Changes

To start off, I have to admit something. I love to change around furniture! I have done it quite often since I was able to single-handedly move furniture around in my bedroom years ago. Well, I finally got Justin to agree to move things around downstairs, which started a chain reaction. We moved the entertainment center over, then the kids toys downstairs where the entertainment center used to be, then we finished by moving Bo out of his big sisters' room and Rachel out of our room and into a room with her big brother. Anyone confused or tired, yet? Here are some pictures to show off all of our hard work! Thanks Justin! I love you!



Here's Marianne and Allison's spacious room. Now that the crib and changing table are out, they have room to actually breathe!


Here's a picture from the doorway of Bo and Rachel's new room (aka old playroom).


Here's Rachey in her crib. Since moving her out of our room, she has slept through the night and I have had to wake her up at 7:00 am to eat. (Yes, I am nursing ;)


Rachel LOVES her new crib! And I love those bright eyes! What a cute little stink!


Here's a picture of out new seating arrangment downstairs. You can see some of the kids toys behind the futon.


And, here's another view of the t.v. viewing arrangement. One of these days we'll have a nice plasma t.v...one can dream, right?


Here's a shot of the kids's new playroom. They love all the space and all the light from the big windows. What they DON'T love, though, is that it's about 10 degrees cooler in the basement than unpstairs. We make sure they have socks on their little toesies, for sure!


Another shot of the new playroom. The big magnet board you see is one that our friend, Aaron Harkness, built before he died. We feel very forutnate to have a couple of his pieces in our home. We miss him dearly!

So, there you have it! We have been very busy and are enjoying the new set up. The kids love their new sleeping arrangement and their new playroom and Justin and I are enjoying having our bedroom back to ourselves!

Bo's Flying Bum Leap

Last night Bo was being adventurous. He loves to jump off of things. Well, he has taken it to a new level! Last night he was climbing onto my leg as I sat on the floor. He would then squat down and jump off my leg, pull his legs up and land flat on his little tushy. We were laughing so hard! I love this picture Justin got as he was mid-air. Check out the look on his face! What a stud! Love you, Bo man!


Bo's now-famous "Flying Bum Leap!"

Marianne Turns 5!!!

Marianne turned 5 on January 25th! I just can't believe that I have a 5-year-old! It's amazing! This year, it seemed like Marianne's birthday lasted a whole week. Her actual birthday fell on a Sunday, so we celebrated just about every other day around it! Here's a little synopsis of what we did!

Saturday, January 24th - Swimming at the South Davis Recreation Center

We went swimming at the South Davis Rec. Center in Bountiful. Jeri, Sadie, Aubry, Carley, Madie and Cody went with us, too. It was so much fun. But, next time we go, we're leaving Bo and Rachel with someone else. They HATED it!


Marianne (always the poser), Bo and Allison waiting for the rest of our group to arrive before heading to the dressing rooms.


(L-R) Carley, Rachel, Aubry, Bo, Allison, Jeri, Marianne, Madie and Sadie in the women's dressing room. We're ready to get wet!


Marianne climbs the rock wall after her swim.


Allison is very brave...she didn't even cry when Justin let her go. (At least not as much as her big sister did!)


Bo wants a turn to climb, too. What a brave little guy!

Actual Birthday - Sunday, January 25th

We went to church where the primary sang to Marianne. I was subbing in Alli's class so I got to be there. We came home and lunch and took a snooze. Then, Marianne opened her presents from us...clothes and a My Little Pony play rug. We took invitations around to our family and friends and ended up at Grandma and Grandpa Arrington's house to play with cousins.

Spotlight Day at Preschool - Monday, January 26th

Justin and I took all the younger kids to Marianne's preschool to read to her class for her spotlight day. Her spotlight poster was up for the whole week and she decided to share the dum-dum suckers she got from the Boli for her birthday. Her favorite book is The Cat in the Hat, but a close second is Green Eggs and Ham. So, we got to read both! It was tons of fun!

Birthday Party - Friday, January 30th


The cake, of course. Marianne wanted a rainbow and Justin came up with the idea of using Skittles for the colors. The clouds are made of mini marshmallows. All the kids went nuts! Yummy!


Marianne opens her gifts. Here, she's holding up a Ring Pop and some candy necklaces from Koby and Sam.



Marianne opening her new pink camoflauge sleeping bag from Jim, Austin, Kyle and Josh.



I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of my little Marianne. Isn't she gorgeous!?!



Blowing out the candles. I have no idea what she wished for. She wouldn't tell me lest it not come true!


Justin and I had tried for about a year and a half to get pregnant. When I finally decided to switch doctors to Dr. Healy, it only took us a month for the fertility drugs to work. I found out I was pregnant the night before my Grandma Grose died. Justin and I decided, when we found out we were having a girl that we were going to name her after my Grandma, Mary. We had basically decided on Lauren Mary. But, about a month before Marianne was born, we went to the temple. When we came out, I was asking Justin how he enjoyed the session. He said that it was great and that he had the feeling that we should name our baby girl Marianne. My sweet Grandpa Grose called my grandma his little Mary Ann and even has the sweetest song for her. When we asked my Grandpa if we could name her after my Grandma, his eyes filled with tears and he told us that would be wonderful. So, that's how Marianne's name came about.

I love Marianne. She is such a great helper. She loves to take care of her little brother and sisters. She helps me almost every time I ask her to! She is so stinkin' smart. She can count to 100, write her whole name by herself, knows all her letters and numbers and can write them all, too. Her favorite thing to do is color pictures for people. She works tirelessly on pictures (ususally for an entire family), writes "for" and each person's name on every single picture, then autographs it. For those of you who have received these pictures, you better save them. They may be priceless some day! It nevers ceases to amaze me how much joy a child can bring into your life. Yes, it is difficult, but the rewards are a million times more than the trials! I can't think of a better way to have started off our little family. I love you, Mariannie!

Two of Rachel's Firsts

Rachel has had a few firsts lately. Her first first was rolling over, which she did about a month and a half ago. Next came sitting up all by herself. She mastered that about three weeks ago. Well, we decided that since she is OVER six months old now, that she should probably start trying some solid food. I don't know why I hadn't started this earlier. I started Marianne and Bo at 4 months and Allison at 5 months. Oh well, she has been growing just fine without it. But, here are some pictures to document our first attempt at rice cereal...not too productive!


Me trying to pry her mouth open with the spoon. This girl has got an iron jaw!


MOM!!!! What are you feeding me?


Really?!? You want me to swallow this?

Am I done yet?

She has done better each day. Today, I think she actually MEANT to swallow the cereal. Good girl, Rach!

And, here's the first that I am most excited about....

RACHEL'S FIRST HAIRDO!!!

She was such a trooper and it only took me about a minute to get this elastic in her hair. I added a little clippy later, but it kind of hid the piggy. Go Rachel! I'm so pumped!

Christmas Recap

No more pictures of Christmas, but I wanted to share what else we did. We left Jim and Aimee's house and headed North to my parents' house. They gave the girls dresses and Bo a handsome outfit from Old Navy. Justin and I got Visa gift cards and Texas Roadhouse gift cards. YUMMMYYYYY!!! We hung out they for the rest of the day and then at around 7:00 headed to my brother, John's house to play games. It was really bad weather, but I made Justin stay. We ended up driving home in a blizzard. The on ramp to the freeway wasn't plowed, so we had to plow through about 6 inches of snow in the minivan! AAAHHH!!! It was freaky! We made it home alright, but it wasn't without worry. We had a wonderufl Christmas and have spent every night since partying late into the night. I am so grateful for this time of year. I love spending every minute with my family and friends. I am grateful for my Savior, without whom, I would be lost. I am so grateful for my loving family and especially for my AWESOME husband. I am so blessed with my four BEAUTIFUL children. I love them with everything I have. They are perfect! Thanks for everything! You all ROCK!

Christmas Morning with the Barbers

After we finished at our house, we headed over to Jim and Aimee's for the Barber Christmas party. We always have breakfast and then open presents. This year the rule was "Homemade Gifts." So, here are a few pictures of us receiving gifts.


Mike made Justin this awesome fishing lamp. Yeah, I know! I totally thought they bought it! But, Mike made it by himself! Justin LOVES it!


Judd gave Bo a book and a blanket that he tied. Bo loves the new book and tries out all of the different ways that animals say goodnight whenever we read it! Thanks Judd!


Austin made Allison this "treasure box." It's enraved with an "A" for Allison! Inside was a kit to make some necklaces. She loves it. Thanks Austin!


Josh made Rachel a box, too. Her's had some teething rings in it. She has put them to good use. Thanks Josh!

Marianne got a "treasure box" from Kyle, too. Her's was pink with "M" on the top. She, too, got a jewlery making kit. She loves them both! Thanks Kyle!

I always love Christmas morning with the Barbers! It's such a fun start to a long day! This year, because the gifst were supposed to be homemade, I ended up doing it all, which was fun. We gave Joe a pair of pj pants, Cami, Sadie and Aubry got bracelets, Austin got a picture of his dog, Macy and some dog pj pants, and Brigham got BYU jammies and a BYU fleece blanket that I blanket stitched around. This year, I LOVED giving!

Christmas Morning

Let me begin by saying that I HATE that when you upload photos on Blogger, they get all out of order. I usually take the time to put them back in the order I had them, but I have too much to post, so bear with me!

I got up at 7:00 to jump in the shower and get ready before the kids woke up...at 8:30! My parents, Dan and Lisa came to our house, too. My mom said that our kids are just fun to watch open their presents. They are getting to be at the perfect age! So, here are just a FEW of the pictures we got of Christmas morning.


Marianne checking out the stockings before we headed downstairs to open gifts.


Bo sorting through his stocking. He got some Matchbox cars along with all the junk. We really try no to go overboard on the candy. We do mostly crackers, juice, fruit, but we always throw in some chocolate for good measure.

The kids got a Little Tykes kitchen for Christmas. It is probably their favorite gift and it was free! Thanks Mike and Amy!

Allison going through her stocking. The girls got little gumball machines from the big man.

Opening gifts. Bo got this hammer and peg set from Justin and Bo DID NOT want to let it go. I felt bad that everytime he opened a present, we would just take it away and make him open another one. Word to the wise: have your kids open the boring stuff first. The clothes I got him were not near as exciting as the toys he got!

Here is Bo after we took his toys away to "make" him open more. He has been doing this "It's the end of the world" routine for some time now. I think it's adorable!

Rachel opening one of her few gifts. What do you get a 6 month old for Christmas?

We had a great morning. Here's what everyone got:

Justin: Electric Guitar Amp, BYU football, Monopoly, John Grisham book, socks

Joann: Mountain bike, pedicure kit, Glenn Beck's "An Unlikely Mormon" DVD

Marianne: Clothes, games, camera, "Horton Hears a Who," socks, underwear

Allison: Clothes, games, camera, "Wall-E," socks, underwear

Bo: Hammer and pegs, Matchbox rescue station, games, socks (I WISH underwear!)

Rachel: Clothes, toys

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve we have a few traditions. Luckily we get to spend it with just our little family. I love that! We gave the kids a bath and let them put on their new jammies. Then, we headed downstairs to watch the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while we wrapped presents for our family and friends. After "The Grinch" we sang some Christmas carols while Justin played his guitar. I love this part the most, especially now that the girls are getting old enough to sing with us. It is one of the few times every year that I get to hear Justin play his guitar that I got him for our first Christmas together. Then, we put the kids to bed and stayed up watching "A Christmas Story" while we wrapped the rest of the presents. We finished at about 12:30 am. Not too shabby, huh? I love our Christmas Eve traditions!


Marianne, Justin, Rachel, Allison, Bo and Joann in our Christmas jammies.

Arrington Family Christmas Party

My family's party was on the night of the 23rd. We had Bryan and Becky's family and got them "Family Feud" and lots of candy. My big sister Sharon and her family had us. They gave the girls a basket full of dress up clothes (totally awesome!), Bo some hacky-sac type sports balls, and Rachel a cute little outfit. I wanted to share the outfit that Rachel got. I love it!



When I showed my mom she said, "I don't think that's very funny." I guess it hit a little too close to home for her! Ha!

WE'RE ALIVE!!!

I know, I know! It's been almost a month since I last posted. Justin has given me a little grief, but I say, "It's his blog, too!" Anyway, here is what we have been up to for the past few weeks!

Allison's preschool program was on December 19th. Her teacher (Justin's sister, Jeri) asked the girls and me to sing "When Christmas Comes to Town." Allison had never sung it in front of a crowd, so I was a little worried about her. I basically thought she would just stand there while Marianne sang their part by herself. Well, such was NOT the case. Alli got ahold of that microphone and WOULD NOT let it go. Marianne and I had to practically yank it out of her hands. You can see that from this picture. Another funny thing is that I messed up on the words in one part. Of course, Marianne knows the song better than I do, so instead of just letting people think that I was doing great, she sat there and shook her head and practically shouting, "No! No! That's wrong!" Yeah, thanks, sis!


Marianne TRYING to share the microphone with Allison.


I put Justin's little brother, Joe in charge of our camera. I was pretty much counting on having one of these photos of his cute family! We love you Brigham, Lizzy and Uncle Joey.


Next was Santa's lap. Bo DID NOT enjoy himself!

Marianne, ever the big girl, couldn't wait to tell Santa what she wanted!

Allison, however, would just get close enough to whisper that she wanted a "present" for Christmas. I love this picture!

Thanks to Mrs. Eggett for being such a great teacher (and sister, and aunt, and friend etc....) We love you!