My Girl Hallie, The Star of The Show

For nearly all of the seven years of Hallie's life I have been wondering where this girl came from. She loves to be the center of attention, she is fearless, she doesn't get embarrassed, she doesn't mind speaking in front of people, in fact she LIKES it.

When I was her age, I was doing okay in the academic part of school, but in the social behavior part, I was getting all U's. . .unsatisfactory. I was so introverted and timid and embarrassed about everything. I am so glad to see that Hallie does not have these same struggles. Nick must have something to do with this.

Last week Hallie had a dance performance at school. It was hilarious. She knew every move and did each one with great enthusiasm. This video is a little long, but you have to make it through to the end to see her final move, it is the best one. Also notice that they put her next to the two shortest kids in her class, and they barely come up to her elbow. She looks like a giant next to them.




I have watched this video many times and it gets even more funny with each viewing. Go Hallie! She truly embodies the famous Mark Twain quote "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."She is such an example to me. She lives every moment of life to the fullest, I hope she never loses that.

Spoiler Alert

If you have not read Twilight, you probably don't want to read this post.

I previously mentioned that while Hayden was away on vacation I read the entire book Twilight. I am still not sure how I feel about it. I found the first half very slow, especially if you read the back cover where it plainly tells you that Edward is a vampire. Why didn't the publisher keep that part a secret since Stephenie Meyer didn't reveal that fact until the middle of the book? You have to read a good portion of the book to find out something that is written on the back cover.

I thought the second half was pretty good and mostly pretty enjoyable. Edward is oh so dreamy. However, the practical side of me (which if I am being honest with myself probably makes up 95% of my personality, I pretty much am a pretty practical kind of gal) was like "why would you give up being human and turn into a blood sucking vampire, for someone you just met? Bella, I think you need to think about this a little more." It was all just a little over the top for me. I know that makes me sound old and motherly, but I am sorry, that is who I am.

From what I have heard and read online, everybody pretty much likes Twilight the best out of the series. So I am not feeling very inclined to read the other books. However, it did remind me how much I LOVE to read. I don't read very often, mostly because I don't know what to read. I haven't read much since I left college.

It used to be easy to know what to read. I read what my teachers told me to read, and whatever Jack Weyland book I hadn't already read. (Random side note: I had Dr. Weyland as a professor in college. It was the most interesting Physical Science class. For instance, he came in costume every Friday.)

So, my friends, I need your help, what should I read? If you think I should finish the Twilight series, go ahead and recommend that. Also, my life is complicated enough, I don't want to read anything too deep, and definetly nothing depressing. At this point in my life I am pretty shallow.

Hayden's Vacation

All of our scissors and markers have been safely tucked away, because Hayden arrived home from her vacation last night. My dad brought her home in the back seat of his Porche. She had a great time visiting grandma and grandpa. Grandma says she was a very good girl. She has already tried on every dress up outfit that she owns this morning. I guess that is what she missed the most.

On a walk with grandma

Getting her hair curled for church. Looks like grandma didn't make her put panties on her head though. (My mom used to make us put our panties on our heads after we put our curlers in so that our curlers wouldn't fall out. She also made us watch the Lawrence Welk show while we were getting our curlers in, because that is what she did when she was a little girl.)

This picture is a little blurry, but I posted it anyways because Hayden looks so much like my sister Natalie in this picture.

At one of the five trips to McDonald's.

A squeeze from Auntie Hannah.

I'm not sure what this is all about, but it is pretty cute.

Dressing up like grandma.

She loves to help grandma clean. I don't know why she doesn't have the same enthusiasm at home.

Looks like they took a break from McDonald's one day to go to In-N-Out.

Making cookies with grandma.

It was nice for both Hayden and I to have a little vacation. We are glad that she is home. We have missed her happy (most of the time) little soul.

If I Were A Better Mother This Post Would Be Titled Easter 2008. . .

I had such a busy Easter Sunday, that I did not take one picture of my kids in their Easter clothes, or with their Easter baskets, or hunting for eggs. My sister Kristine and her husband Jordan had a reception in Folsom Saturday night so my parents and sister Hannah were staying with us. We had a pretty full house.

Sunday morning we had a great breakfast and then I spent quite a bit of Sunday morning making dinner. (P.S. most of the dinner was fabulous, but I made a chocolate cake from scratch, it took many hours to make, and it was disastrous. It was so chocolaty that it kind of made my mom and I sick. It gave us a really bad headache.)

The rest of the morning was spent getting myself and the kids ready. Hallie and I had to be at church early (we have 1:00 church, so I guess you couldn't really qualify it as early, but come on, I have 3 girls to dress and do hair!) because we were both in the Easter program. Hallie was the only child to be given a speaking part. She did such a great job. She amazes me with her confidence and bravery. I would have rather died than speak in Sacrament Meeting as a 7 year old, or 18 year old for that fact. I was a part of the choir and we sang about 8 songs. It was a really great program.

Thankfully Nick got a few pictures of the kids dyeing Easter Eggs. Avery bought the kit with her own birthday money so she was very excited about dyeing the eggs and talked about it all last week.



In other news, Hayden is no longer taking a nap and so she keeps falling asleep everywhere. She falls asleep if we are in the car for any length of time or if we sit down long enough. Nick was watching TV with the kids and neither of them could make it through.

Hallie being the ham that she is, couldn't resist sneaking in the picture.
Also, I have been enjoying a vacation this week because Hayden went home with my mom and dad on Monday. Things have been very quiet around here. I have had quite a bit of freedom. I have left scissors out on the desk for the last three days, and there have been markers all over the house, and no one has colored on the walls. Avery, Jaxton and I have enjoyed taking a walk everyday, something that I just can't do with both Jaxton and Hayden. I read an entire book! (Twilight, I will talk more about that later)

It has been very relaxing. We have been chatting on the web cam. The first day she said, "I went to McDonalds, ha ha, no fair!" The second day she said she was going to stay in bed all night so that she can have a donut tomorrow. So I think she is having a rather good time as well soaking up all of grandma and grandpa's time and energy!

Lastly, today was the six week mark of Hallie and Avery getting their ears pierced. So today was the day that they could finally change their earrings. Only it was not so good for Hallie. She was jumping on the trampoline and said her ears were hurting. I took a look at them and they were really swollen, you could barely see her earring. So I cleaned them and turned the earring, and pus and blood started spilling out, yeah, very gross. So I pulled the earrings out and more pus and blood came spilling out. I took her to the doctor today and they said that she wasn't to the stage of needing anti-biotics, and just to keep her ears clean.

She later confessed that she has been playing with them a lot, and her hands are probably not all that clean. So now she has to let them close up. She was so sad. For now she is living vicariously through Avery who got to change her earrings out today (I can tell you she wasn't that excited to do it after watching Hallie's traumatic experience).

Jaxton

Jaxton, chillin and watching TV with daddy.

Jaxton had an appointment with his cardiologist today and everything is looking really good. His His heart sounded good, his EKG looked good and he is growing adequately. He is a little on the thin side, but he is growing, so the doctor is happy with that. Jaxton will see the cardiologist in about four months and if he hasn't had any incidents of SVT, the doctor will take him off of one of his medications. Yeay!


In other news, Jaxton is now FINALLY eating solid foods and loving them. He was a slow starter, but he has caught up pretty fast. You can't really tell from this picture, but he loves all of the food and is a pretty good eater.

He is also loving his push car he got for Christmas from his aunties. This is his favorite kind of activity, one where someone pushes him around. He just loves to be held by mom or one of his sisters, especially Avery. He doesn't have much interest in learning to crawl or walk. He much prefers to be held and snuggled. He only plays by himself for brief moments at a time. If I set him down by my feet, he is like a little monkey clinging onto my legs. He plays with his toys with one hand and holds onto me with the other. But that is okay. I am enjoying having a baby that wants to snuggle with me. And it is about time someone likes me better. After 3 daddies girls, it is nice that I have a momma's boy.


In final Jaxton news, in honor of the upcoming summer, we gave him a haircut. Nick loves his little buzz cut. I am not quite sure about it. I think I prefer it long. He just looks to grown up with the buzz cut. This boy is just growing up way too fast!

Dad

This is a random picture of my dad that my mom sent to me for some reason. Don't ask me why he is wearing a flashlight on his head. Those of you who know my dad know that he has a very healthy sense of humor. He loves to tease and get a rise out of you. And he gets a huge kick out of himself.

Growing up, we all got pajamas Christmas Eve. Somehow my dad go involved in this tradition and into my teenage years he discovered that it is hilarious to buy us hideous things to wear. It started with buying my sisters housecoats for pjs, and it has gone everywhere from cow print pajamas to ones that say Princess all over them.

When we all started getting older and moving away and getting married, my dad decided it was time for a new tradition and instituted the family shirt tradition. He would go to Gen-X or some other fine retailer and find the most ridiculous shirt for each of us.

This is Nick's family shirt from this last year. In case you can't tell it is brightly colored skulls that are wearing gangster gear. It is nice, but not quite as nice as last year's which was a giant picture of Tupac, complete with rhinestone studded do-rag. My dad also bought himself some matching jeans that had the giant image of Tupac on his leg, complete with rhinestones and all.

We already got our shirts at Christmas, but my dad must have been feeling generous this year because he got us new shirts while we were all together for Kristine's wedding. Mine is a picture of Mr. Rogers, it says "it's good in the hood." Nick's is a picture of Borat that says "Very Nice!"

Ben and Natalie with their shirts.

Ben's says "thumb wrestling champion 1984." Natalie is a picture of a monkey passing gas, and it says "silent but deadly." I think she got the classiest shirt.

Katie, Kristine and Hannah excited about theirs.

Katie's is a chubby police officer that says "to serve and protect." Kristine and Hannah got matching Napoleon Dynamite shirts.

Thanks dad!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. L.

My sister Kristine got married last week. Nick, Hallie, Avery and I made the trip out to Utah to be there. We had so much fun and the wedding was beautiful!

What a cute couple. Jordan is so great and we are so excited for him to be a part of our family!

Our family on the left and Jordan's on the right.
(This is not trick photography, there is a bit of a height difference between the two families.)

Unfortunately there was construction happening at the front of the temple, so we had to take pictures on the side of the temple, and it was SO bright!Do you like how we are all squinting?

You know those stupid poses that wedding photographers make you do? My sister Natalie married into a family of 5 boys and the photographer made them all hold her like this. So we decided to torture Jordan in the same way. He was a good sport about it. We thought it was hilarious.

I thought this picture was so funny. Hallie was trying to get as close as possible without touching Kristine's dress. Avery had this same pose in all of the pictures. Poor thing, her eye was really bothering her (her injury doesn't allow her pupil to constrict all of the way, so her eye is really sensitive to light).So cute.

I didn't get many pictures of the reception, but it was really beautiful.

Hallie and Avery enjoying the refreshments.


Me and my friend Heather who lived down the street from me growing up. Her mom Diane and my mom are best friends. All of my family, along with Heather and her sister Melanie, ended up at Diane's house after the reception. We had great times reminiscing about our old neighbors and fun stories of growing up. We stayed up laughing our heads off until 1:30 in the morning.

I had so much fun catching up with old friends and people that I haven't seen in years. I am so glad that we could be there. Kristine and Jordan are great and we wish them all the best!

Happy {Late} Birthday Avery!

Avery's birthday came and went while we were in Utah. Avery spent the first part of the day in the snow and then we visited the bounce house. More posts will follow to share all of our fun experiences that we had there, but here are the special things about Avery at age 5.

You are almost always obedient and diligent. You get super embarrassed if you get in trouble, and your face turns red. Most of the time you do what you are supposed to do and are very compliant. Every mother needs a child like you.

You hate when people call you carrot top, but you love your red hair.

As I mentioned in Hallie's birthday post, you love to do whatever Hallie is doing. We didn't have dinner at home, but I am sure if we did, it would have been spaghetti and meatballs. You two have a great time together playing house and Barbie's.

You are always neat and tidy. Your room is almost always spotless, unless your sisters have messed it up. You like things organized and orderly.

You love your high heels that grandma bought you last year. You wear them all day everyday that you can, everywhere that you can. One day you wore them until you had sores that were bleeding, but you still didn't want to take them off.

You are such a young lady. You are always sitting with your legs folded and your hands in your lap.

You are very good at being quiet. You learned how to whisper very young in life and you are very good at walking softly and talking softly when people are sleeping.

You are such a sleepy head. You came that way. As a baby you slept 22 hours a day, and you took 2 three hour naps until you were almost two. Even now you sometimes tell me you are tired and will go to bed at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Avery, you are such a delight and you truly are a life saver. We love you Eggy, and happy birthday!