3rd Birthday

Tommy had his birthday this week...his 3rd Birthday! He was the most excited kid ever. He would jump around saying, "it's my bir-day!" We had a great day with him.
He wanted pancakes for breakfast and loved it. We cooked them on our new electric griddle...we could all eat pancakes at once and nobody had to wait...it was awesome!

The boys played in the morning and we baked Tommy's cake. I dropped him off at daddy's office so he could have lunch with him. Tommy was so excited all morning long and kept asking if it was time to go. Tommy had a great time with his dad. They ate lunch, drew pictures, and played games. Damon and I went to pick up a few things at Target during this time.




Tommy wanted a Curious George cake. He watched me frost his cake and wanted to taste it so bad!

Tommy wanted hot dogs for dinner...and he's the only one who ended up eating them! He loved it. He opened his presents in record time. He loved everything. I mean, just look at his face!


Our friends came over for cake and ice cream. Tommy had a hard time blowing out his candles. He huffed and puffed, but didn't get much air out. We are so excited for this 3 year old! He had the best birthday ever!!

Day after Christmas

Barrett had the day after Christmas off work this year. We wanted to do something fun as a family. I wanted to go to the Crayola Factory (the boys love doing projects AND Tommy is free until he turns 3...on Wednesday). The boys just wanted to play with their toys in the morning, so we decided to let them play for a while. We have had free movie passes to Regal Theaters for maybe 4 years and haven't used them...the closest one is where we used to live. We packed lunch and drove for about an hour to go see the new Chipmunk movie. Tommy ate almost the entire drive...he just nibbled away on his lunch:) The movie was fun, but we were so glad we only had to pay for 2 tickets! We wanted to hang out at our old mall. We used to live 5 minutes from it. We drove by our hold apartment and told the boys how close we used to live to the mall...then we got stuck in traffic for 15 minutes or so! Bummer. We finally found parking and ventured inside. We ran right into a Lego store. Damon received lots of Legos for his birthday and Christmas, so he was pretty excited! They had this awesome little station where you could build Lego guys (and then buy them). We totally got suckered in and spent at least 30 minutes creating cool guys. It was really fun. We shopped a few stores without buying anything and let the boys play at the "play ground." We also got to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. Tommy ate tons and loved it. We also stopped off at Costco before heading home. It was a pretty awesome family day!

Christmas 2011

Christmas was nice this year. We woke up and started to head downstairs and realized our video camera is most likely broken (we couldn't get it to turn on!). So, the poor kids were waiting on the stairs for what probably seemed to them like hours instead of a few minutes. They opened their gifts from Santa then we ate breakfast and got ready for church. The branch and ward had a combined Christmas meeting. The choir had to be there by 8:00...Barrett was singing in the choir, so we all got to church early. Barrett played the organ, then sang in choir which meant I got to sit with the boys all by myself the whole meeting and an hour early too. On our "walk" around the building, Tommy accidentally broke a bulb off one of the Christmas trees. I don't understand, why in the world someone would put glass bulbs on a tree in a building where there are tons of kids!! Anyway, we were all glad to get home and start opening presents!!! Tommy didn't even want to change out of his clothes! They loved all their presents and played all day. It was awesome! We talked with grandparents and then went to dinner at our friends house who don't have family close by either. It was a great way to end Christmas...good food and good times.

Christmas Eve Day

We had a pretty great Christmas Eve day. We had waffles for breakfast, lounged around, then packed up for an adventure at Killens Pond. We hiked around and the boys loved finding new sticks and throwing things into the pond. We brought our camp stove and fixings for hot chocolate and lunch. We also brought the boys' bikes to ride around in the parking lot. It was a pretty wonderful day...but took awhile to get all the feeling back in my toes:) We watched tv until dinner time, then started our party. We ate, played games, sang songs, read Luke 2, and read Christmas stories. The boys selected cookies and egg nog for Santa then were off to bed. We were able to snap a few videos of them singing their favorite songs. (Barrett and Damon found a rendition of Rudolf by Jack Johnson that they learned and sang at the church Christmas party. Damon loves singing with his dad.) Merry Christmas!!

Saturday before Christmas Eve

Last Saturday, Nathan came to visit. We took him to Fifer's Orchard for the Cider-fest. We can't believe we've never taken him there! We drank tons of free cider and s'mores. We went on the hayride and made sure Tommy was bundled up (he had been in the hospital that week, afterall). The boys also went on the new horse swings and loved them. At home, Nathan and the boys made sugar cookies. We devoured them in a few short days:) We always love having Nathan visit...he's basically family.

Sick Tommy

We've had one of those weeks...On Monday, Tommy was a little sluggish and looked like he had a stiff neck. He didn't really have a fever though. By the afternoon, he was looking more "sick" and it seemed like he had a bulge on his neck. I called his pediatrician's office around 4:00 and they had me come in. By this point, he was looking really pathetic and in pain and warm. The doctor was concerned about dehydration, his fever, and swollen lymph node, so she wanted us to admit him to the hospital. I cancelled seminary and packed a bag. Barrett took Tommy to the hospital while Damon and I stayed home. After tests they found it wasn't the 2 things they thought, strep or mono. They thought it might be pneumonia (which later was not). They put him on an IV and antibiotic. He was pretty miserable for a few days. I had the day time shift at the hospital while Barrett had Damon during the day. After 2 nights and 2 days in the pediatric unit of the hospital, Tommy was able to come home. He slept pretty well that night, but had occassional moments of pain. He still isn't moving his neck very much, but is doing better. It was a pretty stressful week and glad it is almost over. We were grateful that Barrett had an extremely slow week at work, so he could be around to help out instead of stressing at the office.
The boys really missed each other. At one visit, Damon sat next to Tommy and a few minutes later, snuggled up and hugged him. Tommy eventually reached up and started stroking Damon's head. It was really sweet to witness. By the end of the few days, Tommy was getting good at playing in the "play room", untwisting himself when his IV got tangled around his legs, and asking for shows (he has become a huge tv junkie).

After our visit to the Doctor on Friday, it seemed like Tommy's lymph nodes were starting to inflame in other areas. She had us get blood work done that night. The doctor on-call called us around 10 that night. Some of his levels had come down, but others were extremely high and said we may have to take Tommy up to the children's hospital in Wilmington, but would make some phone calls first. Well, after having a few moments of panic, he called back and said a doctor at the children's hospital said his levels were probably a lot higher and were starting to come down. So, we would be able to stay home for the weekend, but have to take Tommy in for more blood work Monday. Since then, he's been bouncing off the couch and wrestling with Damon. We hope he's ok...because it seems like he is.

Birthday Weekend

I can't believe I had another birthday! A few days before my birthday, a friend (who's birthday was a few days before mine) and I went to get pedicures. It was awesome. I think it may have to become a tradition:) On my birthday, the boys made me hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls (from a can, but so delicious). They also put streamers up and made me cards. Meagan and I share the same birthday, so after storytime at the library, we went to Chick-fil-A so the boys could play and we could chat. I made dinner, we opened presents and had a Cold Stone cake. I received lots of phone calls, texts, presents, and cards. It was a pretty wonderful day.




Damon's birthday was Saturday. This new 5 year old was super excited. He wanted french toast for breakfast. We went to a Primary activity at the church (I brought a cake to share). He helped me decorate his pirate ship cake (it wasn't the most beautiful cake, but he thought it was awesome!) He got lots of cool toys and books and even a new bike! He loved riding it down the sidewalk (and almost every day since!). We went to McDonald's for dinner and then home for cake. He was one happy boy! We can't believe he is a whole hand (5) old!

Wonderful Day

This last Saturday was a pretty wonderful day. Around lunch time we packed up and headed over to the temple. We were able to go to the LDS bookstore for a bit and pick up a few things (I love that place).
Then we met up with Nathan. Lucky for us, he volunteered to watch our boys so Barrett and I could go do sealings. It was a beautiful, special time in the temple. Nathan, on the other hand, got his own special moments with the boys when he had to clean up after Tommy had an accident at the park (he's been potty-trained with NO accidents for a few months now). We still feel awful about it, but glad we have such an awesome friend:) Thanks again Nathan!
As we were walking out of the temple, the Christmas lights turned on. We took some pictures and walked around a bit in the magical world of Christmas lights at the temple. Nathan looked up directions to Cafe Rio, so we headed there for dinner. Delicious! We were excited to see that one will be opening up in Annapolis next year:)
After eating and dropping Nathan off at his car, we ventured farther into Virgina. My cousin, Megan, had recently gotten married and had an open house there. It was so exciting to see my aunt and uncle and my beautiful, happy cousin and her new husband. I was lucky enough to see one of my other cousins too. Debbie had us cracking up...she's so fun! I am SOOO glad we went...even if the boys were embarrassing us by laying on the ground eating their food because they were so tired.
Things worked out pretty well and almost perfect. We loved having time in the temple and we loved seeing friends and family. It just made our hearts happy:)