Me and My Boys: November 2015

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Great Wolf Lodge

We've decided to start setting aside money each month and save up for one family vacation every year. This year we decided to try Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor waterpark. Here are some pictures from our trip!

The boys' bunk beds

We arrived Thursday afternoon and immediately went to the waterpark. The kids loved being able to go swimming in winter!

Matt and I switched off on baby duty

Caleb and Carter pretending to be worker beavers

Austin smiling at me

Honestly, we were pretty underwhelmed by the waterpark. We live near a waterpark that we frequent during the summer and though Great Wolf Lodge had some fun rides, there were only 5 adult rides. The waterpark near our home is bigger and has a greater variety of rides. So we spent about 3 hours on Thursday at the waterpark and 2 hours on Friday morning. Fortunately the crowds didn't arrive until Friday afternoon so we never had to deal with lines; that would have tainted our opinion even more!

What made the trip totally worth it was MagiQuest. The boys had a blast with this! There were certain quests that we worked together to complete whether it was collecting a certain number of jewels or finding specific objects that were located on all 8 floors of the hotel. Between the waterpark and MagiQuest, we climbed A LOT of stairs!

The boys loved pointing the wand at stuff and seeing the objects light up or "talk."

Humongous Christmas tree

In the hotel room sporting his "Harry Potter" owwie that he got by falling off a chair as he was climbing down. This boy gets so many bumps and bruises on his forehead!

Making a magnet to remember our trip.

There was an arcade right outside the waterpark and we couldn't walk past it without Bryson disappearing inside.

Getting ready to leave on Saturday morning sporting our wolf ears. It was a lot colder as we left than when we first arrived!

We visited Clayton and Kara on our way home and did an outing at a water garden.

Then we walked around a botanical garden before making the drive back home.

Baby Austin did really well on the trip! Sometimes a young baby is easier because he slept a lot. We enjoyed the weekend getaway and spending time together as a family!

Austin's Blessing

Austin Logan was blessed on Nov. 15, 2015 at 2 months old

Same blessing outfit as all my boys :)

Beautiful blanket that my mother made for Austin

Matt blessed Austin and my dad, Jared, Zane, and the bishop stood in the circle. Austin was blessed to grow in health and strength, be a beacon to his family and a light of the gospel in these turbulent times. He was blessed to seek truthfulness and gain a burning testimony in his heart, to serve a mission to progress the Lord's work, and to take a faithful companion to the temple. He was blessed to have the strength to serve in many capacities, be an example to his family, and bear the burdens of others. "Your family loves and cares for you deeply and are always there for you."

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Ribbon Festival

Due to Caleb's piano teacher moving, Caleb started with a new teacher this summer. Our options were limited so we were excited just to get in since there were about 15 other parents looking for a new teacher as well. His new teacher is further away, more expensive, and teaches in a different style (Suzuki method). However, she also has more training and provides a lot more opportunities for competing and different kinds of recitals. (Caleb participated in a duet recital end of August.)

Though the transition to a new method of teaching has been rough, the Suzuki method with its focus on ear-training and technique has been good for Caleb. (His last teacher didn't focus a lot on technique.) His sight-reading is pretty strong so learning to play by ear has been frustrating to him. Taking from a new teacher has been humbling for Caleb because he sees there's lots of areas he still has to improve.

For this Ribbon Festival competition, Caleb played two Suzuki songs in front of a highly-qualified judge who wrote praises and critiques. All the students get a medal.

Caleb standing next to his cousin, Dallin, who really excels with the Suzuki method of teaching! Hearing other students play quite difficult Suzuki songs has motivated Caleb to stick with it and keep working.

Random

I chopped my hair off. It was time for a new do.

Bryson asked to take a bath the other morning and hopped into Austin's bath.

Carter had the assignment to decorate this turkey as a family project with the focus being to camouflage the turkey in the classroom so he's not caught for dinner. Matt seriously comes up with the greatest ideas; he had the idea to use crayon wrapper pieces to decorate each part of the body (except for the head because it got a little tedious). I'm not sure this picture does the turkey justice because it looked awesome!

I haven't taken any bath pictures of Austin yet so I caught a smile the other day. He enjoys his baths but hates getting out of the warm water. :)

(2 months)

Friday, November 20, 2015

Last Game of the Season

Caleb's team, the Bee Mets, ended up in first place. He was very excited about his trophy.

Caleb with his head coach and assistant coaches

Caleb's team

Caleb was nicknamed "Happy Feet" because he had a nervous twitch with his feet that he did every time he was at bat as well as in the outfield on occasion. He would bang the toe of his shoe on one foot into the dirt a few times before switching to the other shoe. Caleb's outfield positions were mostly shortstop and 2nd base the entire season.

Caleb ended up loving his baseball season and wants to continue in Spring where it's a lot more competitive (they have an all-star team and play against other leagues). He will move up from machine pitch to kid pitch next season.

Baseball games can be long but Bryson did pretty well at the few games he attended.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Bryson's 3rd Birthday

My parents have a fun tradition of taking each grandchild to Build-A-Bear on their third birthday. In the past it has just been Grandma, but now that Grandpa is retired, he came too!

Chick-fil-A for lunch first

Then a carousel ride

(pure enjoyment on that little face)

Bryson picked out a dinosaur for his stuffed animal. He really likes dinosaurs right now, hence the dinosaur shirt that is too big on him.

Bryson named him Teddy

(I think Bryson came up with this name because this is the same day that Bryson's cousin Teddy broke his femur bone and was at the ER. My parents were on the phone or texting with my sister Lindsey throughout the day and Bryson must have overheard their conversations about Teddy.)

Bryson wavered back and forth between a train cake and a dinosaur cake. As we got closer to his birthday, it was just a dinosaur cake. If you asked him what toys etc. he wanted for his birthday, his only answer was a dinosaur cake. (No one can understand the word "dinosaur" when he says it!)

Matt is much better than I am at decorating cakes (I did this one), but it sure tasted great!

We get together once a month with my family for FHE, so we celebrated Bryson's birthday at the same time.

The day of Bryson's birthday (Nov. 2) he got Thor's hammer, which he loves. He's also wearing the dinosaur pajamas that Grandma and Grandpa got him. His other presents from us were a helmet and a scooter and a few lift-the-flap books.

I thought we'd keep the dinosaur theme going and I bought dinosaur oatmeal for his breakfast on his birthday. Unfortunately it wasn't a winner. :(

After breakfast, we went in for Bryson's 3-year-old well-check visit. He weighs 31 lbs. (46th percentile) and was almost 37" tall (36th percentile). Everything else checked out great. At his 2-year-old visit, the pediatrician was concerned about his speech (or lack thereof) and his soft spot being two finger-widths wide still. A few months after that visit, his speech took off. Now his speech is in the range of normal and his soft spot is one finger-widths wide.

Since his doctor appointment is right by Sam's Club, we stopped in for a few items and Bryson got a pizza slice for his birthday lunch.

(sporting a dinosaur sticker from the doctor's office)

Bryson has started some "terrible three" behaviors and can be quite the firecracker at times. He can be very stubborn about eating his dinner or vegetables, but generally eats well. Bryson is scared of me being angry at him. (I swear I don't get angry that often but I guess it really makes an impression when I do!) If he has to go to time-out for hitting or not eating his dinner or not listening to me, he will cry in time-out while saying, "Mommy's angry at me." Bryson refuses to say sorry to another kid after he does something wrong; we're working on it... In general, Bryson has a hard time with kids his age or younger than him. He can be very bossy and has difficulty sharing (pretty typical for a 3yo).

He is in love with his baby brother Austin and loves to sing to him and touch him. If Austin starts crying, Bryson will run up to him and say, "It's okay baby Austin. I'm here." He also says frequently, "Baby Austin likes me" and "He's so cute."

Bryson loves to pray. He wants to say every prayer (morning, dinner, family prayer). A few months ago, he would add in words like "poo poo" to make his older brothers laugh. We've finally broken his older brothers' response to this and now Bryson does it a lot less. :)

Bryson didn't have any set-backs with potty training when Austin was born, but he still wears a pull-up at night. Most days he wakes up dry.

Swinging, play dough, drawing, and riding a scooter or some of Bryson's favorite activities. He is a really funny and sweet boy, and we love him to pieces!

Monday, November 2, 2015

October

The boys' elementary school does a storybook parade every year, i.e. an excuse for the kids to dress up mid-October.

Carter as Nate the Great

Caleb as a baseball player

Although there aren't pictures, Matt took the three older boys camping on Friday, Oct. 16. There was a Cub Scout activity all day on Saturday to pass off some requirements, so several families camped the night before. Matt drove Carter and Bryson home during the day so Carter could go to his soccer game.

After Carter's soccer game, I took the three youngest boys to a carnival at the birth center I delivered at as they celebrated their 20th anniversary. Carter and Bryson loved the face painting.

Bryson tuckered out from our long day.

Later in October I asked Bryson to hold Austin on my bed while I emptied the dishwasher. As I was finishing up, I noticed that it was really quiet in the room. Usually Bryson is singing or talking to Austin. I went in and checked on them to find Bryson asleep and Austin calmly awake. In a matter of a minutes, Austin was asleep as well. It was so precious.