Success

Today was Joseph's first day in nursery without a parent. I had the thought to kiss and hug him good-bye just outside the door and then send him in with Hyrum. They walked into the room hand in hand and I slowly closed the door behind them and stood in the hall. It only took Joseph a few minutes to begin crying. I waited outside the door in case they needed to get me. After about five minutes Joseph stopped crying. I asked the next nursery leader to come out how things were going and got the thumbs up. I heard from about five different people how cute the boys were together in nursery. Joseph had jumped off a nursery leaders lap to run away. She thought he was running to the door, but instead, he ran to Hyrum for a hug. They hugged and hugged until Joseph felt a little better. He was calling, "Mamma, Mamma..." and Hyrum told him it was okay and that he would take him to me. They started for the door hand in hand and a nursery leader diverted them to the toys. Everything was great after that! When I picked the boys up after class, Joseph burst into tears at the sight of me and held me pretty close, but he did it! He survived nursery on his own! As we got our coats on I asked Joe if he had fun in nursery and he nodded his head and smiled a little. Here's hoping next week goes just as well! I am so grateful for inspiration and answers to prayers.

I went up  to check the boys shortly after bed time to find them like this. Hyrum is so sweet and always kisses Joseph softly on the cheek before jumping into bed. I guess after I left tonight, Hyrum decided to snuggle right next to him. It was pretty cute! These boys just melt my heart.

Shortly before bed I brought my trustee camera up again, and found them like this.

Friday Evening

 This afternoon the littles and I ventured to the Legislature grounds. Daddy took the LRT and met up with us after he finished work. It was relatively hassle free for three kids (minus having to take Hyrum pee all the time and Joe wanting to jump of every ledge he could climb). 

 I'm pretty sure Joseph was a baby last time we came, if we even came at all last Summer. He was loving every minute of it and tuckered me out pretty quick!

 Camilla and Hyrum are pretty great friends lately!

 Camilla complained it wasn't deep enough and resorted to the crab crawl to get more of her body in the water.

 This boy is getting so grown up! He's pretty much fearless. I had many visions of him splitting his head open on those awesome cement corners. 

 I spent the majority of my evening chasing him around the pools. Daddy joined us when we were munching nuts on the picnic blanket. All of the littles immediately cuddled up to him while we talked about our day. Joseph kept begging for a "nut" over and over again. We were all shocked that he could say nut, and knew what he was talking about. It was pretty cute. 

We jumped around to the different wading pools and ended in the deepest one before going home. Mr. Stannix is pretty awesome and rolled up his pant legs to join the littles. They were pretty tickled to be with their Daddy! It was a super fun evening and we all went home feeling ready for bed!

A Special Date

Yesterday evening Mr. Stannix and I went to the temple together to celebrate our anniversary.

The weather was beautiful!

I am so grateful for the peace that comes inside those temple walls.

And I loved being there with my sweetheart!

Happy Anniversary

Mr. Stannix and I are celebrating our sixth anniversary today!
It was an easy decision to marry him and he has made me so happy.
We've made it through many bumps along the way and continue to
fall more in love each day.
He is someone I truly admire and respect.
He is a fabulous father and hard worker.
Six years, Five pregnancies, Four homes, Three (and one on the way) kids, and Two vehicles later and we are still as happy as ever!
Happy anniversary handsome!

Little Things

Today was a rough Mommy day. I have decided to leave the dinner dishes on the table and plunk myself down here at the computer to record all of the "little things" I've jotted down this last little while in an effort to make myself feel better. Even though Joe has been "sleeping in" (until 7:00am) I still wake up feeling very tired. We spend our days in the backyard, or exploring a nearby park, or out running errands and I am usually ready for a nap before lunch time even rolls around. We ventured out to Target today to get the boys some much needed sandals for this warm weather. It was there that I noticed Hyrum had a bit of a temp again, so I decided to head to the medicentre on the way home just to ease my mind. The box of cookies and bottle of water that I bought did the trick and everyone was super well behaved. One prescription of antibiotics for an ear infection and sore throat later, and we were on our way home for the afternoon. I then tried to divide my time between house work, food preparation, and a sick little boy, all while keeping one eye constantly on Joseph and trying my hardest to listen to Camilla each time she wanted me to watch her hoola-hoop or do some other new trick. Some times, I'm just not good at doing all of those things at once. But during any chaotic day, there are moments of joy that surface and help make things a little better. So here goes some things from the last few weeks that have brought me joy.

Today I woke up to Camilla tinkering in the kitchen. She can now climb on counters and get her own bowl for her cereal. Hyrum (who had been snuggled next to me for the morning) jumped out to join her and she kindly poured him a bowl too. She is such a good big sister and sometimes I forget that she is only four. I'm glad she puts up with me though. She always tries her best and loves to succeed. She has recently become more daring, which hard for the controlling side of me. Sometimes while she is on her bike peddling extra fast, I have to look away and hope for the best. She likes to test her abilities and dare new heights at the park. Though she likes to try new things outside, she is not so keen to try things at the dinner table. The other night she was convinced that she hated corn, and after an hour tried some and loved it. As we walked up to bed that night she goes, "I LOVED that corn, can you make it again?" I think one of my favorite things was when she said, "I'm glad I don't have another mom, you're the best!"

Hyrum's imagination is exploding lately. He is always putting empty tinfoil rolls in his pocket to use as a pirate spy glass, and a pencil in his other pocket as a sword. When he plays pretend, it's not enough to just do the actions, he has to narrate everything. I will often hear things like, "Open door. Close door" ,as he pretends to walk through a door in the middle of the room, or "Bike, bike bike" as he peddles around on an imaginary bicycle. He has developed a recent love for nature and is constantly carrying around caterpillars and lady bugs. The other day when I told him it was time to go to the store he told me he was going to put his caterpillar in his pocket so he could play with it later. I smiled to myself and then eventually talked him out of it. My little pony is currently his favorite show, and he will often play ponies with his sister. The other day in nursery he picked up a toy to show me and said, "This toy is in-TREH-stin'..." Each night before bed he always kisses sleeping Joseph gently on the head before I can tuck him into his own bed. If he forgets, he whispers, "oh!" and hops out to give a soft kiss. He is such a tender boy and I love him for it!

Joseph has been keeping me on my toes lately. If he isn't raiding the brown sugar container, he's playing with the buttons on the dishwasher, or climbing on the table, or jumping on the couch. For such a sweet boy he is sure good at causing trouble! The trampoline is his favorite place to be right now, and when I refuse to lift him up, he drags his ride-on car over and climbs up himself. He's become quite the thinker and can solve pretty well any problem that comes. If he is on the trampoline he requires constant supervision. Once or twice he's opened the zipper on the net and I've caught him walking around on the mats on the outside. He's kind of a dare devil and gives me about 100 heart attacks a day. He is the best eater of the three and will always finish up the leftovers at any meal. I'm still not sure where he puts it all! He's a little bit feisty and has learned to defend himself well when it comes to his older siblings. Sometimes Hyrum is even afraid of him. I've never known a boy who could be so gentle, yet so crazy at the same time. Hyrum is good with him though and usually responds by taking Joseph by the hand and showing him how to be soft. If that doesn't work, he just hits him back.. Never a dull moment around here. My favorite part of today was when Camilla and I were sitting on blanket in the yard doing some school and Joseph walked up to me, put his hands gently on my cheeks and gave me a smooch. He's such a little charmer sometimes. I also love hearing him squeal with delight each time I kiss him on the lips at bed time. I throw my head back and exclaim, "EWW! Gross!" and he busts out into a belly laugh. Camilla often listens at the door and I will hear her let out a little giggle and ask me to do it again. It's amazing how baby laughs are so contagious and loved. 

 Life is good.

Summer Sun

 Today we spent almost all day outside. I mowed the lawn in the morning while the kids rode their bikes out front. When I was finished they biked up to the mailbox with me to get our weeks worth of mail. Then after a morning smoothie we walked a good 5Km and hit up the grocery store while we were out. After lunch we set up the swimming pool and stayed put for the afternoon.

 Hyrum loved filling up the pool for us!

 Joseph loved getting in on the action too. Camilla went over and sat with him since he would exclaim, "BEE!" everytime a mosquito came near him. She's such a good sister.

Hyrum asked for a little snuggle to get warmed up and I was glad to have him next to me. 

This girl is just exploding with personality lately! I sure loved hanging out with all of them, though I'm pretty sure I got my first sunburn of the season!

Detour

 On our way back from the Zoo, we detoured to the Acreage. We put the kids to bed after some of Great-Gramma's banana bread (she always makes it when she knows we're coming). When they woke up in the morning they had a lot of fun playing around on Grampa's newly acquired pinball machine. 

They are so soft with the button and lucky that the ball would always end up in the bonus hole. Their points were crazy good!

It was a bit rainy for the morning, but we went out for some fresh air anyways. Joseph loves to be outside!

In the afternoon we helped with some yard work and enjoyed the weather. Before going home we had delicious BBQ steak and salads. Thanks again for the visit Mom and Dad!

Our Zoo-cation

Mr. Stannix had a few meetings in Calgary today. At the beginning of the week he sat Camilla on his lap after dinner and told her that we were going to the Zoo. She was so excited. The kids have been counting down the sleeps all week, Camilla more so since she has a better understanding of time. We drove down last night and stayed at a favorite hotel. We played at the pool until it closed and put the kids to bed way to late. The best part of my evening was in the wading pool when Camilla threw her arms around me and said, "I'm glad I don't have another Mom. You're the bestest!" Talk about a heart melter. 

Joseph slept past 6:00am for the first time in a very long time! We loaded up nice and early and Daddy dropped us at the zoo for the morning while he went downtown for his meetings. Whenever I attempt things like this, I am always so grateful to have such great children to accompany me. We only had a couple rough patches, but that's totally normal. Before we even went in the kids had to get pictures in front of the animals at the entrance. 

I'm sure if you enlarge this, Hyrum's fake smile with give ya a chuckle!

 Love these two loonies.

 Joseph saw them posing and asked to get out of the stroller. As soon as I let him out, he walked over to the moose and posed himself for a picture! It was the cutest!

I can't get over how grown up this girl is!

We went and checked out the dinos first thing, and I caught these two hugging on the trail.

It was super fun minus the bugs and tree fluff flying around!

These guys are getting way too big!

After the dinos, we wandered down to the real animals.

We couldn't pass up taking a picture with this mamma kangaroo.

Camilla loved hanging out in there!

And so did her brother!

Camilla begged me all morning to see the Giraffe and we finally found it before lunch! Since the littles had depleted the snack supply, we went to the little cafe and payed an arm and a leg for some food. Hyrum enjoyed the most overpriced grill cheese sandwich ever (though it was good, Joe and I shared the left-overs). We then made our way back to the entrance to meet up with Daddy.

The kids were pretty excited to see him! The first place we explored was the Canadian Rockies. We really wanted to see a bear. We got to watch the Grizzlies go for a swim, and then a black bear climb a tree. It made me giggle watching this bear nap in the tree like it was a hammock. 

We checked out a few more things until Hyrum woke up from his snooze and then we made our way to the Penguins. 

I think this might have been Hyrum's favorite exhibit.

They were pretty cute!

The kids had waited all day for this, and had the best time inside. I loved that it was extra cool in there since I was verging a headache and needing to get out of the sun! Joseph, who had been running all over the place a few minutes earlier, attached himself to my leg with his hands on either side of his face "plugging his ears". Those penguins can get pretty loud!

This little guy loved Camilla and stayed there for a long time watching. It was a super sweet Daddy-Daughter moment and I'm glad I grabbed it, though my camera doesn't do it justice.

After that we were quite content to leave for the day. We had been there for about nine hours afterall! The littles were such troopers and I was so proud of them!

Cooling Off

 This afternoon was perfectly hot. We took to a favorite spray park to cool off and play. Camilla was so excited and ran around like a crazy for a little while.

 Hyrum refused to take off his shoes and shirt and instead went in fully clothed.

 Joseph followed his big sister around, oblivious to the spray and falling buckets of water that were missing him by inches.

 Joseph ventured over to the swings and I spent quite a bit of time pushing him, pretending to nibble his toes, and soaking up his belly laughs!

 This shot doesn't do those baby blues justice, I need a better camera.

 Things slowed down as the clouds started to gather.

Joseph made sure to get good and wet before we got in the van and drove home!

Take a Picture

"Mom! Come take a picture of us, it's gunna be a cute one!"

"Okay"

click

"Is it cute, Mom?"

"Perfect!"

Little Nature Man

Mr. H is our little tender-heart. 

He is typically quiet, and very thoughtful.

 When he's not with his sister he likes to be in the background

and do his own thing.

He has recently developed a love for nature and can be found outside exploring.

We sure love him!

Happy Father's Day

 

 

 I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish a happy Father's Day to all of the important men in my life. I am so glad to be surrounded by such righteous and amazing fathers. I feel so blessed to be married to Mr. Stannix. He is so great with our children. I love watching him teach them, laugh with them, play with them, and read to them. I also feel privileged to have grown up with an amazing Dad!

Loud Noises

Joseph doesn't much like the lawn mower...

He gets quite concerned.

This is his version of plugging his ears.

Good Morning

Good morning sunshine.