Easter Eggs

{Ayden and Mommy painting eggs}

{Daddy painting an egg}

{Our messy hands}

For Family Night we decided to decorate Easter Eggs to get Ayden excited for Easter. We are having a huge Neighborhood Easter Egg hunt on Saturday and I wanted to get him excited for it. We had a blast decorating the eggs and got really messy too! It's so fun to see your children enjoying their time with you.

Sundays "ON"

Our neighbors tease us because we refer to Sundays as either "Hammer-on" or "Rife-on". Well, for conference this weekend we decided to have a "Hammer/Flitton-on"! The Flittons are our next door neighbors. Let me start by saying- their awesome! The day after we got the key to our new house we decided to drive up and just look around. We were only here a few minutes before there was a knock at our back door. There stood Michelle Flitton with plate of cookies in her hand ready to welcome us to the neighborhood. We've been friends ever since.

We started out by going to their house between the sessions for a yummy dinner- we made mashed potatoes and rolls, and they made 2 different meat/veggie combos in the crock pots. It was so good. Then after the second session we had a chocolate fountain buffet at our house and also some chips and queso. It was so much fun. They are a riot. Their youngest is almost 5 but she and Ayden get along so well. It was a great way to spend conference Sunday. We are so lucky to have such great friends so close by.

{Ayden and Maddie watching Monsters Inc}

{Ryan and Logan doing the dishes}

{Michelle and Mary}

Baby Signs

I am a firm believer in the baby signs technique. I tried it with Ayden because my sister taught them to her son and he was so good at it. Ayden was slow to get it and I got discouraged sometimes, but eventually he got it. He never knew a ton of signs, but he used the ones he knew to get what he needed. We started with Sophie a few months ago and she totally gets it! She has so many signs down- of course only her parents really catch them at this point. The ones she knows are: MORE, ALL DONE, MILK, and DOG. She responds to EAT, but she hasn't done it yet. It is such a great way to see their little minds working and see how smart they are. I think they understand a lot more then they let on, even at this age. I think every mother should at least attempt to teach their child to sign.

Swimming Man

I have been ordering swim suits like crazy getting ready for our trip to Cancun in May. The other day I walked in my room to see this. . . Ayden trying on my swim suits. The best part is, he can't say swim suit. It was quite a sight, Ayden marching around in my swim suits saying "swim boobts, swim boobts!"

Exercise is for the soul

I have had some issues with my body since I had Sophie. I worked hard to lose the weight after Ayden, but it has been so much harder this time. I have also been a little more emotional this time around (Logan would say that's an understatement!) I started exercising when Sophie was 2 weeks old, but with adjusting to 2 kids and moving, I didn't really get consistent until December. At the beginning of February I was a little discouraged because I wasn't seeing the results I had hoped for. I talked to a friend in my ward and she said she lost 40lbs doing the 5:30 classes at the gym. At first that sounded absolutely horrible, but I decided to go for it. It was so hard at first, and I was so sore. They really kick your butt in these classes. But it's been 2 months now and I LOVE IT! Dr Hall told me that one of the best ways to regulate your hormones and emotions is to exercise every day. Man is he right. I still haven't had the results I hoped for, but I can see a definite difference in the way that I feel. I have more energy and I feel so strong. I feel more in control of my emotions and happy. It's not about my body as much anymore, it's about feeding my soul.

So Darling Cute

I have this friend named Ester. She is from Spain and has lived in the United States for less then 10 years I think. Her English is really good for learning it as an adult, but every once in a while she says something that just cracks me up. She always says things are "So darling cute". I think it's just a phrase she made up, but it makes perfect sense to her. Well last night my kids were in the tub together, laughing and playing, and the only thing I could think was that it was so darling cute. Ayden figured out that if he says "no no no" and shakes his head, Sophie will shake her head back. He thought that was the greatest thing ever. And if he would bend down, she would grab his head, and that was pretty funny too. Then after they got out, I was holding Sophie and chasing Ayden. They were both cracking up. We had a blast! Man I love those kids!

False Alarm

About a week ago we had a scary false alarm. Sophie woke up one morning covered in spots. I instantly thought she had the chicken pox. I began calling all my friends and warning them that their kids might have been exposed. One of my friends went as far as rushing her children down to the Doctor to get caught up on their immunizations. I have an aunt who is a nurse so I stopped by her house later that day and she said that it didn't look like chicken pox, but more like an allergic reaction. Then I got to call everyone back and tell them that she didn't actually have the chicken pox and I totally over reacted. That was fun. These pictures don't really give it justice, but tell me, what would you have done?

My Outside Man

Ayden has been spoiled by the great weather we've been having. We have been spending a lot of time outside and now he thinks he has to go out first thing in the morning. The storm they have been predicting finally hit last night so it was a little snowy and rainy this morning. He said he wanted to go outside and I said it was too cold. So he went in his room and came out with shoes (2 different sandals mind you) a jacket and a hat (a summer one of course). It was so cute to see that he knows the rules about needing shoes and coats to go outside. He proceeded to get dressed and then walked to the door totally proud of himself. I just had to take a picture. So I decided that if we was willing to go to all that work- I'd let him go outside. There were birds in our yard and he was walking up to them and saying "Hi Birdy". I laughed out loud watching him walk around in that ridiculous outfit. It was priceless.

My big change

So my cousin has a blog too, and she wrote about her big change of switching to sweet pork instead of chicken at Cafe Rio. Well, I couldn't make that big of a switch, but she did inspire me to try something else. I usually get the chicken burrito and eat almost all of it- stuffing myself so much I'm full for days. Well today I decided to try the enchilada instead because my friend said it was the same but much smaller. I was thoroughly impressed! I actually liked having my beans and rice on the side too. So I would like to say that you may think you know exactly what you get at Cafe Rio, but if you dare to venture off you might be pleasantly surprised!

Summer Weather

I can't believe how warm it is here. We jumped straight from winter to summer, which is kind of a bummer because I really like spring. We had a picnic in our yard for lunch today and the kids are in their summer clothes already! I thought Sophie looked so cute in this summer outfit that I just had to post it.

Crib Kids

When Sophie woke up from her nap Sunday morning, we all went in to get her out and Ayden said he wanted to get in the Crib with her. They are getting along so well right now, it's really fun to watch them interact. Next he decided he wanted to hold her. I wasn't sure what she'd think about that, but apparently she didn't have a problem with it. We got the camera out and they just cheesed it up for us, it was awesome! We are having a ball with these 2 kids!!

Diet Dr Pepper Monster

So I'm sure all families have strange little things they do that no one else would understand. Well, one of ours is putting boxes on our heads. (and sometimes Riley's head!!) Any box will do, but cereal boxes work the best. We polished off another 20 pack of Diet Dr Pepper yesterday and realized that the box fits perfectly on your head! Even Ayden is in on it because if he sees a box lying around he finds some way to make it into a hat. Well, we call this one the diet dr pepper monster!

Lime face

Each child reaches a time in their life where it becomes absolutely necessary for them the experience the sour taste of a lime or lemon. Well, that day arrived for Sophie and here are a couple great shots of her face that I caught on my phone.

You can't help what you like

I'm pretty sure that most kids have a favorite toy at some point in their life. I know that my sister's son loves Thomas trains and Building Buddies. I have another nephew that loves Buzz Lightyear and has as many action figures as they make. Well, Ayden is absolutely nuts about Fisher Price Little People. He has been into them since he was about 10 months old. At our apartment in Salt Lake he used to cry to go outside so he could line them up on the balcony. We thought he would grow out of this stage with age, but he didn't. Now he wants to watch Little People movies and he knows all of their names. He got a bike and a basketball hoop for Christmas, but his favorite present was another Little People set that his cousin gave him. This is a perfect example of one of my Nanna's most famous lines, "You can't help what you like!"

Ayden and the sippy

From the time Ayden was 10 months old, he has been completely attached to his sippy and blanky. The only reason I let it go this long is because it's a sippy and not a bottle which is more acceptable for a 2 year old to carry around. I have been totally dreading the day that I would have to take it away because he loves it so much. But as it gets closer to the time when I would like to start potty training, I've realized that having 8 or 9 sippys a day is going to make that a little difficult. And we all know that cutting back is not an option, so we chucked the sippy! He is doing really well too. The first few days were really tough because he was sick and that is what comforts him. But we are almost at the 1 week mark and every day is getting a little easier.