Jonas' 2nd Birthday

Two days after Saydi turned four my "baby" turned two! I can't believe Jonas is two already. His small head makes him seem younger than that to me. =) On his birthday we woke up and after breakfast got busy opening presents so that we could get ready for the day and go to the employee picnic that Mark's work was doing for the day. They had face painting, balloon animals, bouncy houses and lots of food. The kids had a great time and it was a great way to celebrate his special day! After he had a nap he got to open a present from grandma and grandpa Anderson and then we spent the afternoon in the yard cutting down some huge branches from our trees. That was fun for Jonas so he enjoyed the project! After dinner we had cake and baths and pretty much all collapsed into our beds for the night. It was an exhausting week!

Jonas got this dog that barks and wags his tail from his Auntie Amy. He is obsessed with dogs for who knows what reason so he has loved this little guy!

 Opening presents with the help of big brother.

 New bedding for his big boy bed!

 Half the time Jonas was in his stroller while we were at the picnic. The other half he was up here. Cute boys.

 Despite daddy's best efforts I really think Weston's favorite super hero is Spiderman. Whenever he gets a chance to choose something, Spiderman is what he requests.

 As mentioned in the previous post, Saydi has taken a liking to monkey's. Pretty cute.

 And surprisingly Jonas just sat on daddy's lap and held perfectly still while the lady painted his face! I was surprised. This lady was amazing too!

 I know I'm biased but I'm pretty sure this is the cutest thing I've ever seen. I couldn't get enough of him. Much better than an actual dog in my opinion.

 The gang. Notice Weston keeping his distance from me? This pretty well describes how he has been lately whenever daddy is around. There's no question who his favorite parent is!

 A month ago or so we were talking about Saydi's birthday (of course) and she actually came up with the idea of doing a dog cake for Jonas. I decided it would be perfect considering his current obsession. Not to mention the fact that I was fairly certain I could manage to at least make a cake that looked similar to a dog. I have yet to make a cake that turns out the way I see it in my head but Jonas loved it and more importantly, could tell it was a dog so we'll call it a success. 

 He thought it was pretty funny when we started singing to him.

 This picture doesn't do the mess justice. There was cake and face paint ALL over him, his shirt, the chair, and table. Hence the reason for his happiness. I've never met a kid who loves to be messy as much as this guy does.

 That night daddy convinced me Jonas was ready to join big brother downstairs in his big boy bed and since we only have 2 1/2 months until the baby is here I decided it would be good to transition now so that he will be fully adjusted by the time the baby comes. With my other two it was no big deal but for some reason I had a hard time! I kept wanting to go get him and bring him back upstairs. =) He has been wanting to sleep in the extra bed in Weston's room though and after we first got him in bed I kept hearing him just randomly giggling over the monitor in my room. I snagged this picture after he finally fell asleep.

Overall he had a great day and we all slept hard that night after an exhausting week of birthdays! I don't know if we'll ever get used to this two birthdays in two days thing but the kids had the time of their lives and that makes it all worth it.

At two years old Jonas can say too many words to even write but some of my favorite things he says are: what doing, why, Weston, Saydi, baby, sandals, mom (yes, mom, not mama; he only calls me mama when he is sad which sometimes makes me sad but the way he says mom is adorable) read it, kay, I love you, and thank you. He LOVES dirt! I can not keep him out of it no matter what I do. And he is pretty much happy as long as he is doing whatever Weston and Saydi are doing. He says please and thank you without being prompted to do it most of the time and he loves being outside. Not sure if this was a fluke or not but yesterday I heard him counting to 8 with Weston. We'll see if I can get him to do it again. He is a smart boy though and has an adventuresome spirit. I can not imagine our home without him and am looking forward to seeing him as a big brother. Love you Jonesy!

Saydi's 4th Birthday

On the 20th my baby girl turned 4 years old! I can't believe the time is going so fast. She was super excited for her birthday and despite going back and forth for literally months, she finally decided that she wanted to have a Strawberry Shortcake party. So we did! Mark was working days so we went to the library where she enjoyed story time and then later in the day we got sno cones (she had to get strawberry to go with her party) and played outside and tried to just generally have a fun day until daddy got home and we could open presents! Love this girl with all my heart.

 My feeble attempt at making her cupcakes look like strawberries. She loved it so that's all that counts right?

 She had lots of "help" from brothers.

 Showing off her new Dora watch that she has been asking for for months.

 She told Weston he could open this present. Such a good sister.

 Daddy has started calling her Monkey or Precious Monkey so she has taken quite a liking to them. She loved these new jammies and we had to have a picture after baths.

 The next day cousins came over for a little picnic to celebrate both Saydi and Jonas' birthday's. My sisters are so sweet and got them both some great things and they had such a blast playing with their cousins.

The morning after her birthday she was playing with her loot of new things at the table and Jonas picked up her new Barbie and started playing with it. Weston said, "Saydi, Jonas has your Barbie," and Saydi replied, "It's ok, I can share." Melt my heart. She is such a little sweetie.

At four years old Saydi knows her alphabet but tends to forget the middle section when we sing the song. She is great with shapes and colors and is looking forward to starting preschool (again) this fall. She is usually either terribly possessive and particular about things or incredibly generous and eager to share, there is not much of an in between with her and you never know which hat she is going to wear but that's what we love about her! She is a GREAT sister. I think my most favorite thing about her though is that she shows such a love of the gospel at such a young age. She remembers things she is taught in primary and things we talk about during family home evening but more importantly, she applies them in her every day life and I often hear her scolding her brothers when they play saying, "That's not nice to Jesus!" She is truly a special person and I feel privileged every day to be her mama. Love you Saydi Jo!

Baby #4

I feel a little guilty that I haven't documented this pregnancy as well as I did my others. Mostly it is because I am so much busier with three kids. But I admit I have shied away from the camera because I am so BIG this time! Here I am last week at 25 weeks. I swear this is how big I usually am around 32 weeks or so. The last couple months are gonna get interesting! =)

 Wes took this picture for me. =) And here is the ultrasound pictures we got at 20 weeks. Definitely a boy. We didn't have a boy name picked out so when we got home I started searching and I think more than likely his name will be Gavin Wells (Wells was Mark's grandpa's name). It was one of those things where I saw the name and instantly felt like that was his name. Plus I am not finding anything else that I like as much! 

To fill in the other details, my cravings have been mostly fruit and sandwiches. I could drink a Jamba juice every day of my life. Delicious. I was a little sick in the beginning and I can not eat bananas without feeling terribly nauseous. I will be interested to see if he likes bananas down the road. =) I thought for sure it was a girl because with my other boys I wasn't sick at ALL. With Saydi I felt nauseous all the time. So this guy was a little tricky about it and fooled me! To be honest, we did want a girl because then we would have been done for sure. We still might be done, we just aren't positive. I told Mark from the beginning, Heavenly Father knows I mean it and if we are meant to have another boy he's going to send him first so that I will consider getting pregnant again to have a sister for Saydi. ;) Now that we are having a boy I wouldn't want it any other way. I have realized how much more fragile girls are and I really think Saydi needs a little more extra attention from me and she might struggle with having a sister right now.

Other than that, I have felt pretty good, just big! My skin gets tight already and that was my biggest problem with Jonas towards the end so we shall see how that progresses. I'm still sleeping well though so that is a huge blessing. He is starting to kick harder but mostly I feel like he just rolls around in there. Ever since I got pregnant I have felt so calm and have mellowed out about a lot of things I am usually uptight about. I think this little guy will have a calm spirit but I don't usually have calm babies! Mark says we are due for one. I agree. I have never felt so prepared, ready, and anxious to have another baby as I have this time. I think it takes four to really get the hang of things! So needless to say, we are anxiously awaiting this guy's arrival and hoping he stays cozy until Weston and Saydi start their first day of kindergarten and preschool. September is going to be crazy! In a great way and I can't wait.

Summer, Summer, Summer Time

We are officially enjoying our summer break. We have been busy with lots of fun different things. Some of my sisters and I went and saw our grandparents in Rexburg and they treated them all to ice cream cones. They are the best. My kids love going to see them!

My super kids having some technology time. Jonas is starting to get a little irritated with only watching. We'll hold him off for as long as we can!

Tired guys from working on our coat closet for a whole weekend.

 Gymnastics! They are doing gym for a month and then swimming lessons for a month. They love it!

 Daddy took Weston on the father/son camp out so we had some fun without the older boys. Jonas will join them next year but didn't mind hanging out with us girls for a night.

 We took a walk by the river then went and got pizza and sno cones, followed by a movie. It was a great time! We were sitting down watching the water and Saydi looked at this and said, "Look! It's a milk waterfall!" Ha! It sure is Saydi bug. Love seeing the world through my kids eyes.

 The belly obsession continues.

 We do the summer reading program through the library and I love the time spent reading every night. Not to mention the great prizes our library gives!

 Fun with cousins! Six kids 5 and under. It was a wonderful kind of madness. Loved having them all here.

My kids were OBSESSED with baby Adam. Jonas was downright giddy when he first saw him and was giggling nonstop saying over and over, "Baby!" I don't think we'll have any problems when our very own arrives.

 My nephew, Tyrel, turned 16 a couple weeks ago and we celebrated with him at Jensen's Grove. My kids loved it! I'm sure we will be doing this again before the summer ends.

  And we had a good Father's Day yesterday. Mark got breakfast in bed, a beard trimmer and a book the kids made for him. After church we had a delicious dinner and then enjoyed our evening together. He is such a wonderful dad. I couldn't have imagined better for my kids.