Derek's Christmas

I love this baby stage. He is so happy with very little. He got an airplane set that goes with our Geo Trax train set that we have been adding to over the years. And a little yellow car. When he opened it he made the noise a car makes. It was so sweet.

Dallin's Alien Lab

Dallin got a Ben 10 Alien Laboratory for Christmas. Its so cute how innocent children are. The set comes with this ball and you put it in the chamber with water and the ball disintegrates and then an alien plastic toy is revealed. But for my kids it was like a real alien was being made in the chamber. They could not breath they were so overwhelmed with the idea. Olivia got a flash light and would shine it on the chamber to see things better. I love how willing they are to buy whatever is being sold to them. Its so cute.

Snow Bowl

We headed north again this year to go sledding and have fun in the snow. The kids loved it so much last year. I am such a dork. I was having so much fun I would scream the whole way down the hill. And I would take any kid with me just so the other people would think I was going down for the kid. In this clip I had Derek. But it cracks me up how much I scream going down. Like I have never had that much fun in my life or something.

I did not want to go down the biggest hill cause I kept seeing people fall off. But I knew Andrew and Dallin wouldnt leave me alone till I did. So I went. I hit my face so hard I thought I was going to get a black eye. I didnt. But still it hurt.

Dallin was brave enough this year to go down on his stomach. The hill might not seem large on the video clip but it was huge. He was so brave this year.

Andrew and Addie going down a medium sized hill

Snow Cave

Dallin like all boys had to make a snow fort/cave/hole. He had this little friend who followed him around all day and no adult ever seemed to care that this kid was gone. But some how I have to take all four of my kids with me to the store cause I am the kind of person that would decide to leave Dallin watching cartoons and come home to a fire or something. But other people. Like this kids parents can just spend a whole day without there kid and not ever notice. A WHOLE DAY!!!
I am so proud of his digging skills. Cute Boy

Snow Man

Like all children my kids watch an episode of Dora's Christmas and they want their snow experience to be exactly the same. With penguins, polar bears, ice unicorns and snow princesses. They get a tiny clue that its not going to happen and they throw a huge fit. Instead of thanking us for the snow gloves and covering the cost of the trip up there htey go on and on about not getting to ride the polar bear. In order to keep the fits from getting out of hand we promise a snow man. And we avoid answering them when they ask if it will come to life. Only to find out that there is only one snow man in the whole area and its tiny. About 13 inches high.

This is the master mind behind the whole snow man. Considering the conditions of the snow and the amount of time we had before the 2 year old melts down we were fighting against impossible odds. My dad is a coach and he has a tendency to tell people what to do and people have a tendency to not weigh out their options first they just seem to move. This was the case yesterday and it worked. The snow was powdered snow not packing snow. It wont even make a snow ball let alone a snow man. My dad decided that the best thing to do is make a mountain of snow and then carve out levels so it looks like one.

My mom tends to just be around to absorb as much attention as she can possibly get. She alone with my dad empty nesting and most days he is at work. So needless to say she will act annoyingly peppy or cheerful to keep your eyes glued to her. You can tell in the picture I am really really enjoying it. Trust me she didn't add much but a couple of songs to the project at hand.

In the end this is what we got. It blows the other snow man out of the water. And we had a whole bunch of Japanese people come over and take pictures of it.

Sugar Cookies

I have this thing where I dont bake. Its because it stresses me out and with four kids I start yelling at them when things get burned cause they were fighting or making too much noise. They dont have to be near the kitchen at all and its their fault. For me if I am making their life miserable was it really worth it? Therefore I only make sugar cookies once per year.
I think another reason I stress is cause I like them a certain way. They have to be soft with just a little brown on the bottom and very thick. And nothing but homemade icing (the store bought stuff is a jip).
The kids love them. Its like poverty stricken kids when they get toys. My kids act just like that.
Any way we did it. I tried to breath deep. I went to Yoga solid for a month just to release all the negative energy for this day.
It was fun. I had a good time. I kept it together and smiled. The mess was astronomical.
You see I have this thing where if its too much of a mess whatever the mess is on goes in the trash. For example the other day Derek woke up (earlier than I would have liked)and was tired of wearing a poopy diaper so he took it off. Everything that was involved got thrown away. Clothes, socks, sheets, pillows, stuffed animals. Trust me I am way nicer to all of them if I don't try to clean it up.
In this instance I swear to you I was soooo close to throwing away the kitchen chairs. My kids do this thing where they are annoyed at whatever is on their hands so they wipe them on anything within reach. They dont think to grab a napkin or dish towel. Usually its my church dress or a wall or furniture. This time it was the chair they were sitting on. I was not nice or happy after washing the chairs off. In fact half my face was twitching.
All in all I hope the kids made a good memory. Andrew took them outside to hide them from my language as I was cleaning. So as far as their concerned this is the best Christmas Ever!
Derek did this thing where he would eat a cookie and drink a whole glass of milk before starting another. I swear he is my only source of happiness.

Christmas Dresses

My sister sent money as usual and it was enough that the girls could have a few presents under the tree and I was able to buy these Christmas dresses for them. I was surprised at how much Addie fell in love with hers. Every day she comes home from school and running errands with me to put it back on. She really loves it. I have had to wash it so many times. But I wanted to post a picture so Aunt net could see. Merry Christmas aunt net and thanks. This is just another one of the fun things we get to do this time of year.

Nitro-Dash Rash

This is our new puppy. He is a little bigger than when we first got him. I guess we were so busy picking up poop around the house we forgot to take pictures. He is like most babies he loves to be held and he loves to play and he loves positive reinforcement. It seems like he poops and pees more than normal cause I have to clean it up. But oddly enough we love him. And just like my real babies I will love him so much more when he is potty trained. He will get his second set of shots on the 17th and then he can start his puppy training course. The kids enjoy walking him. Addie carries him around like a baby and drives him crazy. And he plays with Derek like one of his own kind. The best part is Andrew loves him the most. He was the kind of guy that hated dogs. Now you cant keep him from handing out bacon strips every five seconds. I feel like I buy those treats more for him than the dog. He was named Nitro by his previous owners. I guess Andrew didnt like it cause I got a voice message from petsmart saying Dash's poop sample came back all clear. And if you ask Dallin his name is Dash Rash. All I can say is he is a nice addition to our home. He even got his own stocking and a Santa suite cause he is our favorite Christmas Gift.

Halloween

This Halloween was one of the funnest for our family. We added a life size witch that stirs her pot and says things to our halloween collection. And a giant spider. Plus we felt up to having a party at our house for the kids. It turned out to be way fun. I think there are a few things we need to tweak for next years party but thats the point of the first party it has to start some where and it can only get better from there. Andrew was a gorilla and he really did a good job of playing the role. He would go up to the kids and steal their bags and act all crazy. Some parents were bent out of shape and would pass our house cause we chose to scare children. But thats part of the entertainment as well. I was the Devil. I know there are several people that feel it was a perfect costume for my personality and I am ok with that too. Dallin was a transformer again! Bumblebee this time. Addie was riding a horse again! but we had her be a princess riding a unicorn to mix it up. Olivia was a care bear. And Derek was a lion that slept through most of it. Its our favorite holiday here at the weeks home and we cant wait for next year.

Professional Pictures Finally!!!

Can I just say there is a huge difference between a professional and those portriate studios. I can't describe how priceless it is to have the most adorable memories of this age range that my kids are in captured so beautifully by this talented person. I would pay double what she charges and still feel like I am forever in her debt. I love how she made the day so much fun and not painful. For me I am being so grumpy trying to get them to smile and hold still and I get so mad when I try it at home or in a studio that I only remember the bad day when I look at those pictures. This was all around the best experience. The photographer is named Jamie Broderick. She has a website. www.jamiebroderick.com and she goes to Utah all the time. For now she is here in Arizona. I would highly recommend her. We are so happy with the end result. I feel like she is one of the most talented ones out there. And I am very very picky so that says allot. She is awsome!!! There are tons more but I only posted a few. (I feel I look a little fat but thats not her fault)

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Update

Update on my status with the computer is that I have taken it in and it will be fixed on Monday. I cant wait to get it back and download some songs.
We have had so much happen since it broke I don't even know how I will remember it all, but I will try.
This last week we had a professional take pictureS of us. It was so nice to see cute pictures of the kids and I know Andrew loved them. I will try and post some if I can figure out how to do it on his computer. I felt like I looked fat. Not as fat as before but I would like and extra 20lbs to come off. I have lost 60 to date and am taking a break enjoying some eggnog. I will go back for the other 20 when I feel like I am in the mood to spend another few hundred dollars on a new wardrobe in another size. For the most part we have just been hanging out. We got a dog. A cute jack russle puppy who pees in the house and is too rough with the kids. We have him all signed up for stuff at petsmart and he will begin puppy training classes soon. And we are all geared up and excited about Christmas. Thanksgiving was nice. My parents came and Marie Calendars cooked for us. My kids loved them and miss them. They might come back for Christmas festivities. I feel like every one has been really lagging on their blogs. I wish you all would post more. I would if I had a computer. Any way.......
I guess I will be back up and running on Monday!
Camille

My computer is broken

I havnt been posting new blogs for a while because my computer is broken. And the Holidays are coming up so I can think of a million other things to do with my money other than get it fixed. I am using Andrew's work laptop for now but I cant download pictures or anything fun for blogging sooooo..... Just hang in there until I figure this whole thing out.
I will be back soon.
Camille

Disney Land

We decided last minute to go to DisneyLand after Addie's birthday party. The drive was fine. We had portable dvd players. When we got there the kids were so excited and happy just to be in the hotel right then I knew it was worth it. Its very hard to take four kids. Two of which are too young to do very much. But we had aunt Net with us and she shined up any thing that might have caused us an ugly moment. Its not as magical for the parents. I remember going as a kid and it was very different. Especially as your paying a million dollars for a couple of hot dogs. Either way I think we needed a vacation and I know we made good memories. Andrew took most of the pictures. I hate taking pictures. I feel like it better to be in the moment making a memory then always posing. Then the memory is about posing all day for pictures. He comes from a family that does this sort of thing. So here are few of what he made us take.

Adelaide Sarah Weeks

Its Addies birthday so I thought I would give a shout out to her. She was not my cutest baby. But she grew out of that phase. I never bonded with her. She was very difficult from the start. She still is the hardest for me to deal with. Her dad melts her heart. She has a huge crush on her uncle Jed. And aunt Net can usually coax sanity back into her when she is freaking out. But for me she has been the hardest. She is very pretty. Gorgeous.! Every one comments about that. And so smart it would knock your socks off. I am not biased because as I said before I dont get along with her so well. That means she has earned these compliments.

Addie's Birthday Party

My adorable princess turned 4 on the 19th. The last couple of years she had very small lame parties so we decided to go all out this year. I found this place called girly girlz and they do the whole party invitations and for a minimal fee (I am getting paid to advertise for them so just bear with me) They do the games, a craft where they make magic wands, they provide the pizza and cupcakes at the tea party and keep the mess there plus they deal with the most annoying age group ever for me. It was awsome! It was a great day. They have these dolled up teenage beauty queens who talk in high pitched squeaky happy voices that run the whole thing. I know Addie and her friends had a great time.

Hair and Makeup.

The best part is that they get princess hair up dos and makeup and their fingernails painted. Each girl got sparkles in their hair and the birthday girl got a tiara.

Games

They played a couple of princess games. One was like charades and they were acting out different princesses. This is Addie being sleeping beauty. They also played find the treasure and instead of simon says it was princess says.

Presents

Each girl got to sit next to her and give her the present they brought. At the very end they did a fashion walk down the run way in the store and took home a flower lollipop, make up bag, nail polish and the craft they made.
I hope she had fun it was a really cute day.

Head Case

There are so many things I hate about parenting. Lord knows I didn't want this many kids. I find myself thinking due to that fact he might spare me by keeping my kids normal and mainstream. But no way. I got the head case little girl who cant feel her lip so decides to eat it out of shear curiosity for what it would feel like to gnaw on her own skin. Um... no thanks. She had a cavity filled and they numbed her mouth. I know they say watch them cause they have no feeling but my child takes it to the bipolar schizophrenia level and self mutilates. I of course couldnt handle it. There was blood dripping down her mouth and she would not stop chewing on her lip. (i cleaned up most of it for my "g" rated viewers) I tried everything, even druging her to go to sleep till the lip had feeling back in it. I ended up crying, pushing her forehead against mine and begging her to stop like a desperate crazy lady (I can get really dramatic in times where logic and restraint would help the most) Any way... Now its going to take FOREVER to heal (of course) and she will be screaming during all meal times until it does. I can see why soccer moms are the number one abusers of pain killers. When did I sign up for this? Wait I remember now. But I swear the sex wasnt that good. (at least not that night any way)

Dallins Birthday

Happy 6th Birthday my little turtle.
I am so excited for him. Every time we go to Target and we hear his list of things he wants from the toy section we say "wait for your birthday". I know he is glad it finally came. We are having a swimming party for him cause I couldnt think of anything better and then a family night at chucky cheese.
Dallin was my cutest baby by far. Never have I had one that cute again. He is such a sweetheart and good guy. He is almost never in time out. I cant believe he can read! Not that the teachers suck but its shocking when they can just do something out of the blue. He loves his dad to death. And is such a hottie (i think). He turns 6 this Sunday. We didn't do digital back when he was born but here is what I could grab from the computer.