I've been so focused on this...and this... Yes, we are moving. (more on that later.)
That I haven't been capturing enough of this.
He has been busy and totally crawling and on the move since ten months old. He's now into pulling up on everything, reaching up for things, starting to hand walk just a bit, and busy playing. He is such a happy boy and absolutely LOVES balls. One ball could keep him entertained for a very very long time. He throws it, crawls to it, throws it again, all over the place. I know when his ball goes under the bed, or is unreachable because he does a certain grunt. We have a video- we'll post it soon.

Tee Ball Spring 2012

This year Andrew FINALLY gets to join the fun. If you ask him how old he is, he'll say, "I'm three so I can play Tee Ball." (not kidding) They had their first game yesterday and Benson had a great time, kind of old hat for him, and Andrew grinned from ear to ear the entire time, and also pretty much knew what to do from watching Benson for two rounds last year. This is really fun for us parents!

Here's their cute little team. They already have one friend on the team, Joseph.

Talmage is such a good sport- he's going to be watching a lot of seasons before his turn.

It will be fun to see how he improves this season. I think he'll pick-up from last season and continue hitting coach pitch instead of from the tee.

This guy has more passion- and we are so anxious to watch how he plays. He did really well for his first time, but also seems to think that when the ball is hit that the game turns into football, because he tackles and dog piles on wherever the ball goes. We're working on that.

conference, egg hunt, and skiing in a day

We started our Saturday with Cinnamon rolls, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Our family spent the morning together listening to Conference and enjoyed it so much. During the break we went to see a home, and then went to Carlie's and Jeffrey's home to see all of their sprinkler ditches. We ate an awesome lunch together and then Carlie hid candy eggs for the boys to find. Really, she is an exceptional aunt! Kimball was focused on ONE thing that day, and it was skiing with his family- so on to Alta we headed. BEAUTIFUL DAY!!! I love skiing in April- truly.

Out for the hunt.

Talmage woke up from his nap with all the hubub and Kimball took him

around and he'd grab the eggs.

I've said it before, kids MAKE any holiday or occasion!

Then to the slopes. Like I said, it was sunny and beautiful, but that also meant muddy ski boots to clean after. Look how little Andrew's boots are!!

We took Andrew 1 time last year on April 30th and he only got about 20 minutes with Kimball. We treated this as Andrew's real 1st time. HE DID SO AWESOME!! Kimball manned Andrew and I manned Benson. We went down the hill, and then up the tow rope over and over.

After I'd taken Benson down twice Kimball said, "Erica he can ski by himself." I let him go from then on and I just skied behind him. He did so so awesome. I'd just tell him turn left, turn right, french fries, pizza. ALL of the boys had a really great time and unfortunately got a bit too much sun on their faces. I had a really great time too, especially seeing Andrew's amazing progress and Benson be so independent. Then it was on to dinner time, Priesthood session and time with family.

BYU spring practice

This may just be a tradition for us. We took the boys last year and had a great time, so we did it again. We had horrible traffic and missed the beginning, but we still got a sneak peak at the cougar line up for fall of 2012. They looked good.

We had one little problem, we couldn't find the real Cosmo and Andrew was just dying to show him his shirt and give him a high 5. Andrew actually folded his arms, head down and with a pouty lip said, "I weely weely wanted to see Cosmo." Normally I don't tolerate pouting, but even I couldn't help but think it was a little cute to see his disappointment. We found this blow-up version of Cosmo that we thought would do the trick, but nope. He wanted the "real" one.On the way home we stopped at the In and Out in AF and ate burgers outside! It was so awesome to experience spring. We all had a great time and were glad that Bompa could come. I also just have to journal that while on the freeway, in crazy traffic, Kimball accidentally closed the automatic window on my dad's fingers. My dad- reacting to instinct- hit kimball with his free hand across the chest yelling, "my hand is stuck." He hit him so hard that his watch flew off. I had a front row seat of all the chaos and didn't know if I should laugh or be concerned. I laughed, but tried to be discreet. There was MUCH apologizing by dad and Kimball, and then we all laughed. Glad it didn't cause an accident on top.

Notice the shoes.

That's what I get for leaving my shoes out.

Good thing we have a child lock.

Stand ee up

Talmage is now pulling up to standing. He did it for the first time just a few days after crawling took off. I don't have a picture of him doing it, but only the process because every time he stood I'd run to him and make him go down again. I really didn't want a picture of my baby falling out of the crib. Kimball was out of town all week, and he's the pro at the crib level dropping. It was the first thing he did when he came back from Scottsdale.
Talmage is such a light. He has an undeniable connection with his brothers and he is STILL the greatest baby ever!! So happy, so content, so patient, so wonderful!

He also broke in his top two teeth in March giving him a total of 4. The top ones are a lot bigger than the bottom two. Since then, he eats a lot of table food and is less and less interested in his bottle feedings.

little brother

I guess today Talmage officially became 'the little brother.' Here's why:

Andrew: "Mom, (in a whiney voice that is seeking sympathy) Talmage is bothawing (bothering) me and distwacting (distracting) me."

Mom: "He just wants to play with you and see what you're doing."

Andrew: "Well- put him in his cribby."

Mom: "If I put Talmage in his bed, then you have to sit on your bed. That would not be as much fun as playing together."

Andrew: "Okay, I will give him these toys to play with instead of my blocks."

Valentine's Day

These are my VALENTINE'S!

Kimball and I have been doing a 14 days of Valentines this year, and it's been fun for us. After dinner, the boys run and get our jars and bring them to us to open one. They've had just as much fun with it, and I decided next year that we'd include them by making them a jar of love notes, and kindnesses. The Sunday before V-day, Louise and Carlie put on a 'Queen of Hearts" dinner- so cute and over the top!

Nearly everything was red.

We had the cutest menu of red salad and luscious lovers lasagna and even pink artisan bread.

At each place setting was a card with a name on it. It said, "something I love about (Kimball)" After dinner, we passed the cards around and each wrote something that we love about that person. (Free printables here: http://simplykellyb.blogspot.com/2012/02/party-fit-for-queen-of-hearts.html)

Andrew is ready to feast.

After dinner it was time for clean up, and the kids got a free ride on the couch.

Monday, we made lots of Valentine's for all of our cousins and grandma's and grandpa's.

Andrew took a picture of me cutting and stapling... He told me when to smile, and told me, HOW to smile, I smiled one way, and he corrected me and told me, "No mom, do it like this." He must be imitating someone he knows closely :)

Benson had fun writing all of his classmates' names on his Valentines. Lots of excitement for his preschool Valentine party.

You're my favo'RED'

You're sweet

Be my baby

Grandma Jones came to visit with Valentine's. Each boy got candy, a puzzle, a new pair of themed underwear, and Talmage got an awesome new stacker toy. He's loving it.

Had to get a single picture of Talmage on his FIRST VALENTINE'S DAY. PS- isn't he getting so big? Like 'ready to graduate from the infant carrier' big.

Then dad came home from work and immediately the boys were asking him to get them a drink of milk from the fridge...they couldn't wait for dad to see his surprise in the fridge.

A fridge FULL of Dr. Pepper and a sign from his wife saying, "Kimball, you are the 'Pep' in my life."

Then we had pizza with a heart on it for dinner.

Benson made a really cute mobile at pre-school that we hung up to decorate. He also had such a cute Valentine party at Miss Debbie's. We are really loving pre-school.

And then the sugar... The first one was the fun dip. This was a first for them both and it was a hit.

LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Birthday Kimball

He's the big 32- and I'm not talking about Jimmer!

We love you so so so much Kimball! Happy Birthday to the greatest person I know!

Talmage 6 months old pictures

My little doll boy.

We already knew that he is a smiley guy, but we learned how much he loves the camera.

Emily Loveland did an awesome job- and we had such a great time too. No stress!

Em had to snap this candid shot.

We were all done, but she picked up her camera and he SMILED for her.

I made this quilt for him a couple of months ago as a play quilt. It went significantly faster than I thought, and even though it was kind of a whim, we both really like it. It is a black and white cow print on the back that's made of minky.

Love him.

He's a dream.