Nanner

My big Nanner boy.  Thats how Tanner says his name.  That is until this week when he started saying his name correctly.  It broke my heart in a little way to hear him say the T in his name.  Tanner's speech therapist once told me that you don't want to correct all their words, that sometimes you have to keep the cute things they say, because they are still children.  For me having him say Nanner was one of them.  He's getting older and wiser and is a joy to watch.

Tanner loves following his brothers example, and is always trying to copy him by words and actions.  Its amazing how much he has learned from Carson and can even do some things better then him.  Its amazing how much quicker he picks up on things, because of having an older sibling.

Our boys love bacon.  After Tanner had already scarfed down his bacon Brad was trying to get Tanner to eat his waffles too, so he told Tanner that if he ate some waffles that he could have his (Brads) last piece. After Tanner ate some waffle Brad handed him his bacon, and trying to get Tanner to say thank you asked "now what do you say?" Tanner then raised up his bacon and yelled "I GOT BACON!" haha we couldn't help but laugh!

He's such an easy going happy guy who loves playing with friends and his brothers.

I took Tanner and Logan to the zoo with friends.  It was a little hard for me to go do something I know Carson would love to do, but I have to remind myself that Tanner needs one on one time with me just like Carson had before he started school.  So we bought a season pass and hope to make many more visits to the zoo this year.

Tanner lifted up his shirt to bang on it like a gorilla, even though the monkey we were seeing is an orangoutang...

Carson and some stories from school

I read to Carson's class for the first time on Friday.  Its for half an hour, and was really fun!  The kids were really excited and loved having you there.  Now that its easier to leave Logan I really need to do it more often!

When I first arrived Carson's class was meeting with another class to watch the morning announcements.  As I watched and waited, Ms. White (the other teacher that Carson's class regularly gets together with) came and gave me a big hug "I have to give you a big hug every time I see you!  We just love Carson and I wish that he could stay in Kindergarten a few more years!"  It made me feel happy that his teachers, and not even his own, love him so much.

Carson was so proud to have me there.  He had to sit next to me and picked out what book to read first.  Before school we both picked out some books, he picked out all the superhero books while I picked out more traditional books.  So of course the first book he picked out was Superman and the kids got so excited!  They loved it.  Then he picked out the Rescue Bot book and that was even a bigger hit!  Even the girls were even loving it.  One girl asked to look at the pictures in the book after I was done because she couldn't see it very well.  Then the last book we had time to read was "Larry gets lost in Texas" before I started to read it I explained that we got this book before we moved to Texas from Arizona.  Carson's teacher said "Oh really? I would have assumed you moved from Utah with all the postcards that Carson got!  We all now want to travel to Utah now because the gingerbread man made it look like so much fun!"  I smiled and laughed.  I told her that mom and dad grew up in Utah and all of Carson's grandparents and aunts and uncles live there.  It put a smile on my face.

*disclaimer: around Christmas time for school, Carson's class was learning geography.  The gingerbread man was visiting their classroom and then during recess ran away.  They then asked us parents to have friends and family send postcards from the gingerbread man in different areas around the world.  Carson had 18 postcards, more than half were from Utah!  We have the best family and friends!  

Carson has been learning a lot in his music class!  Here are a couple of conversations that we've had with him recently.

Over Christmas the Nutcracker song came on the radio.
Carson, "This is the Nutcracker song!"
Brad and I both looked at each other surprised, "why yes it is".
Carson; "It is written by Tchaikovsky, and is about a girl who gets a nutcracker and then the nutcracker gets really big.  I wanna see it."
Stunned.
I guess next Christmas we will take Carson to see the Nutcracker ballet!

Carson came home from school and asked Brad if he knew about Beethoven's 5th Symphony and then said, "did you know Beethoven wrote the 5th Symphony even though he was deaf?!"  Carson then wanted to listen to the 5th Symphony so Brad pulled it up on itunes and let him listen to it.

Its so fun watching him learn and grow, and to go to his school and to see how much other students and his teachers love him.  It makes his dad and I very proud.

Quilt

It took me almost a year, but I finished my big quilt!  I did this one start to finish, even doing the top quilt and binding (Logan's baby quilt I had professionally done).  I love how it turned out!  I really wanted to make a big cuddle quilt (its a little bit smaller then a queen size), because my favorite blanket/quilt we own is now ten years old and showing its age.  Its one that Brad and his friends made for us for our wedding.  Have I ever mentioned that before?  Yes, you heard me right.  It was a tradition with Brad's friends (put on by a mother of course) to get all the guy friends together to tie a quilt for the newlyweds.  Some type of bachelor party.  I think its a hoot, but really that blanket was one of my favorite wedding gifts.  Maybe a tradition I can carry on to my boys?  Anyway that quilt has had lots of love and after 10 years its starting to show a little wear and tear.

You really can't just buy a nice homemade quilt like that so after I saw a friend post a picture of one she made on instragram and how darling it looked I was determined to make my own.  Then another friend asked if I wanted to get together to make a quilt I knew it was meant to be.  So every week I'd go to Christine's house to cut fabric and start piecing this quilt together.  Then summer came and I had a baby and it got put on hold.  Then ladies in my ward started getting together to work on their quilts and it was just the motivation I needed to finish it (plus these ladies are professionals and know their stuff! It was nice to get their help!)

(love the gray backside!)

I really had so much fun making this!  I know its going to get lots of love and use. Plus it looks gorgeous in our living room.

Sunbeam

This 3 year old boy goes to primary this year!  He's getting so big!  He's gonna love singing time.  He loves jumping up and down to the sunbeam song.  Its pretty cute.  Love this dude.

Legoland!

After new years we decided last minute to head up to Dallas to take the boys to Legoland and to just get out of the house and do something fun as a family before Carson and dad had to go back to school/work.  

We drove by the statue of Sam Houston, there are random things like this on all the highways. 

 the Legoland in Dallas is a discovery center so its more like a children's museum, plus its in the mall.  Kindof random, but the boys had a lot of fun!  We met up with our old neighbors who recently moved there and Carson and Ryan were having lots of fun playing!  Here they are racing the lego cars they just built.

poor Tanner was an inch too short to play in the big playground and got stuck playing in the baby one. He was a little sad he couldn't play with the big boys.

 Getting ready for the 4D movie!

 Their favorite character from the Lego Movie!

 We miss having these guys next door, but it was sure fun to play with them for the day!  We also got to see my cousin Scott and his family for a little bit.  It was a fun quick trip although I don't know if driving to Dallas just for Legoland was worth it, but it was still fun to reconnect with friends/family.

 The boys love staying at hotels and they love to push the suitcases.  Its nice having boys to help!

It was hard to get back into the school routine after our Christmas break.  It was nice sleeping in!  Much harder to get back into the routine then it is to get out of it!  Plus it was so fun to have Carson home to play with Tanner.  Although Carson loves school it got us both a little excited for summer.

Logan: 6 Months

weight: 13.8

height: 25 inches

I can't believe this little man is 6 months.  Half a year old!  It really is crazy how fast time flies with kids.  He loves playing with his brothers and they love making him laugh.  Its so nice that he's old enough to really start interacting with them more, so I can get some things done around the house when he's awake and not just during nap time.

He's always loved putting his hands in his mouth, but now he is constantly trying to bite anything that goes near his mouth.  Teething.

He does not like me playing on my phone when he's nursing.  He always tries slapping at it so that I will hold his hand.  He is also getting better at eating foods.  He just hated rice cereal.  First of my kids.  So we skipped the rice cereal stage and went straight to foods.  He has only had sweet potatoes and peaches.  Unsure on sweet potatoes, but the peaches are a hit!  He is turning into such a big boy!

He's crawling!

This happened today!  He crawled to his toy!  Usually when he has tried crawling he usually just ends up scooting himself backwards, but today he went forward and got his toy!  It was only two little moves, but I was so proud of him! Completely skipped the army crawl.  Why does he have to get so big?!

(6 months 5 days)

Happy New Years!

Happy 2015!

We had a wonderful New Years Eve!  We had Chinese with the Theobolds, because nothing says New Years Eve then Chinese food and Martinelli's! We had our own little countdown to midnight with the kids (10pm) and then lit off fireworks!  After we put the kids to bed Brad and I stayed up and watched the ball drop.  It was a great way to end the year and to start a new.