Wishful Thinking

I wish it was nice enough weather for this. During Talia's naked time last night I couldn't resist trying on her little swimsuit. She loved it. Someday it will be summer . . . but not today.
Yesterday was haircut day. It was rainy all morning, but we managed to go take dinner to a friend and get haircuts in the little window of clouds but no rain. Unfortunately Sport Clips didn't have any suckers or candy for the boys (and that's the big incentive to be good), but fortunately it was right across the parking lot from Paradise Bakery, so we walked over and got a cookie as their reward instead. They got a little run-around-outside time in too before I felt a few raindrops and we headed home.

I have to give my boys a little shout out. They are both SO incredibly good for haircuts. They don't even need me to be by them. They hold still. They look down. They close their eyes. Davin still occasionally makes faces or whimpers if he gets hair on his face, but he is still a champ. Hooray for clean cut boys!

Weston's Pick

Yesterday we needed to get out of the house. Our first day of Spring Break was rainy and a little boring. We went to the library to get new books and movies. It was only minimally exciting. That night for FHE we built a fort and watched Phineas and Ferb inside while we ate our brownies. That was fun, but by Tuesday we were ready to get out and have some fun. It was still threatening rain when we left for Provo and was drizzling when we got there. I dropped off some family reunion DVD's at my aunt's house then we went out to lunch. Weston picked Carls Jr. with a playplace. They boys had a blast in the play room and it worked out that I could feed Talia while they played.

When we were done the rain had stopped and we headed up the hill to the Bean Museum. Going to the Bean Museum was Weston's main Spring break outing request. Since it's free I figured I could manage it. We all had fun at the museum. We discovered a fun children's play room with plastic animals, toys, and a magnet board to play with. Talia got to lay out and kick for awhile too.
We saw all the animals, but couldn't find the cougar! Finally I asked where it had gone. Luckily it was still there just moved downstairs. We actually didn't get a picture of it, but Weston wanted his picture taken with a buffalo and Davin picked to have picture taken by a bear. Weston's favorite thing was to pretend to be scared of the animals in his pictures.

In this one he is running away and Davin is doing "Shawp cwaws."

The sun finally came out while we were checking out the museum, so when we left we had to go to the creamery for some delicious BYU ice cream. It was even nice enough to eat it outside! The boys literally ran laps around the outdoor tables which thoroughly entertained the two elderly couples who were chatting outside. It felt so great to sit outside and soak up some sun.


By the time we got home it was almost 4pm. One of my YW came over and made rice krispie treats for our activity, then stayed for dinner until it was time for mutual. We finished doing a camp craft and had a pretty chill evening. I had to grocery shop after mutual, but it ended up being a really good Spring break day. Talia even treated me to a full night's sleep (8:30-7:30? Yes please!). Happy day.

Grandma B's Spring Break

We started our Spring break a little early with a visit from Grandma B! She came last Tuesday night and stayed with us until Saturday morning. It was great fun! We spent Wednesday afternoon going to lunch with Auntie B for her birthday at the Lion House and wandering around Temple Square for a bit. We also stopped at the new Deseret Book flagship store. When we were all tired and ready for naps we headed to the airport to pick up Uncle Brad from his Washington trip. It was fun to have visitors. Uncle Brad didn't stay long before getting in his car and driving home to Idaho, but we enjoyed seeing him.
Wednesday evening my mom and I went to my ward's Relief Society birthday celebration. Yes, they are about a month late with it, but seeing as how they didn't manage to pull anything together last year I was still excited. It was a really nice program about Emma Smith. I was glad we went. We went to bed early since we stayed up way too late on Tuesday night.

Thursday was kind of our down day. The boys both went to preschool while Mom and I shopped for Easter at Target and picked up Kneader's for lunch. We came home and had our lunch picnic style while we watched Tangled. It was fun to just relax at home. That night Ian and I went on a date. We went bowling, then ate dinner at a new Indian restaurant. We ended the night with big excitement! We went to Golden Spoon! You heard right . . . Golden Spoon in Utah. I got an email from citydeals (a deal website) that had Golden Spoon listed with an offer. I clicked on it and discovered there are two locations, Orem and Draper. We went to the Draper one. It was delicious. I am so excited to know I can get my Golden Spoon fix when I really need it without having to plan a trip to CA! Anyway, it was a fun night out and we brought back GS for our awesome babysitter. :)
Friday was an all day fun day. Davin had his 3 year old well visit and Talia had her 4 month well visit at the doctor's. It was nice having Mom there to help out, but with the 5 of us and Dr. Sally and a PA student who was shadowing her, the room was a little crowded.

Davin's ear tubes are still in, but the doctor pulled a ton of wax out of his little ears. He is smart and healthy in every way. He had to get one shot and he was pretty brave. He cried for a minute, but then calmed down and was happy as a clam to get a Batman sticker on our way out. Davin is growing well on his own little curve underneath the regular growth curve.
Davin's 3 Year Old Stats:
Height: 35 inches
Weight: 26 pounds
***The percentiles don't apply to our munchkin.

Talia is doing great too. Nothing to report. She is going to be another small Bowles child though. She also got a few immunization shots. She was a champ (much like her brother Weston). There were a couple screams and a couple tears then she was fine. She sucked down a bottle and fell asleep.
Talia's 4 Month Old Stats:
Height: 24 inches (75th% I don't imagine this will last long)
Weight: 11 lbs. 8 oz. (10th%)
Head: 32 cm (can't remember the %)

After the doctor's office we headed out to lunch as a little reward for good behavior at the pediatrician's. The kids picked McDonald's, of course, so they played while Mom and I ate and visited. After lunch we kind of last minute decided to go see Hop. I was a little worried about how Talia would do, but she was fine. She didn't cry at all. She didn't sleep or eat either. Just watched the movie or chilled in her carseat/on our laps. The boys loved getting their little kid packs of popcorn, candy, and juice. The movie was pretty cute and got the boys all excited for Easter this weekend. Thanks Grandma!

Friday night was girl's night. Mom and I shopped. We went to Office Max, Payless, Michael's, Kohl's, and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We got some good deals, some cute things, and some yummy caramel apples. Ian missed us though, so we didn't stay out too late. Saturday morning we quickly did a little re-decorating in Talia's room. The wall hanging my mom cross stitched for her needed a little garnishing and I wanted to display the cute sign I ordered for the bookshelf. I love it! I was sad to say goodbye to my mom, but we did have a fun visit and we will see her again in a few months.
This week is the boys' official Spring Break, but unfortunately the weather forecast shows rain most of the week. Today we managed to make it out to the library, but that's about it. I have some fun outings planned for the rest of the week, but I guess we will just have to wait and see if the weather cooperates. We are all enjoying the break from routine and are looking forward to a fun Easter weekend!

I Cannot Believe It!

You definitely have kids if you caught the title quote from the popular (in our house) show Little Einsteins. Davin loves to say that. It's hilarious.

I seriously cannot believe that my cute girl is officially 4 months old tomorrow! Holy cow babies grow fast. She has her 4 month check up on Friday, so I will post her stats then, but I know she is getting big. She is such a fantastic baby. She is getting on a great schedule now that she's napping mostly in her crib (sometimes she ends up napping in her carseat if she falls asleep while we are out). Last night she slept a full 10 hour night. Ahh it was bliss. Hopefully the nap schedule combined with a bigger tummy will help this become the norm. Fingers crossed.
Talia has also start "talking" a lot. We have tried to get it on video but every time we try she is too fascinated by the camera to keep babbling. I also love all her adorable faces. She was being extra cute after her morning nap today, so I did a little series of her. Enjoy!

This picture reminds me of Davin HERE.

You know what else I cannot believe? I cannot believe that the den is finally completely finished! And that it took 9 months to get it done. I guess it really was our baby. sorry, bad joke. We (mostly Ian) painted the trim and window sills on Saturday morning. By bedtime it was dry enough to hang the blinds back up. I love how crisp and bright the white looks. It's almost like having an accent wall. LOVE it!

We had a nice, productive weekend. I was annoyed that it was still snowing, but I'll not bore you with that complaint. We got to have Brad hang out with us on Friday night. In the morning Ian dropped him off at the airport. Weston went to a 3 hour birthday party. It was great. He had a blast and I got to just drop him off! I grocery shopped. Ian painted. We even went on a quick dinner date to Gandolfo's that evening. We stopped by the mall so I could exchange some make up, and dropped into the AT&T store and coveted the iphone 4. I will be getting an iphone, but I want to wait until the 5 comes out and now the summer release has been delayed indefinitely. Sigh. Someday.

Happy news! The sun has returned to Utah! Yesterday it shined and melted all the snow. It is out again today and I am loving it! I thought it was going to rain the rest of the week, but this morning the forecast had changed to rain tomorrow and then sun the rest of the week. This is especially good news because my mommy is coming to visit us on her Spring break this week and I was so hoping we would have nice weather to play in. If I'm MIA on the blog this week it will be because I am too busy playing with my mom! Hope everyone is enjoying their April!

Also fun . . . I just ordered THIS cute thing for Talia's room in brown. Can't wait for it to come!

Mommy Days

This week was busy and slow all at the same time. So basically a typical stay at home mom kind of week. I felt like this week was a little extra stressful because Ian was out of town from Wednesday morning until Thursday night. We missed him, but his meetings in California went well, and he brought us back some Ghirardelli chocolate from San Francisco!

Highlights of our week included getting our new windows and trim installed in the den. It finally looks finished! We still need to paint the trim and re-hang the blinds, but I LOVE the new windows and the look of the trim. Yay! And yes, that is snow you see outside. Apparently April is having an identity crisis and thinks it is January. That picture was taken yesterday and there are about 3 more inches of snow on the ground this morning with more falling right now. Sheesh!
Another favorite from this week was this adorable picture/note Weston made for me. It's nice to know someone thinks I'm the best. :)
On our first day without Daddy we did a car craft leftover from Davin's birthday (thanks Mom and Dad!). The boys had a lot of fun covering their cars with stickers and racing them around the rug.
That afternoon we went to Chick Fil A for dinner and it was their "family night" so there was a balloon lady there who made Weston a T-Rex and Davin a frog. They also got cute foam animals to put together. They played on the playplace and we got a free kid's meal. Definitely a fun outing for the $10 I paid for food. After playing for awhile we ran to a couple stores to pick up birthday presents for this weekend. Weston is going to a birthday party for a friend from school and it's my dad's birthday on Sunday. By the time we got home, bathed, and to bed it was a little late. I started my chick flick movie anyway. Then my sister called. Then Ian called. Then I decided to still finish my movie. It ended up being a late night. Whoops. The kids all slept great though. Talia slept all the way until 5am!

Thursday both boys had school. It was rainy, then turned snowy in the afternoon, so I had planned to stay home. We put together their little foam craft animals from Chick Fil A and played around with the camera.
We also made english muffin pizzas for dinner. I hadn't done this in forever. I think the last time was when Weston was about 3. They both loved making them, but didn't eat them as enthusiastically as I had hoped. Oh well. Davin ate about half a can of olives, so I guess he was full.
I had completely forgotten that I had a training meeting with the stake, so we ended up having to bundle up and go out in the snow after all. I let the boys stay up late to wait for daddy to get home, which was mostly just annoying because then they went to bed late and weren't very nice about it. Ian got home safely though and we are glad to have him back. I have so much respect for all you wives and mommies whose husbands travel often or are in the military. It's so hard to do it all yourself and not have any other adults around to even hang out with in the evenings.

In other mommy news this week . . . Talia transitioned to napping in her crib with very little fuss. Hooray! I was all prepared for a battle and lots of "crying it out," but it was quite painless. Davin continues to be the easiest child to potty train on the planet. He tells me when he has to go and keeps his pull up dry during naps and school and outings. I think he's even almost ready to try underwear at night. Maybe next week. :)

Tonight we are getting a quickie visit from Uncle Brad! The boys are so excited to play with him. He is just crashing here for the night then going to the airport in the morning to fly to Washington. We will be painting this weekend and hopefully getting the blinds re-hung. I hate being in the den at night when everyone can see in the windows. It's kind of creepy. I'm glad we are past Ian's trip, but it ended up being a pretty successful mommy week in spite of it. I am finally finding my new normal with three kids and it feels good.

Conference & Potty Party!

Ok, well it wasn't exactly a party, but we did have a really nice weekend. I am oh so happy to report that Davin is a potty training wunderkind! He woke up and found his potty seat and underwear in the den. He immediately put on a pair of underwear, which he promptly peed in. Whoops. We cleaned him up and sat him on the potty then put on clean undies and hoped for success. About 40 minutes later he peed on the carpet in the den. I was standing right there when it happened and he said "I'm peeing!" So I grabbed him and put him on the tile in the kitchen. I kind of freaked him out and he was trying not to cry while I cleaned him up. Poor kid. I hugged him and we tried again. I think that second accident helped him make the connection of what it feels like to have to go because about 10 minutes later he said he had to go to the potty, so we went and sat and he peed in the potty!!! Success! We cheered and did a little dance and gave him 4 M&M's. :)

After that he was at the computer and pooped in his underwear. That is the worst. Lucky for me, I was nursing Talia so I didn't have to do the icky clean up. Thanks Ian! While I was making lunch Davin said he had to go potty, so I went and put him on the potty and waited. Nothing. I said "OK, Dav, are you done trying?" He said no, but I had a quesadilla on the stove, so I just let him sit there. A few minutes later Ian went in to check on him and tried to get him down, but he said NO! Finally lunch was ready and Davin still hadn't come out of the bathroom. I went in there and said, "It's time for lunch. Let's get you down." I went to pull him off the potty and saw that he had pooped in it! Wahoo!!! That was by far the biggest hurdle with Weston, so I was beyond excited that Davin did it on the first day. We put him in a pull up for nap time, but he woke up dry and peed in the potty again. No accidents for the rest of the day.

Sunday we woke up to this:
After our Spring weather on Thursday and Friday I was a little bummed out. The only reason I wasn't too upset was because I knew I didn't have to go anywhere. Davin wore his underwear all day (except nap time) and only had one accident. He woke up dry from his nap and pooped in the potty too. I am so excited because potty training Davin has been so easy! I don't know if Weston was harder because I'd never done it before or if it was because he wasn't really ready when we tried, but whatever the reason, I am glad that our weekend of potty training paid off. I'm sure Davin will still have accidents in the next few weeks, but the hardest part is over.

We truly enjoyed being able to relax and listen to General Conference. There were so many fantastic talks. I can't wait for them to come in my Ensign so I can re-read them since I have already forgotten a lot of what was said. I made yummy breakfasts both days. We had souffle and cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning and pancakes and bacon on Sunday morning. Weston and I played Conference Bingo. Weston was actually really good at it and listened like a big kid. :) I only fell asleep for about 20 minutes during the Sunday afternoon session, and I thought that was pretty good considering Talia has been waking me up twice every night lately. Good thing she's cute!
This morning I took Davin and Talia to baby story time at the library while Weston was at school. We hadn't been in forever. I put Davin in a pull up for the outing, but about 5 minutes into story time he said he had to go potty. When he saw the big toilet in the bathroom he said "Not on dat. On dere!" pointing to the changing table. I said that he wasn't wearing a diaper and that I would hold onto him. I got him situated and he totally peed in the big toilet! What a big boy. He was super excited to get to flush the public toilet. Gross, I know, but usually whenever we go to the bathroom while we are out I always tell him not to touch the potty, so he was excited when I told him to go ahead and flush. :)

Anyway, it was a good, relaxing weekend. I was sad to see it end. This week looks like icky weather (the snow hasn't melted and more is forecasted). Plus Ian is going out of town for a client meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, so that will make our week longer and less fun too. I am trying to have a good attitude about it, but it looks a little bleak. Luckily I got a new book from the library and a couple movies to keep us busy, but if anyone wants to do a playdate let me know!

PS-Did anyone catch the goofball at the end of the Sunday afternoon session of Conference? Check these out!

Daddy Discovery

We had the most gorgeous Spring weather at the end of the week. It was sunny, clear, and warm with a slight breeze. We took advantage of it and met up with some friends at Gardner Village on Thursday. We fed the ducks, wandered shops, peeked at the petting zoo animals, and hit up the candy store. I bought an entire pound of fudge for Conference weekend (although we finished it last night). :) I was seriously just basking in the sun. It was fabulous.
Friday was just as beautiful, so I took the kids to the park for a little while before we ran a couple errands. They ran and played. I walked Talia around the paths in her stroller. The breeze was a little overwhelming for her so she preferred to stay in her carseat. We came home from our errands and watched Tangled while we ate lunch. After naps I found out Ian was coming home early! Hooray! I threw together some sandwiches for dinner and then we headed out on a family date night to the Discover Gateway children's museum. Daddy had never been there with us.

I decided to just add him to our pass so he could come with us a couple more times before it expires. We had a lot of fun. Friday nights at the museum are pretty empty. It was nice to have the run of the place. Usually when we go there are LOTS of other kids. I think the boys really enjoyed getting to play on whatever they wanted. They showed Daddy all their favorite things too. Davin loves the water, Weston loves dressing up, and they both love the construction site. The helicopter is a universal favorite too, although I think Weston enjoys being in the air traffic control booth more than in the actual helicopter.



We didn't get to bed until late after our family outing, but it was worth it. We like each other and it's really fun to hang out together. Ian and I decided at the last minute that we should utilize our weekend home to work on potty training Davin, so after we got the kids to bed Friday night I ran to Walmart and picked up the necessary supplies: Marvel Heroes potty seat, Disney Pixar underwear, and a couple bags of M&M's. Update on the potty training to come.

And finally, a random picture of Talia. She is starting to wear some of her 3-6 month clothes, so I have been taking pictures of her in all the new outfits. I think this one is so cute and Springy. :)