3/24/14

Russell is the best cheerleader! When I got home from my run he was clapping for me and saying "Yea..yea" while I was doing my abs. Love that kid!

Gordon has gone running with me twice now. First time was on his birthday. He ran 1 1/2 miles with me. Then while we were in California he ran 2 1/2 miles with me. And he was chatting the whole time. He was awesome. At the very end I asked him if he wanted to pick up the speed a bit...he thought for a moment and said, "No, lets keep this pace".

Evalyn is smiling all the time now. She can really melt this mama's heart! Oh but does she light up when she hears Dad's voice...a daddy's girl for sure ;)

Russell's vocabulary is growing so quickly. Sometimes he will say things and make me do a double take to see if that really came out of his mouth.

Gordon had his first blue and gold dinner for cub scouts. He is so excited to go to cub scouts we have already started to pass things off in his book!

Russell had one of his hot wheels cars in his mouth and was sucking on it for quite sometime. I was just watching him and smiling to myself, then he took the car out of his mouth and held it up to me and said, "Do you want to try?" I chuckled out loud.

Love you all!!!

This was another set that was in my drafts folder...don't know if I have sent this one or not....sorry if these are repeats ;)

In the car on the way home from school I heard the girls talking to each other. Ella said,"You know we have a neighbor named Elsa..... she doesn't have any powers". (referring to the Disney movie Frozen)

Ella took a drink out of a water bottle that Eden had already used. Eden was getting a little upset with Ella and said, "I already drank out of that..." Then Ella said, "It is fine...we are like almost twins".

Another conversation with all the girls from the school pick up...They were talking about the game Candyland. They were each saying which character they liked. Then one girl said she did not like the scary guy. Ella said oh the Licorice guy...I still like him because he is cute, but in the game he is a bad guy....but I still like him.

2/21/14

Russell has decided to climb out of his crib instead of sleeping lately....he has been able to climb out for awhile but just recently decided to put that skill to work. Yesterday Evalyn was asleep and I had put Russell down for his nap...a perfect time to shower, I had only been in for a few min when I see a little head pop around the corner with a very proud look on his face. Then he slowly left the bathroom with a look of pure delight knowing that I couldn't put him back in his crib because I was in the shower. Looks like the "phase out nap" phase has begun....

Evalyn is such a doll! I took her in for her one month apt this week, she is 9 lbs 3 oz and 23 inches long. She is following the perfect growth curve, everything looks great!

I have noticed that Evalyn's fingers are very long, not sure if that will change as she grows, but looks like I will need to persuade her to play the piano ;)

Every time the kids knock on any door...really any time they knock on anything for that matter they do "the knock" from Frozen when Anna knocks on Elsa's door. And most times the song will soon follow.

Gordon is in the art club after school and loving it. :) When I went to pick him and his friend up from school they were talking about a super hero and Gordon's friend kept asking lot of questions...over and over and over. Gordon, trying to be polite said, "Can this conversation be done now please?"

Ella is going to her first Daddy/Daughter Dance tonight...pictures to come ;)

Love you all!!!

2/10/14

I don't know if I have sent this out yet or not....sorry if it is a repeat! ;) 

Gordon has been working really hard on his spelling words each week to try to get high scores. Lately the words have been challenging so it has been a bit of a struggle. Then the morning before his test last week we were running through a few. He seemed much more energetic and positive. He said to me with a smile, "Mom, I said a prayer so that I can do well on my test today!" What a great idea! I am glad he thought of it all on his own, and sad this busy, stressed out mama didn't. A good lesson for me. 

The kids were watching toy story three today and toward the end of the movie I looked over at Eden.....she was crying. What a sweet girl! That movie makes me cry too. 

Evalyn is smiling while she sleeps....she even makes that noise that sounds like she is laughing, melts me!!

Ella's 6th birthday is coming up (how is that possible!) she is having a 'Fancy Nancy' party inspired by a book grandma and grandpa Earl gave her awhile ago. She is so excited! :) pictures to come of that! 

Russell is such a chatter box these days. I feel like in the past few weeks he has grown a TON! Partially because Evalyn is so tiny, but he is talking more and just seems older. Not the baby anymore....and it kinda breaks my heart a little bit. 

The girls were out jumping on the tramp, and Russell was too. Then I saw Russell get off and go inside. After a few min. I decided I better go check on him, he had found the iPad and was playing it. When he saw me he quickly said...." No,no, no jump! No, no...." As he clung onto the iPad. :) 

Love you all!! 

Also I have added Evalyn's first week expirence on our blog if you would like to read more about it. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Such a wonderful testimony builder for me! 

 

1/25/14

Again more time has passed since the I sent the last one of these out. It makes me sad because I know there are dear moments and memories that I will forget because I did not write them down.

Here are the ones I have as of late ;) 

Taylor has been taking one of the kids with him each time he goes to donate blood. But because of some medical things he was explaining to the kids that he might not be able to donate any more. Eden quickly responded, "is your blood all gone?"

I was told the kids that their cousins are coming over tomorrow Eden screams with delight and then says, "whoops sorry I screamed...." (with a cute embarrassed look on her face)

Eden was explaining to the other kids at lunch time when it is okay to talk about 'boo-boo's'...."We can say boo-boo like an owie... but, not these ones (pointing to her chest) and we don't talk about the boo-boos in the toilet either...."

Eden said, "We need to get our hair cut because if it is long like Rapunzel's then when we roll around it will get all in our face"

Another one from Eden ;) She is such a cutie!! We were driving in the car somewhere. Then all of the sudden from the back seat I hear her say with excitement, "I can't wait to die!" I was a little surprised by this statement so I asked her, "Why?" Her response was, "Because then I can meet Ruth!" (We had talked about Ruth an Naomi for scriptures a few nights ago)

Evalyn is such a doll and we are so glad that we were able to bring her home from the NICU as quickly as we were. She has brought us so much joy in just this past week and a half! Everyone is just in love with her! Russell took a day to warm up to the idea. He wasn't so sure at first, but now you can tell that he loves his 'baby'! He comes over and pats her gently and lovingly.

Love you all! Hope you each had a wonderful week!!

1/9/14

Wow!! It has been a really long time since I have done any grandparents journals. It is so true when you skip a week, then two then three...and you get out of the habit! Sorry!!

So not a whole lot right now...just wanted to get something out so I can get on track again ;) Love you all!!

We were eating leftovers from Thanksgiving and Ella said, "I love this chicken", Taylor responded "It is not Chicken". Ella said..."oh...Rooster!"

Today at lunch Eden said, "You know Mom...beggars can't be choosers". It kinda came out of nowhere. I asked her where she learned that...at church maybe? She replied, "No, Dad told me that in the car....'beggars can't be choosers' but I said, unless you ask Mom nicely".

Ellanor lost her first tooth! She was so excited. It is the bottom middle one on the left. Our little girl is growing up so quickly!

Russell has learned how to climb out of his crib. He doesn't do it every time and still goes down for naps pretty easily, hopefully this holds true after sweet Evalyn comes next week ;)

All the kids know basically all the words to all the songs on the Disney Frozen soundtrack. They love it and I love watching them get so into it. Ella even knows the different movements they do as they sing. Can't wait till it comes out on DVD ;)

I am nesting away and trying to organize and purge as much as I can in these last few days leading up to the arrival of our little girl. I am so excited to hold her, but also have some many things I want to get done before she is here...with that I am off to keep cleaning and organizing.

Love you all!!!

11/21/13

The kids refer to our cars in this way. "Mom your car is like Mater and Dad's car is like Lighting McQueen!"

Ella told Taylor the other morning, "Dad I have something I need to tell you, it is a secret..." So Taylor bent down and she whispered this into his ear. 'When you are alone with Mom you should look at her and say "You are one Dynamite gal"'. What a great piece of advise ;) (she got it from Wreck it Ralph)

I was working on the flowers for this wedding I am helping with this weekend and Eden found a stray carnation floating around. Not long after that I found her dancing around the house singing...using a carnation as her microphone.

Eden and I were in the car the other day and I could see her in the rear view mirror with something seriously troubling her mind. She asked, "Mom so the people at Disneyland you know like Goofy...are they real? Or are they just dressing up?" I thought I would tell the truth. So I told her that they were people dressed up like the characters...She got an even more concerned look on her face. "So Pluto is not real?.....just a costume I replied.....AND MINNIE is not real?.....Nope sweetie just someone dressing up.....AND JAKE AND THE NEVERLAND PIRATES?" I think I crushed her world a little bit. I explained that they are real in the cartoon world but in our world people just dress up to look like them. She was deep in thought for awhile and I could tell fighting back a few tears. Broke my heart!

It has been a hectic week sorry I don't very many this time around... :) Love you all!

11/8/13

I just love our Russell boy!! He is so cute. Eden accidentally closed her finger in the bathroom door so she was crying a little. Russell went right over to her and have her a big hug...and a long one. He didn't let go of her until she was done crying. Then all the kids were going out to play in the back and Eden was still wanting a little love from me. Russell came back in and gave her another little squeeze and in his own way was asking her to come outside and play with them. So adorable!! He is growing up so fast!

Russell and Eden has a special bond. Maybe because they are close in age or maybe because they get the mornings at home to play together while the others are at school. But Russell will just go and snuggle with Eden when they are watching a show. And again today at church Eden was sad because of something Russell stopped looking at his book looked at her and gave her a big hug. Then he pulled back to look at her face to make sure she was smiling. And to help make her smile he took one of his Goldfish and stuck it in her mouth...then right after that went in to eat it out of her mouth....reached his goal...both he and Eden were laughing....so was I ;)

Gordon had a little choir concert at school and after it was done Taylor was giving him a big hug to let him know how proud he was of him. He was smiling the whole time and doing all the movements and you could tell singing as loud as he could. He knew all the words. It was priceless watching Gordon's face as they were hugging and Taylor was telling him all these things. Gordon could not have been beaming more. A little boy who loves his Dad so much and loves to please him :)

Ella and Taylor were snuggling on the couch the other day and Taylor gave Ella a kiss on the cheek. She then nestled into him a little more and looked up at him as though her prince had just given her her first kiss. Then she said, "Sometimes I like to pretend that I am Mom". And hugged him again.

Today for our lunch prayer Ella was saying it. A couple things she said in her prayer were, "Bless all those people that have been baptized already will be able to feel the Holy Ghost...and bless us to have a great Thanksgiving!"

After the prayer Eden said, Ella you should have also said, 'bless us to have a great Christmas.'. Ella's response was..."Eden did we prayer for a good Thanksgiving in Oct?, NO. We can wait"