Birthday Week

Andi turned 6 on Friday, and we celebrated a full birthday week this year.  The Sunday before her birthday we had family dinner at my brothers and had cake and presents for Andi & Bradon. Andi's birthday is the day after Bradon's so we always have a joint party for them.

Friday was her actual birthday, so we started the day with birthday pancakes.

My mom brought over birthday donuts a little later in the morning. Just so you know any food automatically becomes "birthday" food if you stick a candle in it. Saturday was her friend party. This year Andi wanted a Magic Treehouse party. She has been reading the books for a while now and absolutely loves them. So we planned some activities that incorporated the books like hatching dinosaur eggs(popping balloons), solving riddles, going on a treasure hunt, and they had a great time. Here is the whole gang after they turned Wyatt into a mummy.

And blowing out more candles.

Saturday night we went to Rosemary's and since she is six now, she ordered for herself. I have been hearing a lot of that this week. "I'm six now so I can do (fill in the blank)." "Six year olds can do that by themselves."  Sunday night we had dinner with Thads family to celebrate all the January birthdays and she got to blow out more candles and open more presents. And today she got to go to lunch and shopping with Grandma Bulkeley to spend her birthday money. I believe the celebrations are finally complete and that her birthday has been sufficiently recognized for the year ;)
In other pretty huge news, we bought a house this week. We have been looking for months and months and last weekend we found the one. We are more than a little excited, and have big plans for our new place. At least I do. Thad's main priority is getting some big trees in the back yard, but I've got lists. Long, exciting lists ;) We are supposed to close mid February, so cross your fingers it goes smoothly.
This picture has nothing to do with anything, other than these are the diaper ninja masks Thad introduced the kids too.

Wow, just wow

So I've been waiting to post till after this weekend after Andi's birthday party when I'd have pictures to post, but today deserves a post of it's own. I took the kids to the dentist this morning, Sammy's first visit. He was all excited when we got there because he finally got to go back with Andi instead of being stuck in the waiting room with me. So they do Andi's check up and they let Sammy watch everything so he won't be nervous when it's his turn. Then it was his turn. "We are going to need you to come back and help with Sammy." Did you know that dentists now have a "quiet room" for the insane children? So I held him while the dentist brushed and flossed his teeth and did the flouride paint thing. No x-rays, no pokey dental tools. Toothbrush and floss just like at home. You would have thought he ripped his finger off again. He screamed bloody murder the entire time and I pulled something in my back restraining him. He literally popped blood vessels in his face screaming so hard, he's got all these little red dots around his eyes and cheek bones. All the dentist did was brush his teeth!!! His reaction was pretty much the same as Andi's when she had her blood draw for school. Completely insane. Next visit our goal is to get some x-rays and maybe sit in the big chair for a minute by himself. Seriously I don't know where these children came from.

Relaxing in the New Year

It seems like Christmas was a month ago already. Not that we have had a very busy week or anything. We've actually been pretty lazy, and Thad has been home a lot to enjoy the lazy with us. He took the kids out to fly his plane and shoot Sammy's new rockets.

 

We took them shooting one afternoon, and Sammy could not get enough of it.

 

The kids have been playing a lot of super hero and secret agent, but for some reason they only wear the capes when they have their pj's on.

Story of the week. Kelsie and Porter came over one evening when the kids were getting ready for bed. Andi was in the tub and all of a sudden we hear her yelling, Help, someone help! and then she screamed super loud. Of course all three of us went running to see what was wrong and we found this.

 

I guess Porter really likes baths, so he climbed in with Andi fully dressed. 

Thad and I have been watching a lot of documentaries lately, it's amazing what you can find on netflix. Two in particular have given us some major motivation to be healthier in our eating habits and change the way we cook and grocery shop. If you need some extra motivation for your new years resolutions, watch Food Inc. and Forks over Knives. Serious food for thought.

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone and for the first time in years I don't feel like a tornado just passed. I'm not sure what was different because we still celebrated 3 different times on Christmas day, but it was just a nice restful fun day. Christmas eve was a break in tradition. Instead of the traditional dinner and Santa letter with Thad's family, we went to a movie and dinner with my family. We actually saw two movies over the weekend, which is totally abnormal for us. Anyway, then we came home and put the kids down early and set up the gifts and just relaxed. This was the first year Andi wanted to put out cookies for Santa, so we did, and she made sure to put out a carrot for the reindeer. In the morning Andi came running into our room asking if Santa had come, so I told her to check and she came back squealing. I just thought it was funny that instead of running straight out to the tree she still came in to our room to ask if he'd come.

Here is Andi with her robot dog that she's been asking for since September, and wearing her super hero cape that I made because she said she needed one.

Here is Sammy with his new computer, also sporting his cape. They have their initials on them in cute fabric, but no, I don't have a good picture of them.

After we opened everything we got ready for church, which Sammy protested the whole morning. Even during church he sat there saying, "I can't wear this. We can't go to church."

Then we came home and headed to my parents, where we made enough food to feed 100 people and ate too much of it. Then we opened gifts with them and laid around because we were all still too full to move. We had all of my siblings here this year, which hasn't happened for a little while. The only person missing was Kelsie's husband Cameron who is still in Kuwait. There were lot's of pictures taken, and video as well, but none with my camera ;) This year for the family gifts I made each couple an outdoor blanket. It's a quilt on the top, but backed with vinyl so it's waterproof.

That afternoon we went to Thad's parents to have dinner and do the Santa letter. We had another lovely big meal, then sang some carols, read the letter and opened gifts. Again, lot's of pictures, only a very few taken with my camera.

This year for Thads family we took on a huge project. We got the all the Santa letters from his grandparents, which cover 1972-2007, and we re-typed them and scanned pictures and had them printed in a book for his parents and siblings. It took us a while, but was totally worth it.
We also got to surprise both of our families with a little announcement. We are expecting our 3rd child at the end of July. I had the 10 week ultrasound today and everything looks great. They even did some of it in 3-d which was amazing and weird to see. Thad was mostly just glad to see that there is only one in there. I don't know why, but he always stresses about that till we know for sure.
So Christmas was grand, 2011 was lovely, and now it's on to 2012 and a whole lot of new adventures. Happy almost New Years!

8 Years Later

Yesterday was our anniversary, and I think we get less sentimental about it every year. Shame on us, I know, but we just get busy this time of year. Last night was Thad's office party so we went to dinner with a bunch of people I don't know. We were planning on making a long night of it and going to a movie after the party, which was over by 8:30, but we were lame and went home early instead. Here is the yearly comparison shot for your enjoyment.

December 20, 2003

December 20, 2011

Excuse the picture being completely washed out. We were talking last night about how quickly the time has gone, and where we are going to be in another 8 years.  The weirdest part was realizing we'd have a 14 year old and an 11 year old at that point. It just does not seem possible. Regardless, 8 years later life is good and we are happy, and I don't think we could ask for much more than that. Happy Anniversary!

Getting Festive

We have had quite the festive week. Monday evening we went Caroling with my family, and the kids loved it. Andi is quite the ham and loves to perform so every house was like a new opportunity for her to shine. Tuesday we went to dinner with Thads family for his Grandma's Birthday. And Thursday we took the kids to see the lights at CALM. They have been asking since Thanksgiving to go, and Thursday was great. We got there before the crowds so we were able to ride the train and the carousel with very little wait time.  And no that's not snow falling in the pictures, that's the dirt everyone was kicking up on the paths.

 This Carousel  is crazy. It spins faster than any carousel I've ever seen, you really have to hold on to the horse.

We even stopped in to see Santa and Andi kinda freaked out his little helper. The lady was asking her name and how old she was and all that while we were in line. So Andi walks up and whispers something in her ear and the lady's face went blank, total deer in the headlights, and then it was Andi's turn so she sat on Santa's lap and we took a picture. The lady just looked at me a little panicked, so I asked her what Andi said. Apparently she told the lady, " I know that's not really Santa, it's just a guy in a costume." And the lady couldn't figure out what to say in response, so I told her to go with Santas really busy this time of year so he has helpers to visit the kids while he gets ready for Christmas. She did, and Andi was fine with it. I was just impressed with the fact that Andi knew to whisper to the lady so she wouldn't ruin it for the other kids in line. She really goes back and forth on whether she believes or not. But here she is talking to Santa.

And this is as close as Sammy got, and only because he was holding out a candy cane.

Saturday my moms family came in to town and we had an early Christmas dinner with them, but I have no pictures of the event, as usual. We ate at the church building because there are just too many of us for one house, and while the girls cooked the boys played dodge-ball and volleyball in the gym. Thad always get a little too into dodge-ball and has been a bit sore since ;) The last of the gifts is finished and wrapped and we have a week to relax before all the fun begins. 

Born With It

I talk a lot about the kids on the blog, and mostly I talk about how insane they are. That's because most days this is what I get from them.

Lately though they are really starting to surprise me, in a good way. Whenever my Dad get's a compliment on his family, or his children he always gives the same response. And that is that he can't take the credit for how well we all turned out, that we all have had the desire to be good and do good from the beginning. I remember being a teenager, and I'm pretty sure I did not always have that desire, but the last few weeks I've started to understand what makes him say that.
Andi's most frequent question is, are you proud of me? She asks it about everything, from cleaning her room without being asked, to learning to crochet, to being nice to Sammy. "Are you proud of me for doing that?" with big puppy dog eyes hoping my answer is yes. It makes me feel like a crappy mom that she even has to ask, I guess I spend more time correcting her than complimenting her. But she continues to ask, and she tries her best to be good at everything so she will make us proud. A few weeks ago she earned a couple of dollars for helping my mom, after a lesson on tithing we went to the dollar store so she could spend her money. She picked out two things for herself and one for Sammy because she felt bad he didn't have any money to spend. I talked her in to saving it and giving it to him for a Christmas present. She has been so excited about the little dollar gift all wrapped in her closet, she can't wait to give it to him.
Sam is not as quick to do good, but he is quick to repent. He can tell from my tone of voice when he's in trouble and he immediately hangs his head and says "I sorry Momma."  Now if only he didn't have to say it so many times a day. He is also very loving. I was having a cranky day this week and Sammy walked up and said, "Can I hug you Momma?" and he did, and it helped.
Don't get me wrong, most days they are still crazy little beasts, but I am starting to see more of the inherent good in them as well, and we are having more sweet days.

Toothfairy Fun

The tooth fairy made her first visit to our house this week. Andi has had a "wiggly tooth" for some time now and Monday it finally came out. Once And showed Sammy the missing tooth he wanted one too and has been asking me ever since to take out one of his teeth. The fairy brought Andi a dollar and she could not wait to use it. Most days Andi would lounge in her jammies all day if I let her, but Tuesday morning she ate breakfast in record time, got herself dressed, brushed her teeth and hair and by 8 was ready to go to target to spend her dollar. She even picked out my clothes to help me get ready faster so we could go to the store sooner. Here she is in all her holey-grin glory.

She spent her money on a plastic horse in the dollar section at target, she even paid for it herself at the register which was super exciting.  The horse sits with her at mealtime to eat, she "brushes" it's hair and teeth morning an night, she puts it down for naps. On Wednesday when she went to school she left me a list of things I needed to do to take care of the horse while she was away. Seriously, that whole theory that kids who have to earn/pay for their own things take care of them better is so true. She has taken better care of this dollar horse than any other toy she has, because it was her money, and she bought it.
Sammy has turned meal times into a battle lately. He takes forever to eat anything and ends up in time out at least twice a dinner. Tuesday night I just left him at the table and didn't keep pestering him to eat and made sure no one else went in the kitchen to distract him. Really I just wanted to see how long he would drag it out, but then it got really quiet. And I found this.

 

He was out cold and almost fell out of the chair while Thad video taped him bobbing around. So maybe he's just really tired by dinner time and isn't in the mood to eat? Whatever it is, I hope he grows out of this phase soon.

Thanksgiving 2011

 We were lucky enough to have two thanksgiving dinners this year. We celebrated with my Mom's family at my Grandpas last weekend and had about 30 people at the shin dig. Yesterday we were with Thad's family at his grandparents, again with about 30 people.  Go big or go home right? In fact yesterday there were separate children and adult rooms for eating. Here's the older kids table, the 3 year old's had their own table in the corner.

16 children ages 12 and under! We were there a while before the cousins came and Andi and Sammy were getting a little bored, so Grandpa taught them how to stand on their heads. They didn't really get it, but we got a great picture of Grandpa demonstrating ;)

After we stuffed ourselves with the most amazing turkey ever and all the fixings, we had a little F.H.E. with a talent show and jeopardy game. It was a lot of fun. Andi represented the talent in our family by playing old MacDonald on the piano.

Once all the clean up was done the adult girls started going through ads and planning their black Friday strategy.  They were trying to talk me into joining them, but shopping in crowds of people is not on my fun least even at reasonable hours. That late, forget it. But their excitement rubbed off and Thad decided he needed to go with the girls just to see what all the fuss was about. So off to wait in line at Target they went at 11 pm.

Thad came home underwhelmed with the "deals" and shocked by the complete insanity of the crowds, but had a great time hanging out with his sister and cousins and laughing at everything for several hours. Today we are setting up our Christmas decorations, minus the tree, because Andi just could not wait one more second to start the Christmas countdown. I am loving her enthusiasm this year. Once we get rid of the kiddos for the night, I will be doing my version of black Friday shopping, on-line. This time tomorrow I should be 90% done with Christmas prep!

Under the Weather Adventures

Thad has been sick this week. Monday he took the day off to go to the Dr and get an antibiotic. The kids did their own exam as well.

I'm not sure why he has not learned that the living room floor isn't the best place to lay down and rest. The kids see that as the sign to pounce and tackle. Luckily for him they realized he was not feeling well and just played Dr instead. When Daddy was recovered a bit we decided to go for a picnic and the little zoo here in town. Hart park is a pretty decent size park, with a couple little ponds where people go to feed the ducks and geese, who sometimes charge and attack the nice people throwing them bread. So this trip we avoided the ponds and headed to an area full of peacocks. I have no idea why they are there, or how they got there, but we have peacocks in the park.

The kids tried to feed them, but they weren't interested in the bread. But it was really cool to just sit in the grass as they wandered around us.

After the picnic we headed to calm to see more animals. When we got to the mountain lions Thad has the kids run back and forth in front of their cage so he could get a video of them running around. It was kinda scary to see how they watched the kids. They were not interested in Thad or I, but they locked on to the kids and followed them as they ran.  The kids favorite is always the deer, they pick up random leaves and feed them, and the deer are very friendly.

Thad liked this guy.

It was a fun lazy afternoon with Daddy home.

Birthday & Halloween

It has been a fun filled weekend. Friday we celebrated Halloween. Andi got to dress up in her costume for dance. And we went straight from dance to the ward party. Sammy refused to wear his costume, in fact he was screaming I'm not Buzz, as I pulled the costume out of the closet. So he went to the party costume-less, but enjoyed himself none the less. Here is Andi in all her dark haired Snow White glory. We used the spray stuff on her hair and are still trying to wash it all the way out. She won the costume contest for her age group.

 

And with her dance class. 

Saturday was Sammy's birthday, the big 3.  He's been asking to go to pizza planet since he began his toy story phase a few months ago, and since he doesn't understand the concept that there really is no pizza planet, we took him to chuck-e-cheese as the next best thing. He fully realized that we were not at pizza planet when he saw the mouse on the sign and no giant robots or rockets, but he had a great time.  We went early in the morning so we had the place mostly to ourselves, and didn't have to buy their food. The kids were running around like crazy, so this really is the only shot of them we got together while we were there.

Sunday we had dinner with Thad's family at his Grandparents, and then my family came over for cake and ice cream and we celebrated Sammy some more. This is the first year he really got what "birthday" meant. He was so excited for cake and presents.

 He made out like a bandit and loved all of his presents. He tried to sleep with half of them, and has been carrying as many as he can hold all over the house.

Since it's actually Halloween today Thad went to work ready to win the costume contest. I present, Safety Jack. 

Pumpkins and October Fun

We've been checking off some fall festivities from our list the last two weeks. We visited the pumpkin patch with the cousins, but Kelsie took all the pictures on her camera, and left for Europe before I could get them from her. I do have one, but hers turned out better.

The kids had fun, and we brought home a couple of pumpkins for the porch. I almost bought a giant pumpkin like we did a few years back, but they didn't have one big enough to stick a kid in, so I figured it wasn't worth it.  We carved pumpkins last night for F.H.E. complete with caramel apples and baked pumpkin seeds. All day Andi was telling me that she was going to carve a pony and Sam should have a rocket on his. But we couldn't find an easy pony pattern, and I am not creative enough to figure that out on my own. I just don't have the vision. Here they are at work.

And here they are with the final product. Andi actually did a lot of the work on hers with some help from Daddy. Sam on the other hand spent his time stabbing the pumpkin with the little carving knives over and over while I cut out his design. But they both enjoyed themselves and were proud of their pumpkins.

Yes, it's the end of October and my kids are still in shorts. It's still hot around here! Here is our spooky porch. The kids kept going outside to look at the pumpkins and make sure they were still lit.

We have also been working on potty training the last few weeks. It's going to be a while before I can say he's really got this, but we've made some progress. And because of this we've had a lot of captain underpants lately, and he pretty much loves the freedom of no pants.

 We had our Primary program on Sunday, and as usual I'm relieved it's over. Andi did really well, especially considering that she was sick and coughing her head off the entire time. Poor thing. But our primary is so small, and she sings so loud we still needed her.

Family Journal

Another picture less post. I feel like I've got lot's to update on with the kids, but nothing that required any photo's, just funny tidbits to record for journaling purposes. I'll start with Sammy, who's voice has settled, and is much higher than it used to be. It's very cute. The interesting thing though is that without those massive tonsils he is peaking much more clearly. It's like he couldn't make his tongue work properly because it kept hitting the tonsils or something. That's just my theory. But I hear him repeating words to himself trying to say it correctly, and he can hear when it's off. So That has been a big improvement. Plus he doesn't snore anymore. The first few nights it made me nervous and I had to check to make sure he was breathing, but now we are enjoying the silence. We started attempt number two at potty training ysterday, and though it was a very rough long day, I feel like this time he understands what we are trying to do. Don't get me wrong, there were accidents galore, and I might have had to go to my room and throw a fit, but I'm hopeful he'll get it this time. We are bribing him with a trip to Pizza planet(Johns incredible pizza) so that might be helping. I have also discovered an entirely new side to this kid. When Andi is not around, like when she's at school or piano, Sammy is the sweetest, mellowest, most obedient and talkative kid. I don't know why he can't behave like that all the time, but I really enjoy our one on one time. Andi's a bit the same way though. If I go somewhere with just her, she is so much more cooperative and peaceful. When they are together though it's madness. For some reason the car make it worse. We can not be in the car for more than 15 seconds before they are yelling and hitting and fighting. Sam's favorite thing to do is to wait till Andi starts talking to me and then yell "Don't talk to Mommy. Andi stop whining." And then she yells back that she is allowed to talk, and then proceeds to tell me what Sammy said, as if I did not already hear him. They are insane. Sammy is totally obsessed with Cars and toy story right now. He likes Nemo and the Incredibles too, but he would watch Woody and Lightning every day if I let him. Multiple times a day actually.Oh, and he's still totally OCD about story time. We now can read The caboose that got loose, or the little red caboose. That is all. Every day.
Andi is doing really well with her school work. She loves reading and math. She does not love science or social studies, mostly because they are a little boring. I need to put some effort into making those more interesting for her. She started Piano lessons a few weeks ago, and it's been frustrating for her. She is used to things coming easily to her, and Piano is not. There are a lot of difficult concepts, and she is really having to work at it, which bothers her. But when she hears pretty piano music she knows she wants to play like that, so she keeps practicing. She is also doing well in Ballet. I can see a big difference in her this year already. Cathy is really challenging these little girls, but they are doing well. Andi is really trying to be a grown up these days. She wants to do everything without help, from making her own sandwiches and snacks, to going  places without me. After school one day I asked if she wanted me to come help in her class. "Um, no. I miss you when you aren't there, but I like being there by myself." I reminded her that some of the other kids moms stay to help, but she said, "That's okay mom, I don't want you to stay." You'd think I'd be offended or something, but Andi came that way. She has always been independent and we kind of like that about her. With Halloween coming she has decide she wants to be snow white, and she would like me to cut her hair and dye it black so she can look just like her for reals. So now I need to find a wig, because that is just not happening.