Date Night

Dear Connor and Hunter,

We went on a date last night. We went to see the NEW SPIDERMAN! Daddy and I went on a date last week and saw it and both agreed that it would be ok for you to see. It's actually my favorite Spiderman movie out of all them.

You knew we were going to go, which was my mistake. I probably should have just surprised you at the very last minute because as it was the two of you asked if it was time to go yet every ten minutes for 12 hours! I finally just took you to the mall two hours early to calm you down.

We had dinner at the food court, which you barely ate because you were concerned you were going to miss the movie. We went to Bath and Body Works and smelled all the lotions. We went to the play area and played. We went to Barnes and Noble to go to the restroom before the movie and read some books. Then finally, it was time.

I tried to talk you into getting candy bars at a grocery store to take with us, but you had your hearts set on popcorn boxes. We stood in line for the popcorn and discussed what soda pop you would have. I kept telling you the flavors and you kept telling me you wanted soda pop. To this day I have no idea why you say soda pop instead of just pop. It makes me laugh though.

You were very eager to pick out your seats at the theater. You chose the back row. I sat in the middle of you. Connor is still a little too light and the seat tries to pop up on him every now and then.

The movie was great. You two giggled through the whole thing. You loved the part where Peter Parker was playing keep away with the basketball and Flash couldn't get it. You thought it was hilarious when Peter Parker was thrown by the giant lizard into the closet and then jumped out a minute later as Spider Man.

You were still excited when you got home and told Daddy all about it. However, it was ten thirty before we got home and Connor was beat. He was starting to melt down and that woke up Kaylee. So there was a brief moment when everyone was melting down, but since we were up so late anyways Daddy put on Curious George. Connor snuggled with Daddy and watched Curious George and Hunter and Kaylee chose to come upstairs and snuggle with Mommy to sleep.

It was a fantastic night. A much needed night. Lately we've been butting heads and it was nice to just have a night out on the town with my two favorite little boys. I love you so much!

XOXO
Mommy

Reasoning...

Dear Hunter,

You have been making me laugh so much lately. You have been working on your "reasoning" skills. I call it that because truthfully, I have no idea how else to say it. You believe that there is an in-depth reason for everything! Literally, everything. Some of the conversations we've had lately....

"Mom, why did you make hotdogs for lunch?"
"I just thought they sounded good."
"Because you knew I love them and that they would be good for me to eat?"
"Yes."

"Mom, guess what?"
"what?"
"I can only sleep good with my Spiderman because he snores and sleeps too, so I should sleep with him huh?"
"Yes."
"Because you want me to sleep good?"

and my favorite....

"Mom why did they put the (blockbuster) receipt in my movie box?"
"They put it in the box so we don't lose it. You got lucky, it's in your box today!"
"I think she did that because she could see that I was the tallest."
"Well, they didn't know it was your movie, they just put it in a box and it turned out it was your movie."
"Because I'm the tallest."
"yup."

You and Kaylee are so much alike that you've been driving each other crazy lately. I have to break you two up constantly. She wins almost every time because you end up running to me in tears over some injustice. I try and try to tell you that you're older and bigger and you shouldn't let her push you around, but you are just such a teddy bear. I love that about you, such a gentle giant.

Monkeys are your favorite thing in the world right now. You just got a pair of Monkey pajamas that you are pretty excited about. You love that there is a monkey on them that has his mouth in an "o" shape because he's talking.

One of my favorite things that you do right now is the way you watch yourself in mirrors. Whenever you walk by the tv, or a mirror, or anything reflective you stop and start dancing in the mirror, practicing your strut, or fixing your hair. It just makes me laugh when I walk around the corner and you're busting a move in front of the tv watching yourself in the screen. You even told Daddy the other day that you wanted him to come see how your sunglasses looked on you in the mirror. Daddy said, "I can see how they look right now, I'm looking at you." That wasn't good enough. You drug him upstairs and he had to get appropriately excited about seeing what you looked like in the mirror.

I love you buddy! You are the sweetest, kindest, cutest boy!
XOXO
Mommy

Connor Bug

Dear Connor, 

You are a kid that knows what he likes. You like your hair "short and flat" and pajamas. You like plain milk, and sucking candy (you refuse to say Jolly Rancher). You like to snuggle when it's on your terms. I love all these things about you.

We went to the kidz biz salon yesterday and you got your hair cut short. You let me grow it out over the summer and I really enjoyed seeing your full head of red hair again. However, after she cut it this time, I immediately loved it. It's just so you. 

Today we went to Costco with Grammy. She bought you guys pajamas. You were so excited. It's actually a little ridiculous how excited you get over pajamas. You rushed in the door when we got home and you wouldn't let Daddy see what you had. You wanted to "surprise him." He acted appropriately surprised to please you and you were thrilled! You picked out doggy pajamas. You told me tonight, "Mom, can I wear my new pajamas to grammas house and then her dogs can see my pajamas and they'll think 'look those are dogs.'"

You have a little of your Uncle Wade in you. Uncle Wade was always about making a deal. Kaylee wanted to wear your Star Wars tank top today. You let her, but then you informed her that she should probably buy that tank top from you for $2. She looked at you like you were crazy, which is about how I looked at Uncle Wade and his deals. It made me laugh so hard.

You're a saver. We've started a new money system to teach you how to tithe, save, and spend. You love to give money to God and into your savings. You always put the least amount into your spending jar. It's fun to see the things you want to spend your money on. You really wanted an ice cream at the park today but the booth was closed. I told you I would take you to Dairy Queen but you said you wanted to save your money so next time you could have ice cream in the park. Hunter talked you into going to Dairy Queen and just spending $1. So we did. You were happy with that decision in the end.

I've had so much fun with you this week. I love that I get to stay home with you.
xoxo,
Mommy

Blackberry Pie

Dear Kaylee,
This morning Grammy and I went to Sunnyside and picked blackberries. It was really fun. On the way home we were talking and decided that making a pie with you would be the perfect opportunity for some one on one time. So after your nap I took you over to Grammy's to make a pie.
As we were leaving our house Daddy was playing super strawberry with the boys and they were all giggling pretty hard. Daddy wanted to make sure the boys had a good time too, guy time. You love the game super strawberry. It's a plastic strawberry that Daddy pretends has super powers and you all try to keep it away from Daddy. I could tell you wanted to play but you went to the van. When I had you all buckled in and we driving down the road you asked "Why we leave Connor and Hunter?" I told you that I wanted to spend time with "just Kaylee because Kaylee is so much fun." I looked in the rear view mirror and you had the cutest little smirk on your face and then in your very best teenager voice you said, "Fine." Totally made me giggle.
You had a blast making the pie. You wanted to do it all yourself. We bought an extra pie crust so you could cut out some decorative shapes with cookie cutters and you loved that. We stayed at Grammy's until the pie was done cooking but it had to cool off and we weren't going to have time to eat it before bed time so we decided to have it in the morning for breakfast. You thought that was a great idea! I can't wait to see if you actually like pie. I have a pretty good feeling you will.
Thanks for a great afternoon kiddo!
Mommy

Oh. Yeah.

Dear Kaylee, 

You are such a funny little girl these days. You have so many phrases that you use a thousand times a day and each time those same phrases make me smile. My favorite one right now is you say "oh." 

"oh. yeah." 

"oh. I have an idea." 

"oh. I know." 

"oh. oh!"

My second favorite phrase is anything that you say with the word "remember." 

"Remember Mommy, no pooping your pants." 

"Remember Mommy, eating at the table." 

"Oh yeah. Remember Mommy, toys go downstairs." 

You always say the word "remember" like you are actually reminding me of this new rule we learned together. It's pretty adorable! 

Something that is a little less adorable is the setback we've had potty training. Before we moved you were done. We didn't have accidents anymore and the only time you needed a pull up was when you were sleeping. Then all chaos broke loose and you started having accidents like crazy. We're getting better and better each day but it's been a lot of work. We just started a new sticker chart. If you get ten stickers you get a new book. Every time you go potty or poop on the toilet you get to put a sticker on your chart. It's taken you two days to get five stickers but we'll get there. You're pretty excited about the book and day two was a lot easier than day one so I think it's just going to get better and better. 

The other set back we've had lately has been at bed time. This is extremely frustrating for me because at bedtime I have no energy left whatsoever. You have taken it upon  yourself to refuse to go to sleep. You won't sleep in any bed and you cry as loud as you can until someone comes to snuggle you, which in the past has been a long time. Finally, Daddy last night reminded the both of us that you are only two and the boys were WAY worse at bed time routine than you ever have been, so Daddy made a deal with you. He said as long as you go to sleep at nap time with no crying and no snuggling, he'll snuggle you to sleep at bedtime. That seemed like a pretty good deal to you last night around 10 pm. 

You are so full of personality! You make the funniest faces, and you giggle all day long. It's pretty contagious. You also are a Mommy's girl. You love to follow me around the house helping me do every little thing. You get so sad when you can't help make dinner. I think next week I'm going to have some one on one time with you and make a Hello Kitty cake just for fun. You've been really clingy lately and in the past that has meant you need Mommy to yourself. I love one on one time with you. Sometimes we go get a pedicure and sometimes we just go get groceries but it's always fun with you around. 

I love you Kaylee girl. I know that being two can't be easy. There's been lots of changes this summer in our family, but life is calming down and you're going to be three before you know it! 

XOXO, 

Mommy

New House, New Blockbuster.

Dear Bubbas,

We've moved into our new house. You guys were a little stressed during the process. I could tell because you're behavior was off. However, the entire time you were excited to get into the new house and your new rooms.

You absolutely love the new house. You're favorite parts are the stairs and the fridge. You love to watch balls roll down the stairs, and lay on blankets and pull each other down them. You love the fridge because you can get your own ice and water out of the door now. I love that you can get your own water but now we're working on cleaning up our own mess. Countless times I've walked into the kitchen and stepped in a puddle because one of you over filled your glass.

You tell everyone that we have a "big, big, big back yard!" It's decent size, no bigger than what you use to have, but you think it's the best yard in the world. There are lots of trees and bushes and hiding spots. There are also grasshoppers! You three found some in the grass the other night and were catching them.  It was very exciting!

Clayton was over here the other day and he said he needed to go to the bathroom. You all began telling him where the bathrooms were and then Hunter says, "They're all over this place." That made me laugh.

I was worried that you wouldn't like the new house and you'd want the old one back because when we got a new van in September it was fun for about a day and then you both started asking me where the old car was and why we didn't have it anymore. You told me repeatedly that you liked that car better. Periodically Connor still brings it up. I'm not sure what you liked about that beat up old van so much, but it had me worried you'd feel the same about the house. We've been here almost two weeks and you still love it! We asked if you wanted to go to the old house and say goodbye, and you didn't. That's a good sign.

One of your concerns was how we were going to get to blockbuster. That is literally your favorite place in the world! So, Daddy and I took you to the neighborhood blockbuster. You were so excited! I took a picture in the store and I told you to say blockbuster and all three of you yelled, "NEW BLOCKBUSTER!" We had some people looking at us like we'd never been in a video store before so it was pretty funny!

I'm glad that you like the new place. Connor even asks if we can stay here until we go to heaven. I'm not sure if we'll stay that long, I guess it depends on when we go! We're definitely here for many years though and I'm looking forward to filling this place up with memories.

I love you most!
Mommy

Dear Bubbas

Dear Bubbas,

Recently we had a weekend of birthday parties. We had one party Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! That is a LOT for our family. I was afraid we would get overwhelmed and Mommy did a little, but it was so much fun that it was totally worth it.

We started the parties with Abby and Gracie's Princess Pirate birthday. This was fantastic, because they even ordered a true pirate storm for their party! Actually, we showed up at the park, dressed in swim wear, completely ready to play in the water and on the toys and it started pouring rain! All of the kids still wanted to do the treasure hunt though, so you all did that in the rain and then we moved the party indoors. You thought this party was fantastic! You loved every little detail of it! Especially the fake tattoos. On the way home you asked if your next birthday could be a pirate party.

Saturday was Tripp's party. He had a cow party! I made some of the cookies for his party and special skirts for Kendall and Kaylee to wear. This party was outside and the weather significantly cleared up so we were able to stay outside. Tripp's back yard is like a park so you had a fantastic time! You love the trampoline and the little baby pool with the slide. Tripp also had a giant inflatable water slide. You really liked that too! I thought the funnest part of the party was watching you all try to break open the pinata! You came home with giant bags of candy! The cow party was such a success that on the way home you asked if your next birthday could be a cow party.


Sunday was Isaac's birthday party. He had a cowboy theme! He had the neatest decorations! There was an entire city made out of giant cardboard boxes, there was a real horse that you could feed apples, and there was a really neat sprinkler toy that you could play with. You all got cowboy hats and badges and were very cute running around playing cowboys. It was really hot on Sunday so the sprinkler toy was a big hit for you guys! When it was time to go home, I literally had to drag you away from the party. It was such a fun party that on the way home you asked if your next birthday could be a cowboy party.

I love you guys so much! You enjoy life to the fullest, and every day seems to be the best day of your life. I hope that never changes.

XOXO,
Mommy