Alyssa happenings

Alyssa and her best friend Rylee

plastic bubbles that were so hard to clean up

"scones anyone?"

"Am I cute or what?"

"No-one will find me under here."
"Whoops I spilled my popcorn."
"Oh, those cd's were supposed to stay on that shelf?"

Mischievous at heart
another mess, another day! Boy, I am exhausted!

Alyssa turns seven in a few weeks, and I just can't believe how fast the time has gone. For her birthday she only wants 1 thing. That 1 thing is, she would like to spend her birthday in Utah with her best friend Rylee. We weren't quite sure if it was going to work for us to go to Utah or not, but guess what? It worked and we are headed out to Utah in a few weeks. We won't only be there for Alyssa's birthday but Alyssa will also get to be there for Rylee's birthday. I told Alyssa that we weren't going to be able to celebrate her birthday in Tennessee this year, and she just kind of got this sad look on her face. When I told her that she would be celebrating her birthday in Utah she couldn't believe it. She can't wait to go back to Utah! She even made a chain for the countdown, we will be there in 12 days.

Alyssa truly is a dream child, and I know that probably won't always be the case but for now I am really enjoying every minute of her sweet innocence. She is painfully shy, and getting her to talk to people is something that she just has the hardest time with. We have really been working with her on getting her to talk more. Last night as we were getting ice cream I made her tell the clerk what she wanted, and she did it! Afterwards she looked at me and said, "Mom, I did it!" It was seriously a big deal for both of us.

Alyssa loves to make messes whether it is with food, paper, toys, etc. You name it and she can make a mess with it. Of course when I tell my Mom about the messes that she makes, she just laughs and tells me that she is just a little spitting image of her Mother. (she had 6 kids and I think that she is getting me mixed up with my other 2 sisters) anyway, the messes or more than I can handle often times, and the funnier thing is that Alyssa hasn't stopped making messes since she was born. (I posted pictures of her when she was little for proof)

I think Tennessee is growing on Alyssa, and she seems to be enjoying it here. She even has a southern accent which I just love. It just goes really well with her personality. Overall, Alyssa is a happy go lucky kind of girl, and we are so happy to have her in our family.

Kelsie happenings

Kelsie will be four years old in a few weeks, need I say more? At four years old you know everything right? Well, she thinks she knows it all! I can tell her anything, and her answer is always the same. "I already know that Mom!"

Kelsie is obsessed with her sisters (all 3 of them) and loves them to pieces. She can't get enough of Audrey and Leah although I think that they can get enough of her. She and Alyssa have a very close relationship and she wants to do everything that Alyssa is doing including reading. She has a book called Pinkalicious that can she read all by herself. PINK is Kelsie's color of choice. In her world everything would be PINK! I love having a girly girl although it is sometimes challenging. Kelsie has a style of her own, and refuses to let me pick out her clothes. She also has her mind made up daily about how she wants her hair to look. I am so not used to this!

Kelsie has two very different personalities. You get very upset, or very happy. There is not in-between stage with her. When she is happy, she is the sweetest, funniest, cutest little girl but boy watch out when she is upset. The Preece stuborness sets in real quick and there is no reasoning with her.

We love our Kelsie even when she is not the easiest to deal with. Life without her would be very dull.

I also realize with her how much she is watching everything that I do. I was changing Audrey today and she just had a huge blowout. Kelsie looked at her and said, "for heaven sakes Audrey you know better than that."

You want how much for preschool?

Kelsie was so excited when we got a little postcard in the mail about preschool. She got even more excited when she saw that it said it was a preschool for 3 and 4 year olds. (let's just say that for what I would pay for her to go to preschool for 3 1/2 months would make our house payment) Preschool is out of the question. I could handle $25-30 a month, that's about what they charge in Utah and that seems within reason but $407 a month for a half day, you have got to be out of your mind. Here are their pricing options which one would you pick?

Half day......$407/monthly
3 days a week......$400/monthly
5 days a week......$147/week

A memory worth remembering

I have always dreaded taking my girls to get their pictures taken professionally for many reasons. The main reason is the stress I feel in trying to make sure their clothes are matching, making sure that every strand of hair is in place, making sure they don't have any bruises or major scratches on their face (which somehow always seems to be the case.)just all the knit-picky details that in the end probably don't really matter. Today, however I had a different experience.

My day started out with a phone call from my sweet friend Amy who just adopted their first child. Tears flooded my eyes as she was telling me about her adoption experience. Amy and her husband have been married for several years and have experienced many trials. Things that I couldn't even imagine having to go through. Amy and her husband Asher have spent many evenings over at our home helping us take care of our babies. The last time being a night that Kevin was on-call. I was so worn out and called Amy to see if she wouldn't mind coming over. She agreed to come over and brought her sweet husband with her. I will never forget the image of this kind man taking my screaming child into his arms and teaching her all about football. Within minutes the baby was quiet and there was a sense of peace in the room following Asher. He can quiet down my babies instantly, and put them to sleep instantly. I don't know how he does it but he does. Amy and Asher have lived their lives perfectly but yet things haven't always worked out as they had intended them to. Until now that is..
Amy has a quote on her blog that says."

"Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come." -Joseph Smith

Waiting is something that these two know all about, they have waited for this day for so long. The time has come, and I just couldn't be happier for them. Asher has his own daughter who he now gets to teach football to.

As I was getting my four daughters ready for pictures, I couldn't help but think about the joy that Amy and Asher must be experiencing, and how they too would soon be doing things like taking their little girl to get her pictures taken, and all of the other fun things that come along with raising girls. As I was looking at my four sweet daughters who were all dressed in white, looking like little angels, the thought occured to me. "How many times had I taken motherhood fore granted?The thought also occured to me that I am not JUST a Mom. I am a Mother, and I get to do this job for the rest of my life. How awesome is that? Even more awesome is the fact that Amy is now a Mother, and Asher is now a Father.
Some things in life really are worth waiting for.

sisterly love

Can I just tell you how much these little babies love Kelsie! I am not just saying this, I mean it! You would think they would get annoyed with Kelsie constantly being in their faces, shaking them while they are sitting in their car seats, standing on their cribs talking to them, but NO they just screech with delight everytime she is near.

Today I came into the kitchen and found Audrey laughing out loud. This is the first time that she has laughed and I immediately ran for the camera. Maybe she was laughing at the fact that kelsie doesn't have a voice but either way, she was having the time of her life. Enjoy the video.

Kentucky

We took our first road trip in one vehicle that we all could fit in, it was great! We ventured off to Dinosaur World in Kentucky. It was a little cold at the park but we still had fun, and there was only one other family there so that part was nice.

We had a lot of fun and it was nice being able to spend some time with Kevin. We won't be seeing him much for the next month or so. He is now doing pediatric surgery. This morning he left the house at 3:30 a.m. and will be home some time tomorrow. Crazy surgeons!