Jeff's youngest sister Ashley came to visit us during her spring break. My kids absolutely love her and look forward to being with her. We watched movies, ate at Tomatoes and went to a really cool museum.


We built a totem pole with these magnets.

I was also able to escape and take a break with some friends for some food, shopping and fun in Utah. It was a blast!

4 months old

4 Month Stats
Weight: 16 lbs. 8 oz. (75th percentile)
Length: 26 1/4" (75th percentile)
Head size: 16"
Cuteness Factor: Over the charts!

First Foods
Both Kamryn and London took a few months to catch onto swallowing food instead of pushing it back out. Sullivan on the other hand is a pro and he loves anything I give him...well, except for maybe peas. It has been fun to sit down and feed him 3 times during the day and it has cut down on the cost of formula too!

I obviously haven't done this in a few years and need some practice...hence my nakie boy.

I think the sweet potatoes were a success!

Sitting Up
He is starting to sit up all by himself. Though, I am right there in case he decides to throw himself back, or topple over sideways. He's pretty good at sitting up if I position him just right. He likes to put his fists on the ground, kinda like a gorilla.

Rolling Over
Sullivan can roll over from belly to back and from back to belly...though the belly to back is harder for him and I didn't get a picture of that series yet. Sorry for the infinity of pictures, this would have been a lot easier and quicker if I'd just record it on video. I am a picture girl though, always have been. He also tries to scoot, but usually just goes in a circle.

Test holes, Dance party and sugar, sugar, sugar

We had some holes dug on our property to see if we could have an unfinished basement and it looks like it will definitely be possible. It is very rocky where we live and it is rare to have a home with a basement. Luckily, the ground we bought was originally farm ground and has been worked for many years so we didn't find many rocks. Yay! The girls had a great time getting dirty while we watched the holes being dug.






We have dance parties quite often (with just us, of course). I guess this dance party was quite different though because Kamryn opted to slow dance with Dad instead of the usual dancing. It was like watching my young 6 year old grow up within the 3 minute long song. I just wish she'd stay little...



I love catching precious moments like these on film. Kamryn feeding her baby brother a bottle in the morning, while lovingly rubbing his head. These two definitely have a special bond, always will.

Yay! Popcicle season is here. The girls beg me daily for one. After giving in to the plea's, I gave them each one and then continued to clean the kitchen up from lunch. After I was finished cleaning, I walked in to find this...

Their goes my goal of not having Sullivan taste sugar for his first year of life.

When Kamryn was little, not even two years old, she got a hold of a can of frosting. She snuck downstairs where Jeff caught her eating the frosting. He immediately took the frosting away and asked her "Are you eating the frosting?" Kamryn proceeded to look at Jeff and stated "sugar, sugar, sugar."

These pictures remind me of...



the movie Newsies.

Floorplan

I've been debating about whether I should post this or not...



Here is our floor plan as of right now. We still have some tweaks to make, but this should be completely finalized within the week.

Exciting news!

Everyone's trying to cut their budget this year, from the White House to big corporations to ordinary citizens. For many Americans, this means making big changes and going without things to which they've become accustomed.

Instead of making big changes and going without, Jeff and I are forging ahead with building our house. You can call us crazy if you want, honestly it scares me to be making such a large purchase during this economic downturn. But then again, because of the economic situation we are getting a killer deal on our future home.

It was quite bumpy in the beginning while we tried in vain to get financing. We found out that we had to have a 25% down payment on a construction loan and we didn't have that kind of money. Every extra penny that Jeff and I have saved over the last few years has gone to pay off debt. We just about had to give up on building our house. But, we kept searching different banks (with help from our builder, of course) and ended up finding some willing to work with us and make it possible for us to build.

With that being said, we marked our plot of land with flags the other day...

The front corner of our house will be right where that flag is. I am both excited and nervous. This weekend we will be drilling some test holes. Come August we will be in our dream home.

Love for you

So, I am sure you've all seen this craft-it-forward thing on the good old blog-o-sphere. I am a little behind. I never wanted to make a comment on others I've seen because I doubted that anyone would want something made by me. I am not that crafty! Then my friend Rebecca posted it on her blog and I had a selfish moment. I would love to have something from her in my home, she is like the world's best mom and a great friend to me. So, here goes...

Okay, so the first three people to comment on this post will win a homemade gift made by me!! My choice. Made especially for you. Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2 What I create will be just for you.
3 It will be done sometime this year.
4 You have no clue what it will be. (Neither do I!)
5 No need to repost this on your blog, I will get you a homemade goody no matter what!

Be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!!

40th wedding anniversary and two baby blessings

My parents just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!! How grateful I am to have you two as my parents...I love you!

And now for the baby blessings...
First off, we have Noel...isn't she such a cutie! I forgot my camera so these pictures are borrowed. Danielle and Jason decided to have the blessing at their home and it was wonderful and reverent. I actually heard the whole blessing :)


Girls vs. Boys


These are a bunch of pictures taken from our weekend with Jeff's family. We were there for Sarah's blessing. Jeff spent much of his time with these two sweeties. Jeff is such a little kid at heart, that all the kids really like him and want to be around him. Though, some of the little ones are generally scared of people other than Mom or Dad, Jeff keeps at them and eventually wins them over. We had a wonderful visit and we enjoyed meeting Sarah.

Sullivan vs. Cow

Hey Mom! Look at how cute I am and how much I am growing...wait, what is that? A cow...you seriously just put a cow in front of me.

Did that cow just move? Is it getting closer to me? That cow is in for it now!

I've just got to figure out how to inflict the most torture...

I've got it, staring contest on the count of 3.

That didn't work so well, let's try this...ARRGH! (insert a bunch of sucking sounds)

I decided not to post the last picture, it contained way too much drool!