Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Merry Christmas! '09

Christmas was a whole lot of fun this year... Easton and Ty, received a ridiculously large amount of presents, and they couldn't be happier. Ace and I got some pretty fabulous stuff as well and we are just as happy. We went to Utah and I took a whole lot of pictures so I sorted them into the different Christmas's we had...so as not to overwhelm the internet with uploads...if you so desire (mom) you may click on them to see the pictures bigger.

Lucky for us, Santa knew we were going to be in Utah for Christmas, and was nice enough to stop by and give us a few of our presents early.
After that, we were off to Grandma Leelee's house, and chilled with Papa Cory, Uncle Jesse, and Aunt Lolo...and we collected even more goodies...
And last, but not least, we made our way up to Sandy to spend Christmas Day at the Casper's. Easton and Corbin had way too much fun together attacking monsters and dinosaurs, and are now best buds...and we collected more goodies.
While we were in Utah, we had few snow adventures... this was Easton's first 'real' time playing in the snow, and well, being from Vegas, the snow clothes that I brought weren't the greatest. His winter coat was a size 18 months (luckily he is pretty skinny) the snow pants were just a bit too small, and the gloves were the stupid cloth ones and also to small. Easton had a gap between his coat arms and his gloves, but he didn't care, he played out in the snow for hours, and refused to come in. He and Ace built a snow man together, made snow angels, and had snow ball fights...he was in heaven. Poor Ty only got to play in the snow for a few minutes, because as I previously stated, snow clothes were limited.

Then, we went up to a family party on the Casper side, and did a little sledding. They had some boys on snowmobiles to take you to the top, which freaked Easton out a bit (screamed the whole way up). But once he got on the sled with Ace he was happy. He went down with his Uncle Brad, and Aunt Mandy too. Ace and I went down (I may have been screaming a bit) and rode the snowmobiles...fun day.


As for the gifts, we got many, many great things and everybody is happy, but I have to say that I do have two favorite gifts that we received. I am not sure which one is the number one gift of the year, you can let me know what you think...

First, my cousin Ginay and I got a lovely gift from my Grandparents, 'Mimi & Boppop', it is called
Christmas Morning Fireplace...Vol. 1
Now if you are confused by this gift I will explain...it is a DVD that puts a virtual fireplace onto your TV...AND it plays Christmas songs while you watch your virtual fire burn. Considering that this is only Volume 1 of the fireplace DVDs, my hope is that I will be able to collect all of the other volumes of this marvelous gift.

Now I really thought things couldn't get better than a virtual fireplace (vol. 1), but then, I underestimated my Mother-in-law. For she gave all of us the
Luggable Loo
and life has changed for the better.
What you see in this picture is the top part of the Luggable Loo. The bottom part is a 5 gallon bucket...these two pieces snap together to create a portable toilet, and possibly the best gift of Christmas.


p.s if you are wondering about Ty's surgery, it didn't happen because of stupid people at the doctor's office of --
Dr. Steven Leibowitz M.D
653 Town Center Drive, Suite 102
Just incase you want to know who NOT to go to if you ever need surgery. Basically, they told us they take our insurance a long time ago, and when I called a week ago to double check with my insurance company, my insurance told me they weren't in network. I called the Dr. office back they said not to worry because they knew they took our insurance. I told them to make sure anyway and call me back. They called on Christmas Eve to let me know they don't after all. Nice right?
So we have a new Doctor and we have to go see her on Jan. 6 and then set up a surgery date from there... it feels weird to not be mad at the insurance company...

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas Card 2009

Merry Christmas!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas... here is our Christmas Card for those of you I don't have addresses for. If you are truly offended by not receiving one in the mail, give me your address and I can assure you will get one next year (if I do one).


Here is the Santa picture we got from our ward Christmas party. They had everything set up so nicely and took this picture for us...the Christmas miracle is that Easton and Ty are both looking at the camera and we even got a smile out of Easton! He was so happy about this we left and Easton kept saying, "where are Santa's reindeer? I can't find them anywhere!"

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Open Wide and Say "Ahhh"

Here is Ty's most recent favorite face to make...he literally opens his mouth as big as it can possibly go and says "ahhh" and then proceeds to laugh hysterically.

And here is a little "Ty Medical News"...

Ty has had clogged tear ducts in both of his eyes since he was born. It isn't a health concern really, just annoying and gross. It irritates his eyes and makes his face all red. Easton had it too, but his just went away after a couple of weeks.

They told us that if they hadn't gone away by the time he was 10 months they would probe his eyes...it's a small simple surgery, and only lasts about 5 minutes, but it does require anesthesia, which I don't enjoy. (especially since he had his MRI when he was 4 months and had to be sedated for that as well) Just not a fun thing.

Anyway, they told us that 95% of the time the probing works and it's all better after that. So we had his eyes probed about 2 weeks ago and guess what...
Ty is one of the lucky 5% of babies that the probing didn't work on!

So that means another more invasive surgery... it takes about an hour to do and they basically stick small tubes down his tear ducts to open them up. The tubes have to stay in for 6 months to a year and then they remove them with the hope that that will keep them open. While we were talking with the Dr. he said that a lot of the time while he is trying to put the tubes in they don't work because of the bone structure and other problems which then means that he will make an incision on the side of his nose and go in that way.

So tomorrow I have to take Ty in to get blood work done and a physical and then we have his surgery scheduled for the 27th of Dec.

I don't like Dr. stuff/ blood stuff etc... at all. (I passed out when my dad pulled my tooth out) but I hate it even more having to watch little Ty go through so much of it. I am so grateful that he is healthy and happy. And I know there are so many more worse things that it could be, but it still is not fun at all.

This will be the third time he will be sedated and we haven't even made it to his first birthday! He has definitely been quite a pricey baby, here's what has happened so far...
-I got pregnant with him withOUT insurance...that was fun
(epidurals are expensive, but sooo worth it)
-He had his eye nystagmus which meant eye specialist and later an MRI
-Clogged tear ducts required another eye specialist and many visits
-Probe surgery
-Plastic surgeon after the probe didn't work and now this new surgery

We think it has to do with the fact that Easton was free because we were on financial aid, so now we get to pay double, maybe triple for Ty! But don't worry, we have met his deductible (thus the surgery date being the 27th of Dec)!

I hope everybody has a great Christmas and I will keep everyone updated...I just hope this surgery works :)

Monday, December 7, 2009

Do you know what a Roller Coaster Face Looks Like?

This is a picture of a page in a book called, "Roller Coaster".
This is a picture of Easton impersonating one of the people on the roller coaster...can you tell which one?
Hint: Easton hasn't yet mastered the art of winking an eye so covering it with his hand is his solution

He told me one day that this is the face people make on a roller coaster. I thought it was strange, but Easton does a lot of weird things so I said, "Yeah, maybe sometimes." Then a few days later we were reading the book and Easton kept doing that face. When we got to this page he pointed him out, "See mommy See!"

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and slightly miraculous. I say miraculous because we had everyone at our house, and anyone that has set foot in my home knows it is not the biggest...1200 square feet to be exact, and here is the list of people that were in my house at the same time:
1. Ace
2. Me
3. Easton
4. Ty
5. Grandma Leelee (my mom)
6. Papa Cory (my dad)
7. Jesse (my brother)
8. Lauren (my sister
9. Grammy Raylene (Ace's mom)
10. Papa Larry (Ace's dad)
11. Brad (Ace's brother)
I have a new found respect for people living in a one room home with more family members than this...don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun with everyone that came and we got to spend more time with everyone that would have normally been divided up between families, but holy cow that was a lot of people!

I didn't get a chance to take a whole lot of pictures mostly because I was fairly delusional from the crazy amount of shopping we did (on Black Friday we went from midnight to 8:30 in the morning). But I did get a picture of Raylene's jam packed car on their way home proof of the shopping...

Larry Raylene and Brad saying goodbye to the boys...


Lauren and Ty

Easton and Grandma Leelee

And this one of Jesse and Ty, I am pretty sure is my all time favorite picture ever. Right as I took this Ty was, uh, filling up his diaper and, obviously, Uncle Jesse became concerned, but just take a look at Ty's happy face--he is truly enjoying himself!

Easton gave everyone a concert of all the songs he knows...here is just a short video of one of the songs he sang...


It was a super fun week with everyone and I am so glad everybody came...I just hope next time we do this my home is just slightly bigger so we don't have anyone sleeping in the garage (Brad) !

Monday, November 23, 2009

I Hate Running...

I really do. I have never found it relaxing or something I have ever had the desire to do. And yet, for some reason, my friend, Erin (who also hates running) and I got it in our heads that we should do a 10k (6.2 miles people). I am pretty sure the only times I have run for anything was the 1 mile requirement in High School P.E! So all you people who are addicted to running and have to do it everyday and love every minute of it...I don't understand you.
Anyway, we have been working out together for a while, and then signed ourselves up for the race. After we signed up I was a nervous wreck, I had about 17 different scenarios of how the whole thing could go wrong (coming in last, vomiting, vomiting on someone, etc) and I had nightmares about it. Before the race, I never actually got up to 6 miles on my own. I did 5 one day and I was ready to die...literally crawled off the treadmill...nice.
Well, Saturday was the big day... lets all just take note of the background of this first picture...yes it is still dark outside. We got up at 4:30 in the AM--so we are freezing, the wind is blowing, it is dark, and now I am supposed to run!
This next one is about a mile into the race, the sun is up and we are feeling good!
Five miles into the race...still going strong...
Strong enough even to pose for the camera.
And the finish line! I came 192nd out of something like 300 people Boomshakalaka!
My time was 1:14:47
Here comes Erin, right behind me. Her time was 1:16:50
And now for a bit of a shocker...I actually, sort of, maybe a little bit, kind of liked it a little. I felt good the whole time, never felt out of breath. I went slow...real slow....but I felt good! I think I may run some more...And for running that 10k I was given a gift, a gift that I hesitate even showing a picture of for fear of being mugged...it's that spectacular...

Yes this beautiful sweatshirt is what I earned and now you all are coveting.
Soak it in, soak it all in.

Now here is the real shocker...I paid $28 to run. I paid money to run. What!?

Monday, November 16, 2009

Fish Anyone?

Easton has been having a problem taking too long to wash his hands after eating or going to the bathroom...he gets a bit distracted and starts to play in the water. So the other day, after he had spent a good amount of time playing in the water, I thought I would try and be a little clever...so I said,
"Easton, you can't keep the water on that long because you are taking all of the fishys water, and if you take all of their water they aren't going to be able to swim anymore."

After I said this Easton's face changed and I watched him try and think through this statement. He didn't say anything for about 30 seconds to a minute...he just kept thinking about it. At this point, I am thinking what a good job I have done and that he totally gets it...well, I was proud until Easton responded...

Easton said, "All of the fishys will run out of water...and then I will eat them."

**sigh**

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Halloween Leftovers

Just some stuff from October that I never got a chance to post about...
Ace brought home these cheap little masks, and the kids didn't take them off for about 3 days




At the pumpkin patch...

The pumpkins we made...

And this picture makes me happy. I laugh every time I look at it...

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Ogres Are Like Onions...

This year we were the Shrek family for Halloween. Ace was Shrek, I was Princess Fiona, Easton was Donkey, and Ty was one of the baby ogres. We had a fun night at the trunk or treat and even though Easton doesn't look like it, he was happy about the huge amount of candy he got.

So here we are with a little comparison to the real thing...

Please ignore the weird pictures...it was all I could find!

I have always loved to dress up on Halloween, but the one thing I don't like is dressing up with face paint...I don't like the mess and stuff like that on my face. I tried to get out of painting my face, but Ace said that if he had to paint I had to too! I was worried that it wasn't going to come off because I made it with a whole lot of green food coloring and we would be going to church today looking like ogres, but never fear it all came off :)
If you notice Ace has no ears on in some pictures he thought it would be a good idea to hot glue the ears to his head...I tried to explain to him that hot glue is, well, hot and would burn him...needless to say, he did it any way and now has two lovely burn marks behind his ears to remember this night by...

"I'm a 'yogurt'!" as Easton says.

I don't know about you, but I think this is one cute little ogre!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Because I Am THAT Mom...

I dress my boys in matching pj's and then torture them with a series of pictures.


Look at Ty in this one, "Really Mom, Really?"

Monday, October 12, 2009

The ABC's

Easton isn't really a child that likes to sing in front of people...sometimes I catch him singing when he is by himself, but in front of people he gets a little shy. When I heard him singing to Ty I had to get it on video...

p.s Notice at the end of the video when he finally sees me, he gets a little flustered :)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

How Did That Happen?

The other day I was sitting at the computer, and Ty was playing on the floor next to me. A few minutes later I hear him fussing a bit, so I look down, and find him like this...
Now, here's the thing... Ty doesn't have the smallest head in the world...in fact, it is quite large and most of Easton's old clothes have a hard time fitting over his head. It's okay though, I think Ty's big head is awfully cute, but please explain to me how he got his head under that bar?!


On a side note, this is Ty's new friend, Hannah. Hannah is a little older than Ty and likes to tease him, but look at that little boys grin... I'm not sure it bothers him!

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Sounds of Nature...

Yesterday, Easton was playing with something like this on Ty's bed...


You know, the thing that plays different sounds to "soothe" baby. This is what Easton had to say about each sound...

Birds chirping: "Hey Mommy! These birds are singing!"

Heart Beat Noise: "Ohhh, listen it is dogs barking!"

River/Stream: "Mommy! Mommy! Now the dogs are peeing!"


Hmmm, nothing soothes a baby like the sound of dogs relieving themselves :)

Monday, September 21, 2009

A Trip to the Circus...

On Saturday we went to the circus. Easton was in his personal paradise for 2 hours and Ty was just amazed by all of the lights. We saw a guy get shot out of a cannon, elephants do crazy stuff that an animal that big shouldn't be able to do, a magic show, and a lot people dangling in the air. Easton and Ace got to ride an elephant and between the two of them I am not sure who enjoyed it more :) It was a fun time!

I took a lot of pictures, so to make it easier for myself (and others who would prefer not to scroll through a 100 pictures) I made them all into 1 picture...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Starting Now, My Life Will Never Be The Same



Ty hasn't really been into the whole crawling thing (unlike Easton who was crusin' around by 5 months). Ty has been content to roll his way around and get what he wants. I have also been okay with him taking his time, because I know what lies ahead...I have enjoyed being able to lay him down somewhere and him still being there when I get back, or not having to worry about what he is getting into. But that has all come to an end he is on the move and there is no stopping him!

Don't get me wrong, I am excited about all of the little milestones he is hitting, just a little apprehensive is all because this changes everything! :)