FAMILY PICTURES--Just 8 Months later

Here are our FAMILY PICTURES we had done in February! hahah.. My sister, Jana @ Captured the Moments by Jana, took them--- They are great!.... I just forgot to ask her to make me a CD so I could put them on the blog etc. so now that it's almost November we're getting around to it.

Since then, Adelia has doubled in size--or at least weight. She has about twice as much hair as then too--unfortunately, that still isn't much. Tianna is taller and her hair is quite a bit longer. My hair is a lot longer now too... Luke's is about the same :) 

Just curious, which ones are you favorites?

I'm a Barbie Girl in a Barbie World

"Come take a ride, Ken. There's room for two, I'm sure  of it!"

What Tianna wants to be when she grows up

Tonight a friend of ours asked Tianna how old she was. She held up 4 fingers. He then asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  She held up 5 fingers.

Well, there you have it. Her life's ambition is to make it to five. With us as parents, even that will be nothing short of a miracle! : )

DO's and Don'ts

To sum up what the Peacock's have been up to lately, I've made a list of "Do's and Don'ts" based off of our recent experiences.

DO THIS: General Conference weekend

Go to the hospital to see your new baby niece, Joelle Eva Frandsen

(Congratulations to Jason, Joy, and Jocelyn on your new addition. We are so grateful for you in our lives and so glad we got to see you and your beautiful baby.)

DON'T: Take your 15 month old to the ER 

On Saturday morning we got to take Adelia into the ER because we suspected she had eaten an asprin-free Excedrine..... which yes, it's asprin free, but loaded with acetaminophen and caffeine..... luckily, a blood test proved to be zero in her system. So she didn't really eat it...and if in deed that is what caused the mysterious bright red stuff around her mouth, who knows where the actual pill went after the gel coating wore off.  

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DO: Spend time with your wonderful families... and take a ride in Grandpa's tractor

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DO: Go with your child's preschool class to the fire station (Sept 24th). 

It was so fun and educational. The girl's even got their own red fireman hats!  It also motivated us to do fire drills for family home evening the following Monday

DON'T follow these steps when taking your child to Preschool. (the monday after our Price/Castle Dale visit)

Step 1- lock your purse and keys in the car over night. 

Step 2- Find this out as you are getting in the car to go to preschool

Step 3- Quickly load the kids into the bike trailer

Step 4- Pedal like mad in your tight denim jeans and sandals

Step 5-  Notice the quickly deflating tire (also causing difficulty in pedaling to be all the more difficult)

Step 6- Try to inflate tire to get home

Step 7- Pull valve stem off bike tube-creating massive hole

Step 8- Hitch ride home with kind stranger (aka--other preschooler's mother)

Step 9- Call husband, tell him to pick up child from preschool

Step 10- Feel like an idiot.  

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DO: Spend time revising and revising your resume

Luke's resume It looks really nice now, and today he has a technology expo at school that hopefully brings opportunities for job interviews!! One step closer to the REAL WORLD!! 

DON'T: get suckered into using an online auction site (other than Ebay etc)

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbloggerboon.com%2F2010%2F06%2F23%2Fhow-swipe-bids-scam-works%2F&h=c5b69

We joined this website (against our usual good judgement against scams) because I had seen on KSL.com an advertisement done by a reporter (not KSL's) about these online penny auctions where you can buy big ticket items at steal-of-a-deal prices. I'd heard about them before but never paid them any mind. But this reporter had done and investigation and had found this sight to live up to its claims and that it really was easy to win these items.  Since we're needing a new laptop etc, we figured paying $150 "one time fee" plus whatever cheap price we get the item for, really wasn't much. 

Basically, we realized AFTER the fact that there is a lot more into it than just bidding like you do on Ebay. A LOT More. it's basically like gambling........ and requires as much time and determination it takes to gain with gambling. Such a time waster! Luckily we only wasted time on it one night...but we're out the money and probably won't get anything for it.  

BIG BOO.  So just be warned! If you ever see these websites RUUUUUUUUUUUUN! 

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DO: Use this nifty trick for your kid's toys. 

Baby friendly toys closest to the bottom, Older toys higher up, things I only want played with when I get them down at the VERY TOP (minus the Barbies)

Their LITTLE, multi-piece toys always drive me nuts. I've tried several other ways of organizing but the result is always the same. Everything is always scattered all over the place, or put away and completely forgotten about--which defeats the purpose of having the toys in the first place.

We've used these shoe hangers (thanks to my brilliant friend, Janelle)  for holding our "junk drawer" items like batteries, tape, glues, screws, etc... OR in a pantry for holding things like seasoning packets etc.... so i figured I should try it out with the toys. 

It has been fantastic! I don't LIKE that it only fits on the outside of the door and thought about hanging it on the wall behind the door. 

But on the other hand I LOVE having it on the outside of the door because when Adelia is sleeping, Tianna can still get to them, and when they are both playing in their room, it faces out, so the door remains OPEN--the way I like it. 

Clean up is easy, you can find whatever you are wanting at a glance, and Adelia can't get to Tianna's small toys because they are out of her reach.  

Tea for Two?..... try 50!

Wear your hats! Wear your jewels! Wear your dress!

We are having a “T”(ianna) Party…more or less.

There will be games, crafts, and girlie stuff

So don’t forget your boas, tiaras, as well as other fluff.

The time is ten-thirty-

Until everyone rushes away in a hurry.

The date is the sixteenth of September, twenty-ten

In Miss Tianna’s Garden--- We hope to see you then!

When we decided to have a tea party for Tianna's birthday, I couldn't decide if I should just go simple and invite her 2 closest friends and run with it, or branch out a bit. She has just started preschool so I figured we didn't need to invite those friends since she probably hasn't made many yet-- Then I saw her interacting so cutely with her new friends at school, I decided I needed to invite the girls from her class.... Well then there is her primary class, some neighbor girls and ward friends... and so on. Before we knew it we had invited a lot.

The more the more the merrier, right? Well the MORE and the MERRIER it was! Nearly everyone we invited came! We had 20 3-5 year olds and about 10 that were 2 and under... plus their mom's. So, add that up and there were 50 people at her party! It was insane! But we are so pleased we had such a good turnout, and the party was wonderful. We really appreciated everyone who came.

It was so fun watching the girls show up in their fancy clothes and see their faces light up when they saw the decorations.  

First they decorated their place mats (paper plate) with jewels and stickers. They could also draw on their plate and teacup (they were, of course, plastic ones from the dollar store)

While some finished up, they played in the sandbox, danced to the tunes, or my favorite

Played Ring Around the Rosie's. It was so stinkin cute! 

"Ashes Ashes We All Fall Down!"

Then they got their tea-*ahem*-lemonade. and the most adorable cupcakes from Sam's club. (yay for not baking them all myself!)

The last event was the opening of the presents. (probably her favorite part-- of course)

I loved this picture-- it captures the boy vs girl reactions perfectly. Aden is like "what is so exciting about that?" And yet, she is obviously delighted with her new present. And in the picture below, the little girl in the bottom left hand corner has the "*gasp* OH HOW BEAUTIFUL. You are so lucky" look on her face. :) 

It was such a fun, chaotic, and let's admit it, exhausting event... but VERY worth it. Thank you all who came, and thanks for your generous gifts... she got spoiled rotten! 

Adelia didn't really know what was going on-- but she was sure happy to be there! 

September = Birthday month at our house

Luke turned the big 2-8 on Sept 8.  He had to work, and go to school... boo... so we didn't get to see him much until that night. But we have fun preparing for his arrival! We decorated the house with some streamers, bought party hats (cause I told him he had to wear one) made homemade pizza, and ate cake topped with SPARKLERS! Then we watched one of his most favorite movies, "Where the Red Fern Grows" as well as "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and wished him a happy birthday about a hundred times!

Check out their aprons! A few months ago Tianna realized Luke didn't own an apron like the rest of us and said she wanted to give him one for Father's Day. Since it was August, and he'd have to wait a really long time, I figured his birthday was more practical. The girls LOVED making it for daddy.  It says "daddy's grillin so we're chillin" and has their hands and footprints. Adelia thought it was awesome--she lifted her foot up and waited for me to put the paint on it. She's getting to be quite the copy cat to all her sister does.

We sure love this man! He's a wonderful daddy and an exceptional husband! Have a great 28th year! (boy that sounds old. he's close to 30 now!)

Miss Tianna also celebrated a birthday this week. Yesterday, on Sept 16th our baby girl turned 4! 

Before we get into the details, I have to share this story.  Very first thing yesterday morning I hugged her and said, "Happy birthday!" and she pulls back with a wary look on her face. "Am I 3 still or am I 4?" I said, "you are 4 now!" and she pulls her nightgown tightly around her and examines herself up and down. Knowing what she's thinking, I say, "Do you feel bigger now?" And she exclaims with all the gusto of a 4 year old.. " I DO!" 

And she IS getting so big. We sure love her! She is such a joyful person to be around. 

Her birthday was crazy! But crazy fun. It started the night before when Grandpa Bert and Aden came to town. We went out to Sizzler to eat and she got a complimentary root beer float (loaded with the most whipped cream and M&M's possible)..... luckily her dinner consisted of fruits and veggies and a few tortilla chips (she's weird. but we won't complain)

Thursday morning began for all of us really early. Luke kissed me good morning before his shower and I looked at the clock. It was 6:43---- THE EXACT time she was born. Quite the coincidence, eh? 

Now this post will be way too long if I include all the pictures of her friend party--let me just say, it was HUGE but super fun. And most importantly, she loved it. So the details of it shall have to wait. But as for the rest of her birthday... after the party we ate lunch with her bff's, Kendra and her cousin Aden

Mommy and Tianna in our party dresses

Then Grandpa and Aden left... and it was a big sad for Tianna.

But she recovered... and when Daddy got home and we opened family presents

 

Featured here: Pet shops from James, Val, and Jacomo, and Belle from Grandpa Neil and Grandma Bonnie

Awaiting a special surprise from Mom and Dad (mostly Dad)

He was VERY excited! 

Then we went and ordered a pizza and ate it at the cool Whittier Center Park.

On the way home we saw the most gorgeous view of the Temple

If only the dang power line wasn't there...

When we got home we realized that we hadn't even sang to her "Happy Birthday" nor had she blown out candles. (the party was a bit crazy so we had just passed out cupcakes and didn't even sing to her)

Then of all the luck, i couldn't find the candles i bought. So we improvised. 

Although she says it about everything, I still believe her when she said "It was the best birthday I ever had!" WE LOVE YOU TIANNA!!!! 

Bear Lake Continued

Since the beach pictures were so abundant I decided to break it up a bit. 

The Camp

Tianna telling Chantel where to hide so that she could be found during Hide-an-Seek

Card Games in the tent

This warm bed

results in this: a happy kid in the morning

It was way too early for this much fun. 

The whole gang at Minnetonka Cave

Would be a great family picture if it weren't for the silly sticker on Tianna's forehead. 

The Smiths: Kent, Chandra, Kendra, and baby Taylor