Someone's turning 4........

On October 22, 2009, my sweet little Ande decided he couldn't wait to become part of our family, so he came early!  Yesterday, that sweet boy turned 4!!!  Where has the time gone?!  It seems like just yesterday, I waking up every three hours to go see him in the NICU for his feeding time.  My how time does fly....and boy has he GROWN!!!
This is Ande at just 1 day old..... He was so tiny and had so many monitors hooked up to him.

 This is Ande now, you can't even tell he was born early!!!

To celebrate our handsome boys 4th birthday, we took him to Peter Piper for lunch, then we went and picked up Joseph, Michael, and Channing from school and went to Target to let Ande pick out something that he really wanted.  After that we headed home and made "hot burgers" (hamburgers, his ABSOLUTE favorite meal) at Ande's request, ate cake, and gave him a couple more presents.  He had so much fun and was so excited when grandma called to sing him "Happy Birthday."

 Playing Air Hockey with mom

 Mom and Ande eating lunch

 Sister came with us and enjoyed her pizza and breadsticks

 Dad , Ande, and Liv took turns playing this water game.......  Ande thought it was more fun to shoot the figure in the face rather than at the targets.....hahaha

 Eating our "hot burgers"

 It's time for cake, Ande LOVES Angry Birds so we got him an Angry Birds cake

 When I went to get the cake, there was no one there who could write on it, so the lady behind the counter gave me the icing to do it myself.......I am clearly no professional when it comes to cake decorating......

 These are Ande's trashies or Trash Pack that he has been wanting for a while, and picked out at Target

 This is his Ironman that we surprised him with....

 Ande also got an Angry Birds shirt that he insisted on wearing last night but I don't have a picture..... :(

We are so blessed and grateful that Heavenly Father sent this handsome boy into our family.  He is so loving and kind, he always wants to give us hugs, he is my little "snuggle bear", and is such a happy boy.  We learn something new from him everyday!

Olivia's ONE year photos and birthday

On September 23, my sweet girl turned one.  We celebrated with a few friends and family.  It was small but Olivia enjoyed all of her gifts.  We did a ladybug theme since she is our "little ladybug" complete with a ladybug cake, decorations, and we ate sub sandwhiches, veggies, and chips.  YUM!  Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our sweet girl's special day with us.  I think it was actually more for me.... :)

These are just a few of her pics from her one year photo shoot done by our Bishop's wife, she was AMAZING!!!

 I LOVE these two because she was looking over at mommy and daddy......

 Such a little Diva, posing for the camera!

 Peek-a-boo, this is my favorite picture of her in the rocking chair......

 I really liked the rocking chair, but she wasn't content sitting in it for us, she kept trying to get out.

 We wanted to do some pics with some of her ladybug stuff, a hat and her pillow pet.

 These are pictures from her party. 

 This is a center piece I made for the table.....

This is her cake made by my friend's sister Lauryn.... It was delicious and turned out so cute!!!

 Daddy, Mommy, and the cute birthday girl!

 She wasn't sure what to do with the cake at first, but she eventually got the hang of it.

Olivia at one..............

*She has 5 teeth, at first she only had one tooth up top but on the left side and one tooth on the bottom middle right.....so she had a "snaggle" tooth.
*She LOVES to eat........She can eat a full meal and 5 minutes later, if she sees food she wants it.
*She is such a sweetheart, yet she already has a super sassy personality.
*She knows how to defend herself.........she has three older brothers so it's to be expected.
*She can walk, however she chooses not to, she is completely content with being carried or crawling.
*She loves to dance, if she hears music her head starts bobbing and she starts moving.
*She is still wearing 9 months and some 12 months......sometimes 18 months for leggings so that they are long enough.....
*She weighs 17 lbs. 12.5 oz, which has dropped her down back into the 3rd percentile (we are now doing blood tests, etc to see if there is something going on)
*Sleeps through the night in her room
*She is completely weaned from nursing, and she has never taken a bottle.  She drinks everything straight from her sippy cup or sometimes mom's cup and then mom doesn't drink anymore.  :)
*She has so many nicknames..... Livvie, Liv, Diddy, Diddia, Wivvia, Chunka buns, Chunka Monka, Baby bit, Bitty, Bitty bit.  (Nicknames like Diddy, Diddia, and Wivvia are all from big brother Ande, he still can't say Olivia, but he sure tries)
*She fake cries if she doesn't get what she wants
*She absolutely adores daddy and most men actually
*She is not too fond of women, especially if mommy is around
*Olivia has a daily schedule that is followed pretty accurately, unless we are running around......She wakes up at 6:30 or 7:00, eats breakfast, takes a nap at 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., eats lunch, plays, takes another nap at 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. eats dinner, plays, and goes down to bed at 8:30.
*She likes to babble in her little baby language
*Says "da-da" and "ma-ma" and sometimes it sounds like she is saying "stop" when her older siblings are annoying her, but not sure.

Here is a little video that just shows her little personality

Jesus wants ME for a Sunbeam!

That's right, Jesus wants ME.....and well Antonio for a SUNBEAM!!!  Last week we received a new calling as the sunbeams teachers!  To be honest, at first I was really annoyed, because although we BOTH received the calling, Antonio is working days and will now be working Sundays.  :( That means, I get to teach about 6-8 four year olds and take care of my rotten yet sweet little Olivia.  (That should be interesting)  Anyways despite how annoyed I was at first, as the week has gone on and I have begun to prepare my first lesson I have grown very excited to teach these sweet little ones!!! I can't wait to teach my first lesson and give them the fun little handouts and goodies I am making for them!  

Ch-Ch-Changes!!!

Back when I was a young mom and just had my two little boys I was so much more organized and clean.  Now with the addition of my 2 sweet little ones and Channing running around, it is sooooo much harder to keep a clean house.  Awhile back I heard from my friend Cari about this little thing they were doing with stations in their home and a way to reward their children and teach them about money at the same time.  I thought it sounded interesting at the time but I just didn't have time to worry about doing that with my littles.  I recently happened upon a blog, www.jandaandco.blogspot.com and they had the same idea and incorporated Tokens.  Antonio and I sat down and decided that we too should go ahead and give it a try.  Our goal is to always have a somewhat clean home.  Each day I have my daily duties, which I found on pinterest, and each night my littles report to their stations before bed.  The stations are: living room, kitchen/dining room, and family room.  They are each assigned a station each week to take care of.  If they complete their station correctly the first time they receive a token.  There are many ways they can earn tokens and their are many ways they can lose tokens and they can spend their tokens on games, tv, computer time, certain snacks that we don't allow them time have regularly, etc.  The kids LOVE this idea and that we have implemented it in our home and although it has only been a week, I have seen an amazing change in Joseph and Michael.  Ande is still getting the hang of it and we pair him with one of the older kids for stations and Channing is trying to just save every token she gets and not spend them.  I am so happy we decided to do this and the effect it has already had on our children!!!

Mom's chores

 Token jars

Cleaning their stations

Token Policy, ways to earn, lose and spend their tokens, we hung it up so they can see it all the time!

Olivia Michelle

Since Olivia has been born I haven't posted ANY updates about her.  So here it goes:
Olivia is 8 months old and is the sassiest little thing I have ever met!  She is also the sweetest.  She loves other babies and loves to kiss the baby in the mirror or anywhere she sees her reflection.  She loves her siblings and is already learning how to defend herself.  She scoots, almost crawls, she babbles and says da-da.  She sits up and pulls herself up in her little crib or playpen.  She LOVES vegetables and the babyfood mixes of veggies with meats, but does not like fruit except pears and applesauce.  She LOVES ice cream and if you have some, you better share with her or you will wish you had.  I am so in love with this little stink pot and we are so blessed to have her as part of our family!!!