Disneyland!

We were in Disneyland last week with Drew's mom and had a GREAT time! We loved having mom with us and the boys got completely spoiled. The weather was beautiful and the lines weren't bad at all. I had to include this picture because this is most of what we saw of Max. The kid loves to run and if we turned around he would be off and gone. He frequently tried to escape from lines by ducking under ropes etc. One lady actually saw him running around once and kept mentioning to me what a challenge he was going to be. He's got a lot of energy but we love it and realize that he just needs "running time" :)

Spencer loved greeting the characters. I think Max thought they were a little weird though :)

Here we are on the way to the park. Even the tram is exciting for one and three year-old boys!
Mickey Mouse - a huge hit! And everyone is looking in the right direction too :)
I thought it was so cute how small my boys looked next to Sully. We went to a "Pixar Parade" at California Adventure that features Monsters Inc., Cars, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, etc. There was one float that was a giant ball full of smaller balls being blown around. On top of it was Buzz Lightyear - it was basically heaven for my boys!
Spencer barley made the height for this ride and once we were up in the air I was a little nervous for him (you can't tell in this picture but I am gripping his forearm). He had a great time though. And of course we met Lightning McQueen and Mater. Their eyes even moved which fascinated Spencer.

We got in trouble for putting them up here but I'm glad we got the picture. They are twins!

This was our first and last ride (I think we went on it a total of 6 times). Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters. We had been watching a video of it on Disneyland's website for over a month before we went so Spencer was really excited about it and it was his very favorite at both parks!

We had such a great time! Thanks again Mom!

Our Summer!

We have been busy this summer! Drew has been out of town quite a bit so the boys and I have had adventures. We went to Sun River with my family and I got to lug them around behind my bike or through caves in a hiking backpack. Drew and I left the kiddos in Boise and went on a trip with my parents, brothers, and new sister-in-law to Disney Land. It was so much fun! My brother got married so we've been to Utah and back. I have been working on building my flute studio so I've been meeting with band directors, performing at local schools, and this Friday I have a performance in Portland. I have also been busy painting and decorating a bathroom (new light fixture, pictures, and vanity mirror - done while Drew was out of town I might add!) and attempting to decorate our play room (still a work in progress). It has been crazy as usual. Here are some updated pictures:



Spencer turned three this summer and loves trains, airplanes, cars, trucks, and water guns. He is going through a bit of a rough stage right now. He really struggles with being told "no" and is having a hard time with a mobile little brother who likes to cause train crashes and smash over blocks. He can be a really sweet boy though and he is a fast learner. He basically lives in an imaginary world now and often when I call him Spencer he says, "no mom, I'm ____" It changes constantly from cartoon characters to other actual people, animals, various machines etc. Today we were cargo planes. He even has an imaginary friend "Joey" who comes and goes. It is pretty cute!

It looks like Max is trying to pat Spencer here but really he is trying to hit Spencer's face. Spencer is smiling though, he really is a good sport!

Max has been walking for a while now and is my happy little adventurer. He follows his big bro around everywhere and loves sticks and throwing rocks. He eats more than any child I have ever seen and yet is our long and lean little dude. Whereas Spencer was a big talker from the start, Max is pretty content with calling all liquids "cup" and saying "woof woof" at any and every animal he sees. He is branching out finally and it is pretty cute watching him try to copy our animal sounds!

Spring is Here!

Spring is here, although it has been raining a lot at our house. The boys got a bike trailer and we have been enjoying that on the nice days. I just wanted to post a few pictures because it has been a LONG time!

Well my friend Michelle said I really needed to post on my blog so here is some proof that we are still alive over here! Drew is on a "business trip" in Hawaii (can you tell I'm a little jealous!) so I'm doing what I usually do when he is out of town and somehow filling up my evenings and going to bed late. In the last couple months we have: Celebrated Halloween! Here is my cowardly lion and crazy monkey. Spence loved his pumpkin full of candy and tried to carry it around for days afterwards.

We also celebrated Thanksgiving, unfortunately Spence got to the pumpkin pie before we did...
We got our Christmas tree which is a fun tradition in our family. My parents have some property that backs in to a Christmas Tree farm. We get a ladder, hop the fence, cut down a tree, go pay for it, and haul it back across the fence. Of course we do know these neighbors and as far as I know nobody has reported us! (Max was crying almost this whole time so I will skip those pictures.)

We started solids but I made an executive decision that we are going to hold off for a couple more weeks before trying again becuase I don't think he swallowed any (but he was cute!).

Spencer joined in the feeding fun.

We also caught him asleep like this. He loves this book and there is a picture in it of a bunch of people eating ice cream. He just couldn't put it down :)

And here are just some cute pictures of my little guy. Max has gigantic eyes!

My sweet boys

Well, sometimes they are sweet...

Fenced Backyard + Toddler = Heaven!

We have been busy this summer! I would never advise closing on a house (that you plan to do some work to) 13 days after having a baby. After some stressful complications at closing, lots of painting, sheetrocking, carpeting, repairing, packing, unpacking, and nursing, burping, and diaper changing, we find ourselves at the end of a crazy summer, happily moved into and enjoying our home with two growing boys! Whew. Here is what we have been up to:

Lots of playing in the backyard. Spencer ends up soaking wet on an almost daily basis and Max and I enjoy laying on a blanket watching from a safe distance!

Lots of smiling and cooing. Max has been a very easy baby. He is happy and sleeps and eats well. Plus, he's so darn cute! He started rolling from his tummy to his back - I guess he doesn't like tummy time much.

Lots of adjusting to having two, which has actually been easier than I had anticipated. Spence has been really good with Max. I have had to save Max from eating the carpet fuzz that was being offered but other than that we have made it relatively incident free so far.

Lots of rock throwing. This was Max's first hike and Spencer's first where he actually walked.

Being blessed and turning two! Max did great and Drew gave him a beautiful blessing. We were happy to have so much family there. Spencer had a fun birthday. We went to the Zoo and then had lunch with Daddy in downtown Portland. He struggled opening so many presents though because he wanted to play with each one right away. I love Max sleeping on the couch in the background.And of course, lots of home improvement. This is a before and after of the same room, taken from different angles. For now, this side of this room is done. There is still at least something that needs to be done in every other room. We don't have pictures up yet, we are still missing a mirror in our bathroom, the kitchen needs to be painted... My to do list has become huge. But for now, this is a taste of what we have been up to and I'll post more pictures as we finish more rooms. This is our living room. We redid the ceilings (you can't tell but they were popcorn before and it really makes the house feel a lot newer to get rid of those), painted the walls and all the dark woodwork in the house (that is a horrible project by the way), removed a pole, got curtains and curtain rods and filled up the space. We have been happy with it and Spencer loves to hide in the little nook by the plant!

It has been a great summer and we are looking forward to a fun filled fall!

Happy Father's Day

I think I got Drew a pretty sweet Father's Day Present! We are all doing well and planning on going home from the hospital today. I can't handle being in a hospital room too long! Max is doing well. He loves showing off his big eyes - I think they look a lot like his Grandma Lori's.

Here is Spence playing with the trains that Max gave him. He has been pretty good with Max so far. He keeps saying "baby's sad" whenever Max cries. I'm a pretty lucky girl to get to live with all these cute boys!