Mastering Skills

For the past two weeks Tanner has been determined to MASTER doing his buttons all by himself.  Yes, it is good that he wants to do it by himself, but when we are in a hurry to get dressed for school or church and actually make it on time....mastering becomes a little stressful.  He has wanted to wear these pajamas every night so that he can do the buttons even though a lot of times he complains that they are too hot.  But I am happy to say that his determination has helped him to accomplish and master this skill and that is one less thing for me to do!  He gets so excited too and it is really fun to watch!

This hunk of love has been mastering some skills as well!  For instance...stareing at his fists which he discovered a couple 

of weeks ago and now is amazed at!  (I totally remember Alisa showing me pictures of Nathan being amazed with his fists too....so funny and kind of odd).  He also loves to stare at his feet as they kick and move around.  

Bath Crazies

I have got to get these two in swimming lessons....they are CRAZY in the water!

St. Patricks Day 2009

Fountain Hills sets off their fountain at the lake everyday at noon.  On St. Patrick's Day they set it off at noon and it is green.  After we first moved down to AZ in 2006 from Rexburg, I went with my sisters.  Tanner was only 6 months old and my hair was brown!  Crazy!   

We haven't been since then and after Emily did some researching, she found out that they were doing again.  So we packed up the kids and headed up to Fountain Hills for a picnic lunch and to watch the green fountain go off!  

Here are Emily and her kiddos enjoying their lunch.

The fountain shoots over 500 ft.  It looks a little fuller this year than in 2006....and a little greener (or should I say more green....what is the correct way Paul? or Lindsay?!:))

Jaycee enjoying her apple :)

The Best of Friends....they hold hands all the time!

It was a fun afternoon and I know the boys are going to miss hanging out with their cousins so often!  And of course I am going to miss hanging out with my some of my sisters so often.  We are off to Virginia in about three weeks!

Who doesn't play "House"?

Growing up I can remember that my siblings and I always played "house" or "school" on a regular basis.  Either Erin had all of her materials out and would put us youngins to work as our teacher or Melis and I and Jonathan and Paul would play like we were getting married....sometimes Melis and I would be the boys and Jonathan and Paul would be the girls.  It is actually pretty funny when you look back at the pictures, but that is beside the point.  Lately Tanner and Jake have been playing so well together.  And lately a lot of the time when they are not wrestling they are playing "house"!  

One morning I went and told them that I was going to take their family photo.  Here they are....Tanner is always the mom.....Jake is always the dad....and Buster(yes, that stuffed pug) is always the baby.  I don't know where Tanner got that name, but one day that is what he decided to call him.  He loves that dog....he has taken it for show and tell at preschool probably three times.

On one occassion, Tanner came into my room while playing house and jumped up on the bed and told me that he was going to feed Buster.  And then he proceeded to lift up his shirt and nurse him!:)  Whenever Doug asks Tanner what Mommy is feeding Mikey he says, "He is feeding him milk and it comes out of her tummy!"  At least we are still somewhat innocent around here!

Sometimes they will go upstairs and make their "house", which is basically everything they can find thrown all together in one spot.  This particular day it was in the loft, but sometimes they will throw everything on their beds and I mean everything!  I rarely put a stop to it because it keeps them occupied and when they are playing so nicely together who really cares what they are doing...right?(well, to some extent) :)  And they are really good helpers when it comes to cleaning up their house!

Special Visit With G.G.!

We were so lucky to be able to visit with Gram...a.k.a G.G. this last Saturday afternoon.  Her and her two friends came to Mesa for a Quilt Convention and we are so lucky they did!  We got to go hang out with her and catch up for about 2 hours!  It was fun for the boys to see her and she even got to meet Mikey for the first time!  We love you Gram!  

Phoenix Children's Museum

This weekend we took the boys to the Phoenix Children's Museum!  It was awesome!  There is so much for them to do and they could have spent literally ALL day there if they never needed to eat or sleep.  

Tanner really enjoyed the whole thing, but he loved the grocery store and of course the car area!  I love to watch them pretend and use their imaginations!  It is so cute and I love how creative they can be!

Jake really loved the ball room!  He would have been there the entire time if we didn't move him to a different area.  Of course when we first got there Doug scoped out every floor to see where the coolest stuff was.  Of course this was his opinion of where the coolest stuff was....and he would tell the boys where it was and get them all excited.  They liked every bit of it though....not just "the cool parts" :). I am pretty sure Doug enjoyed that ball room about as much as Jake.  He was being awfully creative in there as well.

It was such a fun day spent together as a family.  I love those days!

You Know Your Life....

You know your life revolves around these three kiddos when you get teary eyed....

* When your three year old sings and knows all the words to "How Firm A Foundation" (which they learned in primary)!

*When your almost two year old goes to

 nursery all by himself and doesn't even cry, has a really good day with only ONE tantrum and took a nap without even fighting it!!!!

*When your 2 month old has TWO poopy diapers since it has been almost a week without any! (okay, this didn't make me teary eyed, but it made me really happy)

And when you get sooooo excited to get the best brand of diapers for really cheap because you are organized enough to use your coupons at least this once!!!

Isn't it funny how the things we LIVE for change so fast!?

I LOVE MOTHERHOOD!

Cheater...Cheater....

Within the last two weeks I have come across 4 Killer Bunnie Cards! I feel like I just posted about how I found that other one in his pocket when we played in Virginia! But no....the cheating didn't stop there! The first one I found was casually placed on the top shelf in my pantry. When I found it, I thought it was rather odd since we have not played Killer Bunnies since around Christmas. I called Doug at work and he just started laughing and said, "You better call Jonathan and ask him why he is hiding those cards!". (Yes, Jonathan....my cheater husband blamed it on you:)). The very next day I found one under the sink in some of the grocery bags I have down there. Doug came home that night and I showed him that I had found the other one and I thought, you have got to be kidding me! He is the biggest cheater ever!! And then a couple days later I was walking out with him before he left to work and he stopped in front of the fridge in the garage and pulled down two more cards that were on top of the fridge and said "Hey, if you are going to give those other two cards back to Kyle and Melis, you better give them these too!!" I couldn't believe it! He stashed two cards on top of the fridge!
I want to apologize to my siblings for my husbands actions. He just can't bear to lose a killer bunnies game apparently! But if you ever choose to play with him again (and I don't blame you if you don't) I have some advice....
NEVER TRUST A CHEATER!!!