Pink Eggs and Ham

So, Conner loves loves loves reading books! We could honestly sit for over an hour just reading. Josh likes to read books too, but not like Conner my book worm. One of his favorite new books is Green Eggs and Ham. So we were reading it the other day, and as we finished Conner says "no green, pink egg ham!" I was like, no, green eggs and ham. He then replied, "no bue (blue) egg ham" and we went back and forth all the colors he knows, black, brown, white, yellow... he said every color but never says GREEN eggs and ham. So the book is affectionately called Pink Eggs and Ham. Too cute!

Tantrums

So the new thing in our house that the boys seem to be most interested in is tantrums... Conner was never really bad at it before. We had our little melt downs every now and then, but over all he is a very even tempered kid. It's so interesting how different your kids can be because man o man does Joshie lay it on thick. He throws his head on the floor over and over. He learned real fast not to do that on the kitchen floor though. Sometimes his whole body gets thrown. The best part though is if you leave the room he stops, follows to wherever you are and starts it again! hahaha.... it is to funny. However, it gets really old really fast. Fortunately Conner hasn't started copying him, yet.

Hugs!

So Conner really is a great 2 year old. Don't get me wrong, we have our melt downs, but really they are not to bad. Every time he does do something wrong though like push his brother or jump on the dogs I always make him sit in time out. He hates just sitting there as I'm sure most kids do. Then I have him get up and he has to give his brother a hug and a kiss. Well, I think he has caught one because if I see him push Josh he looks at me, goes right to Josh, gives him a hug and says "hugs!" It's too cute! Of course, now he thinks he can do what he wants as long as he gives the person/animal a hug afterward. How do you correct that though because do I say "no hitting" as he is hugging his brother? haha.... oh the joys of parenthood. I also think he has figured out he gets away with more with me because his hugs and kisses melt my heart. If he does push Josh from a toy he looks at Kyle first to see if he saw it. haha.... kids are so funny, they learn so fast. He has also learned how to give raspberries. You know like the ones on your belly, except he pretends to give one to you on your cheak and instead you end up with a wet slobbery cheak. Joshie thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. He could watch Conner give me rasberries all day and be happy.

Josh had his 1 year check up. He is super healthy. He is 21lbs which puts him in the 30% range. He is 29 inches which puts him in the 50% range. So the doc said he is tall and skinny, he looks good. Of course his head though is in the 85% tile. So the Hercules big head lives on in both of my boys. It's a good thing they are so cute!

0 degrees in Texas?

Ok, I have been lied to all along, Texas is not warm and beautiful during the winter months. So, over the past 4 years when we were freezing in Idaho and we would talk to Kyle's parents and they said they were wearing shorts, they must have been lieing! It has been so cold! And tonight it is supposed to get down to 0 degrees and stay there for a while. So, they cancelled seminary at least for tomorrow. Kyle will be happy about that since it is his week to teach (he is still at work so he doesn't know yet). The said thing is that it is really hard to ride the bike I got for Christmas when it is icey outside! A well, it won't stay cold forever right?

An amazing thing happend on Sunday night. As I have previously mentioned, our dog Meg has some serious dog aggression. However, we have been taking her to training and it is really working. So, I'm walking her on Sunday night and we see a little dog on the side of the street we were on, so just to be on the safe side I cross the street and Meg is interested but doesn't freak out at this bite sized dog. Well, because we were looking at that dog, I didn't notice a lady who opened her front door right as we were passing and he dog (I'm thinking some kind of spanial) ran out straight for Meg. This dog barked a little, but just sniffed Meg, and she sniffed the other dog back. Then they were like best friends! It was amazing!! Again, if you know how aggressive Meg would get toward other dogs, this is like a miracle! So, every night since I have been trying to look for dogs on our walks to help Meg more but alas, I have found none. Now, the next step is to keep Lola from bolting out the door when it opens. I have done work though and they are much better about not barking at everything that walks by the window.... they will be perfect angels...one day. It does look like if we ever do move out of the in-laws house we will have to bring all the dogs. They are really loved here, however Larry can't walk them period, and Sherry hurt her knee somehow and I don't think she lets on how much pain she is really in. So, she hasn't been able to walk the dogs either. So, she is put on baby duty and I walk all three dogs seperatly, so it takes about and hour every night, but at least it gets me some time to myself, and the dogs get out.

Kyle started his teaching certification! Yeah!! He has a lot of the program to do online and he starts actual class on Feb. 27. He will be done and certified by April! Then he can be hiried and finally have a "real job." We really have been blessed though and are very gratefull for the help of living with the in-laws, even if it can be really hard some times.

We also finally switched bank accounts. We were ssosososososs sick of Wells Fargo and are now done with them!!! They have fees for EVERYTHING!! And they weren't honest with us about our accounts, but thankfully we no longer have to deal with them. Except for paying off the credit cards, which hopefully we can do sooner rather then later. We are now banking with Chase and really like it so far. I guess we will see how it goes...

The kids are growing up so fast! Conner loves playing ring around the roosies and loves loves loves playing hide and seek with his uncle Ben. He runs around the house saying, "where's ben?" it's really cute. He also loves Dora the Explorer and Go Diago Go. He asks all day, "Dora Boots? Dora Boots?" The only time I know that they are on T.V. is 6pm so he has to wait and 6-7 he gets to watch his 2 favorite shows. Josh is such a one year old. His mood goes back and forth and he always wants to be held! I'm getting buff arms though! haha...right....

I'm excited for next month because that is when my horse classes start again. However, I did find a Ranch in Frisco that needs volunteers and they give you free riding lessons in return. So, I may switch to that one. Firstly, it's a whole lot closer and secondly, I can get free riding lessons which I really really want. I have been checking books out at the library all about horses, and one day I will own my own. I have narrowed it down to 3 breeds I would love to have. Quarter horses, Tennessee Walking Horse, or Appaloosa. These are my favorites, and I would like to eventually lease one of each to see which breed I like. Hopefully sooner rather then later, but we will see.

So, life is good, Kyle and I still aren't eating sugar and it's going great. I've lost 20lbs and Kyle has lost 16lbs, so we are getting there. We really just want to be healthier. 2010 is going to be a great great year!

Little brother fights back!

First off, I can't believe it's December!! Man time is just going by so fast. We have most of the Christmas shopping for the kiddos done. Just one more big present for them to share and then the stocking stuff. I have no clue what to get for Kyle though.... I still have a few weeks I guess to figure it out. Thanksgiving in Ohio was great. That week flew by and we all had a great time. The drive was very long, but after watching the movie Cars 15 times we made it.

Ok, so I have a 2 year old and the other one will be 1 in just 2 weeks! They get along pretty well most of the time, but man Josh is really starting to get a personality! They are both HUGE mama's boys!! They fight over who gets to sit on my lap at church, when I'm on the computer, any time really. And when I try to put Joshie down he gets this look on his face like, "mom! why would you even think about putting me down. Don't you love me?" it melts my heart and I pick him back up. Anyway, we have this little toy Conner actually got from his uncle Joey (currently serving a mission in Honduras) it is one of those personal PDA things, pretty much a toy cell phone. Well, Conner of course forgets its in the toy box and one day Josh finds it and it has been "the toy" to have ever since. They both forget it till one grabs it then they both have to have it! Well, it was Joshie's turn with it, so he is just walking around pushing the buttons and Conner goes up and takes it from him. Josh screams and "runs" (as well as a 1 year old can run) towards Conner mouth wide open and bites his arm!! He only has 6 teeth, but he can still leave a mark. It was one of those times it was so hard to not laugh and Josh. It was so funny seeing him get upset. I think it really threw Conner off because he gave the toy back and got a book for us to read. The only thing is right before I started to write this post, once again they both wanted to sit in my lap and Josh opened his mouth to bite Conner again. Man, we are going to have to work on that, it's just so funny and cute coming from such a small person. Anyway, I'm sure this is just the start of the great friendship they will forever have!!

I need a vacation!

I don't think this day could be any longer.... it's only 6:40pm and it feels like it should be midnight at least. I just try to keep telling myself, we are leaving tomorrow, we are leaving tomorrow. Really everything started yesterday. Kyle has had to be working doubles most of the week so between shift yesterday I needed a little break from the kids. I love them a lot but everyone needs a ten min. break once in a while right? So I go to the bank and then put gas in the car. When I get home I notice that Kyle has the kids upstairs and Josh is just crying and crying. So of course I pick him right up and he calms down, but I come to find out that Kyle was eating some lunch downstairs while catching up on his sports. Meanwhile Conner started climbing up the stairs, so Joshie followed. I guess about half way up Conner turns around and just pushes Josh down. So he fell down about 8 stairs. He is just fine, I think really it just scarred him. So, Sherry's (mom-in-law) room is right by the stairs. Since she works from home she heard it first and got mad at Kyle for not paying enough attention. That's hard because it could happen to anyone at anytime. I know it wasn't the first time he has fallen down the stairs and I'm sure it won't be the last since there is no way anyone can watch him 24/7. Sherry did apologize to Kyle for getting upset though.

Luckily the boys were pretty good last night. I tried to take them on a walk because that is like their favorite thing to do is get in the stroller. However as soon as we got to the end of the street it started raining so I had to run with the double stroller back home. But I was able to get some packing done so that was good.

Kyle didn't have to be at work until noon today. So we took advantage of the time and got some last min things for the trip to Ohio. We hurried home and Kyle had to leave right away. I try to get some things picked up around the house so we don't leave it a complete mess, but of course Conner is right behind me throwing everything back out that I just put away. Oh, he slept in the car for 20min on our way home and so wouldn't take a nap. I was going to use that time to color my hair so I don't have roots in the family pics, but that didn't happen. I tried making lunch but Conner just fed it all to the dogs when I turned around to grab something. I feed Josh and get him to sleep but then Conner came in the room and whacked him on the head which of course woke him up and he wouldn't go back to sleep.

Conner found a stash of markers and was coloring on things he should not have been. He took off his diaper that was poopy. He found a box of thumb tacks and threw them (they were clear, joy). He found a box of sugar ice cream cones, opened them and threw them so the dogs ate them. He did throw his diaper away, that was nice. I found hot wheel cars in the fridge, I sure hope he didn't take anything out and hide it so we have a nice smelly surprise sometime. I made the boys sandwichs for dinner. Josh was nicely sitting in his highchair eating his and Conner went up and took all of Joshie's pieces and fed them to the dogs. Then he was chasing the dogs while I was trying to feed Josh and myself something. Then I hear Conner screaming. I run into the other room where Larry (dad-in-law) are and grab Conner. He has blood dripping from his head. I guess he was crawling into Lola (stubborn dog) and she jumped up and growled at him pushing him backward into the entertainment center. It was dark so you couldn't really see the blood, but gee wiz, both kids are crying you would think someone might try to help. So I get the blood under control and strive with all my might to calmly ask dad to let Josh out of his highchair. So then we went back to the kitchen to finish eating. As we are I hear Sherry getting frustrated with Conner for opening the back door which doesn't have a door handle. Then Conner comes back in the kitchen and as I'm rinsing the dishes I hear "Oh NO!" from Sherry. I turned around and see Conner had found one of those jumbo Advil containers and poured it all over. There is no way he could have opened it so it must not have been on all the way. So then we are trying to pick up all the meds before Conner, Josh, or the dogs could get it. After that I am just done. So, we came upstairs and are staying her till bedtime.

I just want to say I'm grateful to be living hear, but I cannot wait until I have a place of my own again. It is so hard to share and try to constantly be watching a 1 and 2 year old in a not child proofed house. And if anything gets messed up I feel like a bad mom. One day, hopefully sooner rather then later it will happen. After Kyle gets his teaching certificate since he can't get his accounting stuff started till next fall now.

Ok, Josh just whacked his head on something. Tomorrow please come soon!!!

Birthday date

Ok, I just want to preface by saying I'm the best wife ever!!! and humble too, really.... So Kyle is turning 26 on Monday, however we will still be driving to Ohio on that day and how unfun is that? Kyle also works all day Thurs. Fri. and Sat. so obviously we couldn't do anything those days. So I asked him if we could do a "birthday dinner" on Wed. since my volunteering with the horses is off for the next 2 weeks and I didn't need to go. I kept asking where he wanted to go to eat but he wouldn't make up his mind. I tried to guide him to go closer or at least on the way to down town Dallas. I said we always did stuff in/around Plano and we should do something different for his birthday. So he finally picked a steakhouse in the West End (downtown Dallas, lots of good food!) So we just placed our food orders and had our bread and drinks when I pull out the first gift I had cleverly hidden in my purse without him knowing. We had agreed that he wouldn't be getting anything but a nice dinner/date for his birthday since we were leaving for OH soon. So that I even had a gift surprised him. I got him the newest book by Dan Brown. He really likes that author and it gives me the opportunity to read it too. So after we eat our salad but before the main course I pull out another gift. A phone cover to protect his phone from sticky fingers. He liked it and called me a turkey for getting him anything. Our steaks were ssoooo good. I tried to be good and got the 6oz fillet Mignon while Kyle got the 16oz sirloin!! they were both amazing!!! After that I gave him the 3rd gift which was the Dallas Mavericks newest blue jersey. He was sossososos excited!!Then our waiter brought a little cake with a candle (he was a really great guy) and after Kyle made a wish I asked him what he wished for and he said, "I wish you have to Mavs tickets in your purse" So I pull out the envelope and say, " your wish is my command!" He was so excited!! For you see Kyle had been trying to get tickets but I kept coming up with excuses of why we couldn't get them. He nearly messed up the surprise a few times, but it all worked out and was great!!The game was awesome! We won by 5 points in overtime!! So the birthday was a hit and I'm a great wife!!