Growing up

Well Erika is now officially 4 months old. I cannot believe it has only been 4 months. Erika is growing like a weed... or rather a flower that is beginning to unfurl it's petals.
Her list of new things this month:
✿She can now hold her bottle all by herself for extended periods.
✿She is very vocal and will let you know when she likes something by smiling and giggling.
✿She will let you know when she does not like something by looking at you like you are crazy and then crying.
✿She likes tummy time and is already tying to get her knees up underneath her so she can try and crawl.
✿She has now turned into "Ms. GrabbyHands" and grabs everything in site, which then is promptly put in her mouth.

So, just when we thought it was safe to let Tim and Lex have little toys, they are now banned from the living room, and we are trying to figure out what to do about the girls room. Lex is at the stage where she like Barbie and princess... and ALL the little pieces that come with those.

I wanted to post her monthly teddy pics:

Enjoy!
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Zoo

We took advantage of the wonderful desert weather and spent the day at the zoo with some friends.
I have noticed several things when you go to the zoo with more than one child:
1. Be prepared for complaining from at least one of them.
2. The things you really want to see or do are not the things your kids want to see or do.
3. Something that usually takes an hour will now take at least 3 (or one extra hour per extra child, which ever is greater).
4. If and when you get around to actually seeing the animals, they will be sleeping in weird positions and your kids will crack up and wonder why you dragged them to the zoo for this "learning opportunity".
Anyway, it was fun and it was a great opportunity for me to catch up with a friend I had not seen since high school.


I will now take some time to brag about the weather here in the desert: It's been in the lower 80's all week and is supposed to "cool" off to the mid 70's by this weekend. :) Hopefully we will be able to take advantage of this and get lots of pictures in the process over the next few weeks. (I am sure this will come back to bite me in the middle of summer when we are in the middle of a heat wave.)
Anyway, hope you like the pics and thanks for stopping by!

Photos

Usually this is the time I would post photos from our monthly trip to the Space museum, but Alexa was sick, so we did make this months class. So here are some random photos from this last week:
Enjoy!
P.S. for more cute shots of Lenny our guinea pig click here! Thanks

Quiet

So Mike and I have this debate about who talks more in our house... Tim or Lex. I used to truly believe it was Tim. Until last night.
Lex had her first slumber party, so she was gone all afternoon. I was absolutely amazed at how quiet the house was. (Sigh, I guess that means Mike was right, I will never live this down now.)
Anyway, the family she "slumbered" (although I know for a fact there was not much sleeping going on) with posted some pictures. They spent the afternoon at a pizza/amusement type place and here are the photos: In this next one you cannot see her face, but I think you could still pick her out fairly easily: (Sorry about the small photo, it's a mobile one and I cannot figure out how to change the size... but you get the idea that she is the smallest one there... lol)
It sounds like they had a good time. So for the moment Mike and I are spending some quiet time with Tim and Erika... and bracing for impact when Lex gets back.

Happy Birthday!

Well we have another birthday in our family. Alexa is officially 4 today! She has been walking around the house all morning singing "I am fooouuurrr... I am fffooooouuurrr today!"
Here is a montage of her from just the last year:
Happy Birthday Alexa! 2008-2009
Enjoy!

The worth and excellency of a soul

Love is that powerful and prevalent passion, by which all the faculties and inclinations of the soul are determined, and on which both its perfection and happiness depend. The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. He who loveth mean and sordid things doth thereby become base and vile, but a noble and well-placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit into a conformity with the perfections which it loves.

- Henry Scougal

Birthday party

We had the Tim and Lex's birthday party this past weekend. The kids originally decided they wanted separate parties, but ultimately settled for a joint party at Peter Piper Pizza. It was fun. There were lots of tokens and tickets, pizza and cake , and of course presents.
We had to wait til we got home to try out some presents:
Being that Tim is now 5 we thought would get him a (small)pet. He decided he wanted a guinea pig. He named it Lenny (for anyone interested Lenny is one of the Wonder Pets on a cable cartoon show). Even Lex really likes Lenny:
So all in all we had a really good time.
Make sure you check back tomorrow, as Alexa's actual birthday is tomorrow, and I will have more to post then. Thanks!

Wisdom beyond their years!!

My kids have learned well. Just ask their mom. They are wise beyond their years and exhibit an element of perception and insight that is reflected in their superb upbringing.

What have they learned, you so quizzically ask? I shall tell you with pride. "Daddy's the best!"

Yep. Daddy is the best. Timothy and Alexa never miss a queue. Nor do they miss an opportunity to promote the "bestness" of their Dad. It has become a mantra at dinner time.

Tim: "Daddy's the best!!"
Alexa: Daddy's the best!!"
Tim and Alexa speaking on behalf of Erika: "Daddy's the best!!"
Mom: "Mommy's the best!!"
Kids (in unison): "NOOOOOOO!!!!! Daddy's the best!!"
Alexa (with her gentle, fragile voice and doe eyes that look like they will swell with tears at a contrary answer): "Mommy? Is Daddy the best?"

How can Mom respond to that? She tries her best, anyway.

Mom (not yet defeated): "Daddy is the best Daddy."
Alexa, attorney at heart: "But, is Daddy the best?"
Tim, in the background: "Daddy's the best!! Daddy's the best!!"
Mom, weakening: "Yes! Daddy's the best Daddy!"
Alexa, clearly out maneuvering mom at this point: "Mommy? Daddy's the best?"
Mom, vanquished by cuteness: "Yes, Daddy's the best!"
Alexa: "Yaaaayy!!!"
Tim: "Daddy's the best!!"
Tim and Alexa on behalf of Erika: "Daddy's the best!!"
Mom: "Sigh!!!"
Dad slyly asks: "Who wants to go out for Ice Cream?!?"
Mom: "Hey!!"
Kids continue their refrain in earnest....

Birthday Presents

I think their Uncle Jesse has figured out what to get them as presents... He nailed both kids right on. Actually the gloves Tim is wearing were a Christmas present, but he finished off the look for his birthday with the mask. Lex is still walking around here this morning cuddling her new baby girl. LOL
I think we will all go to Jess for suggestions on what to get the kids from now on. :)

Growing up

Well not only is my son growing up... my youngest daughter seems to be in warp speed to catch up with her brother and sister. We discovered this past weekend that she likes to stand in the exersaucer at our church. At three months you think she would sit there and just chew on things... not this girl. She fully figured out how to spin herself around. I have a feeling Lex is going to have some competition in the daredevil category.

Happy Birthday!

Well we made this far. Our oldest child, Tim... is now 5 years old. Amazing!
I made this montage of him through the years... unfortunately I did not have time to find some of his early baby pics... but I like the way this came out.
Tim through the years
I know it's kinda long... sorry... so much has happened in the last 5 years I had a hard time narrowing it down. :)
It's amazing how much he has changed. I still cannot believe my baby is 5...
Anyway I hope you enjoy a trip down memory lane... I sure did.

Where's the shotgun!

Well apparently my almost 4 year old daughter decided that she was going to date this past Friday. No only that, after just one date, they decided they wanted to get married (on Saturday). Wait... there's more. Apparently they also decided they were ready to be parents and they had a baby girl (also on Saturday). All within a 24 hour period. (In all honesty my daughter has had a "thing" for her friend Jacob for over a year now, so I guess I should not be surprised.)
It was so funny Mike and I attended a conference this weekend, so since we were carpooling we all used the same sitter. Our kids are all best buds anyway so it was no big deal. When we came back after the Saturday session and the sitter was telling us all this we were practically rolling on the floor laughing. Apparently they walked down the isle (sidewalk) and had the sitter help them say their vows. The baby was a plastic (naked) baby from the nursery. It was really cute. But for me at least it begged the question... "Where did they get the idea to do that?" I mean we have talked about marriage, and how mommy and daddy are married or when anniversaries come up we explain how a couple is married. But I am not really sure we ever went into the details of a wedding... although my kids have been to a couple of weddings, I thought they were to young to pay attention to what was going on... I guess not! It just goes to show children pay attention to more things than we think. So now where's that shotgun...

I just thought this was to cute to not pass on. Hope you got as much of a kick out of it as we did! Happy Monday!