Amelia's Changing Smile

Amelia has had a very unique smile for quite awhile. Her permanent tooth decided to break through before her baby tooth fell out, right in the middle on the top. I told her she needed to wiggle it like crazy so that we wouldn't have to have the dentist pull it out.

Just before Halloween, she lost a different tooth on the top. You can see in this picture the two teeth fighting for one spot on the top in the middle.

About the middle of November, I took the kids for a check-up at the dentist. He was concerned about her situation so we decided to pull the baby tooth out, hoping that the permanent tooth would eventually fall back to where it should be. On November 16th, I picked her up from school at lunch time and we went to the dentist. She got all set up with the laughing gas, got all numb, and then the dentist got to work. He was so quick, that she didn't even realize that he had pulled her tooth out. She got to keep it in a really cool tooth necklace which she took to school the next day to show all her friends.She was so brave to get her tooth pulled out. Of course, we went to Wendy's afterwards for a Frosty. Yum. That was the special treat that my mom would always get for me after I had teeth pulled at the dentist. Just look at those teeth. Can you say, "Orthodontist"?

Proud Mama

I am so proud of my girls and the progress that they are making with their reading. Right after parent/teacher conferences earlier this month, both girls were re-tested for their reading level.
Ashley is reading at a level "K" and Amelia is on a level "L". I love reading with my girls. It is so fun to see them interested in all sorts of new subjects. They will frequently stay up at night reading after we have tucked them into bed. They just can't get enough.

Riding the Real Train

I've always wanted to go for a ride on the Heber Valley Railroad. It just seemed like one of the "bucket list" kind of things to do. And now seemed like the perfect time to go. Elliot absolutely loves trains. He was so excited to finally get to ride on the "real" train. Not to be confused with that tiny little train at the zoo.

Our train was scheduled to leave the train station at 11:00 one Saturday morning. We hoped that we had picked a good time to go so that we could enjoy all the fall colors through the canyon. The funny thing though (for us) was that since we live in southern Utah county, we took a drive through Provo Canyon to get to Heber, then we rode the train through the canyon again on our scenic tour, then we drove home through to same canyon. I've seen enough of Provo Canyon to last me a while. We met up with my Mom and Steve, and Tamara and Brian and his girls to go on our epic adventure. The train ride would be 3 hours and I was a little worried how well the kids would handle it. Amelia pretty much wanted to play Angry Birds for the entire ride. I made her actually enjoy the scenery a little bit too. Ashley was afraid of the train cars from the moment that we climbed aboard because they were all decorated for Halloween and the "haunted canyon" rides. For at least the first half hour, all she said was that she wanted to go home. Elliot was in heaven! He loved everything about the train and is still talking about it, weeks later. Micah was a trooper. I was lucky to have my mom there with an extra set of arms since she held him for the entire first half of our journey.

Elliot and Ashley kept themselves very entertained by taking a lot of pictures. I'm so glad that grandma had her camera too!

Ashley took this great picture of the view out our window. It was a beautiful day for a train ride, but very cold.

About 30 minutes into our ride, we got robbed. Amelia thought that they may actually be real robbers and so she hid my phone that she had been playing on so that they wouldn't take it. Ashley was sitting by me so I explained to her that it was all just pretend so that she wouldn't freak out. Elliot was a little unsure of the situation but never got too scared.

We tried really hard to get a good family photo. Maybe this is as good as it gets.

Look how sweet. At least someone got a good shot.

I love that Amelia's head is peeking into this one.

Once we got back to the depot, we did some quick shots outside and then we were off to get into our cars and warm up. We also went out to lunch/dinner with everyone to celebrate the September and October birthdays. It was a fun day and now I can check that off my list of things to do.

Micah - 10 months old

Oh my, oh my! The last 10 months have sure flown by. And now that school has started, I think that the time is flying by even faster.

Micah turned 10 months old on the 1st and I actually remembered to take a picture. Elliot was such a good helper to get Micah to smile.


How big is baby? SO BIG!

Micah's newest trick is to climb up the steps and get out of the living room. Since we have a sunken living room, it is like having a built-in playpen. At least until baby learns how to climb up those two steps. Now that Micah has learned how to do this, he rarely stays put in the living room for long.

Along with turning 10 months old, I decided that it was time to get him to sleep through the night more consistently. Lately, he has been waking up 1 or 2 times a night. And since I am usually exhausted, I quickly nurse him back to sleep so that I can get back to bed. With weaning on the horizon in two months, I figured that now would be a good time to get Micah to sleep through the night. Just like clockwork, Micah woke up just after midnight on the first. I went into his room, gave him a cuddly stuffed dog to keep him company, pulled the blankets over him, then went back to my room and turned off the monitor. I'm not sure how long he cried for since I fell asleep fairly quickly, but he slept just fine the rest of the night.

The next night, I tried to nurse him (as usual) just before going to bed, but he wouldn't have it. He ate for less than 5 minutes and then was ready to go to bed. So, I put him to bed and he slept all night long. I finally had to wake him up the next morning because I needed him to eat. The following night was to same story. I tried to nurse him before tucking him in for the night and he gave me the cold shoulder. So, I wrapped him up and put him to bed. He slept for about 11 hours last night. And once again, I was desperate for him to wake up and eat. I hope he continues to sleep well at night since it certainly makes my nights better.

Love these pictures

When my sister got married, a little over a year ago, I had her photographer capture a few pictures of our family too. It was at the end of the night, after the newlyweds left, that we finally had a chance. It had been a long day, and it showed.
Amelia's look says it all. "I'm tired and I want to go home." The kids were such troopers.

I love this shot. Probably because Elliot is hiding my pregnant belly just enough that I don't look chubby. I think I was about 16 weeks or so. You know the stage...just barely into maternity clothes because you can't zip up your pants anymore.

I would just love to Photoshop in better expressions on the girls faces. But then again, it shows honestly and truly what we were all feeling. It was a fun day, but we were exhausted.

Tile and Grout and Paint! Oh My!

I got the bathroom painted a while back, sometime around late March or early April. I really don't remember exactly when. Then we were ready to pick out tile and get going with that step. I went to Home Depot and took their little tile class and convinced myself that I could do it. First step was prep. We cleaned up the floor and tried to level it. We failed miserably, but called it good enough and moved on.
While avoiding the tile job, I painted the wall on the other side of the bathroom. Guy had taken a paint chip to Home Depot to match the color. That is something that I will never do again. After the paint dried, it was clear that the paint didn't match and the other two walls would need to be painted too. Luckily, I liked the new color or else I would have picked out a whole new color and started over.

See the difference? Awful, huh?

This room doubled as our work space during the project.

On August 27th, we finally laid the tile. Courtney was nice enough to come over and help since Guy and I were both afraid that we would somehow mess it up. Guy and I had previously cut all the tiles and labeled all of them so we knew exactly where everything would go. This really helped things go quickly. Then, on Tuesday night, Guy and I did the grout. We watched a few YouTube videos and then dove right in. It was very tedious work, and we finally finished up just before midnight. I love how it turned out. I still need to do the baseboard tiles, but I want to get the vanity in first. And that should happen after I seal the grout.

Guy also started installing the lighting this past weekend. It sure does make the bathroom bright. I told him that the girls will really appreciate it when they are teenagers and spend the majority of their morning in front of the mirror getting ready for their day.

Slowly, but surely, the bathroom is coming along. If we can just keep up the momentum, it might just be done by Christmas. That would be the best present ever!

Fourth of July Fun

For the 4th of July this year, we went down to the cabin. It was so fun to go swimming at SMR. The only problem is that they don't let kids with swim diapers into the big pool. So, they get out a small plastic wading pool for the little ones. Luckily, Elliot and Micah have a ton of fun in that little pool or else I'm sure there would be tears. On a side note, when we were back at SMR for the family reunion, we decided that it would be well worth the drive to go to the pool in Manti so even the little kids in swim diapers could get in the pool. Elliot had a blast going down the water slide and wore Guy and I out with how many times he went down. We will definitely be going back to the Manti pool!

Elliot sure does love his brother. Micah tolerates it.

Elliot loved finding goggles to put on.

It was so fun to watch Amelia and Ashley play together in the pool.

Amelia found these great goggles that covered her nose and mouth so she could easily dive to the bottom of the pool to find treasures. She was having a blast.

Ashley loved playing with Auntie Tamara's alligator.

Micah was exhauted after a day filled with swimming and happily fell asleep in daddy's arms.

Could there be a modeling career in her future?

We took a drive up Fairview canyon to Skyline drive and found a ton of snow. We made snowballs and Amelia even dug a big hole in the snow.

On Monday, was the Fourth of July Parade in Mt. Pleasant. Amelia was hoping for a ton of candy. She was lucky enought to catch a T-shirt and I got a bottle of water. She really wished that she could have caught a frisbee or a bouncy ball. Maybe next year.

Micah sporting his new cowboy hat in preparation for the reunion coming up. Amelia most likely got a hold of my camera and captured this cute picture. Micah was 6 months old and loving life!

First Day of School

Amelia was so excited to start school this year! I was able to get the bus to stop just one house away so all we have to do in the morning is walk up to the corner. It is so nice and I love not having to drive to the school twice a day to drop off and pick up the kids.
Elliot really loves coming to the bus stop too!

Amelia sporting her new duds waiting for the bus to come.

After Amelia got on the bus, I jumped in the car with the other three kids and drove to school. My goal was to get there in time to see her get off the bus and walk her into her classroom. Well, that didn't happen. Once I finally found a parking spot and unloaded three kids, we walked into her classroom and found her busily working. She did just fine without me there.

Ashley is a completely different story. In the days leading up to her first day of school, she kept telling me that she wanted homeschool. I did everything I could think of to convince her that school was going to be so much fun. Grandma Corinne bought her a new backpack, I bought her a cool new lunch box, and she got all sorts of fun new clothes. When the first day of school came (Aug. 24), Amelia was home sick so I was worried that Ashley wouldn't want to ride the bus without her. Luckily, she was very excited to ride the bus. The only problem was that all the kids on the bus thought that she was Amelia and that made her really sad. Well, I decided to meet her when she got off the bus and I did a much better job this time. I got to school in time to get a parking spot, unload the boys, and walk to where the bus would drop off the kids. She was very sad when she got off the bus, but I think that she was glad I was there to walk her into her classroom.

See how sad she is? I thought for sure that she would never let me go. Her teacher came over and tried to convince her what a fun day they were going to have. And then the principal came and talked to her telling her what a fun place kindergarten is. She wasn't buying it. Finally, I had to bribe her with some Smarties so I could leave. Seeing her so sad made me want to cry but I knew I couldn't until after I left or it would make it that much harder for her.

I was so worried about her all day long. I was so happy when it was time to go to the bus stop to see her get off the bus. Luckily, she had a great friend of ours to watch out for her on the bus ride home. As she got off the bus, she said, "Mom, I had a great day!" That was what I was hoping to hear. I still worry about her every day, she doesn't really like to talk about her day at school, but hopefully, things will get better.

New Haircuts

The boys were starting to look a little shaggy, so we had family haircut night for the boys a few nights ago. Guy went first hoping to show Elliot that it is a fun experience. Elliot didn't buy that. So I had to bribe him with Smarties to sit still and get a buzz. Before getting his new haircut, Elliot told me that he wanted a haircut like Micah's. Since Micah still doesn't have much to show for in the hair department, I decided it was best not to listen to the 2-year-old.
Ashley and Amelia also had a great time combing daddy's hair.

Easter Fun!

It has become a tradition in our family to have an Easter Egg hunt the Saturday before Easter that my mom hosts. Somehow, it has gotten bigger and bigger each year. It started out down at the Cabin and it has gradually made it's way North. I think my mom has the perfect backyard for it. In preparation for the big day, I hard boiled 5 dozen eggs. We ran out last year and I didn't want that to happen again. In the end, we had about 5 dozen leftover eggs. There was also a little incident where some kids were given raw eggs by accident to dye. It was discovered when one boy cracked open an egg to eat. Oops. It was so fun to watch my cousin Janette spin all the eggs on the table to figure out if they were raw or hard boiled. The kids all had a blast dying eggs. I was very grateful for all the parents there to help out since I had all the kids (Guy was off somewhere else for the day) and seemed to be pulled in 4 different directions all day long.

When the hunt started, the younger kids got a head start. Luckily, Micah was taking a nap, so I was able to help Ashley and Elliot find some eggs. Amelia did great on her own.

Sunday morning has become quite the adventure in our house. Guy is out for meetings and usually gets home just in time to get shoes on all the kids and then for all of us to run out the door. Church at 9:00 a.m. is NOT my favorite thing when I have to get 4 kids ready all by myself. Needless to say, the kids didn't get a chance to find their baskets until after church. I am seriously thinking about having the Easter Bunny visit a day early to remove a little bit of stress Easter morning. Amelia was less than thrilled about the lack of abundance in her basket. Oh well. There's always next year. I wish I would have gotten a picture of all the kids in their new Easter outfits, but it just didn't happen. Elliot got a new tie, that he absolutely loves, and the girls got beautiful new dresses. Poor Micah just got a hand-me-down from Elliot.

Sunday night, we had my family over for dinner. (If my memory serves me correctly, only my mom and Tamara came. But we still had a blast.) That has become my little tradition. Guy loves it when we have people over because I clean the house and we don't have to travel. It's a win-win situation.

I apparently neglected to get any pictures of Micah over Easter. Luckily, the kids were playing with my camera and snapped this ever so cute picture. Micah is our smiliest baby. It is so fun to see all the attention that boy can get just by flashing his sweet grin.