the good, the bad, the ugly.

Good---giving the kiddos horsey rides.

Bad--- achey back/neck for days.

Ugly---the filthy, dirty mirror I used to document this "fun"

Good---made breakfast for the kids

Bad---same food as it was yesterday

Ugly---same food as it was for dinner (if it aint broke, don't fix it...or something)

Good---my kids sleep 12 or 13 hours each night

Bad---Dan and I go to sleep 6 hours AFTER they do

Ugly---me in the mornings.

Good---kids playing with friends

Bad---putting on a movie to entertain them after they destroy the house

Ugly---Stori's "seahorse" hair. Haha who requests seahorse hair??

Good---spending an entire day on Valentines crafts and no TV

Bad---water colors everywhere

Ugly---Actually, nothing ugly about this one. They made some mighty fine crafts! :)

Good---going to the Rec center for play group

Bad---realizing at the last minute that Dan took the car and we would be walking

Ugly---the amount of goldfish consumed on that 2 mile walk

Good---Dan goes to an amazing Law School

Bad---limited time with him

Ugly---realizing that I have been in "college mode" since 2003!!! 

For the most part, our days are good. No, actually they are great! Some days I feel like I'm good with just 2 kids, and other days I'm looking up minivans to put all 6 kids in.

But one thing is for sure; good, bad, or ugly, I LOVE my family and wouldn't trade our situation for anything. being in college for 12 years just keeps us young right? ;)

^^^the seahorse hair. And popcorn. I'm a bomb babysitter

crafty craftersons

Octonaut-aholics

Horsey rides. 2 at a time and a dirty mirror

Stori volunteered to clean the dirty mirror for me! :)

LSM: grades and a good dad

Just as Dan suspected, this week got a little busier. He had to go back to the Law School 3 nights, and all day Saturday to work on a new 14 page paper. His last paper took several weeks to write, so hopefully this one goes quicker.

He got his grades back a lot sooner than he thought, and last friday we learned that he got a 3.3 GPA his first semester. His brother got the same exact GPA, how crazy is that. Dan was a little bummed, but I think it's GREAT! He has done all this with 2 kids and a crazy wife, so ya, I think a 3.3 is amazing!

view from one of the parks by our house 

view from a normal evening before bedtime. such a good daddy

Astoria Rose 3.5

Stori is now officially closer to age 4 than age 3 and is so much fun! She has started going to a little preschool story time at the library and loves going into the Princess Castle. (thats where her story time is). I take Sylvie to the toddler Story time while Stori is in her Story time. haha a lot of Stories happening right there.
But this girl is so ready to go to actual preschool. I tried finding one that started in January, but no such luck. So next year will have to do. We work on a lot of things at home, and she is getting really quite good at reading words. I try to add a new word to learn each week. A couple of days ago, Dan asked her how to spell Dad, and she told him! It caught me off guard because I knew she could read the word by recognizing it, but I had no idea she knew how to spell it. Turns out she can spell "the, dad, Stori and mom" when you ask her.
She is teaching herself basic addition and is always quizzing us on certain problems.
She is slowly learning to like coloring… she loves to paint, but has never really shown interest in coloring.
She loves to cut with scissors, use glue, and her all time favorite: CRAFT! She likes to find random things from outside or inside our house to make fun crafts with. After her craft is done, she likes to display it above her bed.
She loves her little sister and they are always giving each other loves. Stori will refuse to bathe unless Sylvie gets in with her, and they play until the water is cold (or beyond).
She is a great cleaner. She makes sure her bedroom is clean before she can fall asleep. Both her and Sylvie love to empty and load the dishwasher and washing machine/dryer. I don't think they realize they are doing chores! :)
Still loves dresses and is very picky with her clothing.
Loves Octonauts! one of my YW asked her what her name was on Sunday, and she told her it was Stori Quasi Radford. (Quasi is a character on that show). I am Peso, Sylvie is Turnip, and daddy is Capt. Barnacles.
She uses her imagination all day long, and is very entertaining for me! :)
She tells all of us that she loves us about 30 times a day-----she is my favorite 3 year old for sure! :)

These pictures were taken outside of the Provo Rec Center on Monday. The mountains were bright pink, but you can't tell. Rats.

 bath time buddies

TOTAL TWINS here!!

she had an ouchie on her finger…

17 months June bug

I cannot believe my BABY is 17 months old!! Most would argue that it is time to have another baby…which, ya, I can agree with, but unfortunately, that is not what I am here to discuss today.
Let's talk about my little sweetie pie, Sylvie June Radford.
She is at such a fun age, and just loves about everyone she meets. She is quite the showoff at church, and has a fan club of about 40 people (a few of my YW, but mainly with the 50 and older crowd). She bats her eyelashes and tilts her head when she walks by everyone in Sunday School, and then giggles and dances for them. For someone so little, she makes quite a big impression.
She is still pretty small for her age, but most people think she is older than she is because of all her hair.
She has such a fun imagination! I think she learned it from her creative and crazy big sis. ;)
Knows all of her animal sounds, a few letter sounds (A, B, H, M, S…)
Still obsessed with shoes and always putting them on and it's still her favorite word
She is getting pickier with her food, I need to branch out more---help!
She has officially quit the bottle---she refused them while we were in Vernal and never had another one.
I moved her to one nap this last week, and not sure she is on board for it yet, but it makes it easier to go to Story time, play dates, and the Rec. Center. She naps from around 1-3:30pm and sleeps at night from 7:30-9. She takes her sleep very seriously and ALWAYS wakes up with the BEST bed hair. It takes me about 20 minutes to get it brushed and fixed. :)
She loves sitting on the potty when she sees Stori going potty, and occasionally goes. (but only because she is just getting out of the tub, and who doesn't have to go potty after getting out of the tub?)
Really good at sharing her goldfishies with other kids.
Throws a few good tantrums throughout the day.
LOVES taking baths.
Loves reading books, playing dress-up, building towers, loves ring around the roses and says "all fall DOWN," loves playing, "chase" with Stori, loves playing "bibbity, boppity, boo," loves being outside, loves laying with Stori at night for prayers and family cheer, and loves goldfishies! :)
We love our lives with her in it and so glad she loves us back!

Let the crazy hair, begin!

see what I did here…

it runs in the family...

her first french braids!!

I was doing some sorting of the kids clothes and came across summer clothes  that used to be Stori's. Sylvie was too small to wear them this last summer, so I put her in some of them this last week.

 she is quite the poser.

their new hobby is making forts to read or to do shadow puppet shows in (I think this love started in Vernal with Tracens magic pillow)

LSM-back to school

Dan has been back to school for almost 3 weeks now and he is just barely starting to get into the routine again. He said it has never been more difficult to start school, than it was after Christmas break! he knew what to expect with Law School and just wasn't ready to go back! :) 

So far this semester, he hasn't had to go back to school after he comes home for dinner, and it has been so amazing! Usually the day goes like this; he's gone from 7am-6pm, we work out while the kids eat, eat dinner ourselves while the kids play, then we bathe the kids, put them to bed and then get caught up on our shows! This last weekend was a holiday, so we had 3 straight days together with ZERO homework! wonderful stuff I tell ya.
The school is still in charge of picking his classes for him, so has full days of class M-Th and then only one class on Fri. He gets a lot of his homework done on Friday before his class and then we have the weekend together. This semester is suppose to be his hardest, so I am just enjoying all the time we have together before all the intense homework starts. He is such a good student and puts so much effort into learning and applying al that he learns. This morning he donated plasma before school and was 3 minutes late for class, and I don't think I have ever heard him be that stressed! haha…THREE minutes! This was his first time being late and he felt horrible. I told him there was a chance he would still pass, but he didn't seem to believe me! ha. he's cute.
Only one more month until we find out what his grades are from last semester. yay.

These pics are a little blurry because Stori took them all.

 
we had a little family date to SLC yesterday, and it included Chipotle for lunch! 

to Vernal we will go

 Our friends have traveled to Idaho and Utah to spend time with us, and it was finally our turn to go see them. Their house was so beautiful and inviting, and we never wanted to leave. It was a little hectic because there were 6 kids under 4 there, but the fun times way outweighed the crazy.

The first night we got there, the girls headed out for a little dinner and shopping, while the guys had a movie night with the kids. I definitely needed that night out with some of my very best friends! 

When we got home from our GNO, we played a little dance game on the Xbox and laughed extremely hard---and eventually got Dan to dance. He thought he was too cool for school until he realized we all looked like fools while doing it.

That next day the guys took off to go shooting while we took the kids to a park to play (and freeze. Luckily I am part white trash and made gloves for Stori out of her sweater and 2 hair things. Brilliant, I know).

After the park, we went home to make some delicious personal pizzas. (the food the whole time was top notch and I can only hope to make good food like Alana one day).

The guys took the 3 oldest to the Dinosaur museum after lunch, and they spent most of the day out and about while the younger 3 napped at home. 

Then dinner came and another delicious meal. Then the boys were off yet again for a game night with some friends of Lukes. 

We put the kids to bed and decided to color my hair and down some milk duds. The chocolate was much needed after getting the kids to bed, and the hair color was much needed to 

 eliminate the question, "where did your kids get all that red hair?" :) We shall see if it works.

We got up early on Sunday morning to drive back to Provo and Dan and I talked about how much we wish these guys lived just a few feet away like we did back in Rexburg. Maybe one day! ;)

{And it should be noted that all the kids decided that the bathroom by the kitchen was the "party room," and they spent the majority of the time playing in there. All the toys were lined up, and you considered yourself lucky if you got an invitation to 'pretend play' in there. I think the pillow pet was the real reason, because it was the only room dark enough to see the lights. But still, what weird kids haha} 

girls night pose! haha 

watching How to Train your Dragon 2. Poor Tracen has to be surrounded by so many girls.

Stori sure loves her tracen! 

the stare down.

this is a picture of my hair the next day all fresh and clean, but definitely not fixed yet.

headed to the Dinosaur museum all in one car. What little cuties they are!