A few random things

We were doing a rushed version of bedtime because it was late so I told them no books, but Austin really wanted to tell me a story. When I wasn't listening to him he looked at me and said, "Mom you're making my feelings bad." So I said ok tell me the story. He said, "It starts with three hummins and then it begins" and then he proceeded to hum three times and told me a story all about 3 wolves and Optimus Prime and Megatron. He then told me he would tell me his other story in the morning, but that one only starts with one hummin. I'm glad I took a minute to listen to that cute little boy and his story with the hummins.

Aaron was making breakfast and Zack came in and said, "Is there protein in sausage?" Aaron said, "Yes." And Zack ran in to the front room and said, "Austin we're having protein!"

When the boys all wrestle Aaron started pulling the bottom of their shirts over their heads and he would say, "hockey fight." So Austin figured out last week how to do it to Aaron with some help from mom and now that's their favorite thing to do to him, it's pretty funny to see.

Last Saturday night when the boys were taking a bath Aaron thought he would be funny and started throwing glasses of cold water on them so the next morning when Aaron was in the shower Austin came up to me and said, "Mom let's go throw water on Dad." So we filled a big glass of water in the kitchen and snuck in to the bathroom and lucky for us Aaron had his back to us. We threw the cold water on him and Aaron was gasping because it was quite cold. Austin and I thought it was pretty funny!

We moved Zack and Austin in to bunk beds a couple of weeks ago to get ready to move Gavin in to their room. So far they have just been taking turns with who gets to sleep on the top. On Valentine's night they decided for the first time ever that they wanted to sleep in the same bed. They've always been really funny before about not wanting the other one in their bed so I thought it was kind of appropriate that the first time they would want to sleep together is the anniversary of the night Zack came home from the NICU 5 years ago and they were reunited (Austin came home a week earlier than Zack on Feb. 7th). Needless to say I think they played in there for at least 2 hours before they fell asleep. They got flashlight for Christmas and at one point they came out and said, "Mom you should come and see the shadow puppets we're making on the wall" and then went in to detail about the T-Rex they were doing.

I've been trying to teach the boys about why we don't want to eat too much candy and other treats because they have a lot of sugar in them and they aren't healthy for our bodies. So now almost every time Zack eats anything he will ask me if it has sugar in it and if it's candy or something like that I will usually say yes. Then I will explain to him that it's ok to eat a little bit of sugar we just don't want to eat too much. I have felt like it was going well until they asked me if grapefruit had sugar in it and then I was trying to explain to him that it did, but it's natural sugar so it's ok to eat that. Needless to say I don't think he quite got it.

Gavin has become this blanket/stuffed animal/pillow hoarder. He will find all of the before mentioned items in the house and make piles where ever he's at. Sometimes I think it's cute and sometimes it drives me crazy because it makes the house feel like it's always messy.

Valentine's

We started Valentine's off this year with some yummy Raspberry Cream Cheese Sweet Rolls shaped like hearts. And they got to open their Valentine's surprises from us.I decided since they still don't have towels with their names on them to finally make some for them. Aaron picked the Utah towel theme and the boys were pretty excited about them. It is not easy to get a good picture of the 3 of them together, as you can see.
Then Austin and Zack got to go to school and have a Valentine party. After we picked Austin and Zack up we went and surprised Aaron with a concrete from Nielson's. He has had a rough month and a half at work so we wanted to make sure he knew how much we loved him. Then we came home and did our tradition of making sugar cookies.Zack loved being able to put them on the pan himself.Austin
Gavin trying out his hand with the rolling pin. He is such an independent soul.I love this picture, they had so much fun. What you can't tell is that they decided they had had enough of cutting out hearts and being the boys that they are they were rolling out the dough in to snakes. I love little boys!I should have taken a picture of their snakes before I baked them, but I didn't think about it. They all had to make at least one. :)Then of course it was time for the decorating.Austin has become very in to art and is quite the perfectionist so he had to make sure that every square inch of his cookies had frosting on them. His and Zack's cookies had so much frosting on them you couldn't hardly pick them up without having them break they were so loaded down.I don't know if they remember using colored sugar last year or what, but they kept talking about how they needed the colored sugar to put on their cookies. So I pulled out my colored sugar that has barely been used and most of them weren't even open yet. By the end they put so much on the cookies that almost all 9 of my containers were empty. I wish I would have taken some after pictures of some their decorated cookies.And of course there had to be some taste testing of the skittles that they wanted to use for decorating.

I'm glad that I've started some of these traditions because I think otherwise my lazy ways would override and I would miss out on making some of these fun memories with my kids. Although I told Aaron that night that it is exhausting to try and be a good mom and make holidays fun. I really admire those moms that make every holiday and occasion fun.

Winter Fun

In the beginning of January after one of the few snow days we've had this winter, being the good mom that I am I bundled my kids all up and planned on watching them play from inside. Austin got a sled from Zack and Zack got a sled from Gavin for Christmas so they were really excited to use them. Well being the good dad that Aaron is he decided he needed to go out and make our little hill better for them. I'm glad that he's such a fun dad!I love Aaron's clothing choice! He was just planning on going out there for a minute, but was having too much fun with the boys.
Austin

ZackGavin seemed to have the most fun (at least when I was out there). He couldn't get enough of going down and he was so funny to watch because he would attempt to get a running start and jump on the sled. With his coordination level compounded with the awkwardness of snow clothes and boots it was so funny to watch.Zack and GavinAaron slacking on the jobso Austin had to take over the work.Austin

And to thank Aaron for his hard work and building them a better sledding hill the boys all decided to attack him with snowballs. They figured out pretty quick that if they threw it on his bare legs they would get a better reaction out of Aaron. What a great morning!

Christmas

I started off Christmas Eve by working that morning. I wasn't very excited to work because I still had so much to do, but I ended up being so glad that I did. It was just what I needed to refocus my thoughts on the importance of Christmas and it really helped put me in the right mood. That night we went up to my parent's for our traditional dinner and then came home and the boys got to unwrap the pajamas. I didn't have time to finish the shirts because I was too busy with too many other projects.
Here are the finished pajamas- the shirts were only a month late. :)Then we put out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.After reading scriptures we finished the night reading The Night Before Christmas.
Zack and Austin woke up Christmas morning around 7:30 and after making them wait until around 8 we went and woke Gavin up. We always start Christmas morning off reading the scriptures and saying a prayer and then it's time to go out and see what Santa brought. (I can't believe I didn't take pictures of their stockings. I have been meaning to make them stockings since they were born and never did it, but I finally made them this year and I love how they turned out.)I put this picture in just because you can mostly see Austin and Zack's stocking and you can mostly see Gavin's in the one below. I will have to get pictures of them better next year.I love how unexcited Austin looks in this picture- he was actually really excited to get the dragon he had been asking for for at least a couple of months. Zack didn't really start asking for the dragon until about a week before Christmas, but I put in a good word to Santa to get him one before that because the only thing he was asking for was running clothes so he could go running with me. I think that's the cutest thing, but I thought he would be bummed on Christmas if he didn't get any toys.Our boys are obsessed with flashlights so Santa thought they would love some and he was right! This was probably then and still the favorite present received by all of the boys. Gavin also got some food that you cut that's made by Melissa and Doug that he absolutely loves!Aaron got some tools and golf supplies. I got snow shoes, a silpat mat, and some movies.
After present opening we had our traditional breakfast of sweet rolls. Zack was complaining of not feeling good during breakfast, but then ended up finishing all of his food so we didn't think much of it.

We had church at 11 which I loved! There was something so perfect about going to church on Christmas that I wish we did every year.

Right after church we headed straight up to my grandparent's. About 15 min in to our drive Zack said he didn't feel good again. I looked back at him and instantly knew he was going to puke so I told Aaron to hurry and pull over while I started searching for the barf bag which somehow disappeared. Aaron pulled over and Zack started puking before we could get him out. I jumped out of the car and ran over to the other side and ripped him out while he finished throwing up. It was the worst throw up we've ever had in the car! It puddled down in to the back and got all over the seat and was all over the floor and in every little and big nook and cranny of the car seat. We cleaned it up and him as best we could and after he finished we loaded him back up and turned around and went home. When we got home we threw him in the tub and washed all of the pads and the frame of the car seat and steam cleaned the chair underneath and the floor of the car. A couple of hours later we loaded back up with lots of barf bags and headed up to my parent's.

Normally I wouldn't expose everyone to our germs, but my sister and her little boy were flying back to Arkansas that night and my brother and his family were leaving the next day back to Maryland. We ended up finding out that at least 15 people of my extended family were sick with the same thing so we're pretty sure we picked it up at the Stuart family Christmas party.

We had the normal fun and chaos at my mom's that we always have.After Zack threw up on my parent's carpet we decided to hurry and finish the rest of our visits and get home.

So we went to my grandparent's where I just ran in and gave them their presents and hugs and left. Then we went to Aaron's parent's because they wanted us to despite the puking. Right as we were about to walk in the door Zack threw up again, I was so ready to go home at that point!
We exchanged presents and chatted for a bit and then headed home. We had a great Christmas despite the puking. :)

Stuart Christmas Party

On the 23rd of December we had our Stuart family Christmas party. We had an ugly sweater contest which we were lame and didn't participate in. In my defense, I went to the DI a few times and tried to find someone we could borrow some from and neither panned out. My stress levels were a bit high so that was one of the things I decided I didn't care about. We had dinner with a few games and then the great grandkids did the nativity.After the nativity the adults had a white elephant present exchange and the little kids exchanged presents as well. Then to the kids great excitement, Santa came!Zack asked for a football, but I think it was just because he was nervous because he really had been asking for a remote control dragon and then continued asking for the dragon after that.
Gavin didn't ask for anything. He just stared at Santa and looked cute which comes pretty natural to him.Austin asked for a black dragon with red eyes that roars and walks with the remote control. It cracked me up how specific he was. He also asked for a dinosaur that he had seen at the store a few weeks before that.

The BIG 5!

Austin and Zack have been waiting FOREVER for their birthday to get here! They almost couldn't believe it when the day finally came. They both woke up to 5 balloons in their bedroom which they were so excited about.
(I on the other hand must recommend to never buy balloons from Smith's! I went to All A Dollar first where I found out they don't put air in latex balloons anymore. So I figured I would try to save money and it would be cheaper to go to Smith's than to just buy all mylar balloons. I was wrong! I drove up to Smith's just for the balloons where they charged $1 for each latex balloon so I was already paying the same amount plus more for gas and my time; especially because the lady at Smith's was SLOW and I was in a big hurry. The balloons from Smith's were on the floor in under 24 hours as well whereas the All A Dollar balloons were still floating a month later when we just popped them because we were tired of them. Needless to say, Smith's sucked! It was a huge waste of my money and time and their customer service was awful when I called about it. Tangent over. :)
Then we opened presents. They both really wanted scooters and they were in luck.
ZackAustin
They really wanted cinnamon rolls for their breakfast so I stayed up way to late the night before making them, but they are worth it! After breakfast they got ready and went to school. It was their spotlight day at school for their birthday so I went during school and brought posters all about them and talked about them. We also brought Aaron's delicious rice krispy treats. Red per Zack's request and green per Austin's. I thought it was kind of ironic that they picked Christmas colors.After school we came home and I made Beef Stroganof for lunch for Zack. (Aaron felt like he really scored with their food choices.:) Which is just fine by me since it's our anniversary as well.)

Then the boys both really wanted to go to Boondock's for their birthday so we went and played for at least 4 hours. Their main requests were to shoot dinosaurs and do the mini bowling. That place gets more and more fun the older they get! It was so nice because they both got in to the kiddie playland for free so we only had to pay for Gavin, plus they got $5 to play arcade games and all of the mini bowling that they wanted for free. The mini bowling normally costs like $3 a game so we felt like we had really scored especially because that's all Gavin wanted to do. So while Zack and Austin were doing all of the stuff they wanted to; Gavin was over mini bowling, he played at least 20-30 games by himself. We didn't take any pictures because we were too busy having fun and just enjoying our family and we didn't want to worry about the camera. Just picture lots of smiling and laughing.

After Boondock's we went to The Pizza Factory for dinner because Austin wanted pizza. By then the boys were all too tired to eat, but we still had a great day!

We celebrated their birthday with my family a couple of days before which is when we did their cakes. Austin really wanted a blue dragon cake with wings and fire.Other than the frosting disaster I had (my favorite frosting recipe which is very finicky, but I've never had a hard time with decided not to whip up for me. I was having a bit of a freak out when my awesome husband came to the rescue for me. The frosting he made was a bit soft, but it worked and that's all that matters.) it came together pretty easily.

Zack wanted a spider cake. I still am surprised he picked that because he doesn't really like spiders, but I'm glad he did because it's the easiest cake I've ever made! Now I just need to convince all of my kids to pick that for their cakes. :)
Austin is such a good big brother! He is usually willing to help his brothers with anything and he is really good at helping Mommy and Daddy. He is very affectionate and loving and still likes to cuddle with me which I'm grateful for! He loves to play outside and has loved playing soccer this year. He is still very in to dragons and dinosaurs and knows a lot about them. He is a smart little boy. He can quote movie lines like nobody I've ever met. He only has to watch a movie once and I swear he can tell me half of it. His teacher Mrs. Addie just sent home readers for him to work on because she said he's ready to start learning to read. We are so grateful he's a part of our family! I don't know what I would do without his sweet little smile and his frequent cuddles. We love him more than that!!! (He tells me all of the time that he loves me even more than that. He's just learned how to skip the game of "I love you more than this", "No, I love you more than that.")

Zack is also a very good big brother! He's very patient with Gavin, most of the time. Zack has such a fun loving personality. He makes us laugh all of the time with his silly faces and the things he does. He loved playing soccer this year and was really good at it. He also loves dinosaurs and dragons. He loves riding his bike and tells me all of the time how he wants some running clothes so he can go running with me which I think is the sweetest thing ever. He is a really good helper to Mommy and Daddy. He is also a smart little boy. He has such a good memory! He can beat Aaron and pretty everyone he plays at the game Memory. His teacher also sent home readers for him and said he's ready to start learning to read. We love his smile and his hugs and we are so grateful he's part of our family! We love you to infinity and beyond!!!