As Ella approaches her 11 month birthday, she is getting more and more advanced. She has been walking around furniture for quite a while now and then takes a couple steps here and there. This weekend we hit a milestone. She is becoming much more balanced and is walking a lot more than before. She takes about 10 steps at a time. She is growing up so fast and is so stinking cute. I know I ma biased because she is my daughter, but she is a doll. So here is some fun video footage of her taking some steps on her own.
Now that Ella is 10 months old, she is getting more and more independent. She is crawling everywhere and very curious about things. She has two favorite spots in the house. The kitchen by the kids dry erase board and Drew and Alyssas room. During the day she is always to be found in one of those two places. The other day she came into the kids room and was hanging out. I went to run some errands. When I came home, I found the kids clothes thrown all over the floor. The kids and I had spent all of the evening before organizing and cleaning their room. When I came home, I asked mark why he had thrown the clothes all over the floor. What was he looking for. it didn't even cross my mind that Ella would have done it. Mark told me that Ella was the one that did it. I couldn't believe that Ella pulled out the kids clothes bins from out under the bed and thrown their clothes everywhere. When Alyssa came home from school, she was wondering what had gone on in her room. I told her that this was only the beginning. Later that week, Ella went into their room and took legos and threw them all over the place. Alyssa was again like, "mom, why are their legos all over the floor?" On sunday after church, the kids wanted to do some painting. They put on their paint shirts and painted on their art board, which is in the kitchen. I guess one of the lids that had paint on it, fell on the ground. Ella picked it up and did the usual baby thing, putting it in her mouth etc. She came into our room where Mark and I were and this is what we saw. I guess it is time for me to start baby proofing the house. Ugh! I hate doing that. On another note, I had to capture this cute video footage of Alyssa reading the Ella. It was sooo cute!
I have the sweetest kids ever. Yes I admit that I want to kill them every now and then, but overall, they are very sweet. Alyssa is the little mommy to Ella. She takes such good care of her baby sister and just loves and adores her. Ella feels the same way about Lys. Ella is so happy and curious. She is a joy. Drew is so sensitive and loving. He has been testing my patience quite a bit lately, but then his kind sensitive loving side comes out. We are very blessed. The other day Lys took Ella outside and was swinging with her on the swings. It was precious. Also I was just giving Ella a bath and she was pretty cute so I had to get some footage.
So Ellla turned 9 months on December 10th. I have been slacking so I wanted to post her info before she turned 10 months old. She is getting bigger and way more active. she started crawling on her knees right after she turned 9 months old. No more army crawling for her. During the Christmas break, she started to let go of things she would walk around and stand by herself. Not for too long, but she is making progress. When we came home from Christmas break, we pulled out her walker toy and she started pushing that thing all over the house. We think she should be walking by February. We will see. She is still doing her nose sniffing thins which is hilarious. She also does this cute pose which is in our Christmas post when she is lying on the ground with Courtney. It is classic! Stats: Height: 26 3/4 12% Weight: 15lb 15oz 3% Head: 43cm 14%
Continuing on with the Christmas festivities. So Christmas day was a great day. We were able to sit and enjoy each others company and watch our children get more and more excited with each gift they got. They had a great time! Mark and I had a great time watching our children's eyes light up. We spent that day eating delicious food, laughing and playing games and just bonding as a family. Although I didn't get to exercise like I normally did, I was able to go out for a run with my sister and Alyssa, as well as go for a run with my brother. We made sugar cookies, played outside with the kids and visited with friends and family. The highlight of my trip was probably watching my dad toss the football with Drew and seeing Alyssa's face when she found out she was getting her ears pierced. I wrapped a small box of diamond earings and put it in her stocking. When she opened it, she looked at me and said, " mom are these real?" I told her yes. She then said, " but I don't have my ears pierced." Me: "so what do you think that means Alyssa?" Alyssa: "That I am getting my ears pierced?" Me," Yep." She ran and gave me the biggest hug. it was just what I pictured. She was so brave. She was nervous and held my hand, but she didn't cry or even say owe. I was so proud of her.
It has been a couple weeks since I last posted anything, so let me try and get caught up here. The weekend of the 18th of December was a very busy weekend. Our Friend Mike Gray had his 40th birthday. On thursday we went to their house for dinner. That night his wife Alex surprised him with a great weekend getaway to Colorado to go see the Denver Broncos play. We helped them out by watching their kids for the weekend. So Thursday night we loaded up their kids and took them to our house. Let the busy weekend begin. We had their kids until about 5pm Monday. It wasn't really too bad. It was a little more work have 6 kids instead of 3, but overall it went really good. While we had all the extra kids, I decided to make Christmas ornaments with them all. It was fun and I think they had a good time. I had to watch them close and make sure they didn't eat the. Monet thought they were gingerbread cookies and I caught her trying to sneak one. i had to explain to her that they had a bunch of glue in them and that they wouldn't be good to eat. On Monday once the Grays picked up their kids, we loaded up the car and headed to California for our much needed Christmas vacation. We had a really good time. It was nice to be with all of my family and enjoy each others company laughing, playing games, and eating really yummy food. On the 23rd we headed up to LA to go to the my grandparents house for the annual family Christmas party. It was nice and we had a good time chatting with everyone. We were able to enjoy watching our kids sing a song for the talent show and my sister courtney sang and I did as well. The kids had a good time playing with kids their own age.
The last couple of weeks have been very busy. I am slacking on my blogging so I need to get back on track. The week before Mark left for Utah, I had our Young women in Excellence night. It was a great night. A lot of hard work and time was put into the evening. I think the girls enjoyed it. Our theme was, "An Evening of Stars" We had the room decorated with stars all over the ceiling and Gold and black table cloths with silver accents. I have some pictures, but will post more when I get some from others. On the next evening, Thursday the 3rd, the kids had their school Christmas concert. It was outside and freezing, but the kids had a great time and did a really good job. They also got to get dressed up for the evening. This last Saturday, the 12th, was our Ward Christmas party. It was "An Evening in Bethlehem" Mark and I did our best to come in biblical attire. I made a head wrap thing for Alyssa but she quickly took it off. Drew made a crown and quickly took it off as well. We had a great time. The dinner was salad and baked potatoes and chili. When they announced dinner was ready, Drew headed up there and came back to the table with a plate and a bowl on top of the plate. He had a roll on the plate and in the bowl was nothing but shredded cheese. I am thinking he actually took the entire bowl of cheese off the table that was supposed to be used for potatoes. He is a monkey! He is by far our most picky and interesting eater. It is a fight to get him to eat anything. He doesn't like potatoes, rice, oreo cookies, sugar cookies, peas, cooked carrots, etc. He is hard to please. I have been working on creating my very first quilt. I have had the squares all cut out and pretty much ready for over 4 years. I have always been afraid of sewing machines, but I decided it was high time I actually face my fear head on and do this t-shirt quilt I have always wanted to do. I am not completely done, I have a some sewing designs to do on the squares. It isn't perfect, but I think it is pretty darn good for my first quilt. I am so proud of myself. :) Finally, I took a picture of the kiddies in their Christmas outfits yesterday. Aren't they cute!!! I love the Christmas season. Ella is now 9 months old. Can you believe it? I will be posting on her stats after the holidays.
Last Thursday Mark was able to fly up to Utah to spend some time with pretty much his entire family. all of his siblings were there except for Eric, who was at home where his wife had their first baby, and David. The kids and i missed him terribly, but I was glad he got to spend some quality time with his siblings. It was quite cold there in good old Utah so i wasn't jealous that I didn't get to go. :) Not only did he get to have fun with his siblings, but he got to be there to see our Nephew Hunter get baptized and celebrate his dad's birthday as well as his sister Jessica's .
I thought that instead of taking Alyssa to get her pictures taken, I would try and do it myself. Last week I took her to the front entrance of our community and took some pictures of her. I would like to take one of them and blow it up and put it on my wall. I need your feedback. I have a couple I think are not bad, but I would like you all to vote and tell me which one you think is the best. Let me know.
On Friday, Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. What an amazing accomplishment! Now a days ten years is a huge thing. I have realized that many people don't last that long. I am so blessed to have Mark in my life. He is my very Best Friend! I want to list just a few of the things that I love about my dear dear husband 1. You can laugh with me and be silly with me. 2. You can also be serious with me and have great conversations 3. You are my very Best Friend 4. You have the most contagious laugh that I adore, (Alyssa got that from you:) 5. You love your kids and show it often. 6. You are the best dad! 7. You are so funny! You are the life of the party 8. You know all the good and bad that make me who I am and you still love me 9. You are always there for me when I need to vent or talk about anything 10. You help and support me in everything I do. 11. You are a hottie! I had to say it. Mark, there are so many other things I love about you. Thank you for being you!! Thanks for sticking by my side for 10 years. I look forward to the rest of eternity
This year we had a great Thanksgiving with our friends the Grays. We started out our day by doing the Maricopa Turkey Trot. We got up at 8am and went and ran 2 miles with our kids. It was so much fun. The kids did a great job and ran most of it. i was so proud. i think we are going to try and make running something we do every Saturday morning as a family. I am also going to get the kids involved in running club at school which meets once a week and I will do it with them. After the Turkey Trot, we went home and got ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We prepared the turkey and made the salad and gravy. The Grays took care of everything else. We had a great dinner at their house eating and playing some Guitar Hero and watching the kids outside riding bikes. Friday was spent just hanging out at home watching some Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. Then on Saturday we went over to our friends the William's house for the day. The kids had a great time playing with friends and seeing their cousins Brandon and Mason.
We spent the earlier part of this week decorating for what is my very favorite time of year. The kids were so excited to bust out all the Christmas decorations and the Holiday music and make our house look festive. I enjoy decorating before Thanksgiving because it just makes everything seem that much more festive.
Last week the kids had Wednesday off for Veteran's day. I met my friend Sarah at the park so our kids could all play. Within about 20 or 30 minutes of being there, Drew slammed face first into a cement post. He and his friend Connor were running full speed and Connor lost his footing and kinda tripped forward. He tripped into Drew and then Drew went forward right into this cement post. The poor kid. He is good now, but it got bruised pretty bad and really scraped up. I am trying to figure out the best way to fade the scars that are left behind. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. On a funnier note, Drew and Alyssa had crazy hair day today at school. Mark and i had a great time doing their hair this morning. The kids were so excited. Here is what we ended up with.
Our little girl is growing up so much. I can't believe she is already 8 months old. It seems like only yesterday she was born. She is so active and curious. She is very determined and strong willed as well. She is also just so petite and tiny. Here are some things she is doing now. She pulls herself up on things, including me. I am her own personal jungle gym She is talking a lot more making dada and mama sounds She is getting into everything she can get her hands on, she is sitting up but not for long because she would much rather be going somewhere. She army crawls really fast, and sometimes gets on her knees but gets too impatient so she just army crawls. She has her two bottom teeth, and she is always standing in her crib waiting for us when she wakes up. When she was 7 1/2 months old she weighed a whopping 14lbs 13oz and she was 26 inches long. She may be small still, but she is a very happy and active baby.
Today Drew had his second soccer game. This morning before his game, Mark took him to the park to practice his dribbling and to teach him a few things. I think it really helped. Drew scored 4 goals, 5 including the one for the other team. He was on fire. We were able to catch two of his goals on video. Mark was so proud of his son. He is following in his dads footsteps.
So here we are trying out this whole blogging thing. I think it is a great way to keep everyone updated on the latest in our family. We are excited to keep in touch this way and be able to know what everyone else is up to. I really don't know what I am doing so hopefully I will learn as I go. Everyone needs to do this. Especially in the Badger family. There are so many of us and this would be a great way to know about everyones life. We hope you enjoy our page
The Badgers
The Badger family
We are so happy to say that we are now a family of five. We recently welcomed our third child into our home. Ella Marie. She was born on March 10th. She has two older siblings, Alyssa Nicole who is seven and so grown up, and Drew Alden who is 5. They fill our lives with laughter and joy. We have been married for 10 years and have lived in Arizona for 6 years now. We are so blessed in our lives. This blog is all about us and the joys and good times we have together.
So almost every day one of my kids say some really funny things. I have decided that I am going to try and write them all down in this blog so that I can always remember the cute things my kids said as they were growing up. 1. Mom: "Your fever is going down Drew." Drew: "Yeah it is all the way down to my toes now." 2. While washing Alyssas hair Drew said, "I need my hair washed too because it got sunburned." 3. Drew: "We should put the cakes outside so they can cool down." Mom: "No if we do the flies will eat them."Drew: "Yeah the flies will eat them and say, "Im sorry." 4. Drew was acting up and Alyssa came in and said in a motherly way, "These kids are driving me crazy." When Alyssa was younger she was trying to open the sliding glass door and she said, "I can't get the "frickin" door open." 5. When Drew was little he would give Alyssa a hug and call her "his lyssa." Now when Drew wants to give you a hug he calls it a "squishy hug." When he was younger and you would give him a wet kiss or blow on his cheek he would say,"Don't do that. It is a booger kiss." 6. When we were in Cali one time Alyssa was playing with joey the cat and her gammie said, "You know Alyssa sometimes I would like to be a cat." Alyssa then said in a sassy tone, "No gammie, I don't want to come visit someone who used to love me and used to be married to grandpa, but is now a cat!" 7. Drew used to call egg nog "Christmas Milk." One night we were making Lasagna for dinner and Drew Said, " I don't want pisagna." Then we got him to eat it and he said, "MMM I like pisagna." 8. When Drew was learning to walk and I was trying to video tape him taking his first steps, Alyssa turned to me with her hand stretched out on her sides and said, "look mommy I can walk to you." She was three years old. It was quite funny. 9. One time Drew was over at a friends house playing. He was getting kind of loud and my friend Sarah said, "hey guys please don't yell you will wake up the babies." Drew then said in his innocent way, "no no we didn't wake up the babies. I didn't hear them say wah wah daddy come get me." 10. " Drew do you want to be an Eagle Scout when you grow up?" "No, I want to be BATMAN!" 11. Drew and Alyssa and I were in the bathroom. I was putting sunscreen on them. Then Drew said, "Mom, Alyssa is growing boobs on her back." I said, "What are you talking about?" He then points to her back. I say, "oh no Drew those are Alyssas shoulder blades. You have those too." 12. Alyssa and Mark were havin a conversation about golf one night. They started to talk about Tiger Woods. Mark: " Alyssa, Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers in the world." Alyssa: "Dad, does Tiger Woods play golf at Golfland?" We thought that was pretty funny.
