Terrible Two's

When James turned 2...it was terrible. I swear someone switched out my sweet little boy James for some crazy, bipolar  look alike.  The tantrums were.... unbelievable. And I remember when he finally turned 3...ah....I could see my little sweet boy coming back and I loved it. Harrison is now 2. I was all sorts of prepared for big tantrums, like James', and he can throw a tantrum, but it is mostly funny, and only lasts a minute. However, he is the most mischievous little stinker there ever was. For example.....

Ever day Harrison pulls all, and I mean all the books off the book shelf, both the one upstairs and the one down.  He also dumps out whatever bin of toys or balls he sees and then just walks away without playing with any of them. At each meal he either throws or spills or just wipes his food everywhere. And anytime I have just mopped the kitchen floor you can bet that he is going to dump out his cereal, juice or whatever else is enormously sticky or messy to clean up. He always finds a pencil, pen, crayon or marker and will color whatever he sees. My walls are covered, as well as doors, toys, books, and other furniture. 

Harrison is also obsessed with the bathroom, the toilet especially and loves to put anything, including toothbrushes, in it.  He gets into my drawer on a daily basis, while I am trying to do my hair, brush teeth or any of that stuff. And he finds whatever he can and runs with it. He usually steal the deodorant, a toothbrush, or my make-up bag. This never ends up well. He also loves the water dispenser on the fridge and presses it often, cup or no cup.  He loves to destroy things. Books mostly. Many a book have been completely shredded in the past few months because of him.  He has also pulled all the stuffing out of his new teddy bear. I made 2 new photo albums this summer and had them out on the coffee table, Harrison ripped out the second half of one of the books. Thank you Harrison. 

He is really good at making big big messes. Like the other day when he poured chocolate milk all over the couch. Or yesterday when he took the bowl of raspberries, dumped them onto the floor and then jumped on them. Yes, I have tan carpet, and yes raspberries are very dark purply red. And the berries were completely mashed in. It was not amazing. I spent the afternoon with some oxyclean and that seemed to do the trick. Anytime I am cooking anything he gets right in the fridge as soon as I open it and starts pulling everything out. He likes to throw the eggs especially.  Not to mention all the boxes of crackers, cereal, cookies and who knows what else he has pulled out of the pantry and dumped all over everything and often smashed.  And all the while he is laughing his cute laugh giving you his sweet innocent little smile. This no longer works on me. He gets in trouble pretty quick and spends a lot... a lot... of time in his bed or in time out. 

I can imagine that you are sitting there thinking "wow. what is wrong with her kid?" or "wow, she does not pay any attention to her kids" I swear, I really do watch my kids, but laundry needs to be done, floors vacuumed, beds made, bathrooms cleaned, meals made, and messes to be cleaned up. Often he is destroying another thing while I am still cleaning up his previous mess.  It is impossible to have your eye on your kids 24/7. 

Now don't get me wrong, this sounds like I don't like my kids very much. Well anyone who knows me knows I love my little Harrison.  HE has had me wrapped around his little finger since day one. He has just about the cutest smile there ever was and can make you laugh at just about anything. He is a delight. A pain in the butt delight, but a delight. And all this terrible two stuff just makes the day more......interesting. :)

Today I.....

Today, I:  

Slept in until 9 am, ah.....  

Peeled and sliced a zillion peaches to make jam and yummy homemade ice cream. 

Realized that I needed Lemon juice for the Jam

Left to go to Wal-Mart and Costco.

Only made it to Walmart because I sneezed on my way out of the store and completely peed my pants. yep I am pregnant. There was no control.

Came home and changed my clothes.

Made bread dough

Took a short nap because I was feeling really not good.

Made dough into yummy rolls

Finally took a shower.

Went to Costco

Ate some seriously yum peach ice cream

Went to my  sister's house and took rolls and Jam

Came home late

Put whiny kids to bed

Made lots and lots of peach jam. A first for me.

Cleaned the kitchen

And ate some more ice cream.

Yesterday James:

Climbed into bed with me at 6 am

Fell out of bed and smacked his face/eye on the corner of my nightstand

Got ready for school

Went to get his back pack and came running down the stairs

Missed the very second step and fell all the way down to the tile floor below

Cried

Had a large scrape on his side. (poor kid)

Got to school late.

Came home from school happy as could be

Went to play outside

Went down the slide

Screamed

Slapped his hand

Got stung by a bee.

Cried

Got some benadryl (he is allergic to other bug bites so we thought just to be a little safe)

Got a band aid

Got hugs and kisses from mom

Was all better.

This week Harrison:

Poured (on purpose) chocolate milk all over the couch. ( I knew I should have put it right away)

Pulled all the books off the bookshelf, more than once.

Dumped water all over the kitchen

Colored the front door, his bedroom door, my bedroom door, the toy room wall, and the inside of the closet. 

Brushed his teeth after dipping his toothbrush in the toilet. (I always keep the bathrooms shut, James does not. I found Harrison by the toilet saying "ucky" and wiping his mouth out while standing by the toilet with his toothbrush. There were drips from the toilet to him... guilty as charged)

Threw his french fries all over at dinner.

Picked the tomatoes and threw them across the yard.

Tore "The Three Little Pigs" book into a million pieces

Sat in time out many many many times

Wore a cowboy hat around all week

Danced around the coffee table for an hour straight while I did dishes and listened to music.

Walked around the house saying "where James go?" While James was at school.

Was the cutest thing ever in his new little skunk costume.

 

Pictures from the Summer

Okay, so here are a truckload and a half, of pictures. Most of them are from this summer, but there are some older ones too. Okay, let's start with the oldest picture.

This one is from my sister, Becca's, wedding. I was the maid of honor, so I got a bouquet too. Aren't Ben and I the cutest?

This next one is a family picture my mom just gave to me and I love it. I love how little and chunky Harrison is, I love James giving that egg a weird look, and I think Ben and I look good too. Oh yeah, and my hair is hecka long. I guess I did cut 14 inches off, so...yeah. It makes me miss my long hair and wish my hair looked like that right now. But if it did I would probably just be wanting to cut it again. That is how hair goes.

This is another one from my mom of me at the Marathon I did in May. I like it. I had just crossed the finish line so I look a little crazy.

These ones are form the Freedom Run on the morning of the 4th. Most of my family ran it, as you can see. I was so proud of all of them for all their running this summer. It was so much fun! I was so excited to see each person cross the finish and cheer them on, it was great fun. I was proud of my time on that one too. It was a 10k (6.2 miles) and I got 52:10. Not too shabby.

These pictures are from the day/evening of the 4th. I loved James and his big cupcake. I laughed my head off at Harrison with his black mustache. I honestly have no idea what was around his face but my brother called him Don Carlos. He is cute. 

These one are of the very next day, we were having a family reunion and I hosted some family races. There was a 5K for the adults, which we all did and it was awesome. Even though we were all really tired from the race before, but it was still fun. All of our kids cheered us on. Then we had some kids races, and those were the highlight of the summer I swear. They had so much fun! They were so excited and were just so happy the whole time and they all got prizes and medals, it was great. I love these pictures because you can see how happy they all are. I love the one of James close up. He is really concentrating. That was right at the end of the "long distance" race for the kids and he won and was really excited.

These ones are just a couple from our trip. I love the one of Ben and James. They were both so excited to be there, I don't know who was more excited, but they had so much fun together. It was great. I also love the one of Harrison and I and James at the restaurant. Harrison is smiling his perfect sweet little smile and I love it!

And then these last ones are from our Provo River Half Marathon which once again, most of my family ran and I was 100% proud of all of them. It was the funnest race ever and yes I was running for 2, and still am as you all know. My sisters made me that shirt for the race and I loved having people know that I was pregnant and running. Yeah.  Oh and that first picture is my sister in-law Emily, that I ran with all summer. We had so much fun running through the canyon each weekend.  And once again, Ben and I are just about the cutest couple ever. I loved running that with him.

A Full Day

Today was a full, but good, day.  It started off at 7 am with Ben hitting the snooze one last time and me nudging him to get out of bed, which he did.  Soon he was off to school and I was waking the kiddos up to go for a morning walk. They are so cute when they wake up, I love it. Harrison was still asleep but started jumping around his crib and then went back to sleep. James and I decided that he had been dreaming that he was a rabbit.  I gave them some cereal and we were off on our walk.

My boys love to go for walks.  We go for walks nearly every day. They love to hear and see the train, cows, and birds around the neighborhood. James was really chatty this morning and was asking me stuff about everything "why is the road so dirty? we should clean it up Why are they building that house? What happened to that car" etc. It was fun though, I like to answer his many questions. The other day in the car he asked us how the baby gets out of my tummy. I laughed my head off at that one. 

After a couple miles it was time to get home, shower, clean kids up and dressed and off to Gma Robertson's to be baby-sat while I went to a Dr's appointment.  Their cousins were there, so that made it even more exciting. I went to my appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat. It was  steady 150, which was what both my boys always were, so that made me think I am having another boy. sigh.  But I was really glad to hear that little heartbeat in there and remind myself that it is a little baby and it is ours. I am so excited. I can't wait to hold the little one in my arms and see what it looks like.  I am excited to see James love and take care of the baby. He loves babies so much, and is so excited for this one.   It will be fun to see him bond with this one.

After the appointment  I went back to Gma's and while the boys played outside I picked raspberries. They began by helping me, but were eating more than I was picking. Then they found the blacckberries and honestly, Harrison just plopped himself down and ate as many blackberries as he could. his face, hands hair, shorts and shirts were covered in blackberry juice. It was the cutest thing ever and I was so sad not to have my camera with me. I love that my kids love fruit and veggies so much. I love to see them sit in the garden and eat as they pick, it is fun. 

While I was picking the raspberries though I kept thinking, "oh is Harrison okay? check on Harrison" So I kept checking on him and he was fin, just sitting there eating berries. I finished with the berries and took them inside. Right after I went inside I heard Harrison screaming. I ran outside and James and Joseph were swinging on this swing that has seats for four and can swing very high. But it is all hard plastic and metal, so very dangerous if a kid gets in the way. Which is exactly what Harrison has done. The poor little guy had a good bruise and scrape forming on the side of his face and forehead. His arm had two pretty deep cuts in it, and his back and shoulders were scraped up. I felt so bad for my little one. I calmed him down and after a nice bath and band aids he was feeling much better. But he looks like he just came out of a war zone.  Poor little kid.

So after that, the boys did not play on that swing. They rode bikes instead or played in the sand box, they still had plenty fun together. So I picked tomatoes while they played. I have to say that I really do love gardening. I love to see things grow and take care of them and then harvest whatever fruit or veggies we get. It is always so fun. There weren't a lot of tomatoes, but enough for a couple batches of tomato soup. mmmmm. I am so addicted. So I brought the kids inside and made tomato soup for my parents and then came home to made dinner for us. We had enchiladas. They were very tasty too. But I have to say, by the time dinner was over, I was really tired of being on my feet and was wishing I could just go to bed. But Ben and I cleaned the house, bathed kids, read stories, scriptures and had prayer. The kids then went to bed.  James actually stayed up a little longer. He and I played with legos for a little while. Harrison had broken one of James' sets earlier and I promised James I would help him rebuild it, so we did. So now, ah..., the kids are in bed, I am having a snack, in my my PJ's and am ready to just relax. 

Oh bragging moment here. In the last month I have run 3 half marathons. Provo River Half, Hobble Creek Half, and Spanish Fork Half.  yep I am awesome. Slow, but awesome.  :)  

James' First Day of School

Okay so Today Was James' First day of school. Well, preschool that is. He doesn't start kindergarten until next fall, but he has been asking me for forever when  he gets to go to school, and I debated and debated about sending him to preschool. But he really wanted to, and he seemed ready for it, so I signed him up last week. Since that day he has asked me everyday if he was going to school or not. He has been so excited to go!  In all his prayers for the last week he has said "please bless that I will do good in school". I love hearing his little prayers. I love to hear what he is really thinking about and how much things mean to him. His prayers are so sweet and so sincere. No wonder we are supposed to be like a child.  

Anyways, so he couldn't even sleep last night he was so excited. But the morning finally came, and he ate a nice big breakfast, got in his new school clothes and we took him to school. Oh yeah, he also got a new back pack. It is a Lightning Mcqueen back pack, and he has been carrying it around since we bought it.  That was in his prayers as well. So, we go to school, he went right in, gave me a hug goodbye, and started playing with the other kids. He seemed happy as could be. We went back to the car and I started to cry. I am pregnant, so cut me some slack here I cry at everything. Not because I was sad or anything just because, my little boy is growing up an I just can't believe how fast. So then Harrison and I were off. I went running, showered, and then he and I played a game. Oh yeah, and then he ate 3 bowls of cereal, and a banana. oinker. But a cute one.  It ws fun to have time with just Harrison and time to clean up. But I have to say, that I missed James! As did Harrison, he really missed him. He kept saying "where James go?". It was so cute. They are such friends. 

 But before I knew it it was time to pick James up, so we packed a lunch for a picnic and went back to the school. James saw me, waved and smiled. Then he began telling me all about school. Yes he loved it. He loved the singing part the best. But they played, learned about their bodies, and about the letter A. At coloring time he "tried to color faster, but still didn't have time to finish, so will just have to finish his picture at home" Which he did by the way and then hung it up in the kitchen. 

So then it was off to the park, the boys had plenty of fun there and James swung so high on the swings it seriously started to terrify me. But he loved it. He kept saying "yeah! I am awesome!!!" Oh this was cute. The picture that he didn't quite finish coloring had a little boy with a basketball and a football.  James pulled it out and showed Harrison, and then let Harrison carry it around the rest of the time. He kept saying "fooootball". I thought it was sweet of James to think of Harrison like that. 

Anyways, the rest of the day was the usual day. James and I read for a while, we had naps, made fresh tomato soup with garden tomatoes and it was delicious. I seriously love soup. All soups.  I could probably live off soup. But the rest of my family probably wouldn't like that, so I only make them eat it once a week.  After dinner, Ben and James played baseball again. James is getting really good at it. Ben put a video of James on You tube. I think the title is "My four year old swings a bat better than you". Yeah, nice I know. But Ben is pretty darn proud of the kid, and what dad isn't proud of their son? I love seeing those two play. Harrison likes to watch them too.

Oh, the picture of James on the moon....well he went to the moon on labor day, it was too cold here. Ha, so we went to the Clark Planetarium and Ben took James' picture there. It was a fun day.  Oh yeah, one more thing, I was cooking dinner tonight and Harrison usually is beggin me for food the entire time I cook, this time he was leaving me alone. And for a second I thought, wow, he is being really good. Um, yeah he had a blue marker and his entire body was blue when I found him. Yep, that is my Harrison.