"I wanna build a man entirely made of snow"

Am I going a little overboard with all these White Christmas quotes? I think not. Anyway, yesterday was absolutely beautiful, it got up to like 44 degrees or something. The sun was shining, and it was perfect snow-man building weather.

My favorite feature is the fireman's hat on his head haha. Isn't that ironic?

We went to St. Louis Mills last night, as a family. It was fun to all get out together, but here's some advice: Don't forget your double stroller when you go to the mall. (Don't forget a regular stroller either.) When we got back the snow man was leaning way back, and was totally ruined this morning. As we backed out of the driveway to go to church I pointed it out to the kids "Our poor snowman fell over! Maybe the wind blew him down." Tyler pipes up from the back seat, "No mom it wasn't the wind. Don't you remember the song?" Then he and Bryn sang me "once there was a snowman...etc." Obviously, snowmen only get melted by the sun. Silly mom.

Easily Entertained

Today I was sitting on the couch feeding Madison, and chewing gum. I blew a bubble with my gum without thinking about it. Brynlee saw it, and ran over to me and got real close to my face, staring at my mouth. So I did it again. She started laughing. I blew a big one, and she laughed even harder and said "another one!" Pretty soon Tyler caught on to the excitement. They both stood in front of me shouting "again!" and "another one!" as I blew bubbles for the next 15 minutes. (That doesn't sound like a long time, but believe me, my tongue and jaw were tired.) They would laugh so hard after each one, especially if it popped on my nose or chin. They were throwing themselves onto the ground in fits of laughter. It was awesome. They are so easily entertained sometimes. I suppose I am too with certain things. Just ask Madison how entertained I am by her smiles and her cooing and gooing that she's recently started doing. I try to get her to do it the whole time she's awake. I'm sure she gets tired of it too. Which is why she would only smile for her siblings earlier today. I work and work to get her to crack a little smile for the camera. Then I tell Tyler to come over and stand by me...instant smile. Her face lights up around Ty and Bryn, it is so sweet. She's such a chunky monkey now--I love it! Check out her double chin! It is a sign that a) she is definitely my daughter and b) she eats a lot. :)

Trying to eat Tyler as he leans in to kiss her.

p.s. I think this midnight blogging with Madi on my lap is starting to become a tradition.

"Must be beautiful this time of year, all that snow"

Gold star to anyone who can tell me what movie that quote is from. (Except for my sisters, I know you guys know!) We got a lot of snow this week, and today it snowed the whole day too. It is really cold, and I'm really ready for winter to be over. I only like it for about oh, 2-3 weeks. But Ty and Bryn were so glad to have their daddy home to (finally!) take them out and play in it yesterday.

That evening we had some friends from the ward over for dinner, Jason and Lauren Lawson and their son Jace, and Jacob and Katie Haws and their two boys. Our small house filled up quick but we had lots of fun with them.

Today we enjoyed a "linger longer" with soup and sandwiches after church, followed by 2 baptisms. It was a long church day, but we loved it. Now it's 11 p.m. and I'm really wishing I were in bed, asleep. But Madi looks like she'll be in it for the long haul again tonight. What happened to my great sleeper?!!

Friday

I'm so glad it's Friday. I remember Monday night I said to Kenny that I couldn't believe it was still only Monday. I was already ready for the weekend. It was a long week, but we made it.
Madison is still coughing and still congested, but we're gettin there. She looks beautiful in white today, matching the 10 (or so) inches of snow outside.

Brynlee's doing much better now at week's end. She's even sleeping in her own bed again so we're all feeling more rested. We got an inhaler for her at the beginning of the week (she and Madi got seen by our doc), and it's been very helpful. She loves to talk on the phone to anyone that will talk (or even with no one on the other end). But she mumbles and it's really hard to understand what she's saying half the time. It gets frustrating for both of us sometimes, but mostly it's just funny and cute as she tries so hard to talk to us.

Tyler floating paper boats in the bath tub today. He is so funny with numbers lately. He hands me a pile of books and I say, "you want me to read all of these?" And he says "Yes! Millions and millions of books!" And later he handed me a pile of construction paper and wanted "hundreds and hundreds of boats!" The other day Kenny asked Tyler how old he thought Kenny was. Tyler answered with a confident, "14".

6 Weeks

Look who turned 6 weeks old yesterday! Isn't she such a doll. I can't get enough of her. Unfortunately she's really congested and coughing right now. It's breaking my heart. We're headed to the doctor in a little while to make sure everything's alright.

The other day I was reading the Ensign, the first presidency message to be specific. It was about missionary work, but that's not really what I took from it. Pres. Monson said something that keeps re-playing over and over in my head the past few days.

"The Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it."

That phrase gives me a lot of peace. It certainly doesn't mean that all my problems are gone. Every day (and night) is still a challenge. But I have more confidence in myself, as long as I'm relying on the Lord. Just thought I'd share since last time I blogged it was overly soul-bearing, and borderline depressing. My spirits have since been lifted :).

A Big Day

Today was a big day for me. I had to go 2 different places by myself with all 3 kids. I know that sounds so silly, but I really try to avoid going anywhere by myself if I have to. It's just too risky right now. Plus I hate the snow and cold on top of it. But I had to go visiting teaching. We didn't even do all 3 ladies, just one today...

NEVER AGAIN. I will not take them all to go visit an old widow who has very break-able things all over her house. It's not that I have bad kids, but they are just that, kids. I can't expect them to sit quietly on the couch for ALMOST 2 HOURS (!!! I will also never stay that long again) while I try to have a conversation with women and build a relationship. It does not work. Brynlee is taking her clothes off, turning on the tv, finding candy in glass jars and stuffing her mouth full, touching all the non-touchables, jumping on the couches, throwing fits, etc. Tyler's wrestling, jumping on the couches, needing to go to the bathroom multiple times, playing the piano and just being a little boy. Madi did great up until the end when she was joining the "let's stress mom out party" and started crying herself. She screamed her head off the whole way home because she was hungry and poopy. My stress level was at an all-time high. I quickly put Bryn down for a late nap with no lunch (and made Tyler have quiet time on my bed too), changed Madi's diaper, started feeding her and all of the sudden burst into tears. Major meltdown.

Thank goodness my husband is in tune, and called me a few minutes into it all. I love that man. I don't even know why it was all such a big deal, but it was at the time. I guess I just wish I had things under control, and I feel like I never do. That's hard to swallow. People always make comments if I go anywhere and offer help, etc. I can't help but wonder if I look as big of a mess as I feel. I don't doubt it.

I just need more patience. Patience with each situation, with my kids, and with myself. I don't know why I can't just figure it out but it seems to be a lesson I have to re-learn every day. I'm a little slow, obviously. This week I have woken up every morning and said to myself, "I am not going to get angry today." But I doubt if I ever even make it through the morning. That didn't used to be me. And I hate that I have to recommit to that goal every few hours, each time I slip up. I feel like Tyler and Brynlee are both becoming more challenging in different ways and I have a newborn on top of it, and it's a lot for me to deal with every hour of every day. Being a mom of 3 kids under 4 gives me great opportunities to learn about myself, and a lot of times I don't like what I see. Anyway...

A couple hours after we got home I had to wake Bryn up from her nap and get everyone back in the car to take Madi to her 1 month appt. She looks great! She weighs 11 pounds, 8.5 ounces which puts her at the top of the charts (97th percentile) and 22 in. long (still 75th %). I just pray she doesn't get sick too.

Go Figure

I am happy to report that Madison slept for 6 hours straight last night! She went to bed at 11:30 p.m. and didn't wake up again until 5:30 a.m.!! Seriously she's my angel baby. (I really didn't know it was possible for babies to cry so little and sleep so well.) Unfortunately, I was still woken up 4 or 5 times during that 6 hour stretch because Tyler is sick and Brynlee is, well, Brynlee. I just can't get a break.
Go figure; my 5-week-old is my best sleeper.

End of The Little Gym

Last Thursday, Tyler had his last day of Little Gym. He's been in a Sports Skills class and has loved it! It was great for him to go play with a group of boys his age for an hour each week. It was difficult to watch the little Show Week that they have. Madi needed to eat, Brynlee thought that she had free reign of all the equipment and we were constantly pulling her off which led to her tantrums, and we were still trying to take pictures and record Ty and act like he had our undivided attention. The evening was supposed to be about him, after all. His teacher was very patient with Bryn. After watching her climb up on everything without any hesitations and cross the balance beam etc., she asked if we had considered putting her in classes.Yes we have considered it, but I think we're done with classes until we know where we're moving next. But Tyler has shown a lot of improvement over the course of the semester and we're proud of him! Here's some pics of the evening.

I love this superman landing

Nothing better than a medal for a proud little boy!

His class L to R: Tyler, Henry, Johnathan, Jacob, and Brian (who was a couple years older than the rest)

Funny story: Right before he was about to go into class I had him go to the bathroom just to be safe. I go in there with him and he pulls down his shorts and guess what? NO UNDERWEAR! I about died. He had gone to the bathroom at home a few hours earlier, and he likes to take everything off when he poops. Apparently he decided to not put it back on! So I just prayed no one would see and sent him out there to have fun :) Sure enough, when we got home I found his underwear on the bathroom floor. Silly boy.

A Winter's Dump

We got a good 3 or 4 inches last night, and it snowed the whole morning long too. It looks beautiful, and cold.
Good thing we have nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Except sit at home and paint, that is. Unless you're Brynlee;then you just like to go back and forth between the water and the paint, rarely touching the paper unless mom makes you, and then spill it all and make as big of a mess as you can.

We love this art easel.

Tyler's in his pj's still because he is sick. Again. I'm going to spit if he gets the rest of us sick. Stupid winters and everyone being sick. Didn't we just get over it all?

I need a nap.

Funny Sayings

Tyler:
If I need help finding something that's lost he will say, "Don't worry, I have good eyeset"

During FHE the other week we were talking about prayer. Kenny asked Tyler why we close with, "in the name of Jesus Christ"? Tyler thought about it for a moment and said, "because if you don't it would never have an end!"

He heard me on the phone talking to my friend Melissa and I said something along the lines of how Brynlee is my crazy child and usually gives me the most problems. Tyler has since introduced her three times as, "that's Brynlee, she's the crazy one!" Or, "she's my crazy sister!"

Brynlee:
Whenever she gets in trouble or gets hurt, she immediately looks to Tyler for comfort. She cries, "Hug, Tywer" and he runs over and they hug and then she stops crying, it works like magic every single time. When she's really in trouble I have to say "no hugs!" because otherwise she thinks everything's fine and that she's not in trouble anymore.

She loves to sing and her favorite song, that she requests 59 times a day, is "Twinkle Dar" (twinkle twinkle little star)

She's also really into books and has quite a few memorized including Goodnight Moon and The Eye Book. I love hearing her cute little voice read them along with me.

Her new thing is to say "Why Mom?" to everything I tell her haha. I don't even know if she knows what she's saying.

She has also picked up on Tyler's sassy attitude and when she's upset she'll say "I not doing anything!" in a defiant sort of way, even if I haven't asked her to do something! I think we're going to be in trouble.

Something sweet she does is if she hears Madi crying in her bed she'll run in and try to comfort her by dropping in her favorite stuffed animals. They make Bryn happy, so why shouldn't it work for Madi too right? Love it. Or she'll come up to Madison and tell her what she's drinking or reading, etc. It's so cute.

Contributing factors to my happiness

This sweet girl and her chubby cheeks that I get to kiss all day long :). May I just say that she is by far our best baby yet! She takes a pacifier, she's figuring out her nights by staying up all evening and sleeping a 4-5 hour stretch every night!! And, she's smiling at me already and not even 5 weeks old!!


This blow up trampoline thing from grandpa and grandma weston. Combined with the trampoline from Santa, and our couches, our living room turns into quite the jungle gym and keeps my kids happy for a long time! :)



And I haven't shared my christmas present (it's really for me and kenny but I just use it more)...A TREADMILL!! It is super nice too. I've used it every day this week and it makes me feel so good to sweat and be sore again!

cowboy and cowgirl

We love playing dress ups around here. Recently I re-organized a few things and put all our dress ups in a clear bin in their closet so ty and bryn re-discovered some fun ones. But these gems are dress ups that my mom made them for Christmas...they LOVE them! They were totally getting into the character (except for replacing a gun with a sword) and they looked so cute too! So thanks Mom, they are getting good use out of them.

Oh yeah, and guess who gets to play the horse every time...
That's okay, they're totally worth it. :)

Madi's Blessing

On Sunday, January 2nd 2011 Kenny gave our sweet Madi Lynn a name and a blessing at church. He did a beautiful job, which is fitting because she is a beautiful girl with such a strong and sweet spirit. We can't believe how lucky we are to be parents to these precious children. We are so madly in love with each of them. Life doesn't get better than this. (Okay so maybe a few more hours of sleep a night would make things better...). But really, we are so happy. My mom made her dress, and I loved it! My sister Camille crocheted her cute headband and booties. Isn't she talented?!

I love my sweet family

The proud grandpa and grandma Weston with their newest granddaughter (but only for a few more months till the next one comes.)

New Year's Eve

Kenny's parents came on Monday, December 27th and stayed for a week! So they were here on New Year's Eve also. Carolyn, my mother-in-law and I went shopping for a bit at Kohl's. Then we picked up some Chinese food (cuz that's our tradition) and brought it home. After dinner we headed over to the Ryan's house for a fun party. We didn't stay the whole night, because I knew my kids wouldn't last. We came home and put the kids to bed around 10 and later toasted in the new year with sparkling cider.

(This picture was not on new year's eve, but it was that week. She's growing SO fast!!)
All the boys, and Brynlee, watching Toy Story 3

I still can't get over her curls :)

Kenny, Jared Reed, and Joseph Pearson

Me, Lorren Ryan, Kaylene Foust, and Terra Reed. I realize this is a very unflattering picture of me, but when you have a large tire around your middle there really isn't a good angle.

HAPPY 2011!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so exciting! It was so much fun to watch the kids come out and get so excited about everything. Tyler has been exercising INCREDIBLE patience waiting to open all the presents under the tree. I kept thinking of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk of kids waiting 15 minutes to eat marshmallows. Well Ty has been waiting a month to open these and I am so proud of him for not sneaking into them early! He counted them often and was always re-stacking/sorting them. Needless to say, Christmas morning was very fun for him. They must have been really good kids this year because Santa left them some wonderful toys! My favorites are the art easel and the trampoline to get all their energy out!! Especially during this cold winter.

We talked to my brother on the phone who's still serving in Prague. It was wonderful to hear from him--he's really grown up a lot on his mission. After that we went over to the Reeds for a delicious Christmas dinner. Kenny also had fun playing on their new Wii. It was a beautiful White Christmas and we enjoyed spending it with each other and our friends.