They are growing like weeds!

I love this picture. Gordon has been practicing writing his letters. He is getting better at his name. It is so fun to see him get so excited about it.

Ella has really zoned into being a big sister. She loves having someone else to get all dressed up with. She only has love for her "baby Eden".

A typical morning. Just Gordon and I hanging out waiting for the girls to wake up.

I was doing something and came in the room to find this. Making herself comfortable.

The other night Taylor taught Gordon how to shine his shoes. They had a great time together making their Sunday shoes spiffy for church.


I really can't believe how quickly the kids are growing. It makes me want to savor all of these moments because before I know it these moments will be gone. :)

Underwood Family Farm

We had a great time at the farm, although hectic at moments. The hayride was the highlight :)

Gordon being a good sport and smiling for me right into the sun.

Wow these boys have grown so much since last year when we went. They are so handsome.

Our own version of a Phil and Ted stroller. The kids love it. And maybe someday we will get a real one. For now this one is great! (you can't see but the girls match, adorable!)

Eden's Blessing

October 10th was the day of Eden's blessing. It was a wonderful day. We had family and friends there for this special occasion. The above picture has all the men that participated (minus the bishop he had to head out for a meeting). Thanks to all who came and helped we are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends! The dress Eden is wearing was worn by my Mom and also by me. Giving a child a name and a blessing is one of best things to listen to as a mother. I know how much I love this little girl and our Father in Heaven loves her even more and it is great to hear the blessings that are in store for her. We love you Eden JaNae!

The Dad's with Eden

The Mom's with Eden

Our newest family picture.

The whole gang.

Daddy and Eden just after the blessing

Eden giving Grandpa Earl a silly face. She is a doll!

Our Sweet Eden

Thanks to my wonderful and talented cousin Karly we got some fabulous pictures today. I posted my top three favs. The kids were great and Karly was amazing at posing and getting them all to look :) Thanks again Karly for the pictures and a wonderful morning.

M is for Mildred

Every now and again we get to go up and visit my Aunt Mildred. The kids just love it! I told Gordon we were going to go for a visit and his response was, "I want to go to Mildred's right now". When I was a little girl my Aunt Mildred had a birthday celebration for me and my two brothers. It was so fun. We each got our own birthday cakes. So yesterday we had another birthday celebration. She got the kids giant cupcakes. They LOVED it! A wonderful memory for them and for me. (in the above picture, Mildred is showing Gordon one of her art magazines- Mildred is an artist herself. I love that she inspires my kids to be artistic)

Both Ella and Gordon were very excited to light the candles and blow them out.

Two happy kids and two full bellies :)
Ella is our little social eater. After she finished hers she climbed right up on Mildred's lap to get a few more bites. And she did :) Who could say no to that face?
And before we left Gordon really had is heart set on painting. Mildred let him do a few strokes. We had such a fun time. I am sure we will be back again soon :) Thanks Mildred!!! We love you!

INTRODUCING....

EDEN JANAE EARL
Born: August 25th
Weight: 8 lbs. 3 Oz.
Length: 21 1/2 inches

Here is our first and newest family picture as a family of five.
Both of the kids were so excited to meet their new baby sister Eden. Gordon especially was excited to hold her. He is such a great big brother. Ella was also excited, she needs a little more monitoring than Gordon does but shows just as much love.

After a C-section you typically stay in the hospital for a few days....it gets a bit boring. Here are the boys laying in bed watching a little tv. Now we girls out number them :)

Oh. Funny story. When the kids met Eden for the first time she had a present for each of them (we did this when we had Ella too and it worked out great-so we thought we would do it again). we asked Gordon weeks before what he wanted baby Eden to bring him. His reply was a green shirt. A little random. I asked him are you sure you don't want her to bring you a toy? He responded no a green shirt. Then a few days later we were talking about it again and I thought for sure that green shirt answer was not going to come up again, but it did. And every time we talked about meeting Eden he would say that she was going to bring him a green shirt. So what did she bring him ...a green shirt.... and the green shirt was a hit. He was more excited about the green shirt she gave him then the pack of Cars dominoes she also brought. And you might have noticed in other pictures, Ella got a baby doll-her own so she can feed her baby while I feed Eden. (we also got Ella a green shirt) :)

The Skirball Center-Noah's Ark

The kids had a great time at the Skirball Center yesterday! We are for sure going back. My pictures do not do it justice it is a very cute display of Noah's Ark. I got great video, next time I will get better photos.

Camping

We decided that our yearly family vacation would be taking a camping trip. And no better time to go then when I am 8 months pregnant. :) But we had a blast! It was beautiful. We went up to Sedona, AZ where the red rock is amazing.

Here are the boys in our camp site. Gordon was in heaven!

As you can see from the two above pictures our camp site had A LOT of dirt and it was the consistency of sand, which made for lots of fun and constantly messy.
Playing down in the river was a favorite of the kids and the adults too. Nice to get in and cool off. We even went fishing on afternoon although the fish didn't bite at all. There were about 8 fish within our reach. They would come smell the bait and swim away. I think Taylor even poked a couple with the fishing pole....they just would not bite. Oh well, Gordon still had a great time.

Last trip to the Splash Park

Take me out to the ball game...and Family time

The past two Saturdays the kids have gone out inspite of the heat to help Taylor wash the car. It has become a new Saturday Family activity that the kids adore!
Taylor and I were able to go to one of the Diamondback games thanks to someone at the firm who had extra tickets. It was a fun night. It has been a long time since I have gone to a baseball game. It was wonderful to spend time with just my hubby. Love you babe!

Summer of Projects

I have been trying to keep busy this summer with projects. My very creative sister-in-law, Julie and I had a blast making all of these things.
This is one of those tab blankets. But we thought it would be fun to sew on fun buttons as well. More things for the kids to look at and play with. I am hoping it will be a life saver during sacrament meetings. :)
This is a fun matching game. Using fine motor skills (a Montessori type game)
Gordon loves cars and we are working on numbers. This shoe box makes a great garage. Velco patches on top can be switched out with number, dots, or math problems. The cars are each numbered. Match the car and drive it in. He loves it.
This is a very simple game, but a winner. Matching up different sizes. Easy to make, love it!
This one is a fun one. Just a fun way for the kids to use tools in a place that is okay.
This game is another one that uses fine motor skills. They use the tweezers to put the washers on the pegs. And again matching sizes.
This was a fun idea. Just a whole bunch of different locks. (on the opposite side of the above game)
This one is great to help with writing letters. The letters are cut out of extra fine sand paper. Where you start the letter is a dot of nail polish. A sensory thing. We made it with the pillow bottom so it is comfy and also binder rings so you can switch out the cards. (ABC's, their name, short words)
This is another tab blanket for babies. Soft, sweet and tiny.
We had a great time making all these little projects. What to do next??? Any ideas...