February Funnies

We spent a lot of February inside with colds and just hanging out together.  

The kids are SO.MUCH.FUN. right now.
We definitely had our share of crazy moments and busy busy days, but we also had a blast. 

Weston & Tave both adore Ryder and love to make him laugh.  

Ryder is such a sweet little guy and is getting to be tons of fun.

They also are getting along super well and pretend play together often. It is incredible to take a step back and watch their relationship grow.  We did lots of super hero stuff, lots of pretending, lots of coloring, singing, games, and yes some tv (how else could I get through months and  months and months of snowy, cold weather!)

I love being a mom to my three boys. Their personalities make my days more fun and exciting than I ever thought    in all my 'someday-i'll-be-a-mommy-dreams' :)  

Conversations

Oh my goodness, the boys have been cracking us up lately.
They are definitely the bright spots of our lives and help us to have so much fun every single day.
Here are a few of our recent conversations with them:

Weston:  Me & Tave are magnet brothers.
Me: What does that mean?
Weston:  We're magnet brothers because we stick together like this.  (Gives Tave a huge hug)
Now take a picture of the magnet brothers, okay.
Me & Jeff (laughing): okay!


The kids really like watching Super Why on PBS.  If you've seen it, you'll understand this:

Me:  Goodnight my little Tave. Love you.
Tave:  I love you mom.  But mom, I'm hungry, I need a cracker.
Me: Well, it's bedtime and you already brushed your teeth. You can have a cracker in the morning.
Tave: But it's in my story, see, "Tave gets a cracker." 
Me: hahahaha.  Nice try, buddy. :)

He has started doing this tons lately for things that he wants..... he'll say 'It's in my story, see....'
Funny guy!

I love these little moments with my boys.  I am so grateful I get to be their mom.

Rewarded: Mini Golf

I took an entire week off from posting and 'catching up' on the blog. It felt good to take the break and now I'm ready to get back into the groove. I'll try to post once a day until I catch up. I'm down to the really big things (like Christmas, Thanksgiving, family visits) so we'll see how fast I can get them done.

In the  meantime, I have been busy with playgroups, the new Music Makers group (I got the idea from Shar and we are LOVING it, so much fun) and I started crocheting again & crafting some girly things.  I am having a lot of fun doing girl things, they'll be up in the shop soon for some spring time cuteness. 

The boys are also keeping me oh-so busy. We have fun every single day and they are just the sweetest, funniest, cutest guys I know. 

We started a new reward system, where they earn gems for helping, being kind, talking nicely, and obeying. It is working well, as long as Jeff & I remember to reward them. When we see a spike in negative behaviors we realize it usually correlates with us forgetting to give positive feedback regularly & reward them for good behavior. So we, as the adults, are working on that. 

The boys filled up their jars with gems (over the course of about 1.5 weeks) and earned a trip to Trafalga.

It was AWESOME!  They think golfing is the coolest thing ever and then to be under black lights for it, with neon under-sea stuff, well, it was pretty much perfect! 

We had a blast and loved treating our boys to a fun afternoon:

02.12.11



ps. I love Groupon & KSL deals. This was one of the deals of the day that we got & it has been totally worth it!

The Train Game

West & Tave love to play the 'train game'.  (Ticket to Ride)
They know it's Daddy's game and so they feel super special when they get to play with it.
Basically, we set them up on the floor, give them each their choice of colors and they build trains across the board.

It keeps them occupied for a good long while, they have fun, we get stuff done.

Win/win.

Ryder- 7 months

This little man just gets cuter and cuter! 

Some highlights from Ryder's 7th month:

Started rolling from his tummy to his back. He now rolls like crazy all over the place.

He likes being on his tummy more than he used to and will play with toys while he's stuck there.

He grabs EVERYthing and boy does he have a grip!

His hair is getting thicker!  While I was SOOOO sad to shave his head, I must admit, it really is coming in more even. He is so stinking cute with all his hair back!!

He stopped nursing for good and now takes a bottle.

He loves to eat!  He really really REALLY wants our food, but he'll settle for his own.  His favorites are bananas and sweet potatoes. His least favorites are any green vegetable.

He likes to stand.

He kicks his feet like CrAzY!!! He is constantly moving.

He sleeps amazing. He goes to bed around 630 or 7 and usually sleeps until 7 or 8. (now if only he could teach Tave how to do that....)

He loves to snuggle and just recently started giving kisses.

He absolutely adores his brothers and loves to watch them play.

He loves being held, read to, playing with, snuggled with, and tickled. 

He laughs so hard when you pull on his blanket or tickle him.

He is our smiley, happy baby. We seriously could not ask for a sweeter little guy. He is so much fun to have in our home and we feel incredibly blessed to have him as part of our family.  Weston &  Tave are such good brothers. They love to hold him and play with him, help out all the time and give him hugs and kisses constantly. We absolutely LOVE our sweet Ryder.

My Tavester

One of the very best parts of being a parent is watching your children's personalities grow & develop. 

Tave is one of the funniest, sweetest, craziest little guys- his personality makes me laugh every single day - I just love it.  The jump between 2 to 2.5 years is huge for me.  It seems that the babiness wears off and all of a sudden I have a preschooler on my hands.  It is scary how fast that change occurred with him, and what a big guy this little man is becoming. 

Luckily, I have him all to myself for at least a few more years.  And he sure loves a good snuggle, which always makes this mama happy. 

Tave waiting for dinner.

Something that Tave does that makes me smile every time, is how he waits for dinner.  The minute he sees me head to the kitchen to begin the dinner prep, he heads straight to his chair.  He climbs into it and just watches.  I try to tell him that dinner isn't even close, that it will still take a looong time to be all done baking (or whatever it needs) but he just snuggles in with his blankie and sits it out. It is so nice to have his little company, just watching and listening and waiting oh so patiently for dinner to be done.  He is such a busy-body that I never would have thought  sitting and waiting would have been an activity he would do so well (and anywhere else, this is not the case).  But this latest development in his growth &  skills (becase patience is most definitely a skill)  has reminded me that there are so many good and sweet things that come with my babies growing up.  The conversations I have with them, hearing them say how much they love me, and watching them grow in their love for each other are just a few of the things that make this whole 'growing up' thing sort of okay.

A recent conversation with Tave:

Me- Tave you are so silly
Tave - I'm not silly mama
M - Then you are so cute!
T - No! I'm not cute
M - Okay, Tave, what are you?
T- I'm not silly and I'm not cute, I'm Tavester.
M- Yes, Tavester, yes you are.

LOVE him

My rear is kicked

I already talked about starting Jillian Michael's 30 day shred on my other blog. But since this blog is our family journal, I figured I should mention it here as well. Especially since I talked Jeff into doing it with me. Pretty much it's awesome.
Well, in a kick your butt, make you sweat, tired, and want to die kind of way.
Like I said, awesome
If you don't know anything about it, check it out here.  The reveiws alone had me sold.  And now my rear has me sold. I love it.
Tonight Jeff & I decided to give Level 2 a try for variety.
UMMMMM, what we were thinking?! 
It was more of that awesomeness as described above, only MORE so.
Is that even possible? 
But we loved it. 
And can I just say that it is great working out with the hubby. 
Also, I have no idea how I will ever, ever get to Level  3.  (I'll let you know if it happens)

Jumperoo

Our cute little munchkin LOVES the jumperoo.

His brothers love to show him all of the cool things you can do with it:

Our Day of the Book & the Rose

Our simple & sweet Valentine's Day was just perfect.

The boys and I started out the day with play group at a friends.

Afterwards we headed home for lunch, then preschool for West & naps for the others.

Then we headed back to do preschool pickup and a fun Valentines shindig with friends.

When Jeff came home he wanted to take us out to eat.  After our very fun, very busy day I was more than happy to comply!   The boys love going out so it was win-win.  Afterwards, we came back home to pj up and exchange books. The boys really enjoyed this new tradition!!  I super lucked out because I really wanted my book & Jeff's...so I get to read both! yay!

All  my boys worked  on a  special bouquet (my rose) to give me that I absolutely LOVE!!! 
How sweet is this:

After the boys went to bed, my hubby gave me this sweet Valentine's card he made.  I was super impressed with his creativity and crafting skills. :)    

It was such a fun day!

(I'm sad we didn't get Ryder in any shots...he was so worn out that he went to bed super early before the camera was out..Jenna do you possibley have one?!)

I Love...

my man.

So much that I am not going to post (a big, long, blast from the past that takes me forever post) tonight so I can go spend Valentine's with mine.

I will say that the day of the Book & the Rose was a success. 

We love our new tradition!

Reverie

My darling little niece, Reverie. She is just 10 days older than Ryder.

I LOVE that on both sides of the family my kiddos have playmates their age.

Cousin get-togethers just keep getting better and better.

I just thought the far-away fam might want to see her gorgeous little self...I can't get over her eyes, hair, and those kissable cheeks!

Going Private

Every so often I get creeped out by the internet and realize just how much of me (and my kiddos) is on here. 

So we are going private again. 

However, this time we have something to help keep you updated. 

First, let me know that you want an invite. If I don't have your email address, send that to me as well.

I will invite you to view our blog:  flyingwithsuperheroes.blogspot.com

You will have to accept the invite and enter in your email and password  (it is your email's password). For those of you who have not done this before, it does not show me your password, it just gets you into the blog.  I think there is a little box you can check that keeps you signed in.  Then, voila, you shouldn't have to enter it again, unless you are not signed in to your email when you check my blog.  Make sense?? 

Now here's the cool part,  if you use google reader to follow blogs, enter the blog address below into your readers and we will post on it every time we post on THIS one.  Or you can click on the link below and then click on the 'follow' button and you will be good to go:

flyingwithsuperheroesupdated.blogspot.com

We will put a link to our private blog in each post.  Click o the link and  if you are signed in to your email it should take you right to our private blog. 

Awesome, huh.  I know that I forget to check private blogs all the time, despite  wanting to keep up with those friends. This solves that problem!

So, let me know if you want an invite, please.  We'll be switching over in about a week!

Please let me know if you have any questions. Grandma, this means you!

   

 

PS~ How can you NOT want to keep up with these cuties?!

More Beach-y goodness

Shar sent me the best photos from the beach!!

The smell of the ocean, the sound of the waves rolling in, the sun on my skin, & the sand in my toes...

it will always be one of my very favorite places on earth.

My heaven will have a beach.

It was the perfect place to go for my final day in CA.

Valentine's Traditions

I LOVE that the blog world opens up so many new ideas, traditions, crafts, tutorials, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. I can easily get lost in cyber-space for hours on end finding ways to enhance my abilities in the area of kiddos, home, food, organization, photgraphy skills, crafting, and the many things that I want to do.

Except I have a family right in front of me... and I was finding myself reading more about what I wanted to do than actually doing it.

So this year I have set some big time limits.
Limits like: I only allow myself to comment on family/friends blogs and only if it is in the allotted blog time.

Blog time. I can still participate in my guilty pleasure, but it has a time frame and it is only after certain things happen around the house first.

Computer time ONLY occurs when my children are sleeping or occupied. The minute they need me, I am D.O.N.E.
I want my kiddos to know that they are more important than anything else that can take my time.



SO..what does this have anything to do with Valentine's traditions?? Well, in giving myself much less reading time than normail I check my reader in this order:
1. family posts are always read first
2. friends posts
3. favorite blogs
4. anything else (this is what never gets read)
Once I get to #3 I really only scan my favorites and read the titles that pop out to me. So post titles really do matter.
In doing so, I have found some really great traditions that we have implemented into our family. The latest being our Valentine's tradition.
We are starting it this year and I am SO excited.




You can read about it here.

If you don't feel like clicking on the link, I'll try to summarize.



Apparently, in Spain (and various countries) the holiday for lovers is known as the day of the book and the rose. Though held in April, this holiday is similar to Valentine’s Day, in that it is set-aside for expressing love. But as the name implies, the custom on this holiday is for couples to exchange flowers and books.



The minute I read this I knew it was for our family. We all have a love for reading and while the typical Valentine's gifts are fun, they are mostly just sweets (don't need), bouquets (a lot of $ for something that dies so quickly), and more junk for the kids (that breaks easily).
The book & the rose is THE perfect tradition for our family! I was so thrilled.
You can read more about St. George's Day here.


Jeff is up waaay before all of us, so we are going to do a fun Valentine's dinner that will probably be some form of breakfast. I am a sucker for delicious breakfast foods. After dinner we will have our fun little book exchange followed by *reading* I am sure!

Happy Valentine's Day!
What are your traditions?!

In Love!

We took Ryder to our amazingly talented friends for his 6 month photo shoot:

We could not be happier.

I honestly can't pick a favorite, I love them ALL.

(It helps that I am so in love with this little guy, he is just adorable!)

To see more, check out JGublers Photography. They are so good!

Grandparents (greats & all), please go check it out HERE and let me know which one you want sent to you and in what size. I CAN'T decide, so please pick your favorite for me!!! Then email me or leave a comment here letting me know! Love you!

If you are in Utah and are looking for a photographer, I am always so happy with the photos Josh & Jenna take. They are truly incredible photographers and they are tons of fun.

Thanks, you guys are awesome!

What mom's do best...

Sick kiddos, long day.
There will be *at least* two posts tomorrow.
Hopefully more.

I will just say that we have actually had a pretty great day.
Lots of hugs, back rubs, playing together, laughs, daddy coming home early (yay!!!) and a puppet show put on by the boys.
Who says you can't have fun while everyone is stuck inside not feeling too great?!

I'm off to snuggle with Tave & give another back rub...that is, afterall, what mom's do best.
I love my job.

N is for....

Nest!

Once a week Weston's preschool has Cooking Day. A mom comes in to do a fun cooking project that starts with the letter of the week. I came in this week for letter N.

Weston & I picked out this fun treat to make. He was SO excited for me to come and told me all day that I was the best mom ever. He also couldn't wait to show off his brothers to his preschool class. It was so sweet & such a blast. The nests were a hit: fast, easy, and super fun to make! Triple win!!

Here's the recipe. I've also included some yummy variations.

BIRD NEST CLUSTERS

(this is the recipe I used. I want to try it with butterscotch chips now)


1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
1/2 c. peanut butter (I used creamy & it was great)

4 c. chow mein noodles (6 oz. bag)
Jellybeans, M & M's or little candies

Put chocolate chips into a large glass bowl. Melt in microwave or stove top. Remove the mixture and stir. Place it back in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes more or until chocolate is melted. Add the chow mein noodles. Mix the noodles by using one or two forks or spoons to get them evenly coated with the chocolate mixture.
Lay a piece of waxed paper over two cookie sheets. Drop golf ball clusters on the cookie sheets to cool and set. Add a few colored candies as eggs to the nests.


EASTER BIRD NESTS

1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
1 (12 oz.) pkg. butterscotch chips
1 lg. can chow mein noodles
Jelly beans

Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips over slow heat. Pour over chow mein noodles. Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Put a large tablespoon of chocolate-covered noodles on waxed paper. Form like a bird nest. Put 2 jelly beans in nest to look like bird eggs. Refrigerate until firm.


CRISPY EASTER NESTS

1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow creme (about 2 c.)
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp. butter, melted
1 (5 oz.) can chow mein noodles (about 3 c.)
1 c. chopped holiday plain M & M's
Holiday peanut chocolate M & M's

Combine marshmallow creme, peanut butter and butter; mix until blended. Add noodles and 1 cup holiday plain chopped M & M's; blend well. Drop by 1/3 cupfuls onto greased cookie sheets; shape with greased fingers to form nests. Let stand until firm. Dust bottom of nests with powdered sugar if desired. Fill with holiday peanut M & M's before serving. Makes 10 to 12 nests or 18 to 20 smaller nests.

Enjoy!

Do you see it????

He has the cutest chunkiest little thighs, the squishiest most kissable cheeks,

and NOW he has his hair back to boot.

It's official: I am even more in love!