Wahoo! Thank You Reed!!!

Reed is eligible, through work, to win trips twice a year. He qualified to win a trip about 6 months ago, that we would be leaving on right about now, but we weren't able to take it because of having a new baby. But he qualified again and so in September we are off to beautiful Hawaii! Ella will be weaned by then and Reed's wonderful sister has offered to take the kids for us while we go. They live up in Ohio and have 3 kids pretty much the exact ages of our kids. So, while it will be crazy for Carolyn, the kids will have a great time. Reed and I are very excited! Thanks for all of you hard work honey! I reap the benefits in so many ways. Love You!

On another note I wanted to share a little anecdote. It's no secret that Harley is a Daddy's boy. He would choose Reed over me in every situation. Last night Reed was working late and I was getting the kids ready for bed. I asked Harley what his favorite song is to hear when he is going to bed.

He said, "I Am A Child of God!"
 I said, "I like that one too."
He said, "When Daddy sings it," and then just to make sure it was clear, "Not you"

Just when you think you're doing a good job, your kids step in and bring you back to reality :). Thanks Harley!

I'm So Glad Easters Here!

We had a great Easter! As the kids get older and we welcome new little people into our family, holidays just get more and more fun to celebrate. The boys really enjoyed all of the fun traditions that go with Easter. We also had some special opportunities to teach them about Jesus Christ and the importance of His resurrection. Kason made us proud on Saturday when we were at the primary Easter Egg Hunt activity and they asked the kids why Jesus' was resurrected and he raised his hand and said, "so we can live forever." It really is amazing how much they learn, one might even say they remember. It was so fun getting them all dressed up for easter. Having a girl in the mix this year made it extra fun because we got to do a big frilly easter dress - Thanks Mom! 

Harley was asleep when we first got to Grammy's, but Kason cheerfully rebid all of his eggs so that Harley had some to look for when he woke. Harley was mostly interested in what was inside each egg, this was a common theme for Harley throughout the weekend (it was all about the CANDY!)

Grammy hid some Easter eggs for the boys and after church on Sunday Kason had fun finding them all over the house. He really loved all the egg hunting! He also participated in a great easter egg hunt the primary did for the kids on Saturday.

Here are the boys getting their baskets ready for the Easter bunny. My mom sent us some "magic" jelly beans to put in their Easter baskets so when the Easter Bunny came he could sprinkle magic on them and they would grow into treats and toys during the night. Harley had a hard time not eating all of his, but we eventually convinced him to sprinkle a few in his basket for the Easter Bunny.

Kason, very carefully put each jelly bean one by one into it's specially appointed spot in the basket. He was very into the magic jelly bean thing. In this picture he had just taken a bath. He loves to comb his own hair after his bath and stick it straight up. So cool dude!

Saturday after the activity at the church we colored Easter eggs.  Kason has a lot of fun writing on his in white crayon and then seeing it appear as he dipped it into the ink. He is very thoughtful and loves to make things, so decorating Easter eggs was right up his ally.

As I was telling Harley what we were going to do he kept asking if we were going to eat the eggs. I would say, "We are going to color some eggs." Harley would say, "and eat them?" I would say, "You can put stickers on them and dip them in the colors," and Harley would say, "and eat them?" (and so on..) Apparently Harley didn't see the point in decorating your eggs, eggs are for eating.  In the end he did enjoy watching the eggs turn color and eventually he did get to them.

Then the big morning came! Ella enjoyed he Easter basket filled with empty plastic eggs and two little stuffed bunnies that her daddy picked out for her (he had a lot of fun this year picking out treats and toys for the kids baskets).

Harley figured out fast how to open his eggs and get the candy out and he been doing it  with every egg he has come across ever since. Needless to say the eggs are of little value when he finds out they are empty. Luckily Ella enjoys the empty plastic eggs very much. Isn't the give and take of a family nice.

Kason was very please with the magic jelly bean harvest!

One of our neighbors made this cute  bunny cake and brought it over for the boys. They were very pleased with it and thought they were so funny when it cam time to eat the bunny, laughing as they ate the bunny's face, ears, tail, ets. What fun!

...Happy Birthday Dear Harley...

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

...well last night. We had a super fun V-Day. First the boys and I surprised Reed for lunch. We went to Olive Garden, during naptime, which was a bit of a gamble, but fun anyway. Then I got my popcorn Valentine from Reed delivered by a delivery truck, which was very exciting for Kason. And then Kason and I made Valentines while Reed and Harley made a delicious gourmet Valentines dinner. I am so lucky to have 3 such handsome Valentines! What a fun and love filled day!

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Read All About It!

We have some big news to share: We are expecting baby number three! We have been waiting until our ultra sound (which was yesterday) so that we had a better idea of the due date. According to the ultra sound technician, I was exactly 10 weeks along yesterday. Which puts the due date at September 5.

Here are a couple a pictures of our deformed little gummy bear (we are optamitic that it will turn out to be a beautiful, healthy baby, but for now it looks more like a deformed little gummy bear. Just about that size too). We will know if it is a boy or a girl in about 8 weeks. We are hoping for a girl, but obviously we will be happy with whatever the Lord has decided to send us. When I went for my first doctor's appointment she said she wouldn't be surprised if I was as far along as 10 or 12 weeks (and that was two weeks ago), so it was a little disappointing to only be 10 weeks, but we are coming to terms with it. Kason is excited for his new baby and we keep trying to ask Harley if he remembers who was coming next, but he isn't sharing what he knows. We are very excited for our new addition (even if it means being pregnant during the hottest and most humid part of the year).

Everybody Poops

Everybody but kason, on the toilet anyway. We have started potty training with Kason and we haven't conquered poop yet (i have thrown away more than one little pair of Buzz Lightyear undies). All in all it has been somewhat successful. We started a week ago with a timer. I set the timer for 15 minutes and then he goes and sits on the potty and tries to pee. If he does he gets a skittle. If he poops he gets two. We have worked up to 30 minutes now, but he still does not tell me when he had to go, I tell him. Until he makes that jump I don't consider him potty trained, even if he can wear underwear all day with no accidents. It does feel like we spurned a lot of time in the bathroom. Its becoming tricky to number one keep Kason excited about using thee potty and number two keep Harley entertained while Kason is working on...whatever. We have tried many things including: putting Harley in the empty tub with his bath toys, a space heater in the bathroom (very exciting to both Harley and Kason), potting Harley in the drawer by the potty so Kason can pretend to give him a bath, singing songs, reading books, putting the potty in places more interesting than the bathroom, cool push/ride toys allowed in the bathroom, etc. Is all very hard work for all of us. Any suggestions on potty training are welcome.

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Baby It's Cold Outside!

We woke up this morning to a fairly heavy and very exciting snowfall! I didn't even know it was coming, so I didn't prepare, nor did I prepare the boys. Obviously Harley doesn't like surprises. Kason on the other hand was more than willing to go with it. We made a trip this mornign to the store for boots and gloves. We didn't do such a good job with Harley's gloves, which he is meekly and gently making me aware of in the above picture. Don't worry, I didn't make him suffer for long, just long enough to get the picture.

After a soothing ride around in the Snuggly while I pulled Kason in the sled and looked for a good sledding hill (which we didn't have much luck in finding), he ended up in his usual spot; cozy, warm, and asleep in the stroller. What a life.

Kason's favorite part was riding around in the sled. Grammy and Grampy snagged two of them for Kason and Harley when they went up to Ohio for Thanksgiving (good luck finding sleds around here). They were meant for Christmas, but since the snow is here now Grammy thought that we better make the best of it. And we did - Thanks Grammy and Grampy!

Kason enjoyed riding in the sled so much that when we dicided it was time to build a snowman I offered to help him up (out of the sled) and he declined, telling me that he would just stay in the sled and Mommy could go get the snow so we could build the snowman right there. Oh and it wasn't a snowman, he wanted a snowKason. Not a perfect likeness, but close I think.

In the end great fun was had by all (as long as you don't ask Harley about the part he was awake for). I'm just greatful the this is our first snow storm of the year (in December, not October) and very well could be one of only handful, or even our only one! I will not be excited about any snow storms after January. I am doing better than one of our neighbors that we passed today who said he was already done with winter, I'm not the grumpy about the snow. I just get sick of being cold. So, horay for snow in moderation!

Deck the Halls

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. Reed brought one home last night from a place by where he works. It smells so pretty, but is spilling needless like crazy, which combined with the fact that the tree is not drinking the water, had us wondering if it will last until Christmas.

Kason had a blast! He was so excited to finally get to decorate for Christmas. We have been talking about it all week. They are selling trees at the grocery store we go to and the couple times we have gone in there this week he says, "Someone needs to decorate those."

He carefully and lovingly, placed each ornament on the few branches he could reach until each one was drooping with multiple decorations.

Harley spent his time supervising and chewing on everything he could get his little octopus tentacles on. We have to be careful right now because he had four teeth coming in all at once, poor kid, and everything goes straight to the mouth.

Grammy came over to help and we ended up spending an hour trying to fix our vacume. All in all a wonderful time was had by all :). Hooray for Christmas!

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Because I Have Been Given Much

We are grateful to be in TN with my brother and his family for Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for or little boys and all of the family and friends that we are blessed with. These are some pictures of our exploits so far.

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Fall

We went on a walk today and all the fall colors are so beautiful! I guess if you have to say goodbye to summer, this isn't a bad way to do it.

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A Duck and A Garbage Man

Harley had a great first Halloween. He dressed up as a duck and mostly tolerated it. He was very cute!

Kason was the garbage man. He loved it and was very popular among the 12-14 yr. old boys.

We went to a friends Halloween party and their little boy was dressed as Spiderman. He had the mask and everything. Kason was so scared that he would hardley leave my lap the whole night. Poor kid. Maybe next year he can wear a mask, then he'll know it's not scary.

Walkin' in the Rain

It's been rainy here this week. One day, when it was more misty than rainy, we decided to venture out. It was fun to play with the umbrella and hear the rain come down on it. When the umbrella got too heavy, Kason let Harley use it on the stroller and had even more fun letting the rain come down on him. It's so much fun to have a two year old who can ask questions and enjoy learning about things like rain. And having an eight month old who laughs and smiles through it all!

Kason loves water!

Dump It!

Kason LOVES the garbage truck. He always wants to take the garbage out and, "Dump It" in the big garbage so that the truck will come and, "Dump It" into itself. We finally helped him understand that the garbage truck only comes to our house on Friday, so now whenever he has that unconrollable desire to see the garbage truck, "Dump It" instead of throwing a kicking, screaming, on-the-floor tantrum about it he calmly says, "Garbage truck come Friday night and Dump It?" and happily I smile and say, "yes." It's a much better scence and leaves me oh so greatful for his developing ability to internalize and reason within himself. Come, "Friday night" (well it's morning actually, but I'm letting that one go) Kason and Daddy gather all of the garbage from all over the house (and with two in diapers there is usually a lot) and they, "Dump It" into the big gabage outside and roll it to the end of the driveway for the garbage truck. Then, Kason sits patiently on the steps wainting...

The garbage truck is definately the highlight of our week, but Kason also love throwing anything away for me, pouring the garbage from one can to another, and the plastic bags from the grocery store (because that's what we use to line our little garbage cans). He wants to be a garbage man for halloween so he can, "Dump It!" Harley Likes to help too. Mostly he just sits around looking cute, but his day will come!