Fun pumpkins!

I wish I could say that these were my very own idea but they weren't. I saw similar ones on Studio 5 yesterday and loved them, so I had to try it out today. It was a fun afternoon project for Ashton and me while Gunnar was napping. We all know how much Ashton adores anything to do with Halloween, so he was super excited when I told him what we were going to do. I let him use the spray paint on a couple of pumpkins (under close supervision) and he totally loved it.

Quite the little photographer too...he took this one!
Aren't they fun??? And so simple...just metallic spray paint (that dried actually really fast), pipe cleaners and ribbon!

I'm still looking for a little cuter ribbon, but this is what Walmart had...

Hello 18 months...goodbye binkies!

Gunnar turned 18 months old 4 days ago on the 28th of September and as I got ready to put him to bed that night I decided to just do it...I cut the ends off of his binkies. I knew I just had to make myself do it and not turn back. When I first handed one to him and he put it in his mouth, he immediately took it out and looked at it funny, then looked at me funny. Then proceeded to put it back in his mouth and chew on it. So that night I let him take it to bed and as usual as of lately, he woke up a few times in the night, but that night I never went in his room. Each time he cried for a few minutes then put himself back to sleep. Then the next night he took his binky to bed again and actually slept through the night. Yesterday I cut more off of them and then it was like he completely lost interest in them! Really I did not think it would be this easy...he loved them so much! Last night he didn't even take one to bed and slept through again. Today I put them away for good and he's forgotten them already.

Success!

I'm so proud of him (and of me for doing it...I'm patting myself on the back :)

He's also down to one nap a day. He goes down around 1:30 and sleeps a couple hours.

My baby is growing up ...

But he sure is cute and fun!

(and he wants to be just like Ashton (or Aggie as he calls him).

He put the helmet on himself......then I fixed it for him.

He loves to ride Ashton's scooter :)

He is saying (or trying to say) everything now. Some of my recent favorites are "otay...he says this in reply to everything we ask him to do (assuming it's something he wants to do) Otherwise it's a firm NO (with kicking and screaming)!

Yesterday we were pulling into the Hobby Lobby parking lot and Ashton was asking me why they call it Hobby Lobby, so I was trying to come up with an answer when I hear a cute little voice repeating "hobby lobby" over and over.

All day he loves to ask me "where Daddy?" and he knows that I'm going to say "at work", so he just laughs when I answer him. Fun little game for him.

We got Halloween decorations out yesterday and he loves to pick up one of the fake pumpkins and carry it around. He calls it pumpy.

This is such a fun age! I love it!

Here's Ashton when he was about the same age...

Lagoon...

The Friday before last I got to take Ashton on a fun date to Lagoon or "Magoon" as he called it the whole time. My friend and backyard neighbor Lindee invited us because it was Lagoon night for Icon (her husband's employer) and he wasn't able to go. Lars stayed home and had fun just being with Gunnar.

I used to love Lagoon when I was a kid, well mostly as a teenager going with friends. I still actually remember the very first time I ever got to go. My Dad took us when I was about 10 or so and I remember being so excited that I couldn't sleep the whole night before. But then gradually over the years I've gotten to where I get horrible motion sickness on rides and really even if I swing on a swing or turn my head fast! But I knew how excited Ashton would be when I told him we were going. In fact I didn't tell him till before school that day because I knew he wouldn't quit asking when we were going if I told him any sooner.

We had so much fun! Ashton and Lindee's little girl Addy were so cute together.

Holding hands standing in line... laughing on the rides together ......and Ashton even leaned back one time to help her with her seatbelt! So sweet! It was so fun to hang out with just him for once. He LOVED all of the little rides...especially this dragon one that Lindee was nice enough to take him on twice since I really didn't want to be sick the whole night. Thanks Lindee! Right before it started up the first time he got really nervous and started crying telling her he didn't want to do it, but it was too late and by the time it went around once he was smiling and laughing and still says it was his favorite. Besides the Terror Ride of course. That's the haunted one, and if you know Ashton and his love for anything scary...he LOVEd it. It's actually really gory and disgusting if you've been on it and paid any attention to it. He asked if Addy could go on it with him, and Lindee and I both said no way! Most kids would have nightmares!

I think we might have to take Ashton back for Frightmares...

What a fun night!

Thanks again Lindee for inviting us and Justin for not being able to go!

Just because...

I'm sick of the 8 cake being my latest post, and I only have about 5 minutes...here are my new favorite pictures of my boys. I found these cute blue doors on my walk yesterday morning, so I had to go take some pictures in front of them ...

8 years for Lars at Thermo Fisher!

On Sept. 17th, Lars had his 8 year anniversary of the day he started work at Thermo-Fisher (formally called Hyclone). Way to go Hunnie! We are so proud of you for going to work every day and working hard for us...I know it's not always easy.

To celebrate I made this cake for Lars. I was so excited that it was 8 years so that I could use my ball cake pan to make the cake (for a minute I couldn't for sure remember if it was 7 or 8, but I was glad that I figured out it was 8 because 7 would not have worked!) . Anyway let's just say it was the thought that counts...

Here is how it turned out... Pretty cute right??

Till you turn the pan this way...

We had Nate & Brianne and kids over to have dinner and cake and everyone pointed out what it really looks like...

Oh well...either way it tasted good and got the point across :)
Yes I'm weird with remembering random dates...I get it from my Mom!

Congratulations on 8 years hun!!!

Binkies, blankies & balls...

These are Gunnar's 3 favorite things lately (besides me :).

He LOVES all of them. During the day (and night for that matter) he always has to have one of his many fleece blankies with him. He calls them his "nigh-nighs" and there is always one draped around him or on his head.

And he constantly wants to be throwing a ball around. "ball, ball, ball, ball, ball!" All day long he runs around saying it.

It's so cute! Gotta have the blankie with it...Oh and of course anything to hit a ball with is even better!

And as I've mentioned before... he love, LoVe, LOVES his binkies. He only gets to have them during naps and at night, but he's gotten to the point where he gets really mad when I won't let him take them out of his crib when he wakes up. I can usually distract him so that he forgets about it, but if anything upsets him during the day, he runs back to his room saying "Bee, bee, bee!" and tries to get them out of his crib. He's gotten SO attached! And to think my kids were never going to have binkies! ha! Ashton never had one, so that was one habit I didn't have to break with him, but now I can honestly see how there are 4 year olds out there walking around with them! Okay not really...that drives me crazy, but it is going to be SO HARD to take them away from him. He loves them so much that he honestly giggles when I put it in his mouth when he goes to bed. I will be so sad for him when he can't have them anymore. Ashton's favorite thing has always been his Lovey and I don't feel like I have to take it away, so I feel bad that I have to take Gunnar's away. But I know that I need to do it soon. He also cries out in the night now if it falls out and he can't find it. That is what is going to motivate me to do it sooner...my SLEEP (or lack of it, I should say)! I know I need to do it, but don't really know how. Anyone have any advice?

My sister Debbi...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my sister Debbi. I actually never knew her...she was born on December 1, 1972...3 1/2 years before I was born, and sadly she died 17 months later. Actually 17 months, 17 days to be exact and it happened to be on the 17th of May.

Today Gunnar is exactly as old as Debbi was on the day she died. I guess that's why I've been thinking about her so much. Just the thought of losing him right now...I can't even imagine what it must have been like for my Mom and Dad. They were on their way back to Wyoming from New York and she started throwing up in the car. Then when they got back to my Grandpa's house, she was still sick the first day there, then they took her to the hospital. She got very dehydrated and passed away not too much later. The doctors said a virus had gone into her bloodstream and broke down her circulatory system.

This picture was taken in front of Niagara Falls on that trip home just days before she passed away... As I think about her and imagine what my Mom and Dad must have felt in her loss, I hold Gunnar (and Ashton) tighter and for longer. I think a lot of times we take for granted the time we have with our kids and wish we could "just get a break" from them. But what would it feel like if we never had another chance to hold them again? Never hear their sweet voices? Never kiss their sweet soft cheeks? Never hear their laughs? Never read them another book or rock them to sleep? I can't imagine...It is by far my biggest fear.

Debbi had red hair like Gunnar and in some old pictures some of the looks on her face remind me of him. (especially this one!)From what my Mom says she was feisty like Gunnar can be (and my sister Kelli with her red hair). She said at the time that she died she could say about 100 words and afterwards my Mom remembers counting all of them and remembering how she said them. She also told me about the nightmares of thinking she was still alive, then waking up to the sad reality of her being gone.

Luckily my Mom was just barely pregnant with my older brother Nathan and had him 9 months later and she's told me that it's always made her feel better to know that Debbi is in heaven looking out for the rest of us.

I just would have loved to have had an older sister (of course I love my younger one). But I often wonder what it would have been like. What she would have been like, and what she would have grown up to be. This December she would have turned 37!

I still have this Charlie Brown pillow that someone gave to her when she was a baby. Believe it or not, it is the pillow that I sleep on every night and have for years. (don't worry I wash it). Roommates and friends always used to make fun of me for it, but besides it being the most comfortable pillow ever, it makes me somehow feel closer to her. I love it.

Someday she and I will finally meet :)

When you kiss your kids tonight and put them to bed, hold them a little longer, maybe read them that extra book, and when they wake you up in the morning (a little too early)...get up and get them with a smile and thank God for another day with them. I know I will.