Kolby's Preschool Thanksgiving Program

Kolby was such a cute little Indian for his school program. The kids made a delicious "feast" for all the parents of corn muffins, stew, fruit salad and pumpkin bars. Kolby was proud of his hard work in the kitchen. He also did such a great job singing all of the Thanksgiving songs. It's so fun to see him progress and actually want to participate cuz last year's program I think he may have sung one word, but this year, he was belting them out!

Trying to get a good photo...

We discovered that trying to get a great photo of 3 kids is nearly impossible. This was about as good as we could get in our one attempt. We'll try again soon.

Carson's First Smile

What a wonderful day it was the day that Carson started smiling. I am happy to report that he is right on schedule and gave his first intentional smile on his 6 week birthday. It was a happy day for me to know that my little baby who seems very sad most of the time (he has reflux and breathing problems so he is miserable a lot) is actually a sweet smiley baby. I have so much fun playing with him now that he is so responsive to me. The smiling and cooing and gooing are so cute.

Trip Up the Coast

At the beginning of November, we hopped in the car and took a trip up the California Coast. We had such a great adventure. There was no planning or real schedule involved. We just went with 3 kids and a minivan full of junk. After 5 days of lots of driving, sleeping in different places every night and seeing lots of beautiful things and reconnecting with relatives, we joyfully returned to home sweet home. During our 5 day journey we went to Hearst castle, we saw all the elephant seals that migrated to the coast (the kids loved seeing them so up close), we drove through beautiful Big Sur, went on coastal nature hikes in Point Lobos Park, went to Carmel and Monterey, went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, drove along beautiful 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach, went on a train ride through the redwood forests (the kids loved riding on a real steam engine train), went to Santa Cruz and then passed through San Francisco to give my aunt and uncle in Upper Lake a surprise visit. We had a great visit with them and then headed back down toward Santa Rosa to visit with another aunt and uncle. Kolby loved their house with their huge toy room and real John Deere tractor that he got to drive around the property. It was so much fun for all of us. While in the quaint town of Windsor we stopped in "the" sweet shoppe of all sweet shoppes. It reminded me of something out of Willy Wonka...they had every kind of sweet that you could ever imagine. Not only were the kids in heaven, but I was too. Luckily we exercised some control and only shared a gelato. It was a great trip!

Halloween #3, Finally!

So, we had a great time at Disneyland and headed home to go to our neighbor's Halloween party on Friday night and then to a friend Halloween party on Saturday night. The kids had way too much fun and way too much sugar and if I never see another sugar cookie again I think I might be just fine. We spent Tuesday night carving pumpkins and Wednesday night at another friend's Halloween tradition...they invite people over for an open house style get together. They have scones, taco soup, hot dogs and scrumptious desserts. After we had dinner and chatted with friends, we were off to trick-or-treat. The kids were so excited. Carson and I stayed home and Geoff took Kolby and Eliza around. I thought they would be gone for a while, but Eliza only lasted about 10 minutes and then was ready to come home and dig into her candy. She had fun helping me answer the door and pass out candy, but still doesn't quite get why Kolby ended up with so much more candy than her that night. Kolby was a trooper and came home with a bucket full of candy. Luckily, he isn't much of a chocolate fan so he threw a lot of that away voluntarily. They both woke up the next morning asking if they got to go trick or treating again and if it was halloween. sorry kids...not for another year! It was quite the non-stop Halloween fun for us this year.

Halloween #2 - Disneyland

We had a fun day on tuesday, the 23rd. It started with a field trip with Kolby's class to the pumpkin patch and then off to Disneyland. The kids were so excited to get to our hotel and then go to Disneyland. We weren't quite sure if we were going to make it because of all of the So Cal fires, but we did. The air was a little smoky and windy but we all survived. We had a great 3 days playing at Disneyland and watching our kids be so brave. Kolby went on Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain and of course all of the other smaller rides. I was in shock that he wanted to go on all the rides. I will say that though I don't think he loved them and was scared to death through most of the big rides, he just gave us high 5s and told us how brave he was when he got off the ride. Hopefully he will want to go on them again. Eliza keeps telling everyone she went on the "mountain" ride, or the Matterhorn, which she did. But she was definitely excited when the ride was over. The biggest hit ride was Autopia. But more than rides, Kolby loved the parade. We had to watch it every night or else there were major meltdowns. The photo of Eliza sitting on Kolby's lap is during the parade. They were so cute together. They could have done that over and over and over...We had so much fun getting to see our friends, the Wilsons, and also getting to hang out with family as Heidi and Abbey and Ashley all met up with us. Good times, but of course I was glad to get home and get back into a little routine.

Halloween Party #1

Wow...it seems like Halloween was very drawn out this year and it was so much fun. Our kids definitely got use out of their costumes and loved putting them on as much as they could. These are some photos for our church Halloween activity...the cute kids and our trunk decorated for trunk or treat. I was proud of Geoff for grabbing anything he could find around the house and making our trunk look cute for Halloween trunk or treat.

Pippi Longstocking Raggedy Ann???

So we had to go take Carson to the Dr. last week and Eliza insisted on wearing her Raggedy Ann wig. We thought she looked pretty cute. She really really wanted to wear it because she said it matched the red in this cute striped outfit that Grandma gave her (and she loves to wear anything that Grandma gives her!) Needless to say she put a smile on lots of people's faces at the visalia medical clinic last week.

First Trip to the Dentist

Kolby was so scared to go to the dentist, but I've been telling him that it was time for him to go get his teeth checked out and that the dentist office would have video games and toys for him to play with and movies to watch. Geoff took him last week for his first official check up and cleaning appt. I am happy to say it went so well that he is excited to go back and Eliza even wants to go to the dentist. Dr. Peterson is our friend and has fixed both Kolby and Eliza's teeth at our home when we have had teeth accidents so I am sure that helped out. But it was so fun to see Kolby come home and be so excited to explain to me what they did and how they did it. He was so very proud of himself and loves to brush and floss his teeth with his new toothbrush, toothpaste and flossers. Thanks to Dr. Peterson and the nice hygienist for making it such a positive experience. My only regret...I didn't send the camera with Geoff to capture the moment!

Sharing a Room

This past week we finally got Carson's bed set up. We decided to paint the white crib black to go with the black dresser in Kolby's room. I had great intentions of making him some really cute bedding, but found this bedding at Target which already matches Kolby's sports-themed room and decided that I would much rather spend the money and save myself a lot of time and hassle. Kolby is so excited that he gets to share his room. I hope the excitement lasts. Carson still isn't sleeping in there yet, but Kolby asks me every night if I can put Carson in his bed so he can watch over him while he sleeps. Hopefully someday soon, but for now, Carson seems to prefer sleeping strapped into his car seat or snuggled up right next to me.

The Cutest Book...

Some friends stopped by last Sunday with a gift for Carson and part of the gift was this book, titled "You're All My Favorites" by Sam McBratney. It is the cutest book for a family with 3 kids...I would highly recommend it. It is about 3 little bears who begin to wonder how their parents can love them each equally when they are so different from each other. Of course the parents explain how it is possible for them to love each one of them so much. Our kids love the book and i love the sweet message.

The First 11 Days

I really do think about updating the blog often. Getting to it is another thing, as you can tell. We have been busy spending lots of family time together. Last Sunday was the greatest day ever when Kolby and Eliza came home from Grandma and Grandpa's house. We were so happy to see them and they were happy to be home. They had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and their cousins, though and we are so thankful they were able to spend time with them. Grandpa met Carson for the first time on Sunday and Grandma got to spend a lot of quality time holding him. It was so nice!
It has been great having Geoff home from work...the kids are in heaven because they get to go to the park anytime they want and play outside with their favorite playmate, their Dad. Our big family outing for the week was to the Big Fresno Fair. The kids had a great time watching piggy races, the animal follies show, the big cherry Icee, playing in the humongous play structure and of course checking out all of the fair rides and games. We only let Kolby ride one ride, though and he chose to do the carnival version of Splash Mountain. We were shocked that he would choose that one because he usually isn't much of a daredevil but this time the hills seemed really exciting to him. Geoff stayed with Eliza and Carson while i went with Kolby and it was so much fun. Kolby loved the first hill but on the way down from the second, taller hill he said, "Mom, I don't like this ride." And there was a little tremor in his voice. However, when it was all said and done he was giving us high fives and telling us how great the ride was and how brave he is.
Friday night was another big outing...Carson's first trip to Costco. In our small town, Costco is definitely the place to be so we wanted him to see it firsthand. We enjoyed our hot dog and churro dinner and can't wait for our new and improved Costco to open at the end of the month.
Friday morning was spent doing mad cleaning throughout the house. That was brought on by Geoff asking me, "So when is cleaning day around here anyway?" My reply, "Any day you want to start." So we did it that morning and our house looked great for a few hours while the kids were napping and ever since then, we keep looking at our house and then looking at each other, asking, "Did we really just clean this place up? How can it look like this already." Welcome to the world of 3 kids...
Kolby and Eliza are loving their little brother. They think he is the best baby ever and to my chagrin, can't get enough of him, and of course decide that they really really want to play with all of his limbs just as he is dozing off to sleep. They really are so cute with him, though and I think both of them are doing pretty well adjusting to a new baby in the family.
Carson is growing like a weed...8 ounces in just 4 days! At this rate, he will be as chubby as Kolby was in no time. Thursday was a sad day for him because he was circumcised (we have no idea why they made us wait til he was a week old, but that's the way they do it in our town). So so sad to see him in so much pain, but he is recovering well and we know he will thank us for it someday. I'll attach some photos now and stop the rambling. Until next time...

And His Name Is...

...Carson Bryant Howard. Hope you enjoyed Geoff's blogging...he'll be back a lot over the next few weeks. We are home from the hospital and Carson is being a great little baby. He has such a sweet little temperament. As you can see in the photos, his big brother and sister adore him and were so glad to show up with some gifts they bought with Grandma and they wanted to dress him up. Kolby was super thoughtful by bringing one of his old baby blankets to the hospital today so that Carson wouldn't be cold. It was so sweet.
Kolby and Eliza went home with Grandma to Valencia for the weekend so we are just enjoying a nice quiet house, time to bond with Carson and time to rest up to be able to take care of a family of five starting on Sunday. Thank you, Mom, Dad & Ashley for taking care of the kids. We know they are going to have a great time!

It's a Boy!!

So here's Geoff's first blog attempt. It seems to me that many of the Blog readers are of the lady type, so I am going to write for two audiences: dudes and bloggie bloggettes.

Dude Audience: Big Daddy is proud to introduce Kolby's replacement for starting QB at the BYU! He came out with a bunch of goop on him this morning but turned out fine by the end of the day. He cried a lot at first but has mellowed out since. Older siblings seem to like him and haven't dropped him on his head, yet. The hospital pizza was decent, but the bakery cinammon roll was better.

Bloggettes: Lorile was concerned that her body would not be ready for the birth process today; however, things seemed to fall in place over night. She was dilated to a 3 this morning and 50% effaced. Doc broke water at 7:30 a.m. Pitocin drip began at 8:20 a.m. Some extra painkillers were requested at 9:30 a.m., and the epideral lady finally arrived after 10 a.m. Doc came in for a check at 11:30 a.m., and Lorile told him how she really felt: uncomfortable and lots of pressure on the tailbone. He took a look and said, "what if I told you that you were effaced to a 10"? Pushed for about 10 minutes and little baby boy was born at 11:27 a.m.
The baby was placed in mom's lap within one minute after birth for the first time; the other two had some distress at birth, so they were rushed over to the baby table. He tried to feed for about an hour at first and seemed to cry a bit. We hope he's not colicky like Kolby.
Mom's excited to have the big basketball out of her belly...although she thinks her belly should be flat as a board by morning or she will be mad.

Details:
Boy
8 lbs 5 oz
20.5 in
Born at 11:27 a.m.

Little Boy Growing Up

I had to post this quickly about my little 3 year old boy growing up. He loves going outside every day to play with the neighborhood kids and yesterday I was a little busy and couldn't go out with him, but a neighbor friend said she would be out there and would watch him. Perfect. Well, a few minutes later Kolby reappeared extremely animated, almost yelling, "Mom, I need you to put my helmet on and get my scooter cuz Justin has his cool ramp out on the sidewalk and I need to go over it on my scooter." I was laughing and thought it was so cute he wanted to be such a big boy. For a minute i was a little scared about his safety but glad he was insistent on wearing his helmet. So here is the picture I captured from his Big Boy moment...

And yes, tomorrow is the big day to be induced. Check back then to see if it's a boy or a girl...

Video to Go with "Super Saturday" Post Below

I tried to upload some other cute video from the pumpkin patch, but they were all too big and were taking way too long. So this is it for now!

Super Saturday

We had such a fun family day on Saturday. We all went to the local Farmer's Market because the kids have been LOVING fruit so much lately that we wanted to get thee most delicious. The kids had fun picking out their own fruit, though Eliza got a little scared when the strange farmer man offered her some grapes to taste. That sent her into a meltdown, but she quickly recovered at the next stop where they offered samples of Asian Pears.
We decided to surprise the kids with a trip to one of our favorite October spots...the pumpkin patch. Saturday was opening day and they were ecstatic when we pulled up and remembered all the fun things to do there from last year. They insisted on pulling the wagons, going through the hay maze, running through the patch and getting up close and personal with the sunflowers, waiting forever for the tractor pulled hayride through the corn fields to begin, playing in the huge corn kernel box, and trying to pick up and throw down as many pumpkins as possible. They had a blast and that is why we will be going back most likely at least twice/week over the next month. They can't get enough and it is a great place to take pictures. Speaking of pictures, I really did want to get some cute ones and I even tried to dress Eliza in some Fall colors that might actually go with the orange pumpkins and the green patch; however, she is extremely opinionated and HAD to wear her favorite hot pink and gray outfit that Grandma recently gave her. I guess i'll have to bribe her next time to wear what I want her to wear, but i definitely wasn't up for any battles this Saturday.
After the pumpkin patch, we were off to another one of our favorite spots...Costco. The kids love going there for hot dogs, churros, and soda (yes, i am a very health conscious mom as you can tell...) and then of course we always love roaming through Costco to see just how much money we can spend in one visit! By the end of this, the kids were so tired they both fell asleep in the car on the way home, which meant a nice peaceful afternoon for me and Geoff of laying on the couch watching football, of course until the lawn guys came and woke Kolby up, but at least he loves watching football too...
The day ended with Geoff and the kids going to a friend's for BBQ and the BYU game while I went with all the wives to the Broadcast. Apparently, the 7 Dads had 23 kids all under the age of 5, except 1! The women definitely got the better end of the deal this time. All in all, a most fabulous day!

Can't Wait to be a Big Sister

I thought this was a cute/tender moment. Eliza loves to hug the baby by hugging my belly. Kolby loves to do it too cuz he actually recognizes when the baby is kicking him. Hopefully they will be this tender and sweet when the baby actually comes. We'll know soon enough...

Our New Favorite Place...

The kids and I have been going to the new SportsPark by our house every day! We love it. They have 3 different play areas that are all huge, tons of soccer fields to run around on or throw the football around on, and the best part of all (besides lots of clean bathrooms) is the big sprinkler pad that has water shooting out of it from 11-7 every day and is a great place to run around and stay cool. We go there with people from preschool, people from church and our neighbors...everybody wants to do it! We are so glad we finally got something so fun here close to our house. I think after 4 days in a row of going there, we might pass on tomorrow, but I'm sure by Saturday they will be begging to go back.

Tulare County Fair

We love the Fair! It comes around every September and in our little town it is pretty exciting. The kids love to go see the animals, but do not like to touch (they are a lot like their mom that way!) but it makes it easy on me since I don't have to worry about sanitizing their hands every two seconds. This year, they loved the bubble area where they could make huge bubbles with the ginormous bubble wands. And of course they are at the stage where they want to ride all the fair rides and eat all the fair food. Did someone say funnel cakes??? It has become our annual tradition to go with our friends, the Roaches and the kids have so much fun together. Kolby's highlight was the monster truck show. He thought that was "so awesome" and continues to talk about it on an almost daily basis. I think I'd better get online and start looking for some tix to a Monster Truck Show...it would be a great father/son outing and he would be in heaven. I keep trying to upload some photos but for some reason it won't let me tonight. So I'll put some fair photos on another day...

The Polka Dot Princess

A couple weeks ago, Geoff took Kolby with him somewhere and Eliza was so sad to be stuck at home with me. So we turned it into a fun girly night. Painting her fingernails and toenails is always fun for her, but I also curled her hair for the first time and put real make up on. She definitely felt like a princess. She ate it up for a few minutes and then was off to the trampoline, not really caring about her princessiness one bit. It was so cute and fun and I am sure she had a better time with me that night than she would have had with Geoff and Kolby. :-)