How to be a peacemaker

Zac and I teach the 4 and 5 year olds at church and it's always an adventure.  Without fail, we always seem to have like 20 minute left at the end and we just look at each other and laugh.  We are trying really hard to make the lessons longer.  

Last Sunday was for sure my favorite, not necessarily during class, but getting it ready with Zac and Teagan was a hoot.  

The lesson was on being a peacemaker so we gave each child a plate with a happy/sad face and would show them these pictures to decide if Zac and Teagan were being peacemakers or trouble makers.  

Can I just say that I think my husband is hilarious?  I was laughing so hard at his facial expressions, Teagan thought it was a blast too.  By the end the kids in our class were all in a fit of giggles, they all love Zac so much, it's pretty darn cute.

Eloise's blessing weekend

So this post is really random.  Most of the pictures are from a few weekends ago when we blessed Eloise.  My mom and two sisters came into town with their families so the weekend was full of fun get togethers.  We played at the park, the boys went to monster trucks and then we had the blessing and luncheon.  Such a full weekend, but it was SO much fun!

The highlight of Teagan's month: Monster Trucks at the Holterina.  

Scott, Jeff, Austin.  Almost all of the boys on my side of the family went, it was quite the man party! 

I downloaded all the pictures from my mom's camera, the pictures she took of all my family were so fun I just couldn't resist posting them all. 

This is my niece, Kate, she is the cutest thing ever, and quite the soccer pro.  

Julie (sister) and Jeff (BIL) coach her team aren't they awesome?  I called about signing Teagan up, but we missed the spring season here and have to wait until fall, he LOVED playing soccer with everyone when my family was in town.

I'm so proud of my little sis, she graduated from the accounting department at BYU which is no small feat, GO WHIT!  And doesn't my mom look beautiful in this picture?!?

Seriously, do they get much cuter than this little man?  I'm going to guess that this is Austin (he's an identical twin and we haven't been spending enough time with them lately so I can no longer tell them apart)  

Yummy, these boys are so cute!  Julie- is it Scott left and Austin right???  I'm sure I'm wrong...how sad.

Love this family! Scott left austin right?  I used to know who had the addidas shoes, but I can't remember now.

Little Sis just got engaged to this handsome fellow, Joe,  congrats you two!

We were so lucky to have all everyone in town for Eloise's blessing.  We met at a park for some kickball and a picnic and when we got there everyone ran to see Eloise...then my mom had us pose like this for a picture.  lol!

she is pretty cute though.

My cute nephew, Ethan.  I can't wait until Teagan gets old enough to play an instrument.  I suggested piano lessons and he said "noooooo, I hate piano lessons, why are you making me do them."  WHAT?!?!  How does he already hate the idea, music might be an uphill battle with him.

We were lucky to bless our sweet baby girl two Sundays ago.  Zac did a wonderful job and had me in tears.  She has been such a happy blessing in our lives.  I didn't know that babies could be so sweet and perfect. 

Our new family of four.  

Finally the four generation picture we've been waiting for.  This is Lois, Lois, Ann, and Eloise Anne.

At Teagan's blessing the picture with Zac's parents is one of my most embarrassing moments as a parent.  He is actually is his carseat and Zac's parents are holding the carseat.  I was too crazy about schedules to take him out of his seat since he was sleeping.  UGH!  Why was I so paranoid?!?!  That picture serves as a reminder to loosen up a little and not be so darn rigid with the schedule!  Sorry Kurt and Shelly, I am glad you got a good picture this time though!  :)

The luncheon was great.  My aunt offered to host and seriously saved us.  We had a huge crowd and I don't think I could have handled them at my house.  I love living close to family!  Let's vote, is Whitney receiving a really disturbing text, or looking into a handheld mirror and noticing a blemish?  lol

The Daniels family

Niece, Sasha, (please note her happiness)  and nephew, Kai.  

And then Uncle Jake walked up and started to "play" and everyone turned to hear Sasha's screams of terror as they were being pushed rather high.  Personally, this was my favorite part of the luncheon!  LOL

These pictures make me want to buy a trampoline, I'm sooooo tempted to get one for Teagan for his birthday this year!  

Teagan, Taylin, Kate, Sasha, and Scott 

Beautiful sisters, and Amazon woman...holy cow this picture reminds me that I need to exercise still today!!!   It's probably just the camera angle that's adding that 15 pounds I'd like to see gone!

Looking through these pictures has been so fun!  I would like to thank Teagan and Eloise for taking 3 hour naps this afternoon to make this all possible.  I was able to plan groceries and meals and clean up the house.  They were still asleep so I ran down to the computer and hurried to post.  Hooray for good naps!  I can do anything on a good nap day!

I've been wanting to put up pictures, but I have been so busy.  Blogging is the last thing on my list of things I need to do, since it is not a basic need of survival.  But today I had a minute so I thought I'd hurry.  These are completely out of order...

Grandma and Stacy with Eloise, she is a few days old here.

We had a fun easter egg hunt with the Durtschi family on the Saturday before.  These two boys are pretty silly.  

Cousins are awesome!

I love that Zac got a picture of him mid leap, he was SOOO excited to find eggs!

I was there!  So was Zac, there are hardly any pictures of him...

Easter morning was a little hectic so these are the best pictures I got of the kids, we did do Teagan's hair for church.  

Here she is a few days old with her cousins Grant and Lily and uncle Brian.  We loved having them come visit and bring dinner, I love having family close by!

Teagan is reading his FAVORITE book to Ellie, he is always wanting me to set her next to him so he can "play" with her.  

Teagan LOVES to hold Eloise.  It is a little scary sometimes when he wants to carry her around, but he is getting better and better.  He loves having another person to socialize with.

More visitors after she was a few days old, cousin Kai and Uncle Jake.  

Eloise doesn't have very many bottles, but when she does Teagan is SO excited to help feed her.  She is such a great eater, I feel so lucky!

So dainty and angelic, if I do say so myself.

We love to pamper our kids when it comes to bath time.  Warm towels, heaters, and warm lotion make for a very happy baby.  I'm convinced that this nightly ritual helped Teagan when he was tiny and Ellie now to learn when night starts.   

My mom came for a glorious week of fun.  I was able to take lots of naps and really recover.  Her and Teagan gave Eloise her first bath after the cord fell off.

The mullet, I had to include a picture, I think I'm going to start braiding it, wouldn't that be pretty?

Just in the last couple days she has gotten SOOOO smiley.  All it takes is a little eye contact and a smile and this girl smiles with her whole face.  

Sweet Girl.

Random stuff-
-Eloise is sleeping from 8 or 9 pm to anywhere from 2-5 am.  She gets up once, eats, gets reswaddled and goes right back to sleep until morning.  So I'm getting wonderful sleep and I feel like I'm really getting to enjoy this newborn stage, what a blessing!  She's been doing that since she was a week old (she's even been sick this week).

-Teagan is doing okay with the adjustments.  I'm definitely having a harder time figuring out how to meet his needs then Ellie's, which is not what I expected.  He is super sweet to Eloise all the time, which I'm grateful for, but he is definitely pushing limits with Zac and I.  I can tell he's having some insecurities (for obvious reasons) so I'm really trying to care less about how clean the house is and give him more hugs and attention, but it is SO hard when you're trying to juggle taking care of 2 kids, and a whole house. Most days I'm happy if I can get showered and can get 3 meals for my family, everything else is a bonus.  It's hard letting go of things that I really like so that I can give my kids the  attention they need and I'm definitely not perfect in that department.  I hope things are slowly getting better.

- I listened to conference hoping for inspiration on how to help Teagan and teach him.  The opening song was about being happy and it really hit me and I knew that was what I needed to do.  So I'm trying to smile more, it makes a WORLD of difference.  If I'm smiling, Teagan, Zac, and Eloise are all happier and so am I.  Who knew that it was so simple...if only I could remember to do it all the time.  :)

-I have gained a new appreciation for Zac, especially at bedtime.  I've had to do bedtime alone one time and it was so hard, I'm SO grateful for him and that he helps without being asked or begged.  What a superstar.  (he's not complaining about the food either, bless him!)

-Life is good, I've made several ventures out into public and I've decided I'd rather just stay home, being out with 2 by myself is just silly.

-Zac should be working full time in Idaho Falls soon, we are SOOO excited.  7:30-5 here we come!!!!

Have a great weekend!