Christmas Day

We had a good Christmas!  The kids slept in on Christmas morning, and when Luke came in our room that morning, he had totally forgotten that it was Christmas. They had a good time opening their gifts. We had Grandma and Grandpa Dawson and Eli come over for Breakfast, then later in the afternoon we headed over to the Dawson's to see the rest of the family.

Christmas Eve

Like every year, we spent Christmas Eve with my parents and my siblings. We missed Luke and Lisa, but everyone else was able to get together. This year was a bit more lively with the three one year olds. I think my brother, Brent, who just got home from his mission was overwhelmed by the noise. I told him that I thought he'd gotten even more quiet while he was on his mission, but he just said the kids had gotten more noisy.

Abigail is 3!

Abby was excited for her grandparents to come over to help celebrate her birthday.
 She wasted no time opening her gifts.

She tried on her new outfit from Grandma Sharla

She had a Strawberry shortcake cake, and strawberry ice cream. She had a lot of fun, and said thank-you many times for all the fun presents.

Things Abby loves....

-Babies... She's always bringing me babies and blankets to wrap them up and also asks me to babysit. Her babies are from left to right, Shelby, Alyson, Minnie, Dora, & Cindy.
-Locking Carly in her room... it's not as bad as it sounds, but she's always luring Carly into their room with pretend treats or dolls, then she shuts the door behind them, therefor, forcing Carly to play babies with her. I always hear Carly yelling at the closed door, and Abby saying, 'just play with me!' Other than forcing Carly to play with her, she's such a sweet sister to her.

-Luke... She loves her brother. These two do everything together. Sometimes I forget that they're not the same age, because they play so well. Abby wanted hot chocolate the other day, so I got out her snowman mug, and she said, "get Luke's" . She assumes if she wants something, so does Luke. I had Abby wear a towel around her neck so she didn't spill on her shirt (she had a movie date with Grandma Barb) so she got one for Luke too.
-cutting her hair... It was finally starting to grow out again after going through 6 mo. on and off stint of cutting her hair. I was so excited to be able to do new things with it, when she decided to trim it again. You can see in the above picture that her bangs aren't as full on the left side. It wasn't too bad this time, but I'm thinking about throwing away ALL scissors in the household.

-Pink!... She likes me to ask her questions... I ask,"what's your favorite game?" "PINK!" "What's your favorite movie?" "PINK!" You get the picture... just any game or any movie, or any food, doll, shirt, etc... with pink on it. She's pretty easy to please.

We love our sweet Abigail!

"Hey, look that says book!"

Hallelujah... He can see! We've known for a while that Luke really can't see. Little hints like standing directly in front of the T.V. Saying 'I can't see' all the time. His pre-school teacher telling me he can't see. Trying to wear my glasses to watch movies. Last Sunday he had his primary program and his teacher kept trying to point him to where we were so he could see us. And we even scooted up towards the front of the chapel that week. So you get the picture, anyone around him for more than a minute knew he couldn't see. We took him to the eye Dr. in January, he said Luke was fine and not to worry... well I knew that wasn't the case, so I took him to a new Dr. this last week, he did great with Luke, and Luke was so excited to look in the binoculars, he did a really good job. He got to pick out his glasses, and he was really excited to wear them. On our way home from picking up his glasses Luke was looking out the window, there was a big sign that said Seagull Book, and Luke could see Book. He's so happy that he can see. He keeps telling me 'I can see that' , pointing to something.

home sweet home

Here's the house. We love the ward, the neighbors, and the location. We are at the end of the road and so not much traffic comes by. We don't have any backyard neighbors, just wetlands and goats. It will probably be a while before I post any indoor pictures, I'm still in the process of getting things where I want them.

Grandma Dawson got the kids new church clothes. They all liked their outfits, but Abigail LOVED hers. Anything girlie makes her happy.

Like these roses she picked from our yard. She also LOVED the roses. She called them her babies. Then when she was done playing with them, she picked all the petals and scattered them around the living room.

one year pictures

I asked Eli to take some pictures of Carly for her birthday. I love them all, but these two are probably my favorite. She loved getting her pictures done and smiled the whole time.

Halloween 2009

Each year gets more fun with the kids and holidays. I was kinda relieved this year when Luke told me he wanted to be spider man. I had wanted to make him a costume, but I'm really un-organized this year, so I was happy to buy him a suit. When I got done making Abby's costume, I told my Mom I was just going to buy Carly something because I didn't have time to do hers too. So my Mom took pity on me and made Carly's for me.

And thank you Mom, because I think Carly was the cutest witch!

Abby really likes to take care of everyone, she watches over Carly so well. She carried Carly's bucket to each door so that she got enough candy. G &G Dawson came trick or treating with us around the neighborhood, then after we went over to G&G Jenkins for dinner.

Of course the end of the night ends with Ab being partially naked. All the trick or treaters got an eye full.

the last couple of weeks

Well, here's our last day in our apartment... moving day. I tried to keep the kids entertained with cookies and a movie, but it only lasted as long as the cookies.

Ben and I celebrated our anniversary on the 17th. Ben had to work most of the day, but luckily we went to my Grandma's 75th birthday party, so we did go out and eat at least.

Also on the 17th, Abigail and Luke were both fighting their way out of the shower at the same time and Ab fell on the bottom where the door closes. We were at my Mom's so she watched Luke and Carly while I took her in to get stitched.

She asked if I had my camera in my bag... she wanted to send a picture to Uncle Blake. So here we are waiting in the Dr.'s office.

And finally my favorite part of my new house... outside! The kids play outside all day, Luke and Ab have bonded so much playing together, I love it.

While we were in the moving process, it made me realize what great family we have! We had such eager babysitters, movers, plumbers, & painters.

Once things get settled, I will get more pictures up of the house. I'm painting, and I've only got two bathrooms and two bedrooms left.

birthday girl

Carly's 1! I can't believe it... she should still be that newborn that I feel like we just barely brought home. Time flies! Thursday was her birthday, but with everybody's schedules we finally got around to a little celebration. Today was the primary program, so the grandparents came to see Luke and we invited them over after sacrament for lunch and cake.

1. 

She got some cute outfits, p.j.'s, two babies, and a stroller. She was pretty happy for being nap deprived. Grandma Sharla also got some p.j.'s for Luke and Abigail, I think they were excited to be included in the gift receiving. Ab told me that the babies are Carly's but she get to use them, because Carly doesn't want them.

Here's some random pictures of my girl. Carly likes to throw her cereal on the ground, so I think she's done. I get her out and she immediately eats all the cereal off the floor. It doesn't make sense.

Carly's got 11 teeth, I've never seen a baby teeth so quickly. I could honestly give her a steak. Today, Carly said a new word... wukey. We were sitting in sacrament and I had Carly standing on my lap facing the stand, that's when she spotted Luke. She was hollering and pointing, "wukey, wuke!" She wouldn't stop, she was kinda being disruptive, so I said, "shhhhh" and she covered her mouth with her hand and burst into tears. I took her out for a bit and when we came back she just kept going, "wukey, wukey"

We had her Dr.'s appointment and here's the news...
Weight- 20 lbs. - 55%
Height- 31 inches- 95%
I'm so glad that so far my kids have taken after Ben in the height department.
Carly is such a little sweetheart, she loves to give kisses and loves to snuggle while sucking her thumb.

more water party

Thomas Luke and Lisa invited us over for another water party. Luke and Abby were so excited... Luke had been asking practically everyday since the last water party, when we were going again. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the kids had a blast. On a sad note...Luke and Lisa moved to Montana this morning, we are going to miss them!

Whenever Abigail went down the slide, it gave her a massive wedgie. Shannon asked her if she needed help getting it out... so after that, Ab just assumed Shannon was the designated wedgie picker, she walked past me and asked 'Aunt Shannie to get it out of her bottom'.

Preschool... finally!

Luke FINALLY went to preschool! I say finally, because he has been asking me everyday for the past 6mos. when he is going to school. I would always say in the fall, when it's a little colder in the mornings, then you can go. Every morning he'd wake up and look out the window, and say it's colder now, Fall's here! After his first day the first thing out of his mouth was "I got to cut with really sharp scissors!" Then he told me all about his friend 'little' Blake, not 'big' Blake (my brother). So whenever he talks about his friend, he calls him little... I hope this Blake kid doesn't get a complex.

the little mermaid

'look Mom, I'm just like Ariel!'