What About the Chambers?

It has been a while since I posted what our family has been up to! Let's work our way backward...

The past few days we spent in Salt Lake City, celebrating Thanksgiving with several members of the Chambers family. 

We just love holidays at our house, because it gives us a reason to dress up our already cute kiddos in adorable seasonal wear! Our cousin Tyler (7 months) also dressed up for the occasion. We were happy to spend time with Tyler he is such a happy boy. Macey loves to attack smother him with love and Creighton tells him, "You are a cute baby Tyler." 

Not only is baby Tyler cute, but so is our loveable Macey Jo, growing so big and almost 11 months!

The kids found themselves very happy to be at Grandma and Papa's house. Creighton greeted each of them several times with a, "I missed you!" It is something he has been saying a lot of lately and I just adore it.

With a visit to an ice cream shop and plenty of movies to watch, Creighton had a great vacation! I learned he loves the "pinecone movie". He watched Ice Age for the first time when we last visited them and he sure remembered and insisted on watching it again. Once we figured out that "pincecone movie" translated to "acorn movie" (Ice Age), all was well.

Macey Jo was happy to find that Grandma and Papa's house was similar to hers and felt right at home...

plenty of floor space for crawling...

stools to balance herself on and push around...

cupboards and drawers to explore...

and even yummy (and sticky) Lucky Charms! (Yes... that is a yellow marshmallow in her eyelash)

Our Thanksgiving feast was delicious! It even put some of us to sleep!

We had a fun time at Grandma and Papa's being with family and acting (or dressing) just a little bit silly!

When it is not the holidays though we can find other fun things to do!

Creighton like to play in the backyard with the dogs and collect them food. He gathers up the apples that have fallen from the tree and tomatoes from summer's garden he can find and tries to feed them to the dogs. He is always watching out for them! He decided a while ago that we needed to have a birthday party for the doggies and told me several times, "We need to hurry and decorate, Callie's friends will be here for her party soon!" 

Creighton loves birthday parties (because most parties we go to the birthday-person lets Creighton help them unwrap their gifts). He also has been reading a lot of "Curious George and the Birthday Party". We read it several times a day. In fact he has the book memorized. While reading it, you can stop at any point and he can finish the word or phrase. His own birthday is not for another 3 months and he is already looking forward to it.

This is Creighton and his "mango" balloon. I was blowing up balloons for a baby shower and he wanted his own balloon so I blew him up a yellow one. "It looks like a mango!" he squealed. It sure does. Creighton loves to go outside and gather the dogs food from the garden because he loves gardens. He is already planning what we should plant next year. Eggplant being on the list... Not sure about that... He also lets me know that the garden has stopped growing and that I need to water it and give it sunlight. Again, it sure does. However, the concept of the seasons changing is not something he wants to understand. 

He is good at helping me to remember that as a mother, the most important work I will do is within the walls of my own home. A few days ago I was hurrying to get together things for my mutual activity before taking the kids to grandpa's house for baby-sitting so I could head to work. Creighton could tell I was frustrated (I couldn't find what I was looking for) and I was being short with him. He said, "Mom, I just love you." I immediately calmed down and remembered how much I love him too. He and his sister are more important than anything else in the world to me.

Two weeks ago as I was getting Creighton dressed for church he told me, "Church is cool mom." And then last week he said, "I like going to church!" Though you wouldn't believe it when halfway through sacrament meeting he is begging to go home. Most of his excitement is to be with his teachers in his Nursery class. He loves them. And he has also made a special friend in our ward with an 88 year old woman who just adores him and brings him a special baggie of treats each Sunday. 

Creighton is also excited for another boy in the family! His Aunt Whitney is having a baby boy mid-January.

We threw a "Cookies and Milk" party for Aunt Whitney and our baby boy cousin because we are so happy for him to be a part of the family!

Just before the baby shower was Halloween! What another great reason to dress in holiday attire!

Macey Jo's shirt says, "Daddy is Under My Spell." Truer words have never been spoken. Those two have a very special bond!

It was fun to make Creighton's Lego costume. In years past I have decided for him what he would be but I decided this year to let him choose. He still didn't quite understand the idea of Halloween and choosing his own costume was a big decision for him. So I "helped" him decide to be a lego! But he DID pick out the spray paint. A green lego he was. We got one of these two reactions: "A lego? That is awesome! What a clever idea! I love it!" or "What are you supposed to be? A dinosaur?" 

Daddy had class on Halloween night so we spent it with our Grandma and Grandpa. Creighton's BFF, Grandpa, took him out trick-or-treating. They had a great time.

I wish I could say that I made Macey Jo's costume. After all the, "Oh! She is so adorable!" That was the question to follow, "Did you make it?"

Our beautiful peacock sure did steal the show everywhere she went.

This is Macey Jo with her friend, Ali, the ladybug. Macey Jo's grandpa baby-sits Ali also. They are just 6 weeks apart and have a lot of fun together.

We did the traditional pumpkin carving. Which means... Daddy cleans out the pumpkin, mommy carves what Creighton wants, and daddy finishes it because mommy's arm/fingers get tired. In case you didn't know...  this is Jake the pirate!!

We also tried to take the kids to a family-friendly Halloween concert the ISU civic symphony was performing. They played for 1 hour some Halloween-ish songs and an hour prior to had an area set up for kids to play instruments. I thought Creighton would love it. I was wrong.

He did love shaking this noisy tambourine. (Is that what it is called?) But try to get him to sit and play the piano, blow into a flute, or play the oboe... FORGET IT! Sometimes my child is so embarrassing in public. I just want to scream, "You are the reason we don't do nice things!"

Yeah, Macey Jo liked the shaking instruments as well.

Just not sure that my children are ready to be introduced to the fine arts just yet.

Macey Jo... this doll is almost 11 months! She has been up to just about everything as of late!

No baby food for this big girl! She would rather eat what the family is eating! Of course mashed potatoes are a favorite. She eats as though she has 20 teeth in her mouth, but still just the 2 tiny ones on the bottom. Much to her daddy's dismay she loves sweets! 

She can be found playing with shoes (and leaving presents inside) and playing in any water that can be found. Loading or unloading the dishwasher is just impossible when Macey Jo is awake. She loves to splash in the water and remove all the silverware and stick it in her mouth. Delightful.

Whenever Creighton takes a bath that means Macey Jo has to take a bath. She gets so excited to hear that bath water!

They play so well together in the bath.

But she is like her brother and doesn't like her lovely locks washed. 

This girls hair is growing long and thick! Grandma Wilde likes to put it in a ponytail smack on top of her head! Here is what she looks after we take it out...

Like a Who down in Who-ville!

I tried to put curlers in her hair a few weeks ago. Her hair would have been cute if she would have kept them in. But she quickly ripped em out!

She has an interesting choice in toys, and they are mostly unconventional. But sometimes she will play with something "normal".

Another check up recently let us know that she is growing well and right on track. What a wonderful blessing for our family!

To finish... a quick update on Mom and Dad!

I am still working as a hygienist 2 days a week. The new dentist I work for is still awesome! What a difference a great employer makes. I am serving in the young women's in our ward and it keeps me more busy with meetings and mutual. I have decided to not be so worried about having the house super-clean all the time. I have much more important things to do (like play with kiddos!) Some weeks I do awesome making homemade dinners, I love homemade food and have found some awesome recipes. And yet other times, seems like the weeknight meals have been Costa Vida, Jimmy John's and Papa Murphy's. Glad to have them! I am planning our Christmas festivities this year. I created a "Christ book" to help us remember Jesus Christ and made an advent calendar so we will have something fun to do to celebrate the holidays each day of December.

Dad is finishing his semester at ISU strong. One more semester and he will be done! We are so happy he will graduate in May with a baccalaureate degree in Political Science. He is enjoying his job with the Utility Billing department and hopes to find a different position with the city upon graduation. His boss has been awesome about letting him take his lunch to attend class on campus. He serves as 1st counselor in the bishopric. It has its struggles but he does wonderful. Most of the struggling is me. Sometimes I feel he is gone a lot. One Sunday it was 9:00pm and I was feeling so alone, I had only seen him a few minutes that day. I called my mother-in-law, all teary, to see how she dealt with her husband being gone all the time for all his church assignments. It is difficult but I know we are blessed for his service. He is a good man.

What about the Chambers? We are doing well!