Leaf Pile!

Introduced Sam to the leaves today.

I think he liked it.

There's a 5 year old boy in my house...

I know this because every room is littered with some sort of car, action figure, block, or some such other toy that makes me scream if I were to step on it.

The collectible toy of the day (or of the last year and a half) is Skylanders. And not just the first Skylanders. We've now moved from the first game, to Giants, the second game, and now onto the third and newest game of the series, Swap Force.

Nathan sleeps, lives, and breathes Skylanders. (He'd eat it too if it were possible.) Nearly every waking moment he's either talking about what figure he's going to buy next, or playing with the ones he currently has. Ironically, we originally bought the game with Audrey in mind because she was just getting the hang of playing games with Dad, and we figured Nathan would eventually catch on when he was old enough to figure out the controller.

Well, he did. And here we are today, listening to him recite the catch phrases and stats of each character. I often have to pretend I'm listening because I've heard it many many times before, as has everyone he meets. His preschool teacher know what it is. So do his primary teachers. Whoever comes across his path hears about Skylanders.

I asked him this morning if he could talk about something else other than Skylanders. Want to know what he picked?

I'm in for it...

My poor baby

While I was working out at the church this morning, Sam was wandering aimlessly around the gym and managed to walk into the instructor's foot as we were doing a kicking move. He landed on the floor with a great thud and everyone gasped. I thought for sure he was going to end up with a black eye, but for now everything appears normal. Well, as normal as you can get with an adventurous toddler.

It's a good thing babies have such hard heads!

Choir time!

I love singing, especially in a choir. With the Christmas season coming up pretty soon, the ward choir is starting to get a few songs ready and I'm really excited to be part of that. I missed the last few years singing in the choir festival because of pregnancy and illness and taking care of tiny little baby, so it's good to go back.

Except I've got a new problem. Normally Ammon would take the kids home while I stayed to practice after church, but now he's not only the membership clerk for our ward, but he's also taken on the financial clerk duties as well. That calling is much more time intensive than the first, and it's typically done directly after church is over. 

Right at the same time choir practice starts.

Sure, I could give it up and just take the kids home on time, but I kinda need this. I love being mom, but I also need a chance to be me. Sometimes the me inside gets forgotten, and this is one of the few things that I love and make me who I am.

So I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to make this work because trying to get three little kids to sit in the chapel while I'm practicing didn't work. I can depend on Audrey to do many things for me, but trying to wrangle two crazy little boys is just too much for her. (Some days it's too much for me.)

Today, however, I think I may have found the solution.

My church calling is to work with the 12-13 year olds in Young Women. I teach their class nearly every week and go to weekly activities as well. I adore these girls and love getting to know them better. So today, I asked one of them if she would be willing to stay after church with me to watch the kids while I got to practice with the choir. She thankfully agreed and followed me to the chapel as soon as church was over.

I wish I had had this idea sooner, because it worked out perfectly! Aside from one stinky diaper, I got to sing uninterrupted and I had someone I trusted watching the kids. Now I can sing to my heart's content without having to worry.

Pajama party

We got the kids to finish their chores by bribing them with a movie night. They love to do this, so after many long agonizing hours of nagging them to clean up, everything was picked up in a flash and they were ready to watch The Croods. Then we surprised them again by allowing them to call some friends over to join in. You'd think Christmas had come early!

Audrey and Nate pulled out just about every spare blanket and pillow in the house and laid them out in front of the tv. I made up the popcorn and gave everyone their own bowls. Five little kids were completely enthralled with the movie. It was better than I expected it to be. By the time the credits rolled, they were all clapping and drumming in time with the beat of the ending song. (Owl City, one of our favorites!)

The return of NaBloPoMo!

It has been way too long since I tried to blog. And there's been many reasons for it: slight laziness, not enough time to sit at the computer to do it, (I'm trying this out from the Blogger app on the iPad) and most of all, three little children constantly asking for attention.

Well, only one of those needs constant attention. His name is Samuel and I swear he's going to find every hypothetical cliff in our house and throw himself from it, while yelling "look at me!"

See? Once he scaled the table, he's never looked back.

So expect a month full of his antics. There will be appearances from the other kids too, but because Audrey's in school all day and Nathan has preschool three days a week, there aren't quite as many pictures of them.

But now to start off this month the right way: a recap of Halloween 2013!

Audrey was the cutest pink cowgirl princess, Nathan was once again a ninja turtle (Leonardo this year) and Sam fit perfectly into Nate's old monkey costume. I wore my old Ruby Moon costume from my cosplaying days, but everyone just assumed I was a fairy. (Much easier to explain.)

This year, Audrey begged to go off with her friends, and since they had several adults with them, I was okay with it. (My baby girl is 7! Not ready for this at all!) She went one direction and I headed the other way with Nathan at my side and Sam in the stroller. It was overcast and a little chilly, but still great weather for trick-or-treating.

Nathan started out by saying he wanted to go everywhere and "get candy for five hours" but after just one hour, he was ready to be done and go home. He did pretty well for a five year old. Sam had had it about the same time too. He's still getting into the whole spirit of Halloween, but was thrilled any time someone handed him a piece of candy.

I kept telling Nathan we needed to sort through his haul, but he was too excited to sit down and do it.

Audrey didn't come home for at least another hour and she probably got twice as much candy as Nathan did. She worked hard for it!

We're up to our ears in candy here. I'll have to get creative with it. (Pinterest, here I come!)

Return to Disney on Ice

The last time Audrey and I went to Disney on Ice, it was 2009, and she was only 2 1/2. She also got scared and we left halfway through the show. Now, 4 years later, we decided to give it another go. This was a really fun show!

still just as excited (and look at that awesome snowcone!)

our view of the stage

Princess and the Frog

Cinderella

Rapunzel and Flynn Rider

swinging on Rapunzel's hair

The finale with all the princesses and fireworks!

 

 

 

What a fun mommy/daughter date!

Loose tooth!

I was getting used to Audrey losing teeth. In fact, on the last occasion she left a dollar and a hair clip for the Tooth Fairy, who we discovered goes by the name of Petunia.

But I wasn't ready for Nathan's turn. After all, he's only 4. I discovered his loose tooth by accident one night while I was helping him floss. (Trying to be a better mother, you know.) He didn't know it was loose either until I said something. Audrey on the other hand, has been aware of each loose tooth and runs around the house hyperventilating any time I mention trying to wiggle it out.

So last night while waiting for Ammon to get home and wrangling the baby and trying to get dinner ready at the same time, Audrey and Nathan were chasing each other around the house and wrestling each other on the floor. Nathan ran by me at one point and I noticed a dark shadow in his mouth.

"Nathan, where's your tooth?"

He clasped his hands over his mouth and ran back upstairs to the kitchen floor where they had been wrestling and thankfully, it was still there.

I'm not too overly surprised that he lost his tooth this early because he got them when he was 3 months old. They don't go back to the dentist until May so I'll hear what the dentist has to say about it then.

Oh, and I'm being reminded that the Tooth Fairy brought him a dollar and an eagle action figure (that goes with his castle he got at Christmas). He tells everyone about it the first chance he gets.

Brothers

Christmas Eve

Our annual tradition of a new ornament and new jammies continues, this time with someone new!

Sam enjoyed the paper a little more than the actual gift.

 

This year's new ornaments: Audrey got Rapunzel, Nathan got Phineas and Ferb, and Sam got a Winnie the Pooh 1st Christmas ornament.

Merry Christmas!

Rolling over!

Christmas prep!

just call the kids Hansel and Gretel, cause they really want to eat this house.

Four Months!

Sam's 4 month stats:

14 lbs 10 oz (75%)

24 in (10%)

I'm just happy he's put on so much weight. Before we figured out the reflux stuff I was beside myself with worry over his lack of weight gain. Now he's just the perfect size.

And now that he's 4 months, we get to experiment a little:

Daddy was excited to be the first one to give him cereal.

Looks like a winner!

I need an actual elf to help me.

trying to get things wrapped with three busy and curious kids is rather difficult. I'm going to have to get creative on hiding places next year!

Daddy-Daughter Date!

One of the things I really enjoy about being a dad is sharing my hobbies and interests with the children and seeing them take a real interest in them.

Audrey is our little gamer at this point. Nathan wants to be, but hasn't figured out the coordination just yet, but he does have fun playing Skylanders on occasion. Audrey on the other hand has taken my DS and has a small collection of games for it, the Wii, and the PS3. So when Julia and I went to Video Games Live last year, Audrey was pretty jealous. We bought the concert bluray, which Audrey enjoys watching. We kept our eye on the VGL site to see when the next Salt Lake concert would be held to take Audrey.

Unfortunately, Salt Lake wasn't on the docket this year. Idaho Falls, on the other hand, was. With the grandparents nearby, we thought it would work so we picked up tickets (and I could hang out with a few friends I haven't seen in years).

So between August and November our house was filled with anticipation. Audrey and I were packed and ready to go for a few days. Nate joined us on the drive at the last minute to give Julia peace.

Seated and waiting for the show to start.

Audrey had far too many sweets during the day and she knew it, so when her uncle came back with root beer instead of the water that was requested she was a bit anxious about drinking it. She ended up with a tummy ache and sat on my lap for the majority of the show.

This CD has been on repeat in Audrey's room for the past week.

Idaho Falls was quite a small venue. I'm surprised they performed here.

The concert was great. Audrey's favorite pieces were Mario, Sonic, and Pokemon, though she also perked up at a few others. It was a lot of fun to spend that time with her. She's already asked when the next concert will be.

Howdy Pilgrim

How to Cook a Turkey, by Nathan (as told to his preschool teacher)

"You put the frozen turkey in the oven on hotter for 100 days."

playing games

because shiny noisy things are the most fun of all!

happy baby!

Where's Baby?

 While we're nowhere ready to have him start eating solids (he's only 3 months after all) I have discovered that I can get a lot more done in the kitchen while he sits here.

Thankfully, he tolerates it much more than the carseat!