Zoo, Zoo, Zooo

Thursday was our first zoo trip of 2009. It was a bit cold- it had snowed the night before- but there were breaks of sunshine that made it ok. Jared had been BEGGING for weeks to go to the zoo (spencer had gotten a new zoo book from the doctor at his 1 year check up- thus the zoo obsession) We have this fun pass from the tracy aviary that gets us into the zoo for free the first thursday of every month. We haven't gone the last couple months because it has been freezing. So, i decided that a little sunshine was worth the trip this month.
The boys LOVED it. We had music makers in the morning, and jason had class, so we had to go in the afternoon right during naptime. BUT they really did so well. Jared had been talking about getting a map and as soon as he got it, he wouldn't let it go. he was our adorable little tour guide. For the most part he walked everywhere carrying his little map.
Two highlights of the trip: going into the giraffe building there are signs everywhere that say you need to be really quiet so you don't scare the animals. We explained this to jared and he "tip-toed" all the way through the building. Spencer on the other hand growls at every animals he sees. This is what he did- really loud, the entire time, trying to get the giraffe's attention. Jared kept trying to 'shhhhh' him, but it didn't work so well :) AND when we went to see the gorillas, they were "crawling" around like they do. Jared said "hey, they walk like spencer!"

for more info on the zoo pass- click THIS link. The pass is $40 for 2 adults and 2 kids- for a year. that link will show you the benefits that you get with the pass. You get all kinds of discounts. (like 50% off to the L.A. Zoo!) and tons more! If you live in Ogden, you get into the dino park for free every week day.

Ski fun!

Last Saturday we got the chance to go and watch Jake, Belle, Bryce race- well, Jake and Belle- we got there right after Bryce raced- so sad! But Jake and Belle did AWESOME!!! They really are amazing little skiers! Gramma McKe was in town as well. After we left jared kept asking for his gramma. They both love her so much!

My boys are the cutest! Jared really only wanted to eat the snow! Lucky for us, the weather really was nice.

Fun Family Pictures!!

I'd been debating where to get spencer's 1 year pictures done- since i don't know any fabulous photographers/photo shoppers that live close. Anyway, i found this lady on KSL that was offering a $50 photo shoot. Then she gives you a CD with the copyright to all the photoshopped pictures. I then decided to do the boys together, but made sure jason and i were at least dressed in case we wanted a couple family shots. I think she did a pretty good job. It was pretty cold out- so the boys weren't exactly all smiles :)- but they're cute enough that it doesn't matter! we'll do it again sometime when it's warm out and we can get a couple more "fun"shots.

I Would Die For That

My cousin's wife posted this song on their blog a little while ago and it has not left my mind since hearing it. I don't think she even knows that i read her blog- but i'm glad i do!
Anyway, while i am very grateful that infertility isn't a trial i have had to deal with- i sometimes need a reminder! :) There has been a lot going on over here, that i'll post about eventually. But for now, i just needed to share this. There are so many days when i'm tired, impatient, ornery, and i just want to scream at my sons- JUST LET ME SLEEP!!! and i forget how grateful i should be that i have little beings to keep me up and teach me patience and more. My BIL often asks me what i "do" - as in what i do for me- and really i have a hard time answering that question 'cause there isn't a lot i do just for me. but quite frankly there isn't a lot that i WANT to do that is just for me- at least right now in this stage of my life. and after watching this, i'm reminded why. I'm only going to have this time now with my boys- come june, jared will never be two again. spencer will never be my infant again. those days are gone. SO, even if my house is always a disaster and i'm soooo tired, i GET to be tired. I GET to clean up after my 3 munchkins (jason gets thrown into that category :) I GET to wake up in the middle of the night to take jared to the potty for the hundreth time. and you know what- in all honesty, i really wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want a ton of my own activities for ME to do. I want to got the treehouse, or library, or music makers, or the zoo, or the dino park, or the mall, or wherever else will give my children more opportunities to grow and develop and LOVE LIFE!
And i actually do have a LOT of friends that can/will relate to this song in the way that most these women do. I don't know why we are given the trials we are given- obviously we each have different lessons to learn and only the Lord knows how we are going to learn those lessons. But for now, i am going to try harder to focus more on what i have been given the chance to do, rather than what is hard for me to do.

Abc's

He has the sweetest little voice when he sings!! We had just gotten back from music makers and he was in a singing mood!

Brotherly love

We go to our little treehouse museum usually a couple times a week. The other day the boys were playing so cute together. The museum has different little sections set up with different country themes. It is so much fun!

Have I told you lately......

How much I LOVE this silly boy?? He is hilarious!

Spencer's Stats

Spencer had his one year old check-up today. He was such a good boy; he just sat there and let the doctor look at him. I'm so grateful for such a healthy boy- even if he is a little tiny!

He is 28 1/2in long- the big 10% there; He weighs a whole 20.3 lbs- yep, 15% with that one; but here is the big one- his head is 47.2cm- 75% there- now we're talking!

Short, small with a big head. gotta love it!! I think he is the most adorable boy!!!!!!

A "CUPCAKE" cake

So, other than the "writing on the cake" that I used to do when I worked at baskin robbins in high school, I have not done any cake "decorating." Since jared needs "special" cakes, and does NOT like frosting at ALL, i haven't gotten to make anything fun for him. I decided I'd give it a try this time around since we weren't having a big party- i knew my audience would eat it no matter how it looked!
I went online and looked a few different options. there are a couple baking blogs that i read that do way cute stuff- but i'm really NOT creative, so i had to find something that was pretty easy to just copy. I found THESE pictures and then blog of a lady that makes cakes out of cupcakes. Hers are soooo stinkin cute. Mine, not so much, but hey, I tried!
I used THIS buttercream frosting- which was really easy to work with, but it isn't as tastey as say, costco frosting! It is pretty good though.
The lady that does these, doesn't really give any instructions other than the fact that she uses 12 cupcakes to make all her designs. I could really only get 11 to fit nicely on my platter, so that is what i used- which wasn't a good choice. It made the face smaller so it looks more like a mouse face than a lion face. I'll remember to follow the one instrucion she gave next time! Over all, i was happy with my first attempt. And spencer and jared sure thought it was cool- and that is what matters most- right!!???

Cupid, you better be happy.....

A few weeks ago I started to talking to jared about giving his paci to baby cupid. (yes, my almost 3 year old still used a pacifier to go to sleep) I assured him that since he was giving the baby his paci, he would get a present in return.
well, little did i know how sick jared would be the week leading up to the dreadful day. Jason and i were very tempted to not go through with it, just because we wanted sleep and didn't want to deal with it. BUT- i knew it was time and jared was pretty much better, though still not sleeping. I decided that if he wasn't sleeping anyway, we might as well hit two birds with one stone.
So, i cut the tips off them, so he could see they were broken, and had him put them in a pretty bag. (and yes, those are gorgeous flowers from MY valentine!) He went to bed that night, asking to just hold them. I gave him one, but when he remembered it was broken, he told me to put it back in the bag.
Anyway, the next morning, he indeed had a present from baby cupid. he got a diego baseball glove and ball. He is still having a hard time with naps, just asking for that dang paci, but when going to bed tonight i think he only cried for a couple minutes- so i'm not too worried!

Party Party!

It finally stopped snowing long enough on Saturday that we could drive out to PC to have a little b-day/v-day party. They have a little tradition of making homemade pizzas and eating them under candlelight on valentine's day. So we did that, and they were delicious!

Then we let "spencer" open his presents- ok, really jared opened all of them. He didn't even give spencer a chance! spencer didn't care much. He just liked being handed a bunch of new toys. We gave him the movie "bug's life" - it has a shiny cover that he just wanted to stare at. we would try to hand him a new toy, but he just kept going back to that movie cover. He gots lots of fun new toys- i've decided having two boys one right after the other is pretty great as far as present buying goes. There really wasn't anything that i felt he needed- mostly because we can't fit that much more in this house. but also because jared has grown out of all the toys that spencer loves.

He was really cute with his cake. I made him a lion "cup-cake" which i will post about later. but just as we finished singing (and jared blew out the candle....) spencer grabbed one of the cupcakes and started going to town. Then jake gave him another one from the middle that was loaded in frosting. He LOVED it- though he kept wanting to share with the dog- soooo gross!!!

Here they are with their big cousins that just love them so much. These boys just worship their big cousins, and they play so well with them. good times!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!!!

I can't believe my baby is 1 already!! It is crazy to me that we have made it through the last year and are survivors!!! This little boy has got the cutest little smiley face!! I love him soooo much!! I've seen this little ABC thing done on lots of different blogs, so I thought I'd do it for Spencer. (disclaimer, I'm so tired, i really hope this makes sense)

A- Arrival- February 14, 2008
B- Balls- his favorite toy right now
C- Chubby- born 9lbs. 5 oz.
D- Da-Da, his first word
E- EAT!!!!!! i don't think i need to explain that one
F- Friendly- he smiles at EVERYONE and will let anyone hold him
G- Gassy- it's true. Sometimes I think jason is home, just from the sounds coming from the other room- but it's just my baby!
H-Happy- really, he pretty much always has been, from day one! i've been very blessed!
I-Isaac- his middle name. When I was trying to figure out what to name him, this is the name that kept coming to me. It means "he will laugh"
J- Jared- pretty much his favorite person in the world. hopefully it always is that way!
K- Kisses!! He gives the cutest kisses and always makes sure to do a little kissy noise afterwards
L- Lover- it might just be baby innocence, but this kid just loves life and I can see it in his eyes!
M- McKeon- through and through! He is his daddy's boy!
N- Nicknames- Spence, Spencey, Boo, Baby
O- Observant- nothing gets past his boy, no matter how hard I try sometimes! he catches everything that goes on around him
P- Peek-a-boo! he learned to play this game at around 5 months- he would put the blanket over his own face then pull it down- forcing you to play with him! (not that it takes much force!
Q- Quick- if he hears the bathtub or shower running, he will be there faster than you can blink
R- Ready to run- just hasn't quite figured it out yet, but is trying so hard!
S- Smiley Spencer- He does the cutest "smile" face- little squished eyes and huge smile on his face!
T- THUMB- he has been a thumbsucker from day one (and probably before) he LOVES that thing
U- Under- he crawls under anything- whether he fits or not. sometimes he get stuck, but eventually he finds a way to get out!
V- Very much a snuggle bug- as long as he has his little silky and thumb he will cuddle right up
W- Wild! he loves to be thrown onto the couch or bed and play crazy!
X- Xylophone- he is very accomplished at banging the stick on it. He bobs his little head to his own beat.
Y- Yellow ducks- lately he has found this cute little yellow ducks that he carries around the house making a little quacking sound
Z- Zebras, lions, bears, tigers..... any animal he sees he roars. it is hilarious!

This last week.......

has been a TERRIBLE one!!! I'm not going to complain too much, but having sick babies really takes a toll on us around here. It has been over a week since we have gotten more than an hour of consecutive sleep. Don't be surprised if what I write right now doesn't make any sense at all.

AND to make it even worse, our car is giving us such a huge HEADACHE!!! I really just wish that you could take a car to one place, they could tell you what was wrong, and then they fix it! Is there something wrong with that? I don't think that is asking too much. What does one do? Do we fix it all the way (oh, wait, "they" won't give us a straight answer on how that could get done) or trade it in (oh, wait, car prices have dropped so much that the most we could get for it right now would be $6000) GRRRRRRRR, frustration.

BUT-- here are a few moments of happiness! gotta look on the bright side right? Jared loves to use our kitchen cabinets as "saloon doors" though that isn't what he calls them. It is just the "wild, wild, west!"

We've also gotten a lots and lots of snow here lately. The boys were having fun watching it fall down the other morning. Then jared started taking tons of random pictures. He LOVED it! Spencer is feeling better- just in time for his birthday on Saturday! But Jared is still not the most pleasant person to be around right now! I had to teach music makers this morning and he just wanted to sit on my lap and scream!!!

Al Qaeda Missionaries

HILARIOUS Video!

"I DON'T FINK SOOOOO"

We have church this year from 12:30pm to 3:30pm- exactly jared's nap time. He's been doing pretty well, for the most part. On the sundays that we don't go out to PC for dinner, we put him down for a nap as soon as we get home. I don't know why I do it- he wakes up SOOOOO ornery. Today, he woke up SCREAMING and crying. so upset. he must have had a bad dream or something.

Anyway, we were trying to watch the superbowl and he DID NOT want us to. he wanted to watch HIS show. finally after much lamenting and whining, he ran up to the tv, turned it off, and stood in front of it so we couldn't use the remote to turn it back on. Smart little man he is! Jason started to get a little annoyed at it, but i just couldn't help but bust up laughing and grab my camera. He had the cutest stubborn pouty face! I don't know where he learned to be sooooo stubborn! :)