Enjoying one day at a time.

3/29/10

Adjusting to life with Rosco

Rosco has been part of our family for almost 2 weeks now. I'd forgot how much work was associated with a new puppy. The first few nights we talked about strangling her to stop the obnoxious howling. Then I wanted to give her away for pooping on my carpet! And there have been a few tears shed over chewed up toys (I have to train the boys on putting their toys away too). But as the days go by things get better and better. The boys love playing with her. Tyson loves 'petting' her, and she gets even by licking him from head to toe. I'm sure in the long run it will be totally worth all the work now to have a good dog!

St. Patricks Day

Yes I'm a sucker for St. Patrick's Day (a little of that is due to my birthday). But this year it was Tommy making the green milk and pancakes for breakfast! After 4 years Tommy was finally home for my birthday - yeah! We had such a great day which included a green breakfast, yummy lunch with my family, then dinner and a shopping spree with Tommy!

Noah with his green milk

Tyson and his green pancakes. This little boy loves pancakes!

3/15/10

New Puppy!

Here she is... Rosco! Yes the boys named her. I got a girl dog, they got to name it. She is a labradoodle (1/2 poodle, 1/4 lab, 1/4 golden ret.) After having to put Daisy down just before Christmas (which totally broke our hearts) we've been counting down the days until the weather was warm enough to get another dog. We are so excited, She is the sweetest dog ever, granted we've only had her for a few hours now, so we'll see how the next few days and months go.

3/13/10

Snaggle Tooth No More!

For the last two months Noah's had this front tooth that was just out of control, it didn't matter what we did that thing was not coming out! We were starting to worry that it may be hanging in there until High School graduation. But March 12th was it's lucky day. We went to the 'Sock Hop' at Noah's school and he got hit with a balloon, yes, it was a balloon that finally knocked the thing out. The only bad part was he couldn't find it. We walked all around and that little snaggle tooth was no where to be found.... so I had a 7 year old in tears! Even his cute little friend Mackenzie tried to help look for it, and make him feel better, the tears still came. So we came home and wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining what had happened and sure enough this morning he had a dollar bill under his pillow! It makes me so happy to look at that cute toothless smile. I no longer have to be ashamed of the snaggle!

3/4/10

Cooper's big announcement...

Driving home the other night Cooper pipes up from the back seat,
"Mom, you know I hab a girfren?"
"Really, who is it"
"It Morgan" (from pre-school).
"Oh, I like Morgan. Do you have fun playing with her?"
"No, all da other gir chae me, but Im chaing ater Morgan"
This conversation continues for a few mins to which I find out he likes Morgan
But so does Nathan!
So he decided today he was going to ask Morgan to play.

After pre-school I asked him if he was able to play with Morgan, and this was his response, "Yeah! I pla wi her"
"did Nathan play with you too?"
"No Nathan not der today".... oh the love of 4 year olds.

I have a feeling it's going to be a long 15 years before he goes on his mission. Noah's also hooking it up with the ladies. The other day I was emptying is backpack out only to find a sticky note that said Mckenzie and had a phone number on it :)

Oh the joys of bribery...

Cooper has been in speech since last fall, and needless to say it's going alot slower than we had thought/hoped for.... I guess that's just what happens when a kid can't hear for the first two years of life. So after trying all sorts of ways to get him to practice his words it would always end in tears. We were both so frustrated. So I came up with the idea of a prize box, one trip to Partyland and we were ready to roll. It was magic, he loves to practice because he gets a sticker and everytime he gets 5 stickers he gets a prize! It's going so much better now, he actually passed of the letter T at the end of the word, first one - yeah!

Then Noah wanted to join in the fun, so he has to practice spelling 5 times a week and if he gets a 9/10 or 10/10 he gets a prize. The next spelling test he got 10/10 plus 2 bonus words! Yes bribery does work!!

2/15/10

Unexpected Surprise

I don't think there's anything in this world that my boys love more than their cousins. Cousins are just as good as best friends only they get to sleepover. Last Friday my brother in law was driving through town for a family wedding and he drop Ethan off to have a sleepover and then spend the next night with his grandparents. We had so much fun. There was lots of running, screaming, wrestling, and wii! It's a good thing boys are so much fun!

Playing with Play-doh, they were mixing all the colors together... they made some pretty cool creations!

Dodge-ball on the trampoline

Cheaters never prosper!

Valentine's Day Parties

Lot's of parties for Valentine's Day. It started with Cooper's on Thursday in Pre-school. They got to take Valentines for everyone in their class. Cooper wanted to take a toy, so he picked out these little spaceships. As you can see from the picture below Miss Jenny went above and beyond with their Valentine's! Then we went out to decorate cookies with Grandma and Grandpa (sometimes I think Roma and I enjoy this more than the kids) It was a lot of fun and we were eating cookies for days. Then on Friday Noah had his class party. Since I'm working on the yearbook I went to take pictures. His room mom is amazing to, she had decorations, cute containers, fun games... how could you not have a great time.

Evan, Jace, and Cooper - What cute little valentines!

This is the heart on the valentine.

Noah playing bingo. He even got the one and only bingo!

Decorating cookies with Grandma and Grandpa

Tyson watching :)

And Noah enjoying his cookie :)

Tyson, Tyson, and more Tyson

It's been awhile since I've posted pictures of Tyson. He's such a great baby, happy all the time, eats like a champ (or pro athlete), and just a little bundle of joy.

Taking a bath in the sink. He's not afraid of water like his brothers are!

We watched Pepper (dog) while my mom and Kiara where out of town. Tyson just loved playing with her. He didn't even mind the kiss!

Going outside to play in the snow. He looks like a big marshmallow, but he was warm!

2/4/10

Disneyland - Yippy!

This has been a two year long count down! Tommy's family started a new tradition of every other year they have a 'big' family reunion. His parents planned the first year, then his older sister planned this year's. So two years ago we were told it would be at Disneyland. And what a great idea it was. Not all of the family was able to make it, but there were 19 of us total. We stayed at a hotel across the street from the Disneyland entrance... which is the only way to go with that many kids. The walk was literally 5 min from hotel room to Disneyland entrance! We spent 3 days there and honestly I could have spent one more. There were no crowds and we were able to go on pretty much any ride we wanted with no more than a 5 min wait. The last day we were there we went on Splash Mountain and they stopped making us get off the rides, we just got to stay on and go again and again. We did get one afternoon of rain, but thanks to a close hotel we were able to run back and get dry clothes. I just love Disneyland, I turn into such a little kid again, I love the music, the rides, and all the little details they put in to making it 'the happiest place on earth'. I already can't wait to go back! I have so many fun pictures that I had to put them on a slideshow.

Cooper turned 4

Cooper's mind works in mysterious ways. He doesn't quite comprehend time... but he does enough to ask a ton of questions. Example: Noah's birthday was the end of June, and that's when the question about Cooper's birthday started. At least daily he has made a reference to his birthday since the end of June. We finally started a 'count down' for him: pre school starts, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, then Cooper's birthday. Of coarse after every mile stone he thought it should be his birthday the next day. As you can see it was a LONG 6 months of counting down. But we made it!

He had a great birthday! He had a few friends over for a party, which I always love seeing a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds playing together and the little things they get excited about. Then that Sunday (on his birthday) we had family over for birthday dinner. Yes, once again he picked Hot Dogs for his birthday dinner... yummy... we added in salad, brats, and beans to make it more adult friendly. Everyone, including Cooper had a great time! I can't believe my little boy is 4! Now the count down begins for next years birthday. (pictures coming soon)

Bella and Evan playing "spoons" - you have to unwrap the present with socks on your hands and holding spoons. It was very fun to watch!

Bella was the first to get one opened.

Cooper trying his hardest!

I love this face. Cooper is so full of it... he is just like his dad!!!

Opening presents! He got some awesome presents from his friends. He's got some great friends!

I've been a slacker again...

Time just goes by all to fast, and things are always so busy around Christmas time. So here's a quick run down. Christmas was great! Jodi and her kids came out from Washington and then the Randall's came up from St. George after Christmas. We are on the family rotation and this year was my family's year. So my Mom, Kiara, and Grandma came out for Christmas Eve and then my Dad joined the party Christmas morning. He actually woke our boys up when he came, they slept until 7:30am. Everyone seemed extremely happy with what they got, I'll have to post pictures of everything later.

We had the Peterson family Christmas party the Sunday following Christmas, what a party that will be to remember. There were kids throwing up everywhere! All but 3 kids got sick, the ones who where sick had to carry their puke buckets with them, it was quite the sight to see. We were still able to have a good time though.

I love Christmas time, I love family getting together, I love the gift of giving! This year we tried to scale Christmas back, our boys have more toys than they know what to do with and there really wasn't anything any of us 'needed'. So we went to the one toy, one book, one outfit, and one treat and then whatever toy Santa brought and it was a great Christmas. It's so much easier to focus on the true meaning of Christmas when you're not buying, wrapping, and storing a ton of gifts!

Another year has come and gone. Let's hope 2010 is a good one!!