Fun times with our little family

Just for Nana

2011-07-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hi anyone who might be reading this. My mom is in Fiji, and so she never gets to see me, or my kiddies or the house that I am building - so this post is for her. This post is all videos that I don't want to post on facebook simply because it would BORE everyone.
Eddie on the beach

Tommy swing surfing

Tommy diving

Mr. Chin

Mama Mia Remixed

2010-06-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sammy LOVES to sing Mama mia, when he was even smaller and could barely talk he used to sing 'super trooper' all the time. People in stores would come up and ask me "is your kid singing ABBA?" and I would answer "yes, yes he is" - Naturally I was very proud of him. Now he loves to sing 'mama mia' and he always requests it - it was even our opening song for family home evening last week. This video is a treasure to me, and will always remind me of his 'mama mia' phase.

Hit the Road Jack... and by Jack I mean Raccoon.

2010-05-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

So, as you all know from my last post, I had a mama raccoon and her baby living in the area around my hot tub. Awesome. Now, here is the true story about what we did to finally rid ourselves of our unwanted guests.
We have this amazing home teacher, Mike, who rarely visits our home to share a message, instead he comes over every couple of months to help us with some problem or other. He was the one who initially caught and carried out the Rat from our crawlspace (I don't want to talk about it), and then he came over and hung a light fixture in my kitchen, and he rebuilt the bench on our deck, so it was only natural that we call him when we needed help with our newest problem. So, a couple weeks ago Mike came over one morning, and he and Jesse jammed broom handles into the den, (previously known as our hot tub) and banged all around it and decided that the coons must not be in there anymore, so they sealed up the hole where the Raccoon was getting in and out of. Later that night the mama raccoon, in desperation, broke out of the sealed hot tub. Apparently they were just being really quiet. So we piled some of our kid's toys up against the new hole, to make in more inconvenient for mama to get in - although we now understood that she was pretty serious about living there. It was at this point that Jesse conveniently went away on business for a week. So I bolted all the doors covered all the windows and pretended we didn't even have a backyard.
When Jesse got home he knew he had to find a way to get the mama and the baby out, and THEN seal it all up, but how?? We decided to make a party of it all, and invited Mike and his family and our other good friends Candise and Kevin and their kids over for dinner and a raccoon hunt. Everyone chatted and ate tacos, and then the wives and kids all went to the park while the men stood around with a rake, a bat and shovel and tried to figure out how best to get the coons out. They decided to drill holes in the back part of the hot tub where the raccoons were camping out, and then they rammed the broom handle in the hole and sprayed febreeze in. Then they heard a deep rumbling growl, apparently they now had the mama's attention. The kept spraying stuff in there until the mama finally stuck her head out. Wisely, the men backed off and let her make the next move. When she decided they weren't going to hurt her she called in for her baby to come out, and that's when we found out she had FIVE babies in there with her. Apparently the babies were really cute and loved playing with all the toys on the deck, and just like human children, it took the mom a long time to gather them all up into one group at the bottom of our fence. Then the mama took each baby one at a time in her mouth and climbed over the fence and hid them somewhere - presumably in one of our neighbors hot tubs.
HORRAY! I am so happy to be done with them all. And so happy that neither the raccoons or any of us were harmed in the process.
Now I just have to deal with the bird that is stuck in my fireplace. Fantastic, I love being a home owner.

The Raccoon

2010-05-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

We have been painting the outside of our house (pictures to come), so Jesse went around tearing pieces of our house off that he thought were rotten, and then talking of plans to replace and fix it all...we'll see. Anyways, he tore a piece of the surrounding off our hot tub off , and since it made no difference to the hot tub, he said he would replace later. A couple days later, we were out in the backyard - still painting - and I saw Tommy walk over to a very small grey fluffy thing. Then I saw him reach down to pick it up. I watched him put his had right on it to pick it up, and meanwhile my brain was trying to figure out what the little fuzz ball was that wasn't running or hopping away from my 4-year-old boy. Just as my brain registered the coloring we all heard a hissing coming from the bushes by Tommy, and then the Mama raccoon came out just as I started yelling for Tommy to come back into the house. We all got in the house behind the sliding door just in time to watch the mommy coon pick up the baby coon and jump into the hole by our hot tub left there after Jesse tore that piece of wood off. seriously?!!

So long story short, we have mama and baby raccoon living in the dark warm area around our hot tub, and we keep a shovel by the back door - to protect us in case the mama comes out. Of course it costs minimum $245 to get someone to catch the raccoons, so Jesse is planning his own Raccoon Catching Mission, we'll see. We'll see.

I'm Back!

2010-04-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize that I haven't posted anything for a really long time...just over 9 months probably, and that is because I was busy. Yes, as you all know, I had baby boy number 3 - or Edward, as some people call him. I'm not going to lie, it was a super tough pregnancy, for me and my family! I was sick at first, then tired, then cranky, and generally really uncomfortable. At one point Jesse said "I don't know if we should have any more kids, I'm not sure if I can handle it." Ya, I didn't cook supper, clean my house, dance to the radio, or stay up later than 9pm for most of the pregnancy, so I can see how that was tough on everyone. But I am happy to say that I feel like myself again! I am baking cookies, dancing and singing around the house, painting picture frames, doing laundry and blogging apparently.

My newest little guy is so sweet! He is gorgeous first of all, with dark hair and blue eyes (for now, we'll see if they last). He has a bit of Tommy and bit of Sammy, both in looks and his behavior. He loves to sleep, like Sammy, but when he is awake he is very active, just like Tommy. The older brothers LOVE him, in fact I have recently started hiding Eddie while he sleeps, so he isn't attacked with boogery kisses and very tight hugs. Sammy is always walking around the house asking "where is Eddie?" it's kinda cute. Tommy calls the baby "bam bam" and loves to pat his back, and gets excited when he burps because he knows baby's need to get their burps out. If it wasn't so smuthering, it would be really adorable.

But enough chit chat, here are some pics of my little boys.

Tommy on a two-wheeler

2009-05-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

For Christmas last year my dad gave Tommy a 'running bike', which is a bike with no pedals and no training wheels and you just run a bit then lift up you legs and ride the bike. They are how Europeans teach their kids to ride bikes in stead of training wheels. They totally work! He was awesome on his running bike, and really loves it, then one of your neighbors gave us a two-wheeler bike with no training wheels, so we decided to let Tommy try it. He rode around our culdesac on the very first try, all by himself! It was amazing. He is not yet 3 1/2 and he can ride his two-wheeler like a pro. The whole culdesace has come out to cheer him on and talk about how cool it is that he can ride. The only problem is that he is still a little bit too small for his bike so we have to help him get on it, so I try to get him to ride non-stop as much as he can around and around the culdesac.
This is Tommy telling me how many times he has ridden his bike around the culdesac so far. This is Tommy's very first try.

More mediocre talents

2009-05-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know I love to learn to do things, yet I have neither the natural talent or the patience to become really good at any of these things. For example: playing the piano, singing, dancing, crocheting, doing hair and make-up, sewing, cooking, baking...really the list could go on. And I am very excited to let you all know that I am adding to that list by learning how to knit, and also gardening! I was first inspired to learn how to knit when I read the book "The Friday Night Book Club" which is amazing and you should all read it - if you haven't already. So Candise and I and a few other moms in my ward and some of my young women are learning to knit and my first project is a Griffindor scarf in honor of the new Harry Potter movie coming out - woo hoo!

I am also learning to garden - I am really proud of all my tulips and daffodils that I planted last fall and they all came up - this was a real miracle to me, because I have never made anything grow before. I am really pumped and might even plant a small vegetable garden. We'll see. But for now I am loving all the beautiful flowers that grow so easily in Vancouver weather.

April in a nutshell

2009-04-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

April was a busy month, I turned 23, again, at the beginning of the month, and had a good birthday, thank you to everyone who remembered. Jesse and I went to see a play that was weird and artistic, we feel very hip. Then there was Easter - which was nice, we had an Easter party with all the little kiddies around my boys age and their mommies. They searched for eggs in the backyard and then just played there for awhile, it was such a beautiful day for an outside party. I love Vancouver because spring actually means warm. I taught a class at our stake relief society women's conference, which consumed my thoughts for most of the month - I only took a break to read "the confessions of fitzwilliam darcy" - which for all of you P&P fans out there, was amazing. The boys are loving being outside and I'm loving getting out of the house too...it's easier to ignore the laundry that way. Here are some pics from this month, sorry it's all just one big clump, I'll try better next time.

Tommy reading some weird mag on the potty - honestly not a set-up.

Sammy is getting so big, and he loves to eat, a nice break from picky Tommy.
When I ask Tommy to smile for the camera he insists on being weird - how long will this last?Sammy loves to ride his bike - and I promise I fixed his hair after awhile, but it's very hard to cut a 1-year-old's hair!Tommy with his head under at swim lessons, he was the only one in his class who would.The boys got cold so Daddy made them their own personal hot tubs.Playing at the park.No, we don't make him wear a helmet all day(although I've considered it), this is just a stop on a long bike ride.

"New Moon" sets in Vancouver

2009-04-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you in the know, they are filming the second movie in the twilight saga here in vancouver, and I would be sad if I missed out on the opportunity to see some of the sets they are filming at. I am trying to avoid full-on stalking by only seeing the sets when they are not filming, and I have not yet hung around outside their hotel...although the thought has crossed my mind. It has taken some serious researching skills to discover the sets, mainly done by Candise, including, google-earth, twitter, fan-websites, youtube and a bunch of emails sent out pretending to be teenagers who write lol and :) all the time. Kudos to you Candise. But all of it has paid off and we have been to 3 of the sets.

First, what is believe to be Sam's house (confirmed by a questionable source).

Second, Jacob's house, where, althought filming was done there was still a big scary security guard who chased us away, it was all very exciting.

and finally, we went to the site where they rebuilt Bella's house, but I don't have any sweet pics yet because there was a cop there who wouldn't let people pass because apparently they were filming. we did see the forks cop-car, and as you can see, a bunch of teenage girls who had been hanging out there waiting for their chance to see the stars for over 9 hours. We'll go back again in a couple days when filming should be done, to get some good pics of the house. this site is actually only about 15 minutes away from my place, so ya, whatevs, we're cool.

We went back to the site today, because we heard they were done filming and it was great! we saw Bella's house up close, the security guard was super chill and just wouldn't let us go around the front or side of the house. Yes, that is the window that Edward comes in and that in this movie Jacob jumps out.They also had all the cars parked there, this pic shows bella's truck, the forks cop car and alice's car, the bikes were there too, you just can't see them.And my partner in spying - Candise, we had so much fun finding all the sets,now I feel like reading the books again.

A little chat with Tommy

2009-03-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I noticed Tommy was in a particularly good mood so I got out the old video camera and did a candid interview with my little 3-year-old. What a funny kid - I don't know where he gets it from.

Stalking the wrong set UPDATE MAY ACTUALLY BE ONE OF THE SETS

2009-03-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Candise and I recently discovered what we thought was one of the sets for New Moon. As you may know they are currently filming New Moon here in Vancouver, so there it was a definate possability that this was in fact one of the sets. We thought it was Jacob Black's house, it is just a little shack in the middle of nowhere, and there is even a little work shack behind. We drove by it a MILLION times, trying to get pics or see people, unfortunatly we saw nobody, except a really big security guy who watched us drive by repeatedly.This is a close-up of the house, you can see some of the tarps and movie stuff around, the night before this they were definately filming something. Unfortunately for us we later came upon these pictures of what is the actual set of the Black's house...somewhere in Vacouver. It is definately the right place because Bella's truck was spotted outside it with the two bikes in the back. owell, perhaps I'll happen upon the set still, it has to be here somewhere! If you want to see more pics of the filming, a good site is http://www.newmoonmovie.org/

Fiji-rific

2009-03-16T22:14:00.001-07:00

My mom and dad left last thursday to serve in the Fiji temple for the next year and I miss them so much! As soon as she was gone I had a million questions for my mom about recipes and sewing and books and a million other stuff. I don't know what I am going to do without them. They called last night but the time difference is craziness! It was 11:30pm on sunday my time and 6:30pm on monday night in Fiji. So we are still trying to figure out when we can skype and I can finally ask my mom how to make a stinkin' button hole!

I miss you mom and dad! but I hope you have a wonderful time there!

A visit from the Fitzners

2009-03-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

My old roomie Jordana decided to come and visit me last weekend while her husband, Gibb, went to a dental conference out here. I was so excited to see her and her adorable little kids, Jayna and Kepler and we had so much fun! It was the perfect time for her to visit because she left Edmonton during a blizzard and came to Langley when it was bright and sunny. We went to the park twice the first day simply because we could. We played Rockband and went to girly movies and walked around the house in our jammies - she was the best kind of guest.
Tommy LOVED Kepler and was always giving him toys and hugs - I wish he was that nice to his own little brother.

I finally did it

2009-03-10T22:49:00.001-07:00

So I have totally trimmed Sammy's hair before, to stop it from being super lop-sided and stuff, but this was the first time I finally gave him a full on hair cut. I know, he is 18 months, but I have been resisting because of his sweet and precious blonde curls, but as you can tell from the first picture, it was getting a bit out of control and he wasn't really looking super cute any more...PLUS this lady at the store called him a girl when he was wearing CAMO so I decided it was time. I buckled him in, put on a good movie and went to work.It's always so tempting to stop cutting halfway through and leave your kids with a sweet mullet.

This is the finished product, I guess he still looks super cute. And yes, he is eating a VERY hairy apple.

Visiting Nana and Grandpa

2009-03-10T22:20:00.001-07:00

When we heard my parents would be leaving for Fiji so soon, we decided we would go visit them one more time...and left 3 hours later. It's hard to be spontaneous once you have kids and jobs and no money, but we decided to pack up and leave because we might not find another time to see them before they were gone (see:http://susanandfranksexcellentadventure.blogspot.com/). We drove through the night hoping the boys would sleep the whole time, yet, at 4 AM they both still had their eyes open. Sammy puked 3 times on the way there, but that was most likely due to his mild electricution earlier that day. We arrived at 5:30AM, tired, but happy to see Nana and Grandpa. Tommy loves them both so much! and Sammy likes pretty much everyone, so he was happy to get some attention too.
Tommy liked being able to "help" so much with all the baking my mom does.

It's not that we are snow deprived in Vancouver, but still, this much snow is always exciting for a 3 year old boy, and Tommy was out in it as soon as he could be.
Sammy came outside because Tommy was, but I don't think he was as into as his older brother.

If anyone thought the fact that all the streets were covered in 3 inch thick ice covered with snow would stop Tommy from showing Grandpa how good he was at riding the bike he got for christmas, they were sorely mistaken. We visited my mom at the office, and, simply to stop them from destroying everything we put them on top of the filing cabinet. When did Tommy become such a poser?
My dear sweet boys love to find "great hiding spots" wherever we go. It's awesome. I love it.

I don't know how Tommy gets away with climbing all over my dad during dinner, it definately would not have gone down this way when I was growing up.

My mom tried to help Tommy on his quest to become a pirate when he grows up.
I don't know why, but Sammy makes this face alot. I think he's happy.

SYTYCDC the concert!

2009-02-01T23:03:00.000-08:00

Me and some of my girls went to the So You Think You Can Dance Canada concert when it came to Vancouver. Even my very bestie, Tams, came out from Calgary to visit and go to the concert too. We had so much fun, getting ready, riding public transit and screaming like teenage girls.

Candise came over early to get ready together...do you remember those days? I felt like I was 17 all over again. And yes, I am even hard-core when I get ready.

Just before we left Jesse told Tommy that mommy was weird, whatever, what does he know?

Riding the sky train downtown. We decided to drive Candise's car to the station because it was the least likely to be stolen.

This is us and our super great seats. If you look behind us you can see the suprising amount of middle aged men.

Isaac and Allie doing a pretty sweet hip hop routine.

We are all very excited!...why you ask, well just scroll down.

TWITCH!! Possibly the awesomest dancer from any season of SYTYCD, twitch, showed up at the concert during half time and it was definately a highlight. He sat just a bit in front of us, and I kept watching him to see what he thought of all the dances.

The dancers. The concert was so amazing.

Chinese New Years

2009-02-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

We have an annual Chinese New Years Party, not because we are Chinese, or follow their calendar at all, but it is a really good excuse to eat lots of chinese food and leave all the kids at home.

Sammy was awake for the start of the party, I really only kept him up to show of his cute chinese PJs and hat. Tommy had his first big sleep-over with Grandma, it was wonderful.

My chinese centerpiece

Candise and Vanessa, what a cute couple.

We play a big "crazy rook" tournament. Jesse stayed at table #5 for most of the night. And no Josh, I was not trying to cheat by taking this picture.

Some girls at the 'loser' table, it was in the playroom and you had to play on an ikea kids table and chairs.

Some men at table four, this is my favorite picture, I'm not sure why, but the group of them make me laugh every time.

Ken and Barbie, I mean Mike and Steph...always ready for the perfect pose.

Some more of the players. I looks like the boys just got beat, and the girls are pretty happy about it.

The winners table, I can tell because they got TWO bowls of treats.

Winter Wonderland

2009-02-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Although I was raised in Alberta I have become a bit of a cold wimp since moving to Vancouver, so it was a big suprise to me and my boys when the snow just kept coming this winter.

On Christmas Eve we all played out in the snow a bit, there was so much we had to shovel our way around. Lindsay was going to build a snow fort, but instead we made it into a giant slide.

Sammy was just like the kid from "Christmas Story", he just kept falling over in his snowsuit. It was adorable.

But once he got outside it was all worth it.

Tommy admiring the petite snowman we built. The snow was so hard to roll!...it had been rained on a couple of times and was pretty icy.

Sammy wasn't a fan of the mittens while Tommy was a big fan of giant ice chunks.

He told me he was "looking for something"

He might look innocent enough but turn around for one second and he'll throw that ice chunk at your back.

Tommy loved the snow and kept going out in the backyard with literally only his boots on.

I told him he had to dress warmer, this was his solution.

We found the perfect tobogganing hill, Grandma and Grandpa's road, clearly there weren't many cars coming and going - look how much snow we had.

Sammy warmed up to the snow eventually. He wouldn't hold onto the sled so that he kept tipping over.

We also made a slide for the kiddies down Granpa's lawn.

Tommy on top of the mountain formed when we shoveled our sidewalk. I thought I lived in Vancouver?!

Is Tommy Potty Trained?

2009-01-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

I am afraid to utter the words out loud, afraid that I might somehow curse the blessed event. But Tommy has not had an accident for a week, NOT ONE! and he slept thru the night last night without a diaper. I am so excited, he pees in the potty at home, at church, at grandmas, at Candise's, at stores...could this be the real thing. I'm pretty sure he only decided to be potty trained because after 7 long months I finally bought a potty-training book, it arrived on Monday. Of course.

At the park

2008-11-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

Sammy loves the swings, he was born a thrill-seeker, and has always loved been thrown up or going down slides. It is nice when he is in the swing because I can leave him there while I give Tommy pushes or rescue him from the top of the playground.

Tommy has been able to climb up and over the park's climbing wall ever since he could reach the first handhold

He has so much upper body strength! I need to put him in gymnastics or swimming or something to harness the power.
If I look away for a minute he has climbed up something, he can always get up, but usually needs help getting down

So we totally think we can dance

2008-06-13T09:20:00.001-07:00

Some of 'my girls' and I get together to watch 'So You Think You Can Dance' at Candise's house. She tapes Wednesday's episode and then we watch it on Thursday night while she tapes the result show. It ends up being a really long night, but we have so much fun! As you can see we are all wanna-be b-girls, so last night Nikki taught us a sweet stall to add to our repetoir. Ya, this is the stall. If anyone who sees this wants me to be in thier 'crew' I could probs fit it into my sched.
This is Nikki and I in our sychronized stall.
Candise added her skills in helicopter spins to our breakin sesh.

This was us later that night chillin' on our block.

Best Friends

2008-06-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

We try to brainwash Tommy and Sammy into thinking they are best friends by saying it all the time. In reality they do have a lot of fun together, it just gets pretty rough sometimes, with a fair amount of crying (from both boys - Sammy scares Tommy) and whenever it is time to go somewhere Tommy suggests we leave Sammy at home. We'll see, hopefully if we keep telling them enough that they are best friends it'll catch on.I didn't think I would want to dress them matchy-matchy, but I can't get enough of it!Now that Sammy started crawling around Tommy thinks it is an invitation to go on a horsie ride. Sammy is a pretty good sport about it all, he just likes any time Tommy plays with him.Sometimes Tommy squeezes a bit too tight.

A touch of Tommy

2008-06-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Tommy is 2 1/2 and I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He speaks really well, so he can tell me exactly what he is thinking, which is often pretty funny. Yesterday in the car he said "I feel sick, I'm gonna frow up" - it turned out it was just a ploy to get me to take him to Old McDonalds (what he calls the restaurant). How can you resist when he is so smart about it?He also has a hilarious sense of humor and makes kids jokes about mommy being a goat and stuff -I think it is pretty funny. Here are some pics of him doing whatever he felt like doing at the time.
He slept in his car seat like this for almost 2 hours. They are so cute when the are sleeping. No, it wasn't raining, and actually we weren't even going outside, he just wanted to wear it.
There was a crusty old chocolate on the floor and Tommy found it and was about to eat it when I said "don't eat that, it looks like poop!" So then, he took off his pants and undies and clenched the chocolate between his cheeks yelling "it's poop!" I told you this kid was funny.
I found him like this - blanket and all - at about 5:00 pm, apparently it was a rough day.

Mr. diaper head
Reading books with Moses Smith. It was about the only time they were together where they appeared to like eachother - but as soon as they were apart he couldn't stop talking about his friend Moses.

Sammy these days

2008-06-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

Sammy is 9 1/2 months old and can stand all by himself. It is really cute - when he lets go of things he puts his hands up in the air like he is riding a roller coaster with "no hands!" He is still super smiley and happy and chubby and everyone that meets him loves him instantly. He is a bit more of mommy's boy than Tommy was, which I love! - it's nice to know he likes me.This is him standing all by himself!Such a giggler. This was at Cohen Rhulman's birthday, Tommy hated wearing his hat so Sam got to wear it the whole time.If he is ever sad we just let him grab onto daddy's hair and it makes it all better.

At the park

2008-06-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Now that it is a little warmer we go to a park as often as possible. There is a little park just across the street from us where you find us most days, and some days we venture out a bit. On this particular day we met up with Candise and her girls Jordan and Hayley. I realize that it might still look pretty cold in these pics, but at least it isn't raining!
Sammy was a bit sick this day, so we bundled him up good, and he was a pretty good sport about it all.This was the extremely high slide with very little railings. Dangerous? perhaps, but I'm not the kind of mom who stops her kid from having fun just because they could be seriously injured.

Hot tubbin'

2008-06-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

After we bought this house Jesse couldn't remember anything about it except for the fact that it had a hot tub. He goes in it at least once everyday. Sometimes instead of a morning shower, sometimes after basketball, and sometimes to play with the boys. Tommy loves jumping in off the edges, and doesn't even mind letting his head go under. Sammy loves to splash and gets so excited by all the noise and commotion Tommy makes.This is Tommy jumping in.And this is Sammy splashing around - can you find Tommy drowning in the background?

9 months old

2008-06-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

When Tommy had his 9 month birthday I decided to do a little photo-shoot of him because it was such a beautiful day and he was looking so cute. So when Sammy had his 9 month birthday I decided I should do the same for him, unfortunatley it was like the hottest day EVER and we were all so sweaty and the sun was glaring everywhere. oh well, he still looked cute. Here are some pics of the boys at the same age, you can decide if you see any resemblance. Sammy is the thumb-sucker.

This is Tommy - it's hard to remember he was that small.

Our beautiful backyard

2008-06-03T23:12:00.001-07:00

This was our yard just a few weeks ago. And yes, that is Jesse driving the bobcat. When we moved in our yard was really high-maintenance and low-fun, so we did a big overhaul. The biggest part was leveling it all out and building retaining walls. I was a little worried that Jesse had taken it all on himself, but he definately suprised me! See for yourself.
Obviously all the nail-pounding had some bonuses.

Tommy loved the giant pile of dirt that got dropped off. He called it his "mountain" and was very happy and very dirty the entire time it was there.
This was Tommy being super helpful while I was being the master turf-layer herself. My background as a professional landscaper is pretty obvious I think.

I am so excited to play in my new backyard!

Good Weather

2008-06-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

As soon as the sun came out Tommy's clothes came off. We are definately the ghetto family on the street - with Tommy playing in the front yard in just his tighty-whiteys but who cares? He was having the time of his life.

Daddy and Tommy got some big muscles from shoveling dirt - but unfortunately it seems, no tan.
When we got in we had ice cream cones, Sammy's first ever. It began as Jesse's ice cream cone, but Sammy liked it so much that he tore it from Jesse's hands.
He obviously enjoyed it.

Bath time

2008-04-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

We finally started putting the boys in the bathtub together, and they are so cute! They both splash and laugh a lot.

Nap Time

2008-04-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

Tommy was feeling tired so he made himself a little bed, it looked like one of the most uncomfortable possible places to me, but he seemed to like it, he stayed there for nearly 20 minutes.

Emily's 27 Birthday

2008-04-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

I turned 27 last week, and have spent the last little while trying to convince myself that I am not a lame boring mother of two (hence my model pic). It actually turned out to be one of my favorite birthdays ever! Jesse made me a chocolate cake and we ALL - even Sammy - enjoyed it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then I went to MamaMia with Cheryl and Ashley - and it was so AWESOME! Meanwhile at home Jesse fixed my computer and cleaned behind the fridge and the stove. How lucky can one girl get?

Tommy and Jordan Wilde

2008-03-31T12:40:00.001-07:00

"A friend will see you picking your nose and politely pretend they didn't see anything... a Best Friend will shove their finger up their nose and join in the fun."

-Candise Wilde

Spring Fever

2008-03-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

I realize that this is a lame post, but I am so excited to see blossoms! - at my own house! Since we moved in in the fall last year, I had no idea what a lot of the bushes would flower like - and I am pleasantly suprised. I already have a few flowers - as you can see, and can not wait for my apple tree to blossom!

Disaster control

2008-03-18T22:59:00.001-07:00

These past few weeks have been interesting to say the least. First of all, I am attempting to potty train him, so that means I wash a lot of mini underwear and review the yuckiness of pee and poo on the floor 5-10 times/day. Not to mention the extreme yuckiness of poo smooshed into the carpet with a tonka dump-truck.

Then, one morning a couple weeks ago I opened his door to discover waves of toxic fumes filling the room. He had melted 5 little plastic cars into his heater, and most likely destroyed billions of brain cells along with it, but what can you do?

Then, as you can see, he covered the bathroom in band-aids and soap- the smell of kiwi lime now makes me shudder.

All of this along with the fact that he is a maniac and climbs then jumps off of everything (notice picture number 3), and generally has more energy than any kid I've met so far.

Having said it all, he is still a sweetie, and cracks me up with all the new things he is learning to say and sing and do. So, Tommy, when you are old enough and read this just know that you are making me crazy, but its all worth it for you.

Sammy is the man

2008-03-18T22:45:00.001-07:00

I honestly have no idea when my little angel turned into a gangster, but when I saw this picture there was no denying it. He is wearing the double hoodie and sunglasses so he could come outside while I did yardwork, but I didn't pose him or anything - he is just that hard core.

Along with his new look Sammy has added his ability to crawl! And he is following in his big brother's footsteps by immediately wanting to climb everything in sight. aaaaaaagggghhhh! why me?! The stairs are generally his ultimate goal, but he will settle for climbing the fireplace, buckets, stools, people, pretty much whatever is available.

Primary Carnival

2008-03-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday night the Young Men put on a carnival for all of the Primary kids. They did a really good job, considering it's the young men. We all had a lot of fun.Tommy loved the bouncy castle, which only increased our belief that he would be happiest if we padded all the walls and floor in his play room and just let him jump around and throw himself into things.

This was one of the games Jesse and his teachers quorom were in charge of, Tommy and most of the kids, cheated and used their hands but it was still really cute.

This is Sister Mazerolle, Sammy's church mom. She takes him from me at the end of Sacrament each week and gives him back to me, fast asleep, at the end of Relief society. She held him for the entire primary party too. He loves her, and so do I!

Tommy obviously enjoyed the party, especially all the treats.

Yard Work

2008-03-18T22:00:00.001-07:00

So in a quest to use up all of our valuable time and energy Jesse and I are attempting to remove this giant Ivy wall from our backyard. It was a beast that was the home to millions of hornets in the summer and was blocking us from evening out our yard so we can put in a trampoline and sand pit and swings....etc. We are almost done now, here is a look at the progress we have made so far. GO TEAM LEAVITT!

Melissa

2008-02-26T22:19:00.001-08:00

My cousin Melissa came up to visit me all last week and I had so much fun. She was the best kind of company, she helped clean up, played with the boys, slept in ridiculously late, pruned my apple tree, shared her delightful dried pineapple and made me laugh hysterically.

She and Sammy got along great, he won the "how much of your foot can you stick in your mouth" contest, just barely. Tommy had lots of fun too, and was very sad to see her go.

The River

2008-02-26T21:59:00.001-08:00

The Fraser River is one of our favorite family spots to drive to and play, here are some pics of us recently doing just that.

Jesse teaching Tommy how to throw like a man

Tommy, really excited, I think because a train was coming. woot woot.

This picture shows not only Tommy's interest in fire pits, but also how far he waded into the river before we noticed.

This is me practicing my amazing form, yes, I know, I have really long fingers.

Zoo

2008-02-26T21:35:00.001-08:00

"Hi Donkey"

On Saturday we went to the Aldergrove Zoo, and although it may not be world renouwned, our little 2-year-old loved it from start to finish. Each animal we got to he leaned right over and said "Hi Lion", "Hi Rhino", and yes even "Hi Coyote" (really high-class zoo).

This is Tommy on the WAY to the zoo, it was only 9:30am!

We went with Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt, and Uncle Jeremy, who, Tommy decided he loves.

We should have taken the picture of him and the train before we rode it, apparently the whistle was quite frightening.
Tommy even said "hi" to this stone turtle about 10 times.

Sammy

2008-02-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

Sammy was born on August 16, 2007, and is the epitomy of an angel baby. He has slept throught the night since he was a month old (mostly), he hardly every cries, but mostly he smiles, all the time. I thought about giving him a soother, but then I figured -why? he doesn't cry and it would just be hiding his big smile. He loves his big brother. He even smiles and giggles while Tommy smushes blanckets in his face and tries to drag him around the room by one arm. He is precious.

Tommy

2008-02-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Tommy was born on Nov. 2, 2005 and has been a wild boy since the first day he moved in my tummy. But man is he ever cute! He drives me nuts, especially since he has recenlty taken on the role of 'nursery bully' but then he starts to sing "I like to move it move it" and dance around the room and I just can't stay mad. He talks like crazy now, for better or worse, and has definatley said some funny things. Recently on visit to the Harvey's house for dinner he told Mary directly that he didn't "like the food" - it was hilarious/horrifying. He also apolgizes all the time - I'm always worried that he has done something bad. Mostly I love that he tells me he loves me and gives me kisses and hugs voluntarily.

Fun times with our little family

Just for Nana

Mama Mia Remixed

Hit the Road Jack... and by Jack I mean Raccoon.

The Raccoon

I'm Back!

Tommy on a two-wheeler

More mediocre talents

April in a nutshell

"New Moon" sets in Vancouver

A little chat with Tommy

Stalking the wrong set *UPDATE* MAY ACTUALLY BE ONE OF THE SETS

Fiji-rific

A visit from the Fitzners

I finally did it

Visiting Nana and Grandpa

SYTYCDC the concert!

Chinese New Years

Winter Wonderland

Is Tommy Potty Trained?

At the park

So we totally think we can dance

Best Friends

A touch of Tommy

Sammy these days

At the park

Hot tubbin'

9 months old

Our beautiful backyard

Good Weather

Bath time

Nap Time

Emily's 27 Birthday

Tommy and Jordan Wilde

Spring Fever

Disaster control

Sammy is the man

Primary Carnival

Yard Work

Melissa

The River

Zoo

Sammy

Tommy

Stalking the wrong set UPDATE MAY ACTUALLY BE ONE OF THE SETS