BEANS!

My kids love to dig, scoop and dump. The sandbox is one of our favorite places...when it's not covered in snow. When Dylan was in nursery they used to rotate playing with playdough and beans. So I stole the idea and adapted it to work for me. I keep some sort of a pan with beans and a bunch of little cars and trucks in it on top of my fridge and once in awhile we get it down and play with them. Because I had three kids around today, I split the beans so that each kid had a different pan to play with. BRILLIANT! They played forever. They know to be careful not to dump them all over, but if they spill, they clean up easily. It's a perfect indoor "sandbox."

Layton Lights

Last week we decided to go over to the lights at Layton Park for FHE. As we were walking in, we saw Amy, Esteban and their kids. So weird! I guess they had called to see if we wanted to meet them, but we weren't around and didn't get the message. Such a weird coincidence. We must've been in sync. ;) They walked around again so we could see the lights and the kids had lots of fun being together. We were all pretty cold after so we went back to our house for some hot chocolate and to let the kids play for a few minutes. What a fun Family Night!

A blurry picture of Esteban wearing Amy's hat

Me and my boys

Diego and Dylan and their cheesy smiles

The gang minus Marcos

(Esteban, Kylie, Amy, Preston, Maria, Gabi, Mason, Diego, Dylan)

Polar Express

Last night we went on the Polar Express. Anthony's dad got a group together to go on the train. Unfortunately, he ended up with a conflict and couldn't make it after all. Also, the Polar Express people mixed up the date from all the people registered through HAFB and we barely got on the train. Some people had to come back another day. It was really weird. So we had four people on one little bench, but it was still so much fun. The elves, "Jingle" and "Jangle" and our chef "Cinnamon" brought around cookies and hot chocolate and we were on our way to the north pole. Preston was so excited that he was on a train and looked out the window and watched as we chugged along. He didn't really know that we were going to the north pole, but he kept shouting "Time Tunnel" and singing "Dinosaur Train." For those who don't know, Dinosaur Train is a cute new show on PBS that my kids adore. They BOTH love it so it has quickly become one of our favorites. I mean, dinosaurs and trains - how much better can it get for a little boy. :) Preston made it through 1/3 of the adventure and then was out cold. There was no waking that poor child. I guess that's what happens when you go on a train ride at 8:00p.m. When we arrived at the north pole, Santa was waving at us and we could see his village up on the hill. He came through and talked to all the kids and gave each of them a jingle bell from one of his reindeer. Dylan decided his jingle sounded like Prancer's jingle and Anthony told me he ended up with Rudolph's. Funny kids! Dylan was more concerned with sitting next to Anthony, who was sitting with the other family in the group since he dad couldn't make it. Half way through the other dad, Jeff, decided to come back by us and stand and let Dylan and Anthony sit together. Marcos and I both ended up standing too since Preston was sound asleep and all my body parts were falling asleep from holding a sleeping "baby" so long. Yeah, I know he's a pretty big baby these days. :) The elves told us jokes and lead us in Christmas songs. It was really fun, even if we were crammed in there pretty tight. It was definitely a memorable experience!

After boarding the train

The whole fam on our little bench

The kids and I with Mrs. Claus - if Preston looks sad it's because he was two seconds from falling asleep

We read the Polar Express book with the elves and that was it - Preston was completely out

Dylan and Anthony finally sitting together

We were a few rows back from them so this is what we saw most of the time

Dylan and Anthony with Jingle and Jangle

The conductor punching Dylan's ticket (we didn't end up with tickets because of the confusion on the dates so some older lady let Dylan use her to get punched. He was SO excited!)

Dylan and Anthony with Santa

Santa posing with my sound asleep little Preston

Next to the train after the ride to the North Pole (Dylan is sad because he wants to ride home with Anthony and Preston is sad because he has been rudely awakened from his cozy night's sleep by being dragged out to the freezing cold air - you never know what things are going to look like with kids! So much for the happy memory smiling by the train!)

Igloo

When it started snowing enough to need to bust out the snow shovels, Dylan decided he wanted to make a big pile so we could make an igloo. Dylan has been super excited about shoveling snow so I bundle him up and let him go for it and then I go help afterwards. But, as helpful as he is, he still has a mind of his own. I tell him to stay in the yard, but if anyone in the neighborhood wanders outside, he goes over to help them. I guess I should feel grateful that he wants to help other people. The other day he actually went over to recruit a bunch of neighbors to help build the igloo and that they did. I usually have to be the head engineer of such projects, but I didn't even have to stay outside. Dylan knows how to choose older kids who are super capable. That kid runs a tight ship for a 5-year-old and the older kids are tolerant of his desire to be in charge. I went outside and they were finishing it up. We were hoping to build it bigger, but for now, it fits two little kids comfortably. Preston prefers running through the snow chanting "I pway da snow mommy" and licking the snow off the ground. I choose not to think about it and pray there is no yellow snow in my yard. :) Here are a few pictures of the snow and igloo.

Anthony's giant snowball

Dylan and Anthony in the igloo

Preston eating snow

Chasing me with snowballs

Thanksgiving - Part 3

We had a Thanksgiving celebration the Monday after Thanksgiving with Marcos' family at Amy & Esteban's house. Marcos' aunt, uncle and two of his cousins were there also, which was really fun. I ended up having to go late because the YW presidency was taking dinner into the YW counselor who just had a baby. It was a busy week to say the least! So I didn't get to take the pictures I would have liked to take, but I did manage to take a couple of the kids as they opened a gift from abuela. Now, I have to say that we are big on our kids appreciating things and showing they are grateful, but this is too funny not to talk about. Abuela gave the girls all matching dresses and the boys all matching sweaters so we can get their pictures taken together. But to a 5-year-old, a sweater is a sweater and not exactly what you were hoping to received from the "surprise present" that emerged from Abuela's secret stash. You can see the difference in a 5-year-old's reaction and a 2-year-old's reaction to a sweater as a present in the pictures of my two boys. CLASSIC!

Thanksgiving - Part 2

We had Thanksgiving at my dad and Suzanne's house the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was chilly, but after we ate, we took the kids outside to play for a bit. The kids LOVE the doggy door and go up and down the ramp and in and out of the door over and over again. Crazy kids! Preston would walk up and then "slide" down the ramp, although he didn't really slide he just scooted and said "whee whee whee" as he went down. We ate great food, visited with family, played in the yard and even made a gingerbread house while the guys watched the BYU/Utah game. What a fun day! For those who want to see the pictures up close click here.

Thanksgiving - Part 1

We spent Thanksgiving at my mom and Barney's house. Three of my four step siblings were there also so it was a big crowd, but we had a really good time. Dylan put on his Indian attire from school and transformed into White Thunder (the Indian name he was given that week at school). He tried to give us all Indian names so we could be like him. I was Red Fox, Marcos was Swift Wolf and Preston was Big Buffalo. But to me, Preston will always be my "little turkey". He loved his turkey hat they made in nursery and wore it all week long! We pretty much spent the whole day at my mom's house hanging out and visiting with family. Preston LOVES Uncle Justin because he teases him and will play with him forever. I captured a couple cute moments of the two of them in the middle of their game. Pretty cute! For those who want to see more pictures up close, click here.

White Thunder trying to cheer up Big Buffalo by letting him play his drum

White Thunder playing his drum and cheesing it for the camera

Candid family photos

More pictures of the fun ... Preston playing with Justin, Dylan washing dishes and proof that Marcos ALWAYS falls asleep during parties! :)

Zoo Day!

We got a call from Marcos' sister, Laura, reminding us that the last Wednesday of every month is free at the zoo during the winter months so we headed to the zoo the day before Thanksgiving. We thought it was going to be freezing, but it was actually pretty decent weather. We bundled the kids up just in case. Dylan LOVES his cousins and had a great time with Leah and Mylo. Leah had a friend there so it ended up perfect with Dylan and Mylo following each other around. Preston is right at the age where he's hard to watch, but is really done having fun in the stroller so I compromised and let him walk half of the time. It turned out to be a really fun couple of hours at the zoo with cousins. Then we headed over to my grandma's (GG's house) to visit and go to lunch with her. What a great day!

Cabin

Thanks to my cousin, Lisa, we've been enjoying this cabin since the weather warmed up in the spring/summer. The kids love it! Of course, you never know if they're going to play "in" the cabin or "on" the cabin. Oh well! It keeps them busy which keeps me happy and productive! :) Crazy kids!

First Day of Snow

Several days ago, we had our first real snow. The kids were so excited to play outside so we got them all bundled up and sent them out back. Preston hated his snow gear at first until he realized it meant he got to play outside. After that, he asked me to put his coat and boots on every day! :) Thankfully Marcos wanted to play in the snow too. The kids loved having him out there with them. What a tease! He kept chasing Dylan around and throwing snowballs at him. The bad part about that is that once Marcos came in, poor Preston became the target of all the new teasing Dylan had just learned from good old Papi. He put snow down Preston's coat and got a nice little lecture from his loving mom about not teasing little brothers who are too young to have a snowball fight. Good times in the snow!

Movie Night

Marcos' brother, Esteban and his wife, Amy, often let their kids have movie night on Friday night. They can stay up late watching a movie, eat popcorn and sleep on blankets together. Well, Dylan thinks movie night is about the coolest thing in the world! One day it just so happened to be a Friday and Marcos decided we should do movie night. The kids loved it and devoured the popcorn while watching some random cartoon movie. Unfortunately, no matter how late they go to bed, Dylan is up at the crack of dawn. At our house, movie night means miserable day for mom with a GRUMPY boy the next day. So until he outgrows that, we probably won't have too many late movie nights. But it was a fun memory for the kids! :)

Horseback Riding

Anthony's dad, David, has a friend who they refer to as Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob owns a bunch of horses and Anthony is always talking about taking Dylan with him. A couple weeks ago, he did. David called me up to make sure it was okay and took him for an entire Saturday. They started at Wendy's for lunch, spent the day riding horses and then ended up at Chuck E Cheese at the end of the day. Seriously, that man is so good to us! It turned out to be a really bad day to have Dylan gone, but we made it work. It was Kamyn's birthday party at Surf 'n Swim so Dylan missed the party, the YW leaders all had planned to go to the temple together and Marcos ended up having to work so coordinating everything that day was insane, but I'm still glad he got to go. I came home from the temple to find out our freezer in the basement had defrosted and we had lost a bunch of food. Thank goodness my family had been around to take it to their freezers and help save what they could. We thought the freezer was completely broken. When it rains, it really does pour and it's been pouring since August around here. We're waiting for the rainbow to appear...any time now! :) No, really we're very blessed, but it has been challenging. But we unplugged the freezer, turned it off and messed with it a bit and it ended up starting to work again. So hopefully we're okay. Hey, at least I have a really clean freezer now! ;) Sorry, that was a tangent, but again, something I don't want to forget since this is my life I'm trying to record here. But here are a few pictures David gave me from their day of fun in the country.

Bushing the horses before they went riding

Feeding Enchanter (his FAVORITE horse)

Look how happy he looks! Dylan loves animals so much!

Lassoing "bulls"

Riding Enchanter

They hooked Dylan up to the horse trainer. Anthony was nervous so he just held on, but they actually hooked it to Dylan's pants. Apparently it was a big hit! The kids LOVED running around at whatever pace they were required and the adults were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes. :)

Recipe For Disaster

A couple weeks ago when it was still warm outside, the kids decided they wanted to go play in the sandbox. I'm trying to give them every opportunity possible to be outside since I'm sure it's going to be a long winter all cooped up in the house. I went out to check on them and realized they had put water and sand into one of the totes where we keep sandbox toys. Uh-oh! There was also soap from a bottle of bubbles and who knows what else. I tried to give a few ground rules about this project and Dylan politely informed me they were making a recipe for disaster. Seriously, where he comes up with this stuff I will never know. I decided not to worry about it and went back inside. I came back out to find all three kids standing knee-deep in their concoction. It really was a recipe for disaster! I turned my back to walk inside again and Preston tipped over onto the cement, leaving a pretty decent bump and scrape on the back of his noggin. Kind of hard to balance when you're a foot deep in sand, I suppose! I had to strip them all down and throw them in the tub, but at least they enjoyed an afternoon in the backyard! :)

King of the Week

Dylan was the King of the Week in his kindergarten class a couple weeks ago. This is one of those posts that is more to remember than anything else so I just wanted to post a really bad picture of the poster we made to hang in the hall while he was "king." His teacher is just so cute! He loves kindergarten so much. He got to wear the sucker crown and pick a sucker to eat, be the leader for PE and be in the front of the line all week. He LOVES stuff like that. Then on Friday, I got to go spotlight him. I brought a bunch of things from home that remind me of him or are his favorites. I figured visual aids would be best to keep their attention. The kids LOVED it and Dylan was folding his arms, crossing his legs and smiling the entire time. No surprise to any of you loyal readers, but I ended up getting choked up in the end when I told them what a great brother and son he was and how much I loved him. Stupid emotions! He really is my sweet little boy! I don't know what I would do without him!