November

In a nut shell:

Here's Tanner playing outside in the middle of November.  Totally bundled up because it was pretty chilly. 50s, probably.  That's chilly for Texas.

Here's Tanner one week later, the week of Thanksgiving, enjoying going down the slide in short sleeves.  We get lots of warm spells when it's really supposed to be cold.  Even though I'm a cold weather girl, I kind of like the warm spells.  It lets us get more use out of our outside toys!

Tanner and his new ride.

Did I mention that Tanner loves slides?  And he and Erilyn are buds.

Anthon must be going through a smile-in-a-pained-sort-of-way-for-the-camera phase because I know for a fact he was totally psyched in this picture.  He spiked his hair himself.

These pictures are actually from way back in August, but I just found them on my phone and couldn't resist posting them here.  Eat your heart out, Harry Potter!  So stinkin' cute.

A few  more things of note:
1. Tanner is officially the sweetest little boy.  He will cuddle with me any time, any place.  He loves his blankets and he loves snuggling up on my shoulder.  He gives great kisses, and loves helping Dad put his shoes on. He's fascinated with whatever's going on above him and is constantly climbing on the table or up onto his stool so he can see what's going on.  With tile floors, this leaves Mom in a constant state of panic. I especially find his "fat eyelashes" (phrase courtesy of Erilyn) and curly hair adorable and his cheeks are still irresistable.
2. Erilyn is becoming my right hand girl.  I've discovered some helpful things about her: spanking her doesn't work.  She laughs, no matter how hard you do it; you can't reason with her when she's emotional, but when properly motivated, she can control herself pretty well; she responds extraordinarily well when you point out something she's doing well, and she'll go out of her way to help or please me as long as I  keep pointing out the things she's doing.  This is a great trick.  I especially love reading with her, and how she sings "Sam-e-el" in the primary song about Samuel prophesying of Jesus. She loves to play with friends, and is learning how to stand up for herself to Anthon.  Their playtime is much more cooperative now, rather than dictatorial (with Anthon as dictator.)
3. Anthon continues to bring laughter and life to our home.  He's taken to telling me what he wants to eat by saying the brand name.  For example, at breakfast the other day, he said, "Mom, I need the Mrs. Butterworths."  He loves to read and will read almost anything.  Erilyn frequently gets frustrated that she's waited all day for Anthon to come home from school and play with her but all he wants to do is read his book.  I've found the best way to deal with this situation is to sit down with Erilyn and read a book with her.  Works like a charm.  He's recently developed an intense interest in reptiles (ew), and is constantly asking me what my favorite kind of snake is.
A--"Mom, which snake do you like better, a Texas rattlesnake?  Or a king cobra?"
M--Hmmm....."A garden snake."
A--"Are they venomous?"
M--"Nope, completely harmless.  That's why I like them." 
A--walks away shaking his head.
Don't worry, he'll be back.  He's a hard one to shake, that one.
4. In other news, I've decided to start homeschooling.  Not an easy choice, in some respects, but in others, it seems weird that I haven't been doing it all along.  Scares the pants off me, though.  More on that later.  In fact, I think I'll start a separate homeschooling blog to chronicle the adventure.  Anthon's thrilled; Erilyn's holding judgment.  She seems cautiously optimistic.

Thanksgiving rundown:
We celebrated the holiday here.  It was nice.  Relaxing.  A lot of cooking for a 10 minute dinner.  Worth it?  Jury's still out.  It was nice to incorporate our own traditions, though.  We spent some time in the week leading up to it writing down what we're thankful "4" on number fours I'd cut out of scrapbook paper and the posted them up on our wall.  I've now put them all in a container that we'll open on Christmas morning and read before opening presents.  On Thanksgiving Eve we had a little devotional and talked about the pilgrims, watched some Mormon Messages on gratitude, talked about how the more we see something, the less we notice it and then practiced noticing the things all around us that we take for granted.  It was nice.  The kids love Mormon Messages.  They could watch it all day.  We were going to try to go hiking Thursday morning, but it was cold and raining, so we just hung out.  Good times.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And now I'm caught up. 

October

The Quick Version:

Erilyn likes to swing.  And to smile sweetly.

The boys like to swing, too.  Mom likes October weather.  It's perfect for playing at the park.   (We don't do parks in the summer.  At least, not in Texas.  October thru March is park weather here.  At least for me.)

Erilyn got to ride Joe at preschool, and I got to help the Pony Lady give all the kids rides.  Besides watching Erilyn fall in love (again) with horseback riding, what I enjoyed most was smelling Joe's neck.  Ahhhh....I love the smell of horses.  It makes everything right in the world.

I try to be crafty.  I really do.  For the sake of my children. Here we are trying to make mini caramel apples as a Halloween activity with friends.  You use a melon baller to get out balls of an apple, stick a pretzel in the top and then dip it in melted caramel.  Really cute idea.  Didn't work at all.  The pretzels would slide out too easily, so we always had to fish the apple-ball out of the caramel bowl with a fork.  Nice thought, though.  And a caramel dipped apple tastes just as good from a fork as it does from a pretzel.  Thank goodness.

Tanner likes to climb.  He loves to climb up the ladder and go down the slide by himself.  The first time I saw him do it I almost had a heart attack.  I didn't even know he could climb the ladder.  When I ran out there, the kids assured me he was okay, saying, "Mom.  It's okay.  He does it all the time."  !!!!!  He does though.  And he loves it.  LOVES it.

I love this sweet baby face.  

Erilyn's Halloween costume.  She was a black kitty a couple of years ago, too.  What can I say--she likes black cats.  (I think it goes back to our cat Shadow that we had when she was a baby.  I know she can't possibly actually remember Shadow, but she still knows she loves black cats.  

Not sure why Anthon looks so scared, or sick, or sad...can't decide.  He's a vampire, and Tanner's a spider.  In case you couldn't tell.

With no planning or communication whatsoever, Jessica, Erilyn's best friend, also chose to be a black cat for Halloween.  And Dallin, Anthon's friend and Jessica's brother, also chose to be a vampire for Halloween.  We didn't realize it until we all showed up at the ward Trunk or Treat party.  True story.

September...the rest of it

Quick version:

Tanner started walking.

Tanner likes to climb.  On anything.

Getting there.

Tanner not so used to Grandma

  

We had lots of fun playing with Grandma and Aunty Susan

 

Erilyn and Tanner are friends.  And yes, they are playing at a splash park at the end of September.  Welcome to Texas.

Tanner likes purple ice cream.  Thank you Purple Cow.

The end.  (Of September.)

First day of preschool

I love this little preschool. They do all the usual preschool stuff, but it has such a sweet vibe, and they also take care of farm animals, and get to ride ponies on Fridays, and they grow a vegetable garden and make their own snacks. It's great. And she loves it.

Here she is being shy for the first five minutes of the first day, and she hasn't been shy since. Everyday she loves it.

I can't believe she's four and starting preschool, and yet, she's been four for years. I think I miss Erilyn's babyhood the most.

I love this girl! She's sweet, and surprising, and social, and smart, and girly, and fun. I miss you already, preschool girl!

I love this outfit on him. There's a little tie that goes with it, and some cute shoes, but apparently he's deathly afraid of ties and shoes.

2nd grade

Anthon's first day of second grade. I almost forgot to take his picture, and then at the very last second he pulled this face. Typical. I love this kid!

First day of ballet

She's in heaven. I personally believe she's a natural born dancer, though I'll admit I know nothing about dancing. She just loves it and it's adorable. Worth the sacrifice of having to take two babies and a restless 7 year old to the studio and wait for an hour for her class...most of the time, at least:)

Tanner's first birthday and sweet baby bathtime

He was thrilled, of course, with his cake. I can't believe my baby is one. (Cliche, I know, but true.) I love, LOVE this adorable little boy! He's cuddly, and sweet, and playful, and easy going. The perfect baby.

Bathtime is one of his favorite things to do. He loves to unplug the water, and then try to plug it up again. Which he almost never can do. So we're constantly re-filling the tub, which he also loves, because then he fills up his cup and gets lots of drinks. Adorable!

Naked Baby

How cute are naked babies?! I just love that squishy bum! And that curly hair!

Tanner at the splash park

Just thought I'd share these fun pics. We went to a splash park the other night after dinner, thinking we'd just let the kids get some energy out. Tanner was already in his pjs and I was just going to push him in the swing or something, but as soon as we got there, he made a beeline for the water. He crawled around getting sprayed for over half an hour and loved every second of it! He'd get really surprised when he'd get sprayed and then just smile and giggle like crazy. So cute!