Zoey learns to write her name

Things to watch for...
-Bug Eyes at approx. 1:55, 2:33, and 3:03
-2:13 Cute Thomas squeals

Pi Day

My Big Little Boy

It's crazy how quickly time passes with these little ones. My little baby boy is already 7 months old..almost 8! It really seems like he was just born and here he is almost crawling. I really do love to see their progressions but a part of me just wishes they could be a newborn for at least the first year. It's such a precious and special time in life. The dynamics between Thomas and his sisters is just awesome, I feel blessed that from the start they have done nothing but love and adore him. When Jane is having a tough time emotionally, one of the only things that gets her to stop crying is to bring Thomas over to her. It's really cute. I'm sure there will be fights along the way but I am so grateful for the love he brings to our family.

Missouri!

We have officially moved to MO! Huge changes for us but nice to be settled into our own place. We live in Independence and are liking it so far. It helps to have nieces and nephews and in-laws here to keep entertained. Andrew started a business here with his brother and nephew to help build up local businesses through website presence online. It's in the works and we're really excited for it! If anyone needs a good, customized website let us know!

Update on the kids:
Zoey: growing up so fast! I can't believe she'll be starting kindergarten next calendar year (2013!!!) crazy crazy crazy! I'll say it again, crazy! She's learning her letters (I know I'm slacking but I honestly don't care, whats the benefit to learning your letters when you're 2 as opposed to 3 or 4?). She's also really taken a liking to cleaning up. That's been awesome. She gets more and more independent each day. Gets herself dressed, plays by herself, cleans up her dinner plate, etc.

Jane: day one of potty training started today...wish me luck :) She is my little cuddle buddy, many times a day she will come up to me with the best hug and declare "I love you mommy". Melts my heart every time, I love it!

Thomas: 7 months! He has mastered sitting up (with the occasional tumble). He's getting up on all fours almost ready to crawl! Unfortunately he still spits up...a lot :( I've tried every type of formula in every brand and nothing works..any suggestions? It doesn't affect his health or weight or happiness but it can sure be frustrating for the momma (extra laundry, scrubbing floors/blankets, endless changes of clothes, dealing with people yelling out to me in public "he barfed!!!".....whew! Gets tiring). On a lighter note, he's an extremely happy baby with TONS of personality. We live him so much!

Trying to play catch up

SORRY to the few loyal readers I have. It's like once I'm behind it just gets harder and harder to catch up. So, instead of trying to search through and find past photos, I'm just going to give you a recap and start fresh with the [not so] new year.

Well, the past few months we've been living in Andrews parents basement. While I'm anxious to have my own home, this is the next best thing. I'm so grateful to them for helping us out.

Andrew has been working as a web developer and getting some great experience. He's now starting his own web development company with his brother and our nephew....he's really excited about it. The plan is to move out to establish the business in Missouri where my brother in law is living. Andrews always wanted to move out there so noes our chance.......I guess :) I'll keep you updates on how this all works out, things are still kind of up in the air in with that (what's new?)

As far as events go....we had some great holidays. Halloween is always one of my favorites. I made my kids do wizard of oz....Zoey: Glenda the Good Witch, Jane: Dorothy (cutest one ever!), and Thomas: Scarecrow (easiest costume by far and my favorite of them all.....that's how it always seems to turn out) So, I'll have to try and post those pictures or better yet visit my Facebook, I've got a whole album full of them.

Thanksgiving we spent here in Utah and had a great time with Andrews side of the family. Always super yummy food and even better company.

Christmas we traveled down to California and spent a week and a half with my family. Lots of fun!!! I wish we lived closer.

Aside from all the crazy holidays busy-ness, we've been doing pretty good. I'll take you through some recent happenings with a few pictures (since I have so readily accessible on my awesome iPhone!!!)....don't know if this will let me comment on each picture so there may just be a bunch of pictures with no captions.

Visit to Cali

Most of October I was able to spend in sunny California! I went down the first week and spent three weeks down there at my parents house. It was a lot of fun to be there. We did lots of fun things but mostly just loved being around Grammy, Grampa, Aunty Breanna, and Uncle Dallin (and Aunty Britt and Uncle Scot when they came down to visit.) We went to Disneyland TWICE while we were there and had so much fun both times. We also went to Lombardi's Ranch/Pumpkin Patch and tons of other fun things. What a nice break.

Disneyland...

Dream come true for Zoey :) I overheard her talking to her cousins Bella and Katie the other day. She exclaimed "I saw Tangled and she LIVES at Disneyland"

The only picture I took with my camera the first Disney day. It was raining that day but still so fun. We walked on every ride so that was awesome!

Jane warmed right up to the princesses. When we saw the first princess she said "hug, i-a-wella" (hug cinderella.) It was cute.

Thomas did awesome the whole time both days. Yay for bottles and good babies!

This was the second time we saw Cinderella that day. The girls loved her.

Happiest place on earth!

Treats at the end of the day.

This picture turned out pretty cool

The girls at the front entrance in front of masked Mickey (decorated for Halloween)

Jane's eyes have always been extremely photogenic. They are gorgeous!

More pictures to come, many, many more. Stay tuned :)

Grandma Shirley

This is Zoey's great grandmother Shirley Irene. She is Andrew's mom and one great lady. I took this picture when she was staying here at Andrew's parents for a few days a month or so ago. It was such a sweet moment to see the bond between these two girls. I just think of the completely different lives they both have; such a large generation gap yet both are completely unfazed by it. Ancestral bond is a strong thing! A couple months ago I found a couple of grandma's journals and started reading through them. She has spent a lot of time putting together journals of her life and the lives of close relatives. I've really only been around her a handful of times within the last four years so reading these entries introduced a whole new person to me. I loved getting to know her on this level. When I saw her after reading those journals, I felt like I really knew her. It was neat. She is Andrew's last grandparent still living after the passing of grandpa Olsen in August. We are grateful to have her here and love her so much.