the girl with a curl

there once was a gi---rl who had a curl right in the middle of her forehead

and when she was good she was very very good

but when she was bad - she was horrible

{a poem that my mom has told my girls since they were little}

my sweet Eliza is a bundle of energy, cuteness and TROUBLE.

she is often has a curls going everywhere. she remindes me of the puppy dog from Lady and the Tramp with a curl usually coming down around her eye.

she doesn't talk yet. she taps and taps and taps. charles even teases her and calls her "tap tap" as a nickname. it drives me crazy to sit by her at dinner because she is contstantly tapping me with her messy little toddler hands asking for more food. She doesn't even say "momma" yet. boo hoo. she will be the one that starts talking in sentances when she finally does. she understands everything. she will follow directions but WONT talk. stinker.

she is constantly into everything. today i pulled a hand weight out of the shower that she had carried in there. she carries her shoes all over the place and last week we could not find 2 of the 4 pairs that she had. she is the cause of many a lost item around here. we lost the ipod touch for well over a month because of her.

this morning was just a little dose of her mischief…

the boys had left out the sugar bowl from cereal this morning and while charles and i were getting ready we came out to this. a slobbery Eliza hand that she had been dipping in the sugar bowl eating it by the handful. her arm had layers of chunky sugar all over it. her hand was in the sugar bowl when we walked in and she quickly shoved the wet, sandlike sugar ball into her mouth.

and yet i would not trade her for anything in the world. i know that i this stage will pass and i will miss it.

Hudson's Week

i have always been a planner.

always.

i think that i might be rubbing off on my kids.

on most Sunday nights you will find our family "going over the week" after we have had dinner and everything is cleaned up.

it started out that we would send the little ones all off to bed and we would plan out the week with the older 3 kids.

i would make up a really simple calender for the week that the kids could see and would have our meals planned out, appointments and special events listed.my kids really liked having that on the fridge and especially if they could see what we were having for dinner.

well after a few weeks of the little boys being sent to their room to play while we planned, rexton finally came out and asked why he and hudson didn't get to "go over their week too"? they didn't like being left out even thought there was not a lot to put on their schedules. so in an effort to include them but not have them slow down our process, they each get out a piece of paper and illustrate what they have going on {or at least what they would like to have going on}

hudson's calender for this week was deserving of being remembered.

hudson's week in pictures:

monday - cub scouts

tuesday - play basketball

wednesday - mom and hudson christmas shopping

thursday - school holiday performance

friday - play ninjago legos

saturday - aunt julie comes

sunday - church

his artwork right now is stylized after the artowrk in "diary of a wimpy kid"

Patiently waiting

miss maggie was laying on the bed so patiently as we all scurried around her to get ready for 8:30 church.
this baby has the patience of job i tell you.
while she was hanging out waiting hudson {obviously} hooked her up with hobbes to keep her company.
love the thumb.
so does she.
big time.
the finger wrapped around her nose is just like what emmelyne would do. 

Many faces

Oh this boy. 

He really makes me laugh. 

I really love this age but I think that I say that about every age.

Brooklyn went a little crazy just taking picture after picture of him.

Some of the things that I want to remember about Rexton at this age:

You love the color Green

You fall asleep with both of your hands behind your head.

When I tell you that I love you - you always reply with

" I love you too - mom" 

There is something about the way that you add my name at the end 

You can do everything yourself!

You rarely sleep in your own bed

You love putting your "puppy" on his leash {an old Disneyland lanyard} and pulling him around

You like to build train tracks

You can play pretend with Hudson for hours

You want to eat what everyone else is eating - every sauce, every condiment, every dressing.

You LOVE to help me cook - when you hear my mixer start you come running {and you are good too}

You love to pretend that you are a superhero with Hudson {right now you are always Ironman}

Your pet peeve is to be interrupted - you want to be heard.

You love to snuggle up to Jingles and often with have cat fur stuck to your dirty face.

You always have a dirty face.

Sometimes you leave the first letter off of words when you say them

{ajamas aka pajamas}

You think that you have super powers {super climber and super strong}

You love to go to grandma's house on Tuesdays.

You have sound effects for everything.

Eliza - 10 Days

before you were conceived I wanted you

before you were born I loved you

before you were here an hour I would die for you

this is the miracle of life

A good Idea - or so I thought

This year I was a judge for dutch oven cooking at 11 year old scout camp.

{One of the highlights of getting to be Primary President}

At the camp out I saw that one of the men there had these GINORMOUS marshmallows. 

I had never seen anything like them before.
I had to have them for our campout. 

Little did I know what a disaster that would end up being. 

SMORES are not the easiest thing to eat as it is but this was ridiculous. 

They were everywhere. 

When you ate it it looked like you were making out with a marshmallow. 

YUCK!

We saved the rest and brought them home to use in Rice Krispy treats.

This one is not mine but I will claim him!

We took Brigham's great friend, Jaysen with us. 

Those boys had such a great time.

One marshmallow was enough for even the 11 year old boys!

O is for Ocean

This was no Hawaiian beach for sure. 

Northern California beaches are COLD! 

The wetsuit rental was well worth it's money.

Charles was able to get Hudson out on the boogie board once.

These kids are sure lucky to have a dad that is so willing to play so hard with them.

We were proud of him giving it a shot. 

Cold is not Hudson's favorite.

Sandcastle building with Dad.

Trying to stay warm with Mom.

Hudson did this all on his own after he saw me make one saying "Pacifica 2010"

They had more fun playing in the sand than they did in the water.

This is how Eliza spent most of her time at the beach.