Thank You Grandma Hogg

Thaddeus would like to shout out a 'Thank You' to his grandma Hogg. She gave him a Jumbo the Jet for Christmas. It is remote control, only forward and backwards but enough for us as the video shows!!! We love Grandma Hogg!!! (And Grandma Wrigley too :))

Christmas

Thaddeus is asleep, Grace is at her Grandma's and I am listening to Christmas music on Pandora while doing the dishes. Do you know the song, "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant? Well, it is beautiful. It is a song about what Mary was thinking as she was carrying Jesus, this Son of God and all the questions and worries she must have had. It really strikes a chord with me. I worry all the time about Grace and Thaddeus and whether or not I will teach them everything they need to know and raise them to be good people with testimonies. But can you imaging what Mary must have thought. She was carrying the Son of God, prophesied to save the world from sin. Talk about worry. It made me worry a little less in a way. Christ turned out GREAT, Grace and Thaddeus will too! (Because of their Heavenly Father and His love for them)

For my Sister-in-law

Here are our trees:

Why 3 you ask? (not my sister-in-law, I already told her, this is for everyone else) The first year we were married we didn't have a tree and no money to go buy one so we were given my mom's old 2 foot (including the huge outcropping on top for the star!) tree she used to put up at school. Good enough for us we thought. Well, the next year we had Grace. Grant mentioned how fun it would be to have a tree that had 1 foot for every family member. We bought a 3 foot tree that year and this year, yep, you guessed it, we bought a 4 footer! What, do you ask, do we do when child number 10 comes? (well, he/she won't) But by then Grant will have a REAL job and we'll have a real house, a big one. Or, we'll be homeless and have plenty of room outside our cardboard box for a 12 foot tree!!! :)

The smallest is popcorn and cinnamon/applesauce ornaments. The middle is just some cheap foil bows my mom was getting rid of. The tallest is decorated with all of the ornaments Grant and I were given growing up or made in school. That beautiful star on top was given to me by my grandmother.

Christmas Creations

This year I finally got my creative juices pumping and made some things. But first, a cute pic of my kids! Yes, he can sit on a chair but he can't crawl or roll over!? (I'm not worried though :) JoAnn's had their Christmas stuff 50% off (I know, after Christmas they are 75% or more but I wanted a wreath for Christmas THIS year!) so we bought a wreath and flowers and these cute bead things and I made my own! Well, decorated one anyway.

And this year I finally made a dress for Grace. My sister-in-law inspired me. She isn't a home economics major like me and she sewed her daughter's Halloween costume (Cinderella) and she has two children just like I do. I decided I could do it too!!

She picked out the fabric. I wasn't too excited at first but it turned out way cute! And she likes it and will wear it so that counts as a home run in my book!! (I think I need to sew an under-skirt for her that poofs out her dress, oh well, there is always next year!!)

Jealous

This is my husband. Wonderful, kind, takes out the trash, does the dishes sometimes without being asked, takes my kids from me just before I hit that point of complete and utter frustration :) And I am so jealous of him!! I don't know if this is a woman vs. man thing or just a Grant and me thing. I say I am going to take a shower and 20 minutes later I am in the shower. Along the way I had to clean up the toys, wash something, fold some laundry and clean the tub. He says he is going to take a shower and before you can blink, he's in the shower.
I say I am going to bed, 1/2 an hour later after a repeat routine of getting in the shower I am laying there thinking, "did I turn off the stove?" I get up, back in bed, "did I lock the doors?" get up, back in bed, "are the kids still alive, did someone steal them?" get up, back in bed and it goes on and on. He on the other hand says, "I'm going to bed" He brushes his teeth and he's in bed, usually asleep too.
Is it my multi-tasking gene that is my doom? Men only do one thing at a time so when they say something they actually go and do THAT thing?

Crawling!?

So my son is addicted to sitting. Hates laying on the floor too long so when I heard my sister-in-law's brother was giving her daughter crawling lessons, I decided we might give it a try! Yes, as the video shows, he is lazy, but SMART!!! (I have to defend myself, I put him on the blanket because I didn't want to put the cheerio on the floor)

I had to laugh!!

See anything... different?

Take a close look at both of these pictures and see if you can tell the very important difference between them (I know there are a lot, but there is a certain one I'm looking for!!)

Did you guess?

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I want you to guess before I tell you!!

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Okay, so we are potty training and Grace is doing very well! She has accidents but she is getting the hang of stopping herself before she wets herself completely and bowel movements are about 90% in the correct place!! I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel!! ps. we are loving absorbent pants :)

Thaddeus has some new past-times. He is getting to that age where cause and effect are noticed. In the bath tub he loves to splash. I think he does it accidentally and then remembers, oh yeah, this is fun. He also loves to drop things onto the floor when he is sitting up high. And these pictures. he LOVES to sit on the couch and look out the window, play with the window (it squeakes when he runs his hand over it), wipe off all the condensation and just be up high. If there were some way to make it safe, I'd put him there while I showered!! (I tried my hand at artistic photography, I don't want your opinions on how it turned out :))

My visiting teaching companion gave us these winter hats for the kids. She had already given Grace one and one for TD before we knew he was a boy (she gave us a blue one) and the girls I walked with complimented us on them so I told her and she said, take some for them. And of course, Grace had to have another. Her "pumkin" hat as she calls it. (she is trying to say 'pom-pom') They keep us warm!!

Grace

Grace has been very funny lately. Her vocabulary isn't growing rapidly anymore but now the way she expresses herself is becoming very broad!!
When you tell her she can't have/do/touch etc. she scrunches up her eyes and says 'Uh, Uh' and puts her hands on her hips.
The other day we were talking about Grandma Hogg's cats and I asked, "What else does Grandma Hogg have at her house?" Grace- "CANDY!" To which I replied, "What does Grandma Wrigley have at her house?" Grace-"CANDY" (trust me, she doesn't always get candy at their houses)
Today Grant was asking her about the grocery store and he asked, "What do we get at the grocery store? Pizza?",
Grace-'no',
Grant- 'Milk?'
Grace- 'no',
Grant- 'Where do we get milk?',
Grace- "The fridge!" (as she walks over to show us)

Sick

Well, we picked up a bug finally! That ! makes it sound like I was excited, which I am. Don't get me wrong, I don't like to see my children suffer, but, it makes me feel glad that their immune systems are toughening up! I am more towards the idea that kids should get sick. I don't sanitize everything during flu season, the bleach stays in the cupboard and I don't believe in sanitizing wipes. I wash my hands often and Grace's and we follow common sense rules: i.e. don't kiss a sick person, sneeze into a tissue etc. but I believe that bodies are amazing and will take care of it themselves. That said, here are a few reasons I love having sick kids :)
1. My house gets cleaned because they sleep a lot.
2. They will actually cuddle with me.
3. They look so darn cute with their little pale faces!
Luckily we've never been SO sick where it is life and death, I don't think I'd enjoy that. The flu every once in a while is okay. No pictures, I didn't think you wanted to look at the contents of their stomachs :)
I remember a while back posting a complaint about it being 2pm and I hadn't been able to shower yet, well, today I took 4. When I woke up this morning, then the 3 times Thaddeus threw up all over me and soaked my clothes clear through! :)

The Zoo

This isn't the zoo but it was cute so I put it on my post! :) My sister-in-law and I took our children to the zoo. Grace and Lucy are 3 months apart and Thaddeus and Millie are 4 months apart. Couldn't have planned it better myself! We have lots of fun with them!

Our tiny zoo here in Boise finally got a 'cool' animal. Last fall they got 2 giraffe's. They are pretty big!

Here the girls are 'driving'. Not quite yet girls! You have to be able to see over the dashboard!

My camera died and I forgot to get the other pics from Hilary. We took the girls last summer as well and we 're-took' some pictures of them in the same places. Cute!

Just Cute Kids

As of this morning:

Yesterday, his first cereal!

Grace loves books.

5 months and he can sit up! (if you put him on his bottom)

Soooooo tired! (daddy said he'd lay by her while she fell asleep, we all know what that lead to!)

Bunk bed makeover

Don't miss out on the post below but I had to show off my wonderful Sister-in-law! (Grant's baby sister) We bought these bunkbeds a while ago and finally got them fixed and painted but Grace's bed was sorta boring, just pink. I asked Kamille to come paint words on it and it turned out adorable!! She picked some Primary songs and did one on each side. She is so talented! She is going to BYU-I this fall and we are so excited for her but we will miss her!

Note to Self:

Warning: Some images in this post may not be suitable for squeamish people who faint at the site of blood or cuts. (not that bad really, just thought I would warn you so you didn't yell at me in your comment :))

This picture is just to take up room so you don't have to look at the others if you don't want to :) Grace was building towers in her room and came out with this one all excited that she'd built it herself so we took a picture! She doesn't quite understand pictures yet and how she needs to leave her face uncovered, oh well!



About 3 weeks ago I was chopping vegetables for dinner. I wasn't paying very good attention and all the sudden I was in a lot of pain! I sliced my finger. Like any good chef I had my fingers bent so you don't cut off the tip, but not bent enough I guess. I sliced off mostly fingernail and it bled pretty good! The Dr. and nurse were nice though. I didn't know this but they have this cool stuff called gel foam that they can put on you that acts as a scab until your body creates it's own. That is the white stuff. It used to be completely covered in it, it has since fallen off except for the tiny bit. (sorry the pictures aren't great, my camera doesn't focus well that close!) It is healing quite nicely I must say. They said my nail should grow back just fine. I'll take another picture when the scab falls off, for those of you who might be interested :)

And last but not least, poor Grace. Last night we were popping popcorn and a kernel jumped out of the popper, out of the bowl and into Grace's sleeve. She was wearing long sleeves. I didn't know it had gone into her sleeve and I was just holding her but she kept crying and I grabbed her arm and could feel the kernel in there. I felt so bad! She was a brave little girl though and sat so nicely in the chair with her arm on some ice. It blistered though and she was not sad at all, the opposite in fact because she got a band-aid!! (the other bump by her wrist is a mosquito bite)

So, note to self, don't pop popcorn in a long sleeve shirt and don't chop vegetables with a very sharp knife if you aren't paying good attention!!

We also had a family reunion last weekend. I will post pics as soon as I get some from my family members who took some :)

The resident Bunny

Our neighborhood has a bunny. I don't think it belongs to anyone, it just roams the neighborhood. He likes our back yard, he sits by the shed in the shade. I tried to feed him spinach one day, fresh, and he preferred the dying weeds. Who knows!

O Jardim!

Our gigantor: Zuchinni's (4 to be exact)
The late green beans

The biggest tomato plant

CUCUMBERS! (I just ate one, mmm good)

I planted a garden this year on the side of our house. I decided since it was so small I would experiment with things I have never grown. When 2 of the 4 failed, I planted things I knew I could grow :) (if you didn't already know, carrots and green onions take about a month to sprout from seed! I didn't, and stopped watering them :)) Green beans! They are scattered in and amongst the others, we planted them way late :)

Where is Daddy's hair?

So Grace was coloring at the table while I was doing dishes and I said, "Draw a picture of you and Daddy dancing." I went over to see and she had drawn this:

When Grant got home we showed him. She told him who each person was (she is the lower left corner, he is the center right) Then he asked her where daddy's hair was and she pointed to the purple tuft on top of his head!

It's so cool because this is the first time she has actually drawn 'people', not just lines!

Grace the...

Artist (we save on paper by letting her use her brother :))

And the Reader (we actually completed the summer reading program this year and got a free book!!)

(correction, she is a listener, mom is the reader :))

Misleading

I should have been more specific, I work on dinner when Thaddeus is napping. He and Grace sleep for about a half hour at the same time. Hope that makes you all feel better :)

Ahh, all better!

I am showered! Crazy how a shower can make life so much better?!
I frequently am asked by women who only have one child what it is like to have two. Well, those of you with more than one know, it's a little hairy scary. But, one thing I have found to be very helpful is to make dinner while the kids nap. My children seem to be the crankiest, neediest, cryiest while I am trying to get dinner together so it's ready when Grant gets home. So, while they are napping I do everything I can. Chop veggies, make the salad, mix all the dry ingredients together, cook the meat if it isn't going to be eaten whole (like hamburgers would be gross re-heated but taco meat isn't!) It sure does make dinner time at my house easier! Someday when I have room for it I will buy a huge freezer and just pull dinner out the night before, let it thaw in the fridge and preso chango, it's ready!

Sleeping In

When I was single I loved sleeping in, especially after my mission! But now, I despise it! My children are my alarm clock. I do not get out of bed until I have to get one of them. This is usually between 6-7am so not really lazy. Well, when I sleep in, that means they've slept in. Like today, Grace slept until 8:45 which pushes her nap to crazy land and means she is cranky all day and won't lay down on her own! It is 2:18 and I still haven't showered!

Our lives

The children as of today
I was taking 3 month pics and Grace wanted to pose as well. Doesn't it look like an old couple with the husband's hands on the shoulders of his wife? Funny I thought.

Yeah, I'm 3 months and still have eyes! He is almost always this happy, true story!

Grace's cute bouffant hairdo with a bow.

I went out to water the garden and told Grace to get some clothes on and come with me. I went out the door (Grant was home) thinking she wouldn't, and about the time I was finishing she comes around the corner looking like this! Grant said she dressed herself! I was so proud!

This is my horrible mom moment. I was trimming his nails and got his thumb. Took out a good chunk and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Plus, he plays with his thumbs and kept tearing off the band aids, I think I went through about 7!

Life has gotten better!!!!! Grant quit his evening job and we are now down to one job and school! I haven't gotten to really feel what it is like to have a husband at home in the evenings because my sister came up from Utah to visit so I was over there a lot this last week. I am looking forward to this week! We can actually have family home evening, and late Friday evening date nights (after the kids are in bed) and go to the park at night, maybe, if Grant doesn't have a ton of homework!

Thaddeus is now 3 months old and happy, as long as I stay away from chocolate ;) I don't know how much he weighs but there is a 4 1/2 month old in our ward and TD is bigger!