Tales of the Hardy's

I Trained. I Ran. I Conquered.

2012-01-16T17:12:00.003-07:00

Most people know by now, but yesterday I ran in the P.F. Chang's Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon. It is something I have been training for since June. I lost 55 lbs. while training for it, and was only 4 lbs from my goal come race day. I can't think of a better way to celebrate loosing all that weight then by really challenging yourself and doing something of this magnitude. It has given me a new appreciation of how truly amazing the human body is. How hard you can push yourself if you want something bad enough and that it really is mind over matter. When I wanted to walk (during the training and race) I told myself I could do it. Being 75 lbs over weight I didn't tell many people about my plans to do the race because I didn't want negative comments made or anyone to question my abilities- I limited it to a couple of close friends and mine and Drew's family. Thankfully my cousin committed to coming out and running it with me. What a blessing that was. Knowing she was supporting me in my weekly communications with her (she acted as my coach/trainer) telling her how hard upping my speed on the treadmill had been or when I had hit a serious wall about a month ago and found little motivation to run everyday she knew what to say and what answers I needed.
I realized how important the support was and I started talking about the race more. I realized the more I talked about it the more people started expecting things from me, and the more excited I was because others were bringing it up and wanting to know how the training was going. It started to feel more real. At Thanksgiving I remember thinking it was mean of them to plan a race 2 weeks after the new year because it was right after the holidays, but it really helped keep me in check. Now I am grateful- I am sure I would've gained weight during that period had it not been for what was coming up.
My cousin flew in Fri. for the race-. We went to the expo to pick up our race packets and gear, sampled energy foods, drinks, got free stuff, and enjoyed the experience. Which we also saw Dan from The Biggest Loser. Honestly I would've loved a picture with him, but didn't want to seem like some geeky teenage fan. So I took a pic from a distance. :)

I kept expecting myself to be nervous and anxious that whole weekend but I was surprisingly calm. Sunday morning we got up super early we left my house at 5:40 a.m. and drove to Mesa to take the lightrail to ASU's SunDevil Stadium where the race began and ended. We got on the light rail at 6:35 and were at the race in 15 min. It gave us time to check my cousins bag, go to the bathroom and find our corral. We were in corral 10 and had planned to do the race in 2 hours and 30 minutes. The race started late because of a train accident, but when you're standing out in the cold seeing the huge mass of people you're going to be running with, the starting time really doesn't matter, it was exciting and fun to take it all in.
Before the race:

The first 3 miles we made excellent time and were ahead of our projected time we set for ourselves and were feeling really good. We were passing people and drink stations, we passed Dan from the Biggest Loser during mile 3 and I started to realize I had 2 more hours left of running. During training the longest run I had done was 8 miles. I knew I could run 8 miles so I told myself get to the 8 mile mark, then all you have left is 5 miles. :) The half way mark was fun to cross and it was especially nice having someone running beside me the whole time that we could occasionally converse and keep pace with. She actually was helping me pace myself faster than I would've alone. During mile 8 my cousin started having some pain and had to go to the bathroom. When you sign up to do something together you want to start and finish together, and I always figured I would be too slow for her and if we separated it would be because she wanted to go faster. :) But we did separate at this point and I can tell my pace slowed way down. I did great until mile 10, mile 10 was really long for me, I think that was my longest mile. But that was the mile I passed the dragon! (If you passed the Chinese dragon in the race you got a certificate for free lettuce wraps from P.F. Changs) Once I got to mile 11 I realized I was now only passing people who were walking and more people were passing me than in miles before. (Including Biggest Loser Dan, who we passed in mile 3) I felt discouraged and during those last 2 miles I wanted to stop and walk so bad but I kept reminding myself that I was passing the walkers! It was better to be running and my goal from the get go was to never stop, Even if I finished the race in 4 hours doing 20 min miles because of a super slow jog I wasn't going to walk. So I didn't. After passing the 12 mile marker I assumed some giant burst of adrenaline would kick in and I would have mad amounts of energy to quicken my pace and help me finish that last 1.1 mile really strong. I tried, I tried my hardest to quicken my pace and shoot for an amazing finish time, but I didn't go for very long before I went back to my previous pace and figured I would rather finish than pass out during the last mile because I was pushing myself too hard.
Crossing that finish line is like nothing else. I almost didn't want to stop because I had been in constant motion for so long! My finish time? 2 hours and 28 min. I was 2 minutes quicker than the goal my cousin had set for us. After the race I took advantage of all the sponsors tents and grabbed all the food and drinks I could get my hands on. My cousin finished 5 minutes after me. I was so excited to get my medal. I love looking at it. When I went to the grocery store this morning I started wishing it was socially acceptable to walk around wearing medals- I wanted to talk about it and let people know "Look at what I did! Me! I still can't believe it!" :)
After the race:

During the race I thought that there was no way I could ever do this again. Now that it's over- I know this is something that I will do again. That it's possible and obtainable. I trained. I ran. I conquered the half marathon.
(Stats from the website: My pace: 11 minute miles, my time: 2 hours 28 min, Overall: 9232 out of 15663 Division (30-34 yr olds): 896 out of 1570 Gender: 4838 out of 9505)

Christmas Day

2012-01-02T18:48:00.001-07:00

Christmas Morning was awesome. It couldn't have been any more fun. I woke up at 6:30 sure that the kids would be up any min and since they didn't get up till 7:15 I took pictures.

There was proof that Santa and his reindeer had been by. Which the kids loved seeing.

I was glad to capture a picture of them walking out to the living room and seeing all the stuff.

Their first thrill- the small play house for Bailey. It took them a minute but then they saw their scooter and tricycle and were off. :)

The noise of them on the toys woke Drew and when he came out we opened stockings, and Santa gifts. Then all other gifts under the tree. It was a lot of fun. They really enjoyed everything they got. Santa, grandparents and mom and dad got lots of thank you's that morning.
After all the presents were opened, we took a picure of everyone's loot.

My stuff (well the Wii games were for the family)

Don't feel bad for Drew, he also got a Kinect that we had been using all week:

Next we ate breakfast. Which is a tradition of Christmas Morning Bread (similar to monkey bread- a friend brings it to us on Christmas Eve) and Sausage Souffle.

Breakfast was nice and enjoyable. While we were all sitting eating Drew and I once again used the opportunity to talk about the true meaning of the season, and why we do presents on Christmas. Bailey woke up while we were eating, so she ate and then got to open her gifts. Which she had very little interest in so Autumn opened them.
I love this picture of her though, in her house- looking at all her gifts.

What was nice about church at 12:30 is we had plenty of time to take all the toys out of the packages, install batteries in everything and just play for awhile. I love this picture of the kids playing a new game.

One of my favorite things about Christmas time? Going to church and seeing all the kids in there Christmas garb. Plus dressing my own kids in it as well. Seriously- I can bribe this girl with anything and she can't keep her eyes open for a picture.

Thankfully- after church I realized if I turn the flash off, Autumn's eyes stay open. :)

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

I am loving the age my kids are at, and that starting new traditions are so fun to them because they haven't experienced it before. There were so many things I wanted to do with them last year, but with a 1 week old I was not into it. So this year we did most of the things I have always wanted to do, and next year maybe we can do more (like gingerbread houses...) We had our traditional Christmas Eve party a week early with my sisters family and my mom. My mom has all those pictures. We had dinner and opened a present. Then on the actual Christmas Eve I made Chocolate Chip cookies with the kids, and we added festive M&Ms to them. We had a nice fun dinner when Drew got home. During dinner we discussed the real reason behind the season, and why we do gifts on Christmas. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights. The city puts out a map (list) of homes that register as contestants for the Best Christmas Lights Contest. We saw some amazingly decorative homes, and the kids loved it.
After looking at the lights we came home to open one present each. We decided to open the gifts that my sister in law sent. Autumn has a sweet relationship with Mrs. Heather (my sister in law) and she is the only one outside of immediate family that Autumn occassionally blesses in her prayers. So it was an easy choice who's gifts we would open. And the kids loved them! It was the perfect way to get them excited about all the gifts coming in the morning.

Bailey loved the Cabbage Patch Doll Baby. She hugged it and carried it around everywhere till we put her to bed.

Weston saw that it was a train and was so excited.

I love the look on Autumns face when she got a barbie.

After opening presents we got Santas plate ready and his mug of milk. Then we put out some carrots and water for Santa's reindeer. We don't have a chimney or fireplace- so it's very obvious santa comes through the front door (according to Autumn) so I let her pick where we put the carrots and water for Santa's sleigh pullers.
Autumn did the cookies while Weston got the milk.

Autumn got all the carrots and water ready and set them outside the front door.

For bedtime we read The True Christmas Story, which is based off the story told in Luke. I had wrapped Christmas themed books under a small Christmas tree and the kids had gotten to pick a book everynight and unwrap it for the bedtime story, and I am so glad this one was picked that night. It helped us review the true meaning of Christmas right before going to bed, which lasted only a few minutes and then the kids were talking about Santa coming. :)

Bailey's 1

2011-12-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

It's been really sad thinking about Bailey turning one. I have always been so excited for my kids to get older but with her- I've just wanted everything to slow down. I love this little girl so much, and she just melts my heart. I can't believe there was a point in time when I wished I wasn't pregnant with her. I can't imagine life with out her, and have been SO blessed by her sweet disposition and easy temperment. We got to celebrate her birthday twice this weekend. We spent Friday night with some of Drews family, doing gift exchanges for Christmas and celebrating Baileys birthday, then on Sat. night we did a gift exchange with my side of the family (my mom was in town) and celebrated Baileys birthday again. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas and Bailey.

Disneyland- Day 2 (part 2)

2011-11-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am terrible about blogging, so it's been hard to make time to do 3 posts so close together. So- after we met Goofy, we headed back to Disneyland. Drew really wanted an ice cream cone and I wanted to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride with the kids. Bailey- such a trooper.

Bailey really enjoyed the ice cream cone.

Weston on the Winnie the Pooh ride, I realized that on almost all the rides, I sat with Weston. :)

We were so lucky. When we got off the ride, 3 of the characters from the movies were right by the ride. We quickly got in line, just in time, because they cut the line off about 5 people after us. My kids were so excited.

Here they are with Tigger.

Eeyore.

Winnie the Pooh. Sorry for the quality- I think the flashes of my camera, the photographer, and Drews phone all clashed when we took the pics.

After that we had to hustle, to get back into California Adventure to eat at Ariel's Grotto. We had reservations and my father in law was there waiting for us. It was nice to just sit, eat, and relax.

After dinner we did some shopping, notice Baileys sweater changed? There was a disaster involving an explosive diaper, the highchair, my sweatshirt, and all her clothes. It was really cold at night and we had to wrap her in my sweatshirt and go to a shop to find something for her to wear. Good thing Disneylands clothes prices are reasonable...not. We got everything in 2T so she could wear it for a very long time. We got the kids toys to help pass the time while we waited for the World of Color Show to start. Weston got a light up bubble gun, which was pure genious, until the bubbles ran out. And they don't sell refills. :) (but we still use it in the yard at home)

So we pulled out the light up spinners we got the night before for the parade.

Autumn and Drew. She has a serious problem with closing her eyes for pictures, so I asked her to keep her eyes open, and this is the face she makes. She's obviously so focused on keeping her eyes open she doesn't think about the smile. :)

On Drew's side of the family the boys are seriously outnumbered by girls. Weston has another boy cousin who's 4 years older, and another boy cousin who is 1 years old. These boys just adore their grandma. She holds such a special/tender spot in all their hearts. It's easy to see who they favor.

And Bailey- well, it's special when Grandpa holds you and plays with you.

The light show was beautiful and held the kids attention, it was quite lengthy. As soon as we put them in the stroller and started exiting the park the kids were out. It totally made leaving easier.

We had such a good time and feel so extremely blessed to have been able to go. There's no way we could've ever gone with out grandparents, they were such a huge help. And we know now that we won't ever go without them. The kids are still talking about Disneyland, I hear it come up in conversation atleast 5 times a day. This place is truely magical and so special to kids. The kids are at such a fun age to do stuff like this with. I never got to go as a kid, I have been a few times as an adult, but going with kids, and seeing things through their eyes...it's priceless.

DisneyLand- Day 2 (part 1)

2011-11-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the 2nd day over in California Adventure. I really enjoy this park and the kids really loved all the shows, rides, and food this park had to offer.

They are building a new CARS area, and from what we could see it looks just like Radiator Springs, it was so funny, I can't wait to go back and see it when it's all done in 2012. Here the kiddos with Mater and McQueen.

On our way to the Bug's Life Show we ran into Pluto.

I love this picture of Bailey. It was such a treat for my in-laws to get all this time with the kids, and all 3 of my kids just ate up all the attention.

Us in the Monsters, Inc. ride. It follows the story line of the movie and the kids really enjoyed it.

We then went and watched the Muppets 3-D show. Autumn still talks about this, especially since commercials are on t.v. for the movie coming out at Thanksgiving, and she always says, "the muppets, like the ones in Disneyland."

After that show we went to watch the Aladdin show, it's basically the movie but a shorten live version. The kids were so into this, I was worried with it not being animated, but they knew the songs, dialogue and loved all the props. This is Weston and his grandpa waiting for it to start.

This was a Disney Off the Page (kind of like a "behind the scenes") place. This was an interactive book, and you answered questions about yourself and it tells you which character your most like. I didn't take it, but Weston did and he was Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast.

In that same place there was an area that looked like Ursala's lair, and you picked one of 4 songs, they show you the song and you hear the lyrics, then Ursula appears and steals their voices, so when the show replays you sing the song and then it plays it back to you, with your voices as the character. The kids picked Hakuna Matata twice.

After that place we got in line for the new Toy Story ride. I don't know why both toy story themed rides are shooting games, Weston didn't get it, but he enjoyed his 3-D glasses, and just watching everything. It was the only thing that day that had a long wait line for riding, but there was plenty of fun toy story stuff on the walls to keep the kids happy.

We also saw Goofy.

We were heading out of the park to go back into DisneyLand because we had missed a couple of things there from the first day that I really wanted the kids to see/ride. We didn't think Day 1 could be topped, but I think Day 2 was just as exciting. More to come. :)

DisneyLand- Day 1

2011-11-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

We got to the park right when it opened because we were having Breakfast with the characters. This was such a highlight to the trip. When we finished breakfast we had only been at the park for a little over an hour and already felt like the trip was worth it and if it all ended right then it would all be worth it. The kids got so delighted to meet Tigger, Minnie, the Fairy Godmother, Chip & Dale, and Captain Hook. Although Autumn wouldn't look at Captain Hook, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. I have zero pictures from this, which I will get into later.

After breakfast we took the kids on their first few rides, we did an airplane ride, the Buzz Lightyear ride, Finding Nemo Sub ride, the Jungle Tour, Dumbo ride, a Carousel, we went to Toon Town and met Mickey Mouse in his house. Again I have zero pictures from all these even though I took about 120 pics from the time we entered the park until this point. We then decided to ride the train around the park of Disneyland, it was around 1 o'clock and Weston was starting to get a little ornery, so I knew a train ride would cheer him up or put him to sleep. I took some pictures of my father in law with Bailey on the way to the train and wanted to show Drew and when I hit the button on my camera to show him it said, "No memory stick." I started crying and was so mad! I never take my memory card out of the camera, so I never thought to check if it was in there. I was also mad the dumb camera didn't have internal memory incase no memory stick was there. So thankfully, Drew and my father in law ran to a shop on Main St. and got me a new memory card. We then spent some time trying to recreate pics that I had now lost, or actually never had. My father in law has a few from breakfast on his phone that I need to get.

This was the view from the Train Station. It was beautiful. The park was decorated for Christmas.

After our train ride, some of the characters were out on Main St. Which I was so happy to be able to retake pics of the kids with characters that I didn't have from the breakfast.

Weston would run up and hug every character right away.

These lollipops were heavenly. We got one for each of the older kids and it kept them quiet during the points when we were just walking around.

Then we went to Downtown Disney to eat at ESPN Zone, Weston with my father in law.

We had time to kill before the parade so we did some shopping at the stores down there. The kids got a kick out the lifesize Woody made out of Lego's at the Lego Store.

Drew and Bailey before the parade.

I love this picture of Weston, after the parade we got on our shuttle to head back to the hotel. My mother in law is showing him her bag that has all the Disney characters on it and you can just see how happy he was and how wonderful this day was for him.

The day was such a huge success! Bailey was fine sleeping in the stroller or being held, the kids didn't complain about lines for the rides. (Ok, Weston did a couple of times, but a 2 year old doesn't really understand lines and why he can't just walk onto a ride. But considering he had no nap and was out in the sun all day, he did great.) The highlights for me of the day were the breakfast and the parade. I actually got teary eyed during the parade watching my kids light up with excitement with the music blaring so loud and seeing all their favorites characters wave to them and dance down Main St. They would shout out to the characters and wave excitedly and giggle with joy if they waved in their direction. That's when I realized how truely magical this place is for kids. And why it is considered the happiest place on earth.

The Zoo

2011-10-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

On Sat my sister, her husband, myself and our kids all went to the Phoenix Zoo. I hadn't been since Autumn was 1 1/2. I don't know what took us so long to go back, but the kids love it and we will definitely be going back more often. But it was especially fun going to the zoo with family.

Seriously- you can't tell but my kids were really excited. I am glad one kid knows what to do with a camera in their face. :)

Autumn was happy. :)

While waiting in line to get into the zoo the older kids looked at all the turtles.
It figures that my kids were the uncooperative ones, but out of the 3 pics I took at this spot- this is surprisingly the best one.

The boys on their way up to the tree house. Which overlooks animals.

Autumn, Parker, and Weston looking at the Rhino's.

This is how Bailey was the whole time. Easy Peasy. Man I am so grateful she is so easy going and happy all the time.

Parker wanted a turn pulling Ben in the wagon. It was really cute.

The kids took a break and played in the play area by the petting zoo.

Then we ate lunch.

It was Boo at the Zoo, but we didn't do anything really related to all the festivities, it was really just another day at the zoo for us. But at the Radio Disney area near where we sat to eat lunch there was this pig, which Autumn just adored. Weston wanted nothing to do with him, and I couldn't keep Autumn away.

Next we went to the petting zoo area, which was just goats. But Weston loved it! It took Autumn a minute but Weston was totally in his element.

Parker and Christy.

Weston just wanted to be on their level.

Christy and Bailey.

Autumn pretending to milk a cow, surprisingly she sat right down and knew exactly what to do without anyone showing her.

Parker and the tractors.

Parker needs to show Weston how to operate a tractor properly.

Mark and Ben...while the kids were in the petting zoo and playing on the tractors.

The babies basically sum up how we all felt once we were leaving the zoo. It was fun but exhausting.

I am so glad we went. My sister brought up that her childhood memories of being at the zoo involved being with our cousins. And so this was a special trip for Parker to have all his cousins who live here with him. They go to the zoo pretty regularly so just being at the zoo was a treat for my kids, but anytime aunts, uncles, and cousins are involved it's an even bigger treat. I am grateful my kids get to make some memories similar to those that my sister and I have from when we were kids.

9 Months

2011-09-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Bailey is 9 months. This has to be one of my favorite stages. But I think I say that about every stage. But I truely love this stage that she is at! She speed crawls, stands on her own for a second or two, cruises along furniture (or anything she can hold on to) like nobodys business, eats really well and loves being spoiled by tiny bites of non baby foods, sleeps like a champ at night, and is just so happy and social. She is a daddy's girl through and through. And her current vocab consists of "mama", "dadda" and "babba".

This morning we went to the dr. for her 9 month well check.

Her weight: 18.2 lbs. - 45%
Her length: 27.5 in. - 50%
Her Head: 45cm - 75%

She is my biggest 9 month old so far, she outweighs the other kids at this age, which is fantastic! She has been such a joy and added blessing to our family. Love this girl!

10 years ago...

2011-09-10T14:01:00.001-07:00

I know tomorrow will be bombarded with peoples reflections of the events that unfolded 10 years ago, so I wanted to do it today before I get consumed in reading everyone elses thoughts I don't take time for my own.

10 years ago- I was 20 years old, living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 5 other girls, walking to and from school (college) everyday, I was in a very small town, having the time of my life, and living 1000's of miles away from any family.

I remember being asleep and hearing the phone in the kitchen ringing (this is pre-cell phone age) and I got up to answer it and saw my room mate asleep on the couch. The girl who shared a room with me had gone out of town and it was this day I was most grateful for her. That she was thoughtful enough to call our apartment to make sure we knew what was going on.

The first thing she said, "America's under attack." I said, "ok," thinking this girl is SO dramatic! She said to turn on the news, and I asked what channel and she said it didn't matter. My roommate that was on the couch then heard us talking and got up to see what was going on and I asked her to turn on the t.v. We sat it horror. At that point only one tower had been hit. I can vividly picture on this little brown box of a t.v. watching a plane hit the 2nd tower. I can also picture the towers falling. It's complete denial of what's going on, it's thinking this can't be happening, this isn't real. Immediately my other room mates start calling family and we sat and debated on whether or not to attend our first class that morning. We went and the teacher had the t.v. on and we just sat watching more footage being replayed of what happened. We all took a class together in the afternoon and when we got there the teacher said he wouldn't have us watch anymore but wanted to talk about it. Because we needed to talk about what was happening. I think at this point I had no words for how I felt, and mainly because a lot of info hadn't been made available to us or known I didn't know how to feel or express myself. But I was grateful that that teacher took the time to let us take a break from all the images and rantings on the television and made sure that we were okay and processing things.

I called my parents that night and had never wished more than that day that I could've been at home or living closer to them. There was a comfort and security there that I longed for that I didn't have in Ephraim, UT. I do remember telling my dad that I was so grateful to be living in a small town, full of old homes and farms, because no one would want to hurt or destroy a tiny sheep herding down Main St. kind of town. I knew the terrorists weren't coming for us next. So in that sense I felt some security. I was also thankful that I knew no one in New York, no one who was associated with the Pentagon, or flight 93 that went down in PA. My heart hurt for the many who I knew that did have friends and family in NY and though no one that I knew had people who were hurt or missing in that area- we were all affected and grieving.

There's a lot of days and things I don't remember, like the day before, or the day after 9/11- shoot even last week- but no day is clearer to me than this day. I can't believe it has already been 10 years. It just reminds me how fast time has gone by and what all has transpired since then.

A Big Helper

2011-08-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

I am a bit of a control freak. It's one of the things I really dislike about myself. So I decided the only way to stop feeling like I have to be in control was to let part of that control go. I see blogs and hear friends talking about their kids cooking with them and I have just not been able to do it. Autumn and Weston have never expressed interest, but it was mainly me not inviting them and thinking all they would do was mess it up. :) Well about 6 months ago I found the cutest aprons and bought a pink and blue one thinking I would start letting them help in the kitchen. Well- those aprons are still in the cupboards with the tags on them and they've never even see them or needed them.

So last night was a first for us! Autumn came to help me make some cookie bars. Last year Autumn went to preschool 3 days a week, this year it changed to 4 days and since Fri had never before been a preschool day the two preschool teachers decided on Fridays to combine the classes and do cooking experiments. I realized then that Autumn needed those fun memories of baking and cooking with her mom; not just with her school mates.

We made Chocolate-Frosted Peanut Butter Cookie Bars.

Autumn did awesome. I measured, she poured, and most of it made it into the bowl, but yes- my kitchen was a bigger mess than it would've been with just myself in there, which I kept having to ignore.

Once we got to the frosting part she was done. But I did have her spread the frosting. She did such a lovely job!

It was a lot of fun. I think Autumn enjoyed herself too. I need to take more opportunities to spend just one on one time with her and enjoy letting her help me, it helps me get over this need to control everything! :)

The recipe is from Our Best Bites...can be found here.

2 Kids In Preschool

2011-08-15T13:24:00.001-07:00

Autumn started preschool (again) last week. It's crazy to think that this is her last year in preschool. She is loving it and glad to be back with her same teachers again. Last year she went 3 days a week and this year they changed the program to 4 days a week. That made me one happy mom, I cried when I got the letter! I think it'll make the transition to Kindergarten that much easier and just seeing how much her speech improved last year with 3 days, I can only imagine how much 4 days of preschool will benefit her.

Weston started preschool today. Myself and some moms that I go to church with got together to do a co-op, similar to Joy School. He was so excited all morning to be "going to school." We get there and it wasn't quite what he was expecting, I think he imagined a school- or a classroom similar to Autumns, but when I picked him up 2 hours later he talking about the letter A, apples, puzzles, and his friend Merick. Sounds successful to me! Preschool will be good for him, he walks around bored when Autumn's at school and this will help him have something to do while Autumn's at her school.

I am loving this stage that my little family is at, they're learning and growing so much everyday. Plus I love the extra one on one time I get with Bailey while their at school.

Guest Post

2011-08-03T13:02:00.002-07:00

Hi. I am Bailey. I'm 7 months old and currently busier than ever. I started crawling a month ago, and while we were on vacation visiting my grandparents in TX I really got the hang of it and was cruising everywhere. But crawling wasn't enough for me. I have an older sister who is an overachiever and my mom talks to other people about how smart she is and how early she did stuff so I feel this need to keep up with her. So as soon I could crawl, I started pulling myself up. No, not to my knees- that wouldn't be impressive. I took it a step further. I find anything and everything I can and I pull myself up onto my feet. I have had a few tumbles and fell a couple of times, but practice makes perfect. And mom always comes quickly to my aid if I am in distress. It drives my mom nuts that I didn't just enjoy crawling for very long, she wishes I would've crawled for awhile and then later figured out how to stand and pull myself up. But where is the fun in that?

Using the coffee table:

Using the couch:

I want to be wherever my brother and sister are. So I climb up and stand with them.

Using my sisters table:

On my sisters bed:

On my brothers bed:

Using my moms leg:

If there's a way for me to pull myself up I will do it. My moms favorite thing- I babble a lot as well, and instead of saying, "babababa" like I did for several months now I say "mamamama" because I can tell it just melts my moms heart. :)

Family Pictures

2011-07-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a friend of mine took our family pictures. Ok, so they're just pics of the kids- but that's what people want to see anyways. :) My friend is starting up a photography business and needed some practice and the last time I had hired anyone to do family pics was when Autumn turned 2 and Weston was 6 months old. Well now Bailey is 6 months old, Weston's 2 and Autumn is 4. It was about time to have a go at it again.
These are just a few of my favorites:

Some things I love about them, is how smiley Bailey is, and how easy it was for them to get good pics of her. (another one of her from the shoot is in the previous post as well) It was over 100 degrees that day and we went and did pictures at 5:30 and at a really fun park. The kids were hot, not very cooperative, and just wanted to play. Stop and take pics? What? Hence the one with all 3 of them, the reason Baileys smiling and the other kids aren't, she doesn't realize how fun a park can be.

6 months & 4 years

2011-06-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Last week I took Autumn and Bailey to the dr. for their well visits. I always love seeing how much they weigh and how tall they've gotten.

Weight: 15.1 lbs. (25th %)
Height: 26 1/2 in. (75th %)
Head: 43 cm (50th %)

Bailey at 6 months is so smiley, happy, and easy going. My easiest baby by far. The only thing remotely difficult about her is her lack of interest in baby food. She doesn't mind cereal or oatmeal- it's all the other untexturized food- green beans, bananas, peas, apples, etc... My favorite thing about her- whether she has napped for 3 hours and just gotten up or if she slept 15 min and got woken up by a sibling screaming, or if she is dog tired and fighting sleep- she is as happy as a clam. She is babbling, rolling in all directions and watching her try to figure out why she can't go forwards and only crawls backwards and in circles cracks me up. I hope she stays this easy.

Weight: 37 lbs. (50th %)
Height: 40 1/2 in. (50th %)

Autumn at 4 years old has lived true to the claim that once kids are 4, they're over that terrible 2's and 3's stage. I originally hoped that at midnight on her birthday a magic switch would turn old behaviors off and she'd be over all that 2 and 3 year old mess. It didn't happen. It took about a month and now Autumn and I are getting along in ways I worried we never would. She isn't as big of a handful as she used to be and I rarely find myself reprimanding her. I am loving age 4 for so far! My favorite thing about her- seeing her light up with positive praise and when I get on to her brother about something she's quick to tell me that she's not doing that and she's being good. :) She's a big help with Bailey (and Weston) and she is doing amazing with learning to read. She amazes me and surprises me everyday.

I love these girls!

Autumn Reads

2011-06-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

I knew with summer coming I would need something to keep Autumn busy. That girl has a knack for learning and just eats it up. With preschool being out and looking at all she accomplished last year in preschool I knew the only thing left was teaching Autumn to read. I was hesitant at first, she is barely 4. But she needed something new and different.
I taught her her letters at 18 months old, and she could recognize all her letters, a few colors, a few shapes, recognized numbers up to 10, and count to 20 by age 2. By 2 1/2 she knew all the letter sounds. I loved being the one responsible for teaching her. I took such pride when we would be at friends or a family members house and she would start spouting off letters she saw on a blanket, shirt, wall, etc... and she wasn't even 3 yet. It made me light up.

It's no secret Autumn is difficult, but she is on her best behavior when her and I sit one on one and do something educational. There's no denying how smart this girl is and I for one do not want to hold her back. I have had a book that teaches how to read for over a year and have gone over it so that I had it perfect when the opportunity presented itself to teach Autumn. Summer is here, and this was my moment. We are only into day 11 of the lessons, and she can read the simple 2 and 3 letter words in the lesson. I don't know what to expect when the lessons get harder and instead of just e and a sounds there is ea, ou sounds how she will do. But so far this has been right on her level.

I took a video because during the lesson she just shocked me, occasionally I have to redirect her attention to where I am pointing and have her say it slow and sound out the words. But she was doing it perfectly. I then tell her I am going to video and you can see minor distractions but she kept wanting to see the screen and the video itself. I am so proud of her.

I want Autumn to keep up this love for learning and be excited about it. So far that's all I have ever seen from her when it comes to learning and I want to help keep that up.

A Food Question

2011-05-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

The summer heat is on it's way and before I know it we will be enjoying (maybe enduring is a better word) the hot Arizona heat. I remember last summer getting our electric bill and Drew & I were just shocked and realized we had to change some things. We turned the thermostat up 2 more degrees, I only ran the dishwasher right when we went to bed at night, and I only used the washer/dryer early in the morning or really late at night. We also "tried" ( I use it loosely because I could've tried harder) to cut back on using the oven, stove, crock pot...anything that would heat up my kitchen/home. This summer I am determined to cut back on it even more.
I am prepared to make burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, steak, etc...out on the grill and a friend yesterday suggested putting my crockpot in the garage or on the back patio if I use it. But I don't want to get too bored with grilling or eating the same things every week. The 120 degree weather is hard to bear and I won't necessarily want to be outside grilling in that heat anyways. I am looking for new "cool" summer food ideas.

So my question is, what do you cook or prepare in the summer to keep your homes cool?

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-23T08:25:00.003-07:00

Last Wed. (5/18) evening Autumn's school held a preschool graduation. It was really sweet to see all the 3, 4, & 5 year olds from the two afternoon classes up on the stage singing songs they had learned through the year and then have them walk across the stage and receive their "diploma." I am so glad that even the kids who aren't graduating and will be back next year (like Autumn) got to participate and be apart of the ceremony. It was so much fun. I can't believe this time next year I will be talking about Autumn going to Kindergarten. Yikes! I really love this preschool program and all that Autumn has learned from her wonderful teacher and speech therapist.

While at the school, I had the video camera and videoed the performance while Drew watched Weston and Bailey. When Autumn was about to walk across the stage I asked Drew to take a picture with my camera because I only really cared for one picture during the whole thing, Autumn going across the stage. And this is what I got.

Drew's only saving grace is that we get to do this again next year, and I will be taking the pictures. :) He can have the video camera.

So when we got home we took more to make up for it.

I am hoping that this time next year I can qualify Weston for this program. It would be awesome to have Autumn do 2 years at this preschool and then have Weston do it also. That's just how much I love the structure and curriculum of this program.

4 Years Ago

2011-05-16T13:03:00.001-07:00

I can remember this day vividly 4 years ago. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. with insane contractions. I timed them out on our couch for 2 hours, and then called my brother because they were a min. apart (they were living in TN and 2 hours ahead of us so I knew someone was awake to talk to me) and he told me to call his wife. I talk to my sister in law for 5 min, which I am crying the whole time because I am realizing this is the day. She tells me to get to the hospital. So I call my dad who wakes up my mom and she says she will be over soon. I wake up Drew and tell him to get ready, then I shower. We are at the hospital at 9 a.m. I am admitted because I dialated from a 3 to a 4 in the first 30 min I was there. My dad came, then my 2 sisters. I got the epidural, they broke my water, they got everyone out of the room, I pushed for 15 min. and at 4:15 my little girl was born. The first thing I said, "That felt so weird." In reference to feeling Autumn depart my body and enter this world a breathing, screaming person. It was amazing. It was perfect. The dr. and my mom all agreed it was a textbook birth, couldn't have gone any better and congratulated me. I felt so incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful experience with my first!

Now if only she could be as easy as the pregnancy and labor was with her. :)

Here are some quick shots I got of her today before heading to preschool to celebrate with her friends and teachers. I love that this little girl who doesn't sit long for much, will always sit and let me do her hair.

Their birthday is the one day they don't have to be in uniform at preschool, I love it. Happy Birthday Autumn!

5 Years

2011-05-13T10:42:00.001-07:00

5 years ago today I married Drew. I look back over the last 5 years and it seems to have gone by so fast. I can’t believe all we have done and all that’s happened to us over these 5 short years.

Our anniversary is always a day of reflection for me. I remember the nerves, the anxiety, the peace, the overwhelming-ness, and the happiness. The flood of emotions I felt that day were unreal, but I was completely comforted in knowing that I was marrying the right person. He was perfect for me, and still is.

5 years later we have 3 beautiful kids, a lovely home, and many wonderful memories. It’s exciting to think about all the future memories we will make and have.

These are a few of my favorite pics from that awesome day.

Snowflake Temple

My nephew

For Time and All Eternity.

Easter Morning

2011-04-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here's just some of my favorite pictures from Easter morning. It's more fun each year. Especially now that I have kids who "get it" and anticipate the Easter Bunny coming.

The Easter bunny left baskets for each kid and a personal letter. The 2 older kids each got candy, a movie, and a Little People set. Bailey just got toys and a few eggs.

The Easter Bunny pulled a fast one, and hung up their stuffed animals and Easter outfits up high. Strangely enough Weston noticed them way before he ever saw the baskets.

Weston was thrilled with his movie.

Autumn is a Little People fanatic.

This is what Bailey did. She played with her Elmo eggs while the other kids went through their stuff

Autumn and Weston in their Easter garb.

Miss Bailey. So smiley.

All 3 of our kids.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

4 Months

2011-04-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

My beautiful Bailey Lynn is now 4 months old. These last 4 months have gone so fast, I think with each kid time goes quicker. I am not one to say slow the time down. I am enjoying it all and look forward to all the milestones each of my kids reach and will reach. She is sweet, happy, smiley, giggly, and beautiful. We have loved having 3 kids more than we thought we would. *Don't judge us, we have 3 and our oldest will be 4 years old next month....it can be challenging at times with 3 so young.* She is a perfect balance, she has days where she is easy peasy and other days where she can be a little more demanding, but the demanding times are easy to handle because I know they won't stick around and she'll be easy again. I was complaining about Baileys (what seemed to be) patterned behavior during a specific time frame each day to my sister a while back and she said it was normal and a stage, and that now I have had them all..."one hard, one easy, and one typical." And my sister was right, what I thought she would turn into a bad habit, ended up being a stage and lasting only a few weeks.

I am grateful for this typical baby.

Yesterday we went to the dr. for her 4 month well check. Here's her stats:

Weight: 12.8 lbs (25th %)
Length: 23 3/4 in. (25th %)
Head Circum.: 40 1/4 cm (25th %)

This may seem small, but my other kids were smaller. She is consistent with her weight and growth, and most excitedly: we get to introduce rice cereal tonight.

A Bragging Moment

2011-03-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently posted on her blog asking what people could get for $1.70, and what all she was able to get for that price. Which was amazing and very impressive! I had already done my shopping for the week so I wasn't feeling up to the challenge to see if I could do as well as she had. But then when week 2 of the sale started I figured why not...and look at what I got for $1.29.

Yep! I saved $75.90 So thank you Jessica for motivating me and getting me back to the store to score the awesome deal! 28 boxes of pasta will last me forever...thankfully they don't expire for 2 years, plus 2 mayo, 8 Skittles, and 2 Dove chocolate bars; this was a fun trip!

"Come What May and Love It"

2011-03-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

I remember growing up picturing my future family and the kids I would have. I invisioned really easy kids, who were quiet, and sat and looked at books or played quietly in their rooms. I had no idea what I was in for. There are days my life feels completely chaotic, with 3 very young kids, and there are times here and there I have found it hard to enjoy. I have a quote framed in my living room that says, "Come what may and love it." I have looked at it often lately in moments when I am not "loving" what's going on around me and it helps me keep an eternal perspective.

I recieved a new calling at church yesterday, and as I was being set apart by our 2nd counselor in the bishopric, in the blessing he promised that as I fulfilled this calling, which may make my life busier, that my home would be filled with more happiness than I could imagine. I couldn't help but tear up. I think our home is a happy place- most of the time, but to be told that there would be unimagineable happiness was completely comforting.

So I am working on it- I am working on the "Come what may and love it." Because for me, it's taking the moments that aren't easy, the times that are exhausting, and the days that I feel I am just in "survival" mode and learning to love it. Because that could create the extra happiness that could benefit anyone.

Baileys Blessing

2011-02-15T16:03:00.001-07:00

I didn't take any pictures the day of the blessing. I was feeling, in one word, overwhelmed. Autumn and Weston had both been sick days prior to the blessing and weren't exactly 100% by that day. We had them checked out and no one was contagious so we went ahead with the blessing at church. We also planned a luncheon immediately following it for 25 people (and there turned out to be 18 who stayed for it) and there was lots of family in town. We are so blessed to have such supportive family and friends who traveled all that way for a 2 min. blessing. Since I didn't take any pictures that day the next morning when all was calm at my house again I dressed Bailey back up and took some pics of her in her beautiful gown. My mom has pictures from the actual day. :)

If you think the bow on her head is big, it kind of is...but at the same time, Bailey has the smallest head of any (full term) baby I have ever seen. So the friend who made it for me, did a beautiful job and made what I wanted- it's just that Bailey will have to grow into it. :) Anywho, just wanted to share some pictures.

My Friday 2/11

2011-02-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

This won't be a day I forget for a long time. Bailey and Weston both had dr appointments that morning for different ailments...the week before Weston had both his ear drums rupture so his appointment was just for a follow up to make sure his ears were healing properly. I scheduled an appointment for Bailey too because she had been congested and had a cough for the past few days.

So to the appointment we go, Weston gets weighed, he is down 4 lbs, which was due to his lack of appetite from his ears hurting so bad and was fever free. Bailey had gained a lb. and a few ounces but had a fever of a 100.6. The nurse could tell Bailey was congested and was concerned about the fever so she wanted to do a "simple" RSV test that would only take 15 min. to get the results from. The nurse inserts this tiny thin flimsy flexible plastic thing down into her nose that has a small swab on the tip, she is moving it around and as she pulls up to bring the swab out of her nose she sets the plastic thingy on the counter, grabs Bailey and runs out of the room. I hear her saying that she needs Beth and a Dr. so and so immediately because the swab tip came off and was lodged in her nasal cavity. I ask if I need to be concerned (dumb question) and the nurse says no, they can get it out. Once Beth and the other Dr. were in the room they get some medical instrument to look into her nose and another to open the cavity a little to help them remove the swab tip w/something that looked like glorified tweezers. Weston starts crying because Bailey is wailing and it's taking all I have to keep myself composed. I'm not really upset or worried about the swab that could be potentially stuck in her nose, but just frustrated that it happened to me, the nurse says, "I've done this for 20 years and it's never happened before." (In my mind I am replaying everything that's happened to me that others claim "have never happened before" i.e. the spinal fluid leakage I had after my epidural when I was in labor with Weston...) After a minute or so they tell me she must've swallowed it because they can't see it.

So we continue on with the Dr. appointment- she checks out Weston first- his ears look great and he is in the clear. Since Bailey is asleep on me the Dr.looks in her ears and listens to her breathing and lungs and notices that her breathing resting rate is 45 breaths per min which is a lot, so she suggests we take her to the E.R. She is worried that Bailey has RSV plus while we are there they can do a tummy scan to make sure the swab did get swallowed. They wanted me to go immediately so I start making phone calls, calling Drew to tell him I had to take Bailey to the E.R. and to come get Weston, then I called the sitter that Autumn is with to let her know that Drew would be picking up Autumn, and then I just sent a mass text to a few family members asking them to say a quick prayer for Bailey because we are headed to the emergency room. My mom calls, I pass Weston off to Drew and head to the hospital, I had kept myself composed and emotions in check until my mother in law called me and she asked me how I was doing. I don't know why that set the tears flooding maybe because it's easy to forget about the mom and the stress she may be feeling when all thoughts are on the child, but I just lost it for a few moments. Anyways- we go to this fabulous Pediatric Emergency Room at the hospital by my sisters place.

The Dr. office had already called the e.r. to let them know we were on our way. We were checked in and put into a room to wait for a dr. It took the dr. an hour and a half to get to us, but during that time we got Baileys vitals (which is was so sad to see these tiny blood pressure cuffs, and tiny oxygen readers) and we also got x-rays done while we waited. The e.r. dr. ruled out an ear infection, which is what he was really hoping for, so he wanted to do a nasal wash to test for RSV or flu, he was hopeful for one of the two because if it wasn't either of those things we would have to do blood work and a spinal tap to see where the fever was coming from. The nurses came and took us to another room, where kids are admitted and stay. I worried they were going to have to start an i.v. in her little arm or something but they just moved us there so we would be more comfortable while we waited for the test results.

These pictures are from before they did the nasal wash, which was sad to watch- but the nurses were really great and efficient. Bailey looked so small on these beds, the beds already seemed small to me because they were half the size of the beds in regular adult rooms.

She was in great spirits the whole time we were there.

And while we waited the hour and half for the results to come back I watched t.v. and texted family (and the nurses brought me lunch) and this is what Bailey did-

After an hour and a half the nurse came back in with "good news." It was the flu. As a mom you aren't usually thrilled to hear that your kid has the flu but the flu is treatable and RSV isn't plus now we got to skip the blood work and spinal tap. We knew what the fever was from. We were at the hospital for 4 hours total, and I never thought that my first trip to the e.r. with one of my kids would be with my 8 week old, I assumed it would be with my asthmatic daughter or my clumsy son.

Well today is Sun, and Bailey is doing much better, the fever is gone and she is on Tamiflu. Sometimes the Tamiflu makes her throw up, but half the time she keeps it down and what she has kept down has done wonders already. The dr. has me watching Baileys poop. She wants me to look for the swab. The x-rays didn't show anything but then again, a swab wouldn't show up on an xray anyways, but with the nasal wash there's no way it's still in her nose. We can't wait for her to be over this flu bug and to have no more sick kids in our house. :)

Random Happenings

2011-02-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have failed to mention thus far that Autumn is now in Sunbeams at church. It has been quite the transition for her. One of my favorite moments with her during this transition was seeing her excitement during singing time when they sang, "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam." Watching her jump on "beam" was just classic. They need more "getting wiggles out" songs just for those Sunbeams.

This pic is from her first week as a Sunbeam. We really tried to get her excited and all hyped up about it, I think she was really disappointed when there weren't any toys and she had to sit in a chair. But her teachers are doing great and Autumn has warmed up to them and it's getting easier to leave her every week with her class.

Weston turned 2 in the middle of Jan. I can't believe he is 2, it's felt like he has been 2 forever. He is a big kid and has looked 2, acted 2, and talked like a 2 year old for so long so it's fun that he is "officially" 2 now. We celebrated a couple of days after his birthday w/just our little family. It was nice. I made a train cake out of Little Debbie and Keebler snacks. Then this past weekend since we were having a luncheon after Baileys baby blessing we celebrated Weston's birthday again with the extended family and had cupcakes and presents.

Here is the train cake I made

The cupcake tray for the 2nd celebration

Weston enjoying one-

I love crafts and making things. When I had Bailey my mother in law surprised me with a sewing machine and I had yet to even open the box, until my mom was in town last week and we made a curtain for this window by my front door. I love it. I am going to have to watch tutorial videos on how to work this thing because I lack serious confidence in myself with using it when no one is here to help me. :)

Here's the curtain-

And today I found time to make a Valentine banner. I only have about 5 V-day decorations and I have this empty space on the wall under where the tv is mounted/above the entertainment center- so I made a little something. I taped it up, since painting that wall I can't bring myself to put any holes in it. :)

LOVE-

Since Baileys been born most of my posts are about her...so before I post about her and her baby blessing I wanted to post about other stuff too. :)

6 Weeks in Review

2011-01-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Bailey is already 6 weeks old and we can't believe it! It's really like she has been here all along and we can't imagine our family with out her. We are blessing her at church in a week and look forward to celebrating her and being with our extended family.

I just wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from these last 6 weeks:

The kids had come up to the hospital to see us and meet Bailey. They immediately loved her and wanted to hold her.

This pic cracks me up, I was trying to wake her up and she was just SO relaxed:

She was having a really hard morning one day and was extremely fussy and it had been a good 2 hours and I was struggling to keep her quiet and happy (a rare occurance) and I had to get laundry done. So I took her in the laundry room with me and the only place safe to put her was in the laundry basket. I moved clothes from the washer over to the dryer and as soon as I started the dryer she passed out.

The classic first bath picture:

Her first road trip, up to Drews parents place. It's a classic "I know something's up" face.

Once we got to Drews parents we realized we had left Baileys bed. Forgetful parents, adjusting to a baby again...so we improvised.

A luggage bag!

Her adorable little feet:

And her first week at church she spent just like this:

She is still a great baby and we are so glad she is a part of our family.

Autumns Award

2011-01-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

A note got sent home last week in Autumns backpack saying that she would be getting an award at the schools 2nd Quarter Award Assembly. I wasn't planning on going figuring every student would be recognized for something, and it was during Weston's nap time and Bailey is only 5 weeks old. But when I dropped Autumn off on Thurs. her teacher grabbed me and asked if I was coming to the assembly and I played dumb like I forgot about it and she said I should really come because Autumn was one of only a few kids being recognized in her class. So I realized Autumn must have accomplished something worth being recognized, so I better be there. I am SO glad I went. It was so fun for me and Weston to wave at Autumn while she sat with her class and then to see her accept her award and stand with her other classmates- which the other 4 kids got recognized for Perfect Attendance. What was Autumns award?

MOST IMPROVED! I am so proud of her. Teachers are allowed to give out one Most Improved award per quarter per class and her teacher told me after the assembly that there was no question between her and her aids who the award should go to. I am so proud of her. I just recently had a parent teacher conference with her teacher and she has passed all her goals that were set for her at the beginning of the year, except in areas of speech. But she has made leaps and bounds in her speech. Here are some pics from the assembly.

Autumn coming up to accept her award-

Autumn taking her award and going to stand by her friend Emma, who is also in her class at church-

I love how all the girls are in pink-

That's the principal to the teachers left-

Her teacher presenting all the kids to all those at the assembly-

What I loved was Autumns class was mingled with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, and so everytime a preschooler got up to accept their award all the other "older" kids would say, "aw!" They seemed so small compared to those 5th graders! I am so proud of Autumn and her accomplishment.

Weston & Baileys Doctor Appointment

2011-01-18T09:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took Weston to the doctor for his 2 year well visit and Bailey had her 1 month check up as well.
The doctor was pleased with both of them and their growth. Although she did note that Weston is a rather hefty 2 year old, who could pass for a 3 year old with his vocabulary and stature, and to make sure he's off whole milk (and cut back on juice) because the extra calories aren't doing him any favors for his weight. He's just a big kid, he's been off whole milk for awhile.

Westons Stats:
Weight: 33.2 lbs - 95th Percentile
Height: 35 1/4 in.- 75th Percentile

(Before church on Sun. Church is at 12:30 so we eat lunch right before we go, which is why Weston still has food in his hands, he is a s-l-o-w eater)

Baileys Stats:
Weight: 8 lbs 12 oz- 40th Percentile
Height: 21 1/4 in.- 50th Percentile
Head: 36 cm- 25th Percentile (I knew her head was small, but not THAT tiny)

(Bailey before her first time at church)

I am glad both kids are growing so well!

More on Bailey

2011-01-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Bailey is growing like a weed. She is up to 8 lbs. and grown a 1/2 in. She still wears the same 4 or 5 outfits because she doesn't fit into any of her clothes. The pj's above fit her best. She is great at night, she still eats every 3 hours, but goes right back to sleep. So I am tired, but not completely sleep deprived.

For those who were wondering what Baileys middle name is- it's Lynn. We didn't have her name picked until an hour before she was born, and her middle name just popped out of my mouth when the nurses asked after she was born. We had discussed 3 possible middle names the whole time we were in labor (Lynn was one of them), but not knowing if it was a boy or a girl made it hard to be serious on picking a name let alone a middle name.

She doesn't have a lot of hair, but what hair she does have has a reddish tint to it. Westons hair was the same way when he was an infant, and around 4 months old it became very blonde, so we are curious what color her hair will be. It would be fun to have a brunnette, a blonde, and a red head.

That looks like a bald spot above her ear, it's actually a blonde patch, so we won't be surprised if her hair ends up coming in blonde.

She spends more time awake now, she is still the sleepiest thing, but her awake stretches are in the morning when all the kids wake up and evenings when the kids go to bed. All the time in between that she is asleep as soon as she finishes eating. So while I feel busier than ever, she still sleeps enough that it allows me to get stuff done.

We still adore her to pieces!

Meet Bailey

2010-12-30T22:11:00.001-07:00

Our sweet baby girl joined our family Dec. 17th, at 8:21 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz, and was 20 inches long. Making her my shortest baby, and 2nd heaviest. She has been such a pleasant and welcomed addition! I really worried about Autumn and Weston and how they would transition with a new little one, but they have adjusted well and it's been smoother than I anticipated. Weston just loves Bailey and wants to hold and kiss her all the time and is very concerned when she cries, saying over and over again, "Bailey sad, Bailey sad." Autumn is always quick to offer a blanket, hat, or pacifier even when it's not needed. Her motherly instincts have really started to show and she is going to be a great big sister. Here are a couple of pictures, she is already 2 weeks old- and these are from the first few days. We love her so much and can't believe we now have 3 kids (in such a short amount of time), and can't imagine it any other way. :) More pics to come later.

We're Transitioning

2010-12-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Weston to a "big boy bed" that is. The road was rough when we transitioned Autumn to her twin bed, and she still has rough patches where almost every night for a week she makes her way into our room several times a night and has to be walked back to her bed. But we have had Weston napping and sleeping at night in his twin bed for a week now, and it's been smooth sailing (knock on wood).

We knew that with Westons soft, sweet, sensitive nature he might have had a harder time transitioning from the crib to a bed after the baby came, than before. We worried he would feel like everything was changing, or that he was being "put out" of his crib because of the baby. So we took the crib out of his room, and we excitedly tell him all the time about how he is a "big boy" in a "big boy bed." For not being 2 years old yet, he has done fantastic!

The only time he gets out of his bed is when I lay him down for his nap (and even then it hasn't been everyday). But I figure, it's brighter in his room during the day than at night, so he can see everything and get out, but I have never had to put him back in bed more than twice, and then he stays put until he wakes up. But evenings are blissful, we close the door and don't see or hear a peep from him till morning. It still cracks me up every morning when he walks in our room and says, "Hi dad." He just seems so grown up, to see him walk in and out of his room and get in and out of his bed. We are so proud of him, and grateful we made the move when we did. It's one less thing to worry about when this baby comes. Now we just need new bedding for it, it was just an extra bed we had in his room for the last 6 months, so the bedding isn't what I would like. Also- you notice the sippy cup he has craddled in 2 of the pics, those are days I don't pay attention well enough and his cup was already in his room when I layed him down. It cracks me up when I check on him, to make sure he is asleep in his bed, and his cup is mysteriously with him.

Terrible Two's

2010-12-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Weston has hit the "terrible two's" and it couldn't have come at a better time (said in the most sarcastic way possible). I am 9 months pregnant, only have 3 weeks left and my son decides now he wants to be grumpy and say no to everything. He definitely has a mind of his own, but I was usually able to pursuade him another way when he wasn't happy before, but now its turned into he wants what he wants and he isn't happy unless he gets his way (or forgets what he was upset about) and he pesters his sister like crazy. I don't remember this stage with Autumn, which may be because Weston was a newborn and I was preoccupied or maybe just that she has always been on the more difficult end of the spectrum it was nothing new when the 2's hit. While Weston is still happy, funny, and easy going it has become very clear that there are more fits being thrown and more attention being demanded. I guess it could be related to the fact that a baby is coming and he is more sensitive to the situation than I realized.

He has become increasingly close to Drew, so much so that when I get him out of bed in the morning, or after his naps he cries and whines on the floor for dad for a good 1/2 hour to an hour. He has never shown a preference before, but when Drew had 5 days off the week of Thanksgiving and he took Weston where ever he went (and got him out of bed in the mornings and after naps) I guess that's all it took. The boy just wants his dad, especially after sleeping. I just sit near him and watch him throw his fit, hoping he will realize that crying and acting like that won't make his dad appear while he is at work and that it really doesn't do any good. But it is exhausting! Especially for me- I am ready for him to get over his issues- and be my sweet happy loving boy ALL the time.

Something's Been On My Mind

2010-11-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

It's nothing serious. It's actually quite comical. Drew and I watched the Mark Twain Award be presented to Tina Fey on Sunday night. It was really really funny to watch. If you're a fan of 30 Rock, Mean Girls, or SNL you would've loved it, all the presenters who praised and mocked Tina were great. It was basically an hour of nonstop chuckles and smiles. But for me, one part really stood out. I didn't know Tina took such an active role in writing on SNL- and one of my all time favorite "commercials" from SNL was shown on the award show- to remind people how clever she was- they showed clips of her first improve work in a small place in NY, clips from Mean Girls, loads of clips from SNL, and some from 30 Rock truely displaying her talent.

But one clip had me laughing so hard I could barely contain myself, and I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. I have seen this one a dozen times, and yet I still find it hysterical. Sun. night we went to bed quoting the commercial and last night Drew said a few lines which got me giggling again. Hope you enjoy!
*My sister posted this on her blog forever ago as well. And sorry for the ad before the parody actually begins.*

If you want to watch any clips from the show Sun. night you can go HERE.

A renewed faith...

2010-11-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

In couponing. All because of a friends blog post. Check out her post HERE (seriously- you'll be shocked). I saw what she does and thought, look what I miss out on. She gets 3 papers w/coupon inserts and I only get one...so when I start getting 3 I can have savings like hers!

I have totally slacked in couponing over the last 9 months, I still do it, but more when it's convenient than for the rush or excitement of how much I have saved. I am not one to run to the store first thing Wed. morning when the sales start to make sure I score the free stuff (usually toothpaste and toothbrushes are the first to go), but going late on a Tues. night- I assumed I would have fair luck because they'd be restocking shelves for the new weeks promotions starting in the morning, but as I walked through the store I found myself scratching item after item off my list. Apparently I didn't go late enough (they were restocking stuff on every aisle it seemed, except the ones I really wanted) and I will just try to be back on my game, so I don't have to wait till the last day when they are out of a lot of sale items.

So here's what I got:

I spent $2.90 and saved $70.10. I made a total rookie error and could've spent less and saved way more, but live & learn and I was already dealing with what seemed like a bajillion coupons so I let something simple slip. No big deal, a jar of mayo will run you $3, and I got 2 of them and a ton of other stuff for that price.

Our Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Halloween was by far the funnest this year. In the 4 1/2 years we've been married we really slacked on Halloween, just doing the church's Trunk or Treat, or when my parents lived here we would go to their house and pass out candy. With our kids getting older it really has become more fun, it's not about us anymore- it's all for them.

It started with the Thurs. before Halloween Autumns preschool had "Character Day" which she wouldn't let me take any pictures of her, she really wanted to dress up as a princess, but I had my heart set on her being a butterfly. So she wasn't thrilled that day, but on Sat. when we went to our church's Trunk or Treat she was all for it and loved it. I think it's because once she got to school on Thurs. she noticed her BFF was also a butterfly and so then it was fun.

Weston was a Dr. We inherited these toddler scrubs back when we first had Autumn and I have just held on to them. Luckily they fit Weston and worked perfect!

He wasn't in the best mood before we went Trunk or Treating, but once we were there and people were giving him tons of candy he was as happy as can be.

Autumn was a butterfly this night too...

These are the only 2 pictures I took at the Trunk or Treat. Drew sat at the car and passed out candy while I took the kids around. So I didn't have an extra hand. It was an awesome turn out. We hit probably 8 cars and then passed our car and Weston was completely content with the loot he had and sat with Drew in the car and indulged in his goodness. Autumn and I continued around the parking lot until we hit every car and saw just about everyone.

Then on Sun, Halloween Day, I had to dress my kids in festive attire. Autumn had a orange and white dress and all I did was add a thick black ribbon to it and tada! Festive!! Westons shirt is orange and green plaid, but the orange is very very subtle. People kept complimenting our family on dressing festive (I also wore a black shirt with an orange cardigan) and I was surprised more people didn't think to. :)

That night we set everything up for potential Trick or Treaters. This is my adorable candy bowl. I bought it last year after Thanksgiving when fall decor everywhere was really cheap. I was so happy to be able to use him! We had pencils, bubbles, smarties, and gum. Plus a few pixie sticks (from the trunk or treat that I picked out of the kids buckets....my kids don't need straight sugar.)

Autumn got dressed up again, and waited for the trick or treaters.

We haven't done a pumpkin since Drew and I's first Halloween together, it went bad so quick we have forgone doing one every year since then. So I moved my halloween jars to the window by the door to let people know we were celebrating and passing out candy. Yep, that's Autumn trying to blow them out.

The trick or treaters sure were in short supply this year. I think with it being on a Sun. people weren't sure about going out. But we had fun with the few we had. Autumn insisted she pass out the candy, and it was adorable, she would grab handfuls and put the candy into their bags/buckets. It was fun getting her involved.

Once the trick or treaters had basically stopped coming by I sat down with the kids and read It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Which then had to be followed by watching the movie.

Autumn and Weston love the Great Pumpkin movie. They dance with Snoopy, and imitate him when he is pretending to be the WW1 Flying Ace- the Red Baron.

We had a lot of fun. It'll be interesting next year with 3 kids! If you know me, my real favorite day is the day after Halloween. I went to Wal-Mart, Target, and CVS snatching up clearanced Halloween stuff.

Autumns "Report Card"

2010-10-25T16:15:00.001-07:00

This may be boring to most of you, but today I got Autumns IEP, which is an Individualized Education Program. It's basically the students goals and performance objectives that were set at the beginning of the school year, and as the year progresses we get their progress report. It's very detailed, no check pluses or A, B grading system. It's a very thought out, percentage based evaluation. I don't always have time (nor does the teacher) to stop and discuss how Autumn's doing in specifics unless it's a parent teacher conference, and in our last one we discussed Autumns speech delay not the other areas they were working on her with too.

So while many of you may not be interested, I have loads of family not living near me who are always asking about Autumn and how school is going. I also have a few speech pathologist friends who were very informative about these programs when I was debating on getting Autumn tested...so they may also be curious about her progress. (Just a side note- Target Level of Mastery- that's where Autumn needs to be before they consider the goal achieved and then can set a new goal for her to reach. Current Level of Mastery- where she is now compared to where they want her to be by Aug. 2011.) I wanted to do this for my records too:

Goal: By Aug. 2011 Autumn will be expressively identifying 5 colors and 5 shapes
Target Level of Mastery: 90%
Current Level of Mastery: 55%
Teacher Comments: At this time, Autumn is able to receptively identify colors and shapes, but struggles w/expressively identifying them. She is able to identify 5 colors, but 2 shapes.
My comments: I know she knows rectangle, square, and triangle- she points them out all the time, and she says them, so for the teacher to say she struggles to express them is interesting, and that she only knows 2. But I am shocked she knows colors, because I always ask her what color something is and she can't ever tell me the right color, but maybe if I say, "where's the blue one," she will be able to identify it for me.
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Goal: By Aug. 2011 Autumn will follow directions that require one step, two steps, and a series of unrelated sequences of action.
Target Level of Mastery: 80%
Current Level of Mastery: 25%
Teacher Comments: At this time, Autumn is able to follow directions that require one step. Autumn has a tendency to become very distracted. Directions need to be short and to the point. She is working on following more complicated directions.
My Comments: This makes me laugh. It is totally Autumn. She only hears one thing and either she can't process the rest of what you're saying or she just zones you out. We communicate the exact same with our (almost) 2 year old as we do with her. Which isn't an insult to her, she just needs things more simply explained if we want her to do something. One of Weston's strengths is his vocabulary and his ability to communicate, which isn't Autumns strong suit, but she has the upper hand on coordination...poor Weston trips just walking around. It's amazing how different their strong suits are.
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Goal: By August 2011, Autumn will ask and answer a variety of questions about stories told or read aloud.
Target Level of Mastery: 80%
Current Level of Mastery: 0%
Teachers Comments: Autumn does not yet ask and answer questions related to text. Autumn displays significally delayed language skills. She will be tested for speech and language services in order to determine if she qualifies for services in order to help her better express her ideas.
My Comments: She was evaluated today for speech therapy, the teacher told me "unofficially" that she qualifies. While I understand a lot of what Autumn says I can see why others don't. This girl talks non-stop though, and she does ask questions, like "What?", "What are you doing Mom?" But yes, those are generic everyday questions she probably hears all the time. When it comes to asking questions about something specific- she doesn't do that, or when I read her a book and I ask her a question about it she doesn't respond. So while she hasn't made any progress with this goal, luckily now she gets Speech Therapy and has until Aug. to complete the goal.
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Goal: Buy Aug. 2011 Autumn will count up to number 20.
Target Level of Mastery: 80%
Current Level of Mastery: 70%
Teacher Comments: At this time, Autumn is able to count up to number 14.
My comments: This is something I have been working on her with. She can count up to 20, but I think they don't count it when 16 and 17 sound just like 15, so basically she says, "13, 14, 15, 15, 15, 18, 19, 20." She thinks she is saying 16 and 17 because the pattern picks right up where it should with 18, so we are still working on it. This is an easy one to do, and she doesn't even realize when we practice counting we are doing school work. Plus she is only 10% away from completing this goal. :)
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Goal: By Aug. 2011, Autumn will ask to use the restroom w/out reminding or prompting.
Target Level of Mastery: 90%
Current Level of Mastery: 30%
Teachers Comments: Autumn often remembers to use the restroom w/out reminding, but at times she becomes busy and forgets. If her teachers notice that she has not gone during class time they will remind her.
My Comments: I am so proud of Autumn and her "potty going" skills. This girl potty trained like a champ back in July. Since being potty trained (which took 2 days) she has never had an accident. We can travel 3 hours to Drews parents and she will hold it the whole way, or if we run 2 hours worth of errands she never says anything about going potty, but when we're at home she is going to the bathroom all the time. So I consider it a good thing, that while she is "busy and forgets" she doesn't have an accident. She just holds it until she makes the time to go. I realize many other kids who get busy and forget and would just relieve themselves in the middle of what ever their doing, but Autumn's never come home from school in a change of clothes, and I have never had the "joy" (yet) of being embarrassed by my child having a potty accident when out in public. But yes, if she has to go, I would like her to go. I know holding it isn't good for you. Luckily we are at home most of the time and when we're home she is always going to the bathroom w/out me ever needing to say anything to her about it.
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Goal: By Aug. 2011 Autumn will cover her mouth when coughing or sneezing.
Target Level of Mastery: 85%
Current Level of Mastery: 25%
Teachers Comments: Autumn must still be reminded to cover her hands when she is coughing or sneezing. After she coughs and sneezes she is reminded of what to do she will cover her face in order to show she understands. She is given a model in which to do so.
My Thoughts: Kids are kids, I am glad they are teaching her manners because this is something we practice at home too, but she is a kid. I am glad she shows appropriate gestures after someone shows her what she should be doing after coughing and/or sneezing.

I am proud of the progress she has made and can't wait to see her next "report card" and see what she has continued to improve upon.

MAC Farm

2010-10-22T11:11:00.002-07:00

I love Autumn's preschool, it has been such a big blessing for us (and her!) Last week was her schools Fall Break and it was REALLY hard on her. She asked to go to school everyday and I had to find creative ways to keep her busy and happy.

Yesterday her preschool took their first field trip of the year. It was so nice to see all the preschool students who attend this particular school. There were 4 classes all together, since there are 2 preschool teachers and they each have an a.m. class and a p.m. class. (Autumn's in a p.m. class, she goes from 12:15-2:45 three days a week.)

It wasn't until we got to the farm that I realized I didn't have my camera with me, and used my cell phone. So excuse the quality but I wanted to get pictures of Autumns first field trip with her class. I took Weston and my nephew with me and we had a great time. This isn't a traditional "farm". It's the Maricopa Agriculture Center. So it was all agriculture w/no animals. The kids were a little confused but the people who worked at this facility made it fun for the kids and really interesting. The unit that the kids had been discussing in school was on farms, so it was all related to what they have been learning about in class.

They first had us gather outside where the directors of the farm explained what we'd be doing while we were there, and explained that these bales the kids were sitting on were the farms furniture and how to treat their "furniture".

They split us up into 3 groups, and Autumns class/group first went to an area where they learned about plants, how they grow, and what's all entailed in caring for crops. The kids each got to make their own "garden", which went back to the school and will be in their classroom until the seeds sprout and then the kids get to bring them home. They first had them put the soil in, then about 20 seeds, more soil, and then they watered their "garden" and set them near a window for sunlight.

The second class they went to this director talked to the kids about fruits and vegetables, and incorporating them into our meals. She really made the healthy food fun for kids. At the end she offered a "healthy snack" which was a Ritz cracker w/cream cheese and broccoli on top, and it was interesting to see which kids tried it, loved it, and which wouldn't even touch it because of the green on top. Autumn loved it.

After the second class the kids got to go eat lunch. It was fun packing a lunch, but once I was there I realized I am a total amature at packing lunches and forgot a very basic item- napkins. I had 3 kids to feed and made sure I had enough food for them, but didn't think about the clean up afterwards.

Autumn ate really well, no surprise there.

Weston really loved sitting out with the big kids and feeling like apart of the class.

The kids had a sandwich, strawberries and grapes, yogurt, fruit snacks, and a Capri Sun. A treat for each of them, especially eating picnic style! This is a picture of most of our group, minus the tables that were behind me.

After lunch they got to play, and this was probably one of the favorite areas. All 3 kids got a turn playing on a tractor.

The kids got to pump water, old school style. These were surprisingly easy for little hands to use and get to work.

This was a bigger water pump, with a huge trough, which mostly the boys were interested in. Weston loved splashing in the water as it came out the pump while his cousin did all the work.

After lunch and playtime our group went and watched a movie (and ate popcorn) about tractors and farming. For it not being animated I was impressed how well all the kids sat and watched it, even the 2 littlest kids there:

The final class the kids got to make bracelets. There were 7 different colored beads, each representing something about plants and gardening.

Autumn showing hers off, I only remember most of the the things the colors represented. White- the seed, Blue- air, Green- the growing plant, Red- love for the crops, Yellow- sunshine, Brown- the soil -and your guess is as good as mine for the clear.

The final activity of the day was taking a tractor ride on a tour of the farm. The kids saw all kinds of machines, crops, tire piles, and everything an agricultural farm would have. This is most of our group:

My nephew really enjoyed it. Farms are great for both boys and girls, but the 2 boys w/me seemed to really get into it, especially when men were out driving the tractors.

Weston really enjoyed himself too. I didn't get any pics of Autumn, she was sitting with one of her teachers, so that I could keep a better eye on these 2.

The other class on their tractor ride.

A few of the things we saw:

I didn't take any pictures of the cotton field, the corn field, the grass fields, with Weston on my lap and my nephew next to me who kept grabbing the guy next to him for support I didn't get to take as many pics as I would've liked. My hands were busy. But I am really glad I went, and that I took the boys with me. I debated about not going for a long time, but decided we would go- and all 3 kids, and myself, really had a good time.

I Love Crafts

2010-10-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to keep myself busy doing things I enjoy, I realize with baby #3 on the way that my time won't be as "free" as it is now once he/she is here. Plus with the birthdays and holidays here, it's really easy to get creative and come up with things to decorate my home with.
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First, Autumn had a birthday party to go to and I had loads of ideas from family on what to get her (I wasn't sure what 5 year old were into) so after getting a couple of things for her I wanted to make her something personal, plus I have a Cricut and love to use it. So I found a small candy jar that's been sitting in my closet since we moved here 10 months ago, made a cute new lid and filled it with her favorite candy.

I loved the way it turned out. I think her mom was happy to see something different and "special" in the gift bag.

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I have crib bedding that I was planning to sell at a future garage sale because I didn't want to use the bedding again but then I thought maybe if I added some cute decor to the wall next to the crib it would help spice it up. I love what we came up with.

My mom came into town with a bunch of Cricut cartridges for me to make things with for scrapbooks, but then she had the perfect Winnie the Pooh set that I knew I could use for wall decor:

I bought some small wooden plaques, painted them, put on some characters and mod podged it. They are adorable. We attached ribbon to the tops of each these to make hanging easier.

This rectangle plaque is bigger, about 8x11 in size and once we have a name picked out I will put it above the sleeping Pooh bear.

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We have this fun little toy that the kids and everyother kid that comes over loves to play with. But my kids picked some of the pictures off of it and I had been wanting to fix it forever, but wasn't sure of a way to reapply something without having them pick it off again. So I bought the mod podge for the baby decorations and realized I had my solution now.

This was the before pic, after I had already started...

One side I did numbers-

The other side was alphabet letters-

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When I started putting out all my Fall/Halloween decor I realized I had way more Fall decorations than Halloween specific decorations. So I was happy when a friend called and invited me and the kids over to make wooden Halloween spiders. She has older kids who were able to make the whole thing, I just let my kids paint them. But they turned out adorable.

I hung them on a wall near the front door that lacked any home decor and I liked them but thought that wall needed a little something else too.

So I made a Halloween Banner to go with them.

And hung it up on the wall w/them. The wall is complete now!

Then, I was just browsing a food blog- Our Best Bites (thanks Jamie!) and they had posted loads of Halloween ideas for food, snacks, and treats and then an adorable craft- that after seeing it I knew I had to make. An hour later I was done and texting my sisters and mom about it incase they wanted to make some too.

Simple, it's just Mason Jars, tissue paper, mod podge, and black paper-

Then I added some ribon to the top, and put tea lights in them. They are so fun, and best of all- I didn't spend a penny on them, it's all stuff I had lying around the house.

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Drews sister is expecting her second child a couple of weeks after our baby is due so in preparing for her baby shower this weekend I made her a little something for her son (to go with the other stuff I have as well). I am very happy with the way it turned out. Luckily my sister had a Cricut cartridge with some boyish decals. Mine are all so girly.

If you can't tell, I love making crafts, and I love how little it costs me. Like the sign for my future nephew cost me a dollar and some change for the wooden plaque, and I already had the paper, ribbon, and paint, or the candy jar for Autumn's friend, it was all stuff I had at home. I can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas and see what all I can make!

Our "Stay-cation"

2010-10-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

Drew was preparing for a hunting trip with his dad and was going to be gone for 4 days. So we decided to spend some quality family time together and do a small getaway the weekend before he left. We went to Flagstaff, which is 2 hours from us and just hung out, played, and enjoyed getting out of the house and the heat.

When we got to Flagstaff we checked into our hotel and let the kids run and stretch their legs. It was rainy and freezing when we got there. We unpacked and got our rooms situated and then ran to Wal-Mart, the new Tinkerbell movie had come out and we thought during our down time it would be a fun movie to watch. After Wal-Mart we went to dinner at Olive Garden (my favorite!). When we got back to the hotel we only had about half an hour before the kids needed to go to bed. Luckily Autumn had her own room and it worked out great. We had Weston in a pack in play in the main living area between the two rooms.

The next morning we enjoyed a filling breakfast compliments of the hotel. The kids really enjoyed it too!

After breakfast we decided to just drive around and see parts of Flagstaff we hadn't seen before. We found a fabulous park and let the kids play there for almost 2 hours. The weather was great and since school was in only a few kids were there.

After the park we took the kids back to the hotel where we ate lunch. The little table worked perfect for the kids, they ate left overs from the night before.

Everyone napped and then we played in the hotel room. I let the kids pick something to bring with us, Weston picked some trucks and Autumn picked a coloring book. Which was great for that down time, when we wanted to just hang out.

Late in the afternoon we went to the mall there, which is nothing spectacular, but we knew they had a play area for the kids and a few stores we would enjoy browsing through.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped and grabbed something quick from a local restaurant and took it back to the hotel with us. After dinner we stayed at the hotel and let the kids watch their movie, run in the courtyard and play in the rooms.

That evening the kids slept so well. It really was a refreshing trip. On Fri. morning we got up and planned to eat breakfast and hang out in Flagstaff even after check out, but it kind of gets to the point where you're just ready to be home. The town doesn't have a TON to offer so after breakfast we packed up while the kids played and watched cartoons. We left right at check out time and headed back home.

We were only in Flagstaff for 48 hours but 2 nights away from home and eating out alot gets to a person (well it does to me- probably because I am pregnant). We got home in time to put the kids down for naps and so the house was nice and quiet for us while we unpacked and relaxed. We are so glad we got to go up there, even though it was only for a couple of days. It was nice doing something different, and together as a family before Drew left for 4 days to go hunting.

Autumn's School Pictures

2010-10-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

The morning before school we practiced for Autumn's first school picture day-

(These pictures are back when her tooth was chipped. Also- I chopped Autumns hair to shoulder length and I LOVE it!)

I couldn't wait to see them because I was curious if she smiled for them or would be making some funny face. Even though she didn't smile, she still looks pleasant and adorable to me! The quality of pic is terrible because they printed the photo on the order form. :)

I can't wait to get my real copy.

When is enough ENOUGH and too much TOO MUCH?

2010-10-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

We unfortunately still don't know the gender of our baby. So in getting ready for the baby to come I decided to go through ALL of Autumn and Weston's old baby clothes & shoes to better organize them, and decide what items were worth keeping and what I could (and needed to) part with. Westons stuff was easy to go through, took me all of two days. That kid had no clothes compared to Autumn, and being that he army crawled for months his shirts and bottoms were pretty much ruined and tossed out when I boxed up his clothes as he outgrew them. But Autumn on the other hand. She had so many clothes that many still have tags, and there were some outfits I only remember her wearing once. She was obviously spoiled and had way TOO much.

For the first year of Autumns life both Drew and I were working, so money and budgeting weren't an issue and I remember if I saw something I liked or wanted I bought it with out a thought. At the time she was my parents only grandchild living near by so naturally, as grandparents do- whenever they saw something cute Autumn got it. When I was pregnant and found out we were having a girl, with Autumn, my parents went shopping that night and came by our place with a big bag of clothes. We should have seen it as things to come. I remember at her baby shower everyone was very generous, and when my brothers wife would come into town she would buy Autumn things because she lived so far away and wanted to treat her when she could.

So when I was going through Autumns clothes & shoes (which took a whole week to sort through and organize) I was just completely shocked.

I went through everything so carefully deciding what to keep and what to get rid of. This is what's left of the KEEP. These piles are separated by Newborn, 0-3 mos., 3-6 mos., 6-9 mos., and 9-12 mos. This is not including anything 12 mos. and over or what I am getting rid of.

I was going through the 6-9 mos. pile and Autumn had 9 pairs of pajamas. What baby that size needs 9 pajamas? So that was my biggest task, finding what she had too many of and narrowing it down.

These are all of Autumns shoes, that I decided to keep. From size newborn to 4, so these are some of the shoes that I am holding onto that she wore for the first 18 months of her life.

A little ridiculous? I think so. Drew was surprised too, he knew she had a lot but once it's all layed out and you see it it's something else. We truely do feel blessed since going through her stuff, she has some beautiful clothes, adorable accessories, and fun shoes. I really hope we are having a girl. I won't have to buy anything but diapers if it's a girl. If it's a boy, I will need some clothes, but not much. But I will feel all set- if this baby can use their big sisters stuff. :)

Parent Teacher Conference

2010-09-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Today I had my first Parent Teacher Conference for Autumn. It was really enlightening. Autumns teacher talked really highly of Autumn and commented on how smart she was. She was impressed that she can count to 14 on her own and recognize all the numbers, and that she knew all her alphabet letters both capital and lower case. She said Autumn is very social and has made a lot of friends. There is one girl in particular whos name is Sierra and her Autumn are joined at the hip. It really makes me happy that kids are so forgiving of faults, and even though Autumn can't hold a conversation and answer their questions that the kids don't see or care about that.

The conference wasn't all praising, she asked me to work with Autumn on getting her to sit and be patient. She said Autumn will sit to do a task but as soon as she is done she is up running around, where other kids sit and wait to be told what's going on next. There is a circle time mat and the teacher used to have Autumn placed in the very front of the mat assuming Autumn would act better if right in front of the teacher. She has since moved her to the middle of the mat, and placed her between 2 students who have better speech and what the teacher refers to as "typicals." (Typicals are students who model age appropriate behavior during a specific activity.) She said moving Autumn to the middle of the mat has made all the difference. She can't get up and move and escape. She is surrounded by kids and handles the circle time much better.

Her writing and tracing of letters is at the level 3 year old are at. The teacher is impressed with the homework and how well Autumn does with it. The teachers 2 biggest concerns was getting Autumn to sit for an extended period of time w/out being distracted (and she is having me work with her at home) and her speech. The whole reason I was even interested in this preschool program was because of the speech therapy. But Autumn didn't qualify when I had her tested in May. The teacher has since reread the speech evaluation and doesn't agree with it. She talked to the Speech Pathologist and is having her reevaluated next week. What a relief! That was what I mainly wanted to talk to the teacher about during our conference. She said even she (who works with loads of kids all day long w/all kinds of delays and disabilities) has a hard time understanding her. So hopefully whatever the Speech Pathologist missed can be brought to her attention again through Autumns teacher.

So it was a successful conference. I teared up hearing Autumns teacher give her such praise and talk about how smart and good she is, and how the other kids in the class love her. One weeks curriculum was on friendship and they discussed the role of a friend and they gave each student a friendship bracelet to share with a friend in the class (Autumn is one of the younger students, many of these kids were in the same class together last year) and one girl went to Autumn w/out hesitation to share her friendship bracelet, which resulted in another little girl (Sierra who I mentioned earlier) being severely disappointed that she didn't get Sophia's bracelet and that she couldn't give Autumn her friendship bracelet. I am so proud of Autumn, this preschool and their program is really going to do wonders for her.

Here she is doing her homework. 2 weeks ago they talked about the letter P.

I am so proud!

Autumns 1st Trip to the Dentist

2010-09-10T09:50:00.002-07:00

I was waiting till Autumn was 3 1/2 to take her to the dentist for the first time, but well- something came up and we had to take her in earlier than planned. Which worked out for the best anyways, she will be 3 1/2 right before the baby gets here, and I am sure the last thing I will want to do is take her to the dentist when I am in the last few weeks of my pregnancy. The dentist office was so much fun. We got a referral from Autumn's pediatrician and had I not called them I would've taken her to a regular dentist, one that could be seen by the whole family so that one office had all our dental records and info but they recommended a pediatric dentist because of what happened. I am so glad we went with their advice. The office is called Treasured Smiles which is so fitting.

The entire place was pirate themed. The murals on the wall, the decor, the books, the toys. I don't know what has gotten Autumn into pirates, but lately she closes one eye and says, "Arg." (Actually- I think it's Captain Hook and his crew from Peter Pan, that's the only place I can think she has seen pirates.) Their waiting area kept Autumn completely occupied while I did paperwork and set up future appointments.

Here are some pics of the office:

This is an XBOX 360 and Playstation station, but we went early in the morning and they don't turn them on till the afternoon when the older kids come in. But Autumn pretended she played and kept asking to go up the stairs...

Checking out their fish tank-

She called this guy Captain hook, and kept walking around him checking him out.

Even the bathroom was done up. So fun.

I didn't take any pics once we went back into the rooms, but they took us on a tour of their facility. I saw the operation rooms, xray rooms, the sterilizing room, where the dentist hangs out between patients and the main area where they do cleanings. I didn't take any pics back there because there was so much for me to pay attention to and Autumn was super clingy. But they had treasure chests everywhere and every square inch of this place is made to look like you're on a deserted island, or hanging out with mermaids and/or pirates. But it wasn't annoying or distracting.

On Wed. night Autumn was playing on the couch and we have a rule (that we try and enforce- but kids will be kids and it's hard to teach them not do something when they see other kids doing it) of no standing or jumping or walking on the couch (or beds or chairs or others people furnitrue) and I wasn't in the room and Drew was walking out of the living room- well Autumn somehow rolled or fell of the couch and smacked her face on the tile. I came running in and picked her up and tried calming her down, but there was obviously something wrong. She was crying harder than she does when she has a normal fall or hits something, and grabbing her lower jaw. So we focused all our attention on her bottom teeth and made sure none of them were loose. Once she calmed down and was fine I ran to the store. When I got back I was showing Autumn some clothes I got her and Weston and when she smiled and said, "Oh cute!" I saw it. She has chipped one of her front teeth, giving the appearance of a gap between her teeth. My heart sank. I hadn't noticed it before because when she grabbed her mouth she grabbed her bottom teeth, but really- it would be quite awkward to try and hold your top teeth so she grabbed what felt natural in her mouth so we looked in the wrong place.

She wasn't having any issues talking or drinking or eating but we decided to take her to the dentist anyways (ok- I decided- I am a worrier). I worried about future cavities, sensitivity, nerve damage, the tooth turning yellow/brown. So into the dentist we went. He was glad we came in, many people let chipped baby teeth go, figuring it's just a baby tooth and will fall out but it really can impact the health of the permanent tooth that will replace it. He could tell that the tooth had been pushed back when she hit the floor but because she is a thumb sucker when she sleeps she had pushed it back into place. The dentist was worried about stress that was put on the root/nerve at the time of the trauma so decided that by filling and putting a cap on the tooth this would help calm the nerve. He was very thorough in explaining everything and making sure I understood what all could be entailed from chipping a tooth and the best options for such a young kid. I thought he would take xrays to check the root but he is going to wait till we do the cap, when she is sedated. Which makes sense. If he sees any damage there will be further surgery, but we're hoping that nothing extensive needs to be done outside of the procedure of filling and capping the tooth. Because even that is a pretty penny, but I am grateful for insurance. The only thing the insurance is not covering is the anesthia, and Autumn will require 2 types of sedation because she is so young. At a time like this, we are grateful that the moment the kids are born they are covered under our medical, vision, and dental.
This was right after I noticed it-

Now she is used to lifting her lip up so others can see it.

I realize the gap is small, but when she is talking or smiling it's all I see, because it wasn't always there. It's actually quite noticeable and even her preschool teacher commented on it after school yesterday. In a week Autumns beautiful smile will look just like it used to.

As a side note, the dentist did say when she is 6 or 7 he will refer her to a orthodontist because she has lots of crowding and an overbite (from sucking her thumb.) And can already tell she will need braces. Which is no surprise- Drew and I could've benefited from braces when we were younger. Other than that and the chip her teeth look great!

Curriculum Night

2010-08-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Last week Autumns school did Curriculum Night- A Day In The Life Of Your Student. I was really excited to go because it's hard to get answers out of Autumn when I ask her what she did at school, so I really looked forward to seeing exactly what her day consisted of. Luckily my mom was in town that week and she is great at taking photos, so she took pics of Autumn in her classroom while I paid attention to what her teacher was saying. Students didn't have to go, in fact most parents didn't bring them but I wanted to see Autumn in her classroom and see what she likes and does. For security purposes, on school days, parents drop off and pick up the kids under a ramada outside so I haven't seen her in her classroom since Meet The Teacher night. It keeps parents and random adults from entering the school, for which I am grateful.

I am glad my mom got to see Autumn in her school environment too. She showed us where she sat on the Circle Mat and we saw where her assigned table was. Their day at Preschool is so structured and sounds so fun. While it's highly educational for Autumn, the way in which her teacher presents the material is a lot of fun and these students don't realize how much they're learning. I was glad to hear about all the individualized attention the students get. The teacher has two aids which helps gives the students a lot of attention. I also thought about how the kids might get bored with their classroom and the toys after awhile but every 6 weeks they change out the stations and toys keeping the classroom fun and helping the kids to continually learn new things.

This teacher has fought for this program and makes sure it is treated just as fairly as the rest of the school. I think any parent with a kid in public school has worried about funding and the quality of education since we know education has taken a huge cut. (Plus our small town has 2 charter schools, resulting in fewer kids attending public schools which severly hurts the public schools funding.) The parents school supplies list was probably as long as the Kindergardeners and 1st graders, but the teacher has tons of resources, since she has been doing this for 4 years here and 2 years previously in NY, and there are 2 other schools with the same program out here so if she doesn't have access to something the schools trade materials. They participate in Field Day like the rest of the grades, they take Field Trips, and do Meet The Teacher and Curriculum Night like the rest of the school. This teacher is perfect for this program.

Here is Autumn in her classroom-

Showing off their hats:

She has a play kitchen at home but this was clearly one of her favorite stations in the class:

Playing with a doll house:

Here is Autumns Teacher:

On the way out of the school we stopped to take a quick pic:

I can already see how much she has learned in just the few short weeks she has attended preschool. Everyday when I pick her up her teacher tells me how great she did that day. Which during the teachers presentation she noted that if she tells parents their kid had a rough day it's usually because they had problems trasitioning from one activity to another. Like when they have to clean up stations to do crafts or something. So I am glad Autumn has had nothing but great days at school because it means she is listening and doing the things she asked.

Pregnancy Post

2010-08-16T14:14:00.001-07:00

A few people have asked for a pregnancy update/post- so here it is.

I am 22 weeks pregnant. My due date is Dec. 23rd, and the gender for the baby hasn't been confirmed yet, but at my last ultrasound when I was 20 weeks the dr. guessed a girl because he couldn't see anything, but the baby really wasn't cooperating all that well and the dr. was having a hard time getting a good visual.

We found out I was pregnant a few days after our trip to Texas back in April. We waited to tell anyone until I was 12 weeks- we waited until my first dr. appt which my dr. waits till 10 weeks, but I scheduled the appt for when I was 11 weeks only to go in and find out that I was 12 weeks along. My parents and Drew's parents knew when I was 6 weeks, but everyone was gracious to keep it a secret until our first appt.

When we got to the dr. office and weighed in I was excited to see that I was down 9 lbs. What a great way to start the first appt. I had used websites online to estimate the due date and we were figured Dec. 27th, until the dr. corrected us that it was Dec. 31st. We weren't exactly thrilled with any due date at or around a holiday (this pregnancy wasn't planned, and was a huge surprise) but figured Dec. 31st wouldn't be so bad. Weston was born 2 days late so maybe this baby would have the same results putting it farther from Christmas. During the ultrasound my dr did all the measurements and he concluded that I was actually one week further along than we thought and moved my due date up to Dec. 23rd. I actually teared up for a min. Remembering how chaotic Christmas was for us last year when we moved into our house 3 days before Christmas, and how I just felt overwhelmed and like I threw Christmas together in a couple of days. Now- with a baby due 2 days before Christmas I worried that my kids might not get as great a Christmas as I would like again. (My thoughts and ideas on this have changed- but I am telling you my first initial reaction.)

My first 2 pregnancies were exciting and somewhat planned, both times it was like- "If it happens it happens. And we got pregant right away." Plus both pregnancies were fantastic and I felt great. This time around we had decided to wait, and wanted to start trying around Weston's 2nd birthday, and well to our surprise this baby is coming a couple of weeks before his 2nd birthday. Even when we started telling family and friends I would cry when making our announcement because even with an ultrasound and seeing the reality of what was going on it hadn't sunk in and still wasn't what I wanted.

Don't judge me for having those thoughts. I was feeling hundreds of emotions, excited about the thought of having another member join our family but feeling inadequate of being able to deal with 3 very young kids. Not having this in my plans, and seeing my husband try to be excited and make me feel better. Then came the not feeling well and not eating much for 4 weeks (resulting in the 9 lbs. lost at the first appt.). It wasn't until I was 19 weeks and my sister in law had a baby shower and watching her pull out all of these infant/baby clothes that I started to get excited. Plus at my last appt. to see I am now down a total of 12 lbs. since getting pregnant I have come to terms with everything. We are planning for a baby girl but I am not pulling out all of Autumns old clothes/stuff and shopping for new girl things until Sept. 3rd when the ultrasound can confirm whether it's a girl or a boy. We have had an inkling that it's been a girl for awhile now (but I thought Weston was a girl so I can't go off my gut feeling). We have a name picked out for either gender and are starting to get excited and make plans for our new arrival. Drew can feel the baby kick, my appetite is back (for the most part) and I am starting to feel like myself again. Even though it's Aug. we have already made plans for one last family trip in Nov. as a family of 4, and our Christmas plans have been made.

I am very excited now and can't wait to hold a teeny tiny baby in my arms. I always thought the toddler years were my favorite, but until I had one (and now have 2) I have come to realize the newborn stage (as exhausting, sleep deprived, and hard as they are) is my favorite favorite stage. Weston was the perfect newborn and so I have high hopes that this baby will be just as easy and fun.

My newborn Autumn:

My newborn Weston:

Celebrating Autumn's 1st Week!

2010-08-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn had a wonderful first week of school. She really enjoys going and wants to go everyday, which I wish she could. I enjoy seeing the crafts she does, doing her homework with her (which is stuff I remember doing in Kindergarten...I will post about that later), reading the newsletters, and hearing everyday how she "played w/friends." Preschool has really been good for her and a big blessing for us all.

This picture is for my mom- I have had a hard time finding Autumn shoes to that go really well with her uniform and meet all the regulations for what type of shoe/sandals they are allowed to wear. So I bought these, and when I got home I started thinking they looked more like boy shoes. But when she wears skirts or shorts these shoes really do look best. Best part is, Weston can wear them too when she outgrows them, which will be soon- she has the chubbiest feet and these shoes are for narrow feet. Notice how far the laces are spread? I could barely tie them.

To celebrate on Sun. night finishing her first week we did a special dessert- BEIGNETS! A friend of mine was going to New Orleans for work and I asked her to pick me up a box of mix from Cafe Du Monde. This was a year ago and we just got around to making them. We picked a great time to wait! Plus we have enough mix left over to make them again when my parents come.

First- I made the dough- rolled it out- cut them out.

Fried them up in a pan!

After frying them up- drain them on a paper towel.

I like mine w/just powdered sugar.

Drew likes the way Tiana does it on Princess and the Frog w/honey and powdered sugar. (He has never been to N.O. so he only knows what he sees- but I had never had them that way.) Which I tried- and really enjoyed too!

The only picture I got of anyone eating any was Weston. He and Autumn got his plain and dipped it in honey. We were too busy eating and enjoying them to stop and take pictures. They are best warm!

It really made me want some chocolate milk in a small glass, and made me miss always getting together w/family members when we would visit N.O. Three of the biggest things I remember always doing when we went was getting snowcones, po-boys, and eating beignets. Yum! This treat was a big hit- I made 20 and they all got eaten that night. No judging!

Autumn's Big Day!

2010-08-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Autumn's first day of school. I will admit it was harder on me than it was for her. I have been so ready and anxious to get her out of the house and the day comes and I cry off and on the whole time she is gone. It was a whole flood of emotions that overcame me. Realizing how much trust I am having to put into her and her teachers now (because any of you who know Autumn and me-know that I have to hover over her when I take her out...she is fast, not the most obedient, and very busy- she is very easy to lose track of if you take your eyes off her) was just one big thing that kept coming to my mind. Also that she is growing up, she is only 3 but she is attending preschool which means she is gone from home 3 days a week and is now making friends and learning new things that I haven't taught her. I missed her and thought about her a ton. Wondering what she was doing and if she was cooperating.

She was really excited to go to school on that first day. After meeting her teacher and exploring her classroom on Fri. night I think she finally understood what I was talking about all summer when I told her about school. Her classroom is very fun and it was so hard to drag her (and Weston) away from it on Meet The Teacher Night.

Here she is at home right before we left for her first day:

Yesterday on our way to the school she kept saying, "Going to play w/ friends." Which made me excited that she was excited to go and play and learn. She seemed really tired after I picked her up yesterday (she goes from 12-230, right when her nap is) so I couldn't tell if she had fun or not, but today when she put her bookbag on a few minutes after being up I figured she was excited to go back. Today as I dropped her off we walked up with another mom and her 4 year old and the little girl and Autumn started talking, and Autumn turned to me and said, "My friend." This girl isn't in her class but it was nice to see her getting comfortable enough to interact with someone else.

I am so proud of Autumn, and that she didn't miss me or cry when I left her yesterday or today (how could a kid cry when the drop off spot is next to the playground? They are totally distracted!). She is always standing next to an adult, I can tell she isn't completely comfortable in wandering off or pushing her boundaries yet. Which is comforting, although when all the kids are on the playground and she is the only one still standing by the school with a teacher I wish she would just run and go play, but I know she is waiting for a nudge from the teacher to make it okay to go play.

Like in this picture, we had just gotten to school, signed in and put on their name tags and she finds an adult to stand next to: (and today when I dropped her off, as I drove past her she was standing at the tables next to an adult while all the kids ran around and played around them.)

She did a great job on her craft at school and did her homework last night. (Homework is optional but encouraged...Autumn doesn't go to a traditional preschool, it's a state funded preschool for kids with delays in all sorts of areas. Autumn is specifically getting Cognitive Therapy and Adaptive Behavior Therapy. There are kids of all races, and all disabilities- behavioral, speech, developmentally, and physically. So the homework is to help the kids remember what they learn at school and have the parents take a more active role at home to reiterate what they are learning about that week in school.) And Autumn loves to learn so I shouldn't have been surprised that she wanted to do more schooly things after dinner so we pulled out her "homework."

Here she is doing it:

She had to make a collage of things she likes, and things that represent her, she put stickers of the Disney Princesses, cats, dogs, fish, dinosaurs, and then she and I cut out stuff from a magazine and she glued it on, a ball, the words princess, play, and preschool; Toy Story, Mac and Cheese, Mickey, sandwich, hot dogs, and McDonald's arches.

I really see Autumn shining in a classroom setting, for me she may not be the most cooperative, but for others they just rant and rave over how good she is and how she listens...obviously most kids are better for other people but for Autumn it's like a totally different person exists when the parents aren't around, a better person. So I can see her really excelling and learning a lot at school.

So happy for school yesterday:

After we picked up Autumn from school we went to celebrate and got ice cream cones, it was a good day.

I am so proud of her and can't wait to see (and hear about) all the things she learns.

Keeping Autumn Busy

2010-07-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

Autumn starts preschool in a week and I am so excited. I think she would be more excited if she understood more what I meant by saying she was going to be going to school. To her, she thinks she will be going to nursery (a 2 hour play & snack class for toddlers at church) an extra 3 times a week. What I am most excited about is she is going to the preschool at the elementary school, so she will be on the schools schedule for breaks, and be in a school environment. I even get to go to Meet The Teacher night on Thurs. I think it will really help with the transition to school when she starts Kindergarten. We have to walk through the main area of the school to get to her classroom, so she will get to see a lot of the school everyday. Even though this elementary school isn't where she will attend Kindergarten she will still be used to the environment and busyness of a school setting. In preparing Autumn for preschool I started doing a craft time with her this summer. It's been something we have both enjoyed. It's helped me see how truely smart she is, and when I give her something to do assuming it will be at a level above her capabilities she surprises me and has no problem with the task. It has helped me see the things she knew (which I didn't know she knew) and helped her review things she has always known. But the main reason I did it was to set aside a small time each day to have her sit and listen to instruction. Because preschool will be very structured, which she needs, and I know they will do crafts and activities and I wanted her familiar with scissors, glue, paint, and markers and following basic instructions. A few times I have let Weston participate but it's usually just me and Autumn sitting at the table, which Autumn loves the one on one attention and it's usually when she is on her best behavior because of it. So get ready for a lot of pictures!

Here Autumn is working on gluing square black and yellow pieces of construction paper to make stripes on a bee. We talked about bee's, the sound they make, and the colors black and yellow.

This craft is one I thought would be over her head. I printed 3 flowers in different sizes in 2 colors. She had to first match the color flower then match it to the right size. This activity included us discussing big, medium, and small, and the colors blue and orange. After correcting her once she totally understood what I was talking about and matched the remaining flowers perfectly.

This was a fun activity, I know she can count to 20, and I knew she recognized numbers up to fifteen, but just to watch her count and find the corresponding number that went with it was cool. Unfortunately the way I set up the paper we only went up to 9, but this week I plan to do 10 through 20.

This is a collage Autumn made, we had left over construction pieces and I let her cut them into different shapes and sizes. This was a day I clearly hadn't thought out a craft and she was begging to do a craft. We have done collages twice. This picture is of the one she made for my mom.

I printed out a paper doll online, I let her color it, I cut it out, and then I gave her free reign as to how the body was supposed to look, and let her put it together like a puzzle. It's not perfect, but to a 3 year old I am sure it was exactly right. And trust me, the hardest part for me in this process is letting her not be perfect, not correcting her to put something in the right place, letting her figure it out...I like to take control and if I could've I would have put the arms in the right spot to show her where they really go, but I like the way she did it.

The week of the 4th of July we did a flag, instead of cutting out 50 stars I cut out small squares, but while she put the flag together I had a flag on the laptop for her to look at. We discussed red, white, and blue, flags, and following a pattern. (the stripes) She did a great job.

This activity was a flower. I precut flower petals and had them randomly sitting all over the table. I had her find the number one and glue it on, then she had to tell me what number came next, find it, and glue it on. This was a fun and easy one.

This was one of the first activities we did. Autumn got to cut out circles, and glue them on a ladybug. This was a very easy craft, but one she loved- she always talks about her ladybug.

This is a lion, we talked about lions, the sound they make. I had all the pieces cut out for her and drew on a piece of paper what the lions face looked like, and she put the pieces on perfectly. We also talked about yellow and orange.

I precut circles, squares, and triangles in 3 different colors and had her match the correct shape. We discussed the 3 shapes and orange, yellow, and pink. I knew she knew the shape of a circle, I was surprised she knew square before I even told her. Since this activity she has learned triangle.

Yes, I realize this is a yellow snoman. I have tons and tons of construction paper, and I am out of white, so we used yellow. We talked about snowmen (Frosty), circles, and the color yellow. With this I had also drawn what a snowman looks like and she took all the pieces, big and small and glued them on correctly.

I think this was her favorite, it was different from cutting, gluing and matching. And super easy. We did a bunch of these because they turned out so different. We made tie dyed wipes. Basically wrap up a wipe, put rubberbands on it, and color with a marker. Let dry and admire!

Autumn is painting a styrofoam bowl green for a turtle shell. Then I cut out black pieces of construction paper for the head, arms, legs, and tail and had her glue them on where she thought they went. We talked about turtles, green, and black.

Even Weston has surprised me. This is his ladybug and bee. Although Weston probaby did the 2 most simplest crafts. I am still proud.

So what do you do with all these crafts?

Hang them up. We do the crafts after Autumns nap so when Drew gets home the activity is still fresh in her mind and she loves pointing out to him what she did that day. Whenever grandma or her aunt comes over she says, "Come on. Look. Crafts." Its fun to see her so proud of her work and she will point out each one and tell them about it. Which is great for reviewing her numbers, shapes, colors, and animals. I also have tons and tons of coloring pages covering my fridge from days when I didn't get a craft prepared in time. I can't wait for Autumn to start preschool and see all the new things she learns. She really loves to learn and it seems to come so easily to her.

A Messy Dinner Makes For Great Pictures

2010-07-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

I am not one for messes, but being pregnant has lead me to having many days where I don't feel like eating, and so sometimes a messy dinner, is the easiest and quickest dinner to throw together for everyone else. Like spaghetti. So I have learned to avoid stained clothes, they eat w/no shirts on, and to plan these messy dinners on bath nights to ensure that I get them completely clean. Because somehow Weston just knows how to get it everywhere. My kids love pasta, and for whatever reason, once they're done their messy faces make for the cutest pictures.

Since I knew we would be going outside to play right after eating, I figured since they would play in the water, it would make for less cleaning on my part. Wrong.

Plus-they were already messy, and dirty I figured Hawaiian Punch freezer pops would be sticky perfection!

Autumn enjoying hers:

Weston has more sensitive teeth, and eats his more carefully.

By round two (which they both asked for more) Weston was done, his mouth was too cold.

Our Backyard Friend

2010-07-09T11:29:00.001-07:00

Every night after dinner we strip the kids down and let them go play in the backyard in the sprinklers. It's an easy and great way to get energy out before bed while the yard is mostly shaded and the temps are somewhat bearable. Drew is in the process of landscaping our backyard, and 2 weeks ago he rototilled the yard, put in a sprinkler system, and laid grass. His next project for it is laying pavers to extend our patio and putting in rock, trees and in the fall planting a garden. The kids have loved having grass as much as we have. It's been so fun to go out everynight and let the kids play in the water. Mainly it's Autumn playing in the water, and once the cycle runs Weston enjoys running in the wet grass and kicking balls.

Well one night Drew was putting together his lawn mower and found a baby lizard. Autumn & Weston were completely fascinated by it. Autumn loved holding it, and Weston- well his big man hands wanted to just squish it, so he never held it for long. Autumn still talks about the lizard and looks for it every night we go out there. Drew has seen him, but those things are fast, so he hasn't been successful in catching him again.

Autumn did really well with it:

Here it is in Autumns hand:

Weston wanted a turn, but Drew had to quickly rescue the lizard from Westons hands wanting to squeeze it:

Just so you get an idea of how tiny he is, this is it on Drews index finger:

We are keeping an eye out for our backyard friend. Autumn just can't stop talking about the lizard, and even found a box and has set it aside for when we catch him again.

Your Experience Needed!

2010-07-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

I am on day 2 of potty training and need some advice and 'know hows' from moms who have done this and been successful. Day 1 was a complete success and I couldn't believe how well it went. I took Autumn and sat her on the toilet every 20 min and she peed (just a tiny bit- but still) almost every time she sat on the toilet. We had 2 accidents in the early morning, back to back, but once she went in the potty and saw all the praise she got from then on we only had one accident, and it was while I was making dinner and I lost track of time. So the stats for yesterday were 3 accidents and 10 successful potty experiences. Well so what I need help with is how long do I keep taking her to the potty every 20 min? Today I am stretching it to every 30 min because when I see her hands start wandering or she tugs on her underwear I know it's time to run to the bathroom, so if I don't see any cues I just go 30 min. Because even then what does go in the potty is very minimal but it's better in there than on my floors. How long do I keep up the pattern of taking her so often, and when do I start waiting for her to tell me she needs to go? This is my 4th time attempting potty training with her, and it has been such a breeze...for now. She starts preschool in Aug. and has to be potty trained by then. So I figured I have to do it now- I am out of time. So! Let me know your routines and what worked for you. We do have a reward system, yesterday she got a lollipop after her first potty in the toilet, and she was so happy she never licked it, just held on to it, and so from then on I rewarded her with 2 m&m's and we are doing the same today- I will save lollipops for when she goes #2. Any tips and ideas on what to do from here are welcome!!

My Thoughts

2010-06-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

My thoughts are similar to almost everyone who posted their opinion on my son sleeping with a doll (which only happened once, but I found it so comical). I really don't care that Weston loves all the same things his sister does. I think it's only natural because he sees her playing with it and doesn't think there is anything weird or funny about him choosing to play with her things too. He loves his sister, so he loves what she loves so that they can play together and have fun with one another.

Here's more proof, of my boy- enjoying what his sister enjoys:

Her new Minnie Mouse headband:

He was playing dress up with her, obviously he thought a tie should be worn under Snow Whites dress:

Her pretty princess tiara, he prefers this one over the Aurora tiara:

And her pink sunglasses, this is my fault, Autumn has 2 pairs, Weston none....so what's a boy to do?

I don't encourage the bahavior, but I don't discourage it either. My husband, luckily, feels the same as I do. There will come a day (hopefully sometime before he starts school to avoid being picked on) that he will realize Princesses, Barbies, tiaras, dress up clothes, and pink sun glasses aren't his thing and they aren't fascinating anymore. He loves balls, cars, and playing in the dirt. So while he may enjoy his sisters things, he is all boy as well. We put the kids outside and Autumn grabs the bubble blower, her baby stroller, or sidewalk chalk and Weston looks for balls, the rocks and plays in the dirt. Thats when we see the differences in our girl and boy.

I don't think my husband cares because he grew smack dab between 3 sisters, he grew up playing with them, doing their hair, and having "sleep overs" in their room, because he loved the time with his sisters. But his mom will be the first to tell you, when he wasn't with them, he was outside with his dad in the yard or under the stairs playing in the mud. So while he enjoyed things his sisters did, he also loved the boyish things and to this day Drew will give me pedicures, and help me if I missed a section of hair when curling it, but he does constantly talk to Weston about fishing and hunting... I hope Weston has that quality too.

Your Thoughts-

2010-05-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

I just wondered what your thoughts are on this:

I have formed my own opinion of my son loving his sisters doll (and Barbies, and bows, and tiaras). Even to the point where the only way I could get him to take a 2nd nap yesterday was to lay him down with the doll. So your thoughts?? Your spouses thoughts??

I will post my thoughts and my husbands opinion later. I am just curious.

yes- the sheet is pink- i can explain that later too. For now- he had a bad stomach bug and since putting the pink sheet on his bed, he hasn't had any issues at night.

Surprise Texas Trip

2010-04-14T09:05:00.001-07:00

My sister and I had planned since Dec. to go to Texas for my mom's birthday since neither of us and our families were able to make it for Christmas. Then once the time came for seriously planning and setting dates and organizing both of us going we decided to surprise my mom for her birthday. The only person we told was my dad, because we needed someone to pick up my sister and her son from the airport and we wanted to be apart of birthday celebrations he had planned. None of our other siblings knew we were coming until just a few days before we got there so that they didn't make any plans because my moms birthday fell just a couple of days before Easter and some might plan to go out of town to see other family. The surprise was perfect. I wasn't there to see my moms reaction to when my sister and her son got there but I can only imagine it was something similar to the reaction she got once she saw my little family. Which my sister in law has those pictures. As soon as we pulled into town we went straight to my brothers house where we bathed the kids and got them ready for the day (apparently Autumn gets car sick after awhile and threw up twice when we were only a few hours away). When my mom and my sisters got to my brothers house we had Autumn open the door, and as soon as she opened the door Autumn said, "Hi Grandma!" I heard my mom gasp and Drew and I stepped out from behind the wall and told her happy birthday. She kept saying, "What are you doing here?" and "How did you get here?" She was truely surprised and never saw it coming. She had all 5 of her kids and all her grandkids together for her birthday. It was a lot of fun to spend her birthday with everyone and to do all the Easter festivities too. It's only my sister and I in AZ and all the rest of our family is in TX. So it was a lot of fun for everyone! Here are some pictures to highlight our trip.

Lots of fun and playing with Grandpa.

Painting Easter eggs. My sister in law found these awesome egg painting sticks at walmart, they look like Q-Tips and you break the top off and all the paint goes down into the other end and kids are able to paint and draw on the egg with them. Perfect for little kids.

The bigger kids painted eggs the more traditional way. :)

Here are the kids baskets and Easter outfits. I wasn't awake when the kids got up and went through their baskets so there is no pictures of the sheer joy they had.

We also went to the Dallas Zoo- my nieces preschool class was going and we got there late, which worked out great because some of the parents and kids who paid didn't show up so we all got to go in free, even though there was 5 extra people. This will get its own post later.

Autumn and her new BFF. She would ask to play with her whenever we weren't with her. She really loves her cousins.

We enjoyed lots of playing and all of Grandma's toys. Especially the shopping cart which Weston would climb into and sit in until someone pushed him around.

We went out to eat a lot. Here is Autumn and my dad and sister when we met my dad for lunch at Pappadeaux's.

I don't have my moms pictures or my sister in laws yet. Otherwise I could post a ton more about what we did. That can be a later post. We had so much fun. I never thought that so many people could pull off a surprise like this, there were so many times when people almost let it slip and I know it had to be hard. It was hard enough for me. :)

Mommy Lessons

2010-03-02T12:00:00.002-07:00

There are many new things I learned today.

1- Crayons are to be put away and only pulled out when Autumn is being supervised.

2- Don't cry over a $10 bag.

3- Correct my thinking whenever the thought comes to my mind that, "Autumn always ruins things when I try and do something nice for her." (and sadly, I have said this aloud many times too)

4- Toothpaste doesn't only get crayons off of walls, it also gets it out of fabric.

5- Dawn liquid dish detergent truely is the greatest at getting out grease.

6- Kids will be kids and I can't expect things to stay nice while mine are still young.

With that said, this is what happened.

I have constantly switched out "Sunday Bags" trying to find one that fits all my stuff in it and makes things easy to access. For me, the point in a "Sunday Bag" is to save me time before church. So instead of scrambling to put books, toys, snacks, stickers, and coloring books together in a bag ten minutes before we need to walk out the door I have a designated bag that always keep the same stuff in it. So on Sun. morning all I have to do is put snacks in it, and the kids like what's in the bag because it's not stuff they see everyday, they only get to play with it once a week. So I bought a new one, I usually wouldn't spend $10 a bag thats just going to get crumbs in the bottom of it and sit on the church floor but when I saw it I knew how much Autumn would love it, and I loved the simpleness to it. Many other bags I have rotated through had big lettering or bright colors. Once I saw this bag I realized how distracting those other bags can be. So I got it in the mail yesterday and after Autumns nap I showed it to her and she loved it and threw the straps over her shoulders and carried it around. When she went to bed last night I set it next to our other sunday bag to switch everything over. (This bag is similar in texture and size to a reusable grocery bag, which I am sure is what others would use it for. This bag is made with organic cotton and recycled stuff which helped convince my purchase.)

This morning I am playing with Weston in the den (because since getting back from vacation he wants to be in my lap at all time...he really missed me) and I left Autumn in the living room watching PBS cartoons. She is usually safe to leave alone in a room and I thought how nice it was that she was being so quiet and not demanding my attention like Weston was. That should have been a BIG red flag. I come out to the kitchen and she is saying over and over again, "Thank you mom. Thank you mom." And I see the bag and a lonely blue crayon sitting on it. Surprisingly I didn't get mad at her. I instantly took a pic on my phone and sent it in a text to a couple of trusted, experienced mommy friends asking how to get crayon out of cloth. It wasn't until I called my mom asking for her suggestions that I cried about it. It was brand new! It hadn't even been in my possession for 24 hours and said, "Whenever I do something nice for Autumn she ruins it."

All of the advice was good, but I decided to follow my moms advice and some advice off an email my friend sent me. I figured using 2 known solutions could be better than one. And viola! It worked and my bag looks brand new again.

Here is the bag:

Here is Autumn's wonderful artwork:

Here is toothpaste that was rubbed in (paste not gel- and white paste) and sat for 20 minutes. Then dish detergent was rubbed in w/a hot wet sponge and sat for 10 minutes:

Here it is after rinsing out the toothpaste and detergent:

You may still see a little blue tint, this pic was taken after the first rinse when I was shocked how it all came out. I scrubbed it under hot water for another minute and now it looks like it did when I got it yesterday.

Weston's Birthday Trip To Sedona

2010-01-26T12:15:00.001-07:00

On Westons birthday we took a day trip up to Sedona, since his birthday fell on a Wed. we wanted something to do during the middle of week since his party wasn't until Fri. My mom was in town and she had never been up to Sedona and Drew and I couldn't wait to take her up there. It's so pretty.

Here's Weston and my mom:

Here is Drew and his "Little Buddy". Weston slept the whole time we had our picnic and woke up right before we were planning on heading up the canyon.

Autumn taking a break from running around:

Autumn played in this tree for about an hour.

We drove through this awesome canyon towards Flagstaff to come home and they still had plenty of snow on the ground. (This was on Jan. 13th, before the "Winter Blast" hit AZ) So we stopped. I was very curious as to how Autumn would like it, and she loved it. She cried for the snow the whole way home.

Weston didn't care for it much. (Don't worry about the lack of socks. He was only on the snow for about a half second, then he was in someones arms wrapped up.)

It was a great trip and a perfect way to celebrate Weston's birthday a couple of days before his party.

Drew's Student Loans

2010-01-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

We recently found out the status of Drew's student loans. We have been anticipating this letter for 2 years, to know if we were forgiven of all his loan, part of it, or if we still owed all. Thankfully- all the state attorney generals came together and fought for the students, not just those with legal representation but ALL students who were enrolled at Silver State Helicopters at the time of the bankruptcy. We were grateful to find out that we were forgiven 75% of our loan and our interest rate has been greatly reduced. What a huge relief off our shoulders. There were conditions, like if you recieved 1 certification you were forgiven 60%, 2 certifications- 50% and so on...at the time Drew was trying to get his private pilot license we couldn't understand why he failed it (twice) and just 2 days after failing it (the second time) his school closed their doors. At the time we felt like we had gotten nothing out of his time and money spent at this school. (At least with a private license we figured he'd have something to show for all his work.) What a miracle to have had Drew not pass those, because now we owe less on his loans.

While the bankruptcy case was still going on, and the courts were undecided on a final decision, we decided to buy a house, taking our chances with what we would qualify for. (This is also the time I decided to start couponing, so we could cut back on all of our expenses.) We qualified for much more than we paid for our house but we knew in case we got hit with Drews loan, and owing all of it back we would need our payments to be at, or less than our rent was just to survive. We decided to look at homes outside of the city, in a much smaller city (considered rural) where we could get a bigger house for less money than the area where we were previously living. What a great blessing that has been as well. I truly feel like someone above is watching out for us, and because we bought a home (where our mortgage payments are less than our rent was) to prepare for the worst, we were given the best news. Ok- the best news would've been to be completely forgiven of his loan (like the students who took out loans through Citibank, but they only represented 100 students, Student Loan Express represented 1,000's) but we are completely satisfied with the end results.

I wanted everyone to know about this because people still ask us questions about it, and while you may still see it as not fair Drew did get about $30,000 worth of education (even though his loan was for $70,000) and we owe less than that now. So we are counting our blessings!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-30T16:29:00.001-07:00

Christmas was pretty hectic this year. Especially considering we moved 3 days before Christmas...but luckily all worked out and everything was unpacked and put away for the big guy in red showed up. Can you imagine how much noise he would've made having to unpack his big red bag and tip toe around boxes?

On Christmas Eve we decided to do something different. In my family we always opened one present on Christmas Eve, and on Drews side they open pajamas every Christmas Eve...so we thought we should break the mold and do our own thing. So we opened ALL the presents on Christmas Eve. I LOVED it! Then there was extra space for Santa to leave his gifts and Christmas morning we could just open Santa presents. I really enjoyed our new "tradition."

I didn't put up and ornaments on my tree this year. Good thing it's prelit otherwise it would have no lights either. The big red bow is from the bow that was on our house when we got the keys to it. The BEST Christmas present ever!

Autumn was a lot of fun this year. She really didn't care what was under the wrapping paper. She just wanted to open it. She was a big help with unwrapping all the presents and getting them all out from under the tree.

Weston was more enthralled with the wrapping paper and bows. Luckily he has such a helpful big sister who helped him unwrap his gifts when he was going a little to slow for her liking!

The kids were spoiled by both sets of grandparents. They got lots of toys, games, and clothes. They made out pretty good. My favorite gifts...Cricut cartridges. I got many great gifts, none of which I got a picture of...just these. :)

After opening all the presents we had hot chocolate and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was so nice spending Christmas Eve with just the 4 of us. I am loving having a family of my own that I can start new traditions with. And surprisingly, it was easier being away from my family than I expected. Obviously we missed them, and wished we could be together but it was really nice having it just be the 4 of us. My own little family, making our own traditions and memories.

Just a Little Lovin!

2009-12-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

We had some friends come into town earlier this week. It was a lot of fun. I think the funnest part (aside from the fact that I have known Sara almost 10 years and we are still great friends, despite the fact she lives in WY, so it's always great to see her and her family) is watching our kids play together. Her son is 7 months younger than Autumn and her daughter is 1 month younger than Weston. The four of them were instant friends. Just see how Autumn and her new "friend" were acting the day they were leaving.

Yep! Hugging and kissing! They needed a little persuasion the first time, then after that they were very comfortable with eachother.

Here's all four of them playing by the door.

It was a lot of fun! A little cramped at times, but so much fun.Thanks for coming to visit S & S!

Latest Hardy Update

2009-11-17T14:11:00.005-07:00

We have been SO busy. My living room and Autumn's room and her closet is full of boxes, and it's all just crazy timing. We close on our house Nov. 25th, yes, the day before Thanksgiving, but we aren't going to move until the 28th. Plus I was at Target everyday last week taking advantage of deals I post on my other blog, check it out HERE. I just wanted to share some pictures of the house, which is why I have been so busy and failing to blog. (These are pics from the MLS listing...I haven't taken any yet...)

The front:The Backyard: (this is a big yard for AZ)Living Area (all of the house is tile except for bedrooms and den)Kitchen: (can't wait to update kitchen appliances and stain the cabinets!)Guest Bathroom:

Over 1700 sq ft of space! 4 bedrooms plus a den! It's been a long time coming, and something we have wanted for a long time. The good thing about closing around Thanksgiving is the Black Friday sales which I want to buy new appliances and home decor (hopefully at a great price). Very exciting. I am thrilled to have a guest room (no one has to share with Autumn anymore) and the kids will have a play room, their rooms can stay cleaner and so can my living room! Plus an actual laundry room, a pantry (the things you give up when renting...), and a yard. It's 2 blocks from the elementary school, so it's far enough that I miss the traffic, but close enough that in a couple of years I can walk Autumn to school.

Did anyone notice I deleted the last post when we announced we were buying a house? We backed out of that one! :) Thankfully, we waited! The house we are buying now is the same price and way bigger! The other was 1200 sq ft and we didn't know how we would fit!

Anyways! Here's hoping the next week goes quick and we can move in and be settled in our own place. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Halloween with the Hardy's

2009-10-31T23:22:00.007-07:00

We have SO much going on right now. Half our stuff is in boxes, everyother day we are signing more papers for our house, and so Halloween took a step back this year. I had bought Autumn a costume last year during an after Halloween sale, and it was a 2T Witch costume. Really cute! BUT I was out shopping with my mom when Drew called me (he was getting the kids ready for a Halloween trunk or treat party) and said that the costume was tiny, and wouldn't have even fit Weston (who wears 9 months). I was shocked! Luckily, I didn't pay much for it, and I had a back up. So, Autumn was the same thing she has been the last 3 years. Notice a trend??

Autumn at 5 months:Autumn last year, at 18 months:

Autumn at 2 1/2 years:

Did you notice the trend? She has been an ASU cheerleader, a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and a Raiders cheerleader. I HOPE next year we can have her be something else!

My cute little baby boy was a fisherman. I have had this outfit since before he was born. He hadn't worn it yet, and all I did was make him a fishing pole. I had a "Gilligan's" hat for his head, but he would've kept pulling it off. But he loved his stick and fish!

We didn't go trick-or-treating. We will go next year when both kids can walk, and Autumn can clearly annunciate "Trick or Treat." I didn't want the candy in my house, and Autumn doesn't know the difference, so we went out for dinner and went shopping (the stores and restaurant were empty) it was a perfect Halloween for us!

Time with Family

2009-10-29T14:49:00.005-07:00

When my parents were in town we got together with my sister, bro-in-law, and my nephew and met at the mall to let the kids play (and do some shopping). There was a cute small carousel that Autumn and her cousin had a lot of fun on (despite the face Autumn is making).

Autumn in the train:My nephew in the boat:My nephew had a lot of fun on this (slow) moving horse:Autumn, not so much:She prefers still placed cars:Autumn and her cousin in the Hot Dog bus:

We had a lot of fun letting the kids play and spend time together. Afterwards we went into the Disney store, where to Autumn it was like being at DisneyLand (which makes us very excited to take her). She touched and wanted just about everything!

Weston at 9 Months

2009-10-13T09:51:00.003-07:00

I can't believe Weston is already 9 months! Robin said it best, these last 9 months have gone by a lot faster than the 9 months of pregnancy.

Westons Stats:

Height: 29 inches ( 76th percentile)

Weight: 21.5 lbs. (51st percentile)

Head Circumference: 46 cm (51 percentile)

They checked his iron levels, which were fine. The dr. was impressed with his two little lower teeth and his swollen upper gums. He is right on track with pulling himself up, walking around furniture, and his eating and sleeping patterns. He is just a hair behind Autumn, she was taking steps at 9 months and then running at 10 months. He stands for a sec. and walks with support. But I know it won't be long before I have two kids walking and running around me!

Here are some cute pictures of my kids to document Weston at 9 months! My BIG boy! (Autumn wasn't over 20 lbs until she was 1...)

Autumns Play Date

2009-10-07T21:16:00.007-07:00

The other day I got to watch my nephew for a few hours and we had a lot of fun. Autumn loves her cousin. I watched him twice a week for a few months and even though I was super pregnant at the time I always looked forward to it and Autumn loved playing with him so often. So what a treat it was on Mon. to have him all to ourselves for awhile.
-

First thing we did was go to the park. Drew manned the double stroller with Autumn and her cousin in it and I had the single stroller with Weston. We walked to a park about a 1/2 mile away and it was so much fun! Autumn really enjoyed playing there with her cousin. And he is quite the daredevil. Taking both Drew and I by surprise! He was very photogenic. I didn't even have to touch any of these up. I got a bunch of great pics of him.

First up the swings:

He liked it! I didn't know what to expect because last time I saw him in a swing he didn't show much like or dislike. My little man!I tried to get a group shot. Autumn wasn't into it. She wanted to play on playground equipment.Future Rock Climber??Now the equipment. He was so busy and all over the place.Autumn always right behind to watch and see what he is doing.Taking on the big slide in the over 5 area!Parker wanted to go also. Don't worry. Drew is right behind him.He loved it! He went down several times. Once by himself! Otherwise Drew or I were holding his arm as he went down.

Afterwards we came home and while I was making their lunch they watched TinkerBell in Autumns room. For lunch, fish sticks and bananas.

Here is my favorite picture of the day. Christy you are going to love this! Staci used to make faces like this when she was a kid.

Playground with Autumn

2009-09-26T21:14:00.002-07:00

Before this weekend the weather was actually really nice. We were able to go for long walks and take Autumn to a newly remodeled playground. The playground is in a neighborhood just behind us. It has some really nice covered equipment now. She loves the slide, and the area designated for children under 5. Every time we leave I have to drag her away kicking and screaming. My big girl taking on the slide all by herself!Here is Weston just hanging out in the stroller, fully entertained by his sister. (Check out those two teeth!)

Weston's 7 month pictures.

2009-09-09T11:41:00.003-07:00

We hired a photographer to take Autumns 2 year pictures, Autumn was really hard to get good pictures of. So our photographer agreed to do another session to make it up to us. Autumn had pink eye the weekend of the photos so we just did them of Weston. Which made the photo session ten times easier.
Check out the rest of the pictures HERE, I am really happy with them. Even the ones where he is talking and crying! It shows all sides to his personality, even though he rarely cries like that. He was hungry and mad that I woke him up from his nap to take pictures. Thank you Becca!

Playing In The Rain

2009-09-04T23:03:00.005-07:00

I had gotten Weston ready for bed yesterday and was just about to do the same for Autumn when I heard the rain outside. The monsoon season is here but they have been calling it the "non-soon" because of the lack of rain we have recieved this year. Since Autumn rarely gets to play outside because of the triple digits I figured while we were waiting for Drew to get home from work she should get to play in it. She liked it, you can't tell though. She was upset because she wanted to strip her clothes off, but since we were out where people could see her it wasn't appropriate. Which when Autumn doesn't get her way even if she is enjoying herself, she won't show it. :)We have this Welcome bear on our porch. She always says hi and bye to it when we come and go from our place.Here we were when she had finished playing and we were waiting for Drew to show up, watching and smelling the rain.

Busy Busy

2009-09-03T12:42:00.005-07:00

I don't update my blog like I used to. I feel so busy! I update my savings blog twice a day, am checking my email constantly to see if my realtor has sent me more housing listings, go out looking with my realtor every other day, and then there is Weston. It's not enough that he was crawling at 5 1/2 months. That's enough to keep a mom busy, but now he pulls himself up on everything. Is that normal for a 7 month old? It's the cutest thing when he gets to his feet, he starts laughing. Like it's this big feat he has conquered. My sister commented to me on how busy my kids are, and asked why I had such busy kids. When I go to friends houses their kids seem just as busy as Autumn and Weston. So to me, my kids are normal. Busy, yes. But for me it's fun that way and if I were to have a kid who acted any different it would be strange to me.

Here are some pictures to explain Weston's busyness. They are all taken with cell phones.

Autumn was watching a movie in her room, thought it would be fun to sit in the laundry basket and Weston climbs up to get her.

My sister watched my kids for a me and she sent me this picture. Weston was sitting in the recliner and he climbed over the arm of the chair to the top of her coffee table.This was just yesterday. I was sitting on the couch and then I see these eyes peering over the coffee table. It was hilarious.He climbs on chairs, bookshelves, anything that he can get his little hands on that will support him. Just one day he started pulling him self up on the book shelf and now he does it all day long. I have to keep a watchful eye on this one!

I was doing a work out video while Weston played around me and I hear him laughing, I look behind me and here he was- in his toy bin:

My little mover. Yes, I realize his onesie is not buttoned, it's brand new, I took off the tags this morning and when I put it on him it wouldn't snap. He jumped from 3/6 month clothes to 6/9 month clothes over night. Now I have a ton of 6 month clothes (like this one) that are new and don't fit.

And he has outgrown his car seat. His head reaches top of it and his feet hang out of it. He is constantly kicking the backseat. So now when I go shopping with him he gets to ride up front!

He held on the whole time like he was on a roller coaster or something. I love this little man. Even though he is busy he is 10 times easier than Autumn ever was. I take him for a walk every morning and he just sits there looking around. Autumn would've needed snacks, toys, drinks, etc... She is my high maintanence child. Weston is a wonderful addition to our family. Busyness and all!

7 Days Left!

2009-08-23T22:11:00.002-07:00

Until we know the fate of Drew's student loans. We are excited, and slightly nervous about the verdict that is supposed to be given to students who have loans through Student Loan Express for Silver State Helicopters Aug. 31st. We have waited a year and half to know if we have to pay them back for an education Drew never got, or if students will be forgiven of the loans. (Which Citi-Bank has forgiven all the students of Silver State of their loans which sets the bar high for SLX).
Should we be forgiven we can actually move forward with our life. We built a house close to Drews aviation school, and when the school filed bankruptcy we backed out of our home. Since then we have known it would be hard for us to qualify for much with a pending $70,000 loan on Drews credit. Pending is not good.
So what have Drew and I been doing since finding out Aug. 31st is the supposed deadline? Ignoring the nagging idea that we may actually have to pay back these loans for an education Drew never got, and we are also looking at houses. We drove around today looking at some. Should SLX say all students are forgiven you better bet we will be looking for a larger space. That we can own. But there is still that possibility that everything goes bad and SLX can't take the cuts and has their students repay them. In which we will be stuck.
We have been following a blog, of a lawyer who represents many SLX students, which is how we found out about Aug. 31st. HERE
Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Autumns growing up!

2009-08-12T13:45:00.003-07:00

Autumn is still doing very well with her breathing treatments. She now only has to do one a day (before bedtime). The treatment is a steriod to help keep her airways open (it would be the same as an older kid using an inhaler once a day). This should hopefully prevent any future attacks. And it's something we have to do everyday through winter, and then next spring we will see what steps we need to take.We got rid of all her stuffed animals. And any fluffy toys. Since that was the majority of her toys I went garage sale shopping and bought Autumn and Weston some new toys. It was like Christmas for them. Autumn has really loved all her new plastic and/or wooden toys. Especially this train, she played with it for 3 hours Sunday night. It's voice activated and talks back and plays music. You can press a button and it will stop at certain stations on the track. When it goes through the tunnel it's voice sounds echoed. It's a very cute toy. What I LOVE most is I paid $6 for it! This is what her shelves looked like before I had to get rid of any and all stuffed toys in her room:Many of these toys she has never played with and have been used as decor in her room. All of the carebears are being donated because her room is slowly being taken over by princess stuff. Most stuff is in boxes, in case she does out grow this (which the dr. said when she is 4 we may get to atleast have stuffed toys in like Weston's room, but as long as she doesn't play with them or have them in her room) so the Elmo's, frogs, and Pooh/Tiggers are all packed in case Weston can one day play with them. I won't hold on to those toys forever, so if 4 comes and we still can't have any stuffed toys I will just get rid of everything. It was really hard to pack up all the toys, I have so many memories of her playing with things. We bought her an Elmo chair for her 1st birthday, that was her "big" present, and we are giving it to a kid who is in the nursery with Autumn. Since it's stuffed we can't have it. These shelves are now full of picture frames, her movies, and little figurines.
Since we had to get rid of the bedding in her crib we decided to just move Autumn over to the twin bed that's been in her room forever. So far it has not caused a problem. Only twice have we had to tell her to get back in bed, and after saying it once she has stayed. It's been fun to see her open her door and come walking out of her room in the morning. I think she really enjoys the independence and feeling like a big girl.

She really likes her princess blanket, but we are currently looking into hypoallergenic bedding, I was so excited to get to buy cute princess bedding for this bed when she transitioned to it and now all the hypoallergenic bedding that I am finding is plain and boring and expensive. So until I suck it up and buy some, she can enjoy her mismatched bedding and princess blanket. I just have to wash it A LOT!