primary program

Yesterday was our ward's Primary Program.  The theme this year was, "I know My Savior Lives".  All the children in our ward had speaking parts and each one helped in writing their own part.  Both of our kids had their parts memorized and did amazingly well, requiring no help.  Here were their parts:

CJ: "A miracle is something that turns the sadness into happiness.  My new baby sister is an answer to praying for a miracle."

CD:  "He gives me food."   --Her class was asked how they know Jesus loves them.

Jon and I were very proud of our little ones.  Grandma & Grandpa Allen, Clint & Hilary, and Grandma Parker all came to support them.  It was a very beautiful program.

why oh why do I let them...

Most people have beans as part of their food storage.  Not us.  Our beans are for entertainment.

happy Halloween!

Here's a bit about our day while celebrating Halloween.

While carving pumpkins... Dad did most of the work - cleaning them out, that is.  CJ but his hand in a couple of times and thought it was pretty cool.  CD put her hand in, touched it, and immediately said, "that's gross!"  Mom carved her first pumpkin - Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  And Dad carved a dragon.

This was a rainy Halloween but we were determined to go out.  So we suited the kids up in their costumes and found umbrellas for everyone.  We even took LM out for a bit.  CJ was Mr. Incredible, CD was a dancing butterfly, and LM was a kitty.  Even though it was quite wet, it really wasn't all that cold.  I think I'd much rather deal with rain than snow.  Mom took the kids around after Dad took LM back inside.  Surprisingly we didn't get as wet as I thought we would.

While trick-or-treating CD would repeat almost everything any one at the door would say.  The cutest is when she'd say, "happy Halloween!"

Here are some pictures from the day for you to enjoy.

weekend review

We spent this last weekend in Rupert, Idaho visiting my parents.  This was LM's first road trip and visit to Grandma & Grandpa Allen's.  Thankfully she slept the whole way there.  Saturday my mom and I went to a craft fair taking LM with us while CJ and CD stayed with dad and played in the leaves.  We don't have many leaves at our house, so they loved being able to play in the leaves at Grandma's.  That night we had a little birthday party for CJ.  We opened presents and had cake and ice cream.  Can you believe he's going to be 6?!  I can't. Over all we had a good relaxing, fun weekend.

where does time go

Our little LM is four months old - already!  AMAZING.  She went in for her check up today and she is now 7 lbs 10 ounces and 20 1/2 inches.  Even though she is just now the size of most newborns, she has come a long way from her 2 lbs 14 ounces and 16 inches at birth!

Notice the feet by her head... That would be CD...

CD really didn't like the fact that LM was wearing "her" flower in her hair.

Here are some things about LM at this stage of her life:

• she is a very happy baby that only cries when she is really tired or hungry
• she loves to smile
• she has discovered her voice a bit and loves making noises - especially in the car with CJ and CD encouraging her along
• she sleeps 6 to 7 hours at night on a regular basis (now if only I would go to bed when she does I could get that kind of sleep too!)
• she enjoys hanging out on the floor as long as her siblings don't squish her (yeah right!) and now we just really need to work on tummy time ;0)
• she also has discovered her hands a bit and enjoys sucking on her fingers

She has the biggest smile - it's just really hard to catch on camera

And one last treat for all of you.  Here is a little video of her smiling and making some of those cute noises that she does.  You may also notice (and even hear) her little legs kicking and going 100 miles per minute.  Definitely a happy baby!  We love her SO MUCH!

 

Not the best quality - sorry.  Notice, she has the hiccups too.

crafts

I have always thought of myself as being a creative person, but not crafty - there IS a difference. I LOVE designing and digital scrapbooking is mainly where I do my designing. And of course I use Heritage Makers to do that scrapbooking and storybook making. However, Heritage Makers can also be used to make way cute home decor! Here are two projects I completed this weekend - neither designed by me - but I did craft them together. ;0)

a very cute block calendar - I did choose my own color scheme on this one

beautiful Fall blocks

For some reason I have just been in this "crafty" mood.  I have found a few different blogs that display their own craft ideas and those of others.  I just keep thinking how cute everything would be and how much fun they could be to make.  I have never sewn in my life but I happen to be in the middle of trying to make my own car seat canopy.  I won't tell you how long I have been working on it, or how far along I am.  But it's started and one of these days I just might finish it.  And when I do, I'll be sure to post my success (or, hopefully not, failure).  ;0)

quick weekend adventure

We are fortunate to live about 2 miles away from a wonderful place called the American West Heritage Center.  It offers lots of fun things for families to do including pony rides, a train ride, and seasonal activities and events.  This year we bought a Gold Membership pass for our family.  So we are able to attend certain events as many times as we want!  Unfortunately we haven't been too many times.  But we did go on Saturday.

We have been wanting to take the kids to the corn maze for awhile.  This last week it rained a little bit each though.  We finally decided that maybe Saturday afternoon things would be dry enough to go, so we went.  The first thing we did was went on a train ride.  CJ decided to ride in the caboose this time with a couple of other kids - he had a blast being silly with them.  CD was nervous at first, but then really started to enjoy it.  After the train ride we walked over towards the corn maze.  Before going in the big maze Jon and CJ went through a "black out" maze.  CD played around in a little straw maze for kids and enjoyed figuring it out on her own.

Finally it was time to go in the corn maze.  Jon, CJ, and CD all had maps to help us find our way through.  To begin with CJ was navigated us through on his own - and he was doing awesome at it!  All the sudden we would come to a place where their was two paths.  He would tell us, "you go this way, and I'll go this other way".  So we would split and meet up again.  I thought it was amazing that he could follow the map well enough to discover that.  After awhile he lost his place on the map so we just followed Jon.  I knew Jon could get us out.  So I just follow along.  CD was cute because she would look at her map and say, "we go left".  She walked this year, so we were a bit slow going, but it was still a lot of fun.  And it turned out to be a beautiful day!  Oh, and LM slept in the Moby the whole time.  Love that thing!

our little one

Here is a little video of LM.  I'm not that great at making videos, but hopefully you get the idea of how cute she is.  She started smiling about a week and a half ago on the 3rd, but it has been really hard to catch on camera.  I think she smiles more for her daddy than me.  And every once in awhile she makes some cute little noises too.  She sure is growing!

getting so big

The older two kids aren't the only ones getting big.  LM is getting big too!  As I was talking to a couple of neighbors yesterday they commented on how small LM was - they all think she's small.  I mentioned to them that she of course was a lot smaller than now and told them that we had taken a picture of LM by one of CD's dolls they day she came home.  That got me to thinking, just how much has she grown compared to the doll?  So here are a couple of pictures for comparison.  LM came home from the NICU 8 weeks ago on July 9.  (Just a side note, I was playing with Picasa a bit too with these photos.)

July 9, 2010 - 3 weeks old and the size of a small doll

September 3, 2010 - 11 weeks old and no longer looking like a doll!

And here's another pic just for fun because she is just so darn cute!

So close to smiling!

first day of school

Both kids experienced a first day of school this week.  Even though CD had been attending speech classes in the spring, she was starting out this fall at a different school with a different teacher.  Her first day back was Monday, August 30.  She wasn't sure if she was excited to be going or not.

She was being shy and didn't want her picture taken

Outside her school

Her new teacher, Miss Raegan, said that CD did an excellent job.  About the only other thing she said was, "She is adorable!"  Thankfully when I went to pick CD up, she was all smiles!  Now I can say she is excited about school again!


CJ had his first day of Kindergarten today.  Is he really big enough for that already?!  Wow.  He was so excited and ready for school though.  The school he is attending is a different school than CD.  He gets to go to the NEW school!

Outside his school

Finding his name on the fridge

We had attended an assessment for CJ with his teacher, Ms Chris, the week before and he was walked through the routine of what to do when he arrives to class.  Today he was so anxious I had a hard time keeping up with him and taking pictures.  He remembered exactly where he was suppose to go and what he was suppose to do.  He has such a sharp mind and memory!

Sitting at his table

There are quite a few kids in his afternoon class that are also in our Ward.  He was excited to see a couple of the boys he just already knew.  I know he is going to have a great year at Kindergarten!


Between running CD to class three times a week in the mornings and CJ to class five times a week in the afternoons, LM is going to be spending a lot of time in her car seat.  Poor girl!  We'll find a way to make it work some how!