Sabbath-Day Daddy Dogpile!

Last Sunday Eric and the kids had so much fun! The kids had fun attacking Daddy and trying to survive his infamous tickles. What a great way to keep the Sabbath Day holy --- having fun as a family! Eric really started to have fun with the kids and was lifting each one of them up over his head. Quite a feat when you have 5 kids! And of course, it all was tons of fun until ... someone got hurt!!!!! Noah slipped out of Eric's hands and fell onto Autumn's back!


Here are some highlights:

Backyard Apples for Applesauce

My friend Kay Lynn helped me make applesauce, just over a week ago, with apples from my tree in my backyard. It was tons of fun and I learned alot! The kids played while we made the applesauce and then Ally was the bravest and ate it!! She loved it and ate 2-3 bowls of applesauce. I'm excited to send this new treat with Brooklyn for lunch. It's gluten-free!!

TWO-rific Birthday Party!

Last week we had a birthday party for London with her friends. It was totally fun! She had alot of friends come and we did many fun activities. What 2 year old doesn't love: bubbles, books, beanbags, dancing, cupcakes, and tons of candy!!!! She did seem a little overwhelmed with all the attention but overall it was a great night! Thanks to everyone for making this a great night for my baby girl. Here are some party highlights:




Reaching for more marshmallows and candy to put on her cupcake. Everyone had the chance to decorate their own cupcake with cool-whip and then top it with marshmallows and candy!

Getting ready to blow out the candles!

Bubbles were a big hit!

Story time seemed to hold their attention for a few minutes too!

Individual story time was really fun. I think the kids loved having an adult read to them a favorite book!

The best laugh was when Charlie was walking all over the playroom with the bucket on his head!

London can't decide what to put on that cupcake!

Since we celebrated her birthday on 9/11 we talked about how grateful we were to be Americans, how proud we were of all the people who helped us on that day and how we were glad that we could all come together for good on that day despite a horrific tragedy. Then we all blew out one candle together as a symbol of how we all worked together on that day. I really liked the chance to remember the hereos of 9/11 and I think it will become a tradition in our family on that day.

Isn't her dress cute? It was only .75 cents at Unique's the thrift store in Merrillville on 1/2 off day! Thanks Holly for introducing me to my new favorite place!

Money!!! Dollar Store here she comes! It will be fun to let her pay tithing too!

She got lots of great presents and the last was a baby doll. She loved it and started to rock the baby and sing. It was so cute! I can't believe my baby is now 2!!!!

What A Wonderful Life!

What do you think of the slide show I made? These are some of the best pictures ever! Hope you enjoy!

The Jr. Monopoly Genius ...

is not me! It is Autumn! You totally snowed me today at Jr. Monopoly. What does that mean? Anyways, I loved playing Monopoly with you. You are so smart!! I am so proud!!! Maybe we can start a tradition of playing a board game every few days when you get home from Kindergarten. I can't believe how fast you are growing up!

Love,

Mommy

London and Missionaries

What did you think of London's performance for the missionaries? Every time we see it we laugh our heads off. She was on fire! It took me forever to figure out how to load these on my blog and I even had to open a you tube account. Hope you enjoy it! Leave me your comments! You know I love it and that is my love language!

I posted these videos on Thursday but didn't work. Should work now!

I put the videos at the bottom of my blog. Check them out!

Am I the only who didn't know about...

JOSH GROBAN!!!!! He is my new obsession! I saw him perform on "Oprah" last Monday and he was amazing. I was asking some friends about him and everyone knows about him. Even Eric had heard of him. Where have I been? Under a rock! He was obviously the best kept secret from me for years!! What's even more crazy is I don't really like Oprah so I catch one of her shows about 4-5 times a year at the most. The song I loved the best was "Awake". It is sooooo good! I love his voice and the words. Needless to say, I looked on the internent a ton on Monday and found lots of his songs and then added them to my playlist on my blog.

My favorite three songs on my playlist of his are: #20 - Awake, #21 - To Where You Are, # 26 - You Are Loved. Go to my playlist and click on the second box (beside the box labeled create your own playlist) and my playlist will be displayed on your whole page and you can scroll down to any of these three favorites if you want to hear some awesome tunes.

Noah must have been worried about my obsession because the other day he asked if Dad and I were breaking up! I asked why and then realized I was listening to Josh Groban again and telling Noah how much I liked him. Ooops! I reasurred him and to ease any of your fears after reading this post I am still totally in love with Eric and, to be honest, every time I hear the song Awake I like him even more! So to anyone, if there is anyone, who doesn't yet know about Josh Groban -- check out my playlist on my blog -- he will not disapoint!

Supernanny ROCKS!!!!!!!

It's a miracle!!!! London has been sleeping in her bed since Monday (every night, all night)! Supernanny is awesome!!!!!! She gets most the credit.

On Monday I watched at least 3 episodes of Supernanny and finally decided that supernanny or her book had to come visit our house. Eric even watched one episode with us. So, after seeing the show I drove to the bookstore in Valpo and they didn't have it, so I drove to Merrillville and they had it in stock. I was on fire!!! and needed this book NOW!!!

We just followed her programs and now we have a baby-free house by between 8 and 8:30 pm every evening. It is actually amazing to have some actual Mommy and Daddy time without London and to have a London-less couch. Don't get me wrong but London has not slept in her crib for months and maybe even over a year if I really think about it. This is how supernanny and us got London to sleep in her bed (mattress). Basically, we do a bedtime routine with her (sometimes bath, pj's, teeth brushing, book, prayers with family) and then we get her pacifier (I'm not ready to give that up yet!) and go into her room with lights off, lay her down and sit on a stepstool beside her bed. When she gets up we lay her back down and cover her up with the blanket and say "Sleep". We stay in the room, on the stool until she falls asleep. The plan is to gradually move your stool closer to the door and eventually you do the routine from outside the room or I guess just lay them down and leave. The first night it took 30 minutes, actually better than I thought, for her to settle down and fall asleep. She got up a zillion times but I just kept laying her down and saying "Sleep".

The first night she got up about 5 times and would try and get in our bed. The key is to put her back in her bed! Not too hard, except it's 1 am and I am sleeping. When she would try to get in our bed I would get her and say, "It's time for bed. Go to sleep. I offered her a drink of water and then lay her down on her mattress and go up to my bed. The first night she came up almost right after I laid back down and then she got smarter and would wait 5-10 minutes until I was almost asleep and come walking in to sneak into our bed. When the child keeps getting up you talk less. So, after 2 times when London would try to get in our bed I would just pick her up and carry her down to her bed and then walk up to my bed. I had to do it alot but it worked!!!

Anyways, Friday and Saturday night this baby went to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 and slept ALL night in her bed and did not wake us up once! Good job London! We are so proud of you!!!!It was totally worth the drive to Merrillville and $17.00 book. Let me know if you want to borrow this book it has been a lifesaver! How did I survive without her?


This is a picture Tuesday morning of London sleeping on her mattress. I guess maybe we will need to buy her bed now that she will actually sleep in one!

My first ...

GARAGE SALE!!!! It was alot of work but totally worth it! I had tons of help from my friends and wonderful husband Eric. I couldn't have done it without you! Eric was up late with me sorting and organizing and testing toys with batteries to make sure they worked. Then, he was up again with me at 5am on Saturday to help finish organizing and setting up. What an awesome guy! Amy and her Mom, the garage sale guru's, helped me sort 15+ bins of toys ... ok I tried to get rid of it all but ended up finding some real lost treasures and kept 4 bins of toys I just couldn't part with yet! Maybe next year! Amy's mom also donated some of her Malaluca (I know I spelled that wrong) product to get nail polish off my crib and it worked awesome. Kay-Lynn came over for a playdate and ended up helping me list my garage sale on Craig's List and then helped me organize and tape together toys and package small items together.

I still have tons of toys in my playroom so I am not sure how this garage sale helped de-clutter my house, but my shed is very spacious now! Hopefully, we will now be able to move some things out to the shed. We also moved our food storeage from the garage to the downstairs cement room so it has been a chaotic mess at our house but it can only get better! I had tons of kids clothes too! I am bringing the leftovers to the consignment shop and then will give the rest to friends or the thrift store.

Everyone has asked me if I will ever do it again? And I just tell them that -- I was $157.00 richer at 2pm than I was at 7am that morning -- HELL YA!

Some garage sale highlights:

My friend Amy, the garage sale guru, stashed some of her favorite toys before the sale and came to pick them up on Saturday. Thanks Amy!!!

Me with Brooklyn, Luke (Amy's boy), Noah and Autumn. My kids tried their hands at selling lemonade and popcorn for 10 cents each and made $3.35. They recieved a few big tips and only worked for about 1/2 hour ... I guess it's not all that it's cracked up to be because then they wanted to play. Good job guys! London and Ryan played inside with Daddy.

Brooklyn plays Barbies with Samantha across the street. They played for hours and had so much fun!

Autumn keeps me company at the table.

Noah was pretty bored until he made up a game with his Nerf gun. We predicted different garage sale items we thought he would be able to hit with his Nerf bullets.

Now Autumn is across the street playing with Barbies.

I got really sun burnt! Part way through the day Eric came out and told me I needed to move into the shade. If he hadn't I would have been a goner! I am holding up my loot! $157.00! I only sold 1 item for $10.00, 2-3 items for $5.00 and all the other items for $3.00 or less. I was a happy woman!

We took the kids to Dairy Queen and spent some of our money on dipped icecream cones/cup. Did you know DQ had chocolate icecream? We didn't but were really excited! Everyone got chocolate icecream with hard chocolate on top except Autumn who wanted just chocolate icecream.

Ryan really LOVED this treat!


All in all it was a great day! I'm already collecting for next year!

TWO Cute!

Dear London -

We love you! You are two cute! We had fun singing "Happy Birthday" to you multiple times. Every time we sang to you; you enjoyed it more. We can't believe you are two!! Time has flown! We had a family party for you and all your brothers and sisters were so excited for you to be getting older. We put two candles on a Debbie cake and you blew them out on the first try. You are a professional! We had a meal we thought would be your favorite (Hamburgers, French fries and fruit). You didn't eat much. I guess you were too excited to get your presents. We gave you two presents (Candy and a gigantic doll - at least 2x your size). We had chocolate/vanilla ice cream and you loved it! There is definitely some Meldrum in your blood. Grandpa would be proud! You are such a sweet girl and shared your candy and doll with your siblings. Don't get me wrong -- you can be a terror too! You had an eventful day! I know you want to grow up and use lipstick but it goes on your lips not your hands and knee! You wanted to have a bath and when Autumn got home from Kindergarten you went for a swim together. What a great sissy! You even got a haircut today courtesy of Mommy. It was really just the bangs but you needed it so we could see your beautiful blue eyes. We love you and wouldn't trade you for anything! We hope for you a happy life, everyday joys, an eternal marriage, and a close relationship to your Savior and Heavenly Father. Remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus love you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Two sayings that I think of when I think of my beautiful toddler girl are:

1."A face without freckles; is like a sky without stars"
2."There once was a girl; with no curls; but with freckles right on the bridge of her nose. And when she was good; she was really, really good. And when she was bad; she was HORRID!"
(I modified #2 a little but if you have been in sacrament meeting with London you know that it totally fits!)

Family Party Highlights: