Big Boy!

Liam is getting sooo big. I can't belive it! Just before his second birthday, we took down his crib. He loved his new bed. It made me a little sad to see him grow up. The first thing he did was go jump on the bed, of course. He has yet to climb out of bed and come get us. He just sits and calls for one of us to let him out.


Then came his second birthday. It was on a Wednesday, so we didn't really do much. We had our friends (whom are also family) over, but my parents weren't in town, so we didn't do anything with my family. He had a blast. Please ignor the large green blobs on his cake. They were supposed to be ballons, but we didn't have the right tips for the frosting thingy. Just ask Ty about it. ;P

Still Alive!

Yes, we really are still alive. I haven't had much time to update our blog because I spent the past few weeks studying like crazy to finish my statistics class. For those of you who don't know, I was taking an elementary statisics class. I survived, though I'm not yet sure on my grade. I am happy though with how I did in the class. Now onto life... Way back to Halloween, we had a beautiful fairy and an awesomely cute little monster. Here are some cute pictures of my little kids. Liam refused to wear the little hood thingy, and the feet, but he was still cute anyway.


Also, as lame parents, these pictures were taken at our ward Trunk or Treat on Oct. 29. We didn't do anything for Halloween. I figured my kids didn't need anymore candy, so I didn't take them out. We also did not have a single kid come to our door, which was a good thing because we gave out all our candy at the trunk or treat. Hopefully next year we will be better.

The next day, this is how I found Liam at one point.

He was sooooo proud of himself for climbing up and geting the sucker all by himself. This boy LOVES him some suckers.

Liam left alone.

Well, not really... just alone in a room. This is what happens. Please ignore the toys he dumped everywhere. I'm sure I picked them up.... sometime.

Hair Cut

Liam has had long hair for a while. We cut it I think in May, and let it grow until a couple weeks ago. It was the cutest thing ever... except the back. It looked like such a bad mullet! Ty didn't believe me, and when it came to asking people, we got about a 50/50 response to if it looked mulletish or not. Well, one Sunday, Liam was in this total awesome retro shirt. When he turned around, it looked like he came straight out of the 80's. That was enough, Ty decided it was bad. So, Monday we cut his hair. Liam loved his hair though! When we would ask him if we could, he would so "NO HAIR!" with his arms crossed over his head. Finally I had to hold him in place so Ty could buzz it (I am totally not good at the cutting it any other way thing). Liam was so upset, he wouldn't even look at Ty for the rest of the night. Now remember, this kid is a Daddy's boy! Even the next day he was still pretty upset. But he's back to normal now. The question now is, should we keep it short, or let it grow out again? Take a look at the pictures and let us know which you like better.
Before:

After:

Our morning

This is how our morning started....
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci15071220.html
(sorry it looks like you will have to click the link to see it). It is a 4.1 earthquake located just outside of town. Now, having been born and raised here, I am used to earthquakes, so I just rode it out and watched my light swing. It's been funny listening to everyone flipping out about if there are going to be aftershocks bigger than the original earthquake... and what damage was done... What those people don't realize is that if this earthquake hadn't been soooo close, they may not have felt it at all. I do have to say though, this was the first one I have actually heard the crack that comes as the quake happens. Anyway, that was our morning. How was yours?

Crazy Liam

Liam watches me get ready in the mornings. It's impossible to be in the bathroom getting ready without him, so I just let him stand there as I do my make-up. His favorite part is when I curl my eyelashes. (They have no curl if I don't do it, plus, they then hit my glasses when I wear them, and that feeling drives me crazy) Liam usually asks me "eyes?" Meaning, will I do his eyes too? So I just hold the curler up to his eyes. Well, he found a chip clip one day and wanted his "eyes." This is what he did. He would pull it off and laugh like a loon, then do it again. It kept him entertained for a while.

This is Liam's first taste of cookie dough. I know, I must be a bad mother to not make cookies that much, but honestly, I usually do it when the kids are in bed, and lately, that time has been taken up with homework. So one day I made cookie dough and let Liam eat some. He kept it in his mouth for about 15 minutes just playing around before he swallowed it. Then he realized it was yummy and a monster was born. LOL!

"Poppy" Luv!!

Liam loves dogs. All dogs. He calls them "poppies." My boss asked him the other day if he wanted one, and he turned with bright eyes and sais "Uh huh!" Well, the other day, Jordan was reading a book about a puppy. Every page had a picture of the puppy on it. Liam would run over, say "Poppy!" and lay on the book to give the puppy a hug! It was the sweetest thing ever. Of course, I didn't get to my camera in time, so I can't show that, but it was so sweet! Just trust me.

Conference Saturday

I made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast (actually, by the time we ate them, they were lunch). It was a healthy(er) recipe. It had oatmeal, whole wheat flour, and not much sugar. It was actaully pretty yummy. Here is what I get for leaving the leftover sugar glaze on the table.

What you don't see is the puddle of glaze in his lap. :D

Random update about us

Here is just a quick, random update about each of us.... (No pictures... sorry!)

Ty- He is busy as ever with work. It actually is stressing him out quite a bit. The previous Finance Director did something that is kinda shady with the budget. As Ty found it this year, he put a stop to it, but it was brought to the public light not that long ago. Now this city we live in, likes to have some kind of trouble with the city. They like to be mad at them for something, stupid, I know. It's not Ty's fault, but he feels like he is getting the blame. Some things should hopefully be working themselves out this week though. We shall see...

Kristi-I feel like I am a chicken running around with my head cut off. I know, it's my own fault, but I still feel that way. I told my boss that I can give her another morning during the week to help her get caught up at work. I planned on doing this by switching babysitting with my sister again... She watches Liam while I work, I watch her daughter while she goes to help in her other daughter's school. So that is work Monday. Then I had another friend who wanted to switch watching kids so she could go to her daughters class too. So Tuesday, she takes Liam while I run, then quickly shower and then go to Joey's class. Wednesdays were free, but my friend's little sister is trying to learn how to drive (she's 19 and wants to get her license), so for an hour on Wednesdays, I am driving with her. Hey, I get two hours of free baby sitting out of it. Thursdays I have my niece and my friends little girl. So it's about 3 hours of three kids, aged 3-almost 2. Thankfully they usually get along. Then Friday is my work day since Ty is home. I have been doing this work day since Liam was 6 weeks old! Oh yeah, I am also taking a statistics class, so after the kids get to bed for the night, I study and/or do homework and tests. I am actually doing ok at keeping up with an online class. So, needless to say, I really feel busy.

Jordan- She is just as smart and as actively crazy as ever. She is already reading at a 2nd grade level. I have to go the library for her once a week to get new books because she just goes through them so fast. As I said in another post, she is really into Barbie right now. She loves just about anything Barbie. She is working really hard at keeping her room nice and clean so that I can paint it pink and blue for her. She can't wait for that! Her feet seem to not stop growing. I have had to buy her size 12 shoes already. I don't know where she got her big feet from.

Liam- Where do I start?? A friend described him as a spit fire, and I think that's the best description I've heard yet. He just doesn't stop. During church, it's soo funny. I sit on the stand as I am ward chorister. So Ty is forever taking Liam out. When Ty walks back in with Liam, Liam just smiles, waves, and says "Hi" to everyone on his way back to their seat. I just love it. Ty and I are having a debate on Liam's hair. We haven't cut it in several months... the shag look just looks good on that boy. But I think the back is starting to look like a mullet. I want to cut the back, but Ty won't let me. Pretty soon, he won't have a say though and I will cut it anyway. Liam talks A LOT. He even puts little sentences together. My favorite one right now is when you sneeze, Liam will come and ask, "You OK?" He is so polite too. He always says please and thank you. He tried to get me to ride on the back of his bike with him the other day. He is already so opinionated, that I don't know what I will do as he gets older. Though it is fun to have two kids who know their own minds and will fight each other over their ideas. He LOVES his Joey. His favorite time of day is when we go to get her from school! He runs up and gives her a big hug then we walk back to the car and he holds her hand. I just love it!

Home Depot projects

So Home Depot does these kid days. We haven't been for like a year, but Jordan always used to love going to them. Well, we went and took Liam as well this time. He had a blast hammering the nails. They made these pencil boxes, and let some kids paint them there. Being the mean parents we are, we didn't let them paint them there because we wanted to get home and get started on our projects for the day. Joey bugged me enough that we went and bought paint and let them paint their boxes here at home. Thankfully I was smart enough to take Liam's clothes off before setting him outside to paint. Here are the pictures.

Jordan's Be-lated birthday present

Jordan was told no toys for her birthday, so to figure out what she would like. She wanted one thing really and only one thing. She wanted to dye her hair blue. So, we finally got the blue ordered and put in (my girlfriend is a hair stylist and did it for us). The biggest bummer is that it didn't stay long. :( If anyone else wants something like this, it is much smarter to get a colored extension put in. We may yet do this with her hair since she loved the color so much. Here it is.



Here are pictures of her birthday presents from her grandparents and friends. Oh, and her ice cream cone shaped birthday cake I made her. I was so proud of myself!

The lady standing next to Joey in this next picture is a very dear family friend who also shares the same birthday, as does my sister. What a big birthday day in my family!
Jordan got two Barbies, tons of Barbie clothes, and a Barbie movie. Do you think she likes Barbie?
She also got playdoh, stuff for her fingernails (stickers to put on), braclets, and more. I just can't remember and the pictures came out fuzzy so you can't see what it was. Thank you to those of you who participated in anyway to her birthday. It was great!

Yummy Cupcakes

This year was low key for my birthday. Which is just how I wanted it. Sunday after my birthday we finally had our family get together to celebrate. Do you think Liam enjoyed his cupcake?

Vegas Baby!!

The weekend before school started, we went to Vegas. My little brother got married. I didn't get any pictures of the actual wedding or reception (at the wedding, I was busy literaly diving after Liam to keep him from rushing up the aisle to get to my dad). Oops. However, that night (August 20), hanging out at my brothers house, I decided it would be a blast to go to the little slpash pad in my brother's housing complex. I was right. It was a blast. For my kids at least. My two nephews that went with us weren't so thrilled. One nephew HATES getting wet, and the other one (who is a little younger than Liam) just wanted to wander around. To warm up after we got back, the cousins all snuggled under Jordan's sleeping bag together. Here are the pictures. :)

Camping, Time 2

So we loved where we camped soo much that we decided to go again. This time, we had a third family with us. A family that had 4 more girls. So for the kids, it was Liam, to 9 girls. Talk about a good ratio for him. Though, every girl there was older than him by at least a year and a half (some by 6 years). This time we went on this nature hike. We passed some people on our way up the mountain (their way down) who said that we should have shirts made. One that says "I am Liam." One that says "I am Liam's sister," and the rest would say "I am Liam's friend." While I wouldn't do this, I thought it was a great idea and it made me laugh. I didn't take as many picture this time around, but I took some on the hike. Well, for most people it was a hike. For Liam, Ty and I, it was more of a leisurely walk while Liam threw rocks over the side. Enjoy.

Two Firsts

Today is the day of two firsts. It's Jordan's FIRST day of FIRST grade. We are pretty excited that she got the teacher we requested. This teacher will be really good for Jordan's perfectionist personality because this teacher makes you do things over until it's right, and the handwriting is neat. I'm also really excited about her getting the teacher we requested because it seems like a lot of people didn't get the teacher they requested. Jordan's desk is right next to a friend of her's from last year. I hope those two kids don't get in trouble for talking. :) As Jordan really is a shy girl, this will be good for her to know someone. Jordan totally left without saying goodbye once she knew where her desk was. I had to call her back to give me and Liam hugs. Anyway, on with the pictures.... Here is my big girl.

Glitter Toes

So this is all the rage right now. It seems like everyone in blogland is doing them. I finally found a blog somewhere with instructions. I decided it might be fun with my girly-girl of a daughter. She loved hers, though she picked it off half her toes by the time I got to taking a picture. So here is a picture of my glitter toes done almost a week later.

Peek-a-boo

Where's Liam?

There he is!!

Two front teeth

Do you guys remember my post from almost three years ago? This post here. She fell at my parents right before my dad was going to his first chemo and knocked her front tooth out. Well... This is Jordan today.

Isn't she soo cute with two front teeth? It is taking some getting used to for me, but since this has been in for a little while now (I know, I'm a slacker at getting it posted), we are getting used to it. She is looking all grown up now. I really think she will need braces to straighten the tooth out as it is coming in in front of the other teeth, but there's nothing we can do to change it.

Camping

So we have some friends here who we usually hang out with at his father's cabin for a few days. This year, they didn't make it up, so neither did we. So instead, we found somewhere fairly close to camp. We hadn't been there before, so we didn't exactly know what to expect. But it was great! The days weren't too hot, and the nights weren't too cold. There isn't any lakes or anything nearby, so there aren't really any bugs. The biggest bummer is that we are pretty sure a mountain lion was in our camp around 4:30 the next morning. Ty and I were looking at it with a flashlight, but couldn't get a good view of it, but that's what we figure it was. The scariest thing is that our friend got out of the tent to put some stuff away while the mountain lion was still there, but she scared it off. We are planning on going back though!! Can't wait to camp again.