Me and My Boys: 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Christmas 2014

Making gingerbread houses as a family.

Caleb's house

Carter's finished product

Christmas Morning opening stockings

Carter's presents this year

He's quite fast on that new scooter!

Caleb's presents

Bryson's new piggy bank toy

Playing with the new family toy: magna tiles

They're so fun!

(Bryson also got some new books, bath toys, and the car ramp in the background)

Despite all the busyness of Primary, this is what Caleb and I did a lot of over Christmas break--games!

He got a few new games this year including Connect 4, The Allowance Game, and Qwirkle.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Christmas Eve 2014

One of my favorite days of the year...it was so fun to have all my siblings here for Christmas!

The kids playing some Christmas songs with handbells

Carter holding cousin Capri

Holding cousin Lili--there's an obsession with the babies

Acting out the nativity story--Bryson was a shepherd

Caleb as a wiseman

Carter was also a shepherd

Chimes--a favorite part of the evening

Grandma's village is pretty fun to look at

Dessert!

The kids each get to open one present from Grandma and Grandpa

We ended the night with the adult white elephant exchange, which is always a blast!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Personal Record

I have to record that I ran 10 miles at a 7:59 pace. I've never broken an 8 minute pace before!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Bryson refused to go anywhere near Santa so he didn't make it into the picture. Caleb, an unbeliever, DID NOT want to be in the picture. Like usual, he was a good sport when I asked him to be there near Bryson, hoping that would be enough security for Bryson. It didn't work.

Caleb stopped believing in Santa last year when he was 6. I can't quite pinpoint why--maybe a kid said something at school. Whenever he asked us if Santa was real last year, we would just respond along the lines, "Well, what do you think?" This year, while we've neither vocally confirmed or denied anything, the fact that he's had to remind us on a few different occasions to move our Elf on the Shelf (Elfie) when he sees it's still in the same place the next morning has kind of sealed the deal!

Running Update

I am running personal best times right now, and it feels awesome! I ran 6 miles at an 8:04 pace the other day, and a week before that ran 10 miles at an 8:10 pace. I'm tentatively planning on running a half marathon in February, which I would be thrilled to do because I know I could get a PR beating my previous half marathon pace of 8:15 miles.

Here's how we look going to school with Caleb every morning. Caleb rides his bike, and I try to keep up pushing the younger boys in the double stroller.

(Caleb took this picture this morning. Gotta love a Texas winter right now. It's a balmy 70 degrees today.)

Monday, December 8, 2014

Caleb's Christmas Piano Recital

Fum, Fum, Fum and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Nerves got the better of him, and he played too fast which resulted in more mistakes than normal. Still a very talented 7 year old!

A Trip to the Dentist

All the boys went to the dentist last week for a check-up. We were hoping to get some answers to concerns about Carter's and Bryson's teeth, but we still have to wait. Carter had one baby tooth (a lateral incisor) that took forever to come in so we are concerned that there isn't a parent tooth there and that's why it took so long to make an appearance. We just want to be prepared if we're going to have to look into a false tooth in the future. However, it still wasn't possible to see in the x-ray.

Bryson has an extra tooth, and we were hoping to see if he has any more extra teeth from the x-ray, but the whole x-ray experience kind of freaked him out. And they wouldn't let me hold him on my lap during the x-ray because I had mentioned that we were trying to get pregnant even though I could guarantee them I was not pregnant at that moment.

Caleb's 6-year-old molars are finally coming in, even though he's 7, and he has 4 teeth that are loose. He's only lost a total of two teeth, so his teeth loss/growth is behind the average kid.

Bryson's teeth are growing in out of order. He already has a two-year-old molar yet his canine's are just barely coming in, which is way behind all the other toddlers his age.

All the boys did great while their teeth were examined including Bryson, and we had another cavity-free visit!

Sleeping Troubles

This guy has caused us a lot of sleeping troubles lately. Right after he turned 2, he started waking up almost every night around 5 am. Sometimes the time varied and sometimes it was multiple times in a night. Unfortunately since his room is right next to the boys' room, we haven't been able to let Bryson "cry it out," which we were definitely willing to try! We thought at first it was only because he had a cold and had trouble breathing through his nose. When that got better, we thought it may be because he was getting cold at night so we started layering pajamas and making sure he still had his blanket around him before we went to bed each night. Now the only thing we can come up with is that he is having nightmares. He has a mirror across from his crib so I thought that might be freaking him out if he were to wake up in the middle of the night and see that, although it's been there from the start. (Mirrors freak me out in the dark!) The thing that has worked consistently the last 4 nights is having him sleep on a mattress on the floor. We may be transitioning to a toddler bed sooner than we anticipated and sooner than the other boys!

The sleep deprivation at night plus not napping well during the week of Thanksgiving due to activities going on, led to days like this where he would fall asleep randomly. I was making dinner and Bryson was impatient that it wasn't ready fast enough, so I put him in his high chair with a bowl of cottage cheese, and the next thing I knew, he was asleep!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Bryson turns 2!

A few random pictures leading up to his birthday...

A Saturday morning hanging out in the study while Daddy played Ultimate Frisbee.

Whenever it's time to get in the car, Bryson tries to race to the back of the van to sit in a "big boy" seat.

A particularly messy lunch

Chocolate ice cream!

We got together with my family on Nov. 1st for some cupcakes in the park. Bryson was pretty clueless but loved the attention and loved opening presents.

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Sporting new pajamas that Grandma got him.

His other presents

What's life like as a 2-year-old?

Bryson wakes up around 7am every morning. With the recent time change, he's been waking up more around 6:30. He's hungry for breakfast first thing, which usually ends up being pancakes since that's Caleb's request every morning. He loves Cheerios, bananas, waffles, oatmeal and eggs for breakfast as well. We run Caleb to school in the double jogging stroller while Caleb rides his bike. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we rush home so Mommy can get ready for teaching preschool. Bryson gets in the way at preschool a lot, but the kids are really patient with him, and Bryson is getting better at learning to sit on his carpet square. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we have a more relaxing morning. Sometimes we go ride bikes after we get home from taking Caleb to school since that's Bryson's favorite thing to do. He loves to take off on his little tricycle. Other times we go to the park, go to play groups, or run errands.

Around noon he eats lunch and then goes down for a nap every day at 1pm. Most of the time he sleeps until 4pm which is sacred time for me to get things done around the house or do things for my calling. Once Bryson wakes up, Caleb is home from school and we love to go play in the backyard together. Caleb and Carter like to take turns batting while Bryson fetches balls. The boys usually continue playing while I go inside and make dinner. Because the weather has been nicer, lately we've been jumping on the trampoline every night together as a family after Daddy gets home and after dinner. It's even more fun now that Daddy brought home these fun balls that we put on the trampoline.

Cool ninja moves

Bryson loves to dance and jump to music. In this picture, he's holding the ipad because it was playing some fun songs while he jumped around on the trampoline.

Around 6:30 - 7 we start the bedtime routine with baths, scripture study, prayers, brushing teeth and Bryson's bedtime. His bedtime was getting later and later (8:30) and thankfully the time change has helped us get back on track to getting him to bed at 7:30.

We've started taking steps towards potty-training. Up till now we've had Bryson sit on the potty before bath time every night. Now we're trying to buckle down and make some progress. He's had two successes which will hopefully get him started with recognizing what to do. We'll go from here and see if he gets things figured out as quickly as my other boys who were both potty-trained and in underwear by 27 months.

Happy boy after he got a candy corn for going #1 in the potty!

It took Bryson longer than average to start talking. He would just make noises like "eh-eh" while he pointed at things expecting me to tell him what everything was called. Things have finally started clicking. I just counted today all the words he knows, and he's at 30 which I think might actually be average for a 24 month old? "Hot" was his first word. I love that "Carter" was also one of his first words. He loves to say Carter's name; he calls out Carter's name in the morning when he wants Carter to get him out of bed, and when he can't find Carter during the day, he'll walk around the house calling out Carter's name over and over. It's really cute. With that said, Bryson is very much still a Momma's boy. He loves to play with Daddy for just a little bit before he runs back over to me. One of the more interesting words that Bryson says is "moon" as he points out the moon when we're out at night. Bryson is still very much obsessed with dogs and loves to point out busses as well which he calls "but."

Bryson's favorite game to play is Hide and Seek. He only likes to hide and only if I'm holding him. Daddy is always the seeker and chases us around the house. Bryson gets so excited while we're hiding that he generally gives our location away with his squeals and laughter.

We love having him as part of our family!!

Halloween 2014

Bryson was a dinosaur for the second year in a row. Last year the costume was a little big on him, this year it was a little small on him. I took this picture at Zoo Boo. We had a fun day there with some friends!

Carter went as a fireman this year.

I somehow missed snapping a picture of Caleb in all the hustle and bustle. At 7, he felt a little old and wasn't sure he wanted to go around trick-or-treating. It was only when I said his 9-year-old cousin was going that he decided to go. He dressed up as a detective, or more specifically, Nate the Great.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

We enjoyed a relaxing morning where we weren't trying to rush off. We knew Animal Kingdom would be the least busy of the parks and weren't concerned about being there right when it opened. It actually was sprinkling steadily in the morning which kept people away as well. So we threw on our ponchos and headed off for the day.

Waiting for the elevator

We went to Expedition Everest first thing--Carter was pretty heart-broken that he wasn't tall enough to ride it, but he was a good sport.

Then we rode Kali River Rapids while taking turns with Bryson.

The safari ride and some of the animals we saw

We definitely made time for the Lion King show, which is my favorite in all of Disney World: fabulous singing and dancing. We also went to the Flights of Wonder show, but decided to pass on the Finding Nemo one. Matt and I didn't enjoy it much last time, and he and I actually snuck out early last time.

Instead, we spent a good portion of time hanging out in DinoLand.

The Dinosaur ride--the boys got pretty scared but still rode it again with me.

The boys were too short and kept their dinosaur flying too high that this was the best picture I could get for the Triceratop Spin.

Bryson and I hanging out in the Boneyard play area.

Digging for fossils

We didn't do a ton of character pictures--the lines were always forever long and our boys just didn't care a whole lot and Bryson was terrified of any character. We happened to pass by when there was a short line for Russell and Dug.

Matt and Caleb went to ride Expedition Everest a few more times before we went home. Carter was able to get a fast pass to the ride which will allow him to go to the front of the line when he is tall enough for the ride. That made his day!

While Caleb and Matt rode Expedition Everest again, Bryson, Carter and I took a train to Rafiki's island and visited a petting zoo.

Then we met up with Matt at the exit to go back to the hotel. (Matt and Caleb rode Expedition Everest 9 more times!) Matt had promised to take the boys swimming, so once we got back to the hotel, they all went swimming.

A friend that went to Disney World a few weeks before us recommended the restaurant 'Ohanas. We were able to get a reservation, but it wasn't until 8pm that night. We debated all day long about canceling since we knew that would make it a late night for our kids. When we were told by a fellow vacationer that it was their favorite restaurant in all of Disney World, we decided to risk it.

There was SO much food, and it was all so yummy!

Fuzzy picture, but this is Carter participating in a luau dance.

After dinner with full bellies and a few pounds heavier. I agree whole-heartedly--best restaurant in all of Disney World!

A picture at the Polynesian Resort before taking the monorail to Magic Kingdom.

A picture in front of Magic Kingdom with Halloween decor. We then caught a bus back to our hotel. Again it was another late night.

Sunday morning we packed up and caught our flight home. Again, we planned the flight during Bryson's nap so that he would sleep the entire time. Did that happen? Nope! This time I had Skittles in my purse for bribery though in case our plan backfired again. Overall, the boys all did well on the plane and we were excited to be home.