Thanksgiving Fun

We were so lucky to be able to go up to Ogden for four days! We left Tuesday after school got out and it was all fun after that. I was lucky enough on Wednesday to be able to help my mom prep most of our Thanksgiving dinner. One thing I don't make very often is my own pie crusts and my mom always makes homemade pie crusts no matter what. It was so much fun. Being in the kitchen is so much fun for me. We were bummed that night to find out Mitch and Cami weren't going to make it for the big day. They surprised us the next morning by coming and it made the day awesome! The boys went golfing for free at El Monte again, luckily it was a perfect day. We got the turkey and stuffing done and really got to just relax and watch the boys until about 2:30pm. All of us were there including my two uncles Brad and Gary. It was wonderful and I officially decided my Grandma's stuffing recipe is my favorite! Love it. We thought about Black Friday shopping and that's about it. We went and saw the lights at Temple Square which was fun on Friday along with REI (a fav store). On Saturday we hung out and then saw the lights and fireworks in Downtown Ogden. I forgot how much downtown has changed, it has some cute shops and nice restaurants I want to try next time we are up there.

Our thankful tree was filled to the brim by the time we left for Ogden. Every morning the boys would think of something new and it really helped teach them how much there is to be thankful for. Every morning though I would ask Hunter what he was thankful for and he would say Daddy every time! I think we finally have him weaned off his mother just in the nick of time for the new baby.

 The boys had a great time with Grandpa blowing the leaves, jumping in them, raking them back up and jumping again. They must have done it a hundred times!

 Everyone was nervous about the turkey, two years ago it never cooked and dinner was late and we actually had to cook it the rest of the way in the microwave. I was in charge this year and it worked perfectly. Jeff was our keeper of the turkey and kept predicting the exact time it would be done. He was off by 5 min. Pretty good!

 This was my favorite picture of the day, the boys were so excited for turkey legs and I am so glad I remembered at the last minute as we were cutting it up. 

 Here is the family! Can you tell we have a "surplus" of boys around here! Three girls to 11.5 boys. The odds are against us. 

 I have been waiting for the day when the boys could all sleep out in the living room and this weekend was it! In a few more years boys will be overflowing in this room.

 The boys love to play with Grandma's toys but this was the first time they have played with her Legos. They were everywhere and a total hit! The boys were so creative with what they made out of them. 

Let the holidays begin!!!

We have started the holidays here at our house and we have started a new Thanksgiving tradition besides and yummy food. I have wanted to do this for two years now and the kids are finally old enough to understand. It's our thankful tree, it doesn't have much on it after our first day in November but by turkey day it will be packed with all the things we are thankful for. Next year I think I might laminate the tree, boy did it take forever to cut out all those branches, but it was all worth it to teach those boys how to be thankful.

 Our next little project in the month of November had to do with kittens. Jeff had left for the week to go hunting in CO and I had talked my mom into skipping school on Friday to spend the weekend with us. One of our weekly duties is feeding the chickens down at the barn. As I was just finishing up, the boys found two tiny kittens in the pig pens next door. They were just meowing like crazy and so little. Of course those sweet compassionate hearts just wanted to love and hold them. Whereas their mother, who despises cats of all shapes and sizes was not about to let them touch those things! After a look from my mom and multiple from the boys I gave in and we had a new project on our hands. Luckily this was not the first cat to be taken in and we got the old kitty stand out in the back of the barn. We took them home, made them a bed with soft blankets and started to feed them. They had all this pus in their eyes so, much to my disgust, we wiped it all out with hydrogen peroxide. They then decided to start drinking milk and eating tuna. Golden! Now they can feed themselves and we are set for the week till its warms up and they can get the mice at the barn. My heart did soften a bit and the boys would hold them anytime they meowed and put them to sleep. 

 On Sunday however, my mom mentioned cleaning out their bed. I didn't hear them making any noise and she said they were still sleeping. A couple hours later I went out to check on them and lifted up the stand to look at them and I had to make the sad announcement that they were dead! They didn't believe me, so they picked up the dead kittens, heads flopping all over. So here I am my prego self in my pjs with a coat on trying to dig a grave in frozen ground. I only made it maybe 10 inches down and that was it. So into the shallow grave they went as the boys watched from the deck upstairs with tears in their eyes. Luckily they had chosen to stay in the house because as I shoveled more dirt on the poor things the bigger orange one let out one last feeble meow as I put the dirt on. My heart had changed for those two little kittens over the past two days and tears started coming. It was a life lesson learned for the boys and we talked about life after death and the resurrection. It was a lesson learned for me about compassion for all that our Father in Heaven as created. 

 We had so much fun with my mom. We built a snowman and went to the swimming pool for our Saturday entertainment.  I never could have done that weekend without her! 

 First snowman of the year!

Halloween 2011 Fun

It was Halloween again and we were ready for those Halloween traditions. When it comes to Halloween I love seeing my kids get excited to "become" someone or something else. I love to watch their faces as they pick out their costumes and try them on. We have started making Halloween traditions and now I look forward to this every year. We traditionally carve pumpkins one or two days before Halloween, everyone comes over and we have seeds and knives everywhere. I love to watch the kids faces as they dig out the squishiness inside the pumpkin because that's my favorite part! While we are carving pumpkins we are watching Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin. Jeff always records it for the boys. This year along with some treats I wanted to try making carmel apples, the kind you buy in stores. It was fun and my teeth were killing me after eating them.  

Jaxon carved and drew and gutted his own pumpkin all by himself this year. We even gave him the knife and he cut it all. No help whatsoever. Time is flying by and they are getting so big!

On Halloween day we take pictures on the steps out front of each of the kids and sometimes cousins will be there for the fun too. Then all three of our families meet at the corner and away we go to trick or treat. My goal with Hunter "the Monkey" was to get him to trick or treat to one house, eat that candy then get out for another house after that first candy was gone. It worked perfectly and we didn't have much leftover. 

Jaxon was Captain America and ran ahead of us all with his buddy Kyler. He racked in the most candy obviously.

Jake was our Knight in Shining Armor and boy was he cute. His costume even said Sir Jake on the cape.  He loves the candy but didn't like walking quite that far. I am glad we have an obsession with Knights, maybe he will be some cute girls Prince Charming someday. After Trick or Treating we met at Jayme's for Chili and Cornbread, my favorite! Then off the Grandma's to give her a scare. 

Art Project

The other day Jaxon received a flyer from school telling them about Reflections. I was excited, since I had won Reflections in elementary once and wanted him to have the same experience with Art. The them however was "Diversity Means..." I asked him what diversity meant and I got the blank stare and a random guess. I kept pushing the issue and we even got an idea until I found out each student has to explain why their project goes with "Diversity Means..." He had no idea and I was bummed but we decided to make it a family art project. The boys and I went downstairs with our canvas, crayons and hairdryer. At first we were going to do each canvas one color, blue, yellow and red. Until we realized how mundane peeling labels off crayons is. So we combined our efforts and each boys picked a color, peeled their crayons, and got to help hot glue the crayons onto the canvas. The best part was using the hairdryer to heat up and melt the crayons and watch the action. I was so proud of them and it was so much fun for me, as their mother, to see them get excited about art. I am in no way artistic naturally, but I am a good copier and I loved it when I was little. My mom's uncle was an artist and I remember copying his drawings for hours on end. Mostly they were of old houses and the countryside but that's when I started to love to draw. Unfortunately that talent wasn't used and it disappeared. We are hanging it up in the boys bedroom and we now just need a couple more projects like that to have it all decorated. Man I love my boys!

Where did October Go???

The month of October brought nothing but sickness for the whole month, we are still recovering.  Halloween is around the corner and we are hoping that we all stay well through the holidays to come. During are well moments we were able to get garden all cleaned up and enjoy the last fruits of our labors. Its sad to see those juicy tomatoes go but the more pregnant I get the less motivated I am for bottling. I was somewhat glad to see it go this year.

We finished up our soccer games and have been to the cabin quite a few times soaking up the beauty and mountain air. I have begun our holiday shopping, hoping to keep the craziness of it all in check so I can relax and wait for this sweet baby to come.

We are settled into our school routine and both the boys love to go and tell us all about it when they get home. After this last storm I am trying to think up new ways of entertainment for the boys since its too chilly outside to play.
Our latest is an art project, which was originally going to be for Jaxon to do for Reflections at school but the theme was Diversity Means... and you can't get a six year old to explain and understand what diversity means. So we ended up doing the project with all three of them and it was a lot of fun. It reminded me of when I was little and loved to draw and was pretty good at it. I don't know where that talent went to, I must have stopped doing it and it left me. This brought back a little spark.

We sadly had to say goodbye to our babysitter Kristina she has watched the kids consistently since Jake was 8 months old. She was like a second mother to them and she knew exactly how to handle each of my kids perfectly and was perfectly patient, like our own Mary Poppins but younger and so much cuter!!! She is expecting in November and now its her turn to be super mom, which we know she will. I love her like a sister and always will. She threw the kids a Halloween party to get them all excited about the holiday and it did it! We are on a sugar high at our house and the holidays are just beginning.

Hunter is Two

I can't believe my baby is two years old. We celebrated on Sunday with our traditional breakfast party. On the day of each child's birthday they get to choose their favorite breakfast and we make it and light candles and have our little family party. Hunter is the complete opposite of the other two and only likes eggs for breakfast. He will tolerate some cereal and maybe eat a pancake but never indulges himself unless its eggs. We had a party that night with the whole family over and he was so cute. Maybe its because he has watched so many other birthdays of cousins but he totally understood what he was doing and what came next. He is my photogenic kid too, so I ask him for a picture and I get exactly what he is feeling in that picture! We had an airplane party because he is amazed as we watch them in our front yard and he can hear them coming and we always have to wait and find it. All I can say is thank heavens for the internet, I found some great tips for an airplane cake. I think that is my favorite part about birthdays is helping the kids figure out what kind of fun cake we should do and then we go for it!

 Breakfast Party!

This was from a McQueen car he got.

Happy Cake Eating!

I'm in love with his reactions!

Hunter we love you for so many reasons the list could go on forever, but if we had to choose just two:
1) We can't resist you dimpled smile no matter what you are doing or saying it melts our hearts and your brothers and you usually get whatever you want!
2) We love your excitement for life, no matter what it is you are our example of embracing life as it comes no matter what changes. You like to gallop to whatever is next whether its breakfast in the morning or galloping out to the car for a trip to the park. It makes us smile and helps us remember that its the little things in life that really give us joy.
Happy 2nd Birthday to our Joyful Hunter!!! We love you!

Fall Soccer

Its that time again! Fall soccer has started and our Saturdays are filled with games. This is Jake's first year playing on the little fields and I see potential in him, still a little timid when he sees a big guy coming up fast. This past Saturday he did awesome defending the goal and stopping some shots. Jaxon is in the U8 division and is now on the bigger field. I like to actually watch the games now, they get to touch a ball a lot more and his coach is really awesome and has taught them a lot of things. This is also his first year of having practice on a different day than his game. It has been an adjustment for me to have him gone each Monday till 6pm, but thankfully I have some good friends that have boys on the same team and they are great to carpool with! Go Broncos and Red Dragons!

First day of Preschool

There is something so exciting about the first day of school. It is the same for my kids as it was for me. You just can't stop counting down the days, you hardly sleep the night before, you already have your new school clothes picked out  (the ones you mom wouldn't let you were for months now),  you are up and ready with chores done in lightning speed. This is how Jake was this morning. He was so pumped to go! He is especially lucky because he gets to ride his bike to preschool. When we met his teacher we went through the whole routine of stopping at the stop sign, waiting for his cousin, staying close to or on the sidewalk and watching for cars. We followed him, much to his dismay, and he just took off without us. He came home so excited to show us the chicken dance he learned, his "kissing hand" (I love that book!), and that you can only run outside not inside! He made it all the way home without me and I am so proud to be the mommy of this handsome funny guy!

Cooking

Each one of my kids has loved to help in the kitchen and its about at 2 years that they actually get what is going on and I love it! The older boys were out playing and Hunter and I were alone to make mint brownies. He was such a good helper to dump it all in. And who doesn't like to lick the chocolately bowl at the end. I love it that he is starting to talk so well. This day he looked up at me as I was starting and said, "Me help?" How could I resist that!

Abscessed tooth

I week or so ago Jake started complaining about his mouth. Coming from a family that constantly gets canker sores I figured he had one and tried to get him to just let it get better. I also knew he was due for a dentist appt. soon and it could definitely be a cavity with this kiddo. The next day it hurt him when we brushed his teeth and he was screaming at me. He wouldn't tell me exactly where it hurt and I couldn't see anything wrong. He just kept screaming and then I started losing it because I felt helpless that I couldn't fix it for him. We had to run a quick errand and he fell asleep at 10am, so I knew something had to be wrong. He woke up screaming and holding his face again so I gave him some Tylenol and he fell back asleep for 3 hours. That night I was dreading but he slept all night. However when he came into our bed in the morning his face was huge and swollen and he had a fever. I had no idea what it could be. We called the dentist and they told me it was an abscessed tooth. The kid was so patient to wait till the afternoon when they had an opening for him. We know his dentist pretty well and I trust him so much. He looked at the x-ray and said the tooth was abscessed but there was no reason why and we would have to pull it. They sedated him and the Dr. said when he went in there was so much pressure behind it it burst all over. (Sorry kinda graphic) He was hurting that first day and so out of it, but the next day he was like a new kid even though his face stayed swollen for four days afterward. The dentist gave him a cool little tooth carrier and the tooth fairy came to visit us for the first time. What a brave kid. Hope is doesn't happen again though.