A Royal Bash

Today we celebrated my sweet Sadie Baby's birthday. Goodness gracious, she is 3! Of course we had to celebrate, in royal style complete with dress ups. That's how Sadie spends most of her days, in some sort of princess attire. Sadie got to celebrate with lots of good friends.We made pink gingerbread castles, and I am sorry for the poor moms, cause these kids got a lot more in their mouths that on the castles. Candy much?!?Sadie and her good friend, TysonIt takes more kids than you think to open a present.....Then it was off to Space Aliens for our traditional birthday dinner. I think I will have to open a franchise in Oregon. This place is awesome for kids but also DELISH! Sadie and her "birthday ears"

Malia and the rest of us enjoying our day!

We love you so much Sadie! You are such a special part of our family! You have such an infectious personality and always make us laugh and smile when we're around you. Happy Birthday Babe!

Don't Mess With the Big Boys

I thought I better preface Sadie's birthday post with a pic of the damage done when Sadie tried to join a very intense 4 year old wrestling match. And the funny thing is, after we took off the ice, she wanted to rejoin them!

For Some Patriotic Flavour

In honor of election day..........

(The whole thing is not me doing a solo, I promise!!)

and one more......


Sorry guys.....he's MINE!!!

A Frightful Night

This set of chickitys are a little more sweet than scary, but they sure had a fun Halloween! We partied, trick-or-treated, partied, and trick-or-treated some more. It was a balmy 60 degrees out, awesome for us! Thanks all of our FUN friends for hanging out with us!!! This is at the end of the night and we were POOPED!!! The highlight of my day was watching the parade Jaden's YMCA class put on and all their cute songs. I'll post some video if I can figure it out. Now that Halloween is over, the holidays are rolling right around. What a FUN time of year!

I love these SILLY farm animals, and their silly farmer!!!!

8's--just for you Brenda...

8 favorite TV shows: -if only I had cable....
1. Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. John and Kate Plus 8
4. Birth Day
5. Trauma, life in the ER
6. Ace of Cakes
7. Biggest loser
8. Saved by the bell--don't we all love an occasional re-run?!?

8 Favorite Resteraunts:

1. Chili's
2. Baja Fresh
3. Texas Roadhouse
4. Mom's kitchen
5. Panda Express
6. Cholos in Haleiva
7. mexican
8. mexican

8 things I did today:

1. Ding dong ditched someone
2. Took a sick little boy to the dr.
3. Ate too much halloween candy
4. Rode the elliptical (see above)
5. Cooked my kids brussel sprouts for the 1st time
6. Did all the laundry but haven't folded it yet!
7. Tried to fulfill matt's request of making a cake in the shape of a person using a walker for a presentation, still haven't figured out how I'm gonna do that.....
8. Wasted too much time thinking of all these things!

8 things I look foreward to:
1. Moving out of an apartment
2. Family Vaca
3. Playing with my kids when they get up in the morning--hoping they'll sleep until at least 7:30
4. Someday having a machine to fold my laundry
5. The holidays
6. Going on a date with the hubby
7. Some certain cosmetic surgery-haha
8. SUMMER!

I tag whomever.....I am just doing this because I was promised my tush would shrink if I did!

The moment I've been waiting for.........

My MOM AND DAD came to visit!!!! It was so wonderful having them here! This was the first time they drove and it took them many many hours and we are just so thrilled that they came. Yahoo!! Thanks mom and dad!!!! We had a blast with them as usual! We are already missing you to pieces! Can't wait to see you again SOON!!!!

Yes, I am aware that we are TOTALLY Pumpkin patch FANATICS this year, but it is seriously so fun, and we are taking advantage of ever second that we don't have to wear parkas, boots and double layers of gloves. Here are a few more pictures of my kids at the patch, and I'm sorry but they are just too cute to leave some out!!! Some are of Jaden and the YMCA preschool kiddos, and others are just another trip we took out there for fun--

Our lives have been good, but busy lately! We are still trying to decide where to move, so if you have any terrific ideas, LET ME KNOW!!!!! We are open to anything! Oh, and I must apologize to you who read this, I totally forgot the password, so I don't know how to change my music on here. I am getting very sick of Natalie...AGGH!

BUSY BEES

Life has been WAY too busy lately!!! Not much time do all the stuff I really want to do, like PLAY!!!! Since one of our cars got totalled, I am busy driving Matt to school at the hospital EVERY day and picking him up, (hopefully we will get a new one before too long) plus taking Jaden to preschool and all of the other driving to stuff to take care of the fam. IT IS EXHAUSTING!!!! I have also been working more, trying to get in some shifts and pay down some student loans. I really wonder how some really big families do it..trying to keep the house clean... I feel like I can barely keep up with laundry for 3 little kids. How in tarnation did my MIL do laundry for 8 people??? YIKES! Isn't it nuts, I know I'm not the only one who gets overwhelmed with life.....

I haven't taken too many pictures lately, this last weekend we went to Sesame Street Live- which the kids had a blast! They were just about as excited to be in the big civic center as they were to see the show, there were so many flashing lights and the kids had to get up and clap and stomp their feet a lot, so they just thought it was great. Jaden is still talking about how funny the "guy in the garbage can is". (He has never really watched the show). Sadie, of course LOVES elmo, don't all little kids at one point???

Just had to put a pic of Jaden's first day of preschool, not too exciting as he did go last year too, but he does love it. He goes 3 hours a day 3 days per week. It's just the perfect amount of time for him to get some much needed kid time, and me to get some MUCH needed girl time!!!
Jaden also begs about everyday to use my camera....I am kinda weird with my camera, but I guess I was feeling nice this time. OH, and yay news, Malia is taking about 8 or 10 steps--FINALLY. She is only 13 months but I really thought is would never happen, when I am seeing all these younger babies all over walking. YAY MALIA.... I will try to figure out how to upload some video.

Malia celebrated her first birthday on the 15th. It was awesome to have so many of our wonderful friends there to help us celebrate her special day. We celebrated with a luau, which was a little dampened by the millions of bees swarming around the food--but was great fun. Thanks to everyone who made this day so special and memorable for Malia and the rest of our family! You guys ROCK!!!

Thanks Shelley for taking these awesome pictures and everyone else who helped. I couldn't ask for better friends! I love you guys! I still can't believe my baby is one. She is so tiny, so sometimes I think of her as just a small baby, but she has the best personality ever. She is constantly laughing and will do ANYTHING to get her brother and sister to laugh. She is our ham! Even though she is 17 pounds, she will chase the kids and try to tackle them and then just laugh and laugh. She is a cuddle bug and gives the best hugs ever. How lucky I am to be her momma! Happy Birthday Lee-lee!

Lazy Days

So, I cannot figure out how to turn the pic the right way, but had to post my cute kid!!!

We are just loving summer to the MAX!!! Hello people, it is August already. Just crazy! Jaden is just doing awesome in the water, which is super fun to watch. He has taken a lot of swim lessons and had a few setbacks, so it is so fun to watch him go crazy in the water!!! If you notice the pics of Sadie are sparce, it's because she hates her pic taken, so I have to be very sneaky to get a good one.

I cannot believe my baby is almost one! She is such a joy in our family. We are so so lucky to have her!!!!

Gutter Ball!

We went bowling with our great friends, the Wilkinsons. They are so much fun!!! The kids, of course had a ball. I am almost too embarrassed to reveal our scores, but, we were definitely creamed by our competition!! Thanks for the fun afternoon!!!

Swimmin' lessons

Jaden spent much more time playing than learning, but had a blast at swim lessons. Thanks Mandy for hanging out with me and making those weeks much more fun!!!

JADEN is TAGGED

Q: What is something mommy always says to you?

Jaden: "Mind the rules mommy always says"

Q: What makes mommy smile?

Jaden: "Being a good minder"

Q: What makes mommy sad?

Jaden: "When I don't mind"

(I am sensing a sad but true theme)

Q: What makes mommy laugh?

Jaden: "When Sadie and me dance"

Q: What was mommy like as a child?

Jaden: "mommy loves toys"

--Still do!!!

Q: How old is mommy?

Jaden: "80"

--uuuuu

Q: How tall is mommy?

Jaden: "as tall as a tree"

Q: What is mommy's favorite thing to do?

Jaden: "sing to the radio"

Q: What does mommy do when you're not at home?

Jaden: "play with my toys"

--If only I had time to play with your toys Jaden!!!

Q: If mommy were someone on TV, who would she be?

Jaden: "Dora, and I would be boots!"

Q: What is mommy really good at?

Jaden: "making spinach brownies"

--mmmmm!

Q: What is mommy NOT good at?

Jaden: "driving a car"

--c'mon Jaden, I'm a great driver! :)

Q: What is mommy's job?

Jaden: "cooking me food---and taking care of sick people"

--that about sums it up!

Q: What is mommy's favorite food?

Jaden: "tomatoes"

Q: What do you and mommy like to do together?

Jaden: "color with markers and play"

--yep, we do a lot of this!!!

Q: How are you and mommy the same?

Jaden: "we both love the movie, Elf "

--he's right, we've watched this for many quiet times!!!

Q: How are you and mommy different?

Jaden: "you're taller than me"

Q: How do you know mommy loves you?

Jaden: "by giving hugs and kisses"

--that's right little man, now GET OVER HERE!

Now we tag EVERYONE!!!

Last of the Reunion pics....

So I am apoligizing for the weird smorgasboard of pics I posted. For some reason my computer illiterate problems are making this a total mess, but I am too tired to try fix it, so here are my Durtschi fam reunion pics....

4th of july parade in victor

KILL-ER-WHALES. Watch your back baby or the killer whales will get you. Yeah, you.