Austin is quite the "little helper"

Austin is now 9 months old and he is crawling everywhere. He loves to follow everyone around the house and he is enjoying his freedom. He is also starting to pull himself into a standing position every chance he gets. The funny part about that is when he's been standing for too long his legs start to slip apart into a split position and he hasn't quite figured out that he can just sit himself down, instead he cries until someone comes to his rescue.

Some of the things that he likes to help mom with are laundry (throwing all of the folded clothes all over the room),

and dishes (emptying out the cupboards).


He also loves to wrestle with his brothers and dad.


He has also discovered the baby in the mirror and he spends an awful lot of time smooching and laughing with his new playmate.
He is so much fun and brings much joy and laughter into our home.

Happy 10th Birthday Ashleigh! (a little late)

2009

On April 14th our little princess turned 10!! I still can't believe that we have a 10 year old. Last year our church had a little program for all of the girls 8-11 years old and they asked the parents to write a little something about their daughters, the following was my write-up about Ashleigh...

Ashleigh is the oldest child and the only girl, she is our princess. She is a beautiful girl both inside and out. She has an amazing testimony for someone so young and loves to share it every chance she gets. She knows that she is a Daughter of Heavenly Father and she loves the gospel and her family. She is always willing to help out around the house with the cooking and cleaning. She is a great help with her baby brother and he loves her so much. When she is singing to him or playing the piano he is just mesmerized by her. She is a very talented and well rounded young lady. She loves to sing and play the piano, she also enjoys playing soccer and basketball. She also loves to do crafts of any kind, she is always surprising us with a card or poem or picture of some kind to let us know how much she loves us. We are very proud of her and all that she does. She is an example to all of us and we love her so very much.

Ashleigh blessed our home on April 14, 1999. She was a beautiful little girl and we fell in love with her instantly. She was born with a left club foot and we were concerned about that and the treatment that would have to be done. She was in a full or half leg cast for most of her first 6 months of life. At 15 months old she had her one and only surgery to correct the club foot and then was in a cast or brace until she was 18 months old. As soon as the brace came off she was off and running, luckily since she became a big sister a month later. She was so excited to have a baby around and she was a wonderful sister to Jordan. They would pal around all of the time.

Loved reading @ an early age

Loves to pose for the camera

Look at that hair!!

1st day of Kindergarten

7th Bday in Rocky Point, Mexico

We didn't enter the digital photo age until after Jordan was born so I don't have any baby pictures to post, but she was a beautiful little girl and she is even more beautiful now.

Baptism Picture

9th Bday Princess Party

Becoming a sister for the 3rd time

She is a very talented and helpful young lady. I would like to say that she is a girly girl, but she also loves the outdoors and playing sports so I guess it's safe to say that she is a pretty well rounded person. She is also very smart and loves to read, math is her favorite subject in school. She enjoys spending time with her friends and is always asking if she can have a dad/mom and daughter day. She also LOVES spending time at the cabin and with her cousins.

10 years old!

We love her very much. Happy Birthday Ashleigh!!

It's been a busy month

I can't believe that April is already almost over. We have had a busy and fun month, but now I have a lot of catching up to do. Early in the month we were excited to have my grandmother visit us from VT. She is known as Grandma B to the kids and they were so excited to have her here. She was only with us for a day and a half, but we loved every minute of it. She brought the kids autographed pictures from Jack Hanna. They thought it was so cool that she met him and he signed a picture to each of them. Thanks Grandma!! She also got to meet Austin and we just had fun visiting and hanging out.

After Grandma left it was time to get ready for Easter and the Bird Family Reunion (Michael's mom's side of the family). The reunion was south of Tucson at Uncle Bill and Aunt Clarice's house. We went down a few hours early and went to Karchner Caverns. They are living caves in Benson, AZ. It was a really neat place and all of the kids seemed to enjoy it. Granny and Papa watched the 4 little ones so the rest of us could go through without any problems. Thanks again Bruce and Sally, it was a great time!! They don't allow any pictures to be taken in the caves, but click here for more info and pictures. It was truly spectacular.

After the caves we headed to Tucson for the reunion. It was great to see family. Sally's sister and brothers were there and some of their kids as well. Unfortunately alot of the family is spread all over the country so they were not all able to make it, we missed all of them. :) Friday brought a yummy steak dinner, thanks to Bill for the cooking. Saturday brought wind, rain and colder weather. We started with a big group photo and then individual family photos at a really nice park.

The Bruce & Sally Gunnell Family
(Glen & Rachel's family is missing)

The Bird Siblings ~ Jim, Sally, Bill, Margot Lynn

If the weather had been better the kids would have had a blast playing,but the cold and rain sent us back tho the house for jewelry making and arts and crafts. The rest of the day was at the church: lunch, easter egg hunt, dinner and talent show. The evening program was alot of fun, there was a magician that performed in between the talent acts. The family talent was great, the Gunnell Family Grandchildren performed a few musical numbers using boppers, there was singing, violin playing, dancing, comedy and story telling. It was a great night of entertainment.



On Sunday we had a really nice program about our Savior and his resurrection along with singing some beautiful hymns. Then we headed to church and then it was time to head home.

Back at home we had Easter dinner at Granny and Papa Gunnell's house with a fun Easter Egg Hunt after dinner. It was a fun weekend with lots of memories made.

Baby Milestones Made

Austin is now 8 1/2 months old. He has been mobile for some time now, but by way of rolling around the house. Just last week he hit two milestones in one day. He started crawling and get this, he pulled himself up to a standing position in his crib. He now crawls everywhere and is very fast. I spend alot of my day prying things out of his mouth, it never ceases to amaze me the things that babies find on the floor to put in their mouths. He is also pulling himself up on the furniture and me, if I am standing still long enough for him to do it. Last night he pulled himself up to the gate at the front door so he could watch his brothers playing out front. He still hasn't cut a single tooth though. We are waiting for that to happen anytime now.