Wade's First Year

How I Know I'm Sick Today...

• My ear hurts.
• Tristan knocked over my piles of nicely folded laundry, and I didn't care.
• I don't feel like eating sweets!!
• Tristan came out of my bedroom wearing one of my bras, and I didn't even smile! (Normally he's not allowed in our room without me, and he's not allowed to dig through the drawers, and he's definitely not allowed to try on female undergarments!)
• I'm holding Wade way too much. (I'm trying to get him to be less clingy, but I just don't have the energy today.)
• I'm not going to upload any pictures to this post.
• I baked fresh bread and don't even feel like eating any of it!
• I'm skipping out on storytime.
• I put Tristan in the high chair and gave him crayons, paper, and animal crackers.
• I'm wearing sweats.
• The boys are wearing sweats. I dressed them how I felt.

Wade and Brielle's 1st Birthday Party

Wade and Brielle are 11 days apart, so Julianne and I decided to get a bunch of moms and kids together for a little birthday party.

We had boy and girl cupcake balloons held by a bear.

The kids had fun playing with each other and with Brielle's toys!

Elle

Smiley Riley

Jaela holding the birthday girl.

"Happy Birthday to You!"

Blowing out the candles safely.

Dig in!

Got some on my fingers.

Am I allowed to eat this, mom?

Brielle was much more neat.

Yummy!

Emily and Spencer

Caleb

Opening the treat bags

Britton

Pam and Dakota

A Friendly Visit

Mike, Tawn, and Gwyndolyn came to visit us this weekend. Gwyndolyn is such a sweet little girl. She is 7 1/2 months old, but is really getting around. She and Wade are the same size! It was fun to watch them play and interact!

Building with the blocks that Daddy brought from their scrap pile.

On Saturday several of the friends got together to play basketball in Waterville. We had a potluck at the Grillo's afterwards.

There were lots of little ones there.

The Thompsons

Related to Royalty

I'm 18th cousins to Queen Elizabeth, but now I have a closer royal connection! Congratulations, Rachelle, for becoming Miss Lake Chelan!! We went to the program last night where Rachelle had to perform a talent (she played "Peter Piper" on the piano), do a "Self-Expression," perform a fitness routine, and answer an impromptu question. They were also judged on their academics, an interview they had earlier in the day with the judges, and their dedication in showing up to the practices on time and with a good attitude. Rachelle excelled in each of the categories and now will represent our community in all of the parades.

Blog Comments

All of you bloggers out there know how rewarding it is to receive comments on your posts. Sometimes you will have a really good post that you think is really witty, or maybe your child did something exceptionally cute and you want to share it. You probably all know the disappointment when no one comments on that post. I am turning over a new leaf. Every 2 weeks or so I go through my whole blog list and look at everyone's blog for new updates (some of you I check more often). But, I rarely leave comments! I know how much I look forward to comments, but I rarely leave them for others! So, I am going to improve. I always look at your blogs and have something I would like to say, but don't take the time to do it. I promise that I will comment more often on your blogs. If you are one of those who updates once a year, I probably will only comment once a year, but for you more faithful bloggers, I will be a more faithful commenter. Maybe some of you will be inspired to do the same... :)

Valentine's Day 2009

Cody and Caleb came over last week, and we worked on valentines for Shawn and DeAnne. Originally, I was planning on them making them for Grandpa and Grandma, aunts, uncles, etc, but after 2 valentines, they were done! :)

We munched on graham crackers while we colored.

On Valentine's Day, we had the family over for breakfast at our house. Pink frosted cinnamon rolls and egg in heart toast cups was the menu. We had saved this big box from Tristan's car, and Jason turned it into a fort.

Carolyn stopped by with a balloon and candy for each of the kids.

Julie and her friend Lichen came up for the weekend. They were wanting a kid fix and wanted to take all the kids for Saturday evening and overnight. We were all willing to oblige! Here Tristan is wearing Lichen's cool slippers!

Tristan and Lichen

Tristan opens his valentine from Grandma! Gummy bears and a bib! Thanks for the stash!

Wade's turn

So, with the boys all sent off to play with Julie, Lichen, and their cousins, Jason and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at home. Last year Jason made me crab and prawns for Valentine's Day. It had been wonderful, but I thought he had set the standard pretty high! This year, he totally outdid himself. This was our dessert that I made.

Lobster Tail!!! It was awesome!! Better than any cruise ship!

Parmesan crusted oysters!!! He also steamed some that we dipped in a garlic butter sauce.

Also, you can see twice-baked potatoes. He had bought some asparagus to make with the dinner, but forgot to fix it. We'll have that tonight. :)

Thanks for the wonderful Valentine's Day, Jason!! I love you!

Groundhog = Hogwash

On February 2, the groundhog in our area did not see his shadow. This is supposed to mean that Spring is right around the corner. Well, this is a very big corner!!! I think that it has snowed everyday since then. Not quite, but almost!! March 20 is the Spring Equinox, so maybe we'll have to wait until then. I really like the snowman background on this blog. I was going to change it for V-Day, but nothing really stuck out that I liked. The snowman still are very fitting, so I guess they'll be around for a little while longer.
In less wintery news, Tristan sat down in meeting yesterday and promptly counted to 10 perfectly. He also says the ABC's. This is how his version goes, "A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, Elmo, P, S, T, OO, V, Double OO, icks, Y, Z, Now I know ABC's, next time sing with MEEEEEEE.
When I put Wade in his high chair, he starts doing the "Open, Shut Them" song. He can do most of the actions that go with the song and all with a huge grin on his face. :)

Cammy leaves to begin her 400 day deployment on Wednesday. Even though we don't get to see her all that often (we are 3,000 miles apart), at least she was still in the same country! She will spend a little time in Texas before heading to Iraq. Here is a picture of her and Garrett. We love you, Cammy!!!

Scrapblogging

Have you ever "scrapblogged?"

This was my first attempt. It's kind of fun and super easy! Just another thing to waste time... :)

Bear

Tristan thought that bear needed a diaper.

Maybe he'll let bear wear all the diapers and Tristan will start using the toilet more! Speaking of potty training. Before our trip over the holidays, Tristan was going to the bathroom like a big boy several times a day. On our vacation it was more difficult to regulate his bathroom habits and he didn't go very much. In the month that we've been back, we have taken a big step back. Tristan may go once or twice on the potty during the day, but only when bribed. He rarely comes running to me telling me that he needs to go potty anymore. Oh well, I guess when he's ready...

Tristan hangs out with his cousins!

Dear Wade,

You love walking!!! Your face lights up whenever you start going. When you fall, you have sort of a puzzled look and then your face breaks out into a huge grin and you get back up again! It is amazing to see your persistence. You fall over and over again, but you keep getting up for more! Yesterday you walked from my bedroom, down the hall, into the kitchen where you threw the ball that you were carrying, walked over to it, bent down and picked it up, continued on into the dining room where you finally fell on your bum. You were giggling the whole way!! Thank goodness for soft diapers, though!
Yesterday you also signed "All done" for the first time. Thanks for letting me know you were all done with your breakfast. You say mamamam, da, ceen up (clean up), hi, and a bunch of other sounds that haven't turned into words yet....at least to my ears. You are almost always happy! You don't fuss often, but when you are tired you get really clingy. You don't want to be set down, but you don't exactly want to be held either. So off to bed we go where you are pretty good about falling asleep. You wake up quite a bit during the night, though....
I love you baby!

Dear Tristan,

*I see so many of you wonderful mothers writing beautiful letters to your children. Letters that they will always get to look back on and enjoy. I haven't wanted to write one, because nothing I write could compare to all of the eloquent letters I see on others' blogs. But, at the same time, I would like to remember some of the milestones that my children reach. So I decided to just write little journal letters to remember some things that my children have done. I hope you don't mind...

Tonight we had Paul and Patty over for dinner (our elders). You couldn't wait for them to come. You stood by the window looking for them. As soon as they showed up you ran to them asking for hugs. You call them Grandpa Paul and Grandma Patty. They had a lot of fun watching you sing your ABC's, count to 10, and sing the "Alligator" song. You had to show them all your trucks and how they work, too!
You love to "help Wade." You are always trying to pick him up when he falls (which is often seeing as he has just started walking). You are not very much help even though you try to be. Usually it results in Wade crying as you try to drag him up off the floor. I appreciate your concern for him, though!
You love to go to storytime. You talk about it all the time. There is a new "infant" storytime that I've been taking you to so that Wade can participate, but you love that too!! I told you that when it gets a little bit warmer outside we will ride in the car down to storytime, so you are very excited for that. You get in your car and say "Yeah, storytime!" You load all of your books into the back of your car so that you are ready to go.
On Saturday we went to watch Rylan's basketball game. We've been going to a lot of basketball games lately, and you love them! You are always asking to go to a "b-ball" game. At Rylan's game some of the varsity players, who were warming up for their practice, played with you. They thought you were really good at basketball and would probably be a star someday.
Sunday you threw a big fit during meeting. You've been doing really well in meeting and I thought that you'd turned a corner. Sunday, however, was pretty rough. There was something that you were trying to tell me that you wanted, but you got so worked up and emotional you just burst into tears while you were trying to tell me. Daddy had to take you out 3 times in the first 15 minutes of meeting! After that you were really good, but I never figured out what you were trying to tell me!
You talk a lot and I usually understand everything that you are saying. I especially like when you say "I love you, mommy," or "I miss you, mommy." Those are some of your special words!
Love you lots monster!!