So Much to be Grateful for!

Our days have been filled with Ethan's soccer games. He loves playing & looks forward to his games. He had his last game on Saturday & scored 17 goals. I was so proud!! I hope the other parents enjoyed coming to watch my little boy dominate. He actually had an ok team this time... 3 other boys on his team scored too & helped a lot with defense. All his other teams, he's been the only one who knows how to play, so he does all the work.
I know this picture is blurry, but I thought it was cute anyway. He's giving his coach knuckles after one of his goals. He had 10 goals the 1st half & the 2nd half the coach tried to get him to pass the ball to his team. He got the game rolling & his teammates got into the game. We will definately keep him in soccer as long as he enjoys it.

Ethan and Lexi taught Makelle ring-around-the-rosies. She absolutely loved it!

She always got a little too excited & fell down before it was time. But she got the jist of the game.

I am so grateful for my kids! I love how good they play together. I love everything that they teach each other. I loved that when they were sick they wanted to cuddle me & stay by me; I'm grateful that now that they're better I have space & don't have 3 tag-a-longs. I'm so grateful for the conference edition of the Ensign. I love the reminders I get as I read it of ALL the things I need to do to be a better mom & a better wife. And I'm so grateful for my family & friends, for their love & service. It makes me want to do better at finding ways to serve others.

Catching Up

On Halloween Ethan started coughing & not feeling so good. Two days later I started coughing & not feeling so good, I got a fever & the body aches. I called my OB & they treated me for the swine flu. I was down for 3 days with no energy... literally. I just layed around for 3 days, barely able to get up & shower. I kept watching the kids & calling the pediatrician with any symptoms they had that were remotely like mine. None of them ever got the body aches & none of them lost their energy. The kids & Jeff were spared, how? I don't know, but I'm grateful they were. The kids have had coughs & low grade fevers & we are now just getting back to our normal selves. I now have the energy to blog again... last night ALL of the kids slept through the night!! It's been 2 1/2 weeks, but we finally pulled through it.

I haven't had the energy to do much, but I saw this cute idea on another blog & just had to do it. The kids feet are the body of the turkey & their hands are the feathers. They had so much fun doing this, Ethan did a lot of the cutting himself, the hands were a little tricky, so I did help him out there. But he did all the gluing & placing... Lexi put the glue on & drew her eyes, I thought they were pretty good considering it's her first time drawing eyes.
Makelle has been my challenge through all of this. She's been so needy & clingy. We have read book after book after book. And gone through so much motrin it's ridiculous. Apples have kept her happy for a half an hour or so... she did get 3 teeth while being sick, so I'm sure that made it twice as bad as just being sick. I can't tell you how happy I was when after two weeks of being cooped up in the house I got to go grocery shopping... the kids were excited too, & they were so good. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving & normalcy.

All rolled into 1

We should start with Halloween, because that happened first. Ethan is a knight (he chose that because he got to carry a sword & a shield around), Lexi is Cinderella & Makelle is a ballerina. Jeff took E.E. & Lexi trick or treating, while I stayed home with Makelle & handed out candy. The kids had a blast, they stayed out for about an hour and a half & came home freezing but happy.

Happy 1st birthday Makelle! The year flew by fast! She was funny & kept those sunglasses on the entire time she opened her presents. We had a hard time getting her to move on to the next gift, she always liked the one she opened. We also had a hard time keeping Ethan & Lexi from opening them for her, they were too excited. She got some books & babies & pretty's... Lexi was so excited everytime she opened up a baby, "For me!!" She was heartbroken when we told her they were for Makelle... even though she has a billion babies herself. Makelle tried reaching her cake while we were still singing to her... apparently she couldn't wait. She REALLY enjoyed the frosting on her cake. She never actually ate the cake, she just smeared the frosting all over her hair. I thought it was adorable, but a little hard to get out. We're so blessed to have her in our family! What a joy!

Just making memories

Makelle's new thing is to hide under the table, eat an apple & poop. I think it's adorable! It keeps her happy & healthy.
One thing I look forward to every day is having dinner as a family. We never miss a night. I love that Ethan volunteers to say the prayer every time & Lexi repeats exactly what he says. What a good example!

Ethan had his pre-school Halloween party. He was so excited to dress up. His eyes are half closed in this picture, so he doesn't look excited. But he sure came home happy!

My knight & his valiant steed. He was so excited when we called to tell him he was going to have a little brother. He ran to tell Grandma, screaming "It's a boy! Grandma, it's a boy!" He was so excited that he tripped & fell & then kneeled on his fingers trying to get up. Oh the memories we create!

Learning & Sharing

Let's start off with my lovely shiner! Lexi got rough on the bed & jumped & landed on my cheek bone. There was so much force that she gave me a huge goose egg & a nice black eye. This picture was taken about five days after it happened, so most of the swelling is down & it has a nice pretty color. I get lots of funny looks & a lot of people really think Jeff did it.
I've been into Super Nanny lately. She gives some really good tips on how to deal with the little munchkins. She talked about a listening game. So for family night we blind folded everyone & they had to listen to whoever was giving instructions to find a ball & put it in a bucket. The ball & the bucket were in seperate rooms, so it was kind of difficult. Afterwards we talked about the importance of listening to mom & dad, so we can be guided to our goal. It was a fun game for the kids. And they did pretty good.
We've also started a new thing; before we put the kids to bed we tell them ALL of the good things they did that day. I've been trying to write them down as I see them. So that even if there are tantrums & fighting at the end of the day we can still end on a good note. I've noticed their desire to do more good things throughout the day.

Ethan wanted to go on an adventure today. He wanted to look for shapes. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to help Lexi learn her shapes. We searched around the house for lots of different shapes. The vacuum is a triangle. I thought it was pretty clever & pretty close. It was even Lexi's idea... I think it was a lucky guess, but the more we do it the better she'll get.

This was their star find. Not too shabby.

Ethan noticed this rectangle right off... the door, but actually the rug woulda worked too.

I'd love to hear your ideas & activities that you do with your kids. I'm not very creative myself, I have to steal other people's ideas, that's why I watch Super Nanny. And don't forget to vote, the poll is at the top of the blog... boy or girl?

I'm Lovin' It!

I love all the energy that I have. Even though I'm not fully myself, I'm enjoying what energy I do have & am enjoying my kids a whole lot more! With no energy I literally didn't want my kids to do anything, I didn't want to clean up the mess. But now, I'm having more fun with them & don't mind the clean up. We let the kids paint pumpkins... they had tons of fun & made a huge mess. Good times! We made sugar cookies for family night. They had so much fun rolling their own dough & using the cookie cutters. Our family night was on service, we were supposed to decorate the cookies & give them to our friends & neighbors. We actually didn't have time to do that yet, so hopefully today. That was an even bigger mess & more work for me. But we had fun & made some good memories. Makelle was happy to entertain herself & was all smiles... she got to taste the dough too. She's been in a new phase where she wants to feed herself. So we gave her a plate & she had a blast eating pizza.

We find out what we're having on October 30th. So vote & tell me what you think I'm having. I've been secretly hoping for a boy, I believe three teenage girls would make me crazy, especially given how close they'll be. I know we'll survive & I'll be so happy either way. After talking to my aunt who has 4 girls in a row & super close too, I know I could do it & will have love & support. Let's just hope this one is a good sleeper too!

It's Amazing

It's amazing how little minds come up with big ideas. Ethan wanted to put on a show for me. Him & Lexi used the chair as a stage & did tricks & dances for me. He told me to put up the blanket & where to put the chair. I thought it was a very cute idea & their performance was spectacular.
Ethan showed Lexi how to do it & she did her own little rendition. It was adorable & I look forward to the next one

It's amazing that Makelle is up & walking. I don't know how it happened, every time she would get up to walk some little child was there to push her right over, or pick her up, or even try to "help" her. But she is walking everywhere now, so I figured it was a good time to put shoes on. She loves them & doesn't do to bad walking in them.

It's amazing that our garden produced as much as it did. This is me & Jeff's second year planting a garden. We are still figuring out tricks & what works & what doesn't. Guess what, pumpkins worked! We had a fun time picking the pumpkins together.

Yes Lexi is eating a tomato like an apple. I don't get it, but she seemed to enjoy herself. Our zucchini & squashes have also done well. We're so lucky to have a garden & eat the fruits of our labor