School for kids

The last month we have been doing a school for Corbin and Taylor. It has been so much fun and they have been learning lots and most importantly they are having a blast with their friends. Today just happened to be a day that I had all of them at the same time and all of them were SO good! Corbin and Brooklyn learned about wind (perfect for today!) and Taylor and his two friends learned about the letter C. We were talking about things that start with C. The camera was one of the items and so of course I had to get a picture of them...I just couldn't believe that the only two pictures I took turned out so cute and they were ALL smiling!

Does Taylor look happy, or what!!?? These girls are so so cute!

I promise the boys do have clothes! It's just Taylor wants to wear Superman EVERYDAY and well, Corbin, he eventually put a shirt on.

I just can't help but post some adorable pictures of this adorable boy!!! Levi is such a fun guy and at such a fun age! He has been sitting up and rolling over and eating lots of food! The moment he wakes up, he is in search for his brothers and ready to play and smile!

I can't possibly have a 5 year old!

This weekend was Corbin's birthday. I can't get over that he is five! I can't believe that 5 years ago this little pumpkin came into our lives and brought us so much joy.Corbin is such a fun loving boy! We have had so many memories in such few years. I remember his little giggle's when he was a baby, he laughed so easily. I remember him playing peek-a-boo with his blanket when he was two months old. I remember the day that we could have lost him at 4 1/4 months old, I will never forget that. I remember the way he used to army crawl, and then, the way he held his hands up while walking, he was such a little guy. I remember his obsessions with balls, then tractors, then dirt, then tools, then the wicked witch of the west, then Draco Malfoy, and the list goes on. I remember his adorable little voice when he started talking and the list and list of funny things he has said. When I was in the hospital after having Taylor, Alisa was watching Corbin for us at the apartment. Corbin was eating some crackers and Alisa asked if she could have one. He gave her a teeny little crumb and sarcastically she said, "oh thanks, that was generous". Corbin said, "no, not generous." Another memory, was when we were living at our last apartment (on ground level). I was in the back getting Taylor out of the crib and all of a sudden I heard crying outside. I ran out and saw that Corbin had fallen from the window, into the dirt and the screen was next to him. After I cleaned him up, I asked him if he fell out the window, he said, "jump!" And that's where it began!! I could go on and on about our big boy...

For his birthday, Corbin really wanted he "Hunt" Pirate party, so we invited a couple of friends to come over and play and they had a blast. First of all they played musical islands (like musical chairs) and those kids were wild dancers (we danced to the Bee Gees!) Each time one got out, I gave them a sucker. It only took Corbin a couple rounds to figure out he wasn't going to go to an "island" when the music stopped. I attempted to make a treasure chest for his cake, not great, but the kids were excited.

We went on a treasure hunt throughout the house and at the end the cake was the treasure.

He's going to blow for all he's worth!

Jacob and Corbin

Brooklin and Corbin

Corbin and Brinlee

Cutler and Corbin

That night we had a Morris family party and celebrated Grandpa and Corbin's birthdays. Granpa was so nice to let the boys ride him like a horse! We had lots of different appetizers and coconut cupcakes...it was all so delicious. We then watched the movie Facing the Giants. It was a cute movie and anyone looking for a good family movie, this is one.

All the yummy food!!

Corbin is such a wonderful big brother and we love all him so so much!!!

Our Valentines Week

We have had a very nice Valentine's week. We haven't done a whole lot, but we have enjoyed being together!
Morris Party:
Last Saturday we went to Justin's parent's home and spent some time together. Grandma and Grandpa Gerhauser were visiting and we had a blast with them. We played the card game "Thirdeen" It is the funnest card game and we were laughing so hard our stomachs were killing!! I love getting together with the Morris Family!!

The boys love reading books at Grandma's house!
Oh, and yes, they use those bibs for dinner, and when dinner is over they turn them around and use them as capes.

Women's Basketball:
I have loved the opportunity to play women's basketball in our ward...it is a blast and I just love playing with the women on our team! Wednesday night was the funnest game. To make a long story short, we went into double overtime and we were down by one point with 5 seconds left, the ball was now in our position, Lacee dribbles the ball down the court and shoots a three pointer and as soon as the buzzer goes off, swish!!!! We Won!!! It was awesome!

Valentine's Day Movie:

Today Corbin, Taylor, and their friend Brooklin came over for a Valentine's Day Movie. Before Brooklin came over, Corbin wanted to be a prince, so he got in his Sunday suit and was in the bathroom for 5 minutes doing his hair, seriously, this kids is hilarious! Oh, and by the way Potty Training is still going very well! Yeah Tay! This was Levi's Valentine's Party! At least he has his Lamb there.

We are not big on Presents, flowers, and going out on Valentine's Day! As long as we are together, that's all that we care about! We will probably have a nice candlelit dinner and some delicious desserts and then play games or something. Low key, but in these times, that's what we want. I LOVE Justin so much and I am so grateful for all he does for me and our family!!

Happy Valentines Day to my Love and my boys!!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to everyone else I love so much!! xoxoxoxox

Boys, boys, boys!

A couple of weeks ago we went on a fun adventure. Anytime we add the word to adventure to anything, the boys are excited to go! (Let's go on an adventure to the doctor's office) We walked out onto a frozen pond that is close by. It was so cool to be standing in the middle of the pond and then to slide around. We had a blast!

One of the boys favorite things were the fishing holes that were scattered around everywhere. They thought it was fun to throw little ice chunks inside. Towards the end we were walking around and found, what we thought, was a bag or some kind of cloth, we walked towards it and we were so wrong. It was a dead, frozen, duck. Seriously, one of the saddest things ever, the boys kept going on and on asking questions about what it was and how it got there. Sad.

I never did post the boys Christmas pajamas. I thought they were pretty cute and I was thrilled to be able to get the same ones for each of them! Justin said that poor Levi was going to be sick of these pajamas by the time he was 5!!
I am learning more and more that boys just naturally love guns!
And now, one of the most exciting things that is going on around here these last couple of days, is Taylor has now used the potty, successfully 4 times in 1 1/2 days!! And another time he went into the bathroom by himself, but didn't quite make it in time. Oh, I thought this day would never come. I already am preparing myself for lots of accidents and I know I am the one that has to keep on reminding him, but oh, we are moving in the right direction...hip, hip, hurray!

I also have to mention this hilarious story (or at least Justin and I thought it was). This was a couple of days ago (you know, when Taylor was still in diapers!) He had just gone stinkies (that's what we call it) in his diaper and I was getting ready to change him, obviously going way too slow. Corbin and Taylor were wrestling in the family room and I could hear Corbin screaming help, help. I run in there and Taylor has got Corbin pinned around his leg, with Corbin facing, well you know where. Corbin yells, help, it stinks, it stinks!!

Corbin and Taylor have such a funny relationship. While I was finishing this post, Taylor was showing Corbin his scrap on his leg and Corbin tried to touch it. Taylor said, "no, only I can touch it" Then for some reason, Corbin felt bad and so Taylor said, "okay, only you and me can touch it". So Corbin touches it and Taylor says, "NO, don't push hard!". And now Corbin can not touch it again.

This one's for Taylor

This is one post that is long overdue. Taylor turned three right before Christmas! I just can't believe how big he is and how much he has grown and learned this past year. Taylor is such a thoughtful, sweet little guy. He is very considerate. The other day we went out to eat at a buffet place and Taylor was sitting next to Justin in the booths. Justin said he needed to go and get some more food and without being asked Taylor got off his seat so that Justin could go get some more food. This is such a simple example, but he does little things like this everday. I have to admit that whenever there was silence while Corbin was playing, I would get a little nervous and I had to go see what he was up to. With Taylor, he is usually playing quietly with his animals or else looking through one of his books.

I wanted to post some of my favorite picture of him throughout this past year.

Taylor loves, loves, loves his milk!

This is the year that Taylor became a big brother! He is such a natural and has been such a big help with Levi. Sometimes he gets a little too excited about Levi and he wants to lay right on him so he can be even closer. Of course I move him and Levi starts to cry, Taylor tells him, "ohh, it's okay, it's okay" Sweet guy.

To sum up this past year, it has been all about Superman!! He loves to be my hero and tell me that I am his princess and Levi is his baby princess. He is always running around saying, "Superman, da na na na" and then stops and puts his hands on his hips and stands there with his chest held high! I don't know where he gets it from, but I love it!

Taylor was so excited to learn to jump off of things this year. Now he is just as daring as Corbin!

Taylor definately belongs to his Grandma Packer. This is his other passion in life. He has a little stick horse that he rides everyday and it's name is usually Ritz or Sassy. Recently, we watched Return to Snowy River and Black Beauty. They are his favorites right now! It is really interesting to me how different children can be and how they just naturally have their own interests. We never pushed either of them into liking certain things. Corbin just loved Tractors and tools and Taylor just loves Superman and Horses. The nice thing is they both support each others interests and will play with each other, but when it comes down to it, they both love very different things.

Taylor, we love you so, so much and we are very excited to see what this year holds in store for you!!!

I'm back and better than ever!

Oh it feels so good to have life back to normal! For those of you who didn't know, I was sick for pretty much the whole month of December give or take a few good days. It started out with some kind of a flu, then I got better for a while and then I got strep throat...oh yuck. After that I thought I was done and had my share of sickness for a season. Then the Sunday before Christmas I started getting flu-like symptons again and then it turned into a terrible migraine for a couple of days, I seriously thought I was going to die. By Wednesday I couldn't handle it any more, so Justin took me to the ER..ugh..the ER, I hate the ER. They asked tons of questions and with my history of headaches they diagnosed it as a migraine and gave me an IV and pumped me full of fluids and some different medicines. One of them was the weirdest thing I have ever had, it made me so agitated and restless and all I could think of was Levi at home trying to take a bottle and probably not doing so well. Oh, I was dying! Luckily after a while my body calmed down and Justin talked to Alisa and the boys were doing well. Okay, I could calm down and we could go home pretty soon. I had been so cold and shaking a lot, so Justin piled lots of blankets on me, it felt so good. Until the doctor looked at me and said I look really hot, so they took my temperature and I had a fever. Now the doctor was worried about meningitis, so I got to do a spinal tap. Justin does not do well with needles and blood and such, so the doctor made him go in the waiting room so that he didn't have another patient. I did pretty well with it and I think I now know what it would be like to have an epidural! Well, I didn't have meningitis, but I did get a side effect from the tap...a headache. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

I finally got to go home and spend Christmas on the couch. The hardest thing about this, was that I couldn't give my family the Christmas they deserved. I know they still had a good time, but it was so hard to just lay there and watch and not be totally involved and not be able to make a yummy breakfast or play with the new toys. I was devistated that I missed my family's Christmas Eve dinner, the first time in 25 years! I was so sad that I couldn't enjoy when Justin's family came over on Christmas. I was depressed. But, then I remembered what Christmas is about...our Savior. I was given so much comfort by knowing that my Savior really knew just what I was going through, he has suffered this and much, much more. I was going to be just fine!

After one more week of this sickness, I am feeling like a brand new person. It is amazing how sickness can make you have a whole new outlook on life. I want to be better, I want to enjoy each day that I have!!

Thank you to all of my family who was there for me, those of you who gave me a call, or left me a loving message, and prayed for me, it means more to me than you will ever know. I have the best family in the whole world!!! I love you all and hope to see you soon! But the most wonderful person through this whole thing has been Justin. He took such great care of me and the boys, he never complained even though he was exhausted! He would wake up in the middle of the night to feed Levi, feed the two older boys, play with the boys, bring me my medicine, made sure that I drank plenty of water, he missed several days of work without pay, and he was just there for me...you are the best, Justin! I love you so much!!!

Now, I'm back and better than ever....by the way HAPPY NEW YEAR..2009!!!