I can't think of a good enough title for this one...

In our home we don't like to do the cute big brother sweetly holding little brother pictures that everyone seems to cherish so much. No no no- we prefer the big brother to be screaming because little brother is screaming and is touching him, kind of photo.

Nemo Undies

I don't have a lot of time to be on here today so I'll make this quick! Yesterday all of the boys took showers/baths together. It's quite the fun little fiasco. This photo here is 2/3 the aftermath of the huge cleansing. Now there really is no crazy story to go along with this photo... I'm just going to give you the knowledge that Ayden is sitting on my pillow stark naked and as proud as can be! And I'm just thinking... Greeeaaaat, I don't have time to wash it. I hope he doesn't toot or wizz on it. haha. But I did find the time to run to get my camera. I even remember telling him not to move. Ethan of course was clean for about 5 minutes and then urped up part of his lunch. :)

After bath time Ayden didn't want to put his diaper on. So we let him try on some big boy undies that grandma sent for him. After we took them off and got him properly suited with a diaper, he insisted on carrying them around and throwing them at McKay. Suffice it to say, McKay got bored and put the undies on Ayden's head.
He was clearly not as thrilled as McKay was about the arrangement. And we couldn't stop laughing!

He's yelling in this photo if that wasn't already obvious. :) And yes we did take them off right after the picture... which is when he decided he wanted them back on his noggin.

For some reason the links to all these photos got deleted so I had to re-add them and rearrange things, so sorry if my story doesn't really fit with where the photos are. I tried my best. Darn computer just needs to stop eating my pictures!

North Park Pool

We're going to the water park today!! It's going to be great!

Boys Boys Boys

So I was browsing the internet last night while thinking of this blog and I wanted to find a picture of what the lady at the doctor's office did to Ayden. We just had another appointment for both boys this last week. Ayden's 2 year check-up and Ethan's 4 month one. They both had to get shots and boy do I ever hate it! It's not as bad as it was the first time with Ayden, because I know for sure now that they'll get over it and it is for their own good. I did get a little shocker this time around. The woman at the office that rolls around with all the needles and sticks all the babies with them decided to stick Ayden in a different spot than his thigh. She told me to lay Ayden across my lap- sort of like I'm going to swat his bum- and she gave him a shot on his hip! You'd think by now I'd be immune to little surprises like this, but I was not in any way prepared for that. So now that I had been properly shocked and had time to comfort Ayden- Ethan got poked a good 3 or 4 times. I am just SO glad I decided to have their appointments at the same time. But seriously- I was... just not as it was happening. :) The picture above that I have failed to talk about is Ethan's new thing to do. He wants to be carried all over the place. I mean who doesn't want that?! He only gets a short period of time that I can do this- so I'm not entirely

opposed to carting him all over in his carrier. As you can see he's got his little fingers in his mouth, this has also become his norm. I have to sometimes pull his entire fist out of his mouth just to feed him and the entire time I'm doing this, he's yelling at me and trying with all his might to shove the drool soaked fist back into his mouth. While I am carrying him though, he changed his routine to sticking his little tongue out and licking the carrier. Very cute little boy. He's also just barely begun to roll over. Its still quite a fight for him to get over his arm and he does get pretty frustrated, but its such a triumph for him and me to see him roll over! I love watching him develop! He watches me leave and cries out in frustration when I don't pay attention to him or leave a room without bringing him along. And of course we cannot forget about Ayden! He is such a smart little boy! And I know that everyone pretty much says that about their own child, but I'm hoping that if I say it enough

times it will actually come true. His new thing is to say "You scared me!" while clutching his heart whenever you surprise him. :) Of course it sounds more like "da sair me!" I'm glad that I have my English to toddler dictionary memorized in my head! Ayden has also seemingly graduated from coloring on paper to coloring on our tile floor...the walls... his brother... himself... and me when he gets a chance. He's just too good for paper these days. :) The doc said he's growing great! His head is still off the chart. He's actually tall for his age for the first time in his young life. I can only assume that based off his genetic pool that this will be most likely the last time he'll be tall for his age!

Cause for celebration

In my families little world- its the small things that deserve HUGE accolades! And in this case, Ethan is the big star. He slept 9 hours last night! Wait- let me rephrase... 9 straight hours! And I don't want to hear from you other parents that your 3 week old has been sleeping all night since he or she was born! Because that's just a freakin' lie or one very strange baby.

So- I have finally been able to sleep an entire night, which hasn't happened in nearly 16 weeks. I woke up this morning and realized I had slept the whole night and thought that Ethan was dead. Not joking. I ran in to check on him and he was totally zonked. What a beautiful start to an awesome day!

Timeout

It's been a slightly chilly day today, but I still felt it was nice enough for a walk, which I know has nothing to do with my Title- but we're getting there! Anyway- Mckay had all of our strollers in the car... so Ethan got to ride on my hip in a carrier and Ayden walked. Which is what I was planning on doing anyway with Ayden. We strolled around the neighborhood, picking flowers out of people's gardens, stepping on unsuspecting bugs, and jumping over every crack saying *Boink!* It was lots of fun. Ethan just sat and enjoyed the walk. By the time we got home he was asleep and Ayden was ready for a nap. Of course though- there is no way that the two boys can be asleep at the same time. Ethan woke up just as I was settling down to relax. Which is where this photo came from. He was swiftly set down to play with his toys so I could continue to rest a bit. Neither of us could complain. He had his toys and I had the wonderful, huge, soft, warm couch!

Now for the timeout business. Ayden doesn't get in trouble all that often, but lately he's developed this habit of hitting and throwing things at me. Which frankly I'm not too thrilled about. So... he gets timeout. As you can see above, he's terribly distraught when he's in timeout. I was trying to sneak a picture of him peeking his head out, but he saw the camera and put on a big fat grin. The photo below is more along the lines of what he does. Now! Before I get all these comments about how cruel I am putting my two year old in timeout like this... I need to explain that HE is the one that sticks his nose right into the corner like that and doesn't move! I just stick him over there and he takes care of the rest. It is incredibly hard to be mad at him when he's so cute. Once he hears me walk over to let him come out he'll turn around and quickly say 'saawree, saawree! Hug? Hug?' which is where he'll throw his arms out waiting for a big hug from me. Needless to say, he's got it all worked out already to get out of his sentence as fast as he can.

The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.

I will have to admit that this day was not as important to me when I was younger. Yes- I did love making the breakfast for my own Mommy, but I didn't really truly understand how much she deserved and still does deserve this day! So this post is my tribute to my mother, the most beautiful woman I know.

She has been a wonderful Mother, Leader, and most importantly a Friend. I wish I had learned the last one much sooner in my life. She has always been there when I needed her, whether I wanted her there or not. She has taught me so many wonderful things by example. How to practice patience when it seems impossible. How to care for children. How to, as it seemed to me when I was younger, do it all with a smile; when I am sure that some days she felt like breaking down. I took for granted the home cooked meals, that yes- actually tasted great! She was home when we came home, how amazing is that! I cannot even begin to fathom what she had to give up for us. She is such a beautiful woman and I know that being a Mommy has only enhanced this beauty. The scripture from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 reminds me greatly of what I see inside her heart.

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends;

That is my Mother! I sure hope that myself and my siblings were able to give my Mom what I hope are some beautiful memories in place of some of the things she may have missed out on while raising us.

Perhaps memories of tiny fingerprints on dishwashers. Eager little hands picking dandelions for her. Capturing bugs with bright big eyes. Leaning over to be held by her because she was the one we wanted. Reading bedtime stories to her in a language even a Mommy can barely understand! And then as we grew older- playing baseball games and soccer games and scoring a goal or actually hitting the ball in baseball... at least that was the case for me. Going to school for the very first time. Graduating. And for me getting married and having two beautiful little grandsons!

I wish I could speak more eloquently regarding my feelings of gratitude to my Mother. I did find a quote from a talk that I really like by President Thomas S. Monson, its from "Behold Thy Mother".

"Who can probe a mother’s love? Who can comprehend in its entirety the lofty role of a mother? With perfect trust in God, she walks, her hand in His, into the valley of the shadow of death, that you and I might come forth into light.

The holiest words my tongue can frame,

The noblest thoughts my soul can claim,

Unworthy are to praise the name More precious than all other.

An infant, when her love first came,

A man, I find it still the same,

Reverently I breathe her name,

The blessed name of mother."

It makes me so excited to think that I am eternally sealed to my Mom. I am so glad now that I've grown up (purely objective of course!) and gotten at least slightly smarter, that I have such a good friend that I didn't know I had.

Sunshine.... its like Ecstasy to me!

The beginning of this last week has been absolutely AmAzInG! I mostly credit this to awesome weather. Both boys seem to be in much more pleasant spirits when they get to go outside. This photo here was after we'd gone outside and it was time to relax indoors. Now when I say relax, it has a different meaning than the relax you're used to. This is not a veg on the couch, eat popcorn and watch movies until your brain melts relax... because in my world that would be asking WAAAY too much! My version of relax goes more like this: Getting my popcorn actually popped. Not sharing is out of the question, as soon as it hits the bowl Ayden is pretty much biting at my ankles. Saying "peese?", "more?", "nack?"(this means snack.), "peese?" So if I can manage to get to the couch without stepping on him. Then we're in good shape and of course...

I get to share. If for some outrageous reason, I don't feel like sharing, he'll put on a face like Puss in Boots from Shrek and look up at me and say in a very concerned and quiet voice, "mommys . . . mommys . . ." He wouldn't use this trick if it didn't work. So I share. This is my version of relaxed, don't forget. Once I'm actually to the couch and about to select my movie, I'll hear Ayden very excitedly screech- "Tooie! Horton! Nemo!" These are all movies or characters from movies he likes to watch. So much for my choice.... Tooie it is- again. Now we're all settled and laying down, which is just about the time Ethan decides he's hungry. :) It's so relaxing I can barely stand it! And back to the photos.... sometimes I put Ethan in this chair on relaxing days and both boys love it! You can see Ethan eating his sock hands in both photos- this means he's very excited. Ayden will talk to him like any other adult talks to a baby, his voice gets high

pitched and he'll say things like "Awww- Eeeten. Brudder. Eten." Which is when Ethan'll respond with a very excited squeal! He absolutely loves getting attention from Ayden. So far both boys are getting along- I figure I just need to wait until they actually have something worth fighting over. Right now Ethan could care less.

And now comes my Ecstasy!! The SUN! I don't know about you, but being outside puts me in such a fantastic mood! Especially when I can take into consideration how exhausted my kids will be from being outdoors. Not so much Ethan. But without a doubt Ayden will be tired. We had a private park and "yard" if you can call it that, which belongs to our little neighborhood of townhouses. So I took the boys out in the grass and we got to play. I read in the shade, while Ethan layed on the blanket with me, being very happily nakey. And yes I did keep his diaper on- that would just be weird if I didn't. haha While I read, Ayden ran around picking all the dandelions and bringing them to me. It was pretty cute I will admit. Pretty soon I had a mini bouquet of weeds and by the time Ayden noticed the collection he'd brought me, he ran over to destroy it. He ripped them to shreds and proudly threw them all over me. He's going to be such a romantic someday. *cough* Apparently we'll have to work on this when he gets older.

Along with finding dandelions to give me and then throw all over me, he also discovered what looked like a snail graveyard. There was about 6 to 8 empty shells. He stashed these in his yellow truck along with rocks, grass, mutilated dandelions and his shoes.

These next few photos are just fun pictures of him playing next to me.

He's no longer afraid of the grass like he used to be! As a matter of fact- by the time we were almost ready to go in, he was sitting on my back, picking the grass and laying it all over me. I went to bed later this night, under the assumption that I'd gotten all the grass off. . . and I woke up the next morning looking like I'd rolled in a freshly mowed lawn!

Like I said... Ecstasy.