MACY IS 3!!! Or 5 if she has an agenda

This little girl was SOOOO excited for her birthday to come! She wanted a "Sleeping Beauty" party, and I tried my best to deliver. Three is such an amazing age where everything is magical and enthralling, and it is hard for me to exercise restraint when it comes to the birthday party. First up was makeup and nails...

Then we headed out to the castle...

I'm loving how pink is the color of choice...

We had a game of "Frog, Frog, Prince" followed by a treasure hunt left by the Prince...

We played "Pin the Kiss on the Frog", pricked our fingers on spindles and were awoken with a chocolate "kiss", danced to Princess music...

We opened presents and were so excited by all the new toys...

Had cake and ice cream...

And told our friends goodbye! After everyone left, Macy ran up to me and hugged my legs as tight as she could and said, "I LOVE YOU MOMMY!" This was one happy little girl who felt very special on her 3rd birthday!

PS-To explain the title of this post, Avery received a big girl bike on her birthday a few days later. When Macy was complaining saying she wanted one, we told her she could have one when she was bigger. "I AM BIGGER!" she yelled. So we clarified with, "When you're five." To which her response was not surprising, "I AM FIVE!" The next day when Chelsey asked her how old she was, she was still sticking to her story of 5 in the hopes of getting a big girl bike :) That sums up Macy :)

4th of July

Every time a holiday rolls around, I find our family packing in all sorts of stuff we've been wanting to do. The 4th didn't find us doing anything different. We went to the parade (first time it hasn't been blazing hot), spent some time there doing all kinds of free crafts with the kids, went straight to the park for a picnic with family. Carston, Avery, and I went straight from there on a hike with my parents while John went home to fit in sleeping kids and Fifa. Came home and crashed for an hour. Went to a family birthday BBQ for George's birthday, then went straight from there to the "Sidewalk of Fire." John and his brothers don't "do fireworks." Then have an event. We had music, preshow parachuters, there was a live band that came and played for awhile, and then of course the actual fireworks. I've stopped asking John how much money is going up in flames because while he thinks it is worth the experience, I'd rather have something to show at the end of spending my money :) But, it makes him happy, so I keep my mouth shut :) Even though I was exhausted by the end of the day, I think I still would have done it all again because it was a lot of fun!

Kate was hungry

I guess when you are child number 4, you realize there are times you might need to take things into your own hands in order to get what you want :) For some reason (i.e. he's not home all day with Kate), John found this particularly funny and decided to take a picture. I on the other hand (cleaning up her messes all day long), didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the event :)

NYC-Glenn Beck

How much fun can you pack into a 3 day trip to New York? I was pleasantly surprised that we fit so much in. I guess when you don't have to worry about buckling and unbuckling kids, keeping them dressed and bathed and their tummies full, and handling all tantrums that might come...it is AMAZING what two grown adults can accomplish on their own :) Many of you might remember John's video that he entered in a Glenn Beck competition awhile back. They decided to fly out all ten finalists and put them up in New York for three days as a prize. So, for the price of two airplane tickets, Ashlee and I were able to tag along with John and Brett. I love being a mom and doing what I do, but it is always a nice thing to go away with John by ourselves and remember who we are when we aren't being mom and dad. My husband, like myself, becomes a different person when it's just the two of us around other adults :) And where in the world would he find other crazy people like himself and his brother who are so into politics, spend their free time making videos, and are overall just funny people? Both Ashlee and I had to laugh at how much they were enjoying themselves.

We were able to spend a little time with Randy-and we can't wait until he has finished school and can party with us all the time. These boys are pretty funny when they are together and get going. They could pass for normal in this picture, but if you saw the one right before it, you'd probably stay pretty far away. I'm glad John has brothers who are as crazy and funny as he is :)

Glenn's people treated us all to a fancy dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was there I came to an important conclusion: I am not a fan of fancy food. I'll take my plain and simple food anyday over the crazy things they served up there. Heather, you would have died! This was also the day that John and I headed over to church. I got a serious chuckle over the fact that I was able to accurately pick out two other Mormon couples on the walk over to the building :) It made me wonder if everyone else can spot us as easily as I can :) I love going to church in other places, it always gives you things to ponder.

Old and still super hot! Just kidding. Although this was kind of our celebration for our 9 year anniversary. I can't believe we only have one more year until we hit 10. Newly Married, that seemed like forever away, and now I can't believe it is here. I look back to when we got married and I'm kind of astounded at how shallow our love was when we couldn't imagine loving each other any more. Through these last nine years, we've been through a lot: unemployment, struggling to get pregnant, getting pregnant unexpectantly, depression, job changes, house buying, living with parents, ear infections and surgery, various callings and responsibilities, etc. And each one of these things we have faced together. We have helped each other in our struggles, we have leaned on each other through our hard times, we have cried and laughed together, we have watched each other stretch and grow. No one- not even my mom, sisters, or children-knows me as intimately as John does. And the deeper you know someone, the more you're capable of loving them. I love you babe!

Superficial Me-The Secret is Out

Whenever I recognize that my barely conscious thoughts are steering toward the superficial, it makes me SO MAD! Case in point...High School Reunion. Of course I find myself thinking that I want people to think I still look good. Ugh. It's embarrassing for me to admit it, but I know it is something all of us women do right? But I very much don't want to be like that the rest of my life. I mean seriously, do I REALLY care if people I haven't seen in 10 years think I let myself go, or if they take a cursory glance and decide yep I'm pretty? No. I really don't. And yet I seem to always find thoughts like that popping up. You know what I really care about. I want people to interact with me and feel like I have true charity, that I care about them. I want people to walk away from me feeling uplifted and feeling better about themselves. That is what I really want. Now the only challenge lies in eradicating all superficial thoughts. Any great ideas on combating the most prevalent campaign aimed at women? I'm hoping confessing and writing it down will aid me in the challenge.

Arizona Vacation

We took a trip to Arizona with my parents and Dustin, and Chelsey and Heather and her kids met us there. As I looked through the pictures, I realize that I hardly have any pictures from when we were actually in Arizona, that just shows you how much I was enjoying myself :)

The picture on the right says everything you need to know about Macy. We left about 5 in the afternoon, Macy took a short 1 hour nap immediately, and then she didn't fall asleep the rest of the way. This picture was at about 11:30: all the other kids were asleep, but you can't slow Macy down. She watched Sleeping Beauty twice through while everyone else slept :) The picture on the right shows how happy Kate was to get out of the car for a little break :) We stopped at a couple of indian ruins along the way. It was a great time for everyone to stretch their legs while we saw some pretty neat ruins.

I like this one because it shows how Kate was determined to do everything all by herself :) I'm sure people wondered why I was carrying my toddler and making my baby walk :) At least it wore her out for the rest of the drive.

Chelsey just finished up hairschool, so of course we needed her to show us her skills :) Macy got probably 5 treats in an attempt to have her sit still but that didn't work out. We were satisfied with an "almost straight" finish. Like I told Chelsey, she'll never sit still long enough for anyone to see it so it's all good :) By the way, Chelsey cut my hair too and all I can say is that she is AMAZING and she better come back every couple months to do it again :)

I had to throw these pictures in of my brother Dustin. He is a fairly reserved and private man, so most people don't know how awesome he is. But he is amazing. He puts up with a lot of noise and chaos from all our kids when we get together. And he is the kindest uncle ever. Every single one of our children have been in love with him at some point in their life because he is so patient and kind, he lets them examine and explore things on their own time, he encourages and helps them do things that other people would tell them they're too little for. He is just a stud and I love him. And besides all that, he never lets me take a picture unless he's holding a kid and thinks I'm taking a picture only of the kid :)

Kate was funny on this trip what with plugging her ears on the drive (you'd think she hadn't grown up in this loud crazy family her whole life :) , and her utter excitement when she first got in the pool :)

We went swimming everyday and our kids worked really hard learning how to swim. Of course Macy was the most willing to try everything (she was out there in her floaties kicking her legs and dogpaddling as fast as she could-she'd just step right off the ledge and would get mad at me when I'd hold on to her when she didn't have her floaties- "LET GO! LET GO OF ME! I CAN SWIM!"). Avery followed next and could have jumped off the ledge to her daddy for hours. I trying to get the earplugs to stay in. Dang tubes. Carston of course was the cautious one :) He did pretty good by the end though, and he loved playing with the water bat and ball from Chelsey. Thanks Cho!

This picture is for you Todd. This is THE Denny's. You know which one. The one you slept in with John. Thank you for making it a priority that we eat some nasty food for the sake of keeping the memory alive :)

It was a great trip (aside from the driving-which really wasn't too bad). I love my family and I love spending time with them. We missed you Jordan!

Carston is 7...okay, he's been 7 for a month...no biggie right?

This year, Carston was set on two things: he wanted to have an Army Party and he wanted to have it on his ACTUAL birthday (as opposed to the weekend following). So we had ourselves one awesome Army Party! We had about twenty kids there so it was a little bit crazy, but definitely a lot of fun.

My cousin's husband was so nice to come at the end in his full uniform. He spent time answering their questions, led them in some pushups, did some army crawls, and let some awestruck boys chase him around with their toys guns. Thank you so much Nathan! I can't ever tell you how much that meant to Carston. I love this picture that shows how happy he is when Nathan let him put his helmet on :)

John helped me build these bunkers for the kids (my neighbor thought I was a little crazy when I wanted her branches that broke off her tree). They were the perfect place for some games. We did one where the kids had to go rescue a fallen soldier, bandage their wounds (with toilet paper) and get them back to base on the gurney (blanket). At the end we also had a water balloon fight while they tried to capture the other sides flag. I had to get a picture of this kid. He was hit by a balloon right at the beginning, and he fell down and played dead for the next five minutes until the flag was captured. It is an understatement to say these kids were fully committed to their personas :) Carston's face is awesome when he captured the flag :)

Here is the army tank I made for the cake. We also did a big obstacle course for training, painted their faces, gave them dogtags with their code name, opened presents, and pretty much just had a great time. Thanks to John, my mom, dad, Mary, and Jordan for helping me pull off an awesome party for my little boy who is not so little anymore. I love you Carston!

Maybe this is why...

My kids are big into reading. They start early, they seem to be ahead of what people think is appropriate for their age. I get asked a lot what I do with them to make them such big readers, but I never really knew how to respond because I never felt like we did anything out of the ordinary. Today though, I came up with a theory :) Today was library day. Library day is a little crazy in the Roberts house. First we have to round up all the books, cd's, and movies and make sure everything is accounted for. We had to round up 100 items today, so it took us about 45 minutes. Then there is always that lone book that has been misplaced, and it is a miracle if I don't find myself uttering a sincere prayer to Heavenly Father explaining how our time before naps (and consequently meltdowns if we are late in taking those naps) is fast approaching and we need help in finding the missing book. And He never fails to answer. Today the answer was an immediate thought to go look in the car of all places and I found it tucked in a pocket. So, after the roundup and prayer, we drive down to Provo. Why Provo when the Orem Library is a mere 5 minutes away? Because they have a much better selection of children's books, and their movie and cd rentals are free. So we drive the 20 minutes down to Provo. The next step is to unload everyone from the car and precariously balance 100 books on a double stroller with 2 children still sitting in it. I've got mad skills now when it comes to that particular challenge. We hurry in and try not to draw everyone's attention as we return our 100 books "One at a time" into the book drop. That usually takes another 10 minutes. Then comes the fun part of letting the kids go wild and choose out all their books in a mad rush to finish before Kate has had enough. Again, we balance precariously and head over to check them all out-which takes another 15 minutes. We had a new record today: 116 items. And to think that before it all started I advised everyone that we should maybe try to not get as many this week. Yeah right, like that was going to happen. We make the drive home, and the 3 hour library adventure is at an end....at least for the next three weeks. It's pretty crazy. And I'm definitely at the point where I feel like everyone is staring and wondering why in the world we have so many books. But most of the time, they read every single one. It is a lot of work, but I just love to see my kids excited about books and learning and reading. I don't want to squash it. Even if it means that I'm the crazy lady at the library with her four kids and a million books shoved into bags hanging all over the cart. Because I looked around today at all the kids with 5 or 10 books and realized that I'm definitely in the minority category in my approach to the library. I don't think most people get nervous as they near a hundred items because they are wondering if that is the maximum number of things you can check out. So yeah, maybe our library experience has something to do with my kids and their reading :)

Love

I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that I can't post if I don't put pictures. But it's my blog right? I can do whatever I want. So right now, I want to say that I love my life. I love my husband. I feel so blessed to be married to a man who loves me, who does things just because they'll make me happy, who'll sacrifice for me, who doesn't carry a record in his heart of all the mean or stupid things I've done, who wrestles with his kids almost every day, who goes to work every day and brings home the bacon even when there are times it has been awfully hard, and who can still make me laugh. I love that I get to be at home with my four beautiful kids. I love that I can plan picnics, field trips, fun projects, and adventures whenever I want. I love that my kids get to be my primary focus every day. I love that my kids love being with me, that they all scramble and squish to fit on my lap. I love that I have sisters who are my best friends. I love that my brothers are good men who I know are there for me when I need them, and who treat my kids so kindly even when the noise level has ventured into the "going to make you insane" range. I love that my parents are so loving and generous with themselves. I love that I can live close to them and visit with them often. I love that I get to study scriptures everyday and be inspired to be better. I love that I can counsel with God at any time of the day whether the need is small or overwhelmingly great. I love that I can go to church each week and feel the Spirit. I love that I'm making progress, even if it's small, in becoming a better person. I love looking back and knowing that I have improved even if I still get frustrated with myself for my shortcomings. I love watching my children grow and develop. I love hearing the funny things they say. I love hearing random "I love you"s. I love that Macy kisses me on the forehead. I love the fact that it is summer and I don't have to relinquish my kids to someone else. I love that the sun is FINALLY shining :)

I love my life.

And now that I've got that out of my system, it's on to something I don't love...making dinner.