I'm Loving Christmas Lights!

I wanted to wait until the first BIG snowfall to take pictures of our lights. It is so beautiful when the lights shine through the snow. Pictures can't possibly detail how pretty it is outside, especially mine, but I thought I would share anyway.

I am so glad my little family loves Christmas and loves displaying it. We started listening to Christmas music on November 1st, decorated the house a week later (although our neighbors refused to let us turn them on until Thanksgiving) and had our indoor trees up and decorated within a week. The music plays at all times, even during bath time, and we have attempted to watch a Christmas movie or cartoon every night this month. We hope to increase our Christmas book selection as well.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas this year. Love you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAZE!

Today is my little buddy's birthday! He is 5 today! I can't even believe it. He is such a crazy, wild, fun, energetic ball of boy. We love him so, so much! He is always on the go and says the funniest things. He isn't afraid of anything and loves to be active. Right now he is really into rifles, machine guns, pistols, basically anything that shoots. He loves Indiana Jones, figurines and all super hero's. He loves Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry and SpongeBob. His favorite thing to do is ride his bike and play in the empty lot a couple of doors down. He loves his friends and will play with anyone - no matter your age. He really likes going to preschool and is learning a lot. He is just so much fun to be around and he just loves his baby brother to death. I call him "The Smother Brother". We are so excited that he is part of our family! Happy Birthday Blaze! We are so proud of you!

December Birthdays! Why Have Them?

So - Blaze's birthday is December 15th. Let me just say that I didn't plan it that way as he was supposed to arrive around January 18th. I had always thought it totally cruel to have a child born in December and swore I would never do it to mine....let me also say that I have said many "I will never..."'s but I end up eating my words.

Both of my parents' birthdays are in December and I always felt sad that they had to celebrate it just days before Christmas after waiting an entire year for presents. Because of that - we decided that this year we would instigate the celebrating of "THE HALF BIRTHDAY". Blaze is so excited about the concept. Basically, on his real birth date he will receive one nice gift from us and then whatever he gets from family members - grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Then - on June 15th - he will get a real birthday with lots of gifts from us and a party with his friends. I mean what can you possibly do in December in the snow in the cold a week before Christmas when all the money is spent? Trust me - Darren and I are doing this mostly for ourselves. Anyway - we celebrated his birthday on Sunday since his real birthday lands on a weekday AND he was born on my mother's birthday!

Here are the photos...
He chose the Transformers theme this year because he was also sharing his party with his Dad.

Just Practicing...

So - the weather in Utah has been amazing for December so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some pictures of my boys. I really do need to get them professionally done but at the last minute - those are hard to find. So...here are the results. As you know with three little boys, not everyone smiles at the same time, looks in the same direction or cares that mommy really hopes that one of these turn out.










By the way - we dyed Canon's hair the night before. He is not really that dark. He went from naturally blonde to a brunette for two months and now he wants to be black, or close to. He secretly wants to look like Troy Boulton so we are helping him get as close as he can!

My Poor, Poor Baby....

And my poor, poor parents. So - Sunday night was not a good night for my little Pierson. He didn't sleep well and didn't want to lie down or allow us to sit or lie down either. All night - Darren and I took turns holding him while he uncomfortably tried to sleep. I thought it was just gas...it turns out it was much more than that. He woke up a little bit better so I figured it was a bug that came and went. Unfortunately for my parents - it wasn't a bug.

I dropped him off and went to work, calling frequently to check in. Each time I called I could hear him crying in the background, sounding extremely uncomfortable. When my mom called to say that he was inconsolable - I dropped everything and ran to take him to the emergency room.

Darren and I felt he must have a blockage or an obstruction because my sweet, always happy baby was crying like we had never heard before. I couldn't get him to stop and it took two hours of crying and morphine to finally calm him down. Let me just say that today - he has no voice.

They put 2 bags of IV through him, morphine, tylenol, ibuprofen, took his blood 4 times, used a catheter to get a urine sample and took an x-ray. Lucky they didn't find anything serious in the x-ray. What they did find is that he has a virus so bad that it caused tons of ulcers to form in his mouth and throat making it difficult and painful to eat, swallow, cough, anything. It even hurt him to poop. He was dehydrated, has pharyngitis and a fever of 102. They got his temperature to go down but we had to keep the IV in his arm and he had another LARGE dose of fluids put through him today. In the end - he was blown up like a sumo wrestler baby. He was unrecognizable to me but the picture doesn't do it justice. Poor baby. He is sounding sleeping right now - thank goodness but I know it won't last long.

Just thought I would let you all know that we have been functioning on NO sleep, NO food and tons of soda. Thanks for your prayers! Here are a couple of pictures to document this lovely occasion.

We just got him settled after getting his blood drawn...





Just got the morphine...


Liking the morphine...


Trying to rip the cast off...


The next morning coming back for more of the same....notice the new red cast...


Sumo baby after way too much IV....he can't even open his eyes!

Naughty or Nice?

I think it is safe to say that this kid has been a good boy!

We can't wait for Christmas!

Blaze's First Thanksgiving Program

I was lucky enough to attend Blaze's first Thanksgiving preschool program yesterday - yeah! Let me just say that I am glad the other kids new the words to the songs because it didn't look like Blaze did. Thank goodness he didn't have a solo.



I think I confused him by taking video from a digital camera because in one of the videos - he keeps his cheesy smile from beginning to end. Too funny!



Apparently he only knows the words "Gobble Gobble" in this one! Not a performer I guess!



Not much to say about this one - looks like Blaze didn't have much to say either. Like I said - it's good that the others knew the words.



His preschool is quite small as you can see but his teacher is amazing and does such neat lessons and activities. I have to volunteer once a month so I get to see what she goes through everyday. I could never do it!

A Proud Moment!

Reflections...If you don't know what that is - it's a visual arts contest that children compete in throughout the state that begins in their school. Canon wanted to enter in one of the 8 categories and without my help - he chose photography.

The theme for the year was "WOW". We thought of all the things that would create the "wow" factor but it wasn't until I was pooper-scoopin' the background that we got our idea. No - not the poop. I noticed a pregnant praying mantis on a bush in our yard and ran to get Canon. I told him that this would be a great entry but he was a little hesitant at first... couldn't see the picture without taking the picture I guess.

I ran to get my most wonderful camera, set it to the right settings and then let him take over. He had to take quite a few to get the right ones but obviously it worked. Out of 92 kids that entered in his category - his entry was chosen to go onto Region. If he wins Region - he moves on to State.

We were not expecting this at all. In fact, I misunderstood what the evening was about. I thought that they were just displaying all of the entries for parents and students to see before going on to be judged. We walk in to see chairs lined up and an awards ceremony about to begin. Thank goodness I had my camera.

They explained the contest and then proceeded to name the winners in each category explaining also that the competition didn't stop there. When they got to photography - I was not expecting to hear Canon's name. If you know me well enough - you will know just what I did when they called his name. Yep - I began to cry. I was so proud and excited for him that I started to cry - not uncontrollably but enough that it was obvious I was thrilled with my little boys' accomplishment. He was so shocked as well. His face went flush and red and he immediately got nervous. He rushed up to get his medal and ribbon and rushed back to my side all while the crowd was clapping for him.

This is the medal and ribbon he received along with a picture of him holding the piece he put together.





They instructed us NOT to take our entry home so I took a few pictures to document the event. I will let you know if he goes on to State but I just thought I would vocalize how proud I am of his little award. It's so fun to be a part of something like this with your own kids. I love it!

Here are the pictures he took. He then mounted the three pictures to a black board so that it all looked nice. I don't have a great picture of that but you can kind of see from the picture above how it was laid out.

When do bad guys come out.....

Lately Blaze has been asking some interesting questions. His most recent and frequent question is "when do the bad guys come out" and "where do they live?" So - I answer "at night" and "west valley". Then I have to explain where that is, what they do and that they DO NOT live in Herriman and that we are pretty safe.

This conversation then lead to this...

Blaze: "Why did Jesus make bad guys"
Me: "He didn't honey, he made them all good but when they came to earth, they chose to be bad by listening to the devil"
Blaze: "How do they hear what the devil is saying"
Me: "He whispers into their thoughts what bad things he wants them to do and they do it"

and this is the best part....

Blaze: "The devil wants me to be bad right now but I am not going to listen"

I love this kid!

Super Heroes!

As you will see - we went with the Super Hero theme this year. Darren was Batman, I was Wonder Woman, Canon was Superman, Blaze was Incredible Hulk and Pierson was Superbaby! We started the day with Canon's school parade and class party. Yes - I walked in the parade with Canon yet again and YES - I was the ONLY parent to do so. I just can't tell him "no" but each year I say it will be the last.

Later that evening, we went trick or treating with our friends, went through a haunted yard and took "prom" pictures in our costumes. Darren stayed home and handed out full size candy bars - can you believe it? I told him he was crazy. He had passed out all 100 bars within an hour!

After trick or treating - we surprised our friends by driving to Pleasant Grove to their annual Halloween party. After 10 years of invites, we finally made a showing. It was a long day and a late night but we had so much fun. Halloween is the best. We have already discussed what we are going to be next year. Any ideas? Please help get me out of going as the SpongeBob gang.

Baby Photoshoot!

As we were leaving Arizona Sunday morning - we had another impromptu photoshoot of Pierson. I am so lucky that Dan is so good at taking pictures, good pictures... because I am certainly not there yet. Here they are...