eleven months....

oh no! How can it be? My baby is eleven months old! He is crawling all over the place, so my house has become quite like a lock down facility. Gates are up all over the place, which has become quite a frustration for Max and Molly who can't open them yet! The other day I ran upstairs to put some clothes away, and soon after I heard a little voice behind me, and there was Ian, all the way up the stairs. I had definitely forgotten how busy this stage is, because they want to be down crawling all the time, and let's face it, there are not many places you can just let a baby crawl! Ian's latest tricks are signing "more" (and he's the first of my kids to do it exactly right!), giving "fives," giving kisses, waving bye-bye, and clapping every time he hears "yay," "good job" or anyone else clapping. He's a big hit at Olivia's soccer games, because he's the only one cheering for both sides! This little guy puts many smiles in our day!

The countdown is on......just 24 more days until the big ONE.

Olivia's party

Olivia's birthday party was Friday night. I took five of her friends to have dinner, bowl, and play games at a really fun spot in town. It was a big hit! Here they are waiting for their dinner!

In the bowling LOUNGE! They have huge screens playing videos from now and THEN. Her friends loved all the "vintage" videos and thought it was hilarious when I said that those were super popular when I was their age, like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." They all stared at me in amazement, like I was a real, live dinosaur, and then started laughing hysterically!

Here is the birthday cake. Spare me your compliments. Save them for Baskin Robbins.

Olivia is still saying, "Mom, that was the funnest party EVER," so I will call it a SUCCESS!

party on Molly, party on Max...

Max and Molly had their first "friend" party on Saturday. We held it at the park. We tried to combine the train and princess theme and just called it a "Royal Train Party." It was a big hit. Ten three and four year olds playing, eating, building, and having a ball! So cute! Max and Molly loved that everyone came for them. They had perma-grins all day!

Making candy trains!

Max's cake

Molly's cake

Molly making a wish!

Eating lunch!

Max's wish...

and, a big deep sigh of relief from Mom that it is over... (now on to Olivia's party!)

Happy number FOUR, Maxwell!

Happy birthday to my little man! Max was super happy to finally be four, since he's been telling everyone for months, "I'm going to be 4 on my next birthday!" When he woke up on his big day I said, "Happy birthday, Max! You are FOUR now!" and he looked down at himself and said, "but MOM, I'm not bigger!" So cute. So like Max. Here he is blowing out his breakfast candle!

He got a remote control Percy with more tracks to add on to his train. He was in heaven! He loves Percy, "because he's GREEN!"

Such fun at the zoo!

He loved roaming around the BUS at dinner!

Making a wish!

Happy Birthday to my big boy! I can't believe my little four pound baby is now four years old! Max is an awesome boy! One of a kind! He is really easy to love. He is super sensitive. He gets scared easy. He likes to be at home. He doesn't like leaving his mom and dad. He loves TRAINS. He loves cars, too, especially his gold one named "Rocket Fire." He likes to ride his training wheel bike, and doesn't even care that it has purple flowers on it. That goes back to the sensitive thing, I guess. He loves to cuddle. He loves his DADDY. Max is a really good brother. He is always giving Ian a toy, and comforting Molly if she gets hurt. Max appears to be a little accident prone/clumsy. He takes after his mom in this, I'm afraid. He has his share of owies, but Mom never tires of comforting him. This little guy makes us so happy. He makes us all want to be kinder. We love you little man!

Happy FOURTH birthday, Molly!

Happy number FOUR to my little princess! Molly was so excited for her birthday. Here she is enjoying her candle on her Swedish Pancake. I love this cute look on her face. She is the queen of fun facial expressions!

And, here she is in her birthday outfit. Her shirt is Ms. Trouble. She loves the book, and she IS the main character!

We went to the zoo with friends, and the kids had SO MUCH fun!

looking for bears...

Here are my girlies at the Grilled Cheese Grill. So fun!

Molly is just a dear! She is super affectionate. When she wants loves, she says, "Mom, I want to curl up in your arms!" Of course, how can I say no to that? She loves to play with Barbies (and much to my chagrin, she likes to play them with ME), Polly Pockets, and, of course, DRESS-UP! She is a girly-girly-GIRL. It's pretty fun. She got a bride Barbie and groom Ken for her birthday, and a full ballet outfit, because she is starting a little ballet class next week, and can't wait! She is such a fun part of our family. She keeps us laughing with the funny things that come out of her mouth. And, her screams...well, let's just say, all of her good aspects make up for a lot! Happy birthday to our little girl! We love you, Molly!

more birthday!

This is the awesome place we took the kiddos for their birthdays. It's called the Grilled Cheese Grill, and it came highly recommended (thanks, Raina!). They have lots of varieties of cheesy bliss. It's Y-U-M-M-Y! And, it was a big hit with EVERYONE.

Yes, you actually eat in a BUS! So fun!

Yummy chocolate cake (but very ugly! I'll try harder on the REAL cakes, coming up for the "friend" parties!).

Olivia had a great birthday, and was elated with everything. She has grown up into such a darling young lady, and we are very PROUD of her. She has become responsible for her things, and quite often her younger siblings. She helps around the house, earns allowance, and spends it carefully. She loves to organize ANYTHING. She often asks, "hey Mom, can I organize this drawer for you, it's a MESS!" She LOVES school, soccer, and being with friends. She loves music and SINGS all the time. Our favorites are her shower numbers. Lovely, really. She loves to play on Webkinz. She is really into making her habitats super fun for her pets! She is my BIG girl, and I am so grateful she came into our family 9 years ago! Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Happy NINTH birthday, Olivia!

Happy NINTH birthday to my little girl! It was her MAGIC birthday this year, because she turned NINE on 9/9/09. Very ENCHANTED, really! She LOVED her special day. She chose to have Swedish Pancakes for breakfast, with whipped cream, of course. YUM!

Here she is with her new POGO-stick, get jumping, little girl!!!

Her new birthday outfit! Her shirt is "scratch and sniff" cupcakes! That's a nice thing to smell all day on your birthday, right?

Here are the cupcakes we took into her class. Little soccer RINGS. So fun!

And, here she is in her birthday crown (that she decided to make for herself=DIVA)!

She also scored a WHALE Webkinz (which she is very excited about because it swims in a bubble all around Webkinz World) and some PIXOS, which she did until too late last night.

fall fashion show...

Twas the night before school and all through the house

were fall fashions galore: Union Bay and Levi Strauss.

Olivia is ready, all tucked in her bed,

while visions of notebooks dance in her head.

Her lunch is all packed, her messenger bag, too.

She's ready for school tomorrow, how about YOU?

Here is a sneak peak at her THIRD GRADE wardrobe!

I cannot believe my baby is in the third grade and has a birthday in two days. Really? How can she be turning 9??? Lots more to come this week of her first day at school and THREE birthdays!

molly uncut...

I was cooking dinner last night, and while I had my back turned, Max snuck in and took a bite of the (pre-cooked) breaded chicken patty I was getting ready to grill. I turned around and noticed the bite missing and said, "Max, don't eat those yet, I haven't even cooked them."

And that's when Molly chimed in, "yeah, you freakin' vulture."

ten months

ten months!

oops, looks like Olivia dressed Ian for bed! I just let him sleep in it, since he looked so darn cute. This is what Ian is doing these days to make us smile...

crawling

clapping

signing "more"

clucking his tongue

pulling up in his crib

playing pat-a-cake

dancing to his favorite music (unfortunately, his taste in music runs towards his dad's)

eating anything and everything

cuddling his mommy

giggling at Max's physical stunts

pulling Molly's hair (and she lets him do it!)

hanging out with Olivia, his awesome roommate

and rocking out with dad!

bragging rights...

34 Quarts of peaches=total satisfaction

stitches

My little guy had a big accident on Sunday, just as we were packing up and getting ready to leave Utah! Somehow he got bounced too hard on the trampoline and fell on the bar, smack on his head. I didn't see it happen, but my guess is a big kid bounced him accidentally. Olivia brought him inside and there was blood everywhere. Luckily, there was a doctor in the house, whom I deferred to right away. Uncle Glenn sat him up on the counter and determined that the best route would be to get some stitches, so he and Jon jumped in the car and took him down to the Urgent Care. They walked in and Glenn walked right up to the counter and informed the nurse that he would be needing a room (connections are great, I tell you). They got to the exam room and stitched him up (with quite a struggle, I might add, Glenn said he might have been the hardest fighting kid he'd seen!), and he left with four stitches.

So, my big birthday plan of buying the kids a trampoline for their shared birthday is thwarted, as I now feel SICK about this darn accident. Dr. Glenn said "he'd never own one of those dag-blamed things" and I think I have come to feel the same.

A big bang ending to an otherwise accident-free vacation. Since they left the Urgent Care Max has not once complained about his head, and seems to be basically unscathed. And, if he's lucky and has my dad's hair line, no one will ever see the scar. If he gets his daddy's genes...........poor guy.

one last hoorah...

We made the trek down to Utah again for one last summer hoorah. We had tons of fun, as always, visiting, swimming, and riding on tractors...

here are the kiddos riding on Papa's tractor...(the dog came along)

Ian had lots of fun with TWO big days of swimming...

we got to swim with great friends in Bountiful...

these boys got along so great!!!

biggest and littlest (my nephew is about 6'5" and counting)

sweet Aunt Shirl took amazing care of us, as usual...

another tractor (Max let him have this ONE ride on it)...

brothers...

uncle-ly advice...

and yet another tractor ride...

The main reason we headed down was for the wedding of Jake and Emma. Their sealing was amazing. It made me remember my own, and I am so happy for those two love birds! Crystal and I helped the amazing Shirl with the food for their reception, which was TONS of fun, and lots of work, but I would do anything if it means spending time with those two sister in laws. The reception turned out great, and thanks to nearly 400 eclairs and 400+ barbeque beef sandwiches, we had just enough food! Thanks for getting married, Jake and Emma! Good luck in love and life....

nine months...

I can't believe my baby is nine months already. He is a total gem. He sleeps all night. He naps in his bed twice a day. He LOVES to play with his toys. He rarely fusses. He loves to eat. ANYTHING. He loves to drink out of big cups (he has the same hole in his lip that his mommy does). He has a contagious laugh. He loves to be snuggled, wrestled with, and doted on by all of his family. He brings us together. The perfect end to our little family. Our CABOOSE.

21 pounds

29 inches

(thanks, Jaide, for the cute picture!)