Merry Christmas to All

I can't believe how many presents we all ended up with. I knew Samantha had quite a few, but we all had more than I thought. It was fun to see how excited Samantha was with all the events going on. Santa brought a high chair and that was all she wanted at first. Then she realized that all the gifts also had toys and she went to town. After awhile she was so excited with all she got that she kept saying, "I'm all done, let's play!" Paul enjoyed the wrapping paper as much as the toys. Good thing we spent all that money, could have given him a $1 roll of wrapping paper and he would have been just as happy. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause :). We love you all and hope you had a Merry Christmas. Here are some pictures of the highlights:

Sammi on Christmas Eve opening her new baby

The new pj's

Cutie

The highchair from Santa

How could you not love that face?

p.s. There will be no updates for awhile because we leave for Hawaii in the morning. YEAH!!

At Last!

I am sick. We are all sick. That is my latest excuse for not updating....but I am going to buck up and get to it. November was crazy. Busy and crazy. One thing that was fun was making chocolates. My great aunt taught me how 3 years ago and ours look nothing like hers. Her chocolates look like they come straight from See's Candies, ours don't. Then again, she's been making them for 20+ years. Smantha had a lot of fun helping, but I think she ate more than she helped. We also had a chance to play with Sammi's friends one last time. They kept pretending to go to sleep on the stairs. They thought they were really funny. She keeps trying to play the game but since I'm too big and Paul's too little, she and her babies go to sleep. It's actually a little sad. Especially since she keeps asking for Jason and Talmage. We look at their blogs every day so that we can see them. She will tell me "I love Jason sing ABC's" and "Talmage really funny for me." Emily- we have watched Jason sing his ABCs at least 500 times. Not kidding. Trying to pack up was crazy with two kids. Luckily we had a couple friends who were able to watch them for awhile and the rest of the time they were pretty good at entertaining themselves. This isn't to say there weren't multiple meltdowns, but still, it went better than I had anticipated. Samantha and Paul had a lot of fun playing in their "tunnel."
The last picture of her is when she's sleeping the last night in the house. Her bed was taken apart, and I guess she thought this was the best way to fall asleep. Last, but not least, Paul turned 6 months on Nov. 12th. CRAZY! I can't believe he's that big. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home. He has grown a tiny bit since then...now weighing in at a whopping 19 lbs 10 oz and 27" long. WOAH!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at Kevin & Holly's house with the Riggs' family. Samantha loved helping Grammie with the pie. I'm not sure Holly appreciated the help quite as much since Samantha ate more apples than she put in the bowl. The next morning Adam and I, along with our friends Chris and Brittany went shopping on Black Friday. We got up at 3 am and went to a few stores. We got some great deals, but I'm still not sure if it was worth the getting up that early. I think have the fun was being out with the rest of the crazy people desperate to save some money. I think I'd do it again as long as someone is willing to watch my kids! Hey, it's fun to have time with just Adam even if it is BEFORE the crack of dawn.

It's hard to see, but Paul is ALWAYS doing this weird thing with his tongue.

Snow!

We got a little over a foot of snow this last Sunday. Sammi still isn't sure how she feels about it. She had fun until the second her hands got cold or any snow would land on her chin. Then she freaked out. Paul loved it, even when snow got on his face. We LOVE being back in Colorado!

Halloween

Instead of one night trick-or-treating we had an entire week of fun. We went in downtown Spanish Fork last Saturday where business were handing out candy (I thought that would be a good introduction to the idea of getting candy). Then our ward's trunk or treat on Tuesday. A Halloween party on Thursday and finally trick-or-treating on Friday. Samantha had 2 costumes (Raggedy Ann and a pig) and traded off wearing both of them. Paul was a cow (a darn cute one) the whole time. On Halloween night I even dressed up as a farmer to take my livestock out. Samantha had a ton of fun and was amazed that people kept giving her candy. She would even say "trick-or-treat" loud enough for people to hear (even people we didn't know) when we'd knock on their door. Here are some pictures for you...

Samantha and her friend Jason (Mickey)

Sammi admiring her haul

Samantha

Here's what Samantha is like at 2 yrs 4 months

• She has a lot of energy and is usually very happy.
• She loves people and wants to play with her friends all the time. If I ask her in the morning what would be fun she'll tell me "I know, playing with my friends will be really fun for me."
• She talks ALL the time & is becoming much easier for everyone to understand.
• She can count to 10
• She knows most of her colors, although she won't tell you the right ones if she's asked. I think it might be because she feels like there's pressure on her? Who knows, but she does know them. (I watch her color by herself and she'll say "green, green, green" while she's coloring with green)
• She LOVES Paul still, but is having moments where she'll want me all to herself. She'll tell me "Mommy, I need 'lone' time with you." Luckily she will still never hit him and even when she's not happy that he's around she'll still share and be kind.
• She seems to have really good social skills. She shares without being told 50% of the time & when reminded she'll share without fighting about 75% of the time.
• She never hits & is able to say "I don't like that" if she's getting bugged (especially by Adam)
• The last month or two she has started really loving books & will ask me to read to her all the time. She really likes to read the same 1-2 books over and over. Then she'll move to a new book.
• She likes to act just like Adam & me, copying what we say & our mannerisms. (Notice the picture of her & Adam).
• She is really kind hearted & will walk up to me and tell me "Mommy, I love you really much." She also gets very upset if someone else is sad and wants to help them.
• She still can't (or won't) say decent prayers without help. She'll open her prayer and then immediately close it without saying anything in between. She will do a good job if she's being helped.
• She occasionally gets scared at night but will tell me that Jesus will help her.
• She doesn't throw tantrums very often but is a champion whiner. Any time she doesn't get what she wants she whines about it (not fun).
• She is learning what a nice voice and a mean/rude/whiny voice sound like. She'll tell me all the time that I'm being rude (whenever I use a stern voice with her or if I tell her no)
• She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES candy & asks for it from the second she's done with her breakfast until she's in bed & we've left her.
• She goes to bed at 7 but won't go to sleep until 8:30 or so. She stays in her bed and sings/reads/talks to herself.
• She is such a good kid who is really good at listening & doing what I've asked.
• She loves to help

Paul

Here's what Paul is doing at 5 1/2 months...

• He has been sitting up for about 2 1/2 weeks...I think all that extra fat helps him from toppling over
• He still isn't rolling over! That is supposed to happen at about 4 months. He has rolled over 1 time each way, he just won't do it anymore. I'm not sure if hefting all that body over is just too much for him, or if he's just happy enough however I put him that rolling over isn't worth the trouble.
• He still isn't back to sleeping through the night (little turd) although I can't realy complain. He goes to bed at 7 and wakes up between 4 & 5 to eat (9-10 hours) and then goes right back to sleep until 7:30 or 8. He also takes about a 2 hour nap at 11 or 12 with Sammi and then another short one late in the afternoon. All in all it's working pretty well.
• He's still just as happy as can be and is very rarely cranky.
• He loves Samantha and will just sit there watching her forever.
• He laughs when she comes in the room and just breaks out into the biggest grin when she talks to him. He is also doing really well with his toys.
• He's able to hold on to a toy for quite awhile and pick it up if he drops it. His attention span with a single toy can be anywhere from 5-30 min.
• He loves baths and has learned how to splash by kicking his feet. He prefers to be in the baby tub because he gets to stay in longer, but I am starting to just stick him in the big tub more often since it's easier.
• He rubs his eyes when he's tired and burries his head in my shoulder.
• He isn't clingy (yet) and is happy to have anyone hold him.
• He has the BEST smile & we get to see it ALL the time!!

More Funny Things

I thought I would do another post of some of the funny/cute things Samantha has said lately.

• We were driving in the care and out of the blue Samantha tells me, "Mommy, he's my Paul. Get your own Paul." Guess she told me
• One of the prayers during confrence was going a bit long. She started yelling "hurry up" at the tv.
• If she says no to us and we ask why, she always responds, "beacuse....no" (she'll also do this if she answers yes to something and we ask why).
• After lunch one afternoon I told her it was time for N-A-P, naps. She responded by saying "G-M-P, no naps." Now a lot of days she'll tell me G-M-P, no naps.
• She is always talking and a couple of times I've asked her to be quiet or to stop talking. She gets VERY defensive and now tells me "I WILL talk, I WILL talk."

Colorado

Adam had fall break this last weekend and we decided (VERY last minute) to go ahead and drive out to Colorado. It wasn't the best timing because all of the Grandparents were headed out of town; but we did get to see everyone, even if it was only briefly. WE also go to hang out with Adam's good friend Chris and his wife Brittany, and with my sister Stacy and her kids. We're really glad we went, and can't wait until we're out there for good! Okay, I can wait, there's a lot that I'm going to miss about living here, but still, it'll be really nice to be close to family.


We made pumpkin shirts with Sammi and my nieces. I was planning on letting Samantha make her own shirt and having her wear it on Halloween and I was going to make one for Paul. Unfortunately it looked ridiculous and I'm not nice enough to let her wear it, so I gave her Paul's shirt. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Confrence & A Drive

After conference on Sunday we had to get out of the house, so we decided to drive up past Sundance and look at the leaves changing. It was BEAUTIFUL. There are still a lot of leaves that still haven't changed and I'm hoping in the next week or so we can head up there to get some family pictures. Samantha kept wanting to get out of the car, and when we finally stopped for a minute to get out it was freezing. I guess I didn't take into account that it'd be colder than it was at home since it was a higher altitude. We didn't walk around long, but at least we got some great pictures.

Too Many People Named Chris

My sister just started a blog (finally) as I was adding her name to my friends & family list I decided we know WAY too many people named Chris. Anyone want to change their name? By the way, having two cousins named Grant is also getting really confusing for Samantha, especially now that they both live in gog-oh (Chicago). Way to go people.

The Pumpkin Patch

For family home evening this week we went to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch. Samantha had so much fun picking out her own pumpkin. She loves her pumpkin so much she won't let it out of her sight. It was all we could do to talk her into leaving downstairs rather than taking it in her bed when she went to sleep. The next morning she put it in her stroller and was pushing it all over on "our little walk." This was fun enough, not to mention that she buckled it in so that it would "stay so safe." She also has a baby pumpkin (one of those really tiny ones) that she picked just for Grammie. She is insisting that I take her to the mail place and help her mail her pumpkin to Grammie in time for Halloween. Look out Holly, you may actually be getting a pumpkin in the mail if I can't talk her down. All this has started getting me really excited for Halloween. In general Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but I know Samantha is going to have SUCH a fun time that it should be really fun this year. In fact, our Walmart was having a grand re-opening and they had lots of people dressed up giving away candy. One guy was smokey the bear and Samantha keeps wanting to go back and see the bear that gave her candy we have been talking about how he's not there anymore for over a week. I told her that on Halloween if she wears a costume and says "trick or treat" that people will give her candy. She occasionally walks up to me and says "trick treat" expecting me to give her something. I think she's ready.

Rainy Day

Yesterday it was raining and Samantha was extremely disappointed that she couldn't go to the park to play. I got her calmed down by telling her she could wear her raincoat and rain boots and go for a walk. She was so excited and kept yelling "thank you Stacy, thank you my rain boots, thank you my raincoat!" Stacy got her her rain gear for her birthday. Now she thinks that she can wear her boots as shoes whenever we go anywhere. I guess it's not a problem except that they're a little harder to walk in and she trips more often.

On another note, Samantha has now decided that she wants to be called Samantha, not Sammi. I'll call her Sammi and she'll say, "no, Pantha (Samantha)." I'll then say, okay, I love you Samantha and she'll tell me "that's right." So if she yells at you for calling her Sammi, don't be surprised.

Babies & The Children's Museum

Samantha is still obsessed with babies. We were at the store and I was asking her what she would rather have, a kitchen or a doll house. She responded by telling me that she would probably love a stroller (she already has 2). Adam took some pictures of her right before bed playing with "yellow baby" and "baby Sara." She loves to rock them, read to them, and put them in time out. This morning she kept having her baby color on the table. Right after she would say "baby, don't color on the table. That's not otay. You have time out baby." As soon as baby would get out of time out she'd go right back and color on the table again. Sounds like someone else I know. She has also liked pretending that Adam and I are the babies and loves putting us "night night." She will put us in bed, then come in and check on us, read us a story, tell us not to cry, and not to wake up until the sun comes up. If I had any questions about what I'm doing as a mom, she's showing me by treating her babies the same way.

We also went to the children's museum the other day with our good friends Emily and Jason. Samantha is now asking me daily when we can go back to the children's museum and ride the huge horse with Jason. I have been trying to get Samantha as many play dates as possible while we still live here because as soon as we move she'll have no more friends. I know this will be really hard for her and is one thing I am really not looking forward to about moving. We have been so lucky here to make so many good friends and I am really going to miss everyone. Here are some pictures from the children's museum:

Big Sister

Samantha has been such a good big sister to Paul. She always wants to help and be right next to him. It's nice because she's actually very careful and not too overbearing. I could not have hoped for more from her, I know that I am so lucky to have her love him so much...I can only hope it lasts. Here's a couple pictures of her helping me:

Reading to Paul in his crib (her idea)

Helping feed Paul "quash"

Moo

We tried Samantha's old cow costume on Paul the other day to see if it woul fit him for Halloween. Here is a picture of each of them, think they look alike?

Update

I haven't been great about updating the blog, so here are a couple of posts at once. Things are going really well for us... Paul is doing great and is pretty much on the same schedule as Samantha (in bed from 7-7 and a nap from 11:30-1:30ish) except he takes 2 additional short naps. It's great! He is still happy as can be and is ALMOST rolling over. My guess is he'll take awhile longer since I almost never put him on his tummy (spit up in the face is not fun). He is also starting to try and sit up and is really good about holding and playing with his own toys. We started him on rice cereal a couple days ago and so far he is not a fan. I'm going to try to feed him at a different time of day and see if that helps.

Samantha is also doing really well. Adam and I have both commented how good she's been ever since we got back from Colorado. She has her moments, but for the most part she listens and is so sweet. She is GREAT with Paul and likes to help me out when we're at home. So far I am missing the "terrible twos," maybe I need to watch out when she turns three?? She is talking up a storm and is getting easier to understand by the day. There are still a few things that only Adam or I understand, but for the most part she is pretty clear (well, really clear for a 2 year old). She can count to ten, although sometimes she'll miss a number or two. Count up to three items (see three balls and know that there are three of them), and knows some of her colors. She's also working on her ABC's. Her new things are asking "what's that" even when she knows the answer and trying to negotiate. If I tell her she can have on candy she'll always tell me, "how 'bout 2, otay?" or "but maybe 2." If I give in and let her have two (or if I start with two) she'll tell me, "how about all them." She doesn't even have the decency to try three before she jumps to the whole shebang. These are always said with her head cocked to the side and a smile. She also loves to read, especialy if she's reading to her babies (or stuffed animals, or anything she can pretend she's taking care of). I can't believe how big she's getting. She is constantly asking about her cousins, asking when we can go to Colorado or Chicago (gog-oh), and when we can go to the pool. Yes, I realize she is a mini me and I'm in for a long road of talking.

Adam has started school and so far things are going pretty well. It's a busy semester, but luckily he only has school 3 days a week and no work. I'm trying to soak up all the time with him that I can because I know it won't last too long. We have just started the job hunt in Colorado and are hoping that we'll get something sooner rather than later. We're also trying to decide how much to rent our house for and when exactly we'll head out to CO. It's exciting but intimidating having so many things to do at once. I am sad because I realized that Wicked is NOT playing in Vegas, but in LA (I must have misread it when I looked last time) so that vacation is out the window, but we are still thinking of driving down to St. George to visit Teresa. I've gotta go as many places that are close to us here while I still can. That is the basics of what is happening with us, we hope all of you are doing as well as we are.

Hawaii here we come!

Well, thanks to my father, aka the world's greatest dad, Adam and I will be off to Hawaii the day after Christmas. I posted earlier about how we wanted to go to celebrate Adam's graduation. Well, the airfare to Hawaii was outrageous and there was no way we were going to be able to afford it. My Dad surprised me with two round trip ticktes so now we'll be able to go. I also want to thank Michelle for her generosity in being willing to let us stay in her apartment if they are gone and my Mom for being willing to watch my crazy children. I do not know what I did to deserve such wonderful people in my life, but I am very grateful!

Look out Hawaii, here we come!!