Kylie's Birthday!

March is a BUSY BIRTHDAY MONTH in our family! I will probably forget someone, but Heidi's, Amy's, Julie's, Emily's, Grandma Haws' & Grandma Nancy's & Kylie's Birthdays are ALL in March! All GIRLS, I just realized! It is so fun to celebrate so many times in one month!

Yesterday was my sister Kylie's BIG DAY!!!
We went to the park for PIZZA & CUPCAKES!

We found some cute Bunnies hopping around...

Abby digging in to her cupcake...

The cute kids...waiting to dig in...

It was so much fun to get together as a family & celebrate!

Kylie is the oldest in our family & is a great example to all of us!
She is super talented on the computer! I have always wanted to learn to digital scrapbook & photoshop,etc, but have never learned...but she can do ANYTHING on the computer!
Check out her custom cards & announcements HERE & email her next time you need a Birthday Invite, an Enrichment handout, a business brochure, a Graduation Announcement,etc!
She is also AMAZING at finding GREAT DEALS! She is the coupon queen & is always finding ways to save her family money...I need to be more like that!

Hope you had a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY Kylie!!!
You deserve it!

Camping NIGHTmare...

Remember THIS picture?
Well...apparently after I posted it, everyone thought that Ryler got hurt or something really bad happened. When I posted it, I had ZERO sympathy for this child that had kept me awake ALL NIGHT. He was fine...just dirty from camping & TIRED from not sleeping. I now feel silly that I was so frustrated in the first place, because NOBODY was HURT...which I'm very thankful about. I was just TIRED & CRANKY after this overnighter & at the time thought it was much worse than it actually was...

-------------------------------------------------

My mom's family goes camping every year over Spring Break! I LOVE this tradition! It is so much fun to be all together with our cousins & RELAX!

This year Matt was not able to get off work & I wasn't about to battle with 2 LITTLE kids overnight, so I decided to just drive up for the day & let the boys PLAY & come home...

It was the perfect idea. It is only about a 1 hour drive, so we were riding horses in no time...

and Quads...

and playing in the Creek...

Even if it was REALLY COLD(Poor Ryler's face as Heidi stuck his toes in)...

Camping Food=Junk Food which is heaven for little boys...

Parker & Ryler were LOVING life...

Boys & Camping are made for each other...
IT WAS A GREAT DAY!!!
I should have gone home as planned & it would have been perfect!

BUT...

I decided to stay the night, so that my mom could go home & get ready for a luncheon she was in charge of. She didn't want to leave Heidi by herself, so I figured that we could make it work to help her out!

I really shouldn't be so optimistic next time around.

Because NIGHT CAME & things went downhill from there...

1. It started to get dark & we went over to my cousin's camp, near the creek to say HI to some relatives that had just arrived! We were visiting & within seconds I call to my sister that is walking away, "You have Parker?" She says NO.
I instantly panic.
He is not with me.
I lost my child.
I'm kinda overprotective when we are out and about & never take my eyes off my children.
But I did.
And he was gone.
And it was getting DARK...fast.
I yell for Heidi to look by the creek & I RUN back to our camp.
He is not in either spot.
I just know that he has fallen in the creek and drowned. I am starting to panic. Maybe 5 minutes have gone by.
I start RUNNING back to the creek to look for him.
I hear two of my cousin's daughters calling, "I think we found him...I'm not really sure. What does he look like?! We have a boy" I RUN to wear their voices are coming from & THEY ARE HOLDING PARKER!!!
A huge sigh of relief.
They found him RUNNING in a direction opposite of all of our camps. A couple more minutes & he would have been who knows where?!

I think losing him was the worst feeling I've ever had & finding him was the best feeling I've ever had...all within 10 minutes time!

I should have known at that point my emotions were going to be a rollercoaster that night!

2. Go to Bed. All is well. Parker tucked in his sleeping bag.
Ryler in his pack in play. Me in my sleeping bag.
Heidi & my nephew Mason sleeping soundly in the back of my mom's Tahoe.
From 10:30-Midnight...Life was good.
Midnight-Ryler woke up crying. I tried calming him down. Out of fear of waking the entire camp, I give him a bottle...the ONLY bottle I have left(remember we weren't PLANNING to stay the night) & he is allergic to regular milk.
He falls back to sleep...
Parker wakes up at 12:30am.
I pull him into my sleeping bag...thankfully he goes right back to sleep.
2am-Ryler wakes up crying. He is cold. He is wondering where he is. I have NO bottle. I turn on Matt's ipod. Lifesaver. He plays with it for an HOUR, ooohing & ahhing that we are in a tent. I'm exhausted.
3am-I decide it is time to attempt to get him back to sleep. I try rocking him. The space is so cramped. I need to stand, but can't.
I decide to get out of the tent & rock him.
We get out...it is FREEZING.
There is no WAY I can stay out there...and he has no interest in falling back to sleep.
After 20 minutes, I give up. We get back into the tent & "play". Ryler is WIDE AWAKE.
I pray for the day to hurry & come.
3:30am-Ryler is crying. I climb BACK out of the tent to seach for any remaining bottles in the ice chest. I find one from earlier in the day that has 2 oz in it! YAY!
He drinks it...he doesn't fall back to sleep.
4:00am-We are both tired, Ryler is fussing on and off. I'm trying to do WHATEVER I can to keep him quiet and not wake up camp. I don't care about MY sleep anymore, just about everyone else's!
5:00am-I have to go to the bathroom. BAD. I try to ignore it. I'm not squatting in the woods with a crying baby on my lap.
5:30am. I'm tired, I'm not thinking straight...I need another option!
I go wake up Heidi(she is my LIFESAVER on this trip)
Ask her to please go sleep next to Parker in the tent.
I'm going to DRIVE Ryler around until he falls asleep.

3. I get in the car...turn out from our campground.
Can't see a THING. The windows are COMPLETELY frosted over & it is pitch black.
I turn on the creek road, instead of the main road.
Not even 1 minute from camp...I get STUCK.
My headlights are shining on EVERYONE's TENTS.
My tires are squealing. I'm praying that the car will GO.
No LUCK. It is stuck.

4. Mason wakes up in the back. He starts crying, "Why did you do this to us!?!"
I turn off the car & explain we have to walk back to camp.
We are both barefoot. Who needs SHOES to go on a drive.
We walk back to camp...in the dark...barefoot...Mason & Ryler crying.
I open the tent..."Heidi, I got mom's Tahoe stuck...can Mason sleep in here until I figure it out?"
Mason climbs in Parker's sleeping bag.
We go back to the Tahoe.

5.I turn it on. Trying AGAIN to get out!
No luck.
We climb in the back & hang out & wait, with no other options available.

6.It FINALLY starts getting light about 6am.
Ryler conveniently falls to sleep about 6:30am, after being awake since 2am.
I leave him the car & go to the bathroom...I'd been dying for hours.
I get back to the car & decide nobody is waking up anytime soon. I might as well catch an hour of sleep.
6:45am-I lay down to sleep. I'm exhausted. My eyes close.
Something pinches my back.
Ouch.
Ouch. Ouch.
I reach up my shirt...huge red fire ant was crawling all over my back!
I take out my night on the ant...
I close my eyes
6:50am...I HEAR little kid's voices!
7am-I get out of the car to assess just "HOW STUCK I AM"
Pretty stuck.
A stranger approaches & says "Nice Parking job"
I start crying. I've held it in all night. But I'm tired & I ask if he can help me!!
He helps me. SO NICE! I feel bad that he found me & not a cousin or uncle, but I'm so grateful for his help. I'm more embarrased that I managed to get stuck in the middle of the night, so I'm hopeful he will get me UN-stuck before everyone wakes up.
Doesn't matter. Half the camp was awake & the other half heard about it{laughed about it} as soon as they heard.

At this point I just want to go home.

But the whole reason we stayed was because our sister was coming up with the kids to play, so we wait. My cousin arrives. Tells us that our sister is not coming.
I tell Heidi..."We are leaving...NOW"

7.We start packing...it starts RAINING.
I don't care...I keep packing


8. But there is NOT ROOM for everything. I have my pack n play & stroller on top of everything else my mom had up there. I ask my cousin if he can take some stuff home in his trailer. I think I looked like a train wreck with rain dripping down my face, puffy eyes from crying/being awake most of the night. He gladly agrees.
We leave. By some miracle I stay awake the whole drive & we have no more problems on the way home...

Next year...we will NOT be staying overnight...

Family Pics & Movie Night

My sister-in-law, Chaya, WON a free photography session off a blog contest & gave it to Matt's mom for her birthday...so on Saturday, the family got together for a Photo Shoot! I can't wait to see all the fun pictures she got! Here are few I took of everyone GOOFING OFF!!!

Aunt Whitney & Aunt Aimee, entertaining the kids while we waited for the next shot...

My mother-in-law...with LONG LOCKS...
haha...Whitney was behind her & put her hair over her shoulders:)

Craig found a couple of oranges on the ground...

and made everyone laugh:)Cute Grandma with the boys!

After the photo shoot, Heidi & Craig were catering for a wedding, so we had the kids over to PARTY!

It was a FUN day!!!

Ouch!

Ryler took a tumble lastnight on the cement walkway at my parent's house...It was my fault. I was "chasing him" and he was running as fast as his little legs could carry him, as he was laughing & smiling, trying not to let me catch him!

Before I knew it, he had face planted into the cement. He got a bloody nose & his mouth was all bloody. Thankfully all of his teeth are still intact. But if poor little nose is a little bruised & scuffed:( I feel so bad.

Good thing we had family pictures on Saturday...the day before this happened!



PS. NO, this picture was not taken after it happened lastnight. There would have been a few more tears & blood. This picture was taken TODAY...all smiles again:)

Saturday morning

An innocent morning of Saturday cartoons can quickly go from this...

to this...

:)

I love my boys!

Potty Training

Feel free to skip this post;)

When Ryler is ready, I want to refer back to this as a reminder that it wasn't as bad as I imagined!

Yesterday we hit 2 weeks in to Potty Training.
And I would say that we are pretty much DONE!!!

I throw an occasional diaper on him if we are running errands, because you never know...
But he always tells me if he has to go & he even wakes up DRY in the mornings, which is huge! He has even woke up twice in the middle of the night to go & usually goes first thing in the morning. I've heard this can often take a LOT longer, so I'm happy about that!

The 1st week & a half he would NOT go #2, but we conquered that in the last couple of days!!!
Hooray!!! I was DONE cleaning poopy underwear after the 1st time, so I was wanting to figure that out ASAP. He WOULD NOT go though. A couple of times he would sit on the toilet & then he would just get frustrated & say, "It's not working" & start crying.
Then he would usually go & hide & go in his underwear 5 minutes later.
After a week of this...it was frustrating & I put diapers back on him around the time when he goes every day. He would still tell me if he had to pee, but I didn't want to deal with the other mess.
Finally a few days ago...I saw him looking like he was pushing...so I grabbed him(kicking & crying) & set him on the toilet. He was ready...so there was no waiting or frustration & he WENT & we made a big deal out of it! You could tell he was proud of himself too! He went again, later on that same day...all by himself & then came out to tell us! We haven't had any problems or had to clean up any accidents in a week...so that has been HEAVEN.

I can only hope all of our kids are this easy! I tried a few things with him. Several months ago, I bought him a gumball machine that he got to put a penny in if he went. This did NOT work for us. He wanted to sit on the toilet every 5 minutes & he didn't understand that he had to actually GO to get a gumball. A couple weeks ago when we decided to start, I made a little sticker chart that he put a sticker on every time he went. He LOVED this & I loved that he wasn't getting rewarded with CANDY. It worked great. For the first few days he always put a sticker on his chart...after about a week, we ran out of stickers & he never remembered to ask for one anyways...he would just go out of habit.

That is what worked for us! I'm sure every kid is different, but I'm glad to have only 1 in diapers...
instead of 2!

HOORAY!!!

Pure Bliss...

Getting ready for bed last night...
Matt told me he didn't have to go to work today.
Best news ever!

Lounged around this morning,
then met up with some family (& my best friend, who just happened to be there!)
at my cousin Belinda's Shop for lunch! I tried the Chicken Delight Sandwich on Wheat...I would DEFINITELY recommend it. It was delicious.

Got our food TO GO.
Went across the street to play at the park.
Enjoyed the beautiful weather.
Parker was in heaven with daddy.
I was in heaven...I was able to visit, while daddy played with Parker:)

Came home to go Visiting Teaching.
SO NICE not to have to take the kiddos!
I needed the message this month. It was on Scripture Study. I have a goal to do better!

The rest of the afternoon, will consist of making some curtains to hide these ugly metal blinds...

Tonight is date night. I can't wait!
Meeting up with some friends to try a new place & to enjoy great company.

Then off to craft night with Julie...
I'll probably be there til midnight or later. I'll be tired tomorrow, but it will be worth the fun I will have tonight!

Today is a perfect day!

Oh...and Parker POOPED in the toilet...
TWICE.

Too much information?
Sorry!

...but seriously, it made my already great day, even BETTER!

Belinda's Kitchen

For all you Mesa Dwellers...

Have you been to Belinda's yet???

Soups
Salads
&
Sandwiches

oh...and I can't forget the COOKIES & CINNAMON ROLLS...

I promise you will not be disappointed!
I can vouch for her cooking, since she is my cousin:)
Open Monday-Saturday from 8:30-5:30pm
& serves LUNCH from 11am-2pm...

Get a group together & go to lunch...
and tell your friends...


Thank you...in advance.

Allergist

We saw the Allergist today & he was extremely helpful in explaining Eczema, along with the blood results that we got back in February. Then he did the prick test on Ryler's back...they prick in a grid & every prick tests a different thing. The results came back negative for EVERYTHING except Peanut. (If you enlarge the picture, you can prob tell which prick was for peanut). There was also a SMALL allergy to cats, but nothing to worry about since I will NEVER have a cat in my home!

What does this mean?

Nothing really, except we are back at square one.

I was hopeful that a negative result for Dairy & Soy was a great thing, until

he said that both the blood test & the prick test can be wrong, so even though it says negative, he still may be allergic & if it says positive, he might not actually have an allergy.

I asked him why in the world we even do the tests then!?!?

He said it helps pin point certain allergies at times, but in our case...we didn't really get anywhere, since the results were opposite, except with Peanut.

So...he gave me a prescription for an Epi Pen(hopefully I will never have to use it!) for his peanut allergy & a prescription for his eczema & told me to come back in a few weeks for further testing(they are going to test for every type of nut since he has a peanut allergy).

For now, we are to avoid Soy, Dairy & Peanuts & work to get his eczema under control.

Thankfully Ryler is such a trooper on his diet!

Happy Birthday Julie!

My sister-in-law, Julie's birthday was this week...yes, in case you are keeping track...that is the 3rd sis-in-law's bday in ONE week!

Julie & my brother Rob...keeping it alive...10-ish years later!:)

After Matt & I had been married about 1 year, we decided to start looking for a home that we could buy. We decided to build in Maricopa & we were so excited to pick out the colors, carpet, tile, etc for our new home! We told ourselves the drive would not be bad at all(haha).
We would drive out every so often to see the progress & to take pictures & we were so excited!
BUT...as the move in date got closer, we started feeling uneasy about the decision. Rob & Julie asked Matt to be their realtor at this same time(as they were also looking to move). Matt listed their house for SALE at the same time that we decided that if the market dropped(which looked likely) we would rather be "stuck" in Mesa, than in Maricopa.

A few days later, we bought Rob & Julie's house that Matt had just listed.

To this day...one of the best decisions we made in our marriage.

We LOVED the house, we loved the ward, we made several life-long friends in that area, we brought both our children home to that house, it was perfect for us.

So....Why did I go off on a tangent & tell you this story, when all I really wanted to do is wish Julie a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!?!

Because...when we bought their house, Rob & Julie bought a house about 1 mile away...so suddenly we were "neighbors". We lived in that home for 3 1/2 years & I was able to get to know Julie on a different level! They would invite us over for dinner, they would offer to watch our kids, we had so much fun...living so close!

And for THAT REASON alone...I'm so grateful we moved there...
and not to Maricopa.

Along with developing a close friendship with Julie, I was able to discover the incredible talent that she has! I'm a sucker for anything homemade & Julie is incredibly talented in this area!
Here is just a SMALL PEEK at a few things she has made...

I know...jaw dropping.

I could go on & pull several more pics out of my files, but instead I just want to wish Julie a
VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Thanks for being a great example to me & I hope you were able to have a good birthday!

Not Funny Yet...

Post Edit: Nothing really BAD happened...just a lot of little things, but we are all OK...nobody was hurt & that is what is important!

I went camping this past week.
It was a nightmare.
I am sure I will look back and laugh about it someday.
But not yet.
More details to come...eventually... I am giving myself a few days to recover.

Lets just say this pic of Ryler, as we were about to head home, sums up how I felt about this trip...

Hours of Fun

1 Painting Table...turned in to a slide
=

Parker...

1st of all....
I used to LOVE doing these as a kid, so when he grabbed the tub at Walmart, I couldn't say no.
They actually take him a LONG time to get all the beads on there, so it gives me time to do other things while he is working on them:)

2nd of all...
Parker is doing GREAT going to the bathroom! I think this is day 5 & he has woke up dry every morning except one(went to bed with a sippy cup that night, imagine that)

Three of the mornings he has woken me up, saying "Mommy, I need to go potty!"

Last night he woke up in the middle of the night CRYING loudly. I didn't know what was wrong, but went in to calm him down & he was disoriented, but knew he needed to go potty! I helped him go & he was back off to bed!

He is even over his "I only want to wear diapers" phase that he went through on day 3 & is actually starting to ENJOY wearing underwear.

The latest & greatest problem...

We went to the park yesterday. He had to go 3 different times while there. He is a boy...so I taught him to pee on a tree, like every good mom would:)

This morning I saw him run in the backyard & came back in SO PROUD.
"Mom! I went potty!"
Assuming he went in his pants, I asked him why he went in his underwear.
He said, "I didn't! I went on the tree!"

Oh boy.

Overall, I think he is going great & MUCH BETTER than I expected!

BUT...
BUT...BUT...BUT!!!

he will not go #2 in the toilet!

Will NOT.

and frankly

I'm tired of cleaning it up.

Any suggestions????????

PLEASE!!!