She Figured It Out!

I was out shopping with the kids today, and after we passed a section of Easter stuff Brayden says to me "I figured out a couple of days ago that there's no such thing as the Easter Bunny." I asked her, "What are you talking about?" And she said, "I know it's not real. You and Daddy are the Easter Bunny." I didn't want to give up on the idea of her still believing so I didn't want to admit to anything just yet, so I just asked her "What makes you think that?" She told me that last year her and Ashton were with me shopping and I put some things in the cart for their Easter baskets (which I don't remember doing). I probably thought I was able to hide it, but she was too smart for me apparently, but you have to do what you have to do as a mom who's with her kids 24/7, right?! She made a point to tell me today, "That wasn't very smart." Then I guess later she had gone into my closet searching through everything and found the Easter stuff. For some reason it either didn't hit her until a couple of days ago, or she just didn't want to say anything. She tells me she didn't realize it until she was thinking about it 2 days ago. She also told me today "Anyways, it would be pretty weird if there was a giant bunny going around to everyone's houses!"

I'm so sad, I thought I would have at least a couple of years left before she would know the truth! She's only 6! It wasn't until I was 10 that I found out!!! I may have been a little naive and gullible, but I'm so glad I was able to believe in the magic for that many more years! As far as I know Brayden still believes in Santa Claus and even the Tooth Fairy, but it may not take her long to put two and two together. (Just in case any of you moms are worried, I had a talk with Brayden about other kids still believing and that it is very important to not tell any kids about what she figured out. She understood that, but I will keep reminding her so she doesn't blow it for anyone else!) Ugh, my little girl, where is she? Sometimes I think she's more mature than me!!!

What I Have Learned:
1. Even if I think they are too young to catch on to something, they just might remember back on it when they are older and figure things out!

2. My kids are WAY smarter and observant than I give them credit for!

3. I have to be a lot more careful now to keep things going for Ashton!

"Dragonfly Wings For Emmalee" - a Book About My Niece...

My brother-in-law Steve has written a book about his daughter, my niece, Emmalee, who passed away from liver cancer this past October. He would like to get it published and would like to have a number of people interested in his book to take to the publisher so they might be more likely to publish it knowing there are already interested readers. He has a sample of it written on Emmalee's blog http://love4emmalee.blogspot.com/ if you would like to check it out. Also, this is a sweet video Steve put together of Emmalee: http://www.youtube.com/user/shavertz1

If you are interested or would like to help get this book published, please send an email to my brother-in-law Steve at: shavertz@gmail.com

Thank you so much in advance for your support!

My Baby Brother...

IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!He is 11 years younger than me - he was only 7 when I left home. I still think of him as Ashton's age, in fact, I always get their names mixed up! This is how I still picture him, as a cute little 3 year old...And he's getting married! Crazy! Here's a pic of him at my wedding so you can see how young he was even then!Wow, I'm really aging myself, but seriously, where does time go??? But I'm SOOOO excited for him!!! His now fiance (as of last night!) Aubrey is just the sweetest - they make such a cute couple! I love you, Cameron, and I'm so excited and happy for you and Aubrey and can't wait to have Aubrey as part of our family!!! You guys are the CUTEST!!!

The Best Gift He Could Buy...

Mike had gotten some money for his birthday and hadn't quite decided what he should buy with it until he thought about how much our kids fought over Brayden's Nintendo DSi she had gotten for her birthday back in October. He decided to use his money to buy Ashton his own DS! What a nice Daddy! We had planned on getting him one for his birthday in May, but that just seemed so far away with all the fighting going on! (When Ashton gets his birthday money he'll have to share it with Daddy!) But after the quiet house we've had the past week, I think Mike is realizing more and more that this was the best present he could have bought for himself, and for me for that matter! It's been so nice! I've never heard our house so quiet! No screaming, fighting, or whining - just your every once in awhile grunt or "Oh man!" when something doesn't go their way in the game, or "Yes, I did it!" when they do well, and then the tiny game sounds. Other than that, SILENCE! As tempting as it is to let them play forever, we do limit it, but when we need them to be occupied, it is AMAZING! And shopping trips with Ashton are sooo much easier now! It's seriously the BEST thing Mike could have ever spent his money on! :)

A Look Back...

My sister-in-law Monica put together an album of pictures her and Nate had taken of our family over the years and gave it to Mike for his birthday present when we visited them in Boise last week. I scanned in some of my favorites and wanted to post them here. I put up a ton - it's just too fun to look back!

I forgot how chubby Brayden's cheeks were! (Christmas 2003, 2 months old!)Brayden and Ethan's first trip to the zoo! (Labor Day weekend 2004) Me, Brayden, Mike, Kara, Monica, Ethan, NateSummer 2005 (Almost 2)Cousins! Emmalee, Krystal, Brayden, KyraAt Mike's sister Kara and Steve's sealing, April 2006. I was 8 months preggo with Ashton!These pics of Ashton made me want to cry! We have very few like this with him with both of his front teeth! He had barely gotten them in when he had an accident and had to have one pulled. He's recently started noticing and has been asking me to get him a new tooth at the store. Too bad he's going to be toothless 'til he's like 7 or older!!! (These are from August 2007, 15 months old)Seven Peaks, August 2007! Monica, Nate, Mike, Me, Blake, Ethan, Ashton, BraydenBrayden and Ethan, Thanksgiving 2007Here are some more recent ones Monica gave us...

The Walter Family Reunion, July 2009, cousins: Brayden, Kyra, Blake, AshtonBrayden and Ethan blowing bubbles together at their cousin Emmalee's funeral.Ashton with Nate and Monica's youngest, Maylie! Ashton LOVES babies!Ashton and Blake, 2 peas in a pod! These boys are only 3 months apart and are so much alike and have so much fun together!My dad will be so proud of this one, Ashton's got his lizard tongue!

My Little Ashton!

I found out something about Ashton that I never knew before...he's a contemporary dancer and choreographer! Every day for probably the past 2 weeks Ashton has been hooked on watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and wants to watch it like 2 or 3 times a day. I guess I'm usually busy doing other things while he's watching it, but I found out after finally watching it with him yesterday that he's made up what looks like a contemporary-style dance to the opening song "This is Halloween"! He wanted to do it over and over again, so I pulled out the video camera. Each time was slightly different, but he had certain moves he had made up for certain parts of the song that were consistent. It's a long song, but it's kind of fun catching all of his "moves" throughout the song! It kind of gets better as it goes along too.

I also wanted to write down another recent funny thing about my little guy...so first I have to explain, he has been so picky with food lately, it feels impossible to find anything, especially dinners, that he'll eat. So one night I made lasagna which I hadn't made in forever. He started eating it and couldn't stop telling me how much he loved it! Now that would have been sweet if he knew how to pronounce it! Unfortunately the word he uses for "lasagna" is "vagina". It was so hard not to laugh every time he told us how much he loves Mommy's "vagina". So Mike and I worked with him on the right pronunciation, so it's gotten better, but he still slips and has to correct himself, like when we were in Walmart this week buying ingredients to make it again and he said loudly, "Yay! I LOVE vagina! Oh yeah, I mean lasagna, not vagina!" Yeah, that got us some weird looks!

Ashton is such a sweetheart, though, and I feel like he's starting to finally calm down a little and has been acting older lately. He always makes me smile and laugh and can turn a bad day upside down! Especially when he always tells me, "I love you, Mommy, you are the cutest girl!"

Happy Birthday, Mike and Nate!!!

We thought it would be fun to visit Mike's twin brother's family in Boise this past weekend so the guys could celebrate their birthday together this year!

When we first got there Friday night they had made us pizza! Here are our goofy kids at the kiddie table!Saturday morning we took the kids to a place called Rafiki - it's got a ton of things for kids to do and nice lounge areas for the parents to hang out! The kids had a blast!The first thing Ashton wanted to do (instead of running around like I thought he would!) was put on this Hulk costume!My kids climbing the walls as usual!Actually, Brayden was doing more posing and trying to look cute for the camera than actual climbing!The boys got their faces painted! Here's Ethan!Ashton got a snake!Ashton and Blake with a snake going across his nose!That night Monica's awesome sister came over to watch all 5 crazy kids while we went out! We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and saw a movie. It was so nice to be kid free together for a change!Sunday, January 31st was Mike and Nate's 33rd birthday!Monica and I had fun making the guys a sombrero birthday cake!As a present for Mike, Monica put together an album of a bunch of pictures she had taken of our family starting from around the time Brayden was born. So awesome! It's so fun seeing pictures of your family you've never seen before! I'll scan some and show them on here soon! I felt like it was a present for me too!