It FINALLY happened!

Braeden has had a loose tooth for about 5 weeks now.  And the only reason I remember how long it has been because he was hoping to have it fall out on his birthday.  I remember thinking his birthday was 2 weeks away and it would probably fall out before then.  But no, it took a little longer than I thought.  I told Braeden that my dad would take his pliers and yank out my teeth when I was young.  Well, he believed me and before he went to school that day, he told me he wanted Grandpa to use his pliers to get it out.  So as soon as he came home, Mark told him he needed to wiggle it A LOT with his tongue.  I don't think he was wiggling it enough.  Mark kind of made it looser (is that a word?) and then my dad tugged (is that a word too?) on it and it started bleeding.  I told Mark to help Braeden with it since I was feeding Caleb.  Next thing I know, his tooth was gone.  He has been waiting for this day for a while now.  Well, the tooth fairy came.  Braeden actually asked me if I was the one who put the money under his pillow.  But hopefully I gave him a convincing no.  So he has another one loose right next to that one, so we'll probably be calling the tooth fairy again real soon!

FIGHT ON!!!

It is officially football season AGAIN!!!  Since I married into a family with USC fanactics, I have no choice but to be a TROJAN fan.  Before I met the Bakers, I didn't really care for ASU, but since I lived in AZ, I thought I would be an ASU fan.  Now, I won't even go to a USC game at ASU.  If you aren't wearing ASU clothes, some of the college kids are just mean and very annoying.  Probably because they haven't won a game against USC for a while.  But anyway, even though I give Mark a hard time about football season, I really do enjoy it.  Football has always been my favorite sport to watch.  And who wouldn't love a team who has had some amazing players and had some fun championship years.  And this year won't be any different I hear. 

I know I have made some enemies by declaring our love for USC football, but FIGHT ON!!

I've Been Tagged

Thanks Megan for tagging me.  OK...here's what I am supposed to do: List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag five other people. Leave a comment for the people you tag so they know they have been tagged.

Joys

1.  Even through the craziness, I really enjoy my kids.  I love their enthusiasm for life and personalities.  They are cute fun kids!

2.  I love date night!!!  I love getting babysitters because my kids love having them.  And then just leaving with my guy to do whatever it we have planned.

3.  The Christmas season is the best part of the year.  Even though it is hectic and stressful getting prepared for Christmas Day, I love it.  The weather is perfect and I love the Christmas music. 


Fears

1.  Losing ANYONE close to me.

2.  Doing everything I should be doing as a mom / wife.

3.  Teaching my kids to be strong in the church but one of them going astray and leaving the church.

Obsessions

1.  Kisses from my husband and kids!

2.  Brushing my teeth as soon as I wake up.  I hate that morning breath.  And then brushing my teeth after dinner.  It's my way of not eating dessert or munching because I don't want to brush them again.

3.  I don't really know if this is an obsession, but I love home cooked food.  Like REAL homemade food.  With REAL ingredients.  None of those fast frozen meals you can buy.  I don't like foods with MSG, high fructose corn syrup, enriched flour, hormones, dyes,  etc.   I try really hard to buy foods without those ingredients, but I hate that they are in EVERYTHING in the stores.  That's why I shop at Sprouts.  



Facts

1.  Mark and I have been skydiving and would do it again in a heartbeat if we didn't have little kids.  My brothers and sisters took my Dad skydiving for his 52nd b-day and it was a BLAST!!

2.  I am not a hard candy kind of person.  I don't like wasting my calories on suckers, or hard candy.  Give me some chocolate and I am set!  Preferably something chocolate with peanut butter or mint!!

3.  I drink water all day.  I'll have an occasional milk or juice, but I drink mainly water.

I tag:

Melissa Harper

Lisa Miller

Jennifer Clarkson

Emily Slade

Traci Fernandez

Braeden's B-day!

Ryan and Melissa were so sweet to let us come over and swim for Braeden's b-day.  We had so much fun!  Braeden thought this birthday was the best so far.

Kids enjoying the yummy cake!

This is Ryan's BIG boy Drake.  He is 3 months younger than Braeden and he is a tank.  Well, for the pinata, we went from youngest to oldest like most people do.  Except for Drake.  Ryan told us to let him go last since he always breaks the pinatas.  So Drake gets up to bat and only swings 2 or 3 times and WHACK, all the candy comes out.  He was right.  But the cutest thing was when Drake said, "I hit the snot out of it."  It was so cute, I had to get video of him saying it.  He was so proud of himself.

(My favorite part of this picture is Lisa's boy, Crew.  He is the littlest boy in this picture with the blue spandex and green lifejacket.  He looked so adorable in that thing.  Nice job Paul for picking out such an attractive lifejacket.)

NACHOOOOO!

For those of you who like Nacho Libre, this one is for you.  Our family loves that movie.  Braeden really understands the humor and being the little "actor" he is, he reenacted the part where Nacho is in his fancy blue pants against the wall after a fight with his bum sticking out and his arm on the wall.  His friend comes over with his "fancy" corn on a stick and Nacho says, "Get that corn out of my face."  And then slaps the corn out of his friend's hand.  It makes Braeden laugh everytime.  

So this is another picture of where Caleb got his hair!  Aren't they adorable?  Thanks Grandpa Harper for the curly hair.  I have always wanted a curly hair child!

Where did this girl come from??

So all these pictures took place in one day.  Elli kept showing me some pretty funny things.  This is one of those neck pillows.  I keep them in the car for the kids when they are tired.  But she tells me to turn around to look at her and this is what I see.

Then Elli found a wig that is actually a "mullet" wig.  She puts it on and tells me, "Hey mom, I'm Hannah Hontanna."  No, I didn't spell it wrong, that is how she says it.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I am kind of annoyed though.  My kids have NEVER watched that show, but they still know about her.  My 3 year old knows about Hannah Montanna.  What is the deal with her?  Why is she so big?  I don't understand it.

Now, this is classic.  I don't know where she came up with one.  This is a rubber band around her mouth.  Can anyone guess what she is trying to be?  Anyone.....Anyone?  She is a CAREBEAR!!!  You guessed it.  She must get her humor from me!!  :)

KINDERGARTEN

Braeden "gets" to repeat Kindergarten this year.  He was so ready for 1st grade and even complained to me about going to K again, but I really wanted to hold him back for several reasons.  One is that he has a summer birthday and would be youngest in his class and he is also so little.  I mean, get a load of his backpack.  That actually was the smaller one at the store.  But he has forgotten about repeating and doesn't complain anymore.  He started school last Monday (the 11th) and came home today with a sticker on his shirt.  I asked him why he got that sticker and he told me he was STAR OF THE DAY for being a good student.  Sure beats his attitude last year in K.  He had a hard time listening to his teacher and staying on task at the beginning of the year.  But he loves school and LOVES riding the bus.  It is so cute watching him wait for the bus.  He seems so little to be doing this already, but it is so fun for him.

(I couldn't get a picture of just Braeden, Elli had to be in it!!)

On the first day of school, I let him ride the bus and then I drove to his school to surprise him and get pictures.  He was so cute.  He was so excited being there.

I told Elli to get some shoes on so we could go to Braeden's school and she chose to wear her Princess shoes.  Which by the way are really hard to walk in.  So me being in a hurry to get to his playground to take pictures was difficult since she couldn't walk very fast.  Well, the shoes ended up coming off and she left them on the ground.  Not surprising.

Just enjoying a little after school snack.  How cute it is when they actually can get along and share something... even a chair!!

My little pro photographer

Braeden got ahold of my camera.... again ..... and got some cute pictures.  He actually got some fun videos of Caleb cooing and laughing.  So I guess it is OK sometimes when my kids take my camera.  Hey, we got this adorable picture of Caleb!

Also, Braeden thinks he is big enough to have an ipod, so he takes mine and listens to music on it.  Braeden also thinks he needs a cell phone.  I try to convince him he doesn't.  This kid doesn't even like talking on a regular phone.  But anyway, I found him trying to show Caleb the joys of technology.  Looks like Caleb could careless about it, but he was smiling while listening to it!  I love how when Braeden enjoys something, he tries to share it with everyone else.

A Little Confession...

This might be a little embarrassing for some people to admit, but I'm not afraid.  Mark and I have an old palm pilot in our bathroom for the only purpose of the solitare game on it.  We use it for nothing else but that game.  While we are.... well, you know, we play that game to make it not so boring.  Well, I guess you can say our kids watch our every move (yep, even our bathroom breaks) and Elli brought her own little game to the bathroom.  I caught her in there playing this when I couldn't find her.  Yes, it is pretty sad, but look at that cute girl!!

My BIG 6 Year Old!!

I never thought I would be old enough to have a 6 year old. My cute little Braeden is getting way too big. He has been waiting to be 6 since he turned 5. Now he says he can't wait to be 7. (I guess that will change in years to come.) But he always wants to go eat at IHOP everytime we pass by one. So we took to breakfast this morning to get his Happy Face Pancakes. He told me last night that today was his Big Day and he already thinks this day is the best day so far.

I am not on my computer so I can't post any cute pictures of Braeden, I just wanted to let him know how proud I am of him and how he keeps me on my toes ALL the time!! He is such a smart little boy and we are so glad we have him in our life. Thanks Braeden for being a STUD!!

On Sept. 11th....

My husband is in the country band, SLADE. They have been asked to open for Lady Antebellum on Sept 11th at the Queen Creek Performing Arts Center! We are so excited for this. Lady Antebellum won an Academy Award for TOP NEW VOCAL GROUP so this is a HUGE opportunity!

We need help advertising so if you could spread the word and maybe post this on your blog about this! Mark's band is VERY talented and have written some amazing new songs for it.

If you go to http://qcpac.com/ and click on the KMLE Country Link, you can buy tickets there!! It will be a great concert!

That's Whack

People who know me well know that I loved (and still love) "FRIENDS." If you have watched it, you will remember when Joey tries to convince his friends that he can play the part of an 18 year old. He says "That's whack" a lot in that episode. Well, I love that saying and these pictures remind me of Joey!

Our ward is having their own "Creekside Ward's Got Talent" show. So Braeden decided he wants to do his famous dancing for it. He has already figured out what he wants to wear for it. He ran to his room and got these clothes on. He made sure I noticed his backwards hat. He thought that was important. He also told me he would be a "cooler" dancer if his skin was brown. He has been watching a little too much "So You Think You Can Dance."



And of course, Elli noticed what Braeden was doing and changed her clothes into Braeden's. She took Mark's hat off his head and turned it backwards. She's got the whole outfit down to the shoes. They make a great team!!

(If you are a big fan of "So You Think You Can Dance", you will understand what Braeden is doing.)

All you Creekside Ward-ers, be prepared for this act. It's going to be "WHACK"

Professional Photographers!

I posted earlier how my kids took my camera one day and took some funny pictures. Well, last night Braeden, Elli and I were playing with Caleb and making him smile, so Braeden ran to get my camera. We gave it to Mark and he took some pictures of all of us. Then Braeden wanted to take some of us, then Elli wanted a turn. So if either of them isn't in the picture, it's because they are taking the picture. I have to keep my camera hidden now so it doesn't get scratched by these awesome photographers!!

PS, one a side note! The kids had just gotten out the bath (hence Elli's hair isn't combed) I told them to get PJs on and Elli comes out in Braeden's Superman PJs. She keeps putting on Braeden's clothes. I told her I didn't have 3 boys and that I had a little girl too. But she insisted on wearing them.