brothers

I was looking through old photos in my iphoto library (all 12, 399 of them). As horrible as I was with my ghetto polaroid digital, my heart did something when I looked at these ones.

As you may know, the boys are only 18 months apart, and a huge part of me felt so guilty after having Harper. I almost felt like I was taking Landon's babyhood away. But, I felt strongly about trying for another baby. I knew Harper was meant to come to our family when he did, and the most rewarding thing for me is witnessing the great love the boys have for each other. I know that they were meant to be brothers. They fight like all brothers do, but mostly they are so good to one another.

This week I started training Harper to sleep in a crib. I'm such a sucker for my babies' cries, so yes at 19 months, he was still in my bed. As painful as those first few nights were, I knew I just needed to let him cry it out. The other day, after about 15 minutes his crying stopped. I waited a little while, then went into his room. Landon was playing quietly, as I let him do during nap time, but Harper was sound asleep and tucked in carefully. I didn't tuck him in though...

Landon said quietly, "I put Harper's blanket on him, rubbed his head like this, and said shhhhh. Now he's asleep."

Landon is not much older, but he is such a good big brother! He is so protective, loving, and kind. Harper knows it, and always wants to be wherever Landon's at, and doing what Landon is doing.

As wild and busy as they are, I am so grateful to be their mom!

a boy wants a dinosaur

Landon's been watching the old Land Before Time movies lately,

and has become slightly, completely obsessed with dinosaurs.

In one of the movies, a t-rex hatches from an egg 

and the kid dinosaurs try to take care of him until finding his parents.

So, when I saw this egg at a shop in Mammoth, 

I had to get it for him.

Throughout the entire 7+ hour drive home, Landon carefully held his egg.

If for whatever reason he needed to do something else, 

he made sure one of us was holding his precious baby dinosaur.

I was a little concerned that he might be thinking there was an actual, live baby dino in there.

After scraping, brushing, and finally soaking the egg in water to remove the clay, 

we were able to get baby t-rex out.

Landon didn't touch him right away. He looked at him, puzzled, and asked,

"Why isn't he roaring?"

I could tell Landon was very disappointed.

It was sad!

I explained that if he were a real t-rex we would all be in trouble,

because he would grow up to be too big for our apartment,

and he would even try to eat us.

Landon seemed satisfied with that.

The two of them played happily ever after...

for about two hours.

Then Landon dropped him, and his head fell off.

Good thing we don't have any real pets.

my little helpers

My mom and the kids are in town right now,

and I could not be happier!

It seems like yesterday Clark, Karly, and Allie were babies.

Now they are 15, 12, and 9!

Karly is gentle and encouraging, so Harper has found his new favorite snuggle buddy.

Allie is enthusiastic and as energetic as Landon is, so they have been partying it up non-stop.

I think she's already taught him all of the lyrics to Ke$ha's songs,

 along with some cuh-razy dance moves. 

 Clark is getting Harper's skateboarding career started early.

 I pretty much had a heart attack watching him do this, 

so I'll be just fine if my boys decide not to take up skateboarding. 

I think I'll put them in bubble wrap first.

As you can see from how much dirt they packed on,

 the boys had a  blast with their aunts and uncle at the park.

And the best part for me?

Allie and Karly came to my house to bathe them!

They even read stories, toweled them off, and got them dressed.

I want to keep these girls!

I think I've almost convinced mom to let me have them for the Summer. :)

homemade pizza

Kind of homemade.

I've been cheating and getting the dough fresh from WinCo's Pizzeria. 

It's amazing.

I top it with loads of mozzarella and cheddar cheese,

Trader Joe's marinara, pepperoni, fresh basil, parsley, garlic, and mushrooms.

It's so delicious . . .

I don't know if I'll ever be eating take-out again.

No wonder I'm not losing weight. Ha.

Still working out, and the scale numbers haven't changed.

 But hey, I'm getting kind of buff!

I cannot diet though.

I just asked myself a serious question.

Do I want to be skinny or happy?

The short answer is happy.

And food makes me happy. :)