Twas the night before Christmas

We acted out the Christmas story.

Meet the cast.

 Shepherd played by Tyler (however, he insisted that he wanted to be frankincense)  

 Baby Jesus played by Lacey

 Wise Man played by Blake ( but he insisted that he was King Herod) 

 Joseph played by Matt

 Mary played by me. 

We didn't have any costumes so we had to be creative. 

It is a Backus tradition to drink Egg nog, or Wassail and eat Vanilla Wafers on Christmas Eve. I don't know how to make Wassail so we just had Egg nog....umm Momma Backus could you please give me your wassail recipe. We are going to need something else besides egg nog next year. 

However, unlike their mother, the boys loved Egg Nog or Christmas Milk as Blake calls it. 

Check out the staches. 

We also decorated Gingerbread Cookies.

CHRISTMAS DAY.

Waiting for the Christmas curtains to come down and reveal the presents!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Fraulein Maria

That's who I played this Christmas, but instead of making play clothes out of old curtains I made:

Christmas stockings out of pillow covers. 

The pillows came with our couch we bought from craigslist, but the bright red fabric really didn't go with the room decor.

Taggie animals out of dad's old shirt and some scrap fabric ( Tutorials and better pictures here ).

 Super Hero Capes out of old bed sheets (the red side)

And a Holiday skirt for Lacey made out of a hand-me-down shirt.

What's under your couch cushions?

We find children under ours.

Blake:

Has his first crush. Snow White is the lucky lady. As far as I know he has never seen the movie, but I first noticed his interest in her when we were at the Library. 

Blake: "Mom! Look (pointing to a book)! It's Snow White.

Me: "Oh, hey look at that." Not wanting to make too big a deal out of the fact that my son is excited about a princess book.)

Blake : "Ya, it's Snow White. (Big Grin on his face) This is the one when I marry her."

We checked out the book.

Then we were at the children's hospital* in the waiting area, when Blake spotted Snow White on a Christmas wreath.

Blake: "Hey it's Snow White."

Me: "Yep. Do you still want to marry her?"

Blake: Ya. I remembered when she used to be in a book."

Then again at the library he saw another princess book. We of course checked it out. I thought hey as long as he wants to marry a princess and not be one then why not. That night Matt was reading him the Snow White story. Blake points to the picture of the prince and whispers, "That's me, and that's my sword."
Another day I asked Blake who he was going to marry.
Blake:" Snow White. (of course)
Me: "Are you going to get married in the temple?"
Blake" Ya. Well, actually we are getting married in the church."
I then tried to explain to a three year old why it is important for us to get married in the Temple (If you want to know too, click here.)
Blake: "But, Snow White really likes the church." Sounds like me and Snow White need to have a talk.

Other funny things Blake has said:

Blake brushed against my legs that had not be shaved in a couple of days. 

Blake: "Ouch Mom. Your legs are sparkley."

We were playing "Hiding from the monster" under my bed covers. Tyler, not really into the game kept, jumping on me. Trying to distract him I told him to go upstairs and make sure the monster wasn't getting Daddy or Lacey. Blake very seriously said, "No, I'll go. (sigh) The truth is, I'm the oldest." and with the weight and responsibility he has as the oldest he  nobly went up stairs to check on his loved ones. 

At dinner we had some strawberries, when I noticed that several of the strawberries in the bowl had bites taken out of them. I knew Tyler had done it, but I still asked the boys if they knew who had done it. 

Blake: "Mom, that's just what my Grandma does." (FYI for those of you who don't know Blake's grandma, she would never do this. Not to mention she lives 15 hours away.)

Blake: "Mom, why doesn't Lacey have a neck?" She does. It's just hidden by a couple of chins.
Blake was watching Matt and my wedding video. The was a picture of Matt and one of his best friends Blake.
Me: "Look there is Daddy and that is his friend Blake."
Blake: " Ya, that's when I growed up."

Tyler:

Also says a lot of funny things. 

Tyler: "Mom, can you play poker with me?" What?! 

Tyler (in a very raspy old Man voice) "What's you name son?" (You don't have to be a guy to have him ask you this question)

My aunt and uncle babysat the boys one night so Matt and I could go out. I have been putting the Gospel Art Pictures on the boys wall. That morning we went over the story of Abraham and Isaac. That night while playing in his room with my aunt he said, "The Lord needed a (and then pointing to the picture and using a very intense, deep raspy voice) SACRIFICE" Way to make the story sound creepy. 

Tyler is really into saying "potty words". It drives me nuts. So one day I finally put soap on his tongue. After crying for a little bit he said, "Mom, I have soap on my tongue. Can you kiss it?" No. I will kiss a lot of your owies but not the ones on your tongue. 

Lacey:

Oh! I think she is so cute. She doesn't say much, but she can always make us smile.

*Blake has had two more seizures. We were at the hospital waiting for him to get an MRI. It came back normal which is good, but we still don't have answers yet of why he is having seizures. Next we go to the neurologist. 

You're not from around here.

Thursday morning we woke up to a very thin layer of snow on the ground. It looked so cold! Blake had preschool that morning so I got the kids dressed in their warmest winter clothing. They looked very similar to this kid (minus all the snow):

When we got to the school I realized we stuck out in our winter apparel because all the other kids where dressed like this (minus the hat. My kids were the only ones wearing a hat!) 

Really?! It is 33 degrees outside and everyone is just wearing long sleeves. I have a feeling this is going to be a long winter for us Arizonans.

First Snow of the Season

Yesterday evening it snowed. Blake didn't believe me at first. He said it was just raining. I think it may have been because the snow would melt as soon as it hit the ground. But about an hour later the snow was finally sticking and we decided to go out side and try to catch snowflakes. The boys loved it. Blake has been asking me all day if I would let it snow. Um, sorry kid that's not up to me. I also made the mistake of telling Blake that Christmas time is here when it is snowing. Oops. He is constantly asking me if we can get a Christmas tree and if we can have Christmas now.  

Blake

*Yesterday Blake had wet his pants a little. I was trying to explain to him for the gazillionth time that we need to keep our pants dry. He looked at me and said,  "But, Mom sometimes we just make missnakes." 

*Singing Bear Necessities: "Forget about your worries and your stripes."

*Me : Blake, why are you so handsome?

Blake: Because I just did.

Me: But how did you do it? I want to be handsome too.

Blake: You are handsome, but you are wonderful. 

Made my day!

Tyler:

For Family scripture study we have the boys repeat after us one verse. Here is the verse Tyler "read" today. 

And now I, Nephi, do not give the genealogy of my fathers in ^athis part of my record; neither at any time shall I give it after upon these ^bplates which I am ^cwriting; for it is given in the record which has been kept by my ^dfather; wherefore, I do not write it in this work.

Here is how Tyler said it

And now I, Nephi, do not give the ology of my fathers in ^athis part of my record; neither at any time shall I give it after dinner upon these ^bplates of grass which I am ^cwriting; for it is given in the record which has been kept by my ^dfather bawk, bawk,bawk; wherefore, I do not write it in this work.

Tyler has embraced being two and all that comes with it. Lately, I have heard him talking to Blake or Lacey repeating what I say to him.

Tyler: Excuse me Blake. We do not talk saucy. Excuse me. Do you understand me!

Yikes! Is that how I sound?

Just because...

they are so dang cute and I know there are grandmas out there who want to see pictures, here are my kiddos!

 Blake said, "Mom, why are some of the leaves holding on so tight to the trees?" 

"Can we watch Daniel and the Lion's Pits?

 Tyler said " I'm a diamond in the rough." What? 

During an FHE discussion on being grateful, "I am grateful for Lacey crying."

This girl has mastered rolling over.

FYI- I am so glad I shaved her head. Her hair is growing back great and she looks so cute!

Bored?

Try this! You won't be sorry. :)

Miss Clean

 Don't you think she looks like she could be his granddaughter?

Here is a before shot of Lacey.

To tell you the truth my intention was NOT to shave her head. Lacey's hair was getting a little crazy. It was growing long in some place while in others, balds spots where increasing in size and invading her head. Plus she was sporting a pretty awesome mullet. I had bought some clippers that day and had just cut the boys hair and I thought I would cut Lacey's hair shorter so that her bald spots wouldn't look so obvious. That was a mistake because when I finished she looked like a little boy with a buzz cut! I obviously don't know what I am doing. Not knowing what to do, I remembered talking to a friend early that week who mentioned her mom had shaved her head when she was a baby. So I thought A bald head on a baby girl probably looks better than a buzzed head. I got out Matt's razor and began shaving the poor defenseless girl, who did not get a say in the matter. While I was shaving her head I was feeling SO guilty and thinking irrational thoughts like, what if I ruin my daughter's life. What if that was all the hair she was going to get and now she will be bald the rest of her life and the kids at school will call her Baldy Backus. However, when the job was done I thought hair or no hair she is still pretty dang cute. Oh, and don't worry about her not being able to have a say. She has this guy 

to take out her revenge for her. Because while I was being a barber in the bathroom Tyler was doing this

Sugar in the flour, flour in the sugar, both in the fruit bowl and both had to be thrown in the garbage. Awesome. 

However, on a happier note. Before Lacey's scalping happened I asked Blake and Tyler to go down stairs and to pick up their toys. I knew that would never happen, but it was my way of getting them out of the way and I figured they would just play with their toys instead. That is what usually happens. But when I went down stairs I found that Blake had picked up most of his toys. It was a miracle. 

Other things worth mentioning:

The week of conference I got out pictures of the apostles and prophets and taped them on the refrigerator. My plan was to just teach the boys a couple of the apostles names and to prepare them a little for conference. Every time they could remember one of their names I would give them a cheerio. By the end of the week both Tyler and Blake could name the first presidency and all of the apostles. Wow, who knew Cheerios could be a powerful motivator. I only taught them their last names, but Blake must have been paying a little attention to conference and heard when some of the apostles were being introduced. When I would ask Blake who the apostle was that was speaking he said, "Oh, that is Richary Scott." or "That's "O. Tom Perry" not their real names of course, but pretty close. Tyler can't pronounce all of their names very well either.  "Oofdorf" and "Cooksy" are my favorites. 

Labor Day weekend we had a Wyeth family reunion in Vail, CO. Of course I was horrible at taking pictures and I only brought my camera out for the treasure hunt at Pirate ship park.

 Here are my handsome pirates.

Aunt Naomi helping the grandkids follow the treasure map.

Hardcore Uncle Brad

 The reunion was a lot of fun! 

Blake

Blake amazes me with how much he absorbs and learns every day. He loves preschool and he has quite the imagination. The other day he was telling me about his friend Sida the Wizard (I'm not sure he even knows what a wizard is) who has purple hair and wears purple clothes . Sida took Blake to the park at the museum with Sida's mommy. He spent about 15minutes telling me about Sida and the museum. Sometimes Blake also has a pet dog named Pleeto. Blake gave us a good scare the day we got home from the Wyeth Reunion. When Blake was about to go to bed he had a seizure on the kitchen floor. It scared Matt and I pretty bad. We had no idea what was going on with him. Matt gave him a blessing and I called 911. It was an experience I hope that NEVER happens again. In the emergency room they did blood work and a CT scan. Everything came back normal so we went home. A couple days later he had an EEG. Came back normal. The doctors concluded that it was a febrile seizure even though he technically didn't have a fever. My doctor told me that little kids can sometimes have a seizure even if their body temp. only went up a 1/2 a degree. 

Tyler

This boy is Busy! He and his brother both just gave up their naps a couple of weeks ago. He just turned two! Once while on vacation Tyler was having a hard time staying in bed. So I decided to lay down by him to help him calm down. I thought he was never going to go to sleep, because he kept wiggling and playing "Do as I am doing." He never slowed down until he crashed. There was no laying still and thinking, just moving then bam! He was asleep. Even though Tyler is busy he is a sweetheart. He still will give me kisses and hugs without a fight, and he can't stand it when you get angry with him. He will come up and just hug you until you assure him everything is okay. When Blake is at school. Lacey is taking her nap, so Tyler and I get to be good buddies. He also loves hats. He was really excited when his cousin Carter gave him a hat. Now he won't go anywhere without it.

Lacey (notice the hair)

I already told you about what's happening in Lacey's life. She also has had a taste of rice cereal. She's not sure about it. She is very sweet but is pretty stingy about laughing. You've got to be pretty funny to get her to giggle. So far only Tyler and Blake have had the honor of making her laugh.

 Not much is new with me. I just fill my days with these three wonderful people.

I love this picture. You can see a little of their personalities.

Matt ran a triathlon with his dad and they both loved it and can't wait to do another one. Matt continues to work hard with his job and school. Of course he is the best husband and father.