Chuck E. Cheese

We went to Chuck E. Cheese tonight and the kids had fun. Bella is starting to actually enjoy some of the games now so that was cute to watch. And John liked the little rides and didn't freak out this time like at the mall.

Roommates again

So in an effort to reclaim my living room I put the kids back in the same bedroom. We didn't mind losing our computer room really so I put Bella's bed in John's room and turned the bigger bedroom into a play room. Because not only were half of their toys taking over the living room but they had so many toys that they weren't using. So we spent the day redoing things (well I did while the kids worked against me) and they love it. They're playing with everything now (like Bella's expensive new slide.) And I can't even begin to say how excited they both are to be back in the same room, they really missed each other. They really love each other.

We went clothes shopping for Bella tonight, I hate shopping for her. John's so easy, we just pick up stuff at Wal-Mart for a decent price that's pretty cute. All of Wal-Mart's girl stuff is butt ugly though. So we went to Old Navy and I was pretty disappointed with their selection, maybe they're just between seasons but they didn't have much. We got her a new shirt though that's pretty cute. And went to The Children's Place for some new jeans. I really hate how hard it is to even dress your two year old modestly though. Seriously those teeny short shorts are not necessary at this age (or any age in my opinion.) And on to my biggest frustration in the manner in which my kids grow, not evenly. They are freakishly short but Bella has a normal sized waist. So right now (after a growth spurt) her waist fits into 3T pants but length wise she's barely a 2T and she doesn't look fat at all which means something's not right. The orange pants she's wearing in these pictures of 3T and fit at the waist but I had to fold the bottoms up about 4 inches. And that's a little too much to hem because of the way the cut girls pants. EVERY other mom I know complains about the opposit problem though, tall kids with skinny waists and the really nice adjustable waist bands fix their problem but what am I to do? So if anyone knows of a good solution please let me know.

Dancing Man

I was just thinking yesterday how John has never danced before. Bella's very into dancing so I was curious to see if he would be too. And what do you know he started dancing today by himself! I just turned on some music and he got up and started wiggling. He dances totally different than Bella though. Her dancing is all in the legs and John's all upper body. It was adorable but hard to get video of because he doesn't hold still at all. That and he'd dance for a few seconds and then stop so the video clips seem kind of choppy all put together.

Just a pretty picture from the train ride. It's so beautiful here. It was nice to see a different part of Utah.

The Easter Bunny

We were at the mall and happen to run into the Easter Bunny. I wasn't planning on taking the kids up to see him (if you remember the Santa picture you'll know why) especially since they were both half awake. But Bella saw him and got a big smile on her face. She actually wanted to go up and see him. So we went and she had fun. John of course wasn't happy with the idea and as soon as I set him down the tears poured. Then as we were leaving the mall later she saw him again and ran over to way hi. It was adorable and I'm really surprised at how much she liked it. I think the fact that it was an animal and not a scary man made a huge difference. And as for John he doesn't let anyone new hold him.

Notice the rubber boots Bella is wearing, she insisted she wear those. She just absolutely refused to wear her real shoes.

Riding the Train

Today we took the kids to ride the Heber Valley Railroad. It was so much fun for everyone. We went on a 90 minute trip which just didn't seem long enough. Everytime Bella saw water she yelled "hot tub!" She also got to see horses and cows along the way. We stayed on an open car the whole time, sitting inside on a seat just didn't seem right. We got lots of great pictures too, and even one of all of us (we probably only have like three pictures of everyone together.)

Corey's learning to use my camera a bit so there's even pictures of me. I hate using it in automatic mode because the quality sucks. The one of all of us is in auto, the old lady that offered to take out picture had a disposable camera and never would have been able to figure out how to use ours. I'd love to go on another ride but it's so expensive. We're enjoying as much as we can this year since it's the last year of both kids being free.

The kids drank a little too much before bed last night and John woke up VERY wet. He's always peed a ton anyway so this was quite the mess. Anyway they got a rare morning bath today. At first John was totally against the idea but once he got to splashing he loved it. And by the way he now has to wear a swim diaper at every bath because the pooping in the tub didn't stop. Luckily we use cloth swim diapers anyway so it's not a huge deal. Such a little booger.

Bella still tries to "cook" with her teacups and kitchen every chance she gets so I started letting her take them in the tub. It's perfect, lot of fun cooking and no mess for me. She's too adorable.

We went to the movies again tonight but prepared better this time. We went to a late one and took the good stroller without the extra seat. Then we put it on the newborn positon and put blankets over it so John could sleep. It worked, Corey said he woke up during the movie but wasn't scared just watched a little and went back to sleep. The boys went to see the Ninja Turtles and Bella and I saw Bridge to Terabithia. It was good, I barely remembered it since I haven't read the book since elementary school but it all came back. It was surprisingly like the book. Bella wants to see Meet the Robinson's though, the preview came on and she announced very loudly "aw, it's cute!" That's what she says when she likes stuff, it's especially cute at the store when she's looking at clothes.

18 Months

So John's 18 months today. I can't believe it, seems like not long ago Bella was turning 18 months. So he had therapy today, it was at 2:30 so I had to adjust his naptime. He woke up and was happy and wanted to go outside so we went out to meet Becca. He loves walking outside so he was super happy, until Becca came around the corner that is. He instantly started crying and running back home, and then when he realized Becca was following us he got even more upset. So not like him, you'd think she was going to give him shots or something. When we got in he didn't want to be near her or touch her toys or anything. Just had to sit in my lap and pout. It took 30 minutes for him to fully calm down and start playing and by the end he was totally happy and giggly. Don't know what he'll do next time though since the speech person is coming also to set things up. Poor kid.

I got more pictures of John's crazy faces so I put together a little video of them. This kid is so expressive. The video isn't that great but it's better than posting a million pictures of him.

Dr. Phil Date

Yes before I forget the Dr. Phil episode is scheduled to air April 11th. Everyone watch it!

Playground

We went to the playground again today. John has figured out how to climb up the jungle gym and slide down all by himself. Problem is he can't get off the bottom of the slide yet, so Bella has to come and pull him down. So funny. And as you can see he takes his playing very seriously. Oh and I had to give him another haircut yesterday, I swear it grows like a weed.

"daddy"

The Zoo

We spent the day at the zoo enjoying the wonderful 70 degree weather. It was actually hot out. We bought a membership to the zoo so we plan to go back more. The kids had a good time but Bella got so tired. We took the little stroller instead of the double so she had to do a lot of walking and it wore her out. I'm surprised they're both awake now since they only had a 20 minute nap today.

John's therapist recommended we buy him an art easle so we did and both the kids love it. Bella's been very into coloring too so it was a good choice. Of course there's lots of fighting because only one side has a chalk board and they both always want to do the same thing. I think I'll have to have Bella take a nap during John's next therapy session.

Lemons!

It's been a rather boring week around here. Just a lot of doing nothing. We took a long trip to the playground yesterday and the kids had lots of fun. There were actually a lot of kids there and Bella did so good playing with them and taking turns on the slide. John tried to run away with an older kids scooter. Bella can pretty much navigate the whole thing by herself and use all the slides but I'm still paranoid of her falling off.

We went to the swing (they're in a different place than the rest of the playground) and the kids LOVED them. They only have one baby swing though and Bella didn't want to share with John. So he sat on my lap in a big swing which he though was the greatest.

We love our new apartment except for the people that moved in above us. They are soooo noisy. I swear they must be giving dance lessons and bowling up there. I know some noise is to be expected but they take it to a new level. Whatever happened to the rule of no running in the house, I think that's a great rule!

I've found a new discipline for Bella that's been working great. I didn't know what to do for awhile because timeouts pretty much stopped working. She has a new love of stickers (such a cheap habit) so I bought a big book of stickers for her. Every time she does something good she gets a sticker on her hand, and when she does something bad she loses her stickers. She suddenly acting so good and helping out. She even cleans now!

Eating lemons (he still loves them.)