Thanksgiving 2009

So this was our best attempt at a family picture before Thanksgiving dinner. It's not perfect, but at least it documents us before half of the boy's food ended up on their shirts. And it captures Chloe's smiley face. How cute is she on her first Thanksgiving?

We had so much fun at my Aunt Becky's house. Here's some of the highlights:

-The entire meals was so good, but my mother takes the art of making homemade gravy to a whole new level. In heaven I will eat everything covered in it followed by a dessert of my Grandma Calder's Pecan Tassies.

-It was a gorgeous 82 degrees and the boy's entertained themselves in the jacuzzi for 2 hours.

-Discussing "deep" issues with my female relatives such as: the New Moon movie, the upcoming Newport Beach house vacation, which cousin will have the next baby, and Jamie's newly dyed red hair.

-Will's day of sports, starting with the Turkey Bowl in the morning, Volleyball, Table Tennis & Basketball at Becky's, and golfing with all the guys today.

-Snuggling up in our pajamas on the couch and watching Miracle on 34th Street with my Mom & the boys.

-Planning Black Friday shopping strategies. We aren't die hard enough to wake up early, but we did manage to get everything we wanted for the kids all in one morning.

-Eating my first See's Chocolate of the season.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Thankful #8

Today I am thankful for:

My Sister Danielle

(This is us the day after Thanksgiving 2004)

Here are just some of the reasons why:

-She's forgiven me (maybe?) for being a very bossy older sister
-She was my co-conspirator in high school when we took the mini-van through the car wash instead of hand washing it like we were supposed to.
-She has a gift with children. She loves them, they love her. Almost without exception. I sooooo wish she could be my kids 2nd grade teacher.
-She sends the best birthday packages, always on time (she used to work at a UPS store), and gift-wrapped even underneath the box. They are almost always stuffed with really good books.
-She has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor--you have to watch for the little comments under her breath.
-She can talk Twilight & New Moon with the best of them.
-She rarely complains (now why didn't I get that trait?)
-She ends most phone conversations with "Love you Aud!"
-She endures hard things with patience and faith.
-And, she's coming for Christmas this year. Hooray!
Love you Yelly.

Thankful #7

Today I am thankful for:

Pretending I'm 17 again.

Tomorrow I will be thankful for ANY form of a nap my children will allow me.

Thankful #6

Today I am thankful for:

Pre-School Art

Before I had kids I swore I would never clutter my refrigerator door with tacky construction paper creations. I don't know what I thought I was going to do with the constant paper trail they bring home, but I just didn't envision it taped up all over the place (this was also back when I thought it was a good idea to purchase butter yellow twill slip-covered couches. Lesson learned). But like everything else with kids, you do a lot of things you never thought you would.
Anyway, here's why I now proudly tape up most of what they bring home:
-No matter how bad their project is, your child still thinks it completely rocks. Self-doubt has not yet entered their mindset.
-I love holidays, and pre-school celebrates EVERY holiday, so you always feel festive. We currently have six different turkey renditions in our hallway so there's no forgetting about Thanksgiving around here (that was for you Danielle!).
-It's proof that they have an opportunity to do fun and messy projects, without me having to deal with glitter, finger paint, and melting crayons in my tiny condo.
-It's also proof that at some point they must have sat still for more than 10 seconds to create such projects.
-It provides a visual reminder of their progress. Scribbles become pictures which eventually become letters and numbers. It's fun to watch their handwriting improve.
-So many of their projects make me laugh, like when Luke drew a picture of himself including his very prominent "outie" belly button.
-Once it's been displayed for awhile I don't feel guilty about tossing it.

Thankful #5

Today I am thankful for:

A husband who put the kids to bed and put away the leftovers when I accidentally fell asleep on the couch after dinner.

I am grateful that he supports me as I try and get up early to exercise, even though it sometimes means I'm ready to check out by 9:00pm.

I appreciate gifts and flowers as much as the next girl, but when he does things like this after I've had a long afternoon with the kids it is so much more meaningful.

I'm also thankful for:

The opportunity to have lunch with my Mom, Grandma, & two Aunts who were in town. With Chloe there we had four generations of women in our family together. I love this. I hope she will come to appreciate how important the women who have come before her are and how much there is to learn from them.

Thankful #4

Today I am grateful for the Primary Program.

It's the best Sunday of the year.

Here's my kids in a rare photo shoot before church. Yes, that means we got ready early enough to have time for pictures of them dressed up.

These boys were great about practicing their parts this year. Even Luke, who has never gotten up to sing or participate with the Primary ever, happily went when they called the kids. Watching them say their lines was like a perfect study in their contrasting personalities. Ethan waved wildly at us with a smile as big as his face. He confidently gripped the microphone with two hands before starting his part. Luke stood sheepishly embarrassed when he saw us in the audience and then flushed bright red after saying his line. He also accidentally dropped the picture of himself that he was to hold up, but I think he was more amused than upset about that. Both boys were very cute to watch sing the songs. Luke, who was in the very front, rested his elbows on the stand and cupped his chin in his hands through every single number.
Practicing for the program also gave us a good opportunity to have a few chats about what their parts meant. I'm so glad they're building small & simple testimonies of the gospel. It's amazing how much is sinking in when they look like they're not paying attention at all (or completely wrestling each other) during family night.
I'm also grateful that I get to dress up a little girl for church. I've picked out quite a few sweater vests and ties in my time, but dresses, hairbows and church shoes are much more fun. Doesn't she look cute?

Thankful #3

This morning I'm thankful for:

Disneyland Passes

(okay, this picture is actually outside of California Adventure, but you get the idea).
I grew up with parents who (smartly) thought it was crazy to take kids to Disneyland during the most crowded time of the year. We lived locally, so why not wait until tourist season is over and have the park to yourself when you go? I agree with this logic, and therefore have never been to Disneyland outside of the months of October or March. However, thanks to some seriously aggressive advertising in the 80's & 90's (I can still hum the commercial's jingle in my head), Christmastime at Disneyland has always held a certain mystique to me. Was it really as cool as it looked on TV?

The answer is a big, huge YES. And even more so when you're an adult and can see your kids enjoy the magic with you. Armed with our new annual passes we picked Will up from work yesterday afternoon and went to the opening day of the Christmas festivities. All my Disneyland junkie friends are probably laughing at me by now, by I had no idea that they make it "snow" on Main Street, transform It's a Small World into a complete Christmas version, put snow on the Sleeping Beauty castle and coordinate the fireworks to Christmas carols. Not to mention all the decorations, lights and trees are beautiful. There were moments when I felt 10 years old again (although the Baby Bjorn strapped to me quickly jolted me back into my mother-of-three reality). Only Luke was a little concerned that Disney had completely overlooked Thanksgiving, but I think he'll get over it.

Hooray for the Holidays!

Thankful #2

While I have plenty of regrets and doubts in life, marrying Will is never one of them.

I am thankful for a husband that I respect and adore.

This picture is from my cousin Jamie's wedding this summer. I'm eight months pregnant and we still attempted to slow dance. When my Aunt sent it to me I thought of this candid shot from our wedding reception:
While our expressions look a bit more serious now, these two pictures remind me that we're still the just the same two people who fell in love almost nine years ago.

2 weeks till Turkey Day

My good friend Beth has inspired me with her month of "thankful posts" leading up to Thanksgiving. With a new baby it's a little difficult to keep the blog updated these days, but I think I could handle posting one quick note of gratitude a day during the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. So here it goes,

I am grateful that I get to kiss these cheeks:

And see this smile:

every single day.
I could not be any more in love with this little girl.

Trick or Treat . . .

. . . smell my feet

give me something good to eat!
If you don't, I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear!

The only happy thing about Halloween being over is that I'll stop hearing this lovely rhyme from my boys . . . over and over again.

Here's a photo re-cap of our week of festivities:

The annual trip to the local pumpkin patch. I realized when I was uploading this picture that this is the third time I've gone to the same pumpkin patch wearing a baby carrier with a different baby in it. This is what happens when your kids are all born in late Summer.
This is Luke in his "makes me be awesome and ferocious" T-Rex costume. These pictures are from his pre-school party, the one day of the year that I didn't have any problems convincing Luke he needed to get dressed for school.
Here's Ethan's pre-school party (do you think his smile could get any bigger?). I was in charge of decorating and bringing the snack. We had Witches Brew (apple cider with dry ice), Spider Bites (chocolate cookies with licorice legs), Pumpkin sandwiches (pumpkin shaped cheddar cheese slices on top of Ritz crackers), and Skeleton Hands (surgical gloves filled with popcorn and candy corn). Can you tell I come from a family that takes Halloween very seriously? If I wasn't so tired I'd devote an entire post to the elaborate carnival my aunt put on every year.
Friday was the church Trunk or Treat party where Chloe made her debut as the world's cutest sunflower.
And finally, the big night arrived. The T-Rex roared, the Chicken danced, and the Sunflower tolerated the whole thing pretty well, except for our brief attempt at a family shot when her petals over-took her little face!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is upon us

What kind of Halloween costume goes on sale before October 1st?

What kind of discounted Halloween costume is actually available in Ethan's size?
(In fact, it's on sale and still available in every size).

What kind of costume has a music box sewn inside the lining of the costume--which plays a song that still makes me cringe from memories of high school Stake dances?

What kind of costume is worthy of being the final selection of a child who absolutely agonizes over his Halloween costume?

What kind of costume trumps every alternative suggestion of aforementioned child's parents?

(And, no, it's not a Dung Beetle costume).

This year I'll be trick or treating with a . . .

DANCING CHICKEN
(and yes, he knows the dance, although I have no idea how he knows it. I certainly didn't teach it to him.)

Luckily, the costume had not arrived in time for him to wear it on his pre-school field trip to the pumpkin patch (not to mention it was 87 degrees outside!), so his Halloween T-shirt had to suffice.

Next up in our month of festivities: visiting the Halloween-version of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland for the first time!

Four Weeks of Firsts

I wish I was one of those people who could cocoon up in their house and rest after having a baby. But try as I might, I'm just not. I'm happiest when I'm out and about and as a result, so are my children. So, Miss Chloe has had a busy first four weeks of life. So busy in fact that I haven't been great about taking many pictures, but here are a few of the "firsts" I managed to capture:

First trip to San Diego

. . . visiting her Great-Grandparents, meeting some of the extended Rose & Calder relatives, sleeping through most of the labor day party.

First trip to the Zoo

. . . where she slept in the stroller the entire time while her brothers marveled (again) at the dung beetles.

First photo with her new cousin, Elsie Snow Bollard!

. . . these two little girls are just 15 days apart and we know they will be good friends amidst all of the boys. Congratulations Ben & Heidi, we are so glad we got to meet her, she is beautiful!

First wearing of a hair clip

. . . hooray for accessories! I am having so much fun.

NOT the first of the many, many smiles, hugs, kisses, (and pokes, startles, squeezes) she receives from Luke daily

First child of mine to ever tolerate a pacifier and act content in a bouncy seat for more than two minutes

. . . I adore this little girl.

Back Floats & Baby Updates

Today marked Ethan & Luke's graduation from swim lessons. When we started in May neither boy would even put their face in the water. In fact, we had a couple of lessons where Luke refused to get in the pool entirely. But now, three months and more money than I'd like to recall later, they passed their final benchmark to becoming Level 3 swimmers. To do so they had to jump in the pool fully clothed, without their goggles, and then float on their back for 10 seconds before swimming to the side of the pool. This demonstrates (hopefully) how they would react should they ever fall in the deep end of a pool accidentally.

Getting ready to jump
He floats!He did it! (And on his 5th birthday no less!)Here goes Lukey
10 seconds can be a long time . . .Relief! He did it too!Who knew two yellow ribbons (gold medals they call them) could make these boys so happy?

Today was also Chloe's first Dr.'s appointment. Our little sweet pea is literally very little, weighing in at the 13th percentile. However, she has surpassed her birth weight, gaining 10 ounces in the last week alone, so hopefully she'll be filling out her clothing soon. I can't say enough about how sweet and mellow this newborn is. When I was telling my pediatrician (who saw me through Ethan's gag reflex and Luke's colic) about Chloe's good nature, the Dr. remarked that God intended her as my reward after the other two! Whatever the reason, I'm just so grateful.

A sight I thought I'd never see: a Bollard boy holding his girlLuke wanted Chloe to sleep with him, so we let her, just for a minute at least. Luke thinks Chloe is finally the answer to his constant request for a pet.Pretty in Pink

A Few More Hospital Pic's