Exploding

Dear Hunter,
You have always been the most laid back kid. However, when you decide to get upset you go all out! The other day at Grandmas house you were riding your  scooter. All of a sudden you came crashing into the house yelling and crying at the top of your lungs. You had hit the cord on Grandpa's trailer and took a spill. You were very upset. I tried to calm you down and asked you to go outside and try again. You went outside but I could hear you yelling still. I went out to see what was going on and you were standing there yelling at the cord.

"It doesn't even do ANYTHING! WHY IS IT HERE! NO FUN! I'm not going to be able to have ANY FUN NOW!"

I told you to quit yelling or you would have to come inside. No sooner than I had sat back down you came storming into the house, mumbling to yourself about how it wasn't going to be any fun. You grabbed your Shark helmet (automatically lessening the dramatic exit you were looking for) and stormed outside.

Five minutes later you were giggling and having a great time.

You are so much like your mother.  I won't give details... we will just leave it at that. ;0)
I love you Bubba!
Mommy

The Cord....

The store

Dear Connor,
You absolutely hate going to the store. For anything. Even if it's just one item. You can't stand it. You've been pretty spoiled in the fact that your Gramma Darrlyn lives just 2 minutes away from our house. You've started calling to see if you can stay with her while I go to the store. Every time we have the same conversation. I say we're going to the store, you ask if you can call Gramma, and I remind you that you can but she might say no or she may not be home. Yesterday, she wasn't home.

You dialed the number and waited patiently for her to answer. When you heard her answering machine pick up you were so upset.

"I have to go to the store?! What are we going to get? How long are we going to be there? Why isn't she home? Why does she have to work? I don't like her to work! I want her to be home! Can we wait until she gets home?! I don't want to go to the store? How long did you say it was going to take? Are we getting one thing or 10 things? UGHHHH! WHY DO WE HAVE TO GO TO THE STORE!"

It took me five additional minutes to get you to put your shoes on and actually get in the car. As I was buckling Rusty into his car seat lo and behold the phone rang. You answered it as quickly as you could. Gramma said she would be home in 30 minutes. Perfect you thought. I actually wanted to just go to the store at this point but you already had a plan in your head so off to Grammas we went to sit and wait for her to get home.

The other night Kaylee got to have a sleep over at Grandma Karen's and you did not think this was fair. Somehow you managed to arrange a sleep over at Gramma Darrlyn's for that night and then a sleep over at Grandma Karen's two days later. You had a blast at both houses. 

You make us all laugh so much. I don't know that you are aware of how lucky you are to have both grandmas within a 10 minute drive of you and both grandmas so willing to "help you out." However, the other day you did tell me, "We sure are lucky to have such nice grandmas."

Yes, Yes you are.
Love you buddy,
Mommy

Those faces...

Dear Russell,
You make some of the cutest faces in the whole world. You have a very good sad face. It makes me want to give you kisses until you feel better even when you're the one that should be in trouble! You have a great "busted" face that makes me laugh and you end up getting your way. I think you've mastered pulling on my heart strings to get what you want, and already at such a young age!

You got mad at Grammy Darrlyn the other day. She gave you a Popsicle and you were going to town on it. She was trying to help you move the rest of the Popsicle up the stick so she took it away from you for a second. Oh you were so mad. So mad. You just cried and yelled. It was actually pretty funny.

You've been standing on your own lately. You will be in the middle of the living room and all of a sudden you will just stand up. We've seen you think about taking a step. You were holding onto the table and reaching for the couch. You could tell that you were thinking about letting go and just walking over there, but you didn't do it. Soon though. You'll be walking very soon. 

We can't go to Costco without you stopping the whole store. Everyone walks by you smiling and cooing. I have to agree with them that there is nothing cuter than you sitting in the cart, with your crazy hat on, munching on a churro!

You are a really good eater. You will eat whatever we are having for dinner. You love trying new foods right now. About two weeks ago, you fell out of your high chair. It was so scary. You were so very angry. You were shaking your head in this weird jerky fashion. I couldn't tell if you were really that hurt or just that angry. After getting the clean bill of health from the emergency room it became clear that you were just that angry! I'm sorry that happened buddy. I felt so incredibly awful about it. In fact, the next day you got new shoes and a new coat. Yes, it made me feel better. =o)

You are always smiling, always having fun, and always on the move! I just love watching you and seeing what you're going to come up with next. Thanks for making every day so much fun! 

LOVE YOU!
Mommy

Birthday Parites!

Dear Kaylee,
We had such an amazing time at all your parties. We started out with the Sugar Rush party. We had some of your friends come over and we made MY HERO cookies. Each of your friends got a cute little apron that was suppose to resemble Vanellope's outfit. We also made candy hair clips to put all over your hair. We did our hair, decorated cookies, took a ton of pictures, and of course the cake. You had so much fun!

Next stop, the family party. You requested a Hello Kitty cake. Aunt Tristan did an amazing job on it and you were absolutely thrilled. You were totally spoiled by all your family members and had a wonderful time. Your favorite part of your birthday has always been when we sing to you. You just love that. We had leftover Sugar Rush cake, and leftover Kitty cake. There was SO much cake at our house. It's sad most of it went into the trash, but it was worth it to see how excited you were over your beautiful cakes!

Finally, you got to take cupcakes to preschool for your snack day! You were excited because we bought fairy rings to put on top of the cupcakes. Mommy cheated and bought some at the store. She was starting to get "partied" out. You didn't care at all. They were the best cupcakes in the world to you. Whew!

I love you. I can't believe you are 4! Now that you're 4 you don't have to have the high back on your booster and you LOVE it. You love being 4. I love that you enjoy every minute of every day regardless of how old you are.

Thanks for being such a sweet little girl all the time. You make my day.
Happy Birthday!
Mommy

Feeding Time

Dear Russell,

It's been so exciting allowing you to explore your world and try new things. Lately, we've been trying a lot of new foods. Your favorite so far has been ham. You went to town! You also really like Churros from Costco, soup, and the biscuits at Red Lobster, who doesn't?  You like to feed yourself which has been a bit of a challenge. I try to make everything I can now into diced bits so you can eat all by yourself, but sometimes Mommy still has to help you!

You're still a Momma's boy. The other night you came crawling into the room crying. Daddy asked if you wanted Mommy. You answered your "YEEEAAHH" cry and Daddy pointed to where I was. We swear we heard a sigh of relief as you crawled over to me and climbed into my lap. It was bed time.

You haven't wanted to go to bed lately. I haven't wanted to rock you when you are screaming and fighting it. As a result I have been putting  you in your doorway jumper. You make us laugh so much while you are jumping. You jump over and over and over. When you get tired you don't stop jumping. You keep jumping and crying. We come running over to get you out because I'm pretty sure you jump until you feel like your legs are going to fall off. Daddy jokes that you think you can jump your way out of it and that's why you won't stop jumping. It works though. One night you actually fell asleep mid jump, but most of the time we pull you out and you snuggle right in to go to bed.

You're starting to cruise around furniture. You think you are much bigger than you are because when Daddy and the other kids are wrestling you crawl over and try to get in on it. Daddy is anxious for you to get a little bigger because then you can be on his team. Right now it's 3 kids vs. 1 Daddy.

You don't like sleeping in Mommy's bed anymore. I think you get  hot. That was a sad day. I sure do like to snuggle my babies. At least we still get to rock to sleep. I love you, I love you!

Mommy

School Nights

Dear Connor and Hunter,

We've been having some fun with school lately. Last week we had a Science Night at our house. We invited all the grandparents for a boat making night. Our job was to make a boat out of foil that would float. We had a friendly contest to see who's boat could hold the most pennies. It was really fun. The weather was kind of bad that night, so I hurried things along as best I could so nobody had to drive on icy roads and still we had time for our boat themed dinner. Your Uncle Wade was making Mommy laugh so hard because I asked him to cut the peppers without fully explaining that I wanted them to turn into boats. He cut them wrong. On finding out that they were part of my theme he tried his best to make some pepper boats. It was a Pintrocity that only I could be blamed for but it was funny all the same. You boys really love having people over and doing school stuff with them. You love to show off all you know and on this particular occasion you loved just getting to play with foil and water with your Grandparents.

This week your school had Open House. I wasn't too excited to go because the one in the fall was a bust in my opinion. However, we all had a great time! Each room had a different activity centered around the theme of giving like sewing together pillows for patients recovering from surgery, a bake sale with the proceeds going to charity, making cards for our soldiers over seas, etc. We had fun going from room to room. You both think you are perfect at sewing now and have been begging me to give you a needle and thread for days.

I like having these fun school nights with you. I can't wait until the next one. I'm already pinning ideas!

Love,
Mommy

Standing up

Dear Rusty,

I can't believe how fast you are growing up. Seriously, too fast. You are crawling at rocket speed all over the house and have recently started pulling yourself up on toys and furniture. What's really scary is that you are strong enough to just stand up without any support, but you are still pretty unbalanced so you just sit back down really quick. I was folding laundry the other day and I had to piles of clothes next to me. You crawled up, put a shirt in each hand, and stood up. Immediately, you looked down and saw the shirts came up with you and panicked! I've never seen you plop down so fast.

 You eat like a horse. You prefer solid food over your bottle. You love Cheerios and Ritz crackers. You figured out how to hold your bottle on your own, but are still trying to master the sippy cup.

I love to talk to you these days. You have the worlds cutest toothy, sideways grin. You are always smiling. Everywhere we go you are making friends. People coo at you and talk to you. As soon as they pay attention to you your arms go out and you want them to pick you up. I've let some of the boys teachers hold you and some ladies at church but I'm not there with strangers yet.

We've been taking you to the pool more. You really love the hot tub. Last night you were so incredibly relaxed. Then you got hungry. You started kissing me like crazy. I thought you were just being really loving until my cheek got bit. I yelled in pain and you gave me one of your toothy grins. How could I be mad?

I think the best part of my day right now is watching you take in the world with your big blue eyes. They are always so big and excited. You want to know how to do everything and you want to do it right now!

I love you. I'll stop asking you to slow down because I know it's not going to happen. Thanks for being such a bright spot in my days.

XOXO
Mommy