Two Months Old!

I can't believe it, but Alyssa is 2 months old! Time goes by way too fast. She is smiling and cooing and sleeping 11 hours at night-what a wonderful baby! We love having her in our family and never get tired of being with her.

Christmas Eve

We met with friends on Christmas Eve and had the children act out the Nativity. It is so fun to see these children get into their parts and to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Lizzy is the cutest angel I've ever seen.

Hailey was Mary and Carter Bird was Joseph. I don't think that Kori saw, but Hailey actually went up to Carter and tried to kiss him. She'll be glad to know that Carter backed away. It's Hailey I need to worry about.

"Mary" and "Elizabeth": what cute girls.

Weight gain

Yesterday, Carter and Andrew decided that they wanted to try to outweigh Chris with their combined weights. Rather than lift weights or eat, they both consumed massive amounts of water-RIGHT BEFORE CHURCH. My rule has been-go before we leave and no one goes out of sacrament meeting. About 10 minutes into sacrament meeting, Andrew is shaking his legs and bouncing in his seat. Small bladder boy couldn't even make it through the sacrament and had to leave as the water was being passed. He had to go again 15 minutes later and Carter also left. When they returned, Chris quietly asked them, "How much do you weigh now?"

Say cheese!

I have been trying for the past 2 weeks to get the camera when Alyssa smiles, but I've never had any luck. It paid off today and I caught it! Her whole face lights up which is so sweet.

Andrew is 8!!

Andrew had his 8th birthday on December 6th and we celebrated by opening presents, eating cake and going to church. Andrew wasn't thrilled that his birthday was on Sunday this year, but overall it was a wonderful day for him. He is looking forward to his baptism in January when my parents are coming.

Each of our kids gets to have a party out of the house with their friends on their 8th birthday (otherwise it's at home). Andrew choose to go bowling and play in the arcade. He had a great time. All the boys were dancing and checking out each other's scores-they are so cute.

Random

When Hailey got home from school today, I could tell that she was tired. She went right over to Alyssa. Before I knew it, she was putting her (clean) finger in Alyssa's mouth since she couldn't find a pacifier and proceeded to suck her own thumb. We have some serious oral fixations in this family.

I told Grant that babies grow very quickly. Every morning he asks, "Did Alyssa get a little bigger last night?" He loves being a big brother.

First Sunday

We took Alyssa to church for the first time today. She slept the entire time. Unfortunately, now we have high expectations.

Sleepy Baby

Alyssa is a marvelous sleeper. She sleeps between 5-7 hours at night before she wakes up to eat and then goes right back to sleep. She is so good natured and I just love to watch her.

She's here!

We're so excited that our little girl is here. Alyssa Elaine Stradling was born on October 28th and weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. She is so sweet and the other children are loving having a little baby around. Hailey cried this morning as she left for school because she didn't want to leave her sister. I'll post more pictures later.

Marriage

Hailey came home from school the other day telling me that she was going to marry a boy in her class and was wondering if that was OK. We talked about waiting until she was older, etc., but I did ask her what it was about this boy that made her want to marry him. "He's nice." was her reply. A good starting point. Tonight, she told me that he had "broken up" with her and was going to marry her friend. Am I being paranoid, or is 5 a little young to be discussing marriage and breaking up? I'm totally not ready for this!

Trunk or Treat

We had our annual trunk-or-treat at church last night and all of the kids were excited to dress up and get free candy. Grant was easily talked into wearing our giraffe costume that we already had, but everyone else got to choose their outfit. Hailey was a cat (and let me tell you-she was totally convinced she looked AWESOME. She loves her costume), Carter went as Harry Potter, and true to his favorite past time, Andrew went as Mario.

Pumpkin Patch

I took 3 of the kids to a local pumpkin patch last week as they had a day off of school. They were able to feed the animals, play in the corn maze, slide down the huge blow up slide, take a hayride and ride the ponies. We also grabbed a couple of pumpkins on our way out. All in all, it was a great day.

First day of school

This year has been really strange, because I have 3 children in school full time. Carter started 4th grade, Andrew is in 2nd, and Hailey is in full day kindergarten. They all love it and Grant is so bored at home with me. He honestly follows the kids as they walk out the door with a look of total mourning on his face. Good luck "Blueberry" will be here soon (what he has named the baby).

Hailey turns 5!

While we were in Colorado, Hailey had her 5th birthday, and my sister Cory made her this amazing cake. She is super creative and I'm in awe of her. Hailey was so excited to turn 5 so that she could start kindergarten.

After we went to Idaho, we drove to Colorado and stayed for 3 weeks. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone and planned lots of activities. We went to the North Pole to see Santa, Prospect Lake to swim, Fargos Pizza, many parks, Pirates Cove, etc. Most of our pictures were taken by Cory, so I only have a couple on my computer. The kids loved seeing everyone.

Stradling Family Reunion

In July, we met the entire Stradling clan in Idaho for a few days of fun. The best part was seeing family. These are a couple of the younger cousins all decked out in their reunion t-shirts.

It's a....

We just had the ultrasound today and found out that we're having a GIRL! I'm totally shocked. I'm attributing my heightened emotional state to all that extra estrogen. :) We're so glad that she is healthy and everything looks good.

Hailey is so happy that she "won't be alone any more!"

Happy Birthday Grant

Grant turned 3 on Sunday. We had 100% Lightening McQueen gift giving. He's totally obsessed with the movie and was so excited about everything-even the underwear! Something tells me it won't be this easy every year.
He asked for waffles for dinner. Oddly enough, he was EXHAUSTED on his birthday and after the gifts at about 9 am, this was about the only other time that he smiled. Glad we got it on camera!

Summer Haircuts

Every summer, the boys ask me to buzz their hair. This is the first year I've done Grant's hair and he looks so different. Hailey felt a little left out and asked if I would give her a summer haircut. I quickly put the clippers away!

Thanks Grandma!

Chris' parents came for 10 days to watch our kids while we went to Hawaii. She made each of them really cute pajama pants. They all love them!

Hula Girl

Chris and I went to Hawaii with some wonderful friends and brought each of the kids back a souvenir. Hailey got a hula outfit and went to town with it. She is watching her reflection in the t.v.

Another foolish notion...

I well remember my pre-children days when I was a fabulous mom. Being a psych major, I pretty much knew how to raise a perfect child. That entailed no t.v., no video games, home schooling, and definitely NO TOY GUNS!! Don't we have enough violence in the world? It has taken exactly 9 years, but I've broken all of my rules and here are all four of my kids with Nerf guns in their hands. I can't wait to be a grandma...I'm going to be perfect at it! Dare to dream.

The Spider Web

When I was young, my mom used to make a "spider web" out of string for my birthdays. Each child starts at the beginning and winds up the string until they get to the end where there is a prize. I always loved it and decided to do it for Carter's party. I sort of forgot that it isn't a lot of fun to army crawl on the floor while you're pregnant. I almost went into labor (at 15 weeks) doing this silly game. I better get a REALLY good mother's day gift!

Happy Birthday Carter!

Carter and Andrew have had a couple of opportunities to play other people's Mario Kart and have loved it. We decided to get it for Carter (actually the whole family) for his birthday. They were both thrilled, although Andrew (as you can see) was so excited that he couldn't stop talking about it and still asks to play every day (even though he knows he can only play on weekends). There goes my pre-children no video game rule.

Egg Hunt

Egg hunts-what a fabulous invention! We hid the eggs the first time and then the kids spent at least 2 hours hiding the eggs for each other. It was fantastic! I think we'll do this again next week.

Twins!

We recently moved the kids' rooms around so that Andrew and Grant are now sharing a room. As you can see from the picture, they are getting along fabulously. They found these shirts from a family reunion last summer and both decided to wear them. Grant kept saying, "we're twins!" Of course, now Grant looks for this shirt every day and gives Andrew's to him. I'm sure people are starting to wonder about our family. Grant adores his brother, and Andrew is loving being the older brother.

FHE activity

Hailey choose to make marshmallow and toothpick creations for FHE. No one got poked, maimed or even threatened. Another success!

Contributing

We talk a lot about contributing to the family and how we do some things to help rather than for compensation or reward. It is finally sinking in-Carter and Andrew do the dishes every night without complaint. It's nice to see one lesson actually take hold.

Aquarium

On Tuesday, we had a day off of school, so we went to the Shedd aquarium with the Bird family. The kids are watching the live snake presentation.

Checking out the poison dart frogs

An accident waiting to happen-Grant is standing on the umbrella stroller trying to see the frogs. Grant was also convinced that he saw the octopus, even though it was hidden from everyone else. He didn't want to miss anything.

None of your beeswax!

Grant heard Carter say "none of your beeswax". He has mistakenly identified this unexplained noun as earwax and now asks me to use the Q-tip to get his "beeswax" out.

Thanks Aunt Cory!

My sister Cory sent a package to my kids with something for everyone. They were so excited. Thanks Cory!

Grant ADORES his Lightening McQueen shoes! He slept with the box last night.

Hailey loves her apron.

Why?

Hailey wasn't feeling well last night and we were discussing what the reason could be. After going through a whole list of things, she got a thoughtful look on her face and said, "well, I don't THINK that there is a baby in my tummy. I think that hurts more that this." Well, there you have it.