The Guilt....

The guilt eats away at me whenever I think of my Journal/Blog being left stagnant.  I have thought more and more recently how unfair it is for our little Hope not to have anything written down about her like I have London and Madden.  The best thing to do, although the hardest, is to start when she was born.  Hope's birth was the hardest out of the three but, no less joyful.

 She has been the best eater, sleeper, and is a happy baby overall.  I thought for sure I'd have jealousy issues from Madden, but we had none at all.  

While in the hospital Madden asked if I was ever going to come home to him. 

 No jealousy of the babe, just worried about his Mommy coming home.

 He loves his baby sister.  Every morning and all through the day he asks if he can kiss her.  London would hold the baby while I cleaned and would give her a bottle. 

 London now feeds her cereal and could probably change a diaper if I taught her, but I keep telling her no:) Things seemed pretty eventful when Hopey was born.  

I think it was about two weeks after I heard Madden screaming outside.  I flew out the garage door as he went in the front.  I called to him and ran through the front door noticing all the blood all over our driveway, steps and house.  He had split his chin riding his bike.  I ended up taking him and the baby to the ER while my neighbor watched London for me.  I thought he'd never ride that bike again but, two days later he was back at it!  That's an experience I don't want to do again.  July was a pretty packed month of fun.  

 

We blessed three of the grandkids that were born within five weeks of eachother.  I had Hope, Monica had Russell 8 days later, and Mandy had Hyrum five weeks after Hope.

 

  Crazy!  Oh, and Danny and Emily had Benjamin in October  so we had four kids born into our family this year!  

The blessings were awesome.  

 

London is holding Russell here.

I kept trying to have family pictures but, Madden can't smile at a camera for the life of him.  

 

He is full of clown faces.  By the end of taking pictures, my temper was on edge because of stinker head, Madden!  Hope wore London's blessing dress and it seemed fitting since they look pretty identical.  

Despite having babies, Mandy and I somehow ventured to the park, the zoo, and I went to Cherry Hill without her. 

 

 It was kind of funny taking turns nursing on benches or at tables at the zoo.  Once we even nursed at the same time while the other four kids ran around us. 

Emily came with us too.  Look at the three nephews...so cute. I thought for sure life would slow down once we had three, but nope.  Life just keeps on moving along.  

 

Hope was great to take to Cherry Hill.  She liked to barely dip her toes in the water.  Any more than that and she'd curl up in a ball.  The Fourth of July was so fun.  We went to fireworks the night before with my family and cousins. 

 

 I love it because the kids just run around the gold course and laugh and play.  This is me watching Madden try and wander away from everyone.

 

  After the year we lost Luke, I was on high alert.  I think it was also pretty special because Grandma Chlarson was there. 

 

 She passed away in November so this is a very precious memory of her watching the fireworks.  She loved them and commented how beautiful they were.  Hope smiled at them whenever they burst.  Shockingly, Hopey was NOT afraid of the noise. 

 The next day we had the kids ride around in my parents' neighborhood parade.  Madden was the first kid to fly around the corner on his bike.  I yelled at him to slow down but he was gone.

  When we finally found him afterwards, since Tyler and London were almost at the end, he asked us if he won the race.  Ha ha.  Typical Madden thought that it was an actual race.

London was so excited about her bike being decorated that I bought crepe paper and horns.  She had her bike decorated for days because she was excited.  One thing about London is that she gets very fixated on something and does not procrastinate at all.  

She started piano and practices either right when she walks in from school or before she goes to school in the morning.  This year I've really witnessed her become a little lady.  London is very responsible but, sensitive.  If she does something wrong, she feels horrible about it for a long period of time. 

 London also has a great memory and has become an excellent reader.  Rarely does she forget library day, her homework assignments, or things I've brought up about what we might do that day.  I see a lot of Tyler in her that way.  He is excellent and remembering anything he reads and she is the same way.  She finished her first chapter book and exclaimed, "MOM, guess where they found the horse!....in the stabble!"  I  laughed and told her it was pronounced st-ay-ble.  Now she asks me frequently how to pronounce words.

 This year in addition to starting piano, London started ballet at Clytie Adams.  She loves it so much that Tyler and I took her to the Nutcracker this year for an early Christmas gift.  Mid-ballet, she said, "When are they going to start talking?"  I guess I should have explained it a little more.  

Time for me to head out to a family dinner!

Here are some random pictures from McCall, family vacation:

I will continue to update so stay tuned.....