Jacob! Jacob and Sons!

How could this have NOT made it on the blog yet? I know. Because we have so many things to blog about and our computer had almost entirely bit the dust. Thanks to an early Christmas present to Mom and Dad, we have our new computer and lots more blog updates should be happening! Hurray!

Anyway! Way back in August, Mom saw a Facebook post from a friend that her daughter was going to be trying out for a children's choir to perform in a high school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Mom knew immediately that I would want to be in on that. Luckily there were no restrictions on which elementary school you were from and so she had me audition! (We MIGHT have posted about that earlier...) It was so great. All the kids who auditioned were invited to be part of the choir. We met twice a week for an hour through most of September and October. Grandma and Aunt Becca were extremely helpful in getting me to rehearsals because it coincided with both parents teaching!

I was so excited. As luck would have it, Cara actually got to be in the production as well. They wanted just a few baby sheep and she was the perfect size for it! She learned a very simple dance and was pretty dang cute.

The beginning of November was pretty much all about the play for us girls. We had rehearsal every night and then we had performances for a week straight!

We performed two matinees for some elementary school classes, and then there were FIVE night time performances. It was so great. We had someone we knew in the audience at almost every performance. Joseph is our favorite musical anyway!

I learned so much from being in the choir. I became a better singer and learned how they set plays up.

Iva joined in on watching the play two different nights. She loves Joseph too!
Sam did NOT go into see the play. 

Our Preslar cousins even joined us for one of our nights. We were so happy to have them come visit even if it was REALLY quick.

Lexi made it one night too!

We were really sad when the play ended but we got the BEST news. We get to do an encore presentation of the play. We have TWO more showings in January. One last hurrah!

It was truly such a great experience. Mom hopes it is the first play of many for us!

Iva the Three Year Old

Guest post by Mom:

It still takes my breath away. Each birthday. Each kid. I thought it might get easier. I was wrong.

Iva at three is even better than Iva at two though. At least I think so. I sure enjoy her now. She's still the most amazing talker. She has been speaking in full sentence for quite some time and she just is so verbose. She grasps advanced topics and tries to tell jokes like her sisters.

She's a bit of a follower. Anything Siena and Cara are doing, she wants to do. If Colt and Carter (the twins!) are doing it, Iva will do it. She's definitely my most spunky child.

On her birthday, she could not be persuaded to open her present. We kind of had to force it on her even though it was another spinny dress which is her ABSOLUTE FAVORITE. We eventually got it on her and she was as pleased as punch.

The daycare at the gym spoiled her with cute little plastic glasses and a candy necklace. Look at her SPUNK!

We also got a crown from Cara's teacher, Mrs. Seegmiller, and I intend to blackmail Iva with this photo some day. I'm sorry. It's graphic and gross, but so so so funny.

We made sure to get her free cupcake at Sweet Tooth Fairy. She hardly ate any, but Mom handled it. HA!

Look at how grown up she is. Fully potty trained, never an accident (until I type this of course), loves to bounce from chair to chair. If you think of the Family Circus cartoons where they show the kids taking a ridiculous path from point A to point B, that's Iva to a T.

She has gotten a little anxious lately which has been a little sad. She will sometimes cry out from the living room with terror because she couldn't see me. She also panics if you seem to be looking behind her and she will RUN to you as if she was being chased.

She likes broccoli and carrots in dip. Any kind of dip. She and Cara dip their apples in ketchup. Gross. I think her favorite food is butter and toast or nutella and toast. It doesn't even have to be toast just bread.

My kids are the worst sleepers. Iva still cries out at night and Pete goes in and sleeps with her for awhile. Sometimes we just pull her into our bed (but more than likely Sam is already there.) We probably just need a king size. It was getting better and then it got worse. I'm sure it has something to do with a growth spurt or something.

I finally got her to the doctor for her 3 year well check. She's pretty average. She weighed 32 lbs and was 36 inches tall. She had on big boots so I think she's probably just 35 inches and only 31 lbs but that's just sixes. Other than if we were going to be doing rides somewhere. Hahaha!

She's such a bright spot and every day I think to myself, everyone should talk to a three year old. They can just make you so happy. (They can also drive you bat eyed CRAZY. She's a walking disaster who is constantly on the verge of killing herself, BUT she's pretty good at listening to me.)

Way back in the beginning of November.....

So to start off November, us girls got to go to a party at Summit. They are revamping their Youth Certification and they kicked it off with a good workout! My mom had to be the emcee so we had to go! It was great. We got to workout with Miss Chanda again. We loved going to her FitKids. 

We also tried a workout with Seth who is going to actually do all the certifications. We loved his "bootcamp!"

Mom got video of us doing Zumba, but blogger is NOTORIOUSLY impossible to post videos on so we will leave it to your imagination!

While we were doing that, Daddy was running in the Vegas Ragnar. It's a really long race. 12 people per team. Dad had to run 3 different legs of the race. He talked his friend, Kyle, into running with him. I think he had fun. His medal that he got was HUGE.

And then there was that first Tuesday of the month...ELECTION DAY. We were voting for the president of the United States. Mom didn't much like her options, but she and Dad made it a point to vote. Sam and Iva tagged along to Mom's polling place. There was a long line which was a good sign. They had to spin on a chair because the littles got bored!

Another momentous occasion, Mom spontaneously wanted to go on a date with Dad. So she did. She left me in charge of Sam, Iva, and Cara. Grandma and Aunt Becca came and checked on us, but for the most part I did a pretty good job. And Mom really liked her date.

Halloween

This finally happened too. It's only the end of November and we are finally talking about this. My mom team taught with her Mom for Group Power. Mickey and Minnie a match made in heaven.

Mom helped out at Cara's Halloween party. Iva liked playing in the teepee.

We finally carved pumpkins. Nothing like last minute!

We trick treated in Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood and made sure we get to Santa's House.

Oh my gosh and how could I forget? We went to SLC the weekend before Halloween! Mom had to do a three day training in Heber...isn't she awesome? She was getting another certification.

We got to play with cousins. We even went to Boo at the Zoo...

Can you see the other Jack Skellington?!

One Year

Guest post by Mom:

It happened. It really happened. Sam turned one. I am still so happy we were able to get to Disney for his birthday. We have managed to celebrate every baby turning one by letting me go to my happy place. It really helped me that October was crazy busy. I didn't have a lot of time to sit and mourn the "end" of babies for me.

Sam at one:

He's wild. But not really. He loves to cuddle, but he kind of just walks around the house opening drawers and pulling all the things out. He likes to climb up on something just to sit on it. He's just got the two teeth still, but he's been working REALLY REALLY hard on getting his two top teeth.

Unfortunately, he spent the next two weeks after his one year birthday sick, sick, sick. Eyes goobered shut, boogers constantly out of his nose, constantly crying. CONSTANTLY. He was REALLY hard for about two weeks. He started nursing more instead of less and I can't quite let it go. He seems to have lost the ability to self soothe which again has been HARD.

He laughs at Iva and almost only Iva. He will go to the gym daycare like it's no big deal, but at the same time dreads it and clings to me when we walk in the doors. He eats food and lots of it...for other people. I can't seem to get him to eat! Although, he likes scrambled eggs, graham crackers, string cheese and goldfish crackers.

He pulls faces and refuses almost everything you offer him even if he's tried it before, but you should always offer it to him again quickly because he will take it. He just snubs it first.

He's still not much of a talker, but we get definite Mommas now and we have been working on signing with him. He's started doing "all done" and has a little noise he makes with it. He will also wave his hand in an attempt to do "please" with a little "pee" at the same time. His first "word" is probably "ups" as in "oops". He likes to drop stuff and say it. Sometimes he tries to sign "more", but it's not very regular. He prefers to communicate in grunts and yells while fighting with Iva over toys. He will scream until he gets what he wants.

He thinks the dogs are funny and likes to get in their house. He's pretty gentle with them too.

He's a steady walker. He tries to run and walk backwards and turn circles. He never crawls anymore. Balls are his toy. If you need to distract him, grab a ball.

At his one year appointment he weighed 20 lbs 8 oz and was only in the 4% for height, but I can't remember how long that was. His weight was in the 34%. He's small. But that's really not a surprise to us. A week after the appointment (where he had no appetite because of his illness), he still weighed the same, but we found out he had a DOUBLE ear infection. Mom felt terrible, but antibiotics were amazing and we got a new kid after two days.

We love him. He's such a joy. Look at all these photos.

Sick photo!

His actual birthday, Grandma's ward had a Halloween carnival. He seemed to love the cupcake there that he fought Iva for. 

But once we got him home, we almost had to shove the cupcake in his mouth to get him to eat it!