Happy Birthday, Todd!

Saturday night we went out with our friends Todd and Colleen for Todd's birthday. We had dinner and drinks at B-dubs. It was a very fun night! Thanks for inviting us guys!

Do 5 year olds play poker?

Travis' new thing lately is playing Poker. He is OBSESSED! He is constantly playing poker... either with Bryan, online, with Aaron, or even with himself. He even knows the lingo. It's crazy! He calls 2's "deuces" and says things like, "Oh cool! Pocket Jacks!" I am just hoping and praying that he will be a professional poker player someday and he will make us rich!

My new daycare baby!

Rylee is a natural with babies! I think she gets it from me! :)

I am so excited for Baby Lauren to start coming to my daycare. She was born on January 7, 2009. She is the little sister of Ty, whom I have been watching for 2 years now. I love this family to death, and I am so excited about their new addition! Let's just pray she is a good, easy baby for me! ;) She is ADORABLE, that's for sure!

A mouse in my house!!!

We had MANY children here! It's a Daycare play date!

Here are some more kids eating lunch at the counter.

This is the barricade we made to try and get the mouse out!

Is this a good friend or what? Here's Abby setting up the wall.

It looks like it would work, right? Or maybe not!!!

Last week we saw a mouse run from my kitchen into my living room. Bryan searched around for it, but couldn't figure out where it went. A few hours later (after Bryan went to work), I found it behind the tv. Now if you know me at all, you know I am SEVERELY afraid of mice. In a crazy way afraid!!! I ran into my room and locked my door (with all the kids too!). Thank goodness my dear friend Abby was coming over for a play date, so I had some moral support! Abby actually chased it with a broom back and forth from under the couch to back behind the tv! Finally I came up with this great plan to build a barrier that goes from the tv to the slider door. So we tried to shoo it out with a broom, but it of course found one tiny crack in our barricade and got away! How is it possible that a mouse is smarter than us?? Smarter an QUICKER! So I left the whole concoction up for Bryan that night. He chased it around some more, and again lost the dumb thing! So we haven't seen it since. But the pictures are quite entertaining, so I thought I should share them!

Hulk Hands

The boys all got these huge Hulk Hands for Christmas. They love taking off their shirts and fighting each other with them. In fact, it seems like the boys have their shirts off quite a bit in this col weather! Good thing we have a wood burner and it's always toasty warm in our house. The boys like to take the cushions off the couch and jump onto them (they pretend it's a pool). They also like to wrestle each other and act like they are really tough!

Tyson's ABCs

Tyson has been singing the ABCs all day long lately. Check out how well he can sing it!!

I talked to Tyson's teacher last week, and she has some great news! She said that when Tyson turns three (on February 27th), he will qualify for the 5 day a week program at Meadowridge. The bus will pick him up each morning and bring him home! She said she has seen a great improvement in his speech since Christmas, but this program will really help him even more. I'm very excited about this opportunity for Tyson. He will just love it!!! He will get many more hours of practice each week, as well as much more one-on-one work. I really cannot believe he is almost 3! I remember the short list of words he could say that I gave his teacher when he started the program, and now he is speaking in sentences all day long. Sometimes his sentences require my translation, but he is really growing and developing in a significant way! I'll keep you posted on his school promotion! :)

Kid Swap

Here is Sadie crawling around with a plastic doll in her mouth!

I let the kids take a bath in my jacuzzi tub (a rare occurance).

Haha... how funny is this one??

Today my sister-in-law, Toni, and I did a kid swap. I gave her Travis, and I got Payton and Sadie. Rylee and Payton are just over a year apart, and they are just the best of friends. The girls played so well today. We ended the day with dinner, bath, and then a movie (Barbie and the Diamond Castle, of course). I never had cousins my age, so I just love to see the relationships and friendships among the my kids and their cousins. I also just adore my nieces, and they are so perfect and well-behaved at my house. Travis got to go to a monster truck show with Noah and Bailey, and he was just super excited!

Kiddie Cocktails

Last night I asked Bryan to make me a strawberry daquiri, because he just makes them sooooo well! The kids always beg me for sips, so this time Bryan made them their own virgin strawberry daquiris. They were just so cute sipping on their cocktails, soI snapped a shot of it. My friend Dana thinks this is hysterical, and she wonders what will happen when the kids go to school next week and tell them, "I had a strawberry Daquiri this weekend!" Also, check out Tyson's pajamas. He has been KING of getting himself dressed lately. And he changes his clothes atleast 4 times a day. His other crazy fashion habit is wearing shorts. He wears shorts every single day, and he INSISTS on it. Whenever we leave the house I tell him, "Tyson, you have to put on some pants." He replies, "Shorts-pants." This means he will wear his pants OVER his shorts. And then the minute we return home, the pants will come off! Kind of strange, I know. But it's his thing, so I go with it! :)

Boys will be Boys

Here is Travis' latest injury! He went sledding with his cousin Aaron and ended up crashing into a tree. He was fine, just a few scrapes and cuts! Aaron's grandpa even gave the boys a training session on how to roll off the sled if you are headed toward a tree! Oops, I guess his instincts are not so great yet. I have been very lucky that this boy has not had to visit the ER yet. *Knocking on wood* What's the deal with boys? Rylee never did things like this! But oh how I love him so, even with a beat up face!

Happy New Year!

It has been almost a year now since we finished our basement, and it is finally ready for a PARTY!!! We had a really fabulous time at our party this New Year's Eve. About 30 people showed up, and it was so nice to be able to use our basement! Lots of people helped us to stock the bar, and I must say that we now have a very nicely stocked bar! Thanks so much to everyone who made it out. It was definitely a night to remember! I am looking forward to 2009 and the many more fun times with friends and family. Hopefully another party in our basement too!