AND this is WHY I stay at HOME

I have been meaning to do this for awhile now... I'm finally posting this video clip! This is exactly why I stay at home with my kids. This is Dallin just figuring out how to crawl back in early December and Madi being the ham that she is!

☺Turn the music on the sidebar off if you want to hear the video clip ☺

I know the video quality is crummy, I recorded it on a low quality so I could email it to Grandma & Grandpa Hogg & Aunty Lindsay... they were just saying a day or 2 before that they were missing seeing Dallin & the kids.

And I just found this video clip... I couldn't resist adding it. This is my kids in a nut shell... they're nuts!

Sunday, Sunday...

Well, we got through another weekend. And I made it through the kids having Friday off, lol, like it was hard, lol. Friday went well. In my last post I said I wanted NOTHING to do with cake, especially after the marathon cake day on Thursday. I went downstairs afterwards and the first thing June said to me was that she really, really wanted to make cupcakes and decorate them. June got a cupcake decorating set for Christmas ~she wanted it all year~ so she wants to use it any time she can. Of course, I was totally caked out and told her how I was feeling... but I also told her she could use the leftover icing and practice her techniques on her practice board. That just wasn't going to cut it for June. She begged, she got out the bowls and all the supplies and put on her apron and came back and told me she could make it and that I wouldn't have to do it... all I had to do was to tell her what to do. How can I say no to that? So I mommy-ed up and put on an apron and helped her make the cupcakes, but decided to make it a learning experience, so I had her do everything. Teach a man to fish... teach a girl to bake! She was so happy! And I was nauseated making another batch of cake! haha... I got over it when they came out, it's so hard not to snitch a little here and there. Oh, I really need a new hobby that DOESN'T include food! Anyways that's how Friday went, it was about making things with kids and coloring and play dough and watching the kids sled down the snow piles in the driveway! Good times, good kids, I'll keep them! ☺

My girls Madi & June! Love them!
(Madi is 3 1/2 yrs old here... although she's convinced her birthday is every day lately, oh, and that she's turning 9! Funny girl! And Miss June is 9 1/2 yrs old here... she's really growing up to be such a nice, beautiful girl, inside and out!)

Putting the cupcake liners in the pans...

I couldn't resist this picture of Madi & her crazy grin!

June is such a GREAT teacher and big sister! She is SO good with Madi, I'm so proud of her! She will make an excellent babysitter one day (I wish that day was here already!) and an even better mother! I'm so grateful to have my girls! ☺

Friday night Amanda brought the sample smash cakes back to me and on Saturday I was able to pick up the CD with the images. She did such a great job! They look SO much better than my pictures of them on the stove! I need a new talent, it's photography. That's the next thing I am going to learn and become good at.... even if it kills me and everyone around me, lol! And where will I find the time? Not sure about that one yet, but I am determined, I'll find it one way or the other. Life is more interesting when I'm trying to develop myself ~ learning is good. Anyways, here are a few of the pictures Amanda took of my cakes.

And now it's Sunday, I'm blogging and just reflecting on how sweet life can be when I take the time to stop and think about it. Bryce and I were looking at the slide show at the bottom of the page, it's the one I put on when I first started the blog. As we watched the pictures come up, tears came to my eyes, my little children, how sweet and little they were... and now they are growing up. It's great that they are growing up, there are many wonderful things that come with that... but it saddens me a little, my time as a mother with a house full of children really is limited. It will end, they will all grow up and leave the house. I feel so grateful to have my children, I just don't even have the words to express how much I love them! I hope that one day they will come and read 'moms blog' (and maybe even my grandchildren) and I hope that they will know when they read these posts, how much I adore them. Happy tears! And those are my thoughts for the day ☺

PS Bryce is happy I'm blogging, it's the closest thing I have to writing in a journal. Bryce is fantastic at journaling... he has tons of journals, good for him! He teases me constantly about whether or not I have even written about the kids births, funny man! OK, so maybe there are HUGE gaps in time in my journals, but I'm getting there. I tease him back though, I tell him at least my journals have pictures and videos! lol... good times ☺

This has been on mind alot lately

This has been on my mind alot lately. Bryce shared this with me a few months ago and we often go back to watch the clip. I've had many moments over the last month where I have been able to sit and ponder this. (I know, shocking, I do sometimes have time to sit & think, haha!) I have felt the tender mercies of the Lord many times... it has been at the front of my mind alot lately. It's so good to recognize all the times the Lord has influence in my life, I'm sure it happens more than I have - no, make time to recognize. I'm going to try to find more moments in life to ponder the good things and to count my many blessings.

Speaking of blessings, I have all 5 of my blessings home today! It's a PD day so the kids have no school! It should be a good day, I hope. At least it's reasonably warm outside and they can go out to play... and I can go out with them too! The 2 things on my to do list today are to get groceries (the poor fridge is BARE... it's perfect for cleaning, lol) and I think I'll make bread today. We can never have enough bread in this home!! My not so little eaters will eat me out of house and home if I don't keep up on things. But that's another story for another day.


☺ ***TURN OFF MUSIC ON SIDEBAR TO HEAR*** ☺

And this is what I did in all my spare moments yesterday... holy cow cake day! A local photographer (Amanda Lazarski Photography) approached me and asked me if I would be interested in making "Smash Cakes" for the photo shoots she does for children turning one. These cakes are for the child to do whatever he/she wants to do... eat, smash, smear, whatever... all the while Amanda takes the pictures. So yesterday I made up some samples. Amanda will be photographing them today for me... sweet! I know they'll look MUCH better than my own take a picture on the oven pictures, lol.

I'm glad there are no cakes in our home today. I don't even want to see cake for at least a couple days! Although, now that I think of it, I have to make one for Monday... I'm teaching at Michaels and will need to have a cake there for the Decorating Basics course. Sigh. There will never be an end to cake now, lol. Whatever, it's fun to make... I just need to stop picking at the cake and at the icing! And that's another story for anther day!

I'm off, I'm going to spend some time with the kids! ☺

We didn't think today would go this way!

WOW WOW WoW wOw! Today was supposed to be just a regular day. The morning today was normal, lunch came, that started out normal. Bryce and the kids came home for lunch. As I was taking lunch out of the oven, Bryce was upstairs and started yelling my name... honestly, I thought he just needed something... then he yells from upstairs, "Melissa! I got an interview invite to NOSM!!" (NOSM is the Northern Ontario School of Medicine) (Bryce had checked his email when he was upstairs and he got the interview invite via email.) I started screaming, we were both hooting & hugging & jumping, the kids had no idea what we were jumping up and down about... they thought we had lost it for sure! Then I started to cry, and cry, and cry... so many happy tears... we have been married for just over 13 years now and it has been a long road for us. Marriage wise, we are great, but honestly, there just has never quite been enough to go around. I married Bryce for love, he only had a bike and a backpack, literally, no exaggeration there. If Bryce can get into medical school and become a doctor, it will be such a blessing! We will be able to do so much more for our little family, like braces, missions, marriage, college/university, hey... how about putting them in a real house! (haha... the house will come this year, one way or the other.) What a day, what a day... we didn't think he'd even get an invite to this school... he just applied because it was one of the schools he was able to apply to. WOW. Such a blessing, truly one of the tender mercies of the Lord... so many happy tears today.

I have no idea if he'll get in. 1800 people applied, Bryce was one of 400 who got an interview invite and there are only 64 spots available. I'm so proud of him for trying so hard... everything from studying like a mad man, to killing himself (and sometimes me!) working on his applications, to continually studying the sciences on a a daily basis. If anyone deserves a chance at med school, Bryce does. (I know, I'm biased) His interview will be in Thunder Bay, Ontario on March 26th. Looks like we'll be booking flights and a hotel. Wow. (Did I mention that already?) Bryce will find out in another couple weeks if he gets an invite to University of Calgary by end of this month. I hope he gets to have one there too, but we'll see what happens. I'm just grateful for this opportunity! Yay Bryce!!