Friday, July 20, 2012

Hap Bir Day!

We've been celebrating birthday for a week and a half.  Tom loves it!  His birthday was on Tuesday, the 10th, but we held back most of the celebrating until Thursday, when Pris, Ruth and Levi were stopping for the night on their way to Utah.  Tommy was sooo excited to see them.  After all the initial excitement was out, we went out the the lake.  We played in the sand and water, tossed a football, and walked on the nature trail.  I'll share pictures when I get them from Pris.  She's the one who took pictures.
We had Tommy's Little Debbie Chocolate Chip Creme Cookies, that he picked out himself.  I put his on a plate and stuck two candles in it.  Enjoy the video here, because I'm tired of trying to load it on blogger: http://youtu.be/nVF1veVkA5Q

Then we went upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms where Tom's presents were hidden.  He opened the lawn mower first.


Then he discovered the tool bench, tools and hard hat.


 
There was money hidden under Nana's pillow, which he was overjoyed to receive.  He promptly ran to his room to put it in his piggy bank.  He's saving for a swing set.




Back to work.


Levi, Ruth and Nana


Another new toy that entertained the 4 kids.  What are those toys called anyway?
 


Yesterday was Tommy's birthday party.  We were going to be at the park, but the heat forced us to stay at home.  I went to Dollar General to pick up hats, balloons and noise makers for entertainment.  Tom and Katie are party naturals.


Tommy decorated a special birthday chair for himself.


Our neighbor Landry, who's birthday is July 7, liked the music and helium balloons.


Katie, who is teething, liked sitting with our bishop.  They're good friends.


Two boys, a hard hat, foam sword and a helium balloon.


A knighting ceremony?


Tommy still needed help with presents this year.  Five-year-old Brexton and I had to help him look beyond the cool designs of the bags and tissue paper.


Tommy got pennies, nickels and dimes for his piggy bank; walkie-talkies with batteries; hot wheels; and a cardboard book set.  Flo, he loves the books!  He took them up to bed last night so he could read until he fell asleep.  It was the only way he'd consent to go.


Hap Bir Day!!


We only had to sing twice this time.  The second time after he blew out the candles, he quickly whipped out the candles with one had and dropped them on the plate as the other hand shoved the cookie into his mouth.  I was surprised at the speed of those little fingers.


He got bored during the second time we sang, and turned to play with a new car race track, which is a hand-me-down toy from Nana's friend Mary, who Tommy loves.  It conveniently arrived shortly before the party.





Fun things from our kids that I forgot to include in the last blog post: Tommy says "Yuh you!' now.  (Love you!)   He just started last Friday and it's sooooo wonderful to finally hear.  He's starting to say it spontaneously, too.  He'll drop toys he's playing with to run across the room and give me a hug and kiss and say, "Yuh you!"  He says it on the phone to Grandma, Jake, Bumpa, etc.

A couple days ago, I was changing a dirty diaper of Tommy's.  This one didn't require butt cream, as some recent ones have, so Tommy told me, "Poop. Hurt. No. Good job, Mom."  Then he stood up (I was done), gave me a hug (a real one with a good squeeze and hold), and told me "Yuh you!"  Melted my heart.

Since the reunion in June and the introduction of foam swords into Tommy's life, everything has become a sword: chopsticks, pencils, pennies, forks, spoons, knives, etc.

Being a mom requires you to make full use of the 4 limbs you're blessed with, so I often have to pick things up with my toes, or close drawers, doors, etc, with my feet.  Tommy just closed a drawer with his foot after getting a straw for his juice.  Since it was the second drawer up from the bottom, it was a little high for him to try that, so he held on to the whole cabinet.

What the World Needs Now

Is love, sweet love.

 I turned on the computer this morning because Tommy wanted to listen to The Duck Song.  The first thing to greet me, however, was the news of the Colorado shooting on my MSN homepage.  Still a bit in shock and awe at the incredulity, I'm finding it difficult to write, this being my second intent in turning on the computer.  But I suppose that at a time like this, it's not trivial, but rather important to still remember that there is good and innocence in the world.

We've been having lots of fun lately and will probably have to start getting creative as this heat persists.


Tommy wanted me to put makeup on one morning, and he wanted to put it on himself, too.  He refused my offer of help.




Everytime I go to put on a pair of shoes, one or both are missing from where I left them.  Culprit identified.



I'm actually impressed at how well he walks in those shoes.



I got Tommy some jumbo pom poms to play with.  We keep them in an egg carton, pick them up with tongs, and cook them in a pan with a spoon, or in this muffin tin.  Tom tells me they are either "mussins" or cookies.



On a day that I was already a bit frazzled and needed just a couple extra minutes in the bathroom to try and find sanity...


Momma took too long in the bathroom.


Don't let his face fool you; we love bike rides!  He just woke up from his nap.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Loads of Pictures

Tom likes picking out sexy hats when we go shopping.


This is when Katie discovered that she could sit up in the stroller.



She liked reaching forward to whack Tom's head.

Little girl stands up everywhere on everything.

One really hot night, Tommy came down to the basement with us and fell asleep on the couch.  He slept there til 9 in the morning.

He climbed himself in there so it would be easier to throw the balls out.


When we were painting our basement, we moved our tv up to our bedroom.  Tom became a professional lounger.  He thanked me for propping up the pillows.

Every time he drives the mini van, he needs keys, music and his seatbelt.



Eh?

Big, toothless grin.  This one is wall worthy.


I took the kids down to the park and we stopped at the mulberry bush on the way.  Two Tom fistfuls later, he went to the park (50 yards away) by himself without my knowing because I was picking more berries that he asked me for. 


We love each other.


Katie loves to play with her dada.

For a while, this was the only way Tom could be convinced to go down the slide.  He's grown out of that now.


Weeks ago, I took Tom and Katie to the airport half a mile away.  We asked if we could go into the hanger and look at the planes.  The owner allowed much more than that.



Tom got to sit in the cockpit!


We were invited to come back any time we want, and he said that when the weather is better (not so unbearably hot), he'll take Tommy up for a ride!

Katie loves crawling through our coffee tables.


We went for a walk and Tommy had to stop to look over the bridge at the water.


Katie's 4th of July outfit, picked out by Lori and Ruth, on my bill.



Tommy loves his new bubble lawn mower that he got for his birthday.  He pushed it to the mailbox (a block and a half away) and back when we went out for the mail.

Double Dates

We've been having a lot of double dates with our kids lately.  It's so fun to include them on our dates.

Date 1:

We went to a park that has more than 2 swings, so we could actually push both kids in their own swings.  Then we decided to pick up Subway for a picnic at the lake.


We ate dessert first--cookies on the way to the lake.  Tom had chocolate chip.



Despite Katie's face, we really did have a fun time exploring the nature trail.  We saw several deer!


Date 2:


We actually played in the lake and sand this time.








I love this picture.


Date 3:

This was such a fun date! On Saturday, we went to Logan (half an hour away) to go to the Hansen Museum.  Some guy years ago struck oil and when he died, he left all his money to build and support this museum, and for scholarships and other stuff to help the area.  The museum has a large collection of world coins and spoons collected from the Hansens' travels, guns, Japanese clothing and laquer ware from the nearly 50 years Mrs. Hansen spent as a missionary in Japan.  Their main gallery rotates exhibits and currently displays art from John Steuart Curry.

We also went to Main Street Pizza.  Holy cow, that was some mouthwatering pizza!  Absolutely divine. The wings were fantastic, too.


Tom liked the ranch dressing the best.


This is his new pose for the camera.


Tom posing, again.


When Tom couldn't get any more ranch with his fork, Shad provided a straw.


Love the peek:)


Happy Tom