Life is but a dream

Monday, May 18, 2009

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Fun Pictures

I have been horrible at posting lately but I am making amends by posting some pictures from the past few months!

Our new kitty Achilles:

Our trip to Iowa for General Conference:

The men before the Priesthood session

Easter:

Crazy kids!:

Triple decker cinnamon graham cracker sandwich!

Megan's favorite craft from preschool - she wants to show
her "ine" to everyone who comes to our house

Friday, April 10, 2009

Sorry I have been absent for so long. Life just seems to get busier and busier! I received a new calling as few weeks ago as Relief Society President in our ward so most of my "spare" time is used trying to figure that out.

We hope that you each have a wonderful Easter weekend as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. He truly is the Light and the Life of the world.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Family Reunion

Alright everyone. I need your help. My brother and I have been selected as "Co-Chairs" to plan our family reunion next year. (It may seem like a long time away, but trust me, we are going to need all the time we can get!)

So, I need some fun ideas of where we can go. What vacation spots have you enjoyed?

It has to be somewhere that will appeal to a wide range of people: my dad/stepmom, 11 kids (some are in the 20s and single), 6 spouses, and 11 grandkids ages 1-12. Yikes. We'll be doing it sometime in the summer months because some of the siblings are still in college. The one idea that has come up so far is San Diego but I'd like to get more ideas!

ps. The last reunion was in Orlando, Florida

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Look who's 3!

Megan celebrated her 3rd birthday this week. It is hard to believe that it has already been three years since we brought home that tiny bundle from the hospital.

She loved doing "Heavy, heavy hangover thy poor head" and after Peter did it to her, she wanted to put a present on his head.

A new doll!

Colin loved chasing the balloons around

Colin trying to steal the show

This year, Megan could finally blow out her own birthday candles thanks to speech therapy.

My second attempt at decorating a cake. This time I remembered to put frosting between the two layers.

Peter and Chris spent quite a lot of time putting together the swing, crib, and stroller that came with Megan's doll. Assembly was a lot harder than you'd think!

Megan's First Day of Preschool

Megan started pre-school on Wednesday. (See here for an explanation.) She was so excited to take her new markers and crayons in her Princess backpack!

I stayed for about an hour the first day and then left her. As soon as I walked outside I broke down and cried the whole 20 minute drive to pick up Colin from my friend's house.

We had Megan ride the school bus home the first day to get her used to it and she loved it! She was so excited the next morning to get on the bus again, but once she was strapped in the car seat and realized I was not staying, she screamed and cried. The bus driver and the monitor told me she would be fine so I left. Thank goodness Peter was still home because I cried.

She is doing better every day both with the bus and with school, but I am still having a tough time with it. I'm sure every mother feels this way...just tell me it gets easier!!

I want her to learn and grow and my hope and prayer is that by Kindergarten, she'll be at the same speaking level as her peers. This preschool is something that will help her to do that. I try to keep reminding myself of that and focus on the positive things about this. It means that I will get a lot more one-on-one time with Colin. It means I can do errands and visiting teaching in the mornings with a great deal less stress. It means I can get some projects finished that have been long overdue, like our home food storage. And it means that I will appreciate the time I do get to spend with my children even more.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Colin's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Colin's 1st birthday on Saturday! Poor Colin was so tired because he refused to take an afternoon nap - you will notice that his huge toothy grin really isn't in any of the pictures. In fact, in some pictures he looks almost comatose! But Megan had fun opening up his presents and he did enjoy the sugar rush from the cake.

This was my very, very first attempt at decorating a cake. I even made the frosting myself (confession: the cake was still from a box). Nothing fancy, but I was pleasantly surprised with myself. So Robyn, Lisa, Aubrey...any other professional cake decorators out there...it looks okay, right? :) (Second confession: I was so worried about decorating the top that I forgot to put frosting in between the layers. Oops!)

I guess it is possible to have too much birthday cake! But he was happy again after getting a warm bath and snuggling with his blankie in bed.

And this is my favorite part about 1st birthdays!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Cute Colin

Here is a video of Colin in his new favorite activity...watching out our bay window for a dog to pass by.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Baby steps

I can't believe that Colin will have his first birthday in less than a week!! He has hit some major milestones in the past few weeks. After 3 months of scooting along furniture, he finally took his first step!! He usually only gets 3-4 steps in before losing his balance, but his record is 8. We have so much fun counting every time he does it! I have realized that we don't have any pictures or camera video (we taped him on our camcorder) of him walking so I will have to get some and post them soon.

He is also talking more. His new favorite word is "dog." He says it, oh, several hundred times a day. No exaggeration. He will just keep saying "dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog", especially if he is looking out a window or reading a book. He is spotting dogs everywhere and loves them. Yesterday at the pet store he just about went crazy.

Here are some other crazy things he's been into lately.

After eating some dirt from the plant

His new tanning method: eat spaghettios for lunch!

Checking out his Valentine's Day stuff

Megan had a developmental evaluation a few weeks ago and we discovered that she is at the equivalent of 22 months with her gross motor skills (she is 35 months) and so she will be starting physical therapy now as well as continuing speech. She has essentially the same problem with both speech and motor skills. Her speech problem is called apraxia and it means her brain has trouble coordinating all the muscles in her mouth to talk. Her problem with gross moter skills is called nonverbal apraxia because her brain has problems coordinating her muscles to do things like jump, kick, balance, etc. We have always known she was behind - even when she was an infant, she was several months late with all of her major milestones but we figured she was just a little late and would catch up on her own.

When she turns 3 next month, she will start an Early Childhood program through our school district. The program is like a pre-pre-school for kids who need speech or physical therapy or both. There are only 5 other kids in the class and the teacher is fantastic. It is five mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours and she'll even be riding a bus!!

I am having a really hard time because I am not ready to let her go. I thought we would have another year and a half before she started pre-school. I have cried and cried and even now just thinking about it I am getting teary. But it is an amazing opportunity for her not only to get speech and physical therapy, but to help her receptive language skills, social skills, and learning all sorts of fun things like colors, numbers, etc. She is continuing to progress with her speech and adds new words/sounds every week.

Her favorite things lately have been playing in the snow, having 'tea' parties, doing puzzles, and playing with her dollhouse.

Listening to music with Daddy's Ipod

Snuggling with Auntie Robyn

Having a "tea" party

Sunday, January 25, 2009

11 months old

Colin turned 11 months this week! He is growing fast and talking all the time. He says mama, dada, num num, and ni-ni (night night). He is our little "explorer" and likes to get into everything. I am trying to teach him what "no" means, but unless it's something potentially dangerous, once the damage is done I just laugh and enjoy it and pull out the camera. His favorite thing is the toilet so I think we are going to get a lock for it just in case he figures out how to open it up! In second place is the lazy susan - it is such a riot to watch him stand there and pull things off as he is swinging back and forth.