The Vranes Domain

Carly's Cute!

2012-01-07T16:46:00.003-07:00

I haven't done an update on Carly in a while (since her 12 month update) and I know you're all dying to know what this little cutie is up to! She's getting 2 top molars in very slowly. Her hair is turning into a scraggly mess but I figure if I cut it, it will still turn into a scraggly mess a couple weeks later again. I usually do her hair in pigtails to maintain her hair and to avoid her getting too much food in it. She loves eating. Her favorite might be beans, of any kind! We had ham hock soup the other day and she was grabbing navy beans by the handfull. She has the funniest laughs and fake laughs and even fake coughs if it will make us laugh. She's already got such a sense of humor and it makes us laugh a lot! She's starting to walk a little more. She started "walking" a little after 12 months but after a few falls, she stopped walking much. Just within the last week or so, she's started really picking up the walking.

She's grown out of all her 12 month clothes. :( Even the ones that I've been trying to squeeze her into cause they're just so darn cute! Some of her 12-18 month clothes are too big at the waist. She was tall and skinny in her age group. Just the other day when I was telling the boys it was time to say prayer, this is what she did for the first time.

We love having a little girl. She is very social with people and "makes friends" easily. Her favorite words are Daisy, Mama, ay-yeah (said very quickly), and Piggy. You can thank my dad for Piggy. She "talks" all the time when she's happy and if you're lucky enough, she'll just start babbling at you. She always has a pleasant look on her face, like in her prayer picture. She'll just stare at you like that for a while.

She's SUCH A CUTIE!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-07T15:41:00.004-07:00

I know, I know, I'm super late! It's been almost 3 weeks since Christmas and I have been MIA! We did in fact celebrate Christmas, if you were wondering. We woke up early on Sunday, not to open presents, but to go to 9 o'clock church. I showed up earlier than the family (8) since I was playing 5 of the pieces. Anyone who knows me knows I like my sleep so this was not my ideal way to start Christmas. Not the church part but showing up early to practice with some people. I liked having church on Christmas though! It was really nice to focus on Christ's birth before we got to open presents. I convinced my whole family to come to our sacrament meeting so we were all there together. After church, we went home for a quick change and then to my parents house to open presents. We first opened stockings. Both boys were excited about their new UNDERWEAR! Who knew that underwear could be so exciting! (Landon's pointing to his underwear if that wasn't already implied)

We took a break to eat breakfast. Thankfully, since the boys are still young enough, they didn't mind eating before more presents. Heck, if all they opened was their stockings, they would have thought that was great!

Landon went right away to his easel. I knew he'd love that gift because he's always drawing. John got me a new phone (yes, the 4S) and the Friend's DVD's!! Plus a bluetooth. I got John the Xbox and Kinect (along with a couple games). He was totally surprised. I'd actually wrapped a "present" before Thanksgiving and said that was his. Really, it was just a crockpot I'd found for a good price. He'd been shaking a crockpot for a month! On Black Friday, I went out with a friend and we waited in line at Walmart for the kinect. Thankfully, a shipment came in making the number of units from 32 to 80. I was 47th in line. Then we went over to Target and got the Dance game for a Black Friday deal too. It was a huge success and I was sooooo excited. I had to come home and pretend like it was a bust. So hard to do but so worth it. And now, more pictures.

All throughout opening presents, we'd take pictures and say, "work it. work it. you love it. you hate it. Hate the present hate it! Now your sad about it." Anyways, needless to say, we have some pretty funny photos but just so I don't embarrass other family members (except maybe my mom) here's one of our "working it" pictures. Don't we look awesome!!! :)

One of the other Black Friday deals was this razor/scooter. He's still super timid on it but it's been great for his balance. He was asking tirelessly when he could paint all day on Christmas. The next morning, he got his wish.

And finally, my attempt at a Christmas photo with the kids in front of the tree Christmas morning right before we changed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Things I've Done

2012-01-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

With pinterest, it's so easy just to pin and not do any of the stuff. So, here's some things that are posted on my other blog canimakeit-doit.blogspot.com. It's been fun trying new stuff out and getting great ideas.

Real Random

2011-12-19T13:36:00.002-07:00

None of these "events" deserved a full post so they're all here together.

We are pretty big recyclers in our family. However, big cardboard boxes have to be broken down and tied together. For some reason, this is so hard for me and John. Like, getting out some yarn and actually tying them together is one of the hardest chores to do! We're always out of string to tie it with, the boxes are different sizes so the slide around, and ... well it's just a pain (and maybe a little bit lazy, but just a little). Solution: children are naturally destructive. Give them a cardboard box, and they are sure to destroy it. They break it down, we put it in a recycling bag, everyone's happy!

Cody, as you may remember from previous posts, is weird. He also thinks he's pretty funny. Example: Wearing and walking in my boots and his pants tucked into his sock.

Need I say more?

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2011-12-19T13:24:00.002-07:00

We put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving because Landon was sooo excited about it. So we put it up and decorated it. The boys were actually getting into the ornaments and the hooks while John and I were doing other stuff so we had to stop what we were doing and help them out. They were doing a pretty good job on their own. A couple days later, I'd picked up some candy canes so we put those on one night. The day after we put up our tree, we went over to my parents house and Landon insisted that they put up their tree too. So we got to help decorate yet another tree.

Reaching up high!

Trying really hard to get a hook on.

And the candy canes.

I know, super interesting post. I'm almost bored reading it myself!!

A New Blog

2011-12-04T22:19:00.002-07:00

Instead of trying to put crafty stuff on here, I started a new blog. I just didn't want it getting mixed in with the family side of stuff and maybe have people visiting it whom I don't care to read about my family. So, basically on this blog, I'm going to be posting all the stuff that I do through Pinterest. Hopefully it'll motivate me to get off the computer, stop pinning, and actually make and do the stuff I'm pinning. Anyways, the new blog is http://canimakeit-doit.blogspot.com/. Basically, if I can do this stuff, then anyone could do it! I may not be able to do it very well but I'm trying and hopefully I'll learn new skills! Come and visit!

Thanksgiving and Santa

2011-11-27T17:00:00.006-07:00

Thanksgiving

Parents House: 12:00

Chips and Dip: 12:30

Thanksgiving Dinner: 2:20 (not bad considering we were aiming for 2)

Cleanup: All afternoon!!

Thanksgiving was at my parents house again this year. I made the pies, homemade pumpkin pie (and by homemade I mean from a real pumpkin) and strawberry rhubarb (with rhubarb from my parents backyard). Both were very yummy. I also brought over some Hickory Farm cheese spreads with crackers and the chips and dip. Are you hungry now? Go get a snack and I'll wait.

Done? Right after dinner we attempted to take pictures. As you can see, we need to invest in photoshop. I need to learn how to photoshop the best faces onto each person. I love how John and I tried to squish Landon in the second picture.

So this is a big no no in my opinion but I did it anyways. I took the kids to see Santa before Thanksgiving. GASP! I LOVE Christmas but I hate that it starts after Halloween now! I don't like when Christmas decorations start appearing and I hear Christmas music in every single store. You know they're just trying to get you to buy more stuff!! It's still fall people! And there's still Thanksgiving! Okay, now to the reason why I'd ever let me kids see Santa before Thanksgiving. I was at the mall with a friend the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I saw Santa there. I was shocked he was already there but there was no line. I was so excited about the possibility of seeing Santa without having to wait 2 hours or being turned away or coming 3 times (see this post), that I decided we were coming back the next day with a camera and looking nicer than they did. I let the boys talk to him with the promise of taking pictures tomorrow. Flash forward to Wednesday, we are seeing Santa for the second time with only 2 people in front of us. AMAZING! And that is the story about why I did something Christmassy before the Christmas season. Now, we can concentrate on more important things.

Just the boys

Classic shot. Of course when you put a small child in the lap of a scary looking man with a beard they're going to cry. It was only for a couple seconds though and then she started really screaming. Santa says he remembers us from last year when Carly was about 1 month old! I wonder if he really did or just wanted to make be feel special.

Carly's 1st Birthday

2011-11-20T17:44:00.007-07:00

Wow! I know I say this way too often but time has flown by! It's weird to think that Carly is already 1 and not a little baby anymore. Although, until we have another baby, she'll still be our baby. At her 1 year appointment she was 10% for weight and 95-97% for height. She has so many facial expressions we can't capture them all. She rough houses with her brothers. It's hard to get mad at her when she's the one who causes one of the boys to cry. Although there was this one time when she grabbed a truck or something in her hand and then went right over to Cody and hit him over the head with it. She loves to turn the TV off and on which the boys don't like very much. She gets into EVERYTHING! Much more than either of the boys did. She pulls stuff off of shelfs, tables, desks, you name it! The other day, she had reached all the way up on the table and pulled off a cup of water. Nothing is safe anymore. She's not walking yet but she does stand on her own. She loves to "talk" and I swear has said Daisy. If you all remember that's our dog. She feeds our dog her food nightly and Daisy anticipates her dropping at least a couple bites. She's a good sleeper still. She wakes up around 9 and still takes 2 naps during the day.

I decided for her birthday she would like spaghetti. Which kid doesn't? Oh, yours? Well, my kids do like spaghetti so that's what I made. She made a mess of course but she was going to make a mess with her cake anyways so who cared!

Her many different faces. Okay, these are not all really that different but look how cute she is!!!!! And a totally random one of Cody making a ... face.

The cake.

What am I supposed to do with this?

First bite.

Nice, in the hair!

Who wants to play peekaboo?

I'm right here!

Wait, where am I again??

The last messy picture.

Opening presents. Of course Landon is there to help out with any present opening!

Cody's 3rd Birthday

2011-11-20T17:26:00.002-07:00

Cody's birthday is the next in November after John and I. He turned 3! And he's as cute as ever still. The way he talks is just too funny to me. He has the funniest intonations (I think that's the right word?). He's been potty trained for quite a while. He loves doing "reading lessons" with me. Although, he isn't half bad at them. Landon and Cody have so much fun together. Right now, he's into trains and big cars/garbage trucks/trucks. He has a huge imagination and I usually find myself feeding his train, or making sure that his clifford comes along so he won't be sad. You know, normal stuff! He's such a night owl and doesn't always wake up in the best mood if he's been woken up. He normally sleeps in till anywhere between 8:30-9:30. I LOVE this age and don't want him to get any older right now!!!! He's just so dang cute!

Licking off the candles from his cake and ... well Carly being cute.

I think Landon's face is hilarious! It's just a card that Cody's opening up.

One of the cards he received. He got to stick on the stickers. Another card he got, he got to color! Such cute cards!

A Piggy Play and "Matching" PJs

2011-11-20T17:15:00.005-07:00

Landon was part of a 3 piggy opera. It was super cute and I'd post the videos of the play but they are each about 5 minutes long for a total of about 15 minutes. And I know that most people would really not care to see 15 minutes worth of little kids acting out and singing the 3 Little Piggy story. So, for those of you who are dying to see it, email me that you are going to die if you don't get to see it soon or I will show you when you come in town. Hmmm, maybe I could get a couple people to come visit! Here's his costume though. He kept messing with his nose throughout the play. They were stuck on with tape so it was a little hard to keep on.

1st picture is at practice one day. 2nd picture is their costume.

Here's a left turn but almost all my boys' clothes are given to me from my sister. It's awesome. The boys also love it. Every time we get a box from her, I almost always have to call her up because Landon wants to talk to her and thank her for the clothes she sent. He loves getting new clothes! She sent these footy pajamas which Landon and Cody thought were awesome. Who wouldn't, right? They wanted a picture of them in their "matching" pj's.

And Landon said the funniest thing. He was talking to ... someone, can't remember, when he was saying how his Aunt Tami sent him clothes. Then so matter of factly he said "Tami's my friend". It just cracked me up! I know it won't be as funny to you as it was to me but had you heard it, it would've made you laugh too.

John's and My B-Day

2011-11-20T16:25:00.007-07:00

John and I were born the same year. Only 5 days apart too! We were both born in November. If you have a really good memory and have been reading this blog since 2008, both Cody and Carly also have birthdays this month too! Since their birthdays are much more important than mine and John's, I've decided they will have their own special posts. And I figured 50 photos in 1 blog post would be rather much.

So John started off the month of birthdays. He had to go to work and afterwards go to class so it started off late. He requested Papa John's pizza (so hard to make!!!) for dinner. Landon is very excited when it's anyones birthday so that morning, he wished Happy Birthday to his Dad and told him we'd get him balloons. Soooo, we had to go get him balloons of course because what would a birthday be without balloons! I also got a Happy Birthday sign and we had to get hats (which no longer have the elastic on any of them because Landon liked playing with them so much) for the special occasion. Wa-Lah! Now it was a birthday party! After picking up the pizza and John coming home, Landon was ECSTATIC to show John his balloons and hats. I think the kids love birthdays no matter whose it is. John thought the boys were just so cute how they were so excited for him. They sang wonderfully to him too. So, no pictures of my birthday but I did laundry on my special day! I know, pretty exciting, right? John had class on my birthday but he did come home and surprise me with a piece of the Black Tie Mousse Cake from Olive Garden. Really really good cake!!! It was perfect! I bet you're all thinking, "wow, what a sad birthday!" But don't! We went to Tucanos over the weekend to really celebrate both our birthdays. Without Kids! Now you can all breath a sigh of relief.

"Don't you wish your [family] was hot like [us]? Don'tcha .... Don'tcha."

Happy Halloween

2011-11-02T21:27:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween! The kids had a lot of fun. Friday night, we did trunk-or-treat at the church and they got a lot of candy there. Here they are on Halloween in their shirts! They're watching Super Why, the Halloween show. In the second picture, if you look at Landon's face, that's his concerned/worried face. Pretty, right?

Carving pumpkins:

Cody wasn't as grossed out as Landon was. It was funny. Landon didn't really want to touch it.

His look of, "eeeeeewwwwwww". I let the kids draw on the pumpkins all week. When they're done, I just wipe it off and we start over!

We tried getting pictures with our pumpkin. Tried is the word.

What's better than 1 sucker? 2!

All dressed up for trick or treating!

Carly wasn't sure about pictures at first but she warmed up to them!

The boys were cute as ever and people in our community were so excited to have trick-or-treaters. They made out like bandits! And that was our Halloween!

LA Trip

2011-11-01T21:18:00.000-06:00

My sister was getting married in LA. I thought it might be fun to drive out with the 3 kids. And did I mention by myself? It was actually not bad at all. The kids did great! We stopped in Flagstaff for a bathroom break, to pick up some stuff at the grocery store, and to go to a park. On our way to the park, I saw this awesome tree. I don't think I've ever seen a pink tree! It was even awesomer in person!

When we got to LA, my in-laws were there. They had come down from San Francisco. We went out to Olive Garden and then the next day, we hit up ... DisneyLand!!! We only went for about 4 hours but it was so much fun!

This is on the ride over. He was so excited!

The next day we went to Venice Beach. Cody was a little iffy about the water but he warmed up to it.

So ... I actually don't have any pictures of the wedding yet!! The whole reason for the trip and no pictures! The wedding was great though! Hopefully I'll get some pictures of them and post about it later.

Isn't Our View Great?

2011-10-11T12:12:00.002-06:00

We have a great view of all the balloons from our bedroom window. There is nothing to block our view so we can see the balloons each morning and the fireworks every night they have them. One of the days, the balloons were practically in our backyard. There were about 5-8 balloons that landed in this field right behind us. The boys loved it and even wanted the window open to say hello. Even though the "balloon guys" couldn't hear us, the people on the street could.

Pigtails or Antennas?

2011-10-11T11:45:00.002-06:00

I finally bought some little hair bands and me and John pinned Carly down and put pigtails in her hair for church on Sunday. It's the first time I've thought of her as more of a toddler than a baby! It makes her look ... older somehow? I know only 1 picture would be good enough for the majority of people so I posted 5! I expect to hear audible oohs and awwws as these pictures are viewed.

Aren't They Cute?

2011-10-11T11:33:00.002-06:00

I love that my kids get along so well for the most part! I see the boys always trying to entertain, play, or cuddle with their sister. It's so sweet.

I thought it was so cute that Landon was holding his sister and I made a comment to Landon along those same lines. He told me he was holding her so she'd quite turning off the TV. And here I thought he was being sweet! At least he was being nice to her instead of pushing her aside.

And just some random pictures. Landon will get in the car and say, "Oh no! Mom! We need to turn back! I forgot my sunglasses!" And Cody has been falling asleep in our room a lot some evenings. I can't believe how big he's getting!

Soccer May Not Be "The One"

2011-10-01T16:11:00.005-06:00

I had the greatest idea ever and decided to sign Landon up for soccer because he'd love it! Right? All kids love to run around! Well, we were a bit surprised by his first practice. He is by far the slowest kid on the field which is sorta weird since he can run away from us pretty quickly! He has endured his practices well. He also let me know that running was his favorite thing! Shocking since the other kids will finish far ahead of him and he's only like half way done with his run. It wasn't too bad though until they actually played a real "game", and by real, I mean mom's against the boys. And we went easy on them too! But Landon was not fast enough to get the ball. It was very sad. He started crying because there were too many people trying to get 1 little ball! His coach pulled him aside to talk with him and help him out. Then he told him to go get him the ball. So Landon goes out and keeps telling the other kids, "I need the ball! I need the ball!" crying all the while. It was a proud moment for me. So, like any good mom, I bribed him with Chick-Fila. I told him that if he didn't cry during the next practice, we'd go out afterwards to Chick-Fila. It worked! Now, he just runs at the back of the pack going every which way. I'm not even sure if he's trying to get the ball anymore but if he's running himself tired, I'm all for that!

Running all by his lonesome and looking really confused at practice!

First Game: Their team "won" and I put it in quotation marks because his league doesn't keep score. All I know is that the other team only scored once which I was pretty happy for them. Our team has some very competitive kids on it. I know you're wondering if Landon's one of them ... he's not. It was hilarious watching some kids. There were the ones who were smiling the whole time and just having a ball not knowing what they were doing, the real serious ones, the ones who ducked when the ball got thrown to them, the ones that went the wrong direction and almost scored on their own team, and the one who just wandered around (that would be mine). It was really funny and Landon's enjoying it even if he can't get the ball.

Spreading out. This was Landon's favorite thing today.

Done with his water break and running back to coach.

Best picture of the team. This is the closest Landon gets unless the ball accidentally gets kicked towards him. He touched it once. Woohoo!

Running ... somewhere. Not sure exactly where.

Done!! Look at that smile! Unfortunately, he's out of focus.

Second Dress for Carly

2011-09-18T21:58:00.004-06:00

After that first dress I made for Carly for the 4th of July, I was a little intimidated to try it again. I'd bought more fabric and patterns before I'd known what I was getting into. I decided to try something that was hopefully a little more easy. So I tried this jumper (New Look 6576). It was super easy and could be finished in no time at all. Of course, it took me forever to finally finish it off. I had to just put the button holes in it and the buttons on. That took me about a month with the help of a friend. And now it's getting cold here and it's a little short on Carly so I'll have to do another dress in the medium size. Things I like about this dress: took so little time, the buttons I found for it are flowers, the fabric is freakin' adorable, I found pink "bloomers" to go under the dress. Okay, so that last one is not really about the dress but I couldn't believe they matched so well!

9 and 10 months

2011-09-18T21:06:00.005-06:00

I didn't post anything for her 9th month but in my defense, she didn't do too much that month anyways! Well, she did start eating table food, started climbing stairs (oh joy), clapped her hands for the first time, got her first tooth brush, and getting in to EVERYTHING!!! See? Nothing happened in her 9th month! So her stats for her 9th month weren't actually done until she was 9 1/2 months old. It takes a really long time sometimes to get an appointment with her pediatrician. See, my kids' doctor is really cool. He's got an accent, need I say more??? I mean, the first time I met him with Landon, he said "why hello Landon" in this sweet English (maybe Australian?) accent! I knew he was the doctor for us. It was just too cute! So, I will wait an extra couple weeks before I see him because he's the coolest! And he listens to me when I'm panicking about strange things. What strange things you ask? Hmmm, a little too personal for the blog! So anyways, after I asked my strange questions to him, I asked him her stats. I know, long story just to see what her stats are. Now I've built it all up! Anyways ... she's in the 95% for height and 25% for weight. So she's finally back in the same "bracket" for height again from her 6 month checkup. Or, they just measured her wrong at her 6 month checkup. She's tall and skinny just like Landon.

So that was her 9th month. I know you're all squealing "Tiffany, Tiffany, oh my gosh we want to know more about Carly!!!" Don't stress. There's a whole other month still left! Although the story about my pediatrician probably won't be beat.

So this month, she got her first top tooth. I know, exciting, right??? I was running around the house with her super excited. She was really excited for it too. That meant that she could now feed herself table food even if I had already put it in her mouth! It's this fun game she likes to play. I put something in her mouth, she takes it out, looks at it, then if she decides it's good enough, she'll stick it back in her mouth. Things that this doesn't work well with: rice cereal, baby fruit, baby vegetable, baby food in general! She now climbs up the stairs regularly. Many times, we have to catch her before she tries to go down the stairs face front. Completely normal of course. She learned to clap just yesterday "on command". She's really proud of it too. She's walking along furniture and has gotten more gutsy to go from the couch to the ottoman or a chair. She loves it when her brothers "yell" her name. I hate it but she just laughs her head off. I love seeing her play with toys. It is the cutest thing to me to see her with something in her hands and she's just turning it around and around with great curiosity. Daisy is one of her good friends (the dog, not a little girl. That'd be super weird especially with the next sentence). Daisy will "let" Carly pet her and Carly lets Daisy lick her (again, Daisy is the dog). There must be some yummy food that's stuck in her hair or on her legs, or face. It makes me very happy that my daughter is getting her bath from a dog. Nice.

And now, pictures of her last couple months. I'll let you guess which ones are the 9 month ones and which ones are the 10 months ones. I mean, there's a huge difference between the 2! It'll be soooo easy to tell!

And in case you had any doubts (because I totally would)

First Time Bowling

2011-08-14T21:03:00.004-06:00

We took the boys bowling yesterday and they LOVED it! They were super excited but mostly about the ball coming back through that ball return thing. They would throw the ball and then hurry over to it to see the ball come back even though the ball hadn't even reached the pins.

Here they are ready to go with their adorable little bowling shoes!

Cody patiently waiting for his turn. He's up!

Pushing it down. He's saying "there it goooes!" It's too funny when he says it too. In a little sing-song voice.

Yeah! He did it! And doing the funnest thing in bowling, watching for the ball to come back up.

Picture Overload

2011-08-07T21:33:00.009-06:00

There hasn't been much that we've been up to this last couple weeks. But there has been lots of playing, reading, and sleeping going on! So here are some pictures that show all the excitement and fun we've had!

These boys love reading and LOVE playing together! I'm so glad they're so close!

Cody will sit on Landon's lap just for fun.

I love how kids fall asleep anywhere and anyhow. Carly fell asleep in the middle of the room while I was vacuuming upstairs.

Making funny faces for the camera.

Oh my goodness this kid cracks me up! I don't think these pictures need any explanation!

Bed time! Baths and brushing teeth.

I think they were collecting rocks in their buckets. Love that they are still in their pj's and Cody's only half dressed. Such fun.

4th of July

2011-07-18T22:12:00.009-06:00

I'm just now getting to our 4th of July! We had a great and fun day. I worked out in the morning and then came back and grabbed the family to go to a gym BBQ. It was a blast! The boys had so much fun swimming with their Daddy and Carly hung out in the stroller with me. Afterwards, we went home, took naps and then went over to my parents to enjoy some steaks.

I attempted to take some pictures of the kids. Let's just say that about 100 pictures later (not even kidding), I gave up. Here is the anatomy of taking a picture with 3 kids.

1) Tell your kids to smile, and one will ... albeit crazily

2) Tell one of your kids to stop holding on to another one of your kids heads

3) No seriously, get your hands off her head!!!!

4) Mom in fear that child will attempt to crawl off couch

5) Attempt to change the position of children so that no one can fall head first

6) Try to get baby to stop trying to wiggle away

7) Tell children to smile pretty and not lamely

8) Good, good, now will other child look at mom while smiling?

9) Baby distracts other child and is trying to escape

10) Tell kids to hold baby up while she's making a good escape

11) Baby does not like this and other child is getting bored

12) Uh oh, baby really is not happy

13) Crap, kids, look at me hurry! And SMILE!

14) This is not working

15) Look through all the pictures you take and pick the best one. Meh, it'll have to do.

And there you have it! Happy 4th of July!

8 Months Already

2011-07-18T14:54:00.006-06:00

So much has happened with Carly this month! She went from rolling to crawling. She had this nice little "swimming" roll she would do to get around, to face planting when she tried to crawl, to crawling . She just started a couple weeks ago and is now also climbing up on stuff. She's fallen a couple times and also gotten stuck standing up. She ADORES her brothers. They can do almost no wrong! Except when they accidentally hurt her or take away something she's not supposed to have (or stuff they want). She loves to go for shoes. They are her favorite things to eat. We have to hide them from her. I have gotten really good at cleaning things off the floor because she will find the tiniest things on the carpet and in her mouth they go. The best thing she's found is a carpet fiber which she had actually pulled from the carpet. How do we prevent that??? Just a couple days ago, she started sitting finally! I thought that babies were supposed sit first than crawl! Her booty's just too little to sit that great! She is a really good baby. She's so relaxed for the most part as long as she's not sleepy or hungry.

She smiles A LOT! And she loves to laugh!

Eating is serious business

Getting around

Practicing her plank

Her Babbling

Her crawling

While I Was "Sleeping"

2011-07-06T10:48:00.007-06:00

We all got up at the same time one morning but I got Carly her bottle and took her back into my bed. The boys did their usual thing and went downstairs to color/steal food/(fill in the blank). After about 10 minutes, I went downstairs to get breakfast ready, and this is what I found.

(I am Marker Man!)

I don't know why they have this desire to color on themselves although I was impressed with the straight line down Landon's face. Well, at least it's really easy to wash off! Although, for some reason, I decided to take them to the park that way. I'm a great mom like that!

1st Dress for Carly

2011-07-02T19:54:00.007-06:00

For the first time in, well a very long time, I decided to sew and finish a project. I give you (drumroll please) ... Carly's 4th of July dress with matching flower/bow.

I had to get a lot of help from my mom and then at the end, I just wanted to complete it and sorta did what I wanted to do on the bottom of the dress but it works! The pattern was from New Look which I've heard is one of the worst to work with!!! So great one to pick out for my first project to work on! I love how it turned out. I added the flower on her dress. I also made her flower on her hairband. It's not the best thing ever but it does the job. This may inspire me to work on more dresses for her!

(Okay, I know the one on the left is almost exactly like the one on top but I had to pick from like 8 pictures and they were all too cute! So I had to at least have 2 of the pictures in there.)

She was the perfect model and didn't even need any begging or bribery during our little photo shoot! Plus it helps that we bought an awesome camera. Our pictures now look more amazing without even trying!

Ah, she's adorable!

Carly's 7 months

2011-06-23T09:08:00.001-06:00

It's been 7 months since Carly was born. 7! She got her first 2 teeth. They came in right after our Florida trip. Which brings us to her first trip! She flew on a plane for the first time. She did great! She ate her first vegetable and fruit this month. She ate squash for her first food and then the next vegetable she ate was green beans. She really didn't like them at all! I should have started her on green veggies first! She's been a rolling machine. She like to be on the floor now which has been so nice! She used to want to be held all the time but now that she can go places, she's happy to play on the floor. She likes to put anything and everything in her mouth! Her favorite thing to try and get are shoes. She also likes balls, stuffed animals, cars/trains, and puzzle pieces (like a lot). She's been getting up on her hands and knees and rocking but so far, it has just resulted in face plants. I swear she gets cuter everyday! No one can make her laugh more than her brothers. It's actually funny because I'll try to make her laugh and she just looks at me very seriously. Then her brothers will shout something or make a noise and she starts laughing!

Father Son Campout

2011-06-01T23:01:00.005-06:00

This was the first year that John took the boys to the father/son campout. I was a little scared for them to go but once I figured out that they wouldn't need me, I was all good! They had a lot of fun playing with their flashlights, playing in their tent with their friend Jaylen, went on a hike, and slept on the way home. I enjoyed the time alone with Carly. I could get used to this!

Florida

2011-05-31T23:53:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago, we went to Florida for my cousins wedding. It was me, John, and Carly! The boys were left at home with my in-laws. They all had fun, we had fun, it all worked out great! I feel like you just live in a bathing suit in Florida (besides the part for thewedding! :) ). It was a lot of fun. The wedding was great,the reception was fun, and hanging out with family was a blast!

The happy couple

Saying goodbye to Florida!

Carly's 6 month

2011-05-31T23:49:00.000-06:00

Stop!!! Can't time just stand still? I swear I just had a baby! And now, she's playing with toys, laughing like crazy at her brothers, working a crowd, and soon to be crawling! WHAT?? She's a cutie! I just went to her appointment and she has shrunk! Well, not really but we had to measure her again because my pediatrician said she couldn't have really shrunk like it said. She's, I think, in the 50% for height (see, shrinking from 95%) and she's 10% for weight. She has seemed toslow down in the growing department. She was only a whopping 14 pounds and at her last appointment she was 13.8 pounds.

She has been teething this last month like crazy. I actually think that there may be teeth coming in actually soon! I'm thinking this month it's finally her month to get teeth. She's starting to really play with her toys. Well, that means, sticking them in her mouth to chew on them. She LOVES her brothers and laughs at them all the time. She's sleeping better during the day and pretty much sleeps only in her crib and in the car seat while she's in the car. She loves to sleep on her side and she "talks" a lot. I love having alittle girl to dress up. I sometimes take more time figuring out what she's going to wear than I take for myself! I have to make sure her bow matches!

Landon turns 4

2011-05-16T22:04:00.004-06:00

I have a 4 year old! Crazy! I'm in awe at how much he's grown and how much he knows! He's a really smart kid and he surprises me all the time. He's trying to read all the time. He just did a drawing of me which was hilarious. I had a teeny tiny head with a box for a body. He's telling stories now, just gave his first talk in primary, and trying to play tennis and basketball. He loves so many thing! Reading, books, his Book of Mormon, telling stories about Sho Sho, his brother, his sister, climbing trees ... I could go on and on!

He had a birthday party. I thought he was so funny when he opened his presents. He was all excited about each thing he got. He was really excited about having all his friends over. I made up a "Super Why" story that I read to them and we found super letters. I think the kids enjoyed it and I got to make myself look crazy! My sister and I made rainbow cupcakes and for snacks, they were all fairytale related. We had Peter Cottontails tail (big marshmallows), twizzlers (Rappunzel's hair), gummy bears (The 3 Bears), deviled eggs (HumptyDumpty's great fall), circus animal cookies (Dumbo's circus), gumdrops (Hansel and Gretals snack), and we were supposed to have apples for Snow White but forgot.

Stats-

Weight: 43.4 pounds (50%)

Height: 40 inches (95-97%)

April 2011

2011-05-03T18:42:00.004-06:00

The big news is that Landon now sleeps on the top bunk! He has been so excited about it and shows anyone who comes over. Every night he's gone to bed telling me he's excited about sleeping on the top. Do you like the make shift ladder climbing "preventer"? Cody kept wanting to climb up it that night. It has sense been removed. Also, Carly now sleeps with them. 3 kids in one room! It's actually fantastic!!! They all sleep great and we have our loft back.

This was before he got his top bunk. I came upstairs one night and this is how we found him! He did not want to go to bed this night.

Cody shopping with me. He loves his hood on. And he loves the car slippers.

And on nice days, we've gone to the park and hung out with friends there.

Besides that, it's been pretty much the same. I did put my gym membership on hold because I wanted to hang out with my kids more! Since my gym is a little expensive, I found that I was going almost every day for a couple of hours to make the most of it. However, if someone wanted to do something in the mornings, the gym always came first. Instead of letting my kids do fun things with their friends, I was making come to the gym with me. So, April was the first month I put it on hold. It's been nice! So much more time in the mornings although I can't say it's always spent wisely!

Just a little about the kids so I don't forget some things:

Landon has been getting along great with Carly and Cody. He tries to help out Cody all the time. In the mornings, they usually sneak downstairs and eat some yogurt together.

This month, Cody's talking has gotten even better. He will and can say just about everything. He speaks in one word full sentences (if that makes sense). Like today, I walked in during nap time and he immediately closed his eyes tight and said "I'm. Closing. My. Eyes." in the cutest voice ever!!! He could get away with anything he's so dang cute!

And Carly, well, she's trying to eat her fingers most the time and if her toes are available, she'll go after those too. She also likes making lots of noise, loves smiling and laughing, and is just the cutest baby ever (you know in that way you just want to squish their little faces to the point where they start crying)!!!! (as I'm writing this, she is giving me her best smiles and laughs! and noises)

Easter

2011-05-03T16:07:00.005-06:00

I would have tons of pictures if we weren't filming both of our children during the Easter egg hunt. I had John's phone and he had the camera so we could both film Landon and Cody separately. A little much? Maybe. But it was 5 minutes of cuteness with Cody for me! We would help him find eggs and point to them and he would just say, "ooOOOooh" (The capital O is for when his voice would go all high). He has the funniest way of talking. If you ever talked on the phone with him, you know what I mean. Landon was very happy to help Cody find some of the eggs too. It would have been smart of me to get a picture of them with their Easter baskets after but I wasn't that smart so you will just have to trust me that they looked cute in their outfits and their Easter egg hunt was the best!

On Easter, we were lucky enough to have Elder Cook come to speak with out stake! It was so great! I was really nervous because I was playing piano ("He is Risen") for the choir and the piece was a little hard. Not to mention, it was for a whole lot more people than normal and a General Authority was there! Amazingly, it went better than I could have hoped for and it was great! I was relieved that we did the piece in the beginning of the meeting so I was able to sit with my family for the remainder of it. I had a couple people come up to me after and say, "well, I knew you played, I just didn't know you were good!" I thought I was just really lucky to have played as well as I did with being so nervous. The week before, we had our ward Easter program. I played for a couple people and sang a song called "I Have Not Seen, Yet I Believe". It's a beautiful piece!

I think Landon is getting the true meaning of Easter. Teaching Cody and Landon about the Resurrection just reaffirms that I know that he lived! That he died for all of us and was resurrected. That he now lives. I love the scriptures that say, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen". It is amazing to hear Landon tell Cody that Jesus died for us so that we could live again.

5 Months Old

2011-04-17T23:32:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how fast time is going! I can't believe that Carly is already 5 months! I need to tell her to stop growing. She's getting so big. She rolled over from back to front this month although now she has seemed to have forgotten how to roll over from front to back. She likes to be held, like all the time! We think she's teething this last week because she either wants to be eating or sucking on her hand, or chewing a blanket and when she's not, she's upset. Landon is actually the best person to get her to laugh. Cody can also make her laugh just not as much as Landon. It's funny because if another kid does the exact same thing that Landon did to make her laugh, she usually starts crying. There's something about siblings where she doesn't mind them getting right in her face or playing with her arms and legs. But if you're any other kid, she's not going to like that!

She is so cute! We love having 3 kids. It is so much fun! Although, I do have to say, with more kids, I don't get to spend as much time with her alone as I'd like to but at least I know that Landon and Cody get to spend time with her when I'm not. And now what I know you've all been dying for ... pictures!

I just think she's adorable when she's sleeping!!!

Keeping her thumb close by

You can't tell too well but Cody is patting her back. They were enjoying each other's company.

Hello!

She's was going to town on her toes one day. She was getting really good at sucking that big toe.

2 things she loves: Daddy and baths!

All About Cody

2011-04-09T14:39:00.003-06:00

Cody has not gotten much love on the blog so this post is all about Cody! He's almost 2 1/2. He just barely started saying words but once he started, he says anything you tell him to! The way he talks is hilarious to me. I need to record it so I never forget it. It's like he's talking in one-word sentences to make a whole sentence. For example: If we're going to my parents house he'll say, "Going?... Granddaddy's?... Grandmommy's?... House?" It's quite cute. He's very kind, well that is when he's not hitting Landon for kicks and giggles. He's still very stubborn and will sit in time-out for 30 minutes and still not apologize to his brother. When Landon gets in trouble and is sitting in time-out, he usually goes over to him to make him feel better and play with him. He loves holding Carly but only for short spurts of time. He likes to put underwear over his diaper but is not ready to be potty trained we discovered. He can take off and put on all his clothes and hates it when you try and fix his backwards shirt or pants so half the time he's wearing his clothes backwards. His favorite things to do it play with his trains, ride on his little car, and play with Landon.

He's Stylin'!

He's Smooth!

He knows how to relax and take it easy.

He's just a fun kid! And so freakin' adorable!!!

Arizona - Feb. 2011

2011-04-03T00:36:00.008-06:00

Did I tell you about the time I went to AZ in February? No? Oh yeah, that's because I didn't and I'm behind!! My friend from college, Alyssa (same people we went to Boston with) was going to be visiting her Dad in Mesa. She's from Wisconsin. So being that she'd only be about 6-7 hours away, I hopped in my car and drove over with the kids. We had a lot of fun just hanging out, deciding where to eat (Cafe Rio, Chick-Fila), where to shop (IKEA!), and where to take our kids. We have another friend, Mandi, who lives out there too so we spent a couple days seeing her too. One day we just all hung out at her place and the other day we all went to the zoo. You should have seen us all at the zoo. 3 moms and like 9 kids. Pretty impressive! John came out later in the week because his brother and sister-in-law (Jen) were out there too in Scottsdale. Jen has a gallery show that she does out there every year. I was super excited to see her art. Landon was soooo excited about her puzzles which she gave to him as a present!!! Those are the puzzles he has been doing. It was a good little week trip, and the kids did amazing in the car. One main stop to get lunch, feed Carly, go to the bathroom, and we were good to go! And I swear, me, Alyssa, and Mandi were there! We just didn't get any pictures of us!

These girls loved looking at Carly (and holding her). On the left, Brooklynn who's only a little older than Landon. On the right, Emalin who's almost 2.

At the zoo. The "famous" twins who are only a couple months younger than Landon.

Rub-a-dub-dub 5 kids in a tub

The Gallery

Going miniature golfing. Landon wasn't too bad. Cody still needs to work on not picking up his ball and placing it in the hole. But he had fun!

I just thought these series of pictures were funny. It was so hard to get a good photo! Didn't get one!

4 Months

2011-04-03T00:04:00.004-06:00

So I'm just now getting to writing about Carly's 4th month. Better late than never! At the doctors, she was in the 95% for her height and 50% for her weight. She's tall and skinny. I've actually had someone come up to me and say, "How old is she, like 8 months?" I think not! She's still my little baby albeit a slightly taller one with crazy stability! The doctor was impressed how easily she got up when he was lifting her up with just her hands. She loves to be sitting up in your arms and I usually carry her around on my hip. She started to arch her back when she knows you're going to pick her up. She loves to talk and make strange noises. Landon can make her laugh like none other! He'll do something funny to get her started and then he will demand that she laugh every time he does it again. She can't get enough of her hands! She loves to suck on them and chew on them. She will also chew on anyone else's fingers if you allow her to. The day before she turned 4 months, she rolled over for us (front to back) on camera! It was all very exciting although Carly was quite shocked at what had just happened. She ate rice cereal on her 4 month birthday although her first "real food" was fed to her by her Grandmommy. Some whipped cream off of a shake.

Now here are some pictures of her fourth month.

I LOVE sleeping pictures still!

Her 1st official taste of something other than milk!

Sometimes I have to tell Landon to stop bothering his sister! Seriously, I'll find him dragging her by the feet, laying on top of her, trying to pick her up! I think he's going to hurt her and then she starts laughing so I guess she's okay. (Man, Landon looks so old in the pic where he's holding her!)

Here he is trying to explain a game from my phone to her. She's watching it very intently which I think Landon liked it.

Her 4 month was on St. Patrick's day so here she is dressed in her green.

First Food

2011-04-02T23:49:00.002-06:00

I've always had my kids eat rice cereal on their "4 month birthday". Sorta just a fun thing I make sure they've all done. Since then, I can count on my hand how many times she has had rice cereal! We aren't too strict about it around here. These were the pictures I took in between videos of her trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with this stuff in her mouth!

Huh, it's not too bad!

I think my hand tastes better though.

New Obsession

2011-03-05T22:31:00.003-07:00

Landon's new thing is doing bigger puzzles. He received a group of puzzles from his Aunt Jen who's an artist. Her art has been turned into puzzles! The box has 3 puzzles in it, 100 pieces, 300 pieces, and 500 pieces. He can do the 100 piece on all on his own and can do most of the 300 piece one. The 500 piece one he can get the border on but that's about it. He was doing better than me though! He's amazing at puzzles! He comes down every morning to work on them.

Carly's 3 Month

2011-02-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

Carly has been doing great. She's sleeping through the night and has been since about 8-9 weeks. She goes to bed around 10:30 and wakes up around 8 to 8:30. The boys love to help out if I ask. Landon still tries to console her when she's upset. Cody will try and stick her pacifier in her mouth when she's sleeping (and she doesn't even take a pacifier too much). Carly really does seem to be getting so big so quickly!! It's like the first couple of months just flew by! She's smiles a lot and loves sucking on her hands. She sucks the 2nd and 3rd fingers on her left hand and sucks her thumb on her right hand. She'll "talk" and her favorite thing is to look at your face. She's so fun to make laugh and sometimes I find myself doing silly things just to get her to laugh. Is there anything better than a laughing baby? She likes to be undressed and she has been known to be a little demanding. For example, one time I wasn't paying attention to her. I was watching TV. When I looked down at her, she had been frowning but right when she noticed me paying attention to her, she gave me this big smile as if to say, "Hey, thanks for looking at me!"

She is such a sweety and such a blessing in our lives!

Here she is hanging out while I'm cooking.

Stretching in the morning

Look at this smile!

Can you believe this face!! So gorgeous!

Can you tell I'm a proud Mommy? :)

Things To Do When It's Cold Outside

2011-02-06T17:47:00.003-07:00

Run around "naked" (as Landon likes to say). Thankfully naked means take off everything but your underwear.

Go out to eat and watch the guys make pizza

Play with the "Cody" bugs

Take pics with your sister and try to stay still so Mom can attempt a photo opportunity

Do lots of reading

Share beds

Play with new toys bought with Christmas money (Thanks Great Granddad and Grandma). Landon picked a puzzle. Surprise, surprise!

Put the leggings that belong to your sister's outfit on your head instead.

Coldest Weather EVER!

2011-02-05T16:27:00.004-07:00

This week has been pretty crazy! On Tuesday, it started snowing. We were supposed to get even more on Wednesday but it never came. However, it was cold. Very, very cold!!! And schools/work ended up being cancelled for 4 days! Of course John got to go to work everyday because he's special like that. He did not get off. However, there were some business's that were without gas and a lot of houses that were too. And pipes began to freeze. We have been lucky and have not had any pipes freeze.

The boys got to go sledding for the first time ever. On Wednesday, I brought them over to my parents house. We went to a hill that I always went sledding on growing up. We only stayed maybe 10 minutes because it was COLD!!!! The boys had a lot of fun. Landon went down with my Dad first and I took Cody down for his first time. It was really funny because Cody was really nervous and as we were going down, he screamed this really girly scream. But then he started laughing and was okay. Carly stayed with my Mom at their house because like I said, it was COLD!!!

This was pretty much all the snow we got. Not much!

And this was the temperature.

2 Months

2011-01-17T16:59:00.002-07:00

Time really does fly! It really seemed like a couple weeks ago I was waking up at all times of the night to feed a newborn! I realized Carly wasn't so small anymore when I went over to a friends' house who had just had a baby the week before. They're only 7 weeks exactly apart in age. And Carly looked so big! It's not like Carly was this huge newborn either. She was 7lb 6oz and this other baby was 7lb 9oz when they were born.

Carly started sleeping very well between 5 and 6 weeks. She'd sleep for 6-8 hours and sometime after 6 weeks, I had one very lucky night where she slept 9 hours. It has not happened sense. She started smiling around 5-6 weeks too. She started laughing between 6 and 7 weeks.

So far she's been a really good baby and I've been enjoying having a little girl. The boys still mostly ignore her but I'm so glad I had them close together. They play so well together which has made having another baby so much easier. Landon has been really sweet trying to get her to stop crying by swinging her in her swing.

Her stats at her doctor's appointment were:

Height - 95%

Head - 90%

Weight - 75%

Here is a video of her laughing. She started laughing a couple weeks ago. Is there anything better than hearing a baby laugh?

Grandpa & Grandma's Visit

2011-01-06T16:54:00.001-07:00

The boys really enjoyed having their Grandpa and Grandma come in town to visit them. Landon enjoyed going to get donuts everyday with Grandpa. Things we all did:

It doesn't matter if it's freezing outside (under 20 degrees). Bundle up and go golfing!

Going to Red Lobster is really fun, especially when they pull out a lobster for you and freak you out!

Puzzles are super fun until they're all done.

Learning about static electricity entertains kids forever! Sticking balloons to your head and the walls are nice decorating/fashion tips.

Other things we did that are not pictures: Holding Carly, the girls going shopping, and jumping on Grandpa's bed.

Carly's Blessing

2011-01-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

On January 2nd, Carly had her baby blessing. John did a great job like he always does. John's parents came in town for the occasion. Carly was very good during the blessing. One cool little thing was when John was stating her name (the name she'll be known as on the records of the church), she smiled!

Here's everyone who was there for it.

And time for our little family shot.

What am I doing with my neck???

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T17:01:00.003-07:00

Since we knew we'd be up till midnight on New Year's Eve because of Carly, we had a little party at our place. My sisters came (Shana and Courtney), a boyfriend of one of my sisters, and my in-laws who had just come in town that day. John and I have not stayed up till midnight on New Year's Eve in a long time. We usually watch the ball drop in NY and then call it good! We started by playing the Kinect which my sister had broughtwith her. We were dancing machines!! It was a lot of fun. After that, we played some minute-to-win-it games. We were in the middle of some of the games when we realized wehad less than 2 minutes to get the drinks out and toast! After "freaking out" and some spilled drinks, we were able to count down to midnight. It was a lot of fun and I'd actually think about doing it again next year! I didn't take many pictures but I do have some videos that were pretty funny. However, because of the length and how ridiculous we all look in them, I'm not going to post them. I wouldn't want to embarrass anyone, especially not myself!

Here's Carly hanging out. She's actually about to cry.

A couple of days before, we went to the River of Lights at the Botanical Gardens. Of course we had to go on one of the coldest night that we'd had so far. It was fun though and the kids all survived! Although from Cody's face, you'd think he didn't enjoy it.

The boys loved having their Aunts in town. I have the best sisters around! They are so great with my kids and we always have fun. I don't think I laugh as hard as I do when I'm with my sisters. For some reason, we always have to get together and take crazy/funny pictures. With our macs, it's a ton easier to take pictures. We don't need someone to hold the camera! So we can now take pictures for hours without someone getting totally bored!

Our super mad faces (I think). Although Shana looks more disgusted.

This is our gangster pose although, again, I don't think Shana got the memo!

And then just fun pictures

For some reason, I don't have any pictures with Courtney and the kids but I do have some of Shana and the kids.

It was a great couple weeks hanging out with them. The only thing that would have made it better was having my brother and other sister come in town with their families.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T12:33:00.005-07:00

Christmas is so much more fun with kids! Landon's really starting to get it. He loved seeing Santa this year and both boys enjoyed playing with the Christmas Tree Ornaments.

Waiting to open their first presents

Landon opening his first one

Playing with one of the puzzles

Carly enjoying a nap during all the festivities

Cody opening his first present

Our first attempt at a nice family photo together.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas from Cody

2010-12-25T13:34:00.001-07:00

Leaving the Crib

2010-12-25T12:03:00.003-07:00

We moved Cody out of the crib so that Carly could have it. She now sleeps in the loft and Cody sleeps on a crib mattress on the floor. He's not doing too bad and enjoys the new found freedom. Running around like a mad man upstairs is super fun for him. So we have to lock the door. Too bad Landon knows how to unlock it. I have only found Cody completely under the bed once. Pictures were of course taken.

Early in the night - Later in the night

First part of the night - Found under the bed later that night

Third Time's a Charm

2010-12-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Going to see Santa is a big deal we found out. When Courtney got into town, we went to the mall only to discover that we weren't going to be able to see Santa before his lunch break so we left. John and I went back the next day only to see a security guard about 5 people in front of us. He was going to be the cut-off for seeing Santa before his lunch break so again, we left. So, in a final attempt, we went even earlier to get in line to see Santa on Christmas Eve. We saw that the line was shorter than it was the day before so we knew we'd get to see him. 2 hours later, we did.

The day we didn't get to see him, we let the boys play on this truck. They didn't know that if you put money in it, it moves. They had enough fun without knowing anyways.

Waiting in line to see Santa.

Finally!

Although Cody wasn't sure about Santa, he didn't cry! He even gave him a hug afterwards!

Landon telling Santa what he wants. He wanted a coloring book and a candy cane which is exactly what Santa gave him. Santa's the BEST!

Don't kiss Santa Landon!!! Just a hug!

Happy 6th Anniversary

2010-12-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

John and I have now been married 6 years! Last year's post, here, was a good rundown of what big events have taken place in our 5 years of marriage. The only big event that took place this year was having another baby! We are a family of 5!

What special things did we have planned for our anniversary? Well, in between having a baby, Thanksgiving, multiple birthdays (John, mine, Cody, and now Carly's birthdays are all in November), and Christmas, we didn't plan anything! We just ordered some pizza and hung out.

Here's to another great year!

The Newest Addition

Carly at 1 month

2010-12-17T15:47:00.006-07:00

It has been one whole month since we had Carly! She has rewarded us by sleeping 3-5 hours at a time at night! How thoughtful of her. She has been awake more during the day. She likes to stare off at nothing in particular. Although, if she's under a fan (and it doesn't have to be on) she stares intently at it. After about 15-30 minutes of being awake, she all of a sudden thinks that she's hungry again. She is a vivacious eater. She has reached 10 pounds and I think will be a chunker! So far, she is a pretty good baby. We can only hope that this will continue as any parent would hope.

Landon and Cody have adjusted perfectly to her. For the most part, they still ignore her. Landon only pays attention to her when she's crying in which he'll state, "she's hungry". He will also pet her hair and say "hey, hey, hey" or "shhh, shhh, shhh" imitating what I say to her to try and calm her down. It's quite funny. Cody tried to imitate Landon sometimes when he's trying to calm Carly down. Overall, they are kind to her except for the occasional forgetfulness that she is in fact there on the couch and must not be sat on. That's why I'm usually nearby.

I think most days, Landon is bored because we don't go out nearly as much as we used to. When you went somewhere almost everyday (gym, grocery shopping, the library, friend's houses, lunch, etc.) you get bored at home! I've been trying to take the kids to the park as much as possible.

And that is the first month with 3 kids.

Although Carly has a pacifier in her mouth in one of these pictures, she does not actually take them, just like her brothers.

The boys thought Carly's bows were cute and wanted to try them out themselves. These are one of those pictures they're probably going to get embarrassed about.

Hanging out with Dad

First Snow

2010-12-17T11:47:00.002-07:00

It snowed! Not much but enough to get excited about and dress up the kids. It took about 10 minutes to put on the clothes, take pictures, and get all ready and about 5 minutes to want to come back inside. But it was still worth it. This was the first time that they'd ever gone out and played in the snow so pictures were a must!

I took a picture of each boy with his snow bib on and then all dressed up. I thought their snow bibs were just too cute!

If you can't tell, Cody has his hands tucked in to his snow bib.

Still Living After 2 1/2 Weeks

2010-12-05T15:57:00.004-07:00

Having a third kid isn't as bad as I thought it would be! Of course, having a great delivery probably helps! The boys have been really good with Carly. They show almost no interest in her so I don't have to worry about them smothering her with their "love". The only thing I have to worry about is having them accidentally sit on her because they forget she's there. Cody has shown a little more interest in Carly. He wants to hold her and rock her and say "oh-OH-oh" to her. Landon will sometimes try to comfort her when she's crying by telling her "it's okay" in a very high-pitched voice and then pet her hair. Such nice boys! Overall, life is good. The boys don't hate Carly and they're getting along well with each other for the most part. Now if only I could get more than 2 1/2 hours of sleep all at once. I know it's going to be a long while before I get to have a night where I sleep all the way through. I dream of that day, and then get woken up by Carly to feed her again.

Since we're not supposed to go out with Carly that much, we have been staying at home most of the time. My first outing was to go grocery shopping with all three kids. The looks I got were priceless! I made the mistake of going on the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving! Do you know how many people are grocery shopping that day? I'd say almost everyone! Thankfully, the kids behaved very well.

For Thanksgiving, we stayed here of course. We went up to my parents' house. I made 2 pies, one apple, the other pumpkin. I decided to try some new recipes from Better Homes and Gardens. I thought they both turned out really well although they took a really long time to make. The boys napped while we ate. Carly was even nice enough to sleep too so John and I had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving dinner. And now, random pictures of the last couple weeks.

Cody likes having his picture taken

Carly looking calm and collected. This girly smiles more than Landon or Cody every did at this age! I'm not sure if that's a sign that she's going to be a super happy kid or if it's just a coincidence.

Cody holding Carly, us trying to get a picture with all 3 kids (so not easy), and Cody "reading" his magazine. He's checking out what he wants for Christmas from Brookstone.

She Has Arrived

2010-11-21T22:31:00.002-07:00

We had our baby! Carly was born on Wednesday night. She is doing wonderfully and this was the best delivery yet! Her birth story is pretty uneventful (thankfully because we all know how Cody's went) but here it is for those interested. We arrived at the hospital at around 10:30 in the morning. We had a planned an induction since I'd had a c-section previously and her original due date was the 15th. Here's her before picture.

At around 11:30 in the morning, they broke my water and let things ride for a while. Things weren't picking up very quickly, so at 2:30 they gave me pitocin. It was going nicely until about 4:30 when they said, "Let's start getting you ready for your epidural" (meaning extra fluids beforehand), which is when contractions got really tough. An hour later, I got the epidural and was so happy I could have cried! I was so comfortable and could really enjoy the labor. At around 8:30, things really got started and she was born a few minutes later. She had the cord around her neck two times but the doctor safely unwrapped her and she was completely fine. My doctor was amazing and I was glad I could finally deliver with him. Our baby came out looking around with her brows furrowed as if she was confused as to where she was. She didn't cry that much and just kept looking around. Here are some pictures of her and us attempting a family photo which was very difficult.

Here is the famous car seat photo on our way home and some more photos of her. Do you think if we dress her up in more pink, she'll look more like a girl?

Cody's 2

2010-11-21T22:20:00.002-07:00

Cody has turned 2! We celebrated his birthday with my parents and my mother-in-law who came in town to help out with baby number 3 coming. We had dinner at my parents then opened presents. He got a Mr. Potato Head from his Grandma, legos from my parents, and this cool train from us. I think we hit the jackpot on all the gifts. He kept going in between each of the toys. He loves them all! We had apple pie instead of cake because we'd already had a ton of cake for this month (John and my birthday fall in November too). I think Cody liked the pie even better than cake.

October 2010

2010-11-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Here's our rundown of what happened in October:

1) The balloon fiesta of which I have not pictures of.

2) My brother and his wife and 2 kids coming out to visit. Again, no pictures.

3) Landon's first black eye (well maybe second but this was a good one).

4) And of course Halloween! This was Cody's first time going and he was so cute!

Is This Normal?

2010-10-01T16:39:00.003-06:00

We Came Home

2010-09-30T18:00:00.005-06:00

We finally decided that it might be good to come on home before I had this baby! 1 week was just not enough time so we made it 2! We had so much fun with my sister and her family. The kids loved their Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. It was great. They probably didn't mind all the extra attention and all the cool "new" toys. My sister was amazing with taking pictures of everyone having a great time. It was like having our own personal photographer. I stopped taking pictures with my camera since hers is so much better. Here's a quick run through of our trip.

Learning how to play with his cousin Parker

Bathtime with their new cool towels. My sister found these for them and they were so cute, she told us we had to take the towels home with us.

Cody's new obsession, playing with trains

Going to the beach

Playing in the backyard

Going to a corn maze

Hitting up the local Krispy Kreme where Cody kept taking donuts. He's a fan as previously shown.

Going slip-n-sliding

Going to the most awesome museum for kids I have EVER seen (Marbles in Raleigh)

Going to parks where at one of them, they got to feed the ducks

I just think this is the best picture ever taken of Landon. Thanks to my sister for getting this amazing shot!

And chilling.

It was a whole lot of fun. After we got back, the next morning, Landon was asking when we were going to Aunt Tami's house. He really misses it (as do I). What can I say, we were all spoiled! Tami would hold Cody and buy them balls from Walmart, she took me shopping and every night, we had an awesome dinner. I could have stayed another week but I'm thinking that I would have overstayed my welcome! :) I'm just glad we were able to stay a little bit longer.

Staying Here in NC

2010-09-21T14:31:00.006-06:00

So, instead of going home today, we decided to stay in North Carolina for an extra week! We've just been having so much fun here and haven't been able to do some of the stuff that we've wanted to do so I figured, why not just stay a little longer? How many times will we ever be able to just stay someplace for a couple weeks and not worry about the kids in school? Things we have done this week: Different parks, scrapbooking, digi-scrapbooking, Krispy Kremes (the kids loved watching the donuts made), playing with cousins, going to a corn maze, and the beach. I think I've covered it! Here are a couple of the pics. Oh, and my sister has been amazing taking pictures with her awesome camera so we have awesome pictures of what the boys have been up to.

San Diego Last Day

2010-09-20T22:06:00.000-06:00

So, I don't know if this really counts as the last day in San Diego since we did wake up at 5 and left. But, here were just some funny pictures of the boys in the morning. Landon is definitely a morning person while Cody, not so much!

Cody is our night owl! He was in a great mood when we got home.

And that's it! Whew! All caught up on that trip. Now, I just have to blog about my week here in North Carolina! Coast to coast within a week. How awesome is that? No more traveling after this though. We are good to go! The next exciting event in our lives will be having our baby girl, or so we hope is a baby girl.

San Diego Day 7

2010-09-20T21:33:00.000-06:00

Our last day in San Diego was really fun. The boys played golf in the morning, we went to a cute little place for lunch, and then we all did the beach in the afternoon. I was really surprised how much the little boys loved the beach! I didn't know they would like it so much. John took Landon out in the water while I watched Cody which also included bringing him in to take a nap. Thankfully, I'm not much of a Pacific Ocean lover. The water was COLD! Landon kept coming in from the water saying he was cold. He'd the warm up and go out again. Here are pictures of our last day at the condo.

Yeah, I'm married to that!

San Diego Day 6

2010-09-12T21:28:00.003-06:00

After the boys went golfing on Thursday morning, John and I took the boys to the Seaport Villages over in San Diego. Unfortunately, we thought we didn't have our camera with us so we didn't get any pictures of the kites that Landon was enthralled with. Aftr the Seaport Villages, we went over to eat with everyone at Olive Garden.

The view from the condo. Pretty, right?

Isn't this just so cute? This is their cousin Jake.

San Diego Day 5

2010-09-12T21:21:00.008-06:00

On Wednesday, John went golfing (I guess I should have mentioned he got to go golfing every single day we were there!!!) with his brother in the afternoon. We again just hung out at the house we were at until it was finally time to go to the condo.

The drive over to the condo. He's one happy little boy.

Here's the latest addition at only 6 weeks old with his daddy.

Checking out the condo and the view.

Getting ready for bed after a long day.

San Diego Day 4

2010-09-12T21:09:00.003-06:00

We went to the outlet malls in Carlsbad. They were pretty nice! They had some great deals which we didn't take advantage of unfortunately! While there, we caught a video of Cody doing his latest cutest thing. He likes to say Dadmom all together. We only got a little of it and then we he saw the camera was on, he thought he was getting his picture taken and proceeded to smile for it.

After the Outlet Mall, we met up with some friends for dinner. It was great to catch up. They also have 2 little boys who are really really cute. I wish we were able to hang out longer but maybe next time! We went out to a restaurant called Farrell's which is known for their desserts so we of course had to order two of them! I guess everyone goes there for their birthdays because while we were there, there were about 15 of them! I think you go there because you get a free sundae for your birthday!

San Diego Day 3

2010-09-12T21:05:00.004-06:00

The third day, we woke up sorta late and had some fresh squeezed orange juice from oranges that we had picked just the day before. We then headed up to LA to the Getty Villa. There's a nice little place just for kids so they had their fun too. Afterwards, we went to Cafe Rio which is always a favorite.

San Diego Day 2

2010-09-12T20:56:00.008-06:00

It being Sunday, we went to church and again hung out at at my sister-in-law's in-laws. Debra (sister-in-law) and her husband came into town the night before so we got to meet their first baby Quentin.

Shana came down from LA to hang out with us too. So we hung out in the pool and went into the "garden" and picked fresh fruit and vegetables. We had a nice time just relaxing in sunny California.

All we need are some nice drinks!

San Diego Day 1

2010-09-12T20:50:00.005-06:00

For journaling purposes, I'm posting day by day about our San Diego trip. Not really too interesting for too many people but here it is.
We went out to San Diego for John's family reunion. His dad was booking a condo on the beach for everyone to come out too on Wed. and since Labor Day was Monday, we decided to leave on the Saturday before and spend a whole week out there.
The first day of our trip was obviously pretty uneventful. We were in the car for 12 1/2 hours which was actually really good! We only had to make 2 big stops for gas and stuff. The boys did great. Landon loved looking at all the trains on the way there. We left really early in the morning, at 5:30 which was really nice because this is what the boys did for a while in the morning.

And then the entertained themselves like this.

And after the long long ride, we ended up at my sister-in-laws in-laws (does that make any sense?). The boys were excited to get out of the car and immediately checked out their pool and pond. They started with just splashing with their hands, and the their legs were kicking around in the water, and then, they just jumped on in. They were so happy about it.

And that completes the first day.

August 2010

2010-09-12T20:31:00.004-06:00

Here are just some random pictures within the last month of the boys. Mostly of them sleeping.
Lately Cody has this funny smile when you tell him to smile

Here are some sleeping pictures. I've always thought that the boys sleeping are so cute. And yes, that is Landon wearing the same PJ's multiple nights. He likes to come out to the chair and fall asleep on that many nights of the week.

I just thought Cody's pose was too cute not to take a picture. And Landon woke up while I was taking this picture. Yeah, I let them sleep in their underwear for naptimes. It just looks more comfortable!

In the beginning of August, we were lucky for both of my sisters to visit on different weeks. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures with Courtney and the boys but she was here and she had fun with the boys. They loved having her around! Here are the only pictures I have of Shana with Cody. It was so cute, when we dropped Courtney off at the airport, he was so upset that they had both left. He started crying and saying that he missed Courtney. After he calmed down for a little bit, he said matter-of-factly, "I miss Courtney Shana". He really enjoyed playing with them.

Here was just a cool sunset taken from our backyard. It looked like the sky was on fire! I love Albuquerque sunsets. They're always so pretty and have so much color to them.

Summertime

2010-08-22T14:56:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, we made sure to enjoy this last little bit of summer that's left. We went rappeling in the morning which consisted of a little hike, and a lot of getting bothered by the gnats. John was actually only able to go rappeling while I made sure that the kids didn't plummet to their death! No, it was anything crazy like that but there were a lot of rocks to climb up and down on and we had to be careful they didn't fall. Cody LOVED hiking. I wouldn't have thought! At the beginning of our little hike, I was carrying Cody on my shoulders but he wasn't having any of it and wanted down.
After rappeling/hiking, we were going to be showing our house so we pulled an old family favorite of mine and grabbed some slurpies. There's nothing better to drink after you're hot and sticky! Then we ran over to the library for some much needed books and then got a call to show our house again! By this time, it was probably a good time to put the kids down but we decided to take them out swimming. They were having so much fun and being so good anyways. Landon finally has gotten over of his fear of actually being taken out into the water. He'll warn you though that he DOES NOT want to go under the water. As long as that rule is followed, he'll play with you in the water. Cody was having a great time with Daddy. After an hour, we decided to go back home, take baths and watch a movie. What more fun could you have on a summer day!? How about firing up the grill! We invited my parents over for hamburgers and hot dogs and a keylime pie for dessert! I know, we know how to live it up. Overall, it was a great and tiring day. Unfortunately, there were no pictures taken on all these adventures. We were too busy actually making sure the kids didn't fall or drown. Maybe next time.

This Week

2010-08-01T13:11:00.003-06:00

This morning at breakfast, this is what we were up to!

Landon is very into "reading" the back of the box

This was last Sunday. John fell asleep with Landon.

Landon loves all those kiddy songs but never sings them until recently. We just have to give him the opportunity to sing and he'll do it. Although, I have to do a lot of translating for him if he's singing to others. And yes, he's in his underwear. That's how we roll here!

Something Sweet

2010-07-25T14:45:00.004-06:00

Cody thought it'd be really fun to make a little mess while eating a brownie or something like that. He has this new smile where he scrunches up his nose and eyes too. It's just too funny to us. Sometimes it's hard to photograph because he'll do his smile for like a second and it's gone. He's thinking he is pretty funny nowadays.

This is how Landon rolls during nap time. He was obviously supposed to be sleeping. So much for his nap that day!

Nothing New

2010-07-18T14:17:00.008-06:00

Although there isn't anything special to post about, I want to get better at posting so I'm posting about nothing new! The boys are still cute (well to me), I'm still pregnant, we're still living in the same place, and it's still hotter than hades outside. So there you have it. Nothing new but at least I remembered to take some pictures of us doing all this nothingness. Here is our list of things to entertain ourselves.

We go to the park a lot lately after dinner. I will even take the kids by myself just because, 1) they expend a lot of energy 2) they fight less and 3) the kids Love it. Plus, our dog gets tons of exercise and the Cody loves seeing all the dogs there.

(Look! A dog!)

Landon's new thing has been his imagination. He has these imaginary balloons like you wouldn't believe. Just don't pretend pop one of them because he gets VERY upset and starts to cry. So, I decided to see if he'd make a cake for me. Which he did! I have the best cook ever.

Take random ugly pictures of mom getting fatter.

We take "mad" pictures. Cody wanted to get in on the action here. He didn't do too bad! He's the King of interesting faces.

Of course playing with water and getting soaked. (Cody's laugh at 1 minute is a little crazy)

And making dinosaur sounds.

A Baby Girl

2010-07-09T22:28:00.003-06:00

To answer some questions, the due date is November 15th. I'm almost 22 weeks so more than halfway there! This pregnancy has been very different than the first 2. I was SUPER tired the whole month of March and part of April. My doctor did say I was taking care of 2 kids but it wasn't like I was running around with them everywhere. I was just sitting there all day. It took all my energy just to get off the couch! Eating was difficult. This pregnancy was just different. I had hopes and an inkling that maybe, just maybe it meant it was a girl.
For those who don't know, Landon was supposed to have been a little girl. We were told, "I've been doing this for 10 years, I have 3 girls, that's a girl." And a week before Landon was born, oops, it's a boy! We're actually pretty sure this is really going to be a girl but in the back of my head, I'm thinking, what if!
Although the ultrasound technician told us we were having a girl, we were/are still a little skeptical. It was actually quite funny. The woman told us, "well, it looks like ... a girl!" And there was complete silence. No excitement, no smiles, no nothing! I think my mom asked, "are you sure?" It wasn't like we weren't excited, we were just, like I said, skeptical. Because, come on, we've been told that before! I did explain to her that our little girl before is now a cute 3 year old boy just so she didn't think we were totally not thrilled to finally be getting a little girl.
When John and I got home and told everyone, it still didn't seem real. Even calling it a she seemed like we might jinx it! I caught myself calling her a he or it. It almost seems like if you start calling it a she, she's going to change on you! I know that's not going to happen but maybe it's really a boy in there! He was just really good at hiding his stuff! I sure know Landon was!
Well, at least this time, there is hope that I can once again get out all that girl bedding and put it to good use. I was asked many times after Landon was born what I was going to do with all that little girl stuff. I let them know that we were going to keep it and wait till we had a girl. Well, the time has hopefully come that we will use it. You can even see it here since we posted it before! Now, if only we had planned on a May baby girl since all the girl clothes are for spring and not at all for the winter time when she's (oops I just jinxed it again) due.

4th of July

2010-07-04T14:20:00.004-06:00

This morning as we got in the car for church, we were greeted with an "interesting" smell. I was thinking, 'I know I changed Cody's diaper in here but geez, I took it out 2 days ago.' And then I saw it. There was the large package of toilet paper from Costco sticking up in the back of our van. We had gone to Costco on Friday night in anticipation for July 4th. We had picked up hamburgers and hamburger buns along with a couple of other things. We had forgotten to unload the van! As we didn't go anywhere on Saturday, the hamburgers sat in the car for the weekend. So our hamburgers that we got for the 4th of July are ... well, they're gross. It'll be fried egg sandwiches tonight!
And, as I'm sure many of you have been dying to see, here are multiple pictures of the kiddos!

Cody loves baths. Can't get enough of that smile!

I hadn't taken sleeping pictures of Cody for forever

First watermelon. The first time he was tring to eat it, he had his elbows way out.

Just chillin' in Mom and Dad's bed.

Landon loved those floaties for about 2 mintues. Cody's trying to keep his sunglasses on.

Proof that I have taken the kids swimming this summer. At least once anyways!

Now Isn't That Cute

2010-06-29T14:54:00.003-06:00

They say it's a girl. We shall see!

Landon's 3rd Birthday

2010-06-06T15:26:00.001-06:00

Landon turned 3 about 3 weeks ago. He was pretty excited about it too. For the last couple of months, I've been "prepping" him by telling him that on his birthday he was turning 3. So everytime someone would ask him how old he was (which for some reason, a lot of people did in the last couple months) he'd tell them he was "3 on birthday". The excitement for birthdays started because his cousin was turning 3 seven weeks before him and he called her up and "talked" with her. Since then, he was wondering when his would be.

Me and John are such great parents. We knew exactly what Landon would want on his birthday. Balloons! So we blew up 25 balloons and got him a placemat with sesame street characters on it. He doesn't like his plate on the placemat so it defeats the purpose but oh well.

My parents got him a ball (the kind you see in the grocery store) and a bubble blower which he immediately used until all the bubble solution was gone.

From John's parents, he got some clothes and trains which he's getting into.

One of the things he really liked were the cards he received. One had turtles that were holding balloons (which of course he loved) from John's parents and an elmo card from my Grandparents. He loved looking at them and letting me know over and over again that there were balloons and elmo!

I'm such a great cook and all that I decided to buy Landon's birthday cake. It had ... can you guess ... BALLOONS on it. He LOVED it.

Video for CA Grandparents! And anyone else who's really bored. It's just us singing happy birthday and if you want to know what the cake looked like, this is it. We forgot to take a picture of the cake beforehand.

Cody being Cody

2010-05-23T15:07:00.003-06:00

Cody's one of those kids that when he's happy, he is the happiest kid in the world. However, the next second, he could be the angriest kid in the world. But, thankfully, he's usually very happy. I have to say that the 15-18 month range is my favorite time for kids. It's when they start to "get it". You tell them to bring something to you and they know exactly what it is and give it to you! They start joking with you, being silly, and just knowing how to push your buttons. They start knowing what they want and don't want to do. They'll pull that whole "rag doll" thing on you. You'll go to pick them up and they go completely limp. It's the funniest thing because if I put him down, he's still acting all limp and will lie on the floor. Just laying there for a couple minutes. Cody has hit the 18 month mark and it seems like he has grown up so much in these last couple of months. Here's what he's doing, and I'm guessing that those of you who have a kids close to this age can totally relate.

He loves to climb on EVERYTHING! He can now climb up to his high chair, Landon's bed, the couch, and the ottoman which he likes to try to jump off of to the couch. He climbs on these patio chairs and I have to be careful that he doesn't stand up and lean on the back because it tips!

He loves being silly. He makes the silliest faces when at mealtimes.

Just lookin' as cute as can be. I think he was going for GQ here.

Loves to put on Daddy's beanie. Again, he thinks this is silly and makes him look cool.

He loves giving kisses and hugs. Not as much to Mommy and Daddy then to other people. He's also started to wave to EVERYONE even when they're not looking. If we're leaving a store, he waves goodbye. If we pass by some people and they're "leaving", he's waving.

Haircut with the Clippers

2010-04-30T20:09:00.006-06:00

We have given Cody only 1 haircut before and it was with scissors. His hair was getting so long and since it's getting to be summertime and all, we decided it was time to see how Cody liked the clippers. Landon is not a huge fan but we decided to do them both at once, like ripping a band-aid off.
Isn't his hair so long and cute??

So we started with Landon on 3/4 inch. Small detail but very important to the story. We thought it'd be short enough that we wouldn't have to cut their hair again for awhile but long enough that it wouldn't look like they were bald. I finished Landon up on 1/4 inch around the ears and neck. Not my best work ever but Landon was a little impatient so it had to do.
Then it was Cody's turn. Did I mention that I had just finished up Landon on 1/4 inch? Yeah, I forgot to change it! When I first started cutting his hair, I was thinking, "Wow! That's a lot of hair. Hmmm, it looks super short. Wait, what the crap!" I know hair grows back but I was so sad!!! All his beautiful blond hair was gone! He looked almost bald!!!
Well, in the video, I'd just changed the blade to 3/8 inch so it's still short but not super, super short. You can't tell too much that the front of his hair is shorter than the sides and back of his hair. John thought it was hilarious! And Cody, of course, didn't even notice. He thought the clippers tickled so that was a success. Next time, I'll just be a little more vigilant on what length is on the clippers!!

2010-04-09T23:37:00.000-06:00

He'll probably be wearing some someday! Good thing he likes them!

ABC's

2010-03-16T17:02:00.001-06:00

It's short.

Going Outside

2010-03-14T16:13:00.002-06:00

We have had some crazy weather lately but one day, I decided that the kids needed to go outside. They haven't had the chance lately so, after the rain, I put their coats on (a jacket would have been fine but just in case it got a little more nippy after being outside for so long) and did what any good mother would do. I locked them out while I made dinner. Dinner was easier to make and I could watch the boys from our window. Cody thoroughly enjoyed himself while Landon sulked outside. He kept trying to open the door and I'd keep telling him to go and play. He'd go off and moodily just walk around the backyard (I wonder where he gets his moodiness from). That was until I brought out the camera. Then he was fine. It's been so nice that the weather is getting warmer. Spring is my favorite season and I cannot wait!

A Photographer In The Family

2010-02-20T21:06:00.001-07:00

Landon absolutely loves to take pictures of anything. I catch him many times on my phone taking pictures or on our camera taking random pictures. I thought I'd share some of these incredible pictures. Life from the perspective of a 2 year old:

Here we are saying goodbye to Elder Kasparian.

Our carpet and John's shorts. Totally random I know.

I thought this was VERY artistic. He has his foot and John's foot in the same photo. It could be very deep.

The lamp that stands all alone in front of the window? I don't know!!! It could be artistic!

Of course pictures of us! Like the hand block? Didn't mean it.

And this is what Landon's view must look like all the time.

Half the time we don't realize Landon's taking pictures until he tells us to say "cheese" in which we turn around and try and get ourselves in view of the camera while twisting every which way. Poor 2 year old! Always having to look up at us. His neck must hurt.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T22:55:00.003-07:00

Although I'm not a big Valentine's Day person, I did carry on a tradition that my parents did for us. Every year on Valentine's Day, we'd come downstairs and at our place at the table, there were chocolates. It was always so exciting to get them. There they'd be, one at each of our places at the table just screaming to get eaten! They were always the same kind of chocolates too. It was 5 chocolate hearts wrapped in pretty pink and red foil. After each chocolate was eaten, I'd take the foil and gently scrape out all the wrinkles so it was as smooth as possible. So this year, I tried to find these chocolate hearts but didn't fine any in a flat box like I'd grown up with. So I found 2 hearts (one for each boy) that had 5 chocolates in them and gave them to the boys this year. We waited till after church to give it to them and they sure did enjoy it. Next year I'll have to be a little more prepared and look a little harder for the chocolate hearts wrapped in foil in a flat box.
All these men/boys in my life. I am one lucky woman!! I sure am glad I married John and although I don't need a Holiday set aside to let him know I love him but I do LOVE HIM!

Monthly Update

2010-02-07T13:25:00.007-07:00

I thought I'd keep my blog updated better but here's the happenings in the Vranes family.

Cody's first haircut! It's only been 14 1/2 months! We finally did it. I was mostly scared to cut it because I didn't want him to look bald and I didn't want my little baby to look like a little boy. The final draw was when someone mentioned how cute she was. He was beginning to get some legnth in the back. I could have probably put it in pigtails!

Look at that length in the front!! And the happiness to get the back cut!

He kept himself occupied with John's phone. And he's still happy!

A couple more snips and done! Doesn't he look pleased with the results?

I also got my hair cut. I haven't really taken any good pictures of it yet but Landon helped me out and took a picture of me! Don't be too frightened by it.

We left the kids with a friend for the night and went to Durango for some boarding and skiing! I haven't been in 10 years and it's been 6 for John. See that little hill behind me? Didn't look too little when I was up there! I was really timid in the beginning but I still kept up with everyone. By the end, I was doing pretty good! I was super impressed with John. He was really good and he's only gone twice! It was a great day and we were exhausted.

2nd Week Of Christmas Break

2010-01-17T16:43:00.006-07:00

The second week of Christmas break, we decided to head up to Utah. Here's how the boys spent most of their time.

They did really well. Cody started losing it when we were on our last leg (going through the canyon) but thankfully we were going to my friend's house in Spanish Fork which was great! It was so nice to see her. I wish I could see her more often.

One of my favorite scenes along the way is when you're coming up on Moab. There are these mountains that are beautiful. I have other pictures of these mountains but not covered in this much snow or at this time of day.

We discussed what we were to do while in Utah since we were just "hangin out". It seemed like everything was based around food. We had to go to Cafe Rio, Gandolfo's, In N' Out, and we even hit Kneaders.

Landon's first taste! And it's GOOD!

We hung out with family. We were luckily able to see almost everyone in John's family! It was great! Here is Cody with his Aunt Sara and Landon with his Great Aunt Sally.

The boys loved playing with the cousins. Landon was being a show-off and showing everyone how he knew his letters and sounds so well (thank you iphone app).

John was able to go to a car show and he was estatic to sit in one of these!!!!

We went to the aquarium which Landon loved and Cody was more like, eh.

And of course, I had to hit up IKEA! Landon was especially taken with this leaf that covered your bed. He LOVED it. He also loved laying down on beds and saying "I cute!". The first couple times it was funny. By the 10th time, it was starting to just get annoying. But, he is cute!

1st Week Of Christmas Break

2010-01-17T16:34:00.002-07:00

John had 2 1/2 weeks off of work over Christmas. My sisters were in town for Christmas and my brother came in town the day after Christmas so we enjoyed time with them. So here's what we did the first week after Christmas.

Played with our toys.

Played with our phones

Took breaks

Went bowling

Got H1N1 shots. They are very supportive of eachother.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-17T16:01:00.004-07:00

So this is almost a month late but this is what we did for Christmas!

We went to the Botanical Gardens where they had the River of Lights. It takes them quite some time to put up all the lights and it's really incredible. It was very cold! See the sock on Cody's hand? We kept losing mittens. Landon really seemed to enjoy it.
On Christmas Eve, we had out traditional waffles which the boys love. We also always go out and look at the lights. One house we go to has live singing, Santa Claus, and apple cider! It's quite the production. Landon didn't mind Santa as much but Cody was having none of it. We went home and read the Christmas Story from the scriptures and put them to bed in their matching pj's.
Christmas morning, we went over to my parents house. I have to say that having a kid at Christmas is so much more fun! Every present Landon opened was like the most incredible thing to him. Mouth open wide in surprise and then as the present unfolds, ooh's and aah's of delightment! It was sheer happiness! John was taping most everything so we didn't have pictures but my sister's took pictures, which I don't have yet, so maybe I'll post those later if it doesn't get too late. I don't want to be posting Christmas pictures in March!

Christmas Can Come

2009-12-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

It's over!!! I was in charge of the Christmas program again for this year. Last year, I wasn't so into it. I'd just had Cody via C-Section. Fun. This year, I was planning on only having 3 choir songs and making others contribute. That way I wouldn't have to do much! I only wished. I ended up playing for 5 other people along with conducting the 3 choir songs. I was also supposed to sing a song with someone but the program was a little too long and something had to be cut last minute. I and my singing buddy gracefully bowed out. It has been so hectic. Almost every night I had people coming over to practice. Add people (including the missionaries) coming over for dinner about once or twice a week, it led to some pretty crazy nights. But now I'm DONE! I can finally just relax and enjoy the holiday season, or what's left of it. I was very proud of the program though. There were a lot of people who came up and said it was the best program they'd ever heard which made me feel really good. I'm always so nervous to do anything in church because I always worry that it won't be good enough. Don't even ask me to speak in church because I get crazy, angry, nervous!!! It's weird.
On another note, I can finally catch up on the blog. Hence the next couple of post!

Handsome Little Boy

2009-12-20T21:58:00.003-07:00

I just think he's so handsome! He did not enjoy Santa Claus. I've always thought that it's a funny concept that Santa is this big man with a beard that covers most of his face and we make our kids sit on his lap. No wonder kids are scared! He'll learn.

One of Cody's favorite spots is in Daisy's bed. He loves getting in there in the mornings.

Potty Training

2009-12-20T21:00:00.003-07:00

Landon has been officially potty trained since the week before Thanksgiving weekend. He was a pro at it! I took one of my friend's advice and went cold turkey. I actually was just thinking of trying it out for a day but my friend said, nah uh. Once you start, you have to continue with it. No more diapers! So I did it. Landon doesn't even wear diapers at night! He's had a couple of accidents but he's upset when he does. I didn't realize how nice it was to only change one kids diapers now!

12 months

2009-12-20T20:54:00.001-07:00

Just for fun, I wanted to look back on photos of Cody and Landon. It's funny, a lot of people will say how much they look alike so I started this blog a long time ago just to see if they look alike and are now looking more different or if they are starting to look more alike. It's fun to look over these pictures and see the differences and the similarities between these boys. FYI, Cody's always on the left which makes Landon always on the right.

1st Day

In their car seats on the way home from the hospital. Cody's just a tad bit smaller weighing in 2 lbs. lighter than Landon. His little newborn hat didn't even fit!

At 1 Month

At 2 months. Both smiling.

At 3 months.

At 4 months. Check out Landon's hair!!

5 months. Check out those smiles.

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

Happy 5th Anniversary

2009-12-18T22:57:00.004-07:00

John and I have now been married for 5 years!! That's pretty big, right? It feels so weird to be already married that long. Here is a quick run-down as to the biggest things that have happened to us in the last 5 years!

Got married to the greatest guy around
I graduated from college in Food science
Worked for a year and a half (put my honey through school!)
Bought a dog
John graduated in Electrical Engineering
Moved from Provo to Albuquerque
John got his first "real" job
Bought a house
Had a baby
I started working for my mom
Had a second baby

I'd say we have had some pretty big things happen in the last 5 years. Here's to the next 5!

The night he proposed!

Engaged

Just Married

Our babies!

Late Halloween Pics

2009-11-20T19:50:00.005-07:00

It's a little late but here are the Halloween pictures. Landon was a pirate. I was actually pretty proud of his costume. I had picked up one from walmart and it was just so cheaply made and the hat didn't even fit. I returned it and bought the hat for a couple bucks at Hobby Lobby along with a hook (which he surprisingly held all night) and a sash. Cody was a bear just like Landon had been. It was a little tight but it was only for one night. Landon loved trick-or-treating.

Here's Cody wanting to go home.

The Loot. Cody's helping out.

Cody loved Landon's outfit.