Stir Crazy

It has set in...the boys and I are stir crazy. So today Matt and I decided to drive east and find out what was in Springerville. Nothing. No, I guess that's an exaggeration.



They have a park, 2 actually, however one had a pioneer cemetery right in the middle of it and it somehow didn't seem appropriate to play on the jungle gym while swinging over 100 year old headstones.
The city park had 2 very important qualifications 1) it was fenced in 2) it had grass. Up here in Pinetop they don't believe in nice lush green grass for the kids to play on. They prefer little tiny pebbles, sand, and dirt.




Matt doesn't think Jemma is really smiling, but I swear everytime I talk to her and click my tongue at her she smiles.

Jacks and Bennett loved the park. The day was nice and warm and they got to run around like wild animals. We played for a while then ran to the deli, picked up lunch, and took it back to the park. We stayed for another couple of hours then headed home.

Funny Thing

I had to write this down before I forgot.
Yesterday I was cutting Bennett's hair and he wanted to look in the mirror. I handed him my makeup compact.
He opened it up, looked deep into the mirror and said, "I'd like to see my father please."
I guess he's watched a little too much Beauty and the Beast.

Valentine's Day Fun!

For Valentine's Day Matt and I went all out for the kids and took them to McDonalds Playland (since they were already sick with colds, we figured - Why not? Let's spread the wealth). I, of course, sat in the car with Jemma. No need to subject her to that kind of torture so early in life. And just when the boys thought life couldn't get any better we allowed them to paint and make sugar cookies.


Jacks was more interested in body painting. Unfortunately we found out that they shinny acrylic paint we bought doesn't wash off as easily as we thought.

Bennett however, is turning into quite the artist. He makes sure he paints every nook and cranny of any project. By the way, thanks mom for the bird house. He's been dying to paint it ever since you left.
I had envisioned my sugar cookies looking a bit more Martha Stewart, but I got lazy in the end.

A Whole Lotta Pics!

After a few days in the hospital, we were definatly ready to come home! Here are some pictures of Jemma. I thought I'd better be quick about posting them since Heather threatened my life if I didn't.

As you can see I decked her out with all pink stuff, just so we didn't have any gender confusion. In the hospital I kept calling her a him. I guess I'm just a creature of habit.

The moment we got her home, Michelle slapped some bows on her head to take pictures. I think that's what I'm going to have the hardest time with. The boys are very low maintenance, with girls you actually have to do something with their hair, I don't even do with my own hair.

I'm so glad she's FINALLY here! The part I'm most excited about, I think, is that I can actually bend over now. Yea!!!! Well, yeah, and the fact that she arrived safe and sound, I'm pretty happy about that also.



I didn't make it home for Jacksen's B-day, so we celebrated the day after. My mom and Michelle raced around and found him a cake and decorated it with one of his favorite animals, dinosaurs.
In the picture below Jacks is roaring at the dinosaurs on the cake. He likes them so much that he played with the toys for a while before he even touched the cake and ice cream.
Jacks got a riding horse for his birthday. His other favorite animal. When he lifted the blanket to see his present, my mom asked what he was going to do with it. Before he could answer, Bennett excitedly exclaimed, "Share it!"
Matt handed him a cowboy hat that Jacks kept taking off and waving in the air and saying "Yee-haw cowboy" Sort of, we're still working on the understanding his gibberish stage.

I think this year Jacks had a good birthday, thanks a good deal to Mom and Michelle for doing all the running around. Thanks you guys for coming down and helping out. The boys were so happy to have you here. You did so much for us, and we really appreciated not having to worry about what was going on at home with the boys because we knew you had all the madness under control.

Happy Birthday Jacksen!

While I'm at it I think I will post a picture of Jacksen playing outside on Tuesday. It has been close to 60 for the past few days and we enjoyed some time outside playing. Today Jacksen turns 2! Since the doctors want to keep Ashlee and Jemma for another day we will do our celebrating tomorrow but I wanted to post a picture today!

Jemma Julianne has Arrived!

This is Michelle. I have hijacked Ashlee's blog to post some pictures and info on Jemma. Ashlee and Matt went to the hospital at 7pm on Tuesday night. The plan was for them to get Ashlee going on antibiotics and then start pitocin to get the ball rolling but when they arrived Ashlee was in labor on her own. Jemma came at 4:30am on February 4th. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and is 19 inches long. Both Ashlee and Jemma are doing well.