OK, I don't have much to talk about except that it's been quite a while since I posted last. sorry about that. Just to update, I have about 90 days left until the baby gets here...seems so far away. I'm getting huge but everyone say that I don't look that pregnant. I honestly have no clue what they're talking about because I can't even see my toes. It's been fun looking at little girl things and sisters-in-law have been giving me outfits and stuff which is really sweet and greatly appreciated. We are still staying with the in-laws, house hunting has been really disappointing, everything is still so expensive. There are tons of houses for sale but they are asking way too much for what they are. So, as long as we have a place to stay, we are lucky and we will continue to look and figure things out. Ben has been transfered out of 3/6 as they are getting ready to go to Afghanistan in January and he doesn't have enough time left to go with them. He's a little disappointed because he would like to experience it but glad he's not going because he doesn't want to miss the birth of another baby. Jake is doing well in Kindergarten and loves doing homework, he has made so much progress and I'm very proud of him. He continues to be obsessed with firetrucks and they are the only books he comes home from the library with. He's getting so tall as well, we have to keep buying new pants but they have to have the tabs to adjust them because he's so skinny. Tommy, is a troublemaker. He continues to be defiant and not listen. He likes to throw things and fight with Jake. time out seems to be a regular thing with him. He's a sweetheart though, he just has a lot of energy and isn't very good at expending it wisely. Anyway, hopefully I will start to post more, it's just difficult when you aren't in your own house. Merry Christmas to everyone, we hope you have a great holiday.

It's a...?

Well for all of you non-family people who haven't heard yet, we are excited to announce that we are adding a little girl to our family. I am totally ready to venture out into the world of little girl things, they have some really cute stuff out there, But I am also terrified...I don't know girl stuff. I'm barely a girl myself. I don't like frilly things or princess stuff or perfume or getting super dressed up and stuff...makes me uncomfortable...I wonder how I will fare. Anyway, I'm also excited to make some little girl dresses myself. It's not so easy to make boy clothes but dresses are a breeze.



Aren't these dresses super cute. They aren't frilly or super girly but they're feminine. They are too expensive to buy but I figure I can make something just as cute and I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, we will keep you posted on the girl stuff as well as whenever we find a house up here (yuck, I hate house hunting...more on that later),

Harvest Festival 2009

The family and I took our yearly trip to the Carter Mountain Apple Harvest Festival and it was a blast. It was cold and drizzly but it was worth it. We went on a hayride and ate warm apple doughnuts. The boys had fun climbing trees and picking apples and we went to the pumpkin patch and chose a few of those. Jake liked the band that played which surprised me. He sat a listened with a big grin on his face. They have apple cider up there and apple cider slushies...it was a little cold for that but they looked good. And I got an apple lover's cookbook (mucho excited). After that, we went out for pizza. I was a very fun day, I'm just sorry that I didn't get more pictures. We look forward to going again next year.

Mommy, my tummy hurts

We went to our new ward on Sunday and Jake was really nervous. He was having anxiety issues and sat in a corner closet crying for a while and Tommy went in with Grandma and Grandpa. He couldn't bring himself to walk into the chapel. I told him he wouldn't have to go to his classes today and that he could just hang with me and go to my classes. We sat in the foyer and he just had his hands over his ears and had his eyes closed. We went to Sunday school but he still had problems going into a room with so many people. Anyway, we finally get to Relief Society and he's OK for like a minute...then they start singing. He can't handle singing, doesn't like it, never has. So he starts saying, I can't stay here, I have to leave, I need to sit in the car' After a while of him getting really upset I agree to walk around with him. We get to the foyer and he says,'Mommy,I don't feel well my tummy hurts, there are all the people in it...it's the baby.' I just laughed to myself because I didn't want to make him feel bad, but I explained to him that Mommy was the only one that had a baby in her tummy. Kids are so funny.

I Love My House

Me and the boys leave tomorrow to move back to Virginia. We put the house on the market last week and Ben is going to live in it until it sells...which hopefully, is pretty quick. After that, he will live in the barracks until he gets out of the military in May. It's gonna be tough, but if we can get through 3 deployments, we can do this. He's going to come up a couple weekends a month and on holidays.I'm going to miss my little house. I've grown to love it these past four years and love having a place that's mine to do as I wish. I'm going to miss the big driveway so that the boys have a place to ride their bikes, I'm going to miss all of my big trees that give tons of shade...I never understood why people cut down trees in their yard and have nothing and it's super hot. Luckily, we are going to be up living with family so me and the boys will have plenty of distraction. Jake is going to start Kindergarten up there which I'm nervous about. I hope that we will be able to find a house up there that we will be happy with...and a little bigger than this one. With another baby on the way, a house this size is going to be kinda cramped. So, anyway, This will be my last night in my house and tomorrow we bid it farewell. I'm going to miss you, little house.

Little Peanut

???????????????????What will it be?????????????????????????



Well, I found out my due date. Drum roll please...March 23rd. So funny though because that's the exact date that Tommy was due. He of course came 3 weeks early, but it was his due date nonetheless. So, really, I could be having 2 kids that have the same birthday, weird. Morning sickness has been awful, that's why there haven't been many posts lately, luckily Ben was working short days for a while there and he would get home and tell me to get in bed so I could sleep through dry heaving and puking. I am sooooo hungry, but nothing sounds good and what I do eat comes right back up. I also haven't worked out in a month...go me!! I usually feel OK once I wake up, but then start getting light headed and dizzy and face the fact that I have to eat, which I dread, because then the nausea kicks in and I'm useless. My poor kids need their mom back. There are a few moments here and there during the day when I feel OK, so I try to play with them and get some house work done. But, enough of that, All you mothers have been through it. Needless to say, we are very excited and can't wait to meet the little tyke. The kids don't get it yet and just think that I've gotten really lazy and that I need medicine. Anyway, we will keep you posted.

Rainy Day

It was a really rainy day earlier this week and the boys got bored and were driving me crazy so we whipped out paper bags, foil, markers, sequins, and pom poms and made the Robot suits. They're not perfect, and I was running out of foil...check your stock before you start, but the boys had fun. Jake kept pushing the pom pom buttons and making beeping noises. It was so cute. Sorry the second picture is blurry, Jake wouldn't stay still. I'm just sorry I didn't have enough foil to make thier hats, that would've been fun. Anyway...next rainy day, maybe we'll be knights with swords.

The Boys

We spent the 4th up in Richmond but I forgot my camera so I decided to post some pictures of the boys that I took a week or so ago. The other little boy is their friend Andrew who spends his days at his grandmas house next door. They've been spending their summer riding bikes, playing outside and getting good and dirty, sweaty and stinky...as all little boys should. Jake started summer school yesterday and he wasn't too happy about it. Today, he was complaining saying that he didn't want to go, it went a little something like this "Mommy, I can't go to school today, I have to stay home...I can't like this, I can't" He cried in the hallway and didn't want anyone to bug him, I finally told him that it was only a half day and that I'd be back at lunch time to pick him up...I also had to promise to take him to the beach on Friday, his day off. Anyway, He said "OK, just give me a minute" and he stopped his crying took some deep breaths composed himself and wiped his "drips" (tears)as he calls them. He wanted me to carry him in and I did, he saw his teacher and gave a big smile and said "Hey, how's it going" to her and dove right in to class. Now, he either didn't realize where he was going and was really happy to be there, or that was some of the best acting ever. Right now, Jake is just most excited about his Aunt Jessica coming to visit in a couple weeks, it's all he can talk about lately.
Tommy has been a monster lately. He likes to beat Jake up and give him a hard time. Last night we heard Jake let out a cry and then nothing, we went to go see what was up and turns out he had the wind knocked out of him and couldn't cry. We knew that Tommy had done something just by his smug look. As I comforted Jake, Ben started the interrogation. We asked if he hit Jake and he said 'No, I jumped on his tummy'...At least he's honest. He can just be a little too rough sometimes. A little while ago, Tommy called to me and said that he had done a poo poo, so I went to go help clean him up. I get to the bathroom but there's nothing in the toilet, but I could smell it. I asked him if he flushed it and he said no, so I asked him where it was and he said 'In there'...where???? It was in the shower. Jake heard me get kind of ticked and so naturally, he ran in there and said 'Ugh, Tommy, you pooed in the tub" Tommy quickly replied "NO, I poo pooed in the shower!!" Like he was all proud of it. Anyway, that's the kind of thing we are doing and putting up with around here. It is definitely never boring.

Family Fun Day (weekend)

OK, I haven't posted in a while so I'm going to recap the whole weekend, so, prepare for a long winded recollection of events. On Thursday Ben's battalion had family fun day. It was super hot but at least there was an occasional breeze coming off the water. It was great for the kids, they had a rock climbing thing, bungee run, bounce house, face painting, petting zoo, firetruck, etc. Tommy slept for most of it but woke up in time to take a pony ride. Ben called Jake and Tommy saddle tramps because of how naturally they took to the pony. Instead of being uncomfortable in the saddle they were both slouched back and relaxed, it was pretty cute. Jake had a blast and tried out almost everything. Ben did the bungee run as well. My cousin Samantha was with us too. She is staying with us for a few weeks until camp starts. Anyway, that was Thursday. Friday we had a good day just relaxing around the house, Ben put in a new shower/tub thing in the boys bathroom...what's that called?? a spigot? Faucet? water knobby thingy? So, I'm happy to report that it no longer drips all day and night and hopefully we won't be wasting gallons of water. Later that night we had a water balloon fight (is that wasting water?...I don't think so) that the boys didn't really understand, they just liked throwing the balloons on the driveway and watching them pop. So, Ben and I showed them how it's done and they thought it was funny watching mommy and daddy pelt each other with balloons. The y fianlly got the idea and started using Ben as a target. But that little punk hid a balloon in his cargo pocket, so when we were cleaning up and I thought it was safe, he popped it right down the back of my shirt...that fart knocker. Anyway, it was a good time. Saturday morning, we went to the beach on base before it got too super hot and the boys had fun running through the water. Ben took them further out than I cared for...and more than Tommy cared for I think. But, eventually, Tommy started feeling more comfortable and enjoying it. Samantha and I caught a few little fish that were coming up onto the shore with a bucket...and I mean little...like minnow size, but I was pretty proud of myself, it's as close to fishing as I will probably ever get. The boys also liked seeing the Naval ships that were out on the water. Jake kept commenting on how 'big and strong' they were. Then we hit Father's day. It was a good day, Ben had french toast for breakfast, got to take a nap before church, gave a talk in sacrament about righteous fathers, spent the whole time in the nursery with Tommy since he still won't stay in there, came home, had spinach feta turkey burgers for dinner, then had almond pound cake with strawberries for dessert...OK, we had strawberries, I made a little bit of chocolate frosting for Ben. Then, he decided to watch A Christmas Story (I know, not the season, but he likes it). Then he left for work this morning and came back through the door a few minutes later. He said the traffic was horrible so he called to tell the Sergeant that he would be late. Sergeant said "yeah, yeah, I know, there was a bomb threat this morning and the gates to the base are closed." That's the military for ya, they keep things interesting. So, Ben got to spend and extra hour or so at home this morning. All in all it was a great weekend. I only have pictures of Thursday fun day...I got lazy and didn't take pictures after that...sorry.

The Return of the Little People

So today started off just like any other day. I loathed getting out of bed and took my sweet time doing it. I laid in bed for quite a while, asking myself if it was worth it...how bad would it be if I did stay in bed all day. Now, obviously, with two kids that won't work, but it was a nice thought. Not to mention that I was beat because a little boy named Tommy woke up several times and decided to make one of them a screaming party at 2 in the morning. Anyway, so I got out of bed and dangled my feet there for a while, then planted them on the ground and stood up. As I'm standing there stretching, I hear something...no, it's not my bones cracking, I was thinking my mind was playing tricks on me. I look around and don't see anything, I look out the door and the boys' bedroom door is shut. Suddenly, I see movement out the corner of my eye and I look down at the ground and Thomas rolls out from under my bed wrapped in his blanket, gives a little yell and just looks at me a smiles. What the heck! I wasn't expecting that. When did he get there?? I didn't even hear him come in. Aside from scaring me to death and being a little creepy, it was really cute. I just wonder how long he had been there. I'm pretty sure at some point when I was laying ther I was talking to myself. Don't judge, you all know you do it. So he knew I was awake but he stayed under there completely silent, waiting for just the right moment. He's a genius. That kind of prank is the stuff of legends, I'm so proud.

Abusing Daddy

Tommy loves to beat on people. unfortunately for Jake that usually means biting or getting barraged with what we like to term 'the girly scream' It's a super high pitched scream that you wouldn't think a dude, even at such a young age, could produce. Anyway, He loves wrestling with Ben, and putting his clammy feet on his bare legs, thereby pulling leg hairs...Ben loves that. Or, when you are laying on the floor and you are ever so comfortable, Tommy will run and drop an elbow into your liver, or he'll put his leg across you and jump and land on his butt on you stomach. It's all in good fun and we know he loves us. Maybe this is just his way of showing it. But, at least in the instance of these pictures, he had his pants on. Thank goodness for small blessings.

At the Dentist

Here's a picture of Tommy in the ol' dentist's chair. He was a little weirded out at first, but he touched the hygienists gloves and thought they were cool, and the mirror was neat. He did great with her...then the dentist came and he decided he'd had enough. The tears started rolling and the lip started sticking out further and further. So, the dentist just took the hygienists word for it that everything looked good because they didn't want to traumatize the poor guy. I didn't get a picture of Jake because he was with his Daddy in another room, shucks! But Jake wasn't so lucky and had 2 cavities. He apparently has nicely spaced teeth except for the very back ones which are super duper tight, Yuck, so now we have to work on getting with a pediatric dentist, probably the Naval Hospital, who does that kind of thing on special needs kids. It won't be pretty, we're talking about the kid who screamed uncontrollably for months when it came time to take a bath because there was a wash cloth in the water...thank goodness that phase is over. He just doesn't do well with new situations or things he's not used too. If you know Jake, you understand. Anyway, we shall see what goes down.

paper shredding day

Oh, what to do with months worth of saved up credit card offers and other sensitive papers. OK, so I let things build up a little too much and had a boat load of things to shred. The boys helped me do it and as a reward we had a paper fling. They had a blast and it wasn't too bad to clean up. It was a lot easier than the 3 pee 'accidents' I had to clean up today. That's a nice way of putting it because they definitely weren't accidents. Tommy has taken it into his head that the world is his toilet and has been marking the whole darn house. And what kills me is, he's fully potty trained and has been for a while. He just gets a kick out of practising his aim with household things (Jake's firetruck, big Lego's, buckets, shoes, etc. I think he's turning into a dog). Maybe it's a boy thing. The first this morning was my pewter dish on the bookshelf. He took it down, put it on the floor and peed in it. Very proud of himself, he was. The second was on a towel that was on the floor. And the 3rd, but his piece de resistance, was in the air conditioning vent in the kitchen...I wasn't too happy about that one and his backside got a little piece de resistance of my own. When he told me he had peed and I asked him to show me where, he proudly took me to the spot and then immediately said 'Don't hurt my butt, Mommy'. So, I know that he knows it's wrong, little stinker. But he doesn't seem to learn. Even though it's bugging the heck out of me that he thinks it's hilarious, it is kinda funny when you think about it. So even though I have to punish him so he knows it's wrong it kinda gives me a smile...on the inside of course.

Waiting for the bus

Took these pictures while waiting for Jake's bus and thought they were cute...wanted to share.

Pretty Bird

Well, our chitlin's got to have a nice Wildlife filled day. First was with a little bird that fell out of our cedar tree. We've had a lot of wind and rain lately and it's literally been pouring bird nests. Not all of them were as fortunate as this guy. We have found several dead birdies and have found 3 nests, some with eggs that were not able to be saved. Apparently birds love cedar trees, which would account for us being woken up every morning by a chorus of birds(we have 3 cedars)I guess it's a nice way to wake up. Anyway, we got the address for a wildlife sanctuary from our nieghbor and drove the little guy down there this evening. While I was outside with Jake looking at all of the ducks, geese, swans and other wildlife, Ben was inside watching the baby bird get weighed and have a food syringe stuck down his throat to feed him. I think our little bird is going to be just fine. We had our second encounter on our way out of the sanctuary with a nasty rattle snake in the road. He was huge!!! So naturally we stopped to take a picture from the safety of our car. As we were sitting there taking our picture we had our third encounter. Some nice country folk (a mother and young daughter) were at the stop sign in their golf cart, so Ben pointed to the snake to tell them to watch out. The Mother yelled 'Holy S***'. (such nice refined country manners) Much to our dismay Jacob laughed at her yelling the expletive and proceeded to copy her. Somehow he garbled the first biblical word but got the offending word out nice and crisp. Funny how that happens. Like I said, we had a nice wildlife filled day...of both animal and human variety.

ADA Advice

This is what happens when you don't brush your teeth. All of this could have been prevented with regualr flossing and brushing.


Jake was invited to a birthday party and Tommy got these out of the goody bag. He had a good time with them.

Oh, Tooth Fairy, How I Love Thee

So, it has happened. Jake has lost his first tooth and it kinda makes me sad. Once the teeth start coming out, that's it. He's going to lose his little boy smile. Just like when your babies start getting teeth and they lose their gummy grins. Then, you get used to the teeth, and this happens. He's growing up so fast and it reminds me, all to readily, that I'm getting older too. Anyway, Jake has had this tooth as a steady and constant companion since he was 4 months old. He held in there as long as he could I guess until the younger, more robust tooth pushed him out. Like being laid off becasue they want someone more hip and fresh. But, at least the tooth gets a severence package from the good old Tooth Fairy. It's not much, but it's something. We tried to explain the Tooth Fairy to him and I don't think he quite understood it really. He did latch on to the term 'Money' though. That registered rather quickly. So, when you ask him what happens when you lose a tooth, he answers 'money'. When you ask him who comes to take the tooth...'money'. and what does the Tooth Fairy leave in place of your tooth...'money'. We have a winner folks! We just needed the right question and I knew he would be able to answer it.

The Cocoon Boys

OK, so last week at school Jake's class has been learning about nature. They've had visits from the Aquarium (he got to touch a 2 year old Sea Turtle) seen snakes, learned about flowers, bugs, all sorts of stuff. His favorite thing has been learning about caterpillars and their life cycle. He goes through the process quite a bit at home. He wraps up in a blanket and pretends he's an egg, then he squirms around like a caterpillar, then wraps himself up in a 'cocoon' and then comes out and says he's a butterfly. It's really sweet and I'm glad that he's enjoying it so much. He's been teaching Tommy about it too. So, in these pictures, they are both squeezed into that tiny basket cocoon, breaking out of the cocoon, and then they come out flapping their butterfly wings in the end. I don't know how they both fit in there, but they won't be able to do it much longer. Jake will be learning about the ocean in the coming weeks...I wonder what he'll be doing then. Can't wait to see it.

Battleship North Carolina

Our Little Trouble Maker

The other day, Tommy asked for a treat after going pee pee in the potty. (Starburst are his treat of choice.) So I give him one and put them back on the shelf and shut the door. I go to put some laundry away and I hear "Mommy, I need help get down!" I'm thinking to myself 'where on Earth could he need getting down from, I left him with two feet on the ground' So I go back into the kitchen and I don't see him until I turn around. He had opened the door and climbed up the shelves to get to the starbursts...little stinker. (and yes, he is sans diaper because we get our kids naked to potty train. It's easier and we have wood floors, don't judge. and the Candy covers everything perfectly) And by the way, he is totally potty trained!!! except for an occasional accident, and it only took about 2 weeks. he can take a 3 hour nap and wake up dry and we can go to the store and run errands and he tells us when he needs to go. Way to Go, Tommy!!!! Unfortunately, we are losing a lot of sleep because he refuses to go #1 in a diaper during the night so he's waking us up several times...several, to go to the bathroom. I don't know how I feel about this.

At the Park

Visiting the park in Richmond....good times.

Rainy Days

Flour in a baking sheet is a good substitute for a sand box on a rainy day. You just have to be prepared to take a deep breath and embrace the little bit of mess that comes with it. But I do know that it's one of Jake and Tommy's favorite things. (Jake was at school during this one)

Happy Easter

Well, this is a couple days after Easter but we just got back in to town last night. We had a good time visiting family up in Richmond. Luckily, Tommy's bronchitis that we took him to the doctor's for last Monday didn't keep him down thanks to loads of antibiotics and steroids. Ben and I still think that the steroids caused a lot of problems with Tommy's behavior because the day after he started taking them, he started biting Jake which he's never done. And it wasn't just harmless little bites either. They were T-rex, breaking the skin and drawing blood kind of bites. So, we concluded that he was suffering from 'roid rage...it's the only plausible explanation right?!? Not to mention the fact that since he's stopped taking it, there's been no biting. Coincidence? I think not. But I digress...
I had to hurry and post some pictures of my boys because my little sister already has pictures of at least Tommy up on her Easter blog. She has a serious case of baby-love for my boys, as it should be her being their aunt and all. However, I as their mother have a duty to be on top of things and get them out there first. No hard feelings, Jess, I still love you. To wrap up, it was a wonderful Easter and we were glad to see almost everybody. We got to do an Easter egg hunt and all of the eggs were found in less than 5 minutes...I think that's a record. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.