Cleaning the House is Fun to Do!

Recently, the boys have decided that they wanted to earn money to buy some new toys, specifically, a new Transformer. Because apparently the roughly 95 Transformers we already have just aren't enough. So I told them if they wanted more, they had to earn the money for them. So they got to work! They were willing to do any chore I asked as long as they knew it was going toward their Transformer fund. They cleaned bathrooms, their room, vacuumed the whole house,  helped mop floors, pulled weeds outside, and washed walls. 

Even Landon was willing to help. He wasn't about to be left out of what his brothers were doing so he "helped" with some of the chores too.

They have done chores for a few weekends now, and have about half the money they need for their new Transformers, so they are well on their way. 

It's so nice to have kids old enough to help out with all the chores around the house!

The Toothless Grin!

A few months ago, Conner had discovered he had his first loose tooth. He was beyond excited, he has been waiting for this day for a few years, ever since his big brother lost his first tooth. I had kind of forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when he showed me how loose it was getting. A few days after that, I had just put them to bed, and had come back downstairs for some much needed R&R when I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I was ready to get mad at whoever was trying to escape their bed, when Conner comes running in and showing us his tooth is super loose. He goes and shows Patrick, and before I knew it, his Daddy had pulled his first tooth out. Conner was so happy! He couldn't wait to leave his tooth for the tooth fairy!

He took his dollar he got from the tooth fairy, and some other money he'd saved up and made a trip to the Dollar Store. He was in heaven getting to pick out something. He chose a foam football and a Scooby Doo frisbee. He is such a funny kid, and is super cute with his new toothless grin. 

He now has his second loose tooth, and is already planning his next purchase with his tooth fairy money.

Kicking Off the New Year Better Then The Last

2011 was a rough year for us. To say the least. 

We are really REALLY hoping 2012 holds good things in store for us.

Some things we are looking forward to or hoping for in the New Year are:

*Patrick's new job!!! It is so nice for him to have a job again! It is just perfect for him, and it feels so good to be getting a paycheck again after over a year of not having one. He is a Comptroller for an Environmental Company. Yes, Comptroller is a real position, I didn't know that until he became one and I Googled it. He is also in charge of HR for the company. The best part of his new job is that he is working from home. This is great for several reasons, but mostly because it still allows him to be able to do his Physical Therapy when needed, and he can take breaks during the day if his back is getting sore. It is also great because we only have one car, which would have made commuting to work a bit challenging. Especially since he can't drive yet. We are so happy and grateful for his new job! It is a HUGE relief to be among the employed again and is most certainly an answer to many many MANY prayers over the past year.

*Getting back to a somewhat normal life. I feel like the whole last year was a crazy blur. I hope that we don't repeat that craziness this year. A boring year could be really great!

*Here's hoping for no one in our family getting paralyzed, hospitalized, or having surgery. I would really love to avoid any of those things for a long time!

*I hope at some point this year we can stop buying diapers and Landon will get potty trained. I really hate potty training, but love not having a kid in diapers!

*We hope to make a few trips to Arizona and Utah. And hopefully California... our kids have been dying to go to the beach.

*Overall, we are just looking forward to a new start. After the trials and challenges we have had, we feel stronger and better from them, and look forward to what the Lord has in store for us. We have learned a stronger and deeper trust in Him, and know that all of these things have been for our benefit. While I would never want to repeat the past year, I am truly humbled and grateful for the things we learned and the blessing our family received.

I think 2012 could be really great for us!

Life With A 9 Year Old

Happy Birthday to our awesome little Brayden!!! 

He turned 9! It's hard to believe every year when he gets older, where does the time go? 

He had a great birthday. 

We started the day by opening presents. 

He got a fun Lego Wii controller with the Harry Potter years 5-7 Lego game. He's kinda in love with Legos right now. 

He also got some Transformers, money from grandparents, and a Beyblade from Japan. Funny thing is I had no idea that it was actually coming from Japan, and it didn't get here in time. I honestly don't know what the difference is between this Japanese one and one you can buy here, but he has some friends that have these Japanese ones and he REALLY wanted one. So he is anxiously waiting for it to come in the mail.

We went out to lunch to Taco Bell (his choice) and he also got to go to the movies for his big day. 

He wanted a Lego cake for his birthday, so I found this fun idea on Pintrest. Not my best work, but he liked it.  

 Make a wish!!!

We had a fun day celebrating Brayden! He is a great kid. He has lots of energy and really likes to be the center of attention. He's very social, and sometimes that is a problem at school, but overall he is a good kid. He loves Scouts, Transformers, riding his bike, helping with his baby brother, pizza, tacos, and playing video games. He is all boy! He is doing great in school too. He is a great helper around the house and is a funny kid!

Hope you had a great day Brayden! We are so happy you are part of our family!

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas! The boys got lots of great things and it was such a fun day.

We of course started out the day running downstairs in the very early hours of the morning to see what Santa had brought us.

There were small breaks while opening presents to figure out the new Transformers Santa left.

I just loved Landon with this Elmo backpack on while playing with his new Cookie Moster. He loves those things! Thanks Santa!

I made the mistake of wrapping one of Landon's presents in Mickey Mouse wrapping paper. He is in LOVE with Mickey Mouse and couldn't keep his hands off this present that had "Mouse" all over it. He had ripped it in a few spots before Christmas morning and I ended up having to hide it from him. He was very excited to finally get to open it. It was a Mickey Firefighter and Fire truck. He was so happy!

After all the presents were opened, it was time to get to putting together Lego's and playing with toys!

We played for a while and ate home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast before getting ready for church. Yay for 1:30 p.m. church time on Christmas!

This year instead of doing our own family Christmas dinner, we got together with a few other friends and their families and had a big dinner all together. It was so fun. We need to do that every year. The kids got to play with their friends and we got to hang out and chat with our friends too. It was also nice that I didn't have to cook everything for the dinner, we each brought a few things to share, and it was a great meal! We have some awesome friends!!!

What a great Christmas! 

Cookies for Santa

After all the birthday celebrations on Christmas Eve, we got down to business and made some cookies for Santa. The boys had fun decorating a few cookies for Santa and a few for themselves too. 

They picked out a few of their favorite cookies they'd decorated and left them on a plate with a Dr. Pepper for Santa and hurried and got ready for bed. We had been tracking Santa on his journey that night on Norad and he was on the east coast, so we thought we better go to bed so he didn't have to skip our house.

Merry Christmas to all.... and to all a good night!!

Santa's Wonderland!

The week before Christmas I took the boys to see Santa at the Santa's Wonderland over at Bass Pro Shop. We were so busy during the month, that we didn't get around to going until the boys were out of school for Winter Break, unfortunately thats what LOTS of other people did too. Luckily we went with some friends, so it made the hour and a half wait in line a bit more fun. When it was finally our turn, Landon walked up holding Brayden's hand until he was about 10 feet from Santa, and changed his mind. I tried to just set him on Santa's lap, but he wasn't having any of that, and started screaming. So just Brayden and Conner got their pictures with Santa. Landon decided that Santa wasn't too bad when he was handing him a candy cane, but he only got close enough to snatch the candy cane from Santa's hand, then ran off. Oh well, maybe next year. 

We are looking forward to Christmas!!!

Helping Grandpa

While we were in Arizona for Thanksgiving, the boys spend most of their time outside in Grandpa's backyard. Between the swing set, the bikes, and lots of grass to run around in, it was heaven for little boys. They played out there everyday with their cousins and had a blast. 

One afternoon, I caught Landon "helping" Grandpa clear leaves out of the yard. A broom with totally get leaves out of the rocks....right???

Conner was supervising the project.

 What a cute little helper!

There ya go Grandpa. You're welcome!

The Polar Express

Over Thanksgiving, we went to my parents house in Arizona. While we were there, I took the boys on the Polar Express with my sister and her family. We had SO much fun. The boys just loved it. They got to get some new pajama's for the train ride. So fun to ride on a train in your pj's!

We got to wait next to the tracks and watch the train come in. It was a really old train, from the 1920's.

 This is the boys standing in front of the train, it was so big, it was impossible to get it all in the picture. We stood in line and waited for our turn to board.

 Here are the "Chef's" taking our tickets....

 Watch your step..... those were some pretty big and steep stairs.

 Then we waited for your journey to start to the North Pole!!!

Once the train was on it's way to the North Pole, we got some on Mrs. Clause's special cookies and hot cocoa! They were pretty dang good!

Landon was not enjoying the train at first. It was big and loud, and he had been in a car all day driving from Vegas to my parents house, then another hour and a half to the train. He was done. But it's amazing what a cookie can cure! He was a happy camper once he got one.

 Then the Conductor came and punched our tickets. 

As we rode, the story of the Polar Express was read to everyone by the Chef's. 

At one point in the book, it talks about how when they went through the woods you could see wolves running beside the train. The Chef told the boys to look out into the woods to see if they could see any. Later I was told they saw 13 wolves running in the woods.  hehe! They were just SURE there were some wolves out there!

 Landon and his little baby cousin Carter had fun playing with each other and taking each others binky's. They entertained themselves while the older kids were still watching for more wolves!

 Finally, we made it to the North Pole. But since it's so cold at the North Pole, they have you stay in the train. But you could see Santa, his reindeer, his toy factory, and his house. There were elves roaming about and getting everything ready for Santa. 

Lucky for us, Santa found time to come on the train and give everyone a bell for the first gift of Christmas. Landon wasn't too sure about this Santa guy. He reluctantly took the bell though. 

The boys also got their bells and we were off again back to the train station. We sang Christmas songs on the way back and heard lots and LOTS of jingle bells.

It was so fun! We were sad that Patrick wasn't able to go with us, but we figured a one and a half hour train ride wasn't the best thing for his back. The boys have already asked if we can go again next year with Daddy this time. I sure hope so! 

It was a great way to start our Christmas season! Thanks Auntie Janette and Uncle Jeff to taking us with you!!!!

Halloween Fun!

This year we had lots of fun Halloween activities going on. The boys had a blast! 

This year Brayden decided that he wanted to dress up as a Vampire. Although he refused to wear make up or fangs. I teased him and told him he could be a *sparkly* vampire like Edward, but for some reason he was appalled by that idea!  :)   He was still a cute little vampire.

 But he did let me spray his hair all black.

Conner wanted to be a Ninja.

And Landon was Yoda. So. Dang. Cute!

Yoda wasn't too interested in getting pictures taken, he was more interested in playing in the neighbors yard. 

First they had a Trunk or Treat at school. It was just a little one, which was fine. They got a little bit of candy to help them last a few more days until their next Trunk or Treat. They had a 4 day weekend that week and so we decided to have some more halloween fun and made some "scary" holiday food.  I got all these fun ideas from Pintrest (*love*) and some of my fav blogs

We had some "Baby Ghosts" with our lunch one day. (Bananas with chocolate Chips for eyes) from Brown Paper Packages

One night we were going over to a friends house to watch a movie and eat "spooky treats" so I made eyeballs on a fork. (donut holes dipped in while chocolate and decorated with a chocolate chip and red chocolate) 

For dinner one night, I made a whole Halloween themed dinner. Most of these ideas came from one of my most fav blogs Our Best Bites. We had "Mummy Dogs"

"Bones and Blood" (my camera somehow ruined my picture of this... super annoying, but they are yummy garlic breadsticks with pizza sauce for dipping)

"Goblin Guts" (which was just Jello) and "Witches Brew" (lime sherbet and Sprite) which only Brayden and I drank, no one else would try it! Crazy!

"Monster Heads" (sliced apples with slivered almonds for teeth and mini m&m's for eyes)

Later that weekend I made these super yummy and cute Candy Corn Cookies.

We also of course had to carve our pumpkins. 

Landon loved his Vampire pumpkin.

 Brayden's pumpkin, Conner's, and Landon's. The older boys helped to carve their pumpkins this year. 

 They turned out pretty good!

We also went to our ward's Trunk or Treat and the boys got so much candy there!! Landon was hardly able to lift his bucket by the end.

Then on Halloween, we went Trick or Treating with some friends. We had quite the crowd... at least 20 kids. It was so fun! 

It was a great halloween around our house, and we will have candy for a long time!!!