Christmas Time!

Christmas was a little different for us this year since Nathan had to work all day and night Christmas Eve (started at 6am) and didn't get off until noon Christmas day. Things felt a little off and weird for me (I'm sure the kids had no idea) but overall it turned out really well.

Easton painting Christmas ornaments.

On Christmas Eve we watched a movie and then the kids opened their pjs. We got the pjs while we were in San Francisco visiting China Town a few months ago. Aren't they cute in their Chinese pjs? After the movie we got ready for bed and I thought it would be fun to have a sleep over in mommy's and daddy's room, since Nathan was gone, but after wrestling two karate kids jumping on the bed for over a half hour it was time to break up the party and send everyone to their own room. It would have been fun if I wasn't so tired and exhausted. Yes, I know I'm a party pooper!

Easton thought he was a ninja and had to do some karate moves.

And Blair of course had to get in on the action too!

Video of Easton doing some fancy moves:

Christmas morning I decided it would be nice to have cinnamon rolls (I was probably just craving them) but since I have been so tired I really didn't want to make them so I just bought some. I'm really glad that I didn't go to all that work since they weren't a big hit with my kids. Easton took one look at them and said he didn't like them (wouldn't even try it) and Blair just poked at hers with a fork (weird since this girl eats basically anything). I enjoyed every bite!

Since Nathan didn't get off work until noon I really didn't think it would be fair to the kids to have to look at their gifts all morning and not be able to open them so Nathan and I decided before hand that we wouldn't do gifts until the kids got up from their naps (kind of like waking up Christmas morning right?). I didn't want to do it right when Nathan got home because it would be right before nap time and who wants to open their gifts and not be able to play with them because they have to go and take a nap? Again not fair. Easton knew that it would be Christmas when he woke up so I wanted there to be something for him and Blair to open/play with. So they got their stockings when they woke up. They were super excited and it kept them busy for most of the morning.

Blair woke up first around 8:30.


And then Easton around 9:00.

Finally Nathan got home and after lunch it was nap time. Blair and Nathan both took naps but Easton of course didn't. He surprised me though by staying in his room the whole time. It was a good thing since I was bringing all the gifts out to the living room and we have windows upstairs that overlooks the living room. Easton was pretty excited when he came out of his room and saw all the gifts waiting for him.

Gift from Auntie Kim. Easton and Blair love them.

Gift from Gramma Sue and Grandpa Layne. They are roll up chalk boards.

Easton writing "thanks". His "s" is backwards but overall his writing is pretty good.
Side note: I think it's funny. Easton calls his grandpa, "Grandpa Layne Kelsey". It isn't Grandpa Layne or Grandpa Kelsey but Grandpa Layne Kelsey.

They also got pillow cases. Blair had another idea for hers though...

Video of Easton and Blair checking out the bug G&G Kelsey got Easton:

Doctor set from Grandma Gretch and Grandpa Jerry. Easton refers to himself as Dr. Easton now. He and Blair have fun looking into our ears and mouth. Easton: "Let me look in your ear. ummm...very good ears!"


"Blair's princess tent" as Easton refers to it as. From G&G Uehling.


Hippo game from Gma Whiting. Easton is obsessed with this game. He would play it all day if we let him.


Vaccum from Gma Whiting. Blair loves this but so does Easton. They fight over it!

The kids also got saving bonds from Gpa Whiting and Gma Sharon.

I forgot to get pictures of their other gifts but Blair got a kitchen set with fake food and Easton got a remote control car and the mario kart wii game with the wii car (picture below). Easton loves the blow up car but has a hard time playing the game.

Thank you to all the grandparents for their generous gifts. The kids love all of their gifts! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Field Trip and Singing

Easton's preschool class went to a Christmas tree farm for a field trip. They got to listen to a story, play in the hay castle (it had a fun slide for the kids to slide on), ride on some reindeer, play some musical instruments, and ride on a sleigh ride. Nathan had the day off so Blair stayed home with Daddy and I got to hang out with just Easton. It was nice to have some one on one time with him. It was really cold but everyone had a good time.

Hay Castle with slide. This was Easton's favorite!

Riding the reindeer.


Video of Easton playing with the musical instruments:

Easton on the sleigh ride. Too bad the sun was behind him.

After the tree farm the class decided to head over to candy cane lane and lolly pop lane to check out the lights. Of course it was during the day so it wasn't as cool as it would have been at night all lit up. I convinced Nathan to take us back later that night so we could see all the houses lit up. It was really cold but luckily we brought some hot chocolate along so we stayed relatively warm.

Easton in front of one of the houses.

Example of what most of the houses looked like.

Lastly Easton's preschool class learned some Christmas songs and when I went to pick him up on Friday they were all ringing bells and singing. It was really cute and I wish I would have had my camera but unfortunately I didn't because I didn't know they were going to be singing. I can't remember all the songs they were singing but I had Easton sing a couple of them so I could get it on video. I thought the grandparents might enjoy them.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

He does some random stuff in the middle but eventually I get him back on track.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Blair at 18 months

Blair has officially turned 18 months which means she gets to go to Nursery now! I have loved having her as my little buddy at church especially since I didn't get to have that with Easton, but at the same time I think we were both a little ready for her to go hang out with the other kids. I admit it was a little lonely without her last Sunday (even though she didn't feel the same way at all). Easton took her by the hand and walked her into Nursery (it was one of the cutest things ever!). She instantly saw the toys and never looked back. I checked on her twice from the window so she couldn't see me and she was as happy as could be. I actually wasn't expecting this from Blair. I thought she would be one of those crying kids that wouldn't let go without a fight. Boy was I wrong but you know it is all good! She has definitely become a lot more independent since she finally got the hang of walking at about 13 months. Hopefully it won't change once Easton leaves Nursery in January, but I guess we will find out.

Blair's a little performer. Whether she has an audience or not she will perform. It is really cute. You will walk into a room or turn around and there she is just dancing/twirling away. One of her new favorite things to do is to sit on the bottom stair with a Christmas card and sing her little heart out! The other day she sang for at least five minutes! I started laughing because it was so cute and all she did was turn to me, give me a huge smile, and then return to her singing. At church she loves to lead the music. She will try to stand up on the bench and just go crazy waving her hand and singing along.

I find it funny sometimes when Blair does some things where you know she has to have a brother. Last week at church she started roaring in Sacrament meeting. When ever she plays with cars she has to make car noises like Easton does. My absolute favorite happened last week. She was holding her baby all nice and then the next thing I know she throws the baby to the ground and body slams her! Before this incident I was actually thinking she was going to be a good, loving older sister, but now I'm a little afraid what is in store for her new little sibling.

Blair has some of the best/funniest facial expressions ever! My favorite has to be her surprised look. Hopefully someday I can get a picture of it.

Blair is doing better with her talking and will now try and copy words we say but it is generally when we ask her to say them or ask her what something is. It isn't very often that she will just come out and say words (unless it is "NO!" or "meese" (please) especially when she really wants something ). However the other day Nathan took her to Walmart and when they went past the produce she yelled, "nana!" (banana). She is still signing and probably prefers signing over talking right now. Hopefully that will change over the next month or so.

One thing I don't understand about Blair is every time Easton gets put in time out (generally because he did something mean to Blair) she will go straight to time out with Easton. Sometimes she will sit with him and other times she will just stand next to him. I'm not sure if it is because she loves Easton and forgives him and wants him to play with her or if it is because she is rubbing it in his face ("haha you're in time out"). Whatever it is without fail Easton will hit/push/kick/etc. her. This happens every time so you would think she would catch on and just leave him alone to do his time. Maybe someday she will figure it out.

Easton at 3 1/2

So Easton has been 3 1/2 for about 2 weeks now but as usual I'm behind. I've decided that I need to do a better job of writing down the funny things my kids say/do. Since I knew that I needed to write a post on Easton I've been doing a little better the last little while of writing them down so that I wouldn't forget.

Nathan was saying the dinner prayer and Easton in some way or another has to say all the prayers (whether he copies the person saying the prayer so he says it himself). Anyways, Nathan said something along the lines of, "Please help us to remember Jesus during this Christmas season." Easton then repeats, "Please help us to remember.......SANTA!" Not quite what we had in mind but it was a nice try anyways...

Nathan was giving the FHE lesson about Jesus' birth and why we celebrate Christmas. Towards the end of the lesson Nathan asks Easton, "Whose birthday do we celebrate on Christmas?" Easton: "Santa!" I guess we have a lot of work to do. It is weird though because we've never made a big deal about Santa for Christmas. In fact I don't think we have anything in our house that is Santa related and in the past Santa has never brought gifts to our family. We just say who they are really from (not sure if that takes away some fun) but that is what we have decided to do for our family. He has sat on Santa's lap in previous years but has been scared of him (most of the time) so I really have no idea why everything seems to be about Santa this year. Maybe he hears about Santa at preschool and sees all the other kids really excited about him?

Speaking of preschool...Easton is doing really well. He is the youngest in his class but he is keeping up with all the older kids. His teacher told me that when no one else in the class knows the letter, she can always count on Easton to know it. He is working really hard at learning to write his letters. Each week they get better and better.

Recently Easton has been dissing on Nathan (not on purpose but it is still pretty funny). Yesterday we went for a walk around the neighborhood.
Easton: "Run like Daddy!"
Me: "Sorry Easton I'm not cool like Daddy. We're just walking today."
Easton: "You're cooler than Daddy!"

Thanks Easton! That made my day!

After dinner one night Easton pulled up his shirt and said, "Look mommy, my tummy's big like yours." Several seconds go by and then Easton pats his tummy and says, "Look my belly's big like daddy's!"

I have an excuse as to why my tummy is getting bigger. I'm not sure what Nathan's excuse is...

We went grocery shopping last night as a family and when we pulled into the garage I noticed that Nathan's car had marks all across the side of his car. I asked Nathan about it but he had no idea where they came from. After examining the marks we still couldn't figure it out but Nathan thought maybe Easton was behind it. I had my doubts but decided to ask Easton about it anyways.

Me: "Easton did you do something to daddy's car?"
Easton: "I just colored with my cheese stick!"
That explains why his cheese stick was dirty before we left to go grocery shopping and why he didn't want it anymore.

This morning while I was helping Easton get ready for preschool I noticed a mark on his back (it looked like a carpet burn).
Me: "Easton you have a mark on your back, what happened?"

Easton: "A mark on my back? Is it poop?"

What!?! Why in the world would he think he had poop on his back? And if he did why would he be so calm about it?

One of Easton's favorite saying these days are, "Be nice to me!" When he doesn't get his own way..."Be nice to me!" When he gets put in time out..."Be nice to me!" You would think that we were the meanest parents in the world!

The other day I overheard Easton telling Nathan, "Blair's ruining my operation!" Where does he come up with these things?

Apparently Easton is going to marry Blair!?! I tried to explain to him that he couldn't marry his sister and that he would have to marry someone else but he is pretty adamant that he is marrying Blair when he gets older. I have to admit that I was a little sad because I always thought that a boy's first love was their mommy. I guess I'm just too old for him? Or maybe it is because I'm not nice enough to him?

And the answer is...

We're expecting our third child in June 2011! Thanks to all those who played. I hope you had as much fun figuring it out as I did putting it together. Also thanks to those who already congratulated us! We are really excited to add a new little one to our family.

A special shout out to Natalie for figuring it out first and for getting the majority of it correct! Good work! The only exception is I'm not due on the 2nd. It is supposed to be the Gemini sign, not a 2, but I can see why that might be confusing. Other than that Natalie was correct!

Take 5 = family of 5
3 musketeers = 3 kids
Baby Ruth = baby
Blue men/Pink = boy or girl
Gemini sign = between May 21-June 20
Pearl = June birthstone
2011 = 2011

My actual due date is June 12th but since I went late with the other two I'm not expecting the little one for at least a week after that.

I think it's funny that neither my mom or sister could figure it out since they had an unfair advantage of already knowing.

Thanks to Easton for taking the picture! Currently 14 weeks!

Question of the day...

What do these things have in common?

Christmas Fun

We finally got around to decorating our house for Christmas last week. Nathan put up some lights outside on our house. The kids had fun trying to climb the ladder with daddy and picking up daddy's mess behind him. We put up our little Christmas tree (maybe once Christmas is over we can find a bigger tree on sale for next year) and decorations. I think the kids are having more fun this week redecorating and rearranging all the ornaments and boxes under the tree than they did putting them up in the first place. Easton has gotten pretty creative and takes all the bulb ornaments and strings them all together. It makes for a really pretty part of a tree but the rest of the tree looks bare in comparison. Blair just pulls all the bulbs apart so I'm constantly all day putting them back together and hanging them back on the tree. I'm not sure our boxes are going to make it another year. The kids really like to play with them and they are really taking a beating this year. We've had them for seven years now so I guess they have lasted longer than I thought they would.

We went to our wards Christmas party last Saturday and were asked to bring a plate of cookies. We decided to be rebels and bring cupcakes instead. I figured it was okay as long as it was still a dessert and people could eat them with their fingers. We decided to make some cute snowmen cupcakes. The party was nice and they had a great program but I was a little disappointed that Santa didn't make an appearance. In the past the ward Santa is the only Santa that hasn't made Easton cry.

Thanksgiving Break

Its official! I'm a slacker when it comes to my blog recently. It is probably due to the fact that I've been even more of a slacker taking pictures and I find it hard to blog without pictures. Anyways, we went to my family's for Thanksgiving this year. We stopped in to see my sister in Oregon for about a day and they took us hiking to see some beautiful waterfalls. We knew it was going to be cold but we had no idea that it was going to have snow there. Easton definitely loved playing in the snow but after about 30 minutes he was wet and cold. Jac and I couldn't help ourselves and had to make snow angels.

The rest of the break was spent between my mom's and dad's house. We were supposed to go up to my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving but because the weather wasn't cooperating we stayed and had a nice feast with my Dad, Sharon, and Sharon's family. It was definitely nice and I can't believe that Sharon was able to pull it off all last minute but at the same time I was pretty bummed that I didn't get to see my grandparents and my brother and his family. That was our family tradition growing up every year to go to my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving and I was excited to share that with my family this year. My grandparents are getting older and I'm guessing this was probably the last year that they were going to have thanksgiving at their house.

It was good to see my parents though and the kids loved hanging out with their grandparents. Every morning when Easton woke up he had to know where Grandma was. He was sad on the mornings that Grandma was at work. Easton loved Grandma reading goodnight stories to him too! Easton and Blair both loved Grandpa singing the rabbit song to them and Easton even made me call Grandpa up so that he could hear it again. Silly kid! Blair absolutely loved Grandpa's M&Ms. Every time she came downstairs the first thing she did was beg for the M&Ms. Easton of course loved them too! Easton loves his grandparents and even told them he did on several occasions.

Our car ride home was very long and we ran into some bad weather but we had to make it home in time for Nathan's grandparent's visit. They ran into some bad weather too and actually didn't make it to our house when they thought they would. It gave us time to grocery shop but unfortunately our house was a little messy when they showed up since we didn't really have time to unpack. Blair and I took Grandpa and Grandma to the Jelly Belly Factory on Monday while Easton was at preschool and then the rest of their visit was mainly visiting and playing games. It was a short visit but it was nice to see them.

Monkey Party

This last weekend I took the kids down to Southern California to spend some time with my sister and nephews and to also go to their birthday party. We got there late Wednesday but all day Thursday and Friday were spent making things for the party on Saturday (banana bean bags, monkey cup cakes, monkey cake, monkey chocolate suckers). The kids for the most part got along and had fun playing with each other. Easton loves his cousin Aaron and even told Aaron that he was his best friend. How cute is that?

Most of Saturday morning was spent decorating for the party and then the party started in the afternoon. It was a crazy/fast weekend but we all enjoyed ourselves. I thought the party was a hit even though my sister is a little unsure. I think we all question it when we are the ones in charge. The party had a bounce house for the older kids even though Blair (one of the youngest) was in love with this thing and didn't want to get out. There was a ball pit and tunnel for the younger kids. I think Aiden had the most fun in the ball pit followed by Blair. The kids played a couple of games like pin the tail on the monkey, banana bean bag toss (they had to feed the monkeys the bananas), and a pinata. There was of course lots of food and for dessert we had banana splits and cupcakes/cake.

Video of Easton doing the banana bean bag toss:

Easton trying to hit the pinata.


The pinata got knocked off the rope so Jana went and picked it up so the kids couldn't hit it. We kept teasing Jana that this was her new baby and that we couldn't tell the difference between George and Aiden. We all say that Aiden is a little monkey.


Video of kids collecting candy from Pinata and also Jana throwing more candy at them:



Easton in the bounce house. He was about ready to attack his next victim.

Video of Blair in the bounce house:

Birthday boys Aaron 5 and Aiden 2. Their birthdays are two days apart.

Aiden and Blair in the ball pit.

One happy little girl! She just finished eating cake and ice cream so she has chocolate all over her face.

Aiden. Again he just finished eating cake and ice cream so he had chocolate all over his face and clothes.

The boys got lots of gifts and Easton was very jealous that he wasn't getting any gifts to open. He kept telling me, "I want a gift to open." And when I told him it wasn't his birthday then he would say, "I want it to be my birthday so I can open gifts." It was sad to see him so unhappy but it got worse when Aiden opened his last present. He pulled out a huge (probably at least a 1 1/2 foot) T-Rex. Easton quietly grabbed it and went into a corner to play with it. Eventually another boy at the party realized it and snatched it back. It was the end of the world for Easton and he was heart broken. Luckily the boy's mom came to Easton's rescue and told the boy that he was Aiden's cousin and that he could play with it. I was a little concerned that Easton would think it was his and that it would be nearly impossible to get that toy out of his grasp but in the end his auntie gave him a small dinosaur to keep and that distracted him enough to leave the T-Rex behind.