book shleves

Jed, yet again has added some wonderful additions to the kids' rooms.
Magazine rack book shelves.  Like the ones here, but WAY better.

I love walking into their rooms and being able to see the fronts of their books.  There is something about this style that is so much more inviting than the spine stacked method.  You glance, then double take, and think, "oh, I really feel like reading THAT book right now."
I L-O-V-E them!!!

the big half year old

 

We can't believe that it has already been 6 months since little Lily graced our home.  We have been so blessed by her sweetness.  She is such a little ray of sunshine with her smiles and giggles.

Jed and I were discussing the other day how we had planned out our family.  As soon as we were done building our home, we decided to have Bayli.  With the exception of pregnancy illness and stretch marks, we loved everything about becoming new parents.  She made us feel more like a family.  As she grew, we thought, it would be so easy to just have one kid.  But then we decided that one wasn't enough.  So we decided to have another.
We faced some rough road getting little Chase.  Difficulty with miscarriages and HORRIBLE pregnancy illness,  I was pretty convinced that I was done having babies.  Jed on the other hand, wanted one more. It was a battle (not really) to see who could convince the other that their plan was better.  Jed has always been better at directing me in the right direction. 
When Jed was getting ready to partner up and start an engineering firm, we decided that we needed to make that first year a little more stressful.  We decided to try for number three, hoping that the process would go a little easier than number 2.  We are so thankful that it went relatively better.   Although, it would have been nice to be like those lucky gals that are never sick when loaded with a little one. 
We are so glad that we decided to go for three.  Our little family just wouldn't be complete without our little Lily.  She has made each of us melt.  Words could never express just how much love we have for her.

We love you littlest bird!  Happy 6 months!

How sweet our Lily grows!

snow owls

Chase received a very cute gift from Grandma Carol. 
The lucky little guy got an owl hat like baby sister. 
He was pretty stoked to test it out in the newly fallen snow. 
"Mommy, et thu berdee hah!"

Of course what is a snow adventure without catching a glimpse of our snow princess?
She is such a beauty!
She is also waiting patiently  (so to speak) for her special hat from Grandma.

i'll smile for shoes

Lily loves her feet, especially when they have little surprises like SHOES on them.  

She is getting pretty good at doing crunches.  Putting shoes on helps encourage the exercise.

It kind of reminds me of the horse chasing the carrot sequence.

Legs kicking up and down.  What's that there?  Oh, I need that! 

 

Reach...almost there.

Got it!

Mom, look, I got it!

Those are the prettiest things that I have ever seen!  I wonder what they taste like?

 Those lovely little things make me so HAPPY!!!

 And she makes me so happy!

smiles, binkies, and growls...oh my!

We are so lucky to have such a happy baby.  Lily truly loves life.  She loves mommy, daddy, sister, & brother.  

We all get full body grins from her.

***Such a beautiful piece of sunshine!***

She also loves, loves, loves that binky of hers. 

I love this stage where their little hands become functional and oh so amazing. 

Her little voice box is oh so cute as well, enjoy!

risky business

My funny 9 yr old nephew came over one day.
I was watching Survivor.
He joined in the viewing.

I asked him, "do you want to be on it some day?"

His response, "no, it looks too risky!"

Me, "you don't want to even do it for 1 million dollars?"

"No when I am a Paleontologist, I will make so much money and I will get to travel everywhere...it will be so cool!"

I didn't have the heart to tell him that an entry salary for a Paleontologist averages about $36,000.
He just may change his mind about survivor one day.

little mommy

Bayli is constanly surprising us with her silly antics.
Her latest, she wanted to play with her glitter set.  I told her that she could when Chase was taking his nap.

While I was busy doing something else, I heard Bayli telling Chase "night, night!"  Followed quickly by Chase saying,  "on trink uh miwk!" (translation-I want a drink of milk).
At this point I stopped what I was doing to see what was going on.
Bayli had tucked Chase in bed, just the way he likes with his blankets layered and his teddy right beside him.  She had read him his favorite book and then tucked it in bed with him as well, just the way he likes.  He kissed her goodnight, and that was it.
No, "mommy I want a book."  No, "mommy I want kisses" (all three kinds).
My duties were overthrown, all because one little girl wanted to craft.
All I got to do was give him his drink of milk, he refused any kisses from me.

I am betting she had given him a lot of threats to get him into bed.  She probably had threatened to take away a list of items, including: blankets, trucks, and trains.
What a good little mommy!
Now if I can only get her to get up with Lily in the night when she is sick...

it's great to be 6

Bayli has been so excited for her birthday.  She has been planning for weeks months the days events.  And they have molded and changed as the planning has continued.  Last year she had a date with dad.  So she decided this year that she wanted a date with mom.  

I was so surprised that not once did she ask for a friend party.  And I must say that I was happy about that.  Friend parties, as fun as they are, give me a headache and always cost mucho denero.  I start out with a pretty good budget, then I keep finding more and more fun activities/prizes and the list of guests keeps getting larger and larger and LARGER!  And let me tell you, it is hard to decide who to take off a guest list once Bayli has decided who to invite-she loves everyone!

That being said, I was so excited that we weren't having a kid party!  Although, the events list was getting pretty cramped.

I had planned on taking Bayli to see Tangled for one of her activities.  It was pure torture for her to have to wait clear until her birthday to see the film.  Especially when all of her cute little friends were talking about it.  But, she was so excited to go on a date with mom, that she even turned down a date with her bestie (Shaeler).  Little things like that make being a mom pretty cool.

Since Bayli's list of events was getting pretty squished, we went and saw the movie the week before her birthday.  It was very thoughtful of us not to leave dad all day long with little Lily.

Our review-cutest Disney princess film ever!

We played Repunzle the rest of the afternoon when we got home.  Everyone of course, fought over who got to play the part of Repunzle, even daddy.

On Bayli's big day, the following week, we got up early as usual.  Mom, the events ruiner that she is, decided to paint the girls room.  It was a fast job, only one wall.  We were only delayed by about an hour, not bad.

Then we were off to Build-a-Bear Workshop (blaring of trumpets).  Bayli has wanted to pay that happy place a visit for years.  One owl, complete with clothing, shoes, and hat later and I was broke. But she sure loves her Snowie.

We next went to lunch at The Corner Bakery.  Then we were off to Toys R Us to use her complimentary $3 Birthday Gift Card-seriously I hate that place for sending such a ridiculous thing.  I disappointed her by capping off a $5 limit.

We returned home to begin the evening festivities.

We had the Grandmas and Grandpas and Chalese over for Cake.  Bayli also insisted that her BFF Shaeler attend the events.  They are such cute friends, Shae had called at about 11 am to see if we were done with our date, we hadn't even left yet.  She called another 3 or 4 times while we were gone.  I love that Bayli has such a close friend.

After yummy Red Velvet Cake, Bayli was gifted with tiny animals, polly pockets, a cheetah, and books.  She was in heaven.

Happy Birthday little peach!

gearing up

I love that Chase is so eager to play outside.
He has started to dress himself when getting ready to play in the snow.
Unfortunately, he keeps forgetting his snow pants and coat.
Pretty good job, nonetheless.