Presents

I get really stressed about finding the right gift, so this year, I tried to make meaningful presents. I've been mostly pleased with the results, so I wanted to share them. My parents are impossible to buy for. I made some tea towels for my mom and had the boys draw special pictures for her. I transfered the pictures to the towels and then embroidered them on. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it turned out really cute.


For Steve's mom, I made these profile ornaments. I had to make a set for our family, too. :)



I made a few of these gingerbread men, one my boys had to keep, one for my aunt's family, and one for a cousin on his mission. I think they got a kick out of it.


I made a fort that looks like a castle for the boys' bunk beds, and they've enjoyed it so much they've ripped a hole in it from pulling on the windows! Maybe I'll get a picture up when I fix it...

Merry Un-Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Every year we do the nativity on Christmas Eve. Here we have Joseph and the angel.







The whole cast.







Andrew opening his stocking.





The boys asked for pillow pets this year. We tried to convince them to ask for something they would play with more, but we couldn't do it. They've been so excited about getting a pillow pet for months, that alas, Santa brought all three of them pillow pets. At least they're happy with them for now...
The weather was so nice, we went on a walk to the park. Dallin even took his new Batman on the slide.

Caden's dragon

When I first told Caden he could be anything he wanted for Halloween, he got really excited about making the dragon costume. He started drawing at the kitchen table, working really hard for quite a while, and this is what he came up with:

Happy Halloween!

I thought I should post this before Thanksgiving! I've never made costumes before, and this year I made three! It was stressful trying to get everything to turn out the way I wanted, but the boys seemed happy with them and I love my new cute apron! We went to a party at Dallin's preschool, Caden's school, the ward party, and the high school carnival. The boys ended up with too much candy without going trick or treating.

Family Portrait

Dallin came home from preschool with this family portrait he made. Sweet right? I was gushing over it, talking about all the people. Then I got to the baby.
Me: Oh, look at baby Andrew!
Dallin: That's not Andrew. You got another fat tummy and we had a baby girl!
Me: Um,okay, I guess. Then where's Andrew?
Dallin: We gave him away.
Maybe it's not so sweet after all.

Andrewisms

Andrew's always been a people person. He's always let anyone hold him, even though when he was younger he'd often look away from the person, but he'd never cry. Now that he's started talking, he likes to say hi to everyone we walk near. Well, a few weeks ago during church, Andrew was being cranky and Dallin announced he had to pee. I said, "Fine, I'll just take them both out." When we got to the aisle, he had to wave and say "Bye!" to everyone on both sides. Of course we were sitting in the very first row so the whole congregation was watching him and most were chuckling.
When he first started saying, "Owie" it was so cute we couldn't help but make a huge fuss over him and make everything all better. Well, he figured out pretty quick that owie means he gets whatever he wants and now we hear it constantly. It would just be frustrating because we don't know if he is actually hurt or not, but, when we're at the store and he starts screaming owie because he wants to get down and run around and everyone around us looks at me like I'm a horrible mother because I'm not comforting my poor hurt baby, then it get embarrassing.

What's in a name?

When we picked Caden's name, we had never heard it before. We were trying for something just a little different. After we had Caden, we started hearing his name everywhere, at the zoo, at church, at the store. He even had another Caden in his preschool class, along with an Aiden and a Brayden. So much for being unique. With Dallin, we didn't know too many other Dallins. Steve had never had a Dallin at school, and we weren't living in Utah so we thought it'd still be unique. For the most part, it is. Outside the church, everyone thinks he is saying Dillon when he says his name, but it seems like every LDS person we meet either has a brother, cousin, uncle, nephew or friend named Dallin! When our third boy, we just gave up on being unique and just picked a name we both liked.
Last January, a family in our ward had a baby. It was the first baby boy in a year, so everyone was real excited about it. When they announced his name was Caden, Steve and I just smiled. A few months later, another baby boy was born. When they announced his name was Dallin, we had to laugh. A few months after that, another baby boy was born. When they announced his name was Andrew, our jaws dropped! Three baby boys in a row, with our boys names, in the same order! What are the chances of that!?! Like I said, so much for being unique!

Summer Track

We put Caden in a track program this summer. To say he enjoyed it would be stretching the truth, but it was good for him. Another boy from his primary class was in the program too so they goofed off together. Steve and I wanted to inspire him to be more competitive and work harder, so we took him to a track meet down in Denver. It was the middle of July and it was getting hot early. He did the baseball throw (shot put) and a relay. He could do one more event but the shorter sprints wouldn't be until much later. We explained it to Caden and he decided to do the 800 meter. Now keep in mind he had never run a full lap before, and this was two laps. Well, he did it! He was half a lap behind the next to the last racer, but he ran the whole way! We were so proud of him. It was nice to hear the people cheering him on at the finish line. Although he didn't enjoy the race, he felt really good about himself afterward.

First Day

We've been looking forward to this day. Caden has the same class and teacher as last year, so it made it easier to get excited about it. Last week, Caden's teacher sent him a postcard saying she was excited to see him and where the new classroom was. He turned to me and said really excitedly, "Mrs. Ferachi is moving next door!" I had to laugh and explained to him that she meant the classroom is next door to the old classroom. He was a little disappointed, but still excited to see her. Yesterday we went to the open house and saw his teacher had broken her leg skydiving earlier in the summer. Caden told Steve about it:
"Mrs. Ferachi broke her leg!"
"How did she do that?"
"She jumped out of an airplane!"

Correction

The title of the last post says, "Kids say the darnedest things" but it's hard to tell with the font!

Kids say the darnedest things

The other day the boys were talking about winning. I said I won at being the best mom ever. Caden reluctantly agreed, adding that I'm the only mom they've ever had. Then he said, "But sometimes, you're in like, 4th place or something, because we don't like it when you say no or make us clean."!!! Wow! Three nobodies are in front of me!
And yes, I know it's been awhile. As soon as we figure out how to download pictures from our phone, I'll catch up on the summer.

Summer Vacation

Enjoying the first popsicle of the season.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! Mine was. Steve and the boys always make me a special breakfast, lunch and dinner and I don't have to worry about anything. For dinner yesterday Steve grilled some chicken. The weather was so nice we ate out on the deck. After dinner, I kept looking at the trampoline. It's never been so tempting for me! The boys and I went and jumped while Steve cleaned up. It was so much fun! It was one of those times that I always want to remember. Thank you Steve for making it all possible. Everything was just perfect.
I have to give a shout out to my brother Brent for starting Steve on the right path. It was Mother's Day 10 years ago. Steve and I were getting married in three days so a lot of my family was already in town. We were having lunch at my parents. All the men went in the kitchen to make up a plate for their wives. As Steve was making his plate, Brent asked him, "Is that for Lawanna?" Well, it wasn't. Steve was surprised, and asked, "Do you think I should make her a plate?" Brent's look said it all, and ever since then Steve has gone all out for Mother's Day. I love you, Steve!

Father & Son Campout

Steve hates activities. I always have to drag him along. And he really hates camping. So when he came home a few weeks ago and told me about the Father Son campout, I tried not to get too excited. Then, when he actually told the boys he wanted to go, I was ecstatic! I knew he wouldn't have much time to get things together for it, but I don't mind doing all that. I just started planning all the things I could do with my time "alone" (I'd still have Andrew). The boys were so excited about it too. I spent all day Friday getting things ready, shopping, packing, cleaning out the car, making a bed in the back of the van (Steve wouldn't do a tent).
About a half an hour before Steve was supposed to be home, my visiting teacher stopped by with a mother's day gift. As we were chatting, Dallin told her about how they were going camping tonight. I explained they were going on the father son campout. She gave me a funny look and said, "Did you hear it was canceled?" Well that was certainly news to me! When Steve got home, I had him check his email, and sure enough it was canceled. Apparently the road is still covered in ice and totally impassable. The boys were so disappointed. We felt really bad and wanted to make it up to them, so they roasted marshmallows in the fireplace, had smores, and "camped out" in the basement. The next morning, Steve took all the boys hiking. They had a great time.

Sporties for Shorties

We've just started putting Dallin in some different classes through the Rec center. Steve wanted him to take a class called Sporties for Shorties. It was a really cute class and he enjoyed it most of the time. They learned about a different sport each time they met. On the first day, the coach talked to them about their "game face" and they all practiced it. The last picture is Dallin's game face. Intimidating, right?

This morning

It was pouring rain last night when we went to bed. When I got up in the middle of the night with Dallin I thought, that's nice the rain stopped... Do you see the white on top of the roof!?!

Christmas

My parents gave us a trampoline this last Christmas. The kids were really excited about it, but we had to wait until all the snow melted before we could set it up. So it just sat in our garage for months. Finally, by the end of March, all the snow had melted and it was warmer. The boys were so excited and jumped everyday. This was the following weekend:

And it looked like that a couple more times. But I must say I'm glad we're not in Castle Rock right now. It's been raining constantly for the past three days, but in Castle Rock it's been snow! The news said it was more than 20 inches! Yuck! Suddenly, the street looking like a little river doesn't seem like a big deal.

Our little monkey

Caden and Dallin have never been big climbers, as you may recall. As for Andrew, we can't get him to stop. I try to keep everything off the kitchen table or else he's constantly up there! Now he's figured out he can push a chair just about anywhere he wants to go.






















































This one has scared me several times! How that highchair doesn't topple with 30 lbs on the tray is beyond me!

Ga!

Andrew can say 4 words, mama, dada, up and dog. He can, but he really only says dog. He loves dogs. He wants to see Tinkerbell first thing in the morning. He smothers her with loves and kisses. He has learned how to be soft most of the time, so she puts up with him most of the time. In fact, she's learned there are advantages to having a baby for a best friend. The other day while I was in the bathroom, Andrew found the fig newtons in the pantry, and proceeded to feed Tinkerbell, one by one, half of the package before I came back! He's done it with pretzels and crackers too. Lucky dog.

Zoo?

Steve's sister and family came up from Denver today. I tried to think of something to do really unique to Fort Collins, and the only thing I could think of is Swetsville Zoo. The name is misleading because it's not a zoo. It's a ton of scrap metal made into really fun, quirky sculptures. And best of all, it's free! It was beautiful weather today and the boys had a great time. So the next time you're in Fort Collins, be sure to check it out. You'd be hard pressed to find anything like it somewhere else!

Bad Mommy!

I've had really good intentions of doing "mommy preschool" with Dallin, but honestly it just hasn't happened. Well, the other day I was busy with something and Dallin was playing leapfrog. He usually just likes to make all the different sound affects in the games, so I didn't pay any attention to him playing. He asked me to help him find the "e" on the the page. I helped him find the car with the "e" on it and he pushed it. Then the pad said, "Very good! Now find the last letter in the word, bed." I was surprised he got the second letter so I decided to watch him play. The pad continued to ask him to spell several words, like mom, cat, dog, had, etc. and he got them all right! He'd sound each one out, "Mom...mmmm...M! Mom...mmooo...ooo...O! Mom...mommmmmm...M!" I couldn't believe he was hearing and isolating each sound in the words, let alone knowing the letters for each sound! He's never had any formal phonics training. And he loves numbers too. He's always been able to count really well, but lately he's made a game of showing me all the different ways he can make 4 with his fingers, or 7 or 6 or whatever. Imagine what he could do if he had even a little instruction! I'm sure my college advisers would hang their heads in shame. But I'm repenting and Dallin's really excited that I'm going to teach him to read.



This is what happens when mom leaves Andrew in his highchair too long. Bad mommy! :)