Annabelles Blessing

Last Sunday we blessed Annie. She is 3 1/2 months old but with winter, getting sick, and other scheduling conflicts this was perfect timing for us. The day was beautiful and we were also able to have people over at our new house.

Here's our fun little girl. As long as she has a full belly she's pretty content with anything else going on.


I got a little pre-occupied with other things and forgot to take very many pictures. We had a full house but it seems I missed most of them!! I thought I had everything planned and ready to go but when 60+ people all showed up at once for lunch my mind just flew out the window.

Jared and Annie


Grandpa Michael


Great Grandpa Astle


Grandpa Steve


Mick, Tomas, Jason, Jerrin, Paul, Grandpa Astle, Great Grandpa Astle, Jared, Annabelle, James, Grandpa Weaver, Jonny


The boys disappeared pretty fast as soon as we got home from church but they did make a quick appearance.


Like I said, as long as Annie has a full belly, she pretty much can handle anything.



We are so happy to have Annie in our family!! She is so sweet and we all just can't get enough of her. We are so happy we were able to have our families come and be a part of this special day! We are blessed to have such loving families! I am grateful we have such a close relationship with my extended family because if it weren't for them my side would have been just the 3 Astles versus the 33 Weavers :) Jared and I both loved having everyone over and are so grateful for all the yummy food people brought too!!

A little bump in the road...or the leg

A couple of weeks ago Jared noticed Tanner got a small scrape on his knee and the next day it turned into a big nasty bump. We left it alone for a little while to see if it'd go away but it didn't. On Sunday Tanner woke up with hives so I took him into the pediatrician and had both checked out. It turned out the hives were an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin and the Dr. didn't know what the bump was and referred me to a surgeon to check it out. He was scheduled yesterday to go to Primary Children's Hospital to get it drained and cleaned out.

This is Tanner the night before...


A little close-up...


As soon as we got home I carried him into the house and laid him on my bed with his leg propped up and a movie on. Less than 20 minutes later I walk into the kitchen and he's lined up all the stools and chairs...

Nothing will slow this kid down.

The Surgeon said it was an infection. He said it probably was a bruise that got infected and it should be just fine. It was a bit of a big ordeal needing to got to the hospital and prepare him for surgery just to drain a little bump on his leg but I'm glad he was able to get it done asleep rather than freak out while someone cut into his leg. Tanner was really pretty cute during the whole thing. He was REALLy excited about his cool hospital pajamas and the mask that he had to put over his face for the sleepy medicine. PCMC was a really nice hospital and it was one of the only places I didn't feel stressed over Tanner acting like a 4 year old boy. They had so many toys, suckers, and he even got to ride in a wagon to the operating room.

Funny boys

Jackson is a funny character. Every now and again he turns on a work out video and exercises all by himself. This time he convinced Tanner to join in on the fun. It's sad when a 4 and 5 year old have to resort to DVD's for exercise since it's April 13th and it's still cold and snowy outside. No matter what the weather they'll still go out BUT a person can only spend so many months of the year being cold and wet.

After the work out Jackson says "well, now that I've burned up all my bad calories I guess I should eat some good ones." I really don't know where he learns to talk like that but I think the rest of us in this house could learn a few pointers from him!!

(don't mind the mess of DVD's. It's just another benefit of boys being cooped up inside all day)

Sickies

I know I just posted recently but I thought this was kinda funny and kinda sad.



The last couple of nights Tanner has been really whiney and then he woke up with a fever and he also got a nasty eye. At first he seemed like he was being over emotional about the move but turns out he has a double ear infection and pink eye. Jackson also was up all night sick with the flu and Jared woke up this morning feeling crummy. In our marriage I can't remember him ever taking a day off work (or school) for being sick. So I picked up some soup fixins, sprite, popsicles, and a movie. I think they are all feeling pretty well now but are just enjoying a day to relax and sit on the couch with the boys.

Yesterday Jackson was holding the baby and I hear Jackson scream "Ahh Ahh Ahh, Annie just expoded!!!" And he came running in like this. Pretty funny kid.

Fun new trick

Jared and I (particularly Jared) have promised ourselves we would never let our kids be thumb suckers. There are so many reasons according to our local dentist why kids shouldn't suck their thumbs. But when you wake up after a full nights rest and find this



It's hard to stop it.

Last night we put Annie down at 9:00 and I had to wake her up to eat at 6:30. It's now 12:00 pm and she's still asleep. What's a mom to do? Sleep while her sweet little one happily sucks all night on her thumb OR try and interfere? I take SLEEP!!!

Easter

Since we moved over Easter weekend, our Easter was a little haphazard. The Easter bunny almost forgot there are 3 kids in the family now and he showed up a little late Easter morning. Luckily the kids didn't notice and they had a great day! It all started at Grandma and Grandpa Weaver's then moved to Great Grandpa Astle's house.









The kids all had cute new Easter clothes but because of conference we decided to wear Easter outfits to church the week before to Wells' blessing but somebody forgot her camera.

It turned out to be a great Easter especially comparing it to the cold and wind while we were moving! The weather got nice just in time for the Easter egg hunt!

The obnoxious little sister

Since Jared and I have been married he's really only seen my siblings a couple of days out of the year for the past 7 years (which also means I've only seen my siblings for a couple of days out of the year for the past 7 years!!). The other day I realized he doesn't really know them that well, yet they shaped a lot of who I am.

I've always been the obnoxious little sister. My sister is 6 years older than me and growing up I know I got on her nerves a lot. We used to share a room and I distinctly remember literally holding my breath every time she came into the room because I thought people didn't breath in their sleep and I always pretended to be asleep so she wouldn't get mad at me for one reason or another. I think one of her main complaints was how I always stole her clothes but that really didn't last very long since I outgrew her clothes by the time I was 8. I also remember she got a HUGE Hershey's Kiss from a boy in JR High and I would sneak a couple of bites every day hoping she'd never notice. When she went to open her "brand new" gift to find only a nibble left, well, lets just say I was ready to say good-bye to my dear loved ones. Even though she's half a foot shorter than me I've always looked up to her. I always thought she was so beautiful and super cool and I figured if I tried to be like her maybe someone would give me my very own giant Hershy Kiss. Because of her I would say stuff like "Oh, Robert Redford is sooo good looking" while I was thinking "yuck, he's sooo old." and why "Last of the Mohicans" was my favorite movie too even though I had to cover my eyes through half of it. I was only 12 when she moved out of the house so we really didn't get a lot of time together at home but I still find myself trying to be like her. I think when I realized we are more similar than I ever imagined was when I first got married and my father-in-law said to me "has anyone ever told you you're stubborn as hell??" I just had to smile.

Now John, the perfect child, was not always perfect. I'm pretty sure he has nail marks still scarred onto his arms from several of our many fights we had. He used to tease me all the time and I tried to get him in trouble. This was no easy feat since he tricked everyone into thinking he was such an angel. I've never been much of a crier so I had to put on my best acting skills to try and cry so I could get him in trouble. It never worked. I didn't think we had a lot in common especially when on one of my first days in Jr High my TLC teacher said "oh, you're John Astle's little sister? Man, he was a good kid. What happened to you?" But once we got through the rough years I found myself imitating him too. I even joined the track team because I thought he was so awesome for being such a great runner, after my first (and only) race I learned running well is not genetic. His favorite band was U2 (so obviously they were mine too) and he even took me with him and all of his U2 worshiping friends to their concert and didn't even complain when I sang every single word to every song insanely loud. My mom told me that when we lived in Japan (John was roughly 6) he tried to learn how to jump rope. He sat outside and tried and tried with tears in his eyes until he finally learned how to do it. I've learned through watching him that with a lot of determination and consistency you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

Both of them have given me advice and helped me countless times without even realizing the impact they had on me. So, I guess I like my siblings and I wish they were closer.