Logan - November/December

I didn't get any pictures of your Halloween costume in the October letter.  You did your trademark flip-flopping on what you wanted to be until we came to the agreement that you would be a mummy and I would make your costume.  Hoo-boy if I'd known how long it was going to take me to make that costume I may have just opted for the $30 werewolf costume we'd considered!  You and Tess had fun helping me tear up and old sheet to dye and use as the strips, and then I sewed them to a sweater and sweatpants and an old beanie.  It turned out pretty cool, and you were impressed, which was all I was looking for.  You were even more impressed when we were able to bust out the face makeup after school.

You are definitely a pro at this trick-or-treating stuff now, and a few times I had to stop you to make sure you didn't get too far ahead of me and the rookies.

You'll notice in that picture that you're finally missing some teeth!  You got yours so early and so fast that I thought you'd be pretty quick to lose them, but you were actually one of the last in the class to lose one.  Once they started though they didn't stop until all 4 front teeth were out - within about 5 weeks!  You had a pretty good gap there, but the adult teeth are starting to come in and fill in the spot pretty good.  You could still probably sing the "All I Want for Christmas" song and have it apply.

One weekend we met Grandma and Grandpa H. up at Zion and rode the shuttle and explored for a bit before it got dark.  Grandma said the last time she had you up there you wouldn't get on the shuttle, but this time you did't mind it and on our way back down the canyon you even found a buddy who was about 9 or 10 to sit and chat with.  It's fun to see you be social and interact with kids - even ones you don't know!  You might have a little of your Grandma H. in you there!

You've started sleeping in weird places in your room just like Tess does.  I'm not sure why you guys do it, but this night I laughed especially hard when I walked in and saw this because I'd just come from Tessa's room where she was sleeping IN her dirty clothes basket.  I'm not sure what possessed the two of you to sleep with your dirty clothes on the same night, but you guys sure are strange.

Dad was feeling a little antsy one day earlier this winter, so we loaded up and headed to Jacob Lake for a cookie and some snow.  You like to tempt your fate by throwing snowballs at your mom, but I learned after our snowball fight last year (I think?) that I'm not allowed to throw back.

Then last week it snowed and snowed and snowed here in Kanab, and I finally let you guys out to play in it.  It was too light to really make a snowman, but you guys had a blast throwing it, eating it, and making snow angels.

We had a good Thanksgiving this year at Grandma Lori and Grandpa Rob's house, and you and Quade had a fun time playing together - when you weren't fighting with each other.  You even got to go out and play football after dinner with your uncles and cousins.  When I went out and played for a few plays you seemed always to be blocking me or the other way around, and we were able to get out some mother-son frustration with a few friendly tackles!  Although some of yours weren't quite so friendly.

You are such a goof, and even though we are hard on you sometimes you are really a great kid.  We had your first parent-teacher conference in November, and your teacher had only good things to say about you including that you are a leader for the kids in your class and that everyone seems to like you.  I have to agree.  You are currently at 337% of your goal for Accelerated Reader points and have tested on over 230 books since school started.  I'm so proud of you and so happy you love to read.  Mr. Willardsen set a goal for you to reach 500% by the end of the year, and I know you can do it.

You still tell me about a dozen jokes a day, and they are getting better!  I've heard a Christmas countdown almost every day for the entire month of December, and I'm so excited to see how you react to your presents again this year.  I hope this isn't the last year that you get to really believe in Santa, but I'm afraid it might be.  You're just too observant and your brain too logical to keep up for much longer.  The fact that the UPS and FedEx guys come a lot during the months of November and December but you never see the boxes, the fact that Santa's handwriting looks a lot like how mom writes left-handed, and that Santa uses the same gift tags that mom does is a little suspicious.  Just remember if you tell your sister and brother before they figure it out on their own I will hurt you.  (kidding, kind of)

And also, people who don't believe get underwear.

Love you bud,
Mom

Tessa - November/December 2013

I didn't get any Halloween pictures in on the October letter, so I better sneak one in here.  I LOVE your costume.  I wish they had it in my size because I would totally love to wear it.  We crimped your hair for the extra "witch" look and you had a blast trick-or-treating around the high school classes during preschool and then out with me and your brothers that night.  We had a good time.

The rest of the fall has been pretty uneventful.  We've toned things down a little as a result of dad having surgery and not being able to go anywhere with us, but we still got out and visited Zion with grandma and grandpa H. one weekend.

And when dad got feeling good enough to drive we ventured up to Jacob Lake to get a cookie and play in the snow.

And eat the snow too.  You wouldn't stop eating it when it snowed here in town last week either.  Silly goose.

We are used to finding you sleeping in all sorts of strange positions and spots in your room, but this one took the cake.  I walked in to find you sleeping on your pillow but inside your laundry basket.  I had to pick it up and try to gently shake you out of it because I was afraid you'd wake up and freak out about being in such a confined spot.  The funny thing was when I went into Logan's room to turn off his light and give him a kiss HE was sleeping on TOP of his laundry basket.  I don't know what got into the two of you that night, but it was pretty dang funny.

I hate to say that life has been pretty slow lately because for one then I wouldn't have an excuse for still being late on letters, but it's been....different.  Since quitting my job at Garkane I've tried to work more from home, and with the weather turning cold we don't go to the park very often so we just kind of hang out at home when you guys aren't at school.  It's slower, but at the same time I still feel like we are busy with school and homework and running here and there to Grandma's houses, etc.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma Lori and Grandpa Rob's, and you got to play with all your cousins.  You sure are a fan of that little girl cousin of yours, Ms. Tins, and would probably follow her around all day.  After dinner Uncle Dusty and Uncle Boo grabbed Quade's football and headed outside.  You weren't about to be left behind, so you went out with Logan and Quade and Bosten and had a blast playing football.  They named you the MVP for your ability to run fast and duck in and out of the trees to make your touchdowns!  My favorite part was your touchdown dance.

You've been able to go to a few birthday parties and go over to friend's houses from preschool, and it seems like every day you've got a new admirer and someone yelling bye to you as we leave preschool.  I teased you the other day about not hearing about a certain boy in class for a while and you said you didn't really play with him anymore and played more with this other boy.  I said, "Oh, so you just love 'em and leave 'em, huh?" and you just said "Yep!"  It's fun to see you have friends and get excited to see someone at school or at the park when we're there.

I'm saving my December pictures for your January letter - here's hoping I can get back on track with them.  I really do think they are important, at least for me.  I hope you guys will like hearing about what life was like when you were little too.  Maybe it will even help you out when you're a mom.

Love you sis,
Mom

Tyson - November 2013

It's actually been less than a month since my last letter - so yay!  Maybe I'm going to catch up at some point, although that's not SUPER likely as I'll explain as we go.

In my October letter I left out Halloween pictures.  You weren't super enthused about the dressing up idea, and since I accidentally washed and dried the good ol' standby lion costume I'd used for everyone's first and second Halloween and ruined it I wasn't all that enthused about the idea of buying something to dress you up in either.  Hence our first costume attempt of "cowboy."  It consisted of a pair of boots about 3 sizes too big, an somewhat "cowboy-ish" shirt and Logan's old straw hat.  Too bad I let you try to tackle a Slurpee later that day and ended up with a giant pink stain down the front.

Meridee had lent me a couple dog costumes to try.  I finally tackled you and put one on you, but you were NOT having the hat with the ears on it or any kind of cute black nose, so this is what we ended up with for you.

Trick or treating was a bit of an adventure.  You still weren't super happy about the costume and now I was making you go to people's doors.  You weren't much of a fan initially.  I couldn't get you to put your candy in your bag at first either.  The first few houses you kept it in your hand, but then you ran out of hands.  At that point you put the piece from one of your hands in the bag and kept the newest piece in your hand.  This went on all night with you not putting a piece in your bag until you had a new one to replace it.  I tried to get a good picture but you wouldn't let me get far enough away before you started running after me.  That's been a bit of a theme the last few weeks too.  Somebody is definitely a mama's boy right now.

This is a random picture that I had to throw in just because it's cute.  I gave you the bowl of cookie dough after I was done and you obviously were pretty serious about getting every last bit licked out before you were giving it back.

It seemed like right before I started working and all through the 5-ish months I was working you were the most adorable, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kid on the planet.  Then I quit my job (one of them anyway), and you are back to being kind of a punk.  You don't really let me out of your sight, and for some reason you have decided dad is not someone you want around.  Every time he comes out of our room you point at the door and say, "Go bed dad!" or just "Noooooooooooo!  Nooooooooo!"  It's lovely.  I know you are working on some teeth, but overall I've not been that impressed with all the grumpiness lately.  It's all I can do to get half my to-do list done during the day, and usually what I do get accomplished is done with you yelling at me or "helping" me.  It's a good thing you say and do cute things to keep us from shipping you off.  It kind of makes for a bipolar mood around here.  For example:
One minute:  You are calling snow snowman and just being adorable.
Next minute:  You are yelling at me to change the show on TV because you changed your mind in the last 5 minutes.
The next minute: You are giving Tessa a hug and telling her good morning.
And the next minute:  Screaming for a cup of water and then taking a drink and spitting the water on my feet and running away laughing.
And the next:  I catch you kissing the ornaments on the Christmas tree and leaning in and saying, "hug!"

This all happened today, so yeah.  Now you are telling me that you don't like the show you asked me to turn on for you 5 minutes ago and trying to climb up on top of my computer and kicking the mouse and throwing my foot pedal off the couch onto the floor.  You are such a terrible 2-year-old.  Did I mention you are my first child that I have ever had to take screaming out of the grocery store without buying anything?  Yes, you may be my third child but you are making sure you give me a bunch of "firsts."

But then there's this cute face on our trip to Zion with Grandma and Grandpa H.  Plus you call grass hoppers grassier hoppers.

And then there's this - being sweet while eating a pocs-icle.

And this may look cute and helpful, but it's not.  No one can wash the dishes without your "help."  If you are dressed (which doesn't happen often lately either because, fits) you end up soaked, so it's just as well that you were just in a diaper this time.

But then another time you randomly put the pot on your head and look adorable.

You also have decided that the best place to sleep is on the floor in the front room.  I crash on the couch, and you fall asleep at some point after that.  Then I wake up and take you to your crib only to have you wake up a few hours later and yell, "MOM!  MOM!  MOM!!!!" until I come get you and take you to the front room where you climb down off the couch and on to the floor with your butt in the air and fall back asleep.

This makes it tough for me to work in the front room early in the morning without waking you up, and at some point you wake up and bring all your blankies over to join me on the couch.  This sweet sleeping boy who fell asleep on my arm is the one who later that day threw the fit that made me practically sprint out of the grocery store.

Obviously it's not all bad.  You can be cute and sweet when you want to - and only when you want to, but I guess it's like anything and the bad Tyson moods make us so much more appreciative of the good Tyson moods.

I can't believe your next letter will be about your second Christmas and 2nd birthday.  I'm so excited for another toddler at Christmas where everything is so fun and exciting but not yet focused on what you're getting.  We love you bud and wouldn't trade you even in your worst moments.

Love,
Momma

Logan, Tessa, Tyson - October 2013

A few of the blogs I read have done a sort of "day in the life" post in the last week or so.  I've really liked reading these because it's pretty rare that the blogs or Facebook posts or Instagram pictures give a hint of what real life can be like.  I'm pretty guilty of it too, for the most part I like to keep my complaining off Facebook and post only the pictures that don't show what a disaster the house is most days.  SO... I decided it might be fun to give a rundown of a day in our lives right now.  There are parts of our days that I'm not necessarily proud of, but it will give me a chance to show you that I'm not perfect after all. :)

4-5 a.m. - My alarm goes off to get up and get to work.  I usually set it for 4:15 but don't usually get up until closer to 5 - unless I remember to set my phone at least 10 yards away so I have to actually get out of bed to shut it off.  Yes, I ooze self discipline over here.  I stumble out to the couch usually tripping over a toy that was left on the kitchen floor.  I try to type with the lights off so I don't wake up my early bird (Logan), but he's usually up by 6:30 or so.  Logan does NOT have a whisper voice no matter how many times I hiss "shhhhh!" at him, so I'm pretty sure dad is up around this time too.

7 a.m. - Time to get Logan moving for school.  He's finally allowed to be somewhat noisy.  I feel like the early birds of the world should be allowed to make some noise at 7.  Breakfast for him is usually cereal or toast or a bagel (you'd think he won the lottery if he finds a bagel) that he fixes himself.  Usually the bowl of cereal is up to the very tippy top of the bowl, and I lecture him, again, about wasting food and leaving enough for the rest of us.  We go through cereal like water at our house.  In the meantime I try to squeeze in a few more lines before the rest of the house (read: needier people) get up.  Logan gets dressed, and I step away from the computer to make lunch.  Half of a cheese sandwich (colby jack cheese if he's lucky), an apple, and whatever else remotely healthy I can find to stick in his Spiderman lunch box.  Wouldn't want the lunch room lady to think I'm a bad mom for sending crap, but sometimes that's all I've got.  The bus comes at 7:30, but usually I'm nice and take him to school at 10 to.  By this time the other two have usually woken up - Ty yelling "Mom!  Mommy!  Mom!  R r you?!" from his crib and Tess stumbling out rubbing her eyes and smiling at everybody.  The TV comes on and is turned to Mickey because I made the mistake of introducing Tyson to it, and now that's all he lets anybody watch.  Yes I know who the adults are in this family, but if we want any chance of hearing what's on TV over the roar of his protesting with "Watch! MICKEY!!", then Mickey it is.  Logan and I head off to school.  I watch him meet up with friends as he runs through the gate before I pull away.

8:30 a.m. - I'm back from taking Logan to school.  The TV's still on, and if they're lucky I'll remember to feed the younger two before I hit the shower.  An awful (waffle) for Ty and cereal, no oatmeal, no toast, no a waffle too for Tess.  After the shower I try to do some (read: very little) cleaning.  Breakfast dishes, straighten up the kitchen, start laundry if it's laundry day, etc.  Usually the TV is still on (I KNOW!), but if I'm lucky I've convinced everybody that the toys in the toy room are actually not for decoration.

11 a.m.- Lunch.  Usually a cheese sandwich or corn dog or macaroni and cheese or cereal, more awfuls for Ty.  Yes, healthy.  I'm being real, remember?  Trust me, if I made something healthy it would be a waste of the food and my time.  Last night I told Tess that she had to eat two of her baked ravioli before she could have hot chocolate.  She chewed that last ravioli for 8 minutes. EIGHT!  I looked at the clock when I gave it to her because I couldn't believe she'd been at the dinner table for 40+ minutes, and when I finished the dishes and came back for her plate she was still chewing the SAME BITE!  Then she visibly shuddered as she swallowed it!  So yes, crap food for lunch, okay?

11:30 a.m. - Tess goes to school.  We sing the "skidamarink-y-dink-y-dink" song on our way, and Tess runs up to the door.  I have to watch to make sure she gets through the door because it is heavy, and every time I open it I think it's going to chop off my fingers.  Ty and I run any errands we have to do now.  One kid = less car seats to buckle and unbuckle at every stop.  I will not miss going to the store with 3 kids.  I will miss going to the store with 1 kid.  I have done it for so long now I guess that it's actually really hard for me to walk through the store and not talk about what I see or what we're having for dinner, etc.  I have to really think about not talking to myself out loud when I'm there by myself.  I will miss our errands someday.

Back home to get some more cleaning or work or a whole lot of nothing done.  Ty may or may not take a nap.  Mickey might (probably) make another appearance.

2:15 p.m. - Pick up.  Tess is first.  She runs out of the gate, and just this afternoon I heard her giving out my phone number to a boy so he could have his mom call me.  Oh Tessa dear.  Every day is still "the BEST day, mom!"  She has a new best friend every week and is a smarty pants.  Today they told me she was the only kid in both classes that knew what a question mark was.  How cute is that?  Logan comes next.  Running out of the first grade door with his Skylander backpack and orange jacket.  Good thinking on that jacket since I can usually spot him before he spots me.  If I'm feeling like I need a treat we hit Junction for a baby cone or Stage Stop for some candy for the kids and a DP for mom.

3 p.m.  Homework gets done first.  Logan's first grade math has kicked my butt on more than one occasion, and it makes me feel pretty dumb.  I may have mentioned that one concept they were teaching was stupid, to which Logan told me that his teacher said the same thing.  I've got to say I was at least glad to hear I wasn't the only one.

"Find something to do," are the words out of my mouth most often this time of day.  If it's nice we go to the park, usually with Meridee and her girls. We can kill an entire afternoon that way, and I have to be careful to make sure I've got dinner figured out or we'll be SOL.  If we're home, and I'm feeling caught up and ambitious we will do puzzles or flash cards in the toy room.  The cutest, most hard to refuse thing is when Ty says, "Build. blocks. with. me?"  I've got to get that on video.  Tess will ask to play horses or pet shops, and Logan will want to show me what he's built with Legos or Trio blocks and tell me 4,278 jokes, which will get Tess started on the jokes too.  Oh children, how I love you, but your jokes are terrible!  Terrible!  I listen to a few before I shut them down.  (Here's one you told me this morning: Knock, knock.  Who's there? Cat.  Cat who? Caterpillar. Get it? Caterpillar?) I usually break up a few fights, and sometimes timeouts are handed out.  Dinner gets started.

5- 6 p.m. - Dinner.  If it's not spaghetti or pizza (or waffles in Ty's case), you guys aren't happy.  I finally taught you to say, "It's not my favorite," instead of the old standby's of "I don't like that," "It looks yucky," and "How many bites do I have to eat?"  Super.  By this time of night I have little patience for it, and you guys usually get scolded at least twice for playing under the table or making faces or telling more jokes instead of eating.  Ty's usually fighting to sit on my lap making it impossible for me to eat and either refusing to eat or stealing the good stuff (i.e. rolls) off my plate.  I clean up while you guys spend the next 40 minutes finishing your tiny portions (or not, in Tessa's case).

7-7:30 p.m. - Ready for bedtime.  I am anyway.  Somehow your tiny dinner gives you all a second wind, and trying to get the two older kids to brush their teeth without turning the bathroom vanity into a disaster area or climbing into the bathtub doing circus stunts as you swish with the mouthwash is nearly impossible.  Usually teeth-brushing time is the straw that breaks this camel's back.  If you were going to bet on a time of day to hear yelling at this house, this is it.  Then pajama time, prayer time, reading time.  It's usually a Magic Treehouse book or something we've picked up from the library.  I read for as long as I can stand to practically yell over Tyson screaming or talking or just making noise before I head out to the couch to unwind trying not to notice that the front room looks like a bomb went off with clothes, cars, and books covering, COVERING the floor.  Two seconds later Tess joins me with a, "Can I sit by you?" followed by Logan who has come up with another joke.  This one might be funny if we're lucky.  Tess is back again to tell me a story.  Logan is back needing some water.  Oh, Tess needs water too.  This goes on until either you guys fall asleep or I yell that I'm no longer mom until tomorrow morning and I better not see you out of your rooms again tonight.  I really prefer the first, but sometimes it's the last.  Ty stays up with me until he passes out on the floor after either watching my show if I'm lucky or Mickey if the protests get too loud.  I carry him to bed and follow pretty soon after.

Whew!  That was long, but that's a pretty average day the last few months here in 2013.  Dad is part of our day too, of course, but lately he has been busy recovering from his back surgery and isn't able to be out and about with us too much.  I'm leaving things out, obviously, but I hope this helps at least me to remember what this time of our lives was like. It is SO hard some days but so, so, so good too.  I am thankful that I can see that.  I know I will miss this stage too, even though that rundown probably seems mundane.

Love you all,
Mom

Tessa - September/October

Oh my silly Tessa girl, what a summer we had.  Now it's definitely fall and school has started and I am way behind on letters.  We finished out the summer with a few more trips to the pool...

and playing so hard you zonked out in the car more than once.

You have decided since starting school that you love books even more than before.  I love to see you guys falling asleep with books in your hands.

I had a wedding to go to in northern Utah in August, and initially it was just going to be me and Aunt Lisa going.  Then we decided to invite grandma who told thought we should invite you.  It was fun to have you along, and you had so much fun staying in the hotel and just doing girl things on our "girls trip."  We stopped in Manti to see great grandma Hillier, and I had to take a picture of you sneaking a candy out of her pumpkin candy dish.  That was always my first stop at grandma's house when I would visit her when I was little (and probably even now).

The next morning our first stop was KrispyKreme for your very first hot donut.  You also thought it was fun to see how the donuts get cooked and glazed.

One day after dad had left for an assignment in Idaho we were sitting around the house pretty bored, and I decided it was time you learned to ride your bike without training wheels.  We attempted it once right after you got your bike, but you weren't a fan.  This time I probably only had to run with you 2 or 3 times before you had it down pretty good!  You still use your feet a lot to start and stop, a trade off with learning balance on your Strider bike, but you ride like a pro now and are so much happier without the training wheels (like I kept telling you you would be!).

You started school the first week of September and absolutely love it.  When I took you on the first day you didn't have any problem leaving me at all and were ready to have me leave the minute you walked in.

I wasn't quite so ready and took your picture while you sat down to write your name.

You make me laugh every day when I pick you up because the first thing out of your mouth is always, "Today was the BEST day!"  Usually when I ask you why you tell me it was because you had ______ for snack.  That always makes me laugh.  I'm so glad the little things in life make you so happy.  It's a good quality to have!

I had a great compliment from one of your teachers when I saw her at the park a few weeks into school.  She told me that she had just been telling the other teachers how rare it was to see two siblings who were so good.  She said that you and Logan were respectful and handled issues with other kids well and were well disciplined and smart.  I couldn't help but get tears in my eyes as she was talking because it means more to me than I ever could have imagined to have someone say such great things about my kids.  She said she had watched you dissolve a conflict with another kid in class just perfectly.  I sure hope you keep up your peacemaking skills.  I think with your two brothers you are going to need it.

We have spent a lot of time this summer with Meridee and her girls, and you have so much fun playing with them.  It's fun to get you out with some girls and see how you play and interact.  I've even let go of my distaste of the rubber chips at the park and let you fill your shirt and act silly with them.  It's been fun to hear you talk about the kids at preschool that you play with too.  The other day I asked if you had played with a little girl you had mentioned a lot at first but hadn't for a while.  You looked at me with this shocked look on your face and said, "No, Mommmmm, she's MEAN!" like I was supposed to know.

Sometimes I think our brains are on totally different wavelengths and I'm not sure I'll ever understand what's in that head of yours.  I like to be silly, but silly is a part of who you are!

We love it, but it does make us wonder if we're going to have to worry about what your future roommates will think if they find you asleep in your laundry basket.

You have a fun sense of style and love to pick out your clothes, and I try not to mess with that too much.  Yesterday you came out of your room with an animal print on top and a flower skirt on the bottom.  I told you to change either your shirt or your skirt, so you came out with the same flower skirt with a different and equally wild flower top!  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with you, but I sure do love having a girl to buy fun things for.

I admit that we struggle sometimes to get along, and I hope that I can try harder to connect with you so that when you are older you will still want to talk to and do things with your old and moldy mom.  Who else are you going to commiserate with on the bad luck of having thin hair and no bum?  (Every time you wear these pants we all crack up - mostly because we end up seeing your crack all day!)

We love having you in our family, and our house would be completely different and probably very, very dull without you.  We love you so much Tessa Bess!

Love,
Mom