Our Little Helper

Joren is such a great helper. While we were eating dinner, he felt the need to empty out the lazy susan and bring every single dish over to the dinner table.

Whew!!!

Last night I told Ryan that I had the following projects I wanted done today....

*Put the Christmas lights on the house (who knows when it will snow and it probably wouldn't get done if we didn't do it early). Of course, we have to find more clips, fix the burned out ones and put the lights on the bushes and railings, but I can do the rest some other day.


*Help move Cami's piano to her new house. (Sorry, no pic)

*Rake up the leaves and do fall clean up in the back yard. (Thanks Joren)


*Paint the wall in the family room green. Okay, this should have been done 6 years ago when we painted the rest of the room, but this wall was kind of weird and hard. I finally decided it was just time to do it. Luckily we still had the paint and the exact amount!


*And he even had time to clean out and vacuum his truck (wow, you can actually see the seat!)


And you may not believe this, but it was all done by 4:00 in the afternoon!!! Oh, and I actually did some of this stuff. Mostly I do like to just supervise and boss Ryan around, but I did the painting and most of the raking and tried to keep the kids from braking all of the Christmas lights.

3-2-1 Blastoff

The space ship has taken off. I am soooo torn. Brenner loves to remove every cushion and pillow from the couch, love seat, chairs, etc. in the family room and make a "space ship." Now, I know this is really fun for him, but I am really tired of cleaning up pillows all the time or having no where to sit because I refuse to pick up the pillows again. I told Ryan I wanted a leather sectional with pillows that won't come off. So, we sold the sofa and love seat on KSL.com. This was our last day with the pillows, so I had Brenner and Joren play for one last time. Although Brenner cried and didn't want the green couches to go, he really loves the new couch and has completely forgotten about his "space ship."

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

Or at least that's what my grandma always said. I live and swear by this airborne stuff (although I buy the cheap albertson's brand). If I feel anything coming on... I take it. It seems to work. Ryan took some when he felt like he was getting sick and he didn't get sick. I am taking it at least twice a day with all the crazy germs at my house. If I get sick.... well, I'll get mad and delete this post.

The Adventures of Barking Dog & Puke Boy

Barking Dog woke up from his nap with a fever and a little of a cough. His mommy gave him some Tylenol and got on with her day.

At dinner time, Puke Boy said he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. He went right to sleep, but was up a couple of hours later with a high fever and puking.

Barking Dog sounded a little raspy, so Mommy had him sleep with her.

Puking Boy was also sleeping with Mommy (and his bowl)

Every time that Puking Boy would puke, he would wake up barking dog.

At the 1:00 am puking, Barking Dog woke up crying. He couldn't catch his breath and looked like he was going to pass out. So, Mommy took him to the emergency room. After steroids, a couple of breathing treatments, a chest x-ray and 4 1/2 hours, we got to go home. A bad case of the croup.

After getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep, an exhausted Mommy is playing computer with Puking Boy and Barking Dog.

Barking Dog is still barking.

Puking boy isn't puking.

Everyone still seems to have somewhat of a fever.

The best news of all.... puking boy puked in his bowl every time. No extra laundry to do!!!

Can we Please get rid of Daylight Savings Time???

Why is it that every 6 months we have to get totally thrown off our schedule with this whole time change thing? I absolutely can't stand it. We tried to keep the kids up late on Saturday night so they wouldn't wake up at 5:30 Sunday morning. It didn't work so well. We kept them up late and they still woke up at 5:45. So, last night, they fell asleep at 7:30 or something like that. And woke up this morning at 6:00. And today, they are sick, so they both have been dozing off and on this evening between throwing up and coughing. And now, they claim they are all better and are bouncing off the walls at 9:47 p.m.

3 1/2 Year Olds....

... are obsessive and stubborn. That power rangers costume is going to get worn out really soon. He couldn't wait to get home from church to put it on.
... love pretend play. I have to get a new couch with cushions that don't come off because I'm tired of the "space ship" that is always in the middle of my family room floor.
... are soooo smart. I can not believe how fast this kid is learning. He knows all of his alphabet letters and the sounds that they make. He is also learning how to write some of the letters. He loves preschool and always says he has fun. We're working on reading some small words, but the concept is still a little hard for him.
... are super shy, yet don't want to be alone. He can't handle if any attention is drawn to him, but he loves to play. The second Joren goes down for his nap, he starts listing off friends that he wants to play with.
... are so brave. He can climb up anything and doesn't get a bit scared. We went to Classic Fun Center and he climbed up the biggest slide. And loved it.
... have to get their own way, but know their limits. Brenner knows what he wants, but he understands the consequences if he whines or crys to get what he wants (most of the time).
... are good helpers. He loves to help me cook. He will run and fetch things for me that I need. And of course, he loves to help me discipline Joren.
... are always kicking and hitting their little brothers. I don't think that is ever going to stop.
... are always saying the funniest things. He got a "special dark" chocolate for Halloween. He ate it and said, "I didn't like that candy. It was gross. I was wiggin." But he ate it any way.
... are totally boys. He burps all the time. Makes mud pies. And loves to fight.
... are honest. He's not afraid to tell you that he hates something or that something is gross.

Brenner is getting sooo big. He is a really good boy and is more and more fun every day.

Almost 2 Years Olds.....

... don't like to sleep in.
... throw food, and toys, and dirt.
... write on walls, floors, etc.
... hit people (big brothers, daddy's, even baby Legacy)
... scream.
... only want to eat candy (and by the way, he won't just put a piece of candy in his mouth and leave it there. He has to take it out and play with it. I am constantly cleaning candy smears off my walls and furniture.)
... are very independent.
... won't sit still during church.
... are so cute as they are learning how to talk (he does know how to stop screaming and say "please" to get what he wants. he just doesn't do it.)
... are full of energy.
... like to kiss you better (I can't get him to kiss me, but if I say I have an owie, he'll kiss me better.)

Joren is hitting the terrible twos a little early. This kid is a whirlwind. He is constantly going and really just drives us crazy. On the other hand, he is absolutely so cute and it's sometimes really hard to be mad at him. Even though he's a little stubborn, when he gets out of time out, he'll always say, "torry."

Is Halloween Over?

Grandma Blake gave Brenner an old Power Rangers movie last time we were down there. Dylan and Brenner love that movie and are constantly watching it. They love to pretend to be Power Rangers... Brenner is the blue one and Dylan is the red one. They do the actions and say, "Power Rangers Likes Me Rescue." (It's supposed to be Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue). Anyway, so Rachel went to Target the day after Halloween and Found the Red costume (they didn't have the blue one). So we went looking for the blue one. We found it at Party America but lucky for us, they don't put them on clearance. Anyway, Brenner and Dylan wore them all day (even to the Bee movie) and Brenner even slept in his. It is now in the wash and we are hoping to get a lot of wear out of this really cheap fabric. I love how much he enjoys pretend play.

Happy Halloween!!!

I have no comment. You may leave one. Okay, I have a comment. When I brought the costume home for Ryan, he said to me, "You expect me to wear that?" I said, "I thought you would think this costume was funny." He said, "It would be funny on someone else, but not me." He's a pretty good sport.