Wii have jumped on the bandwagon!

Our friend Pete called us up the other day and let us know that they had some Nintendo Wii's in at Best Buy. So we caved into the peer pressure and bought one! We became addicted at Pete and VeAnne's and decided it actually is fun, family entertainment. Rex got a Diego Safari Rescue game and he loves it!

Well checks

I just wanted to post the boys "stats" from their well checks today, so I can have a record of it. I have to say I am quite surprised, Sam is my huge eater and Rex is my tall, skinny bird eater. Rex has almost always since he was born been below 50% for weight. Sam has been at 50 or above. Rex was 36 pounds and 39 inches. He was in the 90th percentile for weight, and 75th for height!! I couldn't believe it! I guess I can finally after 3 years stop worrying about his food intake! Sam on the other hand was only in the 25th percentile for weight, and 35th for height. The Dr. wasn't concerned just wants me to get him to start drinking whole milk. Every time I give him some, he makes a nasty face and spits it out. Rex loved milk, so I am at a bit of a loss. All in all it was a good Dr. visit. Rex didn't have to get any shots, and I only let the Dr. do 1 for Sam, so he wasn't too upset (I do a delayed vax schedule, if anyone is interested email me, it's another one of my strong opinion things when it comes to parenting:))
Now if we can just get Rex pottytrained!

Birthday party

As many of you know Sam and my mom have the same birthday, so of course he has to be the favorite grandchild, right, it's only fair! :) So mom came down this weekend to celebrate their shared birthday tomorrow. That means 2 years in a row that she has been with us on her birthday. The first year was spent welcoming a new grandson and babysitting the other, so this year I decided to actually make her a birthday dinner and a birthday cake. We invited the Amadors over because really, when do we ever not invite them over! We also invited the Bells since Avery and Sam are only 3 months apart and are so cute together. I wanted to invite more people because we have so many friends that we love, but since I was making a dinner, it just wasn't possible. Paige was so kind as to give me some fabulous recipes, so I made a Chicken Cordon Bleu dish, a 7 layer salad and corn. The Bells brought a shrimp and cream cheese dish, and the Amadors brought a yummy drink. I made Sam and my mom carrot cake, I figured it was healthier than most and my mom likes it. It was hilarious watching Sam eat it! He got so into it and was smothered in cake and frosting. We then opened some great presents that Sam got, thanks everyone!! We have great neighbors and great friends and I have a wonderful mother who my boys absolutely adore! Thanks mom for sharing your birthday with Sam and with us!

Ok so I have to edit this to add something I figured out this morning. After I tasted the cake, I thought it just seemed a little off, kinda salty. So this morning I look at the recipe again and realize I completely left out the sugar!!! 2 cups of brown sugar!! So I call everyone to apologize and then I hear how everyone thought it was kinda gross but they didn't want to say anything. Lovely! I have a problem with 1st birthday cakes. Rex's was falling apart and I had to piece it back together and Sam's I forgot the sugar!! How embarrassing!

Maybe he has been watching me cut my hair too much lately?

Rex was quiet in my bathroom today, I knew I should be worried but I wasn't feeling good so I was kinda in the I don't care mode. Anyway, I finally went to check on him and found this.


I could only be mad at myself (and Mark for having his scissors in the drawer!). I actually thought it was pretty funny, except for I was lovin his mohawk he has been sporting lately. Oh well the mohawk is immortalized on the blog, right?! You will see in the 2nd picture that he cut it so short I had to closely buzz it so he now looks like this. Did I switch kids with Stefanie?? :D

And just cause he is so cute, here are a couple of cute shots of Sam I took today. In the bottom one you can see remnants of his viral rash, poor guy!

10 hour vacation

It's amazing how when you have kids your whole life changes and becomes completely unpredictable and out of your control. We decided to rent a cabin in Garden Valley, about an hour North of Boise this weekend with our good friends and next door neighbors, the Amadors. So we finally found a cabin that was in our price range, allowed pets and could accomodate us all. So yesterday we packed up and shipped out. Sam has been sick but I started him on antibiotics Friday so we were hoping he would be fine. He had a bit of a rash on his back but I figured it just was a part of the sickness and no big deal. My back was killing me again but I didn't want to spoil the fun for the rest of the family so I just kept taking Ibuprofen for the pain. The ride up was great, Sam slept the whole way and Rex was relaxed and also fell asleep. We got up there at about 2, unloaded the car, got the cabin heated up and settled in. I noticed Sam's rash seemed to be getting worse so I was concerned but he was acting fine. We had dinner and played some games with the kids and then put them to bed. Once we finally got the kids to sleep we started a game of Settlers of Cataan (which I won :)). During the game, Rex woke up and seemed really hot, but we figured it was because the wood stove was really working and the cabin was pretty hot. He watched us play for awhile and started perking up so I wasn't concerned. We tried to put him to bed but by this time he was kind of moaning and was getting hotter. We thought he was asleep and I asked Mark to give him a blessing. I get so concerned with him having a fever because of his seizures. During the blessing, Rex was repeating everything Mark said. It was kind of funny, but not really like him, and we thought he was asleep. Well he kept talking and saying all sorts of weird stuff as we were all trying to go to bed. We realized he was hallucinating and he was burning up. Unfortunately I didn't bring any Motrin and we were in the mountains with nothing being open and no hospital! Sam also kept tossing and turning and waking up and was obviously uncomfortable. Mark and I were concerned so we decided to just head home. It was about midnight, so we hurried and packed up and headed home, and got home about 1:30. So our 2 night stay in a cabin in the mountains turned into a 10 hour stay filled with drama! Rex was so sad, he wanted to stay and play at the cabin and we are so sad that we aren't up there relaxing right now and playing games with our friends. We are especially sad we had to leave the Amadors all by themselves in the cabin! It was also an expensive 10 hours! We got some fun shots before everything happened though, it really was a good time, we just wish it could have lasted longer.

Happy Valentines Day!

I love holidays with kids, especially as the get older. Rex woke up really early this morning, while Mark was getting ready, and I had been up with Sam a few times last night because he is sick. So Mark stuck a movie on for Rex so I could sleep some more. When Sam woke up, I went up and got him and came back down and Rex said, "Happy Balentine Day Mommy!" It was so cute! All day, that is all he talked about. Later on that day, he randomly said to me, "On Balentines Day you say I love you and give you a kiss!" Then he gave me a kiss. Sooooo cute! We made pink cupcakes with hearts on them to give to his friends with a Valentine card. He had a great time running them up to his friends doors and saying, "Happy Balentines Day!" Sam was like, whatever, but Rex really got into the holiday this year. It was so fun!
I have gotten really into making my own cards with Photoshop, so here's the outside of the one I did for Mark. We are celebrating Valentine's tomorrow with a date!!! YAY!

Hmmm.... not sure what to think.

I took the boys to the mall today to pick up a print at Kiddie Kandids, and I decided to do a little shopping even though I have no money. I least I could pretend I was buying things. Well we were in Macy's in the bra and panty area because I was looking for some tights. There were a couple of mannequins with bras and panties on, and they were the kind that look real, with faces and stuff, not just the body. I don't know if Rex has just never seen a mannequin like that, or what, but he was super intrigued. He walked over to this black mannequin with a pink bra and panties on and just stared at her with a big grin on his face. Then he touched her leg. It looked so funny, him touching this half naked mannequin's leg with a huge smile on his face! The sales ladies were cracking up. I was slightly creeped out so I grabbed him and hurried on. Then downstairs there was another mannequin and this time I captured a picture. His hands look like they are up her skirt, but they aren't they are just on her leg. I think he was so intrigued that these things looked like real people but weren't so he had to feel them to find out. Here's the pic.

I called Mark to tell him about it and he was pretty disturbed. I had to calm his fears that his son is already girl crazy by explaining to him that he is 3 years old and has never been exposed to anything sexual so it was totally innocent. It was just pure intrigue on his part. I am not sure I made him feel better, but oh well! It was pretty funny!
I also captured some pics of the boys playing on a firetruck. These are all camera phone pictures, so sorry about the graininess.

Thankful for great friends

I am feeling really lucky and thankful right now so I thought I should record it! My friend Paige had a lunch today at her house for one of our other friends Marinda who is moving to Pocatello next week. It was so nice to get together and enjoy each other's company while our children made a disaster of Paige's upstairs!! Marinda has served in the Young Women Presidency with me and is so talented and I have loved getting to know her! She is inspiring and hilarious all at the same time. She was telling us all thank you for being her friends and how she has never had a group of friends like this and how sad she is to leave. It really got me thinking how lucky I am to live where I live and to know each of these wonderful women. I too, have never had a group of friends like this (except for my high school friends!) in any place Mark and I have lived. I love the girl's lunches, dinners and just being able to rely on people when I need help with my kids. It truly has made me feel at home here in Boise and I would be happy spending the rest of my life here. So thank you all of you who read this and have supported me and been my friend. I know that I have learned so much from every one of you and am really blessed by these friendships.
I meant to take pictures, but I always forget! Maybe next time!
And we will miss you Marinda!!

SNOW!

We have gotten more snow this year than we have ever had in the 2 winters previous that we have lived here, and apparently more than they have had in 10+ years. It's been so fun! I really like the snow, I figure if its going to be cold it might as well snow, right? Funny thing is 3 of the Sundays we have had 8:00 am church this year, we have woken up to snow. It snowed about 4-5 inches today, it was so pretty. Then this afternoon the sun came out so Rex, Boykin and I went out to take advantage of the beautiful weather and fresh snow! Here's some shots.
Boykin had a blast! He was tunneling through the snow, it was hilarious! I think he was having memories of my mom's in Island Park! He loved that place.


Rex and I threw snowballs, made snow angels and I pulled him on the sled. These were taken right before our neighbors came out and creamed us with snow!