2012?!!

I feel a lot of pressure - this my first entry of 2012, it should be amazing, but it probably won't be since I'm exhausted and can't even speak in complete sentences, let alone type in them. I am conducting a little experiment though. (okay, really it is just because I'm lazy, but an experiment sounds much more exciting!) my crazy cool husband bought me a crazy cool present for my 29th birthday. (yes, I know, one more year and I will officially be in old person. HA! If you don't think that is funny you are probably already an old person, but that's cool, we can still be friends!) I am now the proud new owner of an iPad of the which I totally love. For real, it is so fun. It is also sort of a genius and knows what I am trying to write most of the time. So here is the experiment. I will not be editing myself today (see, told ya, La-haaa-zy!) and we will see if I make any sense or turn to gibberish. One time I was typing an email to my sister and was so tired I had my fingers on all the wrong keys. Once I finally noticed I laughed so hard at what i had been writing I almost peed my pants - so I sent it that way just for fun. But now with my NATO Cheetos iPad I might be better off. (ummm.... Okay, that was supposed to be neeto cheeto, this might not work after all...)

So, for those of you wondering how life is in NC we are doing really well. We have had a very mild winter so I can't complain about that. We had a wonderful Christmas here at home, and almost made it to midnight on New Years. This past year has been filled with all the fun that comes with a new baby. But baby NayNay is growing up. He has all sorts of new tricks and is always running around after the big kids and terrorizing the dog. I'm not joking about the running either. Walking is no longer an acceptable form of transportation. He gets especially fast when trying to wrestle out of a diaper change and I have to run after him and scoop his naked body off the stairs a bazzillion times a day. He says mama and ball and up. Well, technically he says mama and ba-ha and Bup, which is even cuter. He loves to play chase, even with his clothes on and Kendall and Bryan can chase him around and around forever and he still wants to keep playing. Kendall and Bryan are so patient with him, it is no wonder he adores them. He gets so excited when they get in the car after school, it is so adorable. We are also keeping busy with things Other than the awesomeness that is baby palooza. Kendall just had her last gymnastics meet for her level three season and had another great day! Her beam routine is amazing, she is so fun to watch. Bryan just started swim lessons while he is waiting for the spring season of soccer. If you haven't seen Bryan swim you are missing out. He is fearless, always has been, but he frantically flails his arms and kicks his legs and pretty much looks like he is about to drown. For thirty straight minutes! And afterwards he climbs out of the water and exclaims, "momma, what's for dinner? I'm hungry!" yeah, I would be to if I swam like my life depended on it for half an hour. He's so silly. He has become quite the little reader. He blows me away with some of the words he can sound out now. I have started a few new adventures as well. I am still struggling to learn piano, but I can tell my practice is paying off and the notes I play sound more and more like actual songs. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to play in sacrament meeting again for a while! And I also just starting working as an aqua aerobics instructed at the gym near our home. It has been a fun new challenge for me and I am really enjoying the friends I am making there. The majority of the class is over sixty years old, but there are a few that are only over fifty. And they are some of the nicest people I have met here and we get along swimmingly. (get it?! Haha, I made myself chuckle!)

Ethan is great! And as good looking and fun as ever. That's all I really have or can say about that. Speaking of, there is a good chance we will be making our blog private soon. I hate to do it, because I know a few of you like to sneak on and sneak back off without being noticed, and I dig that because I am the same way. But like the walrus said, The time has come. So when the switch happens please come with us. If I weren'tvso tired I would try to figure to get some of our fun videos up, but it will probably have to wait until next time, I am driving the carpool tomorrow and the other moms don't like it if we're late. Night friends.

If you think my hands are full...

...you should see my heart!

DISCLAIMER - I had visions of going through and moving all of the pictures to fit in with what I was writing about, but it is just going to take too much time and I am not invested enough in the end result to chose to use my time in that way. I apologize that there are a lot of photos to look through at the end, but I figure that those who are interested will look regardless of the presentation and I can use my time to stalk other blogs instead. Okay, now to the good stuff....

I was pregnant with Baby Nay-Nay for 39 weeks, and it seemed like an eternity. He is now just over nine months and I keep thinking to myself, "Wait, that went by way too quickly." Having Nathan in our home has been a pure joy, there is no other way to describe it. I love him. I love watching him. I love loving him and I really love watching his big sister and big brother love him. He really is such a lucky baby to be surrounded by so much love. He has the best baby laugh of all time. Kendall and Bryan can make him giggle just about any time of day or night and when he laughs his great big belly laugh it is impossible not to join in. I am convinced his laugh can heal the world. This boy loves the dog (maybe too much!), loves to play chase, loves his KiKi and BryBry, loves to pull all the movies off their shelf, and absolutely adores his daddy. The sound of Ethan's voice will make him stop whatever he is doing (even pulling the movies out) and turn to him and smile. He has started trying to wrestle with Ethan like the big kids do and it is hysterical. And when he gets really excited he just turns to his dad and bites down on whatever is closest. I know it hurts, he has done it to me too, but man alive is it funny.

Bryan just finished up an amazing season of soccer. He had a fantastic coach this year that called him Big Time and Bry really worked hard for him. He is really understanding the game and his skills are really improving. I am hoping he wants to stay with it for a while because I see so much potential in him, and he is still loving the game. I love going to those games, and even the practices are so much fun to watch. He is just so fast. And so funny. I love his sense of humor. He is doing great in school and really likes his teacher. She calls to tell me the funny things he says and does, and it makes me a little sad that I'm not there to see everything, but I am glad that he is doing so well. It is nice to see him having fun and making friends and learning so much. He is becoming quite the little reader. And he loves art and makes me many beautiful art projects that just make my heart smile. He is our sweet funny kid and I love watching him grow.

Kendall only has one more gymnastics meet as a level three and then she loves up to level four. I am beyond impressed with the things this girl can do with her body. She is just a power house. At her last meet she took second place in the vault, and first in the beam, bars, floor and All Around. And she was such a gracious winner, it was just a pleasure watching her up on that podium. She has quite the following of little kids at Bry's soccer games that follow her around and she is so patient with them. They all think she is so nice and so cool and they are right, she is. She is still doing great in school. She was a bit frustrated with her math worksheets because they were taking so long, so I sat down with her to try and see what was issue was. The problem was not Kendall's understanding of math, it was that the teacher always tells them to show their work, so if a problem says there are five glasses with five straws in each glass, how many straws are there in all? Kendall would say to me, 25. I would ask her how she knows and she would say, five five times is 25, and then spend the next four minutes drawing five glasses with five straws in each one to show her work. She just wants to do what is asked of her and if the teacher says show your work than by golly she was going to do it. So now that we have talked with the teacher and discussed just what show your work means we are all a lot happier about homework. She is so smart, not just with school work, but with people too. I love how empathetic she is to everyone around her. And she is a really big help with Nay-Nay. I can not wait to see what she is going to become as she grows up, and it is going to be big - I am sure of it.

Life is tough for me sometimes because Ethan has to be gone a lot and I start to feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, but it is tough to be down for long with such a supportive husband and adorable kids. We keep reminding ourselves that it isn't how much time we have, it is what we do with it. And I think we are doing a pretty good job of enjoying our family time. Even with all of the traveling Ethan and I are finding ways to keep our marriage strong and raise our family the way we always wanted to. We have good neighbors, great friends, a retarded adorable puppy, a steady job, a beautiful home, amazing families, and a loving Father in Heaven. A friend of mine shared a quote that I love. People are not Thankful because they are Happy, they are Happy because they are Thankful. And I have so much to be thankful for - things that really fill my life with hope an happiness. So at those moments when life seems hard and it seems like the to-do list is growing right in front of my eyes I just remind myself that there isn't anything else in the world I would rather be doing than my very best to take care of the things I love.

No Time To Say Hello...Goodbye

I'm Late, I'm Late, I'm Late.
That is how I feel lately, like I am just running around from one thing to the next without my head screwed on straight. Not in a bad way really, just a busy way. The kids are growing like weeds, allbeit the cutest weeds known to man. Nathan celebrated his half birthday today, so that's fun. Ethan has been home the last week, which is also fun. And I am staying busy watching all the cuteness, practicing piano and trying to keep on top of Primary events while everyone else is out of town for the summer. Seriously, EVERYONE is out of town for the summer. Primary is....busy. And probably entertaining for the teachers. That is if you like to watch a train wreck week after week. Also, since I am pretty sure no one in North Carolina reads this blog I think the rest of you might get a really good laugh about the fact that people here think I am something of a super cook. Since we moved here a year ago (has it really been a year!) I have won the Chili Cook Off and the Cupcake War Party for the best tasting cupcake. I have also been asked to please bring that delicious________- fill in the blank with some random recipe I probably found online - to the next gathering. HA! I thought those of you that know me might get a pretty good laugh out of that. So things are going well, days keep flying by and soon our two older children will head off to school. Until then we are just enjoying the summer, enjoying spending time with our daddy, enjoying the sweetest little squishy baby, and just plain enjoying life. Life. Is. Beautiful. Here is proof!

Come On, I'm Not THAT Old

While watching Looney Tunes...

Kendall: I love Looney Tunes. It is too bad they didn't have Looney Tunes for you to watch when you were little.
Me: Actually, I did watch Looney Tunes when I was little too.
Kendall: Wow. But not the same Looney Tunes, right?
Me: Yep, the SAME Looney Tunes.
Kendall: Are you serious?! Like with colors on them and everything?!

For real? How old does she think I am? The only show I watched in Black and White was I Love Lucy. And Bewitched. And Perry Mason. Oh - and Dick Van Dyke and Batman. Aww Crap. Maybe I am old. To be fair, I'm pretty sure they were reruns.....

Picture This

Hello. My name is Nathan. I rolled onto my belly, but then I got stuck. I'm still cute!
This is our friends above ground pool. They aren't able to put it up at their home anymore so they brought it over and we set it up on the patio. Unfortunately the patio is slanted so the water will run off and isn't level enough for the pool, but the kids sure loved getting in and getting sprayed anyway. Goodbye cool pool. We'll miss you...
We love these babies so so much. They are way too cute, I can't stand it.
Hello. It's me again, Nathan. Yep, totally got stuck on my belly again. Totally still adorable.
We love having a baby again. And it makes me really appreciate how awesome Kendall and Bryan are to do so many things on their own. Kids start off way adorable, and they just get better and better and better. But I think you always miss this sweet baby stage, right?!

Growing Up

A lot of very exciting things have been happening around here. Everyone is growing up and doing cool things. Kendall took the training wheels off her bike. She probably could have done it last summer, but she was way too scared. All year she has been cruising up and down the hill we live on like a crazy person, so Ethan somehow convinced her to let him take them off. And she hasn't slowed down without them at all. She is a real dare devil that one. She has also learned how to do a back hand spring, which is pretty neat, but also another reason for me to worry about her and her crazy antics. She is flying through every book we give her, and I am happy it is summer just so I don't have to be so strict about her not hiding books under her covers at bed time. Just because I am a proud mother I have to brag about her just a little. I went to pick her up from school early on the last day because it was the only time we could get a Dr. Appointment for her. As I was signing her out at the front desk her art teacher heard them call for Kendall and asked if I was her mom. She said she was glad she got to meet me because she just loves Kendall and wanted to let me know what a great girl she thinks Kendall is. And that her and the P.E. teacher and the music teacher all rave about Kendall being so much fun to have in class. As a parent I love hearing that kind of thing and couldn't wait to tell Ethan about it. And when her teacher brought her up to me she had tears in her eyes as she told Kendall she would really miss having her in class, and thanked her for being such a great student. I don't blame them, there is something about Kendall that is just fun to be around. She is a very caring kid for someone so little, and she really makes others feel special and important. How blessed we are to have her in our family.

Bryan has grown. For those of you that know Bryan you will appreciate the awesomeness of this! And while he isn't a giant, people don't say "Oh Really?!! when we tell them he's five. It also means that he has needed a bunch of new clothes, but since he wore the same pants for probably three years I really don't see how I can complain about it. And, he is HILARIOUS! I don't know any other way to explain that, and again, if you know Bryan you can understand what I mean. There is just something about that kid that is pure comedic genius. Half of it is the things he says and the other half is his adorable voice. I can't remember who it was, but someone was over at our house and mentioned that Bryan was so fun to talk to because his ideas sounded so mature while his voice was still just so little. He has a knack for adding, loves ALL things super hero, and just learned to do a cart wheel. And he is such an empathetic little guy. He always thinks of other people first. One Friday he asked what we were going to do when Kendall got home from school and I told him that we were going to get all our chores done since Saturday was going to be too busy. He asked if he could help me and we could work really fast and get all the chores done before Kendall came home. I couldn't figure out why he was in such a hurry to do so much work, but he told me it was because he wanted to surprise Kendall and she would be so happy when she found out that everything was already finished. Seriously, what five year old does all their sister's chores for them just because they love to make them happy?! And he has buried every dead insect in a 100 ft. radius of our house. I am pretty sure they are all in the same shallow grave, but still it is because he loves them. He is a sweetheart that one.

And then there is Nathan. He loves everything. You talk to him - he smiles. You sing to him - he smiles. You hold him - he smiles. You walk casually by him and glance his way - he smiles. He just loves life. And he loves Kendall and Bryan. Those two can make him laugh this adorable belly laugh. He always has an amazing laugh, but he saves the best laughs for them. He does get fussy every once and a while, and it is so uncharacteristic that I can't figure out what is wrong. And then I remember, oh yeah, he's a baby. Babies cry sometimes. He still holds hands with me, but not like he did when he was a newborn. But when I pick him up and give him a squeeze he squeezes me with his hands and I just know he is giving me a hug. This baby is way too sweet. The doctor called him "Girthy!" Haha, girthy Nathan. And he rolled over last week. The first time he did it I was folding laundry in my bedroom and he was on his back on the floor by me. We were talking and he was cooing at me, and then I left the room to put some of the kids clothes away. I heard him start to fuss, but I was almost done so I finished quickly and then went back to my room. He was on his belly, and once I got down so I could look him and tell him how proud I was he rolled over he just started laughing and cooing again. I called Kendall and Bryan up and we all told him how proud we were, and he was just happy as can be. We tried to get it on tape for Ethan, so we rolled him onto his back again, but he was just pickled that we were all talking to him that he didn't care one bit about rolling over. Then he rolled over again while he was on the floor in the family room with the kids and I was it the bathroom. He started fussing, but obviously I couldn't pick him up right away, and he got so mad and just rolled over! He does it every time I lay him down now. It is super cute, but when we are trying to change a diaper it makes things a little difficult. He reminds me a bit of Zoolander because he will only roll to his right side. We are waiting to see him figure out rolling from his belly to his back, but he is not quite there yet.

No pictures today. I have some cute ones but they are all still on the camera. "Load them on the computer" you say? Sorry friends, its after twelve and morning comes early. Next time though, I promise.

Boom! Boom!

FIRE POWER!!