Played

Today I was played for a fool by my 18 month old daughter. As mentioned in the previous entry we had a doctor's appointment today for my little sweetheart. As also mentioned previously I was a little bit reticent about having to admit that she wasn't walking yet (especially since I felt like it was a power issue). Well, we went to the appointment and I talked to the doc and he confirmed that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with her but said that if she wasn't walking in the next month we might need to take steps to try to encourage her in that direction. We left and came home and within the hour...yep siree, she walked! She was standing there in the middle of the room and Benj said, "Walk to mom" and she did! I about fell over. And let me tell you, I've never seen anyone more proud of themselves than she was. She was practically turning cartwheels and was laughing out loud. It was the greatest! What a crazy bean!

He's Three!

As usual, I'm a bit tardy posting these pictures. I keep putting it off because my internet connection is so slow. But I have to announce to the world that Isaac is three! He's been telling everyone, "I supposed to be two, but now I three!" After watching George have a birthday, he couldn't wait for it to be his turn. We had a pretty mellow day. Chicken nuggets for the birthday dinner and cake, ice cream and presents afterwards. He was a pretty happy guy. I think the favorite present he received was his imaginex dinosaur. The boys have spent hours locking Ella out of their room so they could set up all of their super hero figures for the dinosaur to tromp down. It roars and walks around knocking things down. They love it.

The weather here has been really cold. We had a big storm this week that covered everything in a fresh layer of snow. It's the time of year when I start feeling like spring is never going to get here. The boys love the snow though. They could spend hours out there. We built a snow man the other day and during the night someone decapitated it. The boys were so mad. I've never heard such threats as were coming out of their mouths. Iyah was literally shaking. Ella also got her first real ride on the sled. She didn't like it one bit. I thought she would cry, but she didn't. She just kept yelling over and over, "No, mama, no!" Like I was being bad. :)

Tomorrow is Ella's 18 month check-up. I'm a bit embarrassed to have to tell the doc that she's still not walking. She stands by herself in the middle of the floor, but every time I suggest she walk she sits right down and says, "No!" A bit of a power struggle going on I think?

Sweet Girl

Little Ella's new hobby is climbing into and onto anything and everything. In this particular instance she wedged herself inside a small baskett. She was so proud of herself. If course, she also has two obliging brothers who don't hesitate to shove her over when she's in a precarious situation. The worst example of this happened last week when George, who was sitting at the the top of the stairs, gave her a "little nudge" with his feet as she climbed toward him. She took quite a fall. Ah siblings. But she sure bounces back quickly and is a very happy sweet girl. As you can see in the picture, she's learned that the phrase "say cheese" means smile big! She truly is a joy to me every single day.

Birthday Bash

My first cake decorating attempt

I'm a little bit late posting these pictures from George's birthday party on Saturday. Things have been crazy the last two day trying to rebuild the room we tore apart. The party was crazy-as you would expect with a truck load of 4-5 year olds. The best part of the afternoon was watching how excited they all were to give George the presents they brought. Talk about the spirit of giving! But George had a great time so the fact that some of the games didn't go off too well hardly matters. Mom and Dad are just glad it's over!

Making a wish

The Group

Hinckley Challenge

I've joined the Hinckley Challenge at the recommendation of my good friend.(You know who you are :)) I was late joining so I'm a little behind but I'm determined to catch up in time to complete the challenge. I thought that posting my progress on the blog might help me stay motivated on those days when I could fall asleep walking and don't feel like reading my scriptures. Bad I know. If any of you would like to join go to http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/. I would do that nifty thing where you write click HERE and it sends you there, but I'm not that computer savvy.

Demo Day

So, we've started our first big home improvement project. This morning Benji and his friend tore out our plaster and lathe ceiling and wall. It was quite the mess, but we are excited to be on our way. Yeah!

Saving the World

I've returned to the land of the bloggers. We had a wonderful Christmas in Utah and Idaho visiting family, and George just had his 5th birthday. Whew! I think I'm getting old! One of the biggest highlights of our trip to Utah for me was watching Ella fall in love with Grandpa. They were pretty inseperable. She really misses her Grandpa. Another highlight was playing with cousins. The boys had so much fun! There were a million other highlights that I won't go into right now.

As you can see, dressing up is the number 1 activity at our house. The boys are always one super hero or another. So, I thought I'd share some of our most recent adventures: The Incredibles with cousin Jack, the Ninjas, and the Power Ranger.

Before I log off I just need to share our doctor experience from today. We are having an ice/sleet storm today so I had to brave the roads to get George to his scheduled check-up. When we got there the doctor told us that he would be getting some shots today to get him all set for kindergarten in the fall. You would have thought that the world ended. George was crying and screaming and fighting me. I had to pin the kid down so that the nurse could give him his shots. Is this a normal 5 year old reaction? Because I don't remember loosing it like that when I got my kindergarten shots. Anyway, in the parking lot on the way to the car we were still a little worked up and George slipped and fell in the slush. Instead of standing up quick so he didn't get more wet, he simply sat in the big cold puddle and screamed like a girl at the top of his lungs (I heard it echo off of the ice laden Susquehanna River) and then yelled for everyone to hear, "I just can't do this!" It was a pretty dramatic moment. I laughed at him, and I think every person in that parking lot thought I was a mean, terrible mother. The kicker is that after all of this he wanted to know if he had been brave enough to get his treat, because of course I had bribed him. What was I going to say? "No you weren't really brave enough." That's what I get for bribing my kids.