Big Girl Bed

Over the holiday weekend we did some bed swapping at our house. We took the crib to Grandma Stacey's house for our cousins to use and put Grace's (toddler) bed up in the attic. Then we brought the full size bed that has been sitting in the basement at my parent's house to our house for Grace and Sabrina. That's right they are now not only sharing a room, they are sharing a bed! Last night was the first night they slept in their new bed and they did great. Sabrina did fall out of bed once this morning at about 5am, but she went right back to sleep and seemed to have no memory of it this morning, and all her crying didn't even make Grace stir. We had visions of this being a very difficult transition and although we are not breathing a sigh of relief yet, we are very encouraged by how easy this major change has been so far.

Grace and Sabrina asleep on their first night sharing a bed

Sabrina sitting on her new big girl bed

Now Daddy can read everyone stories on the girl's bed!
**Thanks to Grandma Stacey and Grandpa Jeff for the new bed and the nice new bedspread!

Campout

This is Mike. I feel the need to identify myself because this is probably only the 2nd or 3rd time I've written a post on this blog. Anyway, Benson and I went to our ward's fathers and sons campout last Friday and had a great time! Benson had been looking forward to it for weeks.

He was so pumped that he spontaneously started singing God Bless America complete with signing in the car on the way there. Yeah, we had no idea he even knew this song.

When we arrived, he helped me set up the tent and air mattress, sleeping bags, etc. Then we sat by the fire with the big group and ate dinner, roasted marshmallows, and listened to "scary" stories. Ben loved it. He was so happy, running around with a flashlight, chasing the other kids. He particularly enjoyed the "scary" story someone told that was basically a rendition of Kung Fu Panda, which we have subsequently rented.

His favorite part was definitely sleeping in the tent. While we were sitting by the campfire he kept saying "Daddy, I think I must be tired. Can we go to bed in the tent and make shadow puppets." We did make shadow puppets later much to his delight.





The only problem was it got down to 22 degrees that night and I froze my pants off. Despite the fact that I had a catalytic heater and plenty of layers, I still kept waking up because of the cold. Plus, I kept having nightmares about being separated from Ben. Benson, however, slept great all night. Whenever I would touch him to see if he was cold he was toasty warm. Go figure. At one point he woke up for a second and told me I was waking him up. Wow, dad's a spaz, I guess.
It was still totally worth it though to see him having so much fun and get in some good "guy bonding time". Tonight when I put the kids to bed, Ben asked if we could go camping again, so I guess he really liked it too.

Fall Days

The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder, and that means we are spending more and more time inside at home. So we don't have as many exciting things to report on and there is a serious lack of good pictures since our camera particularly struggles with quality indoor photos. But I thought I would post a few random pictures from the last few weeks.

Gracie and Daddy (if you think Mike looks tired, well you are right, he is...we are all looking forward to the end of the semester!)

Daddy and the girls on Sabrina's birthday

Sabrina enjoying her salad. This child has an addiction to ranch. Funny thing is that after she eats it she also has red splotches on her hands and face where there has been ranch, so she may have a mild allergy to it, but that doesn't stop her.

For FHE on Monday we talked about the first Thanksgiving. Daddy made the kids some very nice hats. Benson has worn his every day since (except at school, I make him leave it home).

We made some turkeys by tracing the kids' hands and feet the other day (Benson was already at school when we took the pictures).

Sisterly Love. It goes from sweet to violent in less than 60 seconds!

Birthday Celebrations!

Yesterday, Grandma Stacey, Grandpa Jeff, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Sarah came over to help celebrate Sabrina's birthday. We had pizza, cake and ice cream, and let Sabrina open her presents. I think we can safely say her favorite present was the new baby doll that has a binky that makes it's eyes close, drinks a bottle, and then requires diaper changes. She loves her baby dolls and always takes very good care of them. We made kind of a lot of cake so tonight we had some friends in our ward over for cake and ice cream, which was lots of fun. Sabrina really loved her
"Old McDonald Had a Farm" inspired cake, which made all the time planning and decorating it worth it. So we are now back to the part of the year where we can tell people that our kids are ages 4, 3, and 2! Happy Birthday Sabrina!






Of course we had to sing Old McDonald Had a Farm for each of the animal cupcakes we made. I think my siblings will particulary enjoy my dad's pig call which we heard frequently as children when he threatened to call the piggies to come take us away when we were being bad. :)

And here's blowing out of the candles. We think that Benson was the one who actually blew them out, but Sabrina didn't seem to realize that so it was all good.

Breeny is 2!

Well it's official, our baby is now a 2 year old! She has to be the sweetest and most adorable 2 year old around, in my unbiased opinion!
Mike and I were reflecting on her birth last night, amazed at how fast the past 2 years have gone. Sabrina's birth was by far the easiest because she was a planned c-section. I remember how odd it felt to be driving to the hospital not in labor or pain at all but still knowing I was going to have a baby soon. My doctor was running a little late that day so I was waiting in the O.R. for quite a while for her to show up and they still had me hooked up to the fetal monitor and Sabrina was going CRAZY! She was wiggling and kicking and going nuts and it was making tons of noise. Everybody in the O.R. was laughing and saying that she must really want out of there. Sabrina is our shy child. She is very slow to warm up, but she has the cutest and sweetest personality when she lets it show. People comment to us all the time about her sweetness. As I've mentioned before, the kid LOVES to sing. Sabrina also talks really well for her age. Her vocabulary is huge and she is very easy to understand. We think having Ben and Grace around has really helped with that. We sure love our sweet little Breeny, I'm not sure how I would make it through my day without some "nuggles"!

Sabrina from 0-11 months


Sabrina from 12-23 months


Sabrina on her 2nd birthday!

Elder's Quorum Activity

On Saturday we went to a Fall Elder's Quorum Activity. We had hot dogs and yummy salads and roasted s'mores over a big bonfire. It was fun to get to know better some of the families that were there. Our camera was used as the official camera for family pictures so I thought I would go ahead and post them. I'm not even sure if anyone in our ward reads my blog, but if you do I will e-mail you your family picture if you would like.

1 - The Richards (all looking at the camera at the same time...impressive), 2 - The Ipson's, 3 - The Hartman's, 4 - The Samms, 5 - The Wallace's (their picture is big simply because it was the most vertical and I would either cut of Robert or Alyssa's head if it was smaller, and the activity was held at Robert's parents home so maybe they deserve to be big for that reason, 6 - The Field's, 7 - The Palmer's, 8 - The Cluff's
We didn't get a picture of the Knowles family...sorry about that! We also didn't get a picture of Matt Call who took all the pictures.

Halloween

Mike took the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood on Friday night. We definitely did not need the additional candy, but the kids got really into it and had a lot of fun. We had the most beautiful weather which made it a much more enjoyable experience than last year.

All ready to go!


And here's one last look at each of their costumes:
Benson the Yellow Plant Bug

Grace the Lion

Sabrina the Clown


I couldn't get enough of Sabrina saying "Trick or treat" as seen in this video!

Trunk or Treat

On Wednesday we went to Bartlesville so that we could go to the church Halloween party with Grandma Stacey, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Sarah (Grandpa Jeff was out of town all week). It was packed! But the kids still enjoyed getting dressed up, got lots of candy, and had lots of fun.

1- Grace the lion, Benson the Yellow Plant Bug, Sabrina the clown, and mommy, 2 - Grace and Benson posing, 3 - Our very own crying clown, 4 - Aunt Jenny and the trunk-or-treaters, 5 - Aunt Sarah and the trunk-or-treaters, 6 - Sabrina the clown and her sucker, she REALLY likes suckers and has eaten about a million of them this week (slightly exaggerated)

Since we didn't blog in 2006, I thought I would include this picture of Ben and Grace from that year. A smiling lion and a crying clown...looks familiar. Aren't hand-me-down costumes great!?! Actually the clown is one that Aunt Sarah wore when she was about the same age that was made by a neighbor. The lion costume was made by Grandma Stacey in 2005!

Pumpkin painting and carving

On Monday night for FHE we let the kids paint their little pumpkins and had some friends from our ward over to carve the big pumpkins. We had yummy rice krispie treats and played some games. I didn't get a picture of our carved pumpkin or of Mike carving it, sorry honey.

This year was momentous because it is the first year that Grace wasn't terrified of our carved pumpkin! I know you can't tell in these pictures why she is upset or trying to get away, but trust us, it was our terrifying jack-o-lanterns!

Halloween 2006

Halloween 2007