That's How We Roll

I don't know how time gets past me. I feel like I have a hard time keeping track of days and that our days really aren't THAT busy but yet I don't get nearly as much done as I intend to (aka keeping up on the blog more regularly). But things have been pretty busy. We found a permanent place to live (yeah we don't have to be homeless when the homeowner comes back in a few weeks), we play with our friends, we joined 2 play groups (one for Joel and one for Vance), and I am trying to keep up on the housework, laundry, bills, etc that go along with a family of 4.

Tj is so funny. Since getting done with training (and even before) he has really gotten into being physically fit. It's funny to hear him say after the boys go to bed, "I think I'm going to go for a run" when he already worked out in the morning. For someone who does not enjoy going to the gym and hasn't found her "work out niche" it's hard to see the pleasure in running. But he enjoys it and is good at it. Another regular occurrence around our house is to pile the boys up on Tj's back and to help him with his push-ups. Joel takes his responsibility VERY seriously. Vance is such a goof but likes to be in the middle of things with Daddy and Joel. They love it!

Joel and Vance helping daddy with his push ups.

Vance's turn!

I think I have mentioned a time or two that Vance LOVES his blankie. So at night when he won't go to sleep his consequence most of the time is to have his blankie taken away. One night it got taken away and he was very upset with me. When I went to check on them after they had fallen to sleep I started to panic when I couldn't see Vance. I looked under the bed and around the bed when I saw this:

Now this picture was taken with a flash.
In the dark it was fairly difficult to see.
Do you see him?

He had curled up under the pillow.

Chocolate pudding is messy. My life with two little boys is messy in general and I try and minimize the mess. But I hadn't realized how much I had deprived the boys of life's little joys until I realized that I don't know if Vance had ever had messy chocolate pudding- at least with me. So when they decided they would rather buy the dollar chocolate pudding pack at Wal-Mart than get lunch I decided it was a steal and bought them the pudding. The look on Vance's face says it all. I suppose I may cave and get more pudding more often for them. :)

I have every intention of blogging about the full extent of Nama's visit, our trip to the fair and rodeo, more of Vance's rockin' outfits, and some of the other stuff going on around here. But we move into our permanent place on Wednesday and so realistically there's a good chance it will be another 2 weeks before I blog again. But we'll see- because that's how we roll, best of intentions meets reality. :)

Vance's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe that it's been two weeks since Vance's birthday! Life has been super hectic and crazy around here. But more about that later. My baby turned 3! I have to admit it was a bit of an emotional day for me. The last three years have been so busy and really there's something so strange in thinking your baby is three- especially when it's probably your last.

But it was a really fun day. He got to go to the gym and show off his Batman birthday ribbon. Nama took us all to McDonald's (can't be a birthday without a trip to McDonald's.) Nama took the boys to her hotel for naps and playtime so I could make Vance's birthday cake. Nama took us all to dinner at The Elephant Bar. In a nutshell Nama made it a really great birthday! :)

Don't mind Vance's silly face- two cameras confused the boy.
Soda and nuggets, talk about doing a birthday right.

Our family at the Elephant Bar.

Vance and Mommy at dinner.

Growing like weeds.

I know I promised more birthday posts. But life was pretty crazy last week. Of course we had Vance's birthday on Monday, but we also had Tj's mom fly in on Sunday to spend most of the week with us. We had doctor appointments on Tuesday. And did I mention Nama was in town?! Anyhow, that will be a post unto itself. But like I was saying we took the boys in for their annual check ups.

I was not completely prepared for their check-ups. We had some mix-ups with the previous doctors office so all their files were not available at the check-up. I thought for this reason we could avoid the dreaded "S" word. Yes, shots. No dice.

Vance went first. At three years old he is 35 3/4 inches tall and 27 pounds. As his doctor stated he is the average size of a two year old. =) Our little dynamite child. What he lacks in size he more than makes up for in intellect. lol He's in the 6th percentile for weight and the 4th percentile for height. But the doctor didn't seem worried as long as he's always been petite- which he has. Here in CA they test for TB every year. So he had to have a TB test, an iron test, and four- yes you read that right FOUR- shots. Poor kid was so sad! I felt so bad for him. If you're keeping track at home that's 2 pokes and 4 spider bites.

Joel also had his 4 year doctors appointment. At four years old he is 41 1/4 inches tall and 37 1/4 pounds. He is right smack dab in the middle of the growth chart- 51st percentile for weight and 41th percentile for height. He also got to do a vision and hearing test. He took them both VERY seriously! He would listen very intently for the beeps and then raise the corresponding hand very precisely. The nurse said it was the very best hearing test she's ever seen from a 4 year old. He is such a good boy! He perfect hearing and 20/20 vision. Hopefully he and Vance get Tj's eye-sight and not mine! Joel also had to have a TB and iron test, and four - yes again FOUR- shots! Again he was not very happy about his 2 pokes and 4 spider bites.

So as I said earlier, I didn't know if the boys would get shots or not. I figured if they needed them we could get them prepped for the shots at the doctors instead of telling them about them before we went and have them (especially Joel) freak out about going to the doctor needlessly. So when we found out that they would need shots I told them that they were going to have to get shots and they would probably hurt a bit. We talked and then I was hit with inspiration. They LOVE reading their spider-man books from Nama and Pa and in one it talks about how Peter Parker was bit by a radio-active spider. So I told them that the shot would probably feel like getting bit by a radio active spider. We also talked about how just like the spider bite gave Peter Parker special powers the shots would help them from getting sick. It was a rough day and even though they were okay with the idea before the shots came they were both pretty traumatized.

"The shots hurted me so bad. I didn't know they would give me shots. Vance was very brave but I couldn't. I didn't like the shots." Joel

"I was so brave, mom!" Vance

That about sums it up. Vance cried while they gave him the shots but was pretty much okay after wards. Joel was very upset for the rest of the day and would tear up every time he talked about it. Luckily, we won't have anymore shots for a little while- I hope! Next up we tackle the Dentist!

Vance's 3rd Birthday- The Main Event

Vance turned three yesterday. I seriously can't believe it! There's something so strange in having your baby not be a baby anymore- and at three Vance is no longer a baby at all. We had a really fun day and I actually remembered to bring my camera for the fun. But this post is the main event. We had a little party for him last night after Tj came home from work. We had our friends come over for cake and presents and play!

The characters: Officer Vance, Jaxon, Katie and Joel

Vance with his gifts. Can you tell that he's trying
to be oh, so patient while we take pictures
but he REALLY wants to rip into them?!

Vance was a PRO at opening gifts! He would rip right through one gift just to move on to the next one. Which is really funny because he knew pretty much what they all were because HE picked them out. But it was funny. Once they were all opened then he was ready to go back and play with each one.

Quick tangent: I think I've posted this on here before but Tj is a GREAT gift giver. He just has an innate ability to pick out the perfect gift even if it's not even so mething the gift receiver had even thought to ask for (speaking from personal experience). Some women have husband's who buy them appliances for gifts- I will never have to worry about that (except if I SPECIFICALLY ask for one) because Tj is such a great gift giver that he would never even think to do that. Anyhow last week for date night our amazing friends watched the boys so we could go birthday shopping for Vance. We went to dinner and then spent LITERALLY at least an hour in Toys R Us. We walked down every aisle-twice. We looked in just about every department (minus the baby, clothing and girl departments). I had something i n mind but Tj wasn't thrilled with it so we looked and looked and looked. Fortunately I had the wisdom to follow the Gift Guru (which I am hereby naming him) and we got Vance the ultimate SWAT Team Dress Up Outfit.

Checking out the outfit.
(On a side note Joel had a bit of a hard time
yesterday with it being Vance's birthday.
For the first time Vance wanted to do
EVERYTHING by himself and Joel, I think,
felt a little displaced. But he handledit pretty well.)

Daddy getting it off the hanger and
getting him set up.

This outfit was great! It came with a shirt,
a SWAT vest, a helmet, 2 granades, a walkie talkie,
handcuffs and a night stick. Vance was really
excited for the walkie talkie!

Getting his gear on!

Vance the SWAT Team member.
I love this picture because you can see
just how excited he was for this!

Now I have to add that one of the funniest things is that of course with Vance in full gear an all out nerf war was launched. 4 Nerf guns, 3 little boys, 2 bigger little boys (aka the daddy's), about 20 nerf bullets and a small condo were the combination for quite the attack. It was really fun! Of course I don't have any pictures of that- I was just trying not to be collateral damage. :)

Vance with his chocolate birthday cake
with the sparkly 3 that he picked out.

There will be more birthday blogging to come. Tj was just so excited to get pictures up of Vance in his SWAT gear!

A Day at the Farm.

Last weekend we went to a "You Pick" farm nearby. It was so much fun. The weather was perfect! The boys had so much fun and it was just a really enjoyable time as a family. We checked out the animals (llamas, pigs, goats, cows, horses, chickens), let the boys run around the play area, watched the animal show and picked strawberries and raspberries. On our drive back we took the scenic route. Seriously, it was such a nice drive back! This is one of the things we missed most about living in FL. Going for a drive in Florida was less than inspiring- don't get me wrong there are cool places to see in Florida but the drive there usually isn't much to write home about. We just really had a fun Saturday! We're looking forward to taking Nama there when she visits next week.

The boys showing their wild animal side.

The boys taking a break from their mad fruit
picking skills to pose.

Playing on the wooden train.

Feeding the chickens.

Waiting for the animal show to start.
I love the looks on their faces (Tj included).

The boys at the puppet chicken show.

A few thoughts going 'round my head.

So I wanted to write down a couple of things before I forgot because I always think that I'll remember and then I look back and try and remember the thing I thought I'd never forget. Funny, huh?!

Joel has now done this a couple of times and it's just the sweetest thing. I always lay down and sing them a song before naps and bedtime. Well there have been a couple of times when I ask him what song he wants and he starts singing 'I am a Child of God' all by himself. His little voice singing those words. And then he says- Mommy, that song is for you. Seriously, so tender! When he's 17 I may need to remember what a tender and sweet little boy he was. No, I don't think I'll ever forget. He's always been such a sweet soul. Vance on the other hand..... lol.

Okay this part is because I need to get this down so please indulge me. I made a goal after I got the conference edition of the Ensign to read it cover to cover. I was so impressed with this talk. I feel like there's been a lot of hard things we've gone through the last two years or so. I was reminded again though yesterday why we go through hard things. I don't mean to make light of the trials that our family or others have gone through but it was just a simple reminder to me.

I am not a runner; NEVER have been. I don't like to do it and I was not blessed with that talent. But after over a year of getting into shape it was the next step in my fitness regimen. So a little over a month ago I started jogging/walking. Nothing big. Well with the example of several friends who have done the Couch to 5K program I decided to see if I could run 3 miles. So I set my mind that my cardio for Wednesday was going to be to run 3 miles without stopping. I was nervous but somehow knew that I could do it. I didn't tell anyone though because in the back of my mind I thought that if I couldn't do it then nobody needed to know. And I wasn't doing it to impress anyone- no this was for me. So I get on the treadmill (this might be cheating because after running on the beach in San Diego I know that the treadmill is A LOT easier than the boardwalk) and got warmed up with a walk around "the track". Then I reset the machine and start jogging. The first mile and a half were good. I thought okay half way through. I got to 2.25 miles and thought I could just take a little break and walk and then finish but I just didn't want to short change myself. Luckily I had made a playlist of some of my favorite songs and just about then one of my favorite songs came on. So I continued on. 2.75 and I was trying to remember why I was doing this. But I could see the end in sight. So I finished my final lap. I couldn't believe I did it! It took me 35 minutes but I finished. Something a year ago I could not even FATHOM doing and I did it and wasn't even dying at the end. The thought, "I CAN do hard things" rang through my head with such clarity and power. I know some of my friends and family run half marathons and full marathons and triathlons. And I still stand in awe of them but I was able to do MY hard thing.

One of my favorite lines come from a book called "The Road Less Traveled". In fact it's the first line, "Life is difficult." I love that because I know this. Not in a depressive never get out of bed sort of way. But with my belief system I know that I came here to Earth not for a vacation to kill time before I return to my maker but as an opportunity to learn, grow and become more like Him. And as anyone who has ever REALLY accomplished anything- from painting a picture to raising a child to hosting and making a full holiday meal- knows is that anything worth having or doing is difficult to some degree or another. That's part of what makes it meaningful. If it were easy then we wouldn't appreciate it to the same degree. I know that there will be MANY more hard things ahead of me in this life. And I think that's why I felt so impressed to write all this down. Because when you're in the midst of your own personal trial and you know all the "Sunday Answers" sometimes it's that vote of confidence that you received in the not so distant past that you can do hard things. You will get through it and you will be better for it. You may or may not be grateful for the experience but you can do it.