Merry Christmas

This Christmas we took video of the kids, so therefore, we didn't get too many regular pictures. It seems we can't do more than one thing at a time. But everyone was happy, and it is such a pleasure playing Mr. and Mrs. Clause. To think one day the kids won't be as excited as they are now, so we'll enjoy it while it lasts!

Lydia got a scooter and tons of horses, because she is OBSESSED with horses. (I want to put all the great deals I got on everything, but I don't think that's quite what the kids want to look back on and read about. Needless to say, we got some great deals on Amazon!)

Ashley and her American Girl Doll, Julie.

Nothing makes a 6 year old boy happier than a Marshmallow Boy & Arrow! He shoots everyone, the ammo doesn't hurt anyone, and it's delicious to eat. I have not found ONE marshmallow on the ground yet!

Mandy and her American Girl Doll Josephina!

Mitchell's first Christmas, he had no idea what was going on, but he like the balls that went to his little toy. Now I have to go buy batteries for it! I thought I stopped buying toys that require batteries?? Happy First Christmas to my Baby! He'll be 1 next month!!

Fall Concerts at Ocotillo Ridge

The 5th grade concert this year was great and Mandy got to sing a special part! There she is in the middle of the middle microphone. So proud of her!

The same night, the 3rd grade had their music performance as well and you can see Ashley in the middle on the back row. She had a dancing part as well. There is nothing better than watching your kids perform and enjoy it so much. Grandma Romney drove over for the night and made it even more special!

Gingerbread House

This year I made a Gingerbread House from Scratch and we will never go back! It was so much fun and I learned a little too much about different kinds of gingerbread and how not to bake it in the oven, but in the end, the kids had a great time decorating and then eating every last bit of candy off of it. This adventure took about a week in the making, but I'm hoping this tradition will only take a day next year!

Ashley's Birthday

This year Ashley had a Pretend Sleep Over! We tried to invite as many people as we knew so she could get better acquainted with friends here in Tucson. Everyone had a great time eating pizza, watching movies, eating popcorn, eating cake and ice-cream, opening presents, and then going home around 9:30 p.m.



Our Ashley is getting older and wiser! Nine years old is the beginning of new adventures for her I'm sure. She is so sweet and always thinking of others. I haven't met a more considerate child. She's always looking for fun and a friend to play with. Everyone in her class at school considers her a friend! She's such a blessing in our family!

Family Pictures

A big huge THANK YOU to Amber Halverson for our Wonderful new Family Pictures! She does such a great job! www.ambersmodernphoto.com

The Christmas Plan

As Christmas is fast approaching, I was trying to figure out a way to simplify our Christmas. I ran across this cute little poem on someone's blog and decided that this was a great way to simplify and save at Christmas this year. Each child will get four presents:

Something you Want

Something you Need

Something to Wear

and Something to Read

I thought this was genius! Four presents for each child is still 20 presents under the tree along with a gift from "Santa Clause" and other miscellaneous gifts from extended family. So after I talked it over with Seth, we presented the new idea to the kids at dinner. The first response was confusion. Then I could see realization spread across Ashley's face and she said, "So we're just doing this this year and NEXT year we'll have a GOOD Christmas?" What do you say to that??

Halloween!!

We were a little less than creative this year for Halloween. We looked through Grandma Romney's costume box and came up with Ashley's "Jasmine" costume and everyone else picked something they had been before. Mandy was a princess (the costume Grandma Marks made several years ago, it's so fun and beautiful), Jason was batman (again), Lydia was a kangaroo and a dragon, whichever costume she felt like wearing (she wore both on and off for several days).

We had a good time trick or treating in our new neighborhood. It was good to get to know a few neighbors and learn where all the kids live. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The kids came home with buckets full of candy that they traded in for prizes I purchased the night before. I think we are going to have to stop the "prize store" Halloween tradition at our house. The kids are no longer satisfied with dollar store prizes I used to buy for the trade. It's getting more expensive every year, but they LOVE it and I LOVE that they don't eat all the candy!

Jason's Birthday

Jason is 6!! Wow, how time flies. So being new to the area, we invited some boys over from church and school and put up the traditional Marks Family Pinata. It was awesome!! We had those little boys here for 1 hour and I will never do a party longer than that again. It was perfect! Come, play a game, hit a pinata, sing happy birthday, eat cake and ice cream, open presents, pick up your treat bag, go home. I had two little boys compliment the party by saying it was the funnest party they had ever been to!! I came to the conclusion that simple is best.

There is nothing better to a 6 year old boy than a pinata shaped as a football!! Boys just love to hit things, especially if candy comes bursting out in the end. Look at that swing!

Blow out the candles so we can eat some cake!! Jason picked mint chocolate chip ice cream to go with the cake because he LOVES GREEN.

Happy Birthday to my big 6 year old!! I love you buddy!

The Reid Park Zoo

Shortly after we moved to Tucson, we visited the Reid Park Zoo. It's the perfect zoo to visit for a few hours on a Saturday. You can see all the animals in about 2 hours. It's pretty small, but just right for me, so we purchased a yearly pass. These won't be the last of the zoo photos.

Waiting for the tiger to come out and play.....

My turn, no my turn, no it's my turn to sit on the peacock!!

Black Widow

I don't think it was a coincidence that we found a black widow spider the week before Halloween! Spooky!!

Seth was cleaning out the trap by the pool the other day, lifted up the cover and then spotted it. It had made two nice little egg sacks under the lid. Well, he quickly destroyed spider and eggs and then realized how many times he had cleaned out the trap and how close his fingers had been to that spider over the last month. He really was lucky he never got bit!!

We hope we don't ever have to see one of those spiders again!! After you have an encounter with one, you have to look up all the horrible pictures on the internet of people's hands and arms that get bit, and trust me, it isn't pretty.

Speaking in Sacrament Meeting

Seth and I have been asked to speak in Sacrament meeting on Sunday in our new ward here in Tucson. Kind of scary. We've been asked to speak on General Conference. So for all of you who watched the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last weekend, give me your favorite talk, or your general impressions, or anything that inspired you to do better or change something in your life or your family. I need your feedback!

My personal favorite talk was Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk on the divinity of the Book of Mormon, it was INCREDIBLE! I also had a general feeling that many talks given were on Love and God's Love for us and extending Love to others. What are your impressions?

Unpacking

We are in our new home!!

The truck arrived on Friday and we are busy unpacking all these boxes. It feels like Christmas here. The kids are thrilled to see all their beds and toys and clothes and we are all having a fun time deciding where to put everything.

We are so blessed!! My mom has been here helping and my brother Jacob and his wife Sherri are coming tomorrow to help watch kiddos and check out the new "crib." It is fun to live close to family.

I will post more pictures when we get all computers set up!

Mitchell at 7 months!

Hurray!! I finally got some pictures to post of our darling little man!! I took him to Sears shortly after we moved and I bought the cd so I could put them on the blog.

Just a few little things about our sweet little guy. First of all, he now has FOUR teeth. He got the first bottom two about a month ago and just popped the second top tooth two days ago. He is such a good teether, no complaining, but then again, he doesn't complain much at all. He is so happy and content most of the time. He is such a pleasure!

Over the past month Mitchell has ridden in the car with me three times a day. Sometimes he gives a little whimper when I put him back in that car seat, but most of the time, he settles right in because he is just a blessing! I think he will be happier than all of us to close on our house next week and live only 2 minutes from the school!

We are so lucky beyond words to have this sweet boy! He has been a light to me during this move and I just love him. So happy 7 months (now 8) to our special guy!

Getting Settled

Well, I wish I had some way to post pictures, but we are still in transition here in Tucson. We are currently renting a home for a month while we wait to close on our new house and all of our stuff will be in storage until we move into the new house so we don't have to move twice. So we have been "camping out" at the rental with the things we brought on the plane and the owners of the rental generously let us keep the kitchen table and a few blow up mattresses. I think by the time this month is over we will be SO HAPPY to see our stuff. Just imagine, no furniture, no TV, and no carpet (with a baby this one is rough, no where to set him down). The rental is also 20 minutes from where the kids are attending school (where the new house is) and I'm driving there three times a day drop off/pick up kids from school (Jason is in 1/2 day kinder). I'm sure this is one of those things you look back on with fond memories, right?

We found a great little town called Vail outside of Tucson to buy a home. It has a pool and fun backyard and a great kitchen! We took the kids to visit the house a few days ago and that night I could hear Mandy and Ashley talking at night saying, "wow, we are going to have a pool, we must be so rich!" I don't think they realize that about 1/3 of the people in Tucson have a pool in their yard. I thought it was cute.

The kids started school at Ocotillo Ridge Elementary school yesterday and for the most part had a good day. Vail schools are on a year round calendar so they have been in school since July 20th. The kids are a little behind, but I'm sure they'll catch up fast. Jason is in KINDERGARTEN! He has a great teacher that has really made him feel welcome and loved. The kids all made a few new friends and I've seen so many children come up to them and introduce themselves to the kids and ask them to play. So people here are very friendly and they are making an effort to make the "new kids" feel welcomed.

We are missing our Illinois friends! We have all had tears now and then but seem to be slowly adjusting. Ashley had a particularly hard day yesterday and just wanted to go home. Moving is very difficult on children, I don't care what the experts say about how children just "bounce back." This is definately a process. My parents have made the transition easier and more exciting (we got to see them again yesterday), so that helps.

Our new house is set up for visitors, so after we move in we expect visitors from Family and Friends. Especially in the winter when it is so nice here and so HORRIBLE in Illinois! We will be ready and waiting.

BIG NEWS!!

Well it's been a while since I've posted on the blog, so I thought I'd give the reason why. First, we went on Vacation to Yellowstone and that was incredible! Thanks to my in-laws for providing the cabins for our stay! We truly had a great time and made many memories that we will look back on. I will post more pictures of that family reunion later.

But the big new is, drumroll please. . . .

We are moving to TUCSON AZ!! And we already sold our house!! We are all leaving here on August 8th. This process has been quite the whirlwind. Seth got a job offer back in June but could not say anything until he passed his security clearance, which is not given until 30-45 days before the starting date. So we had to put our house on the market without really telling people (kind of on the sly). While we were gone to Yellowstone we put the house on the market and 9 days later, we had a contract!! That is crazy in this market! We feel so blessed that we will not have to spend any time apart from Seth. However, it has put us into quite a shock. We are quickly leaving friends and a place we have grown to love over the years. We came to the Chicagoland area with one little baby Mandy and are now leaving with FIVE little Marks kids. It is quite overwhelming.

So that's the big news! We are doing our best to say good bye to all the wonderful friends in Crystal Lake. I'm so grateful for the internet and e-mail that will help us all keep in touch!

Nauvoo Again

There are so many great plays to see during the summer in Nauvoo.  They have students from BYU come and stay the summer and do some great plays for kids and the whole family.  My kids loved sitting on the front row during the puppet show and "Just Plain Anna Amanda."

Here we are in front of the Beautiful Nauvoo Temple on Sunday morning after church.  It was such a beautiful spring day.  Perfect weather!!

Here is Jason throwing rocks into the Mississippi River.  There is a memorial at the end of Parley street to all those faithful saints who died in the journey from Nauvoo to Utah.  Jason is standing right where the wagons were put on rafts to cross the river in February 1846.

Seth was a trooper on this trip.  We brought our bikes and rode all over town.  He towed the bike trailer with a three year old and a 4 month old in a car seat.  That thing was heavy!!  It got even worse when the kids were having a rough time going back up the hill to the hotel after a day of sight seeing and play watching.  Most of them had to get off their bikes and walk them up the hill.  Seth ended up using the rope they made at the pioneer family center to pull Jason on his bike up the hill.  So at one point Seth was riding his bike that had the trailer attached and pulling Jason up with rope all at the same time.  It was a pretty funny sight.  I would have taken a picture, but the camera was in the bike trailer as well.  Two thumbs up babe for a job well done, the bikes were a great idea and we all had fun riding everywhere. 

I can't imagine packing our things up in this little wagon and walking to Utah!!  I don't even like to drive it in an air conditioned car!!  My respect and admiration for the early saints of the church increases each time we visit Nauvoo.  We love that place and would be happy to give personal tours to whoever would like to come with us!!  You can fly to Chicago and we will pick you up from the airport and let you stay at our house and then drive down to Nauvoo!!  It is quite a charming place and it's fun for kids and adults.  We love it more and more every time we go.

Lydia's 3rd Birthday 6-1-09

Ponies, Ponies and more Ponies!

This little girl loves horses and ponies.  For the last month that is all she has been playing with.  Needless to say, I made her a pony cake for her birthday and all she got for presents was ponies.  Even our sweet neighbor gave her horses.

Lydia is full of spunk, fun, playfulness, and spice.  She does a great job of being in charge of just about everything we do.  She keeps us on our toes and she always knows exactly what she wants.  This is the baby that I warmed up bottles for until she was 2 years old.  SHE ONLY TOOK THEM WARM!!  This is also the sweetie that potty trained herself as soon as Mitchell was born.  She knew she wanted to be "big" when the new baby was born.  Happy Birthday my sweet little girl, we're so lucky to have you in our family!!

Mandy's 10th Birthday, 5-26-09

This year Mandy had a Birthday party with quite a few friends from school, church and the neighborhood about two weeks before her real birthday.  She had a flower party.  They painted flower pots, planted flowers in the pots and made a few paper flowers.  And what party would be complete without a PINATA!!  When you come to a birthday party at the Marks home a pinata is ready and waiting.  We even have a pinata hook under the ceiling panels in the basement!!  They all had a great time!  I'll post a few of those pictures later.

Mandy is growing so fast.  She is so responsible and always willing to help out with Mitchell.  She really knows how to care for him and he always gives her a loving smile when she comes home from school.  She loves to sing in the school choir, play piano, read, and swim.  She can't wait to visit Utah this year to see her cousins and play in Grandma Marks pool.  We love our Mandy!!  It seems like yesterday we got on a plane with our one year old Mandy and moved to Chicago!!

Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Mom's out there!

I am blessed with 5 wonderful kids and they gave me the royal treatment today. Mandy and Ashley created the "Best Spa Ever." That was the name of the spa on the Brochure they handed me when I came downstairs after a very nice afternoon nap. The brochure contained a list of beverages and services the spa offered. I chose the pedicure, manicure, shoulder massage, baby lotion facial (which included cucumbers on my eyes and application of bright red lipstick), new hair do (which included about 5 braids, 2 pony tails, and of course a CROWN), and a smoothie prepared by Seth. I thought they were so creative!! The only scary thing was. . . . WHERE DID THEY LEARN ALL THIS????

The girls told me they would do the spa every weekend and I thought that was a great idea!  They're actually really good at the nail painting and the back massage!!

Girls Room is Finished!

We have been working on updating Mandy and Ashley's room since the baby was born and we finally finished it this weekend!! Seth has been building Shelves and Magazine Racks and toy boxes and head boards. I have been designing, painting, shopping at stores and craigslist for months.

Props to my AWESOME Husband for working so hard and custom making all kinds of shelves that I "order." I'm sure it takes quite a bit of patients to deal with me and all my decorating demands. But it all turned out great!!

Here is the headboard I copied off of "Divine Design." It took longer than I thought to thread all of the buttons for the tufting.

I love this desk!! I got it on craigslist, which I am addicted to. It's solid oak, not a scratch and I got the desk and chair for $100, that may seem like a lot, but I talked her down from $200. This is a solid piece of furniture that we'll have forever, I was very surprised that it was this nice when Seth brought it home after work!! I love to feel like I got a great deal!

The whole room from the door! I love my paint job! I stole most ideas for this room from Pottery Barn. I still have some throw quilts to make that will match the curtains.

I thought I'd throw in a picture of Jason and Lydia's room and their new wall of shelves and maps! Now they can see all their books!

Mandy's Poem for School

Mandy wrote this about herself, I thought it was so truthful and cute, I had to post it:

Mandy

Shy, nice, truthful, trustworthy

Sibling of Ashley, Jason, Lydia, Mitchell

Lover of D.S. games, reading, and webkins

Who feels sad when the girls go against the boys

Who fears sharks, whales, and dogs

Who needs a family, friends, and love

Who gives the truth, hugs, and kisses

Who would like to see Florida, California, and New York

Resident of 333 Talismon Dr., Crystal Lake, Illinois 60012

Marks

Mitchell at 3 months!

This is our little Mitch at 3 months!  We have been giving him tummy time work outs and he seems to be getting the hang of it.  In not too long, he'll be crawling all over the place.  This little guy has been such a pleasure!  He is just fun to have around always smiling and cooing.  He really likes music and will "sing" in church as soon as the organ starts to play.

Good Bye Blankie!!

Jason needs a little "encouragement" to get him to stop sucking his thumb.  He doesn't suck his thumb if he doesn't have his blankie, so I figured the easiest way to get rid of the thumb sucking was to get rid of his blanket.  So, we have been cutting his blanket in half every Sunday for the past few weeks.  It's getting pretty small, so I thought we would post the process to help him along.  It has been pretty traumatic, taking some pictures helped.

This is what's left of his blanket!!

Now he gets to do the cutting himself.

Let's just hope he hasn't been sneaking the "other half" out of the garbage!

Vacuum Please!!

I am in need of a new vacuum. We have beat our dyson to death and it is so loud I won't ever vacuum with the baby around and thus I have not vacuumed upstairs in over three months, I know, it's gross. So I want you to please tell me if you love your vacuum or if you have a dream vacuum you wish you could have and why. I do have a budget, of course, so if you have suggestions for around $300 or less I would appreciate it!

I need advice!

Take me out to the Ballgame!!

Well, today was Jason's first official baseball/tee ball game and he did AWESOME!! It's always a good time at a tee ball game. Everyone bats, nobody gets out, and nobody keeps score!! About halfway through the season they start coach pitch and keeping score.



I'm sure this is the beginning of many many many ball games in the future! And you just can't beat that smile on this cute kid's face.




I bought him a glove, bat, helmet and balls so he could practice at home. He is outside with his tee whenever the weather is nice, he loves it. I wish my dad were here to give him baseball pointers because apparently I have ZERO authority when it comes to baseball. I was trying to help him with his fielding the other day and told him to run up to the ball when he was getting a grounder and he told me "Mom's don't know anything about baseball, I'm supposed to wait for it to roll to me!" So it looks like Daddy will have to give the instructions from now on!

Favorite Things

O.k.  I'm not big on all those questionaires that get e-mailed to me.  However, I was thinking the other day of some of the things in my life that have changed my life in a big way.  It made me laugh to think about so I decided to post a few with the reasons.  You might get a kick out of it.

1. A GARAGE!!!  We live outside of chicago and for 2 1/2 years we lived in an apartment on the third floor with no garage or covered parking.  So in the winter when it is so cold you could die, it was HORRIBLE to take my two little girls (at the time), walk across a big parking lot and put them in a freezing car.   Their coats were "crispy" by the time I put them in their car seats!!  So now as I pull into my garage that is attached to my home, I say a little prayer of thanks!!  A garage has changed my life.  It keeps me and my kids warmer as we pull conveinently right up to our door.  We also do not have to haul groceries up three flights of stairs, you can just walk right in that wonderful door!!  This is something I never take for granted, I love my garage!!

2. A MINIVAN!!  Granted, they are not much to look at, but if you have little kids, it is a small miracle.  The sliding doors cannot hit other cars in the parking lot!!  I know I would be yelling at my kids every time I pull into a parking lot if I didn't have these wonderful sliding door.  Also, I didn't think auto matic doors would change my life as much as they have!!  It saves so much time to have that door open with a push of a button.  Next time I buy a van, it will have the automatic started and back hatch, that would be cool.  My van also has the ability to turn into a truck by putting all the seats down flat!  For my husband that has been so great, we can haul almost anything a truck can, we just can't take the kids when we do.

3.  LARGE CAPACITY front loading washer/dryer!!!  I just got the new whirlpool large capacity front loaders back in September and these has SERIOUSLY made my life easier.  What once was three loads in now only one!!  I now do a major laundry day once a week where I do about 7 loads.  It is awesome!  It also cleans our clothes so much better and uses less water which saves us money!  Gotta love it.

4.  THE MAGIC ERASER!!  This is a Magic little sponge made by Mr. Clean that is now generic at walmart or target.  I use this thing on EVERYTHING.  It is fabulous on stove tops, ovens, bath tubs, walls, microwaves, cabinets, inside the car, floors, inside/outside the fridge, sinks and anything else you can think of!!  It takes off soap scum, grease, dirt, and even some hard water stains off of just about any surface.  It is especially good at getting gunk out of rough surfaces that you never thought would come clean.  It makes things look new again, even dirt and grime that has been there for years will come out.  I know I keep saying this, but it will change your life!!  I swear I have a year supply of them under my sink in the kitchen.  LOVE IT!!

Happy Easter!!

The Toilet, by Seth

Well today we had quite the experience with our toilet in the kids bathroom.  It started when I walked upstairs before lunch and found Lydia looking guilty in the bathroom.  You know the 'deer in the headlights' look with the hands behind the back.  Anyway, I was intrigued by the look and I walked in to engage her in conversation. 

"So whatcha doin' Q T?" I offered.  
"I am putting things in da toiwet an fwushing it" she answered honestly.

At this point I lifted up the lid to see the damage and a plastic cup was half floating in the toilet bowl.  The plastic cup was  one of those little "dixie" sized cups so I instantly got nervous.  Not only was it plastic but it was about an inch and a half in diameter.  I immediately and fearlessly grabbed the plastic cup out of the mostly clean water and said "Lydia you can not put things in the toilet it will break".    She said "Ok dad" and then we basically left the bathroom all in good spirits.

If only that was the end of the story.  Fast forward two hours and one of the big kids comes into our room stating that the toilet is filling up and not flushing.  This catches my attention because of the earlier incident.  I walk into the bathroom to find it full of poop and toilet paper filled to rim and almost overflowing.  At this point I yell down the hall "Lydia where are you".   "I over here dad" she says from her room.  I walk in and kneel down on one knee and look her straight in the eyes and ask in a stern and serious voice "How many cups did you put in the toilet?"  The serious tone caused her to have a confused look on her face but she still managed to respond "two dad".

At this point the "Mormon" cuss words went flying out of my mouth and I was mumbling to myself as I went out to the garage for the plunger.  I tried for a few minutes with the plunger to no avail.  Then I realized that I probably didn't want to plunge the cup out of the toilet into the house plumbing for fear that I would never get it out.  So back out to the garage I went for pliers and a wrench to pull the toilet.  I grabbed an old milk carton from the recycling bin and cut the top off with a knife offering a few more choice adjectives directed at anyone in earshot.

Anyway this story is long enough so I will cut to the chaise.  I went back upstairs scooped the "almost make me throw up" water out of the toilet and pulled the toilet and surprise surprise found a little plastic cup filled with poop lodged in P-trap of the toilet.  Yuck.

Anyway the toilet is back in now and flushing properly.  My hands have been washed about every five minutes since then.  Mostly everyone has forgiven me for all my yelling.

I hope you all had as memorable a day as I.

--Seth

The last Snowfall!!

We woke up this morning to 6 inches of snow!!  Good thing I waited to put everyone's snowpants, boots, and gloves away.  I was contemplating it just a few days ago.  But I am hoping this is the last snow and I will have a clean laundry room again soon.

The good part about the snow today is that is was in the upper 30's lower 40's this afternoon and it was a really wet snow, so the kids could build a snowman!   Seth is the "fun" parent and built a huge snowman with the kids.  I am totally o.k. with this!  I will stay in the warm house and take photos of the cold, wet people in the snow!  

After the snowman was built, Seth and Jason threw snowballs at it and karate chopped it down.  I love the picture of Jason's Victory Dance!