Life is Beautiful

Today I decided to copy a friends blog and post what I am grateful for in my rich beautiful life....

1. My Heavenly Father's love and wisdom.

2. A husband who is my best friend in the whole wide world

3. Cameron- his zany sense of humor and all the hugs he gives me proceeded by, Mom, I looove you.

4. Madison- her spunky spirit, creativity, and compassion for her sisters and those in need

5. Isaac- his willingness to help, his innocence and general happiness about life

6. Ava- her questions, her big blue inquisitive eyes, and her cuddliness

7. Mia- her babyness, even though she's not really a baby, her constant happiness and her excitement with simple fun things

8. Parents that love me and have taught me the gospel all of my life

9. Brothers, sisters in law, brothers in law, parents in law, nieces and nephews that enrich my life and extend my network of love <3

10. Friends that love me and help me be a better person

11. A home I love that sometimes loves me back ;)

12. Lucky, our happy crazy loving dog

13. Have I mentioned love enough times yet???

14. slobbery baby kisses

15. cuddling and watching a movie with Chris after the kids are in bed

16. music that helps me move when i need to get things done, or chill when I want to

17. piano lessons

18. Chris's guitar playing and songs he's written for me :)

19. Stories Cameron writes

20. pictures my girls draw, especially when its me with hearts all around

21. when Isaac sings "we will we will rock you"

22. sunsets on a cloudy day

23. flash floods when I'm safely inside

24. snow on the mountains

25. winters in AZ

26. summers in Park City, UT

27. riding bikes as a family

28. running while the sun rises

29. a body that works properly without any major problems

30. stairs to climb

31. running water in my kitchen

32. my dishwasher

33. "Life" the series on Discovery HD

34. texting

35. air conditioning

36. erasers

37. stain removers

28. the word "sorry"

29. the sweet whisperings of the Spirit

30. my Saviour Jesus Christ and His Atonement (this list in no way reflects order of importance!!)

31. soft blond, red and brown hair <3

32. funny stories

33. compassionate service

34. testimony meeting

35. peoples willingness to serve and enrich others lives, even when they dont know them very well

36. Journals

37. Scriptures <3

38. the ocean, mesmerizing and mysterious

39. poetry

40. paintings that express profound truth

41. photography, especially of cute kids ;-)

42. cards and letters in the mail, love it

43. Dora (yes, she makes Mia happy!)

44. flowers, all colors and fragrances

45. swimming pools

46. preschool (it makes Ava happy!)

47. yogurt

48. soft warm blankets

49. hot chocolate

50. going on dates with my best friend xoxoxo

lots more but I thought 50 would be a good number for today! If you made it this far, I am impressed!!

Happy Birthday Mia Bailey

                         Mia Bailey Sly January 15, 2008






The sad day has come. Our last baby is no longer a baby. Ok, maybe she is, but I'm having a hard time coping with her growing up... her walking, her little bit of talking, her trying to be independent of me. Well maybe not the independent part. Mia is still very glued to me all the time, especially when there are lots of people around, and she thinks they are trying to take her away. But the fact still remains that she is getting older and soon won't be my little nursing cuddly baby anymore. Thats ok, we'll have cute grandbabies someday.

Mia is a little person already. She is NOT afraid to voice her opinion. In fact, she voiced it all night tonight during dinner. Even when we were having prayer. She was letting me know she was hungry... by yelling very loudly... and didn't stop letting me know until she had had her fill of spaghetti.
She already thinks she's a big kid. She wants to go outside and play on the swingset when Isaac and Ava go out. She wants to jump on the trampoline when she sees the other kids on it. She wants to talk on the phone and control the TV (She already likes Spongebob like her brothers and sisters and loves Dora, like her big sis Ava).  Her new favorite toy is the mini trampoline Isaac got for Christmas, she likes to climb up onto it, hold on to the handlebars and bounce as much as she can (which really isn't much since she doesn't weigh a whole lot... shhhhh, don't tell her!).  

One of my favorite things about Mia is her blankie and her thumb sucking habit.  She has these little blue fleece blankets that she likes to fall asleep with, and anytime I stick her in the crib with one of them, even if she's not happy about taking a nap, she'll grab her little blankie with her right hand and suck away with her left.  And usually fall asleep pretty quickly.  I love that whenever she sees one of her blankies around the house, she'll immediately grab it up, put it up to her face and start sucking her thumb!  So cute. :o)

I love that all of Mia's brothers and sisters adore her.

Cameron is her little protector... he's always making sure the kids aren't attacking her, especially Ava.  He is always so wonderful about getting her out of bed, or finding her from one of her stair crawling escapades, and bringing her back downstairs to me.  

Madison is her entertainer.  She always sits and shows her all her fun toys, and how to make them do fun stuff.  

Isaac is her little clown.  He bounces around and makes funny faces for her when she's upset, sometimes he may get a little out of control, but he always means well.  He also likes his new found talent of being able to pick her up and move her all around the house.  

                                           best friends

                                          worst enemies
Ava is her little partner in crime, or else her worst enemy!  I think she both loves and hates Ava the most out of all the kids.  Mia gets so excited to see her in the morning, but cries and screams at her all day long when she takes her toys.  Just the other day, Mia was playing with her new Dora push along car, and of course Ava was again trying to take it from her.  Ava walked away for a minute, then came back, and everytime she so much as touched the little car, Mia would seriously start screaming bloody murder.  Over and over again.  It cracked me up! I'm so grateful to have my little Mia girl, our little Bailey Bear, in our family... she has truly brought so much laughter and happiness to each one of our lives!



       One of the many times she has fallen asleep on Daddy!

                               In the bath on her bday

Mia walking!  Her record for consecutive steps without falling down now is 26!

Primary Program... Whoops!

Today was the annual primary program at church... always my favorite Sunday to go to church besides Mother's Day, when the kids sing to their Moms.  We are usually late to church, since it is now at 8 am (who am I kidding, we've always been late to church), but today we made sure to get there early, so we could sit up close and watch our 3 cute kids in primary!  My favorite parts where when they signed and sang the song "When Jesus Christ was Baptized," and at the end, when they sang "I am a Child of God...." you could really feel the love of all the sweet little kids when they sang that last song that I love so much.  

The whoops of the day was when I felt something wet on my leg and I looked down at Mia to see her staring down at a big puddle on the carpet below us.  I couldn't figure out where it came from.  No water bottles, no sippy cups in sight... hmm... so I assumed she had spit up a whole lot.  I cleaned it up with an old shirt I had in my bag... I was surprised how much there was, and how food free it was for baby puke.  A few minutes later I picked Mia up and felt that her legs were wet, and then when I sat her on my lap I realized she didn't have a diaper on!!  She had pulled it off, peed on the church chapel carpet, and stared at the ground to admire her work!  How the heck she got her diaper off is beyond me.  But I guess thats what I get for not putting bloomers on her with her dress!!  Needless to say, I put a little more work into cleaning it up better.  Later when Mia was playing with her blanket on another part of the carpet I started to wonder... What other kinds of things have been "spilled" on this carpet??

Tea Time!

Ava is such a girly girl. She's always dressing up, putting makeup on, and saying, " I'm so pwetty." Probably her favorite thing to say. Well, I just had to take pics of her and Mia, and Isaac (reluctantly) having a tea party.  (As you can see in the background of some of the pictures, I was trying to do my laundry, when the cuteness of my children distracted me...)
                                                         Ava's setup

                                   "Now put the tea in here, Mommy"

                                                          Mmmmm...

                                            See?  She thinks she's big!

                                                     Is there any left?

                       Oh!  There's really tea (well, water) in here!

                                    The plate tastes the best...

Keepin Up With the Big Kids

So 7 month old Mia already thinks shes a big kid. She hates baby food, drinks from a straw and knows exactly what she wants when someone has a cup in their hand. And of course she always wants the other kids' toys and not the baby ones. Well I decided to see how she would do in the bath with the big kids (Isaac and Ava). She's been sitting up for months so I thought she might like it. I was wrong... she LOVED it! Isaac started complaining about getting splashed by Mia, she was so excited! Here are some fun pics.
                                                        3 big kids!

                                                       Weeeeeeeee!!

                                           All wet and lovin' it

After the bath... suckin her thumb cuz she was upset about all her fun ending

Our Very Own Little Miss Piggy!

Well Mia has become quite the chunk lately! It seems like just in the last few weeks she has gotten so BIG! Maybe it was just seeing the twins that made me realize she was really growing. But I have had others say she's really gotten chunkly lately, too! She started being interested in our food whenever we eat, too, so the other day I decided she was ready for baby cereal. Here are some before and after pics, she absolutely loved it! Thank goodness! Ava was and still is the pickiest eater I have ever met... I think Mia is more like Cameron in that she gobbled up every last bite... Cameron really loved all baby food, too, and also became quite the chunky baby!
chunk-a-roo!

March Madness

Pretty girls on Easter


In addition to the real March Madness on the TV whenever Chris is home, we've had so much going on this month! Chris started coaching Cameron's baseball team, with his broken wrist and everything! Cameron really likes being on a baseball team with his cousin Dallin (and cute little McKenna, too!) Isaac is playing t-ball, he always tells everyone what his Daddy tells him, "I'm a natural!" He really is! Like I said before, Maddy got her hair cut and finds new ways to wear it everyday... straight, curled, headbands, flower bows (which we have been making together), barrets, and sometimes even in ponytails still. Ava is just as busy as ever, she's bumped her head and gotten scratched up a million times like usual... and she's constantly making us laugh with the things she says, as usual! Mia is now two and a half months and was blessed this last Sunday, March 30th. She's been sick twice already, and is just getting over an ear infection! We also honored Chris's Mom on March 20th, as it has been 2 years since she passed away. We really miss her. It was nice to visit the cemetery and hear a special memory that each grandchild there shared. So between baseball practice, games, broken bones, trips to the Dr and dentist, one trip to urgent care (for me with Strep), allergies, Easter egg hunts, Easter, Mia's blessing, haircuts (mine too), and everything else, I'd say we've had a pretty average month.

Isaac cleaning Grandma Sly's headstone









Some of the grandkids at the cemetery














Jensen Easter Egg Hunt
No one wants to say cheese when there's candy around!
One Easter eg we almost forgot to find
Again, too many candy eggs to eat!

2 months have flown by!

Mia is 2 months old today, and boy has it gone fast! She is our little sweetheart, and loves to cuddle up with people (especially Mommy) and sleep on them for long periods of time. She sleeps in a lot of places, but Mommy and Mommy's bed are definitely her favorite! All the kids love their baby sister and are incredibly willing to help out by getting diapers and wipes, clothes, holding her for a while, and Cameron's even gotten her to sleep! One of the biggest jobs is to "watch" Mia while I try to get stuff done, so that Ava doesn't mangle her. Ava sure loves her baby sister, especially giving her kisses, and isn't usually very gentle about it. She really loves waking her up with kisses and "hi MIA!" while she is sleeping in the swing. She has good intentions, but its hard explaining to a 2 year old how fragile a newborn is... I just keep reminding her about 100 times a day. I think Ava just wants to play with her sister so badly, and doesn't understand why she still sleeps all the time! Here are some pictures of all the many sleeping places of baby Mia.

SWEET


Ava loves to "hold it, baby!"


Just after Isaac's bath


Cameron hangin out after he got his sister to sleep


Hangin out sleepin on Uncle Eran outside


Mia's favorite sleeping spot


falling asleep under her new toy


The sleepy swing


Mommy's bed is so much cozier at night then mine, mostly cuz Mommy's there


Sleeping on the couch amidst all the noise


Falling asleep everywhere runs in the family