Pumpkins

For family night activity last night we carved our pumpkins. Damon could take his to school today to show everyone - they are having a contest of sorts for each class. He of course wanted to do a batman one - and I think it turned out pretty well. I helped - but Damon did do some of the carving. Tyler didn't do too much, but had fun anyway. Happy Halloween.

Say Cheese

So Chris has these two looks that I've been trying to capture - I haven't gotten the perfect one yet, but these are close. He does a really squinty cheese, that Tyler used to do too. It's so cute. Then he also pulls his bottom lip over his top one sometimes. You just can't help but smile when you see a baby smile.

Such a happy boy.
Tyler fell asleep as batman the other day - priceless. (His face was very sweaty when he woke up). As you can see we've been in a "take my shirt off" kick lately. Whenever the boys are playing and say they're hot, they take off their shirt. I don't really like it, but I'm trying to not make a big deal of it and just let it phase out - hopefully.

Happy Birthday Doug

Well, Doug turned 31 this year. We didn't do a big surprise party like last year, but I stayed busy during the day to make his birthday special. I made up a basket of goodies to give him at work. I made his cake all in one day (fondant too). I usually make the frosting ahead of time, but I thought up this idea at the last minute so we did it all in one day. Thankfully Chris was being extra good. I made a nice dinner with rolls as well. And I also did my normal grocery shopping and laundry. Whew, it was a busy day, but fun. Doug got a new Wii game: NBA Jam (hence the cake) and he's had a lot of fun with it - sore arm and all. I also got him the new Biography on President Monson. Happy Birthday Doug, we're so glad you're here and our Dad!
He's heating up... He's on Fire!

New Shelves

So we moved the pictures we had in the hall to go with the new shelves we got. this is in the boys' room. We're planning on getting name blocks for Damon and Chris too. My small attempts at home decor :)

Random pictures

Well, just a few random pictures of what's been going on around here.

Christopher with two of his friends, Lincoln and Logan.

Christopher can get around now a little bit. It takes him awhile since he just wiggles and rolls. But I find him under the crib a lot if I leave him in his room for a minute.

The boys and their silly faces:
Just give the whole basket to Christopher and he's good for awhile.
We played some basketball for a little while yesterday, even I got in on the game - for a minute. Tyler is still pretty good for a 3 1/2 year old. Damon just likes to be silly with Doug and tries to steal the ball from him.

Christopher Update

Chris had his normal 9 month check-up so here are his stats:

Height: 28 3/4 inches 70%
Weight: 22 lbs 12 oz 80 %

He's come down a little bit from earlier months - but still healthy :)
He eats cereal and baby food twice a day besides his milk. He is getting more active, but not crawling yet. He is a very happy and fun boy.

Trip to Logan

I didn't take any pictures on our quick trip up the state. Friday night we stayed at Doug's sister Amy's house. The boys had fun playing with their cousins and we enjoyed an evening of visiting with some great stew - thanks Russ. Then Saturday Doug had planned to do some yard work at our apartments, but his cold decided to flare up and he stayed at my parents' and rested. I got a few errands done and had Brenda cut my hair (I colored it later in Vernal). We enjoyed what little bits of Conference we could. Thanks mom and dad for helping with the kids and all the great food. My brother and his family came over on Saturday and Sunday so it was nice to visit with them. We all tried to help the kids listen Sunday morning with Bingo cards and coloring pages. They did pretty well. Then back home - a fast trip, but still fun to see family and get some things done.

My new do - What do you think? (Never dyed my hair before, or had my hair this short - Fun)

Catch Up

Here are a few things that we've done since I've last posted:

We got some corn from a neighbor and put away some in the freezer. The boys were excited to play with and watch the 11 caterpillars that we found while shucking.
We're very much into Super Heroes right now. Damon is Batman and Tyler is Superman. (though he likes to be Spiderman too).
Damon tried to feed Christopher:
Chris had his first taste of an ice cream cone:
Damon's imitation of a T-Rex:
A nice day at the Dinosaur Museum:
Chris likes the saucer. You can see his other bottom tooth a bit. He now has all four of his front ones - at various levels of growing in.

Hike to Dinosaur Tracks

On Labor Day we went on a hike to see some Dinosaur Footprints. The trail started near Red Fleet Reservoir which is only 15 min. from our house. However we had to go back home when we were only 5 min away and get our Park Pass, so we had a later start than what we had planned. We had to wake Christopher up, so he wasn't the happiest and for some reason he didn't like the kid carrier, so we ended up taking turns holding him in our arms.

The boys did a great job of hiking, this wasn't an easy hike for small legs. They were especially tired on the way back, but we all made it. The dino tracks were pretty neat, we only found a couple (look below Tyler's feet in the rock and you can sort of see part of the toe mark).

After the hike we drove around to the reservoir and had a picnic. It was a fun morning to spend together.

Bunk Beds

Yay! We now have bunk beds for Damon and Tyler. We have had these on our wish list for awhile, but now we decided to get them. I went around with all three boys looking at the four furniture stores in town (no small task) to price check and look at models. There were some nice ones, but then I looked again online and found a store that had a nice one on sale with free shipping. So we ordered it. I again went around to the furniture stores with Tyler and Chris to look at mattresses and bought a pair of twins once Doug had looked at them too.

So here is the process:

It came in 3 big boxes that were very heavy. After the boys went to bed in the living room, Doug and I started in their room (9:00pm). Doug's drill battery didn't last long, so we had to screw all of the support beams in the bottom bunk by hand. We were grateful when the battery was charged for the second one.

The boys had fun sleeping in the living room.



Damon helped tighten the very last screw in the ladder.
All done! We finished about 12:00 midnight, but didn't stack them and make the ladder until the next morning.
Then we made the drawers, they are so nice. Now I can fit Chris's things in the dresser.

After we got the mattresses on I could make the beds, don't they look nice?!


The boys like them.

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, it's official: we have a kid in school! Damon had his first three days of school this week. He started on Wednesday and had a great first day. His teacher's name is Mrs. Cundall and she is really nice. Damon rode home on the bus and was totally fine with everything. On his second day when asked how his day was he replied: "normal." I thought it was funny how after one day he already could have a 'normal' day. We're so proud of him.