Big Sisters

My girls love their new sister. Avery is obsessed with holding her and wants to do everything for her and if anyone else is holding her she gets a little jealous.
Hailey loves her sister as well and wants to help clean her and burp her...and whenever Mattie starts to cry she has two big sisters that in an instant are by her side ready to take care of her. Also the number of kisses that baby Mattie gets daily is outstanding....even when she is sleeping the girls will sneak in and plant a kiss on her little head.

What its like having all girls....

This is an everyday occurrence. Hailey loves to dress up in her princess dress...including a crown, a wand and high heels. I never thought my girls would be so....girly! We are a sporty family....we take the girls hunting...watch sports on TV.....we go to sporting events...and still my girls want to cheer lead, dance and dress up like a princess.
My girls are constantly pretending....and since Mattie was born they have both turned into little hypochondriacs. Avery is constantly complaining about injuries and last week she was insisting on going to the chiropractor....The above picture is her playing chiropractor...she is trying to give Hailey an adjustment.

The girls have noticed I have a few ouchies since having the baby so Hailey has adopted my ouchies. She will say her back and tummy hurts too...and I am constantly kissing her ouchies better. I think this is all stemming from lack of attention....and hopefully we can be better at finding time to giving them more attention.

Other things about having girls....
-I now know all the princesses names...
-They change clothes on an average of five times a day.
-They love to dance and when a song comes on TV that they like they usually have to get up and dance and most of the time they have to change into a dance outfit.
-They are sensitive
-They love to wrestle with dad...but usually end up crying...
-They have hormonal crying.....(I was tucking Avery in and she started crying....I asked her why and she said "I don't know...I just feel like crying...I think I an feeling a little sad.")
-They have to pick out their own clothes...and they have certain items of clothing they just will not wear.
-They care what other people think or say about them. (Avery refuses to wear a pair of pants she got for Christmas because she thinks they are not cool and people will laugh at her when she wears them.)
-They are little care givers and love to take care of those around them.
-They are both very stubborn

I love my girls and their bold personalities...but I am really hoping Mattie will be my mellow...easy going child....but I really doubt that.

Baby Mattie

Baby Mattie was born of February 4th. The delivery was easy going...especially with an epidural....I am all about the drugs!!! Mattie Faye was 6lbs 15 ounces and 19 inches long.
Fortunately basketball ended at the beginning of the week so I had a few days to get things ready for Mattie to come. She was 4 days early and to be honest....i thought she would never come. I was feeling really good most of that week...which was much different then my other pregnancies. I wont give you long labor details...but lets just say if Matt wasn't so persistent and bossy I would not have gone to the hospital when we did....which would have made for an interesting birth story.
Mattie is such a chill baby....she really doesn't cry...and I love this six pounds of joy so much. She loves to cuddle and she has the cutest little smile.
Just a few of my favorite things about Mattie...
She has long fingers and toes....great for swimming and basketball :)
I love her black hair and cute little nose
She has the cutest little pouty lips
She makes adorable sounds in her sleep
She grunts when she is getting hungry
she has been smiling since she was 3 days old

Catch up on postings

Christmas morning....the girls were pretty spoiled. Each year I try and budget for Christmas but some how I always go over. Between us and Santa...and all the grandparents...great grandparents...cousins and auntie Jessica....my girls get way to much. Next year it is my goal to keep things simplified.
Avery's nightlight! I wanted to make a cool nightlight for Avery's room...since she has to have a light. So over Thanksgiving my dad helped me make this light.....he did most of the construction work on it.....thats why it came out as cool as it did....he is pretty talented!
Another year with Mr. Barney. Our neighbor Mr. Barney has been having a lot more health problems but fortunately he was able to spend another Christmas with us. it wouldn't be the same without him.

Christmas Eve

Aunt Jessica came from California and stayed for a whole month. The girls loved it!
We spent Christmas Eve with the Berry's and some friends from our ward. The girls got to open their Christmas Pajamas. Big sister and little sister pj's. They looked pretty cute.

Growing Family

Well we thought it was time to go public with our little announcement. We will be welcoming another little girl to our family....February 8th. We thought we might get a boy this time but I guess we are really good at making girls:)

We did not tell the girls till our ultrasound and when Avery found we were having a baby she was pretty excited but determined to get her baby brother. When the ultrasound technician told us it was a girl Avery told her she was wrong and that she had been praying for a baby brother. She pouted for a little while and eventually got over it. Now she has been telling everyone she is going to have another baby sister.

Our Little Family

My little cuties. We had to take these pictures on a cold windy day. Their little noses were so red and runny but we made it through and the girls looked so adorable.

Avery came home from school the other day and informed me that we need to buy some drums. This was our conversation...
Avery: "Mom you need to buy some drums...ok."

Me: "Uhh why?"

Avery: "Because my friend Kayden wants to come over and play some drums....and we don't have any for him to use."

Me: "Why does he want to play drums at our house and why can't he buy his own?"

Avery:....rolls her eyes and says..."Mom Kayden and I are forming a band and he wants to play the drums and i want to play the keyboard....so you need to go to the store and buy them..ok!"

Me: "Ya that is not happening....our house it too small for your band practice."

Avery: "So lets just move to a bigger house so I can have a band."

I got to hand it to her...she makes a good argument :)

Homework time

I watch Matt's cousins a few times a week and the other day after school I found the girls working hard on their computers. Sam and Avery were watching Justin Beiber (not sure if i spelled that right) music videos and Hailey and Morgan were working hard on their homework. For some reason this little scene cracked me up.

P.S. Not a fan of this Justin B. and I especially hate that his stupid face is on 50% of the little girls clothing. Trying to clothes shop for a five year old was tough we had the choice of Justin B., Hello Kitty, or a plain old T-shirt. I had to buy half of her clothes online to avoid this little problem.

My first cake

This was a cake that I made for a friend. It was her daughters 12th birthday and she asked me to make a cake for it. The only thing her daughter really requested was the lime green color. So I went for a lime green zebra print made out of homemade fondant. The top layer was supposed to kind of look like a cheetah print. I did it out of buttercream frosting because I was worried not everyone would love fondant. The little cheetah spots I made out of chocolate as well as the number 12 on top of the cake. The stars were made out of fondant as well. I also made the cake stand.
I didn't realize how heavy this sucker was until we went to drop it off. My arms were burning from holding it for the 15 minute drive. But it was a fun experience and I think the birthday girl liked it...so that made all the hard work worth it. I see people do this stuff on TV or online all the time and you don't realize that it is time consuming.

School Time

It is official I now have a kindergartner. It was so much fun going school shopping with her and getting everything ready for the big day....and when that day arrived I am not sure who was more excited ...me or her.

So we got her all ready...she had picked out her outfit the night before...and we took some quick pictures before we walked over to the school. But before we could leave her grandma Berry came over to get some pictures. Avery started to get a little impatient and with hands on her hips she says "Mom we really need to get going, I really don't want to be late."

I was amazed how ready she was for all of this. She went up and introduced herself to her teacher....I saw other kids in her class hanging on their mothers legs with tears in their eyes and I wondered if she should be a little more nervous.

The next day I dropped her off a little earlier so she could eat breakfast at the school. I asked her if she needed my help getting her situated and she instantly said "No mom, you can just stay in the car I know how to do it." I love her independent spirit. But most of all I love having her gone most of the day....I don't mean that to sound bad...but she is so much happier and I am more productive. So all in all ........we are loving school.

Stanford Grad

This is also old news but my amazing sister graduated from Stanford this spring with her masters. There were 8 people total in her program and they were all so talented.
My sisters....on just graduated and is now traveling the world and the other is experiencing the adventures of a newly wed.
To celebrate the occasion I was able to stay and hang out with Jenni for a week and enjoy the life of luxury....with no kids and no worries. We played rock band...shopped...ate...hung by the pool...ate....and ate some more.

Blog Updates

So I have tried many times to upload these pictures....and then months went by and I am trying again. So this is old news but Josh went on his mission. He is doing so good. He loves his mission and he is working really hard....which surprised us all :)
Hailey at Avery's T-ball game. She really wanted to get in there and play with her big sister.
Avery and her T-ball buddy. Watching her team play was funny and frustrating all at the same time. When the ball was hit they would all run after it and then dog pile on one another. I am hoping next year she might get the concept of the game.

I am going "insane"

Just started a new workout program called Insanity. After 6 months of P90x I was not seeing the results I had hoped for...and the routine was feeling a little old. So my friend and I decided we would switch gears and try this more cardio based series. So far we have done one week and it sucks...in a good way...it kicks my butt...I am literally drenched in sweat after a workout. I am hoping it will help me reach my goal..... to look like a hot black guy with ripped abs...just kidding.....I am just hoping to get in better shape.

5 years old

I can't believe I have a five year old. She is getting so big it is hard to remember all her cute baby stages. This last week seemed like a big step for us. We had her birthday, she started tee ball, and we had to sign her up for kindergarten. She was so excited when she found out she would be eating school lunch and getting her own locker. I was excited when I found out they were offering full day kindergarten!
I over dosed on cake this week. Cake and frosting is my Achilles hill...I love it.....so much that sometimes I get that weird urge to just...smash my face in it...ya I know... that sounds a little disturbed.
"Holy Crap....a bike"


Avery got a bike for her birthday from Gma and Gpa Berry. She loves it...every morning she goes out to check on it. Our friends gave her a little bell and every morning I hear her ringing that little bell. Now if it would quit snowing we could go out and ride.