Happy Valentines Day

I am not sure what possessed me to make valentine boxes, maybe it was that I felt sad that it is no longer a tradition at our elementary school, maybe it is that I wanted Valentines day to be more about thoughtful love notes and less about more candy and presents, maybe it was because I love painting cardboard (weird, I know) and I hadn't painted any for a long time, or maybe I felt the boys needed a project to entertain them on another cold winter day?  In truth it was probably all of those reasons.   But when all was said and done I thought our boxes turned out very cute.  They didn't help discourage the commercial part of the holiday, but we still had fun making them and playing with them.

 Brandon of course had an animal themed box and since crocodiles are currently his favorite that is what we made.

 Grant is all about sports so the basketball themed box was a slam dunk for him. ;)

My nick-name is Bear (close family only) so I had a bear box.  And Jared LOVES to travel so his is a suit case box.  Silly I know, and we probably wont bother with it again, but it was fun.

Trent was perfectly content to go without a box and ooze love by being as snuggly as ever.

Believe, Dream, Inspire

This year I was "asked" (suckered in) to be the reflections chair person/volunteer.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into and how much work would be involved. But looking back I learned a lot, made new friends, and best of all got Brandon involved which was a great shot of confidence for him.  He submitted a picture that he drew and painted of him feeding a crocodile at the zoo.  The theme for this years reflections was Believe, Dream Inspire.  Brandon said his dream is to someday be a crocodile man and feed the crocodiles at the zoo. 

 I am biased I know but I think the picture he did was pretty amazing, he did very well with it too, the picture made it up to region and so he was presented with a certificate and award.    Brandon was so proud and where he used to think he couldn't draw or do art, now he feels like he must be pretty good and so he will put forth a little more effort.  Yeah!

Wish us both luck for next year when we have to do it all over again. :)

Grants Birthday

Grant turned 4 this year, right after we welcomed Trent into our family.  I was very worried that Grant would feel overlooked as the new middle child so I wanted to make sure that he would have a fun birthday.  Grant has been really into the new Disney Planes movie, so we decided to have a planes themed birthday, however Grant's birthday also happened to be on Super Bowl Sunday (again) so I had to work in the football game somehow. 

 The Saturday before the game We had a family birthday party, I sent out super cute (and easy) paper airplane invitations and everyone arrived for dinner and fun.  Once again he was spoiled rotten by his grandparents.

 He got books, puzzles, a toy kitchen, transformer dinosaurs, and an awesome trio block castle set, not to mention money and many other fun toys.  He loved all his toys and had a great time playing with them.

 After the family left from the party, he got another surprise when Grandma Dee Ann and Grandpa Wyn showed up to spend the night.

 The next morning on his real birthday we did family presents (not that he needed any. :)).

 He got a fun sword and shield set for both him and Brandon, a pully system for his bunk bed, a straw building set, two new trio block cars, two new leap pad games, some more planes form the movie, and the SS Flysenhower (the air craft carrier from the movie planes).  Spoiled Rotten!

 As if that wasn't all enough he had one more AWESOME surprise from Jared.  Every year Jared gets a few great tickets (row 19 in the center) to the Jazz Game.  This year Jared decided (and I reluctantly agreed) to take Grant to the game.  Grant LOVES sports so he was very excited to go to a real basketball game.  I think his face says it all. :)

 After church we invited some neighbor friends over to watch the game and to watch the movie planes.  I turned our garage into a children's movie theater using my dads projector, lots of blankets and chairs, and a few toys and snakes - they were very happy to be in the garage all night while the rest of us were in the house watching the Super Bowl.  The garage was so fun the adults occasionally had a hard time staying in to watch the game. ;)

 For this party I made a Dusty Crophopper plane cake, the kids Loved it!  and overall I was happy with how it turned out too.

Happy Birthday Grant!  We sure do love you!!

Some fun things about Grant that I never want to forget are:
* The way he still can not pronounce words with a double consonant for the beginning, especially if one of the consonants is an S, for example spoon is poon, spider is pider, etc.
* Other funny mispronunciations - potatoes (his favorite food) is matatoes, funny is foony, late night is hate night,
* He loves to pretend he is Spider Man.  He and Brandon will almost always be playing Darkzilla or Rascal the Hot Lava Dragon (Brandon) and Spider Man (Grant).  Spider Man has a pet dragon (Brandon) that he uses to help him save the world, they also have a Dragon family to care for which include the beloved Askee (a tiny toy blue dragon).  Some day I need to get pictures of these toys and of the boys in action when they play.  They play SO well together, they are just the best of friends and I love it!!   I only hope that when Trent is old enough he will have a part in their play time as well.
* His favorite animal is spiders - yuck, but if you are Spider Man it is only natural that your favorite animal is a spider - if I ever kill a spider Grant will pout and glare at me for a very long time afterwards.  Infact, one day I was changing Trents diaper and getting him ready for bed, I needed a specific blanket which was buried under some other blankets near the rocking chair and changing table so I was moving the other blankets over Trent out of the way.  When I looked back at Trent there was a big (size of a quarter) spider crawling up his stomach towards his face.  Naturally I FREAKED OUT, screamed and frantically brushed it off of him onto the ground so that Jared, who had rushed in to see what the commotion was all about, could kill it.  Boy oh boy were we in trouble - after all that spider was probably trying to bite Trent and turn him into the REAL spider mad. UGH!  Grants imagination.  :)
* He is an amazing eater - he is willing to give everything a try at least once.  He especially loves meat and potatoes, juice, fruit, and maghetti-o's (Spaghetti-O's)
* He is a peacemaker -he observes Brandon and his very frequent temper tantrums and outbursts and tries so hard to be the opposite.  Kind, obedient, and super compliant.  I am so grateful!
* He has great friends and plays really well with them.  His friends include; Tyler, Daeman, Patrick, Caleb, and Jared.
* Grant loves to help me in the kitchen with the cooking
* Grant still loves to play with trains, blocks, puzzles and sports
* He is adorably bashful - everyone who meets him is smitten by his bashful smile and his big hazel eyes.
* He is also a great two wheel bike rider.

I just LOVE this boy so very much!!  Happy Birthday Grant!!!

Ice Castles

Two weeks after having Trent we went with the Keller's to the Midway Ice Castles.  We made the mistake of going on a Saturday night, so it was very crowded, dark, and cold.  We also didn't think to wear boots, so our foot attire was terrible and the minute we walked in our feet were freezing.  But the ice castles were stunning and we still had a great time.  Of course it is impossible to not have a great time when we are with the Keller's, our boys get a long so well and we always enjoy each others company.  After the ice castles we went back to our house for dinner and play/visiting time.  Trent was a trouper, he was bundled up in the baby carrier and slept happily the whole time.

Trents Photo Shoot

My brother has become a very talented photographer, so naturally I had him do some pictures of me and Trent.  I LOVE them!!  Especially the ones with all three of my darling boys.  Scott did such a great job capturing my boys true smiles, it makes me so happy!  I could stare at the pictures for hours.

 My Brandon with his very blue eyes - he is so handsome!

 This darling hat was made by one of my cute YW Jodie - it was so cute, especially when Trent was wearing it. :)

 The darling blue blanket was a gift handmade by one of my friends and neighbors, Cheri Dascomb, I love it!

 This is my favorite of Trent!  His cute onesie was a gift from another friend and neighbor, Kelli Winn.

 This teddy bear was from Jared, each of our boys has a teddy bear that they have attached themselves too, so naturally Trent needed his. :)

 This picture is so funny to me.  My sister Lindsey LOVES gorillas and she has a large collection of them, she wanted a picture of Trent with the gorilla, I love his scowling face. :)  The gorilla dwarfs Trent. :)

 Baby toes are a wonderful thing, why do they have to turn into ugly feet?

 My mom took this picture mid photo shoot with her phone - I think it is one of my favorites :)

Love all the wonderful pictures Scott - thanks for sharing your talent!!