4 Months!

Nikh went to her 4 month check up yesterday. Everything went great. She is getting so big. And we were given the ok to start in on baby food! More on that to come.
Here are the stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 15 ounces--30%
Length: 23.9 in--50%
Head
Circumference: 15.7 in--23%

A Very Happy Christmas

Christmas Eve this year was so much fun. It was the first time in many years that everyone was there. This year a few things were a little different. Rather than just act out the nativity, each family was supposed to take a story from the Old Testament and act it out as a family. It was two hours before the whole party started and Branden was called in to work for the second year in a row. So our family did not prepare anything. Ember still wanted to participate so she ended up acting out a lion with Chris and his family. It was way cute! Lalo and his family did Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel. They were hilarious! My Tio Lalo was so proud of the "leaf" he had on his behind. It looked more like a tail. Yes, my family is just that weird!  There were many others. Check these out below.
Branden gave me this new video camera for Christmas. He gave it to me early so that I could take video of all the crazy things my family does on Christmas Eve. I love it because it is so small. It actually looks like a phone. Now I will always be prepared to take video anywhere I go; Yay!

Christmas Day was also fun. I love having kids that believe and have fun with the magic of Santa and Christmas. "Santa" was very nice to these three munchkins this year. After getting home at 2 am, he was so nice that he actually put together the train set that he was giving Ember and Lincoln. And two and a half hours later, finally was able to go "home" and sleep. Seeing the kids' facing and excitement was a lot of fun too, and because of my new nifty camera I was able to catch it on video!

After some fun with the train, Josh, MaKayla, Ama, Apa, and Jojo came over for our third annual Christmas Day breakfast. Pancakes, juice, sausage, bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, french toast...the works. Then it was time to open presents. Some of our gifts included: VReader books for the two older kids, the train, a soda maker, a necklace and earring set, books, movies, clothes and money.

The day, of course was far from over. Later we went to my parent's house for more presents. One of the cutest things was when Ember received a Tangled dress and wig!

And finally we went to Bobbi's for dinner. Wow! What a day! Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Finally Beginning to Look Like Christmas...

At the Boyles' house. This past Sunday the kids were so excited to decorate the tree we had gotten the night before. It doesn't look too bad considering Ember and Linc decorated it all by themselves minus the lights. Nikh was happy to just sit and watch for a little bit. It is so much fun to be able to do things like this with my own children. We even put lights on our living room windows this year!

Happy Birthday Linc

Wow, I am behind. So many things have happened. First, Linc's birthday party was a great success. We kind of waited until the last minute to plan it, so we kept it to just family. His greatest love right now is Toy Story 3. The cake, balloons, and of course the presents all had to revolve around the theme. We even watched the movie in between things. Thanks to all who made this a fun night for him!

 Oops! Daddy forgot to take a picture before he cut the heads off and gave that piece to Linc!

Christmas Cards

Keep Believing Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

FREE! FREE! FREE!

Okay thanks Aliese for your post on your blog. I am a member of Shutterfly, but have not made their Christmas cards. In fact, I was still deciding whether or not to do them, and leaning toward not, but now I think I most definitely will! This deal is way too good to pass up! Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards! All you have to do is fill out the form. Shutterfly Make sure to tell everyone you know! I know I will. They have soooo many different styles to choose from. I think my favorite styles are Here , and This one , and I think my favorite is the Last one . I tend to lean toward the black and white pictures with color in the background. I find it to be very classy.  To check out all of their way cute styles click ME! 


I am also currently making several calendars for family members too. They have tons of choices on colors, themes, and backgrounds. You can even mix and match the backgrounds. Add text to go with the pictures, and even put pictures on certain important days, like grandma's picture on her birthday! It has been fun playing around with all the choices they have.  Calendars  I think that maybe I will have Ember choose some invitations for her birthday that will be coming in a couple of months. Having her design it would be fun and make it hers! Invitations

Gratitude

There are many things for which I have to be grateful. The normal responses being family, food, job, shelter, etc. However, over the last week I have (again) been reminded of some other things that I have to be grateful for. The first being healthy children. I had a friend lose his little boy a week ago to a terminal genetic disease. How grateful I am that I have been blessed with healthy children who run, jump, talk, eat by themselves, and yes, even fight. Sometimes I forget how much of a blessing that is. My heart and love goes out to that family. Number two is the knowledge of the true Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. What a blessing it is to know that we will see our loved ones again! Number three is life itself and having more time on this earth to spend time with my family. I guess getting in an accident (albeit a smaller one) reminds us of this. Number four is a wonderful patient husband. He is always there and more than patient with my many shortcomings. Number five is family who are always there when you need them. Whether it is just to talk, watch the kids, or anything else my family is there. I love you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

3 Big Years!

My little boy is growing so fast! He is now 3 years old. Or at least he will be on November 29th. Linc is my little cuddle bug. Since the day he was born he has loved being held and cuddled. Even now, he will look for us so that he can come and sit in our lap and just be with us. He gives me hugs and kisses all the time...though I have to ask and sometimes pout to get them. He and I had fun going back to Fotofly to get his pictures done for his birthday. He was so excited because first of all he loves being a cheeser and smiling for the camera. And second because I had bought him a cupcake to eat in some of his photos. It was a lot of fun! Of course I did end up wearing that cupcake by the end! I love you my Linky-Loo. Thank you for coming -unexpectedly- into our lives.

I love you!

Shutterfly cards!

Okay thanks Aliese for your post on your blog. I am a member of Shutterfly, but have not made their Christmas cards. In fact, I was almost deciding whether or not to do them, but now I think I will! This deal is way too good to pass up! Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards! All you have to do is fill out the form. Shutterfly Make sure to tell everyone you know! I know I will.

It's Tradition!

Well, for me maybe! My mom is from Peru. And in many South American countries little girls get their ears pierced by the doctor just days after they are born, if not right after. I, myself, was only two weeks old when my parents went to have my ears pierced. So, to go along with my mom's tradition, we went to the mall to have Nikh's ears pierced. She is three months old. Ember was two months old when we had her ears done. I know that for many people, including Branden, this is not right. That piercing the ears of a child should be done when they can take care of them. However, I feel close to my mom's heritage when I do small things like this. Thank you Sweetheart, for trying to understand. Nikh was not too happy about the whole ordeal. Unlike Ember, who stopped crying the moment he stood up, Nikh cried and had to be consoled all the way to the car. :( At least it's over with for life!

And the Winner is...

Me!!! Okay, I hardly ever join a contest because I never win. However, after going to Fotofly and "like"ing them on Facebook I decided to join in their CD giving contests. Every time they get 100 or so more followers on Facebook they have some sort of contest to give away a free photo CD. (For those who have no idea what I am talking about, check out their website fotofly.com  they are great.) Anyway, they recently had a contest where you had to guess a number.

"We passed 2100 fans! It's time to give away another CD. This time, the contest is based on some FotoFly trivia. You're going to guess a number but here's a hint: it's the number of unfilled appointment times left next week multiplied by how many CD's we've given away on Facebook in the last four months plus the highest number of sheets any one customer has bought from us in a single day. Good luck!"

Well, as I was sitting in bed with my laptop and feeding Nikh I decided I would take a stab at trying to figure it out. Now, I could have been really smart and looked up how many open slots they had, but I felt that was too much work. So I just guessed at how many appointments, Cd's, and sheets. 

Anyway, I just looked at Facebook to see who had one and I saw my name! Remember, I NEVER win things like this. 

"Our winner is Angelique Boyles! She guessed 204 and the correct answer to the trivia question was 203. (27 CD's given away on FB x 6 open appointments this week + 41 sheets bought by one customer) Congratulations Angelique!"

Well, they are just in time too. We have an appointment to have Nikh's official blessing pictures and Linc's 3 year old pictures taken this Friday! It really could not have come at a better time. YAY!!!!!

Miss Giggles!

I love going through all the firsts with a new baby. It is fun to see them grow. Nikh laughed for the first time today! She was sitting on her her daddy's tummy when he decided to try and make her laugh by tickling under her chin...and it worked! He was the one to make Ember and Linc laugh too.

Follow the Yellow, Brick Road!

Right before Nikh was born, Branden had the wonderful idea that we should come up with a theme for our family for Halloween. Of course, he being the one with brilliant mind, came up with the theme The Wizard of Oz. (I have to, or should I say I like to, dress up for Halloween for school.) It is so fun to dress up and Branden is willing to humor me and dress up too. The funny part is that after all of our costumes arrived Branden decided that he is no longer dressing up unless it is something "cool." He got stuck with being the scarecrow since Linc wanted to be the tin man.  I just love being able to do fun things like this as a family.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween as a Junior Jag

Ember was so excited to go to school today and be able to parade through her grandpa's school. They did so many fun things. Click on the link to hear a recording of her describing her day.

(Sorry, Link to come when Branden does it!)

Wait For Me!

Alright, apparently we just have big babies. I keep reading stats on friends' babies and they are smaller than my kids and mine are younger! What is up with that? Anyway, Nikh went to her 2 month appointment on Monday. Here are the stats:

Weight- 10.3 lbs
Length- 22.3 inches
Head
Circumference- 15 inches

She is getting so big!

Oh, her rash is all gone. And so far we have figured out that she is allergic to dairy and soy. Yeah for me. :s

Anything Else?!

Well, the excitement just keeps comin. A day after Nikh's blessing, she started to get a rash all over her face, neck, and torso. Plus it would take me 2-3 hours to get her to go to sleep at night. She would have so much gas in her tummy, but wouldn't be able to get it out.

Before

Baby's skin just isn't supposed to be like this  :(
But check out those cute curls!

After going to the doctor and going dairy free for a few days we have now discovered that she is allergic to dairy. Her other symptoms are gone and she falls asleep on her own now! However, her rash is not gone and in fact worse. So after a blessing and a second visit to the doctor I am now not only dairy free, but every other allergen free until her rash goes away (about 4-5 days). After that I will begin to add the allergens one by one to see what is causing her rash. I can only eat meat, potatoes, rice, fruit, and some veggies not related to the bean family. Wish me luck!

Blessing Day & M&M Trees

Wow what a day! After only two weeks of planning Nikh's blessing, the day has come and gone. First of all, thank you to all who helped. I know it was a bit last minute and so I needed a lot of help. Thank you especially to my mom and dad who allowed us to use their house and backyard.
We decided to have Nikh's blessing last Sunday since Branden's family- or at least most of it- was going to be here. (We missed you Rachelle and Justin). We didn't have much time to plan and I had to call everyone who was invited so that they would have some time to plan to go. The invitations didn't get sent out until a week before.
It was a nice day to have a blessing and a family gathering. Branden gave her a beautiful and powerful blessing. After the meeting, a lady that was new to the ward came up to us and told us that she had written most of the blessing and gave us the paper. I was able to get the parts that she missed.

The funniest part came as we were finally headed back home after much delicious food. Ember started to complain that she was still hungry. But who wouldn't be when all she ate was a few chips, some olives, and a small scoop of ice cream? She finally decided that she wanted to have some M&M's. Her daddy told her that we had already passed the M&M tree. Five minutes later she asked, "Is there a way to go back to the M&M tree?" It was so cute. Ember is very smart and usually does not believe things like this, so it was fun to hear her actually believe that there really was an M&M tree.

Preschool

Today was Ember's first day of preschool. She has been so excited about being able to go to school and has been asking about it ever since we signed her up last November! She is now a Junior Jaguar! Silly I know, but why not support our schools? Plus her grandpa Fletcher works there.
I had to wake her up at 7 this morning because I forgot to give her a bath last night and so she had to get one this morning before I went to work. But the funny thing was that the moment I touched her and said her name she sat right up as if she had been awake and was just waiting for me to come get her! Talk about being excited!
She was so cute when her daddy picked her up. He was even able to get her to talk about her first day.  Click on the link below.

Ember talks about her first day.