The Boys New Haircuts

I cut the boys hair all the time, but I have never cut it this short. I like leaving their hair longer. It seems to make them look sweeter and more innocent. But then the temptation to see how it would look cut short, and spiked, set in. On Thursday I pulled out the scissors and chopped their hair off.



It didn't look grand at first, and I thought I had made a huge mistake. But the look grew on me. I think I can like it now.



They look older and more mature, and I still miss the sweetness of their longer hair, but lucky thing is that they have their dad's hair so it will be back in no time.

Mommy Wow!

We are big kids now!



The twins started to show some signs of being ready for potty training, so I was debating whether I should start or not.

Then we found some training pants on sale at Wal-Mart. So we decided we would just see what happened.



We picked up a cushy tushy toilet seat. And, after several cushy tushy themed jokes, we took it home and commenced in potty training.

Little H was scared of it. Big H was excited. He learned quickly how to put it on the toilet and take it off. It's pretty darn cute!

Both boys are doing good with pulling up their pants on their own. Little H has made it through a morning, and an evening, without accidents- sadly it wasn't in the same day. Big H has been more prone to accidents, but he still does really well. I'm yet to see one of them pee, or poop, in the toilet.



Since they're still young we're not taking it to seriously. I don't want to horribly scar them with frustrations and loss of patience. When they have an accident we just put a diaper back on. We'll just slowly introduce them to the idea. Hopefully it will go well.



Worse comes to worse, at least they look cute in their big boy undies.

Southern Utah Trip

It's true! We finally made a trip down to Southern Utah. We even took a day trip to Las Vegas. It has been forever since we could afford to head down that way. I was way excited to have a change of scenery.

The boys were excellent travelers. I couldn't believe it. Baby M was wonderful! He's a good car rider though. The twins needed a few breaks here and there, but they did very good.

We had so much fun seeing everyone one. The kids loved to play with some new toys at Grandma and Grandpa Stratton's.








Even Dad joined in on the fun





We visited Great Grandma and Grandpa Stratton while we were there. We had a fun night, and a good dinner, with them. They loved seeing the boys!



We took a fun trip to Vegas and had fun visiting with Travis, Alisa and their cute kids. We got to meet their newest addition for the first time.

Sadly this is the only picture I got of her.




The last day we were there we visited friends in St. George and their cute twin girls.

Then we visited Saddie, Levi and the kids. We had to snap some shots of their baptismal font. Saddie loaned us some pants for our messy boys- the one time I try to pack conservatively and we run out of clothes. Thank you Saddie!



Then we stopped by Grandpa and Grandma Stratton's for one last visit.

Grandma has got her hands full



I should have taken this picture the night we visited great Grandpa and Grandma Stratton, so I could have gotten all the generations. That's something I'll have to do next time we're down.



We had a great time! Thanks everyone! And thanks John and Holly for letting us stay with you guys. We really enjoyed our visit and hope we can make it down again soon.

What to Name this Update Post? Hmmm. . .

I was trying to think of a title for this post, and everything I typed I had typed before. Apparently I'm not very creative :)

I know I need to blog about our trip to Southern Utah, but I have to do a quick catch up first before I get way behind.

First lets cover

That's so Random

One January morning Craig found this huge icicle on our house. I had to get a pic so I could put it on the blog.



You should have seen the fog we had the other night! It was amazing. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it, and yet I never managed to capture how thick it was.



Trying to be Crafty, Creative and Keep us all Sane

I went to buy bibs for the boys the other day and I found them to be a little expensive. So I decided it wouldn't be too hard to throw some together myself. I cut out the patterns and then started to sew them by hand. Only thing was they looked terrible. My grandmother came to the rescue with her sewing machine. Her only request was that I bring them to her next time to cut them. I admit it! I'm a terrible cutter, especially without a pattern. Sigh, one day I'll own a serger.



I started these rewards charts for the twins. I got the idea from Alisa. She said she uses an envelope. The boys may not get it, but I have fun with it. And they seem pretty excited when I pull out the marker to draw a star in the box. When they fill up the boxes they get to pull of the yellow paper at the bottom to reveal their prize. Is it wrong that I'm so excited about this?



Since Craig is gone all the time he started to get sad that he's not here to see the boys growing and changing. Today I decided I'd email him daily pics of the boys and tell him what cute things they did. Will see if I can keep it up. I guess I only have to do it on days that he's not here.



I'm terrible at reading to my children at bedtime, so I'm trying really hard to bring there hour lesson's back. I mentioned them once before. We started doing them in an attempt to get them more used to nursery. I've done pretty good the last few weeks. The boys are starting to pick up on stuff too. We watched the "Letter Factory" movie and they both made the "F" sound. And before it started they were saying the "A" sound in anticipation. Later Big H said purple, orange and square. Little H said red and circle. They are so cute! I had them showing off their new words to everyone.



My sister in law and I decided to meet up at play places once a week so the boys can run around and play and we can sit and visit. The boys decided to feast on some ketchup. More on that later.



Those Silly Boys

The boys were enjoying a lovely lunch the other day. I cooked hot dogs and gave them some ketchup to dip them in. Guess what they ate for lunch? Ketchup! Actually little H did eat most of his hot dog. Big H, on the other hand, had mostly ketchup.




The boys apparently nabbed the camera and took a few snap shots. I thought I'd share one of their works of art. We really need to get them toy cameras before they ruin ours.



My mom bought these foam squares to put down in the boys room. We ripped out their carpet because their room was always flooding, and I didn't want to deal with it on top of everything else. Thanks Mom!



I hope this video works. Baby M has been making new sounds. And boy are they cute!



Seriously! Adorable!

Births and Birthdays

My friend had her baby at the beginning of the month and I just had to put it in a post because I'm so excited for her. She is going to be an awesome mom! May I also mention that when we went to see her I could hardly walk ten feet without someone stopping me to tell me how cute my kids are. I still find it funny how complete strangers will drool all over my kids as if they were their own.



Nephew M just celebrated his 1st birthday! What a cutie! We love having him in the family, and I was so glad he made a mess of his cake.



That about cover's it. I think. I guess will call it good. It's a pretty long post already.

Got to Make Some Extra Dough!

I really need to find a way to make some extra cash. A job is out of the question since daycare costs would suck my paycheck down the drain.

I'd love to start a preschool, and I think I could if I set it up in the room upstairs, but I don't think I'd have much success starting up in the middle of the school year.

After Baby M is 6 months old I think I could take on some babysitting if they were willing to drop them off at my house

These are some other ideas I had for making some extra cash. I can easily do the photo cards long distance. I'd either email the file or just send them to a local Walgreens near you.

If anyone can help I'd greatly appreciate it! :)

Baby M is 4 Months Old and He's all Smiles!

The twins were 9 months on Christmas Day last year. Baby M was 4 months on New Year Day. Not really significant, but I thought I'd point out our holiday milestones.

Baby M is doing so much better. I can hardly believe how happy and enjoyable he's been. It's so wonderful to see him be happy more often than upset. And his sweet little spirit shows through even more now that he is feeling better.



It's true we do still have rough days here and there, and he likes to be held more than I'd like to hold him, but we're on our way to better times.

Baby M loves the TV. He's such a couch potato. If only he could teach his brothers to be the same way :)



Baby M is already sitting up, and standing with assistance. Maybe this is normal, but the twins weren't able to do these things until 6 months. The twins were always right on with milestones, but Baby M seems to be ahead. My theory is that it's because one baby has more room to move around than two, when they are in the womb, and because of that they can build up more strength. When I ask the Doctor's about it they say, "It's just because they are twins."





Baby M has started eating veggies this month. Here's the amazing part: he actually likes them! The twins hated veggies. They would cry the whole time they were eating them and they seemed to cause them to get constipated. I fed them fruit- or mixed veggies in with fruit- up until six months when they magically started to eat veggies like candy. Baby M has been doing great with veggies. He eats so well. I was so happy he liked them even though he had sweet stuff first. So far we've tried carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. Tomorrow I'm pulling out the green beans. Wish me luck!



Baby M loves things made out of really soft fabrics and yarn. He rubs his face in them, and sometimes almost has a sensory overload. He really loves it when you strip him down to his diaper and rub the soft stuff all over his tummy.




Daddy's favorite thing about Baby M is that he's getting more ticklish.



Baby M will fall asleep anywhere. The only problem is when you move him he wakes up.



We love our happy little baby boy. And we're happy he's feeling better. I can't believe how different he is now. Putting him on a schedule did amazing things. Did I mention Baby M is a great car rider too? And he handles teething, and other illnesses, better than his brothers. It's just those tummy troubles that get him down.

I love you baby M! I'm sorry for all those times you had to cry because there was nothing more we could do. I'm sorry for always getting frustrated with you. I know sometimes you just don't feel good. Lets hope things only get better!

Happy New Year Everyone!

We're all dressed and ready to ring in the new year.




With Craig at work I made plans to spend the evening with my parents. We enjoyed good food and family- that's usually the case when events take place at my parents.



Big H sat by the pumpkin cheese ball- its a sweet cheese ball that you put on wafers or graham crackers- and he kept grabbing the knife and digging in. I got him his own knife and smeared some on his plate, but that wasn't good enough. Grandma finally moved it to another table.



Boy were the kids excited. Nephew K got so excited waiting for his other cousins to come he just had to pull out the poppers- he calls them fireworks and that's probably a better term then the one I came up with.




This is what the twins thought about the poppers.



They didn't much care for the curly streamers either.



Finally the cousins arrived and, boy, was it chaos.



They had fun playing with each other, and we even got them all rounded up for a picture in their pj's. Baby M was downstairs asleep at this point. It was probably better that he wasn't in the pic because I forgot his pj's.



Craig made it home just in time. Lucky me! I get my New Years Kiss!



My brother was also able to stop by when he had a break at work.



HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!



Of course, all my men have to get a kiss!




Lets light some fire works! The older kids were way excited. The twins were still scared, and I didn't have the energy to try and get them into it.





Nephew M rang in the New Year by learning how to climb up the stairs.



Sadly Craig had to turn around and go right back to works at 6:00 AM. But after he got home, on New Years Day, we made plans to go sledding. My parents watched the baby and we took the twins.








The boys weren't too impressed. We bundled them up good, but I think they still got really cold. Plus, we went at nap time to try and accommodate everyone, that wanted to come but ended up not being able to make it, so they were pretty grumpy.