Miles

Miles is a very entertaining kid with tons of personality.  He is good buddies with both his older and younger siblings.  He is a good helper and doesn't mind doing gross things like carrying dirty diapers to the garbage or cleaning up a mess.  He likes books lately and will sit down for a read a loud for almost 3 minutes in a row now, which makes me happy.  He still takes one nap a day if you can get him to sit still long enough.  He has tons of energy and runs wherever he goes.  He can wake up, stand up and then run at full speed to the living room.  He is very sweet and says, "All wight" and "I luf you!" many times a day.  Ever since he was little if you pat him on the back, he'll pat you back.  If you stroke his hair or cheek, he'll do it back to you.  He is very loving and his smile lights up his whole face.

Some things you might not know about Miles:
-- He loves to watch a show with popcorn. He thinks it's a date with whoever is there.
-- He takes really long showers.  He'll stay in there for over 20 minutes just enjoying the hot water standing completely still.
--  He is the only one of our children to have surgery when he was young.
-- He knows how to navigate and play computer really well.  We are constantly shocked that he can open the internet, find a game he likes or show, and watch it all by himself.
--He is actually pretty shy and if a stranger talks to him, he'll talk back in a Mork n Mindy type voice, "Na Na Nee Nee".  Lately though we've caught him actually talking to people in a normal conversation like the guy at the Walgreen check out stand when we were buying some easter toys.

The kids were watching spongebob one day...

Spongebob: "There's a new kid and I'm going to kick his butt."

Miles gasps and runs to tell me: "Spongebob said a bad word!"

Mom:  "Butt? You're right!  We say bum or bottom."

Miles: "No...(whispering)... kick."

Miles tells Doug the other day that he just saw a crocodile.  I corrected him, No...it was a spider.  Oh, yeh, he said, A spider.  Then a few days later we saw those deer sitting in someone's backyard and Miles says, "I love those kangaroo's"  Deer heads do look a little like kangaroo's, now that I think about it.  We've decided that we need to get some animal flashcards or games or something for him.

Haleigh

Haleigh has gotten into the habit of wanting to do her own hair.  Here she is after bathtime having fixed her hair just right.  She also recently got a second pair of back up glasses that she likes better than the first because they are pink with purple flowers.  They are also "Disney" glasses so she thinks they were made at Disneyland by Mickey Mouse.  She is a great kindergartener this year and loves learning to read and playing with friends.  She is the most social of us by far.  She joined a soccer team that Doug helps coach and is doing great.  She can keep up with the boys for sure with three brothers at home!  Some  things you might not know about Haleigh:

--She sleeps in more than anyone in our family
--She carries around a bear named Sally 24 hours a day
--She likes to be messy and unorganized unless specifically directed to clean up
--She can eat more than Michelle at Cafe Rio
--Her smile and laugh is very contagious!

soccer

Carter

Carter is the oldest and most responsible kid I know.  He loves to do homework, do projects, make lists and direct all his brothers and sister in activities, shows and chores.  We often comment that he is both old and young.  You'll have a very grown up conversation with him one minute than he'll skip to his room to play with his stuffed animals the next minute.  He still loves to snuggle and get sung to at night which is endearing.  He loves to help and be a good example.  This year he has begun to learn more about his interests, one of which lately is his hair.  He loves to spend lots of time making it just right with tons of hairspray, gel, water and whatever else makes it look perfect.  He is also quite funny and mischievous as demonstrated by earlier posts this week (My hot husband).  Things you might not know about Carter:

--He loves to dance...hip hop is his latest favorite.  He also loves rock n roll.

--He has a little temper but can also be patient and is very forgiving.

--He is our finicky eater but can eat tons of the things he likes in bulk.

--He doesn't like to be dirty, and likes to keep things very organized.  His bed looks like a mini apartment with hidden apartments, two couch areas and very fluffy blankets.  

My hot husband

I love my beautiful husband.  He always let's me take fabulous naps, and gives me massages ,  and my personal favorite ,  Cafe Rio !  I'm crazy for it .  And i've still remember the time we met .  Alright here's the story:  It was a cold night,  and it was the 4th of July  and we met .  Then Carter  came and he sang "Michelle and Doug sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G ".  Well, the fireworks go off .  What a coincidence  that Doug started kissing me .  Then he was bleeding on his lip ( L-I-P-S-T-I-C-K- ) .  Carter came back (The good guy ) and did a wolf whistle .  Then he called us Romeo and Juliet.  I told him to go buy me some never stop looking cute lipstick in Tokyo, Japan .  Then we smooched into the sunset.  Why didn't I tell you we were a lovely couple .  My husband is wonderful .  Well he is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo dang cute .  Sorry, I got to bribe Doug to get me some Cafe Rio pronto and watch "The Bachelor" and maybe watch  "Titanic" with him.   Well, adios.

This is Haleigh

Once upon a time there were a princess in a tower and a dragon who was going on a castle and the knight tried to save it so he comed and then he was trying to save it but he got on fire so he went in the castle fast and he saved her life and she was so excited to have babies and 100 babies and she loves the babies she has and she has 150.  She loved her favorite families and her friends loved the babies.  Done.  Can I print it?

My job today is weather.  We get behind the easel and we pick it out and we put it on the weather thing.  I've been shape, door holder, calendar, teacher helper.  Hmm..let me think here.  Table inspector.  Let's do the stuff I never did.  Okay.  She never does January, February, she doesn't do straw, she doesn't do pledge of allegiance.  These are all the stuff I never did before.  Done.  Can I print?  

One for you and one for you...

The kids have been dividing up everything these days.  I'm not sure why.

Carter is Simon
Haleigh is Theodore
Miles is Alvin
Louis is the observer.

Carter is Patrick

Haleigh is Spongebob

Miles is Squidward

Louis is Gary

Carter is the dog

Haleigh is Jerry

Miles is Tom

Louis is the observer

Carter is basketball

Haleigh is soccer

Miles is football

Louis is any ball

I've decided it's normal because I can recall doing that with my brothers.  Sorry Tiff, you were the caboose and could be anything you wanted to be.    

Jason was a koala

Michelle was panda

Scott was raccoon

Jason was spanish

Michelle was french

Scott was german

Jason was drums

Michelle was violin

Scott was trumpet

Anymore you can think of brothers?

Things we now know about winter and spring

It's time to share our new found knowledge...

 It's good to have a few things in your car in case you get stuck.  Kitty litter, warmers, extra water and food, a phone charger, blankets, flashlight, etc.  Luckily we didn't have to use them this year but we soon realized we were unprepared for winter driving.  Michelle still has an unhealthy fear of driving and has learned to just stay in if at all possible when it is snowing until the roads are cleared.  Also what is it with Utah and having very little street lights anywhere?  We were driving in the rain the other day at night and there wasn't a street lamp for miles.  

We've also learned other words about winter like "bibs" and "inverse."  Bibs are the snowpants with suspenders that keep you warm for outdoor play.  The kids have some but we were always too sick to use them when it happened to be snowing so we never did get hours and hours of sledding as we'd hoped for in the bibs.  

Also, inverse is when the air holds a hazy dirty quality to it because of lack of wind and cold/warm fronts.  Some of us got some headaches until another storm blew threw and cleaned up the air.

Now spring is approaching and the kids are learning what that means.  They are looking for signs of green on the trees, learning how to climb trees for the first time (palms and cactus in AZ just won't do) and enjoying wearing jackets again instead of the whole winter garb of gloves, mittens, coats, boots, etc.  

The weather can be crazy with clouds, rain, sun and snow all in the same day.  There will be a warm day here and there where the whole world emerges and heads to the parks and pulls out the bikes.  I wish we had a garden to plant in spring but it'll have to wait till next year.  

AZ house photos

We have wonderful renters for our house in Arizona.  Some of you may know the Uribe's.  He owns his own company and has made vast improvements on our 3 bedroom house there.  When we saw it at Christmas, Carter said, "When we lived here, it looked terrible!"  in comparison.  Here are some before and after shots of the upgrades.  

Before:  I thought it was a cute and great house, with some standards.  We lived there 6 years and made some improvements, but not many.

After:  New flooring in house including hardwood in bedrooms, tile in kitchen and bathrooms instead of laminate, new fireplace, popcorn ceiling down, new guest bathroom toilet, shower/tub, new entry way, mosaic front and back walkways, new indoor paint in all rooms, marble floor in main room, new light fixtures, and painted cupboards.  We love it and think it looks so good!  We'll never live there again, I'm sure (can't fit) but the value has gone way, way up.  

Here is his business website:  http://www.cauptile.com/  He does great work!