The Witches

Here we are again at Gardner village. The witches are so fun to see, but as you can see here the ducks are an equally good attraction.

Brynn getting a bird's eye view.

Kira imitating her favorite witch

Brynn and Taeya strike a pose

5 little munchkins squeezed onto a bench. It seemed every time we stopped the strollers there was another photo op. Next year we won't be able to fit all our kids on a bench like that!

Kira thought this one was the best. " Look at that green slime mom, it is sooo gross!"

The whole gang. Coco 2, Taeya 3, Brielle 3, Livvi 4, Kira5, Brynn 9. Youngest to oldest! Brynn sure is a good sport. She's like a little hen with her little chicks. Especially when we went to the petting zoo and we didn't want to pay to go in with our kids. "It'll be ok, Brynn will be with them," we all said. It's nice to have a mini adult around.

Sweet, sweet baby

There's nothing like a sleeping baby

Our little sleeping ballerina!
Alayna's very first photo shoot at 6 weeks. We prettied up all three girls for picture time at "Pretty Pictures" in American Fork. Alayna was wide awake for the whole time, except for this 5 minute window when her tummy was full. The photographer warmed up the top of this little stool to keep her warm and comfy.

There's only a small window of time when your baby will fit into little baskets like this. I think that window of time was closing on us because each basket she posed her in she was almost to big and chubby for. Apparently it is best to take infant photos at 2 weeks, but since I've been terrible at getting infant pictures of my other girls, I didn't know the timeline. Atleast we caught her before her first birthday!

I was glad to see that we got a bird mouth shot. All of my girls have that cute, big upper lip. This was the only shot where she was looking straight at the camera. She kept turning her head to the side to look at the light coming through the window.

How did I get so lucky to get three girls in a row!

Too much fun!

Kira the Kitty Cat!
Kira has made a new friend at school.
Her name is Taiya.
"Mom not Taeya next door, but Taiya that sits across from me on the yellow table"
Taiya is the youngest in her family and is always following her older siblings around looking for something to do. So on Saturday they invited Kira over and I didn't see her for the rest of the day! She went to a craft show wit their family and got her face painted like a cat.
We're so glad Kira has made a new friend!

Anything to stay busy before school starts!
Brynn had to make salt dough for a project at school, so Kira needed some too, so she could make her project. It kept her busy for a whole hour! I was thrilled.

After school fun!
Kira and her friends Lexi and Lizzie came to play and they found my stash of craft foam.
They stayed very busy making princess crowns.

Grandma Julie and Kono (my mom's mom) came over for the afternoon.
Grandma is leaving on vacation for a week so she wanted another look
at her grandaughter before she goes to play on the beaches of Aruba for a week.
She said Alayna looked so much bigger! There is something special about having four generations of women in the same room.

Kira sees Brynn holding the baby alot like this.
" mom I want to hold Alayna on my chest like Brynn does! "

Yesterday we were on our way to pick up Brynn from dance and we saw a beautiful sunset lighting up some billowy clouds. "Don't you think that looks like heaven Kira?"
"No mom. There aren't clouds in heaven." So I asked her what heaven looked like and she told me heaven has lots of green grass and pretty fountains. Sounds like a place I want to be as long as my cute little Kira is there with me!

School Daze!

Kira sporting her Little Mermaid backpack. The backpack is an important conversation piece in the coatroom before class! Thanks Brandalyn for picking up the backpack at the Disney store.

Brynn, on her first day of 4th grade. I'm a little biased, but isn't she beautiful? Brynn thought the summer was way too short and was dreading going back to school. Now she's back into the swing of things and has decided school isn't so bad.

There is a chorus of chatter on the way home. Kira: "Mom I sit on the yellow table and I made a snake with yellow playdough and I learned a new song, wanna hear it?" Brynn: "I want to say something Kira! Mom, I found all my friends at recess today and I took off my shoes and showed them that I can do my splits and we are reading a book called The 4th Grade Nothing and the main character's name is Fudge and..." This is how they recall the events of the day. One run on sentence without taking time to breath. Girls can easily move from one subject to the next without skipping a beat. This kind of conversation completely confuses their dad!

Kira has afternoon kindergarten. Which is fine, except that waiting until 12:30 to go to school can seem like an eternity to a very eager 5 year old! We play lots of board games and
Play House Disney on the computer. We have daily debates over going on walks with mom. Kira says: "I don't want to go on a walk mom, my legs get too tired!" So we settle for a little shuffle down the sidewalk in her rollerskates on knee pads!

Two happy ladies that just got their dad back from his salmon fishing trip to Alaska. When he walked through the door he was inundated with questions like, " Did you see any bears, and did you have to run away really fast from them? Did you eat the fish you caught? Did you get wet? Did you see any other people? etc. etc. Seth brought the girls these stuffed black bears. It only took them about 5 minutes to dress them up in doll clothes.

Kira, sporting Seth's cool hat from Alaska. He came through the door wearing this hat and a very thick beard. His lips had disappeared under his overgrowth. I kept calling him a cowboy. "I'm not a cowboy" he kept saying, "I'm just awesome." We all do think he's pretty awesome and are very glad he's home safe and sound.
In this last photo Kira was doing the dishes and decided she neede a little music break. She picked up the bottle cleaning brush, which became an instant microphone! When Kira's home there is always music in the air :)

Our Little Sleepy Head

Alayna during one of her photo shoots with her big sisters. The girls have already taken about 100 pictures of her in her first two weeks!

Alayna is quite the inquisitive little thing. She asks most of her questions while sleeping and always remembers to raise her hand first!

Kira Belle is such a big helper! She loves to know where the baby is and what she is doing at all times. She has become my little shadow. If I go into the bathroom for a wash cloth she is right there on my heels. When we give her a bath she has got her step stool right next to me ready to assist with anything I might need. She supervises me in the kitchen while I'm making bottles in the kitchen. When she stayed with Aunt Cori for the weekend she called me and said, "mom, what is Alayna doing? Have I missed so much?"

One very happy mommy-in-training! Brynn has been such a huge help to me. She keeps Alayna satisfied with her binki while I rush to make a bottle for our starving baby. She held Alayna while I dosed through Donny Osmond's "Joseph". My favorite Brynn/baby time is her after school, drop the back pack, put a granola bar in her mouth (followed by a splash of hand sanitizer) satisfied plop on the couch with her sweet wrapped up sister.

Tummy time for all three ladies!

Is Brynn holding a doll or a real baby? I have a hard time telling sometimes!

We call this last picture: "Kung-Fu Alayna". She has become a karate master by taking lessons in her sleep!

She's finally here!!

It was worth the wait!! Alayna Kate Bailey was born on Tuesday August,11th at about 2:30 pm. She was my biggest baby at a whopping 6 lbs. 15 oz.! Thank goodness our girls come small! We went in Tuesday morning to be induced. Seth couldn't believe what an awesome idea it was to schedule your delivery. He kept saying, "Why doesn't everyone do it this way? It just makes so much sense." I would have to agree with him now that we've tried it this way. Alayna was such a quiet little thing from the moment she was born. She was struggling to breath at first and we were all anxious to hear her cry. The doctors got her breathing well and said her color looked great, but she still had no inclination to cry.(Not that we minded, but it is something you expect to hear atleast a little of.) She had her first bottle about 20 minutes after she was born. She is quite the veracious eater! She finished off an entire 2 oz. and would not let me take it away from her! We were so grateful for a healthy, happy baby!

Give me more food! All of our girls have this cute bird mouth. They are born ready to eat!

Proud parents!

Her 1st meal- YUM! I think the bottle looks twice the size of her cute little head!

Brynn Alyson-holding Alayna for the 1st time. She is such a natural little mommy. I kept asking her if her arm was getting tired, and she always said no. Her arm is still holding strong, since she has held the baby constantly since we've been home. I am grateful to have such a great little helper!

Kira Belle's turn! She was a little timid to hold the baby for a while. Once she finally took a turn, she held the baby for about 3 seconds and said, "I'm done!" Things have changed now. At home we have lots of compromising over whose going to feed Alayna first or hold her first or the longest. "Hey mom, Brynn got two turns in a row, no fair!" I don't think Kira really understands that Alayna is here to stay and there will always be pleanty of time to hold and cuddle her.

Alayna's very first bath in the nursery.

Brynn and Kira picked out three bows to go in the baby's hair. Red, Kira's favorite color. Yellow, Brynn's favorite and pink, Alayna's favorite ofcorse.

First day at home. All her clothes are gigantic on her!

"A Garden of Mystical Delights" June 17-18, 2009

Backstage picture time. Brynn was in 3 numbers. The Rainbow connection, Great Balls of fire and Magical mischiefs. Brynn performed two separate nights at the Marriot Center for Dance at the University of Utah. The first night they tried to kill the audience as there was no A.C., and it was atleast 95 degrees in the small auditorium. The 2nd night Seth and Kira came and the A.C. had kicked back on. Halleluiah!

Grandma Julie, Brynn and proud mom! Brynn has the best grandparents that are great cheerleaders anytime one of their grandkids is involved in something. Grandma Jill and Grandpa Don wanted to be there, but they were a little occupied with Mac and Jami's wedding in their backyard!

Brynn and Kira backstage. Kira was so proud of her big sister! Every time Brynn came on stage Kira would wave with all her might at the big stage. "There's Brynn! Hi Brynn! Go Brynn!"