Merry Christmas!

Here's what we've been doing . . .

I realized today that it has been a whole week since I put something on our blog. So here is what we have been up to for the last few weeks. Craziness! Dax crashed his face into his bed last Monday and has a huge cut on his gums, but his teeth look okay. I didn't take any pictures of that--it was really gross. Seth has been throwing up this weekend. It has been so sad. I've never had an infant throw up, so I cry whenever he does it. Seth seems lots better today, so I hope we're on the mend. Mark is still hanging on to his cough. It hit the 2 month mark today (pun intended). I guess he is just going to live with a cough his whole life.

Despite all of the drama, we have been doing lot of adventures. Here are a few pics of our latest ones.

Elves at Gardner Village with cousins. (Cousin Winky wouldn't sit down!)

Ride on the Polar Express

Dax and Santa (he's not too sure about it!-- Neither is Santa!)

Mark and Santa (he's finally big enough to not be scared).

Seth and Santa (he's too little to care)

Going to the Live Nativity in Alpine

The best part of the Live Nativity

Driving all over to see Christmas lights. These are the lights at Christmas Street in Sugarhouse.

Gingerbread houses with friends. I realized after helping Mark that I stink at building houses.
Good thing Randy can help.

So excited for snow they went right out to shovel today! Dad will love it when he gets home.

Seth Starts Solids

Loving it!

We finally took the plunge and let Seth start some solid foods. He kept trying to get my food and would stare at us while we ate--we took that as a sign he was ready. And Seth is definitely ready. The first time we fed him rice cereal, he opened his mouth and swallowed it right down. Now I don't know about your babies, but my other kids have pushed it out with their tongues or not wanted to eat. So I was surprised that Seth took to eating so well. He opened his mouth and ate it all up with hardly any getting on him. Randy says I shouldn't be surprised since he weighs so much . . . eating is his thing.

Here are a few pics and short video of the little guy trying rice cereal. Since this video, he has eaten bananas, squash, and sweet potatoes. Seth definitely prefers to fruits and veggies over the cereal, but he'll eat it as long as he can protest the whole time.

The boys loved watching Seth eat.

Good eater!

Christmas Trees

One of our favorite traditions is going up Ephraim Canyon to cut our own Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Randy's family started this long before I joined the family. This year was a little bit different due to the lack of snow and the abundance of mud, but we had a great time anyway. We had an amazing breakfast prepared by two brothers-in-law, and then we headed out to search for the perfect tree (actually two perfect trees). Mark & Dax loved looking for trees because they finally got to walk in some snow. In fact, they spent more time playing in the snow than helping us find a tree. Seth got a little worn out and fell asleep after we found our first tree. But the best part is always riding four-wheelers and sledding, and of course, spending time with our family!

See our Christmas tree behind these two?

Seth passed out.

Mark sledding, or maybe crashing!

Love Dax's smile!

We saw wild turkeys on the way into Ephraim. We love bird watching!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a happy Thanksgiving and hope you did too. The boys loved being at Grandma's, even Seth. He slept well and smiled and laughed for everyone. Everyone in Natalie's family was home this year because we did a big family photo the day after Thanksgiving. We haven't all been together for a long time. Mark and Dax played with their cousins non-stop so it was the easiest three days with them ever.

Dax had fun at his preschool Thanksgiving.

Seth's first Thanksgiving!

I was trying to get a picture of Mark's black eye. He bumped heads with Dax on Thanksgiving so he had a nice bruise for family pictures the next day! You can't really see it in the picture.

Dax decided he wanted to ride in the suitcase to Grandma's house.

You'll Never Believe (or care) What We Saw

This is stock footage, but isn't she beautiful?

On Saturday night we were driving home. Natalie, with her eagle eyes, spotted something amazing in the dark on a fence post. We turned around to get a picture, but not having a camera with us, were only able to snap a few blurry cellphone shots (the dark didn't help either). The boys were sure excited to see this barn owl, though. He hung around, diving in the grass several times looking for mice. Finally, he caught something and flew away.

Dear Dax

Dax has become the middle child. I often think about how I can help him not live in Mark's shadow and not try to be the baby like Seth. I can see that Dax has been the most affected by the changes in our family. He has come to terms with Seth and loves to hug him and try to make him smile. Dax always wants to be like Mark and wishes he could do all the things Mark does--and one day Dax will. It's hard to make him wait.

But while I post about Seth and Mark, I want you to know that Dax is special to me, too. Dax is the child who says, "Thanks for dinner mom," every night. Dax is the one who asked to have his preschool teacher over to play. Dax is the one who wants to help his dad do ANYTHING. Dax is the one who learned his letters and sounds by age 2 and already recognizes quite a few sight words at 3 1/2. Dax is the child who will read Little Critter books for hours on end. I find him in his room reading quite often. Dax is the one who knows all the words to Nephi's Courage and sings them constantly.

I could go on and on. Sometimes Dax and I have our differences--okay, we have lots of differences, but Dax is a sweetheart and is genuinely kind to others. He is funny and is already the class clown. He is my challenge, but I know he is amazing. I am grateful to spend some time with Dax.

For Randy

Seth: 4 months already?

Four months old and lovin' it!

Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was cursing Seth (still in the womb) for making me have contractions when I was having a scheduled C-section. Then all the drama came, and life has just gone by so quickly.

Seth is learning to reach and grab for things. His brothers are fascinated by this and cheer him on all day long. Seth also loves to blow spit bubbles. He is constantly spitting/drooling and I change his soaked through shirt more than once a day. Seth knows how to laugh, but is very stingy at what he laughs at. He will usually give a little guffaw, but to get a real laugh you better be doing something doggone funny. Seth talks in squeals now which is very entertaining. I think he wants to be heard above the noise of the rest of his family.

Spitting, as usual.

Seth is such an easy going, calm baby. I wake him up constantly from his naps to take his brothers places or pick them up. He always has a smile for me. Dax and Mark really enjoy playing with him and it is fun to see them bonding with Seth. He is always trying to look at his brothers wherever they are in the room. Seth knows his name and will turn and look at you when you call him. I am so grateful that Seth is part of our family and I feel truly blessed that he is here.

Playing with dad and Dax 

Seth comes on all our adventures and loves them!

Seth is trying so hard to grab the camera. 

He loves his dad!

Mark's Halloween Recital

Mark wore his vampire costume for the concert.

Mark has been taking piano lessons for one year this month. He had a Halloween recital last week. Mark gets so nervous, but he did a great job. He also won the practicing contest -- he didn't miss a day for two whole months. He received a large candy bar and a piano pen. We love that Mark enjoys the piano. Sometimes Randy and I have to bite our lips so we don't yell, "Stop playing the piano." Anytime he walks by the piano, Mark plunks out some song that he is working on.

Mark is receiving his practicing award.

 Here is the video of his performance.

Halloween

This had to be the easiest year for Halloween costumes ever. Okay, going "shopping" at Randy's sister's house is easier and she has the most amazing costumes, too. But since Mark and Dax now like to pick what they are going to be, I was so glad that they picked easy costumes.

Mark wanted to be a vampire. I didn't really know why until I went to his school Halloween parade and I saw 4 other people in his class dressed as vampires. I'm sure they discussed it at recess. So I threw on his church clothes, bought some fangs, and found a cape for $4 at Wal-Mart. I had planned to make the cape, but I couldn't beat that price (and the lack of sewing required).

Dax wanted to be a ghost. He has been saying that for about 4 months. A few weeks before Halloween he went through a different idea every day, but Dax finally settled back to ghost. I cut up a white sheet, bought him a white beanie for $1, and grabbed some white face paint.

I love this picture of Dax even though it is all faded--he looks very ghostlike.

Seth was the cheapest since I just pulled out our baby costumes. One of Randy's sister gave us a pumpkin costume when Mark was a baby and every one of our boys has worn it. Now it was Seth's turn. Seth was also an M&M which my sister gave Mark. Dax didn't get to be an M&M because he was too big by the time Halloween rolled around since his birthday is in May. That's okay . . . Dax doesn't even know. 

It sure made Halloween simple this year and I actually enjoyed my least favorite day of the year a little bit more.