Birthday Boy......

Well, this little baby:









is now this big boy:









He turned 5 years old on April 5th...so here are my 5 favorite things about him:

*He has THE longest eyelashes and THE softest cheeks in the world (hence, my nickname for him: Sweetcheeks)

*His contagious laugh

*He is very protective of his sisters (although that usually is when I'm not around.....we're working on that...)

*He's a thinker. He mulls things over for a while, stays very quiet, and then out of the blue he'll tell me something he'd been thinking about. He called his uncle Audi the day after his birthday and this was his conversation. "Audi? I'm 5 years old now. Where's my present?" Tell us what you're thinking about, Dallin....

*Dallin still likes for me to lay down with him at bedtime, and sometimes he has a hard time waiting in the basement for me to finish putting Madison to bed. So he'll "sneak" upstairs and hide in the linen closet outside her room to wait. The other night after Madison was asleep (we're sleep-training right now...long story for another day), this is what I found when I looked in the linen closet:





Did I mention how much I love this sweet boy??
Happy Birthday, Dally. We love you!

Random post

I'd been looking for this performance for some time and today my friend, Rhonda, told me what it was called- if you've never seen it before, it's definitely worth watching- Kelly Clarkson fan, or not. Amazing.

Finally posting Easter pics-

Easter was over a week ago, so I figured it was time to post some pics...Natalie and Dallin have always been willing to have their pictures taken, so it never occurred to me that some children simply do NOT like to say cheese and smile when asked. Enter Madison. So- I still don't have many good pictures of the three of them together. For the record: Madison was very whiny that morning, so YES- I gave her her plug. And Dallin's tattoo he'd put on 3 days prior was STILL on his arm despite 3 baths and me scrubbing with soap. So he wore his tattoo to church on Easter Sunday. Don't judge me. lol

I'm happy to say our basement is now 99% finished; all but the bathroom tile, toilet and sink. Tim has done an amazing job on it- he really did some beautiful work- I'm so lucky to have such a talented husband. Now just comes the task of making it feel like "us". In Natalie's room I'm working on a simple tied quilt made from these fabrics:And I repainted a dresser we got from Tim's parents when we were first married- it's been well-used and is still surprisingly sturdy! So with a fresh coat of paint and knobs that I painted, it's as good as new:












That's all that's really new around here. But here's a funny: We have a carpet-runner going down the hall from our bedroom. About 10:00 last night I went to go check on the kids before going to sleep and I saw a long lump under the rug, but nothing hanging out. I thought one of the kids had stuffed some blankets or toys under it, but when I got closer I realized Dallin had snuck upstairs and was hiding under it fast asleep! So Tim came over and gently uncovered him saying, "Hey Buddy- whatchya doin'?" Dallin didn't skip a beat- he just smiled and said, "Who's there?" So we walked him back to his room and he fell back to sleep. Good times.