Easter!

I love the Friend (PS, it has it's own website now with fun stuff for kids!). As soon as James was born I got a subscription and have read it to him every month for nearly two years now. This month they featured a week of study following the last week of the Savior's life. It has been a real blessing in our home this week.

A little over a week ago, Paul's grandpa (who raised him) took a very bad fall. He broke all of the ribs on the right side of his body. He cracked vertebrae. He had a concussion and was bleeding from his ears. When he was in the hospital he was quite ornery and as a result was drugged up so he would sleep. There wasn't much we could do, but we have been praying for Grandpa and his name has been on the prayer roll in the temple every day. On Thursday they decided to try to take him out of his coma. On Saturday Grandma was told that there was no brain activity and that it was time to think about letting him go.  Grandma was strong and made the calls to her grandchildren to give them the sad news that Grandpa was dying. During church today we felt the love of the Savior and the peace that the knowledge of the resurrection brings.  After church we decided to go and walk around the Provo temple grounds. While we were there we got a call informing us that Grandpa had woken up and while he was in pain, he was responsive! We know he is not out of the woods, but we are overcome with the love of the Lord today.

We also had some fun! On Saturday we took James to the Orem Easter egg hunt. He won a ball and free bowling (which I'm really looking forward to!) and got a decent amount of candy for a 2 year old. Most of it was too hard for him, but he had fun!

Sunday morning he got to debut that sweet bow tie. Everyone thought he was just the cutest thing. Like I said earlier, we headed to the temple afterwards. There were hundreds of missionaries there and several were following him around and taking his picture.  A few of them even requested to have their pictures taken with him. It was pretty funny.  Then we went home, had leftover pizza and took a nap before heading over to our friend's for dinner and an egg hunt. I think the kids had a lot of fun. James loves B. She's 18 months older than him and he really looks up to her and tries to imitate everything she does. It's cute. And A. just has him whipped. She's only 10 months old but she's the only kid that can just take something from him and get away with it.  

Pointing out the yellow flowers

Farm Country

We took James to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point yesterday. It was so much fun. He had been last summer, but his personality and language skills have really exploded since then.

He called all horses, cows, donkeys, alpacas, ponies and other big animals "cows." And he made sure to shout it at them and let all the animals know that they were, in fact, cows.

feeling the wind on the wagon ride

"cow says 'moo!'"

there is a little kid's sized Jail house there. James didn't like being behind the bars at all. 

me and my not-so-little boy

feeding the goats

feeding the chickens

I wish that we had a family pass to Thanksgiving Point because I would be there ALL the time. We had a great time. I can't wait for when we visit the Detroit Zoo this summer. I think he's going to have a blast!

Spring!

While it currently doesn't look like Spring, It is!! Here is what we've been up to lately:

homemade pizza. YUM!

I don't know how he managed this.

Playing at the Park

New books from the library

I picked up this food tray from DI for 50 cents! And yes, he will eat all this food for lunch.

He piled up all the bedding and pretended to sleep. 

I love this kid

I picked up the wreath at DI for $1 and the flowers from Joann for under $2.  I just painted it white and hot glued the flowers on. SO much cheaper than pre-made wreaths.

My sister and I both made one. We blew the eggs ourselves and painted twigs from her yard. I love it!

James just loves this peeps bunny garland made from felt.

Michigan

Tuesday, Day 1:

We get to the airport just shy of 2 hours early. The lines are longer than I thought they would be and there is only one person running security. Walking in line with a toddler for 45 minutes is not fun. We end up having to rush to get seated and don't have time to get any breakfast (which I was counting on) so we're hungry the entire flight.  As it turned out, the flight was packed and we got to sit next to a rough and smelly fellow in a velvet camo shirt. 

The first 30 minutes of the flight, James slept. The second hour he spent playing with the activities I brought and eating fruit snacks. The remaining 2 and a half hours were spent wailing and trying to get away.

We finally arrive to Detroit and realize that our terminal is like 2 miles away from baggage claim. I had checked the stroller with my luggage, so we walked and of course J. wanted to look at every shop we passed. 

Grampa Robert didn't know how to install the carseat, so I had to figure that out in the freezing cold Michigan wind.  I might add that this carseat was a big kid booster so I was paranoid that he was going to die the whole time.

We go and check out the new place, pick up supplies and start working on this huge mess in the basement.

one corner of the basement

Wednesday, Day 2:

Basement, basement, basement! 

James was helping and kept repeating, "trash, trash, trash!" all day.

Thursday, Day 3:

We are really rushed to finish the basement and finish packing the upstairs because tomorrow is moving day! It was stressful and after 10 or so trips in the car we were finally ready.

Friday, Day 4:

Moving day! The movers showed up bright and early and moved fast! By noon we only had a few things left in the Detroit house. 

We all take showers and Robert notices swelling in his right leg.  After a long discussion I end up taking him to the emergency room to get it looked at. The ER was scary. Crack heads EVERYWHERE.

9 hours later: He has a blood clot and is admitted to the hospital. Laura (my mother in law) had to come and get me because I had no idea how to get home.

We get to bed around 1am.

one of our many hospital visits

Saturday, Day 5:
The dumpster is dropped off and I start moving the huge heap in the basement up the stairs.  After I finished I was ready to die. It was such a long day and I am still recovering.

20 foot dumpster, filled to the max

The doctor's  also find another clot this day.

Sunday, Day 6:
Back to the Detroit house to finish cleaning. Back and forth to the hospital checking in. Unpacking the new place...by myself.

Monday, Day 7:
Robert is told he'll be able to leave on Tuesday.  More unpacking. At this point James is just irate and livid and unhappy with his current situation. He's bored and doesn't mind screaming for hours on end for no apparent reason.

Tuesday, Day 8: Robert is finally released from the hospital around noon. We run a few errands (pick up prescription, get a few things for the house, etc.) Afterwards we go to grandma and granpas so they can meet my little James. When we get home we notice swelling in the same leg and head to the ER in the ghetto this time. I wasn't allowed in the back at all this time, so James and I got to hang out with a bunch of sick people and crazies.  At one point a lady was screaming that the hospital owed her an ambulance ride home and was removed by security. And there is a ton of security at this hospital. Not only do you have to go through a metal detector, but there are like 5 guards at the doorway.

Anyway, it turned out to be nothing. His body has to adjust to having thinner blood is all--which apparently includes pain and minor swelling. So we got home late and I packed. 

Wednesday, Day 9: first thing in the morning we head to the airport to go home. Another packed flight with one free seat...right next to me. James was fairly good the whole flight. He spent a lot of time sitting on the floor playing with his cars and didn't start screaming until it was time to strap down for touchdown. He wanted to play on the floor still and had a temper tantrum. Everyone around me thought it was his ears. I just let them think that he was in pain vs. having a two year old moment.

tv wasn't hooked up so we watched the Pooh DVD we brought over and over and over and over and ....

if I were an animal person I'd get James a puppy since he had so much fun. Unfortunately for him, I'm NOT a dog person.

one of the nights we were there the moon was really huge. I can't really remember when, but James was in awe.

eating pizza in his rocking chair at the new place.

It was a long trip and I'm glad to be home. I'm still sick with a wicked cough and am beyond tired. James was thrilled to see his daddy and all of his toys again :)

Moving

This time it's not me! Woo Hoo!
I'm taking J. and going to Detroit tomorrow to help James' Grandpa C. move.  He has lived at his house for 12 years so it's going to be a big move.  I'm excited and terrified all at the same time.

Terrified:
of being alone with James on a plane for nearly 4 hours
of not being able to handle the luggage, the stroller, and the toddler
of freaking out because my toddler is so energetic and friendly (I sometimes wish he'd just be shy and stay by my side instead of just taking off!)
of not getting everything done in the one week that I'll be out there
of J. trying to be too clingy when I need to get things done
of messing up J.'s sleeping schedule
of failing to get J's ears to pop and dealing with screaming the whole way
of going to colder weather
of getting shot at by gangsta's

Excited:
to see Robert
to get out of Utah
that it's not me moving
to maybe get out a little bit while I'm there
for J. to meet Paul's family

I guess I have a lot of fears, but I'm sure we'll be fine and James will be my little trooper. See you in a week!

Some Randoms

Some things I'm loving right now:

Went for a walk the other day and saw hope in the trees! Little buds of life everywhere! I can't wait for Spring!

My boys make me so happy!

The parking spot closest to the apartment. I really hate having to park so far away and have to haul in groceries and my little boy all the way through the parking lot.

"oh man!" from my little man :)

Not being sick (which is going to be changing very soon for me. A week after we kicked the stomach flu's butt, Paul has a cold!).

I can't wait for these:

Some projects I'm contemplating:

You may think I'm crazy, but I've begun preparing for Christmas. This year I want to give each of my family members something homemade. I have a lot of family members and projects take a lot of time. I have planned  what I will make for each person and have to complete 1-2 projects a month to be done by December. This way I can take advantage of the monthly Joann coupons, too! The thing that sort of stinks is that I won't be able to share these projects with you until after Christmas! I can share this with you though: 
I am going to make a few of these for my cute little nieces! My sister is due in April so I'll have 4 pretty girls to make these dolls for. I'm really excited!

Another thing I'm super excited for is the celebration of the boys!  A few bloggers have gotten together and are making strictly boy things!  It's so refreshing to see so many little boy things being created. It seems like there are cute little girl projects everywhere, but boy stuff is hard to come by!

Valentine's Day

I didn't have much time to plan Valentine's Day this year seeing how we were sick the week before.

I woke up to a card from my boys (James picked it out...he loves Mickey). Paul had left it before he went to work at 5:30. James was a good boy and let me sleep in until 8:00 before fussing.

James and I did a little craft for Daddy. He colored a bunch of paper and I cut the little hearts. I held his hand to write the letters (which he gets a kick out of). Isn't it so cute?  Then we strung some hearts up on ribbons. He had such a blast. I let James pick out a balloon (he calls in Ribb, like ribbit).

I dipped strawberries for dessert.

Paul got out of class earlier than expected so we went and picked up some Macaroni Grill to go and brought it back home. We spent the evening watching Secretariat and even got to go on a walk.  We also introduced James to shadow puppets. He had such a blast making little animals with his fingers on the wall. He literally laughed himself to sleep :)

I can't believe it's been 4 years since Paul and I first got together. Sometimes it seems shorter, sometimes it seems we've never been apart.  We have been through a lot but we are better, stronger people for it.

I am so thankful that I get to spend the rest of forever with my sweetheart!