Why I Love Natalya So Much...

Natalya is such a good kid. She makes me laugh, she's helpful, she's free-spirited, she has a sincere desire to succeed, she LOVES to learn new things, and she yearns to please others.

The reason I brought this up is because she said a few things tonight that made me smile. For instance, while looking through our Pottery Barn Kids magazine, she saw cute girls having a cute tea party in a cute playroom. Her response: "Well I could make most of that with Play-Dough. And we just need some cardboard, tape, scissors, and crayons for the rest."

I wish we all had an attitude like that.

Orange Frost

Life gets busy. We feel like weeks fly by because we always have so much going on. Nearly every night of the week is filled with something. That's why we feel the need to make the best of every little minute we have together.

Last Saturday Brian brought home Orange Smoothie mix from the grocery store - when we were kids we called it "Orange Frost". So once the kids go down for the night, Brian and I take the blender to the garage (to not wake up the kids) and make Orange Frost using the mix packet, orange juice and ice cubes. That combined with an all new episode of Chuck makes it feel like a mini date. We try to have a few mini dates a week. That, to me, is quality time. :)

Branson is proud to announce that he can put on his underwear, socks, pants, shirts, and shoes all by himself! Most of the time, however, he puts them on backwards - like in the picture above.

Branson actually likes getting his hair cut.

He thinks it tickles.


Part of having "joy in the journey" is doing silly things for no particular reason. The kids were bored - we put a tent up in our living room. Carpe Diem! Unfortunately, it's still there. :)

Nana bought Irelynn a Harley Davidson diaper cover. Vrooom! Off she goes!

19 pounds and growing! She's in the 75th percentile for her height, weight, and head circumference. I love it! She's so kissable.

I love that toothless grin!

Taking a snooze in her carseat. I love her open mouth.

We took a little nature walk in Red Rock canyon with the kids. Irelynn slept the whole time (which gave me quite a backache) but the other kids had a fabulous time! Our weather has been amazing lately.

Natalya drew pictures of different plants and things she found along the way.

Branson found a hole in this joshua tree. They each searched for bugs and rocks, too.

I'm not sure you can tell from this picture, but Irelynn loves to splash while in the tub. I'm soaked. And I hadn't even bathed the other two yet. Oh the joys of motherhood!

(Thank you to Natalya for taking this picture.)

March Madness

I love that my brother-in-law, Brett, includes me in his March Madness Tourney Pick'em group. His group is composed with mostly just guy-friends. Nonetheless, he knows that I enjoy being involved in whatever interests my husband has - so every year he includes me, too. It's fun to follow-up on the teams in my bracket and banter with Brian on who's beating who. I used to pick teams to win based on rank and school names (Gonzaga is just fun to say), but this year I actually used some top 25 team ranking lists to help make my picks. Regardless of how well I do, I love how sweet my brother-in-law was to always include me in his group. Thanks, Brett! :)

Let the Madness begin!!

A Little of This, A Pinch of That...

Since our old computer has been out of commision, I'm waaay behind on blogging. I thought I'd post a few random pictures to help us catch up. And once our new computer has all our photos transfered, I'll be back in the game!

It seems that every time I take a picture lately, all they want to do is make a silly face.



Natalya and Branson have a cotton ball basket where they can earn one cotton ball for each good deed or act of service they do. After a few months, they filled their basket all the way to the top. Their reward was a one-on-one date with the parent of their choice. This is a picture of Natalya when I took her out for dessert. We got all dressed up - complete with a little makeup, fingernail polish, perfume, a princess dress, and her little puppy poodle. Branson chose to go to Peter Piper Pizza with daddy. He's been asking to go back ever since. :)

Brian rolled his ankle while playing basketball. He heard it pop and it swelled up immediatly. It got so huge, we decided to take him to the ER for X-rays. When he found out it wasn't broken, he ditched the crutches - such a manly man. But he heard that it may take longer than a break to heal. Yes, it's a month later - and it's still swollen. Needless to say, I think he's out for the rest of the bball season. :)

She is looking more and more like daddy every day! She has his eyes. Every time I look at her, I see my husband. I love it! She's a doll. And she's getting bigger by the day. She recently discovered how to drink from a straw. She scoots all over the place. I hear my kids ask her, "Where are you off to??" all the time.

Natalya just got her new ballet costume for her upcoming dance recital. She loves it! And I think she looks precious.

This is my new favorite picture.