9 Days Til Christmas

I think that I'm the most nostalgic person ever born.  Crew has outgrown so many outfits, but I can't stand to put them away, because then he really won't be "that little" anymore. Taya sang me, "Sweet Child of Mine" the other night when I went to put her to sleep and I just started bawling.  What happened to my baby that would curl up and coo as I sang that to her.  Then we have Milo, don't even get me started on what a big boy he has become!  He goes to school, doesn't need his mom for hardly anything, and is embarrassed when I give him kisses in front of his friends!  Ah, time is so precious.  I can't believe how they are growing.  No one even cried on Santa's lap!  I was secretly hoping that all three of them would lose it.  I think those pictures are hilarious.

Milo has been warned that Santa is really tired of making tractor toys, and I encouraged him to branch out.  .   .  So he did.  This year he asked Santa for an astronaut suit, but then he quickly added, "But if you don't know how to do that, then I'd probably love a tractor."  I keep telling him, "Santa knows how to make that... Don't change your mind on me:)".

Taya is going to be super fun this year.  She loves toys, but doesn't have a ton.  When she sat on Santa's lap she told him that she wants a Brave dress and a Fiona dress (yes, like ogre).  She can't remember Christmas last year, so she kind of has it confused with Halloween.  And since Milo wants a dress up thing, she thinks that's what she needs to ask for too.   Hopefully she also wants a doll house because Santa's little elves have been working overtime to get one put together for her. 

Crew wants diapers...poor 3rd child syndrome... practical, practical, practical.  Maybe I'll let him splurge and have two jars of baby food for dinner.  Might even get wild and let him lick a Christmas cookie:)

 Kids really do make the holidays! 

Christmas Good and Bad

In the last conference, one of the General Authorities talked about people painting fake lives on social media in attempts to look happier than each other.  I hope that when I look back at my blog, I can see all of the wonderful fun things that we did as a family throughout the years.  But I also want it to ring true.  Life is not perfect and we have our struggles.   I started planning for Christmas in October.  This year was going to be the stress free, easy going year, with all of the presents wrapped under the tree by Dec. 1st, and the entire month left open for fun festivities.  Well the shopping is done, the gifts are wrapped, but this Christmas is the farthest thing from stress free.  Without going into detail, some things happened in our family, and now things are changing.  Change can be hard, scary, and sad--especially around the holidays.  It makes my heart heavy to think about Christmas this year.  I remember when I was little people would talk about how the holidays could be a hard time of year, and I never understood.  There are so many fun and wonderful things, and I hope so badly that our family can find a way to enjoy them together. 

John Deere Land

Milo really knows the right people to suck up to.  One day while we were visiting Chris at work, Milo made friends with one of the big wigs named Mike.  Milo happened to see a bunch of John Deere models sitting in Mike's office and wandered on in.  He then told Mike all about the bulldozers shank and hydraulics,  Mike was blown away that this 3 year old knew all of that stuff.  He hooked Milo up that day with several tractors, and a hard hat with his name on it.  Milo was delighted.











Then for Milo's 4th birthday, Mike arranged for him to go out to the John Deere training center, which Milo affectionately named John Deere Land.  This little boy was in 7th heaven. 

 He was able to operate a mini ex, bulldozer, excavator, backhoe, grader, and a front loader.  This guy Reggie took him around all day and let him just play on all of the machines.  Milo was so happy, but also all business.  He took the "jobs" very seriously:)

He even got to meet the CEO of John Deere, who just happened to be visiting- I'm telling you, this kid knows how to rub elbows with the right people.  

They even ha a little party for Milo.  He ate a big hot dog (for the first time ever).  He wants one all the time now, because, "that's what real construction men eat".  And they made him this cute cake, which I must say was seriously the most delicious cake that I have ever eaten.  And of course they hooked him up with all the swag.   He came home with 2 new models, hats, stickers... the works. 

 Nothing makes me happier than when my kids are happy, and this was such a cool day for him.  He is getting so big!  He keeps make-believing to be Reggie when he's at home.  I seriously call him Reggie all day long. It will be really interesting to see if this tractor thing ever wears out, because he is addicted at this point.

Halloween Halloween Lot's of Fun on Halloween

Does this post have too many pictures. . . probably, but I don't care because I LOVE Halloween.

Seriously, every year I love it more and more.  I think that it is possibly my favorite holiday.  I feel sacrilegious for saying that, but year after year it never disappoints!  I actually hate all of the scary things about Halloween, which kind of contradicts my previous statement about loving Halloween.  But let's brake it down:  Candy- yes,  Halloween games- yes, doughnuts and chili-yes! Kids costumes-yes x3, An excuse to walk around all night together as a family-YES!  I just love it.

 

Princess Anna from Frozen, and Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Too many pictures of the princess?. . . Again, yes, probably, but look how adorable she is, I couldn't leave one out.

This is her freezing Milo.  Frozen has been so over marketed it ridiculous. . . but we love it all the same!

This tough guy was too cool to take pictures with mom!  I snuck a couple good ones, but he mainly just said, "Mom, I'm not doing that, I'm ready to go!"

He is such a stud.  Even if he did wear his shiny church shoes trick-or-treating:)

My favorite memory about Halloween this year was of Milo at our ward party.  There were like 100 girls there dressed like Anna. . . including his little sister, but he decided that our neighbor, Berkley was the real deal.  She's about 9 years old, and he's played with her before, but he was unwilling to recognize her.  Her costume was home made, and really cute.  When he first saw her, he started jumping up and down and said, "Mom, I didn't know that the real Anna was going to be here tonight"!  He was ecstatic.  Then he said, "Mom, if you are looking for me, just know that I am right next to the real Anna". . . and he was. . . all night!  He didn't leave her side, and he kept jumping up and down schmoozing her saying things like, "I love your cloak".  "Your hair looks so pretty in those braids Anna".  It was so funny.

 Then there is this little guy.  Is he not so stinking cute?!  Even if he did poop on his costume midway through the night, he was absolutely to die for.

 Being captivated by your kids never gets old.  Baby #3 stole my heart on Halloween. 

 

On Halloween night we went to my sister's house and went trick-or-treating with the cousins.  Taya was true to character and sat in the stroller like a diva.  She kicked her feet up on the cup holders and would wait for Milo to run her pieces of candy.  I kept asking her if she wanted to get out, and then it hit me, she was the smart one.  She ate more candy then anyone and didn't have to lift a finger to get it.  Milo ran like a maniac from house to house.  He also made up a song about getting candy and running so fast.  That kid cracks me up.  He had so much fun.  When we got in the car to go home he says, "my whole body is so tired, but I want to do Halloween again tomorrow".  

I'm with him.  I already can't wait for Halloween next year. 

 

Black Island Farms

It's impossible not to love this place.  It's way out in the country. . . which is convenient, because it's right around the corner from our house:)

 It really is amazing to watch each year as our family grows. 

 Milo was a tiny bit sick, but we didn't want him to miss out.  As soon as we were there, he was super charged, and went a million miles a minute to keep up with the big kids.

 This little thing was a bit timid, but caught right on with some help from dad.

 and grandma.

Milo is obsessed with being a tough boy right now, so he wasn't going to let anyone show him up.

Ryker and Aliyah are always so sweet.  This time of year makes me really happy to live so close to our family.

That kid in the background. . . ya, not our family. . . but look how much fun my little guy is having!
So super fun. . .

He even had to pull out the fat face smile:)  You know he's having a good time when that one comes out.

The kids were the perfect age this year.  They had an absolute blast.  I still remember holding Milo's hand while he walked on the hay because he wasn't too sure that he liked it.  Now he's a little renegade.

Look at these cute friends.  Taya loves her grandmas, and I can't blame her they always make sure that her princess ways are catered to:)

Another successful tradition checked off of our fall list.  I love the fall, but it also makes me edgy.  I feel like we have to cling to every semi-warm day because it might be the last before the dreaded Utah winter!!!

Pumpkin Pickin 2014

This little man HATES the car.  I don't mean like a little bit, I mean like full on blood curling scream.    You can see from the pictures, it's not his car seat that is the problem, he'll sit in it no problem. . . as long as you aren't actually in the car.. . . . . As a result, we really try not to venture out a lot, but we had to keep our tradition of picking pumpkins.

We almost deviated from our usual tradition because I heard about a hayride/pumpkin pick that was free.  However when there was a traffic jam because of all of the people flooding this place, and a line that was forever long, and a screaming baby in the car, we stuck to what we knew and paid 5 bucks a person for our traditional spot. 

 

I usually take a ton of pictures this time of year, but with a car seat, and camera bag in one hand, snack bag, and Taya pulling on my other, pictures are a bit rough.  Seriously,  I found three binkys stashed in my shirt the other day.  With all of our kid craziness right now, I'm lucky we got any documentation this year:) 

Halloween is going to be so fun this year.  It is such a fun age for holidays! The kids looked SO big out there. . . except for Crew-he's still just my little pumpkin:)