Sugar and Spice and Everything nice

Baby Dot got blessed and we just feel so blessed to have her as a part of our family. What a little miracle she is! Here we are outside of the church building on her blessing day.

Here is her first cook out in the woods. She just loved roasting marshmallows!

As I before mentioned. I love to get this girl dressed. I feel like I had my first child all over again because I remember doing the same thing with Gus. I dress her up in her cutest outfits, and then I feel like I need to take a picture to capture how adorable she looks. Poor Cash never changed out of his pajamas, and sometimes would wear them for 2-3 days if he didn't spit up or poop on them. Dot is definately a fashionista

Here she is all in white on her blessing day. Loved this dress. It was a hand me down for a 2 year old, and I just took in the kneck and it made a perfect blessing dress!

I just love this picture because she has her finger on her temple as though she is contemplating something. Maybe she is thinking about something. Maybe she is remembering where she came from, or maybe she is just dreaming about milk!

Dorothy Louise Fox (Dot, Dotty, Dotty Lou which ever you prefer)

Hey all, the glorious day arrived that our beautiful baby girl transitioned safely from inside to oustide of my uterus, and let me tell you... she is perfect! A sweet little bundle for a mother to cuddle. Everything went great! My boys haven't successfully killed her yet, so I would say we are doing pretty well. She was born on September 5th which also happens to be my brother Simon's b-day, so happy birthday to you Simon! She was 6 lb 14 oz and 20 in long. I just love to dress her in the frilliest, girliest things possible. It is really quite strange. I didn't know I would be this way, but I think I am just binging now that my pink frilly fast is over. I will post some pictures soon. Oh happy day!

Lost in the Woods

Max is my little middle man, in between Gus and Cash, and I feel like some times he might get the shaft because he is in the middle and the other two demand so much attention. Well recently, Max has made sure that he gets the attention he needs. On the 5th of July, Paul had the day off work, so he decided to take the boys fishing at the cow pond in the forest about 3/4 of a mile from our house. While they were fishing, I went running on some trails with my brother and sister in law, Kevin and Alison. So we dropped Paul and the boys off at the cow pond and left on our run. We were gone for about an hour and when we returned to the cow pond, Paul and the boys had already left, so we headed home. When we caught up with Paul, he only had Gus and Cash with him, and he proceeded to tell us that Max was nowhere to be found and he had not seen him for a half-an-hour. I panicked initially, but then Paul and I said a prayer, and I was able to think rationally. Everyone split up in different directions looking for Max, and I ran home on the trail thinking maybe he went that way. I grabbed our cell phones when I got back to the house and then ran back out to that cow pond where I figured they would have found him by now, but they hadn't. By then, he had been missing for at least 45 minutes, so I called 911 thinking they would have to get search and rescue out there to look for him. When I got ahold of the dispatcher, I said that we were in the forest by Mountainaire and one of our children had wandered off. She immediately asked me if it was a 3 year old boy and a flood of relief washed over me. She said that he had been walking on the trail, and some hikers found him and took him back into the neighborhood. They said when they found him, he was just crying and walking, and when they got closer, he just layed on the ground and cried. I am so glad they told me this, because when I met them to go get Max, he didn't even seem like he was even slightly scared. He was all smiles, and when I cried and gave him a hug, he just looked at me like I was crazy. Then, when we tried to tell him that he needed to stay with the family, he kept saying that he didn't want to stay with dad. He was being such a stinker, so I was glad to hear that he was actually scared, because I don't want him to make a habit out of this. It is really funny though because now he knows how terrified we would be if we ever lost him and he uses it against us. When he is really mad at me he tells me that he is going to run away and never come back. I expected my kids to threaten me with this at some point, just not when they were 3 years old. I just love this kid so much, and I can't imagine what life would be like with out him. I am so grateful Heavenly Father trusts me to raise these little children who were his before they were mine. Sometimes I feel so inadequate.

Here is a funny picture of Max with a bug catching net over his face. We just could not stop laughing about how ridiculous he looked. He looks just like an old lady!

This is pretty much what he looks like after any project. He is definitely my messiest kid. I think Cash is cleaner and better at eating with a spoon and he is two years younger. Also, Max still drools which is quite comical at times.
This is a picture of Max after we went on a night hike this winter in the woods with the boys new head lamps. We kept trying to pull the head lamp up higher, but he would just pull it right back down over his eyes again. Gotta love this kid. We're so glad he's a part of our family

On a separate note. I am now 7 and a half months along in this pregnancy and we are all getting excited to have a new little girl in the family, although I am a little nervous since we can't even keep track of the children that we already have!

Baby Bliss!

So I had my main ultrasound yesterday and the baby is totally healthy, and developing normally, but there is one part that was different than my other babies that kind of scared me. There were 3 little lines on the screen where the penis usually is. You guessed it...It's a girl! Finally, some balance may be achieved in my household. I am so outnumbered here. It will be nice to have a little bit more estrogen in the house. The boys are super excited too. They have been working on coming up with lots of beautiful girl names like poo head and Darthy (compliments of Darth Vader). I have to say, Paul is probably the most excited. I just don't know what this is going to be like, but I am already collecting girl hand-me-downs and I think she will be set for about the first 6 months. I just love baby hand-me-downs because they are all still in perfect condition because babies grow out of them so fast, and they don't crawl or walk or do anything that is very detrimental to clothing (we won't talk about the pooping or spitting up). Anyway, we are excited! I feel like we are embarking on a whole new adventure, and I'm sure I will discover that it's not that much different than the one we are already having. Wish us luck!

Little artists

So my kids have been drawing a ton lately, and I am constantly amazed at the talent that comes out of those little fingers. I just love it! Here are a couple of examples:

this is a picture Gus drew of himself running in the trees. I love that he has boots on.

This is the first face that Max ever drew about 2 months ago. You should see his pictures now!
Again, turn your head sideways!

This is a picture of Gus fighting bad guys. They are all wearing helmets for protection


Here is how Gus chose to display all of his pictures...all over my bed, but if you click on it so you can view it larger, it is really fun to see.

My 5 year old man

So Gus turned 5 back in February, and I always thought moms with 5 year olds were old. What the heck? I'm not old, but I do have a five year old son. I just keep thinking. I am already 1/4 of the way done with the time I have to be responsible for him. Anyway, we had a kickin party, complete with pulling off my couch cushions and jumping on them. I really didn't plan much, so the kids made their own fun.


Here is Gus eating breakfast in bed. Him and his dad ate in bed together because they share a birthday. Isn't that cool that our oldest son was born on Paul's birthday, and he is named after him (Gus's full name is Paul Augustus Fox)
Here are some of the super fun kids at the party. I love all these kids. What a great day!

Dead Wrong

Okay, so I said Gus had no natural ability in the area of bike riding, and I think he has officially proved me wrong. All I had to do is let go. I thought that I should hold on to his shirt until I could feel that he had his balance. Apparently, the only way he could learn to balance on his own was to be riding on his own. So all I had to do was give him a big push and let go, and he figured the rest out all by himself. All the frustration of trying to explain things to him was worthless. He just had to do it. Being a mom really rocks my world. It is so amazing to watch these little people grow and learn. I don't even want to think about teaching him how to drive a stick shift. Oh, please Lord, grant me patience! Here is a video of day two without training wheels. Rock on Gus!

Impatience!

I tried to teach Gus how to ride a bike with out training wheels today, and I had to keep fighting the urge not to push his bike over and yell at him. I can't believe how frustrated I was getting with it. He has no natural ability in this area. Give him a hammer and nails or a pen and a paper and he will whip out something amazing, but put him on a bike and he has a very short attention span. Of course, when I am frustrated, it makes him have no fun at all, and then he just gets worse and worse, and then I just get more and more frustrated. I think it is just like a catch 22. Nobody wins! Anyway, I think this is something I may have to delegate to his father. Gosh I hope the neighbors didn't witness my pitiful teaching attempt today!

Max "the crack" turns 3

On Janary 10, Maxer turned 3 . We started off the day with breakfast in bed, followed by church, a little dinner at Aaron and Kellianne's house, of course a pinata, and lastly cake. This kid makes me laugh every day. I threw in this last picture because it demonstrates what a ham he is!