Exploring: the park

We have really been taking this explore thing seriously lately! I had a little chit chat with the kids about our theme for the year. We discussed all the important stuff, like how they have to be nice when we go places so that Mom can handle exploring and how the more quickly we get the errands and cleaning done, the more quickly we can get out and explore! I thought it would take some convincing, but they were immediately on board!

After our talk, the first time we went somewhere we had never been before, Chloe got this excited little sparkle in her eye and said, "Mom, we are doing that thing we talked about...what is that word...e - e - e -...oh yeah, exploring!" And she beamed with pride that she had remembered! And, if we are being entirely honest...so did I! As a mom, sometimes I wonder if anything I say is actually heard, much less understood...apparently some of it is.

Anyway, on Sunday a beautiful sunny day and a visit from "Sarah the aunt" paired with a shorter church for stake conference led our explorations to a new park for lunch and some much needed play time. What a lovely day! We soaked up some sunshine, laughed, took pictures that make me weepy with joy as I look through them, marveled at how grown up our little Ellie looked throwing her head back laughing as she experienced her first time on a swing, and feeling utterly blessed to call this family ours.

Love this boy more every day. I count the hours until he comes home from school because he is the most awesome helper...and such a little smarty pants. What a great kid he is!

And she gives me a run for my money every day, but her spunky personality, imagination, and extraordinary capacity for love make me want to squeeze her close.

Brynn is my little shopping buddy and queen of the dress ups...she has an expansive wardrobe, yet all she ever wears are dress-ups ragged from wear. These pictures make me laugh because I made her put on real clothes for the park and she fought Seth, Sarah and I about it for a good 30 minutes before she finally caved when we started to walk out the door without her.

And she...oh how I love her. She is my gift from heaven to cheer me up, ease my burdens and bring an extra dose of joy to this little family of ours.

And this man...what an amazing daddy...look at the way that baby girl smiles at him! And as much as we love these kiddos, we got to go out on a real live date on Saturday (thanks Sarah!!!) just the two of us! Dinner and a movie in a theater has never seemed like such a luxury. The last movie we saw in a theater: Tangled...with kids. Yep, we are that lame! Anyway, it was so fun to go out for 3 1/2 hours without kids for something other than go to the grocery store or the temple. :)

photography disclaimer: I decided to be lazy and not size these pics for web...
not the best viewing quality but better than nothing, right?

little things

A couple of little things I can't forget:

Today Ellie found the washing machine...she was captivated as she stood against it watching the water spray and the clothes tumble around.

Later today, Ellie climbed on my entryway decor and ended up head first in a basket of blankets...if only I had a camera in my eye! I heard her whimpering and went to see what she was upset about and couldn't find her at first. When I noticed her little feet sticking out of the basket I burst into laughter! That probably sounds worse than it was...no danger, just a little uncomfortable for her for a minute.

I was going to post that Brynn was night-time potty trained since she had been dry for a few nights in a row after we ran out of pull ups and made her sleep in undies, but then she peed in her bed 2 nights in a row. Tomorrow pull-ups are on my shopping list. I cannot do 2 loads of sheets every day. If only nighttime training were her idea...

My house is ever changing decor-wise, but I am finally feeling like it is looking like home. There are pictures on the walls, throw pillows on the couches and chairs, pretty paint on the walls and rugs on the floors. Still a lot of projects in the queue, but we are making progress!

We are having so much fun getting to know new friends. We have been filling our calendar with playdates and dinners and activities and are so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful and fun people!

Morgan has made some neighbor friends. The other day they all rode bikes in our circle and I as I called him in for dinner from the porch I felt so happy that he is able to have that experience that we have craved for him.

Seth had his temple recommend interview last week and the kids were wondering where he was going. I told them it was kind of like a test where he had to answer some questions. "I bet he'll pass," Morgan said confidently. :) Then we talked about what questions he would have to answer. I told them they would ask whether he believes in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, "I believe that, Mom!" Chloe chimed in excitedly. I told them they would ask whether he believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, "Dad will definitely be able to say yes to that,' Morgan said, "and I can too!" Those sweet kids were so excited to hear all the different questions and to answer for themselves. I am inspired by their sweet testimonies and their simple faith! If we fail in every other facet of parenting, at least our children know where we stand in terms of our faith and they have the foundation for testimonies of their own.

Seth is officially through the "probation period" for his job! That means he can FINALLY use time off. Our next trip to Utah, he will be there longer than 4 days! :) Yay! (Probation is just the 1st 6 months of working...they get you up to speed and up to a full load of patients and make sure you can handle it).

Check!

 
 This picture was taken with my camera remote one afternoon when we were staying at my Mom's house in Utah earlier this month. I am working on getting myself in front of the camera more often so my kids don't forget I was there. :)


Guess who is potty trained!?!

That's right...little Miss Brynnie is potty trained! We started the process early in December and after a few days I was about to jump ship and put her back in diapers when all the sudden it clicked and she has been rocking the undies since! For the sake of remembering, she has been an interesting child to potty train. While my other kids wanted help wiping or buttoning their pants, Brynn has been very independent. Chloe still yells "I have to go potty!" every time she has to go...probably a middle child attention thing...ha ha, but Brynn never makes a big deal about going potty. She just goes in the bathroom, shuts the door, does her deal, cleans up, washes her hands, gets her pants back on and goes back to playing without me even knowing. This has been so different from my other kids!

I am so proud of my Brynnie girl!

So big!

This little girl is getting SO BIG! She will be 8 months old next week and I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown!


Here are some of the wonderful things she can do right now:

- crawl: she started crawling on her hands and knees when she was right about 6 months, so now she is so so fast! It is exhausting to keep up with her all day!
- sit up
-pull to a stand and cruise along the edges of stuff: yikes...this is a scary thing to mommy!
- climb stairs - despite my best efforts to distract her from the stairs, she has discovered them and has figured out how to get up them.
-eat anything and everything she finds on the floor: curse those little polly pocket outfits Chloe and Brynn leave everywhere!



- smile and laugh: she especially thinks her siblings are hilarious!
- sleep: she has been sleeping through the night-ish pretty consistently...except for this week. She typically goes to bed at 7:30, wakes up around 10:30 for a late night snack and goes right back down to sleep until she wakes up around 7:00 am. Some would consider that a good sleeper...I do not. While she is a better sleeper than Morgan, she is the worst of the girls.
- eat big kid food: she does love the baby puffs and yogurt melts, but this girl loves to munch on whatever we are eating so we pretty much skipped baby food entirely. She has 3 teeth, so she can handle a pretty good variety of foods: salmon, chicken, peas, corn, pasta, soft fruits, yogurtland, and crackers are her favorites.
- be adorable: she totally knows how to pull faces that win over anyone she meets. She gives the sweetest open mouth slobber kisses, and loves to nuzzle right into you. She is a thumb sucker and loves softie blankets snuggled against her face just like Brynn.

 

Such a sweet little miss! SO glad I get to be her mommy!

2012...the year to EXPLORE

I know it is almost the end of January, but early in December I started brainstorming a new word to live by and work on for 2012 and haven't taken the time to sit down and post about it. Last year I chose the word EMBRACE and it was so fitting for the experiences and challenges that faced us. We had to embrace change, embrace traditions, embrace the little moments, embrace our sweet little Ellie into our family, embrace family and friends as we said goodbye and embrace new friends, a new job, new surroundings and a new home as we started a new adventure. And while 2011 was a wonderful year for our family in so many ways, it was also one of the most difficult years of my life and I was happy to move forward to 2012!

This year, our circumstance is much different and my word came quickly and easily...EXPLORE. I have always prided myself on having an adventurous nature. I love to get out into the world with my family and try new things and go new places and meet new people, but lately I have noticed this attribute of mine seems to have disappeared. I don't know whether it is the extra child now that I am a mother of 4, or if it is the fact that every time we go somewhere I have to deal with dirty looks from people who are annoyed with my kids (the area we live in is not as kid friendly as what we are used to...is anywhere as kid friendly as Utah?), or missing the people that used to come on our adventures with us (some things are only worth doing when you have a grandma or grandpa with you for back up!), or if our house is just so much more enjoyable to hang out in now that we have a playroom, but it is so much easier/more enjoyable to hang out at our house than to try and go places. So, this year I am going to make a consorted effort to EXPLORE! There is so much here that is new and exciting...the zoo, the coast, OMSI, the aquarium, the gardens, the parks, the rivers, the waterfalls, the wildlife, the farms...and we need to get out there and experience it even if the idea is exhausting! ;) Not only do I want to explore our surroundings, but it will be fun to explore new traditions, new ideas, new hobbies, a new schedule and new food! Hopefully our explorations will bring us lots of fun and enjoyment and fond memories and that your year will be filled with the same! Happy 2012!

Creativity

Since before we moved, I feel like I have been in a creative black hole...not really feeling inspired or excited about the creative outlets that used to be a source of joy and fun for me. My desire to capture life artistically through photography turned into a drudgery task of getting out the camera, uploading pictures, editing, and maybe eventually posting the images for others to see (this is probably not big news to any of you still reading this blog since I have been such a slacker about posting). My sewing machine was quickly banished to the far reaches of my closet along with the small fabric stash that made it into the moving truck (twice). For months all of my crafting supplies sat unpacked in boxes...only to be unpacked because I was sick of the boxes...certainly not so they could be used. Since we returned from our trip to Utah, I have slowly been getting excited about the idea of creating again, starting a few quick and easy projects and pinning stuff like crazy on pinterest excited about the IDEA of doing something crafty or creative, but just not up for a big creative effort.

Sunday afternoon when the kids were down for rest time, I collapsed onto the couch next to Seth feeling completely drained. He was tapping away on his iPhone - playing angry birds, I figured - when on came the sounds of one of the Mormon Messages videos. He was exploring his updated gospel library app and happened upon the video "Create".



I loved this talk when President Uchtdorf first gave it, but I hadn't seen the video before. In that moment, I didn't realize it, but subconsciously that simple video awakened in me the desire to create.
Moments after watching the video on Seth's iPhone I made a declaration: "I am going to make that quilt today!" The history: on black friday of 2010, I bought fabric for 2 very large rag quilts to use as picnic blankets/photo props. And into a cupboard they went with the hopes of becoming something soon. But then we worked on projects to get our house ready to list, and then we listed our house, and then Ellie was born, and then we moved, and then we moved again, and they we started on projects to make our new house feel more like home, and then it was Thanksgiving and our house was filled with people, and then another black Friday came and I was guiltily standing in line buying fabric knowing that I still had a box of fabric for two quilts that hadn't even been started. But, I brought home the new fabric and made a few throw pillow covers and blankets for Ellie and left the box of fabric sitting up in my closet.

So, Sunday after my sweeping declaration (which Seth probably didn't realize meant he was in charge of kids for the rest of the day), the dusty box came off the shelf in my closet and our formal living room/office a.k.a. "the study" morphed into a sewing station. Hot iron and ironing board, rotary cutter and mat, sewing machine and sewing box, and colorful fabric scattered in pretty patterns...it was quite a sight. By the end of the day my back ached from bending over my cutting mat on the floor and my fingers were sore from cutting the edges of the quilt so they would fray, but I was overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment at this beautiful quilt I had created. I remembered how it felt to create...to make something wonderful with a pile of supplies and my own two hands. It was a rush! And I wanted more...so I started on some quilt blocks. I have never quilted before other than rag quilts, but some of the ladies in my ward do a quilting bee and were willing to hold my hand through the learning process and let me join. I rediscovered my OCD tendencies as I unpicked stitching again and again to get lines to match up more perfectly, but with that I was again filled with a sense of accomplishment those few strips of fabric came together to make a beautiful quilt square. Over the course of this week, I have made a valentines day flag garland, some rosette kissing balls, finished 3 more quilt blocks and organized my office to make it more usable for crafty stuff and sewing. I love the energy that comes from creating! I am excited to bring creativity and art back into my life more this year and grateful for the inspiration to do so!

We {heart} Grandma Tate

The thing we miss the most about living in Utah is our family! We had a whirlwind trip to Utah at the beginning of January, but we were able to squeeze in an afternoon with Grandma Tate amidst it all. And I am so glad we did, not only for the ice cream cones, the conversation, the strawberry jam and the wonderful Grandma Tate hugs, but also for this wonderful shot of Ellie and Grandma!

 

Hidden Gems

I have been sorting through pictures and found these two pictures of Brynnie from the fall that I just had to share. I can't believe how quickly time has flown, but on Saturday she is going to be three years old. Maybe it is her petite little frame or that she loves to curl up on my lap and cuddle or that she likes to suck her thumb and snuggle her blankie, but she is still my little baby girl!

Happy birthday sweetie girl!