Instagram v. 26

1:: Promised Lincoln we'd make pretzels at home if he would quit begging for one at the mall.
2:: Andy's train room.
3:: Her brother's introduced her to chocolate covered pretzels.
4:: Frosty
5:: Swapping Christmas toys. Gracie wanted the car.
6:: Checking expirement on Christmas day.
7:: Is Warren your Grandpa? Tags still on the boots.
8:: Wilkins family nativity.
9:: How we roll at Grandpa's.

Christmas 2012

It snowed all day Christmas Eve. Chod shoveled the driveway...a couple times. The snow just kept coming. And as usual, he finished his Christmas shopping with the boys, while I finished the last of Santa's projects.

They built their own Frosty in the front yard. All of the rocks were covered, so they used a carrot for the snowman's eyes, buttons and nose.

 We took a late night drive to the university to check on Chod's soil column and tried to find Santa's sleigh in the sky. The boys were sound asleep by the time we got home.

 After Santa had come.

 New Christmas jammies.

 Lincoln had fun opening his presents.

Bentley deemed it "his worst Christmas ever" because Santa didn't bring him rocket boosters or a jet pack.

 Gracie's first Christmas.

She was much more interested in Lincoln's car than she was her doll.

We made another stop to check on the soil column before heading out of town.

The boys were shepherds in the Wilkins nativity.

And Grandpa let Gracie take a nap. (Ever since she was a newborn she covered her face like this when she gets tired.)

 Dalanie loves babies.

 Not enough iPads for all of the grandkids.

 Grandpa's favorite trick.

Instagram v. 25

1:: Chod had this football signed by #25 Kerwin Williams for Bentley and Lincoln.
2:: The boys with Capt. Aggie (our neighbor Andy) at the Potato Bowl.
3:: Cheering on their Ags.
4:: Gracie has a rough life.
5:: Christmas card picture.
6:: Love this girl.
7:: Bentley rearranged the tree ornaments.
8:: Christmas came a few days early.
9:: Tennis lessons as SARC

Tennis Lessons

When I saw Sports Academy was offering free tennis lessons on the Friday night before Christmas, it took about .3 seconds to decide to sign these two up. 1. it was free! 2. it was active! 3. no parental supervision required=babysitting!

 They had lots of fun learning how to play, and Chod and I were able to finish our Christmas shopping. They each won a t-shirt (B won 2!) so they thought it was pretty much the coolest thing they'd ever done.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

 Chod had this football signed for the boys by running back Kerwin Williams.

Santa gave Levi (our elf) a secret mission to get the boys' Christmas present to them before Christmas. He left clues to build anticipation. The first clue was a bag of Idaho Potatoes. After reading the clue Bentley said "Oh that's easy. THE IDAHO POTATO BOWL GAME!" but the next clues were a little tricky. Clue 2: Hand Warmers. Clue 3: Roadtrip snacks Clue 4: Aggie sweatshirts and Clue 5: Drive to Grandma and Grandpa Parishes house and tell them Kerwin Dowdy Loud and Rowdy. Grandma then handed over bowl game tickets.

I was expecting a bigger reaction--but I think they liked it! Grandma and Grandpa piled in the car with us and were headed to Boise. We dropped the boys off at the game and the girls hit the mall.

Their tickets happened to be right next to these kids. (Bri's brother Jeff, Brian, Garrett, Alex Haynie, Katelin, Baylee, and Bret)

 Our neighbor, Captain Aggie was there too.

 Bentley loved that his Aggies won.

 And Lincoln got a good nap during the game.

 Bring home the trophy. Bentley's all about trophys.

Loo-Who at 6 months

Gracie at 6 months.
weight: 14 lbs 12 oz (25%)
height: 24.5 inches (10%)
head: 16.5 inches (25%)
3 teeth
Rolling
So happy

Instagram v. 24

1: Christmas card sneak peak
2: Teaching Link WEP's popcorn secrets. Aerate the salt
3: Chod was out of town so I got to gather eggs with Lincoln.
4: Christmas cards addressed and stamped and being sent on their way.
5: Levi's 4th birthday.
6: Chod brought me this wreath back from Portland.
7: Christmas tree hunting.
8: Levi left the boys clues for an earlier Christmas present from Santa. Clue 1: sack of potatoes. Clue: Hand warmers. Clue 3: Roadtrip Treats. Clue 4: Aggie Sweatshirts. Clue 5: Get in the car and drive to grandma and grandpa's and tell them the secret phrase "Kerwin Dowdy loud and Rowdy!" to get the final clue. The present was tickets to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Game!
9: Finally got the stockings hung.

Instagram v. 23

1: Thanksgiving sledding at the cabin
2: So hard to say goodbye
3: Pitstop to see cousins
4: Best looking tree in 1st grade. (It was a family assignment)
5: The kid who can't sleep when it is light outside took a 4 hour nap
6: Chod hanging Christmas lights at 11 with a headlamp
7: She's a goon
8: My Activity Day girls were in charge of the ward party centerpieces. Here's the beginning.
9: Ultimate Aggies

Instagram v.22

1: Her first pony
2: This makes me swear
3: Another dress for the little miss
4: His idea of helping
5: My superfans
6: Snoozing during Stake Conference
7: iPhone 5. I don't know who is the most excited
8: A woman doing a man's job
9: Cinnamon roasted almonds

Thanksgiving 2012

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Aunt Kay's cabin. Gracie was greatly outnumbered!

 The boys snuck in some crafting time.

 Chod was the craft hour director and it was fun to see what they came up with with the limited supplies.

 

 And took full advantage of the snow and went sledding down the driveway on Grandpa's fun runner sleds.

Our boys (and me too) love to go to the cabin. It has never failed that before we have even left Lincoln is begging for us to go back. We are grateful for such a fun place to make family memories together.

Scare Tactic

Lincoln is a biter. He only bites Bentley. It is usually when they are fighting and Lincoln gets super upset/frustrated. It is a problem that we don't know how to stop.

The last time he bit his brother I threatened that the next time I was taking him to the dentist and having all of his teeth pulled.

Chod mentioned something about threats I could actually follow through with...

So this afternoon, when Bentley came bawling (there's a very specific cry he has when he's been bit--so I know what happened even though you can't understand a thing he says through his sobs) saying Lincoln had bit him, I knew what had to be done.

Chod and I were working in the garage so I told him I was taking Lincoln to have Dr. Doug pull his teeth. I think the drive to Logan should be traumatic enough to possibly solve the problem.

I opened the door and told Lincoln to get his shoes on cause we were heading to Dr. Doug. Immediately he started screaming. I tried to get him out the door, but had to have Chod help. Lincoln was hysterical (kind of like Bentley when he gets bit) as we backed out the driveway. He continued crying and kept reminding me that he had told Bentley he was sorry (he gives out sorry's freely, but doesn't mean it) and that he didn't want his teeth pulled. But before we had even reached the highway he had calmed down a lot. We talked about what he could do instead of biting, and why he bites. (He says it's cause he is hungry. If this is true we have way bigger problem at hand.)

By the time we had reached Logan he was pretty confident he was going to get to keep his teeth, so just so he didn't think I was a pushover we drove to Dr. Doug's only to find they were closed on Saturdays.

I'm not really sure it's going to solve the biting problem, but I'm pretty confident I've successfully ruined all future visits to the dentist for him.

Instagram v. 21

1: My bubbling kettle
2: Sorry, you missed the donuts.
3: Lincoln counting his candy. He was ecstatic over the 26 pieces of candy.
4: Chod's birthday cake
5: Dad is great, he feeds me chocolate cake
6: Lincoln ate lunch at school with Bentley while I handed out the birthday treats
7: Neighbor kids playing in the leaves.
8: My 4 dz of tulip bulbs from Thanksgiving Point=
9: Wearing my stingrays on a rainy day

Fall Break 2012

During Fall Break I put the boys to work. First, we cleaned inside.

And then we headed outside, cause this mom had a crazy idea to put a flower bed along our south fence.

 So we dug up grass.

 And loaded the grass into the wheelbarrow.

 Then we emptied the wheelbarrow and went back for more.

It seemed to take forever. We called it a day when we had filled up our green waste container and topped off the wheelbarrow. And then we realized we were only 1/3 of the way done!

As my mom always said, "A break from school is not a break from life!"

Halloween

When I asked the boys what they wanted to be for Halloween, Bentley quickly decided on an Indian. Which made my job really easy, since he still had his Indian pants from Grandma Camp, and Grandma offered to make him a matching shirt. So when Lincoln decided he would be an Indian too, there were no complaints from me.

 Our Indian at the Sunrise costume parade.

One little,

 Two little Indians.

 Gracie dressed up like the teenagers out trick-or-treating. In a hoodie and jeans. She was pretty cute.

 And, as per tradition, Chod took the kids around the block while I stayed home and fried up the donuts. Here's our set up for this year. A huge step up in the lighting department. I handed out over 100 donuts + donut holes in under 2 hours.