Cutting the cord

I can't believe how fast Ethan is growing up. Usually when I drop Ethan off at school in the morning I take all the kids and we walk him into the school playground. They have a separate playground for the Kindergarten kids, and usually Cole, Liv, and I will stay until the bell rings for school and that Ethan gets lined up for his class before we leave. Many moms do this, in fact most of them do, but I decided that Ethan needs to start getting ready 1st grade and that means no mom to walk him to class. He will have to make sure he gets where he needs to be all by himself. This whole week I have just been dropping him off in front of the school for him to go into school all by himself. The first time I watched him run onto the playground while I watched from the car, I was so PROUD. He looked like such a big boy. Ethan gets up every morning and showers and gets dressed all by himself, sometimes even before I am awake. Next, he goes downstairs and gets a bowl of cereal, pours the milk, and eats all by himself. Sometimes I feel bad that he doesn't wake me, but when I come downstairs he is so proud and has to show me everything he did by himself that morning. Also, Ethan has been working really hard on learning to read. At his school they have a fun program where the kids earn dog tags for each 25 words they learn to read. The first week Ethan really wanted to pass off his words, but I didn't think he was ready, but he insisted. So I let him try, and he missed two words. He was so sad, but we worked really hard the next week and he passed them off. Now he is so motivated to learn new words and get more dog tags-I just love it!

Fish Feeding

Last week our playgroup went to see a live fish feeding at a Sea Aquarium. It was my week to teach preschool and so it was a little busy and we didn't get to go.  But, over the weekend I took the kids and they had a great time.  We had never been to the Bass Pro shop before and it was so fun, and we even indulged in the moonpies (as recommended by Angie) at the end.

I really LOVE Utah, but .....

Can you do this in January???

Ethan really hasn't shown much interest in learning to ride a bike, until recently. Here is our first attempt. He did really good, just a few crashes.





Here is Liv enjoying the park swings.

Utah is my home and hopefully some day we will be back there, but when it comes to the weather in January, Las Vegas totally wins my heart!

Little Miss Liv

Most of you who have known me for a while know that I am not much of a girly girl. I got my ears pierced when I was 12, but didn't even start wearing earrings until really a few years ago. Having a little girl has been such an unexpected delight and caused a surge of girliness to come over me. Liv and I have enjoyed discovering tutu's, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and hair bows together. Hopefully, this is just the tip of the iceberg of things that Liv and I can share together.

I really try to stay away from taking pictures of my kids naked, but she would NOT put on a shirt and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. So, sorry for the naked pics.

But, don't let all these girly accessories fool y0u. Liv can definitely handle her own and defend herself when it comes to her two big brothers.


Ethan colored this picture at school and brought it home for me. When I looked on the back is says "mom". I asked Ethan what that meant and he said, "this is a picture of you." LOVELY!!

PJ Party!

On Saturday we had a PJ Party at the church for primary. The kids had been talking about it for the past week and were excited. They got to meet their new primary teachers, eat breakfast, and play games. We played some fun games and got to dress-up the teachers in silly clothes. Shawn is one of the teachers and the kids got to dress him up in funny clothes (which apparently I forgot to tell him as he was helping me get the dress-up clothes ready the night before, but he was a good sport). I have some great pictures, but I have been threatened with my life. So for now, you will just have to imagine Shawn dressed up with funny clothes, big poofy hat, and lots of great accessories. Here are the boys.....


Don't ask about the mohawks. Usually I buzz the kids hair, but Ethan has insisted that he wants his hair longer so I have let it grow. Now they want all kinds of crazy styles and things done to their hair. But today after church I cut off all their hair-so no more crazy hair!

As we were driving home from the primary party we drove around the corner to our house and the neighbors house was on fire. There were big flames shooting out of the garage and tons of black smoke. It seemed to have just started and there were a few neighbors running around filling up empty garbage cans and dumping them on the fire. Within a few minutes the firetrucks pulled up (which the kids thought was so cool). The fire was was extinguished with minimal damage, but it was a little too close to home and scared me a little!

Sledding

We have really enjoyed the snow this winter during out Utah trips home. We borrowed as many snow clothes that we could find, and played in the snow as long as we could.




After one too many crashes....

Cole got cold and wanted to go inside.

Liv and I even took a turn, but as you can tell she was not excited about it!

I never thought I would miss the cold snowy weather, but since living in Las Vegas I have. It has been nice to enjoy the snow for a while (and even better that I don't have to stay and shovel it!)

Dad's Work Tour

We were able to enjoy a nice night out with my family and after we decided to go take a tour of my dad's office/warehouse. Here we are looking all snazzy!

It looks like Shawn is ready for surgery or something.

Finally, some girl toys!

For the past 1 1/2 of Liv's life she has only known boy toys (trucks, balls, Jedi's, Lego's, guns, etc.), but this Christmas she finally got her first doll and a few other girl toys. She is loving every minute and can hardly put the doll down. Today she brought me her doll and said "poop". Next, I watched her get the wipes and wipe her doll-it was so cute. She feeds her baby constantly, takes her for rides in the stroller, and puts her to bed. She insists we all take a turns with her doll and I have walked in on Shawn many times rocking a doll in his arm (something that I was not sure I would ever see). It's just priceless. Here are some pictures I took of Liv with her doll on Christmas morning. All this girl stuff is really starting to grow on me.

Temple Square

We braved the cold weather and walked around Temple Square. It has been years since I have been there and it was so beautiful.

Snow and more fun

I was really hoping for some good snow when we got to Utah, but I had no idea what we were in for, and after driving all the way to Utah we ended up getting snow in our own backyard in Las Vegas.

We had the Annual Nielson Nativity program while we were home. My family got to be the Wisemen this year.

We also played the chimes, which is Shawn's favorite part :)- sense the sarcasm

We took a trip to the Hansen Planetarium.

They showed a really fun movie called Santa vs. the Snowman. It was shown in 3D and Ethan kept getting out of his seat to touch things that he thought were coming his way. Cole was scared at first, but then he liked it.

Candy Trains and more Utah Fun

Your probably getting sick of all the Utah pictures, but we seriously run non-stop when we go home and do so many fun things. We got together with the Reese family to make candy trains. Liv just ate the frosting, but the boys had fun.

We attempted family pictures, but just as we got out of the car Cole slipped and fell head first into the snow. He was so cold and sad that he cried the whole time.

We also has another chance to see Santa, which didn't prove to be any better experience for Liv than the first time. Even my boys were scared this time, as you can tell I am in every picture coaxing the kids onto Santa's lap.

And we had fun bowling at the Rudd Christmas Party....and just for the record I won (I even beat my dad 131 to 130).

Home Again

We just got back from spending a week in Utah for the Holiday! We had such a great time and already miss everyone. Here is a pic I took of Liv and hopefully over the next day or two I will get the rest of the photos up.

Life without kids

Sometimes all I want is five minutes without someone crying, begging, yelling, whining, and touching me-is that too much to ask? At times I wonder what my life would be like without kids... I don't know, maybe full of sleep and actually finishing things that I start. But, is that really what I want..... The kids keep me laughing all day long, like when Ethan prays that his food will cool down, that our car will not run out of gas, or when Cole tells me that dinner was so NASTY-all of which happened yesterday. Cole told his preschool teacher this morning when asked what his dad does for work, "he get's Coke." Ethan informed his primary teacher that his mom isn't getting anything for Christmas because she is poor. I just love the innocent, tender spirits in each one of my kids and despite the fact that I might like to have some peace and quiet every once in a while, or even catch up on sleep, or maybe if I am lucky go out on a date with my husband-I wouldn't change anything!!! Who would tell me that they love my earings and set the table for breakfast to surprise me (ethan), who would give me the best bear hugs and want to help me cook(cole), and who would get my slippers every morning and hang out with me while I get ready (liv). When it comes down to it-I love being a mother, I love my kids, and I really I love my crazy, sleep-deprived life. How grateful I am to have three healthy kids. Shawn comes home with all kinds of sad stories of kids dying and it is so tragic, I couldn't imagine my life for a second without my kids. How grateful I am to be their mother.

Also, as of this morning Shawn got offered his first interview for a Neonatology Fellowship. His interview will be at the University of Rochester in New York, which I know is far away from home, but we love the program and area. A bit of an extreme weather change, but we will see. Hopefully there will be more interviews to come, but we are excited!!

Santa Visit

This is what Livy thought about seeing Santa last night.

Cole was just relaxing and kicking back, Ethan was a little unsure but excited, and Liv was just screaming! I thought Santa was supposed to be someone who kids could not wait to see???

O Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree up, and we are officially in the holiday spirit. We went and picked out our new ornaments for the year with the kids (a fun tradition that we started a few years ago and each year the kids get to pick a new ornament to put on the tree). Here are our 2008 picks:
Shawn-The Flinstones
Jenn-The Grinch (no similarities, I just thought he was cute)
Ethan-Harry Potter
Cole-Iron Man
Liv-Fairy( I realize that it looks like the Grinch is trying to look up the fairy's skirt, but I promise he is looking under the Christmas tree).