9 months...

Evan is 9 months now and boy is he busy! He is crawling everywhere and getting into everything. Books are being pulled off the shelves, toys dumped out of baskets, little pieces of food off the kitchen floor are being put in his mouth, cords are being pulled, plugs are being played with, and bathroom doors must be shut. Love this crazy little man! (Just wish he would let me sleep!)

happy birthday?...

In the craziness of December, I somehow missed posting a Happy Birthday to John! He turned 29 (again!) Love you!

happy new year?...

Our laptop is back up and running! Thanks to me and some help from John (babysitting, taking over soldering when I was going crazy, and reading me the step by step instructions off the Internet). I took it apart, desoldered, soldered, desoldered, and soldered some more, put it back together and VOILA! We saved ourselves a bunch of money and boy did I luck out that I didn't break it more.

So to catch up - my parents came and visited around the new year. We had a New Years Eve get together at our house with them, my grandparents, and my sister's family. Lots of food and game playing. Super fun night!

broken computer and my new favorite cookie...

My computer is currently being fixed, so I do not have access to my pictures, or a way to get my pictures off my camera - so more blog posts will be coming in the next week or so! In the meantime - make yourself these cookies. They are the yummiest!

Note: it says to bake them exactly 8 min - I would add that they should just be a little crackled on top too, or they will be puffy and not done - for me that was about 8 min and 30 sec. The way they look in the picture, they are not quite done. They will end up flat and cracked on top after sitting a minute and they taste almost identical to the Archway brand Molasses Cookies. They are so easy - you do not have any excuse. Go make yourself some soft chewy deliciousness!!!

jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell rock...

This just might be the BEST christmas video ever. Some background about this video. On Christmas morning, the tradition in our family (carried over from my family), is that Dad goes out first to make sure Santa came, turn on the lights, get the camera, and turn on Christmas music. We then line up youngest to oldest to walk out of mom and dad's bedroom and head for the presents. In my family growing up, we usually sang Jingle Bells too. We don't have to walk far, so we just listen to the music. Every year, we receive a mix CD of christmas music from my Aunt and Uncle. The CD's are beyond awesome...every year. We just received this years on Christmas Eve, and so John put that one in to play. The first song is Jingle Bell Rock - by none other than Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. I think that this is my most favorite song on the CD. As we walked out, my kids just started this impromptu dancing. No rushing in to see what Santa brought, just this funny dancing. (Think recent Saturday Night Live sketches with the coach in the locker room - and then this video will make you DIE laughing.) Thanks for the GREAT song, and I think this will have to be a permanent tradition!!!

merry christmas!...

Such a wonderful day that would not have been possible without much love and support of our extended family and friends! We missed not having you here. We love you!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house and invited Gr. & Gr. Meredith along with a guest. We enjoyed a very nice dinner, and then did the usual singing of christmas songs (with Grandma at the piano) and Grandpa read the story of Christ's birth. Then, the kids opened a present from each grandparent. Christmas jammies from Gr. & Gr. Collins, and Splat! balls from Gr. & Gr. Cannon. Super fun! (and I didn't get pictures?!)

The kids got plenty of gifts, and had so much fun Christmas morning (and day) playing with everything. Enjoy the loads of pics!

christmas vacation (or what to do when your kids are out of school for 2 weeks)...

Christmas vacation is rough! Your kids are home with too much excitement and anxiousness about the coming holiday. And to top it off, you're not busy, right? So - I've been trying to do some things to keep the kids occupied and away from the TV. We got out the easel and paints one day. We went on a popcorn and hot chocolate christmas light watching drive. Lots of game playing. They helped me bake the neighbor goodies (that's a REAL test of patience). I have to say that this Christmas has been the best yet!! (Before you think I'm one of THOSE awesome moms, what are they doing right now? Watching TV. ha!)

a ring on my finger (I found it!)...

Here is Zane singing "Ring on my Finger". This is a song written by my grandmother Joleen Meredith. It was written for the LDS general meeting where they unveiled the CTR ring (many many years ago). Zane sang this solo in our Primary Sacrament Meeting Program in front of the whole congregation. My grandma (JM) and grandpa were able to be there to hear it, which was so nice! Since the grandparents (John parents and my parents) were not able to be there to hear it, I recorded this at home later that day. So many people came up to us and said how his song just "made the meeting". He really has a GREAT voice. Great job, Zane, we love you!! (Please forgive the piano mistakes! Trust me, it was perfect in the meeting!)

first snow...

It snowed a couple weeks ago in St. George for the first time this season. It usually only snows a couple of times, and it's not very much. The kids had fun playing in the snow, and even made this small little snowman.

i'm a big kid now...

Evan has been sitting up on his own for about a month - what a big kid! He is on his way to crawling any minute too. We will be in trouble with that one! He is very active, and is already starting to show his "personality". He certainly gets very upset if he is playing with something and drops it so he can't find it, or you have to take it from him. I'm afraid (I mean "happy"?) that he might take after his brother!

Evan hadn't been sleeping well for about a month, waking up at night every hour. I finally took him to the Dr. last week, and he said he has silent reflux. He is now taking Zantac, and that seems to have done the trick. He is sleeping MUCH better, and more consistently now. It has definitely made him a happier baby too (although he was pretty jolly to begin with). (and a MUCH happier mommy!) Oh, and he has sprouted one little tooth, but I doubt I can get a pictur of that. Love you Eb-ies!

sleeping beauties...

Just some pictures of my cuties off in dreamland...

flag football...

I don't know why I haven't been blogging as often. So - here's some old stuff that I've needed to blog for awhile. Zane did flag football this year with the city leagues. They mostly just practiced "skills" (throwing, catching, running) and different types of plays. On the last day they had a scrimmage and they even got trophies! Zane was most excited about that. We started out the season going to football games in our shorts and tshirts, but by the last day, it was quite chilly! Zane made a touchdown in the scrimmage too. Way to go Zane!

halloween candy - near fatality...

Lily's hair was a near fatality of this year's Halloween candy. Somehow we managed to get her dressed, and it was halfway through the day before we noticed...

She obviously slept in it...

Thank goodness for peanut butter, her hair was saved!

things I've made lately...

Besides working on a new line of jewelry, and a halloween costume - here are the other projects I've completed. I've got a large list of things to make for christmas, because we are doing a largely handmade christmas. Not that anyone is interested, I will post pictures of those things as I get them done! (maybe that will motivate me to get started...)

Burp cloth and taggie blanket for a baby gift (and I made a taggie for Evan, and another burp cloth for Zane's teacher who had a baby girl, but didn't get a picture of that one)

My favorite thing ever. I love sleep sacks for babies. Evan is a blanket kicker, and the regular pj sleep sacks are toooo small for him, so I made him one myself! I made this for the summer months out of flannel, and now that it is colder - I am going to make one out of fleece.

crazy bucket head...

I don't know why all of my kids have found this so amusing -

She walked around bumping into walls on purpose too!

halloween...

There are always so many activities for Halloween. This year Zane wanted to be Dracula, Lily chose Eeyore, and Evan was a Lion. So, I only had to make the Dracula costume. I made the cape - complete with stand-up collar and cumberbund. I think he looked pretty spiffy. The medallion he is wearing was from John's TTU graduation. I made the Eeyore when Zane was 2 1/2 and the Lion is store bought. Aren't we so "green" with our re-use!

We had the Halloween Parade at school Friday. I helped out with Zane's Halloween party in his class afterwards. It was cute and fun to see all the 1st graders in their costumes.

I told Zane that I wanted to get a picture of his full costume, so he started walking backwards and didn't stop. I think he looks pretty SPOOKY!

I LOVE this picture!!(drinking the Halloween staple of dry ice root beer)

We stopped by John's work to trick or treat (an annual tradition), even though we are probably the only ones that do this.

Then on Halloween Saturday, it was the usual hot dog and chili neighborhood party, a quick stop at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's house, and off to trick or treat! We let Zane and Lily walk up to the doors by themselves with us in "watching" distance. Lily was into the trick or treating this year and very excited - until we visited the neighbor's house that had made a spook alley out front. She went through with John and Zane, but was absolutely terrified to go to anymore doors with Zane by herself. I went with her a few times, and she finally was feeling ok about it again. (I didn't want to leave her thinking that trick or treating was scary). Then, we got to our last house - and of course... they had a scary guy spooking the kids. Poor Lily! We had to go to a couple more houses just to make sure she was going to be 'ok'.

When Lily was still happy to trick or treat! (and we went plastic pumpkins this year because I couldn't find the pillowcase sacks I made last year that the kids decorated, ugh!)

super scholar...

Each month at the school, they hold a hero hunt assembly. Three kids from each class are picked by their teachers to receive a special award. Zane was chosen as the Super Scholar in his class for the month of October. (They messed up and gave him the Super Citizen certificate instead.) I think he was most excited about the "smelly" pencil he got too. Way to go Zane!!!! So awesome!!

pumpkin carving...

We got one of those pumpkin carving kits this year. I've always wanted to try it, because I know that people have done some awesome pumpkins with them. I figured they can't be that hard. Plus, my knife skills are not all that great. It seems much safer to use those little "saws" around the little kids too.

So here are our creations!

This is Lily's. She picked the design, I carved it.

Zane's pick. John did it with some help from him.