The Big Number 5!!

We have a 5 year old at our house!! It seems hard to believe! It's been the most difficult, but most wonderful five years of our life!! I feel bad that this post is so late, but May just flew by! There was so much going on and it's already June! The Saturday before Taysum's birthday, we went and played at the park and we got to take Quinn with us, too.

Ken always has just as much fun as the kids!

Especially when soccer is involved!

Taysum is convinced that ANY water outside is to be played in! Doesn't matter if it's cold, windy, or disgusting...if it's water...he's in it! I could hardly stand to look at these pictures when I discovered them on my camera. Yep...his Dad took pictures, video and just enjoyed his little boy playing in the gutter water!!!

Taysum turned 5 on the 18th. He's totally been into Thomas & Friends again lately, so we did a Thomas theme. Taysum just LOVES birthdays and he's been waiting all year for it to be his birthday. He was so excited! Anything and everything was just wonderful to him that day! We woke up and he got to open his presents. He got some Floam, an Etch-a- Sketch, a Thomas train and some wooden blocks Ken worked hard on to make for him.

We had Carissa over to play for awhile, too. That night, when Ken got home, we went to the bowling alley with Aunt Lindsay, CJ, Quinn, Carissa and Celeste. It was a little crazy, but we had a good time! Taysum got the highest score (108, if I remember correctly) and he got two strikes! He's a pretty good little bowler!

After bowling and pizza, we went back to our house to have Thomas cake and ice cream. Taysum chose strawberry flavored cake and chocolate ice cream; it was a yummy combination!

The Lindsays gave him some wonderful gifts: a Toy Story 3 train, Thomas stickers and a Sit and Spin. Taysum's "BIG" gift was a bike! He was pretty excited and he does really well with it. It was a gently used hand-me-down from his cousins and it needed a little fixing up, but he's really done great on it!

Taysum had a great time putting his sit and spin together with his Dad.

Trying out the big bike

Grandpa and Grandma Anderson came later and gave him a Percy and Toby train. He was in absolute heaven and he had a great day!

Taysum, we waited so long for you to join our family and it was so worth the wait! You have been such a joy in our lives. We've had some struggles along the way, but I feel they have just brought us closer. You are bright and observant and so creative! You are so happy and just love life like your Dad. You love to help your Dad do anything and you take such good care of your sister and brother. We love all the songs you sing and hope you never stop singing! We love you and feel so blessed to have you in our family! Happy 5th Birthday!!

I Baydee

Taysum has had a lot of things going on lately, but we didn't want to forget about our Bailey Grace! She's had some adventures of her own lately! When Hayden and I were still in the hospital, Ken took the kids to McDonald's for lunch. Bailey was upset about something and threw (literally) one of her classic fits and broke her tooth on one of the tables. It was pretty jagged at first, and we were pretty lucky she didn't have to go to the dentist or anything! This is it 6 weeks later. It's kind of smoothed out again and we're happy it's just a baby tooth! (The front tooth on the right)

She always has been a good talker! These are some of her fun phrases:

• I yub! (I love)
• I got a tummy hurt
• I fasting (I'm doing something fast)
• I want motion (lotion: this is the magic cure for any ailment)
• That's so cool! Awesome! (It's the way she says it)
• She also has her own little animal language. She'll choose an animal and only speak with those sounds. It's pretty tricky to figure out what she's saying sometimes and she can be really stubborn about it, too! At dinner, Ken has to have her give him a new animal sound for each bite, or she won't eat! It's amazing that she is so young and has such a great vocabulary and speaks in full sentences and she won't speak when other people are around and 1/2 the time she's a cat, bird or puppy!!

Things that Bailey loves:

• Dora
• Her princess blankie
• Dora
• Playing games with Daddy
• Dora
• Dancing
• Dora
• Having so many stuffed animals in her bed, you can't find her
• And she really loves Dora
• Stories
• Popcicles
• Going for bike rides
• Going along when ever we're going somewhere "I come?"
• Cheese
• Sweets
• Pickles
• Going to Grandpa and Grandma's house

Fun facts about Bailey:

• When she wakes up from her nap, she always knocks on the door to be let out
• If you put 4 chicken nuggets on her plate, she won't touch them, but if you put 3 on her plate, she'll eat them all up!
• She quotes and talks along with episodes of Dora
• She'll let me put pretties in her hair now, but she still pulls them right out
• We always say an article of faith at night and she always chooses #3; she always chooses "I Love to See the Temple" for the song (It used to be "I Am A Child of God")
• She usually has no problem going down for a nap and will still sleep for 3+ hours! However, getting her to go to bed at night is a nightmare! She probably takes too long of a nap, but she is miserable without them, or even if I wake her up early!
• She goes back and forth between being a Mommy's girl and a Daddy's girl. Right now she's kind of in between.

Bailey is our little artist and she loves to color!! She loves it even more when Ken colors with her and draws pictures for her to color in. She is always really particular on what she wants him to draw. Here are some of her latest works:

We sure love our little "cowboy girl" princess!

6 Week Photo Shoot

Our "not so little any more" Hayden is six weeks now! These are some things about Hayden.

• He looks to where sounds are coming from
• LOVES the swing
• He loves his binky
• He always makes this cute little sigh after he sneezes
• He gets the hiccups everyday! He did that even before he was born
• He is starting to like to just lay down and have some wiggle time
• He's about 13 lbs. and fit into a 6 month outfit the other day!
• It's getting hard to find a blanket big enough to swaddle him in!
• He is just SUCH a GOOD baby! He is so content!
• He's really cuddly and I love to hold him!
• He has really bright, denim blue eyes
• Some of his expressions make him look like my Grandpa Anderson
• His hair has a reddish tint to it
• Between my sister's four kids and my first two, they all had the exact same nose; Hayden broke the mold with his dad's straight nose! Hopefully he doesn't get his nose broken like his dad did!
• He is the 17th Cutler grandchild and the 7th Anderson grandchild
• He loves lights and he LOVES to look out the window; one of his favorite things to do is to lay on the couch and look out the window

I did a little photo shoot trying to get a picture to add to our family pictures:

I love that he's sticking out his tongue in this one!

I thought this was a cute little funny face!

Hayden, you make our family so complete! You bring so much love, peace, and calm into our home! We just thoroughly enjoy you! We feel so blessed to have you in our home! We just love, love, love you!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a really nice Mother's Day weekend. On Saturday, I came home from the store to find Taysum like this! He even had it in his ear! He thought that was so fun, he went back to the puddle and came back saturated!! Amazingly enough, the mud all came out of his clothes! Even the white shirt! Those are jeans, by the way!

These were my beautiful flowers!

They came on Friday and I just have to say that the delivery man who brought them was so nice! I was holding Hayden when I answered the door and he said, "Oh, you have much more precious cargo. Let me put this somewhere for you." I had him set them down and then he asked about Hayden and thought it was great that I have a new baby for Mother's Day. Then he wished me a Happy Mother's Day. It was just so kind and made my day! I wish I could remember for sure if he was with Fed Ex or UPS. I'm pretty sure it was Fed Ex.

My Mom was at my brother Matt's White Coat Ceremony in Nebraska on Mother's Day, so we had my Grandma Anderson over for desert that night. The kids (especially Bailey) just had a wonderful time with her! We had banana cake and a great time with Great Grandma!

I also received this book from Ken. I just LOVE Pres. Uchtdorf and was excited to get this book. It's a talk that he gave in the General Relief Society Meeting in 2008. They've added pictures and other quotes and it's just wonderful!

The next day, I heard Taysum and Bailey in their room and I walked in on them to find them reading a book together. It was so sweet!

I have so many wonderful women in my life and I feel so blessed to have the best mom and mom-in-law ever! They do so much for us and I couldn't make it without them! I also have a great sister and 7 fantastic sisters-in-law. I have 6 adorable nieces and dozens of incredible cousins, aunts and aunts-in-law! The older I get, the more I revere and am so thankful for my 3 wonderful grandmas! There are also several women in my ward whom I love. Womanhood is such a blessing and I feel privileged to be part of such an amazing sisterhood!!

Taysum Part Three: Graduation Day!!

Taysum Guy Cutler

Commencement Ceremony

for VIP Preschool 10:15am Class

13 May 2010 Hayden waiting for his big brother

Taysum leading the procession.

He was very solemn and took this responsibility very seriously! Class of 2010

One of the kids' favorite thing is the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm so glad the teachers taught this to them! They do such a good job with it!

They had a wonderful little program the kids performed! They sang their school song, the "VIP Song"

I'm a VIP in my family

I'm a VIP you see

I'm a VIP in my family

A very important person, that's me!!

This one was "Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee" They use this to help the kids introduce themselves. Some of the kids were shy and you couldn't hear their names. Taysum LOVES his name and he loves telling people his name. He had a big smile and spoke right up!!

Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee

Won't you say your name for me?

Taysum Guy Cutler Bailey loves bees (although she is afraid of real ones) and this little guy was her friend through the rest of the program.

"The Itsy Bitsy Monkey"

"Six Little Ducks"

"Turn Your Head"

"I Clap my Hands" Then they each received their diplomas

This boy has a bright future!!

Taysum had some special guests at his graduation: Daddy, Mommy, Bailey, Hayden, cousin Celeste and Grandma Anderson It's hard to know who loves VIP more, Taysum or Bailey! She can't wait to be a big girl and go to school, too! Peek-a-boo, B!! Afterwards, we had some yummy treats. We had our own little picnic with Sam, his mom, Tammie and our niece Celeste! We brought some chocolate cupcakes with smarties in them for all the smart little kids! Celeste

CRC/VIP has been an important part of our life for over three years and it was really sad to say goodbye, even though we're excited for new adventures to come! We're really excited for Bailey to have her own wonderful experiences as a VIP kid!!

Our special friends

Miss Lisa (OT) Miss Tashie (Speech) Miss Lori and Miss Carol

The BEST preschool teachers EVER!