My three sons

Christmas is coming

2011-12-23T10:18:00.002-07:00

We made gingerbread houses in Cub Scouts last week. Caden's was basically a rectangular box piled as high as he could with candy. Right before the picture, Caden dropped his and it all broke! :( He didn't really care though, because he still got all the candy! Dallin was a little more creative with his.

When it snowed yesterday, I pulled out a new "snowman kit" for the boys. Then we went out side and I saw the snow was just too powdery to make a snowman, but Dallin is a very determined boy!

You asked for it...

2011-12-19T15:29:00.003-07:00

Yes, it is a couple of months late, but several people have asked about costume pictures, so here's halloween!

Dallin's work

2011-11-08T14:57:00.002-07:00

Dallin made this at kindergarten the other day:

For those of you who don't read kindergarten, is says "Mom and my dad loves me cause we are playing together." I do so love that kid!

So Proud!

2011-10-27T15:08:00.005-06:00

I belong to a mom's club here, and for the service project this month, we put our kids in their costumes and head over to a nursing home. There were actually 2 nursing homes across the street from each other, so we went to the first one and walked around saying "Happy Halloween!" Before we got there, I tried to explain how we were going to see old people who don't get out a lot, and how seeing the boys in their costumes would make them happy. I said we were going to be very nice and smile and talk to everyone.

When we got there, there was only one other mother there, and she only had a baby in her arms. So as we walked the halls, my boys got a lot of attention because they could interact with them. Andrew was himself, talkative and happy, and everyone loved him as they always do. But I couldn't have been prouder of Dallin. He smiled and said "Howdy partner!" to everyone (he was a cowboy); he just smiled and didn't try and correct anyone when they called him Alan; he was very attentive for as long as they wanted to talk to him. I even had to drag him away a few times! He let anyone touch him. One lady, I think she may have been senile and I know she didn't speak English, was grinning ear to ear as she touched him all over and mumbled in Spanish. Dallin, while I could tell he was a little unsure of it, just smiled at her and let her be happy. After we left, I hugged him and told him how proud I was of him for making all those people so happy!

We went to the second nursing home and they had a whole Halloween Party set up for us! At least 1/2 of the elderly were dressed! The boys weren't sure what to think about the man with the werewolf mask and gloves. :) Everyone was at tables, so they had us go "trick or treating" around each table! They had candy and Halloween tatoos, pencils, erasers, other misc, and even coloring books for the kids! Everyone oohed and ahed over the little devil, and loved Dallin and asked about his gun. One lady told us how her oldest son was once a cowboy for Halloween and she had a picture of it up in her room. :) Then one of the men read a story for the kids while they had cookies and punch. It was so much fun, and I'm so glad Dallin got to see his service make so many people happy.

Summary

2011-10-09T15:45:00.005-06:00

I'm just going to have to give a summary of what happened this summer up until now. I've got a lot of pictures and it will probably take a few posts, but I will catch up! I'll try to go in chronological order, but we'll see...

In the end of June, we had a family vacation in Granby with Steve's family. We went fishing at Lake Granby. None of us caught anything, but we had a great time.

The ski resort was giving free lift rides to the top of the mountain, where you can hike a bit and then ride back down. Lots of fun!

Steve and Caden at the top of the mountain

But most of all we just enjoyed spending time together!

On the way home, we stopped at the Continental Divide and let the kids play around in the dirty snow.

Steve's birthday is on the 4th of July, always a party! Steve loves going to a hotel, so this year we went on a mini vacation close to where Steve's family lives. We went to Steve's parents' neighborhood party, which had great food and fun little party games for the kids. They also had a little bike parade, the same one Steve went on when he was young. The boys decorated their bikes and Steve took Caden and Dallin around it. It was about a mile long in 100+ degrees, and Andrew and I enjoyed watching them from the shade! We were so proud of Dallin, riding the whole way! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture of him though. :(

Yum!

2011-07-11T21:16:00.001-06:00

Tonight for FHE I made Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream and it was divine! So easy, and you don't need an ice cream maker! Just thought I'd share! :)

Guess where we are?

2011-07-08T19:24:00.003-06:00

That's right! This is where this morning they announced they are going to build the Fort Collins temple! We are so excited! From leaving the church parking lot right across the street to pulling into our driveway it took us exactly 5 1/2 minutes! Even Utahans would be jealous!

Tooth fairy

2011-06-19T20:10:00.003-06:00

Dallin lost his second tooth this morning. He came running upstairs to show me. I was very excited for him! I asked him where his tooth pillow was, and after we found it he said, "I really, really, really want to take a nap today!" After I explained to him that the tooth fairy only comes at night, he changed his mind!

Before and After

2011-06-13T07:05:00.001-06:00

Before...

And after...

Baptism

2011-06-05T15:14:00.005-06:00

I can't believe he's old enough, but Caden was baptized yesterday.

It was a simple, beautiful ceremony. We are so proud of him.

We were so grateful to have our family there to share in this special occasion.

After Caden came out of the water and the witnesses gave the approval, Andrew, who was sitting right in front of the font, shouted, "Good baptize, dad!"

The Farm

2011-05-22T15:36:00.007-06:00

One of the teachers that Steve works with lives on several acres of land on the north end of Fort Collins. They have lots of animals there and last month she invited everyone to bring there kids and see all the baby animals. The boys had a blast! They went in the chicken coop and each picked an egg to bring home. They all took turns riding the horse. Andrew hopped on right away, but Caden took a lot of persuasion!

They had a great playhouse the boys played in for quite a while.

Andrew and Dallin got to milk a goat. Caden was too scared!

They loved playing on the tractor.

I wish I had taken a picture with Andrew and the baby goats. He kept wanting to get in the pen with them. It was really cute! :(
Andrew keeps talking about going to the farm and whenever we drive past one he gets really excited. We had a great time and hope it's something she'll do every year!

Catch up

2011-05-22T15:03:00.009-06:00

It's been a while! There's been so many things I wanted to write about, but have missed, and now I'm playing catch-up, again. On Feb 28 Dallin turned 5.

He had his first friend party and chose a pirate theme.

In March, Dallin's preschool had a float for the Fort Collin's St Patrick's Day Parade. Dallin loved holding all that candy, and he was actually happy to give it out!

That was the start of the boys' spring break. I decided I missed my family too much, so I quickly packed a few things, gathered up my boys, said goodbye to Steve (his spring break wasn't for another 2 weeks), and drove out to Utah! We had a great time, not doing much of anything! :)

Andrew loved my dad. He learned real quick that Papa always has candy! One morning, I sent the boys upstairs and I went back to bed. When I went upstairs a few hours later, I asked Andrew what he had for breakfast and he said, "Candy!"

We were there on St Patrick's Day and we did a few little things, like turn the milk green, etc. Here is the leprechaun trap we built.

It was a really fun trip and I am so glad we went!

I had a lot of fun with our April Fool's dinner again. I told them because it was April Fool's, we were going to have dessert first, and then dinner. We had a cake first (meatloaf with mashed potatoes).

Then chicken nuggets (candy bars rolled in corn flakes) and french fries (pound cake cut up like fries).

I thought the best part was the straws.

I have too much to catch up on in one post, so that's it for now. Stay tuned, more to come! I leave you with a picture of what Andrew looks like in the morning.

Stuck

2011-04-14T08:54:00.002-06:00

The places they get themselves into...

Cute kid

2011-02-22T11:21:00.002-07:00

Last week after preschool, one of the moms told me about a conversation she had with Dallin.

Jen: Dallin, you're so cute, you know that?
Dallin: Yeah, my mom tells me that all the time!

New Traditions

2011-02-13T15:29:00.007-07:00

About a month ago, Caden asked me if we could celebrate the new year. I was really surprised he had already forgotten our New Year's Eve party just a few weeks ago! Then he clarified and said, "I mean the Chinese New Year." I thought that sounded like fun, but the only thing I knew about it was they have dragons and fireworks, so I wasn't sure where to go with it. After a little searching on the Internet, I learned when it was and found a few fun crafts we could do. We made good luck paper oranges, paper lanterns, fans, and some paper dragon puppets.

We all wore red and had 8 things to eat, because 8 is apparently a lucky number! The boys were excited to eat with chopsticks.

We even made our own fortune cookies, which were much tastier than the store bought. The boys made up the fortunes with Steve the night before. My favorite was, "You dog will bark a lot when the door bell rings." :)

Steve had to work late that night and missed most of it, but he came home in time to give the boys red envelopes with a dollar each in them. Turns out Caden knew about these envelopes, and now I'm thinking I did all this just because Caden wanted some money!

It was all very fun and something I'd like to keep doing, but in the future I hope we have more time to learn and talk about the traditions.

Mmmm... Oatmeal!

2011-02-10T13:58:00.002-07:00

This is what happens when I don't clean up breakfast right away...

Where does the time go?

2011-02-05T18:37:00.013-07:00

I can't believe my baby is 2! He had his birthday a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. We started the day with pancakes and candles, a fun new tradition I think we'll have to keep going. When I made pancakes a week later, Andrew said, "Happy Birthday!" And he blew, like he was blowing out his candles. :) We had a fun little family party for him that night.
I wanted to share some of the fun things he is doing now. He doesn't want to be left out of anything. One of his favorite phrases now is "Me too!"
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570792037391297106" />You wouldn't guess from looking at him, but he loves to run, especially if it's away from one of us!
He really loves his brothers and is always asking about Caden and Dallin.
Even though he really loves him, Dallin is his greatest nemesis. Anytime they are together you can count on some screaming!
He loves scary toys like dinosaurs and dragons, but stuffed animals that growl or shake, like Tickle Me Elmo, he won't go near them.
He really loves the dog, and is usually very sweet with her, when he's not trying to bite her or poke her eyeballs!
He is very friendly, loves talking to everyone, and will let anyone hold him.
He won't help pick up anything unless you sing the clean-up song, then he goes around saying "Clean up!" and picks up everything.
He's a wonderful little boy and we are so lucky to have him in our family. We love you Andrew!

For Uncle Josh

2011-01-30T20:21:00.002-07:00

This was one of Caden's writing assignments. I must say I love the detail on the bad guy!

Josh is a police officer, and he did work in the jail, but it's been about a year since he's been on the streets. I guess being on patrol doesn't sound as exciting as going to jail!

Rodeo time

2011-01-18T16:00:00.007-07:00

Every year on MLK day we go to the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver with Steve's family. This year, Steve wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home with Andrew and I took the boys. They always get excited about getting dressed up in their cowboy shirts and boots. They were disappointed they didn't have cowboy hats. Oh well. The boys love looking at the cattle and horses.

They have all sorts of booths with fun stuff to look at and do.

They have a booth where they have a huge bull and horse that kids can sit on and get their pictures taken. Of course it costs too much money, so we just looked at all the "spares" in the stable. As we were looking at the last one, they came to get the bull out. He was pretty impressive right in front of me! I came up to his shoulder!

They have all sorts of small animals on display.

The rodeo is really fun too!

After the rodeo we all go to Cinzzetti's. I think we look forward to that each year as much as the rodeo! It's a fabulous Italian buffet with more choices than you could imagine, including the dessert! I wish I had gotten a picture of all of us there. It was really fun to just visit and eat. The perfect way to end the day. :)

Presents

2010-12-27T20:48:00.006-07:00

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!

2010-12-27T20:31:00.006-07:00

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

2010-12-16T15:48:00.003-07:00

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!

2010-11-22T06:38:00.002-07:00

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

2010-09-28T09:22:00.003-06:00

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

2010-09-12T15:00:00.003-06:00

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?

2010-08-22T18:10:00.003-06:00

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

2010-08-20T21:16:00.002-06:00

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

2010-08-17T08:48:00.003-06:00

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

2010-07-28T09:45:00.001-06:00

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

2010-07-27T21:37:00.002-06:00

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

2010-05-29T21:01:00.004-06:00

Enjoying the first popsicle of the season.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-10T21:49:00.003-06:00

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

2010-05-07T21:38:00.002-06:00

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

2010-05-06T18:39:00.002-06:00

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

2010-04-29T21:55:00.002-06:00

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

2010-04-24T08:30:00.002-06:00

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

2010-04-22T20:06:00.007-06:00

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!

2010-04-20T09:03:00.003-06:00

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?

2010-04-19T20:35:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-03-19T11:08:00.002-06:00

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! :)

NPR

2010-03-14T20:47:00.002-06:00

A while ago, Steve and I were listening to NPR in the car. They sited a study where they found that parents of girls have more children than parents of boys. We both chuckled at that. Then they called in an "expert" to discuss the results. He said that the reason this happens is because the parents of girls are still trying to have a boy, and the parents of boys don't feel a need to try for a girl! Steve and I busted up laughing at that. I mean, really? That's the best the "experts" can come up with? They obviously are not in the parents of boys group! The parents of boys stop having kids because they're afraid of having another boy! I still think of that from time to time and it always makes me laugh.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

2010-02-28T10:56:00.009-07:00

Dallin, my sweet, sweet boy, turned 4 today. He is such a fun little boy! A few weeks after Christmas, he said to me, "I want jammies with a zipper and a snap with spiderman and superman and batman and power rangers..." and every other superhero he could think of. I thought that was cute, but figured he would forget about it. As it got closer to his birthday, any time someone would mention it, he would say he wanted those jammies. Not once did he ask for a toy. Sometimes he said he wanted all the Little Critter books, and once or twice he asked for a second Hot Wheels race track (he got his first one for Christmas), but he told everyone (including the clerks at the store, who would look at me really confused) about how he was going to get those jammies. He really had his heart set on those jammies, so I figured I should start looking. You know, it's really hard to find those blanket sleepers in his size. They didn't have them at Walmart, or Kohl's, or Target. I couldn't find any good ones on Ebay or Amazon. Target had a few online, but they were designs like dinosaurs or skulls and cross bones. They had one Buzz Lightyear, but I wasn't sure if Dallin even knew who he was. I started thinking about making him one, but patterns are expensive if they aren't on sale, and fleece, especially the licensed characters fleece, is pricey too, plus the long zipper, etc. This was a real dilemma for me.

A few weeks ago, Dallin had a family birthday party combined with his cousin, who is two weeks older than he is. His aunt gave him a Buzz Lightyear fleece blanket with a large, plush Buzz. He really liked playing with it and started talking about Buzz. (Thank you Debby!) I bought the buzz jammies right away and paid top dollar for them so Dallin would have something he really wanted. I kept searching for cheap blanket jammies so he could get a couple, seeing as he really wanted 10! I found some online at K-mart for 1/2 price, just generic prints. They supposedly had them in store here so I rushed off to get them. I searched everywhere and found the last three boys sleepers in the store. They weren't the ones on the website. They were spiderman and spongebob, two in Dallin's size and one in Caden's, and they were 75% off! Dallin really enjoys matching Caden, so I got all three. It was really fun watching him open each present this morning. He really loved his jammies and has wore all three today. I think he went to bed in his Buzz ones.

Yes I know Dallin's cake is pink with flower sprinkles on it, but considering it was wheat, dairy, egg, and chocolate free, I think it turned out pretty well. But that's another post.

Happy (really late) Valentine's Day!

2010-02-27T21:41:00.008-07:00

My sister posted a funny bit on trying to compete with the elaborate "card" exchanges at the school, and it made me want to share what we did. It just took a while to get around to it! Starting at the beginning of Feb Caden started talking about how excited he was for Valentine's Day. I kept thinking, really? So I asked him why. He answered with a grin, "Because Daddy always gets us a chocolate heart!"
Okay, I need to explain this. When I was growing up, every year we'd wake up Valentine's day with an inexpensive heart with chocolates on our pillow from our dad. It wasn't much, but it really made us feel special and we loved it. I wanted Steve to carry on this tradition. Of course, he didn't think it was any big deal, so I was always the one to get the heart, make him sign it, and put it on his pillow. Well, this year with Caden constantly giggling in anticipation, Steve realized it was important to them. I wanted to do something special for them too, but didn't want to "compete" with Steve, so I had to think of something non-candy. I found these little heart molds at Target for $1 and knew I could use them. Caden has eczema, so I make little bath fizzies for the boys because he can't use bubble bath. I used the molds to make cute little heart fizzies for them. Then I found this little dinosaur tag I attached to the bag. Yes, I know it says friend, and Steve thought I was weird for using it, but I knew the boys would like the dinosaur and not really care about what it said. And, of course, I was right!

I wanted to make fun stuff to eat for them too. I was going to make them pink heart pancakes for breakfast, but the boys started talking about how they really wanted eggs and sausage for breakfast on Valentines.
I tried to die the eggs pink, but of course they turned out orange. The boys went along with it though. Then I made "magic" milk for them. I put a couple drops of food coloring in a glass when they weren't looking, so when I poured the milk, it magically turned pink. They loved that and kept asking for magic milk days later. Maybe we'll have it on St Patrick's Day...

For lunch we had tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and red soda. I cut the sandwiches into little hearts and everyone really liked them, even Andrew!
Dinner was fun too, but we didn't get any pictures.

So Allison, this post was for you! I hope it sparks your imagination for next year! :)

Hot Dog

2010-02-26T14:38:00.003-07:00

Steve and I always laugh at the silly people that dress their dogs in little outfits. So this is what we did...

A little rusty

2010-02-12T10:17:00.002-07:00

Last week I was shopping at Walmart and I couldn't find the sugar cubes (because they don't carry them). I saw a man who worked there so I asked him where the sugar cubes were. He pointed to his ear and made signs like writing. Of course I didn't have a pen handy, but I thought, I can do this. I thought I remembered the sign for sugar, but it was awfully similar to the sign for cute, so I decided to finger spell it. My fingers were really slow and awkward, and I had to do it twice for him, but I made it. He answered me and I went on my way feeling proud I was able to use my ASL training, more to understand him than anything.
Well, this week I was back at Walmart, trying to find a hole punch without success. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a worker walking down the isle. I started to ask him where it was, when I recognized him as the deaf man from before. I couldn't think of the sign for hole or punch, so I just finger spelled it again. He helped me, I signed thank you, and then he quickly signed a question. Oh no. I could start to feel the pressure of a conversation in sign when I haven't really used it for 7 years. All I caught was "how you know..." Luckily I remembered the sign for again. He asked me how I knew he was deaf. I knew I couldn't finger spell that whole answer, so I struggled to remember enough signs to answer and plowed through a little conversation with him. It was fun to sign again, but it also made me flustered. Even though deaf people are always patient with my signing, I always feel more pressure signing with a deaf person. I would like to practice it more, but how do I find a hearing person who can sign?

Why can't boys communicate?

2010-02-04T11:21:00.007-07:00

Last week Caden's teacher sent home a note saying, "Ask Caden about the award he got in the assembly today!" I thought, cool. So as we were walking home, I tried to get him to tell me about it.
Me - How was your day?
Caden - Fine.
Me - Did you do anything fun?
Caden - Not really.
Me - Anything exciting happen?
Caden - Nope.
Okay, I'm guess I need to be more specific.
Me - Did you have an assembly today?
Caden - Yeah! (a little surprised)
Oh good, now he'll tell me.
Me - Did any thing fun happen there?
Caden - No.
Argh!
Me - What did they do?
Caden - They gave out awards.
Me - Did you get an award?
Caden - No! (a little defensively)
What?
The whole way home I kept trying to get him to tell me about this award, but he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I finally pulled out the note from his teacher and had him read it.
Caden - Oh yeah! I got an award.
Great! That's a start.
Me - Cool! What was it for?
Caden - Working hard.
Yes! We're on a roll!
Me - Who gave it to you?
Caden - Mrs. Ferachi. (his teacher)
Then I had to try and figure out if it was just some award that his teacher did for all the kids in the class, or maybe it was just the first grade. It was like pulling teeth to get it out of Caden. Finally, we got the story straight. It was a school wide assembly. His principal gave him a certificate for working hard. He was the only one from first grade. And everyone clapped for him. Pretty awesome. When we finally figured it out, we were very proud of him! And yes, these are the best pictures we got!

Today was the 100th day of school for Caden. He made this castle out of 100 sugar cubes. I thought it turned out pretty well. Steve helped Caden find a picture of a castle on the internet, then they designed it together and I helped him glue it.

Happy Birthday baby boy!

2010-01-20T21:22:00.001-07:00

That's right. Andrew turned one today. I don't know where the time has gone. We had a fun little family party and I thought I'd share some of the pictures. Enjoy!

First word

2010-01-03T21:06:00.003-07:00

That's right! Andrew said his first word today! I feel like I've been pushing for it for a while. I always try and get him to repeat words that would be meaning full for him, mama, dada, etc., but he just looks at me and smiles. He makes the sounds when he's just playing around, but not communicating. He even shakes his head and says "Uh uh" but he's just playing. This morning I walked past him and didn't stop. He started whining, crawled after me and cried out, "Mama!" It was the sweetest whine I've heard in a long time!

Happy holidays!

2010-01-03T20:17:00.009-07:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We were, and still are, sick the whole two weeks of vacation, so our holidays were nice, but low key. I made a few things for the boys and, believe it or not, they actually turned out pretty cute! You know those "taggie" baby blankets? Well, I found this idea for a taggie monster and I made it for Andrew. He likes it! He thinks it's really funny. It always makes him laugh.

I made these snakes for all three boys. Andrew's is about 4 feet long and the other two are about 5 feet. My sewing machine quit on Christmas Eve, so poor Andrew's snake only has one eye! The boys really like how big they are and they sleep with them every night. It feels so nice to make something the boys actually like!

Who's ready to party!?!

Guess who's allergic to Amoxicillin?

2009-12-30T13:35:00.002-07:00

Stairs

2009-12-22T12:46:00.005-07:00

Andrew has figured out how fun it is to climb the stairs. This is a mixed blessing for us. It keeps him really happy, and lately he's started climbing the stairs right around nap time. That makes me really happy because I don't have to carry him! He doesn't know how to go down the stairs yet and has no interest in learning. I keep trying to "teach" him, though, and I pull his feet gently down the stairs. Really, I'm just trying to avoid having to carry him! Our stairs are pretty wide at the bottom, and there's no way to block the stairs, so we have to watch him more closely now. He likes to climb up on the landing, reach out through the railing and grab whatever is on the piano. After Christmas I think the piano will be bare.

Snowmen

2009-12-18T09:25:00.005-07:00

Check it out! I actually made something cute! I made these snowmen for all of Caden's teachers and helpers at school. The smaller ones were Hershey's bars and the bigger symphony bar was for his homeroom teacher. The hats are the tops of socks that never stayed on Andrew's feet. The buttons are buttons that I glued on, and I just drew on the face. I thought I'd share it in case someone was looking for a fast, easy Christmas gift. I got the idea from here.

What a day!

2009-12-17T08:58:00.004-07:00

I started the day yesterday with such big plans. I was going to do Christmas cards, finish baking cookies and making candies, deliver goodies and wrap presents along with the usual make dinner, clean house, etc. Then I get up and find Andrew and Dallin both have pink eye--Caden had had it for a few days already. Great, now I'd have to get medicine for them too. I have to get Caden to school and then I called the doctor and got that settled. Andrew finally went down for his morning nap and I got to take my shower. When I came downstairs I heard a strange dripping noise in the front room. When I investigated it, I found a little puddle in the carpet and a small hole in the ceiling with water dripping! I quickly got a bowl and then called Steve. Of course he wasn't answering, so I had to wait until he called me back. By this time Dallin was whining about how hungry he was so I made lunch while I was waiting. Steve called me back and I told him what had happened. He was busy with something at work but would come home as soon as he could. I called some plumbers in the mean time to see if we could get a free estimate. It turns out most charge a service call, but I found one that didn't and could come by sometime between 3:30 and 5. Great.
Steve came home and Andrew woke up. I nursed him and fed him lunch. The water had stopped dripping by this time. Steve cut a bigger hole in the ceiling to see if he could see anything. He couldn't. He had me flush the toilet, run a bunch of water in the sink and tub, and he still couldn't see anything. There wasn't any water on the floor to give us any hints, so all we could do was wait for the plumber.
Now, I should tell you we've been tiling the master bath for the last three weeks and it's still not grouted. And the shower in our bathroom is missing a rubber piece at the bottom so it leaks and we can't use it until we get it fixed. So all day yesterday I was thinking, "We can't use our bathroom, now we can't use the boys bathroom, our main floor toilet clogs with anything more than 3 sheets of toilet paper, which leaves the basement bath."
So, now that we couldn't figure out the boys bath, Steve ran over to Home Depot to get some parts for the shower door (which they didn't have) and I finally ran over to Walmart to get the boys medicine. I went right over to the pharmacy, and it was closed! The sign said they close for lunch from 1:30 to 2. It was 1:32. So we walked around the store, trying to keep Andrew happy. We found the toy vacuum Santa is bringing him and now I know he will love it. When 2:00 came around there was a line of people waiting for the pharmacy. We got home just in time for me to get Caden from school. I got the kids snacks, helped Caden with his homework, practiced spelling, and made dinner. When dinner was ready the plumber came. I was so worried it would be some big repair. He looked around for quite a while and couldn't find anything. He couldn't find any signs of moisture anywhere. That's good news, right? After he left, Steve noticed the plug for the shower head had slightly pulled away from the wall, and that's our best guess as to where it came from. So now we wait and see if it happens again. After dinner, Steve started grouting our bathroom so we could at least have our toilet back, which means I was left to cleaning up, listening to Caden read his book, getting the kids ready for bed, and tucking everyone in. The boys decided they didn't want to cooperate and I was very frustrated with them after the long day I'd had. I was getting the jammies on Andrew when the doorbell rang. It was 8:00 at night. Who is coming by at 8:00? I grabbed Andrew, who was only half dressed, and went to answer the door. The bell rang again. Tinkerbell was going crazy barking and running around and the boys were watching from the top of the stairs. I answered the door and at least 20 teenagers started singing "Frosty the Snowman"! It was really sweet, but as I looked around, I didn't recognize any of them! I thought it must be mutual, because it was Wednesday night and I could see some adults way off on the sidewalk, but again, no one that I recognized! They gave me a little gift and left singing, and I had to check the tag to make sure it was the ward! I went to the garage to tell Steve who it was and he said it sounded like a mob there were so many people. :) After the day I had just had, that really lifted my spirits. Someone knew that I needed that. But now we have this hole in our ceiling...

Christmas Concert

2009-12-10T22:57:00.002-07:00

Tonight was Caden's Christmas concert at school. He's been excited and a bit nervous about it. I came prepared with my camera and video camera. I was holding Andrew so I told Steve he was in charge of taking lots of pictures. When the concert was starting, Steve pulled out the camera and immediately the batteries died. Great. At least we had the video camera. I was just using that and it said there was half an hour left, plenty of time to record the five songs that Caden's class was singing. Steve went to the back of the room to stand and record them. Five minutes later he sat back down and said the batteries died! So disappointing! Of course it was after that that Caden found us and started waving and blowing us kisses. It was really cute and will be a great memory, but would have been even better on video! Darn it!

Hungry?

2009-12-03T09:45:00.001-07:00

This is how we eat breakfast at our house. Care to join us?

Cute Pictures

2009-11-22T21:16:00.004-07:00

I'm usually not satisfied with Andrew's pictures, but I thought these turned out pretty cute.

Mr. Smarty Pants

2009-11-17T10:03:00.003-07:00

Remember how Dallin learned how to spell his name by himself? Well, a few weeks later I was in nursery and Dallin was coloring on the chalkboard. I thought I'd ask him if he could write his name. It took him a minute to figure out how to shape the letters, but then he did it. Since then he's been writing his name on his nursery papers every week. I decided I'd better get some sort of preschool workbook to keep him happy and challenged. We've been flying through it with little instruction on my part. I'm surprised how neat he's writing his letters. Steve said a lot of them are as good as Caden's! The lines for Dallin to practice writing his letters are quite large, as they are with most early writing papers. Dallin thinks it is hilarious to write his letters a quarter of the size. We'll write them tiny, show me, I exclaim how tiny they are, and he laughs and laughs. But they are still neat and legible!
So, I started to think maybe I should get him into a preschool next year. There's a lady in the ward who does a preschool from her home and she would be wonderful, so I asked her about it. For Dallin to attend three days a week, two hours a day, it would be $225 a month! Suddenly homeschooling sounds great again! There are a lot of kids his age in church, so maybe I could get some mom's together to do it. At this point I'm not sure he'd be getting much academically from preschool, and $225 is a lot to pay for social time!
We are also very proud of Caden. He's reading really well and spells well too. He gets that from his dad. I never could spell and depend wholly on spell check. In fact, often I spell so poorly that spell check can't figure out what I'm trying to say. Anyway, Caden has consistently been getting 100% on his spelling tests, that his teacher had to come up with a harder list for him to challenge him. It's a challenge for me now too because now I actually have to help him study! He's enjoying the challenge though and I love to see his sense of accomplishment.

Jealous?

2009-11-09T08:44:00.002-07:00

It's not fair how cute fat babies are, but not so cute for adults!

Yummy

2009-11-05T09:37:00.003-07:00

I was looking for something fun to eat for Halloween and found several fun recipes on the Internet. I ended up going with these fingers and slime. The slime was actually a really easy soup from frozen peas and mozzarella cheese that turned out quite tasty. When I showed the boys dinner, they were excited about the "fingers" but Caden didn't want the slime. He kept asking me if it was real slime. They both ended up liking it when they ate it though. They really liked the "ghost blood" we drank too! They're still calling their milk ghost blood. I kept the recipes and I think I will do it next year. Maybe I'll add some eyeballs and blood & guts too!

Trick-or-Treat

2009-11-04T08:54:00.008-07:00

The boys had a lot of fun trick-or-treating. The weather was really nice. I thought we'd have to worry about slipping on ice, but instead we had to be carefully about stepping in puddles. Probably half the snow had melted so there was puddles everywhere; some were pretty big. We convinced Dallin to wear his pumpkin sweatsuit because it was a little warmer. We had them wear thermals under their costumes and they didn't need coats! It was great! I can't remember ever going out on Halloween and not bundling up the kids. The boys didn't even complain, about being cold, that is. Caden kept saying how tired he was, and he'd sit on the porch after ringing the bell. It was a little embarrassing. Dallin had a great time though. He kept talking to the people at the door. "I'm Dallin I'm three and I'm a pumpkin and this is Caden and he's six and he's the evil spiderman and our baby brother is Andrew and he's at home..." I had to drag him away from the doors! As I was pulling him away he'd always turn around and say, "Happy Halloween!" It was really cute. After an hour I think he got the hang of it and was only saying a few things.
Andrew had to stay home. I love the pictures of my two pumpkins. If you look, you can seen 4 of Andrew's 6 teeth.

Dallin wore the pumpkin outfit that Andrew is wearing when Dallin was 20 months! Thought I'd put in that picture as well.

Halloween Parties

2009-11-03T20:35:00.011-07:00

Caden had his Halloween party at school on Friday. Because Steve had a snow day, he was able to come and see Caden in the parade. Caden was so excited to see us. That's his teacher behind him in the great fairy costume.

Steve took Andrew home after the parade and Dallin and I stayed for the class party. They had a bunch of extra food so Dallin got some and ate it next to his big brother. They even had a few extra favor bags so they gave one to Dallin. It was very nice. They had a good time.

That night we had a halloween party at church. Dallin changed into his Devil costume and Tinkerbell had to stay home.

We had dinner, played games, had a parade, went trick-or-treating, and had a costume contest. It was fun, but went a little too long. After trick-or-treating the boys, that included Steve, were all tired and cranky. Steve said, "Lets go." They hadn't announced the winners of the contest yet though. I looked I my boys in their very generic costumes, which they loved, and knew they weren't going to win any prizes so I agreed. Steve took Andrew and Caden while I was left with gathering our stuff and bringing Dallin. Well Dallin was especially cranky and started kicking and throwing a fit on the floor. I was trying to get him off the floor while holding all the coats and bags when they started announcing the winners. The Elders were the judges and the first was for the cutest costume. I thought of the adorable baby unicorn or the sweet toddler lady bug when one of the elders said, "to the bowman little devil." It took me a minute to realize what he said. Luckily we were right by the stage, so I scoped up Dallin, who was still on the floor kicking (not very cute if you ask me), and put him on the stage. That stopped his tantrum real quick! He got a little certificate and got to pick a box of candy.

It was especially funny because the velcro at the bottom of his hat was bothering him so his hat was all scrunchy on top of his head and he left his tail in the car, which I thought was the cutest part! I'm sure everyone was thinking, This is the cutest costume?

Snow days

2009-10-30T12:09:00.003-06:00

This week has doubled the amount of snow days Steve has had in the whole 6 years he's been teaching. He had two snow days. Hurray! I was very glad he was here to shovel the snow! It started snowing Tuesday night and didn't really stop until late Thursday afternoon. These pictures were of Thursday morning. The snow was really wet and heavy. Caden got Wednesday and Thursday off, and Steve got Thursday and Friday off. Wednesday morning I thought the boys we going to kill each other, so I found the easiest possible crafts and we did a whole bunch. The picture is what we did on Wednesday. On Thursday we did a few more, and they carved their pumpkins with Steve. The boys loved playing in the snow and were outside for a long time. Caden was really glad to go to school this morning, though, so he can have the Halloween party! And now Steve can come too. :) Looking out the window it looks more like Christmas than Halloween, though.

Pumpkin patch

2009-10-27T14:51:00.002-06:00

A little over a week ago we all went to a pumpkin patch. It was really fun. The boys enjoyed tromping through the vines to find the right pumpkin. Dallin didn't even mind all the times he tripped and fell. I only fell once. Good thing I wasn't holding the baby! (Steve's much more coordinated than I am.) They had some fun Halloween decorations and small farm animals to look at. They also had a corn maze. We would have liked to go, but a stroller wouldn't work and neither Steve or I can carry Andrew for too long! :( Maybe next year he'll be walking... Now we just need to carve the pumpkins! Poor Dallin's is already getting moldy. I think we'll just give him Andrew's.

9 months

2009-10-26T13:30:00.002-06:00

Andrew turned 9 months last week. He weighed in at 26 1/2 lbs. I'm so glad he's slowing down, although he's still off the chart! I wish he would walk soon, but I have a feeling he will be a late walker like his brothers. (Sigh) But he's happy and healthy, and that's what matters. It's getting harder and harder to get a picture of him with his monkey. Believe it or not, these are the best pictures I got. He's not crawling yet, but he does the army crawl on his stomach.

And the winner is...

2009-10-25T20:31:00.002-06:00

Jon & Becky! Yippee! We will present your prize in person the next time you're in Colorado. That of course means you'll have to let us know! :)

Spelling

2009-10-23T09:33:00.002-06:00

Caden spells pretty well. Every week he spells all his spelling words correct the first time. Sometimes he needs to look briefly at the bonus word, but after that he always gets them right. I still try and quiz him anyway. Dallin wants to be part of it too. He'll say, "I can spell 'run' R-V-T-S-N." Last night, as he was doing this, I started to think about when Caden was his age. It seemed to take a long time to teach him to spell his name. Finally, I taught him the song "Bingo" but substituted Caden for Bingo and that really helped him. I said to Dallin, "We need to teach you how to spell your name. What does it start with?"
"D"
Great! I thought I'd see if he knew the next letter, "And then what?"
"A-L-I"
Caden started to laugh, "No! Your name has 2 L's!"
"Oh. D-A-L-L-I-N."

Who's who?

2009-10-22T09:30:00.005-06:00

I've been going through my old pictures for a project I'm doing, and I came across some pictures of Caden as a baby, and I was surprised how much Andrew looks like him. I want to see if any of you can tell who's who. I took of dates and things that would give it away, like Steve with a beard! :) Any guesses? Who knows, maybe we'll have a prize if someone gets them all right!

Mmm... Sushi

2009-10-17T20:59:00.002-06:00

We decided to get Chinese take out for dinner tonight. We got a menu with a coupon, so we thought we'd try it out. Steve was excited because it had sushi that was a good price. He knew I wouldn't touch it. At dinner, he offered the boys a bite, and I almost gagged seeing the raw fish on their lips, but they loved it! After several bites Dallin said, "Mmm... Sushi is scrumptious!"

Peek a boo

2009-10-16T19:11:00.003-06:00

If Andrew's high chair is pushed far enough back, he likes to grab the curtains and pull them over his face. If Caden is around, he has to join in. Tonight, it was so cute I had to share.

What happened to fall?

2009-10-08T10:58:00.001-06:00

Um...Hum?

2009-09-30T13:54:00.002-06:00

The boys are in the middle of their swimming lessons and are really enjoying them. After Dallin's class last week, his teacher came up to me and said, "Dallin told me he doesn't know how to hum." And she said it in such a way that it seemed like she couldn't believe we hadn't taught him this! I felt like I had to make excuses, "Uh, I guess not. I usually just sing and Steve whistles a lot, but we don't really hum. Sorry." She went on to explain that's how they teach this age group to keep the water out of their noses. She asked me to teach him and practice with him. Okay, I can do that, or so I thought...
That afternoon I tried to teach him, telling him it was like singing but with you mouth closed. Well, he said he couldn't do it and Caden needed to teach him. I have no idea where he got the idea that Caden needed to teach him, but Dallin is very stubborn and once he gets an idea it stays there. I kept trying to get him to try, but he was freaking out saying he needed Caden, so I dropped it.
After school, as the boys were playing, I heard Dallin say to Caden, "You need to teach me how to say 'Um!'" It was really hard not to laugh at him, because he was trying so hard to communicate it to Caden. I told Caden what he meant, and Dallin copied him perfectly. He is such a stubborn, funny boy!

Andrew's 8 months

2009-09-25T10:20:00.003-06:00

Andrew turned 8 months on Sunday. I thought I'd share a couple of the pictures. He wasn't excited about sitting still, so no smiles this time. He's getting his top two teeth, and he likes to grind his teeth together. It sounds like he's chewing on sand! Steve and I cringe everytime we hear it. He's still not crawling, but he's still a happy boy. He really loves his brothers and they can really get him laughing. Very cute to see.

Our budding artists

2009-09-23T11:14:00.006-06:00

Caden loves to draw. He spends hours at it. He was excited when I brought home a box of old computer printer paper from a garage sale. It was 1000 sheets and I could see his mind thinking up all the cool monsters he could draw with all that paper. That's what he mostly draws, monsters, dragons, snakes, sharks, dinosaurs, anything with sharp teeth and is scary. He'll make up these creatures, draw them, name them, talk your ear off about all the little details of the creatures, what they can and can't do, etc, then run around the house pretending to be the creatures, terrorizing his little brothers. I'm quite impressed with them imagination he has to come up with all that, all except the terrorizing his brothers, that is! This picture he was copying dinosaurs from a book and I think he did a pretty good job.

Sometimes it gets old seeing all these pictures of monsters, so I was quite pleased with this picture of me on my "ship". And of course he went into all sorts of detail about what everything was, but I can't recall any of it.

Dallin's pictures are usually just scribbles, so I was impressed with his picture of me too!

No monkies here!

2009-09-20T21:44:00.006-06:00

Both Caden and Dallin are afraid of heights. It runs in the family. Well, I remember climbing in our tree as a kid and having a blast. Caden's never really figured that out. I decided it was time for them to learn so I put them both in the tree. Doesn't it look like they're having a blast?

Caden was nervous at first, but he's gaining confidence and I think he likes it now. With the aid of an upside down bucket he can climb the tree without me and will actually move to a second branch! I still think they need some lessons from their Davis cousins!

Tinkerbell

2009-09-08T21:21:00.002-06:00

For those of you who don't know Tinkerbell, she's a very good dog but likes a lot of attention. I don't give her much-the boys give her plenty-but she's always right at hand just in case it's one of those moments where I pet her. She loves it when I get on the floor with Andrew. She sits right next to me and leans against me.
Andrew loves the dog. He is always fascinated with her and when she comes in reach, he grabs her. And she puts up with it, if it means she can be close to me or Steve. She only cries if he gets her face, and we do our best to not let that happen. Well, the other day I was folding laundry and I put Andrew on the floor in front of me. He was happy playing with his toys so I didn't pay close attention to him, then I heard Tink cry. She had come to sit at my feet, right in Andrew's reach. I let her go and shewed her off. A few minutes later it happens again. And again! And again! I really wish this dog would learn! I finally had to put her in her kennel for her own safety so I could finish the laundry.

New bikes

2009-09-07T20:18:00.001-06:00

In the beginning of spring this year, Steve and Caden set two goals for Caden's summer: to learn to swim and to learn to ride his bike. Then, we found out we were moving and didn't have any time to help him. Our house here doesn't have a community pool, either. Now that we're mostly settled, I've enrolled him in swimming classes that start next week. As for riding a bike, that hasn't been as easy. Both the boys have cheap bikes we found at garage sales, and every time the boys went out to ride, the chains kept falling off. The boys would get frustrated and I got sick of putting it back on. So, today we took a trip to Walmart and got the cheapest bikes that fit the boys. The boys were so excited, walking their bikes around Walmart. Steve even let Dallin sit on his while Steve pushed him around. All the adults stopped to talk to them and say how exciting it was they were getting new bikes. I could tell they were each reliving their memories of their own first bikes. It was really fun. When we got home the boys spent an hour outside practicing. The really had a good time. Hopefully now getting them to practice riding their bikes won't be like pulling teeth!

Sorry about Caden's picture. He didn't want to stop and would only slow down! :)

Hungry?

2009-09-06T20:43:00.002-06:00

The other day, as I was opening a box of soap, this is what I found.

Yes those are huge teeth marks in the soap. My first thought was Dallin, because he puts anything and everything into his mouth. But then I thought about it, and I remembered the box was sealed. So I check the box, see if there were any tears or anything, and there weren't. So, it must have happened at the factory. Weird, huh?

Cell Phone?

2009-09-03T21:14:00.002-06:00

So, when Caden asked for a phone before school started, I thought it was sweet he didn't want the dog to wake up the baby when he came home. Then tonight he comes to me and says, "A lot of kids at school have cell phones."
I laugh, "The kids in your class?"
He nods. "Can I have one please?" (Imagine a really whiny voice here)
I laugh harder, "NO!"
"Please mom! Jake and Aaron and blah blah blah all have one, and it makes be feel really bad!"
"Well, maybe you can use theirs! You know, I got my first cell phone when I was 28 (Caden's eyes get big) so you have a ways to go."
First grade! Give me a break!

The Best Security Blanket

2009-08-27T21:27:00.003-06:00

Dallin has never been a great sleeper. He often wakes up at night either crying or he just comes into our room. In the beginning of July, he started waking up every night and coming in our room. He'd come to me, and I'd get him a drink, put him to bed, and cuddle with him a few minutes before I went back to bed. Well, he soon figured out that if he went to Dad, Dad would let him climb in bed with us. I kept waking up in the middle of the night with Dallin asleep in our bed.

A couple weeks ago, after Steve put the boys to bed, he comes in and tells me Caden and Dallin are both sleeping in Dallin's bed. (He sleeps on a full size be on the bottom bunk.) I start thinking, great. They're going to mess around and I'm going to have to go up there and separate them. Amazingly, they both fall right to sleep. Next night, same thing. After several nights of this I realize that Dallin hasn't woken up once since Caden started sleeping in his bed! Well, on Monday and Tuesday this week, Caden "lost the privilege" of sleeping with Dallin, and, wouldn't you know it, Dallin was up both nights! We really try and encourage Caden to sleep with Dallin now, even if he does wake him up early in the morning!

Permission

2009-08-27T21:03:00.005-06:00

I remember trying to get permission for something as a kid. If one parent said no, I'd go ask the other. It never really worked, though. My mom would always ask, "Did you already ask Dad? And what did he say?" I always thought it was worth a shot though. I often hear Caden asking something, then he comes and asks me for something. I remember my wise mother and our conversation goes like this:

Me - Did you ask Dad?

Caden - Yes.

Me - And what did he say?

Caden - Yes. (And Steve really said yes! I check with him later.)

Me - Then what are you asking me for?

Seven Months

2009-08-21T14:12:00.002-06:00

Andrew turned seven months yesterday and I thought I'd share a few of the pictures. Of course we had to show off those legs! And his two teeth. He started to cut those a month ago, both at the same time. He's a very happy boy. Everyone always comments on how happy he is, that and how big he is and his big, beautiful, blue eyes. :) My favorite comment was this morning at the eye doctor, "What big eyes! You are so beautiful! You must take after your dad!" Um, thanks, I think! :)

1st day of 1st grade

2009-08-20T16:26:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was Caden's first day of school. I don't know how the other mom's do it. I'm just so anxious about leaving my baby with someone else all day long every day! I stayed home all day yesterday just in case the school had to call home, and today when I went down to Denver I was so worried I wouldn't be there to pick up Caden and he would be wondering around lost! :) At least I know I'm being paranoid and can laugh at myself.

Caden seems to be enjoying school, but it's hard to tell. He can spend 10 min telling me about an ant he saw a lunch time, but when I ask him if he sat by a boy or girl at school, he can't remember. Go figure.

So here are our pictures as we get ready to take Caden to his first day of school. And, of course, Dallin wanted one by himself too.

Mosquitoes

2009-08-09T22:36:00.002-06:00

I didn't realize we had so many mosquitoes here. The boys were playing outside on Friday at 4:00 for about a half an hour, and they (mostly Caden) were covered in bites. Last night my aunt tried to count all the bites on Caden's legs--the picture doesn't do him justice--and she lost count. They both have bites on their faces, close to their eyes. This morning, right after he got up, Dallin could hardly open his eye it was so swollen. These pictures were several hours later and, believe me, he looks much better in them. Next time I send my boys out, I'm going to rub them with Bounce and hope that works!

Caden?

2009-08-09T20:58:00.002-06:00

Everyone was crabby at church today, so when we came home, we all took a nap. The only problem is the boys can't nap in the same room or else they just play and keep each other up. So, Caden is supposed to rest on one of the couches downstairs, which usually means he quietly tears the house apart. Well, today, after a bit of moving around, he was really quiet. I was relieved and got a decent nap in. After I woke, I went downstairs to get dinner ready. I looked in the front room for Caden, but he wasn't there. I checked the TV room. The couch was torn up and blankets were everywhere, but no Caden. I check the basement because sometimes he likes to play in there, but no Caden. I'm starting to panic, imagining Caden going for a "walk" and is long gone. I run upstairs, calling his name and looking in each of the rooms again. No answer. I start going for the phone to call 911 and I see something inside the couch. It's Caden, dead asleep!

One of a kind

2009-08-07T19:13:00.004-06:00

A lot of kids won't eat bread crusts. Personally, I don't like the heel. Caden eats it all just fine. But I've never seen anything like Dallin. He likes to eat his crusts first. Really cute to watch. He has the funniest habits. He always tells me how good his food is. "This is so yummy! This is so delicious!" It's really cute, especially on the nights he won't eat his dinner! At least he's trying to make me feel good, I guess.

Weather

2009-07-30T09:38:00.002-06:00

I'm really liking this 70 degree weather (yes, that's right Anna, a high of 70 not a low!) but the storms are driving me crazy! Wednesday morning at about 1:00 for about a half an hour the was continuous thunder and lightening! Thunder storms don't usually bother me, but this was really scary! When Dallin came and crawled into our bed, I really wished I was a kid again and could crawl in bed with my parents.

It reminded me of the storm last week in Castle Rock. There was flash after flash of lightening, and continuous rumbling, no way to figure out how close it was, so we just hid under our covers and hoped it would be over soon. It wasn't until a few days later we found out it was a tornado in Castle Rock! Before we moved there we were assured that Castle Rock would never have a tornado, and while we lived there 2 years, two tornadoes touched down! And Castle Rock doesn't have a warning system in place so both times we didn't know we were supposed to take shelter. Luckily, we didn't have any damage either time, but I kept thinking about that during the storm the other night. I don't know if Fort Collins has a warning system either, so I was checking on the TV stations for at least a sever thunder storm warning, but there wasn't anything. It was frustrating, not knowing if we should get up the other boys and go in the basement, but eventually it moved on and we didn't have any real damage here either.

Before & After

2009-07-28T13:19:00.002-06:00

Never leave your kids alone with scissors! Need I say more?

Moving

2009-07-19T10:37:00.002-06:00

Well, it's almost official. We are closing on the 24th on both houses. That's only two weeks after we put an offer on the house in Fort Collins, and amazingly, we seem to be on track! So, everyone keep your fingers crossed that everything goes the way it's supposed to! And hopefully, by next week, we will be moved in and ready to post again! :)

Reading

2009-06-05T20:34:00.002-06:00

Up until a few weeks ago, Caden would tell everyone, "I can't read." They'd feel bad for him and say something like, Well, just keep practicing and soon you'll be able to read. I'd just roll my eyes and tell Caden to read them his school book. He would and they would be surprised because he could obviously read quite well.

Caden can read environmental print and he reads his school books, but he wouldn't read his own books. Steve and I kept encouraging him to read his books, but he'd just look at the pictures. Finally this week, something clicked and he realized he can read. He's started reading his books and it's really rewarding to see him enjoying himself.

When I was making dinner tonight, I asked Caden to talk to Andrew to keep him happy. When I turned around, Caden had one of his books and was reading it upside down so Andrew could see the pictures. It was so sweet! Then, it was bedtime and the boys were waiting for their story. I was feeding Andrew though, so I asked Caden to pick out a book and read it to Dallin. They had a great time reading Go, Dog, Go! Caden read it all and they giggled at the pictures. It was really cute hearing them together.

Windsor, here we come!

2009-06-04T10:21:00.003-06:00

Steve got an Assistant Principal position at Windsor Middle School! (For those of you who don't know where Windsor is, it's about 10 min northeast of Loveland, where we used to live) We are so excited. It's a great opportunity for Steve. We really love northern Colorado, too. Ever since we moved to Castle Rock, Steve's been saying he's missed it up there and wanted to move back. Now we will. Of course, that means packing up the house and trying to sell it. :( Hopefully we'll have it ready for the market in a couple of weeks. So, we're really excited about moving back to our old "home," maybe even our old ward!

Graduation

2009-05-28T11:16:00.004-06:00

Caden "graduated" from Kindergarten today. It was very cute. Caden got to do everything first because they did it in alphabetical order. Lucky kid! I always wished that would have been me, but I was always near the end. Steve had to work, but his grandma & Grandpa, Uncle David, Aunt Debby, and cousin Presten were so nice and drove half an hour to see Caden for 20 min. It was a cute little program. I couldn't help but think, is he really that old? He's looking less and less like a little kid and more and more like one of the big kids running around the neighborhood. There goes my baby!

Holy Big Baby!

2009-05-22T18:49:00.006-06:00

Andrew had his 4 month check up. I always hate these appointments. I worry about the shots and I just feel so bad he has to get them. His appointment went well, though. He is such a happy boy. When the nurse was measuring his head (he's in the 90th percentile), he was just smiling and laughing at her. It was really cute. She kept commenting about how big he was. Then she measured him. He was 28 inches long and 22 lbs! To put that in perspective, that's the size of an average year old, and he's only 4 months! I really wasn't surprised though. He wears size 12 months clothing. It's probably a good thing though. If he was lighter, Caden would probably try and carry him, and most likely drop him! It's nice he's such a happy boy. I don't think I could carry him around all the time like I did with Dallin.

I've been taking pictures of Andrew with this monkey every month to show his growth. This is one day old and 4 months old.

Dallin's Prayer

2009-05-21T14:01:00.002-06:00

Just recently we've started encouraging Dallin to say prayers on his own, with only a little help from mom and dad, not saying it verbatim. He comes up with the most random things. "Please bless Jesus to fly on an airplane... Thank you Jesus can speak Spanish really good." What? Where did that come from? It's really cute to hear him be so sincere about these things. Steve and I try not to laugh and just praise him for really thinking about his prayer!

Dallin's Picnic

2009-05-19T16:20:00.002-06:00

Sunday, Caden was sick with a cough and fever, so I stayed home from church with the boys. I took a shower late in the morning, and when I got out, Andrew was awake, Dallin was running up and down the hall, and Caden was asleep on the couch! The poor boy. It was lunchtime and Dallin and I were hungry. I didn't want to wake up Caden, so I grabbed whatever prepackaged food we had and Dallin and I had an impromptu picnic in his room. Dallin thought it was great, and I was glad Caden got some extra rest. By the way, Caden is still coughing, but the fever is gone.

Happy Birthday Caden!

2009-05-14T19:05:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Caden turned six. I don't know where the time went. It doesn't feel like that long ago we were at the hospital filling out paper work to get it all started, but at the same time, we couldn't imagine our life without him. He's a joy to be around and a great big brother. I think he was the first one to make Andrew really laugh.

We had a good time at his family birthday party. He specifically requested a round layer cake with thick frosting. He insisted on putting the sprinkles on himself and did a pretty good job, too. He loved opening his presents, and really liked the presents, too. He was even excited about the mechanical pencils Andrew gave him. Caden is such a sweet boy and we are so grateful to have him in our family. We love you, big boy!

Mother's Day Tea

2009-05-07T12:44:00.003-06:00

Caden's Kindergarten class had a Mother's Day tea party this morning. Caden has been so excited about it. This whole week he kept asking, "Is it Thursday yet?" He told me several times I needed to get up early on Thursday for the tea party. He even told Dallin that he (Dallin) was going to miss mom because mom was going to school with him (Caden) and Dallin had to stay home. He was really excited about a surprise he made for me and every time he talked about it, he'd smile behind his hands, thrilled that he had a secret.

Thursday finally came. Caden was a little disappointed I wasn't spending the whole day with him, but I told him he had to get everything ready for me and I would see him later. My wonderful sister-in-law, Debby, came over to watch Andrew and Dallin so I could spend some one-on-one time with Caden.

Caden was so excited when I showed up. We all sat on the floor and the teacher read "Love you forever". I think all the moms were crying as we held our "babies" in our laps. Then the kids sang us "You are my sunshine," which happened to be the song I always sing to my boys. It was very sweet. They did hand motions with the song, but Caden was the only one who just stood there and sang. That was okay though because he usually just does the hand motions and refuses to sing!

Then we got our surprises. The kids made "all about mom" books. The teacher read the first page and the moms were supposed to guess when they thought it was them. It was things like, "My mom is very blank. My moms eyes are blank." etc. When the teacher read, "My mom is very cranky," I thought for sure it was me! But it wasn't! So I started to listen for eye color because I was sure Caden knew that (he's said it a hundred times). So when Caden described me as "very nice, brown eyes, and blackish brown hair," I just looked around the room to see who it was.

The book was very cute. Some of my favorite things he said were "She spends most of her time feeding Andrew." (It really feels like it!) And, "Mom helps our family by putting us in different rooms." They also put together a book they'd made throughout the year called Magical Handiwork. They had different paintings made from their hand prints. Both books very sweet and are definitely going in his treasure box.

Masks

2009-05-05T08:44:00.004-06:00

The young women in our church did a fundraiser for girls camp. They had two different nights where they did babysitting at the church. Steve and I never go out, but it was for a good cause so we brought the boys. The first night, they just sat and watched movies the whole time (that's the way they are when the TV is on). When I picked them up, Caden started to cry saying he didn't get to do any of the crafts! Well, whose fault is that? So, this last weekend, I reminded him of that and suggested he did other things first. They did! They made these wonderful masks.

Dallin kept saying his mask was a zombie mask. How does he know about zombies? From all the scary movies Steve watches in front of the boys, I'm sure. And we wonder why almost every night at least one of the boys wake up scared and try to climb in bed with us. Two nights ago, they both got up together saying they had bad dreams. I'm just tired of it, so last night I decided to bribe them. I told them, whoever stayed in bed the whole night and didn't wake up mommy or daddy would get a surprise in the morning. It worked! They both got to pick out a dinosaur sticker and they were excited about it. I think were going to try it again tonight.

Ouch!

2009-04-29T09:00:00.004-06:00

Last night before dinner, Dallin, our little monkey, was climbing over the kitchen chairs. He slipped and hit his face on the edge of a chair. There was a lot of blood and it took me a while to figure out where all the blood was coming from. He got a pretty good scrape on the bottom of his chin, but most of the blood was coming from his gums. His two front teeth on the bottom were loose! I kept thinking, Oh no! We don't have dental insurance! I was debating on if we should take him in or not. We decided to distract him by putting on SpongeBob and told him to stop wiggling them with his tongue. He ended up falling asleep on the couch and was out for the night. This morning I was sure his teeth would have fallen out during the night, or at least he'd be bruised and have a fat lip, but we were lucky. You can hardly tell, except his teeth are a little crooked now. But do you think he'll learn from this? Not a chance!

Here we go...

2009-04-24T18:45:00.005-06:00

Steve's been saying for a while that I need to do a blog, so here we go. I think this will be more for myself than anything. It should be fun to "share" all the funny things my boys say and do. I wanted to share this picture of Andrew and Caden. I can't believe how fast Andrew is growing. He is 3 months old and weighs 20 lbs! Steve says it's all the chocolate I've been eating... He's probably right!