Baptism

Today was a special day for Dresden as he chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We had lots of friends and family come to support Dre, it was a great day! Aunt Jill and Grandpa Larry gave the best talks and I'm sure it will be a day Dresden will remember. Proud of you buddy!

Dresden's 8th Birthday Party!

Dresden invited 16 of his friends to Jump Street for his Birthday party. The boys LOVED it and played dodge ball on the trampolines the entire time!

Little Doll!

Doesn't get much cuter than this!

Arboretum today!!

I LOVE this time of year and especially love visiting the Arboretum when the weather is so nice and everything is so beautiful! The kids went crazy in the pumpkin patch and made Angels in the hay, Ciena looked on in disgust!
We tried to get a good picture of our Little Butterfly for Halloween. The kids were doing everything to get her to look up, but she was too interested in the Hay and Pumkins around her!

Great to be 8!

Can't believe my boy is 8!!

It's been about a year since I last posted, we have a new family member and things have been busy needless to say!  I was laying in bed with Dresden tonight thinking of some of the things the kids have said lately and making a mental note to write it down.  I then thought of the Blog and how it has been a journal of sorts for our family and I am sad that it has fallen to the wayside this last year.  SO, I want to revive and hopefully keep up on this Blog, mainly so I can keep a journal for myself and family.  Here is an update on the family:

 

Dresden:  My little boy just turned 8!!  I truly can't believe how fast time has flown by!  It seems like we were just bringing him to our home in Utah and 4 short months later moving to Dallas!  Dresden really is our perfect first child.  He is NOT perfect, but such a good kid.  He is a very happy, outgoing, smart, athletic kid.  When I walk into his elementary school it is very apparent that everyone knows Dresden.  From the secretaries to the Principal to virtually every teacher in the school, they all call him by name as he walks down the hall.  He has teachers fighting over him for the next 3 grades, all telling me at school functions that they love him and can't wait to have him in their class.  He is also popular with kids of all ages.  I honestly don't know how he gets to know so many kids, but everyone seems to know him.  His best friend is Oshoke, who has been his best friend since Kindergarten.  His other best friends are neighborhood friends, Jacob and Luke.  They play together EVERY day and have a little group of boys that they pal around with in the neighborhood.  I love that, it makes me so happy to live where we do.  He loves church and has church friends, Kevin and Lee.  He is excited to be baptized this Sunday.  He is still my tender little heart, very sweet to me (most of the time).  He likes me to sing to him at night and still comes into our bed at night.  He is SO sweet to his baby sister, London.  He loves her and she loves him.  His nickname for her is "Boobs" when I asked him why he called her that he said it's because she drinks from my boobs, nice!  Oh well, somehow it's stuck!  He plays with Coen a lot, and is good with Ciena when she is doing what HE wants to do.  They tend to butt heads.  He plays football at he moment, but also played baseball.  He is athletic and does well in any sport it seems. 

 

 

Coen:  My litte Monkey.  He loves all things Monkey and even pretends to be a monkey most of the time making monkey noises all day.  He is still my hardest child, but perhaps most loved.  He is very different from his brother, more shy and takes longer to warm up to people than Dresden.  When people do get to know Coen, he is everyones favorite.  He loves school at the Highland Oak Church of Christ.  His teacher tells me she is amazed at his ability to recall and remember things.  He is always singing the "color" songs he learns at school.  He loves to cuddle with me, which I love.  Today he came up to me in the middle of the day and said, "I want to do something fun"  my response to him jokingly was "lets go cuddle" and he immediately said, "OK"!   I think he knows he is my weakness and he definitely knows how to get things he wants with his puppy dog eyes.  The other day he randomly said, "why did Jesus make me SO cute?"  I don't know, but he did!  He and his twin sister are best of friends and are inseparable when Dresden is NOT around.  When Dresden is around he tends to go off with him and do their "boy" things.  Coen and Ciena still sleep in the same bed about every other night.  He loves playing games on the phone and iPad a little too much, we need to put some restrictions on that!  He used to do gymnastics until he told me he didn't like the way it made his hands smell  (??) so we stopped and are looking for a new activity. 

 

 

Ciena:  My sweet and very sassy girl.  She is so fun and I love having a girl.  I can no longer dress her as she is very opinionated on what she wears.  Instead of fighting I have learned to just let her wear what she wants, she does a pretty good job at dressing herself.  she is a little artist and loves to color pictures all day.  Her teachers tell me she is a star student and the class helper.  She is still a dog lover, does not like baby dolls but does love barbie dolls and the Little Mermaid.  Her best friend is her cousin, Betty, those two will get into lots of trouble together I'm sure!  I love that she has a cousin she is close with, I never had that growing up.  She hates to have any attention drawn to herself and won't even let us sing "Happy Birthday".  She is shy and doesn't like to talk in public (church or school) but I'm hoping she grows out of that.  We tease her about Justin Bieber, and she gets mad but she secretly will admit she likes him.  She is very protective and mothering to her twin, Coen.  Last week Coen fell at school and when I asked him who helped him (expecting him to say a teacher) he immediately said, "Ciena helped me".  She also loves her baby sister and always wants to hold and play with her.  Loves her Daddy and is very sensitive to him when disciplined by him.  If I get upset at her she stomps into her room, but when Chad gets upset she immediately starts to tear up.  She loves gymnastics and best friends are Hailey and Claire from church. 

 

London Rose:  Our sweetest, newest addition.  She was our whooper of a baby weighing in at 9 lbs. 7 oz and born on February 27, 2012.  We were scared to death of what a baby would do to our family and now I can't imagine life without her.  She is so easy and so good!  The sweetest face with chubby cheeks, I just love her.  She loves her brothers and sister and is always looking for them, her face lights up whenever Daddy is in the room.  I just love her so much!  I tell her every day that she is the best, cutest, sweetest baby on the planet!  I want to freeze her right now at 7 months, she is starting to move and I know once that happens our world will change.  I love having a little caboose in the family! 

 

Chad still works very hard and long hours.  He also serves in the Bishopric, which is a lot and I'm working on having a good attitude as I do believe we receive lots of blessings from it.  I'm lucky to have him and so lucky to be able to be at home, there is no other place I would rather be.  I still miss my family in Utah terribly, but Mom comes out often and stays long which is such a blessing.  I truly don't know what I would do without her!!  That's all for now...