Happy New Years!!!

Well, here is Landon, climbing on the counter and getting into the cupboard. He knows he is in trouble..can you tell.

The kids and I...with Landon MIA. He didn't want to be in the picture.

Cierra and I

Yes, I actually let the camera aim at me today and got some pictures with the kids. I just really don't want them to look back and wonder why mom isn't in any of the pictures and for me to have to explain it was because I was having a bad hair/fat day. So a new year's goal is to let go and smile pretty for the camera;)

Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all. We had a great time here...well if you consider being sick as a dog a great time. Yes, for the 4th week in a row someone was sick in our home, and that someone was me. When our house gets sick, we get SICK!! Luckily I was able to pull myself together for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner. We had friends coming over for both and I would have felt horrible to have to cancel. I literally was death warmed over before each dinner, luke warm death during dinner, and then death warmed over twice after dinner. I think it is a case of strep. You see, I self diagnose and then self medicate. Whenever I am prescribed an antibiotic I only take half and then save the other half for cases such as this. Yep, there's a little tip for ya;)

Anyway, we really did have a great Christmas. I was very blessed to have my wonderful husband help me out so much and let me rest so much. He and the kids have played lots of games while I have slept. Thanks babe for helping me get better!

The fam on Christmas Eve..with Landon and Tyler looking so thrilled.

Writing the letter to Santa.

The letter, the cookies, the milk, the crew!

Christmas morning attacking the stockings. That was always my favorite part as a kid. And note to self...a 99 cent whoopie cushion and dollar marker board from Target are apparently ALL you need to get your kids for Christmas. A day later those are the things they haven't put down yet...go figure.

Tyler and Landon playing in their tent from Grandma.

Josh's Baptism

Ron Sr., Ron Jr., Josh, and Rich (Ron's brother)

Ron and the boys

Josh was baptized on December 6th. Ron had the opportunity to travel to Idaho to baptize his son. I wish we all could go, but it wasn't possible.


Congratulations Joshua. We are so proud of you!

Good News/Bad News

The GOOD news: Santa visited me today...what a jolly old man...and gave me the gift of napping toddlers. You read me right...they finally took a nap after two and a half weeks of not napping.

The BAD news: Tyler discovered the top bunk. Oh yes, we are in a whole new ball game now. I don't know what we were thinking when we thought they wouldn't figure it out. Did we not realize who we were dealing with...Tyler and Landon the most precocious two years old's I have ever encountered.

So my new Christmas wish is for an ingenious plan to make it impossible for them to climb up...one of you and a bright idea may make my wish come true;) So if you have an idea please share.

The organ in my stomach....

We have been sick at our house this weekend, so tonight when the kids were talking to their dad, I overheard Cierra telling him, "I had appendicitis last night. Yeah, the organ in my stomach was really hurting me."
Ha I had to laugh at that.

Happenings....

Like I previously posted, Tyler and Landon have graduated to a big boy bed. Ever since they have, they do not take naps. I put them in their room for a nap everyday, but they play instead. I have been trying to figure out how to get them to take a nap...so if anyone has any ideas, please share. Today Ron found Tyler asleep in this bottom drawer of a set of drawers they had disassembled. Who needs a bed when you have a nice plastic container??

Landon fell asleep close by. Why sleep on a comfy bed when you can sleep on the floor?

Dylan started basketball. Here he is on his first day of practice. He loves it so far and Ron is his coach again.

Cierra is such a sweetie!! Always so positive and cheering everyone up!

This morning I had to perform surgery on Tyler's ear. I was looking in his ear and it looked like he had a big ball of earwax so I tried to pick it out and I noticed it felt hard. I looked closer and discovered it was not earwax, but a bead. He has a habit of sticking foreign objects in his orifices...see popcorn kernel up the nose. I had Ron hold his head really still so I could try to get it out with tweezers. It wasn't working...so I got a toothpick and stuck it right through the hole of the bead and voila....success!! Really Tyler?

And last but certainly not least...our Jonah boy's 5th birthday. He woke up not feeling so well. He had a slight fever, but with some Tylenol it seemed to let up. We were going to go to Chuck E Cheese tonight to celebrate but we decided to go tomorrow to make sure he feels his best.

I took cupcakes into his class to celebrate. I know for sure he wasn't feeling well because he didn't eat his lunch or the cupcake. Poor kid. It's the worst to be sick on your birthday.

Happy Birthday Jonah.

Jonah is such a wonderful part of our family. He is the cutest kid. He is so sweet, considerate, helpful and caring. He loves to draw pictures. He loves playing with his brothers and sister. His favorite movie is still Polar Express. He loves the music on it. He can watch it over and over again. He always compliments his mom and sister. His latest favorite saying is "I'm livin the life!" I have no idea where he got it. I can not believe his is 5 already. Time has flown.

We love you sweet boy. Happy Birthday!

Giving credit where credit is due...

Thank you Heather for my cute blog headers that you have been making for me. I have received many compliments and just want to give you the credit for your cute creations!!

Don't tell Ron, but.....

We are having fun even though he is gone. Yeah we miss him, but the kids and I are having a mini-vacation ourselves. We have watched movies, movies and more movies....and have eaten too much candy.
We had some friends over last night for a very mini Christmas party that didn't consist of anything Christmas except the Christmas tree and ate and watched movies and ate again.
With all this candy eating there is a lot of teeth brushing and sugar overload...but hey it's the holidays.
Also I had a friend's husband volunteer to watch the kids so she and I could go to dinner tonight...not so bad eh?


Note: Ron is in Idaho visiting with Josh and Zach and baptizing Josh. So if he can have fun...so can we!

We are big boys now!!

Tyler and Landon graduated to a "big boy" bed this weekend.

Our home teacher and his wife were so kind and gave us a set of bunk beds that they didn't need anymore. They are so perfect for the boys!

Tyler and Landon "helped" Ron and I put them together.

Testing it out after we were done.

We had hyped it up to them all day and they were so excited. We put them to bed and closed the door and before we could get downstairs the crying started. It was just Tyler. He likes to rock himself to sleep and had his routine down in his crib. When we went back in he was standing and crying. We told him to get back in bed and he just said "NO!" over and over. Great...there goes any sleep tonight! I went and got pillows from the couch and showed him that he could rock against it. Once he figured it out he was fine. They are both on the bottom. They haven't figured out to climb to the top yet and -fingers crossed- they won't for a while.

Thank you so much Brother and Sister VanDeventer!!!!

Dylan's Baptism

My future missionary

Before the baptism

Dylan and Dad

Dylan, Dad, and Grandpa

Dylan's baptism was awesome. Dylan was the only one to be baptized that day so it was nice to have it all about him. I gave the talk on baptism and his Grandpa Lamont gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. We had a nice luncheon afterwards at our house with everyone. It was a very special day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Just wanted to wish ya'll a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Dylan is getting baptized!

I know some of you live far away and obviously can't make it, but just wanted to share the wonderful announcement of Dylan's baptism. If you do live close it would be great if you could come!

You are cordially invited to attend the baptism of Dylan Christian Lamont

Saturday November 22nd, 2008 Noon

Adams Hill Chapel, San Antonio, TX

Light luncheon will follow at the Howard residence

Family

Thanks Desi for introducing me to this cute website. It is way fun. I think I am going to do a big one for my family room.

If you haven't already, check out. The website is wordle.net.

a href="http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/319975/Family" title="Wordle: Family">

Getting our Ghetto on!

We painted our bedroom this weekend....FINALLY. While we were doing one of the walls, Ron started writing the kids' names in paint. They thought it was the coolest thing ever and wanted us to keep it that way. I told them that we will always know that their names are on the wall...that seemed to suffice.

Things I learn from my kids....

Anyone that knows Dylan knows that he LOVES to play video games. From the age of probably 1 he would sit with his dad on the couch and just hold a controller while his dad was playing. Then he of course graduated to playing himself. He has tons of games and on most days would come home from school, do homework, eat a snack and then disappear to play his games.
Well, Dylan has had a goal the past two weeks that he would not play his video games at all. As of tomorrow he will have met his goal. He made his goal all by himself, and stuck to it all by himself. I never once had to remind him of his goal. I don't even know why he made the goal, but he did and he followed through.
What a lesson for me. I have made countless goals, countless times and have failed to follow through. Seeing Dylan set and accomplish his goal has shown me that if my eight year old can do it, so can I. Thanks Dylan for teaching your mom a little something...I am sure it won't be the last time;)

Halloween for days!

Ty and Landon at the squadron party

Tyler at playgroup

Ty being silly

Cierra won best costume at the squadron party

Bobbing for apples

The apple

The bobbing (out of order I know)

Beautiful Sleeping Beauty

Dylan as a Clone Trooper, Landon aka Superman, Tyler looking like an evil Bat Man, Jonah as Darth, and Cierra the princess of course.

Does anyone else feel like Halloween lasted for weeks? I sure do. Between work parties, playgroups, school festivals, trunk or treats, and THEN official Halloween I am Halloweened out.

The kids have definitely gotten use out of their costumes this year.

Primary Program

The kids had their Primary program on Sunday. They did very well. Luckily I sat in the front so I could keep an eye on them. I am sure the adults on the stage got a kick out of the "the look" I kept giving the kids when they weren't being reverent. I think I have perfected "the look" and am proud to have reached that milestone as a parent;) The kids all said their lines well...with a little giggle episode with Dylan and the boy in front of him.
Dylan: I can help strengthen my family by being kind.
Cierra: Heavenly Father knew we would make mistakes when we came to this earth. Our sins would make us unworthy to return to him.
Jonah: The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches me to love my neighbor.

Awwww!!!

I have to say that these kind of moments make it all worth while!
I love these crazy little boys!!

Note: This moment passed quickly. They were fighting again when this post went to press;)

Picture Recap

Cierra loves her baby brothers.

Aww...Daddy and Landon .

Poor Jonah. For some reason I think sick kids are so cute. Can you tell he was throwing up...towels everywhere!

Big Sister, little brothers!

Yes, he is a crazy man!

Sticker attack, compliments of Cierra!

Landon playing on Dylan's bike.

Pumpkin patch on Dylan's birthday.

Nice picture!

Silly Picture

Dylan on his birthday morning.

Landon and Tyler

Seems like I really haven't put up any pictures lately...so I am going to shower you now with pictures!