Ned Turns 2 and Redstone

January is full of birthdays around here!  We celebrated Ned's birthday all last weekend. Starting with a special breakfast Saturday morning.  At Gwen's birthday we discovered he's not a huge fan of strawberries, so we tried blueberries this time and it turns out, he's really not a berry fan, particularly when whipped cream is around.  All he wanted was the whipped cream.  We'd squirt it on his German pancakes and he'd just eat that, leaving the pancakes and berries untouched. 

Sunday, we did presents, and Monday we and a bunch of family met up at Redstone inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area for a picnic, sun, hiking, and climbing, in addition to cupcakes for Ned's birthday. 

 

A few special things about Cute Ned

He:

has to close all the doors

dry heaves if he sees poop or boogers

is a Mama's boy

Has to be fully dressed in the morning before breakfast

loves motorcycles and cars

has cute dimples

likes to go on walks

has to be correctly repeated before he'll stop saying something. For example, if we say monohiko like he does, instead of motorcycle, he'll keep repeating it until we say it correctly, even though he can't pronounce it correctly.

Says "Oh, Yeah" in a little breathy voice when we ask him questions or tell him something

Has ears that everyone loves!

Monday's weather was absolutely perfect for hiking and barbecuing.  We were met by my parents and grandmother who brought Chloe and Chandler, Darrin and Tiffany's family, Mom and Dad Hills and Dantzel and James.    The kids entertained themselves by climbing nonstop.  It was the perfect playground! 

After lunch, everyone went on a hike, and later on Zach rode his bike back home on the curvy, quiet road. We waited an hour to chase him down and ended up meeting with at home, he had just arrived 2 minutes before us.      

Introducing Nyle Liam Hills

He came!  Nyle Liam was born on Tuesday, January 8, 2013.  He decided to come on his own, instead of being induced as Ned was.  I started going into labor Monday, but didn't think much of it until about 4:30am Tuesday morning when it was actually pretty regular.  My parents hurried over to collect the kids and we were off to the hospital.  I entered the hospital dilated to 5cm and progressed to 7 in about 15 minutes.  I was able to get an epidural (gratefully), which slowed be down a little and gave me the weird side-effect of making me extremely sleepy, something that happens to me every time I get it.  When it came time to push Nyle out, at about 8:00am, I discovered it was very difficult to get him out.  I figured it was because of the epidural's effect on me.  The more I pushed, the more the dr. could see what was going on and informed me that Nyle was posterior (facing up) instead of down.  This was what was making it so hard to get him out.  After a ton of pushing, Nyle came out and we realized that his position wasn't the only thing that made pushing him out hard.  The fact that he was 9lbs had something to do with it, too!  I had no idea I could have such a large baby and I blame it on Zach's genes.  Nyle seems like a hearty little baby.  When he was stuck in the birth canal, as I was trying to push him out, Zach was commenting on how stable his heart rate was, even through the contractions.  With each of the other kids, we noticed that their heart rates would dip a little during the contractions, but not this little guy. 

We had the kids come visit Nyle in the hospital.  Lincoln and Gwen were so excited, but Ned was a bit unsure of this new member of the family.  He's been adjusting to Nyle and is doing much better with him now. 

 

 

Gwen and Lincoln typically will fight over holding him and putting his pacifier in his mouth.  They both are so attentive.  Ned loves showing things to Nyle: his cars, cows, bear, blanket, etc...
It's fun having this new little baby in our home!

Gwen Turns 4!

Gwen's birthday happened to be the same day she went to Sunbeams for the first time!  She's definitely the oldest Sunbeam, but she's ready for it!  We celebrated her birthday on Saturday, instead of Sunday so we could do more as a family.  (Sundays have us all so busy)  Gwen asked for strawberries and mountains in the morning, and grilled cheese sandwiches with grilled cheese soup (tomato soup) for dinner. 

And, since we're celebrating Gwen, some things special about Gwen are...

• She continues to be super-independent
• She loves to sing to herself while she plays
• She loves stories:  listening, watching, and telling.  We have a game with different picture cards that we can choose and make up a story to.  She enjoys this game and is pretty good at it too!
• She is ready to read, if I just take the time to work with her.  She sometimes will help Lincoln read his books (it's my tactic to get him to work a little harder-competition is a powerful thing!)
• She loves babies and is a huge help with Nyle (more on that in another post)
• She is an excellent sharer
• She is super-petite and I can't find a pair of jeans that will stay on her waist- we're always telling her to pull up her pants.  

 

 

 

Christmas 2012

Christmas came so fast!  It always does!  The kids were pretty excited about setting up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving.   Lincoln snapped some photos for me(without my permission), many of them are a little chopped, but this one turned out alright. 

I love how it captures my children truly.  I guess only a child photographer could get that kind of picture. 

A few days before Christmas, we went up to Mesquite to spend a day with the Hills family.  We enjoyed some great food, of course. It was our traditional mexican carne asada/puerco/pollo tacos.  So yummy!  I think I could eat those everyday!
We also did some gingerbread men decorating and a talent show.  Most of all, we enjoyed visiting with family.  We missed Zach's sister, Erin and Zac (her husband).  But everyone else was there! 



Christmas Eve we went over to my parents for the annual party/gift exchange.  My sister had a great program about the wise men, she unfortunately was home with a sick baby, but my mom took over for her.  My aunt brought her usual grab bags for the kids to choose from, then the kids watched a Christmas movie while the adults enjoyed our gift exchange game. 

One of the "Wise Men" explaining his gift
 

Aunt Lynnette, Uncle Scott and the grab bag bounty

 

Christmas day we woke up at our leisure, Lincoln was up first this year, but he still slept in until 7:30am.  We waited for Ned to wake up, then went in to discover presents.  It was a long wait for Lincoln and Gwen, but we fed them our traditional Christmas breakfast while we waited for Ned. 

The favorite thing in a stocking-Candy!

This year, we had the Christmas presents staged.  The kids dug into their stockings first, then opened presents and last, discovered how their stocking presents(Polly pocket dolls for Gwen and Hot Wheel cars for the boys) could be of more use when we went into the office to find a car track and doll house. 

Lincoln explaining how this was exactly what he'd "always wanted!"

Lincoln was pretty excited and Ned immediately sat down to play with the tracks, as if he already knew just what to do.  Gwen was a bit distracted with the car tracks before she discovered her doll house. 

It's fun being a parent on Christmas! 


Later that day, we went over to my parents again for Christmas dinner and time with family.  I love the Holidays!

Piano Recital

December was such a busy month!  I know it is for everyone and every year I try to ease items off of my plate.  One thing I attempted, was holding my student's piano recital in November, instead of December this year.  This was to alleviate some of the stress for myself and the families of those I teach.  Because of the increase in number of students, I decided to hold a students-only recital at my home, then promising a family and friends recital in the spring. 
My home was packed with students on the night of the recital and I think everyone played very well! 

Then in December, I signed up just a few students to play at the Springs Preserve (a local attraction) for a play-a-thon.  That was also a positive experience.  The students had a chance to play in front of visitors to the park.  It was a great venue, if a little cold. 

Thanksgiving 2012

I don't know how it happened but we have almost no pictures of Thanksgiving this year!  I'll just have to document it the best I can in words. 

I do have pictures of Lincoln at his school for the Thanksgiving play and feast.  He did a great job!  He had the last words of the play and spoke the loudest out of all his class (I'm not even being biased!)  I love that his teacher put the play on.  It seems like most schools don't spend any time focusing on the first Thanksgiving anymore, almost as if they're bored or ashamed with our history. 

In Costume
 

Enjoying the Feast

Thanksgiving day was spent up in Mesquite at Camrin and Brandon's house.  It was a great location as they have tons to keep kids busy with.  They have a great family house!  The meal was amazing, as usual.  Mom Hills made the turkey, rolls, and stuffing (my favorite!) and Camrin and Brandon did all the pies again (including a pecan pie that everyone was raving about), among other things.   The rest of us pitched in with whatever was missing.  It was so much good food!  I can see why the first Thanksgiving actually lasted several days.  We rounded out the evening with a trip to a heated pool.  Even though it was a little chilly, the kids had so much fun going from pool to hot tub, over and over.  It was a great way to work off some of the yummy food we'd eaten and work up an appetite for the yummy pies we would be eating! 

Halloween 2012

Halloween seemed to last several weeks this year with a Trunk-or-treat at Lincoln's school one weekend, then a ward Trunk-or-treat the following weekend, with Halloween the next week. 

At the ward Trunk-or-Treat

This year, Lincoln had decided that the three of them needed to be the characters from the Disney Junior show Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Lincoln was, of course, Jake.  Gwen was Izzy and Ned was Cubby. 
We'll have to start thinking in groups of four next year....

This year, Zach took the kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood and seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit as he took time (a little too much, according to the kids), visiting with the neighbors.  I guess it's really only once a year that you get to go door-to-door in a non-threatening way to visit with neighbors.  The kids had a ton of candy, the majority of which went with Zach to work to be enjoyed by all of his co-workers.  We certainly didn't need it.