A Little Christmas Cheer

A sweet lady in our ward took this picture of Lucy with Santa at our ward Christmas party.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy spending time with your family. I know I will!

Patience and Responsibility

On Tuesday I had an MRI done on my hip that has been bothering me since August. I had barely made it home when I got a call saying I was to go get crutches immediately and not to take another step. I had fractured my hip. Doesn't this only happen to the elderly? So I went and got my crutches and on Wednesday I went to see a sports medicine Dr. He showed me my MRI and pointed out that my fracture was so severe that I was lucky it had not broken all the way through. He told me I was to be on crutches for 4-6 weeks with 4 being optimistic. When I tried to explain to him that there was no way I could do this as I have 4 kids and there is snow and ice outside and how was I supposed to get around and how was I supposed to carry Jake, he told me that if I did not stay off my leg, I would need a hip replacement at 29 years old. This got my attention.
My kids have been great helpers. But they are learning that I used to be able to do a lot for them that I just can't do anymore. So they are learning responsibility. It is so frustrating for me to sit back and wait for them to to follow through with what I have asked them to do. But there is nothing I can do to speed them up, so I am learning patience. Jake has learned how to hold onto my crutches and walk alongside of me. And today we had our first outing, me and all 4 kids. Noah did great getting Jake in and out of the car seat and carrying him around. Grace is great at carrying anything I need. And Lucy is always willing to do whatever is needed. I am truly blessed with wonderful children! Hopefully they can maintain this kind of helpfulness for 6 long weeks.

A Little Bit of Jake

Jake and his newest tooth.

Jake has discovered drinkable yogurt and he loves it! I love watching him drink out of a straw.

Playing with Light

The tree is up, the lights are on the house, and the nativityis out! I love decorating for Christmas! We were putting lights on the tree and I decided to try some fun photography.

Jake is 10 months old!

Jake is learning to walk!

Jake is so full of personality. He has started to try to walk and the kids have been loving it! They sit in a circle and Jake walks between them all. Aaron and the kids have also been teaching Jake how to raise his hand to answer questions. It is very funny. They say "raise your hand if you like milk" and then Jake raises his hand. We all laugh and then they ask another question and Jake raises his hand again. It has become a great dinner time game. I may try to upload of video of it later.

I have decided that Jake needs to sleep through the night. 10 months of feeding a baby in the middle of the night is finally getting to me. So we have begun the process and it is painful. But I am sure he will give up soon and we will all sleep through the night again. I am crossing my fingers....

A Lucy Day

Yesterday was a Lucy day. I have been feeling like she gets overlooked sometimes in this crazy household and so I was trying to make a special effort to play with her. We started with building a fort to eat our snack in. Lucy's new favorite snack is apples dipped in caramel and pb. So we headed into the fort to eat and decided we needed a picture.

Now you will have to excuse my appearance. It was also my cleaning day and so I had not showered and was trying to fit in a few cleaning jobs while still playing...so I know, I look lovely.

After our snack and books, we decided to do Lucy's hair and take her picture. So we did.

She is such a babe.

The rest of the day was nonstop Lucy fun. We played store, read books, colored and she chatted with me ALL day.

It was a great day!

First Swim Meet

Noah and Grace have been on a swim team since last March. They have become very strong swimmers and we have loved watching them swim. They had their first swim meet on Saturday and we were all very nervous! But they both did an excellent job and we are so proud of them!

These videos are of Noah's 2 races and Grace's 1 race. It was kind of a weird setup because we were up in the viewing area behind a glass wall. So we could not cheer for the kids and we are not right down by the water. But if you listen, you will hear the announcer say their names...they loved that part!

Grace was racing with 8 year olds and did such a fantastic job. She took 3rd in her heat and 10th overall!

Noah took first overall in the backstroke!

Noah took first in his heat and 2nd overall in freestyle!

9 Months

Time flies.

Jake is a food snob. He will not eat baby food and only wants a few bites of one thing and then he needs something different. He loves chicken nuggets and that is the only thing he will eat consistently. He had his 9 month check up this week and he has not gained any weight since his 6 month checkup. So I am determined to fatten him up before his next checkup. We'll see if he is a willing participant....my guess is no.

Now that he is so mobile. and so fast, he crawls to wherever I am to let me know he is not happy.

One of my new favorite things about Jake is that he has a fake cry! It is so hilarious. He closes his eyes, opens his mouth and scrunches up his nose and tries to make a crying sound. We laugh every time he does it. I haven't caught it on video yet, but hope to do that soon.

Jake recently discovered this little cupboard in my kitchen. It is the perfect size for him! He is quite adventurous and loves to climb the stairs. He still puts everything he sees into his mouth and lets me know when I need to vacuum.

Jake absolutely LOVES Noah. They wake up early together every morning and Noah gets him out of his bed and takes him downstairs to play. If Noah is in the room, Jake wants him. And I think we have decided that "Noah" is Jake's first word. He is only babbling, of course, but it sounds a lot like "Noah!"

Jake loves to give kisses. Noah is a good sport and wipes off the slobber.

Halloween....a little late

We had a very special treat for Halloween this year. Grandma Bird came for a visit! The kids were so excited to see her and to take her trick or treating.

I bought Jake a lion costume that ended up not working out. So he got to wear the tigger costume from when Noah was 4 months old. It was a little short. Lucy was Fancy Nancy! She was so cute and if you are not familiar with the Fancy Nancy books, you are missing out!

After taking this picture, Noah decided he was "uncomfortable" with all that face paint. So we hurry and washed it off before heading out to trick or treat. Grace started out as Hannah Montana but in the end decided a witch was a better choice. My Mom made this witch costume and my sisters and I all took turns wearing it. It is so fun to see my little girl wearing it now. And I love the stripey tights.

This is Aaron as the hulk. I found this costume at Goodwill about 4 years ago and every year Aaron puts it on, we all laugh, and then he takes it off. Classic.

Noah and flag football

Noah decided to try flag football this year and he loved it! It was so fun to watch him really get into the plays and hear him speak football lingo. I took these pictures at Noah's last game.

The Hand off

(Noah is getting it from the quarterback, this is not tackle football!)

Run Noah!

Touchdown!!

(Well, not quite, but oh so close.)

Jake Faces

I was taking pictures of Jake today and caught some really funny faces. Here is a collection of some of my favorite "Jake faces".

You need to click on this one to get a good look!

Tagged

I was tagged by my Aunt Julie. So here goes!
Ten years ago, I :
1) Was dating Aaron
2) Attending BYU
3) 10 pounds heavier
4) 19
5) Liked listening to Everclear and Metallica

Five things on my "to do" list:
1) Laundry, as always
2) Food Storage
3) Do something with the bushel of apples on my back porch
4) Plan a Halloween party for Noah's class (any ideas???)
5) Take Grace shopping for new pants

Five snacks I enjoy are:
1) Cottage cheese with fruit
2) yogurt and granola
3) apples and pb (or caramel!)
4) pb m&m's
5) doritos dipped in sour cream

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1) Buy a house and hire a decorator
2) Pay off student loan and car loan
3) Share the wealth
4) Fund my kids college
5) Shop 'till I drop!

Five places I have lived:
1) Boise Idaho
2) Salt Lake City Utah
3) Coralville Iowa
4) Albuquerque New Mexico
5) Omaha Nebraska

Five jobs I have had:
1) Swimming teacher
2) Life guard
3) Cake decorator
4) Babysitter.....
5) Mom

I would love to read about all of you who look at my blog. So play along if you like!

Laughed So Hard I Cried!

My friend sent this to me and it brightened my day.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/mom-jeans/229048/

My Little Cornhuskers

Lovin' corn country!

Jake's first experience with corn was a hit! Aaron gave him a fresh uncooked cob and let him go at it. I was a little grossed out by the fact that it was uncooked and still had some corn hair on it. But Jake loved it!

Lucy Turns 4!

How did this happen? She is all grown up. And loving every minute of it!

Waiting for her birthday guests to arrive.

Lucy is a true party girl! She requested a game of freeze dance with dance wands and loved every minute of it! She kept saying "Come on girls!"

This girl has got some moves!

We love you Lu!

Jake at 8 Months

Jake is on the move! At 8 months he is crawling and pulling himself up to everything.

He loves to play in this drawer that has kid bowls and cups. It is a great spot to keep him occupied while I am in the kitchen!

He also loves climbing on this table. This is a terrible picture, but he does not sop moving and loves to climb up and down.

He has also learned how to climb stairs. This makes me very nervous.

Because he has discovered the stairs, we now have a table we pull in front of the stairs. (Aaron says a baby gate is a waste of money when this table works fine...) Jake loves to pull himself up and look over the top of the table. Click on the picture to see his 2 new teeth! He and I worked long and hard to get those teeth here. He was so crabby! So we were both relieved when they finally came in.

He grabs everything! And crawls as fast as he can towards my camera whenever I get it out.

Jakes love, love, loves being outside. Sometimes it is the only thing that makes him happy. He turns into such a sweet and happy boy when he can crawl around in the grass or sit in his swing. It is so nice to have cool fall weather so we can spend a lot of time outside!

Jake and Aubrey Tyrrell are finally starting to recognize each other and they get so excited when they see each other. Not a great picture, but Jake is giving Aubrey a kiss.

And finally, if I had to sum up Jake's personality with one picture, this would be it...

If I had to sum him up in 1 word, it would be INTENSE!