Lest we forget that DAD

is finally as young as MOM!!
Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

Jacks FiRsT BirThdAY!!

I can't believe that we've had our little man for over a year now! It is impossible to remember life before our Jack-et came to us! His 3 big brothers still adore him and want to play with him constantly. Jack is the busiest little man I have had yet...and FAST! It takes mere nano seconds for him to cross the room and get into anything he desires. And he does NOT forget what it is that her wants. Out of sight out of mind has no bearance when it comes to Jack. Grandma Gardiner and Grandpa Arnett came over for his birthday supper, traditional Gardiner birthday pinata, and cake. What a perfect celebration for a perfect boy!

HaPpY #1 JaCKet

Pay it forward

So, here's how this game works-the first 6 (it's supposed to be 3 but I'm in it for 2!) people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Please keep in mind that gifts may have to be adjusted based on your location...you may have to be flexible on the handmade part if you live far, far away.

I promise to begin blogging again SOON! We are in the process of a move...crazy with painting, packing, and re-flooring! I put up the before and after shots soon!!

One more OUT!

Someone woke up terribly disappointed at 5 am the day after to find that the tooth fairy forgot! Mom assured him that maybe he just hadn’t given her enough time and that he needed to put that tooth back under his pillow and go BACK to sleep (good luck there mom!) Mom dug around for Dad’s wallet in the dark morning hours to see if he had any cash…she certainly did not. And then waited for the disappointed little darling to go the bathroom, or otherwise leave the tooth unattended. Luckily crying out for Mom at 5 am was not enough and at 6 he cried out for Dad to tell him the horrible news. While he was telling Dad of his tooth fairy woes mom gave the small lecture about not being patient and giving the little fairy a chance...all the while with her hand under his pillow, already the money in place. When he had finally put the tooth back, a quick slide of hand and the deed was done! Mom and Dad barely had gotten back into their room when, “Oh my Gosh! Mom it’s crazy! No wonder I didn’t see her …she’s a ghost!” Thank heavens for little miracles that preserve our youth, innocence, fun…and the

tooth fairy!

you could live in it too!

According to experts the best forts include; family room and kitchen areas, cushions from two couches, the ottoman, two captains chairs, five kitchen stools, three kitchen chairs, the kitchen table,every blanket and pillow off of every bed, and food for snacks….wouldn’t you agree?

Literally!!

When life hands you lemons...

break out the BoSch!!

our tiny little lemon tree really produced this year! (We'd already given away 3 big bags of lemons before I took this photo!) We got about 7 gallons of pure lemon from this venture...fresh lemonade for our house YEAR ROUND!!)

Mommy Make Over

Who says little boys don't like to play with hair and make-up...they love it!! They're just not so good at it...They had the spray bottle, because, acording to Monte Birk, "when it's wet, it's darker, and that looks better (with the black ear rings they'd picked out)", berrets and pony tail holders...you can't see very well but the back of my hair is in 2 small pony tails, and ALL of my make-up case (I've never had eye liner actually circle my eyes before.) Apparently my lips needed to be a little fuller when the lip liner was used and if my eyes were closed you would see the beautiful DARK eye shadow that completley covered them. They were so serious and intent trying to make mommy beautiful that when they were finished they took the head shot themselves.

The physical outcome may not have been stellar but the emotional me loved being pampered by my guys...

Christmas Hike

We LOVE the Superstition Mountains! Actually we are guilty of claiming them as “OUR” mountains. We have a glorious view for them from our front door and we try to hike them as often as we can. This year marks the first time that we took all 4 boys up! It was a great hike and we were very proud of them all! I wish I knew how to photo shop in how high we went. This is where we began and we ended up slightly higher that that big rock formation on the right mid section of the mountain. Don't let it fool you, after a small "walk hike" it get's pretty steep and fun!

Jackson was finished with about 15 minutes remaining to the top and I carried him from then on. This is his after shot.
before this is at the top...my tired little monkey!

Close to the end…but not quite! We thought the boys would want to go back once we reached this plateau. But they keep on going! In fact, with Jackson screaming to wake the dead I was ready to turn back, but they went higher and called back to me, “Mom, you comin’?” Who could resist?!

We had a pretty good wind chill factor and Jack was a little ill prepared...so he's wearing my sweater...

Sunday afternoon we got to building our “snow fort” and snowmen #2 and #3.

Snowman #2 is Monte Birk with short red hair #3 is Mommy with her longer curly hair
SNOW FORT!! We shoveled the snow all the way to the grass..."the grass is the carpet" according to Monte Birk. By the end of the day Clyde was the one mosty likely to go inside and hang with Grandma.
"Just relaxin'and watchin you mom," was Seth's motto by the end

Snowman #1

Clyde, Monte Birk, "Frosty",Seth

Sunday morning we decided to build a snowman. I told Monte Birk that it wasn't good packing snow and there was no point in "rolling" the snowman's body...as I went about shoveling snow for his base he proceeded to roll anyway and BIG TIME prove his Mommy wrong...yet again!

family

Aunt Margot, Me and Grandma

Lindsey and the Brethren

Cousin Ryan

Cousin Lindsey

Sledding fun

Clyde would only go down the hill with Grandma. He only went with me twice and that took some doing...but with Grandma he went over and over and over again.

Seth took to sledding right away but after a few rides was more interested in eating the snow that riding on it. (This proved to be hazardous because he threw up later at McDonalds with his Buehler Cousins...ooooh gross!)
My Monte was born to sled! He went up and down that hill more times than I could count!
I counted myself a success going down the hill at least twice with each of my boys!

SpeCIaL DaTE!!

We told the big boys on Thurday night that Friday would be a "special date" for them with mommy and that Dad was going to take care of Jack-et. They were so excited trying to figure out what was up! We picked Monte Birk up from school early, drove out to Daddy's work to get him and went straight to the airport. I had packed our bag and gotten it into the car without them seeing so this was a real surprise! Once their imaginations really went wild we called grandma and she let them in on the secret...Utah for Grandma and Snow!

Seth Clyde

Monte Birk

Think they liked it?

MOM's fAVoRIte pREsENt

A Dress up Bag!

I am so excited for this gift! And what is pictured is just the tip of the iceberg! We've got 2 spider men, speed racer, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, 2 pirates, 2 ninja's, Obe Wan Kenobe, Buzz Light year...and the list goes on! Thank heavens for the day after Halloween sale at Target! Every day since Christmas Seth has woken up and "become" Darth Vader, don't ask me why this particular choice...but he loves it...I love it...and the blasted TV stays OFF! More Christmas Pics to come...

Christmas Eve

Monte and I decided long ago to carry on both of our families traditions of new PJ's for Christmas Eve. This year we decided that he and I didn't need any but, happily for me, he ignored that rule because he knows how much I LOVE PJ's! So here are all of us "lovely's" in our new duds Christmas Eve!