Have you seen this?

I usually fast forward through commercials but every time I see this one I have to stop and watch it. And every time I laugh and I laugh and I laugh.

My favorite part is the girl on the couch hitting the pillow.

Or is it the mom "trying" to stop the kids all the while laughing with them?

Oh how this could be a video of my family!

Merry Christmas!

Sweet Baby Boston

I realized the other day that it's been a while since I've done a post just about Boston. He is changing so fast that I want to make sure I get every stage documented. He will be 3 months next week and is growing every day. Between his 2 week and 2 month checkup he gained almost 3 pounds and grew 3 inches, making him a tall and skinny boy. People always comment on how little he is but he's still growing way too fast for my taste!

He's getting a big personality and is very aware of his surroundings. He loves to be held over your shoulder so he can take in the world around him and he really reacts to the things he sees. He especially loves the fish mobile on his swing.

Back in November my BFF Audrey and her fiance' Jason came to visit. Kiara has always loved Auntie Audj and now Boston has taken an instant liking to Jason. He couldn't take his eyes off of him!

Besides being very alert, Boston is quite squirmy! He has already proven that he needs to be buckled whenever possible:

Boston has an infectious smile and gives it away freely. I often times find myself "craving" his smile and will drop whatever I'm doing to get one out of him. It is so sweet!

My mom started tickling him and soon had him full-on laughing. It was adorable!

I love my sweet boy so much and am so incredibly grateful for his perfect, pure spirit. He was definitely the missing piece to the puzzle and has already brought me so much joy and peace. It's only been 3 months but already we can't remember life without our little Bossers. He is amazing!

Why don't you just move here?

That is the question my nephews ask me every time we go to Utah, which is a lot (since April of this year Kiara and I have gone every other month!). We went again for Thanksgiving and like always, had a fabulous time. Even though I have become a big wuss about the cold, it was worth freezing for a week to be able to play with everyone.

Ben & I even braved the sub-freezing temps to go with 2 of my brothers and sisters-in-laws to score some deals at the outlets at Midnight on Black Friday. Everyone else said it wasn't worth it but we actually loved going and being able to shop without the kids (everyone left their kids sleeping at my parents). If we're there next year I even think we'll go again.

Other than that crazy adventure we were able to go to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple with Dar & Heather, watch BYU beat Utah in a very exciting (or so I'm told, I just played with the kids the whole time) and loud game, and take in a dollar movie with TEN kids. We also played a lot of games, ate a whole lot of food, loved being around family and enjoyed Boston's new trick of sleeping through the night! It was great!

Here are some pics from our fun, cousin-filled trip. Man I love those kids!

Kiara, Grant and Macy--3 of the 5 who were born within 10 months of each other.

Thomas and McKay

Cassidy, Whitney and Lindsey--my 3 princesses

Cassidy and Boston. The kids all loved him and kept waiting for their turn to feed him. He got very spoiled!

Thomas and Tyler

My big tough guys: McKay, Brox and Stockton. Seriously can't get enough of these boys!

Grant, Lindsey and Kiara loving their dance party. Like the goggles?

Boston with Aunt Laura. I was so excited to finally get a picture of her because she's usually very elusive once the camera comes out!

Woody was my favorite stuffed animal when I was young and Kiara has now taken quite a liking to him as well.

 Thomas (3 years old) took this picture of Emma and me. I was quite impressed!

Macy and Kiara are BFFs when they get together. Kiara is 6 months older, just enough to act like Macy's big sister.

Andrei

Niko is only 6 months older than Boston but seemed huge! I definitely don't want Boston to seem so old in just 6 months!

My 2 favorite guys

Kiara seriously goes through withdrawl when we have to leave Grandma Buttercup & Papa (she started calling them those names all on her own). They are the best grandparents anyone could imagine and my kids feel so loved by them. They are definitely high on our list of blessings!

A few more people who top my list: Allison, Audrey & Tiff threw me a fun shower while we were there. Next up will be Tiff's baby shower and Audrey's bridal shower! Yay!

Ben's brother and his wife drove up from Provo to spend the day with us. Kiara was very excited to see "Uncle Ike and his April"

I love seeing these two together.

Ben's grandma is almost 82 years old but still as active as ever! She used to be a professional clown and says that has something to do with it :)

Like all good things, our visit had to come to an end but luckily Christmas is only 16 days away! Bring it on!

Month one in review

Boston turned a month old last week, a fact which seems sad and exciting all at once. Overall life with two kids hasn't been as hard of an adjustment as I thought it would be and there are several reasons for this.

First off, this little girl is an AMAZING big sister and mature way beyond her young years.

She hasn't had one moment of resentment or jealousy but rather looks for opportunities to help me or play with Boston. She is very protective of him and hates when he's sad. The other day in the car he was crying and she noticed his bottle in the carseat. Totally on her own she started feeding him and calmed him down.

She is always anxious to fetch diapers or clothes for me and has even started helping with other chores like putting dishes away or sweeping. She is definitely a huge help and I am so lucky to have her.
Second to Kiara making our transition smooth, is Boston being such a great baby. In general he only cries when he's hungry and he's starting to sleep a lot better at night. Plus, no matter what his behavior is like he is still so stinkin' cute so that makes things seem easier!

Another big reason why things have been so smooth is I have a husband who realizes his role in his kids' life is just as important as mine and he also looks for any opportunity to help me. I love watching Ben with Boston and seeing their bond grow.

A couple of weeks ago I went with a friend to a fun place called Apple Hill. It was my first major outing with both kids and no Ben and I definitely missed him! That was a day when the adjustment didn't feel quite so smooth! While I was taking this picture of Kiara riding a pony (her new favorite activity), Boston was screaming and needing to eat.

 

Later I was trying to burp Boston and Kiara decided she wanted yet another cheese sample (I can't blame her-it was the best cheese I've ever had!). She chose this moment as the perfect opportunity to run away from me and back in to the little store. She has never before done anything like that and I'm praying she never will again. I am not only a big girl, but I'm very uncoordinated so watching me get up and chase after her while holding my baby was, I'm sure, not a pretty sight! Also not a pretty sight was Boston's entire bottle coming up a few minutes after I fed him!

Luckily after I got some food in Kiara her mood changed dramatically and our luck started to change. She even took time to smell the tree with Kylie!

Kiara and Kylie were apparently as beat as their moms by the end of the day and fell asleep minutes after getting in the car.

I've decided it was good for me to have a few rough moments to not only humble myself but prove that I can handle things on my own if I have to, although I would always prefer Ben to be around!

So to recap, my kids are awesome, my husband is incredible and I really need to lose weight!

Oh yeah, and Happy Adoption Awareness month! Stay tuned for exciting posts about this!

Party Princess

A couple of weeks ago we went to a birthday party for one of our favorite little guys around, Ayson-boy. He and Kiara have a love-hate relationship but they are still very cute together.

 

Ayson's birthday party was held at a fun playground that's modeled after different fairytales. Kiara had been there once before with Dar & Heather, when they were here and we were picking up Boston. She talked about it non-stop after they went so we were excited to be there with her this time. My mom & dad were also in town at the time and we all loved watching her reaction to all of the different attractions. She didn't stop smiling the whole time!

 
Her favorite thing that day though was dancing to the live music played by The Piano Man. It was so stinkin funny watching her get in to the music and adapt to each different style. She was definitely in her element!
(BTW, since Blogger "improved" things I can't get videos to upload directly so click on the word dancing to watch the video at Vimeo.com)
Thanks, Ayson for having a birthday so we could have an excuse to party!

Harvest Heaven

One of the best parts about living in such a big agricultural area is the abundance of pumpkin farms. We've been to 2 of them so far and have 3 more we hope to visit before the season's over. Fall is my favorite time of year, partly because I finally have my husband back after baseball season so we can go do more family activities. Now that we have Boston to tag along it's even more fun!

Since Boston was born Kiara has been very eager to show us what a big girl she is. Case in point:

We have been trying and trying to get a good family picture ever since Boston came home but if Kiara is looking at the camera, she isn't smiling and if she's smiling, she isn't looking at the camera. This is the best we've gotten so far.