Boxed Dinner Social

Friday night we had a boxed dinner auction for Church. Everyone was instructed to bring a box that had a dinner in it that they had prepared. We were supposed to "sneak" the boxes in so no one knew what each others looked like. Some boxes were not cute, but had awesome dinners inside. And some boxes were really cute but had peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the inside. So no one really knew what they were getting. We all bid on the ones we wanted with fake money.
Here are two of the ones that we bought.  In ours, we put a Subway sandwich, orange cream soda, grapes, cheese stick, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

All the boxed dinners:

Papa and my niece Olivia

Brynlee helping Grandma spend her fake money:

The little kids got to play pin the tail on the donkey to pick there lunches.  It was kind of funny because we didn't know they would be picking there lunches and Grandma had made one up special for Kayla.  Well wouldn't you know that Callie got to pick first, and sure enough she went up and grabbed the pretty zebra striped lunchbox that Grandma had made for Kayla.  Ha ha... she didn't even know that was the one Kayla wanted, but she was so excited we just let her pick it.

Hailey taking a turn:

Callie with her pretty lunch!

Today we got to spend the day with just us girls because Brad went hunting down south.  We got a lot done, all our house cleaning, my lesson for church and then I took the girls to Cabot to the Allfam bowling center.  There was a big group of special needs kids that were there, so we ended up just playing games in the game room, but the girls didn't care.  We went and ate at El torrito's for dinner since we didn't get to go bowling.  It was delicious!

Happy Birthday Brynlee

 For Brynlee's 1st birthday, we tried really hard to think of something that she would have fun doing.  So..... we went to Chuck E. Cheese!  We didn't really have anything planned out, so it ended up being just our family.  We had a great time.  And it's not often that we can twist Daddy's arm into coming to Chuck E. Cheese with us :)

When we got home, we sang Brynlee happy birthday and let her dig into her cupcake. 

She loved making a mess!

This is the damage that was done.  Pretty cute!

After we got all cleaned up, the girls helped her open her presents.  I think all the girls liked the mini ball pit as much as Brynlee did!

Brynlee's 1st Birthday

Happy 1st birthday baby girl!  I love seeing the sweet girl you are growing into.  I love your dainty little features, your whisper soft hair, and your sweet kisses. I love that you need to be close to me. You think you are so funny and do anything you can to make your sisters laugh (even if it means spitting, or smashing bananas on your head).  You are so smart already.  You know what you want, and make sure you get it. Your smile is contagious, the way you arch your little eyebrows when you smile makes you look a little mischievous.  I think you and your big sister Callie are going to be partners in crime (or at least beating up on daddy anyway).  You already can fend for yourself.  I guess that comes with being the baby of the family.  There are several times a day when I have to come rescue your big sister Hailey because you've got a hold of her and she can't get away.  We all love you Brynlee!

Our life is a circus....

We have all been really busy this week. It seems like I am always running around, and that time just seem to fly by anymore. This week we had dentist appointments for all the girls, had a rain day home from school, Valentines Day, a 30th birthday party for our neighbor and friend, a New Beginnings Program for Kayla at church (since she will be going into young women's in a couple weeks), a day at the mall with Aunt Jillian, followed by a Jewelry Party at my friend Amber's house, a trip to the circus with Aunt Jillian and girls, and a baby shower to attend.  Whew!  I am tired just remembering it all. Anyway, we have had a great week, and are ready to rest a little, go to church and attend a baptism tomorrow.
 This was the first circus that all the girls have been too.  Their favorite part was of course when the big elephant went to the bathroom right in front of them. I don't know why little kids think that is always so funny :)  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Shelton for the tickets.

 Here are some pics from our trip to the circus (most are blurry because they were taken with my phone).

Hailey plugged her ears a lot because of the loud music.

Almost 1

This silly little girl is about to turn one next week!  I can't believe, time has flown so fast, and she still seems so little to me.  She is getting big though.  She even took her first steps this week! First one of our girls that did that before their 1st birthday.  She has also been saying "Uh oh", "Da da", and "Ka" (that is Kayla). She has also started eating a little more, thank goodness since she was mostly nursing all the time. And since she has taken a new interest in "big people" food, she has also started throwing it, putting it on her head, and spitting it at me. She thinks she is so funny, especially when she gets her sisters to laugh when she does it.  She reminds me so much of Callie.

Valentine's Day Traditions

Yesterday the girls got out of school for a snow day ( I think we still call it that even though it never really snowed much, just mostly rained, ha ha)  The girls didn't care, it was a free day for them!  So they made up their valentines for friends and family.  The girls made this valentine for Papa and Grandma Shelton that had all the things on it that they love to do with them.

  

After that, we started making up Callie's valentine goody bags for her class.  They were turning out so cute, and Kayla was watching me while I was tying all the ribbons.  I could tell she was really thinking about something, she finally sighed and said, "I wish I could still take valentine cards to school."  I laughed and said, "I was wondering if you would be thinking that." I told her I didn't pick any up for her because kids in middle school don't usually give out cards anymore.  I said: "Usually when you get older you do something special for maybe a best friend or a boyfriend or girlfriend, but there comes a point when you have to quit giving valentines out to everyone."  I could tell she didn't like that answer.  So I just decided, what the heck, if she still wants to give them out, then I'll let her.  Kids grow up to fast anyway. So we made a quick trip downtown, and picked up some goodie bags for her closest friends.  She was happy as a clam after that :)  Here are their bags:

This morning we did our traditional Valentine's breakfast that my mom used to do for us growing up.

The girls even talked me into chocolate chip heart pancakes and strawberry milk.  It's okay to have to much sugar once in a while, right?

And then we did our other tradition that we started of doing a special hair do on valentines.  This is what we came up with for Callie.  Kayla had just one heart on the side of her head, but didn't have time for a pic.

Happy Valentines Day everyone, we love you! Thanks to everyone who made our day special by sending valentines (Grandparents, Uncles, Aunt Mary, and more!)