Exciting News!

We finally have a house! It has five bedrooms with a bonus and three bathrooms. It has new carpet and paint and the kitchen is updated. We are really excited. We actually haven't seen it in person yet (a little scary) but Nathan is going to fly out next week to see it. Hopefully everything works out and Nathan likes it just as much or even more in person. The only thing that we aren't too keen on is the backyard. In the pictures it doesn't look very big but it is definitely better than what we have now, which is no backyard. Plus there is a park just down the street from us. We have until April 30th to get our inspections done and make our final decision. Here are a few inside and outside pictures of our house:

I'm guessing this is what you first see when when you walk in the house.
(living room and dining room w/family room off to the right?)



family room connected to the kitchen?

kitchen

master bath

backyard. Not much of a backyard. We will probably take out the gravel and bricks (maybe the cement around the deck?) and put grass there. Nathan will have a better idea once he sees it in person.

Costume Party

Easton was invited to go to a friend's birthday party. All the kids were supposed to come dressed up in a costume. I really didn't want to go out and buy a costume but even if I did I'm guessing it would have been really hard to find a costume this time of the year so I decided to work with what we had around the house. This was a little tough because our choices were slim: cowboy (cowboy hat), Davy Crockett (raccoon hat), or superman (pj's). Since I really didn't have clothing to go with either of the hats I decided I would work with the pj's. I thought there would be other superheros (there actually wasn't) so I wanted to do something a little different. I decided Easton would be Clark Kent/superman. We had everything except glasses so I headed to the dollar store and found some goofy ones there. They were definitely too big for Easton and he hated to wear them so he only wore them for a few second so I could take pictures. Since Blair was tagging along I thought it would be fun for her to dress up as well. Her costume was a lot easier because my mom sent her a cheerleader outfit a while back which fit her perfectly. Since I was already at the dollar store getting glasses for Easton I picked up some pom poms for Blair. She wasn't a fan of those either. I guess I could have saved myself some time and money (not that $2 is much) by not bothering to pick up those accessories. Oh well I thought they were cute anyways.

Blair really didn't like the pom poms or the headband.

Pic w/out the pom pom and headband. A little happier.

Parachute at the party.

Blow up bounce house. It would have been a cute pic if the other kid's hand wasn't there.

Cute things Blair is doing:
- shaking her head no (I'm sure it won't be cute once she learns the word no).
- making her stinky face (blowing air in and out of her nose quickly).
-starting to crawl on her hands and knees. She doesn't do it very much but she will do it every once in a while.

new hair style, strawberries, and muscles

I can finally put Blair's hair in pigtails! It's not perfect because technically her hair is still a little too short but

with some gel, it basically works. I can't tell you how excited I was. After wrestling with Blair to get her to hold still long enough for me to put her bows in, I grabbed the camera and started to take pictures of the little gems. Isn't Blair so cute with her pigtails? This is about the same time my adorable little two year old comes up and crushes all my hopes and dreams. This is what Easton had to say about Blair's fabulous hair...

Easton: "Look mommy, Blair has horns!"

Okay I admit I was laughing pretty hard. At first I thought he was calling her a devil and was wondering how the heck he knows about devils, but then after I stopped laughing he tried to be funny again by saying, "Blair's a three horn!" He was laughing pretty hard at his own joke. I couldn't help but laugh at him because he thought he was so funny. I think someone has watched Land Before Time one too many times.

Top view of hair.

Easton was eating strawberries last night and Blair kept trying to get them from him. I decided to give her some and see how she did with them. She kept trying to stick the whole strawberry in her mouth.

I tried to get a video of Blair sticking the whole strawberry in her mouth but of course she never did it for the camera. Still I thought this video was too funny not to put up. Just listen to Easton in the background. The actual video isn't very interesting to look at.

I then tried to get Easton to show me his muscles on video but what do you know he wouldn't do it the same as he did before.

Water Fun and Spring Party

After we got home from walking with Aleese and her cute little kids a few days ago, Blair went down for a nap and Easton really wanted to stay outside and play. I always find this really frustrating because I can't let Easton just run around outside without supervision but at the same time I don't feel comfortable leaving Blair inside sleeping all by her self either. I guess this would be a time when a baby monitor would come in handy but because our apartment isn't big I never really felt like we ever needed one so we never got one. I just really wish that we had a backyard that Easton could run around in anytime he wanted but we don't (not yet anyway). After dragging Easton inside and watching him throw a fit for a few minutes I came up with something that would hopefully make everyone happy. I brought out the bubbles, opened the front door and sat in the doorway blowing bubbles for Easton on the deck. This lasted less than a minute because Easton wanted a turn to blow bubbles. I handed him the bottle (never a good thing), and the next thing I know Easton has dumped all the bubbles out inside the front entry. Not only am I upset (couldn't he have dumped it outside the doorway? I mean it was only a few inches away?) but he is now upset because he doesn't have anymore bubbles. I quickly go and grab some paper towels and water to clean it up with when it hits me. Why not let Easton play with water outside on the deck? I grab the huge tupperware bin that has recently been used as a toy box, dump all the toys out, and fill his part way with water. I grabbed some water toys along with a bowl and let Easton go at it. He had a blast!

I also got some plastic cups and put food coloring in the bottom of each one. Easton thought it was neat when he filled them up and the water changed colors.

Video:

Easton eventually got himself wet which he didn't like so he started stripping. It was a little weird when a government worker was walking down the stairs from visiting one of our neighbors and Easton had his underwear down at his ankles, exposing himself to the world. It was a serious battle trying to get his underwear back on but I finally convinced him that if he kept his underwear on long enough for me to grab his swim trunks he could wear those instead. I'm sure the social worker didn't think much of it but it was still a little weird.

Blair woke up from her nap and joined us for a while.

Later that night when I put the kids down for bed I hear Blair crying/screaming. This is not unusual. Generally I just let her cry for a few minutes before I go in and check on her because usually she is just crying because she threw her binky out of her crib and just wants it back again. It's a little game that only she enjoys playing. After a few minutes I go in and find this. A trapped little prisoner. At least that is what it looks like to me. I felt bad leaving her like this for a few more seconds but I just had to grab my camera. We will probably have more nights like this now that she knows how to sit and stand up in her crib.

Today we went to Nathan's school for the annual spring party they have for the spouses club. It was really late this year but we still had fun. We had a nice lunch and then the kids got to hunt for eggs. The grass was so long that it was really hard to find the eggs. Easton only had one egg for the longest time until I left Blair in the grass with her basket and some eggs and went to help him find some more. It was pretty funny because Easton for some reason didn't like the glitter eggs. Anytime he picked one up he threw it on the ground and went looking for another egg. Someone even put two glitter eggs in his basket to be nice and he grabbed them and threw them out. Blair was content the whole hunt to just sit in the grass and enjoy her eggs and basket.

Easton and Barrick playing with sticks.

Easton hunting for eggs.

Blair content with her basket and eggs.

Video of the kids:

House and EE update

I mean Easton update. Easton apparently doesn't like to be called EE anymore. Almost every time I say it now he will correct me. "My name is Easton!"

Along the same lines. Easton no longer calls Blair "Bair"anymore. He can now say his L's but his Blair's now come out as Ba Lair! It is pretty funny to hear and it cracks me up every time he says it. If you have the chance you should have him say it for you because it probably won't last long. It never does.

Some of my other favorite things he still says wrong are spoon "a poon", water "waller", and a piece of bread "pizza bread". They all make sense if you say them fast enough. For the longest time we couldn't figure out why Easton would call all types of bread, pizza. I seriously just thought that Easton always wanted pizza. Nathan finally figured it out one day when he asked Easton if he wanted a piece of bread and Easton shook his head yes and said, "pizza bread". Apparently Easton was just shortening pizza bread (what he thought we were saying) to just pizza.

Easton loves chocolate milk. Just last week I was trying to sneak Easton regular milk without chocolate syrup in it for breakfast but of course he knew it right away and wouldn't have it. Now every morning he will say, "I want chocolate and milk. Chocolate milk!" I like how he has to break it down for me.

The other day I was trying to get Easton to help pick up his toys, but of course he refused. I thought if I used the "either you pick up your toys or you go to bed (nap)" trick that it would work, especially since he absolutely hates taking naps. But no. He didn't even hesitate. He looked straight up at me and said, "Sorry, I have to go to bed!" and ran straight to his bed. I hate it when things back fire.

Apparently this is what happens now when Nathan goes out of town. The kids take over our bed. Okay not entirely true. This has only happened about three times.

I found out a couple of days ago that Nathan gets to come home about a week early so that he can go to his AOA dinner. I'm so excited that he's coming home early. I'm sure Easton will be so excited when daddy comes home.

Picture of the kids in their matching outfits for church that I promised my mom I would post. I also thought looking at their picture while I update everyone on our houses will help ease my pain. I just love these two.

House updates:
Ellis Godfrey and the house that neither Nathan or I saw both got sold.

We didn't come back with a counter offer for Oakbrook and I'm guessing that they didn't accept it since we haven't heard anything. They did however lower their asking price but not by much. Still asking way more than they should.

One of the houses that I saw the first day I was out house hunting came back on the market last week (Campbell). It was definitely one of my favorites. We decided to put an offer on it last Monday but we haven't heard anything (never a good sign). This is the last house that we are waiting to hear about. I've been putting off posting about it because all the other ones I've posted about haven't worked out and I didn't want to jinx myself. I really hope that this one works out for us, but if it doesn't, then I guess it wasn't meant to be.

10 Months Tomorrow

Blair’s newest thing is cruising. She has been doing this for about a week now. She loves to cruise along the couch but is also starting to get the hang of using her walker that she got for Christmas from Gpa and Gma Kelsey.

Blair's painted toe nails.

Video of Blair cruising:

Video of Blair using her walker:

Blair has been creeping for quite a while now but she just figured out that she can creep all over the house. She doesn’t like it when I leave her so she’s been trying to follow me all around the house. She is definitely getting faster. If I’m in a room long enough I can eventually hear her breathing getting louder as she gets closer.

A couple days ago she finally figured out how to get herself into a sitting position from laying down. She still gets frustrated that she can’t do it every time she wants to. She also pulled herself up a few days ago from a sitting position to a standing position using the couch. She hasn’t done it again since then but I’m sure it won’t be long before she’s doing it all the time.

Blair also loves to wave to everyone. If you say, “Hi!” and wave to her she will most likely wave back and give you the biggest grin ever. I just love her huge toothless smile. Still no teeth!

Video of Blair (kind of) waving:

Blair is still picky when it comes to her food. Right now I am trying to give her stage 3 foods but she absolutely hates chunks. She will, no joke, suck off all the sauce/liquid and spit out the chunk(s). She is such a silly girl.

Blair has definitely found her voice and she loves to be vocal. She is screaming/squealing all the time and it is probably because she gets attention when she does it, especially from Easton. Boy does she love attention! Easton is always shushing her, telling her to be quiet or to stop, or tattling to me that she is being too loud. I think all of that just makes her want to do it more and louder. Easton definitely feels like it is his duty to keep her in line.

Blair has recently enjoyed interacting with Easton from a distance or when she initiates it. She really can’t stand him wrestling with her anymore and hates it, most of the time, when he steals things from her. She however loves playing peek a boo with him, especially in the car. Those two are constantly laughing in the back seat together. She is starting to get more and more curious as to what Easton is doing and is now trying to get to whatever he is playing with. Of course Easton doesn’t like to share so he isn’t enjoying this much.

Blair actually slept till 5:30 the other morning and she went to bed at 7:30 the night before. I was in heaven. Usually she is up around 2:30 wanting something to eat. I was hoping that it was going to be a new thing but unfortunately it wasn't. She is still getting me up at 2:30.

Blair loves loves loves bath time. She gets so excited when I bring her into the bathroom and she can hear/see the water getting filled up. She practically jumps out of my arms to get into the bath. Recently she has preferred to be on her tummy in the bath so she can kick her feet and move around in the tub more easily.

More Easter Fun

Easton woke up this morning like any other morning but it was funny because he walked past at least five eggs to get to the table to eat breakfast. It wasn't until he tried to get into his chair to eat that he found an egg and realized there were eggs hidden around the house. Funny kid. I shouldn't have stuck the egg in his chair because as soon as he found it he wasn't interested in breakfast anymore. Eventually he found his way over to the Easter baskets filled with goodies but of course he went straight for Blair's.

Easton finding the first egg.

Video of Easton going through his Easter basket.

I forgot to put out Easton's puzzles (numbers and letters). That was probably because they wouldn't fit in the basket. Here is Easton showing his number puzzle.

Video: part of Easton's egg hunt.

It was more fun to watch him with the harder to find eggs. He would get so excited when he finally found them.

Blair slept in so here she is a little later checking out her Easter basket. Yes, she got a chocolate bunny and no she will not be eating it. I don't think a basket is complete if it doesn't have a chocolate bunny. Plus I really wanted a chocolate bunny for myself.

Blair with one of her books. This is probably the only time she has gotten to touch it. Easton has already claimed it. At least he is reading it to her. It is really cute to watch him read to her.

Oh, and Easton claimed her bubbles too! He is so excited that he has two.


Video of Blair's mini Easter egg hunt:

Blair playing with the eggs.

Between conference sessions we went to the Ure's house for an Easter BBQ with a bunch of families from our ward. I love that we have good friends in our ward that get together for holidays. Its nice to have this when you have no family around. I'm definitely going to miss this when we move but the great thing is we should be close enough to family that we can drive and now spend holidays with them. I can't wait! I really can't believe how soon we will be moving. It definitely went by fast. Here's a picture of Bella holding Blair. Bella just loved Blair and kept asking to hold her. Blair of course loved all the attention. They had an Easter egg hunt for the kids next door at the Stewart's house.

Easton hanging out.

Most of the kids getting ready to go on the Easter egg hunt.

Walking next door for the hunt.

Easton collecting eggs.

I have a video as well but I figured it really isn't much different from the others so I won't post it.

Easter festival

Yesterday I took the kids to an Easter festival in Germantown. I guess they have it every year, but we didn't find out about it until this year. They had lots of things to do and everything was free! Easton had a lot of fun. We started out doing the Easter egg hunt. They had different areas blocked off for different age groups and they had multiple egg hunts. They would only bring in about 20 kids at a time and let them grab all the eggs off the ground. Once the eggs were gone that group of kids would leave and they would throw down a bunch more eggs and a whole new group would come in and find eggs. Easton came away with about 18 eggs! There were tons of kids and almost every kid in Easton's group grabbed about the same amount of eggs as Easton did so you can imagine how many eggs they had. It was crazy!

Video of Easton grabbing his eggs:

I thought it was funny at the end because one of Easton's eggs opened up and I guess he must have thought that the egg was broken or something because he just threw it on the ground and didn't want it. He probably would have if he looked closer and saw that it was filled with candy. He walked past two other eggs that were opened too!

Easton with all the eggs he collected.

After the egg hunt we went to the bounce houses. I took Easton first to the princess house because it seemed like a lot of the younger kids were going to that one and I was afraid that he would get knocked over in the other one. Easton jumped back and forth once and then was done. When he got out he pointed to the other one and said he wanted to play in that one. I can't blame him since it had an obstacle course and slide in that one. After waiting in line for a really long time he finally got his chance. He jumped in followed the other kids to the slide but he couldn't pull himself up. Luckily they had a guy in there to help. Once Easton came down the slide he got out of the house. I was a little annoyed that we waited in line so long for him to do it just once but when I went to put his shoes back on he freaked out and wanted to do it again. I guess he didn't realize that he could do it as many times as he wanted in the time limit they gave the kids. I wasn't about to stand in line again and because technically his time wasn't complete yet I walked him back to the house and asked if he could go in again. Luckily they let him. He wasn't very happy when he only got to do it one last time before they kicked him out.

Video of Easton jumping in the princess house:

Easton and the guy that helped him up to the slide. He was trying to get Easton to wave to me.

Proof that Blair was there.

I was carrying her the whole time so I couldn't really get a good picture of her. It didn't occur to me at the time to have someone else take a picture of us on my camera. Oh well they took our picture at the festival but I have to wait until they send it to us in the mail.


Easton was able to make a craft. It's a foam Easter egg with a magnet on the back. They also had a bunch of games for the kids to play but we didn't really have time to do it and it seemed more for older kids.