Can you believe it?

Noah is 11. I am not ready, but it's true that he is 11. He got donuts and kickstart for breakfast. I know, I know, I'm an atrocious mom. 

He swindled me for a PS3 and a couple of games for it. Then had a late night party with some friends to play video games. We ate lots of snacks, And played lots of games. It was good times. 

His friends that joined us were Brayden, Jackson, Wyatt, Tanner, Colby, Hudson, and Gavin. 

He is still my favorite Noah in all the world. He's a great boy, uh I mean young man. He had a very happy birthday.

Skiing and boarding

Snow. I love watching it fall. How it glitters in the light. I hate how cold and wet it is. I have lived it Utah for 20 years and I've never participated in any outdoor sport that involves "The Greatest snow on Earth". It seems like a horrible way to spend the day. However, I am very blessed that my husband feels differently. He is such a good dad to get up early on Saturdays and take his boys up to the resort. He has been taking Noah up to learn snowboarding a few times. Today he took Adam up and got him a skiing lesson. They both really enjoy it. 

Festival of Trees 2013

Once again I helped Carina with a tree this years festival of trees. She did it for a woman in her wards mom who is suffering from cancer. I met her on decorating day but don't know much more about her. I really just helped this year to help Carina. Unfortunately we had Drew take pictures of us decorating so they didn't turn out very good. I've got one with the finished tree that will suffice. It's fun and stressful all at the same time, but well worth it for the children. 

She sure is

Today I remembered that Tiny is 4 months old. I want to put an updated picture of her on the blog. She is getting so big and squishy. Some cute things she does are she tilts her head to the side when you talk to her. I don't know why, but it's so adorable. She sleeps from 9-5ish. She loves when Seth sings to her. She will be crying and he will go over to her and sing and she will stop and watch him. She rolls over to her back when I put her on her stomach. She's so much fun! I will update her stats at her 4 month appt. it's on the 20th.

Tiny's updated stats at 4 months. 

12 lbs. 8 oz. she's in the 25%

Length is 25 inches or 75% I'd like to point out that she was 21 inches at birth. 4 inches in 4 months. CRAZY!!!

Her head was 16 inches. She's getting so big and we still dig her!

Cooking class with Seth

My cute Seth is my middle child. He kind of gets lost in the shuffle sometimes because he is so sweet and cooperative. In order to instill some self-confidence in Seth I've put him in swimming classes, and I've been teaching him how to cook. He's been doing very well at swimming, and because he's the only one in our family who takes lessons it makes him feel special. This is good and great and all, but I'm uber excited to see how much he loves to cook!!! It's one of my loves so I'm glad he is latching on to this talent. Recently he's asked me to teach him to make ramen noodles. 

This is a big deal to him because he LOVES ramen noodles. When he was in his "I'm 2 and no one can make me eat anything I don't want to" days, he would always eat ramen noodles. He is so excited to learn to make it.

We've also made French toast, macaroni and cheese, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and chicken nuggets! It's been fun!

Short but so sweet!

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite joys of having babies is bath time. All of my babies but one, who shall remain nameless, loved bath time. I just can't resist a baby in a big fluffy towel! Like I said, this post is short, but she is soooo sweet!

Blessing Day

On Sunday September 29, 2013 we blessed Faith. I think she knew it was a special day because she was so good all day long. When she was born I felt like she was just a baby and there weren't many things about her that made her different from my boys besides the physical differences. As I have spent a lot of time with her and I've gotten to know her my opinion has changed...drastically. There is a spirit of peace and humility about her. When I look into her eyes I see the light of Christ shining through her. I feel that all my kids are destined for greatness in different ways, but I am finding this out about Faith much sooner. 

I didn't write any of her blessing down, but I will try and remember as much as I can. There were some really special things that she was blessed with. She was blessed with a strong healthy body. As a mother that's always good to hear. She was blessed to find an eternal companion that will take her to the temple. Another sigh of relief from me. 

She was blessed to have children and experience the joys of motherhood.

Some other things she was blessed with were much more specific. She was blessed to have a wonderful and fulfilling relationship with her mother. She was blessed to be very close to me and we are to teach each other many things. That means I will learn from her as much as she learns from me. She was blessed with the ability and responsibility to teach her brothers how to treat and respect women. In turn they will take good care of, protect, and love her. She was blessed with power to bless the lives of those around her because of her beautiful spirit. Something like that. 

After sacrament the whole family went back to my house. My dad mentioned to me that in the circle he didn't close his eyes through the entire blessing. (Sorry to rat you out Dad) He said he couldn't take his eyes off of Faith. She was staring up at the ceiling and he knew she was looking up into heaven. He could feel that the veil was so thin for her in those few minutes. That was another special moment shared that day.

All in all, it was a very overwhelming, spiritual, and wonderful day. She is our angel and I am feeling so blessed to be entrusted with such a special and beautiful soul in my life. At 12 weeks she is already a perfect addition to our family. I am so excited for her to grow up and see who she will become, but for now I'm just going to cuddle with her.

She is so pretty!

Sethers turns 5, and preschool AGAIN

On 9-7-2008 my middle child, Seth was born. He was a beautiful baby. He was happy and easy going. Everyone would say, "I just love Seth! I don't know why, but I love to be around him." We still feel that way about Seth and still don't know exactly what it is that makes us love to be around him. He's got such a great spirit. He's very sweet, smart, competitive, and has the best smile. 

I cant leave out the super excited picture! He's known for it! It's part of what makes him special. He wanted a chocolate baseball cake of course. He LOVES baseball! He also loves the Rangers so their logo is on the cake. They were his T-ball team.  He got a new glove and some real bases to play baseball with for his birthday. We went to Get Air, of course. That seems to be the thing to do these days. The Hardings and my parents joined us. The only people he wanted to invite were Bennett and Wilson.

Seth also started preschool the same week he turned 5. Yes, I said pre-school. He missed the deadline by 7 days to go to kindergarten. It will be good for him to wait another year because he needs to learn to speak up a little more. 

He's such a stud! 

First things first

This week was filled with a lot of firsts that are worthy enough to mention. 

My adorably sweet baby, Faith, slept through the night. She is 8 weeks tomorrow. She is such a rock star baby. 

Josh is at the stage where he just wants to drink all the time. This week he decided that he loves chocolate milk. I had to invest in some Hershey's syrup in order to make him happy. This is noteworthy because none of my other kids drank milk of the chocolate persuasion. 

Seth is having a hard time lately laying off the video games. It has required some adult intervention. I am creating a mandatory cooking class for him. So far, every Tuesday because that's what day it is today. We made Dutch soft pretzels. I thought I'd have to drag him kicking and screaming into the kitchen, but after he finished his level he came willingly. See the issue we have here?

Folding the pretzel shapes

Brushing with egg

Eating the finished product! Yummy!

Adam took on the task of mowing the lawn. He's only 8, and it seemed like a very hard job for him, but he did well.

He even found time to be funny. That's just his style:)

Noah has always struggled with reading. He can do it, and he's really quite good at it, but unfortunately he follows after the likes of his mother and doesn't enjoy it very much. He finally found a book that he enjoys, and has consistently been reading every day without having to pull any hair out or bribing or reading to him. Hopefully when he's finished it, not if, we can find another one he can enjoy.

Me, I've started running again. I can only stand to be the chubby wife for so long before I have to take action. Everyone says I've got a good excuse with the baby and all, but why would I use it? I'd rather lose it.

(Sorry no photo available)

Then there is Ben. You better ask him. He's not around enough for me to know if he's tried something new this week.

Got my shoes tied tight

After a crazy busy summer we are at it again. School started this week. My kids both came home crying in June on the last day of school. Neither of them got the teacher they wanted and swore up and down that none of there friends were in their classes. Not a single one. So, last week I made them walk down to the school with me and look at the class lists posted on the front door. They both had a few boys they knew and could hang out with. They weren't their very best buddies, but kids they could handle. I think it put their minds at ease at least for the day.  

When Monday came and it was time to ride off to school they both seemed to have forgotten how upset they were just a few few months ago about which teacher they got. (I wasn't going to be the one to remind them.) They both came home after school and raved about their teachers and experiences. Hopefully it's the beginning of a very good year. 

As for me... I've got 3 at home and I'm starting in on a new adventure in babysitting. That's right, I'm opening up my home to babysitting some children this year. If anyone knows someone who lives around here and needs childcare let me know. I'll see if it will fit into the schedule. Oh yeah, and wish me luck.

Aren't the boys handsome?!

I'm wearing every pair I own

Life is funny today. I think we have exhausted all of our summertime activity ideas. We have resorted to extreme measures. Adam decided that it would be funny to put on a diaper and pretend to be a super baby. Uh, ok.

This turned into more fun ideas when Noah decided to put on every pair of underwear he owns. Then he asked me to punch him in the butt because it doesn't hurt. Thats always a good idea, as long as it doesn't hurt. Seth got in on the fun too, but I'm not sure how many pairs he has on, or who's underwear he is wearing. Is that a problem? What the...?

We counted and Seth has 11 pairs of underwear and 3 pairs of shorts.

17 pairs of underwear.

Taking them off.

There is obviously no order in our house, and school needs to start sooner than later! At least we are laughing.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

Seth decided for his summer class he wanted to take swimming lessons. He loves to swim and has no fear of the water. Over the years we've had to pull him out of the water by his waistband or back if the neck a few times because he jumped into water that was too deep. Swimming lessons must be a good idea. So, like many moms in the area do I enrolled him in the swimming classes at South Davis Rec Center. He has loved it. The preschool classes teach them the basics of swimming strokes for freestyle, breast stroke, and back stroke. They are highly assisted because they are 3-5 years old, but learn the basics. They are also contributing to the comfort level these kids feel in the water. Seth doesn't need help with that. Anyway, the classes are every day for 2 weeks. After the first week his teacher says he is already ready to move in to the next level, and we still have another week! It's exciting to see your kids do well at something that they love. I hope he sticks with it:)

This is his rocket ship

All wet after class!

King of the Selfies

I'm hoping that everyone has someone in their family who is a professional at the cellfy. You know, the picture that you take of yourself. My sister, being a mom, is great at it because she takes all the pictures. Otherwise she's not ever in any pictures. My professional selfy is Seth. He doesn't play on my phone very often, but when he does I always get it back with at least one picture and one video of him, taken by him. 

July 5, 2013

June 13, 2013- this ones color got altered somehow. I didn't even know my phone could do that.

May 21, 2013

I have many, many more examples, but you get the idea. Isn't he a funny boy? I really like him:)

You gotta have Faith

I know, I know, I know I totally missed the opportunity to post about the new baby in our family, Faith Elizabeth Horsley. She is a complete miracle, and joy in my life. No one, least of all me, ever thought I'd have a girl. However, here she is.

She is beautiful. She was born July 11, 2013. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz and was 21 inches long. (The exact measurements of Noah) She has really long feet, toes and fingers. Her toes are my favorite. I don't know how they have nails on them because they are so small. 

Just like Noah she was born with lots of dark hair. Perhaps it will grow out blond and have reverse tips like Noah did.

The boys all love her and are willing to hold her if I need to go to the bathroom or make lunch. Adam is especially in love with her and willing to help. Which is funny because he was the one who was disappointed when I found out she was a girl. Now he's singing a different tune. At the hospital, I had to set a timer so Adam and Noah would take turns holding her. They weren't willing to share her otherwise.

My mom bought her this cute tutu skirt and I put it on her on Sunday. When Josh came home from church he says, "Mom, you put on your babies pretty princess?" Yes son, I put on her princess. 

Josh hasn't grasped a couple of concepts yet. He calls her a him and a brother. He says "your baby" or "that baby" when he refers to her. I don't think he's quite ready to claim her as his sister.

 We are all so excited to have her here. She is a very calm and sweet baby who sleeps pretty well so far and eats like a rock star. She loves to cuddle and be held by anyone who will pick her up. Now that she is a week old I am finally introducing her to you. Faith, we love you and wish you good luck being in the Horsley family.