Baking

Today, Hollie and I had a mother-daughter day and decided to do some baking. I have been wanting some homemade strawberry jam lately and decided that we should make some, so we did. And along with that we made homemade cinnamon rolls, and 2 loafs of bread. The jam and the bread turned out fantastic. The cinnamon rolls weren't the best and I don't know what happened. I used a different bread recipe this time and I should have stuck with the original one. They must have not been that bad because Ryan ate 5 of them! And ofcourse, the kid won't gain an ounce! They are his favorite and hopefully next time they will be more doughy and he will like them better.

Hollie was so cute today. We pulled out our aprons and Hollie had her little cooking pans and it was just perfect. She was a great helper and did a fantastic job. It was so much fun. Her and I haven't had one on one time in awhile and that was much needed and I enjoyed every bit of it. She is turning into a big girl and I am so excited that we are going to be best friends. I did have to share her with dad today. Ryan was outside in the front yard preparing to put grass on the left side of our driveway, just because he thinks it needs it, and Hollie went from playing in the dirt, to being my cute Hollie in the kitchen. It was fun and I love my two precious children. Ethan was a champ today and slept most of the day. I think he was really tired and needed some extra rest. Thanks Ethan, I love you lots.

Oh, when Hollie and I went out to the grocery store to get a few of our missing ingredients Ryan and Ethan took the infamous trip to Home Depot. I wish I was there to take a picture, but I know this will not be the last father-son trip to Home Depot. Ethan will know that store like he knows all of his owies by the time he is 2. Ryan loved it and can't wait for more father-son trips to Home Depot. (I just had to add that)

Our Growing Ethan

I have been playing around taking some cute pictures of Ethan and I thought I would share. I cannot believe how fast he is growing and how he is turning into a little man. One of my favorite things about him is his eyes and how he looks at you. He reminds me so much of our little Hollie and I just love the "look". I feel that he can see right through me and knows every little thing that I am thinking. He is adorable and I love him lots. We were at the doctors on Wednesday and he now weighs 10lbs 8oz. We thought he weighed more than that, but I guess he is just long so the chubbiness has room to spread out.

Hollie is still my biggest helper and just loves her little brother to pieces. Ethan has been smiling and cooing the last couple of weeks and Hollie loves to make him smile. He has a super cute smile and I love his little voice. He is growing fast and I know he will be Hollie's age before I know it. I am trying to enjoy every minute and not sweat and worry about the small stuff. I have learned that it's okay to not have a perfectly clean house and to let my floor go a few weeks without being washed, I did sweep though. That has been hard for me because I love a clean house, but I have learned that spending time with my adorable children is priceless. I love them so much and am so grateful that they came to our family. Ryan says, he loves to come home to toys all over the house, because he knows that we have had a fun filled day. At the end of the night I clean it all up, think about the fun day I had and look forward to our next adventurous day.

San Tan Mountain

Yes, I know this post is 2 weeks late, but I am finally sitting down and updating the blog.
We decided to go and do something fun as a family a couple Saturday's ago and we went on a small hike around San Tan Mountain. It was lots of fun and the kids did great! Hiking around Arizona is a bit different than most places. The only thing Hollie could find and that would keep her eager to move forward were the ROCKS. Yes, there were lots and they quickly became Hollie's favorite thing. She would pick them up, say, "pretty" and put them in her pocket. It was very cute, but sad because most of the time when you go hiking you find pretty flowers. Well, we found cactus and rocks, but we still had a fabulous time.
The weather was perfect and when we were done we came home and played in our splash pad and had a blast. For those of you that don't know what a splash pad is, it's a cement pad, shaped like a kidney bean, and there are water spickets in it and it shoots up water. It's kinda like a water fountain. I hope you understand, I just don't know how to expain it. They have them at the zoo here in Phoenix and sometimes they have them at parks. Anyway, we had some friends over and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a fun filled weekend and it was great to just be with our little family.

Cute Pictures of the Kids, Enjoy!!

Buddies

Hollie and Ethan have definetly become buddies lately. Hollie just loves him and has become my biggest helper. When Ethan is hungry Hollie wants to be the one to feed him. She will feed him, then take the bottle out of his mouth shake it and put it back in. After a few minutes she looks and me and says burp. It's so cute, I just love it. When Ethan is sad, Hollie is right there to help make him happy. There was even one day that Hollie decided to make Ethan happy she was going to play with him and put necklaces on him like she had on herself. It was so adorable, I just laughed and thought wait till Ethan gets older he isn't going to like the pretty necklaces around his neck, but for now it was cute.

Hollie comes up to Ethan all the time and says I love you Ethan and then I move his mouth and say, I love you to Hollie. She gets a kick out of it and thinks he's really talking to her. As a big sister she just can't give enough hugs and kisses. I think it's great and I am so glad she loves him as much as she does. These two have definetly become best buds and Ethan loves having her around. He will just stare at her and it's so cute. I love it and we have two adorable kids. Here are some pictures.

Our little Man

What a handsome man.

Our little Ethan is turning into such a little man. He is so cute and we love having a little boy around the house. I have to admit it's a bit different than a girl, but I love every bit of it. I also have to admit that changing diapers is a bit more difficult than changing a girls. I seem to be the only one that thinks that but there is just to much to worry about. Yes, I have been peed on a few times and every time I just have to laugh, because when it happens I just freeze I don't know what to do. By the time I find something to cover it he's done and we are both wet. It's pretty funny and very different from a girl. If I can remember correctly I don't think Hollie ever peed when I was changing her diaper, I guess I was lucky.
As I said in a couple posts back I would tell you about what we have been going through with Ethan. He has been a pretty fussy baby and while my family was here a few weekends back we all decided that we needed to take him into the doctors because there is something wrong. So, on Monday March 24th I took him in and we were able to see the doctor. We went over his signs and symptoms, which are, contiual crying (screaming) when he eats and after he eats. His body stiffins when eating and he turns red. He was very gassy and his poop wasn't the normal color, yellow. His was dark green and we knew that wasn't to good either. He wasn't sleeping at night and would just cry, nothing would sooth him. It was breaking our hearts and we new something wasn't right. We switched his formula from Enfamil to Good Start because we were told that was really easy on the stomach. Well, it didn't help him and we were kinda lost at what to do next. So thankfully this doctor was able to help us and wanted to run some tests. He feared that Ethan had blood in his stools so he tested that and thankfully it came back negative. He also wanted us to get an x-ray of Ethan to see what his bowels looked like and if they were positioned the way they were suppose to. Oh my heavens, our little guy was only 3 weeks old and he had to get all this stuff done, it just broke our hearts. Without the x-ray done yet, the doctor came to the conclusion that Ethan has a protein allergy to the protein in milk and that is what's making his stomach upset. So away he sent us with this wonderful formula called Neutramigen and it's $27 for a small 16oz can!! Ryan and I said, if it works and helps him it's TOTALLY worth every penny. I just can't believe that they can charge that much for such a small can. So far he has done great! He is sleeping better at night, not so fussy during the day and he is definetly not as gassy and his poop has turned the right color. I know you all wanted to know that, haha. Anyway, he is doing great and will sit in the swing and not cry. Oh, I also took some advice from friends and put him in the swing at night and boy does he love that. He doesn't like his bassinet, so the swing and bouncy chair are heaven sent.
Ethan is also quite the eater! This kid started eating about 2 ounces when he was born. We are now at 4 ounces every 3 hours. It takes all we can to push him to 3 hours, it sometimes falls at 2 1/2. He is getting so chubby, especially his cheeks, and he is just so cute. I love chubby kids. My brother and I were both chubby kids, so we love it. His thighs are getting little rolls and so are his arms. We love his cute little double chin too. Anyway, here are a few pictures. Enjoy

I caught him giving a smile. It was so cute and perfect!!!

Oh, how sweet. I just love it.

My Baby Girl is 2!!

Oh my goodness, where does time go? I cannot believe that today our little Hollie turns 2. She has always been my baby and now she is showing LOTS of signs of being a little independent girl. I clearly remeber the day we saw her in the hospital, 3/31/06. She was absolutely beautiful. She had lots of dark hair, cute little chubby cheeks, her skin was so perfect with not one imperfection, her tiny little hands and feet where the cutest things ever and her beautiful blue eyes just glowed. Now she has achieved so many milestones and continues to each and every day. She is so smart. Sometimes she really suprises us with things she knows, it just shows us how observant she is and how well she pays attention. She has been like that since she was born and we have always known she was going to be smart. I love watching her grow and learn it's so much fun. I love trying to teach her new things and then the most rewarding part is watching her do it on her own. She makes me proud and I love her so much. She brings so much joy to my life and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to us to be her parents. I couldn't imagine my life without her. HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY HOLLIE!!!

A Fun Filled Weekend

This weekend was absolutely fabulous! I don't even know where to begin. Well, I will start from the beginning. My dad and Janene came out this weekend and they arrived on Friday evening. Hollie was so excited to see her Papa she wouldn't let him out of her site. She followed him all over the house and would yell, "Papa" if he wasn't giving her his full attention. It was really funny and we all got a kick out of it. Well, Friday night was a late night because there was a big suprise coming to our house and that was KC and Brookie. My dad was turing the BIG 55 on Sunday and we wanted to suprise him so we flew KC and Brookie down and boy was he suprised!! It was really funny, but that totally made his weekend, he got to have his kids with him all weekend and that was awesome! Saturday was a busy day. We had our family portraits done and then had a combined birthday party for my dad and Hollie. Hollie's isn't unil the 30th but we thought we should celebrate while family was here. We didn't tell my dad it was for him till some family arrived because he didn't want anything. Isn't that a typical man. It was fun and he loved sharing his birthday with his sweet grandaughter. We bought my dad a cake and made Hollie little cupcakes, we figured that would be all she wanted anyway. And to our suprise Hollie loved her cupcake this year. Last year she didn't want anything to do with it and didn't like it one bit. I think she has grown to love sugar. I wonder who taught her that one? I think I may have to take the blame on that, oh well, every girl needs a little sugar and chocolate!

Last year

This Year
Hollie was one lucky girl on Sunday because the cute little Easter bunny came to visit and left a few fun things behind for her. We then went to church came home, hung out as a family, then girls took naps while the boys watched basketball, it was great!! Later on that day we all loaded up and headed over to my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John's for dinner a Easter Egg hunt and a treasure hunt. It was so much fun and Hollie loved finding her eggs. All she wanted to do was open them and eat what was inside. In our beautiful Arizona weather the chocolate in the eggs was quickly melting so it was a quick and fun Easter egg hunt. The treasure hunt was fun too. At the end of the treasure hunt each kid got a big egg and inside the egg was a swimming suite. Oh, the kids couldn't wait to get in the pool. They wanted to swim, but we don't swim on Sunday's so they all had to wait and were very good about it. We tried getting pictures of Ethan and Hollie, but neither one of them really wanted to cooperate. I do have their portraits back and I will post those soon

Hollie in her pretty Easter Dress, oh such a girl!

The Easter Egg hunt

That evening KC and Brookie had to head home to Utah and get back to school and work. We were sad to see them go but were glad that they got to spend the weekend with us. I love you guys lots and miss ya TONS!!!

Sunday night came and Ryan and I were exhausted!! My dad and Janene were so awesome because they took Ethan for the night and let Ryan and I get a good nights rest. It was just what we needed. Ethan has been a bit fussy at nights and it's been a little bit rough. I will explain later.

So, a little suprise came my way on Monday morning when I woke up and that was a morning at the Spa!! Yup, you read that right my dad and Janene took the kids and sent me to the spa for 3 1/2 hours!! It was absolutely fabulous and sooo relaxing it was just what I needed. I got a 1 1/2 hour massage, a facial, manicure and pedicure. Let me just say that I left there feeling like a whole new woman. On my way home I turned the radio on loud and sang "A New Day" from Celine Dion. It was great!! I was sad to see my dad and Janene go, but I knew they had to get back to life and work. I was so glad that they got to come out and hang out for the weekend. They were a great help and thanks again guys for the morning at the spa, I love ya!

Life is Awesome!!

Sorry, it's been awhile since I have last posted. As many of you know 2 children is a bit busier than 1. A quick update. Things are going great!! I am the happiest mom in Gilbert, AZ with my two beautiful children. As I was driving down the road today I was thinking to myself how lucky I am to have these 2 sweet miracles and the biggest smile came across my face and it just stayed there, it was awesome. The same thing happened while is was pushing the double, limo, stroller through the mall carrying Ethan in my arms and pushing Hollie. All I could do was just smile and think to myself life is wonderful!!!!! I take it you all get the point, I am loving life!

A couple things I have learned lately is one, NEVER put your toddlers blanket in the washing machine while she is standing there next to you. Okay, so many of you are probably thinking duh Kerri, what were you thinking. Well, she wasn't looking at the moment and was pre-occupied with something else and that thing NEEDED to be WASHED!! So, I thought what the heck. Oh, that was the biggest mistake I have ever made. Hollie screamed and threw the biggest fit I have ever seen. She kept pounding on the washer and saying nana (that's what we call the blanket we are TOTALLY attached to). I felt horrible. I tried everything to calm her down and the only thing that worked was chocolate milk and smarties. Those lasted long enough to get the blanket out of the washer and in her hands. The blanket never made it to the dryer, but that was ok.

The other thing I learned was NEVER make an appointment for 9am that you have to drive a half hour to. Yes, I was up at 6:30am and thought I will easily be out of the house by 8:30, hahaha. I would have been out of the house but Ethan pooped his diaper, Hollie was way to interested in playing with toys and then I pulled out of the driveway and forgot a paper I needed, oh it was really funny. I sat in the car on my way there and just laughed. I was 15 minutes late, but they understood and I was soo glad. I am learning a few things slowly but surely and one of these days I will get it all right, haha.

Today was a fun adventure and that was taking our adorable kids to get their Easter pics done. Yes, it turned into a 2 hour adventure at JcPenney. I tell ya, I love how they take pictures, but they are always so busy and never on time. With a two week old and a, almost, 2 year old I really didn't have the time to hang out for 2 hours but I did anyway. Well, let me explain. We had our appointment at 2:20, we didn't go back until about 2:50, then once we took the pictures they then have to "modify" them and then put them up on the computer which took another40 min and we didn't leave JcPenney until about 4:15pm. I do have to say that it was all worth it. The pictures turned out ADORABLE and Hollie was so cooperative and cute. I cannot wait till I get them back. I will definetly post a few of my favorites. Well, that's about it. I better get to bed. I think we wore Ethan out today because he is now out cold and I better take advantage of that myself and get to bed. Enjoy the pics and I'll post more soon.

Our sweet little princess. She is such a grown girl.

And now our little prince. He is growing so fast and is getting so big. Isn't he just the cutest thing you have ever seen, we think so.

Such a little man.

We are Home!!!

We made it home! The good news came on Monday evening and we were able to fly out of Salt Lake on Tuesday evening. Let me tell ya, the reunion of returning home was fabulous!! I really missed being gone and away from my home for 4 weeks, but I do have to say that I enjoyed and loved every moment I had to spend with Amanda. It was amazing and I wouldn't have traded that for anything.
The flight home was good. Hollie and Ethan were champs and perfect angels. Hollie has loved being home and has gone through just about every single one of her toys and has just been the happiest girl. Ethan is going great too. Today was a sad day because he got circumsized, but he seems to be doing great and is one tough little guy. We are adjusting well and we are just so happy to be home together as one big happy family.
The kiddos are currently sleeping so I am trying to catch up on a few things. I will attach pictures later. Lots of love.