Hands for Daddy

For Scotty's 2nd Christmas when he was 21 months I decided to do paint handprints and frame it to give to Miles to put in his office. It turned out really cute and Miles loved it. It went much smoother than I had been expecting. When Grant's 2nd Christmas rolled around I did it with him too. He had just turned 1 at the beginning of the month so it was a bit harder than Scotty's, but not too bad.

These are Grant's handprints with Scotty in the picture. I don't have any pictures of Scotty's handprints. I'm so mad that I didn't think to take a picture of Miles, the kid and the handprints. I hate it when I miss a good photo opportunity!!

This year was Collin's second Christmas and I continued the tradition. He is also 21 months like Scotty, so I thought his would go smoothly. I should have known better! I had to do a bunch before I got one where he didn't move his fingers or ball up his fist. And he kept trying to touch everything! It was like a wrestling match. But I got one that turned out good, so it was all worth it.

I finally thought to get a shot with the kid and Daddy, but I couldn't get Collin to look or smile. Oh well!

Here are all three handprints on his desk. I think they're so cute! Scotty's faded quite a bit when Miles' office was upstairs in a west facing room, but hopefully they won't fade anymore. The owners of these little hands sure love their Daddy!

Before and after

Before:

After:

We had a great Christmas! We hope that you did too!

Kindergarten Christmas Party

I got to go to Scotty's class on Friday to attend and help out for their Christmas party. Scotty was really excited that I was coming and I was excited to go! They made gingerbread houses and paper sack reindeer and had some treats. It was fun. The kids were so cute making their houses and it was fun to see all the different ways they decorated them.

Here's Scotty with his house:

The class also did a little song for us. The instructor (aide) in his class knows sign language so she taught them to do the song When Christmas Comes to Town from The Polar Express. They all did so good and it was so fun to watch.

This is the class getting ready for the song. I took one picture and Scotty is turned around in it- that is no surprise! He kind of sticks out in his yellow shirt over there.

I was so happy I had my camera that can do video. Here's the little video of the song if you're interested in watching. It's very cute!

Jedi invasion

Imagine my surprise to find two Jedi's running around my house!

Or, for these two 3yr olds, maybe Jedi in training is a better description!

Grant's chompers

Grant had his first trip to the dentist this week. I was not looking forward to the appointment. He did not want to go and when we would talk about it he would just say "No dentist." over and over. We got there and they have a fun train table and he had great time playing with it. When it was his turn to go he just sat there at the table saying no until the hygienest told him he could take a train with him- then he went willingly. After that everything went really well. He even did great during the x-rays and bit down on the things just fine. He didn't have any cavities and everything looks great. He was excited to pick a prize out of the treasure chest afterwards and then didn't want to leave! I was so proud of him!!

That kid can open his mouth really wide! I would giggle every time he would do that.

He was engrossed in the movie on the ceiling.

He's such a good boy!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

On Monday night we went to the annual Transcript Bulletin Christmas party. It's always a lot of fun and this year was no exception. Santa comes and the kids get a huge bag of fun little toys and tons of candy. We had a really yummy dinner. They do gift giveaways for all the employees. Miles won a couple little knives- not so thrilling to me but Miles was excited! They also do basketball shoot outs. Scotty got a dollar for trying a shot with the kids, I missed my shot and then had to corral little kids so I didn't try again, but then Miles, on his 3rd attempt, made the half court shot and won $25!! Go Miles!

Scotty was eager to tell Santa exactly what he wanted: Anakin's spaceship and a Pillow Pet!

Grant said he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but he was totally fine when it was his turn. Afterwards when we were talking about sitting on Santa's lap and that Grant asked for a big fire truck, Grant holds up his hands and says "See, no fire truck. Didn't work." He cracks me up!!

Collin looks like he's about to lose it, but he actually didn't even cry. He had this terrified look on his face and wouldn't look at Santa, but he sat there long enough for a picture and also another picture with his brothers.

On Tuesday night we decided to go in to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It was the perfect night to go considering it was 45˚! I loved not having to bundle up everyone with hats and gloves and then still freezing our butts off. The lights were beautiful as always and the boys had a really fun time. I love the peaceful feeling at Temple Square. It's the perfect place to go to remember and focus on our Savior's birth.

Smarty pants

Since Grant has no interest whatsoever about using the potty, we tried reverse psychology and told him that he can't use the potty until he's 3. The other day I was changing his diaper and he was crying and protesting so I told him that if he learns to use the potty he won't have to have his diaper changed anymore. Then he says this: "Me no 3, me 2." I laughed so hard!! Then when I told him that he was going to the doctor for his 3yr old checkup, he said it again: "No doctor, me 2." Silly boy!!

Another big boy

Grant has reached an exciting big boy milestone- the big boy bed! It's not an official big boy bed..it's his crib converted to a toddler bed, but he can get in and out himself and that means big boy! He was so excited when we got it ready for him. He screamed and immediately climbed on it and started jumping. His brothers quickly followed and they had a grand time. We talked about the big boy bed rules- he has to stay in his bed at nap and bed time or he'll have to go back to the crib. He assured us he would stay in bed, so we'll see how it goes. He went down for his nap well today and I haven't heard any mischief going on in his room, so I think nap time today is a success. We'll keep our fingers crossed for bedtime tonight. With Scotty in the room also, it may not go as smoothly!

3 little monkeys jumping on the bed.

Here they are practicing sleeping!

Muffin Tin Monday

Today is Muffin Tin Monday and I actually did one today. The theme for the month of December is Holiday. I didn't think I had anything but it's always surprising what you can come up with when you scrounge around the kitchen!

They had milk, a Christmas Kit Kat, Santa quesadilla, green & red (really orange, but we squinted and they looked red!) veggie chips, Christmas tree quesadilla and green sugar snap peas.

Thought I'd add a picture of this centerpiece that my aunt made for me a few years ago. I love it. And the boys love it. And they love when Grandpa Scott comes over and can play the horn in it. And apparently the boys love opening their mouths when I take a picture!

Stop by Muffin Tin Mom to see lots of really fun holiday muffin tin meals.

Party time

Grant had a fun birthday. He woke up to this:

He was so excited about all the balloons. It was very cute- even him continually hitting me on the head with one at 7am!

He came out to the family room to this:

He was nice enough to pose for a picture before ripping into the presents.

He opened the smaller ones and was having so much fun playing with the Kid K'nex that he forgot all about the big present!

He soon remembered and was happy to find a bike under there. Everyone has been taking turns (some more willingly than others) riding the bike around the house until we can take it outside.

We had chocolate chip muffins for breakfast and sang Happy Birthday to him. Then we relit and reblew out the candles many, many times.

Since it was Friday we had his party that evening. He had a Mario Kart themed party and Miles came up with this fabulous cake:

This is the bullet from Mario Kart. Miles, as always, did an amazing job and Grant LOVED it! He loves turning into the bullet on Mario Kart.

Present time! I love how all the cousins and friends crowd around the birthday boy helping open gifts and trying to give their gift. Fun!

He loved looking at this cake and blowing out the candle...

...but he didn't want to eat any! Instead he played for along time having Yoshi walk around the cake and leave frosting footprints on the plate.

He likes to be Yoshi on Mario Kart so he'll hold up Yoshi and cry "Yoshi! Me!!!"

Did you know that you can only get Mario decorations online and they are very expensive? It's true. So we made our own.

Grant LOVED the banner. It had his 3 favorite Mario Kart things: Yoshi, the bullet and the fake box. He kept pointing to it naming letters and then he'd say Happy Birthday- he's so cute!!

I have to say that I think they're my favorite (and cheapest) decorations we've had so I think we'll be making our own from now on.

We're so glad that Grant had a fun birthday. We had a fun day with him and we think he's the best 3yr old around!

Happy Birthday Grant!

Today is Grant's 3rd birthday!!! He's been so cute waiting for this day- some days he is excited for his birthday and some days he doesn't care. Grant is such a great kid. He is fun, smart, loving, funny, energetic, determined and happy. He still loves to snuggle and I love that so much. We snuggle everyday after his nap and we both must have our snuggle time! He is a great brother and loves to play with both Scotty and Collin. He just finished his speech therapy and he has improved leaps and bounds with his speech. He progressed really fast and amazed the speech pathologist at every visit with what he had learned. He loves to play Mario Kart on our Wii. He is very good for a 3yr old! He loves his blankie, trains, Curious George, running through the house, riding his trike, candy, trucks, playing outside in the dirt, swinging, jumping on the tramp and being with his family. We love him so, so much!!! We hope you have a very happy birthday Buddy!

Here are some pictures from this past year.

Kindness Tree

To help certain members of our family (who shall remain nameless) get along better and be kinder to each other, we started a kindness tree. Whenever we saw someone doing something kind we would put a leaf on the tree. When the tree is full we get a family prize. It worked AMAZINGLY well! The kids have been really excited about doing nice things for each other and for us and have been good at noticing when kind things are done and awarding leaves to each other. I had no idea how motivating a colorful piece of paper could be!

When we filled up the tree with leaves we watched our new movie Toy Story 3.

We got into our jammies and ate popcorn and rolls- for dinner. Not very nutritious, but very fun!

The tree was such a success that we decided to do it again. This time we added snowflakes onto the tree to match our newly snowed on tree outside.

This time when we got all the snowflakes on we decided to go to Denny's for dinner. (It may or may not be a coincidence that we finished on kids eat free day at Denny's!)

They have always drooled over this claw game, so we decided to let them play a few times.

See that purple giraffe on the left? Scotty really, really, really, really wanted it.

He didn't get it. Miles gave him an informative explanation about how claw games are supposed to make money, not make little boys happy. It didn't help him feel better.

Grant had a great time!

Scotty was still bitter about the purple giraffe.

Collin thought the big pancake was much better than the little pieces Mommy cut up for him. He also loved reaching over and stealing hashbrowns from my plate.

I wonder how long we can milk this kindness tree idea??