A Meager Easter

I realized last night I never posted pictures of our Easter. Probably because it was hardly one worth mentioning! We were in the throes of potty training so Saydi missed out on the annual Easter egg hunt at Pa Sid's house but Weston went and he had a fabulous time. He brought home just enough candy for the Easter bunny to be happy since the Easter bunny didn't get any for Sunday morning. =) Sunday morning they woke up and enjoyed seeing their little gifts.

Unfortunately we couldn't go to church so the kids' cute outfits were saved for later. We looked at pictures of Jesus though and talked about why we have Easter and I found out that when Saydi says "Heavenly Father" it sounds a whole lot like "Harry Potter". Ha!

We spent the rest of the morning watching our new movie, Megamind, and playing with the pillows they got. Weston and Saydi both loved theirs but Weston is still over the moon for his lion. He still has a thing for them.

Later in the day we went to Grandpa and Grandma Anderson's just long enough to make messes and steal leftovers. Wes had a blast playing guns with Koy and Grandpa. Koy and Wes teamed up to try to get Grandpa while he shot nerf balls at them. Saydi helped by picking up all the ammunition and resupplying Grandpa. It was cute and nice to get out of the house for the first time in a week! So our Easter wasn't a total bust, but here's to hoping next year will be even better!

Picture Fest

I've noticed my posts have been extremely lengthy lately so here are some just plain old cute pictures we've taken lately.

Mark was watching music videos the other morning on the laptop with his earphones and Saydi wanted to listen. She sat there and listened to music for a good 10 minutes. Loved it.

Saydi admiring her handiwork. From being out of sight for literally 10 seconds.

I have so many pictures of Saydi and tried to snag some of Weston but this is what we came up with. He is so hard to get a decent picture of!

Saydi making herself comfy while mommy gets ready for the day. She liked sitting here when she was in diapers - but now that they've come off and we're potty training she isn't so keen on the potty any more. =/

Mark made this mohawk the other night in the bath. I know I'm biased but I love that she looks so stinking beautiful even with a crazy hair do like this.

All of us sisters surprised Miss for a belated birthday celebration and kidnapped her to go to Olive Garden and then play games at my house. It was so fun. This is Amy and me and we don't get pics together often so I had to put it on the blog. =) Love my sisters!

Since potty training is going on absolutely nothing else is around here. In fact, poor Saydi will be missing out on some of the Easter festivities this weekend because we are glued to the house but progress is coming and only having one in diapers will be wonderful! Here's to hoping life will be "normal" again soon!

Weston and Saydi's Rooms

Phew! I finally managed to finish Weston and Saydi's bedrooms. It's taken me longer then I anticipated because I forgot you still have to do all the other daily things when you take on other projects. But they are done and I can finally say I like their bedrooms. We were on a pretty tight budget so they're not something for Home and Garden magazine but hey, it's better then what we had going on before! Miss offered her husband's vinyl services to me and the offer was too good to refuse so all the vinyl you see you can have done for yourself if you like it at Landmark Signs in Idaho Falls.

Weston's Room

A word to those with boys...if you ever are looking for boys bed sets all you will find is BLUE! Since his walls were painted blue when we moved in I didn't feel like redoing it but I also didn't want so much blue in his room. So I found this star material I liked and I decided to accent the red and brown instead of blue and after a LOT of sewing I think it was worth it. I like the way it looks and the fact that he can grow with it, even if it is nothing fancy or special!

The view when you walk in.

A close up of his name board and ribbon picture collage. I pretty much did the same things in both Weston and Saydi's rooms but I like it in both of them. I got this idea one sleepless night and my three favorite things are that it cost about five bucks to do, it takes up a whole wall, and I can change out the pictures so that his room grows as he does.

I heard this quote at a scout leadership meeting and immediately knew it would go on Weston's wall some day. I love it. If you can't read it, it says: "No one knows a boy's worth, we'll have to wait and see. But every man in a noble place, a boy once used to be."

The other end of his room. I love how big this room is. We could honestly fit three sets of bunk beds in here if we had to. Don't worry...we won't have to!

That door leads to our storage room and I keep waiting for Weston to realize that he has free access to food in there. It will probably be padlocked when we have multiple teenage boys in there. =)

Mark's mom made some super cute throw pillows out of the extra material I had that have since been added to his bed and I love them. So does Wes.

Saydi's Room

Looking back on it I wish I had a before picture for this room. When we moved in this room was turquoise. And I mean turquoise. It was awful. And then when Saydi was six days old it flooded and we had to replace sheet rock and all kinds of other garbage so it has come a long way. Saydi loves her big girl bed and loves to be downstairs with brother. I think I had a harder time with the move then she did!

The view when you walk in.

After a completely futile search for a dresser on craigslist Mark's mom found this pressed wood dresser at King's for a whopping $33 and I was all over it. Painting it wasn't that fun but I was probably going to have to do that anyway so it was worth it!

Another view of Saydi's bed. Her room is in the back corner of the house and can be kind of dark even with the light paint so we did lots of different colors to help brighten it up.

You can see the corner of this saying on the wall by Saydi's bed. Miss suggested it to me and since we call her Precious I couldn't pass it up.

Saydi's ribbon picture collage.

So there you have it! I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, especially since I managed to completely redo their rooms for less then $150 total for both rooms, including bedding. The kids love them and that's all that matters to me.

Playing Catch Up

I haven't been very good at taking pictures of my kids lately (and other happenings) but I do have a few more recent ones to share as well as a quick update. Things I've neglected to photograph include:

-a "babymoon" of sorts to Salt Lake City. Mark and I helped take our young women to the general broadcast and I figure a day without kids still counts! It was nice to get away and we got to spend some time with some great young women. Mark and the other men didn't get to go into the conference and I felt bad for him! It was fantastic!

-a trip to the visitor's center for FHE where my kids went crazy over getting to see such a big statue of Jesus. I love seeing how well they recognize Him.

-about a million adorable every day moments, like Saydi handing Weston the nose sucker thing and then offering her nose to him for him to "suck" out; or Saydi's new fish face she makes at random times of the day; or the cute way my kids make me give them kisses for all their owies and then tell me "thank you"; or the way my kids hug each other and play so well together.

However, since I realized I've missed some serious Kodak moments I've been trying to be better. So here are a few I did happen to snag:

Saydi was lounging at the dinner table the other night. She of course moved her foot down as soon as I took this but I still thought it was funny.

Weston got out every last car he owns the other morning and constructed this lovely car-train that he was so proud of he demanded I take a picture and even told me where to stand and when to take it. =)

The novelty of the chicks hasn't worn off yet and this is usually where you can find them first thing in the morning. (Notice Saydi's bed head?)

Saydi had to climb right in so she could get to the really good toys. I didn't mind, it's easier to clean up if they go to the toys instead of bringing the toys to them!

Love this boy. Even with his shaggy hair - which has since been cut.

And a cute video of my kids laughing and playing in the tub last night. At the very end you can hear a tiny glimpse of Saydi's hysterical laugh that I love with all my heart. Best laugh ever.

Our Newest Addition

No, it's not our baby boy! It's four baby chicks! Mark got the idea from a guy at work and since raising chickens actually has a monetary benefit (unlike having a dog) I decided I could get on board with that. Here's to hoping I don't regret it!

The kids sure do love watching them. Weston likes holding them but Saydi doesn't want to even touch them. I had to laugh that Wes was so anxious to hold them when we got them home but then later he says, "Mama, I scared" so I go see what he's scared of...a fly. Silly boy! Chicks must be a happy medium for him because dogs are too big and apparently flies are too small.

Moving Right Along

I get weekly updates from babycenter.com and today's cartoon at the bottom was too good not to post. It is exactly how I feel:

Here's a real live picture of me (although I prefer the cartoon). This is actually from last week but we'll pretend I'm not getting bigger by the second and say that this is still an accurate photo.
Most of the time I can't believe how fast my pregnancy is going but I do have my days where I can't believe how much I still have left. I may explode before the baby comes. And if I knew how to do it, I'm pretty sure I would remove my sciatic nerve from my back to stop it from hurting. Good thing I know it will all be worth it when I see my new baby boy. =)

The kids are doing great and we have been having fun working on getting rooms finished and moved around. Weston is very excited to have Saydi sleep downstairs with him soon and Saydi is anxious to be out of her toddler bed. It's too small for her and her crazy sleep habits! Mark's work schedule has been crazy these last couple weeks so my dad helped us with some of the things I couldn't do and I am oh so grateful. Hopefully we will make some major progress in the next week or two and I will post pictures of the changes! Life is good and we are enjoying making it even better!

A Little of Everything

I haven't really been blogging a lot this year because it seems like there's not much for me to blog about. But despite all our laziness and run of the mill day to day there are still things I don't want to forget. So here's a hodge podge post of things we've done and things my kids are doing that I want to remember. =)

Weston

Weston is growing up so fast and for the most part I just plain love it. I think I would be more sad if I didn't have another baby boy on the way. He has Mark's imagination for sure! The other night I moved all the chairs haphazardly into the living room to get ready to mop and Weston lined them all perfectly up and made himself a tunnel that he and Saydi were crawling under. Then he realized if they sat in their chairs they could be on a train! They are both obsessed with trains so they loved just sitting there and pretending. Oh to be a kid again.

I've said it 100 times but this little boy is seriously the best big brother. We went to Sizzler a few nights ago and Mark and I were sitting on one side, Saydi and Weston on the other side of our booth and we look up to see Weston holding Saydi's cup for her so she can take a drink from her straw. No one asked him to do it. He just saw that Saydi wanted a drink so he helped her. That's the kind of boy he is. Most of the time if we don't understand Saydi, Weston does. And 9 times out of 10 when I'm getting them dinner or snacks or something, he wants to give Saydi hers first and then have his own. He's golden.

He started going to Primary this year and he struggled at first but loves it now. He usually participates (which is shocking since he is more like Mark then me socially) and he always tells me what he learned in class. In fact, he got so comfortable that he started always taking off his shoes, his tie, and unbuttoning his shirt! We had to discuss not doing that. =) Another cute thing I love is that whenever something breaks he thinks his Papa (my dad) can fix it. Our battery went out in our van and my dad came over to get it going so we could drive it to get a new one. Ever since then it doesn't matter where we are or what breaks - "Papa fick it!"

Saydi

I don't think this little girl will ever outgrow her nickname "Precious". She truly is just that. She has a mind of her own and some days her attitude makes me feel like tearing my hair out - but she is a precious little thing. One of my favorite things about her is how much she loves her baby. I went to check on her the other night and found her like this in her bed - hours after she had fallen asleep and her baby still clutched tightly to her chest.

She will wrap her baby up in a blanket and hold her close and say "shh, shh, shh" while she rocks her and pats her bum. I love it. But she's not afraid to throw that thing around either so we will still be keeping a close eye on her when her baby brother arrives! Saydi started nursery the end of last year and she didn't like it much at first but the last three Sundays I've picked her up and they've told me what a good girl she is and that she just played and had fun. It's so nice to have some free time to be able to do my calling without a child hanging on me. For three more months at least!

She says soooo many words and is talking in sentences a lot. My absolute favorite is when she yells "I did it!" after arranging her toys a certain way or climbing into her chair by herself. And I'm not sure why but she insists on calling Weston "Saydi". She can say Weston, which is why it is so perplexing. But when she hears him coming up the stairs in the morning the first thing she shouts is "Saydi!" She has the cutest little voice and uses the cutest inflections in everything she says. Hands down this little girl has the best laugh I've ever heard. I keep trying to get a video of her laughing hysterically to prove that it's true.

She and Weston have quite a system down and I'm hoping baby #3 will adapt and fit in with what they have going on because it definitely works for them. Despite Saydi being a diva and having a flare of attitude, if she takes a toy from Weston and she knows it all you have to do is tell her to give it back and she will - no questions asked. Because it's his. They are AMAZING at taking turns and wait patiently when they hear "my turn!" cried out by the other. They definitely fight - but most of their fights are easily solved and not a big deal.

The Rest of Us

We went to Utah last weekend for a couple days and spent some time at Sean and Crystal's. They had a little boy, Austin, on Feb. 25th and he is PERFECT. I loved holding him and the way he would snuggle up to me. It was fun and the kids had a good time playing with Audrey while we wasted a good two days on Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne (if you consider that a waste!). It was lots of fun and it was good for us to get a way for a while. This picture is of Audrey trying to get Uncle Mark's sunglasses. If that little girl wants something she will find a way to get it!

Other then that we have been gearing up for spring and a new baby and trying to get rooms moved around (pictures of all the changes will probably be coming soon) and clothes put away and pulled out for the little rugrat that will be here before we know it. At least I think if I keep saying that I will feel that way. Life is good and even though we have trials, melt downs, and road blocks, we are enjoying getting through it all together!

Best Friends

My kids have been trading fevers back and forth for the whole month of February so we haven't been up to much. (Unless going crazy counts.) But even when they are sick they are always the best of friends. Here is some proof.

Mark's mom got the kids these towels and they LOVE them. After baths they run around with them on their heads like capes. It's pretty hilarious.

Poor Saydi just laid on the couch after her nap one day when her fever was particularly high and Weston crawled up there just to keep her company, even though he was fine.
They ran around the house for a couple of hours the other day with these boxes on their heads.
Saydi always gets as close as she can to Weston whenever he lays on the floor. (Notice Weston's poor cheeks? They get fire engine red every now and then and super hot. Poor guy. And I stopped Saydi from sticking that finger any farther up her nose, just fyi.) =)
We are hoping all the illness is gone for good and we are slowly getting back to normal and getting caught up on projects that needed to be done around the house and had to wait. So ready for spring!