Brooke's Baptism is still over a month away, but we are getting ready for it. It's crazy to think that I have someone old enough to get baptized. The post below is the invitation that I made for Brooke to give to some of her friends. We are so excited for her and so proud that she is choosing to be baptized!
Well, I haven't been on here lately, so I haven't had a new post for a while. But since I went to bed before 8 last night and I'm up with only Claire at 5, it makes it a good time to update the blog, starting with the kids.
Brooke
Brooke is doing very well in school, reading more words everyday and it never ceases to amaze me when we are reading scriptures and it is her turn to read, the words that she can read by herself! She loves to write, and had very good penmanship and is getting better at spelling. She loves to draw, color, and paint. I have so many cute little drawings or letters from her. She got a new bike for Christmas (that JD was amazing and got it loaded into the van to bring home from AZ)! She loves it and rides it as much as she can. Yesterday and today are our first "snow days." So no school because we had an ice storm and it is so cold. Brooke is pretty disappointed about that because she LOVES school and hates not going. So we are going to work on her project for 100th day of school, she is so excited about that!
Nixon
Nixon is getting so big and it makes me sad to think he's not my baby boy anymore. He is a fun little boy. Just the other day I was on the laptop and he said, "Oh mom you on the computer? I go play too." So he ran to his room and got his "laptop" that he got for Christmas and sat next to me on the couch and started playing on his right next to me! He's too cute! He loves to play and run and rough house with daddy. He loves Claire! He is very protective of her, but as she gets bigger and is able to do more things I think he forgets that she still is a little baby and needs to be soft. There are times he I see him laying on her trying to give her loves and I have to tell him he needs to get of her, but they are both laughing and smiling! He is such a good brother and a good helper to mom.
Claire
She is growing so fast!! She is already 6 months old. She is rolling over and turning herself all over so she is never in the same spot I last put her. Just last week she got her first two bottom teeth! She has started eating solid food and loves carrots, slowly we will be adding other foods, but I'm sure she'll love it all. She loves to eat, but is not a rolly polly baby. I have friends say all the time how little she is all the time, but to me I think she is getting so big! What can I say my kids start of sort of little. Claire loves to smile and especially loves to play with Dad. She is just a happy baby. We've been blessed to have very happy, sweet babies!
JD and Sarah
We've been busy keeping up with three kids, work, school, and our callings. JD started school several months ago, and is doing great. He always gave me a hard time about me and my "obsession" with getting good grades, but now that he's going through school, he's the same. :) Depending on the time of the year he plays softball, volleyball, or basketball. Right now it is basketball, and we've been able to go see a few of the games, which is a lot of fun! I'm keeping buys with the kids and with cub scouts. I had the calling of Bear Den Leader for the past five months and have a lot of fun with the boys! I find myself working a lot on scouting stuff, planning den meetings and trying to figure out what the boys need to have done. But mostly JD and I like when we get to spend time with the family playing or when we get to go on our dates!
For Thanksgiving we had JD's parents come out to Texas. It was fun to have them here and it was fun for JD and I to do our first Thanksgiving dinner. I made my first pies, which turned out pretty good, as did our turkey! Then that night, late, JD and I went out to the stores and did our black Friday shopping! It was so fun to spend the time with him, and we were so tired by the time we were done that almost anything was funny to us!
A few days before Christmas we drove to Arizona to spend it with our family! We had a nice Christmas and had a great time spending it with our family! We loved being able to see everyone and see how big the kids are getting. I love that my nieces and nephew get so excited to see me so that they can measure to see how tall they are! :) It was fun to be able to take Brooke and Nixon down to the temple to see the Christmas lights down there. And thanks to our bishop who is from the Globe area, we were able to cut an hour off our drive time by driving through Globe, instead of going up through Tucson. One of the funnier things about the trip was that JD brought some Filibertos back to Texas! Not just for him, but for some of the guys he works with too! That's how desperate we are for Mexican food here, that is not TexMex.
Sorry I don't have pictures to post. I'll have to work on that. And I'll have to try to be better about posting.
The kids change so much so quickly, especially Claire, so I thought I would post some more pics. Our kids are so fun and energetic. And this next week Grandma and Papa are coming and they have been so excited for them!!! It is so much fun!
Also, they do school a little differently here in Texas and instead of having quarters, they have 5 six week increments. And for kindergarten they do not do the typical A,B,C..... so on, they do D for developing, M for mastery, C for concern, and one more I don't know what it is. Also, in Kindergarten you don't get a report card your first six weeks, but Brooke just finished her second and she got all D's and M's (who would have ever thought I'd be ok with a D, LOL)!
J.D. and I are so proud of Brooke! She works hard at school and does her very best! She is an amazing student and very smart and kind! So as a reward for her good grades she was able to get "Spirit Sleeves." I describe them as leg warmers for your arms. She came running of the bus with them on yesterday to show me. They are so cute! I'll have to take a picture of them!
Claire is probably the most smiley baby we've had! She is so happy and content and that is pretty important being number three and having all the things and JD and I are doing right now!
Nixon is a hoot! He makes me laugh so much and I love him for that! He is so much fun and LOVES the camera, if you couldn't tell. Anytime the camera comes out, he's smiling saying "CHEESE!" He is getting to big for my liking! I miss my baby boy, but it is fun to watch him grow from a baby to to little boy.
Maybe we are mean parents, but Claire lets us make her have funny faces! She's so cute.
Oh and... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JD!! The big 2-9!! Love you sweetheart! I'm so glad you are a part of my life!
This is JD at the Sacred Grove earlier this year when he had to opportunity to go!I can't believe Claire is already three months old!! How time flies by! We blessed her over Labor Day weekend and Keith and Jessie and their family and my mom were able to come out for it.
Miraculously, it cooled off that weekend so we had pleasant weather when they came. JD gave a wonder blessing to our sweet little girl and we are so happy to have her!! We got some pictures before church, which is amazing because we are rarely that early!
But we made sure we were ready pretty early because we wanted to be early to church and it takes between 20 and 30 minutes to get to our building, something we have gotten used to, but maybe not Mom and Keith and Jessie who live across the street from their building. :) And of course we didn't get any pictures of Claire with JD or even any as a family!!
I guess we weren't really thinking to much of that. But at one point before Claire was born I was looking for blessing dresses and Brooke asked if that was for the baby and I said yes. Then she said to me, "Why doesn't she just wear mine?" I asked would you want to share it and she was so excited that she could share something of her's with her baby sister. Brooke is a sweet girl and going to be a wonderful example to Claire!
Then there is my fun, wild and crazy Nixon, who loves Claire so much and is already so protective of her. He wants to hold her a lot, and doesn't want help. But he isn't quite careful enough to do that by himself yet!
JD and I have been blessed with three amazing children! And we love them so much!
