It's Spring

I am so glad it is finally feeling like spring.  I had a really hard time this winter--let's just say I think I had a case of SAD.  Now that it's warming up, we love to go outside.  The twins want to go out all the time, and Jackson and I will go sit on a blanket or the trampoline or walk around in his stroller.

One afternoon, the kids had such a blast together.  I love when they actually all play together.  So enjoy this picture overload.

And did you notice Brady is driving in every single picture?  Yeah, that is so his personality.

February recap

Now that March is almost over, I'd better do a quick review of February.

Jump On It

We spent a Saturday afternoon here and all the kids loved it.  Tyler keeps asking to go back, but I haven't figured out how to watch all 4 kids by myself, so we have to wait for Dad to come back with us.

Valentine's Day

We decorated, made Valentines, made what I think is a really cool iphone valentine box, and the kids woke up to some chocolates and a stuffed animal each.  Dan travels a lot, and knowing he was going to be gone on the 14th, I gave him 10 really cheesy gifts (you know, like a package of mints with the saying, "we are mint to be together") for the days leading up to the 14th.  He brought me home flowers.

Carter's Haircut

Carter decided to take a set of clippers to his hair, and here is the result.  He did it right before bed, and had to go to school the next morning before we could make it to the barber.  I had him wear a hat to school, and when he got to school he immediately took it off to show his teacher.  "I'm missing some hair," he told her.  "Like my dad."


Belt Promotion

Tyler has been doing great with karate, and it certainly is a time commitment for all of us.  In February he received his brown belt.  We are so proud of him!


Cute Jackson

Since doing project life, I've tried to pull my camera out for everyday stuff, which results in lots of cute pictures of our Jackers.  Including his first time eating spaghetti.  He loved it!


Almost Spring

We finally had some days that were warm enough to go outside to play.  While 40's isn't too warm, it sure beats the weather we had been having, including a 5 week stretch last winter when the temperature never did get above freezing. 


Playing Twins

Again, with pulling out my camera more, I get more of these types of pictures.  Sometimes, I will just think, what pretty light and snap away.  Other times, I ask the twins for a pose and get this face over and over again.

I'm back

What's up with the blogging break?

Well, it goes back to why I started blogging.  Over five years ago, I decided to start this blog mainly as a way for my mom to keep up with us.  We lived almost 1500 miles apart and saw each other 2-3 times a year.  I missed her, and I know she missed spending time with her grandson.  Over time, I came to view to view my blog as my own journal or scrapbook.  I used to be much better at memory keeping, and then we had twins.  No seriously I have scrapbooked one page since they were born.  I am so grateful I was blogging when they were babies because I have so many details and photos saved of them from that time.

Well now, five years later, we live 3 miles down the road from my mom.  I don't know if she ever even checks here any more.  And while I was still using it to document our lives, that suddenly started feeling redundant.  See:

At the first of the year I started a Project Life album, and there is one random week of my memory keeping this year.  (If you haven't heard of it, read about it here.)  I found a way to stay up to date with it, and every week I slip in my photos from the previous week.  I feel like I am documenting my everyday life and I love it.  But it has taken away the need I felt to document our lives here.

But then someone (Hi Michelle!) finally asked me why I hadn't updated my blog all year, and I realized that just maybe we have some friends and family who are interested in what we're up to; therefore, I will try my best to document our highlights. 

I'll end with this:

One big event this month was Dan's 40th birthday.  I told him I distinctly remember when my dad turned 40 and we really are getting old.

We started off the birthday weekend by going up to Salt Lake for dinner.  My wonderful parents took on overnight babysitting duties and we enjoyed a fine evening on our own.

I woke up Saturday morning at the hotel feeling under the weather.  I think it was a migraine with symptoms that were unusual for me and worse than I'd ever felt.  Poor Dan.  We drove home early, and I spent the day in bed.  I had invited a few people over for cake and ice cream that night, and that was fun to see everyone.  I just hosted from a sitting position all night.  And Sunday we had a dinner filled with some of Dan's favorites.

When I asked the twins how many Dad was turning, Brady answered with, "Dad is turning old."  Ha! We've got a ways to go before we're really old.  I love you Dan! Happy Birthday!

January in review

Am I the only one who has a hard time with January?  No offense if it's your birthday month.  Heck, if it was my birthday month I might like it.  But this month has been blech.  Horrible weather--I think we had 4 days or so that got above freezing, inversion with crappy air, and lots of snow.  Post-holiday blues.  Dan has been traveling a lot which leads me to burn out.  We've had some minor illness floating around.  I've been feeling pretty down, and haven't had much desire to blog.

However, we have had a few things worth blogging about.

New Year's

We decided last minute to go to Idaho and visit Dan's brother.  The twins absolutely LOVE their cousin Lizzy, and she's awesome and loves them back just as much.  I was hesitant about going because I feel like it's so much work, but Dan stepped up, did tons, let me go see Les Mis, and even took Carter to the urgent care.  (Strep)  It ended up being a fun few days.


And here's a before and after shot of Brady.

Brady sneaked a pair of clippers out of my bathroom and took out a chunk of his hair.  His beautiful curls!  We had to give him a short haircut, and his curls are all wonky now.  We'll see when his hair grows out some more.


Texas comes to us!
Jen and Gabe came out to ski and stayed 2 days with us.  We watched Tiegan while they skied, and she gave Jackson his first haircut.

It sure made us miss Texas.

And perhaps the brightest spot in all of January, my sister got engaged.  After being divorced for 9 years, she has finally find a great guy.  We are thrilled for her.  They are getting married soon, so we have already started wedding plans.  This is me, my sis, and her best friend at the Grand America Hotel for a bridal show.

So there were a few bright spots in this crummy month.  But I welcome February with open arms.

One Year Old

My sweet Jackson at one.

• His stats at his one-year well check: Weight is 21 lbs. 4 oz. (49th percentile), Height is 29 1/2 inches (34th percentile) and his head is only 70th percentile (down from 91st and 89th the last two times--looks like he is finally growing into that noggin of his!)
• He just got tooth #7, and I'm expecting #8 any day.
• He is taking his own sweet time to walk.  He still can crawl so fast, and he pulls himself up to his knees, but no signs of any steps yet.
• We have dropped the formula for whole milk, but haven't even tried to get rid of the bottles.  That's going to be hard.
• He is a pretty good eater. He still eats a lot of jars of baby food, but also loves cheese, yogurt, strawberries, and bananas.
• He has a few nicknames.  We sometimes call him Jack or Jackers, but he is usually Jackson. 
• He can say dada and uh oh.  He loves to play the uh oh game, where he drops things and says "uh oh."  He also seems to tease me, and quite often when I ask him to say momma, he replies with a dada.
• He waves good bye, and claps when he hears others clapping or cheering.
• He loves people.  He loves when people, especially his brothers, play with him.
• He has the best laugh.  Often times his brothers can really get him laughing--a great big belly laugh.
• He sleeps pretty well, but he still wants a bottle really early in the morning.  I would love him to go 12 straight hours, but...
• I feel so lucky to be this boys mom.  We love you Jackson!

And here's a look back at my boy this year.