Off he goes. . .

I thought I saw him crawling yesterday, but now you can't deny it. He still prefers to lay there and scream hoping you'll pick him up, but if he wants something bad enough, he's now found a way to get there. I'm not sure that I'm ready for this. I made sure to vacuum today and I'm cleaning up every thing I can find on the floor. He still manages to find treasures though.

Lion rides and photographer Taylor

Taylor just had to try out her photographing skills and she did a pretty good job too. The picture's not too bad either. I'd post the one Dani took but all you'd see is our knees.

Sam riding on his toy from Santa. Thank goodness for big sisters or he wouldn't be riding on it much.

Homemade gifts

These are the best gifts right here - although Sam is not pictured - it was cute anyway, trying on new Sunglasses.
We were trying to stick with homemade gifts this year, but it didn't quite work out the way we wanted it to. It's hard to hide anything if the only time you have to work on it is limited. Taylor caught a glimpse of a piece of all four of our homemade gifts and since she was already questioning the existence of Santa we had to make a last minute trip to the local Wal-mart to pick up gifts from Santa. Above is the wardrobe we made for their stuffed animals. They had asked Santa for clothes from Build-a-bear, but we all know how expensive those can get. Instead we pulled out all their baby dresses. Unfortunately Taylor saw the box drying in the garage after a paint job. The paint job wasn't that great (Santa quality anyway) Besides, if they ever look in their scrapbooks they'll recognize the dresses.

These are the nightgowns I made, but unfortunately I made both of them at least a size too big. Originally the one Taylor was wearing was meant for Dani (it was the smallest of the pattern I had. Luckily I made that first and made alterations on the other so that it was smaller. Oh well, they'll grow into them. The other two gifts were aprons and Vinyl boards that say "Taylor's works of art", "Dani's works of art" and they have clips to hang their drawings on so that our fridge (or more likely- floor) stays uncluttered. Maybe I'll post pictures later.

Christmas means presents

Taylor trying out her new throne. Just what she needed - wasn't feeling royal enough. Her princess attitude is stronger than ever.
Dani trying out her new keyboard. It connects to the TV and is supposed to teach children how to play the piano, but I tried it and believe me - it's hard.
Sam content with his balls. You couldn't have given him anything better (except maybe the wrapping paper).
Taylor putting on a puppet show in her new theater.
All the girl cousins trying out Cousin Kara's new dress up outfits.

Everything Christmas

Do you think he was enjoying his ride? I pulled him around for a good while before I had had enough. Daddy started it and then had to run out and it left me to get the exercise.










The kids in their Christmas outfits. The girls sang with a few other primary kids in the program at church and did a great job. They even sat on the stand reverently.












Our family dressed for church. We had one shot to take the picture because we were running late and it didn't turn out too bad. We were just lucky Sam was looking the right way at the right time because his head was turned the whole time prior to this.









We actually got Dani to sit on Santa's lap.














Sam loved playing with the paper as he was "opening" a gift. I don't think he actually played with the toy in it at all.

Snow, Posing, and trying to crawl

This wasn't our first snowfall, but the first one that Taylor played in. I let her skip preschool (So I didn't have to drive in it) and she enjoyed throwing snowballs at me. The only reason she got away with that was because there was glass between us. My excuse was that Sam couldn't go out in the cold, but really it was because I didn't want to be in the cold. There wasn't even very much as you can see from the grassDani spends a lot of time on this stool to see better in the kitchen.

Sam isn't crawling yet, but as you can see from the video he's really trying to figure it out, just can't quite grasp the concept. He'll be doing it in no time though - then you'll be seeing videos of him getting into trouble.

Christmas Letter (most of you have already received an email of this)

Dear Family and Friends, December, 2007

We just weren’t able to get out Christmas letters and pictures to everyone this year, so I apologize for the lack of a hard copy, but hope the message still gets to everyone just the same. With the advance of technology, the ability to stay in touch gets simpler. I’ve enjoyed keeping updated through the blogs of friends and family and hope that if your family has one, the address can get passed along so that we can stay close to the changes of your family throughout the year. I almost feel like there’s not much to say that most have not already heard from our own blog. In case you have not received our address, please feel free to check it out: http://www.markandstacey.blogspot.com/ . We’re not as faithful at posting as we could be, but we do get pictures on there every once in awhile.

Mark recently changed positions at the hospital. He is now manager over three of the units. This has turned out to be a real blessing for us. Not only is there a pay increase, but being on salary allows him to go to clinicals for school without being docked any pay. He is enjoying the opportunity to better the hospital, but it can get overwhelming with all that responsibility. Mark is pressing forward with school, trying to endure until the end of the semester when he can have a little breather. If all goes well, he should be finished about this time next year. We can’t wait! It will be nice to finally have a full-time husband and father back. We’ve put off a lot of the projects around the house for his graduation and look forward to their completion. Mark currently serves in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency and is enjoying getting to know more people in the ward.

Stacey is trying to figure out how to manage three kids as well as the home. A lot of priorities have changed as time is usually only found for the essentials. She used to pride herself on a clean home, but has found that sometimes she just has to let things go – okay, most of the time. She’s finding out what it’s like to spend a lot of time in the car as she transports the children here and there and they’re not even in school yet! Most of her hobbies have taken a back burner. She doesn’t read as much anymore because she’s usually asleep when her head hits the pillow. As far as sewing goes, she’s lucky to get a couple things mended here and there. She’s managed to continue a little coupon shopping, but it’s much harder to take three children so she only hits the real good deals. Stacey continues to serve in the nursery helping with the music and attempts to play the organ for sacrament meeting. Thank goodness for the bass coupler (who needs the pedals anyway)?

Taylor is a growing 5 year old. She’s enjoying some of her time in preschool, but doesn’t particularly like the rules. Most of her friends went into kindergarten this year and she just can’t wait for next year to come. She’s a smart girl and would have been ready educationally this year, but this will give her the advantage next year. Her favorite thing to do is dress up. She changes clothes several times a day and loves to pose. Taylor asks lots of questions and has lots of answers. She always has something unique to say. Taylor is already questioning the existence of Santa and her parents are having a hard time working around it.

Dani is 3 and always trying to catch up to Taylor. She absolutely adores her baby brother and is always right there to help him when he starts to cry. Dani is also in a preschool/playgroup with some of her friends and is learning her letters. She loves to play games and beats Mom a lot (even when she’s trying). Dani can be found in her Tutu most of the time and is always asking for Mom to turn on the classical music. Both of the girls were able to attend a short dance class and prepare a number for the church Christmas party. They both did great!

Our new addition came late, but not without an entrance. Samuel Tyler was born March 24, at a whopping 10lbs 1.2oz. Don’t ask me how Mom did it other than she had an epidural. Prior to discharge, problems were found relating to Sam’s breathing. He was monitored closely and eventually taken to the NICU. The nurses didn’t know what to do with such a large baby and had to find special blood pressure cuffs and other equipment. He stayed there for 5 days until they could get the antibiotics through him, but upon leaving no one could give us a definite diagnosis. They called it Pneumonia. He has shown no breathing problems since. Sam is the smiliest baby I have ever known. All you have to do is look at him to get a big grin on his face. He has won the hearts of his sisters who can’t seem to get enough of him. At eight months he is rolling and trying lots of new food. Mom’s looking forward to and dreading him learning to crawl.

We hope the Christmas season finds you all well. We look forward to hearing from your family.

Love,

Mark, Stacey, Taylor, Dani and Sam

Santa

Sitting on Santa's lap. She knew who it really was and informed us he was wearing a bracelet that says "We're Killing Cancer" just like Uncle Carl. Besides, [Kendra] said, 'Carl, dump out the candy'." This is as close as Dani would get and it was tough getting her there, although she did say Thank you. This was actually a break through from the previous night where she was scared to death of Santa.
Sam did great on his first encounter with Santa. He just sat on his lap and pulled his beard. His second, however, started in tears. It must be the man in the suit - right?

Feeding and Crawling?

Sam is trying to get coordinated enough to feed himself. About half of his finger food finds its way to his mouth. He also is really trying to become mobile. I don't think he's anywhere near crawling, but he's figuring out how to turn himself and roll to get to things. Sam will be 8 months this week!

Fashion Show/Photo Shoot

The girls have been begging me for weeks to put on a Fashion show. We took Taylor to get her pictures recently and I wouldn't let her wear all her inventive costumes so I promised her we would have a fashion show at home. I finally lived up to that promise. We video taped them walking down the "runway" and had them pose for a photo shoot in each outfit. It was fun for them. Sorry the video is sideways, I always forget that I can't turn the camera lengthwise for videos. I'll try to remember in the future.

Favorite Things

Sorry I haven't been taking any pictures lately. I shot some today so I could post something.

Taylor doing her favorite thing - reading!

Dani playing with animals, although her favorite thing is to play games.

Sam with his favorite toy - the remote.

Rudolph Dance

The girls are in a dance class just for fun that a lady at the church has volunteered to teach. They are preparing a little dance for the Christmas party.

Comments

Sorry, I didn't realize I had limited who could comment. Everyone should be able to comment on the posts if you would like.

Country Carnival

Our church was having a Country Carnival where the kids enjoyed playing little games. Can you tell whether Dani enjoyed having a cupcake smashed into her face? She sure didn't mind putting one in Taylor's.

Swinging

At the park with cousin Kara

We went to the park with our cousin Kara in Utah today. Sam got to swing for the first time and loved it.

Our family at the temple

We are in Utah right now for the funeral of a loved one and were able to spend a few days with Jeff and Sheryl. Yesterday we went to temple square and took a tour of the conference center, saw the remodeled tabernacle and made a short stop in the visitors center. It was fun to spend some time with Jeff and Sheryl's family.

Pumpkin Patch

Dani, Sam, and I went to the pumpkin patch today for Dani's preschool field trip. We got to go on a hayride, go through a straw maze and pick out a pumpkin. Don't feel bad for Taylor - she got to go with her preschool last week.

Sam's growing up

Sitting in his swing. He is growing everyday.

Taylor's Birthday

Taylor was able to have a Birthday/Halloween Party with her friends. Taylor dressed in her new Sleeping Beauty costume. She had a lot of fun playing games, opening presents, eating cupcakes, and playing with her new toys.