Surprise... Surprise...

The girls were in the kitchen having a glass of chocolate milk I came around the corner to check on them and found this...

Marinn's cup was empty and she decided Toto could share with her... they had also grabbed the huge straws to finish off the milk.  

: )

I love this face... she makes me smile. 

Jacuzzi Time!!

Benefit of living in Southern Utah: you get to hang in the Jacuzzi in January!

First of all I love this picture!! (way to go mom!)

Marinn kept sinking down where her mouth was in the water... one time she got a little to low and snorted up some water.  She came up pretty fast blowing her nose trying to get the water out... hilarious! But she recovered really well. 

They decided it would be fun to jump off the side.  Taurin always had to put her feet in the little cup holders before jumping off the side.  It's all about the form people. 

She was fearless... and would jump with little hesitation. 

Marinn looks so tall in this pic... she is growing up so fast!

Yes, my mouth is open because my mom was having us say, "Jacuzzi time!!"

Nap time by the fire...

Shaw was napping by the fireplace in this super cozy afghan my mom made. He's just too cute for words!

Looking for some milk

I was sitting on the couch with Shaw and it was about time to eat for him.  I reached to hand him a toy and he grabbed my arm and was trying hard to get some milk.  He had a death grip on my arm and there was slobber all over it.

Pleasant Boy

Shaw is such a big boy… he has been sitting and playing so well.  Today I put him down in front of this toy and he was having a blast.  

Shaw is a drooler.  I’ve never used so many bibs in my life.  He sometimes soaks through 3 in a day. 

Notice Shaw is sporting his trendy cloth diapers. 

People are always telling me that Shaw is such a happy baby.  They frequently ask me if he ever cries.  He really is great and I always tell people he is a happy boy.  He will always smile when people talk to him, he’s always wiggling and rocking and just having a good time.  I think a great word to describe him would be pleasant. 

pleasant

adjective

1  enjoyable, pleasurable, nice, agreeable, pleasing, satisfying, gratifying, good; entertaining, amusing, delightful, charming; fine, balmy; informal lovely, great.

Hauling some Wood.

Marinn and Taurin are pro wood haulers…

They are all about the accessories; notice the gloves.  It makes me laugh how huge the gloves are but they still insist on wearing them. 

Taurin insists on carrying the largest piece of wood possible. 

They make a great team.

I just think this picture is cool.  I was trying to get one with nice natural lighting but it was really overcast outside.  I snapped this one as Toto was zooming by me. 

Baby holding Baby

I was changing Shaw on my bed the other day... there was one of the girls babies laying next to him. He reached his hand out an scooped the baby up.  He was trying to eat the baby's hair but it was so cute how he had his arm wrapped around it.  By the time I got the camera it wasn't quite as cute and snuggly but at least I almost caught it.

Taking a ride on the poop train!

This weekend Popsie what cleaning up the poop off the back yard.  Marinn for some reason really wanted to help.  She was the official poop bucket holder.  He would say, "Here's some more." She'd diligently move the bucket to the location and wait for Popsie to flick the poop in the bucket.

This went on for quite some time... there was a lot of poop.  But she stuck with it until the end.  A few times she just had a gross look on her face but she never complained or gave up.

She would sit on the bucket and scoot along to the next location.  Taking a ride on the poop train!

Spit is great.

Marinn found some scrap fabric today as my mom was making a quilt.  She started wrapping it around her feet saying she had a boo boo.  I wasn't paying much attention to it and then I saw her spit on the end of the fabric and wrap it the rest of the way around her foot.  She seemed to be using the spit to secure the fabric.

I said, "Eww Marinn don't spit on it that's yucky."

She said, "It's helping it. Spit is great mom."

I really didn't have much of an argument after such a cute thoughtful response.

5 Ponies

This was Taurin's end of the day hair. She started the day with just 2 pig tails but as the day went on she kept finding hair ties and bringing them to me. I would tie up any stray hair that had fallen out of her pig tails and by the end of the day she was rocking 5 pony tails. It was pretty stinkin cute!

the Corner!

Sometimes you have to adjust discipline to make it work with your children's personalities and we have discovered the corner is an effective tool.

This is where Taurin and Marinn have been spending some of their time lately.

I couldn't help myself the other day when Taurin got in trouble for something while they were playing dress up.  She looked so cute in her little fairy dress held tight with a chip clip : )

Free Cuddles

So often in my children's lives they go through phases where they really aren't in the mood to just sit around and cuddle with mom.  Knowing this I take advantage of every opportunity I can when they do want to snuggle up in my arms and just maybe doze off.... no matter what age they are it is a huge reward of being mom. I've been so pleased that my mom has had that opportunity since we've been here in Utah.  Her and Shaw have taken many a nap snuggled in a big afghan.  I finally remembered to bust out the camera and capture the free cuddles.

Ballerina

I put Taurin to bed while Marinn was cleaning up a game she had been playing with in the living room.  When I took Marinn into the bedroom to go to sleep this is how little Toto was sleeping.  As I was kissing Marinn goodnight she pointed at Taurin and whispered,

"She looks like a ballerina."

That is sweet.

Welcome to the Crossfit Gym!

Five days a week I go to the gym.  On Saturday mornings they have a family/friends workout where you can bring people with you to try out the program (Crossfit).  They are even wonderful enough to allow the kids to come. This morning I took Brian, Jamie, Aspyn, Tearony, & Marinn.  Brian, Jamie and I did the actually "work out of the day".  The kids hung out and played with the fun boxes, jump ropes, etc. they found around the gym.

Marinn had a great time and would occasionally come over and join me in the workout by doing some Burpees or sit ups.  She even got on the rowing machine and started rowing away like a pro.. she had this serious look on her face that was so determined.  She had a great time and burned off some energy too!

Later this afternoon I found Marinn in her bedroom with Taurin showing her how to do a box jump.  She had pulled out a large tupperware bin and was showing Taurin how to jump on.  The funniest part about this is that we do box jumps as part of our training but we didn't do them today.  Marinn had seen some of the other kids (who had seen a box jump before) jumping up on the boxes and I guess she decided Toto needed to get her work out on!

Then, tonight as I was putting the girls to bed and we were saying their prayers Marinn asked for a turn to pray.  It went something like this, "Thank you for the good day.... and push ups... and jumping... and it was hard!... and we did it again... and again... and again... and again... again, again, again... and keep Daddy safe when he is working and working and working and working, working, working, working.....  .....Amen."

I wish I would have gotta a pic of her doing her tupperware box jumps but a Photo Booth pic of my hand will have to do.  That's my dry callused hand in the photo.  Crossfit definitely makes you strong but doesn't give you pretty hands.  It's a reasonable trade for me : )

Pancakes & Oatmeal

This morning my mom was making pancakes down stairs... when Taurin woke up the first thing she said was, "Pancakes!? Pancakes!? Pancakes!?"  This continued until we made it downstairs to the pancakes.  She loves pancakes, she'll eat a whole stack and ask for more.

Toto's other favorite breakfast food is oatmeal... she will throw down a good 3 bowls in one sitting if you let her. She actually has asked me for oatmeal for dinner on a few occasions.  I wonder why she loves it so much?