Bop It and Young Love

A bit of a random post...but we LOVE to play Bop It.

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and I have to say I am pretty good...ha! Well Tracen has found a love for the Bop It and after much frustration, whining and tears, he has learned to be patient with himself...he plays daily and is actually getting pretty dang good. He has even been known to come up to us and say, "Hey! You win...not!" "Bummerrrrrr!" "Here he is in action.

In other news my friend and I took our kids to a free movie (Despicable Me...soooo funny) on Saturday and her sweet little Cala and Logan were so sweet together.  The walked all the way from the car to the theater (through the mall) holding hands and even sat by each other and ate popcorn during the movie...awe...love young love!  Aren't they cute?

Our Love Story

Our Love Story is simple...but it is my FAVORITE! 

People always laugh when i tell them that Chris proposed to me by going 

Fishing in the Dark

...but if they truly knew the back story of it all...they would have found it as thoughtful, creative and romantic as  

I do!

Valentine's Day normally comes and goes in our home...no big bang surprises

(even though secretly every year I hope for one...sigh)

and this one was about the same.  The boys and I woke up and had heart-shaped sugar toast, did some grocery shopping, went to the gym then headed over to the ever-so-popular dollar store to buy a toy or two with the dollars that Gigi and Papa Layton sent.  The boys were in HEAVEN.

My friend texted and offered to come watch the boys for a bit so Chris and I could go out...considering that we NEVER go out...we took her up on the offer...but since I already had dinner planned and Chris doesn't get home early, we left after the boys were in bed and just got ice cream and spent an hour together away from home.  During Residency it seems like those small moments are few in number.  I want to treasure these times that I get to spend with my boys and to spend with Chris.  I know that the next 53 months (yes, I am counting down) will be rough...but there are a lot of good moments in there too.

 

<3 Happy Valentine's Day to MY 3 DUDES <3

Grounded

This story is primarily so I can look back and show Logan what a "notty" boy he can be.   LOL...not really, but it's good to document your child's first day grounded right?  People always talk about the "terrible-twos"  that is not the case for Logan...it is the "terrible-trantrum-threes"

It all started on Sunday morning.  The boys were eating breakfast, with dripping wet hair ready to be blow-dried yet dressed for church, I came down with the boys' "church clothes."  As soon as they saw me, immediate whining and complaining began.
"I don't want to go to church!"
"Why do we have to go?"
 "It is way too long!" 
"I am NOT wearing that." 
Amidst these cries, I still handed them their clothes and informed them that we will be going to church so we can learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus and that I wasn't going to change my mind.
Tracen surrendered, but Logan was up for a fight! 
Kicking, screaming, wailing (gnashing of teeth to its fullest) could be heard throughout the house.
I  forced him to put on his clothes while he decided to take all anger out on me and kick me...yes folks...Logan has a little temper and despite the fact that I don't kick him (or hit for that matter)  while I am mad at him he chose this for his outlet...and would not stop.
I was furious and marched him up to his room and shut the door. 
Minutes later he was still angry with me, but we had to get ready to go and so I told him that he needed to say he was sorry and talk to me about his bad choice...he would not comply.
So I gave him
warning #1:  Logan, I am going to count to 5 and if you don't calm down and start listening to your mama you are not going to be able to play with any of your guys (action figures) for the rest of the day...1...2...3...4...5 ok I guess you won't be playing guys today after church. 
Logan:  I don't want to say sorry!
warning #2:  Logan, I am going to count to 5 and if you don't calm down you will not be able to play with your dinosaurs for the rest of the day...
still not a positive response
warning #3:  Logan, I am going to count to 5.....you will not get to watch any movies for the rest of the day...
Seriously?  Why isn't this working...I have now taken away his 3 favorite things and he is not budging...talk about stubborn.
and then it hit me...
warning #4:  Logan, I am going to count to 5 and if you don't fix your attitude and apologize to your mama then I am going to call Leslie and you will not get to play with Max and Ben tomorrow.

Bingo!  Immediate remorse...ha!  Needless to say, we had a lot of talking and explaining about how to handle our anger.  When Chris got home from his night shift (just in time for us to leave) I informed him that Logan was GROUNDED for the day and that he had lost a lot of his privileges. Chris thought I was a little funny...but hey, I didn't know what else to do.

The severity of his punishment didn't really hit him until we got home and he couldn't find his guy/dinosaurs and wasn't allowed to watch a movie.  I held strong even though it brought on a lot of sad tears, but I calmly reminded him that he made these choices and he knew what the consequences were...sorry...Hopefully our little temper man will fix his attitude next time!

Valentine's and other crafts

For a few weeks, maybe even months, Tracen has been bugging me to make him Racing Podiums.  So while Grandma Debbie was in town, we wanted to craft and bought a post at the Home Depot to make blocks and I had the guy cut some racing podiums for Tracen's Race Cars.  So we got messy and got to work painting.  Tracen did the red, Logan did the blue and I painted the yellow.  Dad was around for moral support...ha!

 

The finished product. They have gotten a lot of use in the past couple of weeks. The boys are constantly racing and announcing the winners. Pretty fun and easy project!

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching we have had a few projects to send to our friends and family.  Thursday night, we formed an assembly line of bouncy balls, candy and suckers and stuffed all of our Valentine's for Tracen's class plus a few extras to send to friends and all of our cousins.  The boys get the saying {Being your friend is a "ball"} and the girls get {Valentine, you make my heart "bounce"}  We also made Valentine's for our Grandmas and Grandpas today that we will send...they will be late, but hey, we still wanted to show them some love  <3

While my mom was here we made a couple of things.  These are our Valentine's Day block that we fashioned from the above mentioned post.  I think it is pretty cute!

A Purple Day

DISCLAIMER:  This is in no way an attempt to catch up on major back blogging from the month of January...it will happen!  We have not forgotten about Rheuma-holiday, the fabulous visit from Grandma Debbie or the craft projects and just plain good times.

At Tracen's preschool they use the Stop Light System to reward good behavior.
A green day is a good day
Yellow is a not so hot day
and Red is a very bad day!
So far this year Tracen has had all GREEN DAYS! and he is always so proud of this accomplishment.
If you get a green day everyday for a month you get to choose a special prize from the treasure chest..
it's a pretty big deal when you are 5!
Well, on Tuesday...Tracen not only got a Green day for good behavior
but he got a PURPLE day!
meaning that his behavior went above and beyond that of the rest of the students in his class.
This is a pretty big deal.  The purple days are NOT, I repeat NOT, handed out very often
AND
if you get a purple day,  at the end of the month you get to choose an
EXTRA Prize from the treasure chest!  That's my boy!
Tracen was SO Proud of himself...he told everyone we saw about his PURPLE day!
So why did he get it?
He was "setting a good example by listening, sitting quietly while the rest of the kids...
were full of energy."  What?  Way to Go TRAY!

And now for your viewing pleasure...
What happens on a 29th birthday when the Daddy is stuck at work...
Don't laugh at us too hard...I only include this because Tracen LOVES this dance and we do it often...we were documenting it for Chris. Ha! Enjoy

Once there was a Snowman....

 SNOWMAN****************SNOWMAN

 Once there was a SNOWMAN

TALL

TALL

TALL

Then the boys 

ate him***ate him***ate him***

Then the boys

ATE HIM
ALL
ALL
ALL