Big Boys and a Baby Boy

I haven't felt much like blogging lately, but we have had a lot going on. Most of it has been routine everyday stuff with a few traumas of the five and two-year-old variety thrown in there to spice things up. I have been kicking myself for taking two classes this semester and struggling to get my school work done here and there when I have the time and motivation to do it. Let's just say my interest level and therefore the quality of work I produced on "gray wolves as an endangered species" left something to be desired for my current issues project. I assure you that topic was assigned. Luckily I only have a few weeks of class left, and I am so excited for this holiday season to begin.


I didn't like this show much, but Zoolander? This child is perhaps the most stubborn, independent 2-year-old out there. He insists on dressing himself complete with belt daily and changes his clothes often...usually into shorts and his beloved "Targhee" t-shirt. He now hides to do his #2s, so we are definitely still in pull-ups. That one doesn't concern me too much yet. When I do find out what he's doing and ask him if he did his business he will say, "little poop" as if that makes it better. He also says "oh my gosh" a lot now which I'm trying to steer him away from. He is everywhere and into everything and amazes me at the things he figures out. Lately he includes "President Mon-un" (Monson) and "President Eyeking" (Eyring) in his prayers quite often.


Seth and his beloved "Lukey." I think these two have a pretty typical brother relationship. Luke torments Seth a lot and Seth overreacts a lot, but they do love to be together.


This guy is just plain cute and almost always happy!

The boys have enjoyed the little snow storms we have had. The very first snow didn't last long, but they were out with the neighbor kids playing and building snow men. They would not take my advice about winter clothing so Luke wore a sweatshirt, cowboy boots, and gardening gloves. Seth also sported a sweatshirt along with rubber galoshes. They are now believers in parkas. Luke has already sledded down "the hole" in our backyard and has big plans for it when there's more snow.

I love how babies put so much effort and concentration into grabbing things at this stage. Watching Ian reach out for a graham cracker or pick up a piece of cereal is entertaining. It is serious business for him.

"Mr. Cute" as Luke calls him. He has a combination inch worm/army crawl/roll that gets him just about anywhere. Just today he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking...boo...I don't want him to grow up so quickly!

What is missing here? Snow? A hill?

No matter.

This child can push all my buttons and then some I didn't even know I had, but he is also so irresistible. He is incredibly sweet and loving, and I am so proud of what a big kid and big brother he is becoming. I'm amazed at how much he has grown up already this school year. He got his swine flu shot today at school like a trooper. The kid before him went into hysterics so I was concerned, but he held tough! He sometimes sounds like he's 5 going on 50 with all the "actually"s and "certainly"s he can throw into a sentence.

Dad's Helper

Jer is building a shed in our backyard, and it has become quite the project. It's nice that he's handy and can do it himself, but on the other hand it has been taking up a lot of his time. He's pretty much done with his part though, and it will be nice to dejunk our garage a bit.


Jer framed it and did a lot of the work alone, but our neighbor Jason helped out and made it go much quicker. My dad also spent a Saturday helping out with the cedar siding which we really appreciate!


Seth wants to be very involved and "help" all the time. He hauls all the boards he can lift out to Jer and then Jer has him haul them all back again, and he feels like he's really contributing!


Seth already has a lot of interest in all things mechanical, wheeled, motorized, and I guess anything to do with construction/tools can be added to the list. He is definitely a hands-on kind of kid so far. Luckily he has a dad that can teach him a lot.

The shed is almost done now and looks great. I will post a picture when it's finished. Luke and his friends are going to be sad when it has a door on it and is no longer their secret hideout!

Skills

I've been thinking a lot lately about being a mom and just parenting in general. Since this blog is my main journal, I want my kids to know I actually spend lots of time thinking and praying about how to help them best and don't just leave it to chance! Being a parent is a huge responsibility. I learn something new everyday and there are lots of things I wish I could have a redo on. If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be a stay-at-home mom of three boys I wouldn't have believed you. Not until we started trying to have kids and couldn't did I realize just how much I wanted to be a mom. And not until I was pregnant with Luke did I start realizing that I wanted to be home with my kids all the time. It took a few years to make the choices to make that happen, but for me it has been the best thing. I'm really grateful Jer has been totally on board with our family plan. I really struggled my first year, but now even though I sometimes miss my former life my life now is good, and I don't really have time to miss it too much! I have learned so much about myself (not always good) and about what it means to love these little people so much.

I'm glad that our skills eventually (at least I'm hoping) catch up to the tasks we have at hand. Before I had kids I could teach high school kids all day, deal with parents, grade papers, and travel around the country to biotech classes but I would have laughed (or cried) if I had been in charge of several small children all day. I recently had a day where I watched my kids plus a few extra, baked and decorated sugar cookies, made chili, made a run to the grocery store with 4 kids along, and made some last minute Halloween preparations...things actually went quite smooth and I couldn't help but think about how much I've grown. Now before I sound too confident there are lots of days where chaos reigns, multiple kids are crying, the house is a mess, and leftovers are for dinner again, but we need to celebrate our victories, right?

Here are a few other parenting firsts for me lately:
**The first one is not so pleasant. While Seth was supposed to be napping, he changed his own poopy diaper. Yes, wipeys and all. Use your imaginations on this one.
**Yesterday I took all three boys to church by myself for the first time. Jer was out of town, and I braved it. By the time we all got ready and got there I had already had just about enough fun, but we made it!

R.I.P. Halloween

I'm not that into Halloween, but we celebrated for a week anyway and had a good time. Luke was super excited this year, so I couldn't help but get into the spirit. I do love fall. We started off with a fun Halloween party at my mom's house that included pumpkin carving.

Let the wild rumpus begin! We hit the annual Pumpkin Walk.

Friday there was a big Halloween carnival at Luke's school. It was crazy and crowded, but the kids had a great time. I even dressed up...a first since junior high. (I had a bad experience where I didn't get the memo it wasn't cool to dress up anymore, and I felt like a loser but I'm over it now.) Dont' worry--I wasn't creative or anything. I was just a witch, and I didn't even take a picture! We had the grandmas and grandpas over after for chili, and the boys had a great time playing with them.

This year we had a firefighter and an astronaut. Luke could not decide what to be and Seth didn't care. I found these costumes at good prices, and they ended up being a hit. Although when the day came, Seth did not want to wear his. He has become super picky about clothes and only wants to wear camo or basketball shorts each day. He even changes when I'm not looking. I'm thinking next year I will try to talk them into something we can just kind of put together like a mummy, or I'll get crafty and make something...maybe.


Check out those moon boots. They are just shoe covers, but they were a fight.


Luke loved his costume, and I'm sure he will continue to dress up in it throughout the year.

We went to the ward party and trunk or treat and then went to visit some family. It was a great time. We also went trick or treating to Luke's kindergarten teacher. She is amazing. She sent home a letter inviting all of her students over, and she visited with our whole family for about 5 minutes. I sure did not do that when I was teaching.

And we can't forget the cutest skeleton on the block.

Each boy has worn this skeleton costume, so I had fun looking at skeleton's past.

Seth Skeleton October 2007

Luke Skeleton with cousin K'Lee October 2004