What Christian Says

Last night Christian was having a melt down at bedtime because Ethan was staying up later since he had a nap. This is nothing new, it just hasn't happened in a while, and Christian was EXTREMELY tired, so he couldn't handle it. And in the middle of this big meltdown, jake accidentally stepped on his hand, since he was melting down in the middle of the doorway. Of course, that only escalated the melt down and now he couldn't go to bed for sure! He wanted a BIG bandaid, but I told him we didn't have any, and that he would be okay. Somehow, I eventually managed to get him calmed down, and convinced him to climb the ladder into his bed. Just as he was about to be tucked in this took place:

C: Mom, I really do need a bandaid....do you remember which hand it was?
M: Christian, if you can't even remember which hand it was, you don't need a bandaid.
C: no, it really hurts! Can you please tell me which hand it was?

I couldn't help but laugh. :)

Valentine's Day

The day started with strawberries, bananas and vanilla syrup over pink waffles.  Mmm, that was a heavenly way to start our day!  It continued with a trip to Target to pick up some last minute valentines for Christian's preschool party (not so fun...bad idea actually...a good reminder why I NEVER take all three with me to go shopping).  The afternoon included sugar cookie making and decorating and heart-shaped pizza making.  In the end, I decided I did way too much for one day, but at least the cookies were cute and yummy too!  For our Valentine's date night the Bishopric came over after the boys were in bed.  Romantic, huh?  But otherwise it probably would have been more unpacking, so it was a good alternative.  :)

The most memorable thing about Valentine's this year were two little monkeys that Christian and Ethan got from Grandma and Grandpa.  They loved them, they played with them, and they named them--Christian's is George (he is still sleeping with him) and Ethan's is Suitcase.  And that is my favorite thing about Valentine's this year.  Ethan's sock monkey named Suitcase!  I have no idea why he named him that, but I think it's the perfect name for a little sock monkey!  :)

Meet Suitcase :)

SOLD! and We've moved!

On February 8 we moved to our new house!

Over Christmas break we found this house online, called up the realtor and went and looked at it.  We had been looking at houses online for over a year, but this was the first one we actually stepped foot in.  And then we bought it!  We did go look at a few others to compare, but nothing came close.  And it just fits us.  The family before us had three little girls, similar ages, and so in a lot of ways, it was remodeled just right.  Some great perks we are enjoying:  in-ground trampoline in the backyard, entirely re-done inside, basketball hoop in the driveway, lots of storage space, and a basement to play in.  We are loving the extra space, the yard, the basketball hoop, the extra space, the neighborhood, and did I mention the extra space?  I don't think I realized how nice it would be to have a little more room.  :)  So here we are now, and we love it!

Moving day went quite smoothly.  Every time we move I am humbled and reminded of how blessed we are, what wonderful friends we have, and how generous people can be.  We had fifteen people show up to help us--some from our ward, some family, and a couple friends.  We started at 4 pm that afternoon, and we were moved OUT of our duplex and INTO our new house by 8 pm.  The whole crew followed us to our new house and got us moved in.  Unbelievable.  We felt so loved.  Thank you, thank you to all who helped and gave us their time and muscles that evening.

Each move has brought new experiences, new friendships and new opportunities.  I strongly believe that God leads us to places to meet PEOPLE who will change our lives.  The last two years have certainly been such.  Almost every time we have moved (seven times in the last seven years) we have moved too far away from friends to keep in touch beyond blogs, cell phones, emails and an occasional visit.  But this time was different.  We moved out of our ward and our stake, but we are still close, and close enough that I am still playing basketball with the women from my stake and still trading babysitting with my friend from down the street.  I am so grateful for that.  I know in time we will make good friends in our new ward and neighborhood, but I am so grateful for the friends I can still see regularly.  It makes me happy.  They have changed my life and I am grateful to still be a part of theirs.  And leaving has certainly made me grateful for what wonderful people we came in contact with each day.  You know, you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone?  Well, now I am the other side, and I'm so glad it's not completely gone.  I really appreciate these wonderful friends!

What Ethan Says

Mommy:  Ethan, did you look outside and see the rain?
Ethan: No. Me and Daddy looked at the rain on his iPad.  It was green.  And we watched a movie of it.

(The green was the color of the rain on the doppler screen.)

Seriously?  Ethan is three and he's too hi-tech to look at REAL rain?!  :)

Friends from the ATL

February couldn't have started out any better.  We closed on our house on the 2nd, and the very next day our dear friends the Salmons showed up to stay the night with us.  We were so lucky we got to see them!!  It's been two years since we saw them last and it felt like nothing had changed...except that we had each added one more child to our bunch, therefore outnumbering the adults 6 to 4.  Christian and Anya seemed to pick right back up where they left off, Austira and Ethan were a little unsure at first, and poor Olympia was scared to death of Owen and his LOUDNESS.  Hopefully she'll warm up to him in the coming years.  :) Despite the difference in girl/boy interest, they managed to find some fun things to play together and most importantly, they all agreed on POPCORN.  Thanks so much for visiting, Salmons!  We can't wait until next time....and now we have your very own bedroom to sleep in!  Thanks for putting up with our boxed up mess when you came.  

   

 

Blogging Overload

Okay, so I'm WAY behind on my blogging.  And I apologize to those of you who have been waiting for me to get ON the ball.  A few reasons...we moved, we took forever to set up our computer, still trying to get entirely organized, we had to speak in church (which entailed WRITING our talks, right?), and once we finally dumped all our pictures from our full memory card to the computer and I was ready to start blogging, the computer crashed!  Of course.  And it still hasn't been revived.  So I'm done waiting, and luckily we also backed up all our pics at the same time, so now I'm blogging from our external hard drive full of my pictures I'm behind on.  I hope you're ready for some blogging overload....

A long time ago (like back on January 20th) we went to the Children's Museum, because we have a pass there.  It's an awesome deal-- it gets six people in, it's for six months, and I share it with my sister, which means we split the cost.  We have actually been there quite a few times, but I don't usually take pictures because I'd rather just enjoy watching my boys play.  But apparently I couldn't resist this cute face this day... 

I have never actually captured the joy of this activity, but this is close...open the door and stuff the ball inside, while your face is gusted by the blowing air that makes the ball contraption work.  I LOVE watching my kids do this.  The wind in their face is priceless.  :)

Owen, 11 Months

 In one short month, my little baby is going to be a year! Owen is such a blessing in our family and I just can't get enough of him. I will never tire of kissing those cute cheeks, blowing bubbles on his neck and making him laugh, squishing our faces together, and just breathing in his smell. Mmmm, I love how he smells. I just want to keep him baby forever. :). But alas, it is not to be and we are very blessed with a growing, healthy baby. And boy is he growing! At 11 months, Owen:


--weighs 23 pounds! He is definitely my biggest baby yet, and he will be ready to face forward in the car in another month!
--wears 18 month clothes
--has four teeth...he cut three in a week to bring his total to four

--loves to eat, anything! He is a GREAT eater, and gobbles up pretty much anything we are eating, including tonight's dinner, steak! He loved it! N wonder this boy weighs a ton and my back is killing me!

--crawls really fast, pulls himself up to stand, but no cruising along furniture yet, which I'm totally fine with. Although the way my back has been feeling, I'm thinking it might be nice if he could walk around and follow me!

--loves books, and DOGS. He thinks every book is about a dog.
--can make the dog sound "woof! Woof!" only his sounds more like "oh! Oh!". But it's super cute and he does it the minute you walk in his room in the morning, in the middle of the night, or anytime he sees books. He is so much fun!
--loves balls! His word for ball seems to be DA!
--loves to play downstairs in the basement and gets mad if he doesn't get to go down there when someone else goes down
--has learned the word (or sound) for no! He says, "nnnnah!" with just the right tone. Those brothers are teaching him well. :)
--gets his feelings hurt when a toy is taken from him and has the cutest, saddest face I've ever seen
--still screams, only the duration of each seems to have lengthened a bit. Still as high pitched as you can ever imagine. Still making us all crazy.
--puts up with way too much...he's tough! Ethan has been quite the tormentor these days, constantly laying on him or rolling on him. Owen screams at him or just crawls away if he' not stuck.
--sleeps through the night, from 6:30 pm to 6:30 or 7 am. Every now and then he wakes up between 4 and 5, eats, and goes back to sleep. He's such a good baby!
--is still nursing a little, just morning and evening. Looking forward to putting him on milk in a sippy cup next month! :)
--takes two naps
--is ticklish, and we love to tickle him and hear him laugh!
--is so fun to play with! I love to crawl around on the floor and play peek a boo around the couch. Owen and Christian were playing in the living room the other day and I could hear squeals of laughter from Owen over and over. I finally went and watched and what i saw was hilarious! They had invented a game together, where they would crawl from one end of the couch to the other, then bury their face in the couch and just squeal with delight. Owen was having the time of his life with Christian! It was so cute to watch.
--is just so loved. So very loved.

At church today an older gentleman sitting behind us during Sunday school, who had just watched us attempt to entertain Owen for the last hour, commented, "I know that little boy is active, but I can tell that he is very loved because of that sweet smile on his face."

He was right, Owen, you are very loved! VERY. Love, Mommy

What Christian Says

Christian has been having a hard time remembering to flush and wash his hands, but then he will tell us he did when we ask. Jake caught him in the act of lying today:

Daddy: Christian, did you flush?
Christian: no.
Daddy: did you wash your hands?
Christian: um, yes.

Daddy went and checked to see if the sink was wet. It wasn't.

Daddy: Chrsitian, you didn't wash your hands. You lied to me. Christian, does Jesus teach us to lie?
C: no.
D: who is the opposite of Jesus?
C: Satan.
D: Satan teaches us to lie, did you know that?
C: daddy, are Satan's pants on fire?

What Ethan Says

I was going to sit down and write Somme actual blog posts with pictures, but the boys seem to have messed up the computer--it just keeps looping and won't start up! Argh. So instead, I'm going to start the first of many of these posts to come.

One of my most favorite things that Ethan says right now is Buzz Lightyear. Only he gets it backwards and can't say it his L's, so it comes out as Wuzz Biteyear. Oh my, it cracks us up every time.

This morning:
Daddy: Ethan, who is on your underwear?
Ethan: Wuzz Biteyear.

You can bet that we asked him that question probably at least 20 times today. :)