11 Month Old Rowland!

I've tried to put a ban on growing - on all of my kids - but no mind trick or deal is going to make a difference.  This little boy is GROWING!

There's no more hope for my signs...and he just chuckles about it! :)

Still sporting his signature forehead. ;)

Rowland is by far our laughiest baby.  The funniest thing lately is that he's turned into the chuckler kind.  He chuckles about everything - if you catch his eye - he chuckles.  He's surprised? - chuckles.  Is in to something off limits? - chuckles.  It's hard to get frustrated when he's so good natured. :)  

There's those two teeth. :)

Getting WAY too big!

He also is so sweet he can charm his way anywhere.  The ladies at church definitely ooh and ahh over him.  He gets LOTS of attention. 

Rowly's also got his two teeth and is working on his first top tooth.  Everything currently goes straight into his mouth lately.  Luckily when he's snuck something in there he shouldn't - he just holds it in his mouth instead of trying to swallow it.  Though we still have mild panic attacks sometimes with things he finds! 

Love my brown eyed baby!

He still will scream when he wants your attention - which is a must in our family since there are so many needing attention.  He's a very content kid - but if he's feeling like it's his turn - He. Will. Let. You. Know.  

He ADORES his brother and sister.  They are always so fun.  He tries to get in to Ross's cars and toys all the time, and Ross usually ends up rolling him away which Rowland thinks is hilarious.  He likes to climb up on Ruby whenever she's around too - much to her dismay.  

He's still the speedy crawler - like crazy speedy - though he does short, quick, scoots so he doesn't get TOO far too fast for us yet.  He's always pulling himself up on everything now and trying to figure out how to go from there.  In all of this though - he is VERY proud of himself - chuckling whenever he pulls one of his tricks off.  
 

At least he's showing the sign! :)

He really REALLY wants to climb, and almost has the maneuvering down.  He's gotten up one step, but that's as far as he's endeavored.  

He's thinning out with all his moving (wipe a tear) and definitely handling himself much more.

Rowland is DEFINITELY NOT into baby food so much and is crazy about any other kind of food.  It's nice that he's feeding himself more lately.

His favorites: eggos, oranges, bananas, frozen or cooked peas, green beans, hotdogs, strawberries, pretty much anything he can gum down.

He loves peek-a-boo, chase, just laughing, racing to put something in his mouth before anyone can catch him, sleeping on his tummy with his bum up in the air, his binky, grabbing faces, and being snuggled right before he goes to sleep.

He's growing like crazy!  And we love our Rowly Cannoli!  

Christmas 2015

Well Christmas just came extremely fast this year.  Or maybe I gave myself too many projects, and not enough time.  Nonetheless, Christmas came and we definitely enjoyed it.  I have plans to simplify next year though...I'll let you know how that works out. ;) 

We had a Christmas party with some friends a couple days before Christmas.  I tried my hand at making breadsticks (we had pasta, breadsticks, and salad for the dinner).  They were surprisingly easy and SUPER yummy. The kids were sent downstairs and the rest of us adults ate, chatted, and ate some more.  Really fun. :)
 

I was really awesome and took zero pictures at our party - so I mooched the only one of our family taken from my friend. :)

Christmas Eve was spent getting ready for Santa and for Christmas Day (so I wouldn't have to cook). We made cookies for Santa, I made cinnamon rolls, and watching Christmas movies (since we have no movie theater to go on our traditional outing for a movie).  It magically snowed...for about 30 minutes two days before Christmas making us wonder if we'd get a white Christmas this year.  Nope - 60 degree weather - just like last year!

Watching the snow fall.  :)

Rowland trying to see too. :)

A Christmas fairy granting wishes...

Helping make the Christmas cookies - they MUST be chocolate chip according to Ross. (I am suspecting it might be because he always gets a dough ball and a few chocolate chips when we make them...)

Cinnamon roll dough is the most beautiful dough I've ever worked with.  I literally love smoothing it out - it's so soft!!

"Mom, I'm kind of over these cheerios...how about a cinnamon roll?"

We settled down to do a Christmas devotional...which - I'll spare you most of the details - was half of a train wreck with tired, grumpy kids.  We still read the Christmas story and shared what our gifts to the Savior were for that year, said our family prayers, and then quickly set out our cookies, and tucked the kids in bed before any more drama could occur., and Steve and I watched one more Christmas movie while we wrapped each other's presents before calling it a night.

 

The next morning Ross came in, and I was delirious as to what day it was.  He was looking for some clothes to change in to and I told him to just grab some downstairs when he said, "Mom, I can't!  Santa's down there!" Haha.  Both he and Steve went down and when Ross saw that Santa had come, he started doing a little Ross dance and singing, "I was a goo-oood boooooy.  I was a goo-oood boooy!"  LOVE that kid. :)

Ross was ELATED to get the inclusive toy boat complete with a crane, shark, helicopter, raft, and cars from Santa.  Ruby was dying over her dress ups.  She promptly put each one on when she opened them, and then preferred the wedding dress one with the veil I made her.  Rowland got some stacking toys he loved dismantling anytime anyone tried to stack them.  

Ready for Christmas!

Our old neighbors were super generous and gave our kids gifts as well. Ruby got this Elsa wig. haha!

Rowly got a piano baby toy.  Which all of the kids have enjoyed.

Dress up #1 - fairy outfit.

Ross's wish from Santa.  A dream come true!

Dress up #2 - Cinderella.

Steve ALWAYS guesses his presents and I hate it!  He couldn't guess this one though. :)  Lord of the Rings Extended edition on Blue Ray.  So thick and heavy - like a book! :)

Dress up #3 - wedding dress.

Steve got me a luggage scale - since whenever we fly mine are always borderline!

Rowly got some sweet new shoes from his Great Grandma Staheli.

Both Ruby and I LOVE this - lots of coloring and stamping...and NO mess. :)

Eating Christmas oranges. :)

Ross was also wishing for an ambulance which he got from Great Grandma Staheli.  He LOVES it.

Steve was wishing for power tools which was granted - getting a chop saw and a hand sander.  I also got him the illustrated Harry Potter book so he can read it to the kids, but it didn't come until the middle of January.  Haha.  
 

Every time he gets his tools out and works on something - it's like Christmas all over again.  Haha! :)

I got a sweet blue tooth speaker since I play music off my phone all the time at home, it's fun to listen to it properly! 

We got the kids some fishing poles, and some nice scooters too which they have loved and was totally worth the money.  
 

Trying out the scooters. (Wedding dresses may help).

The aftermath...

Finally got her to look at me!

Our traditional matching Christmas Jammies.

After all that, we called family and the kids opened their presents from Grandpa and Grandma.  Grandma Claudia made the kids an awesome puppet show theater and gave them loads of puppets. We've had a ton of fun with that.  They also got a tee pee too!  
 

Of course the babies prefer the boxes - right??

Later the kids tried out their scooters and Rowland went down for a nap, and then the missionaries came to call their families.  It took longer than we were expecting (since a couple of them didn't even tell their families when they would be calling....????) but we tried out a couple of the new games we got including Quelf which I got from my brother-in-law and is HILARIOUS.  
 

We played Bubble Talk and came across this picture - at a glance - it totally looks like Steve!!  Haha!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our kids enjoyed their new movie Ice Age 4 they got for Christmas and we played some more with all the new toys after the missionaries left.  It was a fun day, and Steve and I are REALLY enjoying the magic of Christmas more with our kids.   

 

December Shenanigans and The Force Awakens

So we did some more decorating, Christmas-y activities, and adding more glasses wearers to our family.  Steve got some for driving at night.  He was less than thrilled about it, but Ross was super excited to have a glasses buddy.  They both look fantastic! :)
 

Our outside Christmas lights.  They definitely made me happy. :)

So does this cute girl. :)

My homemade wreath. :)

So I thought we had more Christmas lights than we did - so you can see it's much brighter in the top half of the tree.  Haha!

Tried to get some pictures of our kids in their Christmas attire...yeah - FAIL (but there's a cute belly anyway).

This boy was especially excited for Christmas this year. :)  He loved ALL the traditions we did.  Every morning he would check our advent calendar - spot Buzz the elf, move our Santa down a wooden pegged chimney, and place a piece of the Nativity on the felt. 

The Polar Express is a MUST read. :)  We looked in to going and doing one of them - but it was all sold out and an arm and a leg for a ticket.  The book is still nice though! :)

Someone got in to a marker (dry erase thank goodness).

Snuggle time happens less and less with how busy this boy is, but he'll usually sit for a bottle....for a while. :)

This was my favorite paper Ross brought home!

This girl LOVES her dance class.  She always points it out whenever we pass it (or she thinks we've passed it).  She's getting better at listening too...for the most part. ;)

So sometimes you're partly a fool and come up with a great idea for your Sharing time lesson for Primary at 10 o'clock at night, and then stay up WAY too late finishing said idea.  Giving gifts to the Savior. :)

More Christmas ornament decorating.

This kid enjoying pulling himself up on stuff. :) (Look at that double chin.  Love it!)

A rare snuggle moment!

New glasses.  Handsome boys!

 We also got a Christmas train to put around our tree from Grammy Joanne (a belated birthday present for me) :)  Everyone loved it...and little fingers had a really hard time not touching it - which resulted in Mommy setting it back up every 2 minutes after it gets derailed....sigh.  But it has real smoke and can carry things in its' train cars!  Definitely a fun addition to our decorations.

Ross was the most excited about our train (which he quickly tried to manipulate into "his" train). :)  Pretty fun though!

Steve had a Court of Honor - their first for this troop he started up.  He has a cute group of boys and it was fun to see them see the success of working for their merit badges.
 

Looking official started the Court of Honor

Handing out merit badges.  Our neighbor started coming to Scouts as well which has been a nice addition.

Yeah for Scouting!

We also had to make our traditional Shrinky Dinks.  It never ceases to be entertaining watching them shrink in the oven.  Before we know it, we'll have enough to do a Christmas with only Shrinky Dink ornaments!
 

This year's Shrinky Dinks.

And then we got ready for our crazy weekend trip to Denver to see the new Star Wars movie with some friends that are pretty crazy about it.  I think Star Wars is fun, but I am, by no means, crazy about it.  Still, it's always fun to go do things with passionate people - they make the experience that much more enjoyable.
 
We headed to Denver Thursday evening after Steve got home from work.  By the time we got to Denver we had ice forming on the windows of the car - even with the defroster on full blast!  It was -1 degrees.  Sheesh!  We pretty much checked in to the hotel, grabbed food, and then I threw our kids in bed before my sweet friend stayed in the suite while I went with Steve and the rest of our friends' family to see the 10:30 showing of Star Wars in 3D.  (We went all out).  We thoroughly enjoyed the film - more like the original movies and way more funny! 

We were dying when it ended at 1AM and dragged ourselves to bed (while our friends actually went to Village Inn for hot chocolate and to discuss all their theories and ideas to the unanswered questions in the movie).  We scooted Ross and Ruby on to the floor and fell promptly asleep.  Though, in the morning, I woke up to Ross and Ruby in the bed with me, and Steve on the floor sleeping.  ????  Not sure how that occurred, but I guess the kids won that night. 

Ruby also wins at dancing in stores. ;)

I got up early and went to the temple.  It was cold getting there, but the warmth you feel inside as you focus on the Savior and remembering the covenants I've made was more than worth it. :)  I love the temple.  I love knowing that there is ALWAYS peace there, that I can find God and my Savior Jesus Christ there.  Always a wonderful experience.
 

I just love the Denver Temple. :)

We then ran a few errands and then got sucked into the world of Costco...I've found I have a Costco problem.  Whenever we go, we eat there (when a hotdog and drink are $1.50 - you have to), and then shop, get gas, and by the time we're done it's been like 4 hours somehow.  It seems to suck the life out of our trips.  So, I've decided I can no longer plan on Costco trips every time we go to Denver or Colorado Springs.  

We tried to find a Santa to visit as well - got lost trying to find a few, and ended up with a mall Santa (who seemed a little "over it" if you know what I mean).  We can sum up the experience as a Santa fail this year.  Ross pretty much just wanted to stand next to Santa and tell him what he was wishing for.  Rowland was horrified that I would set him down on a strange man's lap, and Ruby was so afraid she clambered and clung on to Steve and would not let go for a second.  She didn't even talk to Santa!  We did it though.  Whew!

Yeah - everyone looks thrilled to be there. ;)

This is where Ruby camped out the entire time visiting Santa.

Not even willing to look at the camera.  Maybe next year??

Ross has gotten in to Spiderman - pretty much because he has the shoes.  I guess super heroes are the thing at school these days. :)

Sleepers.

Love this sleeper. :)

I need him to stop growing up.  This picture made me think he was just a baby again...now he's almost 5!

I love bubbly bath babies!

Literally. :)

Steve got to attend the temple the next morning, and then we headed back to good ol' Lamar so Steve could go see the BYU bowl game which was pretty incredible even though we lost.

Then it was gearing up for the week of Christmas.  So many things to get done and do!  We gave roasted almonds for our friend and neighbor gift this year and I think it was a hit.  We LOVE roasted almonds - they always remind me of BYU football games. :)