Church got cancelled today because of a few confirmed cases of the swine flu(!) in the stake (25 last I heard). So I thought I'd take some time to to catch up.

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KIDS WITH CAMERAS

We took the family to a Bee's game. Jackson got a hold of the camera for a while. When I got it back and looked through the pictures this is what I found... at first I wondered why he took pictures of these random people but then I realized what he was really doing. Can you guess what treat he kept asking for?

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CUTTING BACK!
Cookie Cutters is a super cute place to get kids hair cut. The kids get to sit in fun chairs like airplanes or cars and watch a movie or play a video game while they are getting their hair cut. My kids LOVE it. HOWEVER - We now have 3 boys that are getting haircuts and that really adds up ($)! Plus Jackson's hair grows like a weed and it looks like it needs to be cut a week after we get it done. I am never on top of it enough to keep it looking good. So we decided to buzz the boys' hair ourselves this summer. I actually think I like the look better.
Here are some before and after shots.

(These were the best before and after's I could find without actually taking before and after shots)

*Ok. I know the before picture of Jackson is not a great hair shot but I wanted to show his 3 missing teeth too. He had a really hard time eating corn on the cob for awhile. ALSO... He DID like Baseball. He really just does not like me to take pictures of him.

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STUFF THE FAM HAS BEEN UP TO THIS SPRING...

Abby is # 2! She was so tiny out there compared to the rest of her team but she did a good job keeping up with them.

Abby's dance recital. She was awarded a trophy for never missing a day of practice. She is SO her daddy's daughter!

Jackson swinging away! He liked it but nothing compares to the wii for his chosen method of physical activity.

Look at him! He's so cool he can even flash a "Hang 10" sign while surfing behind the boat.

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SAME OL' STUFF!

Some more of Boston's Masterpieces!

INSANITY:

doing the same thing over and over again

and expecting different results.

My plan: get up at 6:00 to get myself ready and some morning tasks done before the kids wake up and my morning is consumed by getting them ready and out the door for school. I even did a spread sheet schedule - and on paper it looks doable - but for some reason (maybe never getting to bed before midnight and still waking up in the middle of the night with a 6 month old baby!)it doesn't happen very often. What usually happens is Jackson wakes me up to see if he can play games because he's already gotten himself breakfast and dressed. I jump out of bed, say my prayers of course, and hurry into the kitchen to make his lunch and make sure he got all of his homework done while also getting abby up and breakfast and ready for school. It's not frantic but it's not the easy laid back morning that my plan (in theory) would afford. So...after this is all done and the big kids are gone I sometimes sit the little mischievious guy at the counter with a bowl of cereal (because it keeps him busy for a little while - sort of) so I can finally get ready. You'd think I'd learn by now but I must officially be insane.

This is the usual result...

luckily this time there was no milk involved!

(I'm usually a little too ticked to be taking a picture

when milk IS involved)

Not only did he make this lovely mess

but as you can see, by all the missing marshmallows,

he obviously had a very healthy meal as well.

THE CULPRIT!!!

He's just too dang cute to get mad at.

NEVER MIND...it's not going to happen

Catching up is obviously not happening. So here's what we've been up to...the short version.


We had (from Tessie's point of view) a sort of lame Thanksgiving, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year's Eve.

I don't think we've had a year yet when this hasn't happened with one of our kids.



Luckily they get over it and are excited to welcome Santa into our home with milk and cookies. (what a waste - since mom and dad were off sweets)



The kids had a good time opening up and assembling presents.



see! Happy:)

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We did get to go to Mexico for a week and had a good relaxing time.



This is were we stayed in Cancun - nice pools right?



unfortunately this is what the weather was like the whole time plus a bunch of rain. Needless to say, we never actually got in any of these beautiful pools. This picture was taken just before we left for the airport to come home and this was some of the nicest weather we saw there.





But we did go on a 'Book of Mormon' Tour of Chicha Niza - An ancient Mayan city
It kind of looks like this guy (our tour guide) is going to flip off someone but really this is just how he pointed at things.



And Lenny and I each got one of these to drink - so it wasn't all disappointing.

Anyways...it was nice to get away but it's even nicer to get back home to these cute kiddies.


Jackson moving onto brown belt


Abby at Christmas dance recital

Boston at Christmas

Cute Cutler getting so big!