First piggie tails!

Gabriella has been a very slow hair grower. I am sure that is not a word, but it works for me. Today I managed to get all her thin hair into 2 piggies. She thought she was adorable, but they hurt (I had to pull tight) and so they did not last.

While I am speaking of Gabriella I have to share a funny story about her. I think it is funny now, but not so much at the time. It happened a few days before my Mother's day talk so it was a great week for me:)

My aunt called one day and I was having a hard time hearing her on my cell phone so I went into my room to get away from the noisy kids. I could hear Bree in the kitchen and figured as long as I could hear her I would be okay. Well, after a few minutes on the phone I went to find her. She was sitting on the kitchen counter and I could see water--EVERYWHERE!!! She had managed to pull the spray faucet out and turned on the water. After filling up the entire counter she pulled open the top drawer and filled it up with water. Water was pouring off the counter onto the floor, through the drawer into the cabinet below and just about everywhere else I could see. Gabriella was soaking wet and holding a little medicine dropper from the water filled drawer. Apparently she was trying to copy her big sisters who think it is fun to fill the medicine droppers with water and then squirt it into their mouths. Poor girl was just trying to fill up the dropper and the water seemed to get away from her:)

Luckily, I had recently cleaned out the drawer and cabinet so cleaning up was not as big of a mess as it could have been. I am sure there are pools of water under my cabinets that I could not get to, but I can't see them so I don't care.

I think two year olds are natures way of getting back at Mom's who were once troublesome teenagers!

What a Mother's Day!!!

I wish I had some great pictures to put with this post but I do not, so you get to read about my crazy day instead. I had the privilege of speaking in our ward on Mother's day. You might think that is sad for me, but it was a pleasure. I was able to really focus during the week on many of the things I treasure about Motherhood and women in general. It was a great week, and I enjoyed preparing for it.

Well, then Sunday comes. Kris had to go to the hospital to do rounds in the morning so I was on my own getting the kids ready. This is not unusual, but it was Mother's day and a little help would have been great. Anyway we got to church--early I might add. Kris came in at some point after the meeting started wish was good. I went up to the front so I could have a moment to gather my thoughts before I spoke. After the first speaker all the primary kids came up to the front to sing a cute song. I moved to the front row so I could see their faces instead of their backs and it is a good thing I did. When Joshua went up to the front instead of walking around the side and walk up the stairs he decided to try to "spiderman" it up and over the front of the wall. I quickly grabbed him and ushered him the right way around. The song was darling as always. I thought that Joshua's spiderman was going to be the embarrassing moment of my day, little did I know it was just beginning.

I stood up to speak and as I was only a few minutes into it I looked over to my family and Gabriella is on a sprint to the front. I am thinking surely Kris will grab her before she gets to me, but he isn't moving too quickly. She makes it up the stairs and finds a little stool to join me at the microphone. Kris finally gets her and hauls her off crying to get her diaper changed. That leaves the older 3 kids sitting by themselves. Veronica had offered to help me with them if Kris was not able to get to church on time and so she was there to help them. It is a good thing too. Joshua managed to get Kris' iphone and turn on the music or volume or something. Whatever it was it started playing loudly. As she and Mindy (another nearby helper) tried to get the phone off, Joshua thought it was the perfect opportunity to join me at the microphone. He bounded up to the front and I told him to sit on a chair. As you can imagine I am pretty distracted at this point and pretty much lose my focus. After about 30 seconds of sitting in a chair by me Joshua is bored and started climbing around. Summer (yet another helper) came up and took him away. I was somewhat able to finish my talk and sit down before any other children came to visit me.

Needless to say, I am sure I will not be asked to speak again any time soon.

Luckily, Mother's day only got better from there. I love that my kids love to spoil me on Mother's day and I am so grateful to be their Mom!

3...2...1...BLAST OFF!!!!

Joshua and Michael had a fun birthday party on Saturday. It was a Rocket party. Joshua is really lovin' rockets right now and Michael went along with it because he is just that sweet. I am so glad the two of them were able to celebrate together!


We searched for moon rocks and gathered quite a collection!


We played a relay game with the moon rocks. We made the kids use big tongs to collect them into their buckets. It was pretty funny to watch them try to make it work.

Coloring a few rocket pictures. Joshua and Michael love to have pictures printed off the computer and spend many quite moments coloring. Usually they are coloring superheros. Anyway...
The highlight of the party had to be the blasting off of the rocket. Joshua and Michael launched the first one together. They were not sure what was going to happen. As soon as it blasted off they tossed the remote and took off running. It was pretty funny. Michael had no interest in being that close to the action again. We only got the rocket stuck in the tree once, but thanks to Kris and Mark's ability to climb on one another they got it free.

Joshua and Michael had a fun party. Thanks to all for coming and sharing their birthday with them.

Is my birthday on the next day???

This is the exact question I have heard almost everyday since the day after his birthday last year. I love this little boy!

Joshua Kristoffer West
Born May 6th 2004 in Washington DC
8 lbs. 3 oz.

I honestly used to believe that if I was only a mother to little girls I would not care. That was before I met this beautiful baby boy! He has been such a joy in our lives. He is constantly on the go and I used to think he lacked the ability to touch anything without destroying it.

I know I spoil him and he knows he has Mom and Dad wrapped around his little finger. There are many times I am trying to get angry with him for something and I find myself having to look away so he can't see me laughing!This day at the beach when he was 18 months old he crawled around with his face in the sand, with his mouth wide open to scoop up as much sand as he could. We don't know why, but then again we don't know why Joshua does a lot of the things he does.

He really would be happy riding around with Kris like this all day. He idolizes his Dad and I am so glad he has such a great guy to look up to. A few years ago Kris spent 2 months in Texas doing rotations for Medical School. When he returned Joshua would not leave his side. He was always holding onto his leg if he was standing or climbing into his lap if he was sitting. He was not about to let Kris go again.
How could you not love this face?!? He makes us all so happy everyday and I am so grateful I have had the chance to be his Mother for 5 years!

Happy Birthday little man! We love you, and yes the next day is your birthday!!!!!