Christmas 2008

Can I just say I am happy its over? There was just too much excitement for my boys today and they ended up cranky and mom and dad ended up cranky. I think they really enjoyed the day though. I have several favorite moments of the day that I am going to list in no order just as I remember them.

1. Nathan, who was very excited about his telescope, looking through all the opened and the few unopened gifts looking for his drum set that he was so sure he was going to get.

2. Noah making a nose dive through gift wrap, presents, and other people looking for the dragon game.

3. Noah frantically opening gifts just enough to see if there were anymore telescopes as he decides he really wants one too after seeing Nathan's.

4. Noah getting very upset after opening 2 present that contain clothes and no toys. On the third gift, after unwrapping and seeing another box, he throws it aside and starts crying about how there were no toys just clothes.

5. Zachary just being Zachary.

Merry Christmas everyone!

12/21/08

Yesterday the twins turned 4. What a journey it has been! While I feel extremely blessed to have known the joy of having twins I have to say I would never wish them on anyone. I thought twins would just be twice the work while I was pregnant with them but honestly twins are like four times the work. It's been hard not to devote the one on one time that Nathan received with the twins. Nathan missed out on so much by not having his mother available the way she would have been if she only had one baby at a time to care for. I still get very frustrated with my parenting of the twins. I can't explain it but you can not parent twins the same way you parent a singleton.

I spent most the day yesterday reflecting on the day of their birth. I remember all the small details and had fun announcing throughout the day what happened at that time 4 years ago. I certainly hadn't planned on having the twins when I did as they weren't due for another month so I don't remember everything in great detail like I do with Nathan. Sadly I completely forgot to take a picture of each of them at the exact time they were born. I've done that every other year but it slipped my mind yesterday. Tomorrow they have their well child check and I look forward to seeing how much my little (okay not so little anymore) monkeys have grown.

12/19/08

Again its been awhile since I wrote something. I'm becoming lazy as the year goes on. We've been quite busy here in our house. I've been making little Christmas treats for us to snack on through the month. Last week was the twins birthday party although they don't turn 4 until tomorrow. As usual my attempt at a party stinks but lucky for me my kids are easy to please.

I've been doing the twelve days of Christmas to the kids. After they go to bed I deliver a package to the front door for them to discover in the morning. It's been a huge hit and is making the wait for Christmas go much faster. Here is what I've done or will be doing:

First day of Christmas: Delivered a package of homemade fudge.

Second day of Christmas: Had pancake mix that I mixed up and some syrup that I canned in a pan. Once everyone was awake I made pancakes.

Third day of Christmas: Movie and homemade cookies.

Fourth day of Christmas: Homemade lollipops

Fifth day of Christmas: We took food to the local food bank.

Sixth day of Christmas: Special ornaments delivered for each person.

Seventh day of Christmas: Flavored popcorn

Eighth day of Christmas: A new Christmas book and navajo tacos for dinner.

Ninth day of Christmas: Donuts.

Tenth day of Christmas: Supplies for making reindeer dust to feed Santa's reindeer.

Eleventh day of Christmas: Hot cocoa.

Twelfth day of Christmas: New game to play and pj's to wear to bed.

12/03/08

Yesterday we visited South America in history. The lesson plan was sort of boring so I jazzed it up a bit. We made one wall in our basement playroom the rain forest jungle. We made a huge kapok tree and then drew all the animals that live in the rain forest. We placed the animals that live in the canopy of the rain forest in the canopy and the animals that live in the understory in the rain forest in the understory. Then all three boys took turns acting out the book, The Kapok Tree. Overall the lesson was fun and the boys are still talking about it.

11/30/08

I forgot to mention that on Thanskgiving we had the boys do a 1k turkey run in Bountiful. I wasn't so sure on having them do the race as we've been battaling a cold for the past week but I agreed to let them run. So here is the run down on how the 1k went for the boys:

Nathan took off running with his brothers and ended up far ahead of them. Somewhere along the way he caught up with his cousin Hunter and they walked/ran for the rest of the way. He finished probably middle of the pack.

Noah and Zachary started running and as they saw the playground they slowed down. Eventually Don says they decided to finish the race. Zachary ended up going on a nature walk during the race. They were the last two runners to cross the finish line. Noah crossed a few minutes before Zachary. I have to say the winner for the proudest finisher should be Zachary. He looked like he was barely going to make it across the line until he saw the people cheering at the finish line. He ran through the finish line with the worlds biggest grin and was so excited when he was handed a medal.

Overall it was a fun experience and one I can't wait to make a tradition every year.

11/29/2008

The kids and I have been sick now for a week. Whatever we had was not fun. The kids woke up last Saturday with fevers and pretty much stayed sick until late Monday early Tuesday. Lucky for me I didn't start feeling bad until after the kids started on their journey to recovery. Now Don is feeling as miserable as we felt earlier in the week.

I am done Christmas shopping for the boys. I braved the day and went out first thing yesterday morning to shop. My mom picked me up around 4am and we shopped until about 2 pm. I found Nathan a telescope which he really wanted. Our neighbor has a really big and fancy one that he will set up and allow the kids to come over to see. I think the kids would spend most of the night over there looking at the moon and stars if I would let them. The one I bought Nathan isn't real fancy and was pretty cheap but I didn't want to spend tons of money on one until the kids were a little older.

I met my new nephew, Iggie, this weekend. Gosh I don't remember my kids being that small but I know at one time they were. Its amazing how quickly they grow. Sure enough, Nathan mentioned on the way home that he was pretty sure Santa was bringing him another brother for Christmas.

11/16/08

It's been awhile since I posted. Life has been busy. Not much new happening in the house so I'll just give updates on everyone.

Don- Still as grumpy as usual. He's so not into the holiday spirit. We nearly had to twist his arm off to get the lights put up and only after we agreed not to turn the lights on till the day after Thanksgiving. Not much help at picking Christmas presents for the boys either.

Me- I completed a sewing project. I made Wonder pet capes for the boys. Now you may be thinking so what but I can't sew at all so this was a huge accomplishment. Okay I cansew pillowcases but that's all. My big plan was to make the capes for Christmas presents but there was a major flaw in my plan, I took Zachary shopping with me when I bought the fabric. I picked up the red fleece and was looking over the blue when he said we need green too mom for the capes. While the capes aren't pretty the boys love them and I feel a great sense of accomplishment. Too bad my 8th grade sewing teacher isn't around to show my capes to.

Nathan- He loves writing words. He loves to spell. He hates learning how to read. He actually said to me why do I need to learn to read you do a good job of reading to me mom. He's great at math and rapidly completing his kindergarten math class. His new obession is the Wonder Pets although the Wiggles are still big for him too. I have no freaking clue what to buy him for Christmas. Last year I had hundreds of ideas and this year nothing.

Noah- Boy is he turning into a trouble child. His new favorite phrase, I'm gonna kick your butt. Anytime he doesn't get his way he threatens to kick our butt. Enjoys doing the Wonder Pets with the others but does his own thing. He's a smart little kid. Keeps right up with Nathan in math, phonics, and spelling. Doesn't like to write though.

Zachary- What can I say about him? He's one of a kind. Still worships his older brother. Totally obessed with the Wonder pets and the Wiggles. Constantly asking me if his wiggle shirt is clean. He has started to want to write. He's always hollering I made something. Once in awhile he actually really does write a letter or number. Other than the writing shows no interest in any of the school work Nathan does.

10/30/08

I told my sister I would post about her "Spooktacular" event she planned and put together for the South Davis Recreation Center so here it goes:
This event is very similar to Clearfield City's Booanza event. I like the events at the Spooktacular more. Mainly because the games are more geared to younger kids. Now I'm not talking under the age of 3 but really any child from 3-12 would have fun at this event. Lots of fun Halloween themed games to play and everyone dresses up. If you haven't been make sure you give it a try next year.

Now on the update from this house. The kids are overly excited for Halloween. It's all they have talked about for oh about the last 21 days. Tomorrow is the big night and I hope it's all they hope it will be. Fun things mom has planned for the day:
Spider web obstacle course. Hopefully I wake up before the kids so I can get the web laid out so in order to leave the bedroom they will have to fight their way through a spider web.
Breakfast is going to be orange pumpkin pancakes.
Lunch will be mummy dogs and black mac and cheese.
After lunch we are going to bob for apples until day comes home.
I made caramel apples and used chocolate for a web design. I have some plastic spiders to add to the apples.
Dinner will be eyeballs (meatballs with green olives on them) on ants (rice). Along with mold stumps (stuffed mushrooms) and brains (a watermelon minus the rind and carve somewhat).
Trick or treating and then about a dozen Halloween books before bed.

10/24/08

The Disney section. The kids loved the fact that Buzz Lightyear was there.

The Charlie Brown pumpkin. Zachary is a huge fan of the Peanut Gang. They also had a Snoopy pumpkin but the picture wasn't so good.

Goofing around at the very beginning of the walk.

So out of the blue I decide I wanted to take the kids to the Syracuse City Pumpkin walk. My big plan was to go yesterday but as usual plans had to be adjusted. We went tonight and had loads of fun. The best part was it was FREE. We got there early, it was suppose to start at 7 and lucky for us we did go early. We left around 7:45 and the line was long with long waits to walk through the display. Honestly it exceeded what I thought it would be and I can't wait to do it again next year, adding another family tradition to our life.

Here's the website about the pumpkin walk:

http://syrcitypumpkinwalk.blogspot.com/

10/23/08 Part Two

I have to post what we did in history today since Nathan really enjoyed the lesson today. We learned about China and the Chinese New Year. We made an envelope to give to each other with the Chinese Zodiac and a special treat. Then we made paper lanterns. Finally he made a dragon to parade around the house with. We then watched a movie about the Chinese New Year and he loved it. I think of all the history lessons we've done so far this one has been his favorite.

10/23/08

I voted yesterday. Funny thing was I wanted to vote early to avoid lines since I'd be dragging the kids along with me and I still stood in line. I guess the lines were probably shorter than any line I would have stood in on election day but I didn't expect to have to wait in line. I stood in line just to get to the election clerks desk for about 35 minutes. After that I had about a 5 minute wait for a voting machine. Overall a much shorter wait than I'd expect on election day though.

Nathan has moved on to the continent of Asia. Tuesday we learned about China and made a dragon boat. Today we finish our tour of China. I think he really enjoyed the activities we did for China. Also in reading he's been reading the complete stories of Peter Rabbit. Yesterday we read about Benjamin rabbit and afterwards made some cute little puppets. All three boys enjoyed making the puppets and then acting out little scence from the story. In the end they just started making up new stories because they were having so much fun.

10/20/08

Instead of our usual pumpkin patch pictures we have these. Mainly because these were free from our csa. They aren't as cute as a huge pile of pumpkins with kids climbing all over them but I have to say the kids had way more fun picking pumpkins here then they ever did at the big pumpkin pile. First watching the boys run through the patch was funny. They kept tripping over the vines. Second Noah kept yelling "Mine is going to be the biggest one ever", and then he'd pick one and change his mind. Third Nathan walked all the way through then decided he wanted the first one he saw but couldn't remember where it was. Fourth Zachary wanted the biggest ever pumpkin and ended up with one the size of a pie pumpkin. All in all it was fun and the kids are still talking about it.

Nathan just finished learning about the continent of Europe. He mailed postcards today to family about the countries he learned. If you receive one please give him a call. He was so excited to mail them and he took forever to pick the perfect picture and country for each person.

10/14/08

Saturday was our second annual trip to Black Island farms and their corn maze and pumpkin patch hay ride. True to last year the weather was horrible. We rushed to get the kids through the activities and it felt like we were rushing through everything. Honestly though, this year was loads better than last year since last year we trodded through mud while walking the corn maze. We are suppose to have a field trip there tomorrow with the UTVA but I think we are going to skip the trip. I'm posting a few pictures of our trip. But boy am I glad we decided to go on Saturday instead of Sunday since we woke up to about 8 inches of snow on Sunday.

10/09/08

Winter is coming. I'm not thrilled. The boys are not going to be happy cooped up inside during the winter. I'm not going to be happy dealing with cranky kids who are constantly fighting because of close quarters. But I am thrilled that the holidays are coming. All of my kids are finally old enough to "get" the holidays. They've been so thrilled seeing everyone's Halloween decorations and they begged me to get some for our house. Now I have to admit I use to go all out decorating for the holidays but several years ago someone kept stealing my decorations and I lost all interest in decorating the outside. The boys have convinced me to buy a few decorations and although our house doesn't look as neat as some other homes the boys are happy with what we've done. So now I just have to convince Don to go all out on decorating the house for Christmas. Mr Scrooge himself. I wonder if I will be able to convince him to put up some lights this year.

Noah's One Liners

Our little man Noah is slowly becoming the king of one liners. Here's a random sampling of his one liners:
I need to speak to you. (said very seriously)
I'm going to kick your butt.
I'll be right back. (but he never comes right back)
Someone smells and its not me. (usually means he farted)
I've got bees in my head. (a fly is hanging near him)
I'm going to grow up and be a bird.
Not me, Zachary did it.
You got a boomer. (when walking by someone playing Chuzzle)

9/17/08

Today we finished our tour of Australia. We made salt water colors and painted pictures. After they dried we hung them in the window and looked at the pretty colors of the salt. We also made a diorama of the Great Barrier Reef. I think Nathan had more fun with the diorama then the painting although he really loves painting. Tomorrow's stop in history is the continent of Europe with the first stop being Spain.

Nathan's handwriting is still not great. He does really good with some of the capital letters but struggles with the few lower case letters that we've learned. I used the preK Handwriting without tears program for his capital letters and right now we are learning lower case letters through the Code phonics program.

Noah is becoming the troubled child. The kid can't stay out of trouble. I did buy him a science experiement set and that has helped in so many ways. If this kid doesn't become a scientist of some sort I'll be amazed.

Zachary is still well Zachary. He worships his older brother. Everything Nathan does or says or buys or wants Zachary does the same exact thing. Even if its something he doesn't like in the first place.

09/11/08

Its been three weeks now and I think Nathan has finally gotten into the habit of having school work to do on a consistent basis. As for me I still haven't figured out how to organize so it seems like I don't know what I'm doing. There is alot of materials supplied through the k12 program that I haven't found a way to organize yet plus all the extras stuff they I have to keep the twins busy and don't get me started on school supplies. Nathan struggles some with school but I think having two brothers running around distracting me and him doesn't help. I've ditched the k12 phonics program for now. The stress on Nathan and me has diminished and he's actually learning the sounds and not getting frustrated so I think it was for the best. We are using the Get Ready for the Code program right now and when he completes the 3 books we will see if the k12 program works for him then or if we need to continue with the Code series. Instead of dreading the lessons he now asks for phonics near the beginning which he has been reserving for his favorites.

8/29/08

Frugal Tip Friday

Save a few dried beans each time you make dried beans in a glass jar. After awhile you'll have enough different dried beans to make your own 16 bean soup without the cost of buying the bag of 16 bean soup mix at the store. The bag at the store places a flavoring packet that's full of chemicals and preservatives, you can replic that flavor by using a ham hock. Get your ham hock by saving the bones from your ham or buy ham hocks at the butcher for cheap.

08/26/08

Nathan's first day of school. I thought I was already for today and yet I totally missed the ball on a few things. Overall once all of our materials get here I think we are really going to love it. I am dreading the teaching of phonics but I figure it won't hurt me to learn at the same time Nathan is. I have a feeling the twins are going to want to learn at the same time. Already today Noah did the same lessons as Nathan. We did math, handwriting, language arts, and science today. The science is something I'm doing extra with the kids as its not require through the UVA. Tomorrow should be easier and a little more prepared. I learned, today, how to get through the lessons and I think within a week or two Nathan, the twins, and I will be old pros at this. I can't wait for his Spanish lessons to open up so we can do those. We do history tomorrow too.

8/25/08

Well tomorrow is the first official day of school for Nathan. I know I said I was going to homeschool him but in the Don and I decided to apply for a charter school and he was accepted. Nathan is enrolled in the Utah Virtual Academy which is an online based public school. They use the K12 curriculm which is a pretty good program. We won't have the flexibilty we would have had with an actual homeschooled child but we get education materials for free.

Today we received about 1/2 of our materials for the courses. I've been going crazy because everything has been so late coming. I'm not one to bounce into something until I feel comfortable and the delay has been making me very uncomfortable. But as I said we did receive about 1/2 of our materials today. And the OLS (online school) is finally working so I was able to go in and see what all we will be doing. I was able to organize some of what I had for the classwork for tomorrow. I'm really excited to get started and watch my child learn.

I.....Norah

Mt friends Sherri posted this on her blog. I've loved learning more about her and so I hope she wants to learn more about me.


I AM ...a researcher by nature. I have researched so many topics to death its scary.

I WANT... a vacation. I don't care anymore where I go I just want to get away from the daily life things for a few days.

I HAVE ... read every book ever written on the Donner Party and visited the Donner Party campsite twice, once on my honeymoon.

I WISH I COULD ... spell or sing or have any type of artistic or musical talent.

I HATE ... not knowing what's in store for the future.

I FEAR ... losing one of my kids. It took so much for us to get them here and I worry about everything. Somedays more than others.

I HEAR .... silence and random snores.

I SEARCH ... for library books daily it seems.

I DON'T THINK ... that I'll ever be comfortable talking in front of a crowd.

I REGRET ... that I didn't try IVF sooner. All the money we wasted doing other options and if I had just done it from the beginning I would have the money to try for one more child.

I LOVE ... My husband and my kids.

I ACHE FOR ... Couples that are struggling to become parents. I've been down that road and I know how hard it is on a daily basis.

I ALWAYS CRY ... at sad endings. Books, movies, or music it doesn't matter.

I AM NOT ... A great housekeeper.

I DANCE ... never. Although every once in awhile the kids talk me into dancing to the wiggles.

I SING ... along with music while doing laundry.

I NEVER ... skip my daily shower. My kids know that mom has to have her shower or she will be grumpy all day.

I RARELY ... leave my kids at home with anyone. I usually am with my kids all the time.

I CRY WHEN I WATCH ... sad endings of movies or television shows.

I AM NOT ALWAYS ... caring towards others. I have my faults and this is one of them.

I HATE THAT ... I may never have another child.

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT ... the world. So many things that confuse me when it comes to others in this world.

I NEED ... not spend so much time on the computer.

I SHOULD ... go to bed. Why is it after the kids go to sleep I want to stay up?

08/18/08

Last week was the Davis County Fair. I have to say I think I like the Davis county fair better than the Utah state fair for the kids. There is just so much more fun things for the little kids at the county fair. I didn't enter anything in any event this year, mainly because I messed up the entry date for the photo and I totally blew off the date for the bread entry.

The kids loved looking at all the animals and of course Noah as usual really got into seeing the animals. But the highlight part of the fair for the twins was the pony rides. Noah kept saying, while waiting in line, I'm going to be a cowboy. Nathan, as usual, was too scared to ride the ponies. We let the kids ride the big yellow slide by themselves and they enjoyed it.

8/16/08

I totally spaced the frugal tip Friday that my friend Sherri does so I am doing it today.

Frugal Tip Friday
Save the little bit of rice, vegetables, gravy, meat, the liquid from canned vegetables (if you use canned) and such and add them to bags or bowls in the freezer. When you have enough saved you can make a stew or soup. I recommend keeping chicken, beef, and pork in different bags/bowls. The first time I tried this I thought it won't taste good but I swear they make the best stews and soups.

http://kaysvillemomma.blogspot.com/2008/08/frugal-tip-friday-81508.html

08/08/08

I just realized the date. I love when it works out that way.

Frugal tip Friday:
Use vinegar and baking soda as cheap, green alternatives to expensive chemical cleaning supplies. If you like a little scent add some essential oils, tea tree oil is a good one or orange.

Frugal Tip Friday

http://kaysvillemomma.blogspot.com/2008/08/frugal-tip-friday-8108.html

Here's my tip:
Budget friendly ways to buy organic for your family.
Stick to what is in season and available locally for produce. That will be the cheapest. Look for co-ops, farmer's markets or local stands and see what you find. Buy daily to capitalize on the very ripe items that get marked down. -Reduce the amount of meat and cheese you eat. Cheaper to toss a small package of organic beef in with a lot of pasta sauce than it is to make a meatloaf. Cheaper to make turkey soup using a breast rather than roasting up a whole breast and getting 1-2 meals vs. 4-5 soup meals. Cheaper to buy a tiny bit of wild Alaskan smoked salmon as a side to rice and veggies than a whole filet of wild salmon. Eating less meat is healthier anyways so it is an added bonus. -Replace one type of conventionally grown food with an organic variety at a time. Switching to all organic in 1 week is going to strain the budget drastically but gradually getting used to the increased costs a little by little gives you time to adjust in other areas. NOW I don't feel like I am spending extra on many things because I am used to that price point. But when I started, the extra $$ on meat etc was really noticable. We are just now switching to organic cheese, which was the last thing I committed to getting organic. -Use information like this: http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf to decide what is worth it to you to buy organic and what you can skip. For example, I never bother with organic onions, avocado, bananas or cabbage- I just buy whatever is cheapest. I find that organic grapes and berries are mostly too $$ to bother getting so I eat them less often as a treat rather than daily in season. But I have found that if I shop carefully organic apples, peppers, pears, spinach, lettuce and potatoes are not very much more than the conventionally grown counterparts. -Look at buying near organic products. Things that are grown without the use of pesticides but that are not yet certified organic. Or milk and eggs that are hormone free but not certified organic.

7/22

Well finally it happened. One of the boys did something that I'm sure every kid in the world does at some point in their lives. Honestly though if you'd have asked me which kid would be the first one to stick something in his ear and not be able to get it out I would have said Zachary. I would have been wrong. It was Noah.

I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and the kids were in the living room watching tv with their afternoon snack. All of a sudden Noah comes running into the kitchen screaming. He's screaming and crying so hard I can't figure out what he's saying. So after a few minutes he calms down enough that I can figure out he's saying something is stuck in his ear. I take a look and at first thought he'd somehow broke a piece of wood off in his ear. I figure its sticking out far enough that I can just grab it with my fingers. No I couldn't and I pushed it further back. Now Don always accuses me of overreacting so I decide I'm going to stay calm. I ask Noah what is in his ear so I can decide the next course of action. Noah doesn't answer because he's back to screaming again. I ask Nathan if he knows. 20 minutes later after a full recap of everything that Noah has done in the 5 minutes after I left the living room and the time Noah comes screaming into the kitchen I find out that Noah shoved a chow mein noodle in his ear.

I call Don calmly at work and tell him Noah shoved something in his ear. I ask him if he thinks we can get it out or if we need to take him to the doctor. He says he'll come home right now since its only 20 minutes before he's off anyway. It takes him about 15 minutes to get home and once he arrives he decides that we should flood the ear with water so the noodle will fall apart. So I make him a bowl with water and give him the syringe. Don then says to me, "Maybe you should call the doctor's office to be sure this is okay." So I call and talk to the nurse. She says he needs to come in because he's still young and we don't know how long the item is. So off we head to the doctor.

Noah falls asleep on the way over which is good because he's been screaming for about 45-60 minutes now. As we head into the office he's calmed down and all excited to go play in the play area. He heads right in and talks to the first person he sees. He calmly tells them, "Hi I'm Noah and I have a noodle in my ear." So now to end this extremely long recount of this story we wait 45 minutes to see the doctor who takes 30 seconds to pull the noodle out of his ear. And what does the doctor say? On something like that you could just flood the ear and let it dissolve.

7/21

I haven't updated this in awhile. I'll just give the run down on the boys.

Nathan is being typical Nathan. Somedays it seems his SID is going away and then there are days where it seems to be getting worse. I've convinced him at dinner time that he needs to take one bite of everything before deciding if he likes it or not. He's pretty funny because he sometimes says, "WOW I didn't even know I liked that." Nathan has also picked up a very annoying habit from the neighbor. Our dear neighbors behind us are a little "slow" and one doesn't really like to talk directly to Don or I. She'll say to her sister "Tell Norah, and she procedes with a story, and the repeats the tell Norah." Well Nathan has picked this up and its driving me nuts. I don't know how to get him to stop but if doesn't stop soon my head is going to pop of my neck.

Noah is king of the naked people. This kid would proudly go naked 24/7 if we allowed him. He is officially known in the neighborhood as the naked bike rider. He is also king of getting into trouble. He has this intense desire to play in water and to dump things. He constantly has the water on outside and if you can keep him from turning the outside water on you'll find him indoors in the bathroom playing in the bathtub or sink. Yesterday he dump all the hummingbird food out, my dad's mesquite wood chips, a bag of peanuts for the birds, and a bag of flour. Today he dumped a bag of sugar and a bag of quinoa. He is the biggest animal lover in the house and loves to call out the birds that visit.

Zachary is still the child who should have been an only child. He needs more attention than the others and is a very needy child. He worships Nathan though. I think it drives Nathan crazy when Zachary has to do everything Nathan does. He is going to be the sports star in the family. I don't think there's a sport out there that Zach isn't interested in. He is also the family dare devil. I honestly don't know how we've managed to avoid having major injuries so far. Nothing phases this kid. Zachary has also declared himself the protector of the "Wiggles" shirts. These are the shirts I bought the kids to wear to a wiggles concert 3 years ago. The shirts no longer fit anyone and are stained and not in good shape. However Mr. Zach finds it very important to know where the shirts are at all times, gives the said shirts to the correct person (each kid has a differnt color), and will go after anyone not wearing the said shirt. While I would love to rid the house of these shirts I think these are something I want to save as a reminder of my kids childhood. They do really love those shirts.

6/30

We took the boys to Eccles Dinosaur park in Ogden yesterday. This is a fun place to go if your kids like dinosaurs. The have a small indoor musuem and the majority is outside. The indoor part is okay if your kids don't spook. However my kids freaked out over the dinosuars upstairs that moved and made noise.

They have a policy of 2 maps per family. While this probably works well for some families it doesn't work well for us. Of course each kid wanted his own map so he would know were he was at all times. After trying to convince the kids that we only needed two and that not working I tried to beg another map from the front desk. I was told I had my two maps and couldn't get another. So I have two happy kids and one kid who is having a meltdown. Finally some nice person walked over and handed my child who was having a meltdown her map. I owe that person a dinner as for the rest of the day he was happy. I placed the maps someplace safe so the next time we go I'll have extra maps and won't have the meltdown again.

We spent almost 3 hours there with the kids. It was worth the money although I'm not sure I enjoyed the heat. If you have kids who love dinosaurs this is a worth while place to take your kids to see. At the end of our visit I bought the boys a gift from the gift shop. All three had to have a dinosaur hat. I'll have to get pictures and share because it is quite cute. Two kids fell asleep last night wearing their hats.

6/25

I've been a busy little critter. Between crafts, science projects, and our other typical daily stuff the boys and I have been a little busy. The boys have also been helping me grow a vegetable garden this year. We started several plants indoors and then moved them outside. We also planted carrots, which are a favorite of the boys. Yesterday we were rewarded with our first grown tomato of the season. Now granted it was tiny and a cherry tomato but the boys loved looking at the yellow tomato they grew. None wanted to try it so mom ate it and it was delicious. I can't wait for more.

The boys are getting even better at the bird watching in our yard. They can identify several species of birds and they help keep the bird feeders filled with each birds favorite type of food. Its so much fun watching them get excited over the birds.

Noah is pretty much potty trained now too. Again I have to say my approach to the potty training has saved me so much stress. He still forgets every once in awhile about pooping but otherwise he's doing great. It's going to seem weird not having to buy a huge box of diapers each month. We still use diapers at night although if they want to wear underwear to bed I let them. We haven't had an accident yet but I'm so scared of an accident happening.

Last night we went to the Syracuse Hertiage Days dinner and magic show. While the food wasn't too impressive, and how can it be when its massed produced, it was fun. The boys throughly enjoyed the magic show. Syracuse had a great turnout for the night. It makes me wonder why my city, Clearfield, can't do something like this. I was asked to join the 4th of July committee for Clearfield but after being told every idea I had wouldn't work I lost interest and dropped out. Honestly if Syracuse and do a week long celebration and have the turn out they did last night each night then I think Clearfield could draw the same amount if not more people. I hate the city I live in. They really don't do much to bring the city together like I see the other cities around us doing.

Frugal Tip Friday

My tip is to shop outside the grocery store for items. I'm always stopping at the nearest produce stand, ethnic food store, farmer's market and other such places to buy food. You never know what you may find and most of the time produce is so much cheaper at any of these places. Plus you can usually buy bulk spices from the produce stand or ethnic store for so much cheaper than the little bottles at the grocery store.

6/18 Part Two

Today I stared our daily science experiment and craft a day program. Basically this is to help me keep the kids entertained and to teach the kids something while they think they are playing. I used the book More Mudpie to Magnets and All Around the town craft book.

Today's Science experiment:
Floating Rainbows
The kids loved this. "More, more, more Mom," they hollered. The hardest part was the waiting for the food coloring to drop from the oil into the water. Overall this one was liked in our house.

Today's craft project:
Peek a Boo house
I should have prepped this one last night. The kids lost interest quickly as it took some time for me to get things ready for them to do. I think I may try this again tomorrow after I prep it some tonight.

6/18

The kids are enjoying the summer reading program at the local library this summer. Sadly I had the days mixed up so we missed the puppet show. I know they kids would have loved that. Last week they did a bug concert and after the concert they made puppet bugs. The kids really enjoyed that. Yesterday they had Doodlebug art. The boys really enjoyed the learn to draw bugs part of the program. They watched and studied and drew just like the artist. While they enjoyed the pop up book storytime the actual making of a pop up book lost their interest. They also made a clay bug but again they didn't seem to enjoy that as much as the learning to draw. This is a great program and I highly recomend taking your kids to this program.
Tonight is Army Ants and Miss Utah will be at the Clearfield Library. I'm not taking the kids to this one but I bet it will be fun.
http://www.daviscountyutah.gov/library/kids/summer_reading_program/2008/default.cfm

June 11

So Noah found a cowboy hat at the yard sale we had a few weeks back and he claimed it as his. He wears it quite often and walks around telling everyone he is a cowboy. He gets Don's winter work boots out to wear as cowboy boots and rides the broom like a horse. About 2 weeks ago I tell him about cowboy music and he wants to hear cowboy music. I was picky and wanted real cowboy music not country music so I ended up introducing him to Chris Ledoux.

Chris Ledoux was one of my favorite singers, songwriter, and performer. I loved seeing him in concert and paid whatever the price to see him live. I played Cadillac Cowboy for Noah and he picked up the words the second time through. Watching him sing and perform to Cadillac Cowboy makes me so sad that he'll never see Chris in concert. I think he would have loved the show. I also would have loved to introduced him to Chris. I got to meet Chris once and you know I still remember our conversation. I remember how he took the time to talk to me and even got upset when his manager tried to hurry me through. The world lost a great person the day Chris LeDoux died. Now I watch Noah sing Chris Ledoux songs and in a small way he reminds me of Chris. He totally gets into singing the songs. We were in the grocery store the other day and Cadillac Cowboy came on the intercom. Noah stopped walking and starting singing and doing his moves to the song. He had people stopped in their tracks watching him and one even said he'd bet money that Chris would have loved to see a little 3 year old belting out one of his songs.

I'm on a quest now to replace all my lost Chris Ledoux albums. I noticed that there was a new album out that includes a dvd so I think I'll purchase that next. I think Noah would really love watching Chris in action.

God bless Chris Ledoux!

I've been tagged by Sherri

How to play this game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

Joys
1. Watching my kids play with each other.
2. My dh since he's so into the whole romantic love thing, even if I'm not.
3. Watching my kids develop a love for reading. I'm a huge reader and I'm so happy I've installed the love of reading in my kids.

Fears
1. RODENTS and my kids want a ferret or hamster. I think NOT.
2. Something happening to my kids.
3. The unknown.

Current obessions/collections
1. Cookbooks.
2. Tracking birds.
3. Houseplants.

Goals
1. To finally keep the house clean.
2. Organize my life.
3. Become more active.


Random facts about me
1. I have three kids all conceived at the same time but separated by 23 months.
2. I have a huge book collection. Seriously I could open a library.
3. When I first discover something new I become obessed with it.

I'm pretty sure I do not have 5 people to tag but here are the people I do tag:
Mary, I'll have to come up with 4 more people.

June 8th

Well Zachary is potty trained. He did it all on his own and I'm quite proud of him. I do put him in diapers at night still but I think he's only a few weeks away from not needing those. He's very excited to tell anyone that he wears underwear now.

Noah on the otherhand is being lazy. He did underwear for a week just so he could get a toy like was promised to Zach but as soon as he had toy in hand he started wearing a diaper again. I think he's just being lazy. Especially considering that he can go whenever the urge hits him.

This brings me to my next issue. Don, last year, told Nathan it would be fine to pee outside once when we had no place else for him to go. Well it appears that peeing outside is the "cool" thing to do in our house. While at our house its not a big deal, although I would love for them not to do this, they are doing this everywhere. They go to the park and just pull their pants down to pee or the other day we were at J and J nursery and Noah climbs into their big outdoor fountain pulls his pants down and starts to pee in the fountain. Now to figure out a way to convince them that peeing out in the open is not the way you go about doing your business.

Today is my birthday. I feel old. I didn't think turning another year older would make me feel old but for some reason today it has. I made myself a birthday cake since for the past several years no one has given me one. Not that it really matters but for some reason I just want my birthday celebrated today. I also told Don I wanted a lazy day. I didn't want to do laundry or any cooking. Since I highly doubt he'll do any laundry today I guess I won't have a lazy day because I didn't get any laundry done yesterday. If I don't keep up on laundry it piles up and it seems like laundry never gets done.

Monday May 26

The other night Nathan, Noah, and Zach were out watching television. Noah came in and went to bed but the other two were still out watching television. After 30 minutes with neither coming into the bedroom I went out to see why. The picture above explains why, Zach fell asleep on Nathan and Nathan couldn't get out from underneath him. When asked what happened Nathan responded, "Zach was so tired so I told him to put his head down on me."

Zachary is working hard at not wearing diapers anymore. I'm a firm believer in waiting until the child is ready to potty train to train him. Last Thursday Zach decided he didn't want to wear diapers anymore. He was not really ready for underwear on Thursday and we had lots and lots of accidents but now at 9 days into the underwear program we are only have poop accidents for the last 48 hours. He doesn't even want to wear the diaper at night and has been waking up dry but I'm not quite daring enough to let him skip the diaper at night. It took Nathan 4 1/2 years to want to give up diapers but the day he decided to give them up we never had an accident. He's sleeping through the night without a diaper now. I've found that waiting for them to be ready puts less stress on me and the child. Noah is pretty close to being trained too although he will not give up a diaper. However nighttime training for him is a long way off.

Sunday May 18

The kids are so tired they can't sleep. I hate when that happens. They have been cranky little suckers for the last week but yesterday and today have put me over the top. I'm really hoping they go to bed early tonight.

On a brighter note the kids are really going to town with the birds. They can identify several different birds and let me know when the feeders are empty. They also know which birds like which food and can get the food for them if needed.

Nathan is plugging along at reading. He finished one book and we are starting on the next book of sounds. He can count to 100 but needs help with 13, and all the 10's (like twenty, thirty, etc.), and he recites the ABC's.

Noah and Zachary like to copy Nathan so they've picked up how to count to about twenty. The can do the abc's although they get confused. Noah can also read the same book Nathan can. Both are close to potty training. I'm one to wait until they are ready so I don't have to deal with accidents. It worked great with Nathan as he woke up one morning and decided to wear underwear and we've never had an accident. Zachary for the last 4 days has insisted on underwear. He's had a few accidents mainly when I'm not hounding him about going to the bathroom.

Wednesday May 7

We've been busy little bees the last few weeks. For Earth day we took the kids to Antelope Island again. Nathan wasn't pleased with the smell that day. We were also told by the kids they didn't want to try the beach again (see older post about the horrible beach experience). They loved all the fun activities there. Favorites again:

Fielding Garr ranch house

seeing the buffalo up close

playing with the chickens

getting the roosters to talk to them

playing cowboy and using the lasso

the old wagon camper

A new favorite of the kids and mine: bird watching. Noah will sit at the window with the three bird books we have and call out everytime a bird comes to the feeders. The blue jays are providing us ample watching time. All three boys know the blue jays, robins, and chickadees by name. I'm sensing a trip to Tracy Avairy and some new books on birds for the boys.

April 17th

Why is spring in Utah so wild? My kids got the taste of being outside playing again last week and now this week it has been cold and snowy again. They just want to play outside. I need them to play outside. They are much happier kids when they have spent several hours outside playing. Dh is talking about maybe moving to Alaska and I thought I was interested but I'm reconsidering my thoughts. I think we should move to a warm all year round spot.

So today Nathan dresses himself up in an old dinosaur fleece hat, his power ranger sunglasses, power rangers gloves, morph phone, and foam shooter and walks into the room I'm in yelling something in power ranger language. I couldn't help but laugh. It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. I really wish he'd get over this addicition to power rangers. He's also big into the stupid commericals that sell the "as seen on tv" crap the jetix seems to air nonstop during kids programming. Everytime he sees a commerical he runs to get me to tell me he really needs it. Right now his "we've have to have these mom" things are:
pancake puff
over the shoulder bag
space bags
upside down tomato thing
watering bulbs
and the list could go on and on. He knows everything about these products. Yesterday when making pancakes he said "Mom if we had the pancake puff it would be so much easier and we could make things besides pancakes." Outside weather can't come quickly enough.

Zachary is driving me nuts with some stupid wiggle shirts from 2 years ago. All three boys have outgrown these shirts yet all three insist on wearing this shirts EVERYDAY. Zachary is the worst one. Every morning he runs around collecting the shirts so everyone can wear them. If someone won't put the shirt on he whines and cries and carries around the shirt until the offending brother puts it on. These shirts are filthy 99% of the time. Zachary has to go with you to put them in the washer and he sits on the stairs waiting for the washer to stop. If you don't go down right away to put them in the dryer he goes down and brings up the wet shirts to remind you. He also waits for the dryer to end and gets the shirts out as soon as the dryer stops. This from the child who is too scared to go downstairs to get his own juice box but he can go downstairs to retrieve the wiggle shirts.

Noah has started biting people when he doesn't get his way. I'm not sure how to handle this. Hopefully this is a very short lived habit.

April 11th

Long time since I've updated the blog. Mainly because someone who I had a falling out with was visting the blog. Anyway I'm back.

The boys are 5 and 3 now. They are huge into the Power rangers, much to my dismay. They are constantly playing power rangers and driving me nuts. We put up the tramp my mom bought them for Christmas up and they are enjoying that to the fullest. I just really wish it would warm up outside so they could play for hours on it.

We've decided to homeschool Nathan for kindergarten. Depending on how things go we may stick with it for first grade or enroll him in public school at that point. There were several factors that led us to this decision and we do feel it is best for him at this time. However we are a go with the flow type of family and if at any point it isn't working for us we have no problems enrolling him in public school. We are using the K12 program for kindergarten. He had to take a math test to decide on his placement and he did test out at the middle of the first grade for math so I must be teaching him well so far.

Noah and Zachary are still going strong. They sure are different from their older brother. Its been so much fun watching how two kids born at the same time can have such different personalities. They are a joy to watch and live with.

Pictures

Above: Nathan in his halloween costume.
Below: Zachary in his halloween costume.

Above: Noah in his halloween costume.

Below: All three boys plus part of our two dogs.

Noah and Zachary at their 3rd birthday party. I love the picture of Noah.

Gosh I'm bad

I've been so bad at updating this blog. I'll try to post some pictures tonight. The twins had their 3rd birthday right before Christmas. They sure are getting big. I also have pictures from Halloween and Christmas to post. I need to get back in the habit of posting here daily.