Brooks Family

Big Brother

2012-01-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

Kyler is such a fun big brother. He was taking Zander for a ride in our diaper box car. Zander even grabbed hold of the steering wheel. We moved Zander to Kyler's room. At six weeks I have to kick babies out of our room. I am an incredibly light sleeper. Any baby noise wakes me up. I even wore ear plugs to bed for six weeks so I would only hear when Zander started crying to eat. When his baby noises started getting too loud for earplugs to drown out (6 weeks), he moved to be with Kyler. Kyler loves having him in his room. He likes to put stuffed animals in Zander's crib so he can have something to sleep with (I take them out after Kyler is asleep or move them to the far end of the crib, far away from Zander). I tried to explain about babies and stuffed animals, but Kyler just caught the part about them needing to be away from the baby's face. He's good about putting them away from Zander's face. When we started putting Zander in Kyler's room, Kyler went to bed and Zander was still awake. Kyler was concerned we weren't actually going to put Zander in his room. He really wanted him in there with him. We explained that Zander would go to sleep later and we'd take him in. I don't think Kyler believed us that Zander was in his room until one morning he woke up and Zander had actually slept later than him. I went in to find him stacking more stuffed animals around Zander. He is such a kind big brother. He takes his role pretty serious.

Azure has started wanting swaddled. It's funny to watch her pretend to be a baby. It never lasts very long. She just wants some extra hugs sometimes. She's done so well with having baby brother. I was surprised how well she's done. I happily let her pretend to be a baby and get swaddled because if this is her way of dealing with getting a baby brother, I feel pretty lucky! She hasn't regressed in any of her big girl roles; she just wants to get hugs with a blanket wrapped around her sometimes.

Smiles Galore ;)

2012-01-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

It's one thing to see a smile on a picture. It's another thing to see a smile from beginning to end.

Kyler's Birthday - Again

2012-01-15T17:42:00.001-08:00

Kyler had a friend birthday party on Saturday. His birthday was a month ago, but I promised him a party this year. We do friend parties every other year. I didn't want to do it near his birthday because Zander was only two weeks old. I didn't want him around too many kids yet. We had a Disgusting party.

We started off with the kids doing Build-A-Bug. They got googly eyes and foam stickers to decorate bugs (and crayons).

Then, we played Pin-the-Mold-on-the-Bread (trying to hit the cockroach). The kids loved the dryer lint we used as mold. At first some didn't want to touch it, but they gave in when enough kids realized it wasn't really mold ;)

We made slime. I think this was the biggest hit. I let the kids measure the stuff out and pour it in. Then, I had them count with me while it gelled. The stuff was really slimy at first. The kids thought it was great.

Then we blew out the candles on the compost cake. It's a good thing I had a bag of gummy worms. The kids liked the cake, but the gummy worms were their favorite.

This is Kyler and Azure playing with their slime before bed. It wasn't quite as slimy after it gelled really good. It plays a little like playdough.

And, here's my sweet baby. He really looks like a baby now. He's six weeks. His newborn hair is all falling out. He had a plugged duct in his right eye for a while, but with a bit of massaging, that's cleared up. He's just getting so big already.

Zander's Blessing & Family!

2012-01-15T16:44:00.001-08:00

We finally got the TV set up in the living room. I was very excited to get a flat screen for Christmas. We can hook it up to our computer and watch Netflix on it. The living room is a bit messy, but I think that comes with baby gear.....

My parents were able to come visit the beginning of January. We have missed Grandmommy, so it was nice to have the other set of grandparents come visit. The kids really enjoyed the undivided attention Grandma gave them. They had a playmate 24/7.

My dad, mom, and Trevor took the kids to Home Depot to build a shed piggy bank. My dad loves to build things, which is where I got it ;) He and Trevor helped the kids build while my mom took pictures.

I stayed home with Zander. We're getting out more little by little. I don't really take him out when I can avoid it right now. He was five weeks old when my parents came. That's the age Azure was when she was hospitalized for a high fever. I didn't want a repeat of that with Zander.

My dad's favorite thing is to snuggle up with a new baby and take a nap. They took a good long nap one afternoon. I don't think my dad knew I got this picture ;)

I love babies in onesies, just onesies. You can see the fingers and toes, the little legs and arms. Zander is at a sweet stage. He is smiling a lot more. He almost laughs. He's really a little young to laugh, but when he's happy and gives huge smiles he makes cute little noises that almost sound like a laugh.

We blessed Zander with my dad out here. It's a bit sad that we only have one family member able to stand in the circle with Trevor. Kyler had both grandpas in his circle, but Azure and Zander have only had my dad. Trevor's dad's job isn't quite as flexible at times as my dad's. We have some uncles that we'd love to have too, but we realize it's just part of living away from family. We sure miss you at times like this, though.

Zander is smiling in this picture. I loved having my parents here, of course. It's always fun to visit with family.

Kyler took this picture. He didn't do too bad of a job. He just barely cut off the side of my mom, but got all our heads!

We had come home from church, so Azure and my mom had already changed into more comfortable clothes.

He is five weeks old here and already looking like a baby! They grow way too fast (although I don't mind the sleeping better as they get older).

While my dad was here he showed me the ins and outs of staining and varnishing. We have a pantry we are adding to our kitchen and he was a HUGE help in getting me acquainted with staining. I have painted a lot of projects now, but staining was new for me. Now that I got to watch a pro and work with a pro I feel more confident.

I'm so excited to get my pantry in the kitchen. I still have some work to do with the sides of the pantry, so it will be a few weeks before it's usable (hopefully only one week, but with a baby we'll see). I haven't shared pictures of every room of the house because I would like to take pictures without, say, food all over the counter. Pictures will come for those of you who are waiting. You just have to be patient with me ;)

My parents also sent me my grandpa's old Miter Saw (kind of a late Christmas present - he he). I am acquiring more tools! Trevor's grandpa got us some great tools for Christmas, too. One of them is just waiting for the pantry to be done so I can trim the baseboard with it. I build things in my head all the time. It's finding the time and getting the materials that is the tricky part.

Azure is in love with her baby brother, as is Kyler. They took a bath on Thurday night and I had Zander in the bathroom watching them. He smiled at them for the first time that night. They loved it! He gave them some of his biggest smiles. I'm sure he's going to adore them. He already does. He turns his head toward them when he hears them.

We actually got some snow! Thursday afternoon it snowed, so we had a snow day on Friday. I took the kids out early in the morning so they could play in it before it melted. We had all the right snow gear. Some of the other kids in the neighborhood said they couldn't play in the snow because it was too cold and they didn't have the gear for it. I had just given up on the idea of getting snow and we got a little. For those of you in Utah and South Dakota - I know this is a pitiful amount of snow and you get sick of it. But, there are those of us who think of it as a blessing ;)

Christmas 2011!

2012-01-01T10:41:00.001-08:00

We'll start with a few pictures of Zander. This outfit my Aunt Charlotte gave Kyler when he was a baby. It's fun to see all these outfits again. I can't wait to compare baby pictures of Kyler and Zander. I just need to wade through all of Kyler's pictures first.

Zander had his first tub bath on the 26th. He liked it. He never hated spit baths like the other two, so it was no surprise that he liked the tub, too. He smiled at me for the first time on December 23rd. I love those first smiles when you know it's for you! He finally smiled for dad on the 30th. Kyler and Azure are trying and eagerly awaiting their first smiles from him. They just adore having a baby brother. Kyler accidentally dropped a game box on Zander's head a few days ago. He cried longer than Zander because he felt so bad. He didn't want to hurt him.

For Chrismas Eve, we had the kids act out the Nativity Story. We've spent all month reading Luke and the Children's New Testament version of the Christmas Story. Kyler is obviously Joseph; Azure is Mary; Trevor is the donkey. I was the Inn Keeper. They had fun. We also let them open one gift. We don't do Christmas Eve pajamas, so we let them pick any gift under the tree. They picked gifts from their Great Grandpa. It was perfect because they were Dr. Seuss books. One was the Grinch. We got to read it before bed.

The kids went outside (really it's too warm for Christmas, and no snow!) and scattered oats on the lawn for the reindeer. They also left cookies for Santa.

Christmas morning was exciting. I missed the kids initial exitement, again. I was tired from being up at night with Zander. I like to stay in bed as long as I can. Trevor made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we let the kids open their stocking stuff. Zander's is in the plastic bag. I have his stocking almost finished. But, since he was born I've had almost no time to do anything with it. He'll have it next year ;) Santa ate all the cookies except for one bite. Kyler has been incredibly inquisitive this Christmas season. He wants to know about everything, like why Santa would leave one bite and not just take the cookie with him if he was in a hurry. Also, how does Santa fit in a chimney. He wanted to know why Santa didn't just buy the gifts and how the elves made the gifts look just like the ones at the store. He figured out there are many different looking Santa's and wanted to know why. It was a year of questions!

We gave the kids a backyard playset this year. Now that we live in a house we are going to stay in for longer than a year, we thought the kids would love to have something in the backyard. It's still in the box in the garage, but I will get to put it together when it gets just a little warmer and the baby gets just a little bigger. I had plenty of other things to put together that satisfied me for a moment this year.

Look at all that stuff! I don't think the kids could pick a favorite gift this year. They loved everything.

We got a new flat screen TV - YEAH! Our living room looks so much bigger without our little bulky TV on the wobbly stand. It also can hook up to our computer, which is nice for Netflix. I have spent the last few days figuring out how to set up and hook up our new electronics. It's been fun.

Here is Zander's first tub bath. Kyler wanted to help. Zander was fascinated by the lights, of course. He also looks so long in this tub compared with Kyler when he was a baby. I can't believe how big he is getting already.

Kyler and Azure just love on Zander. I have friends who tell me they have to put their kids in a bouncy seat and a playpen and other obstacles to keep their kids from getting to their new sibling and being too rough. We have been very blessed with gentle kids. They are so soft with Zander.

Kyler got Bendaroos for Christmas. He wanted me to create this scorpion for him (from a template - I didn't come up with the plan for it).

These things are so waxy, but work pretty well for creating stuff. Kyler loves his scorpion. Azure got a hold of it and fed it a bottle and put it to bed. Kyler wasn't sure he liked Azure taming his scorpion.

When Trevor feels like taking a nap and is holding Zander, this is what I find. Zander loves sleeping with us (of course). I like having my freedom to move around my bed any way I want. Trevor loves sleeping with the kids. I think he feels like it's a way for him to bond with them, which it is. I would just rather do that during my waking moments.

Zander just loves this Visual Stimulation Blanket. It motivates him to lift up his head, even if he's tired. It settles him down when he's crying sometimes, too (which is counterintuitive because sometimes he's crying when he needs some time away from noise and stimulation).

Zander has started making more noises that are like cooing. It's great to have him start interacting. He's so sweet!

This is one of Azure's gifts from Christmas. She loves treating her babies just like I treat Zander.

She even gives him kisses when he's crying and sad. He'd rather have tummy time with his visual stimulation blanket, can you tell???

Christmas Letter

2011-12-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

Brooks Family Christmas Letter 2011

Dear Family and Friends!

We have had another eventful year, as I'm sure everyone has experienced. If you've been keeping up on our blog, you know most of the happenings in our household. We have moved, again. We are no longer in North Carolina. Trevor applied for one job this year because it was such a good fit for his career goals and at a university. When he got asked to come in for an interview, we figured it wouldn't hurt for him to at least go to the interview. We weren't paying for it anyway. When he got the job offer, I knew he was going to take it right away. He kept saying he wasn't sure because we had just bought a house and moved so much the last three years that he didn't want to do that again. BUT, he really wanted this job, so we moved the end of July. We sold our house (because of our wonderful realtor friend) in three weeks (not with papers signed) and packed up. We were in Utah visiting family when we got the offer on the house. We were staying in Utah for a month, so I had one month when we got home to finalize the sale of the house (including repairs and such) and get the house packed up and cleaned. It was quite the month. I'm so glad I don't get sick with pregnancy because it would have made it so much harder to get everything ready to go. I'm a little sad to say that I was not very happy and helpful about moving. I knew it was the right decision, but I was really tired of packing and moving (especially across states). I was probably really grumpy during a lot of our last month in North Carolina.
After we got to our new home, I was much happier and took setbacks (like our first offer on a house falling through) a lot better. We found a great house that I love and this area is great. We have things like Bountiful Baskets and a Co-op where I can get cheap, but great quality fruit and veggies. We also have tons of fun mini-vacations within a four to six hour radius. Now, on to each member of our family....

Trevor loves his new job. He sometimes feels a bit overwhelmed thinking about making tenure. But, I have total faith in him. He always worried about things more than necessary, but it keeps him motivated to do things early and avoid procrastinating. His boss is wonderful. I've only met him once and spoken on the phone a handful of times, but he really cares about his department and those he hires. Trevor is a Stake Clerk and co-teaches the 12 & 13 year-old youth with me. He's never been in a clerking calling before, so this calling is interesting for him. He enjoys getting to know the stake presidency. He's learning a lot from them. It was wierd to be called up to the stake center (which is only 40 minutes away!) before we even really got to sit down and talk with the bishop in our ward. This was one of the first times Trevor has been called before I have been given a calling. Most of Trevor's time has been spent at the stake center or at work. He had a crazy schedule this semester and we didn't get to see him as much as we're used to, but we found ways to distract ourselves from his absence. Next semester won't be quite as crazy. He will be teaching on post (which, for those of you who aren't military, is the impossible-to-enter-without-proper-identification-and-reason base for the military). It's just a shame we can't shop at their cheap commissary (for those of you who aren't military - grocery store). ;)

I am staying at home with our now three children. Zander was born the beginning of December. He's a sweet baby. Things are incredibly busy right now, but I have Trevor home a bunch for the break. That's why anything is getting done. I have finished the first draft of "The Book." I have sent it off to a couple friends for review. After I make some edits from their suggestions and write a cover letter, it will be off to a publisher (we'll see if they'll publish it ;). This project has been going on for 2 1/2 years. I'm so happy to finally be seeing a product from all this work. Trevor said a Nashville community college will be coming to our city, so I am looking forward to that and hoping I can work as an adjunct professor. By the time it is built, Azure will be in school and Zander should be old enough that I can work for a few hours teaching. I love academics and would love to teach again. I am serving as the 12 & 13 year old Sunday School teacher with Trevor. The youth in this ward really struggle and the bishop wants couples teaching the youth. He wants them to have an example of what they are working toward in their lives - a temple marraige. It's nice to have a teaching calling again. I haven't taught youth as much as primary, but I'm learning how to respond to them.

Kyler is loving school still. His teacher said he's the best in the class at "stretching out words." That means trying to spell them phonetically. He's also reading a lot. I can't believe how many words he can read in books now. We've started reading Arthur chapter books to him. He liked the Boxcar Children book, which surprised me. It was really long compared with the other ones we've read. He loves math, too. He's learning to count by 1's, 5's (thanks to Grandmommy), and 10's. He has learned about coins and their value and telling time by the o'clock. It amazes me how fast he learns. I'm excited to have the break with him and go over some things in his kindergarten pencil-pal book just to see what he knows already. I really don't like full day kindergarten, but we've all adjusted okay.

Azure is enjoying being a big sister. She loves to sing and read. She finds the strangest books at the library and I end up reading them 50 times before we take it back. Some of them are really cute books and others are just strange. Oh well, whatever floats her boat ;) She loves to have me read a book a few times. Then, she'll "read" it to me. I also catch her "reading" the book on her own a lot. She memorizes books incredibly quickly. Kids just pick things up fast. She also likes to listen to Kyler's chapter books. I don't know how much she listens, but she sits with us the whole time. She knows about 1/3 of the alphabet. I keep working on it with her, but don't push it too much. She likes to learn things at her own pace. She knows a lot of the sounds with the letters because Kyler works on sounds a lot. It's fun to watch her learn with him. She still loves her babies, but the toys that get the most use are the Playmobil ones. She loves the little house and babies.

Zander is our biggest baby. He's also been the calmest. He despises the binky. Trevor and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. So far it hasn't been a problem. He doesn't cry much and usually only cries when he's hungry, we've woken him up, or his tummy seems to be bothering him. He's so alert. He loves his visual stimulation blanket and lights (of course). He doesn't cry on his tummy. In fact, he seems to like it. I couldn't believe it. The other two screamed when we tried tummy time. He loves it. The visual stimulation blanket totally motivates him to get his head up.

That's our family in a nutshell! We hope your year is blessed, bright, and happy. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
the Brooks'

Dear Santa....

2011-12-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

This is one of Kyler's letters to Santa. Der (Dear) Santu (Santa) Dad has bin (been) bad this yer (year) he cics (kicks) and hit me. Truvr luv Truvr (Trevor)

Trevor loves to wrestle with the kids, therefore, Kyler thinks he's been bad because of the violent nature of wrestling ;)

Kyler's other letter to Santa said (I forgot to scan it before they took it to the mailbox at the mall): Der Santu - I want a Playmobil arplan (airplane) and skhool suplis (supplies) and a big truc (truck) flor (floor) puzol (puzzle). Luve Kyler

Azure's letter said:

Dear Santa - I want a baby carrier. Love, Azure

The day Zander came home from the hospital, Kyler drew this picture for him. He just loves having a baby brother!

Kyler drew this picture of Dino World. Trevor got them each a stuufed dino. Kyler named his jinjr (ginger). Azure named hers jinjrbred (gingerbread). They were Allosaurus animals (thus the alsooris).

Mm & Dad - this is for Tanr (Tanner) - I luv you Tanr. to Tanr frum Kyler

Baby Zander + Siblings = Cute Video

2011-12-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is a video of Kyler and Azure enjoying their new roles.

A Gift for Kyler

2011-12-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

This is just a little video of Kyler enjoying one of his gifts.

Kyler's Birthday

2011-12-17T15:26:00.000-08:00

Zander has some good awake times during the day. He smiles a lot, too. He's not really smiling at people yet, but he just randomly smiles. He has the cutest dimple in his left cheek. I love it!

He's also doing really well at holding his head up already. I couldn't believe it. He's only about 10 days old here. He had his 2 week visit today. He's 20 inches long and weighs 8 lbs 7 ozs. I couldn't believe it, his weight is in the 38th percentile! Neither of the other two even got close to that! He also eats fewer times a day than the other two. He only eats about 7 times a day. I was worried about that because it's a general rule that breastfed babies eat 8-12 times a day. He must have a really good stomach.

Azure has been very sweet with Zander. She's adjusting better than I thought. She loves to rub his head and give him kisses. She loves to encourage him to put his head up while he's on his tummy.

For Kyler's birthday, Trevor took cupcakes to school. I was hoping for a picture of Kyler with the pan of cupcakes, but this will suffice. We made "dirt" cupcakes, which the kids loved.

Kyler made out with lots of fun presents. He got to open them early because Trevor's calling required him to be at the stake center that night. We opened presents with Trevor, then had ice cream after Trevor had left.

The only present that is missing is the perler beads and a book from my brother's family. He got some fun stuff.

His favorite presents were, of course, the Playmobil camper and bus. Azure loves that Kyler is at school because during the day she can have free reign of his new toys.

When he comes home, she gets to play with the one he doesn't want to play with right away. I can't believe Kyler is 6! His doctor appointment is not until after Christmas, so his stats will come later. I'm sure he's just as tiny as ever, but he's not the smallest kid getting on the bus in the morning. There is another little kindergartener that is his size.

Gandmommy's Visit

2011-12-17T14:54:00.001-08:00

Grandmommy came to help out while I was waiting (and waiting, and waiting, and waiting) to have Zander. The kids got to enjoy some time with her. We've had quite a few things come to us in the mail. The kids made a train out of the boxes. They had a lot of fun in them.

After Zander was born the kids came to visit us in the hospital. Because of RSV season, the kids couldn't come see the baby in the room. They could only see him through the nursery window. It seemed kind of mean to make me walk down long hallways after just having a baby to come see Kyler and Azure, but I can understand they want to make sure the babies don't get sick.

The kids enjoyed seeing me and the baby, but it was a little pointless having them at the hospital too long because there wasn't much for them to do.

Zander was born on Friday, and since the kids couldn't really do much at the hospital, Trevor and his mom took them do Dinosaur World on Saturday.

The kids love Dinosaur World. It also gave them something to do to distract them (mainly Azure) from the fact that mom was not available.

The kids also got to take Grandmommy to see daddy's campus. He showed her his office.

Then, demonstrated his excellent teaching skills. Azure and Kyler look so tiny for those desks!

The campus here is really beautiful. We've enjoyed the weather here. I'm beginning to see that winter is not going to be as beautiful, though. Fall was gorgeous with all the trees changing colors. Summer was green and flowers were still in beautiful bloom. I'm used to August just looking dead. But, winter here is when everything just looks dead. There is no snow to give everything a nice dusting of something pretty.

Every day Grandmommy is here she leaves a little surprise on the table for the kids to find at breakfast. The first day the kids found fun umbrellas. It was perfect because we have had a lot of rain. Kyler loves walking to the bus stop with his umbrella. They got other fun things like crayons, monster trucks, movies, fur-real animals, etc. Kyler was always talking about what he might get the next morning. The kids really enjoyed their visit with their Grandmommy. They don't get to see her as much as they'd like, but they enjoy what they get! She was a great help and it was so wonderful to have her with us. We miss you, Grandmommy!

New Routine

2011-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

New routine? What routine? It's interesting to see how adding one more family member disrupts our routine. Zander is such a sweet baby. He sleeps more than either of our other two kids did. I have a hard time waking him up to feed him. He likes to be pretty awake to eat and it can be a challenge finding ways I can wake him up, but not feel too terrible. I had to put his feet under cold water four or five times today to get him to wake up to eat. I felt so bad, but he really needs to eat. I can hear his tummy growling, but he still won't wake up enough to eat. He sleeps pretty well at night, too. Again, the challenge is waking him up to feed him. ;) I'd rather have that problem than him not sleeping.

Kyler adores being a big brother. He was so good with Azure. He's even better with Zander. One night Trevor was gone and I was getting the kids dinner. Zander started to cry. I said, "Hang on, Zander, I'm coming in just a minute." Kyler looked at me and said, "Mom, he's just a baby. You need to take care of him!" He's already incredibly protective of his little brother. Kyler also likes to rub his cheek on Zander's soft head. I do, too. I love the smell and feel of a newborn. They are so sweet.

Azure has been great with Zander, too. She likes to ask to hold him and give him kisses on his head. I was not sure how she would react to being uprooted. She has been great. Her one issue has been sleeping. Since Grandmommy left, she has been getting up between 4:15 and 5:45 a.m. Zander lets me sleep just fine. It's Azure that's been having some sleep disturbance! Azure has also been great with nursing. I thought about doing a nursing basket or something. I decided I didn't want to try and be creative like that. I started telling Azure stories while I nurse. She loves it. Even if Trevor is home to play with her when I'm nursing, she wants to come be with me so I can make up stories for her.

This is how Zander feels about binkies. He will suck for half a second and then fall back asleep. He doesn't even really suck it. He just kind of lets it sit in his mouth and moves his tongue around. Then, he spits it out and goes to sleep. He may not be a binkie kid! Our other two were big binkie fans.

Last night was the ward party. I stayed home with Zander and Trevor took Kyler and Azure. We made our traditional chocolate dipped pretzel rods sprinkled with crushed candy canes. Kyler and Azure love to help crush the candy canes.

Then, they love to lick the spoons when we're done.

Santa came to the ward party. Azure was surprisingly okay with sitting on Santa's lap. She even told him what she wanted for Christmas, a baby carrier. Kyler wants a Playmobil fire truck, jet plane, and city bus. He is very much into transportation right now. I'm sure if they had a train that would also be on his list.

Here is my sleepy boy! He doesn't cry much. The main reason he cries is because I'm trying to wake him up to feed him.

Welcome Baby Zander

2011-12-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Baby Zander made his appearance on Friday morning, December 2nd at 9:27. He weighed in at a whopping 7 pounds 12 ounces. This is huge for a Brooks baby. Kyler was 6 lbs 12 ozs and Azure was 6 lbs 8 ozs. He was 19 1/2 inches.

Proud daddy was so happy to have another son.

There is just nothing that compares with a newborn! He has a lot of blonde hair. In the pictures in looks kind of dark, but it's pretty blonde.

Grandmommy (Trevor's mom) came to help out. It was nice just being able to leave the house at 4:30 in the morning and know that we didn't have to call a babysitter and that everything would be taken care of!

The kids picked out flowers for me. Kyler picked out the roses. Azure picked out the yellow ones. Patti (Grandmommy) got me the purple flowers. They were all beautiful and the nurses commented on how good my room smelled. I've never gotten so many flowers before, so I felt loved ;)

This is Zander's going home from the hospital outfit. We let the kids pick it out.

Kyler was so excited. He couldn't wait to hold baby Zander. This was much different from when Azure was born. He was a bit indifferent to Azure, but he loves Zander.

Azure is so excited to be a big sister. She was good about waiting her turn.

Our first family photo of 5! I can't believe there are five of us. We are so excited for Zander to be part of our family. It's always sweet to have another baby in the family.

Fat Like Mommy....

2011-11-27T16:03:00.000-08:00

The other day we were talking about Santa. Daddy was asking Azure if she liked a fat Santa (because they had watched Rudolph and the Mrs. Claus was trying to get Santa to eat because kids like a fat Santa). Azure said, "I like a fat Santa. Fat like Mommy!"

I wasn't too terribly offended because I do have a HUGE belly. At least I have an excuse to be fat right now...................Although, this kid needs to get here soon!

Thanksgiving!

2011-11-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Kyler had a Thanksgiving Feast at his school. Only 3 of the kindergarten classes did the feast (I think there are 8 or 9 classes). I was glad his class was one that did the feast. He tried things he wouldn't normally try! In fact, he came home later and told me he wished he could have more cranberry sauce! What!!!!??!?!?!?! This is my kid that hates dried fruit.

The kids got to choose whether they wanted to be a pilgrim or Native American. Kyler wanted to be a pilgrim because they are the group that got to take a big boat ride on the Mayflower. He also got to watch This is America, Charlie Brown at school before the feast. He came home and I found it on YouTube so we could all watch it. There aren't very many kid friendly Thanksgiving movies. There are tons of Halloween and Christmas ones, but not Thanksgiving. This was the first time I've been able to volunteer for something at Kyler's school. I really want to be in his classroom, but I have to find childcare for Azure. That's been hard, since we're still getting to know the ward. Trevor was home during Kyler's feast, so I left Azure with him and got to enjoy helping a little.

This is the swing I made Azure. Kyler noticed I've been making a lot for Azure, but not him. I told him that her things have been smaller and easier with me being pregnant, but I will get to work on his desk as soon as this baby is born and big enough for me to start doing wood projects again. This swing was tricky because I had to make my own pattern and determine angles. I felt like it turned out pretty well, though.

Thanksgiving Day! I know, our feast looks pitiful. I couldn't really spend too much time on my feet. I was swelling really bad earlier in the week and the doctor told me to stay off my feet as much as possible. I never had this problem with the other two, so it's been hard to sit down so much. I marinated ribs on Wednesday so I would only have to make the Pecan Pie and Potatoes on Thanksgiving. I broke down and bought rolls (which I never do anymore). It was still incredibly yummy. I think this was my best Pecan Pie. I only bake it once a year, so I'm getting better.

We traditionally put up the tree over Thanksgiving break because after Thanksgiving is usually Trevor's busy time until after finals week. He has papers to grade, students to deal with, and finals to prep for. The kids loved helping put the ornaments on the tree.

Azure wasn't so sure at first, but decided it was fun to try to get the ornament on the tree. You can see the cluster of John Deere ornaments in this one spot. Kyler wanted to put up every tractor ornament we have, but I convinced him to let Azure do some because she wanted to put some up, too.

After we put the big tree up, the kids get the off limits speech and decorate their tiny tree. They get this tiny tree all to themselves.

We give them free reign to decorate, redecorate, and play with the ornaments for that tree. Then, they leave the big tree alone (for the most part - it does have some enticing bell ornaments that they can occasionally jingle).

Here are the two finished trees. I love Azure's outfit. It is adorable. I was so happy we had a black long sleeve shirt to put under the short sleeve one so she can wear this during the winter.

Trevor's family also had a tradition of making gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving. Kyler got a gingerbread train and Azure a gingerbread house this year.

Azure was so funny about putting candy on her house. She was concentrating so hard and following patterns. She can be such a focused little girl.

Here is Azure's finished product! Trevor put on the icing and helped with the decorating, but she did a ton of the decorating.

Kyler told me where to put icing and did all his decorating. I didn't even make suggestions. He did it how he wanted. He did a great job.

Trevor loves to wrestle with the kids. They don't always like to wrestle, but Kyler is getting more into it. With Trevor home for a bunch of the week, they had ample opportunities to wrestle. Trevor likes to tell the kids that the person who wins the match (the person who doesn't say they give up) gets to choose the treat, movie, gets individual playtime with daddy, and so forth. He had given Kyler a particularly enticing motivation for winning during this match (I think it was more playtime). I've never seen Kyler try so hard to win. He grabbed Trevor's hair and pulled, for a long time. He finally resorted to yanking on occasion, so Trevor gave up. Boys! I can't see how they can be so brutal to each other sometimes. But, we love them anyway ;)

Kyler's Growing Up

2011-11-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

So, I have a few things about Kyler I keep forgetting to share (or document is more like it).

First: When we first moved here I had to take the kids to the Health Department to get Kyler's shot records transferred to this state so he could get registered for school. My mom had already left. We were here in a new town we didn't know well, with people we didn't know, doing random things that needed done, and staying in a hotel. I was getting the kids out of the van and grabbing the shot records. Kyler flipped something on the side of the door of the van. It wouldn't shut. I tried locking and unlocking the door, but whatever devise he flipped would not move. We still had a bunch of our stuff in the van (including all our important documents that I didn't trust to go with the moving truck). I couldn't just leave the door open to go into the building for an unspecified amount of time. I couldn't call Trevor to rescue me. I didn't know anyone in the area, except for the one wonderful lady we stayed with for a few days while I looked for a house. I didn't have her number with me. I tried to stay calm and not panic when Kyler suggested we say a prayer. He felt really bad and was on the verge of tears because he could tell I was really worried about what to do. We said a prayer and I had a thought to get a pen and pry the metal piece down. It worked! I reminded Kyler that our prayer was answered very quickly, but not all prayers are answered that quick.

Second: One day the power in our house went out. The utility company said there was a fire somewhere and they didn't know how long the power would be out. I had been making dinner for ourselves and our friends because their mom had surgery and I was worried about how they were doing. (This was Kyler's friend up the street.) I had bread rising and started to worry that the power wouldn't come on before I needed to get the bread in the oven. I didn't want it to ruin. I called Trevor and told him we might have to go out for dinner. Kyler looked at me and said, "Mom, why don't we say a prayer!" I have to admit, it seemed incredibly silly to pray for the power to come back on (to an adult, of course). It wasn't really life or death, or something too serious. But, I followed my child's lead and we said a prayer. The power didn't come on right away, but it came on just in time for me to finish up dinner and send it to the neighbors. I'm so glad for the faith of a child! Kyler has had quite a few experiences with prayer and I'm glad he's learning that prayers are answered in different ways at different times so young. He amazes me.

One more tidbit about Kyler: He loves to read chapter books (well, have them read to him). We started reading a few chapter books and that is what he requests now. He really likes Nate the Great (which aren't really chapter books, but are a lot longer than storybooks). He also loves some of the books I had as a child, like the Dell Young Reader books. We are just starting a Boxcar Children book right now. We'll see if he makes it through this one. It's a bit older than we expect him to follow, but he likes it so far. It's fun to have that time reading with him. Azure even sits down for these stories sometimes and likes to look through them. She just wants to be with big brother ;)

Getting Ready....

2011-11-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

The kids love to help me make any type of bread. We've discovered a breadstick recipe that we LOVE! The kids love to help me knead.

They think it's fun to attack the bread. I don't buy much bread, but I also don't make much slicing bread. We make all the different kinds of breads likes scones, rolls, breadsticks, etc.

And, we're getting ready for this baby. The clothes are all washed. The cradle is set up. I have a diaper bag partially packed. I'm packed for the hospital. Now, if I can only get this kid to come a little early................This is me at 38 weeks. My face gets so puffy with pregnancy. I do not like pregnant pictures, which is why you haven't seen many. This is it - no more for a while ;)

Less than 3 weeks to go!!!

2011-11-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

The kids got playdough in their Halloween box from Grandmommy and Grandpa. Azure loves the playdough. She wants me to help her make a mom, dad, and baby. Well, she really likes two babies.

You can tell how happy she is with her playdough. She loves to cut and roll, but her favorite thing is making people and then playing with them.

Kyler had Friday off, so we had plans to do something fun. But, he woke up Friday morning with no voice and a chesty cough. We ended up just enjoying playing at home. Trevor had the day off, too, so we all got some much needed time together.

We made a fort in the living room. We had a lot of fun. I even got in it for a little bit, but my big belly didn't really make it to friendly for me. I ended up being the bear chasing the kids, who then hid in the fort.

Kyler still had a chesty cough this morning, so he missed his Primary Program. He wasn't sad, but Trevor was pretty disappointed. I took Azure to church for sacrament while Trevor stayed home with Kyler. I ended up coming home after sacrament because I was feeling run down. I'm not sure if I'm getting Kyler's illness, or if I'm just 38 weeks pregnant and worn out. Less than 3 weeks to go!!!!!! Yeah.

Halloween!

2011-11-06T06:11:00.001-08:00

This is the only picture I got of Halloween trick-or-treating because I stayed home and handed out candy. I can only walk short distances before I start having contractions, so I was better for me to sit and read and hand out candy. Ashley (Ariel) and her parents went trick-or-treating with Kyler and Azure. It was fun for Kyler to have a friend to go with. He's never had that before. We really like our neighborhood. People thought we were really brave to just buy a house and not know the area, but we love where we live. The neighbors are great and Kyler has friends close by. In fact, Trevor accidentally overfilled the oil in the lawnmower. We had a great neighbor come over and help him clean the engine, drain the oil, and refill it. It was so nice to know we had someone around that could help with that kind of stuff. We're still learning about it. I may like to build and figure things out, but small engines are not quite my alley. I had the manual and was working on it with Trevor, but I just can't bend right now. I finally told him I was going to get the neighbor so I could sleep that night (I sleep better if I don't hurt myself during the day ;).

Kyler is doing great in school. He just had another report and is doing incredibly well. I really like his teacher. She has been great for Kyler. He is progressing a lot in so many things and she really encourages him to learn. I can't wait to be able to volunteer a bit in his classroom. I can't take Azure and with this baby coming, going to eat lunch with him has been my option to see him at school during the day. When the baby is a few months old, I"ll hopefully get to do some volunteering and really see what goes on in his classroom.

How Cute is That?????

2011-10-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

How is cute is that?????? The kids got a box from grandmommy and grandpa this week. They love getting boxes and packages. A lot of the packages were clothes (which I love and appreciate). Kyler has yet to appreciate clothes very much (unless they have something REALLY cool on them). Azure, on the other hand, will inspect every item of clothing. She loved dressing up in her new Halloween outfit. I'm sure she'll be wearing it again soon because she was asking if it was washed already ;)

We had a ward trunk-or-treat last night. The kids, of course, loved it. Azure is a witch and Kyler is a wizard. They loved dressing up as similar characters. Kyler wanted to be a "bad" wizard and Azure was a "nice" witch. She turns everything nice.

Kyler tried really hard to get this donut on a string. He figured out the strategy and finally got it. He only got frustrated once and just sighed and then tried again. For those of you who know him well, that is a feat! He usually gets really frustrated and throws a screaming fit. (I know - hard to believe for some of you).

We invited our friends who live on our street to come to the party. They don't go to church, but Ashley and Kyler have been good friends. They all got their faces painted and wanted pictures. Despite this picture and Azure's face, she wanted held the whole time. Trevor was helping with the fishing game, so I was plugging away carrying her everywhere. She has been such a mommy's girl lately. I don't know if she can tell she's going to be uprooted once this baby is born or what. She follows me around like a shadow. She has been very helpful, too, though. She puts clothes on hangers and helps me match socks. She helps me wipe the table and cooks with me. She'll help me clean up and do just about everything (everything but clean up her toys - hmmmmmmmmmmmm).

First Circus

2011-10-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

We have never been able to take the kids to the circus because it's always been on a Sunday. Well, Trevor had Monday off this week and the circus was in town, so we decided to go. It's something we might do every once in a while (every 3-4 years or so). The kids loved it. I wasn't so sure it was worth the money at first, but was soon convinced that a small circus was pretty fun for the kids. They had a rare white tiger. It was also fun to see the Lions doing something different from pacing (like they do at the zoo).

I know the picture quality is terrible. Our camera is kind of starting to die. We've had it since I was pregnant with Kyler. It was a wonderful gift from my sweet older brother. I've been sentimental about holding on to it, even though now there are smaller, nicer cameras.

Azure's favorite thing were all the animals. They were pretty close to us with little "fencing." She was able to see the animals much more closely than a zoo. It was funny to watch her expression. She loves camels for some reason. I don't get it, but she does.

Kyler's favorite thing was the sphere of death thing with motorcycle. This thing is not big. You can see the guy's head on the bottom right. That is an indicator of the size of this sphere. They had 3 motorcycles in it at one time. I couldn't believe it. I thought someone was bound to crash and die. Plus, they stuck a lady in it standing at the bottom when the 3 motorcycles were going. The things people do for a thrill!

The best part were the elephants. They gave elephant rides, which Kyler and Azure didn't want to do (no tears for a tightwad parent). They did, however, love to go stand by the rail and watch all the other kids ride the elephant. They didn't feel they missed out at all. Then, the elepants did a little show. They loved it. Really, most of these pictures I'm not even zooming, except maybe the camel one. We were very close to the animals.

I finally finished Azure's high chair. It's been done for weeks, but not painted. Trevor was off on Monday and Tuesday, so I took the opportunity to finish a few projects - only a million more to go ;)

She loves her high chair. I am also going to make a little baby swing because the cheap plastic one she has from her first birthday keeps falling apart. I've tried gluing it multiple times. It's just cheap. I"ll make her a nice wood one. I also have too many wood project plans....................I love to build and think.

But, first, I need to finish my book. I'm halfway through my reference check and final edit. I need someone to edit it for me before I try to send it to a publisher, though. This has been an interesting project! It's made me so much more aware of how I'm raising my kids in this sexualized world. If no one else is interested in this book, I'm just excited that I've learned all that I have. I would never have known or thought about so many issues with teaching an LDS kid about sexuality. I'm also glad I've learned what I have while my kids are so young. I know what to do at every stage now!

Fall Break

2011-10-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Kyler has his Fall Break all week. It was too bad Trevor didn't have his days off at the same time. His break is tomorrow and Tuesday. I love my sweet husband! Who else would tolerate my crazy ideas??? Trevor is an excellent teacher. He was teaching deviance for one of his interviews a few years ago. He was asking if I had any ideas for how to make it more fun. I suggested he take one of Kyler's fireman hats and teach with the hat on (because it's deviant - he he). The place he interviewed was very impressed with his great idea. Since then, when he teaches deviance, he does something out of the ordinary. His student's favorite thing seems to be when I do his hair. This year I added a bow! He's such a trooper to spend the whole day with his hair done like a girl. But, his students actually understand the topic better and Trevor has fun with it.

Riverview Mounds Farm

We packed a lot in this week for Kyler's break. I think I wore myself out ;) We went to the same farm where Kyler had his field trip for school. His first field trip and I couldn't go! I was so sad to have to stay home. They encouraged parents to not bring other siblings, which meant I would have had to find a babysitter. If that was the only problem, then I would have dealt with it and found a babysitter. My bigger problem is that when I stand for any period of time, the nerve in my back starts aching. Then, I start having braxton hicks if I'm on my feet for more than a half hour. It takes days for my body to calm back down. I have to make sure and sit for most of the rest of the day and the day after that....I really wanted to go, but had to make sure this baby is okay.

They had some fun animals for the kids to see. Azure loves animals, but isn't sure about them when they are too close.

Kyler got to ride the barrel "train" ride. Azure was certainly not going to go in that thing. She fell asleep on the way to the farm and was still waking up. It's a four wheeler pulling the barrels. Kyler thought it was great.

We went on the hayride. Azure doesn't like to have the sun in her eyes, but had fun on the ride (despite the look on her face).

It is beautiful here in the Fall. This is the view from our hayride. The colors are just starting to change. Nights are cool and days are warm. The one redeeming quality about the south is the length of spring and summer. It seems that in Utah and South Dakota (and even Kansas), the spring and summer are so short you have to grab them quickly or they slip by. I'm still wearing shorts to drop Kyler off and pick him up at the bus stop. Of course, I'm not a great indicator since I'm hot all time. ;)

There was a great corn maze. There weren't maps throughout it, so lots of people were lost. Since we had little kids with us, I took a picture at the beginning of the maze so we could refer to it if we needed. We used it and got out in a reasonable time. Kyler was alternating between liking it and wondering if it was not fun because we got lost at first. I love Trevor's face. This is his martyr face: "I'm exhausted because I'm carrying Azure." We had fun. We haven't been in a corn maze since our first year in South Dakota (almost 6 years ago)!

One of Kyler and Azure's favorite things (and one Kyler didn't do on his field trip) was the cornbox. This is so much better than a sandbox because the kernals are so big you don't come home with a car and shoes full of kernals.

Azure even wanted to get buried. She loves anything like this. We've had the popcorn table out for a while (I just put it away), but there's nothing like getting your whole body in a box of corn kernals!

Kyler had a time trying to figure this thing out. He was finally able to get it rolling.

Kyler would not go in this big tunnel slide until after Trevor took Azure and she loved it. She is so funny. She loves these kinds of things, but is always scared to do it at first. She kept wanting to go down it.

Azure asked daddy to come and get me so I could take a picture of her coming down the slide. It's supposed to be like 40 feet.

Home Activities

We made skeleton bones out of marshmellows, pretzels, and white chocolate. I was busy helping the kids make them and didn't get a picture until they were made and most were eaten. They actually turned out pretty good.

We made skeletons out of pasta. I helped Azure, but Kyler did his all by himself.

You can tell he did his by the amount of glue he felt necessary to make the pasta stick. ;)

Here is Azure's finished product. She is wearing a costume and has who knows what on her face, but I love some of the pictures where you just see how real life is - messy faces and half dressed ;)

Kyler was also wearing a costume. He convinced Azure to get in the one just like his. This is Kyler's finished product. He did really well. I didn't take the pictures until they were fully dry the next day, especially because Kyler's was so full of glue.

We also made sugar cookies and decorated them. Last year I didn't do much with holidays, besides our traditional Christmas ones. It was such a hard transition to Jacksonville that it was difficult for me to find time to do some of this fun stuff. We feel so much settled here, although there is still a lot to do with our transition here.

Azure concentrated so hard to make her cookies look good. She loves kitties. They are her favorite animal, aside from horses. She picked all the kitties to frost. You can see a preview of her costume. She is excited to be a witch.

And............the final product. We didn't frost them all, but the kids had fun.

We also carved our pumpkins. Kyler wanted his carved this year. He loved pulling all the pumpkin guts out. Trevor hates that job.

Azure didn't mind the icky insides of a pumpkin. She wasn't sure at first, but got into it. Yes, they have their shirts off - sorry. I didn't want to clean their clothes, besides regular washing. Spot cleaning clothes is probably one of my least favorite housewife activities. I am fine with lots of things, but for some reason those clothes that need spot cleaned are always the thing that I dread.

After we carved he pumpkins, we put them outside. They are beside our first activity that I didn't take pictures of (who knows why). They are regular jars painted orange to look like pumpkins. They were our first activity this week. Azure's pumpkin is the one with the potato head type pieces. She loved having them all to herself to pick out. Kyler is still really into vampires at Halloween, so his pumpkins (jar and real) were carved and painted to look like vampires.

Saturday morning Trevor was trying to let me sleep in, so I came in the living room to find this. They were all watching Blues Clues on netflix.

And, I keep forgetting to take pictures of pregnant Azure. She loves to rub my tummy and try to talk with the baby. We have checked out some books on pregnancy from the library (A great one is "What to Expect When Mommy's Having A Baby"), so we've had a lot of discussions about what the baby is doing in mommy's uterus and what it can hear or see (or can't). And yes, Azure says uterus. The baby is not in my tummy. I get some funny looks when she says uterus around other people.

Other Tidbits

I mentioned Kyler's first field trip. He also had his first real birthday party yesterday. He went to two birthday parties in fact. One was a little girl in his class that was in his testing group. The other is a little girl on our street that he adores and rides the bus with. It was quite a day for him. His first party was at a bowling alley. The other one was at Chuck E Cheese. Azure got to go to that one because she loves to play with the little girl up the street, too. I didn't take the camera, but oh well. We had a lot of fun.

Random facts about Kyler and Azure. Azure loves parmesan. She wants to dip things in parmesan. We are a funny family whose only condiments in the fridge are BBQ sauce, Soy sauce, Spaghetti sauce, and parmesan (thanks to Azure it's a condiment). We do not own salad dressing, mayo, ketchup, mustard, and the like. Azure dips anything from grapes to pasta in parmesan. Kyler, on the other hand, hates cheese, even the smell of it. He wants to dip everything in spaghetti sauce. He hates ketchup, although the base for both is tomatoes (funny kids). He will dip taco shells and other random items in spaghetti sauce. Our funny kids.................they make me smile.

A week without Daddy!

2011-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished product! Azure is thrilled with her bed.

Her big baby has taken residece on the top bunk and a horse stuffed animal on the bottom. The top of the bed is ONLY for her big baby. Heaven forbid if I should put another baby up there. She loves the little pillows and blankets.

She loved this so much that I decided it would be nice to make her a high chair. She loves to feed her babies, but her little high chair that converts from high chair to swing doesn't work that well. Since Trevor was gone I spent Friday and Saturday working on her high chair. It is finished, but needs paint. She can't wait to get her dolls in it.

We have been working on organizing our house. We got some shelving units because they are just too much work to make for me right now. Azure was helping me put one together.

She is such a little helper. She likes to be wherever I am. She vacuumed with me this week, built this with me, and always helps with dinner. She is just my little helper shadow.

Children's Museum

Saturday morning I took the kids to the museum in town. I can't believe the things this place boasts. We have an Olympic medaler, Mt Everest Climber, and this crazy racer from this town. It's amazing to me.

Azure loved the hunting exhibit because the animals looked real (well, they were at one point....).

She was fascinated by the animals. She always has loved animals, but horses seem to be her favorite. She must get that from her mom and grandma. I loved horses growing up and my mom has always been a horse woman.

There was a little model train track set up. It only runs on Sunday - of course. They did have little buttons the kids could push to make different parts of the scene do stuff. There was a chocolate shop that lit up and the chocolate boxes went around a belt There was an airport where you could make the propellers spin. Kyler loved it and kept talking about Papa (my dad) because he loves trains.

There was a fun space exhibit. The kids enjoyed drawing and creating rockets. Kyler really enjoyed the space exhibit. We tracked the path of a hurricane and saw the seasons change from the view of a satellite.

They found where we live on the globe and made up stories about astronauts.

Then, we went to the area just for kids. They played with the trains, but not for too long. They have trains at home.

Their favorite part of children's museums is the store.

I was surprised by how many times Kyler can fill up his shopping cart, pay for the stuff, put it back, then do it again. I thought he'd get bored.

Azure was very selective about what she put in her cart. Kyler didn't care so much. She only picked fruit she liked and food she eats. Kyler just fills his cart until the stuff is falling out. Maybe she pays more attention when I shop than Kyler does........

These little carts can fill quite a bit. Kyler definitely would have liked a bigger cart.

Azure even stood in line this time waiting for the person ahead of her to finish paying. Then, she took her turn. She's so tiny it makes it that much more adorable to watch her act so grown up.

They had an old piano where you could watch the hammers while you hit keys. Azure was fascinated by it.

We haven't had missionaries for dinner for quite a while because of moving. We are having them again, finally. Kyler loves to have the missionaries for dinner. They are coming tonight. He came right home from church and made himself a nametag. He's so excited. I hope it stays that way.

Trevor's grandmother passed away, so Trevor drove to the funeral. That's why he was gone so much this week. He also has some night classes, which has been hard for the kids to see him so little at night. They are used to having him around. But, we're working around our new schedule. Next semester it will change, which will be nice.

General Conference

2011-10-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished painting the doll bunk bed. Azure kept asking it if was time to bring it inside yet. So, I finished it. I am now working on sewing the little blankets an pillows for it. The mattress pads are done and one of the blankets. I have three pillows made, so I only have the other blanket and one more pillow left.

We got some Halloween window clings this year. I don't have many decorations for holidays, which has been good with all our moves. I decided window clings were a cheap, easy, kid friendly way to decorate. They love decorating and redecorating the front door. We have some fun Halloween activities planned! The kids are so excited.

General Conference weekend is our favorite weekend of the year (well, two weekends). Azure was very sad this morning, even though we made our traditional donuts for breakfast for conference. I'm not sure why she was so sad, but she enjoyed cuddling with mommy. It has finally turned chilly! That's why she has a blanket wrapped around her. I'm pregnant and not a good judge of heat/cold. If the kids feel cold on their hands or feet, I just wrap them in a blanket. I'm usually just fine. ;)

Kyler is showing off his excitement for general conference. He is on a sugar high because he just ate a whole bunch of homemade donuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. I guess this is just a sugar weekend because we also let them have a jelly belly every time they hear a different word from their conference squares packet. We couldn't believe Kyler yesterday. He listened so incredibly well I think he had half a bag of jelly bellies! We might need to modify our approach;)

We love General Conference! The gospel is true. Jesus Christ lives! The spirit in our home while the sessions are playing is incredible, but also lingers for a while. The kids are nice to each other and we just enjoy the wonderful family time. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life. It helps me keep the eternal perspective and realize how much my priorities should center on family and the gospel. I'm happier when I'm doing that.

Azure is 3!

2011-09-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is 3! Azure wanted a cake with babies - on a picnic. I have some friends who do marvelous things with cakes. I am not one of those creative people.

I use toys to decorate my cakes. It easier and I don't have to be too creative. Azure wanted a white cake with vanilla frosting, which made it so much easier to do a picnic scene. She was very excited for her cake and helped make it. She even chose a white shirt to wear on her birthday so she would match her cake. However, she was not terribly interested in eating her cake. She picked tacos for dinner and was very full. She wanted to get right down to playing with her new toys.

She got this diaper bag for her babies, paint, and a doll bunk bed from us. She got tons of clothes, a fun little red wagon, and Little Pet Shop toys from one set of grandparents. She got markers, boots, Ariel movies, and an Ariel doll from her aunts/uncles. Kyler gaver her some baby boy doll clothes. Her other grandparents got her a set of doll clothes for her 14 in. dolls. Those dolls didn't have too many clothes compared with her big baby.

Kyler wanted to help so much the entire time she was opening presents. He doesn't always know how to properly contain his excitment. Azure was kind enough to share in her joy by letting Kyler help her open all her gifts.

Yes, the bed is not finished. It's sitting in the garage right now mostly primed. I have the little mattress cut to fit. Azure is waiting patiently to be able to play with it. Kyler helped me prime it yesterday. I have never let pregnancy slow me down much, but this pregnancy has been a little more difficult that way. I probably did too much in too short a period of time with the move. I have to take little chunks of tasks and then take a break.

We lit the cake after the presents. You can tell that Azure's excitement and energy are wearing thin. She is not napping. I have said that before, but it's getting worse. She took one nap in about two weeks. She went to bed around 6:15/6:30 a few nights this week. She either really needs a short nap, or a really early bedtime.

Our sweet Azure! She went to the doctor on Thursday. The doctor came right in the room, and without so much as touching Azure or looking at her, told me she wanted to do "workups" on her because she is so small. I had her medical records from birth - 9 months, but the others ones I'll have to fax to the office. I have to say, I did not like that doctor. There is a difference between a true medical concern and relying on a piece of paper to determine if a child needs extra pokes and prods. Even when she examined her I was disappointed. She didn't even listen to her lungs, or give her a head to foot exam. She barely asked any questions about her development. We will be switching doctors as soon as I get her second round of flu shots. I don't believe I have my head in the sand about Azure. I told the doctor that. I don't think I'm denying there's a problem when one really exists. I hate that the doctor wouldn't listen to me. In Jacksonville, the doctor gave me a multitude of reasons why she seemed healthy and fine, even though she was small. The doctor in Kansas was concerned about her, but not our wonderful doctor in Brookings (who I really miss). I told Trevor we have to stop moving because Azure and Kyler really need a regular doctor who can be familiar with their particular growth and health. Anyway, I'll get off my tirade. Azure measured in at 22.5 pounds and 33 inches. She was born in Brookings, spent her first birthday in Kansas, second birthday in Jacksonville, and third birthday here. She has been very well travelled in her short life, but done really well with it. As long as she has her family, she seems to transition as well as can be expected. She loves storytime, baby dolls (of course),Kyler, singing (any music), playing chase with daddy, and reading books. She can count to 12 and recognizes a few of her letters. She knows her days of the week and loves to play school with Kyler. She loves to draw and do art stuff. She's working on cutting with scissors, but can glue really well. She loves to help and wants to learn to tie her shoes because Kyler is (which he has now mastered). She's just growing too fast!

Playing with Azure

2011-09-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Azure: Let's play car.

Me: Okay.

Azure: I'm the dad. You're the mom.

Me: Okay.

Azure: I'm the dad that works hard and you're the mom that doesn't.

Me: Daddy does work hard. Does mommy do any hard work?

Azure: No.

Me: Really???? Just wait until you're a mom. :)

My Family by Kyler

2011-09-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Again I have scans - I know. Kyler has been so into drawing lately. I couldn't get these to upload correctly in two tries, so I'm not wasting the time figuring it out. This is what Kyler did at church today. They talked about praying. He said he was thankful for Azure (oh I love siblings!). He said he was asking that the baby be healthy and strong. These are the moments when my heart just feels so warm and nice. You can just feel the love of family.

This was Kyler's first family portrait of our family including baby brother. They talked about families at school last week and made a family tree. This was his first project, but wasn't the one that ended up going to school for his homework. Although, I really like this family portrait ;)

RiverFest

2011-09-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

Azure has been so fun to play with lately. She is so imaginative. She loves to play family, or house, I guess. She always wants me to be the dad and she's the mom. But, as soon as we're "driving" somewhere (usually a restaurant, which is funny because we only go out once or twice a month), SHE gets to be the dad and I'm the mom. As soon as we're at our destination, we switch roles. She's hilarious. She has also been enjoying music more. I know I need to get out my violin again and start practicing regularly. I haven't gotten back in the habit since the move and know I need to. She puts her own CD's in her player and will change them often. I haven't found a broken one yet (knock on wood ;).

We went to RiverFest Friday night for a family date. Trevor and I have given up on an every Friday night date. We try to go alone every other Friday and take the kids on a family date the off Fridays. RiverFest was on the river front, where the nice park is located. We parked on campus and walked quite a while to get there. Then, we just enjoyed the music, vendors, and park. The kids love the river. There was a boat parade last night, but it started too late. We didn't want the kids too cranky for early morning church. I think next year we'll try the boat parade. We saw some of the boats practicing for the parade.

Azure usually stays close to me when we're at the park. It's hard to get her to go play with the other kids. She finally started playing with other kids. The little girl in the background is one of our new friend's girls. The one that is Azure's age didn't make the picture. You can see her pink boot on the left side ;)

Azure has been so excited for her bithday. I feel so bad that we've moved close enough to her birthday that I feel like I'm scrambling to do things for her. It's good she's so little right now and it hasn't mattered. We've been talking about her birthday when we do her morning calendar and letter time. She keeps talking about her 5th birthday, silly girl. I'm not ready for her to be that old. She was making a cake in the wood chips because her birthday is coming up.

We let the kids get a treat. Kyler wanted a snowcone and Azure wanted a Funnel Cake. We got one of each and let them share. Kyler has been so energetic lately. On the way back to the car I asked if I could have a little of his energy. He poked himself with a finger, then poked me and said, "here you go." Some days I really wish I could get a shot of his energy!

There was a kid area with blow ups and stuff. There was a little area where you could pet a goat and lamb. We got here last, so we didn't stay long. Next year we'll know to park at the other end.

This nice farmer was giving free rides. he was pulling these cars with a four wheeler. This was probably Kyler's highlight. Azure wouldn't get in it, even if she could ride with Kyler. I think she was getting tired by this time. We had fun and it was great to spend some nice family time enjoying our new city.

We Own Another Home! Yeah!

2011-09-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

I know this is hard to read, but it's The Kissing Hand. Kyler's teacher read this book at school the first day. Kyler came home and dictated the story to me. I wrote it down and he copied it onto pages and into a book of his own. For those of you who know Trevor, Kyler's handwriting looks better than Trevor's here. I was quite impressed. ;)

Kyler has his first real crush. Her name is Eliza. She is in his class at church, but in the first grade. She does go to his school, so he sees her sometimes in the halls. We went to help clean the church this last weekend. Kyler saw her and started acting funny. He hid behind my leg and couldn't stop smiling. Trevor asked me why Kyler was acting so funny and shy around her because he hasn't been doing that for a while. I had roll my eyes and point out that Kyler was having his first crush. Trevor was stunned for a minute. I don't think he realized that could happen so young ;)

Eliza even deserved a picture with both her and Kyler. Sorry the scans are so bad, but the white paper (which Kyler insists on using) is not so great for scanning.

Friday night we let the kids sleep in the tent. Trevor was going to take them outside and they were going to sleep in the real tent. But, it was 100 that day for the high (without humidity factored in). It was only supposed to be a low of 70 in the wee morning hours. Trevor decided to just let the kids make s'mores in the house over the stove and they slept in Azure's play tent. They had three potty breaks before settling down to go to sleep, but they were still asleep by 8:30. After I figured they were both asleep I crept upstairs to see if I could get a picture.

I put my hand inside the tent and positioned it blindly where I thought I might get both of them in the shot. Afer I took the picture I pulled the camera out and was surprised to see Kyler was awake. He was so still and quiet. He said he didn't know what the flash was.

Azure misses Kyler while he's at school, but has been getting LOTS of mommy time. We read tons of stories, which she loves. She also as a school time with me. She's really good with colors and most of her shapes. We're working on letters and the calendar. We sing the days of the week song. The other day she was saying the family night prayer and started singing something about being grateful for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday........ I was trying not to laugh.

As you can see, Azure is mastering Kyler's tools. She was blowing bugs away.

We made homemade pizza and breadsticks and spread out a blanket for a family picnic on Saturday night. We watched Yogi Bear. Kyler loved it. He is so funny sometimes. During two parts of the movie there are things that fall apart. One is a pamphlet stand. When that fell apart Kyler exclaimed, "they don't make things like they used to." I just laughed. Trevor didn't even hear what he said, so I had Kyler repeat it. It was hilarious. Later in the movie a gazebo falls apart. Kyler said, "See, I told you they don't make things like they used to!" (As if a 5 year old understands the old days ). It was hilarious.

We finally closed on the house! Yeah! They are installing the new kitchen floor today. I am so happy that the closing is over. After dealing with an incompetent realtor and frustrating underwriting department (NEVER go with Bank of America; we loved Wells Fargo for home mortgage), it feels great to own the house. I spent that last week and a half praying that Heavenly Father would help me remember to love my neighbor (aka the realtor) and be patient (with Bank of America). This closing was a mess, but it's done! Now I can work on getting to a doctor and other important things. After so many moves I feel like I can only deal with one major thing at a time. Now that cosing is done, I will focus on finding doctors for everyone with the new insurance. After that I will need to work on registering vehicles and such in our new state. After that........................ ;) You know what I mean. ;)

First Full Week of School & Dinosaur World

2011-08-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Kyler tells me that his favorite subject at school is art. His least favorite thing is RECESS!!!! He didn't make this vampire at school. He made it at home. We are going through paper like crazy. I have to limit his art projects. I hate doing that, but we are going through some serious paper, tape, glue, and other accessories. Kyler is really enjoying school. He is excited every morning. I spoiled him this week and made him a hot breakfast every day. He wanted coffee cake, pumpkin pancakes, coffee cake muffins, etc. I am not going to keep this up, but as he tries to transition to a different eating schedule, I wanted to make sure he had a good breakfast. He always comes home really hungry, but part of the problem is that lunch is at 10:38. They don't get a snack either. He only has half an hour for lunch, so he's gotten better at eating more quickly so he can eat as much of his lunch as possible. The only issue we've come across is behavior :(. He is great at school, but has started getting a little sassy at home. He's also climbing off the walls and on everything. It's been cooling off, so last night I took him on a bike ride when he started climbing on everything. I do not hate many things, but I HATE full day kindergarten. He needs more time to play and get more exercise. As we both adjust to his new schedule, hopefully we can figure out a good amount of playtime and exercise every day when he gets home. The sad thing is he still has snack, dinner and a little homework, which doesn't leave much time after he gets home for play. He has to be in bed by 7:15. I know we'll both adjust, but I feel bad for him in the meantime. We're trying to gently be firm and understanding in dealing with his behavior. He's still a really good kid. He just has so much energy that needs to be used all at once during about 1 hour in the course of a day!

Cherri's Birthday

I did have some pictures for my birthday. I just didn't post them. Kyler helped dad make me a wonderful chicken salad for dinner. Kyler and Azure love helping in the kitchen.

They also made me a yummy devil's food cake. I got mainly gift cards to Home Depot for a nice tool!

Around the House

Kyler was interested in our attic. We didn't have easy access to our attic in our old house. Here, it has a nice ladder for us to climb. Kyler was very intrigued by the idea of being able to climb the ladder and see into the attic - not that there's anything fun up there.

While Kyler is at school, Azure has missed him a little bit. But, she is enjoying having mom around to play with. We had some bugs show up in some of our popcorn, so I turned the water table into a popcorn table. Azure loved it. I love having a porch, so the mess is contained outside and we only had to clean up what was in the table ;) Azure still asks for Kyler every day, but is loving playing babies with mom.

Dinosaur World

We were going to take te kids to Dinosaur World for Labor Day, but found that if you go in August, you get free tickets to go back in December. We went yesterday and had a blast. It wasn't too terribly hot, which was nice. It was really shady there, too, so it wasn't too bad.

I thought Azure would be freaked out because all the dinosaurs are life-sized. I was pleasantly surprised that she wasn't too scared.

We learned a lot of cool facts about the different dinosaurs. Most of them Trevor and I have never heard of.

Trevor has as much fun as the kids goofing off.

This was one of Kyler's favorite displays, probably because he could touch the mammoth. He loved that he fit right in the trunk.

Azure was so excited here to see these little baby dinosaurs. She loved all the dinosaurs, but honed in on any baby ones. I think she wasn't scared because if the dinosaurs had babies, she assumed they were nice. Most of them had babies.

Trevor's favorite dinosaur has always been the Triceratops, so he was pretty happy to find them.

Kyler loves the Land Before Time, so he was excited to find out the name of this dinosaur. It's in the Land Before Time, but we've never been able to find the name of it. It's only in the movie briefly as these dinosaurs are scaring Cera, but it fascinated Kyler.

The T-Rex was an obvious hit. They also had a museum with dinosaur fossils. We saw a T-Rex tooth, which was HUGE. But, the thing that surprised me and Trevor was the mammoth tooth. It was ginormous.

Kyler loves all the mean dinosaurs, so he was happy to find a Velociraptor. I think he was surprised by how small it was.

Azure wouldn't get near this head. Kyler thought it was funny to be stuck in a dinosaur's mouth.

With every admission, kids get to do a dinosaur fossil dig. You can see Azure's excitement. Kyler was concentrating on finding a shark tooth. They had real fossils the kids were digging up and they each got to keep three. Most of the fossils were things like shark teeth and sea urchins, but the kids loved them, especially because they are real fossils.

After the dig, Trevor got a little too close to the T-Rex. Azure wasn't sure she liked his head by the sharp teeth.

There was also nice little playground for the kids. Kyler's favorite color is green, so he found his favorite dinosaur to climb on right away.

Azure took her time petting each baby dinosaur and evaluating color before deciding on her favorite.

This was a slide, but you can't really see that part. Azure wouldn't go on this slide, although she would the other ones.

This was the coolest swing. Kyler was laughing and smiling the entire time. He just loved it.

We had a lot of fun eating a picnic and letting the kids pick out a magnet for the fridge from their adventures.

Azure finally picked out her favorite dinosaur. She loves everything Kyler does right now. They fight over who gets the green plate or cup at dinner. It's nice that they love each other so much, but having everything the same gets old......

This was a little theater where they showed a movie about an Allosaurus. It was a fictional account, or guess, about what happened to a real Allosaurus fossil that has been found.

The boneyard was the last place we stopped so I could sit down and the kids could play. I'm sure they could have stayed in the sand all day. Kyler was happy digging up the ribs of the Stegosaurus.

Azure loved brushing off the sand and then reburying the toes. It was a great, fun time. We haven't done something like this in a while, so it was great to get out. We have found that there is a ton to do within an hour and a half of us. We are excited to explore it all. These are nice little day trips, worth under two hours in the car!

Baby Ultrasound

2011-08-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been in the dark, yes we are having another baby. I've had a few comments about my lack of blogging that we were expecting. We are currently about 26 weeks. I didn't put much on the blog because I had enough people worrying about me moving and the way things were working for the move.

Everything looks good so far. This ultrasound picture shows the obviousness of this one being a boy. We have a few names we're throwing around. The kids have already picked their favorite, although I miss Kyler calling him Snickers. That was a cute in-utero name. The kids come up with the craziest names for middle names. That is what we're struggling with right now, the middle name. I think we might have a name, which is a big step for me and Trevor because Kyler was the only boy name we could agree on years ago. We still don't have many names we agree on for a boy, but one is enough.

Getting Settled!

2011-08-21T12:01:00.001-07:00

No pictures, sorry. Things have been crazy, but are settling down. Kyler starts school in earest on Tuesday. He has been asking me how many days until he goes again. He loves it, which is such a wonderful thing for me (and him). It would be so hard to be in a new place and have him dislike school (especially because I am NOT fond of full-day kindergarten).

We have started exploring a little bit. We went on a family date on Friday night to the riverfront. t was beautiful. They have the nicest little pathway that follows the river. They also have little swings along the way and a nice park.

I'm looking forward to storytime with Azure. Jacksonville didn't have a great storytime (well, storytime lady was AWESOME; the parents were terrible. They let their kids run around hitting and screaming while poor storytime lady, who was actually GREAT, suffered trying to read stories and do fun activities. Azure was overwhelmed so we never went again). The library here is two stories and amazing. It reminds me of Brookings. They even have the Dolly Parton Imagination Library here. I was so excited to find that out. YES to a free book a month (nice books) for Azure and new baby. Some of the kids favorite books are the ones they got in Brookings through the foundation.

There is so much to do in this area. We are looking forward to exploring. We have so many cool caves and stuff within a few hours. I think we're going to act like tourists again for a while. I really want to go to this undewater cave you have to take a boat ride to see, but the kids voted for Dinosaur World. So, soon we are going to go enjoy seeing life size dinosaurs.

I have not been good with the camera lately. I was kicking myself before we even got to the riverfront on Friday night because I knew I forgot the camera. I have also forgotten to take pictures of the kids playing in the new house. They love it. I've rigged up a new puppet theater and they are enjoying some new games. Kyler has really gotten into playing school, which is great because he doesn't realize he is practicing his letters, numbers, and all sorts of good educational stuff ;) he he ;) I really want to make him a little desk for Christmas for him to do his homework and keep his paper and stuff in. I found a model; I just need to create a plan. There are just too many things to build and my belly will be too big soon.......I got birthday money to buy a new tool, but I'm trying to decide whether to get a nail gun, a compressor, or a Miter saw. The Miter saw I want is too expensive right now, so I'm down to the other two. I'm just wondering if I wait I might be able to get a really good deal............

Goodbye 20s!

2011-08-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here I am with another birthday gone and living in boxes. However, this birthday I had fewer boxes left and actually knew how to get around the city! Usually we move one to five days before my birthday, so it's a scramble for poor Trevor to get presents and a cake for me. Poor guy. He tries (and does a good job). It's just hard when you move to a new city.

I experienced a milestone birthday this year - the big 30! Trevor told me he was happy to not be alone in his decade anymore. I laughed and reminded him that when he's 40, he will have 3 1/2 years of it alone before I join him;)

Thinking back on the last decade is amazing. A lot happened in 10 short years. Here is a synopsis of every year.

20 - I met Trevor when I was 19, but we started dating more when I was 20 (okay I was not "dating." I would not officially date him for a long time. I had a lot of long-term relationships and just wanted to finish college. The poor guy waited for me to come around, though). I also graduated with my BA.

21 - I got engaged to Trevor and then married him! What a wise choice that has been. He's a wonderful husband and father. I also started an MS program. Trevor began his at the same time.

22 - Hmmmmm. This was a great honeymoon year. Trevor and I spent a lot of time with school. We met great people and I was the Primary President in our ward.

23 - I graduated with an MS. Hmmmmmmmmm, you think school is busy if that's all I have to show for a year ;) We also found out we were pregnant with Kyler!

24 - We had our first baby, Kyler. We moved out of state for the first time (before Kyler was born and the day before my 24th birthday). Trevor started his Ph.D. I did some work from home transcribing interviews for someone's dissertation. We moved three times while I was pregnant with Kyler.

25 - We visited DisneyWorld with my family. I took a long time to make friends in Brookings because I wasn't adept at moving and making changes like that yet. I lived in the same house growing up until college.

26 - We went on a Mexican Cruise with Trevor's family. That was great fun. We were still plodding along with Trevor's school. I taught 2 sections of Marriage and the Family at South Dakota State and 1 section of Parenting. I was teaching early morning seminary and watching my friend's baby boy all the time I wasn't teaching. We also found out we were pregnant with Azure. What a year! I don't remember how I made it. We also had to make a move in August right before my 27th birthday because of rental company issues. I moved 8 months pregnant with Kyler and Azure. I am good at getting behind a washer/dryer to hook it up 8 months pregnant. ;)

27 - Azure was born! Our sweet little girl that was nameless most of her days in the hospital. We finally told Kyler our two names and let him pick. He picked well. We moved to Utah in June because Trevor was working on his dissertation to graduate (he stayed in Brookings) and he didn't have a job yet. Then, he got a part-time job in Kansas and we moved in August.

28 - Trevor Ph.inisheD! We did a lot of fun stuff in Kansas City. That was such a fun place to live, although we were dirt poor ;) Again, in August we moved.........to Jacksonville. I got started on my book project.

29 - Jacksonville was a good first full-time job for Trevor. It really helped him get where we are now. We bought our first home. We got to go to the beach! We found out we were pregnant with a yet to be named boy. Then, another move (five months pregnant, not eight)! I am almost finished with the first draft of my book project. Only 1 1/2 more chapters to go!

Now, we get to see what another decade brings.

Moving Adventures!

2011-08-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

This move has been really interesting. Trevor and I had a hard time trying to decide if we should rent or buy a home. We decided to try renting because we wanted to make sure we would have enough for a down payment on a home and get used to the area. Then, we had issues with the rental company we were trying to use. The more I packed boxes, the more I decided I was done moving and just wanted to buy. Trevor had the same feeling. We aren't getting reimbursed much for this move (at least we get something for the first time!), so we didn't want to spend money on going out to find a home first and then move. I left Trevor three weeks early in North Carolina and took the kids with me. My mom flew out to help me drive and watch the kids while I looked for a house. We couldn't find a hotel that was open to do weekly rates because there was a tournament in town. We also learned later that a new business was opening up and bringing in 2000 new employees. That booked up the hotels! We sure missed daddy/hubby, but he finally has his own cell phone so we could talk every day, multiple times a day.

We stayed with a wonderful LDS family for four nights before we found a hotel with openings for weekly rates. This is Azure cleaning the tub with me the day we were leaving to go to the hotel. She loves to help. When I was packing in Jacksonville, she would bring me stuff to pack in a box. Then, she would say, "I'm being helpful. I'm being helpful." And, she was! She was such a sweetheart. I didn't have much help packing up in Jacksonville because a bunch of my friends had already moved and a bunch of others were on vacation. Trevor was also working long hours on a summer course. I packed every box. The kids were with me most of the time while I packed. I had a friend take them one day for four hours. It was amazing what I got done in that time. The rest of packing went really slow, but I still got it done.

We were really blessed to have found a good family to let us stay with them. We were also blessed to be able to sell our home in Jacksonville so quickly. We were also blessed to make a good amount of money off our house so we could have a down payment for a home here. We only lived in the house for 11 months, 10 of which we owned the home. We were so incredibly blessed to have bought it for such a great deal so we didn't lose a bunch of money off of it. This has been a tough move in some ways, but so great in others. Everything has just gone so smoothly. There have been hiccups along the way, but everything falls into place when it needs to.

The family we stayed with has four boys. The oldest boy (7 years) loves Legos. Kyler really enjoyed the Legos. He built a "boardwalk" here to get to an airplane. I'm glad I don't have to walk a boardwalk that long when I fly with the kids ;)

Here is the incredibly long airplane! It was such a blessing that my mom came out. You can see her in the background. I was just planning on doing something else with the kids and my mom just up and said, "I'm coming out to help." She helped drive and stayed with the kids for two days while I went out with a realtor. We found a home we liked and we loved the location, so we put in an offer. The offer was rejected (someone else put in a better offer), but we were relieved. After we put in the offer, Trevor and I started questioning our decision. We were glad it went through. Luckily, we had another house we really liked. It had become our favorite as we talked more. We were able to put in an offer on that house and here we are!

Azure enjoyed the Legos, too. She liked breaking most of the stuff Kyler was building, although she would be sad when she didn't have it to play with anymore.

We stayed at a hotel for a week. My mom was in the hotel with us for a couple days, then we drove her to the airport and told her good-bye. As soon as she got out of the car to go in the airport Kyler told me he was bored because now he didn't have anyone fun to play with. Silly boy! We got Kyler a little cot for the hotel. He loved "camping" out in it.

Azure loves the phone. We spent a lot of time on the phone with daddy, grandma, the realtor, utility companies, the bank, etc. Azure and Kyler would chatter away. Kyler really missed daddy from the beginning. He told me almost every day how much he missed him. He wanted to call him all the time. Azure didn't start asking to talk with daddy much until we'd been in the hotel for quite a few days. One day she wanted to talk with daddy, so we called. He was busy and couldn't talk at the moment. Azure threw a huge fit until he was able to call back. When she decided she missed daddy and wanted to talk a lot, she was very adamant about it.

The hotel was not the greatest. We took what we could get. The floors were dirty, so I tried to keep the kids playing on the beds. We also had a heat advisory for so many days. We had to stay inside a lot. The hotel room was small, so we didn't get much exercise for a week. I did take the kids to a park one day for an hour, but Azure had a heat rash for three days. We went swimming in the heart shaped hotel pool. I didn't get pictures because I was alone with the kids. We ate fun microwavable food and watched morning cartoons. At first, Kyler loved the hotel, but by the end of the week he started calling it a jail. I took the kids to the mall to get some exercise and we walked around the hotel, but there wasn't a whole lot to do outside with the heat.

My mom got the kids each a little something they could do at the hotel. Kyler had a fun dangerous animals sticker book. He loves it. Azure got some paper dolls. I got some contact paper and laminated them. She would dress them and put them to bed.

One day Azure said the prayer for lunch. She said, "Please bless that we won't go to a new house, but go back to Azure's house. It broke my heart. This move has been difficult for her. She doesn't really like change much. Most kids don't, but Kyler is old enough that he understands what's going on. He remembers Brookings, Kansas, and Jacksonville. He remembers his friends in those areas and we still keep in contact with some of them. He seemed to adjust much easier than Azure. She's needed some extra TLC and understanding. She does love our new house (as does Kyler). It is bigger, so they have more room to play around. We also have sidewalks (I know for some of my friends, you have no idea how hard it is to find sidewalks in the south & east). Kyler has been able to ride his bike in the mornings when it's cooler (somewhat). I think I'm going to have him ride his bike to the bus stop in the mornings. It's about .3 miles away. He likes his bike more with sidewalks because he doesn't have to worry so much about traffic (and neither do I)!

All in all, this has felt so good and right. It was hard to move again after so many moves recently, but this is right and will be a good career move for Trevor. We also like the city here, but will miss the beach. I was sad I didn't have time to take the kids to the beach one more time before we moved. It was just so busy getting a house packed up and cleaned. Now we're on to new adventures!

Preparing for School and a New House

2011-08-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

We were able to move into our new house on July 30th. This was just enough time for us to prepare Kyler for school. We went out to buy Kyler's school supplies. He was soooooooooooo excited. He really wanted the last How to Train Your Dragon lunchbox and a Lightning McQueen backpack. The other stuff was exciting, but not near the excitement of a lunchbox and backpack. He was bouncing all over our new house. It was pretty empty for a few days so they had plenty of room to run and play.

We got to eat on the floor for a few days until we got our truck on the 2nd. It was a little entertaining for the kids, but not very fun for me. I was on my feet for quite a few days with eating and no where to sit. I felt spoiled already having a couch and then not having one. It is such a luxury.

We had the carpets cleaned, so I confined the kids to the kitchen with our limited amount of stuff. Azure found that all the clothing suitcases made great beds for her babies. She was also very excited to have more of her baby toys when we got to the house.

Kyler was excited about the trailer that delivered our stuff. He was trying to make a paper "model" of how long the trailer was. He enjoyed watching the company drop the trailer off and pick it up.

You're getting some pictures of the house. It is a mess right now, so I'm not taking pictures yet. You'll get messy pictures of the kids sometime in the future. I'm trying to take it easy, but steadily get unpacked. I've had so much else to do with Kyler's school and stuff that packing has come slowly, but steadily. Grandmommy sent a box in preparation for Kyler's first day at school. I think Azure was pretty jealous of the Playmobil school bus, but Kyler has been great about sharing it with her. He also got a bunch of other stuff. Azure got a Cleo stuffed animal (from Clifford) to help her feel not so lonely when Kyler goes to school. She will miss him!

He is NOT big enough!

2011-08-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Kyler started school! Yes, we got here in time to find a house, get through the mess of changing his shot records to this state and getting a state physical, and get him registered for school. His official start day was Friday. This was a picture from Friday. It was essentially a parent orientation for all the parents of kindergarteners. I drove him to school and sat through a one hour presentation about the school and an explanation from his teacher (Kyler and Azure got to sit through it, too). Then, we came home. We had gone to register on Wednesday, and then we got to meet the teacher and see his classroom on Thursday. He was so excited to buy his school supplies and stuff. He's really ready for school.

Azure woke up this morning looking like this. It is sweltering hot here. But, now that her clothes are unpacked and she has discovered how to open the doors here by herself, she has gotten into her closet and her clothes. She loves to dress up, her or her babies. She had a pair of long pajama bottoms on, then shorts, then these pajama bottoms. She also had a short sleeve pajama shirt on, then this shirt. Crazy girl! She also loves this galoshes. I don't think she slept in this get-up, but she was pretty quiet making her room a mess this morning. Trevor and I must have been too preoccupied with Kyler's actual first day on the bus to pay much attention to the noise in her room. She comes out when she wakes up usually.

Kyler's first real day of school is today. He is not home yet. We will pick him up in about 15 minutes. I had to blog this quick because it is a bittersweet moment when your oldest goes off to kindergarten, especially when he's on a bus and in a new neighborhood.

All the kids here ride the school bus. There goes my baby! He has been so excited to go to school and ride the school bus. After he climbed on, he stood at the top of the stairs looking confused. I don't think he knew what to do after the excitement of actually getting on the bus. It took him a second of us waving him to go find a seat for him to actually find one. Trevor keeps commenting that it feels like Kyler has been gone for a long time. Full day kindergarten is a long day. He is going to be very tired tonight. I am NOT a fan of full day kindergarten, but so many moms are that I don't think I can find enough support to get a half day class here. I think kids need just a little bit more time to play and learn through play before they are sucked into a classroom. I also don't want to home school, though. I think it's good for Kyler with his personality to be away from his family and spread his wings. But, I do miss him, and so does Azure. She has mentioned a few times today that he is at school. She notices he's gone.

I wanted to blog this first, for all you anxious family members. I will get to pictures of the house and our interesting move here later. This has been an entertaining experience.

Home at Last!

2011-07-10T13:28:00.000-07:00

We came home to this! The house was a LOT cleaner (I just took the picture later). Our friends that stayed at our house while we were gone left it cleaner than when we left. We also had a wonderful surprise in our living room. We haven't had a couch for two years. It was sooooooooo nice to be able to sit on a couch. Our wonderful friends who were moving gave us this couch. We miss them already. It was hard to say good-bye. It took all of one second to get used to having a couch again. I don't think I want to go without a couch again. It's been hard.

Isn't it beautiful!!! Okay, the mess isn't beautiful, but the couches are. There were no boxes here when we arrived home. They have been filling our house ever since.

A little slice of heaven is sleeping in our own beds! I can't believe how nice it was to come home and sleep in my own bed. The kids enjoyed having their beds again, even if it's fun to sleep somewhere else.

After we got home Kyler got busy reliving his experiences through his playmobil people. The kids have ridden in the trailer of one of his lawnmowers (the kids won't fit on a lap on the toys). He also used the house as an airport and built a runway and boardwalk for boarding the plane.

He also converted his Gator into a Rhino.

You can see that I had to attach chairs with seat belts on the back with twist ties so he could have seats on the back for the kids. There also had to be a twist tie seat belt in front for the dad.

We had to say good-bye to some wonderful friends. They are in the military and moved on to other places. We were happy that they didn't leave until we got home. This is Azure, Scott, Hannah, and Kyler.

This is Scott and Hannah's mom, Haylee. We hope to see them again someday. They are a great family.

July 4th

For the 4th of July we decided to miss the crowds for the show on base and go to Swansboro. I'm glad we made that decision because we got to watch the fireworks over the intercoastal waterway. They shot the fireworks off an island. It was really neat. We found a nice little spot of grass right by the water. This is Kyler, Andrew (another friend and family we will miss), and Brianna (again, we'll miss their family!).

Our friends Tim, Andrea, and Maddie. Azure loves Maddie. She just turned a year old. Today at church she said hi and waved to Azure. Azure wasn't sure what she thought about Maddie starting to talk. I think she wants her to stay a baby.

The kids loved having playmates while we waited for the fireworks to start. Downtown Swansboro is really quaint and old school. It was wonderful to walk around and see it.

We ate a lot of junk food and visited with friends. It almost felt like a ward party. We had four or five families from the ward right here with us. Andrew's little sister Emily is walking in front of the boys.

Emily is such a loving little girl. She would hug any of the kids. She is just a little younger than Azure.

Finally, we got to see the show. Kyler freaks out at loud noises. We were far enough away that it wasn't too loud. He still got really nervous, but I came prepared this year with earplugs. He only freaked out when they fell out. He pretty much was enjoying them, but still wary of the noise.

Azure loved seeing the fireworks, but got bored after a few of them. She's been funny lately. I think her response to us moving is to ask to go home whenever we go out. She used to love going out and seeing things, but lately just wants to be home and have fun with her babies. She is so attached to her babies. That is all she plays with, unless I'm playing Playmobil people with them. Then, she'll play with them (the babies and mommies of course). She was even having one of her spaghetti noodles "hold" a baby spaghetti noodle at dinner last night. She is so funny and cute.

This is enough for today. I'll get other moving updates and such soon!

Second Baby Blessing

2011-07-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Our last Sunday at Trevor's family's house brought another baby blessing. It was so great to be part of so many family events we usually miss! Trevor, Grandmommy, and Azure are here at Justin and Amber's house celebrating the blessing. I had to take Kyler back to Grandmommy's house because he had pink eye. We went to the blessing at the church and then went home so he wouldn't spread it. He was disappointed to miss the party.

This is Trevor's family, except me and Kyler. Tasha, Bryce (holding Jared), Trevor, and Dave (Grandpa) are on the back row. On the front row are Amber (holding Brylee), Justin, Aubree (holding Conner), and Patti (Grandmommy holding Azure).

These are proud grandparents of a new baby granddaughter. They have three grandsons and now two granddaughters.

These are Trevor's siblings: Trev, Aubree, Justin, and Tasha.

It was a sad good-bye when we had to leave. I caught this picture of Jared and Kyler saying good-bye right before we hopped in the car to leave (so you don't have them Tasha and Grandmommy).

Jared and Azure hadn't been too interested in each other this trip because Kyler and Jared had each other. Plus, she is a total girl and wasn't interested in their play and they weren't interested in hers. They still love each other. This is the sweetest hug! We miss you everyone!

P.S. I still don't have pictures of our kids playing with some of Trevor's friend's kids. We got to see them twice. Kyler and their little boy about Kyler's age had a lot of fun together. I just never had my camera out when they were around. I know Rachel (their mom) took some, but I haven't gotten them yet.

Brooks Visit - Part 3 of 3

2011-07-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Mission Reunion
The mission reunion was for families. I left it up to Trevor whether to go or not because Kyler seemed to have pink eye and was acting a little sick. Trevor really wanted to see his old companion, so we went anyway. I ended up staying in the car with Kyler (it wasn't too hot luckily). Trevor got to visit for a little while with his companion. At least he got to see him a few minutes. We haven't seen them for 8 years!

Grandmommy's & Grandpa's House

Grandmommy was getting rid of a bunch of VHS videos. She had piled them in the front room. Kyler and Jared found them and decided they made fun toys. They made this maze. They also made a track for racing. I got a video of the track, but not a picture. I'll hopefully be able to post a few videos from the trip. We got a few cute ones.

Father's Day

I hate to say it, but I really failed at Father's Day this year. We were travelling and with preparations for the move and selling a house and such, it kind of slipped through the cracks. Thank goodness for Grandmommy. She made special yummy pumpkin waffles with a delicious syrup (I forgot to copy the receipe!) and sausage for breakfast. Trevor got the new Brad Paisley CD. We love you, daddy. Trevor is a really good dad. He comes home and plays with the kids after work, even though he can be mentally tired from teaching. He takes them for walks and is more willing to play outside with them at 4:00 in the afternoon than I am. He wants so much for them to grow up with education and fun. He loves to encourage Kyler in the things he's interested in, even if it's a little different from the norm for a boy (like a favorite color being pink). He loves to take naps with Azure to help her "nap." We love him so much!

More Grandmommy and Grandpa's House

Grandmommy likes to get the kids clothes. The boys get a lot of similar shirts. They are just two peas in a pod. They are so fun together. They don't even really fight much. One day I heard a skirmish between them and I went over to see if I could help. They were fighting over a red racecar (Jared's favorite color is red). I suggested I could be a timer and they could take turns with the car. They told me no and figured out their own solution, to play with something else! They just play so well together. They resolve their own fights and just play nicely. It was great.

Grandmommy has this little Halloween witch book that screams at the last page and there are blinking eyes on a ghost. Azure is fascinated with "Scary" right now. She loved the book. We read it over and over. Conner decided he liked it too. After a while, they just wanted to turn the last page and hear the scream.

These are four of the grandchildren. Baby Brylee wasn't around this day. Kyler is the oldest, then Jared, Azure, and Conner. Brylee is the youngest currently.

Grandmommy had lots of fun outdoor toys. We would take walks with her in the evening with her neighbor. The kids loved riding the bikes while we walked, or playing in the grass at the church as we walked around.

Camping Trailer

Grandpa loves to camp. Tasha and Bryce love to camp, too, so Jared and Conner go camping a lot. Grandmommy and Grandpa have a camping trailer. The boys were going to sleep out in it one night, but we never did get around to that. They at least got to play in it one day.

They loved the trailer. I love how Kyler is pretending to sleep on the bed! He really wants to sleep in the trailer. He was very disappointed that we would have to wait until next time to sleep in it. I don't think he cares if it's in the yard or on a mountain. He just wants to sleep in it.

I can imagine how much fun these boys would have camping together. I think next time we go out we might try camping. I think I like it better with a bed and toilet.

S'mores

Aubree brought over her S'more maker and let the kids make S'mores. Kyler thought it was fun until the S'mores were actually done. Then, he remembered he likes all the pieces of a s'more, just not squished together.

Jared got really messy, but I didn't post that picture (hmm it must have gotten lost in my list of pictures to upload). Azure enjoys anything with chocolate. That's her favorite part of the s'more.

More Fun

I think the little kids enjoyed a bit of reading. Grandmommy has some fun books that the kids enjoyed. Kyler found all the truck ones and Azure found the touchy-feely Usborne ones, which Conner loves too.

Splashing Around

I can't believe the fun pictures I got this time, like Trevor splashing Jared at the birthday party and him jumping over this thing. Maybe I am finally figuring out the timing of our camera. We've only had it almost six years ;)

None of the kids were that interested in the wiggly caterpillar. I don't think they liked it's unpredictability in splashing in their faces. They enjoyed it a little bit, but found the pool more fun.

Here is Jared splashing me! I just couldn't believe I got some great poses of him. The kids enjoyed putting the poor puppies in the pool and splashing them.

Kyler and Jared also figured that the trucks needed a bath.

Kyler and Jared both got to ride with Grandpa while he mowed the lawn a little bit. Kyler's exclamation was, "Grandpa goes fast!" He was very disappointed when Grandpa had mowed the lawn while we were somewhere else one day. He was glad he got one day to watch him (and ride with him).

Grandkids

This is Dave and Patti with their grandchildren. We had a heck of a time trying to get them all not only looking at the camera, but being happy sitting there. Conner did not want to be confined in any way. He just likes to move and be free. There's Conner, Azure, Brylee, Kyler, and Jared.

We were trying to get pictures of the kids with their siblings, but Conner was NOT having it! He is such a cute little boy.

At least we got most of them smiling and looking! That's all you can aim for with this many kids, right? ;)

We tried a couple different ways to see if we could get all the kids happy and looking, but I think we will be happy that we have pictures with everyone. Brylee looks pretty content..............

Azure kept asking to hold Brylee. She says, "I wish I could hold that baby" all the time now. If she sees a real baby at church, at the store, or in a picture, she says this. I asked her if she just wants to be a mommy when she grows up. She said yes. She has mostly played with her babies since being home. Their names are all Avonlea or Brylee.

Kyler wanted to hold Brylee too, since everyone else seemed interested in holding her. He held her for a second and then said he was done. He was more interested in older cousins. We miss you already!

Brooks Visit - Part 2 of 3

2011-07-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Train Pictures

There is a train right down the road from Trevor's parents. It's just a one-car display train on a short track. It doesn't move or anything, but the kids had fun playing on it. Grandmommy wanted to get pictures of the kids at the train, which is popular right now.

We got some pretty good shots, but Azure was unhappy with getting a picture taken. She was not getting as many naps, so she was regularly mommy-bound.

Kyler loved being the engineer. He is all about whatever moves on wheels. He gets especially interested in anything he experiences for himself, like the airplane and train rides he got to go on.

I got a kiss! I rarely get pictures like this anymore. Kyler is such a sweet big brother. He was just telling me today that when Azure goes in Sunbeams she can sit with him if she's scared in the big Primary room. He has also recently told me he wants to marry her.

A smile from Azure, score!

Kyler looks so small from this angle. He found a way to climb up that first big step. He's getting to where he doesn't want much help for anything.

She looks like the 4th of July already. It was only the middle of June here.

Here is what she looked like most of the time, with a straight face. She did enjoy playing with the wheel. I don't think she liked the steep steps and just wanted me to hold her.

There, mommy has her, she's a happy camper. She can be so adorable.

We had fun together. Kyler was pretending that one side of the car was one stop and we had to get on and go. Then, we'd walk to the other side to catch the next train so we could get to our next stop.

What a cute boy! He has the longest eyelashes. You can't see them in this picture, but he is such a handsome boy. I'm even jealous of those lashes.

More Puppies

We played with the puppies a lot. The kids got more and more used to them. A few were pretty rambunctious, but some were sweet and mellow. Azure looked for the mellow ones that would sit down so she could pet them. Kyler looked for the rambunctious ones that would chase him around the yard.

There was one puppy in particular that loved to chase Kyler. He thought it was so fun.

Despite the smile, Kyler was not happy about this arrangement. He did not want to HOLD a puppy. He wanted it to chase him. Azure, though, was loving the holding(ish), as long as the holding was an arm around the puppy and not on her lap.

Jared's Birthday Party

Jared had a Spiderman birthday party. We don't always hit so many family events when we come out, but this time we did. It was nice to be able to be involved.

We got to eat some yummy food. The kids were happy to be munching all the time.

It was a water party, so there was a slip n' slide and a pool with water. I love this picture because it caught Trevor splashing Jared. Jared loved the water.

This was the little pool with water. Tasha put the slide in it so the kids could slide into the pool. It was a lot of fun.

Jared spent a lot of time in this pool. He went crazy down the slide.

Conner loved the water, too. He also enjoyed the swing. You can see Azure pushing him in the background. She liked Conner sometimes, when he acted like a baby. When he got crazy with the big boys, she didn't think he was that interesting.

Azure and Kyler were more interested in the slip n' slide. They liked the spray of water that came up the sides. They weren't really interested in sliding down it.

Conner amazed me. I couldn't believe that he was totally fine with lots of water in his eyes. He would just gasp sometimes if the water surprised him, but then walk right into it. My kids are not that brave around water.

There was also a Spiderman pinata. The kids at least got 3 turns each. Then they finally pulled the strings hanging out of the bottom before it broke open.

Azure was the only girl at the party (besides baby Brylee who left early and was only a month old). She was the one who hit the pinata the daintiest. She would just tap it, while the boys sure knew how to swing the bat.

Jared loved to swing at the Spiderman. He usually used to hands to bat at it, although in this picture he used one. He must have had too much to hold. Kyler would hold the bat with only one hand and swing.

Jared had a fun caterpillar cake with Spiderman on top. The kids had been munching so much that they weren't much interested in the cake. They just wanted to play in the water.

Jared's cousin on his dad's side of the family is the other little boy at the table. He is only six months older than Jared. There are a lot of boys in that family because Cade has a little brother.

What buddies!

Grandmommy got to play with the little kids once they needed a break from the water. They sure loved having a water party. It was a nice day for it, too. The weather had been a little chilly, but turned out nice for this day.

Kyler ended up with Pink eye. His eyes started looking goopy and red at the party. I tried to keep an eye on him, but it really looked like pink eye. Trevor had a mission reunion that night that we were hoping to attend. He really wanted to go see his old companion that was also going to be there. We hadn't been to one for about 8 years because we've lived too far away. Stay posted for the rest of our adventure with the mission reunion and the last of our visit!

Chuckles

2011-07-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

Trevor was telling Kyler how to play battleship this morning. We were preparing to play a game and teach him how. Kyler was going to be on Trevor's team and said he was going to shoot mommy's ships. Azure said, "Don't shoot my mommy. I'm talking to her." We got a little chuckle. She says the sweetest and funniest things sometimes, as does Kyler.

Brooks Visit - Part 1 of 3

2011-06-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Down & Dirty
We went back down to visit with Trevor's family for another week and a half. Grandpa had some puppies and the kids enjoyed playing with them.

Kyler and Azure adored the puppies, but Azure only wanted them to sit so she could pet them.

Jared was so interested in his grader that he only petted the puppy for a second. Then, it was back to work. Both Jared and Kyler loved having the puppies chase them around the yard. We got the puppies out almost daily. Grandpa had 12 from 2 litters. This first day the boys were having more fun in the dirt than with the puppies, but after having them out a couple times, they enjoyed playing chase and splashing them with water.

You can see how much fun the boys were having, as evidenced by the filthy faces.

Grandmommy has a huge cement mixer, dump truck, and grader. They all got good use outside.

Azure even enjoyed playing with the big trucks. She didn't quiet know what to do with them, but she enjoyed being with the boys. I love her in these sunglasses. They are so cute!

Payson Lake

We went to Payson Lake one day. Kyler and Jared adore each other. They have so much fun together.

At first, Azure wasn't sure about the water. The boys jumped right in. We didn't bring swimwear, so they just got soaked and we stripped them down for the ride home.

It didn't take long for Azure to decide she did like the water. She would walk in the water with the rocky bottom without shoes and not complain or flinch at all. She has the toughest feet. She doesn't like to keep shoes on.

Conner loved the water, too. That little boy has no fear about some things. It was cute watching him attack the water.

Of course, we got hungry and needed a snack. Playing in water always seems to make everyone hungry.

Jared's House

Jared has all sorts of fun toys (motorized toys) at his house. He got this black truck for Christmas. Kyler loved it. They had a lot of fun.

I think Jared has seen a truck need towed before! He and Kyler hitched up the truck and pulled....

with all their might to get the truck unstuck! ;)

Jared also has this cool scooter that Kyler found fun.

Krispy Kreme

One morning we went to Krispy Kreme to watch them make donuts and get a warm one for free.

The kids thought it was fascinating to watch them. I tried to read all the different signs to show the kids all the different steps they were using to make the donuts. Kyler got fed up with attempt at education and told, "Mom, I already knew how they make the donuts." It's starting already.......

Grandmommy collected a lot of aluminum cans and let each kid take them to the recycling place. They enjoyed watching them go up the conveyor belt. The kids each got a dollar for the cans they brought.

The aluminum cans were right after Krispy Kreme. This picture got out of place. That's what I get for having so many pictures to download at once! The kids all loved their donuts from Krispy Kreme. I think this was the first time we ever let Kyler eat two whole donuts (once isn't that bad, right?) ;)

After eating their warm glazed donut, they got to eat the one they picked. Jared had a sprinkled one and Kyler had a chocolate covered one.

Picking Toys

Grandmommy has an impressive collection of Happy Meal type toys. She has been collecting them for years. Every day she let the kids pick one toy from her stash. Kyler loved it (so did Azure, but Kyler was very vocal about loving it). He got to where in the morning he would ask Grandmommy when he got to pick his toy, or just tell her he wanted to pick a toy. It was, um, a manners experience for me. I was trying to teach him some manners about expecting and asking for things. I don't think my message quite sunk in......... Jared got to pick toys too (he's not in the picture here). My kids loved to pick all the stuffed animals, which was good because Jared and Conner aren't that interested in them.

Park

Grandmommy and I took the kids to a fun park. This is an interesting picture because Kyler was enjoying this crazy spinning seat and Grandmommy took a picture just as he was flying off of it. I was right there and caught him, luckily. He didn't want to go on it again, even though there were no tears.

I took Azure for a ride on the spinning seat. She loved it, but she also had mommy to make sure she didn't fall.

Kyler spent most of his time pretending that the playground was a cruise ship. We ate, slept, and went swimming off the boat.

Azure wanted to spend most of her time in the swing. She used to really dislike the swings, but has finally decided she loves them! There are those great sunglasses again!

The park also had a little water fountain spot. Kyler loved to sit on the spray.

Azure was not so crazy about the spray at first because she didn't like when they got high and hit her in the face. I showed her how to make footprints and handprints. She had a blast doing that.

It was a lot of fun playing in the water. It was cold water, but the day was fairly warm. It was nice on the feet, but I don't know how Kyler was able to get his whole body wet and not get cold. It was getting warmer in Utah, but not so warm that you didn't get cold in wet swimsuits outside!

Kyler used to be really wary of stuff like this. He is maturing a lot and branching out to do things he used to be scared to do. It's great to see him get older. I think he's really ready for Kindergarten this year.

Grandmommy ventured to take the kids through the middle of the water fountains. They were a good size for kids. The ones we used to go to in Kansas at the Crown Center got way too big for our kids last year.

We took one quick ride on the teetor totter before heading out for some pizza for dinner at Grandpa's favorite place - Two Jacks.

Stayed tuned for parts 2 and 3. I am really trying to get a lot done, so there are no guarantees for when I am going to be blogging in the next few weeks. I'm trying to keep up, but also have a house to pack, home repairs to coordinate for the buyers, doctor visits, finding a rental, cancelling & adjusting services, and my calling. It just seems I'm barely floating on top of what needs done. But, we will get it all done. I'm working piece by piece and it will all come together in the end!

First Baby Blessing

2011-06-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

We got to go to 2 baby blessings while we were in Utah. It was great to be able to be a part of some family events that we usually miss because we're so far away. This is baby Avonlea. What a sweet baby!

Baby Avonlea is the first child of my sister and her husband. They are proud parents. It's fun to see my sister with a baby. She has always been really good with kids. Kyler and Azure loved to play with Uncle Eric.

We got both girls smiling! Avonlea is a smiley baby. Azure just loved on her. She wouldn't kiss her, but she was so interested in holding her and talking to her.

These are the three grandkids that were at my parents a lot and went to the blessing. Kyler liked Avonlea, but as soon as the picture was taken he wanted to just go play.

There is just a sweet look of adoration on Azure's face. She loves babies. I worried that she wouldn't like real ones as much as play babies. She did really well with mom holding the babies, too. When I would hand them back to their moms she wanted me to hold her for a few minutes. I think she just wanted reassurance that I still loved her too.

My aunt Charlotte wanted to her Eric play the piano, which he does really well. We ran over to Char and Eric's house so we could hear him play because my parents don't have a piano. Kyler and Azure got to take turns riding Avonlea's little bike (she'll grow into it ;).

Azure couldn't pedal, but she found a way to get around.

Visiting With Family

2011-06-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Kyler and Azure were so excited to ride on an airplane. Kyler is a pro at this. He's been on so many airplanes I can't count them all. He's been in a lot of places in his young life. This was Azure's third time flying somewhere. She was only 6 months and 15 months for her last flights. She was terribly excited, but then terrified on the actual plane. She was fine until we started moving. She is used to being in a car seat when a vehicle is moving. She was seat belted in, but not like normal for her. She was shaking and telling me she was nervous for the first and last 25 minutes of every flight. We had one layover in Atlanta. She did pretty well if I held her hand and put my arm around her. Then, she was totally fine when we could unbuckle and I could hold her. She sure didn't like take-off and landing. I'm sure part of the problem was the timing of the flight. We got a great deal on tickets, but left at 6 p.m. We didn't get to SLC, UT until 1 a.m. in the morning, which was 3 a.m. our time. The kids did well and slept for some of our long flight from Atlanta. Kyler was entertaining the passengers around us with his loud enthusiasm for flying before he finally settled down to sleep. He was talking pretty loud because he was so excited. At least the other passengers thought he was funny.
My parents picked us up at the airport because they live closer. We stayed the night with them and drove down to Trevor's parents the next morning. Grandpa has a new toy. It's a Rhino. Kyler was so excited to ride in it. His cousin, Jared, is riding with him. He just turned 4, so they are close enough in age that they love playing together. If you look close you can see that Jared is wearing a green helmet and Kyler a pink one. Jared has been clear that pink is a girl's color and will not wear that helmet. That's fine since Kyler likes pink. When they got back in the house I explained to Jared that pink is not just a girl's color. His favorite color is red. I said, "Jared, did you know that if you mix red and white you get pink?" He told me no. I said, I guess it can't only be a girl's color because it's so close to red. It seemed to make a lot of sense to him because the rest of the day he stopped calling it a girl's color (he he - I thought you might like that Tasha;)
Azure wasn't excited to ride on the Rhino until we actually got moving and I was holding her. That probably wasn't the safest way to do things, but we wanted her to ride a little. She's really scared of doing things the first time, then calms down and enjoys them (and wants to do them over and over).
We went to Jared's house, too, for some fun. Kyler and Jared were so good about taking turns. Jared was great to share his fun motorized truck he got for Christmas with Kyler.
In this picture, their grandmommy is trying to take a picture and Jared was bent on running her over. They had so much fun.

Kennecott Utah Copper Mine (Bingham Copper Mine)
We visited the Copper Mine, which I've never seen before. We went with Trevor's sister's family. There's Jared, Trevor, Kyler, Azure, Me, Tasha, Conner (in the stroller), and Bryce.
We watched the little video of the trucks and how copper is mined. Kyler was fascinated by the movie. He loves documentaries.
Jared and Kyler are the best of buddies when they get to be around each other.
I can't believe how huge this mine is. It was a chilly day. It's been wonderful having cooler weather here. I'm not excited to go back to HOT NC.
The boys really don't look like they're having much fun in front of this tire, but they loved it.
You can see the excitement here.
Azure loved riding in the stroller. She loves to be held and snuggled. She has been walking more, but loves to hitch a ride. Conner is in there with her.
Grandmommy is taking a lot of the pictures, so you don't get to see her in many of them. She was with us and we had a great time. Kyler's favorite thing was the toy collection.
He pointed out a dozen or more of these toys that he wanted to be able to get someday. I think Kyler has gotten Jared interested in tractors, but not to the obsession level held by Kyler.

Aubree's
For our first visit to Trevor's family's, which was a four day stay, we stayed at his sister Aubree's condo. We played in the pool. Kyler is really maturing these days. He is really ready for Kindergarten. He ventured out into the pool with a ring all by himself. He also figured out how to kick and move around where he wanted. I was so proud of him. He has been so cautious about anything. It's been fun to see him enjoy things a little more and not be so scared of them.

We let the little kids rest (aka Conner and Azure) and the big boys went to the playground at Aubree's.
They found a rope and I missed getting a picture of them tying Trevor up.
After the little kids were up, they started playing around. Kyler and Jared starting reenacting their swimming pool fun. They pretended to shower and punch in the code to get in the swimming pool area. They jumped off Aubree's bed like they were jumping in the pool. It was fun to watch them. Conner wanted to play with the boys.
Azure didn't have any girls to play with, but she had Aubree and mom. She also took possession of grandmommy's one baby and wouldn't let anyone touch it. It came in this carrying case. When she found something interesting that she wanted, she shoved it in the case to keep it safe from the crazy boys.

Easter & Grandpa's Birthday
Grandmommy had a late Easter Egg Hunt for the kids.
They enjoyed searching for them, although Conner was more interested in putting them in the seat of the four wheeler.
They were all nice about making sure everyone got eggs filled with yummy candy.
Azure's Easter gift was her first barbie. It was an exercise barbie with a Kelly doll, too. She loves it.
Kyler got a Playmobil Police Helicopter, which he has been wanting for a while. Jared got a dirt bike, skateboard, roller skate set. He was most interested in the motorcycle dirt bike.
After some quick Easter festivities, we celebrated Grandpa's birthday. Kyler and Jared helped Grandmommy decorate Grandpa's ice cream cake. They put wrestlers on top. Grandpa used to coach wrestling and both boys (Trevor and his brother) were wrestlers because of their dad.
Dad loved his cake. It was really yummy, too.
Kyler and Jared got to have the honor of bringing the cake to Grandpa. You can see Baby Brylee in this picture. She is the newest grandchild on this side. We are so excited for another girl in the family! Azure and Kyler got to hold her, but I don't think we were able to get pictures because I don't see any (and I'm getting pictures from 3 cameras;).
Grandpa got some great stuff for his birthday.
We left the Brooks on Sunday evening to go back to my family's. That day Grandmommy pulled out a new Playmobil Safari set. It was perfect for the kids. They loved it. Kyler took over the people and jeep. Azure was all about the animals. You can see them lined up in a row. She was getting after me in this picture for touching the animals because they were hers to play with. She wanted them to stay lined up. It was kind of funny.

Stay posted for events at my family's house. We had fun there, too. Moving updates: Our house is under contract! Yeah! We are due to close the end of July. We will have to stay with a friend for a couple weeks while Trevor finishes up his classes. Our wonderful friend, Arlin (the realtor) was a great help in getting our house under contract. It was under contract in two weeks. We feel so blessed to have that because this move is requiring a lot of adjusting and planning. We just found out that Kyler's school will start on Aug 5th. Trevor's last day of classes in NC is Aug 4th. We have some fancy footwork to do to make everything work and go smoothly. We'll keep you posted!

Listening

2011-05-24T05:08:00.001-07:00

This morning we were reading Matthew 25 for our family scripture study. We try to read just small sections at a time because that's all the kids seem to handle. Today we were reading about the sheep and goats being separated because the sheep cared for those in need and the goats didn't. You know the famous scripture about clothing when naked, feeding when hungry, etc.

Trevor called on Azure to say the family prayer after the scriptures. Most of the time there is little indication that she is listening to what we are reading. She started her prayer and then said "please bless that we can be nice to others!" I couldn't believe it. Neither of us prompted her to say that (or Kyler, who loves to help her say prayers). It was a warm fuzzy moment.

Kudos to A Good New Job

2011-05-22T11:29:00.001-07:00

This move is going to be incredibly important for Trevor's career. He tells people that this is his dream job. He get to teach everything he aspires to teach. He has wanted to be at a teaching-based university, so he can still have the opportunity and expectation for research, but the focus is teaching. Having said that, I know this is going to be a good move for our family and Trevor's career. However, I know that this is going to be our toughest move yet. This will be our fifth state in four years. If you have ever moved from one state to another, you know how incredibly difficult it is. There are all the normal things with moving, like change of address, doctors (for the whole family), dentists, school (which Kyler starts this fall), packing, etc..........................there is also the added dimension of changing health insurance, car insurance, car registration, driver's licenses, etc..................Having done this often the last few years, it makes me tired just thinking of all the things we will be doing this summer. I am going to try reaallllyyy hard to not complain much; this is just my opportunity to let you know I am not neglecting my family and friends if I'm tired and don't feel like talking much this summer. We will have a lot going on and lots of decisions to make.

On another note, the house is looking incredible. We have spent an exhausting week painting, moving furniture, and ripping up carpet. We got new carpet and the whole house painted (including the porch). It's been quite the week. We've been in a time crunch and need to get the house on the market by tomorrow. I just need to finish packing up a few more boxes in our bedroom to make it look less cluttered, take a few pictures, and start posting advertisements and get signs in the yard. Then, on to the next phase of our summer. Here are pictures of our newly remodeled home. I'm going to be very sad to leave it. It looks like what I've wanted and we planned to do in the next year. The only thing I would do if we were staying is change the cupboards in the kitchen (I would make new wood ones and stain them to match the cupboards - the two tone look isn't great).

If you remember the old kitchen had a white dishwasher and white and green vertical striped wallpaper - nasty!

The new carpet and tan walls (all the bedrooms with carpet had beet red carpet and yellow walls)

Kyler's room with this wonderful new carpet. I can't believe how dirty the red carpet always looked. This carpet actually helps the rooms look cleaner, even if they are arranged and tidy in the same way!)

This is the kid bathroom we just finished a couple weeks ago. I let Kyler pick out the curtain. He did a good job.

The master bath with the curved shower rod (that I'll miss)

The living room has some warmth without the dull white walls.

We still don't have a couch, but should be getting one soon if all goes well. We have friends moving to Okinawa and want to leave their couch with us! We haven't had a couch in two years. I will enjoy it thoroughly.

Poor Sick Babies

2011-05-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Kyler and Azure are usually energetic little kids. The end of this week they both got a nasty stomach virus that kept them both down for two days.

They watched movie after movie, all day. Azure never wants to watch more than 10 minutes of TV. She laid like this on the floor all day Thursday and most of the day Friday. I did try to intersperse their TV watching with some book reading.

It broke my heart to see how miserable they were. I have never seen them this sick. They would fall asleep watching movies and wake up to watch more movies, then fall asleep again. I've had trouble getting Kyler to eat again (and they both lost a lot of weight). I think I mentioned in a blog post recently that Kyler was one of those kids that only had to do something once that hurt or was scary, and then never did it again. Azure, not so much. She was eating and playing a little by Friday night. Saturday and today have been days frought with trying to convince Kyler that if he eats now, it won't come back up. He was so worried about throwing up yesterday that he was crying because he was hungry, but thought it was because his stomach hurt and that he was going to throw up. It's been interesting trying to reason with him and get him to eat again. He sure didn't like throwing up.

And the news - - - - - we are moving, AGAIN! I am happy for the prospect of Trevor's new job. It's a university, rather than a college and it's everything he wants to teach. It will be difficult to move again. This will be our fifth state in four years. Last year I told Trevor that for my 30th birthday all I wanted was to NOT MOVE! He never really listens to what I want the first time I ask him anyway. I should have known! ;) We will be moving across states in August. At least this move won't be as long as moving here. Our hope is that we can all move together in August, but it will depend on us being able to sell our house. We can use prayers for us to be able to sell the house quickly! It's going to be a long summer.

Friends

2011-05-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Who could survive without friends?? We have this wonderful woman as a great friend. She's been such a blessing in our lives. It was her birthday this week (no, she didn't turn 21, but I figured she'd get a kick out of being younger; I added candles to add up closer to her real age). We surprised her with dinner and cake. It was fun to have her over for her birthday. I think she's missing her hubby.

There is a lot going on in our lives right now, but you'll have to wait for future posts to hear all our news (no, we're not announcing we're pregnant!!!!!! Everyone thinks that because Azure is 2 1/2; I'm offended if you think I look pregnant:) ). Nothing is quite official, so stay posted for further announcements.

Easter and Spring Break

2011-05-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

I fed the kids some chocolate pudding after lunch one day. I went to wash some of the lunch dishes and came back to find Azure looking like this. I don't think she got much in her mouth. It was just too much fun to play with.

Kyler has turned into our official lawnmower "helper." Some kids want to be a fireman or a policeman or an astronaut when they grow up. If you ask Kyler what he wants to be, he says he wants to be a "lawnmower guy." Well, he's practicing early in life. He'll be a pro by then.

Our wonderful friend signed us up to go to their exclusive work Easter egg hunt. I was VERY happy about that because I don't really like crowds. Also, the kids have more fun when the little ones actually have a chance to find some eggs. Brianna is helping Azure get her eggs she found in her basket.

I didn't see Kyler for most of the hunt. This year, instead of being shy and not running after the candy, he dashed after the candy and made out like a bandit. I tried to find him to get some pictures, but this is the only one I got. I got a lot of Azure. You can see Brianna here, too.

Here is all the loot! I can't believe how many eggs they had for the amount of kids. Our friends bosses make quite a bit and have great parties like this at the country club. Since we're such good friends, we get to go to quite a few of them. It's been nice. I can rarely get both kids to look at the camera. At least here you can see the pure pleasure on Azure's face.

After the Easter egg hunt we went to Lowes to build a birdhouse. Azure was enjoying working on it by herself some while I was helping Kyler. Trevor wasn't with us to help her like he usually does.

This is the finished product. We are excited to put seeds in them and hang them outside.

Easter morning the kids got to have a hunt around the house. Kyler was very excited to find out last day of Easter egg, which was empty. We got to have a little discussion about Christ and read some scriptures before we delved into the baskets.

They are both looking at the camera! I couldn't believe it. Kyler got this backhoe from Grandma and Papa. Azure got a My Little Pony with a remote controlled airplane from Grandma and Papa. Kyler got a Playmobil crane and Go Cart set. He got the DVD "Shark Tales." Azure got a Playmobil horse drawn wagon and father with baby stroller set. She got the DVD "Curious George 2." They both got a chocolate bunny and some candy. We have waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much candy at our house right now.

This is a terrible picture. I was really trying to get a good picture, but she kept moving around. I should have taken a video. This is Azure thoroughly enjoying having her own remote controlled vehicle. Kyler got a remote controlled car for his birthday from his Aunt Aubree and Azure immediately decided she loved it. This is a perfect substitute.

Kyler also thoroughly enjoyed his backhoe. He has already "dug" some holes around the house.

After we had church, we went to visit our friends who were staying at a beach house. They invited us for Easter dinner. We also got to go to the beach and enjoy the sun and sand. I agreed to let Kyler take some of his big tractors for the sand. I couldn't believe how busy he was at the beach. I could have left him there all day!

Azure loves the beach and sand. They have been asking when we got to go again. Now that the weather is warming up, we are going to be going again more often. It was a little windy and got a little chilly that day, but it wasn't bad. The water is already warming up too.

Kyler got help building a sandcastle from Tim and Trevor. Sand is just a wonderful creation.

At the beach house our friend's were staying in, there was a little "kids" room with beds and this little ship stern built in. Kyler and Azure loved it. It was a really creative thing to put in a beach house.

For Spring Break, we decided at the last minute to go up to Williamsburg and visit with Great-Grandpa and Great-grandmother. Trevor's mom was flying in and we decided that we probably should take advantage of the opportunity to go and visit. Great-grandpa always has a list of things we can do to help. On his list for Kyler was picking the radishes in his garden. Kyler loved being able to help.

This is Kyler and his Great-grandpa.

Trevor's mom wanted to get pictures of our family. The azalea bushes around this part of the country are beautiful. I'm thinking I might want to plant some in our yard. If you notice Azure's boots, I have a funny story. This trip was very last minute. I usually like to plan for things way ahead of time. I sent the kids out to Trevor to put in the car while I grabbed a few last minute things, like water bottles. Trevor failed to notice that Azure was not wearing any shoes. She always kicks her shoes off in the car, so I didn't think about her not having any on her feet when I got in the car. At our first pit stop, I was looking for Azure's shoes. I finally asked Trevor if he put shoes on her. He said he didn't, he thought she has some on when she came out. He didn't notice she didn't have shoes. Luckily, Trevor's mom had a pair that will be a gift way later this year that she had brought with her to leave for us to take home later when we visited Williamsburg (she didn't know we were coming; we decided to surprise her since we decided so late that we were coming). Azure got to wear these adorable boots for a few days since she didn't come with shoes;)

Great-grandpa has occasionally found things the kids will enjoy and leave them in the room we stay in for the kids to find. This trip we found jacks and bubbles. The kids really enjoyed the bubbles.

We made our regular trip to Pitt's barbeque. It is sooooooooo incredibly yummy. Although, I do have to say that Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City was the best barbeque I've ever had. I wish we would have discovered it sooner.

Here is our four generation photo. Great-grandmother loves the kids. Every time one of them walked in the room she lit up with excitement. She doesn't always remember who people are, but with the kids it didn't matter who they were. She just loved having kids there. Despite his grimace, Kyler really loved spending time with Great-grandmother. The kids find all sorts of ways to invade her room with toys. She loved it. This is Great-grandpa, Trevor, Patti (Trevor's mom), Kyler, Great-grandmother, and Azure.

This afternoon I walked in the bathroom to find Kyler giving Azure a "trim." He did exactly what I do when I cut his hair, put him in a chair, wet his hair down, comb it, and whip out the scissors. Thank goodness for play scissors. He's been good never to play with real scissors this way because I encourage him to play giving a haircut with his medical scissors. Azure thought this was an incredibly fun game.

Tornado in North Carolina

2011-04-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

Kyler has been growing up quite a bit lately. He has more interest in writing and stuff. In fact, today he wanted me to write down the words to Brad Paisley's "Water" so he could copy it onto his easel. I'm so happy he's finding ways to practice his writing and realizing the value of it. I also broke down and bought him one of those thick pencil-pal kindergarten books at Sams. He had one a while ago that his grandmommy had given him. He finished that one a long time ago, but I didn't want to buy him a new one. I'm glad I did because he loves it. We do that for school time every day and he actually gets excited about it. Kyler built this Children's Museum out of blocks this week. He explained all the fun rooms and activities. He can be so fun to play with. I had to keep Azure away from his treasure because she likes to help rebuild and he doesn't want it rebuilt. ;)

Yes, we have fresh corn on the cob here already. What?!?!?!?! It is really good, too. I let Kyler and Azure help me husk it for dinner. I'm sad I didn't buy more, but there are cheaper veggies.....You can see that we haven't changed the kitchen cupboard doors yet. We are getting there. Other things have been pressing, like the BATHROOM. Can we PLEASE get it finished. I didn't even get to grout this week. I was frustrated. I think I'm just going to either sit the kids down with a movie or something so I can grout it. My friend that will sometimes trade babysitting has mono. Trevor has been extremely busy. I know he'll be busy this week too because we had a terrible tornado go through Jacksonville. We didn't get hit like Raleigh, but some of the ward members houses have trees in them. Since Trev is EQ Pres, he will have his hands full arranging help for members who need it. Our RS/Priesthood meeting today was discussing who needed help and how we could help. I've never seen the church in action like this before. It was inspiring to see................................Yes, we didn't get hit. The tornado went right to the Southwest of us. We got some crazy wind and were very close. We didn't realize last night how close we were to it. We feel very blessed that we didn't have any damage or much debris.

On to #2...

2011-04-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

We have the Elders over every month for dinner. This is Elder Farr and Elder Hafen. We really enjoy having the missionaries in our home. They bring a wonderful spirit, and it's so good for Kyler to see that constant example of the missionaries. Kyler has always been excited for the missionaries to come over, but I've never seen him this excited. He wanted me to print out missionary coloring pages from the computer. Then, he colored them and had me laminate them. He put sticks on them and made them into puppets. He kept asking if they were coming yet. Trevor took him with him to go pick them up. He was so incredibly thrilled to have them. When they were giving their thought, Kyelr pulled over a chair and sat by them. We realized he was pretending to be a missionary since he still had on his white shirt from church. Elder Farr let Kyler wear his tag during their thought so he could be even more like a real missionary. It was such a sweet experience for me and Trevor.

We gutted the other bathroom. Yeah! I added it all up. Each bathroom only cost about $700. I've heard stories about how much people spend on updating their bathrooms (not just you Tasha). We were wonderfully blessed to be able to do it for such a good price.

Kyler, as always, is a great helper. He was helping dad scrape the linoleum glue off the floor. This bathroom was definitely more disgusting than the master bath. I tiled this last week.

I will be grouting this week, then we can start putting this bathroom back together. I'm so excited to have two working bathrooms again. We have never had two bathrooms until we moved here. It was incredibly easy to get used to.......

While the rest of us were hard at work, Azure was having the time of her life pretending to go to sleep on a plastic bin. Of course she's willing to pretend to go to sleep. If only she'd actually sleep (although we're getting on a better schedule where she naps a few times a week now).

She also had to make sure that her baby dolls were tucked in and napping. We moved all her baby dolls to her bedroom to make some room in the toy room for playing. ;)

This wiggle car has been cracked for a long time. But, the kids still love it. It works okay, but not as great as when it was new. Kyler loves to take Azure for rides, but she is also enjoying being able to do it on her own. Kyler looks like he's not having fun, but he was having a great time. He was trying to tell Azure to put her arm down for the picture so I could see their faces.

Remodeled Bathroom

2011-03-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the yucky bathroom before we remodeled.

Now here is a video of after the remodel! I'm so excited for our new bathroom. It looks soooooooooooo much better. We already gutted the other one. I'm looking forward to having two remodeled bathrooms.

Kyler's Bike

2011-03-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Kyler fell off his bike once a while ago. He has been extremely scared to get back on. I finally bribed him (I DO NOT normally bribe my kids; I don't like them thinking they should always get something for doing things they should be doing anyway). I told him he could have a taffy if he rode his bike to my visiting teaching sister's house. He really wanted the taffy, so he did it. He was freaking out the whole way. But, on the way home, he was so excited. He even went faster than I could walk (a little). In the video you can tell he's still a slowpoke. He won't go very fast, but he's riding it again. Kyler is one of those kids that does something once, and if something bad happens he won't ever do it again. Azure, on the other hand, doesn't mind doing the same thing again and again, like slamming her fingers in her drawers.

Azure is potty trained! We started her training three weeks ago. I have been terrible not blogging about it. It took her three days in underwear to stay dry most of the time. She has an occasionally accident, mostly when she's tired and needs a nap or bedtime. She even stays dry at night. She had three nights in a row in her diaper that were dry after we started training her, so we took her diapers away completely and she's stayed dry. Training her was like a dream. I'm still in shock that it was so easy. I feel like I really didn't do much. She loves being a big girl. She's getting so independent. I'm really having to slow down and let her have a lot more choices to avoid conflicts. She's a sweet, independent little girl.

Ooohhhh too busy................

2011-03-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

I didn't have any pictures for this week. It has been awfully crazy around here. I am in charge of Enrichment activities for Relief Society and my Enrichment Leader was suddenly taken away from me two weeks before the activity. We had to restructure the whole Relief Society Birthday activity and reassign everything. It was a nightmare. The RS president and I did a lot of the work. It was an awfully busy week. My poor kids have been terribly neglected this week. We didn't do anything fun for St. Paddy's Day. But, the activity was a huge success, which is saying a lot for this ward. We have never been in a ward like we have here. It's a struggle to get help doing much of anything. There are so many husbands deployed that there are usually on 13 in attendance on Sunday. Then, those husbands have to stay home with their kids and there are no other husbands to come and help babysit for the multitude of wives who have husbands gone. I have never seen a nursery so full. We had one high priest and one elder in the nursery with well over 15 kids (my kids included because Trevor had to teach that night).

Now, it is over, so I can get back to my life. The kids really need some mommy time. They are also sleep deprived, having gone to bed late three nights in a row. We had them in bed and Azure asleep before 7:15 tonight. They usually go to bed around 8 (it was 7 because Azure wasn't napping), but Trevor didn't get much time with them after he got home from work and we have dinner.

They say this ward is feast or famine for those in need. Trevor is always getting calls for help and blessings, but I had my feast the last two weeks and am looking forward to some slow time. And, yes, the bathroom is NOT finished. Sigh! At least I mostly finished my friend's piano bench she wanted for her daughter's birthday. I spent all day a week ago on Saturday working on it until her nail gun pooped out. We need to oil it and can't find the oil. I guess I'll have to finish it when we can get more oil at Lowe's, but I am NOT going into town for most of the week. I was in town way too much last week. I'll take pictures when it's done. I used a plan from Ana White's website. Building that piano bench reminds me how much I love to put stuff together and figure things out. I'm already thinking how I can revise the piano bench into a more "boyish" look for a bench at the end of Kyler's bed. Bathroom first. We still need to finish the bathroom. The next bathroom better be done in a week. With all the experience I'm getting (like 5 minutes to install a toilet), this other bathroom should be soooooooooooooooo fast, as long as we have all the tools we need, right? ;) (Since most of them are borrowed).

Kyler

2011-03-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Since I did a post on Azure, I should do one for Kyler. My little boy is growing up so fast. He is really enjoying gymnastics. This isn't the greatest picture. I don't think the camera likes Trevor. I was sick with a stomach bug on Thursday, Kyler's gymnastics day, so Trevor took him. I remembered to send the camera with him (because for the life of me I can't remember when I take him). He loves to be in gymnastics. Azure keeps waiting for her turn. She watches patiently and does her file folder games while he's in class, but she really wants to do a class, too.

Kyler loves playing with friends. These are some neighborhood kids. Kyler has lots of friends to play with, but some require a little more distance to get a play-date set up. Kyler still loves tractors, snakes, alligators, sharks, and anything scary. He does not like to have things around his neck. He gags when I try to button the top button of his Sunday shirt (you can imagine the battle to put on a clip on tie). He enjoys outdoors and is loving shorts and t-shirts. This picture was taken on a cooler day. Now we are regularly in short sleeves, although today it was 76 and I needed shorts. It's only March! This is so weird. Kyler is now sight reading a, and, & to. We have a few more we're going to be working on this week. He seems to like learning the sight words rather than try to figure out how to sound words out. He's also really good at counting objects. I'm amazed at how well he can keep track of what he's counting. We love you Kyler!

Warm weather

2011-03-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

The weather really warmed up this week. We've had a few days in the mid 70s and high 60s. It's nuts, but beautiful. I have never seen blossoms in February. The trees started blooming the last few days in February. Now, they are just beautiful. I can't believe Spring is so early here (although I should).

We had fun painting this week. I like to let the kids get dirty once in a while. I try to forget the mess and just have fun for a while. Then, the mess doesn't seem too bad when I get to it.

Kyler was very intent on using the sponges. He doesn't usually like to get his hands dirty, but when finger painting, he's all for mess.

Azure loves to be dirty. She didn't want to stop painting. She kept asking for more paper after we filled the big ones. I actually got a couple good fingerprints from Kyler that I can scan and put in his scrapbook. That was a pleasant surprise. Azure's prints were harder to get.

We also got VERY dirt in the yard this week. I think the kids need a little sandbox; one with a lid to keep other undesireable things out. Maybe next year I'll look at them. I guess we do have the beach just 20 minutes away, but I can't work on the yard while the kids are happily playing at the beach.

We grouted the tile yesterday. I know, we're slow. It's one Saturday project at a time. This week we'll hopefully finish the bathroom, though. I can pull down wallpaper and prime and paint without Trevor. I can just ask a friend to watch the kids. Then, we can put in the new vanity/sink, light, and toilet. I still need to figure out the shower head. I love a challenge. Let's watch some tutorials! I should have been a builder...........................I can't believe how much fun this is.

Azure

2011-03-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

My little girl is growing up so fast.......Taylor Swift has a song on her Speak Now CD about a mother and child. Part of the chorus says - oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up, just stay this little...................Just stay little a little while longer my sweet Azure.

At night when I put Azure to bed she has been taking my face in her hands and giving me kisses, on my cheek, forehead, nose....She loves to pick different parts of my face. I cherish the moment when her little hands grasp my cheeks. They are such sweet hands. She has also taken to squeezing me around my neck lately in a nice, firm, childish hug. She just wraps her arms around me and squeezes. It's too bad these little moments don't last forever, but I can keep them in my heart forever.