elle on the move.

On Sunday, May 25th Elle decided that she couldn't crawl with a purse so she just had better get up and walk with it at church.  She slings anything that could work as a purse over her arm, including the head bands she rips off of her head.  Scripture cases are just like purses.  She couldn't get her purse on her arm during Sacrament meeting so she threw a huge fit.

When I took Bentley to the doctor a couple of week ago I brought her toy purse with us for her to play with while we were there.  As soon as I pulled her out of her carseat she grabbed her purse out of my hand and put it on her arm. 

She loves waving bye bye like a mad woman. And she gives her daddy kisses when he says "kiss kiss."  She enjoys walking around holding things.  She can crawl backwards down the stairs.  I taught her how to pour imaginary tea into her tea cup and take a drink.  She prefers to drink with a straw.  She loves to carry books around.  She loves the pool and drinking the pool water.  She gives her brothers hugs and then pushes them away.  She points at food when she wants you to give her some, which is always! 

birthday madness.
We had an Angry Bird party for the boys this year.  We got a huge Angry Bird pinata, made some water balloon launching games, had lots of snacks and even an amazing black Angry Bird cake that I made.  Lots and lots of friends came and we had it at Los Rios Park.  Grandma even came into town especially for the party!  The kids had tons of fun and got to take home an Angry Bird treat bag with their pinata candy and some other goodies in it. 

 

 

 

gaige is 5.

We now have fish!  For Gaige's birthday I made the mistake of sending Matt to get him a fish.  Matt came home with a full on tank, rocks, decor and 3 guppies.  The boys were super excited!  For Gaige's birthday I got him and his friend Tate McDonald's for lunch and they ate it at Tate's house while they played and played and played.

Bentley was the star of the week in his Kindergarten class last week.  He took a poster into school that told the other kids about him.  His favorite food is pizza.  His favorite place is Disneyland.  His favorite thing to do is ride his bike.  And his favorite color is red.  He also got to bring Happy the hedgehog home with him for the week.  Happy made cookies with us, took dinner to Shannon with us, went to the mall, and even went to church and wore his own little tie.  Bentley kept a journal of all of the things that he and Happy did.

 

 

Elle is now 13 months old. 
She is so squishy and adorable I still can't stand it!  She can take a few steps but prefers to be carried and will often throw a fit if you won't pick her up.  She likes to hold hands with Bentley and Gaige and have them help her walk, though.  She gave me her first real kisses the other morning when Matt brought her to me when I was laying in bed.  She pressed her lips up to mine twice.  She loves to hug other babies over and over again.  She snuggles her blanket and is attached to her binky.  She jabbers up a storm and is actually pretty loud somedays. Church has now become a wrestling match with her.  Last Sunday Brother Manning took her and she fell asleep while he was holding her. When you ask her a question she answers, "Yas".  She says "Dadda" when Matt comes home.  She jumps up and down on my lap over and over again when she gets really excited.  She waves bye and waves hello to her favorite people (Becky and Cash).  The only thing she won't eat is brocolli!


reunited. 
It has been awhile since we got to hang out with some of our favorite friends from UCLA.  Truth be told I was missing my old friends.  Luckily I got to talk to most of them on the phone and even got to see Em and Kelli in the same day.  I wish they were closer, but at least they and some of my other besties are still in the state of California.

leprachauns.
The leprachauns visited our house for St. Patty's Day.  They turned our milk green and left a treasure hunt for the boys.  The treasure was a ton of green cookies.  I made the boys some straws with orange mustaches on them so they would look like leprachauns when they drank their milk! The boys were very reluctant to try our green milk.  We had green bread that night for dinner and green pancakes the next morning from the green milk.  After awhile Matt refused to use the green milk on his cereal because it was too weird!  I guess there is only so much green milk a man can take.

easters.
The Easter Bunny brought lots of prizes!  I put cute Elle in my little bunny pajamas from when I was a little girl.  She loved her easter egg.  E.B. even found the colored eggs on the counter and hid them around the house for the boys to find.  I bought the boys their first suits.  They looked so handsome in their three piece suits and new shoes.  And Elle was scrumptous in her peach Easter dress from Grams.  I wore my new dress I got back in December and saved just for Easter.  And E.B. brought Matt a new tie that was plaid and pink. We spent the day with my family and Carrie, Kaylee and Madison at my parents'.  The kids did a fun easter egg hunt and had a great time with all of their cousins.  Bentley asked me, "Mom do you know who my favorite cousin is?  When I asked "Who?" he told me, "ALL of them!"  The boys didn't last too long after church with their suits on but Uncle Marvin worked his magic with the camera and took some pictures of Elle for her first birthday.  Janni told me she didn't do anything to the color of her eyes when she edited the  pictures.  She asked if they are always that blue.  They really are that blue.

B's birthday.
Bentley turned 6 on April 2nd.  The first thing he wanted to open on his birthday was his card from Aunt Faith.  He knew it would be a singing card!  We decided to get the kids passes to Disneyland for their birthdays so I got him a Jake to hold his card.  After school I took him, Gaige and his friend Cash to McDonalds.  Then they played outside with friends and his new super soaker till it was time for their baseball game.  He did a great job in his game hitting the ball.  He still isn't much into running or paying attention.  This kid has no fast button.  But he has a ton of potential.  I brought baseball cupcakes for their game treat and then we went to Ruby's with Daddy for dinner.  It was the girl's birthday in the booth behind us so the staff came out and sang to her and brought her a sundae.  He said he did not want to do that to him.  We had them do it anyway and the look on his face was classic!  He was embarassed and excited at the same time.

elle's first birthday.

Elle turned one on April 6th.  This year has gone by so incredibly fast.  I cannot even believe she has been part of our family for an entire year.  This year with her has been so much fun.  She is an amazing little lady.  I asked Bentley what our lives would be like without her.  He told me it would be sad.  We all love her to pieces!  We had tons of family and friends come celebrate her birthday.  She loved her cake and ate it daintily, but with excitement! SHE IS SO PRETTY!

Needless to say we have been busy around here. I will not know what to do with myself when April is over! It is the craziest month of the year for us!

elle loves...
puppies, birdies, other kids, cuties (clementines), pizza, ice cream, and bottles.  Her newest tricks are blowing bubbles with her spit, clicking her tongue and crawling up the stairs.  She got her two front teeth around March 15th.  She loves to be tickled!