Hayden Turns TWO!

Today my little man turned two!  It feels like he has been two for a while now, what with his vocabulary and communication skills so much more advanced than when Kylie turned two.  I just love it!  This week he finally started nodding to say yes, instead of grunting.  He is also repeating lots of words that you say to him, though he may not say them on his own.

We had a little family party for him tonight, and invited his only friend Sophia and her family over to celebrate with us.  Luckily Sophia is Kylie's friend too so they all get along together pretty well.  We had some pizza and then sang Happy Birthday and he blew out his candles all by himself!

I had to make sure to take the papers off of Hayden's cupcakes, because he would just down the whole thing.  I am pretty sure he ate at least three of them before I realized that he didn't know to throw that part away... oops!

We had a Big Hero 6 theme and decorated with streamers and white balloons that I put Baymax's face on.  The kids loved it and played Balloon volleyball all night long.

After cupcakes we opened presents.  As soon as Hayden saw his dinosaur he started roaring, and then as soon as he saw his Baymax plushie he gave it a big hug!  Yay!  I knew he would love his robot!

After presents we projected Big Hero 6 onto the wall and watched it while the kids played with their balloons.  Hayden ended up asking to go to bed before it was over, but I think he enjoyed his birthday party!  It was definitely fun and we enjoyed having Sophia and her family over to celebrate with us.

Thanksgiving

What a fun Thanksgiving weekend we have had!  On Wednesday we drove up to Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete's house.  There was no snow yet, but it was definitely cold!  The kids were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa and had fun exploring their house.  Kylie got to help Grandma Tess make pizza for dinner, and she really loved being in the kitchen with her.  Hayden wanted to help too, but sadly he is just a little to young!

Thanksgiving day I was sick all day unfortunately but that didn't stop the festivities!  The kids wanted to help out in the kitchen again all day, as well as play outside in the freezing cold!  It was funny watching Kylie try to play football with some neighbors.  The dinner was delicious (well, for me it smelled delicious!) and so was the pie!  The kids just kinda snacked all throughout the day.  Hayden built a huge fort with Grandpa Pete that he just loved!

Friday morning we attempted to have a photo shoot with the kids and get some 2 year shots of Hayden.  Grandpa Pete and Grandma Tess were so awesome and patient - the kids were not.  They didn't cooperate very well and didn't listen to anything we said.  But Grandpa Pete managed to get some good shots!

After that we went to Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary's house for the rest of the weekend.  Once again the kids ran around and explored the house and wanted to play outside in the freezing cold!

Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary also gave Hayden his birthday presents today.  Hayden knew exactly what to do and tore those presents right open!  Then we had fun playing with all his cars.

On Saturday we all went out to a movie as a family.  We went to see The Good Dinosaur and the kids really liked it!  They managed to mostly sit through the entire movie eating their popcorn.  It was lots of fun!  The rest of the day was spent playing with aunts and uncles and being the crazy kids they are.

Both Kylie and Hayden loved walking on the treadmill.  They would stay on it forever!

It also snowed the night before so Kylie was bound and determined to eat some snow.

On Sunday we went to church and then it was time to head back home!  We said our goodbyes to Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary and then headed out!

We made a quick pit stop at Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete's, where they had some presents for Hayden.  Grandma Tess made Hayden a cute little outfit, and Grandpa Pete got Hayden a HUGE triceratops.  Hayden and Kylie both loved it.  Hayden also really liked the dinosaur book and roared a lot!

Then we drove home through snow bursts.  We are so happy to be home!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with all our family and can't wait to see everyone in a few weeks for Christmas!

Sick Week

This was such a horrible week because I was sick practically the whole time!  I feel so bad!!  I had so many fun Thanksgiving activities planned to do with Kylie for her week off of school, and instead I spent nearly the whole time half asleep on the couch.  Luckily, Kylie has been awesome and has helped me so much.  She worked the TV the whole time and remembered that Hayden got to choose his shows in-between watching her own shows.  She helped get him snacks and fill his water up.  She even helped clean the main area so there would be room for new activities to do, as well as was always willing to help with chores (laundry, dishes) and making meals.  So glad she is old enough to be helpful!  And while she and Hayden did their fair share of fighting, she always made sure that he was included in everything and had his fair share.

Wednesday afternoon I felt a little better and we took a huge box and made a school bus out of it!  Both Kylie and Hayden are obsessed with school buses and yell excitedly every time they see one.  They both have so much fun decorating it (still!) and Kylie even took a little fake 'nap' in it while watching a show one day.

  Thursday I finally did a little turkey activity with Kylie.  We made just a simple little turkey out of a toilet paper roll, but she loved it.  I have so much fun with our creative activities because I draw the shapes and she loves to cut them out and glue everything together!  Hopefully we can do some more next week!!

On Friday we all got out of the house!!!!!!!! I was so happy that I was feeling up to getting outside, because it was a beautiful day and they kids just love being outside.  One of their favorite things is to pick all the red berries off the bushes and throw them.  Kylie calls them 'strawberries' or 'tomatoes', depending on which grandma's house she is pretending to be at ;)

Saturday Brandon was finally able to be home and help entertain the kids after a long workweek.  We ran a few errands, played at the mall and played some family games at home.  It was so nice to have the family all together and happy (most of the time).  We definitely have some very willful children, but they are so awesome at the same time!

Busy Busy Week!

I feel like I have been running all week long!  And we didn't even do anything too crazy!  We did all our normal things, like walks and visiting the library and running errands.  Maybe it seemed crazy busy because Brandon worked a lot this week.  He worked so much that when he did come home early he fell asleep soon after the kids were in bed!

On Thursday we had a parent meeting at Kylie's Preschool, and I was so happy when Kylie's teacher praised Kylie in front of everyone, because Kylie was able to spell out a word and know what it says.  (d-o-o-r that spells door!)  Kylie sure loves to learn and has been eating up the alphabet and how to spell words other than her name!  Sad part is she doesn't have school for the next two weeks for Thanksgiving break, and I don't know how I am going to keep up with her!  Luckily, I do have a lot of crafts planned....

On Friday Brandon had code camp, which is a 24 hour event, so we decided to go visit him that afternoon.  I did Kylie's hair a new way, and it stuck up really funny in the middle of her head.  I took a few pictures, but I am not sure you can tell how poofed up it was!

When we got to the conference building where Brandon was, the kids were way more interested in jumping on all the couches than saying hi to their dad who they haven't seen in a while!  But they did give us a fun dance show on the mini stage there.

On Saturday Kylie had her Primary Program practice.  I wanted to get a few pictures of her practicing and saying her part, because I wouldn't be able to on Sunday, but I didn't end up staying.  It was rather long so I took Hayden back home and joined Kylie for the pizza party afterwards.

After Brandon got home late that morning and took a long nap, we decided to go out as a family.  We did a few errands and then went to the arcade to play some games.  The kids (and especially Brandon!) love playing the arcade games and earning tickets.  We are saving up all our tickets for a huge stuffed dragon.  It might take a while...  Afterwards we got some dinner and went home and watched Kylie's favorite show: AFV.

Sunday was the Primary Program and Kylie was so excited for it!  Her part was very first and she did great!  Afterwards... not so much!  Haha, it was what you could expect from a four year old.  No singing at all (even to Follow the Prophet, which she sings ALL the time at home), preferring to turn around and watch the other kids sing (since she was in the very front), leaning over backwards over little wall there and looking at the congregation upside down, and of course picking her nose.  And eating it.  To say the least it was entertaining.  But it was very fun to watch her in her first program.  Hayden kept standing up on the pew and waving his arms at Kylie.  He really wanted to go up there with her, but he still has a few years!

Back to the Basics!

Well, after the crazy week we had last week, it was nice this week to get back into the groove of things.  Back to school, back to walks, back to our library visit, back to playing with friends.

As you might be able to tell... nothing too interesting happened this week!  Kylie and Hayden play well together one second, and then the next they are at each other's throats.  Totally normal.  They each like to pinch right now, and I am having a hard time teaching Kylie that she doesn't need to fight back, she just needs to walk away.

But the moments that they do play together makes me so happy!  Both the kids have such fiery spirits that I know we are going to butting heads a lot while they grow up!

My favorite thing is singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" with Kylie and seeing Hayden learn his body parts.  He is getting pretty good! His favorite is head and nose!

Halloween!

Friday morning dawned nice and cold.  Despite the chill, Grandma Shari and I decided to take the kids to a park in the morning.  We didn't last too long because it was pretty cold!

It eventually warmed up a little and we all made it out to Stahli Farms for a little Halloween celebration.  First we went in the corn maze.  Kylie and Hayden loved running down all the rows of corn, and Grandpa Gary liked to hide around corners and bleat like a sheep.

After we wore ourselves out by running all around, we went and had a bite to eat and then played some games and looked at all the barn animals!  It was a lot of fun!

Saturday was Halloween!!  To celebrate we baked some cornbread for the Trunk-or-Treating dinner later that night.  Hayden looked so cute in his apron!

Then we carved our pumpkins!

Then we took a break and watched a Halloween movie!

Finally the time came for Trunk-or-Treating!  Grandpa Gary and Brandon had been working on his car all day long, and luckily they were able to take a break and join us!  We all got dressed up.  Kylie was a black kitty, I was the black kitty's mom, Brandon was Jake the Dog, and Hayden was a dragon.  Grandma and Grandpa were M&M's!

After a yummy dinner of chili and hot dogs and corn bread we did our Trunk-or-Treating.  And there were two wards there! One on each side of the church so we got a huge haul!

On Sunday Grandma and Grandpa Knudsen came to sacrament with us (and Grandpa Gary spent most of it out in the hall with the kids...  they don't last the whole meeting!) and then they had to leave.  We loved having them visit with us and enjoyed having them spend Halloween with us!  It was tons of fun!  Also thanks to Grandma Shari for sharing her pictures!