Snow and Ice

Yesterday it snowed

and snowed

(taken at 2:34pm)

and snowed.

Darrin "shoveled" the driveway with a broom.

At 9:03 it was still snowing...then around midnight freezing rain started to come down.

When we woke up there was about a half inch of ice on top of the snow. The kids had fun stomping around and breaking the ice.

Needless to say, church was canceled last night.

2 things to note

1) Luke learned how to fake cough this past week. An outsider might think he is a pretty sick boy, but no, he's just fake coughing. So cute!

2) This past week I felt like a real mom when Josh told me I was a "mean mom." This was a big rite of passage for me. I am a mean mom. Thanks Josh.

Today it snowed and here's what we did:

Got all dressed up to brave the cold weather,

played in the snow with dad,

watched the snow out the window,

gave mom a cute smile,

played in the snow AGAIN,

drank lots of hot chocolate,

created 2 extra loads of laundry for mom to do tomorrow,

took a nap,

made ice cream out of snow,

and made a big mess playing with our Thomas train set.

All and all, a pretty good day wouldn't ya say??

P.S. We did go to sacrament meeting, and then the rest of church got canceled.

Luke

I can't believe my baby is almost seven months old!! Crazy! He's getting more and more fun everyday. Here are some things about Luke:

• Luke hates eating anything but milk. He tolerated cereal back at 4-5 months, but now he hates it! We slowly introduced all the fruits and vegetables, but he shivers and gags after every bite. He's a little more interested in food if we feed him bits of our plates, but still isn't a huge fan. I'm pretty sure he's going to live off milk until he's two.
• Luke has the stinkiest feet ever!! He's my only kid who continually pulls off his socks. So to prevent cold feet, I usually keep shoes on all day. I think it's the shoes that make his feet stink. Oh well!
• Luke's sleep habits are so so. He goes to bed about 6:30pm, I feed him before I go to bed, then he wakes up about 4am to eat again. He wakes up for the day about 7:30 or 8am. He takes two naps a day usually around 10am and 2pm.
• Luke is rolling all over the place and, as a couple weeks ago, sitting up. It's so nice that he will sit and play on his own for a little bit. He loves talking baths and splashing in the water. He likes to have his own space and lets the boys know when they're too close or giving him a little too much attention. Luke also loves to get out and go places. He'll be super grumpy at home, and then we'll go to the store and he'll be happy to just sit in his car seat and look around.
• Luke's two bottom teeth came in just before Thanksgiving. His mouth is now a dangerous place. He's only tried to bite me once...hopefully he learned not to do that. Biting is what ended nursing for Andrew. Since Luke doesn't eat anything else...that's probably not a very good idea for him.
• I am now Luke's favorite person ever. He's such a mama's boy! He's always watching me like a hawk to make sure I'm close by. If I leave the room, he protests. Can't wait until he can crawl and follow me around!
• Six month stats: 18 pounds 11 ounces (75th percentile) and 28 1/4 inches (95th percentile).

Luke, we sure love ya!!

.

Apparently you shouldn't turn the camera on it's side to record a video. Well, I guess you can if you know how to turn it...I obviously can't. Now you have to watch it sideways. Sorry.

he's still cute, right??

Thanks for Thanksgiving

(Josh's first Thanksgiving 2004)

Thanks for Thanksgiving, for turkey and pie.

(Andrew playing in the leaves 2007)
Thank you for fall and gold leaves floating by.

(Josh on the first day of preschool 2007)

Thank you for school-I love to feel smart!

(Andrew doing an art project...notice paint on face 2007)

Thank you for music and dancing and art.

(Josh swinging at the park 2005)

Thank you for play dates, for swings and for slides.

(Josh and Andrew playing with Daddy 2007)

Thank you for hopscotch and piggyback rides.

(Josh with Colby the dog at the Morris' 2005)

Thanks for sweet puppies and soft, furry cats.

(Luke with a cowboy hat 2008)

Thank you for dress-up, red shoes and big hats.

(Josh and Andrew playing in the rain 2007)

Thanks for umbrellas, for rain boots and puddles.

(Andrew and Mom at Uncle Ben's wedding 2006)

Thank you for Mommy and warm, cozy cuddles.

(Josh and Daddy playing in the snow 2007)

Thank you for Daddy and rides on a sled.

(Josh in his new bunk bed 2007)

Thank you for kisses and tucks into bed.

Thanks for the moon and the stars up above,

(Family after Luke's blessing 2008)

But MOST of all, thanks for the family I love!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

(text taken from Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes)

We had a wonderful thanksgiving with Aunt Kristin, Aunt Natalie, Uncle Chad and family, and Uncle Mike and family. Luke was sick all weekend with a fever. Finally the Monday after Thanksgiving we realized he had roseola. It's amazing how much happier he is now!

Go Cougs

Despite BYU's rough loss on Saturday, Josh loves and is obsessed with BYU. He likes to “play BYU football.” Josh will be BYU, and he tells Andrew to be the team ZYU. After arming themselves with football helmets (a.k.a. bicycle helmets), they pretend to have a football game. It's pretty funny! Then every piece of artwork that comes home from preschool these days has BYU on it somewhere. We train them young around here!

My 27 Favorite Things

In no particular order:

1. The Biggest Loser
2. My clothes hamper that's divided into three sections for easy sorting
3. Luke's chubby hands...especially the dimples where his knuckles should be
4. Banana cream pie shakes from Carl's Jr.
5. The fact that my new nephew will be most likely born today on my birthday
6. Pumpkin muffins for breakfast
7. Pedicures
8. Sisters and Grandma's who come to visit
9. The cell phone I'm getting Darrin for Christmas (this is big...Darrin's always been against them. He still is. It's a necessity now. I think.)
10. Apple Crisp
11. Simple and Delicious cooking magazine
12. P.F. Changs
13. Tulips
14. Cranberry Yankee Candles
15. Rachel Ray
16. The sleep sack I bought for Luke
17. Swiffer Sweeper Dry Cloths
18. 24 Hour Fitness gym membership and the 5 pounds I've lost since October
19. The new show Pushing Daisies
20. Watching Josh learn to hula hoop at gymnastics (Hilarious!!)
21. Scholastic book orders
22. My new bed...absolutely LOVE it!
23. Super Mario World
24. Josh Groban's Christmas CD
25. How Andrew uses the word 'stuffs.' ("Mom, carry my stuffs," "I need my stuffs")
26. Blogging...more the fact that I can keep a record of what goes on in our family...and then publish it into a book using blurb.com
27. The fact that Darrin and I are going on a hot date tonight, and I'm going to see Twilight with awesome friends tomorrow night.

There you have it. My 27 favorite things.

happy birthday to me.

Poor Guy.

(Don't worry I moved him when I finished taking the picture.)

Sneaky

Yesterday the boys were taking turns having 'quiet times' in their room. Andrew went up first, and I set the timer for thirty minutes and put it on the hall table by the front door. The phone rang...I can't even remember who it was, but I was only half paying attention to what Josh was up to. After awhile I realized that he kept running over to the timer and that Andrew had been up there for at least 45 minutes. I got off the phone, and it dawned on me what he'd been doing...he kept going to the timer and moving the time back so he wouldn't have to have a quiet time. Needless to say, he earned an extra long quiet time.

Luke is a free man.

isn't he cute?

It wasn't quite as hard as I imagined it to be.

Andrew

• Andrew is a sensitive, caring little boy. He's probably the most emotional of the three kids right now. He can also be a big tease and knows how to be the "perfect little brother" (Read: Knows how to push Josh's buttons!).

• Andrew loves to try new food. He always wants to try what Darrin and I are eating, and he'd rather eat "grown up food" than a PBJ or chicken nuggets. Because he likes to eat pretty much anything, I can't really think of anything that he absolutely loves. But if I were to ask him what we should have for dinner, he'd probably say meatballs. He really likes meatballs. He likes candy, fruit snacks and gum. I have noticed he doesn't like spaghetti very much.

• He likes and is pretty good at sports especially soccer. He has a pretty powerful kick...and he always kicks with his left foot. We have yet to figure out if he's left handed though.

• Andrew likes to play with his toys. He can often be found in his room or in the corner of the living room playing by himself.

• Andrew loves his daddy. Every morning when Darrin leaves for work, Andrew has to watch him drive away, and when Darrin returns, Andrew's usually the first and only person to jump into his arms and welcome him home!

• The other day I was not getting Andrew's lunch fast enough. In an effort to get me to hurry and with a look of all seriousness he firmly said, "If you don't get my lunch, I'm going to say 'stupid'." Stupid is a bad word at our house so that was strong threat. Believe me, I hurried.

• Yesterday after church I got Luke out of the car, shut the garage door and went in the house. Josh had gone upstairs to change his clothes, and I assumed Andrew was up there with him. After awhile I began to hear Andrew cry. My first thought was he's probably having a hard time getting his buttons undone. Just then the doorbell rang. It was Andrew. Sobbing on my porch. I scooped him up in my arms and gave him a kiss and told him I was sorry. I guess instead of coming inside, he went outside to look at the pumpkins on the porch. So I locked him outside. Oops!

We love you Andrew!

Topic being taught: "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." --The Family:A Proclamation to the World

Overheard Conversation:
The kids were watching the commercials to the Saturday morning cartoons. Every so often one of the kids would say they wanted that toy for Christmas or for their birthday. A doll house commercial came on...

Andrew: "I want that doll house."

Josh: "You can't have that, it's for girls. You need more boy toys."

Andrew: "I'm not a girl yet."

Josh: "You are a boy all the time and that's the way it is."

Evaluation:
Josh--Satisfactory
Andrew--Needs improvement

Time to stop swaddling??

I think so.

Trick or Treating

Doctor Josh and Doctor Andrew

Spider Luke

We had a successful year trick or treating. By the end, Josh was actually saying "trick or treat!" I don't think Andrew ever did. Oh well, maybe next year! Right now they're pigging out on their candy. We'll definitely be brushing their teeth tonight!

This week we have...

played with grandparents that make us laugh,

made sparkly bats,

made Halloween sugar cookies,

made a sloppy joe jack o' lantern,

(tastes better than it looks)

eaten our Halloween sugar cookies and

posed for a picture with our carved pumpkin.

Happy Halloween!!

(The middle pumpkin is Josh's...does it look just like him? Good! Cause that's exactly what it is supposed to look like...he was passionate about it.)