Quick Recap

I haven't updated in forever. 

There is so much to update I don't even know where to start, but for now, I made a little list in my phone of things Quinn has said that I wanted to share. :) He's talking so much, and can copy anything you say to him. Here are some of my favorites: 

-Cookie (he loooves cookies. Would eat 100 if we let him. He asks for them all.the.time.)

-His very favorite show is Bubble Guppies. He says "Bubble Guppies!" perfectly and it's so stinking cute. Breaks my heart when they're not on and he asks!! 

-He said his first three word sentences awhile back - one was "Ow Mommy, belly!" and he was pointing to his belly, I looked and his pants were poking him and had made a little red mark! The other was "Yeah Mommy, brrr!" I had gone into his room to get him out of bed and said "Wow Quinn, it's cold in here!" and that was his response. :) 

-That brings me to the next - "Brrrr!" I love when he says that. He says it when he's cold or we're talking about the cold. It's so cute! 

-He says "purple" and "yellow" (lellow) which just sound way too cute coming out of a baby mouth!
-"Gobble" - seriously, adorable!

-"Tickle!" he loves tickles, and will lay down and say "Tickle Mommy!" and lift up his shirt. 

-"Rella" - thanks to sister he recognizes Cinderella and calls her "rella". :) 

-"Lalas" - This is his word for when he wants to listen to Fresh Beat Band. Took me awhile to figure out why it was "lalas", but it's because in their opening song (his favorite one) they sing "La la la la!" He's so smart! He knows how to work my phone and can unlock it, find the music, scroll through to Fresh Beat Band, and play it! He can turn the volume down (but not up), and he knows how to scroll through the songs. :) Think I'm kidding? Matt can verify!! 

That's what I had saved in my phone that I wanted to remember! Paiton is doing awesome as well - she loves to spell and sound words out. Today in the bathtub with a crayon she sounded out and spelled cat, zebra, and dog. Her teacher tells me all the time that she's going to be a great reader and she's SO eager to learn, wish I knew how to teach her because she'd be reading in no time. I may have to learn how to teach her.... 

Other than that, it's the same old post-Christmas as always. :) Way too many toys in this house. Next year, please give my kids money for college instead. (Kidding. Kind of.)  

I have been "off" since the day before Christmas Eve. I haven't ever NOT worked a day for Locke Photography since it boomed over a year ago. Not one day have I not at least sat and edited pictures for hours. SO, I closed up shop for a week. It was GLORIOUS. Of course, now I am behind some sessions to edit, etc., but still, amazing to be NOTHING other than a mom and wife. Who knew it was possible!? Matt and I even went on a date. A DATE. To dinner AND a movie! Thanks to my SWEET cousins for some gift cards. It was super fun. :) 

Matt's been off because his office is closed for Christmas, double yay! 

Christmas post, coming soon!

My heart

Today watching a cartoon P said, "she's so sad Mommy. Her heart is broken. My heart isn't broken because I have you. My heart is put together."



Um, yes, that brought on immediate tears today!!!

First snow of the winter!

On Saturday morning, we woke up to snow!

Of course, the kids were thrilled. (Me, not so much.)

Paiton continues to get way too big too quickly, and spent some time lounging on the snuggle chair playing on my phone.

 Quinn was so happy with the snow. He kept looking out the window and yelling "Wow! Whoa!"

 The big one too...

 Before anything else we got bundled up, and headed out.

 Quinn kept leaning over and licking the snow :)

 This is the snowsuit that he was handed down from Cadon and Ryan, and wore last year. It's a size 6 month, haha, but he doesn't have one for this year yet, so I crammed him in it again and it worked just fine, other than that he couldn't move too much on his own. ;) 

 Snow angels!

 Paiton was not thrilled with my picture taking, hence the lack of pictures of her.

 In other exciting news, yesterday morning we awoke to Pinocchio reading Hop on Pop to some of Paiton's Squinkies. ;) 

Paiton's 4 Year Check Up

Paiton had her four year check up on Tuesday!
She weighs in at a whopping 29 pounds! ;) She is in the < 5% for height and weight, which is right where she's always been. She's just petite, which is definitely better than being big when you're a girl!!
She didn't have to get any shots, woohoo!! She was very happy about that, and in fact told the nurse as soon as she walked in "Well, I'm all healthy today so there's no need to give me any shots!"
Ha!
I managed to not get one single picture of her in her little gown they had her wear. Whoops!
But trust me, it was really cute with her little bum hanging out ;)
We talked about preschool and kindergarten and I got her take on sending Pai to kindergarten early. She suggests not doing it for lots of reasons, one being that they will be in school for many, many more years, and if I enjoy having her home with me I may as well let her enjoy one more year of not being in Kindergarten! She said she believes she's already ready to go academically but that it will only benefit her to wait until it's time age-wise. Everything else was fine and good and healthy! She's a champion! ;)
I did, however, get a picture of Q doing good standing at the doctor's office:

After the doctor we headed to Planet Kid with the cousins!

It was lots of fun and the kids loved it. I tried not to have a heart attack over the disgusting germs that I know fester in there. Sick. Brandon and I covered the kids in hand sanitizer. It smelled like pee and sweaty feet. As long as the kids don't get Mumps or something, we'll go back another time. ;) 

OH this boy

This boy.
He is too, too sweet. 

And yes, it's December in Idaho, but warm enough for the baby to be shirtless. :)

 Oh that hair.

 Those eyes.

 He loves to play fetch with the dogs.

Family Update

I don't think I've done a family update in awhile...if I have, I'm sorry! 

Quinn - Quinn is nearly 19 months old. I know - where did the time go!? He's still doing PT twice a week, one group and one one on one. He had an evaluation with an orthodics person (I have NO idea what his title would be....?) and he immediately said Quinn absolutely needs AFO's - braces on his feet/ankle/legs. They told us insurance would cover them 100% and I picked out a pattern, etc. Then they called to tell me it would cost us at least $900 out of pocket. When will I learn not to get excited and that good things don't just fall into our laps!? Even with me losing my job and Quinn's diagnosis he still didn't qualify for Medicaid, so I contacted Shriner's Hospital. The closest one is in Salt Lake City, UT. They got him their first appt - Jan. 25. They told me to contact our local Shriner's office about transportation. I did that and the lady was so sweet and told me not to worry, she'd book us two plane tickets to SLC and that they'd get us there and back for any appts he'll have. I'm assuming he'll have a few since they have to examine him, make new molds of his legs, create the AFO's, then fit them, rechecks, etc. It seems really silly that insurance is so terrible that we will be flying to Utah several times and spending that much more money that kind people have donated to help out in situations like this. It's sad really, but we are SO thankful to have the help. 

He is now cruising on furniture pretty regularly. He can pull to a stand and lower himself. He started walking with a walker a couple weeks ago - HUGE. He shocked us all but just doing it! He is an awesome little dude. We get stopped all the time for people to tell us how beautiful our children are, how amazing their hair is, etc. Even on our vacation in CA, we were constantly stopped. One sweet old man even approached us in  Burger King and told Matt he was so lucky to have such a beautiful family! <3 nbsp="nbsp" p="p">

Quinn is communicating so well. He has tons of words, but some of my favorites right now are: "Mell!" - he loves to smell my Scentsy bars and will hand me one and say "Mell Mommy!" so I'll open it for him. It's SO cute. He likes Spongebob and calls him Bob Bob, He says "Wow!" and "Whoa!" all the time, it's hilarious. He calls Spencer "Bobby" for some reason. We don't know why, but it's so funny! He loves to play "got your nose" now and will pull at your nose and then want you to take his! He points to his belly, ears, hair, teeth, nose, toes, and will often lift up his shirt and say "Belly!" and point to it. He thinks saying something is hurting him will get him out of things, especially physical therapy. He learned "ow" and "owie!" pretty quick and will try to use them to not have to do something. It's very pitiful but funny to hear "Oh owie mommy!" Haha! He is still just so sweet, but man can he have a temper. He gets time outs more often than his sister! He is easily distracted (or ignored) and then will come crawling to you with loves and apologies. He loves to be held and snuggled but also wants to be down doing his own thing. He likes to explore and "go go!" He is doing better in the car. He loves his baby doll and all babies. Every kid is a baby and he constantly points them out by yelling throughout the store, etc. "Oh Baby!" and pointing. He always wants to see Paiton's picture on my computer. He kisses it and says "Hi baby!" We are super proud of this boy and his awesomeness!! 

Paiton - Oh Paiton, my little superstar. I just did a birthday update on her! She is in her second year of preschool and still loving it. She's still way too smart for her own good and I battle every day with what to do with her next year school wise. She can write all her letters (obviously, since she was last year) but now is spelling and reading words. I need to work on this with her more, what she knows right now she taught herself. She likes to write BFF on things for me. ;) Her favorite word to write and spell is "NO" and she likes to pick it out of other words to (another, November, etc.) She is always sounding out words and trying to figure out how to spell them. 

She is still our performer. She is always making up songs, singing, dancing, and making up scenes for us to act out. She has the best imagination I've ever seen. Everything is fun to her, and she can make up stories and entertain herself and us for hours and hours. She's amazing. She is the best sister in the world, hands down. Very patient, kind, and giving to her brother. Very protective as well. She has her 4 year check up next week so we'll get to see how she's grown (although I doubt it's much ;) ) 

She is such an awesome girl to have around. Always (ok, usually) cheerful and able to keep me on my toes. She is a picky eater like her parents, she loves chocolate milk and goldfish crackers. She likes to help me do things, ANYTHING that makes her feel like a big girl. She likes to talk about the day she'll go on dates and drive, basically things that give her daddy and I heart attacks. ;) 

She says the MOST hilarious things I've heard come out of anyone's mouth. 99% of the time anyone that's around her is like "Did she really just say that!?" She has the best sense of humor and is always dead on with her jokes. This girl is going to make us rich. ;) We are so proud of her and love her to pieces! 

Matt - Matt is still working at Idaho Tennis. He plays tennis a lot, several times a week usually. We don't mind as we know it's his passion and makes him so happy. It's also important for his job that he be out there. He's also selling Solinco tennis stuff. He just found out this week that he got bumped from 4.0 up to 4.5. This is really good and means he's getting even better!! He's a rockstar! He is often found either on the tennis courts, at home doing dishes for me, playing with the kids, or keeping me company at night while I work. I'm so proud of him and all he's accomplished this year. He does amazing at his job and has made great progress for them! He has grown his projects and programs and is doing amazing!  

In other Matt related news, I made our last payment on his car last month and we just got the title to it!! Woohoo!! A decade together and the first car we've paid off before selling for a new one! ;) We now officially own it. A picture of a proud Matt is sure to follow! Luckily Matt is my rock and is there to help me with Quinn related things that are quite stressful. I'm SO glad that Quinn is still young enough to not be required to have a plane ticket. Because of this the Shriner's are also paying to fly Matt down to SLC with me. I do NOT want to fly alone. I HATE flying! I'm so thankful for Matt, he almost always says the right things. I'm glad to have him lighten the mood and help carry the load. <3 babe.="babe." love="love" nbsp="nbsp" p="p" you="you">

Ashley - Nothing too new to report for me. Though I lost my job over a month ago I still stay even busier than I was before. I'm running Locke Photography full time - it's a lot of work to own and run your own business, especially this type! I have been working hard at marketing through Facebook and I have been CRAZY busy with shoots. For awhile I had an average of 5-8 every single Saturday and Sunday, and 1-2 each weekday. I love it, but would love it more if I were able to work on my good computer. The laptop that has Photoshop on it is so old and it takes about 3 minutes per image to edit. Times that by at least 30 images per session, and hundreds of sessions, and YEAH. I'm behind due to that stupid computer!! But I am glad to announce that Locke Photography is quite successful and I hope it continues to be through the winter (it better be as it pays our rent!) 

In addition to that I'm still doing my Scentsy business as well. My team is slowly growing and is becoming more profitable. It's really fun and the kids like to help me with it. I don't have as much time for it as I wish I did right now, there just aren't enough hours in the day. 

I still also watch a 2 year old boy twice, sometimes three times a week. (I know, I'm crazy.) In addition to my own two kids and full time job it makes life SUPER crazy, but it works somehow. I can't tell you the last time Matt and I went out on a date, or did anything kid-free, but I'm hopeful that with a little bit of a slow down this winter we might be able to? I don't know, it's RARE that I'm ever without at least 2 kids, so maybe I'll add a date night to my Christmas list. ;) Other than that it's just PT appts, doctor's appointments, work, and kids for me! Apparently we'll be adding trips to SLC in the mix here shortly!

That's my family update!! More posts with pictures coming soon!!! 

Paiton's 4th BirthDAY

On Paiton's actual birthday we had thought we'd take the kids to the aquarium and to Red Robin - Paiton's favorite! P was soooo sweet and kept saying "If you guys want to go to the aquarium, that's fine, that will be fun too." and vaguely trying to let us know she might have other plans. ;) Finally we got her to tell us that she really wanted to go bowling and thought it would be so fun. She was very concerned that it would hurt our feelings or that we wouldn't want to go bowling. :) Of course we didn't care and just wanted to do what would make her happy! 

This was her the night before her birthday, this was her last 3 year old pose ;) 

And the morning of her birthday - her 4 year old pose! 

 Opening her present from Quinny:

 I'm convinced we have one of the biggest Squinkie collections in the world now ;)

 Her breakfast request was bacon!

 Wearing all her birthday buttons and angry that I'm still taking pictures ;) 

 Headed to bowl!

 We went to Pinz in Meridian. Big Al's is crazy expensive so we opted for Pinz - it worked out great because it was $2 bowl day, and P was free!! It was super cheap and SO fun!

 Quinn kept shouting "Whoa!"

 Our nice waitress brought P a free ice cream dipped in sprinkles!

 We also had mini donuts, yum!

 P was hilarious, she kept having to dry her hands before each turn ;)

 Quinn kept himself occupied with donuts ;) 

 Matt and Pai's trick!

 After bowling it was time to head to Red Robin for some lunch!

 Then it was time to head to Red Robin for some lunch! 

This is Paiton's all time favorite restaurant and where she always wants to go when it's her choice.

Of course they sang to her (her favorite part). It was too cute. 

Quinn coloring!

 That night P helped me make cupcakes since you can't NOT have cake on your actual birthday!

Meanwhile, Quinn fixed my dishwasher. ;) 

 We finished the night off with the first fire in the fireplace of the year. :)

Happy Birthday P!! I bawled the night before you turned 4, you're just too old too quickly. 

I remember you being born (ok, ok, vacuumed out), all little 7 lb. 3 oz of you. You changed our lives forever in ways we could never imagine. We love you more than you can possibly know! You are the best girl in the world!!!!