Our little girl is 4!

On Sunday we celebrated Aubree's 4th birthday. I can't believe our little girl is already 4. She already acts like a teenager. We are so grateful to have Aubree in our family. She makes my life so much easier. Every time I think of the angel she has personally been for me, I get emotional. I am so grateful to be her mom. She is so special.

My sister's put some dress up clothes on Tann and he looked like a little pioneer girl.

These pictures aren't in very good order. Anyways, since Aubs birthday was on Sunday, we celebrated stuff on Saturday and went with a bunch of her cousins to a jump and bounce place. The picture above is Trav with Eric watching people on the bull riding thing. (ps: It is so nice to have Eric home!)

This is the morning of Aubree's birthday. She got some balloons with donuts, barbie, princess and the frog jewelry, and a happy birthday sign.

Last night, my mom got a Santa to come over and see the kids and give them each a present.

My sister made Aubree's cake this year. The kids loved it.

Aubree blowing out her candles. She loved being sung to and having all the birthday attention.

Aubree loved her presents. My parents got her a Fancy Nancy doll that she hasn't put down.

Aubs is growing up too fast. This is right before she got her presents. Aubree is such a good girl and the best big sister.

This is Tanner going down the big/bouncy slide.

Trav on the mechanical bull.

Trav playing baseball with my brother's help.

Aubree on the mechanical bull (Tanner didn't want to).

Andrew is smiling all of the time and cooing a lot. He had his 2 month appointment and he weighted 12lbs 3oz. I am sad that he is grown out of his 0-3 month clothes. I want him to stay this little. He is such a good baby and we love him so much.

Can't get enough of this boy!

My dad bought 4 monkey costumes at garage sales and the kids found them. The ran around the house acting like monkey's.

We took Aubree out to lunch with us to Red Robin. She was excited to be sung to and get balloons/ice cream, but the whole time they sang to her she was hiding under Eric's arm.

We have a picture like this at Red Robin when Aubree turned 1. She eats a little bit less messy now.

Aubree at the jump and bounce. We had a fun couple day of birthday celebrations and we are so we are so grateful for our little Aubs.

Caught by a Wizard

We have been counting down the days till we get to see Eric. He finishes finals on Wednesday and we are so excited. He started August 10th, so this is his longest quarter he will have. We didn't see much of him last week and every morning Aubree would run into our room hoping that she woke up soon enough to see her Dad. She knows if she wakes up before her Dad, then it is Sunday. The kids are doing good. Andrew is now 2 months old. He is getting so big and alert. His siblings can't get enough of him. Whenever I lay him under his mobile thing the kids have to lay by him. Andrew fits in our family so well. We are so thankful for him.

Trav's birthday cake.

Travis loved being sung to. He was so cute trying to blow out his candles. He didn't realize how hot the flame was though.

At Travis' birthday party, his cousin Spencer painted everyone's faces.

Aubs and Tann love dressing up. Aubree LOVES Fancy Nancy and always tries to accessorize and dress fancy. She asks me why I don't wear bigger earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and more stuff. When my sisters are home she is in awe watching them get dressed with their fancy jewelry and belts.

We made a ginger bread house this last week. Aubree and Tanner would put candy on, but Trav would only eat the candy off. (I love Tanner's face in the picture below)

Our kids are growing up too fast. I can't believe our 3,2,1 year olds will soon be 4,3,2 year olds. They are such good friends (good friends that tease and fight!). Tanner has pretty sensitive skin and when he gets out of the bath I have to put special cream on him. Anyways, every time he gets itchy or wants to remind me to put the cream on he says, "Mom, I need the sour cream." It makes us laugh every time. I wonder if sour cream would help?

I forgot to post this picture of Thanksgiving. I will have to post it on Facebook next. A lady in our ward brought over a bunch of clothes and the girls (my sisters) were trying them on.

I walked out of my room and found Trav like this on our kitchen table. He wanted to be the baby. :)

ps. Oh, so we had our ward Christmas party on Saturday night and Santa was going to be there. A guy was on the microphone, saying Santa was getting close but was caught in a blizzard. Aubree thought he said caught by a wizard and no matter how many times we explained to her what it meant to be caught in a blizzard, she still could not imagine why Santa would get caught by a blizzard. "What did Santa have that the wizard wanted?"

2 years ago

Two years ago today I had the opportunity and blessing to give birth to a 6lb 11oz baby boy. All day I have been on the verge of tears thinking about the miracle of having been able to experience pregnancy and give birth. Travis is such a blessing in our home. Watching Trav with Andrew is one of the cutest things in the world. We have been so blessed!

ps. i will post birthday pics later (trav singed (burned) his eye lashes while blowing out his candles tonight)

Family Pictures and Thanksgiving

We attempted family pictures over Thanksgiving break and this was the best one we got. My sisters were jumping up and down trying to keep the boys attention and trying to get them to smile, but Tanner and Trav wanted nothing to with the pics. I LOVE that Trav is holding Andrew's hand.

We got a couple good ones of Aub.

In the middle of taking the pictures Eric would just laugh. It really was a joke trying to get "good" pictures done. If we could've gone outside it probably would've turned out better, but Andrew is still to little and it is way too cold.

This boy turns 2 next week. I can't believe it.

I love Tann's laugh.

Tanner is always wanting to hold Andrew and then asks me to take a picture of him.

Tanner loves frosting and sprinkles.

Andrew is starting to smile a lot, but this is the closest we have got to catching it on camera. His smile makes me melt!

Eric threw Travis into the air. I love his face.

This one wasn't bad, but the lighting was.

Trav, giving his brother love.

My siblings who came home for Thanksgiving. Jon even brought his lady! I love having them home. I can't wait till Christmas. We shared Thanksgiving with Eric's family. It was so nice to have both our families together at one house.
The kids right before bed.
Aubs and Leah sharing a night gown.

Trav needs a hair cut.

Had my annual alumni game last Saturday. We brought Andrew with us and had friends watch the other kids. It was fun even though we lost. I wish I had some of my teammates show up.

Aubree loves holding her brother. It is really nice to be able to have her hold him while I take of the other boys.

I took pictures of my sister Amy's family. They are so cute!

Her hair naturally curls like this.


I wish I could have my eyes open in our pictures.

I wanted to make sure and document a conversation Aubs and I had a few weeks ago. This girl is special. We had just spent the evening with Tanner's birth mom and out of nowhere Aubree ask me a question about Tanner's birth mom. I didn't realize that Aubs knew who she was. She said she remembered going to her house a lot (Aubree is very observant). She asked me if we'd ever meet Andrew's birth mom and I told her hopefully. I asked her if we wanted to see her birth mom (we use her name) and she said she did (Aubree often asks to go see her birth mom). Aubree looked at me and said, "Mom, you are Travis' birth mom." She understands things that she seems to young to understand. She is still 3. We are so grateful for each one of our kids!

Oh, last night I was holding Andrew against my chest and Aubree asked me if I was going to breast feed him (she did say breast :)). I told her no and then she asked me if Trav drank all of the milk.

ps. this post ended up way longer than I planned!