Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Happy Birthday Kessiah!

Kessiah walked into my bedroom this morning (yes, I was still in bed!) and said "I'm a decade!"  Yep, she is growing into a beautiful young woman.  I am so proud of her.  She is a diligent student, which makes my job so much easier.  She is an obedient child and really tries to do what is right.  She loves to read.  She likes 4-H; she is enjoying learning how to sew this year (I'm excited that she is learning an important skill) and loves her guinea pigs.

She wanted a double layer chocolate cake for her birthday.  Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very good this morning so she mixed it up herself!  Ryan took her and Jenessa ice skating tonight as part of her celebration. (A little later...they just got back and both Kessiah and Jenessa did very well ice skating on their own.  Ryan didn't take Sienna because he wasn't sure how much help the big girls would need)

I am so blessed to be her mother.  I thank my Heavenly Father often for the events that brought her into our lives.  As she turns 10, I am struck by how important my job is and the many things I still need to teach her!

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  My parents were able to come down and spend some time with us.  Sienna kept my poor dad moving constantly for the first two days they were here with wanting to go on walks, bike rides, playing in the backyard, and playing Barbies.  He helped her master riding a two-wheeler!  After two days, I guess she decided he could do his own thing and she found other things to occupy her time!  It was nice for me because he did almost all of the dishes while he was here!  Mom helped Kessiah sew a vest that she wanted for 4-H, I was very glad since I'm not the best sewer and I'm not really in the mood to figure it out!  They left this morning to go back home...so I guess I'm on my own with the dishes again!

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious!  Turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, orange stuffing,  creamy corn and a homemade roll were some of the yummy things on my plate!  Cheesecake and pumpkin pie were on my dessert plate!  Of course, at our house a banana cream pie was also available...but it's not my favorite!  I got lots of help from Ryan, Kessiah, Jenessa, and my mom getting all the food together.  Thank You! 

It was nice to have my parents here for Black Friday!  Yes, Ryan and I got up at 5:00 a.m. (we had planned on 6:00, but I woke up and was wide awake so I decided we should just go!)  We found several things that we wanted, but missed out on a few others!

We got to celebrate my dad's birthday while they were here...instead of making a cake....we had more pie!  Dad took Kessiah and Jenessa to gymnastics on Monday...the rest of the kids stayed home with me and Mom due to some developing colds (and Mommy wanting to do a little cyber shopping on cyber Monday!)  On Monday evening we put together our annual gingerbread house.  It's a fun tradition that may soon end up being more than one gingerbread house!

I have so much to be thankful for, I'm very blessed.

Monday, November 29, 2010

16 months

Mason is really starting to walk all over.  He still has that adorable unstable gait, but he is getting the hang of it!  He has four teeth now and loves to eat!  He thinks he is pretty smart because he can open the doors in our house...unfortunately, we have those lever door handles not the round knobs!  He loves to push buttons and has recently learned how to open the laundry room door and start pushing the buttons on the washer and dryer!  Ahhh!  He has started the washing machine more than once!

As a side note...my due date is exactly 5 months away!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Mason is walking!

Yes, he is really starting to move!  He is now walking all the way across a room!  I love to watch babies learn to walk...it is so cute to see their unstable steps and often amazing that they stay upright!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Sienna's Birthday

Wow!  My baby girl is another year older!  She was excited that she didn't have to do her jobs today and I even let her pick a movie to watch this afternoon after school was done.  She picked mac & cheese for lunch and enjoyed opening her presents...although she was disappointed that the Barbie she got didn't have a dress!

This evening Ryan took the girls to an NAU basketball game that was played here.  I was surprised that Sienna agreed to that activity on her birthday...but it's a nice daddy/daughter's date!  I'm home with the boys watching Toy Story (Logan's favorite!)

Sienna is an energetic, fun-loving girl!  She is learning to read (she would be reading if her mom had more energy...but that seems to be lacking right now!)  Sometimes she feels caught in the middle of trying to be like her big sisters and wanting to stay little.  She is pretty good most days about playing with Logan during morning school time...that is helpful...most of the time!  I'm excited to start Kindergarten with her next year, she is ready and eager to learn.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Birthday Party and End of Soccer Season

Sienna had a birthday party on Friday!  We had a princess theme and enjoyed a good time with 4 of her friends!  Ryan ended up needing to be gone during the party even though I had planned on having him there to help...but the big girls helped me out a lot.  Jenessa pretty much ran the party games and Kessiah was a big help during cake time.

On Saturday we had our last soccer games of the season.  It has gotten really cold this week and that weather pattern held this morning...brrrrr.  Unfortunately, I think we had to get Logan up too early this morning so he was a little cranky and therefore got very little playing time!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Wedding Weekend

We went up to Utah last weekend for my brother's wedding.  It was a nice (but long for the kids!) day.  At one point during the reception, Jenessa came up to me and asked me when it was going to start!  I said "This is it!  It has started!  People come to congratulate the couple who got married, they bring presents and eat some snacks."  We did break up the reception time a bit when Ryan made a Wendy's run for food...since we didn't get dinner that day, the chicken nuggets helped to fill their bellies!

It was fun to see some aunts, uncles and cousins that I don't get to see very often.  My friend Joan was even able to come down for a short time during the day.

Ryan and I even made a visit to Primary Children's Medical Center to see our 3 month old niece who had surgery earlier this month.  She was sedated with lots of tubes in her...I look forward to seeing her next summer when she is happy and alert!

I missed a conversation (but heard about it later!) between Jenessa and my sister-in-law Linnea.  Linnea is pregnant and due in March.  Jenessa was telling her that she could call me and ask me anything if she had a question because I was a professional (a profession pregnant person?  is there such a thing?).  She was very adament and wanted to make sure that Linnea had my phone number.  It is pretty sweet to think that my daughter thinks I'm so smart!!!

We were a little worried on the way up because we couldn't find the cords to our portable DVD player so there were no movies on the 11 hour trip.  The kids did amazingly well!  Ryan did buy another player while we were up there so they did have entertainment on the way back home.

We discovered another tooth in Mason's mouth!  He now has 2 on top and 1 on bottom.  He has started taking steps...so it may not be long before he is walking.