Our Family of Five

It about time for another post. Chaz is 7 months old. He is absolutely gorgeous. He is a sweet heart. He just seems to love being around us and we certainly love being around him. The kids just can't seem to keep their hands off of him. They poke him and sing to him and tickle him so much that I am amazed that he still adores him siblings.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our family.

4 Weeks and Counting

I decided that 4 weeks is an okay amount of time to wait for our little boy. I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone. We are a little scared to have a third child to add to the mix, but hopefully all will go well. What can we do now - what's done is done (he he he).

I had an ultra sound last week and the radiologist said that everything looked great and that our little guy was measuring about 5 days late (putting my due date at August 30 instead of August 25). I was half expecting that.

I wanted to post some updated pictures of our little kids, so here are some.

Piper's Birthday

I guess that we are lame parents because we decided to just have a small family birthday party for Piper's second birthday. She was so cute and loved every minute of her birthday. Jack loved it, too, since he was able to help her open her gifts and play with them. They both loved having pink cupcakes with chocolate icing (Piper picked out the combination). Here are a few pictures of her on her birthday (April 19th).
So here is Jack, but he is adorable, too.

This is Piper's excited face. I can't believe we actually caught it on camera.

I guess that we are lame parents because we decided to just have a small family birthday party for Piper's second birthday. She was so cute and loved every minute of her birthday. Jack loved it, too, since he was able to help her open her gifts and play with them. They both loved having pink cupcakes with chocolate icing (Piper picked out the combination). Here are a few pictures of her on her birthday (April 19th).

Some News

We have finally decided to tell everybody since my protruding belly is attracting some stares and funny looks on people faces. We are 11 weeks pregnant. And, yes, we planned this pregnancy. We are thinking that this is our last. We sure love out little munchkins, and we feel we are not the best at managing even their kaos.

Anyway, we have not yet been to the doctor for the first visit. Zac changed jobs in mid January, so our new insurance doesn't kick in until mid February. So, more details are to come.

Other than that, we are just trying to live through the redudancies of life and mom feeling yucky everyday. Poor Jack and Piper, they haven't been out much since Christmas. I am hoping that the sickness decreases soon. We will see though.

P.S. We think it is a boy this time and are in dire need of some name suggestions. Feel free to leave any if you like.

CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS

Christmas is coming so soon. I cannot believe it. I am so sorry for not blogging in over a month. I took a few Christmassy pictures and I wanted to publish them.

Not much is new for us. We are trying to enjoy the last few days of the Christmas Season. I love having children to celebrate holidays with. Jack loves singing "Up on the Housetop" and Piper love listening to him.

I have a new calling in our ward. I am the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. I am also the Activities Chairperson (until they call someone else to take my place). So, I was in charge of our ward Christmas Party (which went very well thanks to all the people who helped). I am also now helping plan and set-up the Relief Society Christmas dinner. It is fun to be able to set up and decorate the parties exactly how I want them. Hopefully everyone else is pleased.

For all those who read this blog, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I would love to say that I will post again during the Holiday Season, but looking at my previous record, I am not due to post again until late January or early February.

Here are my lovely children. Also, I have to thank Shelley Smith for lending me a book titled, "Supernanny: How to Get the Best from Your Children." Zac and I have been struggling (to say the least) with Jack's behavior (Piper's, too, I may as well mention). The tips in this book have really helped and have brought a little more peace into our home. It is amazing what you can do with the tone of your voice. I hope that these tips keep working. I am enjoying not having the feeling of wanting to rip my hair out by the end of breakfast time.

HALLOWEEN

We had a blast this Halloween. I believe we started celebrating Halloween in the middle of September. We watched the first 20 minutes of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and that was all that was needed to get Jack hooked on the movie and on Halloween. We are still painting pumpkins and drawing ghosts because Jack and Piper love it so much. I tried to get Jack to draw a turkey with me (using our handprints) but his interest only lasted 10 minutes or so.

Here are a few pictures of our kids in their Halloween costumes. They had a blast this year trick or treating. Luckily Jack didn't have the stomach flu like last year, so we partied hard and trick or treated all over town.
This was our run through the night before Halloween.

This is a picture of Piper biting through the wrapper of a 3 Muskateers Bar. She is so like her mother - Give me chocolate and give it to me now.Jack would not wear his mask or get his face painted, so he somewhat looked like a Power Ranger although he has no idea what a Power Ranger is. He originally wanted to be Jack Skellington from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" but when it came crunch time, he didn't want to dress up in black or get his face painted (or wear his skeleton gloves). Thankfully I had bought a Power Ranger costume in September and kept it just in case we needed it (which we did).

Kids really do make holidays so much more fun.

I have not blogged in such a long time. I think the reason is that I have been facebooking. What fun it is, but how time consuming it can get. I hardly think I have enough time to do the things that I need to as it is. Now I am getting a new hobby.

Over the weekend, Jack and Piper were able to play in the leaves at Grammy's house, so I wanted to post some pictures of them. I have to say that I am so grateful that we decided to have Jack and Piper close. They have become good friends. Yes, they still fight, but they definitely love each other. Jack misses Piper when she naps (on the many days that he doesn't nap). The first thing that Piper says when she gets up in the morning is "Gack" which is her way of saying Jack.

What a ride it is to be a mom and wife. Sometimes I feel like I have lost my individuality, but I know that somewhere hidden in the moments of life I get to express my own feelings through my children and through other friendships that I have. There is a time and a season for all things. I will get a chance to express myself more when my children are grown and I miss them horribly because they have all moved on with their lives.

Anyway, on with the pictures:

We both say that Piper is the perfect witch.



What fun autumn brings!