First Day of School!!

Last Wednesday, August 10th, was the first day of school here in Mesa. Avery started 2nd grade and Hayden started kindergarten. They were both soooo excited to go to school - and their mom was almost as excited too!

The elementary school is just down the road from our house, so we walked to school with a group of other moms and kids from the neighborhood. Hayden practically ran the whole way!

Avery - the big 2nd grader! Her teacher's name is Mrs. Broccoletti. I decided to spare the broccoli jokes when we met her - I'm sure she has had her fill of those!! She is really nice and Avery loves her!

Right before we got to the school, I looked ahead and saw Avery and Hayden holding hands. It was so cute, and I'm glad I had my camera with me to capture the moment. I have to say though, if you haven't already noticed, that I am a horrible photographer. I wish Brandon could have been there to take the photos that day, but oh well. Better than nothing!

Happy sisters before leaving for school.

Hayden with her frog backpack. We actually bought this backpack for her last year for preschool, but she only went for two days, so it was still brand new!

Hayden's teacher for kindergarten is Mrs. Hatos. She has lots of friends in her class and loves her teacher! She got to bring a toy for show-and-tell on Friday, which she was so excited about. She took a pink unicorn - this girl loves horses, and anything like them.

Hayden's favorite color is green, so she was very excited to wear this new dress on the first day of school. And, she picked out a green water bottle to take to school too.

Avery and Hayden ready to line up for school. Avery was such a good big sister helping Hayden find where to go.

Kiley wanted to bring a backpack too when we walked with the girls to school. She and Jaylyn got to ride in the stroller.

I just have to mention that Jaylyn will be 1 in October - I can't believe it! We need to get some more photos of that girl before we turn around and she is the one in kindergarten!! She is a good baby and is crawling all over the house, but almost always with a smile :)

I just had to throw this picture in. This is pretty typical of Kiley. She is almost always wearing a leotard or ballerina outfit (even though she has never taken a dance class in her life) and she loves to put on Brandon's boots. She keeps us laughing for sure! Happy school year!!!

Family Update

Well, here I am, finally updating my blog. I know, I know - it's been a really long time!!! We have had Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays and so many things going on since my last post! It's truly amazing how quickly time flies. So, here are a few photos and a brief update on what we've been up to. For some reason, our computer is having a hard time uploading photos, so there are only a few. Jaylyn and the girls on her blessing day in December.

Jaylyn - about 3 months old

Jaylyn - She is 5 months old already and is such a good baby! She sleeps well and smiles a lot and just started rolling over. All of the girls adore her and love to do whatever they can to make her smile. She is such a blessing in our family and her cheeks are always smothered in mommy's kisses!

Kiley - She'll be 3 in May and is such a spunky little girl! She has grown up so fast it seems like and I forget sometimes that she is only 2 years old! She loves to dance and sing and climb on everything. She also loves Dora and Diego and playing dress-up. Kiley loves to play with her older sisters and says the funniest things sometimes. She definitely keeps us laughing.

Hayden - Just turned to 5 in January! She still loves animals, so we went to the Phoenix Zoo for her birthday. She had so much fun seeing all the animals, and she told me her favorite ones were the monkeys. I have been doing preschool with Hayden at home and she has made a lot of progress this year. She is soooo excited for kindergarten next year and can't wait to go to school with Avery. Hayden is a really sweet girl and loves to give hugs to everyone she knows.

Avery - Our big 7-year-old, as of March 3rd. Avery loves 1st grade and loves her teacher. She has done really well adjusting to a new school and new group of friends. She plays kickball with all the boys at recess and loves to play (and watch) any sport. Avery just started softball practice this week and is so excited for her games to start soon. Brandon has been playing catch with her and helping her with batting, and I think he is enjoying it as much as she is. (He was a baseball pitcher in high school!) Avery is a great helper at home and is a great friend to others.

Brandon - In his 2nd semester of his master's program at ASU. He is busy, but is home a lot more this semester, which is nice for everyone! He is doing well and is enjoying (for the most part) his classes and projects. Being a student is not the funnest thing in the world, but he has a positive attitude about it and is hopeful that all the hard work (and debt:) will pay off in the future.

Me - I have been busy with taking care of 4 little girls, keeping the house clean (sort of :), and teaching piano lessons. I have 12 students and am looking forward to our spring recital in April. I have learned a lot of music theory and different teaching techniques since I started teaching at the piano studio here. I really enjoy it and am grateful to be able to make a little bit of $ for our family right now. I am hoping to have some time to scrapbook during spring break, but we'll see what happens. I have high hopes for all the things I want to get done on a daily basis, but rarely (if ever) do they all get done! I am sure no one else feels the same way!

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully there will be more pictures next time, and it won't take me 4 months to do it! Hope you all are doing well and enjoying nice spring weather :)

Halloween 2010

The girls right before leaving for our ward's Trunk or Treat party on Friday night (minus the 3 week-old baby, who stayed home with Daddy.) They had so much fun at the party! They got to jump in a bouncy thing, play musical chairs, eat Halloween cupcakes, and of course fill up their buckets with candy.

They got to dress up again on Saturday night to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. They were thrilled to dress up again and they of course loved getting more candy and some squishy frogs and spider rings across the street. Avery was a Snow Queen. It was funny because when people would say something about her "princess" costume, she would make sure to tell them she was actually a "queen."

Hayden was a Tiger. She looked so cute and was so excited to wear her ears and tail. Don't be fooled by her cuteness though - she was growling and trying to scare everyone she saw at the ward party. Apparently she wanted to be a Scary Tiger! And, yes, that is her white underwear showing through her tights - oh well!

Kiley was actually wearing a butterfly outfit, but threw a huge tantrum when we tried to put the wings on her. She didn't want to have anything to do with them, so she ended up looking more like a ballerina. Although she joined in with Hayden in growling at everyone and trying to be scary, so I'm not exactly sure what she was. She loved trick-or-treating though and at least kept the rest of her costume on! And I am very happy to say that as of the last few days, she is now out of diapers!! Hooray for pottytraining - actually, I should say, "Hooray that we made it through the first week of potty training and that we are down to only one accident per day!"

Despite Halloween falling on a Sunday, the girls had a great time and I have to admit that I ended up eating way more candy than any of them! Next year, I will have to buy the yucky stuff so I am not tempted to eat it. Things are going well here though. Jaylyn will be 6 weeks old on Friday and I promised myself I would take more pictures of her this week. Isn't it funny that we take a zillion pictures of our first babies, and then after the 2nd or 3rd (or 4th), we realize they are almost 2 months old and there are only a few photos to document the beginning of their lives? I really need to pull out my camera more! Anyway, Jaylyn has been sleeping 5-6 hours at night and going back to sleep after eating - yippee! I am feeling much more like a normal person now and don't feel like a zombie throughout the whole day. She has calmed down a lot over the last week and is not as fussy as she was for the first 4 weeks. It seemed like whenever she was awake she was crying, but thankfully things have gotten better. Jaylyn is so sweet and we all love her to pieces here. There is just something so special about a newborn baby, and no matter how much they cry or how late you're up with them at night, they still have a way of melting your heart.

One Week

Well, we survived the first week (and a half) with little Jaylyn. She really is a good baby. Of course, I have been tired, but overall things are going well. She eats, sleeps, and snuggles and her head is always covered in kisses - from me and all of her sisters. They have all been really good with her and love having a new baby in the family. Jaylyn is so sweet and I feel so blessed to be her mom, and to have four precious girls. Life is good!

Jaylyn Sariah Colvin

Introducing Jaylyn Sariah Colvin!! She was born on Friday, October 8th @ 4:23 a.m. after a long night of labor. The early stages of contractions went pretty slowly and it seemed to take forever to progress, but the last stage went extremely quickly. The nurse checked me and said I was at 7 cm and as soon as she left to go tell my doctor, I told Brandon I felt like I needed to push. (I had no drugs by the way.) Remembering our experience of a quick delivery last time before the doctor made it, Brandon went out of the room to get the nurse and tell her I was ready to push. She apparently didn't believe him because I was just at a 7 a minute ago, but with or without help, the baby was coming! Within a few minutes of her checking me, I was on my hands and knees pushing and the nurse had just enough time to put her gloves on and catch the baby behind me. About a minute later, the doctor walked in the room. She was literally down the hall from us, but still did not make it in time to deliver the baby.
Anyway, Jaylyn is healthy and weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. The nurses weighed her a few times because they couldn't believe how big she was. I was shocked too when they told me her weight. She's definitely got some chubby cheeks! Her blood sugar was a little low when she was born, which I guess is common in babies over 9 lbs., so for her first feeding they gave her formula because it doesn't take as much effort for them to eat. They checked her a few more times within the hour and her blood sugar levels had gone up, so we were grateful for that, and for her health overall.On Friday afternoon, Brandon brought Avery and Hayden to the hospital to see their new baby sister. They were so excited to see her!! It was really sweet to see them kiss her head and talk to her. They just can't get enough of her. We got home from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. It was so nice to be home again. Although it's tiring, having a newborn baby in the family is so wonderful. I love just holding her and kissing her and snuggling with her. I know how quickly babies grow up! I look at my girls and it's still hard to believe that I have 4 now and that they are all getting so big.
We are thrilled to have Jaylyn in our family! And I just have to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful, sweet husband. Brandon turned 29 today and unfortunately had quite an uneventful B-day. I did make him some shrimp tacos for dinner and gave him a "Birthday Raincheck", so hopefully there is an actual date for us around the corner :) And he got Guitar Hero from his mom, so that has been a nice distraction from schoolwork! He has been home all week helping me and it has been so wonderful. So, Happy Birthday Brandon and Welcome Baby Jaylyn!!

Two More Weeks!

Well, I thought I would do a quick post to update everyone that I have not had the baby yet! I officially have two weeks left, so I'm hoping our little girl will make her arrival some time soon. Even though I know sleep deprivation and hormonal imbalance are inevitable after having a newborn, I can't wait to hold our little girl and welcome her to our family. Avery has been asking me every day when she is coming - and what her name is! Yes, we even keep the name a secret from our own kids!! I know some people (hint: she gave birth to me!) do not like the fact that we keep our baby names a secret, but it is actually kind of fun to surprise everybody and tell them when she is born. We already know it's another girl, so at least we have something to surprise people with.

So, until I can post some pics of our new little one, here is a summary of what our family has been up to:

- School: Avery still loves 1st grade and is doing great

- Soccer: Avery started playing soccer a few weeks ago and loves it! It is really fun to watch her play, and she was thrilled that her team's jerseys were pink

- Piano Lessons: I am teaching piano lessons at a piano studio close to our house. I have 9 students right now and I really enjoy it. We are so grateful to have a mom and mother-in-law close by to babysit while I'm teaching.

- ASU: Brandon has been very busy with his Masters Program @ ASU. He has already had several projects and never-ending readings and assignments, but he is enjoying it and doing a great job. It is really nice to have him home and be able to see him every night! Even when he is working in the office all day, at least I can see him and know he is close by.

- Preschool: I have been doing preschool with Hayden at home for the last month or so. I try and do it at least 3 days a week, but I will admit that it doesn't always happen. We do a letter of the alphabet each day and go on "adventures" to look for things around the house that start with that letter. Hayden seems to enjoy it and it's nice to have some one-on-one time with her.

- Getting ready for baby: I am definitely in the "nesting" stage right now! I have washed, folded and put away all of the baby's clothes, blankets and dresses. I have also washed the baby carrier and all of the different parts to the carseat. Today I am packing our hospital bag and charging the cameras. I'm sure once I get everything ready, I will be just sitting around waiting for a few weeks, but at least we'll be prepared! In addition to getting all the baby stuff ready, I have also been preparing for the actual delivery, which I will be doing all naturally again. I know - you probably think I'm crazy! But, I really feel like this time around will be a much better experience and I feel ready for it.

I hope that my next update will include pictures of our little girl and a hopefully positive birth story! I am getting really anxious and hope we don't have to wait too much longer!!

First Day of School

We were all so excited for school to start this year! Avery is in 1st grade and loves it!! Her teacher's name is Mrs. Kolb and Avery really likes her.

She got this name tag to wear when we met her teacher, and she was so excited to wear it on the first day of school.

The drop-off. I walked her to school that day and by the time I got home, I was pooped! It seems a lot further away when you're walking (actually "waddling") along in the heat!

Hayden also had her first day of school a few days after Avery started. She was very excited for preschool!

Kiley wanted to be included in the picture taking. Notice her crazy hair - I'm not sure what happened to it that day.

Hayden picked out this backpack at Target. She absolutely loved that it had a frog on it and it definitely fit her personality. She pretty much loves anything with animals on it!

Waiting outside for her teacher. Her classroom was in the very back of the school in a portable trailer, and this was at about 11:30 A.M. - well over 100 degrees already. It was sooooo hot! But, Hayden didn't seem to mind. It's really the adults that complain about the weather, isn't it? I remember playing outside in the summer and not thinking twice about how hot it was.

Well, although Hayden seemed to enjoy the first day of preschool, we actually decided to pull her out of it. It was kind of far away and not the most convenient time of the day. We calculated the amount of gas it would take to drop her off and pick her up four days a week, and it was about $100 just there and back! I decided just to do it with her at home and it seems to be going well. Thankfully, she was not too attached to her preschool class or teacher yet, so it was not a big deal for her. We get to do some fun things at home and we don't have to drive anywhere :) Overall, it has been really nice to get back into a schedule for school and life. Things definitely get busy between dropping off and picking up kids, doing preschool at home, teaching piano lessons three days a week at a piano studio, doctor's appointments and getting ready for baby number 4 to come soon! But, life is good and we feel very blessed to be where we are, and we are very excited to meet our little girl soon (6 more weeks)!