Indiana Sunrise

Jaxton and I woke up one morning to this. What a beautiful way to start the day! I live for moments like this, that remind me of how beautiful life is.

Favorite Outfits

So I like to dress up my baby girl! It is more fun than I ever thought to dress her up with all the accessories, bows, shoes, etc. I love it. So I had some fun today taking some pictures of a couple of my favorite little outfits she has. All 3 of these came from Grandma Hutchinson in Utah! Thanks Grandma!

Look at that cute grin!

The Girls :-)

Preschool Volcanos

At Preschool at our house, we learned about the letter V. So I thought that we couldn't pass up this opportunity to make volcanos erupt. It was a blast. I tried to make some brown play-do clay stuff, that actually turned out waaay too sticky. But we mushed the stuff together to form a mountain on top of a mini water bottle. Then we put red food coloring water in the mini waterbottles. When we poured some vinegar into the hole at the top of the mountain, our volcanos erupted red hot lava!! The kids were sooo amazed. I got it on video too. Their reactions each time a volcano erupted was soo funny. We kept pouring vinegar in each volcano and they erupted time and time again until the vinegar was all gone. Fun day!

Kaylee's Bedroom

We finally finished Kaylee's bedroom! When we built the house, we knew we were pregnant, but didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl; so we chose to paint the baby's future room yellow. The next step was the bedding. Once we found the perfect pink & brown bedding, the room decor always has to follow the bedding theme. So her bedroom theme is flowers and butterflies in pinks and browns. Lovely! My friend Marci is very crafty. She made the letters of Kaylee's name to hang on her wall. She used scrapbook paper and embellishments to make them super cute in the perfect colors. Thanks Marci! I decided to try making my own curtains for my little girl, and they turned out to be a success! I have never made curtains, but they seemed simple enough. I didn't have a pattern to follow, but it all worked out. Then I hot glued little brown and pink flowers all over them.

This is the same crib that Jaxton and Cooper slept in when they were babies. But it was all beat up from being moved across country and being kept in storage and such. Since all the wood in our house is dark, we decided to make it match all the rest of the wood in our house. We sanded it down and painted it dark. It turned out great!

Nate's sister, Melissa Owen, has a cricuit, a machine that cuts out vinyl lettering. When she was here for the weekend, we punched out these letters and put them up on the wall. They add such a cute touch to the room. Thanks Melissa!

We also painted the changing table and the dresser, all to match in the dark wood color. They all turned out great. The room was a huge project, but was so much fun! We finished it off with this beautiful picture that Nate got for me several Christmases ago. It is a painting of a little girl looking up at and holding Christ's hands. The innocence and peace of the little girl looking up at her Savior brings the spirit into Kaylee's room. I am glad we could get her room all finished so she can have a little haven of her own.

Does it Float?

The boys were watching Curious George and George the monkey was building a boat to see if it would float for a contest. After the show, there is always a segment of real children trying out what George did. So we decided to do it too! We gathered up random supplies that we didn't need, boxes, old cottage cheese containers, plastic strawberry containers, straws, skewers, paper plates, bubble paper, random lids, construction paper, stickers, and masking tape. And the boys went to work. They used their creativity to each create something very interesting. Then they guessed whether their boat would float. Jaxton guessed that his would float AND sink. Cooper guessed that his would float. So we filled up the master bathtub and let the boats go....

Jaxton had a cottage cheese container taped upside down, so yes, this part floated. However, he missed that the strawberry container had holes all around the bottom and it started filling up with water. So he was right, it floated AND sank! Cooper put his box boat right on top of the water, and yes, he was right too, it floats! They were so excited about their boats that they started finding other toys and objects to experiment with. They would guess whether the object would float or sink and then throw it in the tub to see what would happen. It was a lot of fun experimenting!

Superhero Squad

Here is our superhero squad: IronAdrian, CooperMan, & Batman Jax, to the rescue! Adrian is our friend who used to come to our house 3 times a week. We haven't kept him since Kaylee was born, but got to have him come over this week for fun. The boys were quick to decide on superheros to play while Adrian was here. They were running all over the house shooting bad guys and catching bad guys and taking them to "jail." It was super fun to watch them play!

Quiet Time

Cooper is hit and miss with his naps lately. Sometimes he doesn't need a nap, so has started having "quiet time" instead. I put one boy in the toy room and one boy in their bedroom with a box of toys and let them play for 45 minutes or so. After this particular quiet time, this is what I came in to find:

Cooper built a castle with the wooden blocks, a very intricate castle I might add.

Jaxton built a train out of cars and trucks that made a giant J shape. What creative boys!

Two Big Brothers

Kaylee is so lucky to have 2 big brothers who love her so very very much. As you can tell, they are enjoying playing with her and her toys. They are always wanting to help with her and are quick to give her her pacifier as soon as she makes one little tiny cry. If she won't take her paci, they announce to me that she wants some milk. They both love to color pictures for Kaylee and love to hold her. I am so glad that she will have 2 big brothers to protect and love her throughout her life. She is a lucky girl!

Two Months Old

Kaylee is 2 months old! I can't believe how the time has flown by! She is definitely growing. At her checkup, she weighted 9 lbs and 10 oz. She is starting to outgrow her newborn size outfits and is fitting into more of her 0-3 outfits finally. She loves to socialize. She loves other kids too. When the boys are hovering over her, she just takes it all in. She loves the attention! If you take a minute to get her attention, she will talk in baby language a lot! Her little coos and ohhhs are so adorable! Kaylee can roll over from her tummy to her back! She likes being on her tummy for just a minute or so, and then she gets sick of holding her head up so high, that she swings her head to the side and over she goes! Good girl Kaylee!! When I hang a toy above her head, she focuses on it really hard. Sometimes her little arms get moving and she will bat the toy with her hand! She still is not super sure how she is hitting the toy, or how to fully control her little arms, but with a whole lot of concentration, she can do it sometimes! It is so fun to watch!

Kaylee takes a bath in the bathroom sink every night. It's part of her bedtime routine, and she takes to the routine very well! I'm lucky she is small enough still to fit in the bathroom sink. When she gets all her clothes off and we head in to the bathroom connected to her room, she knows its bathtime and if she was crying or whining, she cheers right up. She loves it!! I plug up the sink but leave the faucet running warm water over her belly. When it gets too full, I pull the plug a little so it doesn't overflow but doesn't drain all the way out either. And she loves getting her hair washed too. I think it feels good to her to have the water over her head! She just is so content in that bathtub it is so darn cute! She doesn't even cry when I take her out of the warm bath and onto the counter before quickly covering her up with her cozy pink towel. After bath, she knows she will get to eat, and then off to dreamland she goes. She sleeps from around 9pm till around 4am just about every night! She is a great sleeper! Happy 2 months!!

Kaylee's Baby Blessing

We had the wonderful opportunity to bless Kaylee Joy today in church. We are so blessed that Nate holds the priesthood and can perform such a special ordinance. We were grateful to have Nate's parents there and his sister's family, the Owens there to support her. Since my parents were unable to be there because they live in Utah, my mom provided Kaylee with her beautiful blessing dress, complete with a headband, tights, bloomers, shoes, and white blanket. She is absolutely beautiful today! Thank you Grandma Hutchinson!

Nate blessed Kaylee that she would be successful and find happiness in her life. He told her to reflect on her middle name, Joy, and to share her joy and her happiness and the joy of the gospel with those around her throughout her life. He blessed her to have a desire to seek education as well as a desire to grow her testimony. He blessed her with a sound mind, that she may be sensitive to the spirit and would follow it's promptings to make good choices in her life. He admonished her to live her life so the Lord could count on her in the ways that he would need her service. It was a beautiful blessing and Kaylee was awake and alert the whole time, just taking it all in. I felt the spirit there, and I'm sure that she recognized it too.

Grandma Routsong & Kaylee
The Owen Family with Kaylee:
John, Jace, Melissa (Madison & Jordan couldn't make it)

Raquetball

Whenever I take the boys to the gym, they love to watch the basketball players shoot hoops. One day, we were watching the basketball players, and the boys went exploring further down the hall. They came across the raquetball courts and were very curious about this new sport they hadn't ever heard of before. We sat there and watched the raquetball players play for quite some time and I promised them that we would schedule a court for us next time we came to the gym. So thats what we did. We checked out 2 raquets and 2 balls from the fitness desk and got to play raquetball for 30 minutes. I didn't think they would really last that long, but they played hard and were hardly ready to quit after 30 minutes! I would bounce the ball for Jaxton to hit, and then bounce another ball for Cooper to hit, and we did this over and over and over while Baby Kaylee slept peacefully in her carseat in the corner of the court. (We turned her backwards so she wouldn't get hit with a ball). We had a blast. I was impressed with the determination both boys showed to hit that ball! After our 30 minutes, the boys were definitely worn out! It was a fun day!

Trip to the Dentist

Jaxton had a dentist appointment coming up and so I decided to squeeze in an appointment for Cooper too since he is 3 now. He was a bit nervous, so we read some books about the dentist and talked a lot about it for about a week. When the day arrived, we searched everywhere for 2 pairs of sunglasses to wear under the bright dentist light. Unfortunately we could only find 1 pair. So we had a dilemma, with 2 kids going to the dentist and only 1 pair of sunglasses, what was I to do? I presented the problem to the boys, and Jaxton surprised me by offering Cooper the glasses since it was his very first dentist appointment. Wow, that went much easier than I expected. And come to find out, the dentist had an extra orange pair of sunglasses for Jax to use. So Cooper was still nervous at first and wanted me to sit with him on the chair. But soon enough, he warmed right up and enjoyed the experience. The dental hygienists at our dentist are beyond amazing with little kids. They made all the difference for them!!

Cooper

Look at those pearly whites!

Jaxton

Kaylee's House

I was getting the boys ready for bed one evening. I can usually trust Jaxton with Baby Kaylee because he loves to talk with her and is very gentle with her most of the time. So I was in the bathroom helping Cooper go potty, get on his pullup and jammies and brush his teeth. In the meantime, I came back out into the boys' room and this is what I found:

Jaxton had built a house for Kaylee all the way around where she was laying. He even gave her her pacifier as well has his new bear he got a preschool. It was too precious not to take a picture of it!

Lego Club

We discovered a super fun activity at the library called Lego Club. Basically they pull out 20 big containers of legos, tiny ones, large ones, battery powered ones, and lego pieces of just about everything you can possibly think of. Then they just let the kids go to work. For Jaxton, this is what you would call "heaven on earth." He forgot I was even around and was in his own little world building his "California Spaceship" to display on the table. Cooper created a spaceship as well with ABC legos that were easier for his hands to handle. They both loved building and creating things out of their imagination! Once the kids complete their project, they get to display it on a long table and write the name of their creation next to it. Then, the Lego Man takes a picture of each kid with their lego creation. We had a blast and plan to go often!

Jaxton and David's creation

Valentine's Day 2011

Happy Valentines' Day! The boy's made these beautiful valentines with all the supplies that Grandma Hutchinson left with them before she flew back to Utah. I let them create their valentines however they wanted using the supplies and glue. Then I printed them a photo to put on their valentines too so the recipient would know who they were from. They loved it! We gave them out to family members who loved their creations!

Kaylee had her own special Valentine's Day tutu outfit that she got to wear on this special holiday. Isn't she adorable! Whenever I take her pictures, I usually take about 10 in the same outfit and I always have the hardest time trying to pick out which ones to post. So here are 2 in her Valentine's Day tutu!

First Dress

This is Kaylee's very first dress of her life. She got to wear it to church today. Isn't she absolutely adorable?! I had more fun than I have had in a long time just playing dress up with her. She didn't mind it too much...I wasn't sure whether tights go under or over her onsie. At church today, unfortunately she soiled her beautiful dress because her tights were pulling down on her diaper which then leaked out the back. (I put her tights on under her onsie so the onsie could help hold the tights up since they are too long). I guess next week I will put the tights on over her onsie so the onsie can hold her diaper together! So I am still learning! But I think that having a little girl to dress up all cute is going to be a whole lot of fun!! Nate is a bigger shopper than I am and comes home frequently from his favorite stores with new clothes. He can't wait to take Kaylee with him to go shopping!! We can let Nate deal with the modesty issues at the mall when Kaylee is 15! Just kidding, we won't ever have any modesty issues, will we?! Lets hope not!

Fort Wayne Blizzard

Fort Wayne had a blizzard. I have never seen a blizzard in my life, but this sure was a blizzard. It started snowing, and then just got heavier and heavier snow fall later in the evening. Then the wind picked up and it was howling all night long. The wind got so strong and lasted almost all night! We looked out the window around 10pm and it was a white mess outside, snow falling, and blowing every which way that you could hardly see a few feet in front of you. We could see almost nothing out the window, but whiteness and wind. Definitely wouldn't want to be out in that at night. It made me think of the pioneers and the dreadful weather they had to endure with no cover at night. How grateful I am for our warm, cozy home! These are pictures of the next morning, when the sun came out. We got lots of inches of snow!!

One Month Old

Kaylee is one month old! I can't believe 4 weeks have flown by! She is smiling all the time. When she is in the right mood, after a nap and a snack, she really can focus on faces and communicate through her little facial expressions and her smiles. When she focuses on my eyes, her little nostrils flare, and her lips kind of form an "o" and you can tell she is really "communicating." Then her little arms will wave around and she will smile back at me. Sometimes if I am lucky she will make a little sound with her new found voice, like "Ahh," or "Ohh." I love those little moments when we connect with our eyes. She will smile at all sorts of people though, even people she's never seen before. And she loves to "talk" with her brothers and enjoys the attention they give her when they try to get her to focus with them. It is adorable. Happy 1 month birthday, Kaylee!