Winter Fun

We came home from Thanksgiving in Dillon to TONS of snow...

So we dug out our snow gear and played!

and played some more.

Frosty is in front and Pengy is in the back.

Off to the side, where you can't see it, is a tiny snowman for Ike named Snoopy.

This is the first time in 2 years that we've had enough of the right kind of snow to make a snowman, so the kids had tons of fun!

War Heads

We gave the kids their first war heads the other day.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

(They are in the correct sequence)

The Pumpkin Patch

We took Coen's pre-school class to the pumpkin patch.

Reagan and Ike got to come too. It was FREEZING!!!

Unfortunately we waited too long and almost all the pumpkins were gone. No, he isn't going to the bathroom, this was just the closest thing to a smile I could get while he was pretending to pick a pumpkin.

Here's most of the group. There weren't any pumpkins, but the kids still got to feed the animals. They had goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, horses, pigs, rabbits, and sheep. The kids got some candy and a spider ring which as you'll see in the next picture was very important.

This is where you can tell we were having a good time! No, Reagan had just lost her candy and spider ring and couldn't find it (if you look really close you can see the huge frozen tears on her cheeks) and Ike was just done with the whole thing. They really did have fun!

Here are our pumpkins this year. Reagan is sitting behind hers and she won a prize at the church party for scariest pumpkin carved by a kid. I forgot to take my camera so a friend took pictures for me. If I ever get those I post them with a kind of funny story about Coen. Well, it's typical Coen anyway...

Sibling Summer Fun

Going to check the mail

They asked if they could run through the sprinklers. I looked out to find them hiding behind the "underella" fairly close to the sprinklers. By the time I got the camera they had retreated to this spot and were watching the sprinklers instead.

One of his favorite toys!

Reagan was reading them stories on her bed.

Brothers bonding over the joys of the movie Cars.

I LOVE how they play together and try so hard to be helpful. Our summer has been a little crazy trying to get the house ready so sell, so we haven't had the time to do all the fun stuff we wanted to, but they have made the best of it and had fun together anyway. I've got great kids. And even though I make fun of them all the time, I love them like crazy.

A Haircut and a boy...

So, I finally admitted that there was a problem and got out the clippers. I've given him hair cuts in the past, but just with my scissors while he's watching a movie. But we were way beyond that. He started out okay with the clippers, but rapidly progressed to severely not okay.

So we still have a few spots to fix, but here he is about a pound lighter and looking so grown up...

Now, you may not have noticed, because he's so quiet subtle and quiet, but Coen is quite the crier. (You can stop here and laugh hysterically if you need to.)

He seriously bursts into crocodile tears about 400 times a day because he hurt himself (usually he ran into something with his large noggin) or someone was mean to him (they made a funny face at him), or I asked him to do something completely outrageous like put on his shoes.

Here he is when I asked him if I could take his picture.

Lately he wants me to help him do everything. Somethings I can understand and some requests are pretty ridiculous. The latest one was pretty funny though. He asked me to help him eat his sammich. I asked him what he wanted me to do and he said... I'll open my mouth, you pick up my sammich, put it in my mouth, close it and che... He kind of realized he was asking me to chew his food for him and tried to stop mid word. Then he quietly picked up and ate his sammich by himself.

My next post will be some pictures of him being happier, I promise. And hopefully it will be with in the year... Just kidding mom, it will be sooner than that.

Happy Mothers Day

HERE'S TO YOU MOM!

The Easter Bunny gave Coen Stuart Little in his basket. So the kids are big fans now.

Kickin' it with Stuart...

One gorgeous day...

Dear Nanie & Oma,

You are the most wonderful, amazing, fantastic, fabulous, incredible, lovely women we know. We are ecstatic that we get to call you mom (and of course Nanie & Oma)! You have made and continue to make our lives wonderful. We'll be thinking of you today, as we do everyday, feeling blessed indeed to have you in our lives.

Love & Hugs & Kisses,

Nick, Ashley, Reagan, Coen & Ike

Reagan Turns 5

Reagan's Birthday!!!

She woke up to a Beta Fish in her room. She's blue and named Lily. Then, as soon as Nick and I left the room, they dumped a TON of food in the bowl, so I got to spend the morning cleaning out the bowl. It was a pre school day, so we took rainbow cupcakes for snacks. We got to stay and watch them play "animal action" and "freeze dance." Ike loved it! Coen did too! Reagan wanted Coen to stay so Mrs. Cindy said he could. It was really cute to hear them talk about it afterwords. Also, that let me get home and make her cake without too many interruptions. It was a three layer cake with pink, purple and white layers. Then we had one of Reagan's favorite people, Lauren, come over for dinner.

We put trick candles on the cake. She was laughing pretty hard. She never did get them all the way out. We had her best friend Allison and her family over for cake and ice cream. Her dad is the E Q pres. and was in meetings, but he and his councilors decided to stop by when they found out there was cake, so now I don't have to eat half a cake by myself. YAY! (I mean, I would have done it, but it's nice not to have too:)

And she got loaded up on Princess gear! Becky & Jenny Connolly sent her a princess backpack and a princess card. I was pretty sure she was going to pee her pants when she opened the card. It was fantastic! Thanks guys! Coen got her a princess cash register and Ike got her a princess alarm clock, so she can stop waking him up so early in the morning.

Our sweet next door neighbors brought over the perfect present. She came to breakfast this morning wearing the tiara and zebra slippers. Then she changed into the outfit Grandma Cardon sent. She and Coen have been trying to make muffins all morning. (Also, a present from Grandma Cardon.) I made her a canopy for her bed & Nick got her a barbie bike with no training wheels.

Coen kept asking all day if he could help Reagan open her prizes. I was very proud of him for not opening them all himself. I don't have pictures of Nanie and Poppy's present (which was a FANTASTIC barbie house) or Oma & Opa's presents (furniture for the barbie house) because my camera died. SORRY! We love them though. She kept bringing people in to show them her Barbie house. She had a wonderful birthday! Thank you everyone!

Ike's Birthday

Finally right!? I'm only a month and a half late! I've got lots to catch up on. A trip to Ohio, a visit to Uncle Leigh, and Reagan's dance recital to name a few, but we'll start with the most important... Ike's 1st Birthday! We had two "parties." One tiny one on his birthday and a bigger one with Nanie & Poppy when they got here a week later. Here are some pics.

1st Birthday. We played it low key. He got a donut with a candle and a few presents.

Here he is walking with his arms in the air. From the back he really looked like a monkey! It was so cute!

Opening a few presents with lots of help from Coen.

2nd Birthday with Nanie & Poppy & more presents.

We made this one more of an event with the decorations and cake. He's such a cute little guy & has brought lots of laughter to our home. Happy birthday Ikie baby!

Coen's Archive #3

One of these phrases pops out whenever he gets mad... "I am so angry at you" "Water is the meanest drink ever" or "I hate going potty"

Coen holding a naked & headless barbie "this girl has no head, she just has feed the babies."

Everyday Coen gets 2 gummy vitamins and everyday they fight. "I'm bigger!" "No, I'm bigger!" "We're both the same age okay?!"

I have an O in my name. It's a red O. You can't touch it.

"Why do they have pinchy leaves?" (aka icicle lights)

He calls McDonalds Donald Ducks House.

Me- "Do you want more?"

Coen- "I don't have a horn! I have a nose!"

Tonight he prayed that they would be disobedient. (Like they need any help!)

His favorite thing to say is "I'm scared" Things he's been afraid of recently:

Ike

The TV being turned off

Mama talking too much

For the last 2 weeks he has been asking me to take him to the doctor because "I need a shot, a stitch and a bamdaid."

Me- We're going to make haunted houses today with graham crackers and candy.

Coen- What else?

Me- Frosting

Coen- Oh mama you are making me so happy today!

Want to hear the helicopter song?

Yes

Hel-a-copt-er don't scare meeeeee!

Do you want to hear the rest?

Yes

That's it. I learned it at crazy school.

I'm not dinner!

I'm going to Dairy McQueen's house!

Coen was playing with his cars the other day and he said they needed a hair cut. Reagan comes running in from the other room screaming that it would hurt the cars and he couldn't do that. He turned to her, pointed his hand at her and said "Pause." then went back to playing.

Almost every bite of food he takes, he asks me "Can I eat it mom?" Lunch takes forever!

I'm not a brutha... I'm a Coen!

Coen- "The school bus is going to drop me up and pick me up."

Reagan- "No, drop you off"

Coen-"The school bus is going to drop me off and pick me in."

Coen- "I have a belbo (elbow)."

Me- "You do? Can you lick it?"

Coen- "No"

Me- "Can you kiss it?"

Coen-"I can't"

Me- "Why not?

Coen- "Because my bum hurts."

"There's a mean school bus mama" he said pointing to an RV

He gets really excited now to go to bed so he can have "race car dreams."

He calls Ike sucking his thumb "drinking his thumb."

Bobadoo, bobadoo means bibidi bobidi boo!

He gets very MEAN when he's hungry.

Coen singing the abcs "ABC QRS WYZ, Now twinkle twinkle how I what you are"

We don't play red light green light. Coen likes to play pink light.

If you ask him what an elephant says he says "up to, matter where" - that's kind of what the elephants sing on Jungle Book.

Coen is talking up a storm and his new thing is to say "No Way." It's really funny the way he says it, but the first time he said it, Nick was talking about how big he was how he could walk and run and skip. Coen says "Skip? No Way." His eyes get even bigger than normal and I almost peed my pants laughing.

Reagan's Real Imaginary Life #2

Saturday we woke up to Coen coming into our room crying that Reagan hit him. When Nick asked Reagan why she hit him she replied something like this "Well, you guys were sleeping a long time and I wanted you to wake up."

She can never remember the right letters when she sees an RV so she's constantly pointing to them and saying "look a VCR or GVC or something"

Stop talking it's hurting my ears.

When the sun is out, but it's really cloudy and you can just barely see it, she calls that the morning moon. (This one might be old, but she said it again today and it made me smile.)

Not my pony coloring book, cuz you could make oil sauce or ghost cookies... (I have no idea what she's talking about.)

"Mom, I found Iceland!" pointing to a mountain with a dusting of snow.

R- "Coen's being me to me."

M- "What did he do?"

R- "He cried at me."

M- "Did you hurt him?"

R- "Yes."

M- "And he's being mean to you by crying?"

R- "Yes."

Does he have a mustang or a beard?

We bought an Ariel puzzle today & Reagan had to take it to bed with her. She carefully put it together right next to where she was sleeping & made Nick pull the covers up over both of them telling him "no dad, don't cover up her face."

I was folding laundry today durning nap time ( I know, it made me sad too) and Reagan started singing "I can fly like a bird, I can fall like a bird. I can fly like a bird, cuz there's no time to drive. I can fly like a bird, cuz there's no time to fly" It was so funny, over and over about the birds.

She hates when her "feet sparkle." (fall asleep)

Reagan this morning- I'm a little bit sick.

Me- Really? What's wrong?

Reagan- I think I ate too much dinner all year.

2:00 a.m. Reagan- Mom, I love you so much!

Me- I love you too sweetie, go back to bed!

Reagan- But, Mom, I just love you so much! More than, more than all the months!

She wants to go to Hailey's house to see what kind of light she has in her bedroom.

She loves singing the primary songs in the car and one of them says "westward ho" and she sings "lesperd ho" it sounds really funny and then she tries to teach Coen to sing it that way too. "No Coen, it's Les- Perd- Ho."

She calls rapids 'whale waters'

She likes to tell me I have Great Ideas when I say things like, "you clean your room and then we can go to the park."

"Mom you are SO TERRIFIC! You know where we live!"- That was after we were lost for at little bit

Dance Class & Preschool

Reagan started tap & ballet class last month.  She loves it!  She's really quite good too.  Unfortunately all the pictures I took of her are really bad, so I'll try to get some better ones next week.  Her recital is March 20th and you are all invited!

Reagan's preschool teacher finally took pity on all the younger siblings of her students and started a 1 day a week preschool for the 3 year olds.  Coen was soooo excited!  He thinks he's pretty cool now that he gets to go to school and Reagan has to stay home.

He had to wear his Thomas shirt and bring his duck back pack filled with fruit snacks and gold fish for snacks for his friends.  His teacher said he did pretty well- only refusing to join in on one activity.  Next time they get to learn about Trains and he can't wait!  (They don't have class this week because there is no school for the big kids and I'm afraid to tell him.)

FINALLY Coen turns 3!

The night before his birthday he got a fever, so I was a little nervous about how he would wake up, but he was really excited to see his balloons, birthday banner and donuts.

Cute huh?  I called the dr. first thing to get medicine...  We went to the store and it was a total fiasco trying to get his medicine, but he wore his crown and cape so it was kind of cool.  He had to wear the cape with McQeen in the front so he could see him, so it was funny (at least to me).

Anyway, we didn't get it 'til almost dinner time.  We practically had to force him to open his presents.  A new bike, Thomas the Tank Engine Train Tracks, & a Semi full of cars among other things, were only slightly interesting.  We took him to eat at Hot Rod Cafe where they have big cars inside, an arcade room, dinner in a car & for dessert you get to go into an ice cream truck to pick what you want.  It started out fun, but he ended up not eating anything and didn't even want dessert.

So we ended up waiting 3 days until he felt a little bit better to have his cake.  I was going to try and do a really cool cake, but he saw these cars at the store and had to have them, so for the 2 weeks leading up to his birthday he was really excited, even if he doesn't look like it in the picture.  Happy Birthday buddy!  We love you & all the funny things you say!

Me trying to be crafty

I have become addicted to craft blogs since I got my first sewing machine a few months ago.  One of my favorites is Makeitandloveit.blogspot.com.  I made a felt Mrs. Potato Head from that site for Lorelei for christmas.  Unfortunately I finished it last night, so it's in the mail now.  I made teeth and a mustache too, but she didn't get the mustache because I didn't get a Mr. Potato Head hat made in time.  Maybe for her birthday she can get the extra attachments.

I got this idea for a skirt made of my old scarf from the same site, and a fleece scarf for Reagan with big felt bows on it.  Super cute, and Reagan loves it, but the only pictures I have of it are on my cell phone.

I can't find the site where I got this idea, but I made this for Kenzie for christmas.  I hope she likes it.  I also made a scarf for Jordan.  It was obviously my first attempt at anything, so it's not very good.  SORRY JORDAN!!!  When I have my own craft show I'm sure it will be worth millions!  I've made a cover for my sewing machine too.  Next up will be some baby stuff for Stacey.  I am getting much much better, so hopefully Stacey's will be usable stuff!  It always looks so good in my head, hopefully that will start translating in real life.