Haircut

I cut Shawn's hair and I have no experience. I do a pretty good job, I think, but I can do only one style and that's it. He's had the same haircut for the past 7 years, until today. The buzzer has this color key for the size of the blades, with each blade matching. I even put a dot next to the ¾" size I always use so I would always remember.

I was in a hurry tonight and grabbed the matching "purple" blade and started to cut. That was when I realized that there are actually 2 purples. WHY? AHHHH!

He's smiling because he hasn't looked in the mirror yet.

Our Thanksgiving visitor

I'm going back a couple weeks to when my Dad visited. The kids were in Heaven! We always enjoy when my Dad comes up because he keeps the kids entertained 24/7. They adore him! It could be all the candy he gives them, or it could be that he is pure fun. Here's a picture of the kids with him on the day he arrived. Reagan was playing shy. Whenever I said "say cheese" she would pull the hood down over her face.

He took them on horsey rides. We all decided this was Jefferson's last year for riding on Papa's back. He's getting too big. That was hard for him to hear, he cried for a while. (Jefferson, not Papa)

Every day the kids went on a walk (sometimes 2) with their Papa, rain or shine.

I didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner, bummer. But trust me, it was yummy. We all watched the Macy's Day Parade, then some of the Dog Show, then the football game, then a Christmas movie, then went to bed… couldn't get any better than that!

The next day we went on a search for our perfect Christmas Tree. Reagan found her favorite…

Grant found his favorite…

Here's Jefferson cutting down the tree we chose.

Our family. It was such a beautiful day, cold, but beautiful!

The Tree-hunters with my Dad!

Afterwards we stopped by at the park.

This spinning wheel is really fun. Reagan and I didn't have the balance for it though. We fell off 3 times and I was convinced I broke my wrist.

The kids really enjoyed reading all their Christmas books that have been packed away since last Christmas.

We found a perfect place to put the tree. But the last couple of days have been FA-REE-ZING and sadly the tree is right in front of our heater (I know, we weren't really thinking). So, the tree is now in a really awkward spot in the middle of our living room, right smack in front of the couch, lovely I know.

After Shawn and I argued and fussed over getting the lights just-right, we just let the kids take over and put up all the ornaments. Most of the ornaments are bunched together on the lower limbs, cute!

On one of the last nights of his visit here, my Dad took us all out to eat at Benihana's. DELICIOUS! It's about 45 minutes away, but well worth it, especially since we know Grant can eat the food. They cook it right in front of us, so we know what's going into it, and its all "Grant Friendly", yeah! Reagan on the drive… I just thought her hood was adorable.

The chef was pure entertainment. The kids were amazed watching him toss food into the air and cook their dinner. Grant sporting his awesome Chef hat!

Thanks Dad for treating us to such a nice dinner. Thanks for taking us to the new "A Christmas Carol" in 3D (which was a great movie, but I do NOT recommend to children under age 5 because all 3 of mine were freaked out!) Thanks for everything! We are really spoiled when you come. The boys miss you and Reagan talks about you all the time (although she stills calls you "Nana") We love you!

Christmas in the air!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We visited with each other and gave thanks for all of our many blessings.

Now it is officially the Christmas season. It's true that this is
'the most wonderful time of the year.' I seriously go through a physical transformation. I would swear my body temperature is a few degrees warmer. I will have a permanent smile on my face and be joyful and merry through Dec 25th. We will be listening to Christmas music all day, every day until Santa comes! I don't know what it is, but I love it!
The kids are in the Christmas spirit too. They got a special gift from Santa last night. An Elf, they named "Arrow".

He was sitting on our book shelf when we got. Next to him was this letter, from Santa....

They LOVED it! They even talk to him and ask him questions. The boys usually have a hard time going to sleep. Last night all we had to say was, "remember, Arrow is watching you and he is going to report to Santa tonight" they were in their beds within seconds! I love Arrow. I got this brilliant idea from RootsandWingsCo.

I am Thankful

by Shawn

I am thankful for my wife
I am thankful for my kids
I am thankful for the holidays
I am thankful for my Savior

by Kristina

I am thankful for my healthy children
I am thankful for a warm home
I am thankful for a supportive family
I am thankful for the Gospel

by Jefferson

I am thankful for my whole family
I am thankful for America
I am thankful for all my friends
I am thankful for learning

by Grant

I am thankful for the Christmas tree
I am thankful for Papa
I am thankful for Mommy, Dad, and Reagan, and Bubba
I am thankful for Jesus

by Reagan

I am thankful for "Bubba"
I am thankful for "Dada"
I am thankful for "Mama"
I am thankful for "Nack" (snacks)

This is random…

It occurred to me the other day that I have a blog. I actually forgot. I thought, hey maybe I should post something. But I couldn't think of a single thing to post about. Well, here I am, trying to update my blog with the nothingness that's been going on.

We've been sort of just vegging for the last couple weeks. I normally have my camera with me everywhere.... since Halloween I've taken 2 pictures, that's it! And I've only logged onto facebook a couple time, can you believe it. We haven't even been watching tv. I'm so confused... what have we been doing? I guess just enjoying each other. And it feels pretty good. Reagan and I sat in chairs this afternoon looking out the front window at the boys play outside. We just sat. I wasn't thinking about anything except how blessed and happy I am to be able to stay at home with my kids so I can just sit next to them and share oatmeal cookies.

My mom visited this last week during Shawn's fall break. We just hung out. Here's everyone piled on the couch.

Shawn had almost a whole week off. We got to go on a date! We got up early and were getting ready for the temple when I realized my recommend had expired in October. So, we decided to visit the Japanese gardens at 9am (they open at 10). So, we went to Target.

I helped in Jefferson's kindergarten class. Now, that was fun! I wish I could do it more often.

I got a flat tire and tried to fix it myself. I unsuccessfully tried for a good 45 minutes. Luckily a trucker (female) stopped to help me out. All Shawn says is "Why didn't you call AAA?" I don't know.

Grant potty trained himself and he's 100% trained. Awesome! He insists that he has to take off all of his clothes in order to sit on the toilet. It causes some problems when we're out in public.

Reagan stopped taking naps. This is my worst nightmare. Aren't kids supposed to take naps until they're 3 or more? Jefferson probably still could take a nap. Grant stopped taking naps at 2 and I thought I would die. Reagan just plays and plays and makes a royal mess of her room during naptime. AHHH!

I washed a load of laundry with 3 crayons and ruined the whole load… joy!

I got a new pair of pants at Old Navy for 80 cents

Jefferson has been working on a circus production for tomorrow. He made invitations and passed them out to people.

and that, my friends, is all I can rack my brain to tell you.
We're looking forward to Thanksgiving. My dad is coming up to visit. And Shawn will be out of school again, yeah!

Something cute…
When the boys are driving her crazy, Reagan makes herself a resting place under the kitchen table and lays down... to get away from it all. This is how I feel right now

.

Happy Halloween

I have no doubt if you ask my children right now what their favorite holiday is they would shout
"HALLOWEEN" This holiday is definitely made for children, and mine enjoyed it to the very last bite.

Earlier in the week we carved our pumpkins. Everyone wanted in on the action! I know… that knife looks pretty close to the kids, but Shawn is a skilled Jack-o-lantern craftsman and no one was hurt in this operation.

Except for Grant, who got plowed out of the way by Reagan.

The night before Halloween we went to a party put on by PAVA (an organization at the school for the wives of the students). There were a ton of people there. I don't have any pictures of the festivities because my camera died when we got there. The kids just ran around the whole night. Jefferson had his try at a donut eating contest. He lost big time! Not his strong point. I ended up having to hold the string steady for him, but he had fun.

Halloween day, party time! Jefferson wanted to go trick-or-treating at 9am. It was a long, agonizing day. The boys wanted to dress up as Knights this year, so it made sense for Reagan to be a princess. I made the boys costumes, but pooped out and bought the princess. Someone asked me if she was a maid? I thought that was funny. I think the hardest part about making them is sitting back and watching them get ruined by spilt food and wrestling (yes, wrestling… of all things to do on Halloween) Oh well, what can I expect?

Reagan is one lucky girl. She doesn't even know how lucky she is to have these brothers! They ADORE her.

Boy, they sure had me fooled with all that fighting… they really are best friends 

Our neighbors invited us over for a Chili dinner and cookie decorating. It was so much fun. Here's the kids surrounded by frosting , cookies, and chocolate (aka heaven).

These are Jefferson's creations. "I made these ones for you Mommy. I took a bite from every one to make sure they tasted good for you." Hey, at least he thought of me, right.

The kids played duck-duck-goose. Jefferson thought it was HILARIOUS when the game changed to witch-witch-cat. Pure kid fun! Part of me wanted to get down on the floor with them. There was a lot of laugher and smiles (my favorite!)

Then we headed out with some friends to go Trick-or-Treating. We went to a really nice part of town and let the kids lead the way from house to house. I love this picture of all the kids piled on someone's front porch. There's no room to even open the front door.

Here's Reagan hitching a ride with her Best Friend

Reagan did well. She couldn't even walk last Halloween. This year she would walk up to the door, but insisted on Shawn or I holding her hand. She made out with a huge loot of candy. She was grabbing it by the handfuls and stuffing it into her purse. Trust me, she ate all
of it too… and some of Jefferson's as well. We found out what a candy fein she is. She's a little taste tester too. She would just take a single bite from each candy, then want another one opened.

Here is Grant and Jefferson with their friend, Miles.

Grant was REALLY good about not eating any of his candy before I could look through it. And he didn't say a word when suddenly half of his pile was taken away. What a good sport. Someone even gave him shelled peanuts… interesting. Good thing he didn't try one of those!

Every last piece of candy has been eaten and it's only been a day since Halloween. I like it better this way. Get it over with, eat it all! And no one even got a gut ache. This was a perfect Halloween!

….And one more shot of this princess…
I just can't resist!

Pumpkin Patch

I have been bugging Shawn for the last couple weeks to go to the pumpkin patch. He's been really busy, but found some time this last Friday to go with us. We would have gone to the pumpkin patch we went to last year until we heard of one that had a train. A train? There was no question about where we were going this year. Lakeview Pumpkin patch… and it was awesome!

We went on a good day, there were probably 5 people there… including us! It was great. We bought our tickets and boarded a ferry which took us across a lake. There was even a shark and a lochness monster that came out of the water. I wish I would have gotten a picture, but I was too busy consoling Grant who thought they were real.

The ferry brought us over to a massive field of pumpkins… look at 'em all!

I won't have you be fooled, though. The majority of them were rotten. And Reagan pointed out every single soiled one to us and said "CAH-CAH".

The kids were able to find some good ones.

Here is Jefferson with his pumpkin… he had to use 2 hands to hold it.

Shawn put her down to take this picture with me…. She was NOT happy!

After we picked out our pumpkins, the kids spent some time running through this haystack maze. They really enjoyed it.

For those of you who missed it, I zoomed in on this picture to catch a glimpse of this wonderful smile of his. These are rare to find. Trip worth while… evidenced here!

Then we hopped on the train and it took us back.

And we pet some farm animals before heading home…

I love fall! I love going to the pumpkin patch. This is one of my favorite family traditions. I love that the kids got completely muddy head to toe and I had to do a load of laundry when we got home. You won't hear me saying that ever again… until next fall at least!

Homemade-Best Ever-Yogurt Cupcakes

Recipe by Reagan

Follow these directions for a tasty treat

Ingredients: Yogurt, (preferably Yo Baby Organic Strawberry Banana)

After batter has been prepared (opened), spoon into muffin liners.

Place liners into mini-muffin tin

No baking required!!

Simply delight in your accomplishment, walk around the room and offer your delicious treat to everyone!

Yummy!

Wee-oo Wee-oo

2 weeks ago I got the kids all psyched up and ready for a trip to the fire station. We got there and found out I had the wrong date. If you have a 5 or 3 year old boy you know what a huge mistake that was.

Yesterday I got the date right!

They had tours of the station, firemen, and every sort of rescue vehicle you could think of. They even got to ride in a fire truck through the streets of the town.

Whenever Grant is really happy about something he tries his hardest NOT to smile. We call it his "no-smile smile."

Jefferson shows his excitement right on his face! Reagan is in the back holding onto me for dear life. She was freaked out.

Then the boys got strapped up and loaded into the buckets of this electrical truck for a ride. "It was AWESOME" - Jefferson

Here is Reagan sitting on a police motorcycle. "Wee-oo, Wee-oo" is her word for fire trucks….. she said it all day.

Jefferson is getting tired, we should go home.

Fun day complete!

P is for Pumpkins (and Painting)

We took a trip to the local pumpkin patch. Or should I say, "pumpkin pile"?


This is a sign that I have completely lost my spunk. What a boring mom...

This afternoon the boys and I painted some mini pumpkins…. To redeem myself of course.