What is that all over her face?

My dear sweet Ava got into the jar of Desitin. I left it on the floor with the lid screwed on crooked and left for a minute to help the boys. I came back to find my little girl with Desitin all over her face, hands, body and the carpet! She even had some on her mouth and tongue. I don't know how she managed to miss getting it in her eyes. I yelled for Jake and immediately picked her up. Jake tried to clean her off with a towel while I called poison control. They assured me she would be ok, even if she did swallow a lot there was nothing poisonous in it. They told me it might just act as a laxative. I wonder if they keep track of how many times you call poison control?? I have called several times in the past few years. With the boys getting into their vitamins, neosporin, and now Desitin. After calling poison control I gave Ava a bath as Jake tried to clean the carpet. Can I just say how hard it is to get Desitin off of a baby's body and off of carpet. Not to mention the smell of it. So for now all of the Desitin is off of her body but the smell still lingers on her and in her room!

Paper Bag Puppet

One of the many projects we have done here with the boys to keep them busy and happy. We made a paper bag puppet. Sam wanted his to be just perfect and clean while Jack just wanted to stick eyes all over his and be messy. Sam and Jack are so different but that is what makes things exciting around here. When I asked Sam what color he wanted to color his puppets hair he told me "red because I have red hair and this is another Sam." For the next few minutes he pretender that his puppet was Sam. We sure do love our Sam and his red hair!

oh how I miss....

that newborn stretch. I came across these pictures and was thinking how all of my babies have grown up way too fast! I love that newborn stretch right after they wake up and are unswaddled. I miss that Ava doesn't stretch while arching her back and making a face. Samuel and Jack did the same thing! Oh how time does fly by!

Growth spurt for hair?

I was going through pictures and I couldn't believe how little hair Ava had when she was younger. The first picture was taken only 4 months ago when she was 5 months old and the last picture was taken this morning.  I had not realized just how much her hair has grown over the past few months!  It is amazing how fast babies change on you!

Nine months....really?!

It is hard to believe that you have now been on this earth longer than you were growing inside me!  You are our sweet "baby doll" as Jack would say!  You just started to crawl on Thursday but have only done it a handful of times.  You think of doing it but then you end up crawling backwards and sit back on your bum.  You do have your way of getting around which consists of rolling, turning while sitting on your bum, crawling backwards, and rocking back and forth.  Before I know it you'll be crawling all over, pulling yourself up and learning to walk.  Babies just grow up way too fast! 

You are a very interesting girl when it comes to eating.  You don't care much for baby food and even finger foods you will move it around in your mouth for a bit and then spit it out.  I'm not sure if you just don't like it or you are still trying to figure out that whole eating thing.  You love to play with the sippy cup and spill it all over the place and then make a mess with it!  You still love nursing more than anything and you have started to bite me (ouch!)  You now have 5 teeth, three on the bottom and two on the top but are working on getting THREE more this very moment (two more on the top and one more on the bottom!

You just adore your brothers.....especially Sam ( I think because he plays with you more).  You watch daddy and the boys wrestle and you try to get in on the action.  You love to splash in the bathtub, you love to be held and have all the attention on you all of the time.  You love to blow raspberries, say mama and dada, squeal and "sing" to us.

You are defiantly a mamas girl as you would prefer me over anyone else.  You do just fine with daddy as long as I am not in the room but the second I walk in the room you start to cry and try to make you way over to me.  You love to cuddle with your mama and dada and give us lots of snuggles and cuddles.  We love those times you just cuddle into us and look into our eyes....especially your daddy.  He always tells you how cute you are  and how much he loves and adores you 

You are still a tiny little thing.........still wearing number two diapers and weighing in at a whopping 15  lbs!   You are becoming more and more aware, mobile, loud, beautiful, sweet, fun, and attached to your mama.  I am just going to love every second I have of you adoring me! Happy 9 months old "baby doll!"

What more can I say??

This was when we were having one of our cookouts in the mountains.  I was taking pictures of the boys when Jack decided he had an itch and did what you do when you have an itch!  

Who can resist....

that sweet chubby face?!  I found these pictures I had taken of Ava from a couple months ago and I just couldn't resist posting them!    

Sitting in a bucket of sand

Jack you are completely in your element in these pictures!  You are our adventurous fun loving ALL boy!  You bring adventure and excitement into our home and we love you for that!

How can it be

that my sweet baby girl is another month older?  How can it be that you are already 9 months old?  I can't even imagine life without you!  We love your beautiful strawberry blonde hair, your blue eyes, your chubby legs, your sweet giggles, your precious smiles, your cuddles and kisses but most of all we love that you are OURS forever!

I Love to See the Temple.....I'm Going there Someday!

The primary kids in our ward had a special primary activity today.  It was all about temple dedications and preparing to go to the temple.  They decided to do a temple activity since the Oqurrih Mountain Temple Dedication is on Sunday and not all of the children are old enough to go. The children were asked to wear Sunday dress.  They went through a checklist of items for their own special temple recommend: going to primary, getting baptized, working hard and paying tithing, etc.  Then after going through the list of items they were able to get their own special recommend, picture of Jesus and a bar of soap to remind them to not only keep their bodies clean but their soul clean as well through repentance.  After the activity all the kids sat on the temple stairs for a picture.  Samuel came home and told me he learned about Jesus and Temples.  I still cannot believe that Samuel is big enough to be in primary!  We sure do love you Sam......you hold a special place in your mommy's and daddy's heart!

Brotherly Love

It is so nice when these two get along.....one minute they are best friends the next they are screaming at each other!  This happened to be one of those moments I need to cherish!  It was so sweet to to Sam pushing his brother in the swing.  I am so happy that these two have each other and that they are so close in age (18months apart)!  It was not so easy when they were younger but now I love that they are so close in age!  They are each others best friend and playmate.  I wonder what Jack will do when Sam goes to preschool next month?!  I am actually glad they will be apart for a few hours every week.  I think they both need a little bit of separation time from each other to grow individually.

Uintah County Fair!

This past week was the Uintah County fair.  We thought it might be fun to take the kids to the fair since we took them to the State Fair a couple years ago and they seemed to enjoy themselves.  

We first went to the Little Red Barn which I think was the highlight of the trip. Kids can go into this little "farm" and be farmers.   They get to put on a red apron and then they get to pick a seed to plant....then they get to go on the other side of the garden and "pick" their produce.  Then they get to put corn seeds in a bag, look at some real baby animals, pick eggs from the fake chickens.  Samuel wasn't sure if the chickens were real or not so he was a little hesitant but then he decided to see for himself that they weren't real....he petted one on the head and then he decided it was alright.  Jack told me to pick the eggs for him.  They were a little too real looking for him!  They then were able to milk a fake cow and put the milk in their basket and pick apples from the apple orchard.  They then were able to "sell" their produce to the store and get "money" for it.  Last they were able to take their "money" and pick a treat from the store.  Samuel chose cookies while Jack went for the John Deere fruit snacks!  They also gave them each a red ribbon that read future farmer!

After the Little Red Barn we told the boys they could each ride two rides.  All Sam wanted to do was ride the bigger rides like the Ferris wheel and the swings but you had to be at least 48" to do so.  We tried to explain to him that he wasn't quite tall enough and suggest the other rides to him.  His explanation was "no, those rides are not fun, I want to go on a fun one!"  He decided to pull his frown face and I snapped a couple pictures of him frowning and Jake trying to explain to him why he couldn't ride the "fun rides."  They eventually chose to ride the race car ride and the little turtle train ride.  They both loved the race car ride the most.  It was so funny to watch them as they actually tried to steer the cars even though they were on the track going around and around.  

After the rides it was getting a little late so we headed to good old McDonald's to get them a happy meal and finish off the night.  Ava was a complete angel at the fair.  She just sat in the stroller....no complaints from her!