The Greats

We had an appointment at Shriner’s with Zach on December 22nd and, since we weren’t going to make it up on the 24th, stopped by my Grandparent’s to say Merry Christmas. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been unsuccessful at getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time.   This was at Grandma Wilkey’s, in front of her tree with the pictures of all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  There are LOTS of them!

The boys really enjoyed her extensive, beautiful, Christmas village.  She has made all of it and has given her children a new building and some other small pieces each year to add to their village.  They really are more beautiful than any I have seen in stores, the detail and quality are amazing.  I should have taken a close-up so you could see.  She has so many pieces, they are in two rooms, as well as a tree in each room. 

    

I also have this picture of Grandma Wilkey from the 4th of July in 2009.

 

Afterward seeing Grandma Wilkey, we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Weekes’ house to see them.  We really don’t get to see them as often as we should either.  Grandma has really been through a lot in the last few years, she has been fighting cancer more than once, she broke her wrist, and then they were both in a car accident a few weeks ago that broke her ankle.  She had to stay in her chair because the doctor didn’t want her putting weight on it, but she is doing a lot better now and getting around by herself, which is great!  This was shortly after she was hurt.  I wasn’t able to get a decent picture because the boys were out of control (surprise, surprise!), but I will get one as soon as I can!

I do have these pictures, but they’re not recent.  The first two are from when Austin was born, and the last one with Grandma is when Zach was born. 

 

Really, I just don’t get up there to visit enough, so I don’t get very many pictures.  Oh, wait!  I have one from David and Kelly’s temple sealing!

Carlos’ Grandma Belen, or Tita, also lives here in Utah and we don’t see her very often either.  Yeah, we’re bad.  But I do have a few pictures of her, this one is from a couple of years ago.

These are our grandparents and our children’s Great-Grandparents.  And they truly are great!

This One’s for you, Grandma!

This is about as cooperative as they got!  And now I must go and stop them from hurting each other!

A Thought and a Plan

The other day, the boys were coloring and cutting papers and stuff at the table.  I was trying to finish an important project on the computer.  I also THOUGHT, I should probably put the scissors away now.

I had PLANNED on cutting Austin and Zach’s hair the next morning because they really needed it, especially Zach because his gets all gross in back when it’s too long.  Well, they went off to play and I was finishing my project.  They didn’t sound like they were into things, because they were just normal play sounds, not the really quite or sounds of destruction that accompany disaster at our house.  Then Austin came in and said, Mommy, look, we cut our hair!  Serves me right for not following through on my THOUGHT!  They said that Austin cut Zach’s and Zach cut Austin’s and Jaiden just got a tiny piece cut.  They were totally lying because the next day Jaiden confessed that he did it.

Austin got the worst of it:

Here, you can see how Zach’s hair gets when it’s long, and you can kind of see where they cut it in the middle.

 

So, I did cut their hair the next day as I had PLANNED, but it was a lot shorter than originally PLANNED!

I was able too keep Zach’s longer on top, but I’m really not very good and around the ears always looks bad.  I need someone to teach me but I’m just not willing to pay someone to cut their hair, because the few times I have, they don’t do much better than I do!  They always use the excuse that you just have to be really fast with kids and that you can’t be too picky!  So I guess that’s my excuse too!  It doesn’t help that because it’s so dark, you can see every little mistake!

But I think he’s still pretty darn cute!

Austin had to have a much shorter cut!  I had to go all the way down to the #1 guard on the back so that you couldn’t see the cut marks!  It was really sad, because he looks so cute with long hair, it makes him look more like a baby….  But, I must say, he looks like a pretty sharp little boy with the short hair!  At least when it’s fixed…

And I’d better add this picture, for good measure!

So….is the moral of the story to always follow through on your THOUGHTS, or to not make PLANS? 

Check out the post below for today’s fun!

Some Assembly Required

After a fun afternoon of sledding at the Spanish Fork Golf Course, we went to Wendy’s and got something to eat.  We hardly ever get kid’s meals because they don’t eat all of the food, but we got them one today.  Of course, it had to come with the stupidest toy.  Seriously, what 3 year old or up is going to put this together and really play with it????

It was a 3D puzzle that took us each about 25 minutes to put together (with help from the boys) and kept falling apart as we did.  I totally beat Carlos, but Austin had already destroyed his before Carlos was done with Jaiden’s. 

 

This is him pulling it apart, saying he didn’t want it anymore, and that it had exploded.

This is Jaiden telling him to just be extra careful with it or something like that.

Then we went and saw the matinee of Yogi Bear, the kids really enjoyed it and Zach even let me stay in the theater most of the time! 

When we got home, Carlos was much nicer than I would have been and put Austin’s back together and reinforced both with tape.  They are still *mostly* together and they did play with them for a while.  We didn’t even bother putting Zach’s together!

It was a really fun day!  It’s sooooo nice when Carlos is home all day and we can do fun things together and I get some help with bed time, because I’m really hating that chore right now!  We’re thankful for days off once in awhile!

p.s. Austin asked me for some cheese and when I was looking for my cheese knife, which I had to wash because we eat a lot of cheese and it’s used a lot, he did this:

Silly kid!  I guess he still nibbles on things like a mouse sometimes!

A Jaunt, Shoes and un Chiste

We went up to Park City yesterday afternoon to go to the Croc store so we could find some shoes to go over Zach’s new braces.  They can be hard to find for cheap and a lot of the special ones cost $60 and up.  If you know me, I’m NOT willing to pay that much for my own shoes, let alone my kids’!  So, I had been calling all around Utah County and no-one had Crocs for Kids.  The Fashion Place mall has a kiosk but selection is limited and Google said that the distance was about the same from our house up there or to Park City.  And I had talked to the guy in Park City who said that they had a Buy One Get One FREE sale going on.  So we went to Park City.  The boys didn’t want to go but thought we meant “City Park” so they got in the car….

I missed some amazing photos in Provo Canyon and in “City Park” because I’m a dork and forgot my camera. 

We found a couple of pairs for him and a pair for Jaiden and Austin too because they needed shoes as well.  The difference in personalities is so funny.  Austin refused to look at the regular crocs but when he saw a pair that are more like normal shoes, he wanted those and refused to look at anything else.  Jaiden, on the other had only wanted the bright orange or the shark crocs.  He ended up getting the shark ones,  They’re hilarious.  And Zach got a couple of pair, since they’re the only shoes that’s fit him for now, but he will only wear the green ones with the rocket Jibbitz that we got with them.  Funny kids!  I’ll have to take pictures of them…

We ended up eating at an actual Pizza Hut restaurant and it was really fun (except for the fact that you can no longer buy a pitcher of soda, but have to pay for individual cups.  Yeah, I’m cheap.)  Anyway, fun memories are involved with eating aT Pizza Hut.  Remember Cousin’s Week????  And, I did waitress at the one in Logan my first semester as a freshman until they closed it to open a delivery/carry out only place. 

The moon was SO COOL up there and it was fun to see the slopes lit and see little skiers coming down, even at night.

Okay, so onto the Chiste (joke), or at least a funny story…

Jaiden fell asleep on the way home and when he was walking into the house once we were home, he said that his back hurt.  Then we had this conversation with Austin…

A: My butt is cracking!

Us: HAHAHAHAHA!!!

A: Yeah!  Right here, it’s missing a part!

Us:  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

A:  Papi, don’t be SILLY!

Carlos:  It’s missing a part??

A:  See, right here in the middle!

HEHEHEHEHEHE!!!

 

I actually wrote it down right then so I would remember it word for word!

United Angels

Back at the beginning of December, Zach’s PT put something on Facebook about a Christmas Party for the United Angels Foundation.  I had never heard of it but she said it was for families with children who have special needs.  I looked into it and was really excited to get to meet more people.  Except for the fact that I really hate big groups of people, especially when I’m by myself.  Well, I signed us up for it, and thinking that Carlos was going to have to work, Amy said that she would go with me because there was no way I was taking all three boys by myself. 

Carlos ended up having the night off and we went up to the Orem Senior Center.  There were so many people, we had to park on the street and wait in line for quite a while to get in, then another half hour in line for the food.  They had way more people show up than expected.  And, they said dinner would be provided but asked that we each bring a treat.  So I made these yummy double chocolate cupcakes.

Chic-Fil-A provided a yummy dinner and the Chic-Fil-A Cow was there.  Let’s just say that Jaiden thought he was pretty COOL…

Austin was absolutely TERRIFIED.  When he came closer later and I was holding him, he alternated between telling me to leave because IT was there and to not to move so that he didn’t have to see the cow…

And Zach was OBSESSED!  He left the line three times to follow the cow and say hi.  I only got pictures one time…

And yes, his chair was also our coatrack…yeah, we probably need think of something better than burdening him with all of our stuff!

They had a fun slideshow of different activities the Foundation has done and then a cute little program.  And they also had Santa.  Austin, once again, was the timid one.  But in the end, he did start to crack a smile!

We had a really fun time, and even though we didn’t really get to KNOW anyone, we talked to some really nice people and enjoyed the spirit of the Christmas season with them.  On the way out, several women commented that they were glad their kids weren’t in wheelchairs because they wouldn’t be able to keep up with them!  Zach is very independent in his chair and took off quite often throughout the evening!  They also said he was very cute! 

Yep, cute boys! 

I’m glad I took that little leap and signed up for the party.  I’m excited to see what other things they offer!

Family Christmas Party

We had our party clear back on December 4th because that’s the day we could all make it work.  So, it was a good start to the month!

Amy and Eric hosted us in their home, which was a lot of fun.  We had a lot of fun last night too!  Thanks guys (if you ever go somewhere with internet and read this!….)

While waiting for the Polynesian Chicken Tempura, the kids were playing a ‘hit the table as loud as you can’ game and they all participated.  It was VERY loud!

Grandma came and showed them a ‘tap all your fingers on the table’ game, that went a little better, but the former game was still preferred…

Then, while waiting for presents, they played an ‘everyone yell as loud as you can’ game….

Zach was an original participant but later became the “Sshhhusher”

Grandpa, the official passer-out of presents, stopped a moment to listen to something very important that Brent was telling him.

What could these be?!?!

BEANBAGS!  

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  And thanks everyone for a great time!

Carlos and I came home and then later that night we all, except Carlos who had to work , went and saw White Christmas at the Pioneer Theatre Company.  It was a lot of fun.  And while, when the actor playing Bob Wallace, started singing, I thought “That’s not Bing Crosby!”, he quickly redeemed himself and everyone did an excellent job.  It was very enjoyable.  And can I just say that “Ezekiel” was hilarious!