Taking a walk

Posted on January 11, 2012 by stephanie

One of my goals this year is to spend more time with the boys without any other distractions (for me, let’s face it almost anything is a distraction to a 3 year old). I decided to start taking a walk around the block with them every day, the walk can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. I don’t use my phone or having anything else to distract me, it’s just me and them. We’ve all enjoyed this so far. There are lots of rocks, dirt, trees, flowers, cars, and even a train or two to see! Yesterday the boys noticed someone had littered, “he made a mess, we need to clean it up.” I told them that we could take a bag next time we walked and clean up. We remembered our bag today and picked up some litter. They loved it. I did use my phone today to snap a few pictures.

Noah carrying his bag of trash, with a flower behind the ear.

The best I could get of all three of us.

First Dentist Appointment

Posted on December 18, 2011 by stephanie

The boys had their first dentist appointment last month. It went really well. Daddy walked them through the process the night before, and they were excited to meet Dr. Karen. She showed them how to brush their teeth, did a quick exam and cleaning. Ezra seemed to enjoy the whole process. Noah was a little apprehensive when it was his turn to get in the chair, but he did it and no tears! They were super excited about their new light-up tooth brushes and that they got to pick out a treasure when they were all done.

Noah watching Ezra get his teeth cleaned.

Learning to brush the giant snake's teeth

Big Financial Goal Conquered

Posted on October 19, 2011 by stephanie

Warning this post discusses our personal finances. We usually do not discuss our personal finances, but we wanted to do a post on this subject for two reasons:

A record for ourselves. Something for us to look back on and remember, we learned a lot in the last two years and would just like a record for ourselves.
Encouragement/inspiration for others trying to work on their financial goals. We’ve read a lot of financial success stories over the years and they have always kept us going. It is a nice reminder to know you can do it!

We use our blog to primarily keep friends and family updated on the boys, but it is also a record of our life as a family and this step was important to us. If you do not want to read about our personal finances please stop reading now.

Continue reading →

First Hike

Posted on November 27, 2010 by stephanie

We took the boys on their first hike today, okay really a walk through the desert. They had a lot of fun and really enjoyed all the sand. Ezra saw his first jack rabbit, then chased after it. Don’t worry the rabbit was much faster than him. We packed a picnic lunch and the boys scarfed it down! For the most we were able to keep them on the trail, and they walked almost the whole way. We had to carry them for a bit when we were almost back to the car. Here are some pictures of our little adventure, just click on a picture to see it bigger.

2nd Birthday Party

Posted on November 13, 2010 by stephanie

Running around in circles while dancing and screaming

We had the boys’ birthday party yesterday and it was a beautiful day. We had a lot of fun and the boys were WILD. I think they were super excited to have so many of their favorite people all together.

My wild but happy Noah

Ez was super wild the whole party

Abby all tangled with the balloons

Ez reading a card, he really loves cards.

The boys received trikes from Nama and Papa (my parents) and it is one of those moments I wished we had the video camera rolling. They were beyond excited when they saw them.

Ez on Noah's trike

Noah on Ez's trike

Ez driving Noah around

Abby driving Noah around, yea I am noticing a theme here.

Ez blew out all the candles this year, Noah just stared and occasionally tried to touch them.

Mr. Potato Head Cakes

Ez blowing out his candles

Noah checking out the candles

Ez came over and blew them out for Noah

Silly String Time

Noah shooting Ez

Abby apparently thought we gave her spray deodorant

Abby and Jason

We were all exhausted by time nap-time! You can see more photos here.

Photo Friday – 11.12.2010

Posted on November 12, 2010 by stephanie

When you don't want to get your hammer just grab the kids'.

Showing off their synchronistic abilities.

and again...

Climbing the cubes.

Helping dad.

awww diaper booties.

My two crazy boys.

Legos!

Coloring.

Playing in the garlic powder mess Ezra made.

It was a lot of fun.

Rubbing some on his face.

They need to improve their mischief skills, they left evidence behind.

Photo Friday – 11.05.2010

Posted on November 6, 2010 by stephanie

Yes he grabbed two lighters and shared with his brother, and yes we took a picture before taking them away. That's what the child safety part is for right?

Noah doing his hair.

Sitting and playing. Okay Ez is almost sitting, but it's hard when your brother is hogging the toy!

Get ready.

Ahhhhh!

That just doesn't look comfortable.

Arm, arm, arm? Okay he says arm instead of hand.

Puzzles!

Abby's just chillin'

Just hanging out.

Cousins having fun.

Someone has been needing his blanket more.

Blankets in the swings.

Happy to have is blanket.

Don’t mess with his blanket.

Lastly a short video of Noah reading to mommy. He loves reading to me.

Noah Reading from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

Halloween 2010

Posted on November 1, 2010 by stephanie

Cleaning the pumpkin together.

Ez loved it.

He takes after his mommy and likes playing with the guts.

Noah didn't have the same love. It's on my foot!

But he did like the blue bowl.

Michelle and Jason working hard.

Carving away.

Ranger/zoo keeper found some wild animals.

Hooray! We got them to put the heads on for one picture.

Trick or Treat!

Photo Friday – 10.29.2010

Posted on October 29, 2010 by stephanie

Put lotion on himself.

Playing with Abby.

Let's just say I am now out of nutmeg.

Their favorite book right now. The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Reading

Cutie

Attack of the Ezra!

Fascinating?

Happy, Happy

The two cutest jack-o-lanterns ever.

Pumpkins at the Botanical Gardens

Posted on October 25, 2010 by stephanie

The Desert Botanical Gardens had a little pumpkin patch this weekend. Unfortunately to get to the pumpkin patch you had to do a hayride and the line was about an hour long. With three antsy toddlers we decided to skip that part. We had a nice time running around the garden and seeing some pumpkins on a truck.

Ezra ran so much!

What do you think is so much fun?

Water of course!

Peek-a-boo!

I need to hold this?

Almost got a shot of him looking at the camera and smiling.

Happy girl.

She reminds me so much of her daddy in this one.

Why do I have to sit here?

Three toddlers in one photo? No one is ever looking.

Stagecoach Days’ Fun

Posted on October 10, 2010 by stephanie

Our little city had Stagecoach Days’ this weekend. We took the boys and enjoyed a nice morning in the park.

We tried our first bounce houses, Noah was more into than Ezra, but they both just crawled around.

We also went over to the fire safety trailer and learned to be fire smart.

First you play with the fireplace. Funny thing they decided to not turn it on because it was just a few toddlers in the trailer and our boys were still drawn to it, good thing we con’t have one.

Then you run from the exit.

And then if your Ezra you break out your dance moves.

We also tried out a photo booth for the first time with the boys, shockingly two toddlers weren’t very cooperative. They just wanted to push the button!

We also petted some of the local 4h club animals and played in the Montessori pre-school booth for a while (which the boys loved). Sorry no pics as we were also too busy playing. Matt also was able to do a little networking, life in a small city does have its benefits.

Photo Friday – 10.08.2010

Posted on October 8, 2010 by stephanie

Sharing legos

Sliding

We have been loving the weather

Trying to watch the game

The boys had gotten up early from nap and were falling apart before dinner time, thankfully the Wiggles worked to entrance them

He was seriously entranced

Noah is obsessed with my clogs, he wears them all over the house, and actually walks quite well in them

Hi Hi!

Look closely, what is that in his hand? Yes a domino, he is obsessed with them.

Got my hair chopped off.

Potty Training

Posted on October 7, 2010 by stephanie

Our entire weekend next week suddenly opened up, so we are considering one of the three day potty training methods. The one that I read reported that 22 months is the best age to potty train, and the boys will be 23 months next week. I am wanting input from parents, but not on methodology or the correct age. (okay you can offer it if you want I won’t turn down free advise.)

But what I really want is a pro and con list of a potty trained child. I think a lot of people spend a lot of time thinking about how to potty train, but I want to think of the after the potty training consequences and benefits.

If potty training next weekend doesn’t work out, we will think about it again sometime after the craziness of the holidays.

Please share your input.

Photo Friday – 09.24.2010

Posted on September 24, 2010 by stephanie

Ez tricked Noah!