Christmas

A huge part of Christmas for us this year (and probably will be for all the years we live in Canada) was the Nativity Pageant put on by our church for the four days leading up to Christmas. Its an outdoor pageant at a park near the church that has been running for 30 years. They do two shows a night except on Christmas Eve, which was only one show, and we participated in almost all of them. The kids loved it so much and it helped them focus on what Christmas is really about. Asher wanted to be an angel almost every night, but since that is the spot that gets filled up first, he had to be a shepherd one night. Leif loved being a shepherd (there were real sheep that he got to pet), so he only dressed up as an angel once just to see what it was like. Heidi was a towns-person every night which fit her just perfectly because there was a little pink costume just her size that she loved. It was pretty cold and snowed two of the nights, plus we got home way past bedtime, but it was well worth it. On the nights that I went, I dressed up as a towns person just so I could keep Trevor tied to me and have a blanket wrapped around both of us (it blended in pretty well with the other costumes). One night I stayed home with Trevor because he was a little sick and Austin stayed home with him another night. On that night, I told the kids we had to leave after the first show so I could get home to take care of Trevor before bed, but Asher was so eager to stay that he begged me to let him come home with a family that lives close to us. We are pretty good friends with them, so I said it was okay and he was thrilled and felt so big. On the night that I stayed home, the cast was pretty low so Austin got roped into dressing as a Roman Centurion, but that was the only night he did it, so I didn't get to see :(

Heidi got to ride on the donkey a few of the nights and I got a picture one time. She just loved all the animals and kept talking about how nice they were (perhaps more to convince herself than anything). The kids can't wait to do the pageant again next year. I know they liked dressing up and sharing the story of the Savior's birth, but I think most of all they liked staying out past their bedtime and running around outside with their friends in the snow.

We had a lot of holiday treats this year too. The boys loved making a gingerbread house. I was going to make it from scratch, but didn't feel up to it after all and we bought a kit. They probably had more fun than they would have had with me being grouchy if it didn't work if we tried it from scratch.  They also loved decorating sugar cookies. We made them early in the month, so we froze them and saved them to put on a plate for Santa. They were very specific about which ones were for him :)

I tried to get a good picture of them all dressed up for church on Christmas Eve, but it didn't work outside and this was the best we could do inside. Oh well- they're all there!

The boys woke up at about 7:30 on Christmas morning (all those late nights at the pageant took their toll) and went down to the family room without waking anyone. They came up to wake Austin and I after a bit to tell us (with eyes glowing with Christmas magic) that Santa had set up our train track around the tree and left us some new train pieces, left a box of Legos unwrapped, a sled, a stuffed hippo, and filled their stockings. They were so excited and it was fun to see! We told them they could play with the things that Santa left, but they would have to wait until everyone was up to open all the other gifts. Heidi woke up not too long after, but Trevor typically sleeps really late (especially when he's had me up all night) so they had to wait quite awhile. Here they are with their stockings:

We had crepes for breakfast and Heidi was excited to help me make them. Her favorite part is "popping the eggs" which means breaking the egg yokes and she also loves to stir anything I will let her get her hands on.

When Trevor finally woke up, we opened all the gifts from their family members. They got spoiled with everyone mailing up boxes full of presents. The excitement was mounting as they saw the pile growing bigger in Austin and my room (there so Trevor wouldn't rip the packages open) and they were super excited when I finally put them under the tree on Christmas Eve. Opening them was really fun and they got a lot of great gifts.

This cement truck was probably Asher's favorite present, although he also loved all the Legos and this little zippy toy from his cousins.

Trevor loved all the wrapping paper there was to throw around.

I think Leif's favorite present was all the Legos.

Heidi is hugging this unicorn, but once she opened a baby doll from my mom, she totally forgot about it and has been tending to the baby and fussing over it ever since. It is by far her favorite present, but I didn't get a picture of her with it that morning.

Trevor really likes the sled that Santa left just because he thinks its fun to sit in it and get spun around.

All the kids really like the clothes from their grandparents. Heidi got this little pink vest which is a winner because it's pink and has bear ears. Leif got a shirt with a truck on it and some pants- he's worn  the outfit nonstop since Christmas except when I had to wash it today. Asher got a BB8 (Star Wars) shirt that he has informed me he is sure will fit him again next winter and he wants me to buy him the next size up so that he can wear it for the two winters after that too. He also got some nice pants too, but they are too big for him right now and will probably fit next year. 

Once Trevor went down for a nap, I took the older three to a little hill near our house to try the sled out. It isn't very steep so it wasn't hard for them to climb back up and I didn't want Heidi to get going too fast anyway. They had lots of fun, but only got to go down about four or five times each because it was so cold and the wind was blowing snow in our faces. But look how cute Leif was to help Heidi come back up the hill (Asher carried the sled for her) without being asked at all!

Here are some fun shots of Heidi. I was trying to get some pictures of her in her new clothes to show her grandparents, but she kept smiling really weird. I can't remember what inspired the first, surprised look, but the second look was because Austin said "think about daddy" and she turned and gave him this look- I can practically see little hearts coming out of her eyes!

ONE

Our little Sugar Plum is ONE! The kids were expecting him to magically wake up bigger and even thought he might be able to walk today. When he didn't fulfill their expectations, they said "but he's still really cute". Trevor had a fun, but normal day. The only thing out of the ordinary were getting a few new toys (which his siblings played with more than he did) and getting to have brownies after dinner. He seemed to enjoy the brownies, but wasn't overly excited about them. Pretty typical of Trevor- very chill and happy with whatever. I think he enjoyed everyone singing directly to him right before the brownies just as much as eating them.
Trevor is a little mover and into everything, but isn't walking yet. Asher loves to prop him up on a walking toy and escort him around moving anything out of the way and supporting him if needed, but he doesn't ever get up and do it himself. He'd rather just pull himself up on anything he can and pull things down. He favorites the drawer right under the oven where I keep two big skillets. Whenever he is in the kitchen he comes over, pulls them out and bangs them around. He also loves to get anything out of low cupboards that he can and really likes the stick that goes in the sliding glass door to hold it shut.
Trevor's newest trick is to screetch and yell whenever he sees something that he wants. He learned pretty quickly that he gets what he wants when he does that, so I'm trying to teach him not to do it, but its hard with so many other little people around. In the last few weeks its been a problem at church where I can't just let him screech at the top of his voice, so I've either had to find ways to distract him or take him out on walks.
Trevor's first word was "da" for Austin, which he said months ago, but I don't remember when. But just yesterday he said another word- "more". At dinner he made the sign and said it because he wanted me to give him more dinner. He hasn't said it since, preferring just to screech when he wants me to give him more.
Trevor continues to struggle with dry skin and scratching himself as you can see in the pictures. His head has little scratches on it, despite me rubbing him down in thick lotion twice a day. He scratches at his legs and tummy a lot too when I'm changing his diaper or clothes, but he doesn't have many cuts there since I keep him well clothed just to prevent them. (He either wears one piece fleece PJs all day or several layers of pants, shirt, onsie, and extra long songs to keep him from getting his sharp little nails on his skin).
He's a sweet, well-tempered little sweetie and we are so glad he is in our family, although it is bitter-sweet to see him growing so fast.

Leif is FIVE!

Leif went to bed on his last night of being four convinced that during the night he would get bigger and outgrow his pajamas. He was certain that he would need to take them off in the middle of the night to accommodate his growing body. His growth doesn't happen quite so quickly, but is has been fast! All of the sudden we have a five year old!
Leif loves to laugh and is a very, very silly kid. He can also be very shy and only wants attention on his own terms. Leif is a thinker and is very clever. He's a one-of-a-kind little person and we love him! Here are his answers for his birthday interview:

Who is your favorite person? Trevor

What is your favorite color? Green

What is your favorite thing to watch on TV? Planes and Planes Fire and Rescue (this has been his favorite movie since before he turned two)

What is your favorite outfit? Nothing (He was sort of giving my short answers trying to get this interview over with, but he really does love wearing nothing but his underwear- all my kids seem to love this!)

What song do you like the best? Hark The Herald Angel Sing  (this is the most recent song that I sing to him at bedtime, he even wanted us to sing it instead of Happy Birthday)

What is your favorite cereal? Crepes (not a cereal, but by far his favorite breakfast food)

Who is your best friend? Asher

What do you want to do when your grow up? Fly airplanes

What is your favorite book? Planes Fire and Rescue (of course- the book version of his favorite movie. He has this book memorized and can 'read' the whole thing-it's been his favorite for a few years now)

What are you really good at? Coloring- he has become a coloring maniac lately, getting out markers and coloring books whenever he gets the chance

Where do you wish you could go on vacation? Oregon

What would you buy is you had a lot of money? Candy

What is your favorite dinner? Chicken Rolls

If you could have a wish, what would it be? Snow to build a snowman

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Mint Chocolate Chip-the green kind

Who do you want to be like? Our Dad

What do you like to do with your friends? Run around

What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? Go on a hot air balloon ride

What is your favorite thing to do? Play Planes Fire and Rescue

What are you proud of? Everything

What are you afraid of? Monsters

What is Mom's favorite thing to do? Sew

How strong is Dad? Really strong

What does Dad do best? Work

What does Mom do best? Sew

What do you like best about Dad? His stories (Austin often tells them very silly stories just to make them laugh. He also tells them really creative stories at bedtime about becoming dragons)

What do you like best about Mom? She makes us food

This is a picture of Leif's last night being four

My dad was singing to Leif over the phone. He gets so shy and hides when people sing to him.

Here he is talking to Austin's dad and looking at the awesome book he got him. 

There were originally 5 balloons, one just popped

We had a backward day (Leif has been asking for one for months) so we had chicken rolls for breakfast (yuck!), pizza for lunch, and chocolate waffles for dinner.

Everyone had to have a candle to blow out

Trevor got just a little taste of chocolate waffles, then he ate a bunch of strawberries

Leif wanted a "jello cake", which is just a bunch of layers of different flavors of jello topped with whipped cream. It didn't really glow- Austin just put a flashlight there to try to highlight the layers of colors. 

Here are the kids enjoying all the new toys together

2 1/2

Our little princess is 2 1/2! Wow she is getting big in a hurry!
Heidi LOVES her daddy! She often talks about him throughout the day, bringing him up in the conversation even when he has nothing to do with what we are talking about. The other day I was explaining something about the library to the boys and Heidi suddenly said "my daddy can go to the library. He's a boy and he's my daddy and he can go to the library". She just must be thinking about him a lot even though she only gets to see him for a few minutes in the morning and for a little while at night :) A few nights ago while Austin was getting Heidi ready for bed she started touching his stubbly beard and mustache and started talking about how it was prickly, then told him that it was beautiful. A few weeks ago, Heidi saw some pictures of Austin that I keep on my dresser mirror and decided that she wanted a picture of him in her room. I found a little one and she was so proud to put it in her room. Sometimes I catch her walking around with it-she sure loves her daddy!
However, even though she loves her daddy, she really likes to be with mom too. She loves to sit in the bathroom going through my drawer while I put makeup on. She especially loves to get my wedding ring out of its box and give it to me. She also loves to run errands with me alone on Saturdays when we leave the boys home with dad.
Heidi is extremely talkative! She is always saying something and demanding that we listen to her. Sometimes she gets going so fast that I've had to swear to Austin that I'm not giving her any stimulant drugs ;) She talks especially fast when she's trying to talk me into something or make excuses for what she is doing. If I tell her she has to do something she doesn't want to or stop doing something she wants to do, she says "no, no, no, no, no, no, I just . . . ." and gives me whatever her reason is. Last night she was hanging on the banister and when I told her to stop she first said that she was a big girl. When I told her big girls don't hang on banisters, she explained that she was exercising. When I reminded her that she has a pink yoga mat to exercise on (she likes to exercise with me in the mornings sometimes) she came up with the excuse that she was doing it for the baby- which makes no sense, but I had nothing to say to that and eventually just had to distract her with another activity. For some reason, Heidi usually refers to Trevor as "the baby". Sometimes she calls him Baby Trevor and always insists that he is her baby, but its just funny and seems impersonal when she says "the baby".
Heidi's imaginative play is also really blossoming lately! She especially likes to pretend to cook things, but imagines other things too and loves to tell us all about it. Unless of course she is just completely caught up in her play- then she doesn't talk to us much. 
Heidi is definitely a little fire cracker in our family! She adds spice and laughter to every day. Here are a few photos I got of her before church.

Plus a bonus of Leif with the baby snowman he built:

11 Months

Our little Trevor is getting big too fast. He is now very mobile, racing around the house on his hands and knees as fast as he can go. He loves to try to keep up with his siblings, but as ever, his favorite place is usually in mom's arms. Trevor has started pulling himself up and then squatting down to pick things up. He is a busy little guy that needs constant supervision, but is so happy the majority of the time. We've discovered the he loves popcorn (I just make sure to only give him soft pieces with no kernels) and he is delighted to share it with us. One evening Austin and I got him laughing for several minutes straight just because we were feeding him little bits of popcorn. He is such a sweet, pleasant little fellow!
Poor, little bug has had a runny nose for the last month! It went away for about a week, but then came back again when he picked up some new virus. It's just that season of the year- he's perfectly happy despite not feeling well, but he almost always has something stuck on his nose because I can't keep up with keeping it clean- and he hates when I do it anyway ;)

Halloween

For a fun week-before-Halloween dinner I made stuffed bell peppers and carved little faces into each one. I only made three peppers because I knew the kids would only eat the filling, but Leif really wanted a pepper on his plate. I ended up eating it, but he enjoyed eating the filling out of it.

 The trunk-or-treat at church happened last weekend. It was quite small compared to ones we have gone to in the past, but our ward here is quite a bit smaller than in other areas we have lived.

 The kids loved carving pumpkins this year. I had to do much of the pumpkin gutting, but Asher and Leif carved their faces all by themselves this year.

 I carved Heidi's pumpkin for her after she showed me the face she wanted on it by making it herself. After I was done, she took the little knife and stabbed little holes all over the pumpkin just to feel like she was doing it herself.

 Here the kids are with their pumpkins.

 I didn't get any great photos with all the kids in their costumes. As you can see Heidi was Little Red Riding Hood (the only costume I made this year), Trevor was the "big, bad wolf", Asher was Iron Man, and Leif was a tiger (a costume I made a couple years ago for Asher)

 And here's a single of Heidi since she was blurred in the last one

Here are the kids with their stash of goodies. Trevor loved all the crinkley packages and the kids loved eating whatever they wanted for awhile. You might think from looking at the candy that Snickers don't exist here in Canada- they do, I just stole them all ;) The kids got tons of chips and pretzel bags, I guess that's a big thing here.