Sledding down the driveway

 Although I plan on never buying a North facing house again (think piles of snow in our driveway while the people across the street have NONE!) one benefit is a sledding hill right at our house.  After shoveling the drive way after this last snow storm the neighbor kids came over and found it plenty slick so they ran home to get their sleds.

 Chase had so much fun with them I didn't dare tell them they probably shouldn't be sledding out into the road so I went and stood at the bottom of the hill and stopped them before they went out into the road.

This is Liam.  One of Chase's favorite people.  Liam is 6 and in Kindergarten so he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with him, but he just loves it when Liam does come to play.

Another bonus is that when Liam comes to play so do his two older sisters that treat Chase just like a little brother (probably even better!)  They push him in the sled, pull him in the wagon and just make sure that he is taken care of.  Chase always has a blast when they come around.

Utah Firefighters museum

Brody, Chase and I went with some other moms and boys in our ward to the Firefighter museum in Tooele.  I wasn't really sure it was going to hold their attention at all, but I was totally wrong.  

Chase was really wanting to take pictures of all the trucks so I gave him a turn with my camera.  The one of Brody and I was really the only one to turn out.  It was pretty funny watching him with my big heavy camera moving it all around trying to find us through the eye piece.  Apparently everything looked totally different through the lens :)

 From Chase's view..

This is Chase and one of his best buddies Dane.  Dane lives across the street and is in Chase's preschool class.

Chase was really into everything at the museum.  We were lagging behind and he was asking what everything was, but he was most excited when after asking about a really old hose, the lady told him he could hold one on one of the trucks.

 
That was the best part of the trip.  Turns out those hoses are super heavy.

They had some pretty cool old fashion fire trucks, extinguishers, and ambulances.

Trying to get a picture of Chase and Brody together just didn't work out :)

Chase:  "Daddy, when I grow up and am big like you I can be a daddy and you can be my son."
Daniel: "Well Buddy, it doesn't really work like that.  When you grow big and are a daddy you can have      your own little baby that will be your son."
Chase: "Oh, Ok."
Daniel: "What do you think you will name your son?"
Chase:  "Daddy!"

While eating a sucker he got at the Utah Firefighters Museum:
Chase: "Mom would you like to have a taste of my sucker?"
Me: "No thanks Chase."
Chase: "Why don't you want to have a taste?
Me:  "Well if I liked it then I would hurry and eat it all and there wouldn't be any left for you."
Chase:  "Oh, well maybe when you are a 4 year old boy then you can get a sucker from the fire lady."
Me: "......Sounds like a good idea....."

Brody, an update.

 

Brody is our little comedian.  He thinks everything is funny and teases us a lot to get us to laugh.  He can't resist tickling you if you are wrapped up in a blanket and laying down.  He comes at us chanting, "ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka" in a fast high pitched voice.  

      He loves to play different animals.  He plays fetch while pretending to be a doggy, will climb on your back faster than you can blink if you are kneeling on all fours so he can ride a "horse", and loves to play cows or camels or any other little game that Chase has taught him.  

       He is starting into the terrible two tantrums.  When he gets mad he puffs out his chest and starts breathing loud and quickly through his nose like a red bull with a gold ring in his nostril, puffing steam out his nose.   He starts to scream, and starts to hit you or anything around that he things might make you mad.  When he gets in trouble for that, it just eggs on his martyr drama and he will throw himself backwards onto the ground and start rolling around while screaming.  It's really quick funny if you can get over how frustrating it is that he is dumping garbage all over in the process, or whatever new destructive action he can muster.

      Not long ago Daniel and I were trying to talk about something and both of the boys were really pushing our buttons.  We were trying to get them to go play upstairs so we could have a couple minutes to figure something out, (I can't even remember what it was, it was THAT important :)  Both boys were taking turns fighting for our attention and driving us crazy.  Daniel had put up with all he could from Chase and told him to go to time-out and right at that moment, with both of us highly frustrated,  and the boys equally frustrated Brody stuck out his tongue and started spitting.  I couldn't hold in the laughter at Brody's attempt to diffuse the situation and it turned into a giggling fit for us all.  Daniel and I never did get to resolve that really important thing that I can't even remember.

       He can still out eat all of us when he wants to.

       He picks things up from Chase very quickly , especially the things that Chase shouldn't be teaching him, like jumping on my couch, dumping the toy box all over the floor and other troublesome activities.

       He's been a little behind with his language skills compared to Chase at that age.  He doesn't really say any single or double syllable works except: momma, daddy, and go-go.  But now he is starting to speak in short sentances, such as:  I need help "a needa oup" and here you go "ere a go" (which means please)  and a few others that I can't remember right now.  He also LOVES the ABC's.  His favorite show is the Letter Factory about the letters (and tries to make the sound of the letters along with the show), his favorite book is a very simple book that just lists the ABC's and he loves when we sing the song.  He even sings it as well, even though you can't exactly tell what letter he is trying to say. 

      He contributes a lot of laughter and happiness to our home and we love him to death. 

(After seeing the above picture, Chase just asked me what Brody was doing in space :)

Chase says...

Chase comes running excitedly to tell me that he found a lost toy and his throat failed him.
"Mom, why did my voice sound funny?"
         "You must have a frog in your throat."
Shakes head emphatically. "I don't eat frogs with skin on them."
          "No?"
"No!  Just fish with my dad..... cuz I like fish."

Chase says...

"Mom, why can trains hurt you?"
            "Because they are big and hard and can go really fast."
"Like when Chief got hurt?", (referencing The Fox and the Hound.)
             " Yep."
"Is that what they mean when they say :  loog at bell owe?
    (play mad gab with that to find out it strikingly resembles the phrase "look out below!"
               "Yep, that must be why they say that," wondering why he was talking so strangely.
Chase states emphatically, "That's Spanish."



Driving through the outskirts of Tooele Chase sees an LDS church building.
"Is that OUR church?"
              "No, ours is in Stansbury Park."
"Who goes to that church?"
              "Probable the people that live here in Tooele."
"Like Macey, right?"  (referring to the grocery store)

    Lately this kids is all about basketball.  The one in the picture is a special one his dad picked up as a surprise birthday gift/ souvenir from his Las Vegas basketball trip.  He dribbles it all over the house and loves to try and shoot hoops through my arms forming a basket.
    He's still all about hoses and vacuums (even more so than the basketball.)  He is drawn to any sort of item that even resembles a hose: vacuum hoses, air compressor hoses, the hoses you put balls into at the children's museum, straws,  cords, snakes, the list goes on.
     He is very smart and is doing very well in preschool (after a short episode of not allowing me to leave him there.)  He is also doing really well in his primary class, also after a period of not being willing to stay without me or Daniel.
     He is very persistent.  When he decides he wants to do something he will do it.  It's just a matter of time and effort, but he will master it and won't give up trying until he does.  Along with this he has little patience.  When he can't get things to work out immediately he starts to get very frustrated, very much like his dad in both of these aspects.
      He loves trying to make Brody laugh and Brody loves to laugh (sometimes fake laugh), so they make a good team.
      I feel so lucky to get to spend time with him everyday.  We usually have time to hang out in the afternoons when Brody is taking a nap and I really enjoy getting to know him better and enjoy spending that time laughing with him and answering his incessant questions.
      He really challenges me on some really simple things.  He wants to know everything about everything: the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY of EVERYTHING are very important to him.  I have always been very trusting to the point of being naive and gullible.  I ask about something and accept that, that is that.  It's never really occurred  to me to care about WHAT or Why.   So some of his most simple questions require some thought and searching for answers of my own and I love that he is teaching me so much.
      Chase brings a lot of thought and happiness to our home and we just love him.

Happy New Years

 We made homemade ice cream

 which Brody enjoyed....

 VERY MUCH!

 ...well, we all did.

 We let Chase pick out a couple of games to play, but considering his attention span is about 3 minutes that's about how long each game lasted.

 This chess set was an Ecuadorian souvenier.  It's little figures carved out of some kind of nut, but Chase loves the walruses.  Here is is making an "oof oof" sound like a walrus.

Can't be a party without treats, hence the chocolate in Chase's mouth.

Some neighbors were doing big pretty fireworks and suddenly Chase remembered we had some sparklers left over from the 4th of July, so we headed out to watch fireworks/ do sparklers.

We did a countdown with Chase to 8:00 and sent him to bed with the popping and crackling of fireworks in the background (which went on for the rest of the night).

We tried to stay up watching a movie and playing games but I feel asleep and headed for bed at 11:45.  I really couldn't make it the last 15 minutes.

I'm starting to think New Year's Eve is a sad excuse for teenagers and college kids to stay up all night.  It's just not the same when you have kids that are going to be getting you out of bed at 6:00 the next morning.

Daniel made this great movie and I absolutely love it.

Watch for:  

      Daniel sticking his tongue out at me in fast motion.

      Chase begging to see the video in a chipmunk voice.

      Me screaming AAAH when Chase hits me with a snowball.

      Brody running off to who knows where.

      Brody's face when we send him down on the sled by himself.

      Chase explaining the "electrical monster" (which he 100% believes is real).

      

I'm sure it won't be as funny to you, but it cracks me up every time.

Enjoying December warmth

 The end of December has brought us some very beautiful, spring-like, weather and we couldn't help but take our new "jeep" (4runner that we all call our jeep thanks to Chase) out on some dirt roads and play around. 

 Brody pretending to eat a rock.  He was eating mud and rocks and I kept telling him no, so he started teasing me with pretending.

 The snowsuits are becuase I'm tired of the kids getting sick EVERY time we go outside in the winter.  So now they wear snowsuits anytime we will be outside for more than 5 minutes.  Yep, they hate us for it :)

Christmas pictures.

Totally forgot my camera over Christmas :(

 Thank goodness for Daniel's android or we would have nothing. 

Christmas eve was spent singing Christmas songs, playing, laughing, watching Polar Express and opening one present from the Grandparents including pajamas.  As you can see the little boys were so excited to get an early start on the paper ripping experience.

The rest of Christmas eve was spent playing white elephant games including around the world ping pong, mexican train dominos, and the our traditional roll the dice game. 

This year Mr. and Mrs. Clause got a new Miter saw, sander, and Jigsaw so they were hard at work every night in December after kids went to bed making a tool bench and blocks.

The Cars suitcases were very last minute (they showed up on our doorstep the day before Christmas) but they couldn't be passed up after a great deal.  And they were worth the last minute stress.  Brody was the first one up on Christmas morning and we took him in to see the toys.  The first thing he saw was the Lightning Mcqueen suitcase and he ran straight to it (then it was off to check out Capri's kitchen :).

Who knew a sliver could create such a funny picture?

We enjoyed lots of yummy food including Brody's new favorite treat: Ice cream.

Visiting Santa

I'm not a huge fan of  Walmart, but I am a huge fan of them bringing Santa to their store for a visit.  I will not stand in line for hours at a mall waiting for my screaming children to NOT sit on his lap (BA HUMBUG!)  But seriously.  It's for me and not them.  They don't like it, yet, and I just need a picture so when Walmart offered a free picture with Santa I knew it was our only chance for the boys to sit on his lap, AND there was no line.

I was right, they refused to sit on his lap and screamed (which is why Daniel and I are in the picture) , but I'm happy to have the picture.

Santa can't read!

Out of the blue several days after Christmas Chase tells me, "Mom, Santa Clause didn't get my letter."  I tried to reassure him that Santa probably did get his letter because we mailed it with a stamp, and I asked him why he was concerned.  "Well, ....does he know how to spell S-N-A-K-E?  Did he give me a SNAKE?!?"

That's right Santa, one of the two simple things Chase asked for was not found under our tree on Christmas morning.  You blew it!

The proof is in the letter:

 (A pretend snake, not a real one :)

Chase turns 4

 (Way back in November)

Daniel made plans for a guys basketball trip to Las Vegas the weekend of Thanksgiving which ended up interfering with Chase's birthday.
We set out to make it up to him starting with a trip to Chuckee cheese the week before.  (Thanks to groupon for the cheap outing!)

 We had been once before and Chase loves this place.

His favorite is this jeep ride.  He would sit there the whole time  if I didn't make him get off and give the other kids a turn.

 They had a few birthday parties going on at the same time and when Chase would hear them singing Happy Birthday he was so excited to hear them singing "to him".
He even got to meet and hug Chuckee Cheese himself.

 Before leaving for Thanksgiving break we had a little party at the house.  Mickey mouse called on the phone to talk to Chase and tell him happy birthday and Chase was so excited!  I loved that you can arrange forhim to call.   Chase was just thrilled.

 Chase chose to decorate the cake himself.  He insisted on me leaving the room while he did it.  I set up the video camera and later watched as he ate as much candy as he put on his cake.   By they time he was done the cake was LOADED.

I took him to the store to pick out what kind of cake he wanted and treats to decorate it with.  While we were there he asked to pick out some cereal for his birthday breakfast.  I offered to make him anything he wanted but he just anted to pick out some boxed cereal.  He walked up and down the aisle looking at all the boxes and grabbed one or two before putting them back for another kind.  We were about the leave with some fruity pebbles with marshmallows when he spotted the Raisin Bran.  My crazy little sugar lover put back the fruity pebbles with marshmallows and chose Raisin Bran.

Finally on his actual birthday I had taken the boys to Moab so we made another cake and got some balloons.

Poor Chase at this point was just starting to get pink eye and double ear infections.

For his birthday, Aiden bought a pinata .  They had so much fun taking turns beating the treasure chest to death.  And when they cracked it open, they hardley had to rush to gather candy.  Between the two of them they casually picked up the pieces that they wanted.

All in all he had a lot of fun