ZOO DAY- HOORAY

It was a nice day on Saturday, so we took the kiddos to the Zoo. I guess everyone else had the same idea because it was crowded. I guess we all wanted to take advantage of the 60 degree weather. Being my bad-taking-picture-self, these are the only pictures I took. 

 Sometimes I think the boys could care less about the animals. All they want to do is run and climb and open trash can lids. Honestly, if I let them they would climb into the Cheetah cage, not because the love Cheetahs but because it has a rail around the display not much higher than they are. So tempting for little boys to climb on.

Lacey Love (can you see the longing in her eyes, wanting to be running and climbing with her brothers?)

Snowmen

A couple weeks ago we got a nice snow storm. You wouldn't be able to tell now. There is hardly any snow left on the ground. I love Colorado winters. It will snow one day, and then a couple days later it will warm up, the snow is gone and then its off to the park for a picnic. Awesome. Anyways, back to the snow day. We wanted to make a snowblob man (we are still perfecting our snowman making skills).

The boys decided they wanted a grumpy snowman.

BLAKE

Blake loves the snow the most. Every morning he looks out the window hoping there is snow on the ground. If there is he begs and begs me to let him go outside and play. Blake has just recently been diagnosed with epilepsy. We have started him on some medication and so far so good. The doctor told me that Blake has a mild case and has a good chance of growing out of it. Because of the seizures and all the testing he had to have we decided to pull him out of preschool. We were paying for him to go, but he was only going half the time. It just wasn't worth it. Honestly, I don't think he misses it. He hasn't asked about it and I love having him home everyday with me. Favorite Movie: Cars Favorite song: Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar Favorite Food: Corn Dogs and Hot chocolate. Favorite joke: Why was the blueberry crying? Because it had the blues! (we hear this jokes several times a day). Favorite saying: What are we going to do now?

TYLER:

Tyler's favorite thing to do in the snow is eat it. Other than that he is not a huge fan and it is not long after we go outside that Tyler is asking me to go back in.  I can tell Tyler is getting closer and closer to potty training. Ugh. I think I will put it off a little bit longer. Maybe after February when Daddy is done with the BAR. Lately, at night he has been scared of "hummers". I have no idea what those are, but he will start to cry when I put him to bed and say the hummers will get me. Usually, I have to talk about Lightning McQueen, Buzz, and Woody and then he calms down. However, if he wakes up during the night then he is afraid again. We have had some long nights. (Hummers if you are reading this, you, me, parking lot. We need to end this now. I need my sleep.) Favorite Movie: Cars. Favorite song: Bah bah Black sheep. Favorite toys: cars and Blue puppy. Favorite food: Yogurt and fruit. Favorite saying: Hey ya donkey boy.

LACEY

(She hates this coat. I think because she can't move in it)

Lacey loves to shriek sing, babble, grunt and growl. She is full of energy and can't stop moving. Thankfully she is not mobile yet. As someone in church so kindly put it Lacey is very healthy a.k.a chunky. She has some seriously squeezable thighs. Favorite song: The little green frog. Favorite toy: paper Favorite game: being tossed in the air. Favorite food: food (she loves it all).

US

Matt is busy studying for the bar and I am doing pretty much the same things I usually do. Mommying, cleaning, and practicing my crafting skills (the more I do the more I am learning I need lots of practice)!!

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?