Anna in the Mirror

Anna loves talking to the "Anna in the Mirror."  She spends quite a bit of time before bed talking to her friend.  Today Devin got the perfect picture of Anna and her friend. 

They are pretty cute. 

20 Minutes a Day

They say that kids should read at least 20 minutes a day. I laugh a little at this, because we read WAY more than 20 minutes a day. Perhaps it is the teacher in me that doesn't know what else to do with kids. What should we do? Read a story of course. We have books everywhere in our house so that we can stop and read at any moment.
This week I walked in and found Anna deep in a book.

It was TOO cute!
A few days later I found her reading stories to Nicholas.

Nothing makes me smile more. I wish I would have gotten the whole thing on video. She was holding the book so he could see the pictures and she was "reading" him the story. I am so grateful that Anna loves reading stories and I hope that Nicholas can develop the same love too.

Two other random pictures of the week.
Anna has been having tons of fun making trains and driving them all over the house.

She makes this cute little "choo! choo!" noise and shouts, "All aboard, LET'S GO!"

Nicholas has pretty amazing hair. We have been having fun trying to comb it down as you can see.

But as soon as it is dry, it sticks straight up. His hair has a life of it's own.

Sleep

Since Nicholas and I get to stay home from church for a few weeks, I am hoping to catch up on my blog and pictures and nice quite Sunday projects like that. We'll see how it goes. :)
Today's update on our little family of four could be summed up in one word. Sleep. We are trying to get as much of it as we can get. As you can see from the following pictures.

I was able to come home from the hospital on Friday, YEAH!!!!!!! I can't stand being cooped up. I don't care how much hospital food has changed (It was really good you could order whatever you wanted, the pizza was amazing!!!!!) I was ready to come home. I missed my little Anna. I missed my bed. I missed my shower. I just like being home and feeling somewhat independent. It has been so nice to be home, to play and read stories and color with my little girl again. We started setting up Christmas stuff yesterday. We didn't get very far, but at least the tree is up.

Anna is getting use to having a little brother around and Devin and I are learning how to tag-team life with two kids. There is a lot to figure out. Meal time, bath time, and bed time are tricky. Any suggestions on how to make these run smooth would be greatly appreciated. We have a perfect bedtime routine with Anna, that both Devin and I are involved in. We love it. But how do you do that with two kids with two different bedtime schedules?? (Not that Nicholas even has a set schedule yet.)

That's about it. Maybe I should get some sleep instead of taking time to blog. I'm funny, getting things done on my to do list makes me feel just as good as a nap. ...sometimes.

Welcome Nicholas

Nicholas Olsen Baldwin was born last night (November 23rd) at 9:43pm.  My water broke at 6:30pm and by 9pm we had decided that a c-section would be the best thing to do. 

Here are his stats: 

Weight--9lbs 1oz

Length--20 inches

Head--37 centimeters

Hair--TONS!!

We are both doing great.  Trying to get as much sleep as possible.  Anna is pretty excited about her "little" brother too.

Boo!

Here are the long awaited pictures of our little Boo.

Anna loved being Boo for Halloween, even though she didn't always like wearing the hat part of her costume. This costume was a real stretch for me. I'm not one that feels comfortable sewing clothes without a pattern. I am so grateful for Devin's help. We probably spent way too much time talking about how to make the costume and even more time actually putting it all together (It was definitely a four handed project at times.) It was worth it. She looked super cute.

Special thanks to Devin for taking Anna out trick-or-treating in the rain and cold.

Too bad the kids didn't go out the night before or the night after, the weather was perfect on those nights. Anna still had a good time. She likes getting candy in her pumpkin. She likes to hold the candy, but could really care less about eating it.
Happy Halloween 2010! Now we are on to brainstorming ideas for next years costumes. Any suggestions of what Anna and Nicholas should be next year?

Our Backyard

One of the things I loved about our condo was that we were so close to Provo canyon. I loved being able to go for runs up the canyon and to be able to go there often with the family. When we were looking at houses I was worried that we would end up living far away from the canyon. I guess we lucked out, because American Fork canyon is practically in our backyard.

With the fall colors out in their glory we couldn't pass up the chance to go up the canyon. It was great! Devin got home from work, we packed things up for a quick "hot dog roasting" dinner and in less than 10 minutes we were up the canyon enjoying the fall colors.

Happy Fall Everyone!!! I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the beautiful fall colors.

2 Down, 10 to Go

Today was Anna's 2nd birthday. We have lots of fun birthday pictures to post, but I wanted to post my favorite part of Anna's birthday first.
We decided a long time ago that each year we would take our kids to the temple on their birthday. If I could give my kids anything, it would be a deep love for the temple, a desire to go there as often as possible. Hopefully as we make going to the temple a special part of each birthday they will develop that love.
Today was a beautiful day and Anna loved being at the temple.

While we were there she kept saying, "Anna go inside temple!" 10 more years kiddo, only 10 more years. :) She is on her way.

We Are Officially Moved In

I guess you could say that we are now officially moved in. Why? No, there are still boxes (Devin's boxes) that need to be unpacked. We still haven't hung any pictures up. So why would I say we are officially moved in. Well, the picture says it all.

Look closer at the flag pole.

A Henderson isn't a true Henderson without a pirate flag. Thanks to the sneaky little people who decided it was time for us to start showing our true colors. Our neighborhood has three types of flags flying at all times. The tie for first place goes to BYU and U flags. Our neighborhood seems pretty evenly divided between blue and red...not something we are use to at all. There are a few US flags. And now a pirate flag has joined the mix.
I am happy to display a flag that lets people know that I am proud of my pirate ancestry. :)

On a side note. This pirate flag was a great surprise Tuesday morning. We went to get the mail and as we were walking back I looked up and said to my neighbor, "We have a flag on our pole....A pirate flag???" She was shocked that I didn't know anything about it, they just figured we were being festive for Halloween. I told her that I was positive my little brother was behind it.
After a few text messages and a phone call Peter tried really hard to deny the whole thing. I let it go. That night we were watching Zach and Liz, Peter's kids, and I just ever so causally asked Zach if he'd ever seen a pirate flag. Zach spilled all the beans. I wish I could have recorded him tell us all the details. "Ya, we got one in the mail. We opened it up and showed dad. Then we snuck over to your house and hung it up on your flag pole." Wow! That was way more info than I thought I'd get. I was just expecting a simple "yes" or "no." Thanks Zach! The flag means even more to me now knowing that you had so much fun giving it to me.

Personality Plus!

Anna has enough personality to go around.  She cracks me up.  She is quite the talker.  You never know what she is going to say.  Like most children sometimes I wish I could just hit the mute button.  Today during church we have a classic example.  During the sacrament Anna is saying over and over again in a not so quite voice. "ROBIN HOOD!!!  Where is ROBIN HOOD!!! ROBIN HOOD!!!"
Here are a few random pictures of Miss Personality and her latest adventures.

Riding the horses at the State Fair.  Anna loves horses.  We have neighbors down the street that have horses.  We can see them from our kitchen window.  Anna loves horses and is always asking to go see the horses.  Quite often as she is eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner she has cute conversations about and with the horses.  The other day she informed me that the horses were eating noodles and apple juice for lunch.

Anna is not a die-hard shoe girl, but she loves to wear big shoes.  She is also very protective of her shoes, so please don't try and take her shoes.  She loves clopping around in Devin's boots.  And I must say she looks pretty cute when she does.

Last of all, Anna has been showing interest in using the potty.  We haven't really pushed her into full on potty training, but we often ask her if she wants to sit on the potty and sometimes she does.  We have found the most success right before bath time.  The other night she sat on the potty for a while and then said she was done and into the bath she went.  At the very end of her bath, just as we are washing all the soap out of her hair she says, "Need to use the potty!"  Hold on Anna!  We rinsed as fast as we could, threw the towel around her and luckily had a successful potty experience.  If you are wondering what the funny face is, she is saying "cheese." 

I'm An Author!

I love to write.  I can't spell worth bananas, but I love to write.  Several years ago I had a friend tell me that I should write something for one of the church magazines.  I was very hesitant because I write to help me think and remember things, not because it makes a lot of sense to anyone else.  Sometimes when I would get a good idea for a talk or lesson I would have the thought that maybe this would be a good idea for an article.  I would write it in my journal and that would be the end of it.
About a year ago I got another idea and it really stuck with me.  Over and over I felt like I needed to write it up and send it in.  The impression was strong enough that I actually did it.  I didn't spend a lot of time drafting, I just wrote up my thoughts and sent it in.  I was surprised when I received a letter shortly after that saying that my article had been accepted.  There was something about "it could take several years" and "it still might not ever get published"  so I tried not to get too excited.  (Truth be told I still have that letter at the bottom of the stack of books on my night stand to remind me that I tried and that if I felt impressed again I should do it.)
Every month when our church magazines came I ripped them out of the plastic and flipped through them to see if my article had made it. 
We have recently moved and are playing the "mail catch up" game.  We have tried to have all of our mail forwarded but some of our mail is still being sent to our condo.  This last week we finally went and picked up a HUGE stack of mail from our condo.  In the stack was a big envelope from the church distribution center.  Weird, I didn't order anything.  When I opened it up and saw two copies of the October New Era I got really excited.  There was also a short letter saying, "Congratulations your article will be featured in the October New Era."  I opened one of the copies and there it was!  Devin was excited that it had a "big picture" with the article.
So there you have it.  I'm an author, in REAL print.  It isn't a perfect article.  There are things that I would change.  Bottom line, I am grateful that I followed the prompting to just send it in.  Hopefully it will help someone out there...possibly on the other side of the world.  How cool is that! 
Here is a link if you'd like to read it.
Checking for Messages

How Bad Do You Want It?

Moving into our house was pretty slick. We are so grateful for all the help moving our stuff from the condo to my mom's house and then from my mom's house to our new house. There were so many wonderful people that came, which made things really easy.
We did have one funny moving story. Friday night we decided to take all of the "big" stuff so that way Saturday it could just be boxes and small things. We knew we had a few big things that would be harder to move and that would need some extra tender loving care to get where we wanted them to be. The treadmill went downstairs without too many problems. The killer deal was Devin's big couch. The guys helping were so nice. They tilted it up. They took the legs (very little stubby legs) off. They took the light above the stairs off to create more room. After all that the couch was SO close, but it still didn't fit. The question then came, "How bad do you want it downstairs?" "Because we could just punch a hole in the wall and we could get it down the rest of the way." Are you serious? They were. Cameron was even nice enough to offer to come fix the hole the next day. Well, we want the couch downstairs so I guess you better just punch the hole in the wall. Devin tried, Peter was successful. Say hello to hole #1.

After making hole #1, they realized that another hole was necessary. Ok, go ahead. Might as well.

I sat upstairs thinking, "Did I really just tell them to punch holes in my new house?" But we wanted the couch downstairs and this was the price to get it there.
We've decided that the couch will never move. If it does need to go, we will saw it in two pieces to get it out.
Sorry no pictures of the couch, just holes in the wall. (The holes were fixed by Cameron the next day. THANK YOU!!!!!!!)

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes

We did it!  We moved into our new house.  Other than a few little things that we still need to move from my mom's house, we are moved in. What do you think?

Yes, we have a lot of unpacking to do.  But I LOVE a good near-to-impossible cleaning/organizing task.  Some girls buy shoes, I love to organize.  Wish me luck!  We'll see how much progress I can make in a week. 
For now we are swimming in boxes.

But at least I found my camera. :)

July Camping

The last weekend in July we went camping. We knew we wanted to go, but we didn't want to go really far. We went up Provo canyon to Hope campground. We have been there before and have really enjoyed it. It was fun because not only did my brother Peter and his family join us, but my brother David's family came up too. My sister Marie and her family were even able to come up in the evening for treats. We feel so lucky to have nice areas to camp so close by.
It was a lot of fun. Anna had a wonderful time rolling in the dirt. I don't think we were there for more than 15 minutes and she was completely covered in dirt. She had tons of fun playing with her cousins, running around, climbing trees, and eating treats. I'm sure we will go back again next year.
Enjoy the pictures!

Devin playing with his new ax.

Anna having fun. Look closely at the dirt all over her.

Anna and Zach checking out Zach's new flashlight.

Zach was ready to put a log on the fire.

Thank you Marthe for bringing Spencer's leftover birthday cake. That was a great appetizer for dinner.

David had fun carving a little "man" out of wood. And being fire monitor.

Peter needed to test out Devin's ax too.

Everyone had some good sitting time.

Unlike Anna, Liz did not like being dirty at all.

There was a good climbing tree for the kids. No MAJOR injuries occurred because of this tree. :)

Campfire food is the best.

Campfire treats are especially good when that includes leftover pudding from making dough boys.

When the pudding is gone life can get really hard.

It was a perfect evening to eat and talk and enjoy being outside.

This is what Anna's shirt looked like by the end of the day.

We were able to get all the kids together for one group shot right before we went home. They are a really fun bunch. Constant entertainment.