Carden turned six! (in September!)

Carden had a couple of small parties, one with family and a couple neighborhood friends at our house, and then one with some good friends at Peter Piper.  He had a blast both times. 

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He kept on playing this fishing game with his friend Logan.  A couple of times they hit the "jackpot" on it and got tons of tickets.  So the ended up getting a bunch of random prizes that night.  Carden said it was the best night ever and he can't wait to go back.

Tanner kept on running away from us and then would come back with a piece of candy every time. He also came back with some tickets.  We never found out where he got them from.  Here he is with his mouth full of candy.

Carden and Logan by the ticket machine

A few things about Carden:

He's loving school so far.  It was a hard adjustment at first and we had some tantrums in the evening because he was so tired.  He adjusted quickly though and the tantrums stopped and he it's nothing but good about school.

He's learning lots of spanish.

He had a crush on a girl named Piper.  It sounds like she kisses a couple of the other boys though, so I told him to not get his hopes up :) Oh kindergarten.

He's learning multiplication and division in Math.  His teacher said he will spend 3 hours some days doing math activities.  I hear him counting numbers to himself all day long.

He can read.

His handwriting on the other hand, is like his Mom's.  or his Dad's.  He was not blessed with the good handwriting gene.

He came home one day and said, "why does everyone think I like superheros? Or cars? I like trucks mom!"  He still loves construction trucks, apparently.  Since it was time to get him warm clothes for winter, I made sure to get him lots of truck shirts and that made him a happy kid.

He is the "big brother" of the classroom.  Always helping everyone.  He was also given the responsibility of feeding the fish or assigning someone to feed the fish everyday this year.

His favorite food is beans and rice, but he also loves chicken and broccoli over rice, and pizza. Cheese and lettuce are still on the "disgusting" list.

For school lunch, every day he packs a beef and green chili burrito from costco, a raspberry yogurt, and a bowl of fruit.  Pears are his favorite.  He doesn't need a lot of variety.

He's still the peacemaker in our house.

Happy Birthday Big Red! We love you!

Tanner turned 2! (in October)

We were at the cabin that weekend, so decided to celebrate his birthday there with Grammy and Grandpa and Aunts Julia and Karin.  Tanner wasn't so sure about this birthday thing, but he did know that he liked birthday candles.  So we lit them and sang the birthday song again and again.  May 5 or 6 times is all.  He had a great time.  

watching movies in the cold, cold cabin

 David digging in the dirt

A few things about Tanner:

34 inches, 24 lbs,

He talks just like Carden, not putting the first sound on words.  But he also doesn't but the last sound on words either.  Yes, it's very fun to understand him.  for example:

/ai/= slide, hi, light
/oo/= food, shoes, room

He LOVES mum-mums.  (Code for motorcyles) He plays with them and watches them on the ipad as much as he can get away with.

He doesn't really like toys-he prefers running around like a crazy pants to playing with anything

He doesn't like movies or shows.  I never thought I would have a boy who didn't like the Cars movies. But he has no interest and doesn't carry any of the figures around either.  He prefers to watch real life-videos of the family, motocross racing, etc.

He stopped napping around 20 months.

So basically. No shows + no naps = a very fun 2 year old and a very happy mommy (insert sarcasm font here).

He doesn't like to be told no.  To get around this he's figured out a way to get everyone to think he's cute and give him what he wants.  First he asks, then when he's told no, he throws his fit and walks away.  A couple minutes later he'll come back and whisper to you whatever it is that he wants.  IT's hard to describe it, but it's the cutest thing ever.  So I end up laughing at him and then he gets what he wants.

He still doesn't like food.  He eats enough to survive and that's about it.  He's never liked food really, even as a baby he refused sweet potatoes, pears, bananas.  He'll eat bananas now, but sweet potatoes are still off the list.

He does love tortillas and yogurt though.  That's a healthy diet, right?

Have I mentioned how much he loves motorcycles?  4-wheelers are a close second.

He loves to blow raspberries all the time.  It makes his brothers so mad, but I just tell them he's making motorcycle sounds, he doesn't mean to spit.

Cutest, happiest kid ever! We love our Tan-Tan.

Friends in Low Places..

Apparently Josh has always had a dream of going to a Garth Brooks concert.  So when he came to Phoenix in October, of course we had to go.  It was awesome.  We didn't have tickets, but went to the ticket office at the stadium and got ah-mazing seats right before the concert started.  We were the row right behind the "vip" area.  Garth sang all of his classics and sounds exactly like he did 20 years ago.  Good concert, hot date, and one item on the bucket list crossed off. 

Happy Halloween!

David was Wolverine, Carden was Optimus Prime, and Tanner was a pumkin. And I didn't get any pictures because we were going to a friends house after trick or treating to take pictures in their photo booth.  But when Tanner pushed the door open to go in the house with his bucket full of candy, he got stung by a scorpion.  Tanner doesn't talk much and when he started crying, Josh at first thought he got his finger pinched in the door.  But Tanner kept saying "no, no!" and took Josh over to where the scorpion was.  We see them all the time outside and Tanner has had many lectures about them, so he knew he had to let us know what it was.  So instead of getting our pictures taken, we got to spend the night at the ER.  Good times, by Tanner.  

Wait, I forgot! We did get pictures of someone in their Halloween Costume...

Fishing in the moning

They didn't even get a bite, but the  boys still said they had fun.  I don't think they even minded the 5 am wake up.  Now Josh, that's another story..

It's a baby girl!

 Introducing Chloe Elizabeth:

Born on 10.8.15, 5 lbs. 11 oz., 18.25 inches. Blond hair, although some question if it's red.  Lots and lots of brotherly love in this house right now.   So far she's pretty chill. As long as she has milk and is being held, she's happy.

 First Bath:

She is my only baby to not scream her head off in the bathtub.  It was a nice change.

David is FOUR! (back in March anyway!)

And boy, was this a big big deal.  David talked about his upcoming birthday for months before it actually got here.  "I'm going to be four!" "I'm almost four!" Multiple times a day.  The only thing that David wanted for his birthday was a Spiderman bounce house, so that was the only thing we got him.  It came early in the morning before the party and then left the next morning and David couldn't figure out why they were taking it away.  Apparently, I didn't explain to David that we only get to keep the bounce house for the party, not forever.

A couple things about David:

Stats:
Height:
Weight:

He loves to play superheros, especially Spiderman.

He is a very big brother and loves his baby Tan-Tan.

He is a great eater and loves everything except for tomatoes.

His favorite color is red.

He loves his preschool class and friends.  He loves to wear his back pack and take his show and tell and do his craft project each time.  He would go to preschool everyday if he could.

He doesn't like to build with legos yet, but will play with Carden's creations for hours.  Carden loves to build for David, because he thinks everything Carden makes is amazing.

He learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! This is a very big deal.

He can drive the go-cart and loves loves to go on motorcycle rides with his Dad.

Getting tubes in and adenoids out was the best decision ever for him.  It's been months since he had a cold, which is amazing for him.

He loves to cuddle still.  It doesn't matter if he knows them or not, if someone is willing to hold him, he's there.

He is Mr. Sensitive.  Every time he gets hurt, whether it's from hurt feelings, a scraped knee, or a bleeding artery, he screams like he's just been cut in half.  He can get every mom at the playground running to his rescue, just to see a little scrape on his knee.

He is a very passive learner.  We have no idea that he's paying attention to us all, then a month later, he'll bust out some facts about what he heard us talking or reading about.  We've learned we really have to pay attention to what we say around him, because we have no idea if he's listening or not.

He is a great self-entertainer.  He will play with the same pencil or ball or whatever for hours.  He creates little stories with them, most of which involve bad guys and going to jail.  He has different voices for each part.

Fun at Strawberry cabin-Aug 2015

Random pictures

 waiting at the doctor's office

 At the children's museum in mesa

 Playing ninjas. The usually play "naked ninja's" so it was nice to get a shot with their clothes on :) 

 Tanner thinks he is Maggie's best friend.  If Maggie could talk, I'm sure he would have plenty to say about this. 

These boys :)