Tinkle Monster

I have enjoyed reading everyone’s blogs this week - - all the cute and fun things people do!! I thought, what can I post cute or fun! Nothing! It feels like we go from mess to mess!! Well, I want to share an experience that was not cute or fun! You know how you hear of something or see something and you are so grateful your child does not do that or would never!! I use to feel that way with Trent! And he never did a lot of those things and I am sure your children don’t either! But then we had Grant!! I truly understand now that they all come with their own individual personalities!

Grant got home from pre-school, went upstairs to play with Trent and took his clothes off!! Typical! We all went downstairs to get Trent some lunch as I yelled to Grant to put his clothes back on! I asked Trent if he wanted turkey! He did and so did Grant!! I heard the fridge open - - looked over - - and Grant was tinkling in the fridge! (We say tinkle for pee! Even my cute Josh says it! I think we got it from Grandma Dell and I do not know why it stuck! I feel like this blog needs a “Beware of the Potty Talk” label!) I was so SHOCKED all I could say was, “You are not peeing in the fridge!” Trent said, “Yes he is mom!” Grant told us to call him the “Tinkle Monster!” Yeah, I don’t think so!! Needless to say he lost a star (considering we have had endless talks about where to tinkle, not by the Sequoia tire when mom is at lunch with ladies from the neighborhood) and he needed to go to time-out after cleaning it up! So trying to be a Love and Logic Parent (which I am terrible at) I say, “Do you want to use rags or paper towels to clean it up with?” Grant, thrilled, says, “Rags, do I get a spray bottle?” So – thank goodness for 2 things: Lysol and the drawer where the apples are kept was closed!! Now when I ask Grant where we tinkle, he says, in his little accent, “In the po-tay!”

Grant

Trent and Grant were talking about which piggybank belonged to each of them! Grant said he saw his name on the side. Trent asked what it said. Grant told him, “g-r-e-o-ten!”

Hippopotamus

Grant and I were reading last night that hippos are one of the most deadly animals on Earth. A number of humans are killed every year by hippos! They have canine teeth that are 2-feet long and sharp as spears! I could tell this scared Grant - he said he had to be careful playing outside! I told him no no, hippos don't live here, they live . . . he got a big smile of relief and finished my sentence, "in the San Diego Zoo in cages!"

Winter Walk

This was inspired by Dominique's beach pictures!! I was a little jeolous she was at the beach (although not in swimsuits) so I thought I would take Blake outside for a walk!! This really has been a decent week weather wise! It is kind of the February teaser before we get more snow in March!! (Which will hopefully melt quickly if it comes!) Point being, even Utah babies deserve to go outside!!

Piggybanks

Grandpa Verne makes piggybanks for the kids each year! Each pig represents a relative! This Fred Flinstone bowler pig is for his Father Fred!

Last year's "dotted" pig is for Verne's Aunt Dot!

"Buttons" was the second pig ever! We do not have our first pigs because they broke! The children were actually playing with them when they broke! They had big hats and lots of flowers! If I am missing one, Beckee is going to let me know!!

Rope Swing

Trent made a rope swing by tying a jump rope to one of the banisters! They have had more fun swinging! Lots of neighbor boys have been over to try it out!! It was hard for Grant to grip the rope, so he wet a washcloth to help him hold on! It worked!

Smoothies

Almost every morning Josh and I have a smoothie for breakfast! I put: raw oats, carrots, yogurt, juice, spinach leaves, apple, orange and somtimes banana and frozen fruit, sometimes strawberries, sometimes frozen broccoli etc. Although full of calories yes, my hair is growing like crazy! I lost so much with Blake it was rediculous!! Now I have new growth everywhere! I put my hair in a clip and there are little hairs all over!! I don't even mind! I am grateful for them!!

We try to get the kids to drink a little too! Grant says one morning, "Hey mom, can I have some smoothe?" More like "moothe." He does that with a lot of words, Laughy Taffy is Laughy Taff, my feet are freeze, sit on the bop instead of boppy!!

Valentine's Cabin Weekend

We left Friday afternoon to drive to Zion's! The kids did really well! It was about 4 and 1/2 hours! We ate at Carl's Jr. on the way down!

Saturday, Feb. 14th we had heart pancakes for breakfast!! I had to get a shot of this for Blakes Baby Book for "Blake's First Valentine's Day!"

We hung out and played Rock Band for a while!

After lunch we decorated sugar cookies!!

Eric made a snow cave that the kids loved!! These are our buddies Calvin and T.J.

You walked out the sliding glass door right into the cave!

Mitch, Eric and Josh threw the kids in the deep snow for a while!!

We went to the lodge for a Valentine's Day Steak & Crab legs buffet! Hubbard's, Mortensen's and us!

Sunday afternoon we headed home! We got home around 7:15 pm and made the turn around! We were heading up to my parent's cabin to meet my whole family! We switched over to the truck with the trailer and went to the Issels to get our little snowmobile! They were not home for a while, so left around 9:40pm! Matt and Mike came down to get us!! The guys went snowmobliling Monday then played with the kids in the snow and rode the mini Z!

Valentine's Celebration

Grandma and Grandpa sent the boys a giftcard to WalMart for Valentine's Day! It is a tradition! I love to see what the boys pick out!! Trent picked a FurReal Panda that cries and snores and 2 Cheetahs!

Grant picked an M&M heart, a sand digger crocodile and a Diego track that is a connector to some other Diego track! We ended up returning the Diego track and he picked a horse family! (mom, dad and baby) Blake got white onsies and baby food!!

Friday, February 13 we celebrated Valentine's Day because we were heading to the Hubbard's Cabin later! The boys came out and got Beanie Babies that are hooked to the web! (so they can play games like a Webkinz) They also got some Andes Mints and ring pops!

Grandma sent Space Buddies for us to watch as we drove to Zions!

We had pink German Pancakes! They were disappointed they weren't red, but I could not give them that much food coloring!

Grant came home from his school party thrilled with Valentine's in a milk gallon container!

Trent came home ready to sort with a paper container he made!!

Love Hurts

These boys love Blake so much - - sometime they truly hurt him!! They have hard hugs and intense kisses! The little guy gets knocked over, sat on, and squeezed all the time!!!

Flat Person

This is what Trent does!! We babysat the Simmon's kids then Lizzy spent the night!! When I saw this, I called Jill in really quick to see before she left!! We cracked up!!!

Trent's Work

We had Trent's Parent Teacher Conference the beginning of Februay!! Miss Robbins let us take a bunch of stuff home! Trent, of course, wanted all of it in his cabinet, so I took some pictures! I just wanted a few things to remember!!

Trent's 100th Day of School!!!

Small Talk

The boys have been scared of monsters for a while now! They always ask me if monsters are real! I told them, “Monsters are only in your head!” Grant asked, “Are they going to hit us?” It broke my heart he misunderstood and thought monsters were really in his head! We went on to talk about images from movies and books in your head!!

Grant was trying to explain to Trent that something of his was bigger, so he said, “It is past the moon, heaven, God and all dat duff (stuff)!”

Trent has decided he wants to be a Kindergarten teacher!!

Potty training Grant in January was a chore!! My poor carpet suffered!! He was a maniac!! Grant will do anything to be funny!! He stood up on the cabinets in the bonus room and asked Trent if he wanted to see a “pee jump?” Trent of course was thrilled at the thought . . . so Grant (naked) jumped off and peed as he flew!!

While waiting for Trent’s carpool we leave the door open a crack! When I went to see if the carpool was here, there was Grant standing on the porch, leaning back, peeing on the walkway!! I almost died!!

Grant spent January naked!! Even the carpool expected a naked little Grant to answer the door when they brought Trent home!! It worked though, he is doing AWESOME!!!

Grant has a hard time saying “s.” It is darling though, small-mall, Nothinz are his muffins, snorkel-norkel, breadsticks are bread dicks. It cracks us up!!

In Trent’s prayer he said, “Please bless we won’t follow Satan’s path, bless we follow Jesus, bless I will be in an earthquake, bless no one in the whole world will have bad dreams, thank thee for Blake the best baby ever, thank thee for the Holy Spirit . . .”

I bought Blake a “Handsome Little Devil” t-shirt for Valentine’s Day! Trent asked, “Is the Devil Satan?” I said yes! He asked, “Why did you buy Blake that shirt?”

Trent had a friend over who was being mean to him. I was talking to him about it and Grant said, “Trent next time he comes over I will battle him and I will win!”

Grant woke up one morning and said, “If you like it then you should of put a ring on it!” Even with a little rhythm!! I was cracking up!! He said it all morning! In the shower I was trying to tell what he was saying . . . turns out “single ladies, single ladies, single ladies!”

I told Grant he was cute. He said, “No, boys are cool and girls are cute. You are cute mom!”

Trent said he was going to call Aly Johnson to play. Grant said, “Well, well, well den (then) I will tease her!” He teases girls! It is too funny to me that he does that!! Then he said, “But I don’t tease Brysens or McKinnons and dat (that) duff (stuff.)” He actually follows Aly around and pulls at her hair bows and does all the things teases typically do!!

The boys hopped in Blake’s crib the other morning! I could hear them through the monitor! Trent told Grant they needed to be quiet because you grow in your sleep!! Then he said, “Grant we growed in our sleep last night too!”

The boys build houses all the time with blocks, couch cushions whatever! Then they want Blake to come “sleepover.”

We use too much scotch tape at our house! I swear we spend days taping cowboys onto horses, Woody and Buzz onto elephants and cheetahs! We make glasses and hang pictures! The boys tape men in cars and much much more!!

Since Trent's given name is Trenton, sometimes to make him laugh Grant refers to himself as "Granton!" The first time he did it I just cracked up!!

Girl's in Glendale

Josh drove Verne to Logan Thursday, January 29th. The next morning we took Blake to get his 6 month shots!! Poor little thing, shots right before leaving for CA! This picture is Blake waiting for Dr. Duffy - - with his clothes off - - trying to save time so we could make our flight!! Trent thinks Blake is a BYU fan and Grant thinks Blake is a UT fan! We'll see!! (GO COUGARS!!)

Jen, Jill, Blake and I flew into Burbank on Friday, Jan. 30th! We rented a car and cruised around Glendale for a few before checking in at the hotel!! Then we went to Damon’s Steakhouse with Uncle Rick and the Clark's! It was great!! We were feeling so FREE!! (without big kids)

After dinner we went to Grandma Gardiner's house to visit!! It was wonderful!! She got to meet Blake! Even with a fever from shots he gave her many smiles and laughs!!

Saturday morning we took Grandma G. to Marie Calendars for brunch!

We headed to Valencia for Dominique Christoffersen’s baptism!! (Dominique came to Balboa in 6th grade! Before then I knew her a little through Meredith!) Dominique and I were able to get back in touch around Christmas time! (I had always wanted to get back in touch with her!! Driving past her parent’s house in Glendale, I always wanted to knock on the door!! Four years ago I heard through Rick she had a baby!!) It has been delightful for me reuniting!! We were absolutely thrilled to hear she was getting baptized!! We got to meet her darling family and see her cute home!! It was soooo much fun to see her!!

We headed to the church where I got to see Mrs. Pagliuso and Justin her brother!! Alan Williams is her Bishop - - it was Julianne who called me in December!! After the baptism we all went to dinner (Brett’s family, Dominique’s mother, brother and us.) Fantastic experience!!!

Seeing Brett’s mom was fun too!! We totally recognized her from childhood!

Once in Glendale we cruised by Rachel Taylor Everett’s house then by Brenda’s!! Blakey was exhausted so we headed back to the hotel!! On our way to the airport we stopped by the Pagliuso’s home and In-N-Out!!

While I was gone Josh was at the cabin with the boys! Josh and Johnny had them jumping off the balcony into Love Sacs!!