Christmas is almost here!

Wow!  It has been a crazy couple of months.  I feel like I haven't had time to breathe.  That's what life is like with 3 kids apparently.  December has been extra busy for Dan, but he loves working in the NICU, so it has been a rewarding month for him too.  We miss him when he's not around much, but I am so grateful for the contributions that he makes to the family.  He works so hard 6+ days and 80+ hours a week.  Plus he has a 35 minute commute each way just so that Elena could go to the school that I wanted her to.  And I am thrilled when he gets home in time to help me put the kids to bed (0-4 times a week depending).  We can't get enough of him when he's home!  Just 4 1/2 more years of residency and fellowship...

Dan has Christmas Day off (woohoo!) and then he'll have some time off around New Year's which will be awesome.  Even though I'm not even close to being done with Christmas preparations, I wanted to take a quick moment to post some family photos that were taken in November.  There was a lot planning involved for this one hour shoot (timing it with naps and Dan's work schedule, picking coordinating outfits without buying anything new, layers for a cold day, alternate outfits because Jonah loves to spit up on us all, etc.) but these pictures make it all worthwhile.  Every time I look at them in the future, it will take me back to this time in our lives.  The photos were taken by Kathryn of Kathryn Rinckner's Photography.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 Dan was actually walking this way with the kids naturally as we went from one section of the park to the other and I was walking ahead chatting with the photographer.  When I saw how cute they were, I jumped in to the pic. 

 I love this one because I am laughing at something ridiculous that Dan is saying.  I don't remember what it was of course, and I don't like the way I look in it particularly, but this is very "us".

 

 

Elena's Poem

Elena came out of the playroom yesterday with a paper in hand.  She wrote a poem that was so simple and cute, I just wanted to share.  My scanner's not working, so I just transcribed it - mixed up lower/upper case and all.  I love how kids write.  It's one of the many things that was so fun about teaching kindergarten!

My fish HAD A wish
foR ANATHR fish
SOO I GOT WAT
she wishT

We Love Halloween!

We had a great night.  We didn't bother to do matching costumes this year.  I bought Elena's and Kevin's on sale at Target last November (I would highly recommend it) and stored them away until a couple of weeks ago.  When I brought them down from the attic, they were thrilled: a princess and a boy riding a dinosaur.  Kevin decided to make his costume "a monkey riding a dinosaur" (using a mask that we already had) and they were both so excited to go out and knock on some doors.

Jonah suited up in the same elephant costume that his siblings, a cousin, and a friend of Elena's had all worn in the past.  Lucky for me, it kept him warm.  He just hung out in the stroller the whole evening and was an angel as usual.

We went to my sister's house before heading back to our neighborhood to trick or treat.  I'm bummed that I didn't get a picture of my sister with the kids.  She didn't have a costume on, but her Halloween tights were awesome!

 

Dan bought a super fun costume to wear to work and while passing out candy at our house.  You can imagine how much he hammed it up.  

Now I must begin the search for a Mrs. Incredible costume because I've already decided that next Halloween, we have will have a family theme. :)

Sweet Baby Jonah

Jonah has had a very active month.  He is now 7 (almost 8) months. In the past 30 days or so, he has had many "firsts".  So many, in fact, that I think I'll use bullets to list them.

• Jonah now crawls very well
• He claps often 
• He pats your shoulder sometimes when you hold him
• He can go from sitting to crawling and from crawling to sitting
• Yesterday his first tooth came in (Finally!)
• He pulled himself up to standing yesterday on a kid-sized chair.  He stayed upright for about 2 whole seconds before he and the chair tipped over.  
• He says "Mama" so often that I have decided to declare it his first word.  In his mind it either means, "Mama" or "pay attention to me" because he uses it consistently when I'm around. 
• He eats Cheerios and small bits of crackers, bread, and pancakes.  This is a big step for me because once my kids can "snack", I feel like I have more flexibility when I'm running errands, etc.
• Pobrecito has also had his first illness.  He woke up yesterday with a fever and cough, but seems to be better today.

 

Jonah is such a happy, precious baby!  He is so good and sweet and patient with us all.  It's almost like he's trying to make up for the those very difficult first 3 months by being awesome.  I think that he is as glad as we are that he no longer has colic!

Bonus photos:  I took a couple pictures of my favorite people at the aquarium Friday.

 

An Interview with a 3 Year Old

Kevin has his first day of preschool back in September.  We're part of a co-op again. This time with two other 3 year olds, once a week.  It is Kevin's first year of preschool and he loves it.  He's a smart kid in my totally biased opinion. :) Check out his car organization below.

I love the way Kevin talks.  His mouth is so beautiful!  But that's not the only reason I love to watch him speak; he is funny and imaginative.  I'm often surprised by what comes out of his mouth.  I wanted to post a short video, so that you can all enjoy some "Kevin logic".  Here he explains how and why he cries.  It's all very scientific apparently.

New House (updated)

I worked really hard this week to get the house clean for a couple of hours (having 3 kids has made this nearly impossible for me lately), and I took pictures for y'all. Now you can see the inside of our lovely little rental. We didn't have to paint a thing which was nice.

Front yard:  Dan and the kids are mowing the lawn.  Elena is using the popcorn popper toy and Kevin is pushing the dolly/hand truck.

Front room:  This is what you see to your right when you walk in the door.

That's the front door and what it looks like to your left.  The hallway leads to the bedrooms and the dining room is straight ahead.

Dining room:  The kitchen is to the right.

Kitchen:  I must have taken this picture right before we got the new dishwasher.  It is wonderful and I love it. I never want to be without a dishwasher again!

It is great to look out the kitchen window and watch the kids playing in the back patio/deck.  To the right is the laundry area (there's no door, so I think it is more a laundry hallway than a laundry room).  The area with light yellow walls on the right is also where you will find the pantry, back door, and playroom.

Playroom:  This will always be a work in progress.  I can already tell that I will continually be trying different ways to organize things in here.  Behind me in this picture is a stack of boxes that are waiting to go in the attic.  To my right, is the craft table which Elena is constantly using.  To the left is the play kitchen and easel.  I love having a playroom! 

Kids' bathroom:

Elena's room:  Jonah naps in the pack'n play by the window while Elena is at school because Kevin still naps 2 hours everyday.  Besides the decals that we added and the wall color, this is pretty much the same as her room in our last house.

Kevin and Jonah's room:  We added the train stickers and the valance.  Kevin will soon be sleeping in the bottom bunk of his new bunk bed, so that will be a definite improvement. :) Dan will put it together his next day off...

I love my funny kids!  I am all unpacked now, so the bookcase is no longer half empty. :)  The kids' rooms were finished first, so these pictures are actually from late July/early August.

We bought the boys a bunk bed, but we haven't put it together yet. Maybe this weekend?  Kevin said that he won't mid having a bed, as long as his tent can still go on top. :)
When we bought the bunk bed from an actual store a couple weeks ago, I started to think about which other furniture items in our house we bought NEW.  It's a short list:

The baby crib and changing table. 2 small bookcases and a sofa table.

That's it!  We have been so blessed by the generosity of our friends and family and so happy to have found some good deals on craigslist and whatever we used to use before craigslist (mass emails and the big bulletin board at BYU?).
There are no pictures of the master bedroom or bathroom because they're boring.  I haven't even hung a single picture on our bedroom wall.  Below there's a picture of the kids taken in the doorway, so you can catch a little glimpse.  Hope you liked your little tour of our casa!

Bonus pictures:   2 out of 3 looking at the camera ain't bad. ;)

Dan took this picture for a lecture he's giving to the med students tomorrow about the prevention of spreading germs or something.

My boys!

This was Jonah in late August.  On all fours but not yet crawling.  He likes to do push ups a lot too - which is hilarious.  He is now a professional crawler. :)

My Little Kindergartener!

Elena was excited about starting school.  Like jumping up-and-down and squealing excited.  She drew her teacher a picture (and even rolled it up and tied it with a ribbon) and gave it to her at the Open House.  She laid out her clothes and shoes the night before the first day and had her bag all packed and ready to go.

I only slept about 4 hours the night before.  I just lay there thinking about how much she was going to love it and going through my mental list to make sure that everything was ready. When I was teaching kindergarten, I could never sleep the night before the first day either.  New school years are so fun: new experiences, freshly sharpened pencils, new shoes, and crayons with perfect points.

Elena is in afternoon kindergarten and didn't have to catch the bus until almost 11.  It was a LONG morning for her, but she was as patient as she could be.  Dan was working nights that week, so we were both able to wave goodbye as the bus drove off.  The bus that picks her up midday is kindergarten only and it pulls up to the house (actually we have to walk one house away to the corner).  When school lets out, I drive over the school (about 1 mile away) with the boys and pick her up.  I am really happy with her school so far.  Good thing since this school is the reason that we live here and Dan has a 35 minute commute on a good traffic day.  There are excellent teachers and programs.  Starting in first grade, they have a partial Spanish immersion program. 

I was really worried that Kevin would be inconsolable after Elena left, but he did alright. He wants to go to school too.  Thank goodness PBS started a new show: "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" that week.  Elena's bus came and I got to say, "Okay, Kevin, let's go in and watch Daniel Tiger."  It really helped him with the transition actually.  He wore his new school shoes (they are just like Elena's - SAME SIZE even, but different colors) all day.  It made him feel special that he got new shoes too.  Kevin started his little story time preschool class at the library last week.

Needless to say, Elena had a great first day.  She loves school - especially center time.  She has several little friends in her class and has made friends on the bus too.  She has already gotten into trouble for excessive talking once - no big surprise there if you know her or her parents. ;) 

There are 2 Elena's in her class (so she'll be Elena D. all year) and 4 on her bus.  Ummm...oops!  Who knew that "Elena" would be so popular in 2012-13 kindergarten?  One of the girls named "Elena" on her bus lives just down the street. Have you met any other young Elenas?  I think the name popularity was something like #170 back in 2007.  Crazy.