Sargent Family Reunion Day 1

So the time finally came for our much anticipated, first ever Sargent Family Reunion! I'm going to forewarn you that there are lots of pictures! But why not have lots of pictures to try and capture all the fun memories from the reunion? Cause it was definitely fun and I can't wait for our next one! The reunion was in Nauvoo this year and I was very excited because we hadn't been to Nauvoo since right after Kayley was born, so she doesn't remember any of it and the other kids had never been. Now I know Rex won't remember anything and Cora may only remember a little bit, but nonetheless my favorite part was watching Kayley and Cora learn so much about our Church History.

The first day we got there and basically figured out who was going to be watching our kids and where while we did a sealing session in the Nauvoo Temple. We thought there was going to be a big crowd of people in the session with us from our family, but I guess there was confusion as to who was going when so our session was really small with just Nick and I, Jess and JT, and my Mom...but it was really neat either way. Then afterwards we went to the Visitor's Center to kill some time before our family's pot luck dinner. While at the Visitor's Center we ran into the Felker Family. Lucy and Mallory were out in the hall with Stephanie while Edward and the other kids were watching the play going on in the theater. So, Rex and Lucy got to re-introduce themselves with one another again...
And again...I think Rex was just really excited to have someone there his size! Little did he know there were going to be lots of little ones his size around him in only a matter of minutes!
Rex trying to wrap his brain around such a big ball! To him I really think he seriously thought this was just a huge ball! I mean why wouldn't you think that?!?
The girls loved seeing where we were on the globe, where home was, and where Daddy served his mission...all the way on the other side in South Africa. Kayley wanted to know specifics...it was cute!
The girls wanted their pictures taken by each large statue inside. Good thing they didn't know about the statues outside! It was just too hot!
And them in front of the Christus...with their cousin Mallory.
Then they thought it was a game to chase Rex around the edge of the Christus. It was really cute until they got too loud.
Then we headed over to the Nauvoo Family Inn's Event Center for our Potluck dinner. It was yummy food thanks to our awesome cousin Sarah! We also did these awesome thumb print family trees...seemed like a million of them. But you put your thumbprint on a family tree and wrote your names by your thumbprint. I accidentally put all of my kids and our thumbprints in the wrong spot, but I wasn't about to re-do them with Rex...sorry for those of you who got tears/drool on the edges of your family trees...he wasn't a very happy sport about the thumbprint/ink thing.

And can I say how cute it was to see all of our kids playing together!?! The kids playing the cute puzzle/games Aunt Janeane had put together for the kids. Occupied them for a little bit while we prepared to play Minute to Win It games. But then of course they wanted to watch us make fools of ourselves!!
Rex trying to join in on the games...just barely too short buddy!
So I got voted in to do the very first game for our team. Basically you blow up the balloon and use the air from the balloon to blow off these plastic cups. It seems like a pretty basic concept, but you have to figure out how to hold the balloon correctly to let the air out and then the balloon kept getting twisted in my mouth and then on top of it all...you only had a minute to do it. Pretty stressful!
It's harder than it looks...but for those wondering, I was able to complete it and get a point for our team!
Mitchell from the other team...
Then Mike did the next round for us. He had to balance pencils on the top part of his hand and then flip them up and catch them all without dropping them. Each time increasing the amount of pencils by 2. I think he had to catch 16 total or something like that...a lot of pencils. But he made it look so easy! He got a point for our team by the way!
The other team picked the one-eyed man JT! :) It was a little bit harder for him only being able to see out of one eye...so needless to say our team is winning at this point!
Then during it all, Rex found a new buddy with my cousin Emily. He was crying, she picked him up and he was happy as a clam...mainly because of this balloon...he played with them all night! But he really did like Emily! It was cute!
Aunt Janeane cheering Nick and Edward on for the next round of pulling out tissues with one hand out of the box. They both got this in one minute, but remember our team was ahead, so yes our team won!
Then Katie and Kimberly battled it out for the candy elevator. Katie got hers in her mouth.
Kimberly was so close, but right at the very last minute the candy dropped off the elevator and there wasn't any time left!
Rex playing with his balloon again...told ya he played with it all night!
Then this was the funniest thing ever! These are all of my Mom's siblings, minus Aunt Kathy. But they had to start with the Oreo cookie on their forehead and use only their face muscles to get the cookie into their mouth. It was hilarious!!
Then in honor of my Grandpa Sargent Uncle John had the idea of every family taking their picture with a mustache. Grandpa was notorious for his mustache, he had the type that you twirled and waxed at the end. So here's our family's picture with the mustaches. Rex thought the mustache was a toy so he wasn't looking and disregard the sweat in all of these reunion pictures...did I mention it was hot....even in doors at times!
Then after the dinner and games we headed to Keokuk to our hotel. It was a decent hotel, smelled funny, but seemed clean and it was fun because the next night our youth from our ward was having their youth conference and they were staying at our same hotel. It was fun to catch up with a few of them there. And the best part about our hotel was that we ended up getting a king suite room with a king bed, pull-out couch, microwave, and fridge! The girls and Rex absolutely loved their bed if you couldn't tell by the picture! And the room was huge! We had tons of room even with the pull-out bed out. It was great!

Rex is King!!

And I mentioned earlier about Rex getting up on the fireplace like he was king. Here he is in his two other favorite places. In our room on the princess couch kickin' back watching movies with the girls. It's really cute watching him watch the movie.

And him sitting on his favorite spot on the couch! Isn't he cute!?!

Visit with the Carle Family

Last week the Carles came through for a visit for a few days before heading down south to see other family. It was just like old times from when they lived here by us. But it was even more fun this time because Rex and Audryn got to finally meet and we of course got to finally meet Audryn and the Carles got to meet Rex. Jessica and I were pregnant during the same time while they were here and that was fun to have a sister nearby pregnant with me (I've had plenty of sisters pregnant when I'm pregnant, but every time they live far away, except when Sarah and I were pregnant with Audrey and Kayley). Anyway, so Rex and Audryn are very different in great ways. Audryn is younger and walking/running like crazy while Rex is just very content with crawling and only cruising around furniture. Audryn is a busy body and Rex is just content just sitting for a while. Audryn is a bit more vocal and knows a few more words than Rex who is very quiet. It might just be a girl/boy thing, but nonetheless it's fun to see the differences and then to see them still play together like long lost buddies! Here's Rex trying to get Audryn's binky (another difference as Rex has never taken a binky!)

And he got it, but doesn't know what to do with it. all while Audryn is trying to take away his phone!And then the funniest thing was Rex is very clingy to Nick and I and when it comes to new people, he's usually really shy and clings to us even more. But when it came to JT, he went right to him! Here he is playing with him. I couldn't figure out if maybe Rex thought JT was Andrew who had been living with us for almost a year or not. Either way, it was really cute seeing how he took to him so quickly!
Rex debuted his new PJ's from his big cousins, Sterling & Andrew. He looked so cute in his spider man PJ's!
And then dress-up. Olivia brought out some wigs of the girls for Audryn and Rex to wear! Audryn was a pretty good sport and smiled pretty for us!
It was pulling teeth to get it on Rex! He's all boy remember!! He got very offended with us putting it on him and started crying!
And who did he go to to be consoled? JT!! It was so cute and sweet!!
And Olivia had to model the Rapunzel wig. We decided she makes a better brunette than a blonde!
And sorry to post this JT, but you were the one that posed for the picture! He also makes a better brunette!
And it was really cute because Kayley and Cora waited all day for Olivia to come play with them and Olivia was wanting to visit with us grown-ups. But eventually she did go in and play/coached the girls in dress-up. They had a blast! They played dress-up pretty much all the time after that until they left! Here they are having a tea party on the top bunk!
Cora, Katrina, and Kayley waiting for Olivia to bring them their tea party food!
And three very wiped out kiddos! They all slept on the bottom bunk together and Olivia slept on the top! They were all in 7th heaven! After they left, Kayley kept telling me she wished the Carles lived by us again and they both want to invite Olivia and Katrina to their upcoming birthday party, but don't quite understand that they will be miles away again back in Idaho! We all wish they lived closer again...maybe someday sooner than later! It was definitely a lot of fun to have them over and to visit with them!

Deanna Rose and Cow Appreciation Day

So, I've gotten a new computer and I'm still trying to get all my pictures uploaded and organized how I want them, which means my blog gets neglected! Not that I was the best blogger to begin with. So here's what we have been up to lately.

Here's Rex at one of our many recent trips to Best Buy (trying to decide which computer to buy). The girls favorite place at Best Buy is where the Leap Frogs are. Even though they have one at home, it's more fun to play with them at Best Buy I guess. Rex got right in on the fun and just looked so cute and such like a big boy.

Then a few weeks ago Shannon and Addison got to play with us for a few days while Uncle John had to work. We went to Liberty for Ashlyn's 5th Birthday Party (my camera died on me during taking pictures, so I don't have any of that.) But afterward we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead and boy was it hot! We also didn't realize that we got there at 4:15 and they closed at 5! So we went through quickly, trying to dodge all the workers who kept trying to already scoot us out the door! Here is Kayley feeding the fish. She really liked to try to feed them and saw a few turtles in the water too.
Cora got in on the action too as well as Ashlyn and Preston. Addison did a little bit, but mainly watched the bigger cousins feed them.
Posing on the bench together. I know I'm a horrible Mom for not taking Rex out of his stroller to sit with everyone, but I knew once I took him out he would be really upset to go back in and unlike Garrett, he's not walking yet and I wasn't about to lug that boy around in that heat! He's heavy and it was blasted hot!
And Kayley and Addison are almost joint at the hip when they are around each other. It's really cute to see Kayley reach out and help Addison in whatever she needs almost without asking and it's also really cute to watch Addison and how much she looks up to Kayley. Kayley can pretty much get her to do anything!
Rex was mesmerized by all the animals. We would get near one and he wouldn't take his eyes off of them...as seen in this picture!
This is all of them waiting to go in (sorry I uploaded them backwards this time!) We actually got them all to hold hands very willingly at first!
And this is what Rex has been doing lately. He's learned how to get up and down from the fireplace by himself. It's really cute. This day he got up there and just kept kicking his feet like he was king of the fireplace! He also does this on the couch now. One of his favorite things to do is to sit on the couch by me or by the girls while we are watching tv and he'll just start giggling at the tv like crazy and look at the girls or us and then giggle again at the tv. It's really cute!
And of course, we had to go to Chick-fil-a's Cow Appreciation Day! Free food...this family is there! I had us all in white shirts (including Nick, but he refused to let me take his picture, but he did dress up, including the cow ears!) We each had ears, noses (that didn't stay on very well), cow-tails, spots, and our "eat more chikin" signs. And we each got to pick out our own value meal and the girls got their own happy meals and Rex got his very own 3 piece of chicken strips! It was fun and the funny part was to see how Kayley was starting to notice that this was a bit embarrassing as she told me she didn't want to wear the nose or the tail. She didn't complain once she knew she'd get a happy meal though!
And me with the girls and Rex. He sure was a cute "eat more chikin" sign!
And earlier the same day we had gone to the pool to swim and Rex was just too cute trying to eat my peach! I just want to squish him he's so cute...don't you!?!

4th of July Festivities 2011

This last Monday was the 4th of July and we had a pretty busy day but it was lots of fun! We started with a 4th of July Bike Parade the Saturday before. This was our 2nd year doing the bike parade in our neighborhood. It's fun because this is a tradition that Nick did as a kid and it's fun that now our kids get to have the same tradition. Well, we battled the heat and it was really hot because there were probably only about 10 bike riders there total! I think they all decided to swim instead as the pool was hoppin' when the parade was over. Cora actually rode her bike the whole time this year, with a little bit of help from Nick, but it was better than last year she only rode it outside of the school parking lot and rode on Michelle's shoulders the rest of the time. Rex actually got to participate this year. Last year he slept in his punkin' seat being only a few days old. He was just relaxing away in the wagon. Kayley was a little speed demon as I had to speed walk to catch up with her. She was all the way in the front with the police escort!
Here they are before the race...

And after the race enjoying their popsicles. Rex was in 7th heaven and devoured his! We even got one since there weren't that many people participating!

Then on the 4th itself, Rex got to have a second birthday party, thanks to Ashlyn's birthday celebration and the fact that Grandma Bell and Michelle were out of town for his actual birthday party. Can you see Kayley's face in this picture? As soon as she saw Ashlyn's cake, she told Michelle, "wow! you have to teach my Mom how to do that for my birthday party!" Michelle had bought a sheet of icing off of Ebay with personalization on it and a picture of Rapunzel. Both Kayley and Cora want a Rapunzel party and agreed to have it together...so I think I'm going to have to re-create this cake for them!

And since Michelle wasn't at Rex's original party, we had to get pictures in the birthday crown and shirt he borrowed from Garrett. Isn't he cute!??! And of course he knew exactly what to do with the cake this time around when he blew the candles out. So much that when it came to opening presents, he didn't want to wait to eat his cake. So I had to keep giving him some licks of icing to tide him over till he got to eat his own cake.

And then we let him eat his own cake again so Grandma Bell could see him get all cute and messy. He definitely enjoyed it and literally devoured all the cake so much that he lifted his plate when he was done to look under it to see if there was anymore cake. It was fun!

Then we ate dinner and headed out to William Jewel college for the 4th of July festivities there. They had bounce houses and fireworks. The kids had a blast being together. They even got to sit in an ambulance.

The first bounce house was a single slide and the kids did great getting up to the top and sliding down it. So much that Kayley and Preston almost went at the same time!

Then the biggest one was one that we knew our kids weren't going to make it through on their own. Luckily one of Michelle's friends' brother and sister were both there. I was going to go in with all four, but they volunteered to go through with them. As you can see from the bottom right picture, Cora slipped on one of the small slide parts and apparently got jarred a little bit, but made it through without crying. It was fun!

Then we waited for the fireworks show. We forgot Nick's hunting earmuffs this year, so the fireworks were really loud for the girls, but they survived! This is why I don't have any pictures of them watching fireworks or of the fireworks themselves and I was using both hands to shield Kayley's ears, which were sitting on top of Kayley's hands also shielding her ears. Rex of course loved the fireworks! It was a fun 4th of July!

Rex's Birthday Pictures

So Rex has been 1 year old now for a whole week and I still can't believe I have a 1 year old! It is very true what they say, the more kids you have, the quicker time flies by! I even have some inner guilt thinking, have I gotten enough video or pictures of him compared to the girls? Oh well, I'm sure he'll appreciate what I have gotten of him. Rex is such a sweet little boy. We have always been blessed with having very easy going children from the start. Rex has been by far the easiest even though he has had his moments (pregnancy and around 2 months a little extra fussiness) but other than that, he really has been a great baby! He sleeps great sleeping through the night without waking up at all. We put him down around 9 or 10 and he sleeps until about 9 or 10 the next morning. Then he takes about a 4 hour nap in the afternoon (if we're at home) and then he'll even take a 30-45 min cat-nap in the early evening, then back to bed around 9 or 10. And when we aren't at home for naptime, he's pretty easy going even if he doesn't get all the sleep he wants with only a little bit of fussiness. He can play "bonk", hide and go seek, blow kisses (which is really cute with his chubby hands!), do "big boy", and say Mamama..., and a little bit of Dadada... He has almost 7 teeth. Three for sure in on top with one coming through and two for sure on bottom with another one coming through. He's very calm during his teething too with almost no signs of pain! He cruises along furniture very well now and likes to climb up on our fireplace and he's learning how to come down a little at a time. He's not quite brave to start taking his own steps yet, but he's standing on his own a little here and there without holding onto anything. He had a blast for his birthday I think and still loves to play with all of his new toys.

We had quite the day for his birthday! It started out waking up to this sweet boy's face! And I can't remember if it was this day or a day or two after or before this day, but I woke him up from his nap and he grabbed my face to give me a kiss and then grabbed for my face even harder the next time and gave me a really big kiss again. It was really cute! I loved him from the first time I saw him in the hospital! It really is fun to have a little boy! I am loving to see all the differences between a little girl and a little boy!
Then we met some friends from our library storytime group to do some tie-dying for 4th of July. The kids have fun playing and Rex was very good staying in his stroller the whole time while we tie-dyed...have I said he's a great baby!?!? It was blasted hot, but we got them finished. They turned out looking pretty cute, but after a few washes they have faded quite a bit. But the girls loved being able to match Rex with their shirts! This is them lining up on the slide oldest to youngest, except Rex...I don't think they could have held one more kid!

Then the rest of the day was pretty crazy! I watched Sarah and Andrew's kids while Sarah went to the Dentist. Andrew was supposed to get home early to help with his kids, but ended up home really, really late. It was fine during naptime with Rex and Ruby asleep, but when they woke up it was kinda crazy because Ruby wasn't very used to me. Nick wasn't going to be home early as he had a meeting at St. Luke's and someone (ehem, Nick) got scheduling wrong and ended up being on call for both St. Luke's and Centerpoint at the same time! When he went to his meeting at St. Lukes, he had to finish a test before he got to come home. And then to make things worse or more gut-wrenching, he told me that they had let a tech go that day in the Nuclear Medicine department. Luckily it wasn't Nick, but it was pretty stressful thinking it could have been. We feel very blessed that he was spared and I know I'm very blessed to be married to such a hard worker! So, the party was supposed to start at 6pm and Sarah didn't get home till 5:45 or so and Nick and Andrew weren't even home by then. Luckily Mom showed up early to help me with the kids and the cooking and the cleaning and the baking! Thank you to Mom!! Either way, it was a fun party celebrating a very cute and sweet boy! Here are the pictures from the event!

Rex blowing out his candles and waiting for his presents. He didn't really know what to do with his cake....yet! But he sure learned later!

These are pictures of him playing with some of his toys he got. He loves balls and loves to put things into things....well, his presents were just as such and he loved everyone of them! It was really cute seeing him get so excited about all of his presents!

More presents and more playing with friends. His friend Anderson is only 2 months older than him and they were having a blast playing with each other. A lot of these pictures were taken after he already ate his cake which is why he's naked. A big thanks to my friend Jessica who took over taking pictures for me! We have the same camera so she knows how to work it and it was such a relief to know the pictures were taken care of!!

The big kids had a blast playing together and enjoyed sitting at the kids table both inside and outside!

And THE CAKE....it didn't take him long to figure out what to do with the cake. He demolished it! Jessica felt bad in not getting a before picture, but you can pretty much see what it looks like in this picture...a baseball.

See...as you can see, he demolished it! Well, it was a really successful party, even amongst all the stresses. And Nick and Andrew did in fact make it finally to the party, about 1 1/2 hours late, but they made it!