I'm not 2 little, I'm 3 big.

 We had a little lesson on the law of tithing the other night. We were explaining how the Lord only asks us for 10% of our income in tithing, then gives us SO many blessings.  We showed them what 1/10th was with coins.  Heath instantly started crying while we were talking about it.  When we asked why he said, "But if we (wawawa) give the Lord (wawawa) our money (wawawa) how do we buy what we need?" We tried to console him and explain that the Lord allows us to have everything we have so really we're just giving back a little bit that he already gave us, and it shows our faith, and the blessings outweigh the money, but after about 10 minutes he was still sobbing uncontrollably, so we just dropped the conversation.  We'll have another Family Home Evening lesson about it another day when he's not so fragile.

 The other week Houston went a couple days calling me "Princess Mommy." It was so cute, sadly it stopped as sudden as it had started.

We were at the grocery store in the checkout line. The lady in front of us turned around to take a peek, then turned around again with a surprised look on her face.  She said, "Wow! Your hands are full! But they are really good. You are lucky they're so good." I said something like, "yep. I am lucky."  which I do believe, but I also thought to myself, "Lady, this comes from days and days and days of disciplining. Not all shopping trips have been like this, they have been trained." 

 We have been working on rhyming words in school a bit.  Heath wasn't really catching on very well, but I wasn't too worried, he still has a while to figure it out.  To him Icecream and cone should rhyme, because they go together.  
 One day he came running into the livingroom and said, "Mom I think I got it! Do Fat and Matt and Rat rhyme?"   "They sure do!"  "That's why they call Daddy Matt the Fat Rat. It rhymes!"   He's got it now.  He can name off rhyming words like a pro. 

 Legos are all the rage at our house lately.  They all love them.

Heath has been having some trouble choking again lately.  Last month he choked on string cheese and an orange slice.  (when I say choke, I mean like no air at all, had to do the Heimlich. no fun. I HATE it when he chokes.) I feel like every time we eat now I have to tell him to take small bites and chew his food ALL the way before he tries to swallow.

 Apparently it is really touch to be a 3 year old.

Houston:

"I want to be a little 2 Houston, not a big 3 Houston"

(almost every morning when he wakes up)
"Is it my birthday? Am I a 4 Houston today? I want to be a 4 Houston, not a 3 Houston."

(in response to me telling him he's too little to stay home alone)
"I'm not 2 little (holds up 2 fingers) I'm 3 big."

He asks to stay home "all by myself" almost every time we need to go somewhere. He really doesn't like to go out much.

 Heath wore a hole in the toe of his runners.  We went to Once Upon a Child to see if they had anything in his size.  When we walked in he saw a pair of red Puma runners.  He was in love! I was afraid he wouldn't tell me if they really didn't fit well, but they felt good to me.  They were 6 bucks so we got them.  He LOVES those red Puma Shoes!   He claims they make him run faster than anyone, as fast as a puma, which is almost as fast as a cheetah.  He wanted to wear them to bed for a few nights.  It was kinda cute to see how excited he was.

Heath was pretending he was a driver with some old keys in the living room.  After a while I heard him Scream so ran in to see what had happened. He had used them to pry off the outlet cover and had put the key into the hole. He got a pretty good nasty shock.  Bet he won't be doing that again. 

 Houston is SUpER helpful in the kitchen. He almost always helps me make dinner and loves to do the dishes.  He is surprisingly a good helper and usually listens pretty well if he has a job.  The other day he was handing me dishes out of the dishwasher. He stopped suddenly pointed at the cupboard and said, "Hey! ....Wait!....  Do the cups live in THERE?!"  I just lost it.  It was probably more his facial expression, but it was SO funny. It was as if he'd never realized we were putting the cups into the cupboard even though he's helped me do it probably 100 times. Just hit him all of a sudden.

Houston will often choose something to be for a day and demand to be called that thing all day. (like today he was hippopotamus baby.) He went through a week where he always wanted to be called Alice. (from Alice in wonderland.)  Anytime I'd say,  come on boys. He'd reply, "You mean boy Heath and girl Alice, right Mom."  It was pretty funny.  He is a good little actor (never breaks character) and has a very vivid imagination.

Heath was in the living room hiding behind the couch making Monster noises.  Houston and I were in the kitchen trying to summon the courage to go in by the monster.  As soon as we would start to walk into the living room bravely holding hands the monster would roar sending us back to the kitchen squealing in fear. After doing this a few times Houston picked up a toy wrench and wile adjusting the tightness said, "Don't worry Mommy. I will screw him up with this!"  (we was meaning pinch and twist, like you would to a screw, but oh man, Matt and I lost it!)

 Hannah got her helmet about a month ago.  She has been tolerating it really well. She doesn't really seem to notice it is there.  We've already seen improvement in her ear placement and head shape.  The helmet creates a mold for her head to grow into, it doesn't put pressure on her head at all. It encourages her head to grow into the shape of the helmet which will help to turn her ears and head. Her new nick name is Hannahtron.

PTX Surprise!

 Matt had told me a few weeks prior to conference weekend that there was a special presentation at the school that spouses were supposed to attend that Saturday night. Something about the risks of opening up your own practice and what malpractice insurance is all about.  It sounded *real fun* to me.  (insert sarcasm into those *) He arranged for the Pratts to come watch all 3 of the kids.  All day long I was thinking I'd just take Hannah along. She's still pretty little and would probably just sit quietly.  Having a cute baby on my lap would take some of the awkwardness away for me. I could just look at Hannah and talk about her and wouldn't have to try to find things to talk to adults about who I don't really know, but who know Matt and all about our family. (I love the people he goes to school with, but sometimes I feel pressure to not be that sleep deprived mommy who has slobber all over her and can't remember how adults communicate very well.)  I was also trying to figure out what one wears to something like this?  Casual (as in like jeans and a shirt) business casual (nice slacks and a nice shirt) or nicer business casual (possibly a skirt, or suit jacket?) I felt slightly clueless...  Anyways we had a wonderful day watching conference. I felt uplifted and ready to be better and do better about a lot of thing.  As the evening rolled around and we finished dinner Matt said to me, "Why don't you go put on your skinny jeans and your green shirt and grey sweater? You look pretty cute in that." (Perfect! Exactly what I didn't want to have to figure out! : )  I tried to talk him into bringing Hannah along, but he reassured me that she would be just fine (It was the first time I've left her) and that we'd be able to pay attention much better without her.  
   We hopped into the car and started down the freeway.  As we got to our exit onto I-170, the ramp was closed.  They had a detour, but it took you clear over to 270 and up and around. We exited the next street and jimmy jacked our way around until we made it back to 170. (This took us about 10 minutes)  The meeting started at 7, and we had left with enough time, but were now going to pull in right about the time it was supposed to start.  As we pulled into the lot Matt said, "Man there must be something else going on here tonight, it's packed!"  I didn't think much of it, because pretty much every time I've been to the school the parking lot is full. It was really pretty cold, so we ran into the building holding hands. (and we were possibly going to be late) When we walked in we could hear something loud in the distance.  Matt said, "Huh? They must be showing a movie somewhere."  Still didn't think anything of it. It was about 7:03 at this point. As we came around a corner Matt said, "Man, I need to find a ticket lady!" A guy standing behind a desk asked us if we needed to buy a ticket. Matt replied that he already had them. (Still not catching on) A little lady was standing against a wall in a red jacket.  Matt handed her some tickets he'd had in his back pocket.  I just figured we needed tickets to get into the auditorium for the meeting or something. She asked him if he needed a seat map. (what is a seat map?) He said, "Nope. Second row off to the right." She opened a door and Matt started leading me into the darkness down steps. All I could hear were girls screaming like at a concert.  I said, "Matt we're in the wrong place, I think this is a concert."  He kept pulling me along and said, "come on."  About half way down the stairs the lights came on. It took me a while to process everything.. then it hit me, that is Pentatonix on the stage?!

 We found our seats, right up front. We could have seriously touched them if we had wanted to. They started the next song. We watched "The Sing Off" back when we lived in Wentworth, and they were one of the contestants that year. This song and this song were the first songs we heard of theirs, and I just thought they were simply amazing. (just skip to like 3 minutes on the video of them sitting.)  Last Christmas I found their Holiday music and we listened to it like every day.  I just love their Carol of the Bells and Little Drummer Boy renditions. I think their arrangements are so cleaver and love listening to music I can feel. 

We had a blast at the concert dancing and clapping and dropping our jaws at their talent.  What sets them apart to me is how incredibly talented each one is as a vocalist on their own. They were always right on, never a missed note or beat, and just loved singing. It was such a fun concert. I've always been impressed with them on the internet or tv, but in person! It was AMAZING!  Some of those notes Avi, their bass, sang the speakers in that concert hall were having a hard time playing, and I just don't know when they breathe.  I was trying to conciously watch at one point, and they go SO long without a breath, and they're dancing. I just don't know how it's possible.  Avi showed us something I had only ever heard about in Choir class. Overtones. It was really really cool, you should watch it here (fast forward to about 1:30 if you don't want to listen to all the crazy screaming girls before hand)  Kevin beat boxed and played his cello at the same time.  It was seriously like 4 people making music all in one. Amazing!  

They sang so many good songs.  this was probably my favorite from that night. It was so powerful standing right there under them. (in this video they always cut away, but Kristie hardly took a breath after her big lead parts. She would belt it out, then ooooo in the background for quite a long time before getting more air.  It was quite impressive.) All of their songs were clean, and they danced like any good kid would dance, no dirty stuff to be found.  It was awesome. The group came back on for a double encore.  The crowd was so energized and the music stunning.

We had such a blast and were home by 9 to put the kiddos to bed.  

 What a  great surprise.

Please don't turn around and grow up way too Fast.

 A couple weeks ago a friend was telling me how absolutely gorgeous the trees were around the Art Museum. I don't usually like to go take pictures of my kids alone, but seeing no breaks in Matts schedule anytime soon I dressed them all up and we set off alone.

 It truly was Amazingly Beautiful!  A perfect day. Slightly overcast, warm, but a cool breeze.

I think the hardest part of being alone was trying to get the kids to look at me at the same time.  This is probably the best pic I got, I just love it. They are SO cute!

 Best Brothers.

 Houston almost always calls Hannah Sweetheart.  I love it when he sees her for the first time in the morning and says in such a sweet voice, 'Hello Sweet HArt.'

 Heath is growing up so much. Where did my baby go?  He is a good kid and has such a sweet heart.  I'm so grateful I get to learn from him every day.

 ....and there's Houston coming to photo bomb.  quite literally.

 I just love this little girl!

 She is at such a fun age.

 This sweet little jacket was knitted for me when I was a baby by my Grandma Vivian.

 No one is looking, but I love this picture.  It fits their personalities to a T.

 Hannah loved playing in the gravel.

 Then she tried to eat it...

 I have a feeling these two are going to be the same size very soon. 

 Heath is in 5-6T pants right now and Houston in 4T

 "Mom! Wait.  I got this leaf for woo!"

 I learned something that day.  When you really want good pictures in a certain spot, shoot in that spot first... not last.   Aren't those trees amazing!? 

 eh, they may not be looking and smiling, but they're still pretty cute in my book.

 Houston got a little two affectionate with his hugging..