I heart Thursday!

Reasons why I loved today:

Tyler had preschool from 9:30-11:30

I cleaned like a mad-woman while he was gone and actually accomplished a lot

He came home in a great mood

He drew me a picture of a "dinosaur monster"

Jackson took a nap. I got even more done.

I didn't have a car until after 1:00 and so I had to stay home. Hence the accomplishing a lot part

My v.t. companion and I do dinner for a friend on Thursdays. This time I was on dessert. I made Angel's Food cupcakes with frosting and strawberries. They were delish!

I needed to pick up a few things from Walmart to finish decorating the playroom (pictures coming soon!) and Jeff wasn't going to be home for a couple hours still, so we took a quick trip over there

I was dreading it on the way there and then remembered there's a McDonalds inside

so I used it as a bribe

the entire shopping trip... "Tyler, come back or we don't get chicken nuggets"..."put that back if you want a white ice cream cone"...yes I'm that kind of mom :) it really worked!

We ate dinner inside a Walmart. Awesome.

Tyler shared his ice cream with Baby Bird without even being asked to.

I drove home smiling (listening to Jack suck on his finger and hum) and thinking I love my life!
Plus, it's Thursday. That means Grey's Anatomy/ Private Practice, The Office and 30 Rock.
Tomorrow is Friday.
And it's the Fathers & Sons camping trip for church.
I'm having a girl party. If you want to do Relay for Life, come over! While the boys camp, we are tie-dying team shirts. What is better than purple and turquoise tie-dye?!

Things that make me laugh...

I know Jackson's getting into mischief when I hear the chairs being pushed out from the table, a little bit of grunting, followed by "Ta-da!" over and over.
Then I wonder what Mr. Jack has gotten into. Or I should say, what I have left on the table for him to attack. This time, it was a few paint brushes, which he kept tickling on his face and laughing.
Earlier today, we were playing with a bouncy-ball that was sending him into a giggling-frenzy.
His new favorite thing to do is turn the light on and off and look up and back at me with every switch of the light.
He says Hi (while waving) and Ball and No,no,no,no,no. As well as banana (nanana) and Thanks.

The other day, Tyler asked me where his dinosaur was. I asked him which of his many (many) dinosaurs he was talking about. And then he did this:

 and so of course, I thought he wanted this one:

 but I was wrong. Don't you see the resemblance? Two fingers, mouth open... but maybe all dinos look like that...

Yesterday we were playing outside and Tyler found a bug. I heard him smash it over and over and pretend-bug scream with each smash. And then he said in a sad, whiny voice "oh, he want his legs."

Earlier today, Tyler started telling our favorite sitter Stephanie a funny (and completely made up) story about a bug in our house. It contained lots of "last night"s and "bamorrow"s and "almost got me"s. It's funny to listen to him talk and use grown up words and expressions.

In other news, 2 MORE DAYS!! until my parents come! Wahoo! 

"Nauna and Gampa are coming and we gonna shoot Tigers ba'tuz that be fun, huh mommy?!"

My Eternal Family

Our lesson for FHE tonight was on 'My Family Can Be Together Forever' from the Nursery Manuel.
We talked about Temples, played Hot & Cold until we found a picture of the temple in the hall, pretended we were a beautiful temple by making a steeple with our hands and talked about our eternal family. We talked about what we can do now to prepare to enter the temple. Tyler said he would go to church. We made finger puppets, and paper necklaces and sang a song. I think it was successful!! My favorite part was when Jackson held out his two pointer fingers for puppets and walked around the coffee table wearing "Daddy" and "Sister". My second favorite part was when we talked about our "sister named Lindsey" Evidently, she's waiting in heaven for us.
I'm grateful for my eternal family, both the one I grew up in and the one we are creating. I'm grateful that our Heavenly Father put temples on earth so that we can start to learn about Heaven and want to go there, together as a happy family!

Perfectly Perfect

All day long today, I've been thinking about my many blessings. As I was reading this blog about a family with a baby that was just born with Down syndrome, thoughts came flooding back to me from the day I was pregnant with Jackson and received a phone call from the Parkland Hospital. They told me I had some irregular testing and needed to come in for a visit and should bring my husband. I quickly looked over the pamphlets they gave me at my last appointment and read down the list of all the diseases and disorders the baby was tested for.

We met with a very nice lady who told us we had 1/162 chance that this baby had Down syndrome. Women my age with normal testing would have 1/4400 chance, so they deemed it high risk. We could choose to get an amniocentesis or not, but that would be the only way to know for sure before the baby was born. I don't love needles and I always thought I'd be against risking the baby in any way, but after praying and fasting about it, we knew that I should have the test.

It would be two weeks until we got the results and I wish I could say I wasn't an emotional basket-case during that time. But I was. I began the mourning process in hopes that when I did find out, I'd be out of tears and ready to be optimistic and excited for our journey with a baby who had down syndrome. I felt like it would be an honor to be a parent to such a special child; one that would be ours forever, without doubt. But thoughts of how hard it would be and what he would miss out on, always lurked and made Jeff and I very sad.

It was two weeks later on a Thursday when we found out, I remember it very clearly. I was standing in the kitchen when my phone rang. I knew it was the hospital before I answered. It was the nice lady who visited with us before. I was happy to hear her voice and for the wondering to be over. I just wanted to know and then I could deal with it, either way. I remember being very calm as she told me that our baby did not have Down syndrome. I'm sure she could hear the relief in my voice as I told her, "Thank you so much" and it wasn't until she told me "Congratulations" that I started crying. I hung up and turned right to Jeff and told him our baby is ok. We hugged for a long time on our kitchen floor.

I remember our prayer that night, thanking our Heavenly Father that our baby was healthy. We try to include that in every prayer we make, and I'm sure we always will. Because of this experience I don't take for granted for one second how blessed we are to have two children who are healthy and safe.

Jeff and I haven't told anyone about this except our parents and a couple people who we served with at church at that time, but today I felt very strongly to share my experience. I had many peaceful moments where the Lord gave me strong answers. The first was to do the testing. Looking back I'm so grateful that answer was so clear because it saved me a lot of heartache and anxiety, if I had to wonder for another 5 months. Another strong feeling I got was to be ready. With this prompting, I thought it meant for sure he had the disorder, but now I know it had to do with his delivery. I'm so glad that I was spiritually prepared at the time or it would have been even harder for me to recover from that. The greatest inspiration I received during this difficult time is that we are all special. That the spirit that would be sent to me would be ours and he would be perfect. I'm grateful for those answers, that didn't give me a yes or a no, but gave me the promptings I needed to stay strong and know that the Lord has a greater plan for all of us. That we are sent down at the right time and to the right parents. I'm grateful to be a mother and a wife and I find so much joy from those callings as a woman.

Spring Cleaning!

So, we've been confined to the house for the past week due to diarrhea (not me, the kids-- you wanted to know that, right!) and today the boys finally got out to play! The weather was so crazy. Beautiful this morning, thundered, lightning-ed and poured for an hour or so (of course while I was loading/unloading the groceries), and then ended sunny and clear! Oh, I can see spring coming and I love spring! Especially in Texas; it's warming up and the weather is so fun and exciting.

We've been doing some rearranging and guess what?!! We're gonna have a playroom! Slash guest room. My parents are coming to visit at the end of the month so they will have a room all to themselves (along with all of our favorite toys just in case they get bored in the middle of the night) Jeff's work got an office now and so he moved his desk and computer over there. His Grandpa gave us his laptop (Grandma used to use it) so I still have one at home to use for... blogging! and emails and etsy and the such :)

So, be on the lookout for some pictures of our new room :)

here's my suggestions to a beautiful day:

do some {almost} spring cleaning (a cabinet, junk drawer, anything, it feels good!)

open the windows and air out the house

smell the flowers (or plant some)

listen to the rain (or turn on the faucet)

(I'm in a funny/weird mood)

and if you want something else to do, to celebrate spring, go here! I love doing these swaps, it's so fun to put together a package for someone and to get new holiday decorations and goodies!

Hi Texas!

We had a wonderful visit with Jeff's family this past week. Jeff and I kept saying how sad it was that it took a death in the family to get everyone together again, but it sure has put life back in perspective. At the funeral, one of the speakers said something like, if there was no mourning in death, there'd be no love in life. I really like that. The more time I spend with Jeff's family, the more I love them. We had some very tender, special moments together.

We were planning on leaving the day Grandma passed away, but Grandpa asked us to help in the funeral so we decided to stay. I said the obituary and Jeff gave a wonderful talk about his Grandma; happy memories and things she taught him. It was a beautiful ceremony and there was not a dry eye in the full chapel.

We are back home now, we split up the 12 hour drive into 2 days this time and still I feel like I was hit by a bus. "did you see it? The bus that hit me?" My dad always used to say that... :) We've been recovering from the stomach flu or food poisoning, something awful and luckily now have our own beds to sleep in. I love hotels and all, but, ya know...

Now it's onto catch up: unpacking, laundry, cleaning, orders, dishes... a shower should be included in there somewhere and also we are hoping to get to playgroup tomorrow because Tyler has been begging me to take him to the park. "The big, big, big park."

Well, that's all for now. I have about 5 hours of American Idol DVR-ed, plus the Bachelor, Greys, Cold Case and a big soft bed waiting for me. I know, my life is so hard! :)

My Day in Numbers

1- The number of times Tyler pooped on the potty today. WAHOO!!

2- The number of pee pee accidents he had today. Both times at Target. Within about 20 minutes. Luckily we just decided to purchase a pack of SUPERS underwear, so I busted that package right open and put it to use :)

3- The number of fingers he holds up when ask him how old he is. But he says, "I almost two." We're working on that! (His 3rd B-day is coming up)

4- The number of steps Mr. Jackson walked to me today!

5- The number of times I watched someone fall while skiing in the olympics. OUCH!

6- The number of 3 year olds sitting at my table, playing with play doh and learning about the letter V!

7- The number of children I had in my home for 2 hours. Keeps me on my toes!

8- The hours of sleep I'm hoping to get tonight.

9- The number of Mint Milano cookies I ate for dessert.

10- The number that Tyler can count to (with a little help) Why is 8,9,10 the easiest?! Sometimes he says "1,3,5,4, 8,9,10. YaY!" But just today he said 1-10 all by himself!

Obviously, my day revolves around my kids and I LOVE it. I'm so lucky that I get to be a mom and that I also get to do what I love (making things!) after hours too. What a lucky little girl I am.

Friday Five

This has been a hard week, with both of my boys sick and running on very little sleep. Somehow the Lord always pours blessings upon us when we need them the most. Here are five beautiful things that happened this week:

1. My husband cleaned the kitchen. I walked in the house after an hour of errands; picked up the prescriptions and did some deliveries to see the kitchen was clean. I screamed! And then ran to give him a big hug. Tyler kept yelling: What happened?

2. I got to cuddle with Jackson a lot. Poor little guy has had an ear infection and bronchitis and feels miserable. He'd pick his head up to look at me and then slam his head down on my chest. Sometimes it would make me laugh and sometimes he'd hit me in the chin or face. That kid has a heavy head and strong neck! I'm getting off track... We cuddled a lot, it was nice.

3. Tyler "read" his first book to me. From start to finish! About 5 pages of 3 or 4 words each. And so I screamed again!! He was so proud of himself and I made him read it 3 more times. Once for daddy, once for the camera, and once just for fun.

4. My dear friend brought me dinner on the night I needed it the most. How did she know?!

5. In the midst of one of Jackson's crying episodes, Jeff gave him a beautiful blessing for comfort. He almost immediately calmed down and the boys played a game of monster while running around the house. I stepped into the other room to cry and say a silent prayer of thanks. I'm so thankful my husband honors the priesthood and that the Lord hears our prayers. I'm thankful for healthy kids who only get sick every once in awhile and its never life threatening or even all that serious. I'm grateful for all of my many blessings.

Why I'm excited for Tuesday

1. Because hopefully by then my cold will be gone.

2. Because that is the day I get on an airplane (and you know how much I love airplanes. Especially with kids. I get nauseous. I've had to use the barf bags. More than once.)

3. Because I will get to re-meet my brother-in-law who I have really only met twice. The first time I was really sick and he was strategically keeping his distance. The second time was the wedding and for some reason he was paying way more attention to my little sister than me.

4. Because I just bought this game and I am excited. I LOVE playing games with my family.

5. Because on Tuesday I will get to body slam my mom and dad, and of course, my little sister and new brother. Can't wait!!