Baby Blessing

We blessed Alicen on June 6th,  Scott's mom made her beautiful dress.

Here are all the men that stood in the circle (yes it was a huge circle)












Then a picture of all the family that were here to support Alicen and us in her blessing.

Jacen's Preschool Graduation

Jacen had preschool graduation June 1st.


He had two speaking parts in his graduation. First Jacen and Sage said "Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.  Ready begin."  Then they proceeded to state the Pledge into the microphone. It was so cute.                                                 

Then he also said, "We learned the Pledge of Allegiance".

Here they are singing. He was the center of the act. A parent from the other class, that I did not know, came up to me.  She said, "your son is stealing the show. Everyone else can sit down and we would all still be entertained".  Scott got it all on video :) I think he might take after his father. (prior to graduation he would only preform in front of us.  He would make sure we knew he would never do dancing, acting, improv, etc in front of anyone but us.)

Here he is with his diploma!





I cannot believe I will have a kindergartner so soon!!

Visit from Scott's Parents

Scott's parents came the end of May and stayed with us for 10 days.  They got to meet little Ali.

They even came along to Sea World :)

Day Planner Giveaway

Looking for the PERFECT Day Planner?? Well you are in luck!!

While looking to prepare my upcoming sharing times at one of my favorite idea blogs (littleldsideas.blogspot.com), I fell upon a giveaway...a great giveaway...a giveaway I hope to win :)

This giveaway is for 3 lucky people to receive a day planner.  This planner goes from August to August which is perfect for those of us with kids in school (and for me...whose husband is a school teacher).  With menu planners, grocery shopping lists, and monthly as well as weekly planning.  Not to mention multiple columns for the weekly planning, Christmas lists, and stickers for your LDS activities and daily life.  Check it out at http://picketfencepublications.blogspot.com/p/shop.htm.  You are bound to love this planner.  

Emergency Room

Alicen Monday 6:20pm

I never thought my first Emergency room experience would be for a baby.

On Monday, May 14th Alicen was very clingy. I noticed her cheek had a little red spot the size of about a quarter. At 4:00pm it was her whole cheek. The doctor's office was running behind schedule and suggested I bring her in first thing in the morning. Alicen had no fever so they were thinking it could be a bug bite (even though we get sprayed for bugs it could have happened elsewhere).

9:00am Tuesday

By morning the red spot had spread. It now was on her forehead. Doc got one look at her and felt so bad he didn't have us come in the night before. "She needs to be admitted" At exactly 7 weeks my infant was going to the ER. I didn't feel I would be emotionally stable driving 1 1/2 hours with Scott following behind me, so we all drove together.

12:30pm now in the ER

Alicen experienced her 1st CT Scan, Catheter, IV, blood tests, Tylenol suppository ...and it is possible I am missing something.

A visit from Dad & brothers before they headed home 2:00pm

To make a really long story short. She had Cellulitus, an infection in the tissue of her face.  Most likely she got it from scratching her face. She was admitted Tuesday afternoon and discharged Saturday morning. Which beats the 7-14 days they told me we would be there. I stayed with Alicen.  Scott had the busiest week ever at school...with Every 15 Minutes (an Assembly etc about someone being killed every 15 minutes from a drunk driver), and Prom.  My mom came up and watched the boys, on Wednesday she took them to her house.  On their way they stopped by the hospital to see us. It was great for me to see them, but also for them to see Alicen.

Stefanie w/ her i-pad, book, & sweatshirt she let me borrow

So many blessings were seen though this experience. Here are some of them...


1st- That my friend Bridella stopped by unannounced (not knowing about Alicen) on Monday night and helped me with the boys.  This was huge since Alicen wouldn't let me put her down.
2nd- My college roommate/friend, Stefanie, works at Loma Linda Hospital and was my saving grace while at the hospital.  She would come see us multiple times a day.  
3rd- That my mom was able to help with the boys...that was huge!!
4th- That friends brought in a couple meals to help us get back in the swing of things 


Although it was not an easy thing to experience we are grateful to have insurance and especially that our children are healthy.

Outing

Our first outing/car trip with 3 kids was to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's.  We learned that Alicen is a good traveler and she can go the whole 2 1/2 hour drive if we leave right after she eats.  We renewed our season passes to Sea World :)  The kids love going again and again!!

Easter

The Easter Bunny came...the boys were so excited to see what they got in their baskets.














Then the search for eggs.










Alicen also got to participate, even though she was asleep.

Visitors

With having a baby comes lots of visitors :) We love company!!
Joey's family came to see us all the way from Utah.

Bad lighting on this picture, sorry!!

Brooke, Richelle, Mikayla (w/ Alicen), & Connor












Joey & Landon w/ Alicen

Then Holly's family came from Utah to see little Alicen :)















Damon w/ Alicen

all the kiddos... Bria, Colton, Brycen, Jacen, Micah, & Josiah

Blythe brought her kids up to meet Alicen.











The kids had a dance party.

Alicen's first time meeting Uncle Chuck















and Aunt Crystal.

Alicen Nicole

Alicen was born March 27th @12:55pm. Here are some pictures of our bundle of joy :)

The Family :)

With her daddy :)

Alicen in her "coming home outfit" with her first hair bow :)

Update ~ Stacia

So as for me...I turned the BIG 3-1 this January. I do have to say it wasn't half as big of a deal as turning 3o was for me. That one hit me hard for some reason.

Oh and in November I was called as the Primary President for our ward. Basically this means I am over, or rather that I work with, the children 18 months through 11 years old. I have some great counselors who have helped me keep my head on straight.

I am still a consultant for Shelf Reliance. So I sell food storage, shelving and emergency products :) If you are looking to purchase some, contact me because you get the cheapest pricing through a consultant :) We beat Costco prices as well!

Here are some pictures of me during my pregnancy... (you have my friend Natalie to thank for these..she has been asking and asking for me to post more of my prego belly)

Here I am January 5th - 26 weeks pregnant.

On February 6th -

30 weeks pregnant.

On March 10th - 35 weeks pregnant

On March 26th - 37 weeks pregnant (getting ready to head off to the hospital....but those details are for their own post!)

The last two pictures were taken by my boys. I like that 3 of the 4 pictures are in the same shirt...that way you can really see the difference. Not that I dolled up for the pictures but it is about the tummy, not me!!

Update ~ Scott

Scott is still keeping busy at Yucca Valley High School. He teaches one class of Yearbook, three classes of Drama, and a Leadership class. He also coaches the Girls Varsity Soccer team. The Soccer team made it to the second round of CIF playoffs in February. Of course he plans to make it further next year :)

A couple of weeks ago he received a second calling at church as the Visual and Audio Specialist (which means that he sets up all broadcasts and such at our church building), he is also still our Ward Executive Secretary (makes appointments to meet with our Bishop, etc). On top of all of this he manages to be home lots to spend quality time with his children (and wife) :) He is a great dad and husband!!

As you know Scott has a love for Acting. His latest movie, The Adventures of Chris Fable, is now available in Walmart stores :)

Update ~ Jacen

Jacen loves to spend every second possible with

his dad. This time includes Jacen's favorite ~ playing sports on the computer with his dad.

Jacen is getting out of his shell a little. He played a part as a shepherd in our primary nativity. This was huge for him...as he wouldn't even stand up a few months earlier to sing, or say his part, in our primary program.

I love that Jacen pretends that he is a mannequin. This time Brycen joined in the fun :)

On February 8th, Jacen turned the BIG 5!! He had his 1st friend Birthday Party. He wanted to have it at the

"close park" so that is what we did. It was really windy but that didn't seem to bother the kids.

Jacen got a special Valentine from a friend Addison....isn't he too young for this?!?!

And a cute picture of my boys :) They are such great friends!

Other things about Jacen:

* He has an amazing memory. He loves to play "Going to Grandma's (and I am going to bring a..)".

* He knows all his letters, and their sounds.

* He loves to play Mexican Trains and be the score keeper.

* He is quite the gymnast.

* Loves all sports.

* He can add and "take away" numbers. Even easy two digits (12 plus 13 is 25. 12 take away 3 is 9)

* He can read a hand clock. (we got one from Scott's Aunt for Christmas and he learned how to read it within a week or two)

* He makes Sea World maps and preforms shows for us daily.

* He puts on Improv Shows.

* He know that in the 8th month he gets to go to Kindergarten and counts down the months regularly.

Time for updates ~ Brycen

Brycen is such a fun child. He uses his imagination tons and wants very badly to be just like his older brother.

During my pregnancy I was craving a donut...he

chose one as did I. I figured I would eat mine and half of his. While driving to pick Jacen up from Preschool, Brycen says, "here mom". thinking I am reaching back for some donut...but it was a paper towel he handed me. He loved the donut and his face shows it :)

While at Sea World Brycen and I stood in line for a picture with Elmo. He was on cloud 9...Thanks Elmo for making my child's day!

He is SILLY :)

On February 19th Brycen turned the BIG 3! He got a baseball tee...

....and superhero capes :)

* Brycen has a talent with puzzles (he has been putting together 100 piece puzzles since last Summer).

* He loves sports.

* He can count to 49 (or maybe higher without help).

* He knows all his letters and most of the sounds.

* He is really looking forward to when he can go to preschool :)