Playing quietly

Parker is having his toys traverse an obstacle course of shoes, diaper bags,and other toys.
He calls these little Sesame Street characters his grandma got the boys his "friends"
I love this look on his face... he's "smiling" for the camera. You can also see how raw his poor little face is from his runny nose.
The boys wanted the camera, so I took a pic of all of us... well, several, but this one's the best!
Evan LOVES to play with books!

uh oh! He noticed the camera, and was sad I didn't give it to him. Poor kid's getting his molars in too right now, and has been unusually grumpy... especially at night, which makes it even harder for Mommy and Daddy!

Just a cute close up of Evan coloring... this is something that happens nearly every day. Usually in the coloring book, although we have needed to buy some Magic Eraser to clean off the door in the living room....

Playing in the Park

Evan wasn't having as much fun at first... until he discovered the sticks, and that he could play in the wood chips! Evan also spent a long time playing around the pine tree in the next picture. He loved the pine cones, although he kept calling them apples :) When Parker saw Evan with the pine cones, he said "Holy cow, Mom!" I don't even know where he came up with that! The things they pick up... between the pine cones and new phrases...

Parker was so helpful with Evan, and tried to show Evan where to go, and when Evan was indecisive about the slide, Parker showed him how to go down backwards. It was great.

Parker was chatting away at the park, and at one point even yelled "Mom, I love you!" through the tunnel. It was adorable. The tunnel is at a slant, and so he needed my help from the top so that he could get up without slipping back to the bottom, so he kept saying "I wanna hold your one foot again!" when he wanted a boost. Eventually he mastered the tunnel all by himself, and had a blast doing the big slide by himself too. The funny thing is, we've been going to this park for awhile, and it took Parker a lot of effort to figure out the tunnel. Evan got it after only a few attempts. Crazy monkey! You can see the yellow tunnel in the pic just below...
The highlight for the boys was, of course, the swings. Until they gained mastery and independence of the slides and tunnels that is. But, they do love to swing! It's really hard to get the boys out of the swings though when they're done; they're wedged in so well!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, as Parker was telling me in the parking lot of Costco. He also pointed out every different colored car he found, and told me that he only likes red trucks. He was very excited for the few minutes we drove behind a red pickup. He didn't stop talking the whole trip. Well, as I said, yesterday was a gorgeous day, and today was even better! Tomorrow, however, doesn't have as lovely a forecast, so we needed to go to the park today. I had a meeting this morning, then we had lunch. Then Evan took a nap, but later than I'd planned. As Evan was waking up, Parker fell asleep. I thought our park plans were doomed, but daylight savings time has its advantages and we got a good hour and a half in at the park. The boys had so much fun, and were, of course, adorable!

If you give your husband an ice cube...

If you give your husband an ice cube, you'll have to give one to your two year old, and if you give an ice cube to your two year old, you'll have to give one to your one year old. And, if you give your one year old an ice cube, he's going to make a mess with it, so you'll have to clean it up. The boys will want to help you clean up, so they'll pull all of the washcloths out of the drawer. The washcloths will remind them of the washcloths they use in the tub, so they'll want to take a bath. When they take off their clothes, they'll want to put them in the laundry. Seeing all the laundry will remind them about all the washcloths they got out, so they'll go get those and add them to the pile. They'll help you put all the laundry in the washer, and you'll do the laundry. After the laundry is dried, the boys will want to help you fold it. So, you'll fold the laundry. Then you'll fold it again since the boys are "helping" you. After the laundry is folded, and the boys are bathed, you'll all be thirsty, so you'll get some water from the kitchen. Daddy will want a drink too, and chances are, if he gets a glass of water, he'll want an ice cube to go with it.

This pic has nothing to do with the above story, but it does show that we love our books!

Adventures in Baking

My mom had gotten me some cool muffin pans (muffin tops and heart-shaped!) for my birthday, and we had made muffins Sunday afternoon after stake conference while we waited for the rest of our dinner to finish cooking! Thomas had gone home teaching, and I'd run into my room to send my mom a text to come see how the muffins had turned out (she wanted to know, since she'd gotten the pans... and homemade muffin tops are cool!) So, she runs downstairs and I hear her exclaim! Oh no! She then told me to bring the camera. They'd gotten into the 25 lb bucket of flour and were having a blast. Flour got EVERYWHERE, even inside the drawers and the fridge. They were crying because they'd gotten in trouble :*(Notice the footprints in the flour?

The phantom Evan!
Evan's first time licking a beater... don't worry, it's icing: pure sugar and fat, not raw eggs! ;)
Such helpful boys!

Evan eating

Evan loves to play with his food, and Thomas loves taking pictures of Evan playing with his food :) This is from Sunday, our corned beef and cabbage with mashed potatoes! I gave the boys carrots instead of cabbage...
Mmmm... homemade pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for dessert! Evan, of course, got the chocolate all over his face, and mixed his muffins in with the potatoes. Why not?

Out of the mouth of babes

Parker, Evan, and I did a little craft project the past few days to get ready for Stake Conference today... two hours is a looong time for little ones with no promise of nursery for incentive (one month from tomorrow for Evan, although we're planning on taking him and staying the next few weeks so that he'll have a good transition) We took some old Ensigns and cut out pictures of the Savior, temples, and other gospel related images. Parker selected the pictures, I cut, and Evan mostly just played with the scraps. I took the pictures and glued collages onto card stock, and then cut them to fit in a nifty little cardboard booklet that would hold the pages secure, and latch. Parker couldn't wait for church to play with it! He was looking at the pictures again, and was looking at the page that has a picture of the Savior, open scriptures, and then olive branches. We'd been reading in Jacob 5 about the allegory of the olive tree--basically discussing the falling away and then redemption of Israel--and it talks a lot about the fruit, and "casting the wild (or yucky, as we simplified it) fruit into the fire. I was talking with Parker about some of the pictures, and mentioned the fruit, and he started retelling me the story. He told me how the yucky fruit got thrown in the fire, and then he said it was done to make it clean. I was struck by how profound that comment was. I usually think of the story as sorting the righteous and wicked, blah blah, but I liked the insight. None of us are perfect, and life can be pretty difficult! We all have our fires of tribulation, and it's nice to remember that those fires can make us clean as well.

Daddy's snow cave

I can't believe I hadn't posted about this lately! I thought I'd put up all our pics...

As I've talked about before, Thomas LOVES building snowcaves, and you've seen some pics already. The young men camp-out went really well, and I'm sure I can get Thomas to fill in details later... The Monday before the camp-out we decided to have FHE during the afternoon, and not at home. Thomas wanted to show us his cave, so we took the boys up to show them and had lunch. It was too cold in the cave, so we ended up eating in the truck. The boys had a blast seeing the cave that Daddy talked about so much, and LOVED eating in the truck. So, enjoy the pics!

Some of the things the boys teach me every day

1. The shape of food is more important than the flavor

2. Doing it all by myself is more important than getting it done quickly

3. Food tastes better off of Mommy's fork

4. It's very important that Parker and Evan's pajamas and diapers match each other (Parker picks out the diapers and pjs after their baths)

5. Food tastes better dipped in ranch or bbq sauce for Parker, and just plain water in a cup for Evan

6. Promising to share with Evan means more treats for Parker

7. Nap time is fun when it means both boys jumping in the crib

8. Cushions are meant to be off the couch!

9. If Parker takes something from Evan, it's ok as long as he tries to give Evan another toy, right?

10. They love their mommy, and daddy, and Grandma, and Grandpa, and Grandma Nordquist, and Grandpa Nordquist, and baby, and uncle Steve, and Elmo, and Nuks.... anything in lists!

11. The color of the diaper is essential... woe be unto he who places the wrong color diaper on the wrong child!

12. Any time anyone is in the shower or tub, there must be toys thrown into the water. If toys aren't available, clothes will work too.

13. Grandmas are meant to give treats

14. It's ok to hit Parker as long as we're both still laughing, isn't it?

15. The other person's toothbrush always tastes better

16. Parker needs to scootch Evan's chair right next to his in order to eat

17. Silent children mean trouble

18. I want you to color with me usually means, sit and I'll watch you color, and then take the crayons away

19. The ends of crayons taste best when bitten off, erasers too!

20. Helping can be fun, especially stirring things and throwing dishes in the sink

21. If they can reach it, it's fair game, and Mommy is mean for taking it away

22. Clothes don't have to match! Not as long as they're picked out "all by myself!"

23. Mommy's cookies are the best food ever!

24. After bathtime it's scripture time, and then prayer time. "And then you need to teach my about how Jesus loves me!" said Parker... my favorite :)