Brynnlee's Baby Blessing

Brynnlee was blessed today. She wore the same dress that I and my 3 sisters were blessed in, made by my Grandma MacKay.

She also wore her own blessing bracelet made by her Aunt Julianne.

My friend Jamey took these pictures of her.

Charles gave her a beautiful blessing. Joining him in the circle were my dad and our friend Ryan Holbrook. Afterwards we had family and the Holbrooks (who might as well be called family) over for lunch.

Brynnlee's Grandma and Grandpa Ashton were here to celebrate with us, along with Grandma Socci. Even though we live far away from her, we feel very blessed that Grandma Socci has made it to all 4 kids' baby blessings. Here's Grandma Socci doing what she does best -- Taking pictures of her grandkids.

The boys just love their little sister. Almost as much as they love to be silly. And not serious... ever.

Man, I love having a girl!

Brynnlee at 6 Weeks

I may be having a little too much fun having a girl. :)

Photos taken by my friend, Jamey. Thanks, girl!

Swim Lessons

The kids just finished up their 2nd round of swimming lessons. Kaleb got to move up to Pre-2 since there was no room for him in Pre-1. He did awesome! He did everything the coach told him to do, and he has advanced to Pre-3.





Jaden was in Level 2, and also has been advanced to Level 3. He can can swim from one side of the pool to the other (short distance), float on his back, tread water, and cannon ball into the deep end. HE can also go down the big waterslide. He can't wait to go to real water park this summer. I took mostly videos of him, and they're not working on blogger right now.


This was Bradley's first time taking swim lessons, and he took the Parent/tot class with Charles. Kaleb kind of joined in after a while since he was done with his class.


Bradley mostly just held onto Charles the first class or 2, buut by the end he ws way more comfortable. He could "float" on his back...


Kick with a kickboard...


climb in and out by himself...


and "swim." The boys have so much fun doing swim lessons. Thank goodness it's summer!

Mother's Day

MY mom...


For my mom for Mother's Day, I thought I'd look for pictures of the two of us...


And I guess it's no surprise that there are not many pictures of the two girls together who hate to have their picture taken...


Thank goodness for a wedding! Lots of cameras on us that day!


This year, I made my mom her favorite cookies. Sugar cookies. Only I have learned another way to make them... Cookie bars!


Then for both of our moms, we made these...





And Jules and Kare added these...




Instead of scanning them in, i just took a picture... that's why they look the way they do.


Also I thought I'd write my top 5 things I am grateful to my mom for over this past year...

-Letting my kids have sleepovers while I was in the hospital, as well a the random ones throughout the year (THANK YOU!)
-Letting me cry and vent to her, especially with all the crazy pregnancy hormones
-Always uplifting my kids and supporting them in every little thing
-Having patience with my kids (one in particular), especially when I have lost mine
-Being a great example for me


I love you Mom. I hope I can become just like you.


For MY Mother's Day, the kids... (but to be more accurate... Charles) gave me the perfect day. Charles asked the boys what they thought I would like for Mother's Day, and they sure do know me well!

~A clean house
~Floors vacuumed
~Kitchen mopped
~Bathrooms scrubbed

(hmmm... maybe I'm already becoming more like my mom!)

~Chocolate
~Homemade Cards
~Chocolate Chip pancakes for breakfast

They were dead on. So Charles had his work cut out for him! Haha! And he even threw in a pedicure with my awesome friend, Julie. Can't wait for that!

I meant to have my picture taken with all 4 kids, but I forgot. :(

This Mother's Day was also the first Sunday that Brynnlee and I made it back to church.


We only stayed for sacrament meeting because with it being Mother's Day, it meant that we got to talk to Alli (Hermana Ashton) on the phone. So we took off early to go to Mom and Dad's.


While we were waiting for her to call, we were looking at new pictures she had sent home. As I was flipping through them, Bradley came over and said, "Let me see!"

I said, "You wanna see Alli? Do you remember Aunt Alli?"

He just stared at her and with a frowning face said, "Yeah. Me miss her." It was so sweet. :)


And since this was the first time getting Brynnlee all dressed up for her first public appearance, I had to take a bunch of pictures.


Oh! I almost forgot! I also got a present from Brynn too. She gave me a 6 hour stretch of sleep the night before. First time I've slept that long since before she was born. I felt great! Best thing she could have given me. I haven't gotten another one since, so I know she was saving it special for that particular day. :) Thanks Brynn-Brynn.


And just because I thought this was cute... Kaleb thought Brynnlee would like to sleep with his bear. I found her like this. Such a sweet big brother. :)

Funny Bradley

While Kaleb was in the middle of one of his usual temper tantrums, Bradley came up with a solution... "Kaleb needs a pacifier."

****

Me: Bradley, what's the matter?
Bradley: (Just frowns)
Me: Are you sad?
Bradley: (Nods while frowning) Me sad.
Me: Why are you sad?
Bradley: Me sad at Daddy.
Me: Why?
Bradley: Me want to stay in bathtub. Daddy told me get out. Me want to go back in.

I love how every word for "I," "I'll," "I'm" "my," "me," or "mine" is always ME.

When Kaleb was learning to speak in full sentences, his word for all of those was MY. "My scared. My want my bear."

Brynnlee at 3 Weeks

At Brynnlee's 2 week checkup she weighed 7 lbs. and 1 oz. and grew to 20 inches long. She was 3 oz. under her birth weight and so I was sent to a lactation specialist to help her out a little.

(The best thing I got out of that appointment was a new nursing pillow. It's called "My Brest Friend." Haha! Seriously the best one out there.)

So I've been stressed out the past week trying to get her to eat more. She's just such a sleepy baby! At 3 weeks she was weighed again and had gained 10 ounces. I guess gaining an ounce a day at this point is good, and she gained 10 in 7. So that was relieving. :)