Children's Museum

We spent the morning at the children's museum with our friends one day during the Christmas break.  Jackson had never really been to the museum, and he had so much fun!  Here are a few of the highlights. 

Jackson's favorite place was playing in the water.

 And driving the tractor.

 Robyn had fun holding Kate.

 Adam cut Xander's hair.

Jackson tried his hand acting.  Isn't he good at making a pouty face.

 Adam and Xander built a house.

 And did some tractor driving.

It was a fun way to spend a morning.

Playing with Grandma!

The boys have had so much fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa Wallis while they've been here.  One day, Adam and Grandma built this huge tower out of Tinkertoys.  The thing was taller than Adam!  I think they worked on it for well over an hour!

 We love having Grandma and Grandpa here!

AJ the Elf

We had a special visitor join us shortly after Thanksgiving.  Santa sent us our very own elf.  We got to give him a name, and quickly decided on AJ (which stands for Adam and Jackson).  So, AJ the elf spent the month of December watching the goings on at our house, and reporting back to Santa each night about whether or not the kids were being good.  Some days, I'm sure Santa didn't get a very good report on the behavior of the parents or the kids in this house.  But, we worked really hard and being nice to one another, and doing the things that we were asked to do.  Several times, Jackson could be heard saying "sorry AJ, I'll be better" after he lost his temper and threw one of his "I'm a two year old" tantrums. The best part about AJ coming to visit was getting to look for him every morning.  AJ was a mischevious little elf and did lots of crazy things when he got back from the North Pole.  We didn't take many pictures, but we did keep a list of all the things he did. 

1. The first morning, we woke up to find AJ swinging from the lamp in the stairwell.

2. Then he was sliding down the handrail of the stairs.

3. He made himself some hot chocolate.

4. He played some Mario Cart on the Wii.

5. He sat outside the boys bedroom and read Christmas books.

6. He relaxed in Kate's swing.

7. He played the piano.

8. He built some crazy stuff with Legos.

9. He drove Jackson's buzz lightyear car (Jackson thought this was so hilarious - he talked about it all day! We actually got a picture of this one...)

10. He did some coloring.

11. He built a tower with tinker toys.

12. He climbed up the ladder of the bunk beds looking for the boys (they had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house and AJ couldn't find them)

13. He started putting ornaments on the Chrismas Tree.

14. He played with the Little People Nativity Scene

15. He watched some TV

16. He had a race with Buzz Lightyear

17. He ate some cereal

18. He took a rest in Kate's boucy seat.

19. He climbed to the top of the Christmas Tree

20. He put on Jackson's shoes and Adam's gloves.

21. He climbed into Adam's stocking.

22. He climbed up the Santa calendar to give Santa a hug

23. He traveled all the way to Grandma and Granpa's house to find the boys on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve, before the boys went to bed, Adam decided he needed to have a picture taken with AJ, so we could remember what he looked like. 

 Then AJ sat next to the milk and cookies we left out, so he could go back to the North Pole with Santa.

We sure had fun with AJ, and hope he comes back next year.

Christmas Day

We enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas Day at home where everyone came to us!  It was nice not having to get in the car to go anywhere.  The boys slept in until about 7:30, then we all headed downstairs to see if Santa had visited.  Here they are coming around the corner...

 Jackson checking out the Aquadoodle mat the Santa brought for him.

 Santa ate all the cookies, except for two little crumbs.  Jackson told everyone that Santa ate the cookies and left a note.  He thanked the boys for making his favorite chocolate chip cookies, and for taking care of AJ.

 While we waiting for Grandma and Grandpa Wallis to come over with Uncle Brian, the boys played with some of the toys that Santa brought.  We got a game of Twister, which Adam was excited about.  He knew all about playing Twister from school.  He was a pro!

 Not sure where this move came from... I don't remember anything on the spinner that said "full body on Daddy", but this happened several times during the game!

 Kate and I were in charge of the spinner...

 Santa brought Adam a Beyblade arena, which is what he really, really wanted!  The boys all played some Beyblades while we waited.

 Opening presents was lots of fun too. 

We are so blessed!  It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Wallis here again with us this Christmas.  We are thankful that they travelled out to spend the week.  It was also fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Conrad come, and Aunt Tiffy, Uncle Hyrum, Uncle Brian, Uncle Daris and Aunt Rachael and Robyn.  We have so much to grateful for!  Especially our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas Day.  I am thankful for his life and example!  Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Eve

Adam and Jackson spent Friday night at Grandma and Granpa Conrad's house, so they could go to the airport to pick up Aunt Tiffy.  This was a good thing, because I had not had a chance to wrap one present.  So, Friday night I wrapped and Saturday morning I wrapped and got everything done.  Then Scott and I spent the rest of Saturday making cinamon rolls and getting stuff together for Christmas day.  Christmas Eve ended up being a nice relazing day.

We got ready and headed over to my parents house in the afternoon.  Kate was given this cute outfit from some friends.  She looks darling, even if she was unhappy about sitting on the couch!

We had the normal Christmas Eve festivities with a great dinner, reading the Christmas Story from the Bible and doing the nativity activity.  Then we opened up new pajamas.  Here are a few pictures from the evening.  Jackson being his funny self...

 Posing in front of the tree.

 With my cousin's daughter Madison.

 My boys.

 The whole group sporting our new pajamas.

Our little family.

 After all the pictures, Grandpa got to open a special Christmas present.  He is officially an owner of an NFL team.  My mom bought him one stock of the Green Bay Packers.  He was very excited, as you can see from his face. 

Baby smiles...

Kate has started smiling, and I absolutely love it.  We can all sit around for hours talking to her in high pitched funny voices, just trying to get her to smile.  Here are a few pictures we took on Christmas Eve as we tried to get her to smile...

 And finally - success!  A smile we actually caught on camera!!

Sleeping

Kate has been very spoiled over the Christmas holiday with all our visitors.  She loves to sleep while being held.  As long as there's a warm body holding her, she doesn't seem to care what position she's in.  Here's proof...

Cookies for Santa

The boys and I enjoyed making Santa's favorite Chocolate Chip cookies again this year.  Jackson was excited to help this year.  He and Adam took turns adding ingredients.

 This is what Kate did as we made cookies...

 Showing me messy hands...

 Flour everywhere...

Christmas Stockings

One of my favorite Christmas decorations to put up every year is our family's stockings.  My stocking was made by my Grandma Conrad way back when I was born.  She made one for each of us the year we were born.  She then made one for Scott when we got married.  Once we started having kids, my mom took over the stocking duties and she has made one for each of my kids.  These are not simple stockings - Tiffiny and I made a new one for our mom last year, and they are a lot of work!  Each stocking is many hours of love and hard work!  I should have taken a picture of all of our stockings hung up this year, but I didn't.  There's always next year!

Scott got this great picture of the boys sitting in front of the fireplace looking up at the stockings.  I wonder what's going on in their heads. 

This is the stocking my mom made for Kate this year.  Isn't it beautiful?

My boys always love getting their stockings out each Christmas, and I know Kate will be the same.  

One Month

It's amazing how quickly a month can go by, while at the same time it can feel like time is standing still.  I'm amazed that Kate is a month old!  It's been both a challenging and a wonderful month all at the same time.  Here's a picture of cute Kate at one month (and two days) old.  (What can I say - I'm a busy mom, I didn't take a picture of her on her one month birthday).

 I haven't been very good about blogging about what Kate's been doing since she was born, so I'll list it all here. 

She's been getting lots of loves from both of her brothers.  Adam loves to hold her and is very careful with her. Jackson likes to hold her too, but he only lasts about 5 seconds before he's done.  He does give her lots of kisses on her head!

She's been bundled up in the Moby wrap everyday to pick Adam up from school.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but she's all wrapped up, ready to go.  I've already gotten a lot of use out of my Moby wrap - I bought it before Jackson was born and only used it a handful of times with him.  After just a month, I'm a pro at putting that thing on with Kate!

 More snuggles with big brother...

She's been playing legos... 

 ...with Jackson.  He's been very good about sharing toys with her.  Hopefully he continues to be good at this when she actually wants to play with his toys.

 She's done some snuggling with Jackson...

Lots of snuggling... 

She's enjoyed bath time with her brothers. 

Kate has had one visit to the doctor at 12 days old.  She was up above her birth weight (after dropping almost a full pound by our post partum appointment) and weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces.  She's continued to grow since then.  She's a good eater and some days wants to eat every 2 hours.  She doesn't go back to the doctor until two months. 
Kate's had a very busy first month of life. It's been a big adjustment for everyone! I've been glad that Scott has been home most mornings to walk Adam to school. I've also been grateful for the meals that have been brought to us! We had dinner brought in almost every night for two weeks after Tiff left. I'm so thankful for friends and ward members who have been so willing to serve us.
There have been a few days, I've walked around in a daze from lack of sleep - I thought your third baby was supposed to be the easiest one! Kate has definitely not been my best sleeper, and she demands (with a very insistent and LOUD cry) attention often. She likes to be held and snuggled, and I happily oblige when I can. I am trying very hard to enjoy snuggling with her, without worrying about what is not getting done. I know that sooner than I'd like, I'll be walking her to Kindergarten and she'll refuse to give me a kiss - just like Adam does.