Family Pictures 2010

Out of over 400 pictures taken. . .we got one good one. I guess that's all that matters, right? :)
The individual pictures of the kids weren't nearly as difficult! Thank goodness.



Simon



Nolan



Isabella



Malia

Our Little. . .Friend

Here is our lovely visitor. It was living in the garage. . .yikes!
And after pictures. . .it got squished by a wonderfully big shoe.
I hope you enjoyed your stay little spider! :)

Part One

I realize that I haven't been very good at blogging. Things keep happening and I think that I'll post about it. . .and then I remember that I haven't posted for a long time and I need to do the earlier events. . .then I put it off. . .and one more event gets added into the cue. So, I decided that instead of cleaning while the girls are napping, I'll get everyone caught up on our life. :) (Ben will be so happy. . .HA!) Here it goes. . .

Simon started first grade this year. He loves it. The only thing he has a hard time with is getting up early. He really, truly, begs me to get him to bed early. If he's not in bed at 7:00. . .even if it's two minutes later. . .her breaks down and worries about not getting enough sleep. The reason he sometimes doesn't get enough sleep is because he has to be at the bus stop at 6:52! That is sooooo early! We are getting used to it and he hasn't been complaining about lack of sleep lately. Here he is on his first day. . .

Simon also started soccer. That is his favorite thing to do. The only problem. . .he has practice until 7:30 on Tuesdays. . .that doesn't go over well. Poor Buddy. :) He has his first game this Saturday, so I'll try to be good and post some pictures.

Nolan started preschool! :( It makes me sad when the kids start school. That means they are growing up. . .I want them to stay little and tiny. Nolan loves school! I was worried he was going to hate it (since he hates going to class at church). On the first day I asked him how he liked it and he said "I like school, it was fun. . .except for the part where you have to sit on the carpet. They told us that we have to keep our mouth shut and be quiet. . .it's so stupid! I don't like that part." Since that first day, he has gotten a lot better about "keeping his mouth shut." His teachers tell me that he is really good! Yay Nolan! Here he is on his first day. . .


Isabella started dance class today. I think I was more excited for her than she was! It is so much fun to have a little girl in dance! She did an awesome job too! She did everything the teacher did, and actually listened!! They don't allow parents in the room, but they do have a video streamed into a waiting area. So, I got to watch her do her thing. I wish I could have taken more pictures and recorded some. . .but these will have to do.


Malia is growing like a weed! She is almost sitting up! She is such a good baby. Here's a few pictures from the last four months. . .


We had a super busy Summer. The best part was going to Utah! We had tons of fun. I'll let the following pictures tell part of the story. . .


I have a lot more pictures from Utah but they are on Ben's computer. I'll post those later. Right now, I'm holding Malia. . .and she's trying to grab the keyboard. . .such a helper! I'll post more on our Summer adventures soon!

My Sweet Malia

We just get home from a month in Utah! I'll post more on that and the last four months another day (hopefully soon). For now, here is a picture of Malia that Katie took. Malia is getting so big so fast! I still need to look through the pictures that I have but I love love love this one. . .

Malia's Story

I'm finally feeling like things are getting back to normal. We are getting into our routine. Thank heavens! Everyone who told me that having four kids is the same as having three obviously doesn't remember what it was like to go from three kids to four! It certainly isn't as easy as they made it seem like it would be. However, it does seem to be getting more manageable as I figure out Malia's routines and her personality. She is such a sweet baby. Simon, Nolan and Bella absolutely LOVE her.

Bella probably "loves" her a little too much. She won't leave Malia alone. Any opportunity Bella gets, she has to go give Malia kisses and loves. The other day I was in the office on the computer and Bella came marching in holding Malia with a huge smile on her face. She proudly said "I holding Balia mom!". . . Yikes! She always wants to hold Malia. It drives me crazy! Nolan wasn't too thrilled with her at first. He didn't want anything to do with her at the hospital. I had to bribe him to take a picture with him holding Malia. He is liking her more and more. He loves to look at her tiny fingers and toes. He says that he is tickling her. You can see the fascination in his eyes when he is looking at her. It's so cute. Simon has always loved her. He likes to hold her and "pet" her (that's rubbing her head).
Here are a few more pictures from the hospital. . .

And here is Malia when we came home from the hospital. She is so darn cute! :)


Ben's dad was able to come out here on the 29th, so he got to see Malia at the hospital. It was such a blessing to have him here. He was an incredible help with the kids. The poor guy, I'm not sure that's what he signed up for. He stayed with the kids, so Ben could stay with me. It was wonderful. Ben's mom came on Wednesday the 31st. They both stayed until Sunday. It was so much fun having them here. I know the kids would agree with me. I'm not sure how or why this happened, but I didn't take many pictures of them while they were here. Stupid. We do have this one. . .the only one. . .

My parents came here on April 7. that was another blessing. It was so nice to have both sets of parents here to help and play with the kids. Luckily, my mom had her camera with her so I have more pictures of our time with them. This picture was taken at the zoo. . .
We were also able to bless Malia while my parents were here. We decided to bless her a little earlier than we normally would have so that my dad could stand in the circle. I was glad that we could have some family here. I wish we could have had everyone here, but I guess that's what we get for living so far away! Here are some pictures of Malia in her blessing dress:

The pink blanket that Malia is on was made by her Tia (Ben's sister Angela). Don't you think it's so pretty? It's her first time crocheting something! Way to go Angela!
Well, I think that catches me up on Malia. I took her to the doctor for her two week visit and she weighed 9 lbs. 10 oz.! She certainly eats often enough to warrant that kind of weight gain. We sure do enjoy having her around. . .even if she is eating all of the time. :)

Malia Karen Bliss

This picture was taken with the camera on my phone, so it's not that great, sorry! I'll post more pictures soon. . .better pictures. :) Anyway, here is our sweet angel!

Malia Karen Bliss
March 29, 2010
5:47 PM
7 lbs. 4 oz.
19.5 inches

Nolan's Poor Pets

When I was putting the boys to bed last night, I noticed that there was water all over the top of their dresser. They each have a fish bowl with a beta fish. This was our conversation. . .

Me: "Why is there water all over the dresser? You can't keep moving your fish bowls around or your fish are going to die. . .(I look in Nolan's fish bowl) Nolan, your fish is dead again." (yes, that is his second dead fish. . .)

Simon: "That's because he likes to pick his fish up to play with him."

Me: "Nolan, you can't pick your fish up out of the water. Fish have to stay in the water or they can't breathe."

Nolan: "That's okay. I'll go get a new fish."

Me: "We aren't getting you another fish if you can't learn how to take care of them, and you don't have any money to buy a new fish."

Simon: "My fish isn't dead mom."

Nolan: "That's because you don't love your fish and you don't like to play with him."

. . .Poor fishy.

Blogging Blah's

I haven't been much of a blogger lately. I am finding that there are a lot of things I'd like to get done before we have another baby, and when I'm not doing anything. . .I want to be doing just that, nothing. :) Blogging seems to get put on the back burner quite often. I'm not going to promise that I'll be better. . .because I know I won't. But I will give you a quick little update on what has been going on at the Bliss residence.

It has been the coldest Winter North Carolina has seen in 30 years! Ugh. We leave Utah to get away from the cold and snow. . .and this is what we get! It has been sooooo cold here. We also had a "huge" snow storm that closed down dang near everything. It was expected to snow on a Friday afternoon. . .so naturally, since they THOUGHT it might snow, they cancelled all of the church activities that the ward had planned for the weekend. It did end up snowing on Friday. . .this is a picture of our house after the unimaginable amount of snow. . .haha!
You can still see the grass! The kids loved playing in the snow. They only lasted for 30 minutes or so, because it was so dang cold.

They ended up canceling church on Sunday because of how far most people had to drive. School was canceled on Monday, and they had a delayed start on Tuesday due to the weather "situation." It all seemed a little extreme coming from a Utahn. To their credit. . .the roads were like ice. We could have gone ice skating in our driveway if we had the right equipment. :) They also don't have the snow plows and salt trucks etc. to deal with it all. I also don't think people know how to drive in the snow or on ice around here. But still, it was a little strange. I had never even heard of church being canceled.

We have a brand new church building too! We have gone from a 30 minute drive to church down to an 8 minute drive! Hallelujah! Sundays are still pretty long days around here, but it's a little more bearable with the church so much closer. It is still kind of strange to go to church every week. It is the exact same building as the new one we were in before we moved here. Our bishop even has the same office as our Utah bishop had. I keep thinking I should see people from our old ward when I walk in. I am disappointed every time though. It makes me sad.

The kids are growing like weeds, as I'm sure you can tell by the pictures of them on the sidebar. They sure are cute little stinkers!

Simon is doing amazing in school. He is super smart, loves to read and do math (got that from his dad). He is at the top of his class and loving it.

Nolan has been an angel lately. He is the funniest kid. I just love talking to him and hearing all of the funny things that he comes up with. He is thrilled to pieces to be going to preschool next year. It makes me sad to think that he is getting so big. We are working on getting him to stop sucking his fingers. So far, nothing is working.

Isabella is doing amazing at potty training. I consider her D-O-N-E done! She doesn't have to be reminded anymore, and she goes all by herself! The only diapers we use are the ones that she wears during naps and at night! Hooray for Bella! Hooray for me!!

Malia is still kicking away. I am being induced a little early to make sure there is a baby here when Ben's mom comes. So, I have about two weeks left! Hooray for me again! It seems odd to think that we will have four kids soon. I've been yelled at by a number of people because they haven't seen my big fat belly. . .so here you go. It's not the greatest picture in the world, but it will have to do. . .now stop whining!
I imagine my next post will be pictures of a sweet baby Malia! Maybe sometime soon I will get around to posting pictures of the rest of the rooms in our house that I've finished too. All in good time. :)