Everyone remain calm! We are taking over the ship.

Please don't tell on us, but we've commandeered our mom's blog. She's been crazily trying to get some Christmas presents finished and we had nothing to do, so we thought we'd tell you all about our favorite things -- us! Oh, and Toy Story.

Hi everyone! Can you believe I'm already four months old? I'm growing up so fast! I weigh 16 pounds and I'm 25 inches tall! I'm working really hard to get some teeth in, but no luck yet. I love smiling and laughing and splashing in the bath tub. It's so much fun to watch my brothers run and play. I want to run and play with them too, but Mama says I'm still too little. I'm working on rolling over, though, so it won't be long until I'm chasing after them. I love to be sung to, and my favorite food is ... well, formula. (Although my dad has snuck me some ice cream and let me taste a candy corn.) Mom says I can try rice cereal soon. Well, that's all for me. Bye! ~ Melia

This is Aaron. I am 29 pounds of pure energy. I am always on the go, and I love being just a little mischievous, but it's all in good fun. I'm starting to say a lot of new words, and I love to be read to. AJ and I like to wrestle and jump off of anything we can find. I love my sister and I sit next to her (or sometimes on top of her) every chance I get. No one - not even Mom or Dad - can make Melia laugh the way I do. She's fun to play with. My favorite thing to eat is a casadilla. I'm still an animal lover and always have a truck with me everywhere I go. I love going outside, I love the snow, and I love cuddling. Here, I'll blow you a kiss. Mmmm-waaaa. Bye-Bye! ~ Aaron

Hello, everybody! Thank you, thank you. I'm AJ. And I'm Buzz Lightyear. I come in peace. Mom says I weigh 37 pounds. She says Melia is a chunker just like me, but I don't know what that means. My favorite color is blue. But I like green and red too. I love to talk and sing. I learn things fast and I can remember a lot - even the little things I only hear once I remember. I'm a good brother and I'm very helpful. I like to wrestle with Aaron and with Dad. My favorite food is chicken nuggets. And I love green beans too. I like helping mom and dad say prayers. And I love turning lights on, especially the light in our bedroom when we're supposed to be going to sleep. I guess that's all. See you later, alligator. After a while, alligator. ~AJ

Well, we're going to go get as many toys out of the toy room as we can before lunch. But there's one more thing we want to tell you -- we can hardly wait for June! We keep seeing these commercials with Woody and Buzz and Jessie and Bullseye and Rex and Potato Head and Slink and we just can't wait to see the new Toy Story! Click here to see our favorite commercial!

Miss Melia Models

My sweet sweet mother-in-law made Melia's blessing dress for me -- with basically no pattern and only the crazy ideas in my head to guide her. {She's amazing.} I wanted to get some pictures of Melia in her dress before she grows out of it {any day}, so I asked my mom to take some for me. Melia has already taken a liking to the camera. She was so smiley and happy, it took us about 6.2 minutes and we were done. Her smile melts my face!

{Pssst! This is where you tell me how freaking adorable my little girl is. Am I a lucky mama or what?}

Christmas Cards

I love getting Christmas Cards in the mail. There's just something about opening up your mailbox and seeing those holiday stamps that puts a smile on my face. My favorite cards are the homemade ones, the ones where the children help make them or you can tell Mom's been stamping her little heart out. A few years ago I figured that if I look forward to the homemade Christmas Cards so much, I'd better start making mine, too. And that's exactly what I did.

Now, you must be reminded at this point that I am a thinker. I get ginormous plans and elaborate ideas and I'm hooked. It's only after I've plotted out the perfect card that I realize all the work that has to go into it -- times sixty or so.

Take my first *real* homemade card, for example. We had just been through the long process of IVF and were expecting twins. I wanted to make 2006's card both a pregnancy announcement and a Christmas Greeting. And it's a good thing that I took it on before the kiddies came, because those dang cards were A LOT of work. (But still my favorite to this day!)

As you can see, each snowman (and woman), Foamie hat, and carrot nose were cut out by hand; each brad meticulously placed; each bow and scarf cut out, tied, and glued on; and the eyes, mouths, and babies were hand drawn. (I'm such an artist, I know.) But again, totally worth it.

By the next year, I had learned my lesson. We got Santa hats for everyone to wear and my cute Mom took pictures. Then, I just took a black piece of card stock, cut it unto a glorified triangle, threw the family picture on front with vellum and some ribbon, and the picture of the boys on the inside "pocket." Much easier to do, but still cute, crafty, and homemade!

Funny how time has a way of making us forget, isn't it? Or maybe it was that we had just bought our home and I wanted to do another announcement/Christmas card combined. But last year, I dreamt up The House Christmas Card -- black card stock (again) cut into a glorified triangle (again), tied together with twine and our family picture inside our "home." You would think it would be easy, but cutting the cards to get the right shape was a huge pain. And apparently a lot of people didn't even understand that it was supposed to look like a house, so I pretty much failed on that end. But I knew what it was supposed to be, and I loved our card.

So here we are, November 2009, and I'm getting ready to start my card making craziness. When I told my Mom what I wanted to do, she just laughed at me. A Pop-Up card? Sounds tough, right? Well it's not. And to prove it, I'm going to teach you all how to do it. I made a sample so you'll get the basic idea. Sorry you don't get to see my actual cards until December. I know you're disappointed.

First, pick out your paper. You'll need at least two pieces to layer the pop-up piece with the rest of the card, and card stock works best, since it's more stiff. This time I went with green and white.

Fold your inside piece in half. Then you'll want to cut two straight lines perpendicular to the crease, but on the creased end. Make sense? Next, fold that little tab you just made so that it goes the opposite way of the rest of the piece of card stock. If you do it right, You'll see the square shape pop-up when you open your card.

Next, attach your inside piece of card stock to your outside piece of card stock. I tore the edges on this one (ahem, so that I didn't have to make sure they were straight), but I'm definitely NOT doing that for all of my Christmas Cards! Can you imagine? The next thing I did (#5) was make the little "Merry Christmas!" scrap on front. Finally, just attach your picture to the pop-up tab on the inside of your card (I just used mounting squares) and you're finished! (Actually, I was going to round the corners, but I forgot. Oh well. And you'll have to forgive my throw-back to 2001, my demon eyes, and my bare shoulder. We've already discussed my immodest days of yore. But don't we make a cute couple? (Your line is: "Yes!"))

The last picture I took (#7) was from a different angle so that you can actually see that the picture pops up. The longer the lines you cut (in picture 2) the further out your picture will stand.

Pretty sweet eh?

Well, I'm not as talented as those ladies over at Poppies At Play, or their readers who link up, but I'm linking anyway. So there.

Family Matters Final Exam

Part one:

(To see the questions, clickity here)
Q: Think about the questions you answered "no." Do they matter to you?
A: #7 "In case of any great news, I inform my relatives (siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) first." When I have good news, I usually tell my parents, siblings, and in-laws first, but I also have many friends who are more like family than some of my family members, and so a lot of times my friends hear news before my family members.
#30 "I occasionally call my aunts and uncles just to say hi." I have very limited contact with my aunts and uncles and frankly, I prefer it that way.

So...I guess in regards to the questions I answered no to and if they matter to me, my answer would be 'no'.

Essay Questions
Name five qualities of your mom or dad that you most respect or admire.

I'm doing this for both my mom and my dad. First my mom:

1. She is forgiving. She (and possibly others) may argue this, but she has an amazing capacity to forgive.
2. She is loyal. You know you're safe with her on your side (no matter what).
3. She has an amazingly strong testimony.
4. She loves her grand kids. She will let them lead her around, climb on her, and she gets right down on the floor to play with them. Not all grandmas do that.
5. She puts others' needs before her own. Always has. And I think she always will.

My dad:

1. He embodies compassion. He would do anything for anyone. Ya know that whole "shirt off his own back" phrase? Yeah, that's him.
2. He is very competitive but has learned how to tone it down over the years. He can play for the joy of playing and to help others and can still have fun even if he doesn't win. (But he definitely enjoys winning!)
3. He is bound and determined to keep playing sports, water skiing, jumping on the trampoline, etc. until he's good and dead. I like this about him. My mom does not.
4. He is a friend to everyone and can set perfect strangers at ease. He always gets everybody laughing.
5. He understands the value of hard work. He can't stand to be idle for too long.

Which of those qualities are also true about you?

Hmm, I really wish I could say 'all of them' but I still have a lot of work yet. I definitely think I got my attitude about service from both my parents. I always try to help people around me, to give gifts or send a card for no reason, or to help them with a greater need. I was raised that way, and thankfully that's one thing that has stuck. My parents legacy is definitely in the service they offer to others.

Grade yourself on your relationship with your family.

I would have to give myself an A-. My family is my life, but I also recognize that there is always room to improve.

The World Moves Madly On

As far as my calendar was concerned, my world ended on Saturday. Anytime anything would get brought up that was to take place after November 7, I refused to think about it. Saturday was my focus. Super Saturday turned out great, and I think everyone was really happy with their little crafty selves. It was fun hearing people say they weren't crafty enough and then watching them leave bubbling with excitement over something that THEY created.


But now Saturday's over and despite what my calendar says, life is continuing on. And that means I get to tell you all about a couple of things that I've been putting off because Saturday was taking priority. You're in for a treat.


Thing #1:
An amazing, funny, and encouraging website that my friend Pam (who lives in Australia - how cool is that?) directed me to. The lady that writes it lives in Australia too, and has a bunch of kids (though I can't remember exactly how many right now). From her title page, she says,

"Think about your mothering as a creation. You are creating a childhood. Every person has one. Good, bad, or indifferent. Your child will have one, whether you think about it or not. The childhood you create will be theirs forever. Only you, the mother, can create it. Anyone else is a substitute for you. They may be good, but they are still a substitute for you, the mother. It doesn't have to be perfect - just happy. You can make a beautiful childhood."

She is so good to offer different ideas for you to create a happy childhood for your kids and uses quotes from General Authorities and different scriptures to illustrate her ideas. It's a really fun site. So go to www.creatingachildhood.com and read away.


Thing #2:
Now that Saturday is over, I can start thinking seriously about....dum dum dum.....CHRISTMAS! I have so many fun ideas I want to do this year, but number one on the list is to get the new Christmas CD by Hilary Weeks called "Christmas Once Again." Hilary and I would be best friends forever....if she knew I existed. I absolutely love her music and her testimony and her personality and her music. Oh, did I say that already? Well, she has recorded a new Christmas CD, and I'm really trying to justify buying it. I would have it already (I'm quite good at justification -- it's one of my talents) but if I bought a Christmas CD in October or November, my husband would go berserk. He says I can't listen to Christmas music until December 1st. So I may or may not have been listening to Hilary's first Christmas CD "Christmastime" in secret, and pining away for "Christmas Once Again".

Hilary's having a giveaway where you can enter to win her new CD if you blog or facebook about it, so if you're interested, go to her blog and then post something of your own. It would be well worth your time to just browse through her website and get to know her a little. And tell her how she should be my best friend. Go here or here to learn more about "Christmas Once Again", or click here to go to her blog.


Well, I'm off to create a childhood for my kiddos as we begin to deck the halls...just don't tell Adam.


Happy Monday!

Movie Night

{P.S. I have no idea why AJ is sideways. Guess you'll have to tilt your head.}
{P.P.S. Pause my Musicplayer so that you can hear my sweet baby girl.}
{P.P.P.S. I love these kids!}

4 Days Ago

Halloween is not meant for two-year-olds.

This year we went with a Super Hero theme. Adam was The Incredible Hulk, AJ was Spiderman, Aaron was Batman, Melia was Catwoman (or a cute little kitty, if she was posing as her alter-ego), and I dressed up as Supermom (faster than a speeding toddler, more powerful than the smell of a dirty diaper, able to leap tall piles of laundry in a single bound).

On Friday, the munchkins and I headed up to Lehi for Adam's school Halloween parade. The boys were so well behaved (though not cooperative when we tried to take their picture), they loved seeing all of the different costumes, and I really felt like Supermom with all three of the kids in tow.

They were much more excited about Buzz than it looks here.

AJ loved giving five to the "Pirate."

Then came Friday night. We were invited to my parent's ward's Trunk or Treat. Between waking up early, no nap, and being all hocked up on sugar, the boys were melting down in about 3.5 minutes. They were screaming, crying, flailing about, and so we loaded them up and took them home, the "Super Mom" symbol on my chest mocking me the whole way. The boys learned what a 7:00 bedtime looks like, I self-medicated with a foot and a half of Hogi Yogi sandwiches, and we all fell into a fitful, puffy-eyed sleep.

Saturday Adam and I chose not to wear our costumes. We also decided to switch the boy's costumes since the Batman mask was more fun than the Spiderman mask and Aaron was having no part of the mask idea. Holly came over and the kids, Adam, Neil, and Grandpa took them Trick or Treating. They all did great! They said trick or treat (and AJ would add a "smell my foot!" every now and then), said thank you when they got their candy, and looked so adorable in their costumes. They do need to learn you don't walk into every house you trick or treat at, but that will come with practice.

All of the cousins on Halloween: Holly the Pirate, Taylor the Frog, Melia the Kitty, Aaron as Spiderman & AJ as Batman.

After trick or treating, we went out to Grandma & Grandpa Rindys for some pizza and to watch Blackbeard's Ghost. Saturday went much smoother than Friday had. Hopefully it will get easier with time. Otherwise, we may skip Halloween altogether.