Top 10 Reasons Why Dallen is Rad

Dal's birthday was about 2 weeks ago (so sad because he was sick on the big day. Totally lame when you've been counting down to your birthday for like 7 months). So today, in honor of him turning 5, let me share with you the Top Ten Reasons Why Dallen is Totally and Completely Rad.

10. He's happy like 95% of them time.

 
9. He's silly and goofy and a total blast to hang out with.

 8. He likes meat. Favorite meal? Ribs. Followed by steak, ham, bacon and pork.

7. He loves pop music-favorite song: We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift. But he can sing better than her. Just ask him to demonstrate sometime. You won't be sorry.

6. He has a ton of enthusiasm for everything and isn't afraid to try anything.

5. When he gets mad about something, he fights a good battle. Like 2 hours on the toilet refusing to wipe himself even though I told him I most definitely would not be doing it (since he is fully trained in that area).

 
4. He can do a headstand for hours. (And with completely straight legs now.)

3. Yes, that's a back flip and yes, he can land it.

2.He can do this.

1. He's just fantastic. I love him a million. Wouldn't you?

Best Christmas Ever

Sometimes in the past me and Josh have professed to love the Christmas season but not love the actual day all that much. It seems like in years past we have sometimes had grumpy, overstimulated kids or boredom by the end of the day. Not our favorite.

This year, somehow, was just about perfect.All morning Josh and I kept looking at each other sort of in disbelief-what's going on? This is amazing! The kids were so good, so happy and it was just so much fun.

Looking back through these pictures just made me happy all over again. Perfect Christmas.

These pictures of my 4 boys in their Christmas jammies on Christmas morning make me soooo happy. They look like total goofballs and that's great, because that's what they are. (I made the jammie bottoms. Nathan's split right up the bum later that morning. Bummer!)

Adam has a thing for ducks, so he got a of ducks for Christmas. Every time he opened one, he kissed it on the beak. It was fantastic!

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


He did it with the one from Grandma and Grandpa too but I didn't catch that on camera. He loves his ducks!


I love this picture of Adam enjoying his new Christmas book from Santa.

Jack got the Destroyer Dome that he was hoping for! Good old Santa.

Dal was happy to be the recipient of the big mystery package under the tree. It's great to be the little guy but have the biggest present.

(It was a snowboard.)

Here's Nathan when he opened his Monster Jam ticket:

And I love the sheer joy on his face in this one. It's so Nathanish. It's just a box of markers but he's so thrilled!

Jack has been begging me for long time to make him a stuffed leopard to match his pillow. He got it for Christmas. (On a side note, Jack had counted all the presents under the tree and discovered that he had 1 less than his brothers. He informed me that I hated him and that he was the least favorite child. I was still working on the leopard. He took his words back when he saw it.) He named him Snuggle Buddy:

Adam, fat and happy with his Goldfish from his stocking:

I feel so happy. What a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas to All!

For a long time I have mourned the passing of a timeless tradition...the sending of Christmas cards. Each year I notice fewer and fewer cards stuffed into my mailbox and it's made me sad. I love getting those cards in the mail, especially after moving so many times and missing old friends.

In spite of those sentiments, this year I made a conscious decision...not to send Christmas cards. I don't know why it happened. Something was different about me this year at Christmas. I took it slightly slower and I enjoyed it a lot more. And Christmas cards were just one of those things I cut out.

But I knew that I could post a virtual "Christmas card" on my blog for all to see. It's sweet, it's simple and it does not include the yearly Christmas poem written by Josh. I asked him to do one, but I guess he is cutting back on his Christmas activities too. So we'll just stick to a simple update.

Adam:
He's 18 months old now. He is *almost* walking finally (as in he'll walk halfway across a room if you are holding an M&M for him but he's not so sure if he is interested otherwise.) He's had some digestive issues for the last month or more that are finally getting cleared up and it's honestly like we have a new kid on our hands. He is so happy and so sweet (when he's feeling good). He *talks* quite a bit though he doesn't articulate super well so me and Josh are probably the only ones who can understand most of what he says. He is still obsessed with Ducks and he got a lot of them for Christmas. As he opened each one he gasped, then kissed it on the beak and sang "duck duck duck" while rocking back and forth. (This is his attempt at singing "Do the Rubber Duck" from Sesame Street.)

Dallen:
Dallen still spends most of his time upside down...and he's getting even better at it. We've got him enrolled in a tumbling class and, I'm going to brag a little here, they made a very rare exception for him to go up to the beginning class instead of the preschool class because he is so good. He's learning back bends and hand stands and pike jumps. But when he is left to his own devices on a trampoline he can now land a back flip. He'll be 5 in three weeks. He is WAY too much fun to hang out with everyday. Other than the battles over what to wear each morning and which person should wipe him after he goes potty (me or him?), he's an easy to take care of little guy. Some words of wisdom from Dal before bedtime recently..."go to the bathroom once, pee the bed. Go to the bathroom twice, pee the bed. Go to the bathroom three times, don't pee the bed."

 

Jack:
This has been a great year for Jack. He is in second grade and has a whole crew of friends who live in the neighborhood, go to school with him and go to church with him and he has a fantastic teacher at school. He is in the middle of reading the Percy Jackson series and absolutely loves it. He's already worried about what he's going to do when he is done reading it. He's still my snuggle bug although his idea of "snuggles" lately usually involves me giving him a back rub or a leg rub or something. His big thing right now is Bey Blades-they're little spinning top things that battle each other and are all the rage with second grade boys. Jack got so good at soccer this year-scored a goal in almost every game-and also likes to do handstands with Dallen.

Nathan:
Nathan's also in the middle (or should I say near the end) of the Percy Jackson series and is so worried about finishing it that he only reads it a little each day instead of racing through it. He loves to draw his own comic strips all the time and got a magic set for Christmas so he's spent the day learning now to do magic tricks. He also is loving having good friends in the neighborhood who are also at school and church. He and one of his friends have a very similar sense of humor and start laughing the minute they are together. Nathan is very "punny" He likes to find plays on words and make them into jokes and he's really pretty good at it! Our ward split in August and it took a while for Cub Scouts to get up and running again but it is now and he loves that!

Josh:
Josh just finished his second semester teaching Organic Chemistry and went a little easier on his students this time. The average on his final was in the 70's instead of the 50's this time. Still, he's breaking a few hearts of students with dreams of med school. He got a HUGE telescope for Christmas and will be learning to use it in the coming weeks, so if you ever want to have a gander at the night sky, he's your man. He's also completely obsessed with root beer. If you want to win his heart over, must buy him some root beer.

Me:
Other than being a mommy to 4 wonderful little boys I keep myself busy with my business (which I am completely sick of and ready to sell this year) and my craft blog-http://www.crazylittleprojects.com (which I just started in March and completely love and spend way too much time on. I also do all the typical busy mom things like volunteering at the school, helping with homework, getting to know all the new people in our neighborhood and all that jazz. I have a great life.

And with that I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mean Old Mom

Do you see what a mean mom I am? Dressed him up all fancy for church.

Oh the devastation:

 Complete travesty:

Huge frustration:

I told you. I'm just plain mean.

Feed the Ducks

Adam has a new obsession. Ducks. He was first introduced to live ducks about 1 month ago and hasn't stopped thinking about them and loving them since. He loves ducks. (And loves to say "duck.")

So, being the wonderful mother that I am, I took him and Dallen on a beautiful Fall afternoon to a nearby park that has a great duck pond and we fed the ducks. We had so much fun, in fact, that we did it two days in a row.

Here are some pictures to document our trip:

Adam checking out the ducks (and pointing at them and saying "duck")

Did you know ducks like popcorn? My grandpa taught me that. Here's Dal  mid throw:

Dallen was very worried that Adam was going to fall in. So he held on tight:

We throw a little, we eat a little:

 

Can you believe how pretty this park is? My very favorite park in the area and it was a perfect Fall day:

Then we played on the playground. We did the swings:

Slid with big brother for our first time:

And of course had to spend some time upside down:

Adam's Woes

Adam is a pacifier baby. He LOVES his pacifier. For some reason he calls it his "Ba."

We have a new favorite activity with him and the ba though. If we pull out his ba, his response is always "uh oh!" Cracks me up. I pull it out all the time just to hear him say "uh oh."

Monsters and Big Cats and Greek Gods, Oh My!

I'm feeling pretty great that I got all 4 boys costumes done by the middle of October this year and took pictures of them so when it comes time for parties and trick or treating I am not frazzled.

Want to see them?

How about a darling little monster??

So cute and so snuggly! That's the softest fabric in the world. I am going to be squeezing him constantly. Plus, he'll be nice and warm. I plan to use that as his snow suit this year too.

They're fierce. And they haven't taken those costumes off since I finished them about 10 days ago. I love that. The cheetah even wore his to a college football game last Saturday. Definitely a hit with the coeds.

I love that Nathan wanted to be Poseidon. So cool! And easy to do. I sewed a simple toga type thing, bought a crown and glued seashells on it and bought a devil's pitchfork and spray painted it gold and Viola! Poseidon.