Chip off the old Block!

Everyone always asks where Braden's blond hair came from since neither Hilary or I have blond hair. Well, I am pretty sure I figured it out. Can you see the resemblance?

Cute Things Kids Say

So, I just had to post some more of Sasha's sayings because they are so darn cute!

"Legabug" is a ladybug
One of my current favorites is "Sita Jonkin" which is Sister Johnson - Sasha goes over to Sister Johnson's house for Joy-School once a week and absolutely loves it! When I play with her and tell her she is too fast for me - she repeats with "too fass me!"

We have been trying to get her not come out of her room before 7am because we don't really want to be woken up before that if we can help it. So yesterday, I got to sleep in just a little bit because I was going into school an hour later and I wake up to this: "Daddy, get down." First of all, not thinking straight because this brought me out of a deep sleep but I realized she wanted me to get down from our bed, which is really high for a bed. "Daddy, time wake up!" So I said "what?" and Sasha said "Daddy, see" as she grabbed my alarm clock, "a seben. Time wake up! See! Two sebens!" She was showing me that there was a seven on the clock and therefore it was time to get up and that there were actually two sevens because it was 7:27 am. I couldn't argue with that because that is exactly how we have been teaching her to stay in her room until 7:00 in the mornings. It's not time to wake up until there is a seven on the left side. Well, she apparently understands that all too well now - I don't think we'll ever be able to sleep past 7am again!

"waj" is the garage.
"Turtin on my winnow fall off" means that the curtain on her window fell off. We keep a thick blanket over her window to make her room dark and keep the light out in the morning (especially when it gets light before 7am).
"Sassa say bayas" means Sasha say prayers when she wants to say the prayer.
Sasha says the cutest prayer. I think it is something that I can write here:
"Heaby fahva, daikoo day, bess food, name chee-us wice, amen" If you can't guess, this translated means 'Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, bless the food, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.' She is such a smart little girl! and she has such an amazing memory! We love her so much and are so grateful to have her here as part of our family and to teach her about life here on earth and a bit about the gospel as well.

Won't be too long before Braden starts rattling off coherent words and sentences! Right now, he jabbers, but he sure jabbers a lot!

Mommy & Sasha's Story Time

When looking at this picture I know that it is difficult to imagine anyone else fitting in, but stuffed animals seem to multiply, blankets of course are required for each of them, they seem to have become quite prolific!

Though my favorite thing is the desire that Sasha seems to have of spending a little more cuddle time with me. Every day when it is time for bed, and after Daddy tucks her into bed she has the same request... "Mommy in now!" ie. Mommy you need to get in my bed with me to read stories. She gives me a specific animal to rest my head on, tucks me in, climbs out to close the door if I haven't, then picks a story to read to me. Tonight she wanted me to sing to her.

I really am so appreciative of the time that I have been able to spend with her on a one on one basis. I want to be able to really enjoy this time that I have with her, while she wants to be with me. I love Sasha so much! (even on the "hard" days)

Salon Days

Today was a big day for Sasha, that's right, her 1st hair cut! I called and made an apointment, luckily she was about a week out, because when I asked Sasha if she wanted to get her hair cut her resounding answer was "no!" After about a week of talking it up she was really excited, she climbed up into the chair without any hesitation, she loved seeing herself in the mirror. It wasn't until Kim started spraying her hair that she started looking a little nervous. She didn't cry, yell, scream, or even fuss, her stylist told us that she was "probably the easiest cut I've done (kids cuts)" . You be the judge, but we love it. It was a hard decision for me, I have a hard time seeing my baby girl growing up, but she looks so cute with her new cut.

getting started

The first cut
A little nervous
Loving the results!!!


Even had a fun time at the Salon, thanks Kim for letting him rearrange your shelf.

The Big Game!

We went to a friend's house to watch the BYU vs. UofU game on Saturday, thanks for letting us in. We were the only ones there in RED thanks for not kicking us out, just upstairs :) as the gap in the score continued to widen. According to our friends there, we are brainwashing our children. Oh well, let the "brainwashing" begin. This is Sasha's favorite PJ shirt (at least for right now).

CONGRATULATIONS UTES!!!

48 - 24

Dinner at Red Robbin

After kindermusik on Friday we went to Red Robbin for dinner. It is so nice to have dinner made and cleaned up for you.

I just love Sasha's eyes in this shot!

Braden devouring his dinner, all except the mandarin oranges, and loving it!

Sasha discovering the joy of broccoli "swimming" in Ranch, she loved the broccoli almost as much.

Brit and the kids, having a great time!
Thanks babe for taking us out to eat.

Story Time

I think that these are a fairly accurate representation of story time at our house at bedtime.

Who can sit still, it is so exciting. Off the couch, on the couch, off the couch, change places...
Books, books, books, which to choose? Can't decide, read them all (or at least for a couple of seconds each)

This is one of my favorites, Braden is transparent, you can see Sasha and Daddy reading right behind him. He was so excited to come show me the treasures that he had found.

Christmas time

Yeah, we know, Thanksgiving isn't even here yet but we decided that since we are going down to Utah for Christmas, we would enjoy a little decoration around our house while we are here. So, we decided to set up our new Christmas tree (Hilary resigned to getting a fake tree, so that we can have a tree here, since we will be spending most of the season away and wouldn't be able to keep a real tree alive. Also because we got it for $10). And as you can see from the following picture, we already found a present under the tree!



Who knew Santa would come so early! Sasha thought it would be fun to pretend to sleep under the tree. I think this year is going to be so much more fun for us with her being at such a fun age. Braden will have fun too, but he will be just as lost as Sasha was last year.

Can't wait to come see you guys in SLC!

Moving

My thoughts of gratitude are moving to my new blog, a pot of me, so that we can keep this more about things happening to our little family. I will still be keeping this updated, and if I find that it is taking too much time I will combined them later. For now Brit and I have decided that we will try it out this way.

Saturday's Post of Gratitude

Sorry this is a little late, I had gone to bed, couldn't sleep, and realized that I hadn't written anything down today. So here I am.

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to take a long drive and spend some relatively uninterrupted (the kids can only entertain themselves for so long in the back seat, that's ok) time talking with Brit. In this world of constant interruptions, and so little down time from everything and anything going on around us; radio, TV, internet, phone, friends, work... it seems as if you can spend a countless amount of time "together" without really being together. So today I am thankful for time with my own little family, and really getting to talk.



I am excited to see how much more aware of the little things that I am blessed with. It seems to me that I am doing better at paying attention to, or being aware of these things. So thank you to those who gave me the encouragement to start this.

Joy

Today I am grateful for:

I happened to glance over at my computer while this picture was up on my screen saver. I am so thankful that this was caught on film. I love seeing the joy in Grandma's face as she is looking at her great granddaughter (I had to post this one with Braden as well). I love looking back and remembering things that have so much meaning to me.

Thanks for loving all of us so much Grandma!

I love you!

A Life Of Thanksgiving

We had a great Enrichment Activity on Tuesday night that focused on giving thanks for the many things in our lives. One of the stories shared was an excerpt from this talk by Elder Eyring, we were encouraged to keep a record daily of things that we are grateful for. I am going to start today, some days I may record things on paper, others here. I have been looking for a way to become a more positive person, I hope this will help keep me focused on the positive things around me, and be more grateful for those things. So here is to a life of thanksgiving.

Something that I'm thankful for today:

Between nap and lunch we took a few minuets to play with some toys in the front room. Braden "ran" down the hall, poked his head into his room (Sasha and I could see most of his body), looked out at us and and said "pa boo" (said quickly & with a short sound) - (peak-a-boo). I am so thankful that I am able to be home to witness and enjoy these moments. Now to enjoy more of them.

COOKIES

Sasha and Daddy were sitting on the couch while I was getting Braden to sleep for his nap this afternoon, when I sat down in the kitchen, what did I hear? ...Sasha reading her first story out loud to Daddy. "COOKIES" Congratulations Sasha you are doing so great! I'll get a video for you of it when she decides that she will perform on camera.

Music & Friends

Sasha and Braden have always loved music, they both lead the music in sacrament, or any other time that they hear it. Today Sasha started singing! It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying... "I Am A Child Of God" I'm not quite sure how to type her version of the song, as I figure it out I'll post it.

Braden is doing great at mimicking sounds, and words. It is so exciting to watch him as he is growing and developing. We are working with the kids on sharing and how to ask politely. Braden is very helpful with this. He loves to take Sasha's things, if she freaks out he runs away in delight at her reaction, but if she asks politely "Braden can I have ...?" He will nod and give it to her. It really is so sweet to see them together when they are getting along.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

All Elections should be of great importance to all of us. We are blessed to be living in a country where we have a voice in those who represent our country and there by each of us. Please let your voice be heard. It does count! The polls are open until 8pm - if you are here in Washington don't forget to get your ballot to the Ballot Box by 8pm, or if you don't have your ballot go to the nearest location also by 8:00om to vote. To find the location nearest to you go to www.spokanecounty.org/elections Don't forget your ID if you are needing to go in to vote.

Scentsy Party

I know that this is last minute, but I would love to have anyone that would like and is able to come over for the evening. Come enjoy some time with some friends, some food, and possibly get some of your Christmas shopping done early. Hope to see you there!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We had a great week of Halloween, the kids got to dress up for Joy School. They had a great time playing in the gravel box, and all of the fun activities for the week. Here are some of my favorite shots of them through the week.

Thursday we went Trick-or-Treating at the Waterford. It was so much fun to see how excited they both were as they figured out what was going on. I think their favorite thing was their balloon they each got to pick. Braden had a "death" grip on his, there was no taking it away to tie it to his wrist, and it made it home. Sasha loved the orange string with a black balloon. We will be going earlier next year to let them enjoy the carnival as well as having a great time trick-or-treating to the residents.

MY "ba booo"

I love this candy thing!

Just in case you were wondering yes she did still fit in her car seat, and the buckle did go around her. The straps had to be stretched out a bit, but it worked.

Friday we spent all day in our costumes, it was a hit at all of our appointments! We even got to attend the Seniors Halloween Party at the community center. They had a party at their Kindermusik class, every one (well almost) dressed up. It's always a great time, they love going to "mosik cass".

Here is Sasha and one of her good friends, at our ward Trunk-or-Treat. How much fun it is to get all of that candy. Just convincing Sasha not to eat any until Mommy and Daddy could go through it to make sure it was "safe" (ie-nut free) proved an interesting challenging and not so successful task (at least she only went for the sucker).

Not ready to leave yet! There still has to be more!

We ended the trick-or-treating with a stop at a few houses, Sasha was having such a great time, she would just go on in. We will need to work on that for the future, that we don't walk into strangers houses even if there is a dog.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN