Beautiful Baby Girl

I'm sorry, but Ashley is just the cutest thing alive! She is doing really well these days, especially when she gets her Prevacid and Desitin! I am very lucky that everything has turned out so well with her. Lately she has been good at being entertained by dangling toys or rattles or music. This lets me lay her down on her mat and she will be happy! (knock on wood) I love it when I have left her there for a while and I come back to check on her and as soon as she makes eye contact with me she gets a HUGE smile! Today I tried to run and grab the camera and get back to her smiles, but she always just wants to check the camera out and not look at me! Come on, your beautiful, adorable gorgeous mother, or a silver, cold camera?! Anyway, We are just so glad to have her in our life. I know Andrew is too, even though he does get into trouble when he wants to maul her with his love. :) Oh, yesterday Amy was holding her and she was talking the most I have ever heard her! She was having a full on conversation with the new ceiling fan! It was so cute, I love their little voices!

Crazy kid!

We are starting to TRY to potty train Andrew. You can tell from the picture how well it is going. Just kidding! We went to the store to buy cool underwear, like Wesley. That is pretty much the basis of this experience, trying to be like Wesley because he is a cool big boy and everyone wants to be like him! So we got some Lightening McQueen and Spiderman underwear, washed them and layed them out for him to pick which one he wanted to wear first. He wanted all of them on! He had them on his arms and ankles but they fell off as he was running around. He put it on his head all by himself! Anyway, I told him if he needed to go potty, to run into the bathroom. Well, a couple minutes after putting the underwear on, he runs into the bathroom and goes potty! The only downside...it was in his underwear, not in the actual potty! He ran out and told me he went potty! I could tell by the looks of his wet underwear he had, just not in the toilet. I guess when you tell kids something, they really pay attention. I never told him to do it on the toilet, I just told him to run in there. Oh well, better then if he were on the couch or something!

The things we do to get our kids to eat

If you know Andrew, you know that he is funny about food. I remember when he was eating baby food, he could eat jar after jar after jar. Then when we started normal food, he could down 2 yogurts, 2 bananas and who knows what else at one sitting. These days things are a little different. Our staples with him are crackers, pretzels, yogurt, cheerios and any type of bread I can put peanut butter on. Unfortunately for him, his mom doesn't let him just eat those! Oh, and he is the most hydrated kid you will ever meet, he LOVES water. On occasion he will eat chicken nuggets, especially the dinosaur shaped ones. Some days he likes bananas and apples, some days he likes gross puffed wheat cereal, the kind with no sugar and no nutritional value. SO as you can see, this is our daily battle. To get him to eat the sweetest applesauce there is, the strawberry stuff, I had to stick a straw into the top and pretend it was applesauce juice. Derick and I have been trying to be really good at offering him what we eat at dinner. We just put a small portion on his plate and try and be as animated and excited as we can for it, even if it is green beans. At least we got him to open up the green beans because we told him there were little candies inside. He wasn't to thrilled when they didn't taste like candy though. We seriously try everything: Mater LOVES lasagna, can you eat your spaghetti like a straw, mmm chicken is so good, Grandpa loves it, etc. If someone were to video our mealtimes, I would be SO embarrassed at the things we say to try and get him to eat! Tonight we had lasagna, corn and green beans. After the battle to get him to even stay at the table had calmed down, we told him that Wesley loved corn and that he should try it. He had a long stare down with the corn, I don't know why, maybe he was telling it mentally that it better taste good or else, but he put one on his tongue. Derick and I were both thinking, wait, did he just do that? So, we got excited for him. Yeah! Now chew it up like a dragon, use your teeth to mash it up, drop another one into your mouth from way up high. It was working! At this point we try to give him attention, but then again try not to give too much so that he will just keep going. It is a big relief when we have a moment like this. As you can tell from the picture it was short lived, all the excess veggies ended up in his water, but as parents, we were ecstatic. He got a star, we called Grandma, took pictures, the whole works to let him know that we were so happy! So hooray for Andrew tonight!

Happy Birthday to Andrew & Uncle Ryan!

Every year since Andrew has been born we have had a combined birthday party with Uncle Ryan (Derick's 6'7" little brother :)) whose birthday is 2 days later. Here are some pictures of the cakes, Ryan had a lemon cheesecake and Andrew had his train cake. If you look at the picture of Andrew blowing the candles out you can see how tempting it was to blow by the looks of Kailyn and Wesley's faces!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Hunt came up to celebrate with us. We missed them at Ashley's blessing because they were sick, but we were so happy to have them there! Ashley isn't looking at the camera, but look how cute Great Grandma looks! I love the picture of all the great grandkids on the couch. This is going to be one they look back on a long time from now and remember how fun and loving their great grandparents are!

KANGAROO ZOO!

We went to the Kangaroo Zoo for Andrew and Ada's birthday last Saturday (they were born on the same day for those of you who don't know) It was so much fun! All the grandkids that live in Utah came to play! We had Wesley, Seaka, Ada, Seth, Andrew and even Ashley! She didn't play, we just held her of course. The nice thing about this place is that they have stuff for all ages and you can't get hurt! Well, I guess Andrew and even Derick came home with some rug burns from the big slide. They have a gate too that keeps the kids inside so you don't have to worry about losing them.

We tried to get all the kids on a couch to take a picture. We got them on the couch, but were not lucky enough to have them all look at the camera at the same time! Oh well, it was just fun to have them playing altogether! The kids didn't want to stop for the camera or even to open presents. After some tears, as you can see on Andrew's face, we opened presents and then tried to leave...tried being the key word. It took a couple of tries to get the kids off the equipment, but eventually we succeeded. Needless to say, the kids had great naps that day!

THE cake, not just any, but THE CAKE

I asked Andrew what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and he said the Polar Express. Who wants to eat a cake colored with black frosting? Not me. So I asked him if he could have a train cake, what color train would he like. He said a red train. Who wants a ton of red frosting? Not me. SO I stopped asking questions and figured, more like hoped, that he would like whatever I made. With a bunch a phone calls to different craft stores (because Shepard's went out of business) and finally a trip to Orgon Gygi, I found the perfect cake mold! It is a 3D train engine. If you haven't ever made a 3D cake before, there are 2 pieces that fit together. You set one piece on a cookie sheet and pour the batter into it. Then you place the other piece on top and the cake raises into it. I tied the pieces together so they would stay shut and not have the cake push them apart. On the top piece there is a little vent hole for the steam to escape while it is raising and baking. I put it in the oven and set the timer. The timer went off and when I opened the oven, this is what I found... It was a lava flow of chocolate pound cake batter! Why in the world after 50 minutes was it still liquid in there? Yes, it was overfilled. I thought I only put in as much as the recipe said, but I must have done too much. I scraped the stuff off, took a piece that had baked onto the cookie sheet and plugged the little steam hole up. I let it bake a little more longer, stuck a wooden shishkabob skewer (because I didn't have any toothpicks) in the steam hole and it came out clean! After 4 hours of cooling and baking some white cake to make a train car, this is what we have!

It is a proud moment when it actually looks like something and isn't tipping over or turning into mush! Now for the frosting. Amy is the professional cake decorator of the family, so lets just say we were on the phone A LOT that night. I made 2 batches of frosting to be sure that I had enough. I started coloring them with cake dye which is a pain to mix. My hand was already getting tired by the time the frosting colors were all mixed. One mistake I made was to buy a reusable instead of disposable frosting bags. In between each color I had to wash it completely out. That was a pain! Anyway, after a couple hours wishing I had a turn table cake stand and talking a lot on the phone, this was the end result!

I just now realized that I didn't put wheels on the car, oh well.

Some pictures of his 3 years...

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ANDREW!

Things I love about Andrew:
1. His facial expressions-He has ALWAYS had the funniest, most
intense expressions! From the day he was born, and even now he still continues to find new ways to contort his face!

2. His feet-The minute he was born the nurses were saying, "oh my, look at his feet! They are huge!" They were always clammy. He likes to pick toe jam out of them. They are ticklish of course. The first time I tried to put flip flops on him he couldn't hold still because it tickled too much!

3. His nose-Of course. Everyone has to comment on his nose. Whether they say, oh look at his cute turned up nose or don't know what to say so just say, whose nose does he have? It makes him Andrew! It looks exactly like his ultrasound pictures showed when I was only 20 weeks along!

4. His organization-If you know Andrew, you know he likes to line things up. And don't even try to mess with them because he will get right on it to put it right back where it was. He has been lining up his cars for years. He would rather do that then play "cars"! How many times have I left a room and come back to find a line going one way or another, or all the colors together, or all the vans in one line, the trucks in another and the tractors in another! He lines up rocks, cheerios, cups, raisins, shoes, etc. I hope this characteristic will help him in the future!

5. His singing-He loves to sing! Sometimes it is more like belting, but usually singing. He can hold a note, sing right on key and memorizes songs so easily! While he is playing he will sing or hum some tune. He will change the words, "Once there was a tractor, tractor, tractor, once there was a tractor, big, big, big!" He loves nursery songs, Disney songs, songs people teach him, anything!

6. His curiosity- Sometimes I don't know if I love this, but for the most part I do! Andrew notices EVERYTHING!

7.His love for his family- Every morning Derick gets him out of his room when he wakes up. If it is mom instead, he is so worried about where dad is! He loves Ashley. He tells me when she looks sad, or spits up or wants to share his toys with her. It is so sweet the way he says, Ashwee!

8. His "I am trying to manipulate you mom and dad" face- He gets this face, and I wish I had a picture of it, when he is asking for something. "I think I need a treat because I was a good boy." Picture him saying it slowly and deeply like he is trying to prove a point to us and he cocks his head a little and looks out the corner of his eyes while nodding.

I could go on and on, but I thought I would just mention a few. We are so lucky to have such a good boy. He has his moments as do all kids, but we enjoy all of it. What was life like without him? It must have been slow and boring because he keeps it exciting and us on our toes every minute of every day. I love you my buddy!

Ashley's Baby Blessing

We blessed Ashley this last Sunday. It was so nice. She was wonderful during everything, she even slept in her carseat on the way to church and until Derick needed her. She did great taking pictures with everyone afterwards. I was so glad that Grandpa Wesley could come from Alaska to be here for it. We loved having him stay at our house. I know Andrew was glad to have someone different to play with than just me!

Our weekend started out great. Paul brought Grandpa down to our house from the airport and dropped him off Friday morning. We went to dinner that night with Amy and the kids. We had to settle for the closest thing to Moose's Tooth that Utah has I guess. We went to Cobblestone Cafe. The kids were having fun playing together out to dinner together. This was Ashley's first real public place she has ever been other than the doctors office! She was pretty content in her carseat just listening to all the noise. I am sure she was glad to be out of the house just as much as I was!

Saturday morning we all met for breakfast. We had Grandpa, Paul, Kara, Ada, Seth, Dave, Amy, Wesley, Seaka, Derick, me, Andrew, Ashley, and Andy! What a group! We sure missed John and his family and mom and Emily. After breakfast we went to Costco all together. You should have seen our parade of carts! We took the kids to a park by our house for them to play next. I think they had fun, I was at home trying to calm Ashley down, she didn't like riding in her carseat, which she never does. Amy and I started preparing food for Sunday, while the boys and kids watched a movie. Seaka and Andrew took a bath together, it was cute, but poor Wesley wanted in SO bad, he is just a little old though. He got to take one after them and borrow some of Andrew's pj's. That was cute. (Wes is 6, Andrew is 2)

What kind of photoshoot would it be without some bloopers. I can't believe Amy caught this on film! Ashley likes to spit up, and usually we can catch it. This one was caught by the camera, but not the burp rag! It got all over her white dress!

I was so glad Grandma Ione was able to come down. Thanks to Aunt Myrl and Uncle Grant for bringing her, even on Aunt Myrl's birthday!

Now we can't forget Andrew on this day. He was so good at church. He was so happy to have Ada come to nursery with him. He told me all about it later that day. Back at the house he was having WAY too much fun with all the cousins at his house.

I was so happy to have Mavis booties for Ashley. Mavis was my Grandma Green's best friend and practically a second mom to my mom. She is still making these booties for us all even at ninty some years old!

Um, maybe we are done with this...

Right when I thought he couldn't get any more flour on anything else, I look at him and see it all over his face! He showed me how he was licking the counter because the flour tasted good. Ya, we were done after that. Thank goodness I had just wiped down my counters.