Letter from Santa

Dear Seth & Sarah

Thank you for being so good this year! Your mom and dad told me that you two are always helping out with Luke. He is a good baby…so I decided to bring him a bike. Please help him learn how to ride it.

Seth, I heard that you like music boxes…so my elves made you a special one of Noah’s Ark. I hope you enjoy listening to the music. Also, I don’t know if you still like Star Wars, but I brought you a few things.

Sarah, Mrs. Claus made you a special doll. Her name is Lucy. She needed a good mommy so I brought her to you because you are such a great mom to all your dolls. I hope you love her.

I heard that both of you love to help your mom cook. That is good. Children should always help their mom and dad. My elves made you some aprons to wear while you help your mom. Keep being good! I am proud of you and I hope you like your toys!

Love, Santa Claus

Christmas 2010

Naughty Boy

Luke, what are those all over the floor?

Luke, what is that in your mouth?

Yep, the little stinker pulled a whole plate of brownies off of the table
and proceeded to eat them as fast as he could without getting caught!

In the mood for a bagel I guess...

Or two....

So Luke is as tall as the table now. Yes, that means he can get things off of it easily....which he does quite often. The second mom walks away he checks out the goods on the table to see if there is anything he might like to try.......

Sarah Rose is turning four!

I am sitting here reminiscing about my baby girl. She is turning four this week and I am racking my brain wondering where all the time has gone. I love having my angel girl. She helps me balance out all the boys in this house. She is so fun to have around...Jimmy and I are always talking about how darn cute she is! I think that girl will be able to get whatever she wants in life.

I have been looking through her first pics and I just can't believe that we almost lost her. I wanted so badly to give birth at home when I was pregnant with her....but Jimmy was against it from day one just in case "something went wrong". Well, something did go wrong and I am so so happy that I listened to my husband. My baby girl wouldn't be here if I had given birth to her at home. I am filled with so much emotion when I remember the Dr's running off with my limp baby and wondering if they would ever bring her back to me. The first time I got a good look at her was when Jimmy brought me a little video of her in the NICU. I still love watching it because it always gives me the same feeling of gratitude that my sweet daughter was going to be fine. I love this little girl so much that it drives me batty sometimes, and I can't even imagine my life without her!Our first meeting.....Love at first sight :)

Seth giving his sissy a kiss



A cute little "bird"


My chubby girl

Four year old Angel

Little Artists

Seth and Sarah LOVE to do art! They would do it all day long if I let them. I think it is one of my joys in life too. Watching chubby little hands create beautiful things makes me incredibly happy :)

Seth Working hard on a cherry tree.

Sarah coloring after her bath (notice she had to put on her snow white dress before she would put on her pajamas).

Seth and Daddy playing raquetball, and Luke down below.

Chubby little fingers creating beauty.

Seth drew Sarah and I. Notice I have my hand on my head? He told me it is because I forgot something like I always do....ha ha...the boy knows me well.

Van Gogh better watch his back!

Conference

Our church has a general conference every six months. October is my favorite. It somehow symbolizes the begining of the holidays for me. This conference was so wonderful! Seth and Sarah are finally at an age where they can be reverent during the entire thing! I feel like I got so much out of it. Something I struggle with is having enough "me" time. With three little ones always needing something, I sometimes feel like I am stretched beyond my breaking point. Our Prophet, Thomas Monson gave an incredible talk and in it he talked about enjoying your family because you never know how long you will have with them. I think it is just what I needed to hear. I have decided to spend my days enjoying my children and husband more. If this means I have to stay up a little later cleaning so that I have more time to play during the day, then that is what I am going to do. I feel like I need to focus more on them and less on me. I have only tried to do this for two days and I can already see the difference in my children, they just seem happier.

How two free fish cost daddy $50.

Our Grocery Store here in Provo is great. Every Saturday they have "family activities" that you can do. For instance, you can win fish if your little ball lands in one of the buckets that holds the fish. That is what happened to us. Seth and Sarah both won a fish. Sounds like a great thing, right? Wrong! They give you a fish with no food, aquarium, pump, etc....and then you have two very excited children that think they just inherited the pet of all pets or the San Diego zoo or something just as grand. Well, needless to say, they have their daddy wrapped around their cute little fingers....so off we went to the pet store and ended up spending $50 on all the stuff fish need. Lovely. Can you see the two little fishes swimming around....excited about the "castle" they are getting ready to move into?

Kindergarten

My baby started school! I am still in shock (that is why this post is so late in coming). I cried, he didn't....who would've thought? He loves going to school and I really like his teacher, so I guess sending my baby off to the wolves is ok......Walking to school

Mrs. Bigalow putting on his name tag.

His special "first day of school" breakfast. (All his favorites... strawberry oatmeal, sprinkle donut, and tang). And a little note from mom....but it was pretty sappy so I won't post it ;)

My little (big) kindergartener :)