Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was with Matt's family. Most of the time we find ourselves in Utah when we are celebrating a holiday with his side, but this year we got to play host and it was A LOT of fun!

For those of you who know the size of my house, you know we can comfortably fit our family--as in the 5 of us--with one guest room to spare. Well we found out that we can fit a lot more then the five and still survive! Everyone stayed here! Yes, everyone.

It, actually, turned out just great. We were happy that no one had to stay at a hotel therefore eliminating our late night chats and guitar hero fests! It was a packed house, but like I said, lots of fun. All of us were in sheer Heaven having family and, especially, COUSINS galore!

Matt's sister, Mar, was in charge of Thankgiving dinner which took a TON of pressure away from me. Each woman and Gary were assigned their dishes and, I have to say, it was one of the BEST tasting meals I have EVER had.

Besides eating (hee, hee),

we went to see the lighting ceremony at the Mesa Temple,

saw "Bolt" and various other movies, went shopping--even to "black Friday!", got pedicures, and, of course, lots and lots of Guitar Hero!

I am so thankful to have married into such a loving and wonderful family. They have always made me feel like one of their own and I love them so much for it. The week went by so fast I hardly realized that there were 16 people staying at my house :). Love you all...

Well Checks

All three of my boys' well checks fell one day apart from each other. Wade's 5 year, Seth's 3 year and Trent's 6 month. I know I have said this a hundred times now, but they are getting SOOOOOO big! It is making me too sad :(.

I must say, though, that I LOVE well checks! I love to see how they have grown and where they fall on the growth charts. This time was also extra nice because neither Wade nor Seth had to get shots. You should have seen Wade's face when they told him he wasn't going to get any shots--he was thrilled! Baby Trent had to get shots, but thankfully he is still too little to worry about it before or after the visit.

Here are their stats:

Wade
Weight: 39.06 lbs (38%)
Height: 44inches (73%)


Seth
Weight: 30.13 lbs (33%)
Height: 38inches (65%)

Trent

Weight: 16.6 lbs (33%)

Height: 27.25inches (76%)

**Has 2 TEETH now!!**

Do we see a trend here? Isn't it crazy how all three of their weights are in the 30's percentile while their height is in the 70's percentile (except for Seth, who is close though...) Another interesting thing is Seth's measurements are almost EXACTLY what Wade's were when Wade was 3.

Since Trent has been born I have had SO many people tell me that my boys are "cookie cutters" of each other. I agree, I can barley tell their baby pictures apart. If it weren't for Seth's different hair style, it would be REALLY hard to tell them apart. It is fun! I love them all so much and am so thankful for their health and strength.

Wade's birthday party

What do you get when you take six 4 and 5 year olds to see a movie (without their parents in tow?) You might be thinking you would get a disaster, but we, actually, had a GREAT time! I know, pretty ambitious, huh?

A few weeks before Wade's birthday I began to think about what we could do to celebrate and checked out some ideas online and with some of my friends. The general consensus Matt and I came to was this: birthday parties are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE! I looked at so many options and most of them were around $200 dollars--are you kidding me? In my opinion, that is outrageous for a birthday party. Not to mention, that was the CHEAPEST price at some of these places and only included 8 kids or so.

I did a "home party" last year and decided that was the LAST time I would do that. It was too much work and I still spent a significant amount of money--too much to make it worth it to do it again :). Plus I was left with a messy house :(.

After talking it over with Matt, we decided to take Wade and 5 of his friends to see "Madagascar 2." Between the two of us, all the kids fit nicely and safely into our vehicles and we were off. Between ticket purchases, one large popcorn to share (free refills) and candy (that I snuck into the theater in a big bag--okay, I know I am cheap) the entire party was about $70 dollars!

The kids LOVED the movie and after we went back to our house for cake and presents, which made it a nice little break for the parents of the invited guests. All in all, I HIGHLY recommend a movie party! So fun and so cheap! Wade's friends are STILL talking about how cool it was that they got to see a movie without their own parents!

P.S. I have also decided to implement the b-day party "every other year" rule so next year is a party with the fam! :)

5

FIVE?! Can my sweet, baby boy really be 5 years old? It sounds SO old. Time is flying and I can, so, remember every detail of the day Wade came to this earth--so small and innocent. Last year I did a post on Wade's birthday that explained how important he has been to my life since the day he was born. Since he is the oldest, I guess he will always be the one I look to to "test" the waters, the one I count on to be "the big brother" and the one who will always (hopefully) "be a good example."
He is a great kid--the best if you ask me :), so here is a list (keeping with my numbers theme) about my little Waders:

5 things Wade loves
1. the Wii
2. Soccer
3. Disneyland
4. the monkeybars at school
5. playing with Seth, Matt or his friends

5 things Wade doesn't like
1. crust on bread
2. sauce on pasta
3. when his Wii time is up
4. getting second place (he will make a competition out of anything from finishing dinner the quickest to racing to the tub!)
5. the Tower of Terror (now that he is old enough to realize how scary that ride really is :)!)

5 reasons Wade is special
(If you ever tell Wade he is special, his face lights up and gets a look that is priceless--Matt and I love it)
1. He is such a good boy at school and church (sits still, listens and is respectful--now we just have to get him to do that at home :)!)
2. He is a great, little athlete
3. He loves his friends and treats them well
4. He is good to his brothers (Seth is his best friend!) and loves to help
5. He loves spending time with his family over anyone else

Happy birthday Wade! Thank you for making me a mom and giving me the greatest joys and some of the hardest experiences in my life. Words could never express how truly special you are to me. I love you!

Fall Fun

As my dad would put it, "I'm SOOOOO BUUUSSSYYYY!" When he says this, he is making fun of me and waves his arms around and walks in circles imitating the way I act when I feel like I have a lot going on. I am in the core of my BUSY time of year. I know the rest of you are busy too...don't get me wrong, I know.

Here is my EXTRA long post on what we have been so BUSY doing the past couple of weeks:

Elementary Fall Festival

Wade's school puts on an annual fall festival. The kids had more then a good time--they LOVED it! They would have been happy there all night! They jumped in bounce house, went on the "race car" slide (which Seth asks about daily: "Mom, did the race car slide fall down? When is it going to come back up?"), went through the pumpkin patch and lots more.

We almost got through the night tantrum free, but Sethie always finds a way to get upset :):

Family Pictures

We have the most AMAZING photographer this year! We had our pics taken and here is a sample. We will be making some changes, but I am so excited thus far!

Trunk or Treat

Our ward puts on an annual trunk or treat. The kids had a blast trick-or-treating, playing games and running around the church parking lot with all their friends. This was the trick-or-treating style I remember--hundreds of kids and crazy fun! Our car won for the "most creative" thanks to a little help from our friends and I won 2nd place in the chili contest :). We had the best time!

(well most of the time, Seth had another meltdown on the way home--are we developing a trend?--hopefully not.) Well, technically, this event fell on his actual b-day so, I guess, it's his party and he can cry if he wants too, right?

Seth's birthday party

Seth invited 8 of his little friends to our family fave--Peter Piper. Nothing beats an all out junk food and present tornado with tokens and flashing lights added in to make a birthday party perfect! It was a blast and the best part was, I didn't have to clean up a thing :)!

(No crying at this one :)!)

Halloween

Just our luck, Wade woke up Halloween morning a puked. I know, no big surprise, it seems like my kids puke if you look at them crossed eyed, but he was sad to miss his school stuff. He spent the day on the couch.

We also had lots of plans for trick-or-treating, but decided to forego those. The kids didn't mind. Wade felt up to trick-or-treating a little bit so they took a quick walk around our little neighborhood and still managed to get A LOT of candy. They were happy and in bed before 8 which makes me happy:).

End of season

Wade finished another successful soccer season. Like I mentioned a few posts ago, this has been the best season yet. The field was better, the kids were better, and the parents were even a lot more competitive this season. It felt like it was the first season that counts (and I am happy to report an undefeated season!) I would probably be embarrassed to see a vidoe of how loud I was cheering when Wade or his team members scored goals--I can't even imagine what it will be like in 10 years when they are in high school :).

Although we have had a few meltdowns and setbacks, it has been a fun fall season. Fall is our favorite time of year and this time around was no exception!