Moab!!!

 Since we don't live near any of Brandon's family, we don't get to see them very often. We knew we'd be seeing them even less while his parents are on a mission.  So, we decided to take a trip to Moab to see everyone and introduce them to Noah.

 We were able to get everyone together for lunch and, being Easter weekend, an Easter egg hunt was a must!  Grandma & Grandpa even watched via Skype.

 This is Brandon's brother, Justin, and his family.  We had to give Zack a hard time about his adorable blue bunny basket.

After the hunt Ben & Maddy went hunting for other things to go in their baskets.

 Erin loved the swing, but since our kids don't take kindly to sleeping anywhere but their own beds, she was a little grumpy for pictures.

Once the festivities were winding down, Aunt Amy took us to the park to feed the ducks, geese, and turtles!

Erin got a little power nap in and was in much better spirits.

 The next morning we loaded up, then met up with Amy at a playground for a little more fun on our way out.

It was a great trip, but it sure made us miss Grandma & Grandpa! Six months down, 12 more to go!

April

April was a fun and busy month.  Here are some highlights, excluding a trip to Moab that will get it's own post shortly.

 Noah had his 2 month check-up in April.  This kid is growing like crazy!  He weighed in at 12 lbs 15 oz.  This is pretty rapid growth considering he was 6 lbs 11 oz at birth.  Needless to say, he is thriving.  (Now if only he was as good at sleeping as he is at eating!)

Erin is adorable, but the "new baby" crisis finally hit her at 2 months.  I think we're over the worst of it, but she's had a rough few weeks.

I was so excited to see Tangled again that I declared it "movie night" the day it came.  We had a picnic dinner in front of the big screen.  Erin's not really to the point of sitting through an entire movie, so daddy was busy entertaining her by the end.

Noah is such a happy baby most of the time.  Check out the ever growing cheeks and chins!

We blessed Noah on the 17th.  It was a great day.  Brandon took Noah outside for some pics and apparently he didn't like the sun and kept his eyes closed for the whole thing.  Oh well, he's still cute.

My mom got all the grandkids an Easter outfit. They all looked so cute.  I don't think Erin liked someone else holding her baby brother however.

After the blessing we had the traditional party at the house.  The kids got to play out back while Papa set up the Easter Egg hunt in the front.

The kids got such a great haul that I didn't have to buy them any candy for their baskets the next week!

Aquarium

 Time to catch up on the last 6 weeks.  In March, we got to go on another preschool fieldtrip! This time it was to the Living Planet Aquarium and we recruited Nana for backup. The kids had a great time, but were way too busy looking at things to have their picture taken.  The light was pretty bad for pictures also, but I still took a ton.  

 I thought maybe I could catch their faces in the mirror...not so much.

 Ben's favorite sea creature is the jellyfish, with the lobster a near second.  Fortunately they had both.

Check out the octopus!

 

 Our best attempt on a group shot, and this was only half the group!

I think the penguins were the best part, but my pictures didn't really turn out, so you get more of my wild ones instead.

This & That

 We're anything but organized right now, so here's just some random stuff.

All of our kids are growing like crazy.

Her hair is...a mess.  The bottom half is super curly and the top is a floppy wave.  Thus, the curlers on top.

 Our shy little Erin went through a total transformation when she turned 2.  By the picture above, you may think it was for the worst, but that's not really the case.  She won't go running to a stranger or anything, but she's much more social and even starting going to nursery by herself!  She also talks...all the time.   She likes to "mommy" all of us.  When it's time to eat, she gets after Ben if he doesn't come right to the table.  If someone doesn't have a drink, she tells me to get them one.  If you finish your food, she asks if you need more.  It's pretty darn cute.  We were worried she would think Noah was her baby and maul him, but usually she tells me what to do for him and does the same for her baby doll.  She's so entertaining to watch and listen to.  I love this girl.  Oh, and she'll eat just about anything!  She loves all meat & fruit and begs for things like salsa and pickles.  Last night she had to dip her sandwich in spicy brown mustard!

 

And then there's Ben.  This kid lives in a land of imagination, sometimes it's hard to get him to focus back here in reality.  He's recently taken an intense interest in coloring . Above is his rendition of a T-Rex.  I don't know that he has any exceptional talent, it's just interesting to watch, considering he'd barely spend 2 minutes with a crayon 6 months ago. He also loves to write letters and is trying to sound out words. It's been fascinating to watch this stage of rapid development.  Ben is also a GREAT big brother. He loves to teach Erin how to do things and puts up with her wrecking his Lego creations with a laugh. Whenever Noah fusses Ben comes to ask me what he needs.  Love you Ben!

We've decided that the term "starving artist" comes from the fact that the artist is too busy creating to worry about silly things... like food!

 A mom always worries how her child(ren) are going to adjust to the big change of adding a new member to the family.  I'm still amazed at the fact that it hardly seemed to phase these two.  They love their brother, but aren't overly concerned.  They don't seem to get jealous when I'm holding or feeding him.  I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. I'm one lucky mommy!

Classic Erin attitude face. I'm noticing a pattern of curled hair=attitude!

Sweet kisses for Noah!

Random pics of Noah

 

 

1 month birthday!

I'm posting all 3 kids around the same age to try and figure out the age old question of who Noah looks like.  I should find baby pics of Brandon and I, but this will have to do for now.  We see a lot of Ben in him, but they all seem to have their own look to them.

Erin (obviously)

Noah

Ben

 

And lastly, a shot with my traditional ice cream birthday cake.  It was so good.  To celebrate the day, I got out of the house...and went to primary.