Kids

Jenna is 10 months - and getting so big (well, as big as can be expected for one of my kids)!

* She can stand by herself

* She crawls up and down the stairs like a pro. She used to crawl up the stairs and then sit at the edge and squawk until someone came and helped her down, but now she goes up and down with ease.

* She is like her sister - very independent. She wonders the house in search of entertainment or scraps of food.

* She loves attention. She will do something over and over just to hear us cheer for her.

* She is a wiggly worm constantly wanting to be on the go.

* We all love to hear her laugh.

* She's getting close to sleeping through the night. Maybe one of these days she'll quit waking up at 5 a.m.

* I feel blessed every day to have this little one in our home. I'm not sure where the past 10 months have gone! I've said this before, but I can't believe we debated and thought so hard about having another baby - oh the joys we would have missed without this little girl!

This is my sad picture. Poor little thing had a reaction to the medicine she was taking and broke out in this horrible rash. It's crazy, but the same thing happened to Trina's baby. I'm telling you the bug we got during Thanksgiving was not fun!

Samuel had another Karate promotion. He is now a white belt with an orange stripe. Karate has been such a good thing for him.

Chuck, Samuel and some random girl that looks like she's part of the picture. Samuel has been wanting to run a race with Chuck for a long time so they ran the 1 mile run run reindeer race together. At one point Samuel saw some other kids walking and told Chuck that looked like a good idea. Chuck told Samuel there was no walking, but they could slow down their pace. Samuel was a trooper and ran the whole way.

Today was our Primary program and I must say Samuel did an amazing job! He had a cute little speaking part and he sang a solo verse about Samuel the Prophet in the primary song Follow the Prophet. I was super proud of him because until he started kindergarten we were hard pressed to get him to sing. Now he enjoys singing and the kid has no qualms about performing or talking to any size audience.

Bella and I had a fun date night this weekend. I needed to get some 4 year pictures of her so since the weather was so beautiful we went and took pictures. I got some cute ones, but more importantly I got some really great candid shots that capture her crazy personality. We then went grocery shopping and to Marv's for fries and ice cream. I love taking the kids out individually. It's just great to be able to spend a little one on one time.

Every day Bella does something that I just have to shake my head and laugh at. For some reason she has decided that it is great fun to comb her hair with her toothbrush.

When we were riding bikes the other day Bella showed me that she had broken her pedal. I asked her how she did that and she said, "I was going super, super fast!" Doesn't surprise me.

So I'm dreading this new trend I've been seeing. Bella has taken it upon herself to dress or more accurately undress and redress Jenna. This is no easy task since I have trouble dressing Jenna myself since she won't hold still. Bella already goes through numberless outfits a day now it looks like she may be helping Jenna do the same! I love how she had to put a pink shirt and pink pants on Jenna. I'm sure if Jenna had hair she would be helping her style it with a toothbrush!