The best part about dental school.......

The BREAKS!!!!

We had so much fun this spring break!  The first 4 days were spent in California going to Disneyland and California adventure and spending time at the beach and with my aunt in San Diego.  Here are a few of the pictures...

Ry and my mom got to fly down to spend the time with us, it was great!  Emerson LOVED both places.  He loved seeing all the characters from his favorite shows.  His favorite rides were the "fast cars" and the choo-choo's.  Even though Saturday was FREEZING cold and rainy we loved it!  I can't wait to take the boys back there!

After we got back we had 6 days before Mike had to go back to school.  We went to a baseball game, got lots done in our backyard and went hiking in the mountains behind our house...who knew such beauty was right in our backyard!

Emerson and his buddy Rayce playing at the baseball game.

All of us by the waterfall we hiked to (there is only water right here after it rains:))

I am already looking forward to our next break:)

My Bathroom

So, this morning I started reading my friends and family blogs.  My cousin Kelsey just did a post about how much she loves dark grey and would love to do a bedroom painted in that color, accented with yellow.  I was so excited because I had just finished my bathroom that exact same way last week.  So, Kels, these pictures are for you.  I know dark colors aren't usually very good in a small space but this I love.  It is relaxing and totally what I was in the mood for:)

Poor Baby!

Today Emerson had to go in for his little surgery.  He had to get some skin clipped and taken off from his little boy part:(  My doctor made it seem like we would walk into the hospital and be out the door within a few minutes....that didn't happen. We were there for over 3 hours.

We got there at 6:45am with our sweet starving boy.  He was fine for the first half hour but after that was so upset and bored and just wanted a treat and his sippy.  We finally got into his room at 8:00am.  He was a little happier when he could watch a kids show on tv.  A sweet girl from the hospital came in and brought him bubbles and books to keep him occupied until they were ready for him.  As soon as they were ready they put him in a wagon to go for a ride.  He was upset and just wanted me with him.  I held his hand down the hall until they told me I had to go in the waiting room.  This was HORRIBLE!  I don't think there is anything worse as a mom when your baby needs you and you can't do anything for them.  I had to walk out the door and he is crying, calling my name and reaching for me.  I immediately lost it.  

The surgery was really fast and within 15 minutes the doctor came out and told us he was finished.  They were supposed to come get me while he was asleep so I could be there for him when he woke up but they didn't.  Again, my poor baby was left alone and scared because his mommy wasn't there.  When I finally got to go in his room the nurse was holding him.  I got him to stop crying (for a minute) but he wanted his IV out of his hand really bad.  I got him his drink and rocked him in the chair for a few minutes.  He started screaming in pain and kept saying "owie" over and over again.  

The entire time we were at the hospital he wanted to leave and kept telling me to take him to the car.  He was so sweet after he was recovering he said "momma, I want my baby guy" (that is madden in case you were wondering).  Now we are at home and are working on keeping the tylenol rolling and lots of gause!  Hopefully he will heal up fast and we can forget about the trauma of today.

He did get a dinosaur out of it from the nurse and he loves it, even though you can't tell from the pictures:)

 

Little Madden spent his time with us at the hospital making all the nurses smile with his sweet dimples.  He was such a good baby today and we are so grateful for that.

This has made me realize how grateful I am for the health that we are blessed with in this family.  This is the first time we have been in the hospital for anything other than having a baby.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to have to go through something major with your kids, this was bad enough and it was nothing!

boy oh boys

this week we went to the zoo with the kids.  they had a great time but something scary happened.  Emerson tripped on some dirt and landed on a rock.  He had a huge dent in his head!!!  It was the craziest thing I had seen.  I kinda freaked out a little because it looked so weird but my friend calmed me down and he was fine.  This picture doesn't do it justice but it was really deep.  Luckily after about 20 minutes it started to come back otherwise i would have really lost it!

I decided to add some pictures to remind myself why having boys is fun and not just a negative thing like my last post:)

When they play together it is so cute.  They got this tent for Christmas and both of them love being in it with all the blankets and pillows

I love watching the excitement on Emerson's face when he is doing something really fun.  We took him to Peter Piper Pizza last friday with Grandpa Hall or as Emers likes to call him "Cappa"

Who wouldn't love seeing such a happy baby with the sweetest dimples ever?

I love making them match.  I know it is cheesy but I think it is fun and I gotta do it while they will let me!

Mike would pull them in the diaper boxes all around the house.  Emerson looks upset in this picture but they were both laughing and loving it!

Even though Madden is waking up as much as a newborn lately, he is so sweet and gets so excited when he sees us.  He starts waving his arms up and down and gets a huge dimples smile on his face.  Emerson keeps us laughing everyday with all the new things he says.  

Emerson is finally getting better!  He still complains of stomach pain sometimes but other than that I think we are on our way out....of that one.  On Tuesday morning Emerson has to go in for surgery!  He has to have his circumcision "re-done" in a spot.  I hate that they have to put him under but it should be a quick procedure.  I will have more on that next week!  Wish us luck!

What do you do?

What do you do when....

• Your 2 year old keeps throwing things, kicking, pushing the soft spot, yelling, pushing down, biting, stealing toys, etc. etc (with your 9 month old)?
• You send your 2 year old to time out and he laughs at you no matter how mad you get at him!
• Your 9 month old thinks naps are not for him and does everything he possibly can to stay awake every moment of the day?
• Your 9 month old likes to wake up 3 or 4 times a night.....still?
• Your 2 year old takes a 5 minute nap during the day and stays up till 10 pm?
• You are trying your best to keep your 2 year old from watching tv during the day.
• Your 2 year old wakes up EVERY SINGLE night and cries in his bed until he gets to go in mama's bed.
• You are so exhausted you can hardly function, you are getting depressed and want your own mommy to come see you...NOW!
• You get a gym pass to help with some of the stress but you can't go because you are too busy wiping your kids noses every minute of the day.
• You get to share a car with your husband for 5 years of marriage and you just can't take it anymore.
• That sweet husband of yours reminds you that with all the stress you feel in your life it cannot even compare to what horrible things other people go through, especially people in Haiti right now.  
• You know he's right but you still want to have a pity party for yourself sometimes:)

These are a few of the fun things we have been doing at our house for the past 3 weeks.  I guess this sounds really negative but I still manage to smile and have hope that it will be better tomorrow!

Thanksgiving cruise

Our cruise was so much fun!  My parents took our entire family for our Christmas present this year.  We had such a good time together.  There were so many fun things to do on and off the ship.  We saw comedy shows, watched movies under the stars while sitting in a hot tub, eating lots of good food, shopping and sitting around at the beach.  

This is where we spent Thanksgiving day this year.  

St. Thomas.

It was AMAZING!

Do I need to say more?

I loved every island we went to but I have to say St. Thomas was my favorite.  I had so many eye opening moments being there.  I look forward to the day I can go back.

Emerson had lots of fun riding bikes on the top deck of the boat with Ryan (all the time)!  He loved splashing in the waves on the beach and ate tons of fruit.  He was so excited to go on the "big boat" but when we got on he did not think it was a big boat at all.  He pointed out all the tiny boats in the ocean and said "mama, big boat" it was really funny.

It was hard taking the boys on a cruise (mostly because of the sleeping conditions) but it was well worth it.  We had lots of help from my family so that helped a lot.

Now back to reality, I am looking forward to Christmas.  It is just around the corner!

 

Fall Break

This is how we have been spending Mike's fall break....so far:)

We took Emerson and Madden to the McCormick Train Park in Scottsdale.  He LOVED it!  It was $2 to ride each time and it wasn't really long but he had so much fun we had to take him a few times.

Other than this cute train ride they have train museums and exhibits set up for you to walk around and see.  They have a play ground area and lots of grass to just go sit around and play.  It was a really fun place and I have a feeling we will be going back several times!

After a few days of hanging out with Mikes mom, Mike decided to tackle the big project of landscaping our backyard.  I am so glad he got the urge to do this but it has been A LOT of work.  There is no way Mike could have done this without the help of friends!  

We still have work to do back there but now we have sprinklers and grass!!!!  We are so excited to look out the window and see green, not rocks!  THANK YOU SO MUCH to our friends that came to help us but especially for DAN and JASON!  These two guys saved us and there is no way we would have been done with this (or had a clue what to do) without them!

Now we can get cleaned up and move on to part 2 of our break.....Caribbean here we come!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We are thankful for all of you!