::Christmassy things::

Yesterday we did a few "Christmassy" things.

We adopted an angel this year (from the Salvation Army). It's been really kind of fun. The kids have enjoyed it too. We picked a 10-year-old girl who wanted Barbie dolls for Christmas. We got her a warm winter coat, some clothes, and a couple of Barbie dolls along with some outfits for them. I hope she likes her stuff and has a fun Christmas.

We delivered it yesterday...

There were a couple of tough things about this deal. 1, How do you explain why she needs help because she might not get any presents for Christmas when your kids all believe in Santa?? And 2, I wish we could've felt a little more connected to the girl or the family we helped. We just dropped it off, and the Salvation Army said "thanks" and "God bless," and that was it! Maybe that's a selfish gratification thing, but I think Sub-for-Santa might be what we do next year-just because that way we know who the stuff is going to, and we can connect the gifts with a family of actual people instead of just a number.

We're so glad we did it though :)

Our other "Christmassy" thing yesterday was going to see Santa! We do it every year, and it's usually pretty hard (somebody's crying, somebody's cold, somebody's tired of waiting, etc), but we still go back the next year. It wasn't as cold this year as last, but really wet and slushy. Chloe had a rough go. Her feet were cold and wet (soaked through her boots) and she got hit in the face with an icy snowball that some other kids were throwing around. Poor girl. She was trying not to cry before she saw Santa.

They had some hot chocolate.

Portie wasn't too shy, but he wouldn't really talk to Santa. He pointed at me when Santa asked him a question, and I had to answer :) I told him Port wants a remote control Buzz.

Coop, well, still not a fan of Santa. He told da-da through his cries "mah all done, da-da!"

Chloe, of course, was just fine. She told Santa she wants a guitar for Christmas.

And that was our night.

In other news...

We LOST Bubb's "beeky" at Matt's basketball game last night! We were pretty worried about how he'd sleep and considered going to the store to get more for him, but we didn't. We were hoping he'd lose it at some point, and we'd just say that was it for the binky (because neither one of us has the heart to take it away from him), but when it comes down to it, that's easier said than done! He did fine though. He slept great last night and didn't cry for it or anything, and so far today, he hasn't even mentioned it. Hopefully we're done with the "beeky han." Keep your fingers crossed!!

::Chloe's bad day::

"...that's how boys are at this age, baby. They just DUMB!"

-Claire Huxtable

Okay, so it wasn't a bad DAY, it was more of a bad bus ride home. I picked her up from the bus stop yesterday, and as soon as she saw me, her little face dropped, she tilted her head to the side, looked down, walked slower, took heavy steps, and got in the car.

I asked her what happened, and she told me about how she got 5 "wows" in a row-a thing her teacher does when they do a great job on their class work. She writes "wow" on the papers, and if you get 5 in a row, you get to pick a prize. This was her second time to get 5 "wows." She picked a little plastic slinky. She said she was letting a little girl on the bus try it, and when she was handing it back to Chloe this (way cute) little boy who was in her class last year, took it and broke it! She pulled a broken slinky out of her pocket.

She was heartbroken.

When we got home, she threw the slinky in the trash and threw herself on the couch and sobbed (and I mean really sobbed!). I felt so bad for her, and was trying not to laugh at the same time. I told her about how boys are just like that, and nobody knows why. When they like you, they do dumb, mean things to you like pull out your hairbows, throw your papers and crayons on the floor, scribble on your class work, tell you to tell your mom they like you and then tell you the next day that they lied and they don't like you (all of which has happened to her), etc.

The two little brothers kept hugging her and telling her that that boy was dumb. And Bubb kept saying "whatda mannuh, kiss?" Poor girl, but at least she's got two little boys at home who are sweet to her (most of the time).

::helloooooo snow!::

It's {unofficially} winter!!!

We've had LOTS of snow in the last couple of weeks! We had 2 major storms each giving us about 8 inches. The first storm was pretty major. The news was announcing business and school closures, Matt's work sent out a big email telling everybody to go home, and they asked people working later shifts not to come in at all! It was a big one!

So our grass is completely covered, so is the driveway, and our mailbox (almost)! It's pretty exciting. Chloe built a snowman-and a pretty good one, I thought! Port likes to see how deep he can get into it, and Bubb just kind of watches and likes to scoop it up in cups. He calls it "no." And when I ask him if it's 'nowin', he'll say yeah, and that it's "Bubba 'nowin'" or kiss or Porter "'nowin'." Matt still loves to plow it with his 4 wheeler (and so does J). Me on the other hand, I only like it if we're home or if Matt's the one driving. I'm still not a good driver in the snow. I blame that on a Texas upbringing (how long can I use that excuse??).

It snowed most of the morning today and we're supposed to get snow again on Friday and Sunday. Man! Of all the winters NOT to be able to go snowboarding!

::thanksgiving::

"My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

-Thomas S. Monson
(October 2010 General Conference)

(All 3 babies sleeping together @ Grandma Kitty's)

This year we were with my side of the family for Thanksgiving. We went down on Wednesday night and came home Friday. The kids thought it was the funnest thing ever! Billy and his family stayed there too, so it was nonstop playing with cousins for almost 3 days!!

We cooked lots of delicious things, ate a lot, and saw Tangled (which was SO cute!) on Thanksgiving day (which I think is an Asay family tradition that I think we oughtta carry on :) ). We (and by we I mostly mean I) were in charge of stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin cheesecake. It all turned out pretty good. We ended up with a few leftovers-fewer than we should have thanks to the neighbors' dog! It was pretty cold weather (in the teens during the day), so Mom had a table set up in their garage to put food on. The garage door had been shut most of the time, but got left open because we'd been to the store and back a time or two on Thanksgiving day. When we were leaving for the movie, we noticed a dog in Mom & Kevin's front yard chewing on a turkey carcass. Then we realized it was our turkey!! (Mom and Kevin were going to make soup or something out of it). Not long after we noticed our Honeybaked ham was missing! Kevin found a broken platter in the front yard. DUMB DOG! Mom didn't think it was too funny, but hopefully she'll laugh about it next year :) We shopped on black Friday (as usual), but not with the 5am crowd. It was just too dang cold! Mom and I went out at about 9 and got a few things, and I'm happy to report that I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping!!

We have so many things to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my Father in heaven and all the things He has blessed me with. I'm so thankful for my family. I love Matt with all my heart and still look at him and get a little teary because I just think he's the most amazing person in the world. He's the best dad, the best husband, and makes life so fun. Each of the kids are happy and healthy and bring so much joy into our lives. I'm so thankful for our new baby that's due in March. We can hardly wait for her to get here! I'm thankful for our home, Matt's job, our health, our families, and all the little things here and there--like automatic garage door openers and those little plastic tips on our shoelaces so we can get them through the holes easier. We are just thankful.

In other news...
We decorated for Christmas over the weekend. The kids were SOO excited to help. When Matt was bringing in the tree, Coop kept saying "whoa, Da-da!!!!" and now every time he sees the tree, he says "Da-da did dat chwee, Mom" and "good job, Da-da!" Portie loved decorating the tree. Every time he'd hang something on it, he'd ask if it looked okay. Chloe can't get enough of Christmas music and turns on the same CD over and over again and dances around the living room. We got a grand fir. It looks pretty, and it's the most fragrant tree we've ever had. The whole house smells like Christmas.

::bubba bidday::

We celebrated Bubb's 2nd birthday this last week. We had a little family party for him on Wednesday (his birthday). We had a little cake, took him out to dinner (McDonalds :) ), and gave him a little present.

We sang to him pretty much all day, so by the end of the day he was singing the happy birthday song too. It was cute. "happy bidday to you..." The big kids were so sweet with him too.

He got Chuck the Truck. It's so cute! It rumbles and shakes and spins in circles and talks. He loves it!


Then on Sunday we celebrated with the whole family (Matt's side and mine). He had a tractor party. We have such an awesome family, and they all showed so much love and support for Cooper. He was so excited with every gift he opened. He even got Lakers basketballs!!


He had a tractor cake, blew out his candles, and drove his little dump truck through his piece.


I'm so thankful for Cooper! He's such a fun guy! I always say the "he don't know he liddow" because he's my baby who thinks (and has always thought) he's as big as everyone else. He likes to do things himself, he likes to climb on everything, he doesn't crawl or slide down the stairs-he walks-just like big people, and he thinks he's too big to sit in any of his seats, he wants to eat & drink out of real (and by real I mean glass) dishes, he just has no idea he's little. He makes life so fun, and the big kids just adore him! I'm so glad to have such loving, sweet babies!

Thanks everyone for the awesome gifts, cards (we got one from Minnesota-thanks Adam & Krystal, and from Michigan-thanks Gramma Ruby), and love you showed to Cooper on his birthday! It means so much to us. We love you all!!!

::nesting...maybe.::

The kids and I went shopping yesterday afternoon while Dada worked on Grandma & Papa Snowman's house (they're remodeling their upstairs), and they were SO good! They were so sweet and helpful all day, and it was so nice! Port and Chloe were so excited to pick out bows for new baby, and they were all just so good. Well, Bubb wasn't so good. He kept wanting to get out of his stroller (we were in a "don't touch" store) so I had to buckle him in which he REALLY didn't like "eee like buckow, Moooom!!"


When we got home, it was snowing and none of us wanted to go anywhere, so we thought we better go through all the old baby clothes in the storage. We kinda made a big mess of the downstairs. We sorted out all the sizes and filled up a couple of goodwill boxes.

We put the girl clothes in different boxes according to size. It was pretty fun to see them all again. I remembered most of them and her wearing them. Every time I'd pull something out that I thought was tiny, it would end up being a 12 month size. So when we got to the 0-3 month sizes, they looked WAY teeny...and cute! So we made a pile of the stuff she'd wear first and took it all upstairs to wash and hang in her room.


And our donation boxes...mostly full of baby boy clothes. It was a little sad. We know this is our last baby and we're happy about that, but somehow it was still sad to know we'll never need baby boy clothes again, and we'd never see them again either. Just kinda sad.


On another note...
Carrie & Sarah, these are some winter bunting outfit things that we had for Chloe, but I'm pretty sure they never got used. They're 0-6 month size, and our baby will be too big before it's cold enough to use them, so if you girls want these for your girls, you're welcome to them! Otherwise, we'll probably just goodwill them.


The End

::sweet pooker::

(he says his name "pooker")

Yesterday, Coop came down with a little rash on the right side of his face (you can't really see it in these pictures). We're not sure why he got it, so we just put some hydrocortizone cream on it and hoped for the best. I put him to bed and checked on him about a hundred times during the night because I was worried it was some kind of allergic reaction and his whole face might swell up and maybe he'd stop breathing or something (you can call me paranoid if you want to). One of the times I checked on him, he was uncovered, so I pulled his blanket back over him. He was asleep, but knew what I did and said so sweetly "dank you Da-Da" Okay, so he didn't say "dank you Mama," but it was still so sweet and made my eyes a little teary :)

His rash is almost gone today, and he never swelled up or anything. He goes to bed every night with his Elmo and "guishy Buzz," his binky, mah-mah, and tractor blanket.

AND..
he turns 2 tomorrow!

::our fourth and final::

This may or may not be news, depending on who you are....

(3D photo of baby #4. hands covering face. 21 weeks along)
Looks like one of us, don't you think??

We're expecting a new baby in March! I'm almost 22 weeks along. I've been feeling pretty good (since we got into the 2nd trimester). It started off a little rough-I was pretty sick, REALLY tired, and lots of headaches. The sickness and fatigue have faded a bit, but not the headaches, but that's just normal for me. The kids are really excited and can't wait for "new baby" to get here. Port asks me all the time when new baby will be here, Bubb always points to our (his and mine-and one time Da-da's) tummies and says "beeby innehr," Chloe just talks about how little new baby is going to be and about how she knows it's going to be a girl-oh and she hugs and talks to my tummy too.

Speaking of...
We found out what we're having today! Matt, Bubb, Porter, and I went to the ultrasound appointment and found out everything is perfectly healthy and that we're having a baby GIRL! I cried when she told us and Matt even got a little teary. I was SO happy knowing we would have our baby Ava. We, of course, would've loved and been happy to have a boy-just maybe sad not to ever have our Ava. Matt and I both had dreams during this pregnancy that we'd find out it was a girl. A few months ago, Cooper emptied out a few files from the desk drawer and my patriarchal blessing fell out. I hadn't read it in a while, so I sat and read it since it was out. It's amazing how you can read it so many times and it will mean different things to you at different points in your life. I read that I would be blessed with sons and daughters. I cried when I read that, and I cried again today hearing I was having my other daughter.

I was really nervous that something would be wrong with the ultrasound, and I left the dr.'s office with such relief! Partly because we know everything's healthy, and partly because I didn't have to worry about Chloe being sad about another boy :) We're so thankful for the opportunity to bring another baby into our family. More than anything, we're so thankful for another healthy baby, but we're so excited for another baby girl.

::gamer::

It's November...which means it's time for Port to disguise his turkey (for preschool) so he won't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.

BREAKING NEWS..
Porter did NOT do a Buzz turkey this year!!!

He wanted to do a Sonic (the old Sega Genesis game) turkey this time. It was a little tough. It took some creative thinking. How'd we do??

So why the Sonic turkey?? This could be why...

He LOVES to play Sonic on the Ipod (or any game for that matter). He'd play it all day if we let him. And when we tell him it's time to turn it off, he gets in a mood! I guess he's just a gamer-like his Uncle J :)

::while Chloe's away...::

...the little boys will play---in her room!

I usually go make the beds sometime later in the morning. The little boys follow me, and we play for a while. There have been lots of times I've come into Chloe's room and it's been a total disaster! Now we know why...

Today was pretty mild. Nobody got into her closet or dresser drawers. We just read books and "tried" to turn on a movie. I guess we kind of bounced on a ball and did flips off of her bed too, but it wasn't too bad.

In other news...
I'm proud to report that Porter is reading!! He's been reading for a couple of weeks now. He can do 3 and 4 letter words (short vowel sounds mostly), but he's getting it! I told him that he's learning to read WAY sooner and faster than Chloe-which made him WAY excited! Chloe helps him learn too. She writes words on her little easel and helps him read them. She tells him how smart he is. Port is trying to teach Cooper how to spell (which is SO funny). He spells stuff to him, and he spells back random letters. It's cute.

::me according to Porter::

These are just a few questions about Port's mom :) I did this same post with Chloe when she was this age, and it's pretty fun to hear what your 4-year-old thinks of you...

Porter age 4 1/2

These are his exact answers...

1. What is something Mom always says to you? I love you

2. What makes Mom happy? thank you

3. What makes Mom sad? saying mean stuff

4. What does Mom do to make you laugh? (this sniffy goofy face thing-hard to describe)

5. What was your mom like as a child? a little girl

6. How old is your mom? ten!

7. How tall is your mom? taller as a stick

8. What is her favorite thing to do? be with her little boy!

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? miss me

10. If your mom becomes famous what will it be for? a toy

11. What is your mom really good at? building with blocks!

12. What is your mom not very good at? building with wood

13. What does your mom do for her job? I don't know!!

14. What is your mom's favorite food? green beans

15. What makes you proud of your mom? when she gets me dressed

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? a kid

17. What do you and your mom do together? play with blocks together

18. How are you and your mom the same? we have the same skin, we have the same teeth, DIMPLES!!

19. How are you and your mom different? cause you have long hair and I have short hair, we're wearing different shirts, different eye color!

20. How do you know your mom loves you? 'cause she gives me hugs and kisses

21. What does your mom love most about your dad? he builds stuff for you. me-'like what?" the sandbox. me-"But he didn't build that for me." Well you play in it!!

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? I don't know, the store?

Port, I think you're the funniest, sweetest, silliest 4 year old I know, and I'm so glad you're my boy! I love you so so much!

::halloween::

Happy Halloween!!!

Buzz (4 1/2), Little Green Alien (almost 2), Princess Belle (7)

We've been having halloween for about a week now. It started last friday with a little halloween party with Brylee & Addy before they left for Minnesota. They had some cute little games and treats. The kids had fun.

That same night, we had the school carnival. They LOVE that! They played lots of games, got a few treats and prizes, and Chloe got her face painted.

Then yesterday we took 'em trick-or-treating. They LOVED it! We went around to a few more houses this year, so they got WAY more candy than in years past. Chloe loved being Belle, she's known for months that she wanted to be her. We even tried to do her hair kind of Belle-ish. Porter, of course was Buzz, and Coop was HIS little green alien. Bubb said it like this "adlehn," and he HATED his little hat. He was pretty good about wearing it for pictures though. It was kinda rainy and cold, but they didn't care at all! They were so excited, and we spent most of the day today eating eachother's halloween candy.

::little miss matched::

This last week was Red Ribbon week (anti drug campaign) at Chloe's school. Every day is a different theme that goes along with why they don't do drugs--hat day, beach day, etc. Thursday was "drugs and I don't mix" and they were supposed to wear mismatched clothes. I just thought she looked particularly cute...

I tried to get her to wear two different shoes, but she wouldn't. She told me "that's just too weird, Mom."

In other news...

Chloe and Port both got sick Thursday night. They were "throw upping" most of the night. It was just a short-lived little virus, and it was gone sometime around 5 in the morning. So they stayed home from school on Friday, and they were both a little sad. They had to miss costume day and halloween parties at their schools. Chloe was more sad than Port, and cried a bit. She wanted SO much to wear her costume and go in the halloween parade and most of all to see her teacher all dressed up. She kinda loves her teacher. But anyway...everybody's feeling better, and it was only the 2 big kids who got sick (thank goodness!!).

::bye-bye, we'll miss you...::

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to a couple of our closest cousins...

(Addyson-4 1/2, Porter-almost 4 1/2, Cooper-almost 2, Brylee-2)

Addy and Brylee are moving to Minnesota. We had our last evening with them last night before they headed out this morning. It was a tough goodbye. The kids have been sad about their cousins leaving for a few months, and I don't really think it's completely sunk in yet. They don't realize that Addy and Brylee won't be at Grandma's when we go up anymore, and they don't realize how far away Minnesota really is! It was so fun to see the little cousins play together these last few years. I've said before how much it reminded me of when I was little and played with my cousins. Cousins are just plain fun!

We'll miss Adam & Krystal too :) Matt will for sure miss him on the golf course, and any time there's a project to do. Being such a close family, this is going to be kind of tough. The furthest any of Matt's family lives from eachother is 30 minutes. We wish you the best, and we hope you know we'll miss you and think about you often!

Thanks, Addy and Brylee for being so much fun! And we hope you'll remember us when you're out in Minnesota. We sure love you girls!

::another year older::

Yes, I'm another year older. Remember when you were little and you couldn't wait 'til your birthday and being a year older?? Those days are long gone for me! I'm not too excited about how close I'm getting to 30. I'm going to try to drag out these last two years as much as possible, and maybe not even ever admit to being 30.

So my birthday was last Sunday. On Saturday, we went down to spend some time with my side of the family. Grandma Kitty had "high tea" all set up for us at a tea room. It was a new thing we'd never done, but SO fun! We went into this cozy little library type of room. The dishes were so dainty and cute-and so was Chloe. She wanted to wear her Belle dress and bring her Lanie doll (American Girl ).

We had our hot chocolate, some chocolate mint herbal tea, some homemade scones (which were d-lish!), some dainty little sandwiches (PB&J for Chloe-cut into little flowers and hearts).

See how dainty she is? Pinky up and everything :) It was such a fun little outing. So girly and just fun. Thanks mom!

A bit later, we met back at Grandma & Papa Kitty's house for some pumpkin carving and some dinner (we were planning on going to Cornbelly's, but it was too cold & rainy). Billy showed us a couple of things he can do with dry ice-including how to blow up a pumpkin...

The last photo is pretty awful. It exploded and was so loud that I jumped while I was taking the picuture-which is why it's so blurry, but you get the idea. It was pretty neat!

The kids started out painting their pumpkins with just some poster paint. Then they decided carving them would be more fun, so we washed off the paint and carved them. Chloe drew some eyeshadow and eyelashes on hers after it was done. We had a really good BBQ dinner and some cupcakes from a really great little cupcake shop!

Then on Sunday, Matt and the kids made me breakfast, and brought me some little gifties. They were socks and some jewelry, and everytime I opened something else, Portie said "I picked that, Mom!" He was so proud of himself. Matt and the big kids went to church (Bubb and I stayed home due to me having a terrible headache and him missing a nap). After they all came home, we made dinner and they sang to me. It was so sweet.

I love my family so much!! I feel so loved and appreciated by them, and especially Matt. He never fails in making me feel special, beautiful, and loved-other than when he's telling me I'm old :)