For Heather...

I put this song by the Cranberries at the top of my playlist as a tribute to my dear childhood friend Heather, who is suffering through a great tragedy right now...It's her favorite by a favorite band of many of ours--reminds us of our high school days...if only life were still so simple...my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. May you feel the love of friends and family lifting you up...Love you Heather.

"Nice dress, Avery..."

So a few weeks ago I told Avery to go get dressed for school. About 15 minutes later, she came out in this...

Her big sister Madie's INFANT blessing dress (size 3 months)...girl's got some tiny shoulders! Thing is, she really thought she was going to school in it! "ahh, why not mom?"

Gotta love that "O"!

This little firecracker just kills me! He's CONSTANTLY making us belly-laugh with the things that come out of his mouth...

One day while driving in a quiet car with Mom and Drew, he says in this funny little voice,

"WE use to have that cage when WE were a little mouse family"...?? Guess I missed the part where we turned into rodents?

These 3D glasses he found on the ground at some store and the clerk just gave them to him 'cause he loved them so much...

O loves his little buddy Miley! Funny little story: Her mom (my friend Nicole) told Miley "I love you"...Miley's response..."No, Mommy. I marry Owen"...awww, now they HAVE to.

Yea, I know there's some rule about taking pictures on the john, but...I'm just so excited he can do this and I don't have to hold my breath as I clean up his diapers anymore!

And out of the blue (as everything IS with 2 1/2 yr. olds), he told me,

"You make my heart feel better", as he gave me a big tackle-hug!

(SERIOUSLY? Can I just bottle you up and save you just like you are right now?)

Ok, so after this picture, I went and found his Spiderman costume for him to play dress-up with his sisters...Uncle Jefe, you can relate, right? At least there's no sissy bonnet (and make-up).

Rewind to...Christmas!

So, here's a clue about how BEHIND I am on this blog...Here's some Christmas pics from THREE months ago.

This picture really captures how I felt after all the holiday FUN was over...we seemed to be going, going, going. And I don't really even have many pictures to show for it...

Avery fell asleep after staying up late at Grandma's

Scary Mommy (with less than 4 hrs. sleep and without her make-up) holding my little man D on Christmas morn.

This kid was sooo in love with his "fwain" table, and all the "fwain fwacks". I could only get this cheesy fake smile out of him...my kids are so "over" taking pictures!

The kids were so excited to have their Daddy home more during the holidays--they miss him a lot when he goes out of town. Marcus got the girl's portraits framed for me! I love the frames he picked--great job, hun!

We were lucky to have Papa Paul spend the night with us Christmas Eve. That night we went to our favorite restaurant, PF Changs with our good friends the Taotafas. And after opening gifts, we headed over to the "other Weenig's" for our annual Christmas brunch--always such a yummy meal courtesy of my sweet sis-in-law Allison! (I need to get some pics from her)

This was my favorite present this year! Our little "Mr. Bvrew" (this is how Owen says his name) is so YUMMY!

My sister, Aunt Jen, took me and the kids to see Disney On Ice! The kids had a great time--they loved the fairies the best--and Owen got a cool hat!

THANKS Jen!

We had a super fun, busy holiday season, filled with caroling, Twelve Days of Christmas (the girls loved sneaking goodies up to the porch), and visiting family. It's taken me 3 months to get over all the craziness and finally post this! But I do love all the fun and great things Christmas means brings to our family.

My Two Babies: A Blessing and a Baptism

Last month was a big one for our family...

Thornton Family

L-R: Michelle & Chris, Mom and Dad, Jen, Jeff, Melissa, Blake & Ellis, MY FAMILY, Coco, Daniel & Carter, Grandpa Jerry (my kids' great-grandpa).

On October 10th, We blessed this little man when he was 6 weeks old.

It was a great day

Little D has us wrapped around his tiny fingers!

I can hardly keep myself from eating him...SO YUMMY!

Look how big my little guy looks now...already almost 3 months old

And some more big news...Our first baby Madison got baptized also on Oct. 10th. here she is having her first interview with our fabulous Bishop Hazen!

We're so proud of her and the beautiful, sweet young girl she has become...

Here is the proud Daddy and his little girl...growing up too fast!

I love this girl so much...she is such a great kid. She has many divine gifts, one of which is being inherently good and pure in heart, always wanting to do what is right. Ever since she was a little tiny girl, she's had a very sensitive conscience, feeling bad about the smallest misdeeds, and always wanting to set things right and please her Heavenly Father.

Madie was lucky to be baptized on the same day as her good friend, Emily Clifford. My sweet friend Rachel (Emily's aunt) spent a whole afternoon taking these beautiful photos of the girls! Thanks so much, Rach.

We want to thank everyone who came to support our family for these two important events! We had many friends and family members come from all over So. California for us...to name a few: Grandpa Jerry, Mom & Dad, Papa Paul, The Keslers, The McGregors, The "other" Weenigs, The Pittmans, The Meisenbachs, The Carliles, Aunt Jen, Uncle Jeff, The Lambournes, Connie & Jan Krc, and many friends from right here in San Marcos!

Finally some Thornton cousins!

These are all the boy cousins on the Thornton side of the family...

Owen 2 1/2, Carter (Coco's) 4 months, Ellis (Melissa's) 6 weeks, Drew (mine) 10 days

Don't they look excited to be hanging out on the bed together taking pictures? Owen was like, "SERIOUSLY?! I have no pants on and these guys are screamin' their heads off..."

My parents FINALLY have some more grandkids! For the last 7 1/2 years they have had only one family of grandkids to spoil, but this summer 3 new baby boys came into the picture, starting with Nichole and Daniel's sweet little Carter, then followed by Melissa and Blake's adorable little Ellis, and trailing behind was our own little peanut, Drew! It's been so FUN to see each of them in different stages, see how they change, who they look like, and getting to see my sisters as mothers!

Babysitters Madie and Avery were pretty "fried" after so many pictures and the two littlest babies "protesting" the whole time!

Little Drew sleeping peacefully, 3 weeks old

Taking a bath in Mommy's sink, 4 weeks old...

"Aw Mom, no more naked pictures!"

We love our little peanut head!

Little Man Drew!

Here he is!

Drew Marcus Weenig

Born August 26, 8:26 pm

8 lbs. 3 oz

20 1/2 inches

We went to the hospital Wednesday morning at 7:00 to be induced (so that Daddy, who travels every week, could attend). But around lunch time, we found out that our little stunt-man had turned himself sideways, which meant that his cord was dangling underneath him and in danger of slipping out before he did...So we were given the option to either have the doc TRY to turn him (again, the cord position made this kinda risky), OR go ahead and schedule a c-section. Well, this being my fourth baby (the rest were normal deliveries), of course I was NOT thrilled at this idea...But I decided I'd rather plan for the c-section and have it all be calm and anticipated than have the doc try to turn him and have it turn into an emergency situation. So here is Daddy, all ready in his bunny suit to watch the birth...he looks like he works for HAZMAT or something.

Walking into the unkown...a little nervous

Marcus watched the whole procedure (eyes bulging, constantly checking my face for a reaction to what the doctors were doing to me). He seemed concerned, intrigued, anxious, and excited...And I just laid there waiting to see that my baby was ok. Once he was ready to get the baby out, Doc couldn't figure out where his head was (he moved AGAIN)...so he quickly grabbed him by the feet and out came Little Houdini! He had managed to flip so much he got his cord tied in a knot (WHEW--so glad we decided not to try to turn him and deliver normally)! It all happened pretty fast, and the surgery was painless thanks to good drugs...but I knew the worst was yet to come...

It was kinda strange seeing my baby for the first time while lying on my back...I had to keep telling Marcus to "hold him up--I can't see him"...

I can already tell our Drew is going to be the life of the party--always keeping us in anticipation of his next move!

Proud Daddy and "Baby No-name"

This little guy is worth all the trouble and even the rough recovery.

Big Brother Owen is the only sibling who got to come see Little Drew in the hospital--the girls got sick with fevers (yea, it's been an interesting week) while at home awaiting his arrival with Grandma (MUCH thanks to my mom for handling everything at home for 4 days!)

Check out those rolls...He was our biggest baby by FAR.

Big Sis. Madie can't be happier that he is HOME!

Avery's so excited to help take care of him.

WE LOVE YOU BABY DREW! WELCOME TO THE WORLD!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU so much to everyone who has offered their help and for all the yummy meals...we couldn't have survived this crazy time without all the help from our family and friends!