Noahs Birthday

Today Noah turned 2! We had fun opening gifts from Nana and Mumi and then daddy set him up a new trampoline. And Noah was so happy when he saw it, he said "Not broken!". (the mat was half way to the ground from ripped out springs on our old one) Here are some highlights:




Couldn't resist this funny video! ... Am I a bad mom/person for finding humor in this?

Ballet

We had a ballet recital last night and Elina was so proud to dance and be a "baby doll". She made invitations for her friends, (Charlotte is 13 and Madeline is 9 at church) to come to her recital! And even had to sleep with the invitations in her hand on Saturday night so she wouldn't forget them on church day!

Chandlers!

Thanks guys! You really made my night! And made me cry...we really miss you!

Santa!

We had our ward Christmas party tonight and it was pretty good. A little overwhelming having to herd Noah away from the GLASS Christmas tree ornaments! But right when Jason and I were about to tap out and go home early, the activities coordinator announced time to decorate sugar cookies and drink hot chocolate. And our whole family LOVES anything sugar...so we survived.



Anyways, here are some snapshots: The girls are adorable on Santa (aka Brother Rices) lap!




But Noah could care less. So when we got home I took a quick photo of him stuffing his face with an orange, just so the boy wouldn't be left out.

Herding Cats

A friend of Jason's from school, Geoff, recently wrote us an email about our new assignment, Fort Carson. Anyways, he had this to say by way of congratulations on our third child. I thought it was right on the money, should be copyrighted, and printed on t-shirts that should be handed out at the maternity ward once you have your third and move into a different class of motherhood!

"I've always felt that once we went from 2 to 3 kids, the wife began the process of herding cats. The lead two scamper around wherever sunlight hits something shiny and she's one-arming the baby, the diaper bag, the car keys, 3 jackets, etc. Good luck Ariel! Being a mom is way harder than going to work."

Can I get an AMEN!?!

Where did the month go?

So...here is my excuse for being gone from blogging for a whole month: Life with three kids is HARD! You just don't know what your in for 'til you don't have a hand for each one of your children. Noah is the monster of getting into all things, and Elina is almost too much of a big sister helper. Heaven help me...

Anyways, when my family moved home from Germany they got a super ultra mega cell phone plan with a phone for mom, and a phone for each of the boys. With like a gazillion minutes and texting to share, and for only $10 bucks a month you can add a line to share even more. So Momma got me a phone on her plan and said "I want a picture of my grand kids everyday!". And I have been on top of that, then I realized...because I have been taking tons of pictures with my phone and it is so handy and convenient , I have been neglecting my camera. Meaning no pictures of the past month will get into the photo albums or scrapbooks. So I pulled out the camera this Thanksgiving weekend, and this is what we ended up with to make up for the "lost" month of November:


Elina loves it when I pump a bottle and let her help feed Lydia!

Noah loves it when I pump a bottle and Lydia doesn't drink it all!

The family starting to put up the Christmas tree. Jason loves that job ; ) !

My beautiful Christmas tree, I love my Angel Moroni tree topper from my Memaw!


Like I mentioned earlier, Noah is one crazy two year old. But I have noticed that when I take a moment to let him hold his sister his whole countenance changes. You know that feeling you get in your heart when you hold a new born, well it works for kids too!

In case you couldn't read it earlier, this is Lydia's Thanksgiving T-Shirt!

Trick or Treat

With "pumpkin" being our theme with this new little one, we thought it appropriate for our families Halloween costumes this year. And since we couldn't find an adult male jack-o-lantern shirt, Jason was the "farmer" of our "pumpkin patch"!

Long time no blog...

Well, with my momma leaving last week and mastitis setting in the day after she left :( I have done little blogging. So here are just some random pictures from the last two weeks.

Pumpkin

Since our "little pumpkin" waited until October to come, my mother and I thought this photo shot as totally appropriate!

Ellie Mae

So much has been put up recently about the baby, so I thought I would just take a minute and devote an individual post for my bigger kids. They do love to see their own pictures on the computer.

Elina has been such a good helper with her big sister. Very excited to hold her and help burp the baby. She is esepcially great about running to get things, like diapers and nursing pads, so mommy doesn't have to move around too much. . .

And Daddy helps her get out her energy when he gets home at night!

My BOY Noah

Last night during family scriptures Noah tooted and was hollering "farted, farted" and just laughing about it. So I asked him "well, what do you say?" and he said "KA-CHOW!". I guess we have been watching a lot of Cars lately...what a little boy!

Lydia Update

Lets just start by saying: Lydia is an awesome baby! She is a good sleeper and very good eater considering she is a newborn. I am a very lucky momma. She is a little restless the first half of the night and has ended up in our bed. But after I nurse her at about 2 or 3 then I lay her in her pack in play and she sleeps until 6-7, which is awesome for us and our bigger kids schedule. Anyway, I think the secret is the boppi that you see in this picture. I think it is very comforting to having something soft and warm touching all sides of her.










This is a picture of us getting home after her followup doctors appointment. She weighed 10lbs 1oz and was 22in so that was really good.







And here is a picture of all the kiddos in the bath. I am amazed that they all three had their privates covered at the same time for the picture. It is very important to Jason to not have any genitals in photos so this was almost too perfect.






Anyways, we are just loving every minute of our new baby girl!

Baby

Lydia in her carseat wearing her "coming home" outfit!
LOVING hairbow usage again!
Noah's two year old (almost) foot compared to Lydia's two day old foot.
My AMAZING momma... I really don't know how women have babies without their moms help. Especially number three! I am so grateful that she is here to help and twist her arm to spend time with her grandchildren!

More pics!

baby makes 5

FINALLY!!! I thought the day would never come. On Wednesday, in the wee hours of the morning, we welcomed a beautiful baby girl to our family. We have chosen to call her Lydia Belle Brown and she weighed in at a health 10lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. Mom, Dad, and baby are doing great. Elina and Noah are tickled. It's like the Christmas spirit around here.

The Great Pumpkin

What can I really say? I can not believe I am still pregnant, we thought for sure I would never make it through September. So to celebrate we got a little crazy with some orange paint and wow...found ourselves a few pumpkins!

Kiddos Swimming

Don't ask me why but I am getting no sound out of my speakers. So I hope this video has decent sound and no foul language :) Mummi and Poppi have been here visiting getting ready for the new baby. And Elina could not wait to get her Poppi to the Cove to show him her cannonball and how far she could swim. Now if we can just get her to come up for a breath she would be a certified swimmer.
Noah on the other hand is all about the slide. Sure, he will jump off like Elina, but that is only to not be outdone by his sister. His real love is that water slide, which he has been doing by himself for months. And as soon as he hits the water is yelling and signing "more, more"!

Baseball

Jason had the four day weekend off, so last night we were pulling our hair out trying to find things to entertain the kids. And then I remembered a birthday present Noah got at Christmas last year that was too big for him, this tee-ball set. So Jason pulled it down out of the toy closet and put it together and Noah played with it for a while and enjoyed it. I have a few video clips of him just setting the ball on the tee and swinging away, and loving it. But none of those are as funny as Elina, when Noah was over the bat and she got her hands on it. See if you can guess what is going to happen before you play the movie!



Just the look on her face, after the ball hits her brother. And then when she asks if he is ok you can hear Noah say "yes" and go right back to vacuuming like nothing was ever wrong. And the look on her face when she hits the ball a second time, even though she didnt hit anything but a bare wall. Oh my! We laughed so hard, I thought I was going to go into labor! No luck though, just a good afternoon with the family!

Ryleigh

Ryleigh came over to play with Noah this morning and they had a blast! Well, let me back up with the Noah and Ryleigh story. Noah is a very agressive player when it comes to kids that are his size and smaller. He basically attacks them, especially Ryleigh, because he is so excited to play and love them. Well, her mom has figured out that these "occurrences" are less frequent if Ryleigh doesn't have hairbows in. So now they are easier to watch together while their older siblings are at preschool. Anyways, they had a blast just pushing each other around in this baby stroller this morning. Thought it warranted a blog posting!

Hair-Do

Elina got pretty fancy with her momma's hair do tonight! She was very proud of my "rock star" braids and couldn't wait for her dad to take a picture. Well, while she was waiting for Jason to get the camera she did spray and spike her brothers hair too!

Nutella

Who doesn't love nutella? Mummi sent some nutella snack packs and when the crackers run out then Noah just uses his fingers. Can you blame him...

First day of school

Elina had her first day of preschool on the 7th and here is an adorable picture of her. She just loves Ms. McDonald and the kids in her class. And it is wonderful to have a few hours of quiet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Every year for my birthday Jason makes my cake, and of course as the kids get older he gets more and more help from them! Ellie is actually doing her best to spread the frosting, while Noah's only contribution is eating the sprinkles! They love it and so do I!




I got a wonderful "Mary Poppins" bag from Jason and the kids. A new (big) maternity shirt to finish out these last few weeks, a new blow dryer (mine was dying), blue nail polish, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and Giradelli caramel filled chocolate. Top that off with dinner at Chilis and a strawberry cake, what more could a mom ask for?