The Result

Well, it only took about a week and as you can see Seth and Sam are having the time of their lives. It is so cute to see Sam so into something just because he likes it, not because we introduced him to it.
We'll ask Sam to do something or if he wants to go somewhere and he just gives us the, "nope." He is quite content to just stay with his trains and go around and around and around and around.
If we go anywhere he has to take a few trains with him. And as you can see, there is no going to bed without them. Hey, whatever works! And trust me, he know every single one he has. There's no fooling this kid. He is just like his dad, it's so cute.

Our Aquarium

We decided to get season passes to the Aquarium here and have loved it. When we're going to go we ask Sam if he wants to go see the sharks. He then has "Shark Terets" for the next 20 minutes until we get there. It is so cute.
It was especially fun to watch James get so into the fish this time. He was glued. He is growing up so fast! Those little minds are so fun to watch. You can tell there is so much going on in there.
The sharks were especially active today and would swim right in front of Sam and freak him out. He would just giggle with so much excitement he'd almost fall over everytime!
I love when we get to go do things as a family. I love spending time with the 3 men in my life. I love watching how much Seth loves it too. I don't think there's anything we wouldn't do for our boys. I am so grateful that I have an Eternal Family thanks to the Restored Gospel and the Priesthood. I can't imagine ever having to part with them. What a comfort to know that I never have to. I am so blessed!

My Sister, My Friend

I have the best sister in the world. She is my best friend. She comes up frequently with her kids to play with me and my boys. It's never just come and play though for her, she always ends up picking up my house, cleaning something, or doing my dishes. She's so great.
But the greatest thing about her is that she is just someone to be "me" with. We are just two wacky peas in a pod. She's always up for anything. I can call her anytime for anything! She's inspired me to be more stylish, lose weight, and do more. I love her so much!

What did I DO?!

I had no idea what I had started when I let Sam finally get a Thomas the Train at Toys 'r Us on Saturday. He is way into trains and we finally got a Thomas DVD for him (which he never stops watching). So I thought, Okay, let's just get him a Thomas, he has other cheap wood trains he can just add to the back.


Well, as you can see, he loved it. We'd ask him if he wanted to go on a walk, or go to the store, or whatever else we'd ask, and he'd just shake his head and say, "nope." He was not going to leave his train. He woke up from his nap and we didn't even get so much as a "hi". It was straight to the train for more hours of circle after circle.
Well we all know how cleaver those toy companies are. They include a mini-brochure of all the wonderful things you can get to go along with the one you have. Sam sat admiring it and that was all it took for his dad, the push-over.


The look...this is so dangerous. I know that look. I used to use that look on my parents. Why didn't it work like this?


Of course you can get them all! Super dad is here with his magic laptop and ebay.


Oooo! Somebody dared to out bid me. I'll show them.


Don't worry Sam, Daddy won't lose again. This one's mine!


Yes!


What was I thinking? One little train. Just one...yeah right. Anyone who's been at our house knows we are the classic collectors who can't just have one.

Why Have One When You Can Have Two?

James' First Swim

We thought we'd be brave and take both boys swimming for the first time. James did well. He lasted about a whole minute! The rest of our outting he enjoyed happily from the side of the pool wrapped up tightly in his towel.

Sometimes it's Hard to be Mom's Sidekick

I am so glad I take my camera everywhere I go. I couldn't pass up this photo opportunity. Sam was so cute when he nodded off in the cart today at the store. It's hard to keep up with mom!
Look at big man James loving all the attention!

Copy Cat

I have no problem being a copy cat. In fact alot of "my" best ideas and creations have come from being a pretty good one. I would hope that people would copy me too if they saw something they liked that I did. Here are two of my favorite ideas I have found lately. They both cost me nothing because I used things I already had.
I love creating new things. It makes me feel so happy inside.

Here's the original

Here's mine. I used Sam's watercolors and cut them up.

Here's the original

Here's mine. I used wood, scrapbook paper, and mod podge.

It's amazing what you can do with a good idea to get you started. You'd be amazing what you can do when you use things you already have around the house. I love no-cost design!
My next plan is to do some kind of a train since Sam's SO into trains right now. I will either pencil it out for him to watercolor in and then draw charcol around them and frame them as a border in his room, or do the paper and wood idea in a line as a train for his border. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Our Fun Weekend

We went to Ben and Joy's for dinner on Friday night. It was so fun. We had a yummy dinner of Joy's incredible ribs, homemade mashed potatoes, jello, corn, and salad. We ate until we were stuffed! Then we decided to make it a night out and got a babysitter.
Ben and Seth went to see Terminator and Joy and I went for a proper girls night out. We went and got pedicures! It was so nice. We couldn't remember the last time se got together and pampered ourselves like this.
Then we did what girls do best. We went shopping! I had saved up a little mad money so Joy went with me to find a cute new dress. I of course then had to get a bag and sandals to match. We had a blast. The night ended too soon.
Don't worry, the kids had a great time without us, thanks to Megan. James slept the whole time and Sam had a great time with Megan and his partner-in-crime, Haley.



We then got to go help Grandma M clean up her backyard on Saturday. We had fun being out in the sun. Here's a cute pic of my boys enjoying her great patio. I just love these boys. The one in the middle is especially cute! :)



We got to finish the weekend off with a fun dinner at our good friends, Don and Vickie's. My cousin Norah and her family were there too and it was a fun night filled with great food (my first time having Navajo Tacos and Buttermilk Syrup...yum yum!), cows, chickens, laughs, and great people. What a great weekend.

Skate?

I had to stop what I was doing and help Sam out. He found and brought me these little skates that we picked up at a garage sale a year ago and said, "Skate?"
Seth and I have been rollerblading a lot lately. Seth pushing the stroller and zooming around while Sam says, "Weeeeee!" with me panting and struggling to catch up. Sam will bring us our skates now when he wants to go on a "walk". If I take a turn pushing the stroller he turns around and says, "where's my dad?"...like 'come on Mom, you are so slow!'
So when he brought these to me and realized they were his I had to take him out and see what he could do. It was so fun. I guess hockey will live on. Like father, like son. His Grandpa M will be so proud.

Twins

I just think it's funny that I have 2 of the cutes boys in the world who are 21 months apart (just a reminder, the one in the dino jammies is 2 1/2, and the one in the fire truck jammies is 8 months) and they are still able to share clothes.
We laughed at the thought of Sam wearing James' hand me downs...it's not so funny now that we're almost to that point!
Here they are playing together wearing the same size jammies.


We have a taller, skinner one and a shorter, rounder one and we love them both so much!

Popcorn Puppies

These dogs belong to some friends of ours in our neighborhood and we just love them. They are a HUGE highlight for Sam on our daily walks. We love to egg them on (I'm sure our neighbors are just so happy about that!). Sam is so into dogs right now. We think he got "puppy terets" from his cousin Lucy. :)

Hip Hip Hooray for Storage

I don't think that I'm the only one who loves to organize. It is such a high. We finally got shelves in our cold storage room and garage thanks to our good friend and favorite handy man, Don. The food storage is in and oragnized and I just love to stand there and admire it. It is much better placed than it was before (in our basement family room instead of a couch!). Sam loved it too. As we were putting it all on the shelves Sam loved to run in and say, "FOOD!", grab a can and run out with it.


Our garage shelves are beautiful too. I got to use a paint sprayer and spray the garage. That was fun. Here I am in the haze of paint spraying EVERYWHERE!


We haven't quite put everything in it's place yet, but I can see the vision.


It's such a good feeling to get rid of piles, clean out, and organize. After all...a house of order is a house of God!

How to avoid the Swine Flu

The Real Life of Karen the Housewife

What a vicious, yet interesting cycle my life spins in. I usually would characterize myself as a "go-getter", the one who takes matters into her own hands and will not be beat. I found this picture on-line and thought it summed me up pretty well.


I was made for this housewife life. I love it. I love juggling the kids, the food, the cleaning...that is until it starts fighting back.
Every once in a while it seems as if my house rises to the challenge of trying to best me. I don't know how, or why, or even where the messes come from, but they always find their way in, and not just slowly. Ca-boom! It's like a time bomb goes off and everything I own is out, scattered, covered in dust, and spotted.
Today was one of those days...

This was me in the morning when I realized what had become of my house. But it was okay, I had all day, and lots of energy.



This was me about half way through the day. I can still do this...



And this is how it ended...


I must note that even though the battle was unfair and that I was definately out numberd by messes, toys, towels, etc. that I won! I found the carpet, the shiny furniture, the sinks, and best of all...the bed!

To all of you going through this same cycle be reassured. We all have these days, we all find a way through, and we all wake up to it again, and again, and again. Don't you just love your life? You should...because I sure do!