Daddy's Little Helper

Adam helping daddy do the dishes.

Andrew's New Room

Andrew's room has never been very organized and it has always bugged me.  Well, we finally found the time, and money, to do something about it!!!!  His room also serves as the guest room so it needed to be multi-functional.  We got almost everything at IKEA so Jason is now the master of putting furniture together.  

Here are the "before" and "after" pictures.  It still needs some finishing touches but it is soooooooo much better.

Merry Christmas! (early)

It was an early Christmas yesterdy because Nathan and Renay came over and the cousins exchanged presents.  With both our schedules so busy this was the only time we could get together before Christmas.  All the kids LOVE getting together so they could hardly wait.
Kaeli and Alyssa got a High School Musical dancing game for playstation.  They had a lot of fun creating themselves on the game and then dancing to the music.
Preston and Adam got jumpy balls which was absolutely perfect!  It took Preston less than a minute to master the balance needed and then he was all over the place having a blast! 

How can you sleep like that?

Every night when I go to bed I see Preston asleep on the couch in the loft.  However, he's had a couple rather unusual positions lately.

I just don't understand how you could fall asleep like that.  First he likes to live upside down and then he likes to sleep standing up!  What a silly boy. 

Is the World Really Upside Down?

All of a sudden Preston has decided that the most comfortable position is upside down.  Whenever he sits on the couch he always immediately flips into a handstand like the picture above.
The real kicker is when I walked upstairs the other day and saw him playing Lego Star Wars upside down.  I just don't understand how that would work but he seems to love it.

Adam's New Car Table

Here is Adam's birthday present from us and both grandparents.  He really loves it and so do all the other kids.  When we were putting the stickers on, it was like keeping a pack of dogs away.  When we finally gave the go ahead they all pounced on it to play.  
However, old habits do die hard.  Adam still likes to play on his old stand-by's!

Just Playing

Adams FAVORITE thing of all time to do is to push this car around.  Anytime we walk through the garage he goes straight for it.  Usually he just pushes it empty.  On this day though Preston got in and he started pushing him around the court.  Of course Preston was being very bossy and saying "go here, now there" but Adam didn't mind. 
It was kind-of a funny scenerio. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Preston should be pushing Adam.  Adam was as happy as could be though.

Fun Day Off From School

Okay, I can never figure out this picture thing on here!  My pictures came out in backward order but it's too late for me to care.

The kids had Tuesday off and it was nice for them to have some free time.  My project on the other hand was to clean the garage!  The kids "helped" for the first little while but then I made it Andrew and Natasha's "job" to play with Preston and Adam.  That strategy seemed to work out much better.

Preston is loving to ride his scooter now days and is getting very good at it.  He doesn't seem to notice that it is a Barbie scooter, just like he doesn't seem to notice that he is riding a Little Mermaid bike.  (I did try to change that and got him a red bike but he always just wanted the purple one so I gave up) He will be getting a more boy scooter soon. Hint, hint, wink, wink.

At one point I could hear Adam belly laughing.  I went to check it out and saw that he and Andrew were having fun with the tetherball.  Adam would throw it and when it hit Andrew, Andrew would act like it was a big deal.  Adam just thought that was the funniest thing ever.  They did it for quite awhile and he laughed every time.


So this is the picture that I really wanted first.  While I was cleaning I poked my head out and saw them playing a game.  They were playing that they were running away from robbers.  The funny thing is that they had to run in a straight line with Preston as the leader (that was part of the rules).  I thought it was cute that Adam got to hitch a ride in the wagon.  I love to see them playing nicely together!

Operation Weaning Binkie - Mission Complete

I thought I would make an update to my last post. Preston has done AWESOME with getting rid of his binkie.  That first night was a killer and it took a lot of will power to just let him scream for 1 1/2 hours.  However, the second night he only cried for about 20 minutes and the third night he didn't cry at all.  He hasn't cried since that second night.  Surprisingly he doesn't want his B when he doesn't get his binkie so he may be getting rid of that soon too.  I will let him have a binkie at nap time until he doesn't take naps anymore.  I NEED him to take a nap and I know he won't forever so it is the perfect enticement.  And when he doesn't take naps it will be natural for him not to have a binkie at the other times.  It has worked great with all my other kids and it usually keeps them taking naps longer than most.  Did I mention- I NEED Preston to take a nap!

I am just so happy that I've crossed this milestone.  I have been dreading it for a long time. Good for you Preston! 

Sewing Project Completed

After a two year hiatus of working on stockings I started one for Preston.  It was fun to be able to work on one again.  It comes as a felt kit and you have to sew EVERYTHING by hand. I have completed one for Andrew, Natasha, and now Preston.  I thought the camping theme couldn't have been more perfect for Preston!

We Have Won!

As many of you know Jason was the zip code coordinator for our ward for Proposition 8.  He spent many, many, many, many hours on this.  He did this on top of being in the bishopric and also being on a committee for a local measure for the election.  Needless to say he has devoted his all to Proposition 8.  As you might have guessed his absence has been hard on our family.  (I must admit that I have had at least one nervous breakdown)  However, it has been worth it now that Prop 8 has passed.  It is such a miracle and a great thing to have your hard work be blessed with success.  Did I forget to mention, I AM SO GLAD THIS ELECTION IS OVER!!!!

Operation Weaning Binkie - Phase III

We survived the first night of Preston going to bed without a binkie.  I know he is way old to have one but as most of you know Preston is . . . well . . . difficult.  His binkie has helped me keep my sanity.  However, I have had to bite the bullet and start weaning him from it.

Phase I - He had to leave binkie and B (blankie) at home.  He could use it whenever he wanted at home but it couldn't come in the car with us.

Phase II - He could only suck on his binkie in his room.  He could have his B anywhere but if he wanted a binkie he had to stay in his room.

Phase III - He can only get the binkie at nap time and none other time.

So, last night was the first night of Phase III.  The first half hour was him saying "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm NOT getting bigger!" over and over again.  Then he started sneaking out to go on a binkie hunt on his own.  He did find one somewhere which we had to take away from him.  Then finally it came down to him screaming for and hour and a half.  After that it finally went quiet.  When I went to bed and checked on him he was in his bed all covered up and asleep - sans binkie.  His room was completely trashed but he was asleep. He woke up once in the night but went back to sleep fine.

I consider it a pretty successful night.  It could have been A LOT worse. We'll see if tonight gets any better.  

Wish me luck!

Toothless Twins

While Alyssa was visiting this last weekend she lost her front tooth.  Her and Natasha were excited that they looked alike. 

Hair Disasters

Today after eating his breakfast Adam decided to rub his plate full of syrup all of over his head before chucking it across the room.

I don't know if you can tell by the pictures but it was just coated in syrup.  Luckily we didn't have to go anywhere this morning so it was easy to give him a bath right away.
However it doesn't compare to when Natasha decided to "style" Preston's hair with chapstick.  That took multiple baths with multiple shampoos to get it all out.  He smelled fruity for a few days.
It may look just like gel but his hair was totally covered (every strand) with chapstick.  They seem so proud of themselves too!  He sure did look cute.

Trick-or-Treat!

Cousins Kaeli, Alyssa, and Ian Behrmann came for Halloween.

Alyssa - Wonder Woman, Andrew - Pirate (the captain), Ian - Superman, Natasha - Witch, Preston - Pirate (1st mate), Kaeli - Gabriella (High School Musical), and Adam - Pirate

I couldn't get Natasha's witch hat to stay on so we settled on crazy hair.  It was a complete last minute decision and it turned out great!  She loved it that I sprayed black in it (luckily I had some stuff left over from Andrew's Harry Potter costume last year).  I don't know if you can see in the picture but she is wearing her Cheetah costume from last year underneath her witch costume.  She originally wanted me to decorate her face half cheetah and half witch.  Whew, I'm glad I won that argument!
Adam got the sucker in his had at the very first house we went to.  He had the death grip on it for the rest of the night!  He also was really good at keeping his hat on.  He didn't take it off until we were almost done.

We did not survive the night without a small melt down (notice the sucker still did not leave his hand, he even had enough in him to take a lick in the middle of a fit).  He wanted to cross the street and we were going straight.  
The fit didn't last too long and he was up and pushing the wagon in no time.  He is going to be a great hiker!  He walked more than Preston.  Soon after this picture was taken it started to rain.  Luckily we were only a few houses from home.  We got so lucky because right after we got home it started to pour. We were also lucky because everyone was getting tired at this point anyway. Everyone had a really good time.

Carving Pumpkins

Today the kids FINALLY got to carve their pumpkins. They couldn't believe it when I said that's what we were going to do.  However, once we got the lids carved on all of them and they put one hand in and they were done.  They all had the same comment, "I'm not touching that slimey stuff!"  So, 45 minutes later after I'd dug out all the pumpkins (which of course had to be the biggest ones that they could find) We started carving.

Natasha and Andrew had fun doing the actual carving for the first time.  Natasha got tired after one eye but Andrew did his whole face all by himself.

It's fun to carve, but a lot of work! Preston was done after we cut the lid off, Natasha was done after one eye, and Adam slept through the whole thing!

Here's the finished product!  (We got a face kit that came with the eyes.)

Andrew's Fun Day of Cub Scouts

Saturday they had an all day scouting event at a farm here and Andrew was in heaven.  That morning he was up and in his scout uniform before anyone else was out of bed!  He earned his BB Gun and Archery belt loops.