You know you've let yourself go...

-When you are putting away laundry and it's mostly pajamas.

-When your pajama drawer is the largest drawer in your dresser.

-When you go three days without showering.

-When you can't remember the last time you washed your face.

-When the only time you get dressed up, makeup on and hair done is for church.

-When your activity of choice is watching tv at night or reading a book.

-When it's 4 pm and you are still in your pajamas, hence the pj's only for laundry.

-When you have ice cream for lunch because you don't feel like making a sandwich.

Zachary- 3 1/2

On Phil's birthday, Zachary turned 3 1/2. I can't believe how much he's growing up. He is in all 4T clothes which is crazy since Kaylin took forever to reach the 4T stage. He knows most of his letters and sounds and loves to watch "little shows" and play computer (starfall.com or pbskids.org). He loves going to preschool and can actually tell me where all the preschool teachers live (we do a mommy preschool co-op). It's funny because we'll be driving and he'll point to a road and say, "that's the way to Miss Molly's house." I hope for his sake that he developed my dad's sense of direction because his daddy is lacking in that category (sorry phil). He loves sunbeams and his teacher Sister Bentley. I could not ask for a better teacher for him. He actually can come up with something to say when asked about what he's learned besides "We learned about snacks" (which btw was his answer for his whole nursery experience).
Zachary is very caring. He loves to give me hugs and kisses. He will willingly come up and tell me he loves me and give me a kiss. I LOVE that. Usually for the first few years you are always asking or begging for kisses and "i love yous" so its great when they can tell you that on their own. When he makes a mistake, he also is very forthcoming with the apologies. Sometimes he even apologizes when Kaylin is the one that is supposed to be saying sorry. He loves to read scriptures, even though half the time he's rolling around on the floor or has his head in the clouds, but if we forget, he quickly reminds us. I love this little guy!
For this particular "photo-op" he actually wanted to pose for the pictures which is a first!

Jared's first steps

These are his first steps on January 10, 2011. He walks better now...

Girls Night in

While visiting teaching my friend Abby (the first time in like 4 months...I'm a horrible VT), we got talking about needing a girls night. She said that we should do a pamper night where everyone comes and offers up their pampering abilities without selling anything (let's be honest, no one wants to feel obligated to buy things. It lessens the enjoyment of the night when all you can think about is how to get out of buying something...). So Abby put the night together and I provided a clean house (very difficult with three kids who like to follow me and destroy everything I clean). Here's what we did last night...

Foot baths and foot massages

Pedicures with cool designs and manicures

Back and neck massages with a real massage therapist

Waxing (Chanika is awesome. I'm totally going to have her wax my eyebrows/stash from now on!)

Paraffin wax

Hair do's and make-up tips

and food. What girls night would be complete without yummy food.

Poor Phil, he was the photographer for the evening and was secretly wishing he could participate in the pampering. He did sneak in a massage which put him right to sleep so he was happy!

Day at the park

The last couple of weekends have been warm ones so for Martin Luther King day, we decided to enjoy the day with the kids. We officially named it "Kids Day" and we did everything centered around the kids. We made a great breakfast and afterwards, they checked the mailbox where they got letters from mom and dad asking them if they wanted to play with us that day. They also received "movie tickets" for a showing at the Walker Cinema. We then took off to the park and played. After the park we went to Qdobas and ate our favorite lunch (and the only fast food place that Kaylin can eat at) of rice and beans. We came home and washed the cars (believe it or not my kids LOVE to wash the cars) and then headed back inside for a 1 PM showing of "How to Train Your Dragon" complete with movie candy and popcorn. After the movie, we played with puzzles and finished the evening off with a game of bowling with our neighbors and friends, Steve and Julie. (Zachary was the leader of the kids and he even beat me which is not so hard!) We had a lot of fun and were exhausted from the awesome "kids day!"

Jared 16 months

Jared is growing up so fast! He is now 16 months old and I am happy to report that he now is a "walker!" He finally took the plunge this week and became a preferred walker. No more red, sore knees for this little guy. He can now say 4 words; Dada, Mama, Nana (food?) and Cracker. Mama and Cracker also were this week's additions. I was beginning to think that I would be dada forever!

Jared is a happy little guy. He loves to smile and loves to explore, i.e. get into everything! His favorite exploration activity is to climb the couch and try to play with the light switches while balancing his body on the cushion where the hard hardwood floor awaits him below. It drives me crazy because I always have to be watching him. I'm surprised that he hasn't fallen yet.

He is getting his two molars on the bottom to add to his 8 teeth. He has been waking up at 5:30 am and that is soooo not ok, but it is cute when he cuddles into me for like 20 seconds. He LOVES milk and can chug a sippy cup of milk in less than a minute. When the sippy cup is finished he cries for more. I have to limit his milk consumption 1) because milk is expensive, especially vitamin D milk and 2) he'd never want real food if he only drinks milk.

Anyways, I sure love this little bubba...

I'm glad we read the scriptures...

Our family started reading the Book of Mormon as a family in May. We are proud to report that we are in Jacob now and still plugging along. My kids are learning a ton! Zachary opened the scriptures today and proceeded to read to me. This is what he said,

"The Holy Ghost and Santa Claus is on vacation. They learn about Jesus." I'm so glad that he is learning so much from our diligent scripture reading to him. (note, there is a hint of sarcasm in this post if you couldn't tell!) At least he put that they learned about Jesus while on vacation. Consistency is the key I guess! I love my little buddy. He cracks me up!