According to Ammely

The Magical Bag

Looking at the picture of the Mesa temple that Aunt Tamzon made for us
Ammely: "What's that?"
Me: "That's the temple."
Ammely: "No. That's not the temple."
Me: "Yes it is."
Ammely, confused: "That's not Ammely's temple."
Me: "That's a different temple. The Mesa temple is where Mommy and Daddy got married."
Ammely, not convinced, looks around the room.
Ammely: "There it is! The temple!" She points at a picture of me and Ammon in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland.
Me: "No that's not the temple. That's a castle."
Ammely: "For a princess?"
Me: "Yes."
Ammely: "Mommy and Daddy go there?"
Me: "And Ammely too. We went when you were a baby."
Ammely, with a light in her eyes, "We go there? Mommy and Daddy and Ammely and Lynnden?"
Me: "You think we should go there?"
Ammely: "Yes!" She gets up to go.
Me: "We can't go right now. That takes a lot of money and we don't have a lot of money."
Ammely:"Yes you do! It's in your bag!"

Not sure what bag she's talking about but I need to find it.

Minnie Mouse was There Too

Ammely has started to enjoy saying her own prayers without prompting. They are always the same, however, unless we remind her to say something specific. She always thanks Heavenly Father for everybody there, thanks Him for food and then closes the prayer.

The other morning it was just us at the breakfast table and she had set her Minnie Mouse doll next to us too.

Me: "Ammely, let's say prayer."
Ammely: "Ammely's turn!"
Me: "Okay, go ahead."
Ammely: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for Ammely and Mommy and Minnie Mouse. Thank thee for food. Jesus Christ, Amen."

It's a Shape

We have some random pink glitter around our house that falls off one of Ammely's tutus. It look like this.

The other day Ammely spotted one and bent down to look at it.

Ammely: "What is it, Mommy?"
Mommy: "I don't know Ammely. What is it?"
Ammely: "It's a hexagon."
Mommy: "It's a what?"
Ammely: "It's a hexagon, Mommy. It's a shape."

Ummm...okay.

I wish I could take credit for these things but this lady had to google hexagon to see if Ammely had the right number of sides.

She did.

Minnie Mouse probably taught her.

In the Heat of the Moment

Hello December. I'm glad you're here! But I must admit that I'm a little surprised to see you. Why? Well, I was thinking I was going to be spending time with September. I guess September and I just got lost in the heat of the moment and the time went by so quickly.

Still, we did manage to do a few things before she had to leave. Most of them involved water because it was so. Darn. HOT.

We (finally) braved the cool waters of the giant water paradise that can be found at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We persuaded Aunt Tamzon and Rori (and Robert too!) to head into downtown Queen Creek to check out the BRAND NEW splash pad.

It was fabulous. There were plenty of small splashes to enjoy until we're big enough and brave enough to enjoy the big splashes.

AND Aunt Tamzon was super awesome - she brought food to fill our souls after such a strenuous workout in the sun.

In fact, the splash pad was SO super awesome that we went back AGAIN. This time we invited Jenn and Ephraim!

Jenn does pregnancy with all the beauty and grace that anyone could hope for. I don't even do normal life with this much beauty and grace, ha!
**Also, as I type this post, she is one week past her due date. Maybe you should say a little prayer that this baby of hers will decide to make his appearance sooner than later. We're all anxious to meet him!**

We had yummy food again with Ephraim too!

After MANY, MANY, MANY long days of hard physical labor for Daddy and Grandpa Baysinger (mostly for Grandpa...almost entirely for Grandpa) we also finally have a sprinkler/drip system in our backyard! It is beautiful and our yard is already a hundred times greener than this picture. Thank you doesn't even begin to cover it but it's a good start - thank you Grandpa!

On one of our more classy days we had Rori and Aunt Tamzon over for a tea (water) party and a nice session of painting.

September was also the month of several relieving rain storms. Per requirement as an Arizona citizen, we went outside to marvel, play and soak.

September was also the month that Lynnden began to really let loose on the cute baby faces - especially in the water. This girl loves bath time!

Not everything in September revolved around water though. We also had a trip to the park where Ammely finally braved (and LIKED) the slide all by herself!

We participated in "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and scored some free donuts at Krispy Kreme. (And by "some," I mean three dozen).

Amber had a baby shower! And while we eagerly awaited her little man's arrival, we rubbed it in that our pregnancies had reached completion by taking pictures of the already arrived 2014 babies.

Lynnden (June 26), Maggie (Jan 6), Robert (July 26)

This picture is just too hilarious. Just LOOK at Maggie's victorious smile at having stolen Lynnden's hairbow right off her head! And poor Lynnden's look of injustice. HAHA.

Plus, in wonderful Mommy moments, every day I get to watch my girls love each other more. They are sisters. And it doesn't matter that they're so little - they are sisters and they know it. No one gets bigger smiles from Lynnden than Ammely does. It makes my heart full.

Lynnden's First Week - as told by Ammely

How did that first week of adjusting to another child in the house go? Well, I'm glad you asked.

At first I was thinking, "What could be better than a brand new baby sister?"

But it didn't take long before I realized that even though she's cute...

...she mostly just sleeps...

...and cries...

....and takes up a whole lotta attention.

I needed to reassess my initial thinking.
What could be better than a brand new baby sister in my home?
Hmmm...I know! Grandma staying in my home!

We could get ice cream.

We could make cookies.

We could have play dates...

We could send Mommy and Daddy off to see Maleficent and eat at Red Lobster while we go to more play dates AND go swimming...

We could have cousin time and have BOTH of my grandmas in one place...

We could even go to the circus - with memories to last us a lifetime (and souvenirs to last us a few months if we're lucky)!

And every so often we'll check in on the little one so that she know who I am...

It was a very good plan.

So how was the first week with a new baby at home?
Not too bad.
Not too bad at all.