my boys

i just love my boys. we've been having so much fun lately. yes, we definitely have our bad days, but i have been trying lately to enjoy the good times more. taking pictures of them when they are doing their cute things helps me to consciously remember the good times. so here they are for you to see their cuteness too.

sammy swimming in the tub.

he loves to dance around in his underwear. he thinks it's the funniest thing.

our squishy faces. we were doing these into the mirror and then we took some pics. elliot loved it.

this boy loves keeping his teeth clean. really! he does a great job too. it's so cute to see him eat candy and then run into the bathroom after to brush his teeth. he says he likes how they feel when they are clean. he wants to make dr. homer proud.
the other night elliot was being a bit difficult and both jeffrey and i were tired of dealing with it. he went to bed kind of sad. we both felt kind of bad, but it had been a long day. well, when we went in to check on the boys before we went to bed we found elliot laying in sammy's bed right next to sam. he must have snuck into sammy's bed because being with sammy makes him happy. even though we did feel bad that we had put him to bed sad, it was cool to see how he had turned to his brother for comfort. we moved him back to his bed so that they would sleep through the night, but we took this picture first. the flash made it look like it was day, but it was 11pm. i just love that they are buddies.

the other day were we watching caillou and despite it being extremely cheesy, it is actually pretty cute and the kids love it. well caillou was talking all about bugs and then drawing pictures of them. so at the end of the show we turned it off and elliot and sam drew their own bugs. i just loved these ones that elliot did. he rarely draws something besides scribbles, not because he can't, he just doesn't really care to. so it was so fun to see him really get into this. he wrote all the letters too. he just asked me to spell the words he wanted to write and then he wrote them all by himself. it's so fun to see him growing up.

elliot spider

ladybug sam

mystery (caterpillar)

this morning elliot set up this "breakfast" for him and sam. sitting down at the dinner table as a family with the table all set is really important to me. jeffrey really likes it too. so it was so fun to see that elliot knows how the set up goes. he's got the places all set, the food, something to drink, and right when we sat down he said a prayer. it was so cute. he is such a great boy. the whole time sammy just followed along and smiled. he even made sure that he had something to serve the food with. he didn't want to just use his hands. he showed sammy how to do it too. it is so great to see elliot being a good example to his younger brother.


hope you enjoyed this little post. have a great day!

moma

jeffrey surprised me last week and took me on a date to the moma (museum of modern art) in nyc. it was by far the funnest thing i have done in a long time! just the two of us, walking the streets of nyc, looking at beautiful art, and grabbing a hot dog on the way back to the car. i was giddy as we walked up to the museum. i realized i like modern art more than i thought i did. it was a wonderful night. i love jeffrey so much. he is so good to me. isn't marriage great?

here are a few of the many many pictures we took. these are my favorites.














i think ny is growing on me.

things i've done and things i haven't done . . . yet.

i just saw this on a friend's blog and it looked fun. so here it goes.
the things i've done are bolded.

1. started your own blog

2. slept under the stars

3. played in a band

4. visited hawaii

5. watched a meteor shower

6. given more than you can afford to charity

7. been to disneyland

8. climbed a mountain

9. held a praying mantis

10. sang a solo

11. bungee jumped

12. visited paris

13. watched a lightning storm at sea

14. taught yourself an art from scratch

15. adopted a child

16. had food poisoning

17. seen in person the statue of liberty

18. grown your own vegetables

19. seen the mona lisa in france

20. slept on an overnight train

21. had a pillow fight

22. hitch-hiked

23. taken a sick day when you're not ill

24. built a snow fort

25. held a lamb

26. gone skinny dipping

27. run a marathon

28. ridden in a gondola in venice

29. seen a total eclipse

30. watched a sunrise or a sunset

31. hit a home run

32. been on a cruise

33. seen niagra falls in person

34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. seen an amish community

36. taught yourself a new language

37. had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person

39. gone rock climbing

40. seen michaelangelo's david

41. sung karaoke

42. seen the old faithful geyser erupt

43. bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. visited africa

45. walked on a beach by moonlight

46. been transported in an ambulance

47. received a prestigious award

48. gone deep sea fishing

49. seen the sistine chapel in person

50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris

51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. kissed in the rain

53. played in the mud

54. gone to a drive-in theater

55. been in a movie

56. visited the great wall of china

57. started a business

58. taken a martial arts class

59. visited russia

60. served at a soup kitchen

61. sold girl scout cookies

62. gone whale watching

63. got flowers for no reason

64. donated blood

65. gone sky diving

66. visited a nazi concentration camp

67. bounced a check

68. flown in a helicopter

69. saved a favorite childhood toy

70. visited the lincoln memorial

71. eaten caviar

72. pieced a quilt

73. stood in times square

74. toured the everglades

75. been fired from a job

76. seen the changing of the guards in london

77. broken a bone

78. been on a speeding motorcycle

79. seen the grand canyon in person

80. published a book

81. visited the vatican

82. bought a brand new car

83. walked in jerusalem

84. had your picture in the newspaper

85. read the entire bible

86. visited the white house

87. killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. had chickenpox

89. saved someone's life

90. sat on a jury

91. met someone famous

92. joined a book club

93. lost a loved one

94. had a baby

95. seen the alamo in person

96. swam in the great salt lake

97. been involved in a law suit

98. owned a cell phone

99. been stung by a bee

100. learned to play an instrument

i can see that i have a lot to add to my to-do list. how fun!

a cute little family in the big city

we decided that since jeffrey had work off and elliot had school off we would do something extra fun. yet, i don't know why when we live 45 min from the city we decided to go into nyc on a holiday when there were twice as many people there, but it was still fun.

we hit the american museum of natural history first. i thought since we'd been there already we'd only be in there an hour or two. well, 3 1/2 hours later we were out. it was so much fun. the kids just loved running from one thing to the next and then to the next.



the kids playing outside the museum.

elliot's favorite place in all of nyc is the m&m store in times square. we rode the subway down and took this picture on our way to the store. notice sammy's little face hiding below jeffrey.

elliot imitating shrek.

we'd never walked by the late show before. we figured it was picture worthy. here's for you dad allen.

columbus circle is one of my favorite places in nyc. i don't know why but it is just so pretty with the park in one corner, the statues, and the cars driving through the round-a-bout, the people crossing in all directions. i just love it. i know this picture doesn't do it justice.


it was a fun day. we came home and ordered pizza instead of trying to wrangle our tired kids in a restaurant. it was a nice relaxing end to a fun, long, and tiring day. i think when we move we're gonna miss ny a lot more than we realize.

friends

we had some friends come and stay over at our place this weekend while they took a few trips into nyc. it was so fun to have them around and the boys grew fond of them very quickly.

here are a couple of pics we took while they were here.
john and elliot swapping coats.

cristy and john. cristy was my roomate in provo the year that jeffrey and i were engaged. it's been fun to catch up with her after these last 5 years. they are in boston for john's school and we hope to go visit them soon.


and this is a random picture i just had to put in. i love my boys.

a few different things

yo gabba gabba shirt, walmart, $3

another possible pick for jeffrey's new glasses. what do you think?

potion. grandma homer, this is in honor of you. mustard, ranch, sour cream, vinegar, baking soda, grape jelly, and a variety of food coloring.

my superman boys

elliot fell asleep on his bed the other day while in a time out (he was so tired!)
sammy came in to cuddle with him.

a quick update

i felt like i needed to give an update on the binkie situation. we are nearly there, but i did give in a little. let me explain. sammy did wonderfully the first day. he took a nap like usual and went to bed with no problems at all. i was thrilled. well . . . the next day he would not take a nap. he played in his room for 2 hours. i was so frustrated because i had to keep going in and telling him to lay down and go to sleep. he would respond with his goofy smile and laugh at me. i was not amused. that night he went to bed no problem, except he is becoming very good at stalling. he seems to need to pee and poop right as daddy turns off the light. oh well, he goes potty and then goes to sleep. the next day at naptime, same thing. he wouldn't take his nap. i was nearly in tears. i know that sounds funny. who cries when a little kid won't take a nap? that shouldn't be something to cry about. well, i had high hopes that sammy would nap at least until he was 3, if not 4. i know a lot of kids do. elliot stopped napping at 2 and it made life hard. every mother needs some sort of break during the day. without one i nearly lose it, seriously. so i gave in. i searched and searched for a binkie, hoping we had one hiding somewhere that i hadn't cut up. no luck. just then i remembered i had put a pack of binkies in our 72 hour kit . . . or had i already used those? i searched our two backpacks that contain our 72 hour kit and didn't find it. i thought to myself, "i can't do this. there has to be one in there!" so i looked through both backpacks again and sure enough there it was, an unopened pack of binkies. "aaah. i can breathe again," i thought. so i went into sammy's room and found him sitting on elliot's bed playing with the blinds, laughing. i asked him if he wanted his binkie for naptime only and his face lit up. i rocked him, layed him down, and didn't hear one more sound. so maybe i have saved myself. i just have to have him continue napping. my sanity requires it. since then he has gone right down each day for his nap, and at bedtime he goes to bed without it with no problems. someday we'll give it up 100%, but i guess this time it was me that wasn't ready.
so there you go. that's my story.

oh and hooray for 72 hour kits. they come in handy for all kinds of emergencies!