Thanksgiving Week 2017

While I was visiting teaching, Justin let James learn this:

I am not happy about it but James sure thinks it's fun. He hasn't fallen down yet but we do have to retrieve him from the top of the stairs several times a day. Or let him out of rooms that he shuts himself in.

Justin's a good dad and I want everyone to know it.

James can be pretty high-maintenance and I swear he has no attention span some days. But then there are times that he rolls a battery around the kitchen floor for like 20 minutes.

Hey, another selfie of Henry while he stole my phone to look up sports scores.

 Erica loves the whole concept of free samples. Most days for lunch she asks for "free sample fruit" which means I give her cut up fruit and toothpicks. "Erica, did you know when you grow up, you can be one of those people that hands out free samples?"  She gasped in delight and says "I want to do that!"

Our youth did a food drive in our neighborhood. I took the food to Tabitha's way the next morning. I could only take 2 kids with me to drop it off because it filled up the car!

I was so proud of our youth and our neighborhood.

It was strangely warm Thanksgiving break so Wednesday we took the kids to the local high school to play football on a real football field. Henry kept calling it a stadium.

They mostly like to recreate scenes from Charlie Brown movies and books.

There's a kid or two running around the track.

All I wanted for Thanksgiving was a nice picture of my 4 turkeys. None of these are great so hereare all.


These last two crack me up. I think they were imitating what Justin was doing to make them laugh.


 This Thanksgiving we were eating with Justin's family. They weren't eating until the evening so we stopped by my parents' to drool over their lunch and taste their pies. Then we went to the Dye's to play games and prepare food. I took James home for a nap and when I got back to their house, this was the sunset. Crazy pretty sunset. It's like God was saying, "Just in case you don't think you have anything to be grateful for....."

Sarah made this tree and I helped her cut out leaves for everyone to write down what they were thankful for. Family made it on there the most. Henry wrote sports and Erica put treehouse even though she has never been in one.

During dinner Erica asked me, "Mom, do you have a real name?"
"Yes," I said, "My name is Diana."
Erica said, "That's not a real name."
"What's a real name?"
"Erica or Henry."

Even though we ate late, the food was soooo good and worth the wait. (It was worth eating with Dallin too.)

Saturday was my cousin's wedding reception. Here's a photo of my mom and her siblings, from youngest to oldest.

And now it feels like dead week. I don't decorate for Christmas until December so this week is a nice respite from any holiday rush. But I did make fudge yesterday because I couldn't wait anymore.

Two More Very Important Things

You may have already noticed James's haircut. Justin and I had been discussing for awhile just what to do with all this kid's hair. He always looked unkempt; it was getting into his eyes, sticking over his ears and collar. I knew I didn't want to be that mom who is sentimental about their boy's hair because boys with sentimental moms have dorky hair.

Aw, what a cutie.

We decided to just buzz it and buzz it nice and short so we wouldn't have to wrestle him again for awhile. He did okay. If we could have done it quicker he would have been fine but his wiggliness slowed us down.  That is so much hair!

Ta da! His new 'do makes his hair look blonder and his eyes look bigger.

November 9th Braden married Molly!

All the brothers.

After pictures we had like 5 hours to kill before the reception. So we ate lunch then went to the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum. We hadn't been since they redid it and I was disappointed that it was much smaller than before.  But my kids still had fun.

 Aw, so cute!

 After hanging out there waaaay longer than most people do, we drove up the canyon, got stuck in traffic on the way down then arrived early to the reception.

Henry was getting bored because there weren't any kids to play with and I wouldn't let him run around. So of course we took pictures together.

Sarah was prettily eating a cookie all by herself and the photographer snapped a picture of her looking so elegant so I did too.

And then Henry commandeered my phone to look up NFL highlights and took this picture of himself.

Then we drove home and got the kids to bed late and crashed on the couch. Work, school and James's birthday were the next day.

James Turns 1

First birthdays are so bittersweet for me. On one hand, there's a feeling of accomplishment. I got through it! Then there's this ache in my heart that it's over. He'll never be a baby again. 

I love the kid but that was one of the longest years of my life.

We started out the day by busting out the table tunnel. This is his first turn in it ever. He liked it until he toppled out of it. He was okay but didn't want to go back in.

During that time I worked on his cake. It is a moose mousse cake. Between the layers of cake I made a chocolate mousse. The antlers are chocolate covered rice crispy treats and chocolate chips for his eyes and nose.

It was all inspired by this little guy that James loves.

He loved it!

Oh these two. James has turned into quite the wrestler because of his dad. He'll wrestle you whether you want to or not.

He's batting at his happy birthday sign.

After dinner my parents and Justin's parents came over for presents and cake. It was a lot of "James, look what you got!" because he didn't care or get what we were doing. He got birthday money from Grandma and a train and shoes and fruit cup from Nana.

He was so excited to see his puppy again after picking it out in the store. I also got him some vanilla wafers and a box of raisins.

And then it was time for cake!

He was really mad when he ran out.

James at One Year

He cruises around and stands on his own but is not interested in taking any steps. Fine with me.

Things we call him: Jamers, James the baby, Mr. Blue Eyes, big baby, big guy, Whiny McWahWah

He has four teeth on top and three teeth on bottom which seems like a lot to me for this age. People will comment on how many teeth he has and I always reply "They're so big, huh?"

His big blue eyes and long eyelashes get me.

He stopped nursing a few days before his birthday. I'm surprised he lasted that long with how little he cared for it for the last few months. I'm still claiming that I nursed all four of my babies for a whole year. No bottles, no binkies, thankyouverymuch. (I didn't plan on the no binkies/no bottle thing but Sarah and Henry never took one so I never even tried with the last two since that's how I knew how to roll.)

Unless I change my mind (and this year did nothing to change my mind) James will forever be the baby. He is goofy, expressive, particular, snuggly, vocal, and loves to play. He's also a little chubby which is new for a baby of mine. I love him.