A Fun Week

It's been a fun, eventful week. At least for the kiddos. :) The end of last week, and over the weekend Tony was stuck in LA because of the snow. We didn't do too much, and tried to catch up on Sunday from the hectic week. Monday and Tuesday we had friends over to play. The kids love to have their friends over! Jaden and Luke had tons of fun on Monday. They just love each other so much. Aubrey and Caleb had fun yelling back and forth for from their seats at each other. Reese and Baylee enjoyed putting on all of the slippers they could find. I think Baylee liked to have a girl over to play for a change! Although, poor Matthew wasn't sure about all of the girlie things they wanted to do. Wednesday night we headed out to Costco for groceries and got Aubrey some new jammies. He just keeps growing out of clothes faster than we can buy them! Here he is with Tony, modeling his 12 month old size. This picture of Baylee just cracked me up. Unlike her brothers, she appreciates a good nap. She adores her sheep pillow her Aunt Julie gave her! Often, I have to wake her up from her naps because she will just sleep all afternoon and not want to go to bed. This is one of those times. She still wouldn't wake up after I snapped a few pics so I sent Jaden in. He always gets the job done!
This afternoon, Jaden and I decided to make some cookies. He loves to help me cook. He always asks what each ingredient is, and what it does. I'm not always sure how to answer him. He likes to know that sugar makes the cookies sweet, and eggs hold them together, and baking soda helps them rise... beyond that I think I might have to take a physics class to be able to just do day to day things with the child.

His favorite part is definitely eating them though. He kept saying, "Thanks mommy, this is my favorite!" "I love a got to eat cookies!" "We have to eat all the cookies, right mommy?" It is so much fun being a mom!

Maximum Capacity

Tonight was Aubrey's first time in the big tub with his brother and sister! He loved it. They loved it too. He got splashed a little more than he's used to, but he was a trooper, smiling the whole time. They were really excited that he was in with them, but its sure getting crowded in there!

Cell Phone Camera

Okay, I finally figured out how to get the pictures I take with my cell phone, off of my cell phone. I know I'm a little behind the times, but I'm really excited! I have so many on there that I'm out of memory and have to delete one every time I want to take one. I knew Steven and Anne would be proud of me so I had to post this picture of my little man, taken with my cell phone this afternoon! (Right after he rolled over for the second time, by the way!) Don't be suprised if a lot of small, low quality pictures from the past 18 months start showing up on the blog. :)

Misc. Moments

The Best Things About Having a Girl

Cell Phones
Babies
Dora Princess Jammies

Happy New Year!

Well, the first week of our year hasn't been that fabulous. We started out OK, but then our little Aubrey got a cold. I took him to the Dr. on Wednesday and he tested positive to RSV. Off to the hospital we went! We spent 3 days and 2 nights there, they let us come home on Friday. He's doing much better. He has to take these breathing treatments twice a day, but luckily he quite enjoys them. He smiles and coos while I'm giving it to him. He was a little trooper, and the Lord blessed us throughout the ordeal with many opportunities to see His sovereignty at work. Thankfully, I have wonderful parents who took over caring for Jaden and Baylee while Tony and I took care of Aubrey. Thanks mom and dad! We appreciate it more than you know. Anne was also very sweet, she showed up at the hospital before Aubrey and I even got there(she was waiting outside of our room when we arrived), and she stayed and reassured me (having been through it twice before) until Tony could get there. She also brought me a wonderful lunch on Thursday! A welcome break from hospital food. :) Thanks, Anne. Hopefully the rest of our year will be a little less eventful! We are very happy to be home with our little man.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! The kids had so much fun... almost as much as mom and dad! Jaden got a bike, and Baylee a tricycle. Aubrey got a little playgym, but at this age, it's mostly a gift for mom! Every year gets more and more fun. We got to tell the kids the story of Jesus' birth and hear them re-tell it in their funny little way. We got to hear them say happy birthday to Jesus. We got to spend time with our families, and even have one of our famous theology debates with uncle Jerry. It was a wonderful Christmas. We are truly blessed!

December

December has been very busy so far. Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. Jaden's been sick. I was just telling Anne that he's never fallen asleep anywhere funny before, and then this week he does it twice! He's been singing jingle bells constantly. Baylee chimes in with the last word from each verse... "Bells!" "Way!" "Hey!", spinning in circles and doing her little Baylee dance, so cute. We have had a lot to do to get ready for Christmas. The kids are very excited. They love all of the decorations, especially the tree. I can't keep them away from it. We are having so much fun!

December Pictures

Gingerbread House

We went to Ama and Ampa's last night and made a gingerbread house! Ashley came too, but unfortunately Steven had to work. The kids had a great time. Of course, Baylee just ate all of the candy. Jaden ate his fair share as well, but understood the concept a little more and did use some of it for decorating. If it wasn't for Ashley, it would have been a very pitiful little house! She did most of the work. I did contribute a cute little door and window after mom complained that it looked nothing like the picture on the box. (yes, it was a kit) In the end, it turned out pretty cute and we had a fun night hanging out together.

Christmas Program

Jaden was in a little Christmas program at his school last night. It was very cute. He was incredibly excited about it and sang with enthusiasm and a huge smile! He keeps saying/screaming/singing, "Mystery Christmas! Mystery Christmas! And a Happy Two Ear!" Also, "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells All Da Way!" He was a little rambunctious. When I say a little, I mean that Miss Bonnie had to scold him over the microphone in the middle of the show. :)However, he did about as well as we expected and surprised us with his excitement and not an ounce of stage fright. We were proud of him, and it was a lot of fun!

Christmas Tree

I love having a blog because now I have something to do with the ridiculous amount of pictures I take! We went out today after church and got our Christmas tree. It was our first time going to cut one down, but we ended up just buying a pre-cut one because all of the fresh ones were ugly. :( Oh well, the kids had fun on the little train they had there, and Ama and Ampa and Uncle Buddy and Osh (Steven and Ashley) are always fun to hang out with for the afternoon.

Thanksgiving Weekend

So Much to be Thankful For!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I cooked, we had my parents, Steven and Ashley and Grandma Coles over. We had a nice time, the meal turned out well and it was a very relaxing and fun day. We truly have so much to be thankful for! We took the advice of our friends the Bussells and looked up President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. Tony and I read it and it will definitely be a tradition for our family from here on out on Thanksgiving. Here is a little excerpt that we thought was wonderful... after listing a great many blessings the Lord had given them, Lincoln says "No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People." It saddens me that our nation no longer thanks the Lord with one heart and one voice. We have been taught that we are thanking the Indians for teaching the Pilgrims how to farm, or other such silly stories. Or just that we are just generally thankful for our families and material blessings. However, Thanksgiving was, from that very first feast until the feasts of Lincoln's day and beyond, designed to offer thanks to the Lord. Lincoln said, "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." This is what we are thankful for! As we learn more and more of our great God, we are able to be more and more thankful, and in turn, we receive more and more joy from Him. What a blessing that is! We all have a great many material things to be thankful for living in America. However, more than that, we have the ability to worship freely and to know the Living God. There is no greater blessing than that!

Vacation

We're home! We had a wonderful time on our trip to Reno with my parents.

First, we drove up to Sacramento. We went to the Sacramento Zoo and had a blast. The kids loved all of the animals. They were very excited about the monkeys and Giraffes! They also found a fish tank that was very interesting. The hit of the day had to be the train though. Ama and Ampa took the kids on this cute little train ride around the zoo. They loved it!

After the zoo, we headed over to Reno. The drive to Reno was so beautiful. It was a perfect day, and it was a fun mountain road complete with a winding river and thick forest all around. Tony and I had a great conversation about God's wonderful sense of humor when creating certain animals, while Aubrey peacefully slept. I'm pretty sure my parents were listening to "Little Einsteins" all the way there, as they took Jaden and Baylee in their car. :)

Once in Reno, we had dinner and took the kids out for ice cream. Everyone settled in pretty easily. Luckily my mom and dad took Jaden in their room, because our bed was pretty crowded. The next morning we went out for breakfast, which is always an adventure, then we headed to Cabelas. We didn't plan on it being so packed, I guess we aren't the only crazy people out there! It was great, though. Jaden was amazed by the animals. There was a Safari section right when we walked in with a lion, elephant, zebra and many other animals. I think the kids liked it even better than the zoo because they got to get so close. Along the back wall was a huge mountain with all kinds of different animals. Through the mountain a little stream ran into a pond that had some trout in it. The man who was feeding them there gave Jaden a handful of food to throw in. He loved that! There was an aquarium with all kinds of fresh water fish, and of course, many different animals hanging on the walls and from the ceilings. My Dad and Tony even took the kids into the little "shooting range" they had for kids, and they had a great time shooting at stuff. We spent four or five hours there before the kids were finished. They actually did very well for not napping.

Sunday, we headed home. We had a lazy morning and drove back through the beautiful mountains. We ended up back in Sacramento around lunch time and stopped at Funland for a couple of hours to break up the trip a little for the kids. It's just a fun little place for small children, merry-go-rounds, train rides and roller coasters. They loved it! It was probably the most fun they had on the trip. Jaden got to go on a dragon roller coaster with Ampa and had a blast! We thought it might scare him, but he loved it. My parents took Jaden and Baylee on a fun car ride, and Tony and I took them on the train. It was a very nice break in our drive home. It was very refreshing for us to get away for a few days, and much easier than we anticipated.

Special thanks to my mom and dad, they were a huge help with the kids and great sports! It's kind of a bummer stopping every 3 hours so I can nurse Aubrey, and going to bed at 8:30 because the kids can't sleep with the lights on. They are wonderful grandparents (and parents)! If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have even attempted a trip like this! Plus, the kids favorite part of the whole thing was that they were with Ama and Ampa. They made up silly songs (that I'm still listening to), and just made it so much more fun. Thanks mom and dad!

Sydney

Lazy Afternoon

We spent most of the day today getting ready for our trip tomorrow to Reno! We did find a little time to play in the back yard though, and here are a couple pictures of Jaden playing.

Earlier in the day, my mom brought over new boots and a new jacket for Jaden to wear on the trip. As you can see, he refused to take them off. This last picture is Jaden jumping on the trampoline. Theresa and Felix gave us this trampoline, and it is the best thing ever! Jaden just jumps and jumps and jumps until he wears himself out. He loves it, and he definately has the extra energy to burn!

We will be back Sunday evening, say a prayer for us! We're looking forward to our time together and (hopefully) some relaxation.