Baby Lane

A few weeks ago my family welcomed the sweetest little baby love into our family - Lane Daniel.  My sister, Hannah, had a little baby boy & he is just the sweetest little baby ever!  I am so excited for Lucy & Miles to have this little boy so close in age, we wish we were a little closer to them, but we will take what we can get!  

Even though Lane is only a few weeks old it's been so fun having Hannah be a mom with me.  I love that Lane & Miles will be pretty close in age, I'm sure they will have lots of fun adventures at Grammy & Pa's house.

We went down to Temple a few days after Lane was born & tried to get as much snuggle time in as we could.  Can't wait to see him again he already looks so much bigger in all the pictures.  

 Lucy has been asking to hold baby Lane since she found out he was a boy - such a proud moment for Lucy - grammy & baby Lane!

 Pa & Miles got some snuggle time

 We had a little photo shoot with the Benac family of 3!  yay!

 And of course we had to sneak a few pictures of this sweet little baby - can't believe he is almost 1.  Where is my Baby??

 I tried to get a couple of cute ones of my kids but it is just so dang hard!!!  

We were trying to get smiles & this pic was right before Miles pretty much did a face plant on the ground.  Poor baby, he spends so much time falling.  

So thankful for these kids & so thankful for our new little cousin!  CAn't wait till Christmas!!

Happy Birthday Lucy Jane!

Lucy Jane turned 3 and I really can't believe it!  I know Moms says that when their kids turn a year older, but 3 seems so old.  It seems like she is officially a kid and not a toddler anymore. It makes me sad but it also makes me happy because she is a lot of fun right now.  We definitely have our rough days when both of us get frustrated or when I have to apologize to her for not being patient or understanding and I can see some hard times in our future, but in the end she really is the sweetest little girl ever.  She made my day yesterday when she said, "Mommy you look so pretty" and then later she said, "Mommy, thank you for my breakfast and thank you for everything."  Those sweet comments make up for the melt downs that she has on the floor of a store or over not wanting to wear a particular outfit.  I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed our family with her.  She has a big heart and I pray that her heart will continue to get bigger and bigger with love for the Lord and for others.

A few things about Lucy the 3 year old:

*She LOVES school.  She always wants to go to school and see her friends.  She won't ever tell me much about school but her teachers say she is great and loves everyone.

*She LOVES princesses - any of them.  Currently her loves are Cinderella and Rapunzel, but if you ask her who her favorite princess is she will probably list like 5 or 6 for you.

*She loves all the high school kids that are around.  She calls them "guys and girls."  She thinks they are her friends and talks about them all the time.

*She always wants to show off her tricks.  About a million times a day she will say, "hey Mom watch this trick" and it will usually involve twirling or jumping.

*She really LOVES Miles.  She always wants to play with him and can't wait to see him in the morning.  She can definitely make him cry but she can also make him laugh like no one else can.  I hope they are best buddies.

*She loves any kind of sweets and will do anything to get a taste of them.

*She still takes about a 2 hour nap everyday and sleeps really well at night. She stays in her bed until we come get her, she really is so good.

*Her favorite colors are pink & purple and she prides herself in knowing ALL the colors. 

*She loves jeggins & requests to wear them everyday & usually cries on the days that she cannot wear them.

LOVE LOVE this little person!

 Waking up on her 3rd birthday

 She kept calling the streamers, presents

 3 pancake.  Cody made it for her the night before since he wasn't there that morning- thats love!

 She also has a huge love for cupcakes, who doesn't??!

Lucy's Candyland

Lucy Jane turned 3 a few weeks ago & we threw her a little candyland birthday party!  I can't believe that she is 3 but there will be another post on that later, but she LOVED her party!  Because of crazy rain we had to move her party into the YL building & I was pretty bummed about it at first but it actually turned out better.  I love planning parties, it really is fun for me.  I know that our life is crazy a lot of times during the year & I probably miss a lot of things with my kids that I should be there for but I try.  I really want there to be memorable things from their childhood & I feel like birthday parties are some of those memorable things.  I want them to know that they are loved & I want them to feel like people celebrate them & who they are & to me that is what a birthday is all about celebrating that person & I want Lucy & Miles to feel like we celebrate them.  So all that to say here are some pictures of sweet Lucy's candyland.

 Lucy's little cake, she requested a pink & purple cake so this cake was purple on the inside!

 Some of the decor

 Food & drinks, we kept it pretty simple- just cake, cupcakes, cakeballs (thanks Grammy!) lemonade, & water

I created a game of candyland for the kids to play & had a few different places they could stop at.  These decorations were fun & super easy to make.  I had some of these boards left over from a project for church I was working on with some friends so I printed out the candyland characters on transparencies & put them on an overhead projector & painted them.  They turned out a lot better than I thought they would.

 Queen Frostine - tape the snowflake on her rod

 Peppermint forest - balance a peppermint on a spoon

 Lollipop garden - hot lollipop (aka hot potato)

We also had a chocolate fountain that was the chocolate swamp & that was pretty much the favorite of the party - everyone LOVED it!

 The birthday girl making her entrance

 The candyland path

 The sweetest little party guest!

Love this 3 year old!

 All the kids made King & Queen candy crowns when they came in

 Cody was in charge of making the big game happen - he did great!

Happy Birthday Lucy Jane - I love celebrating you!

Western Day

Lucy is really loving her school this year!  She is learning a lot & loves being with all her friends.  I so wish I could be a fly on the wall in her class because she really doesn't tell me much that goes on.  I would love to see how she interacts with everyone & how well she participates.  Her teachers always tell me that Lucy is very social & they usually tell me when she gets in trouble.  She doesn't get in trouble much, just a few minor things like sitting up during nap time or not sharing, for the most part I think she is really good.

Here are a few pics of this little western girl - 

Kyle & Erika

Last month Kyle & Erika came into town to hang-out.  We loved seeing them & I am so thankful that they made the trip up to see us.  I know it's not a fun trip at all but it means so much to me that they would make the trip & take the time to invest in Lucy & Miles.  Lucy, of course, was so excited that they came to see us & was pretty much attached to them all weekend.  We didn't do a much while they were here just ate some yummy food, watched football, played outside, & caught up on life.  We love where we live right now but we sure do wish we were closer to aunts & uncles.

Sweet Miles in the BOB - he loves it in there.

So happy to be feeding the ducks with Aunt Erika

Play time!

We almost got a smile from Lucy...

Uncle Kyle = FUN

Miles loves Aunt Erika

Ribbon dancing!

After the Olympics this summer Lucy was super into gymnastics & ribbon dancing.  Not only did the Olympics have ribbon dancing but a new Dora episode came out after the Olympics & Dora was a ribbon dancer (the Dora marketing people are really on top of things :) so with both of those things Lucy became obsessed with ribbon dancing so Erika made her some amazing ribbons to dance with.  They are a huge hit around here - while they were here Kyle & Erika helped her learn some dances, it was pretty funny!

New School Year!

Summer was so great but we (mostly me) were definitely ready for the kids to go back to school.   We are so blessed to have a great little pre-school that we can send the kids to.  Lucy has been going to this school since she was 10 months old & now Miles is now starting in the same class that she started in a few years ago.  They have the sweetest teachers & I feel so comfortable leaving them there for the day.

Lucy was so excited & Miles had no idea what he was about to get himself into.  She couldn't wait to go back & see all her friends & I am pretty sure that she was excited to have a break from me.  I love our time together but it is good for us to have a little time apart. I love summer & the lack of routine that we have but by the time August comes around I am always ready for the fall & to have our routine back.  

Being the good mom I am I attempted pictures before we left for school.  Lucy of course would not smile or look at the camera & Miles was just super wiggly.  

 Back to school 2012

Thank you Miles for looking at the camera

 Still trying to get a good pic & Lucy is just singing & Miles is trying to make a run for it!

 Little Miss ready to be the queen of pre-school

 Miles is just happy to be outside :)

 Attempted again to get a picture outside of school = Lucy just yelled "cheese" & Miles ate grass

 Miles did great, he was one of the only ones not crying in his class.  He has cried a few times since the first day but most days he is so happy to go into his class & he waves goodbye to me.  We really do lead a pretty crazy life, but I think because of that life we have 2 pretty well adjusted kids that most of the time go with the flow don't know if that's good or bad but it has worked out well for them with pre-school.

Lucy just walked right in & sat down to play & of course would not look back for a picture!

So thankful for a place for them to learn & grow & for teachers that love them well.  Most mornings I am ready to drop them off & get to work but I am always happy when I get to go pick them up & kiss those little faces!