The Boy is 2! Say what?

Sad but true. Our little Pep has turned 2. This little man is the coolest. He is so funny and smart but he is quiet and sneaky about his intelligence. He is sweet and soft spoken.... until he has had enough and then he will let you (or usually his sister) have it. He is a total loner. Whenever there is a big group you can find Pep wherever the group is not. We spent a day at aunt Ambers last week and whenever all the kids were inside, Pep was outside (yes... completely alone) and whenever they went out, he came in. He has no use for company. He loves to facetime with his Poppy and Nanny and adores his Grandpa Naugle (which he pronounces "dumpa" and it cracks me up) especially when he takes him on "folilla" (four wheeler) rides to see Kevin the pig who lives down the road. Yes. He is still obsessed with trains and he will spend the most part of a day in the garden digging up worms. He is living up to his name with his love for soccer and is so envious of AnDee when she gets to play every saturday. He would live on watermelon solely if allowed to and he refuses to wear shoes or socks. For some reason he loves to make penguin sounds, loudly and often (if you don't know what a penguin sounds like, just ask him, he will tell you... and you'll probably never ask again (: ) I love to watch him build things and find it humorous when his OCD kicks in and he starts sorting things by size or color. He is STILL not a fan of nursery but I have a feeling that it has something to do with it being held during the exact hours of his usual nap. He doesn't like people to know he has any emotion. He hides all of his smiles and excitement. I think his Grandma thinks that he is clinically depressed. She is always asking if he "ever smiles" He does, but he tries to hide it and ends up making some super funny faces while doing so. Im not sure why he wants to world to think he is grumpy but it makes me laugh every time. He is just the cutest little two year old ever and I love love love being his mama!

We kicked off his birthday celebrations with a trip to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Grandma, Aunt Amy and Wyatt were able to join us for the fun!

 They even got to help milk the cow! Sadly I didn't get a pic of Pep cause there were too many people standing in front of him.

 Even though we get to ride full sized horses that aren't chained to a walker... My kids always get super excited about the dippy pony rides at these places.

Pep got his first birthday gift from Gayle a few days before his actual birthday. He was SO excited to see this little wooden train when he opened the gift bag. Little did he know that he wouldn't receive one gift that wasn't train related. He got to go to Toys R Us with mom and dad to pick out whatever he wanted for his birthday (and when I say "whatever" I of course mean whatever he wanted that wasn't out of our price range) and guess what he picked? Yup... a train set. We have trains coming out of our eyeballs right now.

Do you see how long that train is? It is being pulled by an engine that runs on a AAA battery. The thing is the real deal. I cannot believe how many cars it will pull... up the hills and everything! 

These trains have turned in to a blessing for me. Whenever I need a minute to clean or cook or just breath, the kids are more than happy to go play with the choo choos and whenever the weather is cruddy and they cant play outside they will spend all day (seriously) playing with these things. Its SO awesome!

We still haven't gone to pick out his birthday gift from Nanny and Poppy (they sent him some major cash) We are hoping to convince him to get something other than a train but if we are being honest it probably wont happen.

We are so lucky to have this dude in our family. We cant imagine life without him and we wouldn't want to! I love that he is just his own person. He brings so much fun into our family!

Ikey Boy

Ike generally has one of two looks. Its either this...

 or this...

but sometimes his dad thinks its funny to make him do this...

This sad little face is the result of his Daddy scaring the holy snot out of him. 

Seriously though. If the kid isn't smiling, he is usually asleep. Sometimes he even smiles while he is asleep and will let out a little giggle. I cant wait until he really starts laughing during his awake time. Its gonna be stinking cute, I can tell by his sleeping laughs. Rarely is he fussy or upset. Although he has had thrush off and on for weeks now. We cant kick it for some reason and as a result he does get a little bit cranky sometimes. But it never lasts long! Im so lucky to have such an easy fun baby for #3 because Im still struggling to adjust to the three kid juggle. 

This is kind of a big deal

AnDee had her very first soccer game last Saturday!

 This poor kid was DYING to play. He LOVES soccer and it was not easy to sit on the sidelines. We did however sneak him on the field for a few minutes after the game was over so he could feel like he got to be a part of things.

 The girl is FAST. The little boy in this pic was the only one who could even remotely keep up with her. Now if we can  just get her to get the ball in the goal with that speed ;)

She was such a good listener and did all the drills like a champ.

 Almost all of the other kids came off the field in tears at one point or another but not AnDee she was so happy to just run around on the field with kids her own age. Mom did make her a little upset once though when she told her she needed to get the ball from the other team. She didn't succeed in her task and was a little upset that she had failed but it didn't last long and she was right back to giggling and running at lightening speeds.

  First team cheer. We are so proud.

Scheels, Naps at Grandma's and Conference

A few weeks ago we made a trip up to the new Scheels store in Sandy. It has a giant ferris wheel right in the middle of it. Poor little Pep was too short to ride but Andrew let me take AnDee on it and took Pep to see the huge fish tanks and some other things. They also have all these little stations to take pictures at. The kids loved it. Definitely not a place I will ever buy much but its really fun to just go see everything.

Every once in a while I will drive up to good old PG to play volleyball. The kids love it because it means they either get to go to Gayle's house or Grandma Pam's while I play and more often than not it means that they get to take naps at Grandma's. For some reason taking naps is way more exciting when its somewhere besides home. Before we got to the nap part though, Pep was saying goodbye to his cousin Wyatt and I guess saying goodbye required him to stick his head between the stair railing... yup, he got stuck. Fortunately Uncle Sam was strong enough to pull the bars apart far enough for us to get his rather large noggin out. Thanks Sam

 Even Ike took a nap at Grandma's... ok so Ike takes naps pretty much everywhere at this point.

 blurry but happy

We loved conference. AnDee was SO excited that President Monson was talking to her and it was nice to have a chill weekend at home. Unfortunately we were comforted a little to much by the soothing voices of the apostles and we all fell asleep. Well... of course one of the children had to stay awake because we wouldn't want mom to actually get a nap. So while everyone else snoozed away I enjoyed smiles and cooing from Ike and got to listen to Conference in peace and quiet. Its a good thing they print the talks in the Ensign so we can review the ones we missed.

Easter

This year the Naugle side of the family got our full attention since Nanny and Poppy are in China and the Cowley side all did their own things. AnDee and Pep got to dye eggs with Grandma Pam and Jake (AnDee had blue hands for a few days) and then we spent Easter Sunday up at Grandma Pam's house and went to church with them and got to hear Jake speak. It was Ike's first church experience and he was a perfect angel of course.
After church we had Easter dinner and then Pep, AnDee and Wyatt got to do an Easter egg hunt in the back yard! Dyl even came over and played with them for a few hours. It was a good day.
We spent the week before Easter trying to explain the resurrection to the kiddos. I think AnDee understands... at least mostly understands. But if Im being honest Pep just doesn't quite get it yet. Which is probably ok since he isn't even quite two yet. I love hearing AnDee try to say resurrection. Its pretty darn cute.

We are so grateful for awesome friends and family to celebrate with. We are also especially grateful for Christ and his sacrifice and the hope he brings to us!

P.S. if you didn't notice, Pep was absolutely refusing to look at the camera. Little stink.

Kids

We are busy around these parts lately. The weather has warmed up and since we have a ginormous yard we are outside doing lots and lots of work to get gardens and chicken coops and goat pens ready. Not to mention all the cosmetic work that we are doing in the front yard. Its a blast working in the yard with the kids. They help with everything and love love love to catch worms and potato bugs. Pep normally carries his worms around until they are good and dried up... like really dry... like rock hard. AnDee spends a lot of her time in the trees and is always covered in little cuts and scrapes. Is it weird that I am kind of proud of that? She has been super funny about wearing dresses lately. She ALWAYS has to have a dress on and most of the time looks like a little polygamist child in her dress with pigtails and a face covered in dirt. Its awesome
Ike is doing phenomenally well. He eats good and sleeps good and is growing like a weed. He is just a happy little guy and has started smiling. Like real smiles not just bubbles in his tummy smiles. I LOVE it! But as of yet have not been able to catch a picture of it. He just keeps getting more and more cute and fun.

Pep like I said before has a thing for worms lately. He has also developed a love for hats but he always has to have them sideways for some reason. He is an expert at picking out colors he knows them all and is such a tease I fear for the future.
(this is how Andrew did Peps hair WHILE we were out to dinner for Grandma Pam's birthday. Nice huh? All you have to do is just rub his head and it just stays like that. Watch out David Bowie)

AnDee is getting really tired of not having any friends her age. There are actually quite a few little kids around here but none of them play outside (its SO weird) and most of them don't go to church so we haven't met any of them. The poor girl is so sweet with her brothers and I but is dying for some social interaction with kids her own age. Hopefully by the end of today she will be signed up for her very first soccer team!! This is extremely exciting for all of us!
P.S. AnDee will only wear dresses that "spin" cause twirling is a very important part of her drama queen life right now

I Lied...

Well... kind of. Remember the whole "my 1 week old sleeps 9 hours a night" thing? There may have been a good reason for it. He was jaundice. Really jaundice and it was sedating him. We had to put him on the lights and it was horrible... just like it was with Pep but this time we got to use the blanket instead of the bed so we could at least hold him and comfort him instead of letting him scream it out on the bed like Pep had to. The down side to the blanket is that it isn't as efficient and it took a full 7 days for his levels to go down to the point that we could take him off. His poor little feet were covered in scabs from all the bili tests and I had to force him awake every couple of hours day and night to feed him so the bilis would pass. After a long week of sleeping in chair in the living room we finally made it! Now he wakes once a night to eat, it isn't 9 hours of uninterrupted but I cant complain about either.
He is SO much more alert now and at 4 weeks (tomorrow) he is happy and healthy! Unfortunately we did his circumcision today so maybe not so much happy at this very moment but still healthy.
At his two week appointment he was in the 10nth percentile for both height and weight. He had lost a little weight (dropped to 6lbs 9 oz) and grown an inch. SO skinny! Im not sure what percentile he is in now but he has gained over a pound in the last week! He is now a whopping 7lbs 12oz! Still tiny but growing normally and he is just too much fun.
So yes... we did have a glow baby again. Hate jaundice!

 His new bouncer that Nana and Poppy got for him! Thank you! (also thank you Amber for being the middle man on the deal)

 Just chillin on a soccer ball

Pep and AnDee are slowly adjusting, as am I. This adjustment has been a rough one but we are making it and the fact that we have been able to be outside a little has helped a lot. They both still adore their baby and are so sweet with him. If only they would be that sweet with each other.
Pep is turning in to quite the smarty pants. He of course knows all his animals and their sounds (He  does call horsies "sushis" but its cute so I let him.) He loves to sing "a peanut sat on a railroad track" because he gets to make a choo choo sound AND yell "PEANUT BUTTER!!" in the same song. He can count to 10 all by himself and likes to practice his ABC's with AnDee (she is always all too happy to "teach" him) He loves wearing Daddy's boots and Mama's high heels and he has finally given up his bottle! He spends endless hours outside by himself and couldn't be any happier. I cant keep his shoes on him and he usually comes in covered in mud because he is always on the look out for worms... which he catches and then squishes the guts out of. He is ALL boy (aside from the high heel wearing) and HATES it when AnDee tries to get him to be her prince.

AnDee has become too intelligent for me to handle. She knows how to manipulate all too well and I find myself the victim on occasion. She says the most hilerious things and when I don't want to pull my own hair out in frustration because of her sassiness or her bossiness, we are best friends and she really honestly is the best helper and is still my saving grace when it comes to keeping the house clean. A while back we were driving to the store and the sun was setting. I pointed it out to her and her response was "Oh! Its SOOO beautiful! Its like a "balcano"!! (aka volcano) I just... I just... I think my heart is gonna "esplode!" Im so happy"    She has a knack for the dramatics. She has now started using her prayers as a way to reprimand the rest of us. She often says things like "and thank you that Pep can close his eyes and not talk during the prayer" Pep doesn't get it though... he just continues doing what he is doing.
Andrew is convinced we have some sort of ground hog or something in our back yard. He went out one night after dark to set up a trail cam so he could catch the little creatures on film. The kids of course wanted to go out with him but just a few minutes into the adventure AnDee decided it was too cold so she was going to run back to the house as fast as she could. It must have been really dark because she ran directly in to one of our little trees back there and it leveled her completely. She got a little bump and a bit of a scratch on her face but all in all she came out ok.
My kids are the best and we are so happy its spring time. Andrew and I have our hands full with yard projects this year and cant wait to get started! Life is good... sometimes hard but always good.
If you look closely you can see the tiny remainder of the scratch on her cheek