Sleeping trouble

Keen is a great sleeper.  Once he is wrapped up and snuggled into bed with his binky, he sleeps all night.  But on the occasional night that he wiggles out of his wrap, it causes all sorts of trouble for him.  He can't quite figure out what to do next.  So he just cries until I rescue him and wrap him back up. 

Looks like he has a tough life right?

Too big for the swing

Liev thinks he is so smart now that he has learned how to turn on the baby swing - and now thinks it's also funny to crawl in for a ride.  Crazy boy doesn't realize that he's not the baby of the house anymore. 

Momma's Boys

I like to think that my boys are momma's boys.  Maybe I'm just trying to work that while they are still young enough to not know that their dad is actually much more awesome than I am.  But for now I'm going to say that I am their favorite. 

This sweet little bundle of chub is just the best thing around our house these days.  What a good baby he is and is making this mom happy to be a mom of 4!

 And this one - he is trouble.  He doesn't look like he could cause much destruction with those big blue eyes and innocent face, but boy does he!  Still, he is my boy and he is so dang sweet!

 I still think of Liev as a baby cause it seems like he just was.  So for now - this is momma and her 2 babies.  Darling aren't they?



Keen's Blessing Day

Today was Keen's blessing day and it was a wonderful day with our family.  Josh gave a beautiful blessing and I am so grateful to have this sweet little baby in our home.  We feel very lucky to be parents of such good kids and especially to be new parents to another little guy.  We love you Keen!

Our family is growing!

 And our kids are growing up!

 Little Keen in his blessing outfit (and older brother lurking around as usual!)

This boy is such a joy to have around - we all can't get enough of him!

Hi everyone!  I'm one month old today!  I just wanted you all to see how big I'm getting.  Plus my mom keeps telling me how cute I am so I thought I'd let you see these pictures of me and decide for yourself!  I think I've grown a lot since I was born - my cheeks are certainly more chubby and I've outgrown all my newborn clothes.  My hair is getting slightly thinner on top but I think there's still plenty left.  Overall, I think life is pretty good!

 (I tried to stay sitting up but as you can see, it didn't last long.)

School Picture

Rease's kindergarten picture.  Isn't she just about the cutest 5 year old you've ever seen?  I can't believe she's big enough for school pictures!  

Cabin time

We spent Labor Day weekend at the cabin this year.  The first BYU football game was Thursday night so it was a great start to our fun weekend.  We took Baby Keen with us and left the other kids home with Grammie.  So fun that football season is finally here!

We had a great rest of the weekend just hanging out and relaxing.  We spent some time around the fire roasting marshmallows and singing campfire songs.

These smores are delicious.

And messy!

Baby Keen found a comfy spot and slept a lot.

Liev spent some time listening to his music box.

We took the kids down to Trafalga and played miniature golf.  

We didn't keep score but it doesn't matter - everyone had a great time!

Us girls took half a day and went to Swiss Days in Midway.  We had a blast while the men stayed at the cabin with the kids - thanks guys for letting the girls have some time!

And we went on a walk/bike ride to Bridal Veil Falls.  The girls love riding their bikes and the weather was perfect for the ride.  

We put our feet in the water even though its freezing!

The canyon was beautiful!

Great way to finish off our fun weekend! 

Rease's first day of kindergarten

Rease was super excited about her first day of kindergarten.  She is going to Oak Hollow Elementary this year which is just a few minutes down the road from us.  She gets to ride the bus this year but I dropped her off for her first day.

 This is the kindergarten playground and is also where they meet to go into class. 

 She's all lined up with her class and ready to start!

 I'm so proud of my big girl and Rhen is also proud of her sister.  Had to get a picture with these sweet sisters.

This is Rease's teacher Mrs. Dunn.  We went into the classroom the week before school started and got to meet her and tour around the classroom and the school.  She seems great and I'm sure she'll be an awesome teacher for Rease.

 I got a picture of Rease as she got off the bus from her first day of school.  She is the only one that gets off at our stop.  She was very excited to tell me all about her day at school and also her ride on the bus.  This is going to be a great year for her!

Rease seems so grown up to me lately.  And especially now that she is in school I'm realizing that she really is growing up and isn't my baby girl anymore.  We love you Rease!

Rainbow

We've had some pretty cool thunderstorms lately and even though the girls get scared, they love to watch the thunder and lightning with Josh.  They were super excited today to find that, after the thunder and lightning were gone, a rainbow was left.  And if you look close, it's actually a double rainbow and that's even more cool.

Big sis

Is there anything cuter than this big sister?  And this cross-eyed boy?

I don't think there is.

Neighbor kids

Our old neighbor friends, Hunter and Carson, were in the neighborhood this week and our kids had so much fun getting back together with them.  Misty took them to the pool and then they hung out at her house and had popsicles.  What a cute bunch!

I was trying to get a picture of Keen with his eyes open since it is pretty rare to see that.  I ended up with a lot of sleepy ones but still, what a darling boy we have!

It's a man purse

Josh hates that Liev likes to play with girl toys.  I don't mind - especially since our supply of girl toys outnumbers our boy toys at least 10 to 1, so its really just a matter of choosing from what there is most of.  Plus you always need a purse to carry around all your things.  Looks good on you buddy!

Prayer time

Liev just learned how to "kneel up" for prayer.  Such a cute little guy on his knees ready to pray.

And this is how he says "amen"  Like he's celebrating. 

On the Trail

So I took a week off after I had Keen, but now I'm feeling like I gotta get out of the house.  So the kids and I pack up the car with the stroller, bikes, water and snacks and hit the trail every morning.  We walk up to .5 mile and back - not too far.  But it's good for us to be out and about and for all of us to be getting some exercise.  Rhen had a hard time the first day making it all the way on her little bike, but since then she has been awesome and tells me now, "mom my legs are getting so strong and I'm getting so healthy!" 

This is our halfway bench that we stop at and have a drink and a snack.  We look forward to it.  Its our little break from the work. 

This has been such a fun week for me with my 4 little kids.  Rease is going to start school in a couple weeks so we won't have much of this mommy-and-all-4-kids time after that.  For now, I'm so happy to be a mom to these babies and to have time to be outdoors with them and talk, laugh and just love hanging out with each other.  

Grocery Shopping

I'm not sure how grocery shopping is going to go now that I have 4 little rugrats.  Luckily Josh has been hanging out a lot with the girls and leaving the boys with me so I have only had to figure it out with the 2 of them.  Even so, this is not easy.

Especially for this little Buddy. 

We'll have to figure something out, but for now he seems content to be surrounded by snacks.

Bath time

I love newborns for a lot of reasons.  This is one of them.  The fact that Keen can fit in the sink to take a bath makes me happy. 

Popsicles

What's better on a hot summer day than eating popsicles? I'd say nothing beats that! Rhen calls these "rocket ship" popsicles and the kids love them. (I make them take their clothes off because they make a huge mess - they're not too old to be in just undies right?)

Liev manages to make the biggest mess and I figured out why. He doesn't just eat the popsicle, he has to stick his fingers in it first. Why not?

We're going to miss these summer days!