Sage is 4

Once again, I am behind on blogging.  Sage turned 4 way back in July.  This is NOT a reflection of how much I love this girl.  I adore her.  ADORE.

Right now Joel has taken Sage to visit his folks.  Oh my goodness I miss her.  (Joel too, but since I was talking about Sage...)  She has been a joy to talk to on the phone.  You can understand her very well, she is funny and sweet and charming, and oh how I want to kiss her cheek so badly. 

Once again Sage is mature beyond her years.  I cannot believe that Sage just turned 4.  She surely seems old enough to be 5 turning 6. 

*She is tall for her age (90th percentile). 

*She is very very smart. 

*She is the sweetest kindest girl to her little brother and sister.  She loves to hold Sam and to make him laugh.

*She is going to do preschool this year.  She is really excited though she says she is going to be shy.  She is such good company, I am going to miss her so much! I would much rather her be home.  (There really is no one else her age at church that was interested in doing a home-school for preschool like I did for Jack.  Sage and I do things at home together but it is now quite the same without other kids there.) 

*Favorite colors: Purple and Pink

*Favorite church song: I Love to See the Temple; Choose the Right

*When she grows up: Wants to be a doctor or a nurse AND a mom

*Loves: Clothes!!  (Since they've been gone, there has been considerably less laundry.)

*Love Langage: Physical Contact.  She has a lot of affection to give.  In fact, when she is having a hard time, the best thing to do is to cuddle up with her and read her a book.

*Right now the favorite books right now are Richard Scarry books (All the kids are obsessed.  Plus they are cool because they are the exact same books Joel had when he was a kid.)

HAPPY (late) BDAY SAGEBRUSH!!

 

 

 

The cousins

Numbers 1 – 16!  And 17 is a bun in the oven – N8 and Lo, not me ;)  This was such a fun trip. 

So Many Things, So Little Time

Summer is here.  We were so excited to have Jack home for so long, but it has totally flown by so far.  We have been busy doing who knows what during the day, but we have also had a few big trips:

*The girls and I crashed the Father Son Campout – the boys camped and us girls (and Sam) stayed at a hotel.  Then we spent the day as a family at the beach.  We are SO going to do that again next year.  LOVED IT!

*We just got back from our big summer trip.  We drove to Salt Lake for a Tanner family reunion.  It was really nice to see all my cousins and my Grandpa.  Then we left that and went straight to Idaho for my family reunion.  Everyone but one husband was there.  It has been 2 years since we have all been together.  And in those 2 years there has been a few new additions.  There were 16 grandkids total.  It was so fun.  But as soon as we got back to the house Saturday night it was immediately back to the grind with Joel dashing off to work, me dealing with the kids and the ants.  (I totally sympathize single moms taking their kids to church – totally sucky.)

We have to go dash off to Costco now that I’ve unloaded the back of the car.  (Unloading includes moving our bags into the garage/kitchen for me to take care of in the days to come.)

Lots of pics to come (hopefully).  Lots of memories I want to catalog in this brain of mine but unfortunately I have my mother’s brain and I can remember very little.  I want to remember my kids and although they can drive me crazy, I love them to bits and pieces and this time with them little and sweet and innocent is so precious.

Back to the grind…

New Favorite Picture of Charly

 

This Charly girl.  She sure makes me smile.  I recently gave her a bob haircut and it looks SO GOOD, even if I am the only one to say it!  Seriously, this mad mullet maker has never looked so good.

I just loved this picture, so I had to share.  Those eyes, those dimples, her nice teeth, just the sunshine that emanates from her – gotta love this girl!

Work Bench

My Jack is a builder.  He was super excited about the toy kitchen that he promptly got some wood glue and tried to glue on more decorations.  Then he took the bowl out of the sink and brought it out to the pasture to make mud pies.  Then he got a project and started hammering nails on the stove.    I put the faucet on and told him after an hour that it was still wet and not touch it.  What does he do?  Yanked it off!  I was not yet finished and so just about gave up. 

I was upset.   

Consequently…

TA DAA:

No he has a place for all his tools, all his projects and who cares what happens to it.  Why didn’t we do this earlier??

He is stoked.  He has already made a bird house from a kit and has nailed/glued/bolted several scraps of wood together.  What I love is that he made a collection.  Everything he made he put the number 5 with a circle around it – so he can remember how old he was when he made it. 

I’m happy with the bench because I made it from looking at a picture that I liked.  No plans.  For anyone who knows me – I am a ‘follow directions’ type of girl.  I can do just about anything if there are directions.  I have a hard time being creative on my own.  Even with the piano that I have played for, well, my whole life.  I can’t play a thing without music.  It is a shame.  But it is just how my brain works.  SO yeah, no plans is impressive for me.

Here’s to (hopefully) more creating!

The Kitchen

A few weeks ago when Joel took the older kids to Oregon Charlotte and I made a kitchen as a surprise!  I totally love it.  It is SOOO not perfect in any stretch of the imagination, but I like it.  It was really my first build after my planter boxes (which I never took pictures of).  But it did help build my confidence and now I’m on fire and am constantly adding to the list of things I want to build.  Joel is happy that I am happy.  Plus, what type of handyman would object when his wife wants to buy new tools? 

The kitchen is going to be completely destroyed by my son, but I just need to breathe and let it go…it is for them after all, right? 

In Love

 

Joel took this photo with has phone.  He set it as his background.  He said he might have to change it because he could look at it all day – and it makes him cry.  It has been over 6 months, and this smile of his STILL makes me tear up too.  He is so darn cute and happy.  He is quick to smile too.  LOVE IT!

So far: Sam can totally roll from back to tummy but not so much the other way.  He LOVES to be adored. He LOVES rice cereal and sweet potatoes – applesauce not so much.  He is still working on sitting – he usually just folds over with his chest resting on his knees.  Still no teeth – though he is a drooly monster. 

My heart is so full of love for this guy. 

Ha!

Yeah, didn't I say once a week to blog?  Well, that didn't happen.  Maybe I should be more generous with my goals - once a month??

Quick update: Joel took the older 2 kids to go and see his parents in Oregon.  They were going to fly, and then decided they would drive.  So I was going to go with them.  But then Joel's mom told him not to be crazy and convinced him to fly.  SO I have had the weekend with just Charly and Sam.  I totally enjoyed it! 

Charlotte really is beyond smart for her age.  She already knows a few letters from sight, she understands EVERYTHING, and I love how encouraging she can be.  She will tell me I look cute, or what I am working on is nice.  I love that she tells me what they did in nursery - usually that they had "pop(corn in) class."  She is absolutely gorgeous with those eyes and dimples.  I think that she has enjoyed spending one on one time with me too.  She really is an absolute joy of a girl. 

Out of no where Sam has already turned 6 months!  He will be 7 months here pretty soon.  I don't have a newborn anymore!  When did that happen?  He really is the very best baby EVER.  Seriously.  I guess by best I mean that he is happy and easy going.  He eats well, loves his rice cereal (which Charlotte loves to eat if he doesn't finish his bowl) and he sleeps moderately well.  He is looking more and more like Sage in his face.  His cheeks especially.  And they both have Joel's Betty Boop lips.  A real handsome boy.

That's it for now.

The Room Switch

It finally happened…the big switcharoo of the rooms.  The official girls’ room and a boys’ room.  Jack and Sage had been together with Charlotte in the blue room and Sam in our closet.  Yesterday we put the girls together on the bunk in the pink room and the Jack on an air mattress and Sam in the crib in the blue room.  THEY ALL SLEPT SO WELL!!!  Granted, it has only been one night, but it just sets things off right.

Now that the rooms are officially gender based, we can decorate accordingly! 

Here is what I made for the girls’ room:

 

   

One thing we’ve had in the room for a while is this clothes-pin board that we made a while back. Sage did the majority of the painting.  But now that Jack is out of the room, Sage’s art has taken over:

For Jack’s room I think I am going to have him make a lamp-base out of pipe.  And he is not going to be on an air bed forever.  I’m going to eventually make some bunk beds…

Sam at 4 months

Yes, it was almost a month ago – but here is Sam at 4 months.  Isn’t he just adorable?  He is super smiley and is 100% adored by all of us – especially the girls.

His 4 month stats: 25 3/4 inches tall and 16 lbs 6oz. Growing boy!