"That's a lot of girls"

Venturing out to shop with all the kids is a little risky, but I've had to bite the bullet from time to time. Today I had Warren in his car seat in the big part of the shopping cart, I was carrying Lara in my sling because she had just woken up from a nap and was a little groggy, Claire was sitting in the front part of the cart and Ashlyn was walking alongside me. As we passed by a couple exiting the store, the man said to his wife, "That's a lot of girls." :) Yes it is. (They were very well behaved in the store today. Hallelujah)

Every one says that Warren looks the most like Claire. What do you think? I just love how he smiles and giggles at all his sisters shenanigans.

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Brock's parents came down a couple weekends ago to celebrate Brock's birth. On Friday the girls were excited to take them to see the Mormon Battalion visitors center. For those who haven't been recently, they have a fun interactive tour and then you pan for gold afterwards and get to take one shiny nugget home. Whahoo. On Saturday, Ashlyn's soccer game was canceled due to projected thunderstorms, so we hit a park since she was anxious to show off her new-found courage and strength in conquering the monkey-bars. Her prowess was obviously inherited from Grandpa Solano.

We then went to my parents house to watch the BYU basketball game, and I went with my mom and Brock's mom to Claim Jumper for lunch, which we just had to wash down with their chocolate motherload cake.

Grandma captured this next picture of Lara who was very happy about her new St. Patty's day get-up. (We owe a debt of gratitude to Grandma Jo for keeping us prepared to celebrate the holidays in style.) Lara cracks us up. She thinks she is so grown up and expresses her opinion quite decidedly for one so young. At night, after we've put them to bed, if we have to open their door for any reason, she'll say, "Hey! Why are you doing that!? I'm not talking." Lately she'll also sing, "Wa-Wa-Wa WAWA War-ren" to the tune of Dora. Next time you see her, try to convince her she is not Lara and she'll put you straight.

I love this next picture too. I don't know who told a joke, but with his three crazy sisters running around, Warren has a lot to laugh about.

See what I mean. Here was a dress-up party with Grandma...no one will be pinching us this year.

On Saturday evening we reinacted Brock's b-day and ate Bday cake #2. A new favorite that I found on allrecipes.com called a Raspberry Walnut Torte. Brock deserved to celebrate a second time since we were all sick around his real birthday this year. As you can see, Claire just wanted to blow-out the candles. It was a wonderful, memorable week-end but the icing on the cake that made it perfect was BYU beating SDSU at basketball.

Tide Pools

When my brother Jesse came into town with his wife Cami and their two boys Ezra and Henry we all met up at the tide pools. My Dad also came with my sister Becca and her little boy Joshua. It was a beautiful brisk day, low tide was at 3, and Ashlyn was happy that her cousin Ezra did not mind that the water was freezing. They both got soaked jumping over the waves. The girls love exploring the pools. We did not make any amazing sea life discoveries aside from hermit crabs, anemone, and muscles (oh wait, I think those were just J-man's new muscles from P90X :)). We dug up tons of baby sand crabs, my dad worked on teaching the girls how to catch a football, and Joshua made sure the sand still tastes good.
I've lived here most of my life, but am still amazed to get gorgeous days like this in February.

Happy day after Valentines

This picture was taken last year when Claire turned three, but I thought everyone needs a good kiss from Claire. Pucker-up.

I love all my little valentines. It was nice to capture one of those loving feel good sibling moments when everyone loves each other.

four months old

Warren is four months old today. He is a happy kid and loves his bath time. He was out in the living room with Brock last night and heard me running the water in the bathroom and started kicking and smiling. He has just about out grown his little tub. He is very ticklish everywhere, has a cute little dimple on his right cheek and loves "talking" to people. I wish my fat rolls looked as cute as his fat rolls look.

Life is Good!

Life is good! It has its ups and downs. In the last 10 days, we have been to the doctor 6 times for earaches, bronchitis, strep throat and weaksauce disease, which seems to have become an epidemic. However it is through life's ups and downs that we learn life's greatest lessons.


In 2010, the ups significantly outnumbered the downs. Here are but of few:

• Walking into my graduation ceremony and seeing two of my daughters yelling "Congrats Daddy!" Lesson Learned: Academic achievement was only a minor focus of a broader education. I love being able to come home after work and playing with my children.

• Getting to see Ashlyn's artwork blossom. The multi-colored cat was designed in January and Jumpy the Hip-Hop Clown was drawn free hand in Dec. Lesson Learned: Encouragement, rather than explanation, is one of the best motivating influences towards developing a skill.

• Flying a gigantic Finding Nemo kite on the weekends either at the park or beach. Lesson Learned: "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller

• Watching Ashyln play her first season of Soccer. I don't think my BYU football fanaticism translated well to 5-yr-old soccor games where the score is not kept and no one fills the goalie position. I was excited when Ashlyn displayed natural talent and competitiveness on the field. During one of my half-time pep-talks, Ashlyn had to remind me that she "was out there to have fun". Lesson Learned: Perfectionism can be the enemy to progress.
• Road Trip to Northern CA and Central Utah. Lesson Learned: After driving a for a total of 30 hours in 4 days (with three toddlers) to reminisce with dear family and friends, I learned that friendships and road trips are like fine wine: they all get better with age.
  
• Trip to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm with Grandparents. Lesson Learned: Nostaligia has the power to strenghten family bonds. There is some thing about reliving childhood memories with your parents and children that brings everyone closer. My daughters would laugh when my mother would tell them which rides I wimped out on at Disneyland. My kids enjoyed hearing my parents tell them storeis and I enjoyed remember such fond childhood memories. In case you're wondering, I did not wimp of any rides this time.

• Claire starting Joy School. Lesson Learned: Kids need to be held accountable for learning something new everyday, otherwise, they will only remember what character was on their friend's shirt and forget what they were doing five minutes prior.

• Ashlyn starting Kindergarten. Lesson Learned: Growing up is scary for both kids and parents. As your child enters into a stage of development where indentity formation and peer-relationships take center stage, it is comforting to know that Ashyln still enjoys the bon voyage she often receives from her sisters as she leaves for school.

• Explaining the process of making a snowball when halfway through my tutorial Lara pelts me in the head with the hardest snowball I have ever felt. Lesson Learned: When it comes to having fun, no explanation is required.

• The arrival of Warren! Lesson Learned: The joy of parenthood comes from the unique bond you form with each of your children. Each of my children have distinct personalities. Their diverse opinions and interests keep Emily and me on our toes and we love it.

Life is Good!

Warren Peace

Here is a shot of Warren the day we blessed him. He looked pretty sharp with his vest and tie. Someone said he looked like a little banker. He's making a funny face here, but I thought it was fun with the little peace sign.

Grandpas and Cousins

Warren is getting so big and I just love these shots with his Grandpas and cousins. The first one is taken at 1 month with Brock's dad, and the other two are at 2 months with my dad and Warren's cousins closest in age. Joshua, in the middle is almost 8 months and Julia was born 2 days before Warren. Too cute.

There's no wrong way to eat an In-N-Out burger...

I've seen her do it with Burritos, corndogs, hotdogs and bananas, but the other night she did it to the Hamburger. Quite a feat.

Warren loves you!!! One of Brock's coworkers once asked him if he was "one of those yuppies who teach their babies how to sign." :) 7 weeks, and already signing that he loves me. We're so proud.

From Oldest to Youngest

Life seems very busy right now...Brock and I can't quite figure out why...
Here's what we are all up to.
School: Ashlyn is loving Kindergarten, and there she is on her very first day. She goes in the afternoon and has a great teacher and class.
Soccer: Her soccer season is coming to an end, but it has been fun seeing her get into the game and compete. She is speedy and determined, and watch out for those elbows. 5-6 year old soccer should really be classified as its own sport. She was number 6 on the caterpillars this year.
Hair: She also got a hair cut recently which she initiated by chopping off the front sections of her own hair (WHY?!!). Luckily they were relatively the same length and we were able to just chop it off all the way around. The end result was very cute, but she looks so much older now.
Friends: The last picture of Ashlyn is on twin day with her friend Rylee in her class. They are pretty hilarious together.

Here is Ashlyn lined up on her first day of school in front of her friend Harrison waving their final farewells to all the weeping mothers and the second picture is the costume parade--go Wonder Woman.

Claire

Mischief: Claire is too cute for her own good. She loves to push her sisters buttons, but is very loyal to them. She is anxious for Warren to grow up; she needs an ally in sibling battles. The first picture is of the girls climbing rocks on the beach. The second picture is Claire during her 24 hour bout of the stomach flu. She was able to find joy in watching shows all day while nibbling on soda crackers and drinking 7-up.

Joy School: She is turning into quite the socialite and asks me every morning. Where am I going today. She likes to move-it move-it. She attends joy school every Tuesday and Thursday with a fun group of three year olds. They had a fun Halloween party and she is Lady bug girl this year (based on a children's book she loves).
It has a "C" on it: Claire is identifying letters and everything that has a C written on it is hers. She has inherited Ashlyn's old job of putting napkins on the table for dinner and she will always offer you, "Do you want it folded into a rectangle or a triangle?" If you say you want a triangle she then says, "OH I can't fold it into a triangle yet." And you probably won't get a napkin.

Lara

Talking: She is rattling off more and more words and copies everything her sisters do and say. She turned 2 this month and is quite the character.

BIG sister: She has embraced her role and Warren's big sister and takes good care of him.

Dressing Herself: She pulls out the clothes she wants to wear everyday, but luckily can be coerced into different clothes. One morning she came out wearing 5 shirts. I guess the layered look is in. Dressing herself is just one of the things she is insisting she can do "ALL BY HERSELF"

Warren

Newborn Stuff: He is accelling at eating, sleeping, waking mom up at night to eat, growing, and all the charming things newborns do in addition to the other things. He is now 6 weeks and weighs in at a whopping 12 lbs. 23 inches. He loves his nice warm baths.

Cuddling: He just moulds to your body. What a cutie. We are all enjoying this new addition to our family.

Our Little Girl Is Growing Up

We celebrated Lara's 2nd birthday this past weekend. We stayed primarily indoors due to unexpected rainstorms that lasted through the weekend. Luckily the rain temporarily stopped and we were able to get out and engage in one of Lara's favorite pastime, feeding ducks. We had pancakes for breakfast, Pizza for dinner, and chocolate cake for dessert...more of her favorite things.

Our girls seem to be growing up so fast. As we reminisce on these old photos we can't help but think it was only yesterday that Lara was signing "please", "more", and "Thank you" all at the same time in order to convey the urgency of her request and ensure that she covered all the pleasantries upfront. We love this little girl!