March 4-5 2016 Joshy 5 months and rolls over!

Our hearts are just filled with love over this darling baby boy! We just love all 5 months of him and all those rolls of cuteness, and big squishy cheeks!  

The day after Joshy turned 5 months old, in the middle of our tummy time exercises, he just so happened to roll over for the first time ever!!! Way to go Joshua!!

He is becoming quite the tummy-time champ lately.  He never really seemed to have a problem with tummy time, he tends to just have a very easy-going, peaceful, calm, observant and mild nature.  So, often times, before I would be able to put him down for his morning nap, I would find him already asleep on his play mat....but lately, he has been really pushing himself up in his tummy times and finally mustered enough strength to topple himself right over!! He did it two times that day....but I haven't been able to get him to do it since...hehe... Still practicing and working on it though! We just adore those BIG brown eyes and that tender-hearted adoring smile!!

Joshua figuring out how to work these awesome contraptions, hands!!

Little Joshua Garret is adored by his big sisters and brother!

Haha...this only took him a few minutes and sure enough, straight to the mouth his hands go! Got to figure out whatever this thing is Mom keeps trying to put on my tummy. lol..

Smiles after one successful Sunday with a sweet tender mercy of the Lord at church, when Daddy was gone for a work trip, and a sweet young woman came to sit with the kiddos when I had to take Joshua out to feed him during Sacrament meeting, and then she held him again to which he fell asleep on her shoulder during the 2nd hour, so I could teach my lesson.  Then, that night, a dear family in our ward offered for us to have dinner with them, they provided it all, it was so wonderful, what a huge blessing! We were so thankful the Lord blessed us in so many ways while Daddy was away.  We know He sure is ever mindful of us and looks after us in our times of need with comfort, strength and the loving helping hands of others. :) 

This little guy has found his hands and his fist...sometimes even his thumb lol....So sweet..

...and his little belly laughs are darlin gtoo!

tickle tickle!!!

AND that just about sums up the sweetness of our days lately...life is wonderful because we have hands to soothe this teething boy, each other and the Lord, who makes all things possible when we put our lives in His hands!

Love these little ones! Missing my honey, but we were thankful he was safe while he was away!

March picks up speed just like a whirlwind! March 1-4, 2016

It was so nice to get out and enjoy the nearby lake with all the kiddos on the last day of February, even if the most evetful part of it was spotting a dead fish! haha! These two were so excited to prod at this astonishing find and see if they could flip him over.  It was a fun day too because Katelyn has still not been given permission to ride her bike or do potentially risky activities with her fracture in her ditsol radial bone still healing, so she has been on a quest of running our lake walks or outside walking trips instead! Way to go ambitious go-getter Katelyn! 

Love them taking on the world together!

Here we are with our friends at another Wednesday art class! We were in charge of this one and taught/learned about Georiga O'Keefe flower paintings and did oil pastels to make beautiful up-close bursts of vibrant colorful flowers! AND our snacks were bursts of fruit flowers we arranged ever so nicely on big trays! They were so lovely and DELICIOUS too!! Yay for fun times with our friends!

All in a days work!!....the dirty feet of busy kids after barefoot play outside and playing in the sandy/mud dirt area in our yard! haha....love these kiddos, even when they're super dirty too! haha!

Sibling sandwich picture!! Love all of them in their sweet, spunky, quirky personalities! 

Look at that darling little baby Joshua sneaking out a smile!

And there's a Gracie smile!!! This kind of picture is hard to come by these days...it seems these kiddos are always on the go unless we are reading books! 

But, though our hands may be full,our hearts are sure full of love!

This one one sweet precious moment.  Gracie absolutely loves her doggies to the moon and back a million times! She looks after and cares for them with the utmost sincerity, kindness, and love.  I hope we never forget how her little heart is so full of love with the way she takes care of and adores her soft dog, big dog and all of the doggies "friends,: and their "mom" and "dad" doggies too!

Daddy with baby Joshua before Daddy's big work trip, right before Joshua turned 5 months!

Mommy and Joshua at 5 months!

Look at this awesome tummy time boy!! He sure has been a champ lately at grabbing onto his toys and bringing them to his mouth!! This one happens to be one of the favorites! 

Some of our favorite moments each day are getting little baby Joshua to react with face fulls of smiles!

Helping Gracie learn her letters on a regular homeschool day!

So proud of our fishy creations!

Just when we thought we might have a little break in hard times especially with Katelyn's healing broken arm bone, Joshua's RSV and other respiratory virus along with congestion and poor sleepless nights, strep with our middle two, Nathan accidentally having his front tooth knocked out on our couch near the beginning of February with an accidental shoving....and the prospect of Daddy soon going out of town....Nathan and Katelyn were playing on the trampoline the day Jon was about to leave and somehow the two somersaulted into each other and Katelyn's knee got lodged into Nathan's eye! Aghhh!! She ran in telling us he was hurt and I had heard some unusually sharper painful crying.  When  got outside, he was holding his face and sure enough a crescent shape tear appeared in the inner white part of his right eye. Oh my good heavens....how did this even happen!! I was in shock and the blood started filling in quickly.  We had him ice his eye and just kept checking on him and watching it.  It seemed like it was only in the white sclera of his eye, and because it was not affecting his vision, we decided to wait and see how he was feeling.  Although the blood continued to srpread across the eye, he could still see like normal and went about play as usual the next day.  I called a pediatric opthamologist and after talking with Jon's mom, a nurse, we decided after watching it some more that we could wait it through the weekend to see a specialist.  Thankfully, we did and it turns out he had a Subconjunctival Hemorrhage.  A big one.  Ahhhh poor Nathan.  That and his recent tooth falling out....along with the sicknesses going around, it sure felt like we just couldn't catch a break.  But, thankfully, as we decided to just hold him closer and count our blessings that his eye injury wasn't worse, we were able to make it through.  After soccer games on the next day (Sat.) and more watching his eye closely, we made a apt with the specialist on Monday and thankfully no inner eye bleeding had occured and so this was a more minor injury that could heal within a few weeks.  We are so thankful he was okay through it all and know the Lord gives us strength to make it throgh anything!

Saying our goodbyes to Daddy before his big Australia work trip! We knew we were going to miss him, but are so thankful for all he does to work so hard and provide for us.  He has a full plate of responsibilities these days with work, school and his church calling, but we have been so immensely blessed with strength, patience and safety to take on all the load and challenges we have faced.  We know it is through our loving Savior we can find the strength to do and overcome all things and with His help, our burdens are made lighter through His loving grace, so that we can accomplish the work before us! Here's me praying in my heart I would be able to make it through a week without my other half! Sure knew we would all miss him!

Soccer season here we come! Feb 27, 2016

We are so excited our two oldest kiddos started soccer seasons for their first time simultaneously ever! Wish me luck as I take on this endeavor as a "super" mom while Jon is still working on his MBA at school.  It helps that they love playing so much and Gracie loves cheering them on so much too!  It was so sweet when we went to Katelyn's first practice, because we signed her up to be on the same team as a friend from our ward before it split, Eily, whom she really likes and her coach is a Kindergartner teacher in McKinney, who is such a kind lady. The other parents all seem to be good people, some with other little ones, and they are all super supportive and encouraging of the girls. :) 

I am excited for this whole experience for Katelyn and know she will do great after watching Nathan for 2 seasons, she is super fast, just like her Daddy, and always is one of the top runners ahead in the practice groups! She understands the game on a higher level and it was fun to see miss Katelyn score her very first goal on her very first game!

Nathan was excited for another soccer season this year with his cousin Andrew on the Dinosaurs! He is already understanding the game so much more and it is such a joy for him and source of confidence in his life! We are so proud of him for taking on another fun season and working hard to play his best! We sure love him!

Here we are playing on the newest addition to our neighborhood, a little kids park only a street and a corner away!! This place makes for a fun homeschool play break, ideal for playing tag, and with a place nearby to fly kites and run around! Love these special moments and smiles together! They light up our world!

End of February...on our own again! 2016

After our fun family time spent with our visitors over Valentines (playing with cousins, having Aunt Beka's valentine party, going to the park, going to the Dallas Zoo, having a ladies lunch and mini-shopping trip to get some new purses and drop-in at Hobby Lobby to pick up some new craft ideas and yarn for Beka, some fun Mogio Pizza night/Isaac Basketball game, and watching both Katelyn have a soccer practice and take her to her SEALIFE aquarium young environmentalist introductory night, Studio C movie night and the grown-ups getting to see the new Star Wards movie, AND some memorable Qwirkle and Qwirkle CUBE rounds, loved all of it!! I sure love that game, because I somehow seem to have an edge on Jonathan, to the point where I can beat him hands down by a landslide and other times when he astonishingly takes the lead...hehe.  We have so much fun with Quirkle game nights. Love family time!) 

After our visitors went back to WA, I found this little gem in this month's Friend magazine!! Two Christmas' ago when all of Jonathan's 9 living siblings were together for Christmas, we went to Grandpa and Grandma's stake activity there! It was awesome!! We made prayer rocks, bracelet weavings, did scavenger hunts from the Friend magazine, had massive bubble-blowing activities, got their very own balloon creations, and got to do some super fun family history of fun activities all found in the Friend magazine.  Well, at the end of it, they took this picture, which I also took when I was there, on my phone, I figured that it would probably end up in the Friend magazine someday...and sure enough, there it is!!! So sweet to see our little kiddos in their first Friend magazine printing with their cousins Kimball, Josiah, Isaac, Andrew, and Emeri!

As we adjusted to life on our own again, we got right back into the swing of things by trimming up this shaggy boys hair and trying to get more smiles out of our littlest cutie!

Joshua 4.5 months

We continued in our homeschool unit studies and finally concluded our planet studies after reading lots of library books on each of the different planets and really enjoying the Magic School Bus' chapter book about Exploring Space, Planets and Magic Tree House "Man on the Moon" books too! We had them each chose their favorite and learn facts about and paint their oven-baked balls of clay to look just like the planets!! We pushed a metal hook inside them before baking, so now we can hang them up!! Super fun for everyone!

This avid learner chose Saturn because it has such beautiful rings around it! Nice job painting Katelyn!

Nathan chose Neptune because it has his letter and now you can see the after with his hair trimmed and the first streak of buzz he gave himself before I got the trimmers ready. Ha...lovely little slice right near his forehead lol...

Here the kids are enjoying some yummy cupcakes a friend of ours made for our little friend Henry's 2nd birthday! We get together with a couple good friends so each of us mommy's can teach our oldest girls some art lessons!! They have absolutely loved getting together each week! Some of our highlight activities include Chinese stamp painting (our friend Tamara served her mission in China!! crazy huh!!), Michaelangelo painting upside down under the table, Albrecht Durer tin engravings, clay armadillos & paining, Picasso Portrait mix-ups, Christmas tree cross-stitching, and more Chinese flower art! SO fun, all the kids get into it and love playing with friends.

All the boys!!

The girlies!! Yummy cupcakes!

Thursday, Feb. 25th was my first date night with Nathan! We made our way over to his choice of Sonic for some yummy milkshakes...peanut butter fudge (my fave here since high school, and Nathan chose Oreo cheesecake- just what daddy would have got, nice choice!!!)  The best part was us writing a little acrostic poem about Nathan, with all of his letters,

N-nice

A-awesome

T-thoughtful

H-helpful

A- always gives the biggest hugs 

N-nimble and quickly glides so fast with his feet!

We had a good little talk and tested out the tractor too! We tried eating outside on the tables, but it was cold enough, Nathan's preferred spot was eating on my lap in the van! I I am so thankful for the peacefulness and quiet confidence and funness of this little guy! He is so sweet and mindful of those around him. He has such a caring heart and has an inner desire and drive to do what is right  Even though he is also a super energetic and busy boy, who loves building kinex, getting dirty in the mud or sand outside, light saber play or racing around the house and testing his limits, he has such a deep love for others, loyalty and desire to choose the right.  :) I loved making this a special night and having the chance to focus on this little handsome, hard-working speedster Nathan man. :). 

Valentines Day and Kisses for Smiles! 2016

We were in for a treat this Valentines Day because Aunt Rebekah decided to throw a fabulous cousin niece/nephew/cousin Valentine's Party and in turn watch the kiddos so Austin, Liz, Jon's wonderful parents, and the two of us were able to go out to dinner together! We enjoyed wonderful company and learned some great parenting tips, learning the importance of staying united and seeking the Spirit in all the decisions we make together and had some really yummy thai Coconut shrimp! Even Jon wanted to have seconds!! =D 

The kids ended up having a blast with Aunt Beka's party! They got to roll each other up in toilet paper mummy races, make and decorate valentines boxes, pass out and enjoy yummy treats, and watch Anastasia together! We are all so blessed to have Aunt Beka in our lives! They look forward to being around her and get excited for all the special things she does and makes for them whenever we get together! Uncle Samuel was a huge helper in the whole process too! They sure love teasing and playing around with him too! Our lives are so much more full of love and wonderful with them in it!

I was thankful for my sweet husband on Valentine's Day who surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses, some delectable (and healthy!) avocado oil, and the warmest, most reassuring hugs and cuddles around! I am so blessed to have him as a rock and pillar in my life, for his hard-work ethic, his patience, kindness, enthusiasm and big heart of gold.  Our hearts were so full of love today! This marks the one year mark of when we announced us being pregnant with baby Joshua! So thankful he is finally a part of our family, we love that we can love and adore him in all of his snuggly cuteness. :)

Aunt Beka is so incredibly talented in so many unspeakable ways! Not only does she have a huge heart and enjoy being with, entertaining, and talking with the kids, playing the piano for us in majestic melodies and teaching us tips, but she is also the acclaimed make of all cousin especially hand-made crocheted blankets!! They are always each so unique and treasured for all the time, efforts and love put into every thread! Yay for little Joshy's very own Aunt Beka blanket! 

We can tell he already LOVES it!

AND....because I happen to have the same type of pictures with baby Gracie trying to eat my face too...and me smiling and snuggling her back, I had to include all of these to go right along with the tradition of hers....and because this sweet boy is so darn stinkin' adorable!

Oh my heart just melts for this precious boy! We love that he gets to be a part of our family, and expand our hearts with a whole extra heart of love and squishy cheeck sweetness!  What pure joy and fulfillment we can truly all find in truly cherishing and savoring the moments we have with each other! Love them!