Family Time is.....

 having moments like this:

 

Last week I made a potato soup. It had bacon in it, and it was incredibly thick. We all sat down to eat at the dinner table, and "dug in." As we ate, all 3 boys were slurping, "mmmm-ing," and telling me thank you. After about the 15th thank you, I started to giggle. Aydan asked why I was laughing, and I just said they all must really like the soup, because I was getting so many "thank yous" for it.

This was his response:

"You can never thank mamma too much for cooking us such a delicious dinner, and taking such good care of us!"

Ummm....you know those moments you have in life, where nothing seems to matter, except what's right in front of you. This was one for me.

We must be doing something right, to be blessed with such a kid!

A little while later, after some more slurping, and "mmmm-ing," I asked Trace,

"Do you like it?"

This was his response:

"I like to move it, move it!"

He of course was quoting the song. The one off of the movie Madagascar.

Again with the blessing of such an amazing character for a son. He will forever be our goof-ball I'm afraid!

Oh my! One of the best dinner's EVER!

Research studies show that sitting down together, as a family, and having dinner results in all kinds of benefits in a healthy family lifestyle. I just plain LOVE doing it, but I can also see why there are such great benefits from actually doing it.

 

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On to our life these last few weeks sense I last posted!
 



Justin has been super busy with his last academic semester at ISU! He's pretty excited to be done, and is even more excited to get a "real job!"
He actually started at Lowe's this month to help out with finance's. It is a weekend only job, which means he has to work all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Bummer, but it's kinda right up his ally. He is a Customer Service guy, and part of what Lowe's calls the "WE Team" (Weekend Team.) His job is mostly doing whatever, helping out how he can, and not really having a boss. Justin knows a lot about home improvement, tools, and etc., so it has been fairly fun for him. He did have to deal with a couple of grumpy people last weekend, and I quickly reminded him that not everybody is "tool smart." People mostly go into Lowe's when something in their home is not working or broken, which means they are already in a bad mood, in spite of how helpful a cute customer service guy is. ; )
At the end of September Justin went to Boise to the Uproar Concert with some friends! He had a blast, and it was a good little reward for all the hard work he has been doing!

Justin and Mitch at the Uproar Tour in Boise on September 26th!

Justin also got to go fishing on the Blackfoot Reservoir as his last fishing trip for the year! He caught a really good sized Trout, but sadly, tasted like dirt.
(According to Justin.) (I didn't try it because it's not "safe seafood" for this pregnant mamma!)

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 I wanted to share some of our family activities we've been doing. Justin and I have REALLY been enjoying this together. Our kids are just so much fun, and we have seen first hand what great things it is doing for our babies!

My goals for our Family Activities:

Instilling confidence in our children....

Being fun and silly.....

Important life lessons....

Imagination....

Love that is unconditional....

Becoming better people....

Learning.....

Creating....

Expressing each other's differences and accepting them...

Making wonderful memories....

And building lasting relationships together.....

So, to sum it up, some of our family activities are not just giving our kids something to play with, or watching a movie.

 

We decided to let the boy's take all the money out of their piggy banks, so that they could cash it in at the bank. Sometimes it's just fun to spend your own money on whatever you want! We talked about the different kinds of coins and bills there are, and how much each is worth. Our bank has a really cool coin star machine, so we headed there!

Traceon got to go first in putting all his saved money in the noisy machine to get some bills!

Aydan was next....

Trace had $15 saved up!

Aydan had $19 saved up! And he got 2 $2 bills (to save!)

After cashing in, we talked about saving money, and then headed to the Dollar Store (Aydan's choice)to pick out 5 things. After buying their 5 treasures, we decided it would be a good idea to put the rest of their saved money back in their piggy banks.

These kids were OUT OF THEIR MINDS excited to get to pick out whatever they wanted!

Superhero sucker's were a must!

Checking out!

Playing with the new goodies!

We took the boys to the park afterwards because it was a Saturday, and it was absolutely beautiful!

Traceon!

All 3 boys getting ready to go down the slide!

Justin took this picture of me, and I find it kind of funny. I tried to play on the toys! But, it hurt going in the small tube things, so I lied on the blanket instead! Being prego sometimes means you have to miss out!

Aydan!

The boys!

 

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Another Family Activity was

Learning about Chores!

Aydan is definitely old enough to help out around the house! Trace is not really, but he can learn from his older brother, since he has to do everything Aydan does! Plus, it's good that he is learning to clean up his own toy messes!

Also, I want the boy's to learn how to take care of themselves, and learn to help out others. I hope that this will instill confidence in knowing what to do, and how to do it. For example, how to put laundry away, setting the table, cleaning up messes that YOU, YOURSELF make. Just because I am a stay at home mom, doesn't mean I want to teach my boy's that that is a woman's ONLY job. They, and their future wives will thank me one day!

I of course MADE Chore Charts for the kiddos! It was a fun little craft for me, and I love how they turned out! I looked around town for some chore charts, and I didn't want to spend $30 per chart, and I didn't want to waste ink and paper every week by printing them off of the computer. That is when I came to the conclusion that I could make them myself!

Total cost for 2 Chore Charts, made with love: Just under $15!

(I had to buy a metal sheet $4&something, marble's, 2 bags for $5, and I printed off the chore images at Staples (on card stock) because regular paper is hard to mod podge, $3&something!) And I had everything else at home already!

 

So I made lots of different choices for chores. Like, make bed, vacuum, recycle, set the table, and some others! I also made some "obligation chores." Like practicing basketball, homework, and practicing piano. 

 

I have a system too! On their charts there is a "to do" side and a "done" side. I put chores to do on one side and when they're done doing the chore, they move it to the other side. When they have done all of their chores at the end of the day, they get a smiley face. At the end of the week, if they have 7 (or 5, sometimes, I don't make them do chores on the weekend) they get to pick out of the CHORE TREAT BASKET!

I bet some of you that know Aydan and Traceon well, could tell me which boy absolutely LOVES this.....yes our very analytical, organized, have to have a plan, oldest boy!

Here are the charts with ALL chores, and smileys on them. I obviously don't make the boy's do all 24 things every day! Ha! Ha! Just wanted you to see the finished product!

Our "command center." With Justin, and Aydan's busy schedule's, I have to write everything down so we don't miss a practice, or an appointment, and I know when to make plans!

Aren't they cute? I found some really awesome clip art!

I love the "mom's choice" one! 

And the vacuum, and laundry one's!

They usually do 5 or 6 chores a day, and have been thrilled with picking from the CHORE TREAT BASKET!

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This is the last Family thing I will share....just cause I have to tell you of the experience!

Another Family Night was "Learning about Emergency's!"
We started out by making JELLO COOKIES!
All parents with little kids should make them! We chose watermelon jello, which made the dough smell awesome! We let the boys play with the dough for awhile, like it was play dough. Trace couldn't stop eating it, so we finally had to actually make the cookies!

While the cookies were baking, the boys colored a police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck, while we talked about emergency's. This was mostly for Aydan again, because he is old enough. They both know our address by heart, and we wanted to make sure Aydan knows what to do in an emergency. With a new little baby coming into our family in a couple of months, we knew this was a good idea.
We talked about what to do in a fire, and it went well. We explained different scenarios, and pretend practiced calling 911.
Then we talked about when to call an ambulance, and what to say. We had Aydan pretend talking to the operator, telling "us" what our address was, and what type of emergency it was. Example: If mommy fell down the stairs, and couldn't wake up, what he would have to do.
Next we talked about strangers, and opening the door to strangers without mommy and daddy. This seemed to REALLY freak Aydan out. I think it is shocking to most kids, that not everybody in the world is a nice person. We didn't get too detailed, but it still scared him to tears. But, with all the weirdo's out there, we want our children to know what to do!
Here are the kids emergency art, and a printed off paper of phone number's!

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Traceon Parker Polson!
Traceon has been so much fun to hang with in the mornings while Aydan is at school! He comes up with his own ideas and questions, and plays so nicely! One morning I played Lincoln Logs with him!




I have decided that Traceon is getting old. He is starting to act more like a big boy, instead of a selfish, stinker, of a 2 year old! Yes, I (unlike some people) can admit that 2 year olds' are ROUGH! They are selfish and mean. But, I also know that it's not their fault, and they are just learning! Trace is starting to show signs of caring about other's feelings (truly) and learning that some "mean" things really ARE mean, and is realizing that he doesn't want to be mean. Which is a good thing!
AND HE IS SO EXCITED ABOUT LINCOLN!
He is always worried about squishing him when he sits on my lap. He talks to him, and gives my belly kisses. He tells me what toys Lincoln can play with, and what toys he can't. (Ha! Ha!) He has been so sweet, it's going to be fun to see them together!


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Aydan Mychal Polson
Aydan is so fun! Being in Kindergarten has been exciting for him!
He has met some new friends, and loves his teacher. A couple of weeks ago, Aydan came home from school with a giant scrape on his ribs, with a band aid on top of it. He said that he fell at recess and the "recess aid" made him put a band aid on, even though he wasn't bleeding.
 He said, and I quote, " She was being all weird and scared, and I was like what ever dude."
Ha! Ha! I guess this means Aydan truly is ALL BOY, and is super tough!

Here is Aydan's school pic! I like the dino sticker personally!

So, Aydan has read BY HIMSELF almost 20 books so far for the month of October! Woot Woot! He loves reading!  I thought that we could start reading Chapter books together. I went with a classic for our first read, Charlotte's Web. People, I have had to limit Aydan to 3 chapter's a day! He loves it, and just enjoys laying on the couch listening to me read, while his imagination does the rest!
I was wondering if he was going to be able to be mature enough to actually sit through a story without pictures! Every now and again, as I read from the book, I ask him what is going on, and he KNOWS EXACTLY, which means he following well! He has also been learning a lot of new vocabulary words from reading this story!
I totally made him some SWEET MONSTER BOOK MARKS!

Aren't they funny? It's like they're eating the book! Ha! Ha!
After we finish reading Charlotte's Web, I told him we could get the movie and watch it together!


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Lincoln Ryker Polson
Lincoln is doing well, this I know because he is constantly kicking me!
 I love it though...don't take that comment the wrong way! I can feel him all around my abdomen. He is even big enough that he tickles me with his kicks down by my hip bones. Fortunately he has not reached my ribs yet....but I know that day is soon to come!

 I kid around a lot about being pregnant, by calling myself fat, slow, and invaded.
 But it's SO TRUE.
 I have gained about 18lbs so far, (which is about half of what I usually gain, when growing a babe) and that is A LOT for someone like me who is not used to carrying extra lbs around. It makes me slow. Going up and down the stairs, cleaning, putting on my shoes, and ext.! I have reached the point where my stomach muscles are so stretched out that when I put on pants, each leg feels like it's 100lbs. as I lift them!
 And I so mean it, when I say that my body feels invaded....take that how you want to, but my body is no longer mine.
Example: I HATE milk. Yuck. Gross. But, while growing babies, it's basically ALL I crave. I need it. It satisfies the cravings. ; )

Justin and I have started on 2 projects for the little man so far, and I am excited to get going on some sewing projects for him. We have just under 4 months until he makes his debut, and with the holidays coming around, we needed to get started so we're not doing all projects in the month of January!

This is my Baby Lincoln belly at 23 weeks! 

I am currently just over 6 months pregnant, and went in for an appointment yesterday. Everything is looking great, and next appointment is the dreaded glucose test! Yuck, I am not looking forward to drinking a nasty orange drink!

 

 

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The first part of October I took Justin's cousin Tonya, and her family's pictures!

Tonya and Brian's son Josh, headed for San Antonio, to their Air force Base on October 9!

They're such a fun family, and we are so excited for Josh's new journey! He's going to do great!

 

Josh, Tonya, Brian, and Brooke Rupe!



 

 

 

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Today is the beginning of our

13 Days of Halloween Countdown!

 

I have some fun things planned, like going to the pumpkin patch, apple orchard, and Boo at the Zoo!

 

I also am going to try my hardest to freak the boy's out tonight by making a meatloaf in the shape of a hand! Ha! Ha!

It should be fun, and I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to share with you!

Also....I am making Justin and I's costumes, and they're AWESOME! And we have the 2 cutest superhero's you'll ever see, to take trick or treating this year!

 

(Also, I have been doing GREAT at keeping my New Year's goal of staying on top of digital-scrapbooking! Check out my pages, if you haven't already, by clicking on the tab at the top of my blog!)