Inspiration

Well. I've mentioned Tanner's BAD behavior a few times lately. Really I'm sure it has a lot to do with how incredibly busy Dean is with full-time work, full-time school, serving as Young Men's President, AND trying to squeeze in being a husband and father too. This causes a BIT of stress on all of us, and Tanner sometimes gets lost in the shuffle I'm afraid. I've been praying for ways we can help him or improve things, and the other day I came up with an idea that I think might work. Dean and I decided that two nights a week Tanner will be allowed to stay up half an hour later than Landon and have "Tanner Time" with us. He can pick what we do. Just simple things like play a game, watch an episode of "Phineas and Ferb", bake some cookies, etc. Now just spending more time with him should improve things on it's own, but I whipped up this little chart for him and if he ever gets out of line, or starts acting up, I just have to remind him that he'll lose "Tanner Time" minutes if he doesn't shape up. We'll mark off a minute if he's naughty and he'll have that much less time to stay up with us. Make sense!? Time outs don't seem to make him want to behave any better. Not that we won't keep that up, but I'm hoping that losing his coveted time with us will be a little better motivation to behave. Anyway, we're keeping our finger's crossed! And I'm actually really looking forward to some extra time with Tanner one-on-one. Here's his little chart and I'll let you know how it goes...

Memorial Day Picnic

Well our day turned out to be a success. We woke up to this guy...

...who is apparently living under our deck. I guess it's a little hard to tell his size from the pictures but it's a groundhog, and he's probably 1.5 feet tall.

Then we got ready and headed to our Ward's Annual Memorial Day Picnic. Last year I was in charge and Landon was just 3 weeks old. Needless to say I enjoyed this year SO much more than last! Ha! We ate TONS of delicious food, socialized with lots of great people, and topped the day off with a MASSIVE water fight! It was SO fun! Tanner even managed to get Grandma and Grandpa and pretty much everyone else in the ward for that matter!

Tanner and Ashtyn with their hands painted.

Landon getting his hand painted.

Showing off his Superman hand!

This was the only slide that wasn't too hot to slide down.

Playing on the playground with Mom.

I braved the slide, but I found out why the boys were crying when they went down. Ouch! Hot!

Swinging!

Dean making snow-cones.

Landon's always making friends. No one can resist those big, blue eyes!

Tanner's rainbow snow-cone.

Landon LOVED my blue-raspberry snow-cone. He ate the whole thing!

Then Tanner came after me with a cup full of water.

He got pretty brave and started soaking everyone!

He managed to sneak up on Grandpa!

And he even got Grandma!

Throwing water balloons with Kate.

By the end of the day he was SOAKED!

And the Young Women ganged up on me and I was SOAKED!

Truth be told we didn't mind cause it was so much fun and cooled us all off. We wore the boys out and they were zonked in the car before we ever got home. Tanner's already excited for next year!

Young Men's Sleepover

Well we survived and I think it was a smashing success! All the boys seemed to have fun, no one got hurt, and they were even asleep by 2 a.m. None of our neighbors called with complaints, and we had more than enough food which means I won't have to cook tonight! I'd say that's a success! Conveniently our Ward Cleanup was this morning, so by 7:40am the boys were all packed up and out of my house and off to be fed breakfast and help out at the church. It worked out perfectly. Here's a glimpse into our night...

Tanner LOVED palling around with all the "Men that are boys." I think he was confused that we kept calling them Young Men cause they seemed more like boys to him! Ha!

Playing some Frisbee in the backyard.

It only got stuck in a tree once and on the roof once. Not too bad considering.

The grass was wet from rain earlier and they got all sweaty so they were soggy messes, but at least they had fun right!? And they slept with the door open so the basement doesn't smell too bad! Ha!

Landon had to be in on all the action too!

A little tree climbing. Thankful no one fell out and broke their arm/leg/head!

Mario Kart on the Wii upstairs.

We had a projector set up downstairs for Xbox and later they watched, "Forever Strong." It was so nice having a projector that we may have gotten a little too attached! I see a projector in our future! Ha! Someday, someday.

Tanner Time

Lately I've been trying to make a conscious effort to give Tanner a little more time and attention in an attempt to improve his recent BAD behavior. Here's some pictures of a few fun things we've done together this week...

Before Landon woke up one morning, Tanner suggested we put stickers all over our faces. Ok! I can do that! Here's our "Silly Faces".

And our "Monster Faces"

And our "Smiley Faces"

And this cute little face! We also squeezed in a game of "Cootie" before Landon woke up. Too many little pieces to play when he's around!

Later we pulled out the playdoh. It's been a while since we've gotten it out for some reason. I crafted this little frog.

It was Landon's first time playing with Playdoh!

It started out ok, but then he just wanted to eat it. He just kept trying it again and again despite his look of disgust and obvious dislike of the taste of it. Ha!

Tanner takes this seriously! ;)

Can't hold it still long enough for a non-blurred picture! Ha!

We've also done our best to squeeze in time outside between rainstorms. This Spring has been SOO wet! Tonight we have all the Young Men sleeping over at our place. Should be interesting! We'll have to snap a few pictures and let you know how it goes. I'm sure it will be FUN, I just don't know how much sleeping will be taking place! ;) Wish us luck!

Cuddle Buddies

The other night I was herding the boys to bed when Landon climbed into Tanner's bed with him. They snuggled up together and it was just too darn cute not to get a picture. I love when they enjoy being with each other. I hope they are always best buds!

Dry Erase Quiet Book

Several years ago I started a fabric quiet book for Tanner and his future siblings. It was a LOT of work and after he scribbled all over it with crayons that, despite my best attempts, I could not get out, my enthusiasm for the project kind of died. So when I saw this idea over at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar I knew it was much easier to pull off and I decided to try. Tanner tried it out in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and so far it was a hit!

I LOVED this project because I could put it all together on the computer in one night. No sewing, gluing, cutting, or anything else involved! Easy Peasy!

There's a perfect little pocket for the dry-erase markers and some paper towels to wipe things off. Check out my cute future missionary!

I edited some family pictures using Picnik (through Picassa) to make them more like a coloring page. I added some words to tie in some Primary songs and religious themes.

I really wanted something for him to look at during the Sacrament that would help him think about Jesus and focus on Him. There's a few pages about the Sacrament and then several about Jesus and the different things He did throughout his life here on Earth, His sacrifice, and His resurrection. Perfect!

Pages about the Temple, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, prayer, loving others, the Priesthood, the scriptures, Family Home Evening, etc. I just went to lds.org and printed a bunch of the coloring and activity pages from the Friend magazine and some of the coloring pages from the Nursery Manual.

A few mazes and dot-to-dots and a couple other little games too.

Now my biggest issue with this whole thing is that dry erase markers + a 3 year old + Sunday clothes = DISASTER! But there are washable dry erase crayons that you can use that supposedly wash out of clothing. I haven't officially tried them so I can't make any promises, but so far with some serious talking to Tanner was VERY careful and didn't have any problems...yet. Ha! And with so many pages it will hopefully keep his interest for a while and then we can add more down the road.

Fathers and Sons Campout

Friday night was our Stake's "Fathers and Sons" outing. Dean got really brave and took BOTH the boys. His Dad was nice enough to go too, or there's no way Dean could handle an overnight with the two of them. (Not that Dean's not awesome, but it's a little hard to trudge through the woods in the dark, in the middle of the night, to take Tanner potty when Landon's there too and can't be left alone. If you know what I mean.) AND Dean even managed to take a few pictures of their night too! Thanks Dean! Just wish he would have shown up in a least one of them. I promise he was there! And yes, that also means I got a night completely off all Mom duties! I'd forgotten what that feels like. I did a little shopping and came home and ate dinner on the couch in front of a chick flick! Then I slept ALL night uninterrupted. It was BEAUTIFUL! I can't wait till next year! Ha! Don't worry, I did miss my boys......a little!

Playing with Grandpa

Cute little campers

Tanner made a new friend..."The boy in the striped shirt" a.k.a. Rusty

Tanner's just drinking it all in!

Backyard Fun

We have had constant rain for weeks now and it's starting to get OLD! But I must admit that everything is very lush, green, and beautiful as a result. Yesterday there was less rain and just cloudiness so we headed outside. Tanner was so classically cute with his fireman hat, snow boots on the wrong feet, and his telescope in his pocket that I couldn't resist a few pictures. He's been a bit hard to like lately. I always love him of course, but man some days he makes it hard to like him. Is that bad to say as his mother!? I'm sure it's a phase and we'll make it through but he is so headstrong and doesn't want to do or listen to anything I say...EVER! Ugh! Anyway, I figure I can look at a couple of these pictures when he's driving me nuts! It might calm me down and remind me how much I love that little stinker! ;)

Shhh....don't tell Dad he's blowing dandelion seeds all over the yard! Ha!

What's a boy without a stick!?

Love these two!

Landon was having a blast running all over the deck...he's getting FAST!

Check out that grin!