Kid Sister Indeed

Remember my post from a year ago about the girls randomly becoming obsessed with having a little sister? Probably not, so I'll remind you. While they already had a baby brother Dallin, they were suddenly entranced with the need for a baby sister. After a while they stopped asking about it. A few months later when we were in San Diego, they had Dad draw this picture of our family. Little Dallin on the far left, Dad, Mom, Brenna, Brooke and lo and behold in pops the baby sister.

I know it doesn't take much to be right about the gender of your next baby, it's 50/50. But at the same time, I think sometimes little kids know things. A few weeks ago, I was watching some home video of me talking to Brenna and Brooke when they were 2 years old. It was Christmastime, and they were both playing with their baby dolls. I asked them whether their baby was a girl or a boy, and they both said it was their "baby brother." I asked them if they were going to ask Santa for a baby brother, and they nodded yes. Less than a month later we found out we were pregnant, and it was a baby boy:)

This pregnancy I thought would most likely result in another boy for some reason. My older sister has two girls followed by two boys, and we had followed the same pattern thus far. The Chinese calendar has always been right for us, and it said a boy. So when we went in for my 18 week ultrasound, I was surprised at the complete lack of boy parts. No white weenies floating around like last time, and trust me we looked! Three different technicians, and they all saw the same thing. Three white dots, but no weenies and beans! I tend to always be wrong about what I'm having, so I guess it shouldn't have surprised me:) I'm just glad I don't have to choose, and that we get what we are suppose to!  I'm excited for this baby girl to join our family. I get the chance to experience the pregnancy and birth of twin girls, *one* boy, and *one* girl. Heck, maybe we'll get twin boys next time to even it all out. Ha!

It's funny how so many people have asked us if this is our last child. Even the lady who gave me a pedicure a few months ago tried to confirm that with me. It's odd to me that people care so much about how many kids other people have. I get curiosity, because sometimes I'm curious myself. But I would never respond to someones pregnancy announcement by saying, "this is the last one right?!" I honestly have no clue whether this is our last baby or not. I grew up wanting 16 kids, reality set in a long time ago, and ultimately I figure Heavenly Father knows best.  He will let us know when our family is complete. For now I tease Kevin about our next baby being a boy, and he teases me about this baby girl being our last. It's nice because neither one of us are 100% correct, and I like it that way:)

The Case of The Curly Hair

In the last few months or so, Dallin's hair has grown into a cute mop of curls on his head. Everyone always tells me how much they love his curly hair. Strangers, friends, people at the gym etc. What's not to love? I figure his halloween costume options have only expanded as he could easily pose as Richard Simmons, Nacho Libre, or one of the little brothers from the movie Brave. Well along with this admiration comes a commonly asked question. "Where does he get his curly hair from?" Well, that is an interesting question, and that is where the case begins. Now you may be thinking "why do you care about where he gets his curly hair from blah, blah, blah." First, you must realize that every time I have given birth to MY children, who spent 9 long months incubating in my cozy womb, carrying half of my chromosomes in them thank you very much, that everyone likes to tell me that they look like my husband, and thus look nothing like me:) I hear it a lot, and while I can agree on most of their points, I do not agree with all of them. So when someone asks where he gets his fine curly hair from, I must attempt to take some credit, and thus the case begins.

I give you exhibit A:

Toddler-ish aged me with fine blonde curls on my noggin.

I have clothes on, so this is a good one. Check it out.

Exhibit B:

 Naked (pardon me) toddler-ish aged me in a bucket of water with tightly rung all natural curls.

Boo-yah!

Exhibit C:

Just over toddler-ish aged me half naked (once again), and in boyish looking underwear for some odd reason. I had an issue with clothes when I was young, so you can't judge me or my parents too harshly. Plus we live in the desert, and I have a free spirit. But look at the hair. Do you see a pattern? Fluffy, fine, curly hair.

I'm the one on the right with the fluffy curls....Need I say more?

And just in case you weren't convinced, here is a recent picture of me when I let my hair do it's thing. Some mousse, and a diffuser and batta-boom, fine, curly hair.

To keep things fair I must provide some photos of Kevin as a toddler. I agree, he had some wave in his hair. Take a look see...

Exhibit A:

Kevin age one.

Exhibit B:

Kevin around 14 months old. I see some waves in his hair for sure.

Exhibit C:

Another toddler aged picture. Definitely some loose curls going on.

Kevin on his 2nd birthday.

           Lastly, I give you the handsome hubby Kevin with his current hair. Thick, dark, straight.

I cut it every couple of months so I would know:) 

And so you have it...the case of the curly hair. Where does Dallin get his fine curly hair from?

 I say he gets it from his momma, but I'll let you be the judge:)

Case Closed.

My Little Sister's Wedding

My little sister Tina got married in June! We are 16 months apart, and grew up sharing most everything including a room and sometimes bed. It's crazy to see your little sister married. It just seems like little sisters shouldn't be allowed to do such things! Well she did, and it was a really fun day!

Her colors were green and purple, and so my oldest sister and I decided to make matching ties for the boys to wear to the reception. This was my first time making a tie, and I sewed it all wrong and had to start all over. The second time came out much better, although not perfect. It took a lot longer then I thought! I was much more patient when I was in labor with Dallin then I was making this tie.

 Then I decided to make some extra bow ties for my nephews who would also be at the reception. It was a simpler pattern to follow, but once again I sewed it all wrong and had to pull out the seams and start over again! Sewing does not come naturally to me! They turned out really cute though, and it was fun to have all the boys in matching ties:)

 Dallin doesn't look very happy, but he actually did a lot of dancing at the reception and had fun with his cousins.

My older sister Aimee surprised Tina by coming to her wedding all the way from Florida! She brought her newest baby Levi with her. It was so fun to have her there!

Tina and Christian had a photo booth at their reception, and it was really fun taking pictures. I loved having something to take home as a little memento:)

The blushing bride in her gorgeous dress! This was right before she was going to toss her bouquet.

Apparently there were no adult single ladies at the reception, because only small children were present to catch the bouquet. Brenna reached out to grab it as it was coming down, and it hit her in the face. This was no small throw bouquet, it was heavy and had lots of stems at the bottom, and so it did some minor damage.

 So as Brenna is bawling from the cuts on her face, Brooke comes over to announce that she got the bouquet, although Brenna's face touched it first.

  Fortunately, Brenna was OK, other then having some nasty scrapes on her face. We had a lot of fun dancing, eating tasty foods, and visiting with family and friends. Once we saw these little prints next to the chocolate cake, and Dallin covered in chocolate, we called it a night:)

Kindergarten

Today was Brenna and Brooke's first day of Kindergarten!

 Crazy stuff! So I was looking back at their pictures from preschool, and was amazed at how much they have changed each year. Take a gander...

1st year of Preschool

2nd Year of Preschool

1st Day of Kindergarten

I knew that Kindergarten was coming, I just put it off as a distant thought until yesterday when I realized it was here!  I felt nervous and anxious, and wondered how I would feel dropping them off that first day. I was very used to preschool, but that was only for 2.5 hours a day, and not the whole day, every day. I'm a mom and I'm full of pregnancy hormones, so I was pretty concerned. I didn't want to be a blubbering mess. I spent the day cleaning and getting their backpacks and things ready. Once it was bedtime, Kevin gave them each a blessing which was very sweet. I became more nervous by the minute, but the girls were cool as cucumbers. They had been counting down the days, and couldn't wait to start school. I was exhausted by the time I was done making their lunches and finishing things around the house. Around 10pm I was in bed, but didn't end up falling asleep until close to 2am. My body was so tired, but my mind started racing once my head hit the pillow. "What ifs" began to plague my mind. "What if it's too long for them to be away?" "What if they get hurt, and I'm not there?", "What if some crusty old janitor tries to abduct them?" A few hours in I wondered if I should have considered homeschooling, or having them start next year instead. Finally I broke down crying, and asked Kevin for a blessing. I may have needed one more then the girls did! It was exactly what I needed, and I finally fell asleep:)

This morning went really well, even with the lack of sleep on my end. We all got up on time and everyone was ready and out the door as planned. It was a zoo at the school, and finding a parking spot amidst the maze of cars was interesting. Fortunately, my MIL took Dallin, and Kevin came with me to help get the girls to their classes. They opted to be in separate classes, and each one had their own specific things they needed to do that morning. I was so glad to have Kevin there! We got them all settled into their classes, and sitting by someone they knew from church. They weren't scared at all, and I didn't shed a tear. Success!

When I came home with Dallin, I wasn't sure what to do exactly. We played for a while, and watched some of the Olympics on TV. I got ready for the day, we ate lunch, and Dallin went down for his nap. The whole house was quiet, for almost 3 hours, and it was surreal! Suddenly I began cleaning things, and doing laundry, and organizing, and it hit me that the reason why some people have such clean houses, is because their kids are at school and they have time like this to just focus on cleaning. I finally get it, and  wow, what a phenomenon! I won't lie, it was actually really nice to be able to just clean and do nothing else. Every now and then I'd watch the clock and wonder what they were up to. I thought about them when it was their lunch time, and wondered how they were doing. By the time I went to turn on the TV and veg some, I realized it was time to get Dallin up and go pick up the girls.

Once again, the traffic around the school was horrendous, but we managed to find a parking spot and reach the girls classroom just before the bell rang. They only had good things to report about their class and what they did. Brenna mentioned that when she went to the bathroom with her class friends, that she accidentally de-pants before she was in the stall and all the girls giggled. She is such a funny girl, but I was glad that she could laugh about it, and I made sure to help her to remember to be in the stall BEFORE she undresses! Overall everything went terrific, and I'm excited for them.

Yay for kindergarten!