Rylee

I can just hear her in this picture saying, "No Cohen, leave Tatter Tot alone!"

Playing with the sticker book Izzy left here with a Jack Sparrow bandanna on.

Tate was crying while I was cooking dinner. I looked in to see this. How sweet is she? She was even showing him the pictures while she "read."

This girl is a crack up. I won't say she is getting easier because every time I do she regresses. So let's just say we've been enjoying each other much more lately!

She is such a little mommy. She is constantly getting after Cohen, Ammon and actually everyone, all the time. "Cohen get down!" "Ammon mommy said NO!" You get the idea. She is a second mom in the house. If Tate is crying she runs to get his binky and says (in her baby voice), "You okay Tatter Tot?" She loves her baby brother so much. The other day I was nursing him so she grabbed one of her babies, pulled up her shirt and started nursing it. Every morning she lays with him in his bed before I get him out. She talks to him, holds his hand or reads him books. If I go in she says, "Get out of here" and points to the door.

She is a very good eater. I've started putting salad on her plate and she loves it and even eats it and wants more before she eats anything else on the plate. Her brothers still won't touch it.

Rylee is doing much better at not running away from me, though she still will once in a while. Now she can actually be out of the stroller when we are out and we can semi trust her not to run though we never take our eyes off of her. She also went #2 in the potty for the first time on Sunday. Progress! Next week is Spring Break so I plan on going full force then.

She is known for taking others food and anytime the boys have to get down from the table and go to the bathroom before they are done with their food they ask me to watch it so she won't get it. Yesterday she got down to get something and said to me, "Mommy don't eat my food." It was hilarious because she's the one who does that in this house. She is bossy, independent and loud.

Rylee is also such a great helper. If I need a diaper, burp cloth, toilet paper, anything and I ask her to get it she is gone in a flash. She loves to help. She also repeats everything I say to her back to me and then if I say no she always, always ask, "Why mommy?" That's getting old. She is so full of energy. She never walks anywhere, always a run.

She is still a wonderful sleeper and is finally out of her crib. Now she sleeps on a big bed and doesn't want us to shut the door. So we leave it open, lay her down at 7:30 and she just lays there until she falls asleep. This is pretty amazing considering the busy girl she has always been.

Rylee loves to dance and sing. She stands on my coffee table and rocks out. At church she opens the hymn book and sings (yells) at the top of her lungs and dances! She also loves to say prayers though you often can't understand what she is saying besides, Heavenly Father and Amen. If someone else says the prayer she gets upsets so we usually have two prayers. This even happens at church in sacrament. She loves to tease us and will say back and forth, "I'm mommy's girl, no I'm daddy's girl." She always says she's pretty or cute and is so girly but yet so tough.

She still drives us crazy but what would we do without her!

walkathon

Every year Windsor school district has a walkathon to raise money for the schools. It's a fun event for the whole family. We bring our bob stroller and walk four laps while a DJ plays music. Each lap they give the kids otter pops and prizes. Ammon and Jody even ran a few laps this year. After 4 laps (yes that's all) the kids go on jumpy houses, eat hot dogs, and play with their friends. Rylee was rocking out to the music, as she always does whenever she hears a beat. We love our community.

March 17th

St. Patrick's day and my birthday were wonderful. It was a gorgeous, warm day. My first call of the day was from a sweet little British girl in London, "Happy birthday Auntie Kelly!" Then I was able to skype with Lindsey, Iz and O. I spent the morning at Ammon's class party. Pictured above is his leprechaun trap. His teacher told me that the minute he got to school he stuck his hand in the hole and tried to find a leprechaun. What if he would have found one? I have to give Jody the credit for the trap. He worked very hard on it. Later I picked the kids up from school and met my friend Kelly at the park. She was thoughtful and brought deli sandwiches. Then I went home took a short nap, read a book and took Ammon to baseball practice. After practice we dropped the kids off at a friend's house and went to John Ash. I ordered pecan encrusted filet mignon, yum. It was just a nice simple day. Many friends and family called to send birthday wishes. Nice birthday cards from my both of sets of my grandparents and inlaws. I felt so very loved.

Last weekend we drove up to Humboldt to spend some time with my parents. Jody has been working up there a few times a month and I couldn't stand the thought of staying home alone again. When he goes he can get a hotel so the first two nights we stayed at the hotel and the two older boys stayed with my parents. To say the kids love going to my parents house is an understatement. The day we left to drive home Ammon said, "this is the worst day ever." Then he cried, as he always does, as we left. Cohen is so funny, he just says goodbye with a smile on his face and jumps in the car.

Rylee is hilarious with my dad. Whenever we are going to see him, after it's been a while, she freaks out. She always gets really nervous, scared and shaky and says, "Grandpa not going to get me?" So when we pulled up to my parents house she instantly started crying. I kept telling her that Grandpa wasn't there. I had to drag her out of the car and then as we got to the door she ran back to the car saying, "I going to get back in the car." We aren't sure why she freaks out like this because five minutes after being around my dad she won't leave him alone! She was all over him. She has been like this since she was a baby. Funny girl.

I was able to spend some quality time with my BFF Tasha and her family. My kids love to play with her kids who are always over at their grandparents who live next to my parents! Get it? Anyway it works out perfectly. We went with our mom's to the crepery for lunch one day. It is my favorite place to eat. Jody and I were also able to go to my favorite restaurant, Abruzzi, one night. I love free babysitting!

Saturday night my mom, who was exhausted from working all week, made me my favorite dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, jello, and stuffing. It was delicious! Such a good mom.

My dad took the boys on bike rides, gopher hunting, to the fish hatchery and up to freshwater lagoon to go fishing. No wonder Ammon never wants to leave.

happy 30th to me.

Tomorrow I turn thirty. Yesterday I pushed the numbers 29 on the eliptical at the gym for the last time because tomorrow I turn thirty. Barf. Jody is asleep next to me and I told him that I don't want to go to bed because I have two more hours to live out my twenties. YUCK. Thirty isn't so bad it's just the fact that the next big milestone is forty. And I really liked my last few years in my twenties. It's scary getting older especially when you realize you're only a 1/100th of the person you would like to be. Not that I don't like myself but I just would like to be so much better than I am. Not the stuff that doesn't really matter, that you won't take with you when you die like becoming a better house cleaner, cook, photographer, or sewer. But more on the lines of being a better mother, wife, more giving and understanding, less selfish, more Christlike, a better teacher, better student, more patient, more knowledgeable in the scriptures (or knowledgeable at all in them). But I guess that's why (I hope) I will get at least fifty more years to become that person.

Really thirty? I thought thirty year olds were a lot more mature and way less fun. Here's to thirty.

Happy St. Patty's day!

My baby is 6 months old

Do you hear me crying? Well if you could hear me that's what you would hear! Almost every minute of this little boys life has been pure joy for me. Seriously I just adore him. He is an angel. I kiss him a bazillion times a day.

He is such a good mix of his brothers. He is so white, just like Ammon was (we used to call Ammon white boy). But he has his brother Cohen's beautiful blue eyes. Who knows where he got the cleft chin. But I love it.

At six months:

He rolls over (fell off of the bed at my parents house).

Is eating solids once a day (not sure if he likes them yet).

Still stuffs both of his hands in his mouth at once!

When he's tired we just lay him down in his bed and he goes to sleep.

Takes 3-4 naps a day.

Only cries if he is hungry or tired.

Was sleeping through the night until we went to my parents last weekend....

Loves to look at himself in the mirror.

Snuggles much more then my other kids did as babies.

75% in height

10% in weight

50% in head

So mellow, so sweet and so very happy.

You may think I'm crazy. But is he seriously my last baby? I'm not sure. Jody is. But I'm not. With each one I fall more and more in love with the baby stage. I do need a break though. So ask me in three years.

Happy six months Tate!

Hi There

Cohen had fun taking these pictures. After letting him take a few Rylee thought she needed a turn as well.

Fold Laundry or post on the blog? Ah what the heck. The laundry can wait. At least it's clean. We had an impromptu shoot the other day when the sun peaked it's way through our windows. Sun is a welcome sight these days. Too much rain makes a mommy crazy!

Have you read the Hunger Games? I just finished the second book of the trilogy (third comes out in August) and I absolutely loved it. One of those books you can't put down and fly through. I found myself skipping ahead a paragraph or two to read what was next. Read it.

I'm sad the Olympics are over. I stayed up late every night watching them. My favorites were the snowboarding, skiing, and speed racing. Love Apollo.

I'm a reality show junky. I really don't watch any sitcom's. American Idol, Bachelor (yuck, thinking of Vienna makes me want to barf, wonder if Allie had stayed if things would have turned out differently), Survivor and the Biggest Loser (my friends nephew, Koli, is on it this season) to name a few.

Life with four kids is crazy. And everywhere I go people can't believe I have four kids. No one has four kids anymore, at least not where we live. Somehow we are doing it. One of the best parts of having children is seeing them interact together. Don't get me wrong they fight too. But they are also best friends. Ammon and Cohen are so close. They have so much fun together and love each other so much. Each of the kids adore Tate and when Ammon is at school Rylee and Cohen play pretty well together. Sometimes I get so sad thinking of them growing up but then I realize how much work having kids is and know that I couldn't do it forever. They have to grow up at some point. I just love them so much. Imagining not being able to hold them and hug or kiss them when I want makes my heart hurt.