Thursday, February 28, 2013

Valentines

For Valentines this year I tried to make sure I spent some good quality time with my little kids still at home.  So we started out our Valentines day fun by making these cute "love bug" valentines hats.  Then Lincoln and Lily helped me make some red velvet cup cakes for our family Valentines dinner.  When making the cup cakes the kids apparently discovered that plain sugar is good.  Lincoln kept saying to me "mom did you know this stuff was good?"  Well, yes but I was hoping that you wouldn't figure it out. Lincoln was so taken with the sugar that I may need to move the sugar to a higher shelf in the pantry.  We waited for Carson to get home before we decorated the cup cakes.  Lincoln and Lily's cup cakes were covered in candy and sprinkles they were about half a pound heavier after they were done decorating them.  When Nate came home we had a nice family dinner.  We had a very nice low key Valentines day. 












"Ne Ne"

For whatever reason Lily has started calling Lincoln "Ne Ne."  I asked her what that meant and she said, "it means I love my brother." I thought that was very sweet. She really does love Lincoln. Almost everyday on the drive to school she asks if Lincoln is staying home from school, and if the answer is "yes" she gives a little cheer. Lincoln sometimes uses his title as "Ne Ne" to his advantage.  If he wants to manipulate Lily he will declare that he is not her "Ne Ne" to get her to do what he wants.  Despite the back and forth between these two, they really do love each other and can be very sweet together.  The day I took this picture they kept asking me to take a picture of them being "snuggley" together (they had piled about 10 blankets on themselves). I just love to see these two having fun together.



Monday, February 11, 2013

# 4

We are expecting baby #4 this May.  And we are having another boy!  My boys were pretty excited about this development, and they danced around yelling that it was "4 boys to 2 girls."  I think Lily and I are going to need to stick together, we are pretty out numbered.  If everything goes as I have planned,which almost never happens, this baby should be born around memorial day.  We couldn't be more excited to be adding another darling boy to our family.




Friday, February 8, 2013

A little change


Somethings different about the Lincster.  Can you guess what it is?  He lost his first tooth! The beginning of this month my visiting teachers were over, and Lincoln comes into the room and says "mom I can't feel my tooth."  Sure enough, his tooth was long gone.  I think it probably disappeared with his lunch.  Despite not having his tooth, the tooth fairy still visited him.  He just barely turned five!   I can't believe he is already losing teeth!  He really is getting to be a big kid (sniff, sniff).




Brrrrrrr!

We have had a frigid January.  I'll be honest, I really kind of hate cold weather.  I feel like growing up in Rexburg, I have paid my dues, and endured enough cold temperatures for a life time.  That being said, I did actually admire some of the frozen beauty of the last month.  A couple of day last month we had a freezing fog, which coated everything in ice and made everything look gorgeous!  I admit, I admired the beauty of it despite the cold.  Before, the temperatures tanked the kids were able to go outside and enjoy the snow for a  day or two.  But mostly, January was so cold that although there was snow on the ground the whole month the kids really couldn't go outside and enjoy it.  That means that it was way too cold if you ask me.  Hopefully, we are done with frigid weather for the rest of the year.








memorable quotes

So recently the kids have said some things to me that have caught me of guard, and have given me a little chuckle. After the Boise temple open house Carson said to Nate and I: "When I grow up if I can't be an underwater scientist of extinct animals I think I want to be prophet (pause as he thinks a little bit more) or maybe just an apostle."  It is a good thing he was sitting in the very back of the car when he made this statement, because Nate and I were completely cracking up.  We kindly let him know that being prophet isn't exactly a career choice.  The other day Lincoln was in the car with me and he says: "Mom I can't wait for the second coming."  Intrigued by this statement I asked him "why?"  Then he says to me, "Because all the animals will be nice to people and I want to have a pet tiger."  Not exactly the answer that I thought he would give, but it made me laugh.  The other day we were talking about the temple and we asked the kids what they thought the Angel Moroni on the top of the temple was holding in his hand, and Lily confidently declared "a gun!"  I have no idea where she got his idea, but her brothers thought it was hilarious. For a couple weeks after would ask her the same question and she would give the same response and of course the boys would laugh. I wish I wrote these things down more often, my kids crack me up all the time with their funny comments







Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Lily quirks and milestones

Miss Lily has been busy growing up on us this last year.  There are a few little quirks she has that I want to remember.  First through the summer and most of the fall she insisted on wearing this cherry dress to church. The only way I could get her to wear another dress without a big fight was to tell her that the dress was in the wash, and then hide the dress.  I know, I know, it is a little pathetic to lie to your two year old. But she had so many other cute dresses, I just couldn't bear to see them sit in the closet for weeks. Also Lily has become quite the chatter.  When my boys were this age and I would ask them how nursery class was, about the most I could get out of them was "good".  You ask Miss Lily a question like that she gives you all sorts of unasked for information like: what snack was, what songs they sang, what color peoples clothes were, who cried for their mom.  The list could go on but you get my point.  I guess, I just find it so funny because it is such a stark contrast to how my boys were at this age, and mostly still are.  Lily is very rigid with her bedtime routine.  She likes to be sung "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" every night before bed.  Also she insists on having baby, rainbow, white, and butterfly blankets with her in her crib before she goes to sleep.  And on top of all that we have to exchange "good nights" and "I love yous" at least four times, and she always asks if  "Will it be breakfast time in the morning?"  It can be a bit tedious, but it is still cute.  Also Lily loves morning cartoons her favorites are: Ninjago, Doc McStuffins, and Sophia The First.  Lily's main accomplishment this fall was getting potty trained.  Yeah!  She was the easiest kid to potty train!  So now we get to see her cute little tush walking around in her Dora or Smurf undies.  Lily definitely keeps us on our toes, but we love her to pieces and are so glad she is part of our family.







Tuesday, February 5, 2013

New Years Eve 2012

Every New Years Eve we go bowling with our family.  This year Lily was big enough that even she got to bowl.  All of the kids had a great time bowling with their cousins.  Nate probably bowled one of the best games of his life. He got three strikes in a row !  After Carson would throw his ball he would turn around and make an x with his arms hoping for a strike.  We love New Years Eve bowling!






Lincoln turns 5

Lincoln turned 5 this year!  I can barely believe it!  For Lincoln's birthday we just had a low key family party, but that didn't diminish his excitement for his big day.  For his birthday cake Lincoln asked for a football birthday cake (this decision was strongly influenced by his older brother).  Sticking with our Christmas theme of  legos.  Lincoln got another Lego set for his birthday, a fish (he named the fish fang), and some other small gifts.  Lincoln is a great kid!  At five he loves to build things with: legos, wood blocks, magformers, cardboard, pillows, blankets, and any other material he can think of to make something out of.  He also likes to draw and color, and almost everyday while Carson works on his homework he is creating his own art work.  He likes to learn and is anxious to start reading so he can read his Ninjago Encyclopedia all by himself. He likes being active. He and his brother have some epic wrestling matches around the house. Although, Lincoln is quite good at soccer he is anxious to play football like his older brother.  He can be very sweet and helpful.  He frequently helps the other kids pick up and put away their things without being asked.  He still likes a good cuddle from mom, but he is also definitely moving out of this stage.  I can see that the days of long cuddles will soon be coming to an end (sniff, sniff)  We sure love our Lincoln!  We are so glad he is in our family!









Christmas

So, life is unpredictable with kids.  You would typically predict that Christmas morning is going to be joyous and fun for everyone, well that really wasn't the case at our house this year.  First, let me start by saying that Lily is afraid of Santa.  Now, I thought she understood the concept that Santa drops off the presents then leaves your house, but apparently that was not too clear to Lily.  On Christmas morning she refused to go down stairs, because she was afraid that Santa was still at our house.  I had to chase her down and carry her downstairs all while she cried on my shoulder. It was actually really funny, but again not exactly how I would have predicted our Christmas morning to start out.  Then one would think that Lily would perk up after she realized that scary Santa wasn't still lurking about our house, but no she was still not in the best mood and was not at all cheered by her presents, which I thought she would love.  No, she wanted to play with all of her brothers toys.  She would not even look at her own stuff.  Luckily, Santa was smart enough to include some duplicate toys for all of the kids.  Let me just say a Ninja turtle action figure probably saved Lily's Christmas morning.  The boys on the other hand were super excited about all of their stuff.  I think it was Carson that said about his Lego set that "he had wanted this his whole life."  For them it was the Christmas of  Legos. They each got a Ninjago Lego set from Santa, and with the help of Grandma we are now the proud owners of  over 1000 lego pieces. Now the boys can build until their hearts content.  As you can tell from the pictures even by the time all the present opening was over Lily was not quite recovered from the devastation of not receiving the exact same things as her brothers, but after an early nap she woke up much more pleasant and ready to enjoy herself and her gifts.  Her favorite present ended up being the pink plasma car that Santa got for her.  We enjoyed the rest of our day eating way too much food and enjoying the company of our family.  I had my whole family over for Christmas dinner, which was actually not stressful, because my parents were nice enough to make most of the food.  Despite, the unpredictable start to our Christmas morning we had a great day surrounded by our family!



Christmas Eve

We have a few Christmas Eve traditions that we enjoy every year.  First, every Christmas Eve the kids get to make gingerbread houses.  This is a great activity because it keeps the kids busy for a good amount of time, and they stay relatively happy, because I let them eat just about as much candy as their little hearts desire (its Christmas don't judge). Sometimes there are a few small fights during the assembling of the houses because one child may have eaten all of a type of candy that another wanted to put on their gingerbread houses (Lily ate all the gum drops before anyone else could use them), but overall everyone seems to enjoy this activity.  Also on Christmas Eve we usually head over to my uncles house for yummy appetizers, Christmas carols, and the reenactment of the nativity.  The kids all wanted to participate in the nativity this year, Carson was a wise man, Lincoln was a angel, and Lily was a shepherd.  I don't know what it was about this year (maybe the gingerbread house candy?) but all of my kids were a little crazy during the nativity.  They all took a turn getting their groove on during the Christmas carol singing, Lincoln proved that one can get down to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  In addition to our usual Christmas Eve activities we added a new event this year, the red and green breakfast.  My parents and my sister Heather spent Christmas with us this year and they have the tradition of going out to breakfast on Christmas Eve.  So this year all of my local family adopted this tradition, and we had breakfast at the Griddle, wearing red or green of course.  Everyone enjoyed having breakfast together and my kids enjoyed having breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins.  Anyway, it was a busy and fun Christmas Eve.