Ezra's Surprise!

Sunday

Every Sunday is the same for me...........

Get up fix Ezra breakfast, try and grab something myself, shower, get Ezra and myself ready, pack diaper bag (snacks, water, toys, diapers) and go to church. At church I try my hardest to keep Ezra happy, still and quite. Mostly still and quite.....happy just helps the process! This is NOT at all easy! He is a very active little boy!!!! My goal is to at least keep him sitting still, on my lap and quite during the Sacrament. This is about ten minutes. He fights it by wiggling, screaming, kicking one or all of these things happen. Most Sundays I get him to sit still for those brief moments. I have these little cutouts to teach him what the bread and water symbolize. Each Sunday as he sits on my lap I talk to him about what they each mean. I also have this picture.........

I always point to the picture and say "Jesus." Then I ask him "Ezra, who is this?" Ezra's response......wiggle, kick, squeal, whatever he feels like that day.

Last Sunday being like every other Sunday I went through this same process. Pointing at the picture above I said,"Ezra, This is Jesus." "Who is this Ezra?" Ezra pointing at the picture said, "Jesus!" I was SHOCKED!!!! So were the people behind me they were all saying, "Did you hear that baby?" "He said Jesus!" (I admit this was a very proud Mommy moment!!!!) Still in shock I asked Ezra my question again. And once, twice, three times he answered the same. He understands!!!! My wiggly screaming child has heard what I've been saying all along, and now he understands!

So to all you Moms out there who get discouraged (as we ALL do). Your children hear you. They are learning. And some day, One very wonderful day, They will tell you.

As I have been writing this post Ezra has been pointing and saying Jesus. He's got it!!!!!!!

Be Mine!

Here is how we celebrated Valentine's Day

I made heart shaped soft pretzels

Ezra was just being cute!

My sewing club had a party for the kids. They played outside, decorated bags and handed out valentines. Ivy and Ezra had so much fun!

Entered Trader Joe's coloring contest. My sister took the pictures in and they didn't tell her that our phone number needed to be on the back. When she went in the day after Valentine's day to see if the kids won they said they had already called the winners. They did give her some roses which was the prize for the winner. She shared them with me!

(The kids look a little crazy in these pictures because they just got up from nap time)

Ezra

13 1/2 months

Ryan and I went on a group date with some our friends. Ryan was working so we missed the movie, but met up for dinner. We ate at Pei Wei.........YUM! I had never been there before. If you go I recommend the lettuce wraps with a side of white rice. Take the lettuce and first put on the rice, then the meat, then the sauce (this is how they served it at my cousins wedding). It makes it more filling when you add the rice. It was fun chatting and hanging out without the kids. Something we haven't done since the babies were born! I have to give love to Melissa for putting the date together and also to Jordana for the cute/yummy Valentines she made us.

Thank You!

On Valentine's Day Ryan worked. Ryan and I only had one hour together the whole day! I'm glad we celebrate (most) everyday together like it's Valentines day. We don't need a special day to share our LOVE!!!

I Love You Ryan!!!!!!

xoxo

Don't knock the cheesiness........this is a Valentines post!

SNOW!

Las Vegas has been having A LOT of wet weather lately.......At least a lot for us! In January we had almost a full week of rain. In that week we got more rain then we did in 2009 TOTAL!!!! Ryan and I hadn't been to play in the snow in a long time and Ezra had never been. So we thought it was a good time to play in some SNOW! We took a short trip to Mt. Charleston. I have NEVER seen that much snow on the mountain. It was so beautiful!!!!

Ezra LOVED it!

The only mittens we have for Ezra are cloth. Once they soaked through he was DONE!

We had hoped to go on a hike while we were on the mountain but all the hikes were snowed in. Still in the mood for some outdoor fun we headed down the mountain to Red Rock Canyon. The hike we chose is called Ice Box Canyon. Because if all the rain/ snow there was a big river and waterfall in the canyon. A beautiful treat for our dry mostly hot desert!

What a fun family day!!!!

Post quick, before I forget: Changing Boy

Ezra is changing SO much! It seems almost daily he does something he couldn't do the day before. I just wanted to post some of the things he is doing.

• Walking: He has been doing this for awhile now but I've never posted about it. Ezra took a very gradual approach to walking. He started walking around the furniture MONTHS ago. Then came some steps here and there. He really has been able to walk on his own for quite a while but preferred to crawl. Then one day he just decided he like to walk more and has been toddling around ever since!


• Copy Cat: He has been copying almost everything we do! It all started one day when I was blowing my nose. Ezra looked at me, took a piece of toilet paper and started blowing his nose. Whenever he sees someone blow their nose he does too....using whatever he has to do it on! Ryan had food poisoning and I had the flu. As Ezra is always bursting into the bathroom on us he witnessed us well........lets just say, "losing our lunch." Now Ezra goes into the bathroom lifts up the toilet seat and coughs/ gags. It is really funny!!! Ryan says we've created a bulimic boy. These are just a couple of the many thing he has been copying.


• Signing: He signs milk, more, food, all done, please and Thank you.


• Words: He says Mom/ mama, Dad/ da da, hi, pees (please), mo (more), baby, Ivy, thank you (this is one of the cutest things I've EVER heard), water (wa wa wink... he got this from Ivy), NO (:(), and many, many more we are still trying to understand. He walks around babbling most of the day!


• Combo: He combines signing with speaking. When Ezra is whining at me for something I say, "What do you say?" He will instantly sign and say PLEASE (he signs with much vigor). He also usually signs and says thank you at the same time. Many times he signs thank you with both hands. Sometimes he makes it a SUPER sign by adding kisses as well.


• Sweet things: Ezra gives us kisses! Sometime I hear him making the kissing sound and I look at him and there he is with little fish lips ready for a kiss. A couple of days ago when I was nursing him he stopped and stared making the kissing sound, I gave him a kiss and he continued on with his breakfast (he did this two or three times during his short feeding). Whenever he gives us a kiss we always say thank you. So now Ezra says thank you almost ever time we kiss him, it is the sweetest thing! He is a love bug!!! If Ryan or I are sitting on the floor he will climb into our lap and give us hugs.


• FOOD: He LOVES to eat........what he chooses! I have been having a really hard time lately tying to get him to eat his vegetables!!!! Now that he is eating other foods he wants nothing to do with them. This has been frustrating! In our home vegetables are mandatory.....so I guess he will learn to eat them when he is older or starve........hahaha. So we have been trying everything to get him to eat his veggies. I will put them on a fork with pasta and he will spit out the veggies and eat the pasta. I was watching Ivy the other day and she was eating some organic macaroni, so I gave Ezra a little which he GOBBLED down! And then it came to me........Mix in some butternut squash. It worked like a charm and by the next day I had him eating the plain squash! A small but very rewarding victory!!!! So I've been using this trick with other foods and we are doing ok. He loves MEAT!!! He must need the iron for his little growing body. One night we were feeding him some chicken and he was so excited to just kept signing/saying MORE, PLEASE, THANK YOU, & KISSES, over and over. We are still not giving him sugar. We really want to give him a love for healthy foods before we give him hummm, well, CRAP! If you want some good reading try, The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood by Dr. Sears. It is a fantastic book to read even if you don't have kids. I will teach YOU to eat healthy. I really think everyone should read it! Every time I read from it I am built up and I know that what we are doing for Ezra will be such a blessing to him. I am SO thankful my parents taught me to eat healthy!!!


• Vroom: he makes this sound while playing with cars. Something he picked up on his own.

Well, I know there is more but I can't remember it right now.

Below are a few pictures from my phone that I never posted

Mac & Squash

Sitting in a pizza box


Birthday LOOT!

Eating the popcorn off the Christmas tree

Standing

Sitting

I combed his hair right out of the shower. It stayed for about a minute before it was standing up again!!!

And yes, that is a razor. And no, we don't let him play with razors!

M.I.A.

I've had A LOT to catch up on! Ezra and I were sick over Christmas. Then Ryan got it. Then Ezra and I got it again and we were all sick together! By the time we were all well our house was SO trashed it took us quite a while to get our house back in order. Blogging has been the last thing on my mind!!! So that's why I've been M.I.A.

Please scroll down to the post titled ONE! to start from the beginning.....don't cheat and look at the other stuff first!

Scroll down NOW....don't look....Just scroll!!!!

Ezra's 1st party!

January 23, 2010

Ryan and I decided to have a "little" birthday party for Ezra. I say "little" because while putting together the list I realized just our family alone is over 30 people! We ended up having over 40 people come to the party. Our little house was STUFFED!

Thank you to all who came!

So I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked to. By the time I tried to say hi to everyone, made sure there was always enough food out, watched Ezra eat his cake, made sure all the guest got cake and opened presents, the party was over! I'm writing this next stuff down so I can remember........

We have nachos with chili, sour cream and jalapenos. It seemed to be a crowd pleaser. We also had a veggie tray. For dessert we had Texas Sheet Cake and vanilla ice cream. Yummy........even if I do say so myself!

Ezra's cake was a *Honey Applesauce Muffin with a cream cheese honey frosting. He LOVED it!

* I've made the muffins again and I used oat flour. I also added about a 1/4 cup more of apple sauce and about a tablespoon of water. They are very healthy and Tasty too!

If you would like the Texas sheet cake recipe leave your email and I will get it to you. I really wish Blogger would let me copy paste!!!!!

27

January 21, 2010

Happy Birthday

To my handsome, wonderful husband!!!

To celebrate we went out for Ryan's favorite........SUSHI!

Five ROCKIN' years!

Five years ago today (December 28, 2009) this couple was married..........

Little did they know.......

There was an amazing journey ahead!

An

AMAZING

Journey!

Who the heck puts on there wedding dress and climbs a rock for their five year anniversary? ME...... that's who!

Ryan and I really enjoy rock climbing!!! We spent many of Ryan's days off last year climbing. It is a great active sport we can do together. I just can't tell you how much we LOVE it! Having climbing constantly on the brain I thought of many ways to well, for lack of a better word, make it cooler! And one day it came to me. How cool would it look to rock climb in a wedding dress!?! So what do you do when you have an idea? You take it to someone more amazing than you who can make it happen! That's where Mindy comes in to play........

A special thanks to are AMAZING photographer Mindy of Red Rock Studios!!!! Mindy does all kinds of outdoor sports herself including rock climbing. Because of her knowledge in "extreme" sports it makes her the perfect photographer for some really AMAZING photos! If you have a idea for some Crazy photos or just want a great photographer, she's your girl!!!http://www.redrockstudioslv.com/

FIVE Years!!!

December 28, 2009

Happy Anniversary to us!!!!!

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!

He really is the BEST!!!!!

(sorry for those of you who are mistaken in thinking that you have the best husband)

We had a wonderful day of celebrating. Ezra and I met Ryan for lurch at "our" Carl's Jr. Ryan and I went to the drive through right after we were married. We ordered Western bacon cheeseburgers and fries. Yes, I ate it in my dress! We try and go back every year to celebrate. This was our first time eating in the restaurant.
For dinner we went ALONE to Maggiano's one of our favorite places to eat. Can you tell we LOVE to eat!!!

G-Day

December 26, 2009

Ezra & Ivy got these cute shirts from G&G Waldron!

They say G-Day...meaning Good Day.

Have I ever mentioned how challenging it is to get a good picture of these two? Well......IT IS!

ONE!!!!

December 25, 2009

My baby is one!!!!

This has been such a wonderful and challenging year! It really doesn't seem like it was that long ago that he was born. Where does the time go?

When Ryan got home from work we celebrated. Just the three of us. We had a wonderful time!!!

The night before we blew up balloons. When he got up he was so surprised. Ezra LOVES balloons!

I made him a treat in our Vita mix. Just Frozen strawberries and bananas.

Not sure..."this stuff is cold!"

So we opted out for a known favorite........Kidney Beans!

Presents!

He did a really good job opening his presents.

WOW!

Opening all by himself!

Daddy got him a bag of 100 balls.

Talking on the phone Granddad Great gave him.

Reading his card from G&G Waldron

Ezra loves popcorn. Just plain old popcorn, nothing on it.

We decided it would be a wonderful birthday treat. He enjoyed himself while making a HUGE mess!

December 25, 2008:

8.6 lbs 21.5 inches

December 25, 2009

about

22lbs 31.5 inches

Our Dear Ezra,

We are so thankful to have you in our family! You are such a smart and sweet boy. It has brought us much joy to watch you grow this year and we look forward to many, many more!

We Love You!!!!

Mommy & Daddy