The Dean Family

Christmas Aftermath

2012-01-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

After Christmas we headed up North to enjoy some cooler weather. Or so we thought. It was actually quite warm while we were there and absolutely no snow. We were a little bummed, but we had a lot of fun with family. The day after we got there my brother surprised us and drove in from California. We rarely see them so it was a real treat to spend the week with them and their 3 little ones! It made for some full days and late nights and we came home exhausted; it was all worth it though.

There was a thin layer of snow on the basketball court so the girls made the most of it. Here Natalie is prancing around in her slippers.

A snowball fight with cousins

Traditional nail painting by Elise!

My brother Dave that surprised us. He's holding one of his boys, Dylan who is about 8 months older than Natalie

We went out to eat a few times and usually there was a 'kids table' That sure made it nice for us and the kids had a blast. In this picture Naomi and Cyrena are drawing on their placemats. Naomi slept over with us a couple of nights and we had so much fun with her!

Going on a hike with the cousins behind grandma and grandpa's property. That's Dylan (3), Andrew (6), Cyrena, Naomi (7), and Natalie.

Cyrena gets a little unsure about her footing on outings like this. She especially did this day since there was a LOT of deer poop (or grapes as Natalie thought) so she clung to Dave's hand the entire time and he was an awesome, reassuring and patient uncle!

Oh yeah, Anna was there too! :)

Anna really loved Jacob's ipod touch. If she was fussing he would whip that out and she'd be all smiles

Karaoke time!

Toasting in the New Year (at 11 p.m.)

That Sunday, New Year's Day, was my nephew Eric's mission farewell. It was an incredible meeting. The spirit was present and we all commented afterward on how much we were edified. Eric's talk was wonderful then Alec played the viola in a string quartet that was outstanding and then the concluding speaker was a sister who had undergone numerous trials in the past decade that are beyond my ability to comprehend. The talks centered on The Book of Mormon and how all the answers we seek can be found within it's pages.

Afterward there was a luncheon at Eric's home and it was fun to have some more family time before we headed out. Lynn and Debbie were Anna's best friends. They gave her sparkling cider and cheesecake--she's a happy girl!

Our family with Eric. He's heading to the MTC in just 3 days, so exciting. And yes, he just might run into David Archuleta in the cafeteria...:)

Our Family Christmas

2012-01-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Christmas. The kids got along, we had great food and fun conversations, the kids opened up fun gifts. It was wonderful.

A rare moment I had to capture. Natalie loves to cuddle, Cyrena doesn't but this time, it was Christmas after all, she indulged her.

Our neighbors set up luminaries to line the street. The girls and David helped set them up earlier in the afternoon and then we all went out to help light them. It made quite the runway for Santa.

We had a scrumptious dinner of chicken a la king with caesar salad and a fruit salad. We sang some Christmas carols, read the Christmas story, watched some short videos from the church website and had a great discussion.

The girls were happy to open and put on their Christmas pajamas. But no one was happier than Natalie for her winter nightgown and slippers. This girl will only wear nightgowns so I had to find something that would keep her somewhat warm.

We sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn and put out cookies for santa.

The girls were spoiled this year as usual. They had a lot of little things to open so that's always fun. I was most excited about the plasma cars. We found Cyrena's used on craigslist and Natalie's new at a discount store for almost the same price as the craigslist one! Woo-hoo!

David and I woke up first, then Anna. We brought her in our bed and had some fun making spitting noises.

Then Natalie joined us (they knew they were not allowed to go into the living room)

Finally we couldn't stand it anymore so we woke up Cyrena, this girl could sleep forever. We didn't start opening presents until about 9, it was great!

David and I usually don't exchange gifts but this year I decided I wanted to get him a few fun things--the guy never asks for anything!! So we ended up buying for each other.

David's favorite gift. I bought $10 gift cards for all the places he likes to grab something while he's out driving around for work. Subway, Chik-fil-a, Taco Bell, etc. He usually takes a lunch but sometimes he's out all day and can't heat anything up or keep anything cool in his truck.

For Christmas I just needed some kitchen things; mixing bowls, measuring spoons, etc. So that was great! But David also got me a ticket to see Wicked with some girls in the ward--I'm excited!

Ready for church. We couldn't think of a better way to spend Christmas than being with those of our faith, singing praises to Him, and letting the spirit into our hearts.

Cyrena is 6

2011-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

Our girl is now 6. This past year seems to have flown by and Cyrena has grown up so much. Who knew having a 6 year-old would be so heavenly. Now that she's 6 she wants to be so big and helpful. She's been cleaning her room more, getting dressed without being harassed, helping pack her lunch, wiping down the sink when Natalie has made a mess, etc, etc. It's quite funny and heartwarming.

Cyrena had her first 'friend' party this year. We had a Polar Express Party. It was so much fun and it was worth all the work to see her so excited and happy. We invited 9 kids (it was hard to cut the list down!) but a couple couldn't come and 1 friend had to leave early. It was a good mix of church and school friends. We probably won't do a friend party every year, instead do it every other year like others do. We're not sure yet. It is hard to pull all this off in the middle of the holidays! :) I wanted to document it all in case I can help someone else do a Polar Express Party. I was sure grateful for ideas on the internet! I also channeled my inner big sister Debbie because she is the guru of birthday parties!!

Our Happy Birthday girl, ready for guests to arrive.

We made a candy train for each guest.

During the party we let the kids package up reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve.

Disposable cups with lids and fun straws...decided to go with water

North Pole Cupcakes....I was quite proud of these!

I bagged up hot chocolate and marshmallows and put them in this HUGE tin mug for a game you'll see later.

While we waited for everyone to arrive we had the kids decorate white sacks so they could collect all their stuff as the party progressed. And of course we had a bunch of blown up red and green balloons for them to toss around while they waited for others to finish.

While David bbq'd hot dogs we had a relay race. I bought some of that powder that you add water to it and make snow. David did it and put it all in this bucket. Then I hid a bunch of white plastic icicle ornaments in there. The kids had to run, dig, find an ornament then run back to their team. They did this 2 times so they each got 2 ornaments to take home.

We came inside and played another balloon relay race. Then we ate dinner; hot dogs, chips, and oranges. We snagged plastic tableclothes from our ward party that morning since they were just getting thrown away. We put them on the carpet under the tables--perfect!

She had so much fun opening presents...here she's opening up a bunch of Junie B. Jones books from Natalie. Natalie helped me pick out ones we didn't have at our local used bookstore. Cyrena is going through the books so fast we knew she would love some new ones.

We played 'pass the hot chocolate' to the song "hot chocolate' from The Polar Express. When the music stopped the person holding the mug got to take a bag out.

Cupcakes and hot chocolate while watching part of The Polar Express. Life doesn't get much better than that!

After dessert we played "Santa Says' and "Don't Eat Santa!" Then while parents were arriving to pick up we played "freeze dance" The kids also received a little box full of candy and a bell necklace.
Aren't they so cute? David and I were definitely entertained the entire time.

After the kids were gone, David hi-fived me and said "can we crash now?" I reminded him that that is pretty much what I do 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours BY MYSELF! :) I couldn't believe what a difference it made having a partner! It was all so much fun, I loved it and so did Cyrena. She said it was 'the best party ever' and I would have to agree, hehe.

About our 6 year-old:

*Cyrena is still very sensitive and cries easily but is easier to console now that she's older

*She reads a LOT and is doing so well in school. She takes the character education themes very seriously.

*She has become quite the artist and drew a picture for every guest at her party to take home. They were all about Santa...awesome.

*She is very sensitive to the spirit, her understanding of the gospel floors us at times. I hope that continues.

*Her favorite things to wear: jeans, t-shirts, pajamas, sweats

*Her favorite things to eat: nachos, pot roast, apples, green beans, cereal, carrots, and of course chocolate

*Cyrena is a chatterbox. When we're in the car Natalie is very content to just look out the window but Cyrena wants to chat the entire time.

*Her favorite things to do: playdates, schoolwork, playing sports, building with legos, watching Wild Kratts, playing make-believe with Natalie, singing, writing, and drawing

Cyrena's stats:

Weight: 49 pounds (70%)

Height: 46.5 inches (71%)

She's very proportional!!

Anna is 1

2011-12-21T09:16:00.000-08:00

Our baby is 1 and yes, she's still a baby in many ways. She's definitely gotten more fiesty lately. It's so hard having holiday birthdays. The past bit has been so crazy but thankfully I feel the roller coaster slowing down. Yesterday was my preschool Christmas party so I'm officially on Christmas Break and Cyrena is after today. YAY!

We had a very busy weekend so when Monday came our energy was pretty low. On top of that I was having some severe tooth pain so I went to get checked and ended up having an emergency root canal. It was more painful than other root canals I've had so let's just say I was in a less than jolly mood for Anna's birthday. I tried my best though. I had already baked a little cake for her then David decorated it for her. That man is a rock star, I couldn't make it a day without his help. So without further ado, here are the pics of our new 1 year-old.

So excited to open presents...We got her some felt food, a little people playset, a doll, and some pjs. I'm trying to force the doll on her and she just gets mad and tosses it in anger. Maybe someday...

We had BBQ chicken salad for dinner. This girl loves chicken.

David's masterpiece

For these next few pictures, I'm just going to let you see the sequence of events--no explanation needed

yes we are terrible parents and yes she has a little burn blister on her hand...but chocolate soothed all her pains

About Anna:

*She is combat crawling everywhere (since Thanksgiving) and can now get back into a seated position

*She babbles a lot, mostly saying 'dada' but sometimes 'bababa' and 'mamama' And sort of says 'Hi'

*We are trying to teach her not to hit us in the face (her favorite pasttime) but instead use her hand to lightly stroke our face and say "nice, nice" so she mimics that unless she's angry; then she just slaps us....

*She is working on sign language and almost has 'more' and 'all done' down. Otherwise she just screams in a very high-pitched tone to let us know she's either thirsty, hungry, tired, or bored.

*Her head has gotten more proportional and they said she could stop wearing her cranial band. We're still putting it on her when she sleeps though because of her flat spot.

*She is already off her bottle and just uses a sippy cup. But this girl eats a LOT and poops 3-4 times a day--seriously!

*She is a huge flirt and loves to make people smile. During our ward Christmas Party there was a lot of singing and she stood on my lap squealing and clapping the entire time. A lot of people were watching her instead of the program. She also loves to dance.

*She still takes 2 naps, 1 short morning one and a long afternoon one.

*She interacts a lot with her sisters, making them laugh and imitating sounds and squeals. She has recently discovered their room and loves to crawl down the long hallway to get to it.

We LOVE this girl!

Anna's 1 Year Stats:
weight: 23 lbs (78%)
height: 30 3/4 inches (91%)
head: 18 centimeters (68%)

Advent Activities 2011

2011-12-20T15:12:00.000-08:00

We've been staying super busy this Christmas Season. Trying to keep the spirit of Christmas alive amidst the chaos of life. Here is a list of our advent activities we've been doing and will do. I haven't been great at taking pictures of them this year but there are a few.

**All activities are subject to change!**
1. Make a paper chain to countdown to Christmas

2. Write and deliver letters to Santa in Macy's BELIEVE mailbox

3. Nutcracker Ballet

4. First Presidency Christmas Devotional

5. Christmas FHE "Our Gifts to Jesus"

6. Bass Pro Shop Winter Wonderland

7. Clean out toys to donate, color a picture for "color-a-smile"

8. Wrap presents and make cards for Grandparents

9. Watch a holiday movie and eat popcorn!

10. Make a holiday treat (we didn't end up doing this, watching another movie instead)

11. Make treats for neighbors

12. Christmas Symbols FHE

13. Biggest Loser Finale party with friends (way to go John!!)

14. Drink hot chocolate and look at pictures of past holidays

15. Temple Christmas lights

16. Christmas Dance party in pj's!

17. Ward Christmas Breakfast, Cyrena's birthday party

18. Stake Christmas Music program

19. Anna's birthday, Make a gingerbread house

20. Wrap gifts for teachers

21. Celebrate Cyrena's birthday

22. Check out neighborhood Christmas lights

23. Make ice cream cone Christmas trees

24. Christmas Eve! Cookies and milk for Santa, sprinkle reindeer food

25. Christmas Day!

Oh my these girls can be so naughty....then I see pictures like this...*sigh

Heading to the Nutcracker Ballet, just me and the girls

Natalie wanted a picture with all the ballerinas. Several of them were in our ward so they were more than willing to oblige!

For Color-a-Smile they colored Happy New Year pictures just in case they didn't get passed out in time for Christmas. Natalie is getting so good at coloring, Cyrena was very uninterested in coloring at her age so it's strange to see Natalie taking to it this young.

Bass Pro Shop is a must. The picture above isn't the picture they printed and gave us but it's one we took ourselves. They really stepped it up this year adding a cool carousel!

We decorated gingerbread men

Our PJ dance party

Last month we participated in Operation Christmas Child. The boxes had to be turned in by November 20th and it always signals the beginning of the holiday season for us. We found out our boxes were shipped to the Phillipines.

A new era has begun

2011-12-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

This all happened in one day. We noticed it was loose before school then that night she had played with it enough that when she was getting into bed she just twisted it out--YUCK. I wasn't sure whether to be grossed out (I have a hard time with teeth) or just cry because she's losing part of her babyhood...

*Cyrena's theory is that the tooth fairy takes the teeth that fall out and then puts them in the babies that are getting new teeth. Recycling! :)

Thanksgiving weekend 2011

2011-12-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving already feels like a lifetime ago, how does that happen? We had a good one though. Here are the highlights.

We went to my cousin's sister-in-law's home for dinner. Brooke is always so fun to be with, thanks to her for hosting! Pictured above is my Aunt Lynette with Natalie. Lynette is my mom's baby sister and my closest aunt. We lived close to her while I was growing up and we've always stayed close. It was so great to be with them for the holiday.

Working hard in the kitchen then we enjoyed a wonderful feast. Of course I lost it during the 'thankful' part of the feast. I always do, there is just so much to be thankful for. Afterward the kids roasted marshmallows in the fire pit and we enjoyed pie while the kids watched a movie.

On Friday afternoon David took us into Fountain Hills for a little hike to the overlook for the actual fountain in Fountain Hills lake. The girls did well on the hike, no whining, a miracle!

The girls watching the fountain--it was quite impressive! Love Cyrena's 'wallet' sticking out of her pocket. :)

Awhile back David won a free night's stay at a resort close to Fountain Hills. We headed there after our hike and enjoyed pizza and swimming!

We had a breakfast voucher also and it was TASTY.

After the hotel we met up with the family at the train park. The train park is always a favorite. In this picture is my Aunt Lynette and Uncle Rick with their granddaughter Claire.

It was crowded but so much fun to play and visit and eat a picnic lunch with everyone.

This and That

2011-11-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

This is a catch-up post of things I don't want to forget!

Cyrena was star student a couple of weeks ago. We got to keep Clifford for the weekend. Her eyes are red in this because she was crying about having to take Clifford back to school--she wanted to keep him. The only way I got her to stop crying was by offering to take this picture of her, Clifford and her poster.

We did a lot of 'playing' with our Halloween candy. I found Natalie like this one afternoon and David helped Cyrena build a house with hers. Eventually we let them each pick about 10 things and we threw the rest away. But it was fun to play with it all in the meantime!

Anna loved rolling around in all of it and making a mess

I love rare moments like this where I don't know where the girls are and then I find them like this. Natalie got Pinkalicious and Purplicious for her birthday and she loves Cyrena to read to her.

One night during FHE Anna was having a hard time so I had to skip out and start bathing her and get her ready for bed. I told David he could play pictionary with the girls on our whiteboard for the activity. Just informal pictionary where they thought of something, drew it and had someone else guess. Cyrena's drawing is above. 100 points to the person who can guess what it is. HINT: it's church-related and he's not wearing hat...that's his hair.

Normal nights. Cyrena is circling things in a toy catalog and Natalie is playing Doctor to Anna. Do you notice something on Anna's head? She's wearing an infant cranial band. She has a noticeable flat spot and we're trying to correct it. Fingers are crossed that it works. She adjusted to it amazingly fast.

Some 'just because' flowers from David for an overwhelmed mom. Awwww....

This owl landed in a tree in our neighbor's yard. There is an owl family around but we hadn't seen them this close up before. Very cool.

Cyrena bore her testimony for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She was nervous but did a beautiful job. She really does have a strong testimony that will serve her well through her life.

Natalie is 3, David is 32!

2011-11-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

Our little Natalie is 3. This girl doesn't ask for much. She didn't even know she was getting presents until I asked her when she wanted to open them. "you bought me a present mom??!!" I volunteer at the school on Monday mornings so Natalie spent all morning playing outside with her friend Taylor--she wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Afterward, I took her to the store and let her pick out a balloon. She always wants one so this was a treat. I think it was her favorite present.

She had to nap with her balloon clipped to her shirt

David and I couldn't stomach anymore goodies so we had some extra cookies I had made for something else and we put her candles in that. She didn't eat it, just blew out the candles. :)

After trick or treating instead of eating candy we dished up ice cream cones....because it's Halloween yet still in the high 80's. Natalie picked out grasshopper ice cream for her birthday-yum!

Natalie with her new pajamas and her new nightlight. I was so excited to find this purple Twilight Turtle at a discount store. We've been wanting to get the girls one for a long time and purple is Natalie's favorite color!

This girl has grown so much in the past year. She's still a little spitfire but is so loving, compassionate, and sweet too.

She wants to wear a skirt everyday, takes great naps, her speech has improved, and she has become a much less picky eater.

Here are 3 of my favorite things about Natalie:

1. She is super cuddly and gives the most amazing hugs....seriously.

2. She uses her entire body while she talks; especially her hands, eyebrows, and hips

3. She makes me laugh ALL. DAY. LONG.

Stats:

Weight: 32 lbs

Height: 37 in.

We celebrated David's birthday yesterday. Now this man definitely doesn't ask for anything for himself. I told him I wanted to bring Paradise Bakery cookies into his work for a treat. I asked him what kind he would like and he said 'whatever you get is fine' to which I responded 'don't forget it's YOUR birthday and you're KING today!' So the girls and I brought some cookies and a Superman balloon into his work.

After work he opened some presents and we headed out to meet up with some friends for dinner. And for a real treat, David didn't have to do any of the bedtime routine...he got to sit on the couch and watch a nature show while eating an ice cream cone! :)

Here are 3 of my favorite things about David:

1. He laughs at all my jokes, even the not so funny ones

2. He is always there for me and the kids

3. He is steady, dependable, a hard worker, and oh so cute

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and busy Halloween. The girls had so much fun at the ward party and then again trick or treating last night. We carved pumpkins Saturday-you can't do it too early in AZ since it's still hot. Sunday the primary program was AWESOME (if I do say so myself---but really it was all the kids). That night we headed to the Blounts (David's boss) and had an unbelievably tasty dinner, pumpkin hammering, giant sparklers, and pumpkin bombs. Really...they made bombs and blew up pumpkins. No one was harmed and we were all entertained. The girls love going over there, they'd stay all night if they could!

I love my little trick-or-treaters. Supergirl, a cupcake, and a candy corn!

Here, there, everywhere

2011-10-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else feel like their head is spinning? I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. Yesterday was bad. Today was better. I worry a lot about my little preschoolers, but today was a great day and I felt like they learned a lot. So many days I have no idea if I'm getting through to them. But when I worry about my preschoolers and my curriculum, I feel guilty because I have less attention for my kids, and less time for keeping up my chores. But then there are days like today where I've been able to stay on top of everything and everyone's been happy. Go figure, just take one day at a time.

The next 6 days are pretty packed; visiting teaching, truck or treat, recheck for Anna's cranial, preschool Halloween party, primary program logistics planning, primary program practice, primary program Sunday, plan Sunday singing time, carve pumpkins, Cyrena's fun run, gymnastics, fix/prepare costumes, prepare Cyrena's star student poster, babysit for a friend, Halloween, and Natalie's birthday!

It will be busy.

Here are some random pictures from the last bit.

I helped my friend Alison make a Charlie Brown Romper for her baby boy.

We turned a yellow t-shirt into a romper--even putting in snaps! And it only took us 3 hours--ha! It was an adventure and we were very proud of ourselves.

Anna is getting more and more mobile. She's not on all fours yet but she is rolling, twisting, turning, and scooting her way into everything. She often ends up like this and she doesn't like it. This girl doesn't hesitate to let you know how she feels. She's a big part of my stress lately and is in a very hard stage. Let's just say there is a lot of screaming involved and I'm contemplating using timeout at 10 months old! It's a VERY good thing that she's cute.

She has also become a major Daddy's girl lately. I wouldn't have expected anything different. When he comes home from work and goes to one of her sisters first, Anna immediately shares her displeasure--in a very loud way.

I went to a kid's consignment sale a couple of weeks ago. I picked up this magnetic gear toy for $1. It is awesome. The girls have had so much fun with it, I highly recommend it!

This past weekend we traded off with some friends for a date night. David and I used a saved gift card for dinner then headed to the $2 movie to see the final Harry Potter. It was great fun. I have to tell a funny on David. Many times David needs to me to give him little reminders about characters, names, etc. It's not something that's easy for him to remember and I'm happy to oblige. Toward the end of the movie there's a scene where Harry visits with several close friends/family who are deceased. When it showed one of them up close...I leaned close to David and I said "you remember him, right? Harry's godfather?" David slowly nodded then his eyes lit up and he said "you mean Sirius Black?" Hahaha, I couldn't stop laughing! And he couldn't help but laugh at me when I would be learning forward and nodding during different parts of the movie. What can I say, those books were magical.

Family Pictures 2011

2011-10-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

So here are the family pictures we took at the ranch. We're all pretty squinty but we didn't really have a choice in the time of day they were taken between naps, meals, etc. Cyrena is a poser and Natalie couldn't smile naturally if her life depended on it. All in all, I'm pleased with them! Randy took the family pictures for us then I took the ones of the girls alone. So fun.

I do wish we owned some editing software...although I probably wouldn't be able to figure out how to use it...

The Taylor Ranch

2011-10-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend David's boss' family invited us up to their family ranch. We went last year and had a blast. It was a last minute trip but we're so glad we went. We drove up Thursday night and came home Saturday night. David and Randy had a meeting in Winslow Friday morning and then we had the rest of time to play. The kids had a blast being outside. The first day it snowed and the next day was a sunny mid-50's and Cyrena and I got a sunburn. Go figure.

It was fun to see Anna all bundled up!

I can't remember what she's crying about but this is a great shot of the snow falling.

Anna watching the snow from the covered porch--it was beautiful

Oh my girls, what will we ever do if we have a boy?? I still can't believe I got this shot, all three smiling and happy.

The ranch is beautiful with a handful of buildings, tons of land, a fire pit, swing set, a creek, tractors, etc., etc. Paradise for kids basically.

Anna was a great traveler this trip. She kind of lost it the last day while we were packing the car. She doesn't like to just watch the action, she wants to be in it.

Since we had a couple fires we burned through some of the wood pile so David and Randy chopped up some wood to replenish it. They gave us girls a turn as well. Here Brittney is hitting the wedge into the log to make it easier to split and Randy is giving a devotional about not letting wedges come into our marriages...

That's MY man! And I quote: "There's just something about when you swing the ax and the log splits that makes you feel manly." I love him.

Randy also took some family pictures for us while we were there, I'll post them soon.

A vist from Grandma

2011-10-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

Grandma Taylor was able to come for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We all loved the extra attention, especially Anna. Cyrena cried pretty hard when we dropped grandma off at the airport. Sad days.

Right before grandma came, Cyrena had a little chest cold that quickly cleared up, but she lost her voice because of it. Then toward the end of the week Natalie came down with it. Any sickness always hits her HARD. She couldn't sleep well and kept coming into our room. Her voice was also gone....David was enjoying the quiet. :) The only bad thing was we couldn't hear her call us into the bathroom when she was done so when we'd go back to check on her she'd just be sitting there crying since she'd been done for awhile. Poor girl. In the pictures below she was just starting in on her cold.

About 4 days later, Anna came down with it and she coughed so hard she threw up all over David. But hers quickly cleared up as well. I'm hoping she has Cyrena's immune system. Natalie can be quite the sickly one. Anyway, David and I were fine and now everyone's healthy thank goodness!

Is it Fall yet?

2011-09-18T22:59:00.000-07:00

David and I were talking tonight how we're so ready for Fall, especially for Fall meals! That's it, regardless of the high temps, I'm making chili this week.

There hasn't been much going on around here other than the normal everyday hustle and bustle. I have neglected to mention that I am teaching preschool again. It kind of happened at the last minute and I have a full class! We've been in school for a month now and it's going well. I have 7 boys plus Natalie so it can get a bit crazy and exhausting. Natalie is a huge flirt and loves all the attention. It's a little worrisome. And Anna is handling it the best she can, which isn't great most of the time. :) It's just 2 days a week and that is perfect.

Cyrena has been spending a lot of time with David lately, which thrills her. David took her to a Diamondbacks game last week. The McKay's came as well so Cyrena had a friend. They had a great time.

Then last Friday David took Cyrena and Natalie to our local high school football game (we live about 2 minutes away). It was a rematch of last year's State Championship game so that was fun for them to see. Our high school is really good and some priests in our ward on are it, so lots of ward members were there.

One morning I came out of the shower and found Anna like this. She usually just sits up and plays but she must've given up on me!

Two Funnies:

1. Cyrena is always trying to delay bedtime, it's a bad habit of hers that we are constantly trying to break. One night she came out and asked for a drink of water. We told her to go ahead. Then she proceeds to tell us very very dramatically with wide eyes and dramatic facial expressions:

"Before bed you have to make sure your tummy is REEEEEALLY full so that you can survive through the night because you can't eat AAAAANYthing all night long."

2. A few weeks ago, David and I went for our temple recommend interviews at the stake offices. The stake president took David into his office first and when David came out, I went in. The girls were just sitting in the foyer right outside the office.

When my interview was finished, I came out and said "ok girls, are you ready?"

Natalie said, "yep" and marched right into the stake president's office and sat herself down in a chair. He sweetly indulged her and proceeded to 'interview' her.

"Do you listen to your mommy and daddy?" "mmm-hhmm" (nodding)

"Do you like to go to church?" "mmm-hmm" (nodding)

"Are you nice to your sisters?" "mmm-hmm" (nodding)

"Do you love Jesus?" "mmm-hmm" (nodding)

"Well I think you're a great little girl, thanks for talking with me!" "ok, it's Cyrena's turn!"

Of course Cyrena knew what was going on and that she didn't need an interview. David and I were cracking up, it was something we'll never forget!

Cyrena's Brain

2011-09-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

In this picture Cyrena is leading the girls in some jumping jacks. I'm pretty sure they think they got to 200, what a feat! :)

Oh our girl is one of a kind. Cyrena is the kind of kid that will tell you anything and everything that is going through her mind. She's going to be an easy teenager in that regard. We won't have to wonder what's going on in her life.

I've been meaning to write this post for months now. I want to record some funny things she says and does that show how truly unique she is. Here goes:

1. When I expressed how much I was going to miss her while she was at Kindergarten ALL DAY she told me not to worry because she promises to give me BIG hugs and BIG kisses before she left and then again when she gets home. So far, she's kept her promise.

2. She asked me one day "why we don't have air holes in our house- how are we breathing??" This one stumped me a bit. I tried to explain about vents, oxygen but it wasn't satisfying her. I told her we have windows and doors but she's smart enough to know we don't open those while it's 115 outside. I told her to ask her dad.

3. Another question was "How did Heavenly Father get to be in charge of Heaven?" This girl is a thinker.

4. One day this summer she said she "figured something out." She told me that in Bambi, his dad is in charge of getting food and shelter for his family. And other animal dad's hunt for food to feed their family. In our family, our dad goes to work so we can buy food for our family and have a house to live in. She was so proud of her reasoning! She "figures things out" all the time.

5. One night we were playing around after dinner. Natalie was sorting color cards and Cyrena was doing an addition game with David. She's getting really efficient with addition, number sense and number conservation. I told her this and she said, "yeah, I'm pretty mathy huh?"

6. A couple of weeks ago I was alone in the car with Cyrena. She was talking nonstop as usual. She told me how lucky she is that she gets to dance with her dad. She said one of her kindergarten friends has just a dad and no mom, his mom had died. I told her that was really sad and she said she would be so sad if she didn't get to be with me anymore. I told her that's why we need to pray everyday and thank Heavenly Father for the chance to be together. She got excited and said/sang "That's like 'Families can be together forever.'.." Then she continued talking about how lucky we are and how it would be hard to be apart but at least we know we can be together forever. It was very sweet.

7. The girls watch a movie every Friday night. Recently it's been a fight over who picks the movie. One night David said for them to pick a number between 1 and 10 and the closest person would get to pick the movie. I didn't think they would really understand. Cyrena picked 5 and Natalie picked 3. David said the number was 3 so Natalie got to pick. Of course Cyrena threw a fit and then there was this whole sister moment where Natalie was sweet and told her not to cry and that Cyrena could pick. They hugged and then Cyrena gave in and let Natalie pick. It was quite the drama with hugs and kisses and tears all around. Anyway, the next day Cyrena was still thinking about it and said "but Mom, 5 is really between 1 and 10" After listening to her and following her logic I realized she thought that she was supposed to say the number that was exactly between 1 and 10-which would be 5. That's my logical, literal, black and white girl-she is just like me!

We just love this girl and can't imagine life without her incessant chatter. She is loving all day kindergarten. She gets on the bus at 8:10 and then the bus brings her home at 3:30. It's a long day, but she's handling it well.

Her teacher met with me last week to come up with some ways to 'enrich' her. She tested on a 2nd grade independent/3rd grade instructional reading level. For right now they're having her do some second grade reading work and we'll see how that goes. So far it seems easy for her. They haven't tested math yet. I'm not worried about her being bored because she loves everything about school and I know we can continue to challenge her at home.

Teeth and Hair

2011-08-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

It feels like awhile since I've posted and there are things I need to catch up on.

One day I noticed Anna had a tooth about to pop through. The next day there it was.

And a couple of days later there was tooth #2! She did well, I barely noticed she was teething. She's in such a fun stage right now, her personality is shining through. She's a fun-loving gal. :)

Most mornings, Natalie's hair looks like this. That's a huge messy rat's nest in the back. Not fun to comb through.

So I decided it was time to get it shaped. She'd never had her haircut before. I asked a Laurel in our ward who is going to hair school to cut it. Natalie was so excited, she wanted her to make her look like "Belle." She basically just evened up the back and now it is so much easier to comb through! I felt comfortable cutting Cyrena's hair since it has such texture it can hide mistakes. Natalie's hair is fine and thin so I knew any mistakes I made would show! And I'm happy to say her ends are still curling beautifully!

On Saturday (I was fighting a head cold) we met up with Ashley and Logan to see the premiere of "The Lion King 3D". It was fun even though I just wanted to be horizontal. I just love that movie though. Ashley had won free tickets and it was kind of a big event in a fun large theater...Radio Disney people were there! :)

The beginning of the end

2011-08-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Cyrena had a great first week of school. Thankfully it was a short week-just Wed-Fri. She loved every minute of it and didn't come home as tired as I thought she would be. :) The only tears were Friday night at bedtime when she was so exhausted that she said she didn't want to go back. Luckily I had just signed up to volunteer for Monday (today) so that soothed her.

I didn't cry at all the day of, I think I got it all out the night before. I did eat lunch with her on Wed and Fri. Those all-day kindergarteners have a hard time eating lunch without a lot of help. They all need extra hands to open water bottles, food containers, lunchboxes, string cheese packages, etc. There is a lot of training that goes on those first few days: walking in a line, where to put their lunchbox before recess, where to line up after recess, etc. That brings back some memories, but I always got kids after they were pretty well trained by the k &1st grade teachers!!

Cyrena loves to sleep in. Many summer days she didn't get up until 8:30 so I've had to wake her each morning and she has a hard time getting going. Her bus has come early twice (like 8 minutes early!) and because of that we almost missed it once so now she has extra motivation to get ready in the morning--wouldn't want to miss that 5 minute bus ride!

I think the hardest thing about sending kids to school is that now they are out of your complete control and at the mercy of others. I know Cyrena is strong and luckily she tells us everything but I still worry about what she's being exposed to and the worldly 'noise' around her. It makes me want to be even more stalwart in my efforts as a mother.

On another note, yesterday Cyrena was able to participate in a Stake Children's choir. They've been practicing for about 6 weeks and performed for the general session yesterday. She did a wonderful job and actually sat still through the 2 hours of speakers!

Ready for her first day with her friend, Robyn. I am so glad they are in the same class. I think it's made the transition that much easier.

Last glimpse. They wanted parents to say good-bye at the gate outside. We barely got a wave from Cyrena as she was happily chatting with Robyn as they walked in.

Summer Days

2011-08-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Summer Days are ending tomorrow! Ahh, how did I get old enough to have a kindergartener? She's excited, I'm melancholy, we'll both make it through tomorrow I'm sure. The tears already started during dinner when David cheerfully announced "Cyrena, in 13 hours you'll be on the bus!" She looked at me, teared up and said "I'm going to miss you." That's all it took to get me going. This from the girl who hasn't acted sad one BIT this entire time. I think it's hitting her now. David had to jump in and save the day. My tears continued during David's father's blessing for Cyrena. David asked if he needs to take the day off tomorrow to comfort me. :) It's the ending of an era, Cyrena and I have made a great team these last 5 1/2 years.

I did want to capture what our summer days have looked like. I'm a bit of a homebody and my kids are happy to oblige, especially with it being so hot outside. We'll have the occasional outing or playdate but for the most part we stay close to home.

The mornings start out a bit lazy...lay around in pj's and play for a bit

Then a leisurely breakfast where we eat great food and explore the newspaper

We dress and do hair then complete some chores

THEN it's dancing time! The girls turn on the Disney station on Pandora and the floor is theirs. They do this every single day.

While Anna does a lot of this...laughing and learning how to sit up

Occasionally we'll do a fun activity, like decorating cupcakes.

These turned out quite tasty as you can imagine! It was all purple sprinkles for Natalie-her favorite color.

We also enjoy lots of books, the girls are great about reading together most of the time

And of course when Dad gets home it's pandemonium as we all scramble for his undivided attention.

And there you have it, it's not much but it's what we do and what we like. And now it's coming to an end...sob!

July Staycation

2011-07-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

We took a 'staycation' a couple weekends ago. We used one of those Living Social deals (my sis-in-law gave us the heads up-thanks Shay!) and headed to a resort called the Arizona Grand. It is a very nice hotel with a large water park.

We spent about 2 hours at the water park and after 5 times around the lazy river we realized our kids are a little young to really enjoy a water park. However, they loved the lazy river since it was right up their alley. Later we had pizza, watched a movie, the older girls and I went swimming at the pool near our room, then we headed to bed.

The next morning we ate a great breakfast (including an omelet bar where David took copious notes as always). Afterward David took the older girls swimming while Anna napped then we headed out. It was a quick trip but also so much fun. We definitely want to make this a tradition every summer.

Utah Trip Part 2-with Daddy

2011-07-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

After a week apart we were MORE than ready to see daddy. It was a very happy reunion when we met up in at my parent's 2nd home in Hurricane for the 4th of July weekend.

The first day we headed to a local family fun center where we played all morning. Our kids had never done anything like this so it was very exciting. Bumper boats, mini golf, go-carts, arcade and kiddie carts.

Natalie had a hard time steering her car so David had to help. Cyrena went around and around independently.

You can tell by her face that she loved doing this with her dad.

We went to see The Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn theater. Cyrena loves going to plays so this was fun for her. It's a large outdoor amphitheater and it doesn't start until dusk--8:45! We didn't make it home until midnight.

My parents home is close to "Grandpa's Fishing Hole" We didn't catch anything. But we sure had fun. I don't remember the last time I've gone fishing. David and I had a lot of laughs at my casting abilities. I finally got it though. Cyrena got really good at it also. There were some older men and women there who shared some live bait with us and also let Cyrena reel in one of the fish they caught.

Grandpa has an ipod touch--fancy! :) We don't have anything like that so Cyrena was a bit obsessed. Grandpa and Cyrena worked together to pass several levels of Angry Birds.

The girls lived in this pool in the yard

Check out those thighs!

On the 4th we rented a wave runner and headed to one of the reservoirs that's about 5 minutes from my parents house. I hadn't been on one in years and it was SO fun. Everyone had a great time. It was nice and calm and not too crowded. The girls loved every minute of it and they each got several rides. At the end I took both of them with me and we had some crazy girl time with lots of screaming!!

Building sand castles with plastic cups and spoons...that's how we roll.

Grandma was nice enough to hold and shade Anna so I could have fun

Take a bite, you know you want to

That night we BBQ'd and had a small fireworks show (the $10 pack from Wal-mart)

Natalie got burned by the sparklers-ouch. She also discovered these light-up singing Belle shoes at grandma's and she was done for. She rarely took them off.

One of the teeny-tiny fireworks in the pack

The girl loves to light the fireworks, she did a great job!

We came home exhausted and penniless but we are so grateful for the awesome memories we made! Thanks to my parents for their generosity and for all the good times with family!

My dad also took some great pictures. He'll be sending me a cd soon so I'll post some more.

Utah Trip part 1-without daddy

2011-07-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

We returned last week from our big Utah trip. It was an adventure and oh so much fun! We got to spend tons of time with family which was our ultimate goal. The Utah County part of the trip was minus David which was sad for us but we carried on! We played in the hot tub, went to a movie, had family night at Chik-fil-A, went to the nearby brand-new splash park a couple of times, met and bonded with Baby Vivienne, stayed up way too late, enjoyed a rainstorm and played and played and played.

The girls had a lot of outside time with grandpa; walking the property, picking and smelling flowers, mowing the lawn, shooting hoops, etc.

We spied this HUGE butterfly. I've never seen anything like it. My dad and I were mesmerized and I took several pictures. It was loving the lilac bush so it was a willing subject.

We went in the hot tub a few times. We turned the temperature down so it was the perfect bathwater temperature. Here the girls are with cousins Elise and Jacob and they had just turned on the huge volcano that comes up the middle.

One morning I happened upon another HUGE animal. This squirrel was so big it almost looked like a jack rabbit. He was also willing to pose for several pictures. We saw him on a few occasions; I guess he finds plenty of things to eat on my parents property.

Another hot tub night with cousins Ty and Isabelle

One night cousin Elise did a princess party with the granddaughters. They painted nails, put on pretty jewelry, curled their hair, and put on some lip gloss. Natalie was in heaven.

Natalie, Isabelle, Naomi, and Elise

Cyrena refused to participate in the princess party. Instead she played 2 on 2 with cousins Ty, Luke and Jacob. She held her own pretty well and learned all about 'fouls and defense' from Ty.

Natalie and Isabelle had SO much fun together. They never really referred to each other by name, just as 'friend'. "Mom, I can't find my friend" "Oh, there's my friend!" They were adorable and always holding hands. Isn't Isabelle gorgeous??

One morning I headed up to Salt Lake to visit with David's grandparents. It's always wonderful to see them. They always have fun toys set out for the kids and they make sure to send us away with bags of treats (and Dove bars of course!).

This is baby Vivienne, my brother Chad's youngest. This was our first time meeting her. She's adorable and a wonderful baby. It was very fun to finally get to meet her.

Natalie watching grandma get her vitamins and supplements ready for the week. I found it amusing so I had to take a picture.

Father's Day and half birthdays

2011-06-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

A lot of celebrating has been going on around here. We've had Father's Day, Anna's half birthday, Cyrena's half birthday and our 9th anniversary. Whew!

Father's Day started out with the annual dogpile, followed by a requested breakfast

This dad sure loves his girls and they love him LOTS. He is so so good to them.

Anna is now halfway through her first year of life. It's very bittersweet because I love watching her grow and change, but it is definitely going by too quickly.

Anna's favorite things:

*any dangling toy...especially rings and including mom's curls

*pureed squash

*oatmeal

*her sippy cup and any cup of water that we drink out of

*tangling her fingers in her sisters' hair

*her blankie

Anna's 6 month stats:

weight- 19 lbs

height- 27 inches

head- 17 inches

And this little girl turned 5 1/2 today. She's pretty darn excited. I had ordered piano books for her and saved them for today. She was very happy! I can't believe she goes to kindergarten in just over a month.

Up North We Go

2011-06-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our amazing realtor whom we love offered us the use of her cabin up north. It was so generous of her and we politely accepted. :) It was great to be among the large pines and for it to actually be chilly in the morning and evening. We still didn't need pants or jackets though. The cabin was AMAZING and we really relaxed, it was wonderful.

Checking out her sliver

The girls had a blast and got along very well

In the main room there were two very comfortable recliners where David and I spent most of our free time.

We headed out for a morning walk and within 50 feet Natalie tripped and scraped both knees, both palms and both forearms. Luckily we have a first aid kit in the car for these occasions.

After our walk, we had a Cheez-its and strawberries picnic in the loft while we watched a movie and Anna napped. Can anyone guess what movie it is? (hint: it's about a brown-haired princess who loves to read and a figurine of her is on the floor next to Natalie). Behind where I'm taking a picture is a really comfy futon that the girls slept on.

We went on a picnic for lunch at a local park. There were several elderly motorcycle gangs there and their conversations were funny to listen to. By the way, this little girl is heading down the road of daddy-worship...

That afternoon David, Cyrena and I played our favorite card game...Skip bo Jr. You have got to check it out! We play it a few times a week and it's perfect for Cyrena's age. She got it for her birthday from Grandma Barb. Again, we broke out the Cheez-its and added some chocolate to the mix. Cyrena had yet to be initiated into the 'eat candy while you play games' routine....she was pretty darn happy about it!

That night we drove 25 miles further north to Snowflake to see some of our favorite friends- the Ordyna's!! On the way in, we stopped to check out the Snowflake temple. It is gorgeous and sits on a large hill overlooking a beautiful valley. It looked busy; it's always great to see a busy temple.

It was wonderful to see the Ordyna's. We hadn't seen their kids in almost 4 years! It was fun for us all to reconnect. Cyrena and Jarom were born just weeks apart and they picked right back off where they left off when they were 18 months!

David and Jake have always enjoyed each other's company. They worked for the same company for a few years when we first moved to Arizona. We call him the gentle giant, we're big fans!

Alyssa has always been a role model for me. So many times, when I'm having a hard time with something, I ask myself, "what would Alyssa do?" I'm not kidding, I really do!! She's the mother of 5 great kids, and look she even gave me a break and held my chubalub!

We had a great weekend. Thankfully time went slowly so we got to enjoy every single minute.

David's favorite quote of the weekend (recorded for journaling purposes):

As we were walking into the park for a picnic, some people had started BBQing.

Natalie: "Wuss that fells, dad? Cokgogs?"

translated: "what's that smell dad? Hot Dogs?"

She says "wuss that fells?" very often, especially near the meat department in the grocery store. She's got quite the sense of smell I guess. And it really really makes us laugh.

Summer so far

2011-06-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

The local dairy has a farmers market every Thursday evening during the summer. We decided to go before the hot hot hot weather hit. We headed over with the Spencers and there were several vendors to watch and samples to be eaten. There was a $1 hay ride/tour of the dairy and a petting zoo. All in all, a great way to spend an evening-especially since it wasn't too hot!

Heading out on the hay ride

Natalie was very eager to feed the goats and they were very eager to oblige. Cyrena just observed/threw feed through the holes in the fence.

They had stacked hay bales to climb. The girls got very dirty and didn't want to leave.

Cyrena and Natalie just finished up a round of swimming lessons. I did not realize when I signed Natalie up that her class required parents to be in the water with them. Ummm...I have an infant to take care of too....so I was a little unsure of how it was going to work. Luckily I have a great friend, Alison, who was willing to help me out! She's 7 months pregnant and said it sounded great to her to get in the water. So we suited Anna up and Alison and I were in the water with both Anna and Natalie most days. Some of the days Alison was kind enough to watch Anna at her house. I don't know what I would have done without her!!

Both girls did great and progressed well. By the end, I had Natalie jumping into the water to me (going under and coming back up) and Cyrena had perfected her back float. Cyrena is now taking private lessons from a 15 year old girl in our neighborhood.

And just so you know we really do have a baby around here, enjoy this little video of her latest trick.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-06-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had a great time! On Friday, we went swimming with the Cox family. The girls had fun and worked hard on their swimming skills (armed with major flotation devices of course).

Natalie refused to come out of the pool for lunch, she wanted to swim "a 'lil bit more mom"

On Monday we packed a picnic and went to Falcon Hill Park where they actually had a tire swing! The girls loved that. Then we went on a little hike up the hill. We couldn't really find a trail so we just wandered up. We didn't make it to the top since it was close to nap time.

Here David is defining the word 'steep' for Cyrena since she was using it to exaggerate the climb.

After naps we broke out the slip 'n slide and had a BBQ with the McKays. Great food and great company. What a way to kick off the summer.

Earlier in the day we were talking to Cyrena about Memorial Day and what it means, why we have it, etc. She talked about soldiers on 'our team' fighting for our freedom. Then she talked about how lucky we are to be on 'Nephi's team' and fight for Jesus and Heavenly Father. I love this girl.

In other news, the chore chart goes on strong.....

Chores, Chores, Chores

2011-05-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

I think we've finally done it. We've implemented a chore plan in our house. In the past we've had a lot of failures when it came to a system that actually worked. Usually it was my fault because I had a hard time being consistent with it.

It's been 2 weeks and we're still going strong--that's a record! I've seen so many awesome chore plans out there but I chose this one for now. It could very well change in the next little while but for now, we're sticking with it.

I have looked at that chore plan on Confessions of a Homeschooler for awhile but I changed it a bit to work for us.

I printed off a bunch of the chore cards and picked and chose which ones my family would use. I laminated them and also a few blank cards so I could write in some of my own.

So here's what we do: Every night before I go to bed, I decide what chores I need the girls to do the next day. I really like the flexibility of this since we don't run the dishwasher or do laundry everyday but when we do I can add in those chores: empty the dishwasher, fold and put away laundry, dust, etc. Each girl has a few chores that stay the same everyday then they usually get 1-2 more that changes daily:

Natalie: make bed, take a nap, pick up dirty clothes, pick up family room

Cyrena: make bed, read for 20 minutes, pick up playroom, wipe the kitchen table

As they finish their chores, they move the card to the ALL DONE! row.

Then right before bed, we check to see which chores are done and if they are ALL done they pick a sticker to put on their reward card (what Natalie is holding). If they haven't completed all their chores, they do not get a sticker for the day. The reward card has 6 spots and when it is full they get to pick a prize ($1 store items, gum for Cyrena, etc).

There are also "Best-'bee'havior cards." For our family, you can trade in 3 full reward cards for a bee card. The bee card gets them things like: ice cream with dad, a playdate, cooking with mom, etc. They can also earn a bee card if they meet their goal which I will explain below.

Another thing that we started are GOALS. It's hard for them to hear, "just be good, ok?" They need something more specific than that. So for Cyrena we picked a behavior she really needed to work on. She was constantly 'roaring' at Natalie and making her scream. It was becoming a bad (and not to mention annoying!!) habit. So her goal this past week has been, "I will not roar at Natalie" She's been amazing and has met her goal as of right now. We're going to officially evaluate tonight. She is so excited to earn her bee card!

Natalie's goal was "I will poop on the potty" since that's been her biggest struggle lately. And she's done really well! It's so funny because sometimes while she's playing I will hear her repeating "I will poop on the potty....I will poop on the potty"

It's been great to have a visual reminder of their goals, we refer to them very often.

The third and final thing we started are screentime tickets (the pink tickets next to their names). It's been hard for me to keep track of how much screentime (t.v. and computer) they are getting. It's harder for Cyrena since she is home all day and doesn't nap. I figure she is awake and home for about 13 hours a day and it's hard to keep a 5 year old entertained that long! The tickets are in 30 minute increments so as they watch a show (or Cyrena plays computer) we just move a ticket down to 'all done'. I also purchased a small digital timer so Cyrena can set it while she's on the computer. That has made a huge difference! She uses it for her reading time as well. And she also uses it when I say, "I'll play with you in 5 minutes"......it can work against me. :)

Ok, does that sound overwhelming?? It's really a lot simpler than it sounds but it's hard to get it all out of my head into comprehensible text. :) I know most of you already have an awesome plan in place. For right now my girls need something tangible and broken down like this but I'm sure eventually we can go to some kind of checklist.

How do you handle chores at your house?

Nature, FHE, and Potty Power

2011-05-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

Nature:

We've been overrun with bird nests this spring. We're renting so the handyman usually takes care of the nests. However, he's been out of town for family emergencies. As a result we've had a few baby birds to observe. Here's a video of one trying to learn how to fly, but actually just running away from us. You have to listen to how Natalie talks to the bird toward the end of the video.

Also anytime we're in a hurry and we tell her to 'grab shoes' she picks these ruby red slippers...she loves them and they fit her personality well.

Family Home Evening:

I love my new primary chorister calling, it's so much fun. This past Sunday I had an activity for the kids to do that involved hiding magnetic letters in a bucket of rice. They dug out each letter, put it on the board then we sang a song about a corresponding gospel topic. For example. r=reverence. For senior primary I had them tell me what the song taught them about that specific gospel topic. Then when all the letters were on the board we unscrambled the letters to make a word that had to do with the monthly primary theme ("restored") and had a quick mini-lesson. It was a fun activity.

Since I am basically a pretty lazy person I wanted to get more mileage out of this activity. So we used it for FHE the next night. The topic was prayer because we've been feeling like the girls are using a lot of 'vain repetitions' We didn't expect Natalie to really understand too much, and she didn't. But digging out the letters kept her engaged.

Potty Power:

Well I guess the third time's the charm in our house. Anna is a wonderful third baby, David loves his third job out of college, and our third attempt at potty training Natalie has been successful. She's proud to wear panties and has been very good with few accidents. Oh but those accidents can be doozies....I won't go into detail. I think it's been successful this time for two reasons. First, her obsession with princesses has grown exponentially so princess panties are a huge hit. And second, this video that was recommended by a friend:

Natalie loves movies and music so this was perfect. It had catchy songs that she memorized quickly, real kids sitting on a real potty, and a fun princess fairytale at the end. She related and has done amazing well. Pass on the Potty Power! I checked it out from the library.

Big Girls and Baseball

2011-05-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Our firstborn is sure growing up! It's a bit overwhelming at times.

Cyrena just finished her first season of coach pitch baseball. Of course she loved every minute of it, even sliding into home plate just to get her pants dirty. Cyrena had great coaches and if they coach again they're going to let us know so she can be on their team again. She was the only girl with about 8 boys. They accepted her as 'one of the guys' and always made sure they said good-bye to her after each game. Too cute.

In line to bat

This coach was so darn cute with her. He was always cheering her on and calling her 'sweetheart'

Cyrena was one of the only kids that was always in the 'ready' position. The coaches used her as an example often.

Here she is in the outfield talking

We all spent the majority of the time in the shade of a tree or under an umbrella. We lucked out that we had a beautiful spring so it wasn't unbearable

Playing first base

Cyrena always got a hit and loved running the bases. She has a long way to go on catching and she definitely throws like a girl. She's so technical and doesn't allow herself to follow her instincts. She's so much like me! So even though the boys were more natural baseball players, I think she had the most heart.

Yesterday Cyrena had her preschool graduation. David was able to slip away from the office for the 20 minute program. She has loved the independence of going to preschool.

I will willingly admit that I teared up when she walked out with the cap on...I'm weak when it comes to things like that! Many times this girl and I butt heads so it's good for me to see her in a different light sometimes.

We're so proud of our little graduate

Cyrena's teacher, Miss Tawna. She was a great influence on Cyrena's confidence and made her feel safe enough to head off to Kindergarten! Miss Tawna let all the kids have a swim party which was so nice of her! The girls enjoyed every minute of the morning.

Termites, Moms, Music and more

2011-05-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

1. A couple Friday's ago, Ashley discovered a scorpion in the girl's bedroom. Needless to say it made me really upset and I hardly slept that night. Pest control came first thing that next Monday and they saturated our house inside and out with eco-friendly products. :) While in the process he discovered termite tubes in our garage. Great. I notified the landlord and another pest control company came to give us an estimate. Of course the girls and I shadowed him as he walked the property. Cyrena listens to everything so she asked who 'Mike' was after the pest control guy said he'd call 'Mike' about the estimate. Here's the conversation:

Cyrena: Mom, who's Mike?

Me: Mike is our landlord

Cyrena: What's a landlord?

Me: A landlord is someone who owns a house but lets someone else live in it

Cyrena (wheels are turning): Oooohhhh....

Cyrena: You mean like Jesus is our landlord because he created the Earth but we live on it?

Me (stunned): Well, yeah actually he is like our landlord. He helps us when we need it but we live here and take care of the Earth he created.

Cyrena: Yeah Jesus made the earth with Heavenly Father and blah, blah, blah (those who know her can fill in the blanks, she went on and on for about 10 minutes).

You should hear her lecture on Satan and the solar system, it's riveting.

So I think she's ready to read and analyze Jacob 5, what do you think??

2. I had a wonderful Mother's Day, I hope you all did as well. David did so much for me, it was wonderful. He even made me a homemade chocolate cream pie...YUM. I haven't felt like the best mom lately so it was nice to feel so loved and appreciated. I feel like I have so much to live up to because of the wonderful moms I know. My own mom, mothers-in-law, my sister and sisters-in-law and all my great friends. I'm lucky to have a support system that I can go to for those days when nothing is going right and all of us are grumpy! All those moms help me put things in perspective....tomorrow is a new day and I can always start over.

3. Our ward boundaries got rearranged last week. We were sad to see some of our friends taken away from our ward. My callings (I had 2 since our ward was small) technically weren't going to change but they did anyway. Now I am the Primary chorister! I'm excited because I had this calling for just about 5 months when Cyrena was 1. I really liked it and was sad when I was called to something else. This past Sunday was my first day and it was a lot of fun. The primary president said she thought I did well and she was so glad to see that I wasn't a pushover. I reminded her that I taught 2nd graders so that strict side of me tends to come out when I'm with kids! :) It will be a fun new adventure. David kept his calling as the YM's secretary.

4. Natalie is now 2 1/2. I think she's going to be 2 forever. David and I were both saying that it feels like she's been at this stage forever. Diapers, sippy cup, booster seat, mischievousness, bib, lisp, etc. Anyway, she's a cutie, super cuddly, hard to understand sometimes, sick often, and is very very very very busy. Consequences mean nothing to her; everything is in one ear then out the other. I dread her teenage years. At least she'll have straight arrow Cyrena to look up to. For Natalie's half birthday I made peanut butter cheesecake brownies. And she finally got her bed. We got another twin bed to match Cyrena's. This was very exciting! As a result, we were finally able to put Anna in the crib and she's now officially unswaddled and stretched out!

5. David is looking forward to Memorial Day. The man never takes a sick or vacation day so Memorial Day will be his first day off this year! He works so hard for us, we're very blessed. Now we'll need to do something to celebrate that day that is special for so many reasons.

We've had some beautiful weather here this week. In fact, I think I have tennis elbow from pushing Natalie on the swing so much. She never tires of it.

This is Natalie singing part of the new song for this year's primary program. She learned this just from Cyrena constantly singing it at home.

Anna is 4 months!

2011-04-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

Anna is now a happy 4 month old. This is always a great age. Her personality is showing a bit more. She's infatuated with her sisters. She is still sleeping great but I know teething is right around the corner. She is eating 4 times a day and taking 2 1/2 naps. I could LOVE on her all day, sometimes it's hard to get anything else done!

Anna's tricks:

*rolling from her stomach to back

*gagging herself with her fingers she loves to chew on

*drenching her shirt in drool

*laughing hysterically at anything mommy does and getting the hiccups in the process

*holding her head up while sitting in the Bumbo seat

*grabbing for toys on her play mat

Anna's 4 month stats:

weight- 16 lbs 2 oz. (90%)

height-24 3/4 inches (75%)

head- 16 inches (50%)

We thought her head was a lot bigger but it turns out she's all CHEEKS! :)

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

We, like all of you, had a wonderful weekend. Full of fun, candy, food and testimonies. I am FULL in more ways than one! We started off with our traditional indoor, early-morning egg/basket hunt. They found all the eggs then the search was on for their baskets. It took a little time but they were pretty darn excited when they found their fun-filled baskets. We sampled some candy, had our traditional Goldenrod breakfast, read some scriptures, did an egg activity with symbols from the last days of Christ's life, and watched a few Easter 'Mormon Messages'. It was a great morning.

Natalie dug right into this chocolate bunny and by 9 a.m. had a sugar buzz you wouldn't believe.

A little baby cleavage never hurt anybody

After church we went over to the home of the family David works for. There we had a tasty meal, a great egg hunt (the girls came home with some cash!), fed some horses and played and played.

I'm so grateful for this Easter holiday. I feel like every year my understanding and testimony of the atonement grows deeper. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have and for a Savior who did what we could not.

Springtime Visit

2011-04-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

We got a last minute surprise visit from my parents last week! Well it wasn't a surprise for me. I convinced them they needed to come and when they came 5 days later they surprised the girls!!

The weather was beautiful and we had some quality time together. We went to the Natural History Museum, the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant, Cyrena's baseball game, and spent a lot of time playing outside as well (flying little airplanes grandpa brought). It was great to have them here and it went too fast as always.

Grandpa was a gold panning expert at the museum.

He's the reason Cyrena came away with so much.

But don't tell her that.

We went to Sweetcakes for lunch and brought home some of their humongous cookies. Here the girls are showing off their chewing skills.

We packed a picnic dinner and ate near the temple. We took some pictures, walked around and enjoyed a beautiful Arizona sunset before the pageant began.

All the pageant characters walked around before the performance. The girls enjoyed petting the sweet lambs.

We really enjoyed the pageant. For Cyrena it was the ultimate church movie. She recognized all the stories and at one point leaned over to me and whispered loudly, "Mom....everything they're saying is TRUE!" She had some great one-liners that night.

All the girls enjoyed cuddling with grandma and grandpa

They headed out Sunday morning but before they left we had the girls try on their Easter dresses early so grandma could see (but we took them off before church!)

Thanks for coming grandma and grandpa!

Oh the weather outside...

2011-04-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

We're feeling that horrible heat coming our way. It was really hot this past weekend so we know it's not going to be long before those mid-70's days are GONE. We've been outside as much as possible. Here's what we've been up to:

A couple of Saturday's ago we went to the Feathered Friends Festival at the Gilbert Riparian Institute. This was a BLAST. My only complaint is that we didn't get a chance to see and do everything because there was so much! We packed a picnic lunch, ate it when we arrived, then explored. I was very impressed with all the amazing high-schoolers that had set up science booths and did such a great job explaining things to all the kids. The kids came home with all kind of fun things they'd made.

The girls used chopsticks to pick up bugs to mimic how birds eat

Cyrena listened intently to the presenters. Here she was learning about why you shouldn't feel bread to ducks--it's really bad for them!

Looking at algae through a microscope

Folding a paper frog that really jumps

Sailboat races. Ingenius. Styrofoam boats with index card sails, rain gutters filled with water and a straw for the wind! This was the highlight of the day.

I took this picture for all you owl enthusiasts. He was a bit creepy just perched on a lady's arm.

Cyrena looked through a GIANT telescope to see the spots on the sun

Just a typical picture of our goofy girl

The sisters had a lot of fun together....Anna slept in the stroller

There was so much more. It is definitely something we want to do every spring!

Last week Cyrena had a preschool field trip to a local Farm. It had been eagerly anticipated and it didn't disappoint.

I loved this picture because Cyrena is the only one looking at the farmer-and he's talking to the parents. She's so serious sometimes

They got to milk a 'pretend' cow

They rode the cow train several times, played carnival games, went through the hay maze and rode on these pedal cars. Cyrena was so slow that a kid behind her basically pushed her around the entire track. :)

Again, Anna slept in the stroller

Anna is 3 months

2011-03-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Anna has hit that 3 month milestone where she's no longer considered a 'newborn'. We're still enjoying her immensely. She still loves to sleep. We were having a problem of 45 minute naps for a couple of weeks. I worked and worked to figure out why and I finally realized she wanted to be awake longer between naps! Duh, my baby is growing up. So she quickly jumped from 60 minutes of awake time to 80 minutes of awake time--problem solved, naps are back on track. Phew! So right now she takes 2- 2.5 hour naps and 1- 45 minute evening nap then sleeps 11.5 hours at night.

She still has some evening fussiness between that last evening nap and bedtime. Right now we're just dealing with it, waiting for it to pass. As soon as her evening routine begins, the tears are gone. David read her a book for the first time the other night and she was very happy. We're sure lucky to have her!

She's a happy girl

Here she's watching her sisters adoringly

We've been trying to give Anna more tummy time so her neck can get stronger--she holds it crooked right now and is still a bit floppy. Twice today she has fallen asleep during tummy time...I never thought she would since she doesn't love being on her tummy. Too cute.

She's got the moves!

2011-03-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

We have 1:00 church on Sundays so we get a bit antsy in the morning waiting to go. We usually turn on some music and try to get some quiet time in...it doesn't always happen. In fact a lot of times I'm really grumpy by the time we get to church. Thankfully, within a few minutes of being at church the grumpiness begins to melt away.

However some Sunday mornings are happy and delightful. Here's some footage from one of those kind of mornings.

St. Patty's

2011-03-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

We had a fun St. Patty's day here, complete with a leprechaun hunt. First on Wednesday we did some learning activities and sang some leprechaun songs; then on Thursday we did one learning activity then just had fun.

We played this 'heads and tails' game. We put 10 pennies in a mentos container. We shook it up then dumped out the coins. We sorted them how they landed...heads or tails. Then Cyrena wrote a number sentence for it. 5 heads + 5 tails=10! It was a great way to introduce her to the different ways we can make 10.

It was fun for Natalie to help sort the pennies then she would pick them up and put them in the container...a great fine motor activity for her.

On Thursday we had some buddies over and we graphed Lucky Charms

Then we decorated shamrock cookies.

I turned my back on Natalie for a second and this is what she came up with...1/2 a jar of sprinkles are now GONE. They went outside to play after this.

While they were outside a tricky Mr. Leprechaun came and stole some gold nuggets I had sitting on the counter. Luckily he left some clues and led us on a rainbow scavenger hunt.

We found where he hid the gold and it couldn't have been more exciting!

Catching up

2011-03-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've been slacking in the post department lately so here's a quick catch-up!

We had a great Valentine's dinner made by David. Our tradition includes: BBQ steak, loaded baked potatoes and salad. We had homemade ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. David escorted each of us to the table, it was very cute.

For Valentine's Day the girls and I made David a U R LOVED jar for his desk at work. It is filled with chocolate and notes of why we love him. Each time he eats a chocolate he gets to read a reason why he is loved.

We had a great visit with Grandma Barb and Ralph for a week in February. It was wonderful to see them! The girls loved playing with them. Grandma always cooks for us and she also made us a delicious lemon meringue pie. What a treat!

Natalie is definitely a cuddler and is in a stage of saying "I don't like the dark" So she waits until Cyrena is asleep then stealthily crawls into her bed to sleep with her. We've caught her like this a few times.

Grandma Taylor bought the girls matching nightgowns for Christmas. They love wearing them and they look like little pioneer girls.

Anna is still in love with the bathtub. She can be screaming and then the minute she hears the bathwater she stops. Too funny.

Sometimes she has a bath buddy

Cyrena played her first season of soccer with Dad as her coach. The first couple of games were a little rocky and emotional. However, her competitive spirit won out and she fought for the ball! She made 2 goals this season.

At the end of the year party David got to hand out trophies to the kids and he said a few words about each one--it was cute. We didn't order a trophy for Cyrena so he handed her the team picture plaque that he got for free since he was the coach. She was his assistant after all. :)

ebeanstalk.com-an innovative toystore!

2011-03-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

Ok...I admit it..... I LOVE kid's toys. Almost as much as school supplies. I can look online for hours and drool at the many many many incredible kid's toys out there. But I won't just accept any old kid's toy. I'm one of those picky moms that have to make sure toys fit certain criteria if they're coming into my home. That's why I was so excited to find ebeanstalk.com.

They have such a great philosophy at ebeanstalk. They have the kid's best interest at heart but also make the shopping experience easy for the parents and grandparents.

There are different categories to make it easy to find what you want. All their toys make great learning toys for your child/grandchild. There is also a great variety of baby toys and of course wonderful toddler toys for your 'grown up' baby! You can search by age group, category, or brand. I love searching by age group because it makes it to easy for me to see what would be appropriate for each of my children.

I feel like ebeanstalk.com is not just another toy website. It has little unique aspects that really make it stand out. They send their toys in a plain white box in order to promote creativity after the toy is removed. The box can then be colored and cut and turned into a car, a doll-house, a hat, etc! They also include an instructional card with each and every toy purchased.

Check out ebeanstalk.com for some great ideas for kids in your life--you won't be disappointed. And I'll be doing a review of one of their products soon!

2 months old and Blessed!

2011-02-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

We blessed Anna in our home this past Sunday. We had Grandma Barb and other friends and family with us; including the Taylor Grandparents via the webcam. David gave Anna a wonderful blessing, I'm so grateful for the priesthood. We had a tasty dinner and a great time visiting with everyone. Anna cried during the blessing of course but was angelic the rest of the evening so we were able to enjoy her. She's such a sweetheart.

Anna fell sound asleep in Grandma's arms after dinner

The kids played and played and played!

We had the Griggs, the Bluths, The McKays and the Spencers celebrate with us!

Anna's 2 month stats:

weight: 11 lbs. 10 oz. 60%

length: 22 inches 25%

head: 14 3/4 inches 25%

5 Fast Things

2011-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

1. Anna is 8 weeks today and for the last 2 nights she has slept 9 p.m.-7 a.m. And she is no longer crying when going down for her naps--unless she's overtired. I'm in awe of her.

2. David let me do a little shopping yesterday. It's amazing how buying a new pair of pants, a shirt and some shoes just makes you feel on top of the world. I don't remember the last time I bought shoes-it's been at least 2 years. It's really hard to find cute size 11+ shoes for women so when I find some I'm SO happy! And when they're cheap, I'm even happier. I made sure to get him a couple of shirts too, and Sunday shoes for Cyrena---it wasn't all about me. :)

3. Cyrena told me my job is easier than daddy's because I JUST have to bathe and feed babies. Daddy's job is SO much harder. She also asked me why we have to die, why she has to be a girl, and if Supernanny lives on Earth or just in the t.v.

4. David went shopping for our Valentine's dinner yesterday. He came home with boxes of chocolates for me and the girls. I promptly took them back to the store. Not because I didn't want to eat chocolate...no way; I just didn't like the kind he bought! And I'd already bought some Valentine treats for the girls. Luckily, he didn't mind. We're practical that way. :)

5. Cyrena's soccer team won their first game yesterday. She scored her second goal of the season and was so proud.

Pre-Valentine Fun

2011-02-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

We've been having some pre-Valentine fun around here. By the way, Cyrena started preschool last week. She's going to a local at-home preschool and loving it so far. She's such a social girl and it's been a little hard on her just being at home with her sisters all the time. This is something that's just hers and it is fantastic!

We matched up some foam hearts that had things to match up like letter, numbers, etc. We have done other learning activities but I didn't take pictures...oops.

For FHE we made Valentine mailboxes

Yesterday the girls made 'love bugs' They are so cute and they each did a great job! I found the pattern here. After they made these, we had some people in the ward over for a Valentine potluck lunch. I pretty much didn't see the girls for over 2 hours since they were so busy playing with kids, and Anna slept the entire time so I was free to socialize!

Getting sticker backs off is great fine motor work! She has just recently been able to start doing this!

This morning we put together Cyrena's Valentine's for her preschool party. Everyone got a tootsie roll, 2 airheads, and a yo-yo. Natalie saw candy and ran for the scissors to try and open some...she's a handful.

Here is my beautiful girl ready to go to her party!

Then she wanted to take pictures of Natalie and I...a little fuzzy but cute.

Mom's 'hep'er

2011-02-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

So after my lovely metaphor about colds and cold medicine...guess who got a cold? Yep, that would be me. I guess I was asking for it? The girls have both had slight colds, nothing too bad and now I have the sore throat/congestion thing going on. No fun. David let me take Tylenol PM last night and made his first debut into the middle of the night feeding for Anna. It was so nice! I think it built his confidence a bit. :)

ANYWAY, this post is really about my little helper, Miss Natalie. She's always saying, "I hep you mom?" And she is a pretty good helper. Here are some ways she has helped me lately:

-After I feed Anna I usually leave the bottle on the couch while I'm entertaining Anna and such. Then when I put her down for a nap, I go get the bottle to rinse it out. A few times this week, I went to get the bottle and couldn't find it. I asked Natalie where it was and she replied, "I put it on the sink mom" and there it was, sitting on the counter next to the sink.

-When I change Anna's diaper I leave it on the stool while I am feeding her, etc. Again, sometimes it has mysteriously disappeared. So I ask Natalie and she tells me, "I frow it in the trash Mom"

-I get Anna dressed for the day on the couch after her morning feeding and I put her dirty clothes to the side while I take care of her other needs. They also disappeared one day, and later I found them in the dresser drawer in Anna's room. I need to show Natalie where the Anna's hamper is. :)

-The other day Cyrena was playing at a friend's house and Natalie was hanging out with me. I left the room to put Anna down for a nap...literally I was gone for maybe 3 minutes. I came back in the kitchen and Natalie was seated in her booster seat with a yogurt, eating away and said. "I got a yogurt Mom!" She's never done this before. She had gotten the foil lid off herself and thrown it in the trash, got a spoon, and got into her booster seat. The only thing she forgot was a bib. I burst out laughing at my big girl.

-If Anna is fussy or upset, Natalie strokes her head and says, "Don't be sad....it's ok....don't cry..." These are things she hears me say and it's pretty cute coming from her.

-Natalie also helps me make my bed almost every morning, puts ingredients into the blender for smoothies, is starting to get her own water out of the fridge and flushes the toilet for Cyrena when she goes potty.

-Sometimes in the early morning hours, we hear the pantry door slide open and closed. Then we hear Natalie bedroom door close. When this happens we know she has helped herself to a bowl full of something. Usually it's Craisins or goldfish. We need a pantry that locks.

Natalie can be very mischievous, she can sure throw a tantrum, and she is BUSY but she's also a lot of fun!

My Friend Jessica

2011-02-03T10:06:00.001-08:00

Remember what it's like when you have a cold and your head is muddled, your thoughts are foggy, and you are just surviving minute by congested minute?

Then the blessed cold medicine kicks in and suddenly the world seems a happier place, you have the gift of energy again and you feel like you can accomplish anything? You know what I'm talking about?

That's what happened to me last week.

No, I didn't have a cold- thank goodness. But I AM the mother of 3 young children who fill my days with fun, feeding, crying, potty breaks, fighting, tantrums, endless energy, and lots of loving. So this leads to foggy thoughts and minute by minute survival. But I got a great dose of medicine.
Meet my friend Jessica.

She came with her kids to spend some time with me.
She was here for 3 days and
IT. WAS. GREAT.

I've already talked to you a bit about Jess, if you remember. We've known each other for about 17 years....WHAT?? I just did the math and that's accurate. Crazy.

Jessica has always been someone I've looked up to (she's 9 months older than me!). She's very organized with a system for everything. I wish I was like that! I remember when we were roommates she worked as a server in a restaurant. She had mugs on a shelf in her room and every night when she got home, she automatically sorted her tips into the 2 mugs which were for TITHING and SAVINGS. I always admired that she did it right when she got home so she didn't have to go back and calculate later. So organized, I'm telling you. She has taught me a lot about strength and spirituality as well.

Anyway, it had been way too long since we'd seen each other so we were lucky to get together. Since we don't have a car big enough for all of us we just stayed home, took care of the 5 kids and talked, talked, talked. There was never a lull, always something to catch up about or ask advice on, etc. In the evenings when the kids were in bed, just she and I would run a quick errand or 2 which was nice.

So this trip was one of the first we've really had to see each other in action as moms. It was so fun! Jessica is a great mom and reinforced the importance of doing some things that I have been a bit lax about lately. She motivated me to be better in all aspects of my life, which I really appreciate about her!

This is her oldest, Brady. He loved holding Anna. He's 4 and had fun playing with the girls.

He joined us for some preschool time.

This is her daughter, Brooke. Such a cutie-pie!

We set up the Thomas set and the kids went crazy playing with it!

David's obsessed with wimp.com so the kids were watching some videos with him. He was so great to play with all the kids!

They left Saturday afternoon and it was sad to see them go back to Colorado. David was shocked that I didn't cry but I was trying not to dwell on it! :) Although it did make me a bit melancholy at the beginning of the week. It's hard to live away from all my good friends. I haven't really made friends here yet. And there's no replacement for those friends who REALLY know you.

Anyway, thanks for coming Jess, you are amazing! Here's to the next 17 years of friendship!

Anna is 6 weeks

2011-01-31T10:12:00.001-08:00

Well...it didn't happen. Saying those words "good baby" did not turn Anna into a monster. In fact, she's only getting better and better! She is a great baby. Her smiles have gotten bigger, more frequent, and more spontaneous. SO fun.

She takes about four 2-2 1/2 hour naps. And since 4 1/2 weeks she's been sleeping a 6-9 hour stretch at night, eating and then going back to sleep for a few hours. Seriously!

Of course there are days that her naps are a little messed up, she wants to eat more often, or cries hard when it's bedtime but pretty much that's what she's been doing. She does a kind of spit up/throw up thing once every couple of days. I'm not sure what's causing it but she gags really easily.

David and I are still able to have time together in the evenings since Anna goes to bed at a decent hour. Our nights are not filled with a fussy baby like they were with Natalie. It's so nice. Life is good.

I took this picture because it just typifies my everyday life. Anna being happy, Natalie curiously watching/playing with her, and Cyrena busily writing and working on something.

Anna likes to look in her mirror

Trying to get her to smile at the camera

She likes the mobile in her swing--a great craigslist find

I still have to wake her up from every nap to eat, this ensures she gets all her feedings in so she'll sleep long at night! Sometimes it takes her awhile to wake up.

Another attempt at capturing a smile

Anna is 1...Month

2011-01-19T10:26:00.001-08:00

Wow, it's January 19th already! That means Anna is 1 month old. It doesn't feel like it's been a month since Anna was born but it also seems that we've never been without her!

I think I can officially say the words "good baby" in regards to Anna. I'm very scared of those words because I worry the minute I utter them my baby will turn into a monster. But I think how a baby is at 1 month is a good indication of how they're going to be the next couple of months until they're out of the 'newborn' stage. And that makes me happy because she's pretty good!

She's definitely a gassy baby so there are times we really have to work out the burps and such. We are transitioning her to formula in the next week or so. She's a good sleeper and puts herself to sleep most of the time. If she's overtired or has an upset tummy she'll need us to pat her back and help her relax to sleep. She's only able to stay awake 45 minutes at a time--max. She has been very alert lately and has the beginnings of a smile, I hope that happens this week! She likes the bath, loves her bottle, and most of all loves to be cuddled on my shoulder. Oh, and she loves the plethora of kisses she receives from each of us!

I am feeling great, better than I've ever felt with a newborn. I usually get the baby blues pretty bad for a week or 2 but I have really only had them for 1-2 days this time-and only cried once. I can't tell you how relieved I am about that (and I'm sure David is too!). Now, I've definitely had my grumpy days but none of those yucky, hopeless, apathetic, overwhelming feelings.

Anyway, things are going well, the kids are all healthy and happy now and we're looking forward to a visit from my junior high/high school/college/newlywed, etc best friend Jessica next week! It's been over 2 years since we've seen each other--crazy.

Here we go again

2011-01-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

Natalie has RSV and a double ear infection. So we're back to breathing treatments like last year. She's never had an ear infection that I know of so it's her first time on antibiotics. There's a whole lot of coughing going on around here and it's getting a little old. I think I may have a complete meltdown if the baby gets sick. For now I'm trying to isolate them as much as possible but it's hard with a 2 year old that doesn't understand why she can't be in the same room as the baby and why I can't hold her. Give me strength!!

Sickies

2011-01-05T19:08:00.001-08:00

Our poor girls have been really sick this week. Natalie's been pretty bad since Sunday and Cyrena has had symptoms the last couple of days. The normal cold/flu junk. They went to bed at 6:45 tonight....I hope they get better soon!! It's been exhausting. Yesterday after lunch I was putting the baby down for a nap and came back into the family room to find them like this:

Clifford had ended and Charlie Rose was blabbing on PBS...no wonder they fell asleep. :)

Luckily Anna, David and I are healthy so far.

Our girl

2011-01-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

David captured this 'money shot' of Anna giving us one of her sleep smiles. She is so adorable. I love these smiles because they give me a glimpse of the future.

Anna loves the bottle. I was brave enough a couple days ago to say "I don't enjoy nursing" It was going fine but I just really don't enjoy it. And since I know a happy mom=a happy baby, I decided to stop. So for now I am pumping exclusively and it's going well!

Cyrena is loving feeding her. In fact, Cyrena fed her 3 times yesterday. When I asked her if she wanted to take some of the night feedings, she said "of course!" Hahaha. Anna also loves her pacifier and does a great job keeping it in already. She uses it to fall asleep for naps. She is really filling out; multiple chins, arm and leg rolls, etc. It's awesome! She's 2 weeks old today and is such a good baby. We are loving her!

Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day is so nice when kids sleep in! We took our time, opening things slowly, and enjoying every minute.

Cyrena's favorite gift was GUM. She has always been told she couldn't have gun until she was 6 but I told her she's been such a big girl that I wrote Santa a letter and asked him to put some in her stocking. She's been chomping away ever since.

Natalie's favorite toy was this Fur Real walking/purring kitty. She LOVES it even though the rest of us think it's a bit creepy.

We all got matching aprons from my parents...we needed these!

The girls got these amazing pretend/mess-free makeup kits, they are having so much fun with them!

Anna got a yellow, crocheted afghan made by Grandma Taylor and we bought her the cute, wooden hexagon toy.

Santa found a $5 easy bake oven on Craigslist and it was tried out as soon as present opening was over.

Santa also brought Cyrena this dinosaur excavating kit. This was the best present ever!! It took 3 days to complete. It was a block of compacted dirt and you had to dig and brush away at it until you uncovered all the bones, then you snap them all together to make a T-Rex! Oh and the headlights were a HUGE hit--thanks Candace for the idea!

A couple months ago Santa found this basketball hoop at a yard sale for $10! He kept it hidden well. This family has been wanting one for awhile so it was very exciting!

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-02T09:22:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve was a beautiful day. We spent some time at the park then got ready for the festivities.

Natalie could spend ALL day on the swing

We broke from tradition and prepared a mexican feast for dinner. It was, in a word, TASTY. You can see the anticipation on David's face....he was very proud of his plate.

Anna snoozed

We had a little program. A video presentation by Grandma and Grandpa Taylor, Cyrena played "Old MacDonald" on the piano, we played the stocking stuffer game, Cyrena read some scriptures, Natalie danced, David read the Christmas story in Luke II.

And of course we opened up pajamas

Finally 5

2010-12-26T16:23:00.001-08:00

Look at this grown up girl! She is now 5, something she's been aspiring to for quite awhile.

We got home from the hospital with Anna around 10 p.m. and put on our game faces for the next day's birthday celebration. We'd been making some plans for the past while and if you know 5 year-olds they don't like changes in their plans. So we followed through. Cyrena was so happy. She wanted to open presents right away. Luckily I had things wrapped and ready to go. We let her open 1 (the shirt she's wearing in the pic) then Dad took her to the store and let her pick out some fun breakfast items.

The girls are so lucky to ha_e such a super Dad. He was amazing and helped make Cyrena's birthday really special. After breakfast the girls got ready and he took them to see 'Tangled' at the theater--what a treat! Then they came home and while Natalie napped and I worked on the cake, he and Cyrena put together the Gingerbread train kit we'd bought last week. After Natalie woke up we let Cyrena open up all her gifts and then we headed to Joe's Farm Grill (they take $10 off when it's your birthday) for a tasty dinner! We met up with the McKays and brought the pony cake for dessert.

I think the birthday was a success. She had high expectations that were definitely met, yay! She's such a special girl.

She requested a pony cake. Thankfully we'd bought the supplies last week so Dad and Mom worked together to make it happen!

*When she grows up she wants to be a: firefighter, cowboy, teacher, veterinarian, baseball player, regular doctor, a paleontologist, a Costco sample worker, and a mom

*She still lets mom pick her clothes everyday but voices her preference of jeans and a polo shirt

*Sings while she's going to the bathroom, washing her hands, making her bed, doing schoolwork, cleaning up, and hums while she's brushing her teeth

*Makes her bed every morning without being asked 90% of the time

*Loves her stuffed animals and still sleeps with some

*"I don't know" is a completely unacceptable answer to her endless questions

*Started soccer with dad as her coach

*Can't wait to go to school 'in a building'