The Friend Party

This year I decided to do a friend party for Alan. I kept it simple - he had 3 friends over for an hour. We played 3 games, had cupcakes, opened presents, and then there was about 5 minutes left for everyone to just play. It was a construction party so all of the games were "construction" games. The most popular was the wrecking ball (shown in the 2 pictures below). I attached a ball to a string and then the kids took turns knocking over a pile of empty boxes (we pretended it was a building).

Another popular game was the treasure dig. I buried Rolos (because they have gold wrapper) in a container with wheat in it. Then the kids pretended to be a digger and they looked for treasure (Rolos).
I also did a bean bag toss into a dump truck but that one didn't go over as well.
Then we had cupcakes. Alan wanted blue and pink frosting and we put little construction vehicles on each cupcake for the kids to take home.
I also found some toy hard hats at a party store so each kid got one of those, although they didn't wear them for very long.
The party boys with his friends: l-r Mara, Alan, Cade, Alex
All in all Alan had a lot of fun, but I don't think I would do it every year.

Here are some funny things Alan has said in the last month:
"Lets peel our eyes" - he and Reed were looking for me in a store. It is kind of funny to hear him try to use phrases like "Lets keep our eyes peeled".

"Okay, shows over" - Reed was giving a F.H.E. lesson on missionary work. He was showing pictures from his mission and we were talking about missionaries and how he would go on a mission when he gets older. He seemed really distracted during the lesson and when we announced that it was over he says "Okay, shows over" and stood up and walked off. During treat we showed him a globe and we talked about where some of his relatives have served and he pointed out where he was going to serve and then he talked about it for more than a week, so I guess he was paying attention after all.

"Mom you're a genius" - he just said this out of the blue one day.

"Its waffling!" - Alan was playing with is toy top and as it spun it started to wobble. Alan announced in an excited voice - "Mom, it's waffling, its waffling!"

According to 4 year old Alan:
favorite color: pink
favorite movie: Bolt
favorite song: Love of Holy Ghost (I don't know what this is, maybe a song from primary?) and Happy Birthday
favorite food: Chicken nuggets (also apples, pears, marshmallows and licorice)
friends: Alex, Mara, Cade, Zachary
What do you want to be when you grow up: I might be a construction worker, or a daddy. I don't know what I will be.
How many kids are you going to have: Maybe 4
Where are you going to live: In a tall building where we used to live, that is called Great Falls. (He is talking about the apartment building that we used to live in when we first moved here)
Where are you going to go on your mission: Maybe New York (he has also said Kashmir, French Guiana, Sri Lanka and the Dominican Republic)
favorite book: the book that Cade just gave to me, full of different books.
What do you like to do: watch movies and play with Alex
What things make you happy: when I help Conner climb all the steps at McDonalds
What makes you sad: when Conner is not happy and crying and grumpy. When he is crying I have to plug my ears.
Favorite toy: the motorcycles that I got for Christmas that race down the thing.

The good and the bad of snow

The good things about snow:
1. It makes the world look so much prettier than when it is bare and brown.
2. There is a cozy feeling you get from sitting by your window, sipping hot chocolate while the snow drifts down.
3. It provides many fun out door activities - sledding, skating, making snow angels, and building snow men.
About a week ago it started to warm up here so Alan and I decided the snow was perfect for making snow men. After we finished one Alan decided we needed to make our whole family in snowmen. So here are the final products: l-r Daddy snowman, Alan snowman, Conner snowman, and Mommy snow woman.

Milk cap eyes, a carrot nose, a pine cone mouth, stick arms.

The bad things about snow:
1. It is hard to play outside when it is really cold.
2. When it melts everything turns into a muddy, slushy mess.
3. When it melts, and then refreezes, it gets very slippery and falls are hard to avoid (just ask Conner).

The boys and I were out in the back yard playing during the warm weather. Conner slipped on some ice and fell face first onto the icy ground. The poor kid didn't even put his hands out to break the fall. I saw him fall out of the corner of my eye and then I heard him SCREAM! By the time I got there blood was pouring out of both nostrils. I took him in and got him cleaned up and then I surveyed the damage: 1 fat upper lip, a scratched nose, a bruise on his forehead with a scratch on top of the bruise and two bloody coats. Nice.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a good birthday week. I say week because we spread the celebrations out over a week. On my actual birthday Reed made breakfast and gave me my present - a Barnes and Noble gift card and some homemade coupons which are good for such things as laundry and nights where he will watch the boys while I do what ever I want. He worked late that night so we didn't do dinner or cake. The next weekend Reed took me out to eat at a Mongolian Grill. It was SO good...we both came away stuffed. Then on Monday Reed and the boys made my birthday cake.

As you can see below Reed had lots of help from the boys.

I chose a black forest cake - YUM!

All in all it was a great birthday!

Our newest Sunbeam

So, last week was Alan's first week in Sunbeams. I thought he looked so grown up in his dress pants, collared shirt and tie. He was definitely ready to move on from nursery. He was SO much bigger than all the other little nursery kids. The primary president said he did well, although he and the other Sunbeam boy (there are only 2 kids in the sunbeam class) would get up and run around the primary room when ever they sang an action song. We talked about that with him this week and I think he did better. Conner has suddenly become clingy when I drop him off in nursery now that his big brother isn't there with him. Hopefully that is short lived.

A sledding we will go

My parents gave us a blow up tube that was intended for the snow so we decided to try it out on Christmas day. Unfortunately it only lasted 2 runs before it got a hole in it. Luckily my parents still have their old toboggan that we used as kids.

My brother Reed going down with his dog, Ace.

My parents going down. You had to slow yourself down because at the bottom of the hill was a bare trail and we didn't want to sled over it.

Reed and Conner on tube.

Alan and I on the tube

I thought Conner looked so funny in all of his cold weather gear: boots, snow pants, mittens, coat and hat. It was hard for him to move around and after he fell down he couldn't get back up!
It was nice day to play outside because it wasn't too cold. After we were done we came home and started a fire in the fireplace so that we could all get cozy warm again. Both of the boys really liked playing in the snow. Alan liked to make snow balls and throw them and Conner liked to stomp in the snow and look at his foot prints. While we were in Canada Alan also got to make a snowman, something he has been wanting to do for quite a while.

Santa Came!

This year Santa found us at my parents house. We all received a lot of presents, especially the boys.
On Christmas morning the boys woke us up at 6:30 am. We waited for a few minutes for Grandma and Grandpa to wake up and then we went down stairs. Here are some pictures of the boys opening their stockings:

Alan received a Lightning McQueen umbrella in his stocking and he was thrilled. That was the only thing he asked Santa for.

Conner probably thinking "What's in here?"

Alan and Conner received matching little chairs from my parents. It was so cute to see them relax in them.

Alan showing his excitement that he found a Kinder Surprise egg in his stocking.

Conner received an ambulance that lights up and makes noises from Santa. He was pretty happy about that.

Alan got a race track with cars that you shake up to make them go. Both of the boys had fun with that.

Alan was especially eager and efficient at opening presents this year.

Conner was a little slower about unwrapping things but he seemed to enjoy ripping the paper off.

Conner was very interested in the cameras. He wanted to take pictures, not have pictures taken of him.

As you can see we were all spoiled. Reed and I have really enjoyed watching the boys get excited about Christmas. Alan especially is old enough to anticipate what is coming and his enthusiasm is contagious.
These last few pictures were on Christmas Eve. That night we went to the live Nativity that the stake puts on every year. We were kind of late so we didn't get good seats but the boys seemed impressed when they saw the angel appear on the Stake Center roof. Then we went home and had dinner and my parents gave the boys some new pajamas.

This was just a cute picture of Reed and Conner

Here is Conner driving his car on Ace's head. Ace was busy eating a bone so Conner became very brave around him. He kept piling toys in front of Ace, and Conner finally ended up laying down and using Ace as a pillow. It was pretty funny.

Santa reactions

This year visiting Santa brought mixed reactions: pure excitement for Alan and terror for Conner. We went to our ward Christmas party and at the end of the night jolly old St. Nick walked in. Alan's eyes got so wide and then he got this huge smile on his face. He was so excited he kept bouncing all over and when it was his turn to sit on Santa's lap he was so excited that Santa had a hard time getting him to sit on his lap. I wasn't close enough to hear what they said but when ever anyone asks Alan what he wants from Santa he always says "a gorilla". He means an umbrella, a Lightning McQueen umbrella to be exact.

I had hoped that if Conner watched Alan sit on Santa's lap he might be okay with doing that too. No such luck. I set him on Santa's lap and he gave him a look that said "Who on earth are you?" and started to cry and arch his back.