The Giant Dog and the Ewok who loves it

Mason fell in love with his giant dog the moment he laid eyes on it. He pulls it around the house and is sad that he can't sleep with it in his crib. He's our major stuffed animal lover and since his "special" stuffed animal (the one he's had since he was a newborn) is a dog, he's especially fond of the dog variety of stuffed animals.

Here's Mason showing off his catch and giving some love to his giant dog (while also holding 3 of his other dogs:




He also got a really cool monkey blanket from Nana and Pops that he wasn't sure about at first (he was a little overwhelmed from all of the presents) but now loves to wear. When he walks around it it and you don't see the monkey face, he looks like a little Ewok. It's so cute:

Christmas Part 3- The piles

I piled up each person's presents in individual stacks and then took some pictures of them. We definately had a good Christmas this year. We stuck to our budget and through finding great deals (a local toy store did a 60% off sale for customers on their mailing list) we were able to get more than we thought we would. We even managed to get Jefferson's #1 request- Optimus Prime- after we stupidly waited too long to get the one at Costco. It was the first "hot" toy we've had the experience dealing with at Christmas time and thankfully Ebay came to the rescue. We got the exact one from Costco and only paid $2 more than if I had gotten it at Costco to begin with because I found an auction in which the seller was from Salt Lake and he allowed us to pick it up, thus saving shipping costs, and since Nate works in Salt Lake we didn't even have to pay extra for the cost gas either. The pictures also include the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa (thank you!) and the clothes that I bought with the money from Nana and Pops (and a super thank you!). Jefferson's pile includes the joint presents for all of the boys.

Here's how we did:

Jefferson's pile (& shared toys)/ Jackson's pile


Mason's pile/ Mine and Nate's pile


The Transformers/ The Hot Wheels

Christmas Part 2- Opening presents

Yay! Present time! Jefferson jumped right into pulling presents out from around the tree and piling up all of his. We sorted a bunch so we could start a couple rounds of opening presents. We started out by doing rounds of youngest (Mason) to oldest (my dad) but we realized that since the kids had so many more presents than the adults, we needed to do a bunch of kid-only rounds. And then it became apparent that we needed to do some Jefferson-only rounds since he had several little things that made his total number of wrapped presents larger than his brothers (poor Mason and Jackson). Mason initially was only interested in stepping on the boxes but he soon got in on the paper-tearing action. Jackson was satisfied with the first present he opened (a Thomas the Tank playdough set) and it took a bit to get him to continue opening other presents. He got several Thomas the Tanks related things, so he definately was happy. Jefferson got several Transformers and was ecstatic about that and he also was way excited to finally get a scooter- and a Hot Wheels one at that! Mason very much loved the giant stuffed dog he got and the Monkey blanket from Nana. He was also excited to get a ride-on toy. All in all it was a great Christmas morning and the kids loved everything they got.

Nate got everything he needed to perform oil changes on the cars himself, a wireless mouse for his laptop, plus some surprise gifts- a Lithium-Ion drill, a trifle dish (he LOVES trifle), and a new snowbroom with bonus scraper (yay, now I can have mine back for my car!). I got a couple books (The Goose Girl, Fablehaven), some new games (the updated Cranium WOW, Last Word, Whoonu), a calendar, and a bunch of clothes.

Here are pics of the kids while opening presents (the first one was from Jefferson sneaking down as described in Christmas Part One):

Christmas Part 1- Waiting for Daddy (and Grandma and Grandpa)

Strangely, Nate and I both woke up before the kids on Christmas morning. Since it had snowed on Christmas Eve and throughout the night, Nate decided to go out and do some snow shoveling while waiting for the kids to get up. First, he helped our next-door neighbor shovel his driveway and the sidewalk in front of the house and then he went over to the church building to see if any shoveling was going on over there. While he was out the kids woke up and they (well, mainly Jefferson) were anxious to get downstairs. I held them off on the stairs while I called Nate to tell him to get back and called my parents to see if they were on their way. My parents beat Nate to the house and they distracted me just long enough that Jefferson snuck down and saw all of the presents before I could get a picture of his expression. He also saw the one unwrapped present- a Lionel Train bank from my parents - before I shooed him back onto the stairs. Nate arrived a couple minutes later, having never shoveled our own driveway and sidewalk.

Here are some pictures of the kids waiting on the stairs (the last two were after everyone was home and they were extra excited and I told them to make silly faces):

Random shots

Here are a couple pictures from this month and a video:

Jefferson and Jackson snuggled up watching TV in Jackson chair:


Jackson having fun at the doctor's office (it was Mason's appointment so Jackson had nothing to worry about):


This is a video of Jackson doing a somersault. I didn't even know he could do them until he walked into the dining room while I was washing dishes a few days ago and just started doing a bunch. It took me several tries to capture one a video since he was done doing them by the time I had the camera.

Jefferson's Kindergarten Christmas Program

On the 17th, Jefferson's kindergarten class had a Christmas program. Grandma, Jackson, Mason, and I went to watch. They sang several Christmas songs including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You A Merry Christmas (links not from Jefferson's class). Jefferson got to be one of the kids jingling bells during Jingle Bells and thoroughly enjoyed it. Each kid in his class also got to ask Santa to bring a toy to one of their friends. Jefferson's was "Dear Santa, please bring Thomas and Transformers to Damon." Near the end of the program Jefferson decided that Jackson needed to come down and join him. It was cute.

Here's some pictures from the day:

Smile!

Fun in the snow!

We've had lots of snow in December and the kids have enjoyed going out to play. Jefferson would get mad at the sun for coming out from behind the clouds because he didn't want the snow to melt, Mason likes to eat the snow (no surprise there- he eats everything) and Jackson couldn't keep his gloves on so he wasn't too keen to stay out for long periods.

Jefferson and Jackson:

Mason

Jefferson making a snow angel:

The Season of Sick

Sorry for the long absence. We've been continually hit with illnesses and I've just gotten so backlogged in everything- housework, bills, e-mails, etc- that I haven't had time to just sit and type. I'm now working on sorting through the pictures we've taken in the past month to figure out which ones to share. I'll post some within the next day or two, as long as the kids let me!

The thoughts of children

Jefferson has said some funny things lately that I thought I'd share.

The other day Jefferson informed me, "daddy won't let me have a sister." And I said, "yeah, daddy does think that, but he doesn't really get to choose." Then Jefferson got real close to me and said with really earnest yet concerned eyes "how much does a sister cost?" I laughed a little laugh before telling him that you don't buy sisters in the store. That didn't seem to help because he said, "how do I get a sister then?" I told him, "well, if you are meant to get a sister, you'll get a sister." He seemed to accept that.

Another recent day Jefferson was playing with his brothers and Mason was doing something that was annoying Jefferson to no end (you get back what you give!) so Jefferson came up to me and said,"I don't want Mason as my brother anymore. I want to trade him in for a different baby." I told Jefferson, "Mason just loves you and wants to be like you so he was just trying to do what you were doing." Yeah, didn't help Jefferson much, but it's true!

A California Thanksgiving

WARNING: Extremely Long Post!

This year was Nate's family's year to get together for Thanksgiving and so we made the trip down to California. This was Mason's first time to make the trip in a car in one day. His past two trips to California we done by airplane and a drive with an overnight stop in St. George. We left bright and early (5am) on Wednesday with the idea that we would get a few hours of peace on the drive because the kids would be sleeping. It mostly worked out. Jefferson didn't really go back to sleep but Jackson and Mason did. As much as I hated getting up so early, it was nice to arrive at Nate's parents' house in the afternoon instead of the evening. A couple hours after we arrived, Nate's sister, Janna, and her family arrived. Jefferson was sooo excited to see some of his cousins again. Janna brought up a bunch of bikes and scooters so that all the cousins could ride around outside on something and not fight (as much) over the bikes at Nana's. Here's some pics of the kids playing (Even Aunt Lacey and I got in on the action):


While the turkey was cooking, we went to Millard Canyon to hike up to the waterfall, but due to unforseen circumstances, we weren't able to do the hike so we just picnicked and played on and around the rocks in the campground area. The kids discovered that one of the big rocks was perfect for sliding down and so they all tooks multiple turns sliding down it, as you can see in these video clips:


Jackson and Mason had fun walking around and we even got a group shot of the cousins (minus Seth & Shayla's two - Ian and Katie - who didn't make it out to California, and Conner, who just didn't make it in the picture):


That evening we all sat down for the holiday meal. It was a full house with Nana & Pops (Nate's parents), Jason & Jeanette, Janna & Justin, Lacey & Ken, and me & Nate. Maryn (Janna & Justin's) also got to sit at the table with the adults. The rest of the kids hung out in the kitchen- Blake, Brayden, Davin, & Connor (Janna & Justin's), Samantha (Jason & Jeanette's), and our three- Jefferson, Jackson, and Mason. Of course, we would have still made room for Seth & Shayla if they had been able to come (along with Ian & Katie). Thanksgiving dinner was great, although I was disappointed that my appetite still hadn't fully recovered from my bout with Strep throat.

That night, Nate and I ended up staying up all night with Mason because he had become so congested that he couldn't sleep laying down. We all got small doses of sleep and by morning Mason had finally fallen asleep for about an hour and a half leaning against my shoulder. We considered taking him to the emergency room, but, sadly, due to our enormous co-pay ($200) we just said a prayer and waited 'til morning when we could take him to a doctor. Friday morning Nate's dad called a family friend, who is also a doctor, and got Mason an appointment at his home. So while I went out to do some shopping with Nate's mom, Nate took Mason to the doctor and got him another prescription for antibiotics (he had just taken his last dose of antibiotics from having strep that morning) and a recommended over-the-counter medicine to help his congestion and allow him to breathe easier. The medicine helped tremendously and Mason had a much easier time sleeping is is now healthy.

So, I did some shopping with Nate's mom at Costco and Burlington Coat Factory. Two places that didn't have the crowds. We went to Costco so I could get my new printer for $50 off with the THanksgiving weekend only coupon and Nate's mom took advantage of another coupon to get a really nice Christmas present for Lacey. We hit Burlington to get some clothes for all the kids, but their selection just wasn't as good as it has been in the past. After that we returned home for lunch. Later in the day we took a trip to a nearby dog park that also has a big and little kids playground. All the kids had lots of fun playing on the playground and watching the dogs. Jackson especially had fun on the slides. At first he stayed on the little kid playground (for kids ages 2-5) but after I showed him the big slide on the big playground, he didn't look back at the little kid playground. Here's some video of him on the big slide and also a video of Mason and Connor on the little slide:


Saturday, while Nate was off taking a section of the CPA exam, the rest of us went to the California Science Museum in LA. Jefferson wasn't excited about going to a museum, but when we got there he found out that it was full of things that he loved. We started out in an exhibit about cars and transportation. They also had a fear exhibit that was interesting. They had a hissing cockroach that you could touch and hold (I did it-no biggie) and a snake to touch. I was shocked to see Jefferson go up and pet the snake, although he steered clear of the roach. Here's some pics outside of the museum:

Once again, we left bright and early at 5am on Sunday to head home. I had hoped to stop at our friends, The Boyle's, house in Vegas as a breather, but since we left so early, we drove by their house around 8:30 and I figured that that was just too early to stop. Our trip home was pretty uneventful and the kids didn't complain too much- they even got a good amount of sleep in.

We are grateful that we were able to make the trip down to California to spend time with Nate's family, glad the trip went well and Mason was able to recover from his illness, and glad to be home safe.