December 15, 2013

Mommy had a busy week.  I was asked to speak in church, we went to Salt Lake for two days, I worked on getting Christmas cards out and finishing all the Christmas shopping, went to Jeremy's office Christmas party, and we had sick kids and a sick Daddy.  I got my talk written pretty fast and felt inspired to include a song as part of my talk.  It felt so good to sing my testimony rather than try and find the right words.  The Salt Lake trip was amazing.  The sick kiddos was no fun at all.  Turns out Annie and Tommy caught Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.  I know it sounds terrible, but it is a relatively harmless virus that causes fever, sore throat, and a rash on the hands and feet.  They are both better now.  I hope we can all get healthy before our trip for Christmas next week.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert was amazing.  Great music, dancing, and acting.  We loved it.  It was so cold after the show that we didn't take time to walk Temple Square and see the lights.  We just high-tailed it back to our hotel and cranked up the heater to thaw out our feet.  We had a delicious dinner at the Blue Lemon restaurant - great casual dining.  It just felt so good to really get away from the kids and have fun together.  Thank you Grammy and Grampy Hall for taking such good care of the kids while we were away.

Tommy didn't have a very good week.  He had a fever and sore mouth and throat due to the virus.  Plus his second tooth started cutting through.  But by Saturday he was acting more like himself again - and was sleeping through the night again.  Even when he's sick he is still a ham for the camera!

Saturday night I took the girls out to a Christmas concert.  They were excited to have a girls' night out.  The concert was lovely.  Lily thought it was so peaceful, she fell asleep in her chair.  Annie really liked the music.  When we tucked her in to bed on Saturday night she said, "Mommy thank you for taking me to the wonderful concert with all the beautiful music!"  Melted my heart.  Poor Jeremy was sick with a fever and chills so he stayed home with Tommy.  Sunday morning we realized Jeremy has strep throat.  He's on antibiotics now and should be good in a few days.

The shopping is done. The Christmas cards are done.  I'm hoping we can kick back, relax, and stay close to home this week as we prepare to celebrate Christmas.  Happy holidays!

December 08, 2013

I didn't get as many pictures from Thanksgiving as I would have liked to - hence no post from last week.  Here are a few shots from our holiday.

Annie loves to "read" to herself.  She sits down with a book and makes up a story, turns the pages, and pauses for dramatic effect.  The stories she creates are so funny.  I need to remember to record her doing this!

Lily and Annie are crazy about olives.  They love it when I get the large ones so they can put them on their fingers.  It reminds me of being a kid and doing this with my cousins.  I'm glad my kids will keep the olive finger tradition alive during the holidays.

 Puna, Papa, and Brady came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.  It was a relaxing week.  The guys went shooting while the girls went shopping, we saw the movie Frozen, Puna and Mommy hit some Black Friday sales, we played games, we took naps, and we ate lots of food - it was a great week.

Papa and Daddy put the girls' beds together as bunk beds.  The kids love it.  Now they have room to play in their bedroom.  All their friends want to come and hang out on the bunks.  It is much harder to make the beds, but the girls don't seem to mind.  They really love their new set up.

The whole week of Thanksgiving we thought of things we are thankful for and wrote them down on leaves for our thankful tree.  Lily and Annie really enjoyed doing this and reminded all of the grown ups to do it every night.  Tommy really enjoyed pulling the tree of the wall - twice.  Hopefully next year he will leave it alone.  We want to make this an annual tradition from now on.

 On Monday we put up our Christmas tree while Daddy was at work.  Tommy was fascinated by the lights and sparkling decorations.  And after seven days he has still mostly left the tree alone.  I've been hearing horror stories from friends about their babies pulling trees down or eating ornaments.  So far.....so good in our house.

Monday night we decorated the tree while Tommy supervised and Daddy took pictures.  Lily and Annie really did a good job.  It is so fun to have kids who want to share in the decorating and celebrating.

Annie wanted to put the star on the top.  She called dibbs on that job before Thanksgiving!  She was so happy to do it and loves to tell every visitor to our house that she's the one who put the star on top.

Wednesday we had a power outage.  Around 5:30 a.m. we lost power.  Our house was cold!  We snuggled and tried to keep warm.  Jeremy was sent home from work because they didn't have power on campus either.  We were told to not expect power until 2:30 that afternoon, thankfully we had electricity by 10:30 a.m.  It is time to get a wood stove.

Annie and Lily had their first trip to the dentist this week.  They received Super Tooth tee-shirts and cool little toothbrushes and prizes.  Lily was terrified of the instruments and was so anxious that Mommy had to get in the chair with her for a little while.  Annie was cool as a cucumber.  Loved getting her x-rays done in the "Buzz Lightyear" machine.  And they gave her sunglasses which are always awesome in her book.  The television on the ceiling was a big help too.  She can't wait to go back....Lily, not so much.

Tommy can reach the piano keys now. I remember Lily and Annie doing the same thing at this age.  They stand on their tip toes to reach the keys and hear the sounds.  So precious.

 Saturday night Jeremy and I had our first real date since having Tommy.  We went out to dinner and then saw the BYU-Idaho Christmas show.  It was even more fun this year since my brother Brady was a performer.  But we never could find him on the stage in the sea of singers.  It was such a fun night talking and reconnecting - plus seeing a beautiful show.  Thanks for the wonderful date Jeremy!

Sunday morning while I was getting the girls ready for church I could hear Tommy laughing and playing in my room.  I stepped in to check on him and found him buried in a pile of toilet paper.  He much be tall enough to reach it and make the roll spin now.  I wanted to get a picture of him under all the paper, but he started to make a break for it when he heard me coming.  This busy boy is keeping me on my toes!

Eight Months!

Tommy hit eight months on the 27th.  He has gained so many new skills this past month.  We're having a hard time keeping up with our little man.

 Now that he's crawling we had to get a baby gate.  He loves to wear on Mommy's nerves by standing at the gate (at the top of the stairs) and shaking the gate as hard as he can. 

 Bath time is happy time.  Tommy loves the water and is guaranteed to giggle all the way through his bath.

 Again at the gate....this kid just won't give up!

Following Mommy while I run the vacuum.  He loves the sound and he really loves to chew on the power cord.

 He loves hoods and hats.  And looks so darn cute in them too.

Covered in peas - his favorite food.

Tommy loves to explore and crawl into little spaces.  He likes using the dining chairs as a jungle gym.

 He has figured out how to smile for the camera.  We love his huge, toothless grin.

 

 Tommy and Daddy are turning into buddies.  They are too cute together.

His favorite snack is paper.  Writing paper, toilet paper, paper towels, newspaper, wrapping paper, tissue paper.....you get the idea.  He is always on the prowl for paper to eat.  Yuck!

New skills/changes: crawling, pulling himself up on furniture, cruising along furniture, smiling for camera, holding his own bottle, waving, less Mommy separation anxiety, bottom teeth coming in

Favorite foods: baby peas and baby carrots

Tommy wears a size four diaper, can fit a range of clothing sizes but mostly wears 6-9 month.  We think he weighs about 16.5 pounds.

Loves horsey rides on Mommy's tummy, singing songs, being tickled, playing pat-a-cake, chewing on teething rings, looking at books, watching his big sisters while they play, taking baths

Happy eight months Bubba!

November 24, 2013

Silly sisters playing reindeer games with their antlers.  They wore these antlers all week until the paper just couldn't hold up anymore.

Our favorite way to spend Sunday night.....playing with Uncle Brady!  It is so fun having Brady nearby at the university.  He is pretty busy all the time, but we try to see him on Sundays.  The kids are always so excited to have him over.

 Monday night we made tortilla snowflakes for our FHE treat.  Just fold the tortilla like you would fold paper to make a snowflake, cut out shapes and unfold to reveal your flake.  Brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar or cinnamon sugar and bake at 425 for about 5 minutes.  They are so sweet and buttery.  We also played the Ladybug Game.  It was a fun night.

 Can't believe how grown up they each get from week to week.

 On Wednesday Lily's preschool class went on a field trip to a local dental office.  Annie was able to tag along.  The tour lasted about 20 minutes.  Lily got to ride in a chair and try out the water and air squirter.  Annie was too afraid to get in the chair.  We'll have to let her have some rides at Papa's office to help her overcome her fears. Each child was given a treat bag with a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste.  The girls have been so good about brushing their teeth since the field trip. And there's toothpaste all over the cabinets, counter, and walls of the bathroom to prove it.

 Annie loves her make-up.  Some friends gave her a package of lip gloss for her birthday.  She puts on each color from the package at some point every day.

 For some reason Tommy is in love with garbage cans.  I was cooking in the kitchen Tuesday when I heard my bathroom garbage can tip over.  I came in and found Tommy eating the toilet paper.  Gross!  Thank goodness my can is metal so I can hear it tip.  He tried to get into it three other times this week.

Lily wanted to take pictures of Annie during gymnastics.  She did a pretty good job.  Annie loves her class and really tries hard to please her coach.

 Silly girls at bath time.  Annie hates getting water in her eyes so she wears her swim goggles in the tub.  She looked so funny Friday night I had to get a picture.  Lily was out of jammies the other night so I let her wear my robe until her pajamas came out of the dryer.  She thought it was cool to wrap up in my big fuzzy robe.  Tommy thought it was cool to photobomb his sister!

And my favorite picture of the week.  Jeremy came down with a cold and sore throat Friday.  He spent most of the weekend resting in bed and trying to get well.  Lately Tommy really wants to be with his Daddy.  So we let Tommy snuggle Daddy for a while on Saturday.  They are just so precious together - it melts my heart.  Happy Thanksgiving - see you next Sunday!