January Round-up

A few more things I want to remember about January: 

- My cousin Justin and his wife Carrie and the children were sealed together in the Salt Lake temple. I wasn't able to attend because of the kids, but it was wonderful to see lots of my family on my dad's side at a luncheon afterward. It's been a while! It was a fun surprise that Luke LOVED my Grandpa and wanted to sit with him and cuddle with him. It was a fun family time.

- Violet and I went to her preschool field trip at the aquarium. It was fun to be there with her on a mommy-Violet date, just the two of us. It was especially fun to see the river otters!

- We had a thrilling 10 days babysitting Violet's preschool guinea pigs! The girls ask about having a pet all the time, but it's just not something that's right for our family now. A short-term pet experience was perfect. Even if it took me a few days to not be freaked out trying to get them out of their cage.

- We had a family movie night watching Charlotte's Web. It was a hit! (Babe, not so much). I need to find more of these kinds of movies to watch all together, it was so much fun and brought back memories of reading the book when I was little.

- I started having a lot of back and hip pain, like I did the last few months I was pregnant with Luke. Not much fun! Luckily a memory foam mattress topper, new exercise shoes, and a prenatal yoga dvd all helped, and it hasn't been a problem the rest of my pregnancy. Wish I would have known to try those things a few years back!

Grandparent letter

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

   How are you doing? I hope you had a great Christmas! Thankyou so much for the Christmas present! We are going to use the money for a special outing or two that we wouldn’t normally get to do—like going tubing and going to a movie.

   We had a fun time at my parents’ house on Christmas playing games, going to church with them, and eating a yummy dinner. They came over for Christmas Eve, and we had a party with songs, games, books, and watching church videos. It turned out very nicely. The kids were so excited to open presents on Christmas morning. Santa brought Luke a train table, Cora a big girl scooter, and Violet a plasma car. It was fun to see them so excited. Luke especially liked to open presents. He thought he should be the one to open ALL the presents, so Cora and Violet were a little rushed in their present opening to make sure they got to do their fair share.

   Our New Years was pretty calm though, we filled out a yearly interview sheet for each person and celebrated with an indoor parade and homemade noisemakers… at 6:00pm! And then went to bed. It was fun and just what we needed that day!

   With the new year, Violet is a Sunbeam! She is so excited to be attending Primary with the big kids. Our ward split last week, so we are adjusting to the new boundaries. Kevin was called as the new Elders Quorum president, so he’ll be a little bit busier than he was as a counselor in the E.Q. in our last ward.

   We just got back from a trip to Oregon to see Kevin’s family. We were lucky an had great weather for the drive there and back. We got to celebrate his grandma’s 80^th birthday with them, go to an indoor waterpark, ride Kevin’s parents’ horses, and spend lots of time playing with cousins. It was great!

   Things are going well with my pregnancy. About 3 more months is all I have left! The kids are so excited! (Kevin and I are too J). I’ll deliver at the same hospital I had Luke at, only about 10 minutes from our house.

   Luke turned 2 on January 7^th. We had a pretty low-key birthday celebration, but I think he had a lot of fun nevertheless. He got to eat his favorite foods (French toast, hot dogs, and pizza). We even played in the snow that morning, which was a fun treat. Luke is talking more all the time and always wants to do what his sisters are doing.

   We love you so much!!

Trip to Oregon

After the holidays Kevin and I realized we probably wouldn't be able to get a trip to Oregon in this summer to visit Kevin's family. Having school-aged children certainly changes scheduling! (Plus I was afraid of driving that far with a nursing baby.) Luckily we were able to plan a trip in January with good weather to drive and even coincided with Kevin's Grandma's 80th birthday party celebration. It was a great trip! The weather held out, we got to see lots of family, the birthday party was so much fun, the kids spent time with cousins, the drive went well, and we did many other fun things too. All in a matter of 6 days, 2 of which were driving days.

We spent a few hours with the horses. Cora and Violet loved taking a little ride, and even Luke was pretty interested too. Thanks Grandpa! 

 

The kids practiced their casting at the pond 

And we had a fun afternoon at an indoor play place (Luke just got a little tired at the end).

We had more fun than you could ever imagine at this indoor waterpark. It was amazing! Four big slides, a wave pool, and a play area. Violet just barely made the height cut-off for the big slides, and both she and Cora had a blast. I thought it was super fun too, all nice and warm, no lines, fun slides, and no sunscreen to worry about! 

 Grandma Anderson's birthday party was so much fun. It was great to have it at Kevin's parents' house and have the kids be in a relaxed atmosphere too. We heard lots of stories, saw pictures I hadn't seen before, and ate yummy food. All of Grandma and Grandpa's kids were there, even flying in from Texas and New York. It was a good opportunity to take some pictures.

Four generations

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa

 

Four generations-- but including everyone! 

Grandma and Grandpa with their kids

Grandma and Grandpa

Blowing out the candles

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their kids, and most of the spouses. 

And a few extra just for fun pictures...

Cousin concert

And lots of Luke 

Luke at 2

Here are some pictures of Luke with his favorite things.... bathtime, his train table, trucks and tractors of any sort, and his most-requested choo-choo shirt.

 the cheesy smile

 the you've already asked me to smile too much smile

 

The cutest boy ever smile!

Happy Birthday Luke!!

Luke turned two on January 7th. We had a fun day celebrating! 

We chose Luke's favorite breakfast--pumpkin french toast, sausage, and grapes.

It even snowed on Luke's birthday! Violet, Luke, Cora, and I went out to play in the snow. Luke didn't last long at all, and Violet not much longer than that, but luckily Kevin came out to play with Cora so I could go in with them-- pretty hard to keep my snowpants on since they wouldn't zip up over my 6 month pregnant belly! Luke and Violet had just as much fun sipping hot chocolate and watching Daddy and Cora play outside as playing outside themselves. 

(the video is a must see)

We had hot dogs and cheese puffs for lunch, and Kissie and Pata joined us for Luke's birthday dinner of make-your-own mini pizzas and root beer. 

Then it was time for presents! I know Luke loved all of his presents, but it seems like we only caught his very concentrated looks on his face with ALL of the pictures! He was very focused and methodical about opening and playing with his presents. He knew exactly what to do with the packages, Christmas being not that long ago and all, and I think he was pretty happy he got to open all of the presents himself with no taking turns. 

Luke got a hammer bench, balance bike, more trains for his train table, and another basketball for his hoop. Kissie and Pata also got him some trains and a remote control car. Here he is figuring out how it works. It was an especially fun toy for him, since he loves to swipe the girls My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake remote control cars. This one is much manlier!

 

We had donuts for dessert!

More very focused looks from the birthday boy. I'm not sure he cracked a smile at all! But at least he didn't try to grab the candles. 

Afterward he had some birthday fun with balloons.

Happy Birthday Luke! 

At his two year doctor check-up, Luke weighed 25.35 pounds and measured 32.87 inches (18th and 19th percentile). 

First Day of Primary

Violet was especially excited to go to her first day of Primary this year-- she is now a Sunbeam! I got to be her teacher too, which was fun. Cora is in the CTR 5 class, and Luke is still in nursery (and will be next year too, with his January birthday).

 (We were trying to get all the kids looking at the camera, so I told them to look at my nose. Of course Luke had to honk his own nose too!)

We were so excited to have 9:00 church. It is a great schedule for the kids. And we were less rushed and more on time to church that Sunday than most Sundays last year... we just got up and got ready to go instead of trying to fit other things in and then being late. So sad, with the ward splits we now have 1:00 church. Lots of waiting in the morning, harder for napping for Lukey, and hard for family dinners. Oh 

well--9:00 next year... hopefully! 

Pregnancy Update--25 weeks

Well, the first trimester was all about craving for egg mc muffins, saltines, and ramens noodles (still known as mommy noodles and mommy crackers in our house). This second trimester includes cravings for fried rice, nacho cheese, and eggnog. It's a miracle I've only gained 8 pounds with those kinds of cravings! Things are going well, I've still got a lingering cough (going on 2 months now), my hips are starting to hurt at night, heart burn is revving up at night, back aches after vacuuming, but nothing is too terrible yet. Vivid weird dreams and nightmares are in full swing, unfortunately. I finally started exercising again and that helps how I'm feeling a lot I think. By the end of the day, I'm usually beat and good only for watching a show or reading a book after the kids go to bed. Baby Evelyn likes to kick at night most often, but Cora has been able to feel her move at least once. Cora loves to get a side view of my belly each day and tell me how much bigger it is getting. The kids are terribly excited about having her out and snugglable in April! And Kevin and I too of course!