Nick-ism's

I had to write these conversations down before I forgot them:

One night, while encouraging Nick to eat his dinner:
Me: Nick, if you eat all your food you'll grow up big and strong like Daddy
Nick: I don't want to grow up big like Daddy, I want to grow up big like Grandma

Nick is a typical boy and has some kind of fascination with peeing outside. I told him several times that he must use the inside bathroom. I caught him peeing outside (again!) and sent him to time out. Before getting out of time-out we have this conversation:
Me: Nick, why were you in time-out?
Nick: Because I peed in the rocks.
Me: Where will you pee next time?
Nick: In the grass.

And last but not least, one night while I was tucking him into bed:
Me: Guess what Nick? Aunt Natalie and Uncle David are coming to visit soon.
Nick: (after a short pause to think about this)...are they from the planet Earth?
{I should note that he has been fascinated by space and planets lately and is very curious about rockets and if people live on other planets.}

What we've been up to...

I haven't blogged much lately, I know. Not that I was ever great about it, but I've just been worse about it the last few months. So here is the great big catch-up. And I will try to be better about catching the little moments, because that is the most fun to blog (and read) about.

The basement is (seriously) almost done. Brian is finishing up the bathroom and then I will post some pictures. We've moved into most of the areas in the basement and it is so nice to have the extra space.

So first up, Nick and his two inseparable twins. Nick has always loved Alli and he has loved Tanner since they were in nursery together. Tanner is probably his favorite person in the world. He plays ith Tanner at least 3 times a week. Whenever Tanner comes over they play with blocks first, then take a break for a snack, then play with trucks.

Alli's preschool is coming to an end this week. Last week was my last week to teach so I took a few pictures. I am happy with how everything has gone this year and really glad that we used Mother Goose Time curriculum. They send everything for a whole month including a lesson plan, a CD, and supplies for crafts and games (minus the paint, glue, crayons etc.). Each day is in it's own packet so it is easy to follow and keep organized. I highly recommend it to anyone who is considering doing a co-op preschool. I know Alli has liked it a lot too. She never wants to leave school and loves the time with Lindsey, Shyler, and Lauryn.

(They are wearing iguana headbands, if you couldn't tell :)

Next year Alli will be going to preschool with Nick 4 mornings a week. She is going to be in the frog classroom and Nick will still be a fish. She is so excited and is having a hard time understanding why she has to wait until the end of the summer to go. Yay for me for not having to drive around to two differet preschools.

Brian took a day off of work and took Nick to a Rockies game. Nick loves his Rockies hat and shirt and was thrilled to get to go the game with his dad (if you can't tell from that huge grin). The actual game was not so exciting for him and he asked to get up every 20 minutes to go get a drink or go to the bathroom and they left in the top of the 8th...right before there was a huge play that turned the game around. When he got home he asked Brian when they were going to go do something special...apparently the game did not qualify. Haha, maybe we'll wait another year before he goes again.

 

Easter - we went to the ward Easter egg hunt at Cherry Park and we dyed eggs at home.

 Alli and Makenna are becoming good friends and they play princesses, animals, and dress-up together often. I got them matching zebra pjs and they wear them as soon as they are out of the wash.

This is Makenna at Lindsey's birthday in her cowgirl costume. She actually rode a pony at the party. So proud of her. She is usually aftaid of any animals bigger than Gracie. Especially horses and giraffes.

Makenna's First Haircut

Makenna got her first haircut yesterday when Natalie came up from Boulder. She doesn't have a ton of hair like Alli and Nick do so we waited a while longer than we did with them. She definitely needed it though. It was getting pretty long in the back and every morning she would wake up with a big tangle ball in the back of her hair. I didn't get any great pictures becuase she was being so silly and wiggly so I was trying to keep her still, but here's an after shot. I think it's long enough in the back that I will still be able to do her signature pigtails. She had shorter hair in the front so we decided to cut some bangs. And best of all - her hair is still curly, if not curlier. I was a little worried that we could cut her curls off.

Makenna's Birthday!

What? How could this have happened? The little girl that I've been calling "baby" for the last two years had another birthday? Well, she is definitley not a baby anymore, so I guess I will have to come up with another nickname, dang-it. She may weigh 20 lbs more than when she was born and she may talk in little sentences and have a mouth full of teeth, but she is still such a mama's girl that it's a little hard to let the nickname go. I'm getting better about it, but it still slips out once in a while.

For her birthday we had a little get-together with my parent's and Courtney's family. We had everyone over for dinner after church. There was a glitch with the cupcakes so there was a little more last-minute stress than I would have liked, but it all turned out fine. Whew!

Here's Makenna in the sleeping beauty dress she got from the Moses family. She's been borrowing Alli's dress-ups for a little while now, so it was time for her to get something of her own.
Taylor - her best friend, cousin, and crazy girl that found my water spray bottle and "styled" her hair all by herself. Cute! Love that mischevious little smile.

Alli was a very big "helper" and showed Makenna how to open her presents (and by showed I mean opened all her presents for her).

She also "helped" her blow out her candles...I guess I'm not the only one that thinks she's still a baby.

She did manage to eat her cupcake all by herself, though. And I should mention that despite the fact that I ended up making the cupcakes from a generic mix that expired a year ago and the frosting from a recipe that I've never tried before and has a reputation for being a bit temperamental, they were probably the best cupcakes I've ever made.

She loves the horses and stable that we got for her as well as the rocking chair and shoes from grandma and grandpa and the outfit and book from great grandma and grandpa. Happy birthday Makenna and thanks to everyone who made is special for her!

Christmas...finally

I know...I know...I am way behind. I think I will go ahead and blame that on two reasons: 1 - Brian took the Christmas pictures with his camera and he had to take the time to teach me how to get the pictures off and 2 - we (mostly Brian) have been really busy finishing our basement so that exasperates reason number 1. We got carpet in the basement last weekend (woohoo) and everything looks good so we are close to getting our lives back. I cannot wait for a Saturday morning when we wake up and have something other than working on the basement headlining the day's activities. Enough about that for now. I will post some pictures when it's all done!

So Christmas was great this year. We stayed home and Brian's mom flew in from New Mexico. The kids were so excited to pick her up from the airport on Christmas Eve morning. I recently asked Nick what kind of vacation he wanted to go on this summer and he said he wants to go to the airport. I thought maybe that meant he wanted to take an airplane somewhere, but no, he just really likes airports because that's where we pick up grandma!

After we picked up grandma we went to breakfast at Mimi's and then we hung out for the afternoon while Kenna napped. When she woke up we headed to my parent's house for Christmas Eve. We enjoyed our traditional Italian dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and then the kids got to open two presents from grandma and grandpa - pajamas and an ornament. We missed having Courtney and Russ and David and Natalie with us this year, but it was their turn to see their other families.

This first picture is of the kids on Christmas morning in their matching snowman pajamas. We woke up that morning to a cold surprise - our furnace went out in the night. Luckily Brian got it fixed and up and running in no time.

I love this next picture. I think Makenna was a little tired before we started opening presents.

It's present time. Here are the kids opening the Kinect they got from grandma Arens.

This one makes me laugh, look at Makenna's tongue. We were finishing opening presents. After that we headed to my parent's house for breakfast and then went to church in their ward.

Nick and Alli were very excited to get cameras for Christmas from Santa. They took a combined 800+ pictures in the week following Christmas.

Here's my cutie Alli opening a present from David and Natalie at grandpa and grandma's house after church.

And here's me, lovely me. We had a relaxing Christmas afternoon and then we had a yummy prime rib dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Zoo Lights

We went to the zoo's Wild Lights a few days after Christmas. Its becoming a tradition for us. It was a great night and all of the kids seemed to like it. Alli and Nick were very excited about their cameras that Santa brought them and took many, many pictures. Here are the best ones...

Getting Ready for Christmas

First up, decorating the tree. We are doing an advent calendar with activities every day. This was one of the first activities. One night while the kids were sleeping I decorated the house and put up the tree. When they woke up they ran around the house looking at everything. I'm really glad that I decorated at night becuase it was so much less stressful for me to get things out without all the extra "help" PLUS the kids were so excited to wake up, see the decorations, and decorate the tree...it was kind of magical for them.

Next (not Christmas related), but this is how I've been finding Makenna a lot lately. And not just in the morning or after naps. She has definitely reached the stage when she knows how to take her clothes off and she does it often. Like sometimes 3 times in a half hour. I usually give up at this point and she goes naked the rest of the day. She is extra sneaky about it and usually hides while taking off her clothes and then hides her clothes too. Luckily (and I am double crossing my fingers here) she does not take off her diaper, so we are safe on that front.

We went to the church Christmas breakfast and the kids got to visit with Santa. Considering that Kenna is the biggest momma's girl ever, it's not too surpising that she did not want to have anything to do with Santa. Alli was a little shy, but she tried to be brave and she told Santa she wants a scarf for dress-up. And Nick was himself and not afraid at all and told Santa he wants a remote control car.

Makenna...before the terrifying close encounter with Santa.

And finally, at Alli's preschool last week Alli and Nick got to decorate gingerbread houses. It was so nice of Courtney to let Nick come too. The kids loved this project, especially eating candy.

I am excited about this week. Brian has a few days off and other people will be working in our basement, so we should have some fun family time before Christmas. Plus Brian's mom is coming in to town for Christmas and we are all so excited to see her and to spend time with my parents too.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving this year with my parents and Courtney and Russ and their kids. We made the turkey and had dinner at our house. Alli and Nick were so excited to have everyone over. I think all of the food turned out really good, thanks Brian, mom, and Courtney for all your hard work!

Toy Story Birthday Party

We had the twin's birthday party a few days after their birthday when Brian, my parents, and all of their friends could make it. I talked them into a joint birthday this year. They both like Toy Story and when I told them they could dress up like Jesse and Woody, they were sold. First we made Mr. Potato Head party bags.Next, we hid army men in Alli and Nick's room and had them find them. They got a piece of candy for every army man they found (kind of like an Easter egg hunt). Then we played pin the tail on Bullseye. Here is what Bullseye looked like when we were done.

The final (and most popular game) was The Claw, where the kids used tongs to pick out toys from a slit in this box.

Then we had pizza and veggies for lunch. Our kitchen was packed.Next was opening presents.
Then we had cake After everyone was gone, Makenna tried on Alli's cowgirl hat. She is so cute.
And then we gave Alli and Nick their last present - big kid bikes!

Alli and Nick are so lucky to have so many friends! We're glad that almost everyone could make it to the party!

Alli and Nick's Birthday Lunch

The twins didn't have their birthday party on their birthday this year, so we celebrated by having lunch with Brian at Red Robin. It is our favorite place for birthday lunches. Alli and Nick both got to pick out whatever they wanted from the kids menu. Alli picked a corn dog and salad and Nick picked pizza and carrot sticks. I'm not sure why Alli picked a corn dog; we haven't had them at home in a long time and when we did have them she didn't like them, but whatever, it's her birthday. They also got ice cream for dessert.

Makenna was so funny. I shared lunch with her, but all she wanted to eat was ranch. She just kept dipping the same french fry over and over again in the ranch and when she got tired of that she tried to drink it out of the cup. Red Robin does have good ranch, but seriously? Good thing we don't take the kids out to eat often!

I can't believe that Alli and Nick are 4! Time flies. Alli is already plotting her next birthday. She says, "In a few days when I turn 5 I will have a butterfly birthday". I try to explain to her that it is a lot more than just a few days. Time (months, years, weeks, etc.) is such a hard thing for the twins to understand right now. We talk about it a lot and they are trying to figure it out, but it hasn't clicked yet. But, she is probably right, it will only seem like a few days and then it will be their next birthday.