She's a rockstar!

I love this girl and her fun imagination. Halli was never really big on dressing up, not that she didn't ever, but it wasn't a daily thing. Peyton on the other hand can't stop changing. I love it!:)

She'r ready to rock in that get-up, and she still looks adorable!

What we've been up to

A little bit of what's been going on in our house this past week.

I say a little, cause I'm not being very diligent with it. we've had more accidents than successes. But she has made it to the bathroom at least once a day, so that's good. I've found that it's harder this time around, cause I can't just stay home all week like I did with Halli and Peyton. There are lots of breaks, and lots of putting the diaper on so we can go somewhere.

We'll get there at some point, but for now, this is what we're up to.

Bathtime

So this blog is becoming an "all about JJ blog", sorry, he's what keeps me busiest right now though, so there ya have it!:)

Plus, you've got to have pictures of bathtime, don't you?

JJ has recently started splashing in the tub. He loves it, and I love watching him do it, just wish I didn't have to do the clean-up afterwards!

Okay, so he's not splashing in this one, but he is trying to play with whatever he can possibly reach. That's his second favorite past-time while bathing.

I love this next one, he leans back and kicks his legs up the side of the tub. It's hilarious how fast he can get those little legs moving!

Who can resist a picture of a chubby bum and some wrinkled little toes.

I could just eat him and all his rolls right up!

Handsome man

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a guy in workout gear. I always have been really.

When Kevin is dressed to go play ball...that's my favorite. Even better when he's actually playing.:)

So I suppose it's no different that those same feeling should hold true for our boy,

Yep, I think he looks pretty sharp in this get-up

I'm sure I'll see more than my fair share of him in his workout clothes. Lucky me!

How to keep kids busy

First, get a money jar that count the money you put in it...it's pretty cool actually.

Second, gather all the coins in the house you can find.

Third, sit the kids at the table and let 'em at it!

You can only put the coins in one at a time, so it take awhile.

Plus it teaches them to take turns, always a good lesson for a 2 year old, or a 7 year old for that matter.

The added bonus is we have over $60 in coins! Halli thinks we should go to Schlitterbahn when we've filled the jar up...I think I agree.

Dance, dance baby!

As mentioned before, I like playing in photoshop. I like designing new things. So, I'm trying to redo my Hopscotch Studios blog into my photography and design stuff, so it's a little streamlined, and cause, well, I like to.:)

Anyhoo, I wanted a silhouette of a little girl jumping, as if she were playing hopscotch. Luckily I have an abundance of little girls willing to run around in pettiskirts for me!

I just LOVE this picture of Lexie that I got, she seems happy and joyful and it's just fun.

Then I had to make it into a silhouette.

I kinda like how it turned out if I do say so myself. I may be doing more silhouettes in the future, they're just so simple and beautiful, love em!

Oh, and here's my new logo for hopscotch studios photography and design:

But don't check out the blog yet, cause I really haven't done anything with it yet, but it's coming, slowly but surely.:)

6 months baby!

I cannot believe this little guy is already 6 months old. I've had 4 kids, you'd think I would realize just how fast it goes.

But here we are again, and I feel like it snuck up on me.

He's the happiest little 6 month old, except for when he's not happy. But really, aren't all babies like that?:)

At his 6 month check-up, he was 20lbs 12oz, and 28 inches long. both in the 92nd percentile. Kevin is beyond excited about that. My arms on the other hand, are not!

He's also incredibly handsome if I do say so myself.

6 months may have snuck up on me, cause he hasn't even rolled over yet. Which is crazy, cause the girls all rolled over way earlier than this.

As you can see, it's not like he doesn't have the strength to do it, he just doesn't. His Pediatrician thinks it may have to do with the fact that his weight is in the 92nd percentile, and his head is only in the 40th. It's just not big enough to pull that large body over.

But we're working with him on it, not that he likes it.

So, we roll him over and let him play with his feet for like 2 seconds. Cause he's kinda big, and that's not really a comfortable position for him. You know, squishing his tummy and all that.

Then we practice sitting up a little bit. He's getting pretty good and I think he may just skip rolling over.

Did I mention how cute he was?

And just to prove that babies dislike having photos taken too, here's JJ, in his own little way telling me to stop. Check out that finger, naughty, naughty boy!:)

When he gets tired of sitting up, there's always some fun toesies to play with nearby.

I can't say enough just how in love with this guy I am.

Life this week

Well, 2011 has gotten off to a very unrestful start.

Does that mean that it'll go out with a really restful finish? You know, in like a lion out like a lamb sort of thing? That would be nice.

I started monday morning by waking up early to workout. I felt sick the whole time, cause it was only 6am, and I hadn't worked out in months, and it was a REALLY hard workout.

I drank my super healthy green smoothies all day. They're really pretty good, but I don't think I got enough calories considering I'm still nursing.

Then, to top it all of, I took JJ's pacifier away on monday.

Bonus, later that day, while I was dealing with JJ, apparently Lexie stuck some tweazers in an outlet. Super fun. She didn't get shocked thank goodness, but I guess when Halli pulled them out, FIRE shot out of the outlet. I had no idea any of this happened till afterward when the girls were yelling for me. Thankfully no one was hurt, just the tweazers that were kinds burnt on the ends. 

Well, I was EXHAUSTED all day long, and my arms were dead from the workout, and I had to carry my very fussy, and very heavy 20lb baby boy for a good portion of the day.  I guess I didn't think that one through well enough.

Well, I've toned down the workouts, I'm not doing quite as much, and I'm trying to do them at night. I'm eating a bit more, but still no sweets (yay for me!), and JJ is doing SOOO much better!

Look at this super cute paci free boy! I could just put him in my pocket, as my old roomie Kristen used to say!

Skip ahead a couple days...you know, working out, not cleaning at all cause I'm holding a heavy baby, dealing with a VERY fiesty 2 year old, carpool for school, grocery shopping, drinking yummy smoothies, cooking lots more cause I'm trying to get the girls to eat healthier too, (as in not eating cereal every day for breakfast), yeah, that one's a toughie, I don't like cooking breakfast...and Lexie gets sick.

Does she look miserable or what?

Throwing up every 30 min or so for about 8 hours will do that to ya. I felt so bad for her! Bedtime was fun too, she was sick, the girls needed to go to bed, JJ was fussy cause that's what babies do at bedtime, they fuss, and Kevin was gone at Young Mens.

I love that Halli can help Peyton take a shower and get cleaned up without me. Even if it ends with  both girls standing there naked waiting for me to bring them towels cause they forgot to get them earlier, and Peyton bawling cause, well, cause she kinda does that fairly easily.

The only time Lexie perked up the whole time she was sick was when she got to take a bath.

Until she felt like she was going to throw up again and wanted to get out, like, NOW!

What could be better on a day like this than yummy, very filling, soup? Yeah, I got lucky and JJ took a good afternoon nap, and I was even able to make dinner, while listening to Lexie dry heave every so often in the background. Poor, poor girl!

But, it's all paid off today! I'd like to say that with the working out and whatnot, I've lost weight. But, let's face it, it's only been a couple days and I have a long way to go! But JJ went to bed tonight, awake in his crib without a pacifier, and he didn't cry himself to sleep. SUCCESS!

Lexie is feeling better. Now it's just a waiting game to see who else will get it and when. That's a really fun game.:) On a more positive note, with being stuck at home with a sick girlie, I had time to clean the house from the beginning of the week when nothing got done, so yay for that, right? Also, thanks to our new washer and dryer that play a little chime when the loads are finished, there are no more loads of laundry left in the washer overnight that I forgot about. I heart those things.:)

So, we're off to a fun start to the year, even better, next week we're starting potty training for Lexie. My most favorite past time EVER!:)

Just a few fun changes around here. It's not always fun, and can be pretty tiresome at times, but it's always worth it in the end. Just do as Dorie says.."Just keep swimming, just keep swimming".

(we watched Nemo a couple times while Lexie was sick:)

Strength

I've decided to choose a word for the year. Something that will help remind me of my resolutions, and hopefully help me change my bad habits into good ones. I thought about it a long time. Alot of thought went into just what word could encompass everything I wanted to work on. Finally, I came up with:

STRENGTH

Cause that's what I'm going to need.:)

Some of my goals are to strengthen myself physically, I have a LONG way to go on this one. I'm starting working out, after a very long break. I'm also trying to eat better, as in, no sugar...that's a tough one. Well, it actually hasn't been too tough yet, but my goal is to not eat sweets until I've lost all the extra weight, so we're talking at least a few months here.

Another one is to strengthen myself spiritually. I've gotten out of habit of doing all the little things I should be doing, and I really need to be better about that. I'd like to read the Book of Mormon this year, as well as be more consistent about going to the Temple.

I really want to help strengthen our family. We're not great about doing FHE every monday. Sometimes we do, but alot of the time the evening gets away from us. We also need to read the scriptures together daily. I was good about this before JJ came, but with a new baby things just get thrown out of whack (at least that's my excuse).

And last, I will really need to strengthen my self-discipline. Really. Cause I have alot of work ahead of me, and if I'm not disciplined about it, it's just not gonna happen.

I read somewhere that strength is the ability to exert effort for the accomplishment of a goal. That is really what I need right now, strength. I am ready to have some of me back, so wish me luck!

Christmas 2010

Ahhh, Christmas morning. So magical, so fun, so full of wonderment and excitment for these little kiddos.

They were good and waited till 7 to come downstairs, where they got into their stockings as they waited for Kevin and I to wake up.

I love stockings. I love that they keep the kids happy for awhile. They were a great idea!:)

Once we were up and going. Halli was in charge of passing everything out, she was beyond excited!

Seriously, is there anything more exciting than wondering what's inside all of those pretty packages? Maybe tearing into them, yeah, that's more exciting for sure.

See, look at JJ, can't you see how excited he is?:)

He was beside himself with excitement all morning watching the girls.

Okay, remember when I mentioned that Peyton really wanted the Tangled doll, and told Jessica that when she got the horse first? 

Well, here she is opening that doll. I LOVE these photos, and the pure joy on her face as she realizes what it is. 

Thanks grandma Shauna!:)

Another little girl was beside herself when she opened her very own pillow pet. She squealed and rolled around on the floor hugging it, so cute! I love that Lexie is so into christmas now.

Brenda and Alan came in the middle, and we ate breakfast and exchanged gifts with them, but I'm a lousy photographer sometimes and didn't get any photos with them. But we love their tradition of coming to our house in the morning, it's much less chaotic than doing all the families at their house.

After it was all said and done, the girls took off to play with new toys, leaving a huge mess behind for mom and dad to clean up.

oh wait, that's not all mess, I think I see a baby stuck in there somewhere!

Yep, that's a baby!:)

So much for cleaning up. I love lounging around all morning on christmas.

Before we all got ready for the day I gathered the kids together to get a photo of them in their matching pjs. I was impressed that I matched them all when adding a boy in the mix. I had to photograph it, cause I'm sure that's the last time that'll happen!

Plus, who wouldn't want photos of these cuties?

JJ got a Duke toy for christmas, and he actually loves it. It's a dino that sings a very annoying and repetative song, but it keeps JJ happy while he gets some tummy time. He needs it too, he's almost 6 months and still hasn't rolled over. I think he's just too big, and maybe lazy too, who knows.

While he watched his dino, the girls played with Duece and her new toy, a ball of yarn.:)

After all the festivities we headed over to Kevin's parent's house for a yummy dinner with the fam. I just love this time of year, and I love being able to have my family all to myself for a little while.

Twas the night before Christmas

I didn't take many pictures christmas eve, but I did steal some from my sister-in-law, thanks Jamie!

Somehow, due to a flu bug, and timing, christmas eve ended up at our house this year. Pizza and wings, along with some christmas carols and a gift exchange for the cousins, it was a fun night!

It is always fun having so many cousins living nearby.

The girls all loved the gifts they got from their cousins. Princesses, books and the horse from tangled, their cousins know them well! I do have to mention that after Peyton opened the horse, she told aunt Jessica, that she really wanted Rapunzel, but Jess knew she would be getting it on christmas day.

Halli loves to be in charge, especially when all the girls listen to her.

After everyone left, the kids opened one more gift, their new christmas pjs, and we read the scriptures and the last book of our advent, "Twas the night before christmas".

After the kids went to bed, (all the girls huddled into Halli's bed for the night, so cute!), the big man himself came. Not only that, but the toothfairy came that night too! Halli lost a tooth earlier this month, and saved it for christmas eve, funny kid.

I love my house after Santa's been here, and before the kids wake up and destroy it!:)