Birthdays

Around here, January is the start of our family birthday season. Logan's birthday is first, then mine is 8 days later, after that we have Trevor in March and then Dave and Colin in May. For Logan's birthday this year, he kept telling me he wanted a party with ALL of his friends. We've been doing a playgroup lately so I invited all the moms and kids over on Friday for lunch and playing and cupcakes. Logan had a great time and it's so nice to see him with so many good friends! When we moved into this house I was worried Logan wouldn't have any friends, but he's made some great ones. On Saturday Logan want to go to McDonalds for dinner and then we came back here for cake and gifts. The video of him opening his gifts is so cute! My mom got him the garbage truck he's been wanting since before Christmas. It was a great day for him and he was so excited to be 4. He started Sunbeams in church and do so well in Primary and in his class. Here are some fun facts about Logan * He loves Backyardagins and will sing and dance while he watches the show * When we walk the boys to school he has to carry a lunchbox and backpack like his brothers * He comes in our room every night and sleeps on the floor because he said he gets scared in his room * He loves building things with Legos * He likes doing "homeschool" with mom * He likes hugs, not kisses I love the time I get to be home alone with Logan. He is such a fun kid to be around and always so talkative. He used to be very shy but he is coming out of his shell and really turning into such a great kid.

Bikes and Cub Scouts

Some people might find it odd that in a house full of boys there are not a lot of sports going on. We don't watch sports on TV, the kids don't play on any teams and never have. Trevor said to me once, "Mom, I'm more of an indoor kid," which is why it took us so long to get him to finally learn how to ride a bike. Trevor would rather be inside playing computer games, reading books, playing imagination; anything other than being outside doing a "sport". But he's 8 and it was time. I told him and Colin a while ago that if they wanted a friend birthday party this coming year they had to learn to ride a bike first. Trevor, of course, had to argue, but Dave and I remained firm. And two weeks ago we took the boys to the church parking lot and told Trevor he was going to learn to ride a bike. And he did! He picked it up so quickly and he was having fun. I make him go out and practice every now and then and he's getting better every time. He doesn't ever want to go out and ride bikes with his friends, he's not interested in taking a ride around the neighborhood or over to Grandma's house. He'd rather stay indoors. And that's okay with me. I don't mind having an indoor kid. But at least now he knows how to ride a bike and he knows he did it all on his own. One thing Trevor is interested in is scouting and last night he got his Wolf award as well as a gold and silver arrow point. He likes doing things from his scout book and getting awards and accomplishing something. He always looks forward to getting more awards, advancing and moving up in scouting. And he wants his Eagle award. Even as an 8 year old kid he talks about someday when he gets his Eagle. I look forward to the day when I have all of those Mother's pins from all of my boys and I can see what they grew into because of scouting.

Gift giving

After Thanksgiving we were talking about Christmas and what the kids wanted as gifts. As they rattled off a list of toys Trevor spoke up. He said, "Christmas isn't about getting lots of gifts, it's about being together with your family and being nice to people." That one comment seemed to set the mood for our Christmas this year. We choose to do the 12 Days of Christmas for our neighbors who live across the street. Dave and I had recently talked to the husband and wife who live there and both mentioned how their disabled son really enjoyed the Halloween treats we dropped off. We thought it would be fun to secretly drop off gifts for their family to make it fun for their son. The kids have really enjoyed getting into "Ninja Mode" and sneaking across the street to drop off a gift every night. Sometimes they will hear whoever opens the door yell out Thank You but mostly they run back in the house chattering of how good a job they did not being noticed or seen. Colin has really gotten into the Spirit of Christmas this year as well. The other day he told me he was going to make gifts for his brothers. He made something out of Legos for Logan and then wrapped it up with computer paper. He made a couple of things for Trevor and yesterday I noticed something for Dave under the tree. I couldn't resist so I opened it up. Colin made his dad a drawing book out of paper. He colored a cover and wrote "scare" (scary) on it. Inside was blank paper so Dave can draw monsters and other "scare" pictures. I must admit I got a little teary eyed looking at that and knowing that right now, instead of wondering what he is getting for Christmas, Colin is more focused on giving thoughtful gifts to his family.

Slow cooker dinner

Almost every Sunday I use my crockpot to cook dinner. We get out of church at 4 and it's nice to have something ready to eat. One of our kids' favorite dinners is Spaghetti and Meatballs. I love it too and it's so easy and cheap. I wanted to make it for Sunday dinner so I looked for a recipe to make meatballs in the crockpot but some of the comments people made on the recipes said the sauce got greasy or the meatballs were too soft. So I made my meatballs the way I always do in the morning (baked in the oven) and then before church I put them in the crockpot with sauce so they would be hot and ready to eat when we got home. I usually just use Hunts canned sauce because it's so cheap and tastes pretty good, but this time I added a can of diced tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic that were minced, some minced onion (I used my dry, food storage ones) and some dried basil, oregano and salt and pepper. The sauce came out so good and the meatballs were so moist. It was one good plate of spaghetti and meatballs. And it was so easy. I told Dave that was how I was going to make spaghetti and meatballs for now on. And if I were just a little smarter I'd make a big batch of meatballs and freeze them so I had everything ready to go next time. I love easy dinners, but I love them even more when they taste like you spent a lot of time cooking. I love when my boys tell me I made a good dinner and when they ask for more. Cooking is something I really like doing and when the people I cook for enjoy my food it makes me feel like I accomplished something pretty great.

Thanksgiving Weekend

The week before Thanksgiving we had a visit from Dave's mom and dad and sister, Christy. The kids were so excited to see their grandparents and aunt and we had a fun night eating dinner together, visiting, playing with the boys and singing songs. On Thanksgiving we spent the day at Valley of Fire with my parents. The boys loved going hiking and climbing on all of the rocks. We saw ancient writing on several rocks and tried to figure out what the pictures meant. We ate lunch at the end of the hike and then once we got home the kids and Dave relaxed while I made dinner. We had a small dinner that night with my parents: a roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, rolls and chocolate-pumpkin cupcakes for dessert.

We set up the Christmas tree and decorations and the boys had fun going to the park, riding bikes and playing with neighbors, watching movies and having a sleepover in our bedroom. We enjoyed the long weekend and Dave and I took advantage of the sales and went Christmas shopping. We even bought a new kitchen table, something we have been wanting since we had Logan and needed a bigger table.
At the beginning of November we had the boys write down things they were thankful for and we tried to remind them of all of the blessings they have. They wrote down things like: the Earth, church, hands and feet, the military, family, Heavenly Father and Jesus, toys, and video games.

Book Basket

In our rental house our family room was upstairs. We had the TV and couch in there as well as all of the toys. When we moved I was looking forward to having a family room downstairs, close to the kitchen, where we could hang out. But we didn't really hang out there. We'd go upstairs to where the TV was because we were used to that. We have no TV in the family room; we only have one in the whole house. But I wanted something in the family room that would get us in there, that would make the kids want to sit on the couch and hang out there. I also needed a place to put our library books so we wouldn't lose them and that was where I got the idea for a book basket. Baskets were on sale at Michael's one day so I looked around and found this one. It was big enough to sit on the TV stand and hold all of our books, but small enough for the kids to pull down when they wanted to look for a book to read. I love the basket. I love that we can keep all of the library books in one place (even school ones so we can find them fast before school on library day) and that we have something to do in the family room that does not involve sitting in front of a screen. Sometimes after dinner Dave will read books with Colin for his homework while I clean up. Sometimes Logan will grab some books and sit on the couch and tell me to come read to him. Sometimes Trevor will sit in the middle and read to both his brothers. And there have been times when the whole family has been on the couch reading books we got from the book basket. There's nothing better than sitting with your whole family reading together. And there's something great about seeing your kids choosing to read.

Halloween

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. We love the spooky decorations, pumpkins, costumes and everything else that comes along with it. Colin REALLY loves Halloween and will often plan and prepare for it months in advance. This year was filled with friend and school parties, the church trunk-or-treat and trick-or-treating with friends. And while they traded candy the day after, the boys were already planning what they wanted to dress up as next year.Colin as a mummy and Logan as a ghost for the Trunk-or Treat.

Trevor as a ninja this year.

Colin walking in the school parade.

The boys before trick-or-treating. Logan dressed up as a Vampire Tiger.