Birthdays and snow days

Yesterday was Brady's 7th bithday.  That's right, it has been 7 years since my 9 lb 8 oz whopper made his debut.  Since then he consistently amazes me with his intelligence, humor and wit.  His first grade teacher said that he is the only one that laughs at her jokes.  And he can hold a pretty grown-up discussion full of sports trivia and Star Wars facts.  I love that kid.  The other day at Sonic he reminded me to tell the lady "no thank you" instead of just plain no.  And every time we get in the car he reminds me to put on my seat belt.  He is very conscientious.  He is always the rule follower--except when they are my rules, why is that?  He is very excited that he can now go into the "teen center" at the YMCA.  No more baby room for him...the world is his oyster.  

We had a great day.  Brady invited a few friends out for bouncing and pizza.  Of course, there are pictures.

The girl next to Brady is Emma, as in the girl from the Christmas cookies.

This is his reaction to the Legos Batman video game that we gave him.  I guess he's excited.

This is what Avery thought of the whole thing.

We also had two, count them two, snow days this week.  The second one was a beautiful day so we made our way to the Stroud's Sweet Sledding Slope.  

And finally, Avery went to her two month check-up at the ripe old age of three and a half months.  We're a little behind due to the temporary unemployment situation, but we'll catch up!  Anyway, she is 13 pounds (55th percentaile), 25 inches (95th percentile) and has a little teeny head (30th percentile).  She can hold her head up so well and is batting at toys, cooing and giggling and sleeping through the night.  Do they come any cuter than this?

Child-Star

It never turns out well. Poor Avery. Already she is becoming famous. Brock and I will do our best to make sure she lives a "normal life". We'll make her do her homework with a tutor while she is on the road and keep her money in a savings account until she is old enough to know how to wisely spend it. We're sure with these precautions in place, she'll never fall in love with a lady dj.

Christmas and stuff

We had a great Christmas.  My sister Jessica and her family stayed with us for a few nights on the way to her in-laws.  It was a house full of kids, but we had a great time.

My parents came from California on the 22nd and were a huge help.  My mom is probably going to stop coming because I always ask her for help in the kitchen which basically means I watch while she does everything.  You don't get to be a 33 year-old that doesn't cook, sew or do anything crafty/domestic without trying.  The first day she was here, she and Taylor made lots of yummy sugar cookies (my favorite) which we gave out to some friends and neighbors.  Taylor brought some to her best friend Mason and Brady made the last minute decision to give some to a girl from school.  I guess it was a sight to see Brady walk up to Emma's door at 8:30 at night and hand her the cookies.  I wasn't there but Brock said the exchange was priceless.  Oh, young love!  

Christmas Eve we had a yummy prime rib dinner courtesy of my dad, which is what we always had growing up.  It is fun to continue on with traditions.  Another thing my dad did was a twelve days of Christmas treasure hunt for my kids.  I LOVED this as a kid.  It was always fun to find the treasure when I was a kid and now that I am older it is funny to read the random clues that my dad makes up.  No wonder we could never find them, the clues don't make any sense (am I right sisters?)!  Christmas morning was lots of present-opening, phone calls to sisters, playing with new toys and yummy dinner and games at the Rolph's house.

On Sunday the 28th we blessed Avery and it was great to have my dad here.  Remember my earlier post about how Avery cries a lot?  Well, she cried through her entire blessing which my other kids found hysterical.  So between Avery crying in the microphone and Brady and Taylor giggling in my ears I didn't hear a word of it.  Apparently it was sweet.  Something about being healthy, following mom's example, something, something?  A lady in the ward said she wrote it down and will type it up for me.  Later that evening we had some friends over for pie (which my mom made of course), ice cream and hot cocoa floats.  

My parents left on the 30th, we rang in the New Year with some good friends and now it is 2009.  There, don't you feel all caught up?  Oh wait, one more thing.  Brock is starting a new job next week.  He is out of the Air Force and was able to find a job that lets us stay put for the time being.  I am proud of him.  He works hard to support our family and I know this transition could not have been easy for him.  It is going to be weird to be a "civilian" again.  Although we do have base access for a few more years--hello commissary!

Happy New Year Everyone!