Okay fine... I'll post something, but I'm warning you that it's a LONG ONE!

Okay- so it's been a while. But come on people! It's Christmas! We had such a great time the last couple of weeks- it's hard to come back to reality and much to my kid's disappointment- bedtimes made a big comeback. This December was a lot of fun- Ty is old enough to understand some of the finer points of the holiday season and we had fun putting together a Christmas chain.

We also got a chance to go and visit Temple Square down in Salt Lake. It was pretty cold and it snowed the whole time- but it was a lot of fun to go and see it again. Growing up in Salt Lake- I think that I took having the temple so close for granted, and especially the lights around Christmas time- they are gorgeous!! This was Ty's first time down at Temple Square and he was in awe. He couldn't believe all the lights and thought the Nativity was pretty cool. But I think my favorite part was when we took Ty into the visitor's center and took him upstairs to see the big statue of Christ. I took Ty's hand and we stood right up underneath him, and as I was whispering into his ear a few things about Christ and Christmas- I couldn't help but notice that we were surrounded by six or seven other parents with their own kids, saying similar things. And I was almost struck dumb. It just hit me- we, as parents, have such a huge responsibility in this life. We are entrusted with this little souls, and we are given the charge to bring them up righteously... and look at everything that they need to be taught to be able to cope with the world around them. It was so overwhelming that I just burst into tears. Why in the world would Heavenly Father trust Shaun and I to do this? We're just a couple of idiots- how are we going to be able to teach Ty and Ryan all that they need to know?! The more I thought about this- the happier I was that we both have great parents and siblings that will help with this teaching process, as well as teachers from Church and friends. Anyway- it was my "AH-HA" moment for the season.

We spent Christmas at my parents house. It was so nice- Dave and Nat flew in from Minnesota for two weeks and Mark and Melissa spent Christmas Eve at the house too... It was so strange to have everyone there- but it was so much fun. My parents were both so sweet to allow Shaun and I to introduce a few family traditions of our own to Ty and Ryan in conjunction with what we had always done as a family. Shaun is a big believer that Christmas has become too commercialized and in an effort to make sure that our children understand why we have Christmas, we wanted to read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve as a family.

We also got to leave out milk and cookies for Santa- which Ty loved! On Christmas morning- that was the first thing he checked. Ty had left two Oreos out for Santa (which from what I can remember growing up- are his FAVORITE!), and Santa ate one and only took a bite out of the other. Ty was just in awe- it was like proof that the big guy had been there. Santa left a bike for Ty and a drum for Ryan.

Shaun unfortunately had to go home the day after Christmas because he had basketball practice- but Ty, Ryan and I took advantage of my parents hospitality for a few more days. It's just so nice to have extra arms to help and more people to help entertain. Ty became my dad's little shadow- in fact Grandpa had to chase Ty out of the bathroom a couple of times, telling him that there are just somethings that Grandpas like to do alone- and peeing is one of them. I'm not sure the message sunk in though- Ty just kept trying to break into the bathroom. I think Grandpa had fun though- he took Ty outside to build a snowfort on the front lawn- it was pretty big. I'm not sure Grandma was too impressed that they used one of her comforters as a roof... but she didn't complain too loudly.

Ryan stayed inside most of the time, it was a little cold and he was a little irritated. Not only did he get a new drum and rattle for Christmas- but the poor little guy also got two new teeth. I don't think he was all that excited about them and Ty found out first hand how sharp little teeth can be. Ty didn't believe me that his little brother had teeth- so he stuck his finger in Ryan's mouth and (obviously) got chewed on.

I also got the chance on Sunday to go down with my grandparents to Nephi to visit my great-aunt Carol and her family. I haven't been down to Nephi for years and it was so much fun to see everyone again. My grandma grew up in Mona (near Nephi) where her parents owned a small ranch. Growing up, we spent a lot of time down there. It has since been sold and is now a home for boys that are working on becoming better members of the community. The old barn is gone and so are the corrals... It was so strange to see. There have been some changes made to the old ranch house too- you can still see the original structure- but it was still a little heart wrenching to see so many childhood memories gone.

On Monday (okay, so my "few days" that I spent with my parents turned into a week. So sue me.), I took Ty to the mall so that he could spend his "Build a Bear" gift certificate that he got from grandma Janet. Now, this is a business that I wish I had thought up first. It's so silly that it's brilliant! Ty wandered through the animals making sure that he got to pick out the best one. He saw the green dinosaur in the corner- and it was love at first roar. The guy helping us was so sweet- he let Ty push the button that filled the dino full of fluff. Ty was in heaven. He was so impressed with the "roar" that the first thing he did when he got home was shove it in Ryan's face. Ryan didn't think it was such a great thing and burst into tears. Ty kept telling him that it was okay and then tried to get him to push the button. It was so funny!

In all- it was a crazy week- as evidenced by this last picture. It was about seven at night and my dad and I walked in to find Ty, Ryan and my mom sound asleep on her bed.

We were also lucky enough to be visited by Shaun's parents a few days later. They came down for a second Christmas and they wanted to see Shaun's game. I have to admit- he's pretty impressive in action. Granted the Varisty keeps taking away his best players, but he keeps plugging along. They almost won on Saturday. Almost.
In all it was a fantatic Christmas and Christmas season. I am so grateful for both my parents and for Shaun's parents (who gave us half a cow for Christmas- it may sound silly- but the meat is sooo good and it's awesome to have meat ready to go in the freezer all the time), who love us and treat us so well. We are so lucky and have been so blessed. My mom took the time on Christmas morning to read a letter from their Stake Presidency. In it was a quote from one of the inmates at the prison, who said that when we look at what we have we are rich, but when we look at what we don't have we will always be poor. I hope this is a message that we can all keep with us in our hearts as we start into this new year.

Best Christmas EVER!

Tuesday night we went over to the elementary school where Shaun teaches to watch their Christmas program. It was kind of fun- each grade got up and sang a couple of songs and jingled some bells. We had front row seats since Shaun was helping out with some of the stuff up on stage. Ty was absolutely transfixed. He loved the Santa's and the reindeer and the jingle bells. Though when the 4th graders went up and sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," he turned to me and said:

"Santa Claus is coming to town? That can't be right Mamma."
"Really? Why not?"
"Because Santa lives at the North Pole!!"

I guess he's right.

Ty has been so much fun this Christmas season- he's starting to grasp somethings and others remain over his head. We tried to explain the real meaning behind Christmas and we pulled out the Nativity and showed him the baby Jesus and the Wisemen... but I think it was kind of lost in translation. We kept saying that Christmas was the day that we celebrated Jesus' birthday... and he just kept arguing with us saying that it was dad's birthday (Shaun turned XX earlier this month and apparently you can only have one birthday per month). Maybe it's just going to have to be a work in progress. That said however, he LOVED decorating the tree. And once it was all finished, we turned off the living room lights and looked at the tree all lit up- he ran and jumped into Shaun's lap and said, "This is going to be the best Christmas EVER!" I have to laugh- don't you have to be claymation to say something like that? It's been fun though and even though Christmas isn't even here yet- I'm already sad that it will be over in a few weeks. There is just something that is so incredible about this time of year. It's about family and about Christ and unfortunately it just isn't a feeling that you can really recreate throughout the rest of the year. Maybe that's why it means so much to me.

What's in a HooHoo? Everything.

Ty has been a blankie kid since he was old enough to be able to hold onto something. But he had to have a blanket with a tag. His most favorite thing to do is put his index finger through the tag and rub it with his thumb- funnily enough- if he couldn't find a "taggie" on his blanket- he would dig around in his shirt or the back of his pants to see if he could find a silky tag there for him to rub. My mom made Ty a couple of blankets for him when he turned 2, and each of them had little tags on the corners and while he drags those just about everywhere with him... his favorite thing in the whole world is his "Baby HooHoo." Just what is a baby hoohoo you ask... A small yellow blanket with a tag. He will not sleep without it. We cannot go on long car rides without it. He cannot watch a movie without it. Sometimes I wonder if this little hoohoo will end up on his mission with him... Maybe he can hide it in his pillowcase.

A few weeks ago we were down at my mom's house and we spent the night. I had no idea where the yellow baby hoohoo had ended up in the mess of activity that day. I knew that it had made it to Grandma's, but I wans't sure where it had landed. My mom had attempted to re-create the baby hoohoo months before, by buying an exact replica of the yellow blanket- except that it was green. Exact same. I must stress this. Anyway- I went to put Ty to bed and because I couldn't find the yellow blanket- I turned out the lights and threw him the green one. I figured this was pure genius since it was dark... he would not be able to tell the difference and we could all go to sleep without tearing the house apart looking for the original.

It lasted ten minutes.

A little voice calls out into the night, "Mamma! You brought me the wrong hoohoo! This is the green one!" Now how in the crap did he know it was green!? It's dark people!!! The closest I can figure is that it smells different somehow. I sheepishly walked into his bedroom and tried to explain to him that I didn't know where the yellow one was and could he please just try and sleep with the green one for the night. He (naturally) shook his head in the negative, but jumped up and walked into the living room where he promptly found the yellow one. He had hidden it behind a chair.

A Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving this year up in Declo with Shaun's family. It was so much fun to see everyone. A year ago, Shaun and his two brothers (and their wives) all lived in Boise. Since then, we have moved to our little part of Idaho and Shaun's brother Chase and his wife Dani have moved to Memphis, Tennasee for his job. Hopefully we'll be able to get them closer as he advances up the ladder- but we just don't get to see them very often anymore. So it was so fun to have everyone together. It was so nice to look around the table and see everyone- it really reminded me of how thankful I am for everything that we have. Shaun and I have been so blessed (yes people- it's one of THOSE posts), and it really came full circle this year. I don't know if it's just that time of year or what, but I have been feeling really nostalgic lately and have been looking backwards at everything that we have done or been through. And I have to tell you- I'm impressed. I can't tell you all how proud I am of Shaun and all that he has accomplished through the years. I am proud of myself for finishing school and attempting to be super-mom. And I love where we are now- I love our little town and our little boys. Sometimes it terrifies me because we are so happy. I feel like the Grinch sometimes, at the end of the movie where his heart grows three sizes. I am so thankful and my heart is so full. Thank-you to everyone that has been a part of our history and I lift my figurative glass in a toast to the future.

Cute picture of Ryan

Our evenings are pretty low key around here- I took this the other night when we were just kind of hanging out. Ryan is getting so big that I can't believe it! He turns 5 months in December and for someone that had such a rough start- he sure has turned it around!

Oh Christmas Tree...

There is the slightest chance that I am a Chrsitmas freak. I put up

our tree the weekend before my birthday (which for those of you that don't remember is in the middle of November). We have a fake one that Ty and I drug up the stairs and put up in the living room. Ty was suitably distressed when he learned that we weren't going to decorate it yet, or put presents underneath it. I told him that we could only push dad so far (Dad isn't a huge fan of any holiday- so we have to be a little carefuly of overdoing it most years). Ty was really put out though- and so using the only things that he had available to him- he decorated the bottom half of our tree with Ryan's toys (he wouldn't dream of using his own- if he did that he wouldn't be able to play with them). My favorite was the branch with Ryan's Soothie. Ty was so excited.

Cereal

We introduced Ryan to Rice Cereal this month. I don't think he was overly impressed, but I am. He's a really good eater with a spoon! It took Ty a long time to figure out what to do with a mouthful of food. But our newest little guy (the one with the eight chins) loves it!

Change messes things up.

The other week my mom had Ty for a few days and while he was gone I pulled out the paint cans and the cleaning supplies. I cleaned my house (which it really needed) and taped off and painted some stripes in Ty's room. I am so thankful for the Christmas present we got from Chase and Dani (Shaun's brother and sister in law) last year- a laser level! For those of you who don't have one- I suggest you run right out and buy one. We have used ours for so many things. Anyway- I couldn't have done the stripes without it. It took forever, but I was really pleased with the final product. I have a hard time hanging things on his wall because the reality is that Ty will probably just knock it down with a ball anyway- so this way his room isn't totally boring and he can't hurt it. When Ty got home I asked him what he thought. He slowly turned around and looked at the stripes. Then he turned to me and said, "I don't like it."

"WHAT?! Why don't you like it?"

"You changed my room."

"Well, yeah... what's wrong with change sometimes?"

"Change just messes things up Mama. Can you cover it up?"

Well- I did NOT cover it up. I told him that sometimes things change and you just have to roll with it. I don't think I have him convinced- though yesterday he told me that maybe the red stripe could stay- since it was for the "Utes." I did think that it was interesting how he chose to tell me why he didn't like the stripes though. Change does mess things up. And I'm impressed that my three year old had the wherewithall to distinguish just what it was about change that bugged him.

I should tape these quotes to my forehead... Do you think then I would remember??

My dad loves to get quotes from the Church website and then forwards any that he thinks are applicable to the rest of the family. Since Shaun and I are the only ones with kids- we got the following in our email inbox today.

Elder Robert D. Hales said: 'If the example we have received from our parents was not good, it is our responsibility to break the cycle. . . . Each person can learn a better way and in so doing bless the lives of family members now and teach correct traditions for the generations that follow' ("How Will Our Children Remember Us?" Ensign, Nov. 1993, 10).

"Remember, 'the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children' ("The Family: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102).

Eternal families are made up of individuals. 'Do your part to build a happy home' (For the Strength of Youth, 10).

Establish patterns of righteousness in your life. And be an example of the believers. The Lord is depending on you to assist in the exaltation of your eternal family." Mary N. Cook

I will be the first to admit that there are days that I struggle and I would just as soon put my kids on eBay than fix them lunch or listen to anymore tears. But I am trying my best to set a good example for my little boys and to make sure that their childhood is a good one; one that leaves them with positive impressions and memories. Sometimes I feel like I succeed. And others... I just pray for more patience!!

Thoughts in the upcoming "Holy War"

The Sun is Up...

We have a strict rule at our house. Ty has to wait until the sun comes up before he can get out of bed. We tried a clock in his room- but that didn't work- he just ignored it. So- we went with the sunrise thing. However- this morning- Ty showed up next to our bed at six and asked me what kind of dinosaur I was going to be this morning.

Huh?

I should back the boat up for a minute... The last couple of days Ty has been a little bit obsessed with dinosaurs- and he constantly wants to play like we are dinosaurs doing different things. Originally- I went with the more traditional dinosaurs- stegasaurous, triceratops, brontosauraus- but that got boring because I can only name like four different types of dinosaurs and Ty always wants to be the T-Rex. So I started making up dinosaurs. Yesterday I was a Tickle-asaurus and the day before that I was a Kiss-asaurus. So- this morning at six- Ty wants to know what kind of dinosaur I am going to be today. Still though- it's a little early to put together a clever name of a made up dinosaur that I have to play for the rest of the day.

So I told Ty (after looking at the clock) that he needed to go back to bed for a little bit and wait for the sun to come up. He looked at me very seriously and said, "The sun is up Mama." I told him that I can see out my window that it was still dark outside. "Well... the sun is up somewhere Mama." How do you argue with that? Somewhere the sun was up and so that gave Ty all the justification that he needed to be out of bed and playing dinosaurs.

Tiggers or Tylers?

We love Winnie the Pooh at our house and rarely a day goes by that we don't watch the "Super Sleuths" or one of the Pooh movies. That said- it is apparently having a little bit of an influence in what Ty does and says. For the past two days- he has been "bouncing" around the house. I've got to hand it to the kid- I tried bouncing with him- and frankly- I only made it down the hall. Yesterday- dad had a late basketball game, so it was just me and the boys for the evening and we were making dinner for a sister in the ward that just had knee surgery. Ty had helped me make dessert and I asked him to put a chocolate covered spatula in the sink. He walked over to the sink and peered over the edge. I had dirty dishes stacked in one side, and bottles soaking in hot soapy water in the other. Ty immediately put the chocolatey spatula in with Ryan's bottles and started stirring them around... which resulted in chocolate all over the bottles. Not a huge deal I know- but I was tired. So when I saw what he was doing- I spoke a little sharply- and this was the conversation that followed:

"Tyler! What are you doing?!"
"Huh?"
"You got chocolate all over Ryan's bottles... Oh what a mess! Why did you make a mess?"
"That's what Tyler's do best."

How do you argue with that? I burst out laughing and gave him a hug. I asked him if he knew what Mama's did best. He shrugged his shoulders and I told him that we give the best loves. He looked at me for a second and said "You're right Mama- you do give the best loves. But so does Dad. And so does Ryan."

There's a chance that Heavenly Father gives us days like this so that on other days we don't kill them.

Thank-you Grandma Janet

Look at this face! He has like eight chins! This week has been such a blessing to me. My parents came up last weekend (they wanted to see the boys on Halloween) and my mom insisted on taking Ty home with them for a few days- which they did. And it is something for which I will be eternally grateful. When Ty was born- Shaun and I were able to sit with him and and laugh and play all the time because there wasn't anything else to do. With Ryan- because things are so busy with the house and with his older brother- he doesn't often get that same one on one that his brother enjoyed for three years. But that changed this week. Ryan got to be an only child for five days- and I think that everybody ate it up. Ty was having a blast with grandma and grandpa and I got to snuggle all day with my baby. When Shaun got home he would sit and play with him. We got to hear his first real barrel-roll of a laugh (he has giggled before- but nothing like this), he is almost rolling over and he LOVES to sit and splash in the tub. It's not like we hadn't noticed or done these things before- but it was also really nice to just sit back and relax. It was really nice and I am so happy that my mom cared enough to allow this to happen for our family. THANKS GRANDMA JANET!!

A Soapbox

I want to first apologize to those of you out there that read this blog for the explicit reason of seeing how cute our kids are. This is a family blog. But I'm frustrated and I don't really have any other outlet in which to vent. So this make me feel better- but if you all want to skip over this post- I'm just fine with that.

There has been a lot of controversy over this past election and it has been very heated between both the Republican party and the Democratic party. BUT... here today Barack Obama is the new president-elect. That's it. End of story. Many people are upset over this, and I am the first to say that I did not vote for Mr. Obama. I do not agree with a lot of his policies and frankly his lack of experience is more than a little bit frightening to me. That said- I am apparently in the minority. The local news station has a web page where people can post their reactions to different stories that are going on at the moment. Obviously this has been a huge story that has generated lots of posts. One woman said that she was absolutely furious that Barack Obama won the presidency and that she hopes with all her heart that he will fail and fall flat on his face. And when he does- she will laugh.

Let's get real here for just a second. Don't people realize that if the president of the United States fails... we fail too? Let's compare this whole situation to an airplane and Obama is the pilot. If he's flying the plane and you are in seat 11B... do you want the plane to go down?

Like I said- I am a little leery of what the next few years will bring- but I hope and I pray that we will come through with what can only be seen as a screaming victory for all of us. I hope that Obama proves to be a man worthy of the office of President of the United States.

Happy Haunting Everyone!

Okay- so technically Halloween is over therefore there is probably no more haunting going on in any of your houses. That being said however, we hope that you all had a wonderful holiday, and that, like us- you ended up with a fabulous stomachache. At the end of the night- Ty wandered into the living room and told us that he was going to throw up. He made a run for the bathroom, but it was just a false alarm. However- he hasn't asked for one piece of candy since- so maybe it was a good thing. Anyway- we really had a fun week leading up to Halloween. Since Shaun is teaching at an elementary school, we got to go over on Thursday for their Halloween Parade to see all the kids in their costumes. Ryan didn't get much out of it- he sat in Shaun's lap and drooled on his arm. But Ty thought it was great! He was not a fan of some of the scarier costumes, but loved the Darth Vadar ones. I wanted the boys to dress up- but not in their costumes since it wasn't Halloween yet- so I put them both in their skeleton PJ's (gotta love the GAP) and took a few pictures before we left. Ty is sitting on the front step next to the pumpkin that he carved (unfortunately the pumpkin was stolen later Thursday night... we were only able to recover half of it in our neighbor's front yard on Friday morning. Stupid kids.). Ryan didn't get it but was more than happy to have his picture taken after he woke up from his nap. Anyway- we went over to the school for the parade and afterwards we came home. We brought Ty's friend KC home with us to play for a few hours while his mom helped with a party at school. They were so funny the whole time they were at the house. Ty was upset that he didn't get to stay for the parties at the school, so when I got them home we made sugar cookies and I let them decorate two that they could eat (I only let them do two because when they got finished with them- it was more of a glob of frosting than an actual cookie... I didn't really want a bunch of them sitting around).

Halloween itself was a lot of fun too. Since it was on a Friday- we had dad home!!! We thought about going over to Logan for a few hours- but we wanted to make sure that we were home in time to go Trick-or-Treating before it got too late so instead, I spent the day trying to talk Ty into wearing his Bat costume. For a month he has talked about how excited he was to be a bat for Halloween. One that could "fly, fly, fly." I was so stumped about trying to figure out how in the world to make a bat costume. I tried to talk him into Batman, because then I could just buy the dumb thing and that would be it. But no. He wanted to be a bat. I showed him a picture of a vampire and told him it was a Halloween Bat and asked him if that would work and he said yes. So he's all excited about his Halloween Bat. Friday comes and he wants to be a pumpkin. It took me FOREVER to get him into the dumb bat costume. I had to threaten to take away Trick or Treating if he wouldn't put it on. Which I don't know why we as parents threaten to take away things like this- it's not like it's something that we'd actually follow through with. It's a hollow threat. Luckily for me though- my three year old doesn't know that yet. Once he does- I'm in BIG trouble.

Anyway- we got the bat costume on, and put the little brother in his puppy costume and away we went. Trick or Treating here is kind of strange. Where I grew up- Halloween was HUGE. Every house had a light on. Some houses did scones and hot cider, others gave out little goodie bags and you ALWAYS ALWAYS knew which house was handing out the King Size candy bars. It was such a kick. My dad loved to go with us and would even get dressed up (which usually earned him a few pieces of candy too). In this town however... most of the houses were dark. Granted we didn't go very far because our kids are little- but I thought it was a little disappointing. Oh well. Ty had fun and that's all that matters. Though next year, we'll have to either get some people to shape up or we're heading back down to my parent's house.

Carving Pumpkins

I have always hated carving pumpkins. I don't know if I am allergic to the pumpkin or if this is something that plauges everyone- but when I get the pumpkin guts on my arm- it itches me to the point of distraction. I hate it. But I also think that early childhood memories and impressions are very important- and I want Ty and Ryans to be ones that make them happy. I read once in an Ensign article that we (as parents) aren't just rearing children. We are preparing a future generation of parents-- a generation that will need all the positive experiences we can give them to cope with an increasingly challenging world. The article posed the question, is it possible that children who have a happy childhood make better parents? I don't know about the rest of you, but while I can't live Ryan and Tyler's lives for them- I CAN give them a well of joyful memories from which they can draw throughout their lives. So- we no longer make messes (okay- really when you live with a three year old- you DO make messes- but go with me on this for a second) we make memories. So, while I don't care for pumpkin carving- the memory of us together as a family doing this is something that Ty can carry with him.

I don't know that this "light-bulb" moment really helped me out a whole lot. It seems to have put even more pressure on me as a parent. But maybe it also increases the blessings that we receive from parenthood as well. And hopefully I can pass on this idea and these insights to my kids through memory after memory. Perhaps each memory that I give to my children will become another link in a chain of righteous parenthood as they help their own children make joyful memories. Eternal bonds. Eternal memories.

And what about pumpkin carving? It has to be worth the time and the effort for the memory that we make. I love this last picture. Ty was insistant that this pumpkin only have one tooth- so he cut and pulled at the bottom one until it finally came out.

The Great Pumpkin

Our pumpkins did not make it this year- mostly because it snowed in June and then again in September... it makes for a short growning season I guess. So- since we had no pumpkins, we went down to my parents house to get our Halloween pumpkins. I wish that Montpelier had a pumpkin patch or something like that so that we could have stayed close to home- but it was also nice to go and see grandma and grandpa. Ty loved helping Grandpa JB cut the stems and carry them over to the grass. Though I'm not sure how much of a help he actually was- since all he could carry was the tiniest of the tiny. Of course he is only three.

We also got a chance to take a few pictures of us while we were down there. I think that's one of the hardest things- how do you get pictures of everybody when you need everybody in the picture. I know that's why they invented the self timers on cameras- but we can never get in the picture in time and have all of us looking where we need to. It confuses Ty and I've never been one to set any land speed records- so the pictures end up looking silly. My dad also got some pictures of Ryan and I together, which was kind of fun. Since I am the one usually holding the camera- I'm not in a lot of pictures with my boys. I never thought it was too big of a deal until I started putting pictures together in books... And now it irritates me.

I guess some of us like the snow...

Ty had such a kick with the snowstorm that came through here a few weeks ago. Which means that at least one of us will be having a good time this winter. Okay. The reality is- I need to have an attitude adjustment when it comes to winter. I really hate it- but since I can't get Shaun to commit to moving to Mexico... I may have to settle for thinking on the bright side of things (novel concept isn't it?). So I came up with a list of reasons why winter isn't going to be so bad this year.

1. My holiday cards will be better looking than my friends that live in Texas and Southern California.

And I'm out. I'll just have to keep working on this I guess.

Oh hell.

9:30 PM Saturday night. The gray thing in the *gag* snow *hurl* is Ty's lawnmower.

A Tuesday...

I haven't posted in a while- so I'm getting my fill tonight. This week was kind of a quiet week- it has started to get cold and we have had to find a few activities to do inside rather than run around and play outside. If any of you have some fun ideas for inside... let me know!

Let's see... Ty was bored one day after his nap (that's why he is not pictured with pants in this picture), so we made a Halloween gingerbread house. I think Ty ate more candy and frosting than actually went on the house... but it kept him occupied almost until dad got home- so I'll take it!

My degree came in the mail on Wednesday... I had to refrain from throwing my arms around our mailman- but I was just so excited! Ty made me a cake for dessert in celebration all by himself. Though he realized after he had made the cake that he calls me "Mama" and not "Jess" so the name on the cake was wrong. I forgive him.

Ryan, as ever, was in good spirits the other day so I snapped a picture of his cute smile. I remember Ty being a happy baby too and very content- but Ryan is almost always smiling. It's my favorite! The smile almost makes 3AM feedings seem worth it.

I also finally got a picture of Ty doing "Turbo Jam" the other morning. It's gotten to the point that if I don't pull out a video in the morning- he's pulling on my shirt saying "Mama- we didn't exercise this morning- let's go do it now." I never knew that my personal trainer was going to be the kid in the next room! Good thing all he charges me is a glass of chocolate milk!

There was one in the tub

I love tub time. It's probably my favorite time of night because it means that the day is finally winding down and my bed is starting to softly call my name. Ryan loves his tubs (can you call it a tub if he's still bathing in the sink?). He gets the most contented look on his face when he's floating along in the soapy water- I almost don't want to take him out. But then my bed calls again and I quickly towel him off. I didn't get any pictures of Ty in the tub tonight because he was kind of being a grump and yelled when I came in with the camera. Of course I can see his point- I wouldn't really want pictures of me in the tub circulated on the internet either. Ryan is young enough that he has no choice.

Ahhh. The beauty of a handy husband...

I grew up in a household whose inhabitants do their best to be "do it yourselfers" but often times have found that it is just as easy to pay somebody to do certain things. For example... my dad never touches anything electrical if he can help it. My mother has "Stanley Steemer" on speed dial, my brother automatically reaches for the phone if he hits on a homework question that involves more than three words, my sister freaks out when you mention anything to do with beauty product and I cry when I see installation instructions for shelves and furniture. I did my best to marry out of this habit and Shaun seems to have hit the nail on the head (if you'll pardon the pun). We bought an older home (it's about fifty years old) and it has a few "quirks" here and there. One of them being that there is no overhead light in the living room. It's been more than a little bit annoying to fumble around in the dark for a lamp switch on the other side of the room for the past year. But last weekend we decided to fix it. Or rather, Shaun decided to fix it. With the help of his cute family- he ran wire, installed a light switch and hung a celing light/fan... and the best part is... when he turned it on... it actually came on! (Not that I doubted him)

PS- sorry about this last picture- I don't know how to flip it nor do i care how to flip it. You get the general idea.

Darth the Vadar

Ty's latest obsession is with the old Star Wars movies. He loves the starships and thinks that Yoda is funny. And oddly enough, he has developed a strong affinity for Darth Vadar- who I remember when I was little- scared the crap out of me. But scary or no- Ty just loves him- though he calls him Darth the Vadar and will quickly correct you if you leave out "the." Anyway- we were saying our prayers last night, and I was helping him remember what to say when all of a sudden he interrupts me and says, "Thank-you Heavenly Father for Darth the Vadar." Okay people- try to keep a straight face when your three year old all of a sudden decides that he is so thankful for this big scary man and goes so far as to include him in his prayers. I tried not to laugh. I tried not to giggle- but needless to say- a little snort snuck out. Ty whipped his head around and told me "Mama- stop laughing during the prayer. You are NOT being reverent." Okay. I was dying. After the prayer I had to apologize to Ty for laughing. I'm still not sure that he has entirely forgiven me.