Well, it's about time!

I don't know what my problem is, but I am having such a hard time keeping up with this blog. I know I haven't been very good in the past, but this is pretty bad. Christmas is next week and I still haven't blogged about Thanksgiving. So here it goes...

We had a fun and adventurous Thanksgiving. It started Wednesday with most of my family coming into Vegas that afternoon (one brother stayed in Ohio with his family and their brand new baby and my other brother was in CA) and then another brother and his family arrived Thanksgiving morning. Wednesday night Luke and his cousin learned some ballroom dance moves and I think we might be looking at the next junior Dancing with the Stars champions. :) I have a video of it, but blogger isn't letting me post it. I will have to try again later.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house

(An idea of what Thanksgiving dinner looked like and a nice picture of my youngest brother. )

and then Friday morning we loaded up two vans and headed to CA for my brother's wedding.

(this is the brother that got married holding Ashley)

The drive down went well except for Katelyn throwing up after lunch because she was carsick. Sorry, no pictures, but I can assure you it was very gross and it was everywhere.

Friday morning we attended the wedding in the Newport Beach Temple. The weather was beautiful and so was the temple.
(Here's my brother with his beautiful bride)

Katelyn was a flower girl with her cousin Evie and Luke sported the plaid vest.

(I'm not really sure what Luke is doing and of course Katelyn is not smiling. It is a rare thing to get her to smile for a picture.)

Ashley just looked cute.

The fam!

The highlight of the day for Luke was the dancing at the reception. He said his favorite part was when everyone cheered for him and Evie as they danced down the middle. This kid is not shy.
I wish I had a picture of him dancing, but instead I got one of grandpa and Katelyn on the dance floor.
(Once again Katelyn looks like she is really enjoying herself.)

I Think the New Hairdo is Working for Her

We love her little mohawk.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from...

Optimus Prime

Super Girl

and a Little Baby Horse.

Already?

Ashley is 6 months old now and I am having a hard time believing it has already been six months.

• She is sitting up and playing with toys.
• Just starting to like baby cereal mixed w/fruit.
• Loves drinking out of a sippy cup with some help.
• Still not sleeping through the night. (Lately she has been waking up screaming during the night. I think it is a combination of teething and her tummy hurting. She is having a hard time transitioning to solid foods.)
• Loves when we do Patty Cake, Patty Cake with her.
• Is a momma's girl and whines for me when she sees me in the room.
• Is now aware of strangers.
• Loves to hear herself make noises and can get quite loud when she is laying on her back.
  
• She is the best baby to take on errands and loves just looking around at everything.

• She weighs 17 lbs. 4 oz.
• She is 26.5 inches tall.
• She is my smallest baby and she still isn't very small. :) My other two were off the charts in weight and height as babies and still are off the charts.

• She loves to stick her tongue out. Here are several examples...
  

We love this baby girl and are so grateful she is part of our family!

Let's Pretend...

this picture was taken on the first day of preschool instead of the sixth day of preschool. I did manage to take a quick one on the first day of school, but it didn't turn out like I wanted. So this is what we got on the sixth day after he had already gone to preschool. :)

Hallelujah! Mom is finally done taking pictures.

Favorites and Not So Favorites

Some favorites...

• my baby's sweet laugh
• that my 2 year old will pretty much eat whatever I make for dinner
• how much my 4 year old loves preschool
• the funny things my 2 year old says
• my husband taking Friday off and then spending the day working in the yard and watching the kids (he really is the BEST)
• after my 4 year old made his baby sister laugh, he said, "I love being a big brother."
• girls night out
• lunch w/my sister in law for her birthday
• the way my baby cuddles under my chin right before I lay her in bed
• homemade oreo cookies (not good to have around when trying to lose weight, but they are a favorite still)
  

Some not so favorites...

• my 4 year old scowling through most of the primary program on Sunday
• my 2 year old's ear piercing scream (it happens when she's mad and when she is having fun and playing w/her brother)
• that my baby is growing up so fast
  
• that my 4 year old complains about everything I make for dinner
  

Labor Day

We finally did something fun on a holiday instead of doing yard work or house work. We went up to Mt. Charleston and had so much fun. The weather was so beautiful, 70 degrees! We had a way too expensive lunch at the lodge and then went on a little walk. (We will definitely bring our own lunch next time.)

Luke wanted to climb a mountain. They made it about a third of the way and then Luke was done. I think they had more fun walking back to the van and seeing some lizards running around.

This is just to show that I do sometimes have my picture taken with my children.

To Shop or Not to Shop with My Kids

I think after my experience at the grocery store this week I would like to opt not to shop with my 3 kids. (Now I know many of you take 3 or more kids to the store, but for some reason I have a hard time w/MY 3, well one in particular.)

The play by play of my grocery shopping experience. Sorry, this could be long.

• We are out the door and in the van by 9:30am. (We are starting off great because I rarely have everyone ready and out the door this early.)
• The diaper bag is loaded with fruit snacks, pretzels, water, and all the other necessary items.
• We go to Smith's because I can put the two older kids in the car part of the cart and the baby in her car seat on the cart. (There is also two seats in the front part of the cart which can come in handy and will play a major part in this particular shopping experience.)
• Everyone is happy, we get the green car, we give it a good wipe down with the handy cleaning wipes they have available.
• The older kids are ready to drive, so I thought. I put some nectarines in a bag and Katelyn is already wanting out of the car. (The nectarines are at the very front of the store, she did not even last 2 minutes in the car.)
• I quickly pull out the fruit snacks and tell her she can have some if she sits in the cart up front with Ashley. She is happy with that idea. (Phew, we avoided a major melt down.)
• Now we are in the meat section. Katelyn ate those fruit snacks way too fast and is already wanting out of the cart. (It has only been about 3 minutes since I put her in the seat.) She was starting to get frustrated and the whining and crying started.
• I decided to let her out for a minute and told her if she did not stay by me she would have to get back in the cart.
• To my surprise she stayed with me while shopping down one aisle of food. But the next aisle was not good. She decided she wanted to take food off the shelves and stack the food. When I told her to stop she ran to the florist area and started pulling flowers off the stems. AAAAAH! (okay, now I am starting to sweat because I am pushing the enormous car cart and trying to stop Katelyn from destroying the store)
• On a positive note, Luke and Ashley were being very good. Thank goodness!
• I finally capture the flower thief and tell her she has to get back in the cart by Ashley.
• She was not wanting that and the screaming began. She is not shy when it comes to screaming and she is so strong. I am trying to lift her into the seat and get her to bend her legs to go through the holes. She is fighting me, but I finally win. (now I am not only sweating, but my back is hurting from wrestling her)
• This is probably when I should have just left the cart and loaded everyone back in the van and headed home. But we needed milk and I only had a few more things to get so I endured and everyone else in the store had to endure also.
  
• She screamed and kept telling me she wanted to get down. Major tears!
• I tried giving her the pretzels or any other treats I could find, but that wasn't going to stop her. I tried to make her my helper by having her hold the coupons and grocery list. That lasted about 10 seconds and then I ended up picking them up off the floor.
• We got those last few items as fast as I could push that humongous cart.
• It is finally time to pay for the groceries and she decides to reach for all the goodies that are at the checkout stand. No matter how I put the cart she could still reach them. I put the groceries on the belt as fast as I could and then picked up all the candy bars off the floor.
• The cashier distracted Katelyn for a few minutes and gave her some stickers. (I know, she got stickers for all that misbehavior.) I was just wishing I had packed some magic stickers in the diaper bag because they made her day and she was happy as could be sitting in the cart. You would have never known what a "fun" experience we just had throughout the store.

I bet you are all wondering if I kept my cool throughout this experience. Yes and No! I will leave that to your imaginations.
I think I may start waiting to do my shopping after Kevin gets home from work. But if I do decide to brave the grocery store again with all 3 and you see me there, I'm sorry. I thought I should apologize in advance. :)

4 months and 24 months

Ashley turned 4 months old on the 3rd of August.
4 month stats...
Weight: 15lbs. 6oz.
Height: 25 inches

She is doing really well with tummy time.

She is starting to teethe(sp?) and loves to chomp on her fingers.

She is grabbing her toes now.


Katelyn turned 2 on August 8th.
2 year old stats...
Weight:32 lbs
Height:361/2 inches
(The doctor said she is the size of a 3 year old/almost 4 year old. We have tall kids!)

Katelyn's expression when she saw her birthday balloons on the table right after waking up in the morning.

My attempt at a HI-5 cake. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES this TV show so it was only appropriate that she got a HI-5 cake. She was pretty excited about it.

Enjoying a cookie before church. It was the only way I could get her to stand still for a minute so I could take a picture. Luckily she did not get any chocolate on her white shirt. I think that may be a first. Turning 2 made her more careful while eating. :)

You Know What's Gross?

Stepping on a spider and then a hundred little baby spiders running all over the place.
It gives me the chills just thinking about it.
Luckily it happened outside and not in my house.
Sorry, no pictures. I know you are all disappointed.

The Little Things-Ashley at 3 months old

• She smiles a lot especially when I am talking to her.
• She is very vocal and makes all sort of fun sounds. Some of the sounds are like a hum.
• She rolls to her side and has rolled over once from her back to her tummy and once from her tummy to her back.She is starting to grab on to her hanging toys and tries to pull them to her mouth.
• She likes to stand up on your lap with support.
  
• She loves her binky.
• She puts her hands in her mouth and chomps.
• She is starting to drool.
• She likes to pull her head up when in her car seat.
• She would rather sit up(w/help) then lean back.
• She likes to be rocked to sleep.
• She will giggle when you tickle her under her neck and sometimes laughs when the kids are jumping around.
  
• She doesn't take very long naps during the day.
• She still wakes up once in the night and then pretty early in the morning.
• She has a cold right now and is having a harder time sleeping.
• She likes to stick her tongue out.
• She likes to wiggle and move.
• She loves to watch Luke and Katelyn play.
• 
  
• 
• I Love My Ashley!
  

The Little Things-Katelyn at almost 2

• She has been talking so much more lately. Here are her latest words and phrases...
• "here you go" whenever she gives you something
• "he's sad" when she sees someone crying
• "I sticky" after eating anything that gets her hands dirty
  
• "you wan a kiss"
  
• "you wan a hug"
  
• "i dun know" when you ask her where something might be
• "I wan brush teeth"
  
• "I wan a tookie" (cookie)
• "uh oh she pooed" when Ashley has a stinky diaper
  
• The other day she was singing Ring Around The Rosies by herself and when it got to the part "ashes, ashes" she said "Ashley, Ashley".
• She has been a good big sister and nice to Ashley until today. She decided to hit and poke. She felt bad after when Ashley cried hard and she got a time out. She has been nice since then.
• She is a momma's girl especially when I need to pay attention to Ashley.
• If I sit next to her she always wants my arm around her. If I don't put it around her she lifts my arm and tries to do it herself.
• She loves to sing and dance. She can sing and do the actions to Popcorn Popping, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, and Book of Mormon Stories.
• She also loves to sing I Am A Child of God; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; and the ABCs.
• She is starting to figure out the concept of sharing.
• (She was sharing her dolls with her sleeping sister.)
  
• She loves the TV show Hi-5 because there is lots of singing and dancing.
• She could watch Hi-5 all day long and cries for more when it ends.
• She sat and watched Hi-5 and let me french braid her hair in two braids.
• She can count to 10.
• When you ask her the color of something her first response is usually purple then blue.
• She knows the sign language for mommy, daddy, baby, cereal, milk, bath, story, ball, drink, friend, and eat. She learned all of these from the Baby Einstein Sign language DVD.
  
• She likes to mimic me...brushing teeth, putting on makeup, changing a diaper, putting on deodorant.(Here she is using her play doh tool like deodorant.)
  
• She stills sleeps with a binky and her little pink bear blanket. She is only supposed to get it in her crib, but often sneaks upstairs and gets it out of her crib.
• She has the highest pitched scream and usually lets it loose when I am not expecting it. Like in church!
  
• She used to eat everything, but has become more picky these days.
• She likes to be a helper.
• She has just started giving the best hugs.
• She loves to color and has decorated a few of our walls. She wants to use markers and gets upset when I won't let her.
• She loves to make messes.
• She loves to read books and has just started "reading" them to herself.
  

I Love My Katelyn!

The Little Things-Luke at 4 1/2 years old

• I'm not sure what character he will be from day to day. Today he was a Transformer right after breakfast and then decided he wanted to be a "Superhero kid". He could pretend all day long.(I think he may have been a Transformer on the day I took this picture or maybe it was a Superhero.)

• 
  
• He wants to do what is right, but sometimes has a hard time controlling himself.
• He loves to play computer games with his dad.
• The other day we both said "yea" at the same time and he thought it was great. He later came up to me and said, "Mom, that was a coincidence (I don't even know how to spell it.) that we both said "yea"."
• He still sleeps with his blue blanket.
• In the past year he likes to have a big pillow next to him when he is sleeping.
• He loves Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast and "honey nut sandwiches" (peanut butter and honey) for lunch.
• He never likes what I fix for dinner and will usually complain.

(This is the type of face I get when I tell him what we are having for dinner.)

• He LOVES his baby sister and always wants to have a picture taken with her.
• 
• He is great at entertaining his sisters and is a big help that way.
• He can memorize really well and memorized the theme for primary.
• He wishes he could talk in the microphone every Sunday in primary or have it be his turn ALL the time.
• He loves having books read to him. He will usually pick a long book and will sit through the whole thing.
• He loves playing with friends and hates when it is time to go home.
• He loves to swing and would swing all day on the glider if it wasn't so hot outside.

• He is into Star Wars right now and wants to watch the movies every day. (This makes his dad proud.)
• He likes writing the letters of the alphabet and wants to know how to spell everything.
• All day long I hear "Mom, watch this move. Watch me do this."
• He is curious about everything and asks lots of questions. He listens to my conversations with other people and then wants to know details. I need to be careful what I say around him. :)
• He loves to earn his good boy tickets and gets so excited when he gets 10. Then he can't wait to do something extra fun or pick a new toy under $10. Recently he picked a new Transformer and has played with it a ton and even took it to bed with him.
• He is working on controlling his emotions and not whining and crying when things don't go his way.
  
• He likes to tell people that Katelyn is not a baby, she is a "tot-ler".

I Love My Luke!