Happy Birthday to Ella

Better late than never right? My sweet Ella turned 4 last month. I can't believe how big she is. She is a smart little thing and is always saying the funniest things. She has started to get her own little sense of humor and she tries to make up jokes (they don't always make the most sense but they're funny). Ella is such a great helper. She is always wanting to help with William. She loves to play house, play pretend, she likes to play outside, ride her bike and play with her barbies. Ella loves her dance class and has recently figured out how to do cartwheels (she has also tried to teach me - to no avail).

We had Ella's Birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and had the whole family there (with the exception of my sisters in Alaska - we miss you!) We told Ella she could go to a movie for her birthday. We asked if she wanted a date with mom or dad. She said she wanted a date with the whole family! We took all of the kids and went to "Gnomeo and Juliet". Ella wanted a ladybug Birthday cake. I wanted to do a homemade birthday cake for her, like my mom always did. But my planning on time wasn't the greatest! When we got home from the movie, we had 1 hour before we had to leave. Luckily I made the fondant before hand, but boy was that a crazy hour! Ella had such a great birthday and we all had lots of fun at Chuck E. Cheese. Happy Birthday my Ella Bella! We love you.

Yes, I did a post!!!!!

I know it has been WAY too long. I don't have any great excuses, except that I am a full time working mother of 4 and I don't know the meaning of "extra time" for blogging. Every time I think about posting pictures and doing something "quick" I just get overwhelmed because I don't know where to start. So here I go...

William is now 7 months old and he is about the cutest thing ever! He is now crawling - and has been army crawling since just before he turned 7 months. He get's around the house so fast! He always wants to be in the action with the other kids. He follows them all around the house. Dean calls him "buddy" all of the time (it's adorable). Ella is a great little helper and makes sure the ground is clean so William doesn't choke on anything. Sometimes I catch Elysee talking to him in the sweetest little voice and she likes to bring him mountains of toys.

Elysee is a fun little angel, but at the same time, she is just TROUBLE. When she doesn't get her way, boy does she have a scream! She is so shy in front of other people, but when she warms up to you her fun little personality comes out. Lately she likes to fill up bags/backpacks/sacks/purses etc. with whatever she can find (toys, food, paper) she carries it all around with her. In the evening when it's time to clean up the house I dread finding one of her bags, because I know it will take a while to put all of that crap away. (it's really funny) Elysee is taking dance with Ella and she loves it. She is always a couple of steps behind and it is so cute. A couple of months ago we were talking to her about dance and we said do you know what day dance is? And out of the blue she said, "Tuesdays". We weren't expecting her to actually know, so it threw uss off a little bit. She might be quiet, but she is observant.

Dean is so mischevious but he is really tender hearted too. He loves to dress himself (and he likes to pick out clothes for Ely). He changes his outfit a few times a day and then asks if he looks cool. He loves to chase the girls around the house and tease them. He loves pirates and has some Pirates of the Carribean crocks (that are too big) but they are his favorite shoes. I think I need to put him in gymnastics because he loves tumbling. He has no fear (scary!). He's always trying to breakdance too. Love it!!!! He is now totally potty trained, so now I only have William in diapers.

Ella is sure a spunky little thing. She turned 4 in March and we had her birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. She loves to sing and dance. She makes up her own songs all of the time and she can come up with some pretty funny lyrics! She loves to play house and likes to be the boss of everyone. Lately she hasn't been the most honest kid. She will be mean to Dean or Ely and they'll come tell me. Ella will get this look, and say she didn't do anything. The other day I asked her how preschool was, she said, "I didn't go to preschool". And went on eating lunch. I glared at John and said, "I thought you said you took her to preschool today." He started laughing and said, "I did take her to preschool!" So I asked Ella again, "Did you do anything fun at preschool?" She said, "Mom, I told you, I didn't go to preschool today!" She acted irritated that I would even question her again. So then I got after John and said, "hun, why didn't you just tell me she didn't go?" At this point John was chuckling, and he said, "Kelli I am not lying! Ella is! Watch this... Ella, who's birthday was it at preschool today?" She looked at him, rolled her eyes and said, "Garrison, dad!" I wish I could've gotten it all on video, because I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. I couldn't believe what a good liar she was!!!! What in the world?!? Where did that come from? After I asked her why she lied to me, she laughed and said so matter of factly, "mom, I was just being a sneaky fox".

Our little William is here!

William Robert Eisenhart joined our family last week.

He was born on Tuesday, September 21st.

He weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 21 inches long.

I love the way they do pictures at the hospital now. Instead of having a "mug shot" they have someone come in and take professional pictures. In the pictures he is less than 1 day old! He is so incredibly handsome. We all just love him SO much. Ella is a little mommy and loves to hold him ALL of the time. Dean and Ely are really sweet with him and give him little gentle kisses.

4th of July Fun

Fun outfits from Nona Eisenhart

Daytime fireworks

Dean's first time ever playing with a toy gun (brought by a cousin) and he didn't want to put it down!

Yummy Yummy

Trampoline Fun

Both big and little kids had fun on the playground

We had a great 4th /3rd of July. We had the whole Briggs family over for a fun BBQ. We did the same thing last year, so I guess it is now a tradition. The kids all loved the new backyard with the big playground and trampoline. We did a few "daytime" fireworks and the kids thought it was great! It was nice to have the family over and have all of the cousins playing together. Since two of my sisters live in Alaska it was a rare thing to have everyone together. I am so thankful that we live in a great Nation and have the freedoms that we have.

Boooo to my computer!

I just want to say BOOOOO to my computer! I would really like to do a post of Disneyland with lots of cute pictures, but my pictures are all on my laptop (which is broken). As soon as it is fixed expect lots of cute pictures!

Only two more weeks until summer! I think I am more excited than my students. We have a lot of fun things that we are going to do this summer. Right now we are in the process of making our backyard a "kid paradise". Who am I kidding it is going to be a family paradise. We are having a fence put in this week, which will make me and the kids so happy. I can send them out to play without having to worry that they will wander into the street. We are tripling the size of our garden. Wahoo! A big playground and trampoline are coming soon. And in September we are getting a 2 story playhouse. I am just giddy about it!!!!

Both of my sisters and their kids that live in Alaska are coming to visit this summer. I can't wait to spend some good quality time with them. We have a lot of fun activities planned with the Briggs side of the family.

Ella is going to be taking swimming lessons, itty-bitty soccer, and start pre-school this summer. She is so excited for "big girl school". She keeps on saying I get to go to school, like mommy's school.

Dean and Elysee are just going to explore this summer. They are starting to talk more and more. It's really interesting if Dean is alone with me he talks quite a bit, but when the girls are around he lets them do the talking. He's learning young how to be a boy! Haha.

Easter Fun

We had a great Easter at our house! The Easter Bunny made three stops for our family.
One stop was in Heber at Grandma and Grandpa Briggs' house. We sure had a lot of fun. Ella was really good at finding the hidden prizes. Dean's favorite part was picking up the candy, then throwing it so he could pick it up and then "find" it again. Elysee was Grandma's buddy and held her hand the whole time.

The next stop was at Nana and Papa Eisenhart's house. There were fun Easter baskets and lots of candy filled eggs.

Last but not least the Easter Bunny stopped at our house. What a crazy morning! John didn't get home from work until 9:00 AM. (We were going on vacation at 10:00 AM) The kids just couldn't wait to play with their fun things from the Easter Bunny. They all got gardening things, because they love to play outside in the dirt. Everyone got a few outfits, and lots of candy. Ella and Ely received Disney Princess Barbies, and Dean got a Buzz Light Year action figure (although Dean and Ely ended up swapping toys). They were making big fun messes while we loaded up the car to head to DISNEYLAND! That Easter Bunny sure is smart, he even knew to put Disney type presents in the Easter baskets. (I just went to upload pictures of this and I didn't even take any!!! - It really was a busy morning)

We need your help - and BIG NEWS

Many of you will remember the photo contest we entered Ella in a couple of years ago where she won first prize (thanks to many of you who voted for her). We have entered the twins (Dean and Elysee) in a local photo contest on the radio. The prize is to win a dream nursery and free diapers for a year.

You may ask "Why would they want that when their babies are 20 months old?" Well, we can actually use it because WE ARE EXPECTING A BABY BOY IN SEPTEMBER!!!!! Yes, it's true we will have 4 kids ages 3 and under, needless to say, it really would help to have everyone vote so we can have the free diapers and nursery.

This time there are 2 rounds - the top 10 will move onto the "finals" and there will be another round of voting. It's really easy and quick to do. Here are the directions...

Just click on this link http://971zht.clearcontests.com/front/OpenContest.asp?Action=Login&SurveyID=63809&zx=361 and vote for #84

If you have never been on that radios website you will need to "register". When you put in your e-mail address it will say that an error occurred, click where it says to try again, then click where it says to register for the first time. I know it's annoying to do, but we would REALLY appreciate it!

Here is their picture (this way you don't have to go through all of them)




The first round of voting ends at noon on April 22nd - yes that is in 1 and 1/2 days!!!

Please forward (or repost this on your own blog) so we can get into the finals. There are 777 entries, our chances are slim, but it's worth a shot.

Thanks everyone for your support!