Little Miss Teeny Tiny

I took Anya to the doctors for her 10 month well baby check. She weighs 13 pounds and 12 ounces, and is 26 1/4 inches tall. That puts Anya in the 0.07% for weight and 5% for height. All of my kids are very small for their ages, especially the girls, but Anya is the smallest. She is a little more than a pound lighter than all of her sisters were at the same age. She is really cute being so small. She has the biggest, sweetest smile. A very gentle temperament, and is just so little and cute. I always want to sweep her up and cuddle her. After she was born I would say, "just stay little one more day,". I didn't think that she would obey.

Anya really enjoys her older brothers and sisters. When they are running around the house she is always crawling after them as fast as she can squealing with delight. She also loves the outside. Every morning when we open the front door, Anya crawls as fast as she can outside. She has not figured out how to get down steps yet, so she goes no further than the front porch. Adam usually follows her out and pulls her in by her pajamas. It has become a funny morning tradition. But as soon as she hears that door open anytime of the day, Anya is going as fast as her little body can move her to get outside before we shut the door. She is such a delight and a cutie. I am so glad that despite all my inhibitions and fears of having another baby, I went ahead and had little Anya. She is a wonderful addition to our family.

Singing and Dancing

We were singing, "Angel's We Have Heard on High" for family home evening. My children, lead by our dear oldest daughter, began dancing around as soon as we started singing. This is the usual way for Ruth to sing a song during family home evening, but it rarely involves singing. Ruth has always just been a little fairy who cannot help dancing when she hears a song. Her siblings mostly join in the dance and often make the family song a brawl. It does not make for a very musical family like I imagined we would be (sigh). So I was surprised when Kate, while doing a little piroet, sang out beautifully, "In our house we de-o."

Yucky Foods

Tonight at dinner I noticed John wiping the salad dressing off of his plate so that it would not mix with his spaghetti. John hates salad and he only ate it because he knows that he should eat his vegetables. I laughed and said, "That was a funny thing to do. I think I might put that on my blog." John said, "Well, you have to hear what Adam has to say about this. Come here, Adam." Adam came and John asked, "Adam what kind of food does mom like?" Adam said, "She's likes yucky food." Then Adam looked up at me and said, "She likes good food too." John asked, "What good food does she like?" Adam pointed to the spaghetti. Then John asked, "What yucky food does she like." Adam pointed to the salad.

A few days ago John took Adam alone to get his glasses fixed and Adam wanted to chat. He said "Sometimes my mom makes yucky food for dinner" followed by "She likes yucky food, but she also likes some good food too". When John asked what yucky foods mom liked Adam said that I like yucky foods like salad, and chips (something John could not understand) and salad.

Along the same lines, Adam asks me what we are having for dinner every night and almost every night he says, "yuck, I hate that."

A Blessing

I pulled out the kitten pot holder from the kitchen drawer where I keep pot holders and this is what I found. John looked closer and found the other blue pot holder and burn spots in the drawer. We have no idea what happened other than there was a fire in our potolder/dish towell drawer. We suspect that either one of the kids lit it on fire on a heated burner or one of my scented candles, got scared and barried it in the drawer, or I didn't notice that it got heated on a burner and put it in the drawer where it started a fire. Either way, we feel extremely blessed that we still have a house and all of our family members and pets. We asked the kids who did it, but no one would confess. However, Adam blamed our cat Boy. Johnny blamed Rachel. Kate blamed Dad and Ruth blamed Adam and Mom. We hope that one of our older kids is not lying. But instead of punishing anyone, we just explained that burning pot holders and dish towells should be put in the sink and the water should be turned on it. If it was one of the kids who got scared and put it into the drawer it is sure a good thing they closed the drawer so the fire smothered itself.

Find Pleasure In Everything

In the background: Rachel screaming.
Me: What's wrong, Rachel?
Rachel: Adam taked.
Me: Adam don't take things away from people. It is not nice.
Adam: Yes it is.
In the background: Rachel screaming again.
Me: Adam and Rachel stop fighting.
Adam: I enjoy fighting.
Me: Sigh. I said stop fighting.
Adam: I said I enjoy fighting!
Me:You enjoy fighting????
Adam: That is what I said. I enjoy fighting.

1996 and 2008

I found these pictures of John and I on John's 25th birthday. This is a week before I turned 21 and 6 months before we got engaged. My hair is bleached, but that is an entire story all on it's own. I am not sure what John thought about me at this point. But the day we met he thought I was 18 and too wild (if that is the right word. Maybe not serious about important things is more right.) I thought that John was old and fat. But, I look at the pictures now and think "Wow!!! We were both a lot thinner! I also think John was/is a total nerd, and I loved those jeans and that sweater!! Ruth and Kate said, "I can't believe you died your hair," and "Dad looks so much more handsome, no wonder you fell in love with him."

Here we are in 2008. Look at those wrinkles around my eyes, and those fat arms!! And Should I change my hair color again? But with all those wrinkles, stretch marks and many more pounds we have gained in the past twelve years, we sure are a whole lot happier. It has been the best 12 years, and John is the BEST husband and father. I am so thankful he chose me.

Halloween Costumes

We didn't do our regular photo shoot this year because John's photo lights all need new bulbs. Kate said that made Halloween not as fun this year. Oh Well. These are some pictures we took Wednesday at our ward's trunk or treat party.

Ruth is the White Witch from Narnia. Kate is a Japanese Princess, and Johnny is a Japanese Ninja. Adam is Spiderman, and Rachel is a Renaissance Princess. Little Anya is the cutest little Tigger.

I just love her smile in this picture above, and I thought Rachel looked pretty precious in this picture below.