Biology Student of the Year

That's right folks, my husband was Biology student of the year and is graduating Magna Cum Laude at Dixie State College. This is Derek with Dr. McNeilis getting his award. I'm super proud of how hard he has worked and it is nice to see that it is paying off. Medical school here he comes, beware, he is going to take you on and he is going to win!

Too Quick:

Eden: 4-8-10

Kael's Mischief

Time is passing too quickly. Derek might think otherwise with graduation around the corner. I want time to slow down at home and class time for Derek to speed up.

Updates:
Derek: School has been very hectic and crazy trying to throw everything in at the last minute before graduation. He has 4 presentations this next week and then finals right after. On Wednesday night we went to an Honors Ceremony for the school and Derek was awarded Biology student of the year and he will be graduating with Honors of Magna Cum Laude. He will be getting his announcements for graduation out next week, so look for it in the mail.

Sharice: I’m busy being wife and mom. I’m working in the mornings again for my brothers and love playing with Kael all day and Eden all night. Our anniversary was April 15th and we weren’t planning anything because of our crazy lives, but Derek still managed to make it fun and special for me. He took me and the kids to breakfast and then he had to go to school, but when he got home he took us all to the park. Eden got some sunshine and Kael learned how to go down the slide all by himself. It was so fun and I couldn’t have asked for a better day!

Kael: The kid never slows down. He is always getting into everything and trying to figure out new things. (Things Kael gets into: trash, diapers, wipes, baby powder, lotion, toilet, toilet paper, plants, etc etc.) He has been so fun lately showing how smart he is. The kid LOVES to dance and sing. His new favorite movies are Alvin and the Chipmunks 1 & 2. His first favorite movies were Finding Nemo, then Ice Age 1,2,&3. It is so fun to see his little personality and it’s fun when he starts shimmying his shoulders and then stomping his feet in place. He came up with his dance moves on his own and it is hilarious! At bath time I’ve started trying to teach him body parts, and so we’ve been singing a lot of head shoulders knees and toes and he is getting so much better at pointing to body parts. He can say eyes now too which is cute. And he is the only kid in his nursery class that doesn’t cry. He hasn’t cried once and last Sunday when Derek went to check on him all 6 or so kids were crying and Kael was just playing, but he looked sad because he couldn’t understand why everyone was crying.? I mean, come on there were so many fun toys what is the need to cry? Kael loves his sister and wants to make her happy. He always wants to touch her, but doesn’t know how so he stands by her and just starts shaking his hands crazy. It’s cute. He is such a good kid and we love him to pieces! He is my joy! He teaches me to be a better person each day and to see the joy in life. Love you kiddo!

Eden: She is now 5 weeks old. Where did the time go? She still has a really hard time sleeping at night. She still burps better than Kael did. However, she now spits up just as much as Kael did, which is A LOT. Her hair is thinning out except she still has this super cute patch of hair at the very bottom back of her head. It is so soft and I love it. I love her dark hair and blue eyes. She loves to be swaddled still, but really loves to sleep on her tummy like Kael did. She has survived being dragged off the couch by Kael and pestered by him. She didn’t even cry much when he pulled her off the couch. She is a sweet baby and still has an ear piercing scream when she’s mad. We love this little girl to bits and she is so precious and we love every minute with her! I can’t get enough of both of my kids and there needs to be more time in the day to spend with them.

Oh Ya! =)

Happy Anniversary Today!
4 AMAZING years and eternity to come.

The End of the Green Thing

I have purchased probably more than 15 of these in the last 20 months. They get lost easier than car keys... It's probably due to the way they bounce under the car at walmart or behind the couch, or just plain and simply because the little boy has gotten good at hiding them. However, he became attached and could not sleep without it.

Yesterday I did it. I finally decided that no matter how hard it is, it is time to say goodbye to the green thing. Now that I'm busy taking care of Eden during the night I figure it is time to have Kael sleep through the night without me needing to help him.

So, the green thing is officially gone. It has been over 24 hours since it was in his mouth. I hid them all last night and he went to bed. He cried for about 30 min and fell asleep. However not long after that he woke up and cried for over 2 hours straight. Finally, I went in and just sat next to his crib and rubbed his back until he fell asleep. It was so sad because he kept saying een een for bink and then decided to say mamamama which he hasn't said forever, and then he would reach out and say da da.

WOW that was hard. I kept thinking all this crying can end by giving in, but then I would think, if I give in then he cried for the last hour for nothing... So Derek and I stuck it out and he did it! The whole night without the green thing! He did cry out a couple more times through the night, but not for long, and fell asleep on his own.

He went right to sleep for his nap today and has done great all day without it.

Now, hopefully he won't try to borrow the little girl's PINK thing... So far so good.

Also, so frustrating, my big Easter video wouldn't load. Oh well. If anyone knows how to load a big video let me know because it is too big to email to my parents on their mission.

Easter Sunday

It is so hard to get Kael to look at the camera now! Very frustrating. Derek is so much better at it than me. He just has so many more interesting things to do than to look at Mom. Kael and the Easter Bunny.

We had to keep asking him to give us eggs for him to look at the camera. It was too funny and he got so frustrated that we wouldn't take the eggs after we asked for them. Half the pictures had a really disgruntled look. What a trooper putting up with us.

Easter was so much fun this year. It lasted a total of 15 minutes, but those 15 minutes were well worth it! We decided to have Kael look for his eggs after his morning nap because that is when he is the happiest. Well he got up and knew exactly what to do! It was awesome! He just started grabbing the eggs. The video shows it all. He was too fun. I can't help but love this kid. He is getting so smart and too big way too fast. We definately enjoyed our Easter and hope you all enjoyed yours. We don't have cable, so we weren't able to watch conference. It was always on during nap time and well lets face it I'm not getting much sleep at night, so I took naps during conference. Derek's and my goal for family home evening is to listen to one session once a week. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm really actually looking forward to listening to conference and I can't wait to get started.

Enjoy the videos.

The Many Expressions of Eden and Kael

This is why he isn't allowed to play in the front yard anymore.

Because I have to chase him down the road.

He is finally tall enough to reach the door bell on his own. I had to hold him up during Halloween. He is growing so fast.

This is how he runs everywhere! It is rediculous... Head down so he can't see what's ahead and arms behind his back. Silly boy.

Always picking dandilions. I love outside time and warm weather and so does Kael. We really will miss St. George when we move this summer.

What's up?!

Still picking those dandilions... Unfortunately the lawn guys came today and mowed our back yard. No more dandilions, but hopefully no more bees. He has been so curious with the bees. He LOVES them. He tries to reach down and grab them or step on them, and I'm terrified and make him come inside. It's hard to be so innocent.

Call me K. ;)

Let me think about that...

Let me think about that some more.
Yup, I don't like this hair bow...

She always has a fist at her mouth. It is too funny. We are getting some pictures taken tomorrow of our sweet girl and I am super excited! Can't wait to see how they turn out.

2 weeks

I think Derek did an awesome job updating this blog when we were at the hospital. So far in the last 30 minutes of me trying to update this blog I've had one child poop in the bath tub and the other scream like a (well there's no comparison, she is a screamer... ) Anyway, I'm hoping to use the blog to stay better updated on how fast my children grow. So beware this is long and about my kids, and here it goes.

Time sure flies when you're having fun. I can't believe our little girl is 2 weeks old today. She is so precious and you can't help, but love this little girl. She is so different from Kael, yet it is fun to see her do something that reminds me of Kael when he was so little.

So far Eden is such a good baby. I think when I get discouraged or think she is too fussy I'm mostly just tired and am having to chase an almost 20 month old around on top of having a newborn. I love every minute and can't imagine life without 2 kids now. She had her first bath today. I think she liked it. She wasn't screaming at me, so I imagine it wasn't too bad for her. I love her dark hair. It is so weird seeing Kael's blonde and then how dark her's is. I imagine in the next couple of months it will fall out a bit and she'll be pretty bald, but that's ok. She handles wearing cute little bows so far pretty well. I mostly have hats on her head at home to keep her head warm, but I love the bows.

It has been so much fun playing dress up. I love getting to pick out a new outfit every day. I'm terrible at cordinating colors and matching, but I figure I have a couple years to get better at it before it really matters.

Eden can't decide if she likes her binky or not yet. Sometimes she can't live without it and others it makes her just so mad. She gets the hiccups everyday just like Kael did. Usually she gets them about 5 times a day. I used to get them everyday until about high school and I imagine my poor children will be the same way.

Eden also is a screamer. She doesn't cry, oh no... She is either perfectly content or screaming/squealing. It is quite terrifying and makes you run to the room to make the aweful noise stop... It does make me laugh though because you wouldn't think that noise is possible from something so precious.

She eats about every 4 hours then is awake for an hour and then sleeps until it's time to eat again. I think Kael was about every 3 hours for the longest time, so this is awesome!

The other night she was doing her squeals in the middle of the night and she has a Moses Basket that Kael slept in until he was 4 months old and Derek reminded me to swing her basket like I did for Kael. I had completely forgotten that I used to swing Kael's basket for like 20 minutes to get him to fall asleep when he was tiny... It had completely left my memory. I can't imagine how though because my arms would get cramps from swinging it so faithfully every night and I wanted to cry to sleep cause my shoulders hurt so bad... It's weird how I forgot that. The old trick worked though and the little girl fell asleep. Unfortunately it was only for about an hour before she woke up. So far she doesn't like sleeping in her bed. She has been sleeping pretty good in her swing at night though and that's ok with me.

As for Kael, he is getting use to having a lump around to poke. He just can't help himself. I'm surprised he hasn't taken her binky and put it in his mouth. He always grabs it and just hands it to me. Mostly he just tries to pat her, but doesn't know how to be gentle yet, so Eden gets a good smack here and there. He is curious about her and bugged by her at the same time. He gets a little jealous when he walks in the room and I'm holding the baby, so he tries to sit on my lap, which is holding a baby, so thus the baby gets squished. He really is doing quite wonderful though and I'm so proud of him for being a good big brother. I can't imagine having to be an older sibling and put up with the younger one so to all 6 of my older siblings, thanks for putting up with me. ;)

I love my kids so much and time is going by too fast. I'm enjoying every moment and wish I was better at taking pictures to remember each moment forever. I NEVER want to forget any second with these kids. They are too amazing. I'm so grateful to be their mom and I love my little family so much.