Funny things they "say"

We went to the Y today. The boys have swim lessons.  I guess they don't like the dressing rooms. As we pulled into the parking lot Tommy pipes up and says "Ok Charlie! Just take dad's hand and close your eyes". Yeah, I wouldn't want to see a bunch of naked old men either!!!

Penny's hair is finally long enough for "tony tails"....love that kid. 

Whenever Penny gets one of her sippy cups and it has beads of water running down the side she says, "Mama, there are raindrops on my cup!"

Have No Fear, Baby Jedi Knights Are Here!

Like brother, like sister.

The Children

 I am constantly in awe of the children.  Not a day goes by that I don't thank our Heavenly Father for these three little people, exactly these three little people! One of my all time favorite things to do is catching them loving on each other.  It is so sweet, not scripted, pure and loving.  I love the picture above.  Penny perched on top of Charlie's lap having just woke up from a nap and hugging her pink kitty (Uncle Jason and Nicole, this is her FAVORITE animal!!), and looking so peaceful on his lap.  Sure we have moments, on a daily basis!, where the kids are not getting along.  But we also have quiet, loving moments like these everyday too.

 Rituals:  Trent and I go in and check on the boys each night before we go to bed.  I don't know how many times I have stood over their beds and kissed them good night, ruffled their hair and covered  them up again.  They are so sweet and peaceful when they sleep and

 My quiet time buddy:  When Charlie is at school it is Tom, Penny and I.  Penny takes a good long nap in the day time so it is Tom and I for a good chunk of he day.  We amuse ourselves by watchng shows cuddled up on the couch together, taking closeup pictures  ourselves, playing games or taking a nap. This kid cracks me up, I don't know what I am going to do without him next year when he is in full day kindergarten :(

 Little Lady: T.R.O.U.B.L.E, of the sweetest variety.  We need to start preparing now!

 Siblings:  One of the best parts of my day is watching all three of our kids playing together.  Two of them are always together, with the third party getting some one on one time with a parent or some much needed alone time.  But when they all get together they are so fun to watch

 Tradition:  It would only be right if an older brothe shared his favorite show (Yo Gabba Gabba)with a youger sister.  It is so cute to see Tommy taking on the role of big brother with Penny, just like Charlie did with him. 

The kids are doing great!  They are so sweet and funny, all of them.  They keep us on our toes, warm our hearts and make us smile.  They also challange us to be better pearents and to do right by them.  They are true gifts!

17 months

Dearest Penelope Jane,
     You are growing so fast and I love watching you make new discoveries and learn new things.  You are sure footed now, practically running, into everything but also a very good listener and nicely follow directions.  I can ask you to go get your shoes and you will, if you have something gross in your mouth all I have to do is ask for it and you quickly obey and spit it out into my hand.  You run to your brothers and Daddy to give kisses and hugs goodnight and wave good bye to Charlie when we drop him off at school.
  You are repeating everything we say, picking up new words daily.  You love other little kids and love to be around them.  You have already hosted your first party and were dressed to the nines in Nie Nie's tutu.
  You love your family and give hugs and kisses sporatically throughout the day.  I love it when you hug me and gently pat or rub my back.  You are by far the sweetest girl there is. 
  You are happy and very laid back.  You rarely cry and when you do it is because you don't feel well or because you have decided to protest whatever it is that we are doing.  You are a fall out, thrash, kick and wail kind of tantrum thrower even though you rarely throw them and can usually be easily redirected.
  You are a good eater, still taking at least 4 bottles of Soy milk a day.  Down to one mid day nap 2-3 hour nap, bedtime is still around 6pm, up around midnight and then this week you have decided to sleep all the way through the night for 3 days in a row!!! 
  You are the light of our family, you bring each and everyone of us such joy.  Daddy and I love watching you with your brothers and already how much you love them and how much fun you all have together.  I pray that the three of you will remain best friends forever!

Love you always my sweet girl!
Mommy

Christmas Program at Tommy's school

Reading the Night Before Christmas

Anxiously waiting for Santa, ie hand in mouth because he is SO excited

When asked what they wanted for Christmas all the kids said a "surprise", I think they were nervous and just followed what the first kid said.  Tommy wasn't going to be a "follower" oh, no, he was going to make sure that Santa KNEW what he wanted the most....A Bobba Fett Costume :)

Penny wanted nothing to do with this Santa :)

For Grandpa

Dear Grandpa, 

If you think that you can keep me out of the "mix" of all you fellas for long, you are sadly mistaken.  I would like my own set of ear protection, in preferably pink or purple.  I suppose that black would do as well too.

And I am still waiting on that John Deere hat :)

Love,
Penny

Opening presents

Such a girlie girl, she was so proud of herself

She wanted her fuzzy socks on right away.

OnE

One

 *Our girl turned 1 on Nov 1.
*I can barely believe it. I think I am in denial actually.
*Penny is at such a cute and fun stage right now.  
*I am just loving every minute with her!
*Her first word is "Hi" and says it whenever she sees someone including the cat and dog.  And she not only says it with the sweetest little voice, but does so while giving you the biggest grin and waving her pudgy little fingers.
* I am a little late on writing this, I just couldn't bring myself to do it :)  But on November 15th, she actually crawled on all fours.  She has been doing the "army crawl" for the longest time.  She has gotten up on her knees and rocked back and forth but wouldn't take that first "crawl" until now.  And by the time I actually got around to posting this, she is crawling now more then doing the "army crawl".  But her favorite of mode of transportation is walking everywhere.  She has not taken any independent steps but loves for you to hold her hands and cruise the house.
*On 11/15 decided it was time to make the long crawl up the stairs!  Last week she made it up the first step but was hesitant to go any further.  I think Tommy coaching her from the top of the stairs and me holding onto her from the back of her shirt, gave her the incentive to make journey.  She was so proud of herself and so were Tommy and I!  We have entered a whole new era of baby proofing around here!
*At 11 months I weaned her from nursing and in a rather short period of time but she did great! I think it helped greatly that only Daddy fed her for about 2 weeks or so.  But now I am back to giving her bottles and enjoying our snuggles.  I truly miss nursing her, but I know that we had such a good run.  Nursing Penny was never complicated or difficult.  It came so naturally and I never worried about whether she was eating enough or not.  I fed her on demand for 11 months and truly enjoyed that time I spent with her.  It was a wonderful experience and I feel so blessed to have been able to do that for her as nursing has never been that effortless for me before!
*Penny loves to read books and her favorite lovie is a small teddy bear that we call Ted.
*She is still infatuated with her brothers and loves to play with them. Now that she is bigger they hold her under her arms and try to walk her around (with supervision!) and she loves to wrestle with them.
* The funniest thing about Penny is how "girlie" she already is.  The boys could care less about what they wear, but Penny gets all excited when I show her what she is wearing for the day.  She LOVES headbands and bows.  My Aunt sent her a pink shirt for her birthday and immediately after opening it, Penny put it on her head (she was trying to put it on) and had a huge smile, like "look at me and my pretty shirt".  She also loves shoes...I have a feeling we are really going to be in for it!
*She is eating really well and is far less picky then she was.  She still takes a bottle before both naps (I think in the next month or so she will be down to one nap, by 13 months she is pretty much down to one nap), before bed and usually wakes up again 2 times before morning, 7:30am.  She is also sleeping better with stretches of 5-6 hours.  Trent and I now share night duty so that I can catch up on a little sleep.  He is such a wonderful Daddy and has taken such good care of her and all the kiddos!

As of 13 months she is babbling a lot and actually trying to put words together.  She says Dada, Mom, Ni Ni (night, night), Nissss (nice), she grunts and tries to bark like a dog. She blows kisses, waves high, gives big hugs to Mama and loves to give nosies and butterfly kisses.


Dear Sweet Penny,
   I can't believe it has been a year since we were blessed to see your sweet face for the first time.  I knew immediately that you and I would be the bestest of friends and that God had graced us with your presence.  You are truly a gift and I thank God every.single.day for your precious life.  Daddy and I love you so very much.  We have vowed to stand beside you and support you, to always be there for you!  There is nothing more important to us then you and your sweet brothers.  You bring such a tenderness to our home and can settle even your wild boys with your adorable smile and laugh.  You are our answered prayer and we love you dearly.


Forever and Always!
Love,
Daddy and Mommy

Penny's First Birthday Party

Our little cupcake

We had a lot of fun at Penny's first birthday party!  We combined it with our annual Halloween party and it was a smashing hit.

We really tried to keep is simple this year, or at least tamed down then what I had originally planned.  I took my time and decorated the house over the month leading up to the big day.  I had fun making a Trick or Treat banner and making the back porch extra spooky with Trent.

I knew I needed to plan a few activities for the older kids to keep them out of trouble occupied.
 
Daddy made his famous graveyard that they had to walk through,

Tommy wanted to play skeleton limbo and they decorated Halloween picture frames.
After all that fun was had we paraded over to the playground down the street and did an eye ball hunt.  The kids went crazy filling their bags with chocolate eye balls.  It was a lot of fun!

 The kids also had fun just playing in the backyard and I think that Penny got passed around more then I actually got to hold her!  But I was happy to share her with everyone that loves her, especially on her big day!

Then it was time to sing to our birthday girl! I decided to not make a cake (gasp! I know) but instead made
mini ghost cupcakes for the kids and large candy corn cupcakes for the adults.

We also served

friendly ghost chocolate pretzels,

and Halloween sprinkled marshmallow pops.  Even though I made several different things, it was really much easier and only took about an hour to make it all.  A cut themed cake usually takes me 8 hours from start to finish.

And for the favor we wrapped up friendly witches hats cookies.

I did make a small smash cake just for Penny, a little pumpkin.  It was so funny to watch her daintily pick at it and gently lick her fingers.  The boys were literally covered in their cakes, but not our sweet little girl.  She certainly brings the tender side of things to our house!

The day went by so fast.  I was good to see our family and friends come and celebrate our sweet girl with us!  The day was really perfect, except for the fact that we were all starting to come down with a cold.  Penny was in good spirits and even surprised us at how willing she was to go to everyone (she sometimes gets overwhelmed with crowds), but she was off just a bit.  I think she had fun though and really enjoyed seeing all the kids.

Happy Birthday Penny!!  We love you so very much!!

Perfect Bliss

This morning I woke up to a small boy standing next to our bed. He was bending down as close as he could to my face, binki in mouth, he tried to whisper (the boy did NOT come with a volume control button!!), but try he did.  "Mama, is it twime to go to Wicoles (Nicole's). I wanna put on my costume.  Can I wear the mask AND the cape?"  It was 5:30am.

By 6:30am both boys were up and I strategically placed them on opposite ends of the couch with cups full of milk and a fruit bar.  I figured it would buy us another thirty minutes of sleep, as long as little sister kept on snoozing.

8:15am came with the hustle and bustle of book bags, coats and school shoes.  One last check to make sure the costume was in the bag where I said it would be and that the treats were ready to go.  Three carseats buckled, Daddy at the wheel, coffee in hand and we were off.

The air was cold, frost on the car windshield.  The sun was peeking out from behind a handful of clouds and the trees sparkled in jewel tones.  It was beautiful and I wished out loud that everyday could be like this.

Trent and Tommy spent most of the day on search of a last minute STAR WARS costume for Daddy.  After a few attempts they came home empty handed. But with a little imagination and a few yards of fabric we had a cape that would make any Emperor proud!

After a quick trip to Wicoles :) for Tommy to show off is Darth Vader costume, we were off to the Halloween parade at Charlie's school.  I don't know who was more excited, me or the kids!  Penny was a good sport and let us squeeze her into the cupcake costume that I had picked out for her a few weeks back.  Seems our little cupcake has had a growth spurt since :)

How fun it was to watch all the little kids come parading out of the school and around the park.  Charlie looked so proud when he saw us.  He immediately started posing and acting like the real Luke Sky Walker.  Light sabers weren't allowed at school, but that didn't keep Charlie from acting as if.  He was adorable!  We were so happy for him.

After our Halloween fun for the day it was time for party planning. While Penny napped I set to work making tasty treats for Penny's birthday party and putting on the last minute touches for our not so scary Halloween party.   When she awoke from her slumber she joined me in the kitchen while we finished up.  Daddy helped put the eyes on our ghosts and whipped up that last batch of cupcakes.  There is something about being in the kitchen with my family, especially with Trent.  I love it.

After a long day I started to feel my energy drop so I headed upstairs for a quick rest.  I laid there snuggled in between our flannel sheets, my head resting on Trent's pillow.  Downstairs I could hear Trent preparing dinner for the boys.   Tommy fussed that he had mustard on his hand, Trent got a wipe to clean him up and spoke sweetly to Penny from across the room.  Charlie's laughter filled the house, some show had him going.  My heart was full.

I gave Penny her bottle and snuggled her close.  Her hair is so soft and fuzzy against my check.  She reached up and patted my face then grasped my hand with her fingers.  When she was done she buried her face in my neck and gave me a hug, something new for her.  She then proceeded to "zerbert" my neck and blow raspberries.  A new trick and we both laughed.  She is the sweetest girl.

The boys needed second and third warnings.  Tommy held my hand and tried to keep sleep from his eyes.  I rubbed noses with him and he smiled underneath the bink.  I know he is too old, but I don't care.  He has one left and then these sweet last bits of baby will be gone.  I am going to hold onto them for as long as I can.  He quickly drifted off to sleep.

Trent carried in dinner.  Our Friday night usual, Chipotle.  After a few bites a small voice came from upstairs "Mama, I can't sleep.  Dada?"  I snuggled with Charlie for a few minutes and listened to him as he spoke about what costumes his friend wore, a video they watched about needs and wants, and HOW excited he was the Ben H. was coming to the party tomorrow.  I rubbed his head and settled him down a bit.

And now I sit with my honey on the couch.  He is watching another horror Halloween flick, and I am taking the opportunity to jot down the memories of a perfectly blissful day.

Today I choose Joy, it was an easy choice.
*written on Friday, October 28th

Tommy's First Field Trip to the Apple Farm

 Tommy's preschool went on their first field trip a few weeks ago.  He was SO excited and proud to be such a big boy!  He was so cute and when he wasn't climbing up one of the dozen or so tractors that he could test drive, he stuck pretty close to me.

 We have been to the apple farm fun fest before as a family, but that was 2 years ago and Tommy didn't remember all the fun.  There was so much to do and he went from each activity, mingling with some of his friends, happy to drive the tractors by himself :)

 My little farmer boy.  I think one of his favorite places in on a tractor, with his Grandpa of course. 

 Even Penny came along for the fun.  And fun we had! It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed spending time with Tommy and Penny.  Tommy was so sweet and was missing Charlie.  So, when we stopped at the little apple store before leaving, he picked out an orange tractor lollipop for his Big Bro.  So...sweet!