7 Years!

It is our 7th anniversary today! I will probably say this each year but I can't believe we have been married for SEVEN years. We were able to celebrate on Friday evening. My Mom and Bryan were sooo wonderful and took the boys for us for the whole night. We went out for all you can eat Sushi, our fav. We don't go our for dinner very often and it has always been something we have loved to do so we were really craving some sushi. We had Cassandra and her boyfriend Glenn join us for dinner and then we all went to see the newest Hunger Games movie. After that we went home to bed and slept in until 8:30!!!!!!! Heaven I tell ya! I feel so blessed to have this very handsome man in my life! We've had our ups and downs but we've been learning together and I am so grateful to share my life with Michael. Not only is he an awesome husband (and a really good looking one),  he is a really amazing father, and he does a wonderful job providing for our family. On many of our anniversaries we have enjoyed some Martinelli's together while we sit and reminisce of all the wonderful memories we have. Memories of dating, before we had kids, the experience of becoming parents, and enjoying our two boys together. It's always a conversation that brings a bit of happy tears and laughs.

Update on the kids (and us)

I've been wanting to do an update about the boys for a while. So here it goes.

Ty:
-is POTTY TRAINED!! Hallelujah!! This is our 3rd round of potty training and it has been one of the hardest things I've done as a parent (the other is getting no sleep). Thank goodness for my sweet husband getting a kick start on round #3 after my first big meltdown of motherhood. Don't ask....
-says "I'm hungry" 1000X's a day. Even 15 minutes after breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It kind of drives us nuts. :)
-says Brefkest for breakfast. haha
-LOVES joy school. He is always happy to go. It probably helps that 3 out of 4 of the other kids are his second cousins (that he knows pretty well already)
-doesn't understand how to play soccer. He loves having his own ball but when they have the kids play a game with one ball, he picks it up and holds onto it. He doesn't get why they had lots of balls, and then only one.
-is SUCH a good helper around the house. He puts clothes in the laundry, unloads the dishwasher, puts his plate and cup away after meals, dresses himself, cleans up the living room when I ask, cleans the sinks in the bathrooms when I ask, puts his boots/shoes away and gives me his coat to hang up, and putting boots and coat on!. Next up: setting the table, wiping the table, sweeping the floor. :)
-eats Cheerios every morning and could have 3 bowls if we let him
-loudly sings the ABC's when he has soap on his hands and rinses them once the song is done
-fav TV shows right now are Wild Kratts (He calls it Wild Craps), Daniel Tigers Neighbourhood, and Napkin Man.
-finishing swimming lessons tomorrow and there's a good chance he won't pass (for the second time). He is the best one in his class but I think the techniques are just too difficult for kids so young so he will go in it another session in the summer next year. He likes going though and did a back float the other week on his own for a moment. It has also helped him to be more brave in the water.

 Noah:
-says "night night" "nana" (banana) "dada" "mama" "ty" "baby" "cheese" "MAAA" (please)
-Noah fell a month or two ago and split his head open and he now has a scar on his forehead. It was a pretty big gash so we hope with time the scar will fade.
-loves to be silly
-carries his white and blue minky blanket and his soother everywhere and has to have them both for naps and bedtime
-gives kisses and hugs all the time
-loves to copy and follow Ty around
-loves playing with cars and trucks on the floor
-still has the longest eyelashes
-sleeps 12 hrs at night and naps for about an hour and a half once a day
-loves eating breakfast at the table with Ty each morning
-mumbles ALL the time. I'm thinking he won't be able to form a sentence for a loooong time, but we love his little mumbles as he tried to communicate with us. "MA" "what, Noah?" "mmm m mmmm mm mmmmmmm mm mm m" (I wish you could hear it, haha)

 Mid yawn^^^ haha

Sharing a chair... Awwwwww

Michael:
-just had surgery 2 weeks ago. A hernia repair and it went well. He is recovering well, and goes back to work in 2 more weeks. Thank goodness he had so many sick days saved up so he could be getting full pay for this month off of work.
-enjoying relaxing and taking some pictures of the kids

Me:
-finishing adult swimming lessons this week. I LOVE going. Yes, I know how to swim, but a friend (Amy B) and I wanted to learn better technique and it's be fun to learn new ways to swim, to practice them, to visit, and I find it sooo relaxing to be in the water.
-starting a 6 week points challenge where I need to check in each day with points (for eating veggies, fruit, drinking 64 oz of water, no sugar for 6 days a week, working out 30 mins 5 days a week, and a few other things. we'll see how I do... I feel motivated and I'm hoping I can get into a good routine.
-Michael and I made Nov a no sugar month (we have cheated a few times for a date night and a girls night I had) but it's been awesome. We didn't binge on all the kids Halloween candy (and I didn't even really miss it) and I've done a good job at saying no to sugar. I should admit though that my weakness is not sugar, it's Salt N Vinegar chips, but sugar is everywhere and I always found myself eating it even if I didn't really want it.

Halloween time

We did lots this Halloween season. We were able to attend the Hubbards 3rd annual Pumpkin Pick. It's always a blast and this year it was extra special because all the proceeds went to support Finley Malmberg and another boy named Lincoln who has recently been paralyzed. It was so fun. They had bouncy castles, a bake sale, food, hay/trailer rides, and a huge pumpkin gun... not to mention all the awesome people we always get to visit with when we go.

 We had Cassandra, Aiden, and Glenn over to carve pumpkins.  

 He's getting so big!!

 Working hard.

 Our little skeleton looking a little rough. :) 

 Ty with his joy school class. He sure loves joy school. It is Tues and Thurs mornings from 9-11. 

COUSINS

We went trick or treating around our crescent with Ty's cousins and he had so much fun. After they left he was much less excited to trick or treat so next year we will have to make sure he is with a few other kids!

Summer #4

 I can't remember what Ty was excited for but there's his excited face. 

 Carter and Nate spent the day at our house and Ty loved doing all sorts of creative things with Carter.. including building many forts.

 Noahs usual breakfast. Cereal and a banana (missing)

 Ty chillin with his lion. (Total regression of the potty training situation.. we are back to diapers) 

 Love these little tummies

  Two peas in a pod

 Ty's first day of (joy) school. He is loving it, and I'm enjoying time with just one kids to do errands with. I teach in October though so it will be much busier. We do joy school with 4 other kids. 3 of them are kids of Michael's cousins (Stacey and Jordan (Dani))

 Noah had to get in on the picture taking. Look at that smile. 

 I have to say the best thing ever happend. Michael wanted to go camping on a whim to Waterton and I said it was too cold out, plus I had boot camp the next morning, so he took the kids camping in Waterton. They slept in the van so they could turn on the heat in the night... pretty much a trailer right? :) So after a great sleep I headed up to meet them in Waterton. We drove up to Red Rock Canyon and played in the water a bit with the boys, though it was really cold. Cam and Jody ended up coming up as well and planned to camp that night so Michael stayed in Waterton with them and I took the boys home. Again this past weekend Michael took the kids camping in Waterton for 2 nights with his parents and so I pretty much had a whole weekend to myself and it was amazing. I went out for sushi with friends, went to boot camp in the morning, came home and had a glorious 2 hour nap, then went to a movie by myself (a first for me!), then came home and studied my scriptures... after that I went on a walk around Henderson Lake with Jody, then met up with Nikki and Morgan at another movie!! Man, that was such a fun day. I got to do whatever I wanted, and most of it was last minute decisions. I just thought I'd want to remember this wonderful day so I had to document it. :)

 I think our families favorite activity outdoors would have to be "throwing rocks" :)

 My kids favorite park in Lethbridge has to be Nicholas Sheran. It's so fun and different. We met up with Nicole and her girls the other day. It was fun to visit a bit and let the kids play. It was the first warm day after we got a bit of snow so we were soaking it all in. I tried to get a photo of Cali and Ty but he was not interested but Cali pulled out this adorable pose. 

 2 days ago Ty spent probably an hour outside drawing with chalk. Now we have about double the chalk on our sidewalk and my kids clothes are covered in it, but man, they have had so much fun. 

 Ty started swimming lessons again and hit his forehead on the ladder by jumping up and down in the pool. 

 Tonight Noah treated us to this. He looked even more covered in person. He obviously loved dinner tonight. 

AND I am all caught up with photos and blog posts. Though I should do an update on the kids soon.

Summer #3

 Noah was in heaven. He loves being buried in the sand. We went out to Wally's beach while Devin and Amber were visiting. It was such a nice evening to be outside.  

 Playing with the sand. 

 Love that face.

 Ty buried in a mountain.

 Michael was great at burying the kids over and over. It never got old for them and he just kept at it.

 I think the only picture that exists of us girls. I am SO blessed to have such amazing sisters in laws? (how do I say that?) They are both such easy going, fun, likeable girls. I'm lucky to have a lot of sisters, but it's so much fun to have a few more. 

 We love pink I guess. :)

 Ty loves his Auntie Amber and Uncle Devin. He was so excited for them to come visit and was sad when they had to leave. Now every time he sees an airplane in the air he makes the cutest comments. "Oh, there's Devin and Amber" "Hi Devin and Amber" "Devin and Amber are going to Texas"

 We all got a good laugh of the pic below!

 Ty making a sand angel.

 Let's just say he doesn't like being a sticky mess.

 We met up with my good friend Char-Lane and her kids for a whoop up days pancake breakfast and then headed to watch the Parade. It got really hot so we didn't stay for the whole thing... I don't think we have ever made it for the whole length of the parade. It's such a long one. 

 Ty loves Summer and Brady. 

One more summer post to go!