Happy Birthday ELSHA!

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ELSHA IS ONE!

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Elsha had a great first birthday. She started it off by sleeping in - my favorite way to start the day. We don't think she understood the whole gift thing but she had fun with her brother exploring all the new toys.

I can't believe it's been a year already. She is such a blessing in our lives. Her smile lights up the room!

Good Thing she has Xander to show her how to use all her toys :)

Reading her new Princess book with Daddy

Yup - she loves brownies! We had cake last week and pie on Sunday, so brownies it was.

It's Officially A Habit!

The last 4 mornings we've had a little visitor decide to climb in bed with us! He was never a snuggly baby & has only really started to like giving hugs in the last 9 months. It's odd, for Xander, to want to snuggle and go back to sleep every morning as of late. It's also cute - but probably a habit we should try to break somehow.

How Lucky Am I?

Xander woke up WAY TOO EARLY this morning. We gave him a choice, go back to bed or snuggle in our bed. He chose the latter. He's started to make a little habit of climbing in bed with us in the mornings, especially if it's been cold, but he NEVER goes to sleep. I cozied up next to Xander and waited for him to ask for breakfast, trying not to fall asleep so I wouldn't have to get woke up. Well - Xander decided to sleep, and sleep he did. He slept for another 3 1/2 hours! If only Elsha had decided to sleep in too, it was VERY hard to pull myself away from my sleeping angel when Elsha was ready to start the day.

Family Updates

So much has been going on the last few weeks. Elsha has decided it's time to start standing and has been practicing her new found skill using the couch or her crib to stabilize herself. Her hair is coming in so much thicker and it is DEFINATELY red! She loves crawling around the house but won't go up the step that seperates our family room from the rest of the house. It makes it easy to know where she is cuz she's TRAPPED hee hee.
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Xander is talking more and more and more. He loves pointing out every truck, semi truck, dump truck, bike, motorcycle, and plane he sees whenever we are driving some where. Let's just say our car rides are anything but silent. We have a constant chatterbox in the back yelling out "I SEE TRU!" "I SEE PLANE!" "I SEE SEMI TRU!" - you get the idea. James and I have a hard time having any sort of conversation because Xander insists on us acknowledging his find or he continues to repeat himself while gaining in volume.
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Xander and Elsha have started REALLY playing together. It is so fun to watch. Unfortunately, with the playing comes some fights. I was hoping the fighting siblings wouldn't appear for a couple of years, but alas, they have arrived. Mostly, they are very sweet together tickling, sharing, exploring together. (These pictures are from my phone so they aren't the best quality)

Jaxson is such a sweet boy. He is still growing like a weed and will soon surpase me in hight. He is witty and keeps us laughing all the time. We are SO EXCITED for this summer when he will be here for a longer period of time. Now the trick will be trying to fit in all the fun we have planned!

Happy Mother's Day

We had a fun Mother's day. James let me sleep in & I woke up to the sweet smells of breakfast - anything more then a granola bar is a treat for me. I helped Xander make bracelets for his grandmothers. He did such an excellent job & really took his time picking out which beads he wanted to use. I was worried because the beads I bought had really small holes - but he managed to string the beads all on his own. I simply held up the string for him & tied the knots. He is so good at anything he wants to do!

We had a nice visit with James' mom and Xander loved the opportunity to see the planes. The boy won't shut up when he sees a vehicle of any note :)

We had dinner with my family and I took advantage of the opportunity to make a cake that I've been wanting to try out. It was SO CUTE! My favorite so far.

It was a 3 tier Strawberry & Chocolate Marbleised cake with Strawberry (pie) Filling, Cream Cheese Frosting, Pirouette Cookies, and topped with Fresh Strawberries. YUM!

I hope all the mom's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day too!

Guess what today is....

It's James' Birthday. He's now 29. Xander is learning how old he & his siblings are. I'm teaching him to say "Old" when I ask him how old his daddy is. hee hee. James has chosen to eat out tonight for his birthday dinner. We'll be going to his favorite restraunt - Texas Roadhouse - where he orders a sirloin steak so big the waiters ask if he's sure.
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HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
JAMES!
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I've decided I need a partner in crime when it comes to making cakes. Jaxson is my new accomplice.

Jaxson and I tried out a new recipe for a cake. It was SUPER simple. 1 box of cake mix, 1 can of Diet Sprite. Mix then bake. We made a white cake & decided to make it more fun by adding different colors to the batter. Jaxson chose to have Red, White & Blue cakes. Each of us frosted a cake. We ate mine & Jaxson took his masterpiece with him to his mother's house to share.

I had a TON of fun making this cake with Jaxson and am looking forward to making more in the future.

Treasure Hunting

Jaxson and his Dad went on a treasure hunt in the backyard this weekend.



We rented a metal detector last fall. James and Jaxson went to the Jordan River in search of some treasure. Jaxson was hoping to find a lot of coins and jewerly. They found several coins, metal scraps, bolts/nuts and a whole assortment of stuff. Jaxson had a lot of fun - so - we got him a metal detector for Christmas.

Spring has finally sprung, and it's warm enough to go lookin' for metal! This weekend they found an old iron pipe. Next time they go Jaxson says he's goin' huntin' for some rings & coins. Wish Jaxson luck in all his treasure hunting fun!