Hats off!

Hats off to the BYU Basketball team! It was such a fun season to hear since I don't have TV and listened to the games on AM radio through the computer. Isn't technology wonderful?! I did get to watch a game a couple weeks ago at a friend's house and it was kind of odd because I knew all their names but only knew what Jimmer Fredette looked like. Sorta funny. Anyway, we did get to watch the game last night on the computer and I thought it was one of the most suspenseful games I've seen in a while. My boys were watching me pace around the living room and laughing at me. Jared had to miss the fun because he had a paper to write. It's tough being a grad student! Unfortunately it didn't turn out quite like we would've liked it to, but they gave it a good run and had a great season. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to graduate from BYU and be a Cougar fan!

Anyway, in light of yesterday's game I got out the boy's hats. I was surprised to discover that Parker and Brody wear the same hat size. I knew Parker had a big noggin' but didn't know it was the same as his brother's. Parker LOVES wearing his hat. He brings it to me all the time now and pats his head for me to put it on. I guess I should've brought it out earlier in the season! Now it will officially be switched for his Red Sox hat, though, now that baseball season has begun. Have I mentioned how much I love having boys yet?

One quick Parker story. Yesterday he was watching Brody jump off the couch and decided he'd give it a shot. He jumped off, knocked the wind out of himself, bonked his chin, cried for minute, got a snuggle from mom, and then went back on the couch to do it again. Monkey see, monkey do at its finest. Also, Carrie Hillier your comments on my last post made me laugh out loud. I knew someone was more clever than me and would come up with something funny, so thank you for providing my comic relief for the day :) haha!

Hungry?

Apparently I don't feed Parker enough. Today after his nap I went in his room to find him holding this picture. It had been in a frame on his bookcase next to his bed. He took it off, dismantled the frame, and decided it looked tasty:

I couldn't find the missing corner anywhere, which means it's somewhere in Parker's tummy. I've been laughing about it ever since...

"Uncle Sammy" Car

First of all, just a couple things from this past week. My boys LOVE going to the library. The other day after we came home I had to take a picture of these two. We don't even make it pass the top of the stairs before they have to sit down and read all the books we got. I just thought it was hilarious, and they didn't even notice I was there taking their picture!

Second, Mr. Parker thinks he's a big man now. He officially has all 4 back molars now (12 teeth in total) and apparently thinks that means he gets to sit up at the big table. He usually thinks that includes climbing on top of the table, so we're working on that :)

Now, on to our most exciting part of the week. Tonight we had a Pinewood Derby race at Church. Jared had done some when he was a kid, but had never made one on his own. I have never even been to a pinewood derby race, so it was our first in many ways. Since we don't own any tools a very nice man in our ward showed Jared how to use them and helped him get our car cut out. Then, we lost two of the axels and almost didn't get to compete at all. Thankfully, another kind man in our ward let us borrow two from his tester car. Brody and I painted it, and then Jared helped put the weights in the back. It was completely a team effort to get this silly little car put together and Brody was so proud of it! The final product:

How exactly do they manage to get their cheeseball smiles the same?! haha

Sorry, one more just because Parker should have a nice picture with him in it to, even though Parker's only contribution was yelling, "Woah!!" every time the car went by on the track.

Brody and Blake waiting for the race to begin

There goes our car!! Brody liked to watch the finish line like this:

We ended up finishing 3rd in the speed category out of about 25 cars. We were pleasantly surprised!! The even more surprising thing was that we ended up winning the "Grand Master Prize" for showing teamwork and sportsmanship. We won a wooden display case that Brody and Jared are going to put together to display our car. As you can imagine, the little boy who's obsessed with cars was SO excited!! Oh, and the man who loaned us his axels (who had originally told us he needed them back after the race) told us to keep them because he was so happy with how our car did. We were very grateful because Brody was itching to drive it around at home. It was a fun memory for sure. One happy boy and I:

The car: He wanted a "Boise State" car. Oh, and the reason behind my blog post title. On our way to the church we were asking Brody what he wanted to name his car. He went through a couple, and then shouted out "Uncle Sammy"!! Since today is Uncle Sam's birthday we decided that was a great name and stuck with it. So, Uncle Sammy's car gave us some great luck today!

The little holes are where Jared put the little weights. He's very creative if you ask me. :) The paint job was done by Brody and I. He helped with the blue and I painted the orange and white.

Last, but not least, I'm so happy the Cougars won tonight!! So sad we missed the game, but happy that this was the memory that took it's place. We're excited for the next one :)

Short and Sweet

I've been a bad blogger lately according to my mom and sister, so I have just a short post. It seems that we haven't been doing anything super exciting lately to blog about as far as the kids and I go. We're waiting ever so patiently for warm weather that doesn't include rain so we can resume our outdoor activities. Other than that we just hang out, play with friends, and do housework. Exciting, right? We do have some great things going on with Jared, though! He had a meeting with his superiors last Friday and they offered to extend his paid internship for the rest of the year with the anticipation of hiring him after that. He can choose his own hours and work them around his schedule, so he's a very happy guy. We are very grateful for the things that seem to be working for us at the moment. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much just in case something doesn't work for some reason, but I'm very happy that he's getting this positive feedback that he very much deserves. He's wonderful and always has been, and I'm so glad they recognize that. Way to go Jared!

Now on to the reason most of you come to my blog:

Just two little snuggle bugs after their bath. It seems lately I've been getting even more comments on how much Brody looks like Jared and how much Parker looks like me. A lady in the grocery store the other day even did a double take and stopped me to tell me how amazing it was that Parker looked so much like me. I'm trying to think that's a good thing?! Anyway, these pictures made me smile, so I thought I'd share. They were taken on my phone so they're probably not the best, but it works :)

One Parker story from today: As I was putting on my make-up in the bathroom, he storms in, goes right to the toilet, puts his hand in the water, and proceeds to suck it off of his fingers. I literally gagged. Why are toilets so interesting to toddlers?

One Brody story: A little while ago Jared got out of the shower at his usual 6:15 a.m. or so. He noticed Brody wasn't in his bed. He looked down the hallway and saw Parker's light was on. He peeked in there and they were both quietly reading books. Parker was in his bed (Brody had given him a bunch of books) and Brody was on the floor. They did this quietly until 7:00 a.m. Jared asked Brody why he'd gone into Parker's room and he said he'd heard him shaking his froggy. Who knows if Parker was actually awake or not, but we thought it was very sweet. He loves to take care of his baby brother. He told me today that Parker was hungry and he tried to put him in his high chair, but he was "just too heavy, Mom". He's such a sweet boy.

Snow, Scaredy Squirrel, and Laughter

Just a couple pictures from a snow day we had a couple weeks ago :) The boys were loving it and Brody couldn't stop laughing!

Parker was intrigued

Just a quick little plug for some really cute books that Brody's been loving lately. My mother in-law works in a library and gets to see all kinds of fun kid books. She recommended these and boy have they been a hit! There's just regular "Scaredy Squirrel", "Scaredy Squirrel and the Beach", and "Scaredy Squirrel at Night". Brody's favorite part of these books is that Scaredy Squirrel always has a plan. If you've been following my blog for a while you know that Brody's brain works best with structure. Order in all things, remember? So, this is Scaredy Squirrel's schedule that Brody recites frequently even when we're not reading the book:

I was thinking one day about trying to put together a chore chart of some kind so Brody and I could both remember what chores I wanted him to help me with. I came up with a "Scaredy Squirrel" schedule. We have one posted downstairs and one posted upstairs and he references it frequently throughout the day. He's also been very interested in learning about time and reading the numbers on the digital clock so we put it on there both ways. It's still a work in progress, and I'd be lying if I said we stick to this everyday, but it's a framework I try to work within because it really works well for Brody. I just wanted to put it on here so he has it in his blog book someday. The future will be much more complicated than this! By the way, I don't post this to pat myself on the back. I've just used countless ideas off of other people's blogs and thought I'd share it in case anyone has a child like Brody. I sort of feel like my blogging friends are my "village raising the child" sort of thing sometimes. I really appreciate all our your good ideas! (please excuse my artistic skills...apparently I never made it past stick people in the drawing department)

Just a cute picture from this past week. I was watching the boys look out the window and I just think it's hilarious that they look exactly the same from the back. Brody sat there forever with his ball, and Parker sat there holding on to a little teddy bear he found. I'm glad they're buddies! Lately everything Brody does, Parker has to do. At dinner if Brody takes a bite, Parker takes a bite. If Brody takes a drink, Parker takes a drink. This also goes for running, turning circles, falling down, etc. They are pretty funny!

Parker also has decided that hats are pretty funny. Everytime he sees one on someone in a book he's reading he pats his head like crazy. He's still not a huge fan of wearing them, though, so this picture is a little blurry. Still cute, though :)

In other news: I don't think I've posted on here yet that we have a new niece!! Jared's sister Bethany had her sweet baby Tessa two weeks ago. She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to meet her! She sounds like such a sweet baby and Brody is completely enamored with the topic. He asks me about Tessa frequently and told me tonight that baby Tessa was kissed by an angel after she come out of B's tummy. haha! We have no idea where he came up with that but we thought it was pretty funny. He's a tender soul. This is a blanket I made for a girl in my ward that's having a baby in a few weeks. I made one just like it for Bethany but it was my first try and much worse than this one. So, Bethany, this is what it's supposed to look like and when I come to CA next I'm going to take yours apart and fix it if you'll let me. It's been driving me crazy ever since I gave it to you!

Last two pictures from this week. Why are my boys laughing hysterically?!

...Because this guy is the best Dad ever! He was bonking them on the head with that lid and then himself and they thought that was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. Literally, they were falling over they were laughing so hard. Funny funny boys!