Bubble Bath Boys

My boys have turned into little bubble bathers. It happened while Daddy was gone and the boys were a little stir crazy. I said to Jacob and Ephraim, "I know, let's do something fun! How would you guys like a bubble bath?"

To which Jacob replied, "What's a bubble bath?"

Oh my goodness! I realized that I have never given the boys a bubble bath. I didn't even have a bottle of bubble bath in the house! Since our tub is not really big enough for ME to enjoy a bubble bath, it hasn't ever occurred to me to buy bubble bath for the boys!

So the very next day we went to the dollar store and got some bubble bath. Ever since then the boys have been in heaven! They love to play in the tub with the bubbles. Now they stay in the tub until they are all wrinkly and pruny, and the bubbles have started to dissipate.

I finally remembered to take a picture of Jacob in the bubbles as his bath was ending the other day.

So now bubble baths are a regular occurrence at the Devereaux Household and I don't mind at all (o.k., maybe I am a little jealous). The boys don't complain about getting in the tub; actually sometimes they complain about getting out! Plus when they get out they are clean and smell like apples. Everybody wins!

Now I just need to remember to take some pictures while they are playing with the bubbles when they are all foamy and fun instead of just before I am about to take them out of the tub!

How to Be a Chill Mom

Thank goodness January is almost over!

January is always the hardest month for me. It is miserably cold outside and it seems if I am going to be sick, it will be in January. This year I caught a cold and got a stomach bug in the past month.  So much fun when you are pregnant, right?

Not only is it cold outside, January is the darkest month of the year and the kids are just tired of being inside. When you add to that the fact that I am very pregnant and thus cranky and tired, that is when things get a bit miserable at times.

So today I decided that Jacob and Ephraim NEEDED to go play outside. Regardless of the weather. So we decided to go to the park. Daddy got home at dinner time last night and was working on edging in the baby's room, so I thought the boys could use something else to do besides bugging daddy all morning.

Yep. I took my boys to play outside when it was not quite 40 degrees outside.  Am I crazy, or what?

We would have gone to a fast food restaurant with a playplace, but we actually already did that once this week and I didn't want to go there and not buy anything... so it was the park or nothing.

Crazy or not, Jacob and Ephraim think I am awesome because they had a fantastic time!  When we got to the park I thought we might have to go home because some of the slides were wet and there was a bit of frost on the shady parts. But I was determined to make this work. So I got the shop towels out of the van and wiped the slides as best I could.

Then I gave each of the boys a couple of shop towels to put under their bums as they went down the twirly slide ('cause there was no way I was going to wipe down that whole slide 7 1/2 months pregnant!)

The boys thought that was the best idea ever! They didn't want to go home and they loved feeling like they were "sledding" down the slide on their towels. They went down over and over and were so cute that I had to take some pics with my camera phone.

We stayed at the park for over an hour and I think the only one that was cold at all was me! Ephraim even came to me and said he was hot and wanted to take his hat off, to which I said "No Way!".

I may have been freezing sitting out there on a bench, but the boys were on top of the world!

My boys ran around, climbed the slides, went down the slide together, giggled and had a blast. So I guess my crazy idea wasn't so crazy after all. I may have been a bit cold, but my boys sure think I am a cool mom!

Lego Wasteland

Today was a fun day for the boys. In the morning Jacob had preschool down the street at the Miller's house. I was planning on taking Ephraim to playgroup, but it was cancelled for the second week in a row. I knew that Ephraim would be heartbroken, so I invited Karyn and Brenda to bring their kids over to play at our house if they wanted to.

So this morning Ephraim got to play with Clara and Ty at our house, which was fun for him. Ephraim loves playing with his friends and is always sad on Mondays when Jacob gets to go to preschool and he has to stay home with mommy. Today for some reason Ephraim was a little grouchy, but I think it was just because he woke up at 6:50 a.m. He played pretty well though and I had a nice time chatting with Karyn and Brenda. It was also fun to see Brenda's new baby, Jacob.

Later this evening when the boys went to bed I had to laugh at the scene of destruction that awaited me in the craft/toy room downstairs.

Jacob and Ephraim have been having a great time playing together lately. They make up stories and take turns playing with different toys. I apparently did not check the state of the craft/toy room before putting the boys to bed. It looked as if the Lego Tupperware had exploded all over the room!

I guess it was a good thing I didn't plan on using the craft room. I decided that since Joe was in Saint George, I would just let the Legos wait until tomorrow.

Snow Today, Smush Tomorrow

What a busy Tuesday! This morning I had my 32 week OB appointment. Joe stayed home to watch the boys and paint the white walls of the baby's room while I ran to the doctor. Usually by this point (32 weeks) my blood pressure has started to creep up and I get sent to the hospital to do non-stress tests and a 24-hour urine test. Then typically I have to go to the doctor every week instead of every two weeks. All of the testing and appointments only made my blood pressure increase to the point that I was induced early with both my boys. So I was a little nervous for my appointment this morning. I was thrilled when my blood pressure remained low enough and everything looks great!

Today my doctor actually asked me if I intended to let the baby come when she wanted to or if I wanted to be induced. I told him that I would have to think about it because I have never had that choice before! Wahoo!

So my appointment was shorter than I expected and I went home and sent Joe to work. Then around lunchtime I met up with Melinda and Karyn at Article Circle. We ate lunch together and let the kids play on the play equipment, since the weather was cold and nasty today. Then the boys and I went to UVU for a short visit to see Daddy's new office. Since Joe is leaving for a conference in St. George tomorrow, we decided to run in and take a quick peak at his new space. Joe just moved in to his own office and he has a HUGE wood desk with cabinets and THREE computer monitors all lined up. The boys and I thought it was pretty cool and plan to go visit Daddy another day when he is less busy to go do lunch.
 
When we got home there was some snow in the driveway. Since everything was o.k. at the OB, I decided it wouldn't be a big deal to shovel off the driveway so Joe could put the second coat of white on the baby's room tonight.

So boys and I went out and shoveled the driveway. While we were shoveling Ephraim decided he was tired and done helping out, so I took him inside for his nap. Then I went back out to help Jacob shovel. When we were finished Jacob asked me if he could stay outside and play for a bit. I told him that would be fine.

Jacob had a great time in the back yard. I got out some of the sandbox toys and he went to town with them.

He was so cute I had to go get my camera. He was shoveling a path to the sandbox and digging around in the snow. Jacob played outside for a little while before we both went inside for quiet time.

When Ephraim woke up from his nap he wanted to go play in the snow too. I told him that we would have to wait and see since it was dinner time. After dinner Joe and I discussed it and decided that even though it was getting dark the boys could play in the snow in the back yard for a little while.

So we bundled them up, turned on the back porch light, and let them at it. Would you believe that the boys played outside for an hour before we finally made them come back inside?! I was sure they would come in sooner because it was cold, but when they came in their faces were red because they were warm, not because they were cold!

Jacob and Ephraim had a great time playing in the snow, and I don't think there is a square foot of snow in the back yard that does not have a little boy footprint in it! I guess it's a good thing because it looks like most of the snow will melt tomorrow!

The Sprinkle that Became a Downpour

My dear friend Melinda was kind enough to throw me a "Baby Sprinkle" over the weekend. Since I already have two boys I don't need ALL the baby supplies, but I definitely don't have anything girly for a baby! So we had a sprinkle instead of a shower.

Friday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Heiner arrived at our house along with Aunt Deanna and her kids. The boys were excited to see Grandpa and they loved having their cousin Braydon to play with.

Saturday morning was the day of the party. I had been looking forward to it all month! It was fun to get together with my closest friends and have a party-- a pink and girly party! First we had brunch with yummy breakfast breads and juice. Just check out this spread! Yum-o!

Then I got to open all the wonderful presents my friends brought. I have to say that despite it being a sprinkle, I definitely got showered with gifts! I got the cutest clothes, blankets and accessories- oh the accessories! Hair bows, hats, headbands, socks, tutus, you name it! Having a girl is going to be so much fun!

 I even got presents from some of the people that I invited who couldn't come to the party. My cute Aunt Nancy sent some very nice gifts, as did my mother- and sister-in-law. It was so much fun to open everything. Girl clothes really are more fun than boy clothes if you ask me (but then again, I am a girl!).

Since I am not a big fan of silly shower games, Melinda organized a craft. We used cute fabric and templates to applique a whole bunch of onesies. They turned out absolutely adorable and I can't wait to put them on my little girl.

I even got a picture of each guest with her onesie so I know who made which one! Here are the guests and their onesies.

Melinda, Andrea, Michelle and Karyn

Michelle, Deborah, Jilynne and Brenda (not pictured)

Jeanette, Me, Deanna and Marisa, and Marilyn (mom)

It was such a wonderful party and I feel so blessed to have so many fabulous friends and family. I truly felt loved. Thanks so much for the sprinkle Melinda!

Daddy's Computer Boys

This morning I was getting the kitchen cleaned up and working on getting myself ready to go to Music Makers with the boys. As I walked into my bedroom,  I couldn't help but laugh at the sight that greeted me.

There were Jacob and Ephraim hanging out on my bed, playing with the laptop computers they got for Christmas.

I am amazed at how quickly they have figured out how to play on their computers and find the games they want to play. I guess they must be computer geniuses just like Daddy!

I is for Igloo

This week it was our turn to have Jacob's preschool at our house. Since Monday was Civil Rights Day or Martin Luther King Day or whatever you want to call it, we did not have preschool on Monday. Instead we did it on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday's letter was I. Since it is January, I figured that igloos would be the perfect theme to go along with the letter. So after circle time where we discussed the weather, day of the week, etc., I read some stories about winter and igloos. Surprisingly there are not a lot of books about igloos, so I actually borrowed some from Grandma Heiner's library.

Then we got to the craft, which was making igloos.

I decided the easiest way to accomplish this was with marshmallows, frosting, and paper bowls.

To make the craft easier for me, I frosted the bowls for the kids and then let them place the marshmallows on them however they wanted.

Of course Jacob lined his up in neat little rows, which I thought was pretty cute. I also made the kids graham cracker cookies as a snack so we would have enough marshmallows for the igloos.

Melinda was kind enough to let Ephraim come and play at her house while I did preschool. It is a bit challenging at times to try to do a craft with five 4 year-olds and help Ephraim at the same time. He wants to participate, but sometimes he is just far enough behind the older kids that it is hard for him.

Of course when he got home Ephraim wanted to make an igloo too. So that evening I got out the marshmallows and frosting and let him go at it.

Then I told the boys that they were welcome to eat the marshmallows from their igloos. They thought this was a great idea!

Of course Ephraim had to copy the way Jacob was trying to eat his, and the sight of them trying to lick the marshmallows and frosting off just made me laugh!

As I said earlier, we have been working on getting the baby's room all painted and ready, now that Jacob and Ephraim are in the same room. We got the green wall all painted, so tonight Joe was working on getting the ceiling painted. Joe worked hard on the baby's room all weekend (plus Monday). It is going to look great!

It is hard to tell from these pictures the actual color of the wall because it was night time, so I will have to take another picture when we are done. The room is going to be SO cute, especially since the bedding matches the green wall so nicely.

Thanks for all the hard work Honey! It looks amazing.

Wall of Books

What a weekend! Joe was busy most of the weekend working the baby's room, which means I was busy keeping the boys busy. Friday night while I was at a dinner with a bunch of girl friends, Joe worked on getting Ephraim's new dresser put together. Then on Saturday morning I worked on getting all Ephraim's clothes into his new dresser and then we moved the baby's dresser into the boy's room. That way the baby's room was empty and Joe could start painting the green wall- hooray!

I am excited to see how the baby's room is going to turn out. I like the boys' room with it's blue wall, and so I am sure it will be just as nice to have the baby's room all freshly painted.

The boys did pretty good at keeping themselves occupied while Mommy and Daddy were busy. At one point I was in my room and noticed that the boys kept getting books from the small bookshelf with the board books. It is temporarily located at the end of the hallway. When I asked Jacob what was going on, he informed me that they were making a wall of books. So I had to go see what they were doing.

Sure enough! They made a "wall of books". I just had to go get my camera and take a picture of the boys quietly reading with their wall of books on the table. What a pair of cuties!

After our busy Saturday, I ended up spending most of Sunday in bed. I woke up Sunday morning and did not feel good at all. I tried to throw up when I woke up, but there was nothing in my stomach. I felt a bit better later and ate a piece of toast, which I lost after about an hour. I felt better after that, but was tired. I was also tired of being sick. After having a cold for a week and just starting to get over it, I was not to happy to get a stomach bug!

So Joe took the boys to church without me and I stayed home and took a nap. By the end of the day I felt much better. I was also happy that I did not have to teach preschool Monday so I could have another day to recuperate!

My Friendly Boys

This week Ephraim's playgroup was at our house on Wednesday. Ephraim loves that he has his own group of friends and he gets to have his friends come over and play at our house.

So when we dropped Jacob off for preschool, we picked up Clara to take her to our house. We also had Garrett, Cameron, and their mommies at our house for playgroup. It was a lot of fun. We read a story about snowmen and made a snowman face out of a paper plate. So much fun!

After everyone else left, Ephraim and Clara were playing together at our house until Karyn came back with Jacob. They were "reading" books together, which was so cute that I had to get out my camera.

Ephraim would get a book and ask Clara to read it to him. She would say "o.k." and then start to tell Ephraim a story based on the pictures. It made me laugh!

They were playing so nicely together and it was just adorable. At this age you never can tell if they are going to play cooperatively, or throw a fit because their friend is playing with their toys! So you have to capture these golden moments when they happen!

When Karyn got to my house to drop off Jacob, she told me to grab my camera and go to her van because the boys were "hiding". This is what Jacob and Micah were doing. Jacob is in the blue coat.

How funny are these guys? We can still see you- even with your hood over your head!

Shoveling Shenanigans

When you drive down my street in the winter, it is obvious to anyone who knows us which house is mine. It would be the one with the immaculately shoveled driveway. Whether we just got a storm that dumped 6 inches or just a light skiff of snow, you will not find a speck of it on my driveway, even though we have the biggest driveway on the block!

How does my driveway end up so clean? You see, Joe is a bit obsessive about having a nice, clean driveway. Maybe it has to do with being raised in AZ where the driveways are never icy, or maybe it's just a safety issue. Since I am a beneficiary (and there are far worse things to be obsessed with), I don't really mind the time my honey spends outside shoveling.

Joe is even gaining his own little shoveling crew. The boys can't wait for it to snow so they can go outside and shovel. They even have shovels their own size! This morning Joe refrained from shoveling the skiff of snow before he left for work so the boys could have some "fun".



So Ephraim and I got started while we waited for Jacob to get home from preschool. (I had a doctor's appointment this morning and since preschool was a the Esplins, Jacob was riding to and from their house with Stephen and his mom).

Ok, so maybe the shovels are a little big for Ephraim, but he'll grow into them! The shovels are just right for Jacob, who is becoming a great helper when it comes to shoveling. We made sure to leave some snow on the driveway for Jacob to shovel, otherwise he would have been upset! Besides, Ephraim and I got cold before we were half done with the driveway, so we went in and continued after Jacob had lunch.

Both my boys know the idea is to get the snow off the driveway and onto the snowbanks. However they are not quite as meticulous about it as Joe.

Ephraim is especially likely to stop mid shovel and carry his snow off to another location. That makes for some pretty interesting patterns on my driveway....

almost like driveway art!

I know that Joe would not really appreciate the aesthetic value of this kind of driveway art, so I follow after the boys, cleaning up the last bits of snow. That way I will get to spend more time with my honey when he gets home (because he will not be outside shoveling!).

The Boys Room- Blue with Bunk Beds

Well, we are fully back into the swing of things. This week we had preschool, playgroup, and music makers. On top of that, Joe started to teach his class at UVU. He is teaching a class on VMware on Monday and Wednesday nights from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. So he doesn't come home from work on those nights until at least 7:30 p.m. It will be hard not having Daddy home for that long, but hopefully the boys and I will survive!

In other news, we have started reading the Book of Mormon together as a family. Last year our bishop challenged Joe and I to go to the temple. This has been his challenge nearly every year as bishop. This time we were ready to report that we went almost every month last year! So of course we got a new bishopric and a new challenge! We did pretty well reading together this week. The only day we missed was Tuesday, and that was because Joe and I went to Ward Temple Night. Hopefully we can keep it up throughout the year. I got some shiny star stickers to put on our calender each day we do it, which helps the boys stay motivated.

It was another busy weekend at the Devereaux household as well. Among other things, we found all the parts to the bunk beds and decided that now was as good a time as any to get them put together. With the help of my friend Stacy, who was visiting me, we got the beds put together. So here is a picture of the boys on their new beds!

 It is also a pretty good shot of the blue wall behind their beds, which looks so great! You can see in the next picture that the boys like to hand their capes on the posts of their beds, which I think is really fun. (the wall in the foreground really isn't that light... that is how it looks with the flash bouncing off it).

 

Jacob thinks being on the top bunk is pretty cool. We are just glad that it isn't that close to the ceiling! We wouldn't want him bonking his head!

Ephraim wasn't too convinced about being on the bottom bunk... until Stacy showed him that he could make his bed into a tent! Now Ephraim has the cool bunk!

I think the boys will do a pretty good job of sharing a room. I am sure it will be a bit of an adjustment, but they will do great! We even got Ephraim to take a nap on his new bed that afternoon.

The other thing that happened this weekend is that I got a nasty cold! No fun when you are pregnant! By Sunday morning I was all croaky and could barely talk. But I still went to church and taught my primary class. Way to go me!

Jacob Art

I have some pretty awesome pictures hanging up on my refrigerator. Jacob made these pictures for me during quiet time before we left for Christmas vacation, and I absolutely love them.

So I decided to take a picture of them to share. The first picture is a picture of me.

Notice that I am wearing slippers on my feet and I am flying a dinosaur kite. The big round thing is a ball, which apparently I am also playing with. I love that I have eyelashes and cute hair. I was also impressed that Jacob tried to spell "Mommy" on the bottom of the page by himself. Not bad, buddy!

Then Jacob drew a picture of Daddy for me. You can see that Daddy is also wearing shoes, and is flying an airplane kite. I helped Jacob with the basic shape of the airplane, but the rest he did himself. Notice that Daddy's hair is much shorter, and he doesn't have eyelashes but he does have ears! 

Jacob did ask me how to spell "Daddy", but he wrote it himself! What a smart little boy I have!

Funny Boys

Here are some funny things that the boys said and did in December.


This morning Michelle Sodorberg took Jacob to preschool for me. She told me that as they were driving to the Esplin's house, Jacob was looking out the window and said, "Wow! Look at that snow vacuum!"

It was a snowblower, which he apparently hasn't ever really seen before. How funny!

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I dressed Ephraim in pants and a belt because the pants were practically new but the waist is too big. After going to the bathroom we had the following conversation:

Ephraim: I not need belt.
Me: Yes, you do! Your pants will fall right off because you have a skinny bum.
Ephraim: I don't have a skinny bum.
Me: You don't?
Ephraim: No. I have happy bum!

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Me: Wow, Ephraim! Did you already eat your roll?
Joe: Yes, he did.
Jacob: Ephraim is quite the roll man.
Ephraim: No. 'Tato head.
Me: You're not a roll man, you're a potato head?
Ephraim: No. I Ephraim!

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Lately when I ask Ephraim to give me five, he will put his hand up to smack my hand but before he will give me five he tells me, "You say ow!". That way he knows he is a tough boy and smacked your hand hard enough to make it hurt.
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Me: Ephraim, Grandpa and Grandma Heiner will be here later today!
Ephraim: Grandpa and Grandma not come later, Grandpa and Grandma come at ours house!
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At breakfast:
Me: Let me put some milk in your cereal.
Ephraim: I don't want milk.
Me: I think you'll change your mind!
Ephraim: I not change my mind. I change my underwear!
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Speaking of Ephraim's little behind... while we were headed to Ikea to get some things for my parents, we were discussing how the sun was hiding behind a cloud/fog, but the sun did come up that morning, when all of the sudden Ephraim says, "Yeah. Sun come up out of my bum!"

Apparently for Ephraim there isn't really a place where the sun doesn't shine. (haha!)
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Ephraim: Mommy, I tr---ing Daddy.
Me (confused): You're bugging Daddy?
Ephraim: No! I'm tracking Daddy.
Me: Why are you tracking Daddy?
Ephraim: I turn Daddy into frog. Daddy say, "ribbit-ribbit". We not talk to Daddy.
Me: So Daddy's a frog?
Ephraim: Yep. Daddy say "Ribbit-ribbit!"
Me (as Jacob walked in): Jacob, is Daddy a frog?
Jacob: No. Daddy is a boy. But not a boy frog.
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At the Heiner Family Christmas party there was some yummy fudge that the boys really liked. It is obvious that we don't have fudge very often because Ephraim didn't really know what we were saying. So he kept telling us, "I want more pudge!". Which just made us laugh.
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Home Again

We decided to head home on Thursday, Dec. 30th. That way we had Friday and Saturday to recuperate from our vacation and get everything ready for our regular schedule to start up the next week.

The first part of our drive home was not too bad. I drove from Tucson to Wickenburg. It was a bit rainy, but not too bad. We hit a few spots where it was raining really hard and the road was covered with water, but we made it through. As we kept driving there was less and less precipitation.

The scariest part of our drive was just outside of Kingman, AZ. It must have rained and then froze because the roads were a solid sheet of ice. Joe did a great job driving, but there were many people off the side of the road. It did not look like the roads had been salted or sanded, but it is likely they don't have many plows out there.

We saw a semi truck off the road in the median, and it was apparent that he had jack-knifed from our lane and was facing the opposite direction. We saw a car off the side of the road that had flipped over onto it's top, but there did not appear to be anyone inside anymore. We saw several cars that had slid off the side of the road.

If all this wasn't scary enough, we almost saw a semi truck get into an accident. As we headed down a depression in the road just before a small hill, we saw that on the other lane of the freeway there was a car just barely off the road. A policeman and another vehicle had stopped and were trying to get the car back on the road. A semi truck was headed in their direction. He wasn't going very fast... maybe 15 miles per hour. But as he tried to slow down his trailer kept going forward but his cab started to go sideways. The trailer finally stopped, but not before one set of wheels lifted off the ground a little bit. For a minute there I thought the trailer was going to tip over. Luckily it didn't. The semi was blocking both lanes of traffic, but didn't go off the road and as we crept away I could see that the driver was trying to straighten himself out and get back on the road.

I was so grateful when we finally made it to Kingman in one piece. We stopped for breakfast and I could barely eat anything because of what we had just seen. It was my turn to drive and the roads were bare as we headed towards Vegas. The worst part of the drive was over. The rest of the roads were bare, thank goodness!

We did see snow in places that don't get very much.

Here are some of the mountains just before and after St. George.

The red rocks were pretty with the snow on them.

The boys did a great job on the drive home. We hit some heavy snow around Santaquin, but by the time we got to Spanish fork and Provo it had mostly stopped. We decided to go to eat dinner before heading home and stopped at a place the boys could play for a minute. Joe and I were absolutely exhausted, but the boys had energy to spare!

The next day we unpacked. We were all tired, but glad to be home. Jacob almost cried with joy when he saw his own room and bed. Ephraim on the other hand told me he wanted to go back to Grandpa and Grandma's, which is funny because when we were there he kept saying he wanted to go home. He was a bit grouchy, but I think Jacob was the same at that age after a long trip.

So when Ephraim wanted to take his nap on the floor of his room, I didn't argue with him.

Friday evening we ended up going to a New Year's party at the Randalls. They were kind enough to invite us last minute, and we all had a great time. We actually celebrated the New Year at midnight- EST. That way we got to go home and put the kids in bed before 11, which was nice.

Saturday we got busy putting away the Christmas decorations. We got the tree down and put a lot of the other decorations away. Ephraim was really sad to see the tree come down.

Before I put my wedding ring quilt away, I had to take some pictures of the boys in their pajamas like I did last year.

It is amazing to me how much they've grown! Even more amazing is that next year I will have another little person to add to the picture!