Cornelius Chronicles

We have spent the last month learning about different aspects of the Christmas story using a wonderful advent calendar from this year's December issue of the Friend. We finished the calendar on Christmas morning. It has been a great experience to spend a few minutes each night reconnecting through the scriptures with the Savior's birth story and the reason why we as a family celebrate Christmas. I recommend it to anyone looking for a new family tradition. Now, don't get me wrong, we still very much enjoy the presents and Santa Clause and Christmas candy at this time of year. I love to watch the excitement of the children on Christmas morning as they open their presents and fall in love with their new toys and dream about the mystery of Santa Clause. This year the kids woke up early to discover candy in their shoes, stockings on the couch, and wonderful presents under the tree. The twinkle of Santa Clause gleamed in their eyes as they beheld the magic of Christmas m

I think Loyd has finally answered the age old question, "What do you do when you have more sticks than pockets?" The kids have been enjoying their new Christmas PJs from Grandma C. They loved them so much they couldn't wait to get their pictures taken in them. Bekah felt very pretty in her pink Mini Mouse nightgown. She would wear it every night if she could. Loyd was excited to have Mickey Mouse PJs that matched Bekah's . He looks up to his big sister with such love and excitement. He wants to do everything she does. He takes such handsome photos when I can get him to stop wiggling. Xavier must have been channelling Elmo from his new pajama set. He giggled and smiled all night long as we took pictures. Every time I said, "Cheese!" he would grin and squint his eyes and wait for the flash to hit. Don't let the previous pictures fool you. This was by no means a simple or easy photo shoot. Most of the time was spent corralling wiggling, giggling

The jig is up, Mr. Xavier. I saw you do it. I saw you talk half way across a room all on your own Friday morning. Now that the cat is out of the bag I expect more walking out of you, young man. :) I thought I would share this little dress up ensemble. Xavier picked it out himself, brought it to me and grunted for me to put it on him. He wore it all evening. He loved being a superhero cat. I knew there were superhero tendencies in our little Professor X all along!

Xavier finally decided to try standing on his own, unsupported. He decided to show off this new skill to me while in the bathtub Thursday morning. I'm so glad he thought standing up on unsteady legs in a slippery bath was a great idea. Crazy kid. :>) Bekah decided to play with her wardrobe this week. Can you guess the theme of this outfit? I'll give you one hint; it's not stripes. ;>) I just love picture perfect moments like these. :>D We met Santa Clause at the city library this week. The kids were so excited they could hardly contain their wiggles on the drive there. Once inside the warm library they eagerly watch Mr. Clause arrive in style on his red fire truck and come into the library. We all patiently waited in line to sit on his lap and share our Christmas list wishes. To keep the kids busy, the librarians kindly brought small cups of Goldfish crackers. To keep the adults busy, they stuck the line by the cheesy romance novels. We got a good la

I am thankful for so many blessings. I am thankful for cheesy grins and baby cuddles. I am thankful for sweet children who play kindly one with another. I am thankful for hair bows that are way too big for their own good. I am thankful for wiggly little boys. And I am thankful for handy husbands and inquiring young minds. I am thankful for my family and the many blessings they bring.

This is the face of an innocent child who would never even think of something naughty, let alone do it. Or is it? My garden doesn't stand a chance against my two busy boys. After turning it into his personal sand box and climbing wall, (Yes, I did find Loyd scaling the chicken wire behind the tomatoes.), I'm not sure my poor plants can survive the abuse, let a lone give fruit. Xavier wasn't far behind his big brother on tormenting the garden. He decided to cut out the middle men (aka Vegetables) and go directly to source and eat dirt. Boy, did he eat a lot of it. He decided to have this little snack in the few minutes it took me to put him down to get Loyd buckled into the van so we could go to story time at the library. I'm so glad cleanliness is such a high priority for my boys. We decided this week that Xavier has the best morning routine out of everyone. Each morning I make him his own personal recliner out of a couple of pillows on the floor. Then, he get

Xavier still refuses to walk, but he is totally cool with riding one of his scoot cars. He LOVES scooting around the backyard on his rocket and cruising through the house on the Dora car. He is definitely a car man. Now that he can get out of the house on his own I have an incredibly hard time keeping him inside. If the back door opens he is gone. He loves to play outside with Bekah and Loyd. It's fun to see him explore nature on his own. He crawls through the grass, eats the dirt and harasses the cat with the biggest smile you have ever seen on a kid. Bekah and Loyd are good to play with their baby brother outside too. They like to turn him into one of their obstacles as they ride their bikes. They ride wide circles around him and his scoot car. They also show him how cool it could be if he would walk. He could do awesome things like hold a bucket and still keep moving or actually be a contender in a game of Red Light, Green Light. Oh the possibilities! They are read

Bekah was pushing Xavier on the swings at the park yesterday and having a wonderful time doing it. I thought I would take this opportunity and open payroll negotiations for when she is old enough to baby-sit. After all, why not settle job specifics while she's in a good mood? My starting offer was for a dime an hour for baby-sitting. Bekah , with all her savvy business skill, counter offered with 5 cents. After all, 5 is a big number. Realizing I was dealing with a business mind far beyond my abilities, I conceded and we agreed to the hefty sum of 5 cents and hour. Do you think I should get this in writing? Nah, I'm sure she'll totally remember and be ok with our financial arrangement in 10 years, when she is finally old enough to baby-sit. In other news, a new park opened up nearby. It is quite possibly the most awesome park ever. The kids had a blast. We had to peal them off the toys to go home after they had been there for 3 hours playing. Their favorite

1 Pink Fairy + 1 Adorable Giraffe + 1 Unhappy Robot = Way Too Much Candy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't worry, our Robot eventually warmed up to his costume and gave us a smile.

This last week Dustin went to Washington D.C. for a Project Lead the Way conference. While he was away we kept ourselves very busy. We tried to think of something fun to do every day and I got some of my craft projects done. On Monday, we had story time preschool at my house. We learned all about big and little and the kids had a fun time painting their big and little Halloween pumpkins. On Tuesday, after we dropped Bekah off at preschool, the boys and I went to the park and then to the library for story time. I think they liked playing at the park best. Wednesday was Xavier's 1 year old well baby visit. He wasn't brave at all. Every time the doctor or the nurse would look at him he would try to burrow into my chest and cry. He was especially woosey when he got his immunizations. Poor Baby Xavier. On Thursday, the boys and I decided to walk around our little neighborhood while Bekah was at school. If you walk every square inch of my neighborhood you will have walked a

A momentous event took place this past week. Grandma C. took great pity on us and our perpetually wrong dates on the pictures and she sent us a camera. Thanks Grandma C! We are loving our sleek new camera and the great pictures it takes. Now future generations can rest at ease and know the dates on the pictures are actual and true. :>) Here are some pictures we have taken with our new toy. Loyd was my first subject with the new camera. He's such a cute kid and I couldn't pass up this moment where he was actually sitting still. Dustin took this shot of Bekah and he is quite pleased with how it turned out. She's growing up to be such a cute little girl. Check out the baby blues on this kid. I can't get over how beautiful his eyes are. Why is it that little boys always get the prettiest eye color and the longest, darkest eye lashes? Even Rebekah got in on the fun and took a few shots herself. So, here is what a 4 yr old deems photo worthy.

Rebekah started Trooper School Preschool this week. We met her teachers and saw her fun classroom on Monday at an open house. She was so excited to go the next day that she jumped right out of bed when I woke her up at 6:30AM to get ready. We got all dressed up for our first day of school and got her backpack and lunch bags all packed for the big day. Rebekah loves going to school. She cheerfully gets dressed each morning and chatters the whole car ride to and from school. She loves her teachers and is having a lot of fun making new friends. She can hardly wait to tell me all about her day and the things she makes when I pick her up in the afternoon. When I picked her up after her first day of class she exclaimed, "Mom! I got to eat two times at school, play on the play ground outside 3 times and we had carpet time 5 times today!" It is all so new and exciting. I am so pleased she is loving school and learning. I may be a bit biased, but there are few pleasures like

We celebrated Mr. Xavier's first birthday this week. We are thankful this cheerful little boy is part of our family. He is a fun little spirit and always cheers us up with his silly laugh and his ready smile. I can't believe a year has past already since he made his big appearance. The time is flying by too quickly. We love you, Xavier. We are looking forward to all the future birthdays we can have together as we watch you grow. We had a little celebration for this big event with some friends a few days before his birthday. Embracing my chance to make crazy Halloween cakes for my October baby and combining the festivities with another friend who also has an October birthday, I got brave and had Rebekah help me make a bunch of these monster cupcakes. I think they turned our pretty amazing. Xavier thought they were pretty cool too. When he finally got his cupcake he wasn't quite sure how to eat, or even touch this prickly creation. After a few hesitant attempts... He