how hard Sundays can be with Two ACTIVE little boys and being pregnant. I think I could write a good comedy story about it….someday when it is funny, I just might do that.
But with that said, I am grateful to have two active HEALTHY boys. I am grateful they TRY to be reverent, and TRY to remember not to run in the halls at church and the chapel, and TRY to remember not to climb over the pews into the elderly womans lap behind us. I am grateful I am HEALTHY enough to attend church and partake of the sacrament, even though the whole time is spend prompting and helping them be reverent. I am grateful for FAMILY who is close enough to see and to celebrate them. I am grateful for the OPPORTUNITY to serve my Savior. I am grateful to be a MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTERDAY SAINTS. I am grateful for HUGS and KISSES after the boys are naughty.
Lastly, I am most grateful for the reminder that my little boys are just that….LITTLE BOYS.
We took a few pictures before the Ward Soup-Tacular, a fun church event where you bring your muffin tins and a crock pot of your favorite soup, and taste a little bit of lots of peoples! It was so much fun!
TRUMAN (Hercules):
Tucker (Sock Monkey):
Truman’s Preschool Program and carnival
Took this before we left, Love these Hercules Muscles:
Truman was glad Grams was able to come(and so was I, it is always nice to be with my momma):
They always have so many fun games:
The classic Cake Walk:
Blow up toys
Cotton Candy
And of course, buckets and buckets of CANDY!
And honestly, I love the program they put on.
They do the cutest things, you can watch a few clips below!
Tuckers school party and parade
This is how he went to school, with his banana butt hanging out of his bag:
And wanted to take a picture like this, because this is how sock monkeys sit:
I was able to go the class party, what a good teacher Tucker has, and how fun to be in the classroom, we played Bingo, did an art project, Halloween Freeze, and ghost bowling.
Class Photshoot (can you see the girl in the top left corner? Yeah, she’s Rainbow Bright. Wicked Awesome!)
And the classroom parade:
and a great song tucker started singing in the garage, adn I couldn’t get him to sing again later, sorry about the bad quality! 🙂
Visiting the Great Grandparents, Greenes, and Ikey, Belle, and Eleanor
Great Grandpa Greene, look at how handsome he is, and that big smile. I love this man.
And the Great Hunsakers, who we are happy they are almost moved into the Condo, so we’ll get to see them more! While we were there, I noticed Grandma had a plaque, that said, “There’s no place like home, unless it’s Grandma’s.” So True, So True.
On the way home, we picked up Toph, and he took this picture of Tucker, while I was driving. He was trying to scare people. I don’t think sock monkeys are scary, do you?
Trick or treating
More pictures coming later
And yes, the shirt Truman LOVES (and wears practically year round), has been worn now on Halloween, and can finally be put up in the box for when baby brother gets to be a bit bigger.
It takes a village to raise a child, and in addition to raising a child, it also takes a village to help sew a Halloween Costume.
Evidence found below…
**Search for and go shopping for material in Logan with Cat, Grandma Phillips, and Grandpa Phillips.
**Once the material has been found and purchased, use a pattern from my childhood, and with the help of Grams, (and Gramps watching the children) cut out pattern stretchy material.
**At cabin, get help from Aunt Rosemary and Great Grandma Hunsaker in sewing a zipper, learning about a stretch stitch, stretchy material, interfacing, and more. (Again, the children being watched by Toph and the Hunsaker Girls)
**Calling my mom again, about putting elastics in, and many other trivial sewing questions (and my husbands patience with sewing stuff all over the place)…
But the end result, one awesome looking Banana Butt, or as it is known to the majority of the world a Sock Monkey Costume.
Tucker was thrilled with the end result, and honestly I think he looked adorable, thanks again to the village for rallying around us, we love you all.
You better believe there is more details and pics to come, but for now, we are wishing you a wonderful day, full of SUGAR,
TRICK or TREATERS,
and PUMPKINS.
Because these are the favorite things at our house this holiday, and we like it that way.
The annual pumpkin carving at grams and gramps, with the Greenes, Amy and Eric. Gramps entertain Eleanor, while Grams made the yummy pumpkin seeds, and helped wash the pumpkin guts off the grandkids hands. And the rest of us, we carved.
Now that Tucker is in school, we are a slave to the district school schedule.
A little bit ago, we had our Fall Break, or UEA as I used to call it, and we had a great few days. It was such a good time to spend together as a family, I only wish all of life could be as wonderful as this. Here is the rundown of some of our adventures.
Thursday:
With lots of help from Grams, began cutting out Tuckers’ Halloween Costume (more on that later):
Lunch with Dad at his work:
(Where Tucker rediscovered the ‘dirty dishes/tray’ machine)
Playing with Belle, Ikey, and a visit to see sweet baby Eleanor:
Dinner with Aunt Amy:
Off to the Cabin:
Where Tucker remembered and re-visited his love of grapefruit, (as soon as we arrived, he insisted on eating the whole thing right then)
While at the cabin, we had many grand adventures (we were glad the Great Hunsakers and Hunsakers were there, so we could spend time with them too, the boys now are requesting to play with the big Hunsakers often):
Friday:
The boys helped Great Grandpa, un-dam the creek, so they could float their boats down. Tucker told me later, he thought the beavers would be mad about it. I betcha he’s probably right! 🙂
Hiking, and looking for supplies to build a fairy house, (Which I should have gotten a picture of, oops!)
Tucker found the burrs, and had them all over his entire body,
Four Wheeler Rides:
and thanks to the help of the Hunsaker Cousins, (who kept my children entertained) and my sweet hubba, I got started on sewing Tucker’s Halloween Costume. Here is the zipper. My first one that I’ve done correctly and I’m grateful for my Aunt Rosemary and My grandma’s help and guidance to complete it!
Saturday:
Another great day at the cabin,
Saturday Morning Cartoons,
Building and floating ships,
Building a bridge,
Hot tub fun,
Tucker learning to play chess,
And again, I spent some time behind the sewing machine, sewing Tucks Costume.
There is nothing like the refuge of the mountains, away from the internet, phone calls, and etc. To enjoy time together as a family, and getting projects done! Hurray for long school vacations.
Matching Superman Hats, Superman Gloves, warm coats and Granola Bars.
And everything is always better under the kitchen table. Right?
The boys spent the day winterizing the yard, it was a brisk fall day. And thanks to their winter weather gear, they spent a lot of time outside, and enjoyed the first cup of hot cocoa of the season.
Hurray for change of seasons, and change of pace, and cute boys.
I love conference weekend, or as Christopher calls it, Pajama Church. I love the messages we hear from the leaders of our church. I always leave feeling uplifted, and wanting to be and become a better person. This time we were up to Logan-town again, and had a great time.
Here are the pics, and some highlights.
We found the material for Tuckers Costume (more details on that to come),
I got the awesome-est birthday present, the swivel sweeper. My floors have never been cleaner.
Toph took the boys and Dallin Paul to the Home Depot building project. They built fire engines, and Dallin Paul totally got in on the action. They are all good little builders.
Of course there was omelets, a Phillips Family tradition, and boy were they delicious!
The boys did awesome listening to conference, thanks to conference treats, conference books, coloring Grandpa’s Legs, and looking at stories with Grandma.
Also, Toph and I were able to get away for a few minutes, and visited Frederico’s. They have the best Ham and Cheese Salads. I have been craving that ever since we left. I think I could eat that every day, and not get sick of it, with of course the garlic bread.
And a good walk with Michael and Madalyn (and Dodger the dog) to feed the horses during priesthood.
We had a great time in Logan town!
A catch up post as I haven’t posted in along time, and life just keeps on moving! So I apologize for the length!
I can not even begin to tell you how happy I am to state that the pregnancy fog is finally starting to lift a little bit, and I really am starting to feel a little bit better every day. Thanks Goodness! It is nice to have glimpses of normalcy again, and feel like I am not totally and completely falling behind in every aspect of my life.
As far as blogging goes, I am still behind, and unfortunately I don’t see that changing anytime soon, so for now, I will try to remember the awesome moments, and record them when I get a day when I don’t feel like I am chasing life!
So for the latest catchups:
Lately Truman has had more of a twinkle in his eye, and is full of sugar and mischief.
He is so sweet when he wants to be, and yet can be mischievous–Not in a bad way, just figuring out how the world works
With a couple days a week at preschool, Truman takes one day at a time and is looking forward to our trip to the pumpkin patch later this week. Before he started school, we began practicing writing his name. He just writes ‘Tru’ for now, but is learning how to add the Man to his name 🙂
I can’t even begin to tell you how happy those upside down u’s make me feel! He does it whenever he spells his name, here he is with some of my scrapbook letters–cutie.
Tucker has gotten into the swing of life with Kindergarten. I do hear an occasional grumble about going every day, but for the most part, he is loving going to school. I am loving the fact that we are close enough to walk him there and pick him up. We get to really chat, and it is becoming one of my favorite parts of the day. He tells me what book bear chose out to read that day, what happened at recess, the other children he is getting to know (And if they are pants-puller-upers like him, an important categorization in his eyes) and funny other things that happen throughout the day. I am dreading the weather changing, and the thought of having to bundle up to go out (we’ve only had one day where we’ve had to bundle up).
But on that same note, am not picturing any sixth grader excited to walk to school with his mom. So I shouldn’t complain about the weather.
For me, I am enjoying life right now. I must admit, I do love the changing of the seasons. I do love fall, the cool weather, the colors, the smell, back to school, our birthdays, I love everything until the leaves start to fall, and our lives become consumed with raking.
Last week Tucker picked this sunflower from our garden and took it to his teacher, he didn’t really want me to take a picture, but I couldn’t resist, maybe he’s got a crush?
She is an amazing teacher, and is challenging Tucker and keeping him interested in school. I can’t wait to get into the classroom and volunteer, to see what life is really like there for him, and his peers, with this beloved teacher of theirs! Knowing tucker is in such good hands makes me happy, and him happy. Such a blessing to have good people in your life and the lives of your children.
Here is a shot of the baby bumpage. (hurray for being over half way done!)
Totally there, and he is not super active, he already is on kind of a schedule, and I love to lay in bed at night, and to feel him kicking. (Which inevitably happens right as I get into bed, and start to relax, and right as I am about to drift off to sleep.–which I hope he doesn’t get used to. When he is here, I am want him to be sleeping when I am sleeping!)
Another sign that I am feeling better, is I am able to laugh about some of the things that have made me sick during this pregnancy.
For some reason about 3:00-4:00 is a hard hour in the day for me. Therefore we save our TV time for that time. One of the shows we’ve come to love is Word Girl.
The boys love her, she’s a superhero, and I love her too! But I don’t love the meat attacks from one of the villians, the butcher. I don’t know what it is, but seeing that much raw meat all over a person, just makes me sick!
Lately the book the boys just LOVE is the original Curious George. This picture actually made me sick with the other two pregnancies too! But I got over it.. but it’s back!
This picture of George, makes me sick. Really sick. I have even hidden the book, but the boys keep finding it! I need to learn to hide things better!
And of course there are the usual things, chinese food, tuna fish and etc. 🙂
Another sign I am feeling better? We made it back up to the Children’s Museum. (it has been months, since I have had the energy to think about going, let alone actually go!) We all still love this place, and find new ways to play everytime we go there. I keep thinking the boys might be getting tired/bored of this place, as we have frequented it many times, but they just don’t! With their developmentally changing, they seem to find new things that intrege them. So pics from our latest adventure.
The boys still adore their father, and what’s not to love about him? He even helps them build a table out of the neighbors scraps from their deck.
They’ve eaten dinner/snacks on it, and Tuckers latest plan is to collect bugs and sell them from ontop of it. Silly, silly boy. He even draws pictures about it and brings them home from school.
It’s nice to see pictures that are not about robots. He brings home pictures daily, and a large portion are robots. Some things never die, like his passion for robots.But anyways, back to the pictures, again, Kindergarten has expanded his view, the other day he brought this picture home and said, Mom this is for you.
Variety is the spice of life! Love this rainbow.
Also, a few weeks ago, thanks to some good friends, Tuck and Toph were able to attend a BYU football game. It was a big day, which started off with a family trip to ‘a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine’ at the toy store.
Then Toph and Tuck went off to the game (I only have a picture of the tickets, as I took the camera!),
Tru and I had a date. We went to Fuddruckers for a delicoius hamburger, and to a fun, fun, park with friends. It is nice to have one on one time. I’m looking forward to some time with Tuck too!
We’ve also finally gotten the boys room fully put together! The bookshelf moved in, the bunkbeds straightened, and the room totally dejunked.
(notice that above Tuckers desk, he has removed the pictures of Jesus and the temple, and hung up Bionicle/robot pictures…hmm…) Having it clean is such a good feeling, I only wish they stayed like this all the time! 🙂
Hurray for harvest time,
although I was not feeling totally up to canning things, it did feel good to get some Peach Fruit Leather,
Peach Fruit Jam and Applesauce made (Apples and Peaches from our tree). Maybe next year I will be feeling up to being more ambitious!
Super Saturday is fast approaching, and we had our first display last weekend, look at this darling material I used for a project, don’t you love it?
Also, we had our Stakewide Humanitarian Event. I can’t even begin to tell you what an awesome day that was! We have been working hard all year round for this day. We put together over 400 school kits, 400 newborn kits, gathered over 300 quilts, and tied over 35 quilts that day. It was so neat to see all of our hard work come together. I hope to be involved in Humanitarian stuff all of my life. I have felt the blessings of it just flow into our house as we have been working on it. I love it.
Other random things:
Celebrating Birthdays with good friend Hinckley,
Made these darling baby carmel apples (From Family Fun Magazine)for FHE with the Ermolaevs, thanks again for coming guys! We’re so glad to see you again!
It’s amazing when you don’t blog for a month how many fun things you do! 🙂
Hopefully we’ll be back sooner next time. This post took me way too long!
My children are growing older, and the last few weeks it seems like I can visually see them getting bigger on a DAILY basis.
This week is safety week at Tuck’s school. Which he is still loving (if he can just get used to the going every day thing 🙂 )
They have had so many great activities to promote safety: walk to school day (using the cross-walks, etc.), ride your bike to school day (wearing the proper gear)–seeing him riding there especially made him seem so grown up, even with the training wheels,
Bike Obstacle Course, get/decorate a bicycle helmet day (which he wore for a few days, including at breakfast),
track your steps with a pedometer for a day, Stranger Danger Day, Celebrity (local College Mascots) Crossing Guards, water bottles and tomorrow they are giving away two free bicycles per classroom. Tucker has LOVED this week. And watching him participate, and talk about this stuff, makes me realize how BIG he is, not just how big he seems.
Truman too has grown into being a preschooler. Complete with the dress up/superhero/rollerskating antics..
Not one ounce of baby left in him. NONE. He has always been pretty independent, but recently, he just looks older, acts older, and of course actually is older.
But I don’t like watching it happen. it makes me want to freeze time.:) But it is inevitable, and I do love watching them learn. Here are some pics from our field trip to the firestation today, where yet again, I kept looking at Truman and wondering where this grown up boy came from…
And a big deal to Truman, being able to take his own lunch to school, in his own spiderman lunch box…
For now, I am going to treasure the fact that my boys are still small enough to get excited about bike days and lunch boxes. I hope that as they grow up, they’ll still share the things that make them happy with me. Because these boys make me happy.
