Kristy Types

Abby's Baptism

2012-02-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Abby was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints on Saturday, February 4th at 10:30 AM. It was a great day and we had lots of wonderful family members there to share the day with us. I'm so proud of the young lady that Abby has become. She really tries her best to make good choices and to be a good example to her little sisters. Abby is so earnest and really wants to understand things and teach other people about them.

I'm afraid I wasn't very good about taking pictures at the baptism - hopefully I can get some pictures from some of the other family members with cameras. We couldn't figure out a very good place to do a luncheon afterwards (our house just isn't big enough and our church building was booked) so we kind of pooped out on that end. We invited Abby's grandparents' to lunch at had a nice meal together at Ruby River. They even gave Abby a gigantic mud pie ice cream dessert for celebration. Abby enjoyed the day and wrote ALL about it in her journal. Way to go Abby!

My little 3 year old

2012-02-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

My baby is three now! I love this kid. I think I've been able to really enjoy her more since I have a few mom years under my belt now. It's easier to relish the little things when you have a bigger perspective on life as these kids' mom. I probably wanted my other kids to grow up faster and be more self-sufficient since I had another baby to care for at this point. But I'm perfectly fine with Alice staying my "baby" for a while. Nevertheless, she still was determined to get a little older and become an all important three year old. She surprises me all the time with the things she picks up from her sisters. She wants to play with big girls toys and sing weird made up songs like them. Alice is so tolerant of the hundreds of kisses she has to endure from me every day. I'm so glad she's mine!

We haven't had much snow this year, so Alice was VERY excited to run around in it and make footprints all over.

No breakfast in bed for this kid yet, but pancakes with whipped cream sure hit the spot!

Alice's designated present opening spot was on Daddy's lap

Sophie helped decorate for Alice's party - she made this crepe paper version of our little Alice for the window.

Alice got lots of fun things for her birthday - but Sophie seems to be taking possession of whatever suits her fancy.

Alice is really good at blowing - but not so good at directional blowing. It took her a while to get all of her candles out.

Alice and her little cousins (along with big cousin helpers) had fun playing Bingo during the party.

My Abby is 8 years old!

2012-02-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Abby had her 8th birthday a few weeks ago. It's hard to believe she's that old! Abby really has been such a blessing to have in our family. She is so responsible, thoughtful, and kind-hearted. I expect so much out of her and she is so grown up for a little girl. She wakes up to her alarm every morning and gets in the shower and gets dressed. If I'm not around, she gets herself breakfast before she needs to get on the bus. Abby likes to think things out and reason why people feel the way they do. Abby is an amazing child and I'm lucky to have been sent her spirit to help me grow and learn to be a good mom. I hope I don't put too much pressure on her to grow up too fast. It's hard to think of her as just an 8 year old when she is the size of an 11 year old. She already wants to be such a teenager!

Abby has bugged me for years to get her ears pierced, and I finally gave in to her pleas. I drove her to the mall to get her cute little ears pierced. She was very brave and it turned out to be a fairly painless process. :)

Sophie got to join Abby for the traditional birthday breakfast in bed. It's a pretty fun way to start out the day!

Abby invited a gazillion girls to her birthday party, so we ended up having to do it at our church building. She thought it was great!

Abby's current obsession - stuffed animals with really big eyes. She has lots of them now!

All the girls with their blankets and pillows setting up for our movie party!

Abby at the Jensens' for more cake

Sophie Doo turns 5

2012-01-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Sophie turned five years old last month and I neglected to report on it. (Among others things I have been neglecting!) Sophie such a funny little girl - she is always making faces to let me know how pleased or, more often, displeased she is with something I am doing or saying. She always tries to sit on my lap during Primary, but not any other time. Sophie is moody and emotional and loving and kind. Sophie tells me often, lately, that she loves me even when she's mad at me. She is my sneaky child still and tries to find a way to do what she wants no matter what!

I'm going to steal an idea from my sister and do a little Q&A with Sophie:

What is your favorite color? pink

What is your favorite food? raviolis

What is your favorite song? Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam

What is your favorite thing to do? Play Barbies

Who is your best friend? Meghan (the neighbor girl)

What is something you don't like? worms and spiders

What is your favorite movie? Princess movies

What is your favorite show? She-Ra

What do you want to be when you grow up? A ballet teacher

It's funny what answers kids will come up with when they are put on the spot!

Sophie had about three birthday parties this year and she loved it. It was so fun to watch her close her eyes to make wishes before blowing out her birthday candles. She's just such a funny kid!

The kids were super excited when Dad FINALLY came home and Sophie could open her presents!

Abby and I made this pinata, but I didn't really think the whole hanging part through very well. We had to wrap a rope around it to secure it after our first kid took a swing at it. (And re-wrap it after every kid)

Make a wish!

Christmas

2012-01-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat . . ." Tom introduced me to that Christmas Carol and the Muppets' version is our most listened to Christmas song. Alice decided to sing it during the prayer at church the other week. I wish putting my hand over her mouth actually made her get quieter. It just seems to rile her up more!

Anyway, the Christmas season has come and gone and now it's time for me to make a report. If I can remember what went down, anyway. Maybe just a pictorial report. We were with my side of the family for Christmas Eve this year, rather than Tom's side.

Jeff tries his best to be photogenic

Tom is caught candidly picking his nose, or pointing the way to his brain. Not sure which.

Here's a taste of some of our Nativity.

Ethan shared some Christmas tuba love with us

I sure hope Laura got a better picture than I did? Can't they just sit still and look at the camera??

The kids were awesome and did really well sitting through church rather than tearing through their presents in the morning. They got some fun stuff and made big messes and played all day with their new acquisitions. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too!

Primary Revisited

2011-12-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to post really quickly. I'm feeling better about Primary now - probably because I haven't had to do Sharing Time this month!! I think I have been holding myself to a bit of an unrealistic standard. It helps that the other Sharing Times I've seen haven't been super spectacular either. I'll keep trying to do fun things that keep the kids attention, but maybe I won't be so disappointed when a few kids look bored. Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

Primary

2011-11-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

I was in the Young Women's organization for 4 years (pretty much the whole time we've been in this ward.) Now, I'm in Primary! I was called as the 1st Counselor a bit over a month ago. This is proving to be pretty foreign water for me. The only time I really feel like I know what I'm doing is when I go in to help in the nursery. Our president has been gone for the last couple of Sundays and the 2nd Counselor has been home with a sick kid - so it's just me and the Secretary winging it each week. Hopefully I'll feel better with the President back, but it sure seems to be taking us a while to figure out what we're doing. The hard part for me has been teaching Sharing Time. I know, it's only 15 minutes. I just want to be good at it - but I'm not there yet. Coming up with creative and fun ways to teach the children isn't as easy as it seems like it should be.

We combined junior and senior Primary (at least for now) to streamline things a bit. I like having the 3rd hour to help out where I'm needed, or to meet with the other presidency members to plan things out. But I'm sure I could reach the children a little more if they were split. But then it might just be more stressful for me to plan two different lessons and have to do it twice during church. I wish I had been able to observe some sharing times from the previous presidency to use that as a gauge of how I'm doing.

Abby and Sophie haven't complained that it's been more boring than usual - so that could be a good sign. Or maybe they're sparing my feelings. Sometimes they are nice that way. :)

Anyway, I needed to vent a little. I guess I've been on autopilot in Young Women's since it's been my calling for the last 7 out of 10 years or something. I probably need this challenge so I can grow in different ways than I have before. I just hope the growing pains aren't too bad and the primary kids don't suffer them with me!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T12:56:00.000-06:00

Another Halloween has come and gone and we have gobs of candy on our hands! The kids had a blast, I got a little bit of exercise in while walking around the neighborhood, and we got in our dressing up fix for a little while. There isn't a whole lot to say, so I'll just post some pictures. I didn't dress up this year since I didn't really have any reason to. Maybe next year there will be some awesome party or something. :)

Tom's team dressed up as the Village People and won for best costumes

I think these are all reused costumes this year - it makes things much easier!!

Tom's pumpkin was pretty cool this year and he won for best pumpkin at work

Our pumpkins - pretty much all done by Tom

Sophie's pre-school class did a little performance

Sophie liked parading around the school as Mariposa

Autumn Drive

2011-10-03T15:18:00.000-06:00

We went for a Sunday afternoon drive along the Alpine loop yesterday. The colors were amazing! I've never driven the entire Alpine loop (we went up American Fork canyon and back down through Provo canyon). I'm also not usually a big fan of looking at leaves change colors - probably because it means Summer is done and another cold Winter is on its way. But I enjoyed seeing the vibrant colors through the canyon, maybe I'll change my mind about looking at leaves. The kids did remarkably well considering it took us over an hour to do the drive.

We got out of the car for a little while to reward the kids for sitting so well

Sophie is usually willing to be in my pictures

Abby was upset about something and wouldn't make a cute face for me.

Neat caterpillar on the bridge

Mexico!!

2011-09-27T15:21:00.000-06:00

Tom and I went on a Mexican Riviera cruise for our 10th Anniversary. It was tons of fun, and really nice to escape responsibility for a week. It also helped me to really appreciate my beautiful children when I came back. (And also appreciate all the people that helped take care of them when I was gone!) I'm not sure if I want to go through a play by play here on the blog - so I'll probably just post a bunch of pictures. Mexico had some gorgeous scenery - we went to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Cabo had beautiful beaches and Puerto Vallarta had lush jungle foliage. The ship was a floating city and had everything we really needed - a spa, several pools & jacuzzis, a water slide, a comedy club, a fancy restaurant, a gigantic buffet, 24 hour pizza station, 24 hour room service, miniature golf course, all you can eat ice cream cones, awesome Asian lounge singers, towel animals with our turn-down service, cheesy "Vegas style" shows. It was pretty sweet. Did I mention the food was pretty amazing? We had some of the best desserts ever! I even tried escargot - and it didn't taste gross, just creeped me out.

These next pictures are from Cabo San Lucas:

Glass blowing factory - it was pretty cool

Downtown San Jose

Mission in San Jose

Port in Cabo

Gorgeous beach!

Tom and I near the gorgeous beach

Sea lion rock by the arch

Famous? Cabo Arch

Tom getting sick on our crappy little glass bottom boat

Sea lion hanging out on the rocks

On the tender boat back to the ship

These are from Puerto Vallarta:

Church we couldn't look through because they were having Mass

So green!

The scenery was amazing

Hanging out in the flea market - it was SO hot!

Us at the tequila factory along the tour

Hanging out by a random river

Our tour group

And most of the other pictures are towel animals. My favorite!!

Tom eating frog legs!

The pizza was awesome

Fish Lake Campout

2011-09-14T21:20:00.000-06:00

We went camping in August with Tom's family down by Fish Lake. His family used to camp by Fish Lake every summer when he was a kid, so it brought back some memories for them to be there. We don't camp very often and hadn't used our tent for at least 5 years, but we were ready for a little adventure! We brought four air mattresses and discovered this was NOT the way to go. One of them lost air too quickly, and one of them was much too tall for the tent and took up too much space. It was also lots colder at night than anticipated (low 50s) and I was really cold. Thankfully, the kids were plenty toasty in their beds. It was an adventure, and I'll try to be better prepared if there is ever a next time! We might just have to invest in a little camper trailer if this becomes a regular thing. :)

The kids painted their own t-shirts

I'm pretty sure Steve makes the best worst faces ever

Tom's dad led us on the unmarked trail of doom through stinging nettle and thick shrubbery to go to a spring infested with deer flies just waiting to bite us. Abby slipped and stepped in the boggy mud and got her shoe all gross.

Here's the spring we hiked to. Not worth it!!

Don't see a pathway? That's cause there wasn't one!!

A rare smile from Sophie on this expedition - the deer flies made her TOTALLY paranoid!

Grandpa told the grandkids why this spot is called "Umbrella Hole". It's a funny story.

Alice was decked out in her finest necklaces for our excursion.

Tom taught Abby how to fish

She even caught one!!

Fish lake had some really nice views

Brownie Wagons

2011-09-13T14:35:00.000-06:00

Alright, I'm going to have to play a little catch-up here. The girls made these brownie covered wagons in primary for the 24th of July. They are such a cute idea! I love the little animal cracker oxen and the pretzel yokes. These didn't last long around our house!

School is in Session

2011-09-06T11:42:00.000-06:00

School is back in and I've got TWO kids going to school now! Abby just started the 2nd grade and Sophie had her very first day of preschool today. Abby has been in school for two weeks and doesn't hate it yet - so that's a good sign! She really seems to like her teacher and talks about how the teacher brings her ipod and they listen to music in class.

I was lucky to get a smile rather than a grimacey smile out of this kid. She's going through such an awkward picture phase!

Here comes the bus! It's just so convenient and the bus stop is across the street from our house.

Sophie was so excited to start school, and had to wait for two WHOLE weeks after Abby started to get her turn. She was super obedient this morning and didn't drag her feet while getting ready. Her classroom is full of lots of fun stuff, so what kid wouldn't want to go there? They have a sand table, play-doh, a big playhouse, a fish tank, dress-up clothes, blocks, and lots of dolls. (I'm sure I'll find out what else there was to do when I go pick Sophie up in a bit.) Alice had to be dragged away after we dropped Sophie off. She wasn't very happy that she didn't get to stay for school too.

Sophie brought her special blankie to keep her company in the car.

Here's Sophie with her first school activity. Hopefully she can show a little patience with all the other kids!

My kids are growing up so quickly! I love to see them learn and grow and make new friends. But it's hard to see them grow out of that little kid phase. It's a good thing I've got Alice around to keep me on my toes when the other two are gone!

Little Sisters

2011-08-31T12:41:00.000-06:00

Abby and Sophie are almost 3 years apart in age - and I have wished they were closer in age so they could be better playmates. Sophie and Alice are just a little over 2 years apart in age. I keep hearing about how people love having their kids close together so they can be buddies and have someone to play with. (Or appreciating having that as a child.) I'm still waiting for Alice and Sophie to get to that point - but they're getting there! Alice is becoming more and more interested in the things Sophie likes to do. And I think Sophie is getting a little more tolerant of her kid sister. They fight plenty when they sit next to each other in the car, but sometimes they play and get along. They were building a clubhouse out of the curtains and blankets behind the couch yesterday. And as I sit here typing, they're watching an old Hello Kitty show on the computer together. Sophie is starting to take on the role of the big (and sometimes helpful) sister and it makes me happy. She helps Alice get snacks sometimes and draws on the sidewalk with chalk with her.

I'm waiting for them to be best friends, but not fighting all the time is an improvement.

Photo Shoot

2011-08-11T09:06:00.000-06:00

We had an amazing photographer come up to our family reunion to take pictures. We decided to have some pictures taken of our little family. You can tell we aren't all as photogenic as we'd like to be. And I didn't have a hair dryer so my hair looks awful. Oh well! We got some cute pics despite Sophie's bad mood and Abby's difficulty with smiling naturally on camera. I'm pretty sure Alice wins for cutest picture ever.

Reunion fun!

2011-07-25T08:57:00.000-06:00

We had a big family reunion for my mom's side of the family a few weeks ago. Almost everyone was able to make it. It was a blast - I really enjoyed seeing so many aunts/uncles/cousins. It's fun to see everyone's cute kids, I get a lot of pleasure seeing my kids play with their extended family. We ate lots of raspberry shakes, played lots of games at night, and pretty much just enjoyed everyone's company. It was really nice being in a big house together - especially for those of us that would like to stay up after our kids are in bed. Hotel rooms just don't foster that very well.

I didn't really get any genius pictures, but here's a few anyway:

4th of July

2011-07-13T16:46:00.001-06:00

We were at Bear Lake for the 4th of July holiday this year. My parents were gracious enough to let us use a few days of their time share before they came up to use it at our family reunion. The place was really nice - if only the beds were more comfortable I'd probably want to live there. We went to church on the 3rd at the local LDS chapel and there were probably 800 people there for sacrament meeting! I guess they had one or two other sacrament meetings that day with similar numbers.

We heard about a 4th of July chuckwagon breakfast in Paris, ID and decided to try that out. I've never seen a longer food line! We turned around and drove the 25 minutes back to Garden City where we just about 8 minutes too late for breakfast. (Can't you keep serving breakfast for a few minutes past 10:00???) So breakfast was corn dogs and a raspberry shake. We drove back up to Paris for the parade and the kids got lots of candy and plastic necklaces. They were pretty satisfied. Then I think we got another shake.

We sat on the balcony of the condo and watched fireworks over the lake, in the distance, and up on the adjacent hill. It was pretty great and the girls didn't seem to miss our usual family fireworks too much. It was a fun Independence day - getting to be in a new place and experience different things. I think adventure is good for me sometimes!

Swimmy swimmy swim

2011-06-30T16:19:00.000-06:00

I love seeing my kids swimming and enjoying it! Abby and Sophie finished up their swimming lessons and both passed on to the next level up. Abby is working on the different strokes - it's kind of painful to watch. Sophie mostly gets to play and have the teacher float her in the water so far. The next level should be more intensive for her. I really need to get in the pool and work with Abby so she can have the different movements *click* for her. (The rhythm is tricky to get, but once you do it's MUCH easier!) Here's some pics of them. I didn't get anything fabulous because I was trying to be inconspicuous and also not lose Alice in the process.

I had to sneak an Alice shot in.

One day Abby will care how her hair looks in pictures - that day is NOT any time soon. :)

She may not know how to swim - but she feels VERY comfortable in the water now

So happy for Summertime!

2011-06-08T15:15:00.000-06:00

I'm SO glad it's finally warm! Summer around here is pretty fun - and really beautiful right now. Here's my little buddy at swimming lessons with me. (I'll get pictures of Sophie and Abby swimming on another day.)

Last day of 1st Grade

2011-06-03T11:31:00.000-06:00

Abby finished 1st grade today. The school day lasted a whole hour and a half! She's been home for about an hour and already she said she misses the kids from school. I hope that isn't foreshadowing for how this summer goes. Abby will need to get used to our humdrum lifestyle here at home. At least Sophie won't be sad that she has nobody to play with for most of the day.

Abby had an excellent teacher this year, hopefully next year's teacher will be just as good - if not better.

End of Soccer!!

2011-06-03T09:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, so soccer really ended about a month ago - but I just pulled the pictures off the camera. Lazy!! The weather was pretty miserable this year for soccer, so we didn't have a very enjoyable time at the games. I think there were about two games with decent weather. Maybe two. Anyway, here are a few pictures to help us remember the season.

Abby kicked the ball!!

Abby looks pretty hard core since her wrist is wrapped - but that was from a tragic falling all the way down the stairs accident rather than a soccer injury.

Go White Lightning!

Papa and Gigi helped provide distractions for Sophie and Alice during some games.

Alice loves the attention of the "big" kids. Thanks Brock!

Happy Easter

2011-04-26T15:29:00.000-06:00

I think we had a pretty darned good Easter this year despite the inclement weather. The kids have TONS of candy and I haven't eaten any of it. I haven't even been tempted. (so far) I also was able to feel the spirit really strongly during Young Women's and hopefully was able to help our young women feel it as well.

We had a Tom's family over for an egg hunt at our house on Saturday - complete with a wet yard and some intermittent sprinkles. Sunday we spent at my parents' house. There was good food and great company. Holidays are so much fun! (Especially when they are lower stress like Easter tends to be.)

Here are some pictures to enjoy. Or not. I guess it depends on what you're looking for!

These kids move TOO quickly to get a good shot!

Sophie had a melt down prior to going outside, so she looks pretty surly here.

Alice DID pose for the picture and say cheese, she just didn't actually look at the camera. But still cute!

The grandkids on Tom's side

Easter Sunday!

Dad gets a turn in the pictures

Mom's turn with the girls

I guess I ought to get a tripod and attempt to get the whole family in a picture together. :)

New Posts

2011-04-22T12:20:00.001-06:00

I have about 4 new posts today - so don't just stop at the Sophie post or you'll miss out on some cuteness.

Impromptu Bangs

2011-04-22T12:19:00.000-06:00

Abby and Sophie got some scissors out for making Easter decorations. The scissors were left out - and Sophie got bored. I TOLD her not to cut her hair. She cut a good chunk out of the front and over to the side. We had to fix it with bangs. She LOVES them. I'm worried that she thinks cutting her hair could sometimes bring fabulous results. BOO. But now we can't really do easy pony tails and pigtails because of the side chunk. I don't know what to do with this little girl!

Popsicles

2011-04-22T12:12:00.000-06:00

Nice cold Popsicles after a day in the sun! I love seeing my girls sitting together :)

Zoo trip

2011-04-22T12:10:00.000-06:00

We took a trip to the zoo during spring break. I was worried it would be super crowded - but it was overcast and we got there about 2 minutes before they close the gates, so it was virtually empty! The girls had a lot of fun and I wasn't stressed over losing children in the crowds. I'll just post some pics for the fun memories. :)

Our favorite drinking fountain

Zoo train!

Abby couldn't quite get up the back of the rhino . . .

Sprinkles!

2011-04-22T11:59:00.000-06:00

Alice just likes to eat the top off of her doughnuts.

Losing It - in more ways than one!

2011-04-18T13:03:00.001-06:00

This morning was hard for me. I've felt super emotional all morning - cranky, throwing things, you know - not a fun person. (* please note, I didn't throw anything AT anybody) I'm hungry and tired and I feel like I don't actually ever get anything done. It's probably PMS, but I've never really noticed it before - so it's hard to say if that's what it is. Hormones suck. Work is lame right now, I don't have anything to do since my company hasn't signed a new client in ages. So I sit at the computer waiting for work to come, while I don't actually DO anything. My house gets messier and messier and my kids just get neglected. (I have yet to find a good balance with work and home because not sitting at the computer waiting for work makes me feel tremendously guilty.)

Anyway, I got a package in the mail today - some new clothes, and that helped lighten my mood a bit. They actually all fit and looked pretty decent, so that's a big plus. I've been needing new clothes, because I've been losing weight over the last 7 months. I'm going to actually post a few pictures of myself, just so I can see that I've been making progress and that it is really worth it. I'm doing the HCG diet with a homeopathic version of the HCG. It takes a lot of discipline, and I think I've proven to do pretty well at it. I'm just getting really tired of my limited foods right now. Maybe my body is just getting close to where it wants to be, I don't know. I've been more hungry than before and had WAY more thoughts of quitting this limited 500 calorie phase earlier than planned.

That's about it. Here's some pictures. (Please excuse my messy room. Like I said earlier, I'm not getting anything done around here.) I've lost nearly 70 pounds on this diet.

My "tiny" dancer

2011-04-04T15:59:00.001-06:00

Sophie finished up her dance lessons last week. (Hallelujah!) She had her recital on Thursday and was SO excited to dance on stage. I won't claim she's a natural, by any means - but she had fun. The class was a Creative Dance class for ages 3-5 at the local rec center. I like her having activities to do, it's just hard to fit them into my schedule. This was during Alice's nap time and my work time - so it wasn't ideal, to say the least! I guess nothing really ever will be. :) Watch the videos if you want, you'll notice that Sophie tends to be easily distracted . . .

Attack of the Ninjas!!

2011-03-17T16:48:00.000-06:00

So, after Abby got her yellow stripey belt from karate, the crazier members of the family decided to dress like ninjas and have a battle. There was more dressing up than battling.

Karate

2011-03-17T16:45:00.001-06:00

Abby with Sensei Lis

Abby finished her karate class she's been taking at the rec center. It was for ages 5-7, so she was on the upper range of the kids in class. So, kind of a lame class for her - but she enjoyed it. The class lasted for 2 months and she had her final demonstration/belt test on Saturday. It was, um, awesome. Anyway, here's some video. You don't have to watch them, but Abby would be happy if you did - then told her how great she is. She likes stuff like that.

Abby doing some push-ups and sit-ups

The class wandering around, slowly throwing punches

So, I was unimpressed by the rec center karate class - but it was cheap and Abby had fun. I'm probably going to put her in another rec center karate class when she turns eight so she can be with the older kids and hopefully learn a little more. The other (non-rec center) classes are just very heavily involved and expensive, so I'm not ready to sign up for them. We'll see what the future holds.

Oh yeah, one day the sensei called all the parents in with the kids and talked about the importance of not being stinky. I thought it was funny, I guess one of the boys smells.

Happy Birthday Tom?

2011-03-17T15:49:00.000-06:00

Tom had his birthday last Friday. I confess, I didn't do a very good job of making it a great day. He did get a delicious omelet in bed, though. At least we started the day off right. Sophie and I did some decorating and we even made a sign. We went out to eat the night before, so birthday dinner was pretty uneventful - and unplanned. I find myself doing that a LOT lately. Dinner time rolls around and I have no clue what to make. I ought to work on that.

I did get him a new video card, so that's been a good gift. Anyway, here are some pictures. Maybe next year I'll feel like doing something more. (He did get to have a party/hang out night with his brothers on the day after his birthday - so hopefully it felt more festive for him.) And the camera wasn't working for blowing out the candles. This is about the only picture I've got. I'm terrible.

It's warmish outside!

2011-02-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

It is sort of warm outside, and I needed a good reason for Sophie to change out of her pajamas - so I had the little girls go outside to play. They had lots of fun jumping on the trampoline together - it's been a while since they could. They're pretty much the only bright spot in our drab winter-worn landscape!

This morning

2011-02-11T10:47:00.001-07:00

This is how I found Alice this morning when I got her up. Silly kid.

My Newest 2 Year Old

2011-02-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Alice had her 2nd birthday on February 2nd - Groundhog's Day. She had a pretty great day - other than her chickenpox displaying themselves more prominently. I wrapped her presents and put them on the hearth the night before. She snuck upstairs and opened three of them without me there to stop her. It's okay, she got so spread out the fun and she liked her presents too.

Alice and Sophie had a tea party with Alice's new tea set. It was pretty adorable

We had a pretty normal day since I had to work, then Alice's grandparents came over for cake and ice cream after we finished dinner. (Alice woke up late from her nap and was too cranky to eat her dinner without watching Dora at the same time. I had to bribe her with watching a show on my laptop so she'd eat. She was still watching when the grandparents came.)

Alice didn't quite get the candles out with her novice blowing techniques - she almost resorted to putting them out with her hands before Tom stepped in and blew them out for her.

Abby was Alice's present opening helper. It suited both of them just fine.

Alice has been such a fun addition to our family. She certainly has her own personality and quirks. She is playful and fun and throws the most adorable tantrums. (I won't think this in the coming months.) Alice is my neediest child, she really likes her mom and likes it when I rock her before putting her to bed. The other two didn't want any sort of cuddling until they've gotten older. Alice likes to randomly count in Spanish - thanks Dora. She is still a thumb sucker when she is really tired and is very attached to her blanket. For now, she is still taking good, long naps. I'm hoping this continues for a long time. I think if we moved her out of her crib, she wouldn't nap anymore. So, here's to many more nights in the crib! I love my special little girl and I'm glad we can celebrate another year of having her in our lives.

Spots

2011-02-03T15:28:00.003-07:00

Chickenpox!!

I have a 7 year old

2011-01-24T11:41:00.001-07:00

Abby turned 7 on January 21st. It's hard to believe I have a 7 year old, since that makes me pretty old, but I'm happy to have her! Abby is helpful, kind, smart, funny, messy, outgoing, boisterous, independent, pretty, and lots of fun. I put a lot of responsibility on her, since she is the oldest - and she bears it well. She is a good helper with her little sisters and tends to mother them even when I don't ask. I love to see her helping our little Alice with things.

She has made so much progress this year in school. Abby is reading really well and doing her math like a champ. She tries her best in her karate class to really follow the instructor. It's cute to see her attempting to get her posture and form correct.

Abby had plenty of cake and ice cream and celebrations for her birthday this year. We celebrated on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She loved having so many parties and being spoiled!

Abby started the day off with breakfast in bed and a present!

Tom took Abby to Trafalga, then she got pizza for dinner, and chocolate cake for dessert.

For her party, she got to play the candy bar game. Abby had the best luck ever and kept rolling doubles. She probably ate half the candy bar!

Abby had a blast with friends and cousins over for her party.

Family Pictures

2011-01-20T10:43:00.003-07:00

We were able to nab my sister-in-law while she was in town to take a couple of family photos. We didn't do high volume - but we got a couple of good ones! (And it was really cold!)

Christmas Day!

2010-12-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm finally on my last catch up post from Christmas. Christmas morning was fun for almost everyone. Alice was NOT ready to be woken up. If you read the previous post, then you know she didn't fall asleep until about 1 AM. We woke her up at 8:30 and she was not very happy about it. Should we have just let her sleep in and miss all the Christmas morning fun? (Maybe) The girls were really excited, but didn't wake up until about 8:00, then patiently waited while Tom and I laid in bed for 30 minutes not wanting to get up.

We made our short trip down the hall and the girls pounced on their presents. It's amazing how quickly Abby can rip through everything! Everyone else took a little bit more time, but it worked out okay. The girls were happy and, of course, totally spoiled.

We went to a delicious brunch at my grandparents' house at 11:00. The best thing had to be the deep fried french toast. SO YUMMY!! I can't wait until I'm done with my diet so I can make them for my family. (Or just for me!) We went home for naptime and then over to my parents' house for dinner. It was awesome having everyone there. My brother and his family came up from Texas, so it was especially nice. The kids play together so well and just love to be together!

Christmas was a success this year, that's for sure!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T14:11:00.002-07:00

Christmas Eve was fun and crowded, with a little drama mixed in. We generally spend Christmas Eve with my husband's side of the family - and this year we all piled into his Grandpa's semi-empty house for our annual dinner and Nativity "play". (I'm using the word PLAY loosely here.) We ate lots of food and the kids ate way more candy than they should have since their Grandpa kindly set out dishes of it. There was a pretty steady flow to the M&Ms and Skittles.

I don't usually put myself in here, but what the heck!

After dinner, we got the kids dressed up in their Nativity costumes and attempted to get them to re-enact a bit of Luke 2. We're not particularly organized, and there's never a great place for a stage - so it's usually interesting. Sophie got to be Mary this year, she was very excited. Abby was an angel and Alice was a dog - or some sort of barnyard animal that wears a dog costume.

After the play was declared finished, there were presents galore - with children fighting over toys and wrapping paper strewn about the room.

Snuggies all around for the grandkids!

It was a good evening, just crazy as usual. Tom's brother, at some point, announced to the room that his wife had peed on something that morning. We knew where he was going with it, but isn't there a little bit better way to announce to the family that you are expecting your first child? Now we have another thing to tease him about. ;)

That's about it for Christmas Eve. The kids stayed up way too late - especially Alice. I put her to bed sometime a bit after 9 and she was too worked up to fall asleep. I think I stopped hearing noises from her room sometime after 1 AM.

Temple Square Christmas Lights

2010-12-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

We've never taken the kids to see the lights at Temple Square before - so we decided to give it a go this year. It was SO busy. If we go again, it'll need to be way earlier in December. Little kids + crowds = frazzled Mom. The parking was awful, and everywhere was super crowded. But, the lights were beautiful and it was fun to get together with my sister's family. Here are a few of our pictures:

Christmas dresses

2010-12-20T13:44:00.004-07:00

I attempted to take pictures of the kids after church in their Christmas dresses yesterday. Why can't they just cooperate? And really, should Abby be the hardest one to get good pictures of? She can't seem to look at the camera most of the time.

Sophie's party

2010-12-15T14:59:00.008-07:00

We had Sophie's "friend" party on Monday. Which was just cousins this year, since she doesn't get out much to make any other kinds of friends yet. We went to Chuck E Cheese and let the kids roam around for an hour and a half attempting to get as many tickets as possible so they could spend them on really lame toys. They had a blast and Sophie seemed to think it was pretty great. She was scared of the big mouse, so I didn't get a picture of her trying to give him a hug or anything. (She told me she was just shy.) The mom of one of the kids having a birthday had Chuck E bring out a crown for Sophie as well. She really liked it and I think it helped her not notice the fact that I went the cheapie route and didn't pay for the official birthday package.

We were especially excited that JoAnna, Jared, and Ember could join us since they are here from Texas for an extended visit. Yay!!! We just wish AJ could be here in Utah for the whole time too. I guess a month is a little bit more vacation than he should ask for at this point. (He's worked at his job since March.)

Here are some pictures of the event:

Ember is getting SO big!! And I'm jealous that she has so much more hair than Alice.

Alice had fun on some of the rides and generally just wandering around the building.

Sophie and Alice both freaked out and got scared on this ride. Wimps!

Sophie was VERY serious while we were singing to her.

Alice decided to cut out the middle man and just skip using her hands altogether.

I think the cupcakes were a hit.

Here's the party crew. At least Abby was looking in the right direction and smiling at the same time for once!

Chopped

2010-12-09T09:51:00.001-07:00

Abby got a haircut. She LOVES it! I think it's pretty cute too. :)

Christmas cards

2010-12-08T10:51:00.002-07:00

So, I've never really been one to send Christmas cards. I think about doing it every year - but somehow I haven't ever gotten around to it. Wait - I take that back. I think I sent Christmas cards one year before I was married, and that was just because I found some funny cards about snowmen and yellow snow. Funny, right?? I think I might have a couple floating around here somewhere. Maybe I could use those somehow . . .

Since I have three adorable girls, I need to start sending out cards or a letter or something to brag about how awesome they are. I at least need to reciprocate all the cards that get sent to us so we don't seem like such slackers. Shutterfly is having a promotion where I could get some Christmas photo cards to send. (these cards, these other cards, or maybe these) They look super easy to make and wouldn't require too much actual creativity on my part. It can't be as much work as thinking of and buying Christmas presents, right?

Anyway, maybe Shutterfly can actually pull me out of my Christmas card slump and I can send some sweet pictures of my little family around for everyone to see. Of course, then I'd have to choose from all of their cute layouts. Too much work for me? I guess we'll find out!

Here are some of the cute layouts they have - now I just need to find a great picture of my kids where they are ALL looking in the same direction!

I wish we were photogenic (models) like THESE people!

Happy Birthday Sophie!!

2010-12-06T15:17:00.004-07:00

My little Sophie is 4 years old today!! She is such a little blessing to our home. Sophie is adorable, funny, kind, smart, loving, sassy, snuggly, and naughty - all rolled into one. Sometimes she is more diva than I want to handle, but I just love her to pieces. She comes up with the best phrases sometimes. Her most used one is "You hurt my heart." So sad, even when it's totally unjustified. I was telling her to be quiet or share or something in church and she looked at me and said "Don't even think about it!" Little stinker!!

Anyway, Sophie is a blessing to all of us and I'm so glad to have a day to celebrate her. She woke up to breakfast in bed - pink pancakes with chocolate chips / blueberries and syrup and whipped cream on top. She was pretty excited to be old enough to get to participate in this little tradition. Sophie got to open a few presents this morning and has had a pretty great day so far. We're going to see Tangled together as a family later and she is really looking forward to it. Thanks for being a part of our family Sophie!!

Shopping with kids

2010-12-01T15:52:00.002-07:00

I just got back from shopping at Walmart with Sophie and Alice. I am feeling SO frazzled!!! I can't stand it. I think just Sophie would have been fine - but Alice is such a nightmare to shop with. Now I feel like I need a nap. And some chocolate. Bleh. I don't know how this is supposed to NOT be difficult.

Thankful

2010-11-26T10:48:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for my wonderful family. I'm thankful for getting to have a pretty darned good Thanksgiving dinner - and that my Mom was able to be there and seem a lot like her usual self. I'm thankful that my family doesn't have conflict and backbiting, that we really do love each other. I'm thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and that I can be forgiven of my sins and live with Him again. I'm thankful for the potential to have Celestial glory and that my family is also striving to attain it. I'm also thankful to have lost 32 pounds these last few months so I can feel a little better about myself. I'm thankful that my husband has been willing to be on that journey with me as well.

I'm thankful for a good job for me and Tom - that it is a very stable company filled with some great people. I'm thankful to get to interact with the young women of my ward and learn from them - and also try to be a better person so they will have a good example in me. I'm thankful for three beautiful little girls and for their undying affection and love. I'm thankful for their father, my wonderful husband, and for his love for me.

I have a lot of blessings to be thankful for - and this is just a small portion of them.

Early birthday present

2010-11-17T11:42:00.003-07:00

I got an early birthday present last week. (Birthday/Christmas/Valentine's Day . . . ) I got a new camera and I love it!! I just need more time to play with it and more cooperative kids to photograph. Not to mention the *perfect* outfits and hair. Anyway, here are a few new pictures of the kids. I'd like to take a photography class sometime so I can get the most out of this new camera.

A bit overwhelmed

2010-10-26T15:00:00.003-06:00

I feel like I have too much going on lately. I don't think I have more than most people, it just seems like a lot for me and so things are falling by the wayside. Like my house. Bleh! Can't it just clean itself?

With Tom working again, I am working from home full time with kids full time and it's harder than I thought it would be. Maybe it's just because work has been really stressful lately. It's hard to say. Or maybe I really didn't realize how much of the kids' attention Tom really diverted. By the end of my work day, I just don't feel like picking up after the kids and keeping things neat. I'll figure this out eventually, right?

Fall Soccer Season

2010-10-20T14:13:00.005-06:00

Okay, so soccer has been over for 3 weeks or so, but I didn't post yet - so here goes. Abby had a lot of fun this year playing soccer. Her coach actually knew what he was doing and taught the girls some good skills. Sophie liked dressing up as a soccer kid when she went to watch the games and Alice just like to roam around a lot and wander onto the field. Abby actually scored a few goals at the beginning of the season - she was SUPER excited about it. Somehow, though, the teams got pretty good and Abby wasn't able to score any more. Hopefully she'll be excited to jump back into soccer in the Spring.

Baby Po?

2010-09-25T10:10:00.002-06:00

Sophie has decided that Po is now her baby. She carries him around the house. She chases him with a blanket. She dances with him. He avoids her.

Employment!!

2010-09-07T11:25:00.003-06:00

Tom has been out of work for 15 months now, but not for much longer. There was an opening with my company advertised through our internal email and I thought Tom should apply. It was for software testing. He doesn't have any testing experience, but we figured it wouldn't hurt to try. After a couple of interviews and a bit too much waiting, Tom was offered a job with FPS GOLD. It's part of DHI Computing and I work for one of the other subsidiary companies. We're pretty excited and maybe a bit nervous. Things will be pretty different around the house without Tom around. I'll have to try to be more organized and scheduled to get everything done that I need to. And I won't have someone to watch the kids if I need to go somewhere in the middle of the day. But, this is a new chapter - and hopefully some good stability as Tom works for a great family oriented company. (It's been good for me for 11 years!)

Little Hike

2010-08-27T09:51:00.003-06:00

For some reason Tom really wanted to go for a little hike to see a waterfall. He found some place called the Grotto up Payson Canyon. So, we headed out after I was done with work yesterday. Unfortunately, the car ride took forever due to rush hour traffic combined with construction combined with an accident. Ah well, at least we had licorice to keep the kids occupied. We made our way up there and hiked up to the funny little water fall area. There was a wet towel and some socks sitting on a rock there, so some weirdo must have been nearby. I was a bit creeped out by that part. We took some pictures and hiked back down the trail a ways and ate the sandwiches we had brought for dinner. The kids had fun and it was a bit of an adventure. Alice isn't great to hike with, but at least she wasn't too squirmy. There were some fun logs to cross over a stream. Sophie was scared of them and tried to fall off once. Maybe we'll try another little adventure sometime soon. :)

First Grade

2010-08-25T11:58:00.003-06:00

Abby started first grade this morning!! She was nervous and excited. Hopefully the whole day thing doesn't throw her off too much - I know she was looking forward to eating lunch at school today. Sophie has been a little worried that she won't have anyone to play with, but I keep countering with the argument that she'll get to play with Abby's toys now without Abby taking them away. So far so good!!

Prayers

2010-08-18T10:42:00.003-06:00

We have a lot of people we pray for in our daily prayers. We pray for Daddy and Uncle Jeff to find good jobs. We also pray for Grandma Jensen's foot to get all better. We recently added Grandma Ludlow to our list of people to pray for. Today in our breakfast prayer I prayed that Grandma Ludlow's cancer would go away. After prayer Sophie looked at me a little puzzled and asked why Grandma should lose her cancer. She quickly followed up asking, "Is cancer good or bad?" When I told her it was bad she understood. It's fun to see the workings of her little growing brain. For those of you that don't know (I know there aren't a lot of people who read this), my mom's colon cancer reappeared in her right lung. It hasn't spread anywhere else, thankfully, but we need to get rid of this vestige of that awful disease. Please keep her in your prayers too.

Yard Stuff

2010-08-13T13:04:00.007-06:00

Our yard is finally coming together. We don't have dirt yard anymore in the front - we have a beautiful lawn!! It's been three weeks since we put it in and it's looking great. Tom's brothers and dad came over and we installed the sod really quickly. The sprinklers are working fabulously and keeping the lawn nice and green. We are now planning out the planters and should get those planted in the next week or so. Whoopie!

We have also been wanting to remove the gigantic pine tree from our backyard. I think it's probably 50-60 feet tall. It was a daunting task and we really didn't want to pay a thousand dollars to have somebody come and remove. In comes the home teacher. He used to remove trees as a job a while back and offered to cut down our tree for us. We said it sounded like a good idea, but we never set a date. Then he called last Saturday morning and said he could do it that day.

Well, down it came, and we were left with a gigantic tree all over the back lawn.

We couldn't figure out a way to haul the pieces away to the green waste dump since we don't have a truck. And Tom's dad (with his truck) were up the canyon all week for Scoutie training. So, we kinda sat on it and figured we'd wait until he was back and borrow his truck/trailer. Then, we get a phone call from a neighbor boy offering to cut it up and haul it away for us if we paid him some money. We agreed and now it's about halfway gone! Hooray again!

So, things are looking better and shaping up to be a little more of what I'd like to have in our yard. There is still much work to be done, but at least a lot of the big stuff is out of the way.

Oh, and here is a random picture of Sophie - courtesy of Abby's photography.

Here's Alice swinging at my parents' house. We were trying to see what kind of plants they had that we'd want to plant in our yard. Isn't she cute?

It won't let me delete this picture for some reason :\

Girls Camp

2010-08-13T11:51:00.003-06:00

I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp this year. (It was in July, but I'm just posting about it now.) It was a great experience, but it was so much more work than I thought it would be. It seemed like we were either prepping for a meal, cooking a meal, or cleaning up from a meal all day, every day. SO much cooking!!! We (as leaders) have since decided that next year will be different. Lunches will be sandwiches and we'll have cold cereal for some of the breakfasts. We just went WAY too big with our meals. They were yummy, but OH so much work. It made it difficult to enjoy the scenery and feel the spirit.

It seems like the girls were touched, though. And since camp is all about the young women, then our efforts were successful. I *did* get to have some fun while I was there, though. Silly me, I chose to go on the difficult hike. I didn't know if I'd ever get to hike up to the Lone Pine, so I figured I should take the opportunity while it was there. (It's a Camp Shalom landmark.) The hike wasn't really too difficult, but it was certainly an adventure. The man leading our hike decided not to take the trail for part of it and lead us up a steep hill. I'm glad nobody slipped, cause that person would have fallen all the way back down. We were much happier when things leveled out and it wasn't quite so treacherous. Then the rain came. It felt good and helped to cool us off. Unfortunately, it also made the trail into a mud pit. We slipped and slided back along the trail for quite a ways before things were more easily navigated. The hike ended up going 1-2 hours more than it should have, but nobody got hurt - just VERY dirty.

The girls at Lone Pine

After we climbed the treacherous hill. And, yeah, my eyes are closed. Lame.

The YCLs also put on a Legends hike on one of the nights. They wanted me to come along so they wouldn't get too scared. (They make up scary legends and take you on a hike in the middle of the night through the camp/surrounding woods.) Little did they know, I get scared too. I was pretty good at hiding it - I tried to laugh instead of scream. I'm afraid my laughter got a bit maniacal sounding for some of it, though. Ah well, it seemed to help the girls not wet their pants or anything.

Some more of the girls - after our relay races

One of the girls got indigestion on Wednesday night and threw up in our cabin. Not cool. Then she had to get up twice in the night to pee. (No unchaperoned biffy visits, so everybody needs a buddy.) Luckily, I only had to walk her to the biffy for one of them. The next night she also had indigestion, but we loaded her up with various remedies and gave her a bag to puke in just in case. No puke this time - hooray!! But still a middle of the night biffy run. I didn't get much sleep despite the gigantic and relatively comfortable cot I borrowed from my in-laws.

So, it was a fun week - but certainly not a vacation. I enjoyed myself and got to know the girls a little better. Oh yeah, it also rained every day. We had to cancel a few things because of it, but it didn't spoil things too badly. Anyway, girls camp is highly recommended. Hopefully we learn our lessons from this year and do better next time. There is so much more to say about camp, but I'm pretty sure nobody wants to read about it. Ah well, I just didn't want to forget to post.

Vacation

2010-08-03T10:40:00.005-06:00

I'm a little slow on updating, but I'm getting to it now!! We had a great vacation to Lake Tahoe last month. The drive was long, but the kids did awesome. It sure helps to have a tv for Abby and Sophie to watch movies on all through the trip. It's been too long now, so I'll probably just post a whole bunch of pictures most people won't want to see. We had lots of fun hiking and relaxing and splashing around in the pool. Laura and Jeff were finally able to join us (it's been several years) but AJ had to go and move to Texas, so we didn't have everybody with us. Maybe one of these summers we'll all go together again!!!

Sophie and Abby took turns being sick a couple of days - we were lucky they each only lasted about 12 hours. There was much puke to be had, but we managed much better than I would have thought. I was VERY grateful Alice didn't get sick. I'm pretty sure babies don't give much warning before they puke all over you.

My parents were at their usual place up at north shore and the rest of us had a couple of condos on the south shore. We did a lot of driving back and forth, but we got lots of fun time together.

We got an awesome view of Lake Tahoe from really high up on some mountain courtesy of Uncle Paul. It was pretty cool, even if it was a little bit of a scary car ride trying to get there before the sun set.

We took the obligatory photos at the Emerald Bay Vista Stop off place.

Alice really wanted to join Sophie in the bath. She dove in with all of her clothes on!!

I let Abby take some pictures and these three were her very favorite subjects.

I had a hard time keeping these girls apart. (Mostly I couldn't get my kids to stay in our condo!)

The girls LOVED their beach time.

Thankfully, Alice did some good napping in the car. We were in the car a lot.

Playing games with the family is a rare treat - but always fun. (As long as I win)

Sophie again

2010-06-15T12:35:00.002-06:00

Sophie came to me asking for a popsicle because it's too hot outside. I told her to get one out of the freezer and she came back all sad. "Oh, I'm too little to get a popsicle." I had her sit on my lap so I could look at just how little she really was. She said, "I can't greach it because my arms are too little. And it's too frozen."

That probably didn't make a ton of sense, but she was really cute and so dejected--so I just had to write it down. I liked that her second excuse was that it was too frozen to reach. She took me over by the freezer and said, "See, it's too frozen."

Bombs away!

2010-06-09T14:37:00.004-06:00

Abby and Sophie are both in swimming lessons for a couple of weeks. Abby doesn't seem to have forgotten much from last summer. She LOVES jumping off the diving board again this year. I haven't gotten any Sophie pictures yet. She's so cute with her class of 3-year old girls. She really loves being with her "friends" and getting in the water. Hopefully she takes to it like Abby has!

Dirt Yard

2010-06-09T14:34:00.003-06:00

So we decided to tear out our front lawn and start over with the addition of sprinklers. The sprinklers are actually in right now, but we still need to level everything and put in sod. Tom and Jeff (and Brock too) put in a lot of hours working on the sprinklers. I'm pretty excited for it to be finished - but for now I have a dirty muddy front yard. And my floor is perpetually covered in dirt. Hopefully I'll have some nice grassy pictures to show soon!

Silly Sophie

2010-05-21T10:05:00.001-06:00

Sophie and Alice were exchanging baby talk today at breakfast. I said something like, "You guys are so silly yelling at each other!" And Sophie replied, "We not yelling, we talking Spanish." Funny kid.

Chomp

2010-05-18T14:31:00.000-06:00

Abby got bitten on Sunday - and it wasn't a mosquito. She was sad.

Mother's Day

2010-05-13T15:31:00.002-06:00

Mother's day was a good day. Tom made me quiche for breakfast and it was yummy. Abby made me two cards and brought me a bouquet of some random fake flowers she found around the house. Sophie came into the bedroom in the morning and told me "Happy Mother's Day!". I asked her for a hug and she told me she couldn't because she needed to go potty. Then she went into the bathroom and peed all over the floor. I think she just wanted me to not forget what's involved in being a mother.

Abby and Sophie sang in Sacrament Meeting - this was Sophie's second time. I love seeing her little head poking up while she tries to be seen. The girls made me a flower pen in Primary and filled out a little card for me with help from our young women. The front of the card says "Inside your card you will find, Some m&m's (messages for mom) that are one of a kind. Children are genuine, that we know. So cherish each moment as they grow.

Here is Abby's card:

1. What is something your mom always says to you? I love you

2. What makes your mom happy? Do what she says

3. What did your mom like as a child? Getting in mischief

4. What is your mom's favorite thing to do? work

5. What does your mom do when you're not around? work

6. How old is your mom? I don't know

7. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?working

8. What is your mom really good at? work

9. What does your mom do for her job? work and type

10. What is your mom's favorite food? quiche

11. What do you and your mom do together? play

12. How are you and your mom the same? brown eyes and hair

13. How do you know your mom loves you? never gets angry

14. What do you do to show your mom you love her? do what she says

15. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? shopping

Here is Sophie's card:

1. What is something your mom always says to you? I love you

2. What makes your mom happy? candy

3. What did your mom like as a child? being happy

4. What is your mom's favorite thing to do? cook

5. What does your mom do when you're not around? spend time with Daddy

6. How old is your mom? 4

7. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? her hugs

8. What is your mom really good at? cooking

9. What does your mom do for her job? twister

10. What is your mom's favorite food? red vines

11. What do you and your mom do together? play

12. How are you and your mom the same? when we eat

13. How do you know your mom loves you? when she tells me

14. What do you do to show your mom you love her? give hugs

15. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? at church

Abby's answers made me sad. Obviously she think I work all the time, which means I'm not spending enough time with her showing her that I do other things too. :( Sophie's answers were fun and some were bizarre. Maybe whichever young woman helped her write her card interpreted her words a little strangely . . .

Being a mom is awesome. I hope I can get better at it and be as good as my mom is. I've always thought she was amazing, it's a little hard to live up to!

Zootastic

2010-05-13T14:01:00.004-06:00

I took a half day off last Friday and we went to the zoo together. It was fun - and tiring. They also need more animals. One of the wings was empty so hopefully they do something cool with it.

I'm pretty sure Abby's favorite part was the carousel. Unfortunately, you have to pay extra to ride it. I think Sophie's favorite part was the baby elephant Zuri. She was pretty cute - and small, except she weighs over 400 pounds. Alice's favorite part was when she got to get out of the stroller.

Healthy Children

2010-05-05T10:47:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to write how grateful I am for three healthy, beautiful children. My Mom's cousin recently had a baby girl with Trisomy 18 and she passed away just nine days after birth. All I've seen are pictures and heard a small part of their story.

It makes me so sad for them and so grateful for my three little blessings. I know the Lord has a plan for the special little souls who get called back to him so quickly. They are lucky, in a way, to not have to endure the trials we have here on earth. I just feel terrible for the poor families left behind. I am a sucker for reading about pregnancy/birth stories. I looked up a few Trisomy 18 stories and it just breaks my heart. I am filled with gratitude and love for my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. I know we can be together forever. We can be with those little souls who left us earlier than we would like.

I think I'm done crying now.

Toothless Wonder

2010-04-30T20:58:00.003-06:00

Abby has been VERY persistent with wiggling her teeth. She is now missing four teeth and I can't really see any sign of their replacements. We now have a new favorite past time - thinking of phrases for Abby to say that make her sound ridiculous.

Bad Mom Alert!!

2010-04-24T22:29:00.001-06:00

Yeah, I'm a bad mother. At least today. Alice was only outside with us for about 30 minutes.

Spring Break Field Trip

2010-04-12T11:56:00.005-06:00

Laura and I took the kids to Salt Lake City for the day during Spring break. I don't usually go on outings, so it was a big deal for me. (And probably for the kids too.) We found a coupon for the Utah Museum of Natural History to get the kids in for free. Free is nice. There were quite a few school groups there, so the place was pretty crowded. (Not so great with Sophie in tow!) I think the kids' favorite part was pretending to dig up fossils at the end.

We got to see a silly little dinosaur show teaching about Ceratopsians. Then we wandered around the museum where I constantly had to snag Sophie and bring her back to our little group. Sophie wasn't in the mood for pictures until finally we came to a little weird log cabin display. For some reason she was ready for the camera there. (Finicky child!)

After the museum we went to Carl's Jr for some lunch. This was Brock's favorite place of the day. Then we went to the Clark Planetarium. It smells like a movie theater, so Abby was disappointed to not get popcorn there. We wandered around looking at a few experiments and things showing phases of the moon and other planety kinds of things. They had fun moon and mars displays where the girls pretended to be on different planets. They also had a weather display where you can pretend to be a weather-caster.

(I told them Mars was really hot.)

After the planetarium, we headed over to the Olympic fountain at the Gateway. Abby LOVED getting all wet - but afterwards regretting soaking wet jeans. She said, "I feel like a sog ball!" It was funny. Sophie didn't want to have anything to do with getting wet, so she sat on the sidewalk and ate Smarties.

Ethan figured out the pathways to walk in which he would NOT get wet.

These girls sure have a lot of fun together!

It was a fun trip - if a little taxing on me. I woke up the next day with a very sore right arm from carrying Sophie around so much. Thankfully I didn't have to worry about a little crying Alice during our trip since she stayed home with Tom. Anyway, maybe I'll try something like this again some time. There are probably some great places close by that I've never been to - let alone my little girls.

Alice Walks

2010-04-05T13:07:00.003-06:00

Alice has been behind the other two girls when it comes to walking. I think she knows how, she just doesn't want to do it. She did a LOT of walking this last weekend, though. Here's a video of her. (I can't get enough of this baby!)

Easter Egg Hunts

2010-04-05T12:54:00.003-06:00

We had three different Easter egg hunts for the kids to participate in. One with the Jensen cousins, one with the Ludlow cousins, and one with all of Utah County. The community Easter egg hunt was freezing and there were WAY too many parents "helping" their kids pick up candy and eggs. I wasn't very pleased when I say dads carrying out their 0-3 year old child's basket that was filled to the brim. Come on, let the kids do it. Anyway, it was pretty lame and I probably won't go again. Live and learn, right? We did get some good coupons for kids meals, though.

Later that night (Saturday) we had our Jensen get together while the men attended Priesthood session together. We hid a ton of eggs and sent the kids out to search for them in my backyard. They had a good time and it made up for how bad the community one went earlier. Although it was still pretty darned cold.

We held an Easter egg hunt for the Ludlow clan at my parents' house in between Conference sessions on Sunday. The kids collected a grundle of candy. I'm not sure how the Easter bunny lugged that much candy and spread it all around the yard. There was more fun to be had and all the kids seemed to have fun. Which is totally the point, right?

Easter Eggs

2010-04-03T12:34:00.000-06:00

We dyed Easter eggs on Thursday evening. I think this is the first time I've been so timely with it - yay me! It's difficult to take good action shots for egg dying, but I'll post what I've got anyway. I was going to make deviled eggs for yesterday, but I forgot about them. I think I may go make some right now . . .

Snazzy new look

2010-03-30T12:47:00.001-06:00

Abby has been begging to get her hair cut short for a while. She LOVES the idea of less tangles in shorter hair. I guess I must be a little rough with the hairbrush in the mornings! Anyway, here is a before and a somewhat/totally belated after picture. I love her long hair, but the short hair is cute and sassy.

BEFORE

AFTER

Go to SLEEP Sophie!!

2010-03-22T12:40:00.000-06:00

Sophie has been having the hardest time sleeping in her bed lately. She just keeps getting out or just wailing in her room until we have to remove her so Abby can sleep. This has been going on for a few months now and I'm ready for the phase to be over. We have tried to give the girls some quiet time in between stories/prayer and lights out. It seems to help some nights, but not all nights. Anyway, the other night she came downstairs AGAIN while I was toodling on my computer. I told her to go to her room and go to sleep and she went away. When I went to go upstairs this is what I found. She was asleep just outside the computer room door. (Sophie VERY rarely falls asleep in places other than a bed.) I thought it was cute, and just showed how exhausted she was even though she was fighting it.

Happy Birthday Tom

2010-03-14T17:21:00.003-06:00

Tom had his birthday on Thursday. It wasn't particularly eventful, but I tried to make it a fun day for him. I even let him sleep in without nagging him over and over. He went out to lunch with some friends and then got to open his presents. I got him an Xbox 360. I think he likes it, I can hear him playing it right now. He even lets me play Final Fantasy XIII sometimes ;) I made clam chowder and we had our parents over for dinner and key lime pie.

I have been blessed with a wonderful husband. He is more tolerant with my many quirks and shortcomings than I would be if I knew a clone of myself. (That's a totally viable situation.) He is wonderful with our little girls and is always very generous with all of us. Happy Birthday Tom!

Abby's new smile

2010-03-12T16:20:00.002-07:00

Abby lost one of her front teeth Wednesday night while I was at mutual. She has been working on this tooth for a LONG time. I love listening to her lisp with this missing tooth. It's funny.

Score!

2010-03-06T12:46:00.002-07:00

I've never been very good at basketball, that was always Laura's thing. I somewhat enjoy playing, as long as I'm not expected to contribute a whole lot. I've been playing this last month with some other ladies in my ward/stake. I wanted to get some exercise and help out if they needed more people. I definitely got some good exercise, and I may have even improved a little. It makes me wish we had Young Women's basketball when I was growing up. Anyways, I mentioned the part where I'm not very good - but I scored my first and only basket today. I was pretty happy. I know it isn't much of an accomplishment, but I have to take what I can get. Maybe next year I'll even play again. We'll see.

Cuddles

2010-03-05T12:34:00.003-07:00

Alice was really happy this morning when she got up. You know, being especially cute and smiley. She even rocked back and forth (her version of dancing?) while listening to some music with Tom. Then she threw up. Thinking maybe it was a fluke I fed her some scrambled eggs. Then she threw up. And she threw up again.

Anyway, she continued to be so cute and happy even after throwing up. She cuddled with me and sucked her thumb for a while. Why does it take being sick for my kids to get all cuddly? I don't get it. How can I train them to like cuddling with me more? I guess I've just made them too independent.

Evening Visitor

2010-02-27T22:44:00.002-07:00

We had a fun visitor this evening. We have a baby of our own, but for some reason Abby and Sophie were pretty stoked to have an entirely NEW baby in the house.

Little Olivia was very free with her smiles. I think she liked having other kids to smile at. While Abby and Sophie enjoyed our little visitor, Alice didn't seem to like me paying attention to anyone other than her! When I was rocking her to sleep (for a pretty short lived nap) I couldn't help but think her awesome Grandma Harriet would love to switch places with me!

Basement facelift

2010-02-22T15:01:00.002-07:00

We're still working on finishing things up in the family room downstairs, but I had a request to see a picture of the paint job I did downstairs. Anyway, here it is. It's a little difficult to tell the color I used since it isn't super dark or anything. It is called Imperial Sand - and it's pretty much a warm tan color. I think it turned out pretty well, certainly better than the stark white from before. The couches are new and I still need to figure out a good room configuration. Our room is really narrow - it's like 12 feet wide and 20 feet long, so it's tricky to find something functional that also looks good. We'll probably settle for functional.

We also got a new TV. It's big. WAY bigger than our 32" tube TV we bought 8 years ago. Hopefully this new TV lasts us at least 8 years. We still need to get some sort of console/entertainment center for underneath. I'm thinking something wood and black, maybe kind of chunky? Who knows, but I'm looking for a deal so it could be a while. In the meantime, coffee table it is.

Happy Groundhog's Day Alice!

2010-02-04T21:38:00.006-07:00

Alice just had her first birthday on Tuesday. She doesn't seem like a 1 year old to me, she's still just my little baby. I took her in for her 1 year check-up yesterday and she is almost 19 1/2 pounds. I can't remember all of her other stats, but she is pretty much in the 30th percentile for everything. She's just my little stinker baby. I keep thinking she is kind of big, or average since she is bigger than her cousin Liam. I suppose I need to find another baby for reference!

Alice loves her mommy and would happily let me carry her around the house for pretty much everything. She has been a great blessing and is really a pretty easy baby. She has her moments, especially with her tendency to scream for attention at mealtimes - but she just wants me to know when she needs more food. She's a great eater and a wonderful sleeper. Alice can say a few words, although the only one she says consistently with an obvious reference is "Po." We probably should have given the dog a harder to say name. I hate to lose out to him.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our celebrations. Alice especially loved her birthday cake, but kept getting angry when she couldn't get the chocolate off her fingers by shaking her hands. (I thought it was funny.)

Happy 6th Birthday Abby!

2010-01-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Abby turned 6, there's no way around it. She got 2 cakes and a pie from her various celebrations. I think she quite enjoyed it all!

We started her out with breakfast in bed. I think she had to lay in bed for about 30 minutes waiting for her breakfast. It doesn't work quite as well when they wake up too early!! Abby thinks everyone gets breakfast in bed for their birthday. I told her it's actually not that common and she seemed pretty surprised.

Abby kept begging and begging to open her presents. I always thought there needed to be some sort of ceremony or singing or something, but I guess it doesn't need to be that fancy. Kids just want their presents ASAP. (At least my kids do.)

We went out to dinner, then took a pie over to Tom's parents' on Abby's birthday.

Abby had her "friend" party on Saturday. We borrowed a projector and showed a movie on a big screen for the girls. Tom made some Abby dollars that the girls could spend at the concessions stand. They ate so much popcorn and candy that they hardly touched their cake and ice cream.

All in all, I think Abby had a pretty great birthday, which is the point - right? Anyway, now I'm the mother of a beautiful, smart, funny, sensitive, six year old girl. Aren't kids great?

100 Posts?

2010-01-11T11:11:00.003-07:00

I just went to put a little post up about Alice standing up and I noticed I am at 100 posts! I'm a long way away from some of my super blogger friends, but this is pretty good for me. Can I count this as journaling? Cause I always peeter out on those keeping a journal goals really quickly. Anyway, I'll get back to what I was going to post originally.

Alice has been randomly standing up in the middle of the floor pretty often lately - so I thought I would take a little video of it today and share. It's not much, but I think it's fun. Alice taking those first steps isn't too far away!

Alice is a funny kid. She started out pretty quiet, but has figured out that she needs to yell to get attention sometimes. Her yelling pretty much comes out at the dinner table. She yells pretty quickly when she runs out of food. Taking her to restaurants can be kind of dodgy, especially once I run out of whatever snack I brought to keep her satisfied before the food gets there. I guess being the third child has taught her some tricks to making sure she's noticed.

Waffles

2010-01-06T11:58:00.002-07:00

I'm not sure why, but I think it is the cutest thing to see Alice eat a waffle.

A bath past due

2009-12-19T19:43:00.005-07:00

I finally gave Alice a bath in the big kid tub. I know, she's been old enough for a long time now. She wanted to get out until I let Sophie go in with her - then at least she didn't complain too much.

All clean and ready for bed!

A Visit from Santa

2009-12-18T21:23:00.004-07:00

We went to a family Christmas party at the beginning of the month and Santa showed up to visit the kids! My kids were SO excited - and totally spellbound by Santa. Well, Alice didn't care too much, but the other two thought he was pretty awesome. I didn't get the best pictures - but I'm hoping to get some from other people's cameras to make up for what I'm missing.

Sophie was enthralled by Santa, but pretty scared at first. She wouldn't give Santa a hug at the beginning - or even sit on the floor with the other kids while he read "The Night Before Christmas". She warmed up eventually.

Abby has been pretty faithful in asking for a Barbie and a Polly for Christmas. At least she isn't waffling and leaving Santa guessing!

Alice smiled for the camera while sitting on Santa's lap - unfortunately it wasn't for my camera. Here's a token picture of her looking cute anyway.

Happy Birthday Sophie

2009-12-06T15:47:00.003-07:00

Sophie turned three years old today. She is awesome and I love her. I love the faces she makes, the sound of her cute little voice, cuddling with her, and pretty much everything about her. We celebrated the day yesterday by taking the girls to Chuck E. Cheese's - it was a total madhouse. Then we had some dinner with my parents at our house followed by presents and cake and ice cream. We'll have cake at Tom's parents' house tonight with the usual singing and presents there too. Happy Birthday Sophie!

(On a side and yet still related note: I bought a present Saturday morning for Abby and Alice to give to Sophie. When I showed it to Abby she broke down in tears - because she wanted it really badly. She cried again when Sophie opened it. I don't know what to do with her!!!)

All I Want for Christmas is my hair back?

2009-12-03T11:21:00.003-07:00

Well, Sophie has remained relatively quiet for a little too long. I think she has been pretty good lately because she was saving up for a big burst of naughtiness. Sophie was supposed to be upstairs, quietly watching some show or other while hanging out on my bed. I went upstairs for something and Sophie came up to see me. The first thing I noticed was a big black mark on her forehead. Then I noticed there was hair all over her shirt. I thought maybe there was an unusually LARGE amount of hair on my bathroom floor and she had decided to lay in it. Then I figured it out. Sophie had found the scissors. Bah! Naughty little girl.

There was a big clump of hair on the table by the TV. She hid - knowing I was angry with her. I tracked her down in the basement and went to check the damage. I pulled her hairband out and a big clump of hair came with it! This child will be the death of me! I wiped the eyeliner off her forehead and took a few pictures to remember this wonderful moment by.

She cut a bunch from the top of her head - and some from her left side. This was the side I had been trying to grow out from some bangs she had previously had. It was finally almost long enough to go nicely into her pony tail! Well, it wasn't any more. I figured we had two options. Either trim it up a bit and hide her short patches for a year or more - or just cut it short. I went with cut it short. She looks like a little boy now. But at least she is cute!

Not much to say, but I'll say it anyway

2009-11-25T21:07:00.005-07:00

Things are pretty good around here. We haven't had anything too eventful happen - so I haven't blogged for quite a while. I guess that means Sophie has been relatively good. At least she hasn't smeared any gooey substances all over her body or poured out an entire cereal box or anything.

We have been sort of potty training Sophie this last week or so. She doesn't quite get it yet, so I'm not ready to commit to have her in panties all the time. She goes on the potty one or two times a day and is really excited when she actually does something. We give her a little lollipop and that makes her pretty darn happy. At least she is figuring out what the feelings are that go along with using a potty.

Alice cut her first tooth yesterday - FINALLY!!! I'm pretty sure she has been teething for the last three months or so. I don't mind the no teeth part, I just get frustrated always thinking there could be a tooth any time!

That's about it for today. Maybe I'll get some good pictures tomorrow at our various Thanksgiving venues. Then I could have something worthwhile to blog about.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-03T10:30:00.005-07:00

Another Halloween has come and gone and I'm doing surprisingly well curbing my candy craving! We had a fun Halloween party Friday night at Laura's house. The kids had a lot of fun and us adults found a way to enjoy ourselves as well.

I don't think we really were successful at getting the kids to look at the camera at the same time - but at least they are all on the couch together!

Paige popping her balloon

Hayley working her balloon over

Abby prepping herself for the balloon pop

The kids played a fun game with popping balloons and getting people to guess what they had on their paper from inside. They also got to make some haunted gingerbread houses. None of them would win any awards - but the kids had fun nonetheless. Ethan is getting a bit too smart for his britches, though. He made a minimal structure, a scout tent, then piled as much candy as he could on his plate!

I was happy to get another use out of the monkey costume I made for Abby when she was a baby. Alice has great little chubby monkey cheeks!

We lazed around on Saturday until it was time to show off to the grandparents. We made quick visits to both sets of grandparents, then back to our neighborhood for some trick-or-treating. The kids were SO excited, of course.

Alice went with Tom and the other girls for a few houses and was ready for bed. Amazingly, she went to sleep and stayed asleep through all the doorbell ringing and knocking! I made chili and cornbread in between answering the door for all the trick-or-treaters. There were some cute costumes. I had one guy come by himself, not dressed in a costume - he was probably college age. I thought afterwards that I shouldn't have given him anything. Oh well. I guess if he is that much of a loser I can spare a cheap piece of candy for him.

Halloween is lots of fun. I should have dressed up. I LOVE dressing up - at least if I don't look too stupid. I just don't like being the only adult dressed in costume. Our ward doesn't have a Halloween party either, so I wouldn't have many occasions to show off my efforts. Maybe next year . . .

Last Minute Trip

2009-10-23T11:01:00.008-06:00

We made a last minute trip to San Diego for UEA weekend. We had thought about going but ruled it out because it was a long drive and wouldn't have enough time to do it justice - but then most of Tom's family decided to go and we jumped on the bandwagon! We left Thursday morning and came back on Sunday.

Abby LOVED jumping the waves with her cousins

Sophie was NOT a fan of the ocean, but she enjoyed playing in the sand over by the shower

We had fun at the beach on Friday. It was the first time for our girls to see the ocean. I was really good and kept Alice in the shade, yet she still mysteriously ended up with a sunburn. (It only lasted a day or so.) She is such a sunburn magnet!!!

I furiously searched for something close by and cheap to visit, so we made a visit to Mission San Luis Rey Saturday morning. It was my first visit to a mission and it was pretty neat. It was interesting trying to tell Abby a little bit about there being different religions. We haven't had the need to explain much outside of our Utah bubble so far with her. (Of course, most 5 year olds don't notice that much about different religions anyway.) We spent some good time with Tom's cousins. It was good to see them again. The girls had a blast with SO many cousins around.

We also made it to the BYU-SDSU football game. BYU won, so it was pretty great. Tom's mother also graciously watched all of the grandkids while we went to the game.

All three girls did fabulous in the car during our long drive. I was so proud of them and am even willing to go far away for a trip again sometime! There was minimal fighting and crying. Alice was as good as a baby could possibly be. I think I got lucky!

This was the best "in the car" picture of Alice I could get with my vantage point.

Kindergarten!

2009-08-27T09:21:00.004-06:00

Abby went to her first day of Kindergarten about 30 minutes ago. I think she'll do just great - but I worry about her falling on the playground or getting her feelings hurt by the other kids. I feel like I haven't prepared her enough for going out into the "world"! I didn't think it would feel that different than taking her to preschool, but it does. She didn't take the BUS to preschool. And preschool was in a wonderful woman's basement that lives around the corner. Kindergarten is not nearly as safe and secure as all that.

We went to the school last night to find out who her teacher would be and to briefly meet her. It was a madhouse at the school! There were way too many parents stuffed into the hallways and classrooms. It was a little intimidating for me since this is my first child in school. At least Abby didn't seem to be nervous.

The decision to have her ride the bus to school this morning was pretty last minute. Abby really wanted to ride it - but I had planned on having Tom take her. So, I didn't get any really good pictures of my little Kindergartner. Ah well, at least I got a couple.

Abby looks nervous here - but really she's just worried I'll take too long with the pictures for her to make it to the bus.

You can see Abby's little legs just before she climbs into that big bus.

Is easier really better?

2009-08-24T10:10:00.004-06:00

I know it is human nature to pursue the path of least resistance - in this I am all too human. I've been thinking lately that I have been letting too many opportunities for making memories pass me by. Taking the kids anywhere is a lot of work. I don't ever take them to the store at the same time unless Tom is with me. I rarely even take two of them at the same time. (To tell you the truth, I rarely go to the store at all.)

We haven't often stayed overnight during family campouts, we just leave before bed time. It's not easy getting the kids to bed every night at home - so we don't generally even bother elsewhere. I didn't think of this as a bad thing, but a necessary thing. But how much are we missing out on? How many memories are my children not creating?

Tom and I were not going to go to a family reunion a couple of hours away because it seemed like it would be too much work. We changed our minds and drove down for the day - and had a pretty good time. The kids had a blast and were able to spend lots of fun time with their cousins. On another occasion, we didn't stay at the main reunion house with family because it seemed like it would be more work with the kids. But how much did we miss out on? I don't want to deprive my children of precious memories - but I'm not sure where to draw the line.

My cousin passed away a week and a half ago and I can't help but wish I had spent more time with him. He was 16 years younger than me, so it isn't like we would have hung out or anything. But I really liked him and missed out on opportunities to know him better. He received his Eagle Scout award in May and I couldn't even drive 20 minutes to go to the Court of Honor because keeping 3 young children in order is too much work. It is a lot of work, but now I feel guilty that I wasn't more supportive. Now I wish that I could have had another chance to see his wonderful grin. I don't want to miss these chances and I don't want my children to miss them either.

I'm not sure where to set the balance, but I do know that it needs to be shifted a bit. I just wish I knew how much.

Happy Birthday Po

2009-08-12T08:00:00.002-06:00

Today is Po's birthday - he's two years old now. We have our ups and our downs with him but at least he is always cute! Maybe I'll give him a bath for his birthday.

Alice eats food

2009-08-11T15:42:00.003-06:00

I finally broke down and decided to try Alice with some food. She's been getting really mad when I eat in front of her -- so I thought maybe she wanted to try some food of her own. My other kids weren't really into baby food, so I'm terrible at it. Weird, but whatever.

Alice turns 1/2

2009-08-03T09:40:00.003-06:00

My baby hit six months old yesterday! Time goes by so fast--it doesn't seem like she's supposed to be this old yet. Alice has been such a good baby - she's a great sleeper, a great eater, and a pretty happy baby. She's been more of a momma's girl than my other two - sort of flattering for me - but I think it makes her aunts/uncles/grandparents a little disappointed. She's started making lots of sounds lately babababa mamama and lots of shrieks. Alice has been experimenting with being on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth and whatnot. I wouldn't be surprised if she started crawling in the next few weeks. But maybe she'll surprise me and hold off. I've wondered if it would be easier if my girls were late crawlers rather than early ones. I guess maybe I'll find out. Maybe.

I wanted to take some cute pictures of Alice in her church clothes for this post. But I forgot - and she took a 4 1/2 hour nap - so all I have are these pictures of her in her onesie at the end of the day. It's okay, though, she's still cute.

Sophie dresses herself

2009-08-03T09:29:00.003-06:00

Sophie has been getting into Alice's drawers lately to dress herself. It's pretty funny. Here's a couple of pictures of Sophie in Alice's dress.

Abby's First Missing Tooth

2009-08-03T09:25:00.003-06:00

Abby lost a tooth a couple of weeks ago. It was loose FOREVER. We finally decided to let daddy have a crack at it. I held Abby's hand and it came out pretty easily. Abby was super proud. We can see the new tooth poking through and making it's way in. Her other little bottom tooth is starting to wiggle too. My little girl is getting permanent teeth! I'll have to explain to her that she needs to take super good care of these new teeth because she won't get a third set if these ones go bad :)

Sigh

2009-07-14T13:33:00.001-06:00

I doubt I need to put any words to these pictures. They pretty much speak for themselves.