V's got SKILLS!

Smiley

I don't think they come any CUTER!

I couldn't resist a photo shoot of Violet in her purple onesie.
The trick was trying to keep her hands out of her mouth.

Those fingers must be mighty tasty!

Her momma was making her pose in silly things like boxes,
but she was a good sport.

But the book shelf may have been pushin' it!

Birthday Girl!

Rylie had a birthday on Thursday!
What a BIG girl!
I told her she looked bigger to me and she just giggled.
I think she thought so too.

Rylie is so SWEET.
She loves to GIGGLE and be SILLY.
She loves SCHOOL and she loves to READ.
She loves GYMNASTICS and spends most of her time UPSIDE DOWN
(doing cartwheels & hand stands & walkovers & back handsprings & you-name-its...)

She also loves this rowdy bunch,
and they love her too!

We love our JELLY BEAN!

Today is Mother's Day and my baby is 3 months old...too soon!

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."

love, love, LOVE this!

She's my hero!

Love Story

Body Art

I love permanent markers. I have one of every color.
It turns out, Sara loves them too!

She discovered my markers yesterday morning before church,
while I was attempting to sleep in.
(not a good idea)

She colored her hands & face, which we scrubbed,
but the marker didn't come all the way off.

We had another surprise after she got her dress on.
She had colored on her legs too:

She thought it was pretty.

Although she went to church with faded marker all over,
and bright red skin from being scrubbed,
she still looked pretty.

Just a reminder...

...don't forget to take time to relax & clear your mind,
and breathe in that fresh mountain air!

Goalie!

Sam had his first soccer game on Saturday.
For the second half he volunteered to be goalie!
I think he liked it.

His team won 2-1!

Tin Grin

Kaeli had braces put on today!
She's at the age where she's excited to have them.
What could possibly be cooler than choosing different colored bands to decorate your smile!
I'm afraid reality will sit in tomorrow morning when her entire mouth hurts!
I am prepared though...
I've stocked up on Children's Tylenol
and ready to run to Wendy's for a Frosty at a moments notice.
Ice cream IS the best medicine you know :-)

Spring time FUN with DAD!

During Spring Break, Aaron took Sam & Kaeli up to Alta to ski. It was a blizzardy day and the snow was blowing like crazy, but the kids were real troopers and had a blast!

They can't wait to go again!

Yesterday, the boys went dirt biking!

Or was it MUD biking?


Of course Sam chose to go THROUGH the puddle
instead of going around it, which is what BOYS do.

Right?

And he got a little STUCK.

Little stroll up the hill

It was nice to have some sunshine and get out of the
house for a little stroll on Saturday.
Although hazy, you can still see Salt Lake City and the
Wasatch Mountains in the background.

Little Violet had her well baby visit last week.

She is 12 lbs. 3 oz.
(85th percentile)

and 23" in length
(76th percentile)

She is also sleeping through the night!
(I'm talking at least 8 hours, WOW!)

Smiling, cooing & gurgling are just a few of her newest talents,
and of course she's just as sweet as ever!

And NO, we still can't get her hair to lie down...
but we love it any way!

She loves to smile and talk with her animal friends.

Zoo Trip

The kids and I went to the zoo yesterday. We stood and watched a baby and mommy elephant for a long time. They were really cute together. I am a sucker for baby animals.

But these little guys (Golden Lion Tamarins) were one of my favorites:

They are from a rainforest in Brazil, and only about a foot in length. Their tales are just as long as their bodies. I think they are really cute, and I think they would make fun little pets.

But I already have five little monkeys, so I guess I don't need anymore.

They are very family orientated and the males stay with the females after mating and actively help to raise the babies. The daddies carry the babies around on their backs. They are also very protective and will be aggressive to non-related animals.

What good little daddy monkeys :-)

This one (either Poco or Puddles) reminds me of Aaron :-)

Don't know why.

Little Flower

Number NINE is so FINE!

Kaeli turned 9 yesterday!

She had an awesome birthday!

Her siblings think she's the BEST!

And because we have recently discovered skype, Kaeli got to skype with her daddy who was in France and with her grandparents. It's the coolest thing ever!

We love our Kaeky Ray!

6 weeks old...already?

I wanted to take some pictures of Violet's dazzling smile, which truly is one of the sweetest things to behold, but instead of smiles I got the zzzzzzzzzs.

So I tried to wake her, and I got some stretches and some funny faces.

So in the end, I relented and let her snooze...

...and took a snap shot of her cute piggies :-)

Violet's Blessing Day

Have you EVER seen anything SWEETER???

Violet was blessed on Sunday by her daddy. It was a super sweet and special blessing. After sacrament meeting we gathered with some family at our house for some hoagies and chocolate cake!

It was a special day!

Double Digits!

Sam da man is now TEN! He's a decade old! He's in the double digits! And yes, he has to use every single finger (including thumbs) to show you how old he is!!!

And he got a super cool fancy new bike!


And a birthday cake that I hoped resembled a campfire:


And these four girls are the luckiest girls in the world to have a BIG BROTHER like Sam!

Almost 2 weeks old

(taken by SIL Dawn)

I am waiting for my PC to get back up and running and then I'll post some more recent pics.

My SIL has a talent for taking pictures. She snapped a few pictures of Violet on Saturday. You can see them on her website:

http://www.alanandawn.blogspot.com

Violet has gone ULTRA VIOLET!

Violet has a high bilirubin count, and now she has a new bili-bed to try to get rid of the jaundice. We can only take her out for feedings and diaper changes! How sad is that!!! It breaks my heart not to be able to pick her up and soothe her when she needs her mommy. She has another bilirubin count on Monday. We hope it's low enough to loose the UV bed.

Violet Mae is here!

The long wait is over! Our sweet "Little" has arrived!

Tuesday around 11:30 am, I noticed my contractions felt different from the regular false labor I had been experiencing. These felt real and I hoped they were, and a week early? Yeah for me! Tuesdays are my crazy busy days, so I kept running the kids here and there and doing what I usually do. I picked the kids up from school and had about 10 minutes before taking Kaeli to gymnastics. I wondered if I should since my contractions were already 6 minutes apart. I decided I could always take Kaeli out of gymnastics early if I had to. So I loaded the kids up and left. On our way I reached for my phone to call Aaron and to let him know that the labor was "real" and he should be ready to leave work early, but I FORGOT MY PHONE! I felt panicked! Out of all the days to forget my phone it had to be today!!! I dropped Kaeli off and the rest of the kids and I headed to Walmart to grab a few last minutes things (like pizza for dinner and a birthday present for a party Sara had been invited to on Saturday). In Walmart my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I hoped my water wouldn't break in the middle of the store! I tried to discretely pause for my contractions because they were getting uncomfortable. I hated not having my phone with me! I guess I wasn't as discreet as I thought I was because as soon as Kaeli got back into the car Sam leaned over to her and said, "I think Mom is in labor! She had to keep stopping in the store!" Who knew a nine year old boy would have any idea what labor looked like any way! So the minute we got back home I called Aaron (my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart). I told him I was in labor and to come home right now. He said, "really? OK!" A few minutes later he called back when he was already on his way to make sure I wasn't joking and just trying to get him home from work at a decent time. I assured him I was serious. I think he made it home in record time! I quickly finished packing my bag (between contractions) and Aaron called our "on call babysitter". She showed up excited to take charge and Aaron and I headed to the hospital. By the time we got there my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and it was about 6:45 pm. Here is a picture of me in triage, still smiling :-)

For the past 8 months or so I was committed to delivering "al natural", so once I was admitted I began my relaxing techniques to get through the contractions. I was able to relax and remain in control for most of the labor. My water broke around 11 pm and from there on out my contractions were on top of each other, no breaks in between. Without drugs the pain was incredible, but it was really cool to see what my body was capable of and to experience the instincts my body naturally had during the labor. I thought it was miraculous! Once it was time to push it wasn't even something I could control. There was no distinction between contractions anymore. It all blended into one giant reflex and it was completely involuntary. So I gave it my all and bore down through the pain. After two pushes my baby was born! Once again I had another posterior baby!

Violet Mae

7 lbs. 9 oz.

20" long

born at 11:52 pm on February 9th, 2010

Here is our baby, not even a day old yet:

It was love at first sight! Violet is as sweet as can be! She has thick dark hair which is about an 1-1.5 inches long. She nursed right away and is still a good eater. She's also very cuddly and just seems to melt into you when you hold her.

We were able to bring her home on Thursday which just happened to be Aaron's birthday. I had everything boughten ahead of time, but had no birthday cake! Aaron insisted he didn't want a cake but wanted to make himself homemade oreos instead. I couldn't argue with that, and although it was unconventional, they were delicious.

Here is Daddy and Violet on his birthday:

The kids love their baby sister and have adjusted to her presence very smoothly. There is always someone around eager to hold her. I have the best helpers ever!!!

Violet has her days and nights a little backwards, and her bilirubin count is a little high, but other than that everything is going really well. I love kissing those cheeks! We're all so excited to have her as part of our little family!