Santa's Lap

Last Saturday (the 4th of December), the Air Force Medical Group had their annual Breakfast with Santa.

Little Miss Kate got to meet the jolly old man for the first time. No tears! A success! We actually didn't have any kids who were afraid this year!!! Isn't that unheard of?!?... Well it is for us!
Santa and Mrs. Claus had presents (books) and candy canes for each of the kids. And then we went about doing merry things like making ornaments, putting together a countdown chain, making fake candy canes, eating lots of muffins and fruit, etc. The kids even came away with a gift bag full of goodies. Great way to get a jump start on the season!

We're Going on a Tree Hunt

We're going on a tree hunt.
We're going to find a big one.
What a wintery day!
We're so cold.
Oh-oh! Wind!
A cold, blistery wind.
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh, no!
We've got to go through it!
Brr Brrr Brrrr!
Brr Brrr Brrrr!
Brr Brrr Brrrr!

We're going on a tree hunt.
We're going to find a big one.
What a wintery day!
We're so cold!
Oh-oh! A trunk!
A hard, tough trunk.
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh, no!
We've got to get through it!
Push, push pusshhh!
Push, push, Puusshhhh!
Push, push, pulllllll!

What's that?

One shiny star.

One train on the tracks.

Lots of ornaments and pretty lights.

Its our Christmas tree!

This past Saturday, after attending the Air Force Med Group Christmas party, we decided to head to a local Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree. It was a tad bit chilly and windy but the kids followed PJ & I all over that field of trees until we found the perfect one! And we've had fun decorating it all week long.

No more nice list!

Let me tell a little story...

(Brynn at 4 months old)

It was a little over 6 years ago and my baby girl was probably around 3 months old. We had just gotten to the University Mall in Provo, Utah so that we could take her to get her ears pierced. We parked and got out of the car. Back when I had enough hands I didn't believe in lugging the baby car seat every where - I preferred to carry my baby. And so I was that day; through the parking lot where construction was going on. I missed a pot hole in the pavement and tripped; well, really crashed to the ground, dropping my precious baby girl on the concrete. She was crying, I was crying, PJ was... well not crying and honestly I'm not exactly sure what he was thinking. But there was a crowd gathering not far off because California Pizza Kitchen had just opened and lots of people were waiting to get inside. So he picked us up, brushed us off and wisked us out of there. Brynn was fine. But I had just dropped her and there was no way I was taking her in the mall to have more head trauma by getting her ears pierced. So we went to dinner instead. I remember crying all through dinner. It had been a nightmare of mine that I would drop my baby... and it came true that day. And then, by the time I was ready to get her ears pierced again Brynn had developed a strong personality. And she had decided there was no way she was getting her ears pierced. She saw no reason to put herself through that pain - no matter how brief it may be. And that's where we still stood 6 years later. A determined little girl that refused to pierce her ears. I thought when we found out she would be getting a baby sister that she would want to go with me to get both of their ears pierced together - you know, a sisterly bonding experience. Nope. No way. She still wasn't going to give in.

Fast forward to today. PJ got home from work early. Brynn was home from school. He decided to take her out Christmas shopping. And so they left. And a few hours later when they came home I saw my sweet girl...

...my sweet girl and a little sparkle.

I'm still not exactly clear on how it all went down. But somehow they ended up at the mall getting her ears pierced. Without me. Oh well, he did get the job done. Apparently she sat proudly in the chair and didn't cry, let alone even flinch. But no, there aren't even pictures or videos or anything for me to relive the moment. But at least he is darn lucky they did a good job picking out her studs.

I think there was a little bribery involved. She's been asking for her own camera. And she saw this one she wanted when they were out. So...

Let me just quote her..."Dad this is the best day of my life! I get a sucker, new earrings, and a camera!"

So to sum up this experience...

Buying gifts for her siblings = $67.93
Getting her ears pierced with dad = $40.44
Hello Kitty Camera reward = $42.93
Bringing home dinner to win mom over = $10.74
TOTAL = PRICELE$$

PJ happens to think the look on my face when I noticed was pricele$$. I wasn't mad at Brynn and I made sure I didn't act like it. I was happy she was brave and finally did it. But it should be noted that I'm madder than mad at my husband. So what is pricele$$ has been seeing him cower in the corner all night while trying not to step on any more toes...

Yep, he's now been demoted to the naughty list. He's got some major kissing up to get done before he makes it back on that nice list!

Thanksgiving left overs

Thanksgiving left overs are wonderful. They make the love last a little longer. Well this year we had plenty of those, since our turkey wasn't even done cooking until we were ready to whip out some left overs for dinner :) And I also have a few left over pictures/memories I want to remember.

So my dad has had a wonderful assistant at work... Ann. Ann has been there for him since the beginning. She is one of those all knowing, all doing, all loving, all powerful people that you never want to loose. Only he just did. She had to leave him. So not to be forgotten, she left him with her fish. Only they weren't just any fish - they were 3 ginormously interesting fish. And the kids were thrilled that the delivery happened when we were there.

Ha! This is Brody. He got to close, and when we saw him taste the nasty fish water I think our (mine and Katy's) screams scared him...

Tyler of course, was there for the whole set up. He was very interested in how it was all working and coming together. He wouldn't go near/pet the "dinosaur" fish but he watched from afar.

Mom has already killed one!... No I'm kidding. I'm sure it wasn't her ;) But here's hoping the other two are still alive before we get back to visit. PJ happens to think the kids will enjoy buying some guppies and feeding it to them... um... not so sure about that one?!?

In our family we love homemade gifts. And as always Lyndsay had some great ones for our kids. She made Brynn this baby carrier thingy. And Kate loved snuggling in it :)

The kids spent lots of time this trip playing with Gramma's marble works. They set it up themselves (not too bad either) but also got all their uncles and grampa very involved.

Oh just one of my messy faced Dylan at the hotdog place...

And I loved these pictures...

Uncle Steven got the kids the Dragon Movie and my boys were THRILLED!

Ah, so many things and people to be grateful for...

Oh Tyler...

I volunteered in Tyler's classroom today. And that experience started out on a good note. When I walked in one of the aids, Mrs. Hoskins, came up to me with a huge smile and said she had something she wanted to show me. Their classroom wall was lined with beautiful Christmas stockings the kids had decorated. Yesterday they were handed piles and piles of toy adds and then given the assignment to find things that would be on their wish list to glue on to their paper stockings. I knew Tyler probably loved this task because everytime a toy magazine/add has come in the mail over the last few weeks he has cherished it, carried it around, and couldn't put it down. He would sit there for hours just pouring over the pages, getting excited about everything he saw. Well, Mrs Hoskins started pointing out to me how most of the kids had gone to town cutting out all sort of cool things and filled their stockings to the point of where you could hardly see the stocking behind all of the glued on toys. Then she pointed out Tylers. To my surprise his looked very different. There were 3 distinct images glued on. First was a construction set that included a crane - no surpirse there; perfect toy for Tyler. Next was some grayish looking object, not sure what it was really, maybe a bridge?! Third, there was a sweet babydoll in a stroller. She said she thought that was an interesting choice for him and so she had asked him why he choose that. His response... because his sister "Bin" would really want it so he was going to get it for her. Ok, melt my heart. She said that out of almost 30 kids in his class he was the only one that had thought to put something in for someone else. I couldn't have been prouder!

But then it was all a little downhill from there...

At carpet time he had his hands all up in everyone elses faces. He had a hard time sitting still. He was caught sucking on his shoe for goodness sakes! But then, when they came in from playing outside, he was not allowed to join his group for music time. He was sent directly to a time out chair. I approached one of the teachers. Apparently outside he had been a very busy boy wrestling, tackling, and hitting others!?!

Within the past week or so Tyler has been going through some awful phase. We've noticed he has been very aggressive towards Dylan. He spends his free time wrestling him, tackling him, doing anything he can to bother and annoying him. I feel like I spend my days telling Tyler to let go of Dylan, get off of Dylan, stop doing that to Dylan. We aren't sure what is going on and have been trying to talk to him about it with no luck. I should have thought to ask his teachers if it was going on at school also. Good thing he's only been back to school for 3 days before I witnessed it for myself. They said it really hasn't been an issue before today but I'm worried it will become one. Ah, not the way I wanted to end my day! Gotta figure something out, and quick! I like my old Tyler... a lot!

P.S. Just another cute project he did at school where he picked out gifts. He was so excited to come home and show me the "pitty" jewlery he found me. And the snowman that his "brudder" would love. And the "cool tools" for him and daddy to play with :)

3 Months!

Kate turned three months old while we were in Indiana. And, as I said before, she turned 3 months on November 26th, which also happens to be her Uncle Stevens birthday. Very special that they were together that day :) And while I should blame these late pictures on my camera incident and them getting "lost", unfortunately, that would be lying. In all the commotion and hustle and bustle of the day, while I remembered, I never got around to taking pictures. So these pictures were taking a whopping 3 days late.

Honestly, not much is new with Kate these last few weeks. She's still an easy baby and doesn't give us too many problems. She sleeps well and even slept from 10pm to 5am last night (not that common though). She is starting to drool a lot (as seen by her shirt), which I'm not loving. In fact it is giving me flashbacks of baby Brynn and how I had to layer on the bibs and even put diaper rash cream under her chin because she was always so wet!... I'm hoping Kate can keep it under control though. Oh, and she loves to have her hands in her mouth. And when her hands aren't stuffed in her mouth she does like to try and "talk" by cooing. Very cute!