Only at Build-a-bear

can you get a horse dressed like Darth Vader that sings a happy birthday song!

That is what Simon created. Its name is Horsie and he loves it!

Here are Alice and Eli's with Simons. And yes, Eli picked a tutu dress for his bear. What can I say, that is what he wanted to dress the bear in! The kids had a great time doing this. Thanks Aunt Kara for the gift cards!

Christmas Fun!

How is it I didn't do any posting in December? Oh right, the holidays! But really I didn't know it had been a whole month. Well, here is my last chance to post for 2010. We have been having lots of fun with all our family for the holidays. We got to see all the family from my side this year (mom, dad, Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Chris, Evan and Britney, and even Josh, Erin and Andrew. Yeah!) We had a lovely time all together celebrating. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It is so nice to spend the holidays surrounded by family. I love that my kids get to spend time with grandparents and aunties and uncles and of course cousins. We did some fun things, including a nice trip to the temple while my mom and dad and aunt watched the kids at Chuck E Cheese. After Christmas, we took the kids to Build-a-Bear to spend the gift cards they got. We also played ping pong in Joe's classroom. That was fun.

Here are some pictures from all our Christmas day splendor:

Simon got a bunch of costumes for Christmas because he loves to dress up. He had to try them all on. Here is just one.

Before Christmas break, Eli got his reward for doing well selling fundraiser items. He got to ride in the Hummer limo to lunch. Here is a picture:

They drove them to the Pizza Hut for lunch. He said it was pretty cool. Yeah for Eli!

Out of the mouth of babes

Things I want to remember my kids said:

The last couple of weeks we had a stomach virus go through our house, yuck. Well a couple of nights after Simon had been sick, Joe found him at the bottom of the stairs at 6 in the morning. He was asleep! Joe asked him why he was sleeping there, he said "I wanted mommy." Later at dinner we were explaining to him that he could wake up Eli if he needed help. Then I said, "Maybe he tried to wake up Eli and he couldn't since he is such a good sleeper."
Simon - "I need a horn."
Me - "A horn? What kind of horn"
Simon - "To play"
Me (I wasn't quite following) - "Why?"
Simon - "To wake up Eli!"
I busted up. It was so funny and cute.

On Saturday, I took Simon to Walmart with me. I told him he could pick out a present for Alice for Christmas. So he told me what he wanted to get for Christmas
Simon - "I am going to get a Walking Iron Man" (which he has said for several weeks)
Me - "What else do you want for Christmas?"
Simon - "Maybe a tennis racket"
Don't have any clue where that one came from!

During singing time in Primary the other week, the kids were supposed to draw a slip of paper and then tell something they were thankful for based on the subject on the paper. I was sitting by Eli when someone drew a paper that said, "Say something you are grateful for that you can hear." Eli whispered to me "Prayers". It gave me tingles. What a sweetheart!

One of my favorite things is that Cayde, my sister's 2-year old, calls me "Mudder". His mom is "Mommy" but I am Mudder. Not Auntie. I think it is so cute.

IN the mouth of babes, in Alice's case....molars. Making her not the most pleasant these days. I hope this doesn't last long. Hope she is over it before Christmas. And hope she figures out walking. She has taken 4 steps by herself, but mostly when we try to get her to do it, she just sits down and crawls instead. Oh well, when she is ready. I just think she would be happier walking. That is probably just wishful thinking on my part. At least she sleeps pretty well at night.

I am thankful for my kids and all their personality. I am endeavoring to enjoy them everyday and remember that I am grateful for them.

Nurse-maid Elbow

Yesterday, Alice had a dislocated elbow (well technically sub-located because it wasn't all the way out). I don't really know how it happened. She started crying just before I put her in the car to take kids to school. And kept crying when we got home. I laid her down in my bed and finally noticed that she refused to use her left arm. No bruises, no swelling. I couldn't think of anytime she fell down or anything, so I was kind of perplexed. I called the doctor who said I needed to bring her in so they could determine what might be wrong. So we took her, and fortunately, it was just a sublocation. No x-rays, no splints, slings or casts. And now she is fine. The doctor showed me how to fix it in case it happens again, which he says it will. Funny thing, I dislocated my elbow when I was little too. (I was 3, so not so little, but maybe this kind of thing runs in the family?) I am glad she is ok, and now we are trying to be careful not to pull on her arms, or let her brothers pull on her, which may have caused it in the first place. Who knows?

Thanksgiving is almost upon us, then Christmas will be here. Life will be crazy from now til January I am sure!

Happy Hauntings

Simon's birthday was on Friday. He is 4 years old now! I can hardly believe it. We had a little family party for him (except it is always big with 3 families!). He wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so that is what he got. He got some Transformers from Granmama and Grandpapa just like he wanted, and a sword and a shield from his cousins. He has been a knight pretty much ever since, he even sleeps with them. So it was a good day for him!


Here are pictures of the kids dressed up for Halloween. I had fun helping out with the boys' parties at school. With Simon I got to help with the pumpkin bowling, and there was a witch who told them a story and made witch's brew with Skeleton Spritz and Snakes Blood. Some kids didn't want to drink it, even after they told them it was really just punch. We had a fun time doing the trick or treating on Main street and then going to our ward Trunk or Treat.

Simon was an adorable bat, Eli was a dog (he wanted to be a golden retriever, this is the closest I could get). And Alice was a cute little ladybug. It was a beautiful 70 degree day on Saturday, so no need to bundle up under costumes.

My cute 3!

Fall is falling

Fall has decided to finally come. It stayed warm for so long, but now it is actually cooling off. Although this past week out here on the plains we had several 70 degree days. Of course it starts off in the 30s or 40s, and cools off quickly once the sun goes down. But it made for a lovely day at the pumpkin patch with Simon and his preschool class. We had fun and learned things too. For example, did you know that an ear of corn has 1 piece of silk for every kernel on the cob? I did not know this. The pumpkin patch had some fun things to do. We took a hay ride and watched the "Pumpkin Pulverizer" which was like a giant potato gun that shot pumpkins instead of potatoes. I bet it shot the pumpkins a quarter of a mile! They had a little straw-bale maze for the kids, and a straw tower they climbed on. And they had a corn box, like a sand box, but with dried corn. The kids thought it was pretty fun.


I had fun and Simon did too.

Alice has been sleeping much better, so that has certainly been helping me function better. Life is just busy and crazy. I had forgotten what it was like to have a 1-year old, but it is hard some days. She is very needy. We are working on communication, like getting her to use the signs we have been teaching. She is getting better at it. Some days I feel like all I do is feed children, clean up, feed children more, do more cleaning, and go to bed. I know it will get better, or at least the challenges will change. So right now it is about enduring well (it is the "well" part I am not always the best at....)

My brother and his wife are visiting. Evan has gone off hunting with Carissa's husband, so Britney is hanging out with us all week. She is here for a fun time. Halloween is coming, which means Simon's birthday and lots of fun activities. I think there is something going on just about everyday this week. Our town does a Trick-or-Treat trail down Main Street and the businesses hand out candy. They are doing that on Saturday morning this year, which is nice and will be fun. Then our ward is doing Trunk-or -Treat Saturday evening. I am sure the children will get their fill of candy. It will be fun to get them dressed up. Eli is being a golden retriever (mostly its a dog costume). Simon is being a bat (I hope, because he changes him mind daily). And Alice can be something different everyday if she wants. She has 2 ladybug costumes and a Broncos cheerleader outfit, all given to us by other people. (I think today after the Broncos pathetic performance, we will skip the cheerleader!) Lots of pictures to come!

Trying to blog

Well I sure have not been that good about posting this year. Oh well. That is the way it goes some times. I have been in a bit of a funk lately, off-kilter or something. I am blaming it on hormones trying to rebalance since I have mostly weaned Alice, and not enough sleep. Sometimes Alice does great, sometimes she is up for 2 hours in the middle of the night, like last night. Hopefully we will be getting consistent sleep soon. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz