My little helper

Reese has become quite the good little helper lately, and I am so extremely thankful for her.  She is so good to help and do whatever I ask her.  Of course there is the occasional whining but for the most part she is great.

I am a total control freak and like things done a certain way so some things are harder for me than others.  She has been wanting to go out and get the mail from the mailbox by herself for a long time.  I always get a little nervous sending her out all by herself but I am getting better.

Unfortunately, the day I finally decided to let Reese go and get the mail was the day that all of our junk mail came.  There was mail flying all over the place.  It was kind of funny to watch.

Reese is also great at helping me with her brothers.  She is so wonderful to sit down and play with them or read to them.  She is seriously my lifesaver when I can't sit down with them.

Reese has also been wanting to help me cook more and more and this is the one that I have the hardest time with.  It is quicker if  I do it myself but I know I need to teach her and let her help.  One of my favorite blogs called Mel's Kitchen Cafe did a series on cooking with kids and it gave me a bunch of ideas and tips.  So I am trying to let loose in the kitchen and let this girl help out more.

I would be lying if I told you that this didn't make me nervous.  I gave her the dullest knife I owned and showed her how to cut up veggies and she was in heaven. 

I don't know what I would do without this girl!  She is the best and I feel so blessed to have her as my little helper.

Family Scripture Study

We had Stake Conference recently and our Stake President talked about how important it is to read the scriptures as family because we are preparing our kids before sending them out into the world.  He told us that it didn't matter how old our children were that we should read the scriptures with them no matter what.  That really hit me and I knew I wanted to start reading scriptures as a family.  So Ben and I talked about it and so we decided to start having family scripture study in the morning before Ben left for work.

Now it isn't always perfect and the kids don't always want to listen but at least we are doing and at least they see that it is important to us and so hopefully as they get older it will get better.  I love my little family and I want to be with them forever and so I will do whatever I need to to prepare them to face the wicked world.

Reese's 5th Birthday

Reese's 5th birthday was quite the party!  We woke up bright and early to start our festivities.

After a hearty breakfast and opening a few presents, we hurried and got ready, loaded up the car, and make our trek to Utah.  It was time to start our birthday celebrations!  Reese shares her birthday with her Grandpa Brad and Uncle Brad and it had been years since we have celebrated with them so we wanted to celebrate with the Calls this year.

Once we got to Syracuse we called Grandma Jan to meet us at Walmart because Reese finally decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced.

She was very brave and tried really hard to hold in her tears but when I told her it was okay to cry she finally let her tears out.  She was a little nervous to let me clean her ears later on that day but once I showed her that it didn't hurt to touch her ears she has been great about her ears.

We went to Olive Garden that night and met up with all of the Call family to celebrate the birthdays.

Olive Garden was great to get all 20 of us at a table.  We had a very delicious dinner and great company.

Reese was definitely spoiled for her birthday, but then you only turn 5 once!  Reese has been a little obsessed with unicorns and ponies for a while.  Grandma got Reese a cute My Little Pony cake, balloons, and he very own My Little Pony stuffed animal!  Reese was definitely excited about that!

But her most prized possession of the night was her brand new Caboodle!  Ever since she saw her cousin Kajsa's caboodle at Christmas, Reese has been begging and pleading for a caboodle.  Well she was quite excited when she opened her very last present and found what... her very own caboodle!!!

We love you Reesie girl!  Thanks for being the sweetest little girl we could ever ask for. 

Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's day we ACTUALLY went out, without all of the kids!!!  It was a miracle!!!  We couldn't do a whole lot because Ben was on call but I am not complaining because we went out! 

We went out to lunch, then to the mall to get a present for Reese's birthday, and then Ben surprised me on our way home with a DQ red velvet ice cream cake!  It was the BEST!!  And a great surprised because I didn't suspect a thing.

We also celebrated Valentine's day with heart shaped pizza and heart shaped hair!  It was a great Valentine's day!

I had the greatest Valentine's in the world to celebrate with!  I sure do love my little Valentines and I feel so blessed to have them all in my life.

Benson's 3rd Birthday

Benson's third birthday has come and gone and we partied hard.  Benson woke up to a huge pile of presents from us and his extended family.  He was definitely spoiled. 

Originally Ben and I had decided to let him open 3 presents before breakfast, but after he finished opening those three presents he didn't want to stop so 3 turned into 5 and then after breakfast he wanted to finish opening his presents so we let him.

Benson had a blast opening presents and it was so fun to watch him open and get excited about everything!  Benson had lots of little helpers wanting to help him open all of those fun packages.

Ben and I got Benson a bike this year and we were quite surprised when he just took off.  Reese took months to learn to ride a bike, Benson on the other hand knew exactly what to do.  We were quite amazed!

Later that day we took the kids to a place here in Twin that had inflatables and they had SO much fun!  I think they would have stayed there all day long if we would have let them. 

Even had a nice relaxing time...

Later that night after Benson's favorite dinner we celebrated with cake and ice cream  Benson has been obsessed with the minions from the movie Despicable Me so when I found this super easy cake on the Internet I knew that was the cake I was going to make for his birthday.

Benson had a great day!  He has had a rough time adjusting to Twin Falls and our new apartment but hopefully he will calm down in the next month once he gets use to our new home and town.  Benson can be so sweet but he is very vocal when he is unhappy.  He make our home very loud and busy.  He is definitely a busy little boy.  We love him a bunch and are so glad that he is a part of our family!

Happy t3rd birthday buddy!  We love to the moon and back!

Tanner's first haircut

After many comments from family about my little boys hair, I decided it was finally time to cute Tanner's luscious locks.  I have loved his hair since he was just a baby but it was getting a little long.  I knew it needed to be cut when one day he was called a girl three time!  WHAT!?!  It was time to pull out the clippers and make this boy a man.

After I cut all of his beautiful hair off I had major regrets of cutting all of his hair off.  I loved his hair.  Cutting his hair off changed him and every time I looked at him I did a double take because I didn't recognize him.

After a few days it grew on me but I still miss his hair.  Good thing hair grows back!!!

Toy Town

We heard from a bunch of people that we needed to take the kids to Toy Town.  I am glad we listened because we had a blast!  Toy Town is just a locally owned toy store and they have a lot of their toys out so you can play with them and try them out before buying them. 

The kids were in heaven and had so much fun trying out all of the "new" toys! 

Ben also had a little bit of fun!  Maybe too much fun!  He loved getting out all of the different puppets and terrifying the kids with them.  He is such a great dad!!

And there were cars, cars, cars, and trains!!!  Every boys favorite thing!  Benson loved driving all of the cars and trains and didn't make any noise the whole time.  Unless of course Ben came along with one of his terrifying puppets!

Ben and I had just as much fun as the kids!  I found a pogo stick and hopped all over the store with that thing and I secretly wanted to buy one for myself.

We had a hard time getting them to leave.  We stayed for a good hour and a half and even then couldn't get them out the door.  And to be honest, Ben and I didn't want to leave either!