Updates

Ok, so it's been kind of a long time since I've posted anything.  Since I've gotten on facebook, my blog has suffered a bit, but posting once in a while is better than never!  During Spring Break, Bryce's mom (Nanny) came for a visit and treated us to the Phoenix Children's Museum (thanks Papa, too!).  The kids really had a fun time, and hopefully Nanny did too. :)

Here's Marlee at the sand-art booth.

Logan and Nanny playing the xylophone.

This is Masen laughing hysterically at what Landon is doing in the next picture.  They had all sorts of cool car/ball rolling tracks in this room.  It was pretty cool.

They have this "noodle forest" at the museum which consists of hundreds of swimming noodles hanging from the ceiling and the kids had such a fun time walking through the forest to the other side.  I didn't get any good pictures of that, but it was a highlight of the museum.

The kids are actually sitting still to listen to the Prophet for General Conference.  We love those moments. :)

So Marlee pulled out her butterfly hairclips and started attaching them to Masen's head.  I can't believe he sat still for her to do that, and didn't take them out right away.  It was just a matter of time before our girl decided to dress up one of our boys. :)  The following picture says it all about how he felt about the experience.  Poor thing, this surely won't be the last time. :)

For a Primary Activity in April, we had kids bring cardboard boxes to make into cars.  After they made their cars, we had them drive around the hall in the church, following road signs, to re-enter the gym to watch a drive-in movie.  Then they played red-light green-light.  It was such a fun activity and some really cool cars were created.  Marlee made her car into a bed a few days later and we found her here.  Looks......comfy?

This picture was taken by Logan on our 10 year anniversary on April 25th.  Beautiful backdrop eh? :)  Can't believe it's been 10 years, it's flown by so quickly.  While we've definitely had our fair share of trials and challenges, it's been a lot of fun and we've experienced so many joys.  We have so much to be grateful for: our children, the gospel, our testimonies, a home to live in, Bryce's job, our families, and so many great friends.  It's been a happy 10 years, and I am excited to see what the next 50 or 60 years bring. :)

Masen's 1 year pictures

I know I already posted pictures from Masen's first birthday, but these are his official 1 year pictures.  Jen did such a great job again, and I'm having a really hard time deciding which one to frame and put on my wall.  I also need to pick one to have our friend sketch to frame and put up with all my other kids' baby pics sketches. 

This picture below makes him look like such a big boy and not so much a little baby.  I love it.

This one cracks me up, his face looks so funny when he tries to blow raspberries!  He doesn't just use his lips, his whole face gets involved to make it happen.  I just had to include this one. :)

Anyway, he's such a funny little boy, full of personality and excitement.  Just thought I'd post these cute little pics. :)

Masen turns 1

Really, has a year gone by already???  My sweet little baby boy Masen Todd turned 1 year old on February 16th.  That year FLEW by!  Masen has been a good little baby, and is a lot of fun for both us and the kids.  He's got the same intelligent look in his eyes and a very similar personality that Logan had as a baby, like he knows what's going on around him.  I guess we better hold on tight for the wild ride ahead.  :)  Right now, Masen loves Baby Beethoven/Bach/Motzart, Baby Tad, his "naney" (blankey), hearing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle Little Star," playing patty-cake but making Mom clap her hands by grabbing her thumbs and clapping them for her, loves to turn the x-box on and off repeatedly (little pill), loves splashing in the toilet when the older kids forget to close the lid/door (grrr), likes to hear us cheer when he stands on his own, and really likes to be on the trampoline.  He has an intense excitement about many things, and he cries and bangs his face on the floor when someone takes something away from him that he was playing with (it sounds terrible, but it's actually really comical!).

Masen getting ready for his birthday cake.

A few minutes later..... :)

Big yummy bite of cake.

He really ate a lot, considering his size.  He loved feeling the texture of it on his fingers too.

This is his birthday present from Nanny (Bryce's mom).  I love the cute little cowboys on the blanket, it is so cute!!  Masen liked it too!

Here we are getting ready for mother's group.  It can be pretty chilly in the mornings here in AZ, so we put this cute little hat on Masen to keep his ears warm.  You can't see it, but there's a Superman logo on the top of the hat.  I love his smile in this picture.  We love our sweet baby Masen.  He'll always be my baby!

Family pictures

So we had our family pictures done at the end of November.  And yes, I'm just now posting them.  We took them in a pecan orchard about 20 miles south of our home.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Halloween!

For FHE on Monday we decided to carve a pumpkin.  We let the kids draw whatever face they wanted, and not try to make it "better" for them.  We just carved them how they drew them.  We used one pumpkin to save on clean-up, and carved 3 sides of it...worked out pretty well.

This was Logan's side of the pumpkin.

This was Landon's side.

Marlee's side was just a bunch of scribbles, a little too hard to carve, so I thought she'd like a simple star. :)

They were all very proud of their pumpkin!

And here are pics of the kids right before we left for Trunk-or-Treat tonight.  I made the kids' robes and scarves when we were in Prescott for fall break.  It's always nice to have Mom McB close by for tips on sewing!  Overall, I think they turned out well, and people were able to figure out who they were at the ward party, so that's always a good thing. :)

Marlee as Hermione Granger

Landon as Ron Weasley

Logan as Harry Potter

The three best friends ready to cast their spells!  Landon had fun telling people at Trunk or Treat to "give me your candy or I'll cast a spell on you!"  He thought he was hilarious. :)

Someone asked if I had a hard time getting them all to want to be Harry Potter characters.  Logan and Landon were happy about it, but Marlee wanted to be Snow White.  Unfortunately, her Snow White costume is 2 sizes too small, and is undone at some seams, so we told her she had to be Hermione this year.  She didn't throw a fit or cry or anything...and once she saw the boys in their costumes, she was excited to get into hers.  So they all had a good time.  I almost forgot about Masen!  We put him in some Phoenix Suns warm up pants and jacket and drew a goatee/mustache on his face....he was a Suns player.  But darn it, we didn't take a picture!  Duh, I can't believe we forgot.  Oh well.  Happy Halloween!!

Kid pics

So these were done way back in August....I know, I'm a procrastinator. I decided to use these as their annual pictures instead of the pictures they take at school. I like the scenery better I think. Jen took these for me with her fabulous camera. Thanks Jen!

As you can see, Masen was having a GREAT time!

Here is Logan, 7 years old.

Landon, 5 years old.

Marlee, 3 years old.

Masen, 6 months old (well, he's 8 mo old now, but only 6 here)

I LOVE my babies!!

Sleeping and growing

I just love it when I go in to wake Masen up from his nap to feed him and he doesn't hear me come in. And sweet little Marlee got so tuckered out she fell asleep on the couch. Love catching them sleep!

Poor little baby has been so fussy lately because his other bottom tooth is trying to break through. Sometimes the only thing that will make him happy is putting him in the baby swing outside. In the past few weeks he's gotten his first tooth and learned to crawl. He's growing up too fast! I'm seriously trying to cherish his infancy while I have it. I'll be so sad when I don't have a baby anymore. Can we just pause life for a while??