Asher's new tricks

Asher is in such a fun adorable stage.  He's started to roll over and he's started growling.  It's so funny to growl back at him.  We really love this little one, and we're so lucky to have him!

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5 months

Sweet Asher is 5 months old today. It's going so fast.

At 5 months:
Asher continues to be loved (sometimes too much so) by everyone at our house
He likes being talked to and entertained
Wears size 2 diapers
Wears 3-6 month clothes
Weighs 14 lbs. (13th percentile for both height and weight)
Sleeps when he wants to
Eats when he wants to
Makes us all happy

Parenting observations

I should be posting about Emery's baptism, and our awesome Thanksgiving, but instead, I'm sharing this little tidbit of hilariousness.  It's a fantastic comparison between having your first child and having your second, and oh, so true!  I especially loved numbers 4, 8, and 9.

Enjoy!

http://www.scarymommy.com/the-first-child/

Want to get a little cash back this holiday season?

I've been using ebates for a while now, and if you don't use it, you should.  Here's how it works.  Go to ebates (just click the blue ebates link) and sign up.  Then, find the store you want to shop.  Click the link, and go shop.  Use it EVERY.TIME.YOU.SHOP!  Then, in a few months, ebates will send you a check in the mail.  If you tell your friends, and they use ebates, you get additional cash back.  It's awesome.  We've done a bit of online shopping in the last few weeks, and in January I'm getting a pretty sizable check. (Like more than $40!) 

Happy shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

We had a super great Thanksgiving day!  The food was delicious, the company was fantastic (Grammy, Papa, and Great-Grandma), and my heart is full!  Clint's grandma made the drive from Chadron (she hasn't made a drive this long in years) and it is so fun to have her here!  I especially love that she's going to be here for Emery's baptism, she sure is special to us!

Two notes about the picture:

1. I haven't taken a picture of my parents with the kids yet--but will on Saturday when everyone is looking spiffy.

2. I love that my 8 year old is the one with his hands in his mouth.

Emery's getting baptized

Saturday at 9 AM at the Cheyenne Stake Center on Western Hills Blvd.  If you're local and in town, we'd love to have you.  If your not local, we're very sad you won't be here.

Beauty parlor

When Saya and Asher are old, I want to remember this. While I was trying to make dinner to deliver in our ward, Saya beautified Asher with the blow dryer and lipstick.  She also shared all her toys with him.  He was happy and content to have the attention. It was adorable, even if his head was covered with angry red blotches from Saya being a bit wild with her beauty tools.

The bees

My patient husband takes all my craziness is stride. In February I was perusing Craigslist (I think for a riding lawn mower) and I found an ad for a local company selling beehive set-ups.  I told Clint I wanted one and he said yes.  In May we picked up everything, including a bike of bees (that's really what they're called...also a cluster, an erst, and a rabble). We set it all up at the edge of the garden.  I read a book about keeping bees and we've done a lot of google searches.  We even dealt with some robbing (another drift of bees was stealing honey from our hive).
We had a little help from our sister-in-law (thanks, Michelle) and harvested the hive in September. We got a full gallon which was thrilling for us.  We took several more frames in October, so in all we collected 2 gallons.  It's beautiful and delicious.  It smells wonderful. 
We're hopeful that the bees will winter well and we can get even more honey next year.

The garden

One of my goals for the year was to get 500 units (bottles, bags, individual squash/onions, etc.) from our garden.  It was tricky with a new baby, but we did a lot!
In bottles:
50 pints of tomatoes
36 quarts of vegetable barley soup
More than 100 quarts of beans
18 pints of zucchini tomato salsa
12 half pints of jalapeno jelly
In the freezer:
50 pints of corn
50 pints of peas
10 bags of shredded zucchini
Stored as grown:
100 onions, tied up in the garage
15 gallons of potatoes
9 huge pumpkins
1/4 row of parsnips (still in the ground
1/4 row of carrots (still in the ground)
More than 100 squash including banana, acorn, butternut, and spaghetti
This doesn't include all the things we ate fresh: lettuce, spinach, peas, tomatoes, pico de gallo, zucchini, bell peppers, cucumbers, and three little raspberries.

Today...

...this is my view and I love my job!

Cooing

Asher has figured out he has a voice.  It's the sweetest thing.  I love this baby!

Let's play who's who

Four babies, all taken between 3-5 months

It's obvious that they all belong, but do you know who is who?

It's great to be 8!!!

My sweet darling boy is 8! I say it at every birthday, for every kid, but seriously, why is time going so quickly?  How on earth have 8 years passed since this little cutie was born? 

 Clint had night class tonight (it seems like he's teaching on every birthday) so we had birthday dinner and cake last night.  Emery chose Italian Mushroom Skillet with bread sticks and salad for dinner and pineapple (sunshine lemon) cake for dessert.  He loved it.

 Today for school treats, we took red velvet cupcakes (he only picked them because he loves red and thought that red cupcakes sounded cool) with butter cream and red sprinkles.  I found a printable of Lego Ninjago figures that I could print, and those went on top.  Everyone in the class thought they were super cool.

Most of Emery's presents this year are tied to his baptism (November 30 at 9 AM and you're invited!) so the only present he opened today was a subscription to National Geographic Kids Magazine.  He's been pouring over it all afternoon and evening telling me all sorts of random facts that he finds fascinating.  That gift came from Chani, Saya, and Asher.  He also got his new suit, but that's kind of a lame gift when you're a kid. 


Emery turns 3
Emery turns 4
Emery turns 5
Emery turns 6
Emery turns 7

Four months

Oh my goodness!  I feel like time is flying by with this little love!  More than with the others, maybe because he's the baby, or because life is so chaotic all the time, or because with kids in school we're so busy.  We're loving every minute of it, though!

At 4 months, Asher is

Not sleeping through the night (normal for my kids)
Going to bed between 6-7 PM
Wearing size 2 diapers
Wearing 3-6 month clothes
Napping when/wherever he can
Rolling from belly to back in his crib
Smiling at whoever will get in his personal space and talk to him
Losing all the hair on the back and sides of his head
Nursing exclusivly
Cooing and jabbering
Still being smothered with love by everyone who lives here

I can't make this stuff up...

Saya was playing with a pull back car and the wheels were sticking. She brought it to Clint and said, "It needs batteries."

All she wants for Christmas...

Chani has lost her top two front teeth in the past 7 days. She can still whistle and isn't very lispy.

Saya says...

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well. Saya asked for cold cereal for lunch and I set her up with a bowl of mini wheats. I then settled on the couch to feed Asher. I couldn't see her, so when I heard a crinkle of plastic, I asked, "Saya, what are you doing." The reply was priceless! "Um, messing around."

She also started calling me Mrs. Reading yesterday.

Halloween 2013

Happy Halloweem from Harry Potter, the resident artist, and Larry Bird!

Corn Maze

Saturday was a super fun day!  We went down to Colorado, first to a Lego Build at Toys-R-Us.  Emery was in heaven, and the girls were happy to check out every toy in the store!  Christmas lists were started and we didn't even buy anything.  Score!
 
Clint runs a race in the fall at a local-ish farm. It's a rehab farm where homeless people and addicts can recover and learn skills before returning to society.  Their big fundraiser is the fall festival. They have a nice corn maze (the early snow was really hard on it this year), pumpkin smash, corn cannons, petting zoo, barrel tractor rides, and awesome kettle corn.

We braved the mud Saturday and took the kids. Emery and Chani had a fantastic time getting lost in the maze.  Saya wanted popcorn from the second we walked in the gate. She was happy to sit with me watching the goats and eating popcorn while I fed Asher.  The kids got to help chase pigs in the pig race. Their pig, "Hamlet" took second.  We took a few pictures in the giant rocking chair and headed home. Chani said it was the best day ever.

Chasing pigs (Chani in pink, Emery in black)

Cheering for the big kids while they chased the pigs....also eating kettle corn

Asher, Emery, Saya, and Chani

Cute little veggies!

Asher's Blessing

We had  a really nice weekend for Asher's blessing.  It was nice to have family here to share in Asher's special day.  Our visitors included: Grandma, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Michelle, Josh, Ali, Nate, Grammy, Papa, Aunt Shelly, Uncle Jim, Lexi, Kamri, Aunt Cathrynn, Uncle Jake, Thing 1, Thing 2, Baby P, Aunt Leandra, Hannah, Maylee, and Olivia.  Clint gave Asher a beautiful blessing.  The one thing that really stood out to both Clint and I was that Asher was told he'll be happy and make people happy.

We had a delicious lunch of roasted chicken, salads, beans, and lots of tasty desserts.  We're grateful for everyone who was with us both in person and in spirit.  Cathrynn and Jake had a rough travel experience, but it was so nice to have them here.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 had their birthday while here, and we tried to make it special with cupcakes and singing and presents.
 

 It was a bit windy but such a nice fall day.  Our little family of six.

 This is the O face, Emery used to make it too. 

 Looking handsome in his cute blessing outfit.  I could not have finished it without lots of help from my mom!

A picture of Grandma with the grand kids that were here.  I love shots like this.  Sure it's not perfectly posed and not everyone has the best eye contact and smile, but that's what makes it real.

Chani turns six!

On Wednesday (back at the end of August), Chani turned 6!  Clint had night class, so we talked Chani into postponing most of the birthday celebration until the weekend when we knew we had a lot of family coming in for Asher's blessing.  She was fine with that.  On Wednesday, she opened the presents from Asher, Saya, and Emery.  She got barrettes, headbands, and some necklaces, bracelets, and rings.  She was thrilled. 

 

On Saturday, she couldn't wait until her cousins arrived.  There were some hiccups in travel, so everyone arrived later than originally planned.  We had lunch and then did presents, cake, and ice cream.  Chani decided months ago that she really wanted an American Girl doll.  We made a deal.  If she saved half the money, we'd pay the rest for her birthday to get her doll.  She did it!  So, she got a doll that has blue eyes, bangs, short blonde hair, and earrings, just like her.  She is loving "Sarah"!  She also got a new dress from Grammy and Papa, Barbie Lego's from Grandma, AG clothes from Aunt Shelly and Uncle Jim, and a cool pink unicorn from Aunt Cathrynn and Uncle Jake. 

Chani wanted a butterfly cake.  I had every intention of buying a butterfly cake pan, but we just ran out of time before Saturday.  I asked if she would agree to use a regular cake pan if she got to decorate it with candy and frosting.  She loved the idea and the cake turned out just how she wanted it.  It was loaded with skittles and jelly beans.  

After presents, we all (and I mean 20+ of us) went mini golfing.  It was fun, and the kids had a blast!  Except at the beginning when Emery dropped his ball in the grate of the last hole.  We got a new ball and all the fun was restored.

All in all, Chani had a fantastic 6th birthday.  Thanks to everyone who was able to travel to be here for her special day!

Saya turns two!

Sweet Saya Brynn turned two today.  I still can't figure out where my baby went.  My big girl had a fantastic day and soaked up every bit of the attention showered on her.  Before we get to the birthday rundown, a few tidbits about my girl.

The past few weeks, when she's mad at someone she shouts, "No (insert name of person she's mad at) Brynn!"  Example: She was mad at Clint for whatever reason and she shouted, "NO Daddy Brynn!!!"  She was mad.

She loves to hold Asher for about .23 seconds.  At which point she shoves him at me saying, "I done already."  She also uses this when she doesn't want to stay in bed for her naps.

When she's sad and needs a love she says, "Hold you me."

Saya loves to come in and say good morning.  Usually while I'm feeding Asher.  Then she climbs on the bed.  She likes when I take pictures of her and let her see them.  It was her birthday this morning, so I obliged.

We had a super fun time at The Children's Village this morning.  All the kids fell down in the water (where the signs clearly say, "wading only to your knees allowed.") and were soaked when we got done.  I wasn't too worried about it though, I felt worse for the daycare kids that fell in.  It was in the 90's so they needed a little cooling off.

Super excited about the little baggie of PegBuddies Princesses she got. These are seriously the best quite toy in existence.  Rachel is amazingly talented and will do lots of custom orders.  If you don't know what to give as a gift, this is it!

This box came inside an even bigger box from Amazon.  It killed Chani and Emery that we just let the box sit for a week without opening it.  The punks Emery and Chani had the box open before Saya was done unwrapping the rest of her gifts.  Because I didn't open the box ahead of time, I didn't know it needed some assembling.

She was happy to wait, and this reaction was priceless.  She loaded the cart up with all her other presents and off she went.  She loves it!  Thanks, KaLee for having one so I could steal the idea.

Saya has become enamored with lady bugs this summer in our garden.  She calls them "baby bugs" which is so cute.  When I saw this cake pan, I knew it was the cake for her.  She was thrilled.  After one bite of dinner she said, "I done already.  Cake!"  We held her off and she was happy to share cake with her buddy Khloe (who I didn't get a picture of, darn it!).

I'd call it a successful day when the birthday girl is so wiped out that when she falls out of bed, she doesn't even wake up!

When Saya turned one (and I didn't even blog about her special day)

When Saya was born

One month

I wrote a really nice post on August 16 (when it really was one month) but my phone ate it.  I can't get it to publish and it won't delete.  Dang technology!  It will probably post in 39 days.

Asher is one month old.  I can't believe how fast it's going.  He's such a sweet baby and we are all pretty smitten with him. 

At one month Asher is:

wearing size 1 diapers
growing out of newborn clothes and drowning in 0-3 month clothes
weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. (yes, that's 2 lbs in one month)
happy to eat every 2-3 hours (day and night)
loving his binky
enjoying awake time in the bouncer (he likes to be up so he can see what's happening)
slowly warming up to the idea of baths
snuggling with mom and dad whenever he can
being loved constantly by his brother and sisters
melting every heart in this house