A Little Bit of Everything

I thought I'd start with the new baby. So far, things look good. I just got this ultrasound last week, and thought it was so funny. You can see the baby's little fist up against her face. Her nose is cute, and her little lips are pursed. Either she's giving us a little attitude, or she's pouting. I'm hoping it's not a sign of things to come! It's cute, either way!


And now, here are a few things that we've been up to this summer.

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We planted a garden. Ben loved helping put the seeds in the holes.


Now his most frequent request is to "work in the garden." (Which, as you can tell by the pictures, and the weeds, needs to be done!!) He always wants to weed the garden. It's so cute. He'll pick one weed...


...and then walk over to the wheelbarrow to put it in.


We tried to tell him it would be easier to make a pile and bring them all over at once, but he would have nothing to do with it. What a good helper! Brooklyn usually helps by just walking all over the plants and getting dirty. And she sure loves getting dirty!!!

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Brooklyn had her 2nd birthday in Moab this year! She had a blast!

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These are just some cute pics of the kids hanging out outside with their swimming suits on. Brooklyn loves wearing hats backwards...this one is Ben's, which explains why it's so big.



She is trying to make the same silly face as Ben.

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We went camping last weekend as part of our family reunion. The kids had so much fun! They loved hanging out with their cousins and doing all the activities that were available for them.

Ben, Brooklyn, and Bridger ate every meal up on this stage area.


Brooklyn didn't let go of my dad pretty much the whole time we were there. Here she is just after she fell, with "Grandpa Merrie," as she calls him!


This is during a game of "goofball." I know Ben looks like he's about to pee, but he's really just excited that he made it to the base!


They were so excited to sleep in the tent. Don't they look so comfortable?!


Ben ended up on our bed. Isn't this such a cute picture?


McLain and our brother-in-law Brian competed at the 2 man saw. They did really well, even though they didn't end up with the fastest time.


My sister Kailynn was pretty disappointed that I couldn't do it with her. I didn't think it would be the best idea, considering my current condition.

And the favorite part of the whole trip for the kids were the pony rides!!!! They were so happy the whole time!



And then, this nice man came down to our campsite and let the kids ride a real horse! Ben wasn't there at the time, and doesn't really know what he missed...that's okay.

Bridger was a good helper holding Avery on.


And I literally don't think Brooklyn stopped smiling the whole time! She absolutely loved it!!!!!!!


And that's that. We have had a fun summer and are looking forward to this new baby. Wish us luck...I hear 3 kids is pretty tough!!

Easter Cookie Party 2011

The second annual Stephens Family Easter Cookie party was a success! The kids had so much fun.

~~We started by rolling out and cutting Easter cookies~~





~~Then we all made our way outside for the Easter Egg Hunt~~

The kids are waiting anxiously to start!



Ben and Brooklyn had a blast!





And look at how full those baskets are.



~~Dyeing Easter eggs was next~~

Ben was so excited, he was the first one ready, and was not extremely excited about waiting for the rest of us to get in there.





~~And then we frosted the cookies that we made earlier~~



This is Ben's little chick that he was frosting, but I think it looks more like a dinosaur.



And here's the finished dino-chick...with another layer of frosting. You can't even see all of the sprinkles that he put on there...there is so much frosting on this thing.



Ben's finished cookies. (Brooklyn wasn't really into the decorating the cookies part of the party, so I don't have any pics of her at this point.)



And I just had to put this picture of Zach. It's pretty much identical to the one I have of him on last year's post...eating a frosting-less cookie. So funny!



~~And last but not least, a picture of all the grandkids, loving the fun times at Grandma's house!~~



Thanks Grandma, it was loads of fun!!!

The Results

Well, we found out what we're having. Here are a few names that Ben has suggested for the baby. Let's see if they help you determine what it's going to be...

Brother Sister Bones

Jewia

Trombolia-hum

I don't know...I thought they were pretty creative, and there would likely be no one else with the same name.

But just in case those awesome names didn't help you, we'll tell you...

McLain and Ben will soon be outnumbered...

The big day...

...is tomorrow!

We want to know what you all think.

BOY or GIRL???

The poll is on the right side of the screen.

We'll let you know soon!

What's wrong with this picture?

You're absolutely right!!!!

The three and a half year old is wearing a diaper and the one and a half year old is sitting on the potty. Talk about SO frustrating.

I need help. I cannot figure out how to get Ben to pee in the potty. He's peed in it a few times in the past, but doesn't really want to have anything to do with it.

This is the problem. He can hold his pee in if he's in underwear, and he will all day long. But when it comes to actually going, he can't figure out how to make his pee comes out. "It's too tricky, Mom." "It's stuck." He really doesn't know how to get it out.

What in the world do I do???

Help.

Please.

P.S. Brooklyn doesn't know how to go potty yet either, but she sure was excited to just sit on it for a while.