Random pictures from February

 Here are some random pictures from February:

Alan with his new scriptures:

The boys really like to do this for pictures:

 Conner celebrated his one hundredth day of school:

 Micah covered his eyes with stickers - funny boy:

 We celebrated Reed's birthday.  He wanted trifle instead of cake.  Make a wish!:

 Micah fell asleep on our kitchen floor after church.  Every once in a while I let him skip his nap and this is always what happens - he falls asleep in random places later in the afternoon:

A look back

Wow, it has been hard for me to believe that Alan is 8 years old.  He is just starting to look and act so big now.  I didn't start writing in this blog until Alan was almost 2 so I decided to post a few pictures of Alan as a baby. 

Alan was born a week after his due date.  He was 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long.  

A couple of weeks old:

Alan's blessing day, 6 weeks old:

4 months old, Alan was generally a pretty happy kid.  I do remember having to walk him around some nights, but as I look back I wonder if some of his hard days were due to my lack of experience with keeping him warm enough, swaddling, getting on a schedule ect.

6 months old - on a hike with Reed and I

7 months old

9 months old - making a fishy face after we gave him a dill pickle

Alan enjoying cake on his first birthday

Looking for Easter eggs - 15 months old:

Helping dad put up a tent - 18 months old:

Helping us unpack after we moved to Nebraska - 21 months old:

2 1/2 years old:

Alan sleeping in his big boy bed, right after he turned two.  He looks so tiny in the big bed:

And Alan in the same bed but now he is 8 years old:

Alan started Cub scouts in our ward and he has LOVED it!  It has been fun to hear about all the things he is learning and doing.  He looks so grown up in his uniform:

Well, that was my nostalgic trip through my photos!  We sure love this kid!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

After Alan's baptism Grandma and Grandpa Bassett stayed for a couple of days.  We went to their hotel on Monday night and went swimming.  They also had a bounce house on the pool deck that the kids enjoyed.



Micah is ready to swim:

The water was FREEZING cold!  We found that the only way to get in was to go down the slide:

Alan and Reed went down the slide several times.  Conner and I each tried it once.  Here comes Alan:

Then we would hurry over to the hot tub to warm up:

Or in Brooklyn's case, snuggle with Grandpa to get warm:

Grandma came over and played with us during the days:

Alan and Conner's school had their awards ceremony while they were here.  Grandma came with us and it was so nice to have her there to help with the kids.  Alan got two awards but I can't find those pictures.  Conner got a honor roll award (he is 4th from the left)

Thanks for the visit!

Brooklyn 18 months to 21 months

Here are some things about 18 month old Brooklyn:
 - words Brooklyn could say:  Mama, dada, go, hi, milk, all done, apple, uh oh, oh man (pretty funny, she would drop her cup on the floor and it would spill and she would say Oh Mannn)

 - She is a daddy's girl.  She gets SO excited when Reed comes home from work.  And Reed loves it!

 - When people come in she is very insistent that they take off their coat and shoes - especially when Reed comes home from work.  He will pick her up and she will immediately start tapping his shoulder.  If that doesn't work she will start to unzip his coat and pull it off.

 - She is very particular about her bed time routine.  We put on pajamas, brush teeth, and then go to her room.  We usually sit on the floor, or she sits in the rocking chair and I sit on the floor.  Then we read books.  She insists on 4 or 5 books, and she wants all of her stuffed animals on her lap, as well as all 5 books on her lap while she read.  It can get kind of crowded.  Then we turn off the lights, sing a song and put her in bed.  Then I tell her I love her and we blow kisses and I leave.  If we leave out any of these elements, or try to shorten it a little she will throw a huge tantrum. 

 - She scratches when she is mad.  Micah has taken the brunt of this but all of her brothers have had scratches on their cheeks from her nails. 

 - She is doing better about keeping her hair bands in.  She will sometimes leave it in for a couple of hours. 

 - She loves peanut butter, butter, bananas, and cheese.  A couple of weeks ago I caught her carrying a stick of butter around.  It was partially unwrapped and she was licking it like a popsicle - bleah!  Silly girl!
Here are a few pictures of 18 month old Brooklyn:

 She can stick her bottom lip out pretty far:

 Sharing an orange with Dad:

 I went to check on her during her nap and this is what I found.  She had piled all of her stuffed animals in a pile, and then put her blankets on top of that and then she fell asleep on the pile.  It didn't look very comfortable:

Here is a look at 21 month old Brooklyn:
 - her vocabulary suddenly exploded at around 19 1/2 months.  Now she says tons of words and I feel like she adds a new one almost everyday.  Her favorite words right now are "no, mine, baby, ewww". She also loves to sing "e I e I oh!" from Old McDonald had a farm.   

 She actually stays tucked in sometimes (my only child to do so at this age):

 Playing peek a boo:

 She loves to do things with Micah.  It has been fun to watch them the last couple of months because they have really started to play together more:

 Her hair can be pretty crazy sometimes, especially if it was wet when I put it into pig tails, and then she pulls out the pig tails after it dries:

She is getting so big!

Alan's Baptism

Alan was baptized by his dad on Feb. 1st.  It was a great day! 

Look at those handsome guys!  Can't believe my oldest child is getting baptized!

He only needed to get dunked once and then he was confirmed by Reed

After the baptism I somehow lost my camera so thank you to everyone else for taking pictures.  Russ came with Boyce, Grace and Bentlie and Grandma and Grandpa Bassett were there too:

Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher came too, and so did Reed and Steph:

Here is a picture with Vita Lahaderne and Alan and I.  Vita sits behind our family during Sacrament meeting and helps me with my kids.  She is a lifesaver!