Christmas 2011

For Christmas this year Mason's youngest sister C.C. came to visit. Our girls love it when C.C. comes. She's lots of fun and the girls just have a good time with her. A few days after Christmas we went up to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was the girls' first time. They had such a good time that we are planning a return trip very soon!


 Christmas Eve
 

 

Keira showing us a star while we read a poem about the symbols of Christmas

Mason and Ava leading us in Christmas carols

Grandma and Serena

Grandpa and Serena

The tree after Santa came


Christmas Day

Since we had church in the morning, we let the girls see their gifts from Santa, then opened the rest when we got home

Some pictures of everyone after church

Our silly girls!  (Minus Serena, who was napping)

Getting warm by the fire!

Onto the presents!

Exploratorium

This is a painting I made for Norah's room.

Two years ago.

more art

As a busy mother of four, it's been tough for me to find time to devote to my artwork. Over the past two weeks (and watching Conference solidified my resolve) I've decided to put forth more effort. And now that my kids are getting a little older, it's a little easier. I'm not perfect, and maybe I should do more, but for now my goal is one sketchbook page a day and working on Serena's bedroom painting on the weekends. And to kick it off, here a cute little zebra from last week.

So happy drawing to me!

hello holiday season

To ring in the next three months of holiday fun, last night we made ghost cookies. They are pretty simple really, but tons of fun to do with kids. They are Nutter Butter cookies dipped in white chocolate with mini chocolate chip eyes. The girls had a blast making them, and Mason had a fun treat waiting for him when he came home from the Priesthood session.

Happy Halloween!

preschool picture time

We do a preschool co-op with Keira (I did one with both Ava and Norah). Here's a picture from today. Why haven't I thought of taking pictures of the kids when they are at my house? I think I'll do that the next time I host.

Talk and other updates

Last Sunday Ava gave her second talk in Primary. She gave her first one back in March, but she was so shy that Mason read it for her. But she has come a long way! Mason still went up with her, but she read the whole thing herself, including the scripture. Way to go Ava!

Serena is now starting to roll over. She'll flip from her back onto her tummy, and that's it. Half the time she gets her arms pinned under her belly, which causes her to cry until we pull them out. Silly little baby!

Norah is enjoying preschool. She now wants to walk from the car to the door of her preschool all by herself - because as she puts it, "I'm a big girl now!"

Keira is still a force of energy. Enough said.

Serena - Four and Five Months

Serena is now five months, but here are her four month stats:

Height: 24.5 inches
Weight: 11 lbs 4 oz

She is quite the belcher. By far a champion when compared to our other girls. Her burps are loud and looooong! And usually followed up by tons of spit-up. Not quite as much spit-up as Norah had, but still waaaaaay more than either Keira or Ava.

Serena is also very mellow. She babbles and coos on her playmat, even when all her other sisters come to fawn all over her. And she loves to giggle and smile on the changing table.

But by far the one thing that has helped me out with juggling four kids is the fact that Serena is an AWESOME sleeper. She has one nap in the afternoon for about 4 or 5 hours, and then she sleeps for 12 - 13 hours at night - without interruption! Score! That allows me the much needed rest to be a mom everyday.

Love our Serena!

First Day of First Grade!

School started today! Ava is now in first grade. Her teacher is Mrs. Hedgecock. Ava also has lots of friends from kindergarten in her same class, which I thought was fun and eases the first-day jitters. Again, I love, love, LOVE the fact that we are across the street from school, which makes drop-offs and pick-ups a breeze. Here are some pictures (Ava of course still has her My Little Pony backpack):

Stay tuned for Norah's first day of preschool!

Seattle

During July I had the opportunity to travel to Seattle to see some good friends and fellow college roommates. Sans kids to boot! (Don't worry - I do miss my girls when I'm away from them, but it having the time to myself did wonders for my sanity).

It was great to see Lisa's lovely home, as well as to finally meet her kids as well as Camilla's kids. Of course it was almost like no time had passed - we even played Ligretto!

Sadly I don't have too many pictures from the trip. I'll have to bum some off of Camilla's FB page.

I just hope the next time we have a roommate reunion that we can ALL be there! Kat, Wendy, Steph, and Becca - you were missed!

Serena - Two Months

Last Thursday was Serena's two month check up. (She was really 10 weeks, but whose counting, lol!).

Here are her stats:

Weight: 11 lbs, 6 oz (55th percentile)
Height: 23.5 inches (88th percentile)

She is by far our biggest baby out of all four girls. I think she'll take after Ava in the height department.

We also had Serena's baby blessing today, which is always a wonderful event. We love being surrounded by friends and family for the special occasion.

While we love Serena to bits, she really isn't doing a whole lot except eating, sleeping, and pooping. She has smiled a few times in the past week. I don't care if it's gas or not - her smiles are adorable! She is a champion sleeper though. At night when she goes down, she'll stay asleep for 9 - 10 hours. That gives me my much needed rest! Keeping up after four kids is very energy-consuming.

Ava, Norah, and Keira are all great big sisters. They will put Serena's blanket back on her if she kicks it off, and put her binky back in her mouth if she spits it out. Keira though will tease her by putting the binky in, then taking it out again.

All in all, life is good! Busy, but good.

Kindergarten Open House

Tonight we went to the open house at Ava's elementary school. Open House is where all the classrooms are opened up for family and friends to see what the students have studied during the year, and to view various projects. It was fun to see what Ava has done during the year, as well as to see her friends and her teacher (who has been on bedrest for the past few months). It brought back memories of when I was in school and was excited for my family to see my classroom and all the work I had done during the year.


Ava's teacher, Mrs. Yu




Ava's kindergarten memory book. It contains projects and pictures from each month




Photo wall (and Jimin, one of Ava's friends)




Classroom whiteboard




Self portraits




Ava showing us more projects




Ladybug project