Thanksgiving thoughts

I am feeling very sentimental right now and very thankful for all of my many blessings. I have way too many blessings to be able to name them all, but I will put down a few.



I am so very thankful for a wonderful loving husband who supports our family and is the amazing patriarch of our home. I am thankful for my three beautiful children who have so many talents and wonderful things that they bring to our home. I am thankful for the joy that they all bring to my life. I am thankful that we are all strong and healthy.



I am thankful for my sisters and my parents. I am thankful for the love and support that they give to me. I am thankful that my sisters are truely my best friends and that they are always there when I need them. I am thankful that my parents raised me to know right from wrong and to stand up for my beliefs. I think they did a wonderful job at raising us.



I am thankful for wonderful in-laws who are truely my family. I love them all and am grateful for their love and support.



I am thankful for all of my extended family who I am so close to. I feel sorry for people who do not get to know their grandparents, Aunts/Uncles, and cousins as well as I do. I love you all and am thankful for your love and support.



I am thankful for amazing friends who also love and support me. I love you all dearly. Although I don't get to see all of them as much as I'd like to, I want you all to know how much you mean to me.



Heavenly Father has blessed me in so many ways. I will never be able to express my immense grattitude toward him. I know that he loves me and will continue to bless me and my family. I love the gospel so much and am so thankful that he sent his son to die for me and each of us.



Sorry for the sappy post, but I felt that during this season of Thanksgiving that it was important to share my gratefulness. I love you all and hope that you have a fabulous holiday!

Photo tag

My friend Karyn tagged me in this game of photo tag. Here are the rules:

1. Go to your pictures file.

2. Go to the 4th file.

3. Go to the 4th picture.

4. Post it and tell the story.

5. Tag 4 more people.

This is Malea still in her pajamas one morning. Steve wanted more recent pictures of Andrew and Malea to put on his myspace, so he grabbed the camera. There is no fun or exciting story, but I like this picture. It captures the silly side of Malea. These are also her favorite pajamas with Ariel on them. Sorry it wasn't more exciting.

I will tag:

Amy - All about the Caldwell's

Adrienne - Ballantyne Bunch

Jalaine - The Gibson's Ark

Denise Wilkes - Wilkes Family

I hope you have fun with this and I can't wait to see what you post.

Halloween

So I realize that I am behind, but I wanted to post some pictures from Halloween. We had a wonderful day and the kids were adorable.

This is Malea as a ballerina, doing her favorite "trick!"

Alex was a cute little penguin, however, he only wore the costume for a couple of pictures, and then had had enough! It was also too warm for him.

Andrew was Spiderman for the second year in a row. I tried to convince him to be something else, but he would not hear of it. Luckily the costume from last year still fit him and I got to save money.
Here are my silly little trick-or-treaters together.

This is Malea's pumpkin that she picked. My friend Rebecca grows pumpkins every year, and she let Malea and her school friends pick out a pumpkin. Thank you Rebecca!

Here are all of the pre-school friends together with their pumpkins. They are all such sweet kids, and I am glad that Malea can have great friends.

Overall, we had a great week filled with fun parties and family. Malea and Andrew both had parties at school and Andrew had a costume parade. We went to lots of family members homes to show of their costumes, and we attended the Trunk-or-Treat at the Blaine St. Church. It was a wonderful and fun holiday!

My real name.

The other morning Malea came running in and said to me, "Your nick name is Andrea, and your real name is Mommy." I thought it was so cute that I just had to share. Most days it does feel like my real name is Mommy, but it is a name that I wouldn't trade for anything. I love being the mommy to my three sweet and wonderful children. I am very blessed.

Alex is 4 months old!

As of yesterday, Alex is 4 months old. The time is going by way too fast. He is such a sweet and fun baby. He really is so easy and cheerful. This is my favorite baby age when they play, but are not yet able to get around. I am so very thankful for this beautiful baby boy that Heavenly Father has sent to our family!

Alex went to his first hockey game to celebrate him being 4 months old! Okay, we would have gone anyway, but it sounds good. He was wonderful the whole time and the Ducks won. He is wearing his brothers new beanie hat that is way too big, but it looked cute anyways.

Alex was all tuckered out by the end of the game. Aunt Cathy was in heaven holding the cuddly sleepy boy!

Alex loves to play with his little floor play gym, but he doesn't stay on it anymore.

Here is a picture of Alex right after he rolled over.

Alex is also getting good at sitting up. He is still a little bit wobbly and folds mostly in half, but we're getting there.

Here is a small video of Alex laughing. He is very ticklish, and before I pulled out the camera he was laughing histerically. I still caught a small laugh. I love the sound of laughing babies!

Alex is rolling over

Alex has finally figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy. He has been rolling from is tummy to back for a while, but now he can do both. He has been so close for a long time, but he is very content to be on his side, so he never really tried that hard. This morning he figured out how to do it and now every time I put him down, he immediately rolls onto his tummy. He is very funny, because he can lift his head up very well, but he also wants to be on his knees. He hasn't figured out how to do both at the same time, so his poor little face gets smashed into the floor. He goes back and forth between lifting his head and pushing up to his knees. He eventually gets fed up and just wants to be held. It is amazing how quickly they learn to do things. He is already growing up too fast. I want him to stay my baby. I love all of the first year milestones though.

Andrew the baby magnet

Kids and especially babies have always loved Andrew. For some reason he always makes them laugh. We can be anywhere and he will see a baby and make the baby laugh. It doesn't matter if we know them or not. My neice Madelyn especially thinks he is funny. He just has to be around her and she will start laughing histerically.

Tonight it was especially cute when Andrew was playing with Alex. Alex was laughing harder than I have ever heard him laugh before. We all couldn't help but laugh along. Laughter is definitely contagious, and there is no better sound than the laughter of your children. I love when my kids are so happy.

I hope that Andrew continues to have this effect on babies his whole life. I think it is adorable.