Round 1: Mom 0...Jared 1

Round 1 of night time sleeping in the big boy bed and Jared outlasted Mom. He went into the bed easily, but 45 mins later he was still up playing. Aaron was sound asleep while Jared jumped and laughed and played. So at 9:30 I put him in his crib. He didn't mind. He helped me put his pillow and blanket in the crib. He layed down and went to sleep. So round 1 goes to Jared. We will try again at nap time and see if we can get him more used to sleeping in the big bed.

P.S. My youngest sister Denise had her baby last night at 12:14am. It's a girl. That means for my parents there are 11 boys and 5 girls, grandchildren that is.

My baby is all grown up!

I did it! I finally did it! I put my baby down for his nap is a "Big Boy" bed. Jared turned 2 this past July 15th and I have been trying to figure out when to take him out of his crib. The crib is great, I put him in it...he doesn't climb out of it...he goes to sleep. This happens both at nap time and bed time. Well today Jared kept pointing to the trundle bed under Aaron's bed. Yes this bed is going to be his bed and I tell him that to try and prepare him for it. So I got his pillow and blanket out of the crib and put it on the trundle bed. He layed down and began fake snoring. I layed on Aaron's bed to encourage him to stay still and go to sleep. After about 10 mins, and one reminder swat not to jump on the bed, he layed down and went to sleep. He has now been asleep for 2 1/2 hours! I know tonight may not be as easy and he may end up in his crib, but to me this is progress. I always start this process with naps and eventually move on to night time, but he's my baby and it has been a little harder preparing for this milestone. But I did it! I finally did it! My baby is all grown up. He can sleep in a big boy bed. Wish me luck tonight!

Internet dependent

My modem died! No internet for 2 days! I thought I was gonna go into withdrawl! Enough said. All better now.

Aaron-isms

Aaron says the funniest things. Here are just a few that came out tonight...

"Hello Mister Man" (This is said with a funny voice only he can do)

"I'm not 4 and 1/2, I'm 65!" (He whispered the 5 on 65, I about died!)

And the best tonight at dinner...

"This pizza is GGGGlicious!"

I know there are many more. Aaron loves to say funny things and as our favorite babysitter Jessica pointed out, he never says the same thing twice. It's always interesting with Aaron, cause you never know quite what you will get from him.

I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it...

I am sooooo excited! Add in a little 80's flashback song...And I just can't hide it!

I finally got my 35th birthday present scheduled. Yes, that was almost 2 years ago that Joe got me a Hot Air Balloon ride but I have finally got it scheduled! We will be going up in Cave Creek on Sat. Oct 3rd. It's going to be a sunrise ride. Ooooh romantic! Hard part, we have to be in Cave Creek at 5:45AM! Yikes! That means leaving our house around 4:45AM. I figure I'm gonna have to get up around 4 to be ready on time. Double YIKES!! And the other hard part, trying to figure out what to do with my sleeping children...still working on it.

But I'm still excited! Can't wait to be up in a Hot Air Balloon. This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I will be sure to remember my camera and take tons of pictures.

Last cabin post...I promise

This is Jacob's favorite activity at the cabin. He is in charge of getting out the flag and posting on the tree. He also loves to wave the flag. This weekend he decided to stand across the street with the flag. He stood there for a good 15 minutes. Then he waved it a little. We made him put it back after this, fearing he would drag it. But he is very careful and loves to stand at attention with the flag. Our military boy.

More Cabin Trip...Part 3

This is the squirrel we feed at the cabin. This squirrel loves peanuts. He, or she, barks at us too. First it was just me, when I scared it one morning. But then on Sunday it barked at the boys too. Kinda fun! We also got to see about 5 skunks that come in to feed in the evening time. We sat on the porch Sat. night around 7 and one by one they came in by the cabin, went across the street and over to the neighbor Charlie's house to eat. We also spotted a racoon in the shadows. Next time I'll be sure to have my camera ready. We were concerned that the flash would scare them and cause them to spray, so no pictures this time. Next time for sure pictures.

Cabin trip...part 2

Jared kept himself busy stealing Aaron's hawaiian punch and spilling it down the front of his shirt. Notice it is a long sleeve shirt! Yes, we woke Saturday morning to 52 degrees!!! September in the mountains...wonderful!! The first picture is after the punch spill. He thought it was sooo funny to steal my chair. I love this picture too because he rarely smiles for me when I take pictures, so to catch him mid laugh is priceless. I have many more of these, but I'll spare those of you that don't love this kid to pieces.

A quick trip to the cabin...Part 1

Just a few things we do while we are visiting Grandma and Papa's Cabin in Heber/Overguard, or the Mountains as Aaron likes to call it. We play lots of games. Jacob and Tyler have found their own version of Risk. It moves the game along quite quickly and they play fair with the modified rules. Aaron keeps busy playing with all the toys and bothering his brothers as much as possible.

Oh to be 4!

You know its a good life when you can fall asleep at 3 o'clock in the afternoon with a book on your face. I thought it was really quiet and went to see what Aaron could possibly be up to and found him with the First Thousand Words book leaning on his face. It's a begining spanish book that he calls his i-spy book. I removed the book just so we could see that Aaron truly is asleep. I even used the flash on the camera and he didn't move. Oh to be 4 and be able to sleep like that! Just one more reason why I love this kid!

Not to be outdone...

Anytime I take a picture of Jacob and Tyler...Aaron and Jared need a picture too. Gotta love boys in pj's. And they are really cute too!

Proud Moment

Jacob and Tyler created this airplane out of Legos. What creative boys I have! They have really got a niche for these things. They spend hours in creating various Lego scenes and even take pictures that can be strung together like movies. It's really amazing. This is one of the large/coolest things they have made. Although I get to see creations daily, I must add. I'm so proud of them.

What a great start to a Saturday!

A few friends of mine invited me to go with them to do Initiatory session at the Temple this morning. It was really great. Not only to see friends early on a Saturday morning, but the be in the Temple with such good people! And on top of that, the weather is amazing. Rainy days in Arizona are the best. I awoke this morning the sound of very loud thunder. It was 5:55 am. I met Aaron in the hall on his way to mine room for protection. We cuddled in bed for about 30 minutes before I had to get up and get going. And the Temple grounds were so nice. It was cool and everything was green. Just an all around great Saturday. Now I'm back home trying to get motivated on cleaning. We'll see how far I get. So far my boys have not made any moves to help and Joe has gone back to bed. This may end of being a lazy weekend, cleaning wise.

Aaron's great dental visit

Aaron had to go to the dentist today to hae 3 cavities filled. I was a little afraid of how he was going to react, but he did really well. The last time he went to the dentist for work he had a crown and baby root canal and he told me he never wanted to do that again. I thought for sure he would hide and not want anything to do with the dentist. He did great though. Aaron quick talking as soon as we got into the treatment room, which is a sign of his nervousness. Aaron loves to talk! And he was a trooper through the entire treatment. I have to say, the people at his dental office are awesome. We go to Sweet Tooth Pediatric, and although it cost me an arm and a leg, it is totally worth it. The good news is we are changing insurance and the new plan covers the costs at that dentist. Anyways, Aaron didn't move once while getting his cavities filled. They numbed the entire lower jaw and lip. It was funny when he got done because he wouldn't shut his mouth and he drooling all the way down himself. I gave him a napkin to wipe the drool, which meant Jared had to have one too. By the way, I took Jared with me to the appointment and he did great too. Well, needless to say, Aaron fell asleep on the way home. I guess the nitress affects him like it would me. I put him on the couch thinking he would be up in a little while wanting lunch, but he slept for almost 3 hours! It was a nice break. Jared went down for his nap at 1:30 and I snuck in a quick 1 hour nap before Aaron woke me up. The best part is when I was getting him something to eat at 3:00 in the afternoon, and asking him how his lip was feeling, he had no idea what I was talking about. I asked him if he remembered going to the dentist and he said, "yes". So I asked him if he remembered falling asleep in the car and me moving him to the couch for a nap and he said, "I didn't take a nap!" He completely lost the entire afternoon and has no idea! The problem is he probably won't go to sleep tonight at bedtime. As it is, he has been talking no stop since he got up! But I'll deal with it, his lip is totally back to normal and he didn't have to go through feeling it wake up. All around a great experience at the dentist...Yeah! I can't wait until the insurance kicks in so that I feel as good about paying my bill after my boys appointments.

The sky is falling!

Joe and I installed that new light in our kitchen. And needless to say, we thought we had done an outstanding job. Last night Joe was standing in the living room talking to me through the pass through to the kitchen and noticed that 1 corner of the light was hanging down a bit. Upon further investigation we found that it had come out of the ceiling in that corner. Luckily the other 3 screws were firmly in place. After a quick discussion of how to fix this situation without 1-turning off the power and 2-taking the entire light down, we figured out how to get a better support up in the ceiling and a super long screw to hold it all together. My husband is a stud! Not only did it work, but it was quick and easy. So our light is firmly in place and we are once again professing a job well done.