Merry Christmas and Resolutions

Merry Christmas! We sent this picture along with our Christmas cards this year. I wish I could send one to everyone, but that would be a butt load of cards. So I'm sharing it here at least. Along with the photo we sent a little letter that included our family's resolutions for 2010.

2010 New Years Resolutions

KC's Resolutions

1. Do not move again.
2. Finish at 284 or better in the triathalon.
3. Pass CFA Level 1

My Resolutions

1. Keep the house clean more than 1 day at a time.
2. Make a home grown batch of salsa.
3. Do not read more than 1 book a week.

Andrew's Resolutions

1. Get the Dragon Award (read 20 minutes everyday among other things)
2. Clear Super Mario Sunshine
3. Make one goal every soccer game.

Isaac's Resolutions

1. Learn the numbers and letters.
2. Don't kill the cat. (on accident)
3. Grow taller than Andrew.

William's Resolutions

1. Start walking.
2. Say first word.
3. Start Nursery.

Befores and Afters

At the time when you look at yourself in the mirror you think, "yeah I need to lose a few pounds." A check on the digital scale confirms that thought. But the thought is often never strong enough to translate into action.

After having a baby this year, I knew I needed to at least get back to where I was before I got pregnant. I had been working out and was in an okay spot. KC had been fighting an uphill battle ever since we got married. His desk job didn't help since he spent a lot of his days sitting. In the end though, food is just so good! It's hard to resist that bedtime bowl of cereal, or that handful of cheese and crackers. So at the end of August after a year of trying to get motivated KC told me that he wanted to do the Weight Watchers system without actually joining Weight Watchers. He said he wouldn't do it unless I did it with him. So with the help of the Internet we "joined". We figured out our points and bookmarked some calculators. It turned out that I get 10 extra points for nursing William, so my points were the same as KC's. So we took our measurements on the last Sunday in August and started.

Fast forward 2 1/2 months and we were amazed at the results. I lost 15 pounds, KC lost 30... 30! He didn't even do that much exercise. All I did was just start walking 3-4 times a week until it got cold. Throughout the 2 months and especially at the beginning our favorite phrase was, "so that's why we were 'fat'." when we'd find out how many points something was. A cheeseburger... 12 points. When you are only allowed about 30 a day that is a lot. Each cookie is about 4 points, we'd often eat 3-4 each sometimes 2 or more times a week. No wonder.

KC is thinking he's about done. I want to reach an ideal goal and lose a few more. I was looking at some pictures this morning and was amazed at the difference in our faces. KC said it looked like we had been stung by a bee.

Arrr Matey!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. This is the first time we've really gotten into the dressing up and decorating. We even had a little party for the kids and their friends. Inspired by William's hand-me-down costume from when Isaac was a baby, we all ended up being pirates. I made all of my costume minus the hat and boots. I made none of KC's, most of Andrew's, and some of Isaac's. William rode in style in his own pirate ship. He was the highlight of our trick or treating outing.

Something came over me when I envisioned turning our long, boring, and tall front entry hallway into a Haunted Hallway. Armed with large rolls of black plastic, some black lights and fluorescent paint we created a pretty cool little spook "alley". The visiting trick or treaters loved it when the fog spilled out when we opened the door and they saw spooky ghosts, bats, spiders, skeletons, and graves. I put together a track of spooky sounds that played in the background on the porch. It was a lot of fun to open the doors and give out candy this year. Next year we will probably do the same and may expand it out to the porch a little more. I can't wait!

Garden Thoughts

I've been meaning to write about the garden we did this year but never really got around to it. Now that the gardening season is almost over I wanted to make some notes about my garden and what I would do again and what I would change for next year.

Because our soil is, well, rock, I wanted to build some boxes and do raised bed gardening the Square Foot Gardening way. You can see my main box here it has 4-4x4 areas. This one had a pumpkin at the end, corn in the next area and a variety of vegetables in the next two. My second main box has 2-4x4 areas. I put a cooking pumpkin plant in one area and a watermelon in the other.
Next I did two boxes that are only 1 foot deep. One I made 4 feet long and put everbearing strawberries in it. Seen below. I had to put a net up to keep animals from snacking on them.
The other one I made 8 feet wide and attached a conduit trellis to the back with a net. I planted cucumbers, tomatoes, pole beans and cantalope in this one.

Here is my first large harvest of vegetables and some strawberries. Later I would harvest lots of carrots, raspberries and potatoes.For next year I wanted to make a few notes about what went well, what didn't go well, and what I would change.

Vertical Garden
We grew 2 cucumber plants and got about 4-5 good sized ones. We ate about 1-2. I would say since the vertical garden space is so limited that we don't grow cucumbers next year and just buy them at the store when we want them. Instead plant peas or more tomatoes.

I want to try peas next time. I didn't start the garden early enough for them this year.

I want to plant more tomato plants so I can have more ripe at once for salsa. I liked the grape tomatoes for salad. I want to get some roma tomato plants (they're KC's favorite) and maybe an Early Girl or two.

The pole beans were great once I got the beans to sprout. Two plants in the square seemed to be enough.

Plant the cantalope plants a lot earlier and give them more water maybe. They grew very slowly and didn't get very big before they died from the frost. Watch for squash bugs on them.

Large Plants
I got some good sized pumpkins but the issue with squash bugs was really annoying. Pumpkins are pretty cheap so I don't know if it's worth the space and the yucky squash bugs.

Maybe I will do water melons again, if I have a whole box available. I need to be more aware of when they are ripe this time and pick promptly. Also the squash bugs can kill the vines if I'm not careful.

Fruit
We loved the strawberries, they turned out great. I want to build another box and put in June bearing strawberries. This year they were everbearing which was great for making strawberry yogurt snacks or fruit salads perodically.

The raspberries turned out awesome. We need to put in some stakes and supports for the canes so they don't droop on the rock.

Other Veggies
I planted too many corn too close together.. maybe just one or two per square. I need get a different variety the ones we had didn't taste very good.

I planted 4 pepper plants and still have peppers left over. I would use them for salsa or something but I never have enough ripe tomatoes at once to make a large enough batch. I made salsa once this year and it turned our pretty good. So maybe plant just 2 bell pepper plants and another with another kind for salsa maybe.

The bush beans were great. Keep an eye on them because they last a lot longer then I thought they would and put out beans more than I was informed.

Plant broccoli, lettuce, spinach and carrots earlier to take advantage of spring cool weather plants.


Herbs
Start the herbs earlier or buy the plants at the store, plant just one basil and one oregano, plant maybe 2 cilantro. Try to get parsley to grow again.

Maybe try garlic next year.

Root Vegetables
Plant some onions next year.
Do carrots again, they were great.
Do at least 4 squares of potatoes, maybe more. Plant earlier to avoid those brown spots.

Don't put a mother's day petunia in the same box as an herb. They get hugemongous in the Square Food Gardening soil.
Put in marigolds again and do nasturtiums for insect issues. Also get some organic vegetable insect spray like neem.

Overall it was pretty successful. I just need to train myself to use vegetables more in my cooking. I am a recovering picky eater and it is a long process.

Motherhood and Guilt

I was talking to KC the other night and told him that some days I feel like I can only do a few things at a time well. It's like each thing is a ball to juggle and if I add one, then invariably I drop another so I can concentrate on the new one for a while. Some days I can handle just one or two balls at a time, other days I can handle 5. Some days I let myself feel guilty for not being really good at everything I want to be.

Today I read a blog post about guilt from Diapers and Divinity, written by Stephanie, a funny LDS mom of 3. When I finished it I felt that I needed to share it with other moms I know. Please, check it out.

I am going to finish with a poem I was emailed earlier this month. Ironically I sometimes feel like a lot of this is expected of me.

The Girl in a Whirl

by "Dr. Sue" (aka Vickie Gunther)

Look at me, look at me, look at me now!

You could do what I do if you only knew how.

I study the scriptures one hour each day;

I bake, I upholster, I scrub, and I pray.

I always keep all the commandments completely;

I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly.

I help in their classroom! I sew all they wear!

I drive them to practice! I cut all their hair!

I play the piano! I bless with my talents!

My toilets all sparkle! My check books all balance!

Each week each child gets a one-on-one date;

I attend all my meetings (on time! never late!)

I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul,

But, that is not all! Oh no, that is not all.

I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished;

Our t-shirts are ironed! My toe nails are polished!

Our family home evenings are always delightful;

The lessons I give are both fun and insightful.

I do genealogy faithfully, too,

It's easy to do all the things I have to do!

I rise each day early, refreshed and awake;

I know all the names of each youth in the stake!

I read to my children! I help all my neighbors!

I bless the community, too with my labors.

I exercise and I cook menus gourmet;

My visiting teaching is done the first day!

(I also go do it for someone who missed hers.

It's the least I can do for my cherished ward Sisters.)

I chart resolutions and check off each goal;

I seek each "lost lamb" on my Primary roll.

I can home-grown produce each summer and fall.

But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all.

I write in my journal! I sing in the choir!

Each day, I write "thank you’s" to those I admire.

My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen!

My kids got straight A's! And their bedrooms are clean.

I have a home business to help make some money;

I always look beautiful groomed for my honey.

I go to the temple at least once a week;

I change the car's tires! I fix the sink's leak!

I grind my own wheat and bake all our bread;

I have all our meals planned out six months ahead.

I make sure I rotate our two-year supply

My shopping for Christmas is done by July!

These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them;

You can if you try! Just set goals and pursue them!

It's easy to do all the things that I do!

If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too!

"It's easy!" she said,

And then she dropped dead!

Awkward

The word "awkward" is awkward itself. It's hard to say, hard to spell and once you spell it right, it looks funny. Lots of things in this world can be described with the word awkward. Here are a few:

• Going on a first date
• Dialing the wrong number
• Saying no to sales people
• Riding in elevators with a stranger...
• Who has flatulence
• Asking a person's name more than once
• Sharing an armrest with a stranger in a movie
• Using public restrooms
• Taking family photos. Some just turn out awkward too, at least in the case of the photos found on this website, AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. Take a look, some are pretty funny.

I was wondering, do you think this photo counts as an awkward family photo?

August Pictures

Apparently I haven't posted any new pictures of Will lately and my sister didn't let me forget it today. She made me promise to post something soon. So here are a few pictures I took of the boys with Will a couple of weeks ago.

First Day

It's hard to believe that it's been 5 1/2 years since I held this baby boy, small and helpless in my arms. I look at William who looks so much like Andrew did as a baby and wonder how we got here.

Andrew has been ready and waiting for this day for years. He learned to recognize all his letters by 2 1/2 and knew his numbers 1-10 before Isaac was born. He was ready, and today was finally the day.

I asked him how it went. "It was good." I had to probe a little more. "We read 3 stories." and finally his dissapointment, "I didn't get to play in the room yet or on the playground." We agreed to get there earlier tomorrow (we were almost late) so he could have time to play on the playground.

Today marks the beginning of a new phase for him and for me. I am now a mom of a school age kid. From now on I will be dealing with homework, projects, school bells, homework, teachers, PTA, and homework. And so will he. He will also be dealing with the new social experiences. I worry about that part. What will he learn from those other kids? Will he bring home garbage words to teach Isaac? Will he learn too early about things 5 year-olds have no business knowing about? I know it happens. I guess I will have to take the bad with the good.

I'm excited for him to learn. To learn to love learning. I hope that happens. I hope he learns to make new friends and learns what a best friend is. I hope he learns to try things even though they are hard. I hope he learns of the joy from accomplishing something even though it was difficult. Here's to hope, here's to our First Day.

What a difference a few months make.

After months of work we finally put grass in this last week. It is such a stark transformation. We didn't just go from dirt to grass, we went from sloping rocky expanse, (seriously one guy who did our cement commented repeatedly that they should have put a gravel pit here and sold all this rock, cha-ching)
to dirt with about 6 truckloads of dirt,
add some cement, a garden, trees, and plants
Finally there's grass. Such a difference.
The last step is to add a pathway and a planting area along the left border and put plants and rock/bark in the rest of the areas. (This is a photoshop mock up of what it might look like, yay photoshop.)

Family Bull Ride

We had a fun week at Snowbird this last week. Here's one of the activities we did.

Where am I?

Did something pick up my house and move it to Seattle?

Who's Who Answer and Stuff

Those who guessed were right. Picture A is Andrew, he tends to have the longer face. Picture B is William. Finally picture C is Isaac. I think William and Isaac look most alike although when William was first born I though the looked most like how Andrew did when he was born.

In other news we are making our way through more active little boy injuries. Andrew was at the doctor yesterday with some cuts on his eye lid and right below his eye. Isaac threw a play sword at him. The doctor glued them up since we couldn't put bandaids on them. Isaac was at the doctor a month ago when he took a head dive into a door frame at the bank. He got a gash on his forehead that was pretty deep. He almost needed stitches but we ended up only needing the derma glue stuff. That stuff is a miracle invention for moms of busy boys and girls. Last night I had to put 5 bandaids on Isaac's toes. I don't know how it happened, but he has cuts on the underside of his toes. I think he needs to wear socks and shoes outside for a while and stop running around without shoes on. We are still waiting for our first broken bone, which will now come soon since I mentioned it. I'll post photos of that one.

Who's Who?

These are pictures of Andrew, Isaac, and William all at about the same age. Can you tell who's who?

Blessing William

Last Sunday we had William's baby blessing at home. We were going to do it during sacrament meeting, but since he was still a bit sick from RSV we decided to hold it at home.

(As an aside William and I were at Primary Children's for 24hrs last week. He had a fever over 100 so as a precaution they had us go there so they could do all the tests to make sure it wasn't something more serious. Turns out he had RSV though he was hardly coughing and had a bit of mucus. I all sounds more worrisome than it actually was. We came home after the 24 hrs and he is doing awesome now and back to himself.)

William manged to sleep through the whole thing, which made the blessing go fairly smooth. Casey thought that doing it at home would be better since he wouldn't feel the pressure of feeling the spirit for the blessing in front of the whole congregation, but he said afterwards it wasn't that much different doing it in front of a bunch of family either. Any way he does it, he always does an awesome job.

Casey's brother from Arizona was already visiting so he was able to attend along with his other brother and his family. I had my family come up from Southern Utah to stay and be there for the blessing as well. I have two sisters who have 3 kids each, all 5 and under. So we had 9 kids in the house for 2 days. We couldn't go outside much since it was rainy most of the time. Sometimes it was very loud, but we managed to enjoy it still. Andrew and Isaac loved having their cousins here to play. No matter how stressful or hectic it is when the house is crazy with visitors I always feel a little depressed with how suddenly quiet and lonely the house feels after they leave. I also miss having the extra people to help with the cooking and the dishes.

Mountain of the Lord

This is going to be an exciting summer for my little family and my neighbors. Two blocks from my house this temple, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, is about finished being built. From June 1st to August 1st the open house will be open to the public. On the 22nd and 23rd of August it will be dedicated. It is projected that around 1 million people will visit the temple during those 2 months. That's a lot of people.

This will be a good opportunity to let my boys see what a temple looks like inside. It's an opportunity to teach Andrew about temples and how they are important to us. It is also an opportunity for my friends and family to come see the temple themselves and then visit me... hint, hint. So go on, get your reservations, and come see the temple and me!

You've Had A Birthday Shout Hooray!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Issac. His birthday was last Thursday. The Tuesday before that we had an impromptu family reunion in Fillmore with my family and we had a small birthday segment for him. He got a got imaginext dragon that walks. He loves it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! He also got some fun little toy trucks from Great Grandma, THANKS!

Then last Saturday we had some of his neighbor friends over for a play date party. The kids played and made a thorough mess in the play room upstairs. I then fed them some lunch before letting them gorge on cake and ice cream. KC and I got him a Radio Flyer scooter and helmet and his friends gave him a cool batman toy. They would have played outside a bit afterwards but the weather turned almost winter like with the cold and rain.


Isaac is a fun and sensitive kid. He loves to play with his brother and he LOVES our cat Leo. He loves all animals for that matter even when they bite or scratch him. He still loves his duckies and often tells me how cute they are. He is still a cuddler which I love, but he is getting a little big for it. We're sure thankful for him and his energy in our family. I can't wait to see what kind of person he turns out to be.

Progress

We've begun the first steps on finishing our backyard, sprinklers. We had the trenches dug last Saturday and laid out the pipe. KC and I (mostly KC) spent all of Wednesday making all the connections and we basically got it all done this morning. A few truckloads of topsoil is going to be delivered tomorrow. If you can't tell from the pictures our "dirt" is mostly rock so we'll need a lot of topsoil.

This is Isaac helping us fill in the trenches when we were done.

Check Up

Yesterday we packed up all 3 boys and took them to the new doctor. Andrew and Isaac both needed their yearly check-up and William was due for his 2 week visit. All was fairly uneventful except Isaac refused to let the doctor look in his ears for some inexplicable reason. We did all the necessary checks and measurements and found that these boys are growing like weeds.

Andrew is a tall thin weed at 45 inches and 41 pounds. He's about average for his age in weight but is at about the 90th percentile for height. We call Andrew the future basketball player.

Isaac is a proportional weed that is simply big for his age. He is 40 inches and 38 pounds. He is above the 95th percentile for weight and almost off the chart for height. So basically he looks like the average 4 year old and he's not 3 until the end of this month. We call Isaac the future football player.

William, the newly spouted weed is already showing his potential since he is now already 8.6 pounds and 20.4 inches tall. He has gained almost a pound and an inch over his birth measurements. The interesting thing is that when he left the hospital he was 6 lbs 12 oz and they were a little worried about his weight loss. That was just the last two weeks. I think he is in a growth spurt right now as he is voraciously hungry about every 2 hours. He is a promising little weed for sure. We're not sure what to call him, except "little guy" since he was born the smallest of the three.

ps. Don't mistake comparing my kids to weeds to mean anything more than their growth. I certainly don't view them as unwanted and homely. I definitely think they are the cutest and most lovable little boys.

Introducing....

He's finally here. I am now happy to introduce William Joseph to the blogging world. He had his own plans for what day he wanted to arrive and he decided to spring those plans on me at 3:45 in the morning on the 18th. My water broke, waking me from the last night of restful sleep that I will have for a while. I had my very generous cousin come over to stay at the house while KC and I headed to the hospital.

They eventually got me started on pitocin to get my contractions going and after a while I decided an epidural was in order. I had felt enough labor pains for this one, or so I thought. After the epidural I found that I could still feel all the pain on one side of my body. So they injected me with more anesthesia which helped, but my legs soon felt like they were the size of elephants. That dose wore off and I was again feeling the contractions on that side. The pain was dulled, but still painful. We were getting to the end though, and I figured when it was all over I'd want to walk sometime in the next day so I didn't ask for another large dose of anesthesia. Feeling the contractions a bit proved helpful as I eventually had to call in the nurses to inform them that William didn't want to wait much longer. So the doctor was called back in and after a couple pushes he was out. It turns out that the cord was wrapped around William's neck. This explained why his heart rate would go down quite a bit during each contraction. Despite expectations for a larger baby, like Andrew and Isaac were, William surprised us by being just 7 lbs 8 oz and 19.5 inches long. In the end though he was healthy and looked great. That's the exent of the gory details I am wishing to share.. aren't you glad?

Here are some photos from the last few days.
Look at that head of hair.
We thought we'd be able to go home after 24hrs, but Williams PKU test showed high levels of Bilirubin so he had to do some fake baking during the next day. He levels went down quickly and we were able to go home without having to take home any extra equipment.
Finally able to go home.

His brothers think he is the cutest and can't wait for him to crawl and be able to play with them.

The Safe Side

I wouldn't really describe myself as an over-protective parent. I am intrigued and sorta like the idea of Free Range Kids. But if I plan on giving my kids some freedom in the future, I need to make sure they have the right information and tools to deal with the real world.

So, for a recent Family Home Evening lesson, KC and I wanted to discuss stranger safety with the boys. I found some free amateurish videos on youtube.com but wasn't satisfied completely with the messages. I didn't want to scare my boys from ever talking to people. I didn't want them to run screaming "STRANGER, STRANGER" if an adult tried to talk to them. So I kept on looking. I found on youtube a preview of the Safe Side video called Stranger Safety. It is made by Julie Clark of Baby Einstein fame and John Walsh of America's Most Wanted. It looked sorta fun and interesting, so I picked it up from the library and we showed it to the boys. Not only was it educational, but the boys really enjoyed watching it. We had it for a week and Andrew must have watched it at least 8 times.

Inside there is a pamphlet with an article from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, by Nancy McBride. As a mother of two small kids I was surprised to learn for example that they don't actually support the "stranger-danger" message. The article also says:

When we tell children to “never talk to strangers,” we have effectively eliminated a key source of help for them if they are in trouble. If they’re lost they may be surrounded by many “strangers” who could conceivably help them if they would only ask for it.

This is why I liked the Safe Side video. Instead of teaching the kids to be afraid of everyone it tells them what to watch out for. It's awesome too that the video teaches about "Kinda knows." Statistically children are most often harmed/taken by someone they know. The video teaches how although the child may kinda know someone they shouldn't completely trust them unless they check with their "safe-side adults."

Mostly I like that it's not boring or scary, which is important in helping the kids to actually learn. Check out the whole article, it's not long, and if you want, check out the video. It might be a good idea to talk about this now in the spring before our kids start heading out to the playgrounds. I think I'll make it a yearly spring tradition in our family.

Almost There

After nine months of waiting, the time is near where I start another phase of life. I will be the mother of 3 boys. I will have more boys than I have hands. When I am paired with my better half, we will still be out numbered.

We are prepared as much as we can be. The baby clothes are out and sorted. The poor kid will be using 2 and 3 times used hand me downs, but he won't care, and he still will look cute. The minivan has been acquired. The boys already love having it. Diapers have been purchased. They are so small. And a name has been chosen, though Andrew doesn't like it. He still thinks Whitey House is a great name. He's also leaning towards Andrew2 or Zachy.

Unless little Will has other plans, he will come on Saturday the 21st. I really hope he doesn't have other plans. I am 45 minutes from the hospital I am going to and I do not want to drive that long having painful contractions. No thankyou. So of course all last night I kept on dreaming that I would go into labor this week sometime. I kept on worrying that it would be today because today is the only day this week that KC is not working from home. Preparation is the best insurance that something won't happen so I made sure he was prepared and sent the cell phone with him, just in case.

Wish me luck.

Effects of Nostalgia

Don't we all get nostalgic now and then for our younger years, our years of innocence, our childhood and all that came with it? We remember our friends, our favorite toys, or favorite places to play, and of course our favorite TV cartoons. Now, thanks to the wonderfulness of the internet you can find almost anything online, especially on Youtube.

Periodically KC and I will spend a few minutes looking up our favorite cartoons and watching the opening credits or some clips from the shows. They are never what you remember them to be. I can't believe I actually enjoyed some of them. I think some shows though are classic. They still inspire the imagination and delight in a little boy or girl.

One of those shows I guess is He-Man. I never really watched it as a kid, though I think I watched She-ra a bit. KC says He-Man was his favorite cartoon when he was about 5 or so. So it's no suprise when the other day KC pulled up the opening credits to He-Man on youtube to show the boys. He was hoping to find an episode to show them, but didn't have any luck. For some reason I remembered seeing that Fancast.com had old cartoons on it and sure enough they have a bunch of He-Man episodes available to watch. So we all gathered around the computer screen and watched it.

Now it's no wonder then, that the night before last I had a certain song in my head all night and the next day, and I had certain phrases run through my head willy nilly. Why? Andrew and Isaac have been watching episodes of He-Man on the computer every chance they get. Isaac has been pointing his play sword in the air and trying to repeat the phrase "By the power of Grayskull!" He only get's out the skull part though. It's cute. They've really been into swords lately and since He-Man uses a Magic Sword, well it's a no brainer they they are drawn to it.

I have to leave the room when they watch it. It annoys the heck outtta me. Why to do they care so much to protect or conquer a land that has no plants and is filled with craggy rocks and mud? Why do they live like they are in stone age/medieval times but they have flying vehicles and computer guidance/targeting systems. Why is the cat/tiger so afraid? Why is Skeletor's voice so high pitched and annoying? What is the deal with those circle shapes on the women's outfits? If you've seen it, you know what I mean. I could go on, but I won't.

There is one redeeming thing about the show. At the end of each episode they have a short moral or uplifting message about something that happened in the show. That is something that a lot of the cartoons out there should have. Still, I'm hoping that this phase blows over soon and I can enjoy more episodes of Wow, Wow Wubbzy and The Backyardigans again. I get those songs stuck in my head too, but they don't annoy me as much.

Kindergarten Here We Come!

Yesterday we celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday with some of my family visiting. Last year we had a friend party for his birthday, this year was just a family party. Grandma and Papa came from Southern Utah to visit for the day and they brought Andrew's cousin Dean with them. We had a great time bowling. Andrew was old enough to handle the ball himself although he couldn't get much speed on the ball. Suprisingly Isaac didn't run off more than once and was a good little boy. I would have never thought the day would come. We went home and had a pizza and chicken nuggets lunch with grapes and hawaiian punch. All Andrew's choice. We then had cake and cake batter flavored ice cream and finally he got to open presents. KC and I got him a new bike since we sorta broke his old one trying this and the old one was a garage sale special. We'll have to work on the no training wheels thing this summer.
Now that Andrew has turned 5 he is quite anxious to go to kindergarten. I feel bad having to explain to him that he has to wait 6 months before he can go. I think he understands though. In the meantime we spend a little time each day doing pages from a Kindergarten workbook.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Rrroar! Yikes!

"Rrroar!"

"Yikes!"

Sitting next to Isaac in the Energy Solutions Arena during the Walking With Dinosaurs show last night was a treat. A few months ago KC heard about the show and thought it was be a fun thing for the family to do, so we got tickets. The boys have been looking forward to it for a while, and they weren't disappointed.

(We went sledding yesterday morning and Isaac scraped his cheek a bit on the ice.)

The first dinosaur came out was a smaller scary one and Isaac literally yelled "Yikes!" to the delight of all sitting around us. Each one they showed was a wonder to the boys. They had a huge mommy brachiosaur (not sure on the spelling) protecting her kid and later a huge scary Tyrannosaur protecting it's baby from two larger armored dinosaurs. Three Utah Raptors where shown eating a dinosaur corpse. "Yucky!" Isaac said. Andrew says the end with the Tyrannosaurs was his favorite part. They loved the fight between two triceratop-like male dinosaurs as well, Andrew compared it to a Super Smash Bros. fight from the Nintendo. He wasn't fooled by the wires used to make the flying dinosaur fly, but thought it was pretty cool still.


Here is a shortish video showing some of the boys' favorite parts.

Our December in Photos

December flew by so here is a fly by of pictures from our December.

Andrew telling Santa what he wants for Christmas. Isaac wouldn't get on Santa's lap. Maybe next year.
The Christmas card we sent out to some friends and family. Sorry if you didn't get one. Let me know if you want to be added to the list :-) We couldn't get a good family picture of us all at once so we decided to pose and take them separately to create a winter scene courtesy of photoshop.

One of the photos we decided not to use for our Christmas Card creation. Yes our house is really that yellow.

My boys and friends at a Christmas Party.

Transportation to and from the sledding hill. The snow packed roads made it easy.

Isaac at the sledding hill.

Our church meeting time was during Isaac's nap time. So this is how we found him soon after coming home from church once.

Andrew's favorite thing that Santa got him. Santa must have listened when we visited him.

The backyard after the Christmas snowstorm. There are a couple steps down right in front of Isaac so it was pretty deep back there.

Isaac and his cousin sharing the scooter. He was nice to let her ride and she was nice to always let him drive.