Christmas Cookies

To get into the holiday spirit a little more we made sugar cookies for Family Home Evening this week.

Zeke's favorite part was putting on the sprinkles.

Porter's Baby Blessing

We blessed this darling boy last Sunday at church. I hear he just stared at Toby during the entire blessing. It was a beautiful blessing and Porter had lots of family there.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we drove to Reno to Kristel and Lance's house. We survived the 8 hour car drive with 5 people squished into our car and arrived ready to play. If you know Kristel, you'll know that a schedule of events was already planned with no time to waste.

Events not pictured or are on Kristel's camera and I don't have copies yet are:
GPS race
miniature golf
sealing session at the temple
floor hockey
shopping
building a retaining wall
name that tune singing challenge
shuffle board

Now for the pictures:

This is a made up game that I'm not sure how to describe

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner

I almost forgot to put Porter in his first Thanksgiving shirt

Playing at the park

Kickball croquet

Toby was the winner... no surprise there

Grandma trying to keep Zeke warm

The kids fought over who got to play with Grandma's i-touch

Horseshoes. By the way don't ever pick me for your team... I'm horrible!

Drawing with chalk

You really need to check out Dad Lander's face on this one so click on it to make it bigger.

Zeke only got naps in the car so one time I stayed outside with him so he could get a little more sleep.

Isn't this the cutest picture of Porter?

We played lots of games at night.

Kristel had a few questions that she sent us ahead of time that we were to share our answers during our stay. Each day we talked about one of the questions and had some really good family discussions/bonding time.

Easter Egg Hunt. I know it's the wrong holiday, but we loved it anyway! The kids had a hunt first and opened their eggs to find candy and money from Grandma and Grandpa.

Then it was time for the older kids to have their Egg Hunt. We each hid a certain color and then were assigned to find another color. After time passed we were allowed to find any egg. There were also 3 golden eggs with money in them. Toby found one and I found the other 2. Yay for us!

Grandma was in charge of the babies while we played. She certainly had her hands full.

And by the end I think this guy was ready to go. He struggled playing nicely with his cousins and had some tough moments. That and missing some naps was hard on him. Although when we got home all he could talk about was when Alyssa and Isaac were going to come over. Kids are funny!

Family Fun

So I've gotten a little behind in my blogging. These pictures are from the first week in November. Mom Lander came up to take care of Aunt Janene after her foot surgery and Kristel came with her family because Lance had a conference in Salt Lake. While they were here we celebrated Lance's birthday, went to the park, played games at Robin and Janene's house, had a big cousin get together and just enjoyed being together.

Probably a little too personal

Yesterday I went to play basketball. I love playing basketball, but I just wasn't in it. Zeke has been wearing me down. I always thought I was a pretty patient person, but I'm starting to lose it. I think the lack of sleep is a contributor (okay probably a major contributor).

When we were done playing basketball I may have told all of this to a friend of mine.

She may be a member of the stake relief society presidency.

She may have called me later that day and arranged to pick Zeke up the next morning to come play at her house.

She may have also called my relief society president and told her I was having a hard time.

I may have received a phone call this morning from said relief society president asking if there was a time she could come visit.

My visiting teacher may also have been called because she was at my door this afternoon ready to take Zeke home for an hour or so.

I know that I can handle having two kids and that people do it all the time. I know that once I get a little more sleep I probably won't be so quick to yell. I know that Heavenly Father gave me these kids for a reason and He wanted me to be their mom. I know I love them more than life itself.

But until I pull myself together again... I am really grateful for people that care.

Tender Moments

Zeke ran over to Porter in his bouncer, leaned down, gave him a kiss on his head and said, "I Love You". Those are the moments that make being a mom worth it.

(of course I had to pull him off of Porter 30 seconds later because he was laying on top of him)

Coming Out

I've been warned not to tell people of my nerdy side. It's true though... I like sci-fi TV shows. Toby and I just finished watching all 5 seasons of Stargate Atlantis. This is of course after we finished watching all 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1.

Did we love it?

Yes!!

Were we sad when it ended?

Yes!!

Now what are we going to do?

That's right... move on to Stargate Universe. I don't know if it can stand up to the others. I've grown quite fond of the characters. After the first episode I was missing McKay's arrogant non-stop chatter, John's wit and Ronan's need to shoot everything. Ah... goodbye my friends. I will miss you.

Halloween

For Halloween we went up to Bountiful to visit with Toby's mom who was in town staying with her sister. We crashed a trunk or treat and Zeke had a blast. He dressed up as a turtle thanks to my friend Bethanie. (honestly what would I do without the clothes she gives to Zeke?)

We had to pull him away from each bowl because he tried to take a few pieces of candy instead of just one.

Whenever there was a scary person, he wouldn't leave because he was scared he would just stand a little further away and reach as far as he could.

This is him reaching for candy because he really wanted it even though he was scared.

Posing for the camera.

Isn't my little pumpkin a cutie?

Enjoying the fruits of his labor.

After trunk or treating, Mom treated us to Cafe Rio. It was a great day for everyone.

Fall Leaves

Toby is so good about taking Zeke outside to play. A couple Saturdays ago this is what I found when I went outside.