Losing teeth already?

So Dusty just came and found me and told me that one of his teeth felt wobbly. So I checked and sure enough, he has his first loose tooth! I can't believe it! I thought he seemed too young for this so I just got on the internet to check it out, and it said that children usually start losing their teeth at age 6. So I guess he is old enough, it just seems that things like this shouldn't be happening already. My kids are growing up way too fast! However he is very excited about the loose tooth and the tooth fairy. We just went to the dentist a few weeks ago and although he has beautiful perfect teeth now, the dentist said he'd probably have braces by the time he turns 8. His baby teeth are so close together and there's not much room for all of those big teeth. But I guess we have awhile to worry about that. Looks like he's going to start getting rich from the tooth fairy!

karody

I've been doing a lot of scrapbooking the last couple of weeks, and while I scrapbook the kids like to play with a bucket full of my foam alphabet letters. Dusty was arranging the letters, spelling little words like dog, run, and bag. I can hear him sounding out each letter to make words. All of the sudden, he got excited and said, "Mom I spelled karate - k a r o d y"! I was impressed that he tackled on such a big word, and he spelled it just like it sounds. He is just in his 3rd week of kindergarten and way smarter than I was at that age. I give credits to a little toy computer he has as well as the Leap Frog Movies, Letter Factory and Word Factory. That is how he has learned to sound out letters and blend them together. I love that he learns so much while having fun.

Happy Birthday to HAYDEN!!!

Hayden is now 4 years old! His birthday falls just 1 day after his brothers. He was born almost 5 weeks early but completely fine and HUGE!! I was greatful he was early, I can just imagine what another 5 weeks would have done to him. We have always combined the boys parties into one, but decided that starting this year they needed their own. Hayden was determined to have his birthday yesterday with his brother and even told me that his teacher said it is today (yesterday). I tried to convince him that I am his mom, and I was there when he was born, and I know when his birthday is. So he had a long wait. This morning I had to give him a breakfast surprise like we did yesterday for Dusty. He has been so excited, and lucky for him we didn't make him wait until after dinner to have his party. Chris took the day off work, so we took the boys to Wingers for lunch, then came home for presents and cake and ice cream. He also wanted to pick out a cake from Wal-mart, so I lucked out on baking. I'd ask him what he wants for his birthday and I got "Well, what do you want on your birthday mom?". So I was clueless, and used one of my sisters ideas. He got a book, coloring book, the Barnyard movie, and a gun that shoots cans off a log. He also got cards, letters, money and phonecalls. All he wants for dinner is CAKE, I can't get him to pick anything else so I guess we'll have pizza tonight. Then we're going to blow up the air beds, and watch his birthday movie and have a family sleep over in the living room. So that is our birthday excitement! I am so glad for Hayden to be in our family, and I'm greatful that I get to be his mother. He teaches us so much! He is totally a Daddy's Boy! He loves his dad, he looks like his dad, and acts like him as well. He is such a strong little boy. He isn't afraid of ANYTHING, including going out in the dark by himself. He thinks he has to grow up just as fast as his brother, and is always right beside Dusty doing the same thing. He is the best brother and friend one could ever ask for. He loves to sing and "get jiggy with it". He is also the sweetest thing there is, he just melts my heart at times. I have learned how much fun he is when his brother is at school and he will actually interact with me. He is totally different when it's just him and I love our time together. He might even be turning into a mommas boy (Chris doesn't agree with me!). It seems unreal that he joined us 4 years ago, time goes by fast when you're having fun and staying busy, and Hayden has for sure kept us busy! We love you Hayden, Happy Happy Birthday!

Dusty is 6 years old!

A few months ago Dusty said he wanted some kid kind of peanut butter and jam for kids to make their own sandwiches for his birthday, and then one day he showed me in the store what he was talking about. He has also wanted a "big bag of paper". He is always taking my paper out of the printer and one day opened the door on our computer desk and said "Wow, where did you get that big bag of paper? Maybe you could get one like that for me!" So what some exciting gifts he got this year! I decided to throw in some paint with all of that paper, a game, a Speed Racer car, and the Speed Racer movie. He also got some cards, letters, money, and phone calls. I think he had an exciting day!
Here he is with the cupcakes that he wanted. He has wanted cupcakes from Wal-mart with whistles on top like he saw once in the store. Unfortunaltely, they don't have the whistle packets anymore, so we bought cupcakes and added our own whistles.
Since I was going to make Dusty wait until after dinner to open his gifts, I didn't want him to feel that he had to go through most of the day without it feeling like his birthday, so we started the day with a breakfast surprise. After we got Hayden on the bus this afternoon, Dusty said that I had to wait in my room while he made ME a surprise lunch. He came and got me when it was ready, made me close my eyes, lead me to my chair, then let me open my eyes to see my surprise. He had opened a can of applesauce, dumped it in a bowl, and covered the top with animal crackers. He also had a piece of bread cut into the shape of a heart. I so wish I had taken a picture of my lunch. He made some for himself as well, and had to chow it down with only fifteen minutes left to eat and get ready for the bus. It was so cute! I love little things like this! I can hardly believe he came to us 6 years ago. He has been fun since day one! I never knew I could love like this. He has spoiled me and I am so greatful that he is mine. I can't imagine life without our Dusty Boy. He has been one of the cutest little boys ever. I'll never forget when he was just a few weeks old, we would lay him under the living room fan at my parents house and he would go! His arms would flap up and down and his skinny little legs would move like he was running a marathon. I swear that boy would run miles laying there! And as he got more mobile, he didn't run in place as much, but he still was constantly on the go. He is like the energizer bunny that just keeps going and going and going. His is my biggest best helper, my cuddle bug, and my comedian. He is growing up so fast! He gets chased by all the girls at school (I don't blame them, he is a cutie). He also let me know how embarassing it was that I waited for the bus with him with wet hair. How awful it would be to have the other kids see me that way!! We love our Dusty Boy! We have thouroughly enjoyed these last six years with him. Happy Birthday Dusty!

2 Years

I can hardly believe that today is a two year mark for my family. I'll never forget that day, 2 years ago when Tina shared with us tears of sorrow as well as tears of laughter. Tina was such a good example to us all, through her last few events she gave us comfort, she confirmed to us that this life is not the end and that we will see her again someday. She promised to always watch out for us. She faced her battles with faith, strength, courage and acceptance. She showed that even in the last moments of life, that chapstick is still a necessity (see Chris it is!) She taught us so much! She touched many lives in her short 20 years on earth. We promised her that her two little boys will know of her and her love for them. She has great love for her nieces and nephews as well. She was always so good to the little kids and they love her for it. She does not want to be forgotten. I don't think it's possible to forget. She definately won't ever be forgotten at our house. It makes me so happy when my children randomly talk of her. They randomly blow her kisses to heaven. Or they shout out from their beds "good night mom" , "good night dad", and sometimes really loud hoping that she can hear, "good night Tina". It touches me to know that they think of her. As much pain as we have felt, and as much grieving that has been done, and as hard as life gets, it was worth every moment that we shared with her. We know that she is not completely gone, we know that she is watching us and helping our families, and we know we will see her again. I am so greatful for the knowledge that we have. I am greatful for my family, I am greatful for my little sister, who was also one of my best friends. I am greatful for all that she taught us. We have many memories of her that we cherish. We do love and miss you Tina!

Monster Truck Showdown

We were able to go to the Monster Truck Showdown!! Really, Chris and I didn't think it was all that great, but the boys loved it. Dusty loves cars and trucks, especially monster trucks and Hayden's favorite movie is "Transformers", so this was a perfect show for them. At the end, they brought out the specialty vehicles, which were transformers, and they shot fireworks at each other. The boys thought it was AWESOME!

1st day of school

So here are the boys on their first day of school. They both go to afternoon classes, so we had a long wait that day. They were so excited! Dusty wore his backpack all morning long, and he kept running to the corner to see if his bus was coming. They both seem to love their schools, but we can't get much out of Dusty about what goes on at school. He seems to think that it's his new world and none of our business! I ask questions and the only answer I ever get is "I don't know", with him also showing a huge grin. I'm greatful for both of their schools, but especially Haydens! I love that he listens to every word his teacher says and obeys her! I try to use her at home ("Hayden, your teacher says..."). Sometimes it works, I just really wish he'd obey me like he does her. It really is a scary thought to have my kids leave without me and for them to be out in the world in someone else's care! But it hasn't been quite as hard as I thought. When they both left on their separate buses, I was able to go inside the house - instead of following the bus to school! It's hard to let them do these things, but at the same time it's so fun and rewarding to see them grow.

Not much going on

Lately we haven't been up to much to post about, although we have somehow managed to stay very busy. I was excited to step outside yesterday morning to find that it felt like fall. I love fall! A couple of weeks ago we went to Denver for Chris's work and we stopped in Vail, Colorado and it was perfect weather! It almost felt cold. When I stepped outside, the weather put an instant smile put on my face. There is just something about that crisp in the fresh air that I love. So anyway, I was pretty excited to feel that at our house! This morning I even turned on the heater for a couple of minutes.

Last Thursday we finally got Hayden's tongue clipped. We tried to have it done when he was 10 months old, but the Doctor we went to said "We don't really do that anymore, it's an old fashioned procecdure". And for some reason I took her word for it. But then we noticed it really was causing problems and we have wanted the procedure done for a long time, and now it's all over with. He was tongue tied, and it looked uncomfortable besides causing a few problems. We had him in speech therapy, but he couldn't even do most of the exercises because he didn't have any flexibility. It was also hard to brush the back side of his bottom teeth because his tongue was in the way. It also made it difficult to shuffle certain foods around in his mouth. So now that it's over with, speech therapy will be more successful! I've already noticed a difference with his T's and D's. I thought he would be a little bit miserable after the procedure, so the day before it was done, I took him to the store, let him pick out some popsicles, and told him when he got home from the hospital, he could have as many popsicles as he wanted. He took total advantage of that - we got home from the hospital around 10:00 a.m., and that day he ate 11 popsicles!! However, he wasn't miserable at all - he never complained about it hurting and he ran around all day.

Hayden will be starting school again tomorrow (just 2 days a week), and Dusty will have his first day of kindergatren on Wednesday. I will finally get some time all to myself (until baby comes!). I am so excited, just for those few hours each week. I haven't had time like this for 6 years! For 6 years, it seems like my life has been all about kids - lots of kids! I have done a lot of babysitting, which I am done with! I don't know if I want to do that again on a daily basis. Kids have run my life for 6 years, but actually I can't imagine it any other way. And that's how I want it to be - But I am excited for a few hours of just me!