Finally a Minute to Blog!

I know I've been a slacker and not updated this blog in over 2 months but I finally have a moment to play catch up while all the kids are napping or playing quietly. So, what have I been up to? I finally found a house, bought a house, moved into a house, unpacked all but the last 10 boxes, celebrated halloween, thanksgiving, and am trying to make sure my kids have a great Christmas season even though I am completely tuckered out. What follows are the things I should have blogged about sooner.

Trip to Utah

Aug. 30 - Sept. 3 we took a short trip to Utah for Ben (Dan's Brother) and Miriam's wedding. I decided it would be a brilliant idea to priceline our tickets. Worst idea of my life. We got a late flight out which cut out an entire day of our vacation and were routed through Minneapolis / St. Paul. Three hours on a plane, a two hour layover, and another three hour flight sounded like a nightmare to me, but once you accept your price there is no refund (I know because I tried) - f.y.i. you have to accept based on price before you know the flight details like what airline, time, and routes. Anyways, the kids were excellent and we had a fun but short trip visiting with family. We were so excited that we got to spend a short little afternoon with our friends Holly and Ryan, and Will was beyond estatic that he was able to see his best buddy Carson again. I'm sorry I didn't let anyone else know that we were in town but our visit was jammed packed with family events, so we hope to be able to get together with everyone in July. Will and Cici thought they had died and gone to cousin heaven the entire time, and seeing them having so much fun made it well worth the effort of going even though we were in the middle of a move. Thank you to everyone in Dan's family for spending so much time with us, we don't see you enough. Following are some pictures from our trip.

(Cici and Will on the airplane - they loved flying!)

(Will and his best friend Carson)

(Cici and her friend Braydon)

(all the Packer cousins and Uncle Rob too!)

(Dan and Weston at the wedding)

(Cici and her cousin Kenzli at the wedding - they are only 3 1/2 months apart)

(Will and Cici in their wedding outfits looking super cute!)

Weston at 4 Months

Weight: 17 lbs. 2 oz.
Length: 27 inches

What he is doing at this age: Smiling and giggling at everyone, rolling all the way across rooms, grabbing at everything and putting it in his mouth!

Cicialy's Birthday

Cici turned 3 years old on September 27th. We started out the day by having both her and Will make birthday crowns which they then insisted on wearing to church. After church we had a little party with Grandma Freeman and Papagator (we were still living with them at the time). We had strawberry ice cream cake in honor of Cicialy's love for Strawberry Shortcake and then opened Cici's presents. Her brothers got her the barbie movie "The Princess and the Pauper" and Dan and I got her puzzles and her big girl Princess bike! Grandma and Papagator spoiled her with a gap outfit and strawberry shortcake books.

I love this 3 year old little girl with all her spunk, sass, hardheadedness, and absolute sweetness. She proudly proclaims that she is a big girl except for when it comes to tiolet time - she then insists that she is a little girl and can only use the little girl potty (a.k.a. a small training tiolet) no matter what! This has proven to be problematic as she refuses to sit on a normal tiolet. Needless to say Grandma and Papagator now have a little tiolet at their house, one had to be borrowed from Uncle Ken and Aunt Cari while we were in Utah, and we must make sure she uses the tiolet before we go anywhere. Cicialy gives the best hugs (two types: hugs you while softly patting your back or squeezes super tight and then yells "Pop" when she lets go - I don't know where she learned either one from but they are super cute!) and zeerbie kisses. Her favorite toys are pet shops, disney princess polly pocket type dolls, and puzzles. Cicialy can put together 100 and 150 piece puzzles by herself and wants to do one almost everyday. Her favorite color is pink and she loves her brothers, especially Weston who is her little baby. She even loves to go shopping with me which I hope will lead to a life long partnership of girl bonding time between mother and daughter!

*Well the baby is now up and crawling all around and trying to unplug the computer so I will have to write about Halloween and Thanksgiving another time!