Gage

I have been without the internet for almost two weeks. I can't believe how much I depend on it! Anyway, I thought it would be a good time to give an update on each of my kids (and I also got a tag to do this, but I am bending the rules a little bit).

Gage is so matter of fact. He loves to have things explained to him and has to follow the instructions exactly. We recently went to Parent Teacher Conference and his kindergarten teacher told us just that. On a side note, did you know that you are supposed to bring your child with you to Parent Teacher Conference? I didn't know this until I saw the tiny rainbow chair next to Ms Morten and upon walking into the classroom I instantly realized Gage should be there. They really should tell people. Anyway, overall Gage is doing great in kindergarten with just a few things to work on. They are learning to read and Gage is so excited. He has begun sounding out small words and we practice his sight words everyday. Gage loves to be read to. He especially enjoys Halloween or spooky stories.

Gage is really having fun in his tumbling class with Landen. He gets so excited and picks his tumbling outfit out very carefully each week. Gage trys really hard to get the moves right although his long body sometimes doesn't work quite the way he wants it to. His tumbling teacher mentioned what a great listener Gage is. By darn he should be. He's 6 and in the same class as 3 year old Landen. Gage's favorite part of tumbling is the balance beam.

Gage is such a great brother to both Landen and Tanner. Sometimes we have to humor Landen when we play games because Landen isn't the best at following the rules. Gage is great to play right along with me in letting Landen think he is winning. Gage still loves coloring and drawing. I think we kill a tree a day for how much paper we go through. I feel so bad that I don't have room to keep all of his artwork and I feel really bad when Gage goes through the garbage (I'll get to that) and finds his precious drawings there.

Gage is the biggest junk collector you will ever meet next to his Grandpa Merrill. He wants to save anything and everything. It's kinda a joke now because whenever we go over to my parents house or his cousin Brayden's, they all go through their stuff and give anything they were going to throw away to Gage. Every once in awhile I have to go through it and declutter. When Gage throws something away on his own, I swear he searches the garbage in the process and finds anything that I have thrown away that is his. Mike and I have to throw everything away in the garage garbage. Occasionally, we forget.

Gage really likes to be involved in anything that goes on at school. During green ribbon safety week, we had to walk to school to get a treat. I forgot to have him wear red during red ribbon say no to drugs week and Gage let me have it. I don't know how I missed it! Anyway, we of course had to participate in crazy hair day.

You don't even want to know how much gel and hairspray I had to use. Gage said the girls that sit by him kept touching his hair all day long.

Landen

What would we do without Landen? He is one of a kind that's for sure. A lot of people tell me how funny or cute they think Landen is because he has such a unique personality. He is my most sociable child. Landen will carry on a conversation with anyone and has loved to answer the phone lately without me knowing it. We definately need to review phone etiquette. Anyway, he is also extremely determined and stubborn. If it's not his way, he will let you know it.

Landen has been loving preschool. It was hard for Gage to express what went on at school because it was a little overwhelming. Not Landen. He tells me what he did and somehow knows everyone's name and what car they drive. One of the teachers told me once she really liked Landen because he was the only one out of 45 kids who could remember her name. Unfortunately, Landen gets a little wild at school at times. He told me the other day that he had to go to time out at school because he wouldn't sit still on the blue line and that this wasn't his first time going to time out. Oh, dear.

Landen is also really enjoying tumbling. Mike and I joke that he has little man syndrome. He is so little for his age, but oh so competitive. He has to be first for everything even if its going to the drinking fountain at tumbling for a drink of water. They have a drill where they have to jump down a long rectangular tumbling mat. Landen is second and has to wait until Gage is almost at the end to begin. Somehow he always ends up back to the teacher before Gage. Needless to say Landen isn't too concerned about technique.

Everyone knows Landen has quite the obsession with cars. I think its kinda cute. We will be at the toy store and I honestly think Landen could stand in the car isle for hours if I let him. Landen will play in his room for hours with just a handful of hotwheel cars.

Landen loves to make his cars crash as you can see from the picture they all did just that.

Tanner

So, Tanner is 14 months now and has a personality all his own. I love how each of my kids are different (I don't know why I would think they would be the same). Anyway, Tanner is so much fun. He can act so goofy sometimes. He just does his own thing. Tanner knows how to get Landen going. Landen will line up all of his cars and Tanner will run over and grab one. Oh, it makes Landen so mad! Tanner just starts laughing. He thinks its hilarious. When Landen trys to get his car back, Tanner won't let go. He's pretty strong!

He loves to play in the playroom and simply walks around the house all day getting into things. You would think I would be used to having active children, but Tanner is by far the busiest of my three at this age. Or maybe it's simply the fact I have 3 kids so I feel like he's a lot busier. He gets into all of my cupboards and loves to climb! I remember Gage not being able to climb on the couch until he was like 18 months. Not Tanner. He has been doing that for over a month and has now moved onto bigger and scarier (for me) things. Check out the pics below!

Tanner made it onto the chair about a week ago. I told Mike it would only be a matter of time before he figured out how to get onto the table. The next day he did just that!

Tanner started dancing on the table. He was so proud of himself. After I took pictures of him, I had to scold him and tell him not to get on the table. He was a little confused to say the least.

Tanner isn't really talking yet. I think he says "Beau" and "ball" and my babysitter swears he says "Heidi" but I have yet to hear it. He loves to throw a bouncy ball on the couch and push it off. He thinks this is so funny for some reason. My favorite thing about Tanner is how he comes running for me with a huge smile on his face whenever I come home from being gone for awhile.

I love Tanner so much! I can't wait for him to start talking and showing more of his cute personality!

Happy 80th Birthday Grandpa Hall!

Yesterday, we celebrated my Grandpa Hall's 80th birthday. My grandparents are in such great shape and are so active. I am so blessed to have them around. We had a luncheon at a park in North Ogden and had a fun time. The kids were able to play on the playground, my mom organized some fun games and of course there was great food!

Since my mom is the oldest girl, she is usually the one in charge of our family parties. Here is a picture of her getting things started. She makes me laugh sometimes. Cami and I were doing a countdown to when she was going to start crying. She always gets so emotional, but she didn't.

My grandpa wanted a Wii for his birthday. Isn't that awesome?

Tanner loves to eat rolls.

My mom thought of this cute game where two teams dressed up in clothes my grandpa would wear and raced. We put on his cowboy boots, wranglers, cowboy shirt, gloves, and of course his trucker hat. I am usually not into games, but I played because I was trying to support my mom's efforts. I hate to say it but I actually had fun!

Most of us ended up cheating!

Gage is in the process of giving my Grandpa 80 spankins. He only made it to 14 or so and then got bored.

Determined little bugger!

Gage made it easily up the rock wall.

Landen made it off the ground.

Gage has finally been able to cross the monkey bars this summer. He is so proud of himself. He wanted me to videotape his accomplishment. Way to go Gage!

I'm in Trouble

I love it when babies start dancing. Tanner has started doing just that. The clip below shows Tanner dancing, but my memory ran out so I will have to try and catch him doing it again. If you watch closely, you can see his bum bouncing before he stands all the way up. (Side note - I call Tanner Landen in this video. I get them all confused!)

I know boys should be climbers, but neither Gage nor Landen really ever were so I'm not used to it. Tanner has just learned how to climb up the bunk bed. He is so proud of himself whenever he does. He gets this big grin on his face. He is obsessed with going up. The second he's upstairs, he heads straight for the bunk bed. So Tanner is now banned from Gage and Landen's room unless the ladder is up.

A Day at Park City

The first weekend in September, we went to Park City. I am just barely getting the pictures from my sister Brandy and that's why it has taken so long to blog about it. My parents, Brandy, Ava, my Aunt Suzanne, and my grandparents all went to Park City for the day. It was so much fun. We started out at the outlets and I was the only one who bought anything which is really weird. I am usually the cheap one, but I found some deals. Next, we were off to the Alpine Slides. So fun! Gage was so excited about going on the slides. I thought he would be a little scared, but not at all. Landen on the other hand was really freaked out until we actually went on the Alpine Slide. Then, he loved it.

I'm not quite sure where Tanner is. I think he was napping in his stroller.

Ok, so Gage was really freaked out about the ride up to the Alpine Slides. He is so afraid of heights. I have to admit, I have never really liked the ski lifts either. I hate it when they stop and you are left just swinging.

Ava is always up for anything.

Landen still being scared. I had to make him pretend we were a fast car for him to start getting into it. All he could talk about the entire ride down was how we were a fast rainbow car.

My grandparents even went down the Alpine Slide!

Grandma was a little slow, but she made it. Way to go Grandma!

The Alpine Coaster was by far one of the funnest rides I have ever been on!

I don't know what I am doing in this picture. I think I am a little scared.

That's me and Landen heading up the Coaster. What was fun about this ride is that you get to ride going up as well as down.

Isn't he adorable?

Everytime we go to Park City we have to eat at Baja Cantina. I always order the same thing, Chicken Flautas. I'm hungry just thinking about them. Yummy!

Tumbling Twosome!

We all know how I scarred Gage for life by forcing him into tumbling (I tried twice), and making him play soccer. Now, he doesn't want to do anything. I did get him to do T-ball last year however. Anyway, I have waited with Landen to try anything. Landen's friend Peyton started tumbling so I mentioned this to Gage and Landen to see if they wanted to try it. They both said no. Well, I finally talked Landen into it because I knew he would love it. Gage said he wanted to go and watch Landen. Let's just say they are both now taking tumbling! Gage couldn't stand sitting on the sidelines watching. He joined right in. It is funny to see their personalities come out. Gage listens really well and follows the rules. Landen does his own thing. He has to be first for everything and has a hard time listening to the teacher. Bottom line, they are having a blast! Hopefully, I can get some action shots next time we go.

They had to open a new class for my kids so right now it is just Gage, Landen, and Peyton.

Gage insisited on wearing tank tops because that's what tumblers wear he said.

Fire Station Field Trip

I am so grateful that I have such a flexible job. I have started working nights when I work during the week because I just don't want to miss out on any of the kids' school activities. Last week, I worked a night shift, came home, slept for 3 hours, and then went on a field trip with Gage to the fire station. It was so worth being tired. Gage was so excited to see me at school. He introduced me to all of his friends, and held my hand everywhere we went. We went to the fire station and learned about fire safety. Of course I forgot my camera so I made Gage pose after the field trip when we got home.

Gage copied the note on the board that the teacher had written for the day. He is learning so much and is so excited about learning to read.

Kids Are Surprising

On Monday, I was supposed to go to a Trauma Conference at work that I was really looking forward to. I had arranged for my sister to sleep over and take the kids to school for me while I was gone. Well, around 4am Landen woke up saying he was going to throw up. Since there was nothing in his belly to throw up he just kept dry heaving and he did it all day long. I just felt so helpless. I didn't know what to do for him. Finally by 10 am, I was willing to give him whatever he wanted to make him feel just a tiny bit better. I said I would snuggle with him, let him lay in my bed, or watch any movie he wanted. He said he wanted the tv off which is not at all like him. Mike and I have been trying to not let him watch his favorite Fast and Furious movies since he started mimicking the naughty words, but I was desparate. I said, "Landen, do you want to watch Fast and Furious?" Landen quickly replied, "No mommy. That show has swear words in it." I was shocked!

Mike and I always tease Landen about how many "girlfriends" he has. He is so friendly and social. Since he started preschool, the number has jumped from 4 girlfriends to 7! Gage usually joins in on the teasing but never talks about girls himself. Today Gage said to me, "Mommy, a girl told me I was cute at school yesterday." I replied, "Did you tell her thanks?" Gage, "No, I said nothing." I can't believe how old he is getting.

Yesterday, I was telling Gage how I was going to go on his field trip to the fire station with his school class. What he said next I will never forget. Gage said, "Finally everyone will get to meet my mommy!" I hope he always feels that way about me.

Happy Birthday Merrill!

I wanted to wish my hubby a very Happy Birthday! He turned 31 years old today. He is such a great husband and dad, and I am so lucky to be married to him. I hope he had a great day. Last night we went and ate dinner just the two of us. Today, we took the boys miniture golfing and then had a Tailgate BBQ at the Weber State Football game. We didn't stay for the game because Mike wanted to make it home to watch some real football games on tv. I got him his favorite thing for his birthday. A punch pass to go golfing. I also bought us some tickets to go to a Real Soccer game in their new stadium. I can't wait. Some how I always seem to benefit from his gifts. Oh, well.

Check out pics of our golfing experience. I don't really recommend Fat Cats' mini golf in Ogden. The kids had a blast and it was glow in the dark but we paid $2o and we were done in 10 minutes because there are only 9 holes. Apparently, Gage and Landen thought we were doing some sort of speed version.

This was Gage's 2nd time mini golfing so he thought he was a pro.

It was hard to try and help Landen because he is left handed.

Landen ended up on the ground a lot trying to golf. It looked like he was playing pool instead of golf.