Out to Eat!

8/21/12 - We went out to eat at Chuck-a-Rama after being out late. It was way better than we both remembered and the boys enjoyed their choice of foods to pick from. Isaac was being silly with this nilla wafer and just kept it in his mouth hanging out for a while. Just wanted to share these cute pictures while I'm on a role of catching up.

Dinosaurs!

With two little boys in tow, I don't usually do spontaneous outings, but Tuesday my sister Maria reminded me that it was the last $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point. This means you can get into their different venues for only $2 on those days. So just before leaving work we decided to go and we all had a lot of fun. We went to the Dinosaur Museum there and basically just let the boys run around with the rest of the tons of kiddos there. We were lucky to have Maria join us too.

Best picture we got of these two the whole night! (Mostly because Isaac was still strapped into the stroller.)

The flash takes away from the fact that this was a dark cave so Maria was turning on her flashlight app so Simon could see.

My favorite dinosaur, the Stegosaurus.

Simon standing in a dinosaur foot print

Simon with his favorite dinosaur..."the flying one"

This picture pretty much sums up how everyone was feeling at the end of the museum...

Isaac not wanting to hold still for even a second, Simon distracted by everything and Brian and I were tired from chasing the boys around.

I loved doing something spontaneous that turned out so well. The boys really did enjoy themselves exploring things at the museum and Simon really likes dinosaurs so it was fun to see him take in everything even if he didn't quite understand the concept of skeletons.

Surprise Package

Last night just before putting the boys down for bed, I went out the get the mail. I was happily surprised when there was a key for one of the bigger postal boxes in my mailbox! That meant a package!! I was even more curious when I saw it was addressed to me and Simon from my parents. I wondered what it could be that would just be for the two of us.

Simon was preoccupied when I brought the box in the house so I opened it up and read the note from my parents. The box contained a Mickey Mouse backpack with a few toys inside. My parents have been cleaning up their house because they are trying to sell it and move up here to Utah, so they have been going through old stuff and trying to get rid of things. The note my dad wrote was basically they found this backpack and a few toys while cleaning up the house and thought Simon would enjoy them for our upcoming Disneyland trip. I was so excited from their thoughtfulness. I new Simon would love it all!

As I showed Brian what was in it, Simon noticed the backpack and lost interest in everything else he was doing. He hasn't let that backpack out of his sight since (other than today while at daycare, but I had to force him to leave it in the car). I even found the backpack in his bed with him when I went in to check on him last night. He is just so cute!

The toys are mainly old matchbox cars but he LOVES that size car right now and there was a Toy Story Woody action figure and a little fireman. The etch-a-sketch may have been my favorite though! These are going to be perfect for our long road trip next month...hope they keep him entertained in the car as long as they do currently!

Crazy Hair Day

August 7th was crazy hair day at the boys' daycare. The whole week was themed "Crazy Week" so they had a different thing each day the kids could do. Our favorite was crazy hair day! Isaac's hair was crazy most days of his past few months so not much needed to be done there, but we made a spike in the front to be extra crazy.

 

Then Brian used his hair glue to spike Simon's hair. It was awesome!! His hair stood up all over his head and every time Simon touched it, he would giggle and say "it tickles me" so he was loving it.

  

This is by far the best picture we have of the two boys both looking at the camera somewhat smiling.

I just LOVE the look on Isaac's face in these next 2 pictures!

Pure joy...Priceless!!

Just cute, sweet brothers! Simon even put his arm around Isaac.

Isaac's First Haircut

Isaac has been long overdue for a haircut so I finally took him to Cookie Cutters to get it done on August 11th. I was too nervous to do it myself because of how thin and curly his hair is so I wanted to get it done by a professional for his first cut. Here is the best before picture I could get while he ran around the waiting area...crazy and impossible to tame.

 He got to sit in a car chair but as soon as the cape was put on him he started trying to pull it off and complaining and then when the clippers turned on...he was NOT happy.

 Look at that sad little face and the alligator tears!

We tried to distract him with the TV but you couldn't hear it over the noise. He calmed down a little bit whenever the clippers would turn off.

But then he did not like the scissors going across his forehead to trim up the front.

The stylist got him a sucker at this point and he was content to sit and drool all over while finishing the haircut. Hair (random peoples & his own) and drool mixed with sticky sucker is possibly the most disgusting mixture ever, but he was at least happy now.

He spiked the top to show that some of the curl was still there.

Simon enjoyed a sucker too while watching Isaac. He wasn't quite sure what to think about Isaac being so upset, but has told me ever since that he doesn't want his hair cut whenever I mention he's due for one. Simon occupied himself in this cute little fire truck hair washing bed most of the time.

Even though Isaac had a total meltdown and the worst one I'd seen, I wasn't sure how to help him at all. Simon's first hair cut he just stared at the lady the whole time and tried to pull the cape off. Luckily this guy was good with Isaac and really fast. The whole thing took less than 15 minutes and then we were off to get Isaac down for a much needed nap!

Look at my cute little grown up boy! That hair cut made him look instantly older and sometimes I still have to do a double take!!

Picture Overload Coming SOON!!

So we finally dumped all of our summer pictures from the camera to the computer last night and I stayed up too late going through them and remembering some good memories we've made this summer. So hopefully that means now I will have a chance to actually post about all our summer adventures really soon. Just a sneak peak of some of the things we've done:

• Seven Peaks Water Park
• Isaac's 1st haircut!!
• Simon's new bed rail (so he stops falling out of bed)
• Isaac's 1st birthday!!!!!!
• Isaac photoshoot
• Crazy week at daycare (crazy hair day & crazy hat day)
• Birthdays (mine & Brian's)
• And other random fun...

For now I will leave you with a cute picture my sister, Maria, sent me this weekend of when she watched the boys last month on our 5 year anniversary! These boys are just the cutest and they love, love, love being together. The smiles they give each other first thing in the morning are just priceless!

Blickenstaff's

If you haven't stopped in at Blickenstaff's at the Provo Riverwoods then you're missing out on some fun. They have lots of different toys and games, both unique and traditioanl. We love going here and Simon tries to pull every toy off the shelf as we go by because they all look so fun to play with. Simon wants out of his stroller first thing so he can ride on any toy he sees.

A few months ago we were looking for a puzzle we could get that was suitable for a 2 year old and we just weren't having any luck...until we went to Blickenstaff's. We found the best puzzle for our 2 year old boy. This wood puzzle was of different transportation vehicles (boat, helicopter, train, etc.) and it makes the sound the vehicle makes when you put the puzzle piece in the right place. Simon sure loves it!! And he stopped requesting the adult puzzles now that he had his own puzzle...goal accomplished!

Oh, and I drool over their bulk candy bins every time...now with this blog post I can treat myself to some!!

Accident Prone??

So lately Simon has had at least one "owie" somewhere on his body at all times. The latest, and possibly the worst so far, happened yesterday at daycare. When I picked him up there was an "Owie Note" for me saying he fell off his chair in the lunchroom area and scraped his back and he was given a band-aid and antiseptic. I wondered how bad it could be so when I saw him I lifted up his shirt to see if I could see anything. To my complete surprise there were 2 huge band-aids on his back. Poor kid, they took up almost a quarter of his little back.

I couldn't see much and he wasn't about to hold still for me to peek so before bath time I had to document the bandaging and see just how bad it was. Again, I was surprised to see just how big the scratch was. He was a tough boy when I took the bandages off but he sure wouldn't let me touch it in the tub to try and clean it. Poor little one! I'm sure it burned.

Brian got home just after the boys got out of the bath so he was able to see it and help clean it out with Hydrogen Peroxide and put Neosporin on it while I got Isaac dressed. Simon sure is a tough boy but it was sad to see him try to get comfortable while Daddy read him a book last night. He tried laying on his stomach but that was even uncomfortable. He even woke up in the middle of the night and just wanted to be held. Here's hoping it heals quickly and doesn't get infected.

I guess now is the time to go out and buy all different sizes of band-aids. Never had a use for abnormal sized band-aids until now. Here's to life with little boys!!

When I was trying to take pictures of his bandages, he insisted I take a picture of his knee owie too. He got this as he ran out the door and tripped down the stairs the other day at home. The picture isn't great but all these pictures were taken with my old crappy, slow camera and quick moving little ones since Brian had our nice one. It's a nice scab though.

Also, speaking of owies, he got a good splinter while playing outside at his cousin's house at the beginning of May. That was fun to get out! And then a few weeks ago, he had a HORRIBLE set of scratches on his face right around his left eye. Apparently he was scratched by another kid. But this was awful, especially because it was so close to his eye. It started to look like he had a black eye a few days later. I'll take the bumps, bruises, and scrapes to anything worse!!

1 more month...

...until a party! Isaac's first birthday party that is!! I can't believe it's been almost a year. Some of his recent things are:

• Eats just about anything we feed him and whatever he finds on the floor. 
• Getting better at walking but still prefers crawling because he's really fast. On the hardwood floors his speedy crawl sounds like little feet running...that's how quick he is.
• Adores his big brother! Those two are bound to be great friends. Even when Simon is tackling Isaac or playing rough, Isaac usually has a smile on his face and is laughing like it's the funnest thing ever!
• Is definitely still a momma's boy (much to Brian's concern since I am scheduled to be out of town next month for 2 nights at a work conference).
• Lately, his cry is more like a loud yell. I don't know where that came from but I wouldn't mind if it went away.
• Top 2 teeth have barely broken the surface! This will help with his ability to eat more table foods I'm sure. 

We all sure do love this little one!

Almost Walking

Isaac took his first steps this week!! He has been cruising along furniture soon after he began crawling and about 2 weeks ago he started standing up and letting go. But I couldn't get him to budge his feet after he let go. Wednesday night (4/11) I saw out of the corner of my eye Isaac take 2 tiny steps. I tried to get him to do it again and he would take 1 or 2 steps, but then fall down. When I got so excited about it, Simon did too but then he got crazy and kept attacking Isaac so I couldn't get any video of Isaac. He's still got a ways to go before he is really walking around, but this is a pretty good start. He wants to be like his big brother.

I can't believe he's already 10 months old and trying to walk! Recent developments for Isaac:

• He still only has his 2 bottom teeth. 
• 3 days after a clean bill of health at his 9 month check up, he was in the hospital with Croup for a day and a half (March 8-9).
• The next week, he was back to the doctor with 104 degree fever due to a double ear infection!
•  Started crawling March 1st.
• Already showing independence with eating. He prefers any type of food as long as he can put it in his own mouth! He eats most dinners the same as us these days because he doesn't let me feed him baby food much anymore.
• Much better at sleeping through the night again. If he wakes up in the middle of the night, he usually only cries for a few minutes, if that, and is back to sleep. Then wakes up around 5-6am to eat and is back to sleep for a few more hours.
• Loves the bathtub. I have often found him in a dark bathroom next to the tub playing with the bath mat after disappearing while my attention is on Simon. 
• He is super quick! Like I said previously, I can turn my attention to Simon for just a minute and he's already out of Simon's bedroom, down the hall, and on his way into the bathroom in a split second! You also have to watch your food carefully. He'll snatch it right out of your hand or off your plate if it is in reach, even if just for a second. 

These boys keep us on our toes but I LOVE all the sweet moments and memories I get to share with them at these young ages. This picture sums up these brothers' relationship...Simon hugging/riding/squeezing/wrestling Isaac and Isaac all smiles and loving the attention from his brother! Simon often sits on Isaac's back and makes horse noises. I can't wait until they are bigger and Isaac can wrestle back.

P.S. - I finally updated my blog header to be the current month with new pictures so check it out if you usually just use google reader.

Halloween Recap

The day before Halloween we finally carved our pumpkins. Simon got to go on a field trip at daycare to the store to pick out a pumpkin so I knew he would be excited to get to carve his own pumpkin at home. He helped decide what to carve.

The funniest part was that he would not touch the inside. Not even a little bit. He wouldn't help until we got him a spoon to scoop out the guts. Here he is helping Daddy scoop out the guts by holding his hand and making him do it. Such a clever, funny little boy!

Simon had to go to bed before the carving started but that was probably for the better. He enjoyed his time scooping with the spoon but Daddy had to help him get more than one seed per scoop to speed up the process. Brian and I finished up the carving. Nothing spectacular but it was late and we were trying to do simple and quick.

Halloween time is usually pretty busy for Brian but luckily he was able to join me and the boys for our ward Halloween party (10/31/11). They had dinner, carnival games, and trick-or-treating at the church. Earlier that afternoon Brian brought the boys to my work so I could show them off to my co-workers. They also completed my costume so they had to come to give the full effect.

We did a family theme again. Brian and I were zoo keepers and the boys were our zoo animals. Isaac was a tiger and Simon was a monkey. It was so fun and the boys were adorable little animals.

 My adorable, cuddly tiger!

 My little monkey!

 Brian bought this shirt for Simon and I love it! He got a lot of good use out of it during October. This was my attempt at getting a picture of him in it after the Halloween party. I guess his Frankenstein-ish look is appropriate!