Our Visit Up North Part One

We went up to Provo/Salt Lake the weekend before Thanksgiving to see my Mom and Lindsey and Jason and his family. Lindsey had a bridal shower on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to Jason's condo for a delicious dinner prepared by his wonderful Mother, Linda. Which brings us to the pics of the kids playing Guitar Hero... I thought this was so cute. Buster was helping his little bro play up here and down there, Abby is helping Sterling get the hang of it. Rock on!

Me and my cute mama and my cute baby at the park.

Ooooops...

Lindsey and Ace cuddle and play. Awww.

We all had a great time with Jason and his welcoming family and it is always sweet to spend time with my Mom.

WARNING: Ace is on the prowl!

Yeah, that's right, my littlest man is crawling. We are all in the process of training ourselves to remember to shut the doors and clean up all small things from all areas of the house. He even pulls himself up already. He started that about a week after he started crawling. Whoa, horsey! I think he's stuck on Fast Forward or something. His babyhood is just whizzing by way too fast for our liking. But he is still so sweet and cuddly and chubby and cute!

The kids were so excited for him and wanted to show anyone who came over "Ace's new trick". He was about 6 1/2 months old at the time. (Sorry, I've been really busy, gosh!) They would lay him on his back on the floor and Ace would quickly roll over, get up on his hands and knees (or feet) and then enter the sitting position to a rousing round of applause! Yay, Ace!

Questions for My Kids

My friend did this questionnaire on her blog and I thought it was pretty cute. I asked my kids to answer a few questions...

1. What is something Mom always says to you?
Sterling: to not play the WII (he's not old enough)
Abby: I love you
Buster: go to bed (only every night!)

2. What makes Mom happy?
S: cleaning up toys (really?)
A: having fun
B: doing stuff when you don't have to ask us (yes!)

3. What makes Mom sad?
S: not cleaning up toys
A: if Ace dies
B: if we leave our backpacks on the bus (hmmm)

4. How does your Mom make you laugh?
S: by being a clown
A: she acts like a nerd
B: by making faces

5. What was your Mom like as a child?
S: me! no...yeah!
A: I don't know
B: you liked candy

6. How old is your Mom?
S: no, Mom, you tell me cause I don't know how old you are
A: Uh...31
B: thirty...two?

7. How tall is your Mom?
S: 54 feet tall (heehee)
A: 5 foot 2
B: 5 feet

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
S: turn stuff off (not quite)
A: laugh (yes)
B: wash the dishes (not quite)

9. What does your Mom do when you're not around?
S: write stuff
A: go to parties (we had gone to a Halloween party the night before)
B: play with Sterling (while he's at school everyday)

10. If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
S: Abby's Halloween dress (I made her a cute tutu for her witch costume)
A: Um, being a nerd as an actress or something? (thanks a lot)
B: Dancing (no way)

11. What is your Mom really good at?
S: playing the piano (the kids are catching up to my skill level really fast)
A: yelling (uh oh)
B: playing with Sterling

12. What is your Mom not very good at?
S: playing the recorder (true)
A: arguing with Dad (true)
B: picking us up early (true)

13. What does your Mom do for her job?
S: ironing
A: hm...watches us
B: be a Mom

14. What is your Mom's favorite food?
S: lasagna
A: um, salad
B: pancakes

15. What makes you proud of your Mom?
S: reading books
A: that she usually doesn't try to start an argument (do we argue too much?)
B: cooking

16. If your Mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
S: Uniqua (Backyardigans)
A: mmm, probably Mr. Krabs' Mom (Spongebob)
B: Squidword or Sandy, either one (Spongebob) (not sure how to interpret this one)

17. What do you and your Mom do together?
S: play games
A: go to movies and go to the mall
B: ride in the car or shop at the store (he dislikes both of these activities)

18. How are you and your Mom the same?
S: we do have the same eyes!
A: we both like painting nails
B: we both like to watch TV

19. How are we different?
S: we don't have the same hair and we don't have the same size of our nose
A: she has brown hair and I have blonde hair
B: I'm a kid, you're a grown up

20. How do you know your Mom loves you?
S: I'm guessing (silly boy)
A: uh, cause she days it everyday
B: because she says it

21. What does your Mom like most about your Dad?
S: when Daddy dances
A: he's handsome
B: his hair color (funny answer)

22. Where is your Mom's favorite place to go?
S: stores, parks and Abby's dentist
A: um, Olive Garden
B: to Target

Don't kids say the darndest things!? This questionnaire gave me great insight into my children's lives. I can see lots of areas with room for improvement. They kept asking me why I was asking them all these wierd questions. Thanks for playing guys!

Us

Hey, hey, hey! Here I am, on my new blog! Hopefully I can keep up with you all much better with this here bloggy thing.
Ace (five months old) is growing up way too fast for our liking. We already miss how snuggly and sleepy he was a couple of months ago. Although he is so much fun now; wiggly and giggly and slobbery fun.
Sterling (three and a half) is sweet and hilarious. He recently made up the word comflated which means he needs to watch cartoons. After styling his hair the other morning he said, "let me go look in the mirror...I look fantastic!"
Buster (seven years old) moves quickly from one thing to the next. He loves soccer and football and wrestling. He is quick with a joke and has a gut-busting 'Eh, Old Buddy, Old Pal' routine that you have to experience to understand.
Abby (nine years going on nineteen) is my right-hand (wo)man, okay, girl. As helpful and as full of spit and vinegar as ever. She loves to be independent and do things her way. Currently she takes a Hawaiian Dance class and is learning to shake the hips that she may have one day. She was voted friendliest person in her grade last year at school.
I am busy trying to keep the little ones happy all day and I have started working on the photo calendars I make each year for the grandparents for Christmas. I love baking and cooking and trying new recipes. I'm trying to figure out what to make the kids for Halloween. I bought a hot dog costume for the baby on clearance last year. We have some previously worn costumes that I am trying to convince the older boys to use this year. The Frankensein costume Buster wore a couple years back didn't get it's fair share of wear. Anywho, enough about me....
Joe works hard everyday for us as a realtor/golfpro/entrepreneur/businessman/husband/football coach/writer/father/sports fan/wrestling coach/scoutmaster/teacher/soccer coach/comedian/etc. It's hard on him to be so awesome.