"Houdini" turns 2!

Our sweet baby boy turns 2 today! I guess we can't really call him our "baby" anymore, but he'll always be my baby boy! As I was sitting making his birthday poster last night, I was reflecting on the past year and I couldn't help but smile. He has changed so much. Here is just a snippet of that....

• He no longer looks like a baby, he is definitely a big boy now!
• He loves balls....footballs, baseballs, basketballs, soccer balls....it doesn't matter what kind. As long as he has something to throw or kick he is happy!
• He loves shoes! He loves to try on any pair he sees lying around and it is pretty cute to watch him toddle around in shoes WAY too big for him!
• He is the strong and silent type. He had tubes put in his ears in January and his hearing has definitely improved, along with his talking. He still doesn't say much, but he knows how to express what he wants and he is really coming along!
• He LOVES music! Even though he may not sing the all of the actual words, he knows the tunes and sings them perfectly! I love to watch him dance (he still has his happy feet!).
• He is an excellent brother, both big and little. His sisters love to play and tease with him and he loves the attention that they give him, and he is so tender and gentle with Harrison. I love to watch them interact.
• He loves all things electronic. Remotes, cell phones, computers, etc, etc. And surprisingly he can get most of them to work already! He loves buttons and it so funny to see how drawn to these things he is! If you leave something lying around he gravitates to it instantly!
• His nickname is Houdini. He is so sneaky and quiet that sometimes he manages to escape without being noticed! He snuck out of nursery 2 Sundays in a row. He was so mellow and mild until he hit about 18 months and since then he has been going, going, going all the time! He definitely keeps us on our toes!
• We can't resist his sweet smile! He is such a sweet boy and I love that amidst how busy he is, that he will take the time to cuddle with me!
• He gives some of the very best hugs!
• He still loves his soft blankets, and we sometimes tease and call him Linus, from Charlie Brown. They are security blankets for sure and we are working on taking it less places, but it is a miracle worker once it is time for a nap or bedtime! So, Mom and Dad are clinging to it a little as well still! ;)
• He is a climber. He loves to climb on anything and everything. And he doesn't have much fear.
• He love bath time. He has always loved water and bath was one of his first words! The moment he hears the bath water he comes running!

Our sweet Mr. Lennon is such a good boy. We love him so much and are grateful every day that he is part of our family. We don't know what we would do without all of his busyness! I love watching him grow into such a fun little boy and I can't wait to see how he continues to blossom this year! We love you Mr. Lennon! Happy 2nd birthday baby boy!

SOCCER!

Aleece participated in soccer again this spring and loved being able to kick around the ball on the soccer field with all of her friends! She took a much more laid back approach this season and just enjoyed being on the field! She ALWAYS had a smile on her face! She had such a great team and we are thankful to Coach Brandon for all of his time spent coaching the team! They all truly had a blast this year! (Despite how hot it got!!!) Go Bengals!

Leecy's Kindergarten Graduation!

Aleece graduated from Kindergarten in May! It's hard to believe it's already been a year since she began school! She grew leaps and bounds this year and made so many great memories and wonderful friends! She absolutely adored her teacher Mrs. Strock and she overcame many fears! She blew away all of the kindergarten teachers with her reading capabilities and was reading better than most of the 4th graders in the school! She got to read for the principal and she was regularly tested in the library on all of the books she was devouring! We are so proud of her and how hard she worked this past year! We hope she gets a teacher she loves just as much for first grade! Aleece participated in her kindergarten graduation, which for her was a huge step in the right direction! She has been so shy and we were a little worried that she wouldn't want to participate....but she did amazing and we think it is so awesome to watch her grow! The saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is so true! We do as much as we can as parents, but without the wonderful help of teachers and grandparents and so many others, our children wouldn't have the opportunity to do so many things in life! So here is a BIG thank you to all of you out there who are helping our children to learn and grow in so many ways! We love you Leecy T!

Lainey's preschool graduation

Lainey graduated from her first year of preschool in May! She is still so tiny, probably a good 6 inches shorter or more than most of her preschool buddies, but she has such a big personality! She learned so much this year in preschool! She memorized scriptures, she learned lots of fun, new songs, she made some great friends, and she learned so much about all of the letters and their different sounds and all of the numbers, etc. She is such a smart girl and I love that once you get her talking, she will talk your ear off! :) She gets to attend the same preschool next year and we are so glad! She loves Ms. Tami and we love all that she is learning! Way to go Bugsy! We love you!

Getting caught up....

Okay, so I am WAY behind on blogging. We have had a crazy, busy and fun summer already and life with 4 kiddos keeps us busy even when we think we have nothing going on! :) So here we go, hopefully I can get caught up!

Happy Birthday Leecy T!

Happy, happy birthday Leecy T dear! Happy days will come to you all year! It's crazy to think you are already 6 years old!!!
I know I say it every year, but you don't realize how much your children have grown until you sit back and reflect on how much they've changed in the past year!
Aleece has grown leaps and bounds this past year, and if you'll indulge me for the time being, I'd like to take a minute to brag! :)
*Aleece attended and graduated kindergarten this year! She had such a great time and she surpassed all of her teacher's expectations! She can read on the same level as some 4th graders and we love to hear her read anything and everything!
*We can no longer spell anything out---she is way too smart for that! She catches us every time!
*The girl has a PHENOMENAL memory! She can recall events from years past! We don't know how she does it!
*She has learned to overcome some of her fears, especially her shyness. She is still shy, but nowhere near where she was this time last year.
*She lost her first tooth.
*She continues to be a sweet, sensitive spirit, who loves her family very much. She has an intuition about her (she has known when I've been pregnant, before I have!) and she has a strong testimony of the gospel.
*She wants to be a rock star/fashion diva when she grows up! She changes her clothes frequently throughout the day and most(all) days insists on wearing a dress or skirt and high heels. She is into ALL things girly!
*She is outgrowing her breathing health problems. We have made it over a year without having to check her into the hospital! Hallelujah! (knock on wood!) We were worried that school would exacerbate her problems, but it seemed to help!
*Her favorite color is purple and she still loves all animals(besides being a rock star she wants to be a veterinarian as well)! She also has a major sweet tooth just like her Daddy!
We are so very blessed to have Aleece as part of our family. She is a wonderful big sister and she has a great sense of humor. Our family wouldn't be complete without her in it. She brings us great joy everyday and we love watching her learn and grow! We can't wait to see what this next year brings! Happy birthday baby girl! We love you!!!

2 months already!

Where does the time go? Our little guy is already 2 months old! He had his 2 month checkup today and he now weighs 10 lbs (25-50%) and is he just over 23 inches long (50%). He is growing and changing so quickly! He has learned to smile, which absolutely melts my heart every time! I love that he smiles with his whole face and you can even see it in his eyes! He has this sweet little voice and I love to have "conversations" with him! He brings such joy to our family and I LOVE watching my four children grow and interact with one another! They have such love for each other and each one of them has me wrapped around their little finger!

Oh so witty....

Two different conversations I've had with Lainey over the past week....

Me: Lainey, don't stick your tongue out.
Lainey: I'm not sticking my tongue out Mom! My tongue is just dancing!



(detangling Lainey's hair after her shower)
Lainey: Ow!
Me: Serious?
Lainey: Do NOT call me that! My name is NOT Serious!!!


Needless to say, she can be quite sassy! :) But she is also a sweetheart, and without fail, she ALWAYS makes us laugh! One glance at her sweet smile and infectious giggle and you are wrapped around her little finger!!!

The many faces....

Harrison has been growing so fast....he literally changes every day! He is getting so big and strong and these are just a tiny collection of some of my favorite photos of him! I hope you all enjoy looking at his sweet face as much as I do!!!

And then there were 6!

Life has been a whirlwind since we became a family of 6! There is always something going on and we are still perfecting our routine! But life has been wonderful and we all absolutely adore little Harrison! I've been taking pictures regularly, but getting them posted is a whole other story! :)

Me, (obviously!) at the hospital where Harrison was born, approximately 2 hours before he entered our lives!

Our sweet new addition! Loving his curly hair!

And of course, there was nothing more beautiful than Harrison meeting his brother and sisters for the first time! They love him so very much and are such good helpers!

Harrison adds another little puzzle piece to our family and we love him more than words can say!!! He brings such joy to our life, as each of our children has done and continue to do, and we are so very grateful that Heavenly Father chose us to be his parents! Despite the lack of sleep (which is improving thank goodness!) we couldn't be happier!

Harrison Howey

He is here!!! Harrison Howey Welch Moore arrived by c-section at 4:48 pm on Friday, March 5th. He weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz and he is 20.5 inches long. He is absolutely beautiful and we are so glad he is here and part of our family! We love him so very much! I'll post more later about the labor and delivery, etc, but we wanted all of you to have the opportunity to see our sweet boy!

Changes...

Tonight is my last night of being mother to only three children. Tomorrow we get to meet our sweet little man that we have anxiously been awaiting for the past 9 months. We are very excited for our little guy to arrive! We know he will fill another little piece of our family puzzle and we can't wait to see what he looks like, what his personality will be like........ This pregnancy passed so very quickly and it is crazy to think the time is already here. We know we love him already, more than he will ever know, and we know that he is meant to be a part of our family. We hope he is has enjoyed the relative quiet that he has been experiencing over the past nine months in utero because once he enters this world and our home, we know he won't be experiencing any of that any time soon! But noise usually means happiness in our house, whether it be singing, laughing, babbling, whatever!!! So our sweet boy, get some rest, because we know you are in for a wild ride with parents and 3 siblings who are more excited than you know!!!

What have we been up to?

January and February seem to have pretty much flown by! We've managed to stay fairly busy and I thought I had better catch up completely before baby boy #4 arrives!

The Sunday after we arrived home from Christmas vacation, Madelaine graduated from nursery! She is officially a Sunbeam and has done great with the transition! Our ward held a little graduation ceremony and spotlighted each child. They introduced them to the rest of the primary by telling them their name, favorite color, favorite foods, favorite activities, favorite gospel story, etc, etc! It's always so fun to watch your children grow and move on to a new stage in life! Lainey loves singing time especially in primary and one of her first Sundays in primary, she was asked which song she wanted to sing. She responded to this question quite quickly by saying she wanted to sing "Mama Mia". The teachers all got a good laugh at that! You can't say she doesn't have great taste in music! :) Or that she isn't exposed to a great variety of music at home! We sure love her and she makes us laugh always! Congrats cute little Lainey bug!



On Friday, January 8th, Mr. Lennon went to the hospital to have tubes put in his ears. The poor little guy had had ear infections almost continuously since mid September. He had been on multiple antibiotics, but we just couldn't seem to kick them! So back in December we went to see an ENT and he informed us that tubes would help him a great deal. So the day of the surgery Mr. Lennon was pleasant as always, and really didn't know what was going on! But he was good with every dr., nurse, anasthesiologist, etc that came in to see him! The surgery itself only lasts about five minutes, but because you are required to hold completely still, anasthesia is used. So Lennon was gone from us for about 15 minutes. I will say it felt like a lot longer than that however!!! We missed our boy! When they brought him back to us he was just beginning to wake up from the anasthesia and wasn't very happy. You could tell he was in some pain and it just about broke our hearts! But I should also interject that Lennon is such a good boy and even not being happy, he is still pretty easy! We took him home shortly thereafter and our whole hospital stay was probably less than four hours total. The waiting at the beginning is what was the worst! Lennon rested on and off throughout the day and by the next day he was back to his happy self! We have since been back to the ENT and his tubes are doing well! We have noticed a huge improvement in his hearing and he is talking quite a bit more! It's nice to know that he won't have to suffer from all of those ear infections anymore!



In January we were treated with a visit from Granny and Grampy! We cherish every moment we get to spend with them! The two weeks prior to their coming, I probably heard the phrase "I want my granny and grampy!" about 20 times a day! :) The trip was kind of spur of the moment and we were ecstatic to find out they were coming! They were able to spend the weekend with us and we did all kinds of fun activities! We went out to eat, we went to the zoo, we played on the Wii, and spent some always wonderful quality time together!
The kids love to go with Granny and Grampy to the zoo! This time we went and saw the new Yellowstone exhibit, which is strikingly similar to the real Old Faithful lodge! The animals were all very active and the weather was beautiful the day we went! We got to have a little picnic while we were there as well! And we got some great pictures! I had to teach in Relief Society the weekend my parents were here and so my mom got to listen to me teach. It's always nice to have a super supportive face out in the class! :) We loved every second Granny and Grampy were here and we absolutely cannot wait until we get to see them again!!!!


At the new Yellowstone exhibit!


Some of the fun animals we saw that day!


Memories! :)

Granny and Grampy also bought the kids some new Valentines outfits and the kids looked absolutely adorable in them! They got LOTS of use out of these cute oufits and we couldn't resist taking some pictures of them!



Valentines Day was lots of fun, as usual! It fell on a Sunday this year and so we attended our Stake Conference in the morning. When we returned home we made some delicious bright pink, chocolate chip, heart shaped pancakes! Mmmmm....they were so good! Thanks Granny and Grampy for sending the mix! ABC Find Out Me also ended up finding the kids and bringing them their Valentines gifts! Aleece and Madelaine each recieved backpacks (Leecy's had the Eiffel Tower on it----she loves Paris and insists that someday she is going to live there!) with coloring books, crayons, chapstick, and candy inside. Mr. Lennon recieved a fun little easel where on one side you can color with water and the other side has stamps that you can press into this really cool gel material! Totally mess free and the kids don't seem to tire of it!
I was also spoiled this Valentines Day and my sweet hubby gave me some beautiful blue green pearl earrings (also from the kids) and a new makeup case (which I was in desperate need of!) I gave him a new shirt and the first two seasons of 30 Rock. For dinner we decided to splurge and we enjoyed a delicious meal of crab legs and asparagus! Yummy! It was soooo good! And we love that the kids love it too! They do have great taste! :)




In other news that has occurred over the past two months......

• Aleece has been doing AMAZING in school! Just in the past couple of weeks she has been taking several tests in the library on books she has read and has scored perfectly every time. She has also had the opportunity to read to the principal (the only one in her class) and her teacher informed me that she is working at about a fourth grade level! It is amazing to listen to her read! We were at the store the other day and she picked up an Alice In Wonderland book to look through, and it wasn't a kids book, and she just plowed through it! She didn't need any help other than on the word "guffah" and honestly who really uses that word anyways! :) We are so very proud of her and how hard she works and that she is doing so well!
• I have had several doctors appointments for our coming addition and he is growing very well! As of two weeks ago, when I had my last ultrasound, he was measuring at about 6 lbs 5 oz, which is a little ahead of schedule! So it looks like we will have a pretty good size baby on our hands! His heart rate is good and he looks perfect! We are anxious to meet him and if he decides not to make his appearance on his own, then we will welcome him on Friday, March 5th by c-section. We can't wait!
• Val is officially on his very last credit of his master's degree! Wahoo! He has applied for graduation and will be doing so on May 22nd! We are thrilled that he has done so well and that this journey for him is just about over!

That is only a glimpse as to what we've been up to, but hopefully it just about brings me current on this blog! I still claim major pregnant brain, so I know I've forgotten many things, but this will hopefully let ya'll see a little of what has been going on in our lives! We are continually trying to better ourselves and to spend as much time with one another as possible! We love our little family and are always trying to find joy in our journey!!!

Christmas in February???

Life has been crazy lately and I have definitely been neglecting the blog! I figured if I didn't get this done now, it would never get done, especially since our newest little man will be joining us in less than 3 weeks!!! So, I apologize for my lateness, but now you all get to enjoy a little Christmas in February! (Just in time for Valentines Day!) :)

Santa was very good to the kids this year and it was fun to watch all of their reactions and to see all of the smiles as they opened each gift! Lennon got lots of cars and balls----what can we say, he is boy through and through!!! Lainey, while her favorite color is pink and she loves to dress up, has a fascination with helicopters, and insists that she and her Grampy are going to ride in one someday! So she got a fun little helicopter that she can fly around, as well as dolls, books and movies! Aleece was ecstatic when she opened her Nintendo DS. Santa wasn't really aware until about a week or two before Christmas that this was such a huge desire for her, but he pulled through! Her reaction was priceless!

We tried to spread things out a little and opened family Christmas presents a little later in the day. Lennon opened up a ball from his Uncle Channy and Aunt Jessica and his reaction made us all laugh. As you can see in the pictures, it's not your typical ball, it is made of rubbery type material and hass little pieces all over it. He went to grab it out of the box and instantly pulled his hand back! It took him a while to warm up to it, but once he did he loved it! All of the kids recieved new homemade blankets from Grandma and Poomp, which they loved! They were also spoiled with some new outfits, dress-up clothes, games, dolls and stuffed animals! A big thank you to everyone!

I wanted to make sure and get some pics of the kids in their Christmas outfits and the weather was absolutely beautiful while we were there. I feel like these pictures really capture their personalities! Mind you, Val was juggling in the backround, but whatever it takes to get them to smile, right?

I absolutely love this next picture of the kids! They are our pride and joy and we love them SO much!!!

We got to take some big group family pictures of all of us extended family while we were in Yuma and I brought along my camera to take a few "behind the scenes" pictures!

The day we left from Yuma the kids and I experienced our very first earthquake. (Val had already been in one years ago) It was a 5.9 on the Richter scale and scared me to death. I was upstairs finishing getting everything together when I felt something underneath me, and I didn't think it was the garage door opening. I asked if anybody else noticed it, only to hear something crash in the next room and then have the whole house start shaking. Needless to say, I couldn't stop shaking for quite some time. It is definitely something I hope to never have to go through again!!!

We left Yuma late on Dec. 30th and so we got to spend New Year's Eve on the Amtrak train, in San Antonio, TX. We did get to get off of the train for a little while, to get something to eat and go listen to some music, but it was so cold and windy and crowded that we ended up watching fireworks from the train! We enjoyed some sparkling apple juice and rang in the New Year looking our best as you can see from the above photo's. :)

When we arrived home late on January 1st the kids were thrilled to find out that Santa had left a few bigger items at our home! Aleece go another new Zhu Zhu pet, Lainey got a Tinkerbell village and Lennon got a ride on pony that you hook up to the tv.

My favorite reaction when we came back however was that of my sweet husband. Santa left his present at our home too and Val was beyond happy when he opened it! He got Beatles Rockband, which he has wanted since the moment he first heard about it, and Santa was very happy to oblige, especially considering how very hard he worked this last fall semester on his thesis! He deserved something fun!

We had a wonderful holiday season and were sad to see it end. Our world seems a much happier place during the holiday's and we can only hope that we can try and spread that joy throughout the year to others, so that we can keep that feeling all year long!!!

I believe this catches us up.....at least until January! :) But hopefully I'm on a roll now!

Christmas morning 2009--stockings!

On Christmas morning, growing up, we always had to wait for Mom and Dad to give the go ahead before coming down/up the stairs to get our Christmas stockings! So we have lots of pictures of us as kids with the wonderful look of anticipation and pure happiness on Christmas morning, and we love being able to capture those same expressions in our own children!



The kids loved opening all of their stocking stuffers from Santa! It was lots of fun to hear their reactions and to enjoy their giddiness!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

Another fun tradition we have is hanging up our stockings by the fireplace each year. My parents took pictures of us doing this every year and it has been fun to carry this tradition on!



The kids also made sure to lay out cookies and milk for Santa before they headed to bed.....where visions of sugar plums danced in their heads. :)

The Nativity Story 2009

Christmas Eve is always full of fun traditions and we love being able to share them with our children! This is the first Christmas Eve the kids were able to spend with their cousins and it was fun to watch them interact. We read the Christmas story out of Luke in the Bible and attempted to dress the kids up in nativity wear....but.....most of them weren't really thrilled with that idea and the costumes didn't last long! Preston and Lainey bug were Joseph and Mary and Reuhl and Lennon were angels. Aleece still gets nervous "performing" in front of people and Hayden fell asleep. So....we didn't get too many pictures of this particular tradition, but it was fun nonetheless! :)
We also got to hear Grandma Moore read us all a very touching story about her father on Christmas!

Christmas Eve Jammies

In our family it is tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and that gift is always jammies! It's a fun tradition and I look forward to it every year! This year I was so excited to find matching pajamas for Val and the kids! Val and Lennon got Grinch pajamas and Leecy and Lainey got Cindy Lou Who pajamas! They were a big hit and they all looked so cute!!! Val gave me some super comfy pajamas that are really cute as well! There was a little drama involved, when he realized he had left my wrapped pajamas back home in Memphis, but his last minute purchase was a good one!

Yuma or bust!!!

We left for Yuma on the 3:10 am train out of Little Rock, Arkansas on December 20th. There is a movie called 3:10 to Yuma, so we thought this was pretty funny! :) We were on the train for 48 straight hours and are glad it went so smoothly! The kids were really well behaved and it was nice to be able to get up and walk around (even though my feet still ended up swollen!) and to have Val's help with the kids while we were traveling! He is such a good Dad! The chairs were really comfy and we met some very nice and some very interesting characters aboard the train! It was fun to see all the scenery and it was nice to not have to worry about any other drivers or the weather! The kids seemed to enjoy it, although I will admit that we were all happy to reach our destination! :)



sidenote: I am aware I look a little crazy in the above picture, but I was taking the picture and this was the best I could do!!!

Family Christmas Presents

Before we headed to Yuma for Christmas vacation we decided to open family Christmas presents at home! We were spoiled way too much and there was just WAY too much to take on the train!

We received so many nice things! My parents let us open our gift a little early and we were thrilled to receive a Wii and Wii Fit! What an awesome gift! The kids were as excited as we were! We love to play as a family and we are hoping it will be a good way for us to get and stay in shape! It's definitely been used daily!!!

The kids received the impossible to find Zhu Zhu pets from their Granny and Grampy as well! They were so excited to open them and they are still a big hit! They love to play with them and I love the giggles that ensue every time they get played with! Even Lennon thinks they are awesome!! We know a lot of time and energy was put into finding these gifts as well! It is very much appreciated!!!

Aleece received a really fun butterfly home from Patty and Eric, where she can send away for real caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies! She was so excited! She loves ALL animals! Madelaine received a really fun play-doh cooking set from Patty and Eric and she was so happy! Who doesn't love play-doh? And Lennon received a soft new green blanket and super fun old school Little People Farm set! The blanket has already been used innumerable times and he loves the farm set!

Katchie and Jeff gave Aleece a Barbie on a bike, where Barbie's legs actually move! Barbies have definitely come a long way's over the years! And Madelaine got a whole set of Littlest Pet Shop animals! The girls had to open them immediately! They have already taken up residence in the girls doll house! And Mr. Lennon received some new clothes, which he looks very handsome in!

MaryRose bought the girls some awesome Camelbak water bottles! She and Katchie have used them for years and the girls were ALWAYS trying to drink out of them! Aleece got a purple one and Madelaine got a pink one! They also had to use these immediately! And they came in super handy on our train ride and vacation! We love anything spill-proof!

Thank you all so much for all of our wonderful gifts! You all made our Christmas so very special! We love you all so much and are so grateful for your thoughtfulness and kindness to us always! THANK YOU!!!!!