April Adventures

Life at our house has been busy lately. We are loving the warmer weather and the chance to play outside. The girls are obsessed with picking flower and they pick me a bouquet of dandelions every time we go outside. It did rain several days this month so we had to play inside quite a bit. The girls play together very well these days (most of the time.) They like so makes tents together, go swimming in the bathtub, and they are good at helping each other out. Lately their favorite game is to pretend to be kittens. Annalyn only takes a nap a few times a week these days so they are together a lot more.

We had fun celebrating Easter this month and celebrating our anniversary. We still had Family Night every Monday, held preschool at our house every Tuesday, went to the library every Thursday, and alternated spending Sunday with my parents or Joel's parents. I only made it to Zumba a few times this month because once I was done exercising, I couldn't find the energy to do anything else that day. I had a doctor's appointment to attend every other Monday this month as well so that kept us busy. We went to the park a few times, hung out with my sister Alesha while she was on a week long break from school, and got to meet my sister Heather's new baby girl.

We are starting to put in a garden and Joel has already had to mow the grass several times. The good news is that his dad had this old ride on mower that he let Joel use so now that job shouldn't take so long. We spent a few days helping grandma get her garden ready too. There was a small accident next door to our house where they tipped over a big sprayer that was full of some kind of weed spray. I guess they were trying to drive it up on a trailer and it tipped over and the spray leaked all over into our yard, fairly close to our garden spot. Hopefully we can still get things to grow in there.

I officially gave up on making Annalyn take a nap on preschool days because she wants to come so bad. Her and Brynlee really look forward to preschool and they love helping me set everything up and decide what we are going to do that day. It has been really good for them. Both of the girls have been really into crafts lately because of it.

My parents got a good deal on all of these baby chicks and asked us if we wanted some. Right now they have 30 baby chicks and they are planning on giving 10 of them to us. We just need to set up a place to put them. We have gone over there and looked at those chickens several times and my girls are in love with them. They love to hold them, especially Annalyn.

My sister Heather, had a beautiful little girl on Tuesday, April 22. She was convinced she was going to have the baby much sooner than that but we all kept telling her the baby would come on the 22nd because that is my grandma Verna's birthday. Her little boy Jakobee was born on my grandpa's birthday. We were still surprised that her baby actually did wait and come on grandma's birthday. Heather named her baby Remi and she is a cute tiny little thing. The girls and I all went to visit her at the hospital and they both fell in love. Anna cried when she had to give the baby up. They didn't want to leave and they have been begging to go see baby Remi ever since. This makes me really excited for when we have our baby but also a little nervous. I know the girls are going to try to help with everything and not leave the baby alone.

Joel and I went to the temple twice this month, we haven't been in a while and we probably won't be able to go again until the baby is old enough to leave with someone else for a few hours. We spent one weekend watching conference, and another weekend going to some garage sales. We helped my parents put in a huge sand pit in their back yard and we had a lot of fun playing in the sand. Joel and Brynlee made several sand creatures, including a turtle, a horse, and they even made a sculpture of me out of sand. Annalyn really tried to help move that sand around with this big shovel she found. She held onto that thing for a while and looked at my brother Brian and said, "It's heavy Brian, it is so heavy." The best part is that my brother Brian was carrying a big heavy rail road tie at the time. We have gone over there several times so the girls can play in the sand and they love it.

Easter Time

It is so much more fun to celebrate the holidays when kids are involved. We had a lot of fun this year celebrating Easter. We started off celebrating by doing an egg hunt during our preschool. We made bunny baskets out of milk cartons but it was so windy outside that the ears and tails blew off most of the bunnies as soon as we walked outside. We still had lots of fun and found plenty of eggs filled with candy. Annalyn loves doing preschool stuff with the big kids and they were all good about helping her find some eggs.

Later that week we got to color some eggs. The kids loved doing that. Annalyn was so fast at it and by the end of the decorating, her hand was completely pink, as were most of her eggs. She would take an egg out and put another in the same color before I even knew what she was doing. Brynlee really got into writing designs on the eggs and making them beautiful. Joel and I got to decorate a few eggs but we mostly just helped the girls decorate their eggs.

The Friday before Easter, the girls had another Easter egg hunt at Grandma Verna's house with my cousin Ryder. Brynlee and Ryder kept going after the exact same egg and getting mad when they didn't get the egg they wanted. Annalyn did pretty good because she went to the opposite side of the yard. In the end, they all got lots of eggs and candy and had lots of fun.

On Sunday morning the girls both gorged on candy from their Easter baskets, put on the beautiful dresses my mom bought them, and then we headed to church. I love celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. We watched as Easter movie after church and then went to Grandma's house for dinner. The missionaries came over and they gave us another great Easter message. I am very grateful for my Savior. Becuase of him, I know that I can live with my family forever. Happy Easter!

Happy Anniversary!

On Saturday Joel and I had fun celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. We sure have come a long way in the last six years. It was extra special this year because it came right before Easter. My sister Alesha offered to watch our kids all day. Joel planned the date this year and he did a great job. He even surprised me by bringing home a dozen red roses, a pretty orange plant, and some candy. After an Easter breakfast at the church, he came home and slept the rest of the afternoon so I was a little worried about how this date would turn out. I finally woke him up and then we left for our date at three.

Us on our wedding day!

We started off the date by stopping at wal mart for some lotion, some chap stick, and some tums. Then Joel took me to play miniature golf since that is what we did on our first date. We haven't done it since and it was a lot of fun. I was a little worried about being able to golf at 33 weeks pregnant but we managed just fine. Joel had to bend down and get my ball after every hole. Neither of us are very good at golfing. In the end, we didn't even add up our scores. Joel said we didn't do well enough to add it up. He probably just didn't want to find out that I beat him.

After miniature golf, we went to dinner at an all you can eat chinese buffet place. Mainly because that is one of Joel's favorite places to go. Even though we took as much time eating as we could, we were done by 5:30. I just looked at Joel and said, now what? We can't go home now. That is when Joel suggested that we go watch a movie. We headed to the movie house and discovered that Divirgent started at 6:20 so we stayed and watched it. I was surprised that Joel wanted to do such things because normally he is totally against spending money. I think this is the most we have ever spent on one date. We both liked the movie and had a lot of fun. It was good to get away and spend time together.

 I think Brynlee was really confused by the whole anniversary thing. She is convinced that Joel and I are going to get married again after we have the baby. She can't be convinced otherwise. She keeps bringing me things and talking about my wedding that is coming up. I keep thinking that she understands that we are already married so we don't need to get married again and then she will bring up the wedding again. 

I sure do love my handsome husband. Sometimes I don't give him enough credit. He is such a hard worker and a great father. I am grateful that we could spend some time celebrating our marriage and I look forward to many more years with him.

31 Week Update

As of last Thursday I am now 31 weeks pregnant. My second trimester really just seemed to fly by. It has really helped that I have two little girls that keep me busy. I have felt pretty good for the most part. I am starting to feel more tired on some days but on other days I feel great and I can get a lot accomplished. I have been terrible at taking pictures this time around but here is a shot of me and the girls when I was 30 weeks and 5 days along.

My biggest complaint is still heartburn. It isn't as bad if I don't eat or drink anything at least 2 hours before bed and as long as I avoid anything spicy, well seasoned, fried, or sweet. Chocolate seems to be the worst. Even when I do all those things, I still get heartburn sometimes. Not to mention, I have had a very hard time not eating any sweets. I just can't help it, but then I immediately regret doing it. This seems to happen every time I am pregnant.

In other news, I think we have finally picked out a name for our baby. Joel is determined to keep it a surprise and so far the girls haven't told anyone what the name is. I was a little bit worried that we would have to bring her home without a name so I feel much better now that we have something picked out. Brynlee was full of great suggestions but she didn't like any of the names Joel and I liked. One day I was talking to her and telling her that we needed to come up with a good name for the baby. Her immediate response was, "don't worry mom, I already named our baby." 

"Oh really," I questioned. "What did you name her." 

"Mom, her name is Leafy."

On another day while we were driving in the car I was calling out suggestions for what we should name the baby. 

Me: "Brynlee do you like the name Camille?"

B: "Ummm, How about Cupcake, that would be a good name." 

Me: "You don't like Camille. Well, what about Elaina?"

B: "I know, we could name our baby Snowball!" 

And so it went. She has suggested so many names. Names like Strawberry, Bowly, Pinky, Princess, Rose, Pixie, or LuLu. She was just so much help. 

I have been making a trip to see my midwife every two weeks for the last month. It is a lot of work going to the doctor so often. I never went this much with my other kids. I had someone watch my girls a few times but it is almost easier to just take them with me. They are both pretty good for me. And we have had to wait a long time so I am impressed that they were as well behaved as they were. The worst part about taking them is the commentary from Brynlee. She doesn't want to wait in the waiting room when I have to use the bathroom. She has to come right with me and be the little commentator. She knows the routine nows so she tells me right what to do. Here is about how our conversation went last time we had to go.

"Here you go mom. Here is your cup. Are you going to pee in it again? Ok, I am not going to laugh at you. Mom, I think I need to go potty. Are you going to get me a cup? All right mom. Now you need to stand on the scale. Come on up mom. Wow, your number went really high!"

Yeah, thanks for the help Brynlee. In the meantime it seems like Annalyn has to take off her jacket, her shoes and she has to try and touch everything she sees in every room we go into. My sister Alesha is going to watch my girls next week for me and I thought Brynlee would be excited about that but when I told her she was disappointed that she wouldn't get to come. "What," she responded "You mean I don't get to go hear the baby's heartbeat?" She was excited when I told her she could come with me next time. I am glad they are so excited for the baby to come. It has been fun to plan and talk about baby stuff with them.

March Happenings

In march we had fun playing outside again. The flowers in our front yard started to come up and our apricot tree started to bloom. It also rained quite a bit and we had several days with some really strong wind. We were stuck inside on those days.

Brynlee is still loving her preschool and that has kept us busy. We still went to exercise at the church whenever we could make it. I started having to make a doctor visit every other week so we went there three times last month. We celebrated Annalyn's birthday and we had fun playing with play doh for family night one evening. For another family night the girls and I made some dirt cups, complete with gummy worms. The worms were covered in chocolate pudding so the girls didn't want anything to do with them. In fact, I think Annalyn was scared of them.

We celebrated St. Patrick's day by wearing green. One of Brynlee's friends had a birthday at Chuck E. Cheese one day last month and I went with her and took Annalyn to play. They both had a blast but it was a lot of work for me. That place is always packed and Annalyn kept trying to run off. I got my hair cut at the end of the month and I am enjoying having short hair again. It was a fun month and we are excited for what April will bring.

Anna's 2nd Birthday

To celebrate Annalyn's birthday this year we decided to keep it simple and just do cake, ice cream, and presents on her actual birthday. She woke up that morning to find balloons all over the living room. We went to the library for music time in the morning and then we came home and played outside. I put Annalyn down for her nap and then I attemped to finish decorating the birthday cake. I decided to make a two layered circle cake this year and it was first time I have done it. It was going really well until the second layer broke in half. Joel tried to help me fix it but in the end I think he made it worse. We were able to use half of the top layer so I just decorated it. The good new is that Brynlee and Annalyn thought the cake was beautiful. They told me they loved it several times. I had the girls help me decorate the cake with m&ms for the finishing touch and while they were doing that, Annalyn took a big bite of the side of the cake and declared it to be really good. I was able to fix up the part she ate with some frosting. Hopefully I can get better at this cake decorating thing soon. At least the birthday girl was very happy with the cake I made her. She especially enjoyed helping me put on the candy. I think she ate more M&M than she put on there. 

For Anna's party, most of my family came over to eat cake and watch Annalyn open all of her presents. She opened one of her presents right before everyone got here so I had to quickly rewrap it. When we sang to her, she sang right along and then she enthusiastically spit at those candles until the fire went out. Although, she had a little help getting the fire out. She was quick to open all of her presents and then she ate a big bowl of cake and ice cream before playing with her presents. She had a great time and she got lots of fun gifts. she really liked the chap stick I got her and used most of it up that night. She also got a little play tent and some animals that she has really enjoyed. She got the Frozen movie and she loves to sing the songs and watch the snowman on that show. She doesn't really sit and watch the whole movie but she comes in and sings and dances during the songs. 

Anna's birthday was on a Thursday this year. On Saturday we went out as a family and did something fun to further celebrate. Joel really doesn't like celebrating birthdays so it was hard to get him to agree to come. Eventually he agreed and we went to the park, ate a pizza, and flew a kite. The girls had lots of fun. Anna loves going to the park. It wasn't all that windy by the time we got our kite out but we got it to fly a little bit. Annalyn had a nice fun time and I think it was the perfect birthday celebration for our sweet little girl. I know she enjoyed it.

Annalyn is TWO!

It is hard to believe that my little baby girl is turning two today, and yet it has seemed like she has been two for several months now. She has been telling people that she is two for a long time. She sure has brought so much joy, happiness, and adventure into our house. We love her mischievous laugh, her spunky attitude, and her sweet little cuddles. She sure is a sweet and cuddly little girl. She is extremely stubborn and independent lately. She want to do everything all by herself. She talks in full sentences and she has the cutest little voice. She likes to sing but it is really hard to tell what words she is saying when she sings. Here are several more fun facts about this sweet little girl but first I just want to take a minute to post a few picture showing just how much Anna has grown. In the first picture she is just a few days old, then three months, six months, nine months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 21 months, and in the last one she is 2.

Height - 33.25 in. (44%)

Weight - 28.8 lb. (76.55%)

Favorite Foods - Annalyn still loves to eat. Especially anything sweet. She loves, candy, ice cream, and cake and can somehow find candy I didn't even know we had. She has her picky moments, but is still a great little eater and will eat most of what I feed her.

Sleep Schedule - We converted Annaly's crib into a toddler bed a few months ago since she kept climbing out of it and took us a while after that to get her to stay in her room and go to sleep. I had to put a child proof thing on her door so she couldn't open it but now she is back to taking a two hour nap during the day and sleeping all through the night in her bed. She normally sleeps from 7:30pm - 6:30am. 

Talking - Annalyn can repeat pretty much anything we say. She loves to say the pray and she can say it without any help. She also likes it when it is her turn to "read" the scriptures. She is saying new words everyday and her sentences are getting more complex with 7 or more words in a sentence.

Favorite things - Annalyn still loves baby dolls and stuffed animals. She also loves to color, paint, write on anything she can find, and she loves to cut with scissors. I let her cut up a piece of paper with some scissors the other day and she worked at cutting it for a long time. I kept trying to get her to hold the scissors right but she would hold them her own way. She had to open her mouth every time she opened the scissors and she got so excited every time she actually cut off a piece of the paper. "Good Job, " she would tell herself. I will big in big trouble if that girl ever find a pair of scissors that is unsupervised. She loves to play outside and she likes to get dressed all by herself. She is a great climber and she likes to use her little chairs to reach things that are up high. She also likes to play in the kitchen sink and "wash" her hands. She likes to sing and dance by twirling around the house. She loves to play with Brynlee and she gets very concerned when Brynlee is gone. They are such good friends. She likes to play with Brynlee's friends too. When she knows it is a preschool day she fights the naps really badly so she can stay up and play. The other girls at preschool were really rough with her last week though. They kept trying to hold and smother her with hugs. She didn't like that at all. She likes to give hugs and kisses and she is extremely ticklish. She is obsessed with my deodorant and can't put it on without giggling. She likes to sit in the kitchen while I cook and she covers herself up with all of the dishtowels.

Quotes - As soon as Joel comes home from work Annalyn will stand up, throw her hands in the air and yell, "Hooray, daddy is home, Hooray!." Her favorite phrase that she says whenever something doesn't go her way is "oh Dear!" She asks "Why" a lot. If I tell her she can't so something I am sure to get a whole bunch of "why"s from her, even after I explain why, she still asks why. She has kind of been driving me crazy lately because she has to say my name after every sentence when she is talking to me. I hear stuff like this all day. "I want one mommy. I wanna do dat mommy. I like that mommy. Help me mommy. Hold me mommy." You get the idea. She will do the same thing with daddy, and Brynlee too.

Things she does - I took the girls out to lunch one day and for the most part they were well behaved. Then Annalyn took a huge forkful of her cottage cheese and whacked me right in the head with it. My hair was covered in cottage cheese and Annalyn just started laughing. She thought she was so funny. I picked the cottage cheese out of my hair the best I could and used a wet napkin to clean out the rest but I still found some cottage cheese that I missed when I got home.

Annalyn is also quite stubborn. She really wanted ice cream at grandma's house but when we told her she had to eat her dinner first she absolutely refused to touch it. She never would eat her food so she could get some ice cream so she didn't eat anything all night.

Annalyn also likes to take off all of her clothes and run around naked or play dress-up with Brynlee. My dad came over one day while I was making dinner and Annalyn was wearing this cute little ladybug costume. She laid on the ground and did this nice little somersault for us and that is when we both realized that she didn't have a diaper on. As soon as I mentioned it, she took off running.

Happy Birthday little Annalyn! We sure do love you!