Valentine's Day

I am not a huge Valentine's Day fan. I guess I really don't see the purpose in a day to celebrate your love for everyone. Isn't that what we should be doing everyday? In all honesty, it would mean a lot more if Steve just showed up with flowers on a random day than on the day that he is "suppose" to. Maybe I am just a scrooge, but that is my feelings.

Even though I don't love the romantic things of Valentine's, I do love an excuse to do something fun with the kids-see I should really be doing that anyways. My kids have been deprived of sweets lately. I have been doing a Biggest Loser Competition to loose all the baby weight and haven't had any of their favorite/my favorite treats in the house. So I decided to make some sugar cookies and let them decorate them.

So we invited some cousins over (have I mentioned that is why I love living close to family. My kids best friends are their cousins. I love it!) And all the kids decorate heart cookies.

Brighton:


Betsy:


Kate-yes she is naked most of the time:


Zack:


This was his first year taking Valentine's to his class. He loved how much candy he got. But he said his favorite part of the day was Mom coming to class to help with the party.


Josh wouldn't let me take a picture of him. So this is the only one I have of him.


After cousins left, we had pizza for dinner and then watched a movie together as a family. See we are big partiers.

I will!

That cute little girl came to me on Monday and said "Diaper off!"

"You need a diaper change?" I asked.

"No! Princesses on." She demanded.

I explained to her that if she wanted her princess big girls on she had to go wet in the toilet.

"I will!" she said.

I explained she could not got wet in her big girls.

"I won't." she insisted.

I decided it wouldn't hurt to try. She is a lot younger than my boys were when I trained them. But if she wanted to, I was going to take advantage. Well, she did what she said she would. She has only had a few accidents this week. She is having problem with #2 and I am having flashbacks to what Zack was like. I am crossing fingers she won't be that bad. But for only being 27 months, she is doing awesome and I am pretty proud of her. She even went in my sisters toilet and the church one today. Not to mention her cute little bum in those panties. :)

Look who is 6 months!

AMY!


She did not want to sit still for pictures. She wanted to grab the camera or suck on her hand or a toy.



She is a happy 6 month old!



She loves to play in the jumper or the on the floor or anywhere she can grab things and put them in her mouth. She is my first baby to roll to get places and she does move all over. We have to tell her brothers to keep all their small toys off the floor.






She loves her crib and smiles at me when I put her down. And, most importantly, still sleeps through the night like a pro.



She has 2 teeth.



She loves to eat too. She loves baby food and will down a whole size 3 jar in minutes.



She is a true Mommy's Girl. She loves Mom and jumps out if Dad's arm to get to her. She gives Mom kisses but will not kiss anyone else. She is one sweet little girl!

January 27, 2013

Monday was Martin Luther King day, so Steve had the day off work. That is one of the things I do love about his job. He gets all federal holidays off. It is always fun to spend the day as a family. This time we went to a Grizzle Hockey game. We have the Pass of All Passes and get in free to a lot of different venues. The game was fun. The boys had fun but are not interested in playing hockey.

When we got home, we were hanging out trying to decide where to go to dinner. Kate came over to me and said she wanted to sit on the toilet. So, of course, I let her. She sat and went #2 in the toilet! If you don't know, this is HUGE for my kids. We did a dance and gave her chocolate (her favorite treat). But I was too busy to really toilet train this week. So I left it alone the rest of the week. There was a few times she brought it up again during the week. But never wanted to sit only wanted a prize. I am hoping in a couple weeks we can hit it hard and get her toilet trained. One in diapers...what would I even do?!


Tuesday the day was spent (really the whole day) making this.

This was the first cake I have made for someone I have never met. It was really stressful. I love to make cakes, but I always warn everyone I am not a professional. My family and friends know this and are happy with what they get. But my neighbors had a fundraiser/silent auction to raise money for their child's surgery. The only thing I could think to donate was a cake. So I donated 2 cakes. This is the first person to call about it. It made me so nervous. I still hope that it tasted well and that they were happy with it. It was an aunt of the little boy who picked it up so I don't know what the parents thought. I do think it turned out pretty dang cute. I was happy with it. I just hope they were too.

One day this week I went to check on the boys after they had gone to sleep. This is what I found:

It really made my heart so happy. I swear that all these two do during the day is fight. One wants the others toy. One doesn't want to play that game. One wants to other to play with him. The list could go on and on of all the fights I break up between these two. But to see this,it should me something must be going right in this house. They do love each other. In the morning Zack told me that he asked Josh to come in his bed because he just really, really likes him. Cute!

Another day this week, Amy had just woken up from her nap. I had to finish one thing really fast before I went to get her out of her crib, probably laundry, or dishes or something. When I went to go get her, I found Kate talking to her. They were playing. Kate was making her laugh. (That is huge. Amy is not a giggler) It was another moment that made me so happy this week. My hope is that these two will grow up to be best friends. It is what my sisters are to me and I only hope they will be too.


Another day this week, I was asking Josh if he knew how much I loved him. He said no. So I explained that I loved him so, so , so much and that I would do anything for him. Zack overheard and asked "Would you do anything for me?" I said "Of course I would." He returned with "I wish I had a dog." :) It made both Steve and I laugh. This kid is quick! He really wants a dog. But we are a no pet house. Sorry pal!

A week of firsts...

On Monday, Zack started piano lessons. He is taking from a neighbor that is just a few doors down from us. He was so excited to go to his first lesson. He asked all day if it was 3:30 yet. When it finally was, he went and came back so happy. He loved it! He was excited to show me everything he learned. He practiced willing everyday this week. He should his cousins all that he learned. He even "taught" his cousin Brighton all that he learned. I can only hope that this excitement continues for a long time. I was very excited that he has this opportunity. I always wanted to learn to play the piano but my parents never had the money to buy a piano. Maybe someday I will start lessons. But I can't even figure out when I could throw in practice time in my life right now. So I guess I will just live through Zack. :) Josh also go to start lessons this week. He started tumbling. His first day did not go as well as Zack's first day of piano. I took Josh in and he would not leave my side or let me leave. I figured it wouldn't be all bad if he watched so we sat and watched the whole lesson. I tried to get him to go and do things but he would not. He is one stubborn and shy kid. He loves to do cartwheels and summersaults. After the lesson he came home and told me he just wanted me to buy all the pads so he could do the stuff here. That is not going to happen. The plan for this week is to send him with my sister. Hopefully it works. Amy turned 5 months today. So we started feeding her with a spoon. She was not a fan of sweet potatoes. She would swallow a bite and then cringe and shiver like that did not taste good. But she still ate a lot of it before being totally done with it.

Since then we have tried corn and pears. She loved corn but did not like pears. She loves oatmeal. She is still working on her tooth but is as happy as can be! She loves to be played with.

Zack had his first Snow Day on Friday. School was canceled due to a huge storm. We got 12-18 inches of snow all within 24 hours. It was crazy. The boys played in the snow for a little bit. They are too much like me. They don't like being cold so they don't love playing in the snow. Then we came in and made playdough and hung out the rest of the day. It was nice to have a relaxing day where we could just stay home and enjoy each other.

On Friday morning after getting Amy down for her morning nap, I went out to shovel the driveway and noticed that it had already been done. My sweet across the street neighbor had come over and snow blown it. It was so nice of him and helped me out a ton. Then that same day those same neighbors brought over a plate of warm cinnamon rolls. It was all a very nice reminder of the great neighborhood we live in. I still feel like I am adjusting here and trying to get to know people. But everyone is so nice and kind. It makes me want to be kinder. I am glad that we can live here. Last Saturday I started a Biggest Loser competition. My goal is to get back to my pre-kids weight. That means lose 30 pounds! I am counting calories and exercising everyday. This week has been an eye opener for how many calories are in the food I eat. I have cut back a lot. I have also found that getting up and exercising is giving me more energy. If my scale is the same as the scale that I weighed into on Saturday, I have lost 4 pounds in one week! Yay me! I know I won't keep that up the whole competiton but it feels good knowing that my hard work is paying off.

We are still here!

This year I have a new goal...well lots of them actually. But one of my new goals is to better document my cute little growing family. I have been really bad at this. I don't scrapbook. I am bad at writing in my journal. So all the cute and funny things that happen in my little family get talked about once or so to my husband or family or friends, then forgotten. I want to have something to look back at so I can remember the good and fun times when my kids were little. I want to be able to remember a cute story about Zack instead of the horrible 2 years it took me to toilet train that kid. So here we go. I am going to write a blog post every Sunday afternoon about the things that happened in my family this week. Will they all be hilarious? No. Will they be well written? No, I am a math major! But they will be memories that I will have written down. So to start out here is a quick overview of each of us.

Steve: He still works at HAFB for DISA doing computer stuff. That is all I can say about that. He serves as a Deacons Quorum Advisor and Assistant Scout Master. He enjoys doing all the fun things this calling requires. He is a great dad and loves playing with the kids. Sometimes I have to remind him that we don't roughhouse inside, but he doesn't seem to listen. :) The boys love wrestling with him and Kate tries to join in too. Liz: What to say about me? I am actually living my dream. As a little girl I remember dreaming of growing up and marrying a great guy, having lots of kids and being able to be a stay at home mom. Well that is pretty much my life. Though cleaning bathrooms, cleaning kitchens, doing laundry, trying to keep an orderly house, waking up at night with a newborn, or cleaning up throw-up was never part of those dreams, it goes along with all the other parts. So I do that too. I love it and couldn't ask for anything better right now. I currently serve as the RS Activity Coordinator. I enjoy planning activities for the sisters in my ward. It can be busy but is the perfect calling for me right now.

Zack: Zack is my crazy, energy-filled 6 year old. I don't know what happened to him but all of the sudden he is full of energy and loves to use it to bug his little siblings. He also has grown a ton in the last few months. I need to measure him to see how tall he is. But all of the clothes I bought him for school are too short already. Really Zack is a very kind and loving kid. He is perfectly behaved at school and in Primary. He loves Avengers, Star Wars, and castles and knights. He loves to play with friends but also loves to watch movies. He is very sweet with Amy. If he could have one wish he would wish for a pet lizard.

Josh: From the outside, Josh is our very shy and stubborn 4 year old. He won't talk to you unless he wants to. He won't look at you if he doesn't want to. But in day to day life, he is very kindhearted and loving and absolutely silly. He makes me laugh daily! I always think it is too bad he is so shy because no one can see the real Josh. right now he loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates as well as all superheros. He can play for hours on end and wants friends(who are really cousins) to play daily.

Kate: Our little Bugs is 2 years old. She is an absolute doll. I love to kiss her big cheeks. She is silly and goofy. I don't think she ever walks normal. She is either skipping or galloping or running or walking with a swing to her hips. She is trying to become very independent even when she can't do what she wants. she knows how to throw tantrums and will run to a soft spot to throw her head down. But she is usually happy and loves to play all day long. She is big into baby dolls and princesses. Beauty and the Beast is her favorite movie. She loves to dance and sing.

Amy: Amy will be 5 months on Friday. She is the most perfect baby I have ever have (expect when she is trying to get teeth and has shots all within a few days of each other and has to go to church on top of all of that). She just started sleeping 12 hours at night but then she got shots and that messed that all up. She only fusses when she is hungry or tried. She loves to be played with and smiles at everyone. We think she is one beautiful baby and are so glad she is in our family.

for Steve

Steve needed these for somethinga t work.