The Life

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "This. Is. The Life." 

 

I am pretty spoiled.  I have the opportunity to stay at home with my kids while I watch them grow.

 

They teach me a lot of things.

 

They teach me patience.  They teach me how to laugh.

 

They teach me what is most important in life.

 

Family. Love. Kindness.

 

To a Toddler, sometimes it's more important to sit outside and eat ice and play with rocks and figure out how to climb up and down steps and in and out of doorways than it is to run errands or clean the house.

 

These kids teach me that it is much more important to explore and listen to the birds chirp and feel the sun on your face than it is to check Facebook or Pin something that I'll most likely NEVER make or have or do on Pinterest.

 

They teach me how to love.

 

They teach me how to laugh out loud at silly faces and at jokes that don't make ANY sense.

 

They teach me how to dance in the living room without a care in the world.

 

Because of these kids, I have a tiny idea of how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father.

 

My heart aches for them as they grow up in this cruel world that if full of hate and lies and deceit.  It scares me, letting them walk out my front door every morning, not being able to protect them from mean words, hurtful ideas, and evil influences.

 

They are God's children.  He has sent them to me to love and to care for.

 

Some days I take that for granted.  I get tired and irritable.  I say things out loud that I should have kept in my head.  I loose my patience too quickly and I forget to be sweet and loving and kind.

 

And then, some mornings, I remember.

 

I remember to sit outside and listen to the birds, feel the sun on my face ...

 

and just follow this cute heart bumb around my backyard.  Enjoying every single moment and exploring the beautiful creations that we have been given.

 

Sometimes I remember ... This. Is. The Life.

 

 

 

 

 

P.S.  A Heart Bumb is sometimes cutest when it is asleep.  Love this girl!

 

 

Ice, Ice, Baby

 

Avery has a bit of an obsession with ice.

 



 

If she hears someone filling up their glass with ice from the ice maker .. she comes crawling SO fast from wherever she is in the house.  She likes to be there to catch any ice that falls onto the floor.

 

 



Lately I have been filling up a small cup with crushed ice and giving it to her.  It keeps her quite busy.  She usually dumps it out onto the floor and then tries to pick up the melting pieces with her chubby fingers.

 

When she can't pick a piece up, she tries to suck it up off the floor.

 

Obsession I tell you.

 

Messy.  Messy Obsession.

Avery - 11 Months Old

 

 

This little girl of ours is growing up way too fast.

 

 

She will not sit still for the life of her.  It is ridiculous.

 

I had to cage her up in her crib to try and get some pictures .. and they still didn't turn out.  She would NOT look at the camera, or smile, or keep her flower in her hair. 

 

 

Is all that just too much to ask of an almost one year old!?

 

Apparently.

 

 

 

This was her grumpy face.  She was over it.

 

She is taking more and more independent steps every day.  She sometimes walks more than crawls during the day.  It's crazy.

 

She loves playing with her siblings - following them around the house and stealing their toys.

 

She LOVES bath time.  She screams when she has to get out.

 

She is also a very tough little girl.  She gets knocked around by her brother, bangs her head into walls and falls down a lot ... and you barely ever hear her cry or complain about it.

 

We love our little Avery Girl!  She'll be one before we know it!

Avery - 10 Months Old

 

Look who's standing up all by herself!!

 

This girls of ours is EVERYWHERE!  I could NOT get a single good picture of her the other day.  She just turns around and crawls away from me faster than I can get my camera up to my face.

 



 

Mallory held her still for me for a bit for these pictures .. but I couldn't really get her to give me a big smile.

 

She is one busy girl.  She reminds me a lot of Zach at this age.  Getting into EVERYTHING and not being able to really let him out of my sight.  We have to keep the bathroom door closed because Avery likes to crawl in there and unravel the toilet paper.  She also loves to put her hand in the toilet if the lid is up.  Awesome.

 

 

She's also at a stage where is likes to take everything out of drawers, laundry baskets, baskets, buckets, hall closets, bags, purses ... you get the idea.  My house is a mess all the time, but Avery is happy.

 

She really is a happy girl all the time.  She loves following her siblings around wherever they go.  She is content to play in the kid's room with them, pulling things out of buckets and drawers while they play around her.

 

She is a great nap taker and sleeps pretty well at night, as long as she gets good naps during the day.

 

She has two new teeth on the bottom .. so now she is up to 8 in all.  I love her toothy grin.

 

She can stand up by herself without holding on to anything now.  She took a few steps by herself a week or so ago, but hasn't taken anymore since.  She practically runs around the ottoman and can move quickly to and from the couch to the ottoman, so we are pretty sure she will be walking before her first birthday. 

 

We can't believe how fast this year has gone by.  It's crazy.

 

 

Speaking of crazy .. THIS little boy of ours is going to be 4 this month!!  I can't believe that at all.  He has grown up so much in the last year.  We are going to celebrate his birthday at Disneyland the week after his birthday.  Can't wait!

Mallory - Big First Grader

 

The First Day of School for Mallory was on August 20th.  I can't believe my baby is in First Grade!

 

She was very excited to start school this year.  She loved back to school shopping - getting new shoes and her back pack and everything to get ready for school.

 

I feel like she has grown up so much in the last few months.  6 Months ago, she absolutely refused to put her face underwater and claimed she was "never going to get baptized" because she would have to go underwater to do so.  Now, she is jumping into the deep end of our pool and diving for stuff at the very bottom!

 

She is also reading so well now.  She picks up books and sounds out all the words and is really doing a great job.

 

Her front teeth are finally starting to come down.  She doesn't have as many gaping holes in her mouth as she did even a month ago.

 

Right before school started, Mallory told me she wanted to get her hair cut.  I jumped at the opportunity.  I have been wanting to chop it all off for quite a while now.  (Wesley, on the other hand .. well, let's just say we didn't tell him about it before her appointment.  He loves long hair .. he wasn't too happy about her new do.)

 

 

 

 

These pictures are just from my phone, but you can see how long her hair had gotten.  It was ridiculous.  She looks SO grown up with her short hair.  I love it.

 

 

 

I have a whole other post to do about Mallory's teacher this year.

 

Also, Avery's 10 month post is coming too!

Stay Tuned!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avery - 9 Months Old

 

Avery turned 9 Months Old last week.  Just typing that makes me want to cry.  I can't get over how fast this year is flying by.  This little girl is growing up too fast for me. 

 

She is an angel baby though.  She takes wonderful naps, sleeps all night and is so happy all the time.

 

 

She is crawling EVERYWHERE and is into EVERYTHING.  It is hard to keep up with her most of the time. 

 

Her favorite thing to do right now is put everything into her mouth.  EVERYTHING.  I probably pull out 10-12 things from her mouth every day.

 

She stands up and walks along furniture and is very close to walking.

 

We are just in love with our Avery Girl.  I know I say that EVERY month, but it's true.  She is a joy to have and we feel so very blessed to have her in our family.