My OWN babysitting job! (and it's not for my siblings)

Emma here! Sorry I haven't blogged for awhile. I've been busy. Okay, so this time, I'll be telling you about my babysitting job. I babysit for the Rebers, a family in my church. They have three sweet girls: Ella 4 yrs, Kayla 3 yrs, Dessie 9, 10, or 11 months(I can't keep track)! I babysit every Thursday and this is usally how it goes: I get there at 3:30pm and go upstairs to watch the kids while their mom teaches piano lessons. Sis. Reber always puts Dessie down for her nap right before I come. When I get upstairs, Ella and Kayla are watching T.V. After their favorite show, 'Martha speaks', we like to play games such as Candy Land, Bingo, the Oreo game, and the My Little Pony Matching game. After that, it's about 4:30 and the girls are hungry, so I go and get them a snack along with some milk in their favorite sippy-cups. Then we play some more games. At around 5:30, Dessie wakes up. I take her out of her crib and put her down on her blanket with some toys. Then at 6:00, it's time for her bottle. She almost always drinks every last drop of her formula. Now it's 6:15 and the girls are watching Babar. At 6:30 Sis.Reber comes upstairs and takes the girls. It's time for me to go, and Sis.Reber pays me every other Thursday. I get four dollars an hour, which equals up to twelve dollars a day. I am so lucky I have this babysitting job! Have a super spring break!

Snowing AGAIN???

Can you believe we're getting snow - AGAIN - and in Texas? CRAZY! We definitely don't mind it, though. The kids have had 2 days of fun in the cold stuff so far, and I have 4 more loads of laundry to wash. I think this is even more than we ever got in Oregon when we lived there. Oh well, we're just drinking lots of hot cocoa, snuggling up in our robes/slippers, and enjoying it while it lasts!

Another 5 year old Tui

Daddy has been giving Eva his change lately. She realized she was getting rich, so she had to spend it. She asked if we could go to the dollar store. Here she is ready to go with her purse Grams H. gave her for Christmas.

Well, this is what she found at the store.
I think they lasted one day. One of her earrings was lost within an hour of putting them on. The sparkly hair clip fell apart the next day. Get what ya pay for, right?

We had a small celebration for her real 5th b-day. We already had a big party for her last August at the Excite gym.

She kept asking me when she was going to get to open her presents. I had to keep reminding her that she got LOTS of presents at her other 5th party. She did, however, get to go to the store and spend her $5 from Grams on anything. She immediately picked a cute pretty pony on a remote control motorcycle. She has a friend that has the same thing, and she wanted it so badly. I couldn't tell her no, even though it was waaaay more than $5. Lucky she is so darn cute! She helped me make the chocolate cupcakes that we each got to decorate, which made her pretty happy, too. So all in all, I think her real 5th b-day wasn't so bad after all.

Good ol' Ez

I love it when he gets his hair cut!

I have to give kudos to Ezra for keeping me laughing. He attempted a large bubble and this was the result. Tee hee heeLove ya, Ez!

Eva's our party queen

Here's Eva at her friend's birthday party a few weeks ago. She had a blast!

No problem, she can race cars.

Now she's trying her hand at skateboarding.

Having a break - can't beat cheese pizza.

Time for the real race cars - Go EVA!!!

Can you see Eva on the far side of the track? She HAD to beat the boys!

Eva's competitive side coming out. Rules - what rules?
It was a pretty neat party, and I had fun just watching her.

New Year's Eve

We were bored, so we went to the mall on New Year's Eve. The kids wanted to bungee jump for some excitement. Looks like fun, ay?

Em was able to get a couple flips in.

Eva was pretty excited for her turn.

She has no fear.

Eli didn't want a turn at first, but quickly changed his mind when he saw his sisters having fun.

He was the flipping master. I think he flipped 4 x's.

Eva was spoiled with a ride on the horses while the older kids checked out some books.

This was pretty much the extent of our New Year's celebration - other than eating all evening and screaming 'Happy New Year' outside our front door at midnight. Woohooooo!

Christmas Day Snow

Just wanted you to witness this amazing event. We haven't had snow on Christmas eve or Christmas day since, well, I can't remember if the kids or Komi have ever had a snowy holiday. My last snowy Christmas would've been when I was a teen living in Utah. We did have snow in Oregon, but it usually came after Christmas day. Great memories! I'm glad my kids finally got to experience the magic - even if was just a little magic! Christmas day '09

So much for my winter flowers. Poor things.

DECEMBER '09 - can you believe it?

YESSSSSSSS - I am officially caught up with 2009. I'll do better in 2010!

ENJOY and HAPPY NEW YEAR, YA'll!

Yes - I Am The Master Blaster Blogger

My booty aches, my ankles are swollen, my neck is stiff, my head hurts, my fingers feel numb, BUT I am determined to catch up with this stinkin' blog. I am up to December '09 and won't be defeated - yet, I am soooooo tired. I have finished 22 postings over the past 2 days covering the past 6 months of fun and frenzy in the Tui household. I will beat this thing. I have a dream. I will not give up. I will rise to this challenge. I will sit in this chair until my arms fall off so I don't have anymore guilt hanging over my head about not staying current for my family and friends that read blogs often (unlike me, obviously). 2010 will bring better blogging days for this technically challenged chic! Wish me luck - one month to go. May the force be with me (as my kids might add) - tomorrow.

By the way, this was the fourth time I had to edit this post due to my eyes going cross-eyed at 2:30 in the am. Love ya'll - really, I do!

BRRRRRRRRR - it's sure cold in TEXAS?

Can you believe we got snow in TEXAS on Dec. 2nd this year? That is crazy! The kids were so excited that they wanted to walk to school in it. Now, they made me drive them everyday as soon as the weather hit the 30's in the morning, yet when it snows they wanna walk. Go figure. Even Ezra walked that morning with a friend. Oh, to be a child again and want to walk in the snow.Eva liked playing in it, too. Can she ever just give me a straight face anymore? What a goof.
Eli and Ez were snuggling as we were waiting for the parade of lights in Grapevine to start. By the way, don't ever waste your time with that parade. It was, well, a lot less than we expected.
Em and Eva trying to stay warm. All I had in the car were towels to put on us. We didn't think we would have to wait so long. Apparently the web site was wrong on the starting time. Ugh!

BRRRRRRRR!
Double BRRRRRRRRR!
Atleast we got some free funnel cake and popcorn for our troubles. They ran out of hot cocoa. Figures. Check out Eli in the back seat. He was wiped out after eating the funnel cake. Look closely at his nose. Too cute.
Hee hee, powdered sugar is so messy.
Eli's infamous quote about powdered sugar just after he tried some "Hey, mom, this powder needs some more sugar in it." tee hee hee

Thanksgiving Eats '09

Eva was ancy to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Let's see, what was on the menu this year. Well, the kids asked for roast potatoes, Kahlua pork, turkey, sweet potatoes w/ marshmallows on top, homemade rolls and dad's chocolate trifle. Komi wanted a shrimp plate, raw mushrooms and peas. I made stuffing and cranberry sauce for me and picked tomatoes from my sad plants in the backyard. I think that covers it all.
Time to eat.
Oh yeah, here's the cook. :)
Thanksgiving day '09