Bath Time Blues

Hayden is going through yet another stage... He hates taking a bath. It is a battle every night that Nate and I are getting used too. I try to make it a fun thing by letting him pick a toy out of his to room to play with while bathing and I ask him if he wants to bath by himself or with me. He usually picks none of the above and fights the whole bathing thing. By the time we are done bathing him, and believe me it is a fast one, he is tuckered right out from all of the kicking and screaming. Now he is a very active sweaty dirty little toddler that you just can't do without a full blown bath. A sponge bath does not work for me. We have all the fun bath toys and then some that aren't bath toys. We have bath books. We have bubbles. We bath together. We shower together. None of this seems to be working lately. And I am a firm believer that bathing at night helps you sleep better. All I want is a clean little boy! What's a Mommy to do?!

A Trip to the Fire Station

Hayden & Landen love fire trucks! Kathy, Landen's Grandma who both Hayden and Landen spend everyday with, decided to take a trip to the fire station with the boys and asked me if I would like to go with them. I didn't want Hayden experiencing this without me so of course I had to go. I just have a hard time missing out on anything to do with Hayden. (Just a normal mommy thing!) Anyway, the boys made the Firefighters a Thank You card for everything they do. It was cute! They also made chocolate chip cookies for them. Hayden loves to make cookies! The Firefighters were great with the boys and invited us right in. Hayden was being his shy self but Landen was in aw the entire time! They got to get inside of a fire truck, try on a real Firefighter hat, and even squirt the water. I call them Firefighters rather than Firemen because there was a women Firefighter there too and she was super cute with the boys. They gave each of the boys a Firefighter hat, stickers, a Junior Firefighter pin, and a stuffed animal that they would normally be giving a child that they went to help. We had a good time hanging out at the Fire Station until we were just about to leave and Hayden was finally getting warmed up to these people when he fell down. The flooring in the fire station is not smooth but rather kind of rough. He skinned up both of his elbows and was crying that he had two owies. He has really never been scraped up before so it was traumatizing to him that he had two owies at once. That's all he could talk about the rest of the evening. Not about how neat the Fire Station was but how he had two owies. Little ones are so funny!Thanks Kathy for a fun trip to the Fire Station!

Our 4th of July Fun!

Happy 4th of July!! What a fabulous day for a 100th year 4th of July celebration Magna parade! The last few years the famous Magna parade just hasn’t been all that great. So I was leery of going this year even though deep down I knew I couldn’t miss it. So glad we didn’t miss it! Hayden was so excited to go to the parade at Grandpa Rock’s house but after a while during the parade he got a little anxious…. I guess you could say. Once the candy throwing started Hayden was so concerned that all the pieces got picked up. Even out of the middle of the road and even stepped on pieces. He picked up tons and tons of candy but about half way through the parade he wanted to go home and it seemed he wasn’t having much fun. I think that maybe it was too much excitement and confusion. With our Uncle Curtis and Cousin Greg making us laugh like crazy during the entire parade Hayden may have been a bit over the edge with all the craziness! But all in all I think we all had fun and enjoyed ourselves! And what prefect weather!!!! 72 degrees! Maybe even a little chilly at times. After the parade we spent the rest of our holiday with some old friends of ours, the Starley’s. They had rented a big bounce house/slippery slide for the kids. Even though it was not as warm was we would have liked the kids still had a blast. While the kids played we ate some yummy food and once it was dark enough we had our own little firework show.

Hayden is 3 Years Old!

Our big boy turned 3 on December 30th! I can not believe we are parents of a 3 year old! It just seems like yesterday he was born. I just don't know where the time goes.

Because Hayden's birthday is so close to the holidays we always try to make it an extra special day for him. On the 30th, I sent Hayden with some cupcakes to Kathy's house to share with the kids. Hayden got an extra special birthday present from Kathy and Bompa John, they took him to the toy store to pick out his own gift. None of the other kids besides Landen gets to do that so it was a very special thing for Hayden to do. He was excited to show me when I got home what he had picked out. He had picked a few Tonka Helicopters and they also gave him 3 movies. Later that night, Nate and I had our parents come over along with my Brother and his little family for pizza and cupcakes that Hayden and I made the night before. My parents gave him his big gift on this night since it was his real birthday. He got a new Yamaha Raptor four wheeler. OK, so not a real four wheeler but a Power Wheels one. It is the cutest thing ever! He sure thinks he is big stuff on that thing! He already as it all figured out on how to go forward and backwards. He is just too dang smart! He also got some CAT diggers and trucks from his Bompa Rock and Ma Marsha. Hayden loves diggers too!! Nate and I gave him some Transformer stuff since he is recently been into Robots (Transformers) lately.

On Saturday January 3rd, we celebrated once again for Hayden's birthday but this time with his little friends! We planned a fire truck birthday party since Hayden has always loved to see and listen for the firetrucks. I had planned ahead and called the fire station and asked if we could come and visit for Hayden's birthday. They were the nicest Firemen ever! They loved having the boys come by to visit. Our Fireman host was so dang cute with the boys!

Before we went to the fire station we had a little party at our house. I had the table set up for the four boys with fire hats, fire truck cups for chocolate milk to eat with their hot dog lunch, a fire truck picture to color for the Firemen and a box of crayons. Hayden loves to color so I thought that would be a fun idea. Hayden was really the only one that cared much to do that though. Landen was so dang tired that he didn't care to do much of anything and the other two boys just wanted to play in Hayden's toy room. It's kind of hard to round up these four little 3 year old boys and have their attention long enough to do much. But it actually went really well. We ate lunch, opened presents, and sang to Hayden. He is such a shy boy when it is time to sing to him. He gets embarrassed. It's so cute how he tried to bury his face into his little hands. We all then headed to the fire station. Hayden was the big birthday boy so he got special treatment. He was the only one that got to drive the firetrucks and ambulances. Loftin sure wanted a turn but the fireman kept telling him that only the birthday boy gets to drive! Hayden got to get in and even honk the horn, that was probably his favorite part!

After the fire station we headed back home for the second half of his party with the rest of our family. It was a big birthday bash of a day! Hayden was a good sport for most of the day considering that he wasn't feeling all that great. Once the second part of his party started with our family coming he perked back up to open more presents and to pay with his cousin older cousin Tyson. He loves bigger kids!

Hayden, We love you so much! You are our world! We are so proud to be the Mommy and Daddy of the cutest most bright boy ever! I hope this was the best birthday yet!

My Sleeping Beauty

 We have got some crazy sleeping arrangements at our house!  Of course it's mostly my fault!  I have slept with my precious sleeping beauty Bryn since the day she was born. I know I know, "they" say you're not supposed to do that. But who on the hell are "they" anyway?!  It's my baby, my rules!

With Hayden I tried and tried to do everything by what "they" say to do. We had way too many long trying nights of no sleep just to make sure Hayden slept in his own bed. What a joke!  All those nights of crying and screaming and not being able to comfort my baby was so not worth it. 

We did this nonsense until Santa brought Hayden a big boy bed just before his third birthday. With the transition, we thought to keep him in his bed we would lay down with him until he fell asleep. Well, I gave that duty to Nate!  Nate, for some strange reason, would end up falling asleep with Hayden and staying there all night. In a twin bed! Talk about squishy!

Now we have two habits to break!  Hayden and his Dad!  Not so easy!  Because now, I'm pregnant with Brynlee and Nate no longer wants to sleep in our bed with a snoring beached whale!  

After Brynlee is here, We think that since Nate is working and has to get up that maybe he should still just sleep with Hayden so he doesn't get woke up when I got up with Bryn. And that is how are craziness started!

Being a new Mommy I was very sleep deprived to say the least and some how Bryn got used to sleeping in my arms. Don't ask me how that happened! So...it's now Bryn and Mommy in Mom and Dads bed and Daddy and Hayden in Hayden's twin bed!  Nuts!

So here we are, Bryn is now 5 and Hayden is 9.  Things have changed a bit but we've added more to the sleeping arrangement problem. Nate now works rotating shifts at work. Two weeks day shift and two weeks afternoons.  We have such different schedules!  It's a nightmare!  Poor Nate never gets sleep!  Good sleep!  I feel bad for him. I don't know how he functions sometimes.

Now, so everyone gets to get some sleep around our house, I sleep with Bryn sometimes in her full size bed or in our bed. Hayden sleeps on his own in his room and as for Nate, he sleeps in whatever bed is empty when he gets home!  

People say we are crazy and/or weird but who are they to judge?!  Besides, how could you resist snuggling this Princess!

Brotherly and Sisterly Love

Moments like this melt my heart!  It doesn't happen near enough! Even though Bryn idolizes her bubba she still does all she can to torment him and vise versa. Hayden may pretend to be bothered by his pesty little sister but he really does love being her big brother. And a good big brother he is! 

Date Night with Mom!

What to do on a Friday night when Dads at work?!  Go get ice cream, our favorite summer treat!  On our little ice cream date I learned something about each of the kids!  

Bryn holds her pencil just like me!  It's an odd way to write, so people have told me over the years. Funny she would pick that up from me!

And Hayden announced to me that he has chest hair at the young age of 9!  I'm not seeing anything but Hayden swears he has some!  

All Grown Up....

This little girl has devastated her Daddy!  She's growing up too fast!  Nate takes her to preschool and Bryn decided she doesn't want her Daddy to walk her to class anymore. He came home and called to tell me his feelings were hurt.  I'm just cracking up!  He was wondering if maybe she was embarrassed of him. I told him it was because she is growing up!  She's not our sweet baby Bryn anymore!  She's our big independent strong minded big girl!  I think Nate had a realization that day, time is precious and goes by way too fast!  I'm very glad Nate was able to witness something like this as it has always been me to go through these things with both kids. He loves his BB so very much!!

Ouch!

My poor Bubba!  Hayden was being Mister Independent and was opening his own can of Spaghetti O's by himself and some managed to cut his little thumb. Good thing Nate was home to look at it and decide that we needed to take him to get stitches. Poor little man was so worried and his body trembled until it was all over with. Right after it happened Hayden said, "I wish I had already eaten dinner and we could have been in bed and being normal.".  That cracked me up!! 

Hayden was a brave boy while the Doc stitched his little thumb up. Five stitches!  

The Future......

I'm always wondering what the future holds for my little monsters. Of course Nate and I have talked about what we hope the future holds for them and how we hope and pray that they choose the right path in the life. Make good choices and be the best they can be at all they do. 

At the age of 8, Hayden says he wants to be an Engineer. That's a great goal buddy!!  He thinks it would be fun because he lines to be creative and design things (legos)!  As for my little 4 year old firecracker Bryn,  she's gonna be a cheerleader and a rockstar!  

It's fun to watch these little miracles of mine become their own person and make their own choices. Hhhhmmmm.... I wonder what lies ahead?! Only time will tell!  But hopefully not too soon!  

Hayden's Crush

Hayden called me as soon as he got home from school to tell me that after school Layla handed him a note and ran off. Layla is a girl that has had a crush on Hayden since last year. She left Hayden notes on his desk that said "I love Hayden" with a greasy spot on the paper which appeared to be a kiss mark with lip gloss. This happened a few times until Hayden told his teacher because he was getting embarrassed. It's a new school year and Layla is not in Hayden's class. He's probably glad about that!  The note was too cute and probably took a lot of guts for her to give to Hayden so I felt bad when Hayden filled in the "no" box on her letter. But he did say they could still be friends!  The next morning before school I told Hayden not to forget to give the note back to Layla and tried to explain how she probably feels and to it be mean to her or anything. Hayden, being annoyed, said "why do girls have to do this? I just want to live a normal life. I don't have time for this because I'm going to busy hunting."  And so it begins!  But I'm glad it's beginning with Hayden doing the heartbreaking and not wanting anything to do with girls than having his heart broke. Just keep busy hunting buddy until you're like 30!!  Girls are yucky anyway!!

Date Night with Bubba!

It had been so long since I have had one on one time with my little Bub so I decided it was date night with Mommy!  Since school is starting soon I thought it would be a good time to take him to pick out some new shoes and let him pick whatever else he wanted us to do.  Hayden chose to get ice cream so we went to Baskin Robins which we hadn't been to in years (since our last little date!).

He also chose to go to the pet store.  Hayden is all about having pets.  Well, his Mom is not so keen on the idea of pets.  I have always said that we are the pet free Peterson's!  Hayden just has such a big heart that he wants to adopt all the cats and dogs he can.  He feels bad for them!  When we went to the pet store that's all he wanted to look at were the cats and kittens that needed a home.  I keep having to explain to him that I am allergic to cats and dogs so we can't have one at home.  Kinda sad for Hayden but having pets just aren't in the cards for our family.  So until Hayden gets big and has his own home he gets to enjoy cats and dogs at Grandpa Rocks house!

I loved being alone with just Hayden and being able to talk to him without being interrupted and rushed some place.  We laughed and goofed around and had a great time!  I have the most caring, smart, respectful son ever and I am proud to be his Mom!

The minute we got home, Hayden asked if he could use the computer....

.....to look up the animal shelter for pets to adopt. 

Happy Easter!

Another great warm Easter Sunday! We stayed home from camping and celebrated Easter with family this year and the Easter Bunny still found us and brought presents and treats!



Granny spent the day before Easter with us coloring eggs and decorating Grandma's yummy sugar cookies!  WE love our Granny!!



Brynlee's Bunny loot!  PINK baseball stuff of course!

Bubba's Bunny Loot!

I have the most cutest kids ever!! 

Happy 3rd Birthday to Bryn!

Our little (BIG) girl turned 3!! To celebrate her big day we had a Cowgirl Party! Bryn thinks she is a cowgirl so to match her cute new cowgirl boots that Santa brought I got her a girly cowgirl outfit! She is a little hamski with all of her many silly faces!

I'm not sure why, but I feel that the cake is one of the most important things for a birthday party!  It has to be over the top cute!  Not just a store or homemade cake!  While my kids are little I feel like I can get away with things like this and her outfit cause I get to pick it!  Not too many years of this cutesy stuff so I gotta to do while I can!

Bryn and her favorite friend Sophia!

On her actual birthday Mommy took her to get her very first mannie peddie!  So much fun!  Such a big girl!  Of course she chose the color pink!

And her favorite present from Mommy and Daddy!  Her big girl scooter like her Bubba's!

Silly Girl showing off!

She even picked out her own cake so that we could sing Happy Birthday to her.  Monster High!  She didn't even know what Monster High was, yet......  Maybe next year she will if they are still around!