Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted! We've done lots of fun things. I guess I just haven't felt like blogging lately! Maybe because I'm enormous and acid reflux is taking over my life:)

We've had such a warm December and we've decided we really like it this way. If it will only snow for Christmas! We had one snow storm and got a couple inches (maybe) of snow so Easton and I went to play in it. Well, he played and I waddled around after him with the camera.

He loves throwing snowballs,

and making snow angels.

This is how his smile looks when it's really bright outside:)

Hmmmm other fun things we've done...

We watched The Grinch one night (the one with Jim Carey because I thought that would be more enjoyable for the whole family) and Easton got to open up some presents early from Grandma and Grandpa Cook and Aunties. He got stuffed animals of the Grinch and Max along with the book. He sat and watched the movie pretty well but had some concerns about it. It was a little scary and sad for him. If you ask him why the Grinch is so sad he'll tell you it's because he needs more friends! I probably should have chosen the animated one.

We've wrapped a bunch of presents and I've been so impressed that Easton hasn't tried to open ONE! He totally gets the concept that he'll get to open them on Christmas and I love it!

We went to see the Forgotten Carols at Cottonwood High School with my family. My sister, Cassidy, was in the choir. Tyson and I thought it was a lot better than both of us expected. I thought it was going to be sad and depressing and Tyson thought it was going to be boring choir music, but we actually both really enjoyed it.

Easton and I went to Kennedi and Collette's Christmas dance recital yesterday. He loved watching the dances and applauded so politely for the first 10 dances or so and then he couldn't take it anymore. He had to get out into the aisle and dance. We got a kick out of him spinning around and kicking his legs up. After a while I heard him say, "I just touched that bum." Sure enough he was waiting for people to walk past him and smacking them in the bum! I had to make a few apologies and tried not to laugh as I wondered where he learned that.

Easton has had a lot of funny things to say about Christmas. We have loved teaching him Christmas songs because he learns them so easily! We got a "Little Drummer Boy" book from the library and now it is one of Easton's favorite songs. When we ask what song he wants to sing before bed he almost always says, "Come they told me." For some reason he especially loves the part that says, "Mary nodded" and asks us to sing that part all the time. We recently figured out that he thinks the little drummer boy's name is "Par rum pum pum pum." He also knows Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, Away in a Manger, and Silent Night.

The other day he found some Christmas ribbon and wrapped himself up in it. He came up to me and said, "I'm Cindy Lou Who!" There is a part in the movie where the Grinch wraps Cindy up like a present at the post office. I can't believe he remembered it because it had been two weeks!

Also Grinch related... we were at Walmart the other day and I told him we needed to find a present for Kennedi. Easton said, "and De'yet (Collette)." I explained to him that we were supposed to get a present for Kennedi and someone else was "getting Collette's presents." He must have thought I meant someone else was taking Collette's presents because he looked up at me very concerned and yelled, "maybe the Grinch!"

One day I was singing, "I'll have a blue Christmas without you..." Easton stopped what he was doing and said, "Mom, I'm comin to Christmas!"

I'm sad that I can't remember all the funny things he says! He just makes our day with his comments!

We had the Page family Christmas party last night. Easton LOVED playing with his cousins! There was a lot of delicious food and we had so much fun with white elephants as always!

Sledding

When we put Easton to bed at night we try to ask him a question or teach him something new as we are leaving the room because his little brain just starts thinking and it distracts him from us leaving the room. He just thinks until he falls asleep. I know it sounds weird, but it works for him. Last week we had been reading a Jingle Bells book before bed and we talked about how sleighs are like sleds. He didn't know what a sled was, but I told him the next time it snowed we could go sledding with dad. It snowed pretty much all day Sunday so we told Easton we could go for FHE Monday night.

Easton and I had fun going to K-Mart and picking out the sled. By the time Tyson got home and we got all bundled it was after 5 and the sun had set. We got in the car and had no idea where to go to find a hill. We decided to head toward the mountain and finally settled for a teeny tiny hill near a trail head. Tyson and Easton went down one time and they were done. It was dark and freezing and Easton just thought that was all there was to it. No need to go down over and over. He was content.

Cheese!

Some more funny things Easton has said lately:

Easton had some leg cramps or something and wouldn't walk on his legs one night. When they first started hurting he just stood in place and bent his knees and said, "How Easton walk mom? How?"

This morning on the way to church I said, "Easton you're goofy."

Easton: "Um no mom, I'm not goofy. I'm a boy."

We were walking out of the mall past Cold Stone and Tyson and I were having a conversation. I was holding Easton and he leaned over and tapped Tyson on the shoulder and said, "Dad? Can I have some ice-cream please?" He has learned that when he asks for things so politely he pretty much gets whatever he wants:)

On the way home from the mall he informed us that he is on his way to fame and glory. (Like the cougars.)

Something funny Tyson said last night: (he he he)

Tyson fell asleep while I was still searching for apartments online. He was asleep for about 45 minutes before I finished and handed him the computer cord to put in the floor where it was plugged in. He put the cord on the floor and turned back to me and said, "monkey see monkey do!" I laughed and he said, "Don't ask me where that came from. I just have that song in my head." I said, "Ok well I'm gonna remind you about this in the morning!" Of course this morning he couldn't remember it at all!

Just for Laughs

Easton was walking past a bag of potatoes that was sitting out the other day when he squatted down and started yelling,

"MOM! MOM!

A NEPHITE!"

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving! Although it wasn't the relaxing weekend I was wishing for:) We got up Thursday morning and got ready to head to Payson. I made a cheese ball and marble squares, the only foods I really feel comfortable taking places- therefore I make them all the time. Hayden helped us snap a few photos in the FREEZING temperatures for our family Christmas cards. So glad to have that out of the way.

Then we headed to Tyson's grandma's for the yummy meal! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures there! The food was delicious and we had a lot of fun. Dinner was right in the middle of Easton's nap time so after we cleaned up a little I took him home to watch Frosty and attempt a nap. Of course he didn't sleep. While I was trying to get him to sleep Tyson went for a drive up the canyon. He found a tree full of turkeys! I thought it was kind of funny. They were hiding because they didn't want to be someone's lunch!

We hung out in Payson all day and wore Easton right out. We left at 6:45 and he was asleep for the night within 5 minutes. On Friday Tyson went to work a little before 6 and I got ready to go shopping with Easton. He finally woke up at 6:30 (a lot later than he usually sleeps) and we headed out into the cold. We weren't really after anything in particular and didn't come home with much, but we had so much fun. Easton is just such a little buddy. He just loves to go do things with me. Every year at Tyson's parents' we go through all the ads and are just grateful that we can't find anything we need!

One thing we were looking for was a video camera. We used our Flip video cameras for almost 3 years before they both broke. Tyson suggested upgrading our camera to one that does video too. At first I thought he was just scheming to get a new camera, but it turned out to be a great idea. They had some good deals on the camera we wanted so we got one on Friday. Tyson's parents helped us buy it as their Christmas present. Yay! Now they are worried that we won't come to see them on Christmas so we have to wrap up the camera again and open it Christmas morning:)

I worked Friday night and all day Saturday. I wear compression socks to work and feel like a granny. I'm getting to the point where leave work wondering if my feet are going to need to be amputated because they feel enormous and hurt so bad! You gotta understand that I only get to sit down at work for lunch which is usually about 15 minutes. So the 9 hour shifts just kill my poor feet! But, I am very thankful to have a job - and one that I really do enjoy. On Friday night Tyson and Easton came to my work to watch the electric light parade go down main street in Spanish Fork. Afterwards we all went to Two Jacks Pizza. Mmmmmmm.

Tyson went mountain lion hunting at 2:30 Saturday morning. I didn't hear from him until after 3 that afternoon. They had found a cougar, but he was too little to shoot (phew). So he took some cool pictures with the new t1i. Yes, it freaks me out that he was this close.

When we all finally got home at 6:30 Saturday night, we were exhausted! But we both realized Easton wasn't going to settle down and go to sleep for quite a while. So we made a bed on the family room floor and watched Elf. It was so much fun because Easton watched it the entire time and really enjoyed it. Both boys fell asleep right before the ending credits so I was able to clean up the house and get them both to bed.

We woke up this morning to a whole bunch of snow, and it's still snowing! Easton is so excited to try out his new boots we bought at "Taw-git!"

One last thing, I'm sitting in the family room right now and looking into a sparkly clean kitchen - nothing makes me happier! Tyson has randomly been cleaning the kitchen for me for the last few Sundays in a row. I mean dishes, countertops, sweeping, mopping, the works. He says he just wants me to have a good start to the week. Boy does he know how to make me happy! Thank you Ty:)

We May Be Rushing Things But...

DECK THE HALLS AGAIN NOW!

I've been faithfully listening to my Christmas music since November 1st and when I heard this lyric from "We Need a Little Christmas" I knew it had to go on the blog:) I seriously love Christmas. I started getting Christmas presents in September so the Christmas bill didn't hit all at once, although I have recently noticed a problem with this strategy: I just want to keep buying and buying! Then it ends up just prolonging the spending for four months.

Anyway... I'm kind of sad that I left all my Christmas stuff in storage in Payson. I could go get it, but we'll be moving again at the end of December and I think I could do without the hassle this year. I've been trying to keep busy with things other than decorations to get us in the Christmas mood.

I finished all of our co-worker gifts really early. I will not be curling ribbon at 3AM the morning of the work parties this year. We needed 45 this year, and Tyson just informed me that he may need more - great. One of Tyson's co-workers used this phrase a few years ago and I thought it was cute.

I found the spoons at Walmart 5 for 97 cents and painted the ends of them. I'm pretty proud that each gift ended up being about a dollar. (Ya that's still $45, but remember I started buying muffins in September:)

I got Easton this cute "Santa's Little Helper" apron at work for a dollar. We had to make some chocolate chip cookies just so he could wear it. (PS - he has been doing the funniest smile for pictures lately:)

I got under our bed and blew the dust off of the only Christmas item that made it to Orem with us - the lights. Easton and I spent over an hour untangling them and winding them around the railing on the porch. We broke 8 or 9 bulbs in the process. I had finally wound all the way down the railing and was working my way back up when I broke another bulb. The empty socket fell into a puddle of melted snow and shorted out all three strands of lights. You would think Christmas lights could handle the snow?!?! So I waited a few days and kept stepping outside and plugging them in hoping that they would magically be fixed. Of course they weren't. Then I spent another hour sweeping up glass and unwinding all three strands and chucking them in the dumpster. There will be no lights this year:(

On a happier note, I found this awesome deal at Toys R Us! I got all these games for $12 total! Easton will be getting one of each for Christmas and I wrapped up the extra Candy Lands with some candy canes to use as white elephants or to have Easton give to his friends.

When we stayed at my mom's house last weekend while they were out of town, I went to the basement and started going through boxes in search of the old VHS tapes of Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer we used to watch over and over and over again as kids. I was so excited to find a box labeled "Christmas books and movies." However it did not contain any movies. I'm actually kind of surprised it contained the books. Labels are deceiving in that storage room:) Anyway, when my family got back, I found out they had already purchased a DVD set of all the favorite Christmas movies for Easton! I was definitely as excited (if not more) as he was!

He LOVES Frosty right now. My Grandma Allen gave him a Frosty book for Christmas when he was a newborn that plays the song and he has always loved it. This morning I heard him singing it..."Fwosty snowman was jowy happy so. Wif a cone bob bipe an button nose and too much ice cream makes us cold..." Doesn't get any cuter than that:)

I can't wait for Black Friday to pick up a few last items and get everything wrapped!

The Birthday Party

I think I was so relieved to have Easton's party over that I haven't been ready to blog about it for a while:) It was just a teeny family party, but still - parties are a lot of work! Here is his invitation I made and had printed at FedEx Office for way too much money...

He had a "ball" themed birthday party. I wonder how many of those he's going to have. It seems to be an ongoing obsession. We had all kinds of ball decorations from the dollar store and I made 4 ball cakes: soccer ball, baseball, basketball, football. The cakes didn't turn out as cute as I planned, but I will post pictures of them and the decor when I remember to get them from my mom.

For Easton's birthday/Christmas we have been working on re-finishing the bedroom set that Tyson had growing up. So far the bed is turning out SO cute and I am excited to post pictures when it's all done! For his birthday we got him his bedding: pillows, a blue quilt, sheets, and 4 decorative pillows that I made him with the left over fabric from his crib bedding. They each have a different ball on them. Baby Callan will not be using the same crib set since I have already had to throw away every last bumper pad - they became wadded up into balls one by one in the washer. So I plan to somehow adjust the crib skirt so it will fit on Easton's new bed and all of his decorations (all 2 or 3) will still match.

Here are the only pictures we got of the night! (PS when I got back from picking up the pizza I was informed that Easton chose to be in his birthday suit for his birthday party. That is typical of Easton. He is often yelling, "I wanna be naked! Always be naked!" :)

He got some very cute sweats outfits from Steve and Arlene as well as Grandma and Grandpa Page. Steve and Alrene also gave him a BYU jacket that is super cute and will fit for a long time. Amanda and Thomas got him a set of balls that are really soft and he LOVES them of course. Hayden and Nicole got him a tractor set with a bridge and stuff which he also loves to play with. My family got him some much needed warm PJ's and a Mr. Potato Head that has kept him entertained for HOURS. Kelsey and Danny got him a BYU Pez and pom-pom. And Kate sent him a Mickey Mouse "dub" house plate and bowl.

We're so grateful for our families and all that they do for us!

Side note - I'm totally losing my mind. I feel like a complete air head during this pregnancy and I'm not sure I'm ever going to get my brain back. Some of the many air headed things I've been up to are...

Forgetting to take a picture of Easton with all his birthday stuff (a Cook family tradition)

Forgetting to hand out the party favor bags that Easton and I spent hours making that week.

Going to spend the weekend at my mom's while they were out of town and forgetting the key which she gave me 4 copies of so I wouldn't forget.

Driving to Holladay for a baby shower and not bringing the invitation with the address. Also forgetting that my phone was dead and forgetting to bring the charger. Therefore missing the shower.

Leaving meals out on the counter over night and waking up to rotten left overs.

Mailing out ALL of the Thank You notes from Easton's birthday party with 2 cent stamps.

The list could go on and on and on. I'm just praying that a small portion of my brain returns after the baby is born.

Just wanted to say...

Happy Birthday! - to my sweet baby boy. Easton's birthdays have such a weird affect on me. They give me anxiety and make me want to cry.

We took away his binky yesterday morning so everything has been a little rough at our house. I had heard that you need to cut off the end of the binky so they know it's really gone. If I had just thrown it away without him looking, I know he would have been begging me to find it. I actually had Easton cut it because he's been really into cutting things lately. The breakdown was much worse than I ever thought. I've never seen him so sad and heart broken in my life when he realized that I couldn't "fick it." He threw a huge tantrum and was screaming at me for an hour. The funniest thing was he kept yelling, "No mom! We only cut fish! Like Bampa Page! Only fish mom!" He had just watched Tyson filet the fish his dad caught the night before:) So sad and funny at the same time!

He has done pretty well without it, considering. He hasn't napped yet, and getting him to bed at night has been a struggle which is annoying because he used to go right down for a three hour nap and down for bed with no problem at all. Makes me wonder if I really should have gotten rid of it! I think if we can get through this week we'll be alright.

Easton and I got to play yesterday morning on his birthday before I went to work. He was so good and makes me so happy. He wouldn't nap so I tried to let him cry in his crib for a little bit while I put on my make-up. When I went to get him I tried to rock him to calm him down. I wrapped him up in a blanket and started saying, "sh sh sh sh sh..." He lifted his head off my shoulder, slapped my face, and said, "Enough mom." He's so bossy! But so sweet at the same time:) When Tyson picked him up from my mom's around 8, he wanted to spend some birthday time with his boy so he took him to Cabela's on the way home and bought him a cute little Lynx stuffed animal. Easton fell asleep on the way home, but we had to wake him up to put a diaper on him. He had a total melt down and we spent almost 2 hours trying to calm him down and get him to sleep. He finally asked for his crib but told me I had to stay there and stand next to it and sing the BYU cougar song. So I sang a lullaby version of "Rise and shout the cougars are out..." for 19 minutes until he finally dozed off and stopped saying "sing again!" Oh the things we do for this child!

Here's a picture from our very first blog post 2 years ago!

Happy Halloween!

I'm pretty happy that Halloween is over! And I decided next year Easton will be something that comes in a plush zip up sleeper costume! It got a little stressful dressing him up almost every day this week and then keeping track of the pieces of his costumes as he slowly took them off throughout the night! But, oh was he cute.

Friday night we got to go to my parents' trunk-or-treat. Easton had a lot of fun with aunties. They carved pumpkins first, which I sadly did not get any pictures of, then got dressed up for the trunk-or-treat.

Kennedi was an 80's girl, Collette was a "funky" witch, and Easton was Captain Feathersword, the pirate from The Wiggles. I got his pirate costume and he came up with being Captain Feathersword on his own.

My parents made this felt game that hooks onto their car with magnets for their trunk-or-treat last year and it was successful again this time. The kids had to line up and throw and styrofoam eyeball with velcro on it. If they got the pumpkin they got tootsie rolls, the bat got them a mini candy bar and the eye ball got them a full size candy bar. We had fun watching the kids and helping hand out candy. (This picture is clouded by smoke from the hot dog roasting trunk:)

Collette and Easton were done pretty quickly and just wanted to retire to the car to eat their candy.

Saturday morning the boys both slept in until 8, but I was awake of course bright and early because I was STARVING as usual. So I ate my cereal and then went to WinCo to pick up some bacon and pancake stuff to make pumpkin pancakes before they woke up. Just for the record, orange is a hard color to make.

After breakfast we did some housework and started to get ready for the day. I told Easton to run to his room for his nap and he really ran. He bolted down the hall, tripped on his own feet, and slammed his head into the corner of the foot of his crib. I could tell it was bad because he didn't even get up. He just laid there rolling around and kicking and screaming. I scooped him up after only a few seconds and a HUGE goose egg had already formed on his head. The pictures just don't do it justice.

It was seriously so sad. He was ready for his nap, but I was afraid he would have a concussion and not wake up! Tyson assured me he would be fine and when he woke up from his nap a couple hours later it already looked much better. Now it's just a really nasty, multi-colored bruise. I'm a little afraid to take him to his doctor check up this week because he has bruises all over his body.

Anyway, that night we went down to Payson to trick-or-treat. We only visited a few houses, but we had a lot of fun! I was glad Easton got to have the experience of knocking on the door, saying "trick-or-treat," and saying "thank you." I think we were pictured out by the time we got to Payson.

I think we have enough candy to last us until next Halloween!

Something I Forgot to Blog...

At the beginning of last week I was having an especially hard time with my angelic little almost two year old. He was not acting so angelic and I was afraid that's just the way it was going to be with a two year old. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Easton was hitting me, biting me, kicking me, and yelling "No Mom!" to everything I said. He emptied out his entire bath onto the bathroom floor with a measuring cup in a matter of seconds (I really do watch him when he's in the tub:), peed his pants five times in one morning (he's been potty trained for a good month now), and threw MAJOR tantrums in stores throwing things off the shelves, etc... It was terrible. We have been trying to figure out the whole discipline thing, but it's HARD to find out what is effective for your child.

On Thursday I worked my normal 9 hours while Tyson's mom watched Easton. After work she and Amanda and I had our monthly toe appointment. When I got there I was relieved to see Easton asleep on the couch with his angel face on:) We finished the appointment and I got back in my car to drive home. I checked my phone and there was a text from Kelsey that said, "Don't tell me you have a toe appointment."

I got home to find that she had prepared a "romantic" dinner for Tyson and I. I don't know if it was because she knew how stressful the week had been or if it was just because she made all this yummy food in her class that day. Probably a little of both. Tyson had eaten without me (he'd been home for an hour or two), but mine still tasted great after it was microwaved! She made spaghetti with sausage on top. She actually made the sausage. There was a lovely salad (on Tyson's plate only of course) and bread with home made garlic butter. She also had apple juice in champaign glasses for us. The fruit was sliced like it came from some fancy restaurant too. She is the ultimate over-achiever.

Just wait till you see everything she's making for Halloween!

Fun Fall Weekend!

It finally feels like fall so I felt like we should do some fall-ish things. We had a really fun weekend, but it was sooooo busy! On Friday Tyson took the day off work. It took him a month to get a day off. He spent ALL DAY writing essays for his pharmacy applications. The last ones will be sent in tomorrow. Hallelujah!

Easton and I went up to Sandy for the morning to give Tyson some quiet time and to go to Victor's Pond in Draper to see about taking some pictures there. We walked around and looked at the ducks. On the way back to the car I saw a black and red calico cat that was kinda big and fluffy. I said, "Look East there's a cat!" Easton looked at the cat for a while and said, "A silly cat. [long pause] Maybe a fox?" He cracks me up. It really did look like a fox. Tyson pointed out that Easton very well could have been right knowing how my eyes are:)

By Friday night we were ready to get out of the house. We wanted to take Easton to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point and it took us an hour to get there from Orem! We are SO sick of the Utah County construction, it's ruining our lives. Especially Tyson's with work. Anyway, when we finally got there we decided that we didn't want to fight traffic to get home and we had to go back up to Sandy to do some maternity pictures for someone Saturday morning so I called my mom to see if we could sleep over. She, of course, said that would be fine and asked if she could bring Collette to Cornbelly's because she didn't have a babysitter. It worked out perfectly because Easton really needed a little friend to play with!

My advice to anyone who wants to go to Cornbelly's is to go early! We got there at about 6 and just did not have enough time to do everything before it got dark. Also, the pictures aren't the best because there was no light and Tyson has something against using a flash:)

Here's a nice shot of my large and in charge belly at almost 20 weeks.

There really was white liquid coming out of this fake cow. Easton thought it was pretty cool, the rest of us were pretty grossed out.

So we slept in Sandy and woke up the next morning to go take some maternity pictures for someone. They were really fun and we only got rained on for the last ten minutes luckily! We went home and put Easton down for a nap and I made my sister-in-law Amanda a nursing cover. It turned out really cute with a lot of sewing help from Kelsey! I totally spaced taking a picture of it, but I'll take one of the one I make for myself.

When Easton woke up we headed to Payson for Amanda's baby shower on the Provstgaard side. They had everything so cute and she got a lot of fun things!

After her shower we got all ready for our Halloween Party. Kelsey made this cute pumpkin pie fruit dip for the party.

Tyson and I didn't really have time to throw costumes together so we wore scrubs. Tyson brought home a surgeon hat and mask from work that he wears in the IV room so he at least looked legit. We dressed Easton up in his pirate costume, we'll take some better pictures of it this weekend.

He had a lot of fun running around with Ace while the adults talked! It was so good to catch up with our friends!