It's great to be 8!!!

Happy Birthday Bud!

A birthday party Friday, a birthday today, a baptism Saturday and confirmation on Sunday! What a week! We're super excited and proud of Bud choosing to be baptized. We're looking forward to my mom & dad and my sister's family coming this weekend to celebrate with us!!

Buggy Birthday Party Bud!!

Bud totally lucked out and I had a product study that coordinated with his upcoming birthday!! He turns 8 on Sunday and is super excited!!

I was asked to product review Hexbug Nano by MomSelect. An awesome box of product were sent to us to try and see how we liked them.

I made some fun goodie bags for each of the kids that attended.

Each child received 3 bugs and pieces of track to take home!

N8 worked before the party on setting up the "habitat" for battle!

Here's the group trying it out:

We also had bug races:

And we built bugs out of Legos!

Instead of cake I made dirt and worms!

Bud got some super fun presents and is grateful for wonderful friends!

I would recommend Hexbugs for kids from 5-10 years old, boys and girls. They're simple to use and have fun appeal. The habitat was easy to construct and the parts are solidly constructed. My kids are all interested in some of the other bugs that Hexbug is making.

We've got a smile!

Six Weeks

I can hardly believe it's been six weeks since Henry joined our family! Here are some things we've learned in those 6 weeks!

• Mo loves being a big brother!

• Henry's hair prefers to be in a Mohawk!

• Going from 3 to 4 kids it a BIG adjustment!

• He is the cutest little guy we've ever seen (except of course for our other 3 kids at this age!)

Toy Review: MixPups

As a part of MomSelect I was asked to review a new toy~ MixPups (here's their website). I was given MixPups for a group of 10 children to try and see how they liked them. Here's what I got in the mail. My kids were super excited!!

We had a group of 10 girls ranging in age from 9 down to 5 1/2 try the MixPups out.

The first comment by many of the girls (and the moms) was that the Pups looks "funny" without their hair. "They don't even have ears!" was a comment I heard a few times.

Another comments was "their legs pop off!" Now I realize that this was an intended selling feature, but for many of the younger girls, as well as the moms helping out, it was a hindrance. In fact one of the MixPups came out of the box with a leg off and we couldn't ever get the leg to stay on.

The girls did enjoy mixing up and trying out all of the accessories and seeing what look they liked best for their MixPup.

All in all I think that the older girls, 7-9 year olds, likes them the best and they held their attention the most.

Weekend with Grandpa & Grandma

This weekend N8's dad and step-mom, Dan & Karen came for a visit. They were dropping N8's youngest brother off at BYU for his first semester and drove down from Utah to see us. We had a great time and the kids loved having Grandpa & Grandma here to entertain them! They played A LOT of games. The kids were constantly asking to play Stratego, Uno, Sorry, Cootie, puzzles and other games. I think Grandpa & Grandma will be gamed out for quite some time:


We also took them to feed the wild burros. N8 & I have lived here for over 8 years and have never done this before:



On Sunday we got some family pictures:


They brought some fun presents for the kids too!
Grandma Karen made this beautiful blanket for Henry:

Mo got this cool mug. We'll never wonder which cup is his!

Emma got a cute little purse

And Bud some fun puzzle books:

We're glad they were able to come and look forward to their next visit!

School!!!

The first day of school was Tuesday and boy were we ready!!
Bud is starting 3rd grade. Here he is at his desk.

This year he doesn't have one of his best buds in class. Hopefully he branches out and makes some new friends. We are super happy with the teacher he got. Here he is with Mrs Switzer:

Emma started Kindergarten and we are both super excited!! She also got the teacher we really wanted for here. Here she is in the classroom on the first day:

Mo needed to get in on the action. He's having the hardest time with all of this. He misses his big brother and sister. There were even tears when we dropped Emma off today, but is always up for smiling for the camera!

I'm hoping for a successful school year filled with friends, laughing, learning & growing!