Celebrating Chasers

My parents got to celebrate chases one year birthday! SO nice to have them with us for the evening. Cheers to you baby Chasers. We love you more and more each day!

This is the look he gives when he loves the cuddles he's getting....
I love this pic...
Let us not forget cousin Sara who graced us with her beautiful, magical, contagiously smiling presence. We loooove you!

Gray-ma and Crap-pa

As Madeline kindly named them when she was 3. My wonderous parentals stopped by for a quick visit last weekend. I heart them. They are the greatest parents I could ever hope for. They're just plain awesome. And my children adore them so much. A few pics from our night together:

Oh mom...why did I ever let you talk me out of piano? Just because you were my fab teacher...and I whined and whined. How I wish I knew how to play now. Dang you mom! :) (notice I did not say damn)

My dad is just as obsessed with his iphone as the rest of the nation. :) And p.s. how can he stand all those children climbing on him???

Then on Sunday we went to my cousins homecoming. She just returned from a mission in France. C'est la Vie! Then chilled at their house afterwards....

Man this pic makes it look like we have a bazillion kids:

This is our 1920's serious pic. rob looks the best in the west. Jasper looks possessed and Sara looks like she's about to kill someone. :)

Dressed

Tanner has been secretly wearing multiple shirts and pants. Finally on Sunday I caught him getting ready for church like this:

I asked him what he was doing, he said this way he doesn't have to get in his pajamas at night because he already has them on.

I mean, come on, do you blame him?

My Wedding

Today Tae says:

"Mom, when you got married, did you drop me off somewhere?"

after threatening to "run away" to Kims house last night, today after doing something she didn't love, said "then I'm not going to be in your family!"

Man, the girl is a crack up.

Girls Heart Food, Boys Heart Swords

After a thought provoking lesson on Sunday about parenthood I came home and asked the same question to my chillens and lovely Anne (teacher) asked hers. It was quite amusing.

Q: "What is the most important thing I can teach you?"

Maddie: "How to handle bad situations" and (my personal fave) "Dessert is NOT the meaning of dinner" I say, speak for yourself Maddie Sue. :)

Jaren:"You should teach us about the Gospel" and "That you love me"

Tanner: "How to block a sword" and "If someone steals me, I'll kill them"

Tae: "To ask for a cookie" and "To be nice"

Q: "What's the most important thing you can give someone?"

Maddie: Love

Jaren: A sword or love

Tanner: A ninja costume

Tae: Treats

Well there you go people. I have my work cut out for me.

Seriously....

I almost can't take the cleaning up after children ANYMORE. I'm so sick of the mess. The constant mess. I can clean all day long. The house will be spotless, then- I'm not joking- 5 minutes after kids come home from school the entire house is like one giant disaster area. I'm not looking for the "joy" in dishes anymore. I'd like to scream. I'm having a major Sunday moment.
Thank you.

Chase is ONE

Sweet baby Chase Rockwell. What would we have done with out you in our family? It was such a hard decision for us to make, having another babes. I can't say too many times how glad I am I listened to my heart and spirit. He's been an absolute JOY. His big cheesy, teethy grins, the way he lays his forehead on your face letting you know he loves you, the way he plays with his own hair while he nurses, or his little tongue always hanging out while he attempts something, the new mamamama and dad speaking, his constant fascination with cupboards and drawers-pulling out everything in them. We love love love you-

more than you will ever know.

Good Morning Tanner

Tanner was in a decent mood this morning. They're not his greatest asset in life. He's usually pretty grumpers in the a.m. He came down stairs with Jarens Valentines box. Then asked for M&M's to put in it to make a trap for the leprechaun.

"If I catch a leprechaun, one of my three wishes is going to be to be able to FLY"

Later when he wasn't happy with me, he said this nice sentence to me:

"Anyone in the world is nicer than you"

And don't worry, Taelyn is in her room crying right now- 8:59 am. because she can't have chocolate.

So there. Good Morning.

Touch.

It was a Sunday. I was 5, maybe 6. We had relatives over. I was in my room, sad. Wanting attention. I was sitting on the bottom bunk, crying. My parents and aunt Bonnie were in the dining room at the table. I cried louder. And louder until someone heard me. Bonnie came in, asked me what was wrong. "I don't know" I kept saying over and over. She had me on her lap. I remember this like it was yesterday. "Well I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong" she said. She had a point. But I didn't want to tell her what was really wrong. Because nothing was wrong. I just wanted a hug...from my mom. I wanted her in that room with her arms around me, squeezing the sadness away. Eventually Bonnie gave up and left my small bedroom. A few minutes later, my mom came in...scooped me up and held me. And I was fine.

I get a little choked up just thinking about that moment. Feeling are time travelers you know. That was me. That still is me.

Amazing what the human touch will do. I find now that I'm a mom I don't feel like I need that as much as I did when I was a child. And I forget that my children need it- long for it. There's something about being held The pressure of a tight hug. The softness of my moms skin, hearing her soft muffled voice through her chest as I lay against her. The safety. It's powerful, a moms love and touch. They're fond fond memories. I still get that feeling when I hug my mom today. Now I can create those same feeling for my own children. Feelings of safety, love, like nothing else matters. To a child, nothing else does matter. What an amazing gift. I must remember this. I must give this. I will try harder.

Uh-Oh

So baby Chasers turned ONE yesterday. I'm planning to do his one year pictures as soon as his little cold goes away and he's himself again. In the mean time let me tell you what he's up to.
he's been happily crawling for 6 months now. Pulling himself up on furniture for 5. Do you think he has any interest in actually walking? That would be No.
Still as smiley as ever. There's nothing like huge, gummy smiles that make my heart melt.
He has become a little stinker. Crawls down the stairs, and opens drawers, pulls out everything in them. His favorite is the bread drawer. He dumps out the bread then crumbles it to bits. Just today I found him in the bathroom where he had put a marker in the toilet and was trying desperately to fish it out. His antics are reminding me of a certain little boy named Tanner. :) At least I know he'll keep my life interesting.

I love those buns....

But we're cuter than the other girls are..

You can click to see a bit bigger....

A few more shots from out Mesa trip. Emma and Maddie striking a pose or two...but what's new. :)

And now...their debut of "The Cutie Girls"

Tae-isms

I love this age! Every time Taelyn speaks it's hilarious. A few of our conversations today:

"Mom, where does the Easter Bunny live?"

" I don't know"

"He lives in Arizona, I went and visited him. He has a nene and a grandma, and brothers and sisters. "

"Is Jesus borned today?!!"

"No, Tae, it was a long time ago..."

"Did you take care of Jesus when he was a baby"

"No, he had his mom and dad, Mary and Joseph"

"Mom, when Mary and Joseph were babies, I taked care of them when I was a mom"

" Taelyn, you look sooo sleepy"

"I'm not, see (holding her eyelids up) my eyes is smiling!"

Her classic phrase:

"I will do it by my own self"

Every time she needs to do anything for some reason she puts an "un" in front of it. Like, if she's getting dressed- "I'm is getting undressed mine own self"

The Toot fairy

Jaren lost his tooth the other day, the tooth fairy rudely forgot to come that night! The nerve... so the next night he left this note under his pillow:


"Dear Toot Fairy,
I lost my tooth, but I can't find my tooth because you didn't come the first night.
Jaren"

Way to stick it to her Jay!

Hello AZ

I just got back from a long weekend in Mesa. I took Mr. Chasers and Madeline. It was so enjoyable. Just getting away from MY dishes, and same ole....it was refreshing. It's always nice to get away. We stayed with Jana and her family. The first night I was there I did photos for them. Aren't they so cute!? Hugs to you Jana.

I did a few photo shoots while I was there. Maddie and bestie Emma played the whole time. My fantastic Mother in law also came and stayed in a hotel in Tempe. Maddie and Emma got to go hang out there. They LOVED it. Like, really LOVED it. When I was there with them, we walked in and Emma immediately laid on the bed, put her arms behind her head and said "I'm soooo rich". It was hilarious. Nene likes to spoil them. She took them swimming the day before (while I was doing photos and hanging out with high school friends) and then came to the room and got room service for ONE hot chocolate. Then took them to the restaurant in the hotel courtyard where the girls made friends with the server Gia. They pulled out all the stops for them. They felt like movie stars.

So, on Saturday when I came to hang out with them we went swimming. So we get there and there are MEN everywhere. Like, EVERYwhere. Spring Training was going on and apparently a ton of them were at this hotel. So, imagine. There are no kids there, only Emma and Mads, and maybe 8 women, and about 30 men. Most were hanging out in the jacuzzi's on either end of the pool with their tats and beers. Madeline and Em would swim the length of the pool, then squeeze their way amongst all of these men to get in the jacuzzi with them. It was pretty much hilarious! Look closely for the backs of Emma and Maddie's heads.....

It really was lovely. Chasey was good. Maddie was great. We were able to see Nene, and Ashley and Ramsey and Ry all showed up at the hotel on Sat. before Rams did a show in Tempe. It was so great. Right before we left the hotel Maddie and Em wanted to say goodbye to Gia...so they go to the restaurant and there she is. She hugs them and gives them free Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Seriously? They know how to put on the charm! :)

Notes

I receive many many notes from Madeline. Most of the time they're so sweet, actually they're always sweet. But this is one I got a few weeks ago. I had gotten upset with her for who knows what, and she was pretty hurt by it. She never ever wants to do anything wrong. I can just give her a "look" and she can dissolve into feeling like she's disappointed me. So, I have to be really careful not to hurt her feelings. A soft answer really does work for her. Wish I was better at that. ANYWAY, I just LOVE the front of the note:

And here is the inside:

:) I love her. I'm glad she feels like she can express her feelings like this to me. I apologized for hurting her feelings and we were friends again.