First cereal

Ashlyn is now 4 months old, and last night she had her first official bowl of rice cereal. She really enjoyed the first few bites, it was fun and new.
Then she wasn't too sure about it. Hayden had the camera and took something like 32 pictures of her eating-crazy guy! She actually did well, and ended up finishing the small bowl .
We tried it again tonight, and she loved it! I couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough!









We also tried her out in her new walker, and she had a blast with that! She kept trying to walk towards the little bear that is attached to the walker! uch fun times!






On another note:DUNCAN (who Meg said seems to be the 'Star' of many of our family 'adventures' lately) had another mishap this week. I was babysitting 2 kids this past Wed., and Duncan and Kyle(18mo.) were in the basement playing together. I had gone upstairs to put Ashlyn down for her nap, then came down to the kitchen to do the dishes. Duncan met me in the kitchen saying , very calmly, "Momma, I think I have a big bump". I felt the back of his head, and sure enough there was a BIG bump! I quickly got ice and asked what had happened. He said he tried to climb the tall toy shelves in the basement, and fell down with the shelves coming down on him! I couldn't believe it, because first off I hadn't heard an initial scream, and second off, he wasn't even crying now. But, sure enough when I went downstairs, there were the shelves and toys on the floor. Apparently Kyle had tried to help lift the shelves off him, and so the kids called him 'Super baby Kyle' the rest of the day! Luckily he was all right, and Kyle. I think he might of been shocked a bit by it all, and thus didn't even have time to cry! I am now looking into attaching the shelves to the wall, and hopefully he won't try that again! My goodness, that boy gets into more than I can keep up with!

No trip to NYC

Well, we had planned on going to NYC with the kids this weekend, but I just called to cancel the reservations. The kids have all been taking turns being sick this past week, and last night Brian started to feel it coming on. That combined with the fact that Brian's car just went into the shop yesterday for $500 worth of repairs made us decide that maybe we should post-pone the trip for a month or so. We had hoped to see the Rockefeller tree, and NYC all decked out for Christmas, but aside from that everything else will still be there!
Yesterday I took the kids to the Science Center in Baltimore and we had a GREAT time! We usually start on the first floor and work our way up, and never seem to have enough stamina to see everything on the 3rd floor. So, this time we started at the top and worked our way down, never making it to level 1 (which is fine, because we have been to the dinosaur display sooo many times before). It was a fun trip. I also bought tickets to the Dinosaur IMAX. It wasn't really what the kids were expecting (too much talking about finding the dinosaurs, and not enough footage of the DINOSAURS), Duncan fell asleep about 10 min. into it and got a nice little nap. The only problem was that I couldn't get him to wake up when it was over, and had to carry him and Ashlyn in her car seat down a flight of stairs. I was pretty impressed with the fact that I did it, and of course as soon as we got down..he woke up!! We then walked around the Inner Harbor a bit and ate at the food court there. I was trying to stay there longer, as we had to pick Brian up from work (due to his car being in the shop), and I just wanted to do it on our way home. I had thought of taking them to the Aquarium today, but needed a day to get the house put back together and Christmas stuff away-I guess not going to NYC this weekend is probably best all around!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day! Some of you may know that I was having a bit of trouble 'getting into the mood' this year, but thankfully I finally caught that wonderful Christmas spirit, and thoroughly enjoyed it!
We took the kids to see the National Christmas Tree this year (something we haven't done before), and had a great time! For those who haven't been, it's in front of the White House, and for being in "Our nation's capital" it sure felt very 'small townish'. There wasn't a big crowd, we parked RIGHT across the street (which can be considered a miracle in and of itself), and the weather was great that night.
They have 50 smaller trees surrounding the 'National Tree' from the 50 states. Ronan & Hayden are in front of the 'Colorado' tree. There was also lots of train sets going around the tree at the base. It was a good night. The following night we went to see the Christmas train set at the local Fire Station that they put out every year-fun times.

We had our Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve, and kept with our English tradition of having Christmas Crackers with our meal. My sister Missy came over and had dinner with us, it's nice to have family nearby at Christmas time. After dinner we decorated gingerbread men to leave for Santa (and a few for ourselves), then read the Christmas story and tucked the kiddies into bed for the night. Of course Christmas Eve is the hardest night of all for children to fall asleep! But somehow we managed to have them all snoring by 9:00pm, then Santa's elf's went to work!

Missy spent the night with us, and joined us in the excitement Christmas morning! She was nice enough to gather the children in Morgan's room when they started waking at 5:15am, and let us sleep until 6:00am! What a good Aunt! We then let them loose, and the squeals of excitement could be heard next door I'm sure!






After all of the presents were opened and the children were happily playing with their new found treasures, Missy took off to sleep at her house, while Brian and I each tried to nod off for a bit of rest. (We had stayed up until 2:00am talking with Missy). It was a great Christmas, and we just hung out at the house all day enjoying it.






Ronan's favorite toy of the morning.


Cowboy Duncan

Ashlyn Rolls!

I completely forgot to mention that Ashlyn started rolling last Wednesday! It was kind of funny, because Brian didn't actually see her do it until Friday-she just wouldn't perform for him! Duncan and I caught her first roll on tape, and then a few more. Every time the kids or I would say, "Dad, come quick, she's rolling!" she would stop and just smile up at him- funny girl! :) He kept saying that we were tricking him, and she really hadn't rolled yet-but, I had the proof on tape! So our days of laying her on the couch are gone, and so are the easy diaper changes (she now tries to roll while getting her diaper changes)! But it's so fun to watch her grow! I think we will start cereal this week. On a sadder note, she is beginning to be too big for her cradle, and rolls her face into the bars on the side, I think I might have to move her to her crib soon. I haven't told Morgan yet (she will be so excited), because I really don't want to move her yet!
Duncan has been sick since Sat., fever and throwing up. Brian stayed home from church with him yesterday. Missy sat with the kids during Sacrament while I went out to nurse Ashlyn (thanks Missy!). I had sharing time this month, and yesterdays went the best I think. I did a little thing on the symbols of Christmas, and I think the kids enjoyed it, at least I hope so! I always drill my kids on the way home on how they liked it, and if it was boring or not, and at least they gave me a good report!
Happy Christmas Eve to everyone!!!

Crazy Week!

Last week was just so crazy for me, I was happy to see it go! I had a million things to do and places to be, and I was feeling extremely stressed out about it. Monday I had errands to run, and a scout meeting to be at that night, and Ashlyn wasn't feeling well. Tuesday I was suppose to babysit, my Visiting Teachers were coming, we had piano, and Brian & Morgan had a date that night. Wednesday I was babysitting again, me and the 3 oldest kids had dentist appointments, and it was our Enrichment Christmas dinner that night. Thursday was full of left over errands I didn't get done on Monday, soccer practice, scouts, and a presidency meeting. Friday Ronan had a doctors appointment, and Brian was going to the temple that night! Sat. was the Christmas party for Brian's company. Looking ahead on Sunday night, I just didn't want to do all of this STUFF!
Well, Duncan helped to rearrange my schedule Tuesday morning when he shot a staple through his finger! I didn't realized how powerful our stapler was, but he shot it went completely through, and came out the other side through the nail! This happened 5 min. before we were leaving to take the kids to school! I tried to get it out myself, but it was bent slightly, and I couldn't do it! So, I quickly dropped the 3 older kids off at school (with Duncan screaming in his seat-wonder what the teachers thought was going on in our van!), and rushed over to the E.R. with Duncan. I had called Brian, and he met us half way there and jumped in the van. I have to say this was the quickest trip I have ever made to the E.R. We were out of there withing 30 minutes! They numbed his finger, then pulled the staple out. What a brave boy! We have since gotten rid of that stapler, and found a much less powerful one (although I don't think any of my kids will ever touch a stapler again!).
Two days later Duncan super glued his fingers together! What a kid! He certainly keeps me on my toes!
I had tried to leave Ashlyn with Brian that Wed. night while I went to Enrichment as a 'test' to see if she'd take the bottle so I could leave her with my sister on Sat. for the Christmas party, but she didn't like that one bit! He said she tried to take the bottle, and just gave him some pretty funny looks , but then got frustrated with it and started screaming. He called me and I rushed home early to feed her, and vowed never to leave her at night again! I felt so bad. So, we didn't end up going to the work party, instead we went out to dinner with Ashlyn for our anniversary-12 years!!!
Well, that's a small portion of what we've been up to lately, but I've got to run....too much to do before Christmas!

Morgan's babydoll!

Morgan was 'babysitting' Ashlyn while I was getting ready in the morning, and came strolling into my room so proud to show me that her baby sister fits in her baby doll stroller! Ashlyn is so willing to let Morgan do what she wants with her! What a cooperative baby she is!

We are still alive...just extremely busy!

I have had several people mention to me that I haven't blogged in a while, which is true. We haven't fallen off the earth, we have just been very busy! I'll play catch up her a bit!

We went back to Colorado for Thanksgiving, and have a fun time!








My brother and his wife came from Utah, and Missy flew out from Maryland, so all of my siblings were able to be there (Heather lives in Colorado). The kids had fun playing with Papa's train and cousins. My brother-in-law went to the hospital that week, as well as my grandmother, so there was some time spent in hospitals this trip as well. Thankfully they are both home and doing better.


















We had a great time seeing everyone, and we even made it up to Guenella Pass (something that Brian REALLY wanted to do) before the snow came! It was VERY windy up there, and Ashlyn and I jumped out of the car quickly for a photo (to prove that we were all there), but stayed in the van for the rest of the trip!







We got to stay with Brian's mom the weekend that we got to Colorado, and had a family Thanksgiving dinner with them! Brian's sister Cristin and her kids stayed the first night there, and Erin and her family stayed the second night we were there. So, we got to have lots of cousin time, and some 'adult time' as well. It was lots of fun. Brian and Brad 'built' a table that all 16 of us were able to sit at for the dinner-great time!