Angeli Turns Two

Our little girly is TWO! This has been a huge year for her. In this past year she has learned to talk, walk, eat crunchy foods, how to stick up to her big brother, became a big sister, fallen in love with babies, princesses, doggies, cooking and basically grown from a baby into a big girl. She is a sweet, fun, slightly shy, lovable, beautiful, bright eyed, feisty and smart angel of a girl. We adore her. Today she let me take a mini photo shoot of her. Such a cutie! Forgive me for posting so many similar pictures but I couldn't decide which ones to cut out, they were all just too cute.

A year ago today Angeli was still a baby...

But look at her now. She is so grown up!

She absolutely loves being a big sister.
She has to give Benjie kisses hourly.

Okay, I know this post is supposed to be all about Angie but this picture needed to be posted too. I'll I can say, besides look how dang cute my boy is, IS...
Milk. It does a body good! ;)

Angeli you really are our little Angel. You bless our family so much by simply being you! We love you!

David's Wedding

My littlest big brother David was married this weekend in the Los Angeles Temple. It was a beautiful sealing and reception. It was so wonderful to meet and welcome Carolyn into our family and celebrate their union. I couldn't be happier for my sweet big brother. They radiated their happiness and love for each other the whole day. His wedding also served as my families reunion this year. Eleven of my twelve siblings were able to be there. One of my favorite things ever is being with my family. I was so depressed when we had to leave. When I am with my siblings I truly feel I can imagine the sweetness of heaven. Being with so many of those I love is pure joy for me. I often think that being the last one of my siblings to come to earth must have been a great trial for me to bare.;) It was simply heavenly to be with them again this past week. :O) Congratulations DAvId and CArOlyN Smith!!!

Me and my girl at the reception, sorry it is blurry. The lighting was not too kind to my camera...most of my pictures didn't turn out because they were so blurry. So sad! :( But this one was so cute I had to stick it in anyways. ;)

The building they used for the reception was so cute. The primary room was set up like a mini-chapel. They thought it was great fun. Look how cute all these cousins are together! They were being reverent.

Me, Adam and ShayAll my sisters and I. So great to be together!

My wonderful sister and best friend Bethany and her great husband. We already miss you guys!

Miss Eden. She and Angeli are so adorable playing together!

Eating the grub

And when all the partying was said and done we all felt pretty worn out! But we cant wait until we can get back.

A WILD Birthday!

For the kids birthday we went to the L.A. Zoo. We had a wonderful time. We were a huge group. In all there were 20 of us. The park was busy, the weather was perfect, and the animals were great. It was a perfect day at the zoo. After the zoo we did a little birthday dinner for the kids. Our kids are so loved by all their family members. They really are spoiled with all the love they get from both mine and Stew's family. There are few gifts as great as the love of your family and friends. Watching them be able to be with their grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and along with their siblings would be worth driving any distance. I find it weird to think that I am a mother to a three year old, a two year old, and a almost two month old. They are growing up so fast!!! This year is going to be happy, busy, full of a million dirty diapers, and well, interesting. We wouldn't want it any other way....well, no. I take that back. I could really do with fewer diapers! ;) Here is the picture evidence of our WILD birthday. Sherri thanks for the tickets!!

Here is half of our group

Benjamins's beautiful Grandma Ras loving him. Lucky BOY!

Now we know it takes one Grace, one Bridger, and one Stew to reach as far as a California Condor can.

Bridger and Grace taking on the Zoo

Grandpa and Grandpa's girl at the bird show.
Benji at the bird show. So sweet.

I love Whitney. She makes me feel like a teenager again. And lets be honest I could use all the youthful feelings I can get these days! :)

Our Happy birthday dinner was simple but really fun. Bridger and Angeli spent the whole time watching and helping make their birthday cake. My kids LOVE sweets!

Bridger thought he was grown up enough to sport a mustache and goatee ;)

Benjamin's Baby Blessing

Benjamin's Blessing was wonderful. It was the least stressful blessing experience we have ever had. We blessed him at my parent's home in L.A. and then had a dinner after. It was lovely. Thank you everyone for taking the time to be there. It meant the world to us. Benjamin is seriously such a good baby. Quick to smile and slow to cry. We feel so blessed to have him as our son.

Here are those that stood in the circle: my brother-in-law Mark, my brother Jason , Dad Smith, Stewart, Benjie, Dad Ras, and Stew's cousin Josh. We love all of you!!!

Bridger's Birthday! We blessed Benjamin on Bridger's birthday so even though Benjamin got a lot of attention we took time to be just with our Bridge Man. We could never imagine life without our little ball of smiley energy. Happy Third Birthday Bridger! We love you.

Bridger saying "CHEESE" for the camera ;)

We are so happy to belong to each other! :)

Preschool - Winter Wonderland

I got to do preschool this week and while our temperatures are in the high 60's we talked all about snow, cold, and ice. I really love doing our mommy preschool. I was so torn when I dropped my education major and I remember my mom telling me that I would have many opportunities to be a teacher to my children and that I could even make lessons plans for them if I wanted too. I wondered then if I actually would go through with that. Today it hit me when I was thinking about how geeky I was for taking pictures of my homemade snow that my mother's words had been fulfilled, I wasn't teaching them about history but I was having the little teacher experiences I always wanted. I am so grateful to be able to be in this place in my life. I love teaching and I especially love teaching my kids and their little buddies.

Here is a little show and tell about preschool. We learned all about the letter "W" for winter and white (our color of the week). They were so adorable repeating its sound and drawing in the air with their arms big "W" and little "w". They were thrilled when we practiced writing "w"s; really so proud of themselves. We made Popsicles, we made glittery snowflake fridge magnets, we made winter cupcakes, and even painted with jello and ice (when it dries the jello sparkles and it is really pretty). I would tell all about the other little things we did but that would be a bit excessive...either way I think you can tell I get way into this stuff and absolutely love it. Here are some cute pictures taken of our week at preschool.

Winter cupcake making

Our Popsicles

Homemade snow (ice in a blender) - I was surprised how much they liked it. Especially when we made snow balls with it.

Such Sweet Smiles

Benjamin is such a smiley little guy. Whenever I have been out of sight and then I start to talk to him and he gets me into view again he gives me a big happy grin. It melts my heart. I think he may be a mommy's boy right now. Here he is giving me some post diaper change smiles. :)

Notice those dimples! I always wanted a baby with dimples!!!

Gotta love that double Chin!!! Yup, I feed my baby well. :)

And here he is with a sweet small smile, I put his slipper on his hand and he thought that was a fun new experience. :)

Sharing Candy

A Word to the Wise. Don't let your almost two year old daughter sit alone with her one month old baby brother when she is eating candy. Because he might end up having his first taste of hazelnut chocolate and peppermint candy cane. I found Angeli and Benjamin cuddling together with red candy cane smears and melted Ferro Rocher chocolate all over their faces. Although I am sure it couldn't have been good for him at all I think he liked it. He kept licking his lips as best he could to get more and when I asked him if he enjoyed his candy sampling he gave me a huge grin. Oh, the many hazards and joys of having big sisters and brothers.

Neverland

I love planning parties! Bridger's favorite thing lately is Peter Pan we gave it to him for Christmas and we have watched it at least once a day since. When I asked him if he'd like a Peter Pan party for his birthday he was ecstatic!!! I am thrilled I get such a fun theme to work with! I am doing a joint birthday party for Angie and Bridge....Boys will be pirates and lost boys and the girls will be mermaids and fairies, and they all can join in the Indian fun. Basically we are bringing Neverland to our house for the event. I have so many fun ideas: a pirate ship, mermaid lagoon, an Indian tea pea, a jungle snack, a crocodile obstacle course, a shadow hunt, a lost boys hangout! I hope I can go over board with it!!! It will be so much fun for me to do!!! The only problem is that I sort of wonder if I have time, not to mention money, to make my entire dream a reality... oh, yeah reality. Dang reality! But we'll see what I can pull off. ;) After all Peter Pan is all about the make believe spirit of childhood! I'll be darned if I don't get a little carried away with it too!

May I just reiterate

May I just reiterate that I have a CRAZY good life! Holy cow, am I in over my head or what?!?!?! School has restarted and I am at home on my own with the kids in what I affectionately call "Survivor Mode". If I make it through these next couple years I will count it a tender mercy from the Lord. ;) Thank Heaven for my sisters, friends, and mothers in my life that help me realize I am not the first, the only, or the last mother to be in such a crazy good place in life. Sigh.....I better go. Angeli and Bridger are building some huge fort in the living room, its Angie's nap time, I need a shower (its been since Sunday and I am covered in dried crusty milk), I have to glaze, finish the laundry, pay the bills, make a million phone calls, and I really need to pee. :O) Good luck to all of us moms! :O)

One Month Old

Where is the time going?!?!?! My Benji is one month old tomorrow. It feels like an eternity has passed since his birth but also like it has only been the blink of an eye. He weighs 11.5 lbs, and is 22.5 inches long. He has not gotten any longer, but he has sure packed on the pounds! :) Benjamin is really so grown up. He is so aware of his surroundings, holds his head up like a three month old, is pushing up with his legs, follows objects as they pass him by, starting to smile at us on purpose (my favorite!), and is awake for longer and longer periods of time. The compliment I get most often is that he is handsome. He really dose have a sort of mature grown up vibe to him that I think makes handsome a more fitting compliment then cute. But he is pretty dang cute too! :O)

Stewart starts school on Monday, So sad for me!!!! I think he is happy to be getting a break from the chaos of our toddler run house but also a little sad to see his vacation time end and have to face studying again. The big kids are doing good, although Bridger has been acting up this past week. I hope he grows out of this very naughty phase quickly. I think getting a new brother and entering the terrible threes are pretty hard for a little guy to do all at once. Bless his little heart!!! :) I hope getting into his old routine of preschool, play group, and speech therapy help him be a happier little man.

And me? I am pretty exhausted from my chronic sleep deprivation but I feel like life couldn't be much more blessed! I hope I am this positive after a couple of days on my own with the kids! ;) Here are some cute pictures of my three favorite men (and a part of Angi's arm)! They are wonderful!