Weston's (5-yr-old) Words of Wisdom

My little Westie turned 5. But he still snuggles his mama lots and cocks his head to the side with puppy dog eyes when he's sad and I think he's just as cute as ever. Love those chocolate eyes and kissable cheeks! He's really blossomed this year. He's suddenly a dedicated little preschooler, reading, writing and soaking up all the info he can get. Weston acts all grown-up in all his five-year-old wisdom. So here's some of that wisdom in honor of the wise birthday boy:

Weston- "How do superheros pee?"

Mom- "Same way as you bud. Everybody does it."
Weston- "Yeah but in my comic books they never pee and my batcave doesn't have a bathroom."

Mom- "Do you ever see them eat in your comic books?"

Weston-"No.... Maybe they eat the bad guys."

Weston noticed his uncles braces for the first time.

Weston- "Do you have a necklace on your teeth?!"

Nate- "No, those are braces."

Weston- "Bracelets?!"

My mom introduced Weston to pork n' beans and the boy's in love. A couple days later I made burritos and Weston said the dinner prayer:

"Please bless that the burrito beans will taste as yummy as pork and beans."

A friend of ours was showing Weston inside his undercover police car and telling him how he traps the bad guys. He asked Weston if he knows any bad guys.

Weston- "Satan's a bad guy. He's sneaky so we have to watch out."

Weston's Words of Wisdom

Weston says some pretty cute little things too. When I read this I hear his cute lil' voice saying it, so if you don't know his voice, it may lose something.

Weston was sick this week. When asked how he was feeling these were a couple of his responses:

"My sickies are coming out of me."

"I feel good. My tummy feels like pickles."

While I was taking pictures of the kids:

(excitedly) "Are you taking a picture of me telling Phillip 'no' ?"

"Are you taking a picture of me crying?'

Weston's a lover. He loves everything and everyone. He's always asking friends if they love him.

"Do whales love me? Do they hug me?"

Mom: "Weston you have to wash your hands, they have germs."

Weston: "But I love germs."

At dinner one evening:

Emma: "I'm not from Vegas, I'm from Georgia. I'm from __Ave."

Weston: "I'm from the store."

Casualties

Yesterday Weston got a little pink from sitting out watching the parade. Then he came home and crashed his trike riding at full speed down our long steep driveway and got some minor cuts and bruises on his face. Typical Weston moment. Then last night we were at our friend's for their 4th of July party. I took the kids into the bathroom to change into their swimsuits and on our way out the door I stopped to peek at the game going on in the kitchen. As I stepped outside Emma comes running over yelling, "Weston's drowning!" Except she's excited so I think maybe she's kidding or dramatic but run to the pool anyway. And sure enough he's underwater! I quickly jump in (fully clothed) and pull him out. He coughs up some water and whimpers for awhile, clinging to me. He was fine but he didn't go back into the pool last night. I sat down with him, kinda shaky, trying to figure out what just happened. After sitting awhile it occurred to me that I had something bulky in my pocket and I remember I had our camera in my pocket. Camera's don't like water. Before it's immersion, the camera had a fuzzy screen and I could never tell what I was getting until I put the pictures on the computer so I was starting to get itchy to buy a new one. But I was talking myself into being a good frugal girl and waiting until it was completely dead. I'm thinking by tomorrow (unless my tearing apart and drying efforts prove successful) I can officially pronounce the time of death. Don't get me wrong I was really trying to make the thing last but this makes it a little easier. At least it died nobley.

I've been wanting to upgrade our camera. I LOVE taking pictures and photography is just awesome and I want to learn how to do it well. Originally I had this plan of doing all the research to decide what camera I was looking for, then watching prices and waiting for the right deal to come along to buy. But I'm not sure how long I can go with NO camera. These kids have too high a cute photo-op frequency. So, long post, but I want to ask everyone what kind of camera you have and what you like about it and what you would recommend I get. And in the future I will keep my kids and my electronics away from the pool!!!

Book of Mormon stories that my Westie tells to me

You may need to turn up the volume to hear what he's saying.

Happy Halloween From Our Neighborhood!

I love it that I have neighbors that get into the holidays so my kids can enjoy the sights on our walks! Thanks ya'll for showing some holiday spirit!

All right that's about all the holiday spirit I can handle...

"I don't give a hoot about what you think"

My kids like to dance to Jamie's Weezer music. It's pretty cute and sometimes Andrew gets into the action but of course not this time. It's funny that I taped them dancing to this song because as I listened to the words and watched them I decided it was their theme song. It's kind of long so you don't have to watch it all but about halfway through you get to see where they got their dancing skills. Enjoy all the Steed craziness

Hey Uncle Jeff!

Can't you just feel the excitement ? He's about as enthusiastic as Corey watching a Dodger game :-) (thanks for pitying my husband Corey)

The Boys are Back in Town

Okay, after my sob story a couple posts ago about losing my camera, I figured I better do an update. Our camera's back in business! Jamie fiddled with some settings and threw it and suddenly it started working again. Go figure! I admit, I was secretly a little excited at the excuse to consider splurging on a better camera (Christmas and anniversary are coming-I was justifying treating ourselves) but I'm glad to see we can continue in our frugal ways and can hold out on that camera! So, pay your tithing right?! Well, the next day Andrew threw our phone in the toilet and neither cordless is working well anymore. hmmm. He's getting in that fun exploration stage. We find toys in the toilet, bottles in the trash can and he eats trash from the garbage and acorns in the yard. When it's not the phone it is actually pretty cute to watch his curiousity. Anyway, to celebrate the revival of our camera I thought I'd post some random cuteness of my boys from the last week! Sorry nothing good from Em this week. Now, you can see why our camera's having issues. Filling our 1GB card with pics and videos in a regular week, our poor camera just can't keep up with me :-)

Silly naked boy with cute hair

(prior to his first real hair slaughtering..er..."haircut")

Awww, okay cutie you go ahead and throw your toy in the toilet.

Weston sometimes sleeps with his eyes open. Freaky huh?! It was weird when he was a baby and I wasn't sure if he was really asleep or not. My brother does this too.

Perfect weather here right now and we're loving our backyard! Andrew's enjoying all the goodies that fall from the trees.

Andrew's trying to get used to wearing shoes and walking on the uneven ground outside. Emma's setting up the tee for teeball in the back, the kids love that thing!

"OOOO", Weston does this weird wide-eyed face a lot that's hard to read the meaning of but I think it basically means he's about to do something psycho that usually ends up in a head injury!

Andrew's big boy hair and shirt. I think this face basically says, "oh no, Weston has that look again." :)

Andrew discovered this little fort during Conference today and was so delighted with himself! He sat in the corner of the box looking pleased with his find and then got up to squeal out his pleasure! he gets so happy and excited when he has the family audience. Such a cute thing! Did I mention I find him adoreable!?

Birthdays!

Today is my little sister's birthday! Brooke is 17 today, so Jamie and I called her cell phone to sing her happy birthday (the kids had already gone to bed). It's a family tradition to call and sing over the phone. After the song finished, we heard Weston crying under his door, "Mommy, open the door I want cake!" After a couple minutes of his desperate pleas I heard him sing "Happy Birthday to Mommy" in hopes that his cute flattery would win him a piece of cake. Sorry buddy, the cake's in Vegas. I think my kids are the only ones who are more excited about cake on their birthday than presents. Weston especially loves to scarf down cake in record time so this has been a good month for him.

It's Always Fun When Dad is Home

One of my very favorite things to watch is my husband playing outside with the kids! They love playing with Daddy (Mom is not that coordinated or strong)! I brought to Jamie's attention that our daughter is lacking in the coordination department and told him it was his fatherly duty to remedy the situation. So they've been practicing but mostly they just have fun. We have a lot of grass so Daddy will throw a football way up high across the yard while the kids squeal with delight and anticipation at the other end watching to see where it falls then run it back to Daddy. It's good exercise for them and they love it. They also love to pull out the tee ball set and try hitting some balls. Weston, however, insists on holding the bat on the wrong end and doing it by himself so he has yet to hit a homer. They're so fun to watch and I'm glad they have a great Dad!

Of course Weston has to play with the largest and hardest ball he could find. No wimpy nerf balls for this kid. He wants to be prepared if sister messes with him.

Daddy shows Emma how to wear a glove. She kept trying to get her finger to stick out the hole like Dad but her little hands were just too small.

Almost. Yes, that's the ball next to the glove not about to go in.

This is the face Weston always makes when he's throwing a ball. His eyes get wide and he gets this crazy look, it's a little unsettling.

Whee!

Who's Barney Ard

Weston Tells It Like It Is

(while poking me with a stick) "It doesn't hurt Mom, I'm just killing you."

I was showing the kids a couple barns we passed on our way home and Weston tells me"I want to go to the Barney-Ard."

Mom's part of the family too

It's bothered me lately that we have only a couple of pictures of me since our wedding (nearly seven years ago). I take lots of pictures of the kids but there is little photographic evidence that they have a mother in their life. Not that I'm good in front of a camera but I still want to have my kids look back and see what I looked like and know I was involved. Anyway, with this thought I pulled out the camera and attempted to take a pic of me with my boys (Emma was at a friend's). I first tried a pic with Andrew but got smacked in the eye just as the flash went off. Not very flattering.

Weston climbed up on the rocking chair with us so I got the three of us. The boys aren't looking perky, but at least they will know now that mom was around and smiled sometimes :)

Then Weston wanted to rock and feed the baby. He can be so sweet and gentle! What a good brother (when he's not pushing or bossing baby)!

Weston's Wiggle Dance

I was trying to post an Andrew video, but it wouldn't work, so you can enjoy this little thing Weston made up instead.

The Price of Happy Children

I sent the kids to play in the basement while I went to put Andrew down for a nap today. They were still playing quietly down there when I came out so I took advantage of the chance to jump on the computer. After some time I finshed what I was doing and realized that the kids were still happily playing (by this time someone would usually be in tears and screaming). I decided I better check in on them. This is how I found the playroom-

Holy cow they got out every toy in there (well, almost) and had moved on to ride bikes in the "bike room" (the barren part of the basement where we keep the bikes and cars). Luckily, we have an organized system for toys (see http://themomclub.blogspot.com/2008/07/making-clean-up-less-of-chore.html) and 30 minutes later, including a break for a diaper change and working with an imaginative 4-year-old (everything has to gallop, fly, or drive to its place) and an easily-distracted toddler, the room looked like this-

It's the biggest clean-up we've done in awhile but was worth it because my kids were playing nicely together and enjoying each other! Yes, this is how desperate I am to help my kids get along!

Emmatation is the Highest Form of Flattery

Weston and Andrew just want to do whatever Emma's doing. Especially Weston, who's always trying to copy her actions and words. It's cute to see how they look up to her! Now that Weston talks a lot it's funny to see how he's picked up some of Emma's mannerisms. He was bossing Andrew today, telling him that the cans were not a toy and that he needed to be careful (so Emma). Wish I had a video of Weston's Emmatations, but here's Andrew trying to read with Emma. He's big on pointing now and you can hear him saying, "that, that, that." Watch his face. Okay, this is probably not entertaining to you, but something about him acting like a big kid just makes me smile and giggle.

Dr. Emma and Friends

(climbing into the tub) "That's freezing hot!" -Emma

(pointing at a picture of the "Stripling Warriors") "Yook Mommy, piwates."-Weston

(pointing at a pic of Samuel the Lamanite) "Dat's Samoo, upa duh staiws."-Weston

"I'm Ariel, Weston's Eric, Mommy's the witch (thanks) and Daddy's King Solomon."-Emma

(after I asked her to tell me what she read last night about King Benjamin)- "He told the people to be righteous always."-Emma

I love her retellings of scripture stories, they give me warm fuzzies.

(pointing to his scraped knee) "It huwts Mommy, need a batman."-Weston

(on the 5th of July) "Is today England's Day?"-Emma

(bringing me a box of Rice Krispies) "Ice Christmas, pease"-Weston

(patting Andrew's head) "I'm softing him."-Weston

(during a firework with white sparks) "It looks like the firework's taking pictures"-Emma

Andrew- (pointing to the different pictures in Emma's book) "Dat, dat, dat."

Mom- "I have the silliest kids."

Emma- "I have the silliest parents"

Weston's Haircut

One thing that people tend to notice about Weston is his hair. His tall, spikey hair was just so cute with his big eyes and chubby cheeks! That's part of the reason I'm so slow to cut it. But I decided with two boys it would be good to invest in a good trimming kit. I hated to cut it but I told myself that it grows super fast and that it would be better to practice and learn now while he's too young to care how he looks.

Here's "Wolverine" before his last haircut. This is how I prepared his hair when I use to cut it with scissors.

Getting ready for his real haircut. It was so cute how the cape covered his whole body and the seat! I put on a movie and gave him a cracker so he held so still and did awesome!

Ah, what have I done!? Look at all that hair!

This picture actually looks a little longer than the real thing. I think it turned out okay, it looked even throughout, but I do like it longer for Weston. At least I won't have to cut it for awhile and it was good practice.

Swingsets Steed Style

My mom got us a swingset when she visited and my brother assembled most of it and Jamie finished it (those things take a lot of time and frustration to assemble). But it was worth the effort because the kids have enjoyed it. My kids have never had a backyard before so they weren't sure what to do with themselves when we first moved here and I pushed them out the back door. But they know what to do with a swingset and do things their way.

This is the way the Andrew swings. Yeah, for baby swings (we had to buy this piece seperately).

This is the way the Emmy swings. She's learning how to pump her legs. Her lazy mom appreciates her independence.

This is the way the Emma cheeses (is that a word?)

This is the way the Weston swings. Also independent but lacking skill :)

This is the way the Weston cheeses. This is the first time he's done "cheese."

This is the way Weston plays with the twirly. He doesn't like sitting on it just pushing it and he won't let Emma sit down and help.

This is the way the Emma slides. It's even more fun with the pool at the bottom.

Thanks for the swingset Nana, we miss you!