My boy (Hayden) is growing up

I wanted to post this on the night it happened cause I had one of those moments where I couldn't believe this big kid is my child! On Mon. April 9th, Hayden made two stepping stones-he started taking showers (he is like his father in that he takes long showers!), and he had his first piano lesson. We decided Mon. evening is the easiest to schedule one since there are no church activites that day. He has been so proud at what he has learned so far. He promised his Nanni (Mike's mom) that he would play "I am a Child of God" for his baptism (age 8).

Easter weekend

Saturday was a busy day filled with Easter egg hunts, painting eggs, and eating candy. First we went to Hayden's preschool and met Harrison and Zane there for their egg hunt. This was Connor's first attempt at hunting eggs, as you can see by the picture, he wasn't real sure what to do! We came home and rested for a few hours before going to another egg hunt at our park up the street from our house. It was absolutely freezing! It felt like 20 with the wind chill even colder! We stayed 10 min. to collect eggs and prizes, then we were in the warm car! We went over to my parents house Sat. evening for pizza, indoor egg hunt, and coloring Easter eggs. This was Connor's first time to color, he thought it was funny. Sunday morning the boys came out of their room to find the Easter bunny had left a jelly bean trail again. They traveled through the house finding small gifts along the way. Connor ate more jelly beans than what ended up in his basket! At the end of the trail, they found their Easter baskets and their big gifts. Hayden got a scooter that he has been asking for a while now. (Most of his friends have one.) Since it has been cold outside, Mom has been nice and lets him ride it through the house. Connor's big gift was a camping chair which he also loves. Let me tell you, that second child is so hard to buy for!

My sick kids

Happy Palm Sunday and April Fool's Day! Hayden and Daddy made some crazy colorful pancakes and juice for breakfast. You should have seen the color of Connor's poop! It was a bright blue-green! Not a lot has happened this past week except that Hayden was sick with the stomach flu. He got it from Connor who had it last week. I was over at Jamie's house when all of a sudden Connor threw up. He threw up 3 more times before I could get him out the door. Poor Jamie kept cleaning up after him and I know that's not easy when it's not your child. I felt bad for having broken in her brand new floor and infecting her house. What a dear friend! I was nervous about driving the half hour home from her house, so I covered him. (Notice the bowl that he was throwing up in-it was Andy's popcorn bowl! It probably isn't anymore!)

Doesn't he look so sad! I felt so bad for him. It's so unlike him to not want to eat. And being so little he didn't understand what was going on with his body. He was down most of last week, then Hayden was sick for two whole days this week, which never happens.

A few cute things that the boys said or did this past week:

Hayden made two references to his brain this past week. The first was at night when I had him out late shopping. (It's okay, it was for him!) As we were walking in the door he said, "My brain is tired!"

The other reference was the other night when he made a bad choice about something, whichI can't remember anymore. But he said, "It's not my fault, it's my brain's fault!"

Last night I had stripped Connor down in preparation for his bath. I looked over to see him peeing standing up onto his potty! We don't know if that was on purpose or if he just happened to be in that spot when the urge came. But whatever the reason, we were excited! Wouldn't all our friends be jealous if we got him potty trained by age two!

Vision becomes reality

I have been scrapbooking for seven years now, and ever since I started I wanted a place to call my own. I've made several attempts to have an organized scrapbook space, beginning with our newlywed apartment in Utah. (It was just a desk that sat in the living room and was always messy.) Now I have a house where everything has it's own place (except toys everywhere!), including my very own scrapbook space! For anyone who is an avid scrapbooker, this is a dream come true. For years I looked in scrapbook magazines and envied the women who showed off their beautiful rooms so well organized. Now my vision has become a reality.

The vinyl lettering on the wall says "We do not remember days, we remember moments." There are still some things that need to be finished, but almost everything has a place and I can find it quickly. This room has become Mike's and my refuge at night when the kids are in bed. Mike will sit at the computer and work on college stuff (the black chair to the right), while I'm at my desk.

I was going to put up the chair rail by myself, but that was a job too big to tackle on my own, so Mike ended up doing most of it. But I did get to use the saw-it's so fun!

There is one corner in the room that has weird angles, and it took Mike a while to figure it out, but he got the perfect cut. I'm so proud of him!! This is the corner.

Another project completed this week was getting me a new kitchen faucet. When we first moved here that was something I wanted to replace. It only took 4 1/2 yrs.! When we redo the whole kitchen I'm scared to know how long that will take!!!! Jamie just spent about a month in chaos while they redid theirs, but now they can enjoy the fruits of their labors.

No more drip!

Is this the same week?

This was on Wed. when the temperature was up in the 70's.

(Connor is sitting with Gannon, the boy I babysit. Which one is older? Gannon is actually a few pounds heavier than Connor, yet he is 9 months younger!)

The crocuses are up-spring is here!

But wait, mother nature had a cruel joke to play on us. This weekend was our third and final attempt to travel to NY to visit Mike's mom before she travels to California for a few months. This was the weather on Friday.

I'm not sure what the final tally was - maybe about 7 or 8 inches. I guess it snowed heavily one more time so that Hayden could build a snow castle with Daddy.

Saturday was, as you know, St. Patrick's Day. Well, the leprechauns came and trashed our house! But at least they left gold chocolates. That happened to Hayden at preschool on Thurs. and he couldn't stop talking about it. So we decided to have the leprecauns visit here too. He was so excited. Then Mommy made special pancakes for breakfast.

Connor thought it looked better in his hair than in his mouth.

Today we went to my parents house for dinner and Hayden and Pap played outside for a while.

They built a leprecaun in the snow and Hayden put a pot of gold beside him.

Pap built an igloo for Hayden. It was actually warm inside! (Although Hayden just said he couldn't here the wind anymore!)

Homemade apple pie anyone?! I'm really on a big cooking kick lately. I am addicted to Food network. My DVR is full of episodes to watch. I've also gotten very interested in nutrition the past year or so. I think I would like to do my graduate work in that field and hopefully work with children. But if I only go to school to learn for the benefit of my own family and friends, it will be worth it.

Poetic

I had to put this out for everyone. Mike took the boys swimming last night and as they were going in, it was raining. Connor was laughing and Hayden said, "Connor is as happy as a raindrop falling on someone's head." Isn't that poetic!

New Friends

Connor made his very own friend the other day. Tyler Ashton and his older sister Abby came to spend the day with us on Tues. Tyler is just a few months older than Connor so they could relate well to each other. They had so much fun playing together. It made me so happy because Connor is at an age right now where he wants to be a part of what Hayden and his friends are doing, but he can't keep up. When naptime came I put Connor and Tyler in the same room together and they had a slumber party! It was so cute to hear them jumping and laughing at each other. Connor is entering a whole new world of childhood.