Sunday, January 24, 2010

I'm still here

It's been such a long time since I've felt like getting to my blog on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong, I love blog-stalking and I stalk every one of my friends/family that you see in my list to the right, but alas, whenever I come to blog I get so caught up in everyone else's blogs that I either A) run out of time, or B) don't feel like it! But, we are still here enjoying life.

Life in California has been an adjustment, but a good one. We love spending time with family and now we have so much of them around us (at least on Justin's side). I love that my kids get to grow up around their grandparents, especially as they get older and stop regarding my little tidbits of wisdom as something important.

Bree is growing far too quickly and still struggling to figure out her days and nights. Hopefully we'll be able to get that under control soon. Rylee is loving everything about school (reading, bus rides, lunch time, recess, and even math) and excelling at it all. Cole has a good time at preschool and can't wait for each new day at school. He finds the long wait between school days obnoxious and can't wait to go back. Gracie is developing into quite the little trouble maker but what's worse is she's hilarious! So sometimes it's hard to discipline her when you can't stop yourself from laughing, only encouraging further destructive behavior!

Justin finally got a new job and has his first day tomorrow. He is working for the county as an appraiser and is really excited to get his foot in the door of a new adventure. I go back to work tomorrow as well. I have mixed feelings about that. Even though I only work 5-6 hours a week, leaving Bree behind is still hard. But I'm excited to help contribute to my family.

That's the down-low on our family lately. I'll try to get more motivated about my blogging again and post some new pics of Bree (which you may see above this post).

Sunday, January 10, 2010

More Photos of Bree!


Baby Bree is here and we are both on the mend. (You can see more pics of her HERE) I've noticed that I haven't posted a single thing about my pregnancy other than to announce that she was coming, and that she was a "she." And even worse than that, we completely forgot to take any photos of me pregnant, even the day she was born (which was our tradition) and so I have maybe one or two photos where you can see that I'm pregnant. How sad! Poor Bree will think I never thought of her! But, in fact, I did all the time. We were so excited for her to get here and just love having her here now. All the other kids absolutley adore her, Gracie maybe a little too much, and we're all adjusting well.

Bree has a completly different look than our other kids. I'm hopeful that she might look like me! Her hair is dark and EXISTS! Hopefully it will stay dark as she starts to lose it and it grows back. So far, she does not sleep very well at night and Justin and I are often left very tired during the day. Luckily I have a husband who is willing to suffer with me with the "up all nights." But, even through our tired eyes, she is beautiful and wonderful and everything we ever wanted! Just like the others! Thanks so much for all the well wishing and congrats from friends and family. We appreciate so much all the help and support we have received both from those around us and those from afar. We miss our Arizona friends terribly, but are excited for our new life here in California and the new friends we have made here.

Lots of love to all!
(Now that I'm not so pregnant anymore, I'm hopeful that I will have more desire to get back to my blogging.)

Monday, January 4, 2010

Cole's 1st Day of Preschool

Lucky for us, the popular preschool in town had a spot open up over the holidays and Cole got to start school today. He was so excited and we were so excited for him. He wanted to wear a faux-hawk in his hair for his first day so his hair will be crunchy. What a funny kid! He made a few friends that he got to play with and is excited to go back on wednesday.

This is what happens . . .

. . . when you forget to cover the baby's bum with a diaper while changing a dirty one!

Bree's Baby Blessing



Since my parents were here for Bree's birth, we decided to go ahead and do her blessing while they were here. Since she was only 5 days old when we did it, I didn't want to take her to church. So, we did it at home! Had I known you could do that before I probably would have done that with all my kids! It was so nice to have just our family around to participate in the blessing and knowing that everyone there loves and cares about her the way we do. She was perfectly quiet nearly the whole time, and then let her daddy know when she was done being balanced by a bunch of men! Then, of course, lot's of pictures afterwards to remember who was there.

Funny Story

I'm blogging about this mostly so I don't forget about it and remember to write it in Rylee's journal.

When I was a kid, my dad use to tell us that he can take our spirits out of our body, and we believed him because that's exactly what it felt like! I'll explain. Do as follows:

1. use one hand to squeeze the wrist of your other hand that is in a fist very tightly and wait a few seconds. If you do this on someone else's hand (your kids) you will also rub their fingers and knuckles toward the wrist (pushing the blood down out of the hand).

2. open fisted hand very slowly (to my kids, i then push on the tips of thier fingers like thet're buttons and count to five).

3. Lastly, pinch the middle of the childs hand while letting go of his/her wrist (or just let go of your own wrist if doing this to yourself) and it will feel like someone is pulling out your spirit (when really it's just the blood rushing back into your hand).

Well, recently, I taught this cool little trick to my kids telling them that I was pulling thier spirits out and then I would return it. As I said "spirit" I thought to myself "That's probably going to come back to bite me." Well, on sunday, it did.

The sharing time lesson in primary yesterday was about THE SPIRIT! The teacher used a glove and her hand to demonstrate how we have the spirit in us. Dialogue went as follows:

Teacher: Can anyone tell me what the spirit is?

Rylee raises her hand and is called on.

Rylee: The spirit is what helps us to be good and make good decisions, and . . . (here's the part that kills me!) my mom can take the spirit out of our bodies!

Teacher: Noooo, mommy's don't take spirits out of kids.

Rylee: Oh no! My mom can take the spirit out of ANYTHING!

What must that teacher be thinking at this point! I can only imagine what they heard in that innocent sentence. Funny how just one phrase can mean such different things depending upon prospective! I guess I better explain to her teacher, and maybe use a different word to explain my magic with my kids!

Hope you enjoyed a laugh!
 

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