Names

I really like the name Ayla. When I think of the baby, that is what I call her in my head. I think that might be her name when she is born. Her middle name is going to some from the bible, and so far I like Miriam, Mitylene, and Hazel.

Toast

Best quote of the day from Zenock. "Will you take the crust off my toast?" Why? "Because I can't get to the butter."
Okay then, I guess I should start slathering the crust with butter......HAHA!

Sounds instead of words

Gideon is now 15 months old and still hasn't said his first word yet. However, he makes sounds for things. He has sounds for asking, giving something, and hi and bye accompanied with a wave. He walks around all day saying parts of words, including mama and dada, but it doesn't have a meaning to either Brady or I. I wonder how long he will take to speak his first word, whether in toddlerese or correctly. Both my older boys had said their first word by the time they were 15 months. Ammon's first word was thank you, but it sounded like day do. Zenock's was mama, followed closely by dada.

Gideon at the park

I took this video on my phone today. He ignored the slides until today. Right when we got to the park he climbed on it like it was a stair. Then after a little while he got adventurous and started climbing up the slide. It took him a while to get up the stamina/practice/balance to get all the way to the top without falling back down. But even with all the going back down he still had a cute giggle every time he got to the bottom of the slide. He also figured out the other side of the playground has stairs that go up to the top of the slides. So now my baby is a park baby. No more sitting around for me!

This is Brady...I figured out (with some help) how to put our videos on youtube. Sooooo....there will soon be a horrendous number of videos being posted in our youtube channel, and I'm guessing they will end up here. Check it out. Most of them are from our phones, and as such they are only like 30 seconds long, but still...search for "famofgoofers" on youtube, unless there is a beter way to do it that I don't know how to yet. There are only two of them so far, but they will quickly multiply. Like rabbits. Or mormons. Mormon rabbits. NEH! He's got fangs. Allllll-righty then. To wrap up:
FAMOFGOOFERS on youtube. check it out. plz and thank u.

Are you ready for camera barf?

                                      Yes, you heard that right. I finally got the camera unloaded and sorted the way it should be on the computer. So be prepared for a seriously picture laden, longer-than-ever, catching up post. This picture above is of them eating their April Fools dounuts. Salt looks like sugar, but it sure doesn't taste sweet. HAHAHA!

 Playing with the clothes hampers.

 This is how we do the dishes at our house. Yep, with a box of cereal in the middle of the floor.

 We had a talent show primary activity at the church on March 16th. Gideon was having a great time walking around, checking everything out as he went. Apparently that also included checking out his own diaper.

 Zenock and Ammon wanted to do a boxing talent, so we borrowed some gloves from friends in the ward and they showed us some boxing moves while the song from Cars, "Real Gone" was playing.

 This is Gideon. He thinks he is a big kid now because he walks everywhere. He made it up the second rung of the ladder before I pulled him down.

 Pre first haircut

 Post first haircut. He looks like a kid now instead of a baby.

 Gid's pile of hair. It was a TON! I think I cut a good three inches off.

 I cannot resist taking pictures of a sleeping baby. He is so darn adorable.

 This picute should be up at the top by the other April Fools one. I put googly eyes and drew mustashes and smiles on things in the fridge. Zenock asked me to leave the eyes on his water bottle until they fall off. It was a good prank.

 Chillin' at the park.

 This is Ammon and Zenock sledding at the hill across the street from my parents house. We got the chance to get away for the President's day weekend so we all hopped in the car and drove like mad northward. The weather was cold.....obviously.....but perfect. I miss real winter weather. (But I don't miss having to scrape the crap off of my windshield all the time). We really had a blast in Idaho, and I wish we could have stayed longer. My kids told me more than once that we should move back to Idaho so they could play in the snow.

 Playing in the backyard at Grandpa and Grandma Deitz's.

 Their cousin, Drake is out there with them too. Great sunshiny weather.

 My cutest nieces ever. Lizzy and Chloe love each other.

 Lizzy...I love this kid. She has one large personality!!

 Drake and ZZ looking for the one toy they need....at the bottom of the toybox.

 Day #3 of playing outside.

That is one tastey, empty, fresh-out-of-the-dishwasher bottle there buddy.

So it looks as if I have too many pictures loaded to put everything all on one post. So there's going to be a cluster of 3 or 4 posts in a row. You have been forwarned. :)

CraftinessRus and Christmas

 Matching ties I made the boys for Easter this year.

 I transformed the boys miniblinds into a roman shade. Zz likes rockets, and Ammon likes planets. We compromised and were able to put both on their new window. It's not professionally done by any means, but it's functional and looks cool. I have plans to do the rest of the bedrooms and the kitchen soon.

 This is our daughter's baby quilt I made. I saw a similar design on Pintrest and decided I could make one up and whip it out. It wasn't complicated, and I love the colors.

 A birthday present for Brady's niece. It's a pillowcase, doll comforter, and doll pillow in case you hadn't figured that out yet. I was able to use fabric reminants from my stash, and I think I took about 30 minutes to put it all together.

 When I pull out my paint for something I seem to have 2 helpers insist they need to paint something too. Times like these make me thankful I have become a hoarder of leftover craft supplies. I had the perfect paints for them to use that came from a christmas ornament project a while back. They had a blast.

 I made a freezer paper stencil with an image from the internet and put it into my silhouette. Ammon loves it.

 I made Zenock a Batman one. He wants to be Batman when he grows up. I also made a Batman shirt for my nephew, Drake. He's a superhero junkie too.

 Another silhouette project. Leftover tile from my floors and some black vinyl mixed with Pintrest inspiration. I gave this to Brady's sister for a wedding present.

 This is a freezer paper stencil I did on a 10x10 piece of canvas. It was for a friend who lives in Kearny, NE.....which is where the heart is - in case you didn't figure that part out yet.

 Homemade fruit rollups. I heart my $6 dehydrator :)

 Strawberry freezer jam. DELICIOUS!!!!

 My Cars fans on Christmas Eve

 Family Christmas party at Grammy's.

 Reading a Christmas Carol bedtime story.

A very small poriton on the Santa aftermath. We had stuff everywhere, even though I tried really hard to not have any chaos......I did a horrible job taking photos too. But the whole event is recorded on our video camera.

Gideon's birthday and Gold MInes

 Happy birthday to MEEEEE

 He wasn't too sure about the candle.

 My favorite face he pulls all the time is this one. That scrunchy nose and pinched eyes is just super cute. I love this little dude!

 Sporting his wardrobe loot.

 The next day in one of his new outfits. He's so cute.

 See, cuteness leeches out his ears!!!

 Eldorado Canyon Tours in Nelson, NV is a cool place to check out. They own buildings on both sides of the road that people can go check out. Old-school stuff is seriously everywhere. This picture shows some of the seperating bath things they used back in the day to sift the gold dust from the lime and quartz, etc. I forget the term for those big barrels.

 Posing my a mining cart.

 At the entrance. Gideon is on Brady's back, we didn't leave him in the car, I promise.

 What the inside looks like. There's still gold on some of the walls.

This was at the junction of whatever highway we had to turn on from the US-95. The sun was peeking through the clouds and casting really cool sunray spots on the desert here.

April Fools

In honor of April Fools day, I put googly eyes on things in the fridge - the kids got a kick out of their water bottles having eyes that wiggle. I also made homemade donuts, and swapped one sugar coated one - per kid - for a salt coated one. Ammon didn't think it was funny at all, and he actually cried for a second. Zenock just said they tasted weird, like they had salt on them. And lastly, I taped the bottom of their straws so they couldn't drink their chocolate milk. After that they asked several times if that was the last joke. 'No more jokes, Mom,' they said. I'm so proud that this year I actually did something. Next year Brady and I really, really want to plant some donut seeds a few days before and have a donut tree on April 1st. I think they would really like that.
All the pranks remind me of the time my dad made pancakes for one April Fools breakfast. He cut up a wash cloth and put pieces inside each pancake so we couldn't cut them. That was the best prank ever.

On another note, I have been really busy getting sewing projects out of the way before I start losing my sleep in 7 weeks from now. I made 2 baby quilts, one for my daughter and one for a friend's first girl. I made each of the boys a floor cushion to sit on when watching tv or playing games. I got tired of them fighting over the rocking chair all the time because someone was always in the way.  Gideon likes to carry his around the house and throw it behind his head.  Yesterday I made the boys matching ties for Easter. This tutorial I found on pintrest was super easy, and it was easy to modify the length for each of the boys. I also discovered yesterday how nice it is to have a stash of fabric reminants from the discount bin at Joann's.  I remembered last night that a niece's birthday was coming up next week, so I just looked at my pile and decided what projects I had enough fabric for. I made her a pillowcase, doll comforter, and doll pillow out of coordinating fabric. When I was little my mom made fun 'girl' stuff for me all the time, so I hope Izabella likes her matching present. Another project I have started, but not finished, is a cute purple dress for my daughter....I have 7 weeks to finish it. I also knocked out converting 4 pairs of pants into shorts for my boys, and I still have to do some hemming on a pair of capri's I cut off for myself. How's that for project overload? I'll post pictures of all these fun things at a later date. I am waiting for a new computer to come from Costco before I do any camera dumping. This old one is just driving me nuts for stuff like that. And so that's why there has been a lack of pictures the last several months. Computer viruses, broken keyboards, burned out wireless cards, and incompatability problems are not for the faint of heart.....hahaha.

She still doesn't have a name

Ok, so sometimes I need to have a big fat piece of humble pie. I said a while ago that I would not consider any sci-fi names for our daughter from Brady's books.........and now I decided I like the name Arya, from the Eragon series. So I am pretty sure we are down to two names. Ayla and Arya. Thank heavens we still have 10 weeks to decide.

Jobs

My kids ask all the time for new toys. I get very tired of their requests every time we go to the store. There are even occational tantrums involved from one specific 5 year old. (Probably because I always say no). So we decided that sometimes, they can have an opportunity to earn a toy. I made a chart last night, and the boys get one sticker for every 2 quarters they earn. When the chart is filled up with enough stickers to pay for the toy including tax, we can go get it.......if it's close to payday hahaha. We won't do this reward chart all the time, but it's fun for them to see they have to earn money to get the things they want. This time around they would like to get a rubber playground ball to kick around at the park and with friends who come to play.  So far their jobs have included sweeping up the rocks on the sidewalk, washing and rinsing dishes by hand, unloading the dishwasher and sweeping under the table every night after dinner, and cleaning up the backyard. I had them do the dishes because there was a mountain of them.....mostly all plastic......and I just didn't feel like doing 3 loads in the dishwasher. It took them almost an hour to wash and rinse everything, and they did such a good job. There was quite a bit of water on the floor, but I guess that's to be expected from kids using a sink full of water. After they earn enough to purchase the toy it will be a while before we do the sticker chart again to earn something else. I have also decided that having both of them unload the dishwasher and sweep under the table every night is a necessary job, and they won't be getting 'paid' for it after their ball is earned. I love that they want to do jobs to earn money, and they even ask several times a day what jobs they can do. The things that need to be done every day are getting done (happily and willingly)......by someone other than me and THAT makes me very happy. I am starting to feel a little less like the Lindsay House Slave and a little more like a loving mother should.

Friends

I just had a thought, and I think I should write it down.
I have two good friends here in Las Vegas who are from different countries. One is from Germany, and I have known her for just over a year. Brady and I introduced her to the LDS missionaires, and she was baptized last June. The other is a wonderful woman from Israel. She moved here a few months ago from California, but lived most of her life in Israel. Tomorrow moring she is delivering her second child, and I am really really excited for her. I never would have thought in a million years that I - a sheltered Idaho Mormon girl - would ever have friends from different nationalities. This truely is one of the things I love about living here. I have so many fun and unique opportunities that I never would have been able to experience had we stayed in Eastern Idaho. It's another testimony builder to me that we are where the Lord needs us, and we are here for a reason. There is a purpose to everything we do, and I am thankful to know I don't have to do the hard stuff alone.