Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Kid 1, Kid 2, Kid 3, and Dad

I thought I'd do another quick update on the kids and how stinkin' cute they are!!! (And there's a little something about Dad at the end).

KID 1

Ben is so smart. He loves preschool and is starting to sound out words a little bit. He loves writing his letters and it just blows my mind how smart he is!


This little boy loves his sisters so much!! He is so sweet! I love watching him help Brooklyn put together puzzles. He is so patient and helpful, always reminding her to match the colors. He understands what Brooklyn is saying more often than I do and always says "No, Mom, that's not what she said. She said..." And Brooklyn loves him too, and just follows him around and can't do anything without him.

I love watching him with Adilyn. She is his pride and joy. He is so gentle with her and always has to give her a hug and kiss before he goes to sleep. Just today I overheard him explaining to Brooklyn why it's so important not to give Adilyn an owie.

"And Brooklyn, Heavenly Father gave her to us. And Brooklyn, Heavenly Father made her so special. And that's why we have to be so gentle and not give her owie's"

And my favorite thing that he does is when Adilyn smiles at him, he always says "I love you too, Adilyn!"

KID 2

Our little Brooklyn is just too funny. She is super accident prone. She'll just be walking in an empty room with nothing around her at all, and somehow she'll end up falling very dramatically. It's like someone pushed her or something, but there was no one there!!! And because she is always falling, she got her first stitches last month. She fell and hit her chin on a bed, which resulted in three stitches. She was a trooper! And she still tells us about it all the time!

And she is so funny. She calls everyone "her boys." When talking to any one of us, or all of us, it's "Come on boys!"

A few weeks ago in church, I was trying to get her to be quiet, which by the way, is impossible!! I whispered to her that she needed to be quiet. She said (in a very loud voice, of course) "No, Mom, I'm talking to my boys." So I watched her to see what in the world she was talking about. It was so funny to watch her look up at "her boys," (known as the bishopric to most) and continue her conversation with them (still in a very loud voice). "Hi boys! What are you doing?" What a crack-up.

She loves Ben and Adilyn too. As mentioned earlier, she pretty much doesn't leave Ben alone, and I'm not even sure she knows how to function without him. And she will not leave Adilyn alone for anything. We're still trying to get her to understand how to be gentle, but it's a slow process. But she is so cute. She can be crying her little eyes out, but if she sees Adilyn, an instant smile shows up on her face!

KID 3

Adilyn is five months and growing like a weed. It's so fun to watch her. The kids can get her to smile and laugh more than McLain and I can. She adores them, and is only afraid of Brooklyn on occasion. :)

Her blessing day was back on November 6th. She was beautiful and I'm so thankful for the Priesthood and that McLain is worthy to bless our children.

This is our most recent family picture. It was taken on Adilyn's blessing day. It's the only one where one of the kids didn't have a hand over their face. So instead of having their hands over their faces, they just look funny. Oh well!

DAD

And now I have to brag about my dad. He made this cradle...

...for me when I was a baby. Isn't it beautiful? And it even rocks. He gave it to us so that we could use is for Adilyn. I love it.

Good job Dad!!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Scriptures according to Brooklyn

Oh Brooklyn. She's so funny.

Every night we read scriptures before bed. We each read one verse, with me or McLain helping the kids with their verse. At the rate we're going, four verses a night, we'll probably finish the Book of Mormon in about 10 years or so. Hey, that's okay.

Anyway, Brooklyn never just reads a verse all the way through without variation. She usually comes up with some way to make us laugh. She definitely has a mind of her own and wants to be different.

Here are some of the REAL experiences we've had reading with her.

First, there's the "I just don't want to read tonight."

Me: And it came to pass,
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: that after
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: I, Nephi
Brooklyn: (silence)
...and so on

Next, there's the "I'll read a little, just to humor you."

Me: And it came to pass
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: that after
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: I, Nephi
Brooklyn: Nephi
Me: had made an end
Brooklyn: (silence)
...and so on

We've got the "Oops, I forgot to say it, so I'll make it up later."

Me: And it came to pass
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: that after
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: I, Nephi
Brooklyn: Nephi came to pass after
Me: had made an end
Brooklyn: made end
...and so on

There's the "Oops, I forgot to say it, so I'll make it up later, and for the rest of the verse!"

Me: And it came to pass
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: that after
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: I, Nephi
Brooklyn: Nephi came to pass after
Me: had made an end
Brooklyn: made end came pass after
Me: of teaching
Brooklyn: teaching came pass after
Me: my brethren
Brooklyn: brethren came pass after
...and so on

We've got the same as the two previous ones, except she uses her own words.

Me: And it came to pass
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: that after
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: I, Nephi
Brooklyn: Nephi fruit snack
Me: had made an end
Brooklyn: made end
...and so on

and

Me: And it came to pass
Brooklyn: (silence)
Me: that after
Brooklyn: after apple
Me: I, Nephi
Brooklyn: Nephi apple
Me: had made an end
Brooklyn: made end apple
Me: of teaching
Brooklyn: teaching apple
Me: my brethren
Brooklyn: brethren apple
...and so on

There's the "I'm gonna add my own words again randomly."

Me: ...and the Lord
Brooklyn: Lord
Me: did curse
Brooklyn: curse Daddy Mommy
(~~~WHAT??? She really said that!! She must have been mad at us that day!~~~)

And the most recent one, the "I'm gonna use my own characters tonight."

Me: ...he called
Brooklyn: he called
Me: their names
Brooklyn: their names
Me: Mosiah,
Brooklyn: Ziah
Me: and Helorum,
Brooklyn: and He-um
Me: and Helaman
Brooklyn: and Cinderelly and Santa!

What a goof!!!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Creeper

So finally here is my Halloween post. I know it's like 2 months late...sorry.

Ben was so excited to be a creeper. And pretty much everyone had to ask what in the world a creeper is.

This is a creeper...



It's off of Minecraft, which is one of the computer games that McLain plays that Ben loves to watch.

~~~~~

And Brooklyn was just a cute little kitty this year. That's what she was last year, so we did it again because we had the ears and she isn't really old enough to care yet. Next year she will be more excited to choose. Besides, we lost the ears trick-or-treating, so she can't be a kitty again anyway.


~~~~~

This is pretty much what Adilyn thought of the bumblebee costume the whole time!


~~~~~

And the kids in their cute Halloween shirts from Gramma Merrie.



Happy Super Late Halloween!!!