Announcing...

Scarlet's announcements are finally here!

my genius friend Kim took her pictures, and designed the card for me...though I pretty much just wanted exactly what she did for her baby announcement over a year ago.  

I love them, and was so excited to get them in the mail!

Pictures from last week!

When Scarlet was born, my mom brought a treat for my kids straight from their Great Grandma (who they call Boo Boo)  $5 in quarters so they could buy their own lunch!  I wanted to take them each individually so we could make it a date with JUST mom, especially because their time with me had just gotten slashed.  Ivy was easy to do, we just went some random day when Max was at school, and I let her play in the play land by herself: she had a fantastic ole time.  We had Scarlet, but she didn't make a peep in her carseat.  

Max was a different story.  Jeff has been out of town a ton, so I didn't have a Saturday I could work out, and I just hadn't gotten a babysitter for Ivy so I could take him out of school for lunch...until this week, daddy came home early from AZ (earlier than I thought), and as soon as I saw Jeff on the sidewalk out front, I grabbed the bag of quarters and Scarlet and jetted out the door!  The timing was perfect, I took him out of the end of music class.  Oh, the thrill!  The office called his teacher to have Max sent to the office, and when he saw me, he shouted my name and ran to me.  He was so excited he could hardly stand it.  I loved that it got to be a fun surprise, and I know I made his day.  Sooo fun!

 Scarlet is trying to figure out naps...she's awesome at sleeping at night...and she falls asleep in her carseat like a champ...but to just up and take a nap?  no chance...so she's taken a few on my pillow in the middle of the bed...that won't last long, but it's better than holding her all day long because she's overly-tired!

 (check out her wacko-sauce hair!)

 At 6 weeks, she started smiling at me on cue...i love that part!  She smiles when I say 'boo' to her, and when we sing a little song to her when she wakes up that I remember my mom singing when I was little.  

 Max and Ivy sing it, too, and she just smiles and smiles at them.  My sisters and brother would know it...good morning to you, good morning to you, la la la la la la, la la la la la la  (b, e & c, do you remember?)

 anyway, this is just a picture of Scarlet smiling so big when Max sang it to her...when she woke up from her nap.  (on my bed, haha)

and...lastly, my kids are just sooo sweet to baby Scarlet, they love her so much, and love to hold her, and help take care of her.  They have to kiss her goodnight and can't wait for her to wake up in the morning...and she's all max wants to see before he goes to school, and when we pick her up.  

I've got 3 really good kids, and I'm so grateful for each of them!

Max's First Field Trip!

Max has been working hard for the last month or so in class learning about farms and farm animals.  He's got all sorts of knowledge and random facts about the farm and what goes on.

 The day finally arrived for his class to go on their long-awaited field trip to Centennial Farm.  All the kids were told to wear school colors: teal and purple.  And Max got to ride a SCHOOL bus for the first time!!  He's been begging me all year to LET him go to daycare {really?!?} so he could ride the bus!

 They held baby chicks...

 ...and saw piglets eating from their mom.

 and lots of other animals.  He had such a fun time...I wish I could have gone with him!!

Mother's Day 2012

I had a great mother's day!

I'm so grateful to be a mom, and feel so lucky to be able to stay home with these 3 crazies to play with them, learn from them, and teach them some of the things that I know.  Most days I do a crummy job of muddling through this job of mine, but I sure love my kids and my hub, and am grateful to know that we get to be together forever!

Thanks to Jeff and my kiddos for a great day today!

random pics from this week

Ivy's Arm next to Scarlet's leg...not sure they're the same race.

 Ivy LOVES tubby time...LOVES {seriously}.  and we love our colored tubs, and crazy under the sea mermaid hair.

 After her bath, Ivy came out with her doll...'Mom, Peanut is hungry so I'm feeding her just like you feed Scarlet.'  (I said, oh my gosh, please stay just like that while I grab my camera)

 and sweet max...he's been so good this week!  He earned a treasure a couple of days ago, and this is what he chose: and he wore it to bed...a glow-stick baseball hat.  He's such a good boy.

i love my kiddos!

Ivy singing to Scar

Every night, Ivy and I sing a song that Great Grandma BooBoo taught her.  I was about to sing her the song, and she asked if she could sing it alone to Scarlet...so I ran and got the video camera.

i lOve it!

and then there's some cute baby sneezing afterwards!

Ivy taking a stand against naps

A few weeks ago, Ivy was supposed to be having a nap...but I (for once) let her choose if she'd like to have quiet time instead, like Max, and read some books and chill in her room for a little while.  I don't know what was up her rumplestilskin, but she was not havin' it.  no nap, no quiet time, no door shut, not playing....just totally being Miss Sassy Pants.  

So she sat on her rocking chair and refused to take a nap.

Ellsworth Cousins 2011

My sister Brandy just sent me this picture of all of the Ellsworth cousins from when we were all together in Seattle over the summer (2011)

I hadn't seen the picture, and I loved it!  We were only all together for like a day and a half...but it was so fun!

These are all the cousins (except Scarlet, of course!)

From the left...Clara, Carson and Sam (top left) Max, Carter, Syd, Ivy and Kimball (up front) Adee and Baker

2 weeks

Scarlet had her 2 week Dr.'s appointment last week  She was exactly her birth weight again, but had grown 1.75 inches...whoa!  maybe somebody mis-measured...nope...the nurse checked it twice.  Sheesh!  She's looking huge to me!  She sleeps like a champ still and is such a sweet, sweet baby!  She's starting to be alert more in the day, which is so fun, and Max and Ivy love to hold her and talk to her and give her kisses.  She's such a good sport!  we love scarlet!  {she still looks like a mini-max}

 We celebrated earth day on sunday by making our traditional earth day cupcakes...woo hoo!  The kids loved them!

 Ivy is such a good big sister...she is such a good helper to me while Max is at school!

Ivy said:

Mom, I wish I was a flower so you could pick me!
I wish I was a big bear so I could scare you all away!
and then I wish I was a shark so I could eat you all gone!

{where does this stuff come from?}

Sneak Peek of Scarlet

My good friend Kim flew down this weekend to take picture of Scarlet...

and she just posted a little sneak preview of the yumminess...

go check out her blog!

http://www.tickledpinkstudios.net/2012/04/16/sneak-peak-of-sweet-baby-scarlet/

Picking up Max

Today was my first day picking up Max from school with both Scarlet and Ives...One of my friends was nice enough to drop Max off all week last week, and then we had spring break, so I didn't have to worry about it.  

Anyways, the doors opened...and out poured 31 kids, and  they all crowded around the stroller to see the baby they've been waiting for since school started!

I thought I would have been hovering and over-protective, but no one touched her, they all just peeked...so fun!
I've been volunteering in Max's class twice a week since the beginning of school, and it's been fun hearing what the kids have to say about my growing tummy.  Now they all finally have a little baby to show for all of their questions and curiosity.

S'meeps

(s'mores - marshmallows) + peeps = s'meeps

We've been saving our leftover Easter peeps for this:

 (Max & River)

 (Trey, June, Ivy & Max)

 s'meep feast (Ivy & June)

Saturday

Here's some pics from the weekend...

first and foremost...Scarlet winking...haha

 Grandma and Aunt Becky drove the two big kids back from their Spring Break in Arizona...so they could meet little miss Scarlet.  We only got them for 2 half-days, but we loved having them here!

Grandma and Scarlet

 Gram, Becky and Scarlet

 Aunt Becky and Scarlet

 ...and Becky's a genius, and always has great ideas...like taking a family picture for the first time!  We're a rag-tag crew this morning, and after about 20 pictures of various crazy faces, this is the best one!  

we're a family of 5!  (yikes)

Easter 2012

We had a little bit different Easter than normal this year!

We woke up and did the same thing...egg hunt, etc.  BUT we weren't going to have an Easter dinner, so we had an Easter Breakfast...which in our family means hard-boiled eggs and Pull-Aparts!  YUM!

But, the tradition is, that on Easter, you only get to eat an egg if you crack it on somebody else's head...we all picked to crack it on Jeff's head...

he loves this tradition, I know it!

 Then we got the kids ready for church...just these two crazies, with Scarlet not even a week old yet, she and Mar Mar and I stayed home from church.  

 They sure looked cute in their Easter get-ups!

 After Sacrament Mtg, they came home and changed clothes, kissed Mar Mar goodbye and drove off into the sunset with Jeff to meet Grandma for a Spring Break in Arizona.  

A fun week with one Grandma, and then off to another fun week with another Grandma...how lucky are they?!?

I did get choked up as they were pulling away...but let's be honest, a week alone with a new baby is like the best gift ever, right?!

I miss them, but that's good!  I'll be all ready and geared up for real life on Monday when Grandma goes home, and school starts again.  

sigh

should I start crying now?

Curly Hair

Fresh out of the tubby, Scarlet's got some seriously curly hair!

I thought I'd put some pics up for our families to see...

 This is just toweled dry..nothing in it...seriously curly

 ... it dries straight but has some wacky cowlicks.  whatever.  haha

Scarlet and Mar Mar

I've been so lucky for the past 10 days for my mom to be here with us!

She entertained Max and Ivy while I was in the hospital, and was so helpful once I got home, I can't even believe it!
I didn't originally think she'd be able to come because she takes care of my Grandma up in Washington, but I'm sure grateful that it worked out for her to be here!

I have the BEST mom!

Scarlet Evelyn Mousser

She's here, and we're home!

I thought I'd finally put all the pics up that we've taken over the last few days!

Here's one of her first shots...screaming like a mimi; she actually sounded like a ticked-off cat.  She had the cord wrapped around her neck 2 times, which was totally scary, but all was well once she got everything suctioned out and working.  

 This is after I got to hold her for the first time.  Love her!  She looks exactly like Max did when he was born. We've been calling her Maxina.

She was 8 lbs, 6 oz and 20 inches long. at 4:43PM on April 2nd

Lots of dark, dark hair and dark blue eyes

{Her middle name is from Jeff's Grandma}

 That night, Max and Ivy and Mar Mar came to visit us at the hospital and meet their new little sister.  They loved her and were curious about everything!

 me and my 3 kids (whoa...!)

 little chubby cheeked thing

 Here's the view from our room...this room was so much nicer than when we had Ivy!  It was a beautiful day and we had such a good view!

 The Proud Daddy...oh, he's so cute with her!

 ...and she LOVES him.

 Going home in our California shirt at 8PM on April 3rd (she was just over 24 hours old)..are we crazy...I think so!

 Mar Mar and Scarlet

 First tubby the next morning...not her favorite activity!

 eww, gross, pardon the no makeup, but we have this picture of each of our kids, so we had to take this one, too!

 Ivy and Max both love to hold her...and ask all the time.  

 Max came home from school yesterday and jetted right into my room to say hi to his new little sister.  He's so cute to her and wrote her a fun little note about how much he likes her!

 We're so glad to have her in our family! She sleeps all the time, and is such a good baby!