Puzzler

Lainee girl has really been into coloring and drawing lately, but even more recently, she decided she enjoys jigsaw puzzles.

Today she impressed us by completing this 24 piece hologram puzzle all on her own. And she's only seen it done like twice or something. Way-to-go Lainee!

Turkey Day!

We went to Provo for thanksgiving because my mom just had to be with my brother most-recently returned from his mission, who is at BYU and had to work. 

So we ate our fest in a hotel suite with my aunt and uncle and cousins, who also drove to Provo to be with kids at BYU.

Despite the challenge, it WAS still a feast, and a delicious one too! 

Here's Lainee with a pumpkin cupcake in one hand, and some turkey in the other. Mmm.

Jacer Boy's first Thanksgiving :)

Garen and Jace disappeared for a few minutes, and when Lainee and I went to find them, they were in the hall, playing on the luggage carriers. So we joined in. 

We found a fun playground in Provo after our Black Friday shopping (which wasn't much- we don't do the early morning sale junk), because it was a beautiful day.

When we finally made it home this afternoon, the kids wrote some letters to Santa! They're hoping his elves will come take them from under the tree one of these nights. 

Lainee was excited to write her own letter this year and have me tell her how to spell the words she wanted. 

Jace scribbled for a minute, scrunched his paper up, and climbed on top of the table. 

We are excited for The next month and all the fun things in it!

Oh and here's our thankful tree :)

Play Time at the Park

We go to a different park twice a week with our little group of awesome PA wife/kids friends... 

Tuesday, we went to Amador Vista Park, and it was soo warm out. 

Jace found Lainee's drinkable yogurt out of the lunch box and he loved the little bottle. He got through the foil with his teeth, and tried to drink it...

Awesome, Buddy.

There's this cool climby- spinny toy at this park and kids are always asking for someone to spin it. Today there was a little pre-teen ish aged girl there who pushed them and pushed them, and every kid at the playground loved it!

Jace tries his very best to run around with the big kids. This as high as he can get on these cool ladders... For now =/

Playgrounds are the best invention ever. 

Rain

Today we went to lunch to celebrate the birthday of our good friend Katelyn. Then we all headed to a park to play, but it poured rain on us! I kind of loved it for a change. It's only 50 something degrees today. Much better for this time of year.

Before it got too hard, we enjoyed some time on the swings.

We hung out under a gazebo for a few minutes but then kids wanted to splash, of course :)

Our Little Sneak Bug.

He climbs furniture, walls, shelves, slides, stairs, cupboards, and apparently now he opens doors, too? 

No, not really, but almost. I went to take a shower this morning, and when I was done, I came out to find this happening... Really little Dude?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

But just at our place...

We started it.

I made a wreath!

Lainee is as excited for Christmas as I am, so naturally when she kept asking and begging to put up the tree, I caved. 

I knew Garen would think we were crazy, so we put the whole thing up and got the lights on before he got home. Then we all helped decorate after dinner, with cookies and hot chocolate.

Both of these stinkers were beyond excited about it.

I made new stockings this year too. The old ones weren't my favorite, plus they wee too small. Lainee helped pick out flannel and colors for each. I kinda like them :)

By the way, it rained today and I love it! It may not be snow, but at least it's not 80 degrees!

Curiosity

We all know 3-year-olds are curious little creatures. Here are some of the ones I've tried to answer recently. Some have to do with previous conversations we've had, and others are totally random and unexpected.

Why do we sleep?

How come _______ (friend) doesn't have a baby like me?

Where do ladybugs and butterflies and caterpillars and dragonflies live?

Why don't butterflies turn back into caterpillars?

Do reindeers and dogs and cats have skeletons inside their bodies?

Do skeletons have eyes?

How come the seven dwarves don't have nostrils?

Why doesn't Donald wear some pants?

What is Goofy? (A dog) No, he's not. He has a beige face.

... Let's hear what your kids have asked lately!

October-November Memories

FAMILY~

Garen's parents and his little brother Koy came to visit for a few days and we did tons of fun stuff. It's awesome for the kids to get to see their grandparents!

FALL FUN ~

Pumpkin patch

Pumkin patch

Scary friends hehe

Halloween costume parties

Festive treats, of course.

Bat girl was sick of wearing a mask and cape, and traded them in for this cute headband and some beads! She went trick-or-treating as a flapper.

Cute bow I whipped up last minute. This was way easier than all the sewing for batgirl. Maybe we should have done it in the first place!

GAREN~

Garen started rotations shadowing a PA at a family practice clinic in Las Vegas. It's 90% Spanish speaking so it's been tricky to get into, but I think he's doing really well and enjoying himself! We're proud of him :)

EVERYDAY FUN~

Even though I hate that it's holiday season and still 75 degrees out, it is perfect weather for long walks and quality time outside. This day we collected pinecones to use for later crafting :)

Sometimes we snuggle in the morning.

This guy climbs on everything! 

My latest struggle is getting him to drink milk from a cup. He loves the cup, but not if there's milk in it. He loves his milk, but only if it's in a bottle. Ugh. He drank maybe 2 oz this day, and threw it on the floor.

On the bright side, he walks now! He also claps for himself, and waves to us sometimes, and he's so cute when he does it.

GROWIN UP~

Mr. Silly Pants is 11 months old now! He will be a year old in four weeks and one day. Mixed emotions.

New goal:

I am going to try REALLY hard to not put all my cute, funny, sad, dramatic, silly, most-likely just annoying pictures on Instagram and Facebook. I'll do a few here and there but I want keep up with stuff on the blog so that someday I can use it as a record of our family, and not have random parts of the story missing. 

Plus maybe this works better so people who care can look at my pictures and hear my stories, and people who get annoyed by pictures of other peoples kids can just ignore me.

Starting now.