Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Eleven

Wow!  Sam doubled his weight in the past month!  Check it out!


Just kidding!  Let's just say that the Sammers has a big brother that has a hard time not being in the limelight.
 

And here's the real thing: Samuel Patrick, as squirmy and sweet as ever.


One month away from his big birthday,


and yes, he is every bit as sweet, adorable, happy, and marvelous as he looks.


Sorry girls, he's mine!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Best Friends (?)

When you ask Henry who his best friend is, he says that he has two best friends: Ethan (friend from school) and Sam.  He says it right in front of Ellis, and Ellis doesn't seem to care.
When you ask Ellis about his best friends, he says that his two best friends are Henry and Sam . . .

which is kind of funny, because Henry and Ellis really do play GREAT together 85% of the time and fight 15% of the time; Henry is sweet and plays wonderfully with Sam 100% of the time; and Ellis is HORRIBLE with Sam at least 80% of the time - takes toys away from him, knocks him over on purpose, thinks it's really funny every time Sam falls down and cries.  I can no longer trust them alone in a room together.  Sometimes I just want to punch Ellis in the nose!  But then he claims that Sam is one of his best friends.  And he has sweet little moments with him like the one in this picture . . . let's say, 5% of the time.  

Oh, please tell me there is hope in the world for my sons, especially my 2nd born, the one who currently is testing every virtue I used to think I had!  
He looks so sweet in these pictures.  Do not be deceived!  This mirror has two sides.  One minute he is adorable, hilarious, silly, fun, and calm - telling funny jokes, singing sweet songs, setting up his Tabernacle Choir or building his giant Mount Rushmore with all the presidents.  The next minute he is knocking his baby brother over, having a 45-minute tantrum, or running around the house pretending to have a gun, saying "I'm John Wilkes Booth -- I'm gonna kill Abraham Lincoln!"  That one really broke my heart!  

Let's just say that right now I'm using up LOTS of my prayer time on him, praying both that he will turn out to be a decent human being some day (and please, not an assassin), and that I will not suffer from a mental breakdown in the meantime.  And would it be too much to ask that Sammy come out of this unscathed?

Winter Treats and Toys


Henry and Ellis have been doing some fun things to stay busy this winter.


Henry was inspired with the idea of making these snowmen cake pops, which turned out to be pretty cute and very yummy.  I love Henry's constant flow of fun ideas!


Ellis has been playing a lot with his landmark toys that he got for Christmas.


I am delighted that he recognizes and loves the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa (I thank The Little Einsteins for 99% of this).


And this is the one that makes me REALLY happy: my boys love each other, play together, and have lots of adventures together (that's not to say it doesn't always end up in fighting with each other - but we enjoy the happy playing while it lasts!).  Ellis and I both rejoice when Henry is sick, because it means he gets to stay home and play with Ellis!  Henry had two days off school last week, and the two of them had such a good time together - playing with cars, setting up little imaginary projects, etc.  In this picture, they were setting up a birthday party for Francesco.


Lastly, the boys were very pleased to be able to go out and spend some of the money they got as Christmas gifts.  Henry chose some paper airplane Valentines, which are pretty cool . . .


. . . but Ellis' "Barack-o-rama" magnetic dress-up set was the biggest hit!


I feel only slightly uncomfortable seeing our President wearing boxer shorts and a wife beater -- a feeling that is accounted for by how cool he looks as a super hero.  :)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

New Year's in Virginia

We felt lucky to a) get to spend Christmas at our own home this year, and b) still get to spend the week after Christmas with family WITHOUT FLYING ANYWHERE! We are so lucky to have family just a [very long] car ride away!

Here are our happy travelers:

Henry (Now missing both of his front teeth! He is now too cute to resist -- and he gets out of eating lots of stuff because hey, how on earth is he going to bite into an apple?)

Ellis - so good and sleepy for lots of the car ride with absolutely no drugs, or even natural herbal supplements (a huge thanks to the Little Einsteins and the Backyardigans for making this possible).

Sam - who is still in training to become a true road-tripping member of our family and had many moments when he just couldn't take it anymore. And that was when I completely gave in and handed him the box of tissues -- which lasted about 13 minutes.

Finally we arrived, and we had SUCH a great time! We had a fun trip to the Air and Space Museum with all of the cousins.

The highlight of the trip for me was watching the two cousin twins - Sam and Michael. They are close to the same size and stage, and it was so funny to see them crawling all over each other.

They were like two little puppies! It was so adorable, and for the first time in the past 6 years, it made me want twins really, really badly. Once you got them to this crawling stage, it would be so much easier and would be SO cute!

Thanks to Grandma for the matching outfits, by the way! I love this picture because it a) shows how chubby Michael is, and b) shows how Sam is DEFINITELY a member of our family, a child of Ben and Jenn. Somehow it looks more obvious when he's next to a baby that is definitely NOT ours.

New Year's Eve! Wild and crazy party at Kara's house - with the most intense game of Cat and Mouse ever played.

Dave's ingenious idea for a panini bar was a huge hit.

Ellis' root beer consumption got the best of him. Let's just say he's not allowed to stay up until midnight very often!

The Great Lego Sort: The day after New Year's, some of the kids spilled Mike's carefully sorted lego boxes and mixed them all up. Mike was determined to get them all back in order, so he spent the next 24 hours sorting, building, and fixing the giant mess. Don't let the smile fool you; it was not a blissful moment. :)

All of the kids got involved in the Lego sort! Meanwhile, Ben and I sat upstairs making mental notes to ourselves (Avoid the temptation to buy more Lego sets for our kids; If we buy them and care about sorting them, keep them in a locked safe!).

Aw, look at the siblings playing cards. This is Ben with his sisters Kara and Katie. Kara is having baby #6 in March! These are two amazing mamas! I always love being around them and their families because they are super fun, and I learn so much from them.

On the way home, we got to see Amy & Dave (and Abraham Lincoln!) in Philadelphia.

They live in an awesome location near the Museum of Art. It was so fun to see their new place and catch up with them for a bit.

They took us for a walk along Boathouse Row, which was so pretty. The lights came on just in time for us to see them!

We also got to visit the Yosts, Sorensens, and Pat & Bernie on our drive. We had even more people we wanted to see, but we ran out of time! It seems like we just keep getting more and more friends ending up on the road between here and D.C. It definitely makes the drive a lot more bearable! Now, if only we could erase NYC and Baltimore from the map, we'd be all set.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sam at Ten Months

Our little bundle of joy has turned into a little bundle of squirmy energy!

He never stops moving, exploring, talking, smiling, and sharing these sweet little puppy-dog faces. It's impossible to resist him! Henry has figured out the new best way to make Sammy laugh: kissing him on the cheek while tickling his neck at the same time. It's pretty fun to watch Henry do it, or to try it out yourself :)

And the latest maneuver? He stands up! He can pull himself up on pretty much anything: a chair, a toy, the dishwasher. As you can tell from the picture above, he is pretty darn proud of himself. Watch out world, he'll be walking soon!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Never thought I'd see this . . .


Do you think this would make a good advertisement for Cracklin' Oat Bran? Yes, I know that this cereal has 17 grams of sugar per serving, but it does have 7 grams of fiber, and it looks and tastes so healthy! I'm still pretty impressed with my son, who not only ignored his bowl of Fruit Loops to get more and more Cracklin' Oat Bran, but he also wanted it for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner.

Too bad that stuff costs like $5 a box. It was fun while it lasted!

To update quickly on feeding therapy, Ellis is doing great! Slowly but surely, we are adding new foods to his diet, including melon, pears, apples, grapes, raisins, cinnamon nuts, plain rolls, carrots, cheese sandwiches, and peanut butter sandwiches. He also tried chicken once! We are still doing his "steps" every day, and we have many ups and downs (each one of those foods represents at least 45 minutes of tedious work and probably a lot of yelling and tears :), but overall we are headed in an upward direction. It leaves me feeling very hopeful.

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Santa Training Camp

It was two hours before our babysitting night.  The mere thought of having 10 kids running mad in our house  (on December 18th) for 3 1/2 hours made me want to sit on the couch and hide under a blanket until it was over.  Some of you may think that I am the fun one in our relationship.  You would be wrong for sure.  I am the boring one who tries to make all child-care responsibilities as simple and painless as possible.  Ben, on the other hand, has these whimsical memories of growing up in a FUN house, and he wants to make our home a fun place to be.  Thank goodness for Ben!  He concocted this idea called "Santa Training Camp," or the "Santa-lympics."  

The kids made these necklaces and earned stickers by doing their Santa training exercises . . .

like speed cookie-eating,


"Ho Ho Ho" practice,


Santa calisthenics, singing practice,

elf toy-testing,

and chimney-squeezing practice!

Yes, I helped him pull it off, but Ben was definitely the genius behind this plan.  The kids had a great time, and best of all, they're all pretty much trained in case they should unexpectedly be asked to join Santa on his ride next year.

Friday, January 06, 2012

A Few Treasures



We've been saving up Henry and Ellis quotes for a few months.  We thought we'd better share a few treasures.  Enjoy!

Henry
(to Jenn) "From now on, if you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone--Okay?"

"Me and Ellis both have the same plan . . . to DESTROY our parents!"

"Sometimes I go in the bathroom, take some extra toilet paper and chew it up."

(after watching a homemade Star Wars YouTube video) "I never knew light sabers were real until I saw that show."

B: Did Mom already get clothes out for you?
H: No.  Well, actually I'm not sure.  It's still just a theory.

(opening some chap stick he found in his stocking) "Lip Smackers!  Ha ha!  Santa got me pretend lip stick!"

Ellis
(while sorting laundry)
J:  We're gonna put this one in the pile to be sprayed.
E:  Oh yeah, from Dad being such a dirty guy.

"I'm gonna give Sam a blessing: 'Behold, be careful Samuel, and don't break the walls!'"

(looking at a picture of Adam Smith addressing some economists--don't ask) "When is Adam Smith going to say 'In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen' and sit down so somebody else can talk in the microphone?"

(authoritatively) "It is proposed that we sustain Elder Einstein, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, and Nikola Tesla.  Please manifest it."

J: Ellis, who is the President right now?
E: Barack Obama!  Who is going to be the President-right-now next?
J: I don't know; what do you think?
E: Maybe Tanner.  But not the Utah Tanner.  Eldon S. Tanner (We later found out he was getting N. Eldon Tanner confused with Marion G. Romney, whom he had mixed up with Mitt Romney).
(a few minutes later) E: A golden pancake is going to be the prophet after Joseph Smith.

"I can't sit in my car seat, because I can't sit very well . . . like Elder Packer" (he couldn't sit very well because he had a dirty diaper).

(Jenn passes gas)
E: Say excuse me!
J:  Excuse me.
E: (wistfully) I hope I do that soon.

(after Ben's shower) "It's foggy in here.  We need Rudolph!"

Remember when Ellis would make us all have alternative identities?  Thankfully, that has subsided, but he does occasionally have some relapses.  Here are two especially unique ones:

- Joseph Smith (E), Emma Smith (J), Heavenly Father (B), Jesus (H), My new baby from Africa (S)
- Clark (E), Lewis (B), Sacajawea (J)

And finally, Ellis still has a few words that he has no idea he pronounces wrong:
- Stop and Shot (Stop & Shop)
- Two-fick (Toothpick)
- Two-faced (Toohpaste)
- Episote (Episode -- Henry says this one wrong too!)
- E-merican Flag (American Flag -- where did the E come from?  We have no idea.  He says America just fine)
- Of-ouncements (Announcements)

We can't wait for Sam to join in the fun!