Up Where The Air Is Clear

The weather was absolutley perfect today. And sometimes we don't like that daddy misses out on all our fun during the day. So we decided to bring the fun to him. We picked up subway sandwiches and met him at a park by his work, for lunch. We also brought our kites!

About my kids

Byrnlee

This little girl is such a sweetheart. Except lately she has been extremely clingy and attached and it's been a challenge, as she cries very dramatically when something doesn't go her way. Quite the spoiled little princess if you ask me. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger and she gets away with anything when he's around. Certainly a lot more than Tyler ever got away with :).

She still doesn't talk much. But she can sign all done, more, milk, dog, and cat.

I love how she will immediately start dancing the second she hears music. It is so cute.

She gives the best snuggles and always just comes over, climbs on me and lays her head on my shoulder.

I love the stage she's in of handing everything to me. It's so funny. When we play legos, I will build her lots of little towers for her to destroy so that she doesn't knock down Tyler's. She takes them apart one by one and hands each lego to me. Or while I'm getting dressed, she'll come in my room and hand me my shoes, one at a time, out of my closet.

She climbs up everything and gets into everything. I call her my little destroying angel.

Tyler

Last Sunday we ran out of diapers for Tyler. Perfect, I said. So we decided to just start that night of having him go full-on underwear, 24 hours a day. Before he slept in a diaper at night, and wore undies in the day. But I figured it was high-time he learn. I am happy to report that it has been a whole week now, and he has not had one accident!! I'm so proud of him. He was definitely ready, and probably could have done it earlier. I think it was me who was scared to try.

He refuses to be called handsome or cute. He's just cool (with a thumb's up).

The other day when we were at the store, there was a very large lady walking in front of us, with a very large bum. She was also wearing these spandex-type pants. Tyler says (very out-loud) "look Mom! Her bum goes up and down and up and down when she walks!" I was mortified and prayed that she hadn't heard (although I'm not sure how she could have missed it).

He started going to the Little Gym on Thursday and he totally loves it. I am glad because I think it will be a really great thing for him.

Last week, after getting a few things at Wal-mart, we were out in the parking lot loading up to go home. I put the kids and the diaper bag in the car, and tried to start the car leaning over from the passenger side. It didn't start, so instead of walking around to start it, I tried to turn it on using our automatic starter on the key thing. (I just wanted to turn it on while I loaded up the bags in the back.) So I locked the doors, and pushed the button, but it didn't work either for soem reason. Oh well, I thought, I'm wasting way to much time now. So I just leaned over and stuck the keys in the ignition, shut the door and went around the back to load up our stuff in the back. One problem. I locked the doors! I was totally locked out of my car, with my kids inside, and my cell phone was in the diaper bag which was also in the car. I then remembered that I hadn't buckled up Ty in his car seat yet. So I go over to the window and tell him to go up to the driver's seat to try to unlock it, the button on the door wouldn't unlock it for some reason (maybe he wasn't pushing hard enough, I don't know) so I had him go over to the passenger side and try that one. Nothing. Then he found my chapstick and got distracted and didn't want to listen to his crazy mom give him weird instructions through the window. But eventually I got him back on track and he got the keys out of the ignition and eventually found the right button and unlocked the car. He saved the day!! I am sure I looked like a total idiot, and that people were laughing at me, but it was the only way. I'm just so glad I have such a good, obedient 3-year old that will be patient enough with me to follow instructions so carefully and unlock the door for his absent-minded mama.

He was in this phase for a while where he'd ask whether things were pretend, or real. Like reading books, playing with his toys, or in movies. He wanted to make sure he knew if they were real, or just pretend. I think he's got it all figured out now :). The other day when looking at a book of animals and telling me all the pets he wanted to get, he then added "these ones are just pretend, but if they come out of the book they can be real, and they'll be my pets!"

These cute pictures of my kiddos were taken by Portrait Innovations. We got family pictures on Saturday. I'll post more of them later because I'm really happy with how they turned out!

On days like yesterday...

We don't get inside much, and I take way too many pictures of my cute kids.

We packed a lunch and had a little picnic. They're both scarfing down PB&H sandwiches.

Followed by some fun on the playground! We don't come home until Brynlee poops a good one in her diaper, and I realize I have no wipes!

So we chill on the driveway for a while, until Ty gets bored and decides we should go to the beach. So out comes the stroller, and we walk the half mile down to our favorite spot.

This is where some of us have a little too much fun and get dirty.

REALLY dirty. (So dirty that mom has to clean her tub after Brynlee gets rinsed off.)

Then we come home and crash. All 3 of us.

After dinner, dad's still not home (cuz it's tuesday) so we go for another walk to the lake.

It's nice to just listen to the birds and watch the sunset. I feel so much gratitude in my heart.

Tyler talks my ear off, and teaches Bryn how to throw rocks in the water. She loves to copy her big brother.

We come home, have baths, say hello to dad, scriptures, prayers, bed.

On days like yesterday, I'm so grateful for my life.

The farmer in the what?

Lately Tyler has really gotten into singing the song, The Farmer in the Dell. Only he doesn't say dell, he says hell.

The farmer in the hell,
the farmer in the hell,
hi! ho! the dairy-o,
the farmer in the hell.

I try to correct him, without drawing too much attention to the word. I'm afraid that if I make a big deal about it, it'll be worse and he'll do it on purpose. Every once in a while, (after reminding him) he'll sing it right. But then later he'll slip up and resort back to his preferred version.

I have to admit though, the song is a lot funnier his way.

"I just blew in from the windy city..."

On Friday, Kenny got off work early (he had got his hours in for the week on other days) and we headed up to Chicago. It's only about a 4 hour drive, which is super short compared to what we're used to travelling to go see people :). We got to Dan and Elise's apartment around 5. Elise is my cousin, and she's 9 days away from her due date, with baby #2 (a boy). She looked so cute, though, not swollen and fat like I always am at the end. Our cousin Jake, and his wife Ashley, drove down (they live on the other side of Chicago) and we all hung out that night. It was so fun to see them all. We ordered pizza from Eduardo's and it was delicious!! They taught us how to play "Bang", and we talked and had fun. Saturday we all slept in since we were up so late then night before. Then Kenny and I took the kids out to see the Aquarium, because we knew they would love it so much, and they did! The only bad thing about this day was the weather! It had been so nice all week, and then Saturday brought a blizzard and it was no fun. The kids (mostly Tyler because he can actually tell us what he thinks) were dreading each time we had to go outside. But anyway, they loved the aquarium. I think it's so cool how we are able to create so many different environments for all variety of animals. We don't have to go to every country to see all their different creatures, we just make a similar home for them and it works! It's truly amazing. After a few hours we left to go get lunch. Brynlee promptly fell asleep in the car, so we just got some subs from Jimmy John's and ate them in the car, so we wouldn't have to wake her up.

From there we went to the Children's Museum!! Thankfully we borrowed a free pass from Lise's friend and that was really nice. We were so impressed with this place. The kids were having a blast at each different station. It's the perfect place for kids of all ages, they really enjoyed it.

We came back to the Robert's place and Elise made a delicious dinner. We stayed up late talking again, which was really fun. Sunday we went to church with them (and they pointed out Obama's house on the way to church), and then we left straight from there so the kids would sleep in the car. It was a wonderful weekend! Thanks again, Dan and Elise! You guys were excellent hosts!

Party House and Projects

A lot of days I feel bad for Kenny that he has to go to work. I'm being serious. I am the lucky one who gets to stay home and play all day with the kids. I can't imagine why anyone would want to go to work and leave their kids for someone else to raise. Not just because you miss out on your kids growing up and teaching them, but it's quite the life! We have so many freedoms! We get to decide what to do every day, we can make whatever we want to eat (it doesn't have to be a pre-packed lunch, or the nearest fast food place). If we have sick days, no big deal, we'll just lay around and take it easy. Really it's a good deal. Yesterday we decided to do a macaroni and cheese with oranges picnic (it was a very orange meal) on the driveway. I took the kids on a bike ride, we played on the playground and in the sand at the beach, and just had fun. We came back home, but didn't want to go inside because it was just perfect weather. So I got us all a drink of grape juice, some chairs, and a few jelly beans. Tyler looks at me and asks, "Mom, are we having a party?" And I said, "Ty every day is a party at our house."

Here's a few things I've been working on lately.

Bean bags! (thanks steph for the idea.) I just used some old fabric my mom gave me a while back. These went together in a jiffy, and actually they are rice bags. I filled them with rice because we didn't have any beans at the time and we happen to have a surplus of rice. When I first showed them to Ty he said, so what do we do with them? haha. After I showed him some games he liked them :)

This is the spring table runner/topper I just got back from my mom. I made it and sent it to my mom to quilt. She just started recently learning how to use a long arm quilting machine and she's already a pro! I think I'm probably more excited about her new talent than she is, this will save me so much money! :)

I was proud of this one because I didn't even use a pattern (it's obviously a simple idea, but still, that's a big step for me.) The fabric is by Moda and it's called, Verna.

I wanted to show off the back because I just LOVE this fabric.

This is my latest project. I just finished it, and will be sending it to my mom shortly :). Tyler loves the sailboat so much (he calls it his sailboat) that I am thinking about doing a big quilt for his bed, using this same fabric line. It's also a moda fabric, and it's called Nautical and Nice.

We're off to Chicago for the weekend!!

Thoughts

--Brynlee's back molars are coming in and it's like having a newborn! Lots of crying and waking up every 2 hours, even with motrin. They must really hurt.

--Yesterday I threw the jogging stroller in the back of the car and loaded up the kids. We went and ran on the trails and then played on the playground for a while since they were so good. It was re-emphasized to me how different my kids are. they each came with very different personalities. Tyler has to warm up to the playground each time we go. Brynlee is much more daring and just goes at it, even if she can't. She doesn't give up, either. She just tries to climb everything, and heads straight for the biggest slide. She causes me a lot more stress than Tyler haha.

--I cannot get enough of this gorgeous weather we are having. Today it was all I could do to keep my eyes open to watch the kids as we were playing outside. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. Is there anything better than an afternoon nap in the sun?

--Yesterday Kenny's boss called him and asked him to leave work, pick him up some medicine, and bring it to him at his house. I felt sad for this man that doesn't have his family (they didn't move here with him for the project, he just travels home every 3 weeks for the weekend), or any friends. I thought about what I would do if my immediate family wasn't available. Even though I have a ton of extended family members, they all live far away. then I realized that all of my friends that I would be able to call any time of day, are from the ward. I really take that for granted how the church just provides dozens of friends instantly wherever you live. That's a huge blessing, and comfort, to me.

--This morning we decided to venture out to St. Louis and go shopping at the Mills. How pathetic is this, that it was the 2nd time I've been there, and we've lived here for almost a whole year?! I didn't remember it was St. Patrick's day until I heard it on the radio. Not one of us were wearing green, but I don't really care because I think it's stupid that we celebrate that holiday anyway.
I found some darling outfits for the kids, and some clothes for Kenny. Not a single thing for me. It's not like I'm so selfless that I just don't buy myself clothes. In fact, it's probably the opposite. I just like to try everything on, and take my time to decide what I want, and how much to spend. The kids just don't allow me that luxury, so I only like to go shopping for myself, by myself. It was a fun change of pace though. I also treated myself to some orange chicken and fried rice for lunch, at Panda Express. yum. (yes the kids got lunch too)

--I am convinced that Tyler is the sweetest brother in the world. He says the nicest things to Brynlee and treats her so kindly (92% of the time).

--I am in a major dinner rut this week. I just don't want to cook.

--Yesterday we went on a walk and Tyler was looking at all the trash and empty bottles on teh side of the road and said,
"Mom there is WAY too much trash everywhere! That's called witterling!"
Me: yes, littering.
Ty: Yeah, littering. That's a BAD idea!

Sometimes he's so random. Like the other day we got to the store and I opened his door to get him out of his car seat.
He says: Mom, I was just pickin my nose.
Me: Ty, that's gross. you know we're not supposed to pick our noses.
Ty: Yeah, because the birds don't want to eat it.
(What?!!)

Week Highlights and Our Race

Monday: I met for lunch with my visiting teachers, and Rochelle (their other visiting teachee) at McDonald's for our monthly visit. It is a lot of fun to chat with these women and let our kids play, and no one has to clean their house before or after! :) It's great. Mon. night was FHE as usual, but nothing extraordinary.

Tuesday: Kenny always works late on Tuesdays, but he got home just in time to distract the kids in the other room while I had book club. It's our Relief Society Book Club, and this month it was at my house. The book was The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, which is a good read.

Wednesday: spent the entire day switching rooms. The reason we had to do this is because Tyler outgrew his little toddler bed a loooong time ago. But his little room just wouldn't allow for a bigger bed, since he shares the room with Bryn, and there's a dresser. So I was telling Kenny the other night how I just felt so bad about his darn bed, and I hated having to put his little legs back up on the bed every night because they're hanging over the sides. He said, "we could trade rooms with them". And I thought he was such a genius for thinking of that because of all the ways I was trying to work around the problem, that never crossed my mind. So a couple weeks ago I got online and found a full bed and ordered it! The frame already came, and the mattresses will be here on Monday. It's been a lot of work and creativity getting everything to fit (in our new, very small room) but that's okay. But I did get to buy more bins! I love bins. My motto is you can never have too many bins. Someday we hope to have a little bit more space, but in the meantime we will just make do. The kids love their new room and all the extra playing space it provides. I love it for them, too. I also ran 8 miles this day, which was my long run for the week.

Thursday: I took both kids into the doctor for their 1 year and 3 year well-check appointments. They're both doing great! We are so blessed to have healthy children. After that we came home to give Bryn a little nap (shots are no fun). I had to wake her up to go to a Presidency meeting, though. That night we watched Ratatoille together and had root beer floats.

Friday: Helped set up the church for the Relief Society birthday celebration (which I sadly didn't even get to attend). Kenny got off work early, and my piano lesson got canceled for this week. So we all went out to eat together at Pizza World, and got the buffet. Tyler loves pizza and will eat it until he's sick, or I stop him. We used the excuse of needing to carb-load for our race. That night I also went to Heather's Tastefully Simple party at her house and had a great time. That company's got some very yummy food.

Saturday: RACE DAY! Kenny and I dropped our kids off at the Porter's (thank you Justin for watching them) at 6:30 a.m. and headed out to St. Louis for the 5 Mile (NOT 5K) St. Patrick's Day Race. We've been looking forward to it for a while now. It was pretty cold about 40 degrees, and very cloudy, and sprinkling off and on, but it was so much fun. I have severe anxiety issues over things like this, for no reason at all. I tell myself that it doesn't matter and there's absolutely nothing to worry about, but my body doesn't listen. I felt sick to my stomach all morning. There were 12,000 or so runners and it was IN-SANE! It was so cool to look in both directions and see just a big bobbing sea of green. The first two miles was difficult because it was so packed you were just trying to dodge around people and find a place where you could run your pace. But I guess that's just part of the fun and challenge of it all. We were going to run together at the beginning, but we lost each other after a minute just trying to get around everyone. Then I found Kenny at about Mile 1 marker and so we ran together for the next mile and a half or so. Then Kenny sped up, but I couldn't so I just said, go on. My stupid body freaked out when I started to pick up speed for the last 400 meters or so and started dry heaving like crazy until I actually threw up what little breakfast I had. I continued to dry heave, which made it very difficult to sprint it in. It was terribly embarrassing because people were lined up obviously at this point and some guys yelled "EWWW" when I barfed and I felt bad. But I got like 2 1/2 min. slower than when I ran last week at the gym. My goal was to be under 39 minutes, and I got 41:30, but that's okay. Kenny beat me by 2-3 minutes, and I was so glad to see him when I finished. It was a lot of fun to do this together! But we are more anxious for the half marathon coming up in April.
I realize these pictures are less than stellar. That's alright. We totally forgot to take pictures there, so we had Justin take some when we went to pick up our kids, how weird is that.

Unbelievable

2 things you may or may not believe about this day.

1. At this very moment, it is 69 degrees outside. PERFECT; sunny, and slightly windy. (you might call it an easy, breezy, beautiful, sunny day... haha I'm a nerd.) We played outside in t-shirts this morning and it was so nice. There was a neighbor dog hanging around our house and the kids were thrilled to chase it around the yard. Tyler kept trying to coax him into our house, and feed it pinecones. He really wants a pet. I'm afraid someday we're going to have to get one because they both just love dogs. (And cats too, but I'm not a fan). Brynlee was doing so much better today at walking in her shoes, and on the uneven gravel. They just love to be outside!

More importantly than the weather...


2. I found my wedding ring!!! I am not even kidding. I haven't had it since September, and here it is, magically back on my finger where it belongs. Here's the story:
We're currently in the process of switching rooms with Ty and Bryn. (More on that later...) So I had tipped up our mattress against the wall, and the box springs too, and taken the metal bed frames into the other room, and dragged the mattresses in there, and re-made the bed. (Yes, I am so buff.) Then I needed to vacuum under where the bed had been, so I did. I see something silver glistening in the carpet, from where I had the mattresses stacked against the wall. I quickly pull the vacuum back to avoid sucking it up, then realize IT'S MY RING! It was quite the dramatic moment. I picked it up, looked it over to be sure (I still couldn't believe it), dropped to my knees bawling like a baby and clutching it to my chest, thanking Heavenly Father for letting me find it. (I've been praying for it for a very long time). I called Kenny, still crying hysterically, and he couldn't hardly understand a word I was saying. For all he could tell, somebody just died. Because Brynlee had started crying now too, and Tyler had run into the room to see what the heck was going on. I think I scared my kids a little haha. But I finally was able to tell him the good news! He was happy too of course :). So I still don't know where it was, maybe tucked in the mattresses somehow, or something like that. In any case, prayers are answered! Remember how when for the first few days (or weeks) after you get engaged you find yourself constantly looking back at your ring? That's how I am all over again. It is so beautiful, and I am so happy to have it back.

Morning Manicure

Why eat your oatmeal, when you can just soak your hands in it instead?

Old and New Friends

Bert and Ernie were apparently some of my best buddies when I was 2 and 3. I'm so glad my mom saved them so that they can be Ty's buddies now, too. It makes me happy to see him playing with them. I used to twist Bert's hair around and make it pointy at the top like an ice cream cone, and hold them both by their noses. I wonder how he will remember playing with these guys.

Sweaty Milk and Peace

My favorite thing Tyler says right now is how he calls soy milk, sweaty milk. He's totally serious about it. I try to tell him it's S-O-Y milk, but he insists on calling it sweaty milk and it is so so funny. The funniest is when he says things like, "I drink sweaty milk cuz I'm a boy!", and "Sweaty milk is the BEST!"

Brynlee's having one of those days, (ok so it's been a few days) where she has been so ornery and fussy. She cries just for the sake of whining. All she wants is me, but doesn't even stop complaining when I'm holding her. But, anytime we turn on Signing Time or some other kid-show she just shuts right up and it holds her attention. Kenny observed this and said, "Some people think that the gospel is what really brings peace into their lives. But I am here to tell you that it's actually television." hahaha. As far as Brynlee's concerned, it's true :).

One of my best friends from high school, Polly Harrell, called me today!! I'm so bad at being a good friend and keeping up with people when I move away. But it really does my heart good to talk to my friends, and to see how well she's doing. I just love her.

Weekends are wonderful.

Oh Hello, Spring!

I am sure that there is not a single person existing that isn't happy about spring coming. Who doesn't love the warmer, happier days?! Last night as I was driving to a baby shower (for a new, cute gal in our ward) I noticed that 2 little ice cream shops that were closed for the winter, have opened up again! Not only that, but the birds are starting to come back and that makes me so happy. There are tons of birds of all varieties here, and I love it.

It got up to like 50 degrees today so you can bet we spent a lot of time outside. Even the neighborhood dogs looked so happy to be barking at people passing by again. :) Another fun thing about today is we got to meet up with Kenny for lunch at Taco Bell! We went grocery shopping and I realized it was noon when we were leaving the parking lot so I called him, and he was just leaving work for a lunch break too! (We didn't have ANY food for him to take for a lunch today, which ended up being a good thing.) So that was a fun change to our day, and Kenny's gone cleaning the temple tonight so I'm glad the kids got to see him earlier.

Brynlee is trying to figure out how to walk with shoes on, and outside. It's like a whole new level of walking, and I feel like we're starting all over again. But I will love when she can just go walk around outside and play with Ty, that will be so fun for all 3 of us!

She's also learning how to eat with her own utensils. I'm a little behind teaching her. So at meal time, (if it's not food you pick up with fingers) she holds a spoon and plays with it, feels independent, and makes an honest effort to get food to her mouth. I hold another spoon so that she actually eats that meal. One thing she does is fake laugh a lot. She's really good at, and it is so funny. She's also getting so much better at going to the daycare at the gym so I can work out during the day. I don't do it more than 2 (or 3 at most) times a week because it takes up so much time for them and I feel guilty about not doing anything productive with them. So the rest of the days I go at night, but it is really nice.

Tyler is starting to really show that he's learning the things I work so hard to teach him, and it's very exciting! He surprises me all the time with what he knows, and the things he says. Some days I just keep a paper and pen handy so I can write down all the funny things he says so I can tell Kenny when he gets home. I feel so lucky that I get to be the one to hear all the funny things he says every day, and see his learning and progress step by step. It really is a blessing.

Throwing rocks and sticks in the lake. He still alternates throwing between his right and left, interesting huh? I wonder if he'll stay ambidextrous.

Dizzying