What Happens...?

What happens when you try to make your 3 year old and almost 2 year old let you take a picture of them before church? I will tell you.

Brother will check to make sure that sister is looking and she will give you her best "cheese!" ever.

When he sees that it's a go, he'll look for a while but now sister will be distracted by the amazing contraption that is a door knob.

Sister will look again, but she already gave you her best shot so you shouldn't expect more. Commence sucking on fingers. Meanwhile, brother is looking longingly at his jacket wondering if we can go yet.

Finally brother will look at you again out of sheer desperation for this to be over and sister will start thinking if she can just melt into the floor she can escape this whole process.

And then you will give up.

Good thing these little kiddos are so cute that even the pictures that never turn out still make me smile. Love them. Love being their mom.

An Unfortunate Proof

I've been saying for a few weeks now that I'm as big as I was when I delivered Saydi. This morning I found the proof on my computer:

Saydi at 36 weeks (my water broke 3 days after I took this picture)

Baby #3 at 32 weeks

Yikes. It's going to be a LONG 6-7 more weeks.

Humble Pie

Well I just got done adding a new post and here I am adding another one. Reason being this: I just posted about my kids fighting and whining (both of which they are doing as I sit here and type this) but in the middle of all of that I witnessed a moment I never want to forget.

Weston and Saydi were in Saydi's room reading books. Imagine my surprise when I then hear Weston saying a prayer and I look to find them both sitting in there with their arms folded, praying together. Weston said, "amen" and then "ok Saydi, go night-night". My little mommy heart nearly burst with pride.

And I realized, not for the first time, my kids are always watching. There's a hymn that talks about "angels silent notes taking" and I need to remember that in our home those angels are my children. Yes, they went right back to fighting. But hey, they're kids, what can I expect? What's important is that I continue to show them how they are supposed to behave and wait for the blessed day when they make that choice all on their own to do it. Time for me to expect more from myself and less from them.

Stuff

I was going through my pictures on my computer and found a couple pictures that I meant to post and forgot about. The first is of me and my new niece, Maylee Grace. Becky had a baby girl on April 10th and she's a cutie.

And here is Saydi in her true form - looking like a homeless person. I never do her hair until we're stepping out the door because she plays like a boy and this is always what she looks like. Hopefully some day she'll like having her hair look nice and not shove her head between the couch cushions. At least she's a little bit girly and likes some bling.

Yesterday we went to Ogden for Sean and Crystal's baby blessing. Austin is such a cute little baby! Sean did an amazing job with the blessing. Even though we were in Utah for a shorter amount of time then it took to drive there because Mark had to get back to catch the bus for work, it was still fun and we are glad we went. We attempted to take a family picture before church but Saydi was making her fish face in one and Weston was looking at his lap in another. So this is the better of the two but still...not great. Why don't kids cooperate?

Weston and Saydi with Grammy and Papa Jerry. I love that my kids love all three sets of their grandparents and that they know the difference between them all.

Other then that I think my kids may have spring fever, if that is a real thing. And if it is what it means is that they are constantly fighting, whining, crying over every little tiny thing, and interspersing just enough cuteness in between all of it to barely help me cling onto my sanity. Then again, it could be the pregnancy hormones talking as we enter the last 6-7 weeks here, but that doesn't seem very likely to me. ;)

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.