Thursday, December 31, 2009

A Nate-ism

P1080085Nathanael is now 26 months old and quite a chatterbox. He loves copying most anything that Sammy says and is starting to tell stories in three and four word phrases. Here is a little story to share what life can be like with him.

Sunday afternoon at my mom's house we were setting the table and finishing the last couple of things before eating dinner when Nathan appeared with a small candy cane still in its wrapper. I told him quickly that we were about to eat dinner but that he could stick it in his pocket and eat it after dinner. Excitedly he said, "put in pocket" and he grinned widely as he stuck it in his pocket. It must have been burning a hole in his pants because not even a minute later he was walking by with the candy cane unwrapped. I was about to tell him to put it away when he very candidly told me, "Tummy all full. Not hungry. Nate happy!" and then walked away with a huge grin and proceeded to eat the candy cane.  Kids!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A Duck Frenzy

P1080067 We decided to go and feed the ducks this past Monday morning (since I’m still on vacation!) with the boys. We went right after they got up because that is the only time to get out with all three without interrupting nap schedules (since Danny goes down about 9 or 9:30 and then sleeps until Nate goes down and then Nate sleeps until Danny needs to go down again and then it’s time to fix dinner, eat dinner, and then do baths and bed!)

P1080062 Anyway, we took them to Heritage with a bag full of bread and headed towards the lake. Sammy was the first one there and the ducks started jumping out to meet him. One big, white duck actually started taking the food out of Nate’s hand and we had P1080072to put him up on the wall. Another started pecking Thad and me on the leg begging for food and they were all around our feet I was worried that we were going to  step on them. They were going crazy! Sammy went running off and found himself cornered and then ran and jumped on the little walkway.

P1080076 We fed pigeons, ducks, and many other fowl that I couldn't identify! It was fun, a bit scary, but lots of fun. We played on the swings and slides a little bit and then when it was time for Danny’s nap we headed home. Definitely my kind of fun! :)

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas has come and gone and it was all a blur, but a good blur. Christmas Eve we spent at Great Grandma Marcroft’s house, had taco soup, ate goodies and celebrated with reading the story of Christ’s birth and singing hymns (and a few carols too!)

Christmas morning when we got up Sammy went running out only to come sulking back to our room. When I asked what was wrong he said, “Santa didn’t come last night” (I don’t know what he was expecting?) so I said, “of course he did” and we walked out together and we found a few presents to Sammy and Nate from Santa and then he was excited! We waited for Nate to wake up and then opened their presents. They got lightsabers, Jedi cloaks, Darth Vader masks, matching Clone Wars shirts (do you see a theme here?), oh and a few trains, train/plane DVDs and some Mercer Mayer books. They were more than pleased!

Later on in the morning we headed to the Badalamenti’s house for a yummy brunch and lots of fun playing, oh and of course some fun presents!

Then we headed to my mom’s house (no nap for Nate :( we were in for a disaster) to take family pictures at the park and then have dinner and open Christmas presents. They had fun with their cousins (and Lizzie and Natalie even painted Sammy up with their makeup-sigh!) The night got too late too quickly and before we knew it Christmas was over.

Here are a few pictures that I took on the Sunday before Christmas with the boys all spiffed up! Sammy was a bit hyper so I didn’t get a solo of him but some of them turned out nice for a little point and shoot camera!

Christmas is definitely a lot more fun with the kids around; more magical, more meaningful…makes me want it to start all over again but we’ll have to wait a few more months for that! ;) Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Date Night at Disneyland!

IMG_4413Thanks to some willing grandparents Thad and I snuck out one night a few days before Christmas to Disneyland after putting the kids down at their house. It was a beautiful (although a bit chilly) night, the Christmas decorations were gorgeous, and it was especially nice to be able to ride all of the rides.BuzzLightyear I hadn’t been on some of my favorites (Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones and The Matterhorn) since before I was pregnant with Danny! We enjoyed our time and rode on each of our favorite rides, got some sour balls and a clam chowder bowl to share and had a lot of fun before it was closing time! IMG_4408We swung by my mom’s and picked up Danny but left the big boys at Grandma’s house so that it was an official sleepover. They enjoyed waking up at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and played a bit before Daddy picked them up. I don’t even think that they missed us ;) but we sure had a great time!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Winter Wonderland

Snow2 Oh the weather outside is frightful, okay, well, not really but we sing about it, right? Recently it has been in the 40’s when I get to school although today when I left it was in the 80’s! Either way, Christmas is almost here! Here are some pictures from some of our holiday fun!

We got our tree set up the week of Thanksgiving and the boys had a blast decorating (and pulling off the ornaments). Sammy kept grouping them by family (all of the green balls together, all of the reds etc) and ChristmasTreeNathan wanted to play with each of the ornaments. I love having the tree up and enjoying the beautiful lights.

The next week Thaddeus and his friend Frank set up the lights. The boys (and I) were ecstatic. I love coming home in the evening and seeing the house lit up! It is fun and the boys love the lights as well. (Pictures to come soon!)

Our town had snow shipped in (how else do you think that we get snow at this elevation in Southern California) and they had a snow festival! We actually remembered to go this year and the boys loved it. Snow6They had a snow area for the little guys (away from the snow fights in the big kid’s area), tobogganing, slides and more. The line was so short that when our time was up playing in the snow we went out and were able to come back in. We will definitely be going to this next year too!

Our little Danny boy is growing like a weed (do any of our boys not grow exponentially?) He will be four months on Christmas and is starting to stick everything into his mouth. He is a bit of a charmer and has a huge smile that melts everyone's hearts. He has been known to "trick" whoever is holding him into keeping him up longer than he should be Snow5by catching their eye and grinning from ear to ear, and then the holder doesn't want to put him down. We are enjoying having him as a part of our family!

I still can’t believe that Christmas is almost here! I have almost everything purchased and most things wrapped (except I need to go buy more wrapping paper for Santa since the boys found my stash!) Now I’m on break and it is time to deck the halls! Merry Christmas everyone!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Free Udder Cover!!!

Just in case you are a nursing mom OR know someone who is expecting I thought I'd share this email from Udder Covers.

If you enter their code "Christmas" you get $32 off your total (no matter what you put into their cart!) The s/h is 8.95 and they have nursing covers and super soft nursing pads (they are way better than the disposable ones or the others I have tried--I think that they're Gerber?) The code is good for each transaction and you can use it as many times as you'd like (per their email!)

Anyway. I love my nursing cover and the pads that I bought from them and I thought that I'd share the code!

Merry Christmas!! :)

Friday, November 27, 2009

Turkey Day with a Twist…

FamPic…but no turkey although there were some good times with our little family! We decided to do the non traditional Thanksgiving and go camping.

But I better start off earlier that day…We spent the whole morning cleaning out cars so that we could fit all of our stuff and firewood into the two cars to take, but then our friend Ed lent us his truck (woo-hoo!) so we threw everything in the back of the truck, threw the kids in the car and headed on our way. We were quite hungry (since we left at lunch time) and we had decided that In-N-Out would be our turkey day lunch but as we pulled up it was closed. I almost started to cry—would any place be open? I didn’t want to eat just anywhere; it was Thanksgiving for untitledcryin’ out loud! We passed more and more closed restaurants and I started getting worried but just as we approached the freeway we found an open Del Taco and decided that it would have to do (although I didn’t order off of the dollar menu for once!)

Once we were fed and happy we traveled up the coast for a little over an hour to the site of one my favorite childhood memories-Big Sycamore Canyon Campground in Pt. Mugu State Park just South of Oxnard off PCH. It was a beautiful, clear, warm and sunny day and the drive was pleasant. We got to the campground and it was so packed that we were only able to find one open campground (or so we thought) so we set up camp there (since there wasn’t a ranger anywhere to help us). Just after we got all set up we realized that we weTentre in the group section and that someone was in our spot and we had to move our stuff (giant tent included) to another area and it was starting to get dark.

We literally threw everything back into the truck and headed around to the other loop and set everything up again just in time for the sun to go down. Thad made a fire, I started making dinner by lantern light. We had a traditional Marcroft camping dinner—potatoes and hotdogs—they were delicious. We ate and then sat by the fire for a little while till it was time for bed. We tried putting the kids down by themselves but after about an Viewhour of them running like crazy boys in the tent we decided to go to "sleep” too. It was a crazy night of boys that move around too much in their sleep (Sammy kept wiggling out of his sleeping bag and Nate kept flipping around heads/tails etc), trying to stay warm (the blankets kept getting kicked off) but we survived it.

DanielIn the morning Thad got up and made a fire (it was still quite chilly) and had hot chocolate. Then I made bacon and eggs for breakfast and the sun finally decided to come out. We played in the campground for a while before we decided to take a trip down to the beach. It was a nice, short trail, and we got there quickly. We stayed for a while before it was time to go and clean up camp. After cleaning up camp we drove back to the beach, ate a little lunch and played in the sand and water until the boys were cold andNathan ready to pass out.

We really did have a fun time and will definitely be going back to this campground! Enjoy the pictures!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Halloween has come and gone…

Halloween1…and I finally have time to put some pictures and a little bit of journaling here! Life is definitely crazy with three boys and one who doesn’t have a normal schedule yet (and I crave and need schedules for sanity!) and work and normal Mom stuff!

The week before Halloween our ward had a little party and it was a chance for us to don our outfits and have some fun! I am a horrible mom and I made them wear the same costumes again since they still fit and they still looked cute in them!

Sammy was Buzz Lightyear, Nathan Halloween2was my little penguin again (I dressed up as Mary Poppins) and Danny was the cutest giraffe there! They had a costume parade and marched around the room and up onto the stage and Nate and his cousin Lucas loved it so much they continued to go up, across, and down most of the night! Thad ran a booth for the Elder’s Quorum and we had a  lot of fun!

Halloween3We got our pumpkins ready and carved at the last minute on Halloween (I almost forgot to get them out of the trunk!) Sammy  helped me a little bit before he got distracted playing outside. I guess that I should have let him cut more of it! Later on we stopped over at my mom’s and met up with the Fongs to knock on a few traditional houses and then came home to hand out candy and do our traditional half block walk (since that is all the boys –and mom--could handle). I was amazed at the amount of candy that they got going around half of a block at my moms and to five or six homes on our street! Nate would have been happier just sitting down and eating a lollipop instead of being dragged around the block, but fun was had by all. Happy (late) Halloween!

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

It happens to everyone, right?

I think that there is a story in every family about someone coming up and showing their mom or dad a handful of hair. Today it was Sammy. He came up with a handful of strawberry blonde hair in one hand, a mini electric trimmer in the other and a bunch of bald spots on his head. He said, “Daddy, I cut my hair!” At least his hair grows quickly!

If you look closely you can see five or six spots on the left and one straight up from his ear where he nicked his head a little bit. Luckily his hair is very light and he is a boy! Phew!

Update: The next morning as I was hugging Nate before work I noticed an interesting spot on top of his head. You guessed it, Sammy had also helped Nate with a little bit of a haircut. I asked him, “Did Sammy cut your hair?” to which he replied, “yep!” Oh well. It’s just one chunk!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Birthday Boys

BdayCupcakesHappy Belated Birthday to my two October birthday boys!

Nathan turned two earlier this month on the 5th and Sammy finally turned four on October 15th. They are still very young and I’m not a fancy person so we did a small family party at the park again and it was a hit! I can’t believe how quickly they are growing and how independent (and stubborn) they are!


Sammy_BdayI have to say that Sammy was the cutest on his birthday. When he woke up in the morning and I told him that it was his birthday he got the biggest smile on his face and said “I’m four!” He thinks that four is some kind of rite of passage and often said things like, “when I’m four I’ll be able to chew gum” or “I’ll be able to skate” or “ride a bike without training wheels” or anything else he thought he was too small for. He’s still not big enough to do many things but he’ll get there. He’s still growing like a weed (He’s 45” already!) and size wise would fit in nicely in any kindergarten class ;) He loves to tell stories and is constantly talking and making up stories and pretending to be dinosaurs or power rangers and more. Four is quite challenging at times with discipline but I hope that we figure him out quickly!

NateBday

Nathan is getting big too! It’s hard to remember Sammy being that small. He is a loud, boisterous chatterbox who loves trains and his brothers. He loves to play outside whenever he can and if you turn your back on him for 30 seconds he’ll have ridden his bike further than you can see. His new thing to yell out this week is “why?” but I think his favorite things to yell are “Outside” and “MOM!” which he’ll yell over and over and over again until I respond or help him. He’s getting quite independent but is still a little boy! He’s also growing and already is 37 1/2” tall and is quite sturdy (as well as heavy)!

We were glad to be able to celebrate a bit at the park. It was lots of fun with the family and friends that could make it. We love our boys!!! Enjoy the pictures.

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Daniel’s Blessing Day

DanielSmile A little update on our big boy Daniel (he’s almost two months old already!) He is growing and filling out and as happy as can be. He loves to smile and recognizes each of us. He is a good little guy and is adored by his big brothers.

This past weekend we had family in town and Daniel was blessed at church. It was nice to have everyone there and to hear a special blessing just for him. Here are a few pictures from the special day. Enjoy! :)

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MarcroftGrandkids

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Legoland, CA

Legoland_9-28-09_ 002 We went to visit my sister Carolyn and her family and she got us some free tickets to Legoland and the aquarium for the day. The big kids were in school but Carrie and Ashley, and friends Laura and Ashton, joined us at the park.

We'd never been there before and we were excited to go. It was a really hot day but the kids had a lot of fun. Sammy got to go on the most rides because he was the tallest/oldest but all of the kids had fun. They have a water park inside of the park and an aquarium next door so there were a variety of things to do.

Too bad this park isn't closer or we could go more often. Here are a few pictures of our adventures there!

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To see the rest of our pictures from our adventure check out Smugmug! :)

Brothers…a few fun pictures!

I am having lots of fun taking pictures of the boys together. They adore their new brother Daniel and barely let him sleep or do anything without one of them hugging or kissing him, holding his hand or doing any number of things to him. Either way, here are a few fun pictures of the boys by themselves and together that were too fun or cute not to share. :)

This one is also from Zimmerman Park…woo hoooooo!

Not wanting to be left out…this guy is also going to eat us out of house and home! He is already 5 weeks old and starting to fill in!

And my favorite photo…

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