Four Months

I love doing these month updates of my babies. They grow and change so much in just a month's time.  

Asa is becoming quite the talker. He talks when he's happy or sad and loves when someone will talk back to him. 

He's got the sweetest smile and makes us all feel like a million bucks when he smiles at us. But he also is learning how to grab things and his favorite thing to grab is hair. Ouch! 

His face says it all here...he's a little scared of his big sister, for good reasons. And also scared of the violin...it makes him pucker when Mariah is playing. We also went to an orchestra performance and that brought on the puckers. 

Tummy time doesn't bug him too much and he's even rolled from back to stomach a few times and once from stomach to back. 

He's getting more hair and it's fun to style it. 

He's a big time drooler and has been spitting up more, which makes a fun time with Asa quickly turn into panic and disgust for Asa's siblings. 

He still isn't a great sleeper but I can usually get him to take a pretty good nap in the carrier. We spend a lot of time sleeping on the couch in the night too. I just have to remind myself that he won't always be a horrible sleeper right? right? 

But he's still the favorite around here and we love the joy he brings. 

That Thankful Time of Year

 We started November with one of Tanner's favorite past times...family pictures. Ok, so it isn't Tanner's favorite, but he loves me so he "suffers" through it. Vivi was hilarious and this picture Tanner got perfectly captures her essence throughout the whole photo shoot. 

The kids had their primary program at church and all of the kids did so well. The spirit is always so strong. The primary got to play a game with the Bishopric where they got to put different things on them whenever they answered a question correctly. Luckily I was pacing the halls with Asa so I was able to snap this picture: 

Tanner got creative with dinner one night...

Mariah got braces; just three brackets on her top teeth. She's got a long road of braces ahead of her so she wasn't exactly excited about this milestone.

We don't have any pictures of this, but we went to Kidsymphony's performance of Peter and the Wolf with a performer acting it out as well. It was so delightful and we all had grins on our faces watching it. 

We went down to Tiff and Cameron's for Thanksgiving this year. We split the trip there into two days, leaving on Sunday afternoon. The kids did pretty well at the hotel. We've learned that long car rides help Asa to sleep really well because he wears himself out screaming in the car. But we didn't have a pack and play for Vivi so she was a little bit harder to get to sleep. She thought she was going to sleep in a bed with Eliza and Austin but she kept going between our bed and theirs. So finally Tanner wouldn't let her leave our bed and she was being so funny. She would get really quiet and then try sneak out from the bottom of the bed. Tanner would grab her by the foot and drag her back up between us where she would flop down and go limp, I think hoping we would think she had fallen asleep, but she wasn't patient enough to fake it for more than a few seconds before trying to escape again. She finally fell asleep though and did great between Tanner and I. 

The next day was longer and we started the morning with some throw up (never my favorite) but everyone was pretty happy and excited to see cousins.

Well, almost everyone. Asa was not a fan of the car but we got a few naps out of him. 

We were real excited to make it to Tiff and Cameron's. And then Vivi threw up again and I began to wonder if we may have just brought the stomach flu to the Barrs. 

Aunt Tiffy's house was so fun! She did the girl's nails and fixed their hair. They all had a blast outside riding the four wheeler and motorcycles. Chet and Austin went to a basketball camp with Brigs and had a good time. Austin wasn't feeling well for the scrimmage that night so he stayed home with me. Austin wasn't feeling the next day but he still tried to be outside as much as he could. 

That night we went to a Mexican restaurant and had some really good tacos. We have missed good Mexican food. Midwest Mexican just isn't very good...sorry guys, I said it. 

These cousins don't get together enough, but when they do, it's a party. 

Vivi loved Irie and wanted to hold her, even though they probably weighed the same. 

The Barrs saddled up the horses and everyone got to ride. 

Eliza kept wanting me to run as I led her horse. The elevation about killed me...it had nothing to do with me being incredibly out of shape. 

Vivi loved riding and didn't want to get off. I even got to ride but I've realized something, I'm much more scared of being bucked off now that I'm a mom. The horse I was on gave one little crowhop and I wasn't too sad about getting off. I'm not going to jump right up after being dumped like I used to. 

The kids had so much fun dancing with the surround sound music and jumping on the couch. And Eliza loved petting all of Uncle Cameron's mounts. 

They went and caught crawdads and saw all the animals at Grandma Delio and Papa Barr's house and even got to go for a ride in the Razor. 

Eliza and Jude had fun playing with snakes all day. Those two are cut out of the same mold. One night Jude was sitting next to Eliza in the car and I heard her say, "Jude if you don't stop I'm going to punch you in the face!" To which Tanner quietly said to me, "he'll just punch her right back." But they got along so well. 

We had some really rough nights with Asa where I could just tell that he wasn't feeling good. Tiffany reminded me so much of my mom, coming in asking how she could help. And then Vivi was feeling sick again. Chet started throwing up and then Thanksgiving day I started feeling sick. I ate our big meal and almost immediately regretted it. I was sick all night long, haven't been sick like that for a long time. I was feeling better the next day but then Mariah was sick. So yeah...we were the Typhoid Maries of the trip. So sorry Barrs. 

Look at these two together! Irie is the cutest thing! She is especially good at hissing, which makes sense with her brother's snake obsession. 

This is the only picture of Tiff and I. I just love this girl so much. She never made me feel bad about bringing sickness into her house. She's a good one. Tanner got to go on a scout day (or whatever hunters call that...) with Cameron. It was so good for him to get outside and talk about Bishop stuff with Cameron (they were called just weeks apart). 

Adele pointed out how much Benny and Vivi look alike. They pose the same too!

We headed out early the next day. Mariah was still feeling pretty sick and Eliza started throwing up as well. Poor Mariah was covered in hives and looked miserable. Tanner got her some Benadryl and she spent most of her time sleeping. Asa did much better on the way home and I think it was probably because he was so exhausted from so many bad nights.

The roads were snowy for the first hour of the drive and even worse the last three hours. We decided to head straight home because we didn't want to deal with sick kids in a hotel. But we were so grateful that we all got good sleep that night at home. 

Although we had lots of sickness and some really miserable nights, I'm still so glad we went. Tiff and Cameron may think differently...but they were such great hosts and we're excited for the next time we go. 

We've still been dealing with sickness but hoping that we'll get it all out of the way before Christmas, because seriously, I think we've had every virus going around. 

October

 We started off the month with General Conference at Brittany and Baydon's house. Our kids have been begging to be able to go and stay the night at their new house and it finally happened. I drove down early on Saturday while Tanner took Mariah and Chet to their soccer games. I took the youngest four to Old Navy to shop for some clothes for family pictures that were coming up later that week. They were giving away balloons and we ended popping three of the four within the first ten minutes. But there weren't too many tears. 

Tanner listens best when his "eyes are closed".

Eliza and Jack spent a lot of time running throughout the house and screaming at the top of their lungs thinking Uncle Baydon was going to get them. He played along for the first ten minutes and then the anticipation of him jumping out from any corner was enough to keep them on edge for at least another hour. Eliza lost her voice from all the screaming and shouting. 

We love time with family at General Conference and hearing the words of prophets and apostles. 

Austin found poison ivy at the cousin's house, he has a real knack for it. So we had to postpone family pictures to give his face time to recover. Uncle Baydon brought some medicine from his office and Tanner ended up giving Austin a steroid shot and I think that helped him recover a lot faster than he has in the past. 

Vivienne was "helping" Tanner with breakfast and found the red dye. It looked a little like a murder scene, but it washed surprisingly well out of her pajamas and the dish towel. Her hands had a nice red hue for a few days though. 

We got to go to the Blank Park Zoo for a field trip. We took a picture of Eliza in this turtle shell three years ago so it was fun to recreate it. 

We only lost Vivi one time, and she felt no distress being away from us...wish I could say the same. I guess I should just be grateful that she wasn't in an animal enclosure. 

Asa was an angel baby and slept most of the time. 

We decided that our favorite animals were the giraffes. But I must say the rhinos were a close second for me. When we very first got to the zoo the seal tank was empty and they were cleaning it, and the Australia exhibit was closed, but when we circled back around, the seals were back in their tank and we were able to see the wallabies and kookaburras. It's a small zoo, but it is just the right size for me to go by myself with six kids. 

We had a few watermelons in our garden this year but they weren't very big. Tanner decided that he would save them and carve them for October, and I scoffed at his idea, thinking it wouldn't really work. This is what I came home to one afternoon. The watermelon jack-o-lantern is sticking its tongue out at me...I was proven wrong. 

Shera came to visit! She made a traditional Chilean tea for us and taught us a little bit about her mission. She also shared some Chilean candy with us; it was delicious! The kids really loved the Chilean dessert she made, they were like little donuts. 

Shera is such a delight to be around. She always sees the good in others and loves with her whole heart. We were so happy to get to spend some time with her. 

I came in to Vivi dancing while Shera sang and played the guitar. My kids are so lucky to have older cousins to look up to. 

As we were leaving Costco we saw a man with a little parrot on his shoulder; of course I couldn't walk by without saying anything and he put him on Shera's shoulder. He said he takes him everywhere and the bird will fly around some but always come back to him. It was so cute and full of joy, just like Shera!

I came out one morning to Austin sitting next to Josie like this, it made me laugh. That dog is spoiled. 

Sometimes Vivi can be nice to Josie, she was snuggled up to her whispering in her ear about what they could see outside. 

We went to Autumn Acres with some of our homeschool friends and even though it was really windy, the kids had a blast. I enjoyed visiting with friends while the kids ran around. 

The big kids spent most of their time in the corn, which is usually for the toddlers, but they stacked tire tubes on each other and then tried to fill them up with corn. I had to intervene a little when it started to escalate into a wrestle match...boys. 

We got to have Aunt Natalie at the end of the month. We put her right to work helping with the pumpkin carving. The kids did most of their carving all by themselves and they were really pleased with their creations. 

Chet's haunted house and a "cat that looked like a chicken". 

Eliza knew exactly how she wanted hers. I love the cute little face. 

Mariah is all about cute...never scary. 

Austin wanted a little bit of everything on his pumpkin. 

 Vivi painted her pumpkin and only tried to stab her siblings pumpkins with knives a few times. 

Our HSAP does a "Friday Fun Day" and we had our first one this fall. The kids made turnovers and were able to pick their own filling. Even though Vivi isn't a part of the HSAP, they still let her make a treat each time. Then the big kids went on a scavenger hunt, learned about leaves, and painted rocks. 

I had no desire to put any kind of effort into costumes this year. So when Chet jokingly said he wanted to be a banana for Halloween I went with it. Mariah decided a monkey would go great with Chet's banana. 

Austin wanted to be a magician and Eliza was excited to be his rabbit. 

Vivi wanted to be a "pincess" until she saw Eliza's costume, and we had to order her a bunny costume as well. They were so adorable. And the suits were perfect for the cold weather. 

Chet and Natalie decided she should be an ant/aunt and Mariah made her antennas. It was so nice having Natalie there to help me with the ward trunk or treat. I don't think I would have been able to do it without her. 

The next day we had Stake Conference; Natalie left the same time as us to spend some time with Brittany's family. Our kids were excited to stay at the Newton's house again. Asa was amazing and slept the whole night. Vivi was basically living on candy from the trunk or treat Saturday morning, and had a few epic melt downs but we survived. 

Mariah was given the opportunity to speak in the Saturday morning session and she did so well. She wrote her own talk and brought such a sweet spirit with her message. We were so proud of her. 

We went home Sunday night and Natalie and the cousins came up for Sunday dinner. Then we also got the cousins to come up and stay a few nights for Halloween. Tanner had been working really late nights and I did not want to take six kids trick or treating in the icy cold wind, so we were able to convince the kids to have a Halloween party instead of trick or treating. 

Natalie painted everyone's faces...

We had Jack-O-Lantern quesadillas with tomato soup for lunch...

There was some dressing up going on...

The kids watched The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Coco while Natalie, Brittany and I went to the Mustard Seed and the grocery store.

We made witches brew (homemade root beer)...

And made all kinds of spooky snacks...

We ended the night with monster mash (sloppy joes) and no one complained about staying inside on that cold, cold night. That night for scripture study we told family history stories and talked about how important it is to know who came before us and the choices they made to help us to be where we are today. I'm so glad Brittany and Natalie were there, they did most of the fun stuff that I never would have been able to do with a baby. They are some of the best!