Lots o' Lochlan

Singing into his imaginary microphone

"Ooooh, I love my binky"

My Kids Make Me Laugh

carnival spray paint hair

bsu colors in her hair - she knows the way to her daddy's heart

I found Mirren sleeping like this one afternoon, completely wrapped up in her blanket like a burrito

She loves to wear her blanket around her. This day, looks like she became a shepherd. ;)  I'm sure I helped.

Because this is just funny, especially unprovoked

What you talkin' 'bout Willis?  You can see his birthmark under his nose quite profoundly here. It's not usually this dark, but it has definitely lightened up over the last few months.

Aftyn always has some lego creation I need to take a picture of for Reed

his sad face. Oh that lip

She's hiding in plain sight

Mirren had to lay a blanket down by Lochlan so she could have some floor time too. Monkey see, monkey do.

Cracking up - she's a goof

Yup, that's his nose!

Just plain mad

Pilgrim Aftyn

She finally lost both front teeth!!

I don't know what she's showing me, but if you look in her other hand she's clutching "moo" and horsey. She's obsessed with them lately. She makes them kiss you on the lips. Yuck!

Look mom! I'm taking your picture while you take mine!

Mirren turned 2!

Best birthday present ever - Balloons!! :)

Mirren loved her birthday! We had 2 days of celebrations. Grandma and Grandpa B celebrated with us on Saturday and Mirren opened presents and Grandma and Grandpa W celebrated with us on Sunday and Mirren got to blow out some candles. She loved opening presents, LOVED blowing out the candles. She was so excited she was squealing and screaming with excitement as we sang the Happy Birthday song to her. Oh it was so fun! She especially seemed to love the balloons. By far her most prized possession for the 3 days we had them. Ha ha ha! We also celebrated later than her actual birthday since Reed was gone for her real one but none of the kids knew and nobody cared except that we celebrate her birthday somehow. And so we did.

Halloween

Just hangin' 'round in my costume mom - Mirren's still in jammies  ;)

Ballerina Girl

Yeehaw!

Our Candy Hander Outer Lady

I Love it When I Can Get These Two in Pictures Together Naturally

He loves this girl so much.

 I love it when she loves him and gives him some attention 

because he absolutely adores it when she does and almost 

always has the biggest smiles for her.

Lochlan's blessing

     It's a blessing day miracle! My computer is letting me upload pictures!!  This is Lochlan in his cute cardigan onesie and bowtie. I made this, thanks to an easy to follow tutorial on the makeitandloveit.com website. 

 We had so many family members able to come, for which we were so grateful. Reed's parents and brothers Brian and Mark and their families were able to make it and my parents and my brother Jon, sister Jen and their families and my sister Laura. Things I remember about his blessing: he cried! Ha! He's such a laidback baby and he cried. He cried because he didn't like laying down and he wanted to sit up. I also remember that Reed blessed Lochlan to be patient. I wish I had written down his blessing, but I never think that far ahead. Much like how I always forget to bring a camera so we could get a picture of everyone who made it. Bronwyn had to go and give a talk right afterward in primary and I had to go teach our class of 17 yr olds so we had lots on our minds, along with Mirren having a nasty cold so she couldn't go to nursery and Lochlan also being sick with a cold.
   We were sad not to have been able to bless Lochlan last weekend when more people were here but things happen for a reason so we're just glad he's gotten his special day. Lochlan is such a sweet boy, with such an easy going attitude most of the time. He's a good mix for our family and we're eternally glad he's ours. :)

Aftyn is Awesome

I need an update on Aftyn!  Since starting kindergarten a few months ago, she has absolutely flourished!  Because she only has school a few days a week, (every other day) I've been trying to find ways to challenge her here at home. We read books almost daily, and she began taking piano lessons from my sister Laura a little over a month ago. I think she likes the challenge, generally, of piano lessons and wants me to listen every time she is practicing.

         She and Bronwyn have been sharing a room again for about the last 2 weeks and generally it is going as expected. Bronwyn is an early and energetic riser and anyone saddled with her as their roommate will have to expect being woken up early and sometimes going to sleep late too thanks to her talkative ways. Mirren is grateful for the additional sleep she now gets, as we all are for her, and Bronwyn loves the addition of being able to listen to music with Aftyn as she goes to sleep. They've been listening to a kids classic Christmas CD and seem to rather enjoy it.
           Thanks to that cd, Aftyn was introduced to the song "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth".  Thanks to lots of encouragement and 2 very complying front teeth, 2 days ago she finally lost her 2nd front tooth so she can (and does) sing that song a lot! :) Aftyn is a worrier when it comes to losing teeth and has only managed to pull 1 of her teeth, leaving the pulling of the rest of them up to me.  She hates the sight of her own blood, it seems to make her worry that something bad and scary is happening to her body. Now that she can see the predictability of losing teeth, she frets less.

     Aftyn is becoming a great reader and at grandparents houses is likely to have a stack of books in her lap and sitting on a comfy couch, perusing them all. Not necessarily reading them though. She loves to look at all the pictures too. :)
           She is a huge help around our house, and generally very willing to hop up and help in whatever way I might be in need. She is an awesome example to her sisters in that way and I truly truly appreciate that about her and need to be better about thanking her for that. Bronwyn and Mirren are both great helpers because Aftyn is a great helper and sets a good example of how helping can be fun. And brings its own rewards.
         Most recently, Aftyn is very proud of her basketball skills and dribbling the ball. I think this girl has some basketball potential in her future! Truthfully, whatever sport they are working on in p.e. is the sport she wants to be mastering here at home. She clearly has a desire to play sports and master things that she likes. I love that about her at this time in her life.