Sunday Morning Photo Shoot & Kiddo Update

{AnnaB}

She's six now, lost her first tooth and has to do homework each afternoon. Please, make time stop. She is growing up quick, but in a lot of ways she hasn't changed. She still laughs easily, giggles like a maniac at her own jokes, talks without stop some days, loves making friends (even if she cannot remember their names), and she tries to watch out for others.

Notice the missing tooth? She let me pull it out. I love doing stuff like that.

I guess this picture could be considered an out-take, but I've seen this face enough times to know that it was no accident.

{Asa Base}

My sweet rascal boy. He is a charmer with his big blue eyes and a smile that seems to take over his entire face. But don't let him fool you, he takes a real delight in mischief every once in a while, especially if it involves getting Anna's attention.

Mike says he told him to say "I love Mommy" and that this picture was the result. This boy melts my heart. He really does have me wrapped around his little finger most days.

{KaiKai}

Kai has proven to be his own self. Not to be confused with any other of my babies. He has been the most content, the most independent and curious. He'd rather be scooting around on the floor (no crawling for this guy) than in my arms. He'd rather eat table food than any puree I have tried. He had 8 teeth by 9 months no more hair than when he was born.

This is is scrunch nose stink face. I get this face constantly. Sometimes he makes it in displeasure (as seen here), sometimes he does the scrunch with a grin. With the grin I think it looks like Elvis when he curled his lip up.

Tickle fight and Kai is done with pictures.

A & A

When Mike's parents took off earlier this week they left me with a clean house and a full fridge. Annabelle had the day off of school for a holiday. With nothing else to do but curl up with my baby and a book, the kids and I camped out in the toy room for the afternoon. It was all I could do to keep from laughing when after an hour or so I looked up to see what the pair were up to.

Asa is sitting in the toy baby stroller here!

Seriously, does that say love or what??

First Hair Cuts

That's right, our kids are growing up! (Sniff, sniff)

Annabelle and Asa got their first haircuts together a couple of weeks ago. Annabelle's hair had never been cut and for the last 2 years or so it seemed that it didn't really get longer, just bigger.Here is her before shot:

I felt a little torn about trimming Asa's hair because it needed a little more length so that we could see whether or not it was going to be curly. But . . . the shagginess around the edges was just looking messy, so I went for it. Here is his before shot:

Annabelle was nervous that she would FEEL her hair being cut. Afterwards she exclaimed, "That didn't hurt at all!" Too cute.

Her hair turned out a little shorter than I was anticipating, but I got the eternally tangled ends off and over all it looks healthier, we might just have to wait a while to get it back into a pony tail. But most importantly - She likes it :)

Asa's haircut went a lot smoother than I anticipated. He loved standing up looking through the chair at a very helpful Sister. She kept him happy and distracted while I trimmed up around his ears and neck.

I didn't take any off the top, just the sides and back. But here is his final result:

I don't know that I'll always cut my kid's hair, but it was fun this time. They put up with me and at this age they can't point out any of the flaws!

Favorite Videos from March

These kids are hilarious. I wish I had more moments like these on video. Enjoy!

Settled In

I would have to say that we are pretty much settled in and getting back into the rhythm of regular life again. Mike has been working for almost a month and is getting the hang of it. I thought it was funny that Mike's mentor referred to him as an intern for the first little bit. Mike is working in product quality, which means he just helps deal with something different everyday. Beyond that . . .  you'd have to ask him.

Annabelle and I are finding things to do. We like to swim a lot. Most often we enjoy an after dinner swim when we can avoid the sun and get that last bit of energy out before bed time. 

Last week I got a new hair straightener and Annabelle understood that I have straight hair and that hers is curly, so after some persuasion I straightened her hair - or what I could with the straightener on low heat (I was worried about damaging her light wispy hair). She thought it was pretty funny, it looks more wavy than anything else. Take a look:

Curly

Brushed out and Frizzy

"Straightened"

We are starting to get our footings as far as local things to do. We have enjoyed the local library. I never knew that I felt like I needed to finish a book regardless of whether or not I have enjoyed it, but after a few uninteresting reads I found one I liked and finished it is 2 days. It is 'The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks (author of The Notebook, Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember). After that read I picked up "Dear John" but have put off starting to read it so that I make sure I am spending some time with Mike this weekend. I really get sucked in.

There is also a local toy store that has an open play time for 2 hours on 2 mornings a week. We have gone once and it was pretty crazy and after 2 hours their store was in major need of some organization but it was really fun for the kids and I even got to meet some other Moms. 

Anna's Newest Accessory

Annabelle's newest accessory is purple, will most likely be very expensive, was custom made for her, draws lots of attention and limits her wardrobe to tops with large armholes!
Annabelle broke her arm Saturday evening while we were visiting with grandparents here in Utah. She barely fussed after she fell off of an exercise machine so I was surprised when Mike said that he thought she had broken her arm and without even asking for a second opinion was strapping her into her car seat.
As it turns out Mike was right and her arm was a little crooked! The entire car ride and almost throughout the hospital visit Annabelle never cried about her arm - but doctors and nurses sure made her furious!

Her ulna and radius are both broken in what is called a 'green stem fracture' which means that her bones bent and must had to be bent back (she was out for that part) and are now in a splint - or as she told everyone at church a "spleent". Later this week she'll get a cast on.

She seems to be adjusting well and has still been using her left arm. If you ask her about pain she'll either ignore you or tell you that it only hurt a little bit. She is still just as independent as ever - she insisted on putting on her own sandals this morning and pulled up her own pajama pants for bed this evening. She has been fairly patient with me trying to get shirts off and on and making her wear a bag over her arm at times.

Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks!

Our 2 months of traveling and fun before Mike starts his new job has begun! We have started off with a trip to south western Utah. We LOVED camping down at Zion National Park, for those of you who have never been there: I highly recommend it - at least on a weekday in April or May! We were able to camp just inside the park - even without a reservation - in a nice and clean camping spot (except for the INSANE amount of caterpillars). We spent 2 and half days hiking in Zion Canyon, Kolab Canyon and a little bit on the east side of the park.

This is at Canyon Overlook just on the east side of the tunnel in Zion.

Annabelle getting her feet wet up in the stream from the upper 'Emerald Pool'

The most popular area of the park (Zion Canyon) has a shuttle so you don't even drive yourself around you just pack a bag for the day and hop on for free. The shuttles come VERY frequently and you can travel either up or down the canyon from each stop. IT was so convinient and Annabelle loved riding the bus.

"It's hard to catch your breath when everything is so breathtaking"

-Tia (I was frequently out of breath)

On the way back to Provo we did a hike in Bryce Canyon and were so glad we made the stop. It was really different looking from Zion - and MUCH cooler too.

Bryce Canyon has lots of pillar looking formations that are called 'Hoodoos'.

Each of the areas we visited were really diverse and so we felt like we were really seeing something 'new' with each hike. Annabelle was a champ, hiking the safer sections of each hike and putting up with being in the carrier a lot of the time. She LOVED camping - on the way home she said "Daddy, I need to sleep in a tent one more night." Annabelle also befriended the caterpillars before our trip was through and would wake up each morning dying to get out of the tent so that she could go play with them.

This night after dinner Annabelle was chasing me with caterpillars trying to put them on me. When bedtime came around I found about a dozen of them crawling all over her shirt - she had placed them there and watched them crawl around, she couldn't have been happier.

We are excited for more adventures to come!

Belay On!

Belay On!

Don't Worry - Mike made her an awesome harness!

Today we experienced of what I hope to be a first of many climbing experiences with Annabelle! Despite the fact that Mike has once again been left asleep on the couch, I cannot take him to bed without first posting how proud and excited I am. We went up Rock Canyon to climb with our friends the Connews and after all the adults that wanted to had climbed we decided to let the 2 little girls see if they like it, and the adventurous pair did! I was so proud of Annabelle, she was so quick I could hardly keep up behind her (I wanted to be close in case she got nervous or hurt herself) - she never got nervous, she was so confident and didn't seem to care if there was too much slack in the line or whatever. She problem solved and used a bunch of different techniques AND she did it all in her Crocs! After she got pretty close to the bolt Mike was worried that if she slipped she would swing so we had to stop her from climbing. We didn't feel ready to try belaying so I simply grabbed the carabiner that was attached to her harness and I carried her down like a duffel bag.

You may be wondering why I am so excited about climbing today (since I'm not a HUGE climber myself) and to tell you the truth I'm a little surprised at my excitement over the whole thing. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed being able to go and do adventurous things with Mike since Annabelle was born, but now she is really starting to get old enough to hike (if I can just be patient enough with her pace) and now climbing! Who knows, maybe next Christmas we'll be strapping her in for her first snowboarding lesson!

A little problem solving

At the Top

Movie Star

It's funny how quickly a pair of sunglasses gave Annabelle this little attitude. I think our little 'celebrity' is ready for some sunshine!
Note:Ever since we bought her these on Tuesday she has worn them: to a dim restruant, every single car ride, to the MOVIES, (even while watching the movie in a dark theater) AND walking home at night.

Outdated? Here is the Update

IF you don't really want to read what we have been up to, I made and abreviated version in a slide show. You can simply skip down and watch that - it won't hurt my feelings.

Starbucks: An older event, Matt is a good friend and he and Annabelle really do get along. He'll be a great dad (THIS FALL) Congrats again Matt and Jordyn. We took a little day trip with them and I never got around to posting these pictures but don't worry - Annabelle was really having hot chocolate.
Best Hair Day: I have no idea what happened, I just washed her hair and brushed it out and look it turned out in gorgeous little golden ringlets! So for any of you who know Annabelle only as 'that Sherwood kid with bed head' . . . hair miracles do happen :)
Rex Lee Run: Well for our walking group it was the Rex Lee WALK, but a brisk pace at that. We aimed at finishing the 5 k in under an hour and ended up just over 54 mins. Woo HOo!(And yes it was freezing cold). Thanks for pushing me to try something new Keri-Anne!
Happy Birthday Mike: Mike turned 25 last month. To celebrate we went up in the mountains and he made some delicious dutch oven goodness. We set up his new tent, ate cheesecake and even longboarded around a bit. A fun night for sure!
Easter: We dyed eggs, ate deviled eggs, tried to get Annabelle to pose in her new Easter dress.
Girls Week in Colorado: The Sherwood girls (My mother-in-law, Jessi, Kristin and I) and all the grandkids spent a week together in Colorado. We had a blast with the kids and enjoyed scrapbooking when they were all asleep. Annica, Annabelle and Isaac are all within 5 months of each other in age and they seemed to get along really well. Thanks to Shauna for flying us out and spending the whole week playing with us!
Tantrums: Between the week long trip away from Daddy followed 4 days later by a house hunting trip to Arizona, Annabelle's 'Italian' temper seemed make it's presence known on a regular basis. I thought we were hitting a new phase and had a few breakdowns myself. Luckily it has dissipated and we are back to 'normal'.
House Hunting: We traveled to Arizona for a few days to find an apartment. After 2 days of looking we were really excited about several places but we narrowed it down, signed a lease and feel good about our decision. We'll be in Phoenix, the neighborhood seems really safe, we are excited about the ward (A family ward, that'll be a new experience for us) swimming pools, playgrounds, shopping within walking distance, IKEA not to far away . . . newly remodled, TWICE the space we are living in now - Come visit! Mike says he'd love to have all our friends and family down for a big 4th of July celebration!
Hiking the Y: Couldn't leave Provo without doing this! We enjoyed hiking with a few families from our ward. We made it up, caught our breath and headed down so that the husbands could return to finals! Another great idea of Keri-Anne's. THANKS!
END OF SEMESTER: Mike will be done here in just 2 more days! We've been looking forward to this for a while now. He has done an exceptional job balancing school, work, callings, crazy daughter, demanding wife and has done it all LOVING LIFE. He's done great and to me seems confident and ready to start working. Congrats to graduate Mike (who is now asleep on the couch since this post is taking so long). Our friend's the Lee's threw a suprise "Going Away/Graduation" Party for Mike and another friend of ours this last weekend. I wish I had taken some better pictures to post. It was a fun suprise and great to catch up. THANKS SARA!

Looking Forward: We have several weeks to play before we move. We have decided there is a lot here in Utah we haven't seen/done yet. We want to go to Zion's and Arches and maybe Dinosaur Land. We'll visit Mike's Grandparents in Arkansas and our families in Colorado. Any suggestions?

Sorry again for the long update, but as you can see . . . I have been running around a bit more than usual.

Tired?

This post is for my cousin who told me that she has 9 hours of class in one day!

I wanted to have it up last week but I couldn't find it (turns out it was still on my camera)!

The Goose-Egg

Just for the record: No one was ever "kicked over" as Annabelle 'remembered'. We were enjoying a pillow fight while Annabelle jumped on the bed . . . let's just say she got a little disoriented and jumped into a wall. Her forehead swelled to the size it is in these pictures in about 15 second. I told Mike we needed to go to the Emergency Room. I almost started crying. He continued to assure me that this is what a "goose-egg" looked like. With my limited medical knowledge I ran brain swelling scenarios through my mind - trying to decide if she would need a CAT scan before they took a piece of her skull off to relieve the brain swelling and therefore limit the brain damage. I thought the hospital would accuse us of abuse, we'd have to try to explain to the police what had happened while our sweet girl was in surgery. Luckily Mike sounded very confident that this deformed swelling on her forehead was a safe reaction to a bonk on the melon. Within a few minutes she was back to normal and gave us her version of the story!

"A Child is a Curly, Dimpled Lunatic."

I don't think Ralph Waldo Emerson would revise this statement at all if he came to spend an afternoon in our house. Annabelle is speaking so fluently and learning so quickly almost every single day she says something we are cracking up over. Here are a few of my favorites from the past month or so:

Our Little Lunatic

She was making hilarious face as we waited at the hospital to get her tubes in.

Mike and I realized we didn't have any plans for our Saturday and neither one of us had any real preferences of what to do with our free day together so we asked Anna, "What do you want to do today?" her response was "hmmm, Christmas Eve."

After returning from the grocery store Mike and I were unwinding on the coach watching Annabelle run from us to her room as she talked to herself. She ran out and announced "I'm buying onions and mac n' cheese and cereal and milk and eggs and . . . " When she had completed her shopping list Mike said "Can you get me some brownies?" I chimed in "And some candy for me?" She pursed her lips together and gazed up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before replying "I don't know about that".

Annabelle asked me a few months ago if I had a baby in my tummy, as she pulled up my shirt and poked my gut. I had told her no and that it was just fat. More recently we were taking bath and Annabelle leaned with one hand on my belly to support herself and of course her hand sunk in a little bit. She turned to me "Mom, you're fat" I laughed "Yeah, are you fat Annabelle?" after a long pause "No, I'm squishy!"

Tonight on the phone with my Dad she sang the alphabet song and at the end my dad sang "Now I know my" and then paused to let Annabelle continue, she sang "Let-ters". They must have done this over and over, my Dad occasionally suggesting "ABC's" and Annabelle insisting the lyric was "Let-ters". I think I heard my dad snort a few times over the phone he was laughing so hard.

Wednesday was a free day at the zoo in SLC so despite the cold temperatures and snow we went with a group of friends. Later that evening Annabelle announced "The kids had fun at my zoo" I questioned "Your zoo?" "Yeah, it has my animals" with a strong emphasis on MY. For the rest of the evening she could not be convinced that the zoo was not hers.

Several times a day Annabelle will yell at me from her room "MOM - BE QUIET, my babies are sleeping". One time while I was minding my own business, washing the dishes she ran into the kitchen furiously and yelled her famous line. "I'm not being loud Annabelle" is responded. She then proceeded to throw the baby doll on he ground and yell again "Mom, be quiet! My baby is SLEEEEEPING". She isn't actually mad, she just gets going in her pretend play mode. Very dramatic.

Annabelle loves wearing her frog galoshes and I love them b/c she can put them on herself. She'll often check with us whether or not they are on the wrong feet. The other night she and Mike were walking home from Adam and Trudy's house and her jeans started to slide down her bum. "Dad, my pants are on the wrong bum!"

About a month ago Mike was helping me get Annabelle ready to go to playgroup. She didn't want to get dressed. He tried to reason with her that it was cold outside, and that the other kids would be dressed. She argued back "I'd rather be naked!" For the proper use of 'rather' in a sentence she was allowed 5 more minutes before she had to get dressed.

When Annabelle was waking up from getting tubes in her ears she was pretty out of it but wouldn't stop crying. The nurse said that she wasn't in any pain but that they drug they had used to wake her up would make her feel startled. She had been crying for about 20 minutes and had said a few slurred phrases when she suddenly sat up and without opening her eyes, she cried and said "I'm . . . HAPPY!"

Hopefully at least some of these read as funny as they were when Annabelle said them. I can't believe her grammar and vocabulary sometimes. She's a nut and we love her.

Asleep in her high chair with a box of nerds.

Adam mentioned to Annabelle that she had some spaghetti sauce on her forehead. She immidiately dipped her finger in her food and added another dot to her forehead.