April 2015

     Another month has come and gone and it was surely a great month for our family. We played outside a lot and the girls even got to play in the sprinklers a few times. They were thrilled to play in the water. We put up the tent in our house again, played lots of dress-up, celebrated Easter, and had a really great month. We spent some time with my sister Alesha who came home from school for a week. The girls got to go to two different birthday parties, one at Chuck E Cheese and then they went to a power ranger themed birthday party with a bouncy house. They had a blast at both of the parties. We also celebrated Remi's first birthday on the same day as Grandma Verna's birthday. We went on some family walks, flew kites, and rode bikes. The girls have spent lots of time catching bugs, playing with friends, swinging on the tire swing, and jumping on the trampoline. One of our chickens kept getting out and it was eaten by one of the neighbor dogs. We still have 9 hens and 1 rooster but they have to stay in the pen all day so they can stay alive. Here is a brief glance of our month in pictures.

     This month Joel and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. I sure do love that guy. We didn't do much to celebrate but we did make it out to dinner and a movie. We watched Insurgent which seemed fitting since we watched Divergent last year on our anniversary. Then I got the last book in that series on my ipad through the library online portal so that Joel and I could listen to it together and we have spent the last few nights up listening to the book. It has been a fun way to spend time together. I read the first two books but I never read the last one. It wasn't my favorite series but Joel loves it. I heard it has a terrible ending so we will see what we think at the end.

     Joel was really busy this month with work. They have been really busy building houses and he has had to stay later at work a few nights to figure out things about our house. The good news it that the permits for our house have been approved and we should be able to start building this weekend. Joel has spent a lot of time helping other people out as well. I don't think he will ever get the girls bunk beds made so I finally just moved Kyla into Brynlee's room. So far that is working all right and it is nice to have our room back. Now Joel is just talking about waiting until we get into our new house and having two single beds. He did help my grandma get her garden in and he has been taking care of our grass and yard here. The riding mower broke so I hope he can get that running again. I forgot how long it takes to mow our lawn with the push mower. I am glad he is such a hard worker and that he is good at helping other people.

     Brynlee is officially registered for Kindergarten and is so excited to go. We went and took a tour of the school she will go to next year and she said she loved it. I can't believe she will be in school next year. So will go to school all day every other day starting at the end of August. I really didn't like the idea of having her gone all day and it is going to be a challenge to keep track of which days she has school. I tried to get her into the local charter school but she didn't get in. She is number 36 on the waiting list so I am pretty sure she wont get in. Brynlee would much rather get to ride the bus to school and go to the school her friends go to anyways so I wasn't upset that she didn't get in. She sure is growing up. She decided she wanted to cut her hair short as well (she doesn't like it fixed anymore) so my sister worked her magic and gave her a really cute cut. She looks so much older. She has gotten in this really bad habit of sucking her hand and we have really been trying to break her of that. After touching something gross she will lick them to try to clean them off. We have made her wear gloves several times but it didn't seem to help. She has been doing her chores really well and filled up her whole sticker chart and earned a date night with her dad. They went roller skating and then Joel took her to McDonald and it sounds like they had a blast. She is working on her next sticker chart for another date night.

   

     Annalyn has been a real challenge for me lately. She is just scared of everything and will not let me leave her side. Not to mention she has been very defiant and ornery. Lately I can't even go to the bathroom or walk out to the garage without her having a panic attack. She starts crying hysterically and she runs after me. When I take a shower she has to sit right on the toilet and wait for me to be done. She cried at nursery at church and would not stay a few times, would not stay at preschool, and she even cried when my mom and my sister Alesha watched her. Seriously, she is driving me crazy. She sure is sweet and cuddly and she just knows how to melt my heart but if she doesn't get her way she is a little terror. She is very stubborn and will not be persuaded out of a bad mood. She cries and whines every time she doesn't get what she wants and she has ben fighting a lot with Brynlee. Good thing she is so cute because I am so tired of all the crying. I have been trying to give her extra attention and help her through this stage. I think it is just a phase she is going through so hopefully it ends soon.

     Kyla is staring to get busier and busier every day.  She seems to be just as mischievous as Annalyn was at this age. She is already trying to walk. She doesn't have the balance down very well but she wants to walk and is constantly trying to take a step to reach things. She is such a sweet little ray of sunshine in our home. She loves to play outside and she keeps us all laughing.

     As for me, I spend most of my days chasing my busy kids. The days have seemed long, especially when Joel isn't home to help with bed time, but There is really nothing I would rather be doing. I love my family so much. I have spent a lot of time deep cleaning and organizing my house lately. I got rid of several things and took them to my grandma's house where she had a garage sale. My girls thought helping with the garage sale was so much fun. I helped my grandma start to get her garden ready and I hope I can help her out lots this year since we are not going to do a garden this year.

     Life here is good. We are excited for the future and for a new house. Life is going to be much busier once we start building but we are all excited to have our own place.

Easter Sunday

     We started our Easter celebration by coloring Easter Eggs for Family night. The girls had a blast coloring them. Annalyn colored most of her eggs pink. I don't think Brynlee ever got to use the pink dye so none of hers were pink. Anna was my buddy so she helped me color our eggs while Brynlee worked with her dad and little Kyla had to just play in her jumperroo. We had a family night lesson that night where I hid Easter eggs that had symbols in them to represent the Easter story. I don't know how well the kids got it but I wanted them to realize the true meaning of Easter.

     We had an egg hunt for preschool but I just put stickers in the eggs that had letters of the alphabet. The kids had to match the stickers they found with the lowercase letters. They had a lot of fun doing that. The girls and I hid the eggs for each other to find outside all week. We probably hid them at least 12 times. We would all take turns hiding them. Annalyn would get really mad when Brynlee would find the pink eggs and then she would just cry and not get any more until Brynlee would give her the pink egg.

     On Easter morning I had the girls go on a little Easter hunt around the house. This time there was candy in the eggs, plus I put some candy in their Easter baskets. Kyla wanted the candy so badly. She kept going after the girls baskets. She got ahold of a sucker and went crazy with it. She was a sticky mess and quite devastated when I took that sucker away from her. Joel woke up towards the tail end of our little egg hunt and then he went to quickly help someone move. He came home right after conference had started.

     This month Easter Sunday fell on the same day as general conference. I love conference so I was really excited to watch it. Joel's sister Joanna brought over some conference gifts for the girls to open while they watched it. They loved that and were so excited to watch conference so they could open the presents. Every time an apostle spoke they had to find the present with the picture of that apostle on it and then they could open the present. There was candy and other treats, some puzzles, play doh, a matching game, some princess crowns, coloring books, and stickers. Those girls were spoiled and on a serious sugar high by the end of the day.

     Between conference sessions we went to my grandma's house for an excellent Easter dinner. It was just us and Grandma and my aunt Lora but we had a great meal and enjoyed their company. Annalyn fell asleep (this almost never happens) right after lunch and we watched the last session of conference without her. There were so many wonderful messages this year at conference. There were several talks about the importance of family and about our Savior. I am really grateful that I have such a wonderful family and for my Savior.

     The day after Easter, Brynlee got to teach the family night lesson and she had us watch a short Easter movie and she talked about why we celebrate Easter. She seemed to have a general idea of what Easter is all about. Then we had another egg hunt later that week with my cousin Ryder since he didn't get to do one before. They got even more candy and eggs and even some money this time.

     I am so grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior and I know He lives. I love celebrating the Resurrection with my family. Happy Easter.

Kyla - 10 Months

     Little Kyla is now in the double digits. Ten months old. Her little personality sure is coming through. For the most part she seems to be pretty easy going and content but she is starting to be busier and get into more things. She has been lots of fun and happy lately. She loves the freedom to crawl where she wants to go and she is getting pretty fast. She pulls herself up with ease and can cruise along all the furniture. Although she is pretty cautious about when and where she will walk. She loves to hold onto my hands and walk around the house with me. She goes to others pretty well but she loves for me to hold her. Especially if she is tired. It has really been a joy to watch this little baby grow up. Brynlee and Annalyn have really enjoyed playing with her so much lately.

Kyla loves to be thrown up in the air. Her squeals of delight make us all smile. She has been extra giggly lately. Her sisters are really good at making her laugh. She loves to be outside and is warming up to the grass. She likes the trampoline. When she gets really excited about something, like when I take her outside, she kicks her little legs. They go about 100 miles per minute and her smile and laughter make everyone so excited. We all love to make her happy.

Brynlee and Annalyn love to pack Kyla around the house and I am always amazed with how much Kyla puts up with. She sure is a trooper. They really like to dress her up and make her pretty. She doesn't have much hair but somehow they can stick bows in there. Annalyn likes to show me how she makes Kyla look "fancy." Kyla just seems to think it is great. Oh how she adores her big sister and wants to be where they are. It sure makes me smile. She likes to crawl back into her sisters' rooms when we tuck the girls into bed and be there to sing the songs. She will sometiemes even "dance" while we sing. Lately she has started to give them goodnight hugs and kisses and I think it is the cutest thing ever. She gives some slobbery kisses but I love them.

     Kyla loves playing with toys, talks a lot and makes lots of noise, hardly ever spits up now, and has occasionally stood up for a few seconds without holding onto anything. She likes to put things in her mouth. She still loves bath time and going on stroller rides or wagon rides outside. Wagon rides are trickier now that she can stand up because she wont stay sitting anymore. She likes to shake her head back in forth when she is excited about something. She still loves her jumperroo and goes crazy in there with all of her jumping. She hates getting her diaper changed and if I don't distract her she likes to wriggle off and crawl away squealing in delight as soon as I take her diaper off. I can't help but laugh as I grab her and distract her so I can finish changing her diaper. Good thing she is easily distracted.

     Kyla had fun celebrating Anna's third birthday this month and she got to ride (sit on) a horse, ride on a four wheeler, and sit in the shopping cart for the first time. She watched her family color Easter eggs and collect bugs outside. She wore green on St. Patrick's day and was the only one in our family who didn't get the stomach virus everyone else had.

     I have started feeding Kyla lots of big people food. Most of the time she eats whatever everyone else is eating. I have been making lots of cooked carrots, squash, and green beans for the family so there is always something at the table she can eat but lately she wants and prefers whatever else we are having. She will eat almost anything. I haven't been as cautious with her and she has already had eggs and peanut butter. Today she even found a peanut and ate it. She seems to know what candy is and even though I try not to let her have it she still hollers for it and will beg her sisters for a bite of whatever they have. Those girls love sharing with the baby so Kyla has had more sweets than I wanted her to have.

Kyla likes to be held and she lets me hold her all the time. I love it that she snuggles right into my arms. She will still nap in my arms but she also naps in her bed. She was sleeping all through the night for a while but she started waking up again. She usually goes to bed around 7:30 after we put the girls to bed and after I nurse her. She usually wakes back up to eat around 9:30 and then sleeps in her bed until 5 when I nurse her in bed. Sometime I stick her back in bed so I can get a little more sleep but lately I have been letting her sleep in bed with us. She loves that and just snuggles right in.

     Kyla is starting to get into things and make messes. She loves to play in the bathroom and heads straight for it whenever the girls leave the light on. The funny thing is that as soon as the light is turned off in the bathroom, she wont go in there. If someone turns off the light while she is in there she heads straight for the door. She also likes to play with all of our movies and take them out and even though she can open the door, she wont do it. She only plays with the movies when someone else leaves the door open. Her newest thing is to knock over the trash can and to eat the garbage she can find in there. She also loves to climb in the dishwasher. Every time I open it she rushes over and tries to climb right in and grab stuff. She opened some of my kitchen drawers once and pulled out all of my dishtowels. She seems to know when she is doing something naughty because she just grins at me with this huge grin and if I come over to get her she crawls away.

Kyla still only has two teeth on the bottom but the tops ones are really close. They should be up any day now. She has outgrown several of her 12 month clothes although the 18 month winter stuff still seems a little big. Kyla has started to carry things in her mouth while she crawls. It makes her look like a little puppy dog. I just have to laugh every time I see her crawling along with something hanging out of her mouth.

 This little baby is getting big and she sure is a joy to have around.