The Fearsome Fours

Four years...has it really been four years since that fateful day that we became parents? Wow.

Well, Russ has been obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately, so that's the theme we took to heart at his birthday party.

Wow. Look at that mop on his head...

Started the day off with a ninja turtle t-shirt among othe presents.

It was a fun {stressful and hectic} party with a lot {too many} of kids Russell's age {too young}. We had pizza of course. I told the kids the whole story of the ninja turtles crawling through radioactive goo and the whole sha-bang. I even used Travis's old ninja turtles as props. (He even had shredder and Splinter.) I even made radio-active goo {homemade gak} for everyone to take home. These are the cupcakes I made. Since Leonardo is the leader {since mom was too worn out} we only made blue fondent masks.

Side note: homemade marshmallow fondent is fairly easy to work with and tastes good too. Look

it up if you've never tried it.

Well, now that Russell's four, you'd think that I'd be getting over those terrible toddler years, but alas, he makes more messes than ever. This is what I woke up to the other day:

"Peanut butter and bullet sandwiches" for his dinosaur buddies. And he really did stuff their faces with it.

Russell can do things by himself now that he's older. He can make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and of course he can put on his own sunscreen, as you can see.



S'mores in our back yard...mmmm...

Messy.

Russell's newest obsession: stuffed animals which he calls his "brothers." I think he wants a baby brother. He has to sleep with EVERY single one EVERY night or he is traumatized.

Another side note: I told Russell that he can't have a baby brother until I exercise and get skinny, and so the other day while I was working out with a Jillian Michaels DVD, he pointed to Jillian and asked me if Jillian was trying to have a baby too...hmmmmm.... "No, Russell. Those skinny girls on the TV are not working out so that they can have a 'baby brother.'"

Russell pretending that he is driving a car with Mity in the passenger seat. He pretty much forced her to sit in that basket. That poor girl is going to grow up tough.

Love these pictures. They were waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come. Waiting...waiting...



Move it over, sister!

Loves his daddy.

Year 1 and 2 and 3 were so much easier than year 4 for me. Russell is way too smart and VERY stubborn (Dad says he gets that from me...whatever...). He speaks more like a 6 year old than a 4 year old, and I love it, but sometimes it drives me crazy! He really listens to what we say and then twists is all around and tries to use it against us later. For example, I might say something like, "If you don't pick up your toys, you can't watch any TV tomorrow." A day or so later Russell will say, "If you don't let me have a friend over, I will never make my bed again." Sometimes it backfires on him. Like the other day when I was trying to get him to do his chores and he said, "You are making me never want ANYTHING for Christmas EVER AGAIN!!!!" To which I replied, "Great! That makes my life a whole lot easier." He didn't know what to say after that.

We shall see what year 5 brings...

We love our little Russy Roo. He is such a joy in our lives, and we are LEARNING A LOT as we do our best to rear him up to be a good, faithful, and responsible man. Thanks, Russ!

And good night everyone!

Picture Overload & Venting Some Frustrations

Just a few things I missed about Idaho when we lived in Yakima...

Now, there is snow on the ground, and it is fairly cold, but do you see the SUN SHINING? Yes, Idaho has bright, sunny winter days. It makes you much more likely to bundle up and brave the outdoors because of that tempting Vitamin D. In Yakima it was gray for several months in the winter. I swear I went several weeks without even seeing the sun. (Now this isn't a year round thing there, just in the winter. And don't get me wrong. We loved Yakima and miss many things about it. The early onset of springtime for starters...)

I also missed this stuff. Yes, I do like a white Christmas. Preferably deep and fluffy.

Our porch. Yay. Oh, how I missed you snow. But now I am ready for SPRING!

Why you should not fall asleep with an ink stamp on your hand.

My grumpy little guy...

This girl is like Miss America. She loves to wave.

Isn't she beautiful? I think so.

This girl is going to have a MAJOR gap between her two front teeth. The dentist said that the gums between them are pretty thick and may have to be clipped later in life if they don't allow her teeth to move in. Poor girl. But for now I think they are so sweet.

Sledding in the house.

By the way, Amity has been walking/running for quite some time now. She really took off around Christmas and has been going non-stop ever since. Just thought I'd update.

Like sister, like brother.

Some of Russell's new passions:

-"cooking" with my ingredients in the kitchen (note photo above)

-ninja turtles (he will be having a TMNT themed birthday party this month)

-making rockets with every peice of tupperware that I have...EVERY...DAY...

-listening to books on tape

-sounding out simple words (The other day he sounded out "press" on his seatbelt, and then yelled up to me that his seat belt said "press". He is a smart little 3 year old.)

-"grocery shopping" or basically, emptying out grandma's pantry cupboards into a laundry baket

-wrestling with his sister...and the Ward family saga continues with the next generation...

-surprising his mother with the precocious things that he says

This girl has a few passions in life too:

-the dishwasher

-the refridgerator

-the bathroom drawers

-the garage

-the coat closet

My beautiful cousins and I at the Ward Family Christmas party.

My sweet grandma.

Opening presents at Grandma Moulton's house.

Instant pro.

K-This isn't even all.

Spoiled kids. Mostly by grandparents.

Okay. VENTING PART 1:

I did a terrible job taking pictures at Christmastime. None of the tree. None of Christmas morning. None of the Ward fam at the cabin in Island Park...NONE. Partly because I forget. Partly because I'm being lazy. But also because taking too many pictures makes me feel like I'm missing out on the experience. Do you know what I mean. Like I am a bystander observing and documenting but not really a part of it.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Now, I shouldn't let this become an excuse not to take pictures. Pictures are important, and add so much to the home and to nostalgia later on in life. I need to find a balance.

I really envy those families whose homes are filled with beautiful pictures of their loved ones. It makes their house seem so much more intimate and homey. It brings a sort of happy spirit, and you get to know the family through the pictures. I love it.

Just something I need to work on...

I told you that the girl loves to wave.

Catching a football from daddy.

And throwing it back.

My knight in shining armor. I knew I'd find a use for that cardboard!

Charming, isn't he?

She turned 1 in January. See what I mean, though? I didn't even get a picture of the cake before she smashed it.

Just chillin' after inhaling a lot of cake.

With cousin, Ellie.

Again, she loves dishwashers and she loves to wave.

When I put gel in her hair, it curls pretty well. She has a little flippy curl in the back. I'm crossing my fingers that she will get some curls from Travis, but I don't know. My straight hair is so dominant...we'll have to see...

Can you tell who our favorite team in the whole wide world is? Go Cougs!

We recently met up with some of our best friends from BYU. We stayed in a hotel in Lehi and went to the dino museum and to a BYU basket ball game where we got to see Jimmer the Great!
Travis wants to name our next man-child Jimmer...hmmm...it is kind of cute.

Yet another failed attempt at picture taking. I did not get one shot of Paul and Melinda, our friends.

Our main man, Cosmo.

Okay. I have hit the JACKPOT at DI lately. Some wealthy family is dropping off all of their old clothes, and I am picking them up. All of these items where 1-3 dollars. All of the pants are Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place, Osh Kosh...that is a brand new boys swimming suit that still had the tag on it. Those black Addidas Sambas in the back...like $50 shoes. A lot of the pants are lined for cold Idaho weaher. Man, I am so excited!






Here are some crafts I've been working on. I got the ideas from the Idea Room.
Cute blog.

Venting Frustrations #2:

Mental Clutter. I have so much mental clutter I can't handle it anymore. I blame my mother wholely and entirely. I know that I got it from her. (Love you, Mom!) I start so many projects that I either don't finish or take me FOREVER to finish. I read about 10 books at the same time. I put things off. (Although I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be.) I start cleaning one room, and then I see something in the next room that I didn't finish, so I go in and look at that. Then and hour later I remember that I was cleaning the kitchen, so I go back. But while I'm there, I notice the bills sitting on the bar, so I start to pay them...It goes on and on. At the end of the day I have a to-do list where everything is half done but not finished, so I can't cross it off!!!! (Okay, now, not everyday. I do get things done once in a while, but far too often.)

Does anyone else out there suffer from this condition?

I've been reading a lot of things about productivity lately, and I really believe now that most of the time multi-tasking is bad. It is more efficient to put all of the focus that you can into ONE project at a time, check it off your list, get it out of your mind, and move on. Otherwise you just have too much mental clutter, you do a half-way job, and you don't reap the rewards for your work as quickly. Also, when you try to spend time with family and check e-mail at the same time, I really don't think your family gets as much from your company, am I right?

I am resolving to be more focused during my days and direct my energy to one task at a time as often as possible!!!

A late update

Here are some fun pictures of Thanksgiving and visiting Grandpa and Grandma Moulton for Christmas. For some reason I don't have hardly any good pictures of Russ. His face is always turned or hidden.

Amity is 10 months here, and she took her first steps this month. She is almost 11 months now and isn't full blown walking yet, but definitely taking little baby steps between mom and dad. And she walks like a pro when you hold her hand. This is her with Grandpa Moulton.

This picture reminds me so much of one of Travis when he was a baby. I can see both of us in her, but certain facial expressions remind me of one or the other. This is more like Travis because my serious faces always had a nice deep scowl.

She is such a happy little girl. We love her so much.

And here is one of the only pics we got of our little Russ. He's in his new church clothes that he got for Christmas. Thanks, Grandma M.!

Amity is an early talker. She has really surprised us by how early she is saying words, and we can really understand her. So far she has said:

-mommy, mama *

-daddy, dada*

-hi* (while waving)

-bye* (while waving)

-mmmmm (referring to food that she is eating)

-kiss

-no

-baby
-yay!!
-and I SWEAR she said banana

The words with the stars she says all the time. She even puts bye and dada together and says bye dada! She said that to me the other day and I had to remind her that I am mama. It is so cute when she crawls all over the house looking for her daddy yelling his name as she goes. She is usually whining when she says mama because she is hungry or wants to be picked up. She hasn't said Russ yet, at least not that I could make out, but I think she is trying.



She is our little bundle of joy, such a people person, and so funny. Love you, Amity. What a fun holiday with our little sweeties.