Lyla June-4 months (January 26th 2010)

I can't believe how fast time flies when your raising your last little baby. I can't seem to get enough of the snuggles, smiles, giggles and bright blue eyed looks from this little girl.
Lyla,

At 4 months you are 13 lbs 15.5 oz (50th percentile) and 23 inches (10 percentile).You love to take a 9:00 PM nap and wake up 45 minutes later ready to play till about 1 AM (a lot like your older sister). You have rolled over a couple times but don't seem to enjoy it all that much. You have slowly decreased the amount of time you spend sleeping on my chest (oh, how I will miss that). You can be screaming as loud as your little lungs will allow but as soon as someone comes into your sight you stop immediately and smile. You LOVE attention and I LOVE to give it to you. Talen and Ava love you so much and constantly want to hold you. Ava refers to you as "Wittle Wyla" or says "you chunky baby girl". Talen just wants to give you hugs and kisses all the time. At 4 months, you already have your daddy wrapped around your little pinkie and you are reeling him in day by day. You are an Angel and we love you.

Derrick and Talen showed up when I was taking pictures of Lyla so they just had to jump in a few of them. Sorry Ava, you were napping like a good little girl:)

January 25, 2010 Greer Trip

Adam and Hydee invited us to join them in Greer, Az for a couple of days so we packed up the car and took a trip to the snow. Adams cabin arrangements fell through due to the major snow storms so we found some perfect little cabins covered in snow.

My girls may look a little homely. We didn't want to buy them snow clothes so we dug through Talens old clothes and pulled out whatever would fit. The kids had a blast sledding, building a snowman and an igloo, having snowball fights and icicle fights(not my idea, looks a little dangerous) and sitting by the fire at night.

Ava was scared of the snow at first but she eventually warmed up and started to play in it.

Talen and Laird had a blast being pulled around on the sled. Derrick ran as the sled followed behind gliding back and forth across the ice. Talen kept taking his gloves off and his hands would be freezing cold. Uncle Adam was great at fixing that problem. Adam first blew on them and then stuck Talens hands in his armpits before putting his gloves back on.

Seeing Lyla in Talens old clothes brings back so many memories of Talen. They look so much alike to me so when she's wearing his clothes I have nonstop deja vu. We had a blast and the kids cried as we drove away. It was good to get a little taste of winter.

January 2010-Mud Monsters and More!

Did I ever mention that my kids love, and I mean LOOOOVE the mud. I can't even count how many days they have come to my back door covered in mud. I'm not going to lie I think its adorable and I think that its good for kids to get a little dirty at times. After all the things we have bought the kids to play with, I now realize that all they needed was a dirt hole in the back yard and a water hose. Someone should have given me that memo before I spent so much money on them. They call themselves MUD MONSTERS (with a growl)!

Talen loves to stack all of his trucks and tractors. This time he was able to stack it quite high. He was so proud and wanted me to take a picture of him doing a headstand next to his great accomplishment.

December 2009 Seever Family Reunion Part 2

Camp Fire Dinners -yum, yum

One of the evenings we headed outdoors to hike and have a campfire. Thanks to Angela and mom, we enjoyed some very delicious campfire dinners.

We had a blast around the campfire talking and telling stories.

Spending time with Great Grandma Seever

My kids love their Great Grandma Seever. This is the Grandma that Lyla June is named after.

Arduth June Seever holding Lyla June Spitzer. We love you Grandma!

After the reunion was over, Talen rang in the New Year with the stomach flu. A great way to start 2010. Happy New Year!

December 2009 Seever Family Reunion Part 1

We are so glad that my Grandma Seever and the Schneider Family decided to come to Arizona this year for a fun filled, flu filled chaotic family reunion. We started off by building candy houses (no pics of it this time), we played kick ball, hiked and ate camp fire dinners (thanks to mom and Ang) and enjoyed each others company. Lets start with some awesome kickball moves.

Dan had to take a moment to dance. We then followed this fun filled competitive game with a much needed lunch.

and then some more playing...

and then it was time for a nap!

Christmas 2009 In a Nutshell

This year we did candy houses twice but I only have pictures from the first time. I searched the internet for some ideas on building candy houses and came up with using melted sugar like hot glue. It worked like a charm but BEWARE its very HOT! We built houses with the Richards Family again this year and then at the Seever Family Reunion.

On Christmas Eve, we hosted a small dinner at our house (for like the 3rd time that week). We exchanged presents with Grandma and Grandpa and opened Christmas Jammies.

Just gotta love these kids.

We taped the doorways up before going to bed so no one could see when Santa came and in the morning Talen had a blast busting through it. Ava was a little more timid about it.

Talen gave Ava a light up baby for Christmas and she loves it. Derrick was a little sad that her previously favorite baby that he gave her has now been replaced by the one Talen got her.

Ava dressing up in her new princess stuff. She forgot to put the dress on.

We then ended the day by hosting a small Christmas dinner. Sorry no Pics!

Many Updates

When I first started a blog it was with encouragement from many others. I did it mostly so our family that doesn't live nearby could keep up with our lives. I have now realized that I am never going to scrapbook my pictures and so I have decided to use my blog as a family journal/scrapbook. I am going to try my best to post as much as possible because I know that years from now I will be happy I did. I have just posted many new updates below. Please don't feel obligated to read through them all but you can scroll down if you would like. I had a lot of updating to do since we had Lyla starting with Talens 4th birthday. I put the most recent at the top.

Big Boy Bike Riding!

Talen learned how to ride his bike without training wheels today.

He was so excited, he went up and down the street over and over.

He doesn't quite have the stopping part down. When he decides he wants to stop he takes his feet off of the pedals and hopes for the best. With a little more practice he'll get it down.
And there goes my little boy, who is not so little anymore.

I can't believe how fast they grow up.

Trip to Payson-December 6th

Derrick woke up one morning and decided he needed to get out of the valley of the sun (although, it was actually cold and overcast that day) so we packed the kids up and headed for the mountains. We don't have a lot of cold weather clothing so we found whatever we could and layered up so we could go for a hike.

This is for all you women out there that want your husband to experience at least one day of your pregnancy pain. If you can't tell, Lyla is in a front pack inside Derrick's sweatshirt. He was complaining less than an hour into it.

Talen had to climb every large rock that we passed.

And Ava , as always, posed like a princess!

They had to have a funny face picture. Ava always copies whatever Talen does.

Halfway through the hike Talen said he had to go #2. We begged him to hold it but he said he couldn't so we strayed from the trail and let him go. It was a family affair as Ava stood to the side observing, while I held Talen up. I was gagging the entire time which turned into full on dry heaving. Derrick was behind the camera laughing.

In order to make things fair I made Derrick do the wiping. We had no toilet paper, so yes, we became one with nature and used a leaf. Derrick wasn't laughing anymore:)

After an eventful day we headed home.

Ava Rides Her Tricycle-Dec. 4th

Ava learned how to ride a tricycle today. She was so excited. She could never quite figure out how to make it move like her big brother. With a few quick instructions from daddy she picked it up with no problem.

Although, I think she could use some practicing with her steering.

The neighbors next door were having a birthday party for one of their kids. They had some clowns come and do some jokes and face painting so Talen and Ava went over for that. They were both somewhat scared of the clowns at first but they warmed up to them after a while.
Talen wouldn't allow a full face Spider Man mask but allowed one around the eyes. Ava is a little kitty cat. When she got back home she went straight to my bathroom to check herself out in the mirror. She stayed their for quite a while.

My kids drive me crazy with their cuteness!

Lyla June-2 Months Old

Dear Lyla,
At two months old you have taken over our house but I don't mind. We absolutely love you and we are glad you are hear. You are NOT sleeping through the night but have begun to give me one 4-5 hour stretch each night which is awesome considering you've been eating every 2-3 hours until now. I love to snuggle you and I could hold you all day long if life permitted. Generally, you are a happy baby till 8 pm and then you love to exercise your vocal chords for a few hours. When you lay against my chest you love to look up at the wrought iron home decor above the couch. Not sure what is so fascinating about that but I think its adorable. You have started to smile at me and it just melts my heart. I spend hours of my day just trying to trigger a smile. Talen and Ava love to play with you and Ava loves to wake you up. When I ask her to let you sleep she replies "but she loves me". At two months you, like your big sister, already have your daddy wrapped around your little finger. You bring so much joy to our home.
Love,
Mommy

At your 2 month appointment your stats were
11 lbs 1.5 oz -50%
20.75 inches -3-5%
so basically your still short but you've gotten a little chubbier!

We have realized that Lyla looks a lot like Talen did. Below are some comparison pictures.
Lyla @ 2 months

Talen @ 2 months

Talen was a little chubbier @ 13 lbs. 3 oz.

Halloween

CARVING PUMPKINS
Derrick helped Talen and Ava carve pumpkins this year. I've decided to stay behind the camera since I just had a baby:) He made a cute girly one with Ava and a mean scary one with Talen.

I was actually very impressed with his carving skills. The kids had a blast.

Talen always insists on taking a silly picture after the forced smile pictures.

HALLOWEEN DAY-VISIT TO GREAT GRANDMA'S

Every year we go to my grandmas house with the cousins to show her the costumes and eat her cookies.

Of coarse, Ava is a princess this year and below you can see Talen as a Ninja in action.

Very tired daddy with very tired butterfly on his chest. Lyla loves to sleep on our chests and I love it too. It's my favorite part of having a new born.

Lyla sure got passed around. This is the first time a lot of people have seen her. Below she is with her Great Grandma and then with her cousin Skylar. Skylar wore this same costume when she was a baby.

Heres a picture with all the cousins and a few parents that were dressed up.

After Grandmas house we headed home to get ready for trick or treating. The Monson girls came over to walk the neighborhood with Derrick and the kids while Lyla and I handed out candy.