Out with the Old...

Due to the impending birth of Baby Boy Carlile, we reluctantly came to the realization that my little Honda Civic wasn't going to be able to tote three car seat riding babies around. We did an overnight babysitting swap with good friends to celebrate our anniversary and took the time to find a mini van. I didn't expect it, but I got kind of nostalgic as I drove my little Honda for the last time. It was my first "big girl" purchase after graduating college and for the last 9 years it has served me well. To be perfectly honest though, I will admit that I am pretty happy with the new car too! I can put my double jogger in back and not have to smash groceries in random places throughout the rest of the car because I have no room. I also really love that I don't have to share my air conditioner vents any longer!!

This is me on the day I bought the Honda.

This is me on the day we sold it. Oh how the times have changed!

Sesame Street Live

I won tickets from our local newspaper to go and see Sesame Street and participate in a "Meet and Greet" beforehand. Here we are anxiously awaiting meeting all our favorite Sesame Street characters.Here we are being let down. This is it. One lousy picture with Bert and Ernie. Definately not my idea of a "Meet and Greet", but it was free, so who am I to complain.
Ken thinks grown people acting so happy and excited in such big, creepy costumes just isn't right. I guess Abraham shares his apprehension.

We had 6th row, floor seats.The "Meet and Greet" was at 6:00, but unfortunately the show started at 7:00, which also happens to be my kid's bedtime. They were starting to get tired before it even started!
You can see from this picture how close to the stage we were.
The characters would even come down off the stage and give high fives and things to us. Ken was thrilled to have such up close and personal interaction with the creepy costume people.
Abraham was most excited for Cookie Monster though and Cookie Monster did not disappoint. Check out that tie dye!!

They had an intermission half way through the show and we ended up leaving then. Our kids were tired and they started selling these Elmo helium balloons, which lots of people in front of us bought, blocking our view. Later when we got home, just for fun, we looked up online how much the tickets and "meet and greet" would have cost us and were shocked to find it would have been over $200!! Had we paid for them, we definately would not have left at intermission!! We ended up having a lot of fun and a great family night out.

Happy Father's Day

For Father's Day, the Primary sang at church today. It was a song I wasn't familiar with, so Abraham and I spent a lot of time this week practicing it, so that he'd be ready to sing. I would tell him each time that we were practicing because singing this song for Dad would be a very special present. When the time came this morning, Abe was the first kid on the stand. He went straight to the podium and (luckily not in the microphone, so no one heard but Ken and his counselors) said a prayer. Then he stood straight in front of Ken and his counselors, the rest of the Primary were on the other side of the microphone, turned towards Ken and away from the audience and proceeded to give a private little concert, just for his Dad. It was so funny and very cute. When he came down and sat next to me he said, "I sang it special just for my Dad, just like you said." Could there be a better Father's Day gift?
(Abraham at 4 days old, a proud Daddy on his son's first Halloween)

In Primary they filled out a little questionnaire. I found Abraham's answers to be hilarious.
1. My daddy's name is: Daddy
2. He is 7 days old, big feet tall and weighs 7,8,20 lbs.
3. His favorite food is: chicken pot pie.
4. My daddy is really good at: exercising.
5. He loves to: he loves me and we are best friends.
6. My favorite thing to do with my dad is: my dad gives me a head ride. (that his name for what is normally called a shoulder ride)
7. I'm just like my dad because I: like chicken pot pie.
8. What I love most about my daddy is: 100, 7, 8, 20 then I give him a hug and a kiss.
9. It makes my Dad happy when I: give him a hug and a kiss.(Ken with Tyler on his blessing day)Happy Father's Day to a wonderful Husband and Father!
And to two awesome Grandfathers!

Happy Anniversary!

It's amazing how much five years can change your life, isn't it? Happy Anniversary Ken! I love you!

Happy 2nd Birthday Tyler!

Tyler's birthday celebration started the night before his birthday with a little party. My sister and her family, his little friend Ellie and her parents, and our neighbors came to celebrate with us. I worked all day on his cake.

He was happy with it, so I was happy with it!

He tried to blow out the candles, but in the end his cousin Maddie had to help!The next day Ken was able to take off work, so we headed over to the local children's museum. I take the boys here almost weekly, but it was a special treat to have Daddy come!The legos are not an area we usually spend a lot of time in, but Dad made them much more exciting. Tyler loved knocking down everyone's towers.Ken called me over to see the big tower he had made...Little did I know, there was a surprise inside! I wish my eyes weren't closed in this picture because everyone else looks so nice! It is rare to get a picture of all of us together!

After the museum, we took the boys to CiCi's Pizza for lunch. It was a really fun day.

Happy Birthday sweet Tyler! What would we ever do without you (besides sleep a lot better)? We love you!!!!

Lunch with Friends

Abraham has always slept with several stuffed animals. For a long time he was really attached to his "Dogger" and "Frogger" and wouldn't go to bed without them. He's since added "Dragger" (a dragon, and yes, self named) and "Eller" (you got it, the elephant). Since Tyler wants to do everything Abraham does, he also sleeps with a couple stuffed animals, "Duck" from Grandma Red and "Bearemy" from Grandma Carlile. One day Abe asked if we could have a picnic with their favorite animal friends. The weather didn't cooperate, so we all just ate lunch at the table together. Such a simple thing, but both boys absolutely loved it!
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First Swim of Summer

A few weeks ago, our friend Ellie invited us over for a little water fun in her backyard. The boys were thrilled to get our their swimming suits and have some fun in the sun.
I love this picture because it is such a classic Tyler face.

It was a slightly tight squeeze to have all three kids in the pool together, they didn't seem mind though!

I can't get my pictures or words to go where I want them, so the bottom picture is Abe about to jump over the sprinkler. I wanted an action shot, but oh well. We can't wait for many more days spent in the water and in the sun!

Final Utah Post.

Here are some final odds and ends from our trip. We were happy to be in Utah for Aunt Kristy's birthday and got to go out to eat with the whole family. Here is Ken facilitating arm wrestling as we patiently wait for our very large party to be seated.It was quite the experience for us to be at Olive Garden, with our kids, and our family. We are used to Cici's pizza on Saturday at 4:00 in the afternoon. We really enjoyed being there with everyone and Abe felt so big to get to actually pick whatever he wanted from the kid's menu!This picture had to be posted for it's absolute cuteness.

When Ken and I headed out to our gathering with old friends, Aunt Kristy and Grandma and Grandpa took the boys out for a fun day of adventure. They got to ride on the train at Southtown Mall and play on the indoor playground there.

Then they took the to the movies and to The Mayan for dinner. For those who don't know, the Mayan has a live diving show. The little ones were somewhat worried about all those guys that were making "really bad choices" by diving from so high into a pool so small. They were spoiled all day.

Ken and I were grateful to attend a session of the temple in Salt Lake. It is the first time we'd done a session together since Abraham was born and it was really nice.

We also hit the outlets in Park City. It started to snow pretty heavy while we were there and my boys were fascinated, since they only see snow 2x a year if they are lucky.

Finally, we were able to meet up with Jessica (my brother Gordon's wife) and meet their cute little Charlie. Abe was so sweet to his little cousin and I was so excited to finally kiss those chubby cheeks.This is Jessie's best "I don't think I want to ever have two kids" look.

We loved spending so much time with family and friends and will cherish the wonderful memories we made while on our trip.

Sleep....

Tyler has never been a great sleeper. EVER. We've gone through every sleeping challenge in the book. We'll have one success only to have another disaster down the road. Lately he's been waking up 3-4 times and night and wanting a drink....and only accepting juice. He's always gone to bed with his cup, but hadn't been waking up wanting refills. Then he would wake up around 5-5:30 in the morning and be ready for the day. Now that I have officially entered my third trimester, I have problems falling asleep. So, Tyler would wake up and it would take me 30 - 45 minutes to fall back asleep. Anyway, long story short, we went through a few nightmarish nights and we took Tyler's drinks away from him at night and he had to teach himself to fall asleep without them (it was as bad as taking away Abe's pacifier for sure!). We've also gone cold turkey on eliminating juice completely, for everyone. My boys, Ken included, all love them some juice, but even though I watered it down pretty good I figured plain water is healthier and cheaper in all respects. Last night he slept for 10.5 hours straight...without waking up at all!! Hooray. Unfortunately Abe woke me up to help him go to the bathroom at 3:15 and it took me an hour to fall back asleep, of course. Maybe someday I'll get to sleep through the night again....maybe. It is lucky for them they are so darn cute!