January fun!

The boys love to take a bath.  If Keaton is ever too quiet it is because he has crawled in my room and pulls himself up to the bath....he has actually tried crawling in and dropped in.

 

Keaton @ 9 months

 

Karter almost 3 years old

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KARTER- 3 years old

January 21st 2014 Karter wanted a Toy Story themed birthday party. We invited his friends from church along with Rhet and Tanner. Only 2 were able to come but they still had a good time!

 

Karter with Mom and Dad

 

Karter swinging at the piñata

 

Rhet, Tanner, Bentley

Keaton on Karter's birthday

 

After his birthday party with his little friends we went to lunch and came back to make dessert for the family to come and celebrate with him.

Singing Happy Birthday!

 

Our little family!

 

We sure love our spunky, goofy, happy, social little 3 year old!

 

November and December 2013

Holy Smokes! We made it through the two busiest months I think we have had yet in our marriage.  Rusty is in school, works at DeVillbis Healthcare, is the Executive Secretary and I made a very large amount of Cinnamon Rolls by order from my facebook group page and previous customers. 

I have wanted to update how are family has been because so much changes with our cute boys day to day.  We had a really nice holiday spent together with family.  We have so much family in town we don't even get to see everyone during the holidays. 

 

This Christmas Karter was really starting to get into the whole Santa Clause business.  He was so excited about getting a bike for Christmas.  He said he wanted to tell Santa what he wanted.  Thinking he would be past the stage of screaming on Santa's lap (we didn't take him to see Santa last year).  This picture is of the boys waiting in line to see Santa.  I took them by myself the day before Christmas Eve.  I sat in line for almost 2 hours.  I am not sure how we did it.  The closer we got to Santa Karter started loosing interest in seeing Santa.  I was not going to let that time waiting in line go to waste.  We did it! We sat on Santa's lap....or should I say they sat on Santa's lap.  Karter screamed and Keaton looked up at him with a bit of wonder and turned to look at the camera.  Priceless! Worth the wait...I think?  :)

 

Christmas Eve we always spend with the Fife Family.  It is the one time we are all able to make our schedules available to be together. We actually got a family picture! This picture below is of us and Rusty's parents.

 

 

I always forget to take more pictures of Christmas morning with my family and the kids.  We didn't wake up Keaton to open presents with Karter b/c he is still so little he doesn't get it. We opened presents at our house and then went to my parents to open presents from siblings and my mom and dad. It is one morning we all get together.  Last year we added another in-law (my brother Craig married Murphy)  and so our family is growing! It's pretty awesome.

 

Keaton at 9 months-

plays with Karter like he is a big boy

gets beat up on by Karter

still plays with Karter ;)

Crawls on his hands and knees when he has no clothes on (doesn't like his tummy on the floor)

Army Crawls

eats three meals and 3 bottles

sucks his thumb while holding onto a blanket or my clothes

pulls himself up on everything

laughs, smiles and baby talks

says mama and sometimes dada

tiny head and skinny long body

looks like an Addington

loves his mom dad and brother

 

Karter-

turns 3 January 21st

is having a Toy Story birthday party

loves his little brother

loves his friends from church and Tanner, and Rhet

is all boy

favorite toys: legos, tools, and cars

loves helping work outside or with tools

likes to sneak out of bed in the night to come in our bed and snuggle

potty trained!! :)

loves being independent

enjoys play group

 

 

Here is to a fun and safe filled year in 2014!!



#beingamomishardwork

"My sister was gone for an hour and I've been thrown up on twice and changed three "blow outs" and found the toilet full of trash #abstinence #birthcontrol"  -Uncle Michael

My brother so kindly offered to watch these cute boys of mine for like 2 hours so I could go with my mom to Costco.  This is what he posted on facebook. So I commented on his post and said #beingamomishardwork

I think I am funny! :) It's true though.  Being a mom to two little cute boys like this is HARD work.  I try each day to have more patience than I did the day before. 

I love these boys and I have read something on a friends blog lately that I really liked.  She said she wants to be a good mom even on the hard days.  I can't remember how she eloquently said it but it was sweet! I am really not good at articulating my thoughts well; but, the more I write the better I get or hope to get.

Let's just take a minute to talk about how ADORABLE these two are.  But boy are they hard work!

Sunday that FUN day!

The house doesn't stay clean for as long as it used to but I am realizing that is ok for now.  Some day I will miss my children being little and playing with them.  I will miss them looking to me as their #1 (or should I say #2 when dad is around) playmate! They are starting to play with each other and it makes a moms heart swell with joy.

Today I saw Karter grab Keaton off the floor just to hold and love him.  This is a bit of a rare occasion as most often he is usually ending up hurting Keaton either on accident or purpose.  It made me almost cry!

Yesterday I was a lone ranger at church.  I couldn't fathom missing church.  I know that amidst my week I rely on the spirit I feel there.  It just doesn't feel right when I miss. I knew this would be a hefty task to go to church on my own.

It took me approximately 2 1/2 hours to get everyone feed, dressed, napped, diaper bag packed, and myself ready. We did it and actually walked in the church building before church officially started. I walked in with my back pack diaper bag and holding Karter on one hip while balancing Keaton's carrier on the other arm!

I set down the diaper bag, carrier and Karter as fast as I could find a seat! I said a silent prayer to help me make it threw! I just wanted to at least take the sacrament and if needed take the boys out for being irreverent. We made it threw.  THEN Karter started to melt down a bit and Keaton was in my arms pulling out my hair.  Sis. Smithson 2 rows behind me grabbed Keaton. Karter was fine about that until he realized he had disappeared. Then he wanted "My Keaton." 

I took Karter out. He calmed down and we came back in. Then as I sat down Keaton was fussy and likely hungry....Church is during lunch and nap time. So I grabbed Keaton and packed my things and took both boys to the mothers lounge.

Karter was running around the mothers lounge and being so wild! I just had to laugh! I took Karter to nursery. Then it was time to ventor into Sunday School. We lasted in there for a couple minutes until Keaton was hungry since he didn't finish eating with Karter being wild and distracting him.

We made it into relief society and Keaton needed to go to sleep....I got him to sleep and there was only 15 min. of the meeting left.

What I got from the last 15 min was amazing. Our bishop is inspired. He spoke to us women about revelation and building strong homes. 

We made it (with the help of many others who helped hold Keaton and carry him out to the car after church) Thank you....all of you!! :) Until next time...and dad will be there!!

I have much more empathy for the single mothers of the world. They amaze me with their strength.

October so far

Karter favorite thing to do is take a bath and he is a goofball! He would not just smile for the camera!

Karter is growing up so fast! He is saying such cute things that I am trying to remember them all and make sure to write them on the blog. I need to record the way he says them too.

-What's that making noises? (one of our favorites)

-I'n a big boy!

 

6 months old already!! I can't even believe it....where has the time gone?

stats:

16lbs-25%

27in-75%

17 1/2 head circ-not sure?

scoots around the floor like captn dan

starting sitting up today!! :)

eats 3 meals a day plus milk of course

loves his big brother

loves playing with toys

sucks his thumb

laughs

smiles

 

Next to bathtime going to the park is Karter's next favorite.  He LOVES playing outside and now the weather is finally nice enough.

 

Don't worry I am right here and wouldn't let him fall! He was too cute I had to snap a quick picture.

 

Joe (our nephew) was baptized this month! Rusty was able to baptism him and they both were pretty excited. They didn't even plan on matching and they did! So handsome.

 

Karter wanted to get baptized ALL DAY!! He would not stop saying "I wanna get baptized" and we kept telling him you can when you are eight. 

 

Joe's Step brother Grayson also got baptized. They are very close in age!

 

We went to the boys flag football game after the baptism and Keaton loved playing with grandma and eating her hat!

Day to Day Cuteness

I have really been trying to reflect often on how to be a better mother and wife.  I have really felt like I needed to start blogging again to help me reflect on the positive things of the day.  It is really easy to feel like a bad mom or horrible wife with the business of each day.  These two cute boys of mine are very demanding of my time and energy and it is easy to get put out of shape or feel exhausted. 

Last night I had felt like I wanted to receive a blessing from Rusty.  I asked him to give me one since I have felt worn out lately from the pressures and demands of being a mom, wife, daughter etc...
He told me exactly what I have been feeling lately.  It was neat to have the spirit confirm through this blessing things I have felt impressed to do to help me.

I just wanted to share some cute pictures of my cute boys today.  As I have tried harder to live in the moment and focus on the positive cute moments of the day I have felt more Joy today. 

Keaton is a big boy and eats real food now.  I can't believe it! He has grown so much:

-he cries when toys are taken away

-he scoots around on his belly like capt dan on forest gump

-he sleeps 12 hours at night

-he smiles with his whole face

-he fights it when you tickle him until he gives in and laughs

Does his smile melt your heart as much as it does mine?!

Keaton sucks his thumb! Karter was so excited to pose for this picture! He has really grown up a lot lately

Karter goes to his room every day for "quiet time" and sometimes falls asleep but sometimes just plays.  Today was one of those days he fell asleep.  It cracks me up how he falls asleep off of his bed during quiet time.

California

We decided we needed a family vacation! Rusty had a short break between his two jobs and so we made a last minute decision to go to California!  We were going to go to Disneyland one day but did not go since we had no extra hands to help out with Keaton.  We still had lots of fun.  Karter's favorite part was probably the hotel.  When we walked into our room he got so excited and wanted to share his excitement about it with Keaton as he started undoing Keaton's pack 'n play and said "Keaton excited??" It was darling!! We laughed about that for almost the whole trip.

Karter had his airplane back pack ("pack pack") on wheels and it went EVERYWHERE the whole trip.  We had to hide it from him if we didn't want it to go with us.  He loved rolling it around like a "big boy."  When we talk to him and ask if he is something like "are you _____?" and he will say "NO I a BIG boy!!"

It was a pretty chill vacation.  We saw Matt and Jillian the first night.  Karter scratched his eye somehow and was pretty upset about it.  Once we went back to the hotel we got him to calm down and fall asleep but he woke up at 1am screaming for 2 hours about his eye....we finally got him to calm down after putting in eye drops and giving him ibuprofen rusty went and got at the grocery store.  He still talks about it and says his eye "feels better." We almost took him to the ER.

We dropped my ring off at the place we got my ring at in California.  We took a trip over when we were engaged to get my ring.  It brought back a lot of special memories and helped us realize how much has happened in the short six years that we have been married. 
The next day we went to the beach! It was so relaxing and nice even though it was a cold overcast day. Karter had fun playing in the sand.  We cleaned up and went to downtown Disney that night and then we went to Farrel's Ice Cream Parlor. The atmosphere was fun but the food was disgusting!

Saturday we went to the City Baglery that has AMAZING Cinnamon Bagel sticks that are to die for. I bought all the ones on the shelf to bring back and freeze....well none of them made it to the freezer!

We headed home Saturday afternoon. Keaton and Karter had fun and were so well behaved on our trip! It was fun to enjoy each other away from our daily duties!!

Enjoy some pictures of our trip: