we’re back from TEXAS.

We got back today from a great trip to Texas to see some of Wes’ family.

We decided a while ago to just take Nate on our little adventure. We called it our “big boys only” trip.  Nate has been struggling a little bit in the behavior category lately so we thought he could use a few days with the focus just on him to have some fun. And lets be real – a trip with one 3 year old sounded fabulous so we were glad my parents were able to take Ryan for a few days.  [how did i ever think one toddler was hard?]

Nate was great in Texas. All of the kids were! [we met Wes’ brother Spencer and his family there to see Wes’ other brother Grant and his family]. It was such a welcomed break in parenting. Nate was so easy to travel with and he had a blast with his cousins. Wes and I really enjoyed being able to focus on just Nate and have fun. It gave me a slight preview in to an easier life with older kids because he was so easy!

Unfortunately, the second we walked through our front door this morning he reverted right back in to his old self but at least we saw a glimpse of fabulous behavior in Texas!  Maybe we’ll go there more often because we sure had a blast with our little man in Texas!

Ryan was asleep when we arrived so I went and picked him up from my parents once he woke up. When Nate was about Ryan’s age we left him with my parents for a week and Nate wanted nothing to do with me when I picked him up so I was curious to see how Ryan would react. He did the same thing! Ryan stared at me for a good 15 minutes without even a crack of a smile. He gave me this look of . . . “who are you, crazy lady and why are you smiling at me?”   He didn’t even look like he remembered me at all.  And then it was like it instantly clicked who I was and he gave me a big smile and crawled over to me for me to hold him. We obviously missed him while we were gone but we were glad we left him behind with grandma and papa marz. I’m sure he loved undivided attention from grandma!   Ryan wasn’t feeling it with my dad!

It was an exhausting 24 hours . . . by 6:15pm both kids were in their beds for the night . . . but it was a great 4 days in Texas.

Pictures and trip details to come . . .

life: october 2010

. I went to Art in the Park in Boulder City with my mom. It's a yearly tradition.

. Enjoyed conference weekend.

. Nevada Day is on October 31st - so Halloween is a holiday for Nevadans. We had a three day weekend with Wes at home and it was fabulous. We had such a productive & fun weekend. We got the house cleaned from top to bottom, we got our irrigation issues fixed in the yard [hopefully], one piece of Ikea furniture was assembled, the boxes and boxes of home decor stashed in my guest room were opened and put away in the guest room closet and I even got a little more of the house decorated, and many other small jobs were completed. I love productivity.

. My Aunt Leslie & cousin Ashlie came in to town Halloween weekend so we enjoyed dinner with them and my aunt Kara/Uncle Allan & great aunt/uncle Jerry & Halene and my parents. I went to my aunt Kara's after to visit with the girls for hours and hours.

. Enjoyed Halloween.

. Tried to figure out our bizarre weather. We had about a week of cooler temperatures but then it got warm again. Way too warm for October. We can still be found in shorts and a t-shirt.

. I enjoyed a girls weekend in Utah and Wes flew to Georgia for Chris' wedding.

. Nate continues to love school.

. We had our primary program! It was my first one that I've ever been involved in and it was such a great experience. I serve with amazing ladies in Primary and we have the BEST kids. The program turned out great. Nate is my little buddy when it comes to primary stuff so he came early with me that Sunday and found himself a seat on the stage - ready to be in the program! He was distraught when he had to sit down with dad & Ryan. Next year, bud.

. Speaking of primary, Nate and his nursery buddies started coming in to junior primary for singing time to start their transition in to primary. I love watching him in action - he is NOT SHY AT ALL [he's a replica of Wes in that department] and wants to be up at the front at all times. I love that I get to sit in the back and spy on him!

. Can you tell, I'm loving my calling in primary? I think being the primary secretary is by far the best calling EVER.

. we made dozens and dozens of pumpkin choc chip cookies.

. celebrated Wes 30th birthday.

. enjoyed story time at Town Square, lots of Halloween get-togethers and activities, playgroups, the library, etc.

Mr. Ryan

Like I've said before - Ryan is everywhere.



[gotta love those chunky legs.]


He can now open cabinets. He un-plugs everything and tries to eat it. He climbed on to my mom's couch and was so proud. He tries to climb our slide in the living room. [yes, we have a slide in our living room, for now]. He throws anything and everything on the coffee table on to the floor. He loves the front-loading washer and dryer. He tries to sneak in to the shower any chance he can get. He can maneuver his way in to a standing position in a shopping cart - even while strapped in pretty tight. His "fang" teeth on top are coming in . . . they are the first teeth on the top so that could look pretty funny for a while. He's made his way up a few stairs.

I love this boy but he's crazy. We leave the house a lot so I can contain him in a stroller. Luckily he's a pretty happy kid as we're out and about.

Nate figured out that the bottom of the slide is the perfect height for our little step in to the living room. It's perfect for Ryan . . . he loves it!

ryan's army crawl

For the last 2 months - this is how Mr. Ryan has been getting himself around . . . with an army crawl of sorts. Now he's officially doing the traditional crawl on all fours and he gets faster every day.

This little boy LOVES a camera and will stop whatever he is doing to get to it!

smell my feet

It's Halloween night - Nate and I are getting ready to go sit on the porch to hand out candy - and out of the blue he starts saying this:

Wes and I both look at each other with the look of "did you teach him that? Cause I sure didn't."

At the beginning of October we read Froggy's Halloween a few times and at the end it does the "trick or treat, smell my feet . . . " But then Nate decided that he didn't like that book so it's been weeks since we've read it. But apparently the "i'll pull down your underwear" is worth remembering! It's amazing how much kids pick up on.

halloween 2010

this post should be about 5 different posts broken up . . . but it’s not.  so here we go:

Halloween was pretty fun this year.  Nate was super excited to be Batman.  Gone are the days of my cute little animal [monkey, elephant, or lion].  We’ve moved on to super heroes.

We opted for practical with Ryan: his costume doubles as a skeleton and a pair of pajamas. 

 

A few of our Halloween festivities:

Trunk-or-Treat

Nate enjoyed the games and the trunk-or-treating, but his ALL TIME FAVORITE ACTIVITY is handing out candy!  He loved it.  If we had a lull of trunk-or-treaters, he’d start yelling . . . “who wants my candy!?  come get my candy!”  He thought it was pretty cool and was never once concerned about candy for himself.

On a side note – our ward is a part of a TRI.WARD trunk-or-treat.  The kids had fun but there are WAY too many people at a tri-ward trunk or treat.  Serene ward: you will always have the BEST trunk-or-treat.  Nate missed the train, for sure.

[the cousins]

[nate and one of his favorite big kids, travis.]

ryan was ready to go to bed but tried to be a trooper for his brother.

 

Painting pumpkins

I had every intention of carving them this year but totally forgot.  At least he got to paint one!

 

Halloween at the Library with Thompson Girls. [no pictures to prove it]

 

Nate’s preschool Halloween party

     

 

Halloween Night

Since Nate loved handing out candy so much at the trunk-or-treat . . . Nate and I sat on our front porch and handed out candy to our trick-or-treaters.  The only house he trick or treated to was our neighbors [i knew they’d want to see him in costume] and as we were walking home he was already talking about giving the candy he just got away!

 

a few halloween traditions we started this year:

On October 1st – we decorated for Halloween.  I also gave the boys a little Halloween present with Halloween stuff.  It consisted of a new Halloween book, their jammies, coloring books, etc.  It got Nate excited for the holiday so I think I’ll keep doing that.

On October 31st – I stole this idea from Ali to get rid of the Halloween candy [at least, Nate thinks it’s gone] and modified it a bit since I couldn’t remember the details.  Nate got to pick out a few of his favorite pieces of Halloween candy and the rest went in to our big cauldron that sat outside for the witch to come take away on her broom on Halloween night.  She left Nate & Ryan each with a toy, instead!  Nate thought it was a great idea and hasn’t asked for a piece of candy since Halloween.  He’s too busy playing with the cars she left him.

all because of a bone spur.

Wes had a little surgery today.  He’s had a bone spur on the tip of his finger for a while now and he finally got it taken care of. 

The boys and I dropped him off this morning at 8am for his surgery.  It turned out to be more of a procedure than we actually thought but with less anesthesia.  He wasn’t totally knocked out [doc said it would be a very painful procedure but Wes opted to just be “relaxed” instead of totally knocked out] but the anesthesiologist was great and had him pretty much out of it without being totally under.  Wes said multiple times today that we need an anesthesiologist in the family!  They are my favorite doctors, for sure. :)

I was a little bummed he wasn’t totally knocked out.  I really like talking to people who are just coming out of it!

The procedure: cut open the skin.  Shave the bone down.  Polish it up.  Sew it all back up.  Bandage it for four days.

Nate was really worried about his dad and his “owie” on his finger so he wanted to come with me to pick him up.  My mom filled in and sat with sleeping Ryan while Nate and I went back to get dad. 

We really enjoyed having dad home today.  He got a nap and some time alone watching ESPN to recover - it was nice having him around.  And as always, he never complained about a thing.  He just apologized he couldn’t help much with the kids but I was happy to fill in and give him a little break.  So far he isn’t in too much pain but I’m sure getting on an airplane tomorrow at 6am and traveling won’t help.

Random side note: I was getting Nate in bed and Ryan was crawling around downstairs with Wes.  Ryan finally noticed Wes’ finger and did just about everything he could to get his hands on it!  It’s probably a good thing Wes is heading out of town . . . Ryan usually finds a way to get what he wants!