Here comes Peter Cottontail...

(oval embroidery hoop, tulle tied on the same as here, and a little picket fence bunny:)

hopping down the bunny trail...sooner than ever! Easter just snuck right up on us!!!  I had my St. Patrick's Day decorations down and Easter up promptly after the 17th, but I'm just showing you now:)  I had a lot of fun decorating for Easter.  I love the springy colors!!!

my ever changing shelf...

subway Easter art we did last year, the eggs you see there are MDF, the brain-child of Audrey, after she saw them on a Groopdealz one day and we decided to see if we could cobble together materials to make them ourselves.  Big thanks to Michelle for donating the MDF and our other friend Sam for cutting them!

the eggs before being decorated:)

my picket fence bunnies were inspired by these...i had white bunnies so i decided to paint the sticks instead of leaving them natural. i had the eggs to make the banner i linked to...but i liked the bunnies better and i ran out of room to put things:)

the jars are painted on the inside, i poured paint in the bottom, maybe 1-2 inches and then turned the jar upside down on a paper plate to let it drain out. it's pretty cool to watch. there will be spots where the paint won't be uniform, i just took a foam brush and gently evened it out, and you really can't tell:)  more eggs, more bunnies...the printed subway art is from eighteen25 they have lots of different ones for different seasons/holidays and i really like them:)  i always print mine 8x10 from Costco and they come out beautifully.

another shot of the picket fence garland....

close up of bunny jars

close up of eggs,cause i love the bling on the little one:)

so we are ready for Easter! and frankly, i like the decorations so much, they may stay up for the majority of April, since Easter got a little short changed being in the same month as St. Patrick's Day:)

Lucky

I LOVE green, so St. Patrick's day is a good excuse to use a lot of green!!!

this wreath is inspired by this one.  the hearts I used are 7 inches and they each took a 3 yard roll of ribbon.   If you had a little bit more, like a SMIDGE then it would be perfect, because it is really tricky to wrap the points of the hearts and the bottoms of the hearts.

see tricky...ergo the shamrock in the middle. and i wrapped mine with twine so that i can take them apart for storage. there is no glue involved in how they are put together, for my wreath:)

free printable from here the glittery shamrocks are from walmart, a bag of like 8 for $2 i think:)

this vinyl was from a groopdealz that happened recently, so cute! the shamrock is a pick your plum from last year that we covered with a napkin!

still loving on my rainbow sticks this year, the LUCK was from pick your plum last year too, also covered with a napkin

and here is my homage to Brian Regan...LOVE him, he's so funny! do yourself a favor and listen to this so you can laugh!

checking in

Life marches on. this we know.  I can hardly believe that Camryn is 3.5 months old.  It baffles me how time is flying... Ethan will be 8 this year, which means he'll be baptized. I have to daily remind myself that Avery is actually 5.5 years old not 4.5 as she seems to be frozen in my mind.  They are all growing up. And that is a good thing.  But it just seems to happen so fast.  I feel contemplative lately, I start feeling this way a lot at night, probably because it's quiet:) (it is night time as i write this:)  Also I have been following along this family's journey on Facebook.  Their son passed away at age 10, last Saturday.  They knew it was coming, but it is still the hardest thing they will ever do. I really believe that. I don't think there is much harder than dealing with the death of your own child.  I asked my dad that when my parents were here after Christian's funeral (my parents have a child that passed away, my brother Micah).  I asked him if there was anything harder than this.  He said no.  I believe him.

Having a new baby is awesome, tiring, beautiful, healing and hard.  I don't know what I thought it would be like to have Camryn so close to Christian.  I actually don't think I thought much about the logistics because quite honestly, I just needed to take things as they came and not stress about it (this is still true).  Camryn was born on Christian's 15 month birthday.  33 minutes into the 18th...they are birthday buddies.  I am convinced that they are good friends.  I just have a feeling about it.  For our family it was the right decision to have Camryn when we did. It wouldn't be right for another family maybe, but I knew that she was essential for me.  She was a lifeline.  But all the hormones and worries and fears of being pregnant and then having a brand new person are hard, especially when you are still grieving/trying to figure out how to grieve with this new dimension thrown, lovingly,  in.  We are navigating these waters as best we can. One day at a time.

As I care for Camryn, of course I think of Christian. How much we miss him, everyday, all day long.  How things might be different if he were still here.  Everything would be different if he were still here.  But I also can feel how I am healing.  At least a little bit. In some ways I feel like to heal would be to forget, but it doesn't have to be that way. And I will make sure that healing isn't forgetting in our home.  Healing is healthy and healing will be remembering and honoring our Christian who isn't here.  But he is here with us in spirit.

I just wanted to get some of my thoughts and feelings down...I have written many blog posts in my mind, but they haven't made it onto the computer yet:)

Picture overload

we keep doing our normal around these parts....sometimes it seems like it's not really "blog material" but really everything is, because this is my family blog so here you go:)

this is Cam at her two month check up, she weighed 11.5 lbs and was 23 inches long! way to GROW baby! (so punny!)

these two pictures were just the other day...i was trying to catch her smile, which she is giving us more readily these days and i LOVE.  but i wasn't quite quick enough! i'll get it soon i hope!

we also do this some days...but such is the life of a small person:)  

these two pictures i love because she has crazy hair out of the bathtub:)

they like being together. most of the time. just like any siblings. i love it when they play together and make memories together. Blake and Avery like to watch Ethan play games...it's kind of funny they like to watch him, but whatever:)  Blake said to me yesterday, "I want to go to Nana Kara's house with Ethan and Avery." i said, "i like to go there too, what do you want to do there?" and he said, "I want to watch Ethan play Pacman Party."  FUNNY!

they play this game sometimes with blankets on the floor that they are pigs and the blankets are mud...this was near the end of an elaborate game where the pigs could buy things from the pig market (piggly wiggly anyone?), and Ethan had bought Avery a mud extender blanket (the white one).  i love listening to them play and hearing what they dream up!

last week we went to the park and it was windy and a little chilly.  Cam's blanket somehow shimmied up to her nose...i love this picture though...very cute:)

wreath that i made for valentine's decorations this year. love me some argyle!

and for V-day dinner we had cupcake size chicken pot pies...very tasty if i say so myself! 

like I said before, nothing earth shattering, just a lot of living going on!! i read two books (wow!), Micheal Vey and Between the Lines, they are listed on my sidebar, i liked them both very much. Micheal Vey is a series...so i may read those too:)

kendall won his first jury trial!!!!!!!!!!!!  he was so pumped, and he should be. i was the jury when he practiced and i was totally convinced!!! so glad he likes what he does:)

6 weeks...

long time, no type, huh???  sheesh, you'd think i just had a baby, and a major holiday or something! i am stealing a few minutes to update a little:)  here is a brief synopsis of the last 6 (ish) weeks....

camryn is 6 weeks old, what the???  how did that fly by so fast! craziness!

she had her first experience in the sling when we went to see the temple lights...that was while my parents were still in town, but that picture is, unfortunately on my camera and for some weird reason the internet kicks off when i plug my camera in and it's not downloading pics...ahhhh..technology!  

this was her first park visit...in the sling...around 3 weeks.

we all love camryn to tiny baby pieces but avery continues to kiss and hug and stroke her each and every time she passes her and since she makes a special effort to pass her about every 1.5 seconds...it's a lot of lovin'! but can you blame her? NO!!! i just try to keep the love to a minimum while baby is trying to sleep:)

camryn's dearest ambition lately is to get her left arm out of the swaddle...we've been there before with other kids but it does make settling down hard sometimes:)

first swing experience, around 5 weeks.  she likes it okay, better than her carseat which is good, but she still doesn't LOVE it. i'm okay with that though:)

basically camryn is the main attraction around these parts...oh, and new Christmas toys!  Camryn weighed around 9lbs 10 oz at her one month check up, she is moving into 0-3 month clothes and wears a size 1 diaper, since about week 4 (she has very powerful gas...it was getting chancy with the newborn diapers).  She is starting to make delicious baby noises and starting to smile (one of my favorite times!!!) i'll try to get a good smile, but you know sometimes that's hard until they are a little older.  we all pretty much adore her, and are so happy she is in our home!

Christmas Eve tradition of acting out the nativity, Avery is always Mary, Camryn was baby Jesus, which the kids got a kick out of since she's a girl...Blake is Joseph and Ethan was a shepherd with Papa Kyle.

i made the kids (minus Camryn) Christmas pjs.  the shirts are freezer paper stenciled Harry Potter shirts...Ethan's says "I solemnly swear that i am up to no good" Blake's says "mischief managed" and Avery's says "muggle born"  they were fun to do...i'll have to see if i can get a better picture of the shirts later.  and the pants came together quickly, probably about an hour for all three pairs...good thing too, since i didn't do them until about 2 days before Christmas eve:)  i actually measured the kids in their sleep and guesstimated on the waist size based on pants they already had....worked out pretty well:)  if i was smart, i'd write down the measurements though!

Kendall and i celebrated 10 years of marriage, 2 days after Christmas.  We like to tell people the anniversary of our first date was Dec. 26th and we got married on the 27th....but you know about 4 years apart:)  our trip to VA and WA DC that we took this summer was to celebrate our anniversary because we knew with a small baby we wouldn't be up to a big thing in December...but we had a great time, Camryn did so well and we ate at the Cheesecake Factory and of course had tasty cheesecake after! and then watched a movie at home...

kendall....

kendall's funny face...(he's a keeper:))

me

at the risk of being super mushy...i can't imagine my life without Kendall.  He is so kind and loving and a fantastic husband and father.  He helps me be a better person.  In our 10 years together, we've lived in 3 states, 8 different houses, accomplished 2 undergraduate degrees and one law degree.  We've had dozens of church callings, Kendall's in a bishopric now, we've had some job changes, including a recent one.  we've been super poor, and not as poor:)  We've delivered 5 children, had to bury one child, we've been sick, been well, laughed a lot, cried an ocean.  we've been on hundreds of dates, been really mad, made up...and i wouldn't change who we have become together because of the last 10 years.

I love you honey.  You are the best person that has ever happened to me. Thank you for being there for me, always.  Here's to another million years together:)

she's here!!!

i was having some trouble with the blog...posting pictures! i got that figured out (by adding another author...just myself under a different email address i already had) and now i can post! yahoo!!!

Camryn Elaine was born on Sunday Nov. 18th, at 12:33 am, she weighed 8lbs 3 oz and was 21.5 inches long.  (although when we went to her first dr appointment on the following tuesday she was only 20 inches long...riddle me that!)  i am never very sure the hospital measurement is very accurate because the baby is squalling and moving around so much!

fresh from birthing...

scale

mom and baby

the kids came for a visit later on sunday, after church, and they were lucky enough to be there when the cookie lady came! what a great day! a new sister AND a cookie? awesome!

nana sharon and ethan with camryn

and daddy

avery could not be any more smitten with a baby...seriously...it's serious love we have going on over here

papa lewi with camryn

this sums up the way we felt that day...sleepy:)  since she was born in the wee hours of the morning, not much sleep was had!

i'll do a full post next for those that want to know the whole shebang story...in the meantime, we are so happy to be loving our little girl, she's a week old today and is doing really well! we are getting to know each other and learning more everyday! she is eating like a champ and i am feeling good, just normal tired:) and  very happy to have her here.

halloween pictures in november...

i realized i never posted pictures from our actual halloween/pumpkin carving/Blake's birthday party on Halloween...and there's not a ton but i do love to document things so here we go:)

ethan was super gung ho to get carving tools and do his own pumpkin...oh help!

he actually did a really great job and carved almost his whole pumpkin by himself! i was so proud! but now he might think he can use knives...oh dear!

avery was a little less excited to clean it out and she wasn't quite strong enough to do a lot of carving...good thing it was ethan to the rescue!!!

blake was kind of along for the ride, he didn't love cleaning and is too young to carve ( i have to draw the line somewhere right?) but he does make a cute pumpkin head:)

all done!

and a scary one!!!!

out of space...

it would figure that when i get a window of time to post...i am out of space on my blog for pictures...have you had this problem??? what have you done to solve it??? any advice is appreciated!!