Jossy's lucky day...

Jocelyn and Gage do a fun little preschool at BYU-I and today the teaching staff invited Tony to Jocelyn's class to do a presentation on building. Tony was too cute trying all the tools out with the kids and Jossy was loving having her daddy be the guest of honor. All the kids got a tape measure to take home and I think Tony was a big hit!
Jossy helping Daddy demonstrate the tape measure.
The kids loved their tape measures from Tony.

(Lauren and Jossy are in the pink tulle skirts.)

THIS ROCKS!

So the sheetrockers are done! They still have to mud and tape the joints, but the place is starting to look more like a house and less like a pile of sticks! This is the garage exterior- the knee braces will have curved notches cut into them.
The family room.
The kitchen
The master shower! Check out all those shower heads! 12 portals of watery bliss!
They also finished the window trim.

Two shots of the foyer.

The tidy garage.

Off to the Races!

Gage has this thing where he loves everyone to race him. He can beat Jossy and Lauren no problem, but when Mom or Dad are in the race it's a different story. We usually let him win.

Lately, he has insisted that we all assume the runners stance before the race can begin. Even Lauren. Then you have to run through the sassy apple-wallpapered dining room, past the TV, past the stairs and the first one to hit the front door WINS!

Our real life Polly Pocket

I guess Lauren is going to take after Tony's sister Shannon- she is a petite little bug!

She had her 18 month check-up today and was given the thumbs up for health. There were no residual effects of her RSV infection and she is back to her usual self. In the pic we were waiting for the doctor and she was modeling my sunglasses- as a belt.

Here's how she measured up:

Length is 29 inches (bottom 3%) Little Shortcake!

Weight 21 lbs (bottom 5%) No complaints here, she's easy to carry when she lets me!

Head Circumference 18" (18%) Hats still don't fit

Fantastic things come in tiny packages! We love our Lauren!

Back to Normal?

Normal is a relative term-

Lauren is doing lots better! She has been running and climbing like a healthy little monkey but she does have one more checkup tomorrow. In the picture, she was trying to get away from me (I had her pants and a hairbow) so she climbed as high and as fast as she could. She didn't get too far but it's still impressive for a little girl her size.

Also, they finally started hanging sheetrock in our house yesterday! I know it doesn't look like much, but it makes the house feel so much more finished after they're done. Then there's only the trim, doors, priming, paint, flooring, railings, finish plumbing, light fixtures, cabinetry left to do. Almost there, ha ha! Pictures are of the theater room and Tony extolling the virtues of building a house in winter. Isn't he a handsome young man? I think so too.

Half Elephant!

I was reading my dear sister-in-law Ashley's blog and saw this photo she had posted from last summer. Gage got bit by a bug behind his right ear and it got HUGE! I know this is old and random but it was so funny to see- I hadn't taken a picture and it was so funny. Now we can all laugh together!

Happy Valentines!!

Happy Valentines! This was just a little quick pic of the kids at their school. We had to run in and run out to get them to keep Lauren from coughing on anyone, but I think they had a good time. Gage and Jossy really liked taking treats and cards to all their little friends at school. They even helped me put them all together- there were over 50 so I was glad to have the help.

Today was also our SEVENTH anniversary! We didn't do much because of our little sicky, but we did sneak away to a movie for 2 hours (thanks for tending Mom). It was a nice little break and maybe we can do something festive later to celebrate.

Not feeling so great...

Poor little Lauren ended up in the hospital for a bit this week. Her RSV got pretty bad her O2 sats (oxygen saturation) was in the 80s and occasionally would dip into the 70s. She just wasn't getting the oxygen she needed. She also was vomiting from the drainage and coughing and not sleeping and was all around pretty miserable. This is a picture I took right before she was discharged- I had an O2 tube taped to her bottle so she could breath the oxygen and drink at the same time. She's home now and doing better, but I sure miss her little rascally self.

In all fairness, it is her turn.

Lauren has RSV for the first time. Gage has had it twice, Jocelyn once. I gotta stop letting them lick the floor at Walmart!! (I'm kidding)

Poor little thing feels so cruddy- I got her a bottle of strawberry lemonade, which is her favorite, and all she could do was look down at it thinking about how she was going to get it in her mouth without moving. She's going to make it though- as long as she has her softie she'll be fine. And some Tylenol, and her breathing machine, and her antibiotics, and her Daddy, and her bottle . . .

I'm sure she'll be running around like a crazy lady again by Thursday!

Everyone kept all their fingers...

So on the new house I requested that one of the windows have this sassy little copper roof- Tony had never done one before so he said we could give it a whirl. He and a helper made the frame and then had a metal worker in IF cover it with copper sheeting. It looks great and I'm always going to admire that Tony can figure stuff like that out. I just think it looks nice.

Anyway, the funny part about it is that we weren't really sure about the whole hanging bit.

We got the boom truck from the truss plant and kinda tied it to the hook and up it went. It actually went really smoothly- no cuts, no broken windows, no crushed bones. I am totally relieved because I thought this was going to go badly for sure!

Somehow, it looked a lot more giant and daunting when it was sitting on the trailer. Note the cozy weather and smiling faces. Ha Ha.

Look out Olympics!

We're not quite ready to give everyone the Dorothy Hammil hair cut just yet, but Gage and Jossy are really enjoying their gymnastics classes! The gym has lots of fun equipment for the kids to learn on, and it has really helped Jocelyn with her coordination. Gage like the TumbleTrak (a really long trampoline) and Jocelyn loves the other little girls. She also loves the little leotards and yoga pants. She kinda gets the idea, kinda not.

Lauren tries to do the tricks too, and she's not half bad, but I'm pretty sure they don't have a class for 18 month olds. It would be like chasing a herd cats.

I know the still shots don't do justice to the humor of toddler gymnastics, but still, enjoy!