May 17 - New Headshots

May 16 - Boys & Girls

The boys went to Father/Sons tonight.  They had fun throwing rocks in the river (Haze's favorite) and eating chips & sitting by the fire.  They even took stuff to sleep over, but when it came time, Hazey kept saying, "Where's And-wie?"  So they came home.  We were happy to see them.

Meanwhile at home, the girls enjoyed dinner at Kneader's with the women in our ward and then we hit up Target where we bought some new nail polish.  Then we came home & painted our toes.  Andlie did her own.  Smile.  And it was Nora's first time!  Then we played Candyland & watched "Frozen."  Andlie said it was "the best day ever where we did whatever we wanted." 

May 15 - Last Day of Preschool

Andlie had her last day of preschool today.  I have to say that I held it together pretty well.  I said (in a super sad tone), "Andlie, it's your last day of preschool!  Are you so sad?"  She said, "Mom!  It's Summer now and then I get to go to Kindergarten!"  Also, she chose the shirt with a heart on it because "she loves preschool and she loves her preschool friends."  I can't say enough about how grateful we are for her preschool experience & for her wonderful teacher - Mrs. Kelley.  It was a direct answer to prayer.  Our Andlie is confident and happy and loves school now!  We are truly thankful.  What a wonderful school year it's been!

This year, her class "went bananas for reading."  Every time she read a book at home, she got to take a banana to school.  This year, she read 256 books!  And she is even starting to read on her own!

May 14 - Summer Clothes

Wore our new Summer outfits today!  Some things to note: Andlie is wearing some pants from this Winter that I chopped off & hemmed.  I did that for all the pairs of pants that had holes in the knees.  Which was five.  That girl knows how to play.  Haze could live off of popsicles if I let him.  Seriously.  And I love Nora's tuft of hair on the back of her head right in the middle.  It's always sticking up.  Love.  Happy Summa!

May 13 - Picnic & Playing

Andlie had a picnic with her preschool class today.  Me, Hazey, & Nora tagged along.  Me & Haze took some selfies.

Nora needed a picture too.  Obviously.

And later today, we tried a homemade recipe for giant bubbles & it worked!  We had fun outside for most of the day today!  Ahhhhh, Summer!

May 12 - Eye Doctor

Andlie had an eye doctor appointment today.  She knows the drill very well by now - she's been three times before. And she's been patching her right eye every day for two hours for almost five months!  She was ready to be done!  Good news!  She is done patching!  The doctor said the patching has worked and her left eye is as strong as her right eye now!  (With her glasses on.)  He said she just needs to be sure & continue to wear her glasses & she should be good to go!  She was so happy to hear that we didn't have to patch any more!  We go back for another exam in September.

While Andlie was in the chair, Haze was busy with this tractor.  And by busy I mean slamming it into the wall & laughing.

When we got home, Nora was so happy to hear that Andlie didn't have to patch any more!  (And super happy to be out of her car seat.)

May 11 - Mother's Day

I felt pretty spoiled this Mother's Day!  Andlie brought home her sunshine craft from preschool on Thursday.  Then Bry surprised me with daisys last night.  This morning I got to sleep in (hallelujah), Bryan gave me a sweet speaker & some sugar scrub, Andlie painted  me a beautiful picture (the sunset with the sun, flowers, and hearts), Andlie made a picture at Primary ("My Mom's age is 69...."), and Hazey made me a handprint flower at Nursery.

My Mom used to tell me that she thought she should be giving us kids gifts on Mother's Day and thanking us for letting her be our Mom. I used to think she was crazy. I get it now. There is nothing in the entire world that brings more joy to my heart than being called Mommy. I'm so blessed.

May 9 - Daddy's Home

After 24 hours spent in two different airports, Daddy finally made it home this afternoon around 1:00 pm!  We were so happy to have him home safe!  We spent most of our day inside (because of rain) & downstairs so that he could get some rest.

Remember boondoggle?  Well kids now days have something kinda like that called Rainbow Looms.  They are for ages 8+, but Andlie learned how to do them last night from our neighbor.  (She's 8.)  By this morning, Andlie was asking for her own kit so we went & bought some.  The first thing she said was, "Thanks, Mom.  I'll make the first bracelet for you because you got it for me."  Sweetheart.  Smartie pants little sweetheart.

Meanwhile, Haze played with his new cars that he got instead of loom bands.  Bryce taught him that he could put his track on the couch and then when he put his cars down the track, they land in the bucket on the floor.  It's his new favorite game.  Keeps him busy for hours.

May 8 - Bryce Leaves & Daddy Comes (Kinda)

Bryce had to leave this morning. We were sad to see him go.  He was such a help & the kids had so much fun with him!

This picture shows so much of Haze's personality.  He came inside & said, "Mom, can I have new pants?  My pants are wet."  I said, "How'd they get wet?"  "I stepped in the pool."  And then he went back outside, pulled the water toys out one by one (full of water), placed them on the sidewalk, and stepped on them with his socks still on & watched the water run out of them.  I love to watch his little boy brain work.

"Guys, let's send a cute picture to Daddy."

Daddy was supposed to be home tonight.  Standing in our house at 9:30 pm.  His flight didn't even leave MN until 11:30 pm due to weather.  He landed at midnight in Denver & had to wait until 9:55 am for a flight to SLC so he spent his night at the airport.  Lame.  We miss him so much.

May 7 - Rainy Day

Nora recently found a new toy - her cute toesies!

"Don't touch my toys.  Any of them.  I am playing with all of them."

It rained almost all day today so we spent most of it inside.  Haze had to get his outside fix, so I caught him several times standing on the back porch letting the rain fall on his hands.

Tonight we went to Menchie's to get some ice cream with Bryce.  (After a full day of playing with him, of course.)  Andlie was sad because I didn't buy her a Menchie's pencil.  Then Haze needed his poop changed and the diaper bag was in the car.  Of course.  So I went and got the poo out of his diaper with some TP and then went back to the table.  By now, Nora was starting to notice that she was stuck in her car seat & that she didn't like that.  At this point, Haze decided my diaper change sucked & started yelling, "Itch my bum!" over and over.  My yogurt was half melted.  We picked our treats up & left.  Haze cried all the way home & beyond and then fell totally asleep on Bryce from throwing such a fit.  And all the while, Andlie was her usual tender, sweet self.  I let her stay up late with me as a reward.

We had a good day.  It was kinda hard to be stuck inside all day & the Menchie's fiasco was a little rough, but Bryce was around to help and we had a fun day playing with toys & reading books.  We missed Daddy again.  I missed him extra.

May 6 - Happy Day

Hazey has been sick with diarrhea for a week & today was the first day that he was really feeling better.  When I saw him riding his bike as fast as little legs would carry him and then I saw this michevious smile on his face, I knew he was back.

Andlie spent some time making this sweet mask tonight.  She did it all by herself.  She loves art & creating and she's pretty good at it.

Look who's getting so good in her Bumbo!  She's also starting to put everything in her mouth and can even put her own bink back in!

We had a great day today!  We missed Daddy like crazy, but we kept busy playing & reading & making bird feeders/  We played outside a lot.  Bryce took the kids to the park this morning and then rode scooters & bikes with them for a long time this afternoon.  We went on a little walk this evening and got stuck in a pretty big rain storm.  Bryce carried Haze home and he fell asleep on the way even though his face was getting soaked with water.  He must've been pretty comfy on Uncle Brycie.  When we got home, Haze's face was dripping wet.  (I should mention that Haze got rid of his bink on April 25 & sorta got rid of his afternoon nap around the same time so he is one tired boy by bedtime.)  Bryce loves our kids, but they love him more!

May 5 - Shades & Jammies

It's never too dark to be cool.  Or in Haze's case, super duper awesome and darling.  He rocks the shades.  And also, I love his dimpled little hands in this pic.

Nora had a stuffy nose & small fever today, so I put her in some short sleeved jammies for bed.  If I wouldn't have mentioned it, you would have never known that she didn't feel well today.  She is always happy all the time.  Always.  She radiates happiness.

Today was the first day that Daddy was gone to MN.  Bryce arrived at midnight so he could help tend us for the rest of the week.  We killed some time this evening by making paper mache bowls out of newspaper & a flour/water mixture.  Or, as Andlie puts it, "We made goo bowls tonight."  Haze touched the mixture once & never wanted anything to do with it ever again.  Ever.

May 4 - Park

We spent another couple of hours at the park today.  It feels so nice to be outside in the sunshine!  Nora loves being outside.  Especially when she's under a tree or when someone is giving her their undivided attention.  She was totally telling me a story in the top pic.  It was probably about the time that she came with me to Relief Society and was so cute and smiley and happy and giggly that she was distracting an entire row of ladies behind us and making them giggle and talk back to her in loud, baby voices so we had to leave.  That happened today.

Something pretty crazy happened while we were at the park today.  Andlie did the monkey bars all by herself!  No help at all!  Several times!  She is super proud because now she can "do everything at the park all by herself!"  (Including pump herself high on the swings.)  We're pretty proud of her too!  She is getting so big.

May 3 - Saturdays

Saturdays are made of washing cars with Daddy.

Saturdays are made of hours playing at the park.

Saturdays are made of having baths & going to bed clean & happy.

May 2 - Outside & Inside

Outside

Inside

May 1 - Happy May Day

A fly got in the house, so they got their weapons out to take care of him.

And, Nora just suddenly turned big enough to stand in the standing bouncer!  If you can't tell by the look on her cute face, she loved it!  I think she knew that it meant she was big time if she was old enough for this toy.  I can see it in her eyes.

April 30 - Today

Today Nora woke up this happy.  Which made me this happy to be awake.

Today Haze fell in love with the paint splatter toy (again).  He loves it.  So much.  Things he does not love: smiling for the camer every single day.  I asked him to smile & he made frown face & duck face instead.

Today, Andlie ended her soccer season & played her last game as a Lavender Blossom!  She's had a wonderful season & really enjoyed playing and I have to say, I think she's actually quite good.  She does the occasional cartwheel & skip out in the field, but she can also kick the ball pretty hard.  My favorite part of the entire season was when she would hear me & Daddy cheering her name and she would look over with her proud face, scrunch her nose, and giggle a happy, proud giggle.  She loves soccer and I think we'll definitely be signing up again in the Fall!

April 29 - Haze Quotes

His truck was apparantely cold.  He asked for a blankie, turned the dump truck upside down, covered him up with a blankie, and said, "Shhhhhh.  Night, night, Truck.  Sleep good."  And then went about his other business.  Which was going to get Andlie's bag full of chapstick & nail polish.

He came back in the room with it strapped to his tummy & said, "I ready for preschool, Momma!"

April 28 - 4 Months

Nora is 4 months old today!  I know it's so cliche, but time really does go so fast!  Recently, Nora learned how to escape the swaddle blanket!  Much like our other two babies, she is a Hoodini baby!  Here's some highlights from the last month.

Nora moved out of Mommy & Daddy's room (sniff, sniff) and in to her own room & crib!  She loves it and seems super comfy and happy to have her own bed.

She got her first sickie.  She had a cold & fever for a couple of days and is still working on that dang cough.  Through it all, she continues to be pleasant & happy.

She switched to size 2 diapers!

She moved up to size 3-6 month clothes!  All of the 0-3 month are definitely too small now.  She has some serious thighs on her!

She rolled over!  Tummy to back!  She is pretty close to doing back to tummy.

She talks and coos all day long!  And loudly!  But in a girly way.  No grunts or growls.  Only darling, high-pitched noises.  She loves to talk and it's pretty freaking darling.

She always has her hands in her mouth.  I think she prefers them over her bink.

Nora is the happiest, most pleasant, sweetest little thing.  She rarely gets too mad and when she does, she is pretty easy to calm.  She is content to just sit & watch us do whatever we're doing.  She smiles pretty easily on command, but especially when she sees Mommy.  Although Daddy is the one who can usually get her calm & sleeping pretty fast.  She loves to snuggle with Daddy.  She is sleeping about 8-9 hours and then another 3-4 at night after she eats!  She is an absolute JOY to have in our home and we're continually grateful she's ours!

And in other news, Andlie & Hazey got new jammies tonight!