There's a Mouse in the house!!!

Nathan had a great birthday a few weeks ago. The day of his actual birthday he opened some presents from mom, dad & Ryan. His favorite thing...Mickey Mouse!!! He has only had the stuffed Mickey for 3 weeks, but he takes it everywhere & has the dirt to show for it!

Ignore the scary picture of mom...we had just gotten up!

For his birthday we went miniature golfing & to dinner at Red Robin. He had a lot of fun. A few days later we had a family/friends party. Seeing as Mickey Mouse is the best thing there ever was, Nathan had to have Mickey Mouse birthday cakes.

Ryan wanted to help decorate the cakes and he did a GREAT job!

Nathan opened lots of goodies on his special day...

He loved blowing out his candles & he did it on his own.

Matt even captured a great picture of Nathan & Benjamin sitting together.

Thanks to all who made his birthday a great one!

Jedi Brothers

Nathan FINALLY got his wish & got a light saber. He loved playing with Ryan's, and wanted to "fight" with him...but alas we only had one light saber which made any "fights" very lopsided.

Even though Nathan is shorter he sure puts up a good fight! They love being Jedi brothers. Yes..we realized that Nathan's (the red one, even though Ryan has it) is the color of the "dark side" we knew we couldn't get him a green one because then Ryan would really want to trade since his favorite color is green! But in reality...they are the Jedi Brothers, just waiting to protect the earth!!!!

Behold our Treasures

Our ward had a harvest party at the beginning of October. There was lots of yummy soups, a talent show & then little activities for the children to do.
Nathan was only interested in the "fishing pond" where he got a bouncy ball. Ryan on the other had not only loved the "fishing" pond, but liked the face painting too. Here are some attempts at trying to capture the treasures they found.

Just to clarify they each got a bouncy ball and the painting on Ryan's face is a pumpkin...just what he wanted!

Creative Wrapping Paper!

Since we had such a warm October, I let the boys go outside and get creative with some butcher paper, food coloring mixed with water & spray bottles.

They had a blast spraying the paper, rocks holding the paper down, & of course the driveway!
Here is one of Ryan & one of Nathan's creations.

What am I going to do with 6 sheets of sprayed butcher paper?...use it as wrapping paper for presents for either the boys or for the family come Christmas or birthdays!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Our little Nathan is 2 today! He is such a great boy! We love his smile & silly hair!

He is back on the weight charts at 10% & as we all know he is TALL 75%! He is growing so fast!

We love you!!!~Mom, Dad, & Ryan

A Sweet Reward

Two weeks ago, we were on our way to Spanish Fork to watch our niece play soccer. We had to make a stop in Orem on our way down.

Matt turned off the car, (a 1996 Explorer we just bought from my sister) & when he tried to start it again...it wouldn't. Matt tried everything he could think of & I noticed that when either one of us would push on the gas pedal nothing would happen. We figured it was probably the fuel pump.

I called AAA & they towed the car down to Springville, to a shop that Matt's cousin owns. Thankfully, my parents came & got us & returned us to our home.

Matt & I decided that the boys had been REALLY REALLY good during the whole ordeal and decided they earned a reward. So off to the gas station I went & got everyone a treat.

The boys enjoyed their treat, especially because their mouths turned a bright green color! We are so proud of the boys & how they handled the whole situation. We have the best kids on the planet!

Back to the '80's

Yes, the boys really enjoy playing with some of my old headbands. Usually, they just put them around their necks and take them off & put them back on again. But this particular day the boys put them on their heads & then started running around the house. It was too cute not to capture on film! When I tried to take Ryan's picture he tried to hide in the couch...but as a mom I am quick & can take a shot in no time flat! Yup, Matt & I grew up in the '80's & our kids are bring the trends back!

GranDee's Little Helper

A few weekends ago, my parents came down for dinner & to play games. GranDee needed to make cookies for a church thing the next day, and Nathan wanted to help! He as become our little helper with cooking lately. He loves to help, but his favorite part is tasting the batter!

Craft Days

Lately, I have been trying to be better about doing little crafts with the kids. So far we have done lots of painting. But the kids LOVE to paint, especially Nathan.

This is a day we did "blob" paintings. My intention was to have the kids paint on one side of the paper & then fold the other side against to make a mirror image. It worked very well with Ryan, but Nathan had too much fun painting on both sides of the paper & then Ryan wanted to "help" fold Nathan's over.

As the boys were painting, Nathan looks over at me & says "G". I look at his paper & this is what I see:

A few minutes later he does the same thing, except he says, "S"...

He is not quite 2 years old & knows his ABC's and numbers! He even drew a "G" & "S.

Before & after folding Ryan's paper in half.

During & after the folding of Nathan's paper.

The boys wanted to keep painting after finishing their blob pictures, so I pulled out some food coloring mixed with water & a few straws.

I helped them get the colored water onto their papers & then the boys blew through the straws to make all kinds of fun patterns. As you can see Ryan had fun blowing in his straw while Nathan decided it was more fun to chew on it!

From 2 to 5

I'm a little late posting the events of September...oops! One Friday in early September I more than doubled my family (at least for a few hours!).
I've been taking a neighbor girl to & from pre-school on Mondays & Fridays. After pre-school she comes over to have lunch & play until her mom gets home from work. Her & Ryan play so well together, it is no trouble having her here...in fact most days it doesn't even seem like there is another 4 year old running around my house.

On this particular day, I was also watching another friend's kids while she did some errands. Instead of trying to figure out how to handle 5 kids all under the age of 5, I decided it would be easier & more fun for the kids to go down the street to a park. We packed up a picnic & off to the park we went. This is a picture of all the kids actually sitting & eating their lunch!!!!