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! 

December Randoms

There are a few pics from December need to be blogged...they're begging for it.  

This was one night in the car (that's why its so dark).  The reason I took this picture is because that's Kanyon behind that book....holding his book up with both hands!  He has been working so hard lately using his left hand and he's been really into holding his books like this. He has to really spend a lot of time to get his fingers open and on the book, but he does it! I am so proud when I see this.  Sweet sweet boy.  

I feel like there's a good chance that I posted this picture already, but I'm too lazy to check my blog and see.  So here's a pretty great pic of the Spencer cousins we took for my mom.  

This year's Christmas ornaments.  The boys were really loving penguins this year.  I think it had something to do with the giant blow up penguins our next door neighbor put out. :)  Q calls them ping pongs.  

Sooooo we didn't officially go to see Santa. I am a Santa snob and I think the one at our mall is lame, so I wasn't going to waste the time or money to go there. BUT there is a guy in our neighborhood that does crazy Christmas lights and he sits outside for the kids to see.  We drove by there and got the reactions I expected.  The second we got out of the car (we were half a block away) Q was squeezing me so tight I could barely breath.  He cried when I asked him if he wanted to sit in his lap, so Santa stood up for the picture. (and I stood between them to block the fear)

klp was not scared, but was for sure shy.  He didn't want to sit in his lap, but I think he would have if Q wouldn't have freaked out.  

Gram (Kory's Mom) sends a package at the beginning of Dec. full of fun little boxes for the boys to open every day.  They had lots of fun with these and the little colored finger lights were a HIT!!!  

I leave paper and stuff out all the time because both boys LOVE writing.  They'll sometimes just walk by and doodle a little, then other times they will sit and work at it for a long time. I just think its cute how much paper we go through with all their lovely work.  

This was in Paris after our Christmas celebration, I stayed a few extra days.  Here we are taking over Taco Delite again.  

We rode the wagon through the great Christmas lights at the Western store in town.