BYU Acceptance

Today, Alex got his acceptance to BYU in Utah!!  He is SO excited!  And Eric and I are ecstatic.  Nothing could get me down today.  I just had this euphoria inside of me that could not be contained.  I love that boy, I love BYU, and I am incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication that he has put into his schoolwork, seminary, and keeping his life in line with God in order to accomplish this goal!  I couldn't be prouder.

Valentine's Day

The night before Valentine's Day, Jarem and I stayed up late making these: (I am grateful that I only have one child that exchanges Valentines now).

They turned out very awesome.

Beautiful Flowers from Eric

Eric also gave me this amazing coconut cake made by a man we know from church, Connell Austin, who has a cake business.
It was delicious and totally ruined my diet. :)

Jesikah's breakfast minus the heart-shaped cherry muffin

Just put a marble in the side before baking

Alex got this:

Minus the pencils and straws 

The girls both got giant hearts with chocolates cause it was what they always wanted. :)

With a treat bag from Eric

And flowers to share

Valentine breakfast with heart shaped muffin

So excited when I gave him his Valentine bear

Kisses right away

Tags are always fun

Lot of hugs for bear

Looking at his collar that says, "Be Mine"

So happy

A huge bag of Swedish Fish for this valentine

My little Boys

Blankie

After I stopped nursing Micah, he started becoming attached to his "blankie".  Fortunately, we have three of these swaddle blankets.  They are THE best!  I think I could say they are my favorite new baby thing that wasn't around when I had my other kids.

Anyway, this particular day he wasn't feeling good and he woke up from his nap kind of grumpy.  He wanted his blankie with him even to eat, so Jesikah wrapped it all around him and he was SO happy.  He kept saying, "mmmmm", which is a sound he makes when he is comfortable like (ahhh).

And yes, I just noticed that Tessa photo-bombed it.  She's been pulling that trick lately!

Friends

I really haven't gotten out with friends hardly at all since Micah's birth.  I'm not complaining, because I've enjoyed my time with Micah, but it was fun to get out with a group of friends for a little bit.  It was Tina's birthday, so we took some time and celebrated.  Then, that same week on Saturday, I went with Tina to the temple and we met our good friend Linda there and had lunch afterwards.  It was great to be together again.  There's something to be said about having good friends.  I appreciate my friends and their wonderful support of me and influence for good.

Micah's 1st Birthday!!

I know I keep saying this, but I really can't believe a whole year has gone by since this little guy was born.  In the beginning, time went so slow with the crying, but I still treasured every moment with him.  I used to tell him, "You can cry if you need to, but I still love you".  I knew him sleeping in my arms as a newborn wouldn't last that long, so I tried to hold him sleeping everyday instead of putting him down until he outgrew that phase.  I really didn't mind getting up in the night with him.  It was just more time I got to spend with this precious boy, and he was always so sweet in the night.  I have really tried to make the most of every moment with him.  I feel like I got one last chance to be a mom before I was too old.  Now that I am older and wiser, I know what I missed and treasured the most with the others, so have really tried to make every moment count.  

What a delightful year it has been having this little boy in our home.  He has united our family and brought so much joy to our lives.  Everybody loves him even when they are mad, he can make them smile.  He has been our comic relief in tense moments and has brought so many smiles to our faces daily.  

Milestones:

Stands and takes a few steps

Prefers to crawl

Walks around furniture proficiently

Throws a Ball

Cute Things He Does:

Pat-a-cake and throws it in the oven (tries to do pat-a-cake while standing)

Gives you "five"

Waves hi or bye (so cute when he waves to Eric up on the stand during church)

He will fake laugh when everyone else is laughing

Looks at all the pictures of his family around the house and names them when they are at work or school

Gives hugs and kisses

Brings me books to read him

What He Loves:

He loves books (he will choose a book over any other toy)

When he's done with books, he loves toys

He loves CHEESE

He loves fruit of all kinds, especially grapes, strawberries, blueberries

He eats most any food

He loves all his family, but prefers Mom and Dad

He loves lights

What He Says:

Mama (finally last month)

Dada (he's been saying since about 5 months)

Cheese "tss"

Jesus "ss-sus"

Alex- "Aaa-ts"

Jesikah- "Ses-sa"

Tessa- "Tes-sa"

Hi- "hh"

No-no- "nanana" in a mean tone

Light "ho---t" (sounds like hot with a delayed -tt)

What He Doesn't Like:

Strangers or Most People outside his family

Milk (yep, he'll drink it when he's thirsty enough, but prefers solid food)

His birthday breakfast:  Some of his favorites...bananas and strawberries with some yogurt

Caught!

Birthday fun!  I thought it would be a brilliant idea to have a white sheet backdrop for all of his birthday pictures, but in reality, it was kind of a pain.

Opening presents:

He liked his drum

Kissed the puppy several times right after it came out of the package...too cute

Wrapping paper is always exciting...liked the balls too

Tessa watching from the sidelines

 Cake Time:

Checking it out

Just ate a big dinner, so not too interested in it

Finally tried it

Liked it

Had fun in his Bathtime afterwards:

Crying Wolf

We've hardly had any snow this year.  I liked waking up to this light dusting of snow this morning.  It makes everything look so beautiful. 

Lately around here, everytime snow or ice is predicted in the forecast, everyone freaks out.  Everyone panics and goes and stocks up on food and it is all over Facebook about the horrible weather predicted two or three days in advance.  Then, they cancel school and it turns out to be nothing much at all.  It's like the story of crying wolf that I always tell my kids.  When the big storm really comes, no one will be ready or believe it. :)

(And since I am writing this later, I can tell you that is exactly what happened.)

Peek-a-Boo

Micah loves to play Peek-a-Boo in this little place in his crib.  When he first wakes up from his nap, I always play peek-a-boo with him before I get him up.  He gets so excited when I duck down and then pop up.

Jesus

Micah has a picture of Jesus in his bedroom.  He had an interest in that picture from the time he was very young, so I started telling him it was Jesus.  "Jesus" was one of his first words.  He says it like, 

"ss-sus".

Anyway, Micah and I were at Walgreens the other day waiting for Alex to get a sports physical in their little clinic when Micah starting saying, "ss-sus".  I looked around to see what he was looking at, and this was the man he thought was Jesus.  (By the way, he was completely unaware of the pic).  Little did he know the big shoes he was filling.  :)  It was SO funny!  He found another bearded man he called Jesus too a little later.