Giving Credit

Andrew loves playing with balls, cars and his brothers. His favorite books are "Brown Bear" "Mr. Brown Goes Moo Can You" and a fire truck book. I think that he says book "da" and Adam "a-da" he loves to sing and likes music. He wants to eat anything that I am and that is everything. One of his top teeth has just broke the surface. When he plays with cars he makes car noises and he just turned 10months old yesterday the 21st of Jan. He hasn't stopped smiling and he brings so much joy to our family. One of my favorites is that he loves looking at the family pictures on the wall and his favorite is the Disney cruise family photo with Minni and Mickey.

Snow Monkey

It finally snowed this weekend and Adam couldn't be happier. I think that he has been waiting for it to snow for a long time. the boys got snowball maker/thrower things for Christmas and Adam has been so excited to use those things on Daddy. He has been scheming about who is going to be on his team and what kind of fort he will have. The second time that everyone went out yesterday he stayed out for a really long time just making snowballs and having a good time.

This evening right about the time it was getting dark he decided that he wanted to go outside. I almost told them "no" but why, because they would be cold? So they hopped into their snow gear and played way past dark and had a blast on their swing set/fort. That thing get used even during the winter...great investment. Love it.

things they say

Zachary:

The other day Zach and I were playing on the couch, he poked my belly and asked "Do you still have a baby in your belly?" I explained "No, do you remember how big mommy's belly was before Andrew came? Well, my skin got stretched out. Do you want to see my stretched skin?" Well, yea!" So i let him see and touch my stretched out skin. I totally thought that he would have been repulsed by it but instead he said "ooo, I like your ripply skin mom."

what a cutie! All mom's need to hear that.

Saturday morning was a slow start for me since it was a snow day. Upon arriving down stairs I was welcomed by a topless Zach. I asked "Zach, why don't you have a shirt on it is cold." He explained "Mom, I'm Patrick Star and I don't ware a shirt."
Like it was obvious that he was Patrick Star and I should have known. It made me laugh. He is such a cutie.

Andrew Andrew Andrew

Andrew is now 9 months old and is making a lot of changes! Time really does go by so quickly. I feel like he should still be 4 months old. While Grandma Grandpa Engstrom were here Andrew just really took off. He was getting up on all fours and able to scoot around and sit himself back up before they got here. But this last week he crawled across the room. Jo saw that and said to me "Oh, Jenalyn you life will never be the same." So true. I have friends that have given me all of their safety gates because now it is time to baby proof. Some other big mile stones; he cut his 2ND tooth, pulls up on everything, and has stood by himself for a few seconds.

He has had his first Christmas, first New Year, first statue of liberty trip. Now that he has teeth his face is changing. He is looking more like a toddler. I recently introduced some lil'crunchies and he LOVES being able to pick up his own food and put it in his own mouth. Although he still eats his baby jar food I can tell that he wants everything that we have on our plates. He has learned that if he screams and waves his hands then I will find something from the table for him to eat.

Because Andrew has been our baby that has spit-up and drooled the most Josh has pegged him with this nick name of Goobs. I really don't like it but I have to admit that it does fit him. From the time that he was born until recently he was always throwing up. There have been many lil outfits that have not survived his goo. While Grandpa was here the nick name evolved into Sargent Goobs. Zach got the name Heavy Z (i think because he enjoyed jumping on Grandpa) and Adam remained A-Bomb.

Oh yeah, another change that has come about it he just LOVES books. His favoriet is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See" He has to read it every time I put him down to sleep. He has his cute little smile on his face the whole time we are reading. LOVE it!

(I finally figured out that if I ate dark chocolate then that would upset him.) I'm sure that I've missed some thing

Christmas is a Come'in

I feel like the Christmas season snuck up on me this year. I have felt like I've been running behind the holiday rush. With is staying here for Christmas and Grandma and Grandpa coming here I felt like we could really enjoy the decorations and other traditions. We kicked off the festivities with a Santa Clause visit. No tears this year and we even got a good picture. When I asked the boys what they wanted for Christmas they told me that they both wanted the clawzord and spiderman web shooter and Zach added a puppy. (well, I told them that a puppy couldn't happen) We had a good time and even got to write the troops a Christmas card.

One of my favorite traditions is getting out the Christmas tree decorations. I love doing it as a family and I love seeing each ornament and remembering the special meaning each one holds. I feel like when the tree is up then Christmas celebrations can begin.

For a special treat I took the boys to the clay pot to make some ornaments with some friends. What they picked out really speaks for them. Adam loves candy canes and red so he painted a red candy cane and Zachary loves anything that is green and space so what better than a Christmas tree with a big star on top.

To help us remember that Christmas is the season of giving we ran a 5K as a family and the entry fee is a unwrapped new toy. Adam saw that one of the toys that we were giving was the clawzord the toy that he most desired. It didn't leave his hands with out some tears. We explained what we were doing and that there are more clawzords out there. He calmed down. We figured that this most defiantly made this even memorable. Andrew looked adorable in his snow suit and hat. I had lots of people taking pictures and even video of our little guy. We had a really good time as a family and I think that we will make this a new family tradition.

What is Christmas with out sugar cookies?! Adam and Zachary had been asking to make some so we got our aprons on and got to work. Our cookies turned out pretty good. Adam and Zach were really proud of them and every time they finished decorating a cookie its picture was taken before they ate it. I absolutely love spending time with those guys.

Another tradition that I had growing up was getting a new Sunday dress for Christmas and my family is the same. I got the boys some new Sunday clothes and I just couldn't pass on those hats. My boys looked so dapper and they loved putting them on.

The most boring Christmas party non-kid friendly event of all time. First of all it starts 7:00pm Sunday night. So not only is it a school night but also we just got home for church at 4:30. So all my kids want to do is to run around with friends and eat some yummy cookies that are on display. they have the kids dress up which only makes them think that they are going to have some part in this program. Instead they have the seminary kids read for a scripture script and sing a hymn after each of the 13 readers. After that was over they played a 20+min video and then a closing speaker. All the while my kids are looking at the cookies and asking to have some. I couldn't torture them any longer during the video (8:00) we grabbed some cookies and came home. I hope that doesn't become a Christmas tradition.

Fire Friday 10-2011

Daddy had been out of town all week long so to celebrate his return home we had a fire in the back yard. Also another reason to celebrate is because it is Andrew's 7mo b-day. Zachary and I raked up the pine needles and on our walk home we gathered up pine cones. We were geared up to burn! Boys, fire, fuel....priceless fun

Josh had to stand guard with the water hose in the ready. We had pine needles spilling over the edge of the pit and pine cones hopping out as they missed their targets. After all of the pine cones were put into the fire they played in the needles. Their imagination knew now bounds with what those needles became.

Enjoying Every Moment

Zachary likes to start off his day with a snuggle on the couch with all of his friends. The most recent addition to his live stock is his custom "Z" pillow.

It was a georgous day so we got out side to soak it up. I'm so grateful that we have a yard and to show my thanks we use it.