Hello Again!

Hello to my blog! It has been a really long time but I felt like writing a few things down and this is the place to do it so...

• Tonight we went and played volleyball at the church with the Burkes, Leges and Hawkes. It was so much fun. The kids were up on the stage with a movie and Kolby played with us (cuz of course there was no way he was going to miss out on playing a sport). He did great! I haven't touched a volleyball in years, so I was definitely very rusty, but it was still so fun to play a little bit. When we got home I asked Kolby what he thought of volleyball and he said it was fun. Then I asked him what he thought about seeing his mom and dad out there playing and he shrugged his shoulders. So then I asked, "Were you impressed with your mom diving for balls and hitting the ball." And then he got a big smile and sheepishly said, "Yes." That's what I wanted to hear! :-)
• This week one of Eliza's big front teeth was ready to be pulled out. We could have easily done it at home on Tuesday night but she consciously chose to wait until school on Wednesday to pull it out because she wanted to be able to get her name on the tooth chart in class and go to the office to get her own little treasure box to put her tooth in. She came home on Wednesday not opening her mouth, but I didn't let too much time pass before asking for her to open her mouth. She was so proud. I guess she waited until maybe one minute after school started to pull it out. And she got her purple treasure box. They must have been all out of pink.
• Finally, the magic age in our house seems to be 4. When the kids turn 4, they become much easier almost overnight. Well, I am still waiting for that magic day to come with Carson. He likes to throw tantrums over everything! Cuz I wouldn't buy him a soda at Target, cuz he had to put his clean clothes away (with my or Kolby's help) before watching a show, cuz his brother and sister ran through the rain before he could get his shoes on and get out of the car, cuz his older brother won't let him play basketball with the other big kids at church (when Kolby 90% of the time does let him play), and a few other times that I can't remember cuz I am emotionally drained from dealing with all of his emotions today. I know he will grow out of it. I am just trying to help him feel loved. He just wants to be such a big boy so quickly and do everything they do. If only he would be such a big boy emotionally things might not be so dramatic around here. I really need to start videoing him so someday he can say really, i did those things to you, mom. Yes, son, here is the proof!
• And I guess I should say something about Logan since I said something about the other 3. Logan is almost 1, loves to stand but not walk, loves playing in the kitchen cupboards and must have a spatula constantly. He's had a rough week with sinus and ear infection but is staying sturdy at 25 pounds 4 ounces. No wonder my back is killing me! Sweet little guy that is also beginning to show some attitude...my way or i am gonna make your life miserable is the message he is starting to send. Hmmm...Is doted on by everyone and he loves it most of the time. Love getting him out of the bed in the morning cuz he is so darn excited to see me and just silly as can be rolling around in his bed just giddy. It is so cute!

Conversations with Carson

Carson is always thinking about something. tonight he was contemplating death for some reason. Goes perfectly with my lesson on the plan of salvation for seminary tomorrow. If I can teach a 3 year old about it, hopefully I'll be able to teach the high school students too. My favorite quote from him was, "Big grandma and Big Papa were people before they were big grandma and big papa." He's totally trying to understand how they could have been just a mom and dad like I am his mom and Geoff is his dad and then they turned into grandparents somehow. It is cute that he is so thoughtful and lays there trying to piece the puzzle together in his head and through words. He is a very curious boy. So glad that he is mine! Can't wait to see what he starts coming up with next week when he goes off to preschool. :-)

Happy Birthday Geoff!

Today is Geoff's 37th Birthday! Another year older and another year wiser! We had a pretty busy day with swim team trials, a birthday party and a baby shower to go to, but we still had time to celebrate together with his favorite...an ice cream cake (Baskin Robbins World Class Chocolate and Snickers ice cream topped with buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache and Snickers pieces) and some very exciting gifts that included Ladder Ball aka dingleball, a new and improved BYU tie and some specially requested socks. Woo hoo! Probably the most exciting thing was he saved his Boston Marathon plaque to open today. It looks awesome and highlights one of his most proud accomplishments.

The kids were so excited to celebrate his birthday. Eliza wrote two notes telling him that he is the best and that she loves him. Carson said that he loves his Dad because his dad loves him so much and drew a picture for him. Kolby said he didn't have to think about what to write on the card and quickly wrote, "I love you." Logan thanked him for all the good snuggle time they have together. They definitely do love their Dad. He is the best Dad and husband we could ever want. He loves to play and encourage and teach and play and listen and support and play. :-) We love you so much and hope that your 37th year is the best yet!

Eliza's Kindergarten Beach Party

Such a fun end of year activity for the kindergartners...little pools out on the grass, bubbles galore, sprinklers, manicures and pedicures, face painting, fun music, making their own ice cream, pizza and cookies...what more could these kindergartners ask for? As if it wasn't exciting enough just to wear their bathing suits and flip flops to school! I am so glad I got to be one of them for the afternoon. It was a blast!

Easter 2011

Happy Easter!!!

Logan is 3 Months Old!

I still haven't posted even one photo of my newest little guy. He is so dang cute but my computer just is working too slow these days with all of those large photo files. It is annoying. But I figured I could at least write something. Here are a few things I am loving about this boy:
* He is super generous with his smiles (and he has a super cute smile that lights up his whole face)
* He is a pretty good sleeper now. For the first 2 months, he ate every 2 hours all day long, even during the night (with very few exceptions), but for the past 2 weeks he has been waking up just once at night and sleeping 6 hour stretches which feels so nice
*He started giggling last week and it is so soo sooo cute. I love it! I definitely need to capture it on video
*He loves to hold onto me all the time. He grabs onto my shirt, my fingers, my hair, my skin (which doesn't always feel so great
*He has the chubbiest little legs and the cutest little feet
*His big bright blue eyes (we'll see if they stay that way or if they turn brown like the other boys)
*He loves to "talk". He seems to be carrying on a conversation as he babbles and coos and goos and smiles. The kids are always telling me that he is saying actual words.
*He loves his swing and that is so great for me cuz I can actually put him down to get a few things done during the day
*He loves his big brothers and big sister and they absolutely adore him
*He definitely brings more love into our home

On the not so positive side he does like to throw up a lot. Poor little guy loves to drink the milk, but hates the after effects. Same as my other boys. Lots of barfies, but we know they will end soon (as in 3 more months). Blowouts are becoming pretty common too so basically we are doing a TON of laundry for this kid. Thank goodness for the sanitary cycle on the washer!

I hate to see him growing up so fast, but I love to see him growing up too. Hopefully that makes sense to all the parents out there!

Eliza Lost her First Tooth and her Second Tooth

February 17, 2011 was a big day for Eliza. She lost her 1st tooth!!! After being loose for a couple of weeks and mom even trying to wiggle it out a few times, it finally came out when after brushing her teeth one night, mom took a piece of toilet paper and grabbed that loose tooth and it finally popped right out! Hip hip hooray! Unfortunately Kolby was already asleep so he didn't get to be part of the excitement. But everyone was extremely excited in the morning when the tooth fairy left $3 under Eliza's pillow.

The second tooth came out only about a week later. It was the other bottom front tooth right next to the first tooth she lost. It came out one afternoon when she was washing around her mouth with her hand and her hand pressing around her teeth made her loose tooth come right out! That was super easy! This time the tooth fairy left a dollar bill and 4 quarters. Good times! These kids have a tooth business going on!

Kolby Got 2 Teeth Pulled!!!

This was a crazy day! Kolby for sure does not like the dentist but his top middle right tooth (known as "graybie" in our family) was really loose for a really long time and just wouldn't come out. But that wasn't stopping his permanent tooth from coming right in. Since it had no where to go, it first pushed on the tooth to the right making it loose also and then decided to come in at an angle, angling back towards the roof of his mouth. It was looking pretty crazy and we thought we'd better get some professional attention. So off we were to the good ole Dr. Sampietro. He checked Kolby out and said that he could either pull it out or we could just wait to let it fall out. I guess he didn't hear me when I said that it had been very loose for months and still hadn't fallen out on its own. I wasn't willing to take the chance of another couple of months passing, so I told him, without Kolby seeing my actions of course, to just get that tooth out of there. So the shots of novacane went into the mouth. Apparently Kolby has a high tolearance for novacane cuz it didn't do much so they had to give him some more. When that still didn't work and Kolby was still wincing, the dentist decided to go for the laughing gas. Kolby was a little nervous at first about putting that crazy mask on but then definitely relaxed quickly and the dentist was able to pull out the big front tooth and the one next to it. There was a bit of blood and a little infection, but the strangest part was the shape of Graybie. There is a story to Graybie...it didn't used to be gray. When Kolby was barely 2, he jumped out of the minivan and fell flat on his face on the garage floor. Ouch! His tooth totally dislocated and we called our dentist friend, Paul Peterson, who came right over and popped the tooth back into its socket and said all would be well. Since then, Kolby has had this big gray front tooth. Little did we know that Graybie was having the hardest time falling out because the tooth itself had been bent up in the gum from the fall so it had a crook in it and just couldn't come out on its own. Thank goodness we went to the dentist and had him take care of it. Kolby was superbrave and of course Dr. Sampietro mentioned several times that the tooth fairy was going to be very generous that night because it was 2 teeth and they had to be pulled out by the dentist. The tooth fairy delivered $10 under Kolby's pillow that night and he was very excited. Hip hip hooray that there is no more graybie in Kolby's mouth!

Happy 2 month Birthday to little Logan & Baby Blessing

My how time flies! Logan is already 2 months old and weighing in at 13 pounds! He is a little chunker that is so cute. He loves to smile and coo and his brothers and sister and parents are wrapped around his little finger. I'll post some photos soon!

On February 6, 2011, Logan received his baby blessing at Church. Both sets of grandparents came along with Auntie Whitney and Uncle Dustin. His Dad blessed him and his grandpas, Bishop Frost and our home teacher Cass Cook stood in the circle. After church we came home and had a yummy carne asada taco dinner with chips and salsa and guacamole of course. The Downens were headed home shortly thereafter and the Howards stayed until the next morning. It was so fun to have everyone here. As you can see from the pictures below, the kids love hanging out with their grandparents and Uncle Dust was lots of crazy fun wrestling with the kids and playing tag and tossing them around. They really wanted him to spend the night. We got lucky to see Whit, too,who was in town from Utah that weekend!

Some of the things mentioned in his blessing were: your name honors your mom & dad, bless you with a healthy, strong body, bless you with faith and a testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ - watch those around you for an example of Christ. Watch your mother as an example of faith and charity, follow the prophets and listen and know they follow the Savior. Be baptized and make good decisions and choose to receive the priesthood and go on a mission. Blessed to be the youngest of 4.

Carson Glad to be a Boy & Eliza's Scripture Sunday

The other day we were driving in the car. It was me, Carson and Logan and Carson all of the sudden said, "Mom, I like being a boy." I of course thought, Phew...that is good to hear! Then I asked him, "Why do you like to be a boy?" He thoughtfully responded, "Because I can pick up sticks and play with rocks and ride my bike and fly kites and play firefighter and build lots of things." He does love to be a boy and he is good at it!

Another funny tidbit about Carson: Today at Church I had to take him to the restroom. When we came back, the meeting had already started and I was trying to hurry us back to our seats. Well, he was a little confused and sat right down with the family behind our family. He saw the dark suit on the man (Brett Harmon) and just looked at that and climbed right up on the bench without any thought. Brett handed him some pretzels and that should have been Carson's first clue since I try really hard not to bring him snacks now that he is in Sunbeams. But he still had no idea until he finally turned his body around and saw his real family sitting in front of him. We all were looking back at him. I've never seen the boy move so fast...he hopped right down and ran up to our bench and jumped in my lap and put his head down. He was so embarrassed. His whole head turned bright red. It took me by surprise because I've never seen that side of his personality of being so embarrassed for doing something that was "wrong". It took him a few minutes to recover and spiderman and iron man and then he was all good. We were cracking up.

Also at church today, Eliza gave the scripture and prayer in Primary. She was so excited and got all ready for it. It was so cute to see her go up to the pulpit with her scripture bag. It took her a few minutes to actually get her scriptures out of her bag and to find the scripture she marked, but she was so calm and composed it was super cute. She spoke loudly and clearly into the microphone and shared D&C 76:22 and read it perfectly. It was one that she had memorized with "The Living Christ" so it was very familiar. She said a great little prayer and looked so proud up there doing it all by herself. It's fun to grow up!