Random Snow Days

We only had 2 good snowstorms this winter (so weird).  My mom stocked us up on winter gear and we only wore them twice!  But my kids loved every second of playing in the snow just wish there had been more.  Maybe there will be some freak snowstorm in May.  Hey...it's Utah, it could happen, it has before!

Here are pictures we took of the two days we went and played in the snow in our backyard.

This is Danny's sled he made for his ice fishing tent.  He cut all the metal and welded it all himself.  He put a piece of wood across it so the kids could get a ride around the yard.  They loved it!

 We FINALLY sold the two cars you see here.  YAY!  No more cars in my backyard...at least for a little  while if Danny is anything like his Dad:)

 Kayzee Lynn

 Memphis Kage

 Throwing snowballs at Daddy

 Tackling Daddy

 Kayzee tackling Memphis!  You go little sis!

 I taught Memphis how to make a snow angel

 You can't see it but he is smiling big!  I could tell because he was laughing:)

 Kayzee LOVED eating the snow.  Probably because she is teething and the cold felt good on her gums.  Here she is face first in the snow eating it up!

Happy Early Birthday to ME!!!

Last year we spoiled Danny for his birthday (new ice fishing tent and everything to go along with it) so this year it was my turn.  Happy early birthday to me.  I got a new treadmill and a new car!  I got to pick them both out and with our tax return I got to get them before my birthday.  I am loving them both.

My new treadmill:  It comes with a weight set and has programmed weight loss workouts that use the weights.  Just wish we had our basement either cleaned up or finished so it didn't take up so much room in our front room but, oh well.  After we put the kids to bed, instead of sitting on my butt all night watching TV, I walk on my treadmill while watching my favorite shows.

My new car:  We got a 2003 Ford Expedition when we first got married.  With the recent gas prices it has been costing us $100 to fill it up every two weeks.  And with 100,000 miles and the air bag suspension leaking making it not work properly so the ride was way too bumpy and making the car lean to one side causing the tires to wear faster on one side, and with the CD player broken, AND the fact that Danny hates fixing Fords...and, and, and...it was time to trade it in.  While I will definitely miss the built in DVD player for the kids for the long road trips we take and all the room for everyone and everything, I will not miss paying to fill it up or the bumpy ride.   Good bye Ford!

 Seated 8 but we usually had the 3rd row down for all our stuff!

And HELLO to my new car.  We went back to the dealership where we bought the Ford because they buy used cars so we could just trade it in easily and get a new car in the same night.  Luckily they gave us the same amount for the Ford that we still owed on the loan so we were not out any extra money or rolling over any more money into a new loan and we got our new car for the same amount so our payments didn't change.

Danny went wanting only to look at minivans or a car that he actually wanted to fix (UGH! minivans are not for me-yes I am spoiled:) so I was glad when the salesman led us over to the smaller SUVs.  I instantly wanted a certain car that we saw so Danny looked up reviews and we saw that it got better gas mileage so we took it for a test drive.  I was sold and Danny finally admitted that he is glad we got it so here is our new car.  A 2009 Dodge Journey SXT.  All leather (great for cleaning up after kids), seats 7 but the 3rd row stows away so we can still have lots of space for our stuff when we travel, nice smooth ride, and it's still my favorite color-blue.  Of course the first thing Memphis noticed was that it didn't have a DVD player.  We will just have to go buy a portable one before our next trip.  

   

I kiss better than I cook...

Seriously.  Just ask my husband.  I either burn the food, undercook it (only once and I was the only one that got sick luckily so I learned my lesson), or it just doesn't turn out like it should.  I do ok, but cooking and baking is just not my thing.  And I really don't like doing it.  Now kissing, that I have never lacked in just ask...(ok moving on:)

I have my reasons for burning the food...kids are distracting me (most of the time), I get busy doing something else and forget...etc.  Maybe I should learn to like cooking more and maybe I won't be so horrible at it.  Maybe.

My husband is AMAZING.  He can bake up some of the best breadsticks ever.  And he makes these balloon buns...wow!  And the list goes on and on.  Too bad he works long hours every week day or I would seriously trade him ANYTHING for him to make dinner every night;)  Oh well, I will keep trying.  I have a recipe system that I love so we can try new things but it's the making the recipes turn out edible that keeps that system from working.  Maybe I will just stick with cold cereal.  I know my kids will eat that!

Yes, this sign is hanging in my kitchen!

I wanted to make these fun brownies in a cone for my son's 3rd birthday party.  They just looked like so much fun for all the kids that were going to be at the party.  Annnndddd, ok ok, I wanted to have one too!

Soooo, I bought all the stuff to make them, studied the recipe to make sure I didn't miss anything, knew exactly what I needed to do, and followed the recipe...every single step so I wouldn't get anything wrong.  I even made a conscious effort to pay attention while they were in the oven so I didn't overcook them!  UTTER FAILURE anyways as evident in the photo below:(

If you took off the burned crisp top and dug into the very center the brownie tasted ok.  My brother-in-law Teddy actually ate a couple (the whole thing even...some boys will eat ANYTHING:)

So, my mom and I ran to Walmart and bought some fancy mini cupcakes (now those were delicious!!!) and my husband made a german chocolate cake (his favorite).  I made him make the cake part so I couldn't ruin it, and I frosted it.  At least I am good at something;)

The day has FINALLY arrived...

Both of my kids are FINALLY in nursery!!!  Maybe now I can sit down and enjoy church without chasing Kayzee in the halls the whole time:)  She was so excited to go and that she could be in the same class as her big brother.  She pushed me out the door and said bye mommy.  I LOVE that my children are ok when I leave them places (being a working mom helps) and that they don't sit and scream at the door waiting for me to return.  Kayzee lasted the whole time today which I was really excited about.  She usually takes a morning nap around 10 which is when nursery starts but she did great they said.  Happy 18 months Kayzee:)

Since my last two posts have been about Memphis I found a bunch of random cute pictures of my Kayzee Lynn to share so enjoy everyone, especially the grandmas:)

 Kayzee LOVES cereal and yogurt.  She has it almost everyday!  She also loves to wear it;)

 This is when we went to visit my grandma and grandpa Astle in Logan.  Grandpa got her a bunch of necklaces and she had to wear them all.  Such a girl!

 Kayzee loves to play outside.  Here she is all bundled up to stay warm.

 This was taken at Memphis's 3rd birthday party.  She was the only girl but she didn't mind.  She had fun too:)  LOVE YOU KAYZEE LYNN!

Kayzee is growing up so fast.  Here are her stats from the visit to the pediatrician:

Height: 33 in.

Weight: 25 lbs.

Compared to Memphis at 18 months...my kids have been the same weight and height as each other at the same ages.  Pretty cool huh?!?  They also have consistently been in the same 75 percentile for their age group.  In the last 3 months Kayzee has gained one pound and has grown 3 inches!  That's an inch a month which is the most she has ever grown her whole life.  No wonder she has been taking a lot of naps lately.  She is growing like crazy.  I noticed that her pants are finally not too long so yay her legs are catching up with the rest of her body:)

Kayzee can say words and she has started copying us and is actually trying to say more words.  She is really good at understanding almost anything we say or ask.  I finally figured out that when she says no it really means yes and when she says no and shakes her head no at the same time, that is when it really means no.  Life is so much easier now that I have figured her out HA HA!

Sadly for me she is still NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!  Seriously getting really old.  I can literally count on one hand the amount of nights I have gotten 8 hours of solid sleep with no interruptions.  I may get 7-8 hours of sleep every night but it is with 1-3 interruptions of Kayzee screaming and waking me up.  Most nights she just cries her self back to sleep or turns on her soothing sound and light machine attached to her crib but sometimes she cries for over 1/2 an hour and I get up to figure out what is wrong.  She finally has 8 teeth with more coming in so with teething and growing and who knows what else sleep is just not her thing.  I guess I will be tired for the rest of her life:)  She still takes a morning and afternoon nap and loves to get into EVERYTHING.  I seriously cannot take my eyes off of her or else she is into something she is not supposed to be into.  She is one busy girl.  And we all LOVE her.  

What do you want to be when you grow up? My son wants to be Purple!

Aleena: "Memphis, what is your favorite color?"
Memphis: "Blue?" (he said it like a question so I don't know if he was just saying a color or what)

A: "What is your favorite toy?"
M: "Choo choo train track, mommy let's go play!" (yes, we went and played with his train track for awhile)

A: "What is your favorite fruit?"
M: "Nanas...ummm..." (points to his head: means he is thinking) "ya nanas!" (I was actually surprised he knew what a fruit was:)

A: "What is your favorite TV show?"
M: "Einsteins...Rocket!"  (Little Einsteins)

A: "What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?"
M: "Chicken knucks!!!" (nuggets)

A: "What is your favorite thing to wear?"
M: "Clothes" (I knew he would say that, he does not like to be naked)

A: "What is your favorite game?"
M: "Gamepad" (means any game on the ipad)

A: "What is your favorite snack?"
M: "Goldfish"

A: "What is your favorite animal?"
M: "Puppy, ruff ruff, Kitty, meow...Mommy pet me" (after he said this he started acting like both of them and Kayzee came over and starting petting him!)

A: "What is your favorite song?"
M: "doing, pockcorn, spider, twinkle star" (means: Do as I'm Doing, Popcorn popping, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) ( He then sang all the songs and did all the actions.  This is part of his bedtime routine because he LOVES to sing songs)

A: "What is your favorite book?"
M: "Find" (means any look and find book)

A: "Who is your best friend?"
M: "Kayzee" (awww...don't know if he really meant to say his sister or if he knew what the question meant but hey, they get along most of the time:)

A: "What is your favorite cereal?"
M: "Ummm...no" (he never wants to eat any)

A: "What is your favorite thing to do outside?"
M: "Slide at park!"

A: "What is your favorite drink?"
M: "Juice"

A: "What is your favorite holiday?"
M: "Presents" (Obviously any holiday he gets presents)

A: "What do you like to sleep with at night?"
M: "Blue blankie" (his soft fuzzy blue blanket he has had since he was born)

A: "What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?"
M: "Poptart"

A: "What do you want for dinner on your birthday?"
M: "Pizza and ice cream"

A: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
M: "Purple" (I don't know why but he kept saying purple when I asked him this question so I tried rephrasing it)
A: "What do you want to be when you are big like daddy?"
M: (he looked over at his daddy and said...) "Game" ( I think he only said this because he likes to play the games on his daddy's phone)

I got this idea from pinterest.  Every year on your child's birthday you ask them these questions (starting at age 3) and then you can see how their answers change.  I just wanted to do it because I wanted to see how Memphis would answer these questions with his little 3 year old brain.  He did do better at understanding than I thought he would.

Also just an update on Memphis and his droopy eyelid I mentioned in my last post.  I finally remembered the name: ptosis.  We went in to see a pediatric eye specialist at the Timpanogos Hospital and I was really just nervous as to how Memphis would act (Kayzee stayed with our babysitter so I could focus all my attention on Memphis) (I thought Memphis would run around like his crazy self and not follow any directions so they could really examine him) and to my surprise he was so GOOD!  He did exactly what the doctor said and he could answer all the questions and he sat really still for him.

First they handed him a piece of paper with a bunch of pictures on it and they had him say what each picture was.  Then they put the same pictures up on the far wall so that they were really tiny and he said every picture correctly.  They had him put an eye patch on so they could test each eye far away and he started singing "Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me" (The doctor said that was the first time a kid has ever acted like a pirate let alone sang a pirate song...what can I say, my son is cool like that:)

He could identify every picture except for the very last on on the far right.  The doctor didn't know if this was because of his droopy eyelid or because he was finally just distracted and didn't want to do the test anymore.  So we held him down and they put drops in to dilate his eyes.  He didn't cry even though they said it would hurt.  We had to wait 45 min so Memphis put on his cool new sunglasses and drove down the street and Memphis ordered himself an ice cream cone at Sonic:)

Then we went back and the doctor did an actual eye exam with all his cool gadgets.  The doctor didn't really know what to say about Memphis.  He said that ptosis only happens if there is something else wrong that is causing it or the eyelid is causing other problems.  He said Memphis's eyes were PERFECT!!!  Nothing wrong at all.  He had never seen anything like this before so he told me he was going to go to a pediatric eye conference and he would present Memphis's case and see if any other pediatric eye specialists in the nation could help us out.  Wow!  Proud momma moment.  My son is famous among eye specialists ;)

A few days after Memphis's eye exam I noticed that his eye lid was only drooping once a day or not at all!  I was hoping that meant it was just going away on its own but I still waited for the doctor's call.  He called me on Friday and told me that the other specialists said to video tape it and bring in the videos so he could watch the eyelid drooping himself and then maybe he could figure things out from there.  I told him ok and that it wasn't drooping as much anymore if at all and he got excited and said if it stopped then we had nothing to worry about!  Maybe his eyelid muscles were just tired or needed strengthened.    YAY!  And his eyelid has not drooped since Friday so hopefully I can just write this down as a great new experience for motherhood and I am sure great new experiences are sure to come as my children grow up.  

I have a 3 year old!

Memphis is now officially 3!!!  Seriously I am still in shock.  He is all grown up now except maybe the not potty-trained part.  And I have tried introducing it to him.  His pediatrician was kinda shocked that he wasn't yet but only because he is so advanced in everything else.  But I just blame it all on the fact that I am working every week day 9-2 so how can I focus on him all day and help him get potty-trained when we are not home together during those hours.  My goal is to try and get it done in a week during my spring break (am I hoping too much?) but there is always this summer when I am home all day.  I really want to get him into the preschool they have for teacher's children next school year and he has to be potty-trained so there is my goal!

 I asked Memphis what he wanted to do for his birthday party and he said play with friends and have pizza and ice cream.  So that is what we did!  Last year I also bought Memphis a big number 2 balloon and so I thought it would be fun to buy a 3 for this year.  I guess I should have hid it because as soon as it got home Memphis poked a hole in it so it didn't even last till his party.  Oh well:)  And the best part...my mom flew down from Washington to be here for Memphis' birthday.  So much fun and Memphis and Kayzee LOVED playing with their grandma!  Thanks mom.  We love you:)

 Memphis got a Jump-o-lene last Christmas from his Royer grandparents and we never use it so I thought it would be fun to blow it up and let all his friends play on it while us adults could have fun downstairs.

 There was a bunch of boys and then our little Kayzee.  She had just as much fun as they did!

 Memphis got a lot of fun presents from his friends and he loves his magnet alphabet letters and train set from both sets of grandparents.  He especially loves this new race track that I let him pick out.

 The next day Kayzee had too much fun running around the house with all the balloons.

 I was making dinner and it got really quiet in the living room and I came in and found both my kids reading in the jump-o-lene.  SOOOO precious!  Every mother loves seeing this:)  So I climbed in and we read books for awhile.  Memphis also loved sleeping in the jump-o-lene.

At his 3 year well-check-up he is growing like crazy:
Height: 3 feet 4 inches
Weight: 38 pounds

-He is also developmentally where he should be: knows his numbers, shapes, colors, can communicate in sentences, and can understand simple directions.
-He sleeps like a champ (8pm-8am) no naps except on rare occasions where he is just plain wiped out, knows names and who people are, is a really picky eater and sometimes doesn't eat but makes up for it at another meal his favorite food is pizza, ice cream cones, yogurt, nanas (bananas), and chicken knucks (nuggets).
-He is getting better at coloring in the lines instead of just scribbling.
-He is really good at puzzles, playing memory, and look and finds.
-He is very polite (always saying thank you), loves to give hugs and kisses (except maybe to his sister when he is really mad:)
He loves trains, pirates, planes, race tracks, singing songs (he has the sweetest little voice), going to nursery, playing Candyland, and watching morning cartoons on the TVB (that is what he calls the TV don't know why?) while we are getting ready for the day.
I LOVE MY MEMPHIS!

And I seriously LOVE Memphis at age 3.  His tantrums are way less dramatic and somedays non-existent so that is nice.  He listens and follows my directions.  Whenever we go out he stays by me and if he starts to walk away he comes back when I ask him too:)  He has the sweetest voice and I love talking to him and hearing him talk to me.  We love to sing together and read books.  He LOVES to learn new things and I have fun teaching him.  He is so smart and can figure out technology all by himself and he doesn't get too hard on himself when he can't do something.  He just keeps trying.  He says the cutest prayers (I have to keep myself from laughing every time because he is saying them so seriously but it is just too dang funny to me!).

And he has a bit of my OCD and it is frustrating sometimes and also funny sometimes because the things he obsesses over that have to be just right are so random but so like me.  For example, the other night we were putting him to bed and he climbed in and then became so upset because his iron man pillow was upside down so we flipped it over for him and then he was upset because half of the pillow had to be up against the bed frame and the other half had to be on the bed.  It took us a while to figure that out.  So weird but Danny just looked at me and I know I know he is just like me.  He also freaked out that the Valentine rug we had out got messed up and one little corner was flipped up.  He couldn't do anything else or go anywhere else till he straightened it.  How does he catch on to this or is it just passed on from me?  The world may never know.

Speaking of passing on things to our children...I was born with an umbilical hernia and so was Kayzee.  I had to have surgery on mine when I was two so I am hoping (praying) that Kayzee does not have to have it.  Danny has terrible vision (one eye is worse than the other) has to wear contacts and it seems Memphis may be the same.  Here's hoping (and praying) he won't though...

Memphis's right eyelid has been drooping randomly for the past few months.  At first I just kept trying to ignore it hoping it would go away but it happened every day.  I asked people about it but everyone just kept telling me to stop worrying about it and he was just probably tired.  I actually watched the clock every time it dropped and sometimes it happened 3-4 times a day and sometimes only once a day.  And it happened at different times throughout the day.  I also noticed Memphis would always push the eyelid back up or rub it till it stopped.  I couldn't ignore it anymore (a mother's intuition?) so I asked his pediatrician.

His pediatrician was so glad I caught it and brought it up because I may have caught "it" early enough an eye specialist can help the problem so it doesn't get worse.  And by "it" I mean whatever the pediatrician called the condition (I cannot for the life of me remember what he called it...started with a p ended with sis???) and it is genetic.  I guess the eye drooping can get worse and his body will automatically decide to stop using that eye and he will only be using one eye for all his vision which then that eye can get tired and start to go bad too.  I told Danny about all this and he said that he remembers his eyelid drooping when he was younger and now he thinks that is why one of his eyes is worse than the other.  So Memphis has an appointment on Tuesday with an eye specialist so I will let you all know what happens and hopefully it will help him (fingers crossed).

HAPPY 3 YEARS OLD MEMPHIS!!!  WE ALL LOVE YOU SO MUCH:)