Too much candy

You know your 3 year old has had too much candy when he asks you to take it away from him and put it up high so he can't get it.

Guess who isn't crazy about Santa

Although Santa had Kode in a headlock, he was actually really excited to see Santa. Ruby . . . not so much. Maybe next year.

The Leaves are falling

And we are playing in them.

Missile Toe

So the other night we were singing a Christmas song that had the word "mistletoe" in it. After the song, I asked the kids if they knew what mistletoe was. Lyda had no idea and Kode said, "Is missile toe your big toe"? We laughed pretty hard at that, and we now call our big toes our missile toes.

Polar Express

So we finally went to the Polar Express up in Williams, AZ. Our kids were pretty excited to ride on a real train all the way to the real North Pole. The best part about the trip was watching their excitement. Steve & I were a little unimpressed overall. We felt like they could have stepped it up a bit and made it an even neater experience. But, we are glad that we made the trip and we are also glad that there are several pictures of Ruby so when she doesn't remember the trip, we can prove that she went too. So here are a few pics of the trip.

An Equation

This



Plus this



And this



Equals this

Thanksgiving Trip

This is what our Thanksgiving looked like.







We had a great weekend with almost all of Steve's family at the cabin. It was great to catch up with family that we don't get to see very often. The kids had a blast and Kode is still asking me to take him back to the cabin. Our kids are truly happy up there.

All Lyda wants for Christmas . . .

Is a REAL invisible castle and powers.

Family Pictures

We did some family pictures recently with my side of the family. We got a few good ones, and some not so good ones. The joy of taking pictures with children.

Walking!!!

Well it's official now. Ruby has finally let go of my fingers and gotten off of her tiptoes and she is walking! I cannot tell you how happy this makes me, and her.

Sweet & Funny Lyda

Lyda occasionally leaves me notes around the house like this:



I love these notes. She's even gone so far as to cut a rose from over the backyard fence just for me. And then we talked about taking things that don't belong to us.

So Ruby has recently learned how to change television shows on our DVD/VHS machine. And she thinks it's funny to watch Lyda & Kode react. The other day Lyda got so frustrated and this was the result:



Lyda found a nearby laundry basket, put Ruby in it and pushed her over to our time out corner. I got a good laugh out of that. Ruby wasn't crazy about the idea.

And finally, Lyda's prayers have been cracking me up lately. Here are a few of my favorites:

"Please bless my dad that when he drives home from work today that there will be music on the radio that he likes"

"Thank you for telling my mom to invite our friends over to watch the Tinkerbell movie and eat popcorn"

"Thank you for the air conditioning in our car"

"Thank you for a silly mom and dad that make me laugh. Like right now when my mom called my brother a cry-bag"

"Please bless my brother that he will stop talking during this prayer"

"Please bless me and my brother that we won't give my mom a hard time"

"Please bless that my brother will stop being a booger"

What a fun and wonderful girl we have living with us. Love you Lyda!

Halloween

Halloween began with pumpkin carving for Family Night. The kids thought the innards of the pumpkins were disgusting. Kode refused to ever put his hand inside of one and Lyda eventually consented and then decided that we should start a pumpkin cleaning service which would bring in so much money that Steve could stay home from work more often. These were the final pumpkins. The one in the middle is supposed to be throwing up pumpkin seeds and all the goo, but we never ended up getting it out there before it had to be thrown away. And the one on next to Kode is none other than Avatar Aang. I know we are ridiculous.


Lyda got to wear her costume to school on Halloween for their parade. This is her and Zoey holding hands on their way to school. They had so much fun wearing beautiful dresses, makeup and sparkles in their hair.



Pictures from the parade. Lyda won for best costume in her class. Thank you Aunt Dianne for not being able to resist buying her costume this year.





So Halloween night finally came and moments before we were heading to the ward party, Lyda said she felt like she was sick and might throw up. She was devastated. She had been looking forward to this moment for months. So I, being the mean old mom that I am, decided to follow her with the camera to snap of pic of her with the throw up bowl. She wasn't happy. Fortunately her stomach issues disappeared as quickly as they started and she had a fun night.



Kode was Aang. Surprised?



And Ruby was a sweet care bear.



This is the only shot that I could get Lyda to sort of smile in. (Her stomach still hurt and she was afraid that she would have to stay home). So it's the best shot of all three kids, and it's pretty terrible. Maybe next year I can stay out of the picture.



We went to our ward party, we knocked on a few doors and we attended a friend's birthday party that night. Overall I think it was a fun night for the kids. And after about a 24 hour sugar high, they have somehow forgotten about the rest of the candy. Hooray!

Our "Free" year old

Last Monday was Kode's third birthday! He tells everybody now that he is "free". (We really need to work on those "th's"). We had a small gathering of some of his little preschool friends and called it a birthday party. That kid was super spoiled this birthday. I can't believe how many new things we have lying around our house now. Here are a few pics with his friends.

Eating cake and ice cream in the backyard.


Hazel watching as Kode opens the present from her. These two are such good buds.


We had such a Spiderman birthday this year. Thank you Jessica for the gooey mess that accompanied this present.


And what little boy's birthday party would be complete without dressing up and eating heart shaped honey sandwiches? I guess that's how it goes when you're constantly surrounded by girls. At least he isn't wearing a dress. And please note the masculine centerpiece.


Kode has been anxiously awaiting this bike. He found it in Steve's parent's shed months ago and has finally gotten big enough for it. He would always check it out when he visited their house and he would refer to it as his bike. He was a little nervous to ride at first, but he is a fast learner and loves it now. We went on a mile long walk the other day and he did awesome.


These hulk hands were a gift from my parents. We have had a lot of fun with them and I just had to see them on Ruby. She was just sort of enjoying herself.

Happy birthday to my sweet little three year old. I love you so much and can't believe how fast you've grown. I am so glad to be your mommy and am enjoying watching you learn and and figure things out around you. You always tell me that you want to be as tall and strong as your daddy, and at the rate you are going that will happen entirely too fast. Slow Down!!

Ruby is One!

Well yesterday was Ruby's first birthday. Wow that year went fast. I swear it goes faster with each child. We had a little family birthday party for her last night. (Not to leave Kode out, we also celebrated for him with family since his birthday is on Monday. But this post is for Ruby and I'll report on Kode on Monday). Ruby was so fun to watch last night. I think she enjoyed having so much attention, well, until everybody watched her eat cake. She just sort of looked at the cake for a minute trying to figure out how to eat it. It was too big to pick up, but I don't think she really likes her hands all messy either. She poked it a little and then she so leaned over to bite it. We all got a kick out of it and I think she thought we were so weird to be watching her. Or maybe she thought we were cruel for not helping her. Eventually I cut it up a little and gave her a plastic fork. She was excited about that and near the end just had fun aggressively smashing it up on her high chair tray. Thanks Lisa and mom for making a special girlie cake for Ruby. She took some unassisted steps for everyone but mostly just held on to my finger and walked around me over and over squealing the whole time. She was so much fun. She had plenty of help from other small, but bigger, children opening her presents. She loves her new noisy musical toys and can't help but dance every time they start singing. We also got her a swing for our swingset that Steve installed today. She already seems to love being out there swinging with her brother and sister.


Having so much fun!


Being spoiled with presents.


Cake Time!


Getting a little help from a friend. Thanks Fin.


We found the kids eating under here.


Lyda was desperate to find somebody to wear a birthday hat.


Didn't Lisa do a great job decorating the cake? I was so sad to cut it.


Yeah for the new birthday swing!

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl! We love you so, so much. What a blessing you are to our family. I can't imagine life without you.