Happy Birthday!

Well, for some reason my computer wasn't working right, and I couldn't get my posts to publish, so I am trying again. We have continued our month of thanks, and I will catch up on that a little latter.

Today I want to wish a belated Happy Birthday to Noah! We are so grateful for him and all that he brings into our lives! He is such a sweet baby, and he loves to cuddle (I personally love that!) He is very kind, and loves his older brother so much! He loves to watch how things are done, and then he will repeat what he observed. He is also very patient. He will keep at something until he has mastered it, and doesn't mind too much usually if he can't get it right for a while. I love that he walks on his knees, it is so cute! I do wonder if he will ever walk on his feet though :) He loves to laugh, and has a great sense of humor! He and his brother will start laughing at each other and there is no stopping them! He loves to look at books, play "get you", sing songs (especially Pat-a-cake, Twinkle Twinkle little star, and If you're happy and you know it), playing outside, playing "konk" (thank you E) and catch! He doesn't like riding in the car, almost any food besides oatmeal, and not being able to reach everything he can see.He is growing so fast! We love you buhbuh!

Month of Thanks: Day 8

We had a lot of fun reading the article, Showing the Love in Your Heart from the Sept 2009 Friend. It went along very well with our theme of thanks, and I was really impressed at how much E understood from the poem!
We truly are so grateful for a living prophet, and for the guidance and love that he gives us! We are thankful for his example, and his willingness to sacrifice so much for the Lord, and for us! We are also so thankful for his urging us to be more kind to those around us, and to live with the temple as a priority in our lives!

Month of Thanks: Day 6 and 7

I got a little behind, so here are two days worth of thanks! On Sunday:





We made gingerbread cookies (they seemed appropriate for the season, and I love them!) E really had a lot of fun rolling out the dough, and Noah and Dad had a fun time laughing and talking with us (it turned into a Mom and E project) Then we had an extra thing to be thankful for! Some friends invited us to dinner, and we were able to share our cookies with them! We are grateful for friends, and for spending fun time with them too!

Then on Monday:


I read this out loud, and E was right on top of it, running over to Dad and shouting, "I love you" while jumping on his lap (which was already full with Noah) and gave him a hug. E then continued to tell Dad that we love him all night long! We really are thankful for Dad! We love him so much, and are so thankful for all his love, sacrifice, patience, and for his great attitude and example! There really isn't a better Dad/Husband/friend out there! We love you Dad!

Month of Thanks: Day 6

Yesterday Dad got to go to a U of U football game with his Dad (Dad is thankful for football), so last night for our thankful activity it was just Mom and the little boys.



Ethan hates finger painting, and he dosn't really like to draw on his own, so we modified a little and made trukeys out of our hands and then made a turkey family mobile. We had a lot of fun, and Noah was thrilled that he was able to color his turkey on his own!

Ceiling Monsters

The other night after I had tucked E in bed I sat down and asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk to me about before he went to sleep. He stared up a the celling for a moment and then said, "The monster is going to eat the girl". I figured he was telling me a story (he is famous for making up stories! He loves to do it, and is actually very good at it.) so I asked him what happened next. He then pointed to the ceiling and said, "No Mama, the monster there, by the monkeys, is going to eat the girl!" I looked a the ceiling and realized that he was finding pictures on the ceiling, a pass-time that I have done with him a few times, but that he never quite seemed to grasp. I asked him to show me where, and he pointed, but I couldn't see it, so i went and got a chair so that I could hold him up to show me, and sure enough, there was a monster about to eat a smiling girl. This was actually quite a revelation because he has been coming out of his room crying at night lately because the monster is going to get him. Knowing from my own childhood that ceiling monsters (or scary faces in my case, and rabid rabbits coming out of a popcorn bags in Zach's case) can be quite unsettling I asked him if he wanted me to cover it up. He said yes, and continued to tell me that when he had his tent up it was better too because he couldn't see it. (side note again, we let him sleep in a pop-up tent as a reward for staying in his bed all night)So now there is a piece of paper on his ceiling, and we have a happy three year old.

Month of Thanks: Day 5

Tonight was kind of a quick night, so we didn't get any great pictures, but you get the point. We love candy, and E has always been good at shareing (something which I am grateful for) We also love teeth, in fact The Tooth Book by Dr Suess is one of our favorites, so we had a lot of fun putting a special emphasis on brushing our teeth tonight!

Month of Thanks: Day 4

E fell asleep at 6pm last night, so it was just Mom, Dad, and Noah on this day of thanks. It was fun, but Noah didn't quite get it, and as much fun as it would have been to take pictures of Zach and I listening to music, I passed.
I really love music of all sorts, and I am glad that Zach and the boys do too! One of our favorite pass times is to turn on music and dance, or if there are words to the music we are listening to we will get wooden spoons and sing into them while we run around playing our version of tag. Noah even gets into it too! He will either sway and dance on the floor, crawl after us, or sing and dance with me in my arms. We are truly thankful for music at our house!