The Best Daddy Ever

Lately I have been noticing often what an incredible father Kenneth is to these 3 little ones. I love catching moments like these on camera. He is so loving, funny, and caring with them. He is always looking for ways to teach them and to spend time with them. We love you, Daddy!

Daddy and the girls in the Logan Canyon during our visit to Aunt Karen and family
Daddy and Arianna on Sunday afternoon.

Story time
Story before bed

Pizza Party Videos

So, I successfully posted some videos this evening, so I thought I should try these again. You have got to see this little dog in action- he is so cute!



This is the parade we had in the backyard so the kids could show off their costumes. It is hilarious to me that the girls stay right around the bush walking nicely and then you see the silver bullet zoom by- the oldest boy at the party!

Grant man growing up!

Grant is 14 months old today!! Wow! I can't believe how fast he is growing up! I guess technically in some ways he is growing up slowly. . .just yesterday he took his first steps!! 7 in a row and a couple more here and there throughout the afternoon/evening. He definitely wants to walk now. This morning he was walking down the hall steadying himself on the wall. I am going to list bullet style some of the other things this little man is learning or doing at the moment:

• Grant has started to almost insist on spoon feeding himself things like yogurt and applesauce. It is, of course, a messy prospect, but one which leads to greater independence, which I am looking forward to!
• He seems too young to already know how to do this, but he knows how to throw a tantrum with the best of them. Funny little guy.
• Going along with that last one, he is also learning to try to get what he wants from his sisters. He will pull their hair and swat at them when they are doing something he doesn't like or when he wants something they have.
• This little guy has an early-morning gene in him because he is awake 9 days out of in the 5 o' clock hour. Fortunately, I suppose, I am mostly used to this now and am learning to accept it.
  
• Kenneth is embarrassed to admit this one, but Grant is going through a phase where he always wants to be wearing his sisters' necklaces. He kind of looks like a white, baby Mr. T (minus the mo-hawk!)! I think it's adorable.
• Grant loves anything with wheels, anything electronic or anything that resembles a ball. He even goes after ladies' walkers in Relief Society. He even calls muffins "balls".
• He gives hugs and kisses on demand. This is what makes all those those dirty diapers worth it!!!
• He folds his arms for the prayer- he can even read the cues and knows when to do it by himself!
• He is saying so many words: diaper, car, truck, tickle, hot, go, door, park, ball, "all done" and he will 'roar' when we talk about lions. He is talking so much more than his sisters were at this age.
  
• One of his favorite activities right now is climbing up and down my step stool that I keep in the kitchen. The first few times it scared me to death, but he hasn't fallen yet.
• A few things to notice in the video:our lovely 'vintage' kitchen, again Grant is wearing the necklace, and listen to him say, "ball". The girls are painting at the table behind me in case you are wondering what they are doing. Isn't he adaorable!
  
• Like any real male he loves digging in the dirt!

Enjoy the sibling love at the end!

• His facial expressions are hilarious. He has the funniest smirks and smiles.
  
• Finally, he is always so excited to see his Daddy when he comes home.
  

Dress up Pizza Party

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that my post last year for Halloween was "Halloween Grinch". Yup- that's me. I just don't like the holiday. I never have. We didn't really celebrate it when I was young; I never went Trick or Treating. I hate all the spiders, witches, ghosts. Yuck. Last year we did take the kids trick of treating and The girls were afraid of all the decorations at peoples' doors. Then, last month, Arianna really was scared of the Halloween decorations that she saw in Lowe's. She was terrified. So, we decided not to subject her to all of that this year. My kids also don't need all that candy. (Truthfully, I don't need all that candy. If it comes in the house, I can control their intake, but Kenneth and I generally eat WAY TOO MUCH.)

But, I do want my kids to have fun. So, a friend and I decided to have a Dress Up Pizza Party. Earlier this week a family in our ward gave us a whole bag of costumes, so my kids were so excited to wear them to the party! We let them make their own mini- pizzas, had a little parade around the backyard, had dessert and let them run around. It was such fun.

I am realized blogging in real time is so much more fun! So, even though I am still way behind in all my other blogging, I wanted to get this up here tonight for you all to enjoy before the "H day" itself! (And yes, this is our rental home in case you are wondering. For those family members who have asked to see pictures of our place)
Here are our kids and their friend and their pizza creations. Notice my baby boy looking so grown up!

Yum! Enjoying dinner

The cutest puppy you ever have seen! (Little Grant)

Our little ones (Notice Emma and Arianna sucking down the juice- can you tell they don't get it very often!) Emma is Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Arianna is Minnie Mouse

Sweet little Minnie




Here is a video of our little Costume parade in the backyard. Well, I tried for over a half hour to upload the blasted video and it wasn't working so, for now. . .th th th th th. . that's all folks!

A clue. . .

It's definitely a clue that you need to change the way you communicate with your children when your 4 year old talks to her 2 year old sister in the third person. . .

Family Pictures

Hey all! I have been so delinquent in posting. It seems any time I think about posting, something else takes presidence (or I have technical difficulties). But, we did have family pictures and Grant's one year old pictures taken. When you go to the link, most of the family pictures are toward the end of the slideshow, so don't cop out before you see some of the cute ones! (There aren't that many pictures, don't worry!) So, here is the link for your viewing pleasure:

http://click.preferred.jcpportraits.com/?ju=fe211677726205787c1075&ls=fded11757c64047476137673&m=fef71778776c07&l=fe871c777065037b73&s=fe2e16767367077f711370&jb=fef615787d6701&t=

Happy Birthday, Grant!!!!

My little Grant turned one year old at the end of August! I can hardly believe it's possible! We weren't planning on having any sort of real celebration, but I did think I should make a cake. So, the day before his Birthday I asked the girls what kind of cake I should make for Grant for his Birthday. They agreed (which is amazing in and of itself!) that he should have a Crocodile Cake. Next I called my sister, Katrina, to ask her if her super cool cupcake book, Hello, Cupcake, had any crocodile cakes in it. I was in luck!! So, she gave me the directions over the phone and I googled an image so I could see it and created, if I do say so myself, a pretty darn cool Crocodile Cupcake Cake!

Since I was amazingly able to get it all made fairly early in the afternoon, I decided to invite a couple of families from our new ward over to enjoy it with us. We all had such a wonderful time and I am glad Grant was able to have a celbration for his very special first Birthday.

So, to update you all on Grant himself: He is such a wonderful little boy!! He is still not walking, which is par for our kids, but is pulling up on everything and cruising quite proficiently. He says mama, dada, ball and even said car today (Is he a man or what!?). He loves to bark like a dog when we see or talk about them and moos the cutest little moo you ever have heard (must be the dairyman in his genes!) He is FINALLY napping pretty well. It was a long road on that front, but he finally learned what a real nap is. All around he is healthy and happy and surviving his 2 big sisters. Since we just moved here and I havent gotten around to finding a doctor yet, we haven't been to his one year check up yet to give exact stats.


Here are some pictures of his Birthday celebration and for fun a picture review of the first year of his life! We love you, Little Guy! Happy Birthday!

He was actually quite dainty with his cupcake

When he decided he was finished, it was over the edge, just like everything else, nowadays!


Grant's life in review:

On the day he was born (August)

Blessing Day (September)

Monkeying around (October)

November

With Emma in December 2009

January with Mom

Loving playing with those toes in February

Playing the drums in March

Watching tv with the girls in April

Hanging out with Dad in May

Getting Clean in June

Swinging in July and growing up so fast!

Playing like a big boy on your Birthday last week.