GO COUGARS!

Look what we got to do!

It was the last game of the season and we had been wishing all Fall that we could go to a BYU football game. Well, we got last minute tickets to the game on Saturday, and they were awesome seats. We were able to find a babysitter for the little boys at home, and we took Paige and Ashby. The only problem was that the game didn't start until 8:15pm and it was below freezing. We snuck in some snacks and tried to stay warm with blankets, but we ended up leaving during the 3rd quarter around 11pm, came home and drank some hot cider and cozied up in bed. The cougars won handily 42-7 and it was fun to be back at the old stomp'n ground.

First backyard snow

There's nothing like the first snow of the season to help you realize what's missing in your kids' wardrobes.

Paige needs snow pants, and hopefully her boots will fit one more year.
Ashby needs snow gloves and maybe a new jacket.
Levi needs snow boots.

Paige worked very hard rolling large snow balls around the backyard to make a fun snow man. Ashby had a snow ball fight with Daddy, but cried when he got hit. Levi didn't scream this year when we put on his snow suit. :)

Smokey Eyes

Paige keeps talking about "smokey eyes". After Halloween when she had bathed and washed all her face paint off she still had a little bit of black around her eyelids. She woke up the next morning thrilled saying, "Oooo. I have smokey eyes." She loved it! It lasted a day or two. She reminded me of a time months ago when we had watched What Not to Wear and the make-up make-over lady gave the woman "smokey eyes". "Its just like that show we watched!" she says. Now, whenever I actually have time to put eyeliner on (maybe twice a week) Paige will point out my "smokey eyes". She sure is a funny one.

Paige and the trophy

Every year the state PTA puts on a competition called "Reflections" in which students can submit art projects, music, poetry, etc. to go along with the theme. This year's theme was "Diversity is...".

Paige wanted to do a project called "Diversity is Lakeview Elementary School". We drew the outside of the school and I cut out flaps for the windows and doors because Paige wanted it to be a lift-the-flap picture. Inside the flaps she drew pictures of different kids. Different hair color, different skin color, different activities - ballet, soccer, painting, reading, scooter, and the playground. She did a great job with lots of detail.

At the assembly Paige was awarded a trophy and was told that her project will advance to the city competition. She was absolutely thrilled! She just kept saying, "Its my first trophy ever!"

Paige absolutely loves to draw, so it is exciting that she found a way to be recognized for her talent.

Note to Self

Dear Tara
Next time you have a baby, please remember how great you felt two weeks after giving birth when you weighed yourself and found that you had lost enough weight to fit in your [skinny-for-you] jeans. Please let that be a jump start for your weight loss goals and don't use "I just had a baby" or "I'm nursing" as your excuse to eat anything and everything you can get your hands on - thus gaining all that weight back and making you start over the hard way. Please remember.

2 months old

Cody is interacting more and more each day.
And he is sleeping longer and longer at night. (In fact last night was 9.5 hours!)
We're figuring each other out and that is a nice feeling.

Ashby the Pirate

"I liked getting lots of candy and saying 'trick-or-treat' and I liked being at the haunted house, Aubrey's house. And I liked carving my pumpkin. My favorite candy is all of the candy that I get, except gumdrops or chocolate with nuts or M&Ms with nuts. I liked being a pirate and my bandanna and my sword and my eye-patch and necklaces."

Paige the skeleton

Paige says:
"I really, really love Halloween. I love to go trick-or-treating and get yummy, yummy, yummy candy. Candy is so good, I cannot stop eating it when I get home from school. I liked the parade at school. I was a skeleton. A very, very funny skeleton, with a very funny tutu. But the best part of all was having fun. But the worst part of all was my brother Ashby fell down on the road when we went trick-or-treating and hurt his knee."

Paige walked through the school Halloween parade waving at everyone. Afterall, isn't that what you do at a parade? (of course she was the only one).

Levi-o'-Lantern

This year we tried to carve a pumpkin that looked like Levi. We highlighted his long, long eyelashes, his toothy smile and his hair line. Pretty cute pumpkin.

"Happy Halloween. Daddy and Happy Halloween. Pumpkin and pumpkin hat. Treat. Go to sleep."

Rumor is Cody is ours

I wasn't sure at first.
When the nurse handed me this new baby, I thought for sure he must belong to someone else. Our kids all have long, dark eyelashes. But this baby didn't have any.
After 8 weeks I am proud to announce that Cody is ours! - and he has eyelashes touching his brows to prove it.

the influence of Paige

Paige makes friends wherever she goes. She is the most outgoing and delightfully friendly girl you'll ever meet.

Over the years Paige has made special friends with my ob/gyn and the nurses in his office. She has often come to my doctors appointments during the previous pregnancies and she always had a new picture that she drew to give to Dr. Judd.

At the hospital with Cody, Paige saw Dr. Judd in the hall and gave him a kiss on the cheek and chatted it up with him and the nurses for quite a while. She likes being the center of attention and they were happy to give it to her. She then ran inside our room and proceeded to draw a picture - a liger, which we taped to the window of the door to our room. The staff couldn't get enough of Paige.

At my six-week check up Dr. Judd asked how Paige was doing and laughed at how cute her liger in the window was and how the nurses teased him for weeks about the kiss he got at the hospital. I was surprised by how much he could remember. But I think that's just the influence of Paige - she's hard to forget. Then the nurse in the room lit up and said, "Oh! You're Paige's mom?!"

I'm sure I'll be known as "Paige's mom" for the rest of my life. And that's okay with me.

Blessing Cody

Last Sunday we blessed Cody in sacrament meeting. Kevin (Brian's brother) was planning a trip up from California to go mountain biking in Utah county, and he hadn't ever participated in one of our babies' blessings before so we took that opportunity. Which also meant that Brian's mom and dad were able to hitch a ride with Kevin and be here for the event also.

Brian was sick that weekend with a very sore throat. He was so horse that the deacon holding the microphone had to make sure it was right up against Brian's lips. Brian gave a very nice blessing, and Cody didn't even cry until the very end.

Although we had plenty of family at the blessing to support us, it was hard for me to not have anyone from my side of the family there. I was missing everyone - especially Tasha who had just moved a couple weeks before. But, of course, it was still a very special day.