When Nana goes on a trip...

...T-shirts are sure to follow.

One time she even went on a trip... to Wal-mart.  And she brought us back shirts.

This time she went to Washington DC.

And so we all got patriotic shirts!

Fitting?  I thought so.

Does anyone else want to eat chocolate immediately after looking at these eyes?!:

If I had a quarter for everytime I said "Landon, don't touch your brother with your feet"...

This is Spence's new sitting pose--ankles crossed. So proper, he is.

New House Projects: Boys' Room!

So I forgot to take a "before" picture before we moved furniture for painting, but this at least gives you an idea:

So then we painted the room blue, and I bought some shelves and other decor, which I painted.  I also painted the picture frames!

I added Landon's quilt on his bed, so you can get an idea, but it's not quite done yet...

The wall on the left is a pretty long wall with nothing on it... so I'll keep my eyes open for something awesome.

Closer...

 That's right, Landon.  You should be pleased.  You have the most AWESOME MOTHER EVER.

 Landon's moonlight.  

 I made Spencer a name-sign.  Finally.  Sorry it took so long, second-born.  It's just how it goes.

 Closer. 

 Facing the closet:

I want to find different frames for the foot-print pictures, but here's this shelf so far:

I made this little sign over ten years ago at a YW activity, and it sort of matches the theme!

We also added a ceiling fan to the room.  You're welcome, offspring.

I bought and painted these, but I'm not sure what I want to do with them yet.  Any ideas?

And there you have the boys' room.

And yes, even though we have a 4-bedroom house, they're sharing a room.

First, no need to spoil them with all the extra space.

Secondly, we have a playroom (besides the 4 bedrooms) that has all their toys.

Third, they like each other.  And I barely survived having them 23 months apart, and so goshdarnit, they WILL BE BEST FRIENDS.

The. End.

:)

My children don't know WHO they are messing with.

Yes, those are swimming noodles ghetto-rigged to my baby gate.
Let me explain.

This blasted baby gate has been the bane of my existence ever since we moved in.  I did not want young Spencer falling down the stairs, and so I wanted a gate that attached into the wall.

To make a long story short, installing it was...a learning experience for me, and resulted in about 16 large holes in the brand new wall.

But then I had another learning experience with spackling and touch-up paint, and learned that you really can cover up holes and they look as good as new.  But I still didn't feel safe reinstalling the baby gate on the spackled holes.

So I moved it up a few inches.
And I'm pretty sure it took Landon 18 seconds to realize he could go under it.
And another 18 second for Spencer to learn how to do it.

So then, after crossing off several other ideas I had on my list, I suddenly thought of those lovely half-noodles I had left over from Landon's birthday party, and they fit perfectly!

My children are trapped once again, and I am happy.

They are not happy about it, for the record.  But I don't care.

BOO-YAH, children.  BOOOO--YAAHHHHH.

Also, for the record, I do plan on spray-painting it white.  Neon noodles don't exact fit in with the decorating motif I had in mind...

;)

A few house pics.

Alright, alright.
I'll share a couple of pics.

It's just hard to share pics when you feel like the rooms are a bit boring pre-decorating.  Obviously, we have to recover a bit before we paint and hang pictures, but I suppose I can always post more pictures after we do that.

Here is the kitchen.

It of course doesn't look much different than last you saw it, but just know there's actually stuff in the cupboards now! Also note my new kitchenaid gifted by my parents and grandmother. NICE!

And the addition here is my new trashcan.  Exciting, right?  WHO KNEW that stainless steel trashcans cost SO MUCH MONEY.  I mean, I figured they would be more than $20, but seriously.  They should not cost $80.  FOR A TRASHCAN.  But an ugly plastic one would make my kitchen look ghetto, and we can't have that, right?  RIGHT?!

Today's addition involved hanging curtains in the master bedroom.

So excuse all the tools on the floor...

(And BK's church pants on the bed?... note to self...)

I think I might know where the rest of the candles that go to this are, but I haven't gotten to it yet.  Oops.

BK's addition to the room was the lovely glow-in-the-dark basketball hoop on the door.  He says it's a prime location because he can shoot it from in our bedroom OR he can close the door and play from the playroom...

I plan on finding a different spot.

Unless he can find a cast-iron one that matches.

But whatev.

We love our house!

Yay!

Landon, these days

What's Landon been up to this summer so far?

Well.

We moved, which sort of rocked his small world, but we're getting back on track now with a lovely sticker and ticket system.  He gets to use his tickets to do things like play "pa-pweeter" games:

And he clearly can't be bothered with a picture when enjoying that.

And speaking of enjoying, we've been doing just that with about a billion otter pops so far this summer:

Good times, good times.

Sweet Gig

Dear BK.

Sometimes you and I "like" to get into "discussions" about whose job is harder.

While I still believe, hands down, that motherhood is the most exhausting and time-consuming assignment on this earth, it's days like this that have led me to believe that it's actually a pretty sweet gig most of the time.

I know you think that all I do all day is go to splash parks and invite friends over (I know you don't really, I'm just kidding) and that the following pictures aren't really going to change your mind--but the fact of the matter is: the boys and I went to a splashpark the other afternoon, and we really had a blast.

Not everyday is like this, but I really love it when the boys and I get to do fun things.

I'll love it even more when you're done studying for your DUMB BOARD EXAM so that we can have you join us on the weekends for good times.

Landon loves the water.  He always has.

Spencer is terrified of water.  He is a timid little creature. (Could our children be any more polar opposite?  Could Landon be any more like me?  Could Spencer be any more like you?)

This picture represents the closest Spence actually got to the water:

Meanwhile, Landon had a great, great time.

Sleeping Babies

Landon-May 2008

Spencer--April 2010

Sometimes when the kiddos go to bed, all I want to do is curl up on the couch to watch amazing television.  BK is busy-busy studying for the board exam.  And lately, I've actually looked forward to this "alone" time. 

But tonight neither of my boys wanted to fall asleep.  I kept marching Landon back to his room, each time waking up grumpy, teething Spencer.  Landon kept asking me to read a book or sing songs with him.  But I had already done both of those things, and didn't a deserve to watch an episode or 6 of 30 Rock?

The fifth time he came out of his room, he asked me to come in and sing to him.  And for some reason I finally caught some perspective.  As I laid in his tiny bed with him and sang him Primary songs, both of my boys magically settled down.  

Sometimes as a mom I get a little annoyed that I'm the only one on the planet who has this power over Landon and Spencer.  But tonight I was really touched by it.

A tear or 6 ran down my face as I let my mind wander to a time in the not-to-far-future where my boys won't want me to sing to them anymore.  And then I let my mind wander to a time a little bit farther than that where they might be struggling with their testimony.  

And suddenly I wanted their tiny brains filled with memories of me singing songs of Jesus to them and remembering how it brought them comfort. 

My mother and father gave us a TV from their bedroom when they bought a new one.  Landon keenly observed the other day while smelling the vent on the back of the TV (?) that he "smelled Nana."  I smelled the vent, and he was exactly right.  It smelled like my mom's hairspray and perfumes.  And for some reason, it brought a warm comfort over me--even though I had just seen my mom a few days before.

I want my children to know my voice.  And I want them to know my smell.  I want them to feel warm fuzzies when they remember me--even twenty years from now.  

And if that means sacrificing a bit of my "precious" TV time every now and again when they're having trouble settling down--so be it.  

I love them.

New couch and chair!

I finally found the camera cord.
It was in a box right next to the computer.
Go figure.

Anyway, here is my new living room furniture.  I think eventually I will buy/make some different throw-pillows for the couch to match the chair a little bit better.  The colors on the chair are the main colors I want to use for the living/dining/kitchen area!

You might remember I did a more in-depth post with pictures of the house here.  So if you forgot what my house looks like, head there.

But as I get more rooms organized, I'll post more pics!  Hooray for our new house!

Like I know where my camera cord is...

So we're finally here at our new house!

We closed on it on Friday and moved in Saturday morning.  I still can't really believe it's ours.

(I still have to go back up to Dallas to clean and check out of our apartment in a few days--not really looking forward to that, but oh well.)

Some of the highlights of the move so far:

• NEW MATTRESS.  BK still doesn't think there was anything wrong with our 8 year old mattress that I picked out with my 18-year-old back.  He is wrong.  We have the old one set up in our guest bedroom, and when I'm bored (or don't feel like unpacking), I go lay on it, and then I run to the master bedroom and lay on ours and then I almost tear up because the new one is just so heavenly.
• New living room furniture!  We love love love our new couch and chair.  They are so comfy, and most importantly don't require slipcovers!  Thank you to BK's parents for contributing to this lovely graduation present!
• OUR HUGE BACKYARD.  The boys love romping around out there.  It's so awesome.
• No down-payment!  I'm sure some of you are scratching your head wondering how we afforded to close on a house 7 days after BK's graduation.  You might recall that my lovely husband served in the military.  That means we qualify for a VA loan--which doesn't require a down-payment.  We also got a lovely "relocation" bonus from BK's employer--and thanks to all you awesome people who helped us load and unload the truck, we got to spend the bulk of it on exciting things rather than movers. 
• Record loading and unloading times.  Load: 57 minutes.  Unload: 30 minutes.  Thank you again, all you lovely twenty-and-thirty-somethings who donated manual labor on our behalf.  Especially all the complete strangers from our new ward.  It made us feel really welcome. :)
• Our dining room table can now be set up WITH the leaf.  Because we actually have a dining room.  Amazing.

There have, of course, been other highlights.  And I'm sure I will eventually find my camera cord.  But for now I should probably go finish the last of the unpacking.

So when are you coming to visit us?

Soon?

Good.