Birthday Boy.

Miles turned FOUR and had a fun birthday. When he first woke up he came out of bed and into the dining room with squinty tired eyes and said, "Where's my birthday cake?" he had Lucky Charms for breakfast and opened presents - a Hotwheels race track from Brian and I and a Lightning McQueen pillow pet the girls bought for him (which was perfect because Wesley has adopted the puppy one as his own).

Later in the day we had a few friends over to play and have treats with us (oops - no pictures of that!) Brian teaches a class on Thursdays until 5:30 and Nora had a Dinosaur Museum at her school that night so I took the kids to that and Brian met us there. Then we came home for cake and ice cream and one last present (another track set for his growing Thomas collection!)

Miles is lots of fun and a sweet little guy. He still loves all things Thomas and Lightning McQueen. He is funny and loves to get spoiled by his sisters. He still insists on chocolate milk every morning and loves to snuggle on the couch. He loves playing computer games and going to Pre-School group once a week. He wants to play with his friends every day and likes to stay at home unless he is going to a friends house, pre-school or the park. He is learning to be more patient with Wesley. He has surprised us by being a very good boy in Primary at church! He loves playing with Scooter and does a great job when we need someone to tire Scooter out. We love this boy!

A memorable Valentine's Day.

I saw this heart hairstyle on Pinterest and decided to give it a try on the girls. I remember one year (although I was in the 5th grade!) asking my mom to braid my hair in a heart on top of my head for Valentine's Day and I thought it was so cool! The girls loved their hairstyles.

Miles is doing a co-op pre-school with some friends so we had a little party at our house with them and their younger siblings. Two of girls were sick and couldn't make it. Darn it! The kids had fun playing and passing out their Valentine's and eating cupcakes.

We ended the night with something pretty darn exciting.... a PUPPY!! The kids have been wanting a dog for a long time and we've been telling them we'll get one when the time was right. I thought that meant when we had a house of our own, but our landlord allows pets and I randomly looked on craigslist at the pet section on Tuesday and saw this adorable Muggin (cross between a pug and a miniature pincsher) puppy that was for sale. I called Brian at work every couple of hours to check in and see what he thought. I wasn't sure I was ready for the big commitment of a puppy. It's not like I am bored and need something to do :) Then I thought of how badly I wanted a puppy when I was little, and how so many of my childhood memories involve the dogs we had (Mic, Chancy and Chewy!) So after Brian got home from work I went out to "look" at him. And once I saw him I couldn't leave without him.

Brian sent them on a little clue treasure hunt that ended in our room where I was holding the pup. They were pretty surprised and excited, except Nora claimed she knew it was going to be a dog. :) The people we bought him from were calling him Scooter, and it just seemed to fit so we kept it. And it saved us from having to let the kids all agree on a name, too!

Scooter and Wesley are quite a pair. Scooter loves to play with him and Wesley loves getting Scooter's toys and running in circles while Scooter chases him.
I think they are going to be great friends.

What's going on.

My blogging tends to slow down in the winter and I'm not sure why. Probably because I take way fewer photos in the winter. I am looking forward to Spring, even though this winter has been very mild for Wisconsin... so I'm told. The girls are great friends with a pair of sisters, Camille and Marcella. It works out so nicely because they both get to have a friend over at the same time! And they both usually go over to their house at the same time. They are sweet girls and they all get along so well. This day we had them over for a "breakfast party". Since we've opted to go the No Sleepover route, a breakfast party was fun for the girls. They ate smoothies and muffins, crafted and played with their American Girl Dolls.

This winter has been full of mild sickness for all of us. Blah. Nothing doctor worthy, mostly little stomach bugs and colds here and there. I am attributing it to the fact that we are in a new place and therefore getting used to new germs. Wesley was sick for over a week recently and it was so sad. He was miserable and grumpy! He was finally able to cheer up after getting a blessing and is now on the mend... except for now he's teething and still thinking it's a-okay to get up at 5am.
Here he is being sad after being put in the tub after puking.
Here he is feeling much better, and looking much older. Such a cutie!

He finally felt like playing and was so cute lining up cars and using the car basket as a ramp. He thought it was pretty funny when he tried to move Dinoco Lightning out of his way and he ended up sitting on him!

I got my hair cut a few weeks ago and although it was much shorter than what I was expecting (as usual!) I am liking it. I think short is the way to go for me.

The girls have been very busy with various school projects and things. Nora had to count out 100 snacks to take for the 100th day of school. (Those cute little hands belong to a little girl from our ward that I watch on Wed, Thurs and Friday)

Miles spends each day alternating between playing with Lightning and Thomas. He is super excited for his birthday this week! And I went and registered him for SCHOOL last week! Here they have a program called T4K. Which is a 1/2 day of school. At first I was sad about it, but he is going to love it and is already excited, so I stopped being sad.

Miles thought this was pretty hilarious to stick his play sword in Wesley's diaper. Wesley didn't notice and Miles was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

We have started the process of looking for a house! Our lease is up for this place in July and we hope to find a home sometime before then. We've seen a few we like and are starting to figure out how much room we need and the things we really want, etc. It's kind of a stressful thing, but fun as well. Hopefully we'll have our first house by the time our 10 year anniversary rolls around in June!

Date night, snow and randomness...

Brian and I had a fun date night a few weeks ago. We had a competition where each of us took turns coming up with some sort of challenge and we kept score of who won each competition. Some of the highlights were the wall sit, sliding across the wood floor, running around the outside of the house (before we had snow - but still COLD), paper airplane flights, tallest block tower and spinning around Cosmo Brown style on the floor. It must be noted that I won the competition. Mostly due to the fact that through a stroke of luck I won the blow-the-wadded-up-paper-ball-across-the-kitchen-table -with-a-straw-and-make-it-land-in-a-mug competition on my first try. Yes.

It is definitely winter now and I love it when it is warm enough to play outside in it. I don't care for the wind chills that put us in negative temperatures. Brrrr.

The girls had a great time building their prototypes in snowmen.

Wesley sporting his new coat. He'd been wearing one of the girls old winter coats that was red on the outside but it had pink sleeves and girly stripes on the inside. But I couldn't justify buying a brand new one when we had one that fit. Then I came across this one on clearance at Target for 8.00 and couldn't resist. He looks pretty cute in it, and since he'll probably wear it until April it will be worth it. Now he won't get mistaken for a girl everywhere we go.

Miles and Thomas are still going strong.

The girls doing a craft from a book they got at the library.

Wesley's new family night talent. When the kids are doing their handstand and somersaults and such Wesley has to join in.

Winter Break!

We had a great time over Winter Break! It was so fun to hang out and play together for over a week. It was also nice not making lunches or worrying about homework and having to leave the house every day to pick the girls up from school. Here is some of what we did:

Played with Play-doh,

made "snow" landscapes with shaving cream and random objects,

cried over spilled milk (at least Wesley did),

made salt dough creations (one of the girls most favorite things to do!),

cleaned messy rooms (this is before the cleaning obviously),

crafted and crafted and crafted and crafted,

made bread,

smothered Wesley with love and attention,

played school and watched movies together!

It was so great having the girls home. The kids all got along so well and had fun playing together. But the girls were starting to go crazy with pent up energy so it was nice to start back in the routine of school. I'm a lucky mama!

Christmas Day!

I didn't take that many pictures on Christmas morning, too busy enjoying it I guess, but it was a great morning. The kids slept until about 6:30 and they were so sweet. Right when we came out they immediately wanted Brian and I to open the gifts they had made for us. Awwwww. So cute. Brian got me an ipod nano! I was pretty surprised. Our old one broke and I use it to exercise with so I was pretty excited. I'm sure that's the only thing that has been holding me back from exercising this last month :) No excuses now. I got Brian a temple bag and a shutterfly calendar of the kids for his office. The girls got sewing baskets from Santa and a sewing machine (hooray for Black Friday!) to share from Brian and I, they were pretty happy!

Miles got trains and more trains! He was, and still is, in heaven.

Nora got a Kit American Girl Doll. I had to put this picture in because you'll notice Sophie's reaction in the background. I'm sure she's thinking of the complete injustice of us making her save all year to buy her doll, and then Nora just gets one handed to her at Christmas!!

But honestly they are such different girls, I know there is no way that Nora would ever have the diligence to save her money for a year. Even if we tried to make her she would probably be able to buy one when she turned 18. She truly would never be able to do it! And I wanted the girls to play together with them. I explained to Sophie that we bought Nora's doll used on craigslist for 1/2 the price and that she cost the same as Sophie's main gift. But Sophie was fine and they have been playing so cute together with their dolls, Sabrina and Kit. Nora was beyond thrilled that Kit was also wearing jammies that matched hers!

Our four cute girls :)

Here is Sophie's main gift: a camera!

And since I didn't have one picture of Wesley, here is a group one with him in it. He got trains and a Mr. Potato head. We gave him trains not only because he loves them - he can point out Thomas and Sir Topham Hat in our books, but it also gives him some leverage when playing with Miles!

And a picture of our puzzle this year. It was a little hefty for the kids (750 pieces) but the girls helped quite a bit and Brian and I finished it off by Christmas night. We've had a bit of sickness traveling through our family the last week or so. Both Nora and Miles were throwing up the night before Christmas Eve, then Wesley, and then Sophie was sick and threw up Christmas morning so just Nora and I went to church... then I got it on Tuesday! Today we are all feeling better and hoping Brian won't get sick as well. Yuck!

Christmas Eve & Book Find

Brian's family does a yearly tradition called The Book Find. His parents buy each person in the family a book and wrap them all in different wrapping paper. On the night of the book find you get a piece of the wrapping paper that matches your book and you have to find it. It is always one of the most anticipated events of the Holiday season and was a lot of fun this year!

Miles got a Thomas book that has a little projector and slides with the story, Wesley got a Cat in the Hat book with a blanket/stuffed animal Cat. Sophie got a beautiful doll book that has fun pop up pictures and lots of facts and information on the Edwardian Era. She loves it. Nora got a fairy tale book on the 3 Billy Goats Gruff that came with a Cd. The girls both got cute bags as well. Brian got a book Stephen Covey and I got a sewing book! Thanks grandma and grandpa!

We did all this while skype-ing with the family in Utah and while we all had our backs turned towards the computer Wesley got a little too quiet....

and found the baby powder. He loves dumping out things lately! After the book find we went to the park! Which is something I'm sure we've never done on Christmas Eve! We took the stroller and the wagon and walked a few blocks down to "the blue park" as the kids call it.

This pond was very frozen and we took a few steps out on it to slide around, but not too far. Brian still remembers falling through the ice when he was young and having his brother save him. Scary.

When we got back from the park we had dinner, crepes, and then the kids got their Christmas Eve pajamas. Sophie even got a pair to match her doll, Sabrina. I made Santa Sacks this year so each of the kids leaves their sack on the couch and that is where Santa leaves his present for them. (I'm planning to make a bunch of re-usable ones for next year so there will be no wrapping paper next year!) I put their jammies in their Santa sacks.

The best part of the whole weekend happened on Christmas Eve. We read the nativity story, first in the scriptures while the kids acted it out, and then the kids all brought in blankets and pillows by the fire and we all snuggled up and sang Christmas songs and looked at a Christmas nativity board book together that has lots of pictures and the Christmas stories from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. And guess what? The kids actually listened to the whole thing! Miles stayed laying down and listening to it all and Wesley sat and looked at a book quietly. It was a wonderful evening that was pretty much perfect. Our own little Christmas miracle!

Of course we let the 3 big kids all sleep together on the air mattress in the girls room. They were so excited but went to sleep pretty well and didn't wake up until about 6:30am.