I'm Melting!

The snow is officially melting around here.  It warmed up and started raining yesterday morning, and there is wetness everywhere.  This morning, I looked out my bedroom window and saw our poor snowman.  We all got a good chuckle!

 Yesterday morning, Scott took the boys sledding for one last time.  Who knows when we'll have sled-worthy snow again, so it was kind of a last hurrah.  Jackson came home looking like this...

 Apparently, he wanted to go down on Adam's sled, which was a bit faster than the one he had been using and didn't tip over quite as easily.  Scott said, he started down the hill, and instead of turning, like he was doing on his own sled, he shot straight like an arrow.  Scott ran after him, and screamed for Adam to try and catch him, but neither of them could get to him in time.  He went under a tree, which is what scrapped his face up, and finally flew off the sled, flipping head over hills, heading straight for the creek.  Luckily, he stopped before falling into the water, but he's got a nice goose egg on his forhead.  Just to show how tough he is, he went down the hill 3 or 4 more times before Scott could convince him that he needed to come home and get cleaned up.  The pictures don't really do his face justice.  He looked pretty nasty when he came walking in. Scott said he's never been more scared than he was as he ran after him, trying to stop him.  But, all is well.  He'll have a bit of a bruise on his forhead for a few days and he's still got the goose egg, but he hasn't complained much, unless he bangs his forehead into something (which he happens to do quite often!)

He wasn't in too much pain - this is what he was doing while I tried to get a good picture of his injuries!  Always a clown, this kid!

We will miss the snow, but it will also be nice to get life back to some sort of normal.  Get Adam back into school and try to get everyone else on a schedule.  I may even be able to start excercising and do better at watching what I'm eating.  To try and keep Adam entertained during the week, we made cookies or treats every day.  Not so good for losing the left over baby fat!  But, it was fun while the snow was here!

Another Snow Day!

Today was supposed to be the day when the snow turned to rain.  Well, it's 4:00 in the afternoon, and it's been snowing or ice raining all day long!  We woke up to ice pellets and a totally frozen car which took forever to defrost so I could take Kate to her two month checkup.  By the time we got home, the ice had changed to snow, and it's been snowing ever since.  Adam went outside to play with his friends, and only lasted about 45 minutes because they got so cold out there!  I'm guessing that there won't be any school tomorrow - three snow days to make up at the end of the year.

Here are a couple pictures I took a few hours ago of our back yard. 

Mr snowman really can't see now!  Poor guy is getting more and more buried! 

 And here's most of the yard.  It's gotten windy today, so the snow is starting to pile in drifts.  It sure is beautiful, so long as you don't have to venture too far in all this!

Here's one picture from yesterday I forgot to include.  After our sledding adventure, we came home and had hot chocolate to warm up.  Jackson really enjoyed it!

Miss Kate - Two Months old

It's hard for me to believe that Miss Kate is already two months old!  I actually ventured out to her two month check up this morning, even with all the ice and snow on the ground.  It was the fastest appointment I've ever been too!  I'm glad I don't have to reschedule like all the other million people. 

Here are her stats at two months:

Length - 23.5 inches (85th percentile)

Weight - 12 pounds, 6 ounces (80th percentile)

Head Circumference - 15 and 5/8 inches (90th percentile)

She's an inch shorter than her brothers were at two months, and weighs a pound less than Adam and two pounds less than Jackson did. 

Poor third child - there haven't been a lot of pictures taken of her.  We did take several pictures last night, trying to capture her beautiful smile.  She was being a bit grumpy, but here are some of them...

 A bit later, Scott got some good smiles when he was talking to her...

Kate, has certainly been my most challenging baby, but she is also such a joy!  She is a cuddler, and I am learning to just sit down and enjoy it!  I feel like we are finally getting into a night time schedule and she has slept great the past 3 nights - so I'm hoping that continues.  We haven't established much of a daytime routine yet.  She kind of eats and sleeps whenever and where ever we are.  It's during the day that she want's to be held and cuddled while she sleeps.  She has started being awake more often during the day, and has started making cute little cooing noises and she works really hard to talk!  I love to sit and watch her try to talk.  Her eyes are a beautful blue(it's hard to tell from the pictures), and every day I wonder what color her hair is going to be. 
It is so fun to watch her grow!  Her brothers are head over heels for her as well.  Adam wants to hold her all the time, and he is so good at it!  Jackson can be found smothering her (literally) with hugs and kisses.  I have to be careful when I leave her in her swing or laying on the couch.  We are all so thrilled to have little Kate as part of our family!

Snow Days

Well, it continues to snow around here.  We've had snow on the ground since Saturday.  Pretty crazy for Washington!  I love this picture of the boys sitting at the window watching it snow.  This was taken Sunday morning.

 Adam, Kate and I ventured out to church that afternoon. Scott stayed home because he was still feeling a little iffy and Jackson stayed to get a nap since church is right during his nap time. Since Sunday, we have continued to get snow every day!
Monday, Scott was home in the morning, and we mostly hung out at home.  Adam and I went grocery shopping in between snow flurries. 
Tuesday, Scott had to work all day.  It snowed pretty hard all morning.  By afternoon, the boys and I were ready to get out of the house.  So, we ventured out to a friends house where the boys played outside for a bit, and I got to visit with a good friend.  It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.
Today, it has snowed and snowed. It's supposed to be the worst day of snow.  We probably have over a foot of snow outside!  Last night, Scott took Adam sledding when he got home from work, and now, that's all Adam can talk about.  Real sledding.  He begged all morning to get to go.  So, I called our neighbor and asked if she would mind watching Kate for an hour or so.  She was happy too, so the boys and I bundled up and walked down to Logan Park.  We had so much fun!  Here are some pictures...

 Jackson wasn't sure about it at first, so he went down with Adam.  After that, you couldn't stop him!  He wanted to go all by himself - and it was a pretty good hill!  I did convince him to go down with me a couple of times!  He just laughed all the way down!

 Adam found a couple of school buddies were sledding too - and his school teacher, Mrs. Dumo was there with her kids.  That was a fun surprise!

 After sledding for about an hour, we made the trek up the hill.  And it is quite the trek!  I got more excercise today than I have since getting pregnant with Kate!  Here's Jackson at the top of the hill.  Don't let him fool you though...

 He was like this the entire way up that hill.  At least he was on the sled.  He enjoyed the ride up, and I got a little (or a lot) of weight resistance for my workout!!

It ended up being a fun afternoon! This was the first snow for school - so, there will be at least one day to make up at the end of the year.  We'll see how the rest of the week goes...

The Snowman

It snowed more last night.  We woke up to about another inch of snow.  Jackson and Adam were looking out the window to the backyard, and Jackson suddenly got very panicked and said, "Dad, we need to go outside!"  Scott brushed him off and continued making breakfast until Jackson said the same thing again and again.  He finally asked him why they needed to go outside.  Jackson said "The snowman can't see!"  The snow had covered the snowmans eyes!

Seriously Toothless

Adam lost the second top middle tooth tonight.  There are some serious gaps in his mouth!  He's waiting on three teeth to grow in!  I may need to start pureeing his food!

Snow Day

We've had a rough couple of weeks around here!  First, Adam got the stomach flu and missed three days of school.  The upset tummy stuck around for close to a week.  Then, Scott got the stomach flu, and he's been sick all week.  He's finally started to feel better.  We're hoping that it ends with the two of them! So, when it started snowing this morning, we were all excited to spend sometime outside doing something fun!

Adam has been waiting for snow since before Christmas.  He asked me several times during his break from school when it was going to snow because it's supposed to snow at Christmastime.  I told him we lived in the wrong place for snow on Christmas.  But, finally today, it snowed.  Both boys were so excited and they spent quite a bit of time outside.  Scott joined them for a snowball fight and to build a snowman.  Here they are doing both.

 Kate and I joined them for a little bit.  Kate was all bundled up and she enjoyed sitting in the snow watching her crazy brothers.

 Here's the snowman. We finally got to use the snowman kit that Aunt Tiffy gave us for Christmas, two years ago...

 One last pic of cute Kate, sitting by the snowman!

It's supposed to be cold all weekend and possibly into the start of the week. Luckily, Adam doesn't have school on Monday or Tuesday, so if the snow sticks around there won't be any makeup days.  We'll see!

Prayers

Jackson loves to say the prayer.  His normal prayer includes: "bless daddy to come home safe, bless mommy, bless Adam, bless Kate, bless Santa to go home safe, bless Tiffy, bless Uncle Brian, bless grandmas and grandpas (always plural), bless diapers, bless blankie and binky" and on and on.  Every night there's something a little different, but he always includes daddy, Santa, Tiffy and Uncle Brian.  I guess we know who he loves the most!

Mommy's lap

Last night, while Scott was trying to get Adam's tooth out, Jackson decided he wanted to cuddle with mommy.  This never happens anymore, (he usually just wants daddy!) so I jumped at the chance.  Then Kate started crying, so we all crowded onto the rocker together.  It's so amazing that Jackson is only two years old.  He seems so humungous compared to his sister!!  Especially when I have them both on my lap together...

More Mutant Mouth

Adam seriously has the weirdest mouth.  Several weeks ago I was looking at him and noticed a gap in his top teeth.  I thought maybe he had lost another tooth without us realizing it.  After some investigation and counting his teeth, I realized that he had not lost a tooth, his teeth were moving!  He originally had a bit of a gap between his top middle teeth.  Well, one of those teeth was being pushed closer to the other.  I wish we had taken a picture of his mouth before the tooth came out.  By the time Adam let Scott pull it out, it was overlapping his other tooth.  Scott has been trying to get it out for a good week, but Adam would not let him get his fingers in his mouth. Finally, last night, Adam decided they could try the slam the door trick, and it worked.  I swear his tooth was only being held in by the gums surrounding it.  The tooth is finally out, and you can already see his permanent tooth growing in!  The other middle tooth is loose as well - hopefully it won't be such drama to get that one out!  I can't believe how huge the gap is in his mouth - He only lost one tooth, but it looks like there's room for 2 or 3 in that gap!  I'm betting this kids gonna need braces!

Kitty

A couple of months ago, Jackson saw a cat in our back yard.  He was so excited to see the kitty!  Ever since, I can often find him staring out the back window waiting for the kitty.  On New Years day, he was doing just that, and saw the cat again.  He quickly ran to the front door, put on the first shoes he could find and ran to the back to try and catch the cat.  He looked so funny stomping around the back yard in his PJs and my tennis shoes.  I just had to take some pictures.

 Unfortunately, the kitty was gone by the time he got out there.  And those darn shoes just wouldn't stay on.  And, it was cold outside.  Here he is running back in the house!

Kate's Blessing Day

Kate was blessed on New Years Day.  It was such a great day with family and friends.  We were blessed that Scott's parents were here, as was my sister from out of town, and then a couple of my cousins who live close, and then lots of friends who came to join us!  Such a wonderful reminder of the great people we have in our lives!  Scott gave Kate a beautiful blessing, which brought tears to my eyes as I listened.  I have had such a feeling of peace since Sunday.  I was talking to a good friend yesterday, whose husband stood in the circle, and she mentioned that when her husband came and sat down next to her after the blessing she noticed he had tears in his eyes.  He leaned over and told her, that while he was standing in the circle, he had an overwhelming feeling of love for our family, and understood the Heavenly Father was pleased that Kate had joined our family, and what a special spirit she is.  Scott's dad had a similar experience.  It was a special blessing!

I wish we had taken pictures with our friends that joined us, but this is what we did get.

Our family

 Scott and I with Kate.

 Brothers and a sister

 Jackson really wanted to hold Kate.

 Mom and daughter

 Kate in her blessing dress.

Kate's dress is special because it is partly my blessing dress.  The top dress is the dress that I was blessed in.  I was a spring time baby, so it was warm when I was blessed.  It's not so warm in Washington in January, so a friend in our ward made the long slip that went under the dress for Kate to wear.  Here is a picture of the dress that I wore.

 And three generations - me, my mom and my daughter.

 Kate getting a kiss from my mom, who she is named after.

 Beautiful little girl!

I am so blessed with three wonderful children!  I look back 10 years ago or even 8 years ago when we thought we would never have children, and now, I have two great boys and a beautiful daughter.  I thank my Heavenly Father every day for these three wonderful blessings!  

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year's Eve at home again this year.  We're a pretty wild and crazy bunch!  We enjoyed our fondue tradition.  Tiffiny and I decided to add scones this year as well.  Back when we were in high school, the church hosted a big New Years Eve dance at Bell Square Mall in Bellevue.  We would go with all our friends and there was youth from all over at the dance.  It was one of the funnest dances of the year.  After the dance, everyone would head back to our house, and my mom would make scones.  It was always a blast.  My mom says that there were youth coming into her home on New Years Eve that she had never met before and never saw again.  I think we probably invited everyone we met to come over.  How lucky am I to have had such great parents who opened their home to total strangers at midnight!  Anyway - Tiffiny and I were reminiscing and we both tried to remember when the last time we had eaten scones was, and we both decided it was probably back in high school.  So, we made some and they were just as yummy and we remembered.  These aren't those baked scones you get at the fair, these are really yummy fried scones.  They are so good hot with honey or jam smeared on top.  Yummy!

I didn't take many pictures, but couldn't resist these of Jackson enjoying the chocolate.  We didn't get the fountain out, just did chocolate fondue, but Jackson sure did enjoy it!

 This is how Kate and Grandpa Wallis spent the evening...

We celebrated the New Year at 10:30 with the boys and then sent them off to bed.  Everyone else left around 11:30, and Scott and I watched the fireworks over the Space Needle at midnight while I fed Kate before we all went to bed.  It was a lovely, uneventful night!  Happy New Year!!