What they are up to now

I love my beautiful children!  They are so much fun.  I just wanted to give a quick update on what the kiddos are up to.

Brinnley loves oranges.  We recently got a clock that we turned into the "food clock."  We glued pictures of food over the times when we eat meals or snacks.  She now knows to look at the clock before asking for something to eat.  Otherwise all day long she is asking for snacks.  So far so good!

She loves Primary!  They learned a new song on Sunday and yesterday she was singing it in the car.  She loves her class and her teachers.  Thank you Brother and Sister Brown.  They sang happy birthday to her and gave her a bag of popcorn and she was the happiest girl alive.  

She started preschool with Miss Becca last week and she loves it.  She couldn't stop talking about the songs they sang and the things they did.  Thanks Becca.

She is very much the helpful sister and always volunteers to  "Keep an eye on Porter."

The girls love to pretend.  They are always playing Prince and Princess or Barbies.  They both like to tie bandanas around their necks and call them capes.  Then they will run around the house and capture the bad guys and save the Princess.  SO cute!

Their favorite movies right now are anything Barbie.  They have the songs memorized to their favorites, currently The Diamond Castle and the Princess and the Pauper.  (Yesterday Brinn asked me if "I could spare some bread and water" directly quoted from the Princess and the Pauper.  It made me laugh so hard!)

The new favorite non-Barbie song in the house is "Love Story" by Taylor Swift.  The girls go around the house singing "You'll be the prince and I'll be the Princess, it's a love story baby just say yes."  So fun!

Ainsley is just getting so big!  Her new favorite word is "acutally."  "Well, actually I would like some lunch."  "Well actually I do want to go shopping."

Porter Boy started getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth last week.  Any day now he is going to take off, I just know it.  And this week he has started babbling.  He sounds something like this "Blah Blah Blah."  SO fun!

Sorry to bore you, I just want to remember what my babies are like at this stage in their lives.  

Winter Wonderland

7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning 

7:30 am, ready to go play

Playing with the shovel and rake
It is finally starting to feel like winter around here.  The snow started coming Monday night.  School was cancelled yesterday.  It was nice to have an extra day with Daddy.  Last night the snow with so beautiful!  I got some pretty shots of the snow lightly falling.  When we woke this morning there was quite a bit of fresh snow.  So at 7:30 a.m. the girls were bundled up and out the door to play.  Ainsley loves it!  We got our her garden shovel and rake and she has been having a good time.  It's a perfect winter wonderland!

Happy Birthday to you!

TinkerBell Fairy with little house

Barbie bus (garage sale find for $2!)

Troy and Gabriella!  (Can you hear the screams?)

A plane for her little toys (garage sale for $.25)

A new dress.  It's pink!

Today was the big day.  My firstborn turn 4.  What?  4!!!  Yes, she is a little lady now.  We had her party Saturday with friends so today was all about family.  Chant got home from school at 1:00.  Brinnley wanted to go to the library for her birthday.  That was easy.  We spent some time picking fun books about animals and then hit the movie store for a fun show for the girls.  On our way home we stopped for a grilled cheese sandwich at Steak n' Shake.  The girls and I curled up on the couch and enjoyed the show.

When the movie ended at 5:00 she got to open her presents.  She didn't have any requests, which was good since I have had her b-day gifts since July.  The girls have been playing with the goods in the living room ever since.  A quiet, but wonderful birthday.  Porter even got in on the action by grabbing on of the newly acquired Barbie dolls, well actually Gabriella from High School Musical.  (Hey, it was on sale.  Troy and Gabriella for only $5. 74.  What a steal!)  I am so glad we got to spend her special day together.  I love you my baby girl.  Happy birthday!

Love you,

Mom

4 Years Ago

At just a few days old.  (Billy Blanket glowing behind her.)

On this day (January 26) four years ago I started my morning like any other.  I spent a few hours watching Gilmore Girls, Judging Amy, and ER.  I was enjoying being lazy after having only graduated from college one month before.  I didn't have anything else to do, so why not indulge in a few hours of my favorite shows?  Finally at 11:00 I decided to get ready for the day.  My afternoon progressed as usual.  About 2:55 I found my shoes and sat down on the couch to put them on.  I had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 and Chant would be home from work soon to pick me up.  I was 37 weeks along in my first pregnancy and about to meet my new doctor for the first time.  (Long story, but point is I had to switch.)  As I bent over I felt a small rush of fluid.  I was mortified because I thought I had just wet my pants.  I changed my clothes and continued getting ready.  But the fluid didn't stop coming.  All at once it hit me in a panicky rush that my water had just broken.  What!  My bag wasn't packed!!!  I ran around the apartment throwing things in my bag.  I already had a list of what to take, I just had to throw it in.  Chant walked into the door and saw me running around.  I announced my water had broken.  Then the question came "What do I do?  Do I go to the hospital or do I go to my 

appointment?"  I wanted to meet my doctor first, so to the doctor's office we went.

I sat in the waiting room filled with excitement that continued to radiate while we waited in the exam room.  When Dr. Prince walked in the door he introduced himself and then asked when I was due.  I said, "Today, my water just broke."  He had a look of shock on his face.  He still wanted to do the exam to make sure.  I was at 3 cm.  He could already see a hair full of red hair.  A redhead!?!  He sent me to the hospital and said he would see me soon.

I spent the next few hours in pain.  Our good friend Randi worked at the hospital and her husband Adam came to see her for dinner.  When he found out I was there, he stuck his head in the room and found me pacing the floor.  Finally I had had enough and I told Chant to tell the nurse I wanted an epidural.  Adam stayed in the room to try to help me.  Poor guy!  He didn't know what to do with me pacing and saying over and over it hurt.    

They came quickly to give me an the epidural.  The instructions: don't move.  Yeah right!  I felt this incredible pressure the whole time.  Finally when it was in I was told I could lie down again.  As soon as I did I told the nurse I felt like I needed to push.  She said there was no way I was at a 10 yet but she said she'd check anyway.  Guess what?  I was at 10 cm.  So, needless to say I did not get to reap the benefits of the epidural and they shut it off immediately.  

Half an hour of pushing and at 7:19 p.m. out came the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  Just like Dr. Prince said, she had a head full of red hair.  The nurses took her and cleaned her then delivered her to me.  Chant and I just stared at the beautiful little baby in my arms.  I couldn't believe my Brinnley Beth was here.  That was one of the most amazing days of my life.     

You are such a joy and I am so grateful to have you in my life.  Happy Birthday to you my little angel!

Love,

Mom 

Brinnley's Birthday Party!

 

Opening Barbie and the Diamond Castle

Whitney, Ellie, Brinnley, Ellie, and Alex watching the movie

Ainsley, Whitney, Ellie, and Brinnley

Ainsley's crazy hair after playing in the bouncy toy Brinn got

Everyone fit inside

The Diamond Castle Cake

All the girls watching the movie

My Brinnley Beth turns 4 tomorrow (the 26th) but we had a party for her yesterday.  This was the first time we let her have friends over for her birthday.  I asked her a while ago what she wanted to do for her birthday.  Her response- watch a Barbie movie and have a picnic on the floor.  I thought, well I can do that even with 6 crazy girls running around.  She specified that she wanted to watch "Barbie and the Diamond Castle."  Lucky me, I found the matching plates, napkins, and cups as Target.  And Brinnley chose a Diamond castle birthday cake.  We were set.

At 11:45 our first guest arrived and by 12:30 the last came and we were ready to party.  We had pizza for lunch.  So cute 6 little girls lined up in a row watching the movie and eating lunch.  When the pizza was gone we brought out the popcorn.  6 little girls laying in a row on the bellies with their feet in the air quietly chomping popcorn and intensely waiting to see what will happen next.  As the movie progressed and the evil Lydia chased the Princesses the party moved to my lap and legs as we all held hands and squeezed each other tight waiting to see what would happen.  Even cheered when the evil Lydia was turned to glass and the girls were transformed into beautiful princesses.  Then the party really began when the end credits rolled and the girls got down to the theme song.  SO CUTE!  Next brought presents, cake and ice cream, and six girls running around the house screaming and playing.  Our first party was a hit!

A wild hair, a paint sale, and a Monday off of school

When we got home from our Idaho trip in September, I wanted to repaint my living room wall.  It was brown and I was feeling really blah about it.  Se we spent three days sorting through paint colors from three stores before we settled on "Kelly's Island" or basically teal.  I love teal, it is actually my favorite color.  It was a fun change and I enjoyed it for a while, but it just didn't go very well with our living room decorations.  The wheels in my head had been turning for a while thinking about what color I would like to change it to.  

The week we got back from Idaho for Christmas we had the missionaries over.  The wall came up and I mentioned I was thinking about repainting.  Chant was kind of surprised because he thought I liked it.  Later in the week he said if I wanted to paint I had better do it now because Home Depot was having a paint sale plus an added mail-in rebate.  Sweet!  I had my chance.  Last Saturday we went to Home Depot and Chant and the kids wandered the store while I spent some time considering all my choices.  I came home with a huge stack of paint colors.  The options ranged from blues to greens to yellows with one random card of oranges.  After the kids were tucked snug as bugs in their beds I got to work looking at each color and whittling down the pile.  I got it narrowed down to my two favorite blues, two greens, and the yellows I hadn't narrowed down at all.  We immediately decided we really didn't want blue.  We chose our fav green and then we went to the yellow pile (where the random orange card was included).  The very first thing Chant saw was the orange card.  He pulled it out and we looked at it and both of us got really excited and it was done.  Orange it was, or more correctly Miami Spice.

Monday Chant didn't have school so that was paint day.  He set his alarm for 5:00 a.m. and he was out the door and back home before 6:30.  The room had been primed and two coats of paint added all before lunch.

We ran errands in the afternoon and let the paint dry more before moving the furniture back.  When we decided it was dry enough to move things back I discovered Chant's real motive for so willingly letting me paint.  He wanted to change the furniture around.  For those of you who don't know me super well, I am not a fan of change when it comes to where my things are at.  I could change the color of my wall no prob, but move the furniture!  Oh the stress!  He knew I would freak out, so he approached the subject very gingerly and I caved.  And guess what.  I love it.

New year new living room.  We even bought 5 little fake foam birds (hope you know what I am talking about) to spread throughout our living room to add extra pops of color.  I think it looks great.   

Can I keep just this one?

So this morning I was putting lotion on my extremely dry feet.  I have this really large, cool looking scar on my ankle.  On my one year birthday I was hospitalized for a blood disease that attacked my ankle.  My mom said my ankle was swollen up like a balloon.  They had to cut it open to drain it.  That left a crazy looking scar on my ankle.  Call me weird, but I like it.  It is a part of me and always has been.  I feel that way about all of my scars.  I have tiny little scars on my hand where I was cut by a broken water carafe while I was waiting tables.  I have a big scar on my back where my brother popped one of my chicken pox when I was just 3 months old.  I have a pretty cool indentation on my stomach from my seat belt when I rolled my parents' car.  I have a caterpillar looking one on my side where a mole was removed.  I even have one on the tip of my tongue from when I had a pie shaped piece surgically removed and the two flaps were sown together.  

So back to this morning.  While I was putting lotion on my feet, I saw this scar on my ankle and I got a little sad thinking about the resurrection and how our bodies would be made perfect from imperfections, like scars.  I am really excited to have a perfect body free from physical ailments and imperfections but I wonder, can I keep just this one?

Out of the mouth of a babe

Today was kind of a rough day for me.  Porter is teething and he has a cold, again.  He was up from 2-5 this morning crying.  Then the girls were awake and ready to go at 6:30.  So I was a little groggy today.  Later in the day I was kind of melting down due to lack of sleep.  Ainsley came up to me and said, "Mom, what's wrong?"  I told her I was tired because Porter was up last night crying.  She then asked me "Why didn't you sleep before Porter cried?"  Huh, why didn't I think of that?

At dinner Brinnley hit her finger and she started crying that she needed a band-aid to feel better.  She went off crying down the hall to the closet where we keep the band-aids.  All the while Ainsley was calmly eating dinner.  Chant turned to Ainsley after Brinnley ran out of the kitchen and asked, "What happened to her?"  Ainsley looked up from her plate and said very matter of fact, "She hurt her finger and needs a band-aid."  Then she was back to focusing on her dinner.  This was so funny because she didn't skip a beat even though she was in her own little world.

After dinner we made cookies in a skillet, called Skookies.  The girls helped squish the dough into the skillets.  Chant asked Ainsley how they looked.  She very seriously said, "Incredible."  We couldn't stop laughing.  

She definitely helped lighten the mood today.  Thanks baby girl.

Hands

I have old woman hands.  I do!  The top of my hand looks like a normal hand, maybe a little dry but other than that normal.  But when I turn my hands to look at my palms, my hands are deeply lined.  I have tons of lines that cover the fleshy part just below my thumb (sorry, anatomy is NOT my subject).  My fingers are even covered with lines.  Some are deep and others  are not, but either way, there are a ton.  My mom has always commented on them.  Don't get me wrong, she wasn't being mean or anything.  My hands are just very different than hers.  Hers are very smooth with very few lines.  Chant's hands are also very smooth and the girls took after their Daddy.  

Today I was feeding Porter his bottle when he reached his cute, chubby, little hand up to my face.  I held his little, precious hand in mine and I examined it.  I searched every little part of it, fingers and all.  My heart was filled with a warmth when I discovered that Porter has my hands.  He has old man hands, and I love it!  His cute fingers are lined just like mine.  His palm has lines going every which way.  I have always been fond of my lined hands and so I am glad that I get to share them with one of my children.  

But the girls have a unique part of me too.  I have two distinct lines/ bumps (similar to the lines above the upper lip) below my lower lip.  The girls have both been given this feature.  I like that we are different and each have a look entirely our own, but as a parent it is fun to see some of my unique features in them.  My children really are a part of me, and I LOVE it!

Porter's First Haircut

While we were in Idaho Porter's hair grew quite a bit, but only on the top.  He was looking a little funny so Chant thought it was time for a buzz.  We got out the clippers.  He didn't cry, but he looked a little disgruntled the whole time.  He still has hair, but it looks much better!  Thanks Dad for keeping me from looking like a dork!

Winter in Idaho

Visiting with the Grandpas on our way home.

We stayed the night at Opa's house in Utah.

Grandpa Gene and Aunt Dee

Jenny and Porter (she is my Aunt)

Ainsley and Dalton (her fav)

Porter and McKenzie

Easton and Ainsley

 

Ainsley and Uncle Kirk making popcorn (Kirk got the air popper for his gift) 

Everyone got gloves from Grandma.

Grandpa got a rope, but Ainlsey claimed it for her own.  She used it for things like tying up her Uncle Kirk.

We all had a part on the Family Christmas program.  The kids sang Rudolph and Cousin Lily did a dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.

Grandpa played Battleship with the girls (or put the pegs in to make pretty designs is more like it)

Porter and Uncle Kasey

Brinnley got really sick with a nasty ear infection while we were in Idaho.  She was sick on the couch for a few days before the meds kicked in.

But before she got sick she had fun playing in the snow with her sister.  Ainsley didn't like the sled at all, but she loved building her snowman and doing her own thing.

Christmas in Denver

Ainsley and Chant put on a pretty good concert for everyone

Brinnley got the Barbie she wanted (6 to be exact)

Porter had fun opening his presents, with a little help.

The famous pink shoes

Porter Boy got the monkey.  (Notice Ainsley isn't looking.)

Ainsley, Kristy, Jenny, and Brinn

Brinn and Gran

Jen and Brinnley

Kris and Ainsley being crazy

Brinn and Kristy