Santa Claus

I knew this year would be NO different than last year when I came to Brit and Santa, but it was worth a shot! He had a death grip on my shirt and was not going to let go! haha! Poor kid! I hope I dont scar him for life by torturing him every Christmas.
Hadley liked him though, especially the candy cane!

The Spirit of "Christ"mas

Watch the vidoe above and hopefully it will make your day like it did mine! To often we forget about what Christmas is all about and how sweet this video is to put it all back into plain sight!

Merry Christmas!

THANKSGIVING 2009

We had Thanksgiving in Richfield this year. Everyone was there so it was so fun! We hadnt see each other for way too long and we hadnt ever met Gatlin before. So needless to say were busy catching up, playing games, and just hanging out. Brit and Javin had so much fun together and played so well. They both have fun presonalities and really got a long good. And of course Grandma and Grandpa had plenty of fun things planned for them. They went and saw horses and cows, played at the park, watched some flag football, made playdoo, went on 4 wheeler rides, and so much more. They were busy boys! And then Hadley and Gatlin just kinda hung out on the floor all day. But we do blame Gatlin for getting Hadley to crawl. The second she saw hin on the ground, she would drag herself over to him. She left some major scratches on his poor head, but for the most part she just like to watch him and give him big kisses. So cute.

Thanksgivng day was crazy as we had almost 65 people crammed into my moms house. It was crazy! But it was also good to see all my cousins and try and learn all their kids names. Which I've already forgotten! Oh well, next year I can learn them all again at Christmas time.

November

November came and went TOO fast and now its almost halfway through December. So this post is long over due! Here are a few happenings from November.

Hadley is still and Angel and growing way too fast. Brit is still a Monster and makes us laugh all day long!He's trying to dress himself now. That belt is actually a pajama shirt, but he wouldnt let me touch it! so he wore it all day!We tried to get some pictures of the kids by the river with the leaves, but were a week too late. Oh well, we still captures a few cute moments.

Brit Love playing with other kids. I think he just gets really excited when he doesnt have to spend the whole afternoon with mom and sister. Here he is with Brennan and Parker.


He pushed the stroller in the sandbox and watched the other 2 work.

Oh and we FINALLY got a nice bike stroller. Thank you craigslist again! We got it just in time to be too cold to use it.

BEFORE

AFTER!!! After a long day of playing with friends, Brit and Daddy crashed on the couch. He's never done this before so we were excited!

Thanksgiving weekend coming soon!

8 months & CRAWLING!!!

"Oh NO!!"

Thats what escaped my lips when I saw Hadley army crawling from one side of the room to the other. So things are gonna have to change a little around our house... like sweeping a few times a day instead of just once or not at all, vacuuming a lot more, getting rid of some of Brits small toys, and I'm sure I'll discover more over the next few days. So I guess our house will be cleaner because of this so I'm sure Justin won't complain.

And I know I say this every month, but I can't believe she's 8 months!!! She is still such a great baby and is so chill. She can really just lay on the ground and rolls around and play for hours at a time. She loves watching Brit and no one can make her laugh like him! She can sit up but would rather not. She lays right down and is on the move. She's growing like a weed! I cant believe how heavy she has gotten, but shes still so stinkin tall and skinny. She just has 2 bottom teeth, but I think I keep feeling a top one come and go.

She had so much fun with her cousins over Thanksgiving and picture will be coming soon!

BITTER SWEET

Today I was released from my calling as Primary 1st Councelor. It was such a bitter sweet day for me. When I found out a few weeks ago I had such mixed emotions. I thought I would be jumping for joy but that was not my first emotion. I've realized how much I loved serving all the sweet kids in our ward. And the ladies I served with are now my BEST friends. It was a tough 2 years with 2 babies of my own, and 3 other ones being born between the other 3 ladies, some very sick times where there were only 3 instead of 4 and some times only 2 or 1, and of course all the other things that come up. I look back at it now and of course realize that it wasn't that bad and even though it seemed tough at the time, we made it through and it made us so much stronger. I learned so much about serving, loving, and listening to the spirit. Many times I learned the hard way because of my stubbornness, but I eventually figured it out:) I also learned so much from all the kids that I have been with. I have seen so many come and go over the past 4 years (1 1/2 as chorister) and have seen them grow into beautiful people! I gained a stronger testimony because of their strong testimonies.

Today I taught sharing time for the last time and was prepared to say goodbye to the kids and maybe shed a few tears. But it wasnt that easy. I broke down at the beginning of junior and the end of senior and then had to stop myself many time during the lessons and songs from breaking down again. (I even made a few kids cry, whoops!) I know I'll still see most of them everyday around the neighborhood and all the time on Sundays, but knowing that I won't be able to feel of their sweet spirits each Sunday truely breaks my heart. Now that today is over though, I am beginning to get excited about whats coming next. I dont know what I'll do in RS. I think I've only been in there a dozen times in my whole life because I've always been in Primary. It might be nice just sitting and listening to others teach instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. (which after 2 years I was still doing every Sunday) And this might sound silly, but when I was younger I saw moms with thier babies in RS and just couldnt wait for that day. I only had 2 or 3 weeks of that with Brit before I was called to Primary so I am really excited to take Hadley in there. I'm sure once I get in there with her I will only want to take her out because she'll be disruptive, but oh well!

So we'll see whats next, cross your fingers for something little, like maybe a teacher once a month, or maybe even the bell ringer!!! I can handle that!

7 Months

On Oct. 27th Hadley was 7 months and I'm fashionably late at posting about her. She is still our little happy girl. She did have a few rough weeks right before she was 7 months and then on the 27th we looked in her mouth and realized why. She had her first tooth. It was her bottom middle left. And a few days later the right one came along. It was a lot more painful for us (and her of course) than Brit, whose teeth just came in with no fever, cries, or nothing! But she now has 2 teeth and is napping and sleeping good again. Tonight I actually fed her and then just layed her in her bed. She talked and played in there and when I went to check if she was asleep this is what I found.

Now I just hope we can do this every night. We'll see. I doubt it. It was way too easy! She is also all over the place. She rolls and scoots everywhere and can cover a room pretty fast. She is also starting to push all the way up to her knees and rock back and forth. I was pretty excited when I first saw that, but then I realized what comes next. I'm not ready for it yet. She's growing too fast! She still won't sit up. She can, she just wont! Its kinda funny. When we sit her down she immediately straightens her whole body stiff as a board and falls over backward. She sat up for a long time the other day though so I know she can. She would just rather lay down I guess and move around. I guess she will when she wants to. She is a chatter box and just chats away all the time. She has been waking up at 6:00 am since the time change and so I get her and just lay her on the ground with me and try and sleep, but most of the time I just lay there listening to her tell me some crazy stories. She also likes to poke me in the eyes and pull on my nose right when I fall back asleep. Serves me right. She is not a good eater. She just wants nothing to do with food and feeding her is torture. I hope it's not a sign that shes gonna be a picky eater! She has a strong tongue and pushes everything, including the spoon right out the second it hits her mouth. Fruits are not even and option for her, but we can get her to eat a few veggies. She likes the puffs, but cant quite get them in her mouth by herself. She's very good at throwing them on the floor though! She still loves her brother and all he has to do is walk in the room or say "hi Hadi" to get her to smile and laugh! But tonight they were playing and he must have done something she didnt like because she looked back at me like "mom, did you see that!" She's already a tattle tell, but it was cute, for now! She is getting a lot of hair all of the sudden. I can even pinch it! I just cant wait for the day when I can put it in pig tails! Of course then, I'll wish it was short so I didnt have to do it everyday. And it's still pretty light. I still think she looks like Brit, but I feel she's getting her own different features now! And of course, we think she's beautiful! She's got us wrapped around her finger! Love ya Hadi!