Snow Followed by Fall!

We had some beautiful snow fall the other day and Aliyah begged to go out to make a snowman. So, once Joshua went down for a nap...we bundled up and jumped in.


She was proud of her little snowman. Once she had finished, she began chasing me with snowballs and insisted we make snow angels. I think we got everything covered before going inside for some hot cocoa.



The kids had fun rolling around in the leaves and building piles to jump in while at Grammy's house. Aliyah had way too much fun.




We had a fun time as a family carving pumpkins. Aliyah remembered how fun it was to clean them out, and knew just what to do. She was continually telling Jason and I what we are supposed to do.


Joshua just had fun rolling the pumpkins around on the floor.

Our finished pumpkins.

We had our ward Halloween trunk-or-treat and Aliyah enjoyed being a princess once again. This time she had her trusty pet, Pascal, with her. Joshua mostly enjoyed crawling around the floor.




I just love this picture because Joshua quickly discovered the candy and immediately threw one in his mouth with a guilty look.

Happy Being Three!

Aliyah is finally 3! She has been waiting for this day "FOREVER". She woke up to balloons and yummy breakfast. Aliyah kept saying, "Thank you for my balloons" and "thank you for my birthday breakfast".

She was spoiled with having a bubble bath, making a princess crown, and helping me frost her birthday cake.

(A nice boy in nursery decided to give her a black-eye for her birthday)

Just a quick side note, Aliyah and her cousin, Brynlee, had a double birthday party at Papa and Grammy's house. They were so excited for their little party. It is easy to please a three year old.


So, Aliyah is obsessed with the movie Tangled. She talks about it all the time and has wanted a Rapunzel birthday since she saw a birthday cake with a Rapunzel tower on it. Sadly, she had to put up with a simple cake with Tangled figures on it. Aliyah actually told me that her tower was missing. It made up for it when she began rolling the Rapunzel doll in the frosting "grass" and began singing "running and racing, dancing and chasing..." She is adorable.


I decided to really make it a Rapunzel party by sewing her a dress just like Rapunzel. I found a really crazy 80's dress from a thrift store and ripped it up to make her dress. I really wish I would have taken a picture of the before dress, but just imagine rouched sleeves and elastic waistband. It was beautiful, let me tell you.

Here is our princess in her Rapunzel dress with not long, but golden hair.


This girl truly melts our hearts everyday. She has a way of making everyone happy when they are sad or upset. We are blessed to have her in our family and I am so glad she is our little girl. She is my big helper and is always finding ways to help without being asked. She even puts her own dishes in the dishwasher...I am a lucky mom!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Princess Punkinhead!

He Likes...

This little bug loves...

Crawling and cruising around everything, food, going for walks, playing with his sister, babbling, wrestling with daddy, trying to climb on things, baths, dumping toys, being outside, playing on our keyboard, swinging at the park, eating anything he can find on the floor.

He dislikes...
Being out of mommy's view, teething, going to bed, loud sounds (i.e. vacuum, blender, wheat grinder, movies), and sitting still

Only smiles I get while he is in bed

I am learning what it means to raise a boy. He is so active and into everything, I can't keep up. He has already had minor accidents of pulling an entire full-length mirror over himself--breaking it into a million pieces and luckily only getting a little gash.


He is also so mobile that he can get places FAST. He already took a tumble down our stairs and has no trouble having a new bump on his head everyday.



One of those few moments that he is still. I sure love nap time!



This boy is practicing to be a true cowboy. He has an obsession with this horse. He talks with it all the time and loves to ride it.


As I said before this boy loves being outside. He will calm down when throwing a major cryfest if I take him outside. I am going to have a hard time saying goodbye to warm weather. We will take advantage of it while we have it.




Oh, I love this momma's boy. Even though his only word is said in a whiny voice, I love that he loves his "ma ma ma".

She Likes...

This little princess loves...

Singing, dancing, discovering how things work, being right by mommy's side cooking, right by daddy's side fixing or building something, playing with all her friends, coloring, drawing all her favorite people, mommy preschool, reading books after books, being with Joshua, taking walks, playing at the park, going to nursery ("her class" as she calls it), cleaning with mommy...


She also is very adventurous and has tried a lot of new foods that I am unsure I would have tried at her age. Daddy brought home fish he caught and she wanted to help hold, clean, and eat it. I say she is brave. I wanted nothing to do with looking that thing in the face. Aliyah even thought she was supposed to eat the eyeball. Yuck! She seemed to like the meat though. We even had some friends do a crawdad boil and she played with those things like they were toys--no thanks to our friends encouraging her. I love that she tries it at least. Now if I could get her less picky with simple foods.


I had a huge desire to get a preschool together for her and her friends, but everyone else was unable to do it, so she is left with mommy school. She loves learning her numbers, letters, shapes, colors and such. Everyday she asks, "Can I do my work now?" She is a smart girl and I am always impressed with what she already understands.


I couldn't have asked for a more responsible oldest child. She is so helpful with Joshua and always wants to be helping me. She entertains him so well when I need a minute to get things together for dinner or such. Aliyah can get Joshua to laugh or smile more than Jason and I can. They had an automatic love for each other.


I can tell we are nearing age 3 because the word "why" is often heard here in our house. Also, because she throws so many fits over the littlest things. It is all for her discovering her independence which I appreciate but so long for her to slowly find out.

Independence Day

Our 4th of July celebration started out at our home where we grilled and made s'mores. Aliyah completely enjoyed the gooey stickiness.


We got dressed up to head to Jason's parent's to really celebrate with food, swimming, and fireworks.


Jason and I got to head out on a date to celebrate our 7th anniversary. It was nice to be able to be just us for a little while.

We also were able to get a family picture taken by Papa. Grammy was so entertaining while getting the kids to smile, but it worked and we love them.




We ended the stay with fireworks. Joshua hated them and Aliyah endured them. She got to do her own sparklers which resulted in her own battle wound. She burned her arm, but got back out there and did another.




Since then we have had rain, rain, rain. It has been so wonderful. I love the rain and Aliyah has been thrilled to use her umbrella. We enjoy the rumbling thunderstorms and down-pours.

June Happenings

June came and went very quickly for us. We were able to spend time with Jason's family and got to see Jordan, Laura and Brynlee.

The girls got to camp out with Grammy and Papa in the backyard. They had so much fun and Aliyah still talks about it. Aliyah and Brynlee loved playing together and we will sure miss having them around, but hope to visit soon.


Joshua tried out the swing for the first time. He loved it and especially thought the ropes were tasty.


We were so grateful to be able to be with Luke when he went through the temple for the first time. He is preparing to enter the mission field in October to Brazil. The girls will definitely miss their "favorite uncle"- he has been hard at work making sure this is the case.


Our neighbor kindly gave Aliyah a little plot of land to grow her own garden. She has been thrilled to watch her plants grow and produce her veggies. She picked zucchini, carrots, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers to grow. It has been nice to work outside since we lack a yard to work on.

He's My Chippy, Chippy!

So, our May started with quite the excitement. Aliyah and Joshua got rather sick and were put on antibiotics. They continued to get worse, and Joshua was crying all the time and refused to sleep or eat. We took him to the emergency room since it was a Sunday, and after hours of test, we found he had RSV. Luckily, we had caught it so early that he only needed to be monitored at home and wouldn't need to be hospitalized.

We were grateful to have that pass from us and enjoy warmer weather, a trip to Utah, and just play. Aliyah and Joshua have just grown to love each other more and more. They are a hoot to watch together. Aliyah smothers him including laying on top of him, giving him so many hugs and kisses, and patting his bald head. He returns the love by pulling her hair...all the time! They really love to laugh and roll around on the floor together.



I just love having two kids and I am sure it gets more fun with a house full of them. I have so much fun watching them interact. They sure make me smile!

Aliyah has officially named Joshua, "chippy-chippy". Not sure how it came about, but she always tells people, "He is my chippy, chippy". So, it has stuck and he loves his new name.

We had a fun day of hiding under the dining room table because Aliyah informed me that Joshua was a monster. As we were hiding, she said that he was hungry and would eat us. I asked her what we should do. She began reaching on the floor and pretending to throw something at him. I asked her what she was doing, and she responded with, "I am giving him cake!" It saved us alright. He decided to not eat us. Thank goodness!

Joshua is growing like crazy. He is so heavy and active. I am afraid for when he is actually crawling and walking. He already is into everything that is within reach. He is rolling over and sitting up by himself. Joshua has come to love the world around him. He discovers everything...and I mean everything...through taste.


Everyone we are in contact with want to pinch his cheeks and thighs. They are so adorable!


Aliyah has taken over the mommy position. I am now just the maid! Haha. But she really loves helping with whatever she can; especially, feeding cereal to Joshua. I think he enjoys it just as much. He just giggles when she comes at him with the spoon.


The end result. Completely covered in food, but happy!


Aliyah is growing just as fast as Joshua. She worked really hard to earn her own tricycle. She has loved using it practically daily this summer.



She is saying silly things all the time. A few of her new sayings are:

Me: Aliyah do you like your food?
Aliyah: Um, not really.
There was even a moment that everything was spicy, or so she says. She started picking out all the spices in her spaghetti sauce because it was "too spicy".
Although she does tell me every now and again: "You make really good food, mommy."

Whenever she wants something and we have none she responds with, "let's go and get more at the store, okay?"

"Hey my big boy!" - always how she greets Joshua

When something is frustrating she says, "oh, come on."

They are just too much fun. I hope they love each other as much as they do now.