Graduation #1

Nikh has had her first "graduation." She is officially out of newborn diapers and on to #1's.I think she is trying to catch up to her brother and sister.
If you are wondering why I am writing this, it is because I always try and write down different milestones and when they happen. So as she continues to grow and do new things more posts will be made.

Mommy's an Artist!

 I tried to do nail art today on Ember's and my toes. It turned out way cute even though I just did a real simple one--a flower. Ember had fun and was happy that it did not take as long to dry as it has in the past. Although she still complained a little at the end and kept asking if her toes were dry yet.

The crazy part was that I do not have a brush small enough to paint her toes! Those of you who have seen her toes know that she has her daddy's toe nails and they are tiny slits. So painting, let alone drawing, on them is difficult! Anyway, I had to get creative so I used the smallest embossing pen I had! This was also the first time I have used the toe dividers on her. It was funny trying to get them on. :)

Thank you Tiff for chatting with me and "teaching" me--over the phone-- how to do nail art!

Introducing the Musical Stylings of...

Boyles Hero! Yes, pretty much the entire family loves music and is somewhat musically inclined. However, I am the only one who is a bit nervous about sharing those abilities with others. The rest of the Boyles family has no problem rocking and belting it out. Even Nikh provides some screaming for us.

Branden brought out Guitar Hero and so of course the kids wanted to play too. Ember and Lincoln like to either sing or play the drums, but Ember did decide to branch out and try the guitar. Maybe someday we will all join together and start our own band! I would be the manager of course. Would you come see us play? And does anybody have any good band names?

Say Cheese!

Chicken poop! Stinky feet! All of these and more were used at our family photo shoot today. It was a lot of fun to go out and try a new place. In the past we have always gone to KiddieKandids, but after seeing the portfolio for FotoFly we decided to try it out. It was a lot of fun and they were very personable. We loved the fact that you buy a cd of all the pictures and not just six shots. Plus the pictures turned out SO cute! Enjoy some of our favorite shots!

Who Said History Was BORING?!

First off, thanks to Anna for this wonderful idea that I just read about. Branden and I have decided to start a blog with our personal history in the form of a journal jar. I am so excited about this idea! It gives us something good to do as a family that our descendants can enjoy reading one day. I plan to have it all printed up and put on the shelf.

I have printed off and cut up a bunch of questions that I copied and pasted from http://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/jrnljar.htm

Each Sunday we plan on drawing one out of a jar and telling each other the answer to the question. Then we will each get on our private blog
2livestogether.blogspot.com
and type it all up. I have over 200 questions, so it could take a long time. But who knows, maybe I can convince him to do more than one sometimes.

If anyone wants to be able to read it, you can ask for an invite!

Performing & Picnic-ing

Yesterday was Hunts' Annual Exhibition and Picnic Fundraiser. Ember has been asking for the last two months when the picnic was going to be! During the month of August and the beginning of September, all the gymnasts at Hunts earn tickets by doing new tricks, or just by practicing their tricks well. Then at the picnic they can use the tickets they earned to "buy" prizes. Ember ended up with 282 tickets! Then at the picnic there are little games and things that all the children can play to earn more tickets.

First, however, is the exhibition. This is where all the gymnasts, from tots to level 10, perform the routines that they have learned. For parents who don't know much about gymnastics, this is a time to learn about the progression of the skills that are being taught to the gymnasts and how they build upon each other. Ember did so well at doing her tots pad drill. She had her class right before this and she tried very hard to learn the level 1 floor routine, but didn't quite get it all. Next year!

Then it's off to the park for the picnic, games, and prizes. This year we were lucky to have Uncle Josh and Aunt MaKayla there to help with the kids. ***Thanks you two!!*** It would have been pretty crazy without them. Can you imagine me trying to carry 4 plates and a baby?! Ember and Lincoln had so much fun playing the different games.

The night was wrapped up by going to Frogurt and playing some ipet on the PS3. Overall...a successful day! (sorry about some of the poor  pictures, I suck at using my camera indoors.)

Hooray for Last Minute Dinners!

On Saturday I really felt like being out and around friends. So we called Josh and MaKayla to see if they could hang out. Plus, hanging out with them meant that MaKayla and I could continue our Vampire Diaries marathon. Yeah!!! (We really need to catch you up faster, by the way!) After much back and forth chatting we decided to go out to eat at The Olive Garden with Bobbi, Mark, and Graham. So much fun! Who can resist their wonderful salad and bread sticks? Not me!

Finally, A Diagnosis= Alopecia Areata

Many of you might not know what this is, but the main definition is "a type of hair loss that is believed to be due to a malfunction of the immune system. Typically round or oval bald patches develop suddenly." Unfortunately, this is what we have now figured out that Ember has. I found the first patch back in June. A week later I found another one. We went to the doctor and had her treated for ringworm since we thought that was what she had since the dog had it. But after two months of it not getting any better we went to a dermatologist at the end of August and were told that she had Alopecia Areata. More bad news came when the Dr told us there was no cure. So we are now playing the waiting game to see if this will go away or get worse. We are hoping and praying that the hair will grow back and then she will never have to deal with this ever again.
In the meantime, yes, my post pregnancy hormones make me very emotional about the fact that my little girl has bald spots in her beautiful hair. I am also running out of cute hair ideas that will hide the spots. She has one right next to each side of her natural part, which is right down the middle. So if you have any cute ideas that won't pull her hair too tight, feel free to email me a picture!

2 Weeks= First cold

Nikh had her first doctors appointment on Tuesday. Here are her stats:

Weight-- 7 lbs 4 oz
Height-- 20.1 in
Head Circumference-- Just fine (the nurse didn't tell me the measurement)

Thankfully she didn't have to have her immunizations; though we did have to have the PKU thing done. Poor little thing was not happy. I finally had her calmed down about halfway through, but the nurse had to squeeze her foot to get more blood and that made her start crying all over again. So sad!

And last night was awful! She woke up at about 4 am and spit up 3 times. She is now in her 3rd set of jammies. Plus, she was whimpering a bunch after that. I pretty much spent the rest of the night sleeping in a sitting position with her in my lap. I took her temperature this morning and she has a low grade fever. But I guess what can you expect when the rest of us were sick last week. Pray for a fast recovery!

1...2...I Found You!

Grandpa Fletcher, I'm sorry, you have been replaced! Ever since Jo came home Ember and Lincoln have been so excited to see and play with him. When we arrived at my parent's on Sunday for dinner, Lincoln made it clear to his grandpa that he was there to play with Jojo. They again had to wait for him to arrive, which they weren't too happy about. And when he did get there, Ember kept asking him to play even though we hadn't eaten or anything. More waiting! Finally, after what I am sure must have felt like forever for them, they got to play. The two games they always want to play are tag and hide and seek. Check out the pictures of the favorite hiding place of the day!

Thanks Jo!

How in the world did you get in there?!

Peek-A-Boo!

Our Own Photo Shoot

Well, the pictures that they took at the hospital were really cute. But neither Branden or I wanted to pay $135 for the cd. So instead, I asked my talented husband to recreate the shoot at home five days later. Nikh was dressed cuter than she was at the hospital since it was Jordan's homecoming. The pictures turned out really cute. Doing them at home was much better. Especially since then I can have Branden "play" with them in Photoshop. Enjoy!