All Things Orange

Crafty Girls

2012-01-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Megan loves doing crafts.

I usually try to find one around Valentines Day that we can do together.

I found one this year from another blog and she had adapted it from another blog and I changed it up even more and it evolved into this:

It's just a bunch of tissue paper flowers hot glued to a poster board.

It was originally supposed to be a wreath for my front door but Megan wanted it big, so now it hangs on the wall, which works out well since I don't have many Valentine's decorations.

We had a lot of fun making it and Megan can't wait for next year's craft, so now I have to find something for that!

We also hung up our crayon hearts that we made last year.

I'm pretty proud of all this ( I know it's nothing fancy) but I am NOT a crafty person.

I would like to think that my mom and Linz were smiling down on me that day.

They are the real crafty girls of the family.

Winter Rodeo

2012-01-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

Toby was in town this weekend so we tried to cram in as much fun as possible.

We found out there was a bulls only rodeo at the fairgrounds so of course we had to go, and of course Grandpa Bish and Grandma Leila came as well.

It was a lot of fun and the bulls were pretty good, and the kids (especially Max) loved every minute of it. Even ADD Sam could have stayed there all night, with so much to look at.

This was their version of a wicked awesome laser show.

Cowboy Max

Controlling a Red Head

2012-01-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'm learning, is never easy.

And when I'm trying to make dinner, it's even worse.

So last night, he went in the sink, and had a great time.

But he is now 10 months and starting to take a few steps!

Winter is Finally Here

2012-01-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

The snow FINALLY came and Megan was so happy. Max wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but he just followed Megan's lead. Max probably would have been really hesitant had he realized he was wearing pink and purple boots, but he's pretty secure in his mannhood.

Now there's 4 more storms coming that I get to shovel because Toby is now a traveling fool with places like Seattle, Portland, Virginia and Denver, just to name a few.

Megan was very proud of her family of snowmen.

Sam got to enjoy his 1st oreo that he liked - A LOT!

Christmas

2012-01-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well had a pretty crazy Christmas.

Mel and fam were in town and we had wedding festivities to do as well.

To top it off all 3 of my kids got sick right before Christmas. I didn't think it was anything more than a little cold/cough, but on Christmas Eve Sam woke up with a fever and not breathing well, and he screamed the entire night before and wouldn't sleep unless he was laying on Toby's chest. (Yay for me, bad for Toby.) Anyway, his breathing got so bad that we took him to the ER at Primary's and I knew it was bad when they rushed us through triage and there was a Dr. and Respiratory already waiting for us in the room. They did some breathing treatments on him, suctioned him, and told us to plan on staying over night. Awesome, just what we wanted on Christmas Eve. But Sam rallied and woke up to even eat a little so they let us go home with lots of suctioning devices and antibiotics for his two horrible ear infections. He pretty much slept from that point on until the next morning and luckily was much better for Christmas.

Max got super bad 2 days before Alicia's wedding. I thought no big deal and got him on antibiotics for his ear infection, but he couldn't shake the cough. I think that stems from him being a preemie. He was coughing so hard he was coughing up his medicine and food. So we finally found a cough medicine that would work on him and my saint of a mother-in-law who wasn't feeling well herself, took care of him on Alicia's wedding day so Max missed out on all the fun.

Whew! Sorry so long, but had to get that down for posterity's sake.

We are all doing great now, if only Sam would let me leave the room, then we'd be good.

Oh, and the best Christmas present of all - Toby has an awesome new job with a medical supply company. Only problem is - tons of travel for training. I am now a single mom, and not enjoying it!

Megan representing our family at Christmas Eve

Megan opening Lagoon Season passes for the whole fam!

Sam, trying to decide if he wants to be sitting up or not.

Megan got a tumbling mat & Grandpa Bish had to try it out.

Sam loved cousin James' 4 wheeler.

Megan got a new jeep for her American Girl Dolls. Sam loves to go for a ride.

Ditto!

2012-01-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

My sister Alicia got married!

Wahoo!

It was an awesome wedding.

She found the perfect guy, the ceremony was beautiful, her dress was gorgeous, the luncheon was hilarious, and the reception was good times. In other words, it was perfect. It's just great to see two good people find each other, but we will miss them now they are in St. Louis!

Mr. & Mrs. Dan Ditto!

And for your viewing pleasure: why the luncheon was so hilarious.

And one more

Carpet & My Mom

2012-01-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

I need to catch you up on our Christmas. It was crazy. There were ER visits, more doctor visits, a sister getting married, a new job. But before I do that, the most exciting thing first -

I GOT NEW CARPET!!!

And boy did I need it. I've wanted new carpet ever since we moved in, and that's been 5 years now! So it was badly needed. And I'm now happy to say that I don't hate my house as much as I used to which is good for Toby because he doesn't want to move.

Now you're wondering what all this has to do with my mom. Well...after I dragged myself into bed last night with my hands bleeding from ripping up the carpet, my muscles literally shaking from lifting so many heavy things 2 nights in a row, and my brain pretty much shut down because of exhaustion, I realized that it has been 2 years since my mom died. And in my weird state of exhaustion, I smiled, because I had been thinking of my mom all day because I knew she was the only other person that would be as excited as I was to get new carpet.

It has been a long year, in some ways, harder than the year before. I've wanted her advice on so many things. I've wanted to show her my cute little red head baby that she always wanted. Mostly, I just wanted a hug.

But I will just have to be happy with all of the many times I've felt her giving me a hug.

It's almost just as good!

And now for pictures of the carpet:

Before & After

During!

Making Christmas Memories

2011-12-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

We've been having a lot of fun preparing for Christmas.

This past weekend we had the Johnson Christmas party complete with newspaper balls, O Holy Night, and Santa - but of course I forgot the camera. But it was definitely good times.

Then we went to the Dickens Festival.

This was my first time but Toby's family did this every year and got a picture with Santa every year as well. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was the same Santa this year as it has been in years past.

Then we delivered neighbor gifts in the cold.

The kids LOVE doing this. Megan was our runner and Max kept up with her on his trike, and Sam was just happy to be outside. (He can't wait for summer.)

If you look close, you can see Toby is holding a picture of Brandon who wasn't there. This is Toby with his 2 sisters Tina & Jill.

Sam had a great time.

Megan & Max in the ghosts of Christmas Future, & Jacob Marley

2 Happy Boys.

Delivering Neighbor gifts.

FMA

2011-12-19T09:58:00.001-07:00

There was a term my friends used in Highschool to describe kids who were destined for the show choir called Madrigals. It was FMA, Future Madrigals of America.

Well, I think they would use that term for Megan.

I went to her choir program at school and she was having a great time.

She had great facial expressions and could move to the beat.

FMA material for sure.

Megan & her friend Kira

Christmas Recital

2011-12-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

Megan had her Christmas dance recital and once again did a fantastic job. It still amazes me that someone related to me can dance that well.

But probably the most enjoyable thing to watch during the recital was Max dancing in the aisle. He had a great time and was very upset when we made him leave.

I had to add this picture because I got another Brazilian Blowout!

Hooray for chemicals!

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's tradition in our house that after we put up the Christmas tree, everyone lays underneath it to watch it spin around. That's right, we have a revolving Christmas tree. Toby thinks it's awesome and wishes we would have it rotate all the time. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) it would take up too much room to give it enough space to turn all the time.

Happy Birthday Max!

2011-12-08T07:34:00.001-07:00

Max is 3 and I can't believe it! He was so excited for his birthday this year, so it was lots of fun to watch him open his presents (even though it was in the dark because the power was out AGAIN).

He was so excited to wear a tie to church - he was just like Dad.

Opening his favorite present - Cars 2!

Lining up all of his Cars, so he's ready to watch Cars 2!

He loves his new tool set.

The Elves are Fired

2011-12-06T10:45:00.001-07:00

This is our advent calendar:

The "elves" put a Hershey Kiss in it every night for the kids to open the next morning.

Well, the night of the second wind storm, the "elves" forgot because they were so tired they couldn't even see straight.

So when Megan woke up to no Hershey Kiss, she got a little upset, told me that the elves were fired, and wrote them a note:

The "elves" had to write her back and tell her that Santa didn't want to send any elves that night because of the wind, and that they were so sorry, and they gave her extra treats.

Megan was very excited to see that the "elves" wrote back. Now all is forgiven and hopefully the "elves" won't forget again!

I Hate Wind

2011-12-04T13:43:00.001-07:00

I really hate the wind. I may even make a t-shirt that says that, especially after this week. We had over 100 mph winds that came through and destroyed a lot of stuff. Anyone that had a fence - gone, garage doors - smashed in, 100 year old trees - tipped over. It looks like a war zone around here. And the best part about it? There's another storm coming tonight! They cancelled church meetings today so that everyone could get every single thing cleaned up from the other storm so that it wouldn't become a projectile missile in this storm. I'm so tired from no sleep with all of these storms, and now I get one more sleepless night! Hopefully this storm won't be as bad. I'm praying for a "silent night".


Our city's 100 year old Christmas tree that's been lit every year since anyone can remember.		So sad.

This huge tree tipped over and brought up the creek bed with it.

The creek now runs underneath it.

Most of our fence was destroyed and our swing set almost flew into the field behind us.

Our neighbors pine tree fell over blocking the street, then the top of their chimney flew off!

43 Pounds of Pure Muscle

2011-11-28T20:42:00.001-07:00

Toby got this pull up bar for Christmas and believe it or not, he actually uses it! Megan saw him using it one day and wanted to give it a try and of course she whipped out 5 pull-ups with no problem. I tried to do one and it was pretty pathetic. I blame it on the post pregnancy and the fact that I was laughing really hard which prevents me from being able to bend my fingers. Toby took some pictures of my effort, but since I'm in control of the blog, you won't be able to see them. You're welcome.

Our Thankful Tree

2011-11-22T11:12:00.001-07:00

This is our Thankful Tree we made last night for family night. I got the idea from the Today show of all places, but it was a big hit with the kids. And we get to put more leaves on it this week as we think of other things we're thankful for. I think I'll start it earlier in the month next year since the kids enjoyed it so much. And hopefully I can find a better looking branch.

It Is Done

2011-11-18T14:03:00.001-07:00

For better or worse, I have potty trained Max. It actually went pretty well, I used the toilet training in half a day that I used with Megan, and I'm still a big fan. Having Cars underwear has really helped and a new Mater car that gets put away if he has an accident. The funniest thing was on the morning after I had potty trained him - he woke up and looked at his underwear and started crying because he realized it wasn't a one day thing. That day had some struggles, but he's been great since. He slept for 13 hours last night and woke up dry! I think that's impressive because I don't think I could sleep that long without a break. I even took him to the store today and he did great. He kept patting his pants and telling me they were dry! And to all you people I've talked to that tell me your kids potty trained themselves - I really don't like you.

Tongue Twister

2011-11-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sam has some new tricks.

One of his new tricks is twisting his tongue completely upside down.

I think it's kind of gross, Toby and the kids think it's cool.

His other new trick is clapping.

He does it all the time now.

He even does it when he wakes up from his naps.

This is not a new trick, it's just really cute.

Unexpected

2011-11-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

I recently visited with a friend whose daughter had passed away. As we were talking she asked me if the grief gets any easier. I told her it never gets easier, you just learn to live with it, and that it can hit you at unexpected moments.
That happened to us this weekend. We were at a neice's baptism, and someone was giving a talk and all of the sudden Megan was crying and leaning on my arm. At first I just brushed her off because I thought she was just wanting attention for something silly. But as she continued to be emotional, I finally put her on my lap and asked her what was wrong. It took her awhile to answer and when she finally did she said, "That talk reminded me of Grandma." And then she started sobbing, which of course made me cry as well.
Sometimes I forget how much all of these changes have affected her. Most of the time I think that she won't remember either my Mom or Lindsey much, but she does. She was very close with Lindsey and still talks of her often. She was also very close with my Mom because we lived so close. We saw her almost everyday and Megan and my Mom had special things they did together.
This weekend was a good lesson for me to not wallow in my own self pity for the losses I've had but to remember that my family has had the same losses and it hurts them as well. And as we come upon another holiday season without my Mom and Lindsey, hopefully we can still remember the great times we had with them, but look forward to having good times of our own.

3 Little Indians

2011-11-01T10:09:00.001-06:00

My kids go to so many Halloween parties - it's getting ridiculous. When I was a kid (a very long time ago) I had one party at school and then out trick-or-treating. Now my kids have 4 parties and THEN trick-or-treating. By the time the actual holiday comes around, they're sick of their candy. Which is good for me because I get to eat it all.

We started out with the Witchey-Poo party at my Dad's. We had to have it outside because his house is still "crashed" as Max likes to call it.


No kitchen? No problem, we roasted hot dogs in the fire pit. Megan had 3.

Greg's Mini-Me

The actual holiday was great. Megan didn't have school and it was a really warm day. So we enjoyed playing at the park and trick-or-treating with no jackets!

The 3 cutest indians ever.

Have you ever seen an Indian with orange hair? Now you have!

Fat Guy...

2011-10-28T10:48:00.000-06:00

in a little wagon.

3 Cute Babes

2011-10-26T08:54:00.001-06:00

(Megan, Max, Sam)

My mom gave me the idea to get these pictures done of my kids at the same age. They're all around 6 months and I think they're all pretty cute, but I may be a little biased. The thing that made Toby and I laugh the most is that they all look different from each other. Toby asked me if I was sure they were all mine.

Gardener Village 2011

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

We did our annual trip to Gardener Village to see the witches, eat yummy food, and pick out our Christmas ornaments. Unfortunately, the Christmas Shoppe went out of business, so no ornaments for us. Anyone know a good place to get cool ornaments?

The doughnuts are oh so good!

All She Wants for Christmas...

2011-10-20T20:01:00.000-06:00

Is her two front teeth!

Fall in the Summertime

2011-10-19T12:33:00.000-06:00

We did our annual hike up to Pretty Valley to enjoy the leaves. The crazy thing about it was that it was almost 80 degrees! I've probably done that hike hundreds of times, but that's the warmest it's ever been for our fall hike. Despite the heat and us all sweating like only Spjute's can, we all had a great time, and the leaves were beautiful. We even talked Grandpa into coming along!

Sam & Grandpa had a great time together.

Max was so happy to find his stick!

Love Sam's face.

Max & Megan at the top of the world.

Fire Trucks & Vomit

2011-10-17T16:25:00.000-06:00

Normally I would have a lot of cool pictures of our town's firehouse and all the cool things we got to do there, but just as we were walking out of the parking lot, Megan barfed. So here's the one picture we got. Enjoy!

More Soccer

2011-10-11T10:33:00.000-06:00

Megan finished up her fall soccer and by the end she was doing awesome.

As fun as it was to watch Megan, it was more fun to watch Max run around with his Grandpa Bish.

Max would push Bish down the hill and then run away laughing his head off.

They stood there looking at the horses forever.

Hallelujah!

2011-10-05T12:42:00.001-06:00

3 things have happened in the last week that have made my life easier.

The first is that Sam FINALLY loves the jumper.

The fact that he was not loving it was making us crazy. Both of my other kids loved the jumper and were in it the majority of the day, especially while I was cooking dinner.

But now Sam loves it, and gets pretty good height on his jumps!

Sam, in the air!

The second thing that has happened is that Sam is FINALLY getting hooked on Baby Einstein.

Call me a bad parent, but I really enjoy being able to shower after I put him in front of the TV with some toys. You should all be grateful too.

The third thing that has happened is that Sam is now crawling.

Yep, he just started doing it one day. There was no army crawl or scooting around before, he just started crawling, and believe me, I am not complaining. Now he can crawl to whatever toy he wants without crying for help.

One Tired Cowboy

2011-10-03T10:12:00.003-06:00

Adored

2011-09-29T08:59:00.000-06:00

This girl is adored by her brothers. They want to do everything she does.

Sometimes this is bad because now Max wants to get his ears pierced too.

I don't have pictures of Max with Megan, but I have a lot of video of him following her all over the house doing exactly what she's doing. It's a good thing she's such a good girl!

Gomer

2011-09-28T09:27:00.000-06:00

Megan came home from school with ketchup all over her face

and her tooth sticking out like this:

We cleaned up her face and pulled out her tooth, and now she looks human.

Half Way There

2011-09-19T17:02:00.000-06:00

Sammy Jammy Wammy (that's what he's called around these parts) is 6 months!

Which means we're halfway there!

In my book, kids are much more enjoyable when they're one, although this one's been pretty easy I must say. He is a social animal and loves to smile at all the ladies. He's smart - he knows that he should be really cute when Grandpa Bish is around because that's who he's named after.

He's been sitting up since he was 5 months and has already started pulling himself up on things, I'm worried we're going to skip the crawling thing. Although, he does scoot backwards. It's very frustrating for him! As you can tell, he still has orange hair and is a very happy baby!

1 Month

3 Months

6 Months!!!

This is what happens...

2011-09-16T09:35:00.000-06:00

when your older sister and her friends get a hold of you.

State Fair

2011-09-12T10:11:00.000-06:00

We went to the state fair with Toby's parents and had a great time once again.

Max couldn't wait to go all week. Every time we told him it was getting closer, her would just start giggling. He even started wearing Megan's cowboy hat around because he was so excited for the rodeo.

Max loved seeing the animals.

Megan got to feed the geese their favorite food - Mountain Dew!

The Goose Man

Pony rides for all.

Max & Megan got new cowboy hats.

The fried food was the best. My favorite was fried cheesecake! Mmmm...

The rodeo was great fun, Sam loved looking around at all the people.

The giant slide was a big hit.

BLTC's

2011-09-08T09:41:00.001-06:00

I feel obligated to share with you a way to make your BLT's even better. If you're like us, you're probably eating a lot of BLT's right now because your garden is producing. But if you want to make them even better - add some cucumbers with some salt and pepper on it. You won't regret it, my mouth is watering just typing this. You're welcome.

Holding out for a Hero

2011-09-06T10:33:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of a very confused little boy - all thanks to his father. His father can't decide what team to cheer for. I place most the blame on Toby's father. He's a BYU fan, but obviously he didn't teach sound doctrine in his home because both of his sons are U fans. Oh the shame! Toby says he's a fan of both and I say he can't do that. That would like saying you're a fan of God and the Devil! I never knew that my husband was a U fan. I always assumed that he was a BYU fan because he was a good person - I didn't find out until AFTER we were married that he was a U fan. If I had known before, there would have been some changes made. But since I found out after, I made him promise that he would not bring our children up to be U fans. He is not allowed to buy them any U of U merchandise, nor is he allowed to cheer for the U in the presence of our children. So far, I think this has gone pretty well. Megan knows who to cheer for, but after seeing this picture of my son wearing his dad's hat, I'm a little nervous. So this post is for you Toby - don't forget the promise you made me. And to all of you male role models that are involved in my children's life - please help me out, you're all I've got!

Hood to Coast

2011-09-01T10:35:00.002-06:00

Toby just couldn't get enough of Oregon this summer, so when our neighbor called to see if he wanted to fly up there and run Hood to Coast with him and his friends, Toby jumped on it! He had a great time and the weather was crazy. He was the 1st runner that started at Mt. Hood and it was pouring rain but later on in the day it was 90 degrees and they were dying of heat.
So now Toby has another race checked off his list. He's run so many races this year that I've lost count!

The Starting line

Our neighbor, Ed, and Toby in front of Mt Hood (if you squint)

The Astoria lookout point

(it has a real name but I don't remember it)

The finish line on the beach

The team

See ya Summer

2011-08-30T09:20:00.003-06:00

Goodbye, summer. It's been a good one.
Goodbye pool, we will miss visiting you everyday.

So long lemonade stand.

And hello to school!

The Fair

2011-08-26T10:01:00.003-06:00

Toby's parents were super nice, and took us to the county fair. We all had a great time. Max loved seeing the animals and singing "we will rock you", Megan loved looking at everything in the shops, I loved eating fried oreos (mmmm...), and Toby was just happy to have an excuse to wear his cowboy boots.

Max was a big fan of the petting zoo.

We loved watching the people in these balls.

The clouds were amazing that night.

Lagoon

2011-08-25T12:53:00.004-06:00

We had our annual Lagoon trip with Toby's family, and we had a great time. Max did much better with the rides this year than last year. His favorite was the whales. I think he rode continuously on this ride for at least 30 minutes.

Max's other favorite was the "green boat, with his green shirt".

Sam was just happy to be there.

Matching shirts. Is that what Toby will look like when he's old? Hmmm...

Megan, after her first roller coaster ride.

Sam's Lagoon ride.

NICU Reunion

2011-08-24T09:25:00.003-06:00

We went to Max's NICU reunion and had another great time.
Megan loved getting her face painted.

Max loved the giant cookie he got to eat.

They both loved seeing the fire trucks and the life flight helicopter!

Megan is 7!

2011-08-22T10:44:00.003-06:00

This year's cake: a giant pink cupcake, even the inside is pink per Megan's instructions.

She decided to get her ears pierced.
I love this picture, it says it all.
She was excited, yet scared to death that it would hurt bad. She did just fine and as soon as it was over she went back to playing with Brinley.

All Megan wanted for her Birthday was to play with Brinley, so they did all day and night.
This is a picture of them with the same haircut. As soon as Brinley saw Megan's haircut, she got one too!

Up!

2011-08-17T12:34:00.004-06:00

Toby always has to go to the parade of homes for work, and this year he decided to bring me along!
We had to stop and see the Up house, and it did not disappoint. It's exactly like the movie.

They even have the painting above the fireplace.

The chairs.

The character from the movie was there to welcome us all in.

The baby's room.

I was excited that they even had the Adventure book.

This was one of the bedrooms in the basement made to look like Toy Story.
My kids would die for a room like this.

The difference between boys & girls:

2011-08-15T11:43:00.003-06:00

Girls push their dolls in their stroller, boys push McQueen.

Saying Goodbye to the Ancestral Home

2011-08-11T15:07:00.002-06:00

My dad & his wife finally decided to stay in my dad's house and remodel and when I say remodel I mean completely gut the house so it is unrecognizable. The outside will pretty much stay the same (thank goodness) but the inside will be a completely new house. I'm sure it will be amazing once it's done, but it was still hard to throw everything away and see an empty house that's full of so many memories.

There will be many things I will miss -
one of things I will miss is seeing Lindsey's handwriting whenever I wanted.
She signed the infamous pole that's in the middle of our basement.

I will miss the crazy hallway in the basement that most people got lost in.

We will all miss the big screen TV that we've had for 17 years.
(I'm pretty sure it was the first big screen ever invented)

I will miss taking naps on Big Blue.
I will miss the white couches that we were never allowed to play on.
I will miss the arm chair because that's the chair my mom always sat on to read her scriptures and where we could find her when we came home from school.

So many memories, it makes me sad. Hopefully we can make some new ones in the new house!

A New Do

2011-08-09T10:24:00.005-06:00

Megan has been bugging me for awhile to cut her hair short. When we went on vacation Megan asked my cousin Sherstine if she would do it and, of course, she said yes!
I always told myself I wouldn't be one of those moms that makes their girls keep their hair long, but it was still hard to see it all cut off! But at least it looks super cute.
Before

During

After

Canon Beach

2011-08-07T21:11:00.004-06:00

We headed up to Canon Beach so we could feel like tourists.
We love to see the Goonie rocks.

We also love the candy store that was full of Jelly Belly's, especially my favorite - popcorn.

This was our favorite purchase for the trip - a collapsible wagon.
We took it everywhere with us and Max loved to help push.

Max still hasn't stopped talking about the starfish he found.
If he knew it was a living thing, I don't think he would enjoy it, but he just thought it was a really cool rock.

This was the first time all my siblings have been on vacation together in over 15 years!
If you look really hard you can see Linz standing next to Greg.
(Laura, Me, Alicia, Mel, Greg)

We found an awesome fish & chips place for lunch. It was delicious.

Sight Seeing

2011-08-04T10:05:00.003-06:00

We did a hike to this waterfall (I don't remember the name at all)

The kids loved climbing over all the trees.

Sherstine did not enjoy falling hard and having everyone take a picture before helping her up!

Max loved throwing rocks in the river the entire time.

This is the Octopus Tree that's hundreds of years old.
No one knows how it was made.
They don't know if it grew naturally like that or if the indians that lived there somehow made it like that. What a mystery!

This is Liv & Megan at Cape Meares Lighthouse.

Of course, I have no pictures of the lighthouse, just the fabulous view!

Hot on the Beach & Cold in the Water!

2011-08-02T13:11:00.004-06:00

Chances are if we weren't stuffing our faces with Tillamook icecream...

we were playing at the beach!

We had pretty good weather.

And enjoyed the amazing sunsets.

Along with the rest of the camp.
It was crazy to see how many people came out to watch the sunset every night.
It was like we were all lining up to watch a movie, but even better.

The O.C.

2011-07-31T20:58:00.004-06:00

We headed to the Oregon Coast again this year for another camping trip with my family. But this one was even more exciting because all my siblings were there for the first time in over 15 years! We had a great time and Max and Megan keep asking when we're going back. My answer is when we don't have a baby! This was my 2nd time camping in the O.C. with a baby, and although Sam was an awesome baby, it's not something I want to do again - ever. So stay tuned for a few posts of the happenings.

We stopped at the fish hatchery to see the sturgeon fish. They give me the creeps and Max thought they were going to eat him.

The 1st day at camp everyone did the Cape Lookout hike in the "kucky mud" as Max says. It was a 5 mile round trip hike that was muddy but the end result was beautiful and the kids did great. I was back at camp enjoying the sunshine and no mud with Sam.

Toby bought this canister of cheese balls for the trip.
The kids loved them.

We had many pirate adventures while were there,
this was the worlds biggest sword fight.

We took Sam's swing and hooked it to a tree. He loved it.

This was how the kids ate, and my kitchen for the week!

Dirty, Rotten, Scoundrel

2011-07-18T10:34:00.002-06:00

I'm learning that boys love to be dirty.
This is what happens when grandpa's in charge and takes you for ice cream.

This is what happens when Max decided to explore what's underneath the car.

This is what happens when Max picks all these cool green "balls".

We call this...

2011-07-14T08:19:00.002-06:00

Sam's Reverse Soul Patch.
All the ladies want to play with it.

Festival Days

2011-07-11T10:50:00.004-06:00

We love festival days. It started out with the bike parade and Megan got to ride her new orange bike. Her bike looked pretty cool and she only crashed into one parked car. Max brought his scooter to ride but once he knew there were popsicles to eat, he turned on his charm for the girls and scored a popsicle before the parade had even started.

I'm pretty sure the only thing Max ate that weekend was popsicles and parade candy.

Sage, Kate, Megan & Zack waiting for the parade to start.

Relaxing with Grandpa after the parade on his rocks.

Enjoying the summer rainstorm after a delicious bbq.

Toby was pretty tired because he ran the 10K race up to flag rock (basically straight up the mountain) and got 1st place. He's going to kill me for putting this picture on. Oh - and my sister Laura got 1st place for the women!

Bored at Church?

2011-07-08T11:16:00.002-06:00

What do you do when your kids are bored at church? We found stickers in Max's coloring book and put them all over him. It was great fun. The hard part was trying to get him to hold still for a picture.

2 days of the 4th

2011-07-06T10:28:00.004-06:00

We had a great 4th this year. In fact, it was so good that we celebrated it for 2 days! Centerville city decided to do the parade on Sat. so as not to interfere with any festivities on Sunday. So that meant race and parade on Saturday, swimming and bbq on Monday. Sounds good to me!

My dad told people his pirate hat was a colonial hat for the day,
and when some Tea Party members came by in the parade, they started cheering when
they saw his hat! It was pretty funny.

Megan & Toby ran their races.

We headed to El Rancho on Sat. to have some dinner and feed the animals.
It was great fun.

Max was interested in nothing but throwing rocks in the pond.
That and saying hi to Brad Green - Brad is his hero.

James & Max being forced to get ANOTHER picture with the babes.

Max really enjoyed the parade once he figured out that he could eat whatever he wanted.

New Wheels

2011-07-01T08:03:00.002-06:00

We decided to buy Megan a new bike after she came home from school crying because her bike seat and pedal had fallen off for the millionth time. (do not buy huffy) We were hoping her old bike would hold out until her birthday, but we couldn't put her through another breakdown, so she got an early birthday present.

While we were shopping for her bike, Max started cruising around on this scooter. Max is not the most physically able child, so we were very excited to see him want to ride the scooter and that he could do it well. So we bought it for him and he rides it everywhere.

Deja vu

2011-06-29T17:12:00.003-06:00

Today I went to a funeral of a woman in my ward that passed away from brain cancer. Their situation was very similar to my mom's and it brought back a lot of memories. She died young, left 5 kids - 3 girls, and her husband is in the bishopric. She's an amazing woman, that just like my mom, gave service to all around her.
As I was sitting in the funeral listening to her sweet daughters stand together and give memories of their mom, just as my brother and sisters did, it reminded me how much something like that can bond you together. It also made me realize how much I miss my siblings. I don't see them as much as I used to.
Elder Holland ended the funeral and reminded us that funerals are good because they give us a chance to take stock of our lives and see where we need to change. This made me think of the goals I had made when my mom passed and I realized I have not been doing well. So here goes another try to be more charitable like my mom and neighbor. Lets hope it sticks this time! Because of all this, I decided to go home and have a sweats day, it's been a while.

Sam - European Style

2011-06-28T12:30:00.002-06:00

Toby's parents gave us this speedo before Sam was born, so I decided to try it on the other day. It was not a pretty picture.

Only a Mother...

2011-06-21T13:15:00.001-06:00

Could love this face!

Soccer

2011-06-17T11:31:00.002-06:00

Megan finisher up her soccer season and she had a great time. Toby was her coach and he just laughed at the difference between girls and boys. At the first practice he asked them to come up with their team name and Megan quickly said, "How about the Red and White Flashlights?" And the rest of the team LOVED it. Then every game one of the girls would always find a dandelion in the grass and pick it for Toby to wear behind his ear. After the girls scored a goal, there was no high fiving, it was a giant hug for the coach. It was hilarious to watch all this. It was also funny to watch when the whole team would get the giggles in the middle of the game. Despite all this, they did really well and only lost one game!

The day the trailer caught air.

2011-06-15T11:55:00.003-06:00

We went on our ward campout this past weekend up by Logan. It was a lot of fun, especially for the kids. The spot we camped at was down in a valley and you had to go down a steep hill to get into it and we were pulling my dad's trailer, so we knew that when we left we were going to have to floor it to make it up the hill. Of course, we were the first ones to leave, so the whole ward got to watch us try to make it up this hill. It was awesome. The trailer totally caught air and the kids thought it was a grand adventure. When we made it to the top of the hill, the whole ward cheered for us. We made a great impression!

This is the kids doing the hokey-pokey with the bishop.

Sam loved every minute of it.

Here's the trusty trailer.

The grass was taller than Max.

Megan & Toby got to square dance,
and Max never stopped dancing.
He was the star of the party.

A Wedding and a Funeral

2011-06-13T10:35:00.002-06:00

Greg's open house in my dad's backyard turned out great. It could have been a little warmer but it was a beautiful day. I even found some lights to put in the waterfall - although no one noticed them because for some reason the waterfall was producing bubbles!
Unfortunately, a few days before the open house we found out that my mom's brother, Kenny, died. I now only have one aunt living on my mom's side. It's kind of crazy and weird to think that an entire family is all but gone.

Max had a great time at the wedding because there was an endless supply of food,
and he loves to play in "Pa Pas" backyard.

Doesn't that look awesome?

Here's all our old neighbors from West Jordan, it was awesome to see them!

Here's the receiving line.

We have a Big Ball

2011-06-10T08:05:00.001-06:00

We have a big ball. I've been waiting for one of these to go on sale for a while now, and I snatched it up when it finally did. It came at a good time because it entertained the kids while we were busy doing yard work for Greg's wedding.

It took 3 of us and an electric pump to get it blown up.

More Fun in the Sun

2011-06-06T15:00:00.003-06:00

Since we had to go to St. George for Greg's wedding, we figured we might as well have a little fun while we're there!

Sam discovered his double chin.

He also went swimming for the 1st time and liked it a lot.
Which is good or Toby would have put him up for adoption.

We were very considerate while we were there,
and obeyed all signs.

We did a little rock climbing.

Landon & Max are now best friends.

This is Max jumping - he gets serious air.

This is how we made Max happy on the ride home.
Who wouldn't be with that big of a bag?

A Little Fun in the Sun...and a Wedding

2011-06-02T09:39:00.002-06:00

My brother Greg decided to get married down in St. George. So we loaded up the van and headed down for the grand festivities.

It was a sweltering 75 degrees that day.
It felt like 100 degrees because we've only seen a high in the 50's back home.

Here's the lovely couple.
Her name's Heidi, by the way, and she's swell.

Toby was trying to give me a break and was trying desperately to
feed Sam - it almost worked.

Big River

2011-05-24T10:39:00.002-06:00

In case you haven't heard, it's been raining like crazy around here, which hasn't helped the whole flooding situation. So over the weekend we went to our neighbors to look at their stream which has now turned into the "raging river of death". (name the movie) It was pretty crazy to see. I've never seen it this big and it's only going to get bigger. For mutual, Toby and his boys have to fill up sand bags because it's no longer "if" it's going to flood, but "when".

Rain or Shine

2011-05-18T12:22:00.004-06:00

Since the weather around here can't decide if it's going to be winter, spring or summer - we've decided to pretend like it's good weather no matter what.

Sam's pretty neutral - he likes being outside or inside.

Max doesn't mind the rain because he knows it creates giant puddles.

We also pretend like it's HOT outside and that we need
icecream to cool off.

Megan enjoys doing chalk art that looks like it's from Tangled,
and she loves to climb up grandpas flag pole.
We think she's half monkey.

A Blessed Day

2011-05-16T11:19:00.003-06:00

Sam turned 2 months on Saturday, he was very happy about it because he weighs over 13 pounds.

And on Sunday he was blessed.
We did it at our home just like we did with Max because we enjoyed it so much.
Here's the proud grandparents.

Here's the proud parents.

Here's the proud big sister who had just used markers to put lipstick on.
(Max was proud of Sam too, he just couldn't hold still long enough to show it.)

The Chiropractor

2011-05-12T12:05:00.000-06:00

I love the Chiropractor.
When Max was 1 we found out from a few friends that they took their babies to a chiropractor to treat their reflux - and it worked! We were bummed when we heard this because we would have loved to have tried it with our other kids, so we promised ourselves if we had another baby with reflux we would try it. Little did we know that we would be having one so soon! After Sam was born we were able to treat his reflux with a little Zantac, so no big deal but then it started getting worse so we gave the chiropractor a call and saw immediate results, it was awesome. The first thing she did was hang him upside down like this - it stretches out their spinal chord and it's pretty cool to watch. Then she checks his vertebrae and sure enough the one vertebrae that was bothering him was the one that's associated with stomach problems. So we've gone in a few times and I took him in this week and she didn't have to adjust him at all - he's done. Now life is good, Sam is a perfect baby and is starting to sleep through the night. I'm thinking I might need to have more kids just because I've got this thing figured out! (Not really Bish, don't get too excited.)

Spring Recital

2011-05-10T12:30:00.002-06:00

Megan had her spring recital last week and as usual, she did a great job. She even had to learn 2 dances this year, and it was not a problem.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T09:12:00.003-06:00

I wonder if Mother's Day will ever get any easier.
I woke up this morning with that ever pressing pain in my heart that comes to visit on many occasions. So I did what any sane person would do, I fed Sam and I went back to bed! When I woke up again it was still there, so I decided to do something about it. I went out in my yard and picked a few tulips, tied a bow around them, threw my kids in the car and we were off to the cemetery - in our pajamas. The kids thought this was great fun. I turned the Sunday music up really loud so they couldn't hear me crying. When we got to the cemetery, it was still pretty cloudy, but the minute I laid the tulips on my mom's bench the sun came out for just a moment and made everything sparkle. It was just a moment, but I knew someone out there recognized my pain and tried to ease it. Just when I thought I had imagined the sunburst, Megan laid down her flowers she had picked, and it happened again. And just for that moment the pain in my heart eased and I knew I would be able to get through this day.
Hopefully I will have more of these moments this week as it begins the week of doom. It's just a hard week to be happy - it marks the passing of Linz, Mother's Day, and my mom's birthday. Too many memories, but I'm sure we'll get through it.

Best Day of Toby's Life

2011-05-04T14:36:00.002-06:00

The Young Men knocked on our door the other night to see if Toby could come out and play with their new toy - and Toby was out in a flash. He has wanted some of these jumping stilts for years. The whole neighborhood came out to watch and the only way I got Toby to come inside was because Max fell and got a bloody lip! I guess I know what to get him for Christmas!

The only time Toby will EVER be able to slam dunk a ball.

Big Sister

2011-05-02T10:17:00.002-06:00

Megan is the best big sister ever. Sometimes I wish she were my big sister. She never gets annoyed when Max wants to play with her (which is always), she even lets him play her DS every once in a while.
She's great with Sam and always helps me out. She even read him a story one night that put him to sleep! She's going to be a great babysitter, and we are counting down the days!

All things Sam

2011-04-28T06:36:00.002-06:00

My amazing sister-in-law, Netell, took some really cute pictures of Sam when he was 2 weeks old. I can't believe how much he's grown since then...and how much hair he's lost up top! He looks like an old man.
Oh, and I had an amazing night last night. Sam is well on his way to sleeping through the night, and I only had to get up ONCE with him! Hooray!

Happy Easter

2011-04-26T11:24:00.004-06:00

We had a busy, cold Easter. But the kids had a great time and brought home way too much candy that I am now consuming. Rather than show you pics from all the Easter egg hunts we went on (there were many) I thought I'd show you our attempts to get a picture of the kids on Easter morning. It went really well.

He did it!

2011-04-19T10:05:00.002-06:00

Toby did it! He ran the Boston Marathon yesterday and didn't die! And gratefully no one threw things at him for his horrible outfit (I really was worried). And most importantly, I didn't kill the kids while he was gone! He ran it in 3 hours and 25 minutes - and that's "taking it easy". I'm just glad this is finally over because now we can be done with marathons! Hooray! But I am pretty proud of him. Who would have thought that Toby could run so fast?

1 Month

2011-04-18T12:18:00.007-06:00

Sam is one month old now and doing great. He is the best baby ever, so therefore I am a happy mom! He weighs over 9 pounds now and only cries when Max tries to bounce him out of the bouncer. He still has orange hair, but it's thinned out a little on top. I do have to say that part of his happiness is because we went to a chiropractor, but more on that later...

3 days old

1 month old

The Pirates Came to Town

2011-04-15T09:56:00.003-06:00

My sister came to town last week for spring break, and of course, whenever we are all together we must have a pirate party. This one was in honor of Ethan's (aka Bean) birthday, and of course the kids loved every minute of it.

I bought my dad this pirate hat for Christmas.
What I didn't realize is that it would make his already large head look even larger.
Sorry dad.

The loot.

I think Max is the biggest fan of the "potion".

Spring Skiing

2011-04-04T20:12:00.002-06:00

Toby & Megan have been doing quite a bit of spring skiing this year, and with beautiful days like this one, it makes me wish I could go skiing too!

What's Megan been doing?

2011-04-02T15:09:00.004-06:00

I realized with all that was going on, Megan has been a little forgotten - but don't worry, she's been having more fun than anyone.
Her grandparents took her on another "California Kids" trip, but this time just girls (oh, and grandpa). They all had a great time and I can't believe she has such great grandparents that take her on trips like that. I think I need to sign up to be their grandkid because I could sure use a break right about now!

Megan, Lucy & Camryn before they saw Beauty & the Beast

This picture is a perfect picture of Megan.
Eating a giant hot dog while in her Belle dress.
She can do the girlie thing but has no problem getting dirty!

Disneyland!

Falling asleep on the way home from Disneyland.

Megan & Camry at the American Girl store.

Playing at the beach!

I Love My Boys

2011-03-29T09:47:00.002-06:00

Tree Hugger

2011-03-25T09:48:00.003-06:00

I became a tree hugger this week. In fact, I wanted to run out and throw myself in front of the excavator and chain myself to the trees.
Our backyard is basically a huge field that had a huge row of trees going through it that blocked the view of the ugly road behind it. We really enjoyed these trees. In the summer they provide shade and a home for the beautiful pheasant. But now they are all gone and I don't know why! It was one of the saddest things I've ever watched. But also kind of cool to see an excavator tear down a whole row of trees.

Max thought it was awesome, just like his new sunglasses.

But Sam did not like it at all!

Introducing...

2011-03-17T16:15:00.002-06:00

Samuel Brent

7 lbs. 3 oz. 20 in. long

Just in case you didn't believe us about the red hair.As you can see, Megan can't get enough of Sam
Max, on the other hand, can't figure out why he's still here.
Sam, ready to go home - of course in an orange shirt -
did you really think we wouldn't?
It actually matched his hair really well.

Now for the details. Everything went very smoothly. Now that I've had a normal pregnancy, birth, baby - I've realized this is why people WANT to have kids! I've always thought you were all crazy! It was really enjoyable(maybe not the best way to describe pushing something out of you) to deliver him. I got to hold him when he came out and stay with him the entire time at the hospital, and go home at the same time! It was awesome. He is a very mellow baby (knock on wood) eats well, and seems to be very observant even if he does have small, beady eyes like Toby. :)
Sorry it took so long for a post, but my husband said he was going to take care of it while I was in the hospital!

No Electricity, No Problem

2011-03-08T09:09:00.003-07:00

(This picture has nothing to do with last night, just thought you might enjoy it.)

We had a huge snow storm last night that knocked out our power for 8 hours. When the power first went out I thought, "Great, now what are we going to do?" But I should never have worried because I don't think my kids have ever had so much fun.
As soon as the lights went out, it was like a switch flipped on in Max and he was hyper as can be. He ran around the house singing, yelling, laughing and playing with his flashlight. Megan loved chasing Max around and then settled down with her book and finished reading it. Toby was having such a great time playing with the kids that we put them down for bed way too late. And me? Well, I was trying to use the power of my mind to tell the baby to come out. Apparently my mind must not be very powerful because he didn't come. But we all had a great time and I realized that maybe we should have a "no electricity" night more often!
The best thing I learned last night? That my husband sets his alarm clock for 5:21 am. Not 5:20 or 5:25 - that would be too boring!

Will it ever end?

2011-03-03T12:50:00.003-07:00

I am STILL pregnant and after what the Dr. just told me, I'm not sure this thing is ever coming out of me! I'm dilated to a 2 - most of you reading this are probably dilated to a 2! It means nothing. I realize I shouldn't be complaining with my history of difficult pregnancies, years of wanting to be pregnant, and wishing I could just experience one "normal" pregnancy - but I really don't enjoy this. This is the longest I've ever been pregnant and my hat is off to all you ladies out there that go full term on a regular basis. You are all goddesses in my book.
So in case you can't tell, you might want to stay away until this thing comes out because I am not in a good mood.

Cabin Fever

2011-02-28T09:21:00.002-07:00

We're getting a serious case of cabin fever around here. We were spoiled with those 2 weeks of warm weather and we want it back. We've had to become creative with fun things to do inside while it's been snowing. One of Max's favorites is jumping on Megan's pogo stick. When he gets sick of that I don't know what we'll do. I'm out of ideas.

Fishies!

2011-02-23T08:57:00.003-07:00

We headed to the aquarium this past weekend thanks to my sister Linz. I had to clean out my dad's house for his new wife & Linz had couple of jars full of change, so we took them to the coin machine and got $30 out of it! We knew we had to do something fun with the money that Linz would approve of and we'd never been to the aquarium, so that's where we went!
We had a really good time, especially Max. He's obsessed with fish.

The glowing jellyfish.

We stayed at the sting ray pool for an hour because Megan wanted to touch them so bad but she would always chicken out. So I told her she had one more chance and then we'd have to leave. When the sting ray came by she started to reach her hand out but then she chickened out, so I grabbed her hand and shoved it against the poor sting ray. She started screaming and I smiled because we could finally leave!

They had coral caves for the kids to crawl through that Max loved.

The penguins were by far our favorite. They were very hyper!

Happy Birthday Linz

2011-02-21T08:30:00.001-07:00

Megan made you a Jelly Belly Cake and we're on our way to get some balloons!

Please come back soon

2011-02-16T08:52:00.004-07:00

Dear Spring,
Max & I have really enjoyed the last 5 days of 60 degree weather. We are sad that it has to end today with a snow storm. So we would like to write you this love letter to ask you to please, PLEASE come back soon. We will miss you everyday until you are back.

Sincerely,
Max & April

It's a Miracle!

2011-02-11T08:57:00.004-07:00

For dinner last night I made one of my favorite meals: bourbon chicken. It is divine and I highly recommend it. Max has actually been eating dinner lately which is a miracle all by itself, but usually when I make something like this with chicken in it, I have to cut up the chicken into minuscule pieces to try to hide them. I did that again last night and he took one bite and I thought that was it, but then he kept pointing to the big pieces of chicken in the pan so I finally gave him one thinking he would throw it across the room, but to my surprise he put it in his mouth and ate it! And when he was done he said, "delicious!". We couldn't believe it! I think we scared him because we all started cheering so loud and telling him what a big boy he was. Then (this is the best part) he ate another piece of chicken! I almost fainted. It was a great day in our household. Definitely one that deserved a post.

I tried to get a picture of him smiling because he was sooo happy that he had a full tummy, but of course that didn't happen.
But you can obviously tell I'm happy because I didn't even get mad at him for climbing on his car table!

Cheap Entertainment

2011-02-08T09:22:00.002-07:00

We're all about cheap entertainment in our house and with all of this cold, windy weather, we'll take what we can get!

This $2 ball has given us hours of fun,
and it doubles as a seat for Max.

This box has lasted us a week and I'll be sad when it finally gets destroyed.
What's better than cutting holes in something and coloring all over it?
It comes complete with drawbridges, windows, and Knights to guard the door.

Megan's World

2011-02-04T08:12:00.003-07:00

Megan has her own camera, so I thought we'd take a look at what her world looks like!

These are some flowers she picked & arranged from our flower garden

Her new shoes she helped buy with her own money.

Her 2 favorite dolls.

Her brother that frustrates her because he will never pose for the camera.

This is what she looks like while eating breakfast -
yes, she's eating carrots with ranch for breakfast.

This is why we love Megan. She sees the fun in everything so we are never bored!

Thank Goodness for Aunts

2011-02-01T08:26:00.002-07:00

I'm so grateful for my aunt. My mom and I used to make baby quilts for all the soon to be born babies, and when I got pregnant it was sad to think that I wouldn't have a quilt for him from my mom. But never fear, my aunt came to the rescue. My aunt (my mom's sister Barbara) promised my mom that she would help or make a quilt for each of us as we had babies! Isn't that nice! With 5 of us, she could be making a lot of quilts! This is the quilt she made for our soon to be and I LOVE it!

Bunkbeds make me feel old.

2011-01-25T07:46:00.002-07:00

We bought bunkbeds for Max and the soon to be other boy and I have to say it really made me feel old. I don't buy bunkbeds - that's what my parents do! But I'm guess I'm not as young as I used to be because all the people in college look like babies to me.
Speaking of babies - I am still pregnant in case you were wondering. Yes, I made it past 33 weeks which is when I had Max. I am huge and sometimes wish that this thing inside me weren't inside me, especially when he jams his foot up my ribs. Other than that things are going just fine.

Bowling!

2011-01-21T09:18:00.003-07:00

Megan didn't have school on Tuesday so we thought we'd try to do something fun and took the kids bowling.

Megan got her first strike.

She has great form.

Toby & Max did some male bonding.

We got a little creative on how to get the ball down the lane.

Want to know why I'm the best mom ever?
Because I let Max eat pretzels off the floor of a bowling alley.
Why did I do that?
Because if you had a beast like Max, you would let him do anything -
as long as it was keeping him happy and quiet.

We had ourselves a Wedding!

2011-01-19T12:16:00.002-07:00

My dad got married on Saturday (did I just say my DAD got married?). Yes, it was a little weird to be at my dad's wedding, but I'm also very happy for him so it's a good thing.

Max not patiently waiting for Dad and Kathy to come out.

Alicia pinning my dad's corsage on.

Megan was determined to give Kathy a hug no matter what.

Here is the new (and probably improved) Spjute family.
We're excited to get to know the "new" side!

And believe it or not, my dad is now in Hawaii! Yes, that means he's wearing shorts and a swimsuit. I know, it's a lot to take in - take a deep breath and you'll be fine.

The Parkling Lot is Full

2011-01-13T07:30:00.002-07:00

We have no more room for any type of car or motorcycles or trucks in our house. Max got so many for Christmas that they all touch all they way around his car track - so I think we're good for awhile.

We're also trying to figure out where to park our new motorcycle.
It gets great gas mileage.

New Years

2011-01-11T08:18:00.003-07:00

We did a lot of random things this New Year's. But even though it was random, we had a good time!

We started out sledding, but it was COLD and I got too
tired carrying Max up the hill.

Then, we warmed up with Mac N Cheese.

Then we got on our jammies and rocked out to Dance on the Wii.

Even Max & Landon joined in on the dancing.
(notice Max is STILL holding cars)

Then, the kids played with silly string and were asleep by 8:30! Yes!

Max got the brunt of the silly string, but don't worry, he still has his cars!

El Rancho

2011-01-10T08:03:00.003-07:00

We headed over to El Rancho (Toby's neighbor's mini ranch) to pet the horses, see the chickens, play on the tractor and throw rocks in the pond. The kids thought it was pretty neat.

Marcus finding an egg.

Bean was the best at getting eggs. I think it was because he had
on his Quidditch goggles.

Max & Landon were content to throw rocks in the pond.

The kids could play on the tractor for hours.

Christmas

2011-01-07T10:12:00.002-07:00

We had another fun Christmas this year.

Toby is modeling the speedo that we got for the new babe.

Megan got enough art stuff to keep her busy for a long time.

And of course, all Max cared about were his cars.

Santa brought a new American Girl doll for Megan

And I got a Clapper. Yep, that's what I said - a Clapper. I hate reading in bed & then having to roll over and try to reach my lamp. So Toby got me the clapper and it's great! Call me old, but you're just jealous. My bedroom is now complete with all lazy gadgets. I have a clock that projects the time on the ceiling and now the clapper! Hooray!