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.

An Octonaut Halloween

What to choose for your Halloween costume just might be a kid's most important decision each year. We had our high of Star Wars earlier in the year but it's tapered a bit. There was a rise in Paw Patrol but that too has waned. We made lists of costume possibilities which included characters from those stories and others but I was hoping for a group costume that wouldn't be too hard to make. Luckily, the boys became enamored with Octonauts while in the care of Mimi and Pompa. With a little parental persuasion, we had our family costume!


For comparison's sake...


Introducing Peso...


Captain Barnacles...


and Kwazii!


This little thing is a vegimal (vegetable/animal, obviously)...


our Tunip! I didn't feel like changing her clothes into the blue pajamas, just look at the first photo. I tell you one thing, it's hard to feed Wren while passing out candy to trick-or-treaters.

Oh, and Sean was Shellington and I was Dashi (there's a Dashi!). Happy Halloween!

My Four Kids (!)

Sarah's Senior Portraits

I tell you, senior portraits rule. One beautiful subject to focus upon and celebrate. Today's beautiful subject is Sarah, who I've gotten to know at church. She is one genuine soul and full of comedy. Here's some of my favorite shots:

Luna Roja

Remember that Blood Moon a little while ago? Astronaut Wannabe Sean took some photos of it. First, the partial eclipse.


Then, the total lunar eclipse, where the moon was only lit up by earthshine


Now, throw in a little timelapse airplane for a complete picture. All while I was feeding Wren!