Life Lately

The kids have been asking daily to paint, sometimes several times a day. We have probably killed an entire forest by now, but I love seeing Ruby & Noah enjoying it so much.

 

 

 

I could kiss this face all day long. Oh wait, I do. Lately at dinner Noah will say every few minutes, "Mmmm this is so nummy mommy. Mmmm nummy." It pretty much makes me want to cook for him until the day I die.

 

 I walked into Ruby's room the other day & just found her on her bed like this. Reading her Book of Mormon with a magnifying glass. Ruby is legitimately hilarious & will do little things like this throughout the day that make me laugh so hard. She has such a cute sense of humor.

 

These two with the hug pose - anytime I get out my camera they do this. Probably because I go on & on about how cute they are when they do. But also because they really love each other. Their close-knit relationship is something that brings me so much joy as their mom. They definitely have their moments, but they really are so good to each other. Also, Noah calls these shoes he's wearing his "basketball shoes" & wants to wear them every single day.

 

Just doing a little light reading.

 

Super heroes are now living in our home. All day every day.

 

 

 

This is what he does when we say, "Muscles!" Noah is obsessed with this Spider Man shirt & when he walked into nursery on Sunday he told his nursery leader, "I left my muscles at home today", talking about this shirt.

 

This girl is a force to be reckoned with. She might rule the world some day.



Camping

We went camping with friends over Spring Break a few weeks ago & while camping with kids always makes me a little nervous, we all had a great time. The kids loved playing in the dirt & exploring & discovered a love for hiking. We spent the night in our tent & it got a lot colder than we had anticipated. We bundled up together & covered ourselves in a pile of sleeping bags & blankets & I think everyone ended up sleeping pretty well except for me. When we woke up in the morning Ruby looked at me & said, "Thanks for snuggling me all night & keeping me warm & cozy mom." It kind of made a miserable night's sleep worth it. Some pictures of our trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 



Easter



These two!

 

 Ruby is always posing.

 

We started a new tradition this year where the kids have to wear bunny ears while they hunt for eggs. I've had pictures of these two in these bunny ears every Easter since Noah was born & I want to keep up the tradition.

 

Noah would live in these basketball shorts & jersey if I would let him. And don't try to tell him they don't match because he'll hear none of it. He's basketball obsessed right now. 

 

 Easter is quickly becoming one of my most favorite holidays. I love this time of year & all that it's about. Holidays with kids make everything so much more fun & we had a great time all month talking about the Easter story, doing little Easter activities, & seeing the Easter pageant. It never ceases to amaze me how bright these children's spirits are & how eager they are to grasp to truth. It makes this stage of parenting, where I get to teach them so much, such a pleasure. And then when I see them starting to understand & things starting to click for them, it's just the best. Happy Easter!

Gotcha Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We celebrated Gotcha Day on St. Patrick's Day & I really love this little tradition we've started. I try to come up with little things that make the day special for them. This year they loved the balloons & the treats & the gifts that I got them. But what I really love most about this day is how excited the kids get to go visit the temple. They've started referring to the Mesa temple as "Ruby's temple" & the Gilbert temple as "Noah's temple". We visited "Ruby's temple" last week for the Easter pageant so we visited "Noah's temple" for Gotcha Day. We take time to tell each of them the story of their adoption & talk about the details of the days we were sealed together as a family. We had a nice dinner at home, visited the temple, & stopped off for some gelato on the way home. Ruby & Noah love hearing the stories about themselves & I could tell both of them felt really special. I love that St. Patrick's Day is a reminder to our family of how lucky we all are.



Ruby & Noah Quotes

 

Ruby: "I'm growing up mom. I'm kind of like a teenager."

Me: "How do you know about teenagers?"

Ruby: "Oh I know all about teenagers."

 

Noah looking at an airplane, "Mommy when I get bigger I going to ride in an airplane."

Me: "Oh really? Can I go with you?"

Noah: "No, but I call you in the airplane."

 

Me & Tyler: "What do you think daddy does at work all day?"

Noah: "Watch tv, watch movies, & eat popcorn."

Ruby: "Play & tease everyone."

Noah: "Mommy, you hard worker."

 

Ruby praying, "Thankful for our family & our servants & our valets."

 

Noah crying in his crib & I went in. "Noah why are you crying?"

N: "I want to play with Heavenly Father."

Me: "What would you do with Heavenly Father?"

N: "Play toys."

 

Ruby opening her Valentine's Day box from preschool full of candy, "This is the most amazing life!!!"

 

Noah: "I want a shark for Christmas."

Me: "Where will you keep it?"

N: "In the potty."

 

Ruby: "Dad where are you going?"

Tyler: "To work."

R: "Can't you just request a day off?"

 

Noah after I put Ruby in timeout, "Nice job mommy."

 

Tyler: "Ruby let's not do potty talk."

Ruby: "Sometimes potty talk is a good thing to do. I looove potty talk."

 

When Noah was at the park feeding bread to ducks & he was eating the bread.

Me: "Hey that bread is for the ducks."

Noah took another big bite & said, "Quack quack quack."



Laguna Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent last weekend in Laguna Beach with friends & it was the perfect little getaway. The kids had a blast & we loved that Noah got to experience the beach for the first time. His first order of business was finding a good stick to carry around everywhere with him. He's having a major stick moment right now. Ruby hadn't been to the beach for a while so it was all pretty new again to her. She loved exploring, looking for seashells, & mostly swimming in the heated pool. We stayed in a condo on a private beach and played, relaxed, & ate lots of good food. I think the highlight for the kids was taking a trolley ride into downtown to visit the candy shop. It was a great weekend & the kids haven't stopped talking about it since we got home. I love getting to experience these kinds of things with my kids & the way that it makes everything feel new again.



Family Pictures