Hills

This is one of Nate's favorite things to do these days.  It's something that I used to do at my house growing up.  I can still remember tracing cars along the pattern of my mom's Persian rug (as we watched the Dukes of Hazzard).

There are a few annoyances that come along with this form of play.  One of them is quite telling of my house keeping skills.  I hate that after he plays with the rug I find myself stepping on sand and grit that dropped out of the rug when it was lifted up.  That's annoying.
The other is that Jason really likes to play too.  He likes to climb into the tunnels and then Nate likes to sit on the Jason sized lump in the carpet.  It causes much squealing, crying, and frustration all around.
Other than that, when the carpet gets lifted up, I can pretty much count on a happy Nate boy for huge chunks of time.  That makes any annoyance bearable for sure.

Lloyd Christmas...

...just got a whole lot cuter.

I decided to cut the boy's hair.  I watched a few videos on youtube and then, put it off.  A few days ago, I was out visiting my friend Heidi, when she bluntly told me that I needed to quit putting it off.  I guess I had just grown accustomed to looking at the boy with the awful hair cut and loving him in spite of it.  But despite my loving mothers eyes, it was still a bad hair cut and was making him less attractive to the world in general.

So I took the clippers to his hair.
I left him in his seat after dinner and he still had tomato soup all over himself, so then the hair stuck to that.  He was watching a movie, but that only kept him entertained for so long.  He was one miserable little boy by the time I was done.

I can see how hard it is to cut a wiggly kid's hair, but I still really like the outcome. It was very much worth the end result.  And, as a bonus, I am getting better and better at cutting hair.  I think I'll be able to save us some cash in the long run since we have 3 boys needing regular hair cuts.

 I gave Nate a hair cut while I was at it.  They are two new boys!  Cuter than ever!

How do you like this pose?  He wouldn't sit still and this is the only one I have where he's looking at the camera.  :)

Go Outside?

I just found these pictures on the camera.  They are from before the terrible hair cut.

Anyway, Jason is very attached to this blanket.  Our neighbor gave it to him when he was just a few months old and I used to put it in the stroller with him.  Like Allie, he doesn't love the squares blanket I made for him.  He loves the random "black blankey".  To be fair, it is extremely soft.

When I go to get him out of his bed in the mornings or after naps, he rushes to grab his blanket and then stands there with his head bowed and waits for me to wrap it around him like a cape.  He likes to be snuggled for a little while like that.

As the weather has gotten warmer, I find myself wrapping him up and sitting on the porch with him as we watch the others go off to school.  He loves to be outside.  So now, he grabs black blankey and stands at the door, waiting for me to wrap him up and take him out.

"you coming?"

Valentine's

Jake and Allie did pretty simple Valentines this year.  We just added a sucker to a heart (or in Jake's case, just a circle) cut out of paper.  It was a good thing they were easy and quick because we put it off till the last minute, as usual.

We had our usual heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Then, we went to the Lego movie that night as a family.  It was such a cute show.  I think it was well done, as a show, and it must have also had some subliminal messages...it made me want to go out and buy more Lego's!
Anyway, we had a great Valentine's Day.  I sure do love all my Valentines!

Under where?

I've told you before that Nate will not wear underwear.  I guess he will wear it, just not the way it's supposed to be worn.  We have talked and talked about it and he still wants to wear diapers.  No amount of bribery will buy this kid.  I can't believe it.

So we started in on the "baby" talk.  You know, "Only babies wear diapers.  You are a big boy and Jason is a baby, so he wears diapers and you can wear underwear."

 That didn't work.  So we pitted them against each other.  We put the unders on Jason and told Nate that Jason was the big boy and he was the baby.  Nate didn't buy into that either.

I don't know what it is about my kids and wanting to go out on the back deck dressed in their nothings.  But isn't that boy cute?

But then it all became a game and even though unders are fun to wear on your head, Nate won't wear them on his bum.

Sundays

Our Sunday lives have changed completely since the beginning of the year.  We went from the dreadful 

1 o'clock time block to the dreamy 9 o'clock time.  It's a bit tough to get out the door in the morning, but the kids are always up before dawn anyway, so I don't mind.

Jason is a grumpy gus because he usually takes a morning nap, but if he can make it through church with his eyes open, we come home and put him down for a 3 hour nap.  It's awesome!  

So, the point?  This new church time means that we have a lovely Sunday afternoon to hang out.  I try to keep the kids off electronics on Sundays so we find other things to do.  The last few weeks we've baked.

 Allie and Jake like looking through the cookbooks to find a new treat to make.  Allie loves looking at the salads and Jake only has eyes for the treats.  We usually find something that we all agree on and then we make it while Jason snoozes.  It's been pretty fun.

Toad Legs

I still haven't gotten the picture that I want, but Jason does this funny frog legs thing in the tub.  He doesn't sit down until the water stops running, so the whole time the bath is filling up, he squats down like a little frog.  This picture will just have to do until I catch the real frog move.  He usually sits up and says "eeze" when he sees me get the camera out for a picture.  I'll keep trying though because it is super cute.

Stuff and Things

I have some random pictures that I wanted to show, so I'm putting them into a random post.

Allie has stick straight hair and it doesn't hold a curl.  We haven't used curlers in a while, so she gave it a try.  

Her hair was so cute when they first came out, but even an hour later, they were almost gone.

This was a snowman that Allie made for school.  She used chocolate chips to make the eyes, mouth and buttons.  A few days later, all the chocolate chips had been picked off the snowman.  I guess hanging chocolate in the hall was just too much of a temptation for some kids at school.  :)

A few weeks ago, our area (and many others) had a dedicated fast for moisture in the area.  They are concerned about what the low snow pack will mean for the crops in the summer.  Jake is old enough to fast, but since we had 1 o'clock church, he hasn't really fasted yet.  He decided that he wanted to join in on this fast because he wanted more snow and to see the river run this summer.  It was really neat to see that our prayers were answered and we got lots and lots of snow.

This is Allie after playing outside for a while.

Nate got to take a back seat wheeler ride as the neighbor plowed our driveway.

 And Jason liked to walk out on the snow and then cry when he realized that it was really cold.  This snow is actually what got him wearing shoes for the first time.  He hates the things, but he'll wear them if it means he can tromp around on the back deck without freezing his tootsies.

Jake got pulled around on the snowmobile with his friends.  He was really happy about all the snow.
Then the rains came and washed it all away.  It's a total bummer to watch all that fluffy white powder turn into a slushy brown mess, but I guess it's still an answer to prayer.

Rock On Jake!

Jake earned enough reading points to rock the halls!  Yay Jake!  He was really looking forward to earning his medal and was glad to be able to run down the halls to the deafening screams of the other kids.

 I love that this is such a big deal to all the kids.  They are all proud of themselves and are excited for the others when it's their turn to rock the halls.
Allie was so excited for Jake.  She said she yelled so loud for him that it scared the kids around her.

 There were a few other neighbors who ran with Jake, so it was fun to get a picture of them together.

Then, what picture would be complete without a photo bomb from the little brother who came to cheer you on?

Good job Jake!  I'm glad you love to read!
As a side note, Jake started reading The 39 Clues series and I have them on audio.  I decided to listen to one so I could know what he was talking about and it wasn't too bad.  So now we are having a "reading race" against each other.  He's on book 5 and I just finished the second book.  I am quite excited to read the one he's on right now though because it's set in Russia and they talk about Rasputin.  I've been in his house in Russia and have always thought he was an interesting character, so I'm excited to see what they say about him in the book.  How's that for nerdy?

A New Toy

I have a few new gadgets that are making me happy lately.  Mike shakes his head at me and says he never imagined that when he married me (as a tree hugging nature loving girl) that I would have turned into someone who gets excited about food storage.  Well, little did he know.

I got a FoodSaver for Christmas and it has been so fun.  I like the vacuum seal for meats and things, but my favorite thing is the jar attachments to seal stuff into mason jars.  I've been watching videos on YouTube about all the things people are using their FoodSavers for and I just get excited.  I know it's dorky, but oh well.

The latest exciting gadget is this baby food thing.  I got some bags on Amazon, and this squeezy thing and have made my own baby food for the kiddos.  You ask why I did this on my last kid...well, it's because this food pouch thing is relatively new.  They haven't been out there for long and I love them.  I don't love that they can be expensive.

Plus, all the kids like the applesauce pouches and beg for them in their lunches.  So, now they can all have them.

I'm trying to watch what kinds of foods I give Jason (I still suspect food issues with the boy), so it's nice to know that the things I have put in these food pouches are things that he can have.  I made a brew of carrots, strawberries, spinach, blueberries, and banana and he slurps it right up.

Allie and Jake stayed up with me late on Friday night and helped me make all these pouches.  I am almost out of the apple and pear sauces that I made in the fall.  I guess I'll have to make more next year!

I know it's a dorky thing to get excited about, but every time I open my freezer and see those cute little pouches, it makes me smile.
I love even more that when Jason sees them, he points and starts to grunt (because he still doesn't talk).

Clothes

Allie and Jake are just now learning to hang up their own clothes.  This is why...

I used to look at this and think that it was easier to do it myself than to stare at this mess in the closet every day.  So, I'd do it myself.
Now, I know that they have to learn sometime, so I guess this is good enough.  I especially like the poor pink bear hanging by the neck.  As a bit of a side story, that bear has been put in the DI box more times than I can count.  Allie is a sneaky beast and finds it every time.  I wonder if the bear thinks her life is better hanging in the closet than being on a shelf at the DI.  Either way, it is her lot in life, for now.

Sleep

I can't think of many things that I like better than looking at my sleeping children.  I even love to go in and look at Jake snoozing away.  I just love their peaceful faces.

I don't peek in on Jason much because I am so afraid of waking him up (only to unleash the beast that is Jason in the middle of the night).  So, this is a rare glimpse, but I couldn't resist getting a picture of that cute little foot.  Oh, how I love that kid...especially when he is sleeping.

Puzzles

Mike took Jake and Nate to Star Valley with him to ride snowmobiles.  That left Allie, and Jason to hang out with me all day.  It was such a nice day.  Allie wanted to do some puzzles, so we waited for Jason to go to bed and spent a little while putting together all the puzzles in the house. 

We missed having the other boys around, but it was nice to have the time together too.  Sure do love you Allie Sue!

 

 

Bad Haircut

Mike has complained about the length of Jason's hair for months.  He finally had enough and took Jason in to the beauty school.  I knew it would probably turn out bad, but I was really sad when I came home to find this...

No, actually, that isn't even the best description of the hair cut because at least Lloyd Christmas has a bit of hair by the ears.
To be fair, Mike said that Jason was a wiggly kid who was not cooperating at all...still...

I find myself calling him a "pumpkin pie haircutted freak" several times a day in my head. (It's a line from Dumb and Dumber).  Poor kid.