Hallelujah and Praise Be!

As many of you know, Indie is not a good sleeper. He was sleeping through the night by the time he was about five months, and then he started teething. We then went on a trip to Arkansas, which really threw him off and then I had to go to Girls Camp about a month later and when I'd come home at night all he would want to do is nurse all night long, which just ingrained his bad sleeping habits. I've spent the last three months trying different sleep training techniques, none of which have worked. They worked for Annicka and Park, but not for Indie. I finally got desperate enough to let him cry it out. Last night he slept for 10 hours! From the time I put him down at 8:20 until about 6:20 this morning! HALLELUJAH!This is my favorite Indie face, he makes it quite often and it cracks me up!

Indie also took his first few steps a couple days ago. He's far from an official walker yet, but he is getting there.

Park's favorite thing to do with his pants is to roll them up to his knees so they are like shorts. He has a favorite pair that are red with elastic ankles. I hate them, he LOVES them. He can push them up himself without relying on mommy to roll them up. Well, today, like most days he kept asking me if he could wear his red pants. They are dirty and in the laundry at present. I've told him so several times already. Right now I can hear him calling, "Wed pans, where ah you?" (red pants, where are you?) in the same sing-song voice he uses when he's looking for Annicka when they play hide-and-seek. !Ay de mi!

Happy Birthday, Annicka!

Yesterday was Annicka's fifth birthday. We can't hardly believe that she is five years old already! We started the morning out with a trip to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. We had free passes, otherwise we wouldn't have bothered driving that whole way.
The kids loved all of the dinosaur statues and the playground they had there. They even got to feed the fish and ducks in the pond.

After the dinosaur park we stopped for lunch at McDonald's and then we stopped to see Grandma and Grandpa Minson in Layton on our way home.That evening we had cake and ice cream with family that was close (Grandma Chamberlain, Rob and Lori's family and Ross and Emily) and the next door neighbors.
Annicka was so excited for her cake that while we were waiting for everyone to get there she just sat and stared at the cake, even though there were plenty of cousins and friends playing all around her.
Park had a good time, can you tell?

And of course we had to include the funny picture of Aunt Lori. HA HA HA HA!

Annicka was especially pleased with her Tinkerbell outfit from Grandma Copple and Papa Jim.

All in all it was a great day! Annie, we are so glad you are part of our family. We love you and your smiles and silliness and we wouldn't be complete without you!

Indie's First Haircut

Indie's hair is quite blonde and let's be honest, you can't really tell if he has any from a distance. But, since I can see him up close and can run my fingers through his hair, I deemed it necessary to give him his first haircut today.

Before.

After.

Also, besides this being an after shot, Indie decided a couple of weeks ago that it is time to stand. He is already pretty stable. We expect him to be walking before Christmas. And because I just put that into words and wrote it down, he won't.

Happy Halloween!

So, for Halloween this year Annicka and Indie got to be on the news! Park, who was there, absolutely refused to get in the shot and just stayed in the background with daddy. The weather girl for channel 2, Lindsay, is in our ward and she gets to broadcast from wherever she chooses and she wanted to be around for her kids on Halloween and so she broadcast from in front of her house and invited all the neighborhood kids over to get in on the action. Here are some of the pictures Scott took.

It's a CRAZY life!

Well, the last few weeks have been quite full for us. Scott's brother, Ross and his wife Emily both went through the temple a week apart and were sealed on Saturday (congratulations!), Scott's grandma had a stroke and subsequently passed away (we miss you grandma Adams!), we had her funeral the day before the sealing, family pictures with the WHOLE of Scott's family (those pics coming soon), as well as time spent together. We've all had a 24 hour stomach bug (except for Annicka, she somehow managed to escape it) and somewhere in between I managed to finish my Humanities class and take the final for it. All while doing my best to keep up with the house and keep Annicka at preschool. This is a shot of me after Indie threw-up all over me immediately after nursing. The joys of motherhood!

These are just some cute pictures of my boys that Daddy took one day while I was out grocery shopping with Annie.

And our pumpkin that we carved for FHE on Monday. I figured we should start off the basketball season on the right foot. GO SPURS!

FHE

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am already tired of telling Annicka how many more "go-to-sleep-and-wake-ups" until Halloween and subsequently her birthday. So for Family Home Evening this week (after our lesson) we decided to make a chain that spans from now until Halloween, their birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was VERY long, but now she can count for herself and I don't have to keep telling her!

Crawling, Haircut and More Soccer

I got a new haircut a couple weeks ago. This time I went REALLY short. I had to try it really short at least once. I've found how much I like it. It's really easy and I think it looks pretty good on me. Maybe I'll grow my hair out again once I no longer have babies pulling on it.

Here is Annie and Park on the sideline waiting for her turn to go in. Annicka has really surprised us with playing soccer. She has been so tough and hasn't cried at a single game. She loves to chase around the pack of kids who are following the ball around and every once in a while she even gets her little foot in there for a kick.

I was checking on Indie during one of his naps. Apparently he fell asleep sitting up.

Indie has finally started crawling, but only after he could pull himself up to standing.

Once he figured out that he could move it has only ever been to places that he can stand up on. I guess this kid just wants to walk.