Big Boy Bed

Right before Matt and I wend to California, Winston started getting out of his crib. We've never had any of our kids get out of their cribs. The two older boys were in a toddler bed before they were two, so they really didn't have a chance I guess. So one morning when Winston comes walking in our room, we were a little confused and questioned the older boys, that were already up, if they had gotten him out. Sure enough he's a little stinker of a climber and had it all figured out. So we put him back in the crib, just to see him get out. It was scary to watch, so we knew since he was getting out, it was time to put him into a big boy bed.

We were just curious to see if he would even do it, so we started him out on the big bed in his room. He got out a couple times, but he fell asleep there. I forgot that he was in the bed, until a couple hours later we heard a loud thump and then heard him crying. Poor boy, but he went right back to bed.
The only bad thing, was he was waking up so early, just after 6am, where he usually slept until 7:30-8am. He was also waking up in the middle of the night, walking into our room and crying, and not really wanting to lay back down in his room. This makes it hard to let them cry it out, when they just get up and come into your room.
We didn't like this getting up in the middle of the night, and waking up too early, so Matt thought that if we converted the crib to the toddler bed, that he would be more comfortable with the familiarity of it. When Matt converted into the toddler bed, Winston thought it was so fun and played in it and laid in it. He seemed fine when he went down for his nap, but when Matt checked on him, he was in the big bed.

We decided that he really needed to get used to it, because one day when we move and we can't take the big bed with us, it might be an issue. So we knew we should make sure he gets used to the toddler bed. That night he did not want to go to sleep in it, so Matt just stayed by him and rubbed his cheek until he was almost asleep.

It ended up working pretty well, he woke up that night, and I just took him back to bed, although he wasn't happy about it, made him lay down and rubbed his cheek until he was back to sleep. He ended up sleeping after 7am, which was what we wanted. He's sleeping a lot better now and is just fine with the toddler bed. Yay! What a big boy!

One night when Matt went upstairs, he told me to come up quick and bring my camera. Winston apparently got out of bed, and we didn't hear him, and opened the door to the bathroom between our rooms and just felling asleep there.
It was so funny to see. I can't believe he actually fell asleep like that.
Ahh, such a sweet boy.
I love that sweet face and those cute eyelashes. He didn't even flinch when I put him in his bed.
In all these pictures I took, the flash never even made him stir! It was really hard to try and focus and get a good composition when it's dark and you can't see anything through the viewfinder.

My little baby is definitely turning into a toddler. In attitude, looks and growing up. Sniff! I loved him all curled up in the corner of the toddler bed. I have to go and check on him every night before I go to bed. His room is the coldest room in the house, and so I always want to make sure he's covered. I love when I go in and his bum is in the air. So cute!
I love this crib and that it's a convertible. I think it's so cute as a toddler bed. You can't even barely see that Winston is in there.

School Christmas Parties

Last Thursday Quinn's class had it's Christmas party since it was the last day of school before Christmas break. I made Santa Claus sugar cookies for him to share with his class. (Thanks to Mom and Holli for coming over that morning and helping me decorate them all!) He was so excited for me to go to school with him.

They also had a special visitor come, but I didn't tell Quinn, because I wanted to see his reaction. He was so cute and excited. I can't remember what he had done that morning, but he had done something naughty, so I asked him if we should tell Santa what he did. But he didn't want to.
I love that he turned and waved at me! He's such a cute little boy! The little girl next to him is Chloe, and her mom told me that she talks about Quinn all the time. She kept sitting by him, wherever he was. He was oblivious though, and I hope it remains that way.
Finally getting his turn on Santa's lap. I convinced him to wear his shirt that says, "Naughty is the new nice". He wasn't going for it at first, since we actually use the shirt to go with some Christmas jammie bottoms, so he thought it was jammies. But once I convinced him it was actually a shirt, he was okay with it.
He told Santa that he really wanted a red motorcycle that he can ride on. (Like the electric ones. I don't know how Santa's gonna pull off that one!) He also wants the Wii Mario snowboarding game. (Wii Mario and Sonic Winter Olympics.) He was so excited!
When we went to pick Malcolm up from school that day. He said that Santa had come to their school that day too. But he told me it wasn't the real Santa, because his beard wasn't real, and he didn't have any glasses. So I asked Quinn if the Santa that was at his school was real, and he said yes and told Malcolm all about his reindeer. It was so cute.

The next day, on Friday, the last day of school for Malcolm, they also had their Christmas party. They had it the last half an hour of class, so I went in an hour before it started and helped in the classroom. I really enjoy working with the kids and seeing all their sweet personalities. I also love how excited Malcolm is to have me there. I took in Santa Claus sugar cookies to his class as well. Since Malcolm brought a treat, he got to pass one out to everybody in the class. I love how structured Malcolm's teacher is, just like I would want it to be, and Malcolm needs! I love her!!!
Malcolm was being so silly and this is what he did for like 5 minutes, I swear, until I took it away from him.
After he had finished with his juice box he kept sucking it in and swinging it side to side in his mouth.
He is such a boy! I'm glad his teacher likes him so much. She told me that he is halfway through the kindergarten reading goal and that after the New Year, he should be through it in no time and reading all on his own. It is amazing how well he reads already. He loves to read some little books we have that have really short sentences, and he's does really well at sounding out the words, and trying to spell words by how they sound. I'm so proud of him!
His teachers aid gave each of them a small thing of playdoh, which Malcolm tells me that's how he's suppose to practice his letters, by rolling them into thin worms. Cute! His teacher gave them each a book, which was pretty long and had short chapters in them. She had attached to it this little poem. I just thought it was so cute, that I had to write it down.

HELP!!
I'm trying hard to learn to read
But what's a kid to do
When there's a NO and a GO
And a SO and a HO
Ant then there's a word like TO?
Reading BONE and CONE and LONE and TONE
Can almost be kind of fun,
But I get upset when I have to believe
That D-O-N-E spells DONE!
It's plain to see a kid like me
Sure needs a helping hand.
No Matter how much I really try
I just don't understand.
I'm trying hard to learn to read.
Somehow that's what I'll do,
But for now if you'll just read to me
Someday I'll read to you!

Romantic Overnight Getaway

Okay, so not really a romantic getaway, but a getaway none the less. At the beginning of December Matt and I were able to take an overnight trip to California. We had a lot of fun together being able to carry on a conversation without children interrupting or talking over us. It was fun to just be together by ourselves. My mom and pop were kind enough to watch the boys, and mom even took Malcolm to and from school! What a mom! (Thank you mom and pop!)

I was excited to get away from the extremely cold temperatures we were having. It was so cold and dreary the day we left.

I love flying! I always have, and I hope I always will. Matt and I after getting comfy on the plane, but with me and focus and not Matt! Oops!
I made Matt let me sit by the window! I love the window seat.
It's so cool to be above the clouds and to see the sun shining
We had a quick layover in Seattle. Can you see the Space Needle?
These clouds were awesome. I love the fluffy clouds. It was so pretty and sunny over them, unlike the dreary and gray beneath them.
Getting into Oakland. It ended up being colder then usual in the Bay Area. It was still warmer then here, being 50 degrees, but it was kinda sad that we took the cold with us. It even got so cold during the night, that it ended up snowing in some places. Which hadn't happened in forever and a day! Stinks for us! (I'm sure those California kids sure loved the snow though!)
We survived the airport and made it safely to our rent car. We got a nice black Ford Focus. Gotta love Ford, and Focus!
We headed over to Stockton about an hour away to see my Aunt Cara and her family. When you are traveling in unknown territory, it's always nice to have a GPS. I don't mind spending the extra money on that thing! We had fun eating and visiting with Cara, Ryan, Colby and Taylor. They are such a sweet family, and I love them. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Then afterwords, I regret it!
After dinner we headed over to Vallejo where we stayed the night. The next day we went to Mare Island, and old Naval Base. It was so cool. There were so many old rundown buildings and warehouses.
I think this might have been the old hospital. But I really don't know.
Just loving the old buildings.
Apparently on a naval base you decorate with cannons, or else they were really used! Ha! I don't know.
Love these old houses. They must have been for the officer families or something. They were huge and beautiful.
Can't be in California without taking a picture of a palm tree. These are so interesting to me. I think I need to research them, because I just don't get them. This one was just so huge and the trunk is so huge. So pretty though.
We also went a Jelly Belly factory. We would have done the tour, but we decided we better get back to the airport, since we didn't know what traffic would be like an such.
I did love these Jelly Belly cars, especially the VW Beetle with the little Jelly Bellies on them. They looked tasty!
Matt thought so too!
We had to take a picture of the Jelly Belly motorcycle for the boys.
Really, who drives these things. I sure would take it home!
Driving to the airport with a California sunset.
It was a fun fast trip and fun to be just the two of us. I sure do love my hubby. Even if we take crappy self portraits!

I did it!

The first Friday in December I took my last final for my first quarter back in school . I was lucky and got to take the finals I had early. In my art class, we didn't have a final. In public speaking, we finished our last speeches early, so we were able to take the final Thursday. Since I would be out of town on the day of my math final, I was able to take it early on Friday, instead of Monday.

The final was stupid for public speaking. I didn't really care about it. After turning in the final, our teacher told us about what our grade would be. He grades at a curve, with the top person getting a 4.5, but in the end its still a 4.0. I ended up with a 4.3, and he even said that my final would have no effect on my grade. Sweet, so I took a final for nothing! Yeah!

So Friday I went in to take it and did the final as fast as I could so that I could be back in time for Malcolm's Christmas concert. Luckily it only took me an hour and a half, and that's with me going over it twice. I felt really good about it and felt like I aced it.

In the end I ended up with a 3.7 in art history, which was retarded, I only missed like 6 points the whole quarter. Public speaking with a 4.0 and math with a 4.0. I aced my math final which I was so happy about!

It felt so good to do so well after not being in school for so long. Not that I had hard classes. I always knew math was my best subject, but I remember how much I loved math. Seriously, I think it's fun to do math problems, and I like doing the practice! ;)

Thanks to my family for the love and support and helping out with the kids. I couldn't be doing this without them!

Malcolm's First Christmas Program

The first week of December, Malcolm's school had their Christmas programs. It was really nice, they broke it up into just a few classes and had like 3 or 4 different ones that day. My mom didn't work that day, so we were lucky enough to have her come along. Malcolm's program started an hour after he got to school, so since it takes nearly half an hour round trip to get there and back, we decided just to kill a little time and go do a little browsing at the grocery store nearby. Mom found some great deals, like a box of Captain Crunch for $.97. It was cool, too bad I didn't have my money with me. Mom also spoiled the kids and got them each a treat.

We were about a half an hour early for the concert, so we could get a good seat, and so we had to entertain the kids just for a little bit. Winston was a little tired, since it was nap time, so Mom just filled them up with lots of sugar, and then they were all wound up. Quinnie was really liking his candy necklace.
Can you tell? He's a funny kid. Really both the boys did really well and were just excited to see Malcolm up there.
Winston was a crazy messy boy. Notice he got a haircut. It was sad to cut off his long cute hair, but it was time, for now anyways. He looks adorable with his short hair and faux hawk again. But he looks so grown up and different too! Sad!
Malcolm was so cute walking up, he was doing his little embarrassed look, and playing with his tongue like he was embarrassed. This is right after they walked onto the stage and they are lining up.
Haha, by some of his friends.
Just a couple of days before, Malcolm told me how he was playing the tambourine at the concert. So cute! He was so very excited! (Sorry about the red blob in the corner. That's what happens when you're shooting between people.)
He did such a great job, and stayed right on the right beat the whole time. I'm so glad he's got some musical talent in him! Makes his momma proud!
He sang all the songs and knew all them well. At one point when singing Jingle Bells, he was louder then everyone else, but of course singing right on key! Good boy!
I love this kid! I can't believe how fast he is taking off in his learning. It's amazing how fast they can learn in such a short amount of time. I still can't believe we've started this stage in life. Great job Malcolm! We sure are proud of you. You were such a great performer.
They were videotaping the concert the whole time, and it was over, they said a Merry Christmas message to record to go on the local channel. It was so cute. This is all of Malcolm's class, with his classroom teachers on the sides, and his music teacher above. There might me an extra kid or two on the sides as well, that's not a part of his class.

One Year Older, Another Year Wiser

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Matt turned another year older, and we hope, another year wiser! All his family had been in town, but by Sunday morning, they all left. Usually I'll celebrate his birthday early when that's the case, but I just didn't plan very good this year. Probably because it was the end the quarter for me and I had all the finals I was getting ready for.

We had all my family, Tom and Brianne even drove up last minute, and from Matt's family Ben. I'm glad he could represent for the Hardy clan!

After church we had ham and sour cream potatoes for dinner. He debated over that and my mom's egg rolls, but ultimately wanted what would be easier. So ham and potatoes it was. My mom ended up taking over the whole show for me. She insisted on making the potatoes and the cake. I felt guilty, but I think she knew I had a lot on my plate at the moment with school. So I just did the ham, easy, and the veggies, easy. Poor mom!

Matt said he just wanted a chocolate on chocolate cake. Something easy again. So mom made a screwball cake, a cake from scratch. It's a very moist cake and she had never tried using it to decorate it. When she took them out of the rounds, it just started cracking and breaking.
So she improvised and just poured the frosting over it, then put army men on it. She thought it was terrible, but I thought it was cute. If she ever tried to make an army men on the battlefield cake again, it wouldn't turn out like this. It was delicious too.
Matt bought his own birthday present early this year, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", so I didn't buy him anything. Although I would have liked to, it just didn't get to happen. Luckily my mom pulled through on the gift as well. (She saved the day all around!) She got him Ed Hardy Love & Luck cologne gift set. It smells so good, and he really did love it.
She got him Ed Hardy Love & Luck cologne gift set. It smells so good, and he really did love it.
Testing it out, and the smile on his face says it's a hit. (I also love Ben in the background!) Mom must be on a Ed Hardy thing, since she got me a perfume gift set for my birthday. It must be the last name thing.
One last picture from that night, since I only took about 15, there wasn't much to share. Ben was snoozing away on the couch. So Milo thought he would be funny and snuggle up next to him. I couldn't get my camera up and running before it woke Ben up. He didn't even wake up right away!
Happy birthday to my incredibly handsome and wonderful husband. He is the best man that I could have picked. He is so incredibly thoughtful of my needs and a great father as well. I love you Matthew! I'm proud of you and all the goals you have set and are achieving!

Thank you Mom for always being wonderful and helping me out so much! I love you as well!