My kids are growing...way too fast!

So this post is a collection of things that my kids have done lately that I've found to be cute and proof that they are growing and way too fast than I want them to sometimes. I'll start with Rex. He is now 10 1/2 months old. I can't believe we will be celebrating his 1 year birthday in about a month. This time last year I was in so much pain with his pregnancy and now he is such a delight to have in our home! He now has 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on bottom, which is weird because both girls have always gotten their teeth in groups so this third one on top is the odd man out. He sleeps great, still a consistent 8-9 hours a night, except when he's cutting teeth and even then his sleeping pattern isn't that difficult. He knows how to play peek-a-boo, woof like a doggie, pretend bonk his head (with his hand), and he has now mastered pulling up on furniture. He's not cruising on the furniture yet, but I have seen him take a few steps along the furniture. He is super fast at crawling now, especially when I enter the room (it's really cute to see him book it to get to me!) He is so sweet and such a happy baby. I thought we were lucky to have the girls being as happy as they were when they were babies, he is even happier! He's very content just playing and entertaining himself very easily (which is a big help to me!) Showing how happy he is playing by himself I usually have to go find where he has taken off to. This time I found him playing in our room by Daddy's stuff. It was cute. He now knows what to do for a camera and will willingly give me a smile, but it's short lived so I have to make sure I catch it quick.
Cora is such a loving little girl as seen by this picture below. We have a rule (I may have mentioned this earlier) but they can only sleep in the same bed on the weekends so they aren't up late talking on school nights. Cora is constantly asking if it's a school night so she knows if Kayley gets to sleep with her or not. When they do sleep together I find them like this. I asked Cora why she likes Kayley to sleep with her so much and she says "because I like to hug her." Then the other thing is the girls have to make their beds everyday for a week and if they do at the end of the week they get a dollar. Well, Kayley was really working hard to earn money for a Tangled book at Target. This last weekend she had finally gotten just enough money and wanted to go straight to Target to buy it. We weren't going until later that day and we went to some garage sales. Cora brings her money and likes to spend it at garage sales. We were at one garage sale and she found a baby that was a quarter. Kayley also found a 101 dalmation dog that was a quarter and kept begging me to buy it. I told her she would have to use her own money and she started to get upset. Cora then said without hesitation that she would buy it for her. It was only a quarter, but to a kid who only gets a dollar a week, that is a lot of her money. I was really impressed with her unselfishness towards her sister.

Also earlier in the week she had found some sunglasses at a garage sale and was showing Kayley them when she got home from school. Cora was pretty excited and told Kayley to put them on because you could see the whole world through the sunglasses. Kayley responded with a "no you can't, you can only see the inside of our house!" It was funny!

Kayley has also said some pretty funny and mature things lately. The other day her cousins were visiting and they were running around. Kayley tells Audrey, "be careful so you don't run into me, when you run into me, I loose teeth!" (this is because of her getting two teeth knocked out by running into people...both were already loose to start with.)

Kayley is also getting really good at learning how to read. It's been sort of a slow process as she would get frustrated and then close off completely in wanting to even try, so I wouldn't push it. Now she loves to do reading lessons when we get a chance (it's kind of crazy fitting it in with her school sometimes, so we are looking forward to going full-fledged in the summer in a week) and she will willingly come to me and tell me if she thinks she knows what a word says. She will also willingly try to sound words out as I help her a bit. She loves to rhyme words together and loves to point out words she remembers and recognizes. It's been amazing to watch her grow and finally get something that I know she will cherish immensely as she has always loved to be read to and loves books like crazy! She actually just graduated preschool today (pictures to come soon) and I have to admit, I actually got teary eyed!

Also about a week ago she really made me a proud momma. I was doing a family home evening lesson on faith. We went through a song out of the children's songbook and explained the words and it's meanings, etc and read the scriptures that went along with the song. As I was explaining ways that our faith grows I also starting talking about how the Holy Ghost can help us feel if something is right or not when we hear or read it (aka the scriptures or what the prophet says, etc). I told her that the Holy Ghost will feel kind of like a warm blanket so that we feel warm inside. Kayley then bolts out with, "Like right now, I feel warm inside!" She was so excited to make that realization and she repeated it over and over. I was so elated that she was beginning to acknowledge this feeling and recognize what it is. It really made me a proud Momma, I was beaming!

Here are some other pictures from when Audrey, Lauren, & Ruby visited. Cora wanted to hold Ruby as Rex won't hold still long enough for her to hold her anymore and he's almost too big for her now. Ruby is still young enough that she can hold her and she ate it up.

And Rex just loves his baths and I wanted to get a picture of it during his bath. Once again he cheesed for me and then went about his merry way to playing in the bath tub. I think he just might be a swimmer!!

My Mother's Day

So I just have to say that I know (and hope) that most mothers feel blessed to be a mother and wife, what a great blessing and privilege we have to be intrusted with our children. But I have to say that I just felt very blessed yesterday for Mother's Day. And not only yesterday but all last week. Kayley was so excited about Mother's Day and started talking about it the Sunday before. She came home from church and said they were singing Mother's Day songs and then she came home and started writing out a Mother's Day song on paper for me and put it on the refrigerator. She then went to school later in the week and came home so excited to talk to me about the card she was making me for Mother's Day. She brought the card home on Thursday. Then we went to dinner on Saturday night at Ruby Tuesdays and afterward got in the car to go to the store. Kayley says to Nick that we should go to Walmart, pick out a Mother's Day card for Mommy, sign it and then put it underneath her pillow and she could give it to me in the morning (all while I'm in the car) and he tells her that is a good idea but I just heard her plan. She then says, "oh man!" But she was so insitent that Nick got a card for me. Nick had already secretly gotten me one by the way, she just didn't know it yet. So later that night I put the girls to bed while Nick put Rex to bed. Nick had gone in there to kiss them goodnight and I followed to make sure they went to bed and Kayley tells me, "Mom you will never guess what Dad just told me, but I can't tell you, it's a secret." Then the next morning I got up to give Rex a bottle then started getting ready for church and Kayley (who is usually the hardest one to get up in the morning) comes bolting in to give me my card and a big hug with a "Happy Mother's Day." Then about two seconds later, Cora comes rushing in (all sleepy eyed, but still dying to come in) and wishes me a Happy 'Moders' Day! Then we went to church like normal and came home. Nick made me lunch (and cleaned the kitchen) and I went to change and the girls told me to not come out until they told me to. When they were ready Kayley guided me to the living room where they were so proud of cleaning the living room and kitchen all by themselves. Nick later told me that once they cleaned the living room she came and asked him what else they could clean to make me happy. Then we all got to take a good long nap! Then the rest of the day was spent with the girls giving me lots of hugs and kisses and our usual Sunday walk around the block. Then when I put the girls to bed that night, Kayley says to me, "Mom I wish Mother's Day could be all year!" And their favorite thing to tell me at night now is "Mom I love you thousands!" So altogether I had a really good and relaxing low key Mother's Day! Oh and I also get to go shopping for some new clothes soon! So like I said, I am very blessed to have such great kids that love me so much and a husband that loves and cares for me no matter what. I sure hope that all mothers felt as loved as I did yesterday!

April and Easter Festivities

Ok...I've mentioned before that my blog does this funny thing that I have to upload my pictures in backwards order and can't insert a picture in the middle anywhere...this is one of those times I wanted to scream out loud as I accidentally deleted one of the middle pictures and had to re-insert it at the beginning. Anyway this is from the Kansas City Temple Run kids run. We were worried about putting in the kids because we hadn't registered them and then the run was for kids 5 and older which would only include Kayley. But we were encouraged to just do it anyway and we were glad we did. They had a blast! I don't know if you can tell who is who: Kayley is in front in the purple shirt (and jeans and dorothy shoes), Ashlyn is right behind her on her left in orange, then Preston is in the back by Michelle in the dark shirt and white hat (Preston is on her right), and Cora is by Nick is in the white shirt by Michelle (Cora is in front in flip flops). Nick said that Cora about wiped out twice, but they all had a blast. They all four got medals and wore them proudly for about a week!
And then here is the original beginning of the post....So this is a post with a lot of pictures! April was a fairly busy month for us...at least in regards to pictures! Here is Kayley's class picture they took at the beginning of the month. She has really enjoyed school this year. She loves her teachers and she actually enjoys (finally) being one of the only girls in her classroom. She says she is the fastest runner on the playground when they all play mario kart. (that's my girl!) School has been great for her and she is really looking forward to going to Kindergarten this next year.

Then what is Easter without dying Easter Eggs? The girls loved dying them and watching them change colors.

Rex loved being the audience...it was late and he was getting really tired!!

Intense at work...

Then the next day we went to the Blue Springs Family Fun Day. Michelle and Kendall joined us and the kids were so excited. It was supposed to be a day of inflatables, games, free food, and a huge Easter Egg Hunt. It was our first time going and let's just say it was different than what we expected. I expected more of a traditional type setting and it was more of a Christian based setting. There were TONS of people there so the lines were insane! We got all the kids in on one inflatable after being in the wrong line for two different lines. Then once they were done with that, the huge inflatable (that they really wanted to do) the line was horribly long so we did not do that and instead decided to go get some lunch before the Easter Egg hunt. That's when things started going down hill. They closed all the games, closed all the inflatables, and said for everyone to take their seat in the bleachers (it was held at the High school)...we raced out to get in line for the food only to find they were closing these lines too....only at 11am mind you...for lunch!! We decided to ditch this Easter egg hunt and head to trusty old McDonald's and Bass Pro. Bass Pro had a limit of 5 eggs per kid but it was more of a hunt as they had to walk around the store and actually look for them, versus most Easter Egg Hunts no a days that just throw all the eggs in a big squared off area and it's a big free for all. They loved being able to hunt for them and didn't even seem to mind that they only got 5 each. Then of course Bass Pro came through and had fun crafts for them to do, the Easter Bunny was there to take pictures, and then the kids got to all play in the boats together. They had a blast and we all thought maybe we should have started off with this idea in the first place!

All taking turns on the one inflatable they got to play on...

Rex & Garrett got to just hang out in their strollers...

A week before these events we were also at Bass Pro (because you know Nick) and Kayley refused to take a picture with the Easter Bunny...

But she changed her mind and I finally convinced her to take her picture when we were with Ashlyn and Preston...so I finally got one with all three kids in it....

The craft...I tried and always try to get a picture of all four looking at the same time...never happens!

Then our Easter Sunday got a little scrambled. Nick got up early to go to his meetings as always and I was running late to getting ready as I completely forgot about making cupcakes for YW (oops!) So I had it all played out in my head on how I was still going to get to church on time when Cora came into the bathroom and told me, "There's something all over my pillow in my bed." Sure enough I look over at her and she has throw up all in her hair, all over her PJ's, and of course all over her bed and floor in her room! It was a lot!! So I tried to get a hold of Nick who finally texts me and says he had gotten called in and had thrown up as well that morning quite a bit (he was on call at St. Luke's and he almost never gets called in there, but the one and only time is when he's sick...go figure!) So we stayed home from church and the Easter Bunny had to come after everyone had taken a nap and felt a little bit better. Luckily the sickness was very short-lived and we got to do our Easter Egg Hunt with cousins the next day.

This is how the girls sleep on the weekends. We finally had to make a rule that they could only sleep together on nights that Kayley didn't have school the next day because they were staying up way too late talking and playing and then were very cranky the next day. Cora asks everyday if Kayley has school the next day as she especially loves to have her sister sleep with her!

Our little Rex has learned how to pull up on things...he is so proud of himself. He is just now pulling up to his feet more often. I'm not pushing it too much as I know he just gets faster from there on walking!! But he's learning very quickly on his own as it is! Here he is begging the girls for food like he often does. Sadly they were eating eggs and strawberries, both of which he can't have for another two months.

Did I mention he LOVES to play with Nick!?! Right before this picture he was actually laying his head on Nick's shoulder...he really does just love Nick. My favorite thing to watch is how excited he gets to see him in church. I don't know what it is about church that makes Rex want Nick so much, but I don't complain. As soon as I get there he pretty much launches from my arms to his! It's cute!

And the Temple Run...oh what fun that was!! It was so much fun to do it with all my family that was there and it was fun to do it with all the young women and leaders and the rest of the people in our ward that participated. We really had a ton of people from our ward there it was great!! I ended up finishing 13th in the category of boys (I was put in the wrong category on the results) and then when they changed it I was actually bumped to 16th in my category...so I have my work cut out for me next year cause there were some pretty fast girls in my category. But in my defense I hadn't ran for about 3 weeks because of a hip injury...so I wasn't running at my best. This is right at the finish line taken by my Mom who so willingly watched our kids so we didn't have to use the jogger stroller! Can you see Otto almost immediately behind me? He's in the gray shirt, blact shorts, and white hat on my left. We literally finished one second apart from each other! It was great! Oh...and in case you were wondering...I smoked Nick! He kept bragging about how he hadn't practiced at all for the race and was going to beat me and I'm here to testify that this is our 2nd race to run in (we are cheap so we only race in ones that are free!) and I've beat him in both races!!

Pics of the kids with Mom; the runners: myself, Nick, & Otto; myself, Nick, & my Mom; and then the little runners below.

So since we were sick on Easter Sunday, the kids got to wear their Easter outfits the next Sunday. Nick was already at his meetings (as always) so it was difficult to get a good picture with just me manning the camera and kids. Rex was not happy as he had just woken up and was ready to eat and we didn't have much time as we needed to head out the door. So this is the best I got...I knew if I waited till after church though someone would get their outfit dirty or be too fussy again or asleep so this is what we got! Notice the girls medals they wore proudly to church!?!

This last week Cora was so proud one morning as she had dressed herself and fixed her hair and everything! Also a few days before this she came to me in the morning while I was getting ready so excited and said, "Mom guess what!?!? I squished an ant all by myself and it did not even bite, sniff, or look at me!!" This is a huge deal as my girls are both the type that if they see an ant by them outside they come running inside, if they see one by them when they are playing inside (yes we do have some ants in the spring come in...so annoying!!) they start screaming. Cora also has to start speech therapy this next school year. She is pretty easy to understand there are just a few sounds that she is not getting that she should already have by now. One of which is the 'ch' sound...so the above thing she said from the ants was actually "touched an ant" not "squished an ant" She later corrected me. I guess I had too high of hopes for her to actually squish an ant!!

Then Rex also learned how to drink out of straw and it was cute. He was actually really good at it and it didn't take him long to figure it out. I guess he really is Nick's son...but luckily this is just water he is drinking not Dr. Pepper...not till he gets older can he have a little bit of that!

Then this is Rex at Bass Pro. He was just being cute and willingly smiling for me when I pulled the camera out. Everytime I showed him the phone to take his picture, he was just smile for me, it was cute! He is such a happy baby and we are so blessed!