January Hangover

Have you ever felt like that - that January is the hangover from the Christmas fun? No more holidays (at least till Valentines Day), no more anticipation, and, in my case, 10 1/2 weeks and counting until baby boy #4 comes. But, here are some of the things we have been keeping busy with.

The day after Christmas we were excited to have Matt's parents and sisters come for a visit. Mostly we were just happy to be together, but we did venture out for a day of sledding. Of course, in all the anticipation and after an hour and a half drive I realized I had forgotten my carefully packed bag of gloves and hats for our family. Ah! I was so frustrated - little kids think snow is so fun until their hands freeze (which takes all of two minutes) and then they are done. Luckily, my dear in-laws had brought enough to share some so we put adult sized gloves and hats on the kids and were able to make do. Whew! After that, everyone had a great time.

Aunt Megan holding Luke - he spend most of his time in someone's arms. Megan brought this adorable hat with her - Luke looked so cute!

Aunt Melanie and Lukie (good thing he had lots of family willing to hold him!)
One of Nathan's favorite snow activities: eating it.

Carter's favorite snow activity: throwing it.
Nathan looking oh-so sly with this snowball. At least his snowballs were all aimed at one place: daddy's head.
Lukie just being stinkin cute.


Nathan's attempt at a snowman. This is as far as it got, the snow was too packed and not fresh.

Matt always loves sledding and will do hills of any size. Nathan was braver this year and even did a solo run. Luke did some small hills with dad and grandpa until he decided that wasn't his thing. Carter wouldn't touch the sled, he just walked around trying to make snowballs to throw at people, mainly his mom!

Grandpa and Nathan

Matt on one of his solo runs down the big hill.

Nathan daring the sled for the first time by himself! He ended it with "That was awesome!"

We got our first (and only) snow this year the day before Matt's family left. The kids of course wanted to run outside and build a snowman. They settled for trying to catch the flakes.

Also, Matt's parents generously bought Luke his very own toddler bed, as well as a new set of bunk beds for the bigger boys (the ones they had were getting old). So, Matt and his dad assembled them and Luke was excited to sleep in his big bed. Or maybe he was excited about the not sleeping part, because that is what he does best every night - partying with his brothers. It's gotten to the point we have had to take the bookcase out of the room, as well as the dresser. Every night Luke would empty the contents of the bookcase, and then one night we found him jumping on the top shelf of the bookcase. They still party, but a little more safely. For a week straight they were so excited about their new beds all they wanted to do was play "sleep". Fine by me - what a nice quiet game!

For New Years we went and visited my oldest brother, Jonathan, and his wife Jenelle, and three daughters (Annika - 2, and twin baby sisters Clara and Nicolyn) in Portland. It was quite the bunch of kids for one house, but the boys were excited to visit their cousins with "two babies". Jenelle said Annika seemed the most excited about Luke coming to visit, probably because they are only 8 months apart and he is the calmest of the group. Except of course when he got bored and stopped loving on the babies (which he did a lot) and started picking on them. Sorry Clara and Nicolyn!

Annika just looking pretty. You can tell she will be quite the looker in ten years!

My boys in front of the Portland temple, where Jonathan and Jenelle got married.

Jonathan, Annika, Matt and our boys on the temple grounds.

Luke found this Santa hat at Jonathan's house and couldn't resist walking around shouting, "Ho, ho, ho!" It was so adorable!

Finally, Carter wanted an upclose shot of "my eyeballs". This picture is proof of the minimal evidence that these adorable children are not just Michaelis'. It sums up the only Vance resemblance in my kids - Carter's freckles, white skin, and gray-blue eyes. Sorry buddy, no tan skin or brown eyes for you!

Christmas Joy!

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the more meaningful Christmas Eve lesson, but a plethora of the more superficial present opening on Christmas morning! But, Christmas Eve mom and dad were doing a very energetic song and dance to try to keep the troops on the same page and the mood spiritual and Christ-centered.

During a pre-Christmas FHE we had played a giving game, where you put anything into a gift bag and then the giver has to remember to do three things - 1. Say thank you, 2. Say something they like about the present (even if it is dog food or something you really don't want!), and 3. Give them a hug. We reminded them of this on Christmas morning and execution was far from complete, but it helped.

Christmas morning, as always Luke woke up first a little before 7, then we all sat around waiting for Nathan and Carter to wake up. They finally came down and we made them wait a little until everything was all ready.

Here are the boys in present anticipation, enduring a picture in front of the tree:

We had them exchange gifts to each other first, since they were only from the Dollar Store and knew they would be overshadowed by the bigger gifts. One of the sweetest moments was this brotherly "thank you" hug. It may not happen much in later years, but I sure love it now!

Carter was adorable when he not only helped Luke open his gift from him, but then proceeded to try to sell him on how great it really was. Maybe a future salesman in that one...!

The presents were purposely minimal, but the boys had a great time. I loved it when the boys got their last presents and wondered how Santa "knew" what they wanted for Christmas, when they had changed their minds since they told him on his lap. Christmas magic!

Here the boys are "helping" Luke open his presents. Luke really wasn't too interested in opening them himself, so this worked out just fine.

Luke trying to figure out how all this works:

Hello? Oh, not only does this phone talk, but in three languages. Nathan was very excited it talked in spanish - as he just learned how to count to 10 in Spanish. Matt was excited it speaks French. Luke just liked that it barked like a dog!

Nathan's world - building (legos and k'nex), projects (art), and books.

The joy of Carter's morning - a microphone "that works". He had one that died, the battery connections rusted. So, I searched high and low for this microphone and it was well worth it! He got such joy out of it. His favorite feature? A voice recorder that he could record and then play back his own voice.

The rest of the day was probably the most relaxing day Matt and I had have had all year long. We literally stayed in our PJs all day long, and put aside all the computer stuff, projects, cleaning, everything and just sat in the same room and played and enjoyed being a family. We had bought a used Wii from Matt's sister earlier in the year and it has been a really fun source of family play time. Here is Carter just jumping and punching his little heart out in the boxing game:

It was really wonderful. Dinner was simple, but very appreciated - Nathan said, "Mom this is the best dinner ever!", followed by, "Mom, this is the best day ever!"

So well put. Hope yours was filled with smiles and simple joys!

December - The Cliff Notes Version

I finally loaded my new camera's software onto the computer to be able to FINALLY blog about the last month. But, since it's the holidays and I also had a new camera to play with I had over a hundred pictures to sort through and try to minimize into one blog. So, I am going to keep it conscise and make this the "cliff notes" or "readers digest" version of the last couple of weeks, before Christmas hits tomorrow and I have tons more to blog about!

First, the non Christmas, funny life happenings. Luke is turning into such a little ham. He keeps us laughing, even in our most frustrating moments and we love him for that. We were having leftover birthday cake for FHE one night and he didn't even wait for the fork I was getting - he just dived right in! I miss the youthful lack of inhibitions!

However, he also keeps us hopping as he has been our best climber yet. His latest trick is to use props to help him climb to new heights. He loves finding any kind of box, turning it over and putting it next to the sink to be able to play with our spraying water faucet. Or, to climb up to the top bunkbed in his brothers room - defeating the whole purpose of Matt and I chosing not to use a ladder (to discourage little ones from climbing up high). Crazy kid!

We recently adopted two new pets - two guinea pigs. Matt and I both agree that we wouldn't have bought this type of pet on our own, but his boss was getting rid of them, complete with all the cages and food/supplies. So, within hours we said, "Why not?" and now own two guniea pigs. Boys, of course, because we don't seem to do girls in this household. I like them because they live in a cage and don't smell too much and the boys like them because they are a lot more interactive than fish. But, I would have to say Luke wins hands down for absolute fascination with them.

The boys and I have had to change our daily dynamic as winter has settled in and playing outside isn't as much as an option. I treasure the mornings when the boys (Nathan and Carter) play great by themselves. One such morning, I found them like this, reading to their stuffed animal "pets". I will miss this sweet innocence!

Carter has taken a big liking to helping in the kitchen, picking his favorite counter spot to help add ingredients.

Carter is also apparently preparing for a life of fame, already practicing on creative ways to dodge the papparazzi. Lately, when I try to take a picture of him, I often get this:

Finally, Christmas. We set up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. And since ours is an oh-so-natural tree from a box, the boys got to have fun helping dad "assemble" the tree. Of course, then they just had fun with the box (I do have lots of boxes in my garage - can I just use those for Christmas presents?)!

We had a great ward Christmas party, with everything from a full nice dinner to a play/program, to wandering carolers, to a kids craft, and a gingerbread contest. Everyone did well with Santa this year, though Carter started crying as we left - apparently he had gotten so excited about his upcoming treat bag he forgot to tell santa what he wanted. We had to excuse ourselves as he ran back to make sure he got that in.

The boys one morning pulled out the sleigh and Carter was "Santa" and Nathan was the reindeer. You can't see it in the pictures, but Nathan even made Carter take his belt off to use as a "whip" to make Nathan "go". After we had fun making one of many Christmas projects - a fun one that uses the child's foot for the reindeer face and hands for the horns. It will be fun to keep these for when their hands are much much bigger!

We have other undocumented Christmas activities that have added to the holiday season. We did our annual Christmas caroling and treat drop off early in the month. Two of the three kids even sang this year! Then we made a great gingerbread house in a box while dad was out of town, but I pulled a trick my mom used and hid it in the oven the next morning when candy was all Luke wanted for breakfast...and, you guessed it, forgot it was in there and later melted it onto the bottom of my oven. Fire alarm number 2 for the holiday season! Not improving my reputation any time soon...

Finally, here are just some plain old, "Aren't my kids so cute?" pictures.

Hope your holidays are merry and bright!

Our Own Turkey Day

For the first time since Matt and I started dating in 2001, we had a Thanksgiving in our own home, without traveling to family. Though we love seeing our families and enjoy spending the holidays with them, we were also excited to try out some of our own family traditions this year in our first ever at-home Thanksgiving.

The morning started out with the fire alarm blaring. Not an auspicious start, but not totally my fault! I had a friend recommend a turkey recipe and then they also told me they always cooked their turkey in an oven bag. So, I prepped the turkey, bagged it, and put it in the oven. Didn't realize that the oven bag wasn't supposed to be under temperatures over 400 degrees, which my recipe called for. It started burning and smoked up the whole downstairs. I really hoped that no neighbors would walk by and stare as we aired out our thanksgiving cooking mistake! I almost cried, so anxious to have a successful dinner, but we made it though okay once I ditched the oven bag.

Despite the rocky start, we had a good morning. As good Americans, we introduced our kids to the Macy's parade and this was probably the first time they had any interest in it, recognizing characters in the parade. Then they had fun with a variety of Thanksgiving crafts ("projects" are definitely Nathan's current fetish!), including these fun little toilet paper roll pilgram and indians. Gotta love familyfun.com for continual supply of craft ideas!


Then dad took the kids outside to get some energy out on bikes while we had a special guest come over for a visit. After a little "preparation" I rushed outside and told the kids they had just missed a special guest - Terry the turkey! He had brought surprises for them but got so scared when he saw the turkey in the oven that I had to chase him all over the house for them before he disappeared. Good thing he left a trail of feathers for us to follow to find where he left their surprises (wink wink ; ). So, we went on a turkey treasure hunt. Matt laughed when he realized that I purposely alternated hiding the clues between upstairs and downstairs. Hey got to get their energy out somehow! They loved it and I think it will be a tradition for years to come.

The boys played the Wii while I put the finishing touches on dinner and then we had our feast! It consisted of our scrumptious turkey, mom's amazing crescent rolls, stuffing (stovetop - nothing but the box stuff for my honey), mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. We couldn't wait and everything couldn't have turned out more tasty! I was very nervous about cooking my first large piece of meat EVER, but thanks to a great brine recipe from local friends it was the most amazing turkey I have ever had. It even pulled a "wow" out of Matt, who is not a turkey eater.





We followed stuffing ourselves with a family movie (Spiderwick Chronicles - if your kids aren't scared by realistic goblins and mythical types, it's very well done!) and then called it a successful family day. Hope you all had great turkey days!