Fall Update - The Kids

Oh these two...

These two little kids are smart.

These two are best friends.

They are out of control.

And they are adorable.

There have been so many fun changes lately, and I simply can't remember all of them. They are developing some huge personalities and each have little quirks and things they do. I'll let pictures do most of the talking, otherwise I could work on this post for weeks.

Within the last couple of days, Will has started calling her Blakey. "Come on, Blakey!" "Let's play, Blakey!"At first I wasn't sure about it, but now I kind of think it's adorable.

I know I say this every time, but Blake's hair gets longer and longer. It's a full time job keeping it out of her face. She plays hard and it is constantly getting messed up. Sometimes she looks pretty homeless.

Will loves wearing different costumes. He has spider man, Darth Vader, a ninja, and we just borrowed this one from Cindy.

They have both always loved story time, but it seems to have really taken off lately. I take the kids to the library and let them pick 5-10 new books for us to read. The kids love it. Especially Blake. All day, she is constantly bringing books to me for us to read. After a week or two of reading the same books, many times a day, they basically have the stories memorized.

When we turn to certain pages, Blake will make the noises I make or do the actions that we read. I've noticed a big change in her development and speech since we have started reading more. It's cool to see her actually remember the stories and it's awesome to see her so excited about reading. Hopefully that never goes away.

 We haven't had as many play dates lately, but Will always loves when friends come over to play.

 While we were up in Logan, we got to go see the Pumpkin Walk.

The kids saw a playground and quickly lost interest in the pumpkins and just wanted to go play.

 

Blake dislikes when things (besides shoes) are on her feet. If she is wearing pants that are too long and she steps on them, she freaks out until you roll them up. She doesn't like wearing tights and socks and will pull at them and try to take them off.

These two have so much fun together and I love to watch their friendship grow. Often times when I pick them up from daycare at the gym, they are playing alone together, even though they are surrounded by other kids.

Every time Blake gets put into her car seat, she immediate takes her shoes off. And often I'll look back and find her with one leg up over the side, just kicked back and relaxed. She thinks it's funny when I ask where her shoes went.

Will is in that phase where everything is a race. And he gets mad when he doesn't win. When we go out to the car, he likes to finish buckling up before I finish strapping Blake in. When we are eating, he has to finish faster. When we are getting out of the car, he has to beat me to the house. I'm trying hard to teach him that it is ok to lose, but he sure doesn't like it.

Cereal is definitely a favorite here at our house. Blake will eat every bite and drink her milk until she is all done.

Look at this girl's closet! And that is only shirts and dresses. She has a dresser full of pants, shorts, skirts, etc. Someone was selling garbage bags of girls clothes for a good price so I got them. She is definitely spoiled. Though don't think it's just her. I bet Will has just as many clothes, if not more.

Once school started, Lagoon was only open on Saturday and Sundays. Since Lance works Saturdays, it made it difficult for us to make it there. We finally made it for one last hoo-rah! Will was sad I wouldn't go on Rattle-Snake Rapids, but it wasn't exactly warm and sunny anymore. We enjoyed our season passes, but I'm not sure if we will get them next year again. Maybe it'll be an every other year type of thing.

Will's memory simply amazes me, as well as his sense of direction. If I say that we are going to our friend Savannah's house, he can tell me all of the things we need to pass in order to get there. I'm pretty sure he could tell someone who had never been to our neighborhood how to get the to gym, and it's a 15-20 minute drive. He always knows exactly where we are. It is seriously impressive and you can't appreciate it until you have driven with him for a while.

Will is so smart, so detail oriented, and able to focus. He can build complex train tracks and know how to stack blocks or legos to form bridges and other little things. And he is very good at playing with the track without always knocking it over and destroying it. I've noticed when other kids his age come to play, they have a hard time moving the trains around the track without their bodies hitting other parts of the track. Will gets frustrated when others try to play with it.

Will has been on a Clifford the Big Red Dog kick. He especially loves the episode when Clifford is a little baby. We then discovered a whole series where Clifford is a puppy..."Puppy Days".

Almost every time we go out into a store, we see someone who has a baby with them. And every time we see a baby, Will points and yells "A baby! Mom! Look at that cute baby! Can we buy that one?" It typically gets smiles from the mother.

Will makes friends every where we go. Whether it's the park, McDonald's playground, or the doctor office, he always finds a friend. He is very social and is definitely not shy.

When you ask Will what his name is, he says "big boy". If you try to correct him and ask if his name is Will, he gets very upset and says, "No! Big boy!" And if you try calling him "big boy Will", then he says, "No! Just big boy". He gets very intense about it.

Will is getting more and more picky about what he wears. I let him pick his clothes the majority of the time because we will likely just be staying home all day. On this particular day, we decided to walk to the park. Jammies, snow boots, and snow jacket...and it was fairly warm.

The kids have also really enjoyed having so many apples all of the time. We typically have a basket with some apples in our kitchen. Blake loves to pick one to eat. More than once, I've gone to the basket to find 5-6 apples with one bite taken out of them. The only bad part is when we are outside and she just grabs one off of the ground. She'll be eating one when I notice it's gross.

Blake is getting quite the little attitude. She knows exactly what she wants and she will throw a fit if she doesn't have her way. Her new favorite word is nuh-uh, with a shake of her head. And when she tells you no, she means it. Good luck getting her to do something once she has decided not to.

She used to eat anything I put on her plate. Then suddenly, overnight, she has become a super picky eater. Often times, she wont even try it. She instantly gives me the nuh-uh and her mouth is sealed shut. I've tried forcing food, and she'll just spit it out.

When she gets upset, or you tell her something she doesn't like, she walk away to where you can't see her then throw herself on the floor and have a little tantrum.

Recently, she was having a particularly rough night and throwing a major fit. Instead of getting frustrated, I decided to pull out the video camera and laugh about it. But boy did she not think it was funny. She ran into her room and shut the door. When I came in, she threw herself on the floor. When I tried getting closer, she would arch her back and scoot across the floor. Then when I really tried to pick her up, she crawled under her crib, all the while continuing screaming. I tried grabbing her leg and pulling her out, but she would grab the underside of her bed and hang on for dear life. She barricaded herself under her bed for quite some time. *(Unfortunately the video is too long and I am unable to upload it.)

She is already such a girl and so full of drama. Sometimes when she is mad, she will go into a room and close the door and scream like she wants you to go in and get her. But if you go into the room, she will glare at you and shut the door so she can resume screaming.

The last time we were on our way home from Logan, it was late and Blake had fallen asleep in the car. When we were almost home, I noticed that Blake had waken up. But for some reason when I would look back at her, she would close her eyes and pretend to be asleep. After a few seconds, she would peek her eyes to see if I was still looking. If I was, she would instantly hide her head and pretend to be asleep again. It was hilarious.

Whenever Will gets into trouble for not listening, he always says "I want to listen!" usually followed by doing exactly what we told him not to.

I never know what I'll get when I take these two on errands. I'd say for the most part, they behave and we don't have any issues. Those bad trips, however, are bad enough that I swear I'm never taking them anywhere ever again. Then I get desperate enough to get out of the house, I just forget all about the bad experience.

We go to they gym in the mornings and the kids have fun playing at the day care. I love going in there to pick them up. The moment I call for Blake, she gets super excited and starts frantically cleaning up all of the toys before she will come to me.  I'm not sure where she learned that, but I'm not complaining. Then once I pick her up, she starts yelling for Will.

Will is already pretty protective of Blake. One time I had a wellness check-up and they had to poke Blake's heel to draw a little blood. I was explaining it to Will, and he started crying and telling me not to hurt Blake. Blake wasn't even phased by it, but Will was freaking out.

If I do or say something that makes Blake cry, Will gets upset. He asks me what I did, then tells me that wasn't very nice.

I taught Will how to play Mario-Kart. The first few times were pretty rough. I remember one time in particular, he was doing like 18 minute laps. He quickly got the hang of it, and by about his third time playing, he was down to 2 minute laps. I'm sure he'll give me a run for my money one day.

They love to laugh and meal times are often times of laughter at our house. This is one of my favorite pictures. Simply put, they love life.

Both kids love being outside and ask several times a day if they can go play. They enjoy tv and movies, but if given a choice, they would choose playing outside any time. I hope it stays that way forever.

Will's obsession with trains grows stronger and stronger. When we go to the gym, he likes us to take the way that passes over the railroad tracks so we can look down the tracks to see if there is a train. Every time he sees a train track, he has to point it out and ask where the train is. And when we happen to see a train, he gets so excited.

Every so often, we like to let him go for a short ride on the FrontRunner. I'll drop Lance and the kids off at one station, then they will ride to the next one where I'll pick them up.

Within the last week, Will got a haircut from our neighbor. He is surrounded by girls all day and is convinced that he wants his hair long like mommy's and Blake's.

As you can see, he wasn't very happy about getting it cut. But i think he looks super handsome.

 A few days ago, I asked Will to go open Blake's door since she seemed to be awake from nap time. He went in and never came back out. When I went to investigate, he had his arm around Blake and was rocking her in the rocking chair. 

 I was trying to get him to smile, so I said, "Show me your teeth..."

Will loves going to church and gets really excited for nursery. For the last few weeks the incoming sunbeams have joined the Jr. Primary for singing time. He likes that, and I think he will transition into primary very well. (I hope!)

 While Blake is a copycat and loves to do and say whatever Will does, she is developing her own personality. She is funny, spunky, full of attitude, and just lots of fun to have around.

I wish people could see what I get to see every day. These two kids are so smart and fun, and most of the time, I am the only one who gets to enjoy it. How lucky am I?!

Fall Update - The parents

I've been reminded that my blog has been neglected. Sometimes I feel like nothing new or exciting is happening, and I don't want to bore the world with details about our incredibly boring lives. But when I really think about it, I suppose there are some things (however small) that we have been up to. And, of course, kids are always changing and updates on them is always good. So here are a few things that have been happening with us.

Summer seemed to end rather abruptly and suddenly fall was in the air. Fall is one of my favorite times of year, so I have enjoyed the change. We spent an afternoon going to get pumpkins, straw and finding a few Halloween decorations to make our porch a little more exciting. I love how it turned out.

Will and I also had some fun adding a few decorations inside. Thanks to Amber for the fun wood letters and Sharon for the awesome pillow.

Our trees in the backyard have been exploding with apples. It's really nice just to walk out and pick a few whenever I feel like eating an apple. And I eat quite a bit of apples. We didn't have the trees sprayed, but the apples aren't too infested with worms. The yellow/green ones have been super clean with very few problems. Our red ones are a little riskier, and I prefer to cut into them to make sure there aren't major yucky parts inside.

Sharon bought us an awesome food strainer, so a friend of mine brought all of her canning supplies and we spent a day canning some applesauce. We aren't huge applesauce eaters, but I was happy to learn the process and am glad to add it to our food storage.

Our first year of gardening didn't go quite how we were hoping. A lot of things we planted looked like they started well, but then were mini when it was harvest time. And some things just didn't grow at all. Even though it felt like nothing was growing, we ended up with this huge basket of things. Guess our first year wasn't such a failure. We learned a lot and plan on making some much needed changes for next year.

We finally made it out to Antelope Island to look around. The weather was beautiful and we had a small picnic by the beach. It felt awesome to just lay in the sun and relax for a moment while the kids played. We drove around a little looking for animals, but we didn't really see any,

The kids have discovered a love of Slurpees. Will always wants the blue or blacks ones, which unfortunately are always the mountain dew or coke. But once he has it, he enjoys whatever flavor I decide to get him.

I love this next picture. It was just so calm and beautiful. I would love to go out there with a good book and just sit all day long.

I finally buckled down and make some freezer meals. I made some big casserole style ones that we can cook and eat for several days. I also preheated some meals, then portioned them out into individual tupperware containers, so they can be eaten by simply being reheated in the microwave. It makes it nice so Lance can simply grab one to take to work for lunch. I filled a good portion of our deep freezer. There is frozen pizzas, several different kinds of enchiladas, different lasagnas, rice casseroles, taco bowls, chicken casseroles, noodle casseroles, plus several bags of things I could throw into the crock pot. 

We had some bad luck when we lost a bunch of stuff. We went to Lowe's and bought several bags worth of stuff to start our next project on our house. We bought a big bag of fertilizer for the yard, and lots of other things. A few days after, we couldn't find anything. Nothing. It's been weeks and we still have no idea where the stuff is. I finally went back to Lowes to see if maybe I had left it there and it simply didn't get put into our car. They were able to pull up video surveillance and it shows us taking the stuff to our car, and returning an empty cart. So apparently we got it and either just put it somewhere we can't remember, or someone decided to steal it. Very frustrated by it.

I also had my credit card information compromised. Luckily, the bank put a hold on it pretty quickly when suspicious things started happening, and thank goodness they didn't get any purchases made. Happy about that, but it's annoying having to update all my information with my bills and such. I keep getting notices that payments aren't being made because that credit card no longer works.

I have joined a couple of indoor soccer leagues. One of them is an over 30 co-ed team (they are ok with me playing) and the other is just a girls team. I play a couple of nights a week. The games are later, so often times I can help put the kids down to bed (or mostly down) and then take off as they are falling asleep. Lance has been super great about it all and is always encouraging me to go play while he stays home with the kids. Sometimes I feel a little guilty, but I truly believe it has helped my mental well-being. I have absolutely loved it and it has been really good for me. I have noticed a big change since I started playing. Some adult interaction, playing a game I love, and getting some great exercise was just the thing I needed. And I love meeting new people and making new friends. Though I am getting a bit beat up...getting hit by the ball and rough guys.

Several weeks ago, I started getting a toothache on my very back molar (which has a root canal and crown on it.) I was hoping that maybe something just got suck in my teeth or wedged up in my gums and that it would go away after a few days. Well, a few days later, I was so uncomfortable and in so much pain that I was simply focusing on not taking too many pain killers. To make matters worse, it was a Saturday and finding a dentist on a Saturday is very difficult. But thank goodness, someone was open and they were able to get me in. The tooth under my crown had decayed (like I was told over a year ago), and it was time to finally get it pulled. It came out in about 15 different pieces. Every time he tried to pull it, the tooth would just break and he would have to dig out the next piece. Fun, right? At least now I don't have to worry about it and it wont bother me. Now I just have a giant hole in the back of my mouth and have to get an implant here pretty soon. And apparently the crown in front of that hole is broken and a bit sharp, but wasn't noticeable until they other tooth was pulled. So looks like it's time to replace that one as well. I may need to set up a donation link to help with dental bills!

About 2 weeks ago, Lance had to travel up to Boise for a couple of days for work training. A few hours after he left, I suddenly started freezing. I had layers upon layers, burning hot rice bags, and couldn't get warm. I sent Lance this picture, and told him it was even difficult to remove my arms from the covers to text him cause it made me too cold. He sent the neighbors over to check on me and make sure I was still alive. Luckily, I felt much better the following morning.

While he was gone, me and the kids headed up to Logan to spend some time with the Hinton's. We had a lot of fun and the kids were devastated when we left.

The day after Lance got back from Boise, he started feeling sick. By Sunday, he was telling me he wanted to go to insta-care to see a doctor. Being the mean person I am, I asked if he could wait until Monday to schedule appointment with normal doctor so we didn't have to worry about high insta-care prices. So at the end of his shift Monday, he went to the doctor. He has pneumonia. The kids have been coughing a lot too. They play hard and are happy, but I've been debating if they need to be seen for the cough.

Lance and I were able to get a night out last week and go on a date. While we were out, we got a new stereo put in our van/car so now our DVD player in the back actually works. Yay! While they were installing that, we had dinner at a place called Jeremiahs in Ogden. Best onion rings I've had in a long time.  The kids had fun with Noah, a young man in our ward. He sent us a video while we were gone. They made a giant pile of leaves on the playhouse slide for Will to go down into. The kids love when we get babysitters. 

We've had a bit of a rough spell and are trying to get back on our feet. Hopefully we can get some things figure out in the next few weeks and things can improve a little bit.

On a happier note, Will and Blake are doing great and an entire post about them is coming next.