Letters to Santa

Tonight we wrote letters to Santa. While Steve and I were being silly it was all business for Makenna. Her letter says that she's been trying to be a good girl this year and that she drew a picture of him on the back that she hoped he likes. She asked for a Merida doll(from the movie Brave).

She drew Santa all by herself and I helped her with the reindeer and sleigh. She is such an artist!

 She was so excited! The other picture she said was for Santa too but then she changed her mind. Sure hope Santa gets our letters!

What a Boy!

 There is some construction going on that we can see out our back windows and Chase is obsessed with watching the big trucks. If he can't see them out the big kitchen window he wants to go look out Makenna's window.

Today he had his snack on the window sill and was munching away watching the trucks!

Makenna Facts

 My Makenna you have turned 4 and I can't believe it. Year 3 was a tough one- having a new brother and moving within 6 weeks of each other threw you for a loop and I finally feel like the past few months we've finally made some head way in not having as many tantrutms or screaming fits- you are a screamer! You test me every day and I didn't even know what patience was until I had you. You make me be a better mom and person and teach me things every day.

Even though you test me every day I couldn't love you more! You can be sweet with Chase and also a big help around the house, when you want to be. You love going to your music class every week and love going to preschool. You have really grown up since going which is fun to watch but makes me sad too. You love to sing. You're always singing something and you make up your own songs too!

 You have quite the imagination. You're always dressing up as a princess, or pretending you're a dog, or you're someones sister. Lately you've been making up stories about pretend grandparents and a sister! In the evenings while we're trying to kill time before bed you become a cheerleader and we're your crowd. You throw us prizes and do little dance routines. I love it.

 You are a social butterfly. You always want to play with someone and ask if anyone is coming over to visit, and when someone is over you don't want them to leave. You're still not the greatest eater you are doing better and most of the time will at least take 2 bites of dinner. But if it wasn't for dairy products you would have wasted away by now. You do like broccoli so I'll take that.

 

 You still don't like to be the spotlight in front of people but will do something if you have to. You gave your first talk in primary a few weeks ago and you were so brave and got right up there. It was the sweetest 30 second talk I have ever heard.

You are my little girl and you have a special spot in my heart! I love you.

15 months!

 My little man you are 15 months old and I wanted to write down a few of the things you do at this age. The best way to describe you right now is BUSY! You are into and on everything- not joking, you have figured out how to climb up the oven, you climb onto everything! If you're not climbing your making a mess somewhere and I have to keep my eyes on you all the time.

You are sweet though and my favorite is when you randomly come up to me and give me a kiss. You have a soft spot in my heart and you've figured out that you can start crying when Makenna is near and I'll come running and save you- and then you smile because you were just fine. You love your balnkets and are just like Linus on Charlie Brown- you seem to always be carrying one of them around and you curl right up with them when you go to sleep.

 You love being outside!  You want to do everything that Makenna does and get frustrated when you can't. Your favorite word is dad. You look for him in the morning, you look for him after nap, and when you finally hear the garage open you run around screaming Dad! You also say ball, eyes and we know that you're saying thank you and football. You know what a dog and a duck say as well.

 You are my little fruit and vegetable eater. If all else fails at meal time just pull out some more fruits and vegetables.You also love treats and chips- thats my boy! You only have 7 teeth but seem to manage just fine.

 You are just the cutest kid ever and I sure love you- you're my little man!

Thanksgiving

 This year for Thanksgiving we were at my parents house. We had a great day and besides filling our stomachs we were also able to get a group picture...

The boys watched football...

  While us girls crafted. We each made something differerent and its so fun to see our different personalities.

                                     I made this cute elf!

 And the kids pulled out every single one of the toys at Grandma's and had them scattered throughout the house.

Each night this whole month we have been writing on leaves to fill our thankful tree. It was so nice to stop and think about what I was grateful for that day and to teach Makenna about being grateful. She was so cute. The first couple of nights she wasn't really getting it because she was always saying, "I'm grateful that Mom and Dad can play with me, or That Jesus loves me." We would tell her we already had those things so she would have to think of something else so then she would say the same things again but add a few more words. She finally caught on and every night she would do multiple leaves to help fill the tree. We are so blessed!

"To live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch Heaven."

-President Monson

4 YEARS OLD!

 Makenna turned 4 this week! She had small little celebrations days leading up to her birthday and she loved every minute of it. At preschool they had a celebration, her and another girl have the same birthday so the last day of school before the holiday break they celebrated with cupcakes, she was the leader of the class and she got a glittery crown to wear all day.

Then on Saturday we baked up her cake... a Rapunzel cake which turned out great and had some of her neighborhood friends over to help us eat it.

 Monday night we went and used her Cold Stone birthday coupon and then Wednesday was an all day celebration. Tuesday night Makenna said to me, " I can't believe its finally my birthday!" Steve and I had set her presents out on the table so she would wake up to them and she was so funny. She decided she wanted to eat breakfast before she opened her presents. Then all through breakfast she kept saying, " I wonder what's in my presents." Silly girl. She is spoiled rotten and got everything to cover her princess needs and more!

In the afternoon we went swimming and had so much fun and then to Chic-fil-A for dinner. We sure love you Makenna!

Halloween Festivities

This week has been a fun one. It started out with pumpkin carving Monday night. I cleaned out the insides...

 Steve carved....

And Makenna would have nothing to do with the pumpkin. I totally thought she would get into it. No, she didn't want to touch the icky insides and complained that it smelled the whole time!

 Oh well, we still had fun!

Then on Tuesday Makenna's preschool went to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful sunny morning and was a lot of fun. The kids could wear their halloween costumes which I think was Makenna's favorite part. She was Cinderella this year.
I could hardly keep track of Chase- he is just so busy and so fast!

 We make great witches!

 And finally trick-or-treating last night. Chase was the cutest Scooby Doo on the block. Both of them were so wound up yesterday that I was glad when we could get this event over with.

My attempt at getting one of them together- I think its a perfect picture because they both are so happy!

It was the best weather for trick-or-treating. We were out for about an hour just doing our little circle which is perfect. Makenna loved handing out the candy I think more than getting it. Later she laid it all out and admired her loot!

Treehouse Museum

This past Friday was a busy one. We were able to meet Misha and Kira at the Treehouse museum. The girls loved it- you always have to go there with friends so that the kids can play together and the adults can chat, which is exaclty what happened and it was wonderful!

           They were rodeo queens...

You have to do dress-ups

                                                   Chilling in the Indian tent

 And then hanging out in the Mongolia tent were some of the things they did, but really I'm sure those two could have played all day long without getting bored.

 

                                       
Then that night  Steve and I were able to go to Thriller! Loved it. I'm so glad Steve is willing to go with me, and for family who are always willing to watch our kids. So fun.



Morning Run

I am proud to say that this spring/summer/fall I have taken the kids on a run every week, 4x a week, going
3-4 miles a day-and we would only miss a morning if someone was sick or it was bad weather. Although we went one questionable morning and it started raining on us but the kids loved it! How much am I pushing you ask? It's close to 70 lbs! So why am I not this muscly-skinny chick?
This picture was taken last week but I fear our days are limited because of the cold- this morning they were wearing coats. I really am going to miss our morning outing. We've gotten into a good routine and for the most part the kids do great and I get my exercise and thinking time in. I love how I feel the rest of the day and its just been a great way to start our day. I've also enjoyed noticing my progress. At the beginning of  spring I would go up our road, which is slightly uphill and I would have to stop and walk every other block, so I started going the other direction so that I would be running down our street on the way home- much easier! Well they were doing some road construction on one of the streets we go on this summer so I had to change our route which meant going back up our street and I was able to go all the way without stopping! Granted I wasn't going all that fast but still I could make it all the way. Its been awesome and I'm at a loss of what to do in the morning once we can't go outside. I'm also at a loss of what to do next year because there is no way I can push them again. Makenna better be really good on her bike because I love starting our day like this!

This is the picture I took of them last year- Chase is so little!

Converstions

Conversations with Makenna lately have been so funny and while it probably won't seem funny written down they have cracked Steve and I up and I don't want to forget.

Tonight at dinner we were discussing with her that we need to be nice to all of our friends and use kind words and I asked her what she thought Jesus would want her to do and in all seriosness she says, "In the Spirit of the Lord" and then rambles on about something. "In the Spirit of the Lord"- obviously thats what she heard this weekend in conference.

An elderly woman that I visit teach passed away last week. I had taken Makenna a few times to go visit Fern so we've been trying to explain to her where Fern is. So I told her that she went to go live with Heavenly Father in Heaven.
"How did she get there mom?"
"Well her spirit in her body went up to heaven"
"In an airplane?"
This has just caused all sorts of confusion because then I went to Fern's viewing and so she asked me if I went in an airplane to heaven to see Fern.
Today we drove past Fern's house and Makenna asked
"Is Fern all better?"
Me: Yes because now she is with Heavenly Father.
"Will she come back soon?"
Me: No probably not for a while but someday we'll see Fern again.
"Maybe on Halloween!"

I never thought of all the angles this topic could take but for a 4-year-old this has been hard to explain. She keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

USU Homecoming

 Last weekend we went up to Logan for USU homecoming. We met our families for the parade. It was a bit chilly to begin with but then it warmed up. 

Makenna would not pick up the candy from the parade-whose child is she? Steve and I did all the work, but with cracker in mouth Chase was ready to go....

The rest of the day was spent with family and of course we went to the game that night, which Steve enjoyed- and the rest of us endured:)