Landen's 4 year old Stats

Landen went to his 4 year check up last Thursday. I was anxious to see how much he has grown. I feel like he has gotten bigger in the last year. Mike wanted to take him which is unusual so I let him since I didn't think Landen would be getting any shots. I was wrong. For some reason, my doctor has started giving out the kindergarten shots when they turn 4! I felt so bad I wasn't there for Landen. Mike said he received 4 shots and that Landen was so tough which is a big surprise. I think Landen pours it on thick for his mommy. Mike said that Landen only said ow after the first one and that was it. I'm so proud of him!

Landen's Stats:
Weight 33 lbs 30th percentile
Height 38.7 inches 30th percentile

He has gained 4 lbs since last year and has grown 3 inches! I cannot believe it. The doctor said that from what Mike told him Landen is ahead of the game intellectually. I always have known that Gage was smart, but we had the time to work with Gage. I really haven't worked with Landen much but he just picks things up so easily. His preschool teacher told me the other day that Landen has the mind of an elephant because he remembers things so good. Landen has started to learn to read right along with Gage. He has been simply overhearing me work with Gage and then he chimes right in. I'm so proud of him! Love ya buddy!

Lights at Temple Square

Last Wednesday, Mike had the great idea of going and seeing the lights at Temple Square. He wanted to fit a few things in before my knee surgery. We hadn't been since Gage was maybe 1 year old. The kids loved seeing where mommy and daddy got married. The lights were beautiful. It always amazes me how many lights they actually put up.

Gage and Landen were off running the second we got out of the car. Gage instantly spotted the temple while Landen was mesmerized by all of the cars flying by on the streets of Salt Lake.

I obviously need a new camera if this is the way it takes pictures!

Tanner was so happy to be let out of his stroller. I could never get a good face shot because he was running all over!

Santa's Store

On Monday, Gage brought home some papers about a project the 5th graders were doing. They were running a store and had invited the kindergartners to pick people to buy Christmas presents for. They sent home a list of gifts with prices. I had to fill out a form detailing how much money to let Gage spend and who to buy for. I told Gage he could buy for Landen and Tanner and he had a total of $4 to spend. There was a large list of gifts with prices ranging from $0.25 to $10. We talked about getting a ball for Tanner and a car for Landen. We discussed a few other items just in case those gifts were gone. I also went into detail about how this was a lesson in giving to others. Not in buying gifts for ourselves. Gage loves to collect little trinkets and such so I told him that he couldn't buy anything for himself because Landen and Tanner would get him a Christmas gift later. This was the time for Gage to buy a gift for them.

I felt confident that Gage would listen to my instructions and I sent a $10 bill because I didn't have anything else. I also wrote a note saying I only wanted Gage to spend $4 and to just give him back the change.

Today, Mike picked Gage up from school. Mike told me that Gage came up to Mike holding two wrapped items in his hands and frantically said, "Daddy, do you have your cell phone? I need to call mommy right away!" Gage called me and immediately said, "Mommy, we have to go to the store to get Landen a present." I asked why. Gage replied, "Because I bought a ball for Tanner and a car for Landen. Then the boy asked me if I wanted to buy myself something and I didn't have enough money. You told them I could only spend $4. So I had to return Landen's car in order to buy the Scooby Doo bank I wanted. So now we need to go to the dollar store and get something for Landen."

I about died laughing. I can just picture Gage being totally unsure of what to do at the store. I can see him holding the two gifts and then having the boy ask him if he wanted anything for himself. Gage hadn't even thought buying something for him was an option until the 5th grader mentioned it. Gage wasn't going to let this opportunity slide by. I wonder who came up with the idea of "returning" an item in order to get what Gage wanted so he could stay within his budget. So much for learning the lesson of giving to others.

Much To Be Thankful For

I know I'm a little late getting my Thanksgiving post out there, but I had to write how extremely thankful I am. I have so much to be grateful for especially during these present times. I have such a wonderful family. It is really hard to work were I do especially during the holidays and I am so grateful for how healthy we are. I am thankful for how stable mine and Mike's jobs are. I have terrific parents and in-laws as well.

There, now that the mushy stuff is over I will quickly recap my busy Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving morning started out as every Thanksgiving morning has pretty much since Mike and I have dated. I remain sleeping in my bed while Mike meets his brothers, cousins, and friends for their annual Turkey Bowl. I am always so glad when the game is over because Mike talks about the wondrous event for weeks leading up to it. It is hours on the phone with people making sure they are committed to attending and figuring out how to evenly split up the teams. For the first few years, the big game was played outside rain or shine starting at 7am sharp. The last year or so they have been able to play it at an indoor soccer place. I think they are all getting old and appreciate the warm comfort of having the place indoors.

I have always wanted to go and watch the great game, but have never made it out of bed. One of Mike's cousin's wives took the pics seen below.

Mike's team won. For some reason, I want to say that Mike's team usually wins every year. He swears he doesn't stack the teams.

Afterwards I spent the morning browsing the ads. I am sorry, but I am a sucker for a bargain. Then, in the afternoon we went and had Thanksgiving dinner with the Whiting side of the family (Mike's mom's side). My parents love to go out of town every Thanksgiving. My dad gets stir crazy I think so we had celebrated ours a few Sundays ago.

The next morning I was one of the crazy idiots getting up at 4:30 am to go shopping. I get a rush when I get a good deal. I went with my friend Heidi and her husband and we started off at Walmart. Never again will I go to Walmart. Too crazy! Then we hit a few other stores and made it home around noon. Boy was I tired! What's funny is I actually bought most of my stuff off of Amazon the day before for the same or better deals then what was advertised. Amazon has no shipping and no sales tax!

Friday afternoon, we hung out with one of Mike's old mission companions and his family. They have moved all over the United States, but come back to Utah every year to visit their families. We don't get to hang out very often, but when we do it seems like old times. Thanks for making the trip to our house Jeb and Becca! We had a lot of fun!

Saturday we put up the Christmas decorations. I hate to say it but I was kinda dreading it. Gage and Landen love putting up the decorations and I hate having to rearrange everything once they are done. And not to mention Tanner! He is into everything as it is. Last year after Christmas, I bought a small tree thinking Gage and Landen could decorate that this year and make it their own using odd ornaments I had and the ones they had made. However, all they wanted to do was keep taking my decorations for their tree. Tanner just kept chucking ornaments at the tree like he was playing baseball. I was exhausted by the time we were done and I didn't even put all my decorations out.

I wanted a picture of each of the kids decorating the tree. My camera is slow so I had to make them pose. Gage immediately said, "I will only do it if you promise not to move my ornament when you're done taking the picture." Unfortunately, I couldn't make that promise. He posed for me anyway.

Landen is my child that is full of questions. He kept asking if putting up the tree meant that Santa was coming the next day. I can't wait until my kids get the concept of time.

This is Mike and Tanner looking for the ornament he just threw at the tree. I have given him one ornament that he can play with and I have to say he actually has been better then I thought. Sometimes, he knocks a few down when he goes searching for his bulb.

Here are the kids posing by their tree. Don't you just love their matching pjs? $4 at Walmart the day after Thanksgiving. I even got Tanner's for that price. I couldn't wait until Christmas to let them have them.

Twilight

After months of waiting, I went and saw the Twilight movie at 12:50 this morning. Boy am I tired right now. Mike shows no sympathy for me. I went with a bunch of my friends from work and my old neighborhood I used to live in. I was only able to snag the above picture, but I wish I would have gotten the entire group. Anyway, we started off the night meeting everyone and having a potluck. Then, half of the group went to the midnight showing and then we set off for the 12:50 showtime. Well worth waiting the extra 50 minutes because we had assigned seats.

I really tried to have low expectations for the movie because the book was so good, but I thought the movie was a little cheesy. I laughed the entire time, but I am not sure if they were trying to be funny or not. I think I was laughing because I knew what they were trying to portray and it wasn't coming across right. Overall, it was ok. They can never make the movies as good as the books. There is simply too much detail. No one in my movie group really liked the movie, but talking to people today I found that a lot of people loved it. Maybe I shouldn't have seen it so late. Maybe I was in a weird mood or something. I am going to try and get Mike to see it with me and maybe give it another chance. Mike has yet to hear my plan however.

Happy 4th Birthday Landen!

Landen is finally 4! He has been talking about turning 4 for months. Even though Landen is so little, he has seemed older than 3 to me. He is always hanging out with Gage and Zach and kept up with what they were doing.

Since Landen is Mr. Sociable, I had to throw him a birthday party and invite some of his friends. I thought I kept it small, but everyone showed up and it wasn't quite so small. I also had to do a party on a budget, so I had to get a little creative with some of the games.

Landen is still obssessed with cars, but for some reason he picked out transformer invitations. For Landen, this didn't necessarily mean he wanted a transformer party. Gage would have had to have everything match with the theme, but Landen could have cared less. I asked him if he wanted a transformer cake, and he said no. He wanted to pick a cake out of the cake book so I could make it. He picked a bear for some reason. I am still trying to figure that one out. I asked him if he wanted a transformer pinata, he said he wanted a Thomas the Train one (we opted to skip the pinata in the end). Landen is certainly one of a kind.

We started out by coloring transformer pictures for the boys and princess pics for the girls. As you can see this activity didn't last long. It took about 30 seconds to scribble and these are the last two cuties finishing up.

I wanted to play some sort of game where we popped balloons, but Landen absolutely hates the sound of popping balloons. One accidentally did pop and this picture is Landen running away from the noise. Instead, I played Landen's favorite song from Alvin and the Chipmunks and the kids were "supposed" to try and keep their balloons in the air for the entire song. Maybe 12 kids in my living room running around watching their balloons wasn't the best idea. Glad nobody got hurt.

Next, onto pin the mask on the transformer. What a rip off! Look how small that poster is! Zach was the proud winner of this game. He did admit however that he could see through his blindfold.

I thought musical chairs would be a hit. Not so much. I didn't foresee the fact that most 3 and 4 year olds don't know how to play this game. I also didn't look ahead to what might happen when those same 3 and 4 year olds didn't get a chair and they were "out." I thought the first kid out was going to cry. I made a big deal about how he got to push the button on and off on the radio. Kids like to push buttons right?

Gage was the winner of this game. It might have been due to the fact that he was the oldest player and he had played this game before. He had a strategy in mind from the get go.

Ok, flashback to the 80s. My sister Brandy remembered playing a game at our parties where we stood on a chair and dropped clothespins into a jar. Remember, I'm on a party budget. I wasn't able to use clothespins so we dropped crayons instead. I thought this game was going to be lame, but the kids actually had a blast. It was so hard to do. I let them lean over the chairs as far as they could and they still weren't able to get many crayons in. I think the winner only got 3 out 5. Gage was the tallest, therefore leaned over the farthest and I want to say he only got 1.

Next, I let the kids decorate cupcakes. Thankfully, it was a nice day and we were able to do this outside. That would have been quite the mess if we hadn't.

Since Landen started preschool, he always talks about the boy with the cowboy boots and how he had to get some just like it for his birthday. Mike and Landen went down to Reams where he picked them out. He had to open them before the party so he could wear them that day. He looked so cute!

We then opened presents. I coached Landen prior to the party about how he was to say thank you and that he like the present no matter what. He was so cute and rehearsed for me saying, "Mommy, I will say thank you, I luv it." And he actually did a pretty good job of doing just that.

Blowing out the candles on the Bear Cake.

I made Landen pose with his Bear Cake before the party so I wouldn't forget to get a picture.

So I scheduled the party from 1-3pm and after all of the games, decorating and eating cupcakes, and opening the presents, it was only 2pm! I had an hour left with 12 rowdy kids! Again, thankfully it was nice outside and they played great for the last hour. Thanks to everyone who came and who helped! Landen had a great time.

I really can't believe Landen is 4. He has grown up so much since he started preschool and has become a much more obediant child. We have had a lot less outbursts and tantrums. He is learning a lot at school and he continues to be best buds with his "Gager." He has started to get slightly better with Tanner and will occasionally share cars with him. Landen's favorite thing to do is simply play with his hotwheels. He loves watching Scooby Doo, Dora, Max and Ruby or anything Gage is watching. He takes after me and my sweet tooth. We have shared many spoonfuls of cookie dough together after Gage has been long gone after just one scoop. He loves his Daddy and wrestling with him. He still has his Blue Blankie and insists on taking it most places we go.

I love ya buddy! Stay tuned for Landen's doctor appointment and his growth chart results. I can't wait to see how much he's grown. I think he's had a growth spurt! We'll see!

Primary Program

This past Sunday was our ward's annual Primary Program. Both Gage and Landen had speaking parts. We had been practicing their lines for weeks and they each had it memorized to perfection. Gage and Landen attended a rehearsal on Saturday and got to say their lines into the microphone to prepare them for Sunday. They were so excited on Sunday to finally perform. When the Sunbeams' turn came, Landen chickened out. I think it was because the boy before him refused so Landen of course thought he didn't have to do it either. Oh well. He sung his little heart out with the rest of them. Gage did his line perfectly. I love watching Gage sing. He really gets into the music, but it doesn't look like he ever knows the words very well. He just opens and closes his mouth really big.

I am so proud of both my boys and the great job they did!

To Be In Kindergarten

Today I was able to volunteer in Gage's kindergarten class. I put myself down to be a substitute volunteer. I wish I could volunteer each week, but they don't like you to bring your other children and it would be hard to find a babysitter each week. I was so excited this week when they called and my sister in law Jamie was kind enough to agree to watch Tanner and Landen.

I was only there for like 45 minutes, but it was quite an eye opener. I don't think I could ever be a teacher. I actually wanted to be a teacher a few different times in my life and even met with the counselors to see what classes to take. I'm glad I went a different route. I really don't know how they learn to read in kindergarten when they are there for such a short time during the day and there are 22 children all demanding the teacher's attention.

Fortunately, Gage has an awesome kindergarten teacher named Ms. Morton. I think she does a great job and I am so glad I lied Gage's way right into her class. That's a whole different story. Gage originally got another teacher and Ms. Morton is the best so I had to pull out all the stops to get her.

Anyway, back to volunteering. Gage was so excited to see me and he pointed me out to all the kids who sit on his table the second I arrived. It was really fun to see Gage in his element. He is really enjoying school and has made a lot of friends. I helped with the "centers" as they call it. Then I had to call each child to the back of the room and get them a new book to take home that night. I had to first ask them about the book they were returning. I got some interesting answers to say the least and a few that had obviously not even read the book.

I had so much fun today and I'm glad Gage enjoys me going to his school. I have to treasure these moments because I am sure during his teenage years he might not be so fond of me. Hopefully not though. I am going to work hard at always having a really good relationship with my kids as I did with my parents.

Good News Bad News

Yesterday, I went and saw the other orthopedic surgeon. Bad news is I need surgery again. Good news is I only need my knee scoped to remove some cartilage. I will be on crutches for only a few days and off work for two weeks. This doctor was so much more positive then the one who did my original surgery. Don't get me wrong, I think my original surgeon is an excellent doctor and did everything right (although I don't understand why I need another scope but whatever). This new doc just said that I am too young to stop playing soccer and there is no reason why my knee should be this tender/painful when it has been over a year after the original surgery.

Those ortho docs are ruthless though. When he was examining my knee, he kept pushing on the inner part where I had pain. I would be gripping the table and screaming out and he would say, "Wow, that's really tender isn't it?" And then he would keep doing it! He just had to make sure I guess. We get a lot of ortho surgeries where I work, and I have a greater appreciation for what those kids go through. We also get a lot of kids who are what we call "frequent flyers" and have had multiple surgeries. This will be my third surgery in less then a year and a half. I am going through nothing what some of those kids have, but it will certainly help me put myself in their shoes.

The visit was kinda awkward in a way because this 2nd surgeon is good friends with my original doc and they actually work together sometimes and consult with one another on various cases. He said he would be happy and consult on my case and let my original doc do the scope or he would be happy to do it himself. Regardless, he said I should operate as soon as possible because it wasn't healthy for my knee to be swelled up like it is. I can't believe I played soccer on it as long as I did. I am scheduled to go under the knife Dec 5th and I have elected to let the 2nd surgeon do the scope. I really liked his aggressive, positive attitude. I hope I have made the right decision and I can just move on after this.

On a side note, I have always had a goal of running a marathon. It originally was to run one before I turn 30 which is this next August. I asked the ortho doc if a marathon was in my future. He said the only people built to run marathons were the Kenyans and that I should run a half and call it good.

Tanner is 15 months

I can't believe Tanner is already 15 months old! It has gone by so fast. Tanner is such a busy toddler. As you can see from the picture above, he is into everything. Tanner goes from cupboard to cupboard taking things out and tossing them onto the floor. He is constantly going up and down the stairs and climbing on anything he can find from the laundry basket to the dining room table. I seriously can't keep up with him! It is really cute to see him actually starting to play with Gage and Landen. Tanner definitely holds his own when he's with his brothers. He loves to play with cars, balls, and is just starting to watch Elmo. The Elmo part may have a little to do with the fact that I pull out the Elmo movie everyday and try and get him excited about it. I just want him watching at least one episode so I can get ready in the mornings and know he isn't going to be falling off furniture. He has yet to make it past watching 5 minutes though. Tanner still eats a lot of baby food. I keep trying to get him to eat what we eat, but he isn't quite the fan yet. Oh well.

I am so grateful that he is part of our family and look forward to everyday with him.

At Tanner's 15 month checkup he weighed 21.8lbs which is the 20th percentile. He was 31 inches long which is the 50th percentile and his head was in the whopping 5th percentile. He got 3 shots which didn't seem to bother him as much as being weighed did. He hates to sit on the scale. Tanner isn't really talking yet. He does plently of jabbering in his baby language. The doc says he is a little behind, but the fact that he can understand what we say is positive. I will have to try and work on it.

This is a video of Tanner being crazy. He loves to stand on his ride along toy and jump off. He thinks he is pretty neat!