Maxed Out

Eric's dream vehicle, yes the one he had a poster of on our wall while we saved up for it, is now filled to capacity. With five little boys, every seat is filled in the Honda Odyssey these days and it is up for debate on whether our little ones are too close for comfort. It is a good thing that the school, church, and library and just minutes away.

Kids Behind the Camera

Every now and then I let the boys have free reign of the camera for twenty minutes or so. I am always amazed at the pictures they choose to take. It is funny for a moment to see the world through their eyes.



Tanner

Christian

The Beloved Star Wars Game.

The latest movie from the library (another example of Hyrum getting his picture taken with an object)

More. . .

The latest Willow Tree Figurine Eric gave me for Christmas.

Random Sampling of what is on the kitchen counter.

The love to take pictures of what is on our walls.

Sam took a picture of every page in his Lego Instruction booklet.

Last Batch

Christian's favorite lego set.

Tanner changing into his pajamas (we may have to talk to them about proper photography etiquette)

Just hang'in out on a Sunday afternoon (and yes, Hyrum does have clothes but like his older brothers, is going through a phase where he prefers NOT to wear them)

Totally Two

Hyrum probably asks me to take his picture two or three times a week. He usually wants his picture taken with something and insists on putting it right in front of his face. In my opinion it cheats me out of the cutest part of the picture. . . but when you are two you have your own opinion of artistry and style.

Graham Cracker Houses

On Friday the boys and I (and Sam's friend Sarah) decorated graham cracker houses. Unlike Job, patience is not oozing from me, and I knew better than to make gingerbread houses that would most definitely not be the right size, that would break during assembly, and would take hours to set before being ready to decorate (of course we'd have to try to decorate it only to have it collapse. . . i would want to spit fire. . . the boys would start crying). So I pulled out the honeymaid graham crackers and the glue gun and we all had a tear free, spit-fire free GREAT time.



I think less than half of the candy made it onto the houses.

True to boy form, Christian's gingerbread house was transformed into a "Jedi Temple" . . .

. . .while Tanner's gingerbread house included cannons on the side and a machine gun on the roof (what else could exclaim Christmas Cheer as those two items).

Any Ideas?

Any ideas what this is a picture of?

About a week ago I decided that it was time for Hyrum to rid himself of his thumb sucking habit (he's had a runny nose almost all Fall and I can't help but think that when you are two you touch everything and that putting it all into your mouth doesn't help much to aid the cause of healthly living). So in the past week we've juggled an assortment of thumb sucking deterrents. I've sown socks onto shirts, I've pinned little gloves onto shirts, and the most resent and simplest trend is to just fold and pin the sleeve shut. The first four hours were really rough. There was a lot of crying and tears for the thumb. And then wallah. . . I think he finally realized that we were serious. Since then we hear an occasional (like twice a day) plea for the LEFT thumb, but not much more than that. Hopefully in two weeks this thumb sucking adventure will be behind us.

Well that was wishful thinking. . . A few mornings back I went in to the get the baby (he'd been asleep for almost 12 hours) and what did I find? Little Warner was just as content as could be in his bassinet SUCKING HIS THUMB.

Beyond Scary

Rumor has it when it is -10 face masks are a must for recess. So I decided to splurge the 2.99 at get them each one. Aren't they a scary looking bunch?

This cold isn't effecting them a bit. I drove to the school a few days ago to pick them up. It had been -7 earlier that day and they had gone out for recess. In the spirit of a loving mother, I decided I would meet them at the school and save them from the winter chill. Well, I sat in the van and waited and waited and waited. My boys were the very LAST three kids out of the school. Where I was parked I could see them but they couldn't easily see me. So I just sat and watched them as they walked down the path towards me having the time of their lives sliding down a little slope on their snowpants. I watched as they would turn and run back up the slope and slide again and again and again. It was obvious that they weren't scurrying home to get out of the cold. When they FINALLY made it to the van, I rolled down my window to say hi.
"What are you doing here mom?" Tanner asked.
"I thought I'd come and pick you up today," I replied
"Why?" asked Sam
"Well, it is cold today," I exclaimed.
"It is?"
All three of them looked at me like I was out of my mind. I would think that any sane person, after evaluating the weather, would agree with me that anything below 10 degrees is cold, really cold. But I'm not convinced that it is my sanity is that is in question. I'm the mom who insists that my silly boys wear long sleeved shirts UNDER their favorite t-shirts that they wear to school, I make them wear socks, and I draw the line at NO shorts at school when the weather is below 40 (much to Sam's dismay). . . and all in the spirit of keeping warm in Alaska during the winter. Call me crazy. . . but if the shoe fits I'll happily wear it, especially if it is rated for -45!


Well, that may just be the last time I pick the boys up from school on account of it being cold outside. So bring on the face masks.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning is always so much fun. Never ones to be tied down by tradition, we decided to hold Christmas on the morning of 24th so that Eric could enjoy some more "after christmas time" with the family (though I believe it was a ploy for him to openly enjoy the XBOX for an extra day) before going back to work. Yes, you read that right. Santa gave Eric, oh I mean CT&S, an XBOX. All FOUR of them were thrilled beyond measure at the gift (a product of ebay and craigslist). I think Mrs. Claus is going to have to play a bigger role in the gift selection for next year, though I don't think her gifts of books, crafts, games and things that use brain power would have been as well received.

Sam's Favorite Gift: XBOX Lego Star Wars and a "Robber's Mask" (aka a face mask)

C&T favorite gifts: XBOX Lego Star Wars and a LEGO skull castle which they were able to build all by themselves!!!

Hryums Favorite Gift: A Gift actually given to Sam from the Coons. . . a Shake and Go truck.

I had the camera in perfect position to capture the moment the boys discovered their Santa gift, only to realize after the fact that I hadn't pushed the record button hard enough. Oh well.

Presents

I was filled with an extra dose of excitement this Christmas Season.
I'm not sure what the source was (other that the Christmas Spirit itself) but I had such a good time doing the little things like wrapping presents. I think I could use a refresher course from my parents on how to do a perfect wrapping job.

I particularly like the flare that the ducttape added to our present assortment. (though completely intact, some of our gifts wrappings didn't weather the move from AZ to AK very well. Where-o-where is the scotchtape when you need it?)

Minature Monet

Here is Hryum with his first watercolor creations. Watch out Monet. . . .

Merry Moose

Can you see the three moose in this picture?
A Mama moose and her two cubs were in our yard a few weeks back. . . by the time I got around to finding the camera they had relocated to the neighbors.

So in the Spirit of Moose. . . we made granola for our neighbor gifts this year and put it into moose bags.

We received SO MANY goodies this year. I cannot believe it. I called Eric this morning and asked him if I could just throw the rest of them away. I have nibbled and nabbled and nibbled some more (okay, I know that nabbled isn't a word) until I have made myself SICK. I am looking forward to the day when treats becomes just that treats. . . instead the current position of main courses. Right now I feel like I have a little fruit with my chocolate covered pretzels, snickerdoodle cookies, and rice crispie treats.

Night at the Nativity

The Palmer Stake hosted a Night of Nativities. It was downright amazing with over a thousand nativities from all over the world. They had done an amazing job transforming a church building into a Bethlehem of sorts with cobblestone walls and lights everywhere. They handed the kids an eye spy sheet when they walked which kept them entertained while Eric and I were able to enjoy the nativities and live Christmas music.



Look at all these handsome boys!

Alaskan Nativity: Don't you love the offering? Salmon!