Happy Birthday Ry!

I guess I am only going to post when my kids turn a year older. Yesterday was Riley's birthday, and I can't believe we have a 4 year old!

Riley, you had such a fun day. You played with your cousins, took a trip to the library with dad, cut your own hair for the first time, road a horse, pet a zebra, found out what camels eat, had chocolate cake and had your first sleepover with two of your best buddies. You continue to amaze me with how much you learn and say every day. You crack me up. The other night, I was putting you to bed, and as I walked out of the room you said "Mom, you are a jewel. You are such a treasure." Where you get these things from, I do not know. You love My Little Ponies, all animals, Mary Poppins and especially your family. You say things like "I just love my family, we get to be together forever." You are such a big helper to your brothers, especially Will. You always get him up from his naps. When I go in, you are usually in the crib laying next to him, and he is giggling and snuggling up to you.

We love you so much. Happy Birthday Bug!

(Pictures to come later...it may be tomorrow, it may be next year :)

Happy Birthday Little Man

Tyler,

I can't believe you are two already! Where did the time go? You are at such a fun age and I love everything about your sweet little personality (except the high pitched girl scream...YIKES!) You love trains, cars, dinosaurs, bugs, dogs and trucks. Such a boy! I'm not going to lie, you also like to play with Riley and her Barbies and Polly Pockets. You love hats, especially Riley's white Easter hat and her pink polka dot hat.

You love to color, and will sit at the kitchen table for an hour. You don't even try to eat the markers anymore :)

You are such a daddy's boy! I thought Riley was attached to her daddy, but she has nothing on you. I went to Aunt Trisha's wedding for a week, and the morning after I got home, you woke up and walked right past me looking for dad. Whenever you are scared, excited or hurt, you look for dad. It is pretty cute and I know that it makes him happy.

You love to "sing" along to primary songs, especially "I love to see the temple". You also are doing such a good job saying your prayers and "reading" scriptures with us. You repeat back every word we say, even the big ones like exaltation.

You are such a busy little boy. You are constantly running. I think this is why you love to be outside all the time...wide open spaces suit you. You would live outside if you could. Thank goodness our family loves hiking and camping.

We love you so much little man. We are so happy that you are a part of our family. Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mom, Dad, Riley and Will

Wedding, Camping and Cute Kids...Oh My

I don't have the time or energy to write anything clever about all the events over the past few months, so here is a quick synopsis with a ton of pictures to follow.

(P.S. I edited a blog post I started back in May, but never published. That is why the date for this post is at the end of May, but all of the events happened in June and July)

Trisha's Wedding:
*amazing
*crazy busy
*me - little man -Utah and Idaho
*catching up with some of my favorite people

Pennsylvania
*FUN!!!
*Omi and Grandpa
*hanging out with cousins from Cali
*sprinklers
*Knoebles

Camping
*dirty
*tons of fun
*great company
*friendly deer in our campsite (lots of them...a little creepy)
*delicious smores

Summer Fun
*park
*pool
*splash pad

Too much Mary Poppins?

Yesterday, when I got out of the shower, I asked Riley where Tyler was. She replied "He's on a jolley holiday."

Our Kiddos

Riley

Riley is such a funny little girl. She makes me laugh out loud several times a day. Some of the most recent things she has said:

"Mom, while you were away at Trisha's, Nana put sugar in my bum". Riley had a little rash while we were in Boston, so my mom put baby powder on her. Riley thought it was powdered sugar.

Riley to Jack "Jack, will you dance with me?"

Jack (looking slightly confused) "Uh, no"

Riley "Jack will you please dance with me?"

Jack "I playing with my balloon".

Me "Riley, I will dance with you".

Riley "No mom, I have to dance with Jack, because I need to dance with a prince and Jack is a boy. He is my prince".

The other day in the car, Riley was tearing up a piece of paper. She looked up at me and said "Mom, this is making me so ridiculous". I love it when she uses big words and has no idea what they mean.

Riley loves to play dress up. She changes her clothes a million times a day. Her dresses have to twirl, or she gets very upset. Today, she was digging for slugs and worms in the back yard with Jack wearing jeans (only because I made her put them on under her dress so she wouldn't be cold), a green dress, blue flip flops, a pink zip up hoodie, pink necklace and a white hat that Nana bought her for Easter.

Every night when we read scriptures, before we even tell Riley what to say, she says "And it came to pass".

Riley is such a great big sister. She is always taking care of Will and Tyler. I love hearing her and Tyler play. Sometimes they get giggling so hard, they can't talk.

We love our bug.

Tyler

Tyler is our happy little boy. He loves to be read to. If I could devote the entire day to reading books to Tyler, he would be one happy boy. He loves "Goodnight Moon". I can tell when Jonathan is reading it to him, because I here Tyler say "Night Night" over and over again.

Tyler also does EVERYTHING Riley does. We were having a nose picking issue with Riley recently, and everytime Tyler saw Riley pick her nose, he would stick his finger up his and run to show us, laughing the whole way. If Riley starts dancing, Tyler starts dancing. If Riley starts coughing, Tyler starts coughing.

Tyler is our little comedian. He will make the craziest faces just to get us to laugh. His favorite is squinting his eyes and smiling a huge smile.

Tyler is the world's biggest clutz. Sadly, on more than one occasion he has run straight into a wall. Mind you, his head was not turned looking behind him, or even to the side. He ran into the wall looking directly at the wall. He will trip on a piece of thread laying on the ground. The boy constantly has scrapes and bruises over his body. Luckily he is a little tank.

Tyler is also the quintesential Daddy's boy. The second he wakes up in the morning, he is looking for Jonathan. He is fine with me throughout the day, but I think it is because he doesn't have any other option. As soon as Jonathan walks in the door, he runs to him and doesn't leave his side until bedtime. It is pretty cute, and Iknow Jonathan doesn't mind a bit.

We can't get enough of our monkey.

Will

Our sweet little man is almost 3 months old now. He is starting to coo and smiles at us all the time. He is generally a great baby, except for when he has his digestive issues (the medicine he is on for reflux backs him up) He loves to be held, loves tummy time with his big sister, and loves to eat. He still has a head full of hair that I love to play with. We feel so blessed to have this little man in our life.

Boston and NYC

I surprised Jonathan and bought tickets to Boston for his birthday. I figured we should take advantage of visiting such a cool place while we still had a free place to stay, not to mention that it is always fun to hang out with my little sis. We flew in on Thursday and spent the afternoon walking around Harvard Square. The next day, Jonathan and I dropped Trish off at work and headed to Concord to see the Old North Bridge and Sleepy Hollow cemetary. After we picked Trish up, we spent the rest of the day in downtown Boston. We went to an old restaraunt that is in one of the oldest buildings in Boston. Jonathan had some amazing clam chowder that he can't stop talking about. If any of you know Jonathan, this is not like him. He would be content living off of mac and cheese for the rest of his life. He just isn't infatuated with food like I am, but he loved this clam chowder.


We drove to NYC with Trish and Mike the next morning and spent a very wet and cold day in the city. We ate a $3 hotdog in Time Square, rode the subway, walked in Central Park, went to the Musuem of Natural History and just walked around. Will was AMAZING the entire trip. He was such a little trooper. It was a very fun and jam packed trip.

Jonathan and Will in front of a dinosaur skeleton at the musuem. We took this picture for Tyler, because he loves dinosaurs.

Trish and I sitting in a huge clam shell

Jonathan and I in Time Square

We made a bed for Will under Trisha's desk. He slept great!

Will sleeping on Jonathan's lap while we rode the train into Boston

Jonathan in front of the monument at the Old North Bridge.

Trisha practicing her maternal skills with Will

Easter

Jonathan and I were out of town for Easter weekend this year, so we celebrated a little early. For FHE on Monday night, we attempted to teach a 3 1/2 year old and a 21 month old about the resurrection and then dyed eggs . It was fun, but a huge mess. The kids probably had more fun, because Jonathan was in charge. Little Man decided he wanted to eat right as the festivities began. All I know, is that when I came back in, Tyler's hand was completely blue and he was completely happy. The Scienski's had us over for their annual Easter Egg Hunt the next night. As always, it was a blast. Don't mind Tyler's ghetto Halloween bucket in the picture. We forgot to pick him up an Easter basket. We got in at 4:00 on Easter day, and headed straight from the airport over to T.J. and Michelle's for a family dinner and Easter Egg Hunt.