Birthday Boy!

He turned 4. He really wanted a Grave Digger power wheels. By some miracle we found one 2 days before his birthday.I think Braden was more excited, but no surprise, Austin just doesn't "get up" for worldly things.

Austin is all about the party! He said the most boring thing about a birthday is eating cake because it takes time away from being able to play. That says a lot because he LOVES to eat!

It was a great day! That night we had ALL of our families (those who live in state) over. So fun! We took a quick trip across the street to see the "UP" house.
I feel honored to be a mother to Austin. He is such a special person and brings me sooooooo much joy! While he was getting his pajamas on he said to me, "Mom, there is invisible words on my shirt. Do you know what they say?" "They say I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!" He really melts my heart! Love that boy!

Random updates!

Since it has been soooooo long I thought I would just post a few pictures to try and catch me up to speed. Enjoy!!

Braden got the Principal's Pride Award at school.
Trevan went to his first Jazz game
Taylor, Austin, Avery, and Braden in Park City! We had a great time together!!
Trevan's Baby Blessing
Christmas morning
My personal chia pet . . . . . seriously grows like one!
3 months old and starting to smile!
The long awaited 1st haircut. I would have done it sooner, but daddy was not ready yet!
Braden's April Fool's day cupcakes with peas and carrots (starbursts and runts)
Smith Family Pictures
Coloring Easter Eggs
He turned 6!!!


So that gets me to the end of April and now I can start with May 2011 in my next post.

Good one!

Austin is full of personality - he says thing all of the time that make me laugh. I wish that I would have written them all down and maybe I will start doing just that. So here is one from yesterday:

I was cleaning the bathroom and he came to me (in his boxers and pajama top) and said, "Mom, I need you to wash this off my leg." I looked at his leg and said what is it? He replys "I don't know." Then I say how did it get there? "I'm not telling" was his response. So I smile at him and proceed to tell him that I will wash it off but I say Austin it is naughty to write on yourself. He quickly says, "I know mom, but I was just writing my name so I will know who I am!!!"


As a side note - he is learning to write his name and is getting very good at the A and that is what he was "practicing" on his leg.


(He doesn't like to wear clothes, can you tell?)

This is the finished crib bedding I had someone make for me. My mom and Brooke searched every fabric store in the valley with me trying to find just the right print and colors for the nursery. Then I roped Brooke into helping me put these vinyl circles on the wall to complete the project. It was way more work than I thought it would be but it all turned out great! Thanks Brooke for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without you!!!!

The newest addition

Introducing our 3rd son! Trevan Andrew Critchfield. Born 10.18.10 at 8:10 am and weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 19" long. He has been the smallest of the clan so far. He seemed so tiny to me.
I had a c-section and the doctor said, "okay one more layer until baby time!" Then the next thing I heard (from about 5 different people in the room) was "LOOK AT ALL THAT BLONDE HAIR!!" He was the talk of the hospital - really. Every nurse that came in would say I heard about all his blonde hair. I guess it is really rare to have lots of long blonde hair. They kept saying they only see it with dark hair. I guess the old wives tale is true about the heartburn!
Here is the little peanut right after a bath. I tried to comb his hair down, but it looked like an old mans hair when I did that and it started sticking back up so we will just let that look go for now!

Toilet Cleaning!

I have had so much on my mind lately, but more personal thoughts that have been written in my journal. But I was so thrilled yesterday when I started the Saturday morning routine of cleaning the entire house and Braden came to me and asked if he could clean the toilets! He will sometimes watch me clean them and last time I remember him asking how I learned to clean a toilet. I told him that my mom taught me and then he asked if I would teach him so that he could do it himself. I am a BIG beliver that kids should be taught to help around the house. I remember growing up that the boys were expected to help clean just as much as the girls. I was never happy at the time that my mom made us clean certain ways to have it done to her expectations, but I really appreciate it now. I look at both of my brothers now and they are both hard workers and clean their homes with their wives and are not afraid to scrub them toilets!! I got my mothers genes and I like things cleaned a certain way, especially my toilets. I know most people use a toilet brush, but those nasty things don't exist in my house. I don't think my kids even know what they are. So (after all of that blabber), I wanted Braden to learn to clean and help around the house but in my mind I was thinking that maybe toilets should be for when he is a few years older. I mean he is not even in Kindergarten yet. But, then I thought who cares if he doesn't do it to my expectations, he is learning to work beside me and that is what is important, right? So I walked him through all of the steps in order of how to clean them, put the rubber gloves on him (we had to but rubberbands on them to keep them from falling off) and I cleaned the sinks while he did the toilets. We did all 3 bathrooms together and his little comments were so cute during all of it. Austin saw him cleaning and wanted to help clean so he got out the windex and cleaned all of the mirrors! It just made my day! They were the cutest little helpers and Braden did do a pretty good job for his 1st time. I didn't even go back and do any touch up, it was great! And I couldn't believe how much time that saved me that day having them help me instead of being in the way. He asked me if he could clean the toilets every week so maybe this will become a habit for him. His wife will LOVE him!!!! He was proud of his cleaning and I think he loved wearing the gloves too. Who knew that boys could clean toilets even before they start Kindergarten??!!

Repeat!

After the LONGEST ultrasound in my life it was confirmed we are having another boy! That little guy was so wiggly during it. After we got home and told the boys what the verdict was, they were so excited! The names they are coming up with are a little off the wall but that will be the next step. We have plenty of time because October is still several months away. As we were walking out of the ultrasound room, Aaron said, " 2 more boys and we will have ourselves a basketball team." To be honest the only thing I keep thinking about is that I will have to see them all leave on missions. Not that I don't want them to serve missions, but to send them off for 2 years is already giving me anxiety. Aaron is already talking about all the camping and football games with them. At least they will have a mom that enjoys that stuff!

Here is a picture of his profile. You really have to tilt your head to the left to see him.

Pre-School Graduation

This sweet little guy just graduated from pre-school on May 25, 2010. It was such a cute program. He was fun to watch. He has NEVER talked into a microphone in front of people. He does not like the attention on him and I don't think he talked in school for the first 3 months. Don't get me wrong - at home is a whole different story. He practiced his part for the program for several weeks and had it all memorized. And to the amazement of us all, he talked in the microphone in front of people!! We were so proud of him. He did great! After, he told me when he got up there that he was scared for a second but then took a deep breath and said his part. He is starting to read and is soooo ready for Kindergarten. He amazes us every day with how smart he is. One little part in the program was a video of what the kids wanted to be when they grow up. He informed us that he wants to be a scientist! It was adorable. That's a step up from the bulldozer driver he wanted to be last year.



ps - baby #3 is on the way!!!

Merry Christmas - with style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Early Christmas Present

I had mentioned this in a previous post but Brooke was so generous and had our family for Christmas and she gave us a trip to Disneyland (hotel and airfare included). We went for 3 days in November. She was so kind and we are thankful for her. Here is a quick run down of our trip.

This is at the airport waiting to get on the plane. The boys were so intrigued by seeing the big planes right out the window. Braden had to know everything they were doing to get the plane ready. We were all excited to be flying to Disneyland.The boys enjoyed the plane ride. When we arrived at the airport in California we rented the sweet van and headed to the ocean. By the time we got there it was dark but we still had fun.The boys were not sure what to think of the ocean but I didn't hesitate and went to put my feet in and turned around to wave at the boys when a big wave slapped the back of me getting me soaked! So off to the hotel we went. With no naps and a full day, we obviously wore the boys right out. This is what they looked liked from the time we got to the hotel until 6:30 the next morning!

(I guess you can see that their pants got a little wet too)

So Aaron headed to In-N-Out and got us some dinner and we watched Amazing Race and had a relaxing night. Little did we know that would be the last relaxing night while we were there.

DAY 1: DISNEYLAND
Aaron got up real early the next morning and headed back to the airport to pick up G&G Smith and Brooke. We ate breakfast and headed out for our first day at Disneyland. I was probably just as excited as the boys. It was a beautiful day!The weather was perfect and the longest wait in line that day was 5 minutes. They were filiming the Christmas Day special with Ryan Seacrest and some other teen singer that morning. It was a fun time to go because they had a lot of the Christmas decorations up and they were playing Christmas music. Nothing like singing along to Christmas carols while in the hot sun! Here are some pictures of the different characters we saw. The kids LOVED seeing them. Braden was sure to give each one a hug and high five. It was so fun to see the look on their faces whever we saw someone different!

The big cheese himself. I felt tall for once in my life standing next to Mickey.

Austin kept asking to find Donald Duck. Good thing we found him!

Then my favorite. They must have very petite people in those costumes. I always wished that I could have Minnie's perfect complection and smile!!

Then who could forget this crazy nut!

We saw Mickey again, and Braden said, "wow, he changed his clothes fast!"

We had a full day on Monday. The boys went on ANY ride they were tall enough for. They both went on Matterhorn and Braden went on Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Now lets just see if he can do the Tower of Terror tomorrow! We had such a fun day. After the parade we went to eat at IHOP then back to the hotel. The boys were filled with excitement and it was a challenge to get them to settle down. Once they did they were gone! Braden slept with me that night and about 6:15 in the morning, he was peeking one eye open and was so wiggly. I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom to which he said no. So I asked him why all the movement and he was so cute when he whispered in my ear that he was just excited! It made it worth getting up at 6:30 even if I was tired.

DAY 2: California Adventure
As soon as we walked into the park we were headed for Playhouse Disney Live on Stage when they spotted Mickey and Minnie again. Gosh, they have quite the wardrobes.
Again, Braden was enthusiastic about going on everything he possibly could. After Playhouse Disney, we hit a few mellow rides then went straight to the Hollywood Tower of Terror. I waited with Austin (he was not tall enough) while everyone else headed up. Austin was very upset that he couldn't go. While we were waiting we saw a few characters so I think it took his mind off of being left behind. Then it was my turn. Mom and Dad didn't care to go again so they took Austin. Braden wanted to go again but he needed to go to the bathroom more so we sent him the grandparents and me, Brooke and Aaron headed up. I don't think it was fair because they knew what was happening, but I sat in the middle of them and linked up arms and held on tight. Yikes! That was a good one. After that we walked around for a bit, went on a few more rides then ate lunch.After lunch it was rather warm so we decided to hit the water ride and cool ourselves off. The boys were not tall enough so they stayed with Grandma and the rest of us literally squished in the tube and through the rapids we went. No need for seat belts on this one! Let's just say the guy next to me kept me dry! The Toy Story ride was the favorite "mellow" ride in this park. Lot's of fun - I even beat Aaron and that doesn't happen much! Oh, but let's not forget that ferris wheel. Brooke was laying on my lap and we thought that we might have to pull out one of those little white bags on the side. It was not a stationary crate we were in. It was swinging like crazy! (Side note: Brooke and I are extremely motion sickness) It must run in the Bailey genes, because mom is like that too. (It really was hot that day, but the boys bought disney sweatshirts the night before and we had a hard time getting them to take them off - but by 11 or so they finally did)We wandered around for a bit after that and then went on Soarin over California. That was great! It was a bit much for Brooke to handle so she stayed with Austin and got a mini workout in. Don't talk to Austin when he has food - he doesn't listen. I think he thinks you might take it away or something. I still laugh about the next thing we did. It was a 3-D movie called "It's tough being a bug". I won't tell too much about it for anyone who hasn't seen it but my dad came out of the there being totally violated. It was so funny!! I don't think he wanted to stand next to anyone for the remainder of the night. Wasn't me dad - don't worry! We watched the Pixar parade then called it a night.
The boys were tired and I was exhausted. We had pizza for dinner and then the boys fell asleep. Me, Brooke and Aaron went and soaked in the hot tub for a while . . .it was so relaxing.
DAY 3: Both Parks
This day we just hit our favorite rides. We started off doing the Toy Story ride and then the Screamin California roller coaster which I had not been on yet. That dang thing did me in for the majority of the day. I was so sick after that. Ughhhh. I wish I didn't have motion sickness (I am sure Aaron does too) but I can't even turn around in the car without getting sick. But, we had fun this day still. I don't know if you could tell by any of the pictures, but on Monday and Tuesday it was not crowded at all. We pretty much just walked on everything. Well, Wednesday was a different story. We could not figure out why it was so crowded until we realized that it was Veterans Day and all the locals who had the day off were there. So we were really glad that we had full days the first 2. We got a fast pass for Indiana Jones and the line for that was still 20 minutes. We were in Adventure Land and you could barley move an then we found out that Pirates was closed that day so that explained the line for Indiana Jones. This is a picture Aaron took while he was climbing in the tree house with the boys. You can see just how crowded it was.

(Can you spot me? Hint: I am wearing a purple shirt)

I can't forget to include this picture. Braden was looking forward to buying Mickey Mouse ears the entire trip. I made him wait until our last day. I thought it was funny how he only wanted the plain black ones (I think they must me the originals). But he was set on only those ones and he refused to put his name on the back of them. He was so excited after we got them. He wouldn't take them off! It was so cute! I am not sure what people love about them ears. I kind of think that he could be a little Jewish boy with them. Whatever makes them happy, right?!
It was such a good trip! The boys LOVED it and are still talking about it. Thanks so much Brooke for a wonderful trip - we love you!!!