When We're Helping We're Happy

Monday evening we spent a lot of time working in the backyard trying to get it looking better. Brychan had a blast and was a really hard worker and a GREAT helper!

Fingers and Toes

Not only is Kehlton now rolling over from his back to his belly AND his belly to his back, but he also found his toes this week. He thinks they're pretty great!

The Belly Bump

My apologies for the scantily clad child. He was on his way to bed when we stopped to play for a minute. David told me to put clothes on him before turning the camera on, but I was just too afraid that if we stopped the play, it wouldn't get started again! These brothers sure do love each other. I love it!! Hopefully it lasts for years to come.

Bragging Rights

My 3 boys have been very busy, and I feel like it's my job to brag about how wonderful they are! In order from youngest to oldest, here are their newest accomplishments.

Kehlton: We now have a little roly-poly! This week, he figured out how to roll over from his back to his belly. As soon as we lay him down on his back, he just flips right over onto his belly. A little funny because he's not too fond of tummy time, but maybe since he's the one initiating it, tummy time will be a lot more fun! He is also trying really hard to sit up. He hates laying down; especially when big brother is anywhere around. I'm sure it won't be too much longer before he's able to sit with little assistance.

Brychan: Bug is learning more letters day by day. He is also an amazing little singer. His favorites right now are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Wants me For A Sunbeam, Baby Bumblebee and Old McDonald (he loves deciding which animal comes next on the farm). If somebody is singing, he will sing right along.

David: Work continues to get better and better for David. He has his second listing, is working on a third and just helped a family buy a home. It really feels like things are starting to snowball now. We hope and pray that business just keeps coming! He was asked earlier in the week to serve on the Agent Leadership Committee for Keller Williams, which is usually reserved for agents who have earnings in the top 20% (David hasn't gotten that far, yet). The brokers at KW admire David's hard work and dedication and feel that he has a lot to offer other agents. Not bad for a newbie (he's starting his 8th month as an agent)!!

I am so proud of my boys and all they do!!

Work In Progress

When I bought this house almost 5 years ago, I bought it because the backyard was so green and lush. I felt like I had my own little secret garden. An extreme rarity in Arizona. Fast forward 4 years when we move back into the house. Imagine my dismay when we discovered the renters had not watered the yard at all for an entire year. Obviously, everything died. So, we are starting over. And unfortunately, big projects always have to get 100 times worse before they get any better. About a month ago, David started cutting down all the oleander and bougainvilleas in the yard.

This is what it looks like now. Ugly. Brown. Barren. Sad. And no room to spare, let alone play, in the backyard.


It will take about a year for all my beautiful, green bushes to fully grow back. Hopefully in the fall we can lay sod. And if I'm lucky, next summer I will have my gorgeous little secret garden back. But next week, all the bushes Dave cut down will be hauled away, so there will at least be room to play!

All Thumbs

I have been trying SO hard to get a photo of Kehlton sucking his thumb. He does it all the time - you wouldn't think it would be so difficult to get a shot of it. Finally, this afternoon, I succeeded.

Love those eyes!!!

You WILL Eat Your Veggies!!

It's no secret that veggies aren't a high priority at my house. Brychan refuses to eat anything other than bread or dairy products or cookie and candy products. My husband will eat some veggies if I make them, but just prefers that I not make them. I'll eat them, but don't want to go through the hassle of making them just for me. Not good at all.

In my quest for us to eat healthier, David bought me The Sneaky Chef - a cookbook with recipes that hide all sorts of "yummy" ingredients in order to make them healthy. So yesterday, I went to Sprouts (my new favorite grocery store. I LOVE it!), bought a bunch of delicious, fresh, organic foods and this morning, I made these:


I was a little skeptical at first, because they started out looking like mud and smelled awful. However. They're not bad! Actually quite yummy. And the best part? Brychan ate 3 of them. So before 9:00am, he's had blueberries, spinach, walnuts, wheat germ and hardly any sugar (the recipe only calls for 6 T. brown sugar). FINALLY!! I like them because they're just sweet and chocolately enough (1/4 c cocoa) to quench any cravings. This week, I'm trying to cut out all added sugars. Once I get that mastered, I plan on working out the refined sugars as well. I feel like I can snack on these bad boys and not be cheating.

I'm really excited now to work my way through the entire cookbook. Hopefully all the recipes are as good as this one!

This is What A Good Nap Looks Like -

FHE

Yesterday afternoon, I was pretty tired of being cooped up in the house. It was absolutely gorgeous out, so as soon as David got home from work, we grabbed some snacks, Brychan's new soccer ball and headed for one of our many parks for Family Home Evening.

David really wanted to kick the ball around with Brychan, but Brychan was really only interested in doing this -
And Kehlton was more than happy to just sit around watching big brother.
We stayed until it was almost dark...way too nice to be inside! It's a good thing we live where we do, because we ALL love to be outside!!

Mr. Sandman

I would love for the Sandman to spend a little more time in our home. Kehlton has decided that he no longer wants to take naps. Which I guess would be fine if it didn't make him so dang crabby by the end of the day. He is a fighter - with an entire "No Sleep" routine. It's as follows:

1. Let Mom, Dad or LaLa cradle me with my binkie. Pretend like I like it and try to charm my way out of a nap by giving irresistible smiles, giggles and stories. This always buys me at least a few more minutes.
2. Once they're on to me, squirm and fuss until I'm no longer in cradle position. Preferably we will all end up in a standing position.
3. If the adult still insists on trying to make me sleep, try to convince them that I'm still starving. This is especially effective when Mom is not the one trying to put me to sleep.
4. If that fails, allow myself to be cradled, but find something in the room to stare at and do NOT blink (when he does this you can blow in his face and he still won't blink).
5. When my eyes get so tired that I can't manage that any longer, squirm, cry and scream for as long as possible. Hopefully, they will give up before I succumb to the rocking, swaying, shooshing, rubbing of the nose and/or bouncing.

I'd say 75% of the time we manage to beat his game, and he goes to sleep. 50% of that time, his naps are 30 minutes or less. He will go for days without a nap. However, once we manage to get him to go to sleep for bedtime, he stays there and sleeps great, which we greatly appreciate!

And unfortunately, since Brychan made the move to his big boy bed, his night terrors have increased. We went through 3 of them last week (they use to happen less than once a month). Although they are more frequent, they don't seem be as severe, which is a blessing. Either way they break my heart (I usually end up in tears) and nobody gets much sleep. Thank goodness he takes GREAT naps!!!

Water + Rocks = A Perfect Afternoon

We had another beautiful day today after a few days of rain and cold. There is still quite a bit of water in the wash near our home, so we stopped by today to check it out. Brychan quite obviously had a blast throwing rocks and sticks in the water, and Daddy had just as much fun skipping rocks with him.

Coming Soon!

Brychan LOVES it when we come across blogs with their own playlists. He especially loves it if that playlist happens to be playing anything by Jason Mraz (not sure why...). So, we are working on a playlist that is 95% Brychan and 5% Mommy and Daddy. Keep your eyes and, more importantly, ears open! Brychan's Playlist will be coming soon!

There is Nothing Better...

...than being a mom. I've been thinking about this a lot again lately for a bunch of different reasons.

First of all, my son's birthday. When I was small, my mother wrote letters to me on my birthday. These letters told of the things I accomplished and learned that year, my favorite things and how much she loved me. The letters only lasted my first three years, but I cherish those letters to this day. So, before I even had children, I had decided that I would carry on that same tradition. I need to write his 2nd birthday letter, and have been thinking about all the wonderful things about Brychan for the last couple of days. It's hard to compile it all into one, reasonably lengthed letter.

Secondly - the addition of the big boy bed.
While I'm a little sad to see my Bug too big for his crib and big enough for a real bed, I am totally in love with the nighttime routine. I love being able to sit next to him in bed, sing a few songs with him, read a story, say prayers with him and tuck him in. I just LOVE it. And I get teary every night as we go through this routine. Our first night, I asked him what song he wanted to sing, and he signed "sun" to me. Through the process of elimination, I finally figured out that he wanted to sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". We rarely sing that song at home, but I know they sing it in nursery. Imagine my surprise when we start singing, and he blasts out "BEAM" at the end of every single "sunbeam" phrase. I had NO idea he knew that song! It's now my favorite song to sing with him - just because I love watching him sing it. It's nice to know that he really is learning something in Nursery, and gives me hope that maybe he really is picking something up during family home evenings too.

Occasionally, as I'm nursing Kehlton and Brychan is napping, I will browse random blogs. Today I came across a woman whose baby was stillborn. Her entries broke my heart. And it reminded me just how lucky I am that Heavenly Father has entrusted these two adorable little boys to David and I (not that I believe Heavenly Father didn't trust this woman with her baby...quite the opposite, I'm sure. He knew she would be strong enough to handle having this child simply long enough for him to gain a body and then return home to Him). I have many friends who have lost their children through miscarriage or stillbirth, or are unable to have children and are waiting to get through the adoption process. My heart breaks for them just as much. It doesn't seem fair, and I have wondered many times why I, and so many others, are easily blessed with children, while others have these awful obstacles to overcome before realizing the blessing of children. I am so grateful that I have my boys. That Heavenly Father feels that I am "fit" enough to be a good mom to them, when I so frequently wonder if I really am fully capable of raising these boys to be good, strong, righteous priesthood holders. Just this morning I was lamenting about my weight and being frustrated with the fact that I've hit a plateau (of course, I was consoling myself with a peanut butter bar, so I can't complain too much). This woman's blog entry was a well needed dose of reality for me. The reason I don't fit into my favorite, size 6, Banana Republic jeans any longer is because I've had two babies in less than two years. That's the bottom line. Would I trade those jeans for my babies? Absolutely not. I love my children. I love being a mom and a wife. I love it all...hard, can't-help-but-pull-my-hair-out days included. There really is nothing in this world that is better than being a mom. All the sacrifices and hard work are worth it, a hundred times over. And hopefully, I can work hard enough to be worthy of the wonderful blessings that come with motherhood!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYCHAN!!!

I cannot believe my son is two already. How did that happen?

We had a super fun, super packed day to celebrate with Bug. We started off with his annual well baby check, and he's doing great. He's 34lbs and 35 1/2" tall (which predicts that he will be 6'1" as an adult). The PA did, however, tell me that my son is obese. Really? Obese? I mean, I know he's a solid tank, but there is not one roll of any extra anything on the kid. Plus, he NEVER eats!! I sometimes think they forget to look at the whole child when checking them. Brychan has always been in the 95th percentile for everything. Why should it be such a shocker now? We do have to take him to get blood drawn to check his cholesterol levels (since he's "obese"...) and to see if he's anemic (a legitimate concern since he won't eat anything). But that will wait a week or so.

Back to the birthday!!!

This photo was taken a few days prior to his birthday, after he had been eyeing a particular package sitting on the piano with Cars wrapping paper on it. You guessed it! While I was busy feeding Kehlton, Brychan snuck in and ripped the present open. Excited for the kitty birthday cake!
We spent the afternoon at the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium with LaLa. It was awesome! We went late enough in the afternoon that there was hardly anybody else there. It really felt like we had the whole zoo to ourselves. And, since it's not too hot yet, all the animals were awake and alert.

LaLa and I did not really care for these snakes. They were out in the open, close enough to touch if one so desired. We did not. Bug got a kick out of them, though!
One of the tortoises. This is the one chasing Brychan in the video below.

More zoo photos below!

The Rest of the Zoo

This was one of the adorable kids in the children's petting zoo. There were SO many babies at the zoo - goats, monkeys, tigers, giraffes. It was fun seeing all the little ones!

LaLa and Brychan looking at birds
Checking out the fawn inside the petting zoo. This little girl kept trying to eat Brychan's shorts...she got the shorts soaking wet! She also took a nab at his little toes. Luckily, we came away with all 10 toes!
This tiger made all of us so sad. He just kept looking at us like he wanted to come home! This is Jacob, the lion. He is 19 years old. I'm really sad that the video wouldn't load onto the computer properly because he was sending off territorial cries for awhile. It was the coolest thing ever! There happened to be a zoo keeper right there with us who gave us Jacob's story. Jacob has also been known to charge zoo-goers; actually hitting the fence that keeps us safe! We were really hoping he'd do that yesterday (the zoo keeper told us Jacob had that "look" in his eye saying that he just might go for it), but he didn't. 19 is really old for a lion, and I think his roaring tuckered him out! At another exhibit, a lady told us that when the lion started roaring, all the other animals in the area started freaking out...they all got really loud and the jaguar starting pacing back and forth. I guess when the lion speaks, all the animals really do stop and listen!

Thanks to all of you who helped make Brychan's birthday so much fun with phone calls and extra packages. He really seemed to have a fun day, and he is practicing really hard to hold just two fingers up when asked how old he is. Happy Birthday, Bug! We love you!!!

More Family Photos

We got the rest of our family photos yesterday...here are just a few more that we really liked. They all turned out great...thanks so much, Debbie!!

Family Photos

Last week, my friend Debbie took a bunch of family photos for us. I am waiting to get all our photos (I stole these off her blog!), but here are a couple. There are also new pics of the boys on my sidebar that she took the same day. We can't wait to see the rest!!

Flagstaff

Yesterday we took a drive up to Flagstaff to play in the snow. Ashley came with us and we had a really nice day. This is David and Brychan starting off...you can see just how deep the snow is by looking at that sign. It's almost gone!
Ashley felt like The Little Mermaid sitting on that rock. That pile of blankets she's holding has Kehlton snuggled deep inside.

My honey, who I love dearly!

Brychan had fun in the snow for about 10 minutes. Actually, it wasn't the snow so much as it was all the extra clothes. He was having a blast for the few minutes it was warm enough to not wear a coat. The child HATES wearing clothes and shoes. He's definitely a shorts, t-shirts and flip flops sort of boy. He was SO happy to get back to the truck and eat cookies.

All tuckered out from a fun day playing!

We really had a lot of fun, but we were happy to get back to Phoenix and 60 degree weather. This is how we like playing in the snow...play while it's fun and then come home to nice warm and sun! Doesn't get much better than that!