I mustache you a question...

We celebrated Jonah's fifth birthday yesterday by inviting his cute little school and church friends to a Mario party.  I created this invitation in Photoshop and had them printed in an hour so I could have them delivered in time.  This was my first time throwing a party for one of my kids.  It was a lot of work but a lot of fun and totally worth it!

Jonah is really big into Mario and crew, and also Sonic the Hedgehog.  Since his party and cake ideas changed almost daily up to the time I started planning, I decided to finally stop asking what he wanted and just go with the last option mentioned.  Mario.

My plan was to have the entire party outside to spare my in-laws beautiful house from inevitable disaster and thank goodness the weather was on my side.  I couldn't have ordered up a more beautiful day!

We made Mario and Luigi visors from one of my Pinterested ideas found here.  They turned out so cute the kids loved them!  We drew Mario and Luigi mustaches and the kids played until everyone was ready for the Yoshi Egg Hunt.  I pulled the kids aside and told them a story about how Yoshi came the night before Jonah's birthday and left a bunch of his eggs in our front yard and they had to go find them.  I put a couple of surprise tickets in a couple of the eggs and the kids that found those got prizes (which I picked up at the dollar spot at Target).

Making visors.

We popped Goomba balloons (brown balloons that I drew Goomba faces on), smashed a pinata, ate cake, and opened presents.  I considered the event a success and sent all the kids home on a sugar high.  No doubt they all crashed hard just like my kids a short time later.

Playing with friends.

This is my favorite! "Mario!!"

 My cake this year was much easier to decorate. I bought brownie bites from Costco and frosted them individually to create an "8 Bit Mario" cake.  I found the idea here.  It turned out really great and even my older nephews got a kick out of it!

Building Legos with Daddy.

When Jonah woke up yesterday morning, we sang Happy Birthday immediately and when we were finished Soph said, "Mom, is I'm 4 yet?"  She asks me this every few days and I suppose she will until November comes. :)

March

Has it come to this?  The titles of my posts have been whittled down to merely the current month.  I'll let it be, for now.  Hopefully I'll find the time to put another post up this month and I'll be sure to have a super-creative title! You don't care. I know.

We've had some wonderful news this month.  Jon has been hired by a company here in Orem.  We're thrilled to be employed and be moving forward again.  It's been a very difficult 18 months and I haven't said much about it because it was easier not to go there at all.  All I can say is that it's terrible to watch your loved one suffer after every rejection during the job search.  But after many prayers and much fasting I have come to terms with the fact that Heavenly Father's plan is not always what we envision for ourselves--a lesson I've learned a time or two and have often been reminded.  I know there's a master plan and our trials are the only way to progress to where we need to be to accomplish what He has in store for us.  So I'm grateful for our learning experiences.

Meanwhile, the little Bushes have been growing and changing and I love to witness it all.  In a way, Jon's unemployment has been a blessing (See!! Look how positive I can be!!) because he's been able to be with me while Eloise and Pearl have grown their first year.  We've experienced all the fun things together whereas if he were working full-time, I'd only be recounting the day's events to him instead of him being there.

Here are some milestones:

• Pearl cute her first tooth a few weeks ago and a week later, Eloise cut her first 2 teeth.  This means Mommy gets nervous during nursing sessions. (Ouch!!)
• Both girls and learning new sounds and mouth tricks, sticking out tongues, "Dada", "Babababa", etc.
• The other day they both got up on all fours for the first time (in the same minute, if you can believe it. I'm always astonished at their synchronization!)
• Pearl's favorite toy is the butt cream because she knows how to open the lid (prompting a consultation with the poison control website...don't worry! It's not bad.)  She was seriously offended when I took it from her today before her nap time.  I love seeing their personalities develop!
• Eloise's favorite toy is a wipe. She likes to chew on them...something I don't condone but don't make to big a deal.
• Summary: I'm not sure why I invest in real baby toys since all they want are NON baby toys.
• The girls LOVE eating their food and I have fallen in love with the new squeezable baby food.  The flavors are awesome and they're so very convenient.  I've invested in the spoons that attach directly to the pouches and I must say it's the best invention since sliced bread.

  Jonah and Sophie are the best big brother and sister.  They love feeding their babies snacks and making sure they're happy. They fight over who gets to talk to which baby in the car.  Eloise and Pearl love their big brother and sister except for a few moments of panic when the affection becomes more painful than comforting.  Sophie still can't help herself and often "loves too hard".

Eloise and her tongue

We're on the move!

Pearl is always "stunned"

What a beauty!

Happy Eloise!

So precious.

I love this picture. They eyes are always wide open.  It's a Green Family trait, I suppose.  All 4 of my kids have been like this. 

Bumbos at dinner time. 

Watching Dora in the morning. Eloise and Soph.

My beautiful Sophie Girl.

 

7 Months and Oh-So-Sweet

My angels turned 7 months yesterday.  This year is going by entirely too fast and I'm finding myself scrambling to enjoy every little moment!  It's so bittersweet seeing my babies grow.  The new things are so exciting and fun but I desperately miss the days when they'd sleep constantly, balled up in the fetal position on my chest.

I realize just how lucky I am and just how spoiled I am and I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father has blessed me with the most wonderfully mild-mannered babies.  It's probably all a plot to keep me having more.

Their little personalities are starting to emerge and I love picking out little differences.  For the most part, they're very similar and take turns being the fussier or calmer one.  I think Pearl is starting to be the sassier of the two.  She has more extreme moods--serene and serious one moment and feisty and hyper the next.  Eloise is pretty even-keeled.  She is always happy and quick to give the biggest smiles.  Pearl loves sticking out her tongue and blowing raspberries.  She also learned to click her tongue recently and loves to copy me when I do it.  Eloise is slightly plumper and just recently passed Pearl up in height.

When things get overwhelming, I amaze myself by multitasking like a madwoman.  Our potential rises with our responsibility.  All we have to do is commit.

Pearl, Eloise.

From the Phone

I've loved having a new phone that can actually take decent pictures when I don't want to miss the shot by running to get my Nikon.  These are from January.

Miss Eloise

Eloise and Pearl

My sweet Olive.  She loves Auntie Sarah.

Sophie the comedian.

Eloise, after a long day of shopping.

How did that food end up on her foot? #experimenting with solids

Happy Eloise.

Trying on Momma's shoes. (Ignore the danger of cord entanglement)

Watching Tangled on Daddy's phone.

Bedtime!

Good morning!

Talking to Momma. (Eloise)

What?! (Pearly)

The "Big Kids".  They're best friends and sometimes worst enemies.

Bath time!

Again with the comedic!

Posing for Daddy who was hundreds of miles away at a job interview. (Hopefully more on that later!!!)

Creepy Flash Eyes

Our family walk last Saturday.  It was good to get some fresh air!

These are about as good as my posts are going to get these days.  Life is happily busy!

I turned 29...

but let's all forget about that small detail and focus on more exciting things!

Pearl and Eloise turned 6 months old this month!  And to celebrate, we all contracted a nasty case of RSV (I assume from Jonah's preschool) and spent weeks cleaning up throw-up, boogers, fixing ear infections, sucking out more boogers, building lasting relationships with doctors, etc.  It sucked! was very stressful.  The babies fared well considering the illness and all they underwent to get better--my doctor calls it a true testimony of breastfeeding.  I'm glad I could at least give them that.

We're all healthy for the time being and it's very nice.  We truly take the healthy days for granted; something we don't realize until we're cleaning up puddles of vomit from braided rugs at 3 o' clock in the morning.

I acknowledge that my performance as family recorder has taken a turn for the worse and I have only one excuse.  We're BUSY!  I'm not complaining.  Not one bit.  I love being a mom and when times are particularly crazy, Jon will look at me and sigh and I'll say, "This is what we chose, Hon."  And indeed it is.  I wouldn't have chosen anything else.  So Pearl and Eloise get the short end of the stick with the stats and pictures constantly being posted.  I take plenty, just can't edit and get them up here for all to see.  Luckily, I got a new phone with a better camera/video camera and now I can actually take decent pictures of them quickly without having to break out the big guns.

Another fun thing this month is that Sophie is now in Primary at church.  She made the transition seamlessly and I think has been ready to move one for a while now.  I can't believe I don't have any kids in nursery. 

Christmas in Montana

Christmas was wonderful this year and the family gathering was ideal.  We gathered in Montana at Josh and Lindsey's beautiful house.  The first few days were bitter cold with frozen trees and white everywhere.  It was the perfect setting for a wintery Christmas vacation!  There was plenty of time to relax and eat, and eat some more.  And best of all, no one barfed all week!  (Not until we got in the car to go home, anyway!)

Grandpa with Eloise and Mimi with Pearl

Playing with cousins made for exhausted kids!

Telling secrets.

Santa came on Christmas Eve to deliver pajamas for all the kids.  I can't say it enough; Christmas is so much more fun with kids!  I soaked it all in!

She was so concerned and excited at the same time!  I LOVE her expression here.

Classic Jonah, he was excited but tried to pretend it was no big deal!

Mimi with Santa...curious.

Playing with Legos.