Pool Party

So this is our daily thing. The kids will hopefully swim until they are tired beyond belief, and then we go home to bed. That's the whole crew on the sofa in the pool house. The 4 amigos on the steps in the pool. Arthur doesn't actually swim with that much equipment but he loves to see what all he can get on at once. Thomas' Maylee adores Reidy. She thinks he's her own personal baby doll. It's a pretty woolly group, but they're fun.

Summer fun

So I realized that I haven't given an update lately on all the craziness that is the Tilley's. We've been hitting the pool almost everyday, so I haven't had the laptop with me. Arthur, a computer and a pool just shouldn't all get together is my thought. But we did hit the beach with the whole family ( and yes it's like a mafia), for a week of fun. So here are my beautiful boys ready to hit the beach for some surf and sand. And Reidy-poo's face says exactly how much fun he was having. Most nights we would cook and take the food outside to the tables and ate together and hung out while the kids played. it was really great. The place we stayed had a lazy river and all the kids loved it. It really turned out to be a great week. It definitely beat last year with me, and no husband, with two kids to entertain and very preggers with twins.

Chocolate!

Courtney gave me her recipe for chocolate buttercreme icing. How delicious! So for my great-aunt's b-day I just had to have it, so she got the vine cake. Last night I had my graduation from course 2. The finale is the flower basket cake. I thought I did pretty good. The basket weave is complicated but not hard once you get the hang of it and the flowers are all Royal icing I had piped earlier. Course 3 starts Monday. We'll see if I can master fondant and tiered cakes. Wish me luck!

Graduation

So summer's here which means school's over. Personally I'm overjoyed to not have to hit the road with 3 kids by 7:30 each morning, but I'm not ready to be home with them all of them all day either. Arthur "Graduated" from the 2's preschool group and Tyler allowed me to experience the joy of field day with him. (he just caught a water balloon.) He was so proud that he got the teacher at the dunkin' booth. He's got a pretty good arm.

Thank You!

On the 2nd, my sweet boys were 6months old. What angels they are. Dallin in the literal sense and Reid is the best baby I've ever seen . He's grown so quickly. You'd never know by looking at him that he was a preemie. How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father for the both of them. Every time I hold Reid in my arms, I count my blessings. To be a member of the church and to know that I have the opportunity to raise Reid now and the blessing to one day raise Dallin, means more to me than words can express. So I take this moment to Thank my Heavenly Father for the amazing gifts he's given me.

All-a-Flutter

So I went on a field trip to a butterfly farm. I didn't even know you could farm Butterflies. :) Actually it was pretty neat. A girl gave us a spiel all about their anatomy,(did you know their ears are on their knees?), and their life cycle. Then we went into the butterfly hut and all the kids got little pads soaked with sugar water. The butterflies love it and so they landed on the kids hands. It was pretty cool and Tyler really got a kick out of it.

I work for NASA!

I was looking through some old
pics and this is what I found.
Do you think there's a family resemblance? Personally I think I'm an undercover agent for NASA, working in the cloning dept. I mean really, could Arthur and Reid look anymore alike at the same age?!

Not too bad!

So I got ambitious and decided take a cake decorating course. I've wanted to forever, and finally did it. My first cake was small and cute with polka-dots allover it. The wolves ate it before I could get pictures. As it happened both of my grandmothers had birthdays during this course. So instead of gifts, (and me being stuck with lots of cake, like I need that), they got homemade birthday cakes decorated just for them. Grandma's was heart shaped and had purple drop flowers with a sparkly glitter all over it. Mema's had flower pots with all different colors pots and blooms. I don't think you can see in the picture but Ella Grace got into Mema's cake while our backs were turned. When we caught her she looked at us with a green mouth and the cake uncovered between her legs and asked for a plate. So I guess that's a compliment.

What are you Thinking?

This is the look I got the first time we tried cereal with a spoon? I think it says it all!

Time Flies

I can't believe that Reidy-poo is 5 months old already. You'd never know that he was a preemie. He's a "Hoss" now. He's 18 lbs. and chubby. He's so snugly and really giggly. I've never seen a baby be so giggly. He loves to laugh and Tyler told me today that his eyes "sparkle". Those boys adore him. Arthur has really been attentive to him recently, petting him and singing to him in the car. "Twinkle, Twinkle little Star", is his favorite. They are so much fun.

Playing Hooky

So I told Tyler that on Friday we were going to play "Hooky". He wanted know "How do you play that game?" We took the whole crowd, which meant 4 strollers; and went to the zoo. What an adventure. Tyler was loving it. He and one of the zoo workers had a twenty minute conversation about puffins. He also loved the chimps. One of the old guys would sit by the glass and rock his blanket. The kids loved that. Arthur thought it was so cool that monkeys have blankies too. Reid was so happy just to ride in his stroller and see everything. He's such a big boy these days. We even had a picnic at the car where I discovered I'd forgotten all of Reid's diapers. So cinching him in one of Maylee's was hilarious, but effective. It was a long day, but alot of fun. I just don't know who was more tired the boys or me!

SNOW!, (con't.)

Here's the other pics, sorry, technical difficulties.

SNOW!

You would think my kids had never seen snow before, they were so excited this morning when they got up. Especially since there was no school. We all went out for a little fun before breakfast and then hit up Me-Me's and Paw-Paw's for A sled-a-thon courtesy of Uncle John. A special thanks to my husband who helped me make the fabulous fashion statement you're so enjoying.

The Monkey tree

When the boys were little they would talk about climbing Me-ma's trees, and we'd say "just like monkeys." So the trees became known as monkey trees. With weather being so nice lately the boys have been loving the outdoors again. So here a shot of the "Monkey Tree" and all the monkeys in it.

"peek-abo"

Reid got a high chair for Christmas, that I finally decided to get out of the box and use since he;s getting bigger. Well I put him in it while we ate dinner, so he could be part of the action, but when i looked over, he's not so big. It was so cute, definitely a photo op.

"Reidy-Poo"

It's amazing to see how much weight a few pounds really are. Reid's gained about 3 pounds in the last seven weeks, and to me he's down right chubby. So of course that means naked tub pictures.

The Tooth Fairy

So we're at mema's sitting around and the kids are downstairs on the before mentioned bouncy house when Arthur and Jackson come tearing upstairs to tell us that Tyler's tooth "got fell out". Tyler comes in the den holding his right front tooth and bleeding like a stuck pig. So after the pandemonium calms down (i don't do teeth, blood and guts, yes; teeth, no), as this is not our fist tooth to bite the dust, Tyler looks at me and points out that big teeth net more money. He got two bucks and quite a gap.

A Blessed Day

For my birthday we blessed Reid. Fast Sunday just happened to be the 4Th. He was the best present. Reid wore his special outfit and looked like an angel. All our family came together which was fabulous. My mother-in-law is the best. We always have a lunch when we bless one of our boys, and she took over and did everything. The food, the cooking, the cleaning. She and my sister-in-laws did it all. A girl couldn't be more blessed with a wonderful family. Jeremy surprised me with a cake, and Tyler showed everyone his prowess at wii bowling. It was a great day.

Mema's Pump-it up

So for Christmas we convinced my Grandmother that since she has 6 great-grand kids now, who come over all the time, she needed to get them something to keep at her house that they could play with. So of course the logical answer was a bouncy house. We have transformed her downstairs into a pump-it up. She hates us now.

Christmas Shindigs

Our Christmas fun lasts for about a week, as any good time should. We kick off the season with the Tilley family get-together. We're a pretty big crowd these days, owing mainly to the fact that grandbabbies are popping up like rabbits, but it's always a good time. My boys love to see their cousins, mainly cause they're girls and that's a unusual species in our home.

Next we have the Smith family bash. It was nice to see everyone and spend some time catching up. Traditionally we sing and daddy plays the guitar. The "Nativity song" is a favorite. Aunt Shelley did a Christmas story skit. Check out my handsome Wise man.











Santa was tired out by the time Christmas morning rolled around due to a late night of elfing and middle of the night feedings. We woke up at 6:45am to a banging noise and discovered Arthur playing with his new farm set. In typical fashion we had to wake Tyler up, but he soon got in to it. Reid slept right through in his crib undisturbed by all the commotion much to his parents envy.


Christmas morning brings the tradition of breakfast in our jammies at Me-Me's and Paw-paw's. Followed by "Lupper" (a combo of lunch and supper) at Mema's. We were celebrated out by the end.