Princess Olivia is Three

Olivia or Princess Livi as she likes to be called turned three last week.  She was so excited for her birthday.  Livi is such a funny sweet girl.  She loves all things princess.  She will be in full jewels as she goes off to play in the dirt.  She has such a creative imagination.  She can turn anything into a toy.  She will have a conversation between her banana and toast.  Anything can become a precious toy.  Though she loves her Little People and ponies the best.  She loves to play out side.  Whether it is coloring the drive way with side walk chalk, riding her bike or jumping fully clothed into the pool.  She is so sweet and caring she loves to give kisses and hugs.  A couple weeks ago I was feeling ill and was laying on the couch.  She went and got her blanket off her bed.  She covered me and told me she will take care of me.  Though she is a sweetie she is also still our little grouch.  She pouts when she doesn't get her way.  And sits with arms cross and her lips stuck out.  Thank fully her tantrums last only a couple minutes.  They are mainly her crying her in room for a few minutes before returning to tell us she is sorry.  Lots of hugs and kisses.  She loves to dance and sing. She is always making up songs and sharing them with us.  She loves broccoli.  She even got made at me one night because I had made green beans and not broccoli for dinner.  She told me I was mean because she never got broccoli.  So the next night I made her a big bowl for her she ate every bit and asked for more. Then I was declared the best mom ever  She loves chocolate so much we joke she is made of chocolate.  Livi is a amazing kid.  We are so thankful to have her to brighten our days. Even when she is a grouch she is super cute. 

She decided to teach Alex how to drum on her bucket

What to do with extra easter buckets

I am ready for the day

Yes I do let my kids eat cake batter. 

Most of her pictures she looks angry but she decided to sing and dance the minute we got her in the dress.
She was focused on her song about being a princess, the temple and flowers. 

Alex is eight months

 I know this is a little bit late in the month to post since on Tuesday he will be nine months. What can I say it has been a crazy month.  Alex is changing so much.  Each day he shows us something new.  The same day I wrote the last update on him he decided he was done with scooting.  He decided he wanted to crawl.  Now he is a little speed machine.  One minute he is in the living room and the next he is down the hall.  We now have to make sure all the doors are shut or little toys are picked up.  He loves bathrooms and the girl's bedroom so he head there if he sees their open.  I understand the girls' room lots of toys.  Not sure if I understand the appeal of toilet paper or the trash can.  He can sit up on his own.  A couple days ago he began pulling him self up.  He gets up on his knees and is trying to get up on his feet.  So we had to lower his crib.  I wonder how long we have till he figures out how to crawl out of it and needs a toddler bed. 
   He has become a little eating machine.  If you have food he gets mad if you won't share. So far he hates peas.  I tried giving him some canned ones and he would just throw them on the floor or push them to one side.  He loves carrots, green beans, strawberries, pasta, French fries,  cheese ( he can eat a whole cheese stick in less then a minute)  bananas, beans and so much more.  I try every day to give him something new so as we get closer to him being one he will be ready to be off formula.  And the way he eats he will be.  He got his first cupcake yesterday and devoured it. 
    He is the proud owner of six teeth and has more coming in.  His is cutting more teeth on the bottom.  He is back to being a drool baby. Still he is so happy and loves to laugh and cuddle.  He thinks his sisters and Daddy are the funniest thing.  Emme just has to smile at him and he giggles. 

Loving Bath Time

Playing with his sisters

Loving Watermelon for Lunch

     
    

A Day of accidents

I feel like I am behind on blogging.  I have lots to update and should try to catch up as the next coming weeks are full of activities and fun that I may forget to catch up. 
  Yesterday was Livi's third birthday.  It was a fun day to celebrate our little girl, but it was also a day of injuries.  I decided I probably should explain since there are lots of pictures of my kids with injuries at her birthday party.  It all started with Matt and I guess we all decided to follow suit.  He wasn't paying attention when he was cutting his nails.  I think he was paying more attention to She Ra.  (The girls love this cartoon and Livi had requested it that morning)  So he cut himself pretty deep require a Phineas and Ferb band aid.  Next came Alex who was playing in his room with Daddy.  Livi came in and had notice Alex had opened a drawer.  So she decided to shut it not realizing his finger were in there still. ( When Alex cries it is the saddest sound in the world. ) Of course Livi told him she was sorry and kissed it better.  She loves to kiss everything better. 
  My accident came next.  Matt gave the girls a bath while I decorated the cupcakes for her party.  I normally don't give the girls baths because they make a huge mess and it takes twice the time a shower does.  I rushed into the kids' bathroom in the dark and slipped on the wet floor.  I landed with one leg back and my arm on the tub.  It is a miracle I didn't break it.  
   Livi decided to chew on a bead and get it stuck in between her front teeth.  It came out with no damage and I reminded her that is why we don't chew on beads.  Livi is a klutz.  She often  doesn't look where she is going an trips.  She started running on Matt's parents deck tripped and landed on a chair.  Got a beautiful goose egg which later turned into a black eye.
   Emme decided not to be out done by her sister was running around the back yard and slipped in a puddle giving her bloody nose, split lip and a cut.  Emme doesn't do well with injuries.  Even the tiniest cut she has been know to freak out like her finger is going to fall off.  She didn't want me to even clean it she just wanted Mommy to hold her.  She was very upset till I told her we all got hurt today.  She thought that was pretty funny.  Finally she went back out to play and even let me get a picture of her face.  She said the picture was funny because she looked so sad but she had a mouthful cupcake so she said she was happy.  I am so thankful none of the injuries were worse.  My goal is make it to at least age eight with out a ER visit.  I know it is wishful thinking with our crazy kids

You can see her Goose egg on her Forehead.  She had a black eye this morning too

So sad

Alex's first ride

Yesterday was finally a nice afternoon that Matt had off and we didn't have projects.  We decided to take a bike ride around the block.  Emme rode her bike as she is more willing to ride long distances.  Alex and Livi were in the bike trailer.  Livi doesn't to ride her bike very far and we also thought she might keep Alex calm.  Well that didn't happen Alex hated it.  He cried the entire time.  He was fine till his helmet was on, then he had a melt down.  When the bike was moving it wasn't so bad.  But when we had to stop for Emme to catch up you could here him crying.   Livi did her best to keep him happy.  She held his hand gave him toys but he hates his helmet.  I am sure the neighbors got a good show of our little circus as Matt on his bike pulling the trailer with Livi singing to her crying brother.  Emme riding along stopping to pick the flowers and I haven't rode a bike in years.  Thankfully I take the pictures so there is no documentation to see how silly I looked. 

 

 

Livi and Alex in the trailer. He was trying to get it off and stopped when his Dad walked by.

He looks happy but he wasn't. 

 

 

 

 

 



 



 This morning while we were playing I had Alex standing up and Emme was behind him tickling him.  I didn't realize how tall Alex was till I held him up to his sisters.  I knew he was tall, they are all tall.  Both girls are tall for their age.  After all their Dad is 6'5.  Alex isn't even on the grow charts for his age.  He is eight month old and will be nine months on the twenty seventh.  Here is some pictures this afternoon to show how tall he is.  Matt is holding his arm just to hold him up since he is crawling not walking yet. 

He is almost to her shoulder.  He comes to right at the bottom of the word Dream on her shirt. 

He is almost to her shoulder too.  Emme and Livi are about two inches apart. 
He is only 8 1/2 months old and wearing 12 month clothes.  I wonder how tall he will be when he is finally walking



Pixie Dust Away and Other Tales

My kids are funny.  They are always doing something to make me laugh or want to pull my hair out. 
 

 In our backyard there use to be a very large sand box.  The first owners put it in and the owners before us removed the supports making it a very large sand pit.  The girls love the sand pit which I hate.  But they enjoy building castles and digging.  Livi's new game to play is pirates and fairies.  She likes Jake and the Never land pirates cartoon.  So she throws the sand/dirt in the air and yells "Pixie Dust away"  

Emme loves to sing.  Both girls do but Emme loves to make up songs.  She is always singing me something.  They love to put on concerts Livi will drum on something and Emme will sing.  Saturday the day before Mother's Day aka our anniversary.  We went to the store as I needed a couple things for dinner.  As we walked in there were balloons and flowers every where Emme asked why they were there as they are not normally.  I explained the next day is a day where we celebrate mothers and the women in our lives.  Emme told me she wanted sing me a song.  So right in the store she sang "I love you Mommy your my mommy your my favorite your so pretty. . ." She loved the applauds she got.  She never sings quietly so a good portion of the store heard her. 

She is  so cute

 

 





Alex has decided that he needs to be right in the action.  Where ever his sisters are he is right there.  If Livi is pretending a bucket is a drum so Alex.  If they are playing with their stuffies he will crawl right into their laps to be right there.  When they are in the shower he scoots right up to the glass door and hits it till they pay attention to him.  They adore him and are quick to make him laugh.  They just wishes he wouldn't grab their hair.  He loves hair and shoe laces. But they gently remind him no and push his hand away. 

Celebrating Six Years!!!

Yesterday we celebrated our six year wedding anniversary.  I know our actual anniversary was Saturday but it happened to land at the beginning of the new work bid (every four months they change schedules, areas in the jail it is very annoying) so getting the day off would be impossible.  So we planned to celebrate on his days off.  (The girls and I watched Tangled and made chocolate chip cookies that day) 
   I have found a new love for this site called yelp.com.  People put all their reviews on there for restaurants, hotels, attractions, etc.  I go on there when we are looking for some place new to try.  I found this place called the Bayou.  They serve Cajun food. So we decided to give it a try and then go and recreate our first date.  The restaurant is also a bar and given Utah's interesting liquor laws we had to have our ids scanned on arrival.  Even though we had no plans to drink.  The look on the waiters face when I ordered water and Matt ordered a soda was priceless.  I ordered the catfish Étouffée  and Matt got the Cajun burrito.  We both got the gumbo.  It was good but there was no spice to anything.  I kept adding hot sauce to everything just to get the spice level there.   
  Our first date we went to Temple Square.  Matt had lived in Utah all his life and had never been.  We had wandered around the temple and gone through the Beehive house, and the museum before he had to go to work.  (Yup he had to work even on our first date.)  Seven years later we wandered through the Beehive house and the grounds.  Of course we did wander through City Creek and get some ice cream before.  We had taken the girls to the museum a couple months ago so we just decided to skip that one.  It was nice to hold hands and steal kisses and not hear "Mommy"  a thousand times.  It was nice to go back to Matt's parents and have our kids run to us and hug us.  Even if Livi told me she had a messy diaper to be changed.  (Someday she will decide she wants to be done with diapers.  She knows what to do she just won't do it)  
  Six years of marriage we have been blessed with three miracle children, a home in a nice area, and amazing supportive relationship.  I am so thankful the Lord has blessed me with a loving sweet husband, who helps with house work, changes diapers, encourages me in my love of genealogy, enjoys his children and just being home with us or planning adventures for us as a family.




Right after picking out our rings

Our Engagement Photo

Married for Time and All Eternity in the Anchorage Alaska Temple

Emmeline Mae She is four.  She is such a happy, silly, loving and mischievous little girl.
 

Olivia Ellen is two turning three next week.  She is so imaginative, stubborn, grouchy, cuddly, and obsessed with all things princess

Alexander Clark is eight months old.  He is scooting and beginning to crawl.  He is happy, smiling and always ready to play with his sisters.  They make him laugh so easily.

Six years happily married

 

  

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend is always a fun but busy weekend.   The girls love doing crafts especially if it involves coloring.  So we made paper eggs, bunnies, and chains to decorate our house.  We also made rice krispie treats and dyed eggs. Emme of course decided to use her fingers rather then the spoon.  Livi decided bathing the eggs was fun. 



Emme pulling them out with her fingers

Livi liked to spoon the dye on top

Livi finally willing to work on peddling her bike.

   Saturday Livi woke me an hour before my alarm. She had a nightmare.  So we got up and she helped me make the dough for Cinnamon Rolls for Easter morning.  Once everyone else ready we headed to Peterson's for their Cottontail Trail.  It was so cute.  They had little foot prints all around the store.  They followed them around to store to get different treats.  Our girls couldn't just walk the trail they hopped the entire way around the store.  It was nice that they gave out other things then just candy.  There were hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, milk straw,  coupon for a donut, tooth brushes, seeds, a pencil and a couple pieces of candy .  The girls loved it.  When we went to the store this morning Livi said she wanted to see the bunny again. 
    After that little hunt we went to Matt's parents house.  They were going with us to the Wheeler Farm Hunt.  Last year we went to Thanksgiving Point for their hunt.  It was not very impressing.  Most of the prizes ended up in the trash as they were not toddler friendly.  So we decided to try Wheeler Farm's.  I must say it was so much more enjoyable.  You have to register ahead of time because they limit the number of people and all the kids are guaranteed ten eggs.  When we got there we saw quickly it wasn't very crowded.  So we went and fed the geese,  looked at the animals and took pictures with the bunny.  The girls gave him a big hug but Livi refused to take a picture with her siblings.  We had lots of pouting from her lately.  (Livi doesn't do normal two year old tantrums she pouts)  They loved gathering all the eggs, and getting to ride on the wagon around the farm.  The prizes were a bucket a giant pixie stick (both girls hated it so it became Daddy's), a dove candy bunny, a stuffed bunny, tons of coupons for kids meals, pez, fun dips (which they also hated) suckers, a flower pot kit.  I was impressed on how fun it was and how happy the girls were.  After we were done Emme told us her tummy was rumpling and she needed real food.  So we decided to meet up with Matt's cousin Mark and his Aunt Janet and Linda at Hires for some burgers.  When we got home the girls played on their bikes and scooters. 

Waiting to go with her bucket

Alex playing in his toys in the stroller

She looks so cute and innocent

The Easter Bunn

Getting a treat.  I think it was a hard boiled egg

They were thrilled with getting their own apple. 

Hopping to their next stop

Daddy pushing sleepy Alex around

He fell asleep.  He will enjoy it much more next year

Meeting the bunny at Wheeler farm.  Both girls ran for a hug.

Alex thought the bunny was funny.  Livi decided she didn't want to be in the picture.

She wanted a picture to her self. 

She was sad we were out of bread to feed to the geese

Grandpa and Emme

Daddy and Livi

Livi pouting she wanted the hunt to start

Matt's parents, Alex, Matt and Emme

Livi loved the hunt

All their eggs

Their prizes

On the wagon ride

Alex at Grandma's

Easter morning we finished our count down on our wall of Jesus's life and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  The girls at first didn't want to touch their baskets because they were too pretty according to Livi, soon they dived into them.  Alex got dinosaurs lots of them.  They are the perfect size for him to chew on.  Plus some little books and some yogurt melts.  Matt got snacks for work.  The girls got a bit more.  Matt says I went a little crazy at the dollar store.  They each got a pony, funny glasses, water bottle, two stuffies, a jump rope, bubbles, crackers, and two coloring books (mainly since I start buying for each holiday a couple months in advance I forgot I had already got them one thank goodness for dollar bin at target and the dollar store.)   We then did a hunt on our front lawn. Emme loves to pick up the eggs she thinks is cute and Livi picks up all she can find.  The eggs had candy,  bracelets, and some money.  (Mainly it was change but each girl got a two dollars)  Alex took a nice nap while the girls hunted.  He was tired after wrestling dinosaurs all morning.
  Marnie is Matt's cousin and every Easter we go to her house for brunch and a egg hunt.   I always bring the deviled eggs. They have totally remodeled their home so we all took the tour.  I was so jealous especially their kitchen.  The food was yummy as usual and it was such a nice day we ate outside. The kids had fun on the swing and trampoline till it was time for the hunt.  Seven hundred eggs had to be hidden and then found.  They filled their buckets twice.  They get six prize eggs and one golden egg which has money. They got different fun prizes.  The girls got each a my little pony, peeps, a candy bank, bubbles, puzzle, and pez  .  Alex got a toy car and dinosaur bath toys which are really good chew toys.  He got all the candy too but it was given to Daddy to take to work.   (So his coworker can get hyper)  When we came home we took the kids on a walk, well they rode their bikes.  It was a nice way to end a nice weekend spent with family. 

Their baskets

Her new pony

He loved his dinosaurs but so did his sisters they keep stealing them

Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast told I need to make it again.

Time for our hunt

Going through our eggs

Alex our happy baby

Playing on the swing with their cousin (extended)

Matt's mom with Alex

Matt's Dad with Alex

Emme picking only the cute ones.

Livi and Daddy. 

Look at my candy

Cutest boy in the world

Going through her eggs

Her puzzle

Playing on the trampoline