BBQ Chicken Salad

This week I discovered the meal of a happy mommy - BBQ Chicken salad. A good friend and I have started a dinner swap; it's basically a dinner group for moms. Once a week we just drop off dinner and dessert, no tired kids, worrying about manners, or silly showing off. I think it is one of my most brilliant ideas thus far in my mommy existence. I get to eat AMAZING food that I normally wouldn't make and I don't have to think of it, shop for it, or cook it. Sometimes when it's my turn to deliver it's a little more challenging, but it gives me a good excuse to make something delicious. Anyway this week salad was delivered and it was so good we had it again for dinner tonight. I am thinking I need more gourmet salads in my life because there is nothing quite as crunchy or mouth watering delicious as a good salad and it leaves me feeling good.

Tate on the other hand is not quite as impressed with salad, and meals in general. With his recent discovery that babies grow in bellies he has also started conversing with his stomach. Who knew the abdomen could be so entertaining. At lunch yesterday Tate had a full on conversation with his belly that insisted it was not hungry. It finally changed it's mind upon learning that bellies who don't eat their lunch, don't get any snacks. Tate even has a belly "voice". It is as bass as his voice can physically go.

I wanted to do joy school this fall but didn't have enough friends interested so Tate and I do mommy Tate school each morning for 15-20 minutes during Ian's nap. It's fun, but I think it is a lot easier teaching other peoples kids. If nothing else he will learn to hold a writing instrument correctly.

Ian has now walked 7 steps consecutively on his own. His first steps were Sunday. He has yet to want to walk all the time because he has a mean crawling speed of maybe 3 miles an hour. But he has the balance and has shown me he can. Once he does start consistently I have no idea how I am going to keep up with both of them. Oh the adventures!

Eagle Point Park

Ian is an early riser. Normally he plays contentedly in the front room while I make breakfast and Josh's lunch. The other day this is where I found him. He was happily pushing a button on the remote to make the little red light glow. He is so funny!

 This is Ian's still tired happily eating a frozen sugar cookie face. It's a pained zone outing bliss I guess. Gotta love teething.

 At the children's museum Ian thought he should just climb though the window instead of crawling though the door... Maybe he has spy aspirations.

 Tate reading Ian a book. They are so silly together.

 Iowa doesn't have great food, but it makes up for it with amazing people. Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet up with the Kyle, Lindsay, and Elsie in Dubuque. I think it was probably one of the most fun outings we have ever had as a family. The kids slept the whole hour and a half to get there, which that alone is a small miracle, they played and partied hard, and when we got home they slept soundly all through the night.

 My kiddos + Elsie who felt like my kiddo for a while. I sure miss these guys!

 Ian LOVED running though the fountain over and over and over. He was in there for at least 30 minutes running in circles. He took two amazing naps today.

 Say Cheese!

 Family photo op, to good to pass up. Someday we'll have a picture with everyone looking at the camera.

The view of the river from the park. We are going to have to return in the Spring to watch the bald eagles!

Doctors

For some reason Tate has strange notions about what a doctor is. To him it is a game where he takes all the toys in our house and builds a fortress around himself, imagine a mess with a Tate size hole in the middle. He then sits in the center and prompts me to ask Doctor Tate for a toy. When I do he gives me a toy for about 20 seconds before wanting it back and then we do it all again, over and over and over. My hunch is that we go to the doctors for their toys, of course, thus a doctor manages toys.

Last week we went to the Palmer clinic and the staff doctor is due next week. Tate was very curious about her belly and when she told him there was a baby in it he wanted to check and proceeded to try. I think that was the most embarrassed I have ever been due to something my child did. When he wasn't able to see her baby he promptly pulled up his own shirt for an investigation of the baby in his belly. Since then he keeps asking about the baby in my belly that I assure him isn't there. We even sat down and pulled up all the pictures of me pregnant with him and Ian and I think he might be starting to catch on... maybe. Oh the things I never realized had to be taught or learned.

On Wednesday this week we had the resident doctor in  our ward set up a huge slip and slide for the cub scouts in our back yard. The kiddos loved it! The redneck version of a water slide is basically awesome. There was even a kiddy pool with baby soap at the top to lather up in and increase sliding speed. This was serious business.

Say What?

Over the past few weeks I have been jotting down some of Tate's one-liners. Here a few:
1. "Is that chocolate?" - I was changing his diaper. Where did I go wrong that he would confuse something so blissful with something so disgusting?
2. "Please stop making messes for me." - This is what Tate told me after spitting out a bite that he felt was to big when I was helping him eat his breakfast. I was dumbstruck. I wanted to say it back to him all day long.
3. "Mommy look, popcorn." - When passing corn fields this is what he says. Is there any other type of corn worth mentioning?
4. "Bust my buffers!" - His favorite exclamation. Obsession with Thomas is getting a little out of control. We also pretend to be trains all day long and relive whatever happened in the episode we last watched. He keeps me on top of my game and when I don't pay attention I have no idea what we are playing and of course I do it wrong.
5. "Not today, maybe another day." - This is what I am told any time he doesn't want to do something; basically any time it is time for a real meal and not a snack, diaper changes, and getting dressed. Good thing he still can be pretty easily persuaded or we would never get anything done.
6. "I can't be baptized. My head can't go under the water." - I told him we would work on that. It came up out of the blue though, it's always interesting to hear what comes out of his mouth. 
Another highlight of my week was a late night conversation with Tate. He went to bed at 7:30 like usual and when I walked past around 10 there he sat on his bed looking longingly out the door. I went in and we chatted about picking cotton and throwing it into the corn as well as using the potty and why I didn't get more jellybeans for peeing on the potty. This was a conversation about the deeper things in his life.  I laughed myself to sleep.

 While Tate's vocabulary and quirky communications are expanding so is Ian's mobility. His right leg has a must climb instinct that is out of control. He has mastered Tate's bed, stairs, and today a box... It was petrifying. One minute he was contentedly playing and the next he was about to fall and die. This one is going to need constant supervision for a while! 

 Both contentedly eating. One has a health conscious belly and the other lives for the junk food reward that comes after eating, the only reason he will eat. Ian ate almost a whole can of green beans by himself the other night. I have never seen someone so small put away so much food.

 "On top of the world," We sang the song and he even danced the dance. I hope the tree got put to good use. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a stump so much. We even had a lesson about how old trees are. This age is so much fun.

Our before church family picture in front of the corn in true Iowa style. Too bad the kiddos wouldn't look at the camera in the same picture. My favorite part is the photographer's shadow :) 

The Puzzler

Today I decided my kiddos are brilliant. I think every mother feels that way, as they should. This week has been a puzzling week for Tate, literally. We have done at least 6 puzzles every day, if not more. I'm amazed how he is thrilled to do the same one over and over and over. I guess it does make a difference when your puzzle takes around 10 minutes instead of the hours a bigger one takes. His new game is dumping two puzzles into one pile and drawing a piece at a time to finish them both. Ian likes to get in on the action and Tate is very quick to remind and reposition Ian's puzzle to block his path.Tate even found a way to puzzle during nap time without getting off his bed. I didn't ask him how the puzzles got on his bed in the first place.

My boys are also finally discovering the treasure that books are, especially ones about items with wheels for Tate and anything with flaps for Ian. The library is even becoming an attraction for more than just the Lego table. Tate's highlight is picking out his new Thomas movie for the week. He stands there for a good 20 minutes looking at each DVD carefully and telling me each time I approach to come back in 10 minutes, just a second, or just be right back mom.

My pondering child. I LOVE it when he kneels down. I can think of few things more adorable than his little feet popping out under his bum. He does it all the time and something about this pose just melts my heart!

10 Months Later

I can hardly believe that 10 months ago our family was blessed with this adorable little dinosaur. He has brought us so much happiness, so many laughs, and so much hope for the future. It is hard to believe how much can change in a year when I look at how much changes in a week sometimes. Here are some highlights from our week.

Tate's new napping spot! We built a fort and it was the spot to nap for 2 whole days. Then the allure of playing was to much to refrain from and all of mommies hopes and dreams of productive afternoons were crushed. Until I discover another exciting nap adventure..

Daddy showing Tate the skills it takes to ride a bike. It worked because Tate can now peddle. I wouldn't exactly say he's proficient, but he tries hard for about 5 minutes each day.

Ian eating; his favorite thing to do. Boy does this kiddo love food. My favorite part of the picture is his hair blowing in the wind. I cut his mullet off in the back but I'm kind of fond of the spike on top, at least for a couple more weeks.

Check out these balance skills. He could explore the sandbox all day long. He also learned that sand is not delicious through trial by error and he hasn't tried it again since!

We had so much fun at the park the other day as a family. It's been a while since we went together and I loved seeing Josh playing with he mini-mes.

Tate was teaching Ian about belly buttons. It's this type of moment that makes parenting so much fun.

We went and watched the Back Water Gamblers last Wednesday. It was pretty amazing what they could do. We took a box of minion graham crackers and the boys were content for a whole hour. I don't think Ian even watched the water straight in front of us because he was so intently focused on that box of delicious messy minion goodness.

I have realized now that with my new phone and the ease of taking pictures I need to get better about blogging more often. I keep getting overwhelmed with the amount of wonderful memories I want to share!

A Trip Full of Firsts

My parents and sister left yesterday morning and it was hard to see them go. It is so fun to have family around. Here are some of the "firsts" that occurred while they were here:

 

My first trip to Carthage. For some reason in my mind the jail sat in the middle of nowhere. I never imagined it being in a town... It was a very humbling and testimony strengthening trip. Joseph Smith's faith and trust in the Lord's plan came to hold a new significance for me. Fun Fact: I also found out that the jail at one point was owned by some Brownings who were not members, but were willing to give tours to all the members who did stop by. They ended up selling it to the church for it's original auction price when the jail was sold. 

 Enjoying the pre-pageant activities. Tate discovered scissors and stopped back to use them at least 4 times.

 Tate loved braiding for all of 20 seconds but wanted to wear his braid just like the little girls close by. He was even asked, "How ya doing princess?" by an elderly missionary... I thought the overalls and the shiner were screaming all boy but Tate was clueless.

 The discovery of the best drink holder ever.

 Learning to saw..

Putting Tate's hops to work! We had so much fun running around to all of the games set up. It was fun to see Tate old enough to enjoy the festivities. The pageant was amazing too. We watched the play and the lightning show around us for an hour before they had a brief intermission in which we all huddled in the tents around to enjoy a down pour. I guess on the Doppler radar they watch there was lightning surrounding Nauvoo, but not any within a 5 mile radius. Pretty amazing if you ask me. 

 Tate's first carriage ride. The only reason he looked at the camera is because I told him I heard a train.. Priceless but cruel.

 Tate's first experience with hay. He was in love with the stuff all up and down the side of the quaint little road on which we took our walk. He would drop it at my feet and I would pretend to be a horsy and eat it. I found it entertaining for 10 minutes; he could have played for hours. Thank goodness for soothing bath times that can recalibrate unstable tired children when their will is squashed by mommies. P.S. The condo tub was AWESOME!! I look forward to not squishing my insides and manipulating my body around a sliding shower/tub door like the one in the house I now live in.

 My mom's first attempt at Mario Cart. I am proud of here for sticking with it for a couple races despite her growing level of frustration. She did improve.

 Ian 's first encounter with a watermelon. He loved it. But he does love to eat everything. All day long. He will be as big as Tate in no time. Josh was teasing that soon we will be buying Ian clothes to hand down to Tate with the rate and quantity that he eats. Maybe there is an equation for that...

 Tate's job was throwing away the rind. He had a system though and not a piece was thrown away before he gave it a courtesy lick.

 He thought is was a big ball.

 We went to our first movie as a family. We saw How to Train Your Dragon 2. It was a lot of fun! It was actually my first movie in Iowa too. I didn't realize that both my kiddos were free. I think there was a total of maybe 12 people in the theater so it was just right for my boys first experience. I think we will probably try again on the new planes movie next month when the crowds are gone. I think that movie will hold more impressive and attention holding content in the eyes of Tate. 

 He was really good until the popcorn was gone... 

Now this is huge, my non sleeping child fell asleep on Jalaire's lap while she read him stories... This NEVER happens. It could help that he chose his dictionary for her to read to him but still... I decided I have a non calming spirit within me because my kids sleep so well on and for everyone but me.  Or it could be we are just so much more exciting when we have visitors.