ALASKA GIRL

All moms have superpowers, different ones for different days. Sometimes at the end of a particularly superhero day, I'll reflect quietly on the different stunts and rescues I pulled off. Occasionally, my superpower-driven son, who most days is a Jedi, others a magical pirate, still others a flying Superman, will notice and point out my superpowers. On our road trip to Cali, he dropped a toy that I had to stretch across the back seat over to the door to retrieve. He said, "Nice job, Alaska Girl! You're Alaska Girl, mama!" This was the second day in a row he called me "Alaska Girl". (Can't remember what enourmous feat I had accomplished the day before). I laughed and said, "You're welcome, Hawaii Boy!" And then I figured out he meant "Elasti-Girl" from The Incredibles. She's the mom of a superhero family and she can stretch and bend like nobody's business.

Aahhhh.....it's nice to be appreciated.

THANKSGIVING

Rob's Dad, brothers Mike and Larry, sister-in-law Lora, and nephew Brian came for Thanksgiving. It was a smaller crowd than usual, but the food was delicious and the company was even better. Gage was in charge of pictures and this was about the only salvageable one he took. (I will be now cleaning and repainting those cabinets after the camera showed how AWFUL they look!) We are so grateful for our extended family and the relationships we share. We love that our children get excited about family and are interested in spending time with them.

Aaron and the girls (minus Annaliese who was in Las Vegas for a Jonas Brothers concert - lucky girl) drove up Thanksgiving night and stayed the weekend. As usual, we had a ball. One night we turned on music and got silly and danced. You should see Aaron's breakdancing moves! The video below does not EVEN do it justice. That inspired us to play "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (the video is full of breakdancing craziness). The girls and I were trying to remember the dance moves from the video. Then I remembered that awesome scene in 13 Going on 30, where they actually do the dance to "Thriller", so we put the movie in and played that scene over and over until we could do it. SO FUN! You gotta love the 80's.

We went to the Temple to see the amazing lights. Incredible! And how beautiful are those girls? Oh my, Aaron needs to watch out.

SASSY MAMA

Bella, just at the right times, will say, "Sassy Mama" and have this cute little smirk.

She was sitting in her car seat as we were driving around running errands and said, “I yuv you, Mama”. That was the first time she said it without one of us saying it first. So sweet.

She pushes Gage's buttons a lot, but he's the first one she asks for every morning now. And she wants to hold Paisley all the time. When Paisley is napping, she'll say, "Shhhh, Paisley's syeepin". She can't really pronounce the "L" sound and replaces it with a "Y" sound. When she hears the train, which is about 1000 times a day, it scares her for some reason and she'll run up to me and say, "Frain, Mama, frain" with a worried look on her face. She has a hard time with her "tr" sound and she has a serious lisp. I LOVE it!!

GREAT FALLS

We took a trip to Great Falls, Montana, to visit Billy and Alicia and crew on the Malmstrom Air Force Base. Our plane ride was great and problem-free. Of course, the suckers and candy helped. The kids were so excited to see each other and they picked up right where they left off. Bella and Kaytlin got to know each other better and had such fun (when they weren't fighting over the dolls and strollers as every toddler girl should). Gage and Braden bounded around with endless energy playing games, tag, war, superheroes, riding bikes and scooters, you name it. And each night, after the exhausted kids went to bed, we visited, ate yummy desserts, and played games like the old days. Alicia was an awesome hostess with her homemade wheat bread and delicious meals. Paisley and Jacob did a lot of eating and sleeping. Too bad they won't remember any of it!!

The first day we drove about an hour to a ski resort that wasn't open yet to skiers, but open to sledding! Lucky for us, we were the only ones there. It was a BLAST!! Uncle Billy was a trooper and carried Bella up on his shoulders and rode down with her. And again and again. Gage was a champ sledding down the hills, first sitting on the tube, then after getting a little braver he went down head first. I recently mailed him a postcard that had a picture of a young superman and people commenting, "Look at the boy of steel!". I wrote him a little note telling him he was MY boy of steel and that I knew he was brave and strong. He LOVED it and now refers to it in situations that make him scared or nervous (that was the goal!). Gage was tired after carrying the tube up the hill, but was determined to keep doing it. About halfway up, he plopped down in the snow on his knees and started praying, "Heavenly Father, I'm really tired. Please help me to climb up this hill." And sure enough, he did.

The next day we went fishing in the Missouri River. It was beautiful, but windy! Gage and Braden both caught a fish and Bella couldn't wait to get her hands on it! I'm not sure what the kids liked better - catching the fish or eating the marshmallows. Near the river is a park with pine trees and play equipment. Bella and Kaytlin were tormenting a squirrel that ran up and down the tree. And a large buck and deer came prouncing through the park and up the hill. That was so COOL!! Too fast to get a picture. We actually saw a lot of deer as we drove back from the ski resort, too.

The next day we went to this really neat children's museum. It was in this old building and they really fixed it up and had all these creative and fun activities for the kids. The pics show a lot of the different little stations. There was even a paper-airplane making station after which you raced them on a runway. Very clever! We went to eat at a pizza place and I took Gage to the bathroom. He washed his hands and then the paper towel machine was one of those automatic hand sensor ones. He waved his hand in front of it, the paper towel came out, and he said, "Look, Mama! I'm a Jedi!" I laughed and then did it for myself and he said, "Whoa...you're a Jedi too!"

I got a kick out of all the saluting Billy gets. It's very formal and serious and makes me uncomfortable. I would get the giggles everytime it happened. I guess I'm just not used to it and find it strange that people are saluting my brother. But very cool and Gage thought it was awesome.

In the car on the way to the airport to head home, Gage cried and said he missed Braden already. We had a fabulous time and we're already talking about going back again next summer. We miss them so much and can't wait to have them back in Arizona (only 3 1/3 more years)!

A PILGRIM, A TURKEY, AND A COW

So, Bella WAS going to be a zebra until she laid her eyes on this beauty - a peacock costume that my friend Karla brought over. We gave Bella the choice and she picked the peacock, hands down. After all, she was only going to be a zebra by default. Gage was a zebra when he was two (he was obsessed with everything zebra) and he LOVED his costume. He wore it proudly and didn't even mind when all the nice people (and I mean ALL) handing out candy said, "Oh, what a cute zebra! She's adorable!" That's right...SHE! It never occured to me that a zebra might be a little feminine, and so what if it is! We still laugh about that. Well, Rob has just recently started laughing about it.

And I got a replacement hat for Gage's sun hat...a much better fedora that looks WAY more like the real thing. He even had the fake 5 o'clock shadow and a whip! So there we went with Indy, a peacock, and Paisley as a cow - fitting, don't you think? Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Trevor came along for fun. And THIS year's joke was many people thought Gage was a pilgrim and Bella was a turkey. They said jokingly, "Oh, you kids got the wrong holiday....." Come on PEOPLE! I even got him the right hat!! And he had a whip that he was whipping around as he walked up the driveways. Oh, well...something to laugh about.

We then went to our friends' house, The Johnsons, for some delicious food. Bella was on a total sugar rush, it was hilarious. Gage and Lincoln pretended to trade candy. And Kim successfully creeped Rob out dressed as a man.

PRE-HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES

We did our normal traditions: Kids decorated their own little pumpkins they got at the pumpkin patch and then we turned off all the lights and lit candles while I did my best witch impression and read Halloween stories. I know you can't tell it's dark in the house because of the obnoxious flash on the camera, but it was. And guess what? Gage was scared, but only at first. Then he was excited and they took turns being the witch. We carved the most awesome pumpkin (I know we did it with the pattern, but still, it's awesome) and set it up outside. It was only on display for two nights because of the gnarly heat.

The next day was Gage's Halloween Party at preschool, which they invited families to attend for the last 30 minutes (smart lady). Gage was Indiana Jones (the hat that came with his costume was horrible and he kept saying, "This isn't an Indiana Jones hat...it's a sun hat! He was totally right but I had to do my best to convince him otherwise) and Bella was a zebra - at least for Gage's preschool party she was. He immediately took her under his sun hat and held her hand almost the whole time. So sweet....

DOWN ON THE FARMS

It was time for our annual trips to the farms. First, to the local farm for animals, pumpkins, and a hayride. It was easy, fun, and quick, but a little pricey. Those stinky animals love the attention from the kids. The hayride was really bumpy which caused an upchuck from Paisley all over me. (That reminds me of a time I vividly remember when Rob paid me a really heartfelt compliment. We were supposed to get on an airplane headed for San Diego - Bells was 14mos and I was 20mos pregnant. We were in our seats, Bella hadn't been feeling well and I could tell it was going downhill. I told Rob we better make a mad dash off the plane because I just knew the vomit was imminent. We made our way from the back of the plane, with a crying, disappointed Gage, a sick child whose feet were knocking everyone in the face as I carried her, evil glares from jerky passengers who obviously have never had children, off the plane. Poor little Belly was white as a ghost and limp. We made it out to the car and I was holding her in the back seat when she just let loose all over me. I didn't flinch and didn't try to push her off of me - I just held her as she continued to let it go. I just tried to comfort this poor baby who didn't know what was happening. Rob turned around and he ALMOST got teary-eyed as he told me what a great mom I am. This was literally days after his own mother's funeral, so that explains his exaggeration. It was sweet, nonetheless.)

A few days later we went to Schnepf Farms with Courtney, Alyssa, Nathan and Mary Kay and kids. The picture of the two babies are Eden (held by my sister Courtney-Eden's aunt) and Paisley (cousins) who were born 3 days apart. Paisley is a GIANT!!!

HOT FALL DAYS

Since fall is still refusing to show up around here, we made up a game to play in Gage's room in the A/C. We all tried on every hat in the house and acted as silly as possible. Can't remember why Bella was crying so much...it was fun! The pictures are a good sampling.

Here are some random things and quotes from the kids. I realize after reading through these again that they won't be nearly as cute and interesting anyone else as they are to us. My apologies for the torture. I have officially become one of THOSE moms I used to make fun of.

Bella was playing with my makeup compact today and shut it and said, "The End."

When asked how she is doing, Bella responds, "Goog". Yum.

Bella L-O-V-E-S makeup and shoes. She is obsessed. She is always walking around in my mismatched shoes that she's tripping over with lip gloss in one hand and lotion in the other. She loves to stand at the sink and play in the water. She is also obsessed with brushing her teeth. If she doesn't have makeup in her hand, she likely has a toothbrush and toothpaste (whoever's she can reach). She does not easily relinquish these items. She is soooo independent and strong-willed. (Isn't it funny how a mother uses the word 'strong-willed' while the rest of the world uses 'spoiled brat'? But she sure is a cute spoiled brat.) She does not give in easily to ANYTHING. Gage was much easier to manipulate (for lack of a better word) at that age. Bella makes me appreciate that Gage really wasn't so strong-willed as a toddler after all.

Gage had a friend over to play and I was helping him put his shoes on and I said, "Come here, buddy." Gage said, "Hey, you can't call him Buddy, only I'm your buddy."

I was tucking Gage in and having our nightly talk about the day and making up stories. He asked me if Daddy loved him (he wasn't sure because Daddy made him go to bed early for being disobedient). I explained that Daddy had him go to bed early BECAUSE he loves him so much and wants to teach him to choose the right. I started to tell him stories about when he was a baby, that Daddy would hold him for hours and sing to him and make him laugh. I told him that when he grows up and is a Daddy that he will have to teach his son how to choose the right, too. He said, "Daddies don't have babies!" I agreed and explained that he will be married and he and his wife will have babies. He said, "Oh, well when I grow up I want to marry you and we can have a son and we'll name him Gage." Precious.

Gage was outside playing while Bella and Paisley were napping. Bella woke up and immediately went outside to play with Gage. As soon as Gage saw her, he ran over to her and gave her a big hug and said, "Bella! I'm so happy you're awake! How was your nap?" Bella said, "Goog" and they waddled off together holding hands.

At the library getting out of the car, Bella spotted a woman walking away from us with white hair that was similarly styled to Grandma LaDuke's. She said, "Bye, Grandma!"

Paisley is becoming so much more aware and is trying to scoot her cute fat behind to reach toys out in front of her. She also likes to put her hand on my face, which I love. She started to have a little trouble napping (staying awake longer than half hour without waking up crying) and I remembered reading in one of the many books I read when Gage was a baby to try giving the baby an article of clothing of yours to hold on to so they can smell you. I thought, "What the heck?" and I gave Paisley a blue-and-white striped shirt I had worn to bed the previous night. Worked like a charm and she's been sleeping with it since, naps and bedtime.

Gage wants desperately for Bella to play with him, so much so that he's literally dragging her by the arm across the hard grass and pool deck to force her to play. She has the scratched up legs and shoulder to prove it.

Gage's fear and emotions took over preventing him from giving his part, "I love our prophet, President Monson" in the Primary Program. And he didn't sing either. He stared at me the whole time and fought back tears until he didn't have any fight left. Poor little guy. He was so disappointed (he had been SO exicted to give his part) and so were we.

Bella is so expressive in her voice and she gets so happy when you tell her thank you for doing something. She just beams, "You're welcome!" And you have GOT to hear her say, "I don't know".

ROCKY POINT

We had a great weekend in Rocky Point with our friends the Johnsons x 2, Schmitts, and Rybergs. The weather was awesome, the kids did great and we got some nice, peaceful down time. Our condo was right on the beach with a beautiful ocean view. Gage and Bella had fun playing in the sand and getting their feet wet in the ocean. Bella ran out to the balcony shouting, "Hi Ocean! Hi Ocean!" excitedly (nevermind that she's never seen the ocean before.) Then she ran back to get her beloved doll and took her out to the balcony and said, "Look, dolly! Ocean!"

Bella and Paisley had to take their naps daily in order to make it bearable for all of us. That meant that one of us had to stay in the room while slept. I happily volunteered because it meant sitting on the balcony listening to the oceans waves and feeling the ocean air while catching up on some reading. All of this with complete silence. Silence is golden!! That's what I call a vacation. Meanwhile, Rob would take Gage down to the beach or to the pool with everyone else.

A friend of mine was there whom I haven't seen in a long time, not since I was pregnant with Bella. We were out at this restaurant where they have a dance floor and the kids were dancing their cute little fannies off. She asked me how I was doing now that I have three kids so close together. I had a very positive response which she didn't believe. I thought, "Do I give the impression that I don't enjoy this?" I sure hope not. I found myself having to convince her that I really do enjoy it, even though there are hard days. Actually, there aren't hard days....just hard moments. But the times of joy DEFINITELY outweigh the times I want to pull my hair out, or theirs'.