Chapter 6 - Christmas 2009

Our beautiful Christmas tree filled with presents for our wonderful kids (even though they did get a few lumps of coal in their stockings!)




Liam being very helpful!



Bakugan's! The present of the year! These little 1" balls transform into little creatures and open up (by a magnet, when placed on their power cards). Liam's not the only one that likes them!



Autumn enjoys the Bakugan's as well!




Rory with her "Blendy Pens". Our little artist.



7:13 am and already into the chocolate.



Rory, very excited about getting her first diary with lock and key!



The doll is almost bigger than Autumn, she loves it though!



And of course, more babies!!!

Chapter 5 - Rory's Creations

Rory's Philosophy on Life



Yummy Olive Pizza




Ocean Clam



Mmmm Ice Cream

Chapter 4 - Busy Autumn

It's only fair that since the last few posts have been about her other 2 siblings that this post be about her! She made it easy though because honestly this week has been about this busy little bee!



We have a weekly routine of visiting our favorite shops on Saturdays; Savers (a thrift store) and Target. Well, this past Saturday we were at Target, and let me just say that the shopping experience is quite different when it is me and the kids versus me, the kids and Duncan. To put it plainly, when it's just me I am a Nazi and the kids are by my side, holding the cart and it's no fun at all. Yes, we see the toys and get a free cookie at the bakery, but really we are in and out in 45 minutes and there's no monkey business! With Duncan, it's almost the opposite! We will usually split up for the first little bit so I can grab a few groceries and Duncan will do his clearance isle searches. No surprise, Liam and Rory want to be with, "Daddy". It's not uncommon, as the time passes, for me to here my children across the store (way across the store) yelling, "Mommy, where are you?" or to see Rory zoom around the corner on a bike, but hey, if anyone was to ask at that precise moment, "They're not my children! Who would let there kids ride around the store on a bike!" Anyways, I'm getting off track here. The whole purpose behind me describing this scenario is to make myself feel better about what I'm about to tell you. Let's just say I get a little frazzled when it's "All" of us together at the store. I feel like I'm turning in circles trying to find where Rory and Liam went, all the while making sure Autumn is trying not to stand up in the cart. So, yes Autumn likes to try to stand up in the baby seat in the cart now. And it always seems we have the cart with the broken seat belt, so on this particular Saturday I put Autumn in the back of the cart, so we would avoid the whole, "Sit down" and the whining and crying because she hates sitting in the baby part. The Target carts have high walls in the back portion of their carts and I was sure that with my careful manoveouring of the cart that this would be the safest place for her this particular day. Nope, I was wrong. We stopped to look at some books and Autumn flipped, head first out of the cart and bumped her head on the shelf. I felt like such an idiot. All these grandmother's with their hands over their mouths as my poor baby screamed and this visible scrape/bump forming on her head. Duncan and I are trying to console poor Autumn and all I could feel were these glares of poor parenting judgement. Autumn managed to come out of it all, luckily with just the scrape/bump, but my nerves were shot for the day. So, lesson learned. Toddlers should not be put in the back of the cart and Mommy needs to be a Nazi to keep everyone safe!

Chapter 3 - Liam the Big Boy

Duncan would like it in print that he (perhaps) is the hero in getting our slothful potty-trainer to do the ugly deed. After much frustration with Liam, Duncan "had it" on Thanksgiving Day and took away every single toy Liam had and put it in bins in the garage. I think Liam thought about it hard all Thanksgiving Day and like magic every day since we've had nothing except success and enthusiasm (almost to the point of obsession). Not to get too graphic, this wonderful child is able to do #2 basically whenever he sits on the toilet...that's how hard he tries. I just hope we're not creating so lower rectum problems from the amount of "trying" he does!!!

We are so very proud of him. He actually is also very proud of himself and tells everyone we run into that he is a "BIG BOY in BIG BOY underwear". He's also very excited to wear all his favorite Super Heroes - Buzz, Woody, Spiderman and Batman!


Rory and Autumn giving Liam hugs for his hard work!


I had always heard boys were harder to potty-train, and I know I've seen kids (around here, still in diapers at 4 close to 5 years old) but I have a real hard time with that. In some cultures kids are potty trained before 1 and over the last few decades it just seems more North American "Child Specialists" are saying when they're ready they'll do it. Are we coddling our kids too much? It's amazing how much your parenting views change as the number of kids you have grows and the older they get!

Chapter 2 - Prima Ballerina Rory

On Tuesday November 24th, Rory had her Christmas Dance Recital. This was her first concert at her new dance studio and while we've been impressed with her progress and her enthusiasm for dance at this place, the organization and overall performance level was a little disappointing. The recital began with us rushing to get to the Covey Center for 4:45 pm only to find out that there were actually 2 shows, one from 5-6:55 and the other from 7:00 - 8:00. It turned out that Rory was actually in the later show and by that time her hair was a mess and she'd spilled some of her greasy dinner on her. When it came time for her to perform, Autumn had had it and was ready for bed and Liam (our man of routine) felt a little out-of-place and didn't really want to sit and watch girl's prancing on stage. Our two sibling monkeys being busy!



Rory's first number was a jazz routine to a modern version of the "Eensy, Weensy Spider". She did a great job of remembering her routine and really did enjoy herself. Here is a picture of her in her costume.




This is a video of her "Eensy Weensy Spider" performance. Please forgive the taping job (I had Autumn on my lap, and couldn't zoom in or my camera would shut off). It's just so you can get a general idea of what it was all about.




Rory's second number was a tap routine to "Suzie Snowflake". Her costume was adorable and she's very excited that she gets to keep it!



In the end, it was a fun night and all that concerned Rory was that her family was there to watch and her best friend Libby. We are very lucky to have such supportive neighbors. The Jaynes family (Libby's family) joined us to watch Rory's "important" night!



We're so proud of our little dancer and are happy she enjoys dance so much!

Chapter 1 - The Icky Sickies

Autumn has turned into the "dress-up queen". She loves putting necklaces, bracelets and purses on!


So of course with the colder weather comes those nasty germs and it just seems that our poor kids catch everything. A few weeks back it was a nasty 48 hour flu and now we're into ear infection city. Liam's tubes have fallen out and with that came some sleepless nights this past week and his poor ears aching and sure enough a visit to the doctor proved that those darn tubes may still be a necessity. He's feeling 100% better but the last 24 hours have been quite similar with Autumn. After waking up at 2:30 am and not wanting to go back to sleep and just being extremely needy we took her to the clinic this morning and the poor thing has an ear infection and a mild case of RSV(Respiratory syncytial virus). Her stuffy nose and wheezing make it difficult for her to breathe, although the doctor did give her a breathing test and she apparently is getting 100% oxygen into her lungs,I don't know how, but that is a relief!

It's hard not to look at yourself, as a parent, at times like these and wonder what you could be doing differently - they eat from all 4 food groups (it's a fight most days, but it happens), they have regular naps and good bedtimes, they dress warmly when going outside, they get regular excercise, they take a multivitamin every morning and we're good about house cleanliness, so why are they so sick?? It can be quite frustrating!

On the positive side of things, we're making headway with the potty training with Liam, he initiates a pee break a few times a day and we think he is more aware of the BM's and when they're about to happen, but so far only one success with that. His vocabulary is expanding and has been saying, "That's impossible" all week long. He's loving Batman and Superman still and actually has added The Joker into the mix as the bad guy. He also carts around several Bakugan balls and cards. We've watched several episodes of this Japanese Anime cartoon and still are confused as to how he understands it. Autumn and him have really bonded with Rory at school and sometimes in the car they hold hands, it's sooooooooo cute!

Rory has her Christmas Dance recital on Tuesday and has one jazz and one tap performance. Her dance outfits are adorable, we'll make sure to get lots of photos. We attended her first parent/teacher conference and it was no surprise that she is doing well. She is sent home with little 5-page books to read once a week and we've been working on Green Eggs and Ham. She is getting better at really looking at the word and sounding it out. Duncan has a few more gray hairs this week after Rory confessed to kissing a boy (Anthony) at school on the cheek. We remained calm and told her we were happy that she told us, but that she is too young to be kissing anyone besides mommy and daddy!

Autumn is our little terror, even when she's sick she's relentless. Last night she was not crying but calling, "Mama" from her bed from 2:30 - 4:30, with me going in every 15 - 20 minutes to lay her back down (At this point I didn't know she had an ear infection or I would have handled things differently). It's kind of sad that when you find out they're sick, you breathe a sigh of relief that your child is just sick, not evil! As I may have mentioned she is into EVERYTHING! This week she took a bottle of hair conditioner and had it turned upside down, open squeezing it all over her leg and the carpet. She's a cutie, she'll hear a dog bark and run to the window and point and say, "papa".

Duncan still is working harder than ever. Now that the big lawsuit is settled, they continue to work on the "psycho" lawsuit and are now looking for new development to start, at least the latter has the potential of money coming in! Tonight he is off to a Utah Jazz game with Barrett, Brandon and Harrison. I hope he enjoys it, he doesn't get to go out much and I know when he has time off the last thing he wants to do is "socialize".

Wednesdays have become our "date night" and this last one was a lot of fun. We went to the Hale Center Theater and saw a live production of "Little Shop of Horrors". It was excellent! So good in fact, Duncan took Rory on a Daddy-Daughter night on Friday to see it again! We hope to get to go see more theater in the future!

Dear Family...

Living so far away makes it difficult for you all to see how wonderful we really are, so I've decided that it's time to show you weekly just how fantastic we can be! I hope you get as much joy out of reading this as I will writing it and in the years to come as Rory, Liam and Autumn grow and wonder about their childhood, that this may serve as a thoughtful, humorous reflection of not only their little daily anecdotes, but also as an insightful glimpse at the trials of parenting!

I've had the pleasure of reading many blogs over the last year and have attempted to start one many times, but I guess the trouble I have about these things is how "public" people have made them and I truly wonder how "real" their posted blog lives are. I want this to be "raw and real", like a daily journal, so it has been set-up for "family only". Please feel free to comment and participate in our blogging experience in whatever way you feel comfortable, but I do intend to print these out at the end of each year and create a book. So, with that said, please look forward to Chapter 1, Volume 1 of Serenity Now! The Lillico's Unleashed. Coming to an inbox near you in the next week!