Auntie Erynne!

Ryan's sister has moved in with us for awhile. Ryan has been needing help with work and Erynne is smart and will catch on fast. It has been great having her here. My kids adore her. She brings such a nice spirit into our home. Since she has been here I have become more aware of how hilarious my children are.
In the car the other night Joseph pulled Emma's hair to wake her up and she replied with, "Joseph I do not appreciate that. Did I ask you to wake me up? No!" She wasn't yelling at him she was just exasperated. In the kids prayers they keep thanking Heavenly Father for their new sister. Sarah told Erynne, "I have always wanted an older sister. You have made my dream come true." The first few nights Joseph could not get over the fact that Aunt Erynne was sleeping in Emma's bed. He would get all excited and say,"Erynne in Emma's bed." And laugh his little devilish laugh.
It has been nice having her here to help with the kids too. She went to the grocery store with me the other day and it was great having a helping hand. And on another plus note she has decided to be in charge of the dinner dishes. Sweet! I am not a fan of the dishes.

Oh how the time flys!

Joshua is nine months
It is so funny to me what the kids tell me they hear Joshua say.
Joseph said, "Joshua said 'waffles'
Jared was playing with Joshua, they were playing with guys Jared got excited and told me "He said 'guys'"
Emma asked Joshua, "Is that good Joshua?" and she told me he said "good"
Joseph told Joshua,"I love you the other day when he was giving him squishes
*Joshua learned how to clap yesterday. We were playing patty cake and he joined right in.

*He walks all along the furniture but I think he still has aways to go before he is walking.
*When he is standing he loves to turn backwards to look at you and flop backwards. Kind of a bummer when he is on hard surfaces.
*He has 4 teeth and two more coming in soon.

*He weighs 24 lbs and is 29 inches long
*He is a gabber king. He loves to "Talk" and imitate what we say. It is funniest when he mimics the kids squeals.
*Ryan does is hair up in a mohawk, way cute.
*He gives big wet kisses to the kids, which they love.
*He licks just about everything.
*He now has a favorite food, Life cereal. Thanks Grandma!
*Joshua has a preference for food. Granted he loves to eat but he does not like to pick up slimy or slipper foods like peaches, carrots, or mac and cheese. (But really, does anyone like Mac and cheese?)

And here is my little crawling guy. He still crawls like a bull dog. I will miss that when he is no longer crawling.

Our happy little guy. He has really thinned out over the last few months.

Ryan wanted to get Joshua started early on web development.

Aunt Erynne came to stay with us for a couple of days. The kids love having her around. I think Emma looks a little bit like her.

Green with envy in Las Vegas!

What a wonderful weekend. We went to my parents for their unofficial farewell.

My mom is so much fun. She threw us a green party for St Patrick's day. All of the food she made was green, including mac and cheese. We had some yummy salads and my favorite was her split pea soup. I didn't even know I liked that.
She let the kids help her make green cupcakes. They loved it. She is so good to let them help!


My mom had this fun and very silly game we played. She had green dice. One said what to do and the other how to do it. For example, Laura's said drink playfully and Ryan's said to sing loudly.

I think my parents are so cute! And lovable too!

One of the prizes in the game was pop rocks. Joseph was so excited. He put his in water to see what it would do. "CANDY!"
It seems so funny to me that the older I get the more my sister and I look a like. She is so great. I love having a big sister to be able to talk to and relate with. We went to see a women speak Saturday morning . She is from Africa and she talked about some of the most heart wrenching things they do over their. I guess I have just been really naive. She was such a beautiful person. She has overcome so much and she has been able to do it because of her relationship with our Father in Heaven. She taught me to be grateful for the many blessings in my life. I also left wanting to do and be more.

After that we went shopping and to lunch. What a great way to spend time with my sister, mom and cousin Jean.

And here is the whole family that was their. We missed our brothers and SIL Maryann.
How cute is this. All the grand kids with grandma and grandpa.

What I want to do is get a picture of the grand kids when my parents get back on this same bench. Brady will be on his mission but everyone else will be their. I hopefully will have had my last child and maybe Chris and Maryann will have a little one to add.

We had a most wonderful time at my parents this weekend. They don't report to the MTC until the beginning of April. We had a really good visit. I truly am grateful to my parents and all that they have taught to me by example as well as their words. What a wonderful setting apart they received. So many blessings and promises. It even included us and that our business would prosper.

Yesterday Joshua gave Joseph a big kiss on the face and Joseph said, "He suc-a-non my face!" That is his way of saying sucking on. We all cracked up! He said it with pure joy in his face.

(Warning this paragraph is all about potty training so you may want to skip to the next one)
Since we got home from my parents house he refuses to wear under wear. When he first wakes up from his nap I take his diaper off and he screams. When he first wakes up I put him in under wear and he screams. The funny thing is that he stays dry all day long. He just likes the idea of a diaper I guess. Yesterday he told me he had to go #2 so I tried all the bribing I could think of to get him to do it on the potty. After fighting with him I simply gave in and put a diaper on him. I am sure we will get this figured out eventually. He still won't use anything but his little potty. I bought him a seat to sit on and he is scared of it, again with the screaming.

Ode to being a child again!

We decided to get haircuts this week. Usually I am kind of picky about who we have cut our hair. But we needed it so I chanced it and went to the local place. It is the same place I took Jared to a few weeks ago and I was pleased. But what in the world did they do to my little boy? I had my mother in law try to fix what they had done. Can you see how it is long on one side and short on the other? I loved his curls and only wanted a simple trim.

And since we were their Emma decided she wanted bangs and a trim.

I was going to get my haircut at the same place but after what they did to Joseph I decided to try a different local place. And I think this is the best haircut I have had in a long time. I have had bangs before but I never really liked the way they did it so I have been growing them out. I showed the lady exactly what I wanted and she actually listened. She also cut off about 4 inches so my hair looks so much healthier.


For Sarah's birthday we went to the American Girl Doll Place in LA. I have to say it was almost as fun for me as it was for her. When I was little I always wanted a doll like this. It was so fun to see all the different styles and accessories. Sarah got her doll from Target. It is a knock off but it looks so much like the one there.

She picked out a dress that had a hat, flowers, and cute shoes. And also pj's that came with slippers and a robe. Her Grandma bought her a chair that hooks onto your table for the doll to sit in.
Here they are in front of the Samantha section.

This was after the days events and we were headed home. Do you see that huge bag? Sarah scored!

Since we were there we had to have lunch at the cafe (It was the most expensive lunch my girls have ever eaten) Emma and Aunt Kaylee got to borrow dolls to eat with. They had tea cups for the dolls and cute little conversation starters on the table. Lunch consisted of appetizers of artichoke dip, fruit, cheese, vegetables, and chips. Then the girls got a huge plate of pizza (Emma), mini hamburger and hot dog with fruit in fun shapes and fries (Sarah), Chicken tenders, fries, and fruit (Kaylee) Then they also got to have cake cut into a heart, mouse in a flower pot, and a shell cookie. They also sung happy birthday to Sarah.

Emma with her doll for the hour, Josefina.

Aunt Kaylee got to sit with Nicki.

I think Joshua was super excited that he got to go with us. He got to eat food that he does not normally eat like fries and cake! He was so excited to eat the cake.

In this picture you can see the huge smile on his face. And this is all over the cake and cookie.The store also had a salon for your doll and a hospital in case your doll had anything broken. They also had a theater with a live performance. Maybe another time we will get to do that.
Sarah told me several times, "This is the best day ever!"

While we were gone Jared, Joseph and Ryan went to the mall and then to the movies. They went and saw Bridge to Taribithia. Jared was telling me about their day and I told "Dad's are pretty great." And he replied, "Yeah, but especially my dad." I am glad they have a great relationship. Jared spent his own money and bought this when he was with Ryan. He ate it for dinner tonight and loved it. Also while we were gone Joseph twisted his ankle and has been walking funny since.

Speaking of hurts We have had a quiet the week. First, While the kids were at their Grandma Chapman's Sarah fell off the scooter into the bushes and scrapped up her arm. Then she was taking her cup-o-noodles out of the microwave and spilled the water onto her hand causing a pretty painful burn.

Then Joseph was playing David and Goliath and sling shot his bug catcher into Jared's eye.
And if that is not enough when Jared was playing basketball with his Dad he jammed his finger.

Sea world

We went to sea world today. As we watched the Shamu show Emma got really excited. With her eyes as wide as could be she said to me, "That is what I am going to do when I grow up!" I have never seen her so excited about her future. I love children's enthusiasm for life. They have no inhibition and they don't put limits on what they can accomplish. I was very touched by her.

Other cute things, Joseph called the Whales, "Weels" And Joseph had no interest in touching any of the animals not even the star fish. He was convinced the dolphins wanted to eat him. Then at lunch a seagull parked next to us and he was upset about that. I said that the bird wanted to eat his food and he thought I said the bird wanted to eat him. Shortly after this conversation a daring bird came by to eat the food at our feet and Joseph screamed hysterics. Funny but sad.

Jared and Sarah loved everything and wanted to see it all. The rest of us burned out before they did. They loved touching anything they could and Jared was very hard to get away from the sting rays.
Are we not supposed to let our children climb on that?

Here Emma is looking at the Whale rider. I wish I could have captured the wonder in her face.

Trying to get everyone to look at the camera is harder then one might think.

Feeling the star fish. Joseph didn't even want to touch those.

The older kids wanted to sit in the soak zone. They really did get soaked.

As Emma said, "This was the best day ever!"

"Shinning, please stop."

For Josephs b-day my Mom gave him a gift card to target. After 1&1/2 hours of walking around looking at toys, books, and games the only thing he bought was Sponge Bob fruit snacks. Which he and Emma ate all of on the way home. So a couple days later I took him back and the first thing he got really excited about was Cars underwear. Yes, My 3 year old bought his own underwear (Do you think he is ready to be potty trained?) He also bought a chair and some bugs. It was so cute, he was not spoiled at all. As we were walking to check out he said, "George movie" I showed him the movie and the chair and told him he had to pick one. He grabbed the movie from my hand and put it back.

With the new underwear we started to potty train and I have decided that you should never potty train until a child is ready. We have had few accidents and he runs to the bathroom himself. It has been so wonderful.

Other cute things about Joseph. When we were in the car the other day the sun was getting in his eyes. He said, "Shinning, please stop." He is a very polite little boy.

Joshua is kneeling on everything now. He pulls to standing but usually falls if we are not their to catch him.

When he was crawling around the house he found a pen, and before I got it away from him he did this on his face. The kids said it looks like a mustache.

Last week he discovered the Kitty. He was intrigued with her. Now I just have to watch that he doesn't eat her food.

We had a family birthday party at our house yesterday and I realized how much I enjoy having get together at our house. I guess I am a little controlling because I loved that I could do everything my way. Ryan and I gave our "Speeches" I did really prepare anything I just shared what I had learned the past week about the blessings of keeping a journal. I had been looking over my old journals that morning and I was so glad that I had written some of those very special memories. Ones that I had totally forgotten. One entry I wrote about a drive my dad and I took up to Utah and about this wonderful conversation we had. I had forgotten about it and had I not written it down I would have lost it forever. Then I also talked about my mom and how much I look up to her and her positive attitude towards her children and how I always felt her love for me. I think this was especially sweet for me right now simply because they are leaving on their mission next month and I am so grateful for their example to us. I will miss them but I know this is 100% the best place they could be tight now.