Updates

I still feel like I am trying to catch up since finishing the house, we have been up to lots of things.


At our ward Halloween party they had bobbing for apples, all the teenagers were trying unsuccessfully to get an apple and were all soaking wet, we walked in and I was sure the kids wouldn't want to try. Wes said "Ill do it" and he got an apple on the first try, not a drop on him. Mae was a little hesitant but she got an apple on her second try with just a little water on her forehead. Everyone asked if we practiced at home!

Vera says: Mama, Dada, Uh-Oh, Doggy, Lamby, and I-do
She has also been standing on her own, but no steps yet


Wes' new word is above and he uses it in every sentence, except he says "bebove"
I told Wes that even though he is asking Santa for two presents he will probably only get one since there are a lot of kids around the world that need presents too. Now he tells Mae and all his friends that they should only ask for one present. When he sat on Santas lap at the Mall he told him only one present and Santa said "is that it?" The one present he is asking for is sold out around the country right now :(

Mae loves to say the prayer and the first thing she always asks for is to "bless the merica"
Mae also has a lot of mood swings, tantrums, and meal quirks lately....
She also talks to everyone while we are out: the man at the post office, the lady at Little Ceasars, the boy serving us at the restaurant, she tells everyone how she is three now and about her toys and anything else she can think of.
She also cut off all her bangs with a pair of scissors since they were in her face.

I am almost done with Christmas shopping, only two more gifts left...
And we are packing up our house... because we sold it... because a family moving here from texas saw it and made us a really good offer... and we signed it... and now we get to built again!... but this next house is going to be very very different... a little smaller, a totally different style, a very different layout... and ten times cooler even than this one;) We close this week, cant wait.

We have really dirty kids

Trouble

Mae is in time out and I am making Wes clean the house. These two are serious mischief makers. I just found a window screen, the candy land game (and all the cards, gingerbread men, and board), papers, and toys three stories below our balcony. Then I found the contents of their closet (including all their clothing and shoes) in one big pile with a box of graham crackers smashed up and poured on top. Then a whole case of water bottles was emptied in our front closet. Then I came into the bathroom to help Wes and he was sitting on the toilet with a pair of scissors cutting Mae and Vera's amber necklaces (do I need to mention that they are expensive heirlooms?) Ahhhhh.

Last week I found them sitting at the top shelf in our walk in closet, with all of our clothes, shoes, hangers, luggage and boxes etc on the floor, and they were eating all they could from a costco box of gum.

I literally cannot let these two out of my sight, they are not allowed to play in their room or go to the bathroom without me there. If they are taking a bath and I step out, they flood the bathroom. If they are pooping and I leave, there is poop or pee or toilet water all over when I come back. If they are eating breakfast and I go to get dressed, then cereal is on the walls, (along with blueberries, which stain). They empty the pantry, they empty the fridge, they cover Vera with blankets, and swim toys, and milk. They draw all over my house plans and to do lists, and computer, and tear up my magazines. They loose my nice jewelry, watches, and keys, and push over lamps and break lightbulbs . . .

hang on, Wes just ran by with his hands full of granola bars . . .

Ok, where was I. Oh ya, and they dump gallons of milk, and juice, and bottles of soap, and peel hardboiled eggs and smash them all over the house. Well, I could say more but I think you get the point; sometimes I want to pull my hair out.

If you are wondering when they find the opportunities to do these things, it is usually when I am feeding Vera, changing Vera, doing dishes, laundry or making a meal. As soon as I answer a phone call, they disappear. It usually takes me two hours to get all three kids to bed. By the time I am done I am ready for bed as well. But that is my only time to get anything accomplished, so these days I am surviving on 4-6 hours of sleep a night.

This is all I have to say when John wonders what I do all day.

My two precious trouble makers: I love them

a few things

We have been doing so many fun and exciting things lately, but mostly I mostly just wanted to tell you about all the little things that have made me laugh.

We made fruit leather a while back and Wes can't seem to say it right: "thruit leatha"

Whenever the kids are feeling sick or have some kind of ailment they always ask for medicine, "the kind you drink". Lately they have been asking for it way too much so I put some gatorade in a baby bottle top and gave it to Mae. She stopped screaming and started smiling. It worked. I didn't think it would be as easy with Wes, the next time he asked for medicine I put some blackberry juice in a bottle top and gave it to him. He said "Hey what flavor is this?" Grape I said. "Oh, ya, this does taste like grape" with a smile on his face. Really? It's that easy? Awesome.

A few days ago Wes picked me some flowers, which was cute and all but then he came home and got an empty baby food jar out and filled it with water, put the flowers in, and put it next to my bed. Now that is the Wes I love.

So I had my 29th birthday last month and this is the first time I am really starting to feel old. Are the people on the Bachelor really younger than me? Kind of depressing. Also, I was visiting teaching a couple of girls in my ward and one of them said she wasn't sure how she was going to like this ward since everyone was like 30 and had three kids. . . Um. Then the other one said, ya, this ward is kind of older. . . Shoot, that would be me. Then another girl at church came up to me and said "You have three kids!? But you look so young!" Ya, Im probably old enough to have five or six kids.

Mae calls cashews "cashrooms" no matter how many times I correct her

The first day we went to the pool Mae said "this is so fun" about 50 times, every minute or so

Vera won't nurse any more. She is still so young, I am kind of sad about it. But also feel kind of free.

Vera is obsessed with hair and will pull it every chance she gets. She reaches and squirms and growls trying to get to it. A few days ago we were on a walk, the kids were in the stroller, and I heard Mae screaming. I got mad at Wes for teasing, then I realized that Vera had a big handful of Mae's hair in her hands, no longer attached to Mae's head.

Wes said "Mom, I love our baby" I said "Do you mean Vera?" He said "ya, I have been waiting for her for years" They are the cutest little buddies.

Yesterday I found a new Costco bag if chips divided into two piles, one on Wes' bed and one on Mae's bed.

I also found Vera covered in milk, and the kids were excited to show me what they did to her.

Wes and Mae came out of our bedroom each with one of John's hats on and said "Look Mom, we are dudes"

Sun

I have brown kids
The pool opened this weekend and after only a few hours at the pool check out how dark Wes is. I think I have the brownest and the whitest of my parents grandchildren.

Gymnastics

The kids took a gymnastics class this winter and really loved it. It was so fun to watch them learn new things and improve their skills. Mae's teacher praised her during each class and told us that she was especially talented for her age. She kept thinking she was a year older but we assured her that she really was just two. She said she was "intelligent, well spoken, and coordinated". Mae's class was a Mom and Me class and I really loved being her "assistant", I am so glad that we had that time just to ourselves and I could focus on her. It was great to see that she was so good at gymnastics, I never really thought of her as being talented at physical activities, she really surprised us. Wes had a great time in his class as well, it was a great way to get some of his pent up energy out. Although he didn't always do what his teacher asked him to do, it was fun to catch him trying new things and being proud of himself when he figured it out. This will be a definite repeat for next year.

Toys and stuff

Hot wheels are definitely the most used toys in our house, both kids usually have one in their hand at all times. We have buckets, boxes, socks, hats, tubs, and purses stuffed with them.

Playing and Sleeping

Cars and Legos are definitely the most used toys in our house, and we have plenty of each. John built this temple out of legos for the kids, who love pointing out Angel Moroni whenever we drive past a real one. Notice the little academy award figure that he used for the top;)

Lately whenever Wes is playing with his cars he always uses this little dialogue: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, come join the church!" (were not sure where he came up with this one)

Mae is on total lockdown when it's bedtime. She has a safety pin at the top of her zipper on her pajamas, duct tape on her light switch, an industrial gate on her door and sometimes there is packing tape around her ankles. You might think all of this is unnecessary but this week when we forgot some of these things there was a room full of poop and pee and a naked girl asleep on the floor... nice.

Kids

I love this picture of all three kids. I love being a mom, and now that we have all settled into a good schedule it is so much more enjoyable. We just need to come up with some good winter activities before the kids die of boredom.

Trouble

It's always fun to find your kids jumping on the bed without their clothes on.

Pre Holiday Pictures

Before we headed off to Idaho we had some fun decorating our tree and making Christmas cookies. Most of our other decorations ended up back in boxes after a few were broken by curious hands. We also ended up taking our tree down a little early when the kids knocked it over twice.

A few things the kids have said lately:

When we asked Wes what he wanted for Christmas he told us: "I want a white shirt like dad has to sleep in."

For about a week Mae kept telling us that her blankie and bunny were "growing a beard" then we figured out that she was only saying it when she was looking for them. Then we figured out that what she really meant was that they had "disappeared"

Conference

I thought it would be a good idea to let the kids paint while we listened to conference. It turned out to be even more of a distraction and mess, especially when the kids started dumping their paint and throwing their paint brushes at the wall. But it was really fun for a little while.

Wes and Mae started wrestling for fun this summer. Really Wes would lay on the ground while Mae sat on him and rolled on him until he couldn't hold still any more and then he would try to wrestle her, and she usually ended up crying. It was hilarious to watch.

On a walk

I'm not sure I am any happier than when we are on a walk and Wes and Mae are holding hands. It is so cute, and Wes tries to help Mae along the way and tells her to watch out for things like not to step in the mud or go in the street. They really are the best of friends lately, they can't stand to be apart and love to get into mischief together. I just love them.



I just die every time I see that first picture, something about it melts my heart.

Sprinklers

When we were growing up we lived in our swimsuits and played in the sprinklers all day long, probably one of my fondest memories with my sisters. It has been so hot and humid here that it is pretty miserable to play outside, so I got a cheap hose and sprinkler, I thought maybe the kids would be a little scared but not even slightly. They had a blast.

Independence Day

We had the best holiday filled with the most beautiful cakes, kids and fireworks. Besides the extremely hot and humid weather (which put me in quite a bad mood) the day was super fun. I have been working hard to improve my picture taking skills and some of these I am proud of and others not so much but they were fun to take. John grilled us up a delicious dinner while the kids played and we hung out at the park with our friends and family. We all met back up after dark where we had a not-so-legal fireworks show hosted by all the husbands who had driven across the state line to pick up all the fun fireworks (no worries, they were harmless). We are all covered in bug bites but had such a fun day. I'm really glad we live in this country, and especially glad for those who fought to make it so great!