The joys of motherhood

My big uplifting comment for the day:
"Mom, you look terrible!"
Thanks for the reality check Brayden!

Yet Another FHE Treat

I know this is two weeks in a row of posting about what we ate for Family Night treats but the boys have been so cute to watch. Last night we made "Counter Sundaes". We laid out some wax paper, put some ice cream down for each of them and let them go at it. They put on their own choclate, marshmallows, and nuts then got to eat of the counter. They were licking the counter and asking for more. I don't know if they enjoyed eating off the counter so much as being able to have more topping then ice cream!

Go Cougars!!!

So after 6+ years of living in the US, Junior finally attended his first live football game. Our neighbors gave us tickets for some awesome seats at the BYU vs CSU game. Since Kalei refuses to take a bottle she accompanied us. I was a little hesitant to do this. I had images of her screaming and insisting to be taken out during the most crucial parts of the game. She was a champ though. In fact, it took the people sitting next to us to even realize we had a baby with us and we had been talking to them and everything. I did have to leave during the 3rd quarter to feed her but BYU was killing it anyway so it wasn't too big of a deal. Junior had a lot of fun seeing everything live and kept comparing everything to rugby. It was pretty funny when Tini (his cousin that lives downstairs) asked how the game was he said, "It was great, they got 3 trys in the first quarter" (trys is the equivalent to a "touchdown." Ahh, we'll Americanize this boy yet! Next on the list some Country Thunder and Monster Truck Demos! he he

Lei Lei is 4 months!!!

Our little chunky monkey hit another land marker and turned 4 months on Tuesday. We went to the doctor's yesterday and she is healthy!!!
Here are her stats:
Height: 26 1/4 in(off the charts)
Weight: 15lbs 4 oz (90%)
Head: 43 1/2 cm (off the charts, gotta be a Shum!)
A few of her first in the past 2 months:
- Rolled over, the day she figured it out and for like a week after she WOULDN'T stop. She'd roll over, fuss cause she couldn't figure out how to get back on her back, we'd flip her, she'd roll right back, we'd flip and the game continued.
- First long road trip. HATED it but eventually succumbed.
- First time in a pool. Wasn't much of a fan of that either, didn't mind as much in AZ where the water was warmer.
- Held a toy. She loves to hold things, examine, chew, and shake. First time she made the little frog on her bouncer sing she was SOOO proud
- Slept through the night. This has been an amazing thing for me since neither of our boys slept through the night until 18 months. Kalei goes to bed at 8 and used to sleep until 6. The trip threw her off a bit and she'll wake up once in the middle of the night but are hoping to break that soon!
Kalei continues to be our happy, SMILEY, little girl. She loves to socialize and is always carrying on "conversations" with anyone that is willing to sit and chat. Her brothers abolutely adore her and get so excited everytime they see her. She loves to sit up at the table with all the big people and feel a part of the action. Takes after her mom in that she loves being outdoors and will be satsified just looking around for long stretches of time. She is very persistant about her bed time. She likes to be in bed by 8 and will let it be know how unhappy she is if she is not. We truly are so grateful to have a little girl to balance our family out!

Fun and Easy Family Night Dessert!

For Family Night treat last night we made some fried apple pies and the boys had a blast. I think they had more fun making them then eating them. They actually tasted really good except the ouside cooked way too fast and the inside was a little doughy. A few changes will fix that no problem.
For those of you that would like to make fried apple pies of your own here are step by step instructions (with our changes included):
Step 1: Recieve instruction

Step 2: Smell your apple pie filling to ensure freshness

Step 3: Coat your biscuit (just the canned buttermilk biscuit deal) in flour

Step 4: Roll your bisuit thin (We used jumbo sized and decided they should be 8-10in in diamater)


Step 5: Place pie filling on half your biscuit


Step 6: Fold dough over in half and press the edges to seal it (We wet it with water to seal then pressed it with a fork to fully clamp it off)

Step 7: Fry in 350 degree oil until light golden brown. Sprinkle immediately with cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar or whatever you want. Can serve with ice cream or whip cream

Sidenote: When displaying your pie, do not inhale deeply with the cinnamon covered masterpiece directly under your nose. Result: It'll burn your nose as you inhale and as you blow out in pain it'll get in your eyes. Thank you Brayden for the demo.

So easy and the kids LOVE the satisfaction of making their own treat. This will definitely need to be a regular family night activity.

Finally got our AZ trip posted, it's below this post!

Daredevils

So on Friday the kids were playing with Emma and Carson from across the street, a normal daily occurrence. Sometimes the four of them come with some cute, creative play (i.e. pretending the basketball hoop base is a rocket ship and their soaring through space) other times I get glimpses of things I would do in my childhood and I now see why my mom was always putting a stop to things. Friday was just such a day. I saw Carson walking around the circle with a laundry basket, kind of random I thought. They eventually worked their way inside. I walked in just in time to hear, "hold tight I'm gonna count to 3". I walk to the base of the stairs to find this.

Carson was braced behind ready to throw his full body into the shove and Brayden and Emma were sitting there thinking this was going to be the greatest ride in the world (at least Brayden had a little forethought of safety, notice the helmet). I remember trying to my siblings and I trying to use every object imaginable as a sled down the stairs. The one thing my mom okayed were sleeping bags. We had hours and hours of fun sliding down in them. They were pretty disappointed when I nixed the idea and made the resort to pushing each other around on flat ground. Next time I'll have to break out the sleeping bags

Also, Kalei has found a new favorite toy. She's still a little unsteady in it but she reaches the base just enough to balance herself but not put weight on her little legs so it's perfect. She really enjoys being in there even though she only last about 10 minutes before feeling a little overwhelmed.