Web Cam

for christmas my brother, lehi, got my mom webcams for all the kids that didn't already have one, that would be us, so she could talk to them and see her grandkids. so we got ours yesterday. i think i have set it up correctly but no one is ever around to help me. i called my brother but he doesn't return my phone calls. thanks. anyway...it looks cool and the kids and i have had fun taking pictures of ourselves on it. now only if someone would actually help me use it. it would be way fun.

Makinley's FIRST Haircut

this is a milestone. most little girls get their hair cut when they are 2 or sometimes even sooner. but m has never had her locks come close to scissors. well not on purpose. when she was born we had a full head of black hair. which never fell out but continued to grow. the strange thing was that it grew in blonde and not black or even some shade of brown. so at about 6 months i had this very stylish baby, so the young women tell me, who looked a lot like christina aguilera. blonde roots with black tips. i think she was sporting some kind of cruela devil look. anyway, m's hair continued to grow and grow and grow. it has been down to her bottom since she was 3. everyday after her baths i would brush her hair, while she screamed, and then scrunch the ends and they would dry curly. it was so cute. now that she's 4 1/2 it weighs too much too curl. so today we went over to angie's for a trim. 1 1/2 inches came off. angie wet it so it would dry curly but there is no curl. i hope i didn't jinx it by getting her hair trimmed. we'll try again tomorrow. but m was very good and maybe she won't scream anymore. i won't hold my breath because it's still long. we saved a lock of hair to put in her scrapbook. she's so cute. way to go, miss mak.

Movie Fest

since the new year, b and i have decided to go on a strict budget. which means i am less busy with errands...so really other than groceries and clothes and a few other things...i have more time at home. and when b is out of town, like this weekend, i have even more time. so saturday after watching high school musical with k and jess, i went over to the fox's and borrowed some movies. we watched curious george, wallace and gromet, hoodwinked, and the greatest game ever played. loved them all. the kid ones were really cute and funny. we borrowed some other ones but we'd already seen them and were just looking to waste some time. the kids did their chores and took showers so all there was to do was sit and relax. i guess i could've folded the 5 loads of laundry piled in a mountain on my couch downstairs...but really....movies or laundry? it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that one out.

High School Musical

k got high shcool musical pajamas for christmas from g-ma creswell and absolutely loves them and the movie. she sings the songs all the time. my friend and neighbor said her son, peyton, sings the songs by heart and dances too. so i had to see it. so i borrowed it from ang and watched it with k and jess. it was so good! way to go, disney! it reminded my a lot of grease. i loved all the songs and dancing. k said, 'it's a lot like sound of music, mom, cause they have a lot of singing and dancing too!' hence the word musical, i replied. she's so stinkin' cute. so the girls were singing and saying this is my favorite part and giggling. it was way cute. now we have to buy the soundtrach and add the movie to our collection. we gave a ton of videos to d.i. so the kids are limited to what they can watch. madagascar is getting really old. hurray for new kids movies! i love them! and if you haven't seen this movie you have to go rent it. it is so cute.

The Hat

my kids are so funny! f found a's old baseball hat and put it on to play. i think when they play some kind of dress up...they travel to an imaginary world that's all their own. f was strutting up and down the hall with this hat on. it was so cute. he really looked shorter than he really is with it on. then m saw how much fun he was having with his hat so she wanted one too. i got my princess hat for her and she played right along side him. they are too cute at this age. my sister in law calls m, jessica simpson. does she look like her know?

Piano Lessons

i love fridays! after school every friday the kids, adam and kennidy, have piano lessons at my mother in laws. they love it. if they practice 5 times...they get a sticker. when the get 12 stickers they get to choose a prize out of the prize basket. my mother in law is so amazing. she is so patient with the kids and knows how to get their attention. kennidy is on her second year of piano and adam started this past september. he really enjoys making up his own compositions. he hates practicing but has to do it because we make him.

kennidy enjoys praciticing for the most part and has become quite the pianist. she likes to play for people. makinley will be starting violin lessons today. her focus will be on rhythms and counting right now and will be using a dowel as a bow. i think she will be into the arts. she's all girl. she got to see a baby sized violin today at grandmas (rachel has an even smaller one than this from germany) and was very excited. grandma told her in a while she will be able to play on it. this is so exciting. next year we will start makinley on piano...but for now the violin will take up both her and my time. hurray for musically inclined grandmas! gotta love 'em.

Getting 30 Hours

mandi d. and i have begun our yearly swap of kids for the school year. when chase came in he told me that he missed coming to our house to play. what a sweetie. the kids really play well together. they watched madagascar today and played downstairs. jacob was so smiley and makinley loved holding him. she is such a little mom. this is the best and easiest way to get my 30 hours for wpa. hurray!

Tubbing

a break from school in january means only one thing...TUBBING. we took the family, smith kids, leah and dp, to eagleridge golf coarse for some snowy fun. m and f didn't really like going down the big hills so we found them a small slow hill and m really enjoyed going at a slower pace.

adam tried snowboarding and almost had it figured out when he lost his balance and flew off...but that didn't stop him from getting right back on again.

k and callie loved going down with the grown-ups because we went so much faster! cameron and hunter were really good at snowboarding down the hill and if the snow as a bit more powdery they could have easily made it all the way down the hill. we all had fun racing each other and at one point callie and i were on a tube and we were racing against cameron and hunter. they got a head start but in the end callie and i passed them both! k wanted to ride with leah and dp the whole time but managed to go down by herself a couple of times. she had fun until her feet started hurting and we had to take her boots off and carry her to the car.

but the last race of the day was b and i on one tube and leah and dp on the other. the losers pay for lunch. i thought for sure that b and i would snow plow but we didn't. we were hitting bumps all over the place and when we got to the bottom we kept going. we were headed for the frozen pond and b kept yelling, 'turn, turn!' as we ripped through one of the orange fence sections. b and i were laughing so hard! then we looked back. leah had hit one of the post and was lying on her side and couldn't move. dp was holding what was left of the tube. it had also hit the post and was a shriveled up piece of rubber. sad. it smelled like rotting fish! leah is okay but really sore. all in all, we had a great time as a family!

PATIENCE TESTER

f is so stinkin' cute and we just love him to death. he can literally be the most curious little guy ever...into everything and i mean everything. we love buying him shirts with words like...IT WASN'T ME or I DIDN'T DO IT or I DO MY OWN STUNTS. and this one fits him PERFECTLY. you have no idea how perfectly this says f all over it.

PATIENCE TESTER

Card Swap

i love our monthly card swaps! i get the cutest cards...then i forget to use them but sometimes that's okay because one day i might copy them...one day. this months theme was valentines. the cards this month were so cool. i love reds and pinks so it was just perfect for my tastes! this is my card. very geared toward children.

My Latest Page

this page is from our newport, california vacation at the end of the school year...last year! we had lots of fun. this page tells about all the activities we enjoyed at the resort! it was amazing what you could do without calling the front desk and signing up for anything! so cool. and the best part was...the kids had a ball. i didn't feel like we were doing things just for adults or just for kids. it was very family oriented. tatiana and kennidy loved the day when emilie spent $50 playing the arcade game dance, dance revolution! that was fun.

Not Fast Enough

so one of my friends said to me last night, 'you need to update your blog more often.' if you don't know me let me give you a little peek into my life.

i am the proud mother of 4 children. my oldest is 8 and my youngest is 23 months. i have 2 boys and 2 girls. i am a room mom for my 3rd graders class and party coordinator for my 1st graders class. i volunteer at my kids school once a week for 2 hours. i have one child in preschool 3 days a week. i take piano lessons once a week and my kids take piano as well. my girls are in dance and they go once a week each...that's 2 different days. my husband is really busy with his church calling and has meetings twice a week and once a month stake meetings. my youngest son is quite the fireball. he is into everything from water to window clearner. i should dedicate an entire blog just to him! he's that busy! when my kids come home from school i have to play teacher and help with homework while getting snacks for the ones who stay home with me. i deal with lots of whining, tattling, screaming, yelling....and yes, the occasional kind word, good deeds, 'i love you, mom', and all the wonderful things kids can say. my favorite these days are when f comes up to me and says ' hewwo, mommy.' that just makes my day.

so needless to say i am quite busy with just being a mom that i rarely have time to update my blog. but since it was pointed out to me that i need to do it...and really i do because it's my journal and don't we write in them every night...or are suppose to....so here is me updating my blog.

i have been busy with a new year's resolution to scrapbook until most of all my colored cardstock is gone. i have made a deal with myself that i can't spend one penny on any scrapbook supplies until i am almost wiped out. that means cleaned out of all most commonly used colors. and the colors i don't use will be given away.

so here are some of my recent layouts...recent meaning this week. i am quite pleased with them. i continue to scrapbook newport...lots of things done over that vacation...so lots of photos. i have put this hobby on the back burner for probably all last year. and possibly the year before that. so it's time to get rolling again. i am WAY behind. but if i can get the most recent photos scrapbooked then i can do the rest later. and i am okay with that.

this entry is in no way to offend. i love my friend. if you did anything

it was open my eyes to the great opportunity i have before me.

i love you, lynette! thank you. :)

Creswell Family Christmas Program

oh how i look forward to this night. over all other nights of the year, i love this night. christmas eve. we, as a family, get to share our talents that the lord has blessed us with, with each other. it's magical.

we started off the evening with uncle j and dp singing a cute missionary song, em, rachel, melissa, and leah sang a beautiful 'mary's lullaby'. the grandkids dressed up and acted out the manger scene while the adults sang primary songs like away in a manger, silent night, etc. a played 'jingle bells' on the piano, k and i played 'away in a manger', matt played and sang a christmas song, and dp beep bopped!

lyn made a touching tribute to rachel, my in-laws, by presenting to each of his children a letter about giving their spouses 'wings to fly' a quote made by marjorie hinckley. then presented rachel with 12 binders filled with letters and cards my father in law had kept all these years. he has so much respect and love for his wife. it was amazing.

readings of the mother of joseph, mary, and then mary herself with songs inbetween set the spiritual mood for the closing of our family program. aunt maren and i sang jenny phillips' version of 'silent night'. i absolutely love her arrangement.

what a beautiful night it was. surrounded by family and friends. it was just magical. lots of love and thoughts of our savior. i don't think there is a better way to praise him then by singing praises to him and sharing with others our talents to strengthen their testimonies. it's a wonderful gift that our father in heaven has given us. families. how can one not feel his love?

this is a tradition in the creswell family. every christmas eve...now after our family program...we pig out on TONS of goodies. this year rachel bought a little chocolate fountain. it was a BIG hit with everyone!