The Instrumentalist

A Tea Party

2011-12-07T20:48:00.006-07:00

I had in my mind that Britain's party theme would be a tea party. I mean, it goes along with the British theme and all, but really first birthday's around here are just a small family gathering, and with a small budget I really just didn't take the time to make it grand. So, in my head it was a tea party, in reality we had presents, cake, and some balloons.

I did put my best effort into a Union Jack cake, although it didn't turn out as good as I had pictured it in my head.

And then I hung balloons really quickly since Aunt Rachel got rear-ended on her way up and had to resign from balloon-hanging duty.

And while I was rushing around cleaning up before heading to get pizza and Russell for the party, Britain noticed I had put the presents on the couch and decided to get started early!

After we ate pizza, we went straight to opening presents.

Cousin Lucy was in charge of the background music.

Cousin Jack was a great present opening helper while sporting his new mohawk in support of our former Spanish Fork neighbor Mike.

And Britain couldn't figure out why we needed pictures. Open that toy Daddy!

Then it was time for cake!

She started off so daintily, just getting a little frosting on her finger and then licking it off.

Then she figured out how good it was, and there was more action.

The damage:

And then Britain helped Daddy get her clean in the sink.

Robot Party

2011-12-06T20:54:00.007-07:00

If you haven't heard, Eden LOVES robots. So, we had a robot party with some of her friends from the neighborhood to celebrate her birthday! There were about 8 kids and lots of parents there, which Eden had a hard time with. In my excitement to make sure the robot party was fun, I totally spaced the fact that Eden HATES crowds of people. Haha. I think she had a good time in the end, but there were definitely some fearful moments.

I spent a lot of hours (WAY TO MANY) making a robot birthday banner and robot cupcake toppers. At least they turned out cute?

We started out the party by coloring robots and giving them googly eyes. Little Henry will show you his, but he wanted to keep his privacy so he won't show you his face!

After coloring we moved onto playing pin the parts on the robot, which I also cut out with my silhouette. We ended up with an interesting robot indeed!

Then we moved on to presents. Have you been to a toddler birthday party lately? If not, here's an example of what happens when it is present opening time. All the children become present vultures and crowd around to help open and see what the present is!

The best wrapping award goes to Brayden's mom Kyrina for her robot artwork! We still have this robot on the fridge!

In between presents, the kids played with toys and wandered around. Jett enjoyed playing with Eden's robot.

Lucy was super excited about the Playdough!

And Jack showed off his transformers shirt, which he wore to fit with the party theme!

Then we moved back into the kitchen for cupcakes under the hanging balloons.

That silly face? I think she's trying to figure out why everyone is singing to her. And see Henry right there by her? He took the job of blowing out the candle upon himself as soon as the song was over. Thanks for your help Henry!

Then everyone dug in to their cupcakes.

And the parents had regular cake.

Then let everyone pick a balloon to take home with them and the party was over. And just in case you haven't seen Eden's homemade robot up close, here you go!

Grandkids Sign

2011-11-29T15:45:00.002-07:00

Meant to post this awhile ago, I made this fun sign for my mom for her birthday. There are five hooks, so eventually one can be for each of my brother and sister's families and the kids from each family can hang vertically down on a ribbon. The main part is a wood piece from Roberts that I modge-podged paper onto, and I cut the letters with my silhouette.

Eden Turns 2!

2011-11-24T21:43:00.005-07:00

We celebrated Eden's 2nd Birthday a few weeks ago, and I can't believe she is already 2! She has grown so much this year. I will write more about here after I take some 2-year-old pictures, but here's some pictures of our family celebration.

During the day I took Eden to Toys R Us because she is in the birthday club and had a coupon to get a toy. She also got a balloon and crown since it was her birthday! She loved it and had to carry her balloon around with her everywhere all day long for the next 4 days!

After dinner we had cake, which she also thoroughly enjoyed.

Then after baths we got down to the serious business of opening presents!

Daddy had to get her a game, so we chose Cootie. She wants to play "bugs" all the time.

I've been looking at this Tickle Monster book for a long time and finally bought it for her. Now we need the Boogie Monster!

Daddy also chose a sandwich making/cutting kit from Melissa and Doug. Their toys are great quality and Eden loves being able to cut the pieces apart that are attached with velcro.

She also got an alphabet puzzle, a leapfrog laptop from Gma and Gpa Flanagan, a new outfit, and the Bambi movie from Gma and Gpa Ahlstrom. The most anticipated present though was the robot I made for her. Turns out she didn't know what to think about it, probably because it ended up being almost as big as her!

First she said "hi robot" from across the room.

Then they played her new robot building game on the iPad together.

And by the end of the night there was lots and lots of love for robot, who now needs to come everywhere along with Stomp.

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-24T21:10:00.004-07:00

We prepared for Halloween by making pumpkin sugar cookies and painting/coloring the girls pumpkins. Eden loved painting hers and painted several pictures after her pumpkin was done.

Halloween night we got all dressed up and went trick-or-treating. Aunt Holly, Uncle Caleb, Jack, and Lucy came over to go with us. Eden refused to walk at all, and was scared at first. But once she got the idea she loved getting the candy, but still made us carry her. Britain really didn't know what was going on, and I didn't think to bring her in the wagon or stroller so we carried her around too! We went for about an hour and then headed home to take a look at our loot.

Eden was a robot, and a very happy one indeed!

All ready to head out trick-or-treating. Britain was a tiger, but she hated her hat and kept taking it off all night.

The Flanagan family did a great job with their Peter Pan theme. Caleb as Mr. Smee, Jack as Captain Hook, Holly as a lost boy, and Lucy as Wendy.

Eden thought eating the candy was the best part!

We kept telling Britain if we take the wrapper off it will taste better, but she was content with it on.

Petersen Family Farm Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-24T21:00:00.004-07:00

We went to Petersen Family Farm just a few minutes from our house to find some pumpkins for our Halloween festivities. Eden loved all the pumpkins she saw everywhere this year, so she was in heaven at the pumpkin patch. She just ran from pumpkin to pumpkin having the best time ever. Britain didn't quite understand what was so great, but she got a pumpkin anyway.

After we found some pumpkins we wandered over to see the goats, and Eden would have been most happy if she could have gotten in with them. That silly fence was just in her way.

And then we finally went over to get some pictures by the tractors, which didn't turn out great, but there's evidence we were there.

Cousins Visit!

2011-11-23T22:34:00.005-07:00

Russell's sister and her two oldest girls got to come out to visit along with Grandma Leslie during their fall break. We had a great time playing together. We went to the park, got ice cream, went to an inflatable jumping place, and rode the Heber Creeper to get pumpkins!

Eden was scared of the air pumps that made a ton of noise at the inflatable playing place, but I finally got her to go down some of the slides. She had a good time, especially when Grandma pulled out a whole bag of quarters so she could go on the little carousel about 1,000 times!

Eden loved riding on the horses with cousin E.

And Britain got to ride with Cousin A.

This ones blurry, but it shows you how excited she was once the train started moving! She was scared until it started going and then she loved it.

Britain liked the train whistle Grandma had.

Cousins A and E on the train.

Random Late Summer/Fall Pictures

2011-11-23T22:24:00.003-07:00

Some of the happenings around here this Summer/Fall:

Grandma Leslie bought us an awesome water table that was used almost daily throughout the summer.

The girls get sillier and sillier by the day. It's fun to see them play together a little more now. Eden wore those Mr. Potato Head glasses for like three days straight!

If you need a Mammoth wrestling expert, we've got one. Britain can wrestle them even in her sleep!

A piano duet.

Britain's first Oreo.

Children's Museum

2011-11-23T22:12:00.004-07:00

Back in August we got to go to the Children's Museum with Grandma Leslie and Aunt Rachel. This is the second time we've gone, and Eden LOVES it! Here's some pictures of our fun:

Playing the marimba.

Pretty cute firefighter!

And another one!

Eden loves the pretend store, I think she would stay there all day.

Daddy mailing Britain off.

Eden and Daddy as co-anchors for KSL news!

9 Months

2011-09-14T21:31:00.003-06:00

Britain has passed the big nine month mark and we can't believe how much she has changed in the last couple of months! Here are her stats:

17 lbs - 11th percentile
29.1 inches - 85th percentile
I somehow didn't write down her head measurement, but it was 45th percentile

Britain is always going, going, going these days trying to keep up with Eden. She has mastered crawling, pulling up to furniture, and cruising all along the furniture. She does all sorts of talking, although the words aren't attached to anything specific really yet. She says mama, dada, up, bob, and other random things. She loves to take things out of any type of bucket, read books, and eat all the puzzle pieces! She insists on playing with whatever toy Eden has, which makes for some pretty good crying fits. Britain is a happy girl most of the time, but is much more sensitive than Eden was. She loves to see her Daddy just as much though, it's funny to see them both try to climb all over him all night long. She has definitely grown an attachment to her mammoth and loves to snuggle him while she sleeps. Britain has her two bottom teeth, but instead of getting the two top middle ones next she is getting the two next to them on either side. So....soon we will have a vampire baby just in time for Halloween!

Aunt Cooper Visits

2011-09-06T21:02:00.005-06:00

Our next visitor was Aunt Cooper. We were excited to see her and play. We didn't get as much time with her as with Aunt Cymbre, but we managed to go to the dinosaur museum and up to the alpine slides in Park City. We also happened upon a festival here in Daybreak and got our faces painted!

Britain and Eden got rainbows:

Cooper got a dog:

And I got a purple leopard:

Just hanging with Aunt Coop

At the Dinosaur Museum:

Park City:

Farm Country

2011-09-06T20:51:00.004-06:00

Grandma came up and took us to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point to see all the animals. The girls loved it! It was just the right amount of time for them too. They have all sorts of animals to see, pony rides, and wagon rides.

Meeting the cows

The cows really liked Britain's stroller.

Eden was very nervous at first, but once the pony started, she loved the ride!

Found the roosters.

Hello!

Aunt Cymbre Visits

2011-09-06T20:37:00.003-06:00

Aunt Cymbre came to visit in July and we had lots of fun while she was here, but for some reason didn't take too many pictures. We went to Seven Peaks water park in Provo, the zoo, scrapbooking, and lots of other fun things. Eden and Britain loved having someone that was willing to play constantly, and I was happy to have some help, especially when Russell called from work one night and the car was dead! Here's a few pictures from our fun:

Hanging out at the beach by the lake:

At the zoo with Jack

On the zoo carousel

Eden's Book Reviews

2011-07-22T21:16:00.003-06:00

Make sure to hop on over to Ahlstromology to check out a new series where Eden reviews her favorite library books!

Under Construction

2011-07-18T09:59:00.001-06:00

So.....I'm come to find out that my switch to Google+ and some editing of photos I did on there deleted all my photos here on the blog. So....I have to go through and edit every post and reupload all the pictures. So be patient, it's going to take a while!

4th of July: Part 2

2011-07-08T17:32:00.008-06:00

After some time at home for naps, and an impromptu bbq lunch with the neighbors, we headed down to Provo to celebrate with Caleb and Holly and some of her family.

Eden and Jack passed the time by jumping in the backyard.

Eden also passed the time adoring the dog, Seconds, and trying to either get him out of his cage or get herself in the cage. She LOVES dogs. I'm glad she's not scared of them, but she's never getting one of her own either.

I passed the time chatting and making s'mores for everyone to enjoy. Eden especially enjoyed hers!

And Britain passed the time having a staring contest with Uncle Caleb.

And Caleb and Corbin passed the time being pyros.

I was really hoping to get some great pictures of Eden with the sparklers, but Uncle Caleb's loud fireworks scared her and then she wanted nothing to do with any of them.

Britain, however, was mesmerized!

And some jumping brought to you by Eden and Jack:

4th Of July: Part 1

2011-07-08T17:16:00.004-06:00

We got started early and went to the ward parade and pancake breakfast! The parade was for the kids mostly, but anyone could be in it. Someone in the ward is a firefighter and brought his truck to be the caboose! After we watched the parade, we jumped in just in front of the firetruck and walked with the parade to the pavilion for pancakes.

Waiting for the parade to start.

The beginning of the parade.

The cub scouts carried the flag and then did a flag ceremony at the church before breakfast.

Lynne (the ward softball coach) threw candy right at us!

And the caboose!

They let the kids get in the truck, but Eden wouldn't, even if I went with her. She loved the truck, but wanted to admire it from afar.

20 Months

2011-07-08T13:49:00.004-06:00

Eden has hit 20 months. I can't believe that in just four months she will be 2! She gets more adventurous every day, which has made getting any decent pictures of her quite the task. I only got one nice picture this time!

Eden loves to be outside, and enjoys playing with Lucy, Maddy, and Zac, who live within a couple houses of us. We usually play almost every afternoon, and we sometimes go to the pool together. Eden has become much more adventurous at the pool too. The first time she stayed right by the wall, but now she ventures all over the 1 foot section.

She loves to help us with the laundry, blow bubbles, and take walks. She loves robots, and likes to watch the cars and trucks drive around the neighborhood. She has done great with the transition from crib to toddler bed, and 98% of the time actually sleeps in her bed rather than on the floor!

Eden loves her baby sister, and can't wait to go and get Britain from her crib when she wakes up. She loves to play with her too, as long as Britain doesn't take any toys! We are still working on the sharing idea.

7 Months

2011-07-08T13:28:00.003-06:00

Britain has turned the big 7 months and doesn't seem like my baby anymore. She is learning new things everyday, and has definitely become a chatterbox! We hear a lot about "da da da da" and "bob" is often around. That Bob guy sure gets all the ladies!

Britain gets around by rolling and scooting on her back. She loves to play tug of war with toys or blankets, have a bath, and get stepped on like a bug. She has started sitting up on her own, but only when she feels like it, which isn't very often! She also loves to read books and sing songs, just like her big sister. We've gone swimming a few times, and she really enjoys being in the water. Britain LOVES to stand up now, and wiggles in your arms until you put her on the ground and hold her hands so she can stand up. She continues to like baby food, and has even graduated to cheerios! Still no teeth, but luckily Cheerios dissolve quickly in saliva!

Britain has definitely started fighting for attention. If she wants to be seen she will squeal/grunt really loudly until someone pays attention to her. Mostly we just laugh though because she goes from really quiet to SUPER loud within a second and you never know when she will do it!

Popcorn Popping

2011-06-16T16:40:00.001-06:00

19 Months

2011-06-15T14:06:00.006-06:00

Eden has hit 19 months and is getting more crazy each day! The good news is that she only had to get one shot at her checkup and is now done with them until Kindergarten! And as long as I don't think about her actually going to Kindergarten I'm okay. Here are her stats:

31.7 Inches - 40th Percentile
23 lbs 11 oz - 40th Percentile
18.4 inch head - 50th Percentile

Her height is definitely slowing down, but her energy is not! Eden's vocabulary grows by the minute, it seems like everyday she starts saying a new word. At her checkup he asked how many words she could say and I told him 20+. He was amazed and said most 18-month-olds only know about 10. Then Russell and I counted that night and she actually was closer to 35.

Eden loves to go to the park, sing songs, and tickle everyone and everything. She is doing a great job going to nursery each Sunday, and has learned a new song that she sings but Mom and Dad don't know. She knows the actions to "Popcorn Popping," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Once there was a Snowman," and "I'm so Glad when Daddy Comes Home." She has figured out that we can play music throughout the house and so she will randomly go and point at the touch-screen and say "dance, dance, dance" and then dance all around to the music. She also likes to spin around with Daddy. She still loves to read books and play mommy to all her animals. She has a new-found love for Zoobles (thanks to a Happy Meal toy), so we can't go down that row at Target anymore. She LOVE, LOVE, LOVES to play catch with balls and would do it all day long.

Eden has 11 teeth and is working on two more. And....she finally has enough hair for pigtails!

6 Months

2011-06-15T13:49:00.005-06:00

As is common, I'm a little late posting Britain's 6 month post. Honestly, I just haven't been in a blogging mood. But here goes!

Our little Britain has grown SO BIG! Everything looked great at her checkup. She got four shots, which she didn't enjoy, and the nurse felt so bad for making her cry. Anyway, here are her stats:

26.6 Inches long - 70th Percentile
15 lbs - 20th Percentile
16.8 inch head - 40th Percentile

Britain is growing like a weed, and I've had to get out some of the 9 month clothes! She smiles and laughs all the time, and can't wait to get a bath after Daddy comes home. She is great at sitting supported, but still quite wobbly on her own. She likes squash, green beans, pears, and carrots, but gags on every bite of peas!! She's not a fan of the stroller or car. She has definitely hit the "put everything in your mouth" stage. She loves her mammoth, and is always putting him on top of her before falling asleep. Britain seems to love music just as much as Eden, except the organ at church that is always waking her up!

18 Months

2011-05-19T13:02:00.006-06:00

At 18 Months Eden is constantly on the go. She has started running, not just walking. She loves to color, and would stay outside all day every day if she could. As soon as we open the garage she goes and picks up her bucket of sand toys and starts walking to the "bark" (park). She loves to slide down the slide, spin on the spinny chair, and play in the sand. She loves to play with balls and cars, read books, and wear everyone's shoes around the house. Eden also likes to do puzzles, buckle anything that has one, and have Britain chase her around the house after baths every night. She LOVES bubbles and runs around trying to pop them when we go outside to blow some. She still likes to watch Sesame Street (although Mommy is getting pretty tired of the six we have taped!), but has added Word World onto the list of preferred entertainment while Mommy showers. Eden has loved exploring the new house. She loves to play upstairs, even though there's no toys up there, and she can't wait for the chance to get in our shower and open and close the door!

Eden loves to sing songs, and has learned the actions to a few including "Popcorn Popping" and "Once there was a Snowman." She knows where her hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, toes, knees, and elbows are and wants to point everyone's out when we ask her about them. She can count to three, but it goes "two, two, two." Her countdown at the top of the slide goes "two, two, go!"

She has also expanded her vocabulary quite a bit. She says ball, book, nose, mouth, eyes, go, "bark"(park), Britain, button, buckle, Dad, Mom, dout (a combo of down and out), bye, yes, no, ni-night, rock, and duck among others I can't think of right now. She also knows the sounds of a duck, cow, monkey, and lion.

Eden also is always blowing kisses or giving kisses and hugs (especially to Britain). She loves her little sister a lot (sometimes too much) and is always trying to give her a bottle or cover her up with a blanket.

Eden has gone to nursery for three weeks now, and overall it seems to be going well. She had a really hard time the second week, but did great last week! It's nice to only have to wrestle her for one hour instead of three while at church.

After the photo shoot we got to play at the park, and it's super fun when Stomp gets to go down the slide too!

Easter

2011-05-18T16:24:00.006-06:00

Easter was a little hectic around here since it was the day after we moved into our new house, but luckily I had thought ahead enough to keep the Easter stuff out and bring it in the car. However, the Easter bunny was too tired to come the night before, but luckily he snuck in while the girls played in the morning and hid eggs and baskets! He even brought some treats from Grandma!

We had to show Eden the first couple eggs, but then she was off up the stairs to find more! She loved that when she shook them they made noise, and it got even better when she shook one hard enough that it opened and she realized there was candy kisses inside!

Britain wasn't that into things, but she has enjoyed her new toys and books even though she had no idea what Easter was about.

The first egg.

An ELMO egg!!!!

Trying to hold all the eggs at once.

Britain found a couple eggs with Daddy's help.

She also found a nice load from the bunny.

There's kisses in the eggs!

Ready for church in their new dresses.

Some sisterly love.

Five Months

2011-05-17T17:10:00.003-06:00

At five months this little girl is a chatterbox! Britain is constantly babbling or squealing. She loves attention from anyone, but especially Eden. She smiles so big whenever anyone says hi to her. Little Britain has perfected rolling from front to back, and never stays on her tummy too long. She has started figuring out how to scoot across the floor on her back by kicking her feet. She knows when it's bath time and starts fussing until you give her one, then she's a happy camper! She likes to sit up, but not in the bumbo. She much prefers sitting on mommy or daddy. Britain has gotten much more interested in toys and loves her crinkly book and rattles. She also likes to lay by Eden and watch Sesame Street. Britain loves Daddy just as much as Eden does and tries to fight for his attention when he is home. She is a very happy girl and just goes with the flow most of the time. She likes to sing songs and eat everything in sight, but hasn't gotten any teeth quite yet.

Discovery Museum

2011-05-17T16:46:00.004-06:00

About a month ago Aunt Sissy came to visit us and we went to the Children's Discovery Museum in Salt Lake while she was here. I thought Eden might be a little too young still, but she LOVED it. She had so much fun just running from activity to activity. Of course, her favorite was the balls!

Playing the xylophone.

Riding a car.

Eating the bread at the store. She didn't even pay for it first! I kept putting the bread back and she would go right back and get the bread.

Riding on the horsey.

Driving the fire truck. I wanted to get her to wear a fire fighter coat and hat, but some boys took them right before I got to them.

Playing with the water....another favorite activity.

They had these HUGE waffle blocks, like 10 times bigger than the ones I had growing up.

Ball plinko!

4 Months

2011-03-31T08:26:00.004-06:00

At four months our little Britain doesn't seem so little anymore. She "talks" all the time and enjoys every single bit of attention she gets, especially from Eden! She laughs and laughs when Eden tickles her. Britain has come to LOVE bath time just as much as Eden did at this age. She gets fussy about 7pm, but as soon as she hears the bath water running she calms right down. She can roll over from her tummy to her back and has gotten much better at lifting her head to look around during tummy time instead of just laying and waiting for a back rub! She enjoys eating anything and everything she can get her hands on, or just her hands if there's nothing else! She loves to sit up, but can't do that by herself yet. Mommy finally bought a Bumbo so I don't have to hold her sitting up all day! Here's her four month stats:

12 lbs 14 oz - 31st Percentile
25.4 inches - 86th Percentile
16 in head - 38th Percentile

Mammoth has found his way into Britain's crib. She loves to eat his tusks!

Excited to see Mammoth.

Hugs from Eden.

And a digital layout I put together from her photo shoot. Not my favorite, but it's a start.

Hello Park

2011-03-30T19:11:00.002-06:00

Here is the last layout from my class.

So what do I think about digital scrapbooking? I think it has pros and cons. I will NEVER switch from regular scrapping totally, but I wanted to learn digital so that I could make fun things like calendars and books, etc. I love the fact that there's no mess to digital, and you don't have to haul out all your supplies! However, I like the dimension of real scrapping better. And...honestly shopping for real supplies is much more fun than shopping for digital supplies. I mean, what would I do if I couldn't buy the latest pack of buttons from Archiver's?

Anyway, I learned all sorts of new things and I'm excited to put them to use. And.....one of these days I'm going to get to a crop so that I can get something done on the regular books!

Time for Fun

2011-03-26T17:36:00.001-06:00

Here's a page with some fun pictures of Eden from the past few months.

Daddy's Girls

2011-03-24T16:07:00.003-06:00

My very first "from scratch" page all on my own!

5 Things I Love

2011-03-23T22:12:00.003-06:00

The latest page from my class:

You

2011-03-18T22:41:00.001-06:00

Here's my second page for my class (which is also still cheating).

Then and Now

2011-03-18T21:01:00.002-06:00

I just started taking a beginning digital scrapbooking class online this week and here is my first page! It was kind of cheating because most of it was already done. However, I'm assuming that by the end of the class I'll be able to do it all on my own from scratch. Russell got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas so it's nice to actually figure out how to use it!

Miss Scooter

2011-03-14T21:47:00.004-06:00

I left Britain on her blanket in the living room while Eden and I went upstairs to find clothes for them one morning.

And a couple minutes later when I came back down this is where she was! Her hidden talent is scooting across the floor on her back, which I guess is why she doesn't care about lifting her head during tummy time to crawl. Who needs to crawl if you can scoot?

Coloring

2011-03-14T21:44:00.000-06:00

16 Months

2011-03-14T21:18:00.003-06:00

The months just keep rolling by around here! Eden is already 16 months old, and while I can't believe she's gotten so big, I am counting down the weeks until she can go to nursery! Little Eden has quite a lot of energy these days.

Eden LOVES to be outside, and now that it's finally getting a little warmer we can actually go outside and play. If you even mention shoes or show her her coat she runs to the door and bangs on it while saying "go, go, go." She likes to sit on our laps to read stories or play with toys. She really likes to color, and gets sooo excited when I bring out her color book and crayons. She has learned to fold her arms while we say prayers. She is speaking in full jibberish sentences and also loves to say "digga, digga, digga, digga" which we think sprung from us saying "tickle, tickle, tickle" but she says it all the time! Other words she says are "yes, bath, Brit (for Britain), catch, and Dad." Eden has two molars and is working on getting two more. She is now pacifier free, and can sit forward facing in the car! She loves to play with Britain by showing her toys or putting the blanket on her. She still loves to play mommy to her dolly and all her stuffed animals, and makes sure they all have bottles every day. Eden has learned how to put the duplos together and now will spend a long time building towers. She loves to sing and dance, play balls, see the ducks outside, and watch the trains go by.

Future Speed Stacker

2011-03-14T21:13:00.000-06:00

3 Months!

2011-02-27T19:55:00.005-07:00

I can't believe our little Britain is already 3 months, and at the same time I can't believe she is only 3 months. She fits in with our family so well it seems like she's always been with us.

At 3 months Britain is a very happy little girl. She smiles all the time and squeals in excitement. She has great head control when we hold her upright, but hates lifting her head during tummy time. Instead she gets her knees up like she's going to crawl. Silly girl. If she could get her head up she could take off! She's doing much better at going to sleep earlier, which is great, and has always been pretty good at sleeping once she's down. She's eating us out of house and home, and yet her younger cousin still weighs more than her! She's gotten close to laughing too. She does crunches while laying on her back, and is really close to rolling over. Britain loves to play under her playgym and take a bath. She has also learned how to grab toys and swing them around.

What We've Been Up To

2011-02-24T18:08:00.007-07:00

We've been doing lots and lots of playing. Eden is getting much better about showing Britain toys without smashing them in her face even!

Daddy taught Eden how to buckle Britain's car seat, and now we spend our days buckling, buckling, buckling until mommy refuses to unbuckle anymore!

There has been some escaping after baths before Mommy can get those horrible jammies on.

And also some VERY shocked faces when the escape fails because you fall down. Better luck next time!

Sometimes it's really fun to walk around with an Elmo sticker on your pants all day.

Others of us have been keeping a very close eye on Daddy. He escapes if you don't watch him closely you know. You go to sleep and then when you wake up he is GONE!

We've had more matching days, which is super fun for Mom.

Britain has figured out she can hold on to toys and shake them around.

There's also been VERY LONG Saturday's in the car while Mom and Dad look at houses. For those who don't know, we are on a hunt to find a place to live closer to Salt Lake so Russell doesn't have to commute 3 hours a day! We've come close to buying several times, but just haven't quite found the right place yet.

And, as always, Mommy has fun buying new outfits! This one is a little big, but by summer it should fit great!

We also spend a lot of time doing fancy gymnastics tricks. I have to be careful of when I lay down on the ground with my knees up or I end up doing this endlessly!

Brownie Goodness

2011-02-24T17:51:00.003-07:00

The other day Britain was taking a nap while we waited for Russell to get home, so we decided to make some brownies. Eden does a really good job sitting on the counter, so I let her help. She started off helping me stir:

Then I poured the brownies into the pan, minus the huge handful she took for herself, stripped her down, and gave her the bowl.

And then the spatula.

All I have to say is apparently she is a fan of brownies, or at least the batter!

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes!

2011-02-11T14:07:00.006-07:00

Even though Grandpa Flanagan could only stay for a couple days, we thoroughly enjoyed our time playing with him! By the time we went to enjoy some Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner Grandpa was quite worn out. Thanks for playing Grandpa!

Hello kids....the camera is over here.

There we go!

Britain's Blessing

2011-02-11T13:10:00.006-07:00

This last weekend we were able to bless our little Britain at church. It was a wonderful day that she got to share with her cousin Lucy who was also blessed. (and stupidly I didn't get a picture of them together.....might have to fake it now!) Britain looked beautiful in her dress knitted by Grandma Leslie and her blanket crocheted by Grandma Flanagan. Grandpa Flanagan was able to come along with Grandma Leslie, Aunt Rachel and soon-to-be Uncle Chris, Uncle Kenneth, Aunt Holly and Uncle Caleb, and Holly's Grandma and sister Julie. Russell blessed her beautifully, along with Caleb, Kenneth, Grandpa Flanagan, and our Bishop in the circle.

Britain's beautiful dress.

Fancy socks from Grandma Flanagan

With Grandma Leslie

With Grandpa Flanagan

The Flanagan Visitors!

The Ahlstrom Visitors!

Our little family.

15 Months

2011-02-10T11:33:00.009-07:00

Let me first point out that a photo shoot with a 15 month old is just about enough to make me want to ship her to Grandma's house for a week! Evidence:

However, we eventually got some cute ones.

15 Month Stats:

21 lbs 1/2 oz - 23rd percentile (and STILL not big enough to be forward facing in the car!)
31 1/4 inches tall - 76th percentile
46 1/2 cm head - 68th percentile

At 15 months Eden just loves her baby sister (usually a little too much!) She now has 4 teeth on top and two on bottom, and her first molar is beginning to break through! She has figured out that she can close doors and loves to go around pushing all the doors in the house closed. Then she waits for you to open it and find her. Eden now waves with her whole arm instead of just her fingers and says "hi" while she does it. She waves to me and Russell, Britain, and especially the baby in the bath faucet! Eden loves her gymnastics class we go to on Saturday's and is getting more brave at trying new things each week, although her favorite part is still balls and bubbles. She says "dat" (that) all the time and has started saying "please" once in awhile, although it sounds more like "bees." She still loves to read stories, take baths, and play outside too. Here's a few more pics:

Feeling the Need

2011-02-02T11:53:00.005-07:00

Sometimes we all just feel the need to do something in particular. For example:

Sometimes you just need to swing.
Whether you are 14 months...

Or two months.

Or you need to line all your animals up to watch Sesame Street with you on the couch.

Or you really need to make funny faces when mommy is trying to take your picture!

Sometimes Mommy feels the need to have matching little girls and torture them with a photo shoot.

Other times you just absolutely NEED to wear your hat all day, even though you never step foot outside.

Sometimes you just need to smile,

Or read the Friend.

And sometimes you're feeling rebellious enough to ruin a whole box of tissues while mom is going potty!

Other times you are so tired of laying down that you just need to sit up.

And...every once in a while you need to get behind mommy and pull her back so she squishes you!

Chores

2011-02-02T11:20:00.002-07:00

The other day eden purposefully was spilling milk from her cup. Russell told her she needed to clean up the mess, so she went and got the towel off the oven handle and wiped it up! However, she then kept spilling more milk so she could wipe it up! Don't worry, after we got a video we haven't let her do it again!

Eden's First Fort

2011-02-02T11:12:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago on Saturday morning we were bored and I decided to make a fort for Eden and I to play in for a while. She LOVED it. And then later in the day, she managed to find her iPod (our old one) and both our phones! She is such a technology hog!

Two Months

2011-01-25T16:26:00.005-07:00

I just realized I never posted about Britain's two week checkup. Oh well....she's two months now! I can't believe it. It seems like in the past week or two she has gotten so big. Here's her stats:

10lbs 5oz - 33rd Percentile
22 3/4 inches - 62nd Percentile
14 3/4 inch head - 15th Percentile

So once again we have a skinny, tall girl with a tiny head! Haha.

Britain doesn't seem so much like a newborn anymore. She likes to spread her limbs out now instead of curl up. She has started cooing all the time, and smiles a bunch too. She's not a fan of tummy time really, but I make her do it anyway. She has good control of her head, and has started lifting it up a little when she's on her tummy. She has come to not mind the bath, and will probably enjoy it much more in a couple more months. She likes to look at the toys on her play gym, look at the lights in the house, sit up, and lay on Mommy and Daddy's bed. It seems as though she would like a sleep number crib mattress! She is doing better at sleeping at night and has even gone down about 8:30-9pm several nights this last week. Once she's down she'll sleep about 6 hours, eat, and then sleep another 4 hours or so. Not bad! Here's a few more pictures:

And a sneeze:

Angry

2011-01-16T20:42:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned Eden gets angry when Daddy holds Britain? Because she does.

You Know You're the Parent of Two Kids Under 15 Months If...

2011-01-16T20:33:00.003-07:00

There's been a stuffed dragon sitting on the floor outside the kids bedrooms for almost two weeks because you are two tired to pick it up.

You have two cribs....

But use a pack and play so they don't wake each other up!

You have a bottle station in your room so you don't have to go downstairs at night.

There's CONSTANTLY a whole basket full of dirty laundry.

And...you find that the smallest one never has any socks on, but they appear mysteriously around the house because her older sister is in love with "gocks!"

14 Months

2011-01-12T11:19:00.005-07:00

At 14 months Eden is quite a handful. She is always on the go! She has figured out how to climb up in the rocking chair and loves to sit there. She is very concerned about her dolly and all her animals and makes sure they get wrapped in blankies and eat bottles every day. She has finally learned how to use a straw, and has started saying "yes." She LOVES Elmo, playing duplos, reading stories, and helping daddy give Britain a bath. She is also VERY convinced that Daddy is HERS. When I try to give him a hug or a kiss Eden pushes me away and makes him pick her up! I keep telling her that he was mine first! She spends a lot of the days calling "Ga-Ga" (Grandpa) and gets quite upset when he doesn't answer. You would think out of three Grandpas at least one would pick up the phone! Eden also loves to "help" with the laundry, eat macaroni and cheese, and play the piano. She likes music in general, and gets a great big smile on her face when you sing a song for her.

Wiggle, Wiggle

2011-01-04T17:27:00.002-07:00

I forgot to post this video of Britain. It's probably boring to most people, but I'm sure her grandma's and aunts will like it. She's just wiggling on the floor.

Snapshots of the Ahlstrom Life

2011-01-02T16:14:00.005-07:00

Here's a few pictures of what has been going on here in the last couple weeks.

Britain slept on me (her favorite position) while we hug out at Caleb's for a while.

Eden loves to help Daddy give Britain a bath.

A Britain reindeer! I told Russell we have to have all our kids
at the right time so they can wear the reindeer.

Eden LOVES to lay under Britain's new play gym. Silly girl.

I LOVE this new outfit! It says "I Love You a Ton!"
And poor Eden has to wear it every time it is clean.

We have adopted the eat with no shirt on theory at our house. Because let's face it, even if you wear a bib it doesn't help your long sleeve shirt.

Eden enjoying her new dolly nursery.

All the cousins on the Flanagan side.
(Britain - 5 Weeks, Eden - 1 Year, Jack - 2 Years, Lucy - 2 Days)

Eden decided to organize ALL the books.

Russell cut Eden's toe nails and then she copied him.

Taking Stomp for a ride on the lion.

Britain is very tricky and grabs hold of my hoodie string
or my shirt so that I can't put her down.

Meeting Lucy

2011-01-02T15:25:00.003-07:00

After playing all day I took Jack up to the hospital to deposit him back with his Dad and so that he and I could meet his new little sister Lucy. He was a little confused about why Daddy wouldn't let him get up on the bed with Mommy and love her. He also thought that Lucy was Britain.

Daddy and Lucy

Aunt Shyla and Lucy

Jack holding Lucy

Kisses for Lucy

Rocking Deer

2011-01-02T13:44:00.004-07:00

Eden got a rocking deer for Christmas that I found in California at a consignment sale for $20! It's a great quality so I bought it and saved it for Christmas. She's still not quite big enough to do it herself, but she likes to have us help her. We played with it with Jack too.

Playing Road

2011-01-02T13:03:00.004-07:00

My Dad made both Eden and Jack canvas roads to drive their cars on for Christmas. We had one as kids and played and played with it. Jack came over while Holly and Caleb were at the hospital to have the baby and we played road pretty much all day long.

Jack and Uncle Russell (who just happened to be matching that day!)

Jack and Eden

Eden doesn't quite understand to stay on the road and not on drive everywhere yet.

Uncle Russell is confused about what is a road and what is a Jack!

Cars + Road = One HAPPY Jack!

Christmas Fun

2010-12-29T11:48:00.007-07:00

Luckily our kids are still small enough that they don't realize they should get up early to open presents. So, we slept in and started at about 8:30. It took us an hour and a half to open everything, and Eden was excited to open at first but then got bored with opening and just wanted to play with the new toys. She also thinks that all of Britain's presents were for her to. Next year that might not go over as well!

Christmas Eve Jammies from Grandma.

"Wow" let's open this one! She went straight for the biggest one Christmas morning.

Britain's new play gym.

A snuggly lion!

Russell always loves a good game.

FINALLY opening the big one.

My sister made me this neat cross-stitch.

Lion covey excitement...

and loves.

Britain trying out her new play gym.

What was in the big box. A nursery for Eden's baby.

And this puppy dog (which was actually for Britain from Grandma and Grandpa) is Eden's favorite.

First Digital Page

2010-12-29T10:46:00.002-07:00

Russell got me Photoshop Elements for Christmas so I could do some things with digital scrapbooking. This is my first page. Nothing special really, but I did something. I won't ever really switch to digital, but it's fun for making calendars or christmas cards.

Already One Month!

2010-12-23T13:56:00.002-07:00

I can't believe Britain is already a month old. She sure is cute, and has gotten her nights and days fixed now. Once we get her down (which is usually about 10:30 or 11pm) she usually only wakes up twice to eat. Not bad really. She has started to smile while she's not half asleep, and is a little more interested in some toys.

Playing in the Snow

2010-12-23T12:15:00.004-07:00

It's been snowing here like crazy the past week or so, and I've taken Eden out a couple times while Britain is asleep to let her check it out. You could say she likes it. Here's some pictures:

Too Cute for School

2010-12-23T12:09:00.002-07:00

Just walking down to get the mail. So happy to be outside!

Getting Ready for Christmas

2010-12-23T11:37:00.006-07:00

We didn't put our tree up till the 12th this year! Sad, I know, but things have been a little bit hectic with Britain being born. We got it done though, and that's what counts! And...Eden has even been VERY good at not touching the tree. She does point to it and say "WOW" a lot, especially when we turn the lights on at night. So far she's only taken one ornament off! Much better than I imagined the tree going.

"Fluffing" the tree.

Eden got bored of fluffing and went to rock Britain in the swing. You know, because the swing doesn't rock her good enough on it's own.

Then out came the ornaments:

Luckily, they are shatterproof!

And we're done! WOW!

Then I had to go to Hallmark and get the girls ornaments for the year. I hadn't thought about it until we put the tree up!

A Little People Airplane for Eden.
(And thanks to Grandpa Flanagan for her new hoodie from Colorado School of Mines!)

And a first Christmas bear and cookie for Britain.
(Side Note: Britain looks EXACTLY like I do in my first Christmas ornament picture.)

And now we'll give Santa back his hat so he can come and visit us!

Grandma Leslie Visits

2010-12-22T15:28:00.005-07:00

Russell's Mom came to visit for a week to meet Britain and hug on Eden. Eden is finally old enough to really remember Grandma's and Grandpa's and get to know them, which made it more fun for her this time. We had a great time while she was here just hanging out. And...Grandma brought a few surprises!

Grandma surprised Eden by buying her Tickle Me Elmo Extreme!

Grandma also bought a small Elmo.

Matching hats for Eden and Daddy from Grandma's store!

And...Grandma REALLY wanted Eden to play Playdoh, but Eden just wanted to use the containers as blocks.

Reading a story with Grandma.

Britain's Picture A Day

2010-12-05T18:59:00.001-07:00

Just like I did with Eden, I will be posting a picture a day for Britain's first year over on Ahlstromology. Be sure to check it out.

13 Months

2010-12-05T16:50:00.004-07:00

Eden turned 13 months old this month and she is getting so big! While attempting to get a picture of both the girls together for Christmas cards, I got some singles of Eden in her Christmas dress.

At 13 months Eden has started saying more words. She says "uh-oh," "oh-no," "oh wow," "car-car," and "gock"(sock). She jabbers all day long. In the last few days she has gotten very interested in her cabbage patch baby and will spend a long time feeding her a bottle and trying to wrap her up in a blanket.

She starting to get a little more interested in Britain and will show her a toy or come up and look at her for a few minutes. She can get down from the couch all by herself now, and LOVES to go outside. She would stay out there forever! Grandma taught her how to make a fishy face, and she learned how to make a slurping sound the other day.

Mostly she's a happy girl, although this new baby has really messed up her world. She makes us laugh all the time with the silly things she does. Here's a few more silly shots:

This is the face I get when I ask her to smile:

One Last Hurrah

2010-12-05T16:44:00.003-07:00

Just before Britain was born I went to Scrap Mania with a few friends for one last hurrah before I would be not able to go for a while. I had a ton of fun and got a couple cute pages done for Eden's book.

Fun Shots of Eden

2010-12-05T07:05:00.007-07:00

Here's some fun shots we've gotten of Eden lately that show what she's been up to these days:

VERY unhappy at her 12 month check-up....and this was BEFORE the doctor came in or any shots were given.

Being a teepee!

Being Davey Crockett with her fruit basket from IKEA.

One day, Eden played in this corner for a good half hour.

Eden LOVES big people chairs. Daddy put her in this one at the hospital and she was in heaven.

Britain has a nose!

A super-fun "hat" Grandma showed Eden.

Having fun pushing Stomp in the diaper box car.

Enough hair for a hairbow!

Playing on the couch is tons of fun! Especially now that she knows how to get down by herself!

Grandma made an Eden burrito!

Eden stole Daddy's sucker right out of his mouth.

Trying out a new hairstyle before combing it to put a bow in.

Britain Comes Home

2010-12-05T06:43:00.004-07:00

Our experience having a baby was much better this time around, and we were excited to bring Britain home just 24 hours after she was born! We did have to take her back for bilirubin tests since she was a bit jaundice, but that was sooooo much better than sitting in the NICU! Russell had gone home to get some work done and play with Eden, but came back in time to get Britain all ready to go while we waited for the nursery to come and give us discharge instructions. It was about 7:30pm by the time we actually got to leave, and I had been ready to go home all day so I was quite excited but quite tired by the time we got to the house. After a stop at the McDonald's drive-thru for a cheeseburger and hot fudge sundae, we headed home to meet Aunt Rachel, play with Grandma and Eden, and Skype with the Aunties and Grandpa in Houston!

Starting to get dressed to come home.

I had to roll up her pants like 3 times!

Her outfit was quite big even though it's 0-3 months. She's just a tiny girl.

All dressed and loving Daddy.

A warm hat to keep her warm since it had been snowing the whole time we were at the hospital!

Meeting Stitch Bear. He forgot to get out of the suitcase the night before. Silly bear.

NOT enjoying the car seat, but ready to go out to the car.

Meeting Aunt Rachel. That's a big yawn, not a huge scream!

Grandma Flanagan helping Britain Skype Aunt Cooper, Aunt Cymbre, and Grandpa Flanagan. She's definitely a 21st century baby!

Britain Lilly Ahlstrom

2010-12-03T14:45:00.008-07:00

Britain Lilly Ahlstrom has joined our family! Dr. Nance set me up to be induced so that we wouldn't have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital and things went MUCH quicker than last time! We got to the hospital at noon and got everything set up.

All hooked up and waiting.

My contractions got very painful really quick and about 2:00pm I got an epidural and then tried to take a nap. Well....that nap didn't happen because I was dilating so fast that the kept checking me and checking me. Also, Dr. Nance realized that my placenta had started coming off early causing lots of blood, so they were watching Britain's heart rate closely. Luckily, her heart rate stayed right where it should and things progressed quickly.

At 4:30pm I was 7cm. At about 4:50pm I told Russell I thought it was getting close because I was starting to feel pressure. A minute later Dr. Nance came in to check me and said "you're a ten, let's do this." He got ready, and about 4 pushes later Britain Lilly Ahlstrom was born at 5:08pm.

Britain weighed in at 6lbs 8oz (half a pound less than Eden!) and 19 inches long. Because of the problem with my placenta there was blood in her lungs and her color wasn't the greatest, so after a hug from Mommy they took her to the nursery to give her some oxygen in an incubator for an hour or so. Russell went with her and came back to check on me every once in a while. After she was doing better they gave her a bath and got her all ready to come back and see Mommy!

Getting some oxygen to improve her color.

Britain's Hospital Bath

Back in the room loving Mommy!

One proud Daddy.

Later that night my mom came to the hospital to love her for a while, and she brought Eden back the next day to meet Britain. Luckily, we were able to come home that night and sleep in our own beds! We had to take her back for two days to have bilirubin tests, but we got to love her at home.

Meeting Grandma Flanagan

Meeting her big sister.

Daddy and his girls.

Calling Daddy

2010-12-03T14:25:00.002-07:00

Eden spends most of her day calling Daddy on anything and everything she picks up. My iphone, the tv remote, wii remote, doorstop, legos, anything. She's learned how to say "hi dad." Too bad Daddy never seems to answer. He must be really busy at work!

12 Months

2010-12-03T14:06:00.005-07:00

Eden has been part of our family now for a whole year, and I can't believe it. She's grown up so much in the last month that it's crazy. She is a walking fanatic now...no need to crawl. She walks back and forth between the couch and the back door about 100 times a day. She LOVES to play in the curtains on the back door, especially when Mommy and Daddy say "peek-a-boo." She has also found the cupboard full of pots and pans and likes to help Mommy cook all the time. Eden finally has just enough hair to put a little clippy bow in, but it falls out fairly quickly each day as she rolls around on the floor. She is fascinated by pillows and loves to lay on them, and is LOVING oranges now that she is one and can have citrus fruits!

Here are her stats from her check-up:

19lbs 10oz - 27th percentile
29 inches - 48th percentile
17.75 inch head - 52nd percentile

Too bad this one is blurry....it's super cute.

And...a silly pose done all on her own.

Just in Case You Were Wondering....

2010-11-15T18:23:00.002-07:00

She LOVES this silly dinosaur!

Matchy-Matchy

2010-11-15T18:19:00.003-07:00

Britni got me some cute penguin pj pants for my birthday, and while I was wandering around Target a few days later I found matching ones for Eden and I just HAD to buy them. She needed some warmer jammies anyway, so I didn't feel too bad. Here we are matching:

However, Eden was NOT happy about taking a picture:

Halloween Celebration

2010-11-15T16:06:00.006-07:00

Since Halloween was on Sunday, we went Trick-or-Treating Saturday night with Jack around our neighborhood. Eden was a tiger and Jack a pirate! It was cold and rainy so we didn't stay out long, but they got a good loot for being so little.

Pre-Trick-or-Treating

The first door

A HUGE dog came to the door and scared Jack. He didn't even bark, thank goodness!

Eden enjoyed the idea much more when I let her walk.

What a cute pirate!

By the end the kids had a routine down. Jack would walk up to the door and say "knock" as he knocked. Then immediately he would say "trick or treat" before anyone came to the door. After he got his candy he would say "thank you, bye!" And....Eden figured out she could kneel at the step of each door and make people come down to her. Silly girl. She also figured out she could choose her own piece of candy from the bowl.

Eden was amazed by her loot and spread it all over the floor.

Sunday after church we let Eden where her Tinkerbell costume from Aunt Cooper and Aunt Cymbre. It is super cute, but it was WAY too cold to where it trick-or-treating. However, we had to get it in.

Even Tinkerbell needs a break!

Eden Turns One!

2010-11-15T15:34:00.007-07:00

We celebrated Eden's first birthday with a small party the weekend before and then presents from Mommy and Daddy on her actual birthday. She was quite overwhelmed by the party, but really got into opening presents when it was just the three of us. I agonized for a good month or two before about the theme of the party, but finally found a cute jungle themed kit online to have a lion party. And....I think it was a success.

I spent the day before the party making two lion cakes. One for the guests and a small one for Eden.

The guest cake.

Eden's Cake

Uncle Caleb, Aunt Holly, Jack, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Kenneth, and my friend Keera and her boys were in attendance at the party. Eden was a bit overwhelmed...maybe it was all those boys!

After the presents we ate some cake. And after a moment of hesitation.....

Eden figured out just what she should do:

And so she went straight to the bath after her fun:

And after a good scrub she was exhausted and took like a three hour nap!

A few days later we opened presents from Mommy and Daddy and she was overwhelmed in a different way....she didn't know what new toy to play with!

Playing with her new purse. She eventually let Daddy get it out of the box.

A couple new stories to read!

She was awesome at opening the presents once we showed her a place to pull.

She LOVED her new teapot from Aunt Sissy....and I love it's English accent!

And finally, what could be better than a dinosaur with balls to play? Especially for $8 off of KSL!

Grandpa's Genes?

2010-10-29T14:38:00.002-06:00

Lately it has been VERY obvious that Eden is the related to Grandpa Flanagan. Here are two pieces of evidence.

When Eden plays with her computer, she lays on her tummy to do it....the position Grandpa Flanagan is ALWAYS in on the family room floor of his house.

And....Eden LOVES magnets. She will just crawl in the kitchen and play with them for an hour! Must come from a Grandpa who is in charge of Gravity and Magnetics.

11 Months

2010-10-29T14:13:00.006-06:00

11 months already? Wow. And...I'm late with the post again, Eden will be 1 next week! It amazes me how much she has grown up in the last couple of months. At 11 months Eden has gotten very brave, and stands alone without holding on but isn't quite brave enough to take a step. You can tell she is thinking about it though. She loves to read her story books and will sit for half an hour and just look at them. She learned how to roar and thinks that ALL animals roar, not just dinosaurs and lions. Her new word is "go" and she would like to be "going" all the time. She still only has her two bottom teeth, but the top ones appear to be coming soon.

And...as always a few more shots from the photo shoot.

I wanted her to sit on the bench, but she promptly stood up and turned around, so I went behind the bench to take pictures.

"This is how you do it mommy."

Loving the swing.

"Mom, why are we taking pictures? There's kids playing over there!"

At the end of the shoot I played around with manual mode and the things I learned at the workshop I went to. This one is way overexposed, but I love her eyes in it!

Today

2010-10-22T16:40:00.002-06:00

Today, Oct 22, one year ago was Eden's due date. But....no Eden. I remember walking up and down the stairs in California from the front door all the way to the loft for almost an hour while waiting for Russell to come home from work. Still no baby. Oh well....we love her anyway, even if she did take an extra few days to get here.

And...one month from today our new little sister is supposed to make her appearance. Maybe she will be more prompt than Eden? We can all hope. I am so DONE being pregnant. I'm definitely ready for her to be here instead of kicking me from the inside. I'm not sure I'm ready for how chaotic things will be with a one year old and a newborn, but I KNOW I'm ready to be rid of all these pregnancy symptoms!

Splash Pad

2010-10-02T14:29:00.008-06:00

After we played at the regular park for a while we went over to the splash pad, a lot of fountains of water that the kids can play in. They come on and off and go higher or lower. Jack and Eden loved it. They would have stayed there all day!

I had to help Eden walk around, and amazingly I didn't even get very wet. Caleb followed Jack around and was just as lucky.

Jack went right in to the middle.

Eden thought sitting down by the ones that were not going would be fun....

And then it got her in the face, which luckily she thought was funny and not scary. I picked her up but she went right back to sit by that one until it came up again.

Jack was having a great time to say the least.

And so was Eden.

Caleb taught Jack to step on the fountain....

And sometimes he timed it so it didn't spray him...

But other times he wasn't so lucky!

Eden's favorite park was drinking from all the fountains!

She sat down for a minute, but then decided she MUST GET MORE WATER.

And she got some! And Daddy got a GREAT picture! See that water inside her mouth? Good shutter speed Daddy!

More stomping by Jack.

Overall....I think the splash pad was a winner! In fact, we went again the very next Saturday. And....the water was supposed to go off September 30th, but since it's still warm it's still on so we might have to squeeze in one or two more adventures before it gets cold.

New Park Adventure

2010-10-02T14:08:00.004-06:00

Spanish Fork had the grand opening of a new and awesome park right across from our church building a couple months ago, and we had been waiting a bit for things to calm down before we went. Caleb, Holly, and Jack came down a few Saturday's ago and we all went to the park together.

Eden LOVED the swings this time:

Unlike last time I tried to get her to swing a few months ago:

Jack liked swinging too!

Eden tried out a couple slides, with a little help from Daddy still.

And Jack loved climbing up the bug wall.

Here's a video of the kids swinging.

The park is super cool....I should have taken pictures of all the equipment. A lot of it is a little big for Eden and Jack, but it's neat stuff. The best part of the park according to the kids is the splash pad, which is featured in the next post.

Ten Months

2010-09-19T10:04:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that Eden is already 10 months old. I feel like I just wrote about her being 9 months. We went on a walk at Vivian Park in Provo Canyon to take some 10 month pictures. They turned out okay, but Eden was not cooperating in the smiling department, which is surprising because usually when I take out the camera she strikes a pose these days.

At ten months Eden is crawling like nobody's business and cruising along furniture standing up. She walks around with Mommy and Daddy holding only one finger now and would love to walk on her own I'm sure. She loves to climb the stairs, play with Daddy's iPhone, and give all the stuffed animals hugs. She loves most any type of food and wants to eat anything anyone has. She likes to be outside, which is going to be sad when it starts snowing here. She has decided that she likes to drink her bottle sitting up. She hates shoes and socks and spends all her time trying to get them off when I put them on. She will give hi-5's. And...she is still VERY attached to her Daddy.

Behemoth Double Stroller

2010-09-19T09:53:00.002-06:00

We bought our double stroller the other day, and when I was stuck at home with no car a few days later I put it together. It's huge! It will be nice though. It has racing stripes so now I just need to figure out when the stroller races are so I can enter!

Eden helped me put it together. She has no clothes on because all her cool weather clothes were in the washer.

Yeah! It's don't lets go for a ride. Eden LOVES to go for rides in the stroller, as long as she's not tired.

Enough pictures Mom, let's go for a ride!

I took her for a ride around the living room because I felt kind of silly taking her outside in a double stroller without another kid in the back. A few days later we did go outside though because we needed a walk and Daddy took the little stroller to work with him in the car.

Splashing

2010-09-19T09:46:00.001-06:00

Apparently Daddy splashing you is really, really funny. You will have to get a kink in your neck for 22 seconds to watch.

Food Monster

2010-09-19T09:41:00.002-06:00

If anyone has food these days, Eden needs to have some. It's pretty funny because she doesn't even know what it is half the time or if she likes it but she still wants it. We went to Einstein Bagels a couple weeks ago for a snack and Eden stole Russell's bagel right out of his hands.

Eden's iPhone

2010-09-19T09:36:00.002-06:00

Eden LOVES to play the games Daddy has for her on his iPhone. I'm pretty sure she thinks the phone is hers and lets Daddy borrow it. It's pretty funny because while she plays the games she just keeps turning the phone and turning the phone.

Denver - Random Pictures

2010-09-07T21:09:00.005-06:00

Here's some random pictures of the rest of our time in Denver. We had a great time there, but were glad to come home to Daddy.

Eden helping Grandma and Aunt Issy made Navajo Fry Bread. We had it twice and it was delicious! I just might have to drive the 2.5 hours up to Aunt Issy's to get more.

Eden loved Uncle Larry's fish. Especially the "guard fish."

Eden and Grandma.

Eden was drinking her bottle with grandma and feel asleep just like this.

Playing with Aunt Cooper.

Eden kept crawling into the bathroom and pulling herself up on either the door frame or tub and then yelling "Dadadadadada". For some reason Daddy never came to give her a bath.

That about wraps up our time in Denver, except for maybe some misdemeanors that were committed, but there are no pictures and thus no evidence.

Denver - Aunt Sharon and Uncle Johnny

2010-09-07T21:04:00.002-06:00

One day we drove down to Parker, CO to my great aunt and uncles house to pick up the family bible they were giving to my Dad. We had a great lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs and enjoyed talking with them for a while. They had a cat, which Eden thought was pretty cool but very quickly the cat found a place to hide where Eden couldn't find him.

Eden loved watching Cymbre on the grass from the porch.

Denver - Playing at the Park

2010-09-07T20:55:00.004-06:00

A couple different days we stopped and found a park for Eden to play at for a little bit. She's not quite big enough to play on her own, but Aunt Cooper and Cymbre loved to play with her. All I have to say is it's much harder to find a park there than it was in Ladera Ranch.

Yay! We went down the slide!

There was a cool sea monster at the park that Cooper and Eden rode.

Swinging with Mommy.

There was this cool slidey thing that Cymbre was too short to do!

Getting ready to go down the twirly slide.

Rock climbing for Aunt Rachel!

Queen of the Mountain!

On the crazy bridge with Aunt Cymbre.

The Bucking Bed

2010-09-07T20:47:00.002-06:00

Eden and I slept on my Uncle's bed when he was working nights, and one morning Eden took a dive off the side of the bed and scratched her head on the bookcase. I felt like an awful mom. Luckily, she was more scared than hurt. She had a nice big scrape for a week or so, but everything is better now.

Denver - Swetsville Zoo

2010-09-05T20:37:00.005-06:00

The next day we went up to the Swetsville Zoo with Grandpa Flanagan. It's this awesome place where there are all sorts of animals made out of different junk metal parts. They even had new things from when we went several years ago. Eden thought all the animals were really neat.

Eden loving being outside and looking at all the cool animals.

A dinosaur guy.

A cool dinosaur for Daddy.

This little robot guy steers the dinosaur car.

Some sweet little guys.

A robot for Daddy!

Denver - Aquarium

2010-09-05T20:27:00.003-06:00

One day we decided to go to the Aquarium in Denver. Eden loved to see all the fish, and it was a pretty good aquarium. They even had mermaids swimming in with the fish! You could also pay to scuba dive with the sharks....but I didn't think that was a good idea being pregnant and all.

Looking at the fishies with Aunt Cymbre.

This is the coolest fish I've ever seen...but there wasn't a sign that said what he was called. Anyone know?

See that one Aunt Cooper?

The biggest blowfish I've ever seen!

Denver - Aunt Sissy

2010-09-05T11:15:00.003-06:00

Aunt Britni came into town for just a couple days and Eden had fun with her too! It was too bad she had to go back to Oklahoma to work.

Aunt Sissy gave Eden a bath. (Side note: The one place I hate my camera is in the bathroom....it's always got an orange color and I don't know why.)

Playing with Aunt Sissy outside while we waited for it to be time to take her back to the airport.

Denver Part 3

2010-09-05T11:07:00.004-06:00

On my Mom's birthday we headed down to Longmont to have dinner with my Dad's family. After a much longer drive thanks to a typhoon that was coming through, we made it to Chili's for a delicious dinner and then went back to Grandpa Flanagan's for angel food cake and strawberries!

After dinner we played at Great Grandpa's house and Eden thought climbing over Uncle Gary mountain was fun.

Great Grandpa Flanagan got out the toy cars we used to play with as kids for Eden to try.

A four generation picture, with Uncle Gary standing in for my Dad since he wasn't there.

Great Grandpa's hat was so fun!

Denver Temple

2010-09-05T10:52:00.005-06:00

One day we took a trip out to see the Denver temple and go to Deseret Book right by it. I got some good pictures of Eden that I posted earlier as her 9 month shoot, but here's a few more.

Eden with Grandma and Aunt Cooper, Aunt Cymbre, and Aunt Britni at the temple. Don't ask me why Cooper's face is wierd....I think the sun was in her eyes.

And Eden thought the fountain was the coolest bath ever!

Missing Daddy in Denver

2010-09-05T10:45:00.002-06:00

Eden is very attached to Daddy and gets quite upset when he doesn't come home when he is supposed to. Being in Denver for a week and a half without him was difficult for both of us. We would talk to him on the phone everyday, but that's just not the same as playing with him. Great Grandma had our family picture up and Eden saw it and would hold it right up close to her face and in her little high-pitched voice say "Dadadadada."

Denver Part 1

2010-09-05T10:32:00.004-06:00

Eden and I flew to Denver the beginning of August to meet my Mom and sisters there and to hang out with grandparents and aunts and uncles. We didn't have any big plans while we were there, mostly just go with the flow.

Eden loved playing with Aunt Cymbre because she never got tired of doing whatever Eden wanted to do!

We went down to Longmont to have our traditional pizza lunch with my Aunt Jean...and a discount shopping trip to J.C. Penny where she works!

While at Aunt Jeans, we got to try out the cool quilt Cousin Scotty made for Eden.

Eden loved to sit on Great Grandpa's lap. I thought she would be scared of him because he is LOUD, but she loved him.

Nine Months

2010-08-25T21:01:00.003-06:00

Eden passed the nine month mark earlier this month and we had a photo shoot at the temple while we were in Denver. Here's her stats from her checkup this week:

18 lbs 10 oz - 37th Percentile
28 in - 60th Percentile
44 cm head - 47th Percentile

She is a little mover. At nine months she was still caterpillar crawling, but now she is crawling normally. I kind of miss that cute caterpillar crawl. She jabbers all the time, usually mama, dada, or baba. She also has taken a huge liking to stuffed animals and makes a funny sound and points every time she sees one. She likes to pick one of hers to sleep with at each nap and to bring downstairs after her nap. She just hugs and hugs them. She especially likes lions and loves to see Grandpa Flanagan's lions on Skype. She claps all the time on her own and will start as soon as someone says "Yay". She also figured out in Denver that if she clapped everyone clapped, so she would start and then watch everyone else. She cruises along the furniture and is getting closer and closer to walking. Here's a few more pictures:

Eden was so excited about the fountain.

And then she decided she should get in.

It's a.....

2010-07-27T15:44:00.002-06:00

GIRL!!!!! I had my ultrasound a couple weeks ago and we will welcome a new little girl in late November!

Cookie Monster

2010-07-25T21:41:00.002-06:00

One night last week we had a nurse come over to do some blood tests and things for supplemental life insurance. It was time for Eden to have a bath and go to bed, but since both of us needed to be there that was just not possible. So....I stripped her down to her diaper, put her in the high chair, and handed her an Oreo. And....I think she liked it!

Eight Months

2010-07-25T21:29:00.003-06:00

I'm a little late with this post...yet again. But Eden hit the eight month mark and is caterpillar crawling like nobody's business. She loves to stand up by the furniture and also has learned how to clap! She is all about saying "dadadada" but doesn't really know what it means yet. I'm still trying to teach her. And...she figured out how to climb the stairs.

Yay!!!!

Yummy grass.

Here I come!

Last Trip to the Beach

2010-07-25T21:19:00.003-06:00

When Eden and I went back to California for the movers, we went to the beach one last time. It was a little bit cloudy, and thus a little chilly for the girls. But...it was a great day to just sit and watch the waves.

Eden loved to play in the sand.

Loving the beach.

Beach model!
Cute girls!