The big 3-0

So last week I had the dreaded birthday.  It was the first time I was actually depressed about turning a year older.  The day before my birthday my mom was so sweet and showed up with flowers and a balloon and a cake.  The chocolate cake helped numb the pain.  Lol.  Then Jeff and Sydnee and Kaydee woke me up in the morning with breakfast in bed.  Jeff had decorated and bought presents and everything so I opened them and then he surprised me and said he wasn't going to work.  It ended up being a crazy day, because we had a storm we don't usually have here..freezing rain.  Outside was a total ice rink.  We ended up staying in most of the day but the kids wanted to do something so we did go to noodles for dinner.  My entertainment was watching all the people who were trying to walk outside.  I didn't see anyone fall, but quite a few balance checks.  Lol.  We went home and had a frozen yogurt cake that Jeff bought, and then we put the kids to bed and I sat down to relax and watch American Idol.  Just then, the power goes out and we hear a big bang outside.  Turns out someone slid on the ice and crashed into the power pole.  The power was out until 1:30 am and it was chilly.  The kids kept waking up without their fans.  And then Kaydee came to our bed at 4 but never went to sleep and kept me awake.  It was such a sleepless night! 

The sunday after, we celebrated with my side of the family and my mom cooked me my favorite lasagna and salad.  Mmmm.  She made the best cake and everyone spoiled me.  Turning 30 ended up not being so terrible after all!!

Attitudes...

I usually write down all the sweet/cute/funny stuff the girls do.  This will be different.  I want to have something to refer back to if the kids ever ask later on why they didn't have more siblings.  Lol.

Ok, so Sydnee loves to learn and wants to know everything about everything.  If I can't constantly entertain her she gets grouchy.  She doesn't like to go off and find her own things to do.  I love her eagerness to learn and I'm glad she likes to play with me, but some days are so hard when she follows me around saying "What are you going to do with me?  I'm bored.  What are we going to do?' and then continues to question me on all the wonders of the world. She talks and talks and talks and talks and talks.  All.  Day.  Long. 

Then there is Kaydee.  Wow, does she have red hair for a reason.  She is very independant and wants to do everything on her own.  But when it's something she just can't do she gets SO mad.  She goes into tantrum mode.  Her tantrums usually consist of crying, kicking the floor, and sometimes yelling at me. 

Just yesterday, Kaydee was playing on the computer and I told her the volume was up too loud.  Without even looking at me she says "you'll live."  Wow.  Then a bit later she was sitting on the arm of the chair and fell off.  She was crying and crying and told me that she just wanted me to catch her.  (I was no where near her).  So she blamed me that she fell, and then she tried to bribe me by saying "I will stop crying if you give me a treat."  I told her no, that isn't how it works and she started crying louder and said "I WON'T stop crying then!"  A little later she kept trying to pick Maycee up and Jeff told her no and she kept doing it and ended up dropping Maycee.  So Jeff got mad at her and put her in time out and she was in her room freaking out saying "I don't want you to ever talk to me like that again!  I don't want you to ever put me in timeout again!"

And my sweet Maycee has gotten into the "No" stage.  She yells no at all of us, including the dog.  Me and Kaydee were playing a game where she would run and jump on my lap and hug me.  Maycee got jealous so every time Kaydee would come running she would hurry and get on my lap first and yell "NO!!"  She also has red hair for a reason.  Her tantrums consist of either going and hitting her head against something and then crying, or more recently, rolling all over the ground crying and yelling no over and over  This morning Kaydee didn't want her getting markers out of the drawer and Maycee got mad and pulled her hair.  She pinches her sisters sometimes too.

Then there is the fighting between them.  This morning Kaydee and Sydnee were singing in unison "I'm never gonna talk to Kaydee ever ever ever again."  And "I'm never talking to Sydnee again.  I'm only Mommy and Maycee and Bosco's friend."  All day long they do the "If you don't give me that, I won't be your best friend anymore!"  Then pretty soon, they aren't best friends anymore, they are never playing with each other again, etc.  And within minutes they make up and then start all over again.  Lol.

 

That being said, their sweetness for sure outweighs their attitudes and at the end of the day they are good kids and best friends. 

Sydnee came home from school today and pulled something out and said "It's a valentine I made for Kaydee!"  Then handed to her and Kaydee was so excited and they gave each other a big hug.  Melts my heart!!



Gymnastics

Kaydee likes gymnastics now!  I guess the first class was just her observing, and now she's fine.  I made sure I got a few pictures of them from class but it's hard to get good pictures with the lighting there.  Anyway, Sydnee has already made a lot of friends, and a couple of the big girls love helping her when she is too short to reach things.  She said they kept telling her "you're so cute, you're so cute."  Ha ha.  Everyone always loves her because she is tiny.  They were all shocked at how good her cartwheels are.  She was the best in her group. 

Happy 2013!

We are starting off the new year stuck in the house.  It has been SO cold.  Highs for the day have been in the teens.  We got pounded with a couple of feet of snow last week, but haven't even gone out to play because the cold starts stinging any bare skin within like 5 minutes.  The girls have been good about staying inside, and have been using their imaginations a lot to keep busy.  Sydnee and Kaydee's favorite games right now are playing doctor and playing school.  Sometimes they will play for an hour or more at a time and it's so peaceful.  Maycee follows them around and wants to do whatever they do.  She seems so advanced for her age, but I guess it's just because she tries to keep up with them.
I've also been very busy.  A month or so ago I decided to re-stain my bathroom vanity and mirror.  It ended up being easy and looks so much better, so (CRAZY me) decided to do my kitchen.  No, it's really not that bad.  Just time consuming.  I can't wait until it is done. 
Jeff is also very busy with work and side jobs, and the kids are really missing him after having him home so much in december.  We look forward to the weekends.
Since we've been indoors a lot, the girls have been practicing their reading.  They have gotten so good.  I am always surprised by Kaydee.  She is so good at sounding out words and I always find myself wondering how she can only be 4!
Sydnee and Kaydee decided they didn't want to do cheer anymore.  I'm not one to push them into things so I let them decide.  They finally picked gymnastics and they had their first class this week.  Kaydee's is in a little preschool gymnastic class and the parents watch through the window.  But Kaydee was being shy and just sat there.  She said she just wanted to watch and will do it next time.  I hope so.  I think she would love it.  She knows how to do all the tumbling stuff they were doing in there.  But Sydnee was totally in her element.  I kept looking around and finding her and I could always spot her because of course she's the smallest one.  I watched her on the beam for a while, and she totally looks like a gymnast!  She wasn't scared and did a lot of things better than the older girls.  She loves it and can't wait to go back.
After gymnastics, we went to dinner and Jeff was telling me about Sydnee doing stuff on the beam.  He said she was one of the only ones who could sit on her butt on the beam and then with her hands behind her lift her legs straight up in the air.  So as he's telling me she stops eating and says "Why are you talking about my butt?  Don't talk about my butt.  That's my private."  We just laughed and told her she's right.
It's red ribbon week at Sydnee's school and she came home yesterday and told me "Do you know some people eat smoke?"  I told her yes they smoke and Kaydee had questions so I told her they light something on fire and suck on it.  And Sydnee says "They eat the smoke and then they start on fire and die."  Ha ha.  Something like that!
Maycee has been so funny lately.  She's learning all sorts of new words.  My favorite is when she 'ribbits' like a frog.  She also bounces up and down when you talk about a bunny.  And her favorite thing to eat is fry sauce.  At red robin the waitress brought fries and sauce and the second she saw her coming with it she was pointing and yelling "DIP!  DIP!  DIP!"  So she would take a bite of macaroni, a bite of mandarin oranges and then a handful of fry sauce.  Jeff gets so grossed out.  Ha ha.  She also likes to point when we ask her body parts and then if you say where are your kisses she goes "mwah!"  And gives you a kiss.  So adorable. 
That's about it for now.  Hopefully it warms up and we can get out more!

Pictures of the most beautiful girls EVER!

Merry Christmas!!!

I am so sad I didn't get more pictures! I guess I was enjoying myself instead of sitting behind the camera all day.  Oh, and also, I caught Sydnee's flu and wasn't feeling good at all. 

Kaydee was the definition of a kid on Christmas.  She was so excited and loud and having a blast.  Maycee opened presents for a bit but then just wanted to play.  Sydnee was out of it and not enjoying herself because she was so sick.  I feel bad because even now she doesn't remember who gave her what or what things are hers because she just felt so bad that morning that she didn't pay attention.  It was still fun to see Kaydee and Maycee excited, and Christmas ended up being great.

 

I'm positive no one needs a bear this big, but she got what she asked for!

 

Hey, at least she was still sitting up at this point :-/

 

All Maycee really wanted for Christmas was this empty box!

 

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Sheriff's for lunch and they got Sydnee and Kaydee each a wiggle car.  So much fun!  I didn't get pictures, dang it, but I will take some of them riding them once we get rid of the sickies. 

We went home and Sydnee went to sleep on the couch and I made dinner and Grandma and Papa and Chris and Amy and kids came over.  I don't think we saw the kids the entire time.  They love playing together so much and they all seemed so happy.  It turned out to be a wonderful Christmas full of family, love, laughter, food and of course presents! 

 

 

 

 



Twas the night before Christmas...

On Christmas Eve morning, we made Santa some cookies like we do every year.  This year we used cake mix to make the dough and it turned out really yummy.  Sydnee was really sick, but I was glad she felt good enough to decorate some cookies for a little bit. 

 

That afternoon, we went to Grandma and Papa's where we had a little party for the kids.  They played games and got prizes and did a craft, and had tons of fun.  We had yummy pizza for dinner, and we gave the kids their usual Christmas Eve present (New pj's).  Once they were all in their new jammies, Kenzie read The Night Before Christmas.  She is such a good reader, and it was fun to have the kids start helping out on the tradition.

 

When we got home, Sydnee didn't feel good at all and wanted to go straight to bed, but Kaydee was excited to put the reindeer food she made at school out on the lawn, and also to sprinkle her reindeer dust that she got from Grandma Sheriff. Then she got Santa's milk and cookies ready, said goodbye to Hermie,  and dashed up to bed. 

 



Hermie!

After Thanksgiving, we were sitting at home when the doorbell rang.  The kids ran and looked out the window and there was a package on our porch.  We brought it inside and there was a little elf and a book.  The book told us that this was our elf and he was here to keep an eye on the kids and report to Santa at the north pole each night to tell him if they were good or bad.  They got to pick out a name and they decided on Hermie after their favorite elf on Rudolph.  The book told us we are not allowed to touch him or his magic will go away.  The kids loved finding Hermie every morning.  Sometimes he brought them treats, sometimes he got a little wild in the night while we were sleeping, and sometimes he teased the kids a little bit.  Here are a few pictures of his shenanigans...

 



Sheriff family Christmas party

I just thought this was a funny picture.  Bosco had to get in there somehow.

Look at all those kids!  That isn't even all of them.  We have a huge family.

She was fine as long as she didn't look at him.

 

We had a great time at the party.  The kids played and played and Grandma and Grandpa spoiled everyone.  Grandpa made little wooden benches for all the grandkids, and planter boxes for all of us girls.  It always amazes me how much they do!



All Aboard!

On  Dec 8 we took our annual ride on the North Pole Express.  We drove up to Heber and ate at Dairy Keen first, then headed to the train station.  They served us cookies that Mrs. Clause made, and hot chocolate.  We sang songs and watched the silly elves dance while we waited to get to the North Pole and pick up Santa.  At one point while we were by a river, they had to stop the train because Rudolph was on the tracks.  We had to sing to get him off.  When we got to the north pole, there was Santa waving at us, and then he climbed aboard.  He talked to each of the kids and gave them one of his reindeer's bells.  Kaydee told him she wanted a dog, and Sydnee told him she wanted Bouncy puppy.  We were so shocked that Maycee wasn't scared of him.  In fact, she took off down the aisle toward him.  After he left we sang songs and rang our bells and then Mrs. Clause came to talk to all the kids.  She had them ring their bell for her and she told them which reindeer's bell they got.  They thought that was fun.
When the train ride was over we had to drive down the mountain in a snow storm.  It was actually worse once we got down onto the freeway though.  It took a while to get home.  We had so much fun though and the kids loved talking about it afterwards.

 



We love the Christmas park!

This year we decided to visit the Christmas park a little earlier in the year so we wouldn't freeze quite so bad.  We were so glad we did!  It was perfect weather.  The kids had a blast and there was no whining about being cold...from the kids OR me.  Ha ha ha.  So we went to dinner at Olive Garden and then headed to the park.  There are too many pictures to choose from because the kids kept posing, but I managed to narrow it down a little.