Wednesday, November 24, 2010

St. George

Well, Joey is crying so the pictures will do most of the talking. We took a weekend trip up to St George and had a lot of fun! We went to Zion's Nat'l Park and did some light hiking. It was FREEZING cold when we got there (30 degrees) and I was totally unprepared. So I stayed in the car with Joey at first and Eric took the rest of the rugrats...Then it warmed up a little so we went for a short hike together. I know I don't look that great here, but oh well.

The kids all had a blast.
Tyler was holding the camera and took this shot. He told me, "I am going to take a really pretty picture getting everything in it--even the sky." He did a good job. What do you think, a future Ansel Adams?
Grandma and Grandpa Swenson came down on Saturday and surprised the kids. They loved it! Grandpa brought down his Rhino and took everyone for rides. It was a hit!

Maggie sure loves her "pop pop".

Sunday mornings are a beast (church doesn't start until 1:00) and I try not to let the kids watch tv or anything on Sunday. So the morning can get pretty boring. Last Sunday we decided to build a tent. We turned the ENTIRE front room into a fort. The boys loved it--Maggie ruined it a couple times but we were able to fix it. We left it up all day. Tyler and Jacob put on some costumes and ran around "spying" on me, including taking random pictures (none of which will be shown here due to their unflattering nature).
Sorry not too many details, but today it is all I can do to get the pictures up!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Happy Happy Birthday Maggie Dear!

First of all, I have to tell you about my hairspray (sounds interesting already, right?). I bought a double pack of hairspray at Costco a while back and the brand written across the front in big letter is "BIG SEXY HAIR." I didn't think much of it, but it is also the hairspray I use for the kids. Well, Tyler is more observant than I thought--he dropped it a few days ago and said, "Oh no, the Big Sexy Hair!" and then yesterday I styled his hair and he said, "Spray some Big Sexy Hair on it!" Ugh, that sounds so bizarre coming from the mouth of a 7-year-old! I guess it could be worse....(Mom, what does sexy mean?) I was a nerd for Halloween and it was hard enough trying to explain to the boys what THAT was!

Maggie has recently taken a love to her backpack. Grandma Swenson gave it to her a long time ago, but until now it has sat dormant. Well, she hardly takes it off, calls it her "paa-pack." She even puts toys in it and stuff. It is so cute!
Joey is getting enormous. He is over 13 pounds now. He has started smiling a little, not too much though. I was lucky enough to get one (kind of) on camera... You can see the remnants of it at least.
Here he is showing off his muscles. (Note the size of his Swenson head...thanks dad.)
Jacob insisted....Joey looks indifferent. And no, my boys hardly ever wear shirts at home. I don't know what their deal it. Well, I guess they wear them all day, but they usually don't wear shirts to bed. I don't really care, but it looks like my kids are always half naked!
Another pic of Joey...it is so hard to get a good picture of babies at this age. They look so cute in person but it just never seems to translate to the camera. They always have some weird look or squished up face. At least it gives you an idea.
Maggie turned 2 yesterday and we had a little party at home, just us. She LOVES this show "Wow Wow Wubbzy" so I decided to make her a Wubbzy cake. It turned out pretty darn good if you ask me. For those who aren't familiar with Wubbzy you'll have to Google it so you can be impressed at my cake decorating skills.
Maggie knew exactly who it was (how could she not given my mad cake skills) and was OBSESSED with the cake. She wanted to look at it all day long. It was a relief to finally cut it up and not have to keep picking her up to see it. It made me feel good that she loved it so much! Now there's a girl who appreciates a cake!
She didn't get much, but her 2 main gifts were a dolly and stroller--note the expression of pure joy on her face. Do I really need to tell you how much she loves it?
She pushes everything around in the stroller, not just the doll--sippy cups, lite bright pieces, legos, anything she can get her hands on. And she loves the doll--she even held it while she ate her cake and ice cream!
All in all it was a success. Now no more birthdays until May!