Snow Day with Cousins

Hello everyone!  This past week seems to have zipped by!  We had a lot going on, so I guess that's not too surprising.  I shared one of these pictures last week, but I didn't have any pictures of Winry and Brooke together this week.

Anyway, on Tuesday we headed up to Tyson and Tina's house as soon as I got home from work.  Monica had all the kids in the car and everything ready to go!  We went up to visit, have dinner, and bring my back sister, Jerusha, to stay with us for a few days.  It snowed Monday, and maybe a little Tuesday, so we took our snow clothes, and when we got there we headed out to play in the snow.  For me that meant pulling Brooke and Megan around on a sled in the front yard.  A snowball fight also broke out, but I had Brooke as a shield so I was left out for the most part.  Brooke had so much fun playing with her cousins, and they also did a magnificent job watching her too!  Megan was her buddy most of the evening, and after sledding she read a lot of books to Brooke!  We definitely need to get together more often!

Also while we were there I spied this ol' guy!  That would be my first phone!  Glad it's still in the family, though it was missing it's battery.

Jerusha was out here with us Wednesday.  I don't have any pictures, but I do have this video with her elbow in it!  Oh yeah, Brooke is also feeding her bear milk in that video too.  We all had a good time Wednesday, and Brooke enjoyed hanging out with Jerusha for the day.

On Thursday while I was at work Tina and Matthew came down to play and took Jerusha back to their house with them when they left.  Monica also had a doctors appointment and they watched Brooke and Winry while she went.  It was her 6 week checkup, and she's been cleared to exercise!

Friday for date night when I got home from work Monica handed me a paper.  It was full of items at Costco and I had to guess how many of each item there were.  Then we headed over to see who did best and ate some frozen yogurt while we walked around.  It was a lot of fun even though I lost.  We stopped by Chick-fil-a on the way home for dinner, and Brooke got a new game in her kid's meal, so everyone had a great evening!  After we put Brooke to bed I headed over to game night with some of my friends and had a blast.

Saturday morning I helped Winry sit up.  There's no real reason or story, it just happened.

And Brooke told me she wanted to play the monster game... I could not figure out what game it was, so I took her up with me to show me, and she picked out trouble.  Just look at those peg-monsters!  Either way, once we got the name straightened out we had fun!

Winry practiced sitting a little more while Monica held her too!

Saturday morning we tried out the first workout in Monica's new workout program she got for Valentines Day (Note from Monica: I asked for the workout program for Valentine's!).  Brooke joined us and was really good at the parts where you jumped!  We all had fun and by the end we were all tired, and at least I am quite sore today!  Also, with the program it tells you you'll need 3-8 lb weights for some things in the program, and Monica had some little weights, and I had... 10 lbs...  So that afternoon we went to Target, and now I own 5 lb weights!  I was thinking about it after and realized that the weight I was using was more than if I had been using two newborn babies!  The things you think of when you have kids.  (NOTE: I would never actually use 2 babies as weights!)  Also, while we were leaving Target Brooke asked for some stickers, and the lady gave her a LOT!!  Brooke was very happy, and wanted to make sure everyone got to see.  Also, Target sent us a baby onesie a little while ago for making a baby registry, with a note to have our baby (Winry in this case) wear it for her very first Target run!.. but we forgot to do that.  Maybe next time.

Today was Stake Conference, and it was great!  The stake president talked about Nephi and Laman and Lemuel returning to Jerusalem to get the Brass Plates and to talk to Ishmael.  He shared some interesting facts, such as the return journey would have been about the same as trekking  from Denver to Grand Junction (Which is a 4 hour drive on the freeway, so ~250 miles!).  He also pointed out that in the story Laman and Lemuel did everything they were asked to do.  They complained, but they still returned and tried to get the plates.  Then he talked about how important our attitude is.  It's important we have a good attitude and look for the good and blessings in our lives.  If we approach the commandments with resentment in our hearts we may obey for a little, but in the long term we will likely fall away.  For me personally I feel that's a great lesson to apply to service.  It's very important to go into service with a positive attitude.  I know when I was a youth I enjoyed all of the service projects I expected to enjoy, and I have memories of having fun while out serving.  I encourage everyone to make sure that you approach life looking for the positives, and if you do I know you will be happier, no matter what commandment may be asked, or what burden may need to be born.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Tsagaan Sar

Before we begin, here's a song for you to listen to while you read the post this week!

Hello all!  I hope everyone is having a grand week!  Things are going great for us.  Winry is growing well, and Brooke continues to love her little sister.  This past week Monica's sister, Michelle, came out to visit for a few days.  It's always nice to have another adult to help tire out Brooke!  While she was here we even had a chance to get some pictures together as a family!  Also, this doesn't really fit in anywhere else, but I think we read Brooke too much Dr. Seuss...

Despite being as large as ever, Jelly discovered this past week she could "fit" under the pantry.  That's as far as she goes in, but she can reach the back wall like that and was going under to get out a ball she had hit in there!  The good news is she shouldn't run out of toys as fast, the bad news is I won't know where to find them anymore...

Brooke continues to love dressing up her stuffed animals.  She wanted to try to cram this bear into all sorts of Winry sized clothing.  I came home to find bear fully dressed for bed, so it looks like Brooke had a good day.  Also, Brooke really likes to dance with bear!

Secret valentine continued this week as well.  Brooke woke up Monday and Tuesday morning to find bead necklace kits!  She was so excited and had so much fun making necklaces!  She must have had a really great secret valentine!!!

On Valentine'd Day at breakfast we all revealed who our secret valentines were and did a final gift swap thing.  Brooke had Monica, and I helped her make a book!  I asked Brooke for a list of things she loved about mommy and I wrote them all down.  I had her draw pictures of all of them, and then I cut them out in heart shapes and made a little book!  I almost got Monica to cry, so it was pretty good.  Brooke did try to spoil the surprise several times by telling Monica about the "book" or the "hearts", but fortunately that wasn't enough to quite give it all away.

For lunch Monica and Brooke had heart shaped quesadillas!  And for breakfast Brooke and I made pink waffles for everyone!

Michelle came out Wednesday night to stay with us through Saturday.  We all had a lot of fun together and she and Brooke bonded instantly!  They even got to go to the park together one day!

As we all know the park can be very tiring!

Winry is doing great!  She's pretty good at holding her head up and will never lay against you if you hold her facing you on your shoulder.  I let her practice sitting in the boppy this past week... well, until I got in trouble.  I think she liked it.

On Saturday we went to the park after we took some pictures together.  Brooke and I had a lot of fun playing on everything.  We even found time for the cave.

Brooke also crawled through a tunnel for the first time.  She wanted to go on the twisty slide on the other side, and I told her the only way was to crawl through, so she made me go first!  But she did it too, and we did it several times.  A girl does what a girl's gotta do for a twisty slide!

Tsagaan Sar started on Friday, so on Saturday we made buuz for lunch and got out my Mongolian clothes.  Brooke thought they were really fun and was excited to wear them!  We had a lot of fun.

Today we took some pictures of Brooke holding Winry.  She really liked it and wanted to hold her for a long time.  I eventually had to pick Winry up because she was getting sad, but Brooke loved having her sister with her.  That's a pretty big improvement from "put it back!"

We're all doing well out here.  I hope things are going great for everyone else!  Today in Gospel Principles we had a lesson about the Holy Ghost.  There was a lot of really great conversation and we talked about His role and all the gifts we receive through the Holy Ghost.  I know that the Holy Ghost can comfort us in our trials, and I know that He testifies of the truth.  I have felt the Holy Ghost confirm the truth of the gospel to me.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that Joseph Smith restored lost truths to the earth.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and he desires all men to come unto Him and be saved.  I share this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

1 Month!

Winry is 1 month old today!  I can hardly believe it's been that long!  The great news is that she and Brooke are getting along great, which really means Brooke loves having a sister.  Monica did some baby pictures this past week, and that's where this one came from.  Today (or soon) we're planning to do 1 month pictures so we can see how much she's grown ;)!

Every morning we put Winry in her play mat, and Brooke always wants to come play with her!

Here is another picture of Winry from her photo shoot.

 And one more to show off her hair!

Jelly fought the good fight with her cone this past week.  She got her stitches out on Saturday and no longer has to wear it, and she is eternally grateful for that!  It's nice to have Jelly back to normal.  You could tell she was feeling a lot better toward the end and wanted to act normal, but the cone was holding her back.  A good side effect is that she got more cuddly through her ordeal!

So, back to play mat time.  While Brooke and Winry lay next to each other inevitably Winry will reach around.  Brooke will tell Monica "Winry hitting me!" so they're already "fighting."  We've explained that Winry doesn't know what she's doing, but it hasn't sunk in yet.

Um... I don't think I have a back story for this, but I thought it was really cute.

And last play mat picture.  They were all separated because they were taken on different days.  Anyway, here you can see Brooke and Winry are holding hands, and are really starting to bond!  I'm very glad that Brooke loves her new sister so much!

Yesterday Brooke wanted to wear her backpack, and hold her blankie.  I wrapped blankie around her and when she let go it hung on her backpack.  She walked around like this for quite some time.  It kinda looks like a cape, so I guess she was playing super hero!

We got Winry a Wubba-nub this past week.  They're supposed to help the pacifier stay in (or at least that's what I thought).  I'd say it's 50/50.  Sometimes she pulls it out with the moose or the weight of the moose pulls it out, but the other half of the time she hugs the moose and keeps it in that way.  Either way, it's cute, and now she's kinda got a stuffed animal.

Brooke started potty training this past week, and while I was writing this she came running downstairs saying "I love Olaf underwear!"  Currently we're at one accident and one success!  I'm guessing 50% is pretty good for the first day!  We're letting her work on it when she wants to, so it's been off and on during the week, but it looks like it's a go for this afternoon!  Guess I better go!

Moving Day

Hello hello!  I hope everyone is doing swell!  We had a little daddy daughter dog pile today!  Everything is going well out here.  Gram and pop left last Sunday, which I may have mentioned last week, and my Mom came out on Monday night.  But more on that later.

Last week I spoke in sacrament meeting, so everyone came to church, which meant Winry got to wear a dress!

Monday was Monica's first day with both kids while I was at work.  Things went pretty well at home, and Brooke even made a treat for family home evening!

As mentioned, my mom came out on Monday and stayed with us till Thursday night.  Brooke was really shy at first, but quickly softened up once the books came out!  I think everyone had a great time, and it was nice to have some more help.  Brooke even took everyone to the park one day to show them all how high she could swing!

This past week Winry got her first bath at home.  She took it much better than expected and didn't cry at all!

But she really liked to get wrapped up in her nice warm towel after.

While my mom was out here she had a flat Stanley for a school project for Jonathan, so we had to go somewhere good for a picture.  Brooke and I took her to downtown Parker so we could get a picture on the giant Parker chair, and Brooke and I got a picture while we were there.

Thursday was moving day at work.  I packed up my stuff on Wednesday afternoon, and then Thursday waited for everything to arrive.  In the move shuffle the desk next to mine had a standing desk that wasn't getting moved with it's previous owner, so I asked them to strap it down to my desk!  It's really nice because the desk is really small, and the standing desk gives me a keyboard tray that extends off of the desk so I can put my computer somewhere where I can comfortably sit.  And now I can also stand if I want!

Brooke and I ran some errands on Saturday morning.  One of which was to drop some stuff off at Salvation Army.  Since we were there I told Brooke we'd go in and check if they have any games for her.  Today we were lucky enough to find Cooties!  I'm not sure this is even a game other than building them... the rules were missing, but that seemed appropriate to mine and Monica's memories of playing it.

Brooke continues to take care of anything stuffed and animal shaped, including the tiny bears that are supposed to hang above the baby swing.  I don't know if they came off, or if she pulled them off, but they definitely needed to be buckled in and kept safe!

Today I went to church with Brooke.  It was really nice to be back!  I missed going to church a bunch the past month, though it was great to be with Winry too.  In gospel principles we talked about the creation today.  I love going to gospel principles.  It's great to talk about the fundamentals of the gospel each week, and I feel like I'm learning so much!  Brooke even came in with me for a little before I got her to go to nursery.  She eventually left me because I didn't have fruit snacks... oh well, at least she helped me clean up chairs after church ended.