He's 3

Bryson has now turned 3 and had a wonderful Birthday! While we were at Disney World Bryson got to wear a birthday pin and was told Happy Birthday all day long and at dinner he was sung Happy Birthday to every night and received a birthday cupcake. He even had an employee call Goofy on their cell phone to sing Happpy Birthday to him. What's better then that when you are 3? He really got the royal treatment. But since his official birthday was yesterday we celebrated by taking him out to Chuck-E-Cheese and then came home for some cake and presents.

Things Bryson is up to:

He is constantly giving hugs and kisses to his little brother. He loves balls, trucks, cars and playing with his older sister. He is our little independent child and wants to do EVERYTHING by himself which at times is really frustrating, especially when I'm running late. He's definitely teaching me to have a little more patience. Bryson is working on counting to 10 and his ABC's. He does pretty well counting and singing the ABC song, but doesn't get all the letters right. His favorite songs to sing are: Popcorn Popping, The Wheels on the bus, and the 5 little monkeys (swinging in a tree or jumping on the bed). He loves to help out around the house and I can't get away cleaning by myself unless he is taking a nap. He always wants to help wipe off the counters or clean the toilet. He also loves to give the biggest hugs and kisses to everyone, but has become a little more shy when strangers try to talk to him.

We are so proud of our little guy. He is a joy to have in our family. We love watching him grow and learn.

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BRYSON!

The Birthday!

It all started months ago with a lot of sneaking around, secret shopping & lots of help from friends & family that I was able to pull off this…

(invite done by my good friend, Tiffany)

I was very pleased that I was able to pull off the surprise.  Our day was very crazy and after going out to dinner we pulled into our driveway right at 7pm, I was nervous that we would see someone coming over, but luckily we didn’t.  After waiting a little while I sent Josh downstairs to get Bryson’s pajamas from the dryer where everyone was waiting for him. My 2 wonderful friends decorated the basement while we were out at dinner and did a great job! (THANKS!)

We played a fun trivia game about Josh’s life and then some Pictionary.  Thanks to everyone who helped out to make this happen.

On Josh’s birthday we did cake and ice cream with the kids (with what was left of the cake) and opened gifts.  The kids and I did make him breakfast in bed on Saturday morning since we weren’t going to be awake before he left to his early morning meetings on his birthday.

Thanks to all for making his birthday wonderful.  I think an acceptance to dental school would have made it perfect.  We’ll just keep praying.

Over the Hill!!

Today Josh turns 30! Please leave him a comment and let him know he’s love, or just embarrass him! I think it would be fun to get at least 30 comments!

Josh really is an amazing guy, and I am the luckiest person to have him as my husband. He has made me a better person. He has great patience with me and I LOVE watching him play with our kids. He is a great Father.

He is a great friend to everyone and always knows how to make you smile. I’m so grateful for his Mother for raising such a great son.

Happy Birthday Josh!!

Thanksgiving

This has taken me a little while to post. We had such a great time out at Jacob & Julia’s house for thanksgiving but once we got home life got a little busy. First doing the normal “home from vacation” duties like laundry and grocery shopping. Then the next day Megan got sick and was home for 2 days which meant I was home for 2 days. I have also been very busy planning for Josh’s surprise party (that happened last night, but that’s another post.) So now I feel like I can breath, but just for a second since I am getting ready for our next vacation this week. So a little late, but this is our Thanksgiving weekend.

We went over to a friend of Jacob & Julia, Britta & Jason’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Britta decorated everything so beautiful and all the food was amazing. We all ate plenty of food and had a ton of leftovers that we ate for the next 3 days. Later that night we finally had some room for some pie.

On Friday the weather was cold and had a mix of rain and snow, but before the yucky weather hit, Julia and I went out shopping for the black Friday sales. It really is crazy all the people awake at 5am shopping for deals. We came out with plenty of deals. The rest of the day we spent playing inside & napping.

Saturday we thought we would get the kids out of the house and took them to the mall to this place where they have a bunch of bounce houses. We let the kids run around for 2 hours. It cost $6 a kid and they gave us coupons for chick-fil-a for free ice cream and french fries.

So we were heading over to Chick-fil-a after the kids were done bouncing and there was a kiosk that was letting you spin a wheel for a FREE something from Chick-fil-a, so we ALL spun the wheel and ended up with this…

4 ice cream cones

3 french fries

3 drinks

and even some coupons leftover

all for FREE!!

And just to stress what a great company Chick-fil-a is, as we were sitting there waiting for the kids to finish their ice cream a Chick-fil-a employee came over and asked if we wanted a refill on our drinks... a FREE refill on our FREE drinks! Now who does that these days?

Later that night after Jacob got home from work, I don't know who's idea it was to get a babysitter for the kids and just have us adults go out (with the little babies), but it was a GREAT idea! We got a sitter and we took off and enjoyed each other's company for a couple of hours. It was nice to get away and spend time with just Jacob and Julia (and Macy). I felt bad for the sitter once we got home to find out that Megan convinced her to sing her lullabys, not just 1 but 4 different lullabies. What a great babysitter.

We had a great weekend! Thanks Jacob & Julia for letting us come and spend Thanksgiving with you guys, it was A LOT of fun and we can't wait till the next time we get to see you guys!

Music Assembly

Megan was invited to be in the music club at her school and would stay after school 1 day a week to practice. They had their assembly last week and I taped the whole performance. It is about 5 minutes long, but we are so proud of her. She loves her music teacher and loved being a part of this group.

Guess Who Came to Our House Last Night?

The Tooth Fairy!!

After all the wiggling and asking every day when her tooth would fall out, it finally did. She was so excited and you can tell a bit shocked when it came out. We were lucky enough to get it on video...

She left to school all excited that the Tooth Fairy came and said that she dreamed about the Tooth Fairy all night then she came home from school and asked me if the Tooth Fairy is real, or if it was Dad & I?

I replied: What do you think?

Her: Did you come and put a dollar in my pillow?

Me: Nope (since Josh did it)

Her: Well I don't think that the Tooth Fairy is real.

Me: If you don't think she is real then she won't bring you any money when you lose any more teeth.

Her: I believe she's real.

I can't believe we are already having this conversation after her first tooth, what is she learning at school?

Swimming

We started the kids in swimming lessons.  This is Bryson’s first swimming lesson without us with him.  It is also his first structured setting. (unless you count nursery) so we are excited to see how much he grows.  Megan is loving it and is still swimming really well, swimming under water and jumping in all by herself.  We’ll see how much they each grow by the end.

Home Sick

There are definitely those times when I wish we lived closer to home. Usually around the holidays I feel this way. But for some reason I'm really feeling home sick today. Why today? Well today is the day my little brother comes home from his mission. I wish I could be there to welcome him off the plane, to see how much he has changed in the 2 years we haven't seen him. So much has happened since he left. Here is a picture when he came to visit before he left.

Now here we are on my birthday. (really this was the last time I have a picture of all my kids together all looking at the camera.) All my kids have grown up so much and we've even added Connor to the group.

I just wish I could be there to see my little brother come home and be able to show him my cute kiddos. At least we don't have to wait long, since we will see everyone in 3 1/2 weeks. Welcome Home Little Bro!! Wish I could have been there! Can't wait to catch up on the last 2 years!

Leaves, Tricks & Wiggly

This week I have been sick and so not a lot of anything has been going on around here but a lot of movies. My house is a mess, Bryson was bored and so you can imagine the excitement when Daddy raked up a big pile of leaves for him to jump into. It was the most fun he had had all week long.
Okay, so I need some help, I have been trying to get a picture to hang up on my wall, so which one is your favorite the right or left of the BW picture?

Connor has also been learning new tricks.

First is Dad's favorite trick to do with the kids...

Second is Connor's trick.

He first rolled over on Friday the 6th, and I have been trying to catch it on video ever sense. It always seems that once I leave the room or stop recording he rolls over. So I caught him as he was doing it. He loves to roll from his back to front only on the right side, but then once he gets to his tummy he gets stuck and frustrated. Hopefully it won't take him long before he learns how to roll from his tummy to his back.

And lastly Megan has her first wiggly tooth!! She is so excited that she wiggles it all day long. Today she read every book that we have that talks about loose teeth. She even wrote the Tooth Fairy a note that says that she has a wiggly tooth and stuck it under her pillow. I told her that the tooth fairy doesn't come until you loose the tooth. So I am sure we will be posting about her lost tooth soon since she just can't stop wiggling.

Halloween & Parties

We had a fun time this Halloween with plenty of fun things to do and TONS of candy. Our ward party was a blast having our soup & chili dinner with fun games for the kids to play and a bucketful of candy for the kids to get. The kids loved getting dressed up and looked so cute in their outfits. Josh & I threw together last minute costumes with things that we had or could borrow. Here are the kids in the costumes...

Megan's favorite thing was wearing the red lipstick and I even put some mascara on too. She looked so pretty!

Bryson didn't want to wear his hat, but I was able to get him to wear it for a piece of bubble gum. He also liked to wear it sideways.

Connor was just cute, he liked to eat his red ruffles.

The Halloween party that Josh and I have been waiting for and preparing for was a BLAST this year. First I want to thank my sister for watching Connor and dealing with him cry so that we could go to the party. We really had a blast and can't wait till next year for the crazy road race to find places, items & info while figuring out riddles. Here are the pictures from the night. We had a great team which helped us win first place!!

We hope that everyone had a great Halloween and if anyone is lacking in candy, we have plenty to go around. The kids have been eating it non stop, and we could get rid of some. Happy Halloween!