October 8th 2012

Taylor: worked, joined us for a trip to Costco, wrestled with the kids, read scriptures and said prayers with the kids as our nightly routine before playing racquetball with his dad.
Amy: worked out :) (I am trying to be more consistent), took the kids to the park, made lunch and returned to the park, did the dishes while the 2 little ones slept and Brennan watched and episode of his favorite show 'Wild Kratts', Costco trip, cleaned the floor (trying to get used to all wood floors is harder than I anticipated), nightly routine with kids, played with Orion after feeding him and now blogging!
Brennan: tried to mimic me as I worked out (I was going to get up early but could get myself out of bed and thought I would do it while the kids could see to let them know I do exercise and its a good habit to have), ask if he could go to work with dad and then play racquetball with Papa,  loved riding his bike to the park and swinging in the little baby swings next to Brooke, saw some other little boys having a picnic with their moms and wanted to join them so he asked if we could have one too ... I told him we could have one in our backyard ... then a friend text and said she was headed to the park so we ran home to make lunch and returned back tot he park to have a picnic and play some more :), insisted on pushing the swing nest to his friend Calvin side to side ... he was asked not to because it was going to hit him ... a few minutes later he decided to try it again because Calvin was gone ... it came back and hit him in the eye ... so he now has a shiner,  had a hard time following directions while at Costco so he had to hold dad's hand, helped Taylor make his protein shake before he went to the gym.

***this happened yesterday but I have to write it down before I forget ... he could sense I was having a hard time (feeling overwhelmed and inadequate) so he climbed up on my bed and laid next to me.  He put his arm around me and said "Mom its okay, I'm right here! Have my balloon! I love you soooo don't be sad!" ... wow did the tears flow after that.  He can be the biggest MONSTER and turn around and melt your heart.  There is opposition in all things!!!!!
Brooke: didn't like the fact that I was not giving her attention while working out so she continued to ask me to pick her up with her HUGE sad eyes, looked like a blueberry after eating her blueberry pancake (she is such a messy eater ... there are very few times I don't have to clean something out of her hair ... did I mention she is almost 2), could have stayed in the swing all day, shook with excitement to see Calvin at the park (during our second trip) ... they were all swing on the big swings this time and she decided to let go right as I gave her a push ... she fell off backwards and was scared for awhile, had a potty accident which forced us to go home ... it ended up being perfect timing for nap anyway so it made it easier for me to gather them up and head home, she decided to not do what I asked her to (take off her shoes) and play with the door hinge ... not knowing she was behind the door with her finger in the crack I shut the door :( ... it was a great day for me to show them why it is important to do what is asked of them for safety reasons alone and she shook her booty as Taylor turned on the blender to make his shake.

Orion: had great tummy time ...he only like to be there if someone is down there with him so after I got up to grab something Brennan jumped at the opportunity to play with his buddy, he is so close to rolling over front to back ... he has done it a few times here and there but never one right after the other, his is also working hard at sitting up ... he doesn't like any of the chairs we have for him because the lean back too far and he can't see what is going on so I set him in the corner of the couch or the middle between the cushions ... he is good at keeping his balance from side to side so he ends up folding in half when I let him sit on his own on the floor and took his first playground swing ride and loved it ... I stopped him to take a picture and he was not happy so I took a video to send to Taylor and he was much happier.   

  

july 1st

Taylor- he is back at his life time church calling/assignment ... ward missionary! This means he has the opportunity to fill in as a teacher for the gospel essentials class. Today the lesson was the premortal life. This made things a bit more difficult because Brooke hasns't decided she likes nursery yet and I teach 6 year olds so I can't take her. Papa (Taylor's dad) was the lucky one. The helpers in nursery today wanted to keep her there despite her screaming every 15 minutes or so which was a huge blessing today!

Amy- finished my prep for my lesson on gratitude ... a patriotic sun because the blessings from our Heavenly Father keep us warm just as the rays of the sun. the kids wrote blessings on each ray to remind them how much they are loved and the we talked about how to show gratitude. I have a few wild boys which gives me fear as to what Brennan will be like during his classes as he grows older ... yikes!  I Joined Taylor and Papa for our ward choir practice and was one of 2 altos ... we both just happen to be pregnant so we got the comfy seats and didnt have to stand when the rest did :) We then enjoyed dinner Gigi (Taylor's mom) made while we were gone with help from Brennan while Brooke to a little snooze. It was time for a small nature walk with Gigi so we loaded in the car and headed to a trail about 5 minutes from the house. i made the mistake of telling Brennan he would see animals ... he was expecting giraffes! Luckly there were plaquards with explinations of small little animals you might see on the trail like bugs, squirells, black bird ... Perfect timing because we got back

crazy week

t- was relieved when friday night came! for his class (egypt project) they sat all in the front row and went slide by slide through their 1100+ slide power point looking for corrections. this was the final product they were handing over to the charity to allow them to go through and improve their foundation massive amounts. the class requested cinnamon rolls tuesday-friday to snack on and keep them focused! after a lot of hours and lots of people looking over his portion of the presentation he finally got a compliment instead of a rejection. they liked what was done and there were no changes to be made! now there is a 12 day break before he starts the semester. he is excited!!!!!

a-made 3 pans of cinnamon rolls every morning while joggling with preschool ideas and kids. the letters this week were d and h. for h we talked about houses and made one from popcicle sticks. on thursday there was a couple from our ward that who are from mongolia who were blessed to be sealed for time and all eternity as a family. we were invited to go to a reception after at 11. taylor arranged his schedule so he could go with us and i took the thursday group of kids to the 'house of the lord' the temple. it all worked out ... 3 pans of cinnamon rolls, preschool, reception and taylor joining us! friday was wild too! 3 pans of cinnamon rolls, 100 pigs in a blanket, and a quick nap for brooke all before 11 to be at a party for a coworker of taylors. then it was back to the house for an afternoon nap, prep for a baby shower ... veggie try decorations and a few games. it was a fun shower and lauren was extremely happy to see so much support.

b-loved having his friends from school come each morning. on friday when no one comes he satrts going through the liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Aug 29th

its late so this will be short ...

t-went to do homework and then headed to class. had a rough 2 hours plus because everything he and his group had present was not what the teacher was expecting so it has to be redone and the website is not the way he wants it. did home work until he went to work where they started the new online survey incentive program. just got home (11pm).

a-did school - letter d- made doughnuts,ballon dogs and a dinosaur puppet. organized brookes clothes with ones that fit and ones that do and made bracelts for 2 new little babies born to friends as well as finished a lei from lauren's baby. skyped with taylor's ever so supportive grandparents and then visited montse (her husband is in taylor's class and not home much either) got the kids ready for bed and then talked with lauren who come to visit.

b- had an awesome day at school. played on his own allowing me to get a few things done. found a box and filled it with cans of soup, bags of beans and rice, and random serving spoons. this looked like fun to brooke so she climbed and started to play. nrenna then flipped the box upside down and sat on it ... all the stuff had flipped on top of her and she couldnt get free. she will one day be big enough to hold her own. brennan fell asleep eating dinner because he had no nap!

b-slept all the way through the loud balloons and excited kids with the dinosaur. loved playing with brennan until she was stuck! after we visited montse brennan decided he wanted to ride a bike. i had my arms full so i took brooke up to the house to drop her and the food montse shared with us. i emptied my hands which included my phone and key to the door. she was so upset i set her down and walked up way she some how flipped the stopper and shut the door. by the time i realised this i had brennan in hand walking up the stairs ... more riding for him because now i have to locate someone to open my door. luckly my neighbor is our ra but he was at work. he boarded over and got to give his wife a kiss! we were in and both were screaming!!!!! good times just before bed :-)

weekend

friday - our usual friday - taylor went to class we went to costco anf then met up again for pizza and a movie around 6 so the kids can go to bed around 7:30 and i fall soon there after to get up 2 for cinnamon rolls. this time brennan fell asleep for about 30 min in the car which kept him up until 11 and atylor so kindly stayed up with him as well as made the kitchen spotless for me to make a mess of until 9 am the next morninng.

saturday- cinnamon rolls until 11 and then we tried to geta hold of a few friends that live by a pool but all of them were busy or not home so we couldnt join them so we all ended up asleep! it was then time to make a dessert and head to a seminar one of taylors classmates was putting together as part od his peace builing certificate. it was suppose to be a 2 session event but we sqeezed into 1 6 hour setting! the kids were great until 9 when brooke broke down and couldnt be consoled. i took her outside and she calmed down and went to sleep but as soon as i headed back to the classroom she screamed. i dont know if it was the ac that was freezing or the fact that she was done with the same 4 walls. anyway we satyed outside for a bit more until it was over. it was a great presentation! we did eat in the middle a delicious taco salad with enchiladas that i now have the recipe for. the bean/corn salsa is to die for. come to find out it is from a restaurant in arizona :-) we then played settlers with the millers and taylor won both times!

sunday- taylor went to meetings and i got ready hoping to squeeze it in before the kids woke up ... that was easy because they were so tired from the night before they didnt wake up until after 9 and church starts at 10. put the kids in the tube and brennan decided to add some fregrance and floaties to the water. thank goodness taylor was able to come back after the meeting so i wasnt dealing with 2 poopy bathtub kids on my own! he took brooke and i took brennan because he required more ;-) i did gag once while cleaning! it seems there is always something he likes to add to keep me on my toes and use up a little time and patience before church!!!!! i have started calling them 'my adventurers'. after church taylor went home teaching and i put the kids down for a much need nap because brooke didnt get her usual morning nap and brennan hadnt taken a nap much at all during the week. then it was my turn to go visiting teaching and taylor to hang out with the kids. we then had our home teachers come over. they are new ones so it was a bit longer because we got to know them a bit. they gave a good lesson on love at home. one is from korea and the other is from somoa and niether of them come from a culture where love is expressed openly much less verbally. they said though as the church grows in their countries the expession of love has increased. the younger generations are adpting it so its not as akward when it happens. brooke then went to bed at her usual time but brennan decided it would be fun to stay up until 11 so it was my turn to stay up with him so taylor could get up when he needed to to finish a few things before class.

Aug 25th

t- was enjoying his morning when a frined walked by so thay started talking and he asked if taylor was going to the group meeting ... uh yeah give me a sec! he was gone until 6 when we skyped with his family (his sister is now home from her mission). then went to meet a person for sife but the guy didnt show so he started laundry and finished his night with a presidency meeting.

a- did school same as yesterday ...contacted some people about different things and then ran lunch over to taylor. brennan walked and brooke rode in the backpack. we took our time walking back because the kids love to be out and about. we finally made it back and brooke was ready for a nap so i put her down and went back out with bennan. i worked more on the lei until i got a text saying the shower is postpone to next friday so i have more time. some how half of us mom were out watching our kids. there was play dough, balls, bikes. dolls, running, snacks, homework, stuffed animals all going on

Aug 24th

t- went to figure out his classes for the rest of the time we are here and forgot he had a research group meeting ... no biggy because he had done and talked to the leader prior. worked more on the website before class. he didnt have to go into work because his boss wasnt there so he worked on stuff and then had meetings until 5 when he came home and made dinner. the reason for that was he had the option to change a poopy diaper or make dinner :-) he then had a cool down for game and then hit up his homework unil late.

a- taught the letter c and shapes. we made camera cards, cookies and created a car with cicles for wheels, squares for windows, and triangles for bumpers. the kids are getting more and more comfortable with eachother. there is a boy and a girl who are a like a couple ... he started to cry as his mom left so i grabbed him to distract him and had him help me decide where everyone should sit (i make the letter of the day out of tape on the floor and then write their name on it so they have a spot to call theirs .. you know 2 year olds) he pointed where he wanted to sit and the i asked where this little girl should sit and to no surprise he said ... by me! she chimed in and said i want to sit here (the oppoiste end of the letter) he was crushed. as time went on they were cuddled up like a couple as they sat on their buckets in the kitcken waiting for the mixer to mix the dough. there is another boy who likes this same girl but she just pushes him away and doesnt give him the time of day but he is persistant and wants to be at her side or in her face all the time. its entertaining and like i've mentioned before ... i wonder if anything information gets passed their little ears. the rest of the day was our usual ... play outside. there is a baby shower i am trying to get a crochet lei finished for so i did that as i watched brennan play and brooke napped. then it was dinner and bed time for the kids.

b- had an awesome day ... because most of it was spend outside. he loves riding a bike. he cant go down stairs without sitting on one. i got some fun videos and pics of the kids ... brennan riding and brooke playing in the grass. taylor took 20 or so to spend with us before he went back to the computer. he alsp loves to play with our nieghbor hola who is 10. he is from tonga and only here until december. hola and his friend play rough and thats what brennan loves so everytime he sees them he stops what he is doing and runs to them. brennan calls him wa ... mom where is wa... what is wa doing...

b- started a runny nose today. i cant tell if its from being sick or teething because she does have 2 top teeth coming in. im hoping its teething! poor thing had to cry herself to sleep during my little class because she wouldnt take her bottle because couldnt breathe. brennan was very cute with her while he was riding his bike and taylor was out with us ...dad its brooke's turn ... she sat on the seat which was also standing on the bar. they sure love each other but she does have her moments of ... i need my space so back off brennan!