Random stuff & BIG news!

Spring is coming and we are so happy to be back outside again!! We've been busy lately - here's some of what we've been up to:

The girls had "dress like a character" day at school. Nora was Fancy Nancy and Sophie was Annie from the Magic Tree House books.

Wes is an expert sitter and is enjoying his new view of the world.

Love his cute chunky thighs.

The girls have had some 1/2 days off of school so on this day they put together a little circus for me. Nora is the tight rope walker and Sophie is holding the spotlight.
This provided entertainment for a very long time (notice the board Nora is walking on. She found it downstairs and spent a very long time decorating it).

Miles and Wesley were "playing" in their room together and Miles ran into the kitchen and brought in some hot pads and lay them down in front of Wesley. I asked him what they were for and he said, "Weswey is getting spit on the carpet." :)

We've spent some time playing with friends! This is our neighbor Benny who can't get close enough to Wesley. When they are together Benny spends most of his time trying to pat Wesley on the head. Cute little buddies!

Nora decided to wear my rain boots over the top of hers and they got pretty stuck. Brian had to use my hair dryer and dry the inside before they would pull off.

Brian went to Madison, Wisconsin and El Paso, Texas for interviews and got offered a job at both colleges. Yesterday we decided on Wisconsin and are very excited. It is the number one school in Brian's program so it will be a good move for our family and for his career. I'm quite proud of him and how hard he works at what he does. He's pretty awesome. So we'll be packing up and heading out of Michigan sometime this summer. We'll sure miss what we have here. I can't think about it yet because I start crying when I do. But it will be good to go on to the next chapter of our lives and not be in school anymore.

Kisses!

Naunie sent these fun suckers and they were a hit. Thanks Naunie!

It's great to be (almost) 8!!

Sophie had her "It's great to be Eight" program on Sunday in preparation for her baptism this summer. So weird this girl is getting baptized this year! When we first moved here I remember Brian and I talking in the car on our way out and saying how crazy it was that we'd be here right up until Sophie's baptism. Funny how it seems like that was last week! She's excited for her baptism and has already made some arrangements for it - she's such a planner. We sure love her and are so proud of what a wonderful girl she is!

Kids

Just a random update on the kids...
Sophie is growing up. It seems something happened when she turned 7 and she has been trying to figure how being older works. For a few months she was just a little bit annoying (still cute) but if you have a seven year old you know what I am talking about. She seems to have it figured out now and has been really fun lately. She says the funniest things and I love having conversations with her. Right now she uses the word "eventually" a lot and loves reading Brian's Calvin & Hobbes comic books. The other night she was reading one and called Brian in to explain it to her - some of them are too complex for her - and I went in because Brian was on the phone. She asked me what one of the comics meant and I honestly wasn't sure so I said, "Just skip the ones you don' get" and she said, "Well that's why I asked daddy to come in." She is always drawing pictures, writing notes or stories and is always making big plans.

Nora loves being outside no matter the weather. I swear she has an attention span of two seconds unless it is something she's really interested in and then she can sit in one spot doing the same thing forever. For example she can never sit still at dinner or during scripture reading, but can sit and color a picture forever, and yesterday she sat and sharpened her colored pencils for the entire sacrament meeting. She is very generous and I caught her trying to mail her hard earned money to her Naunie the other day. Whenever Miles or Wesley gets hurt she runs and gets her special Teddy Bear or Mouse and gives it to them to cheer them up. She is still generally easy going but has a quick temper when she feels like something isn't fair or she isn't being listened to. She's still very sensitive and cried the other day when I got frustrated with her for sitting on top of the doll house (which I had asked her several times not to do...) She's learning a lot in kindergarten and is loving having playdates with friends.

Miles is so fun to be with every day. He mostly likes to stay home but loves going to the YMCA or to the neighbors houses to play. He thinks it's great fun to say "Hello poo people!" (from Nanny McPhee Returns) and "Shake a shake a bum bum!" and singing the Veggie Tales theme song. He is usually playing trains or cars, doing puzzles, playing computer games or playing in the sink or bathtub. At bedtime he always calls me in and says, "I need to ax you something" which is followed by a random question like, "Do you chug along with Thomas?" or something of that sort. He is a good brother to Wes and likes to hold him and kiss him. He loves nursery, especially his teacher Sister Oady and her wind up toys.

Wesley is a happy baby and loves the attention he gets from his siblings. He loves the funny duck sound Nora makes and doesn't seem to not mind being mauled by all of them on a daily basis. He just got his two bottom teeth (sad) and loves eating baby food. He likes to stick out his tongue and go "la la la" with his tongue out. He's had a little flat spot on the back of his head so we've been doing stretches with him and taking him to the doctor a few times, it is pretty much better now and he's done with having extra appointments. Yay! He is a big smiler and so fun to snuggle with. I just wish he'd stop growing up so quick. My little baby is just getting too big.

He's Three!

Miles had a pretty great birthday yesterday! He started the morning off with his favorite cereal and a Thomas birthday hat:

Then we dropped the girls and dad off at school and went to the YMCA where he loves to play at the Tot Watch. Afterwards we stopped by the Quality Dairy for a birthday doughnut. He polished it off in the car so I got a picture of him just after finishing it (it must have been pretty fresh and yummy because he has never finished an entire doughnut all by himself!)

Then he watched a Thomas show while Wesley napped and I got ready. Then we went out to lunch at Wendy's together and ran to the grocery store where he got to ride in the TV cart (did you know they have those here?). Then we came back home to bake his birthday cake. He really wanted to help with it and had a plan for it. He wanted chocolate cake with blue frosting with sprinkles and dots and a real moving Thomas on it! :)

yummy!

He changed his mind and put Gordon on it in the end and we borrowed our neighbor's train tracks for the top. He was pretty happy with the end result, and since I am not one who likes to slave over cake decorating I loved it, too!

We also went to Jumpin Jax - which is one of his very favorite places to go. We didn't stay long but the kids were all worn out and red-cheeked when we left.

I didn't get a lot of pictures of present opening (I was taping instead) But he was so happy. He got some great new Thomas stuff to add to his train collection. We love this boy!!

Love day & other stuff

We had a fun Valentine's Day complete with heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, school parties, heart shaped cookies and Valentine's from neighbors. I didn't take many pictures because it was also a busy day. Here are a few from the past few days:

Nora is already mourning the fact that winter is almost over. I keep reminding her how much she loves grass and butterflies and flowers. She is building a snowman in the picture. I was watching her out our window and it was so cute because she was talking to herself the whole time she was doing this and had no clue she was being watched - or photographed.
Sophie, on the other hand, doesn't much care for the snow. She would rather cuddle up on the couch and read a book, or play with Wesley. She looks SO grown up in this picture. Where is my little girl?

Oh yes - there she is! I love missing teeth smiles.

Miles and I went to Nora's Chinese New Year parade at school and to her Valentine's day party. He fell asleep in the car right when we got to the school yesterday so I had to carry Wes in the carrier, Miles in one arm and two containers of cookies and frosting in the other arm. It was a good workout.

This is Nora's Chinese New Year parade.

Wesley really loves sweet potatoes!

What's going on.

I am so happy January is now over and I can say that Spring is next month! Yay!! Although for me it has gone by pretty quickly. Usually January seems to drag on and on and on.... but not this year! I am still actually enjoying the snow here. Here's what we've been doing:

Wesley had his first taste of baby food. He seemed to like it but didn't sleep well and had some digestive issues for a while so we've put it on hold for a few more days.

He loves grabbing his cute little feet!

Miles giving me his signature smile.

Sophie lost her other top tooth. It was seriously hanging sideways before we were able to pull it out. She now talks with a cute lisp.

Wesley has been giving us some bedtime problems. He really only sleeps well being held. I guess he's not perfect :) Not sure if it's been his ears (we did get his prescription filled after 2 rough nights) or what but we're working on fixing it ASAP.

Nora set up a tea party for all of us on the kitchen floor. Complete with name tags at each place. Wish I would have taken a picture of the whole thing. Super cute.

Sophie is teaching Wes to sit up. I found her doing this with a stopwatch and she was making him do it for one minute. :)

She also has been reading her chapter books to him. Which he seems to like! Here he is in his new bed - yep it's in the closet of the kids room. Now all four kids are in one room. Wesley still has a cradle in Brian and I's room but we are trying to transition him in there.

Our table seems so small now that we've put up Wesley's high chair. Definitely won't be taking this table with us when we move!

He likes sitting in his high chair where he can see us all. And I like how you can see the little dent in his forehead in this picture.

We had a big snowstorm that got a lot of fuss out here. School was canceled before the storm even hit and it was canceled again today (not sure why). It was a pretty big storm but I think we've had some in past years that were just as bad without all the hype.

Brian took Nora on a daddy daughter date last night because Sophie got to go to her first sleepover! She went to her friend Ellie's house (the only friend she has that we are comfortable with having sleepovers with because we know them so well).

And some funny pictures of Wesley playing with his toys at the table. The look on his face makes me smile!