Black and white baby

This is the story of how I took this photo. We have black and white photos of the boys at about this age in this same pose hung on our wall. Wren's turn.


I took lots and lots of photos of Wren in which she looked ridiculously cute.


She was a very patient subject.


Mayhaps she even enjoyed the process?


Interested, if nothing else.


Once sure I had some winners to choose from, I let Liam and Dash loose, who had been chomping at the bit to join the photo. I took one shot, thought, this is crazy cute, I must get Grey in on this too, and went to get Grey.


Unfortunately, Grey was still in his two month stage of insane three-year-old-ness. In this stage, I could hardly speak to the child without a meltdown. It has since improved- he is often reasonable and his meltdown count is much lower. But on this day, Grey was still in the thick of it and my request to take a photo was met with loud screams and flailing. While I tried to reason and bribe the boy, Liam took a few photos, including this one, which I rather love.


Dash took a turn, but at this point, Wren was over her time in the spotlight. I was still coaxing Grey, determined to outdo his stubbornness. Because, this photo was going to be so cute! I must make this happen. It was growing in importance in my mind and I had to make it happen. Then Grey finally acquiesced! But Wren was crying and rubbing her face in the blanket. Maybe this wasn't to be. ... but wait! Wren's quiet. Agh, Grey, go back in the photo. Liam, get off Wren. Good, okay, everyone look at me. Ready, click!


And here it is. Sigh. It's kinda cute. They're all together, that's nice. But I'm not going to blow it up and hang it over my sofa. Oh well. We'll photograph another day. But I sure as heck got my cute one of Wrenny Pie. Atta girl.

Fall Family

This was the most thrown together photo. Trying to carve out time when the leaves were just right, the weather was good, the older kids not in school, the baby's awake and fed, AND Sean's not at work... twas an illusive endeavor. But when I sensed the stars were aligning, I grabbed the tripod and went for it. Not a thought for the outfits, or a hair accessory for Wren, or my own hair, or even a makeup touch-up. I suppose it's an accurate reflection of normality. And this was the only photo I captured where no leaves were being thrown. Oy with the leaf tossing!


Best friends for life, I hope. Poor little squished up baby.


Then we let them loose. Be among the leaves! Go!

And then to the park:










Love this family of mine.

Rusty Reappears!

Mommy, did you know that I'm a wizard? See this magic wand? It's magical. I can make things appear. Are you ready? Alakazam!


Ta da! I made Rusty materialize at our house!


No, Mommy, it wasn't that Rusty's mom had generously given you some "maternity leave" and now we're back to watching him again. This was alllllll me.


Now I can play with him a couple times very week and Liam and Dash can see him after school! It's going to be so great! We all love the Rust-o-Reeno!


Now, to magic myself a diaper. Or underwear. Whichever point in potty training I'm feeling at any given moment.

Blessed Wren

At around 2.5 months of age, Wren had her baby blessing.


She looks good in all white, doesn't she?


We had it the weekend following Sean and my trip to Colorado when his parents came to watch the boys.


They were able to stay the weekend and dashed off to the airport right after Sacrament Meeting.


Wren was blessed to be a leader, courageous, a good example, and have a "strong personality."


She was reminded that she has so many people in her family who love her and can be good examples to her, too.


Half way through the blessing, Wren started to fuss. Several people commented how Sean swiftly and smoothly popped her binky in her mouth. It soothed her for a minute but then she would not be censored. She let wail and Sean admitted it was hard to focus. The blessing was wrapped up shortly after. I guess we're seeing that strong personality already.


We're so grateful that Wren could have this special blessing and that she's a part of our special family.

5.5 (+9 days)

Hi! I'm Liam! I just turned five and a half years old!


I really love school and all the friends I've made. My teacher says I'm so helpful and a really good friend. I have a loose tooth!


While still a sweetie, sometimes my patience is lacking. But I'm only 5.5! I also am very competitive with Dash and I don't like it when he does something "better" than me.


I'm a great reader and also like to do dot-to-dots where I count into the hundreds! I love to draw as well and put in lots of details (mom especially loves the curly knees I draw!).


Hi! I'm Dash! I just turned five and a half years old!


I'm a great student and love being with all my school friends. I really enjoy following my teacher's directions carefully.


I am completely enamored with my baby sister, though mommy has to often remind me not to be "scary" around her- I just like to do lots of startling, jerky movements really close to her face, is that so wrong?


I've lost two teeth! Mom says I'm a sensitive soul- I get very concerned in books and movies when things get destroyed or something important is threatened. I can be so sweet and quick to apologize... when I'm in the mood.

Happy half birthday, boys!

Fall Festival

It's fun going to little school events now that the twins are in Kindergarten. Now featuring the Fall Festival:

The kids got to paint pumpkins. Fun fact, the paint got on my shirt, which I was wearing for only the second time, and I found out after doing the laundry, the paint wasn't washable. Whee! Anger!


Fellow elementary school students painted faces.


And applied temporary tattoos.


Then the kids got their hair sprayed in funky colors.


The boys, all decorated for fall, about to go have a dance party in the darkened gym.


And everyone's favorite little girl got to hang out and watch.


The boys went to sleep that night clutching their complimentary finger lights. Sweet, green-tainted dreams followed.

The Pumpkins of '15

We can't let a Halloween go by without carving pumpkins, can we? Never!


Dash mentioned doing "twin faces" where they put more than one face on the pumpkin, so Liam did three, spaced evenly. Here he's modeling the scary face. And he decided to sit on his pumpkin for the photo, so the others had to as well.


Grey did some scribbles and I sort of found a face in the shapes. I think it's pretty cute!


Dash's aforementioned twin faces were right next to each other, easy to display.


Interesting note, the green pumpkin was much more difficult to cut.


Wren slept through the entire proceedings and we left her pumpkin pure, just like her sweet little soul.


All lit up! Quite an impressive display.