Adventures with the guy in the red suit . . .

We have had the chance to see Santa twice this year.  The first time was at Tom's parents ward Christmas party, and the second time was at my parents house.  They had a Christmas dinner and invited Mr. and Mrs. Claus to come visit while we were there.  Here are some pictures of both events.

 Santa needs a bigger lap.

 A little blurry, but Will not minding sitting on Santa's lap.

 KC and Santa

 Xander and Santa

 Will and Santa.  Not liking this particular Santa.

Left to right:  KC, Connor, Abby, scary Santa, Xander, William, and Mrs. Claus.

William liked sitting on Mrs. Claus' lap.

New posts . . .it's about time

I finally got around to updating the blog.  So scroll down and enjoy what life has been like around here.  You are welcome Kalyn.

William

Will is over 7 months old now, and I haven't posted an update one him since he was 5 months.  To be honest, I've just been busy with life and haven't really wanted to do an update until today.  Today Will and I are both at home sick.  We are skipping church.  So, I picked now to get caught up with some posts.

Will has been sick and fussy the past 3 or 4 days.  He broke his first tooth on Wednesday, so I think that is what brought on the cold symptoms.  And even though he has not been feeling well, he really has been a pretty happy baby through it all.  He also decided to tackle some other things recently, besides breaking his first tooth.  He now sits up on his own, which we both are excited about.  It allows him to play longer on the floor with his toys, and he doesn't get frustrated with being stuck on his tummy.  He scoots around pretty well, he hasn't started crawling or anything yet but loves his new freedom of getting around.  He loves the sound of his own voice. He screams, yells, babbles, and giggles to hear it.  It so fun!  He is just getting to have such a fun personality, I love it.  He still doesn't love baby food.  He has a very strong gag reflex, and throws up a lot of stuff.  He does love flavored baby puffs and baby cheetos.  Two days ago he tried some apple crisp and devoured it!  That's my boy!

 He absolutely loves his baby jumper, so much that he decided to sleep in it.

 He loves to grab his feet and suck on his toes.

 William being silly with cousin Connor.

 Xander and Will enjoying one of the last days of warmer weather on our front lawn.

 William feeling very proud of himself, sitting up and playing with big brothers toys.

His first time sitting up on his own in the tub.  He loved smacking his hands against the water.

Halloween 2011

It was a great Halloween, always is.  But this year was even better, because the weather was awesome!  It was warm enough for the kids to go trick or treating without even a jacket on.  It's fun seeing the kids get excited about dressing up.  This year KC was a werewolf, Xander a zombie, and Will wore two different hand me downs from his brothers- a dragon and a lion.  Thomas and I even dressed up this year for our ward's trunk or treat.  We went as a shower and Princess Leia, after the movie, Karate Kid.  You know, the scene of the Halloween dance, where Daniel dresses as a shower, and Elisabeth Shue dresses as Princess Leia??  No you don't remember?  That's okay, nobody else got that our costumes were a "couple costume", but that's okay.  They still thought it was cool, and we had fun dressing up!

 Will wasn't dressed up here, because he got too hot in the lion costume, and we took it off.

 All ready to go to school on Halloween!

 KC in the school parade.

 Playing the part of Zombie and Werewolf.

 Xander and Carter in the school parade.

 KC's class.  He is in the bottom right corner.  His cute teacher was dressed up as cookie monster.

 Xander at his class party.

My cute "scary" boys all ready for some trick or treating with Dad.

Baby's 1st Haircut

We did it.  We finally had Will's hair cut.  Well, more like, just a trim.  I really don't think that I could have parted with anymore than that.  My neighbor, Ally, who does my hair, cut it for me and I think she did a great job!  He was pretty wiggily through all of it, so she did great.  I actually think it looks a lot better than before.  He can now actually see out of his eyes, it was so long!

Eight is great!

I seriously cannot believe that my baby turned eight, where has the time gone?!?!  KC is such a wonderful kid,  I couldn't have asked for better.  I am so proud to call him my own.  He is a good example to his brothers and is ALWAYS helping out when I need him to.  I think because he is the oldest, we tend to ask him to step up to the plate more often than Xander.  I feel bad about that sometimes, but I also know that he is capable and it makes him responsible. 

He is a funny kid, and likes to make people laugh. At PT conferences, his teacher told us that KC is always making the class laugh, and that he is friendly and makes people feel good.  She even said that KC will compliment her on how she looks somedays.  Funny boy, such a little flirt like his daddy.  He is an artist and draws really well, he has  for quite some time now.  He spends a lot of extra time at school on art projects, which can get him in trouble for taking too much time.  He likes to make others happy and goes out of his way to do this.  KC is a good student.  He excels in math and actually got sent to the principal's office the other day for a reward because he is doing so well.  He is great with his baby brother, and makes him so happy.  He and Xander are great friends, and play really well together most of the time.

He was baptized on October 8th, the day after his birthday.  It was a great day, especially as a parent, such a great reward seeing your children make great decisions in their life.  I hope to have many more of those days in my lifetime.  We had both my family, and Thomas' family their with us, and some close friends of ours.  It was very nice to see the support that we have from all of them.  Even my favorite great Aunt Judy flew in from  Washington to come, it was so nice having her there with us.  That meant a lot to me.

Here are some pictures we took at the church.  KC was so excited!  He asked his two grandmas to give talks.  His Aunt Kelli led the music.  His biggest cousin Ethan (11)  said the opening prayer.  Xander said the closing prayer, with a little help from me. Both grandpas were the witnesses to his baptism. Daddy baptized and confirmed him.  And grandpas, uncles, and friends stood in the circle.

So little time

I've ignored posting lately, things around here have just been so busy and I haven't had the time.  I was in Walmart today and noticed that the Christmas stuff was already on display.  That's funny, it seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with William walking through those same Christmas aisles.  Can't believe that's almost been a year!  We are doing really well, just trying to keep up with the busy life of having three boys, holding church callings, soccer, games, football games, volunteering to run the Reflections program at school, work, pack meetings, birthdays (KC turned 8!!), baptisms (KC was baptized!) and yada yada yada.  Life is good though, and wouldn't want it any other way. 

I had the boys' pictures taken back in September, so of course I'm just now getting around to putting them on the blog.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out.  I have handsome sons.  Here's some of my favorites.

This is a short post today, so in short, the boys are doing good.  William is growing like a weed, and getting more and more fun each day.  He's such sweet tempered baby, I'm lucky.

It's all about the hair

I have a beautiful baby.  I'm not afraid to say it, it's true. In fact I've made three of them that way so far.  Not a bad record, I must say.  So, it's not a huge surprise to me that we get stopped by total strangers in stores who tell me that my baby boy is the "cutest baby they've ever seen", or "I cannot believe all that hair!"   And I agree, he is the cutest baby they have ever seen, but I think they are mostly shocked by the amount of hair he has and they just have to say something.

And when it's not up in this faux hawk, it falls down into his eyes.  It has grown so long!  If he were a girl, we would so be putting pig tails in it by now.  I do not want to cut it. No way. 

Back to school

 KC's first day of 2nd grade

 Xander's frist day of kindergarten

 Brother's walking to school

Xander with two of his buddy's (Two of Thomas' best friends sons)

It's pretty fun that they get to start school together

I say it all the time, but time really does fly by so quickly.  My boys are growing up so fast.  I hope they will always want their mommy around, and I hope they will never grow tired of wanting to give me hugs and kisses.  I know there will come a day when it won't be cool anymore, so for now I will enjoy it and thoroughly wrap myself into their little worlds.  I feel so blessed to be given the gift of being their mom.  Here's to another happy and healthy school year!

5 months and some more

William is 5 months old!  I must say that he is still the cutest baby EVER!  I love this little munchkin so much.

Will has reached some milestones in the last little while.  He now rolls over.  He doesn't quite know what to do once he on his tummy, but at least he can get there!  He now eats solids, at least when I make the time to feed him them.  He only likes cereal with mixed pear or banana so far, but at least it's a start.  I have been making his baby food, and I must admit that I wish that I would have done it with the other two babies also!  It's super easy and SUPER cheaper than buying it in the stores.
And let's not forget his biggest accomplishment this last month . . . .William now takes a bottle again!!!  (huge sigh of relief from mom)  I just decided one day that I was going to get him to take that bottle again no matter what!  And after about 20 minutes of him messing around with the bottle nipple, he finally gave in.  YES!  I can now leave him with a sitter or whoever and not have to worry about him wanting to nurse before I get to him.  Good job little Will!  Love you baby!
In other news,  we are all doing well. Summer is ending, KC started 2nd grade on Monday and Xander starts Kindergarten next week.  I think they are both excited.  And I am so excited to get back into a routine and to have some time alone in the morning, just me and Will.  And hopefully, I can squeeze in some gym time too. 
Thomas has been very busy this past summer, with bishopric duties.  He has been away so much doing Youth Conference, Girl's Camp, Scout camps, etc.  So, now that summer is ending we are glad to be seeing him more around our home.  He just got a new position at work and starts on Monday.  I'm sure that will keep him busier too, but hopefully will be able to set his own hours with this job, making his schedule a little more flexible.  We'll see about that.  I know he works so hard for us and others,  I know that I take him for granted.
Here's some pictures of a few thing that we've done lately.  We have a busy few months ahead of us also, but are excited to see what's planned...  Labor day camping trip with just our little family, my 30th bday, KC's 8th bday and BAPTISM!, weekend trip with some friends, family trip and triathlon in St. George, and I'm sure I'm missing a few other things too, but it's going to be a fun fall!  My favorite time of the year.

 Grandma Harris took us to the zoo, and of course spoiled us again.

 Such goof balls.

 Showing baby brother the elephants.

 William loves his borrowed Bumbo chair from Aria.

Seriously one of the best inventions for babies thus far.

 Not quite sure about this mom!

Heaven sent.  He literally takes my breath away.