Essie...the Messie Maker!

I swear only two minutes before these pictures, she was by my side! (Please notice that the counter is COVERED in a layer of pink sprinkles...somehow she took the little plastic sprinkling cover with little holes in it off and completely emptied the bottle)

Self Control

This was inspiring for me, and I thought I would share it.

"We can only control one thing, our own thoughts and emotions. Trying to control anyone else will always be a power struggle. Heavenly Father didn’t make us parents to control other people into goodness and self-government. He made us parents to lead our children to goodness, and self-government. If we focus on controlling ourselves and having the spirit of calmness with us each day will be able to share the secrets of self control we learn with our children too so that they are not captive by the emotional control of others either. We want success for our children and success comes much easier to those who know they are responsible for controlling themselves."



I don't know who said this. My mom emailed it to me and said it was from a talk she read. I'll ask her which talk in case anyone wants to know.

Differences

A nurse came to our house last Saturday to do some life insurance exams on Jackson and I. She was getting ready to draw Jackson's blood and told the boys she was going to use a needle to take some of Daddy's blood out of his body. Thomas yelped and quickly ran from the room. Nicholas came straight over and asked if he could watch. He had such a look of fascination on his face as she stuck the needle in and filled two different tubes with blood. He did the same when it was my turn. I didn't even want to watch, but he didn't look away or even cringe once.

I might have mentioned this before, but he even watches when HE gets shots. I find it so interesting that he has an inborn intrigue with needles and blood and medical things. It is so fun to watch these amazing children develop!

Hot Springs and Hot Pots

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. It was so relieving to hear the baby's heartbeat! I am now just over 13 weeks and feeling a little bit out of the danger zone. I wish I could say that I am feeling better. I think I am getting some energy back, but I am still throwing up now and then, and feeling pretty nauseated much of the time.

Last week was spring break for both Thomas and Jackson. Jackson planned a fabulous trip for us. Monday, we rode the train from Grand Junction about two hours to Glenwood Springs. In Glenwood we stayed at the Hot Springs Lodge which included admission to the Hot Springs. Monday and Tuesday we spent every minute we could soaking in the water. It was perfect. Wednesday we rode the train back home.

The boys were fascinated with the train and the two hours flew by. We toured all the different cars. My favorite was the lounge car because it had windows everywhere...even on half of the ceiling. We ate lunch in the lounge car at a table and played cards for a while. The train was great!

Jackson gave the boys a few dollars each of spending money before we left. They spent it all on vending machine candy and they couldn't have been happier!

These are some pictures from a couple months ago that I never posted. We went to Fillmore for a weekend. A visit to Fillmore isn't complete for Jackson without a trip to "The Hot Pots."

Announcing...

...I have been absent from blogging for over a month! It is because I have been feeling a lot like Estella looks in the picture below. The reason for feeling yucky? You guessed it...we are expecting again. I am just over 11 weeks now, due September 19th. This pregnancy has been my hardest pregnancy as far as sickness goes...lots of throwing up...yuck! Also, I don't ever remember being this tired before. I have been taking a nap every day in the afternoon and then going to bed at 8:00...yes you read it right...8:00 EVERY NIGHT! That is why there has been no blogging...those were the two times I could do it: nap time and after bed time.

Even though I feel so yucky I am SO happy to be pregnant! I am extremely relieved to be past my previous miscarraige date of 11 weeks. This baby has been our most prayed for baby so far. The boys, especially Nicholas, pray daily for the health of the baby. The strongest prayers they have offered were several weeks ago when I was spotting and very nervous. Sometimes, if Nicholas figures out that I am feeling sick, he will immediately drop to his knees and pray that I will feel better. The faith of children is strong. I hope Heavenly Father doesn't answer every prayer exactly, however, because last week Nicholas prayed that I would have 16 babies :) I think one will be enough.

Here are a few pictures of Estella with her favorite bear. I was checking the light before a photoshoot and grabbed Essie as she was. This is the way my kids look most of the time lately...messy hair, mismatched clothes, and dirty faces. I think they are all still happy, though, and that is my main goal!

Baby Pictures

If you want to see a few recent baby pictures, here is the link.

http://www.jenniferberryphotography.blogspot.com/

I put a new link now that works! Sorry about that.

The Bird that Never Sleeps

My sister in law let us borrow a tape of children's stories by Odds Bodkin. It is wonderful...full of excitement, great voices, and bits of music! My kids ask for it every time we get in the car. There is one story where 'Wowosim, the guardian bird' is guarding something. Over and over, the bird say, "I am the bird...who NEVER sleeps! I am the bird...who NEVER sleeps!"

Now let's switch gears a bit. Estella has been fighting nap time. It started when she realized that the boys often watch a movie while she is sleeping. I tried to remedy that by having the boys lay down in their beds for a "rest" before I started putting Essie to sleep, but I think she knows it's a bluff. Yesterday, nap time came around and I was desperate for her to sleep. She cried off and on for an hour. Then she started yelling, "MOM...MAMA," followed by, "I am a bird...NEVER sweeps! I am a bird...NEVER sweeps!!!" I couldn't believe my ears. What a hysterical, clever little girl!

Bathing Beauty

Estella still LOVES being in the water! Every morning while I am in the shower I can expect to have her join me before long. She pushes the door open and starts stripping. When I peek out to see if it is her she gives me a huge grin and says, "Naked. In the shower." She doesn't stand with her back to the water spray like both my boys did (still do). She gets in the water and sits down right in the middle of the downpour. I usually plug the tub so she can stay in for a while after I am finished. Here are a few pictures of her in the bath-after-shower. Her hair is hanging down her face because the shower water was falling right on top of her head the whole time.

For any photogs who are curious...I have HORRIBLE light in my bathroom, so I used a flash and bounced it off the wall directly to the left of her (as you are looking at the picture). I have been afraid to use flash, but have been experimenting with it in situations that I don't think I can get acceptable pictures otherwise. I have been surprised with some good results. I love that I was able to get some light in her eyes where without the flash, her eyes would have been completely dark. I also bounced the flash in the pictures of my kids devouring the leftover cookie dough.

Nicholas, the sorter

...sorting by color...

...and by shape!

I found it interesting how he arranged everything...with the same colors or shapes on opposite sides, mirroring each other. When all of the egg holes were filled, there were still some remaining buttons. I kept trying to think of complicated ways to move things around to make them all fit, but still keep the pattern. Nicholas was much smarter than me. He just put the rest of the buttons back in the bag...problem solved.

Cookie Dough Vultures

Ballerina Book Lover

My mom gave Estella these ballerina pajamas for Christmas. She loves them so much that she fights me when I try to take them off in the mornings. Several times, I have just let her wear them all day. I took her to the grocery store wearing them once and had multiple people comment on them.


Estella loves books. If she is ever quiet for a few minutes I get worried because it often means she is making some mischief, but lately I more often find her just sitting with a book in her lap, flipping through the pages. If I ever sit down on the couch, she immediately grabs a book, runs over, and asks, "Read it?"


This past week she has been continually asking me to read a book called "A Drop of Blood." It is a children's science book that explains our blood. I got it because Nicholas has been asking a lot of questions about how our bodies work. I expected the boys to like it, but Estella? She points and says "Platelets. White Cells." It is really cute.

Quarter Machine Disappointment

The boys both had a dollar and change to spend, so after a lot of pleading on their part we headed out to the Dollar Tree. It is so interesting to me how differently they spend their money. Thomas is very careful. He wants to look at ALL of the options, carefully narrowing it down to a few favorites to choose from. He asks a lot of questions about whether or not I think it will break easily, if I think it would be a good choice, etc. He never buys candy or food. He wants a toy that will last a long time. He is often disappointed and regrets his decision. Shopping with Thomas takes a long time. Once he has bought something he is pretty possessive and protective. He wants to be sure to keep his hard earned toy safe.



Nicholas, on the other hand, is super easy to shop with. He walks in the store, looks down the aisle, walks directly to the first toy that catches his attention, and says, "This is what I want." Done. Because he usually shops along with Thomas, he generally ends up changing his mind during the waiting time, but if it were just him it would be fast. He often buys food. He bought a big box of gobstoppers this year and shared them with the entire family for weeks. This time at the dollar store we happened to walk down the snack aisle on the way to check out. He spotted a big bag of animal crackers and was set on them. Even before we were all buckled in the van, he was opening them and generously passing them around.



Next to the exit door of the store there were some quarter machines. Nicholas still had a quarter pinging around in his money jar and those machines were just begging for it. He quickly decided on the runts and was very pleased with his handful of candy. Initially, Thomas said he wasn't going to get anything out of the quarter machines, even though he still had three quarters to spare. While Nicholas was buying his candy, though, Thomas spotted a Bakugon (very popular with his Kindergarten friends right now). Now, the cheapest Bakugon you can buy at Walmart or Target is $4. This machine only took $0.75. I didn't look closely at it, and just said he could do whatever he wanted with his money. He quickly put the money in, turned the crank, and pulled out.....a REALLY lame monkey head. He was shocked, angry, and in tears. He had been decieved by bad advertising. He tearfully asked if he could put it back and get his money back. When no was the answer, he was devastated. I looked closer at the machine and saw a large picture of bakugons covering almost the entire front. There was an opened Bakugon attatched to the picture. Looking closely inside at the little toys, there was ONE Bakugon at the very front where you could see it. Then, there were a lot of cases that were completely black so you couldn't see inside them. Finally, in the middle, heading down the chute were cheap, lame, junky things no one would want. I showed him this and we left. When we got home we talked about advertising and how you need to be careful when spending your money. We discussed how if you think you are going to be able to buy something for much less than you know it is worth, you probably aren't going to get what you think you are. All in all, I think it was a good lesson...a lesson that if remembered will be worth far more than $0.75.

After we took this picture, he threw the silly thing in the trash.

More Christmas Pictures

I didn't do a very good job at taking pictures while my family was here over Christmas. I think I was too preoccupied with being the hostess. Here are a few that I don't want to get lost in my sea of picture files, never to be seen again.