Spencer is 4!

On February 2nd Spencer turned 4. I can't believe I have a 4 year old! He has grown-up so much in the last year, especially the last 6 months. I still remember them placing him in my arms, is was the most amazing feeling. I am so grateful to have the opprotunity to raise him.
He says the funniest things, as I know most kids do. I often call my mom to tell her what he has said, but I forget to write it down myself. I do remember when Clif was putting him to bed awhile ago, he asked for me to come see him. Clif told him I was feeding the babies and couldn't. Spencer's reply, "Well, tell mom to takes the babies off her boob and come up here." (I promise I didn't teach him to talk that way). I am a lot more conscious of what I say when I hear, "What the heck and Gosh Dang!" come out of his mouth. Oops on my part! Spencer is very aware of people's feelings, he has such a tender heart. I remember when he was very little, maybe 6-9 months and I would pretend to cry, he would bust out crying too...such empathy! I see so much of myself in him and it is fun to watch him grow.
    Spencer is:
-Sensitive
-A good brother
-Happy
-Funny- talks in 3rd person all the time, "Spencer is tired."
-A good translator- "Can you tell us what Addy just said."
    Spencer loves:
-Preschool
-Babies
-Robots (Wall-E shirt)
-Addy
-Mommy
-Daddy
-Playing with his leapster
-Toy Story
-Drawing pictures for mommy
-Singing (especially alaphbet song)
-Playing with friends
-Reading books
- Family Home Evening- epecially talent time
    Spencer knows:
-How to write his name & most capital letters
-His alpahbet sounds
-How to put mixed up letters back in order
-Count to thirty

Lots of pictures

I am really behind on putting up pictures of the twins. I try to put their milestones on here so I remember, but I have many pictures I have wanted to share. I decided the only way to catch up was to put them all the older ones in one big post. So here are the pictures I haven't posted of October- November. Some of them took me awhile to figure out who was who!

H- Left

A-Right

Allyson was near me while I was posting this and it made me so sad. They were 4 days old here and now they are 4 months old and they are so much bigger.

Allyson propped up for the first time.

H-left

A-right

This shows how truly small they are. 4 days old here as well.

I love this picture because she looks so tiny! I wish I had one like this. I actually don't have any pictures of me or Clif with the babies when they were small. I only have the ones from the hospital.

Cute Gavin holding Haleigh. It looks like a huge blanket for a small doll.

Shian with the porcelain dolls again!

H- Left

A- Right

Close-up shots at 1 week old.

The next two pictures were taking on October 24th, when they were alittle more than 3weeks old. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of them in between then. Life was just too crazy! Makes me sad though!

Angry Allyson as Clif used to call her

Happy Haleigh

11/4

This is for sure Allyson.

11/6

H- Left

A- Right

Not the best picture, but it was fun to see that they would both fit in Addy's chair.

I took the next two pictures on November 13th to see if people would be able to tell them apart, if I took up close pictures of them.

Top: Allyson

Bottom: Haleigh

11/14

Spencer holding Haleigh. He is so handsome!

Spencer holding Allyson. He is such a good brother!

11/15

Allyson

Haleigh

They love to sleep on the couch. I think this is Allyson, but Clif says it is Haleigh.

Trying on their dresses to see if they needed to be altered.

11/24

Haleigh

Allyson

11/23

Getting pictures on these nice blankets, hats, and booties that my mom's friend who is dying of cancer made for them. It was the last blankets she would ever be able to make.

First time they are both alert for pictures.

Cute little feet.

Allyson loving her daddy.

Sweet Haleigh with surprisingly some chubby cheeks.

December with my parents

My parents came in on December 3rd. They didn't get in until later, but my kids were sure excited to have them here. They haven't been to our house since Addelyn was blessed in August of 2008. Our schedule was a little off that week because Clif was working 12 hour shifts. Grandma Sant was so nice to come and help me out with the kids and needless to say they were plenty tired. Below is Spencer following asleep, after having Grandpa read many books to him.

On December 5th, the day after the babies blessings, my parents and I went to see the lights at Temple Square. I was excited to go see the lights, since it had been such a long time since I had been. I actually didn't even remember that I had been. I hope to make it a tradition for our family. It was also special for my mom and dad, since they had been sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, 30 years ago to the day.

It ended up being pretty cold and Clif and I both thought the other person had brought the jackets for the kids. So that, along with small babies, made the trip go pretty quick, but it was fun nonetheless.

Trying to keep warm in their blankets.

Spencer wanted to take a picture, by the green tree (if you can tell), his favorite color.

An almost complete family picture.

My parents on their special day.

That night we all stayed at the Hampton Inn, the beds are to die for. Then in the morning my dad, Spencer, and Clif went to Cabelas, while my mom, Addy, me, and the babies went shopping. We then met up at Red Robin, which we hadn't eaten at in forever. It was so yummy and I have been wanting to go there every week since!

On Wednesday, the 8th, of that week, when we took the babies to get their ears pierced, the kids were able to ride around in the mall train. They have asked me to do it before, but it is 3 dollars a person, and I know they would never go on without me. My mom noticed if you spent a certain amount of money in one day that you got free tickets, so they kids and Clif were able to go around twice!

Ready to go!

One of the most important things I wanted when my mom was here, was to get some good pictures of her with me and the kids. It is always so busy when I visit that it never happens, and I want my kids to always remember her. It is more important than I can express. We got all dressed up and a friend of my took the pictures, but her camera wasn't working that day and only a few turned out. I plan on having Clif take a lot of pictures when she comes in May to makeup for it! Here are some of the best ones.

Love this boy.

Such a cheese!

We couldn't get them both to take a serious picture! It was not a good picture day!

Poor Allyson looks so grumpy!

A- Left

H- Right

I love this one of my mom and Haleigh.

Why are you doing this to us?

My mom with her girls.

My mom smiling with Haleigh. Poor Allyson didn't get any one on one with my mom.

My babies can roll

Is it silly that we document such little things our babies do? Yet, it is such a big thing then! I wasn't good at documenting it with Spencer and Addy. It does seem like they didn't roll quite so soon though, not that it matters. I love how each of my children have their own personalities and do things in their own time.

Hailey rolled first on January 23rd. I had realized, that with me being sick, I hadn't been putting them on their bellies as much. So I was trying to do it more often. I was home from church and Hailey looked like she wanted to roll over, she didn't though, until her daddy got home with the kids. Sweet princess had to show everyone of course! She now is a rolling queen!

  +

I had of course tried to get Allyson to roll, but she wasn't having any of it. Until I recorded these videos on the 24th. As you can tell from this video, she completely surprised me! She has only done it a handful of times since, just to remind us she can! 



It's better late than never

Each day I wish I had time to blog. There is always something cute that Spencer says or Addy does. I want to document it all because even though my memory was once very good, having 4 kids changed that! Since I don't get the time very often I will just have to be super late and try to remember what I can. It is important for me to have a journal though and this is the closest I get lately. I usually spend my free time reading and I know I need to cut that and make sure to write on her or my personal journal. (Though this is often very personal).

So here is better late than never- Christmas 2009!
The kids and I, and all are things, went to stay at my parents for about 3 weeks.
As tradition goes, the kids each opened up a gift on Christmas Eve. According to the dates on my pictures, we celebrated Christmas Eve on the 23rd and Christmas Day on the 24th. (I really thought I was there Christmas day, but see what I remember).

Cutest smile!

Yeah! A train set!

My very own doll!

Making a bed for my doll.

Oh no! Maybe we shouldn't suffocate her!

Playing trains and having fun imagining!

It was nice to spend Christmas together with my parents. It was sad not having Clif there, but he couldn't take 3 weeks off to come and be with us. I really hope my kids don't move away from me, like I did. My mom is my very best friend and being away from her is one of the hardest things ever. I don't feel complete without her. If it were up to me we would be next door neighbors.

Addy opening up a set of books. They still have me read these books ALL the time.

A big hit in our family.

One of Spencer's favorite books as well.

My beautiful mom.

What a silly boy.

I don't remember much else of what anyone got that year or what I gave, but I do remember having a fun time spending it with my family.

We of course went to the museum several times while we were there. The kids always love going there and I enjoy watching them have so much fun. I posted a lot of the pictures in another one of my posts, but here are a few more.

Addy, my future doctor.

Making his own play dough.

Best Friends forever

Addy wearing my apron from when I was little.

Their aprons were too big for her.

It wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to Santa.

Notice who is brave enough to sit on Santa's lap!

And for the grand finale, my mom getting her groove on!

(You can hear my kids cute little voices in the background as well).

 Here is Christmas at our house. Santa brought Addy a push toy, Spencer a train table, and they both got the tent. The tent ended up being really cheap, so we exchanged it for another one that they still love to play in. We told Spencer we had to send it back to Santa's Workshop, at least he didn't know what Walmart was back then. The difference of 2009 compared to 2010 with the kids was Spencer was excited the whole entire month of December. I think in 2009 he was just starting to understand and get excited when Christmas came. Addy also was still so little and my what a difference a year makes. Spencer's enthusiasm made her just as excited!

Santa Came!

I really want to know what is in the box on the couch.

I love how he was so excited.

Vroom!

A gift from Grandma & Grandpa White

Don't you love the mop on her head!

The next day we, along with Clif'simmediate family, went to Tara &Chris house. I would say more, but sadly without pictures my memory is gone! Maybe someone will refreash my memory!

Addy on Tara's big bean bag/love sack.

I love this dress on her.

One of the first times Spencer did a puzzle. Tara is to blame for his love of puzzles!