Landon's 3 yr. check-up

  Took Landon to the doctor today.  He was nervous to go, he was crying about it this morning.  I was so proud of him though, he did great!  He is 42 inches tall putting him in the 99th percentile.  He is 40 lbs. which is 97th percentile.  What a big kid!  The doctor said that he is the average size of a 4 1/2 yr. old and some small six yr. olds.  Yep, we've got a tall one on our hands.  So glad he's healthy and growing well. 

There's been a birthday boy here today

  Happy 3rd Birthday to Landon!  I hope you've had a great day today.  We love you so much and are so grateful for you!  I remember the day you were born and can't believe you are now three.  It was so fun to watch you today being so excited to turn 3 and how patiently you waited to open your presents.  Daddy finally got home and you got to open them.  I love how tonight when I asked you what your favorite present was you said your scriptures (the cheapo $2.50 version), what a sweetie.  I love you, buddy!

A whole new world

Wyatt started crawling today!!!! He's already all over the place and into everything.

The Festival of Trees

Kids by the Barbie tree

I want something like this in my house someday, so cute!

The Grinch!

The Pinkalicious tree

Me and Wy Fi

Kay by the Mickey tree

Landon loved the train that went around this tree

Rapunzel gingerbread house

This cracked me up!  You'll notice the sign says it's titled, "Reality".  So true.

Ice Age

Pixie Hollow

So precisely decorated

Temple

Cute Wyatt was a pretty big helper

  We haven't been to the festival in a couple years so it was fun to go again this year.  We went with my mom, brother, sister, her kids and sister-in-law and her kids.  We were a big group that added to the crowds that day.  Holy cow it was busy!  I stayed busy just trying to keep an eye on my kids but I think they had fun seeing all the trees, gingerbread houses, listening/watching a few performance numbers and eating sweets.  My mom bought them popcorn and cotton candy and I didn't leave there without some fudge.  It looks so good that I have to try some and it's for such a great cause! 
  Landon had a hard time not wanting to go under the chains and touch things.  He loves trains and toys so he kept me on my toes.  Kayleigh did really well for which I was grateful because it was kind of stressful. I had them all in their Christmas shirts and I thought they looked cute.  I really love this time of year, busy as it may be. 
  After stopping twice, once to get gas and once for Kay to go potty, we finally made it home through the traffic.  Luckily the boys slept the whole way home.  I enjoyed some Christmas music as I made the drive home.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving dinner table ready to go

YUM!

Michael and my mom

Lots of pies to choose from

Our family

Funny faces, kinda funny how Michael and I both leaned the same way with the same face

The kids table, minus the 2 youngest boys, Wyatt and Thomas

Day after Thanksgiving out having a fire

How stinkin cute?!

I'm rockin these glasses!

Landon helping clean up leaves in the yard

Miriam and Landon get a ride on the yard wagon

  We enjoyed a little "vacation" at my parent's house from Wednesday night to Friday night over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I like going down there to sleep over to be with family of course but also because if I'm away from my house then I relax and don't stress about all the stuff I need to do.  Coming home from our vacation the week previous made for a busy holiday week trying to catch up from being gone.  I don't think I've caught up yet!  I'll think twice about planning a vacation the week before a major holiday again.  Nonetheless, we had a nice Thanksgiving. 
  My sister in law and her 3 kids (soon to be 4) are here staying at my parent's house so it was fun to be with them.  The kids loved playing together and I liked adult time at night after the kids went to bed. 
  The night before Thanksgiving we were busy making food.  I was in charge of the yams/sweet potatoes.  This is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner but I've yet to ever make them.  I guess my mom figured it was time I learn and that's why she assigned me them.  I wanted there to be plenty for everyone (we had about 20 people total for the dinner) so I actually tried two different recipes.  The first were sweet potato balls, mashed sweet potatoes wrapped around a big marshmallow and then rolled in coconut, nuts or plain.  (My mom's recipe.) The second recipe was sliced yams and apples with a yummy sauce drizzled over it.  (My aunt, Annina's recipe.)   Both were a hit and I was proud of myself! 
   I also made a couple pies.  Both were very easy!  One a raspberry yogurt and cool whip frozen pie and the other an Oreo crust with chocolate pudding filling.  The kids loved the yogurt one.  Michael also bought a pumpkin pie from Costco to add to the mix. 
  My dad invited some of his family to Thanksgiving so we had my little fam, my parents and little brother, my sis in law and her girls, my Omi and two of my aunts and uncles with their kids.  We ate on my mom's nice china and the food was delish!  Seriously, a really nice dinner.  I'm grateful to live close to family and be able to share the holidays with them.  I have so much to be thankful for but mostly I'll just say, I love my kids, I love Michael, I love the gospel and I love this country.  That pretty much sums it up!
  Michael attempted a little Black Friday shopping but gave up pretty quickly after seeing how long the lines were.  I mean, is it really worth it for the small amount of money that you'd save but in exchange for all the time you lose?  I told him to just come home so we could play a game together instead.
  The day after we hung out with fam, had a hot dog roast for lunch, helped my parents a little in their yard and then played a game of Catch Phrase.  It was really fun!

What we are thankful for

  For a family home evening prior to Thanksgiving we asked the kids what they were thankful for. I made this list. The initials at the end of each item are who is thankful for that. Hope you can see it, I know the picture is small. We are so blessed!

Randomness of November in pictures

Kay with her painting from school

Love how little Wy Fi is "hanging" out of the basket here!

It's hard to believe these are all my kids!  Love them!

We have pretty much stopped giving Landon naps because it makes bedtime SO MUCH easier.  On occasion in the late afternoon he conks out though, he's so tired.  This particular day he climbed into our pillows on our bed and was out!

Kayleigh posing with her Thanksgiving Feast crown she made at school.

Helping to decorate the Christmas tree

 

Kay helping Wyatt golf

What a handsome boy!

Treasure Hunt

Clues in the treasure hunt

The "treasure" that told the kids about our trip

Kids with the paper chain countdown

 

 
  We wanted to tell our kids in a fun way about our much anticipated trip to Disneyland so we asked for suggestions on Facebook of how to tell them and then decided to do a treasure hunt.  I thought up some clues that would take the kids around our house and also to a few other homes nearby.
  After we did our song and lesson for Family Home Evening we planned to tell them then that we had a really fun activity planned and that it was a treasure hunt, but, as we were trying to hurry dinner along Michael said without even thinking, "Hurry and finish eating so we can do the treasure hunt!" Then Kayleigh said, "We're doing a treasure hunt?!" He felt really bad but it was ok cause it was almost time to do it anyway. Then shortly after that, without thinking I said, "Landon is going right to bed when we get home because he didn't have a nap today." So then Kayleigh got excited and said, "We are going somewhere for the treasure hunt!?" Oh man, at this point we both were mad at ourselves but luckily we didn't give the "treasure" away.
   So, once we did the lesson and song then we gave them their 1st clue, it led to the bathroom, then outside to the swing set, then to Wyatt's crib, then to our neighbor's house. As we went along I don't think Landon really understood it all but he very happily followed Kayleigh as she ran to each spot to find the next clue. He got excited because she was.
  At our neighbor's house (Michael had delivered a clue there on his way home from work) she was so sweet and wrapped the clue in about 5 different boxes with candy in each layer. It was very fun for them to unwrap. I can't believe she did that, so nice of her!! (Katie you are amazing!) The clue at their house led us back to our house to the freezer where the clue told us to stop and enjoy a treat from the freezer (our treat for FHE) then continue on to my parent's house. Kayleigh got so excited when she realized we were going to Nana and Grandpa's house. Once we got there she was running around trying to find the clue. Once she found it she had Nana read it and then she ran for the front door and wanted to get going, it was funny! We had to remind her to say goodbye.
   The next clue took us to Michael's dad's house.  On the way there Kay said she didn't want to find the treasure because then the hunt would be over and she really liked finding the clues. I was happy she was so into it!  Then she said she wanted to do one with Grace and Phoebe (her cousins) because she thought they would enjoy it, too.
   The clue at Michael's dad's led us back to our house where the treasure was. I had put 7 of our Disney character stuffed animals under a blanket on my bed. There was a clue that told them to count each animal twice and then that would be how many days until...Disneyland!
   When we took the blanket off it was hilarious cause Landon yelled, "stuffed animals!" He thought they were the treasure and he was so excited even though they were his and Kayleigh's own stuffed animals. Kayleigh counted to 7 twice and so I had her count them again and continue after 7 to 8 and get to 14 which was how many days til the trip. Then she said "14 days til Halloween?" She still didn't get it. Then we clued her in on the stuffed animals, what they all had in common and that they were a clue. So she thought out loud, "Disney, Disneyland?" And I shook my head yes and then said we are going to Disneyland! She got so excited and started throwing the stuffed animals and the blanket and screaming! So then Landon did too, of course. It was fun cause Michael got it all on video and also my parents were here as well as Michael's dad.  Michael's dad would be coming with us on the trip and he told the kids that night that he'd be coming.  
  After a few minutes Kay asked if we could go for more than one day. Ha ha! I had to explain to her that it will be a vacation and will take 10 hours to drive there and yes, we'll be staying longer than one day. I think she thought one day because that's how long we go to Lagoon for. She's talked about it every day since. 
   Fourteen days to little kids is a very long time!  We ended up making a paper chain to help the kids know how many days til we would leave.  It was really fun telling them about it and anticipating it with them. 

Halloween 2012

Kayleigh with her ghost sucker she made at school.

 

Wyatt in his "I want my Mummy" shirt.

Everyone ready to go trick-or-treating!

Kay with her candy she got.

Landon with all his candy.

Wyatt trying to eat a king size Twix bar.

Kayleigh carving her pumpkin at my parent's house for our Halloween party.

Daddy helping Landon carve his pumpkin.

Skunk and Dragon sharing a love, awe!

Dolphin (Grace), Ladybug (Sami), Butterfly (Phoebe), Cowgirl (Kay), Skunk (Wyatt) and Dragon (Landon)

  We had a fun Halloween this year.  I am super behind writing about it, but I'm really trying to get caught up!  The Saturday before Halloween we were with my family down at my parent's.  We carved pumpkins, played Pin the Wart on the Witch, had scones and of course had some candy!  We love seeing our cousins and family.  Trying to get a picture with all the kids proved difficult, but hey, 6 kids six and under is a little tricky. 
  In years past we've trick-or-treated at my Mom's with my sister and her girls.  Since Kayleigh and Grace are now in school, it's harder to do things on a school night.  So this year we celebrated the holiday at our house and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  It was really fun, actually! 
  As we went along we saw all our friends and neighbors and it was fun to chat with one another and see all the costumes.  We had invited Michael's dad to come with us and I'm sure he got sick of us talking to everyone but it was fun to have him be with our kids.  Landon needed a pit stop along the way and it was nice to just ask some friends in our ward if we could use their bathroom. 
  We are quickly outgrowing our house but it's little moments like this when I realize that we'll be sad to move and leave all this (friends, etc.) behind.  Ok, enough sappy stuff, back to Halloween!  Landon loved being a dragon!  He still talks about it almost every day, seriously.  This was his second year in this costume and he just loved to growl at people and try to scare them.  He also loved to get candy, what kid doesn't?  There were quite a few days after Halloween that I was convinced he'd be sick from eating so much candy but nope, he's good. 
  Kayleigh liked being a cowgirl and wanted Michael to be a cowboy on Halloween night.  He's such a good dad that he played along with it.  Wyatt was a skunk for his 1st Halloween and he made a cute one!  Everyone loved his costume, it really is cute.  My sis made it and all my kids have worn it for their first Halloween. 
  It was kind of a bummer to have to get Kay up for school the next morning but that's life now that she's started school.  They are all still enjoying their candy.  I'm hoping it will be gone soon!