Honoring Nastassia

Although I really wanted to go, we missed the Walk of Remembrance this year because it was at the same time as Aurora's opening day t-ball parade (t-ball post to come later).  We opted to support Aurora in her extracurricular activities and hold our own memorial for Nastassia instead.  We bought four yellow balloons after the parade and intended to release them that day, but it's been such a cold and raining spring that we had to wait a few days to release the balloons because it was raining so hard.  By the time we were able to release them, two of the four balloons had lost their helium so we let the girls release the two balloons that were still good.  Darwin trimmed the ribbons pretty short though to make sure they didn't have extra weight holding them down.

The girls with their Nastassia balloons.

 There goes Rori's!

Savannah was more hesitant to release hers, but she finally let hers go too.

We watched the balloons float away in the sky until we couldn't see them anymore.


Running with Angels
On Saturday we had our Running with Angels 5k race.  We were hoping for good weather, but it ended up being rainy again.  We couldn't find the rain cover for our stroller--it's still packed away somewhere--but luckily it only sprinkled for most of the race.  Towards the end it started raining harder, but we all had fun and enjoyed doing the race together.  We walked the race this year because we have a new baby.  Talmage is the only one who stayed completely warm and dry.  Aurora walked most of it and only rode in the stroller a little bit.  Savannah rode in the stroller for most of it.  She was pretty cold by the end of the race!
Excited to be headed to the race!  We had to wake them up early to get up there in time.

We walked past this bear statue towards the end of the race.  Aurora made us stop and take a picture of her :)

We always look forward to seeing my friend, Lonny, at the end of the race.  She's always there volunteering with her sister and it's always fun to visit with them for a minute.  Thanks again for taking our picture, Lonny!

I'm so grateful we have these traditions to honor our sweet angel baby.  We sure think of her often and our girls talk about her like she's always with us.
We miss you, Nastassia and look forward to being with you again some day!

Dinosaur Museum

Monday was a rough day at work for Darwin because his students are getting restless with the end of the school year just around the corner.  Because of that, he called me before he left work and asked if we could go do something together as a family to help him wind down and get his mind off of his rough day.  Of course I agreed and asked what he had in mind.  He wanted to take the kids to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  So we did!  It was a fun, spontaneous FHE activity.  The girls talk about it daily and keep asking to go back. :)

Thanks to Darwin's job, he and I were able to get into the museum for free so we only had to pay for the girls to get in.  Bonus!  Savannah fell asleep on the drive up.  She was so out of it, I was worried she would sleep through the whole thing!

We were a little unprepared to tote around a sleeping child because we don't have a stroller in our car anymore so we ended up having to rent one.  I joked that this was a very expensive nap for Savy and Darwin asked the girl at the front desk if they give discounts for sleeping children ;)

So sleepy!

Sleeping Savy by a great big dinosaur leg!

I don't remember what this formation is called (banded iron formation, maybe?), but Darwin said it's evidence of when oxygen first showed up in the atmosphere.  Darwin said he wants this stuff for the counter top in our kitchen when we get a house. Haha!

Not sure what this is called either, but it looks cool!

A cool slab of fossils.

Savannah woke up in the "twinkle tunnel", the darkest place of the whole museum.  It's like a dark hallway with tiny lights on the wall to make it seem like you're out in space surrounded by stars. It's actually really cool.  Aurora was a little spooked by it at first, but it only took her a second to warm up to it.  I was grateful Savannah woke up and was able to enjoy most of the museum with us.
Looking at some underwater displays.


So happy to be at the dinosaur museum!

The dino's in the background were so big we couldn't get their whole skeleton in one shot.

They had a lot of fun putting together a dino skeleton on a magnet wall.

Savannah really liked this head piece.  She carried it around for a while :)

So proud of herself for getting a piece in the right place!

 Finished product.

Scared of sitting on that cute little dino.  :)

Talmage was there too!  Look at those beautiful blue eyes!

The girls loved this hands-on activity.  They played here for probably 30 minutes!

 Ahhh! A great big shark!

 It got Rori!

They had a lot of fun at the dig site too.  This was the last thing before the end of the museum.

Just digging up bones.

Me and Talmage hanging out :)

After the museum we got some souvenirs a the gift shop and went to dinner at a nearby restaurant.  It was such a fun evening together as a family!  Thanks for the idea, Daddy, and for getting us out of the house!

05.08.16 - 2 months old!

Man!  Time flies WAY too fast!  I can't believe Talmage is two months old already.  He turned  two months old on Mother's Day.  So fun!  We love this little guy so much and he brings such a sweet spirit into our home.  We are truly blessed to have him as part of our family.

Talmage's two month stats:

Weight: 11 lbs 14.5 oz (39%)

Length: 23.25 in (60%)

Head: 38.5 cm (28%)

 Funny that looking back at Savannah's two month stats, Talmage and Savy were just about the same size at two months old! Talmage is a little bit bigger though :)

Our handsome little man on Mother's Day!

At two months:

-Talmage is a smiley little guy.  He started smiling (for real) right at 6 weeks old.  It's really easy to make him smile.  Just smile at him with a big grin and he'll give you a big, adorable smile right back!

-He has dimples in both cheeks when he smiles, but the one on right is more pronounced.  It's adorable!

-He has such a mild temperament.  He's very mellow and easy going.

-He refuses to take a bottle or a binky.  I'm a little concerned about that because I need him taking a bottle occasionally.  We're working with him on it without much success so far.

-He still eats about every three hours around the clock, although he will generally give four hour stretches at night.

-He rubs his nose into our shoulder when he's tired.

-He loves to watch the ceiling fan spin.

-He has acid reflux and is on medication for it.  Luckily he's still eating well and gaining weight.  Mostly it just seems to be uncomfortable for him and he spits up a lot.

-Most people say he looks like his Daddy.  I agree but I think he looks a lot like Aurora as a baby too.

-He has blue eyes like Daddy, Aurora and Savannah.

-He favors turning his head to the right because the muscle on the right side of his neck is tight.  Our doctor is now having us do stretches with him 2-3 times a day and we're hoping his head doesn't flatten out on that side.

-He prefers movement to help him fall asleep.  We often find ourselves walking him around the house to help him fall asleep.  Luckily he usually falls asleep pretty fast, but I'm working with him on falling asleep better on his own.

-He loves to be held and snuggled.  And we love to hold and snuggle him!

-He HATES tummy time.  He starts crying almost immediately when we lay him down on his tummy.  Another thing were working on :)

-He has the cutest little "coo" and loves to talk to us. I love hearing his cute little voice!

-To soothe himself, he sucks on his hand.  It's cute, but I really wish he would take a binky sometimes too!

-He recognizes Mom and Dad--our faces and our voices.

-He's extremely loved by his older sisters.  They usually very lovingly call him "Boo-boo Baby" or "Baby Boo-boo".  I've noticed we've all started just calling him "Boo-boo" lately.  The girls also call him "Baby Handsome" because I always call him "Handsome" so they do too.  It's cute that they'll come into the room and say, "Let me see that Handsome."  Love it!

-He usually doesn't like his car seat, unless it's in motion.  Then he tolerates it.

-He really is such a great baby and we're so glad to have him!

Here are more pics of our cute baby :)

How can you not love that smile?

I caught a shot of him sneezing with the camera. I couldn't resist posting it :)

This is one of the first pictures I got of him smiling.  Love it!!

Serious face.

Talking and smiling at the same time :)

His first time wearing shoes.  I LOVE these shoes!  They're cute and they stay on him so well.  Plus, they go with pretty much every outfit he has.

I had to take this picture because Talmage had been fussy so Darwin started walking around the house with him.  He literally just walked out of the room with him fussing and then walked down the hall and came back and Talmage was out cold.  What the?  Really?!  Who falls asleep like that? :)

Cute sleeping baby.

Happy two months, baby boy!  We love you!

Mother's Day 2016

These little kiddos have changed my life so much.  Being a mom can be very difficult and challenging sometimes, but so worth it.

I never fully appreciated my mom and all the sacrifices she has made for me until I had my own children. I know I still have a lot to learn and improve on to become the mom I truly want to be.  I am definitely a work in progress but I love these little munchkins with all my heart and would do anything for them.  I'm so glad I have these sweeties who call me Mom.  I feel more blessed than I deserve, and so blessed to be a mom.  I'm tying to be better for them.

Darwin made me breakfast in bed and I got to sleep in until 8:00!  It was wonderful!  I met up with them at church for the last hour and then we came home and opened presents after lunch.

The girls helped Darwin wrap my gifts and then they helped me open them :)
 
 This was the "Talmage" charm I needed for my necklace.  Love it!

New cooking utencils. Yay!  I may or may not have begged for these at Costco ;)  But, after almost 11 years of marriage, we were in need of some new ones.

Helping me open another one.

I started blogging towards the end of 2007, and my sweet husband got our first year of blogging (2007 - 2008) printed into a book for me! Yay!  Thanks, Bunches.  You're the best!

After helping me open presents, Savannah got her hands on the camera.  She took this cute shot of our adorable little man.

Daddy is so silly :)

This isn't a very flattering picture of me, but Darwin looks great so I thought I'd post it anyway.

Savy selfie
(She got the scratches on her cheek from following Daddy up a big ladder while carrying a big stick up with her.  Ouchie!)

Rori was giving herself a pedicure :)

Me with my boys on Mother's Day!

Reading our blog book together.  So fun to look back at those old memories and reminisce :)

Then it was Rori's turn with the camera.


Cuties.

 Savy crashed on the couch for a couple hours.  She really needed a nap.

I saw this dessert (chocolate mousse cake from Costco) on a friend's blog a little while back and wanted to try it.  Darwin decided to indulge me on my special day and got it for me.  It was so, so yummy and was the perfect way to top off a delicious dinner!

While I was getting Talmage ready for bed, Daddy and the girls had fun playing with some glow balloons they found when they were helping Daddy wrap my presents.  One of the balloons popped but it just made it even more fun to just play with the light that was inside of it.



Cuties.  I love that Talmage is so smiley!

The picture turned out a little fuzzy, but Aurora made this for me at preschool :)

And she made me this cute card too.

Savannah made this for me at nursery on Mother's Day.

And the girls helped Daddy pick out some pretty flowers for me too!

Darwin and the kids spoiled me this year.  My family is too good to me.  I'm so grateful I have them.

Happy Mother's Day to the rest of all you wonderful women and mothers!  Especially those of you who have had such a huge impact on my life.  You know who you are.  I love you!