Love the Baby Loves

Lately, Aidan has started talking much more...he actually said "I love you" back for the first time a couple of nights ago (well actually it was i yu)...so GREAT! He's turning into quite the little toddler...which means more trouble...like when he pushed a chair over to the fridge and repeatedly filled a bowl with water just to dump it on the floor AND carpet! Argg. That was the day he also thought it would be fun to take the couch cushions off of the couch and color on the tan part of the couch where the cushions go. In other words...he's almost two, and I need to be a little more alert! But, that also means that he's just getting cuter by the minute and talking more and playing more with his brothers. He gives the best hugs and kisses which make all the trouble he causes so worth it.

Painting in the Bath

Lately, I've decided to let the boys paint with washable watercolor paint in the bath. It's actually little mess for me to clean up, and the kids are so good in the bath when they get to paint...meaning less splashing and fighting and pouring water over each others' heads. Connor is actually quite the little artist when he paints in the bath drawing out scenes with grass and sunshine. Aidan just loves to mix the paints and paint all over the bath and himself..as you can clearly see on his face!

Playing with Aidan

Here's a little game that Jason played with Aidan the other night...obviously Aidan LOVED it...and didn't want to get out!

Snuggle Time

We decided to pump up one of our blow-up mattresses in our basement for the kids when they want to watch a movie at night. They're so cute because they all just snuggle up together and are so good...especially if we give them a snack like popcorn. Then Jason and I can actually have a chance to watch something we want to watch upstairs which is really nice.

Dinosaur Museum

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with Gavin's school. The kids really loved it.
Here are Connor and Gavin standing on the walkway by some large (fake) dinosaur bones. The look really cool because it gives you an idea of just how big the dinosaurs actually were.

The museum has a little area where the kids can play with sand and water and plastic dinosaurs and trees. The kids played in this area for a long time. The big boys had a lot of fun building dams, and Aidan had a lot of fun destroying the dam and watching the water seep through the sand.

Here's an area where the kids can use brushes to dig for dinosaur bones. Aidan loved just sitting here with his brush watching what all of the kids around him were doing.

There's a mini-discovery center in the museum. The kids actually had the most fun here. There was a big fan at the bottom of this with lots of different shaped papers that you could try to get to float up to the top of this tube.

Here's Gavin with the best shaped paper for reaching the top of the tube.

Grocery Shopping

Here's what my beautiful baby normally looks like.

Here's what my baby looks like on a typical grocery shopping trip. (The picture is really old, but you get the idea.)

Today Aidan screamed like crazy almost the whole time I grocery shopped. One lady I passed was on a cell phone and gave me the dirtiest look for having a baby crying while she's on the phone. I was thinking everybody here is thinking they're just so glad they're not me...with three kids in tow...one screaming at the top of his lungs. I was tired and frustrated and anxious to just get the shopping done and go home. That's when a lady smiles at me and looks at Aidan and says, "Awww." That's when I said, "Yeah, I debated whether I should wait for my husband to come home, or just take the kids...I think I made the wrong choice." That's when she smiles at me and says, "I've been there so many times. Hang in there." And smiles and walks away. I was thinking, well that was nice...much better than the dirty looks I've been getting. A few minutes later, the same lady came back up to me with three lolly-pops in her hands. Aidan tries to reach for it and she says, "Oh, look he's shaking with excitement." It was true, he was. As soon as the lolly-pop is in his mouth, he's quiet and happy as can be. Then she hands me the other two lolly-pops for my other two kids. She said, "Just for future reference, they usually keep lolly-pops up by the pharmacy." I said, "Thanks." What a life-saver. I almost started getting teary-eyed...it's the sympathy that always gets me. I was just thinking how nice for her to not only give me encouragement when we first bumped into each other, but then to actually think of some way to help and to take the time to go to the pharmacy, get the lolly-pops and track me back down...although that last part probably wasn't very hard given the loud noises coming out of Aidan's mouth! It made me realize how often when I go to the store without the kids and I see a mom struggling with her kids, the first thing that I think of is exactly what I thought everyone must be thinking about me...thank goodness I didn't bring my kids with me. But, I never have offered to help. Wow, what a wake-up call for me to realize that I should look for simple ways to help people...that lady really made my day today.

Family Pictures

For New Year's, all of Jason's siblings and their spouses and kids were home, so Jason's parents had a picture taken of everyone.
Top row, left to right: Jason's brother, Bob; his wife, Ruth; Katie; Jason; Jason's Dad, Rick; Jason's Mom, Debbie; Jason's brother, Travis; Jason's sister, Angie, Travis's wife, Trudy.
(my kids and nieces and nephews) Middle Row, left to right: Aidan, Hannah, Abby, Shelby, Justin, Tyler
(my kids and nieces and nephews) Bottom Row, left to right: Gavin, Connor, Lorin, Taylyn, Talen, Taydem.

Here's one with all of Jason's parents grandkids.

Jason goes Shooting with his Brothers

We went to Eastern Idaho for New Years. While we were there, Jason's brothers invited him to go shoot clay pigeons with them. Jason had a lot of fun and did really well too.
Here's Jason's brother, Travis.

Here's Jason's brother, Bob.

Here's Jason.

Here's our nephew, Tyler.

Sledding

For New Year's we went to Rexburg, ID to visit Jason's family. It was so much fun. All of Jason's siblings and their families were there. My kids were in heaven playing with all of their cousins...in fact, I can vaguely remember even seeing my kids all weekend long because they were so busy playing with everyone. On New Year's Day, we went over to Jason's brother, Bob's, house. Bob drove the 4-wheeler with kids on the 4-wheeler as well as kids on a sled attached by a rope. Everyone had a lot of fun, but man was it COLD!
Here's Gavin playing with his cousins, Tyler and Hannah.

Gavin chasing after the sled. (The kids not on the sled would try to throw snowballs on the kids that were on the sled.)

Connor...loving every minute of being on this 4-wheeler. He LOVES 4-wheelers and begs for us to get one all the time. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand that those things cost a LOT of money and use a LOT of storage space that we don't have!

My nephew, Justin, fell out of the sled and just when he was about to get back on, Bob pushed on the gas and Justin fell over trying to get in the sled and held on for dear life! (That's one of Uncle Bob's favorite tricks to play on the kids!)

Connor only wanted to ride on the 4-wheeler, not the sled because earlier that day, Connor fell out of the sled and ate a face full of snow. OUCH! He was fine, but I think it scared him enough to not want to get back on the sled. Finally, Jason was able to convince him to take a ride with him, and Connor loved it.