Any of these ring true?

Poor Mike. Now when Sam says something funny or Will does something cute it's, "Mike, remember that so I can blog it." I should just get this shirt.

Huh?

Mom: Sam, do you want to go on a walk?
Sam: No, maybe later...if you're nice.

Easter Fun!

Usually holidays mean 1) an unexplained compulsion to buy candy and presents that have little or nothing to do with the actual holiday, 2) any children will automatically behave very badly because of said candy, much excitement, and no nap. Even though this is the norm, we broke from it and had a really nice Easter. I bought minimal candy (which I got on sale with a coupon), we went to one little Easter Egg Hunt (pictures below), and we had a nice family dinner with the Claytons.
We'll be so sad when Eric and Renee move out. Probably at the end of the summer. It's been great having them here.
Our fun neighbor Sue had a little Easter Egg Hunt in her yard.
Sam wasn't terribly interested in finding eggs (he started out with three that I put in), mostly because of...
the slide. It was so fun. It was really hard to get him off when it was time to go home.

We finally got to meet baby Ksenia! She was very tired, but we caught her with her eyes open. I miss having a newborn. Correction...I miss having Will as a newborn. He's been such a joy to our family. If the next one is like him, then I want one now! (For the record, Sam was also a very good baby, and a textbook perfect sleeper)

Even eating a tortilla, he's just the cutest baby!
Remember Puss in Boots from Shrek? Will has the big, shiny, innocent eyes.

I was on my food blog today getting a recipe for dinner, and Sam saw the homemade oreo cookies. He asked if we could make them, so that was our activity this afternoon during Will's nap. They're so evil and addictive. There are only two left. Sam grabbed the dough hook as I was getting the mixer out, and for the next hour and a half Mr. Pirate was my new friend. His first question to me, "Is this Captain Hook's hook?" He held the hook and used it instead of his hand to open drawers and such. His pirate voice was hilarious, and when I would do a pirate voice too, he would tell me, "No, you're the pirate's mom, you don't talk like that!"

Eric's friend Chris came over to study, so he had dinner with us like he usually does when he comes. He's always very grateful for the meal, helps clean up, and even schmoozes a bit too. One time he told Mike he was a lucky man. Today he told me he hopes his (future) wife is like me. Ha! Who doesn't like to be schmoozed? He's welcome for dinner any time!

Mike is leaving in the morning for a Moab mountain biking trip with our new neighbor Doug. Sounds like it's going to be an intense trip, so I'm sure he'll have a great time. We have lots of great neighbors, but Doug and his wife are our same ages, so it's fun to have cool neighbors that are in the same place in life.

We had our monthly girls night out a couple of days ago, and we went to a "fine dining" restaurant. Even knowing it would be crazy amounts of money, I still had sticker shock looking at the menu. Entrees started (started!) at $30, and went up to about $40. I ended up ordering a salad and appetizer as my meal, and it still took 20 bucks to get out of there. I just can't enjoy a meal knowing I could buy a week's worth of groceries for the same price. I had a $25 discount that came in the mail, but we divided it so I only got $3.50 off my bill. It was fun though, and I got to have a few bites of Katie's Creme Brulee. Yum. Wish that were a health food.

Interesting Article

This should be of interest to everyone, since we're all bloggers. Thinking about going private.

Deseret News - Mom Blogs

Dance!

Will does a hilarious little head-bop dance move. It's pretty sporadic, but when he saw Renee at dinner he just started grooving. He loves Renee. They love to have squealing contests when they're not dancing. The pink glow is from Renee's shirt, just in case you wondered.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sam and I dyed Easter eggs today! We were super creative and wrote our names on them before we colored them. One of them has a picture of a train, and Sam had lots of fun covering them with stickers. He wanted to eat one so we cracked it open and peeled it, but when I offered him a bite he declined. Shocking, I know.

Sam concentrated on this little game (ball in a maze) for a long time. It was great. Our sweet next door neighbor Judy gave us that little Easter duck behind Sam. That was for Will, she gave Sam a huge stuffed bunny, and she also threw in a beautiful lily plant for the adults. We like to take them treats, and she spoils us with fun toys for the boys. When Will was born she gave Sam a Spongebob soccer ball. He loves it.

Will is showing off his pearly whites while eating a piece of bread. I probably shouldn't be giving him a piece of bread yet, but he loves it. It's homemade...does that make it better? He pulls it apart and chows down.
I put him on the floor so I could make dinner, and he took advantage of the open cupboard.

This was where mom intervened and moved the small appliances out of the way. I am no fun.

The missionaries came over tonight to share a message with us. Their 5 minute message took 30 because Sam was determined to show off every second they were in our house. He looked pretty good though when he was able to tell them the First Article of Faith without any help.

Advice

If you want to impress someone, or just buy their love, make these cookies.

Sam was with me when I bought his Easter present. Every day he's been asking, "Is it Easter yet?" Won't make that mistake again next year. I got him a trick track for his new hot wheels. His train obsession seems to be waning, which makes me happy. I'm thoroughly tired of Thomas, and I'll take hot wheels any day.

This has been a hard week. I think the boys can sense a change in the seasons (happy first day of Spring!), and they've been celebrating by extra yelling and crying, and less naps. Sam seems to be even more passionate about everything. Will now yells at me if I eat something in front of him without sharing. Yesterday I was holding him while eating a piece of french peasant bread, and with his little vice grip he took hold of my bread, yanked it out of my hand, and shoved it in his mouth. Also yesterday, I was trying to eat my cereal while feeding him his. He refused to eat his until I took some of mine out of my bowl and put it on his high chair tray. I'll take that any day over picky eating though. I think the highlight of the week happened yesterday when I was making dinner. Sam and Will were both on the floor and Sam was trying to teach Will how to blow into a noisemaker. He put it in Will's mouth and said, "Here, now just blow!" After several failed attempts he gave up and did it himself. Even though I was too slow with the camera, it was nice to have a fun, relatively quiet moment where everyone was happy. Mike and I got to go to the temple tonight, and that's always a nice break. Also good for recharging drained batteries. Spiritually speaking. Mike is the greatest!

Amazing

I needed a couple of minutes of quiet time this afternoon, so I set the timer for 5 minutes and told Sam to go downstairs and play until the timer went off. He went down, but came back up about 30 seconds later and went straight to his room. He immediately emerged with his beloved "black" blankie (it's navy blue), and announced, "I'm going to take a nap!" and went back downstairs without another word. I didn't really believe it, but when he still hadn't come back half an hour later I went down to investigate. I found him like this...we call it "dead to the world" because he's such a deep sleeper. It's now 9:40 and he's still awake in his bed reading books, but it was totally worth it. I made bread and did the dishes all by myself.

I just can't pass up a good deal. I got all this stuff for $10. 8 boxes of cereal (Total, Curves, & Fiber One...good cereal!) plus 4 boxes of pasta. Ahh, the simple pleasures.

The things we learn in church

Mom: Hi Sam! What did you learn about today in Sunbeams?
Sam: I learned about birds and bees!
Mom: You learned about the birds and the bees?
Sam: Yeah!

Mom: So...what are you teaching my son at church?
Eric: Why?
Mom: Sam told me you taught him about the birds and the bees today.
Eric: (Once the laughing was controlled) We learned about birds and insects today.


After church we took Chicken Barley Chili and homemade bread over to Mom/Jennifer & Hyrum's house. Jennifer just wanted a thin slice of bread (she's being healthy). She ended up with about half of a thin slice. Sorry Jen, but it was pretty funny!

Our visit ended abruptly because our rugrats turned into pumpkins, but it's always fun to visit.

Tricked

I thought for sure that Spring was really here. We had at least twice this much when it finished snowing. The plows were even out last night. There were tulips coming up in our neighbors' yards. Our tulips always bloom late, so at least we'll still have something.

I'm not sure what it was, but this last week was so busy! I felt like I didn't really accomplish much, but I was always busy doing it.

A couple of nights ago Renee and I put our tired husbands to bed, and then watched Becoming Jane. We really liked it (Mike thanked me for not making him watch it). I didn't really know much about Jane Austen's life, so it was fun to learn more and see what she took from her life and put in her books, especially Pride and Prejudice. I love that book. I've only read it once, but I've seen the movie over and over. I never get tired of the story.

We watched our friend Ryan the other day. I was in the kitchen putting something away, and when I turned around Sam was sitting in the stroller, Ryan pushing. Ryan is also obsessed with Thomas the train now, so they have lots of fun playing together (especially when they can share). Whenever Ryan comes over he always brings his Percy train to give to Sam, and then goes and finds all of Sam's Thomas trains. He doesn't play with them, he just holds them and walks around talking about trains.


My fabulous friend Tami (another one from 9th grade) came over and we embroidered some stuff. We thought we were funny, but we realize most people will just think we're weird. It's so fun to play around with the embroidery machine and learn how to do stuff. I do a lot of logos and names for the garden center, so it's always fun to branch out and do something new.

Sam helped me out by licking the bowl when we made these peanut butter cheesecake swirl brownies for the RS birthday dinner. They were gone really fast.

Catching Up

A few days ago before Mike left for work, Sam said to him, "I want you to stay for several years." The next day he wanted Mike to stay, "for a hundred years." He's attached to Mike's hip. Going to work is still hard for Sam to come to grips with.

Sam has discovered Wii boxing. I put Will to bed and went downstairs to see what the boys were up to...

This is Mike teaching Sam where to punch.

This is Sam winning every boxing match (?) he played.

This is Sam showing Mike how to punch and telling him, "Faster, faster, faster!"

Nothing beats the Sunday comics out on the deck. It really wasn't all that warm (to me anyway), but the boys sure enjoyed it!

This is the blow dryer I've had since high school (I think...can't remember exactly when I got it). I've had it way longer than I've been married. In fact, Mike's been telling me since we got married that I need to throw it away and get a new one. Well, that day has come. The comb is missing more than half its teeth, it's all scratched up from years of being put away and taken out of the cupboard, and I haven't been able to use the High setting for about four years because it would overheat and shut itself off. But it still worked great and got my hair dry in a jiffy. Well, a couple of days ago the fan went out and a small fire started inside it on the heat coil. I'm so sad. This is the best hair dryer ever, I'll miss it. This kind is really hard to find too. Sniff.

On a brighter note, my computer is getting fixed, so I should get it back this week!

So Sad

Once again, I'm having major computer issues. I have to wait for Mike's laptop now, so I won't be posting much until mine gets fixed. Argh.

Before I forget, I have to put all the fun things Sam has been saying.

I got Sam some Hot Wheels as little incentive prizes. This morning he got up and said, "Are these my hot tires?" Pretty close.

We ran out of milk this morning so Mike tried to sneak some rice milk into Sam's cereal. Sam took one bite and said, "I don't like this rice milk. I want cow's milk." I think he must be a super taster.

Sam has a little toy tool set. He took the wrench to Will's doctor appointment, and when the nurse asked him what he it was and what he was doing, his enthusiastic response was, "This is my wrench. I'm wrenching!"

Our wonderful nurse gave us more samples of hypoallergenic formula. 4 containers!! That's $50 worth of formula. It's $25 for a 16 oz can at the store. For any non-infant minded people, that's a small fortune. It runs about double the price for half the amount of the most expensive brand of regular formula at the grocery store (no Costco deals here). I like to put it in Will's cereal (like he would ever take a bottle!), but I don't know if I could ever bring myself to buy it. I figured it out one time, and it would cost thousands of dollars (roughly $5-6,000) to buy that formula for a year. Breastfeeding is such a blessing! People tell me what a good, dedicated mom I am to restrict my diet so I can nurse Will (who is doing much better!), but they don't understand how much it's worth to me financially. I'll just let them think what they want.