All About Louis

Louis:

is 27 years old

Louis' Personality:  

Louis is fun!  He loves to be silly and enjoy life.

Louis likes everyone to know that he is a manly man.  He is tough and strong.

Louis is a happy person.  He stays positive even when things are crazy.  

Louis Loves:

Louis loves to do things for people to make them smile.  He is very thoughtful.  For example:  In our old ward the Primary president mentioned at an activity that she really likes Pier 49 Pizza.  A week or so later Louis came home with a gift certificate to Pier 49 Pizza then went and doorbell ditched the Primary president with it.

Louis loves making treats.  He is amazing at it!  Whenever we go to a party he is usually the one who makes a dessert to share.  I am usually the one who gets thanked for it! :)  I just smile and say, "Louis made it!"  People always seem shocked.

Like I said in the previous section, Louis likes to be a manly man.  He loves guns and bows and hopes to get his own bow soon.  

Louis loves sleep.  He doesn't get much of it at this time in his life though.

Louis loves his girls.

Louis loves being with family.

Louis Knows:

Louis knows that there is more that he does not know than that he does knows.

Things Louis Can Do:

Louis can figure out how to fix just about anything.

 Louis plays the saxophone.  At least he did in high school.

Louis can BS his way through just about any college paper.

Louis can quote a lot of movies.

Louis is one of the most patient and happy guys I know.  He is loving, strong, happy, and kind.

We  love Louis so much and are so grateful for what he brings into out home!

To read the "All About Mary" post, click here
To read the "All About Avery" post, click here
To read the "All About Becca" post, click here

All About Becca

Becca:  

I am 25 years old

Becca's Personality:

This is hard to write.  I actually started this post several months ago, but couldn't figure out what exactly my personality is.  

I am a quiet person.  I always have been.  

As a little girl I was the one hiding behind my mom when we met new people.  

It takes me a while to get out of my shell when I meet people.  (like our little Mary)

For that reason I think it's harder for me to make friends.  I've been working on that lately.  

I am a nice person.  I like making people happy and feel good.  

I get very sad when I see others who are sad or who are not being treated well.  

Even in movies and TV shows.  Like on Parks and Recreation,  I just hate how they treat Jerry, Gary, Larry (he had so many names in that show), why can't they just be nice and appreciate him??  

Becca Loves:  

I love to read.  It wasn't something I always loved doing, but once I started reading Harry Potter as a young teenager (probably) I finally learned to love reading.  Thank  you J.K. Rowling and Mom.

I love cooking.  It's something I've always been good at, (again, thank you Mom) but didn't love to do until last year.  

For almost a year now my sister-in-law Alisha and I have been taking turns making each other dinners.  We switch back and forth every Thursday.  

It has really helped me love cooking and branch out on the things I make.  

Speaking of food.  My favorite thing to eat is pizza.  Seriously pizza is the best. 

I love being a wife and mother.  

I love watching my kids play and learn.  They are such good kids.  

I love making meals for my family and packing Louis' lunch for work.

I love being able to stay home and take care of our home and my family.

I love doing what I believe to be the most important thing I can be doing in my life right now.

Becca Knows:  

I know how to make worksheets for my girls so I can teach them at home. 

We took a long break from our at-home preschool while I had morning sickness.

Avery missed it a lot.  I'm glad I've taught myself this skill so I can help Avery and Mary learn, which they both love to do.  

I know how to turn just about everything into a teaching/learning opportunity.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church.  

I know there is a living prophet on this earth today, President Thomas S. Monson.

I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.

I know He loves us all perfectly.

I know that we have a purpose here on earth and if we live faithfully we will be blessed.

If you'd like to know too.  Talk to me.

Things Becca Can Do:  

I can sew.  I'm not awesome or very confident with my sewing, but I enjoy doing it.

I've made a few things for my girls to wear.  I've also made several blankets and burp cloths.

For Christmas this year I plan on making aprons for the girls.

I can drive a stick shift.  I'd like to say I'm better than Louis, but I know he wouldn't agree with me.

  I'm at least better on hills than he is.  

I can throw a really good party.  I really enjoy planning things and think it's something I can do really well.

I can do a fishtail braid.  I just taught myself yesterday, so I'm pretty proud of that right now.  

It's a lot simpler to do than I thought.

That is Becca, I had a hard time at first with evaluating myself.  

Hopefully now though you all know me a little better.  

To read the "All About Avery" post, click here.

To read the "All About Mary"  post, click here.

All About Avery

Avery:  

was born November 22

she is 3 years old

The Brandley smile Dad?

Avery's Personality:

Avery is FULL of energy.  She goes goes goes.  Several times I've had people say, "I wish I had that much energy!"  Personally I wouldn't want it.  I'd need to take several naps through out the day.

Avery is loving, she is always willing to share her snacks.  Toys are another story.  

She has started to be so polite and kind!  She is wonderful!  

People have said that the threes are worse then twos, that hasn't been so for us.  Yet.

Avery Loves:  

Avery loves learning.  Since she was a baby she has picked up on things so quickly.  She is a sponge.  

Recently she has learned the entire ASL alphabet on her own.  I printed and laminated an ASL alphabet diagram and she learned it just from looking at that  and confirming with me that she was doing it right.  

She is constantly doing letters.  The only ones she can't do are K, Q, and R.  She knows them, she just can't get her fingers to do them.  

Spelling Avery, I helped with the R.

She also continues to love reading.

Avery has been doing self portraits the last few months and they are awesome!  

She draws some everyday and will tell me, "this one is for Isaac!"  "This one is for LynnDee!" etc.

My very favorite self portrait, snowman Avery!

Her favorite food is applesauce, rice krispies, and pretzels.  Plus anything chocolate.

Avery loves playing with her princesses.  She also likes dressing up as a princess.

Avery loves her baby.  Her baby is Mary.  She is so great to her and always has been.  Avery brings things to Mary when she needs them, she shares with her, she makes her laugh all the time.  My current favorite game that they play is running back and forth from the front door to the kitchen laughing the entire time.

  I hope I can help them to keep their wonderful relationship.  

Avery Knows:

Where to start?  I mentioned before that Avery has always loved to learn.

The last several months she has been learning to write letters and numbers.  She does so well!

I am a proud mom! 

The first letter she ever wrote about a month before her 3rd birthday.

She is also starting to draw some shapes.  

Things Avery Can Do:  

Avery can open the fridge.  That's not always a good thing.

Avery brushes her own teeth and does a really good job.  

I still do it every few days to remind her the things she needs to do.

Avery gets herself dressed and undressed.  

She sometimes picks out her own clothes too. 

Avery is starting to learn to pump her legs on the swings.  

Avery puts her own dishes away in the dishwasher and she also starts the dishwasher for us.

Avery's favorite chore is mopping the kitchen and taking out the bathroom trash.

Avery has figured out how to put her own jacket on without it ending up upside down.

Avery is the most wonderful girl I know.  She is cute, loving, silly, kind and polite.  

We love her so much, she brings so much love into our home.

To read the "All About Mary" post, click here.

All About Mary

I thought a few days ago of doing "About us" posts.
Hopefully my far away family will appreciate it since they don't get to see us often.  Some of my family hasn't even met Louis or our girls.  I'll start with Mary and work my way up! 

Mary:

was born September 22

she is almost 17 months old

Mary's Personality:

Mary is quiet and likes to watch others before jumping into things.  Eyes wide open and taking things in.

Easy going, simple, easy to get a giggle out of.  She is shy when first meeting people.  She's been like that since she was a baby.  I had several people say, "she doesn't like me"  which made me sad.  She was a baby!  She didn't not like you!  It's just the way she is, She's just gotta warm up to you.

Mary loves:

Books!  She will sit for a half an hour easily just reading a book.  

Mary sat reading this book for at least an hour this day!  (I also love that it's upside down!)

Lately she has also started to like coloring.

She loves the song I am a Child of God.  Just this morning we watched this video about 20 times and she'll sit through it the entire time too.  She is always asking for us to sing it.  She'll say, "Sing a song?  Child of God? Again?  Please?"  Then when we start singing it she laughs because she's so happy we understood her jabbering!

She loves all fruit.  I have yet to give her some fruit that she hasn't liked.  Her favorites are apples, oranges, and bananas.  She also liked grapes and pineapple, but we don't have those often.

Chocolate and cookies.  What child does not love these things?

She loooves her binkie and the scarf she stole from me back in July.  I have tried to take it back from her multiple times, but it hasn't worked.  She loves that thing.  Whenever she's sad or tired she'll go find it and hold it up by her face walking around.

Mary loves her sister.  She loves following her around and doing what she does.  They love to laugh with each other and play ring around the rosies.  Avery will hold Mary's hand and Mary will follow wherever Avery leads her.  Hopefully Avery will continue to lead her to good places

Mary knows:  

Mary knows a few letters.  She knows A, B, N, O.  There could be others that I don't know she knows!

Mary knows most of her colors.  Purple, yellow, orange, red, blue, green, yellow, white, black, brown.  She has picked up on them quickly!

She is starting to learn her shapes, as of now she knows circle and triangle.  

Mary knows a lot of words!  She is a talker.  Hi, bye, baby, i love you, ball, some (she says, "a-hom") toy, play, eat, seat, car, outside, bed, orange, banana, apple, bread, waffle, bath, splash, book, again, more, done, down, on, off, open, poopy, change, bum, sit, trash, cookie, drink, milk, juice, etc etc!  So many words!  She amazes me.  If I ask her to say a word, she'll do her best to repeat it.

Things Mary can do:  

Mary throws away her own diapers.

She puts her dirty clothes in the hamper.

Mary knows to go to her seat when it's time to eat.  

She is learning to use a spoon and fork, she gets it every once in a while.

Mary has almost climbed right over the gate on the stairs.

She gets her own shoes when it's time to go.

She puts away her jacket when we get home.

Mary can climb up and go down a slide all by herself.  Her sister and Papa taught her just on Saturday.

She's starting to do puzzles.

Mary is a beautiful, sweet, happy, funny little girl.  

We love having her in our home.  She bring us so much happiness and joy.