Catch Up Post

Between being our normal busy and being tired from being pregnant, I have been neglecting our blog more than I wish.  But that's life!  And I have the honor of growing this little baby we all love already.  Sam is calling the baby Cookie (and there is no deterring him from this name...he told us 2 months ago and has not varied from his plan) and Abby is sure we will call the baby Bloom.  Sam is sure that he played with his baby brother in heaven with Jesus and Abby is just as convinced that her sister is getting so big.  So to say that we are all looking forward to the Big Reveal on March 19 is an understatement. :)  But here's what we've been up to lately:

Attending a Baptism:

A brother in our ward took these pictures of the kids.  The pictures are very telling of the stages of the kids right now.  Lydia loves art and she pretty much has to draw on a chalkboard if it is within reach.  And if it's not within reach, she knows how handy chairs are for climbing.  

Sam really enjoyed the spread of refreshments after the baptism.  He had no problem going back for more of what he liked.  Again and again and again.  After getting in trouble for having his third little cup of kettle corn, Sam decided to take matters into his own hands.  He next appeared with two cups of popcorn and when he got in trouble, he shoved one into Lydia's hands and quickly slid under the table with the second cup.  He knew very well that neither parent would climb under after him to wrestle that last cup out of his hands, especially if he chewed on the edges and slobbered on it.

Abby was one of the older kids there, but no one was really close to her age.  She is curious about listening to adults and talking to them about the things that interest her, but she is just as ready to do something funny with Sam and Lydia.  It's been really fun to see how much she has grown up the last six months.

Stuck at Home:

We've had lots and lots of snow and cold weather.  Besides the fact that we have to make up the missed days of school, we all cheer when we hear that Abby gets a surprise day off and we get to play all together.  We get to do Legos, magnets, watch videos, play games, and do all sorts of fun stuff.  Love these three together!

  

We went to a play place at one of the malls and as we walked through JC Penney, Abby saw the prom stuff out and fell in love with this dress.  We had to take a picture so she could always remember it.

Sam got cool glow-in-the-dark glasses for his birthday (thanks, Stoddards!).  He went to bed wearing them.

Valentine's Day:

So Much Snow:

Abby figured out that the sled is good for not just sledding, but improvised snowboarding.  So far the only injury was her rake she was using to push off broke her landing and snapped apart.  She's actually gotten really good!

Snow plow mountain.  Sam built an impressive fort using the compacted, icy snow from the plow.  Lydia hangs out in my arms still except a quick minute to try out the snow before getting too cold or intimidated by the ice and snow.

Random Fun:

This boy is so funny.  Some of his funny moments are below, but Sam seriously keeps me laughing every day, sometimes accompanied by tears, both the "I'm so mad at you" tears and the "How are you possibly so funny?" ones.

Lydia had a great time at playgroup a few weeks ago with her buddy Ethan.  They are just a couple weeks apart.  She loved pushing him around on his push airplane and they somehow avoided any crashes with the big kids.

Funny Moments:

• Sam told Lydia recently that they could be "Squishy Buddies".  I wish I knew what that meant.
• Tonight as I was saying good night to Sam, he told me, "I'm attracted to girls."  (Insert my attempt to hold back laughter)  "Yeah, I'm attracted to magic girls."  This was one of those moments when tears were coming.
• Sam stated, "Everyone in our family is good at fighting monsters, but me and Daddy are good at pooping on monsters."
• Abby came home from school last week and told me there was a big assembly that day.  This is the first one the school has done in a while so I was surprised.  I felt like I had to drill her to find out what happened.  She finally said she got a Super SMART Stallion (side note: each letter in SMART starts out a short sentence about how to behave at school and the school recites it together each day) at the assembly.  During her story, she gave more details about the way they messed up our last name than what the award was for.  Once we got home and I got to see the award, I learned she was awarded for outstanding behavior.  I'm so proud of her!  She works so hard and comes home every day and reports to me how she did that day.  She is such a good girl and I am grateful to be her mom.
• We were driving all together and Roy and I were chatting while the kids listened to a story.  Out of nowhere, Lydia loudly states, "Dada is poopoopants!"  Tears and laughter followed immediately.
• I told Lydia that it was time for naptime.  She defiantly said, "No naptime!"  I told her we could grab her beep (blanket).  She said, "No beep!"  I told her we would turn on her music.  "No meep (music)!"  So while I am laughing a little about her stubborn response, I asked her what it was time for.  She thought for just a second before saying, "No naptime!  Poopoopants time!"
• Roy was in San Francisco this week.  Abby really stepped up and did so much more than her usual.  She is always a super helper with Sam and Lydia and hardly ever complains about helping me.  One morning, she cleared off the table at breakfast, helped load the dishwasher, ran upstairs and got dressed and helped Sam pick out clothes, and sang while Lydia fought having her hair done.  Not only that, but she is so good about sharing all the fun parts of her school day with me.
• Sam asked me today why the bad guy on "The Lion King" is named Poofasa.

Pet Store Field Trip

We went on a field trip to a small, local pet store for our preschool co-op group.  There were 5 kids in the preschool plus the younger siblings so it was a good-sized group.  The pet store ladies brought out rabbits, a bearded dragon, snakes, iguanas, guinea pigs, a blue-tongued skink, a chinchilla, a turtle, and even a puppy.  There are a dozen not-wonderful pictures, but they capture a really fun hour for some great kids.

I wish you could see the smile on Sam's face.  He fell in love.  This kid needs a dog.

First Sunday 2014

I took pictures before church (early church...we LOVE it!) of the kids.  Sam had his first day of being in Sunbeams, Abby in CTR 6, and Lydia being in a smaller nursery class.  We're so thankful for these wonderful kids!

Our January

Sometime I'll get around to finishing up our December pictures, but here's some pictures and funny stories from our month!

We have had some weird weather this winter--more days of snow, so much cold weather, so many days of hiding in the house with fast dashes to the van when we venture out.  I forgot how much work it is to get everyone geared up to leave the house, especially when we go out to play in snow and sled! :)  After spending two and a half days inside this week, our big adventure was to the grocery store where the kids and I ran laps on the sidewalk around the strip mall.  I'm a pretty cool mom like that.  We found lots of fun ice blocks and icicles that were fun shapes.  The kids loved it.

Abby got a great Lego Friends book from Grandma and Baba for her birthday.  That was a great afternoon-long activity.  That was great since she had school only today (3 days of school cancelled due to snow and super cold temps).

Oh, how I love these three people!

Sam has been really loving to build towers lately.  He usually uses these big Duplo blocks.  Lately, his favorite thing is to trap his Dr. Lizard (some bad guy from the super hero collection) inside his tower and then his super heros (Iron Man, Spider-man, Hulk, and Wolverine) attack both the tower and Dr. Lizard.  He will spend 15 minutes building the tower that will be in pieces all over the room in 60 seconds.  

I can't show a Sam picture without sharing some of his zingers from the last couple weeks.  That kid...he constantly makes us laugh:

• Sam was laying across my lap, "Mommy, your tummy is bouncy (giggles).  MY tummy is hard.  Feel it!"  The he begins to boing his hand on my stomach.
• The other night he said a really sweet prayer.  At the close, he said Amen , but before we could say Amen, he jumped in with, "And please bless all the bad guys to be eaten by sharks."
• Today we retold that story to my brother, who laughed.  I should have known the end of his prayer tonight would be, "And please bless all the bad guys to be eaten by sharks and crocodiles and let the crabs eat their throw-up."

Abby's PE class is doing gymnastics.  One of the PE teachers is my PTA buddy and sent me this picture of Abby (who is proud to be called PTA girl by the PE teachers).

And last, here is our big announcement!  We are happy to introduce the newest member of our family.  Big plans are being made by everyone, but especially by Abby.  She is so excited to have a new sibling, especially if this one doesn't wrestle her.  She checks in multiple times per day to see how "the baby is feeling."  All three have been excellent and patient during my morning sickness and exhaustion moments, which has been a huge blessing.  We're excited to meet this little one about August 10!

Sam Sayings

Sam has a very unique way of seeing the world and he can always, always make me laugh:

• Sam told me this week he had to borrow the white car for work tonight.  I asked him a little about his job and about where he was driving the car.  He told me if I got my shoes on I could join him at his job.  I finally got the name of his job: "The park!!!" Too bad it was 15 degrees outside.
• Sam and Lydia were sitting right next to each other at lunch.  Sam grabbed Lydia's face, squeezed her cheeks and said, "We can be squishy buddies!"
• Sam has been having nightmares on and off lately.  We've talked about lots of strategies to deal with nightmares and finally decided to try praying before bed to not have nightmares.  That next morning, he reported that he had no nightmares the night before because "monsters are afraid of Jesus."
• The next night he added a little something extra to his prayer about no nightmares: the ability to throw up on ghosts and monsters.
• Tonight as I was talking to him before bed we were going through the list of things we can do to make nightmares go away or be changed or be made funny.  And then came the question: "Why does Daddy poop on monsters?"

This and That

Abby got a Disney Princess cookbook and rainbow apron from my parents (Mor Mor & Far Far) for her birthday (she's 6!!!).  The first recipe we tried was Bullseye Pizza from the princess Merida.  She was so proud of her creation.  And it was delicious!

Lydia and her beep.  I feel like I should be documenting my girl and her blanket.  She has several funny stories already about the adventures with her beep, but she seriously loves it so much.  Lately she's been having a great time sitting on the toilet.  We've actually had some successful moments on the toilet (hooray!).  The other night she insisted on having beep go potty with her.  It may have been a bedtime delay tactic, but I couldn't resist my girl perched on the toilet saying, "Cheeeeese!"

I made a back-up beep over Thanksgiving week.  Now she calls it "No Beep".  Even in the dark and sleepy she can tell the difference between beep (well-loved and washed often) and no beep (pretty brand-new softness).  

What happens when we tell the kids to smile for a picture:

There are LIONS in the house!

 Roy was having a rough morning so I attempted to get an extra happy picture to send his way.  The girls jumped right on the assignment, even getting matching headbands on and not complaining about brushing their hair.  Sam is still under the impression that the funny things he says can somehow be communicated via picture.  I'm sure he was saying something about stinkypants, poop, giant squids, or ghost monsters.

Abby got spotlighted at school for her artwork!  They have been talking about different kinds of lines (straight, squiggly, wavy, etc).  Their (very awesome) art teacher took a picture of them whistling and they were asked to draw a picture using different kinds of lines to show what their whistle looked like.  Abby was thrilled to be spotlighted on the school hallway in the art masterpieces area.

We've been watching/listening to a lot of "Frozen" music on youtube lately.  Turning on the music turns the house into a stage made of blankets and requires everyone to sing their heart out.  Please note that Lydia is standing on her beep.  Notice the trend?

As always, we were spoiled at Christmas.  That day deserves it's own post.  Someday it'll come. :)

How can these happy sisters not make you smile?