Happy Birthday James!

5 years ago today was the worst day of my life. However, there was one bright spot right at the end who has been such a joy for the last five years. Making that day all worth it.




Happy Birthday Little Man!


We had such a fun day...

opening gifts



eating at Virgilio's Pizza

spending Great Grandma/Grandpa Harvey's birthday money on Star Wars Legos


cake and ice cream with best friend Ryan (and family)


playing, building, running, laughing, first shower by himself, Spiderman Mac & Cheese for dinner, fun, fun, fun!

I love this little guy. He is doing great, going to preschool 2 days a week, writing his name and several other words. James can read about 50 words and counting. He loves Star Wars, Mini Mysteries, pretend play, Leogs, Playmobils. He loves making up games and is so creative. Loves reading books and swimming. James has recently realized he can carry Hannah around and the boys love hauling her with them...or away from them if she is destroying a game.

We love our little man and are so glad to have him in our family!

Scott & Legos

My brother, "Uncle Scott", is a Lego maniac. The other day while playing Legos...

Me: I'm trying to build something cool like Uncle Scott.
James: He is amazing at Legos. One time we built a Lego castle. It took, like, days.

James & Matthias Speak, Babble, Entertain.

While looking at a satellite map of Hawaii we spotted the temple and what looked like a church next to it (really the visitor's center). James was so excited to see the church so nearby and said:
"If you were at the church and you didn't think it was your marry day and someone told you it was your marry day you could walk right up to the temple."
So convenient for those surprise weddings.



While Taylor was getting ready for work the other morning all three kids climbed in bed with me (Hannah was put there by Taylor), so I was singing Four Bears in the Bed and the Little One said...

James: I know a different way. Three stars wars in the Death Star and the Sandtrooper said jump out. And they all jumped out and floated in space.
Matthias: And Darth Vader said roll over.

Pretty (& Angry) in Pink

Hannah LOVES to look at the pictures on the camera. So much so that it's hard to get a picture of her anymore. The following occured today...

Hannah sees me pick up the camera and is so excited. I snap this photo before it is too late:

Hannah realizes I am not picking up the camera to show her pictures on it, but am actually trying to take a photo of her:

She is very angry that I continue to take photos and not let her look at the camera:

I fully blame this on Todd & Leigh who let her look at the pictures on their camera for like 30 minutes while we were in Utah.

For an added amount of enjoyment: an actual conversation I had today (at church), while Hannah was wearing the above dress/headband, etc...

Man in Foyer: Your baby is so cute. How cute he is. Is it a girl?
Me: Yes.
Man in Foyer: How many children do you have?
Me: Three.
Man in Foyer: Are they all normal?

Christmas Dresses

I found and bought this adorable dress on Etsy for Hannah's Christmas dress. She looks so cute in it and I think the dress is perfect. Also we can definitely use it for a shirt next year...girls' cloths are great.


But then the next week on Black Friday I found this poofy, amazing skirt at Children's Place for only $7!! Of course I had to buy it. Doesn't she look so cute? The poinsettia headband (made by me) was the perfect finishing touch to get everyone at Stake Conference pointing and commenting. She is the cutest little thing!

Moving and Shaking

Hannah is really started to move around now...she can scoot at least a foot a minute. It's speedy stuff. Here she is in action:

At 10 months just a few weeks after she got started with the scoot.


At 11 mo (yesterday) she is starting to get pretty fast.


She can also now scoot forward while on her tummy as well, but the scoot is her preferred way of travel.

James Speak

James: You should name your next baby Nightcrawler.
Me: No.
James: Why not?
Me: I don't think that is a good name for a baby.
James: He can be Little Man when he is a baby and when he grows up, like when he's one you can name him Nightcrawler. You can name him James when he's a baby and Nightcrawler when he grows up.
Me: We already have a baby named James.
James: Huh? Who is it?

Hannah Babble

Hannah is getting fairly good at sign language, but of course only does it when she feels like it. Not necessarily when I need an explanation or clue about what is going on in her head. She has done all the following signs (minus dog) spontaneously at some time or other when she actually wants to communicate something:

Hat (her favorite)
Sleep
Milk
All Done (another favorite)
More
Eat
Binkie
Dance (very impressive)
Bath
Brush Teeth
Light
Cookie
Dog (this one she only does if I do it first and then ask her to do it, but she hasn't actually busted out with it on her own...maybe we need to see more dogs?)


These signs she understands, but I haven't seen her do them:

Blanket
Where
Book
Ball
Change (like a diaper)


We have a lot of other signs we do, but I don't know whether she understands any of the others. I am attempting to introduce "Princess" for her name sign, but it's a fairly tricky sign. She's a smart girl though...

One Mom, Three Kids, Sit Down Restaurant...Success

Today between the run to the post office and the run to the library we drove by one of our favorite restaurants, Virgilio's (good Italian pizza). And I thought to myself, "I'm totally crazy, let's go." The kids thought it was a great idea so after stopping at the library (for an hour) we ran back and went in to eat. The kids were wonderful and the food was delicious. We had a great time and every came home happy, full, and relaxed.

Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas and such a fun visit with family the week after! The Elders came over for Christmas Eve dinner. The kids had a blast Christmas morning and still got too many gifts despite the fact that I only spent $130 on all three...seriously they were totally spoiled. The highlight was probably Hannah ripping the paper and then saying "uh-oh" and ripping some more. The boys loved their craigslist Playmobil 'find of the year' and also had a great time with puzzles, books, cars, dinosaurs, candy...

Next day we drove to Utah and had a wonderful week with family! Love being closer...8 hours in a car is nothing. Played Wii and tons and tons and tons of board/card games. Watched a couple movies, saw some good friends, played more games, ate yummy food, chatted, and relaxed. Loved it.

Ready for a New Year and new fun! Just wait until you see what we have in store for the next 12 months...=]

In no particular order:

After Santa, before children

Putting together Playmobil Race Car

Optimus Prime PJs

Loves this baby!

Playing with the aunts.

Cousin Aubrey and Hannah Mae

Mina & Hannah together again...hair ratio tilting farther in Mina's favor

Pirate Ships and ACCESSORIES

Nativity

Christmas Eve