The Sonnenbergs

A Change

2011-05-23T23:51:00.000-06:00

I have been working on a new blog for a couple of weeks now.

This August will mark 5 years that I have had this blog up and running... can you believe it? I laugh every time I read my first post here. :P I had no idea what to do with a blog really at that point.

I've just been ready for a change and have grown tired of Blogger. So change your bookmark or update your RSS feeds! I will be posting at my new blog location from here on out!

Meghan's View

Let me know if anything is wonky or just doesn't work right... I'm trying to figure it all out, but there will definitely be a little bit of a learning curve!

Lashes for DAYS

2011-05-16T12:14:00.000-06:00

Can you believe my little girl's lashes??

On Saturday she got to be all dolled up for her dance recital dress rehearsal and pictures. Afterwards, I took her outside for a couple quick shots because knowing me, I wouldn't get around to on the night of.

The theme for the night is TV shows. So her 3-4 year old class is dancing to the theme song from Gunsmoke. There are a couple of boys in there, so they are cowboys, a few girls are cowgirls, and there are just a couple little "cow Belles". Scarlett is one of those!

She loved the red lipstick the best, I think.

She's in a Tap/Ballet class, but their dance is a tap number for the recital. She's been practicing it a lot. I was a little surprised at how much she knew on her own without watching her teacher. It's really cute.

Here are a couple pictures I took at the dress rehearsal...

Both taken with the iPhone... I love the Hipstamatic app for pics. That's what I used for the first one.

Scarlett ran into her friend, Janice, from preschool there. We didn't even know she danced there! Her dance is a Rainbow Bright one... cute, right?

It's going to be a long couple of weeks until Scarlett can just wear her costume to dress up in. It's kind of torturous for her to have to stare at it in the bag waiting until her recital. ;)

A little garden

2011-05-10T12:02:00.001-06:00

We had a few gorgeous days in a row last week and Saturday was perfect to put the garden in. I bought a planter box last year but it took forever for it to arrive, so I missed my chance to plant a garden. It was probably a blessing in disguise because I was so overwhelmed with my small kids and being hugely pregnant that I'm certain I would have let it just die. ;) I have hope that this summer will be much less miserable for me and the garden will be something we enjoy instead of just being a chore.

The kids helped and feel pretty proud of it. It's not very big (4' by 8'), but it's a good enough size to see what we'll want to do for next year. Kanyon shows it to anyone that will pay attention to him. So, beware. Don't come over if you don't want him to drag you out in the backyard and show it to you!

If they are this excited about it now, I can't imagine what will happen once we have little tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, bell peppers, etc to show for it. Maybe I can get them to eat tomatoes this way. That is if I can keep Cohen from pulling my plants out! There has already been a casualty or two, so we'll see. Honestly, I can't even tell you which plant is which (besides the tomatoes) because Cohen pulled all the little labels out of them before I had a chance to figure it out. I guess we'll have to see once things start growing a bit more! Like I have said before, Cohen always makes life interesting. ;)

The rest of the day was spent out in the yard working and playing.

My friend, Kaylee, pointed out this flower to me that evening... it was growing out of a crack at the end of my driveway.

It's cute, right? One of those "against all odds" kind of things. I had to take a picture of it before my kids ran it over with their bikes!

It's crazy to me that the kids only have 2 more weeks of school and then summer will officially begin... I'm not sure if I'm ready! I'm going to have to have plans and fun activities to keep everyone happy!

The Babies

2011-05-07T12:36:00.000-06:00

I always refer to my two littlest boys as the babies. You know, like...

"Kanyon and Scarlett, be quiet because the babies are sleeping!"

They really are my babies. Cohen will be a baby to me for as long as Kelan is just because he missed out on a lot of his time as the baby with Kelan coming along so quickly.

Here are my babies being so cute together a couple of days ago...
Cohen actually asked to hold Kelan. That was a first!

I was so happy to see Cohen back to himself because this was him earlier this week...

You know when this kid is asking for me to make him a bed on the couch and he lays there perfectly still that something is definitely not quite right. He never stops moving and a few days ago he actually fell asleep laying there. It was a weird bug he had because he would be happy and play great and then hit a wall and lay on the couch like this... then he'd go running like he was fine again. The only sign that he wasn't feeling good was a real low fever. I'm glad it didn't spread to anyone else though and he bounced back quickly.

While Cohen was laying on the couch, Kelan was on the floor...

Kelan has been holding his own bottle for a while now and it's so nice for when I need him to eat, but I also have 3 other little ones that need to eat as well... everyone can be happy at the same time! And believe me, this was a welcome change because lunch time could be a bit chaotic at times!

It felt like Spring...

2011-05-01T12:31:00.000-06:00

...but just for a minute because yesterday morning we had another 5 inches or so of snow on the ground. (Thankfully it was fully melted by the afternoon, but that doesn't mean that there weren't more snow flurries throughout the day! :/) The picture above is Kanyon's bird feeder he made in preschool. The birds have really enjoyed it.

Cohen likes playing out in the backyard. Especially in the wheelbarrow full of mud/water. Yay. Here he was after a few minutes outside unsupervised. :P

We had to hose him down and get him right in the bath. Steve has now been given the assignment of getting rid of that mess in the wheelbarrow. ;)

Kanyon and Scarlett...

They are such good little buddies. They play so well together that I don't really get hounded every day by them asking for a friend to play. Don't get me wrong... they definitely have their moments with each other... but I really love that about having my kids so close in age. Lately too Steve and I have been noticing that Scarlett and Cohen will play together so well. The age gap is beginning to lessen with those two now that Cohen is getting older. It makes me excited for them and for the relationship that Cohen and Kelan are sure to have for only being 15 months apart.

Cohen is 2!

2011-05-01T11:39:00.002-06:00

On Friday, Cohen officially turned 2 years old. He didn't really know what was going on, but he enjoyed opening up gifts from us that day.

Kanyon and Scarlett gave him some "Cars" toys. They change colors in the warm and cold water, so bath time has been extra fun for him since then.

Steve and I gave him a little bike without pedals. He rides it around the house and is getting better at controlling it. Normally it wouldn't be in the house, but with the cold/snow we've had... I have been a softy and let him. The older kids have liked riding it in the house too, although, they are a little faster and crazier on it and I'm looking forward to it having a new home out in the garage this week. ;)

I'm predicting that Cohen will be able to ride a 2-wheel bike before Scarlett. She's still on the training wheels and I don't think she has much of a desire to take them off any time soon. She might surprise me though. Steve and I really dislike the training wheel stage, so we are trying to eliminate that phase altogether with Cohen (and Kelan once Cohen moves on from this bike).

We let him pick a place to eat dinner out with our little family Friday night and he chose Noodles of course, along with Red Mango for dessert. My kids are so predictable. :) They love a routine!

I can't believe that he's already 2, but then I look at Kelan at almost 9 months and I think... is he really only just 2? ;)

Here are the pictures from the family party we had on Saturday. We had a pasta dinner with salad, garlic bread, and watermelon. Here is the cake I made for Cohen:

We had to keep it hidden from him because we knew he'd just want the cars off the top. ;) I'm glad we did, because I was right!

It was a 2 layer chocolate cake with mini chocolate chips inside... a much denser/richer cake. I usually just use boxed cake mix, but this time I did it differently. The icing was just buttercream, aside from the black fondant that I used to make the road on top.

Here's Cohen after he ate a little cake and mostly icing. :)

He got lots of great gifts from everyone!

His siblings and cousins were very helpful in opening gifts with him.

It was fun! Thanks so much to everyone that came and all the nice presents he received! He has loved them all... a few of them Kanyon has so kindly tried to talk Cohen into letting him have. ;) Gotta love the big brother!

**Cohen just saw the doctor on Thursday and here are his stats as a 2 year old:
Weight: 27.8 lbs - 40%
Height: 34.5 in - 50%
Head: 49.6 cm - 70%
So funny, his doctor saw his weight and said, whoa! He's so skinny, I expected him to weigh much less! Nope, just my solid little boy. :)

Prunes and Teeth

2011-05-01T11:11:00.000-06:00

I grabbed my camera after a feeding session with Kelan... prunes, of course, since he won't eat much else these days. I slipped in some bananas, but he looked at me like I was crazy. Hey, I tried.

Isn't he cute?

Check out his 2 little bottom teeth. So glad both are all the way through now... which ones will be next, I wonder? I hope we get a good break though just to enjoy a happy baby. Teething is the pits.

I officially stopped nursing a couple of weeks ago. It's great, but feels strange at the same time to not be needed in that way anymore. Bittersweet, I guess.

Easter 2011

2011-04-28T21:23:00.000-06:00

I think we've been over run this year with Easter egg hunts and candy. My sweet Cohen who used to beg for a banana for a snack is now asking for "tweats" (aka treats) non-stop. It's far too difficult for me to keep even myself out of the candy, so I may have to just toss it soon before I go crazy.

Despite the excess of Easter treats, we had a wonderful holiday weekend. I didn't have my camera on me for most of it, but I did enjoy it.

We had a little Easter party with Steve's brother and his family on Friday. The kids loved playing with their cousins... they really are such good friends. Then, we had an egg hunt/breakfast on Saturday morning for a church activity at our park in the neighborhood. It's just too bad the weather has been so crummy still. It was a little bit of a swampy egg hunt in 46 degree weather. Where is Spring??? We colored eggs that evening.

I laugh when I see this picture and Kelan's expression... we colored one little green egg for him and of course he decided to taste it first. I must have alarmed him when I said "eww, yucky!" because I got this deer in the headlights (and a little cross-eyed!) look when I snapped the photo.

I'm not sure what Cohen did, but I asked him if he wanted to go on timeout... I snapped this photo mid-answer. I like that he's giving me this innocent pleading look as he says "no". ;) He is such a little charmer when he wants to be.

Then Sunday, we attended church and had a great Easter dinner with wonderful friends and family. I ate entirely too much turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls, jello, veggies, etc. It was just all too good!

I should have gotten a picture of everyone when they were sitting down and eating, but that didn't happen. It's a little chaotic with 6 kids needing to be fed too... but here is the table before people and food.

My friend, Jen, motivated me to try growing my own wheat grass this year. I have wanted to, but just never got what I needed in time. It turned out so cute! I have harvested a bit of it and Steve is going to toss it in a smoothie and see how it tastes. ;)

Here are the kids just before we left for church that morning.

Don't they all look sweet? Even Cohen. But, don't let that fool you. Mid-way through our Sacrament meeting that day (a short 30-45 minutes after this photo was taken), a chain of events led to me chasing Cohen outside and into the parking lot. To top it off, I was in heels AND carrying Kelan at the same time. Good times... He ended up face planting it right there on the asphalt. Now there is a lovely little scuff mark on his nice suit pants to remind me of this very incident. Luckily his face was spared. He certainly makes life interesting!

Me and my monkeys. I didn't plan to match them... but once I realized that I did, I made Steve wear a purple tie too. :P No time to figure out a family photo though and still make it to church on time... too bad.

After church, the kids went on an Easter egg hunt in our house. We let Cohen go first because he's the youngest and he only made it half-way down the stairs. He found an egg on the stairs and decided to open it and eat all of it's contents before continuing. By the time he finished it, the older two had found all the eggs. He didn't seem to care though as long as he had his candy.

Aren't the two boys hilarious? The shed their white shirts and ties within seconds of being home. That Easter egg hunting is serious business!

Next year, this little guy will be running with the rest of them! It will be so fun. :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter... It always seems hard to keep the focus on what the holiday is truly about when you have children. My sister-in-law gave me the cutest thing that definitely helped my kids this year. You can check it out here or easily make your own!

8 months and stubborn already

2011-04-19T11:27:00.000-06:00

Maybe he is like his mama after all. :)

My little guy is officially 8 months. I can't believe it. While he is a happy, happy baby... we are having our issues with eating still.

I waited until 6 months to start solids and now here we are 2 months later and he is not liking the stuff any better. :/ At least he's eating my homemade kind without all the gagging and shuddering. My issue now is physically getting the spoon in his clamped up little mouth.

Soooo, I thought I'd try some puffs. My other babies gobbled these up like candy... even my older kids will snag one if they can. Here was his reaction:

Totally not impressed. I still shove them in his mouth and make him try them... but he's very good at getting them back out quickly. ;) This kid just may have to survive on milk alone... I just hope he'll eventually choose to eat table food. I've never had an eater like this, so it will be an adventure!

At least he's cute, even when refusing the goods.

On a side note... I walked into the kitchen to find my totally independent 4 year old washing her hands at the sink.

She usually asks for help... not so these days. She was probably washing her hands after applying all her makeup she's been dabbling in (I need to share a photo of her finished 'face'). Did I say she just turned 4? I think I meant 14!

Very Jane

2011-04-17T16:14:00.000-06:00

Steve's cousin, Mike, just created this new website. I think it sounds really cool! So, sign up to hear about the handmade daily deals! The first 2 weeks of deals will be free... what's not to love about that?? Just click on the picture above or go to http://www.veryjane.com

Not to mention, by signing up you are entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card to Target. I love me some Target! :)

Click here and like this on Facebook too!

Happy Birthday, Scarlett!

2011-04-16T20:50:00.002-06:00

Can you believe that this baby girl...

Is now this little 4 year old girl??? *sniff*

It's killing me how fast she is growing up. I just want time to stop right here with her. Steve even told me on her birthday that he expects Kanyon to grow up because he's the oldest, but now Scarlett is growing up too and it's throwing him off. I totally get that.

She had a definite opinion on her party... from the cake to who she was inviting. I really had to cut the list down because I could not have that many little kids over for a party. I guess she's my little social butterfly with all these friends.

Here is the invite that I sent out...

I saw this idea here. I had to try it because it just looked so fun! It turned out really cute, except that some didn't work so well (Destiny!) and others worked too well (my friend, Michelle, opened it in her car... oops!!). Basically, it's one of those spring-loaded confetti bursts. But, I replaced their lame confetti for my own and included an invitation that popped out too. I had Kanyon video Scarlett and I opening an extra one, but I haven't got the video uploaded yet. Check back, I'll try and get it soon. That one on video worked really well! I was a little nervous giving these to girls who's parents I didn't know because I didn't want to make them mad with the mess they made! Oh well... no one complained. ;)

Scarlett picked this "Barbie" cake for me to do... and when she saw it she said... "Ohmygoodness! She's SO beautiful!" That made all the effort worth it. I remember my mom made a similar one for one of my birthdays. The only part that isn't cake is the actual doll.

A first at using fondant too, so that was an adventure. Not as hard as I thought it would be, however! Thankfully this cake didn't really require that "smooth" look, as I'm sure that would have been much harder.

This little girl was ready for her party! I made the party hat and she loved it.

Some party favors...

One of the games... "Pin the 4 on Scarlett".

I wish I could have pictures of the actual party, aside from the blowing out the candles stuff... but I'm usually running the show and it's easier to do without the camera in my hands. And with my camera... it's a little hard to just hand it over for anyone to work it.

Scarlett talking to Jen and Paityn. She sure missed her best buddy, Presley, there but she had a yucky cough that day.

Lighting the candles...

Let the "I'm-embarrassed-because-I'm-the-center-of-attention-right-now,-but-I-love-it" face begin...

You can see a similar face on her other birthdays... here and here.

Her one on her 2nd birthday still cracks me up. :)

Blowing out the candles...

Eating cake and ice cream...

Savannah, Scarlett, and Paityn.

Isabelle and Adilyn.

Kanyon and Maya.

Janice and Aliyah.

Presents!

Some family at the party...

Aunt Alex, the representation for my side of the family.

Alli and Uncle James...

Cohen... sporting some of the fun party prizes from the games. The stick on earrings were a favorite of his and he kept them on the entire night.

It was a successful party... Scarlett had a great time and received lots of gifts that she loved. There wasn't really a "theme" this year... Really out of character for me. I guess I didn't want to do a full-on Barbie theme because that didn't seem fun to me and I had seen so many other cute ideas with the #4 that I just focused on that a bit more instead.

I have to say since we eliminated boys (except for her brothers) this time for her party, it was the quietest party I've ever had at my house! We may be having many, many more girl only birthday parties in the future! ;)

*****************************************************************************

A few more pictures from Scarlett's actual birthday which was Sunday, the 10th...

We have church at 9am, so as painful for a 4 year old as it sounds... she had to wait until after church to open her presents from her family. Lucky for us, she didn't even realize that there were more gifts to open!

She opened a gift from her great Grandpa and Grandma Sonnenberg... she was thrilled as you can see!

She got a card and a cute dress from her Grandpa Jim and YoungJa. You can see that the princess card was loved!

Cohen and Kelan gave her these little princess flip flops. Now if only it would stay nice enough outside for her to wear them!

Kanyon gave her the movie, Tangled. I think he was just as excited as she was... he loves Flynn Rider and the horse, Maximus. :)

This Baby Alive was from Steve and I... she doesn't really need one more baby, but it was all she would ask for!

Cohen had a hard time understanding that it was Scarlett's birthday and not his. He wanted to open presents. Lucky for him, his birthday is in less than 2 weeks! ;)

**Scarlett saw the doctor and here are her stats as a 4 year old:

Weight: 34.2 lbs - 50%

Height: 39 3/4 in - 55%

Blood Pressure: 88/52

A child's prayer

2011-04-16T15:49:00.000-06:00

Don't ever let your children pray for the opportunity to build a snowman in April. I'm certain that is exactly how we came to have about 6 inches of snow after a gorgeous 70 degree day before.

On Saturday (the 2nd of April and General Conference weekend), Scarlett looked at me after coming in from playing outside and said, "Mom! We never got to build a snow man!" So I said that she would just have to ask Heavenly Father for some snow so we can build one. The very next morning, I awoke to this:

You can imagine that Scarlett was thrilled! I was not. I could only hope that it would melt quickly! Although, it was pretty out there. Scarlett immediately was begging Dad to go out and help her build a snowman.

Dad builds the snowmen in this family, so I took pictures from the window in the kitchen.

How can you say no to this little face? I couldn't, so I dug out some stuff to put a face on her snowmen.

A perfect carrot nose.

Apparently it wasn't great packing snow, so they built 2 little snowmen.

The snowmen were so melted by lunch time that they had tipped over. That's my kind of snow day. ;)

Here is Cohen that same morning enjoying a roll.

Conference was especially good this time around. It was one of those times when I really felt like every talk was meant just for me. If you'd like to read more, click here. We were also lucky to be able to spend the weekend with Steve's mom, Brenda. She was in town and we had a great time with her! The kids keep asking if she still lives in Hawaii. :)

I wish I could say that this was the last of the snow in April. :/ Maybe May will be better?

Like Mother, like Son.

2011-04-05T23:51:00.000-06:00

Kanyon has known for the last year that he has to get some shots before we can register him for Kindergarten... and his response at the time was that he didn't want to go to Kindergarten then. ;)

I have since told him about how I remember when I had to get my shots before starting school and my dad told me that if I didn't cry that he would buy me some M&Ms. So, I didn't cry and I got my treat. I promised him the same thing and he was up for the challenge.

Turns out that he is as brave as his mom and didn't even wince!

Here he is as proud as punch at his accomplishment...

Skittles were the candy of choice, however.

As of today, my oldest baby is officially registered for Kindergarten. He seemed so small in such a big school today when we went to fill out paperwork. Thankfully I have all summer long to get used to this idea...

I think I'll need every minute!

It's what's for dinner...

2011-04-01T14:48:00.000-06:00

...or I should say, what my kids think is for dinner.

A little faux grilled cheese...

It's actually pound cake with orange frosting in the middle. I got the idea here. Don't they have some awesome ideas?? Love it.

I'll share their reaction to my little April Fool's joke later. ;)

My tough girly girl.

2011-03-26T14:29:00.000-06:00

Scarlett has been asking and asking to get her ears pierced for a while. But since our Hawaii trip it has been non-stop.

So, we told her she could get them pierced for her 4th birthday. It's coming up here in about 2 weeks, so while we were out as a family we took the plunge and surprised her with it a bit early. She was giddy with excitement. Kanyon had, just like a good big brother, given her all the many details about the "gun" and the sharp earring and the "shooting" of the earring into her ear. Isn't he nice? She still wanted to do it, so I figured she was ready. She watched another little girl (older than her by a few years) get it done first and *thankfully* that little girl didn't cry. I was a little afraid to let her watch, but decided that it was up to her and if she saw how it was done and changed her mind, then that was okay!

Scarlett sat up in the chair and picked out the Hello Kitty earrings... of course, because then they will match her purse that Great Grandma Deanna got for her this last Christmas. Steve was so nervous for her... I think if I weren't there and she wasn't so excited, he would have backed out. ;) She was such a champ though... she didn't even cry!

And we got it all on video...

Wasn't she great? Just a shocked little face that it was over already. I love it. Dad was totally impressed!

I took a couple pictures of her at home later on that night showing off her newly pierced and freshly cleaned little ears. I can't believe she's getting so big...

How happy does she look? :)

I had to make a little calendar for her to cross off the days as we count down to her 6 weeks mark when we can take these earrings out and wear other ones. 6 weeks is a quite a long time for an almost 4 year old to understand, so hopefully it helps!

She seems so big now and she cannot wait to show them off to all her friends.

My sidekick

2011-03-25T21:16:00.000-06:00

This is a typical view of mine when it's just Kelan and I hanging out during the day while the other kids are napping/having quiet time.

He thinks he is entirely too big, pulling himself up to the couch.
...and my kid is seriously bald in this picture. It's almost amplified in this wide angle shot.

Love that you can see his barely there peach fuzz in this picture. Just the proof that there is a little something there... not much, but something!

His sleeping pattern is driving me crazy right now (seriously I've told Steve on a number of occasions just this past week that I'd like to quit my day job :/), but I can't get enough of his cuteness when he is awake and decides to be happy! I just have to tell myself that this is a phase and maybe, just maybe, I'll be surprised with some little teeth poking up here soon. Then I'll have something to blame this all on. ;)

Following Cohen

2011-03-25T13:07:00.000-06:00

I decided to sit up in the playroom with Cohen on Wednesday with my camera and just take pictures of what he busys himself with. It was kind of fun. :) So fun, in fact, that I looked at the clock and realized that I was already 5 minutes late picking up the preschool carpool that day.

OOPS!

That's okay. It was worth it. :)

He played "cars" on his train set we put up together... apparently Thomas was not as fun today as "Mr. the king".

A little baseball...

"shootin' hoops" as he likes to say...

He spent the most time doing this... with every kind of ball you can imagine including a golf ball and a football. :) All the while saying... "mama, watch!"

He played with blocks... (don't mind his left eye, we were still in the throws of pink eye that day and it was still a little swollen)

Right after blocks, he spent some time at the lego table, but I didn't get a photo of that because I was too busy trying to save Kanyon's lego creations that Cohen was ripping apart. :/ That's usually Kanyon's first question when he walks through the door... "has Cohen been up in the playroom yet today??" Poor kid. When Cohen finally stops wrecking his stuff, Kelan will start. ;)

Stinky the garbage truck got a lot of attention too. (seriously, this toy is hysterical. check it out if you haven't yet)

And apparently it made him mad... he doesn't really care for consoling though. He cries and then usually just walks it off. If I try and hug him or give his 'owie' a kiss... he pushes away. He's my tough kid. :)

Drove a different car up the slide...

Aaaaaand that was about the time I noticed that I was 5 minutes late picking up the kids. :)

I probably took these pictures all in less than 10 minutes though.

By the way... I'm pretty proud to say that the pink eye was contained to just Cohen. That is not an easy task with 4 young kids. The last time we had pink eye... I just had 3 kids but all of them got it and I did too. Not this time! I was vigilant in my efforts to control it! :) It certainly paid off too.

My Fashionista

2011-03-20T13:55:00.000-06:00

Wow.

Are there any words for this?

She would have, hands down, won worst-dressed just about anywhere she decided to go.

Lucky for her, she has a mother that wouldn't let her even come out of the playroom dressed like this for more than a quick snapshot to embarrass her with when she's older. Mark my words, this will be in her Senior class of 2025 slide-show one of these days. ;)

Even better? That is Kelan's winter hat... yes, her 7 month old little brother's.
Adds a little unexpected feel, no? ;)

Did you get pinched on Thursday?

2011-03-19T20:44:00.000-06:00

Surprisingly, I didn't. I didn't even wear green for the holiday and Cohen and Kelan didn't have a lick of green on them either... Kanyon and Scarlett did, but only because I was afraid that someone might really pinch them at gymnastics that day. However, I was a good mom** and actually made some St. Patrick's day themed food.

**I say "good mom" because I seriously was up all night with a crying baby and I actually made both of these items around 3:30am. No sense in wasting time awake listening to the kid cry... so I got some things done.

A pot of "gold".

I forget how completely NOT messy jigglers are. I'll be making these more often I think! Love that you can pretty much bounce pass them to your kids with no mess. ;) Oh and the pot of gold was supposed to be put in little individual hollowed-out limes for each kid, but the only limes I could find would have held one piece of gold. Not worth it... so I improvised.

The yummy "green velvet" cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Yum. I made them last year too. :) Remember?

And no... they aren't very pretty. (Would anything be very pretty made at 3:30 in the morning though?!?) I always overfill them. Something to strive for when I make cupcakes next. Seriously, it drives me crazy. With Scarlett turning 4 in a couple weeks and Cohen turning 2 in about a month... I'm sure I'll be getting some practice!

Kelan: 7 months

2011-03-18T19:44:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that Kelan is officially 7 months old now. I swear he just turned 6 months... and I'm not ready for all that he's doing. He started crawling while in Hawaii and now he's pulling himself up to toys and the couch. The only problem is he doesn't realize that he can't just let go of what he's got a hold of or he crashes to the floor pretty hard. I have a feeling that the bumps and bruises are just beginning now. We are back in the stage where there are constantly pillows lined up along the fireplace as a buffer for him.

I'm a little scared because so far Kelan is following in Cohen's footsteps as far as milestones go and Cohen was walking at the tail end of 8 months. I don't need 2 kids running away from me anytime soon, so say a little prayer for me that Kelan enjoys crawling so much that he doesn't walk til he is at least 1. :)

Sleep has been rough the past couple of weeks for Kelan. We've been doing the cry it out method the last couple of days and while it's hard, I think it's working well enough. I feel like I've become such a softie over the years with the more kids I've had... normally we would have done this already by his age, but for some reason we just haven't.

It's because he's just too cute, I guess. ;) And I also don't know for certain that I'll be going through this baby stage ever again... and that's (although exciting to think about!) kind of sad and I want to enjoy every second that he lets me hold and rock him, just in case. Even if that means less sleep!

The Evolution of Me.

2011-03-14T16:27:00.000-06:00

I was looking at my photobooth pics with the kids the other day and I noticed that you can see how much I've changed in the last almost 7 months just from those. Seems like the only time I'm really in front of the camera is when my kids want to play with that. They love it. I'm kind of glad because now I have a record of this journey I've taken too!

So, I grabbed 3 shots to share since I've been working so hard.

The first shot is my 9 month pregnant self. Just 9 days shy of D-day with Kelan in August.

This next shot is of my post pregnant self and Kelan at 5 days old. Yikes! Did they forget another baby in there??? ;) My kids certainly wondered!

This last shot is from today. I started working out around Halloween because I went to the doctor at 10 weeks postpartum and stood on the scale and wanted to die. haha! It was the most I had ever weighed not being pregnant. ;) I am now currently down 22 lbs from that point. Kelan is almost 7 months old now.

I'm still working on some other goals... not necessarily to lose more weight, but lower my body fat percentage a bit more, put a little more "junk in the trunk" as my trainer says, etc.

It's really amazing what losing weight can do for your energy and how much more aware it makes you be about what you put into your body. I eat way differently now, but it doesn't seem like work anymore and I don't even have to think about it.

Now, to keep it off... especially once I'm finished nursing the little babe. :)

Kauai: All the rest

2011-03-13T13:37:00.000-06:00

This is the last of the Kauai posts, so it'll be kind of a bunch of random stuff.

We spent a lot of time down at the Point at Poi'Pu where Brenda and Barry were staying. The kids loved the pool. After a while, they were tired of the sand at the beach, but I don't think they ever tired of the pool.

On two different nights during our 2 weeks there, Kanyon and Scarlett got to pack their bags and have a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's. Neither of them have ever had a sleepover anywhere (not even family). We've attempted once to have Kanyon sleep at his cousin's in Las Vegas only for us to have to go pick him up at 2am. :/ But, we had high hopes this time because he's 2 years older now and he had Scarlett and she had him. They had a blast! That's where they made the driftwood craft that I posted a photo of when we returned home... the resort they stay at has crafts every day for the kids, along with face painting, etc. They loved it.

One of the things they did with Grandma and Grandpa that they loved was feeding the fish. There are a bunch of little ponds with Koi fish in them. They got food from the lobby desk and showed us how it was done one day when we were there at the pool.

These fish were crazy aggressive! And really big, I might add. It kind of freaked me out! The noise they all made, flopping around on each other trying to get the food was crazy!

Cohen was totally into it.

Here is Cohen at the pool. He is the friendliest little boy and just makes friends wherever. This day it was a little 3 year old boy. They followed each other around in that pool.

Cohen is our waterbaby. He doesn't care if it's cold or warm, as long as there are no waves. ;) He needs a little dose of fear however when it comes to the water. He was in swim lessons with his older siblings right before Hawaii and learned how to float on his back in the deep water... but it almost made him just brave enough to do things in the water, but his skills to handle the deeper water weren't quite up to the level of his bravery.

Small example. Brenda and I were sitting there on the chairs talking and watching the kids. All of a sudden, we see Cohen just walking further and further into the deeper water. He was pointing to something (later we realized it was the waterfall he wanted to see) and just kept walking despite us telling him to come back. He got clear up passed his nose and almost to his eyes before we got to him. I thought for sure he would stop and turn around the moment it got up to his face... but no. He was determined to get where he wanted to go and water was not going to stop him. ;) Crazy kid. Thankfully he was happy most of the time to play in the shallow water.

Kelan did have his first pool experience and liked it, but I didn't get to capture it on camera because with both Cohen and Kelan in the water, Steve and I both had our hands full!

Kanyon is our little swimmer. He swam everywhere with his goggles and I didn't have to worry about him at all. I can see a bright spot in our future, when the pool and any water activity will soon become not as hard of work and more play time for us with our kids. If each one of my kids are swimming as good as Kanyon is at 5 years old, then we will be set!

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa... the kids loved their floaties. Scarlett especially enjoyed Hippo because it allowed her to keep up with Kanyon a little bit more when he was swimming in the deeper water.

This was Scarlett after she got back from going to the store with Grandma and Grandpa. She looked at me and said, "mom, do I have anything on my face?" Just a little bit of chocolate! ;) I guess she had asked Barry if she had anything on her face and he said no because he wanted us to see her. haha! This is a picture of a little girl being spoiled!

At the pool on our last day here in Kauai, the kids got their faces painted. I won't tell you how long it lasted, being at the pool and all. ;) Just long enough to get a picture and that was about it!

Kanyon had a dragon blowing fire.

And Scarlett got a beautiful butterfly.

The kids have, many times since we've been home, talked about how much they want to go back to Hawaii... how much they loved it and also how much they miss Grandpa Barry and Grandma Brenda. :) I am just glad we left before the earthquake hit in Japan and Hawaii had the tsunami scare (for the second year in a row!). Barry and Brenda were safe though up on higher ground... just an uncomfortable night in their car. So glad it was nothing more!

And now we get to focus on Spring! I am hopeful that the warmer, high 50's we've had lately will stay!!

Kauai: Sunday Afternoon

2011-03-11T00:17:00.000-07:00

We spent a Sunday evening outside just playing in the big backyard and eating coconuts. It was a glimpse of what our summer evenings might be back home and thinking about it now just makes me wish for time to speed up!

Kelan just played on the lawn and when he could manage it, he would try and eat the grass. :)

We ate a couple coconuts, but this one was by far the ripest and best one we found. I think Steve felt like a real man getting those things open without so much as a knife, let alone a machete!

All of the kids tried the coconut milk and ate some of the coconut too. They all loved it. Here's Cohen shoving it in his mouth on the run.

We braided Scarlett's hair out there for the first time. She was proud.

Kanyon had fun using the rope to get down to the beach at the edge of the property. That's where all the erosion is happening.

Cohen learned his first farm animal sound while out there... cock-a-doodle-doo. We had roosters galore around the house and and they were kind enough to crow even at 3am. It's no wonder Cohen walked around screaming 'cock-a-doo-doo'. If you ask him what a rooster says, he'll say that... but if you ask him what a cow says, he'll say the same thing. ;) We need to work on that, I guess.

Doesn't Kelan remind you of Charlie Brown? He does me... my little bald Chuck. haha!

I know. Scarlett's braids could be easily mistaken for a braided rat tail in some of these pictures. She was insistent though. Lucky for me, since we've been home, I have been able to avoid braiding her hair. ;)

I should have asked Steve's mom to take a picture of our whole family together while we were out there... but at least I got one of Steve and the kids and then he turned the camera on me and the kids.

Pictures of me and all 4 of my kids are rare. I love this one (even though I have zero makeup on!). Can't believe we have eye contact from all of them. :)

Peek a boo!

Kelan is the happiest little 6 month* old ever. Seriously, that is the most often asked question I get from friends, family, and even strangers about him... "Is he always this happy?" It just doesn't take much to get a grin from him. Poor guy just must be starved for attention being that he's #4. ;) Just kidding.

It was such a nice Sunday afternoon and I didn't want to go inside, but it was starting to get dark and the mosquitoes were coming out! Yuck! I do not miss the bugs from out there, there were just far too many... I love that Utah is minimal on the bug issue. :)

*Speaking of Kelan being 6 months... I guess I should note for my own record that I took him to the doctor last week for his well check and he is now 16 lbs 4 oz. (25th percentile), 27 inches long (55th percentile), and his head is 42.5cm (25th percentile). He jumped up about 10 percent from his 4 month well check so I must be feeding him enough! Also, it's official... he's crawling on all 4s now as of this week. I swear that nothing is cuter when they figure that out. :) Love him.

Kauai: Sailing and Whale Watching

2011-03-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

One thing that we really wanted to do with the kids (the older 2 anyway) was take them whale watching. Steve and I did that in Maui last January and while it was extremely different because we were in an old outrigger canoe without a motor... we enjoyed it so much that we just knew the kids would love it. So, Steve's mom and Barry came over early that morning to watch Cohen and Kelan for us. (SO thankful for them!!) We booked a 6 hour whale watching trip that went up the Napali coastline on the west side of Kauai. We had breakfast and lunch on the trip and stopped to snorkel once too.

Here are Kanyon and Scarlett once we had set off. It was early in the morning, so a little cool. But it warmed up right away and was a perfect day to be on the water.

We had stopped at the spot to snorkel, but Steve was the only one that did it. I'm not a fan of snorkeling really and Scarlett doesn't know how. Kanyon had learned at swim lessons before we came on the trip, but he was not into snorkeling in the cold water. ;) He's our comfort kid for sure.

While Dad and everyone else on the boat were in the water snorkeling, the Captain told the kids that they could break the rules for a minute while we were stationary in the water and jump on the trampolines on the front of the boat. :)

Of course they took him up on that!

We did get to see a huge turtle right off the boat while we were waiting and the kids thought that was cool. This was one of the times I was wishing I had brought my big lens, but I didn't because I really didn't want to be worried about it the whole time. So, the big turtle doesn't look so big here with his little head poking out of the water.

Right after leaving the snorkeling spot, we came across hundreds and hundreds of dolphins. I have never seen so many in my life and the kids were in awe and just squealing with excitement. I wish I had gotten a picture, but I was so mesmerized that I didn't want to run grab the camera and miss even a second of it. They were Hawaiian spinner dolphins, so they were jumping and spinning a lot. They were swimming right underneath the trampolines that we were sitting on with the kids in the front of the boat. The Captain said there was actually about 5-6 dolphins below the surface of the water for every one that we could see above it. That means that there was probably a couple thousand there. Honestly, that was such a fun experience, I would have been happy to not have even seen one whale at that point! (although we did, and many!)

And the gorgeous scenery begins!! There were tons of places where they pointed out that Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Carribean had been filmed. These pictures really don't do it justice...

We met a nice family on the boat when we first got on there... they were so sweet, always looking out for us and making sure we had a seat for the kids, etc when we needed it. The picture below is of Kanyon talking to the dad.

You can see this little cave-like tunnel part carved out in the rock in the photo below... that was one spot that they mentioned Pirates of the Carribean, but I don't remember which of the movies now.

I had only seen the Napali coast by helicopter the first time we ever came to Kauai (you can see that here)... but by boat it is a much different experience. Aside from hiking, those are the only two ways you can even see this side of the island. One day I'll hike it, I'm sure... once these babies of mine grow up a bit more.

The trampolines... where we spent most of the time.

It was specifically for whale watching and I didn't take one picture of the whales either... we saw a ton though. Lots of little babies too. We saw one that was so new that it was the lightest color the Captain said he'd ever seen. The lighter they are, the newer they are... so this baby was fresh. :) I wasn't surprised that the mama with it was being really protective.

I was surprised at how well the kids did because they were by far the youngest on the boat (mostly tweens and teens if any kids were there) and 6 hours is a long time out on the water. No sea sickness either and we didn't even take Dramamine. I'm so grateful for Brenda and Barry for offering to watch the little ones so the kids could experience this with us! It was such a fun day with them! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Kauai: Beach and Fishing

2011-03-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

Different day, same story. :) This was Poi'Pu beach again.

This was the beach just down from our house. Scarlett wanted to be buried.

Just my proof that Kelan was on this trip with us. :) Believe me, he was must easier on the beach when he was sleeping. Once he discovered sand, it was a mess!

This is all Scarlett did when the waves were big. She made me lots of gourmet dishes out of sand. :)

I was laughing hysterically when I took this picture. This is Kanyon attempting to wash sand off of his face. haha!

Steve took as many opportunities as he could to body surf. He was like a little kid out there.

He even finally convinced Cohen to come in the water with him. NOT in the big waves though. ;) Cohen had been so terrified of the ocean before, so it was a huge step to go out in it with Dad. He liked it, but was done with it quickly. ;)

This was out on the beach in our backyard. It was a darker sand beach. There is a problem with erosion this time of year I guess, so there were tons of sand bags and what was left of old sandbags that had been torn up on the beach (the green stuff). It's too bad because it could have been a whole lot nicer to play on if it was cleaned up a bit.

Despite the mess, the kids enjoyed playing and watching Grandpa Barry fish.

Barry didn't catch anything... I'm pretty sure the sandbags he got caught on don't count. ;) Steve was trying to free his hook in the picture below.

We would have cooked a fish for dinner if he had gotten anything... but luckily I had a plan B that day. :)

More still to come! :)

Kauai 2011

2011-03-06T15:33:00.001-07:00

(this was the beach in our backyard at sunset... just lovely, right?)

I felt like I was preparing for this trip for an entire month before we left. Flying with 4 kids, five and under especially, is quite the task and I like to be very prepared for it so it can go as well as a long flight with 4 kids can go. ;) Each child had their own bag of special things that I put together in the weeks leading up to the trip. They couldn't open it until we were in the air. I usually do some small toys, a new coloring book, a new book, favorite snacks, a new movie, etc. So far, every time I have done this, it's been a great trip. This time was no different. I mean, it's still 4 kids and 2 of them are lap children, so it makes for a busy and eventful flight with changing diapers, nursing, bottles, bathroom trips, etc. but we managed to get by on each flight with a compliment or two from someone about what good travelers our kids are. Whew! Good thing because by the end of it, Steve and I are exhausted. :)

Here is a video of the little trunki's that were awesome on the trip through the airports... this is just the kids testing them out at home before our trip:

The best thing about these are that you can unhook one side of the strap on them and pull your child through the airport while they sit on it. Steve did that with Cohen through the airport on the way out to Hawaii and I did it with Scarlett on the way home. They loved it.

Kanyon had not been well the week before we left. Just a cough, low fever, etc. I was so worried he'd pass it on to the other kids that I tried to keep him away from them as much as possible. BUT, I guess I didn't do a good enough job. He was just starting to feel better the day we left and while we were on the flights, the other 3 kids started coughing a bit. Steve and I just looked at each other like, oh great! Scarlett probably faired the best... no fever at all, just the cough and cold stuff and really tired. Cohen looked the worst, but Kelan sounded the worst. Kelan was for sure sounding like croup, so the night after we got in I took him to the ER for a steroid dose and to be tested for RSV. Thankfully that was negative, but I was right about croup. The following afternoon I took Kelan and Cohen into a local pediatrician and got more steroids, some antibiotics, and loads of tylenol and motrin. Kelan started wheezing after a day or two of the antibiotics, so I stopped that right away and he got much better. Steve and I figured that he may have just been having a reaction to the meds. It just took some time to recover and we tried to keep things low key and not do much that first week.

Here's the house we stayed in. It was a cute 3 bedroom place just recently remodeled inside and it backed up to a beach in Kekaha (just west of Waimea town).

Can you believe Scarlett's hair? There is not one ounce of curl in it here in Utah, but out there it was really pretty curly! It definitely made it cuter to just let it go and not have to fix it every day.

This was the balcony off the main living room. All that grassy area you can see was ours. Where the grass ended, the beach began. There were coconut trees and banana trees on the property. We tried a coconut a couple times but the bananas weren't quite ripe enough yet.

The kids were so excited to be there and wear flip flops and swimsuits and just run outside without a jacket of any kind. :)

This pic is a better view of the backyard. The kids loved the hot tub and Steve and I enjoyed those two lounge chairs back by the beach when the kids were napping.

With everyone not feeling well, there was a lot of this:

and this:
(see Scarlett's curls?? Fresh out of the shower)

When Cohen doesn't feel well, he turns into a normal toddler and not the crazy wild little boy that he is on a normal day. He did, however, fall asleep on the couch while we were visiting with Steve's mom and Barry at our house one afternoon. That was strange!

Thankfully, all the rain we got this trip was in that first week while they were all sick. If we couldn't do anything, at least we didn't have to stare out at a perfect day and wish we were out playing in it.

There were some impressive thunderstorms and lightening going on through the nights too and it would rain so hard that it would wake Steve and I up. Lucky for us, the kids were so exhausted from not feeling well that they slept through it all. :) One night we put Cohen to bed at 6:30pm and he didn't wake up until 9:30am the next morning. That was awesome.

We did attempt the beach one morning when the kids were starting to turn a corner. The weather still wasn't great, but we were ready to get out. This beach is just about 2 miles down the road from the house we stayed at. We have loved it in previous trips because there is hardly ever anyone there.

We got a little bit rained on, but no one seemed to care about that except for Scarlett. Typical girl. ;)

It was this particular beach that I was at one morning running/doing my workout when I saw dolphins jumping in the water! So cool. :)

Cohen was our sand boy. He loved to dig in the sand and actually was quite scared of the ocean. If I would say, 'Cohen, do you want to go to the beach?' and try and put on his swim diaper he would run away yelling no. I think he didn't know what it was and the waves were pretty decent sized and it concerned him. We were pretty shocked considering that he is our wild child. Instead, he dug in the sand... piled it on top of his own head and had problems throwing it at others. ;) Just your typical almost 2 year old at the beach except that we didn't worry about him with the water as much! Kind of nice.

I was so glad I brought this little sun tent I have had for years. It was perfect for Kelan when he was sleeping and we were playing to block the sun/wind/rain from him. We would stick his entire infant carrier in there and then we not hear much from him at all. That made the beach a bit easier for Steve and I.

My kids love a good hot tub, so it was perfect that we had one at home. They could swim and splash and do whatever they wanted without us worrying about disturbing someone else. Grandma was great to get in there with them.

Fun fact: I never got in there once! I was either making a meal, feeding the baby, taking pictures, or just too tired at the end of the day and would rather just curl up on the couch and read a book. :)

A lot of the time we would travel about 35 minutes over to Poi'pu where Steve's mom and her husband, Barry, have a time share. They are out here on Kauai for 2 months out of the year and we planned our trip for when we could overlap with them and spend some time together. The kids' favorite beach was Poi'pu beach because it has an enclosed area that is sheltered from waves, so the kids could play in a shallow pond like pool. Cohen would actually get in the water here. :)

Another funny thing about Cohen. He's our friendliest kid. He will find a friend wherever we go. He's not afraid to go right up to them and sit by them or play with their toys. It's pretty funny and embarrassing how not shy he is. I don't care about the kids part, but he'll even do it to some adults and I always just hope that they like kids because he doesn't take no for an answer most of the time. So far, we've been good.

There was a seal on the beach when we were there one day... it was all roped off so people didn't bug it, but you hardly noticed it anyway. It just looked like a big rock.

I'll be back with more from our trip later. I have approx 150 photos (and that's after throwing out a bunch!), but I'll try to edit it down a little. ;)

Just 2 weeks?!?

2011-03-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

Well, we're back. And yes we were only gone 2 weeks. Did it feel like much longer to anyone else?

(Scarlett's craft that she made with Grandma Brenda while out in Kauai... It's our family made from those things that fall from the coconut trees and a piece of driftwood. Cute right? We are pictured from left to right: Scarlett, Kanyon, Kelan, Cohen, Dad, and Mom. Don't you love Scarlett's grass skirt and little flower in her hair? <3 It actually survived the trip home in one piece.)

Here are Steve and I's top 5 reasons why our trip to Hawaii felt like 2 years:

#1
Kelan is crawling. Yep, I know... 2 weeks in baby time is a long time! He's army crawling and rocking back and forth on all 4s. Not too long before it will be the real deal on hands and knees. Am I ready for this??? Ack!

Cohen is talking SO much more. 3 word phrases, etc. That sunshine out there must have been good for him.

All 4 of the kids were sick our first week there... complete with an ER visit for Kelan who was not breathing well (croup) and a pediatrician visit for both Kelan and Cohen. Lots of prescriptions later and we were on the mend.

We've come home to a new semi-permanent houseguest. Steve's little brother James is now living with us at least through the end of the semester of school. He's been here for 2 whole weeks now (although we haven't!)

Steve's businesses are nothing like they were when we left... this one in particular makes things at home feel the most different, but I won't go into details right now. This one may just be saved for another day. And who knows... you may just one day read about it in Steve's book about how being an entrepreneur and starting your own businesses is more valuable and more expensive than a Harvard education several times over. ;)

Oh and I guess there is a #6... Deron Williams was traded by the Jazz. Steve was pretty shocked upon hearing this while gone. :)

I promise the trip did have some wonderful moments though and I'll be back to share those soon... However, the whole family is totally jet-lagged and I've got some MAJOR unpacking to do.

Happy Valentine's Day...

2011-02-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

With our Hawaii trip looming (read: a day or two away), Steve and I aren't going to be able to celebrate this year the way we normally would... but I did get around to making Kanyon and Scarlett's own Valentine's for their preschool classes.

They turned out really cute.

Here is Scarlett's:

(Front)

(Back)

And Kanyon's. His was a card that opened:

He did all his own artwork on the front (batman, spiderman, and robin)...and the little candy heart that he's holding in his picture says "I'm in Love".

They are really excited to give them to their friend's at school.

Poor Cohen and Kelan were neglected this year... but they are much harder to get good photos of. I promise that I won't leave them out next year though!!

To see the last 3 years of Valentine's Day cards I've sent, click here, here, and here. :)

Dancer

2011-02-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

We are back doing dance again with Scarlett. She loved her little creative dance class from last year, but this year we decided to try another dance studio and in this one she does ballet, tap, and jazz. She loves it and will be doing a recital in June.

I took a couple pictures of her just before we left for her class earlier this week. She was dictating the poses.... "one with my bag on my shoulder, Mom and one with my bag on my arm..."

"Oh and a picture of my side pony, Mom!"

She is a photographer's dream child. :)

Buzz

2011-02-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is the first time Cohen has shown interest in the dress-ups. But he brought one to me to put on him one morning. It was so cute... way too big, but really really cute. :)

He's getting so big lately... putting a couple words together instead of just pointing and saying one word. He's very aware of whether or not you are paying attention to him and if he thinks you might not be, he will put his little hands up on your face and turn it to him. I guess that's the life of the third child. ;)

Football

2011-02-09T15:57:00.002-07:00

Can't say that I'm sad to see the season come to an end... As fun as it is hosting football party after football party, I'm ready to celebrate something other than football. I'm also ready to be done making wings and various dips. ;) Steve was sad that his Bears didn't make it to the Superbowl... but they were close and there's always next year, right?

Here is Steve and Kelan on the day that the Bears played the Packers. Decked out in Bears stuff.

Kelan is a pretty cute football fan!

Here's a snapshot I found on my iPhone... must have been one of the kids. But, it's proof that I was a good supportive wife and had my one and only Bears shirt on as well.

Kanyon was sporting his Cutler jersey too, although I failed to get a picture of him. Scarlett and Cohen were the only none supporting members of the house. I'm sure now that Steve knows this, that situation will be remedied by next season. ;)

With football over now, I'm happily reminded that we are one step closer to Spring!! Now, that is something to celebrate.

Date Nights

2011-02-02T13:43:00.004-07:00

... with the kids. :)

Steve and I had a discussion not long ago about wanting to make sure that our kids got one on one time with Mom and Dad regularly. Since adding the 4th little bundle of joy, it's often hard to get quality time with the older ones because the younger ones are so needy.

So, we came up with Date Night. Every Tuesday evening, one kid gets to go on a date with either Mom or Dad. So far the kids LOVE it and won't let us forget either. ;) They are always figuring out how many more days until Tuesday.

Last week it was Scarlett and I's turn. We let the kids choose what they want to do. So we went to dinner at Noodles & Co. and then went and got pedicures. Scarlett's first official pedicure...
(photo courtesy of the iPhone)

Pretty sure she'll be requesting more of these because she loved it! Then she and I did some shopping. I came home and Steve asked me how it was and I said that she was a great time! She just chats away and loves to shop and do the things that I like to do, so I had a blast! ;)

It was Kanyon and I's turn last night and he chose Megamind in 3D that happened to be a the dollar movie theater. It was great! He just sits there and is happy as can be watching the show with his drink and candy. He even snuggled up to me and held my hand... what a great date. :) I love that he's not too old for that anymore.

Cohen even got his one on one time running errands with just me last week. He was so well behaved and happy the whole time. I forget that because he is the hardest one to take in addition to all the other kids, that often times he is the first one I'm wanting to leave home when I have things to do. Really though, I think a lot of his misbehaving is boredom/attention seeking. I'm trying very hard to remember that in our regular day to day activities. So, I'm even making an effort to have that quality time with him too even though he's so young.

Steve and I both want to have a really close relationship with all of our kids individually and we're hoping that this one on one time is a step in the right direction to be able to have that. So far, it's going great and I highly recommend it. Plus the kids just get excited even for the simplest things.

Spicy

2011-02-01T22:39:00.005-07:00

In the words of Grandma D...

Cohen is my 'spicy' child. He's got a little fire in him and when that is channeled into sweetness, he is really, really sweet... but it can also go the other way too!

Poor guy has been teething too which doesn't help his temperament... but finally cut one of his two eye teeth on the bottom just a week ago. I'm dreading that second one.

He has moments of sweetness with Kelan and moments of indifference with him... never a deliberate attack or mean act, which I couldn't be more grateful for since he has it rough being a big brother at such a tough/young age.

On this particular evening, Steve motioned for me to look at Cohen and Kelan sitting on the living room floor. So glad I could grab my camera to capture it before it was over.
(and believe me it was over quick!)

I love that Kelan was so attentive as Cohen was "reading" to him. He loves his siblings and is always entertained when they are around.

Cohen is saying so MANY new words these days. The cutest at the moment is probably "please". So sweet when he says that to me... it almost makes me want to give him whatever it is he's asking for, no matter what it happens to be. ;)

Kanyon enjoys the "Cohen, say this" game. He and Scarlett get a kick out of Cohen attempting to say new words. Here he is after asking me to take a picture of him in his Bulls shirt. He is his father's child... Bulls shirt, Cutler jersey (Bears), and Cubs hat... If Steve is home, he is almost guaranteed to be wearing one of those things.

Don't mind the boys' hair right now... I'm not sure if I want to continue to let it grown longer or to cut it short. It's in that in between/yucky stage right now...

And you know I'm not talking about Kelan. He's my bald little cue ball. ;)

Slackin'

2011-01-25T15:43:00.004-07:00

Sheesh. It's been weeks since I've blogged and it's not because there was a shortage of things going on.

I think my main reason is I've been spending every second I get on the computer devoting myself to getting my blog books made so they can be sent off to print. So far, 2009 is completed (just needs a final once over) and 2010 is half way done. :)

I feel accomplished because I will be totally up to date once these are printed.

As hard as it is to get these books done, it is so fun to go back through photos and stories that I wrote and enjoy the moments I captured. I am SO grateful for my blog! I definitely put what I do on there for me and my family alone. That's it. Everyone else being able to see it and enjoy it too is just a bonus for me. Having these memories compiled into a beautiful book is so rewarding... especially since I don't print my photos regularly enough. To be able to see my photography printed is wonderful for me. I wouldn't have remembered 95% of what is on my blog and for that reason alone, I will continue to force myself to update here as often as I can.

Here are a couple random photos... from the last couple of weeks:

We had a long stretch of really low temps and as a result, this monster of an icicle formed on the front of my house. Cohen and I went out to get the mail one day and I had to grab my camera. :)

Kelan is just a joy right now. He's 5 months old now and such a happy little guy. He LOVES his jumperoo (best purchase ever since all of my kids have loved it). In fact, he jumped himself to sleep in it the other day. Reminds me of this post of Cohen not too long ago!

We went to Las Vegas a week or two ago and can you believe I took ZERO photos. Yep. I drug my big camera down there and everything and I didn't pull it out once. I do have some iPhone pics and that is it! So sad. Steve had some business down there and so we drove down with all the kids and rented a house for 5 nights. It was big enough that my sister and her entire family stayed with us Friday and Saturday night too and it was just one big party. :)

Sorry there isn't something better to show for the trip...
Driving down to Vegas. I actually drove down and back the whole way.

A couple of the house... lots of mirrors, chandeliers, marble... just you're typical Vegas house. haha!

Some of the cousins being silly in the hot tub. They actually all took a dip in the pool too, I don't know how because it was freezing!!

Greeted by some lovely traffic 10 minutes from home... I thought my kids were going to go crazy after 6 hours in the car already. ;)

Steve went out of town earlier this month to Rhode Island for a new business venture that he's working on with his dad and brother. It's rough when he's not here and I certainly appreciate it when he is! So, here is a snapshot of my crazy evening as I'm trying to get all the kids ready for bed on my own.

I treated myself to one of these once the kids were all in their beds. :)

I'll try to be more timely with my updates. ;)
The countdown for Hawaii is officially on now.... <3

Rolling and Holding

2011-01-05T11:18:00.003-07:00

Kelan is growing so fast. I hear people say this all the time, but I really think they grow exponentially the more kids you have. I can't believe the things he is doing already and I'm just not ready for it!

He's been able to roll around for a while front to back and back to front... but now he's rolling and will go clear across the room if he doesn't get stuck somewhere first. It's still a little surprising to him because he'll roll and then look up and have this surprised look on his face, like how did I get here?!? Pretty soon I think he'll master it and will find out the possibilities of being mobile.

He's learning how to grab and hold toys now too. This is really fun for the three older kids because they can be a little more interactive with him.

I took a photo of his video monitor the other day while he was asleep. He used to want to be wrapped up so tight and now he wriggles his little arms out.

Sleep is a bit of a struggle right now partially because of this. He's not used to having his arms free and sometimes will scratch his face or pull his binky out accidentally. As soon as he transitions to not being swaddled at all, I think it will be much easier.

He's drooling and chewing on his hands so much right now. I'm thinking that the long teething process has begun already. It is not so great to have 2 kids teething at the same time! Cohen's eye teeth have just popped through on top and nights have been rough with him lately too.

I thought this picture was funny of Cohen's face in the background...

Like, come on Mom! Quit with the camera already... he's not that cute! Kelan's drool is visible in the photo above too.

Kelan had his 4 month well-check with his pediatrician just after Christmas. I was anxious to see how much he'd grown. I was shocked to find out that he's a little guy now! He's just 13 lbs 11 oz which is only the 10th percentile and his head is only the 10th percentile too. He's 25" long which is 50th percentile. He was 50th percentile across the board at his 2 mo appt, so I'm working on making sure he's getting enough milk these days. Otherwise, he is a healthy and happy little baby and I'm grateful for that!

While I had the camera out, I snapped Cohen's latest obsession:

He got this movie in his stocking and loves it... too bad our original copy of the Cars Movie is all scratched up and not viewable because this one is just a few little short stories. We're excited for Cars 2 to come out!

Another Missing Tooth...

2011-01-04T07:48:00.003-07:00

But this time it was definitely not swallowed! :)

Poor kid... I can't help but want to rub chapstick on my computer screen because his lips look like they hurt!

We've got another very excited kid! Last night he said it was hanging by a string, so he pulled it out. I seem to recall a very similar experience when losing a tooth many years ago.

The Toothfairy visited once again and he's a little richer. :)

I can handle him losing bottom teeth... you almost don't notice it unless he smiles real big... but please hold off on the top teeth!! I am not ready for his little smile to change that much. <3

2011

2011-01-03T21:13:00.003-07:00

Maybe I don't want a Happy New Year, he said. Maybe I want an intense New Year with a lot of growth experiences

& I had to admit I'd never thought of that
-StoryPeople

Phew... Happy New Year! So nice to have a house put back together and not have stuff everywhere! As much as I love Christmas and I love to get out the decorations, there is something so fresh and new about your home again once it's all back in storage. :)

It's not perfect... lego T-Rex on the table, pull-ups from a recent Costco run, baby paraphernalia all around... but clean and de-cluttered as much as is possible with little ones in the house.

I've not totally come up with "resolutions" yet... I don't normally make any official ones but I want to have a couple of main goals for the year and I'm still thinking on them. For now though, I'll leave you with one thing that I know I'm going to try and master this year.

The Playroom. Ugh.
This was it's state this afternoon:

Can you believe I'm actually revealing it? Say I'm not the only one that has a room in their house like this one.
Even Cohen is appalled.

No matter how many times I try and "organize" and come up with some kind of system for storing toys, etc... it always ends up looking like this.

I'm not sure that I'm going to just throw my hands up and say it's the age of my kids just yet... although I would love to. My biggest issue is that this room is lacking a closet of some sort... a place to store sets of things and little items that just get tossed about the room by Cohen. ;) I'm not sure how to remedy that, but I'm going to try and figure something out. Any and all suggestions are welcome!

In the meantime... at least I know the kids are enjoying themselves and they are getting use out of the playroom! And thank goodness I have it. Could you imagine all these toys tossed about my house?? That would be a much bigger problem. ;)

For now I will just be grateful that I have to physically walk up a flight of stairs to see the mess.

2011. I hope it treats everyone well... and I hope that I don't have too many growth experiences this year (like the story mentions above). I figure I'm due for a year off after adding Kelan to our family in 2010. Those first and last few months of pregnancy were tough as well as the first couple months of the adjustment to 4 little ones in the house. It was a changing year for us, and although a bit tough at times... I'm excited for the future and where we are in life right now.

That sounded a bit like a toast... Where's my Martinelli's? ;)
Cheers!

Over-run with Snow

2011-01-01T09:28:00.003-07:00

We've had two pretty good size snow storms in the last couple of weeks... bringing a couple feet of snow... and a few smaller snow storms prior to that. It's been pretty outside and was a perfectly white Christmas.

My poor, deprived kids had not been out in the snow at all this year... mostly because it meant me searching for snow pants for each one and knowing that I probably was short a pair for Scarlett. So, after spending a morning searching for them... I found that I was indeed short snow pants for Scarlett. Thanks to Dad though, she had some by the time she woke up from her nap on Thursday and we were ready to play.

It was about 5pm when the kids got outside to play... the reason for the darkish pictures.

Kanyon and Scarlett were pros in the snow (until it got on Scarlett's face - she doesn't handle that so well). She is the little girl dressed as a boy in the photo below. ;) She opted to borrow Kanyon's old winter coat because hers was too hard to pull over her gloves.

This was Cohen's first "real" snow experience. (aside from the one time on the sled with Steve on New Year's day last year... he was far too young to be a fan. Come to think of it... I never blogged those pictures. Maybe I'll have to do that, albeit a year late exactly.)

He has been the best kid in the snow for the first time by far. Dressed like a marshmallow, he walked around like a pro. Pretty sure Kanyon sat and cried his first time in the snow.

He even attempted and succeeded in climbing up a snow bank within the first 5 minutes.

Scarlett was working on her snow "fairy", rather than angel.

The kids really wanted to build a snowman, but Steve claimed it wasn't the packing kind of snow. I think he just didn't want to do it right then. ;) Oh well, it just means he's got to get back out there on another day to do it with them.

Prepping a sledding hill in our driveway.

A success for Cohen.

Not so much for Kanyon. Oops.

If it has to be this cold outside... then there had better be snow to play in or at least make it look pretty out there. The cold weather starts to get old fast, in my opinion, after Christmas is over.

Bring on the Spring!! :)

Missing: One bottom tooth

2010-12-28T14:53:00.002-07:00

One of Kanyon's teeth that were loose actually fell out yesterday. The only problem is we aren't sure where!

I'm pretty sure he must have swallowed it... and to that realization Kanyon said, "But Mom! How will we get it out of me!?!" :) That led to a very interesting conversation.

Despite his concern, he was really excited!

Now we're just waiting for the other one to fall out, and this time hoping that we get to put an actual tooth under his pillow instead of a note explaining the situation to the Toothfairy. :)

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-28T14:26:00.002-07:00

Kanyon was up at 4am. And we thought his regular morning at 6am was early. Needless to say we sent him back to bed numerous times before we finally gave in just before 7am when Cohen woke up.

Santa did indeed make an appearance and the kids were giddy with excitement. They ought to have been too because Santa spoiled them this year. (I think next year, Santa needs to put a limit on the number of gifts and go from there... apparently this year he/she forgot how many things had already been purchased and tucked away as early as November! Oops!)

*these photos below are of the night before after Santa had set everything up*

Cohen had a gift that was setup in the playroom for him, so Santa wrote a note for him to go find it. Boy was he excited. I should have gotten pictures of his face when he dove in that thing. We do have video though and that's even better. :)

We enjoyed the day at home and family came to our house to visit and see what the kids got. Trevor and Alex were the only ones who stayed and had homemade potato soup and rolls for dinner with us and then we played the night away on the new Pictionary game that we got for the Wii once the kids were in bed.

Here is Alex's masterpiece after the game was over and she played on the free draw mode.

Pretty impressive, especially since the pen and drawing device take some getting used to!!
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

(Call me scrooge, but all my Christmas decor was down the next day. :) I can't handle the clutter for too long!)

Christmas Eve with the Shipp's

2010-12-28T14:13:00.005-07:00

We always spend Christmas Eve at my parent's house with my siblings and my grandparents. My mom made a ham dinner and we exchanged gifts as we do every year.

Trent was very creative with his gift of money for Alex this year... folded into little boots! :) It's kind of a running joke that Trent gives to Alex every year, even though each year we randomly draw names. It must just be meant to be. ;)

Great gifts deserve high 5's all around.

The kids dressed in their new PJ's they opened that night... and all freshly bathed!

I loved this picture of Cohen with my dad. So sweet.

Scarlett was showing a very interested Uncle Troy the contents of her purse that Great Grandma Cummings gave her... she has carried that everywhere with her since that night. :)

*Gasp*
Could this be a family photo? Yes, yes it is!

Thanks to Alex for the very first family picture with all 6 of us present and accounted for. :)

Sonnenberg Christmas

2010-12-28T14:01:00.002-07:00

We always spend the 23rd of December over at Ken and Babata's house doing the Sonnenberg side of the family's Christmas celebration. The kids really look forward to it because they love giving gifts to their cousins that they picked out.

We had a really yummy spread of food... after seeing it all, I just gave up on eating healthy and ate what I wanted. :) I did not regret it either as it did not disappoint!

Kanyon and his cousin Maya are such good buddies.

Scarlett and Aliyah are too... and pretty much inseperable whenever they get together.

Grandma and Grandpa Sonnenberg with their great grandkids (and Babata). :)

James was there too, but apparently hiding from my camera.

After dinner we all went to a retirement community center and gave out gifts, cookies, and other little treats to the older people there that were eating their dinner at the time. They always love the kids and the kids love bringing around the goodies to share. It's really so sweet. My kids looked forward to it all week long after we talked about doing service for others earlier in the week.

Can't wait until next year! :)

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-28T12:47:00.002-07:00

We spent a family night this month building all the gingerbread houses that we had accumulated. The kids loved it.

They were all very serious about their decorating. Cohen even stayed on task and decorated his far longer than I expected before the candy eating commenced. ;)

Between these gingerbread houses and the ones the kids brought home from preschool... my counters were taken over!

My downfall

2010-12-27T16:17:00.002-07:00

Mmmm, English toffee.

It is ruining my quest to lose all this baby weight.

Well, if I'm going down then so are my friends/neighbors because I gave each of them a bag this year for Christmas.

Aren't I nice?

Little Fish

2010-12-27T16:04:00.003-07:00

With each child I have, more time seems to pass before I get pictures of them in the tub. Kelan has enjoyed his bath for a little while now... he was just a day shy of 4 months old when I took these earlier this month.

Maybe the reason it takes longer to get a picture is because I bathe each baby less often? Steve and I always joke about when Kelan's last bath was... Most of the time we can't remember.

*sigh*

At least he's a baby and isn't rolling around in the dirt outside and isn't breaking a sweat, right? Right?!?

Once he's older and sitting up/crawling, then he'll get a regular bath with the other 3. Until then, let's just say we are preserving his baby soft skin in these dry winter months. ;)

The Polar Express

2010-12-27T15:38:00.002-07:00

We have tried to get tickets to take the Polar Express (or the Heber Creeper) to the "North Pole" in December since Kanyon was 2. But, we never seem to get to ordering them early enough and it's sold out. This year was different and we were really excited to go.
Eating a cookie...

Caroling on the train...

My review? It wasn't that great. :( For the price? Not worth it at all. I heard that they used to pay Disney? or whoever has the rights to the name/movie, but this year is the first year that they changed the name to the North Pole Express and I'm wondering if it went down hill from there. It's too bad too because it could really be done cute and well!

Happy Holidays....

2010-12-12T23:19:00.003-07:00

I know it's been far too long since I've blogged. I'm tired of seeing my Thanksgiving post. ;) So, instead I can look at Christmas tree light bokeh. (that's what is pictured above)

I've actually been taking a lot of pictures lately... but I can't share any of them because they are either for my Christmas cards or for someone else's and I'd hate to spoil it. So sad. Maybe I'll have to do a post later showcasing all of them because they've all been pretty darn cute.

My Christmas cards are coming... I finally got some pictures of the 4 kids together that will work and I'm just waiting for them to be delivered now. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have them! I think this is the latest I've been on cards ever.

We've been doing tons of fun holiday activities, but I need to be better about bringing my camera along for those kinds of things... Tuesday we take a ride on the Polar Express with the kids and I will for sure bring my camera then. :) They are really excited about it! We have something scheduled every night this week and while that's fun, it's going to be busy! I think I'll look forward to the week of Christmas because things should slow down a bit.

For now, I leave you with some not-so-great, unedited, and badly lit photos of some Christmas decor at my house... Sorry so lame, next time will be something better. Promise.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-11-30T15:48:00.004-07:00

Can you believe I didn't even bring my camera to Thanksgiving dinner? Yep. Sad, but I was getting 4 kids in the car after making rolls that morning to bring for dinner. I just plain forgot!

Dinner was great and the company even better. We were at my mom's house this year and everyone in my immediate family was there... and Steve's little brother, James, as well! Lots of food, pie, chatting, and football. Just how it should be.

Friday morning my sister and I went out to catch a few Black Friday deals... we were only out by 6am though (not with the crazies at midnight or 3 or 4am). We decided there was nothing worth missing our precious sleep for. ;) We did meet up with Alex and my mom, Grandma Deanna, and Aunt Susan at Pizza Factory for our annual lunch. A good way to end the shopping day.

That night the kids watched A Christmas Carol together before bed because my sister and her family moved over to stay at our house from my mom's.

How cute is Cole and Cohen in that first picture hugging? I didn't even notice that until I uploaded my pictures.

Saturday was a pretty relaxing morning with Pumpkin Spice pancakes for breakfast and hubbies off playing basketball. Mical did her daughter, Callie's, hair all cute with pin curls and Scarlett was dying to get in on that... So Mical was kind enough to try even with her baby fine hair.

And the finished product...

It fell flat fairly quickly, but was darling until then.

We headed up to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square as is our tradition on the weekend of Thanksgiving. It was freezing, but was beautiful. I took lots of pictures and joked that I was making up for forgetting my camera on Thanksgiving. ;)

Here are all the cousins - minus Kelan because he was snugly bundled in the stroller asleep.

The whole group - minus me and Kelan. Someone's got to take the picture!

My little family... too bad you can't see Kelan. He is in the stroller pictured on the left.

Here's the proof. :)

My sister and her family.

Trevor and Alex

A few pretty pictures...

My family all together. Not sure if my parents know how lucky they are to have us all together at least 2 times a year. :)

Kanyon and his cousin Caden... man these two love each other.

Scarlett with her Uncle Troy and Grandpa.

I think the cold was making the kids a little crazy... Here is my nephew Cole.

Callie and Scarlett - also little bestie cousins.

My niece, Maddi, enjoying some hot chocolate... don't you love the mittens? Pretty sure they were worn by all my brothers when they were little. Maddi was thankful for them though since she lost one of her gloves that night before we got there.

Alex, Trev, my Mom, Troy, my Dad, and Trent

Cohen wasn't being very nice to Steve up on his shoulders and after a few warnings not to hit him with his gloved little hands... he sat on timeout at the infinity pool there. :) It worked and he was a nicer little boy afterwards. So glad he's old enough now to understand timeouts! We laughed that one day we could be telling him this story on his wedding day if he chooses to get married in the SLC temple. ;)

This little munchkin woke up just before we left. He didn't make a peep, he was such a good little babe. When we got him out of his warm clothes to put him back in the car, he was really toasty! I was so glad because I had worried about it so much!

I have so much to be thankful for and I'm reminded of it all during this holiday. Especially for my 4 perfectly healthy little children and my wonderful husband. I'm so blessed and couldn't possibly ask for more.

The countdown to Christmas begins! My little children remind me of it daily. ;)

It's in the air...

2010-11-22T21:25:00.003-07:00

We decorated for Christmas a little early this year... but we've been enjoying it. The kids are especially enjoying reading Christmas books before bed together. Cohen has been missing out on the story time because it's MUCH harder to do with him awake. ;) Poor guy will be invited to join us eventually, but for now he just gets his special singing time in the rocking chair with me before bed.

On another note, the kids went to their cousin, Aliyah's, birthday party on Saturday and got their faces painted while there. They love this... especially Kanyon. He just gets into character. He was made up like a shark and Scarlett chose a butterfly.

Notice Scarlett's black eye. She fell off her bed and hit her face on her baby's cradle. Awesome. Totally ruined my plans to take the kids pictures for our Christmas card that still has yet to be created. Hope it heals up soon enough or at least enough for photoshop to help me out. ;) To make it even worse... the next day, Kanyon pulled on his stocking a little too hard and his stocking holder fell and hit him just under his eye as well. Cohen has had the croup this last week and a constant crusty nose as well. Something is telling me the pictures aren't going to happen. :/ I'm not going to give up just yet though!!

But, if something happens to Kelan next then I cannot promise you anything! :P

3 Months

2010-11-18T13:32:00.004-07:00

I'm so grateful for this little guy. He turned 3 months old yesterday...

Kelan is such a good baby. He has been going to bed earlier (Tuesday night it was at 7:15pm!) and sleeping long stretches (last night it was 9:30pm - 7am... heaven!). At his 2 month appt just 2 weeks ago he weighed 12 lbs and was 23.5 inches long. I'm loving the chub he's getting and loving his personality as it's starting to show. He even chats with me... I'll say something and he'll respond. Love it. He rolled over from tummy to back the other night. I can't believe he's getting so big.

I'm just loving every minute with him...

Sis in town...

2010-11-09T16:02:00.002-07:00

My sister came in town on Friday night all by herself (usually it's with her 4 children and hubby). We have been talking about when she could get up here to meet Kelan and this most recent weekend was the winner. It was so nice to be able to hang out. She took me out for lunch as a late birthday present on Saturday and then we did a little shopping. We spent some time with the rest of the family as well and then I took her back to the airport Sunday night. Short, but definitely sweet.

Now the countdown to Thanksgiving begins when she'll return with the rest of her family! Can't wait! :)

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T22:04:00.004-06:00

We love Halloween at our house. I usually have the kids costumes ordered by the first of September and it's generally a theme... however this year Kanyon and Scarlett just couldn't agree on costumes that went together (so opinionated!), so I had to give up on that fun idea this year.

We carved pumpkins on Friday night. I guess I should say that Steve and I carved the pumpkins while the kids watched and yelled "gross!!" and then laughed uncontrollably as we gutted them. ;) Can't wait until they are actually capable of doing it themselves! They turned out cute though.

Kanyon's was the dragon... of course.

Scarlett's was the cat.

And Cohen's was the bat.

Kelan didn't get a carved pumpkin this year... after doing 5 (including Steve and I's)... one more was just too much for a little guy that wouldn't even know.

I took some pictures of the kids in their costumes Saturday night before trick or treating.
We had a Ninja Warrior... Kanyon.

A pretty pink princess... Scarlett.

A stinky little skunk... Cohen.

Not a fan of the hat, until we were out and it kept him warm and he figured out that you get candy for wearing it... he was in heaven.

And a sweet little giraffe... Kelan.

I finally caught a real smile on camera... he was such a happy little thing all night. He got to stay at home with dad and hand out candy. I love this age!

Here were our pumpkins all lit up.

Just as we were about to head out trick or treating, it started pouring rain with thunder and lightening and then hailing with crazy wind. We decided to wait it out and hope it cleared up a little. It eventually did and we went up and down our one street before calling it good. :) I did snap a cool shot of the rainbow that appeared just after the hail storm. You can see the hail gathered around the edge of our grass.

Every Halloween, I let the kids eat as much candy as they want (after dinner of course) and then the "candy monster" pays our house a visit that night while they are sleeping and eats all their candy. The older two actually think it's funny to hear about the candy monster and don't mind that he eats their candy. Steve and I had to laugh though as we were cleaning out Scarlett's bucket that night...

I guess if you don't have time to eat it all before bed, then you just sample what you can and toss it back in the bucket. ;)

It was a fun night... my parents, my brother Trent, and my sister-in-law Alex all came over to hang out. We had pizza, salad, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and cider... it was lots of fun!

Now on to November... can you believe it will be Christmas soon??
Me either.

Our Escape Artist

2010-10-31T22:04:00.003-06:00

Exactly one week ago, Cohen figured out how to climb out of his crib AND open doors. After a tumble on his way out of the crib Monday night with the babysitter... I ordered the crib tent.

Best thing ever! He loves it and thinks it's like a cool fort... and it does the job it was intended for. Thank goodness for these little inventions!

Kelan's many faces...

2010-10-27T20:42:00.003-06:00

I'm anxious to see how much Kelan has grown when I take him in for his 2 month well check next week. (although it will be almost 3 weeks past his 2 month mark)

He is such a happy little babe laying on the floor kicking and watching me fold clothes. I say folding clothes because I can only fold when Cohen is asleep and Kelan can also only be down laying on the floor when Cohen is asleep. So, often I find that I'm doing both of these things always at the same time. ;)

His big brothers and sister have so much fun trying to get him to smile at them. It's cute to watch them with him.

Pretty certain that brown eyes are already on their way for this little guy as I am seeing less and less blue daily. Scarlett is so excited that she, Kelan, and Daddy all will "match".

Aaaaannnnndddd.... he can only take so much of my camera. ;)

two-nine

2010-10-25T15:14:00.003-06:00

No pictures of me on my 29th this year... that's okay, we'll just save all the pictures for next year's big one. ;)

It was a nice birthday though... I woke up and opened some gifts from my hubby and kids, then I went to lunch with 2 of my favorite girls in the world, and then we went out as a family to Tepanyaki for dinner and Red Mango for dessert. Yum!

I took some pictures of Cohen that morning though because he was just too cute trying on all sorts of shoes. First it was Kanyon's old cowboy boots. I swear he rolled his ankles like 10 times walking around his room.

Rocking in his room... I tried ordering standouts (the 3 pictures on the wall) for the first time for Cohen's room and really love them. His room is not finished, otherwise I would show you the rest. ;)

Poor kid... Not sure what I did to make him mad... probably told him that he had to put on pants.

My little lumberjack sporting his new boots for the winter. He loves them and is the cutest tromping around in those with his little bull-legged legs. :)

I was noticing a theme to my birthday gifts from Steve... tons of new workout clothes to go with the personal training sessions he just paid for that week, itunes gift card, new water bottle and arm strap for my ipod, $$ in my account to go shopping once I lost the baby weight, and then that night he put a candle in an apple for me since we weren't doing cake until Sunday. Hmmm. ;) I had to joke with him about it.

Steve and I went out on Saturday night since we couldn't get a sitter for Friday. Steve took me to La Caille. I love that place... the food is SO good. Kelan tagged along since I'm still nursing and even though we hoped he would sleep through dinner, he didn't. He was actually awake the entire time. Figures! He was a good little guy for the most part though and we had a good time.

On Sunday, it was the Primary Program at church and Kanyon was singing a verse from "Follow the Prophets" with 2 other little boys. So, my parents and grandparents and 2 little brothers came to support and watch him. He was so nervous when he saw everyone starting to arrive in the chapel that he was crying and didn't want to leave where Steve and I were sitting. After a pep-talk and a promise of a special surprise he decided that he would still do it. I think he probably sang the loudest out of the 3 and did awesome! We were so proud of him!

After church everyone came over to have dinner and cake and ice cream for my birthday. I made my own birthday cake, but at least it was good. ;)

Three little vultures waiting anxiously for me to cut into it. ;)

It was fun to have everyone over. Steve claims that this birthday had to be lame (although it really wasn't) so that he could easily out-do it for my 30th. He'll really have to try hard since this was a great one!

A Miracle

2010-10-17T08:52:00.002-06:00

I remember how I felt when I got this picture of the 3 kids... I was ecstatic to have them all looking the right direction and no one crying (yet... Cohen burst into tears seconds after I snapped it). I didn't even care that their hair wasn't combed and they were wearing who knows what. I loved it so much that I even printed it big for the guest room downstairs.

I decided to attempt the 4 kids together for the first time yesterday afternoon. It was spur of the moment and once again, no hair was combed and no thought was put into what they had on at the moment.

After a few tries... I got this.

And even this! Kelan looks like he's trying to smile too which is a new trick of his.

I only got those after lots of these, however...

Smarties are a great little treat to have on hand for bribing. ;) Not messy (very important for pictures) and most kids are pretty happy to have one. Although getting Kelan and Cohen to look at the camera and be happy at the same time was just pure luck.

Kelan is officially 2 months old today. It's been the fastest 2 months of my life!

Pumpkins!

2010-10-17T08:34:00.003-06:00

Friday night we went out as a family to the pumpkin patch. The kids see it a couple times a week when we drive by and have been watching all summer long as the pumpkins have grown, so they have been begging to go.

They had a petting zoo, tractor hay ride, maze for the kids, etc along with picking pumpkins. They seem to add something new and fun each year. Cohen would have been happy to hang out with the animals at the petting zoo the whole time... that's the reason he's not in the shot with the other 3 kids.

We picked out perfect pumpkins... Cohen was actually really involved in picking them and bringing the ones he liked to us.

On Saturday, we finally found some time to put our faces on some of the pumpkins. It's a temporary fix until we can actually carve them. We've done it too early in years past and the pumpkin faces have sunk in and fallen apart too quickly. The kids had a good time doing these though...
Don't mind Cohen, he had just woken up from his nap and was a little less than cooperative to just sit for a picture. ;)

Kanyon with his spider pumpkin.

Scarlett with her black cat pumpkin.

Cohen with the skeleton and pirate pumpkins.

It's been a full weekend of fall activities and Saturday night we continued with dipping some caramel apples. The kids loved it and Cohen even participated. Due to the sticky nature of the activity... there are no pictures of the process. ;)

This is the scent in my house lately too... Yum...

I have a spooky tree on my table in my kitchen and Kanyon and Scarlett decorated it with some scary halloween themed pictures...
Here is one that Kanyon did of a skeleton. Cute, right? :)

Can't believe that October is already half way over. Fall is going so fast which makes me sad because that means that Winter is just around the corner! :( I hope we can hang on to this nice 70 degree weather a little bit longer.

Cornbellys

2010-10-16T21:25:00.004-06:00

It wouldn't be October without a day at Cornbellys! The kids remember so much of it from last year that they were really excited when they found out we were going Friday morning with their cousins and Grandmas.

Babata, Me, and Grandmother Cahoon.

The kids watching the chickens tell jokes.

Brenda on the phone... not the reason I put the picture on here though... it's the only shot I got of the Monster that the kids went inside of. It wasn't haunted during the daytime (thank goodness), but the kids were still pretty spooked about going in there where it was really dark and had some scary noises!

Bull riding was a highlight... Kanyon loved it and wasn't really scared.

Scarlett said she didn't want to do it at first... but after her other cousins did, she gave in. I think she was scared because she was making the funniest faces, including this one with little pursed lips. I think she was really concentrating. :)

The time flew by that we were there and before we knew it, it was time to go.

We had to say goodbye to Brenda and Grandmother there since they were headed for Salt Lake right after. It has been a fun 3 weeks with both of them in town with lots of activities!

We will definitely miss them! It will be strange for life to go back to normal now. It has been such a blessing having Brenda around to help as much as she has. I really owe it to her for helping me get a new normal established at home now with 4 kids. She was so helpful when I first came home from the hospital and then when she came back a couple weeks later she was there when our babysitter quit suddenly, I was sick and also had a tooth ache and had to go to the dentist, etc. She's just been wonderful and I'm so grateful to have a mother-in-law like her. <3

Goodbye

2010-10-16T21:20:00.003-06:00

We continued the tradition of going to eat at the Pizza Factory for lunch before sending off a missionary to the MTC. I remember being there when Steve left for New Hampshire (TEN years ago!) and also for Brenda and Barry when they left for Romania. This time it was James' turn and he's headed off to Texas after 3 weeks at the MTC.

The kids loved eating with their cousins...

My family with James.

And one without me because Cohen was actually paying attention. ;)

The whole group - minus me... that's just the story of my life! :)

Good luck to James!! We will miss him lots, but he is in our prayers and our kids' prayers every night. He's going to be an awesome missionary...

Bangs

2010-10-16T21:01:00.004-06:00

Without much thought, I had a hair appointment and wanted to do something different. So, I had Hailee give me some bangs. Short bangs... and no swooping to the side kind of bangs either that I've done in the past.

I'm still not sure about them and they are taking some getting used to, but so far I don't hate them. ;)

Cohen had such a reaction to them the next morning when he saw me that I was beginning to second guess them. He just stopped in his tracks and stared at me. He even dropped whatever was in his hands and hardly noticed. It lasted about a minute before he ran to my arms and touched them. haha! I didn't get that much of a reaction from my other kids when I went brunette 2 years ago, and I thought that was a much bigger change!

Hands

2010-10-10T18:13:00.003-06:00

Kelan sleeps best with his little hand up on his face like this.

Specifically, he loves his right hand there... I know usually when he gets in that position, he's going to sleep for a good stretch.
He is growing up so fast. Can you believe in just over a week he'll be 2 months old?? I can't. It's flown by and he's not a tiny newborn anymore. I'm trying to enjoy every second.
He's officially lost most of his hair on top and what is left is pretty blonde. The back is still darker and mullet-like. Maybe he'll be like Scarlett and be mostly bald for his first 2 years.

He's beginning to enjoy just laying on the floor and kicking. It's too bad he can't do it more often because when Cohen is awake, it's a recipe for disaster. ;) We are doing more tummy time with him and he doesn't love it, but he is getting stronger and will soon start to enjoy it more once it's not so much hard work.
Do you notice his clogged tear duct? His poor little eye has been like that since about a week after he was born... far too long, in my opinion. At his 2 month appointment, we'll discuss what to do about it with his pediatrician... that is if it's still an issue. I have a feeling it will be. I look forward to seeing what he looks like without a goopy little red eye!

7 weeks

2010-10-07T14:31:00.004-06:00

I can't believe how quickly the time has passed... Kelan is now 7 weeks old and seems to be growing bigger every second. He's getting more head control and, although we are still waiting for a true smile, he seems to be showing a little more personality now.

I feel like I'm getting the hang of things better now, too. It doesn't help that the college girl we had used as our sitter for the last year plus quit on us last week, but we've decided that it was a good thing after all and we're in the process of finding someone else that will fit our needs better than she did. I've even made dinner 3 out of 4 days this week so far... Pretty amazing and not something that has happened much since I found out I was pregnant with Kelan. ;) I see a light at the end of the tunnel now and although I know it'll still be tough, I am a lot more capable than I thought I was. I just have to be *really* organized to get what I need done in a day.

Here's Cohen showing Kelan some love while he was laying on the ottoman. This is how he does it... just lays his head near him. It's how he gives hugs... a kiss is generally more of a head-butt than anything else, but on occasion he'll give you a good open mouthed one. ;)

Cohen really loves his "baby".

I adore how sweet Cohen can be and I love that he still lets me rock him and sing to him before he goes to bed at night. He wants to be big like his brother and sister so badly and I have feared that he would give up things like that faster. Thank goodness he hasn't and I hope he doesn't for a very long time!

Helping Grandma

2010-10-07T14:14:00.002-06:00

We had a Thanksgiving dinner (a bit early) on Sunday after watching this all weekend. James is going to miss having Thanksgiving with his family this year, so we were all happy to have it early. :)

Brenda is so good to let the kids help with whatever she is making. She made stuffing and jello the night before at my house. Cohen even helped stir and definitely loved feeling like a big boy helping like his older brother and sister.

Scarlett is quite the helper... especially wiping the counters. I need to utilize this more often! ;)

This was Kelan and I while all the cooking was taking place.

I wish I had enough patience everyday to let the kids help in the kitchen... but I know that's not totally realistic. But, this has inspired me to let them help more than I have in the past. :)

Dinner and Home Run Derby

2010-10-06T23:04:00.002-06:00

We spent the night of Kelan's blessing up the canyon eating KFC, watching the kids play at the park and the boys play home run derby. Just for the record... James killed it. He beat his big bros by a long shot. ;) Too bad I didn't even get a shot of him hitting!

Here's Scott.

Steve's turn.

Brenda had a turn and did really good! Check out all that fall color in the trees too... it was really pretty up there, I need to go back and capture that a little better.

The kids took turns too. It was tough because it was just a stick... not a real bat, so it was pretty skinny. Maya was first.

Then Kanyon.

And Scarlett even took a turn.

Tehya was so funny carrying her little rabbit around everywhere...

Scarlett and Aliyah are buddies lately... it's cute to watch them play together now.

Thank goodness for Alli (James' girlfriend)... she was really helpful with the little kids that wear us all out.

It was a perfect night... perfect weather and so fun to be together.

Five Boys

2010-10-06T16:11:00.002-06:00

Steve and all 4 of his brothers were in town the weekend we blessed Kelan for James' missionary farewell. This hasn't happened in a while and can't happen again for at least 2 years while James is gone, so we took advantage of it and snapped a few photos.

Aren't they handsome?? Man, I married into a great looking family...

Showing a bit more personality...

And a full on "I'm stronger than you are" contest... there is ALWAYS competition when you've got 5 boys in one family. ;)

More of that weekend to come...

Kelan's Blessing

2010-10-04T11:33:00.001-06:00

We blessed Kelan on Saturday, Sept. 25th at our home. A lot of Steve's family was in town because his little brother, James, was having his missionary farewell that Sunday, so it was the perfect opportunity to do it. It was so nice to have it done in our home... much more personal and less stressful than doing it at church. Steve gave him a beautiful blessing.

I really wish I would have gotten a picture of Kelan in his outfit, but I completely spaced it. I didn't get a picture of my new family of 6 all together either and I'm so sad about that. Hopefully I can remember to do that one of these Sundays before we head off to church.

Here I am with Grandpa and Grandma Sonnenberg and little Kelan.

From left to right: Brenda (steve's mom), Grandmother Cahoon, Nate, Devin, Steve, Paul, Katie, Grandma Sonnenberg and Kelan.

Grandma Shipp, my little brother Trent, and my Dad.

Me with my friends Jen and Meri.

Cohen just enjoyed all the fruit... he had way too much that weekend and we paid for it later. ;)

My mother in law, Brenda, and her mother... Grandmother Cahoon. We loved having them stay with us!

My Grandma Cummings holding Kelan.

My mom and Kelan. She hadn't been feeling well for the last month and we were thinking that she might not make it to the blessing, so we're so glad that she was able to be there.

It was a perfect morning... lots of visiting, pictures, and yummy fruit, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and orange juice. :)

Busy body

2010-10-04T11:22:00.003-06:00

Cohen and I have a love/kind of love relationship. ;) Just kidding, but boy does he test my patience.

He is as sweet as can be at times though and it's a good thing, because sometimes I'm tempted to send him back. Can you do that?

The phrase that constantly runs through my mind all day...
"This too shall pass... This too shall pass..."

Thank goodness he's as cute as he is! I need to blame his craziness on the molar he just cut and the one that is coming soon. I'm sure it hasn't helped. ;)

Officially 17 months now... another month down. :)

Wishing for Fall

2010-10-04T10:58:00.003-06:00

I know technically it is Fall now... but it's still been 90 degree weather here lately. So, I've had to improvise and bake things and do things that make it feel like Fall. I'm hoping that soon we can really get out the long sleeve shirts, the jackets, and the boots, etc...

I have been busy doing a lot of canning... peach, raspberry, and peach/raspberry freezer jam... salsa and stewed tomatoes (thanks to my friend, Jen)... and soon to be doing applesauce. YUM.

I also had some leftover peaches from making the freezer jam, so I made a peach pie. It was SO good and I ate entirely too much of it. It was probably about the time that I decided it was necessary to start a regular workout schedule. ;)

Halloween is just around the corner, as well as my 29th birthday... I'm ready for Halloween and have my kids costumes already, but I'm not ready for my birthday because it means that the one following it officially takes me out of my 20s and I feel like I can't possibly be that old. I remember when my own mom turned 30 and I thought she was ancient... yikes!

Can't I just stay 28 forever?

One Month Old

2010-09-17T15:03:00.003-06:00

Kelan is 1 month old today! I can't believe it. He is changing so fast and I already feel like he's getting so big.

- He looks like a bald babe from the front... but he's got a dark mullet in the back.
- He's sleeping okay. On a good night he doesn't go to bed until 11pm - ish and usually wakes around 3am to eat and then is up at 7:30 or 8am. I won't talk about the bad nights. ;)
- He loves his baths that Steve and I give him at night once all the other kids are asleep...
- He loves to be snuggled with all. the. time. Even when I really need to get some things done!
- He's beginning to really make eye contact and we are patiently awaiting a cute little smile soon.
- He still reminds us so much of Scarlett (physically) as a baby...

Kanyon asked to take a picture with my "big camera" today, so I agreed.

I realized that I don't have any pictures with Kelan since the hospital, so I'm glad Kanyon asked! He's a natural photographer. I didn't even have to crop these! :)

I need to get back to taking self-portraits again... I am so glad that I did that last year and have so many shots with me in them. I just don't think to hand the camera over to Steve on a regular basis, although I really should. :/

My Laundry Fairy

2010-09-17T13:40:00.002-06:00

I've always wished there was such a thing as a "laundry fairy"...
You know, someone to magically take care of that mountain of laundry as you sleep?
It has yet to happen.
But, I do have a sweet little 3 year old that LOVES to fold clothes. Seriously. And she's pretty darn good. So, I let her do what she loves...

because I'm a really nice mom like that. ;)

New little toes

2010-09-11T09:53:00.003-06:00

In all the chaos that I have experienced since Kelan was born... I have really loved my quiet moments that I have with just him. It reminds me for just a moment what it was like when I just had Kanyon. All the quiet time throughout the day that Kanyon and I used to hang out together at home... taking naps on the couch together. It seems like it was a lifetime ago already, but when I do have a minute with just Kelan it doesn't feel like it was so long ago.

Here he is at 3 weeks old... can't believe he's coming up on a month soon. It goes so quickly.

I need to break out my camera more with Kelan because they change so fast in the first couple of months and you lose that newborn look so quickly. I want to remember every minute.

"Train Wreck" kind of moments

2010-09-07T16:16:00.005-06:00

I've joked with my sister about my new life and how it will be... I think I've used the words "train wreck" on occasion to describe what I anticipated that it would be like with 4 kids with the oldest being barely 5.

I was pretty spot on with my description. Today, I had a "train wreck" moment for sure.

First of all, it's Tuesday. Tuesday is going to be the hard day for us this fall. I know this because we don't have preschool or gymnastics or anything else scheduled on this day. Anyone with any number of kids knows that a day without much planned generally results in bored children... bored children fight, whine, and tend to be mischievous.

Hmmm... maybe I ought to just make this a weekly blog post called "Train Wreck Tuesdays".

On top of it being a Tuesday, we have painters redoing our back patio doors in our walkout basement as well as our mantle and rock fireplace down there today... they are also staining the front door again. They arrived bright and early this morning (unbeknownst to me) and are currently still here at 5pm. There is sanding and vacuuming and a whole lot of banging going on down there. Our front door has no hardware, therefore my 16 month old is taking every opportunity to escape since it is really easy to do so right now.

It was all fairly uneventful until 1pm (the hardware didn't come off the front door until this afternoon) and I felt like I had a handle on the day. Kanyon was to be going down for a nap... Cohen was sleeping already, Kelan was asleep but stirring and overdue for a feeding, and Scarlett had been to a friend's house for the last 2 hours and was due home at any moment. Suddenly, Cohen wakes up screaming bloody murder after sleeping only 30 minutes (bad, bad news)... so I gave him milk, rocked him, sang to him, and gave him some motrin because we're pretty certain that he's teething again. Nothing worked. He was still screaming bloody murder. I left him to scream because Kelan started crying too. Kanyon refused to go down to his room to nap until Scarlett arrived home... and all this with the loudest sanding tools going to town in my house.

I burst into tears and called Steve. Scarlett arrives home at the same time. She's bawling because she doesn't know who the people are working in the basement (where her bedroom is) and it's really loud. I manage to get her and Kanyon in their rooms for naps and I'm just praying that they somehow are able to sleep. Kelan has worked up to a scream by this time and Cohen is still screaming. I go in one last time to try and get Cohen to lay down (to no avail) before I sit down to feed Kelan.

Someone must have said a prayer for me because about 5 minutes later, Cohen is quiet... I can't see the monitor to know if he's sleeping or just quiet (but I didn't really care in that moment) and the sanding/banging etc. stopped. They must have decided to help this frazzled lady out or get some lunch. Whatever the reasons, I had about 30 minutes of peace... enough time to feed Kelan and pull out some Ben and Jerry's from the freezer while I watched a little Bachelor Pad off my DVR.

I needed that selfish moment because it was over far too quickly. Kanyon came upstairs... pretty sure he never fell asleep and after being insanely loud in the bathroom in my hallway (thanks, bud) - Cohen was up too. I had a paint fume induced headache and Kelan wasn't happy unless he was being held.

Back to the grind.

You wonder how I managed to type this? Well, it's taken a while (read: a couple hours) coming back to it between other things, but currently Kanyon and Scarlett are cleaning their playroom after a threat to take their favorite toys and put it in the DI bin (kind of like the salvation army), Kelan is strapped to me in the sling, and Cohen is watching Elmo. Bless you, Elmo.

Steve... where are you?? Thank goodness he's bringing dinner home.

Brenda Visits

2010-09-07T16:15:00.003-06:00

Steve's mom came in town to help with the kids just after Kelan was born and she stayed for a week. She was such a big help and I don't know how I would have done it without her! My house was picked up, laundry done, dinner made, and the older kids were happy all because of her. It was so helpful. It was really hard to have her leave when the time came and there were plenty of tears, but I knew that it had to happen eventually!

I always forget to pull my camera out when family is around... I didn't get one picture of Brenda with Kelan and the only time this whole week she was here that I pulled it out was when we had a picnic dinner up the canyon at the park with the kids. I have got to get better about that! Luckily she'll be back in a couple of weeks for Steve's little brother James' farewell and I'll make sure to get more pictures then! We'll probably be blessing Kelan that same weekend if we can.

Cohen thought he was so big and had to do what the other kids were doing. Even if it meant him going down all the big slides by himself. He just turns around and goes down on his tummy like it's nothing!

I've done 4 kids on my own for the last couple of days now and so far it's going okay. I am so lucky to have such great friends and neighbors that have been so helpful to me. I don't know what I'd do without them!

School has begun!

2010-08-30T14:12:00.004-06:00

Kanyon and Scarlett both started school this morning. Last night when they picked out their clothes, they were just so excited about it. Scarlett was just giggly thinking about how big she is now. It was pretty cute. Kanyon was acting like the cool, older brother that would show her how Preschool worked.

They were both up at the crack of dawn and begging to get dressed. They did pretty good for picking out their own outfits.

Showing me their backpacks...

They both loved their first day. Scarlett didn't even look back once walking into her classroom. I figured she'd be that way. She has Kanyon's old teacher from last year, Mrs. Beach, and was familiar with her. Kanyon has a new teacher named Mrs. Hardman and seems to like her so far. The mornings are going to be a little bit quieter for me three days a week and I'm looking forward to it!

Big Sister

2010-08-29T14:46:00.003-06:00

Scarlett asks to hold Kelan all the time. She is obsessive about hand sanitizer and making sure she is germ free for her new baby brother. She even asks to smell him all the time... I thought it was weird at first, but then I caught myself holding him close to catch that newborn scent that he has too. I love that she loves that scent already at just 3.

She's teaching Cohen how to be soft and handle his baby brother too... here they are Friday sitting on the couch together with Kelan. I love how you can tell how closely Scarlett is watching Cohen.

I snapped a picture of Steve and Kelan yesterday after thinking about it and realizing that I have zero pictures of them together until now! I guess it's because Kelan has so many siblings that want to hold him all the time... So glad I caught him awake in this one.

I just laughed at these next 2 pictures... Kelan is becoming a little more wakeful as he gets older. I promise he's not cross eyed. ;) He would not make eye contact with my camera. I'll keep trying.

It seems like yesterday that Cohen was wearing this same outfit that Kelan is in (click here to see it)... I need to enjoy this because they grow entirely too fast.

Visitors and Newborn Pictures

2010-08-28T07:57:00.004-06:00

We've had a lot of visitors over the past week and a half. I should have made an effort to get more pictures of him with everyone. I always think this later on... oh well!

Grandma and Grandpa Sonnenberg came to visit Kelan this week and I realized that we still hadn't attempted a picture of all 4 of our kids together... so thanks to Grandpa wanting a photo with them, we now have one! Getting all 4 kids to look and be happy in one photo in the future ought to be interesting.

Just a couple of the pictures I took of Kelan this week too. He is exactly 1 week old in these pictures. I didn't include my favorites because I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to put on his birth announcement...

An update on Kelan's jaundice... he's fine now! We actually sent the lights back on Monday (despite what his pediatrician's office gave as instructions) because we were tired of it and I've been down this road before and trusted my instincts as a mom. He was eating, pooping, and a happy baby. So, just letting him sleep in the sun through the window every evening was enough, in my opinion. And I was right... love that motherhood instinct. It saved us several days of a fussy, cranky babe on the lights.

Cozette Couture

2010-08-25T14:12:00.004-06:00

I was just sent these darling headbands by Cozette Couture this week and couldn't wait to share them with everyone. Scarlett loves them and has had one in her hair just about every day since they arrived.

I was tempted for a moment to pretend Kelan was a girl and test them out on him... but I thought Steve might have a problem with that. ;) They would be perfect for newborn pictures if you have a baby girl though.

Here is Scarlett modeling two different headbands...

There is a little pearl detail there in the center... but it's hiding in this shot.

And a silly one... because it just wouldn't be Scarlett without one! It's her face of choice every. single. time.

One more... an everyday occurrence over here. Scarlett loves all my shoes and is getting better at walking in them already!

FYI, Cozette Couture has got some cute stuff for mom's too and it's not limited to just hair accessories either!

Click here to visit Cozette Couture's Etsy shop. She has a blog as well and if you become a follower, she'll be doing a drawing for a follower to receive some free Cozette Couture in September... click here to check it out. For all you Facebook users... she's also got a page there too!

Scarlett and I thank you, Suzette!

Letting go of the control

2010-08-24T21:41:00.002-06:00

My kids have been dressing themselves for the last week.
I think Kanyon covered just about every sport right here...

Scarlett's hair hasn't been combed in a week either. Good thing she is still cute.

Cohen is just along for the ride.
I'm getting more and more nervous for Steve to leave me and go back to work. Good thing my mother-in-law is coming in town and helping for a week when he does.
After she leaves though, everyone say a little prayer for me because I think I'll really need it.

On the lights... again.

2010-08-23T13:09:00.003-06:00

After getting Kelan's heel pricked once again on Saturday... his bilirubin levels were still going up. So, home health brought the lights out to our house. At first we thought he might like them because he liked them in the hospital... but we were wrong. He hates them and it's been hard to keep him under them. We've been opting to lay him in the sun through a window instead because he seems to prefer that, when that option is available. We've completely given up at night keeping him in them because he would rather sleep snuggled up to me in my bed. I'll take that if he'll sleep soundly that way. I'm actually currently awaiting a phone call back from his pediatrician to see if the levels he got from being pricked this morning are okay to take him off. I can only hope.

So, because Kelan has these lights and it's kind of difficult keeping Cohen away from something so interesting... we've had to improvise.

Kelan is like an exhibit at the zoo for Cohen to oogle at. :) Whatever works, right? I just hope that Cohen doesn't learn to scale that crib anytime soon. He's so close that if he worked hard, he could probably do it.

Cohen had us all laughing at him when he was smushing his face up against the mesh of the porta-crib...

The kids thought Cohen was so funny, that they had to join in too.

I asked Cohen if he wanted his picture taken and he nodded. It's a new thing, but he nods or shakes his head according to what he wants and it's really cute.

I couldn't believe he actually held still willingly for me. Maybe he will get easier as he gets older. I've been beginning to wonder!