Kaden is 2....

and still completely irresistible!!!

Happy Birthday Kaden! We love you!!

So, Who Won Chamberlain Idol?

Is it over? I didn't see the finale, can someone help us out here? Anyone??? I mean, if I did win, I might jump for joy like this:

But that's only if I won. So, did I win? Anyone? Anyone?

If I did win, doesn't that make me better than everyone else that played? I mean, they call that "the champion" right? That's what they call it? I'm just checking because I don't want to be wrong.

For those that haven't followed Chamberlain Idol, you can view it all here:

http://chamberlainidol.blogspot.com/

Oh, and if I won, I rock right? right? Doesn't it come with a prize? Something cool like a championship belt, or a championship ring, or maybe a crown and championship coat or something, pretty much anything that shows that I'm the champion right?

If you don't want to call me champion, that's ok, you can call me:

Winner
Conqueror
Top Dog
Vanquisher
Number One
Numero Uno
The best
The guy who came in first
Superstar
The sun compared to you stars
Victor
The world's greatest
The Chuck Norris of Idol Guessing Games
The Opposite of Ned in Everything
Better than you
Blue Ribbon
Boss
Chief
First
Premier
Top-Notch
Undefeated
World Class

Those are just a few, IF I won, which I don't even know yet because no one has told me, but if I did, you can use any of those, or be creative and think up your own (words that mean I just kicked your trash that is!)

Laterz

ONE CRAZY MONTH!

Between mid-April and the end of May our family is always busy. Four of our five birthdays fall in this time as well as several aunts, uncles and cousins and Mother's Day. This year was especially crazy though as we added in a baptism, a school concert, American Girls celebration, some field trips and a lot of other random activities that all seemed to want to happen right now. We're not out of the woods yet - Kaden's birthday this Saturday and some random end of the school year activities to go but there is a light at the end of the party tunnel! I'm looking forward to a mostly empty calendar for awhile. With all that's been going on there is so much to post about but also not much time to do it in. Here's everything so far (in the next 8 posts):

Emily made me some wonderful dipped strawberries for Mother's Day! YUM!!

The trampoline is back! The snow is gone, the rain is leaving and we can finally play outside again!

Bailey is loving Activity Days. Last week she got to decorate a cake.

One thing I was missing while doing home school was getting to see my kids in all those cute little music programs they do in school. Here is Bailey in her first one. She did great!

Bailey's baptism day

I can't believe Bailey is 8 years old already! She has been so excited and looking forward to her baptism. She was baptised on May 2nd. What a great day! Loads of her friends and family were there to celebrate with her. We're so proud of you Bailey!!

Bailey with Aiden and Jared - the three kids from our ward who were baptised that day.

Bailey with her great friends Hannah and Leah who came to support her.

Just a few of the family and friends who were able to share this day with Bailey.

We take any opportunity we can get to try to get a great shot of all the grand kids together. As you have probably noticed, it's a work in progress.

Don't drive over scrap matel...just a thought.

We came out of the baptism to find that Matt and Andrea's van had a completely flat tire.

Not to worry though. There was plenty to keep everyone busy while we waited. The trees were a big hit -

and so was the flagpole!

All those manly men managed to get that tire changed in record time - with no damage to the church clothes! Then it was time to eat!

American Girls Pioneer Party

Parents Night for the Kirsten semester of American Girls was lots of fun. The girls demonstrated pioneer dances, recited poems from their pioneer school house unit and treated us all to a Saint Lucia celebration. We also got to eat some great pioneer style foods and play pioneer games. This was the final event in a very long Saturday!

Can't tell these two are related at all can you!

Go JOE!

Somewhere in the mix of baptisms, concerts, parents nights, mothers day, birthday parties, father's day, etc Steve and I also celebrate our birthdays. When we asked him what treat he wanted on his birthday Steve thought he'd be funny and said he wanted a GI Joe cake. To surprise him we made him one. I think it turned out pretty well!

A little lesson in birthday finance...

Since Bailey wanted nothing but an American Girls Doll for her birthday I had to gently explain to her that we had used most of her budget on her giant party. (and I spent A LOT of time explaining to her that even Santa might not have the budget for that as this was her back up plan!) So, together we came up with an alternate idea. She asked Steve and I and her grandparents to only give her money for her birthday - whatever amount they would have spent on her presents. Then, she will work hard, save her allowances and eventually earn the rest of the money to buy the doll herself. Whatever happens, by the time she gets it all saved it will be a good thing ... she'll either have her dream doll and really appreciate it... or if the doll is no longer a factor... she'll have had a good lesson in saving money and also have herself a nice little hunk of cash to keep saving! Smart girl!

A Really Great 8th Birthday Party!

We thought 8 was a great year to celebrate with friends. Bailey chose to have a garden themed party.

We made flower invitations for all her friends...

took flower cupcakes to school...

and decorated the house with hundreds of paper flowers.

When everyone arrived we had lunch...

and ate cake.

We also opened a lot of presents...

Decorated garden hats and flower pots...

planted flowers in our flower pots...

and played some fun garden and bug themed games.

Originally, the rule for sleepovers at our house was not until you're 8. Seems that was the original rule at several places since Bailey and a couple of her very best friends have been trying to plan sleepovers together now that they're all old enough. However, since the "original rule" was first discussed, Steve and I (and thankfully most of her friends parents as well) have decided against allowing sleepovers for our kids. We decided to let them have "late nights and/or early mornings" instead. Stay up late, watch movies, eat junk food and do all the girlish or boyish things a sleepover used to be for but then go home and sleep in your own bed. It worked out great!

Gee... it's great to finally be 8!!

Happy Birthday Jessica

I don't have any embarrassing photos to easy access, but maybe this works: