Tyler Funnies and Teaching Moment

Today, while Tyler was playing with a Santa Claus Weeble (you know, those toys that have only a top half and it wobbles around the table), he asked me:

"Mom, does Santa have private parts?"

Tyler and Jackson were given a Power Wheels Jeep Truck that they can ride in and drive in the backyard. Tyler has gotten really good at it, and knows how to go forward and switch the gears to go backward and which direction to turn. "I told him, pretty soon you'll be ready to drive a real car."

He said, "no, not yet. I might crash into a police man. And then that would be bad. And then I'd be put in jail."

On the way back from Vegas (4 hour drive) Tyler was talking up a storm.

Ty: "We don't spit. Huh Mom, we don't spit. Can I spit on bugs?"

Me: "Um, no I don't know why you'd want to spit on bugs."

Ty:"But can I spit on them?"

Me: "I guess, if you really want to and we are outside"

Ty: "So can I spit on Roley Poleys?"

me (exhausted of this conversation) "Sure"

Ty: "But I don't want to! I like Roley Poleys."

Last week, one of my dear friends lost her baby at 18 weeks. It was a devastatingly sad day, and I was an emotional wreck after I heard the news. Tyler saw me crying and asked what was wrong. I told him that my friend's baby died. When he asked me why, I told him that the baby was sick and Heavenly Father needed her back in heaven. I told him it was a really good thing because heaven is so much better than earth.

A couple days later while I was saying a dinner prayer, Tyler said (during my prayer), "Mom don't forget to say, Thank you that we die."

I turned that sentence into, "Thank you for the plan of salvation, that we get to live on earth and then go back to heaven and live with you and Jesus."

I hope this was a good learning experience for him, I know I always have to be ready to explain basic concepts into something a 4 year old can comprehend.

Tyler funny

Yesterday I made soup for the boys- my famous Roman Noodles with Egg. So yum!

I moved the boys' booster chairs to the kitchen so they could eat in there instead of on the carpeted dining area. Tyler asked me why the heck I was doing that so I explained to him that it is hard to clean up messes on the carpet, but on the wood floor, it's easy to.

We got through lunch and I got many compliments to the chef. I pulled Tyler out of his seat and as I told him to wash his hands, Jackson dumped his entire tray on the ground, sending his bowl of soup flying.

As I grumbled and started cleaning it up, Tyler yelled happily, "is it easy mom? Is it easy?!"

Haha, that turned my frown upside-down!

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!

Rocket Launch!

In between Conference Sessions, we went to Celebration Park to launch the rocket I got for Jeff. (I did some of my shopping for him at Hobby Lobby and was absolutely tickled that I could shop for him while I shopped for fabric, art supplies and decorations--)

Here are the boys. Cute, cute!

Jack's classic look. I. am. so. not. going. to. smile. for. you. right. now. mom.

What could be cuter than this picture above?

This one. I just love my boys. Especially when one of them drops their drawers...

HA! In the middle of the park.

Whatever. I had to pee mom! (really he's yelling at me to take him to the park)

I love this picture. I should include the close up of me and Ty. I'm squinting my whole face wondering if I'm going to get my skin burned off and Tyler's holding his ears. (we must both have anxiety issues.)

And Jeff ran to get it!

April Fools!

I've seen recipes for these meatloaf cupcakes and have always wanted to try them. I decided April 1st would be the perfect time since Jeff's birthday is on Monday and we are already celebrating early this weekend. I brought them out before dinner, telling Jeff that Tyler's been wanting to sing to him all day. We sang and Jeff kept looking at me like I was crazy, I'm sure I had a goofy look on my face :)

He told me he was on a diet and cannot eat cupcakes for dinner, to that I was prepared (I knew he'd say that) and said it was a special wheat recipe and wouldn't be high in calories... He dipped his finger in the frosting and licked it... and then looked at me again... I started laughing and yelled "APRIL FOOLS!"

It was delicious! I used Grandma Clark's ground beef with sausage recipe, which is always good and with mashed potatoes on top, it was perfect! Plus, they only took about 25 mins to cook instead of over an hour.

Tyler ate his JUST like a cupcake, "frosting" first and the whole thing with his fingers. I'm glad I got to do something on this very weird holiday!

A funny conversation about Play-doh

"Wook Mom. Daddy boke it."

"Daddy broke your play-doh?" I asked and looked at the green glob of goo still in it's tub with a finger hole pocked in it.

"No, he just wanted to make a face... let's add another eye and a smile. Perfect!"

"Oh. YAY. You bixed it, mommy. Tanks."

"Yup, no prob buddy."

"I not buddy. I just Ty'yer."

"Oh that's right. Go show daddy your smiley face Tyler."

Tyler turned it upside down.

"Now it a bad 'miley face."

"You mean a frowny face?"

"No it bad cuz it hit baby and it on time out. Bad 'miley face."

Tyler is 3!!

All week, we've been working on the "how old are you?" conversation. Tyler would say, "I almost not 2, I almost 3!" and hold up 3 fingers.

On Thursday, preschool was at our house, so we had a little birthday party at the end!

The kids loved the blowers, and of course the cupcakes!

I died the batter and the frosting green, because GNEEN is Tyler's favorite. (Yes, gNeen)

On Friday night, we did cake and ice cream and had a few friends over for a last minute party.

Because Jackson's b-day is on New Year's Eve, we did poppers on his birthday. I guess Tyler thinks every party gets poppers, because he saw them at the store and said, "get this, my birthday" So, we went outside and popped poppers and instead of yelling Happy New Years, we yelled Happy Birthday! I guess this will be a family tradition of ours! :)

I loved watching Tyler's face as we sang to him his favorite song. He followed along with the words, "to YOU" and was just delighted when we sang, "to TYLER"

Don't you love his frog/monster/alligator "3" shirt?!

I had envisioned a beautiful dirt cake with a road for the cars and some grass... this is how it turned out... (I'm obviously no cake decorator!)

While no one was looking, Tyler decided to take a taste :)

Our college friend Neil just moved here to work with Jeff and he set up a projector for us to watch CARS on the big screen!!

We had a great day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER BOY!

But, Why?

Tyler's new thing lately is asking me why to just about everything.

I go to park?

Not today honey

But why?

Because you guys are sick and it's raining.

Why?

Because there are lots of clouds.

Why Mommy?

...Because Heavenly Father wanted it to rain today.

Why?

I don't know sweetie.

Oh.

If only I had known an "I don't know" answer would have stopped it from the beginning...

Tonight after I had tucked the boys into bed, as I walked out of the room, I whispered, "Good night, I love you"

I heard a quiet little "why?"

I only had to think for a second to come up with a ton of answers:

Because you are my babies.

Because Heavenly Father gave you to me.

Because you give me kisses.

Because you are as cute as your daddy.

Because I love being your mommy.

Tyler Funnies

Tyler's been sick this week with a horrible cough.

Everytime he'd cough, I'd look at him and say "I'm so sorry you're sick."

He'd say, "yeah, but it ok."

Later in the week when he'd cough, he'd say to me, "you sorry mommy? I so sick."

One day he told me he wanted some chocolate. I told him, "no, that will make your throat hurt"

He said, "No mommy, it will make me feel all better"

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A few days after Tyler and Jeff made cupcakes together, Tyler was licking the frosting of the last 2. I told him to eat what he wanted and then I would throw them away. (they were hard and stale) He said he wanted to make more cupcakes. (one of his favorite things to do/eat)

I told him, "Not today. Some-other day"

He asked me "when mother day?" I must have blurred some and mother together, cuz when I played it back in my head, it did sound like I said some Mother day. Funny!

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The last few days, I've been doing all I can to make him eat something. anything.

I've tried my dad's famous "Don't eat that!" and it really works. A little too well. Now when I really mean don't do...something, he looks at me with this silly grin and does exactly what I told him not to do.

Such as: "don't hit anyone with that. Be careful" --Brother gets conked in the head.

"Don't climb on the couch please." --Little monkey is on top of the couch in a second.

"Please don't yell anymore." --The noises get louder.

Now I've resorted to:

"Give me that stick or you're on timeout." -- here you go mommy.

"Did you know there are monsters on top of the couch?" --plop.

"Wow, Tyler I love that singing. It's so pretty. Can you go sing to Daddy?" --works like a charm.

and my all-time favorite:

"Tyler, don't eat those carrots. Daddy really wants them." --gone.

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Potty Training

Lightning McQueen, Wall-e, Woody, Buzz, Nemo and the Incredibles have agreed to help me in this quest to go diaperless.

This morning, Tyler peed in the toilet right after he woke up and about 4 times after that! He wore underwear for about 4 hours, until he had 2 accidents back to back and I decided that was great for day 1. Tyler explored all the different ways there are to pee in the toilet (standing up, sitting down, sitting sideways, squatting down, on the toddler seat, not on the toddler seat...) and my poor toilet needs a really good scrub down. As well as the hall carpet and the carpet around the toilet (oh how I hate carpeted bathrooms, what the heck, who thought of that?!)

Anyway, I am very grateful for my many Disney friends who allowed us to make this experience more enjoyable and I really apologize Mr. Incredible that Tyler peed on your face. He felt bad too. I watched him do it and he really didn't mean to. He was trying to get to the toilet and then sadly said, "Oh no, I go pee pee on increbible!"

oh, p.s. If any of you have ever potty trained a boy, I'd love some tips. I really don't know what I'm doing!!

Pinocchio Funnies (brought to you by Tyler)

The other day during "movie time" (the part of the day where I am too tired to talk, entertain or play) I asked Tyler what movie he wanted to watch. He said "NoNoNo" and smiled excitedly. After explaining to him that he indeed needed to pick a movie or else I would pick one for him, he explained to me that NoNoNo is how he says Pinocchio. Oh, got it. That is a hard word to say.

He then turned very sad as he looked at the cover and said, "Oh no! where his eyebrow?" I laughed and showed him that if I cover my eyebrow with my hair, it looks like it's not there, but it really is. I moved my hair over again, and he yelled, "Yay!" :) Silly boy. I usually clean my room while he watches movies on my bed. I was putting clothes away when he yelled, "Look Mommy! Santa!" I looked over at the tv to see Gepetto, in a red nightcap and white hair.