And Then There Were Three...

So this post is way overdue, but here is our newest little addition, Sorena. She's a couple months old now, but here are a couple of my favorites of her as a newborn. Ashley STILL can't get enough of her. She gets so excited every time she sees her and just wants to hold her and touch her little fingers. Today she kept touching Sorena's cheeks at the same time and telling me, "Smiling at me, smiling at me!" She was so very proud of herself. Jonathon just loves her, as well, and wants to show her his toys and touch her soft hair. What a sweetie.

Easter Festivities

While they didn't quite understand why they were turning their eggs different colors, Jonathon and Ashley were both quite willing to dip, dunk and pour dye all over their eggs. Ashley only wanted to dip one end of each egg and then blow on it. Jonathon preferred the less messy way of spooning dye over the top of the eggs to turn them blue. And since blue is his favorite color, he refused to use any other color.



As soon as they were done coloring the eggs, they figured it must be time to eat the eggs. Ashley started cracking them before the dye was even dry. Needless to say, the hardboiled eggs did not make it out to the Easter Egg Hunt.


The kids made quick work of finding the hidden eggs with their cousins, though the one year olds did take a break from the hunt once they realized there was candy inside the eggs that they could eat. Their brother and sister were quite willing to help find the extra eggs.

Thoughts on Breathing

Breathing is something that I take for granted all day, every day...that is, until my doctor informed me that my little one year old was wheezing and could hardly breathe and needed to start breathing treatments immediately. Talk about feeling like a bad mother - I originally took her in for an ear infection!

While I liked the cute little face on the mask, it didn't make it any easier convincing Ashley that she should wear it. The poor little thing screamed and cried for all she was worth until she finally fell asleep right there in the doctor's office. The doctor told me later that the little two year old in the room next door kept saying, "Baby is crying, baby is crying..." Though it came out, "frying" instead of "crying". No matter how many times she tried to tell him that the baby was okay, he was still so concerned about her. I love little kids!

Thankfully, Ashley got used to the breathing mask pretty quickly, as long as she got to watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood or Mommy & Me while attached to it. As soon as I get out the mask or the nebulizer machine, she walks over and turns on the TV. I'm pretty sure I have started a nasty little habit.

The good news is that Ashley is now breathing well on her own and her Bronchiolitis is gone. After about a week, she was back to breathing all on her own. YEAH!

St. George Weekend

We took a little family trip to St. George this past weekend to cheer on Shelly, Tiffany and Brent as they ran the St. George half marathon. It was a great excuse to get together with family from across the country!

While we were waiting or them to check in and map out the race, the four of us stopped by the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum. Jonathon didn't think that watching people run counted as doing something fun on vacation. He wanted to see animals. We found this place as we were driving into town and it was quite the find.





Not only did we get to see SOOOO many animals, but the kids got to pretend to be animals (wearing the furs) and pretend to be mighty hunters. We had a wonderful time and Jonathon decided that this could now be considered a "real" vacation!




































The next morning we were off to the race bright and early. At the beginning of the race I had a little twing of jealousy and was wishing I had trained to race, as well. But after I saw the hills in the neighborhoods around miles 8-10, I started thinking that hanging out with the rest of the family, chasing the runners in the car was perhaps a better decision after all!
























We had a great time cheering on the crew as they ran by - though Jonathon preferred finding sticks for digging in the mud to watching random people darting by.










































In the end, all three runners did great in the race. Brent went a little TOO fast and we didn't even realize we missed him entirely at the finish line because we didn't think he would be there yet. Way to go guys! Huge accomplishment!

Shooting Turkeys

I came across the cutest idea for making turkey sugar cookies and I knew Jonathon would love it. So I got everything ready so we could make them a few days before Thanksgiving. This didn't work so I thought for sure we could make them on Thanksgiving Day. I even baked the cookies - and that is as far as we got. So, finally a few days later, I baked some more cookies and we tried again. As I suspected, Jonathon loved it!

After he finished putting the feathers on each cookie he would pull his little pistol from its holster, take aim, and shoot the turkey. The poor things didn't stand a chance. It was hilarious! I don't know where he came up with the idea.

Sledding!

Admittedly, Jared is usually the one that runs around outside pulling the kids on the sleds (this is what happens when your yard is mostly flat!) However, the snow came mid-week and the kids just couldn't wait. Ashley was trying to bust out the back door any way she could, with or without me. And Jonathon figured all he needed was boots to go with his pajamas and he was good to go. So, it was time to bundle up and head outside (at 9:00 in the morning!).


Aside from the fact that Ashley kept falling back onto Jonathon, they had a great time in the sled. I even got a good workout, so it worked for everyone. We had so much fun!

Playing in the Leaves

The best part of fall (according to Jonathon) is raking up all of the leaves so you can play with them. It is so funny to watch him diligently helping daddy rake the leaves and then make an absolute mess of the pile of leaves as he rolls in, on and around the leaves and throws them every which way. Ashley was not quite sure what this pile of leaves was all about but she really wanted to find out. In the end, she really just wanted to find out what they tasted like!