My Christmas Baby....

Today is my Christmas baby's birthday. My Monica Rose Jacobson is 7 years old. She is already excited about turning 8 next year.

Here is Monica at 1 year old. She was not happy about the photo session.

Monica at 2 years old. So cute.

Monica at 3 years old. You can see her crooked smile that her Dad especially loves.

Monica at 4 years old. I love that crooked smile too. :)


Monica at 5 years old. Still very cute.

Monica at 6 years old. She had just gotten her glasses about a week before this picture was taken.

Some people may say that they would never want a baby around Christmas. But I would disagree. What better way to remember what Christmas is really about that holding a newborn baby. It is one of the best times of the year.

Happy Birthday to my Monka Rose!

There's no accounting for taste....

Okay. I admit it I am not the best cook there is, but I feel like I am a fairly decent one. I make a really good lasagna and awesome homemade pizza. And I do enjoy baking.

So my kids really threw me for a loop this week. Tuesdays can be very busy for us lately. Mike has 11 year-old scouts and every other week I have Achievement Days. So it can be a little hectic and Mike generally doesn't eat dinner with us because he does have scouts. So dinner on Tuesday nights is a simple night.

I was really tired this past Tuesday. So I decided to make the kids some Top Ramen for dinner. Keep in mind that my kids have never had Top Ramen for dinner. I just do not buy it. Don't ask me why. I just never have. So I bought 4 packs of it on a whim at the store last time I went. I made 2 packs at first and they slurped right through those so I made the other 2. And my Katelyn declared "Mom, this is the best dinner ever!!!" How sad is that?! What kind of cook do my kids take me for? Oh well, I'm letting this slide because she is 4.

Beautiful Lengths....

A few months ago the girls set the goal of growing their hair long enough to donate. I researched the various organizations that deal with hair donations and settled on Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They only need 8 inches of hair and they make wigs for cancer patients at no cost. Locks of Love actually charge a fee for making the wig. Plus, they want 10 inches. My girls and I were getting pretty tired of dealing with long hair so Pantene was a perfect choice for us.

Here is Megan, Monica, and Karly before the hair cuts. Megan is trying to look shorter to fit into the picture better.

Here is the back of their heads. (Obviously) I blew dry Megan's hair so it was straighter. That is a lot of hair. Because it is thick also. Now you have some idea what Mike has been putting up with and why he has pieces of hair all over his clothes. :)

TA-DA! The finished lengths! Megan is actually standing at full height. Way cute!

I just realized Monica doesn't look to thrilled right here but really, she was! And they are holding their hair that they got cut off. Megan and Karly's was so thick that they had to do two braids and not one. Monica's hair was still fairly thick.

I got my hair cut also. I just don't take pictures of myself. Just picture Megan's hair but darker and my face instead of hers. :) Poor child to have the same haircut as her mother. But what else can you do with thick, curly hair?

Our hair was cut by Ashlie Johnson, a girl in an other ward. She did a great job! We are all happier to have shorter hair. So much easier to take care of!

Twas' the Night Before Christmas.....

Finally, it seems appropriate to post this. Megan, Karly, and Monica were in the school play this time around. I am getting around to post now for a couple reasons. One, it seems like a better time to post it because it is after Thanksgiving. And two, I finally got around to uploading the pictures off my camera. But you know the second one is the most correct one. :)

The play took place on November 14th, 2009. The title was "Twas' the Night Before Christmas." Just an apology before hand. Sorry about the quality of the pictures. Not the best lighting conditions in the auditorium for picture taking.

Megan was one of the 4 narrators. She was Jolly the Elf. She is the second from the left. She is waving her microphone at us.

Karly played the doll Chatty Cathy. No idea why she was cast as a doll known for talking. :) She had to hug the boy who played Santa and was absolutely mortified to do so. So I had to get a picture of it. ;)

Monica was in the chorus of carolers. She is in the front row, third from the right. In the pink scarf.


The whole cast. I couldn't tell ya where the kids are in this picture if I wanted to. But I had to get one of the cast.

The play was good and very cute. The girls did great. The part that thrilled them the most was Mike's mom, Grandma Kitty, flying in from California to surprise them the night before. She came just to see their play. The kids really enjoyed having Grandma all to themselves. It turned out to be a really nice weekend. Every one enjoyed themselves and had a great time.

November 16, 1996....

Here we are. Two crazy kids who decided to get married. Thirteen years ago today, Mike and I were sealed in the Los Angeles Temple for time and all eternity. And I couldn't be happier still.

Look how young and skinny we were!

He makes me laugh everyday. Says he STILL loves me. Puts up with me and my mood swings (5 pregnancies people!) He calms me down before I can completely lose it at times. He told me never to worry unless there is a good reason. We still love to hang out together. He can keep me sane when the kids are driving me insane. He has taken all the kids at once out of the house to give me time alone (without a diaper bag or stroller I might add). He has dimples when he smiles. He knows the difference between the Disney Princesses and know their songs. He goes to Disney on Ice and Hannah Montana concerts because he knows how much his little girls would love it. He lets me vent about anything and everything. He keeps me happy and can drive me crazy!

He is the most wonderful man I have ever met and I am so grateful he is in my life and that he loves me. I am thrilled I am the one who gets to spend the eternities with him because there is no one else that I would want to spend it with.

Crazy Baby....

I went to get Baby up from her nap. This is what I found. The crazy girl.

Pants off. Good thing her diaper wasn't off this time.

The shirt is inside off and backwards.

The socks have light pink and blue stripes on them. You would see them if they were on right side out. :)

I have gone in before and she has been naked. She just announced to me, "Mommy! I naked!" Good to know. Good thing she's cute!

I'm so glad when Daddy's home....

Okay, these pictures are from a little while ago. General Conference Sunday to be exact. But actually this happens when Daddy is home and laying on the couch. And with his work schedule sometimes it not a whole lot.

Daddy decided that the three youngest needed a great big hug! :)

Another view of the big hug!

Baby likes to get in his face. I don't know what to say about Monica's expression.

Baby and Daddy were yelling at each other. Baby was full volume. Mike wasn't.


Mike was trying to tickle them so Monica and Katelyn thought they could hold his arms down. Very productive, don't you think.



I think the girls like their Daddy. And I think he really like them too. :)

Halloween....

Here are the Halloween pictures. Aren't they cute?

Megan as a devil. No clue how she chose this but whatever.

Karly as a feisty, little witch. She was really just a witch but she is just naturally feisty and little so I added that too.

Monica as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. So pretty!

Katelyn deviated some and was a princess other than Cinderella this year. She chose Cinderella's "friend" Sleeping Beauty.

Baby (Mikayla) as Tinkerbell. No wings I know, but we live in Utah. It's nice weather here for Halloween if you don't have to wear hats and gloves along with your coats. They did have to wear coats so wings did not fit.

The whole motley crew. Who know that a devil and a witch could be friends a group of princesses? :) I love Halloween!

3's a Crowd....

So I went to wake the "K"s up for school. And this is what I found.

Yes, it is my 3 middle children in 1 twin bed. Monica has the habit of if she wakes up during the night she leaves her room, goes into Karly's, and climbs into bed with her.

This is after the first flash went off. Monica put her head up.

The second flash woke Karly and Katelyn up. Monica went back under the covers.

My thought is that it can't be all that comfortable to sleep like that. Oh, well.

Isn't She Lovely....

So Mikayla was up to her usual tricks.

She found Megan's favorite lip gloss and decided she need to see how the color would look on her. Megan did find it funny after a couple seconds. I think that Mikayla needs a little help with her application technique. :)

Yeah...

Can we just say that I love my children but they drive me crazy!!!!! The kids just went back to school today after 3 weeks of being off track. I mean the break at first is nice but it gets old fast. My kids like to fight. No seriously, I really think that they enjoy fighting and watching me lose my patience over them fighting. If that wasn't true then why are they constantly fighting? Megan was even surprised to learn that I would call the police if she killed one of her sisters. No, I'm serious. Karly said the Megan was trying to kill her and it was over something very important I'm sure. Again, I love my children but they needed to go back to school so I could miss them at some point during the day. But when they get home it's like all the pent up sarcasm (and I have no idea were they get the gift of sarcasm from) and attitude comes out. I hear from their teachers (church and school) what polite, nice and friendly girls they are. I guess it's good that they are better for others than they are for me but come on! Save some of it for mom!

There was a accident at church yesterday. Mikayla is messing around on the bench as usual. The Sacrament has just been passed which meant snacks for the little ones that aren't fasting. Mikayla tries to turn around on the bench but instead takes a header on to the hymn book holder. She had not gone into full cry mode yet as Mike rushes her out of the chapel. Megan asks if I saw blood and I didn't think so. The last thing we want to happen is to have to leave church to take a kid to the ER because she took a header into a hymnal. He brings her in about 5 minutes later. She's calmed down but has a nice little cut on the outer end of her left eye and a nice bruise was already forming in her left cheek. Nice, huh? So all in all a good day at church. :)

All in all, I love my family but I am glad for the opportunity to miss my kids at some point during the day. :) Thank you all for the chance to vent a little.

Baby's Stitches.....

My Baby got stitches! I have 5 kids and she is the first to ever get stitches. I guess I should consider those odds lucky, but it was awful! She just went in to wake Monka up for school and she fell and hit her head on a doll cradle that my Dad made for the girls. I called Mike at work and told him to "Come home now." The three oldest were a mess. I sent them to school with a friend. Once Mike got home I could think better. He took Katelyn back to work with him and I took Mikayla to the doctor's office. She was such a good girl! She hardly cried and stayed still while the doctor put the stitches in. She even told him "Thank you!" as we left. He said he was not used to that. :)

Here they are...4 stitches in her forehead. We kept them covered with a band aid. I took this when I was changing the band aid one morning.

The up close view.

The day she got the stitches out. It was 6 days after she got them in. My baby was a good girl again. Didn't cry at all and told the doctor "Thank you!" again.

For some reason she thought it was funny to put her foot up while I was trying to get a good picture. I have a few like this. :)


Now Mikayla was just being silly.

Good to see that a little flesh wound did not change my baby.

Smile for the Birdie...

I got Mikayla's 2 year pictures taken. She was little miss shy girl so we didn't get a lot of good shots but we got a couple.

I do like this close up shot of her face. Very cute!!

This is the picture that makes people laugh. Just take a closer look at her hands. There is a certain finger that is sticking out. Maybe she was really trying to tell us her true feelings about this whole photo session. :)

Serenity Now!!!!

It has been one of those mornings and I usually don't vent here but I really need to. You know it's bad when they are only up for a half an hour and you wish that you, or them, were back in bed and there was silence.

There is no need for me to wait to find out what it is like to have teen-age girls....I already know to some degree. And let's just say that I am so not looking forward to the next 18 years. Megan has already shown me that she is going to be a great teen-ager for me!

Megan came out of the bathroom and with tears in her eyes says, "You mean we are going to let our SeaWorld passes expire?! How can you?!" I am completely blindsided by this. I am watching Dora with a 2 year-old on my lap. SeaWorld is the last thing on my mind. It's not like we live so close to it. The only reason that we have them is we went in November after Mike's brother came home from his mission. One of Mike's suppliers gave us passes for the day and they had a special that if you bought a day pass it automatically extended to a year pass. We live in land locked northern Utah, what on earth are we even doing with year passes?! Well, we have them and apparently it is a cry worthy event for my 11 year-old. Then again what isn't cry worthy these days.

It is not just Megan. Karly will drive me to the looney bin for sure. This morning she tells me that she isn't hungry after 3 minutes of her cereal sitting in front of her. So I tell her to at least eat a couple more bits so she will at least last until lunch. She doesn't want to. So she sits for the next 10 minutes telling me why she doesn't want to eat the cereal. Fine, don't eat it! Then it occurs to her that she is hungry, but the cereal is too soggy for her to eat. So she proceeds to sit for another 10 to 15 minutes crying to me that she is hungry but she can't eat soggy cereal. Of course, this delays Karly getting dressed and 5 minutes before we are supposed to leave she is still in her pajamas because she wants to wear capris with pockets. How dare I suggest that she wear pants she's already worn! Gasp! How could I?! I suggest another outfit, but no, it doesn't have pockets. It just won't do! So she finds a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that ironically has the word "Loveable" written across the front. Yeah, good times.

My favorite recently is the subject of Megan's bangs. She wants bangs. She pictures the one that sweep over her forehead and come below her eyes. The ones that stay down when the rest of her hair is pulled back. She wanted them but I kept telling her that it wouldn't work well because of her hair. She has curly hair just like mine. I kept telling her that the bangs would just curl up like the rest of her hair. Apparently, she did not believe me because she cut her own!! I look at her one morning and asked "Did you cut yourself bangs?!?!?!" Seriously, people! She cut herself bangs. Just like she wanted. But oh, sweet revenge. She hates them now!! They just curl up and she can't do anything with them! They come out when ever she has her hair back. She does not like them and regrets cutting them. I love when I am right and I don't have to say I told you so! Mean, I know. But hopefully she learned that I may know what I am talking about once in a while.

All I can say is I already have a teen-ager and I am not enjoying it.

My Baby is now 2....

As of the 16th of August, my baby is now officially a 2 year-old. I know I am a couple of weeks behind in posting this, but that is life. My little trouble maker, Mikayla Ann, is growing up. We had a great family party with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins around here. Lots of kids and lots of noise. :)

My cheesy girl watching me and her sisters decorate her cake. Katelyn picked out Triple Chocolate Fudge. I was game. Love the chocolate cake.

Showing one of the presents that she got. She didn't do a whole lot of opening. She had about 9 sisters and cousins willing to help her with that. :)

We had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. She loves "Mouse".

The cousins and sisters gathered around the table to sing Happy Birthday.

Good big sister Megan helped her reach the candles. I don't think she blew them out but I didn't see who did. She did try to grab the flame when they were lit.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet and lovable baby girl. I can't believe how fast you are growing up. I can't imagine our family without you.

Day at Lagoon....

The day before Mikayla's 2nd birthday we went to Lagoon. It was Mike's family day there sponsored by his work, Eagle Eye Produce. It is only the second day that we have been to Lagoon. Last year was the first time for Mike's other work day at Lagoon. One thing I do like about Lagoon is the number of trees in the park. There is a lot of shade. The weather was really nice. In the 70's. It rained that morning so the kids actually started off with jackets on. It was a fun day. The kids loved it. Mikayla was old enough to go on a lot of the kiddie rides and Karly is finally tall enough to go on some roller coasters. Megan invited her friend, Hailey, and they had a fun time exploring the park for periods of time just the 2 of them.

If you look really close in the blue car you will see Megan, Karly, and Katelyn.

Karly and Mikayla on one of the kiddie rides. Karly and Monica were really good about going on rides with Mikayla.

Katelyn and Mikayla on the helicopter ride.

Hailey, Bailee (daughter of a family friend), Monica, Karly, Katelyn, and Megan waiting in line for the "Scrambler" ride. The ride is also in the first picture.

Mikayla, Karly, Monica, and Katelyn on a ride in the kiddie area. I liked it because all four of them could ride together.

Megan complains that I didn't get a lot of pictures of her there. Most of the pictures are of the younger 4. Megan was off with Hailey, so I couldn't get pictures with them. Karly also at one point went on the older rides with Megan and Hailey. The over-protective mother in me was nervous about that but it all turned out well.

All in all, a good day of family fun. You really can't complain about a free day at Lagoon with your family, can you?