Grandma's Tree

It has become tradition that each year the grandkids help Grandma Mansfield put up her kid Christmas Tree. Grandma buys each grandkid an ornament each year. The kids put up all their ornaments and then they decorate with all of grandmas other ornaments (which is a lot, if you know grandma). They all have a great time. I always enjoy watching the bigger kids trying to get their ornament the highest on the tree. And the little kids think that all their ornaments need to be hung from the same branch (or light strand). Grandma is in charge of handing out the ornaments, and Grandpa helps the little kids reach high places. The parents even get involved a little, mostly taking pictures. You should see how many flashes go off in that room. Then when the tree is all decorated we all get to enjoy Grandmas delicious homemade eggnog. My favorite part. I was especially grateful for this tradition this year. It's nice that the kids got to help decorate some tree. We haven't put our tree up yet. We thought we would go back to our roots and try out an old German tradition of putting the Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve. Really, we are just waiting for our new house to be finished. We would really like to have Christmas there. The way things look, I think we will get to try out that German tradition after all.

Look Janice, there is actually a picture of me on this post.

A Love of Reading

My boys have both been loving to read lately. Kamryn has been reading the Fable Haven Series and Derek has been reading Magic Tree House books. One day (when it was still warm) this is how I found them. I guess they were trying to enjoy the nice weather, but still wanted to read their books.

Fall Play

My kids favorite thing to do in the fall is rake up all the leaves into a pile and jump in it. Good thing we don't have a shortage of leaves at our house.

My kids are also lucky to have such a fun dad that will throw them into the leaves.

If you look close on these next two pictures you can see little legs and feet sticking out of those leaves.

Oh look, somebody threw away some perfectly good kids.

The fun of being a kid.

Another Halloween

Halloween really isn't my favorite holiday, but when your kids are this happy and cute, I guess it's all worth it.

It's always been a tradition in our family to carve pumpkins for Halloween. Usually we do it for family night sometime in October. This year we decided to carve pumpkins on the Friday before Halloween. When Wyatt got off work, we ate dinner and then went to the store to pick out our pumpkins. Well when you wait until the day before Halloween there are no pumpkins left, (at least not in Vernal). We talked our kids into making carmel apples, and then buying the new Ice Age movie that was out and watching a movie. The kids loved the movie, and so they were happy, and mom and dad were pretty happy not to have the mess of carving pumpkins. I still felt like pretty much a slacker mom for not being more prepared for Halloween. I guess I will have to do better next year.
I'm not exactly sure what Sadie is for Halloween. She found this cute dress in the dress-up dept. and wanted to wear it for Halloween. She calls herself a flower, or a flower princess. Whatever she is, she is pretty cute.
Brynli wanted to be a skeleton this year. I guess she has outgrown the days of princesses and fairies. I was just glad that she found a girly skeleton costume.
Derek originally wanted to be a mummy. We couldn't find a pre-made costume so I figured I could just buy a sheet, rip it up, and make my own costume. I'm not very good at making costumes, so I usually don't even try, but I thought a mummy would be easy enough. The Wednesday before Halloween was the school carnival. The kids got to dress up for that. We made Derek a mummy costume. It wasn't the best mummy ever, but he looked pretty cute. I wish I would have taken a picture of him. On Halloween I planned to wrap him up as a mummy again, but he changed his mind and decided to be a motorcycle rider. It took quite a while to get him into his mummy costume. I think that is why he changed his mind. The motorcycle rider was much easier, and he makes a pretty cute little dirt bike rider.
When we went to the store to buy Halloween costumes Kamryn just had to have this mullet wig and blow up guitar. I told him that he would have to make up a costume using those two props. When Halloween actually came, he decided it would be easier to just wear his motorcycle gear. So Kamryn was also a dirt bike rider. He looks pretty cool!
We all had a good Halloween night. We went to our ward soup dinner, and trunk or treat. Then we went to a little spook alley and Megan and Grandma's house. The kids all got plenty of candy and had a lot of fun.

The Payoff

Anybody who knows Kamryn very well, knows what a picky eater he is. He thinks he is a vegetarian with the exception of bacon, certain chicken nuggets, and a little bit of hamburger if it is disguised is spaghetti or lasagna. Oh, but he is a vegetarian that doesn't really like vegetables. Sometimes he calls himself a "carbivore" because he likes foods that are high in carbs; pasta, bread. rice, potatoes, etc. We are constantly trying to get Kamryn to try new foods, but he will throw such a fit, that it is hardly worth it. You would think that we were making the poor child try poison or something. Dinner time has always been a fight with Kamryn.

Also, if you know Kamryn well you will know of his love for motorcycles. Kamryn has loved motorcycles since he could talk. He asked for one every Christmas and Birthday, until we finally bought one when he was 6 years old. He has been riding since then and loves it. He is a pretty good little rider too. Motorcycles are his favorite thing.

This summer Kamryn decided that he had outgrown his motorcycle. He wanted one that was bigger and faster. His desire for a new motorcycle grew stronger when his good buddy Jackson got a KTM 85. Kamryn thought that is what he wanted. It was a two-stroke, and it was a much bigger bike than he had, and could go much faster, and climb much higher. His friend Jacob was also talking about getting a new bike, so Kamryn really wanted us to get him a new bike. Frequently I would hear "Mom, guess what? I want a KTM 85", or "Can I get a KTM 85", or "How come you won't buy me a KTM 85" (that one was said with much whine in his voice". One day in June after fighting with him to try something new for dinner, and hearing how much he wanted a KTM 85, I decided to make him a deal. I told him that if he would eat dinner every night for 4 months (eat everything I made, and normal portion sizes, not just try it), then we would get him a new motorcycle. His initial response was "there is no way I could ever do that" (said with a little whine). But then after he thought about it for a little while and realized how much he wanted a new motorcycle, he decided he could do it, if he didn't have to eat any condiments, and if he didn't have to eat sloppy joes (he thought that was the worst food ever). I agreed to this, thinking that I had made a safe bet. I just wanted him to leave me alone and quit telling me how much he wanted a new bike. If I could put the ball in his court, and then he couldn't do his part, then I was off the hook. I remembered all the past bribes we had tried to offer him to eat food, and all the fits that had been thrown, and the gagging that he would make himself do when trying something new, yeah I had made a safe bet.

Well, Kamryn amazed me! He changed his whole attitude about eating. He would mentally prepare himself to eat food and he had no problem eating dinner (he was a little slow, but he ate it). He didn't like everything he ate, but he still ate it. He did, however, find out that there were a lot of foods that he thought he didn't like, but he really likes. The best part was that dinner time was no longer a fight. He very rarely would complain or whine. It was great. He even ate a sloppy joe. Kamryn was doing so well and so we decided we better start searching for a used KTM 85 (there is no way that I was going to buy him a brand new one). They were hard to find and the ones we did find were still more money than we wanted to spend. Then Wyatt decided to look for a used Honda 85. A Honda 85 is still a two-stroke like he wanted, and just as good as a KTM 85. They don't make the Honda 85 anymore, but we thought maybe we could find a used one. We found one on KSL classifieds one day that was just the right price. It was up in Logan, so we had Wyatt's little brother, Mikey, look at it for us, and then pick it up. I happened to be going to Logan the next weekend so I could pick it up. Wyatt talked Kamryn into wanting a Honda 85 instead of a KTM 85 and everything worked out just right. We got it a little early, but Wyatt couldn't wait to take him riding. For Family night we took all the kid bikes (Wyatt's bike will no longer fit in his truck with all the kid bikes) to the Honda Hills for a ride.

Here's Kamryn on his hew Honda 85.

Wyatt and Sadie had to try it out too.

Derek was pretty excited to ride his new hand-me-down bike.

Brynli was glad that she no longer has to share with Derek.

Kamryn thinks life is pretty great.

Wyatt had to try out all of the bikes.

More pictures of the kids riding.

Sadie enjoyed just watching in the truck, and eating chips.

Even though Kamryn won the bet, I feel like a winner too. Dinner time is so much nicer, now that Kamryn will actually eat food. And I too enjoy watching my family have fun riding motorcycles. Besides Kamryn's motorcycle is the perfect size for me. When I'm not so fat and pregnant I think I will really enjoy riding it.

Birthdays

We have had two birthdays that I haven't blogged about. Sadie's birthday was at the end of August, and Derek's birthday was at the end of September. For Sadie's birthday we had a family birthday party at the lake. Grandma and grandpa Koltermann came out to help us celebrate, along with the usual Mansfield gang and Amber and kids. We all had a great time at the beach.

Here Sadie is modeling one of her birthday presents.

We also had a birthday celebration at grandma Mansfield's house. Allison's birthday is 3 days after Sadie's, so they got to celebrate together.

Sadie loved all of her presents.

And Melanie, of course, make a darling cake for the girls.

For Derek's birthday he decided that he wanted to go swimming at the Rec. Center with just our little family. We had a lot of fun, but forgot to take the camera with us, so we don't have any pictures. Derek also had a birthday party at grandma Mansfield's. He got his favorite things, LEGOS. He got two video games, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Indiana Jones. And he got about 4 different lego sets to put together.

Melanie even made the cake look like it was made of legos. Grandpa had a birthday too, so part of the cake was for grandpa and the lego part was for Derek. Isn't she so creative?

Surfing Fun?

Surfing was our sport of choice behind the boat this summer. We finally got Derek to try it towards the end of the summer. The surfboard was a little big for him, but he still managed to get up and do a pretty good job.

Wyatt decided to take Allison and Chloe out for a ride. I don't know that either of them were way excited about it, but they did a great job.

Wyatt really wanted to have Brynli give it a try. After a little coaxing and bribing we finally convinced her to try it. She was scared to death. I think that the faces she is making are so funny. I wanted to share them.

Here she is as they first get up.

Wyatt sets her on the board, so she can have a little more stability.

She is totally freaking out.

Holding on for dear life.

Still holding on, but looks like maybe it will be o.k.

I guess not, freaking out again.

Oh look, I think she might be close to smiling.

Now they are even surfing without the rope.

Brynli was freaking out the whole time, and she didn't even get her hair wet. Girls can be so dramatic. After it was all over she said that she would do it again. It's a little cold to try it now, but we'll see next year if she becomes a little surfer girl.