Shay's Birthday

Shay got to have a big party for her birthday (In our house a big party is when you get to invite friends). I took her and about eight friends to see the new High School Musical Movie. It was pretty fun! One of the little girls had seen the movie before so she convinced us to stay to see all the credits at the end of this film. When we were pretty much the only ones in the movie theatre Shay and her friends went down and danced to the songs at the end of the movie in front of the movie screen. I wanted to add pictures to this post, but can't because we are having computer memory problems. The computer freezes or completely closes every time I try to post a picture. Frustrating! That's why I havent posted in awhile

Yay! Back to one set of diapers once again!

In the month of November, Adam finally became completely potty trained! Can you hear the cheers? I tried to make it a big celebration for him, so he would want to go. It worked better than I could have imagined. Now he either wants the family to come and watch him go potty or he brings his stuff to show everyone in the family. The comments that are made in the house are like "Oh or whoa, Wow, good job Adam be careful not to spill. Don't worry I spared y'all a picture. Just imagine him with a huge smile on his face. He's pretty proud of himself.

California Trip

During Fall Break back in the middle of October we got to go on a small trip to the beach and Disneyland.

Here are all three kiddos going crazy. Adam has never been before, so I wondered how he would do. He's scared of Brimhall Pool, but apparently not the ocean. He had a blast chasing seagulls all over the place.


Here's the family before we started. We started over at California Adventure. Mark had a desire to go on every rollercoaster, fly you over water ride. Really not my cup of tea. The kids and I are chickens. We went on all of them anyway. The kids even went on the Tower of Terror. It was a bummer but I had to be with Matthew and Adam:) Poor Shay was so scared after the ride was over she started crying. I asked my kids if they wanted me to go on that ride, because they had to. I was suprised when they told me it was ok and that they didnt want me to go. I was even impressed with Shay that she went on California Screamin twice, just so I didnt have to go alone. I told her that her mom was a big girl, but she was nice enough to go with me. In the end I was glad Mark encouraged us to go. California Screamin actually was my favorite ride. When we went to Disneyland the next day, I kept reminding the kids when they were nervous about a new ride, that they could handle anything. They had survived the Tower of Terror and compared to that rides like Space Mountain were nothing

Do you think these two resemble one another?
People always call Matthew, baby Jack Jack. I must admit they probably have the same temperment. Matthew can get angry pretty quick. By they way this is pretty much how he looked at the beach and two days at Disneyland. He was a little trooper, just sat in his car seat being happy. Happy to be outside.

This is Adam's face after seeing this guy.....

Pure Joy!!

Disneyland Decorations

What do I notice about Disneyland? Well the decorations of course. I've never been to Disneyland around Halloween time. I loved the decorations, so cute.

Candy Corns

Pumpkin Corn

I was wanting a family picture in front of the cute Mickey pumpkin, but there were huge lines and our family was usually done with being happy by the end of the night.

The catipillar from the movie A Bugs Life would stick his head out every now and then. He would confess not being able to resist taking a bite out of the delicious candy corn

Jedi Fighters

Derek and Shay got be Jedi Knights or Padiwams(sp?)They were able to fight Darth Maul, which they thought was pretty cool.

This is a picture of them showing their Darth Vader eyes. You know, how Anakin/Darth Vaders eyes look when he turns evil, before he gets his famous suit on. Derek's quite good at this. I get these eyes when he's angry with me. So of course I have to tease him about them. I can get him to smile every time.

Halloween Decorations

I had planned to post these earlier in the month, but once again procrastination. They are nothing real special. I just really love Halloween and love working on things to decorate for it all month. Some of the things I've made and some I've just been collecting over the years.

I have my kids help me set up the web for the spider. I hope this will be a good memory for when they get older. They seem to really like it now and look foward to getting all of the decorations out.

Happy 10th Birthday Derek!

Derek's birthday was actually Oct 26th. I feel bad, being a lame mother and all, and not posting on his actual birthday. Anyway, here are some special things about Derek.

*Catches on to things really quickly. As a two year old knew how to undo brand new locks that we got for the fridge and oven the day we got them.

* Has a kind heart and will cry for animals. (Poor thing cried most the night when we lost our cat last year) He always is good to Matthew and gets him out of be in the morning.

*Has a brain that figures out Math quickly.

*Has boundless energy (could be considered good or bad. I keep reminding myself sometimes again and again This is a good quality Yvette. This is a good quality Yvette)

*He can get any job he's motivated to do done fast. (The key is if he has the motivation)

*Has a funny sense of humor. He always cracks me up.

*Never gives up on anything.... and I mean anything

*Can debate anyone on anything and has some good points.

*Is the official teaser in our house.

*good brother with the little boys. Loves playing and wrestling with them

I really do love this boy and I'm very proud of him also. I can't wait to see what kind of adult he will be. I think he's going to be awesome!

I decided to make these spider cupcakes for the kids in Derek's class at school. They are easy enough to make (Note to self: Never do 27 of them though). The body is just a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. The eyes are peanut butter m&ms (where I got the recipe) and large marshmellows cut in half. Licorice for the spider arms and peanut butter m&ms for the nose. After two hours of putting them together I was wondering why I just didn't make cupcakes frost and put a pumpkin on the top or just buy.

They fell apart as I was taking them to school and what were those kids going to do with them anyway. All my hard work and they might and most likely just eat them. How dare they!

Happy 8th Birthday Shay!

These are some of the crazy pictures, Shay has actually taken of herself. I think they are so cute though! I love this girl and I'm so proud of her!

She is always thinking about others and wants to include everyone! She loves people and wants to please them.

Matt 6 mos

Matt has been working on sitting up all month

If only I could just sit up

or maybe I'll just work my baby abs....

My New Experiment

We bought a box of peaches from a fundraiser, so I thought I would try making some freezer jam. I tried to make it with a lady in my ward, but I have never done it by myself before.

All that work and I forgot one of the ingredients. Argh!! The lemon juice. So my family will have to eat it anyway. Just like the rest of my experiments. For once in my life I would like to know what its like to be Martha (Stewart that is)

Tagged! by my good friend Carri

4 things I like about my husband

He has a good sense of humor

He's a hard worker

Self motivated

Love his jokes

4 movies I can watch more than once

Grease

Better off Dead

Pretty in Pink

Pride and prejudice

4 tv shows I watch

Medium

So you think you can dance

Jon and Kate plus 8

Dancing with the Stars

4 places I've been

Cabo San Lucas

Bahamas

Florida

Hawaii

4 places I've been today

Picked up children from play dates

Gym

Store

Babysat niece and nephew

Not to exciting of a day

4 people who email me regularly

My Dad

Monica

Jackie

Christan

4 favorite foods

Anything Italian

Anything Mexican

Chocolate of course

Cheese

4 places I would like to visit

Tahiti

Australia

Fiji

New Zealand

4 things I'm looking forward to Next year

Having business paid off

Going on a trip with Mark

????? My lifes good I can't especially think of anything special at the moment

I tag anyone that would like to do this..

Mt. Graham

This Labor Day we went to Mt. Graham with Mark's family. We usually go up there 3 times a year. Once with just our own family and twice with Mark's family and extended family. I think I can speak for everyone that goes and say that its a special place where you feel close to Heavenly Father. Each time I go I come home feeling renewed to do better and be better for my family.

For the last 3 years the family has gone on a hike the very last day we are up there. They are usually intense, so only people over age ten go. The hike has usually taken quite a bit longer than we usually think its going too. Some of the trails haven't been cleaned off for years, so the hike entails climbing of fallen trees and brush. The hike was supposed to take 4 hours it took about 7 1/2. This year I personally fell on my rear end three times. I guess I didn't have very good shoes, because if there was any water vicinity on a plant, rock, or root of a tree I ended up on my back. At the end I was ready to be done, but I now look back and realize it was pretty fun.
Here's some pictures taken with Marks cell ph. so not the best quality, but still memories right.


This is a picture of our group. Lto R
My niece Jacque,me, Bro. Madsen, my brother-in-law Daryl, my niece Aly, nephew Nathan, and niece Darleen.
Marks went too. He's taking the picture.

Here's a picture of my cute nieces, probably waiting again for Mark and I to catch up. Mark had to keep helping me,because of those slippery shoes

Not that I just love pictures of me, but this is one of the more interesting parts of the hike where you have to walk upon this little ridge on the mountain.

Heres the group taking a break after we walked along the ledge, at place called slick rock

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Mark at slick rock. I wish I could have gotten a better picture, cause it really is amazing how the rock looks like a perfect flat slide.

Heres a picture of our group looking like we were prisoners of war. But actually we are trying not to touch stinging nettle (it's sort of like poison ivy)

Just hanging out at the cabin.

This is a random picture of my cute niece Katie and her new baby girl Becca.

Some new things in the Weech household

Matthew (aka Baby Maps, Adam started calling him this, because he didn't understand that the fam was calling him Matt) He just loves people. I think he's such a sweetie. Over Labor day we spent time with Mark's family on Mt Graham. I think he was held pretty much every second, so when we came back he had a had hard time just being by himself. He had a blast though. I finally moved him to his own bed and he's so comfortable there that he sleeps for about 10 hours. Simply fabulous!

Adam - is starting many 1st this year.

He started pre-K with his cousin Kaylee. They go to school 2 hours a day 4 days a week .

He's learning how to write his name and cut a straight line with scissors. This is a picture of him on the first day of school Sept. 2nd.

*He's started drinking out of a big boy cup, not a sipee.

*Because of school we had to start working harder on potty training.

All of these things leave him feeling exactly like this picture :)

I've heard that age 3 is the new terrible 2's.

He's still cuddly and sweet sometimes...

Some of the funny things he's done as of lately is he jumps off any kind of furniture or half walls. Time out seems to work for everything, but jumping off walls and furniture. I guess its worth getting in time out for this. Of course he sings the Star Wars or Indiana Jones theme while jumping off the furniture. One day I watched him do a perfect flip from the top of the couch to the seat of the couch. What!! I'm thinking we need to put him in gymnastics or some kind of Jedi fighting, searching for the crystal skull school.

Adam also started soccer. It's quite hilarious at this age and frustrating at the same time. At his practice this week he fell asleep while we were driving over there. So of course, he was a bear when we got there. He wasn't interested in practicing at all, only looking at a hole in the ground that his coach has for irrigation. Actually no one was interested in playing on the team except this cute little girl. The coach said parents could help their children, so I did. It was sort of reminiscent of swimming lessons earlier this year. I picked him up and ran around the field and tried to make his leg kick the ball. Kind of embarrassing, but it worked he was soon kicking the ball. If only I could run around with him on the field during game day.

Shay- started school back on August 6th. She loves her teacher and school. She got to be the 1st one to be the student of the week in her class. They got to bring a treat, so she picked Root beer cupcakes and Reeses pieces for the guessing jar. Her teacher is crazy organized and so cute with the kids. Shay thinks she is fabulous and has been loving being with friends as always. She started soccer and has a lot of little girls from our neighborhood on her team so she loves that also.

This is them on the 1st day of school, doesn't Derek look excited?

Derek - likes his class too. He has a really nice teacher this year. He's doing really good in school this year and so far has all A's and one B for not turning in an assignment on time. But his face usually looks like this lately. His shoes are too tight or I have't stepped up as a mother in his view. I try to tell him that things could be a lot worse. Like the kids in Africa, not having enough food. Still not working, so heres the face!

He loves playing with the little boys and is a great big brother.

Started soccer again also. Soccer is his thing. Its fun to watch him play, because soccer is perfect for the intense person. (that is Derek) He gets really into it and plays super hard.

Mark - working like crazy to get the corporate tax deadline done and contemplating new changes with his business. Also his church job keeps him pretty busy. So we were glad we got to go to the mountains this weekend so he could be reintroduced to the kids once again. J/K

Me - I've been trying to organize the house lately. The house looks clean during the day, but once the kids get home from school its a pit again. I think we have way to much stuff so trying to purge again. I've been worried about things that I think most moms worry about. Like how to get my kids to do well in school, pick up after themselves.

I'm almost finished with Twilight I love it I just havent finished yet. I let other things get in the way. Its taking me a lot longer to read then most people.

I'm obsessed with exercising. Not that I do it, but I think about it a lot. How I havent run that much in the last 3 weeks and I've been on vacations to the mountains and Utah where I went on a eating frenzy. I need to start up again. On a few of our family pictures we took going to the mountains this weekend I think I look like I'm 3 months pregnant. Do you think I should have a picture of me looking like Derek?

I've been to our stakes Book of Mormon class. I've decided my favorite part of the Book of Mormon is Mosiah Chapter 18. Verse 8 and 21 keep going through my head.

Anyway, these are some of the things we've been up to lately.

Monica's Necklaces

Here I am again, promoting my talented sister-in-laws business'. These are necklaces that my sister-in-law Monica and her mother make. Pretty heh! She gave me a necklace like this one for my birthday with a bracelet. I love it! Mine is grey flower with grey and blue beads. Looks great with grey and blue t-shirts and jeans. She's willing to do any color you would like. Anyway, here is the website http://www.1mothers1daughterslove.blogspot.com/

A New Love Affair

I told Mark I'm having a love affair with a new man right now.

This guy! Isnt he gorgeous!

My niece Jacque took this picture during the 4th of July. I stole this picture from my sister-in-law Dena's blog, because only in my dreams can I take beautiful pictures of my children.

Anyway, this guy is getting so fun. He loves to smile. Weird, but true. I don't even mind waking up in the middle of the night to feed him. I just love picking him up by those little chubby arms.

Here's a few things about him for 4 months.

Weight was 13.5lbs. (25%)

Height 24 3/4 (50%)

Head circumference 16 (25%)

Started eating food this month. Loves applesauce and pears. Still working on liking sweet potatoes and carrots.

Sleeps from 9pm to about 4am

Loves taking a bath, goes crazy kicking the water.

Grew out of colic this month. Smiles,laughs and giggles and kicks his legs as hard as he can whenever someone talks to him.

Here's some random pictures of him this month