Weston is 3!

Oh sweet Westy boy. He had been looking forward to this birthday for weeks! (And coincidentally, Collin had been quite miffed about it for weeks. Still can't wrap his mind around the fact that Weston's birthday is "first", even though HE is older.)

Be careful when you start traditions.... your kids will hold you to them.

The day before, the boys started excitedly talking about how they would be eating donuts for breakfast on Weston's birthday. Oh yeah... donuts. Dang, now I gotta go get donuts! :)

Glenn's bakery wasn't so good when we tried their food a few weeks prior, but their donuts are worth buying!

I wanted Weston to feel special on his birthday, but wasn't really sure what I could do. Not much in Gallup to do for fun! So, I bit the bullet, and Weston got his first ever birthday party. He said he wanted a monkey cake, so I decided to make it an animal themed party. He was ecstatic, and told everyone he knew about it.

We had it at 12:30pm so Trav could join us for some of it over his lunch break.

Weston really has only one friend, Rubi. :) So when I asked who he wanted at his party, he said, "Uhhh, Rubi! And Collin. And Lilly. And Daddy. And Mommy. And Olive." 

Nice, Ok. Intimate party. Then I suggested, Creighton... the little boy his age that we spend a lot of time with because we're friends with his family and his dad works at the dental office. Weston's eyes went wide with dismay. "No, not Creighton! He HITS me!" Well, I felt bad talking him into it, but it made sense for Creighton to be there, so Weston finally came around to the idea. :)

When the kids came in, they went straight to the table to make their "safari binoculars". 

Megan was so sweet to take charge and grab my camera to take pictures. Love this one!

Yay! Daddy made it sooner than expected. 

Then we had some pizza.

Creighton's sister, Brielle, is home schooled, so she joined in on the fun.

They could not stop talking about the dang pinata! So that was next. The basement was perfect for it.

The next game was supposed to be an "Elephant Relay Race". Just carrying unshelled peanuts on a spoon from one bowl to the next. The teams were as follows: Team A: Collin, Weston and Rubi. Team B: Brielle, Lilly, and Creigton.

Team A kicked Team B's trash. I think Collin, Weston and Rubi only ran one or two peanuts each, across. 

Then, they decided this game was for the birds and directed their attention, instead, at their pinata candy. All the while, Brielle, Lilly and Creighton are energetically "winning". It was like a scene out of Little Giants.

Next was "Tiger, Tiger, Lion." in place of Duck, Duck, Goose. The "it" person had a lion tail clipped onto the back of their shirt that the other person was trying to grab.

Finally, cake and ice cream! The monkey cake was a sad affair. I don't know why I tried to make brown frosting with food coloring instead of just making chocolate frosting. I'm smart like that. Luckily, 3 year olds don't care much.

Love this sequence that Megan got!

                                             

Yup! A big 3 year old now!

He got a fun Fisher Price airplane, Spiderman and book from Lilly and Rubi and some puzzles from Creighton.

Mom and Dad got him a magnetic boy "doll" that you can change clothes on, a Boogie Board (drawing tablet), and for the big present.... a train set!

Aunt Rachel sent an electronic dinosaur that turns into a car and Grandma Dog sent clothes and some motorcycle toys.

We had also bought a basketball hoop that didn't show up for a couple weeks so that became a joint birthday present for the boys. 

Oh yeah, I also threw in a doll! :) Weston is such a nurturing soul, so I've wanted to buy a doll for ages for him! Well, he pulled that thing out, and with a sheepish (not wanting to be rude) sly, grin, said, "A doll?! I not want a doll!" Haha, his dad gave him a high five over that comment!

To finish up, the kids grabbed their safari binoculars and headed upstairs to go on an animal hunt! I had hidden animal crackers all over the toy room. The kid with the most animal crackers got a prize. I thought it was so cute when they actually used the binoculars to go find the animals.

What can I say about my sweet, sweet Weston boy?! He is a tender hearted kid. He is also quite emotional. The smallest bump and he is wailing. He is a lover, not a fighter, but when Collin has pushed him too far, he has been known to fight back with a bite or a hit. Then he's instantly contrite and upset because he knows he did something wrong. He loves to nuzzle on Olive. He is still a pretty good eater, but you'd never know it by how skinny he is! He loves his Pediasure a few times a week. He HAS to hold my hand every time we go up or down the stairs together. He loves watching Dora, Team Umi Zoomi, and Peppa Pig. He loves cars and trains. He really enjoys songs and singing and reading books with me. Right now, their favorite is Don't Push the Button! When we sing songs before bed he can join in and sing almost all the words to I'm a Child of God, and Families Can Be Together Forever. He still wears a diaper at night. If you give him a stuffed animal, he'll be your best friend. He is dang good at playing Temple Run on our phones. Not too proud of that one. :) When he finds out that I'm leaving somewhere, he's suddenly so sad and pulls a pouty lip and pitifully says, "But I'll miss you." Randomly throughout the day he'll say, "Mom." Pause. "I love you." If you ask him if he had good sleepers in the morning, he always says yes. Then we ask if he had any dreams and he always says, "Yes. About dinosaurs and lizards." He loves his brother and wants to be just like him.

For his birthday, I asked him what his favorite food was so I could make it for dinner. He said, "Pizza." I told him we were having that for lunch and what would be his next favorite. He paused for a second then said, "Um. Leftovers." Haha! I totally started giggling and he pulled that smirk/self conscious face that shows he realized he said something funny but has no idea why it's funny. After more prodding, he said his next favorite food was soup.

Weston is my easy going, love a bug. He is a principled child and has a strong sense of what is right or fair. I am so grateful for him and his personality. We really needed a Weston to come after our high strung/ high energy Collin! I can't imagine my life without him. 

Valentines

Auntie Rach sent a cute little Valentine's package that included this headband. I died! I'm awful at planning holiday outfits for my kids. Olive rocked this adorable headband.

These pictures might be nearly identical, but I can't help myself. Enjoy them all.

Valentine's was fairly uneventful. I chatted up Josie most of the day and made it to decorate Trav's car at 4pm. He must expect this by now.

He came home for lunch with these. It made me gasp. Seriously. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I had completely forgotten that it's fairly expected to get flowers on Valentines. It honestly hadn't even crossed my mind. So these were a very pleasant surprise. But, even better?? He got Josie a dozen red roses! How thoughtful is that? He handed them to the boys to run them into her room. This guy is the best. It melted me heart that he did that.

I was able to find a sitter at the last minute, but not reservations! Whoops! Luckily, Sammy C's fit us in.

Cutie Olive crashed our date. Actually, she really did. She started crying the minute our food came out. So it was an awkward, quick, shovel food in our mouths and split.

That Sunday, with Grandma and Grandpa in town, we had our family Valentine's dinner of Sonoran Enchiladas (mine and Trav's first Valentine's meal together) and then fondue for dessert after we got back from his priesthood ordination. Sure do love all my sweet Valentines.

Juicing, Josie, High Priests and Pinewood Derby!

January was unusually warm.... it didn't snow once until the 31st. Boo-ya!

I was grateful, every day that the sun was shining. The boys beg to ride their scooters and skitters on the driveway. One day I decided they'd probably think it was pretty fun if I joined them. I loved it just as much as them! The highlight is going down the "hill" on the sidewalk from our fence to the mailbox. I got some good speed and several looks from passing cars!

I spent several hours on a Saturday, cleaning out the massive scout closet. Honest to goodness, it probably hadn't been cleaned in 15 years. I filled multiple garbage bags with just empty cans and containers. What the??? And threw out odds ends labeled 1995. Travis made many trips out to the dumpster. Ahhhh, that felt good.

We had a little Superbowl gathering (I hesitate to say party, because it wasn't exactly rockin'. Mostly just eating and glancing once or twice at the TV.... unless you were Travis and Michael. :) 

We did have massive amounts of delicious food! So despite a blowout game, I was fat and happy.

I get the occasional snap chat from Jefferson. Love them.

We brought home BAGS and BAGS of citrus from Trav's parents house when we were last in town. Which prompted me to look into buying a juicer. So glad I thought of getting a Bosch attachment juicer! Works amazing. Many hours later of juicing with my little helpers, straining and bagging, I now have a freezer full of yummy citrus juice!

And this pitcher of liquid gold. That's right... better than pumped breast milk!

Olive loves to grab onto something when she sucks her thumb. So I decided a little cuddle blankie was in order. Trav must have spent at least an hour unstitching this previous dud so I could use the minky fabric. He tried REALLY hard to knock my hand away from taking a picture. Suck it, Trav. You are the best, and I will have documentation. :)

I love online tutorials. But I hate when they preface with, "I'm going to teach you how to make this SUPER EASY/SIMPLE baby blanket." OK, maybe simple to YOU! But please, save us the self loathing by just calling it a baby blanket. Or even throw us novice seamstresses a bone with "medium difficulty" blanket. Anyway, it's all good in the hood. Blanket accomplished. And now I've added "mitered corner" to my vocabulary!

It is going to take me ALL winter to finish the kids' gosh darn hats. Olive gets hers first. 

I have finally amassed the necessary items to make "Megan Shaheen" bread. I got the wheat grinder for Christmas. Got a couple bags of wheat. (It's a lot harder to find hard wheat than you think!) I have the commercial grade pans. The dough enhancer. The gluten. The Bosch. The recipe. The "know how" tips from Megan. A thermometer, scale and dough scraper on the way. 

Sigh.

Guess that means I have to make bread. :)

Last Saturday I got back to my car in the Wal-mart parking lot, to find a note stuffed in my door handle. My heart sank. Someone hit my car and left a note. 

What I found instead, made my jaw drop a little. 

Ha!

Gotta love the grammar. Wonder if "Dave's" name is really "Nizhoni". Either way, Trav's got some competition. He's going to have to bring his A game this week. I gots me some options. :)

Ironically, he was bringing his A game that day. He took the boys off my hands for several hours to go on a hike at El Moro National Park. Man, these boys are cute!

 Speaking of these two. They now share a room. Which hasn't been awful, but invariably, the noise of one waking up in the morning, wakes up the other, and they have a lot more fun at bedtime. We walked in one night to find them bunked up together in the pack 'n play like this. (Weston sleeps in the pack 'n play now that Olive has the crib. I know, I know. We're white trash.) It appears, they tried to make a fort.

A week ago, Thursday, Travis came home from the usual night of meetings to tell me that Pres. Haws had recommended him to become a High Priest. His calling doesn't warrant it, but I guess President thought it was time. 

So last Saturday night, his parents drove in so they could be here for it. 

There was a priesthood meeting Sunday night, and afterward, Paula, me and the boys met them down there so Wayne could ordain Travis.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a really special occasion. President prefaced by telling Travis that this means that he is now a "100 percenter".  100% in every facet of the church. The stake presidency all chimed in on how much they love and appreciate Travis. Commenting how valuable he is and how grateful they are for him. It was neat to finally meet the rest of these men that Travis spends all his time with! Jokesters, they are! 

Wayne gave Travis a beautiful blessing. The Spirit was strong and it was humbling to be a part of. I am married to an amazing man! Don't know how I got so lucky.

Next to Trav is Pres. Hawes, then Pres. Bloomfield and Pres. Hine.

This got a little out of order, but a few days before Wayne and Paula came, Josie came to visit!! She was speaking in Albuquerque, so we got to have her for a few nights. This girl is the stuff. With every interaction, I hope that I can be of some help to her, and guess what? She helps me instead. Every time. This time it was with some much needed perspective on what's the most important in life. I love her. 

Alrighty, so last night, I hosted my first ever, Pinewood Derby. My goodness. Cub scout stress is a killer. Right here, we have 48 feet of sub sandwich. For realsies. Thank goodness for friends that watched my kids, cuz I don't know where they would have gone!

My selfie taken in the glass of the kitchen door.... classy. At this point I was chanting, "You can do this, you can do this." And hoping pit sweat didn't show through yellow very well.

The biggest loser got a cake. Watching his (and his parents) disappointment after every race, I think this went over well. Glad I did it!

I have some awesome den leaders. Colleen made all these lanyards for the boys and all the awards... including these cute, candy cars I forgot to take a picture of.

I had the movie Cars playing for the younger siblings, along with a coloring table.

Putting that husband to work. Wo-paw! (That's the sound a whip makes, FYI)

The cutest little thing to ever grace a derby!

I was the official "lever puller" to let the cars down. Sooooo grateful we didn't have any high strung kids or parents. We weren't exactly "rule book" strict, but it all worked out. 

And now.... it's OVER!!! I'm giving myself a one week break from worry before Blue and Gold stress begins!