Happy Birthday Andi!

Andi turned 5 yesterday and it was definitely a memorable day. Our super cute friend Ashlynn brought by birthday treats before she went to school, and the my parents and Bradon brought by doughnuts with candles in them and sang to her, all before 8 am. A little later in the morning we had a little birthday party with a couple of friends. We made party hats, and had a scavenger hunt to find her present from Mom & Dad.
Walter, Andi, Paige, Caidence, & Charlotte. (Nicholas joined us later)

Reading a clue.

Thad and his dad spent several evening in the woodshop working on this farmhouse for Andi. She had been asking for a bed and home for "little one", the stufed lamb she got for Christmas, so Thad decided to make her this little house for all her little animals. The boys built it and I got to make it cute, but left some things for Andi to decorate later.

Front view when it's open.

Inside

It closes up and the handles on the top are perfect to carry it wherever she wants it.
After the party Andi got to go with Grandma Bulkeley to Toy's R us and pick out a toy. She picked a Cinderella laptop and played it until bedtime. And even though she's only five the festivities are not over! We've got two family party's this weekend, but those are group parties. Apparently January is the month for birthday's around here.
Sammy had his first experience being really sick last week. Bronchitis and double ear infection. It was a loooong week, and because of all the holding I was doing of Sammy, who is a giant beast, I ended up with a wicked tension headache for a couple of days. Thankfully it is now gone, and Sammy is better, and life will be getting back to normal. Thads heading off for the annual snow camp with the scouts this afternoon to freeze their tails off, while we enjoy the lovely 70 degree weather, and a girls night.

Christmas Wrap-Up

Phew! I always feel overwhelmed trying to do a post about our Christmas festivities, because after a few days they become a whirlwind, and I can hardly remember when we did everything. I do know that it began two days before Christmas this year as Tanya & Tenille came to town with their families, and ended the day after Christmas. Somewhere in those 4 days Thad was pumping out both our parents backyards because the insane amount of rain we got had them flooded. Thad also did a little bit of wood working with his dad in his newly finished "man-cave"/wood shop. We took family pictures with Thads family and had the traditional Christmas eve dinner & program, this being the first time in several years the entire family was there. Christmas morning we opened presents with our little ones at home, we opened presents with my parent's and Bradon, and again at Thad's parents latter that day, and again at my Grandparents that night, and had a power outage for several hours. Luckily our stove is gas and we were able to warm-up dinner by candle light. We finished off the Christmas celebrations with Sunday dinner at my parents and one last round of present opening with Walter & his family who had just got back into town.There was lot's of laughing, lot's of noise, lot's of late nights and not that many pictures on my camera. So here are a few.
Sammy was very excited to see the tri-cycle and more excited to ring the bell.

All three of them were excited to get the marble run set-up.

The results of our family picture session.

Now that Christmas is over all Andi has talked about is her birthday that is coming soon. And while she can only see from one party to another, this upcoming year has me thinking about all the new things and changes ahead in 2011. New primary classes, starting Andi at a charter school, starting Sammy in speech, potty training, house projects. . . see where I'm headed with this. The year is not here yet, and it's already making me tired.
Oh! before I forget, we reached a huge milestone with Sammy on Sunday. He was very hesitant about nursery when he started 7months ago, and Thad has spent a lot of time getting him comfortable with being there, and usually has to wait till he's distracted to sneak out the door. This week, they both walked into nursery as usual, Sammy took his seat for snacks, looked at Thad and pointed to the door. That was it. I guess he's decided he is a big boy now.

What it's all about

Thad and I still haven't come to a decision on the Santa issue. Our biggest hang up, is feeling like when we push Santa, the little ones hardly have a chance to learn about the true meaning of Christmas because they are so inundated with toys, and "I want". Andi showed me today, that she understands why Christmas is so special. This is what it's all about. My four year old with a towel on her head, telling me to call her Mary, and asking if I want to come see Baby Jesus in his manger in the front room. 

 

I asked her what she was doing, and she told me she was saying a prayer for Baby Jesus. 

Yesterday Thad and I celebrated out 7th anniversary. Emma reminded me that's only 3 away from 10, meaning, that's a long time, and we're old. It doesn't feel like a long time, in fact it feels like no time at all has passed. But two kids, two jobs, two car payments, and our first mortgage later, and you realize I guess it's been a while. Thad is a wonderful husband, and father/jungle gym, and provider. He took a half day yesterday so he could finish tiling the bathroom that he started on Saturday. And though he's a huge tease he is also very quick to do anything around the house that needs doing, and quicker yet when it's not a need, but some little thing that I want up because it's pretty.  

We did a comparison photo a few years ago, so I thought we'd do another. When we were dating: 

Last night after we got home from the movies:

Here's to another seven years. And seven after that, and seven after that. . . .

Lessons Learned

Remember how I said I was re-decorating the tree twice a day because Sammy kept taking the ornaments off. Well today I tried something new. Maybe if I don't put the ornaments back on during his nap, he will leave the tree alone in the afternoon. I mean, if I don't undo his handiwork maybe he won't feel the need to re-do it, and I can re-decorate only once a day. Not so my friends, not so. See how sparsely decorated the tree is this evening. And how it's not just the bottom that is empty. That's because he emptied the bottom of the tree in the morning and started standing on the arm of the couch to reach the higher ones in the afternoon.

Here is my pile of ornaments that I had to collect from around the house, and what you can't see is some of them have had the top hanging part yanked off. I have a date with the glue gun tonight.

Andi and I went caroling with my family Monday night. Sammy has been coughing and snot nosed for several days, so he and Thad stayed in and kept warm. It was like recital time all over again with Andi; that girl loves an audience. After a couple of stops she was reminding Grandpa not to forget her song(once there was a snowman) and she jumped out of the car saying, "yes! more customers!"
In between houses Ashlynn and I were helping her learn the words for the song the Primary kids are singing on Sunday. It was nice to realize that she is paying attention to the meaning of the songs and tries to understand what she is singing about. "Mom, what's meek and mild?",  "Why is Mary's baby a secret?"(sacred),  "How far away is Bethlehem?"
Oh! and speaking of her understanding, Sunday it was just the two of us at church, due to Sammy's plague. I was trying to get her to stop playing with the baby behind us and sit reverently as the sacrament was being passed. She noticed the boys head to the front of the chapel with their bread trays and she whispers, "And now it's time for the magic." me: "What do you mean magic?" Andi:"this is when they turn the bread into water!"   Awesome. So then we had a little lesson on what's actually happening during the sacrament and she was instantly a little more bored with the meeting.

Tis the Season

So the little beasties have been a little extra crazy this last week. Sammy has broken two ornaments, Andi has slammed his fingers in the door, and pulled one of those wrestling moves where they jump off the ropes onto the guy on the ground; only she jumped off the couch, and luckily Sammy had a pillow underneath him when she landed on him. Plus, while I was doing Andi's hair one morning, Sammy snuck into my bathroom and got into my make-up.  It's just mascara, and it came off easily with the make-up remover, but that line coming out from his nostril bothers me. I think I need new mascara.

I am a cyber-monday kinda girl. I did 95% of my Christmas shopping right here in my kitchen, and got free shipping on everything. Boo-ya. But now that the boxes are arriving I've discovered a snag in my plan.
Andi: "Mom, what's in the box?"
Me: "A Christmas present for Sammy."
A: "So are you going to wrap it and give it to Santa?"
M: "No, I'm going to wrap it and put it under the tree. This is from Mom & Dad."
A: "So there is no Santa."
M: "uh. . . I didn't say that. . . . "
Quick change in subject!
I didn't know what to say. She jumped to the no santa conclusion so quickly that it threw me off, and it didn't seem to bother her. I cold have lied to her and told her I would be giving it to Santa, but the thing is, Thad and I have never come to a firm decision on whether we are Santa pushers or not.  We don't talk about Santa, and don't put his name on any gifts, and remind Andi all season long of the real reason we give presents. But she watches Christmas movies with Santa, and we do the Santa letter on Christmas eve with Thads family. She hasn't brought it up again, and I've warned her Aunts and Uncles that she might be a bubble buster this Christmas, so for now I think we are just going to hope that she doesn't worry about it, and we can have that conversation when she's a little older.
We knocked out two Christmas parties and a Primary Acvitiy this weekend. Three more events to go!

Finishing up

We've been busy around here, finishing up Christmas projects, finding hiding places for the kids gifts as they arrive in the mail, re-decorating the tree twice a day because Sammy would rather throw the ornaments at the tree than leave them hanging nicely, and spending hours on-line looking for a gift for Thad, who is impossible to shop for. We pulled out the tree Sunday and decorated it while we listened to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was nice to listen to the music and talks and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas, while we made our house festive. We may have found a new tradition.
We also went to my 10 year reunion last weekend, and it was interesting. With facebook and blogs I pretty much check in on everyone I care to know things about, so going to the reunion was sort of anti-climactic. There was no need for, "so where are you now? how many kids do you have? what do you do for work?" Because we all knew that stuff already. I think we were the first ones to leave, but after a couple of hours I ran out of things to say, and my throat was sore from yelling over the DJ. When we got home I found Andi asleep like this. And yes, that dark spot on her pillow is a huge puddle of drool.

The last project on the list this year was the calendar we make for the grandparents filled with grand kid pictures. It was fun to go through an entire years worth of pictures and pick out just a few. Here are some highlights.This is in front of the tree this morning.

In Albuquerque

In Daddy's paintball gear

Feeding the ducks this summer

At the Richards in May

Back in February-ish. Look how little he looks!

Thanksgiving- short version.

Okay, so it feels like it's been a while between posts. I'm usually a once a weeker, so 20 days in a long stretch, but until this past weekend there was nothing interesting to report. Last Wedensday we took off before the crack of dawn and made the 12 hour trek to Albuquerque NM where my sister and her family live. It was a LONG day, but the kids did really well. We stopped every couple hours to let them out and run around, and they were pretty happy with their snacks and movies most of the day. The last hour however Sammy was beyond done. Nothing was going to make him happy and he made sure we knew it. Once we got out of the car at Kelsies you would have thought we had been pumping him full of caffeine all day cos he was totally nuts running around her house. And then after a while we had to get back in the car to drive to the base where we were staying, and he cried the whole 5 minutes over and kept saying "help, help, out!" By the way, the base accommodations are pretty sweet. We basically had our own fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment for $40 a night. We decided from here on out, all travel plans must be arranged with Kelsie and Cameron. No more room sharing with the kids!
Thursday was thanksgiving and we made way way way too much food. I have no pictures of the day, but you can look at kelsies blog for those. We seriously made so much food that Friday's lunch and dinner for all 24 of us was leftovers, and when we left, there was still food in their fridge. Friday was Porters blessing, and family picture attempts, which turned out pretty cute, and a ride on the "famous" Tram, which we knew nothing about till we got there. Here are the kids enjoying their view on the tram.

Saturday we hit up old town ABQ, and I have to say I was impressed. It was super cute and had fun shops, and was just a pretty little place. We saw several families wandering around in matchy outfits with camera equipment, so it must be a popular place to take Christmas card pictures. Then we headed out to beat the storm, which we did for the most part. The only place we had snow was Tehachapi! Her are the kids after a few hours into the drive home. Pretty gross.

 

And this is yesterday, so happy to be home and out of the car!

We have so much to be Thankful for this year that If I started listing, this post would never end. But Thankful we are, and excited that it's time to put up the Christmas decorations am I!

non-visual documentation

I have no pictures of the two things I am writing about, but I wanted to document these things so I would not forget. Sunday we had family dinner at Walter & Stefs and the kids were running around doing their thing. As all the adults were eating cake we heard screaming coming from Walters bedroom. So I walk in to find Sammy and Ellie holding down the lid of the toy box, with Andi and Walter inside screaming to get out. Andi was totally hysterical about being trapped in the box, but all I could do is laugh because the babies finally got their revenge. Seriously, they thought it was a good idea to empty the toy box and climb inside with the two little ones watching, waiting to make their move. The best part is I know Sammy knew exactly what he was doing because when I walked in he looked at me, then smiled at Ellie, then looked at me again and tried to wipe the grin off his face. Busted.
Last night after work Thad decided to jump up in the attic to make sure the ducts are all sealed for the winter. He asked Andi if she wanted to go help him. I assumed that meant sitting in the garage, or maybe on the ladder while he worked and fetch things for him. I went in the garage to check on them after a little while, and I could hear them, but couldn't see them. Andi really was in the attic crawling around after Thad, up to her elbows in insulation, and loving it.

Seriously?!

So the first week or so of Sammy being in a big boy bed went really well. He never got out of bed, just went to sleep. The last few weeks however are a different story. He get's out of bed to play, we had to unscrew the light bulb in the lamp because he turns it on, he can open the door even with the child lock handle cover thing. It's at least an hour if not more from the time we put him to bed to the time he actually goes to sleep. And I hit him in the head with the door a few nights ago because he was asleep right in front of it, and Thad could only get an arm through to nudge him out of the way so we could get in. Last night however tops it I think. I went in at 10 to tuck him in and I couldn't find him. I could hear him, but he wasn't in bed, he wasn't on the floor with the toys, he wasn't in the closet with the other toys. He was right here.

Yep, asleep under the bed. I did managed to drag him out and get him back in bed without waking him.
Sammy had his 2 year check up this week. He weighed in at 35 lbs and 37.5 inches and is above the 97th percentile for both. He's a beast, but he's still pretty behind verbally. I guess 2 year olds are supposed to have a vocabulary of around 50 words and start putting two words together. Sammy has about 30 words but only uses them when forced(he doesn't get his sippy until he says sip, etc.) He just does not want to talk. So we are going to keep working with him for the next few months and if he doesn't make some big improvements we are going to have to look into speech therapy for him. HE still seems too young to me to be starting speech class, but when I compare him to the other little kids in nursery, it's obvious he's behind. What makes it worse is that he's so big, everyone thinks he's four and retarded instead of 2 and a little behind. 

Halloween & Birthday Fun

I know it's actually still Halloween, but our celebrations ended yesterday. We had a party with the playgroup on Thursday morning, Andi got to wear her costume to dance on Friday, and a ward party/trunk-or-treat on Saturday afternoon. Here are the kiddos before the first party. I know, Sammy's not really dressed up, but that's as good as it got with him this year. Andi loved being a fairy, because she got to wear "dust". Jeni, remember those glitter brushes we bought each other for Christmas back in the day. That was Andi's sparkly fairy dust ;)

I didn't even get a picture of Andi & Thad in their costumes together, and I took zero pictures at the ward party. I was busy chasing Sammy away from the cupcake walk, and trying to keep track of Andi who was running around like she owned the place, while Thad was being mobbed for pictures. Everyone wanted a picture with Jack.
Friday was also Sammy's birthday, but we waited till Sunday evening to celebrate. We had both sides of the family over at my parents house for cake & presents. 

The birthday boy and his airplane cake.

Enjoying the cake ;)

The first toy he opened was a top that we bought him, and that was all he was interested in the rest of the night. I let Andi open his other presents and try to entice him with them, but he was glued to the top.

It was a very fun evening, and we feel very grateful to have so many of our family members around us to celebrate with.
This is just a picture of the kids and Thad playing out back. They both attack him when he gets home and demand his attention. So playtime becomes creative, trying to play with them both.

Today was also the primary program at church and Andi did really well. She said her parts with no help, and sang. . . very loudly. . . maybe too loudly, but what are you gonna do? It was a success, but as I am in the primary presidency, I am glad it's over.

Halloween Prep

Yesterday was one of those days that makes me feel accomplished. Not that we did anything grand, but we got a lot done. Two Dr.'s appointments for Sammy(the finger Dr said everything was perfect), two store's, made cookies with Andi after school time, carved pumpkins, and made fairy wings. Like I said, nothing grand. The carving was interesting this year as Andi wanted a princess pumpkin and wanted to do it all by herself; and Sammy was interested for about 3 seconds, and then would run off and come back a few minutes later to check out the progress Thad was making.

No this is not Sammy rolling up his sleeves to get to work. This is Sammy trying to pull his sleeve down because he was not going to stick his arm in that thing.

 

Andi hard at work, she actually did pretty well.

Sammy inspecting the final product.

He only really became interested in the pumpkin when Thad put the candle in it.

Andi with her pumpkin. Can you see the eye lashes? and no that isn't a mustache it's lips!

Close up of the princess pumpkin so you can see the crown I helped Andi glue on.

Thad has been working on his Halloween costume for about two months now. It took a while to get all the parts and paints ordered. His company has a costume contest every year with a prize and all, so of course Thad has to win. So here is this years home made costume.

Pretty sweet right?! He can see through the eyes and mouth, and he actually has a hard hat mounted up inside the head to keep it stable.

Finishing Touches

Okay, now the room is done for reals. I had one picture I wanted to hang in the wall, but knew it would look odd if I didn't have anything else, so I spent the last few days coming up with more wall decor. My very talented friend Callie makes these great signs(and bows),but I wanted something with a little more dimension, so I got those little wooden letters to spell out Sammy on the wall and modge-podged some cute patterned paper on to them.

 Cute, but too bland on the tan wall. Then I got to thinking of the stripes Callie has been using on her boards, and I painted over the paper. Love it!

So then I re-discovered this quote that is in his baby book that I just love, and decided to frame it. So I painted an old frame, found some cute paper and a mat and voila!

So now everything is on the walls and I realized I completely ignored my airplane theme, but I still love it.

And this week it hit me how close the holidays are. I had a mini panic attack when I realized I had NOTHING planned yet. Not even a single gift idea. For some people that is not a huge problem, but Thad and I like to make the gifts we give to our siblings and parents and usually by now we've got it at least half done. Luckily, inspiration hit after some blog browsing, and we have a plan, and supplies, and the kids room are done so now I begin the Christmas projects.

Sammy's Big Boy Room

The room is done, and Sammy has slept in the big bed twice with minimal issues. Thad was convinced that it was going to take us hours to get Sammy to stay in the bed and that it would be a huge ordeal, just because that is the way Sammy is. But Sam surprised us. He didn't come out of the room at all, just stood at the door knocking and calling "Dada!" but once I put him back in bed he cried for a minute and then went to sleep. Nap time today was a little more eventful, it took about 40 minutes to get him to go to sleep, but overall I am surprised and impressed with how well he is adjusting.

Corky came over today and painted the airplanes on the wall, and I love how they turned out. There was  a bit of a  fiasco when Sammy got a paint can open all by himself and dumped it on the carpet in the front room. In case anyone want's to know, goof-off in the yellow aerosol can get's paint out of carpet. It does leave a greasy film, but that can be removed by resolve carpet cleaning foam. Write that down, it might happen to you one day. Anyway, I love the planes.

You might have notice there is no dresser in the pictures, and that's because Sammy has the smallest room in the world, and it wouldn't fit. So now it's in the closet, and the toys that were previously stored in baskets in the closet are now under the bed where he has easy access to them. There are a few finishing touches to do, like hanging a couple of pictures, but other than that I think I'm done with my projects in the kids room for a while.
phew!

Forgotten Pictures

When Thad takes pictures on his camera, they usually sit there for a while before I ever see them on the computer, and then I forget to blog about the events that go along with them. So here are a few I found on his camera this weekend from the last few weeks. We took the kids out to feed the ducks at hart park a few weeks ago. This was Sammy's first time and it was all we could to keep him out of the water. Apparently this is his excited face.And yes, he's eating the bread he was supposed to be feeding to the ducks.

Thad also had a fishing trip last weekend and as he was preparing, he decided to let Andi in on the fun. Here she is fishing in the water feature in the back yard. As you can see from the line tangled in the palm fronds, it went well.

I think we can officially say that Andi can read, and I mean more than just two letter words. She reads all the books that came with her homeschooling kit, and the Dr. Seuss books, and tries to read every sign in every store or along the road. Last night I found her reading stories to Sammy and Pokey in her room.

Sammy's big boy room make-over should be finished this week. Exciting pictures to come!

Still Sprucing

 Check off another project on the list! Thad made the bed I have been wanting for Andi's room a few weeks ago, and then I painted it, and then it sat in the garage for a while. . . but it is in her room now! The sick part is that now that she has this big girl furniture it makes me want to re-paint and make a new, more grown up quilt. But I'll resist, especially since I now have to re-finish her old bed for Sammy's room and find a dresser and finish his room. 

Sammy's finger has had this massive scab on it that we have had to keep bandaged since they took the cast of several weeks ago. Well, Sammy yanks the band-aids off a couple times a day and Saturday the scab came off with the band-aid. I was totally freaked out because I wasn't sure if he had yanked it, or if it was just time for it to fall off, but the finger looks really good, and he is glad to not have to have the band-aids anymore.

Thad went fishing this weekend, we had two brithday parties to attend, general conference was on, I started making a small quilt for a friend out of her old team t-shirts, and today I really really need to just forget the projects and activities and clean!