Baby Annie's Blessing Day

Annie is 2 1/2 months old now.  Times flies!  She really doesn't look like a newborn anymore, which is both a little bit sad, and way exciting!  My baby is growing so fast!  (It's a good thing, though, because her blessing dress is a size 3-6 mos, so I needed her to have a bit of chub in order to fit into her dress on her big day!)

For the big day, we had lots of family from both sides attending church with us.  Why didn't I take a picture of all them, you ask?  I have no idea.  That would have been smart.  And memorable.  Maybe I'll think of that next time.

Sydney is the best big sister ever.  Aren't my girls beautiful??

Grandpa Jon holding an infant.  You will only ever see that happen when he is required to hold one for photo ops.  He even pretends to enjoy it.  He's a good sport.

Annie loves people and smiles and talks whenever she sees a face close enough to respond to.  She also performs for overhead light fixtures on occasion

Aunt Natalie with Annie.  Both are so pretty!

We LOVE you so much, Annie!  I'm so happy to have you in our family!  Already, I can't imagine us without you!

Soccer, Finally

Tanner has been patiently waiting to be old enough to play soccer for three years.  That's a significant portion of an almost-five-year-old's life!!  Okay, so he wasn't exactly patient, but he did wait three years.  This is his big chance to get out there and run.  And fidget.  And make silly faces for no reason.  And run.  And fidget.  And drink from a water bottle.  And eat half time snacks.  And fidget.  And get dirty.  I mean, we are talking serious FUN for him.

 He hopped (literally) right out there for his first practice before his first game.  Somehow kicking the ball was much more of an elusive skill than he was expecting.

I love that the most important skill that his coach taught the team was to only score in the correct goal.  His wisdom stayed with the players for the first half (for the most part!), but by the second half, none of the players on either team really had a concept of which goal they should be shooting on.

Here is Tanner after making the first goal of the season.  Yay!  That's my boy!!  Should I mention that he also made the second goal of the season?  He tipped it in for the other team.  I'm not sure how many goals Tanner made in this game, but I'm pretty sure he made more for the other team than he did for his own!  I LOVED watching his game!  He's bound to be an energetic player, and may even learn how the game is supposed to be  played.

Tanner! (because it's hard to say his name without an exclamation at the end!)

I Do It, Mom!

I have told many people that Eli is the easiest two-year-old ever.  That's because he is happy all day, he practically puts himself to bed for naps and bedtime, he says, "Okay, mom!" every time I ask him to do something, he never teases or hits his siblings, he's a great (not picky) eater, and he says the cutest things ever.  No, really. I'm telling the truth.  Easiest two-year-old EVER.

Except, as of  2 1/2 months ago, ALL THAT CHANGED.  Apparently, he had to become a two-and-a-half-year-old before he could turn on the real charm.  I won't go into the nitty gritty about how terrible his two's are, because, well, you probably already know.  He still has his moments though, when I just have to scoop him up and hug him because I love him so much and because he makes me smile.  And laugh. (And groan.  And pull my hair. . . )

So the other day, in all his grown-upness (what? that's a word!), he helped himself to a snack.  I often hear the phrase, "I do it, mom!"  He's getting to be very independent.  He didn't make much of a mess in the kitchen either, surprisingly. 

Yes, that's because all the mess ended up on him.

He is great at cleaning up messes, though.  He helps keep the napkin and paper towel companies in business.  I'm not gonna complain if he's cleaning up his own messes!

This mess wasn't easy.  He really had to work hard.

I'd say he worked at it for five or six minutes.  An eternity for a two-year-old.

And he's done.  Looks much better now.  =)  I love my Eli!!

Getting Ready for Church

Last weekend Cannon had to be away for reserves, so I got the kids ready and took them to church all by my lonesome.  Everything went exceptionally smoothly.  HA!  Not!  People still ask me how I am feeling when they see me (probably because I had a baby 2 1/2 months ago??) and I tell them I feel great!  I do!  But when they ask how I am doing, I tell them my life is crazy!!!  Depending on the day, I may say it with reserve and it fits right into polite small talk - or I may say it with a bit too much authenticity and the conversation suddenly stalls as the other person tries to find a quick way to move on and leave me to my insanity.

On this particular day, the kids lined up as I did their hair one by one.  Eli generally goes first because he is still enthusiastic about mom doing his hair.  And anyway, all I do it pretend to fix his hair because 1) he hardly has any hair to DO, and 2) his adorable cowlick in front makes it impossible to do anything other than let it be.  So, I pretended to do Eli's hair and proceeded to help each of the other kids with their hair.  As I finished up with Sydney, I hear Eli coming back down the hall towards me saying, "I girl, mom, I girl!"  And he had put one of Sydney's flowers in his hair.  Darling.  And then he tugged on the door handle to go out to the car and off to church!  Can I tell you how difficult it is to convince a two-year-old to change his mind about something once he has his mind made up?? 

What do you think?  Doesn't he make a sweet little girl?

Oh, yes.  And when the camera came out, every kid wanted his picture taken too.  Tanner wins the most kissable cheeks contest!!

Star of the Week

In Jackson and Jordan's fourth-grade class this year, they each get a turn to be Star of the Week. Last week was Jordan's turn. So fun to put together a poster with pictures and see which things are important enough to Jordan to present to his friends at school. Cannon and I were both able to be there and we brought along the little kids too.

Hmm. Check out Tanner's face. He is great in pictures!

This is Jackson and Jordan with their teacher, Miss T. It was also crazy hat day.  Jackson is on the left, Jordan is on the right.