Finally!

Chloee has finally joined the ranks of official tooth losers. Being a younger sibling, she is always trying to catch up to the bigger kids. She has been saying she has wiggly teeth for about a year now and every time we would try and wiggle the suspected tooth, it wouldn't budge. We had grown accustomed to Chloee "crying tooth" a lot. Finally, she did get a little wiggle in one of her teeth and with much work on her part, it came out at school yesterday. I need to mention that when you loose a tooth at school, it's really cool. You get a "I lost a tooth" sticker to wear, and you get to be the center of attention of all your classmates for a while.

I think she looks pretty cute with that little gap.

12 and 3 years ago...

12 years ago today, I had my first little boy. From that day, he has been an amazingly sweet, kind, and genuine spirit. He is such a joy and I can always look to Brady for help with anything. Over the last year, Brady has really grown into a young man. While he isn't shaving yet, he is growing out of pants every few months, and starting to stink up his hockey gear. I know the days of teen boy antics and chasing after girls are fast approaching, but for now, I am just ever so grateful for my sweet Brady.

Three years ago today, we welcomed our sweet Jolee. Jojo surprised us with a head full of dark hair and a nearly 9 pound frame, but we immediately fell in love with her. Jolee has her quirks, but she is so much fun and we are so happy to have her. And best of all, she was potty trained before her third birthday (that was my deadline)!

Happy birthday Brady and Jolee! We love you!!

Good Parenting

Like most parents, Aaron and I try every day to teach our kids the basics; right from wrong, eat your veggies, make your bed, stuff like that. Well, every now and then your kids do something that lets you know you are on the right parenting track. The other day, Chloee came home from school and like usual, emptied out her folder of the day's work. In her class, the kids are allowed to write or draw on the back of their papers if they finish their work early. Chloee came home with a pretty nice looking water color that I admired for a few minutes. I happened to flip it over and her writing caught my eye. The following is what she wrote:

"I love everyone, but not the devil. I love my mom and dad."

We must be doing something right.

She's a Biggin'

Our friend, Erik Massey, who is a pretty amazing photographer, agreed to take some much needed current family photos. These are some of Maycee's best and I thought I would add her current stats. She weighs 18 pounds (82 percentile) and is 28 inches tall (98 percentile). She is a tall girl, and I am feeling every one of those 18 pounds when I haul her around.
As you can see, she is drooling a lot now and I am expecting some teeth to pop through anytime.

Man is she cute or what? I will post some of our other family pics soon.

6 Months already

Our Maycee is 6 months old already. It's hard to believe how fast time goes, and it seems to go faster with each baby we have. She continues to be an amazingly easy and enjoyable kid, always just happy to be here. She gives away lots of smiles and giggles, and my new favorite thing she does is how she belly laughs every time I wipe her chubby thighs with a cold wet wipe. Nearly every time I change Maycee's diaper, she giggles which makes changing a poopy diaper a little more enjoyable, if that is possible.

We love our sweet Maycee boo.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter 2010! Spring has sprung in Alaska; the snow is finally going, our roads are down to pavement and the ice is thinning on the lake. With Spring, comes Easter and what a great one it was. We had my family down for the weekend to celebrate Abbi's birthday and the holiday. We started the day with watching General Conference on the big screen while my "Easter tomb" rolls baked in the oven. I got this recipe off my new favorite cooking blog and thought these rolls provided a fun way to discuss the Easter message over breakfast.

These rolls are a sweet treat, but when you break into one, they are empty inside, just like Christ's tomb was after His resurrection.

Once breakfast was done, it was time for some egg hunting. We had LOTS of candy-filled plastic eggs hidden throughout the main floor of the house. Bobbi did a great job hiding the eggs, making sure to leave lots of easy ones for Jolee and Abbi to find.

Mom, look what I found!

These girls have way too much fun together.

Brady had to get in on the fun too. Look at the dead run he is in...it just candy Brady, relax!

Happy Easter to you all!

She's a Big Girl Now!

THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE

After much eager anticipation by Aaron, Haylee, Brady, and myself, Jolee is finally potty trained! Jolee will be 3 in a few weeks, and I have been waiting for this important developmental milestone for a while now. Jolee showed little to no interest in being trained, so we just had to be patient and wait for her to be ready. She woke up one day and was getting dressed with Chloee and decided she wanted to wear big girl panties like her big sister.

The first week was a little rough, with a decent amount of accidents, but every day got a little better. Once Jolee was in panties, I couldn't go back to diapers. After a few days, she had #1 mastered, but #2 was still proving difficult timing wise.

As of today though, Jolee has been able to tell me when she needs to go potty (both types) and is accident free. Doesn't she look so proud? I am grateful to just have one in diapers now and can't believe Jolee is officially a big girl.

Way to go Jo!