Week one

I always want to capture the essence of a new born each time a baby comes along. We all know how fleeting those moments are. They are gone within a matter of weeks. I wish those moments could be bottled and kept for those times when that sweet, precious baby is two and throwing a massive tantrum, or six and telling you that you are the worst mom ever!, or nine when they tell you that you just do not understand them and never will! How I wish I could pull that bottle off of a shelf, go into my bedroom, shut the door and spend just a few minutes with that precious baby again.


I love the fat rolls on the back of a new born's "neck", if new borns had a neck.



Ahh baby feet. How i LOVE baby feet. I love to kiss them, rub them, tickle them, count those sweet itty bitty toes, rub the soft, soft skin across my cheek. I miss baby feet when they are gone.



Vinny is so exicted to have a little brother. When Tyler asked him at the hospital what he was most excited to teach his little brother as they grew up together, his response was, "How to get girls to kiss and marry him." Oh boy... yep. That's Vinny. That is exactly what I thought he would say. Hopefully Gunnar will be a good wing man.




Oh Grandma Claudia. How would we ever survive without you? It is always so sad when you have to go. Thank you so much for keeping us going during those tough first few days. I wish you could stay for about two months, but I am grateful for the time we do have with you. We love you so much!

Welcome Gunnar!

Gunnar Duke Atkinson born January 14th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
8 lb 9 oz 19 inches

Donovin with his new baby brother.


Lolin is so excited to be a big sister!


Going home from the hospital.

Happy Easter!
We had a great Easter holiday and were fortunate enough to be able to spend it with Tyler's parents and our dear ward members. We went to Universal Studios on Friday with Tyler's parents, Saturday we had a ward breakfast and egg hunt, Sunday was of course church and an Easter dinner with some friends.



We had an egg hunt in the morning. Needless to say, Lolin figured out pretty quickly that candy was in the eggs and she would ask Tyler (she knows to ask dad and not mom) to "Open it? Please my daddy?" Who can resist. Soon enough though, she figured out how to open them on her own. Yes, she ate candy for breakfast that morning. Lovely.



Halle. This was after church, so her hair is a little worse for wear, but you can see what a beautful young lady she is turning out to be.




Three generations of bowties. Vinny was so proud that he got to wear one like dad. Not so sure grandpa enjoyed it, not really his style, but he was a good sport.




The fire department got called to our Easter dinner. A little boy pulled the fire alarm. Oops! At least we had some entertainment. The kids really enjoyed seeing the fire truck and fire figthers.

Of course we tried to teach our children about and focus on the real meaning of Easter which is the significance of the atonement and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to have a knowledge of this incredible event that will allow us to repent of our sins and gives us all the gift of eternal life. That death has no claim on any of us. That ALL will live again. He was willing to give his life for us and suffer for our sins, our pains, sorrows, trials, sicknesses, and all else that we have to go through in this life. I am so grateful I have his example to follow and I pray each day that I can develop those attributes that will help me be more like him.



A random picture of Lolin. I just think she looks cute and I know I do not take enough pictures of her. I am sad she grew out of her dancing piggy shirt! It was my favorite.

Happy 5th Birthday Vinny!

For Vinny this year I thought up a "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" theme since it is one of his favorite movies.





For breakfast there was a storm of giant pancakes followed by a down-pour of syrup.




It rained spaghetti and meatballs for the party



For dinner the wind blew in some giant hamburgers. Well, actually just one giant hamburger for all of us to share and there were still left-overs.



I made the spaghetti and meatballs a cake which he thought was really fun.

We had a few friends over and he had a great day.

We love you so much our little dude. Happy birthday!

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year because we were not alone! We had Tyler's parents staying with us for the week and his sister and their family were also in town and we got to see them. It was really wonderful to share this holiday with all of them. We have so much to be thankful for.



Lolin really enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner this year. She really suffed herself.



We had Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson while they were here.



Halle had a 3rd grade feast at school


Vinny also had a Thanksgiving feast.

I am so grateful for all of our blessings. There are of course too many to list, but I thought I would mention just a few:

We are all healthy. What a blessing this is to have the health and strength to do all that you desire to do and all that is needed of you to do.

We are working. This is such a blessing in these days.

We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives to use as a guide in all things. I do not know what I would do without prayer and the knowledge that I have a Father in Heaven who hears my prayers and answers them and knows me and my family and loves us. He knows what is best for us and wants nothing more than to help us learn and grow so that we can return to Him.

I have my wonderful children and husband and we have family and friends who have shown us so much love alnd kindness and generosity. I am so grateful to all of you.

We wish you all a merry and bright holiday season and the very best for the new year.

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween time again!

It was a busy end of the week with parties to go to and costumes to prepare.

Donovin had a cute little party at his pre-K. Of course I forgot to bring my camera, but if I get any pics emailed to me I will be sure to post them. They had a costume parade, made ghost lollipops, decorated cookies, had a few games outside and went trick-or-treating around the playgound. It was super cute! He had missed school the day before because he came down with a cold and was coughing a lot, but we decided to have him go to the party as long as he was equipped with cough drops and tissues. That afternoon we went to the library for a magic show. Both of the kids got picked to be assistants. It was really cute to see them giggle away.



Tyler dressed up as Ash from Fantastic Mr. Fox, one of his all time favorite movies. I was getting ready for bed Thursday night and when I came out of the bathroom he had on his mask and jumped out and scared me to death!




Friday night Donovin went to a haunted house with his friend while Halle had a couple of friends over for a spooky dinner of mummy dogs, blood soup with eyeballs and spider crackers. That night we listened to Halloween music and carved our Jack-O-lanterns. Halle carved hers all by herself this year. She was a little disappointed because she accidently cut his teeth off, but was very proud nonetheless.











Saturday was the Big Boo at Halle's school. Halle decided she did not want to be Bat girl or Cinderella or Wonder Woman, all constumes we had and were planning to have her wear. She wanted to be Junie B. Jones. So, she put on some school clothes and fake glasses. Hey, if she is happy I am hapy. The kids had fun playing a few games and Halle went into the haunted house for the first time. I was happy to see she was laughing when she came out. That night was our annual ward Halloween bash. We all had a great time.


Lolin wanted to run around and kick baloons all over the gym. She is so busy these days thinking she is one of the big kids. She doesn't really want to stick close to me like my other two would, so she can be hard to keep track of. She was such a sweet little bunny! Halle decided to change costumes and go as an ice skater. At first she was going around in her ice skates, but soon decided to take them off. At least she his easy to please when it comes to a costume.






We went Trunk or treating and got buckets of candy.

It was another great Halloween. Holidays are so much fun when you get to see your kids have all the experiences you remember growing up and making some new family traditions of your own. Until next year...

Heat Wave

So, many of you out of California probaly have heard about the heat wave we had this last week with record high temps of 113! It was H-O-T I can tell you that. So, where do you go when the heat is unbearable in your tiny, second floor, unairconditioned apartment? The beach of course!





This is El Matador beach in Malibu. We did not know about this place until this weekend. It was really beautiful and while we were hiking down to the beach we saw a school of dolphins swimming by.

Lolin is getting a little bit better and only tries to eat about 60 percent of the things she finds on the beach compared to EVERYTHING when we would go before.