favorite

This deer shirt is by far, hands down Bitsy's favorite thing to wear. Runner ups would be her squirrel dress and her dogie dress. She's obviously a big animal lover. She's had her deer shirt for two years now. Last summer, I had to hide it when it just got to hot to wear. She was so pleased to 'rediscover' it in her drawer this past fall. Unfortunately, I don't think she'll fit it next year. So a picture will now have to suffice. And as of late, she also will not go anywhere without her 'kitty cat purse.'

these days

I blinked and suddenly my baby is just about 8 months. Sometimes I wish I could press pause and have these littles stay small forever. Tank, Bitsy, Mr. and I spend all of our days together while Andrew is at work and Bug is at school and other various activities. Tank has been quite the little helper this year and Bitsy is quickly catching up speed. Mr. is rolling all over the place, has been sleeping through the night since about week 6, has two bottom teeth that popped up a few weeks ago, is working on a bunch of top teeth, is really patient with all of his siblings 'care', is starting to realize he has a voice, loves food, and is still just as sweet as ever. We're all pretty smitten with him and I'm so grateful for all my little helpers I have around these days!

    

happy easter!

We're so grateful for Easter and all it represents. 

bitsy's 3rd

Bitsy turned 3 a few weeks ago! We absolutely adore this little girl! When we brought her home from the hospital it took Andrew and I about 2 weeks to start to get some serious hints into her personality. Every time she was hungry, you literally thought she was starving to death by how loud she was crying. Not too long after that, we slowly learned not all her screams were warranted when interacting with her siblings. She is fierce or oh so sweet and adorable. She is smart and loves to be helpful. She is great at cleaning up and anytime Tank is asked to clean something, he always enlists Bitsy's help. She loves anything that has to do with babies real or pretend; she adores her daddy and asks for him all day long while he is at work; she always wants to be carrying around her little set of scriptures; she still loves animals and in particular dogs (Andrew's in serious denial we're going to have to buy her a dog someday) and she is excellent at following her older siblings examples good or bad. Lately, she has been loving the 'pink' princess and wanted a 'pretty cake' to match. We're so grateful this spunky girl is ours forever! 

Ha, I did not ask her to do that. We love you Bitsy! Happy birthday!

merry christmas

Dear Santa,

I am doing really well at school and am helpful at home. I promise to improve my table manners.

Love,

A helpful and sometimes messy girl

Dear Santa,

I have worked really hard at learning my letters and numbers at preschool this year. I can even write my name now! I tease because I love and Bitsy's bun was just asking to be cut off.

Love,

A sweet and mischievous boy

Dear Santa,

I have perfected the art of causing trouble and blaming it on others. Does this count again me? I'm also loads of fun.

Love,

A really cute and sneaky girl

Dear Santa,

I am pretty patient with all the attention I get from my siblings and only give a few yelps when I am really hungry. Can I have some peace and quite?

Love,

A very patient boy

leavenworth

We just got back from our annual Leavenworth trip. We look forward to going every year before Christmas! We loved spending the day sledding, window shopping, sipping hot cocoa and seeing all the Christmas lights. 

We have had quite a snowy winter this year and have quickly discovered Bitsy hates the cold. She seems to be quite the warm blooded soul. So this is her, bundled up in layers and layers trying to keep warm! But don't be too fooled, she had a great time too.

Until next year!

visit

Andrew's parents came and joined us for all our big events this past weekend! It was so nice to have them here. We were quite busy with the baptism and blessing, but were also able to have some fun picking out and decorating our Christmas tree, having a pizza movie night, playing plenty of board games with the kiddos, and making a diorama for Bug's school assignment! We're so grateful they made the drive to come enjoy all the festivities with us and share in our joy! 

blessing

The day following Bug's baptism, December 4th, Mr. was blessed and given a name during our Sacrament meeting. We are so glad for all those that came and joined us in our joy. It was a beautiful blessing and Mr. looked quite dapper! He has quite a sweet and gentle personality, enjoys sucking his thumbs at all times (as you can see from the pictures) and loves dishing out smiles. We are so grateful he is apart of our family!

baptism

Bug was baptized last Saturday, December 3rd. It was a really lovely day. Bug was so excited! She ended up being the only one being baptized that day and was able to choose the entire program. It was really nice! She had both her grandma's give talks, her cousins played a special musical number 'the first noel,' she chose to sing 'I like to look for rainbows' and 'I am a child of God' for the opening and closing songs and had her Uncle Greg and Aunt Melanie give the opening and closing prayer. It was so nice to have everyone come. I love when there are family events and people gather. together There is something really specially and meaningful about coming together and Bug's baptism was one of those times.

Our blurry group shot that needed to be documented!

8

Bug recently turned 8! We are so grateful for her. Life just would not be as wonderful without our Bug. She is smart, kind and very helpful. Here at home, she is good at taking charge of all her siblings, has an opinion, is great at being silly and is outgoing. We have heard for years now how sweet, quiet and shy she is at school. One day these two will meet! She loves reading and art, enjoys math, has beautiful handwriting and loves soccer and running around. We love you Bug and are so glad you are ours forever! This year for her birthday, she really wanted a tea party. We had tiny ham sandwiches, chicken nuggets served with toothpicks, apple slices, mini cupcakes and apple juice for 'tea.' And each girl also had a doll who joined her for tea. It was so fun to have a house full of girls giggling, dressing up and having tea. Its also nice to know she still has a lot of little girl left in her.