A Little Catch-up

Things have been busy around here! I can't decide if that's a good or bad statement, but we've been pretty happy nonetheless.

1. We moved the boys into the same room and after  the first unsuccessful night we've had great nights ever since! The other night I heard them being loud and when I went to check on the boys Kyle was in Bear's crib with a flashlight and they were both laughing and jumping up and down.

I know I've said it before, but I feel like it has taken 21 months for Kyle and Nolan to get along. I'll never forget Kyle saying, "No! No thank you! No want it!" when he met Nolan for the first time in the hospital. If only I knew then how long the adjustment was going to take :). I am so, so grateful for the boy Kyle has been lately. It has made life so much easier and there is definitely a different peace in our home. The two of them crack me up.

Here is a video from the other day when Kyle was putting a ball in his jar. I started this reward system months ago and it literally took months for him to fill the jar the first time. This time he is doing it much quicker!

2.  Earlier this week I got to visit my cousin and her one-day-old baby. Newborns are so sweet and I am grateful my SIL Ale was willing to watch the boys so I could meet this cutie! I invited myself to take some pictures while I was at the hospital. 

It was fun and left me wishing I knew what I was doing.  Hopefully someday I'll be able to take a photography class or something.

    Perhaps I should ask permission, but I had to post this picture of my cousin. No one wants their picture taken after giving birth, but I told her the world didn't have to see. Well, I'm posting this anyway because who looks this beautiful the day after giving birth? I wasn't even dressed the next day! (TMI). This was her third pregnancy and she endured so much pain with back problems through out it. When I look at this I just see my beautiful cousin who is glowing! Nothing like a mother's love!

    We are surrounded by pregnant people and Kyle asked me why I'm the only one who wasn't pregnant. haha. Sure did make me laugh. I told him we had enough people in our family right now. He has also figured out that babies are too big to swallow, which has left him wondering how babies get in a mom's tummy :).

3.  On Thursday Bear said, "Kyle," clearly for the first time! It was so cute and he yells his name now too. His speech development is really taking off. Every night he wants a turn to say prayers and will repeat what we say. Sometimes he starts belly laughing in the middle of his prayer, so we are still working on reverence. When his cute little voice blesses Papa and Grandma on their mission it melts my heart.  This video was from a couple of weeks ago. He now successfully says, "Dada," too. He used to rarely say it even though we knew he could. It made us laugh.

Today was a wonderful Saturday. We were able to have fun as a family and ended our night eating dinner outside while the boys played soccer. We miss Tim all week long and sometimes his duties with Scouts leave us without a dad on Saturdays too, so we enjoy our time when we can!

I am so lucky to have these boys!

American Idol

  American Idol has long been a part of our family.  When Kyle was a baby we would watch it and lay him down on the carpet. He would be happy the entire time! It was a real treat! Now that Kyle's older he loves to ask, "Did he make it through?" during the auditions and tells us who he does or doesn't like throughout the season.

The boys were dancing tonight and Bear's moves (or lack thereof) were cracking me up.

Yes that is my folded laundry next to Bear. Yes it has been there more than one day. And yes it will be put away tonight!

  We don't have any real favorites this season but it's still a show we enjoy watching together :).

Oh Hi

Hi.

Meet, "the Wall." This wall enters my life pretty much every day between the hours of 1 and 2 pm. It hits. I don't want to do anything, but it is the prime time to do something! (Because one of my sweet monkeys is napping).

I get plenty of sleep. Anyone relate? Any tips? What do you do to keep yourself going?

Fun with Fam in CA!

   It dawned on me that if I was going to see my brother, Chris, his family and their cute home in northern California than I better do it before Nolan turned 2 so I wouldn't have to buy him a plane ticket.

And so I did.

   And despite Nolan Bear turning into my own personal leech for the entire trip, it felt so good to be with my nieces, Chris, Jenny and even my brother Taylor for a few days!

   I was extremely nervous to be flying with Nolan at this age, but both boys did great. My favorite part of the flight was when Kyle decided he had to go to the bathroom so all 3 of us crammed into that little bathroom. Don't you just feel claustrophobic with one person in there?!?

After landing we loaded up, grabbed some lunch and went sailing on the Bay! Good thing we don't suffer from motion sickness!

Who do you think was in heaven?

And who do you think was missing their nap?

Beautiful Jenny rocking her cute boots and Chrisspers:

 The next item of very important business was Kyle getting to shoot Chris's gun. When I told him we were going to Kate's house he was worried that Kate only had girl toys. Uncle Chris showed Kyle a picture of his gun via webcam and that was all Kyle could talk about the next couple of days. I heard him tell three different friends that his, "Uncle Chris has a REAL gun." Chris told Kyle that he shot, "like a pro," and Kyle still proudly tells people that is what he said.

On Sunday we sang, "Happy Birthday," to Kate and Scooter. They are a few years and a day apart :). Kate usually doesn't like to be sung to the first go-round, but I think by her actual birthday she was happy. Macy was sure willing to help :).

 

 Other entertainment included watching Macy do a sit-up:

The kids trying to fly a kite:

 Park time:

 Being treated to Chuck E Cheese on Kate's big day:

Notice the height difference. Kyle is a year younger than Kate and Nolan is 10 months younger than Macy :).

And, my favorite, watching Kyle and Kate play together. They are such good buddies and it makes me so happy to see my kids with their cousins. I love my cousins and I hope my boys will always love and look forward to being with their cousins as well. 

I also count it a blessing that Taylor along with three other super fun friends drove to CA for the weekend. Our time with Scooter is short before he leaves on a mission to Chile in June. We sure do love Unkie!

Thanks Chris and Jenny for a wonderful trip! We were spoiled and we wish you lived closer. 

You are the hostess with the mostess! 

Oh and we missed Tim. haha. No, but really, we did. 

(p.s. is anyone else having blogger problems? The format is weird...)

So Lucky

Do you ever look at your kid(s) and think

 How did you get so big?

How did you get so funny?

How did you get so smart?

How did I get so lucky?

As we headed out the door to pre-school today my heart ached a little. He is getting so big. So funny. So smart. (Minus sticking a screw driver in his eye yesterday. Note the red mark in the corner. That was close!). These are good things, but he is just getting big so fast!

 We were reading books yesterday and I was just in awe of my little guy. He has been so helpful these past couple of days. I can tell he is trying harder to make good choices and to be a good example. I love you Kyle! And I think I'm really going to like the age 4!

French Toast

I normally do the cooking around here... for better or worse. Tim, however, is really good at making our French Toast. Since we were planning on having French Toast tonight it was unfortunate that the boys were hungry before he got home tonight.

Luckily I noticed before I served anything that the, "cinnamon," didn't quite smell the same.

Anyone want some Mediterranean Toast?

A First

I'm beginning to think that maybe my kids are as bad at the grocery store as I portray them to me. If you know me, I can be a little dramatic. But maybe this isn't drama. Perhaps my kids really are THAT bad.

It was over a month ago when I was at the store and as I was looking at the prices of cereal I turn around to find Nolan ripping into a Toy Story fruit snack box and one bag hanging from his mouth. After that experience I was sure I was never going to the grocery store with him alone unless I definitely had to.

I guess time heals all wounds. And so tonight I decided I would make a quick trip to the store to pick up some treats for some family that was going out of town. The boys were being pretty well so I started going up and down the aisles. I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THEN.

At the milk aisle Kyle is suddenly on top of the plastic car attached to the cart instead of inside of it. As I'm telling him to get off and how it isn't safe a middle-aged man is laughing at me, turns around and says, "He doesn't listen very well, does he?"

Nope, apparently not, thank you.

Then we go down the dairy and lunch meat aisle. Kyle is freaking out over a lunchable he wanted. I walk closer to him to see the price when I hear the sound of eggs cracking on the ground. Oh hello Bear and your hand full of eggs. Comment number two from a lady, "I've SO been there before." That was so nice of her. It made me smile. My "quick" stop turned into a long stop as we waited for help to get it cleaned up.

As I check out I feel like I have just worked out. It's late. We're going to eat frozen pizza for dinner. Tim even beat us home.

Now, this is when it gets good. Bear now has a habit of putting groceries in the cart as well. I noticed a package of hot dogs and a frozen milkshake at the store that I put back before we checked out. When we got home I was surprised to see breaded chicken patties in my bags as I was unloading. But this caught me even more by surprise:

 This was my first (and last) time bringing Vodka home. Was this a subtle apology from Nolan for the trauma he caused at the store? Did the middle-aged man slip it in when I wasn't looking? I mean, judging from the picture, I did look pretty bad at the store.

And as Tim and I are dying laughing I realized what had happened. A lady tried to buy a bag of groceries before me but for some reason it didn't work out. The cashier pushed the bagged groceries aside. The new bagger went ahead and put that bag in my cart. I came home with chicken patties, top ramen, baby oil, some denture thing, chardonnay, and the bottle of vodka.

I called the grocery store. I'll be returning the items, "at my convenience."

Obviously they don't know that it's never convenient for me to go to the store.

If only it was a bottle of Martinelli's.