"Please leave your Buzz at home"

I've mentioned in the past how much my boys love the Toy Story movies and toys. Mason especially is a fan and even though there are few things he has experienced in his 2 years of life, he definitely has his likes, dislikes, and obsessions concretely set. So when the boy sitting behind us in church this morning began playing with his Buzz Lightyear on top of our bench, I quickly asked his parents if he could hide it before Mason saw it, but it was too late. Mason started screeching "Buzz!", "Buzz!" at the top of his lungs. The boys parents tried to hide the Buzz but it was too late. Mason was squirming and reaching while pleading and crying for Buzz. I had to escape out into the hall before we became the main attraction of the meeting. I'll have to admit I was a little miffed with the kids parents for letting him bring an action figure to sacrament meeting, but as parents we'd almost do anything to keep our kids quiet and well behaved during church. Luckily the meeting was almost over so the ordeal didn't last too long. I don't know how long Mason's obsession will last, but it does make our lives more interesting.

Merry Christmas

We had a fun, low-key Christmas and it was nice to lounge around in pajamas eating chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate all day. Mason finished off his candy from his stocking pretty quick and then attempted to move on to other peoples treats. So the kids learned pretty quick to stash their candy out of sight. Opening presents was a little tough for Mason too. He didn't quite understand that he couldn't just start tearing wrapping paper off of whatever present he chose. The other kids were pretty understanding though and didn't mind letting Mason help them or go out of turn opening his gifts. It will probably take us a few days to recover from the clutter of toys and presents strewn around the main floor. Mason received a tent and tunnel combo set that is quite large, so it has to stay downstairs until we decide we've had enough.

Some of the kids favorite gifts were a Nintendo DS, a talking Woody and Buzz, a slot car race track, Marble works, and Super Mario Bro's Wii. Even though we have other Woody and Buzz action figures, my boys can't get enough. You would think having 4 of each would stifle any jealousy, but with a 2 year who is obsessed with all things "Toy Story", he has to have any related toy in his possession at all times: when he's sleeping, eating, riding in the car, and he even attempts to take them in the bath but I have to draw the line somewhere : )

Although it was nice having a laid back Christmas, it didn't feel the same without the crazy chaos of Christmas Eve bingo, or the continuous stream of debating chatter that often results from having Gabe, Devon and Thomas in the same room. Too bad Texas is so far away, oh well, I guess we'll have to try to get everyone to come to Utah next year.

Baby Update

So I went to an appointment this afternoon for an ultrasound to check to see why my belly is measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule. The doctor wanted to make sure that I don't have too much amniotic fluid and that the baby's growth is normal. Of course I don't know how you can categorize my pregnancies as normal. Thanks to my husbands genes all of our kids have large heads and thanks to my genes all of our boys have weighed over 9 pounds delivered a week early. So this baby is no different. According to the ultrasound tech. his head and stomach are measuring 2 weeks further along then my due date. Unfortunatley this doesn't mean I'll be going into labor 2 weeks early, my babies are never eager to leave their safe cacoon. I've always been induced a week early in hopeful anticipation that they be delivered while they still fit. So my inducement date is still set for the 15th of February and I just get to enjoy feeling like a big whale for 8 more weeks.

Christmas Traditions

This year I wanted to start a new tradition in our family, so I thought it would be fun to make a "traditional" red and green advent chain and on each link have a message written about a member of the family describing a good quality. So for a family night activity, I prepared all the red and green strips of paper, then each person got to write one nice thing about everyone else and then help put the chain together. On December 1st we began taking a link off the chain every evening and reading it aloud so everyone could hear what nice thing was being said about that person. The kids have really loved reading the messages every night, and it's great to see their faces light up as they hear the compliments others wrote about them. The message we read this evening was about Tucker and he liked it so much that he asked me to tape it back into a loop so he could keep it. I'm pretty sure he went to bed with it.

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Kisses make everything better

At lunch today when Mason was eating his sandwich, he accidentally bit his fingers. From his crying is sounded like he had chomped down pretty hard. I wrapped his fingers in a wet washcloth and tried comforting him. He calmed down a little but was still whimpering. He grabbed a napkin and wrapped it around his fingers, but wasn't satisfied with the results. Then he put his fingers up to my lips so I could kiss them all better, which I did. He quickly relaxed and began eating his food again. It's amazing how much difference a Mother's kiss can make. Even though I feel like I fall short in so many ways, I'm glad to know I can offer my kids some comfort with the simple act of "kissing it all better".

Big Baby

So I had a prenatal check up yesterday and found out that I am measuring 3 weeks bigger than I should. It's a known fact that I have big boy babies, but the doctor has scheduled me for an ultra sound to make sure there isn't anything abnormal going on. I'm not worried, I just wish I would stop gaining weight at such a rapid pace because by pelvis is about to split it two. At the rate I'm going I'll gain 50 lb. by the time I give birth, it won't be a pretty sight.

Absentminded or Brain Dead?

Last week we had a huge snow storm and the boys wanted to shovel the driveway after wards. So I got them all bundled up and took them out with the camera to get some good footage. Well Mason fell down and needed some help, so I quickly set the camera on top of the van to go help him. As I was doing it, I knew the chances of me forgetting it there were pretty high, so I told myself mentally "don't forget the camera's on the van", three times, figuring that would do the trick. Five days later, as I was trying to fall asleep at night, my brain finally remembered "don't forget the camera's on the van". So now we are camera-less and our blog will not have any pictures for awhile. Luckily we still have a video camera and Elizabeth has agreed to let us borrow her point and shoot so we can capture some pictures on Christmas morning.

Decorating for Christmas

This year I started decorating a few days before Thanksgiving. Since I like to arrange, then re-arrange and then re-arrange some more, I thought it wise to have everything the way I like at least a couple of weeks before Christmas. Our tree has been redecorated many times thanks to Mason's "help". The ribbon is just too enticing for him, so he has pulled it off more times than I can count.

Our first year with a pre-lit tree, I don't
know why I waited so long!

My nesting boxes on top of the fridge

The small shelf in our living room

My "small" snowman collection on top of the piano

Our large shelf in the family room (the stockings
won't look off center next year when we can add one more)

Happy Birthday Hayden

We celebrated Hayden's birthday a few days late since we were on vacation for his actual birthday. I bought a chocolate silk pie rather than make a cake. It was fast and easy and didn't require any additional energy on my part.

Hayden was excited to receive Lego Indiana Jones Wii game

Opening his present from Grandma Gosney: a cool art kit

For his last present he got laser guns

Rexburg Road trip

Three weeks ago I took the kids to Rexburg during their Fall break. We stayed at Motel 8, and the kids thought it was pretty luxurious because it had an indoor pool. We were able to visit my grandparents, Boyd and Janet and my sister Allie and her family. It was quite the experience taking that trip without Gabe and quite the challenge to get Mason to stay in his playpen and sleep at night. But it was good practice for our Disneyland trip.

While we were visiting we went to a few different parks, two of which had ducks. We bought a loaf of bread at the grocery store and the kids had so much fun feeding the ducks. Tucker was a little overwhelmed by their forwardness and ran shrieking when a duck plucked some bread right out of his hand. After that I stuck him in the back of the van to throw bread out the rear window where he felt much safer.

Climbing on rocks at the I.F. park

Brianna sneaking up on the ducks

Feeding ducks from the safety of the van

A piece of bread for Mason...

...a piece of bread for the duck.

Happy Halloween

We were in San Diego for Halloween visiting Tom and Traci (Gabe's uncle and aunt). The kids had a fun day relaxing after our 3 days at Disneyland. It was nice and sunny so the kids were eager to slip into their swim suits and jump into the pool.

The boys enjoying the "luke-warm" hot tub

Brianna relaxing in the sun

The kids dressed up in their costumes to go trick or treating with their cousins. The boys didn't last very long because their feet were already worn out from 3 days of walking. But they still managed to rack up a lot of candy.

Hayden was Indiana Jones and
Brianna dressed as a Vampire

Tucker as a ghost

Mason dressed as Woody

Mason kicked off his boots to relax
and enjoy some candy

Disney Land

After battling the Swine Flu for a week, Anna and the kids recovered enough to go on our Disney Land vacation last week for Hayden's birthday. Of course there was crying, and whining and fun all mixed in, but I think the kids will only remember the fun. Walking 10-12 hours each day was quite tiring, but the kids were all troopers and we even survived sleeping 6 people in a small hotel room for 4 nights.

Snow White's Castle

The Sword in the Stone

A Bug's Land

Aladdin

Mickey's Toon Town

Mom, Tucker and Mason riding Dumbo

Flea circus bumper cars

Hayden's favorite ride was Pirate's of the Caribbean which we went on 8 times. Tucker's was Buzz's astro blasters, Mason's favorite ride was Dumbo, and Brianna loved the scarier rides like Space Mtn. California Screamin, and Hollywood Tower of Terror (which I went on with her but thought I was going to die!)

Mason snoozing, Brianna on carousel

Tucker in Mickey's House

Hayden and Mason in Mickey's House

Enjoying a river boat ride...

...with the whole family

Tucker checking out the Halloween sceen

Hayden's birthday cake in Mickey's house

Friday was Hayden's birthday and we celebrated with a birthday dinner at the Blue Bayou which is a restaurant in the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride. The kids were so exhausted that they all fell asleep on the table before we were finished.

Our "Monster Mash"

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We're having a...

BOY

When I figure out how to upload our ultrasound video I'll post it to our blog.

September Sampler

This month has been pretty busy, but that's not really an excuse for being behind on my blog since I'm always behind. Brianna and Hayden are in after school clubs this year. They both joined the Einstein club where they get to conduct experiences and do cool "Einsteiny stuff" : )

We bought all 3 boys scooters, but they were short lived since Hayden's got stolen school within the first few days, and then Tucker's fell apart on his way home from school and he couldn't find a couple of the small pieces that keep it together so it's trash now. I hate wasting money!

We tried out a new restaurant called Pirate Island Pizza and I have to say it was pretty cool. Our table was actually placed in a cave in the wall so we had a lot of privacy. Later we found out it was the only cave in the whole restaurant so we felt pretty special. The kids had a blast playing in the arcade area and the decorations were awesome, you felt like you could be in a pirate movie. Gabe went a little overboard buying the kids souvenirs at the gift shop, but he always does. We decided that we could only afford to go there once a year after that trip (mostly impart to the souvenirs).

Hayden and Tucker in their new pirate hats
from Pirate Island Pizza.

The day after our outing to Pirate Island, Mason had a little adventure of his own. He got into our master bathroom, climbed up the drawers onto the counter and got into our tub of vaseline. We discovered him with greasy, spikey hair and I knew right away what he had done. When I went into our bathroom I found the mirrors finger painted with vaseline and everything else he could get his hands on covered in greasy goo. Needless to say, I didn't use my electric toothbrush for awhile after that.

Mason's vaseline slicked hair and forehead

For family night the past few weeks, our family game/activity has been Gabe giving the kids bucking bronco rides. So now they enjoy giving each other rides. Mason in only 10 lb. less than Tucker, so it was a pretty slow ride.

Faster Tucker, faster!