Christmas 2008

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Cody's family in Salt Lake. We had a great time. Our children were very excited for Santa to come. We played lots of games on Christmas Eve with Grandma and Kevin and Christy. Ty and Paige went to bed but not without turning off the computer a few times and turning the lights on and being told to go to sleep about 50 times.

They must have been good this year because Santa brought them each a few toys. They had such a good time playing all morning long. We ended up coming home around 4:00 p.m. during a break in the storm. We enjoyed a relaxing night at home.

The next morning we went to Grandpa and Grandma Stevens house where Michael and Stacie and Becky and Scott and their families were. The kids had a GREAT time playing. We didn't even know they were there they were so busy playing with their cousins. We all had a really relaxing day. I think it was the first time in such a long time that I felt like I could just relax and not worry about getting anything done. It felt so good.

Yesterday we spent the day at home cleaning and getting ready for normal life. Last night we had a really good time. For my birthday Cody had the kids give me a popcorn bowl, popcorn and movie treats. Last night the kids were so excited because we popped popcorn, got out the snacks, pulled out some soda pop and went to the movies in our front room. They had such a good time and I actually sat with them during the movie. I didn't watch much, but I was in the same room. We had such a good time. They liked it so much that we decided that it could be something they earn in the future.

I think one of my favorite things was what Paige did. Abby and Rachel gave Ty a Mr. Potato Head for Christmas. Cody put Paige down for her nap and just left her there. Of course she didn't sleep, but she stayed in there for a couple of hours. When he let her out this is what she was doing.

If you can't tell, she has the Mr. Potato Head hat on her head, the glasses on her nose and is hold the shoes so she can be the Mr. Potato Head. She is such a CUTIE!!!

It was a GREAT Christmas. Now to get back to normal life.

Christmas Village

On Monday night we did one of my favorite traditions. It is going to Christmas Village in Ogden. I don't think it is one of my favorites because I really like the little houses (I actually don't know that I looked in many of them) it is one of my favorites because I remember going as a kid. We didn't get to go to the big city "down below" very often. However, at Christmas Mom and Dad usually took us to Christmas Village. We have now started doing it with our kids.

This year we were a few people shy for the festivities. Becky wasn't feeling the greatest so she stayed home and waited for us all to get to her house. Brock was sick so he and Cody stayed home too. I was lucky enough to get to take Ty and Paige all by myself.

Grandpa and Grandma were there of course as well as Michael, Stacie, Abby, Rachel, Scott, Aubree and Sydney. The kids had such a great time running around looking in all the little houses. However, the best event of the night was, of course, sitting on Santa's lap. I have been amazed this year that Paige will actually sit on his lap. It is so unlike her, but we will take whatever we can get.

After Christmas Village we went to Becky and Scott's house for hot chocolate and pie. It was really fun except for the massive fit Ty threw right before leaving. Everyone else was just glad it wasn't their kid throwing a fit and I was wishing it was one of their kids throwing the fit.

I am adding some pictures of the memorable night.

The next two pictures are the most telling of the night. Below is the excitement of a 1-year-old waiting for Santa on the cold night. The picture after that is the excitement of a 5-year-old waiting for Santa on a cold night.

Can you believe my Paige actually sat on Santa's lap without crying. Hopefully her nursery teachers don't read this. Maybe the key to nursery would be a candy cane.

Fondant???

It is now December and there is nothing that shouts Christmas louder than chocolates and caramels and wonderful homemade candies. This year, I decided that three kids were not enough to deal with. I was going to branch out on my candymaking skills. Well, tonight was the first of a few new chocolate centers I will hopefully be making. I attempted fondant.

For those of you who don't know what fondant is, please let me explain. It is that frosting stuff that goes on all the new cakes that you can mold and make just absolutely beautiful. My attempt at fondant was for centers for chocolates.

Cooking the recipe was so easy. In fact, I interrupted Becky's dinner just to call and gloat about how easy this fondant was going to be. The cooking was GREAT!!! However, it was after the cooking that things got a little dicey.

Fondant is pretty much just caramel stirred around. The problem is that you have to stir cooled caramel. Have you ever tried to stir cooled caramel. If you ever think you might want a good arm workout just buy some Kraft caramels unwrap them and stir them into a great big ball without melting them until they look like frosting and are no longer sticky! Good luck!

In the recipe you are to stir anywhere from 30 -60 minutes. My problems started in at about 3 minutes. My first casualty happened and my favorite wooden spoon broke in two. That didn't deter me. I had Cody come hold the pan while I stirred with my broken wooden spoon with two hands. I finally wised up and got out another wooden spoon. That spoon lasted about 10 minutes. I was NOT going to sacrifice my last and second favorite wooden spoon to this Christmas time wonder. I actually began to wonder if my 9x13 glass dish was going to survive the fondant.

The stuff finally started looking like what it was suppose to. I was so proud of myself for actually doing it. However, I am not in a hurry to make anymore. My hands were pretty red from stirring with the jagged edges of wooden spoons.

Just as a final note. Anyone who tastes one of these chocolates better tell me they have never in their life tasted something so divine!

Mullet Girl

You know Paige's hair is bad when Cody starts giving me hair advice for her. His solution is of course to just shave it all off. I haven't been feeling very well lately and the last thing I want to do is Paige's hair. I did her hair on Wed., the day before Thanksgiving and haven't done it since.

After 3 1/2 days I finally pulled out the pig tail. For the last couple of days I haven't done a thing to it. It is so funny because she has such a mullet. I can't decide if I should cut some bangs or just try to comb it to the side. Cutting bangs might dredge up some bad childhood memories for me. When I comb it to the side it never stays. For now, we are just happy to make it through the day without getting on Santa's naughty list. I don't think not having your hair done disqualifies you from his nice list, does it?

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been so busy lately that I just haven't had time to sit down and update my blog. I have been busy making quilts and capes for my kids for Christmas. On top of that we are finishing our basement. That seems to take any spare time we have and progress is moving quite slowly because we have no spare time.

I think I have hit a new low in my life when perfataping my basement is a reprieve for me. I feel really lucky if I get to go down and work on it for an hour after Cody gets home from work. Cody's parents came up to help us with it, however Cody got sick and wasn't much help. I tried to help but between feeding Brock and attending to some of the other needs of my kids I didn't get much done.

I still have my frustrating days with Ty, but we are starting to be able to rationalize with him. It is nice that he understands consequences and sometimes makes choices based on what the consequence will be. However, Paige is another story. Her favorite thing lately is to take her pants and diaper off. She has also decided that she no longer needs naps.

The other day I put her down for a nap. After about 1 hour she was banging on her door. I decided to give her some milk and put her back down. When I opened the door it smelled really bad of poop. I looked at her and she had no pants or diaper on. She was covered in poop. It was all over her clothes and in a chair that she tried to sit in. I was a bit frustrated. I put her in the bath and cleaned up the poop. I then put her down for her nap, but she never did take one.

Brock is practicing sitting up. I can't believe how big he is getting. He is having a really hard time sleeping. He has a hard time sleeping in the day and staying asleep at night. I have let the poor child cry a lot lately. I feel like he needs to learn for himself how to fall asleep and stay asleep. He has been getting up at 4:00 a.m. and not wanting to go back to sleep.

Last night I decided I was just going to let him cry it out. He started out by waking up around 11:30 p.m. I went and put his binky in his mouth and he slept for another hour. When he awoke at 12:30 a.m. I just shut the doors so his crying wouldn't bother me as much. He cried off and on until 6:20 a.m. I was awake most of the night worried about letting him cry. Finally at 6:20 I decided to feed him. He ate for about 5 minutes and then fell asleep for hours. By the time I finished feeding Brock, Ty was up and going and wasn't about to let me go back to bed. Hopefully tonight goes better. I really need some sleep.

I never thought I could spend my days so busy and be so exhausted by night and get so little done. I sure love my kiddos!!! I received an email from an old co-worker this week and it was a good reminder that there was a day when I actually got a lot done in an 8-hour period of time. However, I realize the things I accomplished then weren't near as important as what I am working for now!

Halloween 2008

We had a GREAT Halloween. We had Grandma and Grandpa Stevens as well as Scott, Becky and their family over for dinner and then trick or treating. Scott got a little more than he bargained for because we just happened to be drywalling our basement the next day. We had the drywall delivered and it was in our garage. So, Scott, Cody and Dad all took drywall to the basement through the window while we went trick or treating.

We also had dinner before we went. It was really fun. The best part was the witch's brew we made with rootbeer and dry ice. Grandma Stevens got the best compliment of the night. Someone told her she had the best mom costume.

Paige really got into trick or treating. She was holding Grandma's hand and it only took her a few times to realize that she would get candy if she went up to the door. She wasn't about to let Grandma take her bucket of candy. She would squish her way up there so she wasn't forgotten.

Spiderman

Flower

Teddy Bear

Pumpkin Carving

There are two schools of thought about pumpkin carving at our house. Cody thinks it just isn't pumpkin carving if you use a stencil. I, on the other hand, never really enjoyed pumpkin carving until I found stencils and a pumpkin carving kit.

With that in mind, Cody had carved two pumpkins before I had poked one eye with the poker. Actually he had carved Ty's whole pumpkin before I even got my stencil taped on. Cody carves as fast as he can and I take my time to make a good looking pumpkin. With that information can you tell which pumpkins Cody carved and which I carved?

Paige was not lucky enough this year to be a large part of pumpkin carving. She basically walked around and dispersed Cody's wallet, keys, glasses, name badge and watch throughout the house. She was a bit disappointed and I think she was just getting back at Cody.

You may wonder why Ty and Paige have no clothes on. Pretty much, I am wondering the same thing. We went to a Halloween party today and I wouldn't let them where their costumes all day and then I just didn't put any clothes on them.

First Snow

We woke up this morning with at least 6 inches of snow at our house. The kids were really excited. Ty couldn't wait to go out and build a snowman.

It was a chore getting both Ty and Paige ready to go build a snowman. A few months ago we went to the DI and found some snow boots for Ty. We were really excited. When we went to put them on him today we realized that they were both right foot snow boots. It is a good thing they are a bit big so he can still wear them on his left foot.

Paige came out with us but cried the whole time. I just let her cry since that is how she spends at least half of her waking hours. I have been wondering lately is there is something such as a colicky toddler. If not I think they should do a study on Paige to see if it is possible. Needless to say, she did not like the snow and was not about to help with the snowman.

I made Paige stay out with us until we finished our snowman so we could get a picture of her with it. After the snowman Ty and I made snow angels and had a snowball fight. I won the snowball fight. We had a really good time. I had to bribe him with marshmallows to come inside. It was a GREAT morning to have the first snow.

Brock's First Solid Foods

Brock will turn 4 months old in a few days. This week we started giving him solid (well as solid as you can call runny rice cereal) foods. He wasn't a huge fan of rice cereal, but he will get the hang of it. I can't believe we are already starting solid foods. Now if I could just get him to sleep until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. consistently.

Chaos at Our House

We had a bit of chaos at our house yesterday. It was my turn to do preschool for six 3-year olds. I actually survived. The boys with really good kids. We talked about dinosaurs and made dinosaur puppets and dinosaur bones necklaces. I think the boys had a good time.

Ty was really good for me. He was really good at participating with what we were doing. My saving grace for the day was that Grandma Frederickson came up to help me. It was so nice to have her there to help with Paige and keep the kids in line. We are so lucky to have her!

Fall is in the Air

I have not seemed to have time to post on my blog lately. We have been working on lots of projects and with my three kids I just seem to be busy. At night when I have an opportunity to post I am always tired or something more urgent needs to get done. However, tonight I am not going to bed until I post something.

Cody had Friday off work. We have been working on the sprinklers in the backyard and decided that if we finished them on Thursday or Friday morning we would go up Farmington canyon and take a lunch to see the pretty leaves. We finished the sprinklers on Friday morning and then packed up and left.

It was beautiful. We went up on the mountain for a long time. It is a really good dirt road. However, we had to about drag Ty out of the car when we would stop because he thought he would fall down the mountain. We took some pictures of us. My favorite is that in a lot of them Ty is trying to look like he is having a great time, when in fact you can tell he is quite nervous and just wants to get it over with.

At the bottom of the canyon there was a pond where we stopped to eat lunch. We all had a really good time. I think Ty was pretty relieved when we were finally on paved road. We obviously need to take him to the mountains more.

To make sure we remembered family during our trip we did a few things in honor of certain members of my family. To remember dad, I took a picture out the window of the car. However, it wasn't in true dad style because I wasn't driving and Cody stopped the car. We also got a flat tire to remember Becky and Scott.