Real Life

As hard as life is right now.....

I am grateful for:

1. hot weather which leads to ice cream or otter pops at 6:30pm almost EVERY night out on our front patio

2. the full belly giggles that mr E gets when miss M prances around the room in her newest dress up ensemble

3. the way Robby grabs my face and says "Mommy, I hold you pease"

4. building forts in the playroom with LOTS of blankets

5. being able to almost always be home with my kids while working full-time~ even if it means I am constantly in a sleep-deprivated state of mind

6. the smell of freshly clean laundry, children, and sheets...mmmh!!

7. the most wonderful mom in the whole world, who always comes up with the funnest games and activities for my kids

8. going swimming on an almost daily basis, including at our newest, bestest friends/neighbors house!

9. the gospel~ probably the only way I have managed to stay sane at the moment

10. the happiness my kids bring to me as they chase each other around the house shrieking and laughing in delight

11. ruth. my good friend in whom I admire so much. she is the best listener and gives great advice & encouragement to me!

12. spending hours building train tracks with my little buddy

13. cuddling up on miss M's bed with all three kids and reading stories together

14. having my heart swell with pride, when Maddie gave her first talk in primary (and by the way did a fantastic job and was NOT the least bit nervous)

15. spending time with mr E nursing him each and every day~ something I never thought I would enjoy :)

16. having a good book to read

19 pounds of JOY...and more

Eli at 5.5 months old:

19 pounds 2 oz (80th percentile)

27 3/4 inches (95th percentile)

the good news =a whole lot of baby rolls to love and to cuddle :)

and now for the not so fun news~ mr. E does NOT seem to enjoy shots and has put up quite a fuss the last few days to remind us of this fact of life.

maddie as an inquisitive three year old:

"but mom, where does the baby come out of your belly?"

daddy's answer: "your belly button= that's why it's there"

maddie: "ohhh," as she lifts up her shirt to further examine her umbilicus

~hopefully she will not hate us for telling her fictitious facts about life and the body~

and last, but certainly not least :)

the daily fight with mr. temper for swim lessons is over! i am proud to say that Robby has finally passed his refresher swim classes with Darla with a fabulous company called "ISR" and can swim. the following is an example of the conversation we had on the way to swim lessons every single day

robby: "I swim at a-Mamma's (grandma's) house?"

mom: "no, we're going to swim lessons at darla's"

robby: "NOO swim

miss thang

i am slightly jealous of my kids beautiful tan skin they inherit from daddy (okay, okay i am 100% completely jealous)

maddie has an obsession with her picture being snapped lately. i pull out the camera and she is immediately in front of it saying "take my picture mom, i'll smile really good." i guess this sort of cancels out robby's less than enthusiastic response to cameras.

the other day, i was standing by the door talking to my mom right before she left our house to go home. i looked down and maddie was copying the way i was standing. she cracks me up.

the infamous pout

i'm not really sure what kind of mom this makes me. instead of consoling my child...i am snapping pictures of the pouty lips. unfortunately this face appears at our house way too often. we definitely love the two's.robby cannot seem to make up his mind on whether he wants to be "big" like maddie or still be our baby....to be continued :)

all smiles

seriously...this guy is one fun party. it is amazing that one child could be happy this much! hmmmm....if only the older two could take some lessons from this little guy.

you know you have a three year old prissy daughter when...

she looks at you while driving and says
"mom you're silly, you forgot to do your hair today"
when in actuality the hair has been done...just a little quicker than normal.

after letting her in on the little secret that in fact the hair is done, she responds,
"well your hair looks crazy; you need to go home and fix it"

***love you too little Miss M, you always know just how to cheer up your momma***

Tyler's Graduation Party!

Several weeks ago, my brother-in-law graduated from ASU with his bachelor's degree. We are so proud of him and excited for Lori and him to be out of school! For his graduation party we all went to "Amazing Jakes" for pizza, fun, and lots of laughs! It was also Jesse's 30th birthday that day...although he skipped out and went camping with his dad & Robby that evening instead. I have to admit that it was a lot of fun spending time with only Maddie and Eli for the few days he was gone.

*

As you can see Maddie and I went on all the rides together and had lots of laughs! Grandma was nice enough to take baby duty so I could have some good old fashioned fun with my little girl!

Kaylin and Maddie had fun riding some of the little kid cars together!

I have to admit that I was done with the infamous "puke cups" after my first time. Maddie however begged to go on them again and again. Luckily my lil' bro Ben was nice enough to not only take her on them "again and again" but to also spin her as fast as he could. The result=she absolutely LOVED it!

now I just need to download the pictures from the "boys outing" as well.

Backpacks, Bikes, & Carousels...oh my!

Robby is turning into the funniest little boy ever. He becomes so jealous of Maddie when she is preparing to go to "school" (joyschool) because she gets to wear her pack-pack (backpack). A few weeks ago we found a backpack laying around the house that he has decided is his pack-pack for kool (school). He will wear it around the entire day....to the park, grocery store, up to the table for meals. He even has begged me to let him sleep with it. Too bad he still has 1.5 years until he will even hit preschool :)Another thing he has mastered is his tricycle. He has been trying to ride Maddie's since he was able to walk and for Christmas last year we got him his very own trike. He now proudly rides that thing all over the house and loves to ride down to the park. He has become quite the pro and now loves to play bumper cars with Maddie while riding the bike. She does NOT love this game however and screams bloody murder when he rams into the back of her "big girl bike."
My friend, Becky, let me in on a deep dark secret not too long ago. Every Thursday at Superstition Mall they have Kids Club from 10a-11a, ie: your child can ride the carousel for FREE from 11am-1pm if they are a member. We happily signed up and had a blast letting the kids take a spin on the carousel. Other than the feeling of possible puking from standing next to him on the carousel while in motion, it was lots of fun. Hopefully we can go again together for another fun morning!

I LOVE his little mohawk style (Jesse however does NOT and has already buzzed his hair again)

Becky with cutest ever Brody

the reason why I hardly ever get pictures of Robby on the blog

"top (stop) it mommy, no pi-ture"

On another note....

Doesn't this make you smile?