July 4th, Soccer, Blessing!

Welcome, Baby Anna!

Caution: Labor and Delivery story ahead:

On Monday, June 11th I called the doctor's office who had been holding my records hostage without communicating with me for over a week and was ready to demand to be seen.  The receptionist on the other line heard my name and quickly replied, "oh, we've been trying to get in touch with you since last week, but lost your phone number, and the doctor needs to see you!"  Finally!  With my due date fast approaching (June 15th), I met my doctor for the first time that day, then went into labor Tuesday morning.  A friend I had just met from church, who lives 5 houses down from us, offered to watch my girls that morning while I went to the grocery store.  Although I was having the same sparatic contractions I had been for days, I felt different and wondered if I would deliver soon.  When I talked to mom on the phone that morning, I shared my prediction with her that I would deliver that day or the next.  Walking around the store, I felt the contractions more frequently.  About noon is when Jenna and I decided to start timing the contractions.  She kept the log, and after an hour we called Justin to announce "this baby's coming!"  He rushed home, and his sister, Shirley came over with our niece.  Then we hung out at home doing our typical analysis of "should we go NOW, or should we wait a little... ugh, I don't want to be at the hospital forever, nor do I want to deliver this baby on the side of the freeway."  So, we left about 4:30, were admitted at 5:30, epidural around 7:30ish, ready to push at 8:30ish, and our beautiful baby, Anna arrived at 9:45pm.  We all adore her and feel blessed to have her in our family.  Jenna loves to hold Anna, and is very helpful about bringing me things for the baby.  She also plays well with Morgan and helps Taryn a lot.  I am so grateful for Jenna, and I love watching her be a responsible and loving big sister.  Morgan is very sweet and caring toward Anna.  I love Morgan's sense of humor.  I can count on her for a clever comment that always makes me laugh.  Taryn likes to walk up to Anna while she is in the swing, and put her head on her tummy, then points out Anna's facial features: nose, eyes, mouth.  Justin is a wonderful father to all four of our girls.  I love his determination to help each one of our girls learn, grow and succeed.

Morgan's 4th Birthday!

Our sweet, fun, brave, adventurous, and imaginative Morgan turned four years old.  Just a week after moving into our new home we celebrated with a horsie cake, and some new friends in our new ward.  She was all smiles and enjoyed helping mommy make the cake.  She also helped decorate it.

We are so proud of Morgan and think she has some fun talents. She learned how to ride her bike 3 weeks before her birthday with just a few pointers from a 7 yr-old neighbor.

Jenna's 6th Birthday

Rainbows everywhere for Jenna's 6th Birthday party. She chose the theme and LOVED helping prepare all the decorations, food and favors for her special day. We found a lot of these cute ideas on Pinterest: tissue paper pom poms, fruit kabobs, water bottle covers, and rainbow licorice favors complete with chocolate gold coins. Since Jenna loves to color and do art projects, she wanted to decorate crowns with her friends, and we found rainbow scratch paper for everyone to make a picture.
The kids loved these with their pizza lunch.
The cake was so simple and easy! "Funfetti" on the inside.
Half the girls were still doing their silly faces during this "smile" photo. Games included balloon waddle and a "skittle" walk just like a cake walk.

Jenna was loved and spoiled by lots of loving family for her birthday. She chose Applebees, where we met Grandma and Papa, Aunt Mary and cousins for dinner. She got to talk to Nana and Boompa and shop for a present with gift cards. What a busy day! We love Jenna and her fun personality. She recently learned to ride her bike... all by herself! A few weeks ago Justin took the training wheels off Morgan's smaller bike so she could reach the ground, and before Justin could even put his tools down to go help her, she was riding around the culdesac all by herself! We just stood there in awe, and shouted HOORAY JENNA! She has a zeal for learning... be it riding a bike, reading, writing, math, telling time, or crossing the bars and rings at school. She also helps take care of her younger sisters and teaches them so much! We love our Jenna so much!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, Jenna, Morgan and Taryn!
Here's a little proof I do exist. We can thank Morgan for this pic.

Oh Christmas Tree

These pictures should be in reverse order... anyhoo, this is how our photo session ended....
...and this is how it began.
We found the tree in record time... because the girls and Justin found it before I had a chance to give my input. It was better this way, trust me. The tree was perfect!
See... it is the best tree on the lot... with the best girls, in my biased opinion, to go with it.
And here's a random picture of our girl scout, Jenna! Cookie sales are starting tomorrow... anyone, anyone??

The Silly Things We Do

Taryn has a habit of wrapping herself in the vaccuum cord every time I turn it on. I finally determined she loves the sound and vibration of the cord. Makes me laugh every time.

Also known as "box" girl, she can be found trying to sit inside ANY rectangular object.
The girls thought I said "chocolate milk" stand, not "hot chocolate" stand... and "indoor" instead of "outdoor". A couple weeks later on a sunny Saturday, we accomplished the "Hot Chocolate" stand.
Complete homemade drum set.
One of Taryn's favorite places.