Spring Break

This is our first Spring Break, since it's Joseph's first "school year" and we spent several days with the in-laws. We had such a great visit despite the yucky weather. Get ready for a lot of pictures!
We picked up Grandma at the train station where the boys loved to see the trains up close!Carol came with me to the exciting Twilight movie party while Darren played with the boys. Yay, girls night! We threw rocks in the sound and watched the ferry boats.We walked to the library in the rain.We brought lunch to Darren at work. Check out the view from his 35th floor!Then Grandpa made it to town and we went to the Family Fun Center where Justin LOVED the indoor playground and dragged me all over the place. He's ticked in the picture because I made him stop going down the big slide with me after about the twentieth time! Joseph was in heaven winning tickets on arcade games of his choice and choosing cheap prizes at the prize counter.On Sunday, Darren's Dad ordained him a High Priest and Darren was set apart as the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopbric. It was really neat. Thanks for coming up to hang out with us, Grandma and Grandpa! The boys haven't quit talking about you since you left.

Kidstuff

Here's a random movie of my boys for you, followed by more random kid stories.

1. Justin got the first ear infection of his life in a big way. Full blown in both ears! The poor little guy was miserable for three days before I took him to the doctor. Thank goodness for Amoxicillin! It's been wonderful to have him feeling better and start acting like his cute little self again.

2. Justin hates getting his haircut. I've been feeling confident at fading up Joseph's hair and I really wanted to try it on Justin instead of just buzzing it off as fast as I can. But I knew he wouldn't hold still enough for me. Then I remembered a friend telling me when Joseph was a baby that she would strap her son in the high chair and wrap him in a sheet to bind his arms to cut his hair. And I remember thinking that sounded a little heartless at the time. Maybe baby #2 has made me a little more heartless, because it sounded like the perfect solution to me now. It worked great. He seemed to cry less, I didn't have to fight his arms and his hair didn't turn out too bad either!

3. Justin says so much now and it's great to be able to understand what he wants. Except for the fact that he yells at me quite often if I don't respond right away. My favorite thing he says is, "Yeah baby!" He'll use it whenever he's in the mood:
Me: Justin, do you need a new diaper?
Justin: Yeah baby!
Me: Justin, would you like a snack?
Justin: Yeah baby!

4. Joseph has really been pushing the boundaries lately and driving me crazy: talking back, defiantly disobeying, excessively using "potty words." A couple of Sundays ago, Darren was at his early morning meeting, I was trying to get the rest of us out the door on time and Joseph was REALLY pushing my buttons. I was getting angrier and angrier until I wasn't even sure I felt like going to church. As we finally got on our way, Joseph says, "Mom, it's hard to have two kids like us, isn't it?" I burst out laughing and answered, "Yes, Joseph. Very hard." I guess if he's capable of making me angry and then completely diffusing the anger with hilarity, he evens out. Maybe I'll keep him.

Joseph says good-bye to a good friend

This is Joseph at 15 months with his "bear blankie" and "favorite one." He only sucks his thumb with his blankie while holding on to his favorite long tassle.

While we were at the dentist a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned to me that Joseph's thumb sucking would really start to mess up his teeth when he starts losing his baby teeth. Then later that day, he was sucking his thumb with his blankie in front of the TV, when he said, "Remember, Mom, when the dentist told me sucking my thumb would hurt my teeth? I don't need this." and he took his blankie to his room. Needless to say, I was impressed, but I didn't really think it would last. I washed his blankie that day and found it the laundry after my Dad had put him to bed. Never has he gone to bed without his blankie in his 4 years of life! Joseph hasn't spoken a word about it since.

Talk about the power of suggestion! It's inspiring to me, really, how he's quit cold turkey because his blankie was such a comfort item to him. He used to beg for it when he was upset. But he made a conscious decision and stuck to it. I think he gets that from his Dad. On the other hand, my Mom was teasing me that now begins the the time of his life when every other adult's opinion matters more to him than his parent's. That doesn't sound fun.

So good-bye old friend! I won't miss washing you, tripping over you and trying to locate you. But as proud as I am of my big boy, I will mourn the loss of this little boy era.

Movie Reviews

Darren and I took a chance on a couple of movies we knew nothing about and they were both winners!This movie was very funny. If you've seen Ricky Gervais in anything before, you know what I'm talking about. He's hilarious. I also love Tea Leoni. It's fairly clean with a little language and it has a sweet little message. The plot's been done. It's actually just a comedy version of "Ghost" with Ricky playing Whoopie's role. But it was well worth the $3 and the hour and a half.I don't even remember seeing this movie advertised, I just came across it on Netflix. It was an adorable little romantic comedy done fairy tale style, a little like "Ever After" which I love. Penelope, played by Christina Ricci, has been cursed with a pig snout until she finds true love with a man of high society like herself. It's "Beauty and the Beast" but it doesn't take itself seriously and it's quite funny. So it's not too girly, because Darren liked it. And it was squeaky clean: no language, no sex. Reese Witherspoon produced it and she plays the friend role. How can you not like her? See it.

Swim Lessons with Grandma and Grandpa

Last week we were lucky enough to have my parents visit for a couple of days so we packed in the fun. We went bowling, out to eat and to Joseph's first swim lesson.
The boys LOVED bowling!Can you see it's past Justin's bedtime?Meeting Darren downtown for lunch.Joseph's first lesson was great! He was very nervous and very hesitant to get in the pool. I walked him down to the pool and stayed by the side while he got in, looking terrified. I didn't dare leave him for fear he'd jump back out after me. Then to test the kids' ability levels, the first thing they did was ask everyone to dunk their heads. Joseph just stood there and shook his head. It was pretty funny. About this time, one of the coordinators came over and shooed me away to the bleachers, telling me he'd do better if I was out of sight now. She was right. Joseph was coaxed into kicking his feet behind him and laying on his back to kick. He'd look over at us once in awhile and smile with a thumbs up. This is going to be a very good thing!

It was so great to have my parents here. They make my life easier when they're here: doing my dishes, giving me a break from the kids, taking us out to eat. Joseph had a hard time saying goodbye so quick and Justin hasn't stopped talking about Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad!