Nathan's Turn

What has our little Nathan been up to?

Well, he got sleepy. 

And he turned 1! This picture is blurry, but it's the only one we have of him with the whole cake.

He also got dirty. Isn't that what little boys do?

He ate.

And he ate some more.

This little boy has to take lots of baths with how dirty he gets, but that is a good thing in his mind! I don't think there is any place he would rather be. 

He loves his blanket. And he is very different from Ellie in one way especially - he loves to snuggle! 

It is so fun to see his personality emerging every day, even if a lot of the time it manifests itself in tantrums!

We love having our little man in our family!

Internet Is Back

Guess what? We have internet. Yay! Just in time to be done with the semester. :)

I have a lot to catch up on, so I guess I will start somewhere. How about with Ellie?

Ellie has thoroughly enjoyed helping mom and dad make Christmas treats - specifically eating said treats.

She has also recently decided she loves to snuggle and that she wants to be held all the time.

We went on campus while Sam used the internet for work. Ellie, Nathan and I went to the bookstore and read some books, and when they got a little too noisy we walked back upstairs where Sam was. Ellie nearly took a sip of an old drink sitting on a table, so I got her her own. You would never know from the pictures that there was only water in there. 

It was so funny how cool she thought she was!

She also helped Nathan eat his birthday cake. (There is a lot of sugar involved in her life I guess!)

And she got a new jacket. She went through a phase where she refused to wear a jacket, and in Rexburg that's not really going to fly. So we took her to the store and let her pick one out. Luckily our plan worked - even though it's not the one I would have picked necessarily, she wears it!

She has recently decided she is scared of her room, and she has been waking up several times a night. We have tried lots of things, and I think something is beginning to work! (Knock on wood) it broke my heart the first time she came running into our room in the middle of the night and said "I saw a scary monster."

She is such a good big sister to Nathan, and he completely adores her. Even when he's sad, he always has a smile for her.

We love having our Ellie around! 

We Are Alive!

So guess what? We are alive, we just have no internet - which has made doing homework difficult. I wouldn't recommend taking a 1- and 2-year-old to the library if you plan on getting anything done.

Anyway... So until our internet is hooked up next week, adios!

We Are Having a Little Boy!

Sam and I went to my 20-week ultrasound on Friday, and we found out we are adding another little boy to our family!

I have to say that I was really surprised! I was pretty much convinced it would be a girl because my pregnancy is so similar to Ellie's rather than Nathan's. I even slipped and called the baby "she" a few times. Ellie was also convinced it was a girl - and not from me! Every time I would ask her if the baby was a boy or a girl she would say girl.

But during the ultrasound there was no question that it's a little boy in there! He even flexed his muscles for us:

We are all so excited! Well, except for Nathan - he has no idea what is going on. His little world is about to be rocked.

Ellie loves to look at the ultrasound pictures and tell us that it is her little brother.

I am always so nervous before ultrasounds that something will be wrong with our baby, but we were so blessed to see that everything looks normal. 

What Do We Do When Dad Is Gone? Part 3

We didn't do anything out of the house today because, let's face it, I was too tired to go anywhere after I got off of work. 

Ellie did make this tower for me, though, while I was fixing dinner. She kept telling me "I making you a really tall one!" and then brought it over and said, "This castle for you!" And she made this silly face when I told her to smile. Love that girl.

We also made brownies. Ellie loves to stir and she's getting better at not slopping the batter everywhere, which is awesome. It makes me much more willing to let her help! :)

We also had a little "mishap" while I was making dinner. The garlic had to simmer in the butter for a few minutes, and Nathan started crying soon after I put it on. He needed a little more help than I originally thought, and when I came back the butter was completely burned and the spoon looked like this. Sweet.

Once the brownies were done and we had eaten dinner, we had a movie night. (I have no pictures... but I'm sure you can imagine what we looked like as we watched the screen.) I picked Hercules since Ellie hadn't seen it yet, and she loved it. Every time a song started she would say "the guy is singing!"

Poor little Nathan was having a hard night, so he mostly got to snuggle with me while the movie was on and go to bed early. Hopefully that doesn't mean he will wake up early...

Ellie keeps reminding me that after her nap tomorrow, we are going to pick up Daddy.

We can't wait! 

Love,

What Do We Do When Dad Is Gone? Part 2

     This morning we went to the city library. I have to admit, this is the first time we've been to the library. How is that even possible?

     When Ellie saw the kid-sized computers, she sprinted toward them. She immediately sat down and said "I working like Daddy!" It is so funny to watch her little hands imitate Sam's when he types. (Please don't mind that she is wearing the same shirt that she wore yesterday. She really wanted to wear it again because she loves the heart on it, and it's from "Vivie" (Evie). I decided to let that one slide.)

     Once I got a game set up for her, she was in heaven. She figured out how to hold down the button on the mouse to color the picture. She was quite proud of herself.

     It turns out that we got to the library about 30 minutes before story time, which was lucky for us! After she played on the computer, we went in and got her settled on the rug. They sang some songs (when they sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" she turned around and yelled to me "This is my song!") and read some stories. She loved the whole thing, but she kept turning around to make sure I was still there.

     Nathan had a great time too! This is the only picture I got of him, though. He loved the toys they had set up for younger kids and the fish tank. He pretty much just played by himself, which is very typical of him. He's very easy-going and able to entertain himself.
   
     The kids had a blast, and it was nice to get out of the house. I'm sure we will be going back soon! Especially as the weather continues to get colder.

Love,

What Do We Do When Dad Is Gone? Part 1

     Sam is at a conference in San Francisco until Thursday, so we are having some adventures while he is gone. 

     The first adventure was taking Sam to the airport in Idaho Falls. Poor Ellie really wanted to go with her dad. She has been telling me all day about how daddy went on the airplane and that he is far far away, and she always follows it up with "I miss daddy."

     In the evening we went to the store to pick up a few necessities, then I took the kids to McDonald's for dinner. I can't even tell you how happy they were to get to run around. And that Ellie is an apple juice lover. Any place she can get apple juice is a happy place for her.

     Nathan had the time of his life in the little kid part of the play place. He chased another little boy around, and they were both just laughing... Until the other boy pushed him over onto his head. He was pretty inconsolable after that. The mom of the other little boy felt horrible, but hey! Stuff like that happens! I was just glad that the kids had fun and that they were able to get a little energy out of their systems.

     We will see what other adventures await tomorrow!

Love,

Halloween

We didn't get very many pictures from Halloween because, well, our night mostly looked like this:

We decided against trick-or-treating that night because it was cold, but also because screaming princesses aren't generally very fun to take around the neighborhood. The kids' cousins were able to come over and play for a little while that night, so that was good!

We may not have had a wonderful Halloween evening, but we do have a few pictures from a ward activity the week before that the kids really enjoyed. Ellie was Cinderella and Nathan was an Army guy.

The Tuesday before Halloween we also took the kids to a Halloween party with some friends from the ward where they "trick-or-treated" from mom to mom. So if you were worried that they didn't get enough candy, they definitely did! :)

Maybe next year the kids will have a better Halloween.

A Girl Loves Her Dad

I can't even begin to say how much Ellie loves her dad. I think she has more of his personality than mine. She is social, fun-loving, tender-hearted, silly, and HAPPY. 

She is getting better about it, but she used to ask about him all day when he was at work. Sam has been putting together cabinets at our storage unit pretty much every day for the past few weeks, (that's for a post coming soon) and the only time he has had to go has been after work. Last week he had been gone all day and we ate dinner without him. After dinner Ellie looks up at me from playing with her toys and says "I miss daddy."

She just adores him. He is much more fun than mom - he is the one to play crazy with her.

(We joke that Ellie wakes up like Sam - wide awake, happy, and ready to go - and Nathan wakes up like me - groggy, grumpy, and ready to eat. This picture shows that a little bit.)

Every day when Sam is getting ready for work, he let's Ellie "help" him by pulling his tie to finish tying it. She takes that job quite seriously. This morning Ellie got her own tie, and Sam put it on her. She thought it was great. Well, until she pulled the knot too tight. :)

I'm so glad that my kids have such a wonderful dad! And he's a pretty dang great husband, too. :)

It's That Time of Year Again

It snowed this morning... That means it is time to get out the puffy coats. Good thing the kids are so dang cute in them!

A Nurse in Training... Sort Of

I was in the middle of making lunch for the kids, and I hear Ellie say, "Come back, I wanna listen to your heart!" And then I see this. I could not stop laughing.

(Don't mind the toys strewn everywhere or my unclothed children. Some days are just like that around here.)

I'm still not sure how she got ahold of my stethoscope, but apparently I need to keep it up higher... And I need to teach her that patients generally don't like to be strangled.

How to Entertain Your 2-Year-Old (And Yourself) During General Conference

Dress her up in a pig suit. I think this was just as much for our enjoyment as for hers. When she saw this picture of herself she said "Whoa!"

     We sure love these kiddos. Better enjoy these silly moments before they are gone!

Love,

Baby Talk

     This little boy loves to babble, but he also has a few words that are actually associated with something. He can say "mama," "dada," "baba," (bottle) and "nana" (banana). I guess he just needs to know all of the important words! :)

     We sure love this sugar-loving guy and his big sister! ...And he and Ellie love each other almost as much. They love to play together, even though their playing sessions usually end in tears from one or both of them.

Love,

Make-up Mischief

     Apparently I put mascara on my forehead.

Love,

General Conference This Weekend

     General Conference is this weekend! I am so excited! If you don't know what General Conference is, this video can tell you a little more.

     General Conference is a worldwide meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that is broadcast on T.V., the Internet, and at local meetinghouses around the world. Everyone is welcome to watch and learn, whether or not you are a "Mormon." We will hear from God's living prophets and other leaders of the Church.

     Please join me in watching this weekend! Saturday, October 5th at 10:00am and 2:00pm, and Sunday at 10:00am and 2:00pm - Mountain Time. You can view it at these times on lds.org.

Love,

A Few Pictures from Our Trip to AZ

     I forgot how busy life is when I'm in school and working. Whew! So blog posts may be a little less often... Oh well! 

     Anyway, here are a few pictures from our trip to Arizona. None of these are from the actual reception, but I will get those up soon hopefully!

Snuggling with my girl after the reception. She was inconsolable, and only wanted me to snuggle her. Please excuse the creepy red eye I have going on.

The plane ride on the way home. So tired!

Apparently there was lots of tiredness going on...

On the way to Arizona - why is the trip to a vacation so much more fun than the trip home?

My handsome, blurry boys on the way to the wedding. Nathan sure looks like his daddy!

     We were so glad to be able to go to the wedding and to spend some time with family! Luckily our kids have mostly gotten back on their schedules. Thank goodness!

Love,

Back to Real Life

     We got back from my brother's wedding last night around 9 pm. It was great to see family, and especially to be present for the marriage. I have lots of pictures to post, but I will get to those later this week. Right now we are trying to help our kids get back on a schedule because they definitely didn't get enough sleep while we were gone!

     Hopefully getting them back on a schedule will curb Ellie's screaming. To be honest, I'm really quite sick of it. Yesterday, on the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things before we really got on the road (this was after a plane ride, so of course Ellie was exhausted) and Ellie screamed for a sucker the entire time. Oh man, that girl tries my patience sometimes. It's a good thing she's cute and that I love her so much!

     More about the wedding later.

Love,

No More "Pacy"

     This little girl has loved her pacifier from day 1. Around the time Nathan was born we decided to limit the "pacy" to bedtime and nap time so that we could eventually wean her off of it. But lately she had been sneaking into her room, snatching it from her bed, and sucking on it until I would notice. For the last few weeks I have been constantly telling her that she can't have it, that she needed to put it back in her bed, etc. I was sick of it. So on Friday night Sam and I sat her down and told her how Evie didn't have a pacy anymore because she was a big girl, and that in the morning she was going to throw her pacy in the garbage so she could be a big girl too. She listened, but had a confused look on her face. She even repeated back to us "My big girl. My put pacy in garbage." But we were a little bit worried, to say the least. She has always been a great sleeper, so we didn't want to mess that up by taking her pacifier away.

     When she woke up the next morning we reminded her about how she was going to be a big girl and throw her pacy in the garbage. She took the pacifier out of her mouth, walked over to the trash can, and put her pacy in. Then she started to cry. We thought she was sad that her pacy was gone, but she was saying "My green pacy!" (which is really purple) To our surprise she ran back to her bed, threw her purple pacifier in the trash, and stopped crying. I was surprised that she did it so willingly.

     Nap time came around, and I was worried again about how it would go. But when she asked for her pacy I just said "Where is your pacy?" and she said, "Garbage. I big girl." And that was that. She went to sleep without a single complaint.

     She also did well that night with a babysitter. Sam and I told the babysitter where it was in case she threw a fit since I didn't want her to have to deal with a tantrum, (don't worry, we had taken it out of the trash and cleaned it! :)) but when bed time came and she asked for the pacy, the babysitter told her it was in the garbage. She cried a little, but the babysitter gave her a book to take to bed instead, and she was fine.

     She asks me occasionally for her pacy, but I just remind her that it is in the garbage, and that is that. I am so impressed with how well she is doing without it. And, frankly, quite surprised!

(Ellie likes to "snuggle" with mom or dad each night before she goes to sleep. Her bed isn't very big, but she insists that we lay next to her. I know it won't be long before she doesn't want us to snuggle anymore, so I'm trying to make the most of it.)

      Sam said to me the other night, "I can't believe I will never see that little girl with a pacy in her mouth again!" She's growing up. Sniff. I can't believe she's not a baby anymore.

     And, honestly, I think I will miss seeing it in her mouth too.

Love,

Getting Called Off

     Last Thursday I was called off of work, so we decided to do a few fun things. (It seems like "fun things" have been few and far between lately because I haven't been feeling very awesome. Unless Dad is home - he's the fun one.)

     So after I got home, the kids and I went to the park. Ellie begs and begs 24/7 to go, but of course that's not always possible. But that day we went and stayed for a long time. She really enjoyed herself! She learned to climb up a new part of the play set that she hadn't been able to do on her own before, and she was quite proud. And of course she couldn't get enough of the slide.

Nathan enjoyed hanging out in his carseat. I have to take him in either the carseat or the stroller because if he is left to roam, all I do the entire time we are at the park is pick bark out of his mouth. So we chose the "strapped in" route.

When we got home, we decided to make pancakes. Why not?

It was Nathan's first time trying pancakes, and he LOVED them. He loves being big enough now to eat lots of the same foods that the rest of us eat.

     We all took a nap, then we did some much-needed cleaning/unpacking. I didn't take any pictures of that because, well, that's boring. :)

     I was so grateful that I was able to stay home with my kids that day. I was able to put into perspective what is most important in my life, and to make some fun memories with my kiddos.

     Besides - it turned into fall over the weekend, and our park days will soon have to come to an end.

Love,