October 6-12 Happenings

Once again I find myself making a goal to be better about updating this! I might at some point try to do some catch ups but the plan for now is just a weekly update sometime every Sunday or Monday. So here's what life looked like around here the past week.

Sunday the 6th was LDS General Conference. The day before we set up our King Benjamin Tent in the living room and overall the kids had fun while we were listening to the speakers.

Monday was fairly typical until around 10 or 11 when I got a phone call from the school principle. Ry was in her office - turns out that he'd hit his limit for warnings/write ups with the bus already this year and she was making the decision to suspend him from the bus for the rest of the week. Which meant that we made the trip in and back twice a day - ug! Ry worked hard to do chores to make up his part of the deal and I really was proud of how well he handled it all. Randomly we also decided to cut his hair. Even he had decided it was getting a little too long!

On Monday we also celebrated Alexander's 10 month birthday! Yay! I can't believe it's been that long. He seems to be growing well and loves all kinds of foods. For good or bad there's not much that he won't try! He's got momma down but still is just saying it more than knowing what it means. He's also worked on sign language for daddy and gets excited and starts doing a form of it whenever Mark comes in sight. He still just loves people and has a great smile and laugh that we all love to tickle out of him.

Wednesday we had Activity Girls. Alicia cut out the pieces for and sewed together a little owl pocket purse that is super cute. She loved it and is begging to head to the craft store so we can pick up more felt for more creations.

Friday Mark drove over to NY to spend some time with Gladys and Matt and had a good weekend visiting with them. While he was gone I just tried to keep the kids entertained. Friday night we went to Windsor's Moondance festival. The kids had a lot of fun watching the firedancers (even Alexander was entranced) and getting their faces painted, and Alicia bought herself some cotton candy (and even shared some with Ry) I've got to say I was a bit nervous about taking them by myself but they were all really amazing and it was just super fun.

Saturday afternoon we went and visited our friend's farm and got to meet her baby goat (she's now about 7 weeks old I think) she was really tiny and cute and it was so fun watching her frolic around. She also gave the kids a pumpkin from her garden to bring home so they were super excited!

After that the kids wanted to head up to the Apple festival. It almost didn't happen since it was almost time for it to end. Anyways to try and make a long story somewhat short. We went and as we were getting out of the car my keys ended up locked in. Thankfully I had my cell phone and got in touch with a friend who came and picked us all up and then two of the men from church came and got into the car and brought it to the house for me. While we walked around the festival we saw lots of fun crafts and things and Alicia bought a little squash for her and Ry. She also decided she wants to learn to crochet. The kids also got to have fun that night with three of their almost cousins (they were the ones to come rescue us). It was a lot of fun and they all ran and partied until they dropped!

In other randomness this week - I made my first batch of yogurt and then turned part of it into my first batch of cheese! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and just kind of awesome trying something new!

 

Also the leaves and weather have been gorgeous!

 

 

Alex turns 3 Months

Alex really has been such a blessing to our family. He has learned to smile and even tries to laugh. He adores his family and lets us know it! He has also been working on rolling and can get onto his side. He still hates being on his belly but loves snuggles and loves anyone who will give him some love in return.

VINS

For the kids February break we decided to take a family trip up to Vermont Institute of Natural Science. They have an amazing center there and do a lot of bird rehabilitations and specialize in raptors. Although they treat and release all the birds they can they have quite a few who have become ambassadors for their species due to injuries and other issues that prevent them from being able to survive in the wild. We saw all sorts of incredible birds there and can't wait to go back again!

January in Pictures

Mostly January was just trying to settle into the new house and routines. We did have some fun though - between the cat who tries to climb up on top of the kitchen cabinets and gets himself stuck to Ry locking his bedroom door so we had to break in, an invention convention, and of course - lots of snow!

Alex turns 2 Months

Alex turns 1 Month

Christmas

Christmas Eve was fairly nice and quiet. We all just played around and had our traditional make your own pizza night. Ryan conked off pretty early in his spot in the living room near the tree. Alicia was super excited to play elf this year and enjoyed helping to fill the stockings. Finally she went to sleep and some other elves made sure all the other presents and stockings were ready. 

 

Christmas morning Alicia had made a schedule of events for the day. It started with our stockings and was followed by a yummy breakfast of waffles and bacon and I think Alicia made eggs as well. After breakfast Mark, Alex, and I were treated to a delightful holiday dance performed by Alicia and Ryan (they'd been not-so-secretly practicing for a few days for it up in her room) then we got to tear into the presents. 

 

We didn't do so well with getting pictures of everything this year but Mark did get some video footage somewhere. Needless to say once again the kids (and Mark and I) were spoiled rotten. 

 

Ry with his new Perpluxus Maze Ball

Alex cuddled fast in a blanket from his Great/Great-Great Grandma (Grandma Dorothy will have to tell me which!)

Alicia having fun getting her origami on

After all the presents the kids had some time to play and then it was over to our friends house for a super fun Christmas brunch.

Other than that it was a pretty quiet day excepting my attempts at Christmas dinner. For some reason it just never goes as plan. Thankfully this years was pretty decent even if it was kind of late and probably not a recipe that I'll try again.

The Big Move

So the week after Alex was born we were all pretty much just enjoying everything. For a newborn Alex slept super well. Mark had time off of work. The Relief Society blessed us with more than enough food. We were even making some good progress on getting things ready for the move to our new house.  I should have known better....

Sometime Thursday the hot water heater at our old house broke. (It was pretty sudden and complete and we still haven't gotten a chance to figure it out yet.) In some kind of crazed daze I decided it was just a sign saying that we should just go ahead and move our stuff to the new house. Still not sure what I was thinking, especially considering that that weekend we also ended up with a baby shower and the Ward Christmas Activity.

Thanks to 3 amazing friends we did it. Mark and I moved a bunch of stuff on Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday he got help with the big stuff that needed to come over. It's still very much a work in progress but now that it's been almost 2 months I can say that we're starting to really settle in and it's beginning to feel like home.

Favorite comments from the kids...
Sunday night after we moved in from Alicia "Mom, it still doesn't feel like home here!"
Sometime more recently from Ry to his teacher "I like my new house because it has a library."