Weston Turned 8!

Last Wednesday was Weston's 8th birthday! He was really excited for his birthday this year and I tried to make it special. He woke up to some birthday decorations in the kitchen. After breakfast we let him open his presents from us (well most of them). He got a tiny quad RC helicopter. It's really cool and it was just what he wanted. He also got a Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie and a Green Lantern dress up. It was a fun morning. 

I dropped off a birthday "treat" to Weston at school at lunch time. I am bummed I forgot to take a picture because he was so cute when he came to the office wearing his birthday crown and feeling so cool carrying a bunch of Doritos to his class. The Doritos were a big hit.

After school a few of Weston's friends came over and Ian and I took them (plus Davin) to play at Jump On It. We left Talia and Beckett at home with a sitter. We probably could have brought them and it would have been fine, but it sure was nice not having to worry about keeping them happy the whole time. The boys had a blast running and jumping on the trampolines. The place was pretty empty so they could do whatever they wanted. We stayed for almost two hours then took the whole crew over to Carl's Jr. for dinner (per Weston's request of course).

They played in the play place and ate their food. It was hilarious listening to their conversations in the car and at dinner. They talked about football (and their disinterest in football for some), how kissing is gross, and even delved into some doctrinal speculation (I believe the question was What if Satan's Plan Had Worked?). Bahaha. Weston is lucky to have so many great friends.

After dinner we headed back to the house and Weston opened presents from his friends. They know him well since they all got him Lego's. Then it was time to sing and eat cake! Weston requested chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. He said it's the only cake he likes. I have to mostly agree. It turned out delicious, but unfortunately the cute writing frosting ran when I covered it up for the night on Tuesday. Oh well, still yummy.

By the time friends went home it was time to get everyone to bed and for Ian and I to crash on the couch. Before Weston went to bed he said it was the best birthday yet and that it would probably be the best birthday he ever has. I guess we set the bar pretty high. I loved that I didn't have to have a ton of kids at my house but he still got to celebrate with friends. I can't believe Weston is 8. That just sounds like such a big kid!

Not Much

 Ian has been very very busy and stressed with work. He has a couple big projects he is working on and it has meant a lot of late nights plus early mornings plus weekends spent at the office. We have been missing him a lot, but I can't complain too much. He has a good job that provides more than enough for our family. I really appreciate how hard Ian works to support our family even though times like these are definitely no fun. And I know that his company is thankful for his dedication to doing a good job.

Anyway, I was telling my mom on the phone the other night that we haven't been doing anything. I thought about blogging last week but couldn't think of anything to tell about. I felt kind of bad about that. Since this is our family journal I probably shouldn't just wait for big events to include. We have been plugging along with the day to day stuff.

I watched my neighbor's boys one afternoon/evening and they all had a great time playing together. My boys got these rainbow rubber band looms and they have been bracelet making fools for the last couple weeks. They teach their friends how to make them too and are always giving away bracelets. I think it's really cute and fun and keeps them busy! I just loved that there was a table full of boys crafting the other day. :)

 Beckett's favorite time of day is bath time. He gets so excited when he knows he's getting a bath. Unfortunately he has developed a few annoying bath time habits. If there are any cups in the bath then he drinks the water. If there aren't any cups in the bath he splashes. Sigh. Good thing he's super cute and happy if I let him do either of those annoying things.

 Talia has been kind of a pill lately. She is having a hard time learning to be nice to her not-really-a-baby-anymore brother. Every time he plays with a toy that she has ever thought of as hers she runs over to take it away. Even when she was perfectly happy playing with something else at the time. It's exhausting. Being on my own so much hasn't helped my patience, but we have managed. I can only think of two major Talia v. Mommy battles in the last couple weeks. When Tal is being sweet and happy we are pals.

 I really want to frame this quote from Audrey Hepburn for Talia's room and hope she will take it to heart. "Happy girls are the prettiest girls."

 It is January and has therefore been really cold in the mornings and at night. Luckily our days warm up to the mid-high 30's, which feels pretty decent when the sun is out. One morning Davin deemed it so cold that he needed his hat. I checked the thermostat and it was only 9 degrees outside. Poor boys!

 Weston spent a good 30 minutes in the bathroom last week pulling out another loose tooth! I think it was just bugging him every time he tried to eat so he decided it was coming out. Since Daddy wasn't home and Mommy refused to help pull the tooth he did it on his own. He was pretty excited about getting it out. :)

The 100th day of school is coming up for the boys! They both had been assigned to make a poster or project using 100 small items. Weston made this fun poster out of leftover Lego candy from his birthday party last year. I had to do all the hot gluing on it, so that was kind of a pain, but he really loved it and was so excited to turn it in. Davin made a melty bead creation out of 100 melty beads. I didn't get a picture of it, but it was a pretty small square that he made in a checkerboard pattern out of yellow and purple beads. He was also happy with his creation.

 I was really excited about my fitness routine, but it got thrown off a bit last week when the kids lovingly passed along their cold to me. I'm pretty sure I was the sickest out of everyone. It was so frustrating since I had just spent most of December being sick! Boo. I rested Thursday-Sunday, but I went back to Bootcamp today and it felt great! I also have been working on cleaning up my diet. It's definitely going to be a work in progress, but I am gathering some clean eating recipes from friends and neighbors and am seeing what works best for me and my family. I tried these black bean tacos for lunch the other day and they are really good. Especially when I'm cold and hungry and a salad just won't cut it.

Random photo of me in a new shirt. This is a pretty standard example of my mommy fashion. :)

 Ian was home with us on Sunday. We went to church and then just really enjoyed our afternoon/evening being together. Ian spent quality time playing with all the kids, helped me make dinner, worked on Weston's pinewood derby car design, and helped me get the kids to bed after we all snuggled up and watched a little American Ninja Warrior. It was a great day. I'm looking forward to his schedule calming down a bit so we can have evenings like this more regularly.

 Talia was spotlighted in Primary on Sunday and I had to laugh at the Getting to Know You sheet she filled out. Apparently she has imaginary sisters that she plays games with. And she hasn't learning anything in life so far. Haha. She is doing really well in Sunbeams. I was worried about her being such a young 3 year old in Sunbeams, and the fact that she tends to not always be the most obedient, but she's doing great and seems to like her new class. Her new favorite song is "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." I sing it to her before nap and bed almost every time and she tells me I'm supposed to jump every time too.  I tell her it's time to be calm and not jump.  Love her.

This post ended up being pretty full for not being up to a whole lot. Sometimes I need to remind myself that these everyday moments, successes and failures are the big stuff. 

My Baby is a Toddler.

My sweet baby Beckett is no longer a tiny baby. He is officially a toddler. He gets into all kinds of mischief, moves around the house and up and down the stairs as he pleases. He closes doors and throws fits when I take something away he is not supposed to have (like the remote). He loves a lot of the same toys that his sister loved a year ago and which she still thinks of as hers. He loves to read books. He will often bring books to me to read to him throughout the day. He eats like a champ! He eats more than his sister on a regular basis and gets grouchy when dinner is too late for his liking.

He just is getting so big and busy these days! On the other hand, there are lots of really fun parts of this age. He is super fun to play with and laughs easily. He still snuggles when he's tired and is still a little bit squishy. I love his crazy baby post-nap hair, but a couple weeks ago it was getting a little out of control. It was time for another hair cut.

He did a great job holding (relatively) still while he got his hairs trimmed. It helped that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was on. He was really excited when I let him hold his own sucker. It was a huge sticky, drooly mess, but he was so happy to have it I couldn't take it away. At least not until he started eating the paper stick. :)

I sure love snuggling my sweet boy. I hope that we can get a handle on the whole sharing thing with Talia soon so everyone can play happily. :) That includes sharing Mom. It's a bit of a problem. But when they aren't fussing with each other I have no problem holding them both. Love my babies!

Babbling

I couldn't resist sharing this here. Just in case you missed seeing it on Facebook. I love Beckett's "talking." His sister is quite charming as well. ;)

Me Party

On our way home from Jump On It last Friday Ian texted me to see if I wanted to go out with a friend that night.  It turns out all my friends were busy, but I still kind of wanted to go out, so I headed out to shop on my own.  It was super fun.  I went to Old Navy to shop for some new work out clothes.  I was down to only one pair of bottoms, so it was time. Every time I'm at Old Navy I always have to check out their clearance too. I found so much great stuff. It was so fun to shop for myself. I ended up getting 3 workout tops, 3 workout bottoms, 4 regular tops, a cardigan, and a pair of pants for Tal for $118. Gotta love Old Navy. Plus my parents helped pay for part of that with my Christmas gift card. Thanks Mom and Dad! You know I always love the gift of shopping! :)

Here are a few modeling selfies cause I had to show my sisters and Mom what I bought. 

Other than that not a whole lot was happened that first week back at school.  Lots of staying home since it is cold. And lots of playing with friends. One day Talia had her friend, Greta, over for the afternoon. I wasn't sure how they would do since in the past Talia hasn't been too good at getting along with other little girls, but I was so impressed at how well they played together! They had a blast! They played toys in the basement nicely, they played in Talia's room with her doctor kit and her babies, they watched a couple of shows (and Tal was even nice about letting Greta pick ones she had never watched before like Barbie), and they watercolored, which was a big hit.

Davin also got to play with his buddies from church and school, Cole and Ella (they are twins). They hadn't ever been over to our house before, but one snowy day Davin went over to their house and played in the snow and then they all migrated over to our house. They got cold after a little while so they came inside and played in the basement and had lots of fun. We are so lucky to have so many sweet neighbor friends and to have them all live so close! I love our neighborhood.

Of course Beckett was kicking around during all of this. He is getting so big and he wants to be involved in all the big kids' fun. Luckily he is a pretty mellow baby and doesn't bug the big kids. He just likes to be in the same room as them and play with toys. Weston and Davin are both really good about keeping an eye on him when he follows them to the basement, which I appreciate since there are always stray Lego's floating around.

Beckett and Talia have been early risers lately. Tal is up at 6:15 almost every day and lately Beckett has been joining the crack of dawn party.  I'm always bummed when Beck wakes up early too because he's still to little to sit in front of a show while I go back to bed. Sigh.

Hopefully their schedule will trend to sleeping a little bit later soon. Other than that I have been busy working out! Got my New Year's motivation going and it feels so good. I have still been going to Zumba on Wednesday and Saturday. I also added a new class I'm really liking called Cardio Sculpt on Monday nights. It's at the gym where Davin does gymnastics and my friend, Nicole, has been going with me. It's being offered for free this month, but I think I'll get a punch pass there so I can keep going next month too. It's a great workout and changes every week. The other exciting fitness thing is that our neighborhood got together and worked out a deal with the Legends Fitness Center right by us, so Ian and I decided to join. It was too good a deal to pass up. Only $16/month included daycare! I am excited to try their Turbokick class. They offer Zumba a couple nights a week too. So far I've only taken Sundays off this month. If I can't make it out I hop on the elliptical in the basement. It's not as good of a workout, but it's better than nothing and it buys me 30 minutes to watch a show while the kids play. :) 

This is the first year in a long time that I didn't actually sit down and write out goals for the new year, but I have them firmly rooted in my brain. I was trying to keep it simple. One goal for each area of my life: mind, body, spirit, family. I'm obviously working on exercising regularly and eating better to go along with that. I am striving to be a better scripture studier this year and have started reading the Book of Mormon with a great study guide. It's completely manageable and inspirational and gives me a place to start if I decide to dig deeper. If you're interested you can get it HERE. My family goal is to unplug more often. I haven't completely fleshed out a plan for this. So far I'm just trying to keep a handle on limiting the kids and my own screen time. As for my mind . . . my goals are to learn to play my ukelele (there's a summer workshop I'm looking at) and to take an online Spanish class. I'm feeling good about not stressing myself out with too many goals, but I like to have a specific direction to take. Wish me luck this year as I strive to be a little better than last year. :)

Jump On It

Ian had to go back to work on January 2nd, so there were a couple of days at the end of the kids' winter break when I was on my own with them.  I decided we needed an outing on Friday, but everything I planned kept falling through. Finally, we decided to go check out a trampoline jumping place.  It was a blast.  I paid for two hours thinking we would be lucky to last that long, but everyone loved it and the boys were begging to stay longer at the end.

It was nice because there was a whole section just for littler kids (4 feet and under). They could go on the main area too, but big kids couldn't jump in the red zone. Even Beckett loved jumping with me.  My back did not love me jumping with Beckett though. :) There were a couple of bounce houses, a trampoline stunt area, a toddler area with toys and blocks, and some arcade games. Beckett was kind of exhausting to follow around, but he was content to sit on my lap and "drive" the arcade games. He liked to bounce on the trampolines with me, and he liked to just walk around on the mats.

Weston and Davin did some tricks, played football, and jumped everywhere. It took Talia a little while to get comfortable, but she eventually would jump on her own.  She was still pretty particular about having her own trampoline space, but we didn't have any major meltdowns, so I'd say it was a success. Definitely a fun way to end the Christmas break.

Happy 2014!

We had a pretty chill New Year's. That evening we met up with our friends, the Matagi's, for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. It was kind of nuts since we have so many kids, but still a good time. The kids get along so well and have a blast together and Tara and Justin are always good company. :)

After dinner we all headed to the Nickelcade for some game playing fun. The kids took off and spent all their nickels playing fun games. They each got enough tickets for a few little prizes too.  Talia was obsessed with the little ride corner so that's where I hung out most of the time letting Tal ride the rides over and over again. I won her some tickets so she could get a couple candies at the end. Definitely a fun way to party and send off the old year and ring in the new.

We got home at 9:30 and put the kids all to bed.  Ian and I stayed up and watched 42 after they were asleep. We rung in 2014 quietly with a little Martinelli's and some kissing. Maybe next year we will let the boys stay up.

New Year's Day we took the morning slow. Once we were all ready we headed out on our annual New Year's shopping trip for a new calendar. It was kind of a bust. Ian and I both found calendars we liked, but the kids were just tired and whiny/pouty, so we pretty much just drove to the bookstore, got our stuff and drove home. The babies napped that afternoon.

I am looking forward to this coming year. I have plans for small improvements in my life and hopes for good things. Happy New Year!