Our kids have no chance

Christian and I both grew up watching the Star Wars movies. Like most of our generation we loved them and they became a staple in our lives. We have now past that on to our kids, showing them the original trilogy and eventually the prequels.

They have taken to playing Jedis. Running around the house with light sabers defeating the Sith. The other day we heard some giggles coming from behind us, where the kids were playing. We turned around to see what was so funny and found that they had created..

Darth Squidgy, lord of the babies

February Outing-Sledding

I have a confession I am not a winter person. I would be very happy to move to southern California and happily live there for the rest of my life. I am not a fan of the snow. I have never been downhill skiing and the one time I went cross-country skiing I laid down in the snow and told my family to leave me there. Com'on give me a break I was a fourteen year old girl, drama is that age's middle name.

The kids have been after us to go sledding though and when there was still snow on the ground Monday morning the decision was made. We all bundled up and headed out. There was just one little problem...we didn't have snow gear for the baby. In our defense we figured he wouldn't be older than nine months and he wouldn't be outdoors much. So we put on some warm clothes and wrapped him up in one of my scarfs and went out. Yes, once again I will be expecting my award for mother of the year at any moment.

So there we were a mom, a boy, and a sled.

We didn't get a picture of him at the bottom but the first run he didn't seem to mind so much. That may be because I lifted him up as the snow came into the sled so it never got on him.

James had a ball. He was a trooper coming up and down the hill.

We decided that Laine could go down with Matthew next. Yeah again mother of the year board please look at that application, I know I am your winner. Matthew hated that run. There was a lot of crying after that, so like every good parents we took him down again.
After that we did bundle him and put him in the car where he feel quickly back to sleep.

The rest of the outing was followed by a lot of sledding and a lot of fun.

Yeah, I may hate winter but after this outing it might be growing on me a little bit.

Valentines- Bradley style

Growing up my mom always went all out for Valentines day. There was heart shaped french toast in the morning, heart shaped peanut butter and jelly for lunch, heart shaped meatloaf for dinner, and of course a heart shaped cake for dessert. This was also on top of the awesome boxes she helped us make and the wonderful valentine treats we would find on the front porch every year.

So I am not my mom and not nearly as creative or talented as she is. I also hate French Toast so there was no way I was making that for my kids. I did however want my kids to have great memories of valentines day. So we got to work.

Saturday afternoon we sat down with the girls to make their boxes. I have no art talent. I might have existed once, I remember winning a few ribbons in art while in Kindergarten, but that talent was replaced with awesome baking skills instead. So the kids were on their own for the boxes. Good thing that they are both awesome artists.

Christian and I covered the boxes with paper and cut the holes then the girls went for it.

Eve decided that she wanted a Harry Potter themed box...

This is only one side. The other sides featured- Hagrid, Dumbledore, and another Harry!

Laine decided that she was going to go with a Star Wars theme-

She had planets and Luke on the other sides. It also had a Star Wars poster that my mom had found for her.

Then it came time to making the special Valentine's food. I was able to make the heart PB&J without a problem. But what to do for breakfast. My inspiration came at eleven the night before...

Pink Scrambled eggs with heart shaped toast. It was a hit! Christian got the eggs but with heart shaped sausage.

Dinner I slacked off on as the kids just wanted their traditional babysitting meal- Mac & Cheese.

So yeah Valentines ended up being a great day for the kids. They loved the cookies that arrived on our front porch thanks to an awesome neighbor and they came home on sugar high that lasted well into this morning.

So yeah that was that. The rest of my day was filled with laundry...

and a nap, and scrubbing a kitchen floor, and vacuuming, and dusting...

and then finally an awesome date with my husband. I may not have been able to recreate the awesome valentines day that we had as kids, but I think our kids had just as much fun!

Seven months!!

So some how times flies a lot faster after Matty's birth than before. He is a big seven month old and into everything you would expect a seven month old to be in. He is pretty much all smiles and blabbing like there is no tomorrow. He loves his Gerber puffs his body shakes with excitement anytime we pull them out. He is not quite sure how to get them into his mouth but he is working on it. His sibs love helping them eat the puffs though. The other day they fed him about a cup of the puffs...a bit more than we were hoping they would do.

He loves to eat though. He loves bananas in any form and would eat them in any meal if he could. He loves to play with any toy he can find and he is our good scootcher. That kid is fast too. He moves so fast too. From one end of the room to the other at lightning speed. Of course that keeps me on my toes as we try to keep him out of the cords we have not yet baby proofed. Of course there are times he is mad at us for making him cross the room for the toy or person he wants and he lets us know. Those times are usually accompanied by screaming as he pushes himself across the floor.

He is a good boy though and we are looking forward to the exciting adventures this month will bring

Family Outing- January

When I was a little girl my family would go and visit the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah about once a month. At that point my parents had three children all of whom loved dinosaurs. We walked through the exhibits in awe and wonder and loved to learn and read about everything. I remember that after those visits my younger siblings talked about being archaeologists.

Years went by and the wonder and excitement of dinosaurs and fossils faded as they do with most children and our monthly outings to the museum were abandoned for outings that better suited the growing family.

Last year we decided that we would start taking our own little family on monthly outings. Each parent and child would have a chance to chose where we went on a different month. I was so excited. I wanted to take my kids to the museum I loved as a child. So when it was my month I looked online to check the hours and what do you know, they were closed and moving to a new facility.

January 2012 was my turn to pick again and finally the new museum was open. We bundled up all four kids and ventured out into a rather rainy Saturday morning and headed to the U.

I just have to say that I love the new museum. There are so many more hands on things for the kids to play with and explore. While we were there we learned about...

Archaeology in the archaeology pit.
Erosion by playing with the sand and water.
Rocks. By touching and climbing on them.
And cells by putting them back together.

Then of course it was time for everyone's favorites...the dinosaurs.....

The kids loved them and I loved the clear flooring that you got to walk through and see beneath into fake dig sites. It freaked me out a bit though too. There is something about walking on a see through floor that makes you feel you will fall at any moment.

There was one particular piece that I really wanted the kids to see that I remembered from my visits as a child. It was a foot print of a duckbill dinosaur. I loved it when I was little. I remember climbing all over it. Luckily, we found it right before we were about to leave.

Other great things we learned on this trip- Matty's stroller allows him to sit up. Of course we figured this out about half way through the trip (we felt a bit stupid as it was a simple thing to do) and by that time he just wanted to lay down again and take a nap.