Holleman Family

It's been TOO long!

2010-09-12T21:13:00.004-05:00

Here's the updates!

First ALL ABOUT RYLAN!!

Rylan is such an amazing kid. I took him to a pulse reader and they told me that he runs hot. Which is true, it means that not only is his temperature a little hotter than most peoples, but he actually has a temper to match. he can get so mad so fast, but the amazing thing is that even at 3 he is learning how to control it and how to take his frustration and use it in a way that will help him.

He finally learned his colors. i thought maybe he was color blind but the doctor did a test and he can see just fine, and now he knows all of them. Rylan is such a perfectionist and always has been, he has a mind for figuring things out, its so interesting to watch. For the longest time he always counted to 13, he never learned to count to ten, he learned to count to 13, now he counts to 50. I have to tell him what come next when he hit 30 or 40 etc, but the fact he caught on to that pattern is pretty exciting.

He loves anything Jayden loves, which right now is bay blades. Never heard of them? Its OK I hadnt either. They are basically like glorified tops that "battle" each other. But even Rylan knows all the names of the bay blades and which one is which.

My favorite thing about him is when I put him to bed he likes to lay on his tummy and wants me to tuck him in tight and then tells me to give him a big huge hug and a big huge tickle pop kiss. So I hug him and bury my head in him when he says huge he's not kidding. Then I tickle his back with my chin and give him a big kiss on his cheek with a big pop sound at the end. Then he always says We will do it again tomorrow mom. Im going to close my eyes and not cry,

He is such a creature of habit. He learned to swim with a life jacket this summer, and even though he was scared at first he was so proud of himself when he could do it alone. Like all kids he wants to choose and do things himself. he loves going to friends houses OH and he is potty trained! He still has some accidents maybe once a week, usually after nursery when hes drinking water for like an hour straight! :)

Rylan loves to color and is learning how to write real letters, hearts, shapes and numbers. I bought him a little preschool activity book and he is so good at following the instructions when I work on them with him.

All ABOUT TY!

Ah TyTy! Its ridiculous how easy this child can bring a smile to my face. He is so cute and so talkative. He has been talking for awhile now, but he is SO good at having conversations. The other day I asked him where his banana was (he calls them banunemas) I was sitting on the floor and he came right up to me and then thought about it for a minute and then said..."Its gone" and then opened up his mouth so I could see it was indeed gone!

He can count to 20 just missing like 16 and 18 I think. He also loves whatever the big boys are doing, but also enjoys movies, among his favorites are Barbie Island Princess, Cars and the baby movies. Oh and letter factory. He knows all his letter names and most their sounds.

He goes to bed so good. Sometimes when I tell him its time for bed he says "nooo" like any normal kid. One time I said "its time" and so now he always just says "its time mommy?" I say "yep" and that all it takes.

He is learning his boundries for sure. He sometimes gets toys and tried to throw them at little babies. He uses the poor kids for target practice. But whenever he finds out he did something wrong he is always the first to say sorry. Also if someone gets hurt he is always there asking "are you OK?"

The other funny thing is sometimes when I tell him not to do soemthing he will say something like this lets pretend I say "ty dont hit you brother with your shoes. he says "oh dont hit my brother with my shoes? Oh OK" As if that thought hadnt occured to him yet but now it makes perfect sense! And then he stops!

All about Ashlyn!!

Ah my sweet baby girl that is no longer a baby girl. She will be 8 soon!

So yesterday I got the feeling like I should take her on a date. Her and I have been butting heads a bit as we are both working on some of the same weaknesses. She is my little mirror for sure, so when I see things about her that annoy me about myself, I start working on them, and so it usually collides with things Im trying to help her improve as well. Tone of voice for one! Anyways, so we have been talking about getting our ears pierced together for awhile, (mine were pierced but I didnt like the placement so I let them grow in). So last night we did it. We bother got our ears pierced. She went back and forth from being brave to scared. In the end she did it and we got to have a good talk about the importance of being brave, and about not playing the victim role. She wanted to complain about how much it hurt, so we talked about it and now she tells the story more of a heres what I am strong enough to go through rather than a poor me story. The lady did it wrong the first time and had it sticking out the side her her ear! But it's all fine, and she is stronger and better for it!!
MINE
ASHLYNS cute little butterflies...

ALL ABOUT JAYDEN!

Jayden is in first grade! He is so smart and good at school. He's just such a little Josh all wrapped up in a cute little boy! He loves anything fun. He loves video games, and computer, and bayblades, and friends. He is also learning to control his temper and to go to bed good at night, and I can see a huge difference. He is my little man.

He can read like no bodies business, although he HATES to color and doesn't like writing.

One thing about Jayden is that he has taught me the most about myself and parenting than anyone else. Every epiphany I have comes straight from Jayden. Now I can see why he was sent to my family to teach me about life and eternal truths. I am so greatful for that!
OK now about me.....I have been working like crazy behind the scenes. I'm sure no one around me except for Josh maybe has any idea of the intensity of learning, growing, and working I have been putting in. My life is forever transformed and I am thrilled with my journey thus far and am excited to continue!! Im sure if anyone from the outside were to watch my life, as a mother especially they would notice no great change. It's still the same day to day activities. The only thing that has changed is me on the inside. The way I feel and think and see and experience the world is different and will continue to be different and I am so greatful that Heavenly Father has seen fit to allow me to take this journey.

All about JOSH!

Well Josh has been battling with Menieres disease for almost 3 years now although it been about 2 since he has found out what it is. He just recently learned that his medicine was making him sicker and was hit by a new wave of sickness. We dont know if it is progressing or just is going to hit in waves, but since he cant take his medicine as much and the diet isnt helping, we will just have to see. My family had a fast for him, and I know we but he especially felt the power of it. Even my 7 year old niece fasted for him, like for real, and bore her testimony to the power of the love she felt for him and everyone through her fast, and that she knew he would be OK.

Through all of this, what he has been going through and the things I have been doing in my life I have felt this enormous power and love from God, guiding us, protecting us, and pushing us on. I have been grateful to the power of the priesthood through blessings, the temple, and church callings. i have felt the power of prayer, or revelation and of the Holy Ghost continuing to whisper truths in my life, and have felt the peace that comes as I follow those promptings even if I don't know why, or what good it will do.

So that is our life as of recently!!!

Tys Two!!!

2010-07-19T21:39:00.006-05:00

Ahhh my baby is finally two. He has been acting two for quite some time. He is an amazing boy with the kindest heart, and yet a determination. He is loving and wants to be in the middle of all the fun. So here's a list for posterities sake of all the things he can do at his two year milestone....

Count to ten.

Name all his colors and shapes.

Kick and jump, as seen below.

Talk about pretty much anything.

Name all his ABCs in sounds and letter names mixed.

Pray.

Sing.

Climb.

Laugh a LOT.

Pretend he's a lion (very important for fitting in in my house)

SHARE! He is the best two year old sharer the world has ever seen, as long as you ask him kindly he will share his favorite anything. But if you try to steal it from him with out asking, watch out the fury comes out!

Throw a tantrum.

Try to go potty. he has never gone yet, but every time I take Rylan Ty goes to, stands up there and says..."push"....and then says "all gone today mommy...good try Ty"

Kiss, hug, say sorry.

Color, he loves to color.

Name all sorts of pictures in books, he loves books.

He loves Barbie and the Island Princess because it has an elephant named Tika in it. He asks for princess Tika, "I want to watch princess Tika Mommy"

The best thing about Ty is he seems so old...he has a manly voice and will walk up to you and just say hi, then walk away. He loves to say hi to random people in walmart, but other than that he can be very shy. He loves nursery and even at 15 months he would act like the 3 year olds in the class, he would sit in the chairs for circle time and fold his arms, and eat at the big table, and color.

I just can't say enough how much I love this boy. I know every mother feels like the luckiest mom in the world, but I KNOW I am blessed to have him and the other beautiful creatures allowed in my life!

Michigan

2010-07-18T17:12:00.003-05:00

We were lucky enough to spend a week with my family in Michigan. We had this amazing house on a lake, and we spent our time playing games, and hanging out. It was so much fun.
This picture has almost all the cousins and all the siblings in it. So all my brothers and sister and almost all our kids and grandma on one slide....thats amazing!

Josh decided to issue a mustache contest for everyone in my family, complete with a score card. Even the girl cousins got in on it!
EVERYONE in ONE picture....that has NEVER happened before! And for the first time I dont think any of us were pregnant, so thats all of us for quite some time.
More mustaches.....so embarrassing!

Here's the view of all the cousins sitting on the couch from the upstairs balchony type thing. This house was crazy cool!

Ashlyn's dance

2010-07-18T17:07:00.003-05:00

Ashlyn had her dance performance on June 12. She took Jazz this year and did her dance to wake me up before you go (go)! It was the cutest dance with cute costumes, and as you can tell she loved her costume and couldnt stop posing. She also really enjoyed watching the other dances after her. Shes getting too big, bitter sweet!

Frio River

2010-06-28T21:07:00.005-05:00

Rylan and Ty learning how to swim in the Frio river June 2010
Ashlyn named my mustach George
We caught lots of minnows for fishin bait, but it was more fun playing with the minnows than using then for bait. Look how cute Ty is looking at the fish with his hands on his face!

Grandpa and the cousins

2010-05-15T10:47:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone! As I said I have started a new endeavor, well a couple actually that go together.....
a website, and a book (and then a charity brunch to top it all off). It all started two years ago with a blog post actually. A blog post on a really bad day, which led to a book, which led to a website.

It has been a journey, and as I see it the journey is just beginning, but I wanted to thank you all for the support you have already shown.

For those of you who have not yet joined, or don't know much about it, the website is for moms, especially with young children. It was designed to give moms a place to go to talk about everything, from things like recipes, to hard things like what makes motherhood hard. I want every mother to feel like she is not alone, and that every mother has struggles, and every mother has talents to share.

So if you haven't already go to www.theEverydayMother.com and sign up! Then before you post your next blog about the joys or trials of motherhood, remember to also post it over on the forums for the website. Share what you think with the rest of us, as a gift to other mothers, let us know your thoughts.

Also here are two video for you to watch. IF YOU LIKE THEM PLEASE REPOST THEM. Either on your blog or on facebook. If you like the website please tell others about it, either on your blog as a post, or on facebook. If you like the book tell others! Also grab ab button!

President Obamas Grandmothers video:
http://theeverydaymothers.ning.com/video/mama-sarah-obama-advice-for

The song Andi and I wrote:
http://theeverydaymothers.ning.com/video/days-like-these

And the book link

http://www.choiceskills.com/theeverydaymother.html

Thanks again for all you have already done! It means the world to me,and if there is ANYTHING I can do for you let me know!

Pics Galore!

2010-05-15T09:28:00.007-05:00

Rylan with underwear on his head riding his bike. Of course.

So as most of you know, I have been crazy busy with the Everyday Mother website, and charity brunch, and getting my book up and running. So the blog posts have been few and well let's be honest, non existent. But here are some of our latest memories.
Me and Ty listening to a movie together
Sweet little Ry

A cute headband Angie made me for my birthday Thanks again
Bubbles

Sunday adorableness.

Outside snuggles. There is nothing more beautiful than this!

New Pictures

2010-04-18T16:42:00.005-05:00

Hey Everyone! SO I recently went a little crazy buying matching clothes, because they grew out of their last batch. But they are so cute. This is the reason I didnt get pictures of all three. The meltdown began. This is church on sunday. The other was the gym on Friday.

This was a kiss but I didnt get there in time!

Rylans birthday is on Thursday so we celebrated as a family by going to chuck e cheese of course! These are the cupcakes after! :)

two videos

2010-04-06T11:11:00.004-05:00

I got Ty saying What the heck then I was trying to get him to say bless you. Every time I sneeze he says bless you. I never knew I had such a polite child!

The other one was easter morning. I just think his little voice is so cute!

Everything else

2010-04-06T10:30:00.004-05:00

I'm shocked everyday at how fast they are all growing up. Ashlyn and Jayden reading chapter book after chapter book, Rylan learning all his shapes and letters and the sounds they make, he can even draw a heart. Ty has learned all his letter sounds and also is speaking in full sentences and I still am amazed every time I hear his little voice say anything. Yesterday it was "mom a tractor, I see it!" But the best part about him is that before he leaves the room he points straight at you and says "Love you". Wouldn't the world be a better place if every time people left anywhere they pointed to someone else, so they couldn't mistake who they were talking to and said "LOVE YOU". It makes my day every time!

They all loved Easter and all the eggs. It took Ty a whole two seconds to pop one open and find out theres candy inside. He didnt care about putting them in a basket, he just ate them as he went.

Rylan and Ty spend every day running around together. Rylan says come one Ty and Ty lights up and follows right behind. When they are all home it;s like watching a bunch of little ducks, one following right after the other. I'm always so proud of how they all four play so well together. They never leave anyone out.

Rylan is in this horrible new phase where he doesnt want to be tucked in at night. Instead he yells out the bottom of his door and bangs on it hoping to lure us back upstairs. Then he falls asleep at his door and at 6 am he screams again, and I would ignore it, but its a blood curdling scream that radiates through the whole house, and I dont want him to wake everyone up. So I go up and tuck him in and he sleeps for another hour.

Ashlyn has her alarm set for 7 and she wakes up Jayden and then they get dressed for school and get Rylan out of his room, and sometimes Ty and feed them all breakfast before they wake me up at 7:30. I dont know how they were trained so well, but Hallelujah! That extra 30 minutes of sleep is glorious.

Ashlyn lost another tooth. She lost her big front tooth. The tooth fairy told her it would be worth $5. Crazy tooth fairy, and it was really loose and she wanted to get the money before the next day so she could spend it at the school store, so she was wiggling it all day. Then it got loose enough to tie dental floss to. I tied it so the floss was not coming off unless the tooth came out. So all night she was gently wiggling it trying to get it to come out. Then they all sat down on the couch to watch a movie. She sat right next to Rylan. Little did she know that Rylan LOVES floss, so with out thinking he reached over and grabbed the floss, and pulled her tooth right out. She screamed and caught her tooth and was crying. Rylan on the other hand was happy as could be playing with the floss not even noticing what he had done.

Rylan is still learning the rules on sharing and playing nice with Ty so sometimes if he isnt being nice I tell him to go to his room and shut the door. It has a baby lock on it so he can't get back out, but most the time he listens. Then when he's ready he calls me and tells me he's ready to say sorry.

Everything else is run of the mill. Just doing our best to keep it all going.

The last couple blue bonnets

2010-04-06T10:27:00.002-05:00

Blue Bonnets Family Shots

2010-04-06T10:22:00.002-05:00

So like I said it was almost impossible for me to get all four of them even in the same shot, let alone looking at the camera, and smiling was out of the question. Rylan towards the end was afraid there was a bee, so in a lot of the shots you can see him trying to get away from it.

This one is my favorite. Ash and Jay smiling ready, because they know what iwll happen if they don't, Ty crying because he hates the bluebonnets and Rylan looking at all the pretty flowers he picked. He loved those flowers!

Blue Bonnets Doubles

2010-04-06T10:10:00.003-05:00

Blue Bonnets Singles

2010-04-06T09:56:00.005-05:00

These are their close ups. I can't believe how adorable they all are!! These pictures are not doctored up at all, they need a bit of fine tweeking, but if I waited for that it would never get blogged!

Blue bonnets part 1

2010-04-06T09:36:00.003-05:00

so here's the pictures from Josh's phone. This year we could not for the life of us get a good picture of all four. I was so optimistic since last year we got several, and this year Ty and Rylan are so good at posing for pictures, but for some reason Ty was afraid of the bluebonnets and cried every time Josh put him down. It was annoying to say the least!

We kept catching these big bugs in our photos. This year it was hard to find a good spot. All our old spots are being replaced with buildings. BOOOO!

Jayden's birthday and more....only two months late.

2010-03-01T18:40:00.005-06:00

Brushing teeth! Their new favorite thing. Too cute.
Jayden's birthday at chuck e cheese. Ty and Rylan loved it especially the balloons!!

Sunday best!?!

2010-03-01T18:34:00.002-06:00

been too long....

2010-03-01T18:21:00.003-06:00

So on some sundays the kids are just too cute not to take picture of and with. These are my favorite two from last sunday, more to come in the next post. The first one is so sweet and the second hilarious. I didnt know he was doing that in the picture. :)

Jayden playing with his buddy Will.
Taysons 3rd birthday party. Rylan in the white apron in the front.
Me and Andi at a bridal shower....at a bar....on Sunday....is that too much information? This is our glamour shot!!

Brothers

2010-01-21T12:42:00.002-06:00

Here the brothers showing some love. They are so fun together!
Heres a video of Ty and Rylan. They just figured out this trick today. The weird sound is my embarrassing dorky laugh!! Can you name the movie in the background?

roasting marshmallows

2010-01-21T12:14:00.002-06:00

Josh often gets these grand ideas for things with the kids. One time it was a peanut party where they crushed open peanuts and ate them for awhile, this time it was a marshmallow party. Yes usually his ideas include something messy. But as always the kids loved it.

And for those of you wondering, which it doesnt seem like you are, but Im feeling better. I hvae been break down free since thursday when it happened, but Im still sad and still miss her like crazy. I still think I hear her and see her out of the corner of my eye, and I think it will be awhile longer before I dont feel guilty for what happened, but we are moving on, and as much as we miss her, we will keep her memory close.

dakota FAIR WARNING VERY DEPRESSING!

2010-01-13T21:41:00.030-06:00

She loved to snuggle peoples necks when she was a baby. This is her and Aunty Em.

This is her be sneaky trick. She looked like she was Stalking prey, but then we found out she was just itching her belly because she had mange. She almost died as a puppy because her mom couldnt give milk and they didnt catch it fast enough. She was one of the few from the liter that survived. Her owner said that she might not be as healthy as other dogs because of it.

She always thought she was one of us, and so did we.

See? Always around, watching over the kids.

She loved to find snuggle places, she would always just make herself at home. This is her with my brother. At night she would come up to my bed and put her head under my hand so I would pet her. Even recently.

We always thought she looked like she was ready to take your order.
She would let the babies feed her.

Just as a fair warning this post may sound like rambling and may not make any sense, but I need to write down what I can while I can

For those of you who dont know we had to put our dog down last night. She had growths on her neck that were multiplying like wild fire, and was losing a ton of weight. Even though she was still eating, she was dropping pounds everyday. Her head was all skin and bones and her spin and ribs were showing. If we gave her motrin she would act normal, stil ran to the door and barked when people came, still cleaned up the floor after dinner, and still was the dog I remembered but was looking so pathetic. With out motrin she was miserable, walked with a limp wouldnt bark, and if touched her neck she would growl and try to bite you. It was obviously very painful. Josh and I knew the day was coming when we would ahve to let her go. I prayed every night that Heavenly Father would just take her so I wouldnt have to face the decision of putting her down myself. It got to the point where I just couldnt tell if I was helping her by drugging her and masking the pain or if I was making it worse. Everyone kept telling me it was the right thing to do so we made the appointment. I told the kids a couple days before. I wanted it to seem casual and not make a big scene about it, but when they asked me how long shed be asleep for and I had to tell the forever, and that she was going to go to Heaven the look on Ashlyns face almost killed me. We all cried and I tried to be strong but I couldnt. She told me thats all she could think about. The two days leading up to it were agonizing. I wanted to be with her every second but it hurt to even look at her. Then yesterday after the kids got home from school they said goodbye and I had the horrible task of taking her to the vet. I put her leash on her and she wouldnt even get up. I dont know if she didnt want to leave or was just in too much pain. That was the worst two hours of my life. They had me wait to see the vet just to make sure I was doing the right thing. In my head you shouldnt put a dog down unless they cant walk on their own or something, but the vet looked at her throat and said if I didnt do it then I would be back soon, in the next couple days, because she couldnt have the quality of life she deserved. The whole ride there I thought if someone like the vet told me this is the right thing then Ill know, and then it will feel better, but the truth is I dont feel better. I thought if I was there with her she would know how much I loved her and that I would feel some closer but the truth is I cant get it out of my mind, and I just keep replaying it all over and over again.
She was my best friend for 8 years. Literally my constant companion. I didnt even notice until I knew this was going to happen, but if I got up she got up, if I walk she walked, if I stopped she stopped, if I sat down there she was plopped down next to me with her face in my lap. And even the last day I didnt give her any motrin because if she was acting fine there was no way I could go through with it,I got up to go somewhere else and I heard the clippity clop of her little feet in the kitchen behind me. Even in all that pain she would have followed me anywhere. Everyone says it was the right thing to do but it doesnt feel like the right thing to do. How do I know she would have wanted to go. She wasnt acting like she wanted to go. Im sure shes happy but maybe she would have been happy here too. I can not believe I had to do that to her. That was the most horrible thing Ive ever had to do and I hope it stays the most horrible thing I ever have to do.
I know there are lots of worst things going on in the world. They say people are greatful for their trials, and I am greatful for his trial because as horrible as it is, and it is horrible, I still have my wonderful husband, and he loves his jobs, I still have four beautiful kids, I still have great extended family, and great friends. But this is still hard.
I dont know how long it will take for me to stop expecting to see her when I walk in the door, or open the door for her at night for her to come in, or hear a sound and think its her. I keep expecting to see her, or feel her next to me. Sometimes I see a pile of blankets and expect it to be her. Then I have to remind myself its not and never will be again. Thats the worst. I never realized how much she was always there. She was a silent prescence in my life, in all that I did, at home or gone, I at least always knew she was there. That will be hard. I dont WANT her to be gone.
The first day we got her I picked her up and the second I did she licked my face. Josh always says at that moment he knew she would be ours. She hid in my arms with her face tucked under the whole way home, 1 hr and a half, only looking up every once in a while, then hiding again. Even from the start she loved to snuggle. She was never a wild dog, although she liked to play. She was easy to train, and sweet. But she was never rowdy. If given the choice she would have rather snuggled any day. We brought her to a friends house and put her on the floor and she asked us what her name was and we said we didnt know but we had a few in mind. So she called out the first name and said here, nothing then the next, still nothing, then said Dakota here, and she perked up looked at us and came right over. Thats how she got her name. I always knew when you get a dog someday they will have to go, but I never thought that day would really come. I cant believe its over, I cant believe this is how it ended, and I cant believe how ridiculously painful it is. As long as I dont think about it Im OK. But when I do it is a literally drop to my knees cant breath stomach crushing cant move kind of pain.
Im going to miss her ears, they were so soft, Im going to miss her paws with one little white spot on the inside, Im going to miss her eyes, that had so much expression, and Im going to miss her love. No matter where we were if we started cuddling Dakota knew and would come over and join in. She always knew where the love was at and would find it and join in. Im going to miss watching Ty snuggle her and her just let the kids love on her, and watch Ty feed her from his chair on the floor, I'm going to miss having my kids grow up with a pet, and if we have another kid, I'm going to miss the baby and Dakota discovering each other. She was so motherly, never jealous, but would sit by the kids and watch over them, especially with Ashlyn. I cant believe still that this is now a reality for me. I know Ill get over this some day I just don't want to have to. I know trials are for a reason, I hope that I learn a lesson that will make this worth it because I don't see that yet. I want to see it, I want to make it worth it, but I'm not there yet. I am just so heartbroken.
Last night literally right after I went to a girls night called bunco. I made it through with no breakdowns, surprisingly, and Im glad I got to take my mind off it for a minute, but it was hard. Josh had a memorial for Dakota with the kids. He wanted to wait till I could be there, but I told him to go ahead with out me. Josh is strong enough to hold it together, Im not. They dont need to see me breaking down. So they read scriptures and talked about Heavenly Fathers plan, favorite Dakota memories, and picked a picture to keep of her. It was really sweet.
Anyways, I know that's a lot of really sad information, probably too much information, and I know some of you will think that's why you never want a dog, and maybe this will keep me from having another dog too, but mostly I think, those were 8 really great years, and I would have missed out on all of it, if it weren't for her. Right now its like childbirth, way too painful to ever think about doing again, but someday Ill hopefully forget about how much pain this was, and remember every amazing second and be able to be strong enough to do it again. But still for today it is way too much to handle.

Out and About

2009-12-27T17:43:00.003-06:00

Heres a bunch of pictures from my iPhone. All except the first one are of the kids on the go!

The kids with Santa.
At McDonalds

At church.

On Thanksgiving.

Mother Daughter night

2009-12-20T18:08:00.009-06:00

We had a mother daughter night when we moved in a while ago. We had a bunch of moms and their girls come, we made bracelets and did make overs, but mostly ate and enjoyed each other. I had so much fun! Ashlyn did as well, and I hope so did every one else. Heres the "before and after" pics.

Our week

2009-12-20T17:25:00.005-06:00

So this week was full of fun! Besides the normal chasing kids around we had two christmas parties to go to. First the ward party, with delicious bbq. My kind of christmas party. Then saturday night we had the fabulous Julia babysit while we went to an ugly sweater christmas party. We went to the KCM like the good will, and couldnt find ANY ugly christmas sweaters. I was so surprised. So we had christmasify them ourselves. I added rudolph to Joshs sweater, and lots of bells to mine. Its funny because in the picture Joshs sweater looks worse, and mine actually looks better. Josh was so afraid that we were gonna show up and no one else would be wearing ugly sweaters, but when the had the contest and he won, he felt much better about.

And this is what he won. A SNUGGIE!! I love snuggies, but would never pay $20 for one. The problem is Ashlyn and I now fight over it. =). It also came with the coolest book reading light. So here are our commercial pics for them!I'm reading a book my Dad wrote on the things that are threating public education. It is an amazing book, full of a lot of great insights! So when its ready for the world, Ill let you know. Its so worth the read.

Pajama day at school, this is my kids and the neighbors twins.

I cant believe how old he is looking. All this hair and his face is slimming down. He even said a sentence the other day. He said good morning, and say hi to daddy. (Talking about talking to daddy on the phone).

Other Pictures

2009-12-07T10:40:00.004-06:00

Here are some random pictures. I just got a new camera on black friday, one that will be able to take better pictures inside then my iphone does. And I just did my blog book for 2008 and so now Im motivated again to make sure I blog all the pictures Ill want in the book.
Dakota has two huge growths on her neck, and they are growing very fast. She hasnt been feeling well for a few months now, and drools, and wont eat sometimes, and looks sad. She has lost a lot of weight, and the vets cant find anything wrong with her. But Ty just loves her, and will try to feed her, and sometimes thats the only time she will eat. This time in the picture though was more of a disaster, I think Im still picking it up, it was ALL OVER the floor. But Ty will follow Dakota around and gives her hugs all the time. It will be so sad when we have to figure out what to do next. As long as she has Motrin she does much better, she'll play, and eat and bark, but when she has no motrin she hides all day and wont move. Makes me think shes in more pain than just her throat. Maybe her legs, or maybe she just gets so tired from not eating? I dont know but we sure do love her.
Rylan and Ty both like it when I bring out the camera, Rylan now wants his picture taken everytime and even will smile for the camera, where was this attitude weeks ago when I was taking family pictures? I dont know but I love it when they hit this age, knowing me because I bring out the camera A LOT.

Decorations

2009-12-07T10:26:00.002-06:00

Here they are putting up the tree. We then had to rearrange everything so Ty couldnt reach the balls. He would take them off two or three at a time and throw the "ball"s as he calls them. Most of them were shatter proof, so it wasnt so bad, it was just annoying to have the ornaments all over the house, but he did find a couple glass ones. Rylan also loves hanging the ornaments.

The above picture doent quite do it justice, but we loved being able to put up lighted garland, that has been my dream forever. I love it.
The below picture was in the morning obviously, I was walking upstairs to do something and then got talking and just sat down to talk about plans for the day, and as I was talking Ty came just to sit by me. Then Ash and then Rylan. So funny. Not a good picture of me, but a cute one all in all.

SNOW!

2009-12-07T09:50:00.006-06:00

A rare occurance in Texas, it snowed, and it snowed hard, and it snowed for a long time, and it stuck, and it was still around the next day! It started snowing on the way to school, and then during school it got going even more. So much so that they called an emergency weather early release day. The kids came home and played in the snow. Rylan played a little but didnt like it much. He hated it when the cold snow hit his face. Josh was at the station and made a snow fireman.
One of my favorite things in Minnesota was to look at the blue blue sky with white snow on the ground, often in Texas Ive looked at the blue sky and imagined that there was snow on the ground, even dreamt of it, but Saturday it was a reality. I couldnt believe that it was still cold eough, that even with the sun shining, there was still snow on the ground and on the roofs. Dakota, even though she hasnt been feeling well loved eating the snow.
This may be the only time I can see what my house looks like covered in snow. Now its already in the 60s again, and may be this warm for christmas, but it was fun to go see santa and go christmas shopping while it was cold and snowy!!

Horseback Riding

2009-11-25T22:28:00.007-06:00

Ashlyn turned seven yesterday. How on earth did she get so old? After school and after dance last night we threw her a family surprise party. It was so fun. It was funny yesterday Jayden came to me yesterday and told me someone hit him and I didn't hear who he said hit him, so I said "who did"? And he said "the birthday girl hit me right here." So cute.

Then today we took her Jayden and a couple friends horseback riding. We wish we could have taken a lot more friends, but there was a limit of five horses, but luckily the moms got to ride too. (And Dad). I had a lot of fun, and so did Ashlyn. Jayden liked the bouncy part (when the horses trotted). We found a place in Katy that took us on a little over an hour trail ride.

Heres Ash and Jayden with the baby horse.

Kristy and Emily.

Josh and Jayden
Kelli and Sarah

Kellie and Adalie
Me and the birthday girl.

My Life

2009-11-22T17:56:00.002-06:00

With the weather turning colder at least every once in awhile, we've been enjoying the fireplace, with some nice hot cocoa. Here's Josh with the kids and a neighbor friend. Heres an update of each of us.
Ty is a sweet amazing growing boy, and I am surpirsed every day at how much he knows and how much he is learning. Im actually surprised that in this picture you can't see his battle wounds, but he was defending a toy at Mcdonalds, and the other boy scratched up his face bad. Got his eye, and all over his nose and his cheek. I didnt see it until after it happened, and I dont think Ty even started crying from the scratches, I think he only started crying when the other boy finally got his toy. The other kid was just as young, so its not like he knew better, but Ty's face is just so sad looking. Because of our new calling in our ward Ty got to go to nursery early and so he started today. They said he did great, didnt make a peep and followed what all the kids were doing. Sat when he was suppossed to sit, ate snack, and he came home HAPPY! Im sure hes much happier playing with toys and his older brother rather than roaming the halls aimlessly with his mom. I counted all the words he can say and here they are...eat, shoe, choochoo, all done, ball, bubble, go, daddy, Mom, Do, Hi, Stuck, Ohhhh, eww, Bath, nap, up, Apple, Cookie, Cracker, Car, poopoo, diaper, out, bowl, hot, hat, book, bird, and balloon. Whats even better is he knows what they all mean, he even tells me when hes poopy, but he thinks onions are apples, not a fun mistak to make. He can also sign all done, thirsty, more, and hungry. I dont think Ive ever had a kid tell me when they are poopy and are right, but he does. He loves to sing songs and he and Rylan are practicing sharing....that gets interesting.
Rylan is doing great attalking and is doing great at sharing even though Ty isnt a big fan. He figured out what friends house means and that is his favorite thing now, playing with friends. He loves being outside, and he is starting to help out a lot. He is taking naps only about half the time now, and as long as he is happy and being a good listener, I dont make him take a nap. I can tell when hes tired because he tries to get in trouble. Hes learning to pretend, and loves to laugh!!! And his favorite song is I love to see the temple, he knows every word. Well favorite non "Wicked" song. He lovesthe songs from wicked especially popular, then emerald city, and the what he calls boo-ahhh which if you know the musical is the song called what is this feeling, at the end alfaba says boo and everyone else screams even Ty sings that one. He is learning the alphabet and loves to sing the ABCs He also trying SO hard to learn colors and shapes, and isnt quite there yet. The other day he was singing GIAB GIAB GIAB and I realized he was trying to sing bingo. Must have got that from Ashlyn.
Ashlyn will be turning 7 in two days. I still cant believe it. She is getting very excited and has some fun plans. We are going to ride horses for her birthday. She is doing great in school, beside this last week where she stayed home most the week from strep. Yuck! She loves dance class, and all though she is still as sweet as can be with her baby brothers, she is starting to get a bit of an attitude, the teenage girl in her is on its way to emerging. Hopefully we can keep it to a minimum, at least for 7 more years.
Jayden is loving kindergarted, and ever since I took him to the voodoo doctor he has stopped bonking his head, stays dry every night, and his whole attitude is so much better. He is happy, and helping, and doesnt seem to lose control as often. That said he is still a 5 year old boy with energy and a bit of a stubborn streak. He learned to ride his bike, as I said in the previous post, and LOVES to be out there everyday.

As for me, Im adjusting to a new new ward, now that we split wards, and a new calling, and trying to figure out my place in the world. Josh is working Thanksgiving so Im trying to figure out what to do with myself and the kids that day. Andi and company will be out of town, so we shall see. But hes not working christmas so we are excited to have him home christmas eve and christmas day!!

Surfing

2009-11-19T10:46:00.003-06:00

These pictures are a bit late. My camera broke when we went to the beach, bummer! But luckily Lindsay had one, and she gave me a CD with them on it, so here they are. Josh was so happy this year when the kids learned to swim because that means they are old enough to learn to SURF. His dream come true. So we went twice this summer, once with the babies and even better, once with out. And by babies I mean Ty (and Kate which is why it was plural). Ty just loved the beach, he would eat the sand and play in it, but he was also mobile, which meant lots of dashing toward the water. Rylan is old enough to be afraid of it, and listen to instructions, but Ty was not, so as much as he loved it, it was a lot easier for me with out him there. It's already scary enough with the beach, but with a fast fearless tot, it's even more stressful.

Rylan loved the beach but wouldn't go near the water. He liked it when the other kids would take a break from the water and play with him, but even if he was alone that was Ok by him too.

Here's Will Ashlyn and Jayden learrning to surf together. One time I think they were all up, but of course we could never catch it.

Me and Lindsay.

Jayden surfing. They were both complete naturals. Got up over and over, and when they fell they'd get right back up.

Here's Ash. Josh practiced with them the night before in the living room, getting up.

Outside Adventures

2009-11-15T19:44:00.004-06:00

My sweet little boys. The weather has been amazing! So we play outside and go for walks, I'm loving this time of year!

Learning to Ride Bikes!!

Ty was enjoying being outside pushing along with his feet.
Jayden and Ashlyn learned yesterday how to ride with out their training wheels. Today they learned how to start and stop on their own. It's so cute to see.
Rylan pushes wit his feet too, but when I gave him a bath yesterday he had bruises on the side of his legs. So Sad!! Doesn't stop him though.

Ashlyns field trip

2009-11-15T19:29:00.002-06:00

So I spent one day a couple weeksago at Jaydens field trip at dewberry farms, and two day later I was suppossed to go on Ashlyn's but they closed because they anticipated rain. Turns out that Andi wouldnt have been able to babysit that day because Carson was sick, and it turned out there was no rain. I told Ashlyn when she was sad she had to wait for the next week to go, that things always happen for a reason because I wouldn't have been able to go, and she said, "I would rather not have had to wait". Ouch that hurts! JK In the end when I did get to go she was really happy. I much preferred the dewberry farms, oil ranch had no where to sit, and less to do, well not less, just less enjoyable things. But the kids enjoyed it.

In this hay ride the cows eat the hay off the wagon, which is totally digusting. They start chasing you the second you enter the field and they come over with their huge heads, nasty noses, and flys ALL over them, and eat all the hay off. The kids couldn't even decide if they hate it or love it. Im not a fan!!

For Mom

2009-11-04T20:45:00.003-06:00

Here's our family pictures. In case Dad never gets to showing you facebook.

Halloween

2009-11-04T20:33:00.004-06:00

Here's a fake pumpkin we made for the kids school. They were suppossed to make a pumpkin like a favorite book character. They love Fly guy. The above picture is the book they made it after.
Walmart had these cute little things up.

On the way to party number one. Ashlyn friend was having a family party, it was a lot of fun. Then at the end of our cul de sac there was another big party for all the neighbors. This is my drea, neighborhood. We always wanted to have block parties, and we finally get to. We did go trick or treating at our old house, it was a strange feeling. But as we pulled up there was a large group of scary looking guys walking around, and we cant say we were sorry we had left. Wedidnt do much trick or treating though. It seems that trend may be dying. You have to walk three or four houses to get to one that someone is handing out candy. I think Halloween parties are the new way to go, everyone brings their candy, and so they still get to enjoy it a little, but who knows. Maybe its just cuz our neighborhood is new, but it seemed that way for a couple years now.

Heres my costume. Last minute I threw on some eyes and eyeliner. Gotta love that Josh can pose for a picture and drive. Yikes!

Family Pics

2009-11-04T20:22:00.004-06:00

Heres just some random pictures. I was laying on the floor with my phone and couldnt resist all the adorableness. He just got a bunch of hair lately. He looks so much older.
This onw is mean but soo funny. BABY RUTH!

This picture was this morning. Ty picked out his own shirt. He went to the doctor today, small but brave.
Heres him saying he's hungry.

Rylan learned his colors but he says Blalalaluee! And hes also learning his letters.

Jaydens field trip

2009-11-04T20:10:00.004-06:00

I was lucky enough to go to Dewberry Farms with Jayden's class. Nothing beats seeing my baby at school. The other kid they assigned to me was this cute little girl, but Jayden was disappointed becuase shes always picking on him. They had fun though. The day was full of hay rides and pumpkin picking, cute little bikes for them to ride, animals, and these zip lines.

Last house pictures finally!

2009-10-25T18:09:00.002-05:00

Halloween

2009-10-25T16:41:00.002-05:00

2009-10-20T21:39:00.002-05:00

Hey! My computer isn't working for tranfering pictures, so I can't show the final house pictures yet, and we finally just got internet last week which is why I haven't updated this in SOO long. But we are all settled in, theres always projects still, but we were all done with the big stuff with in a week especially with the help of my parents. They came and visited being the first to visit our house. Now my little brother Jon is visiting and my kids are loving all the guests.

Jayden's room is baseball theme, so I hung up all his baseball gear from last year, and he cried, because he was afraid he couldnt play baseball anymore. Then the other day he came up to me and asked me in a really quiet shy voice "Do daddy's love their son's more than they love the astros?" It took me a minute to figure out what he meant, but his team from little league was the braves and he knows how much Josh loves the Astros and he was afraid that Josh loved the Astros more than he loved the team he played for. Poor little confused kid. We had to explain that there are kid teams and adult teams, and that Daddys always love their sons the most. It was so cute and funny and sad all at the same time.

Ty and Rylan are loving running the house, and the big favorite spot for all is the back porch.

Ty sitting in a box saying ChooChoo.
Tys favorite new game is puttong his pacifier in my mouth and then back in his. Gross, yes, but still so cute.

Bunco at my friend Katie's house, it was a halloween theme so we all dressed up as witches.

Totally random pictures, but thats what was on Joshs cell, so here it is!!

All about Ty

2009-09-17T19:05:00.003-05:00

Since this blog is also for journaling purposes, you may ignore all bragging that is about to take place! Ty is 14 months old now, and is at the age where he is learning in leaps and bounds. His new talents include, playing peek a boo, saying "up, all done, daddy, mommy, hot, apple, more, ball..." and can sign thirsty, bed and all done although he prefers to talk rather than sign. He loves singing if youre happy and you know it, the itsy bitsy spider, and twinkle. He also squeels when he wants something, which can be a little annoying! But he is walking uo to everyone grabbing them and giving them big hugs, Ashlyn, Jayden Rylan, me and most of all Dakota! And he loves to give kisses. He also hates eating at his high chair, he'd rather eat on the go. Such a handsome little man!

The end of peek a boo!
If you happy and you know it shout hurray!

Last house pictures

2009-09-16T13:47:00.006-05:00

View from front door

View from back fence

Back porch and small backyard

View from kitchen to family room

View from family room upstairs

View from back door into kitchen

View from garage door into formal dining room

Master bedroom
Master bath

View from formal sitting room to study with doors open and closed

From front door to formals, with art niche

View from master hallway to kitchen

View from top of stairs

Jayden's room

Ashlyn's room

view from gameroom hallway looking over to Jay and Ashs room

Upstairs Guest room

gameroom

The kids

2009-09-07T19:48:00.007-05:00

Random picturesof the kids. Ty LOVES to be outside. So we spend a lot of the morning outside and with Ashlyn and Jayden at school all day these two are thick as thieves.
Heres Rylan helping Grandpa shuck the corn.
He also LOVES Dakota.

The vegetables of his labors.

We brought some treats back from the wedding. So cute.

Bendaroos!!

2009-09-07T19:38:00.004-05:00

So the kids saved their money and bought some bendaroos. They saw them on commercials. So I was a little hesitant in whether or not they would be a good idea. But after playing with them for a little while I got hooked as well. Weall had fun making some sea creatures and then made an ocean view paper for them.

Tooth Fairy

2009-09-07T19:25:00.004-05:00

My baby girl has lost her FIRST tooth. Here is a spoiler alert for you...so any one who believes in the tooth fairy should stop reading now. Ashlyn has never really believed in Santa or the tooth fairy. So right before she lost her tooth she asked me who the real tooth fairy was. So I asked her if she wanted the truth, and so not wanting to lie, I told her the truth. She knew the tooth fairy was bringing her one dollar and leaving the tooth since it was her first one. Well the day finally came, it was hanging on by a thread and Josh pulled it out for her. I was so surprised how tiny the tooth was. She put it in a baggie and put it under pillow. The "tooth fairy" she was expecting left her one dollar and left the tooth. She saw the dollar half way through the night, but then when she woke up in the morning there was another dollar and the tooth was gone. She asked Grandpa and he said he didnt do it, I didnt do it and she called Josh at work and he said he didnt do it. The only thing we can figure is that the real tooth fairy came. Seems someone wanted to keep the magic alive. Wonder who that could be...and it wasn't me.

2009-08-26T21:43:00.002-05:00

First day of school

2009-08-25T21:14:00.004-05:00

Well its official, I have two kids in school. Ashlyn started first grade, and Jayden started Kindergarten. I was much more nervous than they were. I drove them there and was lucky enough to get to walk them both to class. Neither of them missed a beat. They werent hesitant at all. Luckily the other two kids Rylan and Ty kept me distracted enough to keep me from crying. Its always hard to walk away from my kids and leave them somewhere with out me. And watching them grow up makes me so proud and so amazed all at once. I almost cried again when I saw them holding hands waiting for me to pick them up. They looked so excited to see me and I felt the same.

Bappa

2009-08-25T20:59:00.003-05:00

These go together. Ash has one too but hers isnt in the picture.

So one of the best things about living here is seeing the kids have fun with grandpa, and putting in all the orders for cool wood items. Today Rylan was asking where everyone was, and then Id ask him. I said Wheres Ashlyn? In school. Wheres Jayden, in school, wheres Daddy at work, wheres grandpa? In the garage. The garage is their favorite place. He always helps them make things they can paint, puzzles, and all sorts of things. They always feels so cool when they get to go in the garage with grandpa.

Ashlyn's family home evening

2009-08-25T19:52:00.003-05:00

Ashlyn gave a family home evening lesson that she made with Grandpa in the garage. She sat us all down and gave us each a piece of this...

As we put our piece down we each said something that made a family happy. I said Kindness
Jayden said helping others
Daddy said the gospel
Ashlyn said obiedience

Then she said that if we want to be a happy family we each hav to do our part, and as a visual if one of us isn't doing something right then we have to take a piece out and we can't put it back until we have changed the way we are acting, which includes me and Josh if we are yelling then we have to take a piece out. Its fun to have them at an age where they enjoy participating and teaching family home evening! It was so sweet.

Happy Anniversary

2009-08-08T14:39:00.005-05:00

Josh and I spent the week on an anniversary trip. He was asked to be in a wedding for one of his friends from the fire station. The wedding was in McAllen Texas which is near the border of Mexico so we decided to take full advantage of the time and went to schlitterbahn in New Baunfels as well. Andi watched the kids, with a couple people from the ward here and there. It was a really fun trip, although its never easy to leave the kids behind.

Heres the present we brought back for Jayden a puzzle. He LOVES puzzles, and you can see Ashlyns present on her wrist, we found a couple of cute bracelets.

Heres right before the wedding. Pictures we took in the bathroom of the hotel.

I went all out for the wedding, as some of you facebookers all ready know. I bought heels for the first time and asked a friend for make up tips. I wore eye shadow and blush and lip stick. Big step I know. I even curled my hair a little. Its a big change from kid gunked clothes, not brushing my hair and barely ever make up. Its fun to get all gussied up every once in awhile but dont get too attached, it will not be an everyday occurance.

I have been married to the greatest man on earth for almost 9 years now. It was so fun to be able to spend time away from all the normal day stresses and just be together again. It helped me remember how lucky I truly am. Heres to 9x9x9x9 more!!

busy busy

2009-08-08T14:32:00.004-05:00

The last few weeks of summer are always busy and that is the case for us for sure. Here are some July moments.

Wespent one week in July learning all about other countries. We picked a country for each day of the week and in the morning we colored the flag from that country as I read facts about the country in a book. Then they each colored a picture of something they learned about that country and we hung the pictures up. Monday was China, Tuesday was France Wednsday was Mexico Thursday was Egypt and Friday was Italy. We also would eat food from each country so heres a picture from China day as they learned to use chopsticks.

Heres how Jayden fell asleep after the beach the last week, those pictures to come later.
Heres Rylan at a splash park.

Sweet little Ty Ty.

2009-08-03T20:53:00.001-05:00

New Blog

2009-08-02T23:25:00.001-05:00

Check out my new blog at mariehollemanphotos.blogspot.com

Ty is one!

2009-07-13T22:47:00.006-05:00

As the new birthday tradition I started I followed Ty around with a camera. There were too many to put on here, but enjoy what I decided to put on.
Hes been sticking his tongue out all the time. So Funny. He got that from my brother Gerald.

Taking steps.

Rylan told him no when he wanted to play with a toy Rylan had. That always makes him so sad.

Happy Birthday Ty

2009-07-13T22:23:00.009-05:00

OK way too many pictures I know!! These are from Tys birthday party the night before he turned one. Josh was working on his real birthday so we had a party the night before. The balloons are from a party we went to the day before but they worked perfect for this.

He looks like a little tyrannosaurus rex baby.

Love this picture. I thought it be years before I saw this look on his face. Josh would say its from me taking too many pictures.

Hes so excited!

Poor Rylan is sad because Ty opened up his football that Rylan really wanted.

Heres Jayden mad because he was the last one to get cake.
And heres his face when JOsh said the last person to get cake gets the most.

Heres Tys face when everyone started singing, he couldnt figure out what was going on.

House

2009-07-10T15:32:00.005-05:00

Andi at the house fourth of July

So finally after much work I have pictures up of the progress of our house. We are documenting mostly for our own good, but it is a strange process to watch a house go from nothing to a house in such short time. Its hard for me to conceptualize that this will someday be our house. Its fun and scary and makes my stomach jump every time I think about it or see it. So much excitement and so much to worry about all rolled up in one. We go over almost everyday and take pictures. They laid the foundation two weeks ago.
The slide show is the official pictures but heres some more just for fun!

Josh "upstairs"

cousins

Matching shirts, ahhh cute

This picture is much cuter close up. We are all looking at Ty sitting like such a big boy. He loves being a part of the group.
The house looks so small while its being built. Its strange to think a whole family can fit in it. When its just the foundation is when its the smallest, its so hard to picture a whole house can fit into that little area.
Josh wanted totake pictures of me in the house so heres me pretending to open the door. Josh didnt like that. He was embarrassedby my lack of acting skills.

So heres the next face I gave him, any better?

Let freedom ring

2009-07-05T00:03:00.004-05:00

I cant believe how old she looks! Its unbelievable.

Ashlyn and Jayden.

Josh and Ashlyn taken frommy iphone.

So tonight on the way home from fireworks I asked Ashlyn and Jayden if they knew why we celebrate the fourth of July and Jayden said "because it's fun". And it was FUN! We spent yesterday swimming and playing, and today we went to the house and took family pictures in our matching shirts, (watch for those in another post), and then made peanut butter pie and for the first time we went to a real firework show. We put the two little ones down and took the two older ones with cousin Carson and went to Katy Mills Mall and watched the show. Since it was so dry we did see three brush fires that were working their way up into some nice fires, but luckily the fire dept had a little truck putting them all out. It was a lot of fun.

pics

2009-07-03T22:38:00.005-05:00

They wore their goggles for like an hour watching TV poor Rylan looks like he cant even see.

Cute or what?

I dont remember if she was sick or just really tired but Rylan decided it would be a good time to snuggle.

Tys walking!

2009-07-03T22:16:00.002-05:00

Ty is learning to walk. He goes as far as he can and once he falls he doesn't know how to get back up but he loves it. And the other clip is one of those funny things kids do, and this is the one Ty picked. He does it all the time, too funny!

A few extra pictures

2009-06-15T20:13:00.004-05:00

Ty is so close to walking, he's taking 4 or 5 steps at a time, and is very controlled when going from standing to sitting.
My cute little boys! Matchy matchy, gotta love it. Above:Rylan hugging Ty.

My sister Beckys house in Conneticut and her adorable kids. Below, Stacia who turned two while we were there.

Ashlyn's recital

2009-06-15T19:56:00.003-05:00

Ashlyn was in her yearly recital,and it was wonderful. She is so grown up. Unfortunately Josh had to work and Steve watched the babies, so only Andi and I went and Andi bought her pretty flowers with sparkles. Ashlyn did such a great job. She always practices so hard and still adds a little personality to it. She also has a great class with some really close friends, which always makes it more fun.

Practicing the curtain call.

New York New York!

2009-06-10T21:04:00.004-05:00

I took a Girls Trip with ust me and my Mom and my sister to New York. We spent 24 hours in the big apple and loved every minute of it. Im surprised how much we got done. The city was amazing. Sometimes I would look around and couldnt imagine how people live there, its
intimidating and scary and thrilling. And I have to admit, dont take this the wrong way but I found it so attractive to watch the people who lived there, it was so interesting to watch them with all the new york confidence. They knew where they were going and seemed so sure in what they were doing, no where else before have I really felt like everywhere I looked I saw people and felt liek they had a story behind them. Obviously everyone has a story, but I found myslef day dreaming and imagining and wondering what their lives were like. Its such a strange and fun and exciting place.
Here's my imperssion of Will Ferrel from Elf. I jumped across the white lines. "Watch out for the yellow ones they dont stop!"
We took the free ferry that takes you to staten Island and it went right past the Statue of Liberty, we figured it was a better view, free and less busy, Ashlyn was excited to have me see the statue of liberty so I had to call her and sent her pictures via email.
We bought matching shirts, what we didnt plan on matching the statue of liberty!
Our hotel was literally right around the corner from Tmes Square. We saw it at night too.

We went so we could see Wicked. I knew nothing of the real story line, very vague ideas of it, but I loved it!!! One of our goals was to find a little black dress in New York City, and I cant believe that we found one! It was worth every penny.

Heres central park and trump tower, we sang enchanted and newsies songs, ate hot dogs out of the carts on the street, and new york pizza, we saw the statue of liberty at night all lit up, I went to New Jersey, and there are still more pictures to come. But now Im home and I dont want to go to sleep tonight because I know when I wake up it will feel like this was all a dream and maybe never happened at all. Oh and we got to go to the today show and we were on Tv. Did you see me?

Graduation

2009-05-24T20:53:00.003-05:00

Bet you thought I was gonna say it was Josh again, and he did graduate...again. But nope the man of the hour is Jayden graduating from preschool. I didnt expect it to be so cute, but I was all choked up. They had them walk down one at a time while playing the music, and it was so sweet. He had his hat pulled down so low. What a character. Then we ate cake and took another picture. He'll tell you now he's done with preschool and then theres a summer break then next year he'll be in kinder. (If you ask he'll tell you some people call it kinder for short). Man they grow up so fast!!!

kids kids and more kids!

2009-05-24T20:25:00.004-05:00

Some days having four kids feels like having a hundred, and sometimes surprisingly, when they are all quiet, sleeping, or eating happily, it feels like just one. Anyways, here's some pictures of all my kids. Josh went on a fishing trip this week to Oregon with my brother, and I conquered life with four kids all on my own. Who am I kidding, I asked Steve to babysit like a hundred times. I really do love living near family, and right now I'm really living close to family, with Steve here and Andi just a couple blocks down, I'm not sure what Ill do when we move. Which feels like years away, they still haven't broken ground we go this week to pick some more things, so Im not sure how long from then until we move in. Im torn, Id love to move in before school, and I feel like a dork when people in our new ward ask us when we are moving in and I say October, that feels like forever away, but at the same time, it's nice here, (besides my lack of orginization) and it's nice to be saving. Last week we went to our new ward and some really nice people who live in our new neighborhood invited us over for dinner, then we found out that our next door neighbors are mormon and so are the people living down the cul de sac, and one of them is in Jaydens primary class, another little boy. So now we are even more excited. So Ill keep you posted.
Heres Josh and Ty at one of Jaydens games. He is loving interaction now, and is so cute with all his new tricks.
Rylan loves Jayden's helmet. He says "hat" and then puts it on.

For those of you who haven't been on my blog in awhile, the little girl is not mine. I know you might get confused easily with all the kids I've had. But she is the daughter of the "french fry" lady at Jayden's games. In case you forgot or I didnt tell you the french fry lady is the coaches wife and she always would get french frys and let Rylan eat all he wanted. He loved her!! This little girl just turned one and Ty is 10 months, but she can walk, and she loves babies, I missed taking the picture while she was hugging him and kissing him. She didnt want to let go.
Heres Ty pulling up on Ash her face is so funny.
Heres after Ty pulled up and let go. Hes so good at that now. Still not walking yet.
Here's Tys new trick, he figured out the stairs, YIKES. But Rylan liked climbing up with him, they just giggled the whole way up and then Rylan kissed him. He's really such a sweet brother, he gives thing to Ty Ty all the time. Oh and ALL these pictures were taken with my iphone. SO thats why some arent so good, outside it looks great but inside if they are moving its blurry. I dont know what happened to my other camera, my guess is Josh packed it in storage?

Fishing with Daddy

2009-05-18T19:33:00.005-05:00

OK so the first pictures arent fishing but really cute park pictures. The weather has been surprisingly beautiful for Texas, and we've been enjoying the park. Jayden loves pushing Ty and couldnt help but give him a sweet manly brotherly kiss. Jayden is the sweetest brother. And Ty was lovin it.

Josh took the two oldest fishing with him and his good friend. They caught lots of fish and even a poor little turtle. They used team work to get it in, so cute, and they worked so hard at it. They came home glowing. (And very smelly)
The boys playing out in the rain.

closed

2009-05-02T20:31:00.003-05:00

So itsofficial we closed on our first house on Wednsday. It went smoothly although moving didnt. We had a few hiccups and the first day here was hard, I felt closterphobic and unorganized and of course so much loss for the first house that we ever owned. I wish so badly we could have kept it forever, and just moved it around with us to new neighborhoods and make it bigger. It holds so many memories, and all really important ones, its where I brought all of my babies home to (at least the ones so far) and watched them learn how to walk, and all of the little things we did together in the house. The baseball and dancing and snuggling. That house is so much a part of who we are. And I cant believe the youngest two wont even remember it. After the first night Ashlyn said "I cried a lot last night because Im so homesick." Later she told Josh she was sad but she would get over it. And everytime we drive past the house she said "everytime we drive by I get a little sadder" And I said "me too."

But after the first night here we got acclimated pretty well and I cant believe weve already been here a whole week. So far actually Im lovin it. Steve is so helpful, while the babies are napping I can go to walmart and get groceries, how nice is that? Plus I, wait for it, having been making dinners almost everynight. I actually enjoyed it. Weird I know. Its been nice being near Andi, and so far things have been nice. Although I will always love that house for what it means for my family, its ok to move on.
Last dance fest in our empty house.
Picture outside the front door. It was raining outside, it was right before the flood started.

Rylan wouldnt sit for this picture. He was to busy walking around saying Sit? trying to figure out where everything went.

These are the people who bought our house. They forgot their camera so we took a picture for them. She was so happy theyd been living in apts for a long time, so she couldnt stop smiling. I was so happy for them I ALMOST forgot to be sad for myself.

Bah bye House, bah bye big back yard!
On to the next.

Me

2009-04-23T13:38:00.002-05:00

I was tagged by Angie to take a self portrait. The rules are that once you're tagged, you must take your picture right then and there. No editing. No changing clothes. No adding makeup. That's right, we wanna see the real you.

So, with all embarrassment and shame put aside...this is me.

Ok to start off I have to say Im a little disappointed that I read this tag today. Ashlyn did my hair a couple days ago and that would have been the best time to get this. So this will have to do.

I tag whoever reads my blog, Im not sure who you are.

Bridals

2009-04-23T13:10:00.005-05:00

I took some bridals of Whitney Hillier (hope she doesnt mind I post them). I cant take all the credit, the place was gorgeous. And she of course is beautiful. Ive been really enjoying taking pictures again, which for a while I wasnt feeling it, so Im having a blast with my camera again. You may want to take advantage of that. =)