Monday, March 8, 2010

Happy Go Lily...



Lily's haircut

Lily loves her blankie and her thumb

Her 3 little teeth and big, huge grin. She smiles so big her eyes shut.

I decided to snap a few pictures of Lily today. The last couple of weeks she has been horribly sick. She got RSV and double ear infections. She stopped smiling and stopped eating. It was awful. She is finally back to her happy, little self. I stopped by the grocery store today to get Ketchup for the kids...we ran out last night and you would think that the world was going to end. The kids are serious about their "dip".

As we shopped the grocery store in the early morning hour, Lily was looking for some social interaction. I think we are both suffering from some "sick day" induced cabin fever. Anytime someone would walk down the aisle or come near us, Lily's entire face lit up. She smiles and smiles and smiles. Such a happy little girl!

Trevor and Elliott took Brennan and Bella up north to go skiing for a day this last weekend. I told Claire on Friday that we were going to have some "Claire, Lily and Mommy" time. She was excited. On the drive to preschool on Friday she said the funniest things. She asked me if we could go pick out something special at the store for our "girls weekend". I said, "maybe. what did you have in mind?" She said, "It's a surprise...I can't tell you." I asked, "Well, what store do we need to visit to get it?" Claire says, "ummm. Red Lobster" I totally start laughing. We have never been to Red Lobster. I told her that was a restaurant. She giggled and said, "Oh, that's right, then Costco." So we did make a trip to Costco with Papa on Friday night and she picked out a giant coloring book for Spring. We also got some Jelly Bellies. She loves them...except for the spicy ones. She even likes the black licorice flavored ones, which I hate, and she tried to convince me that they were delicious and I finally said, "Claire you eat the black ones and I'll eat the red spicy ones." "Ok, deal," she said. And that was that.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Croup...


Bella and Claire always seem to get croup.
The horrible, scary cough that sounds like a barking seal. Hate it! Claire got it first and it got so bad she had to have steroid shots at the doctor to help open up her airway. Bella now has it. I love how children are never reluctant to share their sick germs. Thank goodness for modern medicine. We have the best doctor who gave us prescriptions for when they get croup badly. It ALWAYS seems to set in on the weekend and in the middle of the night!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

3 Girls...







Sleeping Beauty (A14) Fairy Witches 6x10 Hoop

Lily and I dropped by the mall to get a new tie for Brennan and we saw these outfits. I mean come on. They are simply too adorable. It also came in black and white. Children's Place and Gymboree are dangerous for me because they have coordinating things that fit all 3 girls. When Trevor came home and saw Bella, Claire, and Lily running around playing outside, he commented that they looked like the Sleeping Beauty Fairies. Wow. For someone who grew up in a house of all boys, I am surprised he even knows about Sleeping Beauty!

And no, I don't ignore Brennan's shopping needs. But he is definitely not as fun and I don't even attempt to buy things without him...he will not wear it! So, twice a year he does the absolute bare minimum of shopping. We did this on Monday, his day off. He picked 3 pair of Hurley plaid shorts from Costco and 3 plain t-shirts that are his favorite, softest brand at Nordstroms. The kid doesn't mess around. He knows what he likes, what fits and he gets duplicate of it. I don't even fight it anymore.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Valentine's Party 2010

the little lovely girls
and Brennan
(who has an unbelievable amount of patience for sister drama)

me and lily with flower bows at Nana's house.

Lily was so mad she couldn't get up the stairs

The slide is Lily's favorite thing ever...she giggles the whole way

Lily on the slide

Opened a package from Connie; kids loved it and started having light saber fights

love our preschool teachers.

lily watching the animals

yoga

A rooster who wakes up at 3a.m. every morning.

Claire saying hello to her friend

Claire kept making silly faces so Lily would laugh

The longer I go between blog posts; the harder it is to ever catch up.
These are all pictures from today. Claire had her Valentine's Day party at school. Lily and I went with. So fun. There was a petting zoo with a llama, ducks, bunnies, a cow, pig, and roosters. Claire was terrified of the animals and held one of the teacher's hands the whole time.
We did yoga in culture class. Lily walked around and watched all the kids with their yoga poses. Then there was a Valentine exchange and playtime at the park. Cookies, milk and time for Lily and I to go. Lily was so mad when we left, she kicked and screamed at me. She wanted to stay and play with the big kids.
We stopped by QT got a Diet Dr. Pepper with vanilla for me and one for Nana and a kitkat to share. Now I need to go wake Lily and pick up all the school kids.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Brennan's Essay




Brennan 2005...the week he lost his first tooth


A few weeks ago Brennan played his Wii when he had been told no more video games (it woke me up at 4:30 a.m.). The consequence was one week with no electronics...so he handed over his Ipod, Nintendo DS and was banned from television and all other video games. It was quite a week. He literally begged us to take him to the library to check out more books, he played monopoly for hours on end with Bella (all I could hear was laughter down stairs)! He spent more time playing with Lily and Claire (the rocker in her room is his favorite reading spot in the house). We saw Brennan's sweet, smiling face more. It reminded me of when he was 6 like in these pictures. At 6 years old, Brennan was too busy and active for video games (my brothers tried to recruit Brennan to no avail). As children grow up, their personalities unfold right before your eyes and it is bittersweet at times. Some of the bright-eyed innocence and simplicity is lost while wisdom, wit, and knowledge is gained.
Before I would give Brennan back his Ipod and Nintendo DS, he had to write and essay on what he learned. It made me smile because it is so very Brennan. I was sure to bold my favorite line!
Here it is...

The Benefits of No Electronics
By Brennan
This week I learned many things about not always playing electronics. One of them is that it brings you closer to your family. Another is that you get to use your imagination more. You also get better at board games and other things I usually don't do because of TV. Plus I do more athletic things. Also, I go to bed earlier because I don't listen to my Ipod at all!

I think this punishment was a good one because I learned all these benefits. Also I'll be starting to get more active and I'll try to play with Bella more. Also, I'll watch Lily and Claire and pay more attention to them. And when Alex comes over, we won't just play video games for five hours straight. We''ll try to play other things like checkers. I also learned that happiness almost never comes from a digital screen; it comes from all the time you spend with family and friends. In the future I promise to spend more time with you guys. And that's all the things I learned and will do because of the electronicless week!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Amber and Whitney come to Arizona

silly faces

monkey

cheese

silly claire

rock band

more picture taking

Amber and me

happy lily


I am seriously behind in photo uploading etc. and now that the kids are back in school I hope to catch up. Amber and her sister Whitney came to Arizona to surprise their brother and we got to see and visit with them all. It was fun. Claire loves having company. There was pizza and rock band and I finally got a little bit of time to have some "girl talk" catch up with Miss Amber. Now I want a weekend away at the beach!

Friday, January 1, 2010

2010

Christmas morning

Lily, woken up at 8 a.m. Christmas morning...in a daze!

cuteness

Christmas Eve

Brennan always has his hands in his pockets...

too darling

the whole family...

smiles

sparkle

shine

Wonder...
Lily slowly opened her present, so darling, so very Lil!

girls and crafts and Christmas Eve P.J.s!
Claire wants to be in every picture...gotta love her!

Merry Christmas! We made the older kids wait until 8 a.m. to wake Lily.
Pure and utter torture!

Claire dancing

Boys never grow up...Brennan whacking his sister with his stocking

Brennan has a special place in his heart for "Lil Lil"!


Our 2010 Family Theme:
So we had a vote on what we wanted to be our theme of 2010
and this is what won...

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Here is to hoping this year brings many happy days;
each one better than the last!