Birthdays and Rollovers

I think it is so amazing that you can blink and all of a sudden your baby is now a two year old toddler with an attitude. Bubba's birthday was last Saturday and though we couldn't do anything with friends (he has a cold) I think he still had a special day. We went to swimming lessons in the morning and in the afternoon we spent some good family time together outside blowing bubbles and coloring on the sidewalks. His birthday reminded me how lucky I am to have him in my life. He is such a funny kid and brightens even the darkest of days. I'm sure grateful that the Lord sent him to our family. Josh had almost as much fun blowing bubbles as the kids.

The only way that Bubba will color with sidewalk chalk is on his tummy.

PRESENT TIME: He was actually interested in tearing the paper off this time. CAKE TIME: So this didn't turn out at all like I planned. In fact by the end all I wanted to do was hurl the darn cake against the wall. Bubba sure liked it though. I'm not sure that I'll ever do neon frosting again.

Emma has a way of her own to celebrate birthdays. She had a hard time remembering that it was Bubba's day not hers. Luckily he's still a little young so that he doesn't punch her out every time she steals one of his toys.

ROLLOVER TIME: Smalls decided he finally was ready to rollover on Sunday night. He did it once before last week but he did it at a time that my back was turned. This time I got it on video. Excuse the horrible lighting and my cheesy commentary.

My Boys Are Talking!!

Ok so Bubba's the only one who says real words, but still. We have been waiting for him to talk for a long time. He is definitley a kid who can't be pushed. Even if he said a word one day when we asked him to say it again the next day, he wouldn't. Well, he finally decided that he wants to talk and will repeat almost anything we ask him to. Monkey was a quick talker and once she started she never stopped. She would lay under her toy bar and yell and laugh even if no one was near her. It seems that Smalls is taking after her. I love to hear babys yell, as long as they're happy. Here is a little clip of Smalls chatting with me.

Smalls also got to taste cereal for the first time on Sunday. He loved it and did so good at keeping it down instead of spitting it out. He is such a speciatl blessing. It was a big surprise when we found out that I was pregnant again but I am so grateful that the Lord sent him into our lives. He is such a happy spirit and is a reminder of how much the Lord loves us.

I need some advice

I need some advice. Recently Monkey has not been excited about going to pre-school. We get her all ready and out the door but once she is into the car she decides that she doesn't want to go. It took close to ten minutes today of her getting into the van and then getting out over and over again. Finally when I told my friend that I car pool with just to go for the third time and she was pulling away Monkey finally made the decision to get in and go. I don't know what her deal is. We've asked her why she doesn't want to go and she says that another kid hits and pushes her, but my friend talked to her teacher and that should be taken care of. She's been given the option to stay home in the past if she has a friend that she wants to stay and play with but she has never opted not to go when no one is here. So what do I do? Do I be the mean mom and make her go, even if she really doesn't want to, or do I let her stay home? You are all wiser than I am so please give me some advice on what I should do.

Sweet Monkey

My sister in-law likes to do flashback Fridays and though it's not Friday I have a flashback for this post. After a year we finally got all of the pictures transferred from our old computer to our new one!! A lot of those photos were of Monkey when she was little. Lately I have been thinking about how blessed I am to have this sweet daughter of mine. I take my time with her for granted so much and sometimes I am too hard but I hope that she knows that I love her. She is such a big help and is so fun to be with. I am truly grateful to be her mom. Here are some photos of her when she was little and some more recent ones as well.

I had to put this one in. She is so funny.

Lately she has been doing the sweetest things for us.

She made our bed for us one morning all by herself.

She helps keep Isaac happy when I need to do something and this day she decided to read the Book of Mormon to Smalls. I don't think I could handle having three kids without her help.

Though it has it's challenges, I am so grateful to be a mom. Monkey is such a wonderful girl, I just hope that I can teach her well enough to prepare her for this life.

WE FOUND A VAN!!!!!

I don't have any pictures to go with this post so I'll have to do a follow up later, but I am so excited that we finally found a van that will work for us!!! It is all that we wanted and more. Unfortunately we don't have it yet. Josh was looking on craigslist yesterday and he found one that looked great in Shelly. My parents were on their way to Boise so they stopped to look at it for us. It was perfect so they took care of the technicalities for us right there. My parents are the best. It's actually because of them that we are finally able to get a van. We have been trying to sell our Lumina for a couple of months now but because of the economy, no one is buying. So my parents are buying our car for my little brother who gets home from his mission in two and a half weeks. We'll pick up the van when we come down to see him. I don't know about you but I think that buying a new car is a huge pain in the you know what!! We have been so blessed and I'm so glad that it's over. Thanks Mom and Dad!!! Your the best.