Jansen's three.

Still catching up... but for "handsome Jansen's" 3rd birthday we had an awesome party. Since Jansen really doesn't follow the rules for a birthday party, we didn't want to have one for 3 year olds, so we just invited some of our friends with their families over for a pool party. It was GREAT. We did a few fun party things, but mainly just let the kids swim.

The night before we had our family party, mainly so Jansen would know what to do with candles in front of everyone. We sang 4 or 5 times letting him blow out the candles for practice. AND it paid off at the party Jansen didn't let us down. He sang just as loud as everyone, blew out his candles, and wanted to do it again. It was great!!! We were so proud of him, AND how quickly he caught on.

Jansen got 5 different Buzz lightyears for his b-day... can you guess what his first word was? BUZZ!!!

Jake drew Buzz and Woody for our corn hole game (bean bag game for all you western'ers) and Reesa colored them! Didn't she do a great job???

I also filled a kiddie pool with 10 packages of of spagetti noodles, but didn't get a picture. It was such a fun night.

Jansen is very active. He can and has run a mile. He can throw and kick a ball very well. His first word, at age three was BUZZ, now he probably has 30 words though. He's very affectionate, and we milk it! If you ask for a kiss and make a kissy sound when Jansen runs away, he HAS to turn around, and come back and kiss you. We LOVE IT!!! Apples are his favorite food and he eats about 8 a day (talk about diaper rash). SO we put a lock on the fridge and now he sneaks about 2 a day. He loves fruit, pizza and JUICE, and anything outside.

Such a sweet baby boy! We love you Jansen!!!

Disneyland 2010

Where do I start? Our summer was so packed it's time to catch-up. So I'll start with Disneyland. We did Disney's "give a day get a day" and got free tickets for Jake and I. (I made covers for heating pads at the hospital with my squister.) We only had to pay for Reesa since Jansen wouldn't turn 3 for a few more weeks (yeah!) and Mitchell is of course a baby.

doesn't this look like fun?

I had matching shirts made and Reesa wore her's for about 5 minutes. She was screaming and crying and we were making her wear it when I just thought "all she's going to remember about Disneyland is that her parents made her wear a shirt and she cried the entire time." So we took one family photo, and off it went. Although all day long I kept asking her if she wanted to put it back on. It had Cinderella on it, which she wanted (but it was a boy T-shirt b/c I couldn't find a solid girl one and I don't think she liked the neckline).

we got to meet Donald and Goofy, which Jansen LOVED

We went with Jake's family and we had a total of 22. It was so much fun. We had a blast entertaining the kids the first half of the day, then that night all the kids fell asleep in their strollers, and the adults took turns staying with the kids and going on rides for the last 3 hours.

Reesa got to go on stage and sing along with Tiana.

So the two best things... #1 Jansen was diagnosed with Autism in June and Disneyland is SO COOL! They let us have a special pass to go to the front of the line with 6 people in our party so Jansen wouldn't have to wait in the lines. And even that was SO HARD. Jansen had to wait maybe 5-10 minutes for each ride and he was screaming and crying to get on the ride. He didn't want to wait at all! Seriously it made all the difference for our family. I don't think I would EVER go again if we didn't have that pass. While were there I started crying just thinking about how nice Disneyland is for thinking of families with kids that are special. It was so touching to me that we were able to have such a wonderful experience there. In fact it worked so well because with changing diapers and feeding kids we would just catch-up with Jake's family as though we had been in the long lines anyway. It was AWESOME!!!

fun at Tom Sawyer's Island

#2. Jake's sister wanted to let her daughter meet the princesses, so I went mainly to keep Allison company. I didn't even think Reesa would care. Well when we turned the corner and saw Ariel, Reesa seriously started jumping up and down and screaming. She was so excited and she couldn't believe it. She wanted her picture but was just a little too shy to do it alone, so I helped out.

Next we saw Tiana and she kept telling her cousins to hurry up because there's "princess and the frog!" She was totally loving on her. I'm serious she was practically malling these princesses, kissing and hugging them! and they were so nice to her.

Finally she saw Belle and the rest of the day wanted Belle's dress (which was $68, no thank you). It was so cute, Reesa was in heaven. It was the highlight of my trip seeing how magical that was for Reesa. And to think I wasn't even going to take her....

Reesa got a baby Aurora instead which she loves! and Jansen got a Buzz lightyear. We had such a great time and can't wait to go back!

Emma

Last Sunday we lost our little sweet niece Emma. Thanks to some amazing and wonderful friends who watched our kids, Jake and I were both able to fly with Mitchell out to the funeral in Alabama. To be honest with you I cannot believe how healing this funeral was. It was so wonderful. Lynsey made a comment about how the spirit is so strong at a funeral, sometimes even stronger than the temple. As I've thought about that I think maybe it's because everyone is so broken and humble everyone is looking for an answer. About a zillion prayers were said, and everyone is so loving. You could feel Emma there, and Hannah kept saying Emma was there keeping her strong.

Spencer and Hannah are amazing parents. They had the sweetest little girl Emma, who reflected their love for her. I am so sad for our loss. It feels so unfair to lose this 21 month old so suddenly. But Spencer and Hannah gave Emma the best life. Emma was so lucky to have them as her parents because they loved her as much as they could every day of her life. Emma was just too perfect for this world she had to move on before the rest of us. AND she has a whole little clan of friends there already (Audrey, Ethan, Bethany, Caleb, and many more I'm sure). We love and miss you Emma.

I have so many cute photos of Emma, but since I got a new computer I'm having a hard time finding them.

Can you guess who came to visit?

I saw this on the kitchen counter and didn't even have to move ANYTHING to take this picture. I don't like soda, but I must admit I LOVE desserts!!!

Simone's kids were off track from school, so she talked my mom into driving out here with her kids to visit. Did you guess it right? Sue and Simone.

Beckhem, Remy, Reesa, Caprice, and Saige (kitten Belle)

I have a tray ceiling in our dining room that Simone was dying to paint. Well we chose a color similar so it wouldn't be too bold, and it wasn't. You can't even tell a difference unless you look. All that hard for just for us to have to do it again next time you visit...
Then I had to include this... I found Jansen behind the island in the kitchen eating a watermelon just like this... It was so funny, his face was covered in juice, he really needed a spoon!

Somebody got glasses!

Look at my baby boy Mitchell! Isn't he cute?

We think he loves his new shades. He looks right at you, and I think it's obvious he can see better. He has a few scratches on his nose, but I've never really seen him try to get them off.

Several people asked Jake on Sunday if Mitchell's glasses were real. We got a big kick out of that. Really, what parent uses glasses as an accessory for a baby??? (I guess they do look like of fake!)

Happy kids

Reesa really wanted to be in a photo with DAD AND MITCHELL. She was so mad I couldn't get it right, so after I finally got all the conditions perfect here's her best smile. Awww... aren't they sweet?

My little swimmers!

We have had the best summer, and I have so much to blog about... BUT there are several reasons why I haven't been

SO... yesterday both Jansen AND Reesa swam across our pool UNDERWATER! Yep that's right. I've got 2 fish. The last few times we've been swimming I've been thinking Jansen was blowing bubbles. He doesn't cough when he comes up, but I didn't know if it was just luck. Well yesterday I just kept taking a step back and having him swim further. He loves it, and would swim back to the ladder just as quickly as he swam to me. It wasn't until I was far enough away that he had to take a breath and go back under before he got to me that I KNEW he was swimming. Well of course I yelled for Jake to come watch and we made such a big deal about it, Reesa wanted to show us she could swim too.

Reesa's been able to doggie paddle across the pool for quite a while, but she decided to put her face in the water and swim too. It was so AWESOME!!!

Other news, Jansen threw our computer on the floor and it broke so I haven't blogged, who wants to blog without pictures? He also threw our TV on the floor and now it's half black & white and half color. And yesterday he threw our toilet lid on the floor and it broke. No, not the toilet lid, the porcelain tank lid. This kid doesn't know his own strenght!