My Little Monsters

My mom found these adorable monster outfits for the boys.

My friend Meka made these cute hats for them.

We are getting excited about Halloween this week. Can't wait to show ya pictures!

New Additions to our Family

We are pleased to present:

"Bubbles" the Yellow Tang

"Dragon" the Dragon Wrass

"Pine" the Poisonous Sea Urchin

"Nebulous" the Crab

2 Snails: "Lois & Clark" {you can see one in between Jacksy's hands}

The boys LOVE the tank and the fish. This is Jackson's face the whole time he is watching. Mouth open, eyes big! Tyler talks to them and tells them their names,

"Hi Yeyow Bish. Name, Bubbles!"

My surprise!!

My friend told me about how she put a little note in her husband's lunch that said, "If you bring me home a surprise, I'll give you one!"

I thought that sounded fun!!

So I tried it... this is what I got:

I have been wanting a cute kitchen plant for a long time (though I don't remember telling Jeff that!) and it looks perfect next to the cute recipe book my sis made for me awhile ago.

**Now, I just have to figure out what surprise to give him!**

p.s. many thanks to Jeni for helping me figure out how to make my photos bigger. See how it comes all the way across as far as the text?! Let me know if you want to learn how and I'll share the secret! UPDATE: My sister Melonie who is a web designer explains it in my comments. Thanks to all the smart people around here!

Halloween from the Past

...just looking through old pictures and got so excited for Halloween!!

I guess we never took pictures of Halloween before we had kids, so much cuter with a little skunk or dragon to hold!

I just learned how to use Picasa's collages. I haven't had anything to edit photos, I will use this site now!

Who's Game?

Last Sunday I was released as second counselor in Young Women. I already miss it, as I love the girls and the routine I had with the presidency. One of the things I will miss the most is our weekly meetings where we did way more than plan activities and upcoming events. We were spiritually fed by each other! I was thinking how wonderful it would be to get a small group together and rotate through a spiritual message and talk about our thoughts and testimonies. Anyone up for that? We wouldn't have to do it weekly, even once a month would be fine. I've learned that one of the greatest ways I learn is through others. We could bring snacks and just talk-- Let me know if you want to and we can get a group together!!

just a little updatey...

I went to the general surgeon yesterday and he gave me good news. Mr. Hernia is very small and I'll probably eventually have to have surgery but it can wait. Also, when I do have it, they can do a laparoscopic repair, so it will be a week recovery instead of 4. So that is good news!!

JACKSON is doing great. He is a tank at 19 lbs and feels heavier than Tyler. (probably how I got the hernia!) He's working on his 5th tooth this week and gets fussy often, but still the most easy going child I've ever seen! He squeals in delight when daddy comes home, which just melts my heart!

TYLER has been great this week. Less temper tantrums (I'm knocking on wood) and happy. I think it is directly related to how much sleep he gets and both the boys have been sleeping until 8 and taking long naps. Thank goodness! I feel a growth spurt coming on for both of them.

With the cold weather this week, I put some of Tyler's pants on and they came up to his shins! So, he's grown since last year... that's good :) He still fits in the waist, that little skinny binny, but much much taller.

When Jackson wakes up from his morning nap, we are so happy to see him, we jump in bed with him! (By we, I mean Tyler, of course). They play and laugh for a good 1/2 hour. I love it! They really play well together. Having them so close together is starting to pay off :)

A very weird day...

...should always be followed by a tub of ice cream.

Weird day item #1: I went to a breast surgeon today who told me I won't have to have surgery on my boob (yay!) but I will have to have surgery on my hernia. (my what?) I didn't know I had a hernia. But it might explain why I have a little bulge and some tenderness around my belly button. I really thought this was just healing from the c-section!

Weird day item #2: For about 20 minutes, there was both a tortoise AND a hare in my backyard. I kid you not. Last night Jeff brought home a turtle from work. (on the way home, he saw it in the road and debated whether to run it over or bring it home. What a guy. He chose the latter.) We haven't seen a bunny for a couple of months, I love how he chose the same day that we have a turtle in a tub to come!

Weird day item #3: I electrocuted myself in the fish tank! I stuck my hand in to grab a floating string of algae and the top of my arm touched the lights on the lid and it shocked me!! I screamed and haven't touched it since. My forearm still feels weird! Jeff will be on fish out the trash duty from now on.

What a weird day!! Once I get Tyler in bed, I have a date with the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Six very Random things about my Saturday! NOT in random order...

1. I went to Target today to let Tyler pick out his new toy for having NO MORE BINKY!! He stood next to the toy animals for about 15 minutes and went uh, uh, um.... um..... shark. no alligator. no shark. whale. We walked around the store with the whale until he said, "no whale. alligator." We switched.

2. While we were there I got 9 $1 plants. I'm trying to become a good gardener. I'll start simple.

3. I made my mom's famous home made pizza while Jeff watched Nebraska football. So good! But somehow always better when she makes it. Maybe cuz that means we are together. I think yes.

4. I couldn't get Tyler to take a nap but I HAD to crawl in bed (headache). He slept on top of me in my bed. I'm pretty sure we both had our mouths open the whole time. Nice nap.

5. Jackson enjoyed the homemade pizza and had no complaints. He's very easy to please.

6. Tyler changes his mind about his alligator friend and wants the shark that he's been talking about all week. Oh boy. Jeff is a nice daddy and takes him back to target while I write this post and put Jackson to bed.

Happy Fall Ya'll

It feels like fall here. I love this time of year. School started, it's cooling down, the anticipation of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas coming soon gives me the giggles. A stroll down the decoration isles has me grinning from ear to ear. Holidays remind me of family and friends, the greatest gift I have in this life!

Here's what I've been thinking about. All my extended family and friends are stretched across the U.S. I have new Texas friends, BYU-I friends, summer sales friends and long time high school friends residing all over the states. Wouldn't it be nice to all unite together and do something for one another?

How fun would it be to do a fall gift exchange? Well, I decided it would be SUPER fun, so I'm hosting it on my kirstikoo blog. I hope you will join in on the fun. Each person who participates will receive a fun fall decoration, craft, treat, SURPRISE! in return! Click on the fall swap button for details!

Saturday Six

I missed Friday Five yesterday (and about a gazillion times) so I thought I'd talk about 6 highlights for the week:

• Jeff had labor day off! It was so amazing to spend the day together. We got some errands done, ate at Cheddars (yummy and inexpensive), and took naps. It was great. Go labor! (I kept saying we were celebrating my labor, as in Jackson's birth. I really don't know what labor day is for. Is this something that no one knows, or am I just stupid?)
• Tyler learned all about the letter B in preschool this week. On Tuesday, he glued beans to the letter B and Thursday he learned about bugs and brought home a butterfly and a caterpillar created by him. On the way home, he saw a dead lizard with ants all over it. He was so excited, he stood there screaming on the sidewalk for a good 4 minutes. I was so happy he was able to see so many bugs on letter B day!!

• Jackson got tooth #3 this week. Yay for that. He has been chewing on everything. His number 1 fav: a toothbrush. Smart.
• Today I had a surprise party for a new beehive (12-13 year old girls at church). We had a princess party with pink pancakes and we decorated crowns. I love these girls. They are so amazing and so fun to be around!

• Do you love my birthday banner? A fun new etsy purchase!
• I got some packages from my mom! She went shopping at the school supply store and got me all kinds of preschool stuff like color and shape posters, alphabet idea books, colored bean bags, board books, stickers and craft supplies. She also sent some old disney videos (which Tyler is enjoying as I type!) and some sugar love!! (have you ever had chocolate covered cinnamon bears? Can you say delicious?!) Thanks Momma Shauna Nauna!
• We've decided to start up our fish tank again. Do you remember what it used to look like? here and here. And even better right before we moved in February. Gorgeous at one point. And then we moved and lost everything. Nemo #2, 2 chromis- our starters, the four line wrass, and the shrimp aka: bug. Our water went bad, rocks grew moss and it's been one of those things you know is going to take a lot of time, so we've been ignoring it. We even considered getting rid of it at one point. BUT, I rearranged our front room (yes, Lanie, we did it!) and I can't wait for it to look gorgeous again. Wish us luck!!

Tyler Talk

Phrases that you will hear my 2 and a half year old say (over and over) if you came to our house:

"Mommy, Mommy! ...Mommy, MOM!... Tursti!"

Don't think I'm ignoring him. This is happening over a 5 second span. He just started learning that we all have names. The other day, he looked at me and said, "Ty'yer, MY name" and pointed to himself.

"Goway, YeavemeYone!"

This one made me laugh the first time, but now it just plain hurts my feelings. I tried to figure out where he picked this up, until one day we were outside and the mosquitos were everywhere. He yelled it at them and then I realized that's what I say everytime there is a fly by me. I've since then explained to him that we do not say go away, leave me alone to dads, moms or baby brothers. Only to bugs.

"Yeyow dinky, me!"

This means give me my yellow binky now. (aka a melt-down is about to happen.) I go back and forth everyday about whether I should take his binky away or not. Kids have security blankets or dolls or stuffed animals. He has his binky. I feel like it might be the same philosophy as potty training, keep working on it but it'll happen when he's ready? I hope so.

"Yast one!"

This will be explained in tomorrow's post when I talk about our night time routine. Though I think you can imagine what it means and when it's said...

For now, Good Night!!

Dear Tyler,

Today while you ate dinner, I took a bath all by myself. Nobody splashed me and I got to crawl around and play with whatever I wanted to. Oh and when I got out, I peed on mommy's leg. Yeah, I thought you'd think that was pretty funny.

Love,
your little bro,
Jackson

p.s. I played with your alligators. HAHAHAHa

My sicklings

This is what my little sickos look like today (snot and all!)

I hate missing church, but I decided that instead of feeling guilty and flaky, I should enjoy the day with my family and I did.

I spent the day:

Cuddling all three of my cuties,

taking a few naps (Jeff and I took turns and even got a few minutes suggled up together),

eating some comfort food like chicken noodle soup and scrambled eggs,

bathing with soothing vapor body wash to try to deplug those noses,

and watching bits of movies including Godzilla (appropriate for the Sabath, I might add), Elmo, Darby O'Gil, Third Man on the Mountain and Planet Earth.

Oh, I love my family!

Jack Jack

Eight months old:

Loves to crawl and pull himself up on everything

Loves his brother

Loves to eat

Loves his mommy's kisses

Loves to play with daddy

Loves to take baths

Loves to blow bubbles

I LOVE my JackJack!

First day of Preschool!

My little Ty went to preschool today! A few of my friends are doing a rotating joyschool, and today was our first day! I was so excited.

Here's Tyler holding onto his lunch. He did not want to let that thing go.

I made an ABC chart for the kids and Tyler loved pointing out all the pictures.

Here they are finger painting the letter A coloring page!

They learned all about the letter A and alligators- what they eat, where they live and if they have eyelids or not (though he hasn't told me the answer to that yet- I'm gonna have to look it up!) They crawled like alligators on the floor and chomped up their food, finger painted the letter A and made alligator visors. How fun! I wanna go to preschool!