Wednesday, April 25, 2012

.:Easter 2012:.

We kicked off our Easter festivities this year by dying Easter eggs. We actually didn’t do it at all last year, so it was fun to do it with the girls this year. Reece and Remi are both at a point where they enjoyed it a lot!

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Remi could have sat and dyed the same egg all nite long; she was totally content.

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Reece just wanted to breeze through them! She would put an egg in and cover it with the dye a few times and call it good.

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I think they turned out lovely.

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The Easter bunny of course came to visit, and spoiled all three girls a bit.

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Reece really enjoyed searching for the eggs. The Easter bunny left some candy filled eggs, and I’m pretty sure the majority of their breakfast that morning was jelly beans.

Then it was time to get ready for church. I think they all looked beautiful in their new Easter outfits!

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We didn’t manage to get a picture of our entire family together, and this was the best we could do for the three of them.

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And I snuck in a picture with Harper.

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We enjoyed sacrament meeting at church, and then rushed home so I could load up the girls and start our road trip to Oregon. We were sad to leave Josh and miss the Easter festivities with his family! It is always a wonderful time of year to remember what our Savior has done for us, and we feel those blessings every day!

Monday, April 23, 2012

.:Remi’s Popcorn Party:.

Our sweet little Rem-A-Lem turned two about a month ago, and I’m just barely getting around to posting about her party.

I had a lot of fun planning and preparing for her party, minus the popcorn sweat shop I had going the nite before until about midnite. But it was totally worth it!

I made labels for the various kinds of popcorn.

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And popcorn cupcakes (which were super cute and super easy, and also super tasty!)

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The whole spread

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I made Rem a cute little banner in her party colors.

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And a decorative ribbon banner for behind the food table, which is now doubling as a tutu in our dress up box.

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The favors were Mother Goose popcorn in little take out boxes. We ended up with waaaay too many leftover, but luckily I taught pre-school the next week so I was able to get rid of them easily!

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And of course, the beautiful birthday girl!

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Even though she is a huge fan of popcorn, she was content to just run around and play for the entire party.

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We tried opening presents, but the first problem was that she wasn’t really interested in the actual opening of presents. Luckily Reece and Jay were there to help. Once we got the first one open, she just wanted to sit with that one.  We tried to force her through a few more, but we ended up taking a bunch home and slowly opening them over the next couple of days. Her party was a few days before her birthday, so it turned into a kind of birthday week!

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She did know exactly what to do with the candle on her cupcake, though!

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And she knew exactly what to do with her cupcake after she blew out the candle.

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Harpie was not such a party animal.

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It was a super fun party, and Remi was totally spoiled. We seriously know the best people, and are so blessed to have so many people that care about us!

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At first I couldn’t believe that Remi was two, but now it’s more like, of course she’s two! She is totally growing up by the second, and turning into such a little girl. We’re so proud of her and love her so much!

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Saturday, April 21, 2012

.:Never Grow Up:.

Last week the girls and I headed up to Oregon to spend some time with my family since we hadn’t been up in awhile. That’s a whole ‘nother post in itself once I get caught up on this blog, but we’ll save that for later. We split the drive up on the way there, stopping at my sister’s in Boise, and again did the same on the way back. We were caravanning on the way there, but we were on our own on the way back.

I was a little nervous to do the drive by myself. When I was in college, I had no problem driving to Oregon through the nite – alone – to surprise my family. Now? I’m ready for a nap about 15 minutes after we’ve left our house when Josh is driving. Maybe it’s because I know he’s got it under control? But I figured with some good music, enough Diet Coke, and three little people depending on me, I could do it.

On the way back, we were driving through eastern Oregon. I was listening to Taylor Swift, and singing my heart out, and one of her songs just got to me. It made me feel all teary and grateful for my children. So of course, I listened to it over and over for about the next half hour, getting progressively teary and progressively more grateful.

You see, I haven’t really been the best mommy lately. Harper still isn’t sleeping through the nite (and has had some pretty horrible nites as of late), so I am so tired all the time. My hormones are still crazy from having her. I’ve just felt ‘off’ for the past little bit. And the ones who get to deal with this are my poor, sweet kids. As I was listening to this song, I was feeling so sad that I haven’t been cherishing them like I ought to. That I haven’t been enjoying every second of them being small (even the ones that aren’t so fun). That I’ve been too tired and crabby to appreciate them dressing up, or playing well together, or wrestling, or giving each other hugs and kisses, or just wanting to be around me. Mommy guilt can be a powerful thing, but I think it was totally warranted and a good thing this time around.

It gets tough sometimes, having three little kids this close together. I need to remind myself that this isn’t going to last forever. They aren’t always going to be little and innocent. They aren’t always going to want to be around me. They aren’t always going to be amazed and excited over the smallest things.

My girls are so precious.

Who else, besides this beautiful Reece, has so much enthusiasm over everything? She appreciates every little thing. She is always telling me she loves me, saying thank you, calling Remi ‘sweetie’, and being such a good helper. I just love her, and I want her to always know it.

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Who else, besides this beautiful Remi, can bring a smile to your face with her cheesey smile? Remi is such a happy little girl, and loves to be around her sisters. She is growing up so fast all of the sudden, and I love how she always has a hug or kiss for me. I love her, too, and hope she never forgets it!

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And who else, besides Harper, has the cutest dimple and endless smiles? She is the happiest baby, and loves to interact and be social. She is such a sweetheart, and I can’t get enough of her. I want her to always know how much she is loved.

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I don’t want to ever look back on this time and regret not embracing the stages they are all in, and regret not enjoying them for the wonderful little people that they are. I love them so much, and don’t know how to say it any stronger than that. I feel so blessed and humbled to be their mom, and so grateful to have made this family with the man I love.

Maybe it’s lame to post song lyrics on here, but I’m going to post some of them anyway.

“Your little hand's wrapped around my finger
And it's so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light

To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little
Oh darling, don't you ever grow up
Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple

I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up

Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all your little brother's favorite songs
I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone”

It’s okay if you are crying. I’m crying. Again. (And did earlier while listening to this song in the car, too). Just grab a tissue and remember to be thankful for your own blessings, whatever or whoever they may be.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

.:Harper–Five Months:.

Our sweet little Harpie turned five months last week. I feel like I just barely wrote that she turned four months! Time is flying!

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Harper is seriously just the happiest, smiliest, cutest little baby ever! She has a smile for everyone, anytime. Even when she is trying to fuss, you can usually still squeak a smile out of her!

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She still has her dimple on her right cheek, and sometimes one tries to come out on her left cheek. I just think it is too stinking cute!

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Harper is still so social. She loves to chat and talk, squeal and giggle, and most of the time is easily pacified if you will just pay attention to her. She loves interacting, and doesn’t really care if it is someone old or young! (Or an animal!)

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Harpie is really starting to get the hang of using her hands. She is constantly grabbing at things. Her control isn’t perfect yet, but it’s fun to watch her figuring things out. It makes it so much nicer to be able to give her toys to play with in her car seat, or even just laying on the floor.

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We borrowed Sam and Nikki’s Bebe Pod since Harper hasn’t been a fan of the Bumbo. Their tray has the toy (as you can see above) and she is much happier sitting in that. Now maybe we can get her working on sitting! She is always straining to sit up, even when she’s buckled down in her car seat; it’s so funny. It’s like she can’t relax!

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Reece and Remi continue to love on her all the time. It really just makes my heart happy that they are so sweet and gentle with her. I hope they are always like that with each other! Harper loves it when they talk to her or play with her, I can’t wait until she can start interacting even more with them!

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Harper’s sleep is still not fantastic. Her naps are slowly improving, but her nites are about the same as before. She could probably be sleep trained, but I’m admittedly too lazy about it right now! It’s just easier to feed her and go back to sleep. But I’ll probably go down that road sometime soon. I’m ready to get more than three hours of sleep in a row!

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Harper is a rolling fool! I can’t get her to stay on her back if I wanted to. She still gets stuck on her tummy sometimes, but she is starting to get better at rolling back over. She’s just a lot more wiggly than she used to be. Sometimes on her back, she’ll push with her legs, which scoots her around. I just have to be super careful now about where we put her!

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We just love our Harpie girl!

At five months, Harper likes:

- rolling
- grabbing
- smiling
- talking
- squealing
- giggling
- toys
- baby einstein
- watching her sisters
- listening to mommy sing
- play mat
- bebe pod
- eating
- sucking on her hands
- binky (sometimes – I wish more!)

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At five months, Harper does not like:

- being swaddled
- sleeping very long
- being in her car seat for too long
- being left alone for too long
- getting stuck on her tummy

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What a beautiful babe!

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