Cavity

Poor Little E had been complaining about his mouth hurting for a few days and I thought he had just accidentally been biting his lip when he chewed.  I looked in his mouth way at the back after he had been complaining, and discovered that part of one of his molars had chipped away!  No wonder it hurt so bad.  We got him in to the dentist right away for a good cleaning, and unfortunately he had a cavity.  He was a champ while having it filled.  He didn't even know that he got a shot because the dentist was THAT good.  I, on the other hand, dissolved in a puddle of guilt that he had a cavity.  We have tried to be really vigilant about taking care of the kids' teeth, but I guess these things happen.  It made me feel better that the dentist said it probably only happened because part of the tooth was broken so it allowed the bacteria to grow in there.

Chitty

 Grandma and Grandpa J gave Emerson yet another special birthday surprise!  One of Emerson's favorite movies is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (I think because it is a vehicle with a personality) and it was playing at Hale Center Theatre.  Grandma treated us to tickets and it was very special because you had to be 5 to attend.  Grandpa was kind enough to tend Sammi since Emerson made it clear she is NOT 5 yet.

He loved every minute of the show and I think I had more fun watching his reactions to things than watching the actual show.

And at the end, we were able to snap a picture of him with his favorite flying car.  He carried the playbill around for the remainder of the day.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

The Big 5

Here are pictures from E's big 5th birthday.  He was SO excited and made Sammi cry several times when she insisted it was her birthday too and he just wouldn't give her an inch.  I finally talked him into letting her "help" because that's what he will want to do when it is her birthday.

He was a pretty lucky boy and got to have lunch at Brick Oven, go bowling, AND go couch shopping (not by his choice...).  I think he was one happy 5-year-old.

Poor little pink eyes

 

Hoping and hoping for Rescue Bots

Boulder!

Blades!

So excited to have the complete Rescue Bots team

Ready to open presents later that night with Grandma and Grandpa J.  He was so excited to get Cranky the Crane, some new trains, and a brand new unbroken Bumblebee Rescue Bot.

He wanted a red velvet cake that was somehow a Transformers cake, so this is the best we could do.  If you can't tell, it's the Autobots icon thing or whatever.  Don't worry, I'm not planning on being on a cake decorating show on the Food Network anytime soon.

 

Pleased with his ability to blow out that raging inferno.

Happy Birthday, Big E!  We love you to pieces.  And thank you to everyone who was so thoughtful to send him presents over the next few days.  It is always exciting to get mail, and even better when they are such great birthday presents!

Emerson's 5th Birthday

I cannot believe this handsome little man is 5 today.  I have to admit, this is not a picture from his actual birthday, because wouldn't you know it, he has pink eye in BOTH eyes. Grrr. He's been a good sport about it though once he got over his fear of the eye drops.

It is hard to describe how much we love this little guy! He has such a sweet personality.  He is tender-hearted, funny, imaginative, athletic, and just so himself.  He is very entertaining to talk to, and I love to eavesdrop on his play.  He likes to imagine he is different characters, and right now his favorites are Bumblebee, Lucky the Puppy, Wall-E, and Fix-It Felix.  He has been sleeping with his plastic hammer at night. When he was born, I never could've imagined I would be so entertained, so in love, and so challenged all at the same time by my precious little boy!

Here is Emerson's birthday interview:
My favorite food is: meat sandwich, spaghetti

My favorite sport to play is: soccer!

The best show is: Rescue Bots

The coolest person on earth is: Tucker

My favorite thing to learn about in school is: The number 5

The thing I do most awesomely is: Soccer, playing with Legos and having fun

If I could go anywhere in the world I'd go to: Disneyland or a train place to ride a train

My favorite color is: RED!

When I grow up, I want to be: a daddy

My favorite song is: Rescue Bots theme song

My favorite book is: Freight Train

Three words that describe me: buddy, fast, strong

When I was little, I used to: be baby E.  I liked to play in the sunshine.

My favorite season of the year is: Fall

The best thing about me is: I am good at having fun.

The snack I like best is: scrambled eggs

One food I dislike is: soup

My best friend is: Tucker

If I had one wish, it would be: Blades and Boulder (Rescue Bots)

My best memory is: Playing with others.  Riding Thunder Mountain Railroad

Happy Birthday, E!  We love you to pieces.

Easter Morning

 The Easter Bunny made it to our house.  The kids kept thinking they could hear him hopping around our house the day before, but he was able to do his job without getting caught.  Both pleasant and unpleasant surprises awaited us that morning, however.  Pink eye made its second appearance at our house in 3 weeks, but this time it infected Emerson.  The poor kid's eyes were extremely swollen by the end of the day and the green junk coming out was disgusting.  I sanitized everything and washed my hands like an OCD person.  I had sanitized everything when Sammi had it two weeks before, EXCEPT for the Lego Duplos they were playing with, and I suspect that was where E caught it from, because it had been a good week after Sammi had it.  Those toys had been put away during the whole week we were all healthy, and then we got them out the day before Easter.  Go figure.  The lesson I learned during all of this was that Clorox wipes are your best friend.

Anyway...onto the fun.

 

 Growing up, the Easter bunny always hid eggs in plain sight, and then he hid the baskets behind closed doors, or cabinets, or closets.  And the big rule is, if you see someone else's basket, you are not allowed to tell them.  You can always tell when one kid has found the other's basket though, because there is always a gasp, a giggle, and a refusal to make eye contact with that person.  Or, in the case of my kids, they just ran and told each other anyway. :)  Mom had to intervene and talk over them so the surprise wouldn't be ruined.

Please ignore the piles of laundry.

The goods

The Easter getups

I ended up having to get E ready for church even though we weren't planning to take him because Ben had to run into the hospital to check on one of his Labor & Delivery patients, and I had to be there to play the piano in Primary.  So we ended up taking him just to part of Sacrament meeting and then he went home with Ben.  I will admit I was glad to get the official Easter clothes picture, though.

Then we finished out a big day by going up to the Christensens' house for an awesome cousin Easter egg hunt, and then to a fabulous Easter dinner at the Johnsons' house.  It was a great day (despite the pink eye).

Egg Dyeing

 When I told the kids we would be dyeing eggs, Emerson got all teary and said he didn't want the eggs to die.  Not a good start. :)  I had to patiently explain that DYE-ing is another word for coloring, and the other kind of die is when something is dead.  Such a sensitive little guy.

We were lucky enough to have Dad home to dye eggs!  Yay!

 

Girly dropped this egg a few times, so we let her eat it.  She gobbled it right up!  You never can predict with my kids what they will like and what they will despise.  (Example: soup)

We only had a few egg casualties, and minimal dye spilling, so overall I would say it was a success!

St. Patrick's Day

 Those sneaky leprechauns visited us with a trail of magic to their pot of gold!  The kids were really excited and remembered from last year how the silly leprechauns turned our milk green.  Lucky for them, they did it this year too, and even turned our pancakes green, too!

After church, E and I went on a leprechaun hunt (per his request) while Sammi was playing in her room napping.  The hunt consisted of tiptoeing around and jumping around corners while shouting "ha!". Unfortunately, we didn't catch one this year.  Maybe next year.

For dinner, our sweet friends from Residency invited us over for a St. Patrick's Day extravaganza.  They went all out with green food, green play-dough for the kids, a treasure hunt, and green prizes for the winners of the games.  We all had a great time.

A Little Announcement...

  We let our families know with a Valentine a little earlier...

 But it's not official until it's been announced on the blog, right? 

We are expecting Baby #3!

I've been feeling pretty good.  I've been tired of course, but I've also had worse morning sickness than with any of my others.  I think we're past that now though, thankfully!  We are so excited, but it just seems so far away!

E keeps saying it's a baby brother, and he keeps telling me to ask Heavenly Father to make the baby a boy. Sammi is convinced it's a girl most of the time, but the other day she told my sister that it was a baby brother and we were going to name him Lizzie.  She also announced to her nursery class that her mommy has a baby in her tummy, so it's not staying a secret for much longer.

Joseph's Pink Mustang

Sammi has discovered all sorts of fun toys at Grandma & Grandpa J's house lately.  She found this pink Mustang Barbie car, but it got even better when she discovered Uncle Scott's old Robin Hood playset, and promptly assumed that because of the forest surrounding the treehouse village that it was the Sacred Grove.  Therefore, following said two-year-old's logic, that would ACTUALLY make Robin Hood...Joseph Smith.  So Joseph has been cruising around in his pink car, loving life.  If only Satan had tried tempting him with the pink Mustang, then maybe that whole true church thing never would've gotten off the ground.

iPhone Picture Dump

   I love being able to take pictures with my phone, but sometimes the pictures get lost on there.  These are in no particular order, so in some my kids look really little.

This is when Sammi pulled our toy shelf over onto herself.  Luckily she didn't even need stitches, which was pretty amazing.  Poor little thing.

This was another incident when Emerson pushed her into the corner of the wall and cut her head open.  Luckily Grandpa was able to take us to his office at 9 pm and glue it.

A rare treat.  She has been a much worse napper than Emerson.  She just runs on less sleep.  I can hardly ever get her to take a nap, and when I do she is up talking to herself and reading herself books in her room until 11 pm.  So most of the time she just goes without and then goes to bed at 8:00 and sleeps until 8:00 the next morning.

This is her in what she calls her Rapunzel dress.  Obviously she thinks she is very gorgeous.

This is her favorite outfit.

It must be tiring looking so gorgeous all the time.

Documentation that I am fun.  I let them go outside to play in the snow.

E making a snow angel

The girl loves to be beautiful and sits still so well to have her hair curled.  It's a treat because her hair is stick straight.

This was later the same day.  She hijacked the neighbor's bike and helmet, and somehow her pretty ended up clipped to the chin strap.  It is very serious business, as you can tell.

And...much later the same day.  She went from being the World's Most Adorable Girl to the World's Homeliest Girl.  That orange and black frosted pumpkin-shaped donut didn't help matters.

The kids playing doctor at our last COSI trip in Ohio.

Sammi decided to sit and read to Emerson while he was asleep.  It was probably the most attentive he's ever been to her.

This is E's drawing of himself being Wall-E for Halloween

Sometimes Preschool really takes it out of you.

Sammi thinks this is her Princess Sofia dress.  She twirls and twirls every time she wears it.

I secretly snapped this picture one day of Daddy playing princesses with Sammi in her room.  It melted my heart.

This is the kids playing "Collection".  It comes from Ariel's collection in her grotto.  Basically, they just grab a bunch of crap and pile it on the stairs and then pretend to sleep.  Whatever keeps them entertained. :)

Sammi's first big-girl ponytail!  Unfortunately it was short-lived because she got her hair cut the next day.  I love her hair cut, but it's just shorter and layered.

Sammi has been into Angelina Ballerina lately.  We had this leotard from last year at Christmas when we visited from Ohio and forgot swimsuits and this was the closest thing we could find after looking at all the stores, and the tutu was a cute party favor from a friend's birthday party.  So luckily they appeased her.  And of course the Ariel shoes complete the outfit.

Emerson is in ice-skating lessons this winter.  It honestly started out as just something to get us out of the house so I could talk to my good friend from Residency every week since her son was enrolled too, but E has gotten amazingly good and really enjoys it now.  His little body on the ice is hilarious because he's so tiny!  Not to mention his tiny skates.  I'm really glad we had him do it.

This is the kids on Valentine's Day with their little I Love You presents from Mom and Dad.  We got Sammi some ballet slippers, and Emerson a new Rescue Bot.  They were both thrilled.  Most of the time they are such good buddies, but that doesn't mean they never fight.  Unfortunately they do...and usually when Mommy is hungry and therefore very grumpy.

This is from forever ago in the summer when Sammi was even smaller.  I got out of the shower and saw her sitting on my bed like this.  I hate to have a picture of my unmentionables, but she is so smart to know how to wear it!

A rare picture of E looking kind of at the camera and smiling his darling little smile.