Fun Friday Night

Last night was super fun. I got to go see The Nutcracker, for the first time, with my friend Shannon. It was soo beautiful. My favorite part was in the land of snow. The ground looked like ice and it was snowing around them.







The Girl and T (and The Boy) had their own little party with popcorn, gum drops, marshmallows, hot chocolate, and the movie ELF. I wish I could have watched it with them cause I love that movie!

A Good Friday Five Photos

Here is The Girl's "port", I mean FORT. :D A classic favorite has come to our home. The Girl asks her daddy to build a "port" for her and The Boy to play in. Then she runs to get the flashlight. The Boy likes to crawl after the light but that is his only interest in the fort at this time. I'm sure he will grow to love it too.


The Girl is my little helper. Lately she has been asking me for candy (from her Halloween pail) so I tell her she can do a chore for some candy. She helped empty the dishwasher one day, and another day she fed The Boy. Now she has been asking me if she can help me when I'm doing chores. It is pretty cool to have a little helper.

Rock on. My Drama Queen. :D


Okay, one more for ya!

Cute Smile.

Friday Five

1) It is such a nice day today! We finally have a day in the mid-50's! So The Girl and I (and The Boy) headed outside to plant some more flowers. We planted 10 or so daffodil and crocus bulbs almost a month ago (this picture is from that first planting). I think I got another 20 done today and I have 80 or so left to plant! Yikes! I bought too many... or I'm a really slow planter. Yeah, it does take like 5 minutes to do each hole with the kiddos around. The Girl came inside and did a nice drawing of our experience.

2) Earlier today, The Girl was watching Dora and I told her after Dora it was time for a nap. After 20 minutes or so I figured Dora must be over and went in the room only to find it still on. Well, come to find out, The Girl was rewinding Dora and watching it over and over so it would never end. She's a clever little one!

3) Cooler weather means more hot tub time! The Girl and I have been enjoying more hot tub time now that the weather is cooler. She loves to play in the hot tub, especially with her goggles on. They didn't seem to fit a few months ago when she was taking swim lessons, but they stay on her skinny little face okay now. I can't even tell you how funny she looks with them on! She loves to go underwater with them! I can't wait until she really learns to swim next summer. I'm sure she will just love it.

4) Here's our busy body of a baby jumping around. He is growing so much! He loves to jump and crawl and be on the move. I can't believe he is 6 months old and already so active! He is sleeping better now and enjoys eating some baby food.


5) Cookies with Daddy. The Girl and T made peanut butter cookies with hugs and caramel kisses on top. They turned out soo yummy. She was able to share a few with her friends and really enjoyed that. T wanted to do some ding, dong, ditching but we didn't... maybe next time. :D

5 Fun Things

1) Let's start off with a The Girl talk from this morning:

The Girl: "Look Mom. I got the milk out. And so I am a mother. Mothers eat cereal with milk."

Also she learned how to fast forward through the commercials on shows that are recorded on TV. She's learning new things all the time. It is so fun.

The Boy is rolling all around. It is soo funny to lay him on his blanket and come back a few minutes later to find him all the way across the room. He'll be scooting in no time!

2) Running. I'm running a little more. It's still hard but I can tell I'm getting better. Big 5K race, Here I come!

3) The Boy's first teenage babysitter. T and I finally got to go to the temple last night and we had an awesome teen in the ward watch the kiddos. The Girl played with play dough up until bed time and The Boy drank his bottle with no problems. Wahoo! Success!

4) BYU football tonight. Should be a fun time! Quiet relaxing weekend enjoying lots of conference. I'm totally looking forward to it!

5) Preschool at our house. This week we had preschool at our house. We learned about the Letter E and sung a fun song about Elephants. We also learned about the seasons and more about Fall. The kids got to be little squirrels and find acorns around the room. The Girl sure loves to have friends over to our house. She's such a social girl.

Fun Week

Five Fun Things From this Week
1) Old Movies: The Girl has been watching some older movies this week: Annie, Pollyanna, and The Wizard of Oz. She enjoys them and I actually like watching with her while I'm doing stuff around the house. It's been fun to sing their songs and talk about their messages.

2) More fun dance and preschool this week. This week was the letter "C" so The Girl brought "candy corn" to share with everyone. They also learned about Cowboys and Cowgirls. The Girl came home on Thursday singing "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it." We think she is pretty dang cute.


3) Growing boy! The Boy is sure getting bigger. He will be 5 months next week and I know a tooth will be here before too much longer. I can't wait until he can sit up on his own. I fed him for over an hour last night before bed! Then after 30 minutes of crying, he fell asleep on his own and finally slept longer than 4 hours... first time in MONTHS! Yep, when he was two months old he was doing 8-9 hour nights. Hopefully we are on a good streak.
4) The Boy had his first time in a swimming pool yesterday! It was really warm and I'm so glad we got to do it before the warm summer is gone. :) The Girl was having fun with all the floating devices... do you think one could have enough? She's just missing some water wings and then she would be complete!

5) The Boy had his first baby cereal this morning! He liked it pretty well and I'm sure after some more days of practice he will get the swallowing thing down a little better.

Friday Night Five

1) The Girl had her first dance class on Monday. She did pretty well and I can tell she is going to enjoy it a lot. They will be dancing to "These are a few of my Favorite Things" so we are working on learning the words. She is somewhat of a perfectionist so it will be interesting to see how well she picks up on the dance routine they will be learning.



2) The Boy has been a bit difficult this week. His tummy seems to be giving him some troubles so he is having a little hard time eating and a lot of hard time sleeping. I'm hoping he will just break a tooth soon or get over it soon but who knows. He's so sweet and when I get to hear his laugh I just melt all inside!

3) No trip for T! T was supposed to go on a business trip this weekend and I was luck enough to have his stay in town. That means better sleep at night for me and life can continue as we know it. Life usually comes to a halt when he is gone and nothing gets done. I'm glad to keep my husband around.

4) Preschool! More fun for preschool... my first week off. The Girl had a great time at her friend Perry's house this week. They learned about the letter B and color blue and "All about Me." On Tuesday The Girl brought Buzz Lightyear to show for show and tell. On Thursday I asked The Girl what she wanted to bring and she said, "A baby, and a baby blanket, and baby bottle, and binky". I have to admit I was pretty impressed with my little three year old for thinking of so many words that started with B. Here's a picture of her A's from last week's story and eating them.



5) I had a little girls night out tonight, planned it before when I thought T would be out of town. I'm so grateful for friends... what a fun, comfortable side they can bring out in me. So, T decided to make a date night out of it for The Girl. They went to the movie theater and saw KUNG FU PANDA. The Girl told me all about the bear that fought the bad guys. The Girl told T she had a great time with her daddy. :D

Friday Five

My five favorite things from this week:
1) First, a funny Girl talk for you from this morning. The Girl sat down to eat her breakfast and randomly said, "If I see a skunk in our house I will shoo it away. That will help me eat better."
2) At preschool on Thursday, I had the kids glue Applejacks onto a piece of paper in the shape of a big A and little a. The Girl was very specific in what color of Applejacks she wanted. She did one side of her big A in orange and the other side in green and a few green in specific places on her little a. I thought it was so cute about how creative she was being. It made me wonder about what talents she will develop as she gets older. She's growing up!
3) T has been running almost every day the past couple weeks. The Girl really wants to run as fast as her dad. It is so cute to see her doing stretches with him and jumping up and down with him right before he leaves. She tries so hard to run down the street with him but he runs so fast that he is out of sight in seconds. She comes back to me with the saddest look on her face and tells me she wants to run as fast as daddy. We went to the park yesterday while T ran around the park. The Girl would run over to meet him at the track each time he came around then would run after him for a little while yelling, "Daddy wait up! Daddy wait for me!" I'm sure before too long she will be running circles around her "old man."
4) The Boy's baby blessing was so wonderful. T did a great job and I felt the Spirit in his words. I will never forget when he sat down next to me after the blessing, his face was beet red from his hair all the way to his white shirt colar. I guess I hadn't thought about how nervous one might get. It seemed so simple and wonderful. I'm just thankful for the priviledge he has to give The Boy a blessing. We also had a great weekend with all our family. It was sad to see them all leave and after seeing most of them a few weeks ago in Utah it is going to be even harder to not see them for months and months.
5) Motivation to get unpacked=Family coming! Yes, because we had family come last weekend we had some good motivation to get finished unpacking. We straightened out the office (though it still has craft bins and tubs piled in one corner) and it feels so much bigger. We hung a few things in the kids rooms, including these cute letter blocks that Kirsti and Amy made for me and The Boy. The Girl finally got her princess canopy hung above her bed and she has been loving that. Thanks Tom for all your help!

Friday Five

1) The Boy is growing! He had his 4 month doctor check up this week and he is getting longer and leaner... sounds so familiar. He is at 13 lbs 2.3 oz., in the 20th percentile for weight, and 25 3/4 inches, the 75th percentile for height. He had to get three shots, poor little guy. Yes, almost exactly what The Girl was at his age. He has been much more social and sleeping less at night. I thought it was supposed to be more as they get older. Hmmm. (The Girl took this picture, by the way).

2) The Girl is such a character. She asked me to come find her and I knew she was hiding behind the tv so I grabbed the camera and surprised her with a flash. She squealed in delight and wanted me to find her with the camera a half dozen more times. We are starting preschool next week and I'm soo excited! We will do a rotating homes schedule twice a week, so I get to teach her and 3 friends one week of the month and have some free time to run errands like 6 more times a month! That will be soo awesome! I know she is going to love it!

3) Yard Work: T and I have been working hard making our yard look nice. Last Saturday we stained the playground set. It was hot and lots of work, but it looks super nice. The Saturday before last, T cleared all the unnecessary cement pavers from the backyard. I just can't wait until they fill in with grass!

4) My family is coming this weekend! I'm so excited to see my parents and my little sister and my in-laws, and my sister-in-law, and my husband's grandparents! Yes, it will be quite the party at the Wolfe House. Some have seen our new house when we moved in and some have not seen it... so, we are working hard to make it look nice. I've still got pictures to hang on the walls and a little cleaning to do but hopefully it all gets done before the crowd shows up tomorrow!

5) I'm looking forward to Fall. I'm excited for the cooler weather, preschool, holidays, and watching The Boy grow more. It will be a fun Fall! Good bye to August!

Friday Five

It has been a nice week. We had a great vacation last week, but it is always nice to come home.
1. Birthday Fun. On T's birthday I made him a nice lasagna dinner and raspberry cheesecake! I let him play his PlayStation game and watch Law and Order while I visited with a co-worker's wife who is pregnant and her husband was out of town. It was nice to have her over for dinner and play with her little boy. He loved The Girl's Buzz Lightyear doll and she had a hard time sharing it.

2. Planned the Baby Blessing. We finally figured out a day for The Boy's baby blessing and purchased a blessing outfit. It will be fun to have all our family here. I'm hoping to get a few more things done around the house so it actually looks different than when everyone came to help us move in! Maybe I'll finally hang up some pictures!

3. Visited with some friends. I love when I have the opportunity to visit with friends. I met a friend at the park on Tuesday and also got to go with another friend to the library on Thursday. Today I got to see many friends at a kids' service group. We made this cute fruit arrangement and took it over to another wife of one of T's co-workers who is pregnant and really sick. She is also allergic to a lot of different foods so the fresh fruit was perfect! It was fun to visit her... on one of her first days of feeling okay since she got pregnant! Poor girl!


4. Fresh Tomatoes! I love having fresh tomatoes. We even ate some fresh green beans this week from my garden! So fun!

5. My sweet kids are going up so fast! The Girl is so loving towards The Boy. He is such a sweet and happy baby. I know I am so blessed and I'm just grateful for them. Yesterday, The Girl wanted to lay on the couch and hold him. He laughs more often now, which is so contagious. :D

Friday Five

1) We conquered swimming lessons! The Girl had a few rough times this week but overall did much better than last week! She got more used to putting her face in the water while swimming with the teacher and even went all the way under on her own many times while standing on the steps. The last day of class each kid got to pick their favorite thing to do. When the teacher asked The Girl what was her favorite thing to do, she said "painting." The teacher clarified and asked what her favorite thing to do at swim class and I thought she would say, "get candy" but she said "swimming like Ariel with fins (not something they do) and kicking." The teacher was quick to decide they would kick with the kick board, which The Girl enjoyed so much she said she wanted to go again.



2) Nature Center: This week we went to a fun Nature Center that highlights native animals and plants. There was a nice little educational display building and a nature walk. The coolest part were these viewing windows into the river. It was fun to see the huge trout and other fish in the river. It was a nice time with our friends too.


3) Service for Family Group: A new friend of mine started a service for family group where you work on serving other members of your family. It was our first get together and The Girl made a cute card, decorated a clear plastic plate, and the older kids made service coupons for their siblings. It was a great idea and a really fun get together with friends.

4) Watching our baby fish. It is so cool to watch the mother coral the fish in at night and then let them swim in a school during the day. In the morning I can't find any fish because the mom has made them all stay against the rocks for safety during the night. It will be interesting to come back in a week and see how much they have grown!



5) Sweet friend! I love all my sweet friends that do so much for me. Isn't it soo nice when a friend does something really unexpected? One friend brought over a really nice present for The Girl, full of things to do in the car for our drive today. I just couldn't believe it. She is really excited to open it and watch the new Strawberry Shortcake DVD. I hope I can think of something unexpected for my friends in the future. This was a great idea!

And a bonus 6) I'm going on vacation! I get to see all my family and spend a fun relaxing week away from home. I'm sure by week's end I will be ready to get home and back on a normal (nap) schedule but I will definitely want to spend more time with my family. I hope the week goes by slow!

The Friday Five

Another week that seemed non-eventful... but I'm sure there is something I can blog about.

1) I love my Husband! Poor guy has been sick with strep throat this week and now that he is getting better I am just so grateful for him! It is hard to do everything on your own. I'm so glad to have my husband back!

2) Swim Lessons. Oh boy... The Girl does not like to go underwater. She cried for most of her swim classes and especially hated it when the teacher said she could have a Starburst candy at the end of class and tricked her by putting it on the bottom step in the pool. All the other kids went underwater to get it and The Girl just cried. Hopefully, after some practice with mom in the hot tub, The Girl will be better next week. Cross your fingers for us!

3) My tomato plants are producing and the tomatoes are starting to turn red. I'm really looking forward to taking a big bite of my first home grown tomato. That will be pretty awesome.

4) More baking with The Girl. She sure loves to bake. This week we made brownies with a peanut butter/chocolate rice crispy top. They are yummy! The Girl liked licking the bowl and spoon when we were done but got her shirt dirty right away. I let her lick the rest without a shirt while I cleaned up. She stood up, with chocolate all over her arms and belly and announced "Look, I have a body mustache!" It was so funny.

5) UPDATED since I wrote the other four: The Girl went underwater like 20 + times tonight in the hot tub with me! It was soo great. It was like a huge mountain that she over came. She still comes up from the water with the most terrified look on her face, wide eyed and spitting out water, but she is getting the hang of it. I told her we could go buy some little kid goggles tomorrow. I hope we find some that fit her face! Totally made my week!

Our First Friday Five

It doesn't seem like it has been an eventful week but Kirsti asked me to do this and it seems like a good tradition to do each week. I know it is Saturday but I'll try to do it on Friday from now on.

To wrap up the week, here are our favorite five things from this week:

1) I really fell in love with The Boythis week. It may seem strange to say I didn't "love" him before... it is just different. Any mom can probably relate that it just takes a little while before you feel like they are really yours. I love him like I love The Girl. He is such a sweet little boy and has a tender spot in my heart.

2) Finished a book. I read "The Wednesday Letters" in just four days and really enjoyed it. I got to go to my book club group and visit with friends, discuss the book, and just have some good girl time! I don't know what book we will read next but I hope I enjoy it as much.

3) Cooking with The Chef Girl. One night this week T and The Girl made cookies and I just sat back and watched and visited. It was pretty fun. Then Friday, The Girl and I decided to make T's favorite: Texas Sheet Cake. We brought it to him at work so he could share it with his coworkers. They've had a tough week and needed some sweet cheer.

4) Wheat Enrichment Night. Another girl time out which I enjoyed and I also learned a ton of stuff about wheat. Did you know that it is one of the only crops that can be grown all over the world? From wikipedia, "Wheat genetics is more complicated than that of most other domesticated species." More on wheat next week when I get the handouts from church.

5) Cleaning with "Mommy (Girl)". She says she is a "mommy" when she is doing "mommy" things. She helped me gather all the laundry today and throw it down the stairs. She had lots of fun doing that. Then she helped me scrub the cookie sheets. While we were taking the sheets off of my bed she started singing, "Just whistle while you work," from Snow White. It was really sweet and fun to work with her.