Opus 517 - Story Time

Story time with Daddy!

Opus 516 - Singing Time

One of Joshua's favorite songs is Happy Birthday. The Smith's gather for dinner once a month. We also celebrate the month's birthdays. Joshua LOVES singing Happy Birthday. He has even started singing the harmony with Uncle Dave.

Joshua has also been working on one of Aunt Lissa's favorite songs:

Lissa also enjoys singing. As I mentioned earlier, she usually doesn't like to do it publicly but we did catch her doing it once:

One time I caught her singing as she washed her hands in the bathroom:

I also caught her singing while she played with her dolls. It's pretty soft because I couldn't get too close without getting caught. You'll have to turn your sound up.

Opus 515 - Graduation!

Jason graduated! He actually graduated in December, but walked in April. It was great to watch him walk across the stage and celebrate this accomplishment! We are all so proud of him!

We had a hard time getting a decent picture after the ceremony. Joshua just wanted to go home :)

Jason and his parents:

Jason and I:

The wall at Jason's parents' house (we had a party at their house that evening):

Another attempt at a decent picture with the kids:

Opus 514 - iPhone Fun

I'm constantly amazed at how good kids are with technology. Lissa and Joshua can easily navigate their way around our iPhones.

Opus 513 - Nighttime Fun

If I let her, Lissa would stay up late every night. She is naturally a night owl. Some times she gets up and plays quietly after we've put the kids to bed. The other night I walked in to the kids' room and found that she had taken all of her bedding off of her bed and made a bed for her lamb:*

*Technically, the lamb is mine. Jason gave it to me for Christmas, but Lissa quickly claimed it as her own.

Opus 512 - Lunchdate

During my Spring Break the kids and I went to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house for a lunch date. The kids loved packing a lunch in their lunchboxes and taking it over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They thought they were so grown-up!

Opus 511 - Road Builders

The kids love to play with the blocks at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house.*  One of their favorite things to do is build a huge road for the cars to ride on:

*These are the same blocks that Jason and his siblings played with as kids. Some of them were his Dad's blocks when he was little. They are well loved blocks!

Opus 510 - Easter Bunnies

Here is this year's installment of the kids' picture with their Easter Bunnies:

2008 (in the NICU)

2009

2010

2011

2012

Opus 509 - Easter

We celebrated Easter several times (despite the fact that I had surgery on both of my hands 3 days before Easter). We started with an egg hunt in our house. Somehow, we managed to not get any pictures of the hunt. The kids also got some gifts from the Easter Bunny (they're holding their bags of candy from their egg hunt):

On Saturday there was an impromptu egg hunt with several kids in the neighborhood:

A couple of weeks later we had our traditional egg hunt with the Smith Family:

Opus 508 - Guitar Hero

Lissa and Joshua love to play with the Wii. They are particularly fond of playing Guitar Hero. They don't even need the game on the Wii, they just like to play with the drums, guitars, and microphone.*

*Don't you love that Music & the Spoken Word is playing in the background?

Opus 507 - Lissa's Hair

Lissa loves to do her own hair. She has some create hairstyles.

Opus 506 - Sleeping Josh

I still find Joshua sleeping in random places. He just wears himself out when he's playing.

I love how he fell asleep leaning on the couch:

Daddy/Son nap time:

Opus 505 - Scooter Time

Lissa and Joshua are learning how to ride scooters. They're getting better every time they ride. They mostly just push - there's not much in the way of gliding, but they'll get it eventually. Notice Lissa's huge helmet. The smaller size is too small, but this size (the next size up) is too big. Poor kid.

Opus 504 - She's Still Got It

Lissa loves to make Joshua laugh. LOVES IT. We have an old video of Lissa making Joshua laugh when they were about 18-24 months. We recently showed it to the kids. Joshua was laughing and laughing as he watched it. Yep, even 2 years later she can make him laugh about the same stuff.

Opus 503 - Joshua

Joshua

Here are some of my favorite things about Joshua:

* Oh man, Joshua has the best sweet little boy look. He can melt you with his smile.
* Joshua gives the best hugs! He is a very loving boy.
* Joshua is so kind. He's always saying things like, "Thank you for..." Even for the smallest things - like when I come home from grocery shopping: "Thank you for buying fruit snacks Mom!"
* Joshua notices everything. Like when notices when you're wearing a new (to him) shirt. "Wow Mom, that's a nice shirt! I've never seen that one before!"
* Joshua still loves to race his cars. His races have become quite elaborate. Many times he acts out the races from Cars 2.
* He is now a Spider-man and Superhero Squad fan, much to the chagrin of his Mommy. His Daddy, however, is quite proud.
* Joshua is very social. Whenever we go someplace he quickly makes friends with everyone. He always hates to leave his new found friends.
* Joshua loves to play outside. He loves riding his bike, playing with balls,... anything outside.
* He LOVES the water slides at the water park.
* Joshua loves, loves, loves fruit. He especially loves strawberries (yay!) and grapes.
* Joshua loves Primary. He loves to sing and loves to talk with the microphone.
* Joshua loves to make people laugh. He is quite the ham. Beware, if you laugh at something he does, he will do it again so he can make you laugh again.
* He says the funniest things (as is evidenced by my FB posts). He rarely does this on purpose.
* Joshua is so energetic. The kid never stops moving. Maybe that's why he's so thin...
* Joshua loves music. His head is always bopping when the music is playing. Actually, if music isn't playing, his head is still bopping to a song in his head. Sometimes I'll see his head bopping and I'll ask, "What song is in your head?" and he can readily tell me.
* Joshua knows all of the letter sounds and likes to try to figure out how to spell words. He also likes to try to figure out what words rhyme.

I love my Joshua boy! I am so very happy to be his Mommy!

Opus 502 - Lissa

Since I posted about the kids' birthday, I want to take a moment and talk about each kid. I'll start with

Lissa

Here are some of my favorite things about Lissa:

* She is such a sweetheart. She has some of the sweetest little hugs - I love Lissa hugs!
* Lissa is quite good at math. I can ask her questions like, "We had 8 cookies, then ate 3. How many are left?" and she can figure it out in a heartbeat. Sometimes she uses her fingers, but many times she does it in her head.
* She LOVES to build things with blocks and Lego's.
* Lissa is my little helper in the kitchen. She loves to help me cook. She is also quite the little mooch. Every time she helps I hear a lot of, "Can I try that Mama?"
* She loves to help almost everywhere. She is definitely Mommy's little helper. She loves to fold laundry, help me clean and organize, ... she's such a great kid!
* She has the most adorable face when she's telling me something serious - which is often. She takes things VERY seriously and some times her serious little face cracks me up.
* She is quite concerned about everyone else. She wants to make sure everyone is okay. She is quite the little mother.
* Lissa is our little mischievous girl. Whenever the kids are in to mischief, I can almost guarantee that Lissa came up with the idea. She even has the perfect mischievous laugh!
* Lissa loves to sing, but she doesn't like to do it alone if she thinks you're listening. She also doesn't like to sing on command. She'll sing when she's ready to sing :)  I love watching her sing in Primary. She didn't sing there for the longest time - she told me she didn't want to sing until she knew the words. Now that she's learning the songs, she sings more often. However, she doesn't always like to stand up or do the silly actions. Which brings me to...
* Lissa is an independent woman. She does what she wants, when she wants, and doesn't like to be told what to do. She is just like her Mama (and Grandma... and Great-Grandma). That doesn't mean she doesn't listen to us - she actually does pretty well when we ask her to do things (since she loves to help). But, if it's something that doesn't matter as much like, "Lissa, will you sing this song for me?" she probably won't do it.
* She can play independently quite well. Most of the kids in the neighborhood are boys so Lissa ends up having to decide if she wants to play with the boys or by herself. Often, she chooses to play by herself. Usually, she plays happily, although there are some times when she does complain that she wants a girl to play with.
* Lissa knows all of the sounds of her letters and is figuring out how they go together. She is also getting good at figuring out what words rhyme.
* Lissa loves to find patterns.
* She is getting quite good at coloring (staying in the lines and stuff). She's also getting good at cutting.
* Lissa is not a morning person. If I would let her, she would happily stay up late every night and sleep in as late as possible. I don't let her, but occasionally there is an night where she can't fall asleep so she plays in her room.
* Lissa loves to dance. She dances all over the house like a little ballerina.

I love my little Lissa girl! I can't even put into words how very happy I am that I am her Mama!

Opus 501 - Braiding Hair

I've been working more on my braiding skills:

Opus 500 - Primary

 Lissa and Joshua love Primary. They even play Primary at home:

  

Opus 499 - Lissa, the Architect

Lissa is really into building lately. She builds with blocks, Legos, and even Jenga blocks:

Joshua gets into it sometimes too:

Opus 498 - BYU Basketball

We had the opportunity to go to a couple BYU Basketball games this past season. The kids paid attention for a short while. Joshua really pays attention to social cues. He clapped, yelled, screamed when everyone else did. Lissa watched the cheerleaders. Both kids enjoyed listening to the band. 

They lost interested quickly, however, and we had to find ways to keep them happy. This included playing games on our phones:

And eating food: