Happy Birthday Maeley

Maeley is now 5. These kids sure are growing up fast. Maeley has changed tremendously this year. She really has taken on the role as big sister and is great with Chase and Zoe. There are still fights but less often and usually she tries to fix the problem. I love the way she looks out for Zoe and how she plays so nicely with Chase. She is so eager to learn and enjoys when we have our school time. I think Maeley will love kindergarten next year. She loves to explain things to us as if we don't know. Her favorite animal is still the polar bear and favorite color is still pink. She loves to turn on some music and dance around the room. She still loves to sing and make up her own songs. Maeley loves to color and draw. She's a girly girl through and through. She enjoys watching princess movies which always irritates Chase. She loves to help roll the recycling trash can to the street and loves when she gets to clean the appliances in the kitchen. Lately she has been affraid of so many things. For example she will not be upstairs or downstairs without someone else. I think she'd hate having her own room. She loves to pretend play. I enjoy standing back and listening to the conversations between Maeley and Chase. When she thinks something is funny she laughs really loud. Her hair is finally thicker and I can do so much more although she prefers her hair "flat". She is truly a beautiful little girl.

Funny things I don't want to forget she said.

The book you see is a photo book my mom put together for the kids to look at during sacrament meeting. This one in particular is just of Jesus.

I walked into her room and asked what she was doing. Her reply, "I'm emailing Jesus."

This past Sunday during dinner Maeley says to me, "Mom, I like your face. Espeically when you smile big."

Hahaha this girl can say some pretty funny things.

Happy Birthday Maeley! I love you!

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Zoe is now a 2 year old. It's strange to think my baby isn't a baby anymore. She's a full on toddler trying to keep up with her old brother and sister. I love her spunky personality. There is never a day that goes by that she doesn't make me laugh. I love the way she crawls into Chase's bed just to give him a kiss before bedtime. Or the way she and Maeley play nicely with their kitchen. It cracks me up when she makes the pig sound. I wish I had a video camera so I could post it. She loves animals but I believe her favorites are pig, monkey, dog and horse.  Her favorite color is purple. When I cradle her in my arms like a baby she always says, baby. She's tries getting out of walking up and down the stairs by herself and instead cries so we will carry her. She is starting to throw tantrums if she doesn't get her way she cries until you figure out what she wants. It's getting annoying and needs to be stopped. I'm amazed how much she picks up from me teaching the older kids. She already knows a lot of her letters and sounds and numbers. During sacrament this past Sunday she was very happy looking at the hymn book pointing out letters and telling us what they were. I love her smile it always makes you smile back. She is a delight to have in our family.

Happy Birthday Zoe! We love you so much!

More from Tama and Papa's visit

Before we left for church we had enough time to snap some pictures.

 Getting a picture with all three of the kids looking at the camera and smiling pretty much doesn't exist.

I love my family!

Maeley and Zoe have birthday's coming up so Tama and Papa spoiled them.

 Zoe was wearing this Lady costume when it was time to open presents and didn't want to take it off.

These kiddos are sure lucky to have wonderful grandparents that love them so much.

Why

Why is it this year I want nothing to do with Halloween? Seriously I was doing a pretty good job at convincing Maeley yesterday to skip the ward trunk-or-treat and just do something fun at home instead. I truly want to skip it this year. We haven't even purchased their costumes yet so why bother. Derek feels the same way so I think our kids are in trouble. We did make Halloween sugar cookies yesterday, isn't that good enough?

However I am so ready for Christmas. Not a joke. This past week we had a couple big rain storms and it was overcast for a few days. With temps in the mid to low 60's it feels like December in Arizona. I feel all mixed up. I have been listening to Christmas music already. Not often but every now and then. I want to decorate for Christmas now. I realize its a bit early but this will be the first time since 2006 that we can put our large tree up and decorate it. It's been a long 4 years! I can't even remember what ornaments we have or half of the decorations we have. Derek has always been a firm believer in not decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but he gave me the okay to decorate early this year. Unfortunately I think I'll have to wait a couple more weeks though.

Update

We've been here for nearly 2 months now. In a lot of ways it feels like we've been here much longer. We love our house, it truly feels like our home. Can't say we've felt that in such a long long time. Our kids love love love this house. They don't fight as often. I think mainly because we all have room. This house is nearly twice the size of our last place.

We have been working on projects which I'll post eventually. I feel like we've started several but haven't really completed much. First we began with our banisters which has been a tedious project but its looks so amazing I love it. Then we painted Chase's bedroom but have yet to hang anything on the walls. This past weekend we painted our room. It looks wonderful. We got new bedding about a month ago and I love it. We have decorated about half the room so that will be done soon. We are also going to build a bed. Can't wait for that. We have so many more projects that we want to do. Oh the ideas in my head. Maeley is really funny because she wants her bedroom painted but we haven't decided on the color(s) yet. She been coming up with many on her own hoping it will speed up the process.

The weather is amazing! I love the weather. This is my first time living out of the state of Arizona. I don't know if I want to move back to be honest. It's to hot there. I'm really enjoying the fall weather. We haven't had to use on A/C unit for a couple weeks now and even before that it would only come on in the evenings because we like it cooler when we sleep. I am a little worried how I'll handle the cold winter though.

It's so wonderful that Derek can come home for lunch everyday. Its a nice break in the day. It works out great on Thursdays when we walk to play group. Derek picks us up at the park on his way home for lunch. Play group is at one of the parks in our neighborhood but its still a 20-30 minute walk (our neighborhood is huge). 

I wasn't able to get Maeley into preschool because it started the time we moved. They have a huge waiting list. So we are doing school at home and also on Tuesdays Maeley and Chase go to a preschool of sorts. There are 6 kids in the group and each week its at one of their homes. We are assigned a number and letter and do some schooling and have a snack. They may not be learning much but it's good for them socially. That's why we still do our own school time at home, which by the way is way harder than it sounds.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

When we first told the kids we were moving to Albuquerque we mentioned the famous balloon fiesta and we'd be sure to go. They have been talking about going for months. It's a 9 days event which includes 2 weekends. It began the first weekend in October. That Saturday we had errands to do before conference started so while driving we saw hundreds of balloons in the air. The kids were so excited. The following day we let the kids watch the live broadcast of it on TV. That just made them even more excited and choosing what hot air balloons were their favorites. Of course they all choose a special shape balloon. Derek's parents were here the following weekend and we got up early Saturday and went to see the mass ascention of the hot air balloons. It was a very neat experience and I hope we make it back next year.

 This is what we saw when we got onto the field. Tons of people and hot air balloon after hot air balloon all squashed up next to each other airing up.

We choose to stay back put out a blanket for the kids and have breakfast while watching the balloons lift off.

(Not sure who the random dude in the background is watching us.)

We were situated next to a van that was getting their balloon ready to begin airing up. Maeley went hysterical when they began testing their burners. It's really loud and the fire scared her. She wanted off the field right then and there. She really didn't calm down until all the balloons around us took off. Then she enjoyed watching the others from a farther distance.

This gives you an idea at how large they really are.

Papa and Tama

Zoe waving and saying "Bye balloon". She did this pretty much the whole time.

The three bumble bees. The small one in the middle this was it's first year. The other two have been coming for years, they are from Peoria, AZ. They air them up together, they lift off together and...

in for a kiss

Maeley's favorite is the lady bug.

Zoe was so good about staying by us...until she saw a dog and darted off after him.

Derek was our camera man so this is one of only a few that includes him.

I think he took some pretty cool pictures.

ABQ Bio Park Zoo

Derek's parents came to visit this past weekend. We had so much fun with them here. The minute we came inside after waving good bye Monday morning Maeley and Chase were already talking about what they want to do the next time they visit.

Friday afternoon we went to the Albuquerque Zoo. It was a great zoo with so many animals. I didn't feel like they were missing anything. Most of the animals were very active too. The best were the Chimps and Gorillas. Derek took a ton of pictures so its been hard going through them a choosing only some to post.

 We were in the Tropical America exibit and is was humid and smelly. Maeley held her nose the whole time.

This was in the reptile area and Zoe loved it.

Zoe enjoyed this aligator and even put her fingers on the glass as if to put them in his mouth.

Chase liked this Red Panda, however he called it an Orange Racoon.

The Sea Lions were swimming all over the place. It was really fun to watch.

Maeley and Chase just love this picture seeing the hippo playing with the ball.

Papa with Chase watching the gorrillas

These three gorillas definitely put on a show. One of them had something in his mouth,maybe a toy that the other two were fighting him trying to take it away.