Bumps and Bruises

are what this boy is made of.

I have never met a child who is more observant than this one. Now, to add to that, he does everything and anything his brothers are doing...age does not matter. We don't have stairs in our home, so he learned by climbing up his brothers bunkbed ladder...before he was one. He climbs up onto the table and jumps around like it's no big deal. He spins around the family room and then runs down the hallway full speed. He gets so excited and forgets about any object in his pathway. Can you tell this is a bad, bad combination. It is.

When we were in St. George a couple of weeks ago, the very first night we were there he was up on the top bunkbed with his brothers and cousin Hunter. I don't know what they were doing...they were probably just so excited to be together! We then heard Levi screaming so we run in to get him and comfort him. The boys said that he tripped and bunked his head on the edge (I'm so thankful he didn't fall off). When we looked at his face, it had swollen up right under his eye (now, I'm thankful he didn't bang one inch more towards his eye). After a minute or two of needing to be cuddled, he was back and running around like nothing had happened. So it just looked really bad, but he seemed great and happy. A few days later he banged his chin on the picnic table...another bruise...a few days after that another bruise appears on his cheek, I have absolutely no idea where that one came from. And the list goes on...still.

Two weeks after the black eye, Levi has a doctors appointment. I told the Doctor about all the bruises and then we were onto the rest of the appointment. (Stats at 21 months are: 33.5 inches tall - 55%, 25.4 lbs. - 30%. 19.1 inches circumference - 50%.) After examing Levi, the doctor pulls up a chair across from me and says, "well..." Oh no, that can not be good. You never want to hear well.... from the doctor. First thing that comes to my mind is...he thinks I'm an abusive mother, he's going to turn me in, they are going to take our children away....I feel sick! He goes on to tell me that he found blood in Levi's ear and the two reasons that would be the case is from either an ear infection (which, he didn't have) or head trauma. I think the Dr. noticed my face color go from pink to white. I felt like the world's worst mother on the planet. How could I not notice my child having head trauma....really? Doctor said, in most head trauma cases you take the child to the ER and often they need to have a procedure done by a neurosurgeon. WHAT? Have I ruined our child? Luckily, the Doctor didn't seem too concerned and said that Levi must be one tough kid, because if anything would have happened it would have been within the first 24 hours. I guess I felt a little better. He still wants to see Levi in a week and a half just to follow up on it. I should have put this child in a helmet that whole time. Since then...
Daddy came home from work and was in the kitchen. Levi had been in his bedroom and when he noticed Justin was home he booked it full speed to him yelling, "Daddy!!!" in the cutest voice you will ever hear and then ..smack.. right into the corner of our bookshelf, knocking him down. It was devistating. And now, yes, another bruise on his face, right down his cheek.
On Saturday, we were over at my sisters house and I was telling my parents all about Levi and that I was probably going to be turned in for child abuse, and what do you know... Levi, running full speed again, smacked right into the kitchen table. Oh child, please no more! You have got to stay bruise free...at least until next week, please....

Croquet at Grandma's

How can a boy be any happier? Hitting a ball with a stick, whoever invented this game is brilliant.

Yes, this was a great game for these boys.

Anticipating...

so many things right now.

a trip to St. George with my sis and her family! The UPS guy to bring this. In case you were wondering why I haven't posted for so long, I have been without a camera for almost a month now.

Anticipating is looking foward to something... and this next thing is not something I really look forward to, but I guess I am anticipating getting it over with... (wisdom teeth)

In the meantime, I really want to start (and finish) this project. I found the idea from here. I have wanted to get my recipe binder looking better and get my recipes ORGANIZED for such a long time, I am so excited it's kind of sad.

and next, to make a dress like this for a cute baby girl. Pattern here.

But most of all, oh how I am anticipating summer break in one month!!!

What we do while we wait for spring

Can pretty much be summed up in one word....

Legos
and lots of them...but I don't complain, because they will play for hours upon hours and they are incredibly creative. (btw...picture above is Levi giving Corbin a hug, he is not strangling him)

Our second favorite thing to do is play the guessing game. We LOVE this game. And again, the boys are very creative. Here is Corbin being the state of Idaho.

and a tarantula.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of Taylor playing this game, but he is always, let me repeat, always some kind of superhero who runs around with the same expression...Levi has picked it up.

We also love playing indoor baseball with soft balls, just don't have any fragile things out, and surprisingly we haven't learned that by experience.

One day Justin and I were folding this blanket and putting it away. Levi ran and jumped on it and then, this activity was born.

For Corbin's birthday he got the V-motion. It's nice to have something to switch things up. By the looks of this picture you would think he was bored silly by it, not to mention it's a v -MOTION, I don't really see much motion going on. However, he does like it. But we don't allow a ton of playing time, we don't want to raise a child who only does that with his spare time.

Reading is lot's of fun in our home...we love reading! And I just love that the boys will read to each other!

And slowly, but surely, Corbin is learning to read! It made me so happy this night to see Corbin laying in bed trying to read the Book of Mormon. He has got the first few words of the introduction down..."The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture.."

We love to color and have done lot's of it this past winter. Sadly Levi has found lots of places to color (with permanent marker)...thank goodness for Soft scrub with bleach. I found him one time coloring on the wall and then pointing and saying, "no, no, no" We love finding a fun craft to do. Our boys love crafts! This day we got koolaid packets and mixed each with a little bit of water...it smelled so good, and then painted away.

They loved painting the fruits and vegetables.

Any chance we had to go outside, we were there. This day we went for a nice stroll in Memory Grove. We had to keep Levi away from the creek though. If we would of let him go right up to it, he would have walked right in without even stopping...ahh, mom moment, it freaks me out!

What better way to wait for spring then delicious Strawberries and Cream

We are now ready for you spring!

April Fools Day

I have never been big on April Fools Day...not since the time that I was 13 years old at least. Sad, sad day. You know those sprayers in the kitchen sink. Well, my older brother, Tyson thought it was great to put rubberbands around it to keep it shut and then ask me to get him a drink. And me, being the absolutely sweetest sister that I was said, yeah...(and at that time I was the only one on the planet who hadn't heard of that idea). Well, I got wet, laughed, and then planned my revenge.
Later that day, I did the exact same thing, then, sat down on the couch and asked Tyson to get me a drink...okay, pathetic I know. He didn't fall for it, but a moment later Dad came into the kitchen to get a drink and bam... let's just say, he didn't think it was funny...at...all... So I haven't done much pranking since.

So now, on April Fool's Day, I keep it fun and harmless. Last year I tried a meatloaf cake, but Justin and I didn't dig it. It was kind of, weird. So this year I made a regular meatloaf for us and I told the boys that's what we were having for dinner. When they all came to sit up, I told Justin, "you know, the boys have been so good today should we just let them have a cupcake for dinner instead." Of course the boys were extremely thrilled about that idea.

When Corbin, saw it he said, "hey, that's a meatloaf cupcake"...okay, so no fooling him...

Taylor on the other hand thought that it was hilarious when he took a lick of the 'frosting' and found it not to be so sweet.

Levi, didn't care one bit, he chowed that thing faster than you could say "Happy April Fool's Day!"

A little later that evening, I told the boys that we were having a second dinner, they sat up to this.

They knew something was different about it, but once they took a bite, they were not let down!
They enjoyed Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (Ice Cream and Caramel syrup), Peas and Carrots (lime and orange flavor tootsie rolls), Bacon (Caramel and Tootsie rolls), and a fried egg (melted white chocolate with yellow m&m)

I think April Fools Day CAN be fun....and not get you in big trouble!

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful mom

I love this picture of my mom with baby Grey, the look in his eyes says it all!

Last week was my mom's birthday. People have been known to say that you get better with age...so true for my mom. She is amazing and I didn't fully realize it until I had three boys of my own and in all honesty I don't think I will ever know all of the truly wonderful things she has done in her whole lifetime. From growing up with horses, to being a beauty queen (okay, runnerup, but mom you were so much better looking!!) to attending college, to marrying dad, to moving away for military duties, to having four handsome sons and two semi-beautiful daughters, to going back to school, to becoming an art teacher...yearbook advisor...and then a photography teacher, to owning horses again, to gaining 19 grandchildren, to becoming empty nesters and going on lots of walking dates with dad and the list goes on and on...and that's just skimming the surface! Thanks for being such an inspiration to me. I remember realizing, my Senior year of high school, how truly grateful I was to have such an amazing mom!

I remember the day I was going to go through the temple, I was living in Salt Lake and mom and dad were driving up from Brigham to meet me and Justin at the Bountiful temple. Mom called and said that they were stuck in some bad traffic and may not make it on time. I remember just crying and saying she had to be there, I couldn't do that without my mom, I just couldn't. And like always, she was there, she made it!

One of my most favorite things about my mom, was told to me on the phone by my dad while we were driving up to Brigham city last week. He told me, mom's biggest love (besides us of course) are horses, and next to that is sharing that love with her grandkids. Thanks mom, for giving each one of these kids the opportunity to have a teeny tiny glimpse into your childhood!

I remember when my Grandma passed away and mom gave a talk at her funeral. It still brings tears to my eyes, mom ended saying about Grandma. 'she was one classy lady.' Well mom, same goes for you!

That Sam-I-Am

We celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday with a big bang and lots of reading. One of the books was Bartholomew and the Oobleck, great book. Then we made our own oobleck. Perfect for two boys who love ooey, gooey, gross, and messy...but luckily it cleans up really well. All you need is 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup water, and food coloring. This is so cool and weird at the same time.

For dinner, we did the obvious. This book is one of our boys favorites. However, green dyed food does not sound appealing at all. I found an idea in a magazine to do Greens, Eggs, and Hamloaf. (Spinach, a fried egg, and my mom's most delicious ever hamloaf!) It was a yummy, fun meal!
We had a great day celebrating (I won't give you the details of the meltdowns we had of each boy that afternoon...)

I do have one regret, I wanted to make a Cat in the Hat hat, but we didn't have the book and our boys have never heard of it, they would of had no idea what I was doing (am I depriving them?) They probably would have loved it, oh well, there's always tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day....

Oh the Thinks you can Think!