sledding

Remember the scene from Home Alone, Kevin sledding down the stairs in his house and flying out the door? I'm sure I'm not the only one who wanted to do that same stunt as a kid. Well we kinda recreated that scene at our house, except we used our outside stairs. Actually Jeff, Sydney, and Jordyn did it. I was the videographer. Yes, I know not the safest or probably brightest thing to do, but we still did it. I have never claimed we are people with high IQs or in MENSA. I'll be the first to claim that our kids don't have parents that are overly paranoid about adventure and/or "fun things." This definitely adds to the list of possibly dangerous and stupid things. Do you actually want me to name of few on the list?? Ugh fine, I will....just don't call child protective services please. We put Sydney on waterskis when she was 2 1/2 years and didn't know how to swim (that scared me), pulling my kids on a sled behind a 4 wheeler, Sydney riding alone on a ski chair lift (I was scared she was going to fall off knowing her), Sydney jumping off a 12 ft. diving board, those are to name a few. Can I blame Jeff for most of these? Yes, and I do. I don't want to freak out our kids so I stay calm on the outside and freak out on the inside and pray no one gets hurt. Back to sledding, no one got hurt and I did remind Jeff to put on helmets. They both loved it. On the trial run by himself Jeff kinda sledded (is that a real word?) into the gate nailing his foot....and yet we still let the girls go w/ Jeff. The more I write, the more you're questioning my competence as a mother I know, so I better wrap this up. This morning I stopped Jordyn just as she was about to sled down our curved stairs INSIDE our house. See how ideas evolve to other dangerous ideas. Jordyn already comes up w/ crazy ideas on her own she doesn't need us to help her with that.

Levi's first haircut

Tomorrow my friend is taking Levi's one year pictures and so we thought it was time for a haircut. It was getting long and would go over his ears if I didn't tuck it back behind them. I was a little nervous to have Jeff cut his hair knowing he's getting pictures done tomorrow. Wouldn't you? Jeff has no experience cutting a baby's hair and a baby who is twisting his head every 2 seconds and lifting his hands to his head. Jeff talked me into letting him do it, this is when his salesman's selling tactics play in his favor. I succumbed and Levi now has a cute, little boy haircut. But it was a lot of work. Me and the girls' job were singing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" and "book of mormon stories" and entertaining him as much as possible. Levi did great. Our work paid off and Jeff was even able to break out his clippers. Now our baby boy looks more like a little dude. Such a cutie!
Before:

During:


After:

Sweet

I haven't gone snowboarding in at least 2 years and last year my parents bought Jeff and I snowboards and boots. I couldn't snowboard last year because I was PREGO. Today I went snowboarding on base with Sydney and some friends. It was my first time snowboarding in Alaska. It felt so good to be on the snow again. There are definitely perks to not being pregnant. I seriously love the wind in my face going up the lift. I always am a little scared when I haven't done something for awhile thinking I might not know how to do it anymore. I was stoked going down the hill like I had been doing it regularly for the past few years. It was so fun going with Sydney. She's such a good sport. I actually ended earlier than she wanted because my hands and feet were freezing. We went on the lift together but a few times she wanted to go by herself. It's so cute to see your kid so proud and happy of them self. It was just a great day together. The weather was awesome. It was actually sunny. The day before it snowed about 8 inches and the snow was great too.
Hillberg on Elmendorf


A few weeks ago we went snow machining (that's what they say in AK) with some friends. They were so nice to let us use their machines. It was my first time snow mobiling. Again, so much fun. The only problem was that it was -10 that day so we weren't out long because I freeze easily. Sydney of course loved it.Sydney on the machine

Excitement

There have been a couple of recent items that are exciting to me....so I must share.
1. PIllow dresses. Our RS are making them for girls in africa. I had to learn to sew again and practice so I made Sydney and Jordyn each a dress and added little flowers, pockets, and rick rack on the bottom of the dress. Since I'm also in YW now, I'm doing personal progress for my second time around and am doing this service for one of my projects.


I'm loving this new number I got on sale at Lime Ricki. I'm not sure when I'll be able to wear it, but it's a cute modest bathing suit. I love my other one I got from the same place a few years ago.

I printed a book for Sydney from the past two years. So happy, relieved, and excited at the final product and the fact that I'm current on her photo album. Now I only have 2 other kids to update.

I heart valentines day

We had a fun day yesterday. In the morning I dragged the kids to the gym. I had to go knowing how much candy I was going to consume. While Levi took a nap, me and the girls made some valentine cookies. When Levi woke up, I took the kids to see Gnomeo and Juliet. For dinner we all made our own personal pizzas and tied in an FHE objective lesson w/ making pizza. During this fun day, I couldn't but think how much I love my job. I love being a stay at home mom. I don't get compensated w/ money but the benefits I have as a mom are priceless: kisses and hugs galore, cuddle time, hearing them say funny things, wearing whatever I want (the more comfortable the better), no boss, no time schedule, an occasional nap, teaching them things and getting to see when they "get" it, reading, puzzles, parks, play dates, and so much more. I love Jeff, I love my kids, and I love that I know that we are a forever family.

11 months

It's a few days late, but I wanted to write since Levi recently celebrated 11 months. It's unbelievable how quickly time goes by and how much he has learned and grown each and every month. Last month 3 teeth came through on top. Instead of taking a few steps and falling, Levi walks around like he's been doing it his whole life :) Crawling is a thing of the past, which I prefer. Crawling meant picking up every crumb on the floor and putting it in his mouth, since walking, that has stopped. Levi's hair is growing. It is getting pretty long. I see a first haircut coming up in a few months. His hair is blonde and curly. At this age, his hair is more curly than Sydney's or Jordyn's was. His first word was "mama." I would say that it's still the only coherent word. He is becoming quite the chatter box: squealing, rolling his "r" sound, anything audible goes. He is easy to put to bed and happy when he's awake. Two things he absolutely loves: bath time and swinging in the basement. This past month he has started eating human food and has nearly stopped eating all baby food. We love having him in our family....I can't say it enough.

Celebrating Valentines

I feel like this is the year (and the end of last year) of starting new traditions now that I have 2 kids that fully understand what's going on with each holiday and appreciate the fun little things we do. Valentines has provided yet another set of traditions. I wasn't sure what to do so in full Lauren fashion I stalked other creative blogs to copy other people's great ideas and add my own twist. I got these mail boxes at Michaels and added vinyl to personalize it. Every night I write something that I love about each child and put in a Hershey's kiss as well. When the flag is up, the girls know they have love mail. The first night, made it all worth it. The screaming, running down the stairs, and jumping up and down, not to mention the look in their eyes when they opened up their mail box was utterly satisfying for me. It's times like this where their reaction really makes my extra effort to make them feel special worth it. Every night since they pretty much have the same reaction. It's my favorite time of day, and theirs too. We'll continue this daily until Valentine's day. Here's the mail boxes, excuse me...Love boxes w/ love mail.
Up close view.
With their kiss and love mail.

For FHE, we made a love chain, counting down until Valentine's Day. Every morning we take off a piece of the love chain and perform the task on the paper. The tasks are all love/kind acts: Helping w/ the dishes, giving a compliment, making someone else's bed, etc.

Warm Fuzzies

Most parents would agree that trial and error is a part of day to day life. I recently saw a quote that goes along with this, "You may never make a discovery if you're afraid to make mistake." I've made my fair of mistakes (and my kids are only 5,3, and 1. YIKES). I made a new discovery that's been awesome for now, so we're sticking with it. We've been doing this for a few months now. I copied this from a friend, so it's not an original thought. So I call it Warm Fuzzies. My kids get a fuzzy when they give me or someone else a warm-fuzzy feeling inside them. This can be accomplished by sharing kindly, giving a genuine compliment, helping around the house w/o complaining or doing something w/o being asked to (I saw Jordyn throw trash away she saw on the ground w/o being asked and she didn't know I saw...so she got a fuzzy), helping a sibling that's needing something, etc. When the jar is full, they get a date with Jeff. Next time it's me and back and forth. Jeff took Sydney to get a pedi/mani. It was her first time. She loved it, what girl wouldn't right? Jeff just watched, he didn't join her. One time Jordyn wanted to make cupcakes together so we did that. It's been fun to see what the girls come up with on things they want to do. I think this will be sticking around our house for awhile :)
Love the purple and green she picked out.
Jordyn insisted on blue frosting on your cupcakes.