Me and my Peeps

Evelyn

2012-02-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

So not only is she waving at everyone now, but she's started to stand without holding on to things and push our little push toys around the carpeted floors. It's really cute and it makes me realize that she's not a baby anymore! I took her to the doctor the other day because she's had a fever that hasn't gotten better... she has two teeth coming in so I figured it was probably from that. But, the doctor says she has a sinus infection, an ear infection and her lungs are congested... nice. That kind of shows you how calm she is. She just plays and waves. Practices standing up and squating down. Sleeps more than usual, but not vocal about it. Speaking of vocal. She might (?) have said Mama the other day. It's hard to tell because she doesn't vocalize a whole lot but it seemed really deliberate. She crawled up to me, climbed my leg to let me know she wanted me to pick her up, then she said, "Mama." and snuggled up to me. If so... melt my heart... if not... soon.

Sammy is still doing well with his potty training... he has about 1 accident a day... but for 4 days of training that's not bad. His motivation? If he pees or poops in the potty I let him play his choice of a computer game, a wii game, a game on my phone, or choose between chocolate chips or fruit snacks... He's doind it, the question will be if he'll keep doing it when we start not "rewarding" the same way.

Ada on the other hand is having a hard time with it. I let her play or snack with Sam but for some reason she "needs" me more... she wants me to dress her and she wants me to play ponies with her all the time. I think she's just trying to reassure herself that I love her just as much as Sam.

Hopefully optomistic? Maybe?

2012-02-14T11:36:00.001-07:00

So Happy Valentines Day all...

And I have one of the best Valentines Days ever.... all those that have never potty trained a 2 year old might not think so... but Sammy, who we officially started potty training yesterday has gone all morning without any accidents... can I be hopeful that maybe his potty training won't be the terrible ordeal that I was thinking it might be? Or maybe he's just giving me a good Valentines' Day gift. Either way, thanks Sam!

A way to make Sammy eat?

2012-02-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

So... Sammy has been on this thing. No matter what is for dinner... he won't eat it. Until we all got the flu and we boght some single serve mac and cheese. He had so much fun making his own mac and cheese that now that's what he asks for every meal (no, we don't give it to him for every meal)... but ANYTIME he makes it, he eats it. So maybe what I need to do is have him help me make dinner in the evenings. Grrr... as much as that might help, I'm not really enthusiastic about it. I don't enjoy cooking and I enjoy it less when I have a 2 year old, 4 year old and 8 month old helping... I usually have the 8 month old by my feet or in my arm while I cook... and making cookies with the other two is fun for them and not so much for me. Is it worth it to get him to eat? Maybe I'll try and see what happens?

Another Sunday

2012-02-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

This time Ada is throwing up... and Jer was giving the lesson in Sunday School, so here I am again. When I'm not able to go to church I try to make an extra effort at reading and studying the gospel. Currently I'm reading the Sherri Dew book 'No One Can Take Your Place'. While it's not a replacement study of the scriptures, I've really enjoyed reading it. (Another one that I have to plug for is 'The Continuous Atonement' by Brad Wilcox. Amazing.) Here are a couple of the quotes that have struck me...

"... the last days are not for the faint of heart of the spiritually out-of-shape. There will be days when we feel defeated, exhausted, and plain old beat up by life's whiplash. People we love will disappoint us -- and we will disappoint them. We'll probably struggle with some kind of mortal appetite. Some days it will feel as though the veil betwee heaven and earth is made of reinforced concrete. And we may even face a crisis of faith. In fact, we can count on trials that test our testimony and our faith."

"... Men and women have complementary, not competing, responsibilities. There is difference but not inequity..."

"Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly and definitely that. It is the essence of who we are as women. Motherhood defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits, talents, and tendencies our Father gave us... 'God planted within women something divine'...a sacred trust that gave woman an unparralleled role in helping His children keep their second estate."

"Some mothers experience pain because of the children they have borne; others feel pain because they do not have the privilege of bearing children here in mortality."

"Every time we exercise our faith in the face of fear or discover a doctrinal insight in the scriptures or the temple, we are better able to build the kingdom of God. Every time we discard a sin or a self-serving motive, every time we keep a trust or gain another glimpse of who we really are or speak truth, we are better able to build the kingdom of God. Every time we help someone else strengthen faith or resolve, we build the kingdom of God. In short, every small step we take to develop our God-given attributes of faith, knowledge, obedience, purity, integrity, identity, and courage makes us better able to build up the kingdom of God."

"None of us come to this earth to gain our worth; we brought it with us."

Valentines prep

2012-02-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not very talented at a lot of things but I'm pretty proud of myself for this one. We were making valentines day cards to send out to family and I asked the kids what they wanted me to make for them... Sammy of course said, "Angry Birds." (Ada wants a unicorn one...) so I grabbed some paper and my quickutz tool and this is what I ended up with for Sam... haven't figured out how to make Ada's yet though.

Forgot one

2012-02-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

I forgot one.... Ada has been able to count to 20 for a long time and she's figured out how to add 1's to the 20,30, 40 numbers.... but I didn't realize that she's started counting in 10's. I heard her on the piano the other day. She'd play a note and say 10, the next note 20, the next note 30, etc... I think she got confused on seventy... I don't remember, but it was dang cute.

Product Review and more

2012-02-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

So, Ada LOVES to learn.... but she's going to be another two years for kindergarten because she's going to miss the deadline. Not the end of the world but she's bored. We did a Joy school which she loved, and then the new baby came and I really didn't want to sign up for something until I got a schedule down. But we signed up for an online preschool. It's AMAZING! We've done the free ones before like starfall.com... which my kids still love, but it's mostly reading and math. But the one that we're doing now is www.abcmouse.com . And it's pretty cheap too. $100 for 2 years for up to 3 kids. Since we only have 2 kids it's about $50/year/kid... Which is about $4 dollars a month per child. You pay more than that to go to the aquarium, etc... Both my kids love it. Ada's been learning letter recognition and math better and "reading" books. Sammy has been matching shapes and colors. It's my favorite one so far because it has tons of different activities and lots of subjects. It has math, reading, art, music, science, and geography. It also has a reading path that your kid can follow. If you don't want them to do the lessons then they can just play the games. Ada does the lessons (she asks if she can do her lessons) and Sammy mostly does puzzles and games but will occasionally do a lesson as well. They get points and can buy things at the virtual store for their virtual room... at this point has mostly pets and Sammy has bought multiple beds. The have 6 years worth of lessons. I think it will take Sammy a good few years to go through all the lessons, but he is starting at two and already knows how to find his way around the website and knows where his favorites are. Ada gets so excited about the lessons that she's halfway through a year in about 2 months. It will probably slow down soon, but I'm glad that they're enjoying it. At first I needed to help them, but now I just set them on the computer and they do it all themselves.

On a side note, every time Sam sees a letter S anywhere he says, "Mom! A-M 'SAM'!"

And Ada has been telling me "time". She says things like, "Mom, it's 59 o'clock on the hour." or "It's 52 seconds o'clock." Maybe I should actually teach her, but it's just too cute.

Stand corrected

2012-02-05T17:44:00.002-07:00

I got Ada to talk to Daddy about not liking boys... she said, "I don't like boys, but I REALLY don't like handsome." That must mean that daddy is handsome?? Then she gave him a big hug. I guess if she doesn't 'like' him then at least she loves him :)

And Daddy you're out of luck

2012-02-05T13:24:00.002-07:00

Sorry Daddy. Ada informed me, and asked that I tell you that she doesn't like boys. I said what about Devin. "No, he's a boy." What about Daddy? "No, he's a boy. Will you tell him for me?"

This one's for you Devin

2012-02-05T13:22:00.003-07:00

As I type, Ada's in the bathroom singing, "I am ironman... doodoodooodoodoodoodoodooodoodah."

Dang it... missed

2012-02-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

So... we've been pretty lucky. Our kids haven't been sick for a while. But we missed church today because:

1. Ada's got a very phlemy cough
2. Sammy threw up as Jer brought him in from the car last night. (Sorry Diane... he hasn't shown that he's sick... hope it was a fluke)
3. While at our game night last night Evelyn put both her hands on the front of the glass on their gas fireplace. She's acting okay, but we decided to let her sleep as much as she could. She already has a big blister one her one hand and the other one is pink... we didn't want to make her any grumpier by waking her up before she was ready.

So instead of our usual 3 hours spent in church.... Ada took a 1 1/2 hour nap with me. Evelyn has taken an almost 3 hour nap where her naps are usually 1... and Sammy has been wandering the house asking when he can play on the computer... (we don't play computer games or Wii games on Sunday) Over all, I think that they needed it and Jer and I took advantage of it while we could. But now Jer's off to do the tithing count... and it's fast Sunday so he might be a while. Maybe it's good that he got a nap it too. Sorry Mom, I don't think we're going to come out and say hi today.

Maybe it was just our turn for sickies.

Sayings

2012-02-01T13:52:00.001-07:00

So... some recent snippets of my talking children:

Ada -
"Mommy, this is the mommy pony (a pink one) and this is the daddy (a purple one) and these are their babes." (not babies... just babes... I think it's because both me and my mom say things like, "Hey babe.")
She was "capturing and saving" her little ponies again... and at one point I heard her surprise the baby pony by saying "Boo!" and a little while later the baby said, "Dang it!"

Sammy - "But I don't want to be a pill." (I was mad at him and said, "Sam, stop being a pill.")
Sammy has discovered a love of the Wii... especially the Wii Sports Resort. But it's started spilling over into other parts of his life. For example: If the movie is left on the menu, instead of saying "Press play."... he says, "Mommy! Press A." Because that's what you do to get to the next screen on the Wii.
On a side note....
Evelyn is as wiggly as ever... she stands up to things and will smile at me from her crib while she's proudly hanging on the edge... and crawls to the bathroom every chance that she can get so that she can peep over the edge of the tub and look at the toys in there. The other day I saw her going to the bathroom and I said, "Evelyn, no." and she just looked at me and shook her head with the biggest grin on her face.

Sam and Jer have been doing the NAET treaments... Sam had his ultimate last one today I hope... We had to take him back because he had that anaphlactic reaction to lentil soup... And Jer's going because his throat closes smaller when he eats things he's allergic too... (told to us by an emergency room doctor)... we just didn't know what he was allergic to. We'll see if it helps.

We went to the new Muppet movie last night! I was in heaven. I absolutely loved the muppets for years... and this one is the best of them all! Definitely recommend it.

And all you fencers out there.... the junior olympics is in Salt Lake this year. It's worth a try.

This has been my January

2012-01-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ada and I made cute headbands for cousins birthdays

My kids decided that shredding the junk mail was funner than any other toys

We visited the mall play place with cousins Aubrey and Devin

Ada's starting to decide what to wear by herself... I love the boots with the boy coat. Looks like something I would have done.

Mommy got a new piano book and tried to try it out... still haven't been able to without someone taking over.

We went to both cousin's Grace and Anya's bday parties... unfortunately I didn't have a camera at the other one... but they were both fun and both Ada and I enjoyed going to both.

Evelyn got her first piggy tail.

Ada had her first cavity filled. Unlike the x-rays... filling the actual cavity only took about 10 minutes. They showed her all the tools and told her where to put her arms and that she needed to be as still as a statue... and she did.

We had cousins come play

We fenced with them... Ada and I also started the next mini-fencers class up at our fencing place.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point train show

We didn't really have any snow at all... so our cats decided to be flowers

Evelyn learned to pull herself up to stand holding on to things

I was made these by my Ecuadorian friend... I you don't know what they are... they are chifles and are made from plantains. They make them to go in the soups or on the side like chips... I miss some of the foods from Ecuador. Chiviche being one of them. Achotillos being another... and fresh pinapple and coconuts... etc...

Jer, Jim and I also got a chance to go to the Opera company's Rigoletto in SLC. Very well done! I really like the third act and an unexpected flub... Gilda's boat got caught on the doorway as she was trying to get off the stage... it took 4-5 tries to get it righted... and being the awful people that we are, Jer and I giggled as quietly as we could about it.

Then on our temple trip last night we saw so many people that we love and we're glad to see in the temple. We saw Mary and TJ Bronley, Mandy and Aaron Bristow, The Wheelhouses, Jane Allred, Larry Simonson, Alan and Rachelle Robertson, Tiffany Smith and who knows who else... It was really neat to be able to see friends and family taking advantage of temple blessings... and again it was reiterated to my heart how the blessings of eternity are for everyone that's willing.

My camera phone

2012-01-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

Ada's been enjoying the camera on my phone. She randomly will take pictures of anything at any time. And she takes pictures of her feet and chairs, etc... but sometimes she gets gems... like the one of me and Evelyn in the hall.

Well....

2012-01-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to get caught up on the last week or two of fun things that we've been doing, but I can't get the Pack Family out of my mind. I read about them. They are local. And I couldn't help but cry and hold my three babies extra tight. I'm sure they were wondering what my extra kisses were from. Here are their two sights.

http://kellypack.com/
http://packoffixations.blogspot.com/

The hardest one for me is that they struggled for so long (years... and even had IVF done) to have their two boys... and now one is gone. I'm so glad that the other is okay and I hope speedy recoveries are in order for both Kelly and Ryan.

Issuing a challenge

2012-01-24T21:54:00.001-07:00

Sammy and Devin were wrestling on the floor. Devin started cart-wheeling around and making shooting sounds... Sammy was a little insulted that they weren't wrestling anymore. He yelled,"Stand up and fight!"

New

2012-01-21T23:48:00.000-07:00

Now Ada has been to the dentist before... but on Friday she had her first cavity. Yuck... I feel guilty. Do I brush teeth with her often enough? Did I forget her flouride too often.... yada yada yada. That is, I felt guilty until we had to get an x-ray of her tooth to see how deep it was. It literally took about 40 minutes to get her to keep the bite wing in her mouth long enough to get the dang picture. What ended up happening was one tech held the button, one tech held the bite wing, I held Ada, and Ada didn't even have to close her mouth. After that I was just annoyed. One good thing about it though. Jer had stayed with the other kids until I could get home and by the time I had to get there it was late enough that he would have only had about a 4 hour day... so he took a sick day. Bad news is that I have to take her in on Mon to get the cavity filled. Not sure how that's going to go over. I've had some good suggestions though... put some favorite songs on an mp3 player, let her watch a movie on my phone... but I'd have to sign up for or buy something for that one... it might be worth it though if she'll hold still. Well... we'll see how it goes.

On another note, I must be losing my mind. Within the last two weeks... I've had $10 disappear from my wallet, a $15 itunes gift card disappear from my wallet, and today $20 disappeared from my wallet. I usually keep my wallet in my pocket at all times... so I'm guessing that I'm dropping things or taking them out and not putting them back in. Am I crazy or what?

Things I don't want to forget but likely will

2012-01-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

Ada, I love how you always ask for "Cereal in my milk." We all know how much you love milk.

Sammy, I love you absolutely delightful giggle that you only get when we tickle you.

Evelyn, I love how you follow me around the house. Anywhere I go, you crawl along with me.

It was one of those "you had to be there" moments

2012-01-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

We went on a family "date night" last Friday. I let Ada choose the movie since Sammy didn't really get what we were doing... (I asked him and all he would say was, "I want Angry Birds.") So, we went to Puss-n-boots. Fun movie, but in no ways amazing... We got there with enough time, they had seats for all of us together, but they were all in the front row... The kids were really good. And after packing up and getting up to go, I couldn't move. I tried walking across the floor and my shoes were stuck. It didn't help that I was wearing some of those flats that come off really easily anyways. Jer and I just laughed while I tried to peel my feet off the floor across half the theater.

Picture dump

2012-01-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

So, I miss my camera ALOT! Here are my favorite pictures from the holidays, but unfortunately they're not the best because I used my phone and my sister in law's extra lens (70-200mm) for most of them (thanks Becca! I'm glad to have any pictures at all!), which means that I had to stand way far away... I wasn't sure how to compensate with my flash... and I couldn't get those cute close up shots very easily... but happy holidays anyways! And again... I'm sorry, this is more in case my computer crashes than to show everyone my pictures.

"My girls" playing with a little Nativity set (my mom, Ada and Evelyn)

My sweet and only living grandparent.

Devin, Ada and Aubrey... as always, the three musketeers.

Accompaniment to Jingle Bells

My "rough and tough" military brother painting his daughter's fingernails

Reading Christmas stories before bed

Visiting Temple Square

Waiting for Santa Claus at The Shops at Riverwoods

Undeniably the best Santa ever!

Aubrey and Ada at the Kangaroo Zoo

Ada, Aubrey and Devin had found my Grandpa's old canes and we "practicing being old"

Yes, our Jesus this year was dressed in pink. At least her socks were blue.

Making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve... Thanks Aunt Sharon for coordinating all of us!

"Sleepover" on Christmas Eve.

Sammy and his flock. He carried them all over and kept counting them all day long.

Ada and her sea ponies. Happy girl!

I love EBAY. Ada loves the old My Little Ponies... and is okay with the new ones... so I got an old My Little Pony castle on Ebay for $35 and it came with about 15 new ponies that she didn't have yet. I was very proud of this find.

This was a cardboard castle that my kids wanted to buy for Grandma and Grandpa... Evelyn didn't want to miss out on any of the fun.

Coloring the castle. (side note... Ada's Christmas dress is one that my mom made for me when I was 4.)

What's a good Christmas without Aunts and Uncles?

She's just a sweet baby! Love this little girl!

I love the "perpetual motion Samuel" pictures... He's like that. I especially love the missing sock.

Not an amazing picture... but I swear that I'm at all these events too...

Evelyn has been playing with our cats through the window... too cute.

The Robertson Nativity. We acted out the signs of Christ's birth in the America's.

Fencing... this particular one is James and Emily and two of their boys in the background

The New Years Eve tree. Judy put jokes and money in the balloons for the kids to pop right before midnight.

Evelyn and buddy Joshua. He kept pulling himself up next to her and bouncing her up and down. She thought it was awesome!

Yep! They're mine!

This was Grandpa Wilcox's Christmas present... They put it in their unfinished basement in the kids play area. Ada and Sammy had an absolute blast!

Coloring the castle

You can't color it and not play in it right?

Ada at the Children's museum

Sammy at Children's museum

Cuddling with daddy

New Years Resolutions

2012-01-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last year I didn't even bother to make any, but honestly... I always have something that I'm trying to accomplish... the difference is that I'm usually trying to accomplish something rather than better something. So I will have the "to accomplish" list that I always have, but I want to make some "to better" goals too.

To accomplish
1. Official potty train Sam (He has already peed in the potty, but I haven't tried to put him in underwear yet... I kept saying, "After the holidays." Now it is... so now is the time I guess.)
2. Teach Ada how to write the whole alphabet. (She knows about a third...)
3. Finish at least 4 projects before I start another one

To better
1. How we manage finances
2. How I clean the house (I keep it okay, but I'd like to step it up a notch)
3. How I explain things to Sam.
4. How well my family eats. (we don't eat junk, but I want to get them used to a bigger variety of things. Especially my picky Sammy... the girls will eat pretty much anything I give them, but Sammy... we need to work on that a bit.)
5. My cross training. (I do a lot of the same exercises, but I need to cross train so that I can stop putting my hip out.)
6. The kids scripture reading. (We already read scriptures together, but we've missed the last couple of crazy weeks... I just want to get back in the habit.)

Well since I'm behind...

2012-01-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

The end of the year holiday's are the busiest time of year for everyone... including us... followed closely by the 4th of July time.... but before I catch up on everything here, just a funny side note.

We were trying to put Evelyn down for bed at the Robertson grandparents... but since there were two other families there and we were too lazy to run and set up the port-a-crib we just made Evelyn a makeshift bed on the floor in the corner while we played games. Put the other two in bed, put Evelyn to sleep and laid her on the floor... and of course she woke up and started looking around. We thought maybe she'd go back to bed if we just left her... we heard some wiggling and then it was quiet... success! Or so we thought. When we went to pack her in her car seat we found her happily chewing the edge off of a kids book. Luckily the book had been taped together and only really had two pages left in it... but I still felt bad. I wasn't quite sure what to think because neither of my other two demolished things like books. They liked cords and toys.

As for the holidays. It was a blast! Jer's sister Marg and her family (3 kids, one on the way) came to stay for Christmas as well as Jer's brother James (3 boys), Jay and his new fiance (yes that happened over the Christmas vacation), and of course John and his family (8 kids, one on the way), and Becca (2 kids) came. And all 5 of my brothers and sisters were around as well.

Every night for two weeks there was some kind of party, game night, etc... The most memorable ones.... Watching Sherlock Holmes 2 with Seth. My parents moving and getting settled in. McKay and Sophie moving back to Utah. Jay and Emily getting engaged. My camera lens breaking. Games with James, Emily, Emily, Jay, John and Diane. Movies with Jim. Chocolate dipping with the our friends and my family for Jer's birthday, and then again with Jer's family when everyone had come into town. Taking James, Em, Henry, Wesley, Jay and Emily fencing with us. Rock climbing with Jer. Seeing the lights and Nativity at Temple Square. Performing both the Nativity Story and the Nephites story. Taking cousins Joe and Eli to the Children's museum. Caroling with neighbors on Jer's birthday. Sing along at Jer's parents. Hearing Jim tell about his mission. (Jer and I scanned and restored all him mission slides (he went to Japan and Okinawa... I'm sure that's not how you spell it.) about 5 years ago for his birthday/father's day present and finally we get to hear all the stories behind the pictures!) Singing at the Messiah Sing-in at the Orem library. Having Jer home for a whole week and a half! A cousin game night with my Wilcox cousins and Aunts and Uncles. And of course... the most fun of all. Christmas Eve.

We went to my Grandma's house for a Christmas Eve party. We tried to do it like we've always done. Family news, caroling, dinner, etc... but it's different when she can't remember who you are but is just pleased that you're there. It was still fun though, just different. Then we went to sleep over at my parents house. That was fun because all the kids got to sleep together... It was also a lot harder to get them to go to sleep but they finally did. Then we stayed up to play games with McKay, Sophie, and Seth. In the morning we did Santa presents (Ada didn't realize that the My Little Pony castle was for her... she just walked right by it... but when she figured it out, her face was spectacular, and Sam saw his new Lego's all built into a tower and said,"Yay!"... went over and smashed the tower to pieces... so for him, success... for me... not so much.) Then we went and all got ready for church and opened a couple more presents until it was time to go. Church was exciting because Sammy was extremely wiggly compared to what he usually is in sacrament. Came home, made the traditional Wilcox Christmas breakfast, yum... and finished opening presents. After that we played my mom's Christmas game... you do races at different things like stacking plastic cup towers, putting together a 25 piece 3D puzzle, throwing balls into a hoop, etc... and winning prizes. Anything from a $1 bill or a picture frame that was laying around the house to a dinner voucher. It is a fun game... And she has activities that the little kids can participate in as well. Then we said goodbye, packed EVERYTHING and went to see Grandma and Grandpa Robertson for an hour or two before we went home and crashed.

Jer made me a shadow box this year. I'm not sure about everything that I want to put in it... but I have enough stuff that I think I can fill it without too much thought! I have a piece of my Great-grandma Hardings' china, or doilies from my Great-Great Grandma Brooks... or I can help kids make paper machete things to hang in there... we'll figure something out! Love you Jer! Thank you for being thoughtful and creative! I never would have thought to ask for a shadow box, yet it's something that I could definitely find a use for! Love you!

Christmas Previews

2011-12-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

So, Jer was forbidden to tell anyone about these really neat videos... because they wanted to be able to surprise everyone one with them with an announcement at the Christmas Devotional. He said he watched people testing these and doing the CGI. His favorite was a shot of Goshen, UT that said: "CGI Egypt" on it. They really did turn out really well. They were made specifically for an ipad app, but here's a link to the internet ones. I think that my favorite one is The Christ Child Presented at the Temple. Merry Christmas.

Funny story

2011-12-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

So we went to the second Sherlock Holmes movie today. We had baby with us, but there weren't changing tables in either of the bathrooms... so I improvised. There was a dry spot on the counter and I changed her there, but when I leaned over to wash my hands in the sink next to her, she rolled the other way... right into the other sink. She just sat there looking around at her new perspective and I didn't catch her in enough time to keep the automatic sink from turning on. She was wet all over! I was glad that I had extra clothes for her and glad that she thought it was fun.

Precocious 6 month old?

2011-12-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

So, Evelyn's been crawling for about two weeks and I've already had to rescue her from underneath countless chairs, tables, desks, and beds. She particularly likes power chords. She has also atempted to digest a book cover, Ada's hair bands, several papers and coloring books, and any crumbs that she can find. I don't remember either of the other two getting into nearly as many things until they were about 18 months old. I have two minds about it. It's fun to see how different all kids are and what their talents are in, and I'm a little nervous that I can't watch her more fully. Maybe time to pull out the porta crib? I don't like pulling it out at home though... it mostly gets in the way, but that way I'll know that she isn't choking down someones "homework" when I'm changing the laundry.

All worth it in the end

2011-12-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was "interesting" to say the least. It started about 4pm... We were supposed to go to the doctor to see if Ada had a bladder infection... the appt was at 4:40... I woke kids up from naps at 4 in hopes of getting them there on time... In true 4 year old fashion, everything I asked Ada to do ended up with her finding a toy to play with and not getting whatever it was done. I had 2 year old Sammy asking me to play angry birds every time I turned a corner, and I had to wake up and wrap up a 6 month old Evelyn. All in all we got out the door 5 minutes too late to make it on time. Sammy cried in the car the whole way... nothing I said would help. And Ada was really cute and singing the whole time but it made it really hard to hear what Sammy was trying to say. When we got there, complete with the urine sample that they had me get from Ada... which they didn't tell me had to be within the same hour and that it had to be refrigerated. Thanks for not telling me the two important details. Very helpful. So we had to get a new sample. Which, despite what the nurse said, was fairly simple. Ada thought peeing in a cup was very funny. The hard part was keeping Sammy away from the trash can and the sink while I helped Ada. When we'd washed all three of our hands and gotten all four of us and the urine sample where we needed to be I was done with a certain 2 year old. So I let him play on my phone. And he played until the battery died and cried for the next half hour at the doctors and the half hour after that in the car. Thanks Sam. He thought I was being so mean to him... how many ways can I say that the phone isn't working? Ada turned out not to have a bladder infection but does have overactive bladder, so I have to have her go to the bathroom every hour on the hour until she can feel her bladder muscles again. Then I didn't have time to make dinner, so we ran through the drive through and got hamburgers... which Sammy asked for but wouldn't finish the little half of one that we gave him. We got to the library where we were going to a Messiah Sing-in and there were no chairs available even though we were 20 minutes early and we did get to say hi to my cousin Elliot. Figured out that Evelyn had pooped all over her back and car seat. I went and changed her but wasn't sure what to do about the car seat, I didn't want to put her back in it. Sammy kept wandering off to knock books off shelves, not to read them. And we kept having to get after Ada for stepping on books and crying when she got in trouble. Not the easiest outing we've ever had.

But it was all worth it in the end when we walked out of there and the kids were both humming tunes from the Messiah. Too cute.

In tribute

2011-12-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

In tribute and because of...

My parents moved this weekend. They moved, and all four of my brothers and sisters moved. Needless to say it was a very busy time. So, Ada and I decided that we'd invite all the cousins over to stay at our house for a couple of days. It was a blast! Thanks for letting me take them McKay and Sophie! Everyone is all moved in, my sister's surgery went well and she's all moved it (Sharon, I really enjoyed talking to you! Thanks!), and Seth and Jer are so sore that they can't move... I have the remedy guys. Kung Fu Panda 2 shipped today. How long til it gets here do you think? So, out of everything... having 5-6 kids around the house isn't that new for me... but having 4 sets of hands trying to help me pour milk and chocolate powder into sippy cups is. I think that was the hardest part for me... They all wanted food at the same time, and as soon as any of them suggested food, they were all ready for me to give it to them. But here's something else we did. I had taken pictures of a friends kids really quick and before I took down the backdrop and took some funny grandkid pictures. I didn't photoshop or crop any of them... just wanted to get copies out to family members.

Cute Christmas Video

2011-12-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Way cute Christmas video... found it on the a blog I follow...

I love

2011-12-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

I love that when Sammy is excited he says, "Try Again!" instead of do it again.

I love that when Ada saw Aubrey and Devin last night (they haven't seen each other for 6? months) Devin screamed, Ada opened her arms as wide as they'd go, and they all three hugged till they fell over on the floor giggling.

I love the Evelyn has started to crawl but it's so tiring for her that she just starts bawling after a few feet.

Nuts

2011-12-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, these are my children... I tried to take a picture of them all dressed up in their nice clothes for our Thanksgiving dinners last week... and this is what I got. Can you tell that they have their own personalities?

And this was at BYU in the Tanner building. We were headed to BYU Library because I was trying to get at some history books... and this is what we found on our way. And I saw Harriet Gummow and her hubby too! She was my piano teacher 15 or so years ago.

Then we went to a fundrasier breakfast. Ada LOVED hugging Santa, she said that she was giving him great big hugs! And it so turns out that Mrs. Claus' first name is Ada. She was thrilled to meet another one. And told Ada that she can spell her name backwards.

Saw this pretty scene on the way to Evelyn's 6 month doctors appt. She's 17 lbs! So cute! I had her on the exam table and she didn't want to sit still... She sat up there turning herself in circles. I just made sure she didn't fall off. It's funny... when she was born she was in the 54% for height and weight... now she's 60% for weight and 17% for height. My dad said that there was no way I'd get giant children. (I'm 5'4" in a family of 5'8" to 6'2" and Jer is 5'8".)

Ada has been thrilled with this new little set! She says all the people are friends and that they're there to take care of the baby. Thanks mom for this find!

And this was one of the things I found in the library. My Grandpa Wilcox is one of the people talked about it R. Lanier Britsch's book on Mormon's in the Pacific Islands.

And some things that I've missed blogging about:

Thanksgiving was busy but awesome! I got to spend the day with my little family and then went to pick up my friend Carmen for dinner at my parents house... then back to the Robertsons for pie and a movie. What a joy to have our families so close!

My Great-Uncle Bob Rollins died. He was always open and friendly with me. Showed me all his rocks (he's a rock collector as well as a jeweler and artist), let me play with his cats, was our family's home teacher, and sold my hubby my wedding ring. Love you Bob and family! Thoughts are with you!

Also, we missed the funeral for my friend's mom. Emily Marble's mom died of lead poisoning. Emily, my heart aches for you and we love you so much! If you need anything, especially a hug, call us and we'll be there!

Our kids have enjoyed doing all the Christmas decorations around our house... including snow flakes on our ceiling and windows.

We got all three of our pets fixed so I've been trying to keep them as comfortable as I can where I can... Two of the three look okay, but Viper is sure sad. She looks at me with her red rimmed eyes and just mews pitifully. Sorry kitty.

My house is a mess.

We went to the Robertsons' last night for the family fast dinner and to watch the Christmas devotional. So much fun! And the devotional was amazing. The one down side was someone had let Teela in the house (probably because the kids were in and out playing with her kittens) and she got into the turkey casserole that I made for the dinner... for some strange reason, no one wanted any of it after that and we brought it home to feed to the dog.

Tis the season

2011-12-05T16:08:00.001-07:00

6 month old Evelyn!

Unexpected bonus

2011-12-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

So an unexpected plus to my husband. I noticed while I was doing the laundry yesterday that I never had to turn any of his clothes right side out. For that unexpected bonus in my work I thank you!

Family Night

2011-11-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

So, our family night yesterday was all about getting ready for Christmas. And guess what. The kids were so excited about going and getting a Christmas tree that they were really bad at listening to me ALL DAY LONG. All I can say is, maybe I let it be a surprise next time. But our tree is up, it's decorated, half the house is decorated... but we need lights up now. Any volunteers? At least we got all the leaves up off our grass before we put up our Christmas tree. You should be proud of us. That is quite an achievement.

And some things that I don't want to forget:

Ada uses her fingers all the time. They are imaginary people that run all over you and jump off furniture.

Sammy has decided that he is officially a boy and has started kicking things and throwing them... just cause. If you ask him why he says, "Because." And he's peed in the potty 3 times at this point, but I'm not going to push it... I'm not ready to potty train for at least another month... hope his interest holds!

Evelyn LOVES to touch everything. If it's in front of her, she'll touch it. Her current favorites are a toy bus at my parents house and a piano/xylophone toy at ours. Her other eternal passion is jumping... She LOVES being in a bouncer. She'll go for about 1 1/2 just jumping away... but then she's exhausted and just wants to sleep... but it's cute. Today in the tub, she figured out that if she scooted her butt a little bit she would slide forward because the tub is slippery.... so she'd scoot her way over to a toy and try to grab it... it would float off and she would scoot off again. And she has 2 teeth.

Shapes

2011-11-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

I swear, kids are so creative! Sam is really into shapes right now (and angry birds...) and he came up to me the other day standing with his legs as wide open as they'd go and said, "Look mom! A Trigangle!" And yes, he does say it with the extra g.

Monster voice

2011-11-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

My sister Sharon taught Sammy to use a monster voice. The other day, he ran right up to Evelyn and yelled in his monster voice. I thought it would scare her, but she just giggled and giggled... he said, "Evelyn Joy! I love you!"

Nothing can prepare you

2011-11-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing can prepare you, not even the best video games in the world can prepare you for feeding and enthusiastic 5 month old. Maneuvering the very wet and drippy food past waving hands and into the wiggly babies mouth... without getting any in her nose, down her chin, or even in her hair... is a trick. Not to mention trying not to gag her with the spoon as she dives for it.

But the best part is when you feed her something that she really likes... carrots, plums and pears for example... she literally will sit there and say, "MMMMM!"

overheard

2011-11-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

While changing and feeding baby girl I heard two little voices coming from the bathroom.

Ada - "No Sam. This is your phone." "Hello?"
Sam- "Hi Grandma."
Ada- "No I'm not grandma, this is Ada, your best friend."
Sam- "Oh hi!"

(When I looked in, they were using the thermometers as cell phones while Ada was on the potty.)

And now as I'm listening...

Sam - "Wheeee boom!"
Ada - "Ow! Sam! Do you always throw toys at your sister?"
Sam - "Oh."

Gotta love it.

Sister

2011-11-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

So lately Sammy's come up with a new "nickname" for Evelyn. Instead of insisting that she be called Baby Evelyn he's been telling everyone that her name is Evelyn Joy. So cute!

Sam's new shoes

2011-11-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

Sam has a shoe fettish. No, he doesn't like womens shoes as much, or lots of pairs of shoes. He likes one style of shoe, in the same blue color. period. The last couple of times that we've gotten him shoes we've just bought the same pair of shoes a size bigger, but we knew that when he was big enough they wouldn't carry that style in his size. It happened.

We went to the store to buy him some new shoes... we told him that was what we were doing, and guess what. He threw a big ol tantrum as soon as his shoes were taken off. "No! Blue shoes on!" So Jer turned it into a game. We pulled out 10 different pairs of shoes and had him try them all on one at a time... by the time he'd fought him into trying on 4 of them he'd gotten the hang of it and wanted to keep trying on different ones... but then it took him a long time to get him to decide which ones he would be willing to wear without fighting him. Finally did. Now he doesn't want to wear his old shoes anymore. I guess we got him to expand his horizons.

Primary program

2011-11-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

You know that kid in the kid's program that everyone just laughs at and thinks is so cute... Ada was that one today. They've told me that she's a great singer and knows all the words, but for some reason she stood up on the stage and decided that she was going to pick her nose, jump all over, not sing any of the songs, and my personal favorite.... spit at her teacher. I ended up having to sit on the pew right in front of her and keep her on track... then Sammy freaked out, and Jer kept her on task. Everyone says that that is their favorite thing about these programs but I didn't think that my daughter would be the entertainment.

On a little better note, I talked to her about the spitting and it turns out that she does that on a regular basis and the teachers have never told us. So I talked to her before her class and she didn't do that today, but we might have to talk to her before every class until it becomes a habit. And today in their class she had an awesome answer. When asked,"What is our church called?" She said, "The Church of Heavenly Father!" Kind of babe... kind of. (We belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, long name for a 4 year old. Most people call us Mormons, but not all Mormons are LDS. Some are RLDS and some are FLDS... some are polygamists. We are none of these but get confused with them all the time because of the title "Mormon".)

11/11/11

2011-11-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a 1 for the day of 1's.... Evelyn got 1 tooth in... and it's not even the 4 that she's been working on for the last month... it was 1 on the bottom in the middle. But it's official! She's got 1.

NAET follow up

2011-11-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Yay! Sammy and I are official done with our treatments!

Sam can eat like any healthy little boy now and I actually giggle as I give him a glass of milk in the mornings. He doesn't react to it either. He's energetic, happy... bouncy even. My happy Sammy from almost two years ago is back! He's also talking more and paying more attention than he used to... granted, he is still only 2 1/2... but I've noticed a difference in the last month. And his 2T clothes are getting tight on him! He only went from 18 month clothes about 2-3 months ago... he's getting taller and gaining weight at a rate that he hasn't ever done before. Amazing!

As for me, I don't smell all the mold in everywhere that I go. I can wake up in the morning instead of having to drag myself out of bed. I don't have to eat first thing in the morning, I can get the kids taken care of and then feed myself. I've lost 9 lbs so far without changing my diet or exercise... makes me wonder what I could do if I actually did diet now...? And here's an unexpected one... I was able to easily fast this last fast Sunday... usually by about half way through I'm exhausted, starving, and have a head ache... not this time! It makes me feel normal!

I'm officially a fan of NAET!

Entreprenuer

2011-11-03T22:56:00.000-06:00

I often have little sales people at my door since our neighborhood is made of young families. Usually it's school fundraisers, cookies, cleaning services, lawn services, dog walking, etc... the other day was the best one ever. I wanted to buy it right away...

"Hi! Do you want to buy a 'No Soliciting' sign?"

I burst out laughing right there at the front door! Awesome!

New photoshoot

2011-10-31T12:47:00.000-06:00

True... I don't get paid for these ones... but they're always my favorite.... Here's my latest of my sweet little baby! Isn't she adorable! 5 months old today!

30 and lovin it...

2011-10-25T19:05:00.000-06:00

Now... look at this girl. Could you believe that she considers herself the "ugly sister"? I don't know why... I did some after shots for her, she just got her braces off, though you have to admit that she was beautifl before too... see here for the before.

New accomplishments and more

2011-10-25T18:52:00.000-06:00

Evelyn's sitting up on her own, rolling from back to front, and I'm loving it.

Doesn't she look like Raggedy Ann?

Sammy came in first place in the costume contest at my dad's work party.

My dad the "E-Male", my daughter the "Pig in a blanket"

My daughter "the horse"

My son the "sock monkey"

Sammy told me the other day when I called him to come and get dressed... "No, I'm working." While he was jumping on the little trampoline in the kids room.

2011-10-20T11:08:00.000-06:00

So proud of my mini fencer! It's really cute to watch her in en guarde position! And I think it's hilarious when she twirls around in the middle of a bout. She's not a girl is she?

Two new accomplishments (or three)

2011-10-20T09:29:00.000-06:00

We've finished quite a few new things around here, but the two most recent are both from last night:

Mine and Ada's fencing class finished
I finished the Nativity set that it's taken me 4 years to do... (mostly cause I couldn't read the pattern. Now that I can do that it takes about a week or two per figure depending on how much extra time I have.)

And on a side note, Evelyn is getting so big! She can sit herself up for a little while before she falls over, and can accidentally roll from back to front but hasn't done that one on purpose yet. Yesterday was funny because she was imitating people shake their heads. My dad would shake his head "no" and Evelyn would do it too... she also did it with my mom, Sharon and I. Funny girl! And she has Jim's laugh! (My father-in-law....I love that man!) He'll just hold it in as long as he possibly can before he just bursts out laughing... That's what Ada does too! Is it genetic?

Hmmm...

2011-10-18T16:03:00.000-06:00

So, found out today that Sammy's also allergic to plastic.

How would we avoid that one? He is two after all... everything he owns is plastic.

The kids dishes, his toys, the carpet usually has some in it... even his car seat. Hmmm... it's a good thing that we're trying to get rid of his allergies!

The Wise man

2011-10-18T15:08:00.001-06:00

Ada was over heard in the back seat singing the chorus to the song "The Wise Man Built his house upon the rock"

"The rain came down and the flowers came up! The rain came down and the flowers came up!"

Can't argue with that.

NAET

2011-10-17T01:41:00.001-06:00

I'm not someone who believes in cure-alls, but I'm really believing in something here. Here are five different people that I know personally and how they were helped.

My cousin Susan. Celiac Sprue. Had to be a vegetarian or else she felt so sick that she couldn't do anything. After NAET she gave all her gluten free food to my sister and she said she's felt amazing ever since... it's been about a year.

My Aunt Beth. Celiac Sprue, fibermialgia (spelling?), depression, allergies... you name it, she's had it. She couldn't even eat fruits because the sugars gave her headaches. After NAET she ate her first piece of watermelon in 10 years. Her Celiac is gone, and she's been taken off her depression medication. They're now treating her for her fibermialgia and I hope it takes! She says that she feels almost normal for the first time in years!

My sister Janelle. Celiac Sprue and allergies to 17? different things... including corn, eggs, wheat, mold, etc.... After NAET she can eat things without feeling sick for the first time in about 10 years. She says that she's feeling AMAZING! And her immune system used to be way low and she'd catch everything... I don't think she's caught anything since she got treated... Janelle, correct me if I'm wrong please! I don't want to try to exaggerate.

My sister Sharon. Allergies to about 21 different things, PCOS and depression. Some of her allergies included Vitamin B, Calcium and several other important things for helping you feel energetic and happy. Since NAET she says that she hasn't felt despair and has felt energetic and she looks a lot happier. I haven't asked her how she's doing lately... or if she's done with treatment... but last I talked to her the drepression was pretty much gone.

Me. Allergies to about 10 different things and PCOS. I'm not done with my treatments, but the allergies that he's cleared me of are: mold, hormones (which was one of the causes of my PCOS), eggs, and now that he's done that he says that I might be able to do things like.... drum roll please.... lose weight normally, nurse babies, and maybe even get pregnant more easily. Since he treated me for hormones I've been able to get by on about 2 hours of sleep less per night than I usually require... and I did lose 3 lbs without changing anything in what I'm doing... (I know that doesn't sound like a lot... but remember, I'm the one who trained for and ran a half marathon without losing a single pound, took 4 years of extreme excercise and diet to lose 20 pounds, and who was the only Jr Olympian competing that weighed over 200 pounds.)

NAET is not a cure all... and on the face of it seems funny... it's accupressure. And what they call "Energy Medicine". What I understand from it though is that they are working with your nervous system. And when your brain/nervous system can't function properly then your organs start to develop more diseases and allergies... so by helping your nervous system work properly your organs start working the right way again.

And for you LDS out there... some of it makes sense in a LDS perspective as well. When you're being cleared from a certain allergy you have to avoid all contact with it for 24 hours. Which... we fast from all food and drink for 24 hours once a month. I think that besides being a test of faith and willingness it's also God's way of helping us clear toxins out of our bodies. And with NAET your body can tell you emotional things that you're hanging on to... which I think is a really cool opportunity to use the Atonement in our lives. If you don't know that you're hanging on to resentment or guilt then how can you repent from them?

I know it sounds weird, but seeing the big difference it's made in my family's lives... I'm willing to believe it works. Sammy is going to start getting treated this week for all of his food allergies... I'm hoping it will work. I don't want him feeling different all growing up. My mom and brother are also starting treatments for their own things too. It's helped the rest of us... why not them too?

And here are some of the things that they say that it helps... diabetes, celiac, allergies of any type, immune deficiences, depression, chrons disease, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, autism, constipation, acne, being too sweaty, and many more... they handed me literally a two page list of things that it can cure. Don't think I'm crazy! Besides... we're more willing to let someone operate on us than we are to try an non invasive thing... it's non invasive, and if it doesn't work then the only thing we're out is money... not health.

Random pitures

2011-10-17T00:57:00.000-06:00

Just catching up on pictures that make me happy!

At cousin Aubrey's baptism

Holding the kitties while I got stuff out of the garage

Bath time. And no, I don't let Ada hold the baby in the tub the whole time. Just while I soap her up... and she loves it. If I give her a bath by herself she screams the whole time.

Sharon was making faces at Sammy... love it!

Hiking at Cascade Springs

Reid doing what he does best! Catching bugs and showing the kids. He always caught frogs and snakes for us all growing up too.

She was trying to imitate Uncle Seth... but just couldn't keep a straight face.

Rest stop in the middle of the hike?

She picked me flowers

Classic Seth... no one, and I mean no one can make faces like my brother.

Jer loves being mobbed by the grandkids. I think he had 8 of them on him at once.

Found Sammy in the closet during nap time. Where better to take a nap?

I love my sisters and love how much they love my kids! What would I do without them? (And Evelyn was absolutely fascinated with Janelle's shirt too by the way...)

Hand me downs...

2011-10-17T00:32:00.000-06:00

I'm not at all against hand me downs... especially sentimental, cute ones. Here are some hand me downs that I got from my mom the other day. I wore several of these and my mom made several of them too. (I haven't gotten pictures of all of them... but here are a couple.)

My mom made this as an Easter dress for me.

The sweater and shirt were my mom's.

The shirt was my mom's, but just thought that baby was cute.

Dress (worn by Janelle) and tights were my mom's and the shoes were my mother in laws... she thinks that Marg? wore them.

For Amy

2011-10-16T12:52:00.000-06:00

Dear Amy,

These are for you... just cause your kids are so dang cute. I have one of Aubrey, but I posted it with Ada's party pictures...

Ada's bday party

2011-10-16T12:49:00.000-06:00

So yes, if you couldn't tell, Ada is officially 4. But yesterday we had her party. It was so fun! There were 17 kids in the end. Ruth, Kate, Johnny, and Adam helped Jer and I put on a storyline for the kids. At the beginning of the party, the evil birthday party witch (Kate) stole all the kids cupcakes. To get them back they each had to complete 5 tasks. After each task they got a magic token that they'd sprinkle on the witch to get the cupcakes back. So here's basically what happened:

Kate - the witch stole the cupcakes.
Johnny and Adam - the monsters put a bean bag in their way so they couldn't chase the witch... the kids climbed over it and ran to the front lawn.
Adam - played red light green light to try to sneak past the monster.
Then we had to cross a lake by going over a bridge (we had an old slide that we laid down on some blocks so it was up off the ground).
Ruth - The princess, they had to draw a picture for the princess to get a token.
Johnny and Adam - they had to put the monsters to sleep by singing them a song so they could get the tokens that they were guarding... then Adam was a little impromptu and stole the tokens and we had to chase him to get them back.
Then we had them complete an obstacle course by going through hula hoops, around balls, down a slide, through a tunnel, etc... to get a token.
Then they had to kick a ball from one end of the yard to the other to get a token.
And finally they had to put together a puzzle to get a token.
Then we all ran up to the balcony and poured the tokens over the witch and were able to get the cupcakes back.

It was a lot of fun and I'm really grateful to my nieces and nephews for helping us have so much fun! And to my partner in all crimes... my sister Janelle snuggled Evelyn for me from start to finish so that I could run around being crazy and take pictures. Thanks Nells! You know I owe you big time for everything right? Let me know whenever you want to cash in!

And I mostly videoed the goings on, but here are some pictures...

Money thief

2011-10-14T13:35:00.001-06:00

So, Grandma Robertson usually gives kids $10 for their bdays. I wasn't there when Ada opened her card from Grandma so I never saw where the money went, and Jer says, "There was money?" I just figured that Judy had forgotten this year (which I didn't mind Judy... ), until I did laundry today. I did the kids bathroom laundry and in the dryer was a brand new laundered $10 bill. I'm guessing that Ada pocketed it before anyone else knew!

We took it to the bank today to put in her savings. (I wanted to set up savings for each kid so that they get the idea of how to save, that's one way my parents taught me. Our bank even has an early savers program that you get stamps and stickers when you deposit things into their account, and after x amount of deposits they give the child $10... so the kids like going to the bank.) It was really cute. I gave Ada the money and her little bank book. Sam wanted to do it too... so I gave him his bank book and $1.00 in quarters that I found in the car... and they very seriously took them up to the man. Ada told him, "This is my birthday money." Sammy chucked them up at the counter because he couldn't reach... after trying to intervene several times I finally got all the quarters away from him and to the clerk. And they proudly gave me back their books and I gave them their receipts and stuck their stickers onto their shirts... which are still there. Sammy was so sad in the car when he dropped it... he kept saying, "My dollar, my dollar!"

I hope that eventually they understand what saving is and what you can/should use it for. We'll see!

Angry bird

2011-10-14T13:24:00.000-06:00

Sammy's newest addiction is Angry birds... which is funny cause he can't really play it on our PC... and I think he's only seen it played on his uncles ipad. But we were in Walmart and were going to buy these cute little masks/hats that they had just for fun, but then they saw the stuffed Angry Bird display and it was all over. So I told them that if they didn't want to buy the hats then we could buy one stuffed bird to share. So of course they did. Ada was very opinionated about the color, Sammy could care less which one we got as long as we got one. Blue. So we got it home, set up some of the other stuffed animals as pigs and threw it at them to knock them over.

Here's what Sammy had to say about it:
to the bird - "Did you fall down? ohhh... " including a kiss on it's cheek. "Shhhh, shhh, shhh." with his finger in front of his lips (like I do when I tell him to be quiet) and rocking it back and forth.

Here's what Ada had to say:
to me - "We need more pigs!"

Seth, I forgot to tell you

2011-10-11T11:36:00.000-06:00

I was asking Ada what friends she wanted to invite to her party... and she said, "My cousins!" I told her that all the cousins were invited but what friends did she want... "Seth!" So it's official... you're not an Uncle, you're a friend.

More on Ada's bday

2011-10-11T11:30:00.000-06:00

The first thing she said when she woke up and I told her it was her birthday: "Ohhh! Now I can reach stuff!"

Her first present: My Little Ponies from Sammy and Evelyn. (the old ones... she got Spike the dragon, a baby pony, and a sea pony with a float... she's been singing the Shoobedoo song all morning that the sea ponies sing in the tv show)

Her first cake: A surprise present from Grandpa Wilcox.

Her first activity: To play with Daddy and the cats.

Her first time buy something with birthday money: Went to target and let her pick out a $1 toy to buy with her bday money from GGma. The rest goes into her savings account. (She probably won't fight me on that until she really understands what money is.)

Her first family activity: Going to Kung Fu Panda 2 at the movie theater.

Her last activity: To go down fighting... didn't want the day to end. After playing with cousins Henry and Wesley, "Those boys were my birthday party!" (Party's actually on Saturday, but we can say she had two right?)

She also got $10 from Greatgrandma Robertson, a beautiful handmade card from Grandma Robertson, a play horse for her dolls from mom and dad, a jewlery box full of my grandma's old jewlery (that I used to play with when I was little acutally) from Janelle, Seth, and Sharon, and some clothes, a princess cape (made by my mom) and a book about the last year together made by Grandma Wilcox. Love them! Everything was something that she adores!

Fencing

2011-10-09T23:39:00.000-06:00

So Tues nights, Wed afternoons, and Friday nights are all becoming fencing nights. It's something that both Jer and I enjoy and it's some excercise too... But the kids are starting to pick up on some of it without directly teaching them. It's pretty funny. Friday night we were there learning how to fence Sabre and Sammy (2 year old) starts yelling, "Ready, Fence! 1, 2, 3" Which as far as I can make out is that he is referreeing... ("En Gaurde, Fence... halt... (then tell the score.)") I about peed my pants, which then Evelyn did for me... I ended up with pee all down my leg that wasn't mine. Lovely.

Of Mice and Men

2011-10-09T23:34:00.000-06:00

And yes, I hope that in this case the mice end up in the same condition as in the book. We have mice in our garage... so, Jer cleaned out the garage, we got two cats from Amy and Jon, and put all our dog food into a plastic container. And today we found a mouse in the house. Now I'm not an animals in the house person. In essence, I'm lazy. I don't want to clean up after animals in the house... so we're trying to trap the dang thing. Jer put a mouse trap where he'd seen it earlier today, and after church we were in the front room just talking and a mouse ran out from under the couch... saw us... and ran back under. So we brought the cats inside and scared the mouse out. Unfortunately, they didn't catch it... but they did get really excited about chasing it and the mouse did run away. We're going to buy more traps tomorrow though and maybe we can catch it before I get too grossed out.

Happy 4th!

2011-10-09T23:28:00.000-06:00

I'm writing a little early since tomorrow I plan to try to spend with my baby!

My oldest baby's turning 4 in the morning. I love this girl! She's happy, funny, helpful, active, and she loves me. She's the girl that will pause a million times in the middle of getting dressed to tell Sammy a story, or to come say hi to Evelyn. She loves to learn and loves to do things. She's my fencing buddy and my cuddler. She's willing to watch the baby while I'm in the bathroom. She loves her cousins, especially Rachel, Anya, Mariah, Grace, Aubrey, and Devin. She loves to read books, jump, and ride her bike. She loves picnics. She loves cats. And she LOVES playing with her Daddy and brother Sammy. She pretends to be afraid of things but isn't really. She's able to do a lot on her own, but likes to be with you and asks you to do things for her just so that she can spend time together. She's very good at picking up her room. Loves My Little Ponies. And someday wants to wear a bra. I love you Ada! You are a gift and a promise! Be patient with me! You're my first, and as Gma and Gpa Wilcox say, "The guinea pig child." or as Daddy says, "Version 1.0". We're figuring out parenting and glad that you're tough enough to take it!

Communication

2011-10-09T23:03:00.000-06:00

Sam came to me distraught after dinner tonight (that was a fun pre-thanksgiving Judy and Jim!). He'd been playing while holding the paper cube that they'd made today in Nursery and it'd gotten smashed... so to tell me what had happened and that he wanted me to fix it, he threw it on the floor and stomped on it. "Like that!", he said. Then he handed it to me and wanted me to fix it.

Teaching moment

2011-10-04T10:23:00.000-06:00

So, I saw an opportunity during conference to introduce Sammy to Prophet Thomas S. Monson. It went something like this:

-"Sammy, look! That's the prophet!"
Sammy - "Prophet... no prophet."
-"His name is Thomas S. Monson."
Sammy - "Thomas the train?"

I did eventually get him to say Thomas S Monson, but I don't think he has any idea what a prophet is despite the many family night lessons and nursery lessons. He'll get it eventually!

But personally, this was my favorite talk. And this was my second favorite.

Sisters

2011-10-01T23:23:00.000-06:00

And I love that they love each other!

Don't they look alike?!

I like this last one because they're both like, "What?"

Ada

2011-10-01T23:16:00.000-06:00

And this one?

Evelyn

2011-10-01T23:14:00.000-06:00

How did I get this cute girl?

three things

2011-10-01T22:42:00.002-06:00

ONE: WAY excited for the new temple to be built out of the burned down Provo Tabernacle!
TWO: LOVED spending time with my sisters and mom!
THREE: THOUGHT that it was hilarious that when we went to meet my friends new boyfriend... the boyfriend's friend was our mechanic.

more!

2011-09-28T22:02:00.000-06:00

More family pictures by Bec...

Love them!

The Body song

2011-09-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

"My Bonnie lies over the ocean. My Bonnie lies over the sea." became "My Body lies over the ocean. My Body lies over the sea. My Body lies over the ocean. Bring back my Body to me to me! Bring back, bring back o bring back my Body to me, to me... " (curtesy of Ada)

Sammy's version is, "bring back, bring back, bring back, bring back, to me, to me..."

Say a prayer daddy!

2011-09-26T23:06:00.000-06:00

For family night tonight we spent a little time talking about how to pray and how to say prayers on our own, not just when we're together as a family... as part of that, I wanted to emphasize that you can say prayers when you're sad, lost, happy, whatever... Afterwards, Jer was running around after them and playing tag with them. At one point he ran around the corner and hid behind the couch and under the baby swing... (sounds awful right?) when Ada and Sammy couldn't find him Ada yells out, "Daddy! Say a prayer if you're lost!"

weekend

2011-09-26T09:52:00.000-06:00

This weekend is probably our last "unscheduled" one for the next month and a half. We had fun too. We took our kids on a 4 mile bike ride and had a picnic at the park. We played with grandparents. We went hiking at Cascade Springs. Helped can pears. And played with John and Diane's family at grandparents house. Here are a couple pictures... and some pictures of our family that Becca took a couple weeks ago... and did you know that Sammy cut his own hair about a week ago? I had trimmed his hair and I guess he liked it because he tried it out himself. Then I had to try to blend it in a little, and I ended up cutting the tip of his ear... which meant that his hair cut was put on hold again. But it's kind of funny. If anyone asks about his hair or ear, he comes up with these big "tearful" eyes and tells them how mom cut his ear. And the other day he was SOOOO hungry that he was crying. I decided to make mac and cheese for dinner... one of his favorites... and he cried the whole time I was making it. I had to put him in his room to cry for part of it. When I tried to explain that we had to let the noodles cook on the stove he looked at me all panicked... big huge red rimmed eyes... and said, "WHAT?!" Then, wouldn't you know it... I got him his dinner in the end, he ate about 5 bites and decided he was done. Nice.

I had pictures to go with this post... but unfortunately I have to work out a space issue first!

Brownies

2011-09-25T22:32:00.001-06:00

Ada was helping me make brownies and she dipped her finger in, tried it, and said, "These aren't pretty bad!" Where did an expression like that come from?

Noah's ark

2011-09-25T16:50:00.000-06:00

Ada... my soon to be 4 year old's version of Noah's ark:

"There was a ship, and a storm, and people on the ship got frozen and some of the animals got frozen. And they were on there for a really long time."
-me "How many animals were there?"
"Soooo many!"
-me "Did they get off the ship after the storm?"
"No... they were just on there for a really long time."
-me "What kinds of animals were there?"
"Bears, and fish."
-Sammy "Angry birds!"

I think maybe we'll have a family night lesson on this one soon... hmmm.....

Sammy's swear word

2011-09-23T15:04:00.000-06:00

Sammy's new exclaimation is "Oh Jeremy!"

(I'm guessing it's because that's what Jer says when he's done something that he thinks is stupid.)

State Fair/Janelle's bday

2011-09-11T12:56:00.002-06:00

So for my sisters' birthday she spoiled my kids. I didn't mind, but I hope that she had a fun time too....

We went to the State Fair where Sammy LOVED riding on the ponies and Ada LOVED petting the animals... Evelyn got to be cuddled and loved by all the adults... I think she adores being adored!

Sammy says that the pigs say, "Moo..." and Ada wanted to jump in the bouncy house but it was way after nap times and you could tell.

After this we went to my parents house for pizza and an out door movie... Rio. It was fun, and Happy Bday Nella!

New things

2011-09-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

So, the most exciting of our newness.... Evelyn officially rolls from front to back. She's done it before but I think now it's official. She did it 4 times in about 12 hours. (And about 10 of those hours she was sleeping.)

Another new thing was that we were early for the Symphony. Amazing! Though it did come with a price. We left our kids with my friend Mary and her family (I really hope they were good for you! I know you said they were, but I hope you just didn't leave things out!), and Judy and I left at 4:30 to pick up Jer and Jim from work and head up to SLC to hear Beethoven's 9th symphony. It was kind of frustrating. We left early so we could go out to a nice meal and be on time. It took us an hour and a half to get both Jer and Jim. There was an accident on the freeway and then a rainstorm that made everything slow down dramatically. Finally got Jer, made our way over to get Jim and another street was closed because they were getting ready to dedicate a statue for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. So finally got around that, and got Jim... then it took another 1/2 hour to get the car parked and walk to the Hall. Barely made it at 7pm and it turns out that we didn't really have to be there til 8. Whoops! So we went to the lecture before it, which was actually kind of cool... about the new kettle drums that they had gotten that sound like the ones from Beethoven's time, but can still permeate the concert hall.

We had third row seats, which in some cases is a good thing... in this case it made you a little too close to the orchestra, but it was still amazing! First they did a modern piece that was written about 9/11. It was interesting, but not something that you just enjoy listening to. I felt like it was more of a performance art piece than anything else. Then they did the 9th. AMAZING! Maestro Thierry Fisher. AMAZING! He was fun to watch too... very animated and extremely absorbed into the music. And the chorus (the choir) made me want to cry! Usually you get that one soprano that's a little too shrill or that one baritone that thinks he's more important and booms it out too loud... but not this time! How perfect! And it was fun to see many different aged performers too... from 20 year olds to 80 year olds... What made it even more exciting for me though... was sitting next to Jeremy! He'd giggle silently at all his favorite parts and I think he even teared up at the end! Every time he giggled, I knew that it was worth every penny.

Then we went to eat at PF Chang's because we were starving. We had to walk 5 blocks back to the car, which normally is nice but at this point it was late... and my shoes were too small. We left the parking lot at 12:30. And surprise, surprise... there were two accidents and construction on the freeway that brought it to a stand still. We had to drive out to Redwood Rd and down to Lehi... where the road was closed and we were detoured around that. Grrrr.... Finally got home (thank you Mary!) and to be by 2:30 am. Even with the 4 hours of driving that I had to do, I would do it again if I could hear that symphony played in that way again!

Not quite with it

2011-09-07T13:24:00.001-06:00

So... you can tell I wasn't quite with it this morning when I came home from my neighbors funeral to find that after making brownies for the luncheon I had put the flax seed in the drawer with the measuring stuff instead of back in the fridge. Just so you know... I love this woman! Marilyn Stubbs was 75, full of life, always had her nails painted, offered us apples from her tree, made Evelyn a baby blanket, taught me how to read a crochetting pattern, and reminded me of my grandpa because she always offered us cake/ice cream/cookies/etc... even though she had diabetes. We talked about her childhood, mostly about when she was 16-20. We talked about her kids and grandkids. We talked about BYHigh. We talked about her job and her mission. We talked about crocheting and craft projects. And we even talked about the men that she was dating and laughed that she said she was really dating them because she needed projects done around the house and she had found a handy man to do them. We love you Marilyn. You are my friend and we'll miss you!

On a little happier note, I just wanted to write down some of the cute things the kids have been doing lately. We went up to help put in a fence with Landon and Katie. Trevor, my cousin's son, saw his dad's air compressor and asked, "Is that a shrink ray?" (he always wears this red cape and at the moment had on blue gloves too... awesome.) He wouldn't go up the stairs to the bathroom alone either... he's like 5/6. But Grandpa was there... so "Grandpa ate the monsters, so you're safe." He goes, "Oh yeah! Okay." And went right up.

Ada and Lizzie are busy playing away. I love to hear their giggling and can't wait til Ada and Evelyn can giggle like that together. Sisters are the best friends!

We went to Kung Fu Panda 2 last night. A little long for Sam, but they did really good sitting for the movie. When we got home Sammy kept saying, "Watch me!" and "Watch this!" and running around and trying to round house kick. Cute kid.

Poor Jer had to decided between the Beethoven 9th concert in SLC and running the Red Rock Relay this weekend with his brother Jay. What a hard decision! But he did it... he's going to take me on a date to hear Beethoven's 9th and we're going to go to the State Fair with Nella for her bday. I think it will be fun! Love you Jer!

Evelyn has a new toy... a bear with a blanket body... she just sits and mauls it... stuffing it into her mouth and giggling when you shake it in front of her. I love that girl.

Look at how big!

2011-09-06T09:43:00.000-06:00

Look how big my baby's getting! 3 months went by fast!

Baby Kat

2011-09-06T00:20:00.001-06:00

Isn't she a cutie? She belongs to my cousin... so of course she's a cutie!

Two year olds

2011-09-02T10:24:00.000-06:00

So Sammy is the funniest and most frustrating of my children right now. He always wants to be on the computer... and since I do computer support for my job that can be a problem. Especially when I'm on the phone with a customer and he starts crying/screaming for a game. He ends up in his room a lot by the way. He also doesn't like to eat any prepared foods.... if it's not from a wrapper odds are that he won't touch it, which is ironic because he can't eat most foods in wrappers... mostly fresh or homemade foods. He likes to tease Ada because she makes the most delightfully crying sounds. But most of all he has great timing. It's like he has a radar... as soon as I sit down to do anything... whether it's feed the baby, work, write a blog he comes to me with one of two requests.... "Game?" or "Cereal?" Now... the game is one that I don't like him doing by himself because he moves all the icons on my desktop and delete game characters, etc... and without fail he spills every little cup of cereal that he has.... which is one of the many reasons that I don't like him getting his own cereal.

But then he goes and does something like this: Wearing Ada's headband, and dressed in only his jammie top and conducting himself with a wooden baton he sings a moving rendition of the "ABC's" and ends it with yelling the word "Fight!" half way through the song. Silly, frustrating boy!

Projects

2011-08-31T10:06:00.000-06:00

Thank heaven for Uncle Reid, Seth, and my mom! They've been helping Jer and I get caught up on all our summer projects that have been waiting for us...

Reid stripped and painted the front door, killed 3 honets nests, mowed our lawn, killed our tree stump, killed our willow bush and chopped it up and hauled it off, etc...
Seth tied back our roses and helped weed our front flowers.
Mom watched kids while I ran around trying to get everything done.
I weed whipped, weeded, did the dishes, the laundry, vaccuumed, three bathrooms, decluttered, labeled all our kids clothes storage boxes, made food, etc...

All in all I feel very productive. But really only done my regular chores while everyone else has done everything else! Thanks guys!

Mostly Sammy

2011-08-31T10:00:00.000-06:00

So a couple of favorite current Sammy sayings:
"Oh... Yeah!"
"Thank you much!"
"I did it!"

And Ada's one for this morning:
"Mommy I can't stand here for a long time." (She'd been standing at the sink for a grand total of about 5 seconds while I was starting to comb her hair. Obviously she had more important things to do.)

And Evelyn's new accomplishment:
She has very strong legs. Not only does she LOVE to stand and see what's going on, but she can scoot herself a couple feet at a time from either her back or her tummy. She just hasn't developed the whole hold my face off the floor using my arms so I don't rub my face into the carpet thing. I call it snow plowing.

I think

2011-08-29T14:39:00.001-06:00

that the SLC Children's Discovery Museum has to be the awesomest place ever....

This was funny! Seth acted like he got hit by the helicopter and Ada said,

"Hey Seth! Get off my plane!"

Not just for kids

2011-08-28T11:58:00.001-06:00

Now... this picture just says it all... doesn't it?

You know...

2011-08-27T10:28:00.000-06:00

You know that your babysitter hasn't had much experience when:
You come home and your 3 month old hasn't been changed
You come home and your kids are in bed, but your 3 year old doesn't have the pull-up on that you had set out with her jammies and you're pretty sure that they didn't have her go potty before being put to bed
You come home and your 2 year old is wearing your 3 month olds diaper
You come home and your son's shirt has chocolate milk all down it because they forgot to put the stopper in the sippy cup
You find your sons expensive-non allergy fruit snacks in the disposal
When your son cries about being put to sleep when he normally doesn't
And when they've spent more time getting toys cleaned up than cleaning up the kids hands and faces

We had a fun date last night. We went to The Quarry to go rock climbing. So fun! And though I am still a wimp, I'm proud of myself... I was afraid that after 6 years of absence from the sport and 3 babies later I wouldn't be able to climb at all... but I was able to get off the floor several times... Jer did AMAZING! Maybe if we go again soon I'll be even better than this time. Jer even tried bouldering, and I was a little afraid of going without the harness. The last two times that I've fallen from 10 feet or more I broke my arms... both times. So I'll stick with the rock walls with the harness. Besides, half the fun is repelling afterwards.

Checklist

2011-08-26T13:31:00.000-06:00

-Get Ada to the bathroom while she's saying she doesn't have to go (after sleeping for 9 hours? Sure you don't have to go...) ..... Check
-Change diapers, Evelyn willing, Sammy less so ..... Check
-Get three kids dressed, reminded that I have to put away all the laundry that I folded downstairs ..... Check
-Get kids breakfast..... Check
-Feed the baby...... Check
-Get me breakfast..... Check
-Check email, nothing too important but way excited to see that the thing we ordered on Amazon had shipped ...... Check
-Write in blog, Love this part but it takes 5 times as long because Sammy's standing between me and the computer saying,"Game. Zombies." ..... Check
-Help kids with puzzles. Try to keep the pieces from getting thrown around the room and wondering where I put the alphabet one. That's the one that would help Ada right now... not the Carebears one ..... Check
-Read books with kids...... Check
-Practice the piano while kids jump on couch..... Check
-Rescue Evelyn who'd gotten scared with kids jumping next to her ..... Check
-Have kids clean up puzzles (More like Ada standing on the puzzles so Sammy can't dump them over again) ..... Check
-Get kids lunch ("Mommy, I want fish crackers for lunch." "How about sandwiches" "No. How about cereal?") ...... Check
-Get Baby fed ..... Check
-Feed me. Not cereal ..... Check
-Clean up kids and lunch (I swear I just swept the floor and washed the table) ...... Check
-Break up a fight over the puzzles ...... Check
-Get Ada to the bathroom ....... Check
-Get 2 poopy diapers changed ...... Check
-Get kids in bed ("But, I'm not tired." "Can I have toys in bed?" "Can I have a drink?" "Is Sammy going to wear pajamas?") ....... Check
-Rock baby for a while and put her in bed ...... Check
-Change the laundry and wonder why we have so many clothes ..... Check
-Realize that I'm still in my nightgown and have yet to shower today ..... Check
-Hesitate showering because I need to clean the bathroom ..... Check
-Decide that I'll clean the bathroom tomorrow and go check my email again ...... Check

kids update

2011-08-26T10:34:00.000-06:00

I've been so busy on blogging about things that we've DONE lately that I haven't blogged about how we ARE.

My busy and energengic 3 year old Ada has started learning to write and recognize the ABC's... she likes to "put words" in Evelyn's mouth. She tells me what Evelyn is saying at random moments throughout the day. She likes to help me clean and is very good at orgainizing the toys and books in her room. She's enjoying her fencing lessons... and is actually pretty coordinated for an almost 4 year old...course I could be biased. She enjoys setting up all her My Little Ponies and letting each of them get captured in turn and rescueing them with the other ponies. She pretends to be afraid of Lucy, but once she's out the door she throws her ball, and runs around with her like there wasn't any problems. Her new favorite hairstyle is to ask for "Curly"... which we rarely have time for, but she loves when we do. I can see myself in a lot of what she does. She still has her daddy wrapped around her finger... I'm pretty sure they'll always be best buds. She loves to play and tease her Aunts Sharon and Janelle... and try to sneak up and surprise Uncle Seth. (Course she doesn't get the idea of sneaking yet... she just walks up and says that she scared him.) She likes to play rough with dad, and likes to reserve mom for pretend play and reading books... I'm up for that! Likes to make up and tell me random stories. She always tells me when the story begins and when it's over so that I can tell her what a good job she did.

Sammy is silently stubborn most of the time. He knows what he wants and he'll get it even if it means doing it all by himself and when you're not looking. Though... he is obedient when you've told him no several times. It just takes a few repeats. He's started bringing me food off the floor at other people's houses that he knows he can't have and says, "Here go mommy." And even asks me if he can eat certain things. (Good boy!) He loves games... if you say the word "game" he comes running up and saying, "Game?" Doesn't matter what kind... as long as it's a game. His favorites are Wii Sports Resort, Plants vs Zombies, Fate, and Peggle. He can play three of them without help... and doesn't care whether he wins or loses as long as he plays. His vocabulary is slowly expanding and he loves to be around any of his extended family. He loves grandma's kitties and cries if he can't reach them. He's learned how to act out words he doesn't know... (for example: Him and Ada saw two big slugs on grandma's porch... neither knew the word for it, so Ada said, "And mommy it's moving!" and Sammy lay down on the ground like a slug and said, "Like that!") Loves to rough house and likes to eat constantly. Still loves trains and balls... and LOVES bubbles which is why I think he likes Nursery so much now. Started to like to read books on his own but still struggles when I try to read to him. He can count to 10 and pretends to count to 20 but doesn't get anything in order after 10. He can sing the alphabet and loves to sing songs with actions.

Evelyn recognizes peoples voices that she knows. If my sister walk into the room she perks up and looks around. She LOVES to "talk" with Uncle Seth... just picking her up and saying hi makes her start talking to him. She likes to try to hit things with her hands, and has started bubbling at the mouth. She likes to swing in the hammock while we are out in the back yard, and is great smiler! She likes Ada's "Yellow Blankie"... and has yet to find a favorite among her own. She LOVES to cuddle, and her plugged tear ducts look like they're slowly getting better. She smiles when you sing to her, and doesn't like when the baby swing is actually swinging. She's pleasant all the time... even when she's hungry... she gives you a little upset "whaaa." then she waits for a little while before she actually cries. Sammy likes to hold her and lay on her. I think they'll be good friends.

They all love to go places and do different things. They love to swim, hike, run, swing, slide, blow bubbles, and generally keep us busy. I love it even when I'm tired! I love you guys!

Fam Pictures

2011-08-25T09:52:00.001-06:00

So... we got our yeatly family pictures taken by our wonderful sister-in-law Becca. They're marvelous and I wanted to share!

LOVE this one

Thanks Becca! You were awesome and sorry we were so uncooperative!

Ada's sayings

2011-08-18T12:33:00.002-06:00

Here are Ada sayings for the day...

"I'm hicing up..." She had the hiccups
"Where are ya boy?" She was playing peek a boo with Evelyn

Doing things

2011-08-17T09:12:00.001-06:00

So, in my recent bloggings I haven't mentioned a lot of the things that we've been doing. I've been a little busy doing them instead of writing them... but here are some: Going to Aida (the musical, not the opera) with Jer and my family. Going to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with Janelle and Seth. Going out for Sushi with Jay before he leaves for Arizona. Watching my friends' kids all day... twice in the last week. (One day I had 5 kids 5 and under from 7am til 6pm... another day I had 6 kids 6 and under from 7am til 5pm). Had our family pictures taken. Went to my cousin David's missionary farewell... he'll be perfect for Japan! Had dinner and games with my good friend from years ago, Elizabeth Cason Stott. That's all in the last week. And today I'm starting Ada and my fencing classes....

ALL of it was SO FUN! Thanks all! Now I'm going to shower and clean the house... right after I post random pictures from our activities!

The girls sunning themselves after running around at the splash pad.

You couldn't have two more different boys both in looks and personality... but somehow they are just both so cute!

I LOVE this picture.... look at that face!

Seth helped Ada find the coolest thing at the museum. It was a spinning metal plate and you could get things spinning around on it... it was pretty neat.

Too busy playing to look at the camera.

And this one.... Not amazing, but I wanted to show off her cute chubbins

Family pictures

2011-08-15T21:37:00.000-06:00

Thanks Becca for taking our family pictures again! Sorry that Sam was a pill... he was so pleasant and happy all day long... even though I had 6 kids today... until the moment that he saw that camera. Dang it! Then as soon as you left... he was fine again. What is it with toddlers and pictures... not just toddlers but specifically boys. Grrr. Can't wait to see how they turned out though! Love ya!

Family Meeting

2011-08-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

So, I got called into a family meeting by Ada... she just came to me with a piece of paper in her hand and said, "Mommy, we need to have a family meeting." So we went and sat in the front room where she started reading to me off her paper... "And families can be together forever. The mommy and the daddy... " etc... until it morphed into, "and the bad guy got daddy and killed him. Then he chased mommy, me, Sammy and baby and killed us too. And we died." Wow. A little morbid I must say... but I have to admit that she did get the fact that if we died we'd still be an eternal family because of our temple marriage. What a funny girl.

new prop

2011-08-11T11:35:00.000-06:00

Again... I didn't do it justice, yet.... Evelyn was NOT cooperating and I had Ada and Sammy both clamoring for attention... so I didn't get very many pictures, and the ones I did get didn't work... but look at this cute photo prop that Sharon bought for me! I'll try again when she's happier and see if we can make a cute butterfly out of her!

Thoughts

2011-08-11T11:24:00.000-06:00

How is it that my just barely 2 year old son can dress and undress himself, and often does... including starting to take off his diaper... but my soon to be 4 year old daughter that knows how to dress and undress herself prefers not to... if I persuade her to every morning it takes an extra 30 minutes... if I don't, I feel like I'm not teaching her. Hmmm... conundrum.

I think that Ada is ready for some new things... she's so bright and catches on to things quickly. But she won't be going to Kindergarten for 3 more years because of the age cut off. I'd like to start doing something with her, like piano lessons, and reading. I feel comfortable with the piano lessons because I've been teaching for about 7 years... but I've never taught anyone to read before. I was a reading tutor in Elementary School, but they were students that already had the basics and the teacher gave me the things I was supposed to be tutoring. Where do you start when you start from scratch?

Third post

2011-08-08T23:26:00.000-06:00

Mostly I just wanted to include some pictures that I got from my mom and her camera... but also a funny story.

This morning, my mom was holding Evelyn and asked her if we should sneak downstairs and slip her into Janelle's bed... and Evelyn broke out into the biggest grin I've seen yet! Conspiring with Grandma already! Couldn't be prouder.

A tea party in Grandma Wilcox's basement.

Cuddling my sweet boy after a buzz cut.

Sharon and I hanging out before baby Evelyn was born.

We went to visit Great-Grandpa Wilcox (my Grandpa) on Memorial day. Oh how I miss that man! I am sad that my kids won't know him in this life, but I'm so glad that they'll know him in the next!

Typical visit with grandparents... cheese, drinks, movies, and swimming suits. Can't get better than that.

Evelyn's first time meeting Great-Grandma Wilcox.

Being silly for Granpa's birthday.

Cuddling Grandpa at Bear Lake.

She doesn't look like she's having any fun at all does she?!

Cute baby bum!

Cereal please!

Cousin Aubrey helping me feed the baby.

Aunt Nella!

Looking for Chance the horse.

Hay ride with Uncle Frank. Look at the beautiful background too! I felt like there was nothing for miles and it was very calming.

Beautiful boy! All scratched up, but I know people that would trade for those eyes!

Riding Lady.

Love these guys! And seeing Uncle Frank reminds me of my Grandma Ellis... I see her cheeks and eyes in his. It's good to see parts of her every know and then! We miss her!

Can you tell they've missed their Uncle Seth? He was such a good sport to let them maul him even though we'd been in the car for a good 12-13 hours that day!

I love these two! What great people they are and what good things they do! (They're my favorite parents ever by the way!)

Reading stories with Grandma.

Evelyn's baby blessing

2011-08-08T22:55:00.000-06:00

We blessed our baby girl on Sunday! What a sweet girl she is and how lucky we are to call her family! And how lucky I am to have a husband that prepares in many ways for blessings for our children. Evelyn, you truly are a Joy and we thank our Heavenly Father that we get to go through happy times as well as times of trial with you and your siblings!

Jer and Evelyn "talking" to each other.

My sweet baby! (Yes I know I look tired, but honestly... I was.)

This isn't the most quality of pictures but I thought it was too sweet to ignore...

Isn't she just beautiful?!

I had to include this picture because I'm absolutely in love with her eyes... I kind of wonder what color they're going to be when they change.

One of three

2011-08-08T22:23:00.001-06:00

Now, I want to post about three things and they are all separate from each other... so I'll post them separately.

I'm not the sort of person that will pick a religious movie over a comedy or action. I'm a religious person, but I wasn't very interested in this new movie out about the Willie Handcart Company. It's called '17 Miracles'. But we went tonight, just Judy, Becca, and I as a birthday hurrah for Judy. There are not many movies that you can say that by the end of the credits the audience is still seated and completely silent. People stood to leave, still in silence. It was not an epic movie, but it did remind me of some things. It brought home to me the eternal importance of the gospel. As a mother, I always worry in some small way about the well being of my children... but it's usually a physical thing that I worry about... them getting hit by a car, getting sick, etc... This movie reminded me that it was not their physical well being but their spiritual one that I should be focusing on.

The one miracle that hit me the hardest was the one about a woman that after walking hundreds of miles pregnant with twins, gave birth to them, they died, and she felt hungry... weak... and discouraged. I've had the kind of depression that comes after giving birth to a child. But what would it be like if the babies had died and there was little/no food to eat to recover? She gave up. She kissed each of her other children and her husband, then sat down on a rock determined not to move again. There were wolves that followed the company and she knew that it meant death. One of her daughters would not leave her. After their family had left, the daughter knelt down and prayed. As she opened her eyes she saw a casserole. (No Utah Mormon casserole jokes please.) She took it to her mom and they ate. The mother said later that she often grew discouraged, but every time she did she would remember the great pains that God had taken to keep her alive so long and instead she would pray her gratitude to the Lord instead of her discouragement. I think that in this generation we don't have the physical trials that these men, women and children did, but we do often face discouragement.

I may not have to lose my children and bury them in the frozen ground. I may not ever have to starve or walk a thousand miles to receive the blessings of the temple, but I will be grateful to those that did so that I could grow up with the blessings of the temple and the gospel and so that my children can have the same.

Baby Evelyn

2011-08-02T23:17:00.001-06:00

So, Ada can now say Evelyn... but Sam still comes out with something that sounds like... "Baby M&M". So cute.

Cousins visiting

2011-08-02T23:09:00.001-06:00

My brother and his wife were nice enough to let us steal their kids for a couple of weeks... we've had a blast playing and I know both Ada and Sammy will miss them! Here are random pictures of activities that we did while they were here... I haven't had a chance to blog them... but here they are. You honestly don't have to look at them, but I wanted to get a couple out to McKay... and Mom... you have more pictures at the the Welfare Ranch and I know some of them are a lot better than these... I ran out of space on my card! Grrrr....

These two are of the Carousel at the Provo Beach Resort... Great-Grandma wanted to treat the kids to a ride. Thanks Grandma! It was fun!

Nells, Grandma and my mom loving on my baby.

Working together at the Children's Museum in SL.

Making 'dinner' at the museum.

Grocery shopping at the museum.

Checking out.

My daughter, the horse... she acts like one even in Primary and has asked to be one for Halloween... perfect outfit!

Grandpa teaching the kids how to fill up the car with air and gas at the museum.

Ada and Sammy had a blast driving, but notice... Aubrey brought her baby in the car with her! Stroller and all!

Our builders Ada and Devin.

Lego building! Doesn't every kid like blocks of some kind? And in true boy fashion... when the tower got big enough to fall over the boys finished pushing it over and rolling around in them. Nice.

This was Ada's favorite part... She thought it was so fun to color while the thing spun!

Daddy napping with baby.

Picnic at Grandma and Grandpas! Don't you think that my baby looks like my sister? I swear that she's a combination of me and Sharon... but I think that she looks more like Jer than the other two do as well....

Borrowing Great Grandma's umbrella during our freak rain/hail storm.

This is Aunt Margaret. She had 12 kids and was a school teacher when they we all raised. Amazing lady... and a good cuddler for babies!

Playing at the ranch that my Great Aunt and Uncle (Frank and Margaret) are running on their mission. They raise cows and probably chickens too... for the Church Welfare program. We got to see their chickens (Sammy's favorite! I had to keep warning him not to scare them too much or they would peck him), cows (Aubrey said they were pigs, and Devin wanted to ride one), take a hay ride (Ada got to handle the reins at one point while Uncle Frank opened a gate), ride on Lady (one of their horses), watch while the other horse "got in time out" (throwing a fit because it didn't want Lady to leave), ride a four wheeler, swing on the rope swing in the barn, see baby owls, and hug our wonderful Aunt and Uncle. (I can't say that I grew up with their kids, but Bam Bam (Ada's favorite boy at Bear Lake) is their grandson, and Julie... their youngest of 12 kids is my age and we used to play Uno together. I remember a particular all nighter when they visited our home once. And I used to watch their very active boys try to run up the side of the A-Frame and see how far they could get.)