Matthew, The Super Hero!

So Matthew last week decided to climb up on his CHEST HIGH dresser and jump off of it. I am not sure which super hero he thought he was, but I am sure that it was one that flies. So this happened on Monday afternoon. When Steve got home from work, he checked out the foot because Matthew wouldn't walk on it at all. He crawled everywhere. Steve said give it a couple of days, because there was no swelling or anything. By late Tuesday he still wasn't walking on it at all. And much to my chagrin, he missed pre-school that day too. I took him in to get x-rays. Luckily there was no broken bones, he just has a bad sprained ankle. He is still hopping around but otherwise, most of the time it doesn't bother him. I was really grateful that he didn't break anything. So he was asked if that was a good choice? He said "Yes then No." He then was aksed if he was going to do it again. Then he said "Yes and then No". So hopefully he means the latter rather than the first. Otherwise, we may have an update to this post!!

Benjamin and Redbox

So I have some pictures that I will post when I have more time. We went up to Utah over General Conference Weekend. We had so much fun staying with Ben and Cait. (Steve's sister and brother-in-law) The kids LOVED playing with their favorite cousins. I had a blast holding their new little GIRL, Alissa. That was so much fun. I didn't give her up very often. She is 3 weeks old.

So the real reason for the post is to tell a great!! story about Benjamin. So for any of you that know him, you will totally understand. For those of you that don't, trust me, soo typical.

So on our way home we stopped to get gas and they had a Redbox ($1 movie rental out of a machine) But the cool thing about Redbox is that you can return it to any Redbox you want. (in other words you don't have to return it to the one you rented it from, including out of state) So we decided to get a movie to keep the kids happy on the rest of the drive home. (PS they rented happily never after (animated), the boys said it was the worst movie ever!!) So we are leaving somewhere near Cedar City, and we are driving on the 15, and Ben says "Mom, how will we get the movie back that we just rented?" (we have done this before) I said, "Oh, I have nothing to do tomorrow and will just drive back to Cedar to return it." And his response was, "well isn't that a long way? Like hours?" OH, my Ben, smarter than a cookie, but can be so dense sometime. We all were laughing so hard when he thought that I was really going to drive back.

Well, gotta go to choir, will post more later.

UPDATE

I know, I know. It has been way too long since I have blogged. I am addicted to Facebook and have sorely neglected my blog.





All is well. We are busy like always. Michael is really busy playing baseball. He made it in the Majors this year! Steven is recovering from mono again. Will be back to school after spring break. Benjamin is busy getting bigger!! He weighs almost as much as Steven now. He is doing great in school. Matthew is doing well too. He is loving pre-school and doing well.





Today, he decided to do a superman off of his dresser and now can not walk on his left foot. Steve doesn't think he did anything other than bruise it good. I hope so.





Steve is busy with work and as the Scout Master. He never is without something to do.





Bette just received a new calling in Primary (at church) She is now the new 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency. I am a little nervous because I am over Scouting. There is alot to do and am hoping I can keep up with it all.





Well, that is about it. We are venturing up to Utah this weekend to visit our new niece, Alissa. She is soo cute and can't wait to see her.

Steven's Birthday with friends at Sky Mania (wall to wall Tramps)

Bedtime Problems Update

Update on Bedtime problems:

So it has been 5 nights in a row and he has gone to sleep on his own. I read to him and let him keep his door open. That is all it took. I just hope it keeps going this way. Thanks for all of you for your advice. Next we work on him staying in bed ALL night.


So on Sunday his was acting up in sacrament meeting so I took him out. Just as we got to the door, he holds his butt and says "don't spank my butt Mom" and then looks at me with those big brown puppy dog eyes. AAHHH! Matthew is always a source of either amusement or utter humiliation. It just depends on the day.

Bedtime Problems

Attention ALL Moms: I need some advice. Okay, here is my problem. Matthew does not like his room. I don't want to rearrange all the boys because Matthew needs his own room and not be in a room with the other boys because they have too much stuff for him to get into. A few weeks back he told be he had monsters in his room and then when I showed him No monsters he said they were outside his window. Another things is that in order for him to sleep, we have to lay down with him until he falls asleep. Which isn't too bad but before we could read to him and leave and he would go to sleep. Another problem is in the middle of the night around 2 or 3 o'clock he wakes up and climbs into bed with us. Our bed is not big enough for all of us. I am going to rearrange his bedroom today with his help and suggestions. Does anyone else have any other ideas to help him sleep in his own room? ALL night. And to put himself to sleep without locking him in his room? I am running out of ideas. I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas. I will try anthing.

Christmas Morning

We all got up around 6:45 and opened presents. The boys are allowed to look in their stockings before we get up. So they are got up and looked in their stockings which they had a lot of fun doing. Then it was time to open presents. We usually make them open one at a time. But for some reason this year was basically a free for all. It was fun though, just a little crazy.

Matthew opening a train. He is so excited. (though you can't tell from his face. I don't know what he is doing.)

Another one of Matthew

Michael and Steven showing off their new shirts.

Michael and his new guitar. (starting lessons next week)

Steven doing something. Benjamin showing off his fancy new scooter.
Michael and his new Nintendo DS. (Matthew broke is other one)

Finally Christmas Eve and Morning

So after we spent time on Christmas Eve at Felices house (see previous Christmas post). We came home with Aunt Jenny and kids, Rob (Bette's brother) and Michelle and kids, and Mom and us. We did our family gift exchange and had hot chocolate and cookies. We had a good time and then it was time for everyone to go home and go to bed after we tracked Santa and found out that he was getting close. We also had the boys open their "present" with the annual matching PJ's (Thanks to Old Navy for having all the same pairs in the right sizes).

Mema (Bette's Mom) A beautiful robe

Matthew and Daddy (A firetruck)

A bunch of us. Bette (got a bag with her name embroidered on it) From her Aunt Jenny.

All of the kids. (Ava, Julia, Spencer, Sidney, Justin, Matthew, Michael, Benjamin) I think all we are missing in this picture as far as kids is Steven.





Michelle with her head cut off (SORRY) And Hunter the cutest little baby dressed in his striped holiday shirt, and his new hat from Little Steven.

The boys in their matching pajamas. Sorry, the lighting stinks.

Matthew

Matthew is always doing something worth writing about but I usually don't post about it. But this time I thought that I would.

Last night everyone is watching tv in the family room, my mom goes in the DARK kitchen to find Matthew with the canister of instant hot chocolate and a spoon, just eating it off the spoon. (YUCK) These are the kind of things he does when no one is paying attention to him.

Yesterday he left and walked down to the Freeman's (neighbors) and was hiding out under the table when I came to get him. I am glad that when he does decide to disappear, I can always find him there. I am also glad that he is terrified of cars and stays on the sidewalk.

The boys were happy to us (Michael and Benjamin) after school. They normally ride their bikes to and from school. But yesterday Matthew and the dog (Zoe) and I decided to walk (Matthew rode his trike) to the park next to the school and play for a while. When the bell rang we met them and rode home with them. It was a lot of fun. Matthew rode his trike the entire time and had a blast. It was a beautiful day here in Vegas yesterday. 65 degrees. We totally enjoyed the temperature.

Merry Christmas

Michael quickly leaving Santa's side. (thinking I am outa here)

Sydney (Aunt Jenny's daughter) posing nicely with Santa.

Matthew being "sad" because Santa mentioned making "good choices"

Spencer (Aunt Jenny's) son smiling (Sorry about the "red" eyes)

Benjamin happy for his new gift.

Steven (Yes, a smile does exist) He only smiled for the adults.

Okay, so now that Christmas and New Years is over, I will try to catch up some of the post of our funfilled Christmas adventures.

We had a great time on Christmas Eve, we visited with Mom's friend Felice and her family with all of our family. We had a great time and had a special visit from Santa Claus. He brought some presents for each of the kids and they sat on his lap. Matthew had a few extra requests FROM Santa about making "good choices" You should have seen the look on his face! It was great. Here are the pictures of each of the boys and my aunt's kids too.

ALERT!! Part 4

Well, here it is. Pictures of the snow! It is really real. It is not fake. Also, the boys have a SNOW DAY!!! IN VEGAS!!! They are so excited. It is 10pm at night and I still have one or two outside in the snow. Enjoy the pictures.

A picture of the front yard with light snow you can't see yet!!!
BUT ITS REALLY THERE!

In the parking lot by the Junior High, the snow is actually sticking!

Light snow with boys out front enjoying the beginning of the snow showers!!

LOTS OF ACCUMULATION!! Matthew in the front yard enjoying and loving the snow!!

ALERT!! Part 3

Okay, I guess I have to say I was very skeptical about actually getting snow. Wednesday, today, is the day! We are actually getting snow, here in Henderson! Its not sticking yet, don't know if it will, but I have three of my four boys outside running around in it. If it actually sticks to something, I will take a picture of it. (For Memories) Hope everyone here in Vegas is enjoying it. It is nice, just don't want it to stay around for very long. That is why I live IN THE DESERT!!!!

ALERT!! Part 2

Of course, we did not get snow. The northeast side did get some snow because they are in higher elevations, but we did get rain, and alot of it. It has been raining steadily since 9 am this morning. And it is almost 4pm. Although, it is cold and wet and overall miserable, we do need all the rain we can get here in Vegas. Alas, I will keep updated on whether we get any snow later in the week. This storm is supposed to last a good 3-4 days.

ALERT!!

TOMMOROW THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS AND HENDERSON, NEVADA IS EXPECTED TO GET SNOW THAT WILL ACCUMULATE!!


I WILL KEEP EVERYONE POSTED IF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS!!!!!

Christmas Choir Concert

So every year our stake hosts a "Night of Choirs". Each ward in our stake has choir and sings one song. We had that tonight. It was a great evening of beautiful music by each choir and was heartwarming and spiritual. Music always makes my heart "sing". (Yes, pun intended) I have sung in our ward choir since we have moved to Las Vegas and I love it. I almost wasn't able to sing this year due to some untimely laringitus this past week. But fortunately my voice was strong enough by today to be able to sing. The Spirit of Christ always seems so much closer while I listen to and participate in music. I hope that we can all slow down long enough to remember the "reason for the season". I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and have given all of us, ALL of our innumerable blessings in our lives. I hope everyone reading this enjoys this wonderful CHRISTmas season with your families and friends.

The Graham's are wishing you a most blessed season!!

Annual Family Home Evening

We have a Family Home Evening that we started two years ago with some friends, The Freeman's. We go to the Bellagio Gardens every year at the Bellagio Hotel down on the strip. Every Christmas they decorate their flower gardens with beautiful Christmas decorations. Each year our tradition has added a family here and there. We then go to Denny's and have dessert and hot chocolate afterwards. This year we enjoyed the company of the Freeman's, the Scott's and the Murdock's. We all had a great time and look forward to our continued tradition.

Hope you enjoy the following photos.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great day. Thanksgiving was at our house and we had my mom and brother and his family and we had the Scott's. It was relatively quiet compared to some years. We had a good time and had a lot of great food. It was raining that day too. It was nice. In the evening we checked out some Black Friday deals, and some of us decided to brave the crowds. My mom even spent the night at Best Buy with her friend Felice. Overall, it was worth the crazy crowds and awful early morning times. We all got what we wanted from the deals and went home satisfied. I hope everyone else had an awesome Thanksgiving Day too.

Happy Birthday, Michael

Well, this past weekend was Michael's 11th birthday. For those of you who know us pretty well, we didn't think he would make it to his 1st birthday, let alone his 11th. He was born with an infection and a very severe heart defect. At 6 months, he had open heart surgery, and has been fine ever since. We love Michael and his willingness to always help out, without a complaint, most of the time. He is a sweet and responsible boy, whom his little brother, Matthew, adores. He got a football and a game for his DS. He got to go on his first Boy Scout overnight camp out with his Dad and big brother. We had dinner and an ice cream cake with family. He enjoyed his weekend.



Here is a picture of him with his birthday cake.

Matthew

hijacked

Bette has mistakenly trusted me with her password. needless to say that is why her background is now something that she would love!!! hope she likes it

Finally Twilight

I went to see Twilight this afternoon. It was really good. They had to change things from the book, its almost impossible to make any movie better than its book. But overall, all six of us that went enjoyed the movie immensely. I think I will enjoy watching it at home instead though, because there was alot of giggling during the emotional parts. It was definitely worth all the expectation and excitement. It was just great to see most of the things you envisioned in your head brought onto the screen. GO SEE IT! It'll never be as good as the book but it was worth watching.