Happy Mother's Day - Mom

Happy Mother's Day mom. I love you. Thank you for your example and all of your sacrifice. You are one incredible mom to have raised all 5 of us. You did it and even stayed sane...mostly. :)

oh.my.heck...this KILLS me!

46 seconds of funny. real funny.

happy birthday, lover boy

Today is Bruce's 28th birthday! Hooray for Bruce! Because today belongs to him (oh, and my bestest friend, Emily {happy birthday, em!!}) I thought I'd list 28 things about Bruce you may not know.....here we go:

1. He snores....LOUD.

2. He never fails to find the most boring program on TV and watches the entire thing...whether it's about dinosaurs, knitting, growing basil - you name it, he'll watch it.

3. He makes the best mashed potatoes ever.

4. When he was a teenager, he would sneak out in the wee hours of the morning....and never got caught.

5. While doing the above mentioned, he and his buddy would steal golf carts from the golf course and go riding around the course...and never got caught.

6. He bathes all three girls every night. He loves it and so do they.

7. I overheard him singing Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' to them tonight during bathtime. Nice.

8. He crinkles his nose when he laughs. All three girls do the same. I love this.

9. He always eats breakfast.

10. He likes the movie, "Barbie: A Mermaid Tale" and is more than happy to sit and watch it with the little girls.

11. He is fluent in Spanish.
12. Bruce doesn't so much care to eat candy.

13. It doesn't bother him if he hasn't showered for a few days.

14. It doesn't bother him if he wears already-worn-and-not-washed-yet undies.

15. He loves to BBQ and is great at it.

16. He sometimes pretends he is an interpretive dancer and makes us giggle at his super great dance moves.

17. He loves the mountains.

18. He is in incredible shape.

19. He's a hottie-with-a-body as a result of number 18.

20. He reads his scriptures in Spanish.
21. When he was a teenager, he went around smashing people's Halloween pumpkins.

22. Bruce is an extremely loyal friend.

23. He loves to cycle. He rides his bike to and from work everyday (it's not close). In fact, he got hit by a car on his bike a couple months ago and still loves cycling.

24. He is a fish. Loves the water.

25. Bruce takes the older two girls out almost every Saturday morning for a date.

26. Goes above-and-beyond as the Young Men's President at church. He loves those boys and works hard for them.

27. Bruce is a fantastic Daddy.

28. He doesn't brush his teeth first thing in the morning.

We love you, Bruce/Daddy! You are the best in the world!

You make us so happy.

bleh

I haven't done much blogging lately because I just feel so....bleh. Does anyone else get in a funk of just everything? Maybe I'm the only one. For the past few weeks I feel like I'm swimming upstream - so busy, so tired...but still always something that needs to be done. And to add to the pile, Ava is not sleeping anymore. Seriously, not sleeping. Not sleeping during the day or the night. She took a 5 minute nap yesterday. Yep. Five whole minutes all day long. She's waking up between 4 - 7 times during the night. It's honestly killing me. Does anyone have any suggestions?? Help! The irony of it all is that Ava is such a calm and placid baby....she just doesn't sleep.

In other news....Grace is loving school and doing so well. She's making new friends and already knows songs in Italian and French. She loves, loves her ballet class and shows us new ballet moves all the time :)

It's been really nice having some time with just Haylee & Ava while Grace is in school three days a week. Haylee and I read a lot - she is our reader! I try to do an art or craft with her as well - she loves having school with mommy and Ava!

Haylee & Ava playing together in their favorite spot....the pack n play :)

Our really great triple stroller....I don't think this passes safety standards
I try to take them for a walk first thing in the morning (which is why they are in pj's), but now that it's getting cold, we'll have to go in the afternoon.
Grace is such a big help to me! Who knew a 3 year old could offer so much help?? She gets diapers, wipes, binkies, lovies....whatever I need and brings it to me. She will hold Ava and make her happy when she cries - it's really sweet.

6 months big!

Ava Ruby is already 6 months big! I can't believe how fast time is going by. I feel especially mushy over my baby getting big because she's most likely going to be our last.

Ava is such a happy baby - always smiling and cooing. She weighed 14 pounds at her check-up, which puts her in the 50th percentile. We are so grateful that she is a happy & healthy baby.

She adores Grace & Haylee and giggles anytime they are around. It's so sweet. Ava loves her binky and her brown lovie. She has started sucking on her bottom lip, her fingers, and her cutie little toesies. She has the most beautiful lips and eyes - strangers even comment on her beautiful features. We love Ava Ruby sooooooo much and feel incredibly blessed she was sent to us!!!!

haylee's new word

Haylee seriously cracks us up with her vocabulary. She is quite advanced in her speech and it's so dang cute!

Her new word is: "shaget" = jacket.

It's hilarious to hear her yell, "Mommy!! I need my shaget! I too cold!!!!!!"

a very happy birthday

I had a fantastic 30th birthday! (I still can't believe I'm 30...) I woke up to my sweet baby Ava just cooing and giggling in her crib - which is the best sound ever. Then I came into the family room and opened my birthday presents.....well, Grace & Haylee opened my birthday presents :) We then ate McDonald's for breakfast, Bruce took the girls to the park for the morning, and when they got back, I went out shopping all by myself! It was perfect!

We had cheese, strawberries & crackers for our lunch and then my yummy cookie cake!

Bruce got our regular babysitter, Michelle, to watch the girls while he took me out for dinner at this beautiful place right on the ocean at sunset....little did I know.....

.....he had planned a surprise party for me!!!!!!!!!!!! How great is he??!?!?! We had such a great night and I was VERY surprised. Bruce is so wonderful!!!!!!

I was so glad our new - and great - friends, Jim and Kristen, came. They recently moved here from Tasmania and go to church with us. Their little baby, Levi, is going to marry Ava we've decided :) They also have a little girl who is Haylee's age and the two of them adore each other. We love them!

little sickie

Miss Ava has been our little sickie this past week. She had bronchitis which turned into a systemic bacterial infection. Bruce and I felt just terrible for her. It's such an awful feeling to see your baby so sick!

Anyhow, she is much better now and I'm so grateful for good hospitals and doctors and modern medicine.

I just had to post these pics because like my sister-in-law, Angie, said, "Ava looks pathetically cute!"

The doctor had to give her a "boxing glove" on her other hand because she kept trying to take out her IV. Poor baby!

Mama Mia!

For an early birthday present, Bruce surprised me with tickets to Mama Mia! How great is he?! We went last night and it was fantastic. We both loved it! The costumes and the music were amazing.

I had never been to a Broadway production, so it was super exciting for me.

Whaaaa!!!!

I'm turning 30 in ten days. I might as well go book myself a room at the aged care facility....

Good-bye 20's....it's been good knowing you. *pout*

We LOVE Fiji

We're back! We're sun-kissed, golden brown and feeling like our trip to Fiji was more like a dream than real life! It was, to say the least, the perfect first family vacation. We were so glad Bruce's mom was able to come with us. She was great company and fantastic help....and she made it possible for Bruce & I to sneak off by ourselves!

We stayed on Yunaca Island at the Shangri La Resort and it was amazing. Our rooms were literally steps from the ocean. The food was absolutely fantastic and the Fijians were so friendly there. They loved our little fair skin, blonde girls and were always kissing on them. In fact, one time a Fijian woman came over to Ava, took her out of the stroller and kissed all over her!

Fiji was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I couldn't begin to take in all of the beauty - and neither could photos, but here's a small preview.....enjoy!

The view we enjoyed every morning while we ate breakfast

Grace straightening Haylee's necklace before the luau began

Ava dreamt about Fiji most of the week

The water was incredible!

Playing on the beach during an afternoon rain

Oh, Grace and Haylee were in love with the "hula dancing girls" - as they called them :)

The firedancing was insane. We loved it! Grace & Haylee kept saying "too hot, too hot!"

Hula girl Gracie

We were surprized at how large the Fijians were...like tree trunks! They were very tall and quite built. The kindest and most genuine people I've ever met - and they loved, loved our little girls!

Our room was just to the left...we strolled down to this beach every morning in our pj's....it was maybe 20 feet from our door to the sand.

The breakfast entertainment. So much fun!

Much more to come.....

forever a wedgie

I can't get enough of this picture...I think it's so funny. Haylee always has a wedgie. It's hilarious! It doesn't seem to bother her in the least bit. I've decided that one bum cheek must be smaller than the other because the girl is always showing off that cutie little behind :)

In other news.....I haven't blogged lately because we've just been so busy. The past month has been a whirlwind....good, but super busy. My house is a disaster, I have mountains of both clean and dirty laundry piled everywhere, sheets need to be changed, groceries need to be put away, bathrooms need to be scrubbed,......

...but most important: I need to start packing our bags because we leave for Fiji in 6 days!!!!!!!!!! WhooHoo!!!!!

happy australia day

To celebrate Australia Day this year we went to a park and had a picnic with our church. It was a really fun day and the weather was perfect! Everyone loved that we had our little American girls dressed in Aussie clothes :)