Adaliah is 5

Adaliah Joy

This little girl was sent to the family first for a reason.  She is so wise beyond her years, such a great helper, and such a great example to her sisters. 

She is so loving. She draws Pete and I pictures everyday with big hearts and "I love you Mom and Dad" 

She loves to clean things and have it be a surprise for me.

She loves to play school with Elizabeth and teach her letters, numbers, and shapes. 

She loves spending one on one time with Pete and I. It makes her feel so grown up.

We are doing the "How to read in 100 easy lessons" and she picks it up so fast. She's already a pretty good little reader and writer. 

She loves to read at night with me. We have read the BFG and some Beverly Cleary  Romana Books. 

She LOVES playing with friends. She would have a friend over EVERY day of the week if I would let her. 

She loves making up songs, dancing, and putting on shows for me.

She is creative and has a great imagination. 

She is beautiful and wonderful and we are glad she is ours. 

Norah is 1

Norah Bell. Could this darling girl be any more cute?!! 

Things we love about Norah....

She LOVES giving hugs. I mean...20 times a day she'll randomly come up to me, Pete, Adaliah, Or Zizzy and give us a big hug while making a little "mmmmm" noise. She is the sweetest. 

She had ZERO teeth on her first birthday. Her first bottom one came in around 13 months.

She gives the best snuggles. If you tickle her face or her back , she just freezes. She loves getting tickled SO MUCH.

She says: Adaliah, Zizzy, Mama, Dada, Ball, Thank you, and sometimes All done.

She signs: water, dog, thank you, all done, more, and please. 

She gets really hyper in the evenings. She runs around the house really fast, swinging just one arm, diving head first into pillows, p utting her head down in-between her legs like she's going to do a summersault... the girls LAUGH AND LAUGH watching her be so silly.

She was SO HARD to wean. Holy Cow- talk about a stubborn baby. I finally had to leave town and still she wouldn't drink anything for the first 2 or 3 days until finally my mom got her to drink a juice box. For the next two weeks she wouldn't take a bottle or a sippy cup- only a juice box. Luckily i found a toddler formula that they sale in a juice box.

She loves to look at the horses outside. She runs to the window and points and squeals. If she's crying about something you can usually distract her by taking her out to see them- it cheers her up 95% of the time.

Oh! And are you kidding me with these natural curls?!? 

Birthday Fun!

I cannot believe Adaliah is 5! Susan taught her the "I'm five " song , and Adaliah sang it for weeks leading up to her big day. She's been so excited. We woke up and did presents her birthday morning. She went to school and brought donuts for her class. After school we went to the zoo with Grams, Kim and her two cute kids, and Cami and her 3 boys. Susan and Karen both asked if we could stop at their house on the way home from the zoo to give Adaliah a birthday gift. "Wow mom! Everybody is so nice!! I can't believe it!". She felt very loved on her big day. 

Two days later was little Norah Bells birthday! We decided to have both parties on the same day. It was GOOD WEATHER so we rented a bounce house and played outside. (can you believe it?! An outdoor party in February!)

Norah's party was first. We had a family party with Mary and Quinn, Cecily  and Spencer, Chris and Kristen, Dana and her girls, and Presley Ackerman.

She was darling opening all her presents. We played the traditional 1 year old game to see what "she will be" and she chose the goggles and the ball.

Next was Adaliah's birthday bash which was a blast. (SO many little girls giggling and running around) It was fantastic.

February

February Highlights:

Adaliah is a gift giver. She draws pictures for her friends and for Pete and I on a daily basis. She gets her toys and wraps them up and gives them to her sisters all the time. She also loves recieving gifts. No matter how big or small the gift is- the thought means SO MUCH to her. Pete and I were up talking one night about this after the girls were in bed. Pete decided to draw Adaliah a picture of her favorite disney princess. Just as we suspected, it meant the world to her. It's still hanging on her wall. 

Chris has a girl friend! Pete and I went to dinner with them and fell in love instantly. She is a sweetie with a great appreciation for the strange Ackerman humor . (A rare find) Rumors of wedding plans are in the air, and we are so excited!  We spent a Sunday evening at the Ackermans house and lit some floating lanterns in the back yard and the brothers gave massages....

This has been the warmest February EVER! We spent a lot of days playing outside and at the park.

Even though it hasn't been cold, we still have picked up our share of winter bugs. We had the stomach flu in our home for the first time in my 5 years of being a mom. (Throw up is my greatest fear....I seriously hate it) but Adaliah was very brave and such a good sport. Elizabeth was down in bed but never actually threw up...but Pete and Norah weren't as lucky. NOT FUN! 

One of the ladies that visit teaches me , the Gowers, mentioned during our visit that they had to move out of their home ASAP because their Land Lords were moving home and they were worried about where they were going to go. We decided to offer them our home for the spring. With the change in the basement, we had to rearrange somethings  upstairs... which meant putting the bunk beds together (the girls were SO EXCITED) and mixing up the living room furniture.

The basement has been the girls play area for the last 10 mths, so the change was a bit hard at first. The day that the Gowers moved in, Adaliah knocked on the neighbors door (the Leishmans that have 4 boys 6, 5, 3, and baby) and told them "I'm not doing very good right now. Some people are putting their stuff in my basement and I was wondering if you could come help me move it out." We laughed about  that for a few days.

She warmed up quickly though, especially when she found out they had a 4 year old boy that will play the part of the prince in her make believe games. Treven on her have gotten along so good. It's been fun having them. 

Pete picked up yet another hobby- Mountain Biking. He's been out 3 times and only crashed once. Only 33% of the tine- that' pretty good I guess. (It makes me so nervous!) 

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 Julie and Bear blessed their sweet new baby Levi. Norah And Elizabeth both had ANOTHER bug, this one was just a horrible cough and high fevers. They were MISERABLE, so I got to stay home with the sickies and Pete took Adaliah to the blessing. After the festivities the family went to antelope island.

I'll be honest- February was one of the hardest months of my mother of 3 life. I feel like I've gotten a hang of having 3 little ones in the house, but when they are ALL sick, 3 kids in 4 years slaps me in the face. They are all so young, and they all need me. They all want me to hold them, snuggle them, wipe their noses, hold their hand while they barf...

Wow. It was HARD. When Pete went to the blessing I literally just listened to Norah and Elizabeth cry and cough ALL DAY as they both climbed all over me fighting for lap space. On top of that, I was trying to wean Norah and she was NOT having it. She would not sleep all night, and she cried all day. It was hard month. 

Valentines Day

Valentines Moments:

This year our neighborhood took turns putting valentines on Carsons grave. Carson was only a few weeks away from his 5th birthday when he had his accident. As Adaliah got closer and closer to her 5th birthday, Carson was on my mind more and more. It seems unfair that Hilary never got to see the smile on his face while he opened his presents and his first day of kindergarten. It makes me want to take advantage of any moment with my girls. I'm glad that we were able to do something for Carons family to help them remember how loved they are this valentines day. 

Pete planed a fun date night for valentines on Friday, but he surprised us that evening by coming home early from work, and giving all 4 of us girls a flower. Then he took the girls out on a daddy daughter valentines date while I got ready for our date. The girls were SO EXCITED to go out with their dad. They wanted to put on their fancy dresses and necklaces (Even though he was only talking them to chick-fil-a) 

  

On Saturday we went on a family hike to Bridal Veil Falls. We sat on the picnic benches and ate lunch before the hike started and somehow it turned into Pete and I taking turns doing songs and dances to try and make the girls laugh. "Pay the Rent" "Orange colored sky" were some of the memorable ones.

The relief society threw a valentines dinner. We sat on a table with four other couples and played "How well do you know your spouse  games".