Pirate Island

After the birthday party my brother and his family came to hang out for a few hours.  We all chatted and caught up on life.  I multi-tasked by also spending the whole visit cleaning my kitchen.  It was an utter disaster from making the cupcakes frantically earlier in the day.  I didn’t think that making cupcakes would take me over 2 hours but it did.  Lesson learned.  Start much, much earlier.  I have issues with thinking things won’t take me as long as they do.  That includes pretty much every aspect of my life ; )  Anyway, so for dinner we all went to Pirate Island.  We ate pizza, chatted and played arcade games.  I forgot to keep my camera for when we were playing so I don’t have any pictures from that but I have an AMAZINGLY fun picture of the kids at dinner.

I love this picture so much.  Max eating a hamburger while making a pirate face, Madi smiling, and Brian and Tyson making pirate faces. 

 

ARRRGH!  Thanks Grandma for our fun evening at Pirate Island!

Coming up next is our visit to the pediatrician for both kids.  Thank you Dr.’s office for scheduling my son’s 3 year and other son’s 2 month appointments at the same time!  I hate those small, tiny rooms they make you wait in.  Am I the only one that walks out of the appointments, sweating, with high blood pressure and swearing to just show up a half an hour late to make the waiting shorter? Well, at least I can kill two birds with one stone by only one visit.  I wonder what the Dr. has to say though about Tyson and how he is not potty trained.  Thank goodness I have a nice pediatrician who can humor me…

Birthday Weekend Part II

On Saturday morning Brian let Tyson open a present from us.  He was suppose to wait until his birthday party but he was too anxious, yeah, it was Brian that was too anxious!  When I woke up Brian had built Tyson a Thomas the train track that covered almost our entire living room floor.  I should have taken a picture.  It was impressive! 

 

Saturday afternoon we had Tyson’s birthday party!  It was of course a Thomas the Train party.  Tyson went with me to pick up the supplies on Monday and hadn’t stopped talking about it.  He was soooo excited for his Thomas party!  Here are some of the decorations.

 

Tyson getting sung to and eating his “Thomas” cupcake.  I’m so glad that he just accepted the cupcakes as “Thomas” ones.   I am no artist and those were the best I could do.

Here he is opening some of his presents!  He got some very thoughtful and awesome gifts.  He got 2 games, a sleeping bag, a play tent, a scooter, a Thomas the train flashlight, and a Thomas the Train backpack which included Play-dough and a surprise truck ; ) Thanks everyone!

 

(I was joking with my sister in law about how we always take pictures in front of this fireplace.  We live in a condo and so any party that we have we have at the clubhouse.  It is super nice.  So no, this is not our house and not our amazingly, beautiful fireplace.)

Happy Birthday Tyson!  We can’t believe you are already 3.  You’ve learned so much this past year and we look forward to helping you grow even more this year.  You say the funniest things now-a-days and you certainly keep us on our toes!  We love you Ty Ty. (I swore I would never use a nick name like that for you but I couldn’t help myself!)

Birthday Weekend Part I

Tyson had an awesome birthday weekend!  He turned 3 on Friday and got to have a special Skype session with Grandma and Grandpa Murray.  He was able to open one of their presents to him while Skyping.  It was really fun to see how excited he got to show them off the present and tell Grandpa to come play with the crane from the set with him.  Luckily, Grandpa does get to come play with the crane with him in less than 2 weeks!  Here are some pictures from the Skype call!

 

After the Skype call Tyson walked around and sang “Happy Birthday” to himself.  It went something like, “Happy Birthday Tyson, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.”  Not right but close enough!

Later that day after Brian got home from work we asked Tyson where he wanted to have his birthday dinner.  Well, as most kids would probably say he asked for McDonalds!

I have a super funny story about a little boy there.  While we were eating there was a boy that was probably 4 that had just showed up.  He walked right over to where you’re suppose to take your shoes off and pulled down his pants.  Yeah, it was hilarious.  I couldn’t stop laughing.  Right after he pulled them down he looked at the shoe cubbies and realized he was suppose to take his shoes off instead.  He just pulled those pants right back up, sat down and took the real article of clothing off that he was suppose to…his shoes.

Anyway, after McDonalds we went to Kangaroo Zoo.  Tyson also choose that.  He ran around like crazy and had a blast.  If you don’t know what Kangaroo Zoo is it is a huge warehouse where they have a ton of blow up slides, obstacle courses, etc.  He always loves it there.  

Going down the slide with Dad!

Okay, this picture makes me laugh so hard!  What an interesting and difficult way to climb up a ladder!!!

He made it!  Thankfully :)

 

Church, Smiles and General Conference

I’ll first start off with some not so wonderful things to say.  I normally like to keep my posts cheerful but this is something I have to write about.

It all has to do with our new church schedule. 

Our current ward split, which means I don’t get to see my friends from the Gables every Sunday.  If that isn’t bad enough, they changed us to a different building and the blocks are reversed.  That means it is Relief Society/Priesthood, Sunday School and THEN Sacrament meeting.  I thought it would be rough BUT rough is a complete understatement.  The first time to do this new schedule was last week.  So last Sunday started slow and I started to get ready for church at 10:30.  Well, Andrew started to get pretty fussy that morning which made it difficult to get ready.  Church started at 12:30 and I got there at 1:00.  Considering that I contemplated not going at all because of how getting ready was going I was pretty proud of that.  It was my first time getting me, Tyson and Andrew all ready for church by myself (because Brian is currently working on Sundays from 7 am to 6 pm).  Andrew ended up being an angel at church and slept the entire time in his car seat.  BUT because Tyson went to Nursery before Sacrament meeting he was totally and completely WIRED.  He was acting crazy and bad.  He was yelling out, throwing things into the air, standing on the bench and jumping off of it.  He has had his moments in church for sure but I don’t remember it being this bad for a long, long time.  If Andrew hadn’t been so great I would have left in the middle of a talk, crying and dragging a soon-to-be 3 year old behind me and we would have gone straight home.  However, I hung in there.  Brian’s mom gave me a bunch of new quiet toys to take to church.  I really think he’ll like what is in store.  Fingers crossed that next Sunday goes a little bit smoother. 

On Friday night we took our friends Joe, Heather and Dallin to the Blue Lemon.  Brian and Joe made a bet over the March Madness bracket and who ever lost had to buy the other family dinner.  Well, we had the pleasure of buying and I insisted on the Blue Lemon.  It is super yummy and I’m so glad we got to hang out.  Funny little story though.  We had just got our food and started to eat when a server came over with a plate of 4 cupcakes and 2 cookies.  She told us these treats were taken care of by someone.  We told her that she must have the wrong table.  She told us that it was from an Uncle and to look around.  Turns out Joe’s Uncle was eating across the way and bought us all dessert.  I thought that was so nice and Brian and I have never even met him.  I thought that was really cool!

On Friday night (April 1st!) Andrew slept for 8 hours straight.  I woke up confused but felt so rested.  I forgot what it was like to get un-interrupted sleep.  It was fantastic.  I am so glad he choose to be nice to me on April Fools day instead of playing a prank and waking up every few hours.  Love him!   He has also started to smile.  He does it when we talk to him in a high-pitched voice and smile really big.  These are the best pictures I could get of it.  It doesn’t last long and he has only done it a few times the last day or two!

 

This weekend was General Conference.  It is so nice to hear from our church leaders.  I loved Elder Scott’s talk about marriage and eternal family.  I think I cried through almost all of the talk.  I think it was amazing.  If you’re interested here is the link to the talk.  Start 12 minutes and 30 seconds in…

http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/04?lang=eng&vid=877215388001

  While Conference was on Tyson played with Play-Dough.  It kept him entertained and quiet for an entire 2+ hours.  Here he is making a mess and enjoying every minute of it!

I told him to smile and these are the faces he gave me.  Apparently he heard me say, “Make a happy, sad and than mad face.”  Silly boy!

And this is what Andrew did during Conference.  ; )  At least he has an excuse…

Tyson says some pretty funny things during the day and I just wanted to share a few that make me laugh.

**Anytime he wants gum he walks up to me and says, “What’s the deal…I keep it in my mouth.”  I started only giving him gum when he could repeat to me that he had to keep it in his mouth.  He has had a problem in the past of taking it out and it ending up in places around the house.  I would say “Okay, but what’s the deal?  You have to keep it in your mouth and if you take it out I won’t give you any again.”  Super cute and makes me smile every time.

**I love how he says Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.  He says, “Peaner Butter Sandwich.”

**Chocolate Chip Cookies comes out as “Chocolate Chips Cookie.”

Lazy days

It has been 6 weeks since Andrew was born.  Hard to believe.  He is growing at such a rapid pace now that I’m trying to take nice pictures of him at milestones so that I don’t forget what he looked like. 

The last week we’ve been pretty lazy.  I’m still trying to adjust to less sleep so it takes me half of the day to even get myself ready.  Andrew though has started sleeping 5 hour stretches at night which has helped me a lot.  After looking at blog entries from when Tyson was this age it looks like he did the same thing.  Wow, I’ve got some fantastic kids don’t I?  Andrew is a pretty content baby.  He doesn’t seem to have to be held as much as Tyson did.  He does get a little cranky right around when I have to start dinner which makes it a little difficult.  He is getting into a decent schedule which I am grateful for.  I tell you the best book I ever read for getting my babies on some sort of schedule is from Baby Wise.   Some think it is controversial but I don’t do everything it says in the book.  For example it says not to rock your baby to sleep.  I’m sorry but I just can’t help myself.  But I do follow the eat, awake time and then nap and it has saved my life.  Anyway, just my two cents.

Tyson just learned that he is going to see the real Thomas the Train and ride him in May.  He won’t stop talking about it now.  : )  He sure keeps me either laughing or crying during the day.  More laughing than crying though.  He can’t wait until it warms up more so he can play outside everyday.  He has started to use the phrase, “Shall we…”  It’s pretty hilarious.  He says things like, “Shall we go outside?”  “Shall we go to the train store?”  “Shall we watch Mickey?”  We aren’t quite sure where he learned that phrase but we think from one of his Thomas the Train DVDs.  He is a great big brother and tries to give Andrew his binky any time he cries.  He likes to try and make Andrew laugh by jumping right near him and falling to the ground.  I’m not sure why he thinks it is funny because Andrew doesn’t even smile yet (although it has to be coming soon.  He is making silly facial expressions all the time.) and he gets yelled at by me every time he does it.  Him jumping that close to Andrew pretty much gives me a heart attack every time.  He also likes to take the baby swing and try to send it to the moon.  I keep telling him that Andrew doesn’t like it because he is screaming but Tyson must think otherwise. 

I’m a little bummed because I just found out that Brian will be working on Mother’s Day.  Boo!  However, I did find out that my father is for sure coming to visit either the end of April or beginning of May!

As for me and Brian, we went on our first date last Saturday night.  It was a party thrown by some of the people Brian work with.  It was really fun and now I can put faces to the names he always talks about.  It was really nice to get out. Brian is doing well at his job.  He is still in and out of training.  Sometimes that means he gets Sundays off.  I sure love those weeks : )  I’ve been given the go to get back to exercising.  After 2 days of light exercise my legs are killing me!  Man, I’m totally out of shape.  However, I’m looking forward to moving my body again.  I’ve missed it.  We’re also eating better at our house now.  Not as many carbs, more vegetables, more water and no more snacking.  I’ve got 30 pounds to shed (at least!).  Hopefully the majority of that can come off by summer.

Here are some pictures of Andrew at 6 weeks.

Andrew taking his first bottle from Daddy at 5 weeks!

And here is Tyson giving Andrew his binky!

Yeah, my family is pretty great.  I’m so glad I get to keep them for eternity!

1 month old and baby blessing

So before I jump into talking all about Andrew I need to share some things about Tyson recently.

A couple of days ago Tyson pooped in the potty.  You would have thought that we had won a million dollars the way we were all jumping up and down screaming with excitement.  Well, that was short lived because he hasn’t done it since.  Oh well, it will come.  It has too, right?

Tyson is still in love with Thomas the train and I think even more so than before because Grandma Murray has been here to spoil him with buying him Thomas books, trains, and any other random toy that they have decided to turn into Thomas the train : )  He’s sure gonna miss her when she leaves tomorrow.  I’m down-right positive.

Lately he has been on this kick of telling us he has a secret.  It usually consists of telling us something like “green means go and red means stop.”  Yeah, that’s his secret.  Isn’t that cute?  He’s also starting to say prayers all by himself.  We’ll hear words like Jesus, thank you food, thank you Andrew, thank you church, thank you Thomas, thank you outside…etc.  It usually consists of whatever went on that day.  It’s so amazing to hear him utter his prayers.  Sometimes it makes me want to cry and laugh all at the same time because I’m so proud and also think it’s totally adorable and funny.  Here’s a recent picture of this ball of energy.

So, now onto Andrew.  A few days ago he turned 1 month old.  Seems like I just had him but it also feels like he’s been a part of our family for forever (and I guess he really has been a part of this family for forever but you know what I mean).  He has been sleeping great at night.  Daytime, not so much.  I’m just grateful I get a couple hours a time at night.  He’s so adorable.  He smiles and giggles in his sleep.  It will be so fun to see him smile for real at us : )  He’s so handsome.

Yesterday the 13th, we had his baby blessing.  It was a wonderful day.  I was so touched by the spirit during the blessing.  He is such a blessing to our family.  We love him so much already.  The whole getting pregnant, growing a baby and giving birth is such a miracle and it’s not something I take lightly.  The gift of life is miraculous.  I just hope I can be the kind of mother these children of God deserve.  He’s definitely something special around here.  Thank you family and friends who were able to share in that special day with us.  Here are some pictures. 

Great Grandma and Grandpa Dickson and Grandma Murray (right before this picture my sweet Grandma Dickson leaned over and gave Andrew a gentle kiss on his forehead.  Sweet moment I want to remember)

Great Grandma Asay, Grandma and Grandpa Carlsen

 

 

The best father to our two kids!

 

Too irresistible to kiss…