Busy Busy Busy

I have a lot of weeks with very little planned...this week was not one of those-

Sunday-

-Dessert with friends!

Monday-

-FHE (we started a baby blanket to donate- the kids liked helping, I spent the next couple days trying to get it finished)

-Kristen's baby shower! (I can't believe he is almost here...wasn't Chase just born?)

Tuesday-

-Ward Book club (I didn't end up going....but I really wanted to...and I read the book...My Sister's Keeper....it was really good not because I was in love with the characters or what happened but because it made me think. It is about a child that was designed to save her sisters life, it made me think about making medical decisions for my kids, the times I pay more attention to one or the other, how to best show love to kids and caused me to wonder "what would I do?".)

Wednesday-

-Visiting teaching

Thursday-

-Sledding (we found a great hill near our house and had a blast...except that every other run we had to blow air into our sled- it has a whole. I was surprised that Spencer loved it-if the sled was on the ground he would go over and sit on it because he was ready to go. We took one good spill when we tried going down with all of us on it! Good time!)

-Preschool hour for Garret

-Sweet n Swap at Angela's- a bunch of friends all brought over things they weren't using any more and we ate food, chatted and searched for treasures! I brought home a couple books, a couple movies, two games and some clothes!

The above list doesn't mention babysitting, playing with my crazy stir crazy kids, shovelling snow (way more then I want to) etc.

Here are a couple pics of our week so far!

Spencer's muscles!
The kids playing under the blanket we made (or wappy as Garret says)-
Sledding (the pic of me has a funny spot on it but it was the only one with Garret in it)-

Spencer

Spencer is just over 18 months. He is busy and silly.

Some of the things Spencer's doing;

-Teething- Spencer is getting his two year moellers. They are bothering him a lot. He comes up to me and points to his mouth and says "oww".

-Playing- He loves to play with Garret. They pretend to be dogs and crawl around with their tongues out. They play with blocks and legos. Spencer loves playing with Mommy and Daddy.

-Nursery- He cries a little at the beginning but I think he is getting more used to it. He needs to learn to share a little better though.

-Talking- Spencer is learning lots of words. He tries to repeat a lot of what we say and he has quite a few that he uses when he needs something. His favorite word is "No". Even when he is alone if he is having a hard time with something we hear "No, No, No". He says "love you" and "nigh night". He likes talking on the phone and will find the toy phone and say "Hi" over and over.

-Dancing- Spencer likes to dance when he hears music.

-Reading- Spencer's attention for books has increased a lot lately and he enjoys being read to. He loves to run in his room and come out with a book crawl on your lap and then wait (he knows how to get what he wants).

-Snuggle- There was a time when I thought this guy would never be a snuggler but that was in the past. Now this little guy wants to snuggle a lot. He loves to be held and snuggled.

I love my little Spencer. Look at his funny face! He tries to be like his big brother and thinks he do whatever Garret does. He is adorable, rambunctious, energetic, and sweet as can be. Our lives would not be nearly as fun without him!

Garret

Garret is approaching three and a half, he is busy and curious.

Some of the fun things Garret has been up to are;

-Primary- He loves it! He wants to act it out all the time, he talks about it all the time and from what I hear he is behaving well in Primary.

-Preschool Hour- Once a week he goes to an hour (more like forty five minutes) of story and craft time at the library. He wakes up and asks me what day it is. If I say Thursday he gets so excited.

-Letter Sounds- We still have a long way to go...but we work on it a little most days and I am hoping he will wake up one of these days and the concept will have clicked for him.

-Sleeping- A few months ago I was worried Garret was going to stop napping but lately he is back to a good solid two to three hour nap. (I hope I didn't just jinx it).

-Playing Pretend- Garret would play pretend all day long, he doesn't need props- just his imagination. He is constantly saying "Mom look, do you see that big bear (or something like that), let's follow it and see where it goes"

-Attention- Lately he has been experimenting with how to get attention, luckily he doesn't throw big tantrums, but he has been trying out a fake laugh that is not that cute.

-Dreaming- Almost everyday he wakes up and says "last night I had a dream about...." I think his last one was that he was "whacking bushes all morning with Uncle Dan and then they saw deer and ran after them". Sometimes they are more outrageous than that.

-Talking- This kid is almost always talking or singing. It is so fun listening to the things he comes up with. Some of the latest are;

Me- It has been snowing all day

Garret- Silly Jesus, making it snow all day

Garret-Look Mom my finger is all better

Me- That's great

Garret-Heavenly Father fixed it

Garret- Spencer were you a good boy in nursery?

Spencer-Yeah

Garret-I am so proud of you

Garret- Can I do dishes?

Me- I'm almost done

Garret- When I get big I'm gonna do dishes all the time

When he is by himself he sings about everything. Sometimes it's real songs and other times its just whatever pops in his head. His favorite is to sing "It's a New York happy day" over and over. I don't know where he came up with it.

I wish I could remember all the funny things he says. I know there are some better ones I forgot.

Garret is a joy to be with. He drives me crazy one minute then does something adorable. He loves to snuggle and give me hugs. He says "I love you" all day long and tells me he will love me forever and ever. He has a kind little heart and a big cheesy grin!!! Three year olds are SO fun!

Service Week 4

Last week I was able to do a couple different random acts of service. I would rather leave the details private -but I will say it feels good to help people.

This week I want to go donate blood...however I would need someone that wants to go with me to swap kids. If that doesn't work out I will probably make a baby blanket.....

Just a little heads up...Monday February 2 we are making the dinner at the Ronald McDonald house and would love to have others join us.

What I have learned so far....Having a goal of doing service each week has forced me to spend a lot of time thinking of others. Several times through out the week I will try and think of who is in need, what I could do, who and what I would need. It has been refreshing and beneficial for me to think outside my little bubble.

Mischief

Yesterday I made a cake (we are having friends over for dessert today). It was cooling and my Mom called. The kids were awfully quite...when I went searching for them, they had both brought their stools in and were grabbing handfuls of cake to eat. Garret looked up at me and before I even had the chance to reprimand him he burst in to tears. Sobbing, he told me he was just so excited. We talked and then I asked what do you think should happen now and he said "I don't get any cake tomorrow". I guess he knows how to create consequences all by himself now. (I wish I could have captured their cute little guilty faces).

Kids Stats

I took the kids to the Doctor today. They did pretty well. Garret had to get his finger pricked first. When it was Spencer's turn he said "It's ok Spencer, you just have to be brave" and he rubbed his back. It was pretty cute.

Spencer-
Weight- 28.4 (75%)
Height- 33 (75)
Head - (90%)

Garret-
Weight- 40 (He had on his clothes, coat and shoes so he is probably really closer to 38)
Height- 42
They didn't tell me percentages

So Long Farewell

My Mom left this morning. It was so fun having her here and so sad seeing her go. I hate that it will probably six months or more before I see her again. Garret woke up and said "I wish my Grandma didn't go. I wish she could stay here all day and play."

Some of the other fun things we did before she left included; playing at Chuck E Cheese (My kids seriously love this place...Tyler and I think it is pretty fun too), worked on more projects, Garret and Mom read The Wizard of Oz and then we acted it out (he was the tin-man and wanted to be the tin-man ALL the time), play dough, art projects with the kids and we got a new fish (the kids named it Otto- again).

We love you Mom!

Service Week 3

My Mom and I made a couple of hats to send out this week (No Pictures).

This week I am not sure what I am going to do. I will either do an Anonymous act of service or if I have time I am going to donate blood. If my plans change I will post it so people can join me if they want to.

A death in the family

Our beloved fish of about 10 days or so passed away while we were in Palmyra. (I guess maybe he needed it to be more than 50 in the house). I really was not overly attached to Otto but as soon as I saw him I got sick feeling inside knowing I had to tell Garret and Spencer. I immediately thought of our Otto memories (there are not a lot)-

-Spencer saying "Odddoooo" whenever he saw him
-Both of the boys loving feeding him
-Garret saying "I love Otto" randomly
-Picking him out together

Garret and Spencer handled it pretty well. Garret cried a little and Spencer didn't really get it. I am sure we will just get another one. I don't know how people handle more exciting pets dying. Anyway - Here's to Otto!!!

The Grandma with Hee Haw

My Mom (and friend) is in town (she will be here until Wednesday morning!). Garret refers to her as the Grandma that has Hee Haw (they have a toy horse that he named Hee Haw at her house). She got in a couple days ago at 11:30. Garret had been so excited for her coming that I let him go to the airport with me even though it was so late. Spencer didn't take long to warm up to her and is now quite attached. It has been so fun having her here. We have stayed up late working on projects and watching movies, playing games and playing with the kids.


We went to Palmyra Friday and Saturday. The kids thing hotels are the greatest thing ever! Garret camped in his tent in the room. He finally stopped wiggling around in his tent at midnight (but he had fun). They went swimming twice and we went to the temple a couple times. Then we went and saw the sights (always fun). We stopped by the book store while we were there and Garret saw a replica of the Gold Plates and was very excited about that. It has been such a great experience living so close to the sight of the restoration. When I hear about church history I have such a clear image of where it took place. When it is cold (like it has been this last week), I think how lucky I am that I have a furnace (even if the bill is outrageous) at least I don't live in a log cabin. I am grateful for the many trips to Palmyra we have had. Who put their swimsuits on?
The weather has been so cold since my Mom has been here. She is not really a cold weather person so it says a lot that she has been braving the cold for us. I wish I could slow down the next couple of days (her visits always go by way to fast). It has been a fun couple of days and I am sure the next ones will be fun as well.

Spencer named his stuffed Monkey "NaNa" and he loves wrapping it up and carrying it around.

Service Week Two

My project last week was really fun and easy. The dresses were cuter than they are in the picture.

This week I am planning on making some hats. (I am going to make hats but they accept any new or gently used hats for babies and kids). There is a family that adopted two kids from Kazakhstan. They love their adopted children and want to do something for the kids they could not bring home with them. They thought about what the kids need and have broken it up into 12 categories and will try to get donations each month to fulfil that need. This month they are trying to collect hats and gloves. I am not sure what night I am going to work on my hats but if you are interested in doing it with me let me know. Also if you want you can make hats on your own and we can combine them to ship them.

"Keep doing good deeds long enough, and you'll probably turn out a good man in spite of yourself." - Louis Auchincloss

I thought this quote was very fitting. Sometimes I feel like I am very far from the great person I want to become...I hope I am at least on the path to becoming that person.

Highlights

A few memorable moments from this week (some are only funny now)-

-I was sitting down stairs and heard screaming. It was so muffled sounding that I assumed it was outside. A few minutes later I go upstairs and find Garret in a suitcase and Spencer sitting on top if it cross-legged and smiling. Yep, that's right Spencer was the one on top. (Garret was fine, just yelling "get off Spencer").

-Pink Eye (Me), Throw up (Spencer...he slept in it...poor baby), Bowel Problems (Spencer....really poor baby, he also slept in some of this....I wish he would just cry so I knew something was wrong...did I just say I wish he would cry?)

-Fooling Amber into thinking that I had to be rushed to the hospital...getting her over here just to surprise her with a mini baby shower!!!

-Garret asking me if I would go on a pretend date with him. He said "Mom will you go on a pretend date with me?" I said "Of Course", He said "First we need a babysitter for Spencer, then we can go to dinner and a movie".

-Spencer loves to say "NO" which is not so cute, but he also says "Love You", which is very cute!

-Making dresses for the orphanage in Haiti.

-Tyler agreeing to watch Pride and Prejudice with me (he got me the Collin Firth version for my birthday and said he would watch it with me one time). We started it at 9 with every intention of only watching the beginning. Every time it a segment ended we kept going. So we watched it all and then Tyler said "I would watch that with you again sometime"- He is the best!

There you have it the highlights from our week.....

Service week one

I have been debating whether I should put my weekly service projects on the blog or not. I would like to have a record for myself and my kids of my attempt at a year of service but I know some of the things I do I won't want everyone to know about. I also think if I know others will be reading my plan it is more likely I will reach my goal. I think I am going to try and plan my service each Sunday and if it is something others can do if they want to I'll post it and if it isn't I will just say that. I know everyone is busy and I don't expect anyone to do them with me, I just figure I'll post my plan and if someone wants to do them with me they can. Anyway, This week I am going to attempt to make a couple of dresses for an orphanage in Haiti. I am planning on working on mine Tuesday night so you can come here or if you want you can make them and I'll send them with mine. They go to a church in Massachusetts that runs three orphanages in Haiti. The weather is always warm there so I am just going to make pillowcase dresses. If you are interested just let me know!

Off they go...

First of all I hope no one thinks I don't want my kids to grow up...more than anything I want them to grow up and be happy, smart, fun people ...I just don't want them to grow up yet. Well today was the first time in a very long time (maybe ever) that Tyler and I spent the last two hours of church without our kids (we still had kids around us just not ours). Garret went to Primary today for the first time and Spencer went to the junior nursery today. It was so strange not having them there by me. I kept hoping they were being good and having fun. We got a good report on both of them which eased my mind a little. Garret was very nervous to go to Primary. I told him he didn't have to go but if he didn't go he was too big for nursery so he would just have to sit on a chair the whole time. He decided he would give it a try and loved it. He also got his own Book of Mormon this morning. He loves pretending to read scriptures every night so we gave him one today and he was so proud of it. He took it to church and showed everyone! Spencer went to nursery and didn't even look back. He was happy to see me at the end but I am not sure he ever realized I was gone. I love my boys!
I heard that all of the sunbeams did really well today. I felt so bad missing their last week in nursery (that was when Garret had the flu so we stayed home). I missed having them all in my class but I am so glad that they did well in Primary.

Quarter of a Century

Yesterday was my birthday! I wish I didn't have to wait a whole year for another birthday. It's so nice having everyone take care of me! It was a fun day spent with the family. We went out to eat, rode the carousel (the kids love it so I told them that was what I really wanted to do- Garret got to ride a reindeer...he thinks it was Comet!) and we ate mud pie! Here are some pics from the day (poor Garret has a sore nose from being sick and I am not sure what kind of faces we are making in some of them).