FIVE

Happy 5th Birthday Jack!

I went to St Luke's hospital Saturday morning April 29th at 7am to be induced with Jack. When Dr. West first checked me I was already dilated to a 4(on Monday I wasn't even a 1). He said if I hadn't been induced most likely I would have gone in labor that day anyways. So he broke my water and started the pit. I dilated very quickly and Jack was born at 10:51am, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches tall.

JACK just a couple of the reasons I love you!

momma's boy--we hang out every day while Maddy is at school and Lexi is napping. SOmetimes we refresh his letters and alphabet, sometimes we fold laundry, sometimes we bake and sometimes we play with friends;)

daddy's boy--loves to play DS or Wii with dad

middle child--sandwiched between two sisters but loves each dearly

good helper

blanket boy--has a special blanket that goes just about everywhere with him, he also loves his stuffed animals and goes through fazes as to which is his favortite. Currently it is Gary the turtle but Molly the horse is not far behind

peace maker

sweetheart--gives the best hugs and bats those blue eyes to melt your heart

It's hard to believe 5 years ago, this was you.

Then 1 year later, walking and into everything. Here Jack is trying to eat the frosting on his baseball cake!



And at 2, your Thomas the Train cake. I forget what all the trains had. I remember a twix log train, icecream cone chimney, oreo cookie wheels along a licorish road.


And 3, your race car cake with chocolate donut wheels and life savor lights!

And at 4, the Dump Truck Cake. Chocolate cake, chocolate mouse and peanut butter cups.

As I was compiling pictures of all your birthday's I had fun walking down memory lane and remembering the fun themed cakes for each of your birthdays. I hope I don't disappoint you with your Mario & Luigi cake for # 5. Geez, what will be for the years to come!!

Super Mario Party &


More pictures to come!

Growing Up

Lexi has always been a binky girl. She took right to it when she first came home from the hospital and it has been nic-named bink. Life is usually good if bink is close by. Lexi was a late teether, I said I'd take away the bink when she got her teeth. Then I changed it to a New Year's Resolution (for mom not for her). Okay, let's keep it til we go to Florida for the peace of mind on the airplane for 4 hours. And yep, I just kept pushing it back and back. I even carried a secret one in my purse or pocket just for those moments where I needed her to have a bink more then she needed it.

Maddy giving Lexi the bink at 3 days old.

Easter 2010, Lexi was not happy about the picture and was content when bink was found.

Summer 2010

June 2010

We even had binks with strings attached so we wouldn't loose them. September 2010

And waking up is hard to do, on Christmas morning bink was a must have even with all the gifts.


About 2 or 3 weeks ago, Lexi woke up at 6am crying because bink was on the floor. I went to her room and picked it up and she went right back to sleep although now I was awake. So when she woke up, I took scissors to it and said bink broke. That's what we did with Maddy 6 years ago and she said "ok and threw it away" no tears, no worries and went to bed fine that night. BUT not Lex, she cried and cried and cried. Nap time came and she cried and cried some more. Oh my, what did I do. BUT I was strong and didn't give her the hidden bink even though at night she cried and cried and said bink brok over and over again.

The first night was rough but manageable because she was tired. Although, the next day she wouldn't take a nap. It didn't take long when she was awoke to figure out at 25 months that she could climb out of the crib. So down came the crib wall.





I was worried about nap time, so far so good she stays in bed. Lexi cries are calls out "mommy" when she wakes up and wants me to come and get her. Her big bed is in the basement waiting for mom and dad to be ready for their baby girl to stop growing up.

Easter Weekend

The weather for Easter was cold and wet and rainy and what can you expect with the wet and record breaking winter we have had thus far. SO even though Easter was late this year falling on April 24, it was still cold and the winter coats were still on.

We headed to South Jordan City for an early Easter Egg hunt. We weren't that impressed. The candy was fine except that Jack didn't get a single piece. Lexi and Maddy shared their candy with him. They had everyone go at one time. Which was fine if you had older kids and more then 2 parents, we had 3 different age groups to go to. I stayed with Lexi and Mike had Jack go with Maddy's age group. The marked off area for the hunt was smaller then the amount of kids in attendance and needless to say the candy went super fast.




Later that afternoon we headed down to Lehi to have an Easter Egg hunt at Great Grandma and Grandpa Loveridge's house with Kamryn, Karsyn and Eric and Ellie. We showed up early to help "hide" the eggs. Lexi kept finding them and putting them in a special place all together.

Eric is 4 months old and didn't really care for the activity but was a good sport and stayed awake for the kids to gather the eggs. Lexi and Karsyn were first up being the youngest. Lexi showed Karsyn how to do it and said" Here you go Kar" and put several eggs in her bucket. Then we blew the whistle and let the other kids go out.





And after all the egg gathering was complete we had to sit and eat some of the goodies. Maddy is checking out what Lexi got just in case she missed something!!
Easter morning, the kids found their baskets and ate more delish and nutritious candy. We did manage to have some crepes and peaches in addition to the candy. We headed to church and enjoyed a beautiful day being reminded what Easter is all about. I was spiritually fed and appreciated being reminded of My Savior. After church, we loaded up the car and headed to the Ranch aka Grampa Buddy's.

Grampa cooked for us! We had ham, grits, deviled eggs, green beans and salad. After dinner and in between rounds of Super Mario we headed outside to see the new baby calf. Sorry no pics just these hams riding the 4 wheeler with Grampa.





We played more Mario and then headed home. What a great weekend. Easter has come and gone and now we can welcome SPRING, right?

Sail Away

I just love pulling out the bins of clothes from when Maddy was younger and having something brand new for Miss Lexi. Aren't hand-me-downs wonderful!! I also love the memories that come with the clothes. Grama Tif bought sailor outfits for Maddy and Jack when Jack was probably 3 months old & Maddy almost 2.

Remember this is Maddy

not Lexi.

I really always thought Lexi resembled Jack more but then again you be the judge!

And chubbers Jack.

While I don't have an announcement to make that I am working on another to wear this cute sailor outfit, I guess I could lend it to Mike's nephew Eric who is just about the right age for this. I wanted a picture of the two together in their matching, coordinating sailor outfits. We tried Kiddie Kandides and Maddy refused to even go near the camera. SO this is my home version and this is what I got.

It still makes me smile. Even though they aren't.

Fast forward 6 years and I've got more sailors.

I am amazed that styles and colors fade and come back. Here's proof.

Lexi 25 months Jack 4 almost 5 Maddy 6.5 years

Fire!!

Sorry, didn't mean alarm you that there has been a fire but really this post is about a trip to the fire station...although once we stepped into the garage the crew got called on a fire call. DANG, BUMMER, oh well. I quickly pulled out Flat Stanley, snapped a picture as the truck drove away. All the moms (and some dads) posed the kids in front of the door as the fire trucks drove away. This picture has 2 preschool classes, you'll be lucky if you can find Jack. He was hiding in the corner. We finished the picture and loaded up the car. I had just started the car when the fire truck drove back!! Out we all piled, yes it was a real fire but Engine #52 got called back to the station. Lucky for us! So fireman Sanchez said he had to get dressed in the cab because his gear was all over the floor. He said that made his time real slow so he was going to do it again and wanted to be timed. And finally he is dressed all ready to fight a fire! And then another picture with flat Stanley and the girls. Jack loved this field trip--even when the firetruck drove off the first time with sirens on! Lexi now spots fire trucks everywhere and calls "Fiie, Fiie". I especially appreciate all that the fire fighters do to provide safety for us--did you know they work 2 days straight.

Grow Boxes

Mike spent a couple Saturdays working in the garage making garden boxes. Last Saturday, we had 7 yards of top soil/fertimulch delivered and it was our job to get it back to the boxes. I lost track of the number of wheelbarrow loads dumped. Surprisingly, we weren't as sore as we thought we would be. We had great helpers too. We were worried about the storms coming, and just as we finished the last box the rain started and literally didn't stop all week. We had hail, rain, thunder, snow and no sun. It has been a wet, wet spring with only a day or two being sunny. Today is one of the sunny days and the kids are dieing to get out and jump, I'm dieing to get out and plant the veggies I bought on Saturday. This Utah weather sure makes me miss Boise's mild winters and especially the early spring. BUT I am so excited for a garden this year, I'll take it anywhere and love it here in West Jordan. Here is one of the boxes I got seeds put in while it wasn't stormy last week. In one box I planted spinach, lettuce, green onions, peas, carrots, beets, sugar snap peas. I bought broccoli (first time for me), cabbage and lettuce starts and hope to get those in the ground today. I bought a "wall of water" that you can plant your tomatoes in early but haven't found my maters yet so I'll wait for that. I'm so excited for spring and summer and especially a garden. I'm down to 2 jars of salsa, 1 bottle of peaches and a couple bottles of apricots. It's time to get canning as soon as everything grows and the sun comes out for more then one day! I'm especially grateful for an awesome husband who worked so hard on getting this ready early so I could get my spring crops in the ground. Thanks Mike. I Love You! Not sure why the one paragraph is underlined nothing to connect to and happy 300 post to me also! PS I love SPRING!!