Growing Family Growing Up

If you were to tell me years ago that I would be one of those hovering at the classroom door, weepy mom's on my child's first day of school, I would have laughed. But, alas the teacher side has officially gone and the mom side came on full force as soon as sweet little Hallie entered my heart. My baby girl has started preschool, I dropped her off, I cried. Day 2 of preschool dropped her off teary eyed, but held it in. Day 3 of preschool, dropped her off she announces she can just walk in I don't need to walk her up to the door.... I drove off and sobbed! Total baby (me that is)! I have to admit I'm so glad she loves it and it's a natural part of life and growing up, it just came much faster than I thought it would! We're into the 3rd week of preschool now and don't worry I've stopped the water works, but my heart still aches when she walks away, and I miss her. I think I will every day she goes. But it does make the moments of coming home that much sweeter :) Her last preschool day of the week is always date day with mom and we spend time doing something extra fun :)
First day of Preschool!


Now to my little Leilah. :) I can't help smiling thinking of this little munchkin and all her new adventures! She wants to talk SOOOOO badly! (in evidence and the volume of her grunts, screams and the size of her scowls..lol they are to die for :) ) She LOVES hair-dos, shoes, and anything her sister has (that is a mutual arrangement they have I want yours you want mine) She is addicted to books and can read the same 15 word book for 20 minutes (Hayden timed it as he went a little insane quacking and mooing per the books exciting lingo) She has started to say "Mommy" instead of mama. I LOVE this! She sounds so big! Other recent words are "this" and "read this" she is getting really good at "thank you" and has stopped saying please, she just expects what she wants and says thank you before you can even give it to her! :) She has learned to "cheese" when the camera is on her and tries to close her eyes to cheese us :) Having preschool has given us some really fun one on one time that is usually spent reading books or coloring (as long as I can keep her from eating the delicious crayons) In short she is adorable, spunky and fills my heart with joy! :)
Here is her "cheese!"

My little Diva! :)


Now to little boy! He's on his way! Not right this minute... but soon! :) I'm getting my bottles out and have pulled out the bags to be packed to head to Utah! We still have a little while before we go, but I definitely want to be prepared! I guess all I can say is I'm nervous, excited and I can't wait to meet him and see his little face! I already love him; he has definitely grown in my heart as we've waited for him to come :) Hallie is beside herself with excitement at getting a little brother! :) I set up our new bassinet last week and she got SO excited! Every night we snuggle and she tells me how excited she is that he is coming and all the things she wants to help him with and teach him :) She is so sweet! :) The other day I was getting breakfast ready and she said, "Mom come sit by me I need to tell you something." So I sat on the couch and she said, "I could not even sleep last night because I was SO excited because I thought he was coming right away!" It made me day :)

So they're growing up and we'll keep you posted to when our family of four grows to a family of five!

Utah and Summer Fun!

It was so wonderful to be back in Utah for the summer! We had such a great time with family and we were so grateful to be able to spend time with everyone! Here are a few pictures from our summer! :)

We enjoyed some fun Utah parades and way too much candy!

Leilah loved the horses in the parades :)

Our FAVORITE part was spending time with Daddy!!!

I promise Leilah really did like this merry-go-round! lol

Hallie always loves them! :)

Hallie had SO much fun with her cousins! This is from tromping around during a HUGE summer storm! They were all complete soaked through!

Little Video of them jumping on the trampoline in the rain! (Hallie loved playing at Grandma Poulson's and we could rarely drag her from the trampoline all summer!)


We all loved getting a little...strike that.... a LOT dirty in Grandma and Grandpa's sandbox :)




Now we're back in Arizona and enjoying the heat :) Swimming like crazy and counting down to fun things like preschool, swimming (daily), and of course, BABY BROTHER!!!! :) :) :)