Reese snuck up to 7 months!

Sweet little Reese sneeks and creeps along at 7 months! Literally. This little girl is rolling all over and has learned to army crawl and spin and move any which way this month. She can get where she needs to go, as long as it is behind her... haven't quite figured out forward yet, but maybe that just means she'll be an excellent parallel parker?!
Little miss Reese has also learned to speak a little more gibberish and definitely knows her name and mama and dadda. I'm not quite sure what she calls her brothers, but she sure does get excited if they look her way or walk past her. They often can keep her attention for as long as they want and sing and dance for her daily. She loves them so much and often gives them very lovey, wet kisses!
Reese has finally taken a little more liking to baby food, though if her food is pureed, she still sticks her nose up at it! She likes a little chunk to it and especially loves black beans, avocados, and mangoes, apples, etc. She even like edamame... or most anything that is not pureed. She has also started liking a bottle a little more, which makes date night a little more possible (whew!)
Reese is sleeping like my babies normally do. Not enough:) She still wakes in the night, but is such a joy, you can't help but just bask in her warm, loving smiles. She eats and goes right back to sleep, which doesn't hurt either:)
Reese is my little partner in crime. She has a wardrobe bigger than daddy and mamma combined (ok, maybe daddy and the boys...) And her hair is long enough to do ponytails, pig tails and side ponies. I don't know much about girl hair, so are on a definite learning curve, but we accessorize more and more:)
Reese is also daddy's little girl. If she even hears his voice, no matter the time day or night, she will quit nursing and turn every which way to find him. She gives him the biggest, brightest smiles and then goes back to her job:) She's got him wrapped around her little finger. Good girl.
This little girl has us all completely smitten. I can't remember life without our little angel:) We just love her to pieces!

Isaac's ROAR-ing DINO-mite 6th Birthday

We had Dino Dinner: swamp dip (guac and chips), carnivore food: dino dogs (little smokies) and dino chicken nuggets, dinosaur bones (pretzel sticks in white chocolate), dinosaur eggs (green grapes) and swamp juice (lime sherbet and sprite)

herbivore delights

dinosaur cupcakes- funniest part: one friend proclaimed, "I don't like cupcakes!" So, all but 4 children ended up opting out of the cupcakes claiming "I don't like them either!" or my favorite, "Cupcake give me a belly ache!" Ben and I got a good laugh out of it, lucky for us, they were actually really good! AND Zach loved them... I let him eat 2.... Made my ego feel better!

Swamp Juice and Cupcake table

Dino Eggs

Ben and his dental buddy (BFF:) Clayton. These two lucky boys asked the most unfortunate question, "What can we do to help?" Which is why they spent the next 30 minutes stuffing glow in the dark bracelets into easter eggs (turned dinosaur eggs) for our glow in the dark dino egg hunt! It was a HUGE HIT!! And was only accomplished because of these two highly educated men and loving husbands:)

Three of our friends partying up!

What good is an outdoor party without a water feature?

We had a killer dinosaur dig with 80 dinos ready to unearth with paint brushes and "tools" for the paleontologists

Isaac received a soccer goal from Mom and Dad and boy has it been put to good use already!

More party animals

Entrance to the Parrr-tae

Dino Dig

More Paleontologists

Birthday boy with his two trustiest helpers:)

By the end of the party it was dark, which meant strands of Christmas lights all above the yard. What a brilliant treat! I LOVE Arizona "fall!"

Totally awesome, amazing friends and the coolest presents:)

Happy Happy Birthday Boy!

Our big boy Isaac is thrilled to be 6! A couple of his besties have already turned six (a few weeks ago) and it has been killing him to not be the same age! He claims six just feels so much older:)

Isaac loves kindergarten and his teacher. He is constantly wanting more and doing more, so we supplement a lot from home and investigate a lot. Obviously, his newest obsession is dinosaurs. He knows at least 50 dinosaurs and knows what time periods they lived in.

Some of his other favorite things are pretending. He could pretend anything from "baby and daddy" with his best buddy, Zachary to "School" with his school friends (Isaac is always the male teacher Mr. Fish from his elementary school). The boys often (as in every second of the day) are borrowing my kitchen tools, random things from under the sink, recycling, etc. to play. I think for Christmas they would seriously love their own kitchen tools and free reign on the recycling bin!

Isaac thought long and hard about his birthday party. He chose the menu and he helped every step of the way. He is really "in" to food and details.
Along with his party, much thought went into his guest list. At school, it is a HUGE deal to be invited/disinvited from someone's birthday party. We limited our list to friends we had had for more than a couple weeks from school, our back yard (and ambition) just weren't quite that big. We limited ourselves to 12! His insisted-on guest was Grandma Christmas (my mom, who had to take a rain-check, but joined us via facetime).

Isaac loves to play soccer, but is not really into the competition. He is a great defensive player but is timid about taking the ball down to score. He works really hard though, and is determined to overcome his fear. He loves soccer practice, but gets nervous for the games. He is a great little player, very coordinated and super fast, so I think he has many more years of sports in front of him. I love the skills he has learned and watching him overcome his individual obstacles. He knows now he can do hard things.

Isaac is a good worker. He is the first to help pitch in and clean up, loves helping in the kitchen and loves even more outdoor work with dad (except when it's hot, but I don't think dad likes it much then either!) This weekend was Mormon Helping Hands weekend where we volunteered all over the community doing different things. Isaac collected shoes for a shoe drive to raise money for a little girl with cancer and helped pick up trash at his school's nature area. He is really proud to go to school and tell his teacher tomorrow:)

Isaac is the best big brother ever! I always wanted an older brother and Isaac is exactly the one I wanted! He is so loving to his siblings. He treats Reese like a princess all the time and is constantly singing to her, dancing with her/for her, making her laugh with weird/annoying noises, feeding her (mommy approved), and getting diapers/toys/binkies, etc. Zachary is his best friend/bunk mate/partner in crime/ re-peater. It is rare to find them apart outside of school time. He even accompanies his brother to the bathroom! Truly, they are the perfect fit for each other and perfect partners in crime!

Ike really has a firm grasp on who he is. He knows he is a son of God. He knows more about the gospel of Jesus Christ than I'm sure I did at his age. He really impresses me with his faith and understanding. When he lost his shoe a few weeks ago, he was really distraught and didn't want to wear a different pair to school. I told him he'd have to because we needed to leave, to which he replied, "Mommy, I just want to say a prayer, Heavenly Father will help." His faith was perfect. He thought of a solution I hadn't. AND it worked. I love him and I know he really does have a Father in Heaven who knows and loves him too.

Isaac really is a complete joy to us. He is a loud joy, but such an amazing little person. I feel so grateful to be his mother.

Our best efforts...

Charlie Chaplin and Flapper

 We have a dear, sweet friend who requested some of our halloween flashbacks, so here are some of our favorites! Arizona Halloween is so amazingly different than Wyoming! It is warm and incredibly festive, as it is finally not a gillion degrees (or a gillion degrees below zero)! Stay tuned for this year's halloween treat...

Pirate Family with one on the way...

The Wizard of Oz

Kanye West and Taylor Swift right after the big VMA controversy

Kanye spouting his mouth again

Taylor was pretty sad...

Little Girl is 5 Months... a little late...

  

Little Reese is 5 months old this week. Her little life feels like it is just flying by so fast. She is such a joy to us all. These sweet little faces are pretty regular for her. She is happy and alert all of the time. She loves her big brothers and absolutely anything they are doing. In fact, today Zachary had shared his dinosaurs with her, so she was playing dinos. What girl wouldn't love that?! She will be well versed in those dinos before you know it! Just a few little updates...

Reese is talking/babbling all the time. She can also blow raspberries and thinks it is HILARIOUS. She makes herself laugh (and the rest of us too)!

She likes standing on her feet (as she always has) and I have a feeling she can't wait for the day she can get up and run around with those crazy brothers:)

Reese has decided sleeping through the night was overrated (gonna have to convince her otherwise...) and is now waking at least once a night, much to her mother's dismay. * However- I must say that if I do have to get up in the night, I love to be up with Reese. She is smiling and talking and eating (maybe she has the gift of late night gab like grandma?)

Reese's hair is longer and crazier than ever! She is getting pony tails every once in awhile too. Mommy's gonna have to up her game in the hair department soon!

Reese is wearing 6 month clothing. She is a big girl, 16lbs, 25 inches.

Most of all, Reese is loved and already loves us all too.

Kindergarten... the day our lives changed FOREVE

 Ike is now a big boy Kindergarten-er! He started school August 8th, so yah, I'm only a month behind in posting this! Ike has been looking forward to this for a long time. He had a list of things to do all summer long to ready him for kindergarten and with each passing day, the excitement increased... for him. not me! He has made lots of comments like, "Now that I'm in kindergarten, kids at church might ask me, 'Hey, where do you go to school.' and I can answer them, 'I go to kindergarten at Apache! Oh yah baaaayyy beeee!" (followed by a victory dance). I need to get that on film... I'll work on it!
     Ike goes to school from 7:55-10:45 every morning. I think that is why I was "ok" with it. Of course I was super sad, but by the time I had time to think about being sad, it was time to go get him! 
     A month into school, he is loving it. He has made lots of new friends (some good, some maybe not the greatest influence:). We are lucky that many of our friends from church are in the same class, so some of these kids he went to preschool with or has played with for years. I think that helped ease his (and my) anxiety! His teacher is Mrs. Airo and she seems great. She reminds Isaac of grandma, except not quite so lovey, but a good teacher. He is bringing home readers every night (3 at a time!) and I am working with him in the afternoon to keep his little mind occupied. He is so interested in so many things, I want to ride this wave!
    

 As you can see, as of the first day of school (and now), Isaac is aspiring to be a Paleontologist. He LOVES dinosaurs! He and Zachary (and their daddy) can name at least 50 dinosaurs and tell you about them. When we go to the library, we go straight for the non-fiction dinosaur books and movies (boys' choice) and we have had the opportunity to visit several dinosaur museum/dig sites in the past few weeks. It has been fun and I know one thing, dinosaurs and paleontology have come a long way since I was in grade school. Gone are the days of brontosaurus and pterodactyl. There are so many more species! Anyway, they are totally appreciated in our family. ESPECIALLY by this little boy.

Gone are the days of waking whenever and running whenever (not that that happened very often...) Goodbye trips in the middle of the school year to visit family. Adios to whims chasing across the valley for a "field trip"... Hello schedule. Bright and early. It has actually been really good for our family. It has brought some discipline to my schedule, so I don't feel the temptation to crawl back in bed after running in the morning. I think we are being so much more productive! OR at least a little...


I feel grateful for the time I'm able to be home with these three. I LOVE it!! It is not always easy, and it's not always fun, but it is always entertaining and I know that the work going on here is the best work I can be doing right now.

We walk exactly 1 block to school every morning and back to pick up! What a treat!

Zachary is not quite sure what to think of his brother being in school. The first day he was gone, I asked, "Zachary, what should we do while Ikie is gone?" To which he replied, "How 'bout we just watch the 'lympics?" We've become a little more creative, but that brother time is pretty hard to beat!

8 years

http://mommasbeenthinkin.blogspot.com/... just some thoughts

Reese-ie Roo Is 4 months old!

I know I am so far behind with posts, but I so want to remember this sweet little girl (maybe she's giving all this sweetness now because she has some crazy times planned out for her teen years?:) No, not possible, she's just too sweet.

Reese is...
 the sweetest baby in the whole world. She is happy all the time. She is happy just to see us moving around her. She is perfectly happy lying on the floor, sitting in her bumbo, bouncy chair, swing, or any other random place she gets stuffed.

patient. Waaayy more patient than mommy! She will give us a little yelp when she wakes or when she's bored or hungry and then just proceeds as her happy go lucky self until we get around to it (within reason)!

a happy morning person. She talks to her little bear mobile and is happy making friends with all her toys. But, mostly, she has these two little boys to keep her company (and they are pretty amazing at their job)! She is constantly sung to, tickled, and entertained beyond belief. Lucky, lucky girl!

talking gibberish with the best of them! She can say several consonant sounds including gah, dah, buh, nah, maahh, and any combination of these.

taking a bottle! Whew! That was a close one! I really had given up when she cried for over an hour while Ben tried to give her a bottle (while I was sick). She fell asleep rather than take the bottle! This happened on a couple of occasions (for not as long)... Finally, I gave it a last ditch effort. I bought her the most expensive bottle I could find at target (12 bucks!) and yep, you guessed it, she loves it! I guess she is a little high maintenance! She takes a bottle once a week when mommy goes to mutual and she's doing just fine with it.

using a binkie! Also a small miracle! She doesn't love them like the boys did, but she will take her mam at night or in the car (usually just to fall asleep, and NEVER to ward off hunger)... not that I can blame her! We are so so so thankful for this little miracle:)

standing on her legs longer and longer and so active it makes me tired! She is always kicking those little legs and doing "crunches" trying to see what is going on. She still rolls over sometimes, but isn't as interested in rolling. She can scoot herself forward and back and all around from kicking so hard!

not sleeping as much as a 4 month old should! Two naps a day, but not super long. She's much like little Ikie was. Happy all the time and just not sleepy.

singing! When there is music, her voice can't be stopped! It is hilarious and so precious!

hanging on to her hair... ALL of it! I gave her her first pony tail the other day, but the boys promptly vetoed that idea. We'll have to try again later:) I will say girl hair is already more challenging! I am trying so hard not to forget all the little accessorizing, but I'm not very good at it yet.

sleeping through the night about half the time! Oh, she has such a happy momma!! She is going on 7 days of sleeping from 11pm-6am. I'll take it:)

a reader! She just finished her first summer reading program. She loves to have Ikie read to her (and Zach too!) Fortunately for her, she is reading really amazing books from the non-fiction section about carnivorous dinosaurs mostly. I'm hoping the images aren't too disturbing for her baby mind. I guess that's the joy of having 2 older brothers!

a world traveler! On our trip Reesie traveled like a pro! She was a champion for sure. We are so lucky our kids are such great travelers and she just fit right in:) She has now been to AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, MO, NE, IA, SD, WY, CO, UT and next month ID and CA... if you lost count that'll be 14 states by 5 months old. Whew!

the sunshine of our days. I don't think any little girl in the history of little girls has ever been so loved! Reese is just the most precious little gift. Her smile lights all of our faces. The little boys are so enamored with her (and daddy is certainly wrapped around her little finger)! I am often left wondering how on earth I got so lucky to be mommy of these 3 sweet, amazing little ones. I certainly don't deserve them, but I am trying to ENJOY every minute I can with them. These ARE the days:)