WE'll BE LOyal Scouts

Connor received his Webelos Badge a few weeks ago. Webelos stands for We'll Be Loyal Scouts, hence the title of this post. He's only bee a Webelo since October, but he has already passed off all the requirements for the badge.  Here he is (along with me & some other boys that also received their Webelos award) waiting to be presented with his badge.  Good job Connor...

I'm glad that he is already done with this badge because now we can focus on finishing up the requirements for his Religious Square Knot & start working on his Arrow of Light.  Sigh...it never ends.  --Lindsay

Lucky Boys!

My Dad gets a lot of free stuff from work. And, we're not talking t-shirts shirts--we're talking tickets to really cool events.  And, sometimes, we get to be the recipients of those tickets.  Like a few weeks ago when my dad offered us two tickets to a Jazz game.  They were actually suite tickets--in KSL's suites.  (For those of you that don't know, KSL is a competing station of mine....haha!)  Poppy was originally going to take Aiden to the game because Aiden had never been to a Jazz game before.  But, then Poppy ended up having to go out of town on business, so he gave his ticket to Mike so that he could take Aiden.  Here's the one & only picture they took of themselves from that night...

They had a blast, and the Jazz even won--which of course made it better.  Shhhh, don't tell KSL that they gave tickets to one of their competitor's families.  It will be our little secret!  Mwhahahaha!

As if that weren't enough fun for one week, Poppy also got four tickets to Real Salt Lake's season opener.  He decided to be a brave soul & take all three of our boys with him to the game.  And, these tickets weren't just regular tickets--these were VIP tickets on the field level.  Lucky boys...

Because it was the season opener, all the fans threw streamers onto the field.  As you can imagine, the boys had a field day with them...

The boys had a great time!  They came home all sorts of souvenirs from their fun day.  I think Poppy came home with a headache & a serious need for a nap!

Thanks so much for sharing all your fun goodies with us Poppy!  My children are some pretty lucky kiddos!  --Lindsay

Big Girl Bed

Man, you turn two-years-old & big things start happening! First, Vivvie was able to switch to a forward-facing "big girl" carseat, and now this...

 

Yep, the crib has been turned into a toddler bed again!  Here's the way the room looked when we first brought Vivvie home from the hospital...

 

And how it looks now...

So, as you can see, not a whole lot has changed in the past two years--except that my baby has changed into a toddler!  But, I'm actually surprised that we waited this long to make the switch.  We moved all our boys into the toddler bed when they were around 18 months old.  I was trying to figure out why we switched them so much earlier than we switched Viv--and then I remembered.  We switched all our boys to a toddler bed when they started jumping (a.k.a. falling) out of the crib.  I was worried they would hurt themselves trying their tricky little escape moves, so we switched the crib to a toddler bed in order to hopefully prevent a trip to the E.R.  Vivienne, on the other hand, never jumped--or even tried to jump--out of the crib.  Not once!  Guess that's the difference between boys & girls!

So far, the transition has been a great one!  This is another way that Vivvie has been very different from the boys--because none of their transitions were easy...at all.  We had to bribe Connor to stay in bed by letting him watch movies when he went to sleep (stupid first time parent decision right there).  We would find Aiden awake & up playing with his toys hours after we thought he was asleep.  And, Cohen was such an escapee that Mike or I had to sit by his door--sometimes for hours--to make sure he didn't get out of bed.  So, I was expecting the same thing with Viv.  The first day she took a nap in the toddler bed, she actually tried to get out, but fell & hurt herself.  She cried & cried & cried.  It must have been pretty traumatic for her because she hasn't attempted to get out since.  When she wakes up in the morning or after her nap, she just sits in bed & calls for us until we go get her out.  Awesome!!!

After we made the toddler bed switch, I realized that the crib would never be a crib again.  This was the last time we would switch it to a toddler bed.  And the next step will be to switch it to a full size bed for Viv a few years from now.  We've never made it to the full-size-point yet because there was always another baby on the way that needed to use it as a crib.  But, not this time.  I thought I would be sad about it, but--surprisingly--I wasn't.  I realized that life is finally getting to the point where I don't have to pack up my entire nursery & kitchen just to go to the grocery store.  And, hopefully in the next 6 months or so, I won't even have to take diapers with me when I leave the house.  That, my friends, is what I call freedom!!  Can you smell it...because I can!

Don't get me wrong, it kills me to see my kids growing up so fast. It seems like these past two years with Vivvie have been a whirlwind. I'm scared that if I blink too long, all four of them will be grown up with kids of their own. I really just wish I could pause life right as it is right now.  I love my life & feel so content with it.  My kids are at great ages right now--10, 7, 4 & 2.  Does it get any better than that?  A few years from now, I'll be dealing with teenage issues & homework that I don't know how to do.  Just thinking about it makes me feel overwhelmed.  I'm sure when I get there, I'll look back on the days of 50 lb. diaper bags, overnight feedings & uncontrollable crying (both from baby & mom) & think, "Man!  Those were the easy days!"  Sigh...  Now that I think of it that way, maybe I am a little sad about seeing the crib go for the final time...........{{pause}}..............but, not sad enough to have another baby, mind you.  That's just crazy talk!

Next step in the life cycle of the crib--finally turning it into a full size bed a few years from now!  It's crazy to think of little Vivvie sleeping in a full size bed, but I know from experience that it will be here before I know it.  --Lindsay

Vivvie Turns Two!!!

Well, I can't believe it--but this girl turned two-years-old on February 21st...

She wasn't in much of a picture-taking mood on her big day...

But she is the sweetest thing ever!

I seriously don't know where those two years went.  They flew by way too quickly for my liking...

And now my baby isn't a baby anymore.  She's definitely turning into a little girl more & more everyday...

Two-years-old wasn't the only milestone she just reached.  She also recently *finally* made it to the 20 lb. mark.  Yep, my two-year-old is the size of most one-year-olds.  She's not even on the growth chart for weight (again) and is barely on the growth chart for height.  Here are her stats:

Weight: 20.8 lbs. (Below the growth chart)

Length: 31.4" (3rd percentile)

Head Circumference: 45.8 cm (10th percentile)

 

There's an old wives' tale that says if you double your child's height at age 2, it will give you their height as an adult.  Well, that means Viv is going to be 5' 2" when she's fully grown.  Can you say petite?  Just for reference, I went back & looked at what my other kids will be according to this tale--Connor was 36" tall at 2-years-old, so he will be 6' 0"; Aiden was 35.5" at 2-years-old so he will be 5' 11"; Cohen was 33" tall at 2-years-old so he'll only be 5' 6"; & now Viv will only be 5' 2".  We better not have anymore kids or we may end up with one that's shorter than 5' 0".  They just keep getting smaller each time!

 

Anyway, now that Viv is *finally* 20 lbs, I was able to switch her out of her backwards seat & put her in a forward-facing seat.  This means she doesn't have to crank her head around to watch movies in the car.  Do you think she's excited about it?  I can't tell...

We didn't do a whole lot on her actual birthday because it was on a weekday--Mike was at work & the boys were at school, but we did go to dinner that night.  We went to her favorite place, McDonalds, so she could get her favorite food, chicken nuggets...

After dinner, the kids played in the play area for awhile.  Viv is our cautious child & wasn't so sure about it at first...

But, with a little coaxing from Big Brother Connor, she finally gave it a try...

And really liked it...

Until he took her down the big slide.  She wasn't too thrilled about that.

After dinner, we headed back home to open her presents.  She getting to the point where she can unwrap presents herself, so it was fun to watch her...

This past Christmas, Vivvie got a bunch of the new Little People Princesses & their castle.  She absolutely loves them, so she got even more of them for her birthday.  She got Cinderella in her wedding dress & Prince Charming...

Belle in her wedding dress & Beast in his prince form...

Plus Snow White & all seven of the dwarfs...

She loved them & wanted us to take them out of the box immediately.  Then she had to go get her other princesses so she could put them all in pile together.  Once that was done, she was finally ready to move on to the other presents.

Vivienne is slightly obsessed with Dora the Explorer.  Okay, she's extremely obsessed.  Viv was being babysat at a neighbors house a few weeks ago when she found a Dora doll of their daughters.  She wouldn't let go of it...even when it was time to leave.  So, you can probably guess what her next present was.  Her very own Dora doll--complete with super annoying birthday song.  Viv loves it...

Then, it was time for the grand finale!  Mike & Connor went out to the garage and brought this thing into the house...

It's Vivvie's very own kitchen!  As you can tell, she loves this thing...

She got right to work making dinner for everyone...

I'm about 98% sure she was switched at birth.  No child of mine could love pretending to cook & bake this much...

It was really fun to see how excited she got about the kitchen & her other presents!  Eventually, we had to pry her away from the kitchen--kicking & screaming--when it was time for bed.

The next day, we continued the birthday celebration.  Mike has Fridays off, so after the boys got home from school, we all headed up to Discovery Gateway.  If you're not familiar with it, it is a children's museum in downtown SLC that has some of the cutest exhibits I've ever seen!  One of the exhibits is a little playhouse that Vivvie fell in love with instantly!  She found a baby doll inside, put it in a highchair, plopped herself down on one of the seats & then started feeding the baby.  This little gal is such a girlie girl!  I love it...

While Viv was playing in the house, her brothers got busy working in the construction site...

And playing in the water...

Viv wasn't much of a fan of the water exhibit.  She absolutely refused to touch anything...

All the kids loved the little grocery store.  They all took turns being the shoppers & the employees...

Then we headed upstairs to build with blocks...

And play with magnets...

And we even entered traitor territory by playing in the pretend KSL studio...

It was funny to see the kids gravitate to the green screen.  They wanted nothing to do with the news desk.  They just wanted to do the weather.  Not that I can blame them though--after all, it *is* the best job in the world.  And, I have to say, that all the kids were pretty darn good at it too.  Maybe it runs in the family???

On Sunday, we finished out the celebration with Viv's official birthday party.  Everyone came over for dinner & then showered Vivvie with presents...

She loves the Minnie doll that Nana & Poppy brought back from Disneyland for her...

This little baby doll that Sosha's family gave her is now one of her new favorites...

Can you tell how much she loves the Disney Princesses???  Thanks Nana & Poppy...

Another Dora doll.  This time from Tata & Dan.  She likes this one better than the one Mike & I gave her because this one has removable shoes.  That's another one of Viv's fascinations--shoes.  Seriously, could she get any girlier?

Grandpa & Grandma gave her a new outfit...

She liked it so much that she insisted on putting it on right away, and then made a bed for herself & her new baby doll...

We ended the night with cake & ice cream.  Here was Vivvie's cake...

She saw a picture of this cake at the grocery store a few weeks ago & just *had* to have it!  We stopped to look at the picture & then I made the mistake of asking, "Do you want this cake for your birthday?"  But, in her two-year-old mind, that meant, "Do you want to take it home right now?"  You can imagine her disappointment when I just ordered it & then walked away with nothing in hand.  Let's just say it involved yelling, screaming & kicking...and it wasn't pretty.  So, she was super happy to finally have her beloved Dora (or as she says it "Dowa") cake...

We sang "Happy Birthday" and then told Viv to blow out the two candles--and she actually did it!  What a smart little cookie...

The last week of February is actually a really busy birthday time for our family.  Both Dan & Greg have birthdays the same week as Vivvie, so we celebrated their birthday's as well.  They had a joint cake & we told them they had to both blow out the candles at the same time.  They weren't about to get close to each other & pucker up, so they blew from a distance...

And eventually got all the candles out--with their mancards intact...

It was a fun party & a fun few days!  I still can't believe that Vivienne is two-years-old.  It seems like she was just born maybe a year ago--if even that.  I can't believe what a fun, happy, confident, smart, pretty (and sassy) little girl she is becoming!  We all love her more than words can say.  Bring on the terrible twos!  This should be fun!  --Lindsay