Treasured Memories

I've had a list of things I want to remember on my phone for awhile.

Liam talks to Katelyn in a high pitched voice when he is instructing her on something, "No, Katelyn, we can't have two cookies, only one." She didn't request two cookies, but I guess Liam wanted to warn her that I never give two.

Liam told Katelyn, "Don't break things! You're acting like a boy!"

Troy gets shy around other kids at the bus stop and doesn't say much, but we forgot to say family prayers, and he knelt down and prayed with me before he got on the bus.

Katelyn is saying so many words, but I think the word she says the most is, "Iaaaaaaaaaaaam?!?!" She can't say her L's very well. It was a "you are in trouble" kind of voice. People keep telling me about children modeling parent's behavior, but it just hasn't sunk in. ;)

 When Liam turns on a show on the iPad without asking me, I turn it off and tell him to ask. He then says, "Ask." Haha, well technically, he's right.

Troy eats mainly peanut butter. He has branched out and will eat other things, but he still mainly eats peanut butter. There are usually two jars in the pantry and he will always get me the one that is not opened yet. I guess he thinks he will get more..

If Katelyn is doing something she is not supposed to and gets caught, she snickers and runs away. It is so cute that I have a hard time getting after her.

Liam likes to give a bow after he hits a baseball with his bat.

Liam is Mr. negotiator. But he doesn't understand time. I told him he could have 10 more minutes in the tub. He shot back, "No, 5 minutes!" Fine with me.

Liam will also randomly announce his expectations of the day's activities. "Mom, after I eat breakfast, we are going to the beach!" Nope. "Mom, after I take a nap, we are going to the zoo!" Nope.

Troy loves to color and draw. During family night he told me he had a great idea! "Mom, what if we made two signs, a heart and avengers. And the boys would go to the avengers side and draw and the girls would go to the heart sign and draw." I think the girl that sits next to him at school likes to draw hearts. Haha.

Liam was watching a movie of himself that we took on the phone and it was in slow motion. He started to reenact the slow motion and I wish so badly I could have taken video. He keeps me laughing.

Katelyn loves to point to my face and say all of the different parts. Nose, eyes, mouth, etc. Then she will point to her own eye, accidentally poke it and say, "Ow!" Like it was my fault.

Liam and Troy have started to tell me I'm a mean mom when I don't let them have something. "You are mean, mom. You don't let us have cookies!" I plead guilty if it's before dinner.

I asked Liam what he thinks daddy does at work. He replied, "Eat candy!" Well, that is what he does when we go to daddy's office.

Troy told me, "Mom, what if you were little like me and went to kindergarten?" I told him that I was little and went to kindergarten. He was shocked, "When?!" I said, "A long time ago bud." Then he added, "Well, it must have been a LONG time ago." I do remember my parent's being ancient when I was little.

Liam will do anything for candy. It's how we got him off diapers during his naps. I'm still working on naps. It's amazing the power of a few chocolate chips.

Wonderful Visit from the Kitchen Family

We can not get enough of the Kitchen's. We were so happy they got to come stay because Brock had a residency interview in Houston. He graduates from medical school in May. I'm so excited for them! PLUS we got to meet their new little boy Harvey. Oh, he is so sweet. Our boys are the same ages, and so it makes for lots of wrestling, ball throwing, running, etc. The dad's get more into it than the boys I think. We loved every minute!

They got to our house on Wednesday night. The nights are always a treat because we get to stay up and talk about anything and everything. And eat junk food without having to give the kids any...

On Thursday, while I had piano lessons, they went to the park.

Cohen, Liam, Troy, and Brendon

Katelyn

The dad's teaching how to run a route or throw correctly. 

Lots and lots of wrestling. 

I'm a little obsessed with donuts, and there is a grocery store right next to us that sells them for 25 cents after 6 pm. We get them a little too often..

Hahaha. I LOVE this face. Harvey has the best expressions. I loved holding that little sweet boy.

Katelyn and Harvey. Katelyn is still a little small for this, but she loves babies.

We went to Hermann Park, got their delicious food, and walked around. It was the perfect weather.

I smile a lot with Liss. She is funny and witty and we relate so much with our kids.

Train ride!

Liss had the most amazing train whistle. Very impressive. 

Can't wait till our next adventure!

Christmas 2014 Utah Trip Coming Home

Things that I don't have pictured but want to remember:

- Dinner at Olive Garden with my family. SO much laughter and fun. We are quite the group.
- Malika's bridal shower. All the girls contributed and it turned out so beautiful! I loved seeing all of my family there. I love talking to my Aunt's. It was really fun getting to know Malika. Can't wait to call her sister-in-law Malika on February 14th!
-Visit with the Brown family. We could talk to Clay, Debbie, and Tim forever!
- Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Allsop's. I love the sweet program they always have to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
-Visit with Rich and Rachel and their boys. Miss hanging out with them! Our boys are getting so big!

Last few pics of our Utah trip: More playing in the snow at Grandma Jana and Grandpa Corey's.

Troy got to go with Grandma to the store while the kids were sleeping. He loves being so big.

Katelyn and her Hello Kitty blanket/backpack.

Liam was getting his runs out before we got on the plane.

We got home late, watched the ball drop in New York an hour early and then fell asleep. We were pretty exhausted. But Santa brought these in the morning!

I was worried our kids would be sad coming back, but these sure helped!

And in Texas, you can actually ride them at Christmas time!

Now we are at home enjoying all of the fun presents!

Christmas 2014 Utah Trip Part 2

We had a great time at the annual Merrill Christmas Party. It was at Chris and Lori's beautiful home. We loved catching up with everyone, laughing, playing games, and eating good food.

The cousins always have a present exchange. The kids loved their gifts and still play with them.

Katelyn is saying, "Cheese" She got books that she didn't act interested in, but we read them everyday now that we are home!

The younger cousins played bingo. So cute.

Troy made a home made snow globe. Cute Aunt Brittany is always loving the kids.

Katelyn could live here in this little play area. She was in heaven.

Church went well, but always a struggle with Liam and Katelyn. We loved having so much help! I don't have a picture of the first Sunday we spent with my mom and Corey. They sang in the Christmas program and it was really fun. Other than the kids had to be taken out half way through because they were so tired from changing times.

Picnic in the kitchen! Fun Grandma yes?!

Troy and Liam got Avenger's legos for Christmas. They LOVED putting them together. Our first legos!

Christmas 2014 Utah Trip

The flights there went pretty well. We were full of excitement!

Katelyn started to get restless towards the end, and started crawling everywhere. So thankful for patient people who sat by us! Ben was behind me with Troy. We switched the next flight.

New pajamas from Grandma are exciting to these boys. The boys made themselves at home very quickly.

Liam found my dad's bugle. He carried it around the whole day. Fitting, since his name is Liam Timothy. 

Skip ahead to Christmas morning.. this boy loves his Grandma. It was a very fun morning! It was probably the best Christmas ever because we loved being home with our families so much and Troy and Liam really got into Christmas morning. 

Katelyn warmed up to people a lot quicker this trip. 

I'm always really bad at getting pictures with my family because I would rather hold my nieces and nephew! We took these pictures for Alan and Malika's wedding. The idea was good, but the actual picture taking was kind of hilarious. 6 kids 5 and under = bad pictures.

This was the best we got..

Hahahaha. Katelyn was crying. Hayden was falling over. Halli was refusing to sit by anyone. Tim was picture perfect as always. Troy had to be convinced with candy to smile. He was pretty convincing though. We forgot to warn them that we would be in church clothes for the pictures. Troy does not like collars. Liam can't ever stop moving or putting his hand over his mouth when he's excited by everyone's attention. I decided by the end to just take individuals at another time. Probably would have been smarter from the beginning. 

Katelyn loved my mom's cupboards. I thought she outgrew this.. but it kept her occupied for quite awhile. Luckily, my mom is very patient! It can be quite the change to have a toddler messing in the house.

Grandma (Kaylene) got the kids coats. Hurray! They wore adult gloves and went and played in the snow. 

Once they discovered the Wii, it kind of ruled our lives. We had to be very specific about when and how long they could play. I think Troy could have just saw there for days. They haven't played nintendo since ours was struck by the lightning. I'm not sure we will get another one... but I'm glad they enjoyed it on the vacation!

Alit showed the boys how to do pushups. Troy has been doing them ever since. He thinks they are so cool and asks me to watch him.

Ben and I got to go skiing! It was actually a really good day when we went. Loved this date.