{9.24.18 - 9.30.18}

9.27.18   

Every mom probably says this about her children, but I think mine are beautiful! 

Eli loves his toes! 

Eli has started solids. I have such mixed emotions about him hitting these milestones! I know the baby stage is so hard and I look forward to sleeping all night more often than not, and not carrying a needy baby on my hip while I'm trying to fix dinner or clean the house. But really, it's just hard while I'm in it. I know I'm going to miss all of this. Having been through all of this with Eli's siblings, it's been easier for me to cherish all these moments and milestones, but it's still really hard! // The girls are loving school these days. They are getting so good at their letters! (Alya) 

They walked up down the sidewalk hand in hand a few times! Axel loves the girls and loves when they let him play with them. Alya's helmet cracks me up! She insists on wearing it to ride her bike, even if she is only on her bike for a few minutes, and then she will run around the yard with it on until it's time to come in the house. Lyla - her poses and her Tooke. She kills me! 

The girls have been learning new tricks on their bikes! (Lyla) // Axel is getting pretty good at his bike, too! He just follows the girls up and down the sidewalk and is even getting good at lifting his feet off the ground and balancing! 

Little man is getting good at practicing sitting up! // I love sleeping babies! It's so hard to move when he falls asleep in my arms. 

We brought a bed up to the front room for Matthew's dad to sleep on when he's here for his hunts and we've just kind of left it. I'm hoping Eli will sleep better if I'm not in the same room as him, so I've been sleeping on the guest bed. The kids love it. They all have their little spot to watch their shows and relax. 

Axel adores Eli and I'm so glad Eli is getting bigger and less afraid of his brother! // Deep thoughts during breakfast! 

The girls got in trouble one day so we sent them to their corners. Axel was feeling left out so he sent himself to his "corner."

{9.17.18 - 9.23.18}

These beauties got to celebrate their *FIFTH* birthday this week! 

Matthew's parents and a couple of his sisters were able to come down and celebrate with us! I think they felt pretty darn special!  

Lyla is so sassy! (Send help!) //I can't get over how big my girls are looking these days. When did they grow out of that baby stage into such pretty little girls!? 

I talked the girls into letting me make them a cookie cake and a brownie cake...they seem to turn out better for me than actual cake most of the time...so Alya wanted a little mouse cookie and Lyla wanted a pretty butterfly brownie! I was pretty happy with how they turned out! 

The girls then got to have a sleepover at their aunt's house for a bit. They always have so much fun with their aunts!  

The boys and I went up the mountain to move the camp trailer for Grandpa's elk hunt!  

This little guy was just so content to be in the mountains! // Donuts - breakfast of champions! (And look at those curls!!!!)

I sure love these boys of mine!!! Also, I cut Axel's hair this week! I tried to leave some of his curls that I love so much, but it was time for it to be somewhat tame! I definitely didn't do a great job, but I think it could be worse! Haha!

My mom bought this crazy finger unicorn at a little toy store near her house...but there were no rules saying it had to be on your fingers... 

Matthew and Grandpa with his beautiful bull! 

Oh this was so funny!! Axel did not like this mask!

{9.10.18 - 9.16.18}

I've seen people that live around here post pictures of their kids at the Keebler Tree but I strggled to find out where it was - even when I asked friends their response was that they could drive to it but they couldn't tell me how to get there. I was pretty excited when I finally found it online! So I took the kids and we loved it! They are looking forward to the cookies that the elves are going to leave for them next time! 

The girls raced ahead to finish our hike and they waited for me and the boys on these rocks. When I caught up to them they told me they were the Little Mermaid! 

Morning snuggles! 

We are growing a few giant pumpkins this year!  

I love, love, love how he holds onto me. He has a pretty amazing grip and it's just so sweet!! If I reach back when he's crying in his carseat or when I put him in his bed to go to sleep he instantly grabs onto me with his titan grip and I feel so bad when I have to pull away from him! 

My babies are {FIVE} How in the world did that happen!?
These girls are quite the roller coaster! Haha! They are the best of friends and they can fight like cats and dogs. They love to make up knock-knock jokes "knock knock? Who's there? Pumpkin! Pumpkin who? Pumpkin the tub, I'm drowning!" (The actually joke is Dwayne the tub, I'm dwowning!)

They love to draw and do puzzles and they can be great helps around the house. They love garbage day because their job is to put a new bag in the garbages! They also tell me a lot lately that they are bored, so I go through a list: have you done your school? You could do a puzzle. Go make your bed. Color. Play with blocks. When they don't want to do any of those things I suggest something like, dust the floorboards, or clean the doorknobs or vacuum your room and they are all about it!  

As often as they disagree they sure love each other and really look out for each other! If one of them is in trouble the other one really feels it!! It's pretty fun to watch their bond!

Alya is in the 50% for weight (41 lbs) and is in the 90% for height (3' 8.5"). She is a little social butterfly. She loves to be around people and can throw a tantrum like nobodies business. She is a little puzzle master! They were given a pattern puzzle game a couple of years ago and she is so good at it and could sit and work on it longer than she really likes to do anything else. She's already sick of school (Ha) but she is doing so good!  

Lyla is in the 50% for weight (40 lbs) and is in the 90% for height (3' 8.5"). She is a spit-fire!! She is very stubborn and likes to try to give me ultimatums..."I'll only eat my lunch if you get me some juice!" and she tells me things like "this is the last time I will eat these carrots in my soup!" She still get so attached to things and is still my little collector! She loves her Tooke (little pink deer stuffed animal) and lost it last year. She prayed almost every night that she would be able to find him so Matthew and I finally bought her a new one when we decided we weren't going to be able to find her old one. We hid it in our camp trailer so the next time we went camping the girls found it and Lyla was the happiest I think she has ever been! On the same note, while we were camping she found a bullet and thought it was the greatest thing! Unfortunately she lost it about two minutes later and was devastated!!!!! Her world was shattered! No matter how many times Matthew and I told her she'd probably find a new one she did not believe us! Ten minutes later, she found another one! Haha! She has some pretty crazy extremes! 

Evening walks are great! Axel has to be in front of the stroller and the girls are doing so well on their bikes! // Sometimes I look at my girls and wonder when they grew up, like when Lyla just goes bounding down the stairs or when she talks on the phone like this! Ha! She wasn't even using her hands for anything!   

These fires are crazy! My grandpa lives in Payson and sent me this picture from the fires in the canyon near his house. So sad, but so pretty!

{9.3.18 - 9.9.18}

9.4.18     This adorable little man is pretty spoiled! He still likes me to rock him to sleep but he has started to take random naps that last at least an hour. When I need to set him down I've started putting him in the pack-and-play so that his siblings can't get to him and he has seemed to like it. I think he likes that he can see what is going on, but he also really likes that he can't be touched! Ha! He is practicing sitting up on his own, but he's still pretty wobbly. He drools A LOT!!! and always seems to have his hands in his mouth. He likes to eat his toes but he only pulls his feet to his mouth during diaper changes when he doesn't have a diaper on, like the diaper makes it too hard for him to bend in half. He weighs 14.10 lbs (50%) and is 26.5 inches long (94%).
Oh how I love this brown-eyed boy!  

Eli sitting in his safe place! He's sitting so well!! // Look how happy he is to be where the big kids can't reach him!  

Dad took us fishing this week and we found a snake!  

It's so fun for me to watch the girls when we are out doing things like hiking or fishing. I remember them being so little and needy and really looking forward to them being more independent. Well, here we are! They don't need me to hold their hands over all the rocks and twigs. I don't panic every time they get close to the water or when they wander away looking for rocks and seashells. Although I miss my babies, I love that they are getting bigger and I love that they enjoy being out in the mountains!

Axel is getting so big! But I am glad he still has some of his baby features like those pudgy little fingers! // Eli's fingers are his favorite chew toy. Everyone keeps asking me if he is getting teeth because he is always chewing on his fingers and the drool that comes out of his mouth is insane! He's not getting teeth (although I don't doubt that teeth are shifting around deep underneath his gums) he's just super slobbery!  

Axel insisted on wearing this shirt that my sister gave him. Daxton used to wear it and I think it's a size 5T. It has a gorilla head on the front and he loves it! He's still the cutest little fisherman I have ever seen!  

I think Axel is struggling a little with not being the baby anymore. He doesn't like that I don't hold him as much as I used to and it's hard for him to not be distracting while Eli is eating. I think he still likes to do a few baby things because it's a combination of wanting the attention Eli gets, all these "new" baby things are exciting, and he just loves Eli so much and wants to do everything he gets to do! 

Oh my goodness! I love that smile!  

Sometimes the kids play so well together! I love when the girls let Axel play with them! Alya makes a pretty good horsey! // I decided all the kids needed hats and I think they all look so darn cute!! 

I feel like I'm constantly telling Axel to be soft or to be nice to Eli. But I really do love that he likes to be close to him!

{1.16.17 - 1.22.17}

This boy is my favorite boy! He loves to stick his tongue out! 

Rub-a-dub-dub, three babies in the tub. The girls were scared that Axel was going to pee! 

Daddy's scouting buddies! These girls love their binoculars and any opportunity they get to use them! 

In December I turned 30. Eek! Matthew's sisters put together a paint night for me to celebrate! It was so much fun! I think I might have to turn 30 again next year!

{1.9.17 - 1.15.17}

Alya and Lyla. My beautiful little girls! 

As much as this scares me, I also think it's so cute that he likes to sleep with his soft (no other blanket is good enough for this job) blanket on his face. We've been working on having it just touch his cheek, instead of letting him cover his whole face! 

Naked baby tummy time! // He is getting better at sitting up by himself, and of course, he still loves to see himself in the mirror. 

Even though these are blurry, they are adorable! This boy sure loves his sisters, and they sure love their brother! They are starting to interact more with each other! Alya has even been including him in their play lately! "Come on Little Man!" and he's been assigned characters in their play. When the girls are Princess Twilight, he gets to be Spike the baby dragon! 

Axel had his four month doctor's appointment this week. He is doing great and we have permission to start him on solids whenever we feel like it! He is 15.7 lbs and 26.5 inches long.

Bunny Lyla // Axel holding on to his favorite portable source of entertainment. He LOVES his toes!

We've been having some fun with SnapChat lately! Axel // Bunny Alya.