Mack is 6 months old

Mack is 6 months old as of yesterday. It is hard to believe six months have gone by since he was born and I have a hard time remembering life without him. He has his check up tomorrow so I will post his stats later, but I had a minute to get these pictures uploaded...isn't he as cute as cute can be.

First trip to the sledding hill

Last weekend we had all the cousins spend the day together. We painted Christmas ornaments and went sledding. All of them loved the sledding and were so daring. Isac and I had a big wipe out. Emily built a snowman and decorated it with what she had on hand...her hat and Mack's pacifier. That night my grandma Tutu came over to give the kids their Christmas gifts. It was a fun preview of Christmas and the kids all got such neat things. Isac has played with Emily's chimes more than she has and he has already memorize songs. The girls spent the night so we set up the little tent downstairs for them to sleep in. It was so fun having them over. I wish I could be a kid again.

gingerbread houses

A few Sundays ago with got together with some of our neighbors and good friends to build gingerbread houses. We have done this with them every year since we moved in and it has become one of our favorite holiday traditions.

Top 5 Reasons Amy loves Ryan

Today Ryan and I are celebrating our 5th Anniversary!! This may not seem very significant but we're thrilled we have made it this far. So in honor of the day I thought it would be fun to post this Top 5 list:
5. Ryan cleans up throw-up. I know this is a weird thing to mention, but after a recent round of the stomach flu at our house it is fresh on my mind so stay with me. I don't hate very many things in this world but I definitely hate throwing up and anything associated with it. I am the mother who runs in the opposite direction when her children start to puke. Thankfully Ryan is always there to take care of things and to me that is priceless.
4. Ryan has so many strengths and talents that I never realized when I agreed to marry him. I won't attempt to list them all but I will mention as an example that when he suggested remodeling the basement himself I didn't have a clue how gigantic of a project we were looking at but I thought there would be no way he could do it and that it would only be a matter of time before we were calling in a crew. However he surprised me by doing almost everything on his own and I now enjoy the fruits of his labor. And I don't question him anymore (at least not as much) when he says he knows how to do something.
3. Ryan has given me three great kids that I wouldn't be able to manage without him.
2. Ryan works so hard to take care of our little family and our home. Even though his schedule is so full he still manages to maintain our house, get things done at work, and make good grades in school. I have to remind myself alot when I want to complain or be mad that he is hardly ever home that he has it worse than I do because he is the one running in every direction.
1. Ryan helps me be who I want to be and accepts me for how I am even when he's not thrilled about it. I am grateful to have a husband that is so considerate and respectful of me. We have come along way over these five years and made so many wonderful memories and I look forward to many more. Here's to another 5 Lovey!!!

I wish I had a Time Machine

I realized today that a time machine could be a good thing to have. Our activities today were very different than they were on this same day a year ago...We were in Hawaii for my sister Arin's wedding enjoying sunny skies and warm weather. Today was exactly opposite but Emily and Isac had fun playing in the snow. Isac was ready to come in the house before Emily and he had to bribe her inside with hot chocolate. Isac went back out later and had a snowball fight with the neighbors. I can't believe all the snow.

Fall Finale

Ryan and the kids attempted to clean up the leaves in the back yard this week. It is a huge job and they haven't even all falllen off the trees yet. Isac and Emily had alot of fun jumping and hiding and playing in them. Emily was such a helper by carrying one single leaf at a time to the pile. Pictures to come when Blogger will cooperate.

Thanksgiving weekend

This year was an inlaw year so we went to Ryan's dad's in West Valley for Thanksgiving. It was a great meal, Beckie is a good cook but it just didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. Nothing beats a big Thanksgiving dinner at Ganny's house followed by a long game of chicken foot dominoes and left overs and pie. We didn't go over to Kim & Beckies until 3pm so we had all morning with nothing to do so we decided to put up the Christmas tree. I never thought the day would come that I owned an artifical tree and that I would put it up on Thanksgiving. What is the world coming to? I am glad to have it done though and with Ryan's scheduele the way that it is we have to take advantage of the time he is home. I can't believe Christmas is so close.




This was quite a funny site.

Emily showing off her "socks".

Meeting baby Greyson

We went to see Amy G. and her new baby boy Greyson (love the name!!) on Wednesday and I wanted to get a picture of him and Mack but with all the excitement we never took one. I am the worst about remembering to take pictures, I always leave that up to Ryan or Arin. However I did get this one of Emily with her twin buddies Max and Zac. It was a fun time and Greyson was such a cute little guy. At 3 weeks he is still smaller than Mack was at birth. Oh well maybe football is in his future.

Isn't she a little young for this?

Isac and I were putting laundry away in Emily's room while she played. Out of no where we heard her say:
"You my supaman. I yub you."
We looked over at her and this is what we saw...

Big Mack

I forgot to update everyone after Mack's 4 month appointment. He weighed in at a whopping 19lbs. and 27in. (Emily weighs 23lbs.) That puts him in the 95% percentile for everything including his head. I think he must get his big noggin from my side of the family, but we all know what they say..."Big head, big brain." Dr. Doug thought it would be smart to go ahead and start him on solids now rather than waiting until 6 months. I thought this would make him bigger but the doctor informed me that he wasn't getting full on formula which has alot more calories than baby food, so by feeding him solids he will be satisfied and eat less (at least that is the idea). So far he is enjoying it. He is such a sweet little guy. He is so mellow and even tempered (most of the time) and he is our most cuddly baby. He just loves any attention and will sit by watching and waiting for someone to acknowledge him and then shower them with smiles and giggles when they look his way. We think he has alot going on behind those big blue eyes. This picture is a little outdated but it shows off one of his new discoveries...his tongue. He is also rolling over and starting to figure out that he has 2 really cool attachments that he can grab things with and put into his mouth. If anyone has figured out a way to make babies stay babies I would love to know about it.

Halloween...Finally

I was beginning to think that it would be next Halloween before I got these posted but here they are. We decided to make Halloween a family affair this year and we all went as characters from The Wizard of Oz. Emily has been telling people for weeks who we were going to be...Daddy be scarecrow, Mommy be green witch, Isac be da tinman, Macky-Moo be da nice lion, and Emmy be Princess Dorothy. Isac was suprisingly a good sport about it despite some wardrobe malfunctions. Mack hardly wore his costume and Emily loved her costume especially her ruby red slippers (thanks Weema). It was a fun time. I took the kids around the neighborhood while Ryan and Mack stayed home to hand out candy. Isac's friend Isaac went with us. We went up and down 2 streets and got plenty of loot so we called it a night. Emily really got the idea this year and thought the whole arrangement was a pretty sweet gig...All I have to do is say "trick-or-treat" and they give me candy? Yes! There is no telling how much candy she or Isac have eaten over the last few days but it's only once a year right?



This is Emily after bobbing for apples her way...inside the tub.

A look back at Halloween

I thought it would be fun to post pictures from past Halloweens. We are missing 2 years-in 2005 Emily was a ladybug and Isac was the Grim Reaper and in 2004 Isac was a ninja. I love Halloween.

Bumble bee and Ash from Pokemon 2006

Prince Philllip 2003

Family 2002

Pirate 2002

Indian 2001

Cowboy 2000

Raggedy Andy 1999

Monkey 1998

Ryan as a Clown

Emily going to school

One morning a few weeks ago Emily decided she wanted to go to school. Isac had just left with our next door neighbors, the Deans. Before I knew it, Emily had on her shoes & backpack and was out the door running up the sidewalk to go to school "with the Deans". I grabbed some pants and the camera as fast as I could but I don't think the pictures quite captured the intensity of how determined she was to go the school. Her little legs were going as fast as they could go. She always wants to be just like Isac and do everything he does. That makes for some interesting moments around here.

End of summer, Ready or Not

Usually by this time of the year the cooler weather is a welcome change but for some reason this year I am just not ready for Fall. Maybe it is the thought of bundling up a little baby or constantly worrying if he is warm enough, or not being able to let the kids play outside, I don't know. So we had Arin & Troy over last Sunday to savor the warm evenings before they are gone. We roasted marshmallows and made smores (one of my all time favorite treats) and enjoyed each others company. Isac, Emily, & Mack are lucky to have one of the best aunt/uncle combos a kid could get.

Memories...

I was just reminicing and looking through pictures in iPhoto and thought it would be fun to post some. It was 4 years ago this weekend that we moved into our house. I can't believe that much time has past and it is hard to remember life any other way. We still love our house (well kind of a love-hate) as much as we did when we first saw it. Here are the pics...the first 2 are of the basement before we remodeled, the second is now Isac's room, it us to be our big TV room. The first is one of the little windowless bedrooms we had that is now part of the bathroom. Good times.