January

I used to do better at posts that had a running theme, but it seems I've evolved to pretty much "random" picture posts.  Oh well.  Here is our January in review.  

klp wore his cowboy hat ALL DAY LONG this day.  Q was a little jealous because his head is way too big to wear klp's hat.  

Nothin' says "Good Morning" like a six shooter shootout in Daddy's lap.  

So many things I could say about this picture and the emotion that it captures.  Life is pretty good for this 2 yr. old boy with gun.  

I spent the weekend in Memphis with girlfriends from college.  It was our annual MLK weekend get together.  How appropriate that we were in Memphis.....we are at the Civil Rights museum here in this pic which is built around the hotel where MLK was shot.  I'm not really a museum person, but it was really cool.  Glad we went. It was SO GREAT to be with these girls and have Kayci show us around her town and her church (and hear Josh preach) and laugh and enjoy the best friends ever.  We were missing several, but so happy to be with the gals that could make it.  

Beth, Kayci, Me, Kate, Mary, Leah, Kami, Sara

While I was gone, my kids were at my parents house so mom sent me lots of great pictures to let me know everyone was having fun! 

Here are a few from their fun at Paw Paw and Gay Gay's:

sweet brothers....they love for Quinn to sit in Kanyon's lap.....and my mom has lots of girl PJ's at her house for the girl cousins....I think we need to get her some boy ones.....but I must say, Q would make a cute girl. :) 

This was back at our house.....qsp carried his "bag" around everywhere.  At least he didn't call it a purse.  

This is klp's fake smile.  lovely.  

another pic of Q sitting in klp's lap while I read a book.  

Quinn sits like this a lot and its pretty precious.  

He also still LOVES the sunglasses Gram gave him for Christmas.  

Playing piano at Great Aunt Mary Lynn and Uncle Steve's house.  She gives them the sippy cup things her boys (who are all in college and beyond) used when they were little.  My boys love them and magically get thirsty the second we walk through her door.  

We've decided q has a thing for glasses.  These are Mary Lynn's that he picked up off her counter.  Nice.  

This is still Kanyon's happy place.  

My stuffed animal boy.  This was on the way to Ladies Bible Class last week.  Bear, monkey, dog and blanket.  He takes very good care of his animals.  The other day he picked up one of his bears and said, "Hey Sweetie".  Haha! I have NEVER heard him say that and don't really think I say it, but I guess he learned it somewhere.  I've also heard him tell his little bear "I love you the most" which is something we say to each other all the time. He'll make a good Daddy one day.  :)  

again...I mean really....not his "smartest" look.  

Maybe I can come up with less random posts for February.

Family Pictures

My cousin Paige runs a fab photog business and she was sweet enough to snap a few pictures of the 4 of us.  She got to Thanksgiving before the crowd hit so we ran upstairs and threw clothes on the boys and we just wore what we had on. I probably would've done things like iron the shirts and wait til Q had his new jeans and belt, but the will do just fine.  We love them.  We are just glad to have a picture of us because we have.....NONE.  Paige saves the day again! 

If you can't tell, Q man was not in the mood.  He wasn't in a BAD mood, he just wasn't in a smiley mood.  

klp on the other hand had NO trouble hamming it up for the camera.  

and maybe the picture of the day.....not posed...he was just "feeling big" and showing off.  I love that she caught this.  

She also snapped a big group shot of my fam.  I love these people.  

A few more December pics

This was Q on his birthday morning.  I had to wake him up to take klp to school.  Poor baby couldn't even sleep in on his birthday! :)  

But I made it all better with Birthday DONUT HOLES!  He was very pleased to get to eat more than 3 (my usual limit) and even get to hold the bag.  

Not sure where we were going, but they loved these lanterns in the car.  I got them at the Dollar store and they were lots of light up fun in December.  

Prepare to die of cute overload when you look at this picture...........Q got a new basketball from his Montana cousins and he is IN LOVE.  Kory was taking his picture to send to the cousins to say thank you.  I mean really.....i love this picture.  

....the nasty black eye.  It was a double whammy of a hit on the side (the butterfly bandages) and then a bump on the front (bruise and swelling).  He's tough, he can take it.  

headed in to a basketball game

ready for church....are you scared of this guy???? You should be.  

in the Dr. office for Q's check up.  It kinda gives me the heeby jeebies that he was sitting in only his undies in the chair, but I mean what else do we do????  He wasn't diggin' the bed thing.  Oh well. I'm releasing the compulsive germ worrying. 

So we have this little tracing/ABC app on klp's ipad and we've tried to show him how to use it, but he never would do it.  Then one day I was putting laundry away and he was sitting on my bed playing the ipad.  I happened to look over and see this......little stinker knows exactly how to do it, he just never would when we were watching!!!  

Phillips Boys watercolor creations.  klp prefers black and red....can you tell which ones are his? :)  

So long December, I think I've posted all the pics now! :)

New Fun things!

Here's a list of some new fun things we've done lately: 

1.  We had a big box and the boys had been playing with it for several days.  Then I decided I should let them draw all over it. I thought they would like it, but I had NO IDEA how much they would LOOOOOVE this.  I'm telling you, we left this thing out with the bowl of crayons on top of it for almost 3 weeks and they were still writing on it when I threw it away! 

This was the first day we drew on it....

q was more of an interior decorator.

2.  We've since learned that Bubba's glasses are only for him......but the picture was a MUST.  

3.  K's new bike.....think this might've made the blog before, but oh well.  

4.  The Learning Tower is a life changer.  Seriously. I ran across a similar product in a magazine and thought it was neat but wasn't sure...the more I thought about it, the more I realized how perfect it was for us.  I did a little research and ended up getting a different one than I originally saw.  I couldn't be happier!  See, standing on a stool to wash hands, help cook, play, etc. isn't an option for klp. If i stand right there with him and hold him up, its OK, but that makes it almost impossible to actually do anything. I could never stand him up and leave him even for a second.  BUT NOT ANYMORE!! This thing is amazing. He can get in it on his own and stand up all on his own.  He isn't locked in or strapped in or anything (so I'm not going to go too far) but the sides give him something to hold on to or just provide "insurance" if he does loose his balance.  Its a life changer because of all the things he can do now that he couldn't do before.  It's the difference between me trying to find something to keep him busy while I work on supper and him getting to be right there with me helping me.  Its the difference between me trying to hold him up, wash his hands while he's hanging miserably and painfully because its the best I can do with one hand and him standing on his own and me helping with BOTH hands.  I'm telling you its some of the best $$ I've spent.  Its not made for "special needs kids" but I think its a great thing for kids at Kanyon's ability level.  I took pics the first few times we used it.....

He helped me make pizza dough.....then cleaned up like a big boy. He worked so hard wiping that counter.....it was sooooooo cute. 

so cute that I took too many pics! :)  

That evening the boys both helped me make calzones. Yes, they both fit in it with plenty of room...another huge bonus! 

q threw a fit because he couldn't eat the cheese.  

5.  Threading beads.  I got Q these for his bday.  He's not quite interested in them yet, but he plays with them some.....

but he'd rather do gymnastics.

klp however likes them and again...SOOOOO PROUD of him that he can do this 2 HANDED activity so well! He holds the bead in his left hand (it wasn't that long ago that he couldn't hold ANYTHING in his left hand) and threads the string, then switches hands and pulls it through.  Its not easy, but he usually sticks with it and does so good.  

SUCCESS!!!!  

6.  Daddy's basketball shorts.  

7.  Painting a box.  After the success of the big box, klp got to paint a little one while q took a nap.  He was being silly....

and thought he was HILARIOUS!