Ava learning to walk

Our sweet little Ava Lynn is turning into such a big girl!! She is starting to walk...with the help of her trusty little walker. She has been moving all around downstairs and loves it. She is so tiny and looks so cute acting so big!!

She is already joining in acting like a big kid. She was sitting on the table eating snacks with the boys.

So, I'm not going to lie, our play room is ALWAYS this messy or usually worse. I clean up and even vacuum and the next time they are down there it looks like I haven't touched it in weeks. That probably use to be the case, but now that we are down there all the time because it's too cold to go outside I really do try to keep up on the vacuuming and cleaning up. As messy as kids are, they seem to play better when it starts out all picked up! I guess making mess is what the fun part is.

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HELP!!!

So my boys are going on like 2 weeks where they will not take a nap. They have taken a half hour to an hour nap like one or two of these days in the last two weeks but that is it..is this normal, they are only 2??!!! They no longer have there binki's anymore and that is where this all began. They don't sit in there and cry for there binki's, they just play, and cry because they want something dumb like ther blanket on them, or there pillow moved, etc. I wouldn't be so frustrated if they didn't cry, and if there room wasn't right next to Ava's for them to wake her up with all there loud talking , seriously, they scream at each other all the time, and they bounce in there cribs which hits the wall. On top of all this, Gavin has now learned to climb out of his crib!!! Help...any tips?!? We just took all the toys out of there room and moved them all downstairs, we feel like we have done everything. Oh and here's a kicker, we have had to resort to duck taping there diapers because they have been taking there pants and diapers off, and Gavin crapped in his crib last week! Seriously, this is supposed to be my "break time".

We are also going to be attempting to potty train over the break since there will be two of us. Any ideas or tips on this would be helpful as well, keep in mind we are potty training two!!!

Easton Smiling and Family Pictures

Easton started smiling on 11/30/09, he is such a sweet happy baby

He also just had his 6 week appt, here are his stats:

Weight- 12 lbs 9.5 oz 90%

Height- 23" 75%

HC - 41 cm 85%

These are his one month pictures, the first one is cute, the second one is funny I know, hopefully we'll get a better photographer for his 3 month pics! Either way he is still dang cute and we love him!

My kids will one day smile for our family pictures...

He loves me!!!

Yesterday we had a friend call and say she had something to bring by. When she got here she said she had been having a conversation with another lady at church and they were talking about what they could do for us. They decided it would be a good idea to take their left overs from the big meals they make for their families and save them aside in the freezer and bring them by to us. When she left I got on the phone with my Mom and said " Mom, Heavenly Father loves me..." I am reminded everyday by small things that he does that he is here for our family, but this was a big thing to me. Dinner is the one thing I have a hard time making these days. I have a very small window during nap time to make something, and that is if there are no interruptions which is very rare these days with all my sick children and there recent very short naps. This was truly an answer to my prayers. I feel so far from where the Lord would like me to be as a mother, wife, and daughter yet he continues to show me an abundance of love. He is truly an example to me of the way I should be showing love to others as he shows it to me.

We are so lucky to have such loving friends and family that care about us and want to help. I know I am not the easiest person to help, I feel like if everyone had someone helping them with their kids, or dinner, or cleaning up, that anyone's life would be made less stressful. So if I am getting help so should everyone else! But I do recognize times when I do need it and my VT has been so great in letting us know we can call her. She has been amazing. We left town for Ava's sealing in August and left a messy house. We came home to a very clean house with folded laundry and everything. My Visiting Teacher got a key to our house and cleaned it for us while we were gone. We are so grateful for all she does. The Lord has definitely made our situation doable, not easy, but doable. We know that the Lord is with us each step of the way and the gratitude we have for him and for all the people who have helped us and touched our lives is overwhelming. Thank you to all those who have kept us in your prayers or who continually let us know they are here for support!

I had 4 weeks of amazing help (one of those weeks was Jordan on his own). We are grateful for all they did...

Grinning and bearing it...

... and then regretting it when it came time to clean up!

Ava is finally getting use to her wild brothers - when she is in the mood for it anyway

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Bath Time

So, I swore off giving my kids baths by myself, unless I am doing one at a time which is what I do with Easton in the mornings. But the other 3 I decided to to only when Jordan is home. My kids were in need of a bath, so I attempted it byself today since Jordan had classes tonight. I was finishing up feeding Easton with sweet crying little Ava at my side. I told my boys as soons as I was done I would give them a bubble bath. My boys went into the bathroom and I thought they had just gotten ahold of their bath toys, but when I went into the bathroom they had found the brand new tub of bubble bath tha tI had boughten especially big so I wouldn't run out since it is hard for me to get to the store, and dumped it ALL in the bathtub. I started loosing my cool, but caught myself and took pictures of there very big bubble bath and got a good laugh instead. The boys had a lot of fun splashing bubbles and water all over the bathroom and then while I was getting Ava all lotioned up and in her Pj's my boys got out by themselves covered in bubbles.

It gets stressful when I have all kids crying or 3 out of the 4. So I am trying, key word trying, to learn to keep my cool and choose my battles. In this instance I was glad I stopped myself, because A) bubble bath is replaceable B) my boys had fun and C) I got some pictures for the memories. When I get mad and yell at my kids it only makes them cry louder and makes nothing better. When I found out I was pregnant I have always said that this is the Lord trying to teach me patience because I am so far from haivng any!

August

August is the last month I need to do before I am caught up (November is just ending so I can't be behind yet!) It was the best month because Jordan had no school this month so I had more help and we were able to go out and do more. Also, this was the best month because we were able to go back and see family!! It was most of our families first time meeting Ava which was exciting for us to show off our little girl!

September got cold pretty fast so it was nice to have a month of good weather. In April my Dad planted a garden for me, he did the hard part, I just needed to keep it up. I didn't realize how hard it would be. I have heard this saying more than once "There is a time and a season for everything". Well this was not my time or season to have a garden. The weeds grew faster than I knew what to do. So by the end of the summer this is how my garden looked, sorry Dad! It was obvious that this was my fist garden. I thought the flowers on broccoli were what turned into broccoli. I found out later once the broccoli grew flowers it was bad, I should have already picked it. so the picture on the right is what my broccoli looked like. Next year I am not even trying, my season will come, just not now!

The boys love being big brothers to Ava and had a good time pushing her one the swing

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Playing outside in the pool was one of my kids favorite thing to do this summer. Even better, they loved playing with the hoses. The onre from our front yard reached into the backyard so they both were able to have one

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Just some cute pics of my kids

Ava loves to bounce, even now. She is so full of energy and smiles!

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This was a fun day. I wish I realized this beach was even here before hand. I had heard of the beaches, but didn't know what they were like here. Next summer we will have to come here more often! The boys had a lot of fun in the sand, and to my surpirse they just walked right into the water, something I did not think they would do. Ava also loved the water. Jordan took her out and she love splashing in the water, that was the first i had ever seen her do that, now she does it all the time, she loves water. Gavin was afraid to go out far with Jordan, but he did a good thing and took him out anyway and he really enjoyed it, they all got some good Daddy time in. This was a good day!

Time with Daddy

When we went down to Idaho to have Ava sealed to us, we first made our way to Utah visit with Jordan's family who would not be able to make it. It was only a couple of days, but we fit a lot in. Our kids got to visit with their Great Grandma and she got to meet Ava for the fist time. We went to this really fun pool area in her neighborhood that had a little pool that was perfect for my kids to play in, I wish all pool areas had pools like this, they had a lot of fun in it with Jordan's family. We also went down to Lindon to visit with Jordan's Aunt who amde dinner for us. We are so gratful to them, they let us borrow an extra car they had to drive down to Idaho and use it while we were there, his parents drove it back after the sealing, we felt truely blessed, it was so helpful to us! What would we do without family!

This is one of my favorite pictures- Gavin with his Uncle Ben

Ava was so funny, she again, LOVED the water. She splashed away. This was the first time I have heard her laugh as hard as she was in the pool, we caught it on tape...

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This time when we went to Idaho we stayed with my sister, is was perfect for us. Even thought I love staying with my parents do I have more time with them, this was perfect. My parents are both gone during the day and most of the evening anyway, so this time my kids got a little more one on one time with some of their cousins and I had a little more time with my sister. My kids were fully entertained with their cousins and all their toys, and my sister was just as slow as me when it came to getting ready for the day, and getting any where for that matter. It was good to have that time with her and her family.

My parents had met Ava earlier in April, but everyone else had never seen her. It was fun to see little Ava with all her Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and Grandparents.

I don'tk now what it was, but the boys loved sitting on these stairs and getting their picture taken. These chairs helped them get a better grasp of walking down our stairs. These ones were good for them to learn on...they had carpet!

My sweet parents, i love them and I am grateful for all they do for me and to have them in my life. They are great examples to me, it is hard being so far away!