A Giveaway!! Go check it out!

Hello friends, just want you to check out my friends blog... She is great... And does some AMAZING giveaways! Right now she is giving away her camera (very gently used). Anyway, check it out! It closes Wednesday!

www.veronicaaustin.blogspot.com

... And updates to come... I promise.

Oh Boy! I've Got JOY!

       I totally have this little song stuck in my head... "Oh Boy! I've got joy! I do, I do!" and my fellow joy schoolers know exactly what I mean! That's right. Big Brother started Joy School this week! (Thats a bagel in his hand if you're wondering)

       We have been so excited about this. I've been prepping him for it the last couple weeks. I won my very first bloggers giveaway "back to school", so we went and let Big Brother pick out a little back pack (Thanks Veronica! www.autincitylimits.blogspot.com). He was so excited. I was a little nervous about how he would do. I knew he would be fine behaving, (he's usually very good), but he tends to be on the shy side. I was afraid he may not participate well, but I've been told (and they could just be trying to make me feel better) that he is doing great!

     He sings, talks, follows direction... I am so proud of him. He has come home both times eager to tell me what he did. And now, every time our doorbell rings, he says... "Mom... is that Miss Jen?" I think it is so adorable. I'm amazed at how much he already remembers. He sings me the songs, tells me about his craft project. He even tells me who was naughty... hehe. I can't wait until its my turn to teach. I'm so excited to see him in this element. And it has been so neat sharing this learning experience with him and being so involved. I've also enjoyed a little more quality time with Mama's Boy and Queen Bee. Although Mama's Boy has cried both times Big Brother has left because he "needs to go to school too mom".... I'm going to try and plan some extra fun things just me and him so he doesn't feel so left out. I just can't believe I'm already at the place where I have one at school for a few hours! My baby boy is growing up WAY TOO FAST!!!

     A week ago, I "off the cuff" decided to try and potty train Big Brother before he started school. I know what you're thinking! He is 3 1/2... potty training should have happened a year ago! Well... Big Brother is on the later side. I envisioned it being a nightmare, and while I won't go into too many details (cause who really wants to read about someone elses kid using the toilet) it was a success! The first two days were... frustrating. We didn't have many accidents, but it was a lot of staying at home and crying. I got some great advice from friends that worked perfectly! Since Big Brother was substantially older, I hoped he would pick it up quickly and he did. No accidents since Saturday! So our little boy has taken some pretty big steps this last week. And I had no idea how nice it would be changing one less diaper!! Whooo Hoooo for meeee!!

     And, I posted these two pictures of Queen Bee cause I think she is so cute! Plus, that top picture shows her Brand - Spankin - New -Two - Bottom - Theeth! Congrats little Queen Bee, you know have chompers!

Summer

I know I have been completely MIA. So much has been going on, and once I got a little behind, it felt overwhelming to dive back in. I hope to return to the blogging world I have missed everyone so much! This will be an overload of pictures, and a pretty brief description of our lives the last 4 months.

As some of you know (reference previous blog posts), The Boss' mom became very ill very quickly. May 13th, She passed peacefully away in her home with children by her side. tears... there is a reason I have been avoiding this post...

Just shy of 9 weeks before she passed away, she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic cancer. A Wonderful Woman. Wonderful Mother. Wonderful Grandma. We love her. We miss her. We talk of her often and take full advantage of the Temple that we feel so blessed to be near, and The Boss especially has found so much peace in feeling close to her there. Thank you for love, support, friendship, and prayers. Our family has felt very blessed during this process. We love you Grandma.

Just under two weeks before she passed, The Boss' only grandparent passed away. He was very old and ready to go I think. But it was still very difficult. He just LOVED The Boss... he always said "The Boss is my favorite person in the whole world". We hope to keep the Finnish heritage alive! Love you Grandpa.

The Summer has been so, that it really didn't feel much like summer. It's pretty hot right now, but it had been cool for the most part. We didn't take any trips or get any season passes. So most of these pictures are just random. Plus, I suck as a parent and forget my camera a lot. So we did take a trip to Marine World, Pixie Woods, Old Sacramento Train Museum, Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc... and have no pictures to show for it. But they were all a good time... I promise! Especially the Train Museum. What a treat! So neat. If you're in the area and have never been... GO. And if you ever come to visit... make a plan to GO! Its great for adults and kids. So here it is!

Dad and his Family were inducted in the Liberty High Hall of Fame. It was really cool hearing all the "stats" on the family, and how much they contributed to Liberty and still do. Very fun. Isn't my Daddy handsome?

On my birthday. Real exciting. 27. Whoo hoo. But- my kids are cute!

Family pictures with The Boss' Family.

Parties at Aunties house. Sure is fun having family members who are firefighters... Would you like a firetruck in your backyard? Yes please. Done. The kids loved it!

Oh... my little Queen Bee Girl. At about 6 months old. Just learned to sit up.

Mama's Boy is my dirty child. If he sees dirt... he must touch it, and rub it on something, or take it somewhere, or try and eat it. He must grab rocks wherever we go too. He LOVES to play outside. So here they are... after not being supervised, obviously. And yes, they are in their pajamas. Better their PJ's get dirty and gross than a cute outfit. I don't really have "play clothes" for my kids (you know the ones that they can totally trash and you could care less). So that's what we use jammies for. Anyway, they love to play in our small and extremely quaint-but-gets-the-job-done backspace... as you can see.

Father's Day. I can't even remember what we did. ...ah yes.... french dip sandwiches and my parents came over. We Skyped the Bro and Lucy, and Duni, lost in a "Skype Off" to the Bro. Haha... that was funny.

The Boss hanging with the boys on our porch swing from Boss' Mom. The kids love this swing.

Queen Bee 7 months old.

Scum with the Fam. I think this was on the 4th of July.

Haha... The Boss brought these HUGE lollipops home from a District Meeting for work, and the kids had a lot of fun trying to eat them. It was really funny to watch.

Big Brother striking a pose while we are house hunting. I hope he isn't trying to tell me something...
These are just some pictures I took the other day of the kids. Big Brother needed an updated photo for Joy School (a post coming very soon) and they were so insistent upon Queen Bee being in the pictures! This little girl is HARD to photograph. Here is a quick update on the kiddos:

Queen Bee has been on the move for a few months now, and she DOES NOT STAY PUT!! She is everywhere. A great baby. Very easy to please. But she is developing so much more quickly than my sluggy boys did. This mom was NOT prepared. She is 9-months old now. Very close to walking. Has two teeth that just broke thru. LOVES to eat whatever the boys are eating. She hardly cares about her bottle anymore. She loves her pacifier. Sleeps blissfully thru the night and has been for about 6 months. Still takes two naps. Loves to throw balls around on the tile and watch them bounce around. She also carries this really random plastic rock around in her fist. Totally weird. She is FULL of energy and is growing way too fast. She has been such a fun addition. I love dressing her up. The boys love trying to hold her and give her hugs and kisses. Still no hair, but she almost NEVER leaves the house without a bow.

Mama's Boy is 2 1/2 now and as I said before... loves to be outside. He likes rocks, dirt, sand, mud... you get it. He has so much personality. He talks ALL THE TIME. And will repeat anything you say. He loves trains, cars, and has really loved reading lately. He is so funny and just loves to laugh. We are lovin that he still takes a nap and sleeps in his crib. And for some odd reason he likes to try and stick his finger in Queen Bee's eye. We kinda have to watch him.
Big Brother is becoming such a big boy. He starts Joy School in a few days, we are FINALLY potty training him (what a horrible process this has been... don't be surprised if you see a post on this one), and he has turned into quite the mommy's little helper. He is still quiet and somber. Thoughtful and somewhat shy. He is getting more bossy the older he gets. He likes to tell Queen Bee and Mama's Boy what they're doing wrong. But he is so tender and loving towards them. He loves to tell me, "I'm playing nice with baby mom... don't worry." So cute. He is obsessed with books, letters (letter factory, which you should go out and buy if you don't have), numbers, and colors. He likes to watch movies and would sit on the couch all day if I had the TV on. But he is really coming out of his shell, another reason I am SO EXCITED for Joy School.

More to come! I promise.

Easter was a lot of fun with the boys this year. They got to participate in four Easter Egg hunts! By Easter Sunday, they were pretty good at getting eggs. Mama's Boy would shake them each before he put them in his basket. In fact, since the first Easter Egg hunt they did, a week before Easter, every morning they would wake up with their baskets and say "we want to get eggs!", it was so cute! We started off by coloring Easter eggs at the Lehi home, with all the Lehi cousins. The boys actually did pretty well. Big Brother liked just throwing the eggs in the dye... we had a lot of cracked eggs. :) But they mostly liked to color on the eggs with crayons. That was the safest way to go anyhow. Once we pulled out the stickers to put on the eggs, all they wanted to do was stick them on themselves. Oh well! It was super fun either way!


Easter morning was especially fun. The Easter Bunny left eggs for the boys to get, as well as a basket of goodies. Of course all Mama's Boy cared about were the trains that he got... go figure. They were really cute though, they even put some eggs on Queen Bee's walker. She surely didn't get it, but she enjoyed the attention! Grammy Pammy and Grandpa came over and made a very yummy breakfast. They we got to enjoy a special treat this year, General Conference. I absolutely LOVE General Conference. We never miss a moment of it. Every talk, on Saturday and Sunday, is always spectacular. With Easter on the same Sunday as General Conference, it makes the true meaning of Easter so wonderful. I really do wish every Easter was on the same Sunday as General Conference. While Conference is great every time, it really spoke to our family in a special way given the trials we are facing at this time. It was just perfect, and it will forever be a Conference and an Easter we will always remember.

After the second session of General Conference, we headed out to Modesto for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt with the Lehis. We had a wonderful yummy dinner and enjoyed hanging out with Grandma and all the cousins. Our kids just love all their cousins. I have really enjoyed seeing them play and have fun together lately. I hope they will always be close.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter, that you were able to enjoy it with family and people you love. Reflecting on our Savior, and everything he suffered for us, that he rose and lives, and that we may rise and live again with him someday brings such peace to me.