My Baby is 2!

Dear Baby,

Can I still call you that? We don't really have a great nickname for you yet, so you may have to live with Baby for a while. I like it. Maybe I'm in denial that you are getting big now! You turned 2 on Sunday, officially after you ate your birthday cake at 5:30. That's what your big brother Mr T says anyway. You loved your birthday, although you weren't really sure what was going on.  Before church we let you open the big present form Mom and Dad and go outside and play with it for a while:

The big kids loved your new water table! They played with it a lot longer than you did, but you liked it too.
You loved the characters I put on your cake! Some times you watch Daniel Tiger on tv with Mr T and seem to enjoy it, so I found these cute toys to put on the cake:

You liked it so much that you cried when I put it in the fridge during dinner. After we ate we got the cake back out to sing to you. You were a little confused why you were getting all of the attention, but you were a pro at blowing out the candles!:

Grandma and Grandpa and Grammie came over for burgers and presents and cake! I unfortunately got zero pictures with them! You loved their presents too. You opened Lulu's present first, and since it was a car you were totally content to just play with that and it took some urging for you to open more!

Tonight, in keeping with family tradition, I took you outside for a little birthday photo shoot. I liked the pictures quite a bit, so I made them really big on the blog! Taking your pictures was kind of hard! You move a lot, making it hard to get you in the frame in the right spot. It was hard to get you to look at me too, but I finally got a few good ones! Check it out:

Baby, you are sweet, and cautious, and curious, and you love to make people laugh. You have gorgeous brown eyes and long dark eyelashes. I have a hard time deciding what color your hair is. I guess it's a dark blonde, but in those pictures it looks really blonde and even maybe a little red snuck in there!
Baby, at 2 years old you are just starting to say a lot of words. You even put 2 words together sometimes to make a mini sentence! I love how you say duck perfectly clear but Mr T's name is not recognizable at all. You can tell me all of the animal sounds and say 1 2 3. You love the song the Wheels on the Bus and sing along as best as you can with actions. You love trains and are really into watching Dinosaur Train and Thomas the Train. You also love playing with cars and you love bubbles. You love to be outside in the swing or the dirt or the water or walking around the block. You still love Pluto and sit on him if he's ever inside. You love to sit at the piano and plink carefully away. You play surprisingly gently and carefully.
You are a helper too! If you see me doing the laundry you love to come throw a few socks into the washer, standing on your tip toes and barely pushing it in. Your favorite chore though is doing the dishes. Every time you see me at the sink you push a chair over and start helping. Mostly you love to fill cups up and dump them out, but you scrub too sometimes!
You are starting to eat better at dinner time which is helping with sleeping through the night. If you eat a good dinner and have a protein snack before bed then like 4 nights out of 5 you sleep 10 hours! I am loving that! I just wish you would always eat what's for dinner and that you would try some fruits and vegetables! You love your produce in a pouch and will eat any pouch I give you. We're working on getting you to try fresh fruit.
You love your grandparents and call them all Grandpa. You love the attention and smiles that they give you. You love to please people but you are a tease to your brothers. That's normal. When you don't get what you want or I don't understand what you are trying to tell me you throw big fits. You can scream super loud and for a super long time. I think that's also normal for this age.
You cry every day when I put you down for a nap and it's so sad. You reach your hand out for me as I walk away and let out the most offended cry ever. Luckily you only cry for a few minutes and then you are out. You still need an hour or two, especially if you were up the night before.
You go to nursery without crying though, and you love it! That makes me happy. I love watching you learn and grow and enjoy life. You really are getting so big, but you're still my baby for at least another year. Ok?
Love you my sweet Baby,
Mom

Our Summer - Weeks 9 and 10 and 11

Hey guys,

Every year when we're in the thick of summer it feels like it will last forever! I love the laid back easy going schedule, the idea of doing something fun every day, and the warm warm sunshine!
The last week of summer finally came and you guys were all sick, except Baby who had been sick over a week before. We had big plans and lot of fun things planned, but ended up mostly staying around our house since you all had high fevers. We still did as many fun things as we could when you felt well enough.
And just like that, the summer was over. I'm kind of in denial. Like always.
Here's a look back at our last 3 weeks:

Such a fun summer. Thanks for sharing it with me.
Love you,
Mom

Summer Evenings

Hey guys,

I just really love summer, and one of my favorite things has to be that we hang out together outside after dinner. Some nights we go on a walk and ride the wagon down the hill at the park. Other nights you just swing and ride bikes. Tonight you brought cars outside and used the chalk roads Hammer had drawn earlier.  I brought the camera out tonight to document what this evening was like. I want to remember this night and look back at the pictures in a few months when I'm having summer withdrawals.

So lovely. I feel like Lulu when she says she misses someone minutes after they leave our house. I almost miss these nights already! Really though, we still have plenty of warm nights left even though the sun is setting earlier and earlier. We will take advantage of them for as long as we can!
Love you my summer buddies,
Mom

12 Years

Dear Lulu,

Today is the date that Dad and I got married, 12 years ago! It is kind of crazy that it has been that long already. On one hand I don't feel old enough for that to be possible, and yet it sort of feels like I've been living this life with Dad forever! I hardly remember a life without my sweetheart holding me as I fall asleep. I can only imagine what it will feel like when we have been married for 50 years! I have no doubt that we will make it to that milestone, as long as the Lord blesses us to still be here! Dad is the keystone of my life, holding it all together safely in place.
Let me share with you a few secrets that I have learned to having such a happy marriage.

First, you have to make your relationship a priority. Make an effort to spend time alone time together. This is harder than it sounds! I have to write it on the calendar sometimes so other plans don't get in the way.  Let me tell you, I have not been perfect at this, and at making Dad feel more important than the computer or the phone. He is the most important thing to me and I want him to feel that! I keep working on this.
Second, focus on what you have in common, but don't be afraid to try new things. Last year when I was planning our anniversary I could not think of one thing that Dad and I would both like to do for the day! We are total opposites. Dad likes hunting and fishing and roller coasters and backpacking. I like painting and taking pictures and plays and swimming. Even the things that we both enjoy, like reading and listening to music and watching movies, are not the same! I thought to myself, Do we really have nothing in common? How do we ever find anything to do? It took some serious reflection on my part to ponder on what makes our marriage work. Why are we so happy when we have polar opposite tastes? I did realize finally that we both like cooking and trying new recipes, and that often draws us together. And we both love traveling. But what is more important is that what we have the same morals and goals and faith. I love Dad for who he is and how he makes me feel, not for what we do together. It was a lovely realization I came to. That being said, I also realized how exciting it is to be married to your opposite. If we try something the other person likes, it gets us to think outside the box and try something new! We can grow and expand our tastes and talents! This is an area I want to work on this year.
Third, tell your husband often what he means to you. Write him a note, send him a text, tell him at night when you are going to bed. It's easy to think he knows how you feel, but it needs to be said out loud. Often.
Fourth, do spiritual things together. Read scriptures, pray, go to the temple, read your patriarchal blessings, and have gospel-centered discussions together. I love seeing this side of Dad and feeling that bond.
Fifth, think about when you fell in love. I love remembering that time and rekindling those same feelings.

Lulu, I want you to remember that life is meant to be enjoyed. God wants us to be happy, and that is why he wants us to protect marriage and families. He knows that families are the perfect environment for creating joy! Nothing make me happier than being with you and your brothers, and most of all with Dad. I'm so happy that Dad wants to be with me as much as I want to be with him! 12 years down, many more to go. Check out how we celebrated today: a hike to a waterfall followed by yummy Japanese food:

Love you my girly,
Mom

July Edition

Life Lately, According to My Phone:

Just looking cute in your Brazilian shirt Baby:

Play date with our friends:

Trying the new recipe for microwave chocolate cake, and lovin it!:

Station Park:

Mr T's 4 year check up. You're practically perfect in every way!:

Downtown farmer's market. We got Thai food:

And we went with Grandma and Great Grandma,:

and Jen. After the park we got free slurpees since it was 7/11!:

And then after 7-11 we went to Trader Joe's. I got this cute plant for the mantel, which incidentally isn't really loving it there:

While we were at the Farmer's market, Hammer you were with Dad and some friends camping. You loved riding the 4 wheelers, and even drove one! It rained and got muddy, but you still had fun:

Lulu, you love to take pictures:

Here you guys are with your slurpees on another day when Hammer got to come too! Baby, you will notice if you look closely on the first 7-11 picture that you didn't love slurpees. Didn't like them at all. So you just came along for the ride this time:

This was the last activity for library's Summer Reading Program. After we made our own books, you each took a turn being a super reader:

Here is where we stopped for burgers in Delta on the way to Nevada:

Baby, I was so surprised that you slept totally fine in the tent. You had to fall asleep on my sleeping bag with me, but then you slept all night in your crib after I moved you over:

Here are a few pictures from Dad's phone from our fun trip:

The day after we got home was such a fun Saturday! In the morning we had the primary bike parade followed by a fun ward breakfast at the park:

Then we were off to Dad's work party after lunch. We got ice cream with his coworkers, and then dropped Baby off at Grandpa's for him to babysit.
Baby, you were loving Grandpa so much:

You also got to play with your cousin Ava:

Grandpa picked up Grandma and her Chinese exchange students and you got to go too!:

The rest of us watched the new Minions movie. We had a great time and felt spoiled to each get our own drink and popcorn!:

After the movie we came back to Grandma's house while all the kids played and then we had a pizza dinner. What a fun day.
One Monday as we were walking to the park our friend's shared their popsicles. You loved that!:

One Tuesday we found this new trail not far from our house:

Baby, you still want to play with Pluto sometimes!:

Here you are Lulu playing with Anya at Grammie's house. You two loved playing Polly Pockets on Grammie's porch while the grownups were working hard in Grammie's yard:

The first wedding cake recipe trial. It was good!:

 Baby, you love holding the hose while the pool fills up:

4 kids in a tub!:

On the 24th of July we helped in Grammie's yard and then she bought us yummy Maddox dinner and you guys got to swim in your cousins' pool!:

I planned a girls night out with these two fun ladies to go see our other friend Jeanne perform as Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins. We had a fun night and really enjoyed the play:

And finally, a fun play date with Mr T's friend George. We loved all their train toys and dress ups!:

What a busy month, full of tons of summer fun! July has to be one of my favorites of the whole year! And we made it through with no sickness! August hasn't been so lucky. I hope it shapes up.
Love you guys,
Mom