Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas morning! Grandma & Grandpa Smith, Great-grandma Elliott, Aunt Alissa and Aunt Cori all come over to our house to see what Santa brought and to have fun with the boys Christmas morning.

What the living room looked like after Santa had come

Stephen coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought for him and Bennett. (He was still asleep when everyone came over, I turned on his light and as he stirred I said, "Santa came." He popped up and excitedly repeated what I said. Then came down the stairs)

Mom and Bennett waiting to check out our stockings!

Dad and Stephen, checking out stockings!

Bennett with the gift he kept going back to.

We hope everyone has/had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

snow, snow, snow!

We have had rainstorm after snowstorm after rainstorm after snowstorm here the last few days. This morning, this is what our deck looked like (after being shoveled yesterday afternoon):


And it has not stopped snowing all day. It was a great day to run errands and drive through Provo Canyon...

So far...

This December has been fun. Our kids are learning about Christmas, and we are working on establishing a few traditions. I have also decided to cut a few corners just to take away some of the stress that tends to pop up during this season. I have taken packaged things to parties instead of baking and I have cut out working on a Christmas card. I do plan on sending one out next year, but we had a few computer issues so I decided to not worry about sending one out this year. I feel a little guilt, but not enough to do one last minute.

We made a gingerbread house. Stephen actually did really well and only ate about half the candy (we did make sure none of that made it on the house, he did try, though!)

Our Gingerbread house. It is still sitting on the counter and is a big temptation every day!

We went to Scott's parent's ward Christmas party. They went ice skating! Stephen tried for the first time. This picture is deceiving since his feet are both down, because it was rare that they were both on the ice at the same time.

Now, enter the dreaded Man in Red. Most of you might not know this, but we went to Scott's parent's Christmas Party for a reason. Bennett knows this particular Santa very well, he just doesn't recognize him.

Stephen is better about Santa this year. He was actually excited to see him, but wouldn't get close on his own (he actually curled up in a ball on the floor) He did tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, although no one could hear him. But, Santa, knowing all, repeated the list like he could hear him and that made Stephen very happy!

This picture is our tender story. We have a very fun moose-tivity. It is a Nativity with moose dressed up as the characters. It is really quite cute and Stephen and I were talking about the baby Jesus, his birth and he was listening and had fun finding the baby Jesus in the different nativities we have through the house. On this one, he gathered them all around Jesus (that is the picture if you can't tell) and said, "They all want to see Jesus, they all want to be close Him."

Yes, they do, he is so right.

We hope you have a great Christmas, we are having a great time here!

It's a hard knock life..

...in Nursery. On Sunday, I took Bennett into Nursery. I have been taking him in for the first hour to play because otherwise we are just in the hallway, but this week, he stayed the whole day. He was looking at me with a funny look when he got a snack this week. I think he wanted to know why he had never gotten to go into that room and get food before! He had a wonderful time and I am ready to leave him in there even though he would be 4 months early.

Well, we had about 5 minutes to go and I was thinking through what I was going to do to usher both boys down the hallway when everyone was out and I thought that maybe if I went ahead and left that it would be easier to find Scott and get to the car. Then I thought that was silly and stayed. About 30 seconds later, there were a lot of kids in one place at one time and Stephen went face first into the little wooden pew. I'm pretty sure his nose hit the corner. The room stood still for a moment while Stephen pulled in enough air to scream. I picked him up, walked across the room and then looked at him. (I have gotten use to calming the child, then looking for where it hurts, since it usually takes a minute for a welt to appear.) His nose was bleeding, so I went to the bathroom across the hall. No paper towels. I found some toilet paper (my diaper bag had already gone to the car because it is easier to have one less thing at the end of church) and cleaned him up. For the moment. His mouth was full of blood and I couldn't tell if he had a cut in his mouth or not. He did cut his lip a little, but that was nothing compared to his nose. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper and went out into the hall to find Scott to tell him that he needed to go get Bennett.

I got to the clerks office amongst many "oohs" and "ahhs" and "what happened?s" and a couple, "oh no! Your shirt!" (yes, I decided on a white shirt for Sunday. I was bugged when Bennett found something orange to put in his mouth and then blow a raspberry at me during Sacrament meeting. I had no idea there was more staining in store). Scott couldn't leave at the moment, so I went back to the Nursery to get Bennett. They handed him to me then a friend took him to the clerks office where Scott got to hold him while he worked on whatever clerk-y thing he had to work on.

I do have to say that I thought it terribly cute how many of Stephen's Nursery friends came down to see him and looked at him with such concern, since he was still crying. 3 year olds don't have too much to say, but they did come over and look sad. I thought it very cute. We had our Primary program on Sunday and those two things combined make me realize why we should be more like a little child. They have such cute little testimonies and I am always touched.

Anyway, it was a fun day at church. Did I mention that Scott and I both left twice during Sacrament meeting for crying or screaming kids. Crazy day at church. I can't wait until we no longer have 1:00 church. Not that my kids will be different children, but at least we won't be there during nap time!

Stephen woke up a few times Sunday night and then was up on Monday at 4:45. His face was covered in dried blood because his nose was still bleeding in the night. It took until last night to get it all cleaned off since he won't let me touch his nose. There is a slight bruise, but that it about it. Sunday evening he looked like he had been in a fight. Marks under each eye from different bonks and a red swollen nose. Boys....

Halloween!

Finally, I have a few pictures to post. We didn't get much outside while trick or treating because it was raining (boo!). Stephen was the Cat in the Hat:

Bennett was a blue M&M and Scott was Thing 2. He didn't have his blue hair wig on yet. Thing 1 was taking the picture. A neighbor of ours did get a family shot while we were outside, but I haven't seen it yet. If I get it, I'll post it. I'm anxious to see how we all looked!

Scott and I went to an adult Halloween party, too. I made some bell bottoms (I'm very proud of them) and Scott, of course, found something outrageous. So, there is my quick post on Halloween, since I said I would try to do better now that I'm not so busy in the yard. I hope all had a great weekend!

Snow!

I figured an out of order post is better than no post at all, right? The week before Halloween, we had our first snow. Bennett had been up late the night before, sick. I was tired and Bennett just wanted to be held, so I didn't want to do anything that day. All Stephen kept saying, though, was "I go run in snow? I get my boots and run in snow?"

So, here he is, playing on the deck, in his boots, while I sit in the kitchen with a lump of Bennett in my lap.

And, of course, when you get in, you should be able to lick a bowl, right? (yes, he is still in pajamas. I put his winter clothes over his PJ's and never got him dressed)

The few inches that fell that day, melted by that afternoon, but the next day, there was more! Bennett was feeling a little better, so we all went out to play! We tired to build a small snowman, but my boys prefer to knock over anything they can, so that didn't work. But Stephen ate snow and we threw snowballs. It was a fun morning!

Summer Review

Since it actually snowed today, I thought I would do a little 'summer in review' post. We have been pretty busy, but didn't really leave the house much. So, here are a few things we did this summer...

Filled the pool in the back yard and played in the water.

Some baseball

Gardening - our pride a joy. We grew corn (we will thin it next year, we'll get more), red and white onions, green beans, garden and snow peas, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, 3 kinds of lettuce, cucumbers. We also had tomatoes, basil, blueberries (they didn't do anything), strawberries, and raspberries. Then in a bed where we weren't ready to plant anything, we had rosemary, chives, jalapenos and pumpkins. (Our front step looks nice right now with dried corn stalks and pumpkins for decorations)

We did a lot of canning, I really enjoyed it! We canned green beans, jalapeno jelly, salsa, tomatoes, apricots (from our sister-in-law), relish, grape juice and jelly. We froze pesto, spaghetti sauce, corn, peas, carrots, cherries, onions and peppers. And dried mangos, cherries, zucchini, yellow squash and onions. I'm sure there is more, but that is all I can think of right now. I love having all that food in store!

We found that Bennett is a HUGE fan of tomatoes. He ate them every day! We grew grape tomatoes and he loved snacking on those, but every time we went outside, he would pick himself a nice ripe tomato, and go back to the grass to enjoy it. Funny kid.

A typical day on our counter. I also joined a co-op, so I really had loads of fruits and veggies to work with this summer.

One of our gladiolas, (not sure if that is spelled correctly, there isn't a red line under it so I spelled something correctly!). That is pretty much the only thing we had growing in our yard besides a few annuals we planted. We didn't get shrubs until they all went on sale this fall. This deep purple is my favorite color of the flowers.

We also built lots and "Tunnels!" Fun for everyone.

Another tunnel or fort, depending on who you ask.

We did have a flood in our kitchen. Someone wasn't watching their kids and didn't notice all the water running above the kitchen from the upstairs bathroom. Oops! If you don't feel like this is a good enough picture, come on over, it still looks this way, minus the fan.

More water fun!

We got some family pictures, too. I don't have any files from those yet, though. My dad, step-mom and sister came to visit, as well. We did pictures when they were here, crazy times! So, there is an update, hopefully, now that we won't be outside during our free time, we might have some time for blogging again, but only time will tell!

The new deck

We have wanted a better deck since we moved in. We found a great deal on some Trex at The Home Depot and we grabbed it. Three different Home Depot stores later and we had a garage full of Trex. My dad came out for my grandmother's funeral and he likes to build decks, so we decided that while he was here we would get started. I don't actually have a picture of the before, but here is the "after we tore apart the old one" picture.

You can see how small the other one was by how small that ledger board is.

Here is Scott, his dad and our friend Leland attaching the new ledger board. Leland is a contractor and he has loads of great tools that were amazing to have around.

Quite a few steps along and we have the joists!

Scott and his dad attaching the deck boards!

Stephen is helping his dad put int the footing for the steps. Bennett is watching.

How we kept them busy while we worked on the railings. This projects started on Saturday morning, July 3. We were still working on it that evening at 5:30 when out family was arriving for our July 4th celebration and deck warming party. It was wonderful to sit on our deck and watch the fireworks!

The stairs! (the ones on the other side are not built yet. They will be soon!)

We have our folding tables on the deck for the party. We had just gotten all the tools off the deck! Notice the smoker, it is blocking the hole that will one day have stairs!

Our deck! Notice the 'jut out.' That was added during construction. We have already used it a lot. We get the afternoon shade and that is glorious!

Isn't Scott amazing! (along with all those that helped, his dad, my dad, Leland, John, Brad. Along with all the wives that helped me chase kids and keep them away from the saws and cords and other dangerous tools)

Grandma's funeral

My grandma passed away last week, and we had her funeral on Saturday. I was so happy to know that grandma is now with her sweetheart and she is now able to move around and see without difficulty. She was 94 and an amazing person. I love and am so happy to know that I will be able to see her again. I love her and will miss her. When all of the family was together (minus one cousin and her family) my heart was full. At one point, all of the cousins were at the house and I felt a changing of the guard as we were the ones getting the food out for our kids as our parents had done for us for so many years. A few pictures:

All the girl cousins (minus Tammi). We weren't able to get one with the boys - don't know why. Just ran out of time, I guess.

My family. We had the boys matching.

The whole Littlefield clan. Sarah was hamming it up - I don't think we got one with everyone looking. But the is how it is!

Excitement!

Who's that coming down the track?

Thomas!!

In the past two weeks

...Stephen has:

held a neighbor girl's hand

run to his room and slammed the door

and had a different neighbor girl tell her mom that she wanted to play with Stephen so she needed to do her hair nicely and put on makeup...

Whoa - I don't think I'm ready for things like that!

What we have been up to

We have been keeping busy so here are a few pictures to show what we have been up to. Yes, they are all of our kids (I'm usually behind the camera!) and I apologize that some are blurry. These kids move so fast, sometimes that is the best we can do (with a camera phone).

Playing with cousins in window wells... Gotta get some covers!

Boxes, need I say more?

Bennett is really grabbing now, sometime Stephen gets too close, but it is *usually* funny.

Someone is officially 8 months old. Not crawling yet, though - we are getting close!

Not crawling - but standing is the best!

finger painting with yogurt

Getting together to "clean out the cupboards"

"DIRT!" The truck had not stopped yet and if you look closely, you can see that there are multiple sets of tracks up and down the mound already.

(This really should be the last one - for the garden and beds. But please notice that nice, long, green, lush grass!)

Going on walks.

I had to stop this because I know he was headed to the neighbors house (with a small hill as a driveway) to let Bennett go for a ride. At least he is thinking of others, right?