Western Stock Show!

We took all the kiddos to the Western Stock Show!  The pictures explain everything!  We fed animals, sat on animals, looked at animals, and smelled like animals when we left!  Aaaaaahhh, the smells remind me of days on the ranch! Gentry's favorite animal was the llama, because one of his favorite books is Llama, llama, red pajama.  Christian held his nose almost all day, he was hilarious!  None of the other kids seemed to notice the smell but Christian couldn't get past the smell! 

A day with Mom!

Gentry and I spent the day together just he and I!  We had so much fun together!  Our day started off with Gentry setting up all of his men in a line and then all of his cars in the middle for the parade!  So cute and sweet to have him explain what he is thinking and playing!  

We also spent an hour and a half on the trampoline jumping!  I was exhausted but had so much fun wrestling and rubbing our hair on the trampoline to make it full of static.  I am absolutely loving life with him right now, we have so much fun together.  Most days I feel like I can't get enough of him and have been putting him in bed with us when we go to bed.  He is still asleep and I only let him snuggle for a little bit and then he goes back to his bed cause I really like sleep!  I just love being a mom right now!

Gentry's Hair

Gentry has been more interested in his hair and how it looks.  A couple of days ago he really wanted a mohawk and this is as good as I could do!  He loved it and we even went to Target looking like this!  I was a little embarrassed but he loved it so oh well!

Favorite Conversation of the Day...

I have been in bed all day long sick from a stomach bug I bragged about not getting!  Gentry had it at the beginning of the week and so I was so excited when none of us got it, that was until it showed up today in me!  I came out of the bedroom at about 5, I am sure looking wonderful (said as sarcastically as possible) when my sweet baby brother came over to check on me.

Nate:  "Ash, while you have been sick, I have been praying for you all day.  Let me pray for you.  Dear God please help Ash's tummy to feel better so she can come out of her room with us.  In Jesus name, Amen"

He then proceeded to literally pat me on the head and then ran off to jump on the trampoline.  I can't explain how much I love my sweet little brother.  We have a special bond that not too many siblings share, and I am so thankful for his life and all that he brings to mine! 

Pizza Friday!

A weekly tradition at our house has become our Pizza Fridays!  We usually watch a movie after pizza, but recently have been trying to get a little creative to make our fun days a little cheaper, so tonight that was what we did.  Tonight we had our pizza (and no it's not delivery... it's Digiorno :) )  and then had a little bit of a dance party in the kitchen (note that there will be no pictures of that, being that Jeff and I were both apart of the circus, but a great video of Gentry and Nate doing the robot should follow in a couple of days!).  The music started with Veggie Tales, but let's be honest they don't quite carry that the beat that makes you really want to bob your head... so we moved on to bigger and better!  This included some songs from my running playlist, don't worry I skipped over Rihanna, Pink, JT, Sean Paul, and a couple of others, but we did listen to Will Smith and Jordin Sparks.  Let me just say you have never been to dance party like this one, it was rockin!

After  dancing Jeff and I built a big tent in the living room and had all the kids get their blankets and pillows.  I can't lie, building the tent was so fun, I think I might have been a little more excited than the kids were because some of my favorite childhood memories are when my dad would have us kids on his own and our night would consist of a huge sock war (something that might begin in the Swanson household soon!), and a huge tent for all us kiddos to fall asleep in!  PRICELESS!!!  Anyways the kids loved it, and they all sat in the tent and watched... (I thought about lying here since I know my mom will read this and most likely not approve, but what can she do 10 hours away?  Love you mom :) !)  NACHO LIBRE!!!  We already had the movie and didn't want to go rent another. All the movies we own are Christmas movies and if we have to watch the Grinch Stole Christmas again, I will loss it, and Gentry will cry because Christmas got stolen, something I am not willing to do on this find Friday night!

At first you might think, wow that is not a kid movie, but let me defend my case.  There are no sex scenes and no bad language. It is about a man who loves God and loves to wrestle, which basically is the story of Jeff as a young man, who is an amazing man of God now,  so I figured it couldn't be that bad!  Seriously the kids loved it even Olyvia! The agenda tomorrow includes, nothing less than wrestling and homemade Luchador Masks for everyone!!!  It was classic and so fun!

These are some pics from the kids tonight.  The first is of the kids making a sad face that we were done with our dance party, all except for Gent, I have no idea what he is doing, just being a boy I guess :).  The rest are all of the kids in the tent.  Notice that I did not include any pics of the actual tent itself, this is because I have yet to uncover the secret techniques of the tent Master (my dad), and basically it was all but pathetic!

 

A Tribute to Jeff's New Lifestyle!!

Most times my blog is dedicated to the kids and all that goes into our crazy days, but tonight I thought I should mention how amazing my husband is!!! Jeff has been so supportive and loving to all the craziness in our lives! Since my sister has moved in with her two little ones, personal space in the house is basically non-existent. Our little 3-bedroom is nothing short of busting at the seams and as you can imagine 2 sisters and 3-4 kids (depending on if Nate is visiting) leaves Jeff with little room to breath, much less anything he would actually want to do!

There are so many things that Jeff could be frustrated with, annoyed with, and protest, yet he does none of these. He seriously begins and ends everyday with a smile. I am also amazed at how unselfishly he loves each of the kids. I think it can be more natural for a woman, especially with your sister to love each others kids and treat them all the same, but I am daily in awe of how loving and fair Jeff is with all the kids, he truly loves each of them like they have always been apart of our immediate family!! It is really special to see how he adores each of them and gives each of them what they need! Occasionally Jeff will take the kids out individually, for an hour at a time for some one on one time with him. They all love the time with him, and seriously every single one of them cries when they have to come home from being with him.

What is more amazing is that Jeff loves and gives so much in a time that has been really hard for him. In November his company had to lay off 25% of the employees, which unfortunatley included Jeff. (You can pray for a job to come about soon! :)) He has been on the search for a job, and even though there have been some days harder than others, his joy has never left, and is apparent by the smile on his face and expression of love he shows everyday to four sweet kids who truly cherish him!

The following pictures of Jeff asleep only to attacked by all four kiddos, Jeff sitting in the Expedition working so he can have a little peace (I need to mention that he never complains about sitting in the Expedition for quiet, if I didn't mention it before, let me say it now...HE IS WONDERFUL!), and Jeff with a reindeer hat, matching Nate and Gentry (they loved that he wore the hat with them).

All that to say I love Jeff so much and really appreciate the sacrifices that he has made for our family. I have an amazing husband and could not ask for more. I am so blessed to have him, I am still the luckiest girl in the world!!! I love you Jeff, more than you will ever know!! :)

Still Updating... Santa Letters!

So I am still trying to catch up on my blog!  Here are the kids letters to Santa!  They were so cute, sincere, and hilarious when writing these!  

Dear Santa,

I want some toys.  I want some pictures of race cars.  I want a big scurvy dog and a pirate.  Dear Santa I want you to tell the Grinch to be nice and not take our Christmas away, no Grinches, yuck!  And I wish for my friends to have presents.  Hey Santa, thank you for bringing us presents.

Love,

Gentry

Dear Santa,

I want a Barbie.  I want a dinosaur with Gentry.  I want an airplane and a ball with Grinch on it.  Tell Santa I want a mermaid, and a bouncy ball, and some flowers for my Ash.  Green and Pink flowers.  I want a Christmas tree.  A dinosaur for Gentry.  Santa I have been good!

Love,

Livvy

Dear Santa,

How is the reindeer?  I want a remote control car for Christmas, but I will see you when I get back to the mall, I'll see you again.  I want another thing Santa, I want the Batman!  (Emphasis on BAT)  I have been good at school and at home.  I made some special cookies, but don't eat them because I made a gingerbread house to eat.  Merry Christmas.

Love,

Nate

Dear Santa,

I want a Transformer, Jazz.  And Santa how are the reindeer, and I want a spiderman, batman, four wheeler, coloring book, race cars-a black one, white one, and red one... hmm what else... a long race track and that's about it.  Merry Christmas, we have some milk for you to drink.

Love,

Christian

This picture is of the cookies we made for Santa.  The kids were supposed to decorate 2 cookies.  One for themselves and one for Santa.  Everyone ate their cookie and went and put their Santa cookie on the plate, that is everyone but Gentry!  As you can see he kept taking bites out of his Santa cookie for fear he might never get to eat an iced cookie again!! 

Update from Christmas...

So I know it's late but I am finally catching up on my blog from Christmas!  Gentry walked away from Christmas with a pirate sleeping bag, pirate ship, pirate bear, and pirate book!  He nothing less than ECSTATIC!!!  While he does have a bed, every night since Christmas he has slept in his pirate sleeping bag on top of his regular bed!  His Babie and Poppy (I mean Santa) will never know how much that sleeping bag makes our day!  The day after we got home from NM, Gentry played in his room for 3 hours all alone with his little people pirate ship!  I kept walking around the corner to watch him and make sure he was okay, and he never even acknowledged me.  He just continued playing and occasionally would sing out "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!"  So sweet!  He got a whole week being the only kid again, and soaked it up!  Everyday he slept in until at least 9, which is unheard of since the boy was born!!!!  

The following pictures and video are of Gentry in this bag that my mom got from one of her sisters.  (Thanks Aunt Kay, you provided entertainment for us all day!) She opened it and literally the rest of the day he was inside the bag pretending to be a puppy named Smudgey.  He would even have us carry it around and pretend he was our little puppy.  Hilarious.  Sometimes I wonder what our holidays would be like if we didn't have these little peeps... Well they would include more sleep, but they might be significantly more boring! 

  

Graduating from Capin Hook to Capin Jack

Gentry is no longer claiming to be Capin Hook, but has indeed decided to be Capin Jack! We let him watch the 3rd pirates of the Caribbean for the first time this week. His sword is constantly stowed away in his pant leg and is ready to engage in a fierce sword fight at any moment! His fascination with pirates has lasted a full year, it was this time last year that he began the obbsession with Capin Hook.

Today I was taking down the Christmas decorations, which was very disturbing in itself because he said "I was ruining the Christmas tree and all of his Christmas decorations", he cried and told me that "Capin Jack loves Christmas and we need to keep everything out". At one point he literally started putting the ornaments back on the tree! Finally I put on Pirates of the Caribbean to keep him busy so I could finish! Here is a picture of him as Capin Jack (or so he thinks!), and a video of him sword fighting. A couple of times he told me to "walk the plank, and load the cannons!" Throughout the ENTIRE movie everytime anyone picked up their sword, Gentry was fighting right along side them! It was pretty entertaining, and I am quite sure that his love for pirates and Christmas are not things that will easily be outgrown!