Circus

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the circus. They saw tigers and elephants and jugglers and lots of other stuff. It was not quite what Jason and I pictured for a circus but still a memory to add to our family experiences. About half way in the kids were ready to leave but we stuck it out till the end. Will be be going next year? probably not but hey in a few months it will be time for the reno rodeo and that does keep my kids very interested.

 Jason and Eric in front of the Elephant ride.

 Brianne and Eden in front of the Elephant ride.

 Josh and Eric with the clowns out front.

 A close up of a elephant. I don't think I have ever been that close to a real elephant, they don't smell very good.

 Eden before the show started when I still had her attention.

I feel a little bad for Josh he was so excited to go and then it was a bit of a downer for him, but he was a trooper and he did go camping with his dad the night before so all was good.

Sunshine in my House

It was a very nice day today, There was sunshine outside and inside my home.

 She is so pretty!

Of course we wouldn't have a true picture of Eden without the plug. It is a true part of her personality.

Conductor in training

Last night was FHE for our family. We do this every week and our children love it.

This is our FHE House. My dad gave it to us a few years back. It tells us who's turn it is to do what.

Last night it was Eric's turn to conduct the meeting with Daddy's help. He did a fantastic job!

It was also Eden's turn to share the lesson ( with mommy's help). The lesson was on sharing. I sure hope my boys were listening.

All in all it was a great night!

 Joshua, Eric and Jason showing off their goods from the lesson.

It is almost impossible to get a picture of Eric when he is looking at the camera but this is a picture to document his first time conducting a FHE meeting.

Fun

 Eric at 8 months old.

Eden 8 months old

It's fun to see how similar and how different each of our children are.

I'd post an 8 month shot of Josh but I don't have a digital copy. But believe me Josh was quite a bit different than the other two.

Three Little Leprechauns

We started out with three adorable little kids and ended up with three little Leprechauns mischievous and tricky. What ever shall I do with them?

Just three normal kids.

Then the transformation.

Teeth

It's actually really hard to get Eden to smile without her tongue hanging out so when I do get a good picture I usually get really excited. You can see all four teeth in these pictures and you can also see why I call the teeth her fangs.

This is one very happy little girl. She has a full tummy and a clean diaper what more could she ask for?

mornings

What does your mornings look like? My mornings are a hectic battle of get kids dressed, fed and out the door before the bell rings at school. But let me elaborate just a little more, my husband was at home just a little longer this morning and showed me just how crazy it is when trying to get the kids out the door for school. I thought just a little more about it and this is what a normal morning looks like for our family.
Alarm goes off, we push the snooze button, ten minutes later the alarm goes off again and we decide we better get up, its off to the kitchen for me to make breakfast for my family, eggs and ham for my husband and cereal for my boys and egg whites for me. Then we get dressed the pace is starting to pick up as I run around trying to find a outfit that would make Josh happy. ( you think girls are picky?) Then I'm trying to get Eric into something too. Then I need to feed the baby. After feeding the baby speed is really picking up I start telling the boys to get their shoes on and coats, five minutes later I'm strongly telling them to get their coats and shoes on then I'm franticly grabbing coats and kids and shoes. then I realize that shoes are missing and we have to go on a scavenger hunt for the shoes under beds and in closets and under couches or behind.Then I realize that I still need to make Josh lunch that is thrown together hastily but we still need to get out the door. I push the kids out the door at this point realizing that coats are not zipped but thank goodness for velcro shoes. We run to the school just in time to give Josh a quick kiss, tell him I love him and to make good choices and watch him walk calmly into to his classroom. Thats when the calmness can finally return to my body and we are able to walk slowly back home.
This is usually what my mornings look like and I'll tell you I wouldn't change anything except maybe where I put their shoes the night before.

FHE Lesson

Last night for our family home evening lesson Eric shared the story of David and Goliath. After the scriptural account the boys then acted the story out. They placed their shield of Courage on and their helmet of Righteousness on and killed the big Goliath with a green ball of play-dough, (that way Daddy wouldn't get hurt.) The boys really enjoyed the lesson as did their Daddy.                

I know the boys were listening because after they hit Goliath with the stone they ran over to him and pretended to cut his head off, just like it says in the scriptures.

Pretty Easter Dress/ eighth month update

Last Saturday Jason and I found the cutest little Easter dress but given that Eden will probably outgrow it soon we decided not to wait for Easter. She also reaches the eighth month mark this week. I still have no idea where those eight months went but I fall more in love with my crazy little girl every day. I'm not going to wait till Saturday to share her little eighth month mark so here it is one week early. Some of her fun quirks are, she loves to hang her tongue out and check out her new teeth so it is really hard to get a nice smiley picture of her. She loves to try and suck on her toes every chance she gets. The world would end if we forgot her binkie according to Eden. She has no patience for just sitting and playing, as soon as I sit her up she rolls back over and is off trying to roll to what ever toy she wants. She has no patience for anyone when she is hungry. She has four sharp teeth but to her credit she has not used them on me during nursing sessions. She is sleeping through the night ( thank goodness) she is also my earliest baby to do that. I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is but she is wearing 9 month clothes so she is right where she should be.  Her brothers love her and I'm so grateful to have her in our family.

 Eight Months

Pretty pretty Eden.

funny but only because I caught it.

This morning was a good morning and I hope to have many more like it. The sun was shining and the kids were happy. Josh devoured 2 fried eggs and a whole bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. Eric had one egg and a whole bowl of oatmeal and a glass of orange juice. Jason and I had our usual three egg whites only Jason ruins his by putting cheese on it, but he does need the calories. Eden had a bowl of rice cereal so everyone was well fed and happy to start the day. I think that is the absolute number one thing that has to happen every day if you want to start your day out right. So this was kinda funny but kinda not. I was in the process of getting Eric ready for the day and felt I needed to go check on Eden. I walk into her room to start on her when I looked up and saw Josh holding her in her crib. Thats no big deal he does that a lot. What was a big deal was he looked up and said " mom don't worry I put lots of pillows on the ground for Eden to land on. She'll be okay." Sure enough there was lots of pillows but I had a feeling that Eden would still not appreciate being tossed out of her crib onto a bunch of pillows. But the thought was sweet that he wanted to help me get her ready for the day. We did discuss that throwing his sister out of her crib was probably not a good idea and to just wait till mommy could get her. He was okay with that but I'm so grateful that I felt I needed to go check on her and I followed through with that feeling. Josh would have been very sad if he had hurt his sister in any way. So the morning was great and I hope the rest of the day follows.

Eric

He's getting so big.

Three more theeth close behind.

In three days my little Miss Eden has cut four teeth. She has been super fussy because of it and night time is the worst. But she now has two side incisors on the top and two bottom incisors. Unfortunately for me she can bite. She has not tried that yet but I wouldn't put it past her. Why is it that my kids always get their teeth in big batches instead of you know getting one at a time and enjoying that one? Well I guess it just means we'll get this teething thing over with faster.

Poor girl