Sick. Again.

Yeah it is starting to get a little old. The kids have been cycling through a nasty cold that kept Charley home from school for 3 days last week it was CRAZY. Thankfully he was doing better on Friday so he could be in his program and his class Christmas party. William had to miss basketball this last weekend but was able to be in his program also. *although he may have looked like the walking dead front and center up there* The kids in his class kept telling him that he looked like he should be riding in a limo because he was wearing a suit (You can bet he was smiling from ear to ear to be hearing that!) He had his class party yesterday and had lots of fun bringing a gift to the gift exchange. Both of the big boys got to go to the movie today and get their drink and popcorn with their class they loved it! William got to watch Home Alone and Charley watched Arthur's Christmas. Charley also brought home gifts that he made for Ben and I and wanted us to open them right away because "they are ORNAMENTS!!!!" he shouted. I think the suspense got to him :).

This guy is now fighting this awful cold that has reduced his sleep hours to about 6/24 and not in a row. I think he is teething on top of it so he is super miserable and there isn't really anything we can do to help him. Needless to say Ben and I are totally exhausted :(

He was walking around observing his peasants and managing the unruly ones with a hefty head butt to the abs. But he sure is so cute!!

 He got to go play in the snow. He loves the snow but more importantly he loves boots. Anytime someone goes to leave he says "boots" repeatedly and runs to find the nearest pair, can you guess what he is getting for Christmas??????

 This girl had a hot lunch date with her dad yesterday. She was super excited to go, not super excited to have her picture taken, but she looked so cute I really wanted to! They went to a work lunch because Ben had a coworker that is retiring. I wasn't invited because Brevick is my +1 and he doesn't do lunch.

Ben took William and Charley to Star Wars yesterday they had a BLAST and wouldn't stop talking. Ben said it took forever to get them to quiet down as the movie was starting. We were a little worried that Emmerlyn was going to feel left out when I told her after her date that the boys were going but she responded to the news with "Do I have to go? I don't want to, I HATE star wars!" A girl after my own heart <3 nbsp="" p="">

So between the stomach flu and this severe cold our household is barely sticking together. If you didn't know, Christmas is on Friday and we do not have 1 single present wrapped. . . .  I did get the Turkey out of the freezer today so if nothing else we will have a pile of unwrapped toys under the tree and a turkey in the oven. But hey, you can't win everything right :/

Christmas Prep

I think that has been the name of the game lately. It seems like this time of year gets busier and busier each time we come to it. I don't know what my deal has been but I feel like I have been way behind on life. It has been snowing these last few days so naturally we have been needing lots of hot chocolate breaks :) Emmerlyn always says she is so cold that nothing can warm her up except for hot chocolate. If I deny her request then she follows it immediately with "well if I don't get hot chocolate than you HAVE to give me ice cream, k mom, which one?" Her demands kind of cancel each other out don't ya think?

 We have slowly been working on our Christmas decoration situation. I don't feel like I can invest in Christmas decorations until I have general home decorations because they have to coordinate of course :/ ? We did get the stockings hung up but I feel like the board needs a little something else but I am not sure which direction I want to go with it. So that translates to we aren't ever going to do anything with it and it is finished . . .but I think it looks nice.

William has been busy with basketball, scouts, piano, and birthday parties. He is loving school (yay!) Last week he got to go with his teacher to give a presentation to a group to promote the STEM program in his school. He did a great job and spoke loud so everyone could hear him. I think he would be a great poster child for that program and so does his teacher! He really loves what he is learning and I am glad. He teacher has been doing some research at home on various military subjects that William has been bringing up so that he doesn't always know more than she does!

Charley has been loving kindergarten and his reading is really taking off. He really loves stories. He has a yucky cough today and is waiting for it to get better so he can go play in the snow!

Emmerlyn is busy being her little bossy self. She likes to run the show and be very involved in all of our events. She and Charley love going to William's basketball on Saturday because after they do all of the warm up running and stretching they get to take turns playing games on my phone. I dread the day when I have to take Brevick because the bleachers are up on a balcony and they only have 2 rails on the edge and it is open to the floor. I am afraid he will fall and he is not one to want to sit and play games on my phone!

Ben is busy with his audits and training for the upcoming tax season. I think he is getting excited to have a little break at Christmas but then to get going with taxes. He likes to do taxes :)

Yay the blog is mostly caught up! Go me!

18 Months!

I know I am having a hard time believing it too. He is sure living it up!! Last week He opted to restructure his sleeping habits and starting waking up in the night super MAD and then refusing to take naps. It didn't take long before we were all a little worn out and short tempered. He was also excited to show me at 2:30 AM that he could now climb out of his crib. I wasn't proud or excited. To be totally honest I just about cried tears of exhaustion. Thankfully with some strategic furniture placement he is once again trapped. He is NOT ready for a big boy bed and neither am I!

He has been loving the snow and every time we go outside to go anywhere he says "touch touch" and reaches out his hand so he can pat the cold snow. He loves to get on his snow stuff and go outside. Unfortunately he can open the back door and does it often but Jetta gets so excited to see him and jumps up on the screen so he won't go out all the way! Thank goodness for our guard dog!

You are trying to master using eating utensils and so you are always grabbing a spoon or fork to go with what ever you are eating even oranges or crackers!

This sweet exhaustion was a direct result of not ever going to bed!!!

At his 18 month appointment he weighed 27 lbs 14 oz (90.6 %) and is 35.25" long (99.6 %) he is a tall solid boy who has lots of energy, loves balls, and toys he can throw and hates church! He gives the sweetest kisses and hugs! He is really starting to talk more and repeats a lot of what we say. His favorite foods are bananas, cutie oranges, and oatmeal. He also LOVES anything that is sweet. We sure love our big busy baby boy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Yes I know that I am late and that I didn't Blog. We came down with a bad case of the stomach flu and so we didn't do much of anything at the beginning of last week. 

We had a great Thanksgiving with good friends. The kids had lots of fun playing and eating great food! We had way too many potatoes!

This guy was helping crush oreos for a pie. He opted for a potato as his tool of choice.

This is how William spent his sick days.

After we all got better we made our Christmas ornaments. The kids painted them (with edible paint of course!) Brevick is eating them faster than I anticipated so by the time Christmas gets here are tree will be bare. He is also plucking all of the berries off the tree so it's going to be lovely. 

Emmerlyn is playing with some kinetic sand. We need to get a sensory table so she can not be trapped but still not get it everywhere.

A couple of weekends ago I talked Ben into doing a little closet 'restructuring' ;) It didn't take very long and it worked so well! Once I finish getting everything organized and out of their our room will be so much more spacious!

This is what we have left of our Halloween candy. There is enough of it that we are still eating the good stuff and we have gotten down to just the stuff that no one likes.

William started his basketball through the city this week so that was fun. We also had stake conference this weekend and our kids did shockingly well we felt like. Have a great week!

Far Away

So in addition to the usual work, school, basketball, laundry, cleaning, playing, cooking, and piano lessons this last week we thought we would throw in pack night with pies in the face and a quick root canal complete with a crown and a little spin to Billings. We left early Friday morning so Ben could happily :/ visit the dentist to have some fairly severe tooth pain looked at thankfully they were able to take car of it that same day! We all decided to go with him because we were planning to get up at 2 AM on Saturday to drive to Billings and get there in time for the 8:30 session at the Temple and since the dentist in Milies City is half way to billings and the weather man was calling for snow on Friday afternoon along the route we usually take. So that left the kids and I with 4 hrs of time in a teeny town with nothing to do. So we went to the park. Twice but it was only 25* outside so it was a little chilly even with coats, gloves, and hats.

We spent a lot of time at Walmart

Everybody got new sunglasses

We also got Dairygold chocolate milk (our very favorite, thanks Grandpa Rydalch!) and lunchables and had a picnic in our car looking at the frozen park. We drove around for awhile until Brevick fell asleep then we parked and watched a movie. Then Ben got done. For about 2 hours. So we had lunch (again :) then since we are so cultured we went to the only museum in town that was open. They were featuring a miniature art collection the kids got to use magnifying glasses to look at the painting. It was pretty cool. The kids had fun. Brevick just wanted to run away. Thankfully the lady working there had a dog which really captivated him!

Then Ben went back to the dentist for about an hour. We went back to walmart and got 3 copies of their toy catalog so we could plan our Christmas. Then we played in the creepy arcade game area (yep I'm that parent). As soon as he was done we booked it to Billings.

Once we arrived we went straight for the hotel swimming pool which was cold. We played in the hot tub. After a late dinner everybody went to bed except Brevick, Emmerlyn, and of course . . . Mom. At 11 we were all finally asleep. After an early start to the day Ben went with other ward members to the Temple to support one of our good friends taking out his own Endowment and I watched kids and youth at a nearby stake center ***oh how I wish we lived closer to the Temple*** I am grateful that we did have a place for the kids to run and play. When the session was over our kids had had enough so we decided to have lunch where Brevick cried, threw his food, and climbed out of his chair. We ate fast, got gas and left town. 

This is what the car ride looked like for the first 2 hours.

(Yes Goobs in in there, he is just collapsed to the side :) 

It was so fast and the kids were SO GOOD! If they hadn't literally circled every single toy in the catalog I would get them everything on their Christmas list!

Happy Thanksgiving!

*PS to our families we will miss all of you guys tomorrow. The kids have been asking me periodically for the last few weeks if we could go to the grandmas' and William even typed in both addresses into our favorites on the Tom Tom just in case :) Maybe next time. . . 

The Princess and the Pea

So the kids have been really into watching Sandlot 2 lately and yesterday as Charley and Emmerlyn were downstairs happily playing I suddenly heard Emmerlyn's sweet little voice saying  " Charley you A** is grass!" Repeatedly. Of course he came up to talk to me about it so we and a discussion about clean words and decided that we will no longer watch that movie.

I tell you what there are some conversations that it is SO HARD to keep a straight face while having!

Snuggle Puff Moves the piano

Pretty much we don't have anything exciting from this last week. William is still loving basketball. Charley is enjoying recess. Emmerlyn has been a little bored and a little dramatic. Brevick is starting to pick up more words and growing taller. He likes to climb onto the table and he likes to yell his Amen really loud at the end of the prayer. Ben has been working. I have been dreaming up projects :) oh and working to keep our house in a state of somewhat order.

 I did a little 70s upgrade here. (looking at it in this picture it doesn't look quite as bad but in real life with real light it is so drab I just couldn't take it. It is supposed to be a bulletin board but now it is hanging above the couch so we have a little color on the wall.

With the help ?? of this cute fellow we moved the piano into the back room. I just think it will work a little better with the lessons that I am teaching (now our living room looks like we live in a college dorm, we REALLY need new furniture!) We also took the big metal piece that holds the strings out of the back so it is a little lighter. Ben only crushed his fingers once. I felt really bad at first then I remember that it was his idea therefore it was his fault :) Then I didn't feel so bad!

Have a great week!

First Snow

I know! It's crazy to think that it's November and we are just now getting the first little flurries of the year. I am not going to lie, I am loving this 50* fall weather! This last week wasn't too bad just pluggin along. Ben has been auditing a lot. The kids have been doing school, Emmerlyn and Brevick have been playing and growing and getting on each other's nerves!

The kids were doing a little early morning family search. What a great little group.

 We did some painting. Brevick worked on getting paint on the brush and then onto the paper (or the table :)

 Emmerlyn was practicing drawing flowers she was doing a great job. She definitely loves crafts!

 The kids were SO excited to get to wear their boots today because they knew it was going to snow. Well I looked at the weather and it said it wasn't until late this afternoon so then I was like no we are not going to wear boots today because we are saving them for when we really need them (side note it was like 34* so any snow that came was just going to melt upon meeting the ground) Well they left to meet their ride and I went outside like 2 minutes later and of course it was snowing. Open mouth, insert foot. Well you can bet those boys came back for their boots, the snow did not stick but at least they had them just in case!
*Charley is feeling the burden of being the second brother because he realized that he was never going to get brand new bogs! He would always only get William's. I felt for him being the 2nd sister and my heart wanted to cave but my wallet said no! I reminded him that he got a new coat, snow pants and gloves this year and William has to wear his last years snow gear so his life is not so bad. I did not go into the fact that he would be wearing all of Williams current gear next year. . .

This little girl was so excited to put on her boots and run outside in the WINTER SNOW! She wouldn't even stop for a coat. Brevick escaped with her in just his socks. I had to chase him down the sidewalk to bring him in screaming at the top of his lungs to get his shoes and coat on. 34* is too cold for barefooted babies!

 Brevick learned to play ring around the rosies this week. He LOVES it!

For mutual this week we did a standards night on modestly. We had different outfits that the youth put on paper dolls and then we all went over why or why not it was modest. It turned out really fun! I hope that the youth got something out of it!

Yay For 2 Finished Projects!

Yes I know that heading comes up every once in awhile (I wish it was more common but ya know there are just not enough hours in the day or cash in the wallet :).  This most recent project however was a must have because I felt like our stairs were a safety hazard. If you remember *or have ever seen them* our stairs on the side that faces the family room downstairs just had a stair hand railing. No spindles, banister, wall, nothing just a little round grab bar and a deep cliff leading to the edge of abyss. Well we had the big kids trained to stay away from that side of the stairs but they still made me nervous plenty of times but now Brevick was starting to venture down the stairs. If nothing in life gives your heart a big panic attack just watch your 16 month old baby going backwards down the stairs an inch away from the edge of death. Yes. It's true. He actually fell once, he was just 2 stairs up but that was enough for me. It was Friday and I told Ben tomorrow we would be fixing that. He said "how are you going to do it?" I said I don't know but by the time you get home from work tonight I will have a plan." After working with some ideas (some of which were totally unfeasible such as buying a new house. . .) I came up with one and we worked all day Saturday and got the basics done then the next weekend we put up the face frame, then while he was out of town I surprised him and got it painted. That took FOREVER!  It was hard work, more complicated than I thought it would be but I LOVE the end result. I think it turned out really well and the best part is there is no more cliff of death!

This is our before shot. 

I forgot to take one *even though my dearest worker man told me too. So you get the in the process shot when all of the demolition had been done (it wasn't much :) We took off the railing and the NASTY mixed color shag carpet then I plucked off the super nice 70's paneling that they put in front of it and ran along the side of the stairs (where you can see bare wood and then it covered where all of our paint is sitting :)

 The after shot. 

The shelves need some adjusting aka they need to be redone the lady that did them was tired and her arm felt like it was going to fall off after painting for 7+ hours. We won't hire her again. The super worker man will fix them better someday. Probably not because these ones work sort of and they are in there so we will most likely forget. Forever.

I love it though and I think that it fits the space. It is only 10 inches deep so it really doesn't take up much space in the room which is nice. Now I just need some more clutter. . . 

This project I started a little while ago We had a computer disaster area that was locked in a baby gate pen that you need a 6 digit pin to get into. Just kidding. . . about the pin. It was a disaster and looked messy and then Brevick was getting quicker, taller, and smarter everyday so we needed to do something different. (You can see the computer stuff in the background just imagine it wrapped in a baby gate.)

We had this old dresser in our room that was awful because the drawers didn't really work *they usually fell out into your unsuspecting arms as you were just trying to get a pair of socks* So I took that 

 and made this.

The bottom drawers will still fall out but thankfully nobody knows that they are ever drawers so that worked out. Some day I will rebuild them but that is not this day. Inside that dresser is all of our computer stuff. It is like a home office in a cabinet. I LOVE it! I think our house looks so much cleaner and best of all I have outsmarted Brevick. For today. 

Halloween 2015

Hm, that rhymes :) Well as all the other weeks are this last one was busy. Ben left Monday morning to go to Scoby and was gone until Friday and my to do list was ever so long (self inflicted of course :) I think that most of it got done which was nice but there were some late nights and early mornings to get there. I have been getting up at 5 and you would think that with that extra hour I would have oodles of time to get things done but no, I am barely cramming things in!

That is in part to these two.

They keep me busy because they like to be entertained and me to get down and play with them OR they like to help me; which is sometimes worse. 

This happened this last week because a small dude that I know has learned to climb up on the chairs and move them to where ever he needs them to be. It didn't last long though because I was afraid they would get pulled off and fall on somebody. Now I just spend long hours pulling him off the table and hoping he will lose interest. Oh and when he is standing on the table he can reach the chandelier. Perfect.

With halloween comes school parties I had to bring the sweet treat to Charley's. He requested cupcakes. Ghost cupcakes. He had a great time decorating them for his class. Emmerlyn and Brevick had a great time sampling all the misfits.

 William was in charge of the meat tray for his class. He took in a list of lunchmeats and had his friends vote on their favorites and then we brought those. There was just a little leftover and he brought them home so carefully then they spilled right in front of the door on the porch. We picked them up and I was holding the plate and it gave out and spilled again, this time the ham landed on Charley's face and bounced off onto his cupcake carrier. Needless to say we were all excited when the ham finally made it into the garbage can!

 Licking the beaters is his favorite thing in life! He was surprised and excited to learn that it was potatoes not frosting on the beaters this time! For our ward trunk-or-treat I got to bring a batch of spudnut dough for the mutual kids to fry then we all enjoyed spudnuts and hot chocolate after the trunk or treat was over.

 

 Isn't she beautiful? She didn't want to be this at first, she wanted to be a court jester but I really didn't want her to be. I talked her into being Elsa. It took 2 shopping trips to Shopko and a whole lot of convincing but we did it.
I only feel a little guilty. . . .

 Elsa hair, she wished her hair was a little bigger so it could be just like Elsa's but I think it was perfect!

 He wanted to be a skeleton and I did NOT talk him out of it. (For the first time in his life :)

 What a stud. He got TONS of compliments on his outfits especially from people that have served our country. It fits him well!

The pudgy penguin. Need I say more?

 This right here is life!

 She posed this on her own, and really wished she had the power to do this. She also told me that if I didn't do what she wanted then she was going to freeze me. Hmmm maybe this was a bad costume choice. . .  

 Lighting pumpkins on Halloween night. Emmerlyn decided that she was going with her original plan for the real trick-or-treating and she did look pretty cute anyway. *She also didn't want to ruin her BEAUTIFUL Elsa costume because she wanted to keep using as a dress up.

 The kids did a great job. Brevick's bink-a-punk (that's what we named it) fits him well. He sure loved to stop and look at it every time he got outside.

 Oh, which was way more often because he learned to open doors while Ben was gone too. This resulted in baby locks and lots of tears of frustration. He escaped out the front door once before I got the lock on but luckily Emmerlyn witnessed it and ratted him out pretty quick. He didn't go very far because the mailman was pulling up at the same time and it scared him!

 Charley's potato boat from dinner. He wanted to document it for posterity. Hey, whatever it takes right?

Here's to the upcoming busy week!