The Clock is Running!

We found out yesterday that Joe passed the first section of the CPA exam!!! Hurray!

One down. Three to go!

That means he now has 18 months to pass the other three. That's the outside time frame, we're hoping to be down with it by Halloween. That would mean mean passing ALL of the sections of the first try...let's hope!

Good job honey, I'm so proud of you!

We have another child...

...and his name is ANDREW!!!

I was just looking over the last several entries that I have put on here and realized that I've been neglecting my youngest! So, here's a little about what's going on with him...

Andrew is 18 months and just started nursery a few weeks ago...hallelujah! He loves nursery and being with the other kids. He thinks that he is as big as his brother and can (and should be allowed) to do everything Sam does.

He's very independant and loves to do things for himself...here he is getting himself some breakfast.

I'm not sure how it got started, but he loves putting stickers on his face. Everytime we go to the bank or get out the sticker books at church, his face becomes a work of art. Here's a very mild application, he's much more thorough now. It's gotten so normal for me that I don't think anything of it, but we get some funny looks at the grocery stores...
Here he is opening the "Toad-ally Awesome" valentine that he got from G&G Lodge. He is truly my son because .... he loves chocolate!

He is a happy and smart little boy. He's started talking lately so that's exciting to try and learn his new words with him. It's so fun to watch him figure out that he can actually communicate with us...he gets so excited! He still loves to snuggle when he wakes up, which I love! He's so big, but for those few minutes I get to pretend like he's still my baby!

I love you Andrew!

Sam's Valentine's Date

Sam got to have dinner with Callie on Valentines Day, she even made him a cute little card which he loves!

Earlier in the week we'd been talking about what Valentines Day is and how it's a day that we do nice things for the people that we love. I asked him who he loves, expecting the basic answers...you know...Mom...Dad...Grandma....Grandpa.....but who does he say first? CALLIE!!!

They are such cute little friends, I can't wait to remind them of this 10-12 years down the road!

I live for mornings like that!

I just have to document what a wonderful day I had yesterday. Nothing spectacular, but it was the kind of day that reminds me why I love being a stay-at-home-mom.

The morning started off normal. I went for a run and came home just as Joe as about ready to leave. After a quick breakfast with my boys, I decided to do my pilates workout. When that was over and the boys were STILL playing nicely together I snuck up to the kitchen to get some things done. By 11:00 AM I had made a lasagna that was ready to be baked for dinner, prepared FHE treats (PB bar cookies with PB and chocolate frosting...mmmm!) and done all of the dishes! And the boys were STILL playing together. I went to check it out to see what was causing all of the giggling, I was suspicious by this point!

Sam had pulled the mattress from his old toddler bed (we just got bunkbeds and so now he's on a regular mattress) out of the closet. He had put it in his doorway at the end of the hallway. They piled all the blankets and pillows that they could find on top of it and were running from the end of the hallway and diving. A bit of mess but all very harmless and they were having such a good time...TOGETHER! It gave me hope that they can actually be in the same room for more than a minute without annoying eachother!

I love being a mom and I love these little monsters so much! I wouldn't trade anything in the world for my happy little family. I need to document moments like that because sometimes we need a reminder, right?

My Favorite Sam-isms

Lately Sam has been cracking me up with the things words he comes up with. I think that it must be due to Little Einsteins (his very FAVORITE show) but he uses words that surprise me when coming out of a 3-year-old's mouth. Not in a wash-his-mouth-out-with-soap kind of way, more of a did-I-really-just-hear-you-right kind of way. And the really amazing thing is that he usually uses them correctly.

For example, he was describing to his G&G Lodge on the webcam yesterday how he felt about going to Sunbeams for the first time. He said that he was "rather nervous" and Grandpa about fell off his chair he looked so surprised to hear such a grown up statement.

Or, another favorite is when he refers to Andrew as "adorable"

But, the real phrase of the week (or month?) is "marvelous". Such as, I brought him his peanut butter sandwich for lunch and he said, "Wow mom, thanks, you're marvelous!" He also has lots of marvelous toys and he always thinks that the sunshine is marvelous. Sometimes he'll substitute that for magnificent. Either way works for me.

It's just so darn cute to see him growing into such big kid. I was just put in the primary presidency in our new ward so I got to observe him with his sunbeams class on Sunday. He was so good! I was worried that me being in there would make him not want to stay with his teacher, but I couldn't have been more wrong! He gave me a little wave, but that was it, he sure didn't want to hang out with me!

Change is Good!!!

At Stake Conference this weekend our stake had some MAJOR boundary changes, including the creation of a new ward. As a result of this, I am now in a different ward from most of the friends that I've made over the past 10 months since we moved here. It was not big surprise though, since we were right of the edge of the ward in two directions. So, now were are in the Bowdish ward (previously known as the 10th ward). I've always been one to embrace and get excited about change, so this will just be an adventure. I'm excited to meet new friends and stay in touch with the old...err...can I call them old friends if I've known them less than a year?...you know what I mean.

So, here's to new friends, callings, leaders, everything!

Joe's just hoping the he ends up back in nursery, his 2 months in the Elder's Quorum presidency was apparently long enough, he missed the toys and snacktime!

Not My Idea of Fun!!!

After a fabulous week with Christmas, Wedding and tons of family get-togethers, we were ready for week two of our "winter break". The things on our agenda included relaxing, watching movies, playing with the Wii and other new toys, more relaxing and, oh yeah, Sam having surgery.

Tonsils and adenoids out and tubes in both ears.

Small detail.

Or so I thought.

I figured that it would take up most of the day on Tuesday and then after that, he'd have to take it easy and eat soft foods, but it shouldn't interfere with our week of relaxation. Oh, did I underestimate the situation!

He was so nervous once we had him dressed in the little hospital gown (puppy in hand, thank goodness they let him take that with him!) and he watched as the little boy ahead of him was led down the hallway, away from his parents. But, miraculously, when it was his turn he went with them just as easily. I was picturing a scene that involved them carrying him away kicking and screaming, literally, but he surprised me! What a brave boy! The surgery went fine (of course) and we eventually went to the recovery room as he was waking up. He was miserable and disoriented. We'd been there several hours and I was starving, that combined with the hospital smells and seeing my little boy in pain, well, I passed out. Almost. I was sitting in a chair so I'm not completely sure, if I was completely gone or not. But, they brought me a stretcher and made me lay down and breath through an oxygen mask. Talk about HUMILIATING!!!

Sam did remarkably well drinking his juice and they let us go pretty soon. That day and the next went just as I thought they would. He was fine, a little grumpy and didn't like to eat or drink, but nothing unexepected. The next morning I realized that he was looking a little....shall we say....stoned. He was still on the prescription meds (doctors orders!) but he looked awful. It was like someone had taken over my little boys body and it really scared me. So we decided to ease him off those on to Tylenol. That's when the misery started, I swear he was going through some sort of withdrawals. He was grumpy like I'd never seen, refused to eat or drink anything and wasn't sleeping. Luckily, I can report that today, day 7, is marginally better. Joe's back to work, we are back to our old routine and I'm starting to see glimpses of the old Sam returning.

I guess that I should have prepared myself better, of course surgery wasn't going to be easy for a 3-year-old!