In love...

From the moment that we finally got Grey his very own skateboard, he has been in love.  The other night, I turned on the shower for the boys and went to call them to get in.  When I got back, I found Grey, soaking wet, with the skateboard, so pleased that he was in the shower as I had asked.  He was so upset when I made him give me the skateboard.  He even tried to take it to bed with him the other night.  Boy did he have a complete meltdown when I told him no.  We think it is adorable how much he loves it.

 At Toys R Us the day he got it.

 In the shower, fully clothed, skateboard and all!

 On his way upstairs for bed.

Down Time

Ever since Cohen started potty training, he was never in a big rush to get off the potty.  Often times, I come in and find him looking through magazines, and just taking a moment to himself.  Landon has always been the complete opposite, and hates having to disrupt his play time to use the bathroom.  Soon, Cohen will be too old to think this is cute, and so while I still often get a good giggle from him, I though I would write down how funny I find this. 

The Elf on the Shelf

The elf on the shelf was a fun addition to our Christmas traditions this year.  I had looked at the book and heard about the idea several times, but when Steve encouraged me to get it, I did.  Every night this elf "returned to report to Santa" then came back and was in a new hiding spot.  Early each morning the boys would get up and hunt for him.  Grey loved this and often he would go bursting out of a room, skipping, and shouting, "a welf, a welf" because he would remember one of the places he was hiding.  Often times when I carried him upstairs to put him down for naps he would point to 4 or 5 places and say "a welf, a welf".  He could remember just about every spot he'd been over the last month.  

I can't say that he was much for behavior modification, but it was a fun game.  I look forward to Welf, which he will be called from here on out, appearing each Christmas season.

Christmas 2010

Christmas has come and gone.  I wanted to remember just a few things before this wonderful day turns into a blur of a memory with a move just 2 days away.  

We started with our Christmas Eve tradition and had our nice family dinner and then opened our Christmas jammies.  We went to enjoy dessert and wonderful stories of our Savior and the spirit of Christmas with our dear friends the Hargadons.  It was a wonderful day.

 Christmas morning the kids actually slept in.  It helped keeping them up til 10.  Yikes!  Three hours past bedtime is a big NO NO for me, but they were all amazing.  The older boys peeked at the gift left by Santa and then we called them in to snuggle for a painful 45 minutes and wait for the baby to wake up and enjoy it with them.  They are so patient and amazing.  This is just before we let the caged animals out.

Their first look at what Santa brought.  We are so blessed.  It seems every year that we are able to do more than we should for our children.  Steve loves to spoil them and I know it is overkill sometimes, but when I look at the gifts, all I think about is how powerful the hand of the Lord is in our lives.  The abundance we have comes from Him.  And I will never forget that.

After we enjoyed looking and playing with the Santa gifts and looked through our stockings, we had a wonderful breakfast of crepes and bacon.  It is our tradition to fill our tummies first, so we can enjoy taking our time opening gifts.  

Some of the favorite gifts this year were scooters and football gear.  They were all adorable in their uniforms.  They all love football so much.  

 I was ready for bed and it struck me that I needed to write down the memories of these three sweet boys on this amazing day.  They all showed such gratitude for each gift opened.  Even Grey told me "So much.  Thanks Mom.  So much"  He was repeating after his brothers.  I love that they don't take what they have for granted.
 I love this time of year and am always slow to take down my decorations.  But tomorrow they all come down and I start the task of trying to be organized enough to have an army of strange people in my home, opening my cabinets and packing my belongings into boxes.
I am so grateful that we got to pretend all was normal today and enjoy things without feeling like our life is in disarray.  We are saving that for tomorrow.

Stuck

I feel like I am stuck...frozen maybe is a better word.  Frozen in time.  Things are whirling around me at record pace, but I am just frozen.  I should be doing so many things to get ready.  Get ready for Christmas, get ready for moving, get ready for whatever I need to do next.  But instead, I find myself just sitting, often times wasting my time, because I feel like all things thing that need preparing for are just so far away.  Christmas...2 weeks away....huh?!? Really?  Moving....17 days away?  It just seems unreal.  I keep counting down the days we have left to the kids.  Trying to prepare them because I know that this is going to be hard, but it hasn't sunk in for me.  Oh, and I'm having a baby in 3 months?  Interesting!  And its a GIRL!  And I have nothing, and I mean nothing ready.  Wow.  Panic mode will set in shortly.  I just keep waiting for it to set in, but in the meantime, I am just frozen.  Waiting for the sky to fall.  Steve may feel differently, since it seems that every weekend I have some sort of emotional breakdown for him.  Comes out of the blue.  Seems just about anything sets me off.  But during the week, when he is out of town, I am Wonderwoman, and nothing seems to faze me.  Not sure I'm ready to face reality.

Cal Bears game

A few weeks ago, Steve had tickets to a Cal vs. Oregon State football game.  Since he is able to get as many tickets as he wants through work, he decided we should make an event of it and invite some friends.  We headed to Berkley right after a soccer game.  Steve was so fun and got us all, even our friends, Cal Bears team jersey's and shirts.  He loves to go over the top whenever he does anything.  I love him dearly for that.  It made it so exciting for the kids.  We made a quick pit stop at Chick-fil-a, and then loaded all the kids in our car and made the drive.  

Grey was a monster at the game and Steve was ready to leave after the first half.  It didn't help that I left to use the restroom and get a snack for the kids and was gone an entire quarter.  It turned out to be quite an event to get cash, since I was unprepared and didn't have any.  The first ATM was broken.  I stood in that line at least 10 minutes.  Then the next one had a dozen people waiting to use it since there wasn't another one anywhere close.  Then while I waited in line, a kid who was inebriated on who knows what, would not leave his hands off me.  He was trying to hug me and hit on me.  It was so disgusting.  I have to say, I felt old.  I yelled at him and told him to keep his hands off me.  He pestered me the entire wait.  Miserable.  I will say, I am no longer flattered, or unaware of the massive attention I seemed to be attracting at the event. College guys are pigs!  

All in all, we had a fun adventure.  I am glad we chose the friends we did.  They are so fun to be with.  We stayed the night in Walnut creek and then looked at a house the next day.  It was a huge success, because that was the house we ended up picking to move to.  What a great weekend. 

A Grand Finale

Landon has been playing soccer for 3 years now.  His first season, he was timid and young.  He was an amazing defender and he liked to be with kids he knew.  For his second year, we bumped him up to U8 even though he wasn't old enough.  He spent 90% of the season in goalie or on defense.  He made huge improvements, but still struggled to understand offense.  For his third season, we began by practicing a lot in the backyard before the season even started.  His first practice, he was amazing in goalie.  He never played defense, but he was wanting to try offense.  He usually got 1 quarter a game in offense and any other times he played, he was in goalie.  Needless to say, with his slow offensive development, he had never scored a goal in all 3 seasons.  

The emotions for him toward the end of the season seemed high.  There were tears at several games.  He was getting so close to scoring, but he could never bring out the aggressive side he has in the backyard.  On the very last game of the season, everything came together for him.  As you can see from the pictures, it was an extremely wet and muddy game.  He was so excited, but it was freezing outside.  I think it was in the 2nd quarter, he scored not only one, but two goals.  Back to back.  It was so amazing.  We would have been proud of his season no matter what, but not only being the only undefeated team, but being able to finally score a goal, was so fun to watch.  He really will miss this soccer team when we move.   

GO EARTHQUAKES!

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

We went for the annual pre-school trip to Bishop's this year.  While the boys seemed to have a blast, it seemed like the craziest year yet.  I forgot to tell Steve about the field trip and so this is the first year he hasn't gone to help.  With Grey at such a wild age, it seemed like I was going in 40 directions at once.  We rode the train, did the hay ride to the pumpkin patch, picked out pumpkins, and watched the pig races.  I think picking the pumpkins was the most difficult because of the rough ground and "Mr. Independent."  Grey must have fallen down every 5 steps.  The kids seemed to have fun, which is all that matters.  Cohen had been talking about going the entire month of October and really loved it.  

Grandpa Carter was here and was able to go, but it really made me miss Steve's mom.  She always went with me and it was always her job to help with Grey or Co, so Steve and I could enjoy the activities with Landon or Cohen.  

 Grey was having a wild hair day.  Between it being in his eyes and it flipping out so far, it was crazy.  It would help if I had time to get it wet and comb it every morning and after every nap.  Instead, I just embrace the wildness of the moment.

 Grey LOVED the slide.  Co was so sweet to help him wait in line and then help him up the small step to go down.  Cohen really has stepped up how helpful he is, the last few months.

It Really is a Girl!

Somehow I can't figure out how to rotate that picture, but you get the point.  She really is a she!  I honestly am still in utter amazement.  I think in the back of my head, ever since the day we found out, I have been thinking that they just might have been wrong.  I don't know if the shock will wear off before she actually arrives, but I get to thinking and then I stop and say, "this must be a dream".
But, since I know it really, really isn't, I must say, it is pretty overwhelming thinking of starting from scratch.  Clothes, shoes, blankets, burp cloths, bedding, accessories...ooh the accessories!
I think I might feel differently if it was coming at some other time than when we were uprooting and starting over in a new city, but somehow I will adjust!  And I will never get sick of my favorite colors...pink and purple.  Lots and lots of pink and purple!

PS.  Dear Sweet Baby Girl,
I went back and checked the post from when I found out Greyson was a boy.  I wanted to compare the ultrasound pictures.  I didn't remember writing that, but thank you for reminding me that even though I thought I was done, you were still waiting.  "November 10, 2008, It's a.....", that is one amazing post to me.

7

This year Landon requested a birthday party at home.  While I love the thought of saving money, I dread the thought of entertaining a bunch of kids and feeling like it was a success in the end.  This year I think, although 9, 7 year old boys are noisy, they all had an amazing time.  Trying to mix school and church friends, proves to be a challenge in trying to keep a party small.  The rule is 3 and 3, but in the end we ended up with 5 from school and 3 from church.  Our theme was Star Wars, "Welcome to the Dark Side".  We decided to ditch the traditional cake and ice cream and I made homemade ice cream sandwiches.  While I didn't care for them, the kids loved them and so did Steve.  

We played games in the dark after pizza and ice cream.  We watched a little of Star Wars, but mostly they just played.  They did love the relay races with the glow sticks.  I think that was the favorite.  

It is hard to believe that Landon is 7 already.  

Some things about him....

Height: 52"

Weight: 64 lbs.

Eyes: Hazel

Sleep: bed at 7:30- up at 6:00

I need to double check the stats, but the Dr. didn't give me a form this time.  Bummer!

He is still one of the most kind and caring kids I know.  

He is amazing at sports and especially loves soccer.

He still loves to dress up.  He pays very close attention to what characters wear and he is often found scouring the closets (or digging dirty clothes out of the washer) for things similar to those of what he is pretending to play.

He loves to change his clothes many times a day and quite often tries to drive me crazy by seeing how many times he can change before I lose it!

He is reading well, but still doesn't have the desire to do it on his own.  He hardly ever sounds anything out anymore, but occasionally gets tripped up on words he doesn't see often.

He is beginning to ride his skateboard well and Steve is excited that they will soon be able to ride around the neighborhood together.

He still is smitten with Ella.  

He talks often of getting married and seems to be very concerned about who he will end up with forever.  

He is amazing with babies.  Grey adores him.  He is especially excited about holding the new baby and talks about how he will get her in the morning and snuggle her in his bed.

He plays well with Cohen, but often gets bossy with him.  (Probably the closeness in age.)

He is still an early riser, but is getting the hang of playing quietly until a more reasonable hour.  If I could just get him to not wake Cohen up to play with him, we'd be golden.

He still loves to be read and sang to, and laid with at bedtime.  While bedtime takes an eternity now, I will miss these times when he is too big to need me.

His toughest traits are his need to say "no" when asked to do something and doing whatever he wants regardless of if he was told not to do them.  I know that some day he will make a great leader, but for now, he is a royal stinker!  Good thing we love that stinker so much!

18 months

Last month Grey turned 18 months.  I took him to get his picture taken to remember him at this sweet age.  Pictures lasted about 5 seconds before he decided that he wanted to climb the props and carry them all over, and that standing or sitting still and smiling, was absolutely not going to happen.  It didn't help that the photographer was horrible with him.  I would say she was almost scary. None the less, here are a few things I want to remember about him at 18 months.

Height: 36"

Weight: 28 1/2 lbs.

Eye color:  Blue with gold, I think its a form of hazel?

12 teeth.  Still waiting on those canines.

Sleep:  takes one nap, usually 2+ hrs, and goes to bed between 7-7:30 and is up around 7.

Eating likes: milk (lots and lots of it), plain noodles, mac and cheese, most fruit (but in phases, bananas one day, but not the next), Eggo waffles, pumpkin muffins, yogurt, string cheese, cheese quesadilla, cereal (mostly that sugary good stuff), applesauce, and that about covers it!

Dislikes: Anything that would be actual filling types of food.  No PB&J, rice, veggies, pizza, hot dogs, meat, you know the standard kid stuff that all kids survive on.  Well, except Grey.

Toys:  Favorite is his skateboard.  He loves the little tech deck ones, too.  He likes cars and motorcycles, animals and any kind of ball.

Activities:  Loves the trampoline and being outside with his brothers.  He loves all sports.  Loves soccer and football most and will even watch them on TV with Steve.

Movies: Jungle Book, Nemo, and Tarzan

Speech:  He is starting to say almost anything you tell him to.  Or at least try.  Some of his words, wide(slide), wing (swing), ball, but ball (football), ballballball (basketball), wion (lion), nigh nigh (goodnight), hi (he says this with such animation), mine, wone (phone), baby ( and rubs my or his belly), who who ha ha (Nemo, from the tank scene), puppy, woo woo woo (dog), apple, ju (any kind of drink), nack (snack), whoa, you (shoe), kank you (thank you), teat (treat), ba key (blankey).
There are a ton more, but he is saying new things each day.  I find each new word to be the cutest thing I have ever heard and have to ask him to tell me a million times throughout the day.

Temper:  He still can self entertain quite a bit, but has become far more demanding in the last few weeks. Partly with the fact that he is often at home with just me and misses his brothers as his source of entertainment.  We are starting temper tantrums, asking to be held more, screaming more, and often times a mixture of all three at once.  He knows what he wants and seems to know that often times I will give in because I am busy with the other boys or trying to get something done around the house.  Screaming and pointing to the cabinet we store the candy in, demanding over and over "a teat, a teat" seems to be a frequent occurence lately.  Or screaming and pointing to the TV in the car, until for my sanity, I turn it on.  Somewhere between #1 and #3, you make some compromises and I can definitely see them in him. Often times I sit and think, "I totally created this beast, all on my own!"

He has also newly become a daddy's boy.  He has always made Steve putty in his hands, hence the nickname "the anti-birth control", but since Steve has been away all week, he will never let him out of his sight on the weekends.

There are so many endearing things about him right now.  We love his crazy long hair, he is cute when he is jealous of Steve or I and won't share us with his brothers, he loves adventure and being tossed high in the air, he loves playing air hockey and is actually pretty good, he loves to hit and kick and thinks he's pretty funny when he does, he wants whatever his brothers have and screams until they give it to him, he laughs when you laugh, he thinks nursery is the scariest place on earth, and we are loving every minute of this crazy phase!

Halloween 2010

Halloween was strange for me this year.  We typically have our church trunk or treat close to Halloween.  This year with Halloween falling on Sunday, and our trunk or treat the Tuesday before it, Halloween ended much earlier than normal.  We didn't go out on Sunday and not a single kid rang our bell.  Steve was sweet enough to drive back from the city for trunk or treat, but we were content not taking the kids back out on Sunday.  They didn't seem to miss it either.  They were so cute in their costumes and I love how much they play dress up in them throughout the rest of the year.  

At the last minute, Landon asked what Steve and I were dressing up as.  I told Steve I could throw on my scrubs and he bought a Dr. jacket.  Just not being in regular clothes seemed to make the kids all happy.  

Landon wanted to be the skeleton like Johnny in Karate Kid.

I loved Grey in this.  So sweet.  He loved carrying his package around.

People kept asking Steve if he was really a Dr. by profession.  Did they not read his job title on his coat? I hate Halloween stores for that reason.  Proctologist?  Seriously?  So gross!

Co was so cute as Darth Vader.  I love it when there is a theme, but this year, we didn't have much of a plan, so they picked whatever they wanted.  And of course, they loved it!

Playing in the Rain

We had our first real rain a few weeks ago.  Landon decided it sounded like fun to go jump on the trampoline in it.  Grey thought it was a great idea.  I was warm enough that they lasted quite a while.  Grey decided in that moment, he loves the rain.  Now, every time it rains, he wants to be playing in it.  They followed it with a warm bath.  They giggled and laughed so much.  It makes me smile just thinking about watching them.