Good Friends!

Grace and Leah are good friends! Love love love them.

Family Picture

We were able to head up to Mesa for a quick trip the other Sunday and finally got a semi-decent family picture at the Christus statue at the Mesa LDS Temple Visitor's Center. Don't mind the no shoes or the crying child, I did mention previously that it is a "SEMI-decent" family picture :)

We had a great day. We got to visit the Olive Ward in Mesa, listen to a missionary homecoming talk, visit great friends (shout out to Logan and Mary Blau for letting us drop in and hang for a couple of hours :), and then visit, BBQ, and swim with Becky and Scott (you guys are awesome!!)

It was a great day, and so worth shoving four kids into a van and forgoing naps, snacks and sanity for one fun filled day.

Fun in the Arizona Sun!!

We've discovered that the best time to run through the sprinklers is in the evenings. What fun girls we have :)

Avery, Leah, Grace, and Libby

Hey! Libby turned 3!!

The stars aligned!

It is rare that I get a good picture of my girls - either I do a bad job with the camera, or I am too slow, or they just make weird faces. Yesterday the stars aligned!! They were playing so nicely in our backyard and everyone was happy and still fairly clean, so I got out there with my camera (actually, my phone camera) and snapped a few.

This is the best group shot of the three older girls (Libby, Grace, and Leah)

Grace standing not too happily for a picture- but doesn't she look good in pink?

Pretty Leah in her "ooshes" (shoes as she calls them)

A great shot of Libby - eye contact and smile and everything!! The stars were truly aligned for this picture!! She sure make my life wonderful :)

7 weeks old

Here are some of Avery's 7 week photos, as well as a collage of all four girls at 7 weeks, just to compare what they all looked like then... I think they are all so cute, and each really seems to have their own look!

More Pictures :)

Here are more pictures - do you have picture overload yet?

Libby's first day of Pre-School

Happy Happy Leah!! She thinks the world was made just for her! :)
Avery on her way home from the hospital

Two good friends :)

Cool Dude!!
Leah feeling pretty with her necklace

Pictures!!!

How terribly I am behind!!

I am so behind in posting our news! We have had so much happening, and so much on the horizon that I feel I can hardly keep up with myself, let alone the blog. Guess which one gets neglected? Umm... here's a hint... it's not me :) So here is a short list of recent wonderful events!

1) Baby Avery Mary Beach arrived on Sept 6th, at 7lbs 5 oz and 19 inches. She is beautiful - pictures to be posted soon.

2) Libby is getting ready to start pre-school - three days a week, and she will learn lots of stuff and we are excited.

3) We are so so so close to getting all her therapies on board - with in the next month, we should be in full swing of an additional 20-30 hours a week of in home therapy - just for her! It will be such a great thing and help her learn all the things she needs to learn.

4) Leah's first word (other than Mom) is "Oosh" which translates to "Shoe" :) She is a cutie. She'll bring a shoe to you, say "oosh" and want you to put a shoe on her. She is such a girl :)

5) Grace is growing up up up! She is such a great sister, and is glad that the baby is out of Mommy's tummy. She has been LOVING having my mom here! They are great friends.

6) My mom is here! Hooray - I joke that I need to have a baby every 18 months, just to make her come down and spend two weeks with us! Actually, we just need to get our act in gear and make the trek to Wyo and see her and everyone else up there :)

7).... lots more, but it'll have to wait for a later time - the children are calling.

And I promise to get some pictures up of Avery (can you tell she is the fourth and not the first? lol)

Eleventy...

I have been trying to correct Grace's counting lately. She can count up to twenty, but keeps adding "eleven-ty" to the mix. 1,2,3,... 10, 11, 12,13,14,15,16, eleventy, 18,19, 20, 100!" How exciting to count so high :)

I'll glad (and so proud of her) when she can do it right, but I'll be a little sad in hindsight, too. So much of her baby-hood is behind her. Logan and I were reminiscing about little conversations we would have with her and funny things she would say when she was first learning to talk and notice things. I've got to write more of these things down!

Here is a funny picture of our growing girl! (and a messy Leah to her right :)

Baby names???

Help!! I can't believe it is coming to this, but I can't decide on a stinkin' name! Here is my problem. It has to be one that both Logan and I like, we don't have to be in LOVE with it, just both be in agreement that it is OK. Here is our other criteria: we would like it to be an old fashioned name that is also current. We have a Grace, a Claire (but we call her Libby), and a Leah. Oh, and it cannot start with an 'L.' Another thing to consider is that her middle name will be Mary. So - if you have any ideas - please put your two cents in.

PS - We have tentatively chosen Avery, in case we don't come up with something different in the meantime. But it really is more of a "current" name.... aargh!

"It's the Princesses, Over..."

I heard Grace playing with her dolls today and it was so funny. The two princess dolls had 'walkie-talkies' and they were talking back and forth about saving a cat stuck in a tree. It was so funny to hear Grace use all the lingo correctly. I love the new things kids learn.

We went to the kiddie dentist today for Grace - we left the house at 6am for our 7:30 appointment. (Guess how early I had to get up?) She has two big cavities and now we get to schedule an appointment to get them fixed. That will entail two crowns, and a round of general anesthetic. FUN! (do you hear the sarcasm?) We were assured by the fabulous kids dentist that we are going to, that she won't remember any of it, and she will be fine. I hope so!

We got a call today from a therapist for Libby. We have an evaluation scheduled for later this week, and we are glad! We were told that things like evaluations and different therapies would be happening quickly, but they have not. I guess any little win is a victory, and we are happy for any help we can get for her.

I am mostly excited for my MOM to come for a visit all the way from Wyoming!! Yippee!! She is coming tomorrow, and will get to be with us for a week. I am so so excited to see her.

Here is a picture of our three girls recently. They were actually all sitting on the couch quietly for a little bit, so I snapped a pic as quick as I could :)

Beach Baby #4

So, I neglected to announce (here) what the results of our ultra sound were. Aaannnddd.. Drum roll... A GIRL!!!

I feel that a pepto bismal bottle has officially exploded all over our house!! Four girls!!! We are excited, though. I was thinking of all the things I would have to buy for a baby boy - clothes, jackets, blankets... Now she can wear lots and lots of hand-me downs :) Poor thing will never get anything new.

We have not decided on a name yet - other than her middle name. It will be Mary, but we just need a good name to go in front of it. Any ideas?

Ooooh - My Lip Hurts!!

MMMoooommm - the toy castle hurt my lip! I need something that will make it feel better. I know! Pop will make my lip feel better, can I have some pop?!??? .....

Sneaky silly Grace!

Updates updates updates.... Lots to say today.

There is quite a run down of news for our little family. I'll start with the most exciting news. We are expecting baby #4! We are so excited. Our little bundle will arrive near the middle of September. As is par for the course in our world, this new one will be about 16.5 to 17 months younger than Leah. That's just fine with me. As soon as I get going back to church, Leah will be close to going into nursery. Good timing, eh? We will find out what we will be having in a couple of weeks. Who wants to bet it'll be another girl. When we got married, I said, "we better have boys, because I don't think I like girls!" Ha ha, HF said. Now, of course I love our little girls, and wonder what in the world I would do with a little boy!

Next is some, oh, I hate to day BAD news, because it is what it is, and it's not the end of the world. Curious, yet? Well, for the last year we've been taking Libby (now 2.5 yrs) to developmental pediatricians, speech therapists, and having lots of other consultations. Well, the other day we had official confirmation that she is autistic, and is somewhere on the autism spectrum. As we are new to this we are starting lots of therapies, and are lined up for all sorts of evaluations and programs. We are going to be busy!! We are glad to finally have an official diagnosis (no matter how painful) because now we can get down to the business of getting her help. Libby is the sweetest girl ever, and loves to play and sing, and be held my her parents, and we love to love on her and hug and hold and play with her. After a few rough days (for me. anyway) I have felt the comfort of the spirit, and just feel that everything will be OK with her. Whatever "ok" means, we don't know, but it helps me feel that, well, we'll be ok no matter what How grateful I am for the gospel and the love of our Heavenly Father.

As to Libby, we are going to try and do a milk free diet for her. And since I don't want to make two separate meals for her and us everyday all day long, we will all go on the milk free roller coaster and see if it helps her out. I feel pretty good about it, so we will, see. If you have any advice on the topic or hints, any and all would be appreciated.

Love to you all! (that is if anyone reads this anymore :)

Earrings

So, I wore earrings to church today - I stopped wearing them probably three years ago because too many baby fingers tried to rip them out of my head. I found a pair knocking around, so I thought, hey I could be stylish again! So on they went.

Grace noticed them later and said "Mom, do you have earrings on?!" She had such surprise and a little disdain in her voice, kinda shocking.
I responded "Yes, I do."
G: "Why?"
Me: "Because they are pretty."
G: "Mom's don't wear earrings."
Me: "Oh, who does?"
G: "OLD people!"

I gotta get my fashion on more often!

Four Month Photo Catch up!

Well - we've been off line for four months or so - and glad to be back. Here is a run down as to what we've been up to:

Moved from our rental house in Benson, AZ without anywhere permanent to move to! Crazy
We are thankful for lovely mothers and other family and friends to take us in in our time of need, truly!
Logan looked for and found us a house to buy in Sahuarita, AZ, which is where we are now, but between the end of September and the end of Dec, we were at the mercy of the winds!

Karen and the girls went first to Wyoming with Mom and Bob (her family) then to Mesa with Laurie and John (Logan's family).
While in Wyoming there were fun times in Grandmas garden, Halloween fun, smores in the backyard, trips to Laramie and Martin's Cove, painting with Marianne, wonderful visits with brothers and sisters, and a reminder of how much I love Wyoming and all that is associated with it! I especially loved being near my mom - how I love her!

Then the first part of November we overtook Laurie and John's house. They are super great sports! While there Grace learned how to play fun games on Grandma's phone, watched grandma's fun sewing machine, we caught up with friends in Mesa, enjoyed being close to the Mesa temple and the temple lights, had a quick visit with Joel and Sarah and Logan and Mary. It was great to see you and catch up. We visited our old ward - the Olive ward, there by the temple. What a super ward. Whenever we go there, we have the talk that if we EVER move back to Mesa, we're mmoving back to that ward :)

Lots of fun and good times we had these last four months. We are so happy to be in our own house and all together as a family. Soon, I will post some pictures of our house - nothing super exciting - a subdivision in AZ - a brown house in a sea of brown stucco houses :) be we are glad to be in it and that we will be here for a long time.

























and back to Wyoming pics again...