Snow Days!

We had 3 snow days a couple weeks ago and they were so fun!  I love to see my three kids having so much fun together.  The snow started on Sunday (see my girls in dresses?) and church was cancelled.  We enjoyed playing in the snow and drinking hot chocolate during the 2 days of cancelled school too.  These pictures make me happy.

Monday and Tuesday snow fun:

Abby and Sam made snowball launchers by building a snow wall around their plastic rakes.

A Short Catch-Up

Lately, the youngest enjoy taking a shower together.  It is so loud in the bathroom with their shrieking and hollering.  Their friendship has really blossomed since Abby started school.  In fact, Lydia especially enjoys grabbing one of the toys Sam is playing with, running away while giggling, and having to speed up a little more as soon as Sam comes scream-playing after her.

Lydia making her cupcake at Sophia's birthday party.  Of course, she added even more sprinkles after the picture was taken.

The other day, Abby was singing Christmas songs.  She has such a great voice and really loves singing.  After a minute or two, she asked me, "Why does this song say, 'It makes Chelsey sing, oh!'?"  In case you were wondering, she was singing "Angels We Have Heard on High".

Cute Kiddos

Here are some favorite phone pictures from the last week or so.  Most of them don't have a story, but they capture where we are right now.  We are grateful for 3 happy, healthy kids who love each other.  As I was listening to these three play trains the other day, it was magical.  I hope there's a place in heaven where there are constant sounds of children laughing.  

Abby the pilgrim.  We met her for Thanksgiving lunch last week.  You can't see much of it, but she was wearing a cute pilgrim hat. 

Do you see the curls Miss Lydia is sporting?  LOVE them! 

Abby wore her BYU pin last week.  Never to be outdone, Sam and Lydia had to take a picture too.  Sam told Lydia, "Be silly!"  Of course she performed. 

Lydia has opinions on her outfits.  Check out the pjs.  She insisted on wearing the shorts on top.  Funny girl.

Trampoline fun!  

Immaculate Conversation

I just saw that "Teen Beach Movie" was put on Netflix (it's the new Disney TV movie from the summer).  Naturally, I emailed Roy about it.

Michelle's Email to Roy:
I am embarrassed to admit that I saw it was new on Netflix and got excited.  Will you watch it with me sometime?

Roy's Response:
I did too.  I tried to get Abby excited last Friday but she was agnostic.  I would feel more comfortable watching it with Abby.  That way when I say, "Yeah I saw that movie..." I don't completely immaculate myself.  :)

Michelle's Response:
do you mean emasculate?  :)

And I think we should just say it's a Mom & Dad choose night tomorrow and we pick it.  She loved the preview we watched this summer.

Although I am now trying to figure out how you can immaculate yourself...

Roy's Response:
haha.  That's probably the best spelling mistake I have ever made. :)  I am immaculate!

A Few of My Favorite Things

• We taught Abby how to play Mancala today before church.  I coached her and she played against Roy.  She caught on really quickly and would look over at me for a nod to make sure she was doing it right, but she was doing great.  Especially when she beat Roy.  The first game.  It was beautiful!
• When I give Sam a thumbs up, he puts his index finger up in response.
• When I make the ASL sign for "I love you" to Lydia, she puts up her two fingers in a peace sign back to me and says, "you!"

Capturing the Moment

Abby:

• Lots of friends have loose teeth or have recently lost their teeth.  Poor Abby got the late bloomer genes from both parents and doesn't even have a remotely might-be-wiggly-sometime-soon tooth.  A couple weeks ago, she was feeling really sad about it and was having a heart-to-heart with Roy.  He was being very understanding and sympathetic when she loudly declared, "But I've been waiting for a loose tooth ever since I heard about loose teeth!"
• We were talking recently about how lucky Abby is to have so many friends.  I had helped in her class the day before so I finally knew the names of all her classmates so I went through that list and she declared everyone either a best friend or a best, best friend, even Anthony who is afraid of girls (and every time she tells me that she says, "Can you believe it?!?  He's afraid of GIRLS!").  Then we went through the list of everyone else that I could think of: family members, church, the neighborhood, people we seem to run into at the park occasionally, etc.  Everyone was ranked either best friend or best, best friend.  "Wow!" she said when we were done.  "I have SO MANY friends!"  And here's the thing about Abby that I absolutely love.  She is is a loyal, loving friend who will always remember you.  I love this girl!

Sam:

• I wish I had a video camera constantly trained on my boy.  He says funny stuff all the time.  Sam has the same quality as Roy or driving you completely crazy but making you laugh so hard you can't be mad.  
• Sam picks up on funny facts and shares them at odd moments.  For example, tonight at dinner, Sam said, "Termites are insects."  Someday you might hear him say these other favorite facts: "Aliens don't exist."  "Monsters don't exist.  Only in the dark.  That's where monsters exist."  "Cows make milk.  I like cows."  Or while cuddling with Roy, "You have a big nose."  Or while sitting on my lap and quickly pushing on my stomach, "Your tummy makes funny noises."
• Sam has been in the throes of 3-year-old emotions lately.  He's had a lot going on so I can't really say these moments of tears that can go quickly to either buckets of tears or laughter are really a shock.  Luckily for him, he's done a good job with telling us he loves us more often.  Sam also enjoys a good "GROUP HUG!" even though he tells you after, while wiping off any kisses we managed to squeeze in there, "You're squishing me!"

Lydia:

• We have the following conversation every day.  I'm not kidding.  It's been going for probably 2-1/2 months now.  And yet it makes me laugh every time.  It starts within a minute of dropping Abby off for kindergarten:
• Lydia: Abby?
• Me: Abby's at school.
• Lydia: Oh, man!
• Then on the days we drop Sam off at preschool, we pick up the conversation again:
• Lydia: Abby?
• Me: Abby's at school.
• Lydia: Oh, man!  (Short pause)  Sam? (but when Lydia says Sam it comes out Ham...so funny)
• Me: Sam's at preschool.
• Lydia: Oh, man!  (Short pause)  Daddy?
• Me: Oh, man!  (Short pause)  Mommy?
• Me: I'm right here.
• Lydia: Oh, man!
• I play this funny game with Lydia as we are going up for bed and nap.  I say really slowly, "I....love...." and then both of us start pointing at each other "you, you, you, you, you!"  She already loves to get in the last word.  She has to slide in "you" once we get to her room.  I love this girl!

A Little Catch-Up

It's times like this (perfect weather, happy kids who actually want to pose for a picture) that we all really miss Abby while she's at school.  Here are our pumpkins from Halloween!

Abby got a special envelope from Mor Mor with 56 Box Tops.  She was so excited to open a letter just for her!

While Sam had the flu (round 1) the girls got to take a bath together.  There was giggling, storytelling, and water everywhere!

Sam has turned into a good little artist.  He drew our family and I had to snap a picture.  Oh yeah, the two little ones on each corner are Mom and Dad.  They're babies.  He laughed so hard when he told me.

Roy was at a conference this week so we had breakfast for dinner.  I made huge pancakes and gave the kids a bunch of toppings to use to create monsters.  Sam made a monster with lots of eyes.  Abby made a doll face--notice the curly hair (eggs), the nose (bits of ham), mouth (strawberries), and eyes (blueberries).

Lydia and Sam helped me do some baking the other day.  They agree that the best part of baking is licking the spoons, especially when chocolate chips are involved.

Coming up soon: Why we should constantly have a video camera going...