For your viewing pleasure...

Up until two nights ago, Ally hated her crib. She's been sleeping in a pack 'n play in our room and sleeps fairly well in there (although she'd prefer to sleep in our bed all the time!), but every time I tried to lay her down in her crib in Janelle's room she would scream. Two nights ago I was helping Janelle clean her room before bedtime and I stuck Ally in her crib with her little water/music toy. She stayed fairly entertained for a good while and eventually I realized she was being super quiet. Lo and behold she'd fallen asleep in her bed! Hooray! She slept a few hours in there and it was SO nice! Maybe someday I will get my room back!

This picture also shows Annelyse with her favorite blankie (the white one with the circles). Yes. My 3 1/2 month old already has a favorite blanket. It's really soft, I'm pretty sure that's why she likes it so much. I'd noticed she always fell asleep a lot faster when she had this particular blanket, but one particular night I had washed it and it was in the dryer when she was ready to go to sleep. Usually I can just lay her down with her binkie and blanket and she'll go right to sleep. But this particular night she kept getting fussier and fussier. I finally heard the dryer beep that the load was done and grabbed the beloved blankie. I switched it out and within a matter of seconds she had closed her eyes and was asleep. I couldn't believe it! After having major issues with Spencer never letting me wash his favorite blanket, I wised up this time and ran out and bought a spare for Annelyse. I think I'm finally getting this kid-thing down. :)

I just thought this picture was funny!

And this...

I'm starting to think the camera scares her!

Finally a good one!

And just in case you've forgotten, I actually do have two other children. They just both go to school/preschool and aren't around nearly as much when I break the camera out! Here's a quick update on them...
This is the perfect picture of Janelle - she is all legs! She keeps getting taller and taller. Just when we think she might stop growing for a little bit, she inches upward even more! She is exactly 1 foot and 1 inch shorter than me. I'm pretty sure she'll pass me up by the time she's 10 or 11. Janelle is a major sweetheart. She's a fabulous big sister and a huge help to me with Spencer and Ally. She's still doing amazingly well in school and is quite the smarty pants. She loves to read informative books especially about animals, the earth, science, and history. She's like her Daddy in that way. Kyle recently got out his old Garfield comic books for her which she thinks are hilarious.

Janelle went to her "Baptism Preview" night on Sunday and is super excited to get baptized. After the meeting I started thinking about Janelle and what a good girl she is, and I just got this impression that Kyle and I aren't really going to have to worry about her (knock on wood!). You can see her own testimony beginning to blossom. It warms my heart that she loves reading the scriptures and going to church, and that she never forgets to say prayers or pay her tithing or lets Kyle and I forget about family home evening. She's a sweet, sweet girl who is nice to everyone she meets, and I love that about her.

Spencer, Spencer, Spencer. What isn't there to say about Spencer? He probably spent more of the weekend in time out rather than out. Can we say terrible 3's naughty streak? Let's see...lately he's gotten in trouble for hitting, spitting, not following rules, not helping clean up, throwing dirt...and other objects for that matter, and biting. We went to IKEA on Saturday and left him and Janelle in the play area while we looked at shelves, and when we came to pick the kids up, Spencer was in time out for breaking rules (can you see my eyes rolling?). He also has been talking in this horrid "bad guy" voice which I honestly try to ignore, but it drives me CRAZY! On Sunday during singing time, he sang the entirety of "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" in that yucky voice. I'm still playing the piano in there and it was killing me that I couldn't do one thing about it! He does NOT like to be told what to do or be reprimanded in any way, and could probably be the definition of stubborn. I love him like crazy, but does he sure know how to push my buttons! And of course, well-intentioned Kyle is studying behavioral issues like this and tries to offer me advice every now and then which only makes me more mad. Talk about the men in my house getting on my bad side! Ha ha!

On a positive note, today Spencer was an angel. I recently started watching my niece a few days a week and she got in trouble this morning for running away from me at a store. After I informed her that she was going to have to sit in time out when we got home, Spencer looked up at me angelically and said, "I'm following the rules Mom, I won't get in trouble." And magically he was perfect all day today. The thing is, when he's good, he's really really good! He can be super helpful and sweet when he's in the right mood. Despite how frustrating he can be occasionally, he's very lovable, and I love him tons!

Well, originally this post was just going to be pictures and it turned into a novel! So much for a quick update. :) Oh well...if you made it this far, congratulations!