We Rock Family Night!

Untitled from Rachel Witbeck on Vimeo.

Don't you want to come over for family night now? Bring the refreshments, we'll provide the entertainment!

Slack

The tooth fairy was very slack this time around. The first night it was Preston's fault for not putting his tooth under his pillow. But the second night.....there was no sign of the tooth fairy, meaning the tooth was still there. Preston and Bryce were both equally upset and the tooth fairy. Why didn't she come? Why oh why didn't she come????

Well, I'm pretty sure that the tooth fairy stayed up fairly late watching New Moon with her husband and totally forgot about that tooth. Baaaaad tooth fairy!!!

Or, the tooth fairy got very confused (because we moved) and didn't realize we are in Arizona now. Preston seemed to accept this explanation and decided we needed to write her a letter to tell her about our location.

It worked! And he got a REAL candy bar so the tooth fairy could redeem herself and all was forgiven. And now the tooth fairy knows where we live! ;)

Update

Here's what's going on with us lately:

-We're in Arizona.
-We're sleeping on the floor. Well, not really but we do blow up the bed every night.
-We're in a 2 bedroom place with 6 people.
-Kirsten (Erik's sister) is a saint for putting up with us!
-We're waiting for "our" house to become our house.
-I keep thinking it's summer so to think about Thanksgiving or Christmas blows my mind.
-Preston started school and it's full day now. (eeeek!)
-Makayla has become a very difficult, demanding child who still melts my heart.
-Bryce is being, well, Bryce. (pushing limits, giving hugs, running around, yelling)
-When 65 degrees is cold, it's heaven!
-I miss the rain. (don't get me wrong, I don't miss the cold but I do miss the rain.)
-It feels like Utah here.
-We're together.
-It's all good.

-Oh, and I took off the privacy settings just to see how it feels. I'm living on the edge!

T-W-O!

While we had everyone there for Halloween, and it is her birthday, we decided to have Makayla's birthday party. I feel really grateful for my parents and all they did for her birthday. I don't know how I would've got through it without them. My dad had to come up to Portland to get me after spending the morning cleaning up our place and I had been stressing about what to do for Makayla's birthday. I hadn't had any time to get a cake or get food or buy her a present. My mom went out and bought all the food and even made cupcakes. Then my mom and sister-in-law decorated the cupcakes. Makayla had a great birthday because of all the details my parents did and the family who came to help us celebrate. Even the family who couldn't be there made it a great day. Thank you everyone!

Cute cupcakes.

That's Makayla's "please" sign.


Our dancer and her tutu that she has to wear every morning now. So cute!


Her Dora backpack but she actually only cares about Boots.


Her new baby. She LOVES babies. She points them out everywhere and says, "ahhh cute baby!" every time. Although I have to keep this baby away from the boys because the eyes open and shut so they tell me the baby's dead. I try to tell them that the baby is sleeping but they insist the baby is dead. So we just put the baby up when Makayla isn't playing with it.


Her with all her birthday loot. Doesn't she look so big?! I can't get over it.

So here's some little facts about Makayla:

1.) She is so hard headed sometimes. She will want something but won't take it from my hands. You have to put it down, walk away, and don't make eye contact. Then, and only then, will she take whatever it is.

2.) Where did she learn about princesses and dancing? She is all about being a princess and a princess always has to dance when music is on and if there is no music she will sing, like a true princess. Although I don't know if princesses actually sing the Star Wars theme song but we'll just say they do.

3.) She really doesn't have much of an opinion about what she wears but she cares about shoes. "Cute shoes" to be exact.

4.) She should teach a class on how to use crocodile tears and a pouty lip. They work on her dad real good.

5.) She loves her brothers. She will do anything they are doing and smile the whole time. But don't think she's a push over. She fights back if she thinks she is wronged in any way.

6.) Makayla really does have a lot of empathy for people. If someone is crying or sad she hugs them and tries to make them feel better and will sometimes cry with them.

We love you so much Makayla! You are such a sweet, beautiful little girl and we are so blessed to have you as part of our family! Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Halloween

Halloween this year was a lot of fun for the kids. Since we were transitioning from Portland to Mesa, the kids and I were staying with my parents so we had a big crowd with the cousins joining in the trick-or-treating festivities.

Makayla was a butterfly princess. Really we were lucky Erk's mom got her the costume because I didn't know what to do for her and she loved it!


This was as good as I was going to get with Preston. I know he was Superman last year but the costume still fits and it was already there, so why not? He didn't care so I didn't care.


I don't know how many kids this Buzz Lightyear costume has gone through but I think it's quite a few. Again, we had it in a bin and decided to recycle it for one more year. Bryce loved it!


Makayla trying to steal some candy before we leave.


I thought this picture was kinda cool. Very spoooooky!


The little miss wouldn't go to any doors without someone holding her hand and at some times holding her. She also had to have the candy put in her hand so she could put it in the bag. It was like she didn't really believe the candy was there unless she did it.




Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Birthday Dance

Untitled from Rachel Witbeck on Vimeo.

Makayla got this tutu from an awesome family in Texas (thank you!) for her birthday and she couldn't resist dancing. Where did she learn to be a ballerina? Does it come ingrained in girl DNA? Well, whatever the reason I think it's adorable!

6

Here are some pictures of Preston's birthday party we had a couple weeks ago. We are in the midst of moving and I wanted to get this done before I forget.

Opening presents. He never tires of Transformers and Star Wars "action figures".

Okay, now don't laugh. Preston told me he wanted a spider cake. I am not artistically inclined AT ALL! That gene just passed right by me. Seriously. I thought that a spider cake shouldn't be too hard. Just give it some legs and eyes and it's all good right?


Wrong. I am so completely embarrassed by this cake. At first I didn't think it was too bad then my nephew Damon informed me it was a hamburger with legs. Ummm, thanks. Where is my sister Amy or Erik when I need them?


But I guess all hope wasn't lost. Preston was really excited about it and in the end that's all that matters.

Happy Birthday Preston!

Dear Preston,

You turned six last week. I've been meaning to do the post about it but I'm having some problems. You see, you're growing up too fast. I've been looking through the family albums and I just forgot how small you used to be. I'm around you everyday and I was so taken back by it. You're growing up. (sigh)

When we first found out we were expecting you, I can't speak for you father but for me I was soooo scared. I mean, married for 8 months and still in school. Also, I grew up the youngest child and had changed maybe one diaper in my life. How was I going to take care of my own child? How do we pay for this? There's a lot of school left for us, how are we going to do this?

Needless to say, we were not expecting you so soon. You were always part of the plan, the timing was just off for us. I later came to realize that it wasn't our timing. Heavenly Father knew when to send you to us so in reality, it was perfect timing.

And you have been and will continue to be such a wonderful, awesome blessing to this family! You are kind, funny, imaginative, smart, a great big brother, and a wonderful son.

There's more. But I'm not into getting too mushy where others can read it. :) But as I was going through all the pictures, I just had to post them on here. You look so different I can hardly believe it. I love you sweet boy. Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mom

(now get ready for picture overload)

After our first night at home.


3 months old with cousin Abigail.


5 months old. Look how cute you are!!!!!!!


6 months.


7 months with cousin Jenna.


8 months. You are the only one of the kids with those big brown eyes....just like mine! :)


10 months.


1 year!


15 months.


18 months.


2 years and getting your first buzz cut.


And then those glasses went on and you grew up overnight. It was amazing how much older you looked in those glasses.


2.5 years with cousin Samuel.


3 years.


4 years with your best friend.

Now I don't have any pictures of when you're 5 because those are on the other computer but I think these will do. More pictures of the birthday festivities coming soon!

When Grandma Visits

Last week Erik's mom came to visit and the kids were soooo excited. And it was really nice to have some help while I figured out all of the stuff with our move coming up soon.

So what did we do while grandma visited?

Have impromptu pirate birthday party for all the October birthdays. Awesome!


Play at the park every day. Maybe even a couple times a day. Gotta take advantage of the no rain days.


And go to the pumpkin patch with friends.

Now the kids have to deal with boring 'ol mom now that grandma is gone. Thanks for coming and helping out Valeni!

Dejavu

Some might remember THIS post from last year. We are in the same situation this year with Erik in Arizona and me at home with the kids in Portland. Not fun. I don't think any one is enjoying this situation.

So I am making cookies again. The kids are enjoying that part at least and I get to take my mind off of this mess.

I love cookie dough. I don't care if I can get salmonella. I'm gonna
eat it!

The finished product. I LOVE these cookies!

Milk and cookies were enjoyed by all! Time for oatmeal raisin!