What I've been up to...

So here is my latest project. Copied from my friend Summer's blog (which I love by the way). It was so easy. Summers blog has the DYI instructions,however,let me say I used more like 2 yards of fabric instead of the 1 she said it would take. Maybe I had a bigger wreath form??? It was a fun project for me. The only draw back was the straight pin that was stepped on by the little neighborhood friend- going all the way in. Ouch! Advice...don't leave straight pins lying on the ground while children are running around! Oops...

FHE

So tonight for FHE Faith gave us a lesson about Samuel the Lamanite. We didn't have all of the items that the lesson called for so we improvised a little bit and had the kids dress up as an added bonus! The kids loved it! We talked about Samuel and how he was shot at with arrows and they couldn't hit him and then talked about some of the arrows that Satan trys to throw at us (ex. pornography, drugs and alcohol, selfishness, pride, immorality, etc.) The kids each dressed up like Samuel and we tried to throw these paper arrows at them. They couldn't hit them...well... because they were flimsy paper!!! But, it really got me thinking how my kids will fair out there in the real world with all of those temptations about them. I often wonder if I'm doing enough. I can really get myself worked up if I think too much and let my fears take over. I know that there are ways to protect our children and I just hope I'll remember to take the time to give my kids all of the protection that they can have.

In Charge

Last night as Faith and I were snuggling she said, "mom, what did it mean when you told Lucy and I you were in charge?"
"Well, Faith," I said "it means that I'm the boss"
"But how come I don't ever get to be the boss of Lucy? You are always the boss!"

That's right honey and don't you forget it!
What a classic conversation to capture Faith's personality, she would like to be and tries to be the boss of us all!!! Love that girl...

2009 Birthdays

So I know this post is way past due since my children are half way to their birthdays again, but I never posted about their birthdays last year and Nikki loves reading this blog and I think she'll enjoy looking back on these memories. Nikki's birthday is in July and having a summer birthday is fabulous I think. You can usually have your party on your actual birthday, its summer so you can be outside...I love them she's had some great parties. She got this pink bike for her birthday which we lovingly refer to as Pink Lightning. It's great you can see her coming a mile away! :)
Since Grandma and Grandpas pool was open it seemed the natural place to have a party. It's such a fun place to play and I think all of the girls had a great time. We really try to make our kids birthdays a special day all about them. I think Nikki felt that way.
So my sis-in-law started doing fondant cakes and convinced me that Nikki needed to have one. Well, it turned out so stinkin cute, but would've looked nothing like this if I had attempted doing it on my own. (you really need to click on the picture for the full effect) Brittany is so talented, she can do anything. It's a shame to have to cut into something that takes so much time and is so cute, but the girls loved it.
Christian is our next birthday boy with his birthday in August. He was a little more difficult to decide on what to do for a party, I tried to convince him to do a pool party because that's so easy for me, but he did that last year and had other ideas. We started the day off opening his presents and he got this long board with a "big stick" that helps you steer and push yourself, its really fun. I love to hop on it for a great workout too. I wish we had 2 so Kurt and I could go together. He was really excited about it. Then he had a soccer game which is his first love in life so that made for a great morning.
He decided on a water/baseball party. It turned out really fun. We went to a park and played some real baseball for a little bit and then we had this big slip and slide thing we set up and played water hot box. They had a ball, it was really fun. Kurts coach used to do that for them growing up in the summer for practice some times to practice slides. Then there was a good hill and the kids just slid down that for a long time. He had a great time.
This is his baseball cake and this one I did do by myself believe it or not, well not exactly by myself Kurt was a big help. It got splashed with water so it has some spots on it, but I thought it turned out pretty cute. I wanted to find little baseball guys to put on it, but couldn't seem to find any. So we used those little baseball hats that Kurt collected as a kid.
Faith is our last little birthday girl celebrating in November. She turned 3 this year which just blows my mind that she's already 3. She has a mind of her own this little one. I think she thought she was turning 8 like Nikki because she acts like she's as big as her. She had her own idea about her birthday party and had it for quite awhile and it never changed so thats what we did. She really wanted to have a pony party. Our good friend has a pony and brought it over for all of the girls to ride. It was definitley the hit of the party.
She looked like such a cute little cowgirl. I love how she has her little hip cocked in this picture, again like she's 16 or something. :) This was a hard birthday for me, it didn't go exactly like I had hoped, but I think the kids still had fun regardless of my feeling of scatteredness.
She has some cute little friends in the neighborhood and of course her fun cousins. we lucked out and it was a beautiful fall day.

We love birthdays at our house and love celebrating how special each of our children are to us. I love starting the day off remembering and telling the kids of the day they were born. Each experience is burned in my memory as the most amazing days as a mother to experience. What a joy and blessing it is to be a mother. I have 3 wonderful children who bring me so much happiness I wouldn't trade them for anything.

I Belong...

to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our little Nikki got baptized yesterday. What a wonderful day it turned out to be. My mom gave a great talk that I think she'll always remember. She was the only one in the ward who was getting baptized, which allowed for it to be a bit more personal. I appreciated that. She was very concerned the night before about a few things. What if the water was cold, what about the fact that she's not good at repenting. :) Could she do everything God wants her to do. It was very sweet and a fun opportunity to talk to my daughter about her decision.
She woke up to this candy bar card from Christian and Faith. Christian is counting down the days until he's 8, not because he'll be baptized but so he can have a candy bar card. He was very funny about the whole thing though. Christian kept saying throughout the day. "This really is a special day Mom" He also said oh ya Nikki can do that because it's her baptism day. LOL. But, He was right it was a very special day.
This was Nikki getting ready in her jumpsuit. She climbed into the water and said quite loudly this is really hot. Then when she got out and was changing she said, "Mom I really feel different" She was very cute about it all. Her hair was the big decision of the day :) She really wanted a pony tail, I wanted french braids, so we compromised and did french braids into a pony tail.
After she was baptized we pulled it up into a messy bun. So there's your play by play on the hair. She picked out her dress and it looked like a little wedding dress. She loved it. Kurt and I gave her a heart necklace which looked super cute too, she broke the chain before she even got baptized so handy Daddy came to the rescue with fish line he happened to have in the car. Way to go Dad! After the baptism we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Nydegger's pool and had lunch and swam. It was a wonderful time even though the weather wasn't very warm. We had a great time with the family and friends that were able to make it and missed those who weren't able to come. All in all I think Nikki felt very special and it will be a day fully documented by pictures and now here by word so that she can always remember it.

4th Fun

Can I just say I love the 4th of July. Not for the obvious reasons like we are a free nation and all of that wonderful stuff. I love it
for many other reasons. First of all I love family, and holidays are full of them. I love the sun, BBQ's, hometown parades, swimming, junkfood, and of course fireworks. Our 4th was full of all of these things and it made for another
great celebration. I have loved for the past
several years that my in-laws neighborhood has a little parade and breakfast celebration on the 4th. We love the people, the games, all of it...well this year as we are in our own new neighborhood we heard that they too have a neighborhood party. I was so excited to find out that ours was at night so we could attend both. Our neighborhood really is so wonderful, there are a few empty lots for sale nearby, if you are looking for somewhere wonderful to move. :-) They had bounce houses, a band, potluck BBQ, ice cream, fireworks...etc The kids loved it. We swam for hours in betweenboth parties at Grandma Nydeggers pool and soaked in the sun. Then we topped off the night with fireworks we even had a few illegal ones to enjoy thanks to he who shall not be named. All in all it was a great way to celebrate the wonderful place that we live.
P.S. I made Nikki and Faith's petty skirts, if you are ever looking for a project I'd love to teach anyone who's dying to learn. :-)

Nydegger Pets Update

Sometimes I feel like I'm running a pet store at my house and these picture display the 8 reasons why. We have our Gigantor dog Diesel -he's not even full grown- and he's still kenneled in the basement.Don't mind the smell when you come over, just plug your nose ; ) eewww!!! He's such a good dog, we love him. He is so mild tempered with the kids. He never really barks and he loves to play. The kids really do a good job taking care of him. They even pitch in on poop duty.
Next, we have Mama Kitty, Christina. She just became a mother yesterday. I knew it was going to happen anytime, she was getting huge and I saw her when she was romping around with the stray cat a couple of months ago. Well, yesterday morning she was meowing really strangely and I knew it was the day.We tried to find a dark quiet place for her out in the garage where she lives. I felt this great sense of empathy for the pain I sensed she was going through. She ended up making her way back to the garage door into the house where she normally sleeps . The kids and I had been checking on her often to see if anything had happened, but nothing was happening. I went out to water some plants and Christian came out to tell me that there were two little legs hanging out of kitty. Sure enough she was pushing out her first little kitten. It was such a neat thing to watch. Even though it was just kittens the miracle of birth and life was a beautiful thing to see again. She ended up having five kittens. I can't even believe it. What are we going to do with 5 kittens- Walmart here we come.
Lastly, we can't forget about Spiky our pet Tarantuala. No we don;t have two of them. We came up last night to tuck Christian in and this is what we found in his cage. I had no idea they shed their skin, and really I'm only assuming that's what I'm seeing. I have not researched the matter, but it kind of creeped us out. Our pets had quite the day yesterday.