Please Stop

These are two words I hear often from two of my children when I either tickle or sing. From Miles when I am tickling him. I want to keep going but the way in which he pleads I concede to his politeness.

And from Jared. When we're in the car and I start singing along with the radio he politely asks me to stop. Last night he asked twice. The second time he said, "I said PLEASE." I asked him, "Don't you like my voice?" He replied, "I just want to listen to the radio." I guess I won't be trying out for American Idol soon.

Chris left a little later for work this morning...

He got a little distracted... The boys didn't have school today:)

Halloween 2011

With Halloween on Monday I felt like this year Halloween was never ending. We started on Saturday by going to Clark street and trick or treating the shops on that street. It was really fun. This year Jared was a ninja (he's known he wanted to be a white ninja since last Halloween), Spencer a pirate, and Miles Peter Pan.There were lots of people on Clark but it wasn't too overwhelming. At their "headquarters" they had games set up for kids, things to decorate, and food to give out. They had two bounce houses set up along the way. We stopped at one and played for a good 10 mins.Then we came home, I finished preparations on our chili and we were off to our church Halloween party. (Jared pretty much wore his mask the second half of the day. When he took it off to eat his little cheeks were so red.

Kids doing a parade to show off their costumes:

I loved Marcus' Michael Jackson getup. He even has eyeliner on:)

On Monday Miles and I hit both Spencer's and Jared's class parties. Below is Spencer with his friend Noah.

Spencer really looks out for Miles whenever we visit.

We came straight home after Spencer's party and Miles was tired so I started to lay by him for his nap when I suddenly remembered Jared's school was doing their costume parade at 12:00. For some reason I was thinking 1:00. It was 11:55 when I remembered. I scooped Miles up, grabbed Spencer and rushed out the door with the stroller. We ran and few blocks and there right in front of us getting ready to cross the street was Jared with his class! Phew!
His teacher was Wendy, their teacher's aide was Tinker Bell and the other Kindergarten teacher was Peter Pan.
Back in the classroom they played games, ate food and watched Peter Pan.
That night Chris came home early and we started our trick or treating at 5:00. We were just planning on doing the street by our house, lots and plenty of candy, but ever since we've been here we've heard raves about Burling street just a few blocks down. The kids were in good spirits so we went for it. That street was crazy crowded but fun. All, most, of the houses are totally into Halloween all decked out and giving lots of candy. There were a few haunted houses that Miles and Spencer refused to go up to. The people handing out the candy looked too scary and the music was too eerie for them. (the pictures we took on Burling didn't turn out very well because it was darker by then so all the pictures are of the street near our home.)By the end their bags were pretty full and heavy. But Miles still insisted on carrying his own. He also snuck too much candy in between homes. He was sick the next day and I honestly believe it was from too much candy!

Coming home getting ready to view the loot.

Their piles, Jared, Spencer and Miles

Visiting Aunt Terri At Work

On Monday we headed downtown to visit Aunt Terri for a late lunch and tour of where she works (she's a disc jockey at xrt). Chris was able to meet us for at Wildberry for lunch (we found this place in the burbs one trip out to Ikea and he's been craving it since and it just opened up downtown, yum!) Terri loves these boys and was excited to show them off to all who were there. They got cool flashlights and headbands. Then we went into the studio where she records her shows and the boys got to record their voices and listen.It was a fun little trip. Aunt Terri is the best!

Miles is Two!

When he was around 18 months old he was insistent on a couple things: eating at the table like everyone else and wearing pajamas that covered his feet. He loved them:) He's always had a determination about him and as hard as it is sometimes, I hope that doesn't change. I love seeing him work towards something.

He's constantly working to keep up with his brothers. I'm amazed at how well these boys can play together. Miles is so intrigued at watching and holding a figurine, car, or train ect, that he rarely inhibits the other two's play or becomes part of it without being too destructive for the most part. He loves his older brothers and they likewise love him.

Below is a clip of him using scissors. Almost every day the older boys do "worksheets". Some of them require cutting. Well Miles wanted to cut too. So I worked with him for a while. He didn't get it that day but continued trying until the older boys were done. The next day he wanted to try again. We kept at it and pretty soon he could do it. This boy is a determined little one and I loved seeing his perseverance.

This kid loves trains and airplanes. He has an ear for airplanes and trains constantly pointing them out to us. He has a blue helicopter he's taken a liking to these past few weeks and there have been moments when we can't find it. He keeps saying airplane, airplane. I try other planes to see if they suffice but no, they do not. So far we've been able to find his beloved helicopter but I worry the time it goes missing.

His favorite books are Dr. Suess's ABC's, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. He loves the alphabet and is obsessed with Oo and Ss. He constantly points them out. Q and C's are O's to him and 5's are S's. He doesn't know a lot of letters (O, S, T, A, R, J, E) maybe more but those are the ones he's accurate on. For J he doesn't call it J but says Jared's name, I don't know how to spell the Jared's name the way he pronounces it because it sounds nothing like it but all know that's Jared to him. For Spencer he calls him Spence. My favorite thing about Miles and his talking is his Yes. It's drawn out and dips in the middle. I l.o.v.e it! I also love how he says thank-you mommy at such considerate times. Love this boy!

A new thing I've noticed about Miles is he predominantly walks on his toes. I've noticed this before but always attributed it to him reaching up to something or trying to be at his older brothers' levels. But one day I noticed he didn't come down on his heals until he was at a standstill. I'm perplexed I didn't realize this before. He sometimes walks with a heal strike but I would say 90% or more of the time he's on his toes running or walking. I don't know if I should be concerned at all, Chris' brother Ty walks on his toes and he's fine but he's mentioned his quads aren't as flexible or something so I don't know if I should work with him to walk on his heals or what. I'll ask the doctor when we go next week. I'm not concerned but would like to see what she says...

Below is a video of his "tip toe" walk. Password: tip toe

Tip Toe from Marjorie Meservy on Vimeo.

Potty training continues. Just yesterday morning I was stoked. He woke up from the night with a dry diaper, hadn't had any accidents the prior day, and I'd just told someone recently that he's only pooped his pants once! Well... I don't know how many accidents he had that day but one of them included his second poop accident. When he forgets to tell me I look at him and furrow my eyebrows and tell him, "No, keep them dry!" He just looks at me brings his hands to his face and smiles or will pat my face and say, "Hi mommy!" I haven't gotten too upset with him yet mainly because he's too cute and innocent. I've been tempted to go back to diapers just because I desperately hate cleaning up after accidents but when I've tried he's refused or lets me put a diaper on just to take it off a minute later and throw it at me. He's really pretty good at it I just wish he was older. It seems the older they are the less accidents occur. But for now, we haven't thrown in the towel yet. We'll see how the new school schedule affects it all.

All the above was written over a month ago. Miles still does not wear a diaper, other than at night, and has done remarkably well. I change underwear a lot. He usually goes a little, says potty, we run to the bathroom and he finishes his job. But this last week we had my mother and father-in-law in town for the week and it was horrible. The night before they arrived he had two big accidents, wetting underwear and pants, and then throughout the week it was uncommon for him to tell me he needed to go. I would look at him and say, "Miles". He'd put his hands on my face and whisper, "Sorry mommy," and then give me kisses and look at me like "am I forgiven?" Very cute, but still annoying. I'm hoping for a better week where I'll be giving him more attention.

And since beginning this post we have also gone to the doctor. Miles is in the 90% for head, 25% for height (33 1/2 in), and 50% for weight (28 lbs). I asked the doctor if they could give me an approximate height for him when older and she said it's not very accurate, but if you wanted something, they say to double a kids' height at two and that'll be their adult height. So 5' 7'' is Miles approximate... we'll see. I also talked to her about his tip toe walking. She said if a child does it 50% of the time or more they like them to start therapy. I told her I thought he did it more than 50% of the time. She asked if he did it while wearing shoes. I couldn't remember (for the past month we'd predominantly been inside because of potty training hence shoeless, maybe he wasn't doing it very much before?) Chris and I decided to try shoes for a month and see if that did the trick and it has. He has a pair of old school Air Jordans that he doesn't toe walk in so we've been wearing those a lot and it seems to do the trick. He occasionally walks on his toes with no shoes but not often enough to be of concern.

Now for some pictures of his actual birthday:

Potty Training has Begun

Who starts potty training and taking away all naps in the same day? I do. (Miles has been fighting naps lately and when he does nap he stays awake for a long time talking to himself. That was fine until we've moved him in with the older boys and he keeps them awake too. So far he's been manageable by evening time. We'll see...)

I so have not wanted to potty train Miles and I've kept putting it off because of summer travel... but it's time. He doesn't want to wear diapers, he lifts his bum into the air to have me wipe it for fun, and he constantly says "potty". My biggest concern was he'd never actually gone on his little toilet all the times I'd let him try, only once for Chris. So yesterday, late afternoon, after trying to get his diaper on him unsuccessfully I asked him if he wanted to go on the potty and he said yes. I brought his little toilet out into our dinning room and had him sit on it. He sat there for awhile and nothing... I went to the bathroom for something and came back and he had gone. I guess it's time.

So now we just finished day two. I don't know how many messes I've cleaned up, at least three different poops, but I don't think there's any turning back now. He's not doing too bad. If he has an accident he shows me where it happened, he loves the praise and rounds of high fives he gets from Jared, Spencer, and me, and many times he goes to the potty and goes without me coaxing.

I've really been impressed with how well he's done today. We have had several accidents but he's started telling me when he needs to go. He often goes to sit on the toilet just to let a few drops fall. He'll sit on the toilet for awhile and turn red in the face to try and poop to please his older brother's request. I think he's ready, I just don't know if I am...

The biggest con is I'm stuck in my home at least this next week. I love getting out and doing things but that's impossible when potty training. Another con... he's the third. I can't watch him like a hawk like I was able to with the other two, hence I think I'm in for more accidents. But luckily he does tell me when he forgets to use the toilet.

New Orleans for Real This Time:)

To start off there's something you have to know about Chris, he LOVES March Madness. Since he was a kid he has filled out a bracket and every year since being married so have I, and every year of our kids lives they have filled one out too. A special Family Home Evening is dedicated to this and Chris is a kid again.

A week before BYU's Sweet 16 game Chris half jokingly asked me if I wanted to go down to New Orleans to watch it. I was actually pretty open to it and excited. I'm a BYU fan but really don't pay much attention unless they're worth watching and this year they've been worth watching. I've loved it even more because Jared sits and watches and picks out players on the court. So I called my cousin Melanie who lives down there with her husband and two boys and asked them if we could hit them up and spend a couple days with them. She was so nice and warmly welcomed us:)

So I was a little excited at the prospect of going before but after my phone call with my cousin I pretty much had decided we were going (this cousin is a reason I loved family reunions. We were the same age and I couldn't wait to see her and do stuff each summer). After clearing things through work we were off bright and early, 4:00 AM, Wednesday morning.

We told the boys the night before we were going and Jared was bouncing off the walls. He was so excited to go see Jimmer and BYU play. While trying to put him to bed he commented, "I'm not going to go to sleep I'll just wait her until you wake me up to go!" and, "When we get there we need to make a sign that I can hold up!" We had decided to have only Chris and Jared go and at first Spencer was really sad so we decided we'd let him go to (I was reluctant because Spencer would be a hit or miss of whether he'd like it or not and I didn't want him making it hard for Chris.) But Chris was the one who decided to put the invite out there for him. But after the offer was extended he decided he'd rather watch the game on the TV with mom, phew! (And I had decided as much as I'd LOVE to go I wanted to hang out with my cousin who I really never get to see anymore.)

So Wednesday morning Chris and I get up at 3:45 and we don't end up leaving till 4:20. The kids were wide awake and ready to go. It took us 15 1/2 hours total time to get there. We stopped in Memphis for some Ribs that were a little of a disappointment. The rub was great but the meat tenderness was really lacking. But still fun to be in Memphis. We arrived in New Orleans around 7:40.

The first thing Bently said when he answered the door was, "Where's Marjorie?" He immediately won me over. This kid is so good with names. He remembered everyone's names and used them all the time. New Orleans is a great place to visit but seriously this kid made the trip all the more worth it!

We spent Thursday morning at the zoo, while Chris worked from their home. We only scratched the surface but what we saw was cool.

Two Albino alligators.

Play area:

Melanie with her two boys (Casen in the Bjorn and Bently making his way down the web.)

We even got to pet one of their HUGE elephants (Spencer, Jared and I'm holding out Bently)

The afternoon we spent at Melanie's home and made a sign for Jared. Then we drove a little around the Garden District of beautiful old homes and then met up with my cousin's family for dinner. We got some PoBoys (alligator sausage, roast beef, and roast beef and shrimp) and the boys (Chris, Jared and John) left for the game.

The best and only family picture of us all

It was a good game to go to, except for the fact they lost. But it was intense the whole time and kept you on your toes. I was dying at home. They so could've won but oh well.

Jared and Chris at the game holding Jared's sign. To high up for him to be on TV but he liked it and so did other people around them. A few people borrowed it to take pictures with it.

The weather there was so nice. My boys were loving wearing shorts and I was loving letting them run around in a yard. We brought our scooters and they had a nice driveway for the boys to ride them on. Bently loved Spencer's scooter and got really good at it. I was worried it might become and issue between the two but they were both great at sharing it.

Friday morning we went to the aquarium (Lucky for us Melanie had a pass to the zoo and aquarium so it didn't cost us a dime:) Melanie had a chiropractor appointment so I gladly offered to take Bently with us. We had a fun time petting the sting rays:

And Feeding the Parakeets. So worth the dollar to buy a stick. Everyone loved it. Bently

I don't know why but the parakeets loved landing on Bently's head. So after the fifth time or so he'd had it and was done.

Maybe they liked landing on his head because he'd blow at all the birds that landed on his stick:)

After the Aquarium we went to the French Quarters to get some lunch at the Gumbo Shop. I was a little hesitant with four little boys but Chris really wanted to go. It was fun walking some of the streets and hearing all the live music. I loved it. At the Gumbo Shop we were seated quickly and got our food within five mins of ordering. Awesome! I liked my Chicken Gumbo and Chris liked his red beans and sausage. I didn't think the food was amazing but it was good. And the best part was we were totally able to enjoy it thanks to Chris' thought of ordering virgin strawberry daiquiris for the boys.

(Bently and Spencer)

Miles was insistent of taking this toy around and people loved it. He added his only little live music to the setting.

Chris had to work that afternoon so we went to a park and fed birds and played. Then that night John and Melanie watched our boys while Chris and I went out for the night down at the French Quarters. Now this whole trip our neighbor Terri was texting me throughout the day asking me what we were doing and what our plans were. She loves New Orleans and makes it there at least once a year so she was a great sounding board. She gave us several suggestions for dinner but they were all overbooked. The place we found had good reviews but I was disappointed because I really wanted to go to one of the places on Terri's list. My meal was good and Chris' duck was great.

We walked Bourbon Street (definitely not walking that street with kids). A group break dancing in the picture below.

And finished our evening off at the Davenport Lounge listening to Jazz music.

The next morning we hung out for a bit and the kids adorned themselves with all the Beads Bently has gotten.

Then we headed down to the French Quarter for brunch at the Coffee Pot. There was a long line so Melanie and I waited with our babies, mine was out:

He woke up just as we were being seated.The food was delicious I just wish I would have had the Lost Bread, french toast dipped in their special batter and fried... Yummy!

Below is Melanie and her family, John her husband, Bently and her baby Casen.Then we walked around. The quarter is a fun place that looks so authentic and I love all the people and music and energy. Below is a little courtyard area:Here's their cathedral with Jared and Chris showing off their muscles:)We played tag, ate popsicles and walked.The last thing we did was take a street car to the garden district. We didn't know

how long it was and figured we'd ride it to the end and ride it back. Well it was long and we weren't even close to the end before we hopped off and got on another one coming back. If there's one thing I'd do differently it'd be this. We were all hot and tired and done for the day and no one wanted to be trapped in the rickety street car with lots of other people. But we

survived.

We taught the boys the hand slapping game which helped pass time.

Along with taking pictures and letting them take pictures.

That night the kids had a water fight. Bently loves water and was such a good sport at letting my boys squirt him. He loved the water so much that he'd turn the hose on himself several times:) One of my favorite quotes of his, "Hey Chris, watch this!" and he squirts himself right in the face. The kid is seriously so cute.

The next morning we did a repeat of our initial trip out. Left just around 4:00 AM and got in around 8:00 PM.

I'm so glad we went. I'd never been to New Orleans, Jared and Chris got to go to a BYU Jimmer game. and I got to spend good quality time with my cousin. The boys came back to our chilly weather. Miles and Spencer didn't take their coats off the next day til lunch time (Spencer) and dinner time (Miles). We miss the warm weather.

The only bad part... I lost my wedding ring in the trip. Either I forgot to zip the pouch in my makeup bag or Miles undid it while traveling(Chris let him play with the bag not realizing it was in there) and it fell out but whatever it be it's gone. I've torn our car apart and searched everywhere it could be in our home but it's gone. My only hope is that it's in the grass at my cousins and by some chance the sun hits it just right and they find it.

And to end on a happier note, that sign we made... I figured we'd just toss it. Nope. This is where it is and Jared has asked, "When we move can we take my sign?"