The Mother of All Baby-Prep Purchases

One can be easily fooled into thinking, "This is baby #4, so we've got almost everything we need already."  Wrong!

 And some of those "for the baby" purchases can be quite expensive.  

I give you Exhibit A:

Yep, we finally were forced to join the ranks of mini-van owners.  Don't get me wrong, we really WANTED a mini-van when Lacey joined the family for all the space it provides, but at the time we felt if we could get by with 3 carseats in the back of our sedan then we should.  So we put off the purchase a few more years.  We didn't plan on buying new (just like last time we bought a car) but that's how things worked out best for us.  We LOVE our new car, and the kids are in heaven to ride in it anywhere.   I'm sure that excitement will wear off for them after the first road trip in it.

Now I just have to go buy a ton of other little baby things I didn't think I'd be purchasing for baby #4 before she arrives, but at least nothing will have this kind of price tag!

Lacey Lou Turns 2!!

This sweet, fun-loving, independent, trouble-maker of a munchkin turned 2 recently.  

Lacey loves to follow around her older siblings and do whatever they're doing or at least try.  She loves to be rocked before naptime and bedtime but is not happy at all when Baby Sister kicks her in the process.  She loves to be a helper with chores like doing laundry, loading the dishwasher, and baking treats.  Licking the beaters when Mom bakes is one of her favorite things ever.  Her appetite is picking up lately which is great because she's pretty much lived off only milk in the last year since she refused to swallow much else.  Her favorite foods now are usually olives, ice cream, otter pops, cheese, goldfish, and yogurt.  Lacey wants to pick out her own clothes 90% of the time and will refuse to wear anything else if she has her mind set on something.  It's led to more than a few mismatched choices, but who cares as long as she's dressed.  She's a pro at throwing tantrums and is learning how fun timeout can be, but I know we haven't hit "the terrible 2's" quite yet.  I'm sure she'll hit it the week the baby's born.  Things seem to work out like that. 

We had a little family shindig to celebrate hers and Grandpa's birthdays.  She had a great time opening her presents. 

She tried to blow out the candles but needed help.  Then she promptly got down from the counter to go play with toys rather than eat any of her birthday cupcake.  What crazy girl gives up cake??

She finally ate one the next day . . . or at least ate the icing.

On her actual birthday we went out for pizza as a family and then got some ice cream.  The kids were in heaven with all the choices for ice cream toppings.  

To Conference We Will Go!

We've always told Matty when he turned 8 years old we'd take him to the Conference Center for conference.  Well blame this pregnant mind of mine but I totally forgot about that promise until 2 weeks before conference this year.  He was going to turn 8 two days before, which would make it perfect timing to take him.  We scrambled looking for last-minute tickets then just resigned ourselves to Dan and him standing in a stand-by line to see if they could get in.   But then Dan spoke to his out-of-state sister who said she had tickets to 3 sessions!  She drove 8 hours to Salt Lake and back home one day just to make sure Dan could have the tickets in time. 

They were able to attend the Saturday afternoon session and sit on the main floor. 

Dan tells me Matty took notes for the first 2 speakers, listened to a couple, then asked if it was over at the halfway point.  When Dan told him no, Matty soon fell asleep on Dan's lap.  LOL

They went to City Creek afterwards for a bite to eat before Dan met up with his nephew to take him to the priesthood session in the Conference Center as well.  Matty has good memories of the day and that's what matters the most to me. 

Matty the Great Turns 8!!

Somehow this sweet little baby boy is now 8 years old!

Matty can still be a total stinker sometimes, but most of the time he's an incredibly sweet, helpful, kind, compassionate, responsible little boy.  He's always shown an extra concern for others since he was a toddler.  I hope he always retains that gift.  He's very logical (which is starting to lead to some smarty-pants behavior at times) and does well in school.  He loves to read and is a bit of a perfectionist at certain things.  He loves to organize and recently asked his dad if he could organize his nightstand since it's always a bit messy.  LOL  He's concerned about making his mom and dad proud.  He's very excited to be baptized in just a couple weeks, and we're so proud of him and the young man he's becoming.  Our girls couldn't ask for a better big brother. 


A few days before his birthday, we had a little celebration with my family.  He loves being the center of attention, so this was a fun day for him.  He got his own set of scriptures with him name on it from his Grandma and Grandpa which was really exciting for him.

On his actual birthday he had a friend party.  I don't throw those very often (his last one was at age 5) so he was BEYOND excited for the day.  

I let him pick the theme for the party, and he chose Legos.  (Thank you Pinterest for making a mom's job easier when it comes to parties!!)  We had some fun with that.  

My friend Melina at Mixing Memories made a Star Wars Lego cake per Matty's request just for the occasion.  Matty was in heaven. 

I didn't really take many pictures while we were playing games, but I did of this one.  Everyone got a turn to try and pick up and hold as many balloons as they could in 30 seconds.  It was hilarious.  Dan jumped in at the end to try himself and ended up with 11!

 A happy boy on his birthday is all I really need.  :) 

Oh, and a toddler who naps through the whole party is an awesome bonus!

Easter Festivities

The Easter Bunny kindly made his visit a day early to our house so that we could focus more on Christ on Sunday.  We've done that before, but it's been years and I had honestly forgotten about it. I think my absolute favorite part of the day (which I was incidentally a total grump for, can't remember why) was watching my big kids help Lacey down the stairs.  They were so anxious to get find their Easter baskets but still took the time to carefully help her go with them.  It was super sweet!

 

It took Lacey about .02 seconds to realize there was candy in her basket.  She immediately ripped into anything chocolate and couldn't be held back.  

 

 We took the kids to a city egg hunt that morning at a local park.  All 3 kids were in different age groups which makes it awesome for two parents.  Luckily, Matty's pretty reliable and was able to be on his own.  Lacey freaked out when the firetruck siren went off to tell them to go, but she somehow managed to get a few eggs anyway. 

That afternoon was more Easter fun as we dyed eggs together.  At first Lacey absolutely refused to color her eggs and only wanted stickers on.  She'd yell, "No no no no no!" if we got one of her eggs near a dye cup.  

She eventually changed her mind and started dropping them in like it was nothin', stickers and all. 

 

Jossy had to write each of our names on hers. Every day she tells us several times how much she loves her whole family.  Lets hope that never changes. 

 

Easter morning we watched as a family a couple short videos from the Church on the resurrection.  We didn't spend more than 20 minutes or so doing that, but it was wonderful.  The kids asked some great questions and really were interested.  It was great to feel the Spirit and strengthen our testimonies as a family about the resurrection of our Savior.  We took a couple pictures as we headed out the door for church.

 After church we headed up to Grandma's house for Easter dinner.  She had an egg hunt ready to go for the grandkids.  

Lacey has to try and copy anything her big siblings do.  Unfortunately, she doesn't always know how.

  Love these ones of Lacey posing for her grandpa and then showing him her eggs. 

Such a busy and fun Easter weekend!  (Minus the grumpy, pregnant mommy of course!)