Happy Birthday, Zeya!

My little boy turned 2 today!

Zeya was so excited when he saw the streamers and presents on the table. We've been practicing with him the last few days. Now he can say "Ha-BirDay" and "I am two!" This is typical Zeya: thumb in mouth carrying his blankie.
Zeya got to open a few presents in the morning: sugar cereal, and a tape measure! I bought this for him because it was great entertainment for our Taiwan trip. But of course we lost it, so he got his own. Of course the kids still fight over it...maybe I'll get more for Christmas :)
We went to Chuck E Cheese
Zeya loves the basketball one. Here he is wondering why the balls have stopped coming down at the end of the game.
Then we headed to McDonald's. Zeya was really enthralled at pointing out all the truck's and buses.

We had a short party at night. The more kids I have, the easier my birthday cakes become. This one is a brownie mix with Pooh bear decorations stuck inside--voila!

Of course he loved blowing out the candles...over and over again :)

He opened one last present: a fishing game that the whole family loves.


Oh, and he *loves* his balloon from Grandma! She sent him $5 in the mail and this is what it bought!Zeya has been such a sweet boy. At two he is talking like crazy now. He can say everyone's name and loves to pretend that Zion is his mama (long-standing joke--one night I was telling Zeya his story and had him say all the words he knew...when he got to "Zion" he said "Mama!" The kids laughed hysterically! Now whenever you ask him to say Zion he will only say "mama").

Zeya has been such a blessing to our family. We love you, Zeya!

Anjuli's Photo Shoot

Anjuli wanted me to take lots of pictures of her a few days ago. She dressed up in several of her princess dresses. I never told her how to pose, she picked all the poses herself.
Here she said to me, "Mom, you'll need to get down low for this one, because I'm gonna do a low one."
Where does she come up with this?? I've never "posed" for her, we don't have those kinds of magazines around...we don't even have cable. Yet she knows exactly how to act in front of a camera!

Oh how I love my Anjuli :)

Since You've Been Gone...

Zui recently returned from Washington D.C. to attend a NAIFA insurance convention. He was gone 6 days. The time went by pretty fast. I tried to keep busy with different activities for the kids. The day after he left we made brownies for our friends. The kids loved the eating part :)


Sunday was the Primary Program! Anjuli had a big speaking part: "Now we have living prophets today to give us guidance and instruction from our Heavenly Father."
She memorized the whole thing.
Tuesday we went to the Splash Park. We met up with some friends and had a picnic dinner. The kids had a great time.

Baby Isi and Jasmine are just 2 weeks apart. I took this picture just in case they get hitched someday :)
Anjuli was a big help with baby Jasmine. I could always count on her to hold her for a few minutes. Jasmine also started rolling over and laughing while Zui was gone! Anjuli is really good at getting her to laugh.


The kids LOVE their umbrellas. Whenever it's raining outside they go out and sing "Singin' in the Rain." Even Izaiah knows the words :)

Bathtime with 4 kids is...busy! Zion was getting all frustrated wiggling around, then he says, "Mommy, there's too many people in here!!"
The kids sure missed their Daddy, but I missed him most. Glad to have him back!

Jasmine at 4 months

Baby Jaz is 4 months already! Wow, time has flown by. She has really grown up in the last few weeks. She has mastered rolling over both ways, and just started laughing. She sucks her 2nd finger to go to sleep (just like me when I was baby) and still has crazy hair. Zeya calls her "Ba-Ja" :)


I tried to clear out the background mess by having Anjuli hold up a curtain behind Jaz.

I took this picture because baby Jaz looks SO long. I was amazed at how she's grown!

Love those dimples :)
Baby Jaz has been such a blessing to our home. We sure love her!

Joy School

Joy school has begun! We've recently started a preschool co-op with some ladies in my church, running Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11am. There are 5 of us all together, so we only teach once every 5 weeks. This week was my turn to teach! Wow, what an eye-opening experience! With 4 kids of my own, an added 4 kids seemed a little like a zoo at first, but I got the hang of things by the second day.

We have a pretty organized schedule, complete with a sign-in board, songs, snack time, library, exercise, free-play, arts and crafts, and a *very* short lesson :) It helps to have a lot to do since their attention span is so short.

This pic is of them during freeplay. So funny, I got out some toys and the next thing I know all the girls are dressed up in princess outfits and asking me to paint their nails!



Zion, on the other hand, had the entire other side to himself with his big box of cars, trains, and trucks.

Arts and crafts time: Fingerpainting!



Yesterday we went on a parade. I remember my mom taking us on musical parades when we had birthday parties with friends. I used a Christmas garland that I was just about to throw away as a rope for all the kids to hang onto. They loved it since it was so shiny and glittery. Zeya is hiding behind the door in this pic, but I actually carried him (with Jasmine) down our very short parade, with 6 kids trailing behind. It was a sight to see! The mailman took this picture for me :)

This has been a really fun experience for me, and Anjuli and Zion are loving it :) Yay for Joy School!

The new Storage Ottoman

We picked up this storage ottoman at a garage sale last weekend for $35. What a deal! The kids love popping out of it. They'll even put the lids on top so they stay really hidden sometimes :)


Anjuli loves dressing up Jasmine :)

A few months ago we moved Zeya from his crib to the kids room to make room for baby Jaz. At first Zeya would just cry by the door til he fell asleep. He became so used to it that even when he wasn't crying, he would go right next to the door to sleep. He finally figured out how to stay on the bed. We have another twin bed in the room, but they all like to sleep together.

The Flood

On Friday I left to go pick up the kids from preschool. I left a little bit early so I could stop at the library and the bank. By the time I got home we'd been gone an hour. As I got closer to the door I could hear the sounds of gushing water. I opened the door and saw we were flooded! About 2-3 inches of water was covering the downstairs.
We later found out that the flood was caused because the nut that attaches the water supply hose to the toilet cracked. Who would've thought a small $6 hose could do so much damage?


When I saw we were flooded I immediately called Zui (actually he happened to call at that exact moment). He was downtown and it would be a half hour before he'd be home. Luckily he called his dad to come over and help. Here's Yvonne sweeping the water out of the house.
Dad scooping the water and emptying it into the toilet. With 4 kids awake and a huge disaster at foot, I was VERY grateful for their help.

The water also seeped into our neighbor's house on our adjoining wall. Thankfully, we have great neighbors that were very understanding and didn't put up a big stink.

The kids thought it was great! They loved that our house turned into a giant puddle. They took off their shoes and started splashing around. And guess what? We even found some missing toys and puzzle pieces that floated out from underneath the fridge and other places!


We are still surveying the damage. After we pushed all the water out and dried up the place, we noticed our laminate flooring started to buckle :( We are really hoping it doesn't get worse and need to be replaced.
Well, it could've been worse, that's for sure. It could've happened UPstairs. We're counting our blessings...

The new Jacket

Zion loves his new jacket now, thanks to the disappearance of his 2T jacket :)

Zion loves his pink "skating shoes." They are actually the arm rest covers to Anjuli's car seat. He always wears them around the house and skates throughout the kitchen.
Jasmine gets quite a grip on Anjuli's hair--but she loves to put up with it.

This afternoon Zui came down stairs carrying both boys. They had just woken up from their nap and wanted their Dad.
They sure have a great dad :)