First Steps!

I just wanted to share M's first steps with you- she's been so close for such a long time, thus the long delay in posting. I was sure she was going to take her first steps any day and it finally happened yesterday!

Jared continues in school and is doing well- his first three classes he has gotten a B+ or higher. One of them he actually scored perfectly in! I am so glad he is enjoying his classes this time around. It makes all his study time worth it.

I am busy with the Activity Days girls (8-11) on every other tuesday. We have a good group of about 15+ girls that come to my house. They are very sweet and full of energy. G loves having all the girls over- he started crying big crocodile tears last time they left.

G continues to be super active all the time. His cardiologist is pleased with his activity level, but we are continuing to be watchful, as his heart is feeling the strain from his valve defect. In the meantime, he is learning lots of new things. His favorite things right now are shapes. He loves the Baby einstein Discovering Shapes DVD. In fact, he and his cousin watched it so many times while I was in North Carolina, they wore it out and Jared and I had to buy a new one :o)! He can spot circles, squares, ovals, triangles and rectangles just about everywhere.

Baby M is still the happiest baby ever. We've had to go to the doctor a couple of times for ear infections or illnesses, but once we get there, she breaks into a big smile and no one believes that she's sick. Fortunately red eardrums are hard to hide. One of the grandmas at church watches her and will tell me, "I saw her almost cry today!"

Hope you all are looking forward to a great summer. Hopefully I can keep up with the news a little better :o)

If you are getting this post as an email and you can't see the video, click on the link below

jaredandgillie.blogspot.com

Easter Fun

I tried something new this year and got G dyeing Easter Eggs.

He is learning his colors and so it was lots of fun. For the next 2 mornings he wouldn't eat breakfast until I pulled out his colored eggs and set them on the table next to him.

Saturday we went downtown and had breakfast at our favorite place- The Wagon Wheel. Then we headed over to the park for the annual candy grab, I mean egg hunt. G still fits into the youngest group, though I'm sure some parents were wondering if he was to old for the 1-2 year old section because he is so tall.

Easter morning was great, too. G loved his Easter basket and searching for eggs outside. M was excited about her toys, too. It was really nice to be mostly over our colds and we had a great weekend being able to listen to General Conference and hear counsel from the prophet.

I am sorry that I have not posted in such a long time. In addition to not being able to use the computer while little ones are on the move, Jared now is using the MacBook all night, every night. He returned to school just over a month ago in a communications degree program. It is an accelerated program and hopefully he will finish with a bachelors degree in about 17 more months. I am really glad that he has returned to school and he is enjoying his classes so far.
I hope you all are well and that you had a great easter weekend!

Here Comes Trouble

Baby June bug learned to crawl yesterday, so I quick grabbed the camera and threw down a few cheerios to get her to do it again and this is the result. Today she didn't need any more incentive to crawl across the kitchen besides the siren song of the dog water bowl. She's already trying to pull herself up on things, so I'm sure walking will happen faster than we want it to :-)

Photography Exhibit

Garrison is fascinated by the camera. Not so much about having his picture taken. Last week I let him take pictures all by himself and this is what we got...

Pictures as Promised

We just received the pictures we took the day Malihah was sealed to us, so here are a few of my favorites









I tried not to duplicate the ones Dion published on her website, so you should head over to her site, too.
Here's the link
http://dionsenecaphotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/forever-family.html

Note to Self:

Play ring around the rosies more often.

Today at church the ladies got out of classes before the men. This never happens. Think about it- you know why: women just have more words to use each day. Usually Jared and G are just waiting for Relief Society to finish so they can gather me and June bug and all our stuff up so we can go.
But somehow today I got out of the room quickly and headed down an almost empty hall with June bug towards the nursery to pick up G. I peered through the door window and tried to stay out of sight as I watched ten two-year-olds playing ring around the rosies with their nursery leaders. Every single one of them had sheer delight on their face. Unadulterated and completely undisguisable as they all fell down. I took a moment and walked in to hold his hand and play it one more time.

A mother's heart has never been lighter.

Thank you Owen and Angie and Derek and Tomi for being such great nursery leaders. I know it's not easy to give up your own opportunity to participate in gospel classes to watch other's children, but it is so wonderful to know my son is enjoying learning basic gospel truth in a fun environment. You have blessed our family so much.

Sealing Day II

What a day! She is all ours, forever and ever! We had our baby girl sealed to us today in the temple and everything went so well. I finished her dress yesterday- it turned out so cute! Both she and G were very good for the babysitting temple workers. I was nervous about how she would do without me, since she is very much a momma's girl right now, but she didn't cry at all when I left her with them. I didn't even have time to worry about G until Jared and I were sitting in an adjacent room prior to the ceremony and I realized,

I just brought a TWO YEAR OLD into the temple!

Of course by then it was all too late and if he was going to be irreverent and run screaming around, it would happen, right? Fortunately, it didn't happen. As we sat in the room amidst family and friends, they brought in my two children, dressed in spotless white, no drool or Kool-aid stains anywhere. G ran straight to me, but was happy to sit on G'ma Judy's lap and June bug came in smiling ear to ear. I think she knew we were all there for her. She smiled the entire time and everyone was in love with her.

I am so grateful for the chance I've had to be mother to my two babies. The families they were born into are special to me because of the gift and sacrifice they've given. I am grateful to be a member of a church that believes that families can be together forever and that God designed it that way.

What a day :)