Christmas

Christmas 2009

We are having a blast with our new stuff! The zipline was a huge hit and makes even the adults scared!

The rocking horse was built with 2 boards that were 2x12x8. The amazing thing was the rocking horse required only 1 new tool... a drill press.

I feel like I am in Santa's Workshop with all the new toys the kids are playing with.

Abby Belle

Abby Belle

It seems like Abby has been a part of our family forever even though she is only 10 days old. Everyday she is a little more alert. Abby is the most calm and relaxed baby I have had, and all my babies have been very easy. She loves to be held and most of the time is! We get lots of smiles from her throughout the day too which is so fun. Yesterday she lost her umbilical cord which meant she had her first official bath rather than a sponge bath.

I am so grateful for how much my girls and Matthew love her. Matthew looks for her as soon as he wakes up and calls her Abba. Emily usually calls her Abby Belle. Matthew is a little more rough with his signs of affection than I would like but he sure does love her.

One More Thing...

Oh, I had to include this picture of Brandon living his dream. For years he has wanted a John Deere mower. On Wednesday our neighbor offered to let Brandon try his. I think Brandon was in heaven!!

The First, First Day of School

On Tuesday Ellie had her first official day of kindergarten. The day before I cried and as I dropped her off I was teary eyed but no tears actually fell until I got home! It turned out to be a wonderful day for her. She LOVED it. She told me about the lunches some of the children had. It was so cute. She said you can't buy these lunches at the store, you have to buy them at the school- yuck, my child thinks school lunches look appealing!!

She really likes her teacher. I think knowing she has a great and kind teacher makes this new experience easier. The best part has been Brandon's role in her school day. He is going to drop her off every morning and stay till school starts. The school put him to work since he is hanging out till he goes to work. Here he is changing the marque on the first day of school. Ellie loves having him there too for a little while each day.

Emily and Matthew missed Ellie so much. Grandma Dorothy bought them cute little lunch bags and I pack them a lunch each day too. This has worked out to be fabulous! When lunch time comes the prep is done and we just walk outside to the yard and have a little picnic. Hopefully this process lasts because I love it.

We have a baby girl ... and a name

Little Abby joined our family Tuesday, August 18. She is beautiful and full of personality. Her full name is Abby Belle Ann Bird. It only took us 3 days to name her and a few birth certificate packages! This was our hardest naming process. I think we knew she was an Abby from the moment we saw her but needed a few days to figure out the rest of her name :)
She has a lot of expressions and features Emily had with Matthew's dark hair and tan skin. It looks like she has Ellie's long eye lashes too.

Abby weighed 6lb 14oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She is adorable. We will try to get better pictures of her but till then here are a few snapshots of Abby and our family.

Anniversary

9 years ago today Brandon and I were married. NINE! Looking back it has been a wild and adventerous ride filled with expected joys and a few obstacles that made life more surprising.

Brandon, here is to another year to create memories

(with 4 adorable kids!)

Another year to discover new things together

(let's hope not related to infiltration lines)

And another year to strengthen our eternal marriage

(that is a long time, huh!)

Happy Anniversary!

Below is a picture tribute to all the 'major projects' Brandon has completed around the house in the last year.

Our side yard last summer prior with the lovely fence Brandon put up.

Then in the fall Brandon installed sprinklers. YA!

And after planting, planting, and more planting came BEAUTIFUL grass that he mows every week- it is a lot of grass too.

7 years ago Brandon made this china cabinet for me. Right Bryan?! Anyway, it has moved many times with us through those years unfinished. A few months ago he literally woke up one day and decided he was going to finish it. That day it was painted black and glass for the doors were ordered. It turned out quite elegant and looks stunning against our green walls.

Here are the floor to ceiling bookcases that I have always dreamed of. Brandon did not build these but for 1 1/2 years he called Bill every Monday to see if he was coming that week to finish the bookcases that we had paid him for. Ya, that was my brilliant move. I paid for the bookcases before getting them completed!!!

And finally, my desk. Brandon listened to everything I wanted in a desk for the office and man he delivered. I spend my work day at this lovely desk! It has a great place underneath for my kids to hide and play while I work (if Grandma is on vacation!!). Plus it is BIG! I get to spread out all my papers and computers to work and not feel crowded at all.

And then the front yard! We have lots of green grass to welcome us home everyday.

Thank you so much Brandon for 9 years and 4 wonderful little children.

Grandma's Special Cousin Camp

Grandma Dorothy out did herself this summer- is that possible? She flew to California picked up Wes, Kylie, and Payton and flew back to Fallon in like 24 hours. Then we had Grandma's Special Cousin Camp for over a week. I was tired just watching it! She had at least 1 craft each day for the kids to do, not like "let's color". These were major crafts and projects. Each child also received a beach bag filled with special treasures. My kids still treasure the treasures!

On top of all that she took the Cousins to Wild Island, Jump Man Jump, swimming, the parks, and i am sure I am leaving things out. Wow, she has more energy and love than anyone I know. My kids loved spending special time with their cousins and Grandma- thanks Grandma Dorothy!!

SCARY- Matty ascending the Jump Man Jump Ladder. It seemed like he climbed this slide 100 times.

Tin foil dinners over the fire pit at Aunt Julie and Uncle Tom's Home


Alyssa's Special Treasure Hunt

The cousins hanging out

Ferris Wheel at Scheels

Waiting on the Ferris Wheel Folk

Wild Island

Ellie at Wild Island

Emily and Payton

Daddy and Emily and Matthew

Daddy and Matthew

4th of July at the River House

Matthew and Emily in their 4th of July outfits

(Post River since I am so bad at taking pictures!)

We had the best 4th of July. We drove down to Parker and spent the weekend with wonderful people and family. My girls LOVED the river and all the fun things that go on there. The impossible even happened- Em decided she liked the River House better than her house!

COUSINS! Matthew and Zach

Daddy and Matthew


Matthew hanging out with his ear plugs!



Thanks to all the Aunties and Uncles for loving our kids and for the friends that made it so much fun. Ryan and Julie Hoke thank you, thank you so much :)

Swim Lessons

Cousins at Free Swim
In the water with Matthew during his lessons (Em is there too)

Em going down the slide

Matthew

Ellie Girl in her goggles

Well this has been a different summer for us with Swim Lessons. My children only took one official session of Swim Lessons. Emily LOVED it, Matthew was too young for not having me in the water. Then there was Ellie. She did the same thing this year as last year. She is now confident in going off the diving board and swimming by herself but she wanted to be with kids her age. So, she told the teacher I think I belong in a different class! It was lots of fun all the way around. Plus, how great is the City of Fallon for providing free swim lessons and free swim to all families in our community. That is so cool. Thank you Mayor Tedford :)

Plus a special Thank You to Kim for still being my friend after the first day of lessons!!!!!

Tahoe

Way back in June we took an ultra quick trip to Reno and Tahoe. It was so much fun! We spent the night swimming. The next day looked a little cloudy but we braved the weather and headed to Tahoe. As we passed snow and laughed at the rain that was hitting our car we vowed we were going to Kings Beach and we were going to have fun! We made it and the rain/ snow disappeared. It ended up being about 70 degrees and a lot of fun.

Birthday, Lake Lahontan Style

Cousin Wes had the brilliant idea to bring Ellie a crown from home. Great thinking Wes :)

Lake Lahontan

We celebrated Ellie's birthday at Lake Lahontan on her actual birthday. Holding to the tradition Dorothy, Julie and Brandon started at Lake Lahontan it was an adventure. The tradition is something adventerous happens each time our extended family visits Lake Lahontan.

We had a few hours of nice weather, food, and lots of water fun. We opened presents and then Julie, Lauren and Alyssa went home. I just thought we would pack up and follow since we had been there 4 hours. Well, Brandon and Ryan went home to pick up a boat and Tom (oh man I am leaving out a lot of details). About 1 hour later the wind starts to pick up, the boats are clearing off the lake, and my mom keeps thinking the weather is going to get bad. As the wind keeps picking up and up, my mom and I decide to put the kids in the car and pack up. THANK GOODNESS we did. Within minutes the wind became so powerful that everything was blowing. The EZ Up was elevated into the air by the wind and literally tossed like a tumble weed. The scary part was it headed straight for the car with the kids in it. We stopped it and said goodbye to EZ- up which was now a tangled mess of metal.

Things got better. The winds died way down and the boat showed up. The kids took a ride in it. That night Ellie and Daddy went and bought Ellie her own beta fish. She is now an official owner of 2 pets- Minnie the Kitty Cat and Alexa the Fish. **For those that don't know poor little Daisy we think had a tragic end or was catnapped**

Ellie's birthday celebration ended on Sunday with our postponed pinata and cake! Thanks to all the California and Nevada Stockards for making it so special. And we were really glad Grandma Dorothy was there and not on vacation!

One more picture! The Ryan provided a humorous moment during the pinata festivity. He looked Lauren straight in the eyes and said, "This is for my 9th birthday!" Ryan broke the pinata open with one hit and poor Lauren didn't get a chance to hit the pinata.