They say all babies look the same?

I had to dig through my blog and pics to find all the hospital ones of our kids in the hospital. And wouldn't you know it... we never got one of Parker Monday night in the delivery room. Only in postpartum and even those pics were more of the other kids looking at him, no close ups of Parker. That tells you right there... taking drugs keeps you sane!

Kennedy

MacKenzie

Grayson
And Parker

They all do kinda look the same. Maybe it's just the closed eyes?

This hunting nonsense just went too far... get outta my craft room!

I love my husband, but this is an all time low. I went to my craft/sewing room in the garage today and found this:

What the? Who the? Okay so let's not get carried away, this room is never really in a state of organization, but there was no straw, feathers, cd's, paper and other miscellaneous things on the floor earlier this week! It's like he let all these birds loose to do what they want with my stuff. Oh I was mad. Not to mention 40 weeks + 1 day pregnant!!!


I was fine with the chicken coop of quail... it's in the BACKYARD. But 4 chuckar and 2 pheasants in that kennel in my sewing room? MY room?! Outside Justin, outside. Why are these guys getting the 5 star treatment they're just gonna get shot.

He got them to go shooting with our brother in-law tomorrow morning, which I am also fine with. We can eat them for lunch. My problem is I hate animals, I'm allergic to feathers, I'm grouchy and after sweeping and vacuuming this up today I'm still not in labor. Dang it!

Doesn't everyone have a chicken coop full of quail?

Because my husband does. He brought home 10 of these little things in a box the other day. While showing MacKenzie "her" new birds Grayson so helpfully opened the box ALL the way and there were quail flying crazy around the house. Nice. Justin should've been a park ranger/zoo keeper/crocodile hunter.

5 days until the due date

At which date I have a midwife appointment scheduled. There is nothing more disappointing than going to the dr. ON your due date, still pregnant. But I'm thinking this will be the 3rd time this has happened to me so what the heck, let's make a mess of the kitchen! The kids helped make beer rocks tonight.

Flour castles and man do I need some solid counter tops.

Even this little guy helped.

Until he got hungry. Then he ate all his dough raw. YUCK!

Well this baby's not comin anytime soon, but I think I've found a new project to occupy my time

First look at this pathetic excuse for a mail box in my front yard!

I've been looking for inspiration for months now and this morning it came. This was on better after! A sign from the heavens to do something (although the heavens are also rainy and wet today, so maybe I'll just be getting some supplies).

And I think I need some color on mine because look at our numbers on the curb. Very underwater themed. Any color suggestions for the mailbox post thing?

I was hoping a fun colorful mailbox would distract from the HORRIBLE sidewalk cement job Victorville prides itself on (and the chairs blown over in our 20mph winds last night that I'm too lazy to pick up).

MacKenzie playin the sax

She found the sax all covered in dust in the garage and asked to play it. What a little musician we've got on our hands and only 4 years old.

Fix it up Friday?

The girls cut a hole in the middle of this new shirt! So I looked up a few sewing blogs and came up with this idea. It's MacKenzie's own hand print, which she thinks is the coolest thing ever, made with fabric scraps I already had! And of course we had to add a little ruffle on the bottom. Looks much cuter than it was to begin with and for free. Love that!

She thinks she's pretty hot stuff, or did until the neighbor stopped and asked where her helmet was;)

Grayson watched. Poor little guy with his purple trike. He does own a big wheel, his feet don't reach the pedals quite yet, so his preference is the purple tricycle. I guess it worked for my little brother to have girl hand me downs. Lucky for Grayson he at least has frog boots and not pink snow boots like his uncle did.

AAA with a gun

And a ticket book. Look at that face of intimidation.

Repurposing the Spiderman sunglasses

We were out the door to a baptism Saturday night and Grayson came running down the hall with a few accessories. In our house we teach self reliance, so when I wouldn't help him find the lenses he popped out for the 100th time, he got creative all on his own and popped the other out as well. It was a win/win. He was now able to see great even in the evening.

And let me tell you, he worked those glasses (and his credit card) the whole night! My kids may look like Pollock's, but there's no taking that "Phillips Girl" outta them.

And if you look close you'll see his church shoes, complete with some stray tape from the morning's crafting. "Woody" boots. He loves them! They look much more manly than Benjamin's pink snow boots no? On the rare occasion (once a month) that we can't find both boots on Sunday morning, they're quickly replaced with the second favorite, frog boots. Nothing says reverence in sacrament like galoshes.

Family Furlough Day!

2 grandma's came to visit this last weekend, my mom and my grandma. The kids LOVED every minute of their visit!!! My Grandma Barbara is known for telling stories, whether you want to hear them or not and the beauty of this visit... my kids wanted to hear it all! She can move in as far as I'm concerned. Not only did she tell them stories, but read to them. As you can tell by the look on Grayson's face he was deep in thought the whole time;)

And Mom had a Valentine's Day activity for the kids.

And then they had to leave. We let Kennedy stay home from school on Monday to get every last second in. My mom took the day off teaching- just ask her about her allergies due to dead cats rotting in her classroom and her LAME administration and janitors who don't seem to care about it. So we named this past Monday, "Family Furlough Day". Has a nice ring to it and if the state can do it just because, so can we;)

Duck Hunt

Well there's a reason they have "duck hunt" on Nintendo and not "chucker hunt". This was "the best hunting ever! SO much fun!!!" Now we all know. If we want to go bird hunting pass on the chucker.

Are these pics too graphic? Not so bad as that fox?

This is Justin and his ranger buddy and what they shot together. His buddy's from Wisconsin (totally has the accent too, but currently lives here in the high desert) and a major duck hunter so Justin was excited to go with a "pro". The duck with pretty green head his buddy took home to get stuffed and we got to keep the other 4.

MacKenzie and Grayson loved watching their dad pluck the feathers out of 2. If you want the details you'll have to call Justin and ask him about the dead duck that wouldn't give up the ghost;)

We ate some last night, delicious! I'm not kidding.

The Birthday Party!

The birthday girl! She was so excited to invite her friends over to share her big celebration.

As Justin was cleaning up the back yard I thought maybe we should fold up the trampoline...

Pinata, a must have for our kids. Justin does such a great job making sure everyone has a turn (and that no one gets smacked in the face with the bat).

Kennedy's big kid friends.

She loved every minute of her party including the strawberry soda;) This prize is from her kindergarten teacher. So sweet of her to come on her day off!

After everyone left, MacKenzie found some leftover party favors. "They're ALL mine!"

Thanks to all her friends for coming!

Happy early Birthday Kennedy and Justin

She got herself a puppy! WITH spots!

Is it a coincidence that it also happens to be a hunting dog?

Male

German Shorthaired Pointer

Name: Tick

She was up at 6:30AM this morning putting on her boots and sweater to go play with her puppy. So was Justin. Normally... they both sleep until the last minute possible.

Maybe I should've gave in and got her a puppy last year;)

And look at Kennedy's face, it looks kind of like this:

The girl is obsessed with deer and puppies!

I got a new calling!

The church must be true because after 2 years of service I am no longer the Young Women's President! I am so relieved. I went into this calling thinking, "oh what's the big deal?" The big deal is when you have no advisors, teachers, secretary, camp director... and thus fill in all those positions with one person. Myself. I had counselors who I love, but was never sure where they were on Sunday. Hmm.

I will miss seeing the girls every week, I love the Young Women! I won't miss the anxiety of all the things I wish I could do to make YW better, but just couldn't do it alone.

What's funny about this calling, as a teenager I didn't go to Wednesday nigth activities all the time because I didn't see the importance. As a leader... I feel the SAME WAY! Really? Every week? I could do without that. One of the many reasons to kick me out;) Although when I talked to the girls on Sunday I told them I was released because one too many parents sat the bishop down and complained about me. The girls took a collective sigh and looked around at each other wondering who's mom it was, HA!!!
I was kidding, but they believed me for a minute;)
Such innocence.

Anyway my new calling, and captive audience to corrupt, Primary Chorister! I am SO excited!
Sunday only calling... YES! My favorite.

Reindeer stocking redo

Before:

After:

Snow Day

It snowed last week and it's melted now, but it was so pretty while it lasted.

MacKenzie in her snow gear:

Kennedy was out there for hours!

It's my birthday!

And if the stars align correctly this afternoon I'm getting a new piece of furniture!

I found this thing on craigslist. Good price and they say it's solid wood, we'll see.

Baby names, can't ever find one.

Girls are always so hard for me, but I couldn't stop laughing at this one:

Lakinzi. I guess it's not as bad as Kermilda. I haven't found a girl name I like yet.

The favorite boy names so far are Parker and Morgan.

Even if Morgan is also considered a girl name.

It's Christmas time in the desert

I finished these stockings just in time for Santa to come tomorrow.

4 days of my life for "real" Christmas stockings.

Manuel drove through crazy traffic to make sure we got our Christmas prizes from him and my mom before the 25th. Thanks!!! Do you love it Rebecca?

Grayson got a car track game and won't stop screaming from happiness.

Complete with his new Spiderman hat.

They are so lucky to have 3 sets of grandparents. This is just one of them.

They are so grateful for ALL their grandparents, and the gifts too!

Further proof that my brother has 4 older sisters

Justin would cut off his left foot before putting on a woman's shirt. He would die of hypothermia first. And that's what attracted him to me, because I come from a family full of people like this:

Thank the Lord he held off on the pink thong!

(Did I say that out loud?)

Don't worry he is married, to a woman.

And here's what happens when my oldest sister gets that pic combined with some photoshop;)

YW theme 2011

I've been stealing ideas from this lady at aLittleTipsy.com for Young Women's. Her latest great find I had to steal, I also had to modify. The 2011 mutual theme for the youth is the 13th article of faith, with what looks like an emphasis on what "we believe". Here's the inspiration. And here's what I came up with. It's SO easy to do and you don't have to sign up for anything! wordle.net Thanks lady I've never met, for putting this stuff in your blog.

(If you click on that little pic you can print it right on out.)

Baby update

Monday night I could swear I was experiencing the worst gas ever! After a chat with the midwife and my sister it sounded more like gall bladder problems. The midwife suggested trying a low fat diet. What? Who wants to cut fat from their diet when they're 6 months pregnant? Not me!

Then yesterday I had cramps for 5 hours straight. I thought I was going to die (again) and I made a trip to labor and delivery. Of course once I sat down I was magically fine. They hooked me up to the monitors and everything was totally normal.

Today I had my regular visit to the midwife, everything looks good. Especially my weight,

14 lbs in 7 weeks. Beat that! Or not. I might have almost cried when I found out.

But then... I got a date for my big ultrasound! December 21st everyone. AND... I will not be finding out if it's a boy or a girl. Are you so excited?! Justin doesn't think I can handle not knowing, which only adds to my reasons for not finding out. Okay, so I don't really have any reasons for not finding out besides the part where it ticks everyone else off that I don't already know. To be honest, it ticked me off for weeks a few months ago when an ultrasound was NOT scheduled when I thought it would be, but I finally got over it. And then I thought, "how many people in today's world don't know?" I can't name one. When I mentioned to the midwife I wasn't finding out she about peed her pants with excitement. She said it's WAY more fun to deliver an "unknown" baby because everyone looks to see what came out.

Hey Ben & Jessica, maybe I'll have a zebra;)

Piano duets with Grayson

I've been teaching piano over at our friends the Petersen's for a while now. Grayson and MacKenzie LOVE to go play while I teach the older kids. This last week Grayson and his buddy William got to playing a duet. Click here for the pic. Cutest thing ever. Maybe they'll actually pick it up one day;)

Rudolph mobile

It's not the best pic, but those are antlers on my partially rolled down windows. I bought this for my dad last year. He is the biggest grinch when it comes to Christmas, I thought a car costume would help get him in the mood. My stepmom LOVED it! My dad walked home from work. Kennedy can't wait to take a spin in her new ride.