Merry Christmas!

We've been busy running all over this winter. We've enjoyed going to a live nativity, swimming, going to the zoo, McDonald's play land and free lunch, watching mo Ref basketball games, making Gingerbread houses and lots more. Unfortunately we didn't take pictures of most of the stuff we did. Brayden has been enjoying his preschool as well. He asks me everyday if it is preschool today. For his last class we went to a Gymnastics place and one of the mom's taught them a class. Since then I am now asked everyday if I will sign him up for a gymnastics class! McCall has been doing really well with potty training and she makes me laugh every time she "pushes". It is definitely a full body action. If we're not careful with the pants she wears both her pants and underwear will fall off as she dances around the house. I was glad that she was excited to get more underwear for her stocking stuffer! We had a great Christmas and were glad that Mo's sister Katy got to celebrate with us. Brayden had almost all of his presents ripped open before anyone else opened anything. To say he was excited would be an understatement. He reminds me of myself! When I told the kids lets start opening presents tanner grabbed the closest one to him and opened it. To bad for me it was Mo's gift that was probably the one present Mo didn't know I bought him. We had fun acting out the Nativity story and it was perfect that I could resemble Mary with my round belly. Tanner was Joseph, McCall was the shephard with her trusted monkey as her sheep. And in case you couldn't tell Brayden is our Wise Man.The kids got these fun towels from my In laws for christmas. I thought McCalls was quite cute with the antenna. She wears it around the house strutting her stuff.


It was a great Christmas and what a better day to celebrate it on than Sunday. I guess with being pregnant and so close to having a baby I feel a little more for Mary and what she went through. I have a hard time sitting in the car while Mo starts and stops and pulls in to store parking lots all the while bouncing around. I am so glad I don't have to ride a donkey. While watching the Nativity movie I noticed Joseph's expression as he and Mary walked into the stable. A look of helplessness as he looked around at all the animals and flies. He seemed to be saying sorry for the conditions Mary would have to deliver Christ in. I am so grateful I only have to drive the 2 miles to the hospital. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a Happy New Year. Hopefully my next post will be of the new baby.

Why it's Wheat of Course

Tanner has been so nice to always bring me plants he finds and thinks I'll like especially flowers. Wether it be dandelions or the neighbors flowers he will pick me a bouquet. So I wasn't to surprised when he brought me home something he found on the way home from school. I was a little surprised at what it was though. He walked in showing me the Wheat he had picked for me. He saw the wheat and thought "hey my mom can use this to make bread". He has asked me several times when I'm going to make bread out of it and then reminds me to cut off the ends since he pulled the roots up as well.
And I wanted to show off a dress one of my college roommates made for me 7 years ago. She made it for her sewing class and gave it to me in hopes that my first kid (Who I was pregnant with at the time) would be a girl. Tanner of course is a boy so I've held on to it and today it finally fits McCall!

Father Mo

Last night Mo and I went to a Halloween Party at some friends house and we decided to have a little fun with our costumes! Mo went as a Priest and I was a pregnant nun. I wish I would have taken my camera but I wasn't sure what we were doing at the party and I didn't want to hold it all night long. I wish I would have made the sacrifice and brought it. We had a dance in their garage that they had decked out in lights and a disco ball etc. And for those who didn't know Mo has some sweet dance moves. He probably danced as much as all the guys put together. He even got voted as the best dancer of the night and he graciously accepted his gift with a nice hip hop spin on the floor with all in attendance cheering him on. And who knew what a work out dancing could be while your pregnant. I was glad mo didn't mind busting his moves while my belly took a little break. I must have been subconsciously worried I would go into labor because I couldn't sleep very well that night because I was dreaming that I went into labor after dancing at the party. One of my favorite costumes which I wish I had a picture of was a dress a lady wore that her husband made out of balloons.

I need boy names

Some of you are so smart. I don't think I even noticed that McCall was wearing a big sister shirt a couple posts down but the answer is yes we are having another baby. It's a boy making a debut hopefully close to his due date on Dec 31st. We have no name ideas either. Everything we've thought of somebody else we are close to is using the name so we didn't want to use it to. Let me know some of your ideas. I'm starting to run out of time!

The Big 31

Yesterday Mo Turned 31. We got to celebrate it for a little while with cake and some presents and then he had to rush out the door for a meeting, bummer. The kids as always enjoyed helping to give and open the presents! This year they didn't tell him what he was getting before hand! They usually give away the secret right after buying the present. I guess it helped that 2 of his presents never showed up. I ordered some stuff online and one said it would be here 2 days before his birthday but the day after his birthday we still have no present. And I called about the other gift asking where it was only to find out it is on back order and won't arrive until November 25th. Hopefully we can get some good mail soon! Good thing Mo is so nice and still smiled anyway! Love you Happy Birthday!

Really Really Long Post

We started out September in new fashion this year. Mo decided he wanted to raise money for Prostate Cancer so he and a friend signed up as a team for "Septembeard". All they did was grow a beard and ask others for donations! Here he and his friend Arik are at the beginning of the month.
And at the end of the month.Mo just wanted everyone to know that Arik got a head start growing his beard. It was a cool idea for them to do but I am so glad Mo doesn't have a beard anymore!
We also headed out to the fair. I've never been to the fair before and though it was ridiculously expensive we had fun!


Brayden also started preschool this month. He picked out his outfit for his first day and I have to say it was awesome. Neither his shirt nor pants matched and he had one khaki colored sunday sock and one white sports sock on! Got to love what kids pick out for themselves. We are in a group of 6 kids and we rotate around to each house twice a week. So I only have to teach one week every 7 weeks because we throw in a week of field trips. Brayden loves it! He is ALWAYS asking if today is preschool. Hopefully one day he will remember when he goes.
We were given a lot of free apples from people in our ward so we canned applesauce for the first time. I also ordered peaches and pears for 50 cents a pound, killer deal! When all was said and done we canned well over 100 jars. I was sooooo glad Mo was willing to help can. It helped out so much.
Mo ran in the "Run for the Cure" 5k race this past weekend. He joined a team from his office. He almost didn't run in his team shirt because somehow Autumn Orange turned into Lavender. He placed 2nd out of all the runners. I'm not sure if most people know how insanely fast he runs but his teammates didn't. It's kind of funny to watch him respond to comments of how fast he is. I know he probably wants to say something about how he's about to smoke your buns but he never does. He tries to be "humble about it". Good thing I'm willing to brag for him.

Brayden has been loving soccer. He wears his uniform every chance he gets and gets upset when we don't have practice and a game. He has scored 2-3 goals every game. Tanner on the other hand says he doesn't like soccer and doesn't want to play next year because he doesn't like to run. Could have fooled me because I swear my hallway is his racetrack! He really really wanted to be goalie (I think just so he didn't have to run) but after he took a pretty hard hit to the leg I don't think he liked that position to much. He does however keep up and follow the ball really really good.

Whenever I am cooking something McCall loves to help out and she does so good. She has been well trained by her brothers to ask for a taste after every single ingredient has been dumped in! This particular time we were making a cake and she flipped the "on" switch on right after I had dumped a bunch of powdered sugar into the bowl. I thought it was kind of funny but she wasn't so sure how to react.

And on a tasty note to leave on check out these cinnamon rolls I made yesterday Mom. Don't they look tasty! I had leftover frosting from a cake and the kids wanted the 3 colors on their cinnamon rolls.

First day of school

School started yesterday for us. Tanner was excited to start 1st grade this year. He is in the same class as the neighbor boy he has made really good friends with. I was so glad he was in a class with at least one friend. The majority of his other friends he plays with and lives right close by are all in another class together.

Last year I had Tanner set his clothes out the night before just so everything was found and ready to go. Last night when I went into his room he had set his clothes out without being asked and this is how I found them. I thought it was funny how he laid his underwear perfectly over his shorts and his shoes were placed on the right foot!

Canning applesauce and soccer

There is a lady in our ward to gave me several bags of these little apples that kept falling off her tree. Another friend told me they made excellent applesauce so we decided to make some. I have never canned applesauce before but it was really pretty easy, the kids loved helping and it tasted really good. I guess the best part was that I didn't need to add much sugar! We made a dozen jars and I'm really tempted to but some more apples and make a bunch more. I spiced to of the jars and they turned out really yummy. Just a side note make sure you check your allspice container to see if it has a shake lid or just a big hole. Mine has a big hole!
The boys started soccer this last week and Tanner has his first game tonight. I'm hoping he gathers up enough confidence to get in the game. I have learned that the more you cheer for him the more likely he is to go for the ball. Hopefully our cheering won't annoy anyone!

I haven't figured out yet why the soccer association gives all the kids uniforms that are to big. All of the kids look like they are wearing night shirts!

Washington Trip

I added a couple of post so don't forget to keep scrolling down! We headed out to Washington the beginning of this month so Mo could baptize our nephew. We drove all the way out there and let me tell you we were all ready to get out of the car. The kids all traveled well and I think it's because my sis in law katy was there to help entertain kids. We stopped at Shoshone Falls on our way there to check out the falls. I think they are so beautiful.

When we got to Oregon we stopped at two places called Multnomah Falls and Wahkeena Falls. Unfortunately my camera was out of battery (even though I charged it before I left home) so we didn't get any pictures except for the ones katy took on her phone. (Thank you katy). I didn't realize the place would be so crowded but it was definitely a beautiful place. Go to this website to see come pictures. I don't know how to add a link differently so try this web address. http://www.google.com/maps?q=wahkeena%20falls%20oregon&layer=c&ll=45.577102,-122.120461&cbll=45.577102,-122.120461&photoid=po-1878704&z=15&ei=oW1NTqCRJ_LYiAL97p2RAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=photo-link&cd=4&resnum=2&ved=0CCYQ8wEoAzAB"> We had lots of fun getting to spend time with family and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins. We tried to take a picture of all the cousins that were there and this was the best picture we could do. For as much as they all like each other the youngest ones always cry when we try to do this shot.

McCall's 2!

McCall celebrated her birthday this week! I think the boys were the most excited for her birthday. They sang her every version of Happy Birthday that they knew. When Brayden asked what time the party was and who was coming I explained it was going to be just our family he replied with, "Well that's not a very good party" Fortunately he had fun! I made a super quick and easy ladybug cake this year! I think it turned out alright and was just glad the kids left me enough frosting to get the cake covered. They tried to snag a bite of frosting every chance they got. After losing and then finding the video camera and losing and not finding one of her birthday presents (until after the gift giving was over) McCall was able to enjoy some new clothes and toys. This little chair is dragged all over the house and has been given some great use this week! Thanks for the gifts and birthday wishes.

Because it's funny

I just think this picture is so funny. Don't know why but I do. We went out to the lake and while we were there Brayden was crawling all over this rock and when I called his name this is the lovely pose I got.
I think he looks like he is posing for a magazine or something.

IT'S A....

Party! Brayden turned 4 a few days ago and to say he was excited about his birthday would be an understatement. I think he had been counting down for the last 2 months. And despite the fact that he didn't want to smile for pictures he was really excited for the day. We finally decided to go with alligators for the party and so I had some fun trying to carve my own alligator cake. Brayden liked it so that's all that matters! Luckily we had perfect weather to have a little party outside. After a couple games and a craft brayden enjoyed opening all his presents. Thank you everyone for all of them he has been playing nonstop with them. Poor Tanner has been having a hard time letting Brayden play with the presents without taking over. The boys have also been taking swim lessons and have been doing pretty well. I think they will be sad to be done swimming but glad that they will not have a swim teacher and they can just play around.

Houston

Yes I know it has been a long time since I posted and that's because my camera has been out of commission. It only takes blurry pictures. So these pictures are curtisy of my Dad's camera. After a 2 year absence we made a trip done to Houston to visit my family. We drove the whole way from idaho to Houston with 3 kids, crazy yes we know. We stopped in Denver for a few days and enjoyed spending time with Mo's family. We enjoyed the Denver Zoo and swimming, celebrating my Mother in Laws birthday and getting to see family. Then we embarked on the long drive from Denver to Houston. We picked some delicious blueberries (I gave Mo half of my blueberries that's why his bucket has lots more than mine!) And as you can tell my hair still frizzes really well in the humidity. We did lots of swimming and Tanner has become the little diver. He likes to go into the deep end and a dive for rings. He has become really comfortable in the water! Yea!!! Mo and I made a quick trip to San Antonio were he ran a Half Marathon. He has been wanting to run in a race for a while and what better way to do it than to go from 45 degree Idaho weather to near 100 degree humid San Antonio weather. Luckily the course was shaded most of the way. The course was in 3 mile loops. His split times were 25.41, 22.5, 21.58 and 23.57. His offical time was 134.38! He came in 8th in his division and 10th overall. Good job Mo you did awesome! The kids have enjoyed getting to play with cousins and I'm sure they will be sad to go home. Tanner told me today that he couldn't remember our house at all. I guess 2 weeks is to long a vacation.

Birthdays and more

Tanner and I just celebrated our birthdays a few days ago! We were lucky to have some, ok lots of, family come in to town to celebrate. We had a "P" party for tanner. No there is no significance to the letter P I was just super busy and that is just what popped into my mind. We had the kids make puppets, had pillowcase races, penny drop, pen the parrot on the pirate etc. I think the favorite part was when one of our games turned into freeze tag and Mo was "IT". Those kids are quick but mo is much quicker! We made tanner a popcorn cake with popcorn and I think it turned out pretty good! I've been super busy with Teacher Appreciation for our Elementary school and will be glad when it is over. I just hope it turns out to be a great week. We have lots of free meals from different restaurants, lots of gift cards and some other fun things. It was good that family came to town to help with one of the Teacher Appreciation projects. I burned my hand really bad on the stove so it was nice to have them put everything together for me. We also took McCall down to Primary Childrens at the beginning of the month to have the mass on her lungs checked out. Unfortunately it is still there but it hasn't gotten any bigger. We will just take Xrays every year to keep an eye on it. She still didn't like the doctor and was just fine to stay put on my lap during her appointment. Sorry some of the pics are sideways.