Falling in love with fall....

Monday was the first official day of fall and I couldn't be more excited. There is something about this time of year that just seems to charge me up! Pumpkins, apples, football games, the leaves changing..... I especially love any excuse to throw pumpkin into the mix. I made my first pumpkin pie of the season on Sunday when the missionaries came over for dinner and they were so good! We are so excited to go to MN next week to see Trey play football. We miss not being able to go to all of the games and can't wait to get all decked out and cheer him on! We had a picnic at our bishop's home this weekend and the weather was perfect! There was a nice breeze in the air and you could just sense everyone's relief that the ridiculously hot temperatures from this summer are over, at least till next year! So I am falling in love with fall all over again, just like I do every year. Only this year, our kids seem to sense everything that is going on also! Aleece and Madelaine want to be outside all the time and if they could have apples with every meal, they would!
I came across a fantastic idea the other day while reading one of my magazines. It is for an "idea journal". This is something you carry around with you and when you come across a great idea--recipe, craft, place you would like to visit, quote etc. you write it down. I don't know how many times I have been out and about and read about something I would love to try and forgotten about it by the time I got home! So I am hoping this will help me remember all of those fun things I come across and be able to experiment a little! We'll see how it goes!
Lainey talks more and more each day. It has been so fun to see her vocabulary grow. She idolizes Leecy T and tries to do everything just like her big sister. Aleece sometimes likes just bread and butter for breakfast, and as I was preparing Aleece's this morning, Madelaine came running in and said, "I want some bread and butter." It still shocks me a little when she uses these full sentences. Mostly because she is still so small--you don't expect that to come out of her! Both girls are so smart, they give me a run for my money most days!
Aleece was watching "Pocahontas 2" the other day and in one scene they show a bear. Well, Aleece told me to keep watching because in a minute they would tell me the bear's name. It still makes me smile, just thinking about what happened next. In a scene a short while later some people are being mean to the bear and Pocahontas yells, "Stop, this is torture!" Aleece looks over at me and says matter of factly, "See? His name is torture!" She is so funny sometimes! I had to agree with her, that that is what it sounded like!
Lennon is "talking" more and still loves to be held. He has the sweetest smile and I think he smiles biggest for his big sisters! It has been so fun watching the relationship between all three of our children unfold. They love each other so much and have the best time together, even if they are just sitting on the couch trying to make each other giggle. They are so precious to me and I love every single moment I am with them!

2 month appointment and more misc...

We took Lennon to our pediatrician today for his 2 month checkup. He is absolutely perfect! He weighs in at 11 lbs 6 oz (approx. 50%) and is 22 1/2 inches (approx. 25%) long. At this rate he will definitely be outgrowing little Lainey bug! Our poor boy had to have three immunizations in shot form and the rotovirus oral immunization--that one he enjoyed! It seems like no matter how many times I have to watch them give my babies shots, it never gets any easier--but I know it's for their own good. We don't have to go back again until November for Lennon's 4 month checkup!

Daddy and Lennon

Mommy and Lennon

We are now in week 2 of preschool and Aleece is continuing to love it! I am so glad she has this opportunity to go so that she will be a little more prepared for when she starts kindergarten next year. She is already so stinking smart, but I know that the social interaction she is getting is going to help her immensely! She loves the kids in her class and she loves to tell us what she learned. We still miss having her around the house, but I know that this is good for her! Aleece has also become way too computer savvy! We have a couple of children's websites that we really enjoy, such as starfall.com and pbskids.org. The PBS website is Aleece's favorite and she can navigate it like no other. They have some great learning activities and I am amazed that Aleece knows where all of the letters are on the keyboard. She handles the mouse really well too. We live in such a technological age it is almost ridiculous how much little kids can do these days. They know how to work cell phones, tv's, dvd players, computers, you name it! Tonight Aleece came out while I was preparing dinner to show me what she had printed on the computer. So I asked her how she knew how to do it. She told me that she just clicked on the printer and that was that. Sheesh! Way to smart, I tell ya!
Advertising execs are also getting way too smart. We were in the store this week and passed a rack of clothes with pictures of Hannah Montana on them, to which Lainey exclaimed "Hannah Montana!" Really?! We have never even watched that show! But she somehow picked up on it! I have to admit it made me smile though. I love hearing her little voice!

2 months and counting...

I can't believe our little boy is already almost 2 months old. Lennon will officially turn 2 months on Tuesday. Time has flown by since his arrival into our little family and he has already changed so much! He still loves to eat and cuddle and he gets so excited when he sees his big sisters or mommy and daddy! He has the sweetest smile and we love him so much! I can't say that I'm thrilled he will be going to get more immunizations on Tuesday--it's always hard to see your babies get shots! But I am anxious to see how big he has gotten. He has grown much more quickly than either of the girls and I'm wondering where he falls percentage wise on the charts. I'll fill you in on Tuesday!

In other news...the girls have been adjusting to Aleece's first week at preschool. Lainey doesn't like when we drop Leecy off, but she loves when we pick her up! It's been the hardest for her because she and Aleece have pretty much been attached at the hip since her birth! They are the best of friends and so Lainey and I have been trying to fill the void with our own projects while Aleece is at school.

When Aleece was about the same age as Madelaine is now, her favorite movie was "The Wizard of Oz". She would dance and sing along and it was so cute to watch! She was even Dorothy for Halloween when she was 2 and Glinda the Good Witch last year. Well, Lainey's has taken a liking to "Annie". She refers to the movie as "tomorrow" and she loves to sing the songs! She has even started saying "oh my goodness!" She puts her hand over her mouth and says it in her sweet little voice and you can't help but smile!

It has been an emotional roller coaster this week and we are hoping to have a little more calmness and relaxation this coming week. Although I will be preparing to teach next week's lesson in Relief Society and trying to come up with something to feed the missionaries this week also! And let me tell you they are BIG guys! Both are well over 6 feet and not scrawny by any means. So this could be a feat! Wish me luck!

Preschool!

Aleece officially started preschool today. A lady in our ward teaches a preschool out of her home and we thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up! Aleece will attend preschool every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings for the full school year. It's hard to believe she is already old enough to attend! Lainey, Lennon and I dropped her off at Ms. Tami's this morning and took a few pictures to commemorate the event and then headed home. Lainey struggled after we arrived home a bit. She wanted to know where Aleece was, and a few tears were shed. We sure missed our Leecy T! We went and picked her up at lunch time and Aleece showed us her artwork that she painted (in her favorite colors--pink and purple) and sang us the song that she learned today, about the letter A. She had such a great time and we can't wait to hear about what she learns this year!




Dropping Aleece off at her first day of preschool.


So excited about her first day!!!


We were so happy to have Leecy T back home! Lainey especially. She missed her best friend!


Leecy T and her first project from school!

Dealt Fair 2008!

We went to the Delta Fair here in Memphis last night and had a blast! The temperature was just about perfect--there was a nice breeze in the air and it was only in the mid 80s. We loaded the kids into the stroller and ventured out to see what we could find.

We got to see the Vasquez Circus, where a lady performed on a trapeze and did some really fun stuff with Hula Hoops. They also had some gentlemen perform on dirt bikes in the Globe of Death. The fair also had a fun little petting zoo with all kinds of animals: goats, pigs, cows, buffalo, kangaroo's, and we even saw a "unicorn"!

There were lots of fun rides and Aleece got to ride on the Dumbo ride and on a hot air baloon ride. Unfortunately Lainey bug wasn't tall enough to ride anything--one of the downfalls to being so darn little! Aleece made some new friends on the rides, one named Grace and the other Jasmine (whom she had met at church once before).

We had some delicious corn on the cob and enjoyed seeing all of the sights! We can't wait to go again next year!

Full sentences,,,,

It seems as though Madelaine has picked up on a lot more verbally than any of us realized, seeing as she has been talking in complete sentences recently. She is still tiny as ever, but she is also spunky, busy and adorable! Some of my favorite things that she has said recently are,

"Daddy, I want a bite of that." (as he was putting a sandwich up to his mouth!)

"I do! I do! I want some fruit snacks!" (any time she wants fruit snacks!)

"Aleece, put your shoes on right now!" (pretty much any time we get ready to leave the house now!)

"Lennon, what's the problem? Huh baby?" (any time Lennon cries! She says it in the sweetest little voice!)

I love when she responds to my questions (ex: who wants to take a bath?) with "I do! I do!"

She can now count to ten and she knows her ABC's and she LOVES to sing! Lainey wants to be just like Aleece and I can not count how many times in a day that they make me laugh with their antics! It's so fun to watch them learn and grow! Sometimes it is so strange to realize that they are as old as they are! They are growing up much too quickly! I cherish every single moment and stage of life that they are in!

Spoiled...

Friday was my 28th birthday and I was spoiled rotten. I'm not too ashamed to admit it. I had a fantastic day with my sweet children and husband and recieved so many wonderful phone calls and birthday wishes. We went to Red Robin for dinner, which I enjoyed immensely, and we had chocolate molten cakes for my bday cake. I recieved more than my share of wonderful gifts and wanted to say thank you for everything! Thank you Mom and Dad for the ice cream maker(which we are using tomorrow! Yeah!) and Visa gift card (it's almost gone already!!! I got some awesome clothes!) You always spoil us kids way more than you should and I hope you know how very much I appreciate all that you do for me! Thank you Patty and Eric for the three year subscription to Family Circle magazine. I am sooo excited to recieve it! Thank you Katchie and Jeff for my awesome purse--I can now walk around in public without being afraid of being made fun of! :) Thank you MaryRose and Adam for my turquoise shirt--I love the color and it is so pretty! Thank you Trey for the sweet pickle card and contributing to Mom and Dad's gift! I always love reading what you write! Thank you Silvia and Doran for my beautiful necklace--Aleece will love that I have something fancy to wear now! Thank you to my sweet children for my new books--they know me too well! :) And thank you to my dear husband for my awesome new camera. I can not wait to dig in and start taking some incredible pictures! You all spoiled me way too much! I'm not sure I deserve it! I have to admit I got teary eyed several times thinking about how wonderful of a family I am a part of! I even got a happy birthday email from Elder Bubba this past week! Thank you, thank you, thank you--all of you!!! I love you all so much, and the only thing that would have made my day any better would have been if all of you were here to have celebrated with us!

click on the image to enlarge!!!

I hope they call me on a mission....

Our sweet boy at 6 1/2 weeks old.

First smiles....

Lennon has begun smiling! You can tell he now really knows who you are when he looks at you and when he smiles, it just melts your heart! I was able to get a few pictures of him smiling this morning and thought I would share them, so you can all see what I got to enjoy when I woke up!

3 Peas in a pod

The girls love their little brother so much!  They both insist on holding him at least once a day. They put on their "magic soap" (aka hand sanitizer), hop up onto the couch, place the boppy on their laps and ask for the baby.  I can already tell they will both make excellent mothers!  They are so sweet!  Lennon is growing well and I swear he changes a little every day!  I've really enjoyed the past five weeks since he was born.  The relationship the three children have is amazing and I love watching it evolve as they each grow and learn new things.  

4 Weeks Old

It's hard to believe that Lennon is four weeks old today! It seemed like those last two weeks of being pregnant lasted forever, and now here we are celebrating his first month of being in our family! He continues to grow and we wouldn't be surprised if he surpassed his big "little" sister before he hits a year! He loves to eat and cuddle and he is getting to be so strong! He holds his head up so well and he loves to make eye contact. He has this adorable little squeal that he uses when he doesn't think you are paying enough attention to him. He also has developed a love for his swing. He is very content when he is in it. He also loves to be held by his big sisters and just this morning while all of us were lying in bed, he looked at his sisters and gave them the biggest smile! Aleece is such a good helper to us and she grows up more and more each day! She will be starting preschool in just a few weeks! She is very excited to go to school and make new friends. Madelaine is so funny--she also has redeveloped a love for the swing. If Lennon isn't using it, I will often find that Lainey has climbed in and is swinging and singing and having a grand old time! She also has developed some great mothering skills. She and Aleece will get out their baby dolls and bundle them with blankets and carry them around or place them in Lennon's bassinet if it is empty. They both come running if they hear there brother crying and Leecy T is excellent at helping give Lennon is pacifier. He is actually the first of our children to actually enjoy using a pacifier! It has been so fun watching our three children interact. They are so precious to us and we love them more than words could ever describe!

our three pride and joys!

Biggest sister and little brother!

Enjoying the swing!

6 years

It's hard to believe it's been six years since Val and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Nauvoo temple. So much has happened in that time---we have had 3 beautiful children who we love so very much, finished a college degree, lived in three different states and 7 different homes, started working on a master's degree, traveled through at least 16 states, had multiple jobs, and more. But through it all we have loved each other each and every day. Our love has continued to grow with each blessing, with each trial, with each day that the sun rises. We have been through so much together and I am anxious to see where life continues to take us. I couldn't ask for a better companion. Val brings so much to my life--he brings out a part of me that no one else can. He completes me and I am so grateful, every single day, that he asked me to marry him. He has truly made me happy and I couldn't ask for more. Happy Anniversary sweetie. I love you!

Lennon's blessing weekend

Here is the story of our week leading up to Lennon's blessing, as promised. Our families arrived from various places across the country last week, and we decided it would be a fun thing to do some of the touristy things here in the city of Memphis, while they were all here. On Friday evening we went to the Peabody Hotel in downtown. We parked in a parking garage with security and assumed our vehicle would be safe. How wrong we were. We had a lot of fun watching the Peabody ducks make their grand march from the lobby to the roof and enjoyed some BBQ on Beale St. The girls were even treated to a Cinderella carriage ride through Memphis, by their Granny and Grampy! When we decided to head back to our cars, Val and Trey headed back before the rest of us to switch some of the car seats around. I was quite surprised to get a phone call from Val informing me that our car had been broken into. Apparently someone tried using some kind of screwdriver or something to get into the car and when that didn't work they just bashed in one of our windows. They then proceeded to turn the car pretty much inside out. Fortunately not much was taken, and what was taken was of no real importance to us. It was traumatizing for us, but we are so thankful that it happened to things and not people. Things can always be replaced, people can't. Sometimes I think we take our safety for granted, and this helped me remember how grateful I am for the Lord's protection in our lives. When you turn on the news, and hear about some of the things that occur in this city, it is downright frightening, and I know that our Heavenly Father watches out for us. Well, after the police arrived and filed our claim we managed to get everyone home and decided not much else could go wrong before the blessing....right? Wrong. We had a fantastic day on Saturday. We visited Mud Island and waded in the "mini Mississippi" and tried to stay cool. The temperature that day was 102 degrees before including the heat index! It was definitely hot! But it was fun to do things we hadn't done before and we got some great pictures! That evening Aleece had a slight runny nose, which at the time we attributed to the poor air quality and allergies. Wrong again. Within the less than 12 hours from the time she went to bed to the time she woke up, Aleece was having major breathing difficulties. Her chest was retracting and she had a lot of stomach breathing, her breathing was wheezy and she was absolutely miserable. Madelaine was also not feeling well and we actually spent a couple of hours in the night up on the couch with all three of our children. We raced to get everyone ready for church and luckily made it there in time, but not without challenges! It sometimes seems as though the harder you try to do the right thing, the more that can go wrong! Fortunately we made it to church on time and Val offered Lennon a blessing that was beautiful and the Spirit was strong. Immediately after the blessing our bishop unlocked one of the larger church rooms for us so that the priesthood holders in our family could offer Leecy T a blessing also. By this time she was just curled up in a ball in my mom's arms, completely miserable. Aleece was also given a beautiful blessing that promised her that her body would begin to heal itself immediately. She fell asleep and a short while later, while returning home she opened her eyes and began to talk and we could see the miracles that were occurring. She was pretty sick all day and we still contemplated taking her to the hospital but could see that there were continuous minor improvements. We started breathing treatments on her as soon as we arrived home and 24 hours later she was infinitely better that we had imagined she would be. We don't know what triggers these outbreaks in her, the word asthma has been tossed around by several doctors, but we are grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives. The girls have continued to improve since Sunday and we are so thankful for that. After the blessings on Sunday we were able to all enjoy one another's company and we had a wonderful meal. We are so grateful for our families and for their unconditional love and support that they offer us. We love them so much and are thankful for the time we got to spend with them. We know that the adversary enjoys making us suffer, but as much as we know how hard he works, we know that our Father in Heaven works just as hard to make us happy. And that is what we are.




The Peabody ducks

Our sweet families (part of them)

Eric and Leecy T

the Cinderella carriage (Granny, Grampy, Leecy, Lainey, Patty and Eric)

Patty, Eric & Lainey

our car after being broken into

Mud Island--fun in the mini Mississippi

Granny & Trey at Mud Island

Grampy & Leecy at Mud Island

Sweet cheeks...

Who can resist this sweet face?

Lennon's Blessing

We had the opportunity to bless our sweet baby boy this past weekend and had lots of family here for the occasion. Lennon was promised many beautiful things and we are so grateful to have him in our family. We know firsthand how hard the adversary works when you are trying to do the right thing, and had many "adventures" prior to Sunday's blessing....but that will be another post! We are so grateful for all of our family members and are thankful for all of there love and support! We enjoyed every moment with them and missed those who were unable to be here (though they were all there in Spirit). Here are a few photos from Lennon's blessing....

2 weeks old

It's hard to believe that Lennon is already two weeks old. It seems like just yesterday we were so impatient, waiting for him to arrive, and now here we are two weeks later. Our love for him continues to grow every day. He is so sweet and cuddly and we love every single thing about him! His squeals, his sneezes, everything! He had his two week check-up today and is now 21 inches and 8 lbs 10 oz. So he has now surpassed his birthweight! Who knows, he may outgrow Madelaine yet! Lennon is so good natured and we love having him as part of our family!

Lennon at 12 days old

Sisters and Brother

I love the connection these three have already. They bring such happiness to my life! I love them so very much!

Sweet Baby Boy

Life has been incredibly busy since Lennon arrived, thus the lack of pictures so far. Thank goodness my mom has put together some fantastic collages---you can check them out by linking to the Welchkin Wire on the right! I did manage to put together a few photos, so here you go! It's amazing how quickly your children grow! They literally change every day and I just can't seem to get enough pictures!






Me and my sweet boy at the hospital.

I absolutely adore these chubby cheeks!