tooth fairy time

mason was barely 4 months old when he got his first tooth.  we had taken him in for his well check and the doctor told us that was unusual but possible and was quite surprised when she opened his mouth and saw this....

 

5 years later, that very first tooth is now gone.  i'm a little sad that my boy is getting so big. 

 

so on to the story....

one afternoon last week we were having a fresh peach for a snack.  i had gone to help sophie in the bathroom and when i came back out mason ran up to me and showed me that his tooth was barely hanging on.  i couldn't believe it! i didn't even know any of his teeth were loose.  i told him to keep moving it so it would fall out soon. about 4 hours later after dinner, mason was eating a little chocolate treat.  i had gone into the bathroom with loaf again and as i was going back to the living room mason runs up to me with his tooth in his hand!! say what?! in 4 hours time he had gone from a perfectly normal smile to missing one of his pearly whites.  it was crazy but he was SO excited!! i tried to post the video of him right after he ate the peach but for some reason it had troubles uploading.  so that night he put his tooth into an envelope and stuck it under his pillow.  the next day he was just as excited to find a letter from the tooth fairy, some stickers and a couple of dollars in exchange for that his tooth. the tooth fairy was nice enough to let me keep his tooth to put in a journal i keep for each of my kids just as a little memory :)

love his bed-head in this picture!

 

 in other news, this little cutie is just about 8 months old.  man, has it been a tough 8 months.  b has always been pretty fussy and not a great sleeper...at all...but she is getting better. she army crawls to get where she wants and is starting to get into trouble.  the other day a few dvd's were scattered by the tv.  i thought the kids had been going through them and forgot to put them back. the next day i caught this little culprit red handed.  she hasn't pulled herself upright yet but she can get about half her body off the floor when she tries.  she still doesn't have any teeth which is a huge shocker!! she loves to squeal and play with mason and sophie and she loves bath time.  i think she looks a lot like mason did as a baby but her eyes are blue like sophies :)

 

 remember that beautiful dark hair she was born with? yeah its gone. i'm so sad about that.  i love, love, loved that hair. now its just about the same color as mine. 

here is a comparison....

 

 so sweet :)

 

 i just threw this picture in to prove to my kids that at one point in thier lives they loved each other enough to hold hands at breakfast :)

3,000 miles later...

we officially survived our first road trip with three kids! i have been dreading the idea of 23+ hours in the car with my 3 rugrats since we first planned our vacation. mason and sophie are great in the car but brooklyn is a nightmare.  a few weeks ago i had to drop mason off at a birthday party which was about 20 minutes away. b screamed the whole way there and the whole way back. i just knew this was a glimpse of what i was going to be dealing with on the way to utah.  when all was said and done, i was shocked.  b did so amazingly great!! we only had one or two crying episodes which didnt even last too long. and thank goodness we decided to go with a third row when we bought our car a few years ago. we would not have survived in a 5 passenger car. mason and sophie sat in the very back then i sat in the middle row with b to keep her entertained and fed.  ahh. sigh of relief that the drive went better than anticipated. the rest of the trip was awesome too.  we headed to st. george first and had swim/dinner get togethers with both sides of curtis' family. it was so great getting to visit with everyone, including family members who we haven't seen in several years.  as usual  the kids had a blast swimming. they are actually pretty good swimmers and brave with water so i just slapped on their floaties and let them go (with a grown up hovering nearby of course!).

 

 this is mason going down the slide with casey.

mason, sarah, and me

sophie and grandpa

curtis and his dad were throwing the kids into the pool.  they loved it!

you would think after two nights of swimming at james and michelles house we would be all watered out but no sir! we had to throw a trip to the lake in there too! it made me think of the times we have gone to lake powell with this great family. i miss those trips but this was close enough :) we ate lunch, played on the beach, went tubing and cliff jumping. it was so much fun! we are so grateful to the sullivans for letting us invade their house for the week and taking us to the lake!

 

mason, amanda and sophie

 

sarah, sophie and mason building sand castles

curtis and nathan

casey and sophie out on the boat

 this is mason, sarah, esther and curtis out on the tube. this was the first time mason has been big enough to ride and he was laughing and smiling the whole time. i keep kicking myself for not getting a video of it. it was so funny watching how much he was loving it. it still brings a smile to my face when i think about it :)

out on the tube with some of my favorite girls, amanda and sarah

 

 i didn't participate in cliff jumping this year but this is the crazy bunch that did.

 

 eventually our time in st. george came to an end. we left the kiddos with curtis' parents for the night so curtis and i could attend my sisters wedding in manti the next day.  i didn't get any pictures on my camera but it was beautiful! curtis and i got married in the same temple 7 years ago and we haven't been back since curtis' sister got married there a few months after we did.  it was great to go back for such a special event! i have only met my new brother in law over skype once but curtis' family knows him and his family from years ago and I'm super excited for the two of them. they had lunch at the same place curtis and i did then we headed back to cedar for the reception. although there were some issues, everything worked out perfectly in the end. it was great seeing the two of them so happy and i got the chance to talk with lots of family and members of my parents ward that i haven't seen since i got married. 

 

this is the kiddies with my mom and grandma

once we all recovered from the crazy wedding madness a few of us decided to take a mountain biking trip.  usually i stay home while curtis goes with my dad and siblings. this time my sister was on her honeymoon and one of my brothers had gone back to missouri after the wedding which meant there was an extra bike for me! i was nervous and i just about died but it was so much fun! curtis and i even had a coyote run across the trail in front of us which was quite a surprise. i hope i can go with them again!

 

a few other things lacking visual representation:

curtis went shooting with his dad and brothers. he also got in a round of golf with an old friend.

we had a dinner with all the adults in curtis' immediate family 

i went to lunch and a movie with my mother in law and sister in law

one of our good friends was celebrating her 30th birthday so we went to her party and caught up with our little group that we used to hang out with.

 

 

 this picture pretty much sums up our trip.  lots of adventures, to bed late every night, lots of laughter and love. 

 

 

until next time, we love you all and thanks for a great time!!

sophie is 3!

sophie:

 beautiful, blue eyes, blond hair

stubborn to the core

so funny

dare devil

smart

awesome big sister

loving

friendly

independent

3 years old!

 

we always say how hard sophie has been and dread what the future has in store for the teenage years, but that doesn't mean we aren't crazy for this girl.  she is always making us laugh! i love the things she says and does....for example: when brooklyn cries sophie automatically starts singing jingle bells. i have no idea why but that's what she does to calm b down.  the girls share a room and when brooklyn wakes up crying at night, sophie starts singing this song in her sleep. its awesome :) sophie loves that baby and that baby loves her! she is super friendly and loving and is always surprising me with a random "mommy, i love you". sophie and mason are best buds. i hate when they argue but the majority of the time i love watching them laugh and create new games together. i'm worried that she will get pretty lonely when mason starts all day kindergarten next year (texas doesn't do half day) but luckily her other best friend, camille, lives right across the street! i am so glad she is in our family and i cant believe it has been three years since she first stole a place in our hearts!

 

for her party we invited a few of her friends from church and playgroup. she insisted on a princess party but there were going to be a few boys there so i made it a princess and pirate party :) since they are still pretty young, they mostly just played with toys, we did one little game, decorated hats, cake and presents. sophie had so much fun and we are so glad for everyone who could make it!

 

on sophie's actual birthday she got to open family presents. she immediately wanted to put on the dress up jewelry that grandma and grandpa sent her.

 

 for her party a few days later, i made princess hats for the girls who also got wands and the boys got pirate swords and eye patches. the two boys that came were the younger ones in the bunch and didn't really care about the party stuff but emet did have fun playing swords with mason.

i wanted sophies cake to be elegant but simple...i think it turned out pretty cute!

i couldn't wrangle up the boys but here are the girls with their princess hats that they got to decorate and their wands.

 

and here is emet and mason sword fighting. pretty sure emet enjoyed himself :) 

b trying out sophies princess hat. 

 

 

happy birthday sophie!!