November, Part 4: Daniel's Third Month

Above: This sweet boy of mine actually enjoys tummy time. You have to do it when he is in just the right mood, of course, but when he is in the mood, it always makes him smile. He likes to look at the world from a different angle.

Above: Daniel isn't quite sure what to think about all of this snow though.

Above: Daniel is smiling like a champ now. He especially loves to give sweet smiles to his mommy.

Above: Oh, look at that sweet guy with the sweet eyes, sweet smile, chubby cheeks, and little dimple!

Above: Daniel isn't quite sure what to think of these toys yet. He's just a little too young to appreciate them yet.

Above: This is my sweet Thanksgiving Day buddy.

Above: He didn't help me much with the cooking, but he made for such a sweet companion that morning.

Above: I was trying to get a picture that showed just the right viewpoint of his sweet cheeks.

Above: Daniel loves to hold his own hands.

Above: This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Daniel. Doesn't he just look so sweet? I was trying to get a different angle for his chubby cheeks, but because I was standing over him, he just looked right up at me and melted my heart in the process. I just love him so much!

Above: Daniel and I had a mini photo shoot before I got him dressed for church.

Above: Posing for a picture with me like this was a new thing for Daniel. I'm sure he will get used to it in time...because I am going to be taking a lot of pictures with him!

Above: Snuggling in Mom's bed is the best.

Above: Daniel sure loves his big brother Pete.

Above: Daniel isn't always sure what to think about Peter's over-zealousness and extra energy though.

Above: This picture says it all.

Above: As mentioned in another post, Daniel was blessed on November 1st.

Above: Here is Daniel talking sweetly and earnestly to me. He has such a sweet little voice.

Above: Sundays sure are exhausting! Daniel is taking a nap on Grandpa Niel.

Above: Look at those cheeks!

Above: Here is my sweet naked baby on Thanksgiving.

Above: Daniel is even cute when he is cranky and crying.

Above: That's a lot of passion for such a little guy. I have come to learn that Jeremiah and I don't make kids that aren't passionate.

Above: Here's Daniel watching Peter play outside in the snow. Okay, this was staged, obviously, but look at that cute baby body!

Above: Daddy sure loves Daniel!

Above: Diaper changes are no fun.

Above: Life is so hard!

Above: Finally coming to terms with it...

Above: Just kidding! He hasn't come to terms with the fact that life is hard, and sometimes you just need a good cry!

Above: My three sons on a lazy Sunday afternoon after church.

Above: Getting ready to see the lights at Temple Square. You have to be toasty warm and covered up when you go outside at night in the winter time!

Above: Oh, but this poor guy hates having stuff on his head!

Above: What a night! Daniel's only defense against the cold was to fall asleep in the Baby Bjorn while we walked around to see the lights at Temple Square.

Above: Night, night world. It's November 30th, and I will see you again when it is December!

November, Part 3: Johnny the Artist

My sweet Johnny has always loved to draw. He gravitates to artistic things much more than Peter ever has. Johnny has always loved to create...while Peter is drawn to deconstructing. So, we would build a cool tower out of blocks, and Johnny would want to save it forever...and Peter would be chomping at the bit to knock it down.

Johnny's love of art comes with pros and cons. It is awesome to give Johnny some crayons and paper and have him sit contentedly for a good long while creating his own Johnny-style masterpieces. The drawback is that I can't trust this kid with any pencils (or any kind of art supply, really) by himself. He is bound to draw on walls, or toys, or himself, or make a huge mess by cutting paper into a billion pieces and leaving it on the ground.

Above: Johnny and his friend, Eli, discovered the pencils I keep in my piano bench for the purpose of marking up my music. They decided to mark up the window sill instead.

Above: Luckily, it came off pretty easily with some 409 and Clorox wipes.

Above: This is Johnny's drawing of me that he made for me during sacrament meeting.

Above: Johnny drew our house and that is me by that tree.

I love Johnny's art and that he loves to draw. I just hope he learns to stop being so messy and drawing on his toys, etc.

November, Part 2: Snow!

Lucky for me, but sad for the kids, we didn't get any snow in October. However, the kids didn't need to fear. The snow came...just as I knew it would.

Above: The first snowfall wasn't a light dusting. No half inch for us! We really got dumped on for our first snowfall of the season. I lived in dread of driving in that snow. With some well-timed naps on Daniel's part, lots of shoveling and ice melt on my part, I was able to successfully pick Peter up from the bus stop despite the crazy snow, lack of snow tires, and poorly plowed roads.

Above: This is a view of my road. One poor gal got stuck driving up it (it is such a steep road). A guy driving the other direction in a truck  ended up backing up, hooking her to his truck with a chain, and pulling her up the rest of the road because her car (even though I'm pretty sure she had snow tires) couldn't make it because the snow on the roads was so deep. Right as the guy in the truck was pulling her, the snow plow finally appeared (first appearance for the snowplow that day was around 3 p.m.). The plowed roads came just in time for me to pick up Peter from the bus stop. That didn't mean the roads were easy to drive on though. The snow piles up quickly up here. The roads were covered again in no time. I was able to pick up Peter, but the drive home was rough. I asked the boys to pray that we could get home successfully. As we pulled into the garage, Peter said, "Yay! My prayer was answered!"

Above: The next day, the boys had a ton of fun playing in the snow.

Above: Johnny has taken to the snow better than he has in years past.

Above: Nothing can keep my little snow bunny away. Peter loves the snow.

Above: Peter loves to jump into the snow. It's his favorite thing to do.

November, Part 1: Daniel's Baby Blessing

We scheduled Daniel's baby blessing for the first Sunday in November. Usually, I like to wait until my babies are three months old before I bring them to church, but we worried that it might be too snowy if we waited until the first Sunday in December. The snow can get crazy up here in Suncrest and we didn't want to make it harder for family to come to the blessing.

However, I really didn't think about the fact that the first Sunday in November was the day after Halloween. That made things really crazy. I stayed up really late on Halloween night after the boys were asleep so that I could clean my house, put away Halloween decorations, put up fall/Thanksgiving decorations, thaw the soup I had spent the past week making and freezing, etc.

We didn't have a family get together after Peter's blessing or Jonathan's. However, since our church is at 1 p.m. and because our house is so far away from most of our family, we figured it would be nice to provide dinner at our house after the blessing. Holy cow, that was crazy and a whole lot of work. Everything turned out nicely in the end, and everyone got more than enough to eat and everyone had a nice visit. I made chipotle chili, green chile chicken chili, Baked potato soup, sweet potato soup, and chicken tortilla soup. My mom brought rolls and some awesome dessert bars. Mike and Debra provided salad. However, my goodness, I sure was tired by the end of the day. I think I fell asleep at 8 p.m. that night after putting Daniel to bed.

However, when all was said and done, the day was wonderful because Daniel's blessing--the real purpose of the day--was wonderful.

Jeremiah blessed Daniel that he could stand up for truth and righteousness and defend the truth and doctrine of the gospel like his namesake Daniel, in the Bible. He was also blessed that he would be a peacemaker and a calming influence in our home.

My mom sewed a darling blessing outfit for Daniel. He just looked so sweet. I love this little boy so much. He makes me so happy. What a sweetheart. He is a blessing and an answer to many prayers.

Above: Isn't this blessing outfit so sweet? Thank you, mom, for making it.