Christmas 2012

Christmas was fantastic at our house this year. Zeke is old enough to be super excited (not quite as excited as me, but pretty excited). When we told him on Christmas Eve that we would get to open our presents in the morning, he suddenly pretends to yawn and stretch then says "I'm so tired, goodnight mom!" It was 7pm. He came down about 10 minutes later and said "That was a good rest, now I get to open my presents!" If only that worked, poor guy still had to wait.

 

They all got spoiled, but the favorite gifts from Santa were the leappad (thanks Caleb and Marie for the games), Pantera's pony toy, all of Zeke's cars, the Plasmacar....amazing, and Cleo. We also got a really fun big dice game from Aunt Ruffy and Uncle Jake that the kids are loving, not to mention all the prizes from the grandmas and the papas! Thank you everyone!!!

Samarah is in town from BYU we had a blast playing Just Dance 4 and laughing, mainly about ducks. Jess had the day off and we just had a great day. The kids slept in until 8 am, which killed me cuz I was up every hour waiting, but Amari and Katurah were sick so I didn't want to wake everyone to early. So I did my hair and makeup, set up proper lighting for pictures without flash and waited like a little kid on Christmas...only I am a big kid and it was Christmas. When they finally woke up it was totally worth the wait. They were all so cute and happy and grateful. I hid Pantera's big present cuz she thought she knew what she was getting, then pulled it out after she thought she had opened everything...yes I am sneaky. Zeke would hug me after every gift and say "Oh thank you mom!" Not Dad who works so hard to pay for the presents, just mom. But at the end of the night he gave us both the biggest hug and kiss and told us "Fank you for all of my presents!"

 

It truly is such a magical time for kids and I just love it SOOOOOO much.

  Amari and katurah on the plasmacar. This thing is so fun, it propels forward as you turn the wheel side to side. I think I like it better then they do.

We remodeled the kitchen/living room last month and I will dedicate a post just to that, but it is beautiful and I finally have a dishwasher! The kids love to help unload the dishes and are very proud afterwards.

 So to make a long post longer, things didn't work out so swell with Yipper. I really love him, but the kids did not. Zeke especially could not stand him as he would always mess with his cars and cause him to have huge meltdowns. This I could handle, but then he started peeing on and ruined my upstairs couch...not a big fan of that. So I put an ad up for him and he found another family, where he is doing great. You can say I told you so whenever or wherever you want, I have tried and tried but not everyone in our house likes animals. After moping around the house for a week or so I convinced Jess to go with me to a pet shop to "just look" at birds. I have loved birds and wanted to get one since I worked at Petco, but they freak Jess out really bad. They had this cute little green cheek conure (not big enough to be scary right?) with the sweetest temperament. One "please Jess" later and we went home with Cleo. The best part is she LOVES Jess the most. Every time she sees him she dances until he picks her up, then she climbs onto his shoulder and talks his ear off. He has really warmed up to her as well, and even asked why we didn't get a bird a long time ago. She is such a doll and seems to be a great fit for our family.

Charlie Brown would be jealous

So I took these cute pics of the little three kids a last week, thinking I would get around to taking Pantera's when she got home from school that day. Unfortunately, she was crazy crabby that day and I have been putting it off since. So for the record Pantera, I tried, I'm sure your posterity will understand (enter sad music here).

 A couple of days ago I heard giggling and horse sounds coming from the bathroom. You know when a 1 and 2 year old are laughing, something great has to be going on. I went in to investigate and I found Katurah with a jumbo size pad stuck to her back and Amari pretending to ride her like a horse...the pad was her saddle, duh!!!

 Zeke had his big Christmas party at preschool on Thursday. He was so excited when he got home about all that went on and all of the great prizes he was given. I guess Santa was there and Zeke asked for Cars...go figure. He put together little gift bags for his friends and was so cute when it came to picking out a little something for each of them. He was given a ring pop and thought that was just awesome. When he showed it to Jess, Jess said "Wow, that's a nice ring pop!" Zeke gives him a huge hug and says "You like my ring pop? Thank you Dad!"

While walking through the store the other day we came across a car that he doesn't have. I wish I had his reaction on tape "Galloping Geargrinder! The latest release from the disney/pixar collection!" I love my little obsessed man.

 Amari loves her potty humor. She is constantly pretending to fart at people, I really have no idea where she learned that, but she thinks it's hilarious and it's hard not to laugh along with her. Jess was talking about how he has never owned a pair of ear muffs the other day. So I made it my mission to find him a pair, unfortunately Amari found them before I could hide them for Christmas and claimed them as her own. Now she insists on sleeping in Dora earmuffs...so cool!

 Pantera has been making fun of the fact that I can't keep a secret when I am excited. I am pretty pathetic, but I just love making people happy. Anyways, I was asked about 2 weeks ago to prepare a game for her class Christmas party that was today. I didn't tell her about it and I just showed up in her class, oh yeah!!! WHo's not sneaky now?!? It's still me.

 Here is our super awesome Christmas tree, I think we might have Charlie Brown beat. I did have it decorated at one point, oh well.

Santa

Amari is our little fashionista. The other day she found the Halloween makeup and helped herself to some "Lips." The way she was strutting her stuff afterwards and holding her mouth so stiff like was hilarious. When she accidentally wiped some onto her hand she said "Oh no, my lips are off. I need a new lips." Then she ran back upstairs and applied another healthy coat of lovely black lipstick.

 These kids have so much fun together. Here they are playing Santa.

 Pantera looks anything but jolly. She has been obsessed with a book her cousin Andrew got her for her birthday called "Warriors" it's about cats. So we all got sweet cat names now such as "Firepaw." I love listening to them play this game especially cuz the names are a little corny and they take it so seriously.

 So this pic melts my heart. I don't know why but her little tippy toes make me want to jump in the picture and just squeeze her!!! She is so little and big at the same time, but tippy toes already?!? I also love that she decided she wanted to finish her lunch out of her highchair.

 So this little boy is just blowing me away these days! I can't believe how much more pleasant he has been lately. I don't know if it is relief from his throat pain or attending preschool, but something has changed. He actually wants to get involved in our games at times. Today he asked if he could play Littlest Pet Shops with Amari and I, he NEVER engages like that. I was thrilled.

Another new thing with Zeke, he has a girlfriend at school! She is 16 or 17, one of his "teachers." He started by calling her "the handsome girl." This cracked me up so of course I had to find out who she was. A few days after we figured out her name is Korey, Zeke was trying to tease me and said while pointing to Jess' stocking "This is for your girlfriend Mom!" I laughed and said "So Dad is my girlfriend?  Do you have a girlfriend Zeke?" He replied "Yes, Korey is my girlfriend." WOO-WOO!

So my little 3 kids are all going through this phase where they don't want to wear clothes...like ever. Seeing as it is freezing outside, sweet foot pajamas are our compromise. Unfortunately they can get them off even easier so it is a very temporary compromise.

Frankenbaby

My dad always tells me how much Amari reminds him of me when I was her age. My parents always used to tell me I was there worst toddler, I even had the sweet nickname "Beast Baby." Now I am not saying that Amari is a beast, I would never say that about this sweet little girl. But she thinks she is so darn tough it is hilarious and she is so easily provoked. She also LOVES to start fights, then turns around and is best friends with everyone. She is getting more difficult by the day, but we lived through Pantera at her age, so I think we will be ok.

 

Yesterday she insisted I call her "Amari Queen of the Chihuahuas." And I did, mainly out of fear.

 

Speaking of attitudes Pantera is going through her terrible eights. They don't really talk much about this stage of development, but from what I gather it is normal for your kid to have a sour look on their face for most of the day.

 

She paid her tithing for the first time the other week. I was preoccupied with the other kids, so she excitedly ran up to the Bishop and tried to hand him the money without a slip...so cute. She loves all things leopard right now as you can tell by her sweet vest.

 Zekie boy went back to preschool last week. He did great all week. He informed me today that he was going to cry at preschool. When I picked him up his teacher told me that he did cry, I laughed a little and asked him why, he replied "I fell down, it was a bummer." He may have psychic powers.

I wore a leopard skirt to church (mainly so my kids will think I am cool, it's all the rage with them I tell you!) and when Zeke saw me he exclaimed "Leopard pants?!? You look handsome mom!"

 Katurah is working on her top two teeth and it is making her miserable. Thank goodness for otterpops. I feel so bad when they get teeth, I can't imagine how painful that must be. She is such a funny little girl, with some totally amazing dance moves these days. My personal favorite is when she is sitting and she just twists her upper body and stiff and mechanical like. My other favorite thing is "Frankenbaby" every morning when she wakes up her legs are all stiff and she walks like Frankenstein...love it.

I can't wait to post pictures of our latest project...my dad is AWESOME!