the shopping on the day of her birthday. Erica and I took off to the pet store as soon as we dropped the big girls off at school. I only had a 2 1/2 hour window to accomplish my mission because Kylie's Kindergarten let out at 10:40. You would have thought I would have planned it out well. But NO, not only did I head to clear out Sandy (12 miles away) because I didn't remember there were 2 other stores within 5 miles, I also didn't realize the store didn't open until 9! 1 hour shot only 1 1/2 left! Erica was a great help when we finally did get into the store, honing in on a Pink Aquarium that came with a Mermaid decoration. The thing pretty much screamed KYLIE!

After picking out a couple of fantail goldfish, we rushed home. I managed to set up the aquarium in the basement and get the bag-o-fish starting to acclimate before time came to pick Kylie up. On our way to the school I drilled a super excited Erica about keeping the secret. She did a great job until we got home and she kept wandering to the basement kitchen to check on the fish. I was sure Kylie would follow to see why she was going in there, but with a bit of reminding Erica managed to keep the surprise for the party. Kylie was very happy to have her new little friends she named Creamie and Goldie. Creamie is still swimming around in his pink world, but unfortunately his tank mate and 2 others (Sunshine & SnoCone) haven't had his talent for longevity. Kylie chose a ladybug cake, a great relief for me after 2 years of rather time consuming princess castle cakes. This was my second go round with a lady bug, Josie had one on her 4th birthday. I was just winging it from memory and don't think the second was as good as the first. Sorry Ky. By picture time the ladybugs smile was a bit flat but it sure matches Kylie's expression in the picture I took!

Crazy Summer

2009-08-05T22:39:00.000-06:00

This summer came and went so fast this year and blogging was just not happening. It all started with the yard. We finally had killed off all of the Ailanthus Trees (aka Ghetto Palms, Stink Trees) that had sprouted last year in the backyard and decided that it was time for sprinklers and grass. It took tons of work and some help from family and friends but I now have a yard instead of a dirt patch. Here are before and after photos.

The sprinklers were a big hit and provided lots of entertainment all summer. Although Erica and Kylie have taken to playing in the flower bed like a sand box, I am relieved to have a reduction in the amount of mud and dirt tracked into the house. I'm hoping that next years project is not so large, but with and old house and large yard there is always a big project looming.

Say Cheeeeese!

2009-08-05T10:09:00.000-06:00

Erica always keeps things at our house lively. She is a total snack-a-holic and will help herself to anything left unattended for very long. This is what happened to a block of cheese when I left the kitchen for a minute. On another occasion I found her with a sour cream mustache after she spooned herself up a big bite. My favorite food episode occurred with an apple. She had insisted that it not be cut. In response to my insistence that she eat the whole thing she returned to me later with nothing but the stem saying "I ate it all gone!".

Smiley Kylie Knocks One Out

2009-05-27T08:35:00.000-06:00

Kylie lost her first tooth last night, actually she knocked it loose on Erica's head (I always knew that was a hard headed kid) at the swimming pool. She was crying in her dramatic fashion until I told her it was loose enough the Tooth Fairy was probably coming tonight. She immediately perked up and wanted to go home to "show Dad". After dinner Greg helped her with the old removal by doorknob technique. She even pushed the door shut herself without a flinch. One tough cookie! Makes me wonder sometimes how much is drama when she does cry, because this child doesn't even flinch when she get shots? With Josie's help she left the Tooth Fairy a note with her tooth. She was beaming this morning about the "note and a gold dollar" that the Tooth Fairy. How cute is it that the note got top billing. I'm sure she's having a fun day at Kindergarten showing off her beautiful smile with a gap.

Little (monk)E's Birthday

2009-05-26T13:03:00.000-06:00

I'm a bit slow posting about Erica's birthday but thought if I was going to do it I should before Kylie's birthday next week. Erica turned 3 in March. She loves monkeys so I made her a monkey cake. I found the basic idea online and just adjusted it to what pans I had to work with. Frosting it was much more fun than previous cakes that I've made for the girls because I didn't have to dye the frosting some neon color. Besides I LOVE chocolate. It turned out great if I do say so myself.

Erica was very excited about her Dora backpack, Sock Monkey, and of course her first fishing pole. As a family tradition all of our girls have gotten a fishing pole on their 3rd birthday (Hmm I wonder why?). Since then she's only happy to go fishing with Dad if he packs her pole and fish shaped weight. If not it's as she says "Borying".

Before the party, my sister Kris and I took the girls on a birthday zoo trip to see the real monkeys. The real hit of the visit though was our zoo tradition of "measuring up" to the gorilla and orangutan silhouettes. Although she's 3 now, Erica still insists the she is "The Baby", and actually that's OK because I always think of her that way.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!!!!

2009-04-13T23:25:00.000-06:00

The girls are out of school for spring break and what better way to enjoy spring than a kite flying excursion! I forgot however that I do not have 6 arms. It was quite the task to keep the kites in the air and the kids in the near vicinity. I couldn't get many pictures so I let Josie and Kylie take a few to entertain them. They did quite a good job and the camera still works so all is well.

2009-04-09T15:07:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Erica's Sleepover

2009-01-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today Erica got to go on her first solo sleepover with Grandma G. First they were going to go to the "Children" which is E's way of saying The Children's Museum. Even though she was excited to go she acted like she was going away for a long voyage. Giving me a sad goodbye face and Kylie an long goodbye hug. That child sure knows how to pull on my heart strings.

Greenie

2009-01-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

I picked the green background on purpose as I am a "Greenie" at this so here goes the old college try......