Beave's artistic side

Our January break from snow is over, the storms have started again. With the last one Beave took some cool pictures. He likes to experiment with the camera, I am more of an "auto" kind of person...
sunrise

night sky


OK so this one is mine, how can you tell? KIDS!!

DONE!!! for now...

I took over the kitchen table and the kids were slightly neglected but I finished John's scrapbook!!! Well up to Jan 2009, I am already a month behind... I think if I do each kid's book in 6 month chunks I can keep up. It will probably take me the next 6 months to get Kyla's caught up, I have a year and a half of pictures to do. I went through our pics to print Ky's and noticed the older they get the more pics I have of them... I guess I am not into pics of babies laying around. :) She is anxious to "help" me, we can finally use all those cute girlie stickers we didn't use in Johnny's book.
It was fun to look back at all the things we have done in the last year and a half. Johnny has, of course, changed so much in that short time. When Steve was looking at the book he said he didn't remember Johnny being as happy as he looked in the pictures... Johnny was a BIG mommy's boy!!! He didn't smile too much for Steve for a long time. Now they are best buds and Beave thinks John's smile can fix just about anything! I love this little guy, so full of personality!

IT'S A...... MONKEY

I had my ultra sound last week... Going into it Kyla was betting on a girl and I thought it was a boy. Johnny and Kyla came with us, Johnny was pretty quiet taking it all in until halfway through when he yelled "monkey!!" Ky and I both lost... it's a monkey. The little one may get called monkey a time or two but the doctor says it is a... BOY!! Kyla was OK with that because she has the baby girl in her tummy.
So the end of June we will add another boy to our bunch and Ky and I will be out numbered. Steve says Kyla is girlie enough to out girl 5 brothers and is excited for John to have a brother to counter act it all.
The baby is developing well and everything checked out, which we are grateful for. A healthy baby boy... monkey.

the warm Phoenix ZOO

It is crazy to me that I can drive 2 hours and go from freezing to HOT! Saturday we left our snow and cold at home and went to warm up in Phoenix, it was high 70s! Kyla and Johnny loved the zoo, it has been awhile since we have gone to one. Johnny called everything a Zebra, until he saw the real ones! Kyla liked the Wallabies the best, you can go in with them.

Kyla hitching a ride from Beave. By the end I was wishing for someone to give me a ride, maybe not a shoulder ride though...


This mommy orangutan kept one long arm on her baby while she slept, he wasn't too into sleeping but his choices were limited... you can learn a lot about parenting from the wild... :)


Kyla doing her best lion roar!


The real guy was far less fearsome than she was...


Johnny and mom.


This flamingo cracked my up, I didn't know their legs could bend that way...

the big chair

These three are rarely sitting down when they are together... either it was a great movie or we finally tired them out! Notice Kyla is in a swimsuit, she and Jade change dress ups every 5 minutes until they find the right one for that day... apparently it was a swimsuit day.


Johnny has discovered the world of the Wii. He loves to play "ready go" with daddy. He has some rad moves on the snowboard, some even Beave doesn't know!

A nose between each pair of eyes, noses noses every size

We have had some excitement with noses the last two days. Yesterday Johnny drove his ride on car down the stairs. It was only the short stairs (5) but it still gave him a good bloody nose. Did I mention he was on the car as it went over the edge?! This is the damage the day after...


Kyla was getting herself some lotion today and had a lotion explosion! We were both glad it didn't end up in her eyes or mouth...

THE SECTIONAL

So this is our "new" couch... It started as a freebie couch from Katie and Randy when we first got married, I think they had gotten it as a freebie from someone else... Steve recovered it back then, we choose a creamy color... it was great until we had kids... Even cleaning left water marks I couldn't get out. Last year on "one of those days" the stained couch was the last straw and we got new couches. Steve couldn't let the sectional go so it moved to our basement. The few stains it got up stairs were soon taken over by the monster stains it got in the basement, it is kind of our anything goes room. I kept threatening to throw it out so Beave decided to recover it again... he really likes it. :) And here is the finished product. When Beave wants something done, he just does it, it doesn't matter if he has never done anything like it before or never been "taught" how, he just jumps in and learns as he goes. Thanks Steve for our NEW couch!

Ballerina

We have been reading Madeline books and watching Madeline movies at our house, Kyla loves the ones about ballet. Ok Johnny does too... They both sing "Ballet, Ballet" and do their ballet dance. I made Kyla this tutu on Saturday, she was so excited to be a "real prima ballerina." I think I should get this girl into dance... :)

Best Friends and other tid bits

Ky and John have decided that they are best friends. They play together like friends not just two kids in the same space. It is mostly Kyla who has changed... she will say things like "John do you want to come see my room?" A question she reserves for friends. If she thinks she hears him wake up from his nap she will go check on him, if he wasn't awake before she checks he is after, she is anxious to play with him. Johnny asks where Kyla is as much as he asks where daddy is now. It is a new found freedom for me. I don't have two kids following me around all the time. It means a few more messes, since I am not always in the same space, but it is great!

Kyla has discovered a new book, Fancy Nancy, if you have little girls who like to dress up, it is a great book. She wanted to wear all these hair clips at once so she could be fancy like Nancy.



We have 1:00 church now so Sunday mornings are pretty lazy around here. I was getting ready, Steve went to a meeting and these two best buddies found a cool spot to color. I think Beave took the this picture, by the time I found them they had moved on to coloring "other" books...



The other day Kyla said, "Lets do something fun today, lets make cupcakes." We did and here they are enjoying them. Johnny does a good job of devouring the whole cup cake, Ky just eats the frosting and "saves the rest for the morning."

TOO SWEET

2 Awesome Things

#1 Steve has been trying to convince me for years to get some new hiking shoes, I just wear my running shoes for everything. Well now my running shoes (note: they are no longer used for running, I walk my hilly neighborhood!) are a few years past their prime, and Beave talked me into some new shoes. I got them online and when they came they were a little small. I went to the local outdoorsy store, found the same shoe in a 1/2 size bigger and they swapped me straight across!! How great is that?!
#2 I haven't scrap booked a single picture in 2 years, something about a baby and now two busy toddlers. Anyway, I made a goal to get Johnny's book done at least up to where Ky's is, 18 months. I sat down yesterday, my only day at home this week, and cranked out 10 pages. Ky and Johnny played and entertained each other all day, the house looks like it was two kids and no mom all day but, I am that much closer to my goal!!
Some would say this is just normal everyday stuff but to me they are major accomplishments. Yeah for the little things!

Christmas

Blessing or a Curse...

It has been a crazy month full of sick kids, sick mom, and even sick dad (who never gets sick!), a country crossing travel dad, and as noted earlier lots and lots of snow. Amidst all that we have been trying to do some Christmas things, it usually includes some yummy baked goods but our oven quit last week. I have been forcibly relieved from baking this year. I came up with some Christmas style rice crispie treats. Funny little Ky helped me make them, posed for the picture, and then decided she does not like rice crispie treats...

Fun in the Bubbles

After two days of shoveling snow I quit, I let the snow stay in the driveway and played with the kids instead. Johnny wasn't too sure about the cold bubbles, he didn't like the snow on his glove, he kept telling me it was dirty. Kyla was trying to make a snow angel but sunk into her knees getting to a "good spot" so it just had wings.

Johnny got tossed off the back of the sled but it didn't phase him, he got right back on.

This time he got on the front so the next one to fall off the back was not him... smart kid. This is our friend Sarah who came to play with us in ths snow. The schools have been closed for 3 days now and they were getting bored at their house.

Bubbles!!

We woke up to 12 inches of SNOW and it is still falling. Johnny calls snow "bubbles" the first time it snowed it took me most of the day to figure out he wasn't asking for a bath but talking about the white stuff outside that looks like a really big bubble bath! Kyla thinks snow means it is Christmas day, so she was really excited about the snow this morning, "its Christmas time!" I was less excited than my kids, it is beautiful, but Steve is conveniently out of town so that means I get to shovel all 12+ inches... It only took me a half hour to get the garbage out...

Johnny's breakfast

Johnny loves bananas!! He also loves trains, today he made his banana slices into a train... He does not love pictures when they are not his idea.

Our November and December

I haven't been keeping up with this blog thing so... you are going to get it all at once. Steve's parents came to stay with us the first part of November. We took them on the "polar express" The grand canyon railroad in Williams, AZ does a 2 hour train ride with the polar express theme, complete with hot chocolate, cookies, and Santa. I have to say my kids were more excited about the cookies than Santa...

Johnny and his treats.

Ky thought the hot chocolate was the best ever!

My two cuties.

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. Johnny loved playing at grandma's and especially this dress up hat. I think Steve took the picture to balance out all the princess heels and necklace pictures we have...

Funny kids.

Johnny "helping" Beave put the lights on the tree. He loves Chirstmas lights, whenever we see some he says "WOW, lights!! More!"

Making our ginger bread train It is amazing it has candy on it, most ended up in our tummies...

tagged

I've been tagged...

So here's the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six (or five... :) ) non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.



1. The moment I started taking birth control, almost 7 years ago now, my hair started to curl. It was a slow painful process starting in the back and moving forward, it took YEARS. I really thought I was going to get curly in the back, straight in the front a sought after style... didn't happen. And now it is all curly, from back to front and top to bottom. I thought I was a phenomenon and should be in a book or something. This summer I found out two disturbing facts. #1 my curly hair will not go back straight when my body no longer thinks it is pregnant 24/7... it will probably continue to get curlier and curlier. And #2 I am not the only one... apparently it is common in Tremonton Utah... So I am embracing my curls and the rest of the body alterations that come free of charge with babies.

2. I am 100% addicted to happy endings; in books, movies, real life... everything! Most especially in books. Movies rarely stay with my very long and real life I expect a little unhappy along the way... This summer after a couple year sabbatical from reading novels I started reading again, I don't know why I thought I didn't have the time... I eased myself back in slow, reading a couple teen books to start. Can I just say, perfect for me, everyone learns the appropriate lesson and everyone ends happy. I did graduate to adult reading but still prefer the books that end with a good old happy ending!

3. Nothing can change my mood faster or more effectively than sleep. I have a “pumpkin hour” after which I may still be awake but I may no longer be the charming princess at the ball... I get grumpy. And with out sufficient sleep the previous night, I am still the unpleasant step sister in the morning. It is a well known fact, I try to overcome the grumpy bug but sometimes all I can do is admit to being grumpy and go to sleep. Yesterday Kyla said she was too tired to be nice to Johnny.... I may have to try harder to kick the grumpy bug.

4. I love tradition! Even when I think the tradition is not that great and something new would probably be more fun, I have this overwhelming urge to stick with tradition.

5. I am getting to be a little OCD. Steve would say that is an understatement... I know most if not all the toys my children have and can have a sleepless night over a missing car. There are nine and if we only clean up eight at bedtime it can drive my crazy. I currently have a nagging “where is it” in the back of my mind over a pink princess cell phone...

And there you go. If you feel like you need a tag today, consider yourself tagged.

THE master bathroom!!

So here it is, the finsihed master bathroom. It took me awhile to remember to take a picture. Just to remind you of the before I put the picture up again.

So excited for this project to be done for 2 reasons, no more mess and super nice bathroom in the end. Beave worked all summer on this, he had help from friends on some of the new things like moving a toilet three feet to the right... He did a great job, so happy for my handy husband!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!! We have had a fun week of Halloween activities and parties, Kyla asked if we were going to have cake, it isn't a party without cake! HALLOWEEN! Friday we went to Flagstaff's Halloween party, they do trick or treating in all the down town shops and a big carnival at the park. Ky opted for the lady bug this time and Johnny declined a costume. Kyla's favorite part of the night was trick or treating at the library, she got to see Miss Gail, her story time teacher, she loved it! Johnny's favorite was this pumpkin and cat decoration, he is into both right now. Beave's favorite was his friend's kid's teen band. I loved that it was warm! Kyla wouldn't say trick or treat just "thank you" after she got a treat and Johnny would say "treat treat" but not thank you. People liked Johnny's no option policy... treat or treat, no tricks for him!
Cute Kyla with our Halloween tree, the kids colored the ornaments one day for "another Halloween party." Kyla is a firm believer in multiple parties to celebrate an event!! Their favorite part was gluing on the googly eyes.
For our Ward's Halloween party Kyla dressed up as sleeping beauty and Johnny was the scary dragon. He didn't like the hood much... he wore it for all of 30 seconds and was crying the whole time. Here is the result of our annual pumpkin carving with our friends the Goodmans. And a ghost stopped by for the party. Steve had the camera on a crazy slow night setting and caught the ghost, it is Kyla.
Our family of pumpkins, Ky wanted her's to be a baby with a "cute bow" and then she thought Johnny's needed one too, we came up with a bow tie instead. Johnny has loved the pumpkins he makes a "whoo whoo" ghosty noise when he is talking about them.