Firetruck Museum, etc.

Last Saturday we went to the Hall of Flame Firetruck Museum in Tempe. We were a little worried it might not be that fun for the kids, but they loved it!

Look what Cory spotted! Provo.

 They had an area full of kid stuff so they could play.

After the museum, we headed home and had a visit with Cathy, Amber & Warren, Carissa, and Tarah. It was so good to see them!

Caden had his first day of nursery a few weeks ago. He did really great the first couple of weeks. But now, he's not. He screams if either I or Cory are not in there. He's been SUPER attached lately. He's also been waking up in the middle of the night as mad as can be. He's been waking up super early. Like before 6 and I can't get him back to sleep. So his life hasn't been too wonderful. He's gradually starting to learn more words. He said purple this week for the first time. He still won't say too many other colors though. He loves to do everything that Carson does. He won't sit in his high chair any more. He LOVES trucks. Especially firetrucks. He's happy in the car. So we've been doing lots of unnecessary trips to Target. He tripped and fell on the tile this past week and cut the inside of his lip for the first time. Blood was everywhere! Poor thing. He's still teething.

On Monday we had a surprise visit from Troy. That was really fun to catch up with him.

Carson is getting better at doing puzzles. I also printed off a behavior chart which has been so great! I put a clothespin either on Amazing, Great Job, Warning, or Consequence. He loves it when he gets to the top blue. He says, "Yay, I'm Amazing!" That is really cute. I also got him a pom pom jar to use when he does extra nice things. Life has gotten a lot better. I'm going to start doing a Preschool with him this week which I'm really excited about. 

I have been bored lately and decided to organize the pantry. I'll have to take some pictures when it's complete. A couple weeks ago, I made a magazine holder. I found some cute wrapping paper at Target on clearance and Mod Podged it. 

   

As much as I hate that Carson and Caden fight almost constantly, they actually do get along sometimes. I try to capture those moments because they do not last too long.

Selfie Sunday

 

Dogs!

Cory has been signed up on a website as a dog-sitter. Now that it's Summer, he's been getting lots of requests. On Wednesday we got a black lab mix to dog-sit. Yesterday we got 2 other dogs to dog-sit. The black dog left today so for a whole day, we had 4 dogs here. And they didn't get along very well. It was kind of nuts. We had ottomans and stools stacked on top of each other and baby gates to keep the dog away from each other. Now that the black dog is gone, it is a lot better and they are all friends. The other 2 dogs will be here for a week. I'm going to be doing lots of vacuuming. I've been using my diffuser lots too to help with the dog smell. I'm actually really surprised by how well it works. It works better than my scentsy.
Let me tell you--I really appreciate Teddy a lot more after watching these dogs. He is so calming and just goes with the flow. I love having Teddy around. He is seriously the best dog. 

I started painting my mirror this week. I'm not quite done with it. The boys were super whiny one day and I couldn't handle it anymore. So I turned the tv on and started painting. Then of course the boys wanted to paint too. I held Carson back for as long as I could--then I broke out the finger paint. Mostly so he would leave me alone.

We went to visited the Gordon's for a few minutes this week. Long enough to get Caden in Aven's dress-ups. He was REALLY proud. Apparently the visit was too long for Carson because he had a ginormous meltdown on the way out. 

Every year since Carson was a baby I have taken "DAD" pictures for Father's Day. Last year I attempted it, but it really didn't go well. This year was a little better, but not great either. Lots of fail pictures. 

We went to the Children's Museum yesterday. The boys had a lot of fun.

Caden had this very serious face pretty much the whole time we were there. That place is serious business!

Caden managed to get that purple pain all over his orange shorts and shoes. A lady working there told me it would come out in the wash. We'll see how that goes.

I really do love my kids. Caden does the cutest pouty face. And he pretends to be bashful.  Carson says the sweetest things to me. After I mostly finished painting my mirror, we were sitting down eating lunch. Carson says, "Mama, I really like your mirror." This morning after I had did my hair, Carson touches a piece and says, "Mama, I like your hair." He gives me compliments a lot! It is very sweet and makes my day.

June 8-14, 2015

We basically played this whole week. Again. 

On Monday morning we went to Target. Cory wanted to take back one of his birthday presents and get Carson a backhoe or something.We found a bulldozer, which he fell in love with instantly and carried it with him the entire week. Didn't let it leave his sight. He even slept with it at night. And I got Caden little miniature trucks which he loves. So they played with those all week. 

 Tuesday morning I decided to go for a run since it was overcast. Then we stopped at the park to watch the frontloaders, bulldozers, whatever was there. The boys loved it! Sidenote--they are building a new playground, skatepark, and plash pad a couple of blocks away. So excited! Mostly for the splash pad--not so much the skatepark. Afterwards, we headed to the library for story time. I'm really trying to make that a priority.

Later Tuesday morning, when Cory was on his way to work, passed a stopped state highway patrol car. The officer then moves into traffic and pulls Cory over. He told Cory he saw him in the HOV lane(which Cory wasn't.) He took his license and when he came back told Cory his plates were suspended and he didn't have insurance--all while being super disrespectful. The whole time Cory is thinking WTF??? The officer then gives Cory at $400 dollar ticket for being in the HOV lane and a $500 for having suspended plates. Turns out this guy put in the wrong license plate number!!! So we have spent the last few days trying to fight this, calling sergeants and captains trying to explain. This whole thing sucks and no one really was being that understanding. So we are going to have to fight this in court. 

Our closed minded selves always thought that people who had police officers disrespect them, was because they were breaking a law, or doing something they weren't supposed to or were being disrespectful themselves to the officer. We now understand that some officers are just plain rude. Whether this guy was having a bad day or not, he shouldn't make mistakes or be disrespectful.

Wednesday morning the boy got haircuts. Carson still absolutely hates haircuts. To the point where we have to hold him down. But Caden does pretty good. He was only a little sad. Cory doesn't work very much on Wednesdays so after the boy's nap we decided to go to Chick-fil-A and have an early dinner and play. 

Thursday morning we went to the library for a special event with firetrucks! We met up with some friends including Carson's little girlfriend as we like to call her. We first walked into the story time room for crafts and presentations but the room was packed! Carson was too overwhelmed to have fun. Caden really liked it though. I'm starting to see that whenever there are a lot of people around, Carson shuts down. I now wish we would have just gone straight to the firetruck and not even dealt with the crafts. But we have a friend from our Avondale ward that is a firefighter here in Surprise. He was there! He helped in nursery a lot and Carson became good friends with him. So it was fun to see him. But right as we were about to say hi to him, Caden threw up everywhere! So, we went straight home afterwards. Cory was holding him and got drenched.

Carson is really into taking pictures of his toys and stuffed animals. Cory and I like to joke and say how artistic he is. He poses his toys so funny sometimes! 

He was posing Caden and told him to say, "cheese." I guess this is Caden's "cheese" face because this is what he did.

I find these pictures on my phone ALL THE TIME. So funny.

Friday Caden still wasn't feeling good and I held him on the couch the entire morning. I had to get up to pee and eat and he refused to get down. So Carson gave him some legos to play with. It was so sweet.

 

Yesterday morning we decided to go to Cabella's since we have never been there before. The boys loved it! It was better than the zoo! Cory spent a great deal of time looking at the guns. He thinks he is going to be purchasing one in the near future... 

Then we took the boys to Chick-fil-A to eat and run around. But we didn't eat because we got our food at Cafe Rio! We had a BOGO coupon. They never have those! And we ran into the Heid's ( Cory's boss) while we were there. What are the odds. We were a good 30 minutes away from Surprise. I have run into them quite a few times actually which is bazaar because I really don't run into anybody else. 

Caden was sooooo happy yesterday. Like the happiest he's been in a long time due to being sick and teething. He was his old joking little self. We were loving it. But out of nowhere, he throws up everywhere after I put him to bed! So he and Cory stayed home from church today.

This morning we woke up and some hooligans had spray painted a bunch of cars in our neighborhood! And they broke into a couple of U-Hauls. So cops were out and about. Luckily, both of our cars were in the garage. But our poor neighbors!

Here's a cute picture of the boys this morning.

I taught the Young Women today. Our lessons this month are about the Priesthood. I was SUPER excited because that is one of my favorite subjects. I think I quoted Heather (womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com) most of the lesson and used her blog and both of her books. I can't wait for next week to teach even more.