Happiness

  Asher wants to be an artist when he grows up. I told him about a friend of mine who was doing art classes and he begged me to sign him up. I did! He have loved it! He saved money from doing chores to buy a $4 painting from the library's store and did his own rendition of it. He spent several hours on it and it turned out really well! He does really well with visual and spacial skills. He also asked me to have piano lessons- we may have to see about that!  Asher's Finished Project Ethan did one as well and did a great job too! I love it when they create art/music/anything!

Our Niece and Cousin, sweet Angel Charlotte, would have been 6 yesterday.  6 little brownies A candle glowing in each In Memorial (by Josh)

  I am 33 weeks along as of Saturday! Crazy! The time seems to be flying and going slowly at the same time- amazing how that happens, right? I wish I could speed time up and slow it down! I can't wait to hold this newborn in my arms and yet, who knows if this is our last pregnancy. I need to enjoy these days while I can. The other day when I was feeling especially tired and sore, I thought "There is nothing more important that I can be doing right now at this moment- growing a human being." I repeat that often! Last Saturday, my Church group threw me a lovely, yummy, beautiful baby shower. We already have a lot of what we need since we were prepping to do foster care, so they made it a diaper and freezer meal shower. We got a ton of diapers and wipes! Lots of people came and I (we) felt very supported and loved! What an awesome Church we belong to and what great friends! I didn't get any pictures there, but this picture is of afterwards.   32 Weeks   W...

  We had a great Valentines Holiday!- My present to Josh (thank u Pinterest!). I added pictures of us and reasons why I love him at the end of some helium balloons. He really liked it!   Elizabeth's Valentines to her class (Pinterest idea again). It took her quite a while to do these, but another hit!   Ethan free handedly sketched this heart on white paper and then copied it onto red construction paper for his class. They turned out pretty big- but were super cute!   Jonah's Valentines, complete with vanilla ice cream smelly sticker. Asher's were simple fun-dip ones. I've learned from years before that having all the kids do the same one- if labor intensive- is just too much. Although, 4 different ones was still a lot! Next year, maybe we'll just do 2 different, simple ones!   Josh's gift to me- that I requested- along with some pink grapefruit Perrier that he sweetly noticed that I mentioned I liked one date night. Very thoughtful!   ...

Isn't he cute? His hair reminds me of Asher's hair! Boy, naming this baby this time around has been hard! Having 3 boys and having lots and lots of cousins that are boys, has made it more difficult than before. Plus, we love each of our kid's names and it's hard to find something that you love just as much. I was content to wait until we got to the hospital to narrow down our list of favorites- even though that list was pretty long (57 on Josh's list!) until I had a dream that Josh and I got into a big fight over it. This motivated me! I picked up two baby name books I got from the library The Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenberg and The Baby Name Countdown - 140,000 baby names (not too helpful btw!) with a sincere intent in getting help with this baby's name! My favorite baby name book so far has been that first one. At the back it says "Yes, you're baby's perfect name is out there. And yes, this book will help you find it." Okay! ...

  Last Tuesday Morning, we had the chance, as a family, to go through the Gilbert Temple. The kids got out of school for a little bit and we got to go together. It is so beautiful! The kids especially loved the large stain glass windows, the long flight of stairs going from the baptistry to the sealing rooms, the very, very large chandelier in the Celestial room, the baptistry and the sealing room.  We had a Family Home Evening the night before about the purpose of Temples. I kept chatting about it during the tour and Jonah turned to me and said "Mom, we know!". Elizabeth was excited to see the sealing rooms where people get married and sealed together for time and eternity. She thought there would be an aisle to walk down, but loved the mirrors and the chandeliers in the room. It was great to finally see it completed after two years of waiting (since we moved here!).   Love this broken up waterfall! A lady explained to us that the architect saw t...

It's that time again. The time of restless anticipation until the baby is born, when you can count the weeks you have left on less than both of your hands. The time where your belly is big and it's hard to sleep. The time when your clothes fit tight and you don't know how you are going to make it another few more months.  The time when, if you don't get enough calories during the day, you wake up hungry from dreams of visits to an ice cream parlor and getting a cake and 3 scoops of ice cream to go. The time your children love as you are often found in the kitchen baking something yummy. This is a time that is new for me too. A fter two miscarriages, lots of foster care work and 6 year of waiting, it kind of seems like this baby will not arrive. His very, very strong kicks and hiccups tell me that he is very much alive and doing well. My Dr. told me months ago that there is less than 1% of losing this baby.  But, my heart wavers. Will we really be bringing thi...

Lately I Love: -A Quiet House after two full days of subbing! -Feeling baby bean kick in the morning after completely forgetting that he was even there. -Finding the perfect combination of salty and sweet- chocolate chip cookies with crumbled potato chips? Yes, please! -Anything Valentines! As most of you know Valentines Day is my absolute favorite Holiday- I just want to slather pink and red sparkly hearts ALL over my house! I'm restraining myself with this cute banner Elizabeth made (see above) and a few other things! -Getting early Valentines from my kiddos! Ethan's was "I shoot my love at you!" complete with tanks shooting hearts. So cute! (It was done on cardboard with pencil so it was too dark to see on a picture). -Adding some color to the house with paints from Christmas. Jonah and Ethan. Jonah is now a little taller than Ethan, which is unusual for them! -Seeing Ethan and Jonah play on a neighborhood basketball team and love it! ...

We got a Groupon for cheap ice skating in Phoenix and I took the kids on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I've noticed that often with Groupons the places are small and kind hole-in-the-wall places looking to drum up business. This was no exception. I'm usually okay with it- except for the time we took Sadie the dog to a small place for grooming and they nicked her and she had a sore under her collar for a few months. Asher loved it the most and did NOT want to stop! I told him we could come back for a date. Ethan and Jonah were mostly cold and wanted to go home after a short time! I spent a lot of time tying and untying skates. Elizabeth liked it! There were some ice skaters doing some fancy moves and they were really impressed by that! Also, there was a casual hockey came going on on the other side of the rink, so it was a little noisy. A fun family outing though! **My sister Amy, had her sweet baby boy- Arthur Conan Ellis- on Sunday, Feb 2nd. Such a cutie! Welcome...

Elizabeth and Dad (the sled broke on the first run thru! Good thing we had another one!) On January 4th, we made the 2 hr drive up to Pine, AZ and Josh's boss's cabin- with the hope to play in the snow. There was not a lot of snow around- I guess next time we'll have to go right after a snow storm! We looked online and found some more snow 15 minutes North in Strawberry so we headed up that way. We found a turn off in the road, with a sign saying "No snow playing." There was lots of snow and several families playing, so we decided to go for it. The kids had a great time- especially sledding! I put away my Mother's inhibition and let Josh take the boys to the very top of a steep hill.    Elizabeth and her tiny snowman! After we played in the snow, we headed back to the cabin and had hot chocolate and hot chicken noodle soup for dinner. It was great to have a place to crash and change into dry clothes instead of making the drive home right away! ...