Family Pictures

Ok... before you judge let me explain a few things! YES! We went and had their pictures taken AGAIN! But... my WHOLE intention of this photo shoot was to get 1, just 1 good family picture of all of us.

As you can see NONE of the family pictures turned out... but they got some really cute shots of the boys. It was a little frustrating because I feel like I told the photographer I JUST want a family picture. She kept reassuring me we'd get one. Out of like 50+ pictures she only took a total of 8 family shots. Oh-well. She redeemed herself by getting really cute ones of the boys.

So, to sum it up: YES we had family pictures taken. But... NO we didn't buy one family picture. Oh-well maybe next time.

(Because you know I'll be taking them again! :) I think I have set the record for number of times possible to take your kids to the portrait studio! ha!

Ok. I HAD to show off the "Out takes". I love it! Every photo shoot has hilarious shots!

Noah Talking!

Ok! Noah came up to me yesterday holding a DVD and yelling “Meh-mo! Meh-mo!” When he finally got my attention I realized he was holding an ELMO DVD! He was trying to say Elmo!Where did that come from? CRAZY! We don’t even watch Sesame Street, he’s probably only seen that Elmo movie like 2 times (his whole life)… I still can’t get over it. He really is starting to talk lots.

Some of the other words or phrases he says:

Mommy! (of course)
Daddy! (which also sounds like doggy! J)
More
EES (for please!)
Ahhh Man!
Uh-Oh
“Dinky” for binky
Nana for Banana

NO-O!!!

He’s been saying STUCK! STUCK! For quiet a while now when he gets stuck or wants out of the highchair or something.

When you are holding him and he wants down he’ll say:
Let down! Or Let go!

He says a lot of animal noises when you point to:
Cow-moo
Dog- Arf! Arf!
Cat – “Maow!”

ZOO!

Yes, we went to the Zoo AGAIN! (Thanks to my friend Sunny who invited us!) And what a BEAUTIFUL day! I've been thinking about getting a pass again for our family. Mason and Noah both just LOVE animals and being outside. However, after today ... I don't think I'll be purchasing a zoo pass any time soon! It was fun but it's definitely a challenge with my boys.
I am working with Mason on listening skills and staying with me. He kind of wanders (or just RUNS away) and really has no fear. I know that's probably the typical 3 year old attitude of invincibility but it's really scary and frustrating sometimes.

Noah is pretty good but wants out of the stroller and yells, "STUCK! STUCK!"
Noah really liked looking at the Orangutans (sp?). In this picture he's practically trying to jump over the fence here into their exhibit.




Try not to dwell on the HUGE bump on Noah's forehead. He tried to run through a brick wall this morning. (Obviously the brick wall won!)

Snow Trip!

This weekend we went and played in the snow. I was excited to see Noah's reaction because he's never been in the snow. It was kinda hard to find a spot to play in, the Gravel Pitts (just past Payson) were closed off, and there was too much snow in quite a few areas.

When we got there it was snowing and REALLY cold! Noah wasn't too sure about the cold wet snow, but he really enjoyed following Mason around. We eventually had to put on the silly spider man mask to help keep him more warm.

This snowman lasted all of 2 seconds before Mason destroyed it!

Mason of course had a blast and loved every cold-wet minute of it! I think his favorite part was throwing snowballs at everyone! He REALLY liked the hole that Daddy dug for him to play in!

When it was time to go home Mason obviously didn't want to go.

(And yes, at the end of that video clip he launched a snowball at me!)

The DRIVE home:

Noah was out in 2 seconds. Mason of course was singing his Dute-Da-Do song and talking about the snow the WHOLE drive home! He kept saying "We could go to another snow!" I'm glad we took this spontaneous snow trip with the boys. As we were packing up to go home it started to REALLY snow big chunks of sleet, and I took a picture of the horizon on the way home.

Beautiful storm clouds! (It's kind of an inside joke with Ron and I. It's a LOVE-HATE thing! One of the things I love about Ron is his appreciation for nature and the outdoors. But... one of the things I "hate" is he is always wanting to take pictures of the sky, a tree ...etc. I think it's usually a waste of a picture! What are you going to do with a picture like that anyways? But he's so good to help me appreciate the beauty around me! Thank you Ronnie!)

Ouch!!!

Last month (January 22, 2010 to be exact!), I was in the kitchen doing the dishes when I hear a THUD and then a little whining. Mason comes running in whimpering a little and looking for sympathy. Of course, me being a the typical and unsympathetic mom that I am, I start to assure him he's OK... then I examine him holding his nose and face, and notice...

BLOOD!

Ahhh! His nose and mouth are bleeding. Of course I'm always thinking of teeth, so I immediately want to check and make sure his teeth are still there and OK. I then take tissue and wipe the blood while simultaneously trying to evaluate the condition of his teeth. Mason of course fights this and pulls away abruptly.

He then proceeds to put his hand to his mouth to examine himself. As he pulls his hand away he looks at it and notices this odd warm red liquid on his finger tips. He then looks up at me to assure me that he's okay by saying,

"Oh! It's just red, Mom. It's just red."

Ha! Hilarious! I guess we haven't really explained the whole blood thing.

These pictures were taken the next day.

My guess as to what happened is he tripped and slammed his face into the pool table. When I asked him what happened he just showed me the pool table and pointed at the lip or edge of the table.

Home remedy for ear aches... goes wrong!

WARNING: This is my longest post EVER. I have decided that I want to start using blogging as journaling. Please don't feel like you HAVE to read all of it. Someday I want to make a book of my blog for my family and I think I need to incoorporate more "journaling" and records.

In my family we have an old family remedy to help cut the pain of ear aches.

Here are the steps you take:

1. First you put a small amount of oil (any kind olive oil, canola... etc.) on a metal eating spoon.

2. Warm up the oil by placing the spoon on a hot stove burner. (You test the oil on your wrist to make sure it's not burning hot.)

3. Then proceed to pour the WARM oil into your infected ear.

Now as strange as this sounds it actually helps a lot. It doesn't cure the ear ache or make it go away but it definitely helps soothe the excruciating pain.

So... a few weeks ago I had a terrible ear ache. I definitely think that adults need to get ear infections occasionally so they can empathize with children who get them all the time! Anyways, I was sick, Ron had been working a lot and my wonderfully thoughtful mother stopped by to check on me. Being the sweet woman she is, she offered to warm up the oil and pour it in my ear. (You can't really do it yourself).

She then proceeded to my kitchen and got right to work. She knows my kitchen pretty well so she just helped herself to a spoon from my drawer, my oil, and started warming up my stove. After testing for warmth she instructs me to tip my head and she pours the oil in my ear. She had other errands to run so she wasn't able to stay long and left with a hug.

After she left I was cleaning my kitchen while holding a cotton ball to my ear. As I removed the cotton ball a few mins. later to throw it away I glanced at it and thought to myself, "huh. This oil looks pretty orange... now that I think about it, I just bought a new thing of oil... how did my mom open the oil so fast?..." As these odd thoughts are processing I glance at my kitchen counter and see this:

Oh no! I called my mom immediately with the intention of NOT telling her what I think she did to my ear but... it kinda slipped out. I just wanted to ask her what "oil" she had used and where she got it! After our conversation we put 2 and 2 together and figured out that...

YES my mom poured warm Palmolive dish soap into my ear!

Uhhhhh... what now?

In my mom's defense I just got that fancy soap dispenser for Christmas from a good friend of mine. AND the soap dispenser said "Oil Bottle" on the label! ha! She felt soooooooooo bad!

A few mins. later I got a call from my aunt in Idaho telling me to call poison control and get in the shower and rinse my ear thoroughly! My mom had called her mother (my grandma who lives in Idaho) to tell her what she had done and ask for help. I guess we never grow out of needing our mother's advice and counsel. I love you mom and love that we have this story to remember our blonde moments!

As you can see I removed the label from the soap dispenser so NO ONE else will confuse my dish washing soap for oil again!

Colter's Birthday!

Mason's Best friend Colter turned 3 today! I usually watch Colter and his sister Sydney every Thursday. Colter's birthday just happened to fall on a Thursday. Mason was so excited to plan a birthday party for Colter. We hung up streamers, balloons and made a basketball cake.

Sorry it's mostly me singing. Every time I stopped singing Mason would stop! (Also, we are in the process of potty training and Mason didn't want to put his pants back on! Sorry! :)

As I was blowing the balloons up and then tying ribbon on them Mason came up to me and said, "Ahhhh! That's so Beautiful mom!" (He was referring to the balloons having ribbon on them!) :)

YUM! They wouldn't look at me for the picture. here they are both saying "Cheese"! (Noah had already eaten his pitiful piece of cake, and is begging for more!)

Happy Birthday Colter! We love you!