This is what I just heard from the other room

The scene: Ty jumping around, hollering, and being generally obnoxious as little boys are.

Justin: "OWE DUDE! Ty knock it off, that's my balls! Dude, STOP. Owe, oh, owe."

Ty: In his sweet little 3 year old voice, 'What's a ball?'

-----------------------
Me: Hysterical laughing.

So, I think the cat has a UTI.

Bummer.

You know what sucks?

When your husband weighs only 4 or 5 pounds more than you. That sucks. After we move I have really got to start working out and watching what I eat again. I know I'll feel a lot better too.

On a good note - we have awesome family dinners every night. I love it. Justin cooks while I take a break from the kids. The kids get some quality Daddy time. Then we all eat together. Justin usually has music on while he's cooking and sometimes we leave it on while we eat. Aubree likes dancing and bouncing to the music. Ty was never into it much, we really had to work to get him to dance. He liked it when he did it, but it was usually just a little arm swing. LOL! That's another thing I love - the differences. They are so awesomely individual. Anyway.... Led Zeppelin was on the other night and we were all rocking out during dinner. These are the moments that I want to remember forever.

I guess my feeling sorry for myself, sucky post ended up pretty awesome.

These are the moments that make it all worth it

Yesterday, my cuties were head banging to Bad Religion. I can't put into words how much fun these little monkeys can be. I love them so much I want to squeeze them till they pop!

Pet tags

Our pets all have their new Minnesota ID tags! It's very exciting. We are meeting with a moving company later today to get an estimate. We may still do the move ourselves, but after paying for the rental truck and gas and hotel, it may not be much more to pay someone to do it. Justin had another job interview this morning. Things are looking good.

Puddles & Slugs

Is there anything more fun than a little girl and a great puddle?

Is there anything more lovable than a boy and a couple of slugs?


Ew, maybe they're not so good for kissing!

Dirty diaper

Aubree is only 15 months old and she is already coming to tell me when she has a poopy diaper! I love it! She is so cute when she walks up to me and has these big serious eyes. She babbles her own little language quietly and pulls at the top of her diaper. Or if she's got overalls on she pats her tummy. She looks so intensely that you just *know* what she's telling you. It's pretty cool. A few times she even brought me a diaper. This is my favorite age.

Daddy's Awesome!

I am very proud that our Daddy belongs to US!

We've had the problem with the computer before, but it was still under warranty so it wasn't as big of a deal. This time we learned that this is something that goes wrong with our model about every year and a half. Yay. Luckily Daddy's a smart guy and he checked some message boards online to see if other people have had the problem. They have, and they gave basic directions on how to fix it. The only problem is you could screw up a bunch of other stuff attempting to fix this one thing. Great. We took it to the official computer store and they wanted $600 to replace the entire section of the computer! Yikes. So Dad took the kids on a field trip to a specialty computer store and they wanted 7-10 days to diagnose the problem. We already know the problem. Back home they all came. And our AWESOME Dad took the computer apart and fixed the problem himself! Even with fairly unclear directions. I love that guy.

DA!

Things that Aubree says:

Mom - Maa or Maaaam
Dad - Da
Ty - Ta
Gramma - Ma
Dog - Da
Cat - Meow, more like Meeeeaaaaaahhh
Diaper - Da
Done - Da
Down - Doh
No - NoNoNoNoNoNo or NO!
(And I swear she says 'No I don't want to' all in her little gibberish language!)
Seibu or Bu - Bu
Snap - Na(p - sorta)
Hi - I
Hello - Heeooo
Night Night - *wave
Bye - *wave
Star - Da(r)
Eye - Eye
Nose - No
Ow! - Oweeeeee
Milk - Mo(k)

Some are very regular, some aren't regular yet. The letters in parentheses are only said once in a while. I know these don't seem like a huge deal. But it is so fun to hear her talking and communicating. She still mostly has her own language, which our friend says sounds like the puppy Blue, from Blues Clues!

T-Rex Hiding In The Dark

Ty had cake tonight for Daddy's birthday. Tonight at 9pm! (Aubree was already in bed.) He was getting delirious and kinda spastic. Add some good sugary cake and OH MY! I wish I had video to share. It's just hilarious. I ended up taking him outside and had him run back and forth, over and over again to get some of the wiggles out before attempting to put him in bed. Ha! But he had a great time. He ran and ran and I made funny noises at him and we laughed. We talked about all the t-rex's that are walking around in the dark. Some are scary and some are nice, and some are a little bit of both! One even came home with us.

Our 6th Anniversary

6 years. It's been a roller coaster and I'm so glad nobody got thrown off. LOL I love my husband more now than ever. I mean it! There were times that that wasn't true. I really feel like we are growing in to each other and understanding each other at a new level. Yay for us for sticking it out and staying committed to getting through the craziness and making ourselves reconnect when we felt far away, as hard as it may have been.

I suppose some people wouldn't want to share that it's been rough at times, but I am so proud of us. I feel like going through so much has given us a great foundation for a long life together. Of course, the hormones hit, and I'm ready to run for the hills! But we're learning to work with our strengths and weaknesses and it freakin' rocks.

We got to go out to dinner all by ourselves and we used a giftcard we got for christmas, so we didn't spend a dime! 'Uncle Kai' watched the kids till Gramma Nan got home. They had a blast, I love knowing that they're going to have a great time when we're gone. After dinner we went to a movie, at the theater. I don't remember the last time we did that. We saw "Stardust" and it was AWESOME! I wanted to stay and watch it again. I'm not usually one to want to watch a movie over and over and I never buy them. But I'd buy this one in a heartbeat! It was so fun. And fun is just what we were looking for.

So here's to a lifetime together, working, playing and loving. Justin and I agree that we have never heard of a custody agreement that sounds like it was good for the kids. So, divorce isn't an option for this family. I guess we'll just have to keep growing- together.

Ty's 1st trip to the dentist

Thursday: I was pretty anxious about this first trip to the dentist. It was hard for me to imagine how I would handle both of the kids by myself. The appointment was right at Ty's naptime, obviously I was concerned that he'd have a hard time dealing. And I worried that Aubree would be wiggly sqiggly as well. Luckily she did really good. We walked around the office when sitting was too hard. It went much better than I could have imagined. Ty did fantastic. I think he even had fun! The dental assistant was amazing. He was so interested in all the stuff she was telling him. She let him hold Mr. Thirsty - the suction tool. I was so impressed and proud. He is so smart. He makes my heart swell.

Coffee

My kids eat coffee beans. Crazy, huh? Aubree started the bean fad. She will not let me make coffee in the morning without giving her a bean. Seriously, she will totally throw a fit. Of course once Ty figured out that she was getting this very special treat, he had to have one too. Silly goobers. Though, Ty's introduction to coffee happened long ago. When he was around a year or year and half old he always wanted some of what Daddy was having every morning. Finally, one day, Justin gave him a sip. Justin drinks his coffee black and figured Ty wouldn't want anything to do with it... He was wrong. Ty happily took a sip and said 'Mmmmmmmmmm'! I don't think Aubree's been brave enough to take a sip yet. She mostly just expects it to be offered so she knows you're not being rude. Then she'll try and stick her hand in it.

I heart Mom - I heart Dad

Who's cuter than who? Thing 1 or Thing 2!

Before I forget

Right around his 3rd birthday, Ty was facinated with being angry. It was funny and a bit scary. But it was kind of adorable how he'd tell you so plain and clear that he was angry at you right now. That part ties in with the last post. But the next part is why this is a post of it's own. So New Year's Eve: Ty was banging away on some toys like a drum in the middle of Gramma Nan's New Year's party. I asked him if he was going to be a musician. He said ' NO!! I'm going to be an angry musician.' Well then my son, you are going to make a lot of money!

My big little boy

What is he, 3 going on 13? He blows me away. He blows lots of people away. He's been able to repeat nearly perfectly any word since before he was 2. When your 20 month old attempts to repeat the word 'antioxidants', it kinda blows you away. I'm not sure I even know how to spell that word. I feel like he's been talking for more years than he's been on this earth. That may be because he talks nonstop! Who knew there was so much to say about ANYTHING? I love watching his language and thought process evolve. It's magical. Currently, besides being in the WHY stage, he is saying some funny stuff! He talks so grown up. I was giving him a little lecture about something and he told me 'Mom I don't want to have this conversation anymore'! Fair enough! If I get to say it, I suppose he does too. : ) I know the feeling little man.