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.

I'm a big kid now!

We have been working with Ammon for several months now to get him to ride his bike without training wheels. At first he was all for it, until he realized he didn't know how to balance. Since then, he wouldn't practice riding his bike unless it was his idea first. Last night he was having some trouble with his tires so we fixed it and then took the loose training wheels off his other bike too. He just took off. He wanted me to hold the seat at first when he got on and give him a push, but he totally didn't need it. Brady suggested starting at the top of the driveway and going down to gain speed; Ammon thought that was really cool. He's got the turning down, he can start and stop by himself, and he just loves it. The first time he went down the driveway he wanted everyone's attention so we could "all cheer for me," he said. Hurray for no training wheels or whining about not being able to ride his bike!!

lucky walmart associate

last night we had our first experience with a puking kid in a store. i bet that walmart associate was thanking his lucky stars he got to babysit a pile of baby vomit until another could come with a mop. i bet that guy who didn't listen to me and walked right through it is super thankful too.......especially after he got in his car. hehehe. gideon's dinner didn't agree with him so he lost it in the toilet paper isle of walmart. he got stripped in the store and got to wear my jacket home. i got lots of cuddle time with him at bedtime and just held him until he went to sleep. it was really nice because i haven't held him like that since he was really really little. thankfully the last puke happened right before brady went to work, so i didn't have to deal with a sick kid all night by myself.  today i am very thankful that he is feeling better and back to his normal, busy self.

boy stuff

i wish you could all be a fly on my wall this morning to listen to my cute boys. gideon and i were up before the other two kids since they slept in this morning. when they got up, both boys came out of their room at full speed with stories. no 'hi mom' or anything. apparently ammon dreamed about being a police officer when he grows up and he wants to capture the bad guys.

zenock said when he's a police officer like ammon he's going to get a bad guy in each hand and smash them together. then zenock starts talking about which three princesses he is going to protect; his cousin izabella, and friends lexie and kimball. then he told me that i should be yoshi, even though yoshi is a boy.........and then he realized in the mario kart game there is a pink yoshi, so i could be her instead.

and that's how our weekend begins.

some favorite things

the last several weeks we have been having computer issues thanks to a fabulous virus, so i have been unable to dump the camera memory card onto the computer. the laptop has become my usual electronic tool, but it is still missing both shift keys and one other thanks to our lovely babyzilla. so that explains the lack of pictures and super fun stuff from us the last little while. lately i have been thinking i should do a post about each of my boy's favorite things, so here ya go.

AMMON
p.e. at school
math homework
macaroni and cheese with hotdog slices and frozen peas stirred in
his ds grammy got him for christmas
reading, especially the scriptures
helping mom with whatever she needs - which i really really appreciate
having his friends come over to play after school

ZENOCK
park days with the kids from church
pizza
getting on the counter so he can 'help' with whatever i am doing in the kitchen
watching spy kids, toy story, and cars 2
anything relating to transformers, pretend or real
toast and chocolate milk
playing with his friends whenever he can - which according to him should be every day
going with mom or dad to get ammon from school


GIDEON
eating anything we will let him as long as he can sit in the highchair and feed himself
getting into anything and everything he can
opening and shutting the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen
cleaning out the shelves in the tv cabinet
playing with doors
climbing on his brothers
playing with mom's hair while sucking his thumb and cuddling
smiling with a really cute scrunchy face, especially when the camera is out
saying daddadadadadada over and over all day long - it's even better when we say it with him

gideon's birthday was two saturday's ago. he started taking steps about 2 weeks before his birthday, but he hasn't done any more than 5 or 6 at a time that i have seen. he does practice a lot during the day though, and he does a great job standing up by himself from a sitting position. i discovered the other day that he is cutting all 4 12 month molars. this means he has a nasty cold/cough, an occasional fever, yucky diapers, and he is sleeping super crappy. i don't know why most of these things only appear when he is teething. the two top molars have broken through on one corner, so those shouldn't be bothering him much now - i think. both brady and i are looking forward to when all 4 teeth are in all the way because he can start eating more things besides soft foods like chicken nuggets and small chunks of canned fruits/veggies. but he does eat really well now, even with just his cute little front teeth - he has 7 of those.

m&m cookies

this recipe i have had since i did a cooking class in high school. since then - 12 years ago - i have made this recipe maybe 2 times, and it's because i NEVER keep a bag of m&m's around long enough to make a whole batch of cookies with them. and then we found old halloween candy on clearance when buying stocking stuffer candy..........so yeah, i have about a gallon and a half of the stuff in my pantry now.

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or shortening
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate candies of your choice

preheat oven to 350. cream the butter and sugars until, well, smooth and creamy. add vanilla and eggs. mix well. add flour, powder and salt. mix until nice dough forms. it should start clearing away from the sides of the bowl. throw in those candies.
scoop out onto a cookie by the tablespoon full or however big you want the cookies to be and cook them for about 10 minutes.

this time the cookies didn't spread hardly at all so if you want you can squish them down some with a cup or use a little less flour so they spread more while baking. i made this two days ago, and with my cookie scoop i made over 4 dozen cookies, but they were small.

love love love pintrest

I owe pintrest a lot. Because of that fabulous blogland database, I have made some DELICIOUS food. Here is a new favorite of ours.

Crockpot Pork Chops
5-6 pork chops, thawed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 envelope either ranch or italian dressing mix

Throw the chops in the pot with soup and dressing sprinkled on top. Set your pot on high for 4 hours and let it cook and tease your nose with the awesome smell.

Make a batch of mashed potatoes any way you like and serve drizzle the soupy sauce all over. We drizzled it over the chops again on our plates too.

All 3 of my boys - yes I am including my picky 5 year old and the 11 month old too - ate. every. bite. And they ALL had seconds!!!!! Um.......that never happens.

Bread

First batch of dough, made December 26th, 2011. It's still shiny even with flour dust. That's pretty cool!

This post pays homeage to my AMAZING, AWESOME, WONDERFUL, LOVING parents. They gave me a new Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas. Yes, one with enough flour capacity to make 3 large gigantic loafs of bread dough at the same time. It has guts, it has power, and it's really clean......unlike my old Kitchenaid mixer that has been around since 1980 and had the motor replaced 2 or 3 times. THANK YOU DAD AND MOM!!!!!!!!!!! And my family thanks you because this is, by far, the best wheat bread recipe ever. How do I know? It actually raises!

Picture review of November

Thanksgiving skit Ammon's class did for the parents

Hiking in Red Rock Canyon with my parents and sisters 

Laundry day means they play in the buckets 

Eating a bag, tryng to get to the crackers inside. He discovered he can open the cabinet doors. I now have pony tail holders on all the ones I can "lock."

Sitting in Santa's chair

Seeing the lights at the Cactus Garden at Ethel M. Chocolate Factory



Ammon made up a story and drew this transformer, Roadbuster. He did such a good job!

"Helping" do the laundry

From us to you

I didn't get my pictures ordered in time to make cards to send in the mail this year. So we emailed this card I made and a newsletter type review of our year. If you didn't get an email from us, just leave a comment wih your email address, and I'll send it out right away. Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!