Kearns Family Times

Monday, October 29, 2007

Best Buds

Last Friday, I couldn't get Taylee to stay down for her afternoon nap. I asked Carter if he would lay by her. She got a great nap in with Carter by her side.

I heard Carter talking in his room during naptime last week. I walked in to find him like this. He was reading a book with his train conductor hat on...so cute!

The next night, Ty and I go in to check on him before heading to bed and he's got the metal humidifier band around his waist like a belt. It couldn't have been too comfortable.

She's officially a big girl now. Started sitting up on her own October 24. Yay for Taylee!

She takes baths in a big girl bath now too...I love her wide eyes..."what's going on?"

Taylee sometimes pulls her headband over her eyes...and then blinks really hard and grins when she can see through it.

My Greatest Loves

Silly Mommies

We had Jamin, Shanda, and the boys over Saturday evening to hang out. Tyson and Jamin left Shanda and I with the boys while they went to get dinner and a movie. This is what they came back home to:

I have a big bag of costumes collected through the years. Some of them are kids animal costumes...after halloween deals. The rest are my old dance recital costumes. Needless to say, they are all girl costumes. To our credit, we didn't push the costumes on our boys, they wanted the dance ones over the animals and robot. However, we were just fine letting them dance around in their very shiny and glittery costumes. We turned on some music, and they gave us quite a show. Just to give you an idea of how skanky these dance costumes were...the ones the boys are wearing..yes, the ones that actually FIT my 2 year old son-I wore when I was 12-15. Yuck!

Jazz Hands!

Jared came up with this pose all on his own. He was so funny in this costume. When we turned on the music, he started playing the piano on the costume.

Taylee got in on the action too

Our husbands weren't super excited to see their little boys all....dressed up. But they did put on such a cute little recital. And I've still got the shiny glitter in the carpet to prove it :)

Game Night

Growing up, my family would play games on Sunday night. I LOVED spending that time together and continued with game night when I was single at the Y. When Ty and I were first married, we would play strategy games a lot together and then later we really got into movie and music trivia games like sceneit, shout about movies, and pop culture trivial pursuit. Now that Carter is getting older, I've found that he really likes memory games. I have a game called Husker Du that I got when I was in the fifth grade. My fifth grade class had Husker Du competitions every week for fast finishers. I LOVED the game. It's a memory game with small pictures that you can turn to change into a whole new set of pictures when you're finished. I started playing it with Carter a few weeks ago and found that he's actually really good. He has an amazing memory and tied me the first time playing. Last night, we pulled out some fun family games like CandyLand, Husker Du, and a Provo puzzle and held our own little game night. It was so fun! Carter helped us move our pieces by counting out the colors (he loves to count EVERYTHING...it's his new fun thing). Dad came out with the win, but it was almost a last minute upset by me...oh well. We started the 550 piece puzzle a little before bedtime, so Carter was only awake while we completed the outside frame of "Provo." By our bedtime, Ty and I had finished the puzzle. I was quite amazed at how good Tyson was at puzzles. I could only find the pieces that had obvious things like words or people, but Tyson got all the buildings, bushes, and trees. IT was fun to see all the little details about Provo in the puzzle. Our old stomping grounds....hmm. Here's to many more game nights to come

New Furniture

Tyson earned a couch set from his company, Preventive Pest Control, for being #2 overall for the summer (way to go, hon!). We were really excited to finally get new furniture and were completely decided on what we wanted: a dark leather set with swivel rocking chair. We searched for weeks for just the right set, but couldn't agree on anything...until we found this set. IT was totally different than what we thought we wanted in that room...but it was perfect. We both loved the colors and design, the size (super deep for us tall folk), and the comfort...it is so easy to fall asleep in. The matching ottoman was so perfect with both the chair and couch, we had to do it. We have loved finally get our living room the way we want it. We ordered a Minerva Teichert print, Christ in the Red Robe, and it is being custom framed to match the gold tassels on our drapes. We should be getting it around November 15....we're so excited. That picture is Tyson's favorite. We're going to hang it over the entertainment center where the big vase now is. The last step is a large sconce clock to hang above the half wall that separates the dining room and living room. Whew! It only took 6 months, but we'll finally have 1 room finished.

Carter's favorite thing about the couches: cushions. He builds forts, makes trains, and jumps. We couldn't have known it would have become one of Carter's favorite toys.

We realized the other day that almost our entire room was paid for by bonuses and prizes from Ty working for Preventive Pest Control. He earned an incentive for the TV 2 years ago along with the surround sound speaker system. This past summer we won the money for the entertainment center and now the couches. They've definitely been good to us! Thanks PPC!

New Yard

Front Yard...we have 3 flower beds in the front and are planting tulips...I can't wait to see the results in the Spring

Backyard..the curbing area is pretty wide...it will be our garden

Friday, October 19, 2007

Blog slacker

I wish I was better at staying up on blog posts...I was really hoping to use it as a journal/scrapbook. We've had so much going on lately...blogging has fallen to the bottom of the to-do list. We just finished out yard (yay!)...now we'll plant tulip bulbs in the flower beds and wait for Spring :). We also redecorated our front room...new furniture...another yay! And...I moved my preschool downstairs. I knew it was inevitable...but I wasn't sure how to use the space without it being finished. I'm actually pretty pleased with it. And so far the kids like it as well. It saves me a ton of set-up and clean-up time and it's a lot more space than I'm used to working with. There are a few more things I want to get put in place and then I will officially file for my business license and start accepting more students.

Carter is getting more mischievous the older he gets. Anytime it's quiet and I'm working...I know he's up to something. I've been surprised lately at how he puts things together in his head. He talks all the time and is forming longer and longer sentences. Today I found him with the cookie bag...which he managed to get off the second from top shelf in the pantry. How? By stacking a box of pasta cans, a waffle iron, and his bathroom stool. Tonight about 30 minutes after Ty and I had put him to bed, he came out running-full speed-with a big grin on his face. We couldn't help but laugh. When we picked him up to put him back in bed, his jammies were all wet. The culprit was his humidifier which he somehow figured out how to empty water from. And, he had an ace bandage wrapped around his left leg which he would not let me take off. Where does he come up with this stuff? He definitely keeps me on my toes.

Taylee's little personality is coming out a lot more also. She has a....strong personality. When she wants to be picked up, she'll use her legs to arch her back up....all the way out of whatever she's sitting in. That's along with the squeals. She sure loves her brother. Whenever he walks anywhere near her, she'll start smiling and breathing fast. I show Carter how excited she is to talk to him and he says "no." He does love to sing to her though. Everytime Carter sings ABCs or I am a Child of God, Taylee will sing along. She makes any noise she can during the song. Maybe they'll be the next Donny and Marie Osmond :)

I sure feel blessed to be their Mommy. I've been reading a book about holding onto your kids...it's part of the attachment parenting movement, but not extremist. It mainly talks about how our society has turned into a peer orientation society and how to keep your family focused on family while still encouraging healthy relationships with peers....basically what the Proclamation to the World teaches. With Carter getting older and more independent, I'm realizing how I need to be really praying and thinking about the decisions I make with him. It's a big responsibility. And he's a great kid.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks...some things that have been keeping us busy.

Yes...she's our princess