Longest picture post of the CENTURY

I hate it when I neglect putting blog posts up for a while because then all of my pictures add up and I want to blog less and less because I know it will take more and more time to get it all done....SO, here they are. Unedited, untamed, and uncut.

It's been warming up here (when it's not a blizzard; aka every other day)

we went out to play

not THAT warm Curt :) he was freezing!!

Daddy's amuzement park:

Matthew bossing Grandpa around telling him how to wire the batteries in

This day was a birthday party for ME :)

My mom made an amazing fruit pizza for dessert. LOVED it.

Matthew really is just too big for his britches, flying a kite all by himself already!

This one cracks me up. He just had to get in the picture.

and so I told him to "focus, listen to me, don't mess around!" When he focuses he puts his finger on his nose....strange.

I wanted to have a picnic and test out a new park because porter park is always so crowded. (Matthew is wrestling with Grandpa in the background)

It's a fun little park and right next to the duck/nature park

our complex's little sandbox

You can see why we are all smitten with her!

This was a different kite flying day. WAY too windy. The kite would go straight up way way high and then CRASH down fast. I almost got beaned multiple times.

My monkey...

...in a cage.

Chris and Kim were borrowing our baby gate but now they are moving to IOWA (we are going to really really miss them! it will be weird not having them around the block) so they gave it back. Matthew hasn't seen it for a while and thought it would be fun to get locked in a cage. so I complied :)

she's getting interested in toys and tries to bat at them, VERY uncoordinatedly (is that a word?)
Mostly she just smiles and coos at them

my birthday roses from Curt!!! He and Chris went up to Montana to finish their parents' roof and Curt couldn't be here on my birthday. so he had Kim (thanks Kim) deliver these to me!! What a sweet hubby. And don't worry, I told him it was fine to go on my brithday, and we're going to make up for it with a family vacay to VEGAS!!!

AND Vicky and her kids came up for a surprise visit to spend a few days with me over my birthday! the timing couldn't have been better! as far as I know she and Curt didn't coordinate the scheduling, but she came up the night before my birthday and Curt left early my birthday morinng. It was so much fun to see them! Matthew and Jexten are such buddies!!
I love how jexten calls matthew "math"

we went to my mom's elementary she secretaries at for lunch one of the days.
It was hard to keep the boys from running up and down the halls. I think Adessa was missing for this picture. she snuck in to sit in on one of the 1st grade classes!! she starts kindergarten next year and is so excited!

We also went to Arctic Circle to play. This was waiting in the car for Vicky and her kids and grandpa and grandma to show up.

He's getting brave, going down slides head first!

Jexten wore his coat and hood almost the ENTIRE time they were visiting. EVERYWHERE. he got so sweaty all the time. But good luck to anyone who tried to get it off!

Jexten "catching" matthew at the bottom of the slide.

"I caught you Math! I save you!"

my beautiful parents

my beautiful sister and my funny face

Swinging at Grandma's

watching pink panther with grandpa

Today was warm enough to play outside in a t-shirt!!! We also ate another nice picnic lunch outside. Sadly vicky and her kiddos went home today and missed out on the super warm rexburg weather! But she called to tell me that it's basically summer back in Brigham City, Utah! Lucky ducks. It's just going to be me and my kids the next couple of days. Curt won't come home until Saturday night, Vicky left today, and parents went to Boise for a secretary conference thing for my mom today too and won't be back for a couple of days.

But it's hard to get bored or lonely with my silly kids!

playing with some of the neighbors. We only know a couple. all the old neighbors moved away!!! As it gets warmer and more kids come outdoors we'll have to make new friends. Making new friends is always hard.

24

I have so many pictures and fun things to catch up on, but today was just such a fun filled BIRTHDAY

I didn't have time! Sorry. Maybe tomorrow!

Toddler Lab

This last semester Matthew was admitted into the toddler lab (a preschool for younger children 18mon-3 yrs) on the BYU-Idaho campus. It's a class where students in the early childhood education major (and some other majors too, I think) can get some practice under the supervision of professors. Matthew absolutely loved it and we were sad he had to miss the last week because of RSV. He grew so much and got much better at interacting with other kids. These are some of the pictures they gave me.

The first day he wasn't so sure, but he warmed up really quick and made some good little friends.

apparently he liked to "lounge" during circle time. they thought he was hilarious

He did a lot of new fun things that he never would have experienced any other way. I think that it helped him be more adventurous to try new things.

I had to gently remind them of his hearing loss a few times and teach them about hearing fatigue. Some days Matthew would just lose it at the end of the day and they didn't know why. Matthew was born with unilateral hearing loss, meaning he's deaf in his left ear. Even though his right ear hears perfectly, or I think BETTER than perfect, he still does not hear like you and I do. Sounds have no direction and loudness/softness doesn't mean much to him. It's like all sounds are right by his ear and his mind has to work extra hard to sort them out. After being in a noisy environment for too long he can get irritable and easily frustrated. Sometimes he just didn't want to join them in the group activity at the end and they thought he was just being a strong willed 2 yr old when really the poor little guy just needed some quiet time. Matthew doesn't do well in loud places at all. I was shocked that they actually didn't even remember that he was half deaf and maybe...mmm...slightly offended, but not really. Anyway, some days it was really hard for me to just sit in the booth and watch how they interacted with matthew. Many many many times I wanted to stick my head in the door and say something like "he's not being naughty, talk in his good ear and he'll obey!" or "give him a break, he needs some quiet time, not you holding him and forcing him to do the hand motions to some silly song he doesn't like!" But I didn't. Matthew got through each time fine and I would always talk to the lead professor afterwards and tell him how I'd like things to be different. The "teachers" were only students, afterall.

here's a picture they got of one of his sad moments.

But even though I end with this picture I don't want it remembered that he had meltdowns, because he did. But so did every one of the other toddlers, hearing loss or not, at some point or another. matthew is a great kid and he had so much fun in toddler lab! Most every morning he would ask me what day it was and if I said wednesday or friday he'd say "I go to toddler lab?!" smart little cookie!
Hopefully we can get him in the preschool this coming fall or winter.

2 months

Hailey handled RSV pretty good and got better really fast!

Her 2 month checkup was yesterday.

STATS:

Weight- 10 lbs 14 oz : 49%

Height- 22.5" : 56%

Head- 15.5" : 67%

She got her immunizations and how she cried!! Poor little thing!

As I was putting Hailey back in her carseat and she was still whimpering Matthew touched her little head and said "Hailey sad, huh mommy." and I said yes, but it will help keep her healthy. Then his eyes got all misty and he said "I kiss her better?" then he sang her this song (one of his favorites)

"Rock a bye, don't you cry

we will go to grandma's house.

Up the hill, past the mill

to see the little lambies...

'Baaaaa' "

Easter/Conference weekend

This was a daddy weekend. I loved conference! There were so many talks that taught me so much, but I have to be honest...my favorite part about this weekend was the fact that Curt just hung out with us the entire two days because conference kept him from doing his homework or lifting weights or taking tests or..... It was awesome! I think he really enjoyed the break too. Matthew and Curt sure had a ton of fun!

We did another litte easter egg hunt at my parents' house for Matthew on saturday with candy in the egg, and then today my parents (thanks!) brought over some MORE eggs this time with pennies in them. They hid the eggs while Matthew was napping and it made for a GREAT way to wake him up. No crankiness after that nap!
Curt and Matthew spent between sessions on Saturday building this "man cave" as Curt calls it :)

Matthew thought it was just awesome!

After the last picture Curt hollowed out the inside a little more so Matthew can stand up in it. Then Matthew told me to get in there, and once I was in he came in and told Curt to come in too. We all fit! And if I would have had Hailey with me (she was napping inside) she would have fit too!! It's a family igloo!

All of this crazy snow...I wonder how the Rexburg town Easter egg hunt went out on the highschool ball fields at 9 am on Saturday. We were thinking about going but woke up to a blizzard.....

I bet they ended up doing it inside. We don't know, we didn't want to brave that storm!

Random Fun

Matthew loves climbing on the back of the couch and calling himself a mean kitty as he meows like a stray tomcat. Where he gets this stuff I have no idea. Today I spent date night with my kids shopping because Curt had a chemistry test. While we were in the car I said something about "holy cow" and matthew chimed in "holy PAPRIKA!" What?! He makes me laugh so hard!

Matthew and Hailey are going to be best buds and this is how I know:
Matthew LOVES making people laugh. The more you laugh the more he likes you and tries even harder to make you laugh some more.
AND
Hailey LOVES smiling and gooing (almost downright laughing). The more you make her smile the happier she is and the more she likes you and will continue to smile for you.
Matthew will be the entertainment and Hailey will be his pleased audience.



Now, bless his heart, Curt and I typically do NOT have the same fashion style most of the time. So you can imagine my sheer joy when I brought this hat home and Curt actually likes it! We have been shopping to find me a good hat for about 2 yrs now!
(I was having fun experimenting with photoshop, don't laugh at my funny picture)

oh and just an update...I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!