2015 :: week 49



November 29

Our tree was a little lopsided and we put dumbbells on the stand to help keep the balance. While I was working on getting the tree to balance Will started playing with smaller hand weights even though I asked him not too. He dropped one of the weights on his foot and it put a real damper on the evening. When we didn't have time to decorate the tree Saturday night I told the kids we would try to decorate the tree Sunday evening. Then Sunday turned out to be extremely busy with my visiting teachers coming over before church and Anthony having his first round of tithing settlement after. The kids (especially Will) were extremely disappointed.

 

November 30

We finally got around to decorating the tree for Family Home Evening Monday night. We purchased the tree at Costco and it was the fattest tree we have ever owned. I had to make a quick run to Target in the midst of the decorating to get additional lights because we it didn't look very good with the amount we owned. There is just something magical about Christmas decorations and the lights on a tree.

December 1

The kindergarten had career day on Tuesday and the career Will chose was scientist. He is holding a globe because he wants to study the earth, a magnifying glass to examine things he finds, and a field journal to write down his observations. That night he told me he should have gone as a baseball player because that is really what he wants to be. I told him he can always play baseball for fun, but that VERY few people actually make a career out of playing ball. That's me, crushing dreams since 2015. He actually took it very well.

December 2

Christmas lights are up! This house is in my parent's neighborhood and they have been putting up quite a show for the past several years. My mom watched my kids for me while I was at a meeting and Tony was out of town. I am so grateful for how helpful my parents are, especially with Anthony traveling so much this year. The only downside of going to their house is that the kids beg to drive by this house. It is a small price to pay.

December 3

Lauren has awesome Sunbeam teachers. They hosted a cookie decorating and ornament making party for the kids in their class and Lauren had a blast. She was so excited to go and then show off her creations. She took great care in finding the perfect spots to hang her decorations on our tree and then moved them around at least once a day.

December 4

Friday night was very cozy. Lauren helped me make Willy Chili for dinner. I've been trying to let the kids be more hands on in the kitchen and they are doing amazingly well. I did the chopping, can opening and meat handling, then instructed her on the rest. She followed my directions very well. After dinner we introduced the kids to Home Alone. The kids were resistant at first (Will was very concerned about the title and asked lot of questions--Why is he home alone? Parents aren't supposed to leave little kids alone, how did this happen? But once the bad guys fell victim to Kevin's traps he converted and laughed uncontrollably at the Wet Bandits' pain.



December 5

Saturday evening we went to a Christmas party.
 

2015 :: week 48

November 22

Will got sick in the night so the kids and I stayed home from church on Sunday. He was fine and never displayed any other symptoms of being ill, but I didn't want to spread a bug if we had one. Luckily no one else got sick, but the day felt very long. We did lots of building with legos. These are three creatures that Will built (we've also been watching a lot of Wild Kratts lately).

November 23

The battery in our KIA died Saturday night and we (really Anthony) didn't have time to work on it until Monday. We jumped it, and it drove around fine, but then wouldn't start again. We bought and installed a new battery and it has driven just fine since. This KIA has been such a great car for us. Sidenote: Lauren calls it our IKEA and thinks we bought it at the IKEA store. It drives Will crazy when she says this and he corrects her every single time she brings it up.

November 24

Tuesday nights Anthony does interviews at the church, but this was the first Tuesday since he's been the bishop that he was actually in town to do them. I texted this picture to him of the four of us sharing 1.5 couch cushions while he was gone. Our house is much too big most of the time.

November 25

We went to the school playground with Will's buddy Soren, his mom and sister on Wednesday afternoon. There was no school Wednesday through Friday and the forecast looked bleak during that time so we took advantage of the lack of rain and went outdoors. Will really enjoys playing with Soren. It is really exciting for him to have a friend that lives just around the corner from us!
 

November 26

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a group of friends from our ward. The group size was in constant flux so we decided to have it at the church. It was one of the tastiest Thanksgivings ever. Anthony decided it was because we each only prepared 2 dishes we could really bring our "A" games.
 

November 27

Friday was one of the most relaxing and peaceful days we've had in a very long time. I felt so happy and full of gratitude for my sweet little family and the life we share. After dinner Will and Anthony quizzed themselves. Will continues to rock the state quizzes on Sporkle. He really likes to challenge himself. Earlier in the day he made dots on a piece of paper just to see how high he could count. He stopped well into the 200s when some friends stopped by to say hi, but I'm pretty sure he would have continued if he hadn't been interrupted.
 

November 28

We picked out our Christmas tree at Costco and it the biggest tree we have ever had. We had a busy day attending another baptism, an actual date for Anthony and me (and Elliott), and other church responsibilities. Hopefully we can decorate tomorrow!

2015 :: week 47

November 15

Will spends time "playing baseball" in some variation in our front room every single day. Sometimes Lauren joins in on the fun. In this picture Will had just made an "amazing catch" but ran into the wall while doing it and Lauren (the team doctor) was examining him. I believe it was inspired by watching youtube videos of Alex Gordon's injury earlier this year.

November 16

The kids had fun playing together while we waited for Anthony to get home from work. While Elliott sat in his chair Lauren dressed him up "like Santa," using gloves and hats from our winter accessories drawer. He's pretty patient and tolerated the wardrobe changes very well.

November 17

Lauren's preschool activities focused on Frank Asch's book Popcorn last week. Lauren has been wanting to make popcorn at home ever since. She dictated the recipe, "Pot, oil, kernels, heat," as we prepared our snack Tuesday afternoon.

November 18

Elliott is my favorite tiger. He's not really strong enough to ride in the swing, but he loved getting to sit in it for a few minutes at the park Wednesday afternoon. My sweet baby is growing up! I love that we are having more meaningful interactions, but feel like his baby-ness is slipping away too fast.

November 19

We paid a visit to the school book fair. I tend to avoid buying books since we have access to such a great library, but made an exception. They were more excited about the books they picked than they look.

November 20

I really wanted to get involved at Will's school, so I joined several PTA committees at the beginning of the year. Friday night was the 'family movie night.' I worked the cash box with concessions and was on busy the entire time. This was my view. I've been really impressed with the community of parents at our school.

November 21

Saturday was baptism day. An investigator was baptized at noon, then at 3pm a friend asked Anthony to baptize his daughter. After the baptism the family had a luncheon and Anthony and Will did their best to keep this balloon off the ground while we waited to eat.

2015 :: week 46

November 8

Our Primary Program was this week and both Will and Lauren did a fantastic job. They were sitting on opposite sides of the stand which made it hard to see them both during the songs. I loved watching them sing. Lauren was very animated, but I'm pretty sure she was making up words to some of the songs. Will was so earnest and sang so well during the first half of the program, but lost a lot of steam towards the end. They both said their parts clearly. I was pretty excited that Lauren even said her part as she never once said her part during any of the practices. Before church I told her Elliott wanted to hear her do it bribed her with a tootsie roll. Turns out Elliott and candy are the way to her heart.

November 9

Laundry, ugh! I am constantly trying to figure out the best method to get things washed and folded. I'm actually pretty good at getting it washed. My biggest issue is getting it folded in a timely fashion. Recently I've been moving it straight to my bed when it gets out of the dryer, hoping that having it on my bed will motivate me to get it done. It has been less effective than I had hoped.

November 10

Will and Lauren helped me rake some leaves Tuesday afternoon. I had seen that it was supposed to be extremely windy Wednesday (it was) and I wanted to be a responsible neighbor and get our current layer of leaves taken care of before they all blew down the street.

November 11

Tuesday night was awful. First off, I went to bed too late. Then Elliott was congested and had a hard time falling back to sleep and staying asleep for more than about 15 minutes after I fed him. Will's "blankets were weird" and he woke me up to help him get them right. Lauren cried herself to sleep because her ear was hurting her, then woke up several times in the night either coughing or crying because of the pain. Anthony was gone (he left straight from church Sunday and didn't arrive home until Friday night around 11pm) so I had to take care of all these things by myself. I'm giving all that background to explain that when I woke up Wednesday morning I was exhausted. I forced myself to get out of bed at the last possible minute. I could hardly believe the energy and vigor Will and Lauren greeted me with that morning! Usually I push Lauren and Elliott in the stroller while we walk to Will up to school and she ran the entire way there and back! I am not complaining about Lauren's energy, I was expecting her to be tired and grumpy so this was a very unusual (and welcome) change.

November 12

Elliott has been holding his head up really well lately, so we decided to try him out in the Bumbo chair. For the most part, he seems to like it. Will and Lauren like sitting in it when he isn't.

November 13

Will was out of school Friday, so we made a trip to the library. We ran into one of my good friends from high school and her daughters, which was a fun surprise.

November 14

BYU was in town to play Mizzou at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday night. We got tickets with some friends from our ward several months ago. Unfortunately, both BYU and Mizzou have under preformed this year, but because of that there were lots of empty seats. We were able to move really close after the first half. Will came with us and told me he was "so excited my tummy feels weird" as we were driving to the stadium. It has been a long time for me and BYU football games, the last game I attended was over Thanksgiving 2007. Even though they didn't win we had a good time.

2015 :: week 45

November 1

This was a big day for our family. One we will probably never forget. We blessed Elliott in church, Anthony was made bishop of our ward, and the Royals won the World Series for the first time in 30 years. It was great having both sets of parents with us on this emotionally exhausting day. They have done and continue to do so much to support us.

November 2

Nana and Papa had to leave Monday afternoon so we kept the kids home from school and went to the zoo. The weather was gorgeous! We caught the end of the sea lion show, which Will had wanted to see back when we first went with Nana to the zoo in August. Anthony drove his parents to the airport because he also had a plane to catch. The rest of us were pretty tired from the events of the previous day, and all the walking at the zoo. We fell asleep pretty quickly that night.

November 3

I really wanted to go to the Royals World Series Parade and Rally. But with Anthony out of town and unavailable to assist and the ages/stages of my kids it was not going to be easy. Thankfully my mom agreed to help and with her assistance were able to catch most of the parade. I am pretty disappointed in the pictures I took. This was the only one I got of all of us and you can't really tell where we are. It was so crowded. As soon as I heard that most of the local school were cancelling and the weather was again going to be nice, I decided there was no way we would try the rally. Instead I opted to watch the parade on the north corner of the route, near the government district (where TJ works) because I am most familiar with that area and it was as far as we could get from the most crowded area (Union Station). The crowds were still 20+ people deep. People were climbing on anything they could to get a good view--window sills 10 feet off the ground, on top of port-a-potties and cars, other people's shoulders. The parking was insane. People were making up parking spots parking in medians, abandoning their cars on the side of the road. I'm glad we went, but it was stressful enough I'm glad it will be at least a year before we get to go to another one.

November 4

Wednesday was the first normal day of the week. We ran some errands, including a trip to Costco. The kids fell in love with these enormous bears.

November 5

Thursday was a "friends" day for me. I met my friend Holly for breakfast at Panera in the morning. Her husband was called to be bishop when he was in his 20s and she was pregnant with her third child. I enjoyed visiting with her and being reassured that even though having your husband be a bishop while you still have very young kids can be challenging, there are sweet blessings to enjoy too. It was my good friend Stephanie's birthday and that afternoon I had a fun conversation with her. That night I went to book club at Elena's and Elliott and I carpooled with Bethany and her baby Adalie (born 10 days before Elliott). I had a lot of fun hanging out with even more friends and came home feeling very content. We knew that Anthony was going to be made bishop for awhile before it actually happened and I struggled feeling authentic when I talked to people during that time.

November 6

Will earned a trip to the aquarium and chose Anthony to take him. Friday after school and work the boys headed to Crown Center. They had a great time! I was told they went through twice and spent over half and hour at the tide pool where you can touch various sea creatures. Will has come a long way since we first went to the aquarium 2.5 years ago and he refused to touch anything. Anthony has a busy month ahead of him and I'm glad that Will got to spend some quality one on one time with him.

November 7

Saturday morning the kids practiced for the Primary Program. In the afternoon they went to a football game to watch our neighbor and church friend Tiave play football. It was a cool game--the team arranged beforehand to let a wheelchair bound friend score a touchdown during half time.

2015 :: week 44

October 25

In honor of the World Series starting this week we had to get a picture of our family by the "Let's Go Royals" sign on the edge of our neighborhood.

October 26

My sister Melanie is a dietitian. She writes a nutrition blog with a good friend and recently posted a lightened up version of her mother-in-law's Chicken Tikki Masala recipe. I've never been a very adventurous eater, but it sounded good so I decided to give it a try. Anthony and I really liked it! Will ate a few bites (and drank multiple cups of water because it was a little spicy), but Lauren chose to abstain. We brought our high chair up from the basement so Elliott can join us at meals.

October 28

I enjoy my mornings with Elliott. The only problem with this is he's typically so pleasant I just want to snuggle with him and it is my only time to run errands with just one kid.

October 29

We took one last trip to the Farmstead Wednesday afternoon. For the first time we stopped and visited the Blacksmith Shop. It was very interesting!

October 29

Will and I had a fun time reading together during quiet time Thursday afternoon. It's amazing how much he has improved in just the past month. Thursdays are his library days at school and he always comes home with a new book. He really loves the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. I love seeing his sense of humor and what he thinks is "hilarious."

October 30

Friday night was our ward's "Fall Festival." The youth put on a carnival in the gym and due to rain we handed out candy in the hallways. The kids had fun running around with their buddies. We all dressed up--I am a witch, Anthony is Frankenstein, Elliott is a dwarf, Lauren is Snow White and Will is a knight. Anthony's costume created a bit of confusion because it was so bare bones. We'll have to kick it up a notch next year.

October 31

The kids went trick or treating around the neighborhood with one of Will's classmates and his little sister. It is fun having friends live so close. The kids got more than enough candy. The boys dashed from house to house together while the girls stayed closer to their parents.

lauren :: 4 years

I never thought I'd be celebrating the 4th birthday of my sweet daughter, Lauren, on the Day Marty travels to the future in all the times I've watched Back to the Future Part II.

Lauren is a fun, creative, imaginative, gentle, nurturing, mischievous, goofy, confident, shy, funny little girl. She entertains herself for long periods of time playing with dolls, Little People, animals, magnets, etc. If she can role play with it, she will play with it. She loves to dress up in her dress-up clothes and accessorize. She likes to sing and dance. Sometimes she makes up songs and sometimes she sings songs she's heard before. Today she was singing about Pete the Cat and his groovy buttons. Yesterday she was singing "skidamarink a dink a dink," a few days ago it was the theme song from Sofia the First and before that "I am a Child of God."

She loves water and swimming. She swims like a mermaid with her hand behind her. We'll have to work on that next summer. She loves to swing and is very proud of the pumping skills she developed this summer. She enjoys exploring and getting dirty. She likes to take a couple laps around the driveway in her tricycle and then fish out a few pieces of the chalk she's stashed in the back (we'll come back to the stashing) and sit down and doodle on the driveway for a bit. She hasn't been terribly interested in learning to write letters until recently, save the letter L. Our driveway is often marked with L's large and small. Will is her best frenemy--they have so much fun playing together until they don't. They have an ongoing game of "house" where he is 'Mr. James' and she is 'Sister James.' I have no idea where they came up with those names.

Lauren loves babies. She is a nurturer and takes great care of her stuffed animals and dolls. She has six cousins who are younger than her (not counting Weston who is a month younger and basically the same age) and she loves and dotes on each of them. She loves Elliott with her whole heart. I often have to intervene and limit the kisses and hugs she can't stop herself from giving him. She regularly tells me that he is "soooo cute," and "the best baby EVER!" When she is hurt or upset she often cries for "Elliottttttt!" and a "hug" from him is all she needs to feel better.

She is stubborn and determined and doesn't bend easily. But also quick to share and compromise. She has a very giving heart and is generous with Will. But that doesn't mean she doesn't love her stuff. She loves her stuff. She's sentimental and holds onto things for a long time. When I'm tidying up around the house it is not uncommon for me to find things she's tucked away for safekeeping. She also likes tearing things (like paper) up into teeny, tiny pieces. She calls this a "comcom day." Again, I have no idea what this comes from, but when she says it I know I will find tiny scraps of papers or tissue piled up somewhere.

She loves her friends and all of Will's buddies and remembers the names of almost everyone we meet. But she's become too shy to actually talk to people at first. Even when seeing friends we know well and she is excited to see, it takes a few minutes for her to feel comfortable enough to leave my side.



People often comment on her hair. It is still very blonde and depending on the lighting, very striking. We went for a family walk after dinner recently as it was starting to get dark and Will, Lauren and Anthony were "racing" ahead of me and Elliott in the stroller. Lauren was the easiest to see as her hair glowed under the streetlights. (Will was wearing a hat.)

When I think of Lauren I picture her cute face with a silly expression on it. She brings life and laughter to our home. Lauren is a joy. She's grown so much this past year, I'm excited to see what her fifth year of life has to offer.

elliott :: 2 months

11 lbs. 1 ounce (25th percentile)

22 3/4 inches (50th percentile)

Another month of Elliott is in the books. The longer he is with us the harder it is to imagine life without him. He continues to be a fairly content little guy, though he is getting more forceful with voicing his opinion about things.

Elliott is still a good eater and eats about eight times a day. I feed him 2-3 times during the night, depending on when I go to bed and wake up. The spitting up has increased. It seems to be the worst when he eats quickly, but I haven't figured out any rhyme or reason to it. I have learned to always have a burp cloth near if he has eaten in the past half hour. Amazingly, he has yet to blow out of a diaper. He is usually very alert for the 45 minute period while we walk Will to school and then drive Lauren to preschool. He's growing increasingly wary of his car seat, and often fusses if we run errands while the kids are in school and he's stuck in his seat for even longer. The time while the big kids are in school is my favorite time of day with Elliott. He's well-rested and happy and we enjoy the quiet time together. He has started smiling a lot, which I love. He's extremely expressive and raises his eyebrows a lot. It reminds me of Anthony when he does this. He has started cooing and has a lot to say. I like hearing his little voice, it sounds like it will be low. The evening hours seem to set him off. He is at his worst from about 5-8pm. He just wants to be held and if he isn't he cries. He can be distracted, but it's only temporary. When Anthony is out of town this is my least favorite time of day. We bathe him at night after his siblings are in bed. His skin has cleared up and is very soft. I love to snuggle with him all the time, but especially when he is fresh and clean. The entire family is smitten with this sweet baby boy.