Bad mom

So, I totally was a bad mom today. I didn't see myself ever saying anything like this, but I did. We had a ton of errands to run, Christmas cards and packages to mail and plus, it was raining outside. The boys were being pretty good, except for Michael crying for candy at the store. But, the post office is always where I loose control. For some reason it is so hard to take kids to the post office. I had to mail a package to Brazil and that takes like twice as long as anything else. Anyway, the kids were not at their best and all of the sudden I heard myself saying, "Christopher and Michael, if you aren't good Santa isn't going to bring you any Christmas presents." What??? Did I really say that??I kind of laughed after I said it. We don't really push the whole Santa thing in our house because we want to emphasize celebrating the life of Jesus Christ and we know that even if we don't talk about it a lot they are going to pick up the idea of Santa Claus anyway, which they have. Not that I"m against Santa or anything...I think it's a really fun part of Christmas. Anyway, I just felt a little bad that I made them feel like Santa wouldn't like them if they weren't perfect all the time. Looking back on it now, it probably wasn't a big deal...but it totally felt like a silly, trite thing to say when I said it. Hahaha. And by the way, I don't think they believed me anyway, since there are a bunch of wrapped presents in the closet that they have seen...another hard part of living in such a small apartment. :)

So cute!

I don't usually let the boys nap in the same room because....well, they won't nap. But I usually let them play for a little while and then have them go in seperate rooms to sleep. The other day is got quiet rather quick so I went in to check and found them asleep like this. It was so cute. They looked like they had just been hanging out talking and fell asleep. :)

I hadn't taken any 3 year old pictures of Michael yet so I wanted to take him in the backyard and snap a few shots. He wasn't too excited and didn't want me to comb his hair (which you can tell from this picture needed to be cut). But he was a trooper even though it was pretty cold outside. I asked him to smile and he gave me this cute, cheesy, "hurry and take the picture mom" smile. ;)

One of the boys

Baby Anne is one of the boys. She loves to do whatever her brothers are doing and she can growl and climb around on the furniture just like they do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm going to get my "girly girl". She is so cute though and she cracks me up at the thing she will do. Her favorite words are "da" (dad), "baby", "no" and "uh oh". Her brothers love to hold her hands and walk around the house with her. For a little while, Michael was having a hard time and he would get in the occasional push or pinch. But lately, he has been much nicer and likes to play with her and help her with things. I can see them becoming buddies. We just love little Baby Anne and all her personality.

Christmas is coming!

7 pairs of slippers - supplies $12

1 quilt for Grandma - supplies $15

1 children's fort - supplies $20

Having all my homemade Christmas gifts done - Priceless!

I had such a fun time making all these presents. The fort was really fun. I put a little mail box on the front (the black square opens up) and on the other side (not pictured) I put a dog house with a doggy inside, for Michael. He loves dogs. I hope they have lots of fun with it.

A fun Thanksgiving

I'm really late posting this, but our computer is on the fritz which is a real pain. We had a really nice Thanksgiving with our friends the Manwarings, in New Hampshire. Jeff and Preston were friends at BYU before either of them got married and ironically, they both married girls named Emily. They live in New Hampshire now because Preston is going to Dartmouth and they have two little boys the same ages as our boys named Andrew and William. The kids had a great time playing together and Baby Anne just did everything they did including climbing in and out of the homemade box fort. Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy. It was so fun for Emily and I to cook together because it's nicer to have someone to talk to and not have to do it all yourself. It was so fun to talk and catch up with them and Emily and I even braved the "Black Friday" shopping, which was just as crazy as I've always heard it was. :) We even stopped and saw the Christmas lights at the Joseph Smith Memorial Birthplace in Vermont on our way back home. The kids slept the entire 4 1/2 hour drive home, which was so nice!

The kiddie table

Jeff and Preston took the boys to a children's museum and they had a blast. It was also nice for Emily and I to have some quiet time. :)

Happy Thanksgiving and a made up treat

• Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!
• I love this time of year! There are so many fun things to do and so many fun things to eat! We will be taking a road trip up north to New Hampshire this year to visit some friends and we are really looking forward to getting away. I'm hoping there will be snow up there. It's been so cold here and in my opinion, cold is wasted unless there is snow to play in. But in the spirit of the season here is a small list of things I am thankful for.
• Mostly, my wonderful husband and 3 fun children.
• A warm house to live in and a warm car to drive in.
• Great family and friends
• The security I feel right now, despite times of turmoil around us.
• Being able to go to church each week and feel renewed for another week.
• Yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie!
• That Christmas will be here soon and Christmas music
• For a mom and sister who are such good friends to me.
• The good health of my children.

I could go on, but I won't bore you anymore.
On a different note, here is a fun treat we made today. (Sorry I don't have a picture). I had some puff pastry in the freezer that needed to be used. I thawed it, cut it up into 9 squares and pushed them down into muffin tins. Then I put a dollop of peanut butter, some milk chocolate chips and a half a marshmallow on top. Bake them at 375 for 10 minutes. Then let them cool for 10 minutes and eat. They were really yummy and satisfied the chocolate craving really well. :)

Hmmm?

Lately, when I ask Christopher or Michael a question, the answers don't quite fit. If I'm having to have a talk with Michael and I say, "Michael, why did you bonk Baby Anne." He'll say, "Because I don't want to hit her." So I'll say, "Then why did you hit her." To which he will say, "Because I don't want to." Hmmm, that' doesn't really answer the question does it? :) So I'll try to rephrase the question and I still get the same answer. I usually end up smiling which doesn't help with the discipline. And if any of you have 3 or 4 year olds the most commonly used word in the house is "Why." (Sometimes I wish that wasn't a word). But sometimes if I say something like, "Christopher, please get your shoes on so we can go to the store." He'll say, "Why not?"...(not a "why not" as in "sure mom", but a very questioning "why not"). Hmmm, I think he just means "Why?"...to which the answer would be, "um, so we can go to the store". It's a good thing my kids are so cute, or I might just go a little crazy. ;) I really do love them though, and all their curiosity.

Funny stories

* One morning this week we were sitting on the couch reading out of the children's Book of Mormon. We were reading about the Amlicites and coming to a part where they were fighting (which I usually alter a little to sound not so violent). Michael looked to the next page where they were throwing spears and bows and arrows and says, "Mom, look, they're playing baseball!" Hahaha, that sounds better than fighting to me. :)

* Christopher was sitting on the window sill playing with two toy cars. This is how the conversation went.

"I like Jesus. Jesus likes me. God loves Jesus too." Do you like Jesus?"

"Yes, yes." (say the cars)
"Jesus tells us be nice. Say amen."

"Amen, amen." (say the cars)

It went on like this for a little while with a little more variation on this theme. Christopher is such a little sweetheart.

* Sometimes we have a little issue with Baby Anne getting picked on by her older brothers. ;) Today they were all playing on the floor and Michael kept laying down and putting his feet on top of Annie so she couldn't move. She didn't like it and so Christopher grabbed Michael's legs,and while holding them said, "Run away Baby Anne. Save yourself!" LOL

Feeling Crafty

I have been in such a crafty mood lately. I have so many projects in my head and I know I won't get them all done. I'm almost done with all the Christmas slippers and that's just the beginning of my Christmas projects. But this was something I made for Michael's birthday. It is a car mat, like the ones you can buy that kids can drive their toy cars around on. I decided I wanted to make one so it would be more personal. I put things like church, Bushkill Falls, Pathmark and Dunkin Donuts on it. It was fun to make and Michael and Christopher seem to enjoy it so it was worth the time. Plus, here is Michael on his birthday. The cake was supposed to be a pumpkin. I think I'm going to give up on theme cakes because I'm not very good at it, and just go back to the good old chocolate mint cake. Yum!

Fall Fun

A few weekends ago we took our annual trip to see the fall foliage. The landscape is, by far, the best thing about living on the East coast. Whenever we leave this area I think I will really miss all the trees and the fall season. We couldn't go until a little late this year so we didn't go as far as Vermont or Lake George like we have in the past. Our landlord gave us the suggestion of driving through the rolling hills in Connecticut. I googled it and we decided to take Route 7 up through Connecticut into Massachusetts. It turned out to be a great trip. If anyone knows us, we like to fly by the seat of our pants when it comes to trips like this. I usually decide where we are going, but we don't book any hotels and we tend to veer off the beaten path. If we see a road that looks appealing, we take it. On this trip we found some pretty covered bridges, an old army tank that Jeff was fascinated with, tons of acorns that the kids collected at a wiggle stop and a really good pizza place somewhere in CT. We like to stop at little local places to eat. The pizza was great and afterwards Jeff took a little walk by himself and came back with a new shirt for me to wear the next day since I hadn't brought any long sleeves and it was REALLY cold up there. He is so sweet!

We found a really awesome hotel room that was a suite for a great price. We like to have the rooms with the kitchens and separate bedrooms so we can cook and stuff and have enough space. We had a fun night watching "Winnie the Pooh's Halloween" and the next day we decided to head west and come home through the Catskills. We found an awesome little local deli/restaurant on the way and had a great lunch. We also stopped at a NY state park we found along the way and played outside. By the time we got home we were beat but we had a really great time. We are already looking forward to the next trip.

If you look really close, Michael is sitting on this tank.

Halloween Happenings

Thanks to our friends who shared these fun pictures from the Hoboken Halloween Parade. The kids had a fun time, mostly because they got TONS of candy. Jeff and I have also enjoyed some of their goodies. :) Christopher was a lion, Michael was a doggy and Annie was a black cat. I made their costumes and it was fun, even if they didn't look very professional. I made the boys costumes just like you would make a hooded bath towel and they turned out pretty cute. They had little paws to go with them, but didn't wear them a lot of the time since they interfered with unwrapping candy. I think Annie ate as much candy as the boys since she kept screaming unless I put candy in her mouth. She's getting pretty smart. :) I took some pictures of the 3 little animals together that I will post when I get them back. It was a fun day!

Sleep Talking

Michael talks in his sleep. It's so funny to hear what he will say. Today while he was napping I heard talking and I thought he was awake so I peeked my head in the room and he is fast asleep but he was saying, "But I want more tricks or treats. Please mommy, Please!" (We are on major sugar overload here at our house). It made me laugh because he wasn't mumbling or anything, it sounded like he was awake. I also once heard him say, "I don't want the snake to get me." That sounds like a scary dream to me, but when I asked him about it later he didn't remember anything. I think he gets this from Jeff who also talks in his sleep. But Jeff, on the other hand, talks in gibberish...or some other language...maybe it's Portuguese. :) I love my 3 boys and my one little girl. They are so much fun!

Happy Birthday Michael!

I can't believe Michael is 3 years old. He is becoming such a big boy and is so independent. He is my little tough guy but I love how in the mornings he still likes to have a hug and snuggle for a minute. Every once in a while he'll just come up and say, "I want a hug". Those are the best times! He is so smart and is so sweet, most of the time. ;) I remember how mellow and smiley he was as a baby and he has the biggest, bluest eyes. His distinctive little voice always lets everyone know when he is coming and sometimes the things he says just crack me up. I'm so grateful to be his mom and I hope I can learn the lessons he is teaching me and will continue to teach me. (*tears*) I Love you Michael!

Whoa!!

So, I had been wondering why for the past few weeks Annie had been waking up again at nights and was a little cranky, had a stuffy nose and her eating habits were weird. I just wrote it off as any number of things until tonight when she was laying on the floor with her mouth wide open, laughing, and I looked in her mouth. She's getting FOUR MOLARS at the same time. I was flabbergasted! I thought, "Isn't this kind of early. She doesn't even have all of her incisors yet." She's finally getting a few of her second incisors after they've been bulging but not coming through for like a month now. But lo and behold, here come the big teeth. So I went looking in the boy's baby books and I guess it's not actually that strange because both Christopher and Michael got their first molars before all the other teeth came in. Annie's are coming in a little earlier than theirs did, but I guess they say girls do everything faster. ;) But I felt like a really bad mom not even knowing she had these teeth half way grown in. I guess that explains why she can chew food up so good. :) Just don't stick your finger in her mouth, or you might lose it!

Belated Pictures

I know her birthday was a month ago, but there is a delay in developing pictures. (Some day we'll catch up with the rest of the world) ;) It was a fun day and Annie was very dainty eating her cake. I forgot to take pictures opening presents until after she got unclothed to eat cake...that's why she looks that way. :)

Baby?

Last night, we were going to watch Ashlyn for a little bit while Shannon ran an errand. I told Christopher we needed to pick up a little because a baby was coming over. He started picking up and then said, "A baby's coming?" I said, "Yep". Then he gets a funny look on his face and says, "Are you having another baby mommy?" I just chuckled and said, NO. Kids just make me laugh. He looked a little bit concerned about that possibility...as I would be. ;)
When she got here I just held her the whole time while she slept. Christopher sat next to me and just stroked her hair (she has a ton of it). It was really cute. I asked the boys if we should have another baby. They said, "No, we have Baby Anne." Then I said, "Should we keep this baby, she's really cute." Michael said, "YES, let's keep the baby." But Christopher said, "NO, we can't keep that baby. She's Shannon's baby, she would miss her." I love the different personalities of my kids.

Walking and Such

Annie is pretty much walking now. She still crawls a little but most of the time she waddles around. It is so cute because she is so small. I guess that means I need to buy her some shoes now. :) And today, I found her on the couch. I asked Christopher if she got up there herself or if he put her up there. He said she did it herself, but I haven't seen her do it again since, so who knows. Maybe she climbed on something else to get up there. But she is a real climber. She can climb onto the chairs and try to get on the table. Luckily I've always intercepted that one.

Also, she's an nose picker....haha. Well, I don't think she is actually picking her nose. I think she has just discovered that her nose has holes and likes to put her finger in there. Anyway, it's not very lady like. But with all the boys in this house, it's hard to be lady like. :)

Happy Birthday Baby Anne!

I can't believe Annie is a year old today. I know everyone always says how fast the time goes, but it has been so true with this little angel. It seems with each child, the time seems to go faster. I wish I could go back to when she was just a newborn. She is such a joy to have in our home. Her laugh just makes me happy and watching her learn new things every day is the best. She is starting to walk and I love the way she wobbles around, trying to stay on her feet. She is so cute and petite (just barely over 16 lbs) and I'm sure she will start getting some hair soon. ;) I hope she stays girly with all this male energy in the house. :) She can already hold her own with her brothers and if you try and take a toy from her she can hold on for dear life and give you a nice growl, (she's learned that courtesy of her brothers). But she is still snuggly and loves to be held and kissed. I can't wait to see how she grows up.....actually, I can wait. :)

Happy Birthday Anne!!!

Farewell Summer....Hello Fall!

Today is the first day of fall....hooray!!!!! This is my favorite season, especially on the east coast. The weather is perfect and the scenery is gorgeous (outside of Hudson county, that is) ;) I'll admit we did some fun things this summer......

We loved the water park this summer!


















Christopher rode a horse!....... and we went to the US Open

.....but I'm ready for cooler weather, sweaters, yummy soups to eat for dinner, Halloween, Thanksgiving, no humidity, and yes, even looking forward to the snow of winter. We are going to have a "Welcome Fall" party tonight for FHE. When I mentioned party this morning Christopher kept going on and on about who's birthday it could possibly be. I finally had to say this was going to be a "celebration" instead of a party. We are going to eat some yummy foods like; apple cider, twice baked potatoes, chili cheese dip, and maybe some bacon wrapped smokies....all yummy, warm fall foods. Then maybe we'll snuggle in blankets and watch a movie (even though it's not really that cold yet, haha).
Happy Fall everyone! Hope you enjoy it!

The Evolution of the Family Photo

I'm sure you all know how hard it is to try and get a family photo with little kids. It's nearly impossible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. Well, here are our attempts in the order we took them. And wouldn't you know it, after a little cropping, etc., we ended up going with the very first picture we took. But there were some other funny ones along the way. :)