Bathtub Crayons

The Calls had a cousin gift exchange this year.  Little Mister Bridger thought that Ollie would love a set of Bathtub Crayons.  Maycee and Cooper were a little upset that the crayons were not for them.  They all got their own playtime with the favored crayons.

We all had fun.

Thanks Charisse!

After making a mess we filled the tub with bubbly water and scrubbed that thing clean.  Well, at least as clean as a 4 and 2 and 1 year-old can get it.

They were all fighting over the prime waterfall spot.  All three of them were climbing all over each other as I filled the tub with clean water so they could play.

The 'Goings On' at the Posts

Oliver has finally decided that he will try to walk.  Maycee and Cooper LOVE having Ollie walk between the two of them.  He can get in as much as 10 steps now!

And in other news.  Ollie is getting his top two teeth!  Along with all of the other 9 month old children....yes, my son is almost 16 months.  That will bring Ollie to a new total of four teeth.  I can already tell that this kid is going to be doing things on his own timetable.

Cooper has recently become attached to his Matchbox Swat Car.  Today he came to me asking me for his 'fluffy car'.  Santa Claus gave him a Lightning McQueen Pillow Pet, so naturally I thought that was what he was talking about.  Nope.

"MOM!  Where is my fluffy car!"

I have no idea how I even connected the two, but his fluffy car is the Swat Car.

Oh Stephen's brother, Brandon, will be so proud that his Swat Car is being called, 'The Fluffy Car'.

Maycee is breaking my heart.

They switched her to a new primary class with the new year.  She has two men folk teaching her.  They really are great teachers, but Maycee has again gone into full panic mode.  She is terrified of going to primary.  She says she is scared of her teachers and she is scared of her friends.

I really can't tell who is having a worse go of this, Maycee or Mom....

I really don't know what to do for her.  We are, however, lining up play dates this week to help get used to every one.  We are a little slow, but we are getting to know people!

Grandma Towels

I called my Mom in November with an awesome idea.  We always get the kids' towel mixed up, so I suggested that she make all the grandkids towels with their names on it.  My grandma did that for our towels, when I was young.

Well.

My mom went ABOVE and beyond.

Here is what she did for the kids:

Ollie was very difficult to get a picture of...especially one that didn't show anything.

My cute little bear!!

I finally wised up and put a diaper on him.

Cooper loves this thing.  My little dragon!!

Maycee was so surprised that Olaf was a towel!!  She wears it around as part of her dress up clothes.

Good work, Mom, good work.

Trying out Christmas

Since we were at my parents for a week, I feel like the Christmas stuff is exciting for a lot longer.  It's still new!  Here are the kiddos trying out their Christmas stuff.

Maycee and Cooper got sunglasses in their stockings.  They love them.  They decided to wear them to watch football with Stephen.

Isn't this the cutest picture!

Gone.

This morning I got a text from Stephen.

"Gone by 10:15AM." His text read.

And he was worried that no one would eat the cake.

The Lucky Number Seven

Today is Stephen and my anniversary.  With it being Sunday, we decided to celebrate the day with the kids and then do our own thing this weekend.

To begin the celebration we made a seven layer cake.  For our seven years together.  I've been planning this cake for over a year.  I found it on pinterest, but because it had seven layers, I decided to wait until our seventh anniversary.

From the bottom up: Brownie with Marshmallow Frosting, Chocolate Chip Cookie with Marshmallow Frosting, Cheesecake with Chocolate Frosting, Graham Crackers with Chocolate Frosting, Cheesecake with Marshmallow Frosting, Chocolate Chip Cookie with Marshmallow Frosting, Brownie with Chocolate Frosting covering the entire cake.

Someone created this cake because of their love of s'mores.  Since Stephen loves s'mores, I figured it would be perfect.  We had to make the cake the day before so that it would 'marinate'.  ;)

While frosting the thing early Sunday morning, I dropped the cake on my leg as I was turning the cake plate to frost it.  Luckily the cake was so dense, it didn't really do any damage.

Sunday night, Stephen cut the cake and we served it up with vanilla ice cream.

Note: THAT CAKE WAS TOO MUCH SUGAR!!!  After Maycee ate about half of her piece, she pushed it away and said, "I have a tummy ache."  Yes.  My four-year-old said that.  We decided that Stephen would take the rest of the cake to work the next day.  However, it was really fun to make together!

Cutie pictures of the lucky couple!

Maycee really wanted to be in the pictures.  She was very upset we were taking pictures without her.

We were trying to get us with the cake...

And we had to take pictures with the kiddos so they didn't feel left out.

Seven is my lucky number.  So here is to our lucky year!!!

I apologize beforehand for being sappy.  It is, however, my anniversary.

STEPHEN!!!  I LOVE you SO much!!!!  I am the luckiest woman in the world.  Heavenly Father knew that I needed you.  My mom also counts her lucky stars that I picked you.  She thought I was going to marry some stuffy accountant.  I have the best of both worlds with you.  You always make me laugh and you make me want to be better.

Thank you lover, lover! ;)

Christmas Apron

This year for Christmas, we had the kids make each other a gift.  When I say 'make' I really mean that Stephen and I did all of the work, with two extra hands to 'help' (or rather make things more difficult).  But, seriously.  It was a lot of fun!  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Maycee helped Stephen make Cooper a tool bench to put all of his tools in that he got from Stephen and I for Christmas.  The kids put it to a much different use.

But, hey!  It's still getting used!

Cooper helped me decorate an apron for Maycee.  He sat on my lap and pushed material through and he took out the pins I used to put the fabric in place.

Today, I put on my apron hoping that Maycee would ask for hers.  Totally worked.  After she put it on, she looked down and said, "Cooper made this?!  I want to tell him thank you!"

Proud Mommy moment.

Life sometimes isn't so fun.

We have been sick since Halloween.  It started with Stephen and went to the kids.  Then back to Stephen, then back to the kids.

F - O - R - E - V - E - R

Seriously.

It was only a minor annoyance until I got sick.  The week after Thanksgiving.  I started to hack. Like, cough, hack.  It sounded awful.

On Christmas Eve everyone sounded so horrible (minus Stephen) that we canceled our traditional Christmas Eve sledding expedition.

That night, after the kids were in bed, the right side near my ribs started to hurt every time that I would breathe.  Crazy me, we still went to the farm on Christmas.  The day after Christmas, Stephen took us all to a health clinic.  They took x-rays of my ribs and then sent us out the doors with A LOT of drugs.  Wow.  Did I feel better.  They had me on a steroid, norco, and an inhaler.

Two days later the clinic called to tell me that I had pneumonia.  The next day all of my drugs ran out and I was on an antibiotic.  Again, I felt like crap.

Five days later, January 2, finally back at our house, I still felt awful.  Stephen took me to another doctor.  Thankfully, our amazing Relief Society President, watched our kids while he took me.

They told me that I had viral pneumonia and there was nothing they could do for me.  I just had to wait for it to 'run its course'.

Well.

Today I sit typing my woes.

I am finally feeling better.  Not 100%, but better.

I've decided that I can handle sick kids.

But I CANNOT handle a sick mama.