We had to see Santa!

Before school was out we went to the mall for pics with Santa. I could not believe that you can't take your own pictures now even if you are outside of the set up. I was really upset that I was unable to get pictures of my children that day. Well on the way home from Sedona I thought well let's just go to BassPro and see Santa again. So we went and yes we had to wait but that's okay I got me some pictures of my trio and I even got a FREE photo from BassPro. I love that store!!!

Yep Miss Ashlyn not loving Santa at all this year. She screamed as soon as I started to give her to Santa. Oh well that's growing up and I actually think it's cute when kids scream and cry. That's just horrible of me but that's how I feel.
Here is Mister Teagan and how he changed up his wish list two days before Christmas. I told Teagan that Santa most likely did not have time to change his gift and that maybe he could get Lego Batman for the Wii for his birthday. What a stinker!!

Last year at the age of 3 Rayle thought that going to see Santa meant he was getting his present that day. WOW did we have some tears that day. This year one year older and wiser too he has learned to let Santa know what he wants and that hopefully on Christmas Day his wanted gift will be under the tree.

Last few from Sedona

We celebrated Christmas on Wednesday morning. The boys were very excited for their stockings. My mom always gets gifts that fit into a stocking and she generally does some kind of theme. Last years was princesses and knights.
Here are our stocking hung by the fireplace or well TV hutch. Every stocking has our names on it. So fun!!

This year the theme was cooking. The kids got children size cooking utensils and aprons. They even got to use those items to help make breakfast and dinner that day.

Here is Rayle whisking eggs to make French Toast.

Teagan also got a turn to whisk some eggs. It was so cute!!

More Sedona

Picture of my mom and the kids. Ashlyn did not like the hat but I through on mittens and she was stuck with it on:)
For fun we came up with some games to play that were like Win it in a Minute. The boys LOVED it!! It was pretty funny to watch too. Here they had to fill a cup with mini marshmallows.

Here is Teagan blowing a ping pong ball into a cup.

Ashlyn wanted in on the fun and she was stacking cups.

This had to be the FUNNIEST game and Rayle obviously got into the game. They had to stack 7 pillows and they could not fall over.

A Sedona Christmas

To celebrate Christmas with my Mom and Jon the kids and I headed up to Sedona. We left on Sunday, and we came home today, Thursday. It was nice to get out of our house for a few days and relax in a beautiful place. The resort we stayed at was wonderful and the kids had fun playing somewhere new. Brian was unable to come up as he had to work. We have missed him and wished he could have been up there with us. We had lots of fun and here are just a few of the pics I took. I will upload more another day. I need to prepare for tomorrow.

Checking in...trying to get a picture of my kids all smiling or looking is so HARD. Here is the best one out of the three I took; before someone jumped off the bench.

This is a tree made out of poinsettia plants. It was really neat!

Rayle and Teagan LOVED the leaves on the ground and they had fun throwing and kicking them around.
Ashlyn LOVED sweeping the floor. I need one of these for at home. She could clean my floors everyday!!
This girl LOVES phones. You can't put yours down for a second or she'll have it scooped up and talking to someone. She will even find it if it's in reach which she has been able to reach MANY things. We always have to be careful where we place our stuff, my mom found that out this week too. (Yep we just unplugged that phone right away! No calls for her!)

December Happenings

Where did December go????

Oh yeah this is what happened!

There was little time for sleep and relaxation.

We had a few turkeys on the loose.
We enjoyed some food.

We were attacked by crazy Russian Dancers.

We felt it best to just lock everything down!

Wishing you a Wonderful Holiday!!

Whose Walking Whom?

Introducing Rambeau our little boxer boy. We got him the week before Thanksgiving, and what a CUTIE he is! Tank loves having a lil buddy to play with. I will catch them rolling around outside playing. It is so CUTE! The kids love playing with the pup too. Ashlyn will clap her hands and bend down to him. It's so funny to watch.

She LOVED walking the puppy. She thought she was pretty big stuff!!

A BIG Thank You!

On Wednesday I was pretty much laid up in bed. I was SO sick. I am so thankfully my sweet Teagan is 6 years old and not any younger because he pretty much made himself, Rayle, and Ashlyn dinner that night. He also did all of his homework with very little help from me. What a GREAT kid!! I am also so grateful that my mom lives close and she was able to come and help me that night. I am feeling just a tad better, but still feel it all over my body. Not sure what is wrong with me, my chest is tight and my whole body was achy and I did throw up those 4 peanut butter crackers I ate on Wed. I know I should probably go to the doctor but Brian is working like crazy and I have no energy to get myself to a doc app. with kids. I have been really SICK at Christmas when I was a little younger (tonsillitis when I was 17/18 totally missed like every holiday meal:( in those years) so I don't want to be sick. Body please get better soon!!!!!

A time to be thankful

This is the time of year to be thankful, so then why do I want to run away??? A week off of school for Teagan is not really ideal when you have an over stressed mommy. I was so thankful to get up this morning at 7 and get the kids ready for school. The boys have been at each other all week and it wears you down...QUICK! I can't wait for next August to come and Rayle can go to Kindergarten! Not really I can't believe he is off to school next year but really part of me is a little ready! Thanksgiving day was nice and relaxed, I had a huge assignment...drinks. Is my cooking really that horrible??? We had dinner at my stepmom's house and then we went to the park and the kids played then back for dessert. It was nice and low key. On Saturday we got together with Brian's dad side and did it all over again. It was really fun and the boys loved playing with cousins and Aunt Tracy's nephews. We had a great time with family and played some games. Ashlyn played hard and her clothes showed just how hard she played. We all had a great time. I can't believe that November is almost over and that Christmas will be here in 26 days. That is just CRAZY!!! Ashlyn is 15 months today just 3 more months and she will be a year and a half old. WOW where is life going and can I get on the ride because I feel that I am missing it. Oh and I start class again tomorrow, nothing like throwing a 5 week semester in there with the holidays, but I am starting to count down to the end. This class will make 7 more before student teaching.

Say CHEESE!!

Pictures say it all!

Just some more photos

I forgot to add a picture of Rayle from our trunk-or-treat. He had decided to be SpiderMan that night and wanted to wear his mask. At trunk-or-treats they don't want masks so I painted his face. I overheard some little girls complaining to him that he could not wear a mask. He didn't even give them the time of day but ran off. It was funny because it was painted. Here is the pic after that running around and eating.

Ashlyn LOVES the plasma car and she has started scooting around on it by herself, but she LOVES getting rides from her big brothers. Hold on tight sweetie!!
We went to the zoo last month as a family. It was a little too hot, they still had the water areas open and I thought they would be closed. I so would have been up for them cooling off if I had their suits. Since we didn't have them I didn't want them walking around all day in their wet clothes. Here is a cute pic of our kiddos on the Dragon.

Ashlyn is starting to love being silly. She likes to dress up and put on scarfs and other things on. Here is she with some shorts.

Where is Ashlyn????

Field Trip to the Zoo

This was a crazy field trip as the original plan was Brian was going to go with Teagan on the bus and I was going to meet them there with Rayle and Ashlyn. Brian had been on a reserve board for work and had not really worked, then of course the field trip comes up and he is back on to being on call and we NEVER know when he will work because it changes so quickly sometimes. So it looks like Brian is going to get a call, I make arrangements with my mom, if Brian works in the morning she is coming out to my house, if he works in the afternoon then he will drop them off with her. I am either way off to the bus for a field trip. However, Brian never got a call until the next day and he could have gone with Teagan and it would have been fun for them but oh well what can you do??!! I get motion sickness when I am not driving and the bus is just awful but thankfully I didn't get too sick and was able to share the seat with Teagan and his best buddy Jacob. So many parents went I had just the two kids, Teagan and Jacob. We got to go where we wanted and it was nice. Jacob was funny because he wanted to eat lunch as soon as we got to the zoo, it was like 9:45. I was like no lets go see some animals first. All in all it was a good time. However Teagan while seeing the mountain lion had a bee buzzing near his ear, just as I was about to tell him not to move he swats the bee, yep stung him in the hand. At least it was not the face or ear! I had a somewhat still cold ice pack from lunch and we put that on him. This is the first time he had been stung so I was not sure if he is allergic (my sister is and I have never been stung) So a zoo/park ranger got some medicine and more ice and put it on his hand. He calmed down quickly and we went on to see more animals. I loved having that time to spend with Teagan and I always LOVE the zoo!

My bus buddies Teagan, Jacob, and I.

~Best Friends~

Look closely you can see the jaguar laying on the wooden planks.

Riding a dragon how fun!

Halloween Eve 2010

This year as you know Halloween fell on Sunday...YUCK!! I just can't get into Halloween when it's on Sunday. I never even bought a pumpkin to carve!! I honestly wish Halloween could be like the last Saturday of every October. I know that it's the 31st, but just think about it and how nice it would be to be on Saturday EVERY YEAR!!! Okay who do I talk to about making the change??? So our Halloween festivities started a week early at Teagan's schools ONCE A YEAR fundraiser, The Fright Fest! Because this is the only fundraiser the school does (yep no cookie sales, or ugly wrapping paper). It is kind of nice. Anyways the event it BIG for a school that is only pre-k through 6th grade. We park at VF Factory Outlet and they bus us to the school. There is food, trick-or-treating, games, a haunted house, outside movie, and more. We didn't stay that long because the kids were kind of a mess. I had been gone all morning for our Relief Society Craft Day. However the kids had fun and we all enjoyed supporting the school. Okay I did not get very many pictures of them at the event, well actually the only pictures at the school I took were of Ashlyn :o(. But hey she is CUTE so no worries. Here is Ashlyn all puffy she was batgirl but she HATED her batwings so we took those off and she was just a puffball! I did get a few snap shots at home of our Ninja and Batman.
I wanted to make our Ninja stand out so I painted a dragon on his face.
Our ward's Trunk-or-Treat was scheduled for Saturday, but they had a conflict and it was moved to Tuesday...YUCK again!! A school night that involves candy should never mix(^ see above where I suggest Saturday night again^). The lighting at our church building is almost non-existent. We let the boys off and they quickly filled their buckets. Ashlyn was content to run about ten steps and then run back and grab more wrapped candy and slobber all over it. Sorry kids if you got wet candy, but hey it was still wrapped. After the trunk or treating we were moved into the cultural hall and there was a family dance or more like a junior high dance. We stayed less than 10 minutes and then went home. On Friday I was invited to my good friends ward and WOW was I impressed and so was Brian. They had games set up and little haunted walk, there was a couple making balloon animals and things of that nature. It was cute! We acquired three fish and they are still swimming strong. The kids had so much FUN!!! It was one of the best Trunk-or-Treats I have been too. If I am ever on the Activities committee again I would suggest something like this!!

My friend Nicole is so creative their entire family were pirates and they brought their treasures with them. What a great looking car!!!

Again no pictures of my boys, what's wrong with me! Ashlyn branched off a little further this night and we had to chase her down a few too many times! Again sorry if you got slobbery wet candy wrappers!! Oh the bishop talked with me and I so wanted to pretend I was not a member and be like what's a bishop but I was a good girl ;)!

On Halloween we sat around and waited and waited for trick-or-treaters. One group came ONE GROUP CAME. How lame is that!! See another reason for a Saturday vote.

2010 Flu Shots

So yeah I know I need to update my forgotten blog, and the reason I just don't want to sit down and download my pictures off of my camera. Sad excuse! Anyways yesterday I had the privilege of taking the three kids to get their flu shots. What a fun adventure that was!! My appointment was at 8:05. YUCK I am NOT a morning person and I have to get up for weekdays. Weekends are for SLEEPING IN!! When I called to schedule I had to take the appointment that was available and it was filled up from the start of the day to the end of the day. So next year I will plan to call last minute! So we got up extra early and headed out. When we got there the boys played for a few minutes on the playground before we got called back. Ashlyn LOVES the playground so she stood at the door and motioned that she wanted out too. Thankfully they called us back quickly and that is when the fun started. Rayle immediately started freaking out and screaming/crying. I asked Teagan to go first to show Rayle that it was quick and easy, no way. So I had little innocent sister go first. What a horrible mother I am. Ashlyn actually did the best. She got her shot in her thigh. She cried for not even a minute maybe only like 10 seconds, I don't know I had an out of control four year old clinging to me. So Teagan went next and I helped hold him on the table for his shot in the arm. I had to hold the arms. I was so embarrassed with how he and Rayle were behaving all I could do was laugh. It was one of those out of body experiences where I wanted to just grab the kids and get the heck out of there. So Teagan realized hey that was not bad and stopped his fight as soon as the shot was in. Now the really fun part, Rayle. Now he is four but he is a pretty solid little boy. He was screaming fighting trying to get off that table. I had to use quite a bit of force to control his body. As the nurse was just about to go in for it, and he got out of my grasp. The nurse asked me if I wanted help to hold him down. I was like no way that will just freak him out even more, so I braced my entire body against him and held hard while she gave him the shot. He did not stop crying for awhile after that until we got outside actually. Ashlyn during this excitement also started crying because Rayle was crying so while I am full body holding my four year old down Ashlyn is crying and clinging to my leg. Yeah that was fun! Last year Ashlyn was too young for a flu shot as they don't give them until they are 6 months old and she was not 6 months until Feb. and I thought what was the use it was already almost spring here. So we had to stay for 20 minutes after to make sure she did not react. Thankfully the kids love the playground and they played there having fun. But every person that was there with kids Teagan had to ask if they had gotten flu shots too and he showed off his bright yellow band-aide. It was pretty funny. He reminds me of my mom and talks to everyone. He also asked about every kid what grade they were in and informed them that he was a first grader. I wish I had video of the shots but yeah I am one person and can't do it all. So next year later appointments and back up for holding our very strong kiddos down!

By the way

MY FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME IS COMING OUT TODAY!!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO GO AND PICK UP BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

I love this girl!

I always said that I only wanted boys, but you have stolen my heart. Though I think you have stolen daddy's more. You are such a sweet and cute little girl. You love to play and push items around like toys, chairs, the laundry basket. You also love having a purse. I think it is the cutest thing! I love your smile and your laugh. I love how your brothers can be so tender with you, but also love to play with you. I love your hair and how it looks when you get up from a nap and it's in every direction. I also love that you have a little bit of chub and I can tell that you love to eat. But you run all day and need your energy. You are so fun right now and I love playing with you! Miss Ashlyn Candyce Gibson

I LOVE this picture. I love our smiles!
Swinging High!

You love your daddy and you have him wrapped around your finger.

Love that little chubby face of yours.

What's your NAME??

I never know who he is going to be each day. Sometimes he stays the same, other days he is someone new. One thing that I will say is he sure is imaginative! Once he pretends he is a character he stays in that mode all day. The big one of late has been Batman. He goes all out! When he is not in his Batman suit he request that we call him Bruce Wayne. Really!! I get reprimanded if I don't address him as Bruce. His other favorites are Peter Parker/Spiderman, Kent Clark/Superman, Logan/Wolverine, and there are others but I don't need to write a novel. I could not find a picture of Rayle dressed like Batman. He finds all sorts of masks or things and puts them on. He also LOVES to get his face painted, but he likes to take it off right after I am done. Hello I just spent 10 to 15 minutes painting your face you are leaving it on all DAY!! Last week he walked around Costco like a vampire and everyone LOVED it. He thought that was pretty cool.

By the way his name, his REAL name is Rayle Carter Gibson!