Sunday, February 19, 2012

January comes and eventually goes

Stephen needed new shoes and so Grandpa Quist offered to take care of Boston while we took Stephen shoe shopping.
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They went to several playgrounds and had so much fun!  My Dad is so good at playing with my boys and they adore him!
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What a blessing it is to live so close to both of our families.  Our boys get to have a close relationship with both sets of Grandparents.
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One of the first Saturdays in January we spent doing a few projects around the house.
For Christmas my mom gave us some house numbers to put up since the only numbers we had were faded stickers on the mailbox and faded paint on the curb.  Now we look fancy!
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Then Scott set up our new outdoor table and chairs, a gift from Scott’s Mom and my brother in law, Travis.  I love having a place to sit outside while the boys are playing.  It is also a nice spot to eat breakfast.
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We were also recipients of a garage door “clicker” so after six months of living here we can actually park in the garage!  I love it – thanks again to my Mom.
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The first week of January also brought a new meeting house for us at church.  We now go to church in the old stake center (now a ward building) which is closer to our house.  I like meeting there because it is identical to the building I grew up going to.  I know right were everything is!  Boston sported his new Sunday sweater that his Grandma Smith gave him for Christmas.  He still loves going to nursery and he loves his nursery leaders!
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I have a New Year Resolution to spend an hour a day playing with my boys.  This may seem like a silly goal to some but playing with my boys does not come naturally to me like it does to some moms.
We got off to a good start with playing “Spy Training.”  They had to crawl through the crepe paper “lasers,” pick up darts along the way, and when they reached the end of the hallway, use their dart guns to shoot at the target hanging on the wall.

Here is Boston’s spy face:
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Stephen, waiting for his turn:
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And my favorite, Stephen’s “spy face.”  It could also be called a smolder if you ask me.  Winking smile
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Another day we made cloud dough
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The whole time we played with it we called it “moon dough” and only just now did I discover that it is actually called “cloud dough!”
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It was really fun to play with.  It is crumbly and appears to be powder until you pack it or squeeze it and then it sticks together.
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It is also extremely messy!
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Our play time isn’t always spectacular and usually involves books games and puzzles.


So now I have to confess that despite my good start, I am having a hard time sticking with my resolution.  Let’s just say it is still a work in progress.


But really, it doesn't take too much to entertain them...






















Here are their alien eyes.





















Their favorite thing is to just get good and dirty.

They were so filthy this day that I had to document it



























Especially Boston...  
































I don't think the photo quite captures the layers.  Snot...food, dirt...


























Lots of dirt.








Nothing a nice bubble bath can't take care of!






Monday, February 6, 2012

Christmas and Beyond

My brother and his family came into town a few days before Christmas.  It was so. much. fun! Stephen and Boston love playing with their Quist cousins.  Every day went something like this: wake up, get dressed, go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, play, play, play, nap, play play play.

Christmas Eve we acted out the nativity.

Celsea was Mary and Stephen was Joseph.

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I was the angel.  With a cell phone in one hand.  (I used it to look up the words to the hymns, ok?)

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Some wise men and shepherds.

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On Christmas Eve Santa came to our house.

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At 6:30 am on Christmas morning, Boston was the first to see what Santa brought.  He was still half asleep.

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“Wook Stephen!”

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Santa brought Boston a tricycle and tiger slippers.

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Stephen received the Imaginext pirate ship from the jolly old man.

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New toothbrushes were a surprisingly bit hit as stocking stuffers.

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You can’t beat a Christmas morning smile!

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The boys opened a gift from Mom and Dad which turned out to be a treasure hunt to find…

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The Lego table! For some reason I felt that it was a little anticlimactic but they do love it now.  Smile

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The rest of Christmas morning we spent opening gifts with the Quists.  Here is a picture of all of us girls wearing the beautiful aprons my Mom made for us.  They are seriously so pretty I almost hate to get my dirty.  She worked very hard on these aprons and they are so well made!

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Christmas afternoon and evening we spent with the Smiths.  We opened more gifts and had Christmas dinner.  I feel horrible but I have no pictures of this!  We get to see them a lot more frequently so picture taking has kind of been done.  But still…I wish I had some pictures. 

 

After Christmas we had a few more fun days of playing with the Quist cousins.  Here they are wearing the cute shirts Aunt Rebecca made for them.  Stephen and Boston have ASU on one side and BYU on the other so they can represent both Mommy and Daddy’s schools.  Anna and Jeremiah are BYU all the way!

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We got to meet my sweet little nephew James for the first time.  He was such a chill little guy and soooo squeezable!

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Boston and Jeremiah, who are only 6 days apart in age, finally started to connect with each other and play together!  They were scribbling on this paper and then laughing maniacally.

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Jeremiah really loved getting to know Grandma and Grandpa’s dog, Indy better.

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We went to a playground that was built on top of an old landfill.  It had some of the craziest playground equipment I have ever seen including a giant spider web of ropes that was 20 feet tall.  It was big enough to support adults and so the kid in Scott took over and he had to climb it.  Here is Jeremiah and Anna on the tire swing.

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Boston was in his element on the tall slide.

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We decided at the last possible moment that we should take a family picture with everyone.  The kids were in their pajamas and we used a tripod, but hey we are all there!

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And I think we look gooood!

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Then suddenly, everyone left town and we were left with the usual skeleton crew: my little fam, Grandma and
Grandpa, and Allen.  Sigh.  We sure do miss all those crazy kids!