cruel mom award

1. Have you ever made your child cry, and laughed about it? Well, I did. The other night Isaac was taking a bath, when I heard him over exaggerate (shocking) the fact that Luke bumped his eye and he told Luke 'not to do that because it would poke his eye out'. So, I decided to have some fun.
Me in an overly concerned voice: "Isaac, your eyeball is really gone!"
Isaac in his laughing, with an undertone of concern voice: "No, it's not."
Me: "Yes it is. But, at least you have another one so you can still see."
Isaac, with more concern than laughter: "It's not gone. I don't want it to be gone." (Also, feeling to check if he still has his eyes... which makes the fact that he believed me even funnier)
Me, trying not to laugh: "It really is bud, but it will be okay."
Isaac, with actual tears now: "I don't want my eyeball to be gone!"
Me, laughing, but starting to feel bad, decided to let him know that I was only joking.
I'm such a jerk.

2. So, I have recently started to the P90X workout videos (to be said in a hard core voice, while creating an 'X' with your arms). I have never been so sore in my life! Which is a good sign that if I actually stick with it, I will see results, right? The one thing I'm not going to do though, is take the 'before' picture that they recommend... I am not taking the chance of that somehow making it onto the internet for the world to see.

My kids can do better pull-ups than I can.

3. Isaac's cousins gave him some fake tattoos a little while ago. After applying them, he asked if they would stay on him forever. I told him that they would ware off after taking a couple of baths. So, he asks, "So, uncle Mark doesn't take baths?" Uncle Mark has real tattoos.

4. We took the boys to Moab for a short camping trip (one night). We had a great time (although, Adam is realizing how much work is involved with camping as a parent). We hiked to Delicate Arch the first day, set up camp near Slick Rock, roasted some weenies and marshmallows, played on some rock hills, and hiked Mill Creek the second day. Isaac really didn't want to leave, which he kept repeating the whole way home. He also kept asking if we could come back with his friend, Logan, and he would tell him about the poison ivy and to stay away from it (he was a bit over cautious about not touching the poison ivy... almost paralyzing at times).

Notice Luke's footwear. I had asked Isaac to put all of our shoes into a bag. Adam, not knowing that Isaac was responsible for the shoes - so not checking, put them into the truck. Me, thinking that Adam had checked Isaac's work, didn't worry about it. There were only two shoes that didn't make it into the bag, which wasn't discovered until getting to the trailhead of the hike... at least we had a right and a left.

Asa loved the tent, because he wasn't confined to a backpack or bouncer.

Just a bit worn out.

5. We took the boys to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point ($2 Tuesdays = one enormous crowd). We met up with Grandma Pulley, Dani, and her girls. The boys were so excited to go, for they have never been to a dinosaur museum before (what?!). Isaac, kept asking me, in his playful/scared voice if he was going to be scared.

asa's first birthday

It's amazing how fast a whole year can go by once you have children. I can't believe it has already been a year since Asa was born. Maybe it seemed to go by quicker because he has been my easiest baby... or, maybe I've been a little more distracted. Even though he is only one, he still has quite a personality, so here are a few things about Asa:

- Like I mentioned, he has been my easiest baby. Not that he was one of those 'so easy that it's easy to forget they are there' babies that some people are blessed with. He had some eating issues like my other babies (but, not nearly as bad), he was easy to get to sleep, but not on his own, so it took longer to get him sleep trained (my other two are thumb suckers... I found out just how nice that really is), but my favorite thing about him as an infant, compared to my other two, was that he didn't have that late evening fussy period... that earned him the favorite baby award. Oh, another thing that has been nice, is that he's not obsessed with cords and outlets like my other two were. I'll take banging pots and pans over electrical obsessions any day.

- So, at first I thought Asa was going to be a calm/peaceful child. I had paid my dues with the other two and he was a pretty good baby, so it seemed like my break was coming. But, as time goes on he shows me that he may be almost as intense as Isaac and Luke. I'm not sure how much of it has been learned from those two as examples, but I'm pretty sure a lot of it is just who he is.

- Asa is a big screamer - making car rides loads of fun. It doesn't help that his brother's seem to encourage this behavior by having screaming contests with him - they think it's hilarious.

- So far, Asa hasn't experienced much stranger anxiety - he's willing to go to pretty much anyone. But, he still prefers me, so my self esteem is still going strong.

- He is very lovey/cuddly, but squirmy at the same time. He's not one to sit on a lap.

- He HATES missing an open door opportunity. Every time he sees/hears a door shut before he has made it through, he suffers major disappointment. Usually, by collapsing on the floor and crying until consoled.

Birthday morning

Asa got to play in cake, not once, but twice - once with the Pulleys and once with the Loveridges

Asa and Sophie. They are only 5 days apart.

One of 4 cakes I made for his birthday. 2 for the Pulley gathering, and 2 for the Loveridge gathering... we have large families.

Asa and Grandma Loveridge

Luke and Kade

Isaac and the ladies.

stewart falls

Last week my neighbor, Sarah, and I hiked to Stewart Falls with our kids. The hike is about 5 miles round trip, so I new this might push the limit a bit for them (Luke especially). But, I figured the reward of getting to a waterfall would make it worth it to them. I was so impressed with how well they did! There were no tears and only minimal whining. I ended up carrying Luke a few times, but not as much as I had anticipated. They loved playing at the waterfall and Asa loved eating rocks. I was so proud of them for doing so well, while keeping a pretty cool attitude the whole time.

Luke and Sarah

I'm glad Luke is my little monkey. It made it much easier to carry him when required.

Asa was quite content to sit here and eat the rocks.

Asa had it easy.

The waterfall was the motivation on the way there, and playing on the cement water tank was the motivation for the way back.

we are having fun

1. A couple of weeks ago, Isaac, Luke and I got to be in Heber's parade. Yes, it was very exciting. How did we receive this great honor, you ask? Well, when you know important people like I do, it's quite easy. My brother had an entry for his company and needed some people to ride in his wagon.

Joe the Bandit and Emma

2. For some reason Luke thinks that everything is a hair product and thus, puts it in his hair: i.e., desitin, lotion, liquid soap, vasaline, bug spray, and this week's discovery - neosporin. I have to admit, the kid has style. By the way, I DO make every attempt to keep all of these type of items out of his reach, but Luke is quite a sneeky monkey, so there are moments when my efforts fail.

3. Speaking of my sweet, sneeky monkey, he has been so fun and enjoyable the last few weeks. I think we are enjoying a breakthrough moment as parents. I'm not saying that he wasn't enjoyable before, but we have had quite a few tantrums/melt downs over the last couple years. It feels like we have finally made it to the top of a mountain after a long struggle and it is finally clear and calm (hopefully we don't have to leave for a while). I think what has happened is that we are finally getting to where we can reason with him and he is understanding the whole consequence thing a lot better. It also helps that his language skills have improved dramatically over the past few months and Adam and I are slowly figuring out how to deal with things better. But, despite any struggles that he gives us, we adore our little guy and appreciate all of the fun and love he brings into our home.

Oh, and my favorite Luke phrase at the moment is "huge, big". He says this all the time, as in "My muscles are huge, big."

4. We got Isaac a new bed. I hope this doesn't reflect on what the future might hold for him. I was really counting on him to support us in our old age - not live on the streets.

He requested to sleep here... don't judge me.

5. We took the boys to Cascade Springs for a nice nature moment. They, of course, loved all the water... except the fact that they were not allowed to play in it. Isaac had us read every one of the information signs we came across, and was very interested in learning about all of the animals and vegetation, but most of all, how the underground 'plumbing system' works.

They still managed to enjoy the water.