5 is Fabulous!

I can't believe my sweet little princess turned 5!! Where has the time gone? Megan Almira Jacobsen joined our family on Dec. 4, 2004. It was a much warmer day than her 5th birthday. The sun was shining. We spent the day working outside, raking leaves and cleaning the garage. My mom and I went for a nice long walk, which by the end, I was pretty sure I was in labor. We were supposed to go to Andy's company Christmas party that night in Cody and my parents were already arranged to watch the boys. We took them over to their house and left with strict instructions from my mom that we were NOT to try and go to Cody for the dinner. (I had Aidan maybe 10 minutes after we got to the hospital and only 2 hours after labor started.) So we went home and decorated the Christmas tree. I talked to my sister on the phone while doing it and she and Andy made fun of me each time a contraction hit. They really weren't that bad though. I was so nervous to go to the hospital cause I knew I was in labor but I was afraid they wouldn't believe me cause I was laughing and smiling and not really in too much pain. We finally decided we better go cause we didn't want a repeat performance of pandimonium like when Aidan was born. Thankfully my Aunt Donna was the one at the check in desk. She believe me, got us checked in, and even got someone to cover for her so she could be there when Meg was born. An hour after we got to the hospital, Megan made her entrance into this world. It was a very easy labor and I was so excited to have my little girl!! I asked the doctor if she really was a girl cause I was so sure I wasn't that lucky to actually get a little girl! What a joy she has been from day 1!

Turning 5 is a big deal cause it is the first year I let my kids have a "friend" birthday party. She was so excited making her guest list and deciding on what kind of party to have. She really wanted Hannah Montana but I really didn't like that idea so I convinced her to have High School Musical. In the end, she won cause we couldn't find High School Musical stuff. She decided instead of one big fancy cake to have individual star cakes with each person's name on them. (I was not disappointed in this.) She so badly wanted a pinata, so I gave in and we had a pinata. She invited several of her friends and we had a party. We played musical chairs, did the pinata, enjoyed presents and cake and ice cream, and then just some fun play time. It sure is fun and fabulous to be 5!!

microphone cupcakes for preschool treats

Meg with her guests: Tate Allred, Mia Baxter, Wesley Preator, Reagan Thompson, and Katie O'Brien

For her family birthday party she decided to have brownies. We were all cake and cupcaked out after preschool treats and friend birthday party. My kids are so lucky to have so many grandparents and great-grandparents close by. The only one not there was Great-Grandma Jacobsen who lives in Burbank, CA.

Playing with her new "laptop" computer she got from Mom and Dad. This was the only thing she asked for. She really didn't want anything besides clothes.

We are Thankful!!

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of year! We are so thankful for so many things! We are thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ, for a warm home, Andy's good job, 5 beautiful children, our health and strength, wonderful family and friends, food to eat, clothes to wear, vehicles that work right, the gospel and the scriptures, temples, and so many more things. We are so thankful to live in this beautiful part of the country and get to enjoy the beautiful mountains and surroundings. Our children beg to spend Thanksgiving at the cabin. It is so relaxing and fun to enjoy the mountains in the winter. This year we had a great excuse to be there as Andy had an any elk hunting tag for the area by the cabin. The kids were on countdown for months! They couldn't wait to go to the cabin, especially Megan. Justin had the same tag as Andy, so my parents and Darcee, Justin, and Derrick joined us for Thanksgiving at the cabin. It was so nice and relaxing and unstressful!! The weather was beautiful! The only thing that would have made it better was if the snow had been packed more. It was a little too soft for sledding, but the kids enjoyed me dragging them around on the sled. (You will notice I don't have any pics of Aaron. He enjoyed just vegging inside playing gamecube or DS or watching tv or playing with actions figures with Derrick. We were on vacation, so I didn't push it with him.)



Mom and I made a simple but delicious Thanksgiving meal. Andy, Justin, and Darcee left early Thanksgiving morning to go hunting. When they weren't back for Thanksgiving dinner, we assumed they had shot something or were following them. My parents and Derrick and my children and I enjoyed a nice relaxing dinner together. Later that afternoon my dad and I went to see if we could find the mighty hunters. We found the truck and hiked a little but never found them. Shortly after we returned to the cabin, the mighty hunters returned too. Both Andy and Justin had shot small spikes but Justin's was one tought elk and got away. They tracked it for a long way but could never find it. The three of them took turns packing out part of Andy's elk. They then enjoyed some Thanksgiving dinner and just relaxed the rest of the evening. My parents took all the kids home with them that night, and the four of us went back and packed out the rest of the elk the next morning. It was fun to be with Andy doing something he enjoys doing. It was a nice hike and not really that cold. We will sure enjoy the meat! I feel bad Justin's got away, but he and Darcee were sure good sports about helping get Andy's elk taken care of. I don't think they will be putting in for that tag again though. They learned it is one tough place to hunt.

Ashlee loves the cabin!!

Fun in the snow!

Relaxing with Aunt Darcee after a fun day!

The might hunter Daddy sharpening his knives in preparation to go back and get he rest of his elk.

Snow angels are so much fun!

Gotta love a snowball fight!

Revenge!!

It was too cold for Ashlee to be outside, so she found her own fun inside!

After we returned home, we enjoyed seeing our siblings that had come home for Thanksgiving. All of my siblings were home, so the kids enjoyed some fun but too short cousin play time. We were able to celebrate Derrick's 9th birthday together and also celebrated Grandma Joyce's 80th birthday! We packed a lot of partying in in a few days!!

Ssshhhh!! Don't tell Grammy I was on the table!! (But it was so much fun!)

She couldn't get mad at me, could she?

Andy's brothers, Tom and Dan, were also home for Thanksgiving with their families. The kids were able to enjoy fun cousin time with them too. There was a lot of drawing, rough housing, computer playing, pan banging, and plenty of laughter. Cousins are so much fun!!

Ashlee and Soren (born only a few weeks apart)

Gymanstics and Dance

Megan had so much fun this fall! She was able to enjoy gymnastics and beginning dance! She has been so anxious to get to do sports like the boys, so she has jumped at the chance for any activity that she is old enough for. Meg absolutely loves her gymanstics teacher Mrs. Starla! She looked forward to every Tuesday night.

Megan loved going to dance class. Practices were closed to parents so we were anxious for her little performance the last day of class. Meg would show us at home some of the things she was learning and she was always dancing around the house. She was so excited for her performance and wanted her hair done up in a pretty dance hairdo and she invited her grandparents to come. Meg went to class for about 30 minutes and then the families were invited to come. We picked Grammy up on our way and couldn't wait to see her. I'm not quite sure what happened in the 30 minutes we were gone, but as you can see from the pictures below, stage fright must have sunk in. I have a video of the progression of this from beginning to start the dance, to freezing, to the tears starting, to eventually running off to daddy. I considered posting it, but I think I will just put it on her pic/video CD and she can watch it later on her own. It is pretty cute though! My favorite part was that she ran to her daddy and snuggled in to him. What a sweet little daddy's girl! Despite not doing her final performance, she loved every dance class and can't wait to do it again!

The nerves are beginning to set in!

Safe in Daddy's arms!

My gorgeous, brown eyed princess!

Scripture Reading

When it came time for Kenna's turn to "read" tonight during scriptures she told her dad she could it herself. So Andy told her to go ahead. We couldn't wait to hear what she had to say.

"And it came to pass that the Nephites crossed the road. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

Oh my goodness! It was all we could do not to bust out laughing. Kenna is such a sweet little girl that keeps us on our toes.

Awesome Find!!

All you moms out there needing some fun ideas for FHE, kid activities, or need some inspiration that we can do it (this mom has 8 kids): I came across this awesome blog!!!

chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com

I found so many fun ideas!! I can't wait to have everyone feeling better and then get motivated to do some of the things on her site. Just look around and explore and hopefully you will find lots of fun stuff too!!

A few updates

I've actually been updating our blog! Yes, a shock, but true! Look for fall fun and pumpkin carving posts in October. I will get the Halloween pics up soon! Now off to bed cause who knows how many times we will be up with throwing up girls!

A Haunting Halloween

I am usually such a scrooge about Halloween. I really just don't see the point and hate the hassle of coming up with costumes that they wear for a few hours just to collect obnoxious amounts of sugar. I started this Halloween off as a scrooge but have to admt that we had a lot of fun! Hopefully I will not be quite such a scrooge in the future. Yes, I will probably still grumble about finding costumes but will hopefully quickly remind myself that it will all be worth it when we have lots of fun. The kids were very excited about Halloween and did a good job of finding things we already had or getting pretty creative. It was so nice that Halloween was on Saturday so I actually had Andy's help getting kids ready and going trunk or treating. Usually we end up meeting him at trunk or treating or he gets home just as we are getting in the car. Here's the crew all ready to head out for trunk or treating. My cousin's little girl Brooklynn came over to get her costume and have me help her get ready. She was a gorgeous princess!

Aaron wanted to be a scarecrow but not a normal looking one. He wanted to be a scarey pumpkin head one. Thanks to a sweet mask from Walmart, Dad's flannel shirt, Aunt Sara's bibs, and a straw hat from Grammy, he was all decked out and a happy camper!

Aidan couldn't decide what to be this year. I pulled out the costume box and he was thrilled to find a ninja costume! It fit him perfect and he was one tough ninja!

Meg really wanted to be Scooby-doo this year, but we couldn't find a costume anywhere. Well, I guess that is not totally true. We could find them to order online, but they were all pretty expensive and probably wouldn't get here in time. When the costume box came out, she was excited to find the dragon costume that she had been waiting to grow into. It was cozy warm and fit great! (She had a few problems with the zipper but it all worked out just fine.)

My sweet little Dora! (or as one of my friend's husband's called her - an aborigany. The wig was pretty crazy!) Anyone that knows Kenna knows this was very fitting for her. She absolutely loves Dora. Thanks to Aunt Christy we were able to make Kenna happy this year. She didn't wear the wig a lot cause it kept falling off, but she was a very cute blonde haired Dora!

My sweet little bunny Ashlee! This was my costume as a little girl and all of my children have worn it for their first Halloween. It has had the sleeves and pants tacked up or let out a few times due to very different heights of my children but they have all been the most adorable bunnies! Ashlee loved wearing her costume! Most of my kids have tolerated it and usually ended up taking the ears off cause they pulled on them so much, but Ashlee was the exception! She was a total ham! She loved all the attention she got! She was all smiles this night!

I love how you can see her two bottom teeth in this picture!

Yes, you are seeing things right! I actually dressed up. My friend Cammy convinced me to dress up this year and Andy kind of went along with it. She supplied the costumes and I did my part of the dead pirate (minus the costume makeup). Andy wasn't game for the matching outfit so he dressed as a hunter instead (I know - oh so original). I think he just wanted to practice for the upcoming hunting season. I have to admit it was kind of fun to dressup, and I may consider doing it again in the future. MAYBE!!

My adorable friend Cammy that convinced me to dress up.

On Friday before Halloween, we enjoyed school Halloween parties. Unfortunately I couldn't find my camera in the rush out the door for Meg's Halloween party, so I will have to bum pictures off my friends. But we had fun going to The Heartland for a parade and songs (minor little glitch in that she left her top at home and I had to hurry back and get it and then when they started singing her zipper wouldn't work so she was in tears most of the time, but at least she looked cute!) We then went to the church for a fun carnival and goodies! It was a fun morning. We had a few hours to go home and recoop before Aidan and Aaron's parties in the afternoon. I was in charge of Aidan's party, so we spent our time in his classroom but I did slip over to Aaron's classroom to see him and he came over to Aidan's to try and convince one of his sisters to go to his party. Kenna went for a few minutes but decided to come back to be with me. It was fun to go to the all school parade and then enjoy goodies in Aidan's classroom.

The boys love it when the girls come to their school. They love having them sit with them. It is so nice that their school is so family friendly! The girls love to be in the classrooms with the boys. It is crazy that Meg will be there next year too.

Halloween just wouldn't be Halloween without fun Halloween hairdos! The girls were excited for their spiderweb dos! On Friday, this was Meg's do for school parties. It looks hard but is actually really easy and pretty quick. I am sure we will be using this one again for just an everyday do too!

On Halloween, I wanted to try my hand at making up my own fun dos! These are what I came up with. Meg's took quite awhile cause of all the little rubberbands, but it turned out so cute! This is definitely not an everyday do but it is fun for Halloween!

Kind of a devilish little look!

I did Kenna's hair while the older kids were doing swimming lessons. It didn't turn out quite how I had picture it in my head, but it was still fun and she was excited to have a spiderweb do too!

The witch look! So appropriate for Halloween!