Newer Crafts.

I almost forgot to add these to my blog.

4th of July

Fall door hanger.

Head checks.

Being the daughter of a school nurse I would hear of several different experiences my mom had while at work. We would hear about ways kids tried to get out of class. Stories about some of her 'regulars' and how much she adored them. I remember one of those kids was named Hector and he gave her a lollipop bouquet once.
Mixed in among her stories were horror stories about head lice. She would tell us about the hours she spent during her day checking heads. If one kid had it and they had any siblings their classes needed checked too. It was never ending for her.
Thankfully and luckily we never had it. How we survived, I'll never know. I guess her stories might have put the fear in us. Never share brushes, headbands, combs, hats, or anything that could come in contact with someone's head.
I will admit I am now that mom that warns her kids about all this stuff. Having a daughter that is now 12 and loves to have her friends do her hair in cute braids and styles has me freaking!
Ok. I'm not saying she has dirty friends. Because in reality, Lice like clean hair! Did you know that! Also, African Americans don't get lice as common as caucasians. Why, because they put more product in their hair and lice can't cling on or get through to their scalps as easy.
The other night I had a dream about Lice. It was so real and vivid that I itched all night. I kid you not. When I woke up that morning I still had Lice on my head. Hahaha Not Literally!
As my kids were getting ready for school that morning I even checked their heads.
My kids were looking at me strange as I ran my hands through their hair. When they asked what the heck I was doing and I told them, they were appalled at the idea of ever possibly getting Lice. I just assured them they'd be OK. if they didn't share hair stuff or head stuff. (I know you can get it other ways too)
Dawson asked how I could tell if they had it and explained that to him. Then he asked how to get rid of them. I explained that there are special shampoos to kill them and combs to remove them. Being Dawson, he simply said, "You can just shave my head."
If it were only that easy.
I do remember my mom telling me about a little girl that came to school after several attempts to get rid of her Lice and her mom had cut her hair off. Sad huh!
The moral of my story is to thank my mom for putting the fear of Lice in me so that I could pass it onto my children.

Dawson Dude turns 8!

Happy Birthday Dawson!
I can't seem to wrapped my head around the fact that another one of my kids has turned 8. It seems unfathomable that I now have 3 kids 8 and older. How did this happen!!
Because Dawson will be getting baptised in a month and we will be having a big party at that time, we decided to just give him a little family party on his birthday.
 I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he requested a peanut butter cup ice cream cake from Wal-Mart. I thought OK thats easy.
Then my sweet little Dawson says to me, "Mom, I don't want to do that cake anymore because Xander doesn't like it and I want something everyone will like." That's my sweet tender-hearted little man.
His next choice was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Being the amazing mom I am
(toot, toot) Yes I just tooted my own horn, I decided to combine both his requests.
He got cupcakes filled with a creamy peanut butter center and then I placed 1/2 a peanut butter cup on top of the cupcake.

He was a very surprised and happy little boy.

Here are a couple more shots from Dawson's day.

Enjoying their cupcakes.

He got his own pack of Reese Peanut Butter Cups.

Opening presents.

 Happy Birthday to my most favorite Dawson in the whole wide world.

Me.

I promise you I'm not vain. I just I'd post a pic of my new hair color for my family to see.
I rarely make it into pictures because I'm always taking them.
I turned the camera around on myself and took a selfie.
Here ya go mom & dad.
Do you like the red? I cut about 3 inches off and added layers throughout.

Sawyer.

I know I blogged all the other kids on their first day of school. I couldn't leave this cute boy out of the fun.

Here's Sawyer on his first day of being home with mom while the other kids are at school.

Oh my gosh!

He's just too cute.

I really can't say no to this little boy. He has me wrapped around his cute little finger.

Kenzie's Room.

The time had come to finally welcome Mackenzie fully into her young womanhood. It was time to remove the Tinkerbell from her bedroom walls and give her a little more up-dated teenager room.
We let her pick her colors and we as parents just went with it.
Here is a little bit of the process and the finished look.

Goodbye yellow.

Hello blue.

Here is her new look.

Dang cute, if I do say so myself.

Brothers.

I should have blogged this earlier, but sometimes my life gets a little crazy and I forget stuff.
I hope it happens to everybody and I'm not alone in this.

I am so glad I happen to take my camera with me when I walked home from school with my boys on their first day. If I hadn't I would have missed this perfect tender moment between Dawson and Sawyer.

There is a dirt hill that all the kids love to go over on the way to school and on the way home.
Sawyer finally had the opportunity to climb the hill. Last year, he was always stuck in the stroller.
The hill was just a little too steep and rocky for his little legs.
This day was Sawyer's day to conquer the hill.
He was struggling to navigate through the sagebrush and rocks. When Dawson saw him falling behind. Literally at some points, he went back to help his little brother.  
This is what I then caught with my camera.

Helping guide his brother.

Showing him where to step on the way down the hill.

Hand and hand till they reached the bottom.

It's little moments like this that make me so proud to be their mom. Dawson is such an aware little man. He sees a need and without any instruction or persuading he will be there to help others. He is very kind-hearted and loving. I wish I could have recorded his voice as the boys were climbing the hill. He loving talked to Sawyer as he told him where to step. He repeatedly told Sawyer, "just keep holding my hand and I'll help you through."
He is so Christ-like at times I can't help but reflect on my life and my relationship with my Savior.
I know He is there for me through all my trials. He takes my hand and leads me and tells me, "Just keep holding on and I'll help you through."
I truly see the unconditional love of Big Brothers.

Twinners.

My boys are obsessed with the game MineCraft. And because I am the awesome mom that I am, I got them Minecraft shirts for back to school.
Xander and Dawson decided to match for school one day and insisted I take their pictures before they left.
I was more than happy to indulge them in their little photo shoot.

These are their Creeper shirts.

Discussing their strategies for the game. 

Goofy faces.

Xander defeated Creeper Dawson.

Please don't ask me any more about the game. All I know is that they build stuff with blocks of dirt, grass, and metal. And they try to keep zombies and creepers out of their places. Oh, and there are pet animals like, pigs and sheep and cows. I only know this because I can hear the animal noises as the boys play.