A new chapter started in our lives and it is fun but at the same time I am wondering where the time has gone.

wWe have not had a decent family photo in years...this is the whold family dog and all. While this picture is awful and no one is behaving and it is not your usual family picture, it is an honest one. It shows who we are. Dakota loves his dog and rolls with th punches and looks studly doing it. Benjamin is crying which face it, that kid is ALWAYS crying!!! Leo is holding Abigail up and saving her from anything that might happen and Abigail has her full trust in him. And me..I don't know WHAT I am doing. I love my family.

This week ( I realize that it is only Wednesday) Leo has been out of town doing classes for INO. So I have been here in my house without a husband and without a car (I still realize it is only Wednesday). When you are alone with a 4 year old and a 3 year old and a 1 year old there is not much ADULT conversation going on. Friends and family have stopped by for awhile but for the most part I am by myself. There are a lot of thoughts that go through a mother's head when she has no one to talk to.

My thoughts are going to how many people have helped me through this week. They have brought their kids to play with mine, they have brought yummy treats that I am soooo grateful for. They have taken my kids to preschool, brought dinner and so many other wonderful things

Benjamin truly loves frogs!!! I thought that maybe it was a phase that would end quickly but it has only gotten bigger and bigger or in his words "bigger bigger much"!!! I first bought him some rain boots that the he picked out and it has been frogs ever since. While my parents were here they found this rain hat and coat that were all frogs and I thought he was going to jump out of the cart he was so excited. He has even held a frog and he loved it. I was surprised that he would even get near it but he held it for such a long time!!! I love mt froggy man!!!

Dakota is my helper. He has the most kind heart of any 4 year old that I know. He is always thinking about his brother and sister and he is so good at taking care of Abby. I could watch Dakota care for his sister for hours. He is always so concerned about how she is what she is doing and willingly does anything for her. I did not think that he would be this kind hearted and loving towards his siblings and I am grateful everyday that he is who he is!

Abigail...what is there to say about Abigail. To me this picture says so much...but it really does not say what a stinker this little girl is. She is by far my hardest child!!! I thought that was not possible after Ben but alas she has beat him!!! She refuses to stop nursing and gets into everything and is the hardest baby to put to sleep. As much as I say that she is hard she has such a sweet personality. She has started to play with babies and she rocks them to sleep and it is so cute. She loves her brothers and they all play so well together most of the time. I am so blessed to have three wonderful kids that mesh so well together. I am almost scared to have any more!!!!!

I love my kids so much and when I was trying to find a picture of Ben there really wasn't any recent one. He has the terrible three's REALLY bad so really he is in time-out a lot so that is alot of tears and not many smiles. But this is him on a horse at the In-n-Out Christmas Party. He loved the horses and the train but not so fond of the snow this year. His fingers got in the way the first time so he was done with it but Dakota could not stop he had so much fun. It was still fun but cold and rainy but I always look forward to that party. They have the best Santa Clause and if i get a minute I will post it. There were no crying kids this year and the picture turned out decent.

My poor Dakota. The day of the party and our ward Christmas party and the day that Santa Clause gave the boys our new puppy something happened with Dakota. I guess it was the day after. Dakota woke up with a rash. I put some lotion on him and we went to church. When we got home it got worse and then got worse and then still got worse until he was covered and itched. We still really have not figured out what he was allergic to but we are pretty sure that it was walnuts or pecans or something like that. He had so much stuff that day that it was hard to figure out what it was. We thought it was the dog but he is ok now with no sign of it and we still have the dog so...it is a mystery.

And then there is Abigail. This girl LOVES the water. If the bathroom is open (often it is not) she does not go for the toilet she goes for the tub. She stands there and tries to swing her leg over to get in but thankfully she cannot get it. Leo decided to put her in an empty tub with toys and she played in there for an hour. She loved it and i liked cause there was really nowhere for her to go. I had to take a picture it was just too cute. She is such a busy baby. She is everywhere all the time and wants to play with everything else but her toys. Stubborn little girl and has her Dad wrapped around her little finger. I have a feeling I will be the "mean" one with this one because Daddy gives in WAY too easy. I don't blame him though...she is soooooo CUTE!!!

wow...I am really bad at blogging!!!! I could say that this is one of my new year's resolution but it is really not. Time management maybe, but blogging...no.

On a happier note...WE WENT BOWLING!!! Bowling was a huge thing in our family because my grandparents were amazing bowlers. I would have embarrassed them so bad because i did not even break 100. I am ashamed and apparently did not inherit the talent of bowling. The most important thing is that we had fun and wer had fun. We went to the new bowling alley in Rocklin and it was super nice and we had a ton of fun and cannot wait to go again. My favorite part was watching Leo teach the boys how to put their fingers in the holes and throw it down the alley. It was so much fun to watch. It took forever for the balls to get to the pins, the boys were throwing so weak but it was still really cool to see the boys have fun. We ordered nachos and it was so hard to tear Benji from to actually bowl. I love doing things with my family and I love to teach the boys new things and I hope that we continue to do fun things like that and have the boys experience with us. We have been trying to go to the snow but it has been raining so much that we have not been able to go but I am not too upset since we got to take the boys bowling.

Blogging must not be my priority right now!!! I have along list of things to do before my family gets here for thanksgiving and blogging is not one of them.

As cute as this baby girl is...she bites and bites HARD!!! Benjamin breastfed for 14 months and never had bit me this hard or this often!! It is awful and I don't know how to kindly tell her that it hurts. Of course when it happens i scream a little but she just laughs at me and I think it has to do with her hearing loss because it is not as loud for her as it is for the rest of the house.

I love her so much and will miss feeding her but she will be getting pumped milk from a bottle, I draw the line when she draws blood and I have a scab....that is enough...

This post is for Nikki!!! You posted your kids cute chunky thighs and I had to post my cute baby girls chunky thighs and cute BUM!!!

She loves bathtime!!! It is her second favorite time of the day...the first is when she sees her daddy for the first time every day!!! I have a DADDY'S girl and he loves it and she has him wrapped around her little finger and I love seeing how happy he makes her and she makes him!!!

She is my crawling girl and is so happy!!! Her brothers love her just as much as we do and Koda loves to call her sweetheart but Benji is partial to calling her stinker...I love it!!! I love having kids and i am grateful that I was blessed with three awesome and CUTE kids!!!