Countdown to school...

Ashton's school is one of the latest to start I think...he still has a week and a half before his first day. He is getting so excited!

In the meantime, I'm having to get creative to find things to do these last couple weeks...especially since our lawn got fertilized today and we couldn't really be outside on it. We did go for a walk this morning like usual, but after that we spent the entire rest of the day inside. I think Gunnar is trying to make his transition to one nap, so he slept from a little after 10:00 this moring till almost 1:00. While he slept and I got ready for the day Ashton played with his buddy Jace. Lars let them use his hunting "walkie talkies" so they played with those for about an hour, then found other things to do before it was time to split up for lunch.

Then this afternoon I turned on some music for Ashton and Gunnar (like we do lots of times lately) and they had a little dance party in the living room. The two of them will do this FOREVER! They love it. Lars teaches them all sorts of crazy dance moves and they can't get enough of it. I had to get out the video camera today to record some of it.

(taking a break to snuggle on the floor...)

While I had them busy doing that, I whipped up some banana/chocolate chip bread. Then Ashton started to get a little bored, so I made him this big paper mustache and that entertained him for the next hour or so. He thought it was so fun to tape it on to his face. His friends came back over and wanted one too...yes I know...kind of ridiculous, but so fun for 4 year olds!

I even made one for Gunnar, but I had to hold his hands down so he wouldn't rip it off while I took a couple pictures.

hee hee!

While that entertained them, I put my cute apron back on (thanks Brianne!) and made yummy pineapple/blackbean enchiladas for dinner. Just having it on makes me more motivated to cook! (whatever it takes right???)

I tried to put Gunnar down for another nap around 4:00, but he just rolled around in his crib for about 20 minutes then decided he wasn't tired, so he got back up. Anyway somehow we made it to 5:30, when Daddy came home. For once dinner was on the table, so we all ate, then had time to walk down to the school park to play for awhile before it was time to go back home for more dance party!

It turned out to be a pretty good day...I had to laugh when at one point Ashton said..."It's a special day hu Mommy, cause we get to stay home ALL DAY!" He's back to his wanting to wear his pajamas all day, and if I choose not to fight that battle with him, he's happy as can be.

Now what to do tomorrow????

Our finished backyard project!

Well it took the better part of the summer since we never seemed to find the time to work on it, but our backyard project is done! I think Lars did an awesome job on it! After having it leveled out he got this "Frame-It-All" (retaining wall) stuff off the internet and put it in, then made the sandbox... ...and finally cleared out all of the remaining rocks ...then added the playground woodchips a couple weekends ago.

That day the boys had lots of fun helping Daddy move the woodchips from the driveway to the back, then helping me spread them out... I don't know what we'll put here eventually (Ashton is begging for a trampoline), but in the meantime we moved the swingset down there. It's nice to have a flat spot in our yard finally! And really if we take the swingset down in the winter, the kids can still have their sledding hill when the snow covers it all up.

I have to add this new favorite picture of mine...

Gunnar thinks it's so fun to hang on to these all by himself for about 10 seconds...strong little guy!

My fun weekend away...

This past weekend I had plans to meet up with my friend Mandy in Idaho to scrapbook and just hang out. Well at the last minute our plans fell through, so I decided since Lars was already planning to watch the boys all weekend I wouldn't forfeit my opportunity for some time to myself. He booked me a room in Layton so I could go scrapbook for a couple nights and meet up with some friends. So I took off Friday after he got home from work a little early, checked into my room and scrapbooked till almost 2:00 am. I slept in a little on Saturday morning, grabbed some breakfast then scrapbooked some more.

For my birthday this year I got a Cricut cutter......so I finally got it out and figured out how to use it. It is so fun and I used it a ton!

Anyway I finally got ready for the day around 2:00, did a little shopping then met up with my friends Starlee and Randi for dinner at Red Lobster.

Randi is in the process of moving to Layton, so she took Starlee and me to see her new house, then we went and got frozen yogurt and Starlee and I went to see The Time Traveler's Wife. After we got out at midnight we went and crashed in my room. Starlee had to get up early and get back so I slept in a little again, then made myself do 5 more pages before it was time to check out at noon. Then I went home...I missed my boys, but it was so nice to get a little weekend break and come back to their smiling faces happy to see me! They had lots of fun with Daddy...thanks hunnie for letting me get away and for staying home with the boys!
I think I got about 25 pages done...here's a little slideshow of them :)

My funny Ashton...

It's been awhile since I've posted any funny Ashton comments, but he just said one as I'm sitting here at the computer, so I figured I better post it before I forget what he said.

Lars was asking him what he wants to do for his job when he grows up and he said "I want to do what you do..." to which Lars replied, "Oh so you want to be an engineer hu?" and Ashton says "No!" I want to work at that fly fishing place that you work at. So I butted in and said "Yeah I'm sure it seems like that's what Daddy does for work since he goes fishing so much, but what do you mean?" And he said you know that building where Daddy works??? I laughed when I realized he was talking about Thermo-Fisher (Lars' company's name!) Too funny!

So here are a few others...

A couple months ago I was getting ready to go to a funeral for a friend from church's husband who had passed away after a long battle with cancer. So it was a rare time that I was actually dressed up (just in a skirt and shirt) and Ashton says to me "Hey Mommy why you wearing that curtain???" In all seriousness! Guess I don't dress up much hu? I laughed so hard!

Yesterday he and Gunnar were downstairs "playing" which was actually more like fighting and I was upstairs for a minute when I hear Gunnar start crying pretty hard. I come downstairs and Ashton is inside of his little tent and Gunnar is on the outside and it's obvious to me that he's not letting Gunnar in and he must have pushed him out or something, so I ask him to tell me the truth about what happened and he says...well he has snot dripping into his mouth and he just doesn't like how it tastes so it made him cry really hard. Lovely story Ashton...in the end I got the truth out of him that he'd pushed Gunnar out of the tent.

Lars has recently started running again and went for a quick run after work the other day and told Ashton he was just going to run down to the school and back. After about 10 minutes (when he realizes Daddy isn't back yet) he says to me "I think Daddy must have gotten stuck in the tunnel at the park." Funny to me as I'm picturing that in my head. Ha!

Oh and one more I just thought of that was quite awhile ago. Out of the blue he asked me "Hey Mommy how come we can't see our thinkings?" It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about then he said, "you know like people in books." Like when they have the little bubble above them with words in it! I love how his mind works!

Funny kid!

Fun in the Sun...

I keep forgetting to post about the Fun in the Sun program Ashton was in for the first 6 weeks of summer. It's put on by Providence City and he went to a local park two days a week for a couple hours a day, where they did all sorts of fun games, crafts, activities and even got to go on some fun field trips. He got to go to Firehouse Pizza, Maceys, Willow Park Zoo, the American West Heritage Center, and miniature golfing at Willows golf park. He loved it and I'm so glad I signed him up for it. He's that kid that gets soooo bored at home if there are no friends to play with or if there isn't an activity planned, so it worked out great for both of us. I'll definitely sign him up again next year.

Here he is with his teachers on the last day he went before our vacation...

Vacation Bible School...

Not this past week, but last Monday through Friday, Ashton went to Vacation Bible School at our church each day from 9:00 am to noon. He had so much fun and I'm so glad he had the opportunity to go to it. I've helped at it in the past, but decided this year that I wanted him to really get something out of it and enjoy it and I know that if I had been there, he may not have done as well. Like the summer 2 years ago when I was barely pregnant with Gunnar (and sick!) and Ashton was 2 1/2. I was in charge of all the crafts and they had me put Ashton in the preschool part of it and it was a nightmare! All he did was cry and misbehave and run down to my classroom all day!

But this year he did great and it was so fun to have him come home each day and tell me about the Bible point of the day and sing the songs he learned and show me the fun crafts they got to do and tell me about the snack of the day. He LOVED all of it! A couple of the days I showed up a little early to pick him up so that I could see him sing the songs and do the hand motions that they taught him to go along with them...it was so cute! One of the days, one of the leaders came up to me and said "Ashton is so cute, when Father is telling the Bible story and asking questions at the end, he is the first one with his hand raised wanting to answer"! It made me want to cry. He has come so far this past year and I'm just so proud of him!

Here he is with his buddies Julius and Dante...

The last day after it was over they had a children's mass , so I asked my awesome neighbor Lindee to watch Gunnar so I could go sit with Ashton at the mass. It was so nice to be there with just him and see him paying attention and singing the songs again. They really do such a great job with the whole thing. I can't wait to put him in it again next year and maybe I'll even help out again.

We'll see how Gunnar is doing at a little over 2...

Gunnar is 16 months old!

You all know how I love to do little updates on my kids as they get older...especially when they are changing so much from month to month when they are little. Gunnar turned 16 months old on my birthday last week. I can't believe it. He is getting so big and learning so many new things everyday. Some good and some not so good (from his older brother!) As we were driving to church the other day they're both in the back seat sticking their fingers in their mouth gagging themselves...lovely. Of course laughing all the way. Anyway here are some of the latest fun facts about Gunnar...
He is still a little shrimp...weighing in at maybe 21 or 22 lbs. At his 15 month check up he was in the 4th percentile on weight! Up in the 75th or so in height. His hair is as red as ever and finally long/thick enough to spike a little (sorry Mom...you knew I would do it at some point right?) I can't resist! He ADORES Ashton and follows him around copying his every move. I love it! I guess it's just fun to watch...I know every little brother or sister does it at some point, but it is a first for us and watching it just reminds me that I have 2 little boys when at one time I thought I might not have any! It still blows me away some days.

He seems to like animals already (you know he doesn't get this from me...or Lars for that matter) Must be from Grandma! He loves to go up and pet any animal he sees.

He is saying lots of new words now...some of his latest are: waffle, nemo, cookie, Ashton (kind of sounds like Aaaggiieee), star, cracker, bubble, toesies, nigh-night (when it's time for bed), hello, knock-knock, noodle and others I can't remember right now. It's so fun to see him really starting to understand so much! His most used word still that he says constantly all day long is Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! I love it, but Lars is loving that he says Daddy a lot more now too.
He gives real kisses now and still gives lots of hugs...he is way more of a snuggler than Ashton ever was.

He is sleeping pretty well...hardly ever wakes up in the night anymore, but he is an EARLY riser. He's pretty much up no later than 7:00 every morning.

Maybe I'll get used to it at some point!
He still takes 2 good naps during the day though and I don't think he's ready to go down to one anytime soon.

He's still a binky boy...he loves his binks, but knows he only gets them in bed. When he gets up in the morning or from a nap, I tell him to throw his bink and he throws it right into his crib. I'll be sad for him when he has to give them up (soon).

Here is Ashton around the same age...some similarities, but wow do they look a lot different!