Superheroes!

It's been all about Superheroes lately as we are preparing for the boys combined birthday party this Saturday. Our theme is "Calling all Superheroes". TMac is so excited. Tot will be once he sees the actual party. Being a mother of boys is so fun!

"I'm a creator kid!"

Above is what TMac's room looks like every day and when we clean up for bed we pick up hundreds of little pieces of cut up paper. TMac is constantly bringing me creations to look at during the day that come with lengthy explanations, games, questions, plays, shows, etc. When we got home from a several day trip to the river this week, TMac went straight to his room to color and create. Today I mentioned how pleased I am that he loves to color for hours and is so creative and he said, "Well yeah - I'm a creator kid!" Translation - duh Mom! Today the project was Power Rangers. Yesterday it was all of the insects that he could think of which resulted in 30 plus drawings which were cut out. It keeps him really busy and quiet in his room but poor Tot wants in there so bad and will stand at the gate in the doorway and whine. Poor guy. Thankfully my Mom gave TMac the huge roll of paper (Sam's club if you want some too) for Christmas which we have only used 1/3 of and it gets used almost every day (I use some for preschool too) and we have tons of old paperwork from Tracy's home inspection days because the creator kid goes through a ton of paper. Now we need a bulk package of tape because he's using all of my tape lately. It's so great when kids are old enough to cut out all of their drawings themselves instead of needing you to do it. Keep on creating kid!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's day to everyone that we love! These photos are the best of the photo shoot we did as a gift for Daddy/Hubby. I found the cute heart shaped lollipops at the Dollar Tree and had to get them! 3 for a buck! None of the stores I frequent had Vday shirts for boys that I liked and I wanted to save money anyways so these are their red train sweaters turned backwards! I love the photos and I am so happy with the results. We made the cutest photo collage at Costco photo online. We love you - family and friends. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

We love you this much!

We're blowing you kisses! Can you catch them?

I could not get this photo of TMac blowing his kiss away to get in order to save my life. If you are reading this blogger staff, I say to you in the voice of the black guy portraying the White House financial advisor on Weekend Update from Saturday Night Live - FIX IT! I add the photos in order but they don't always come out that way. Anyways - have a great weekend!

Our special sweater.

Today it was cold enough for TMac to wear our special sweater to church that was made by Tracy's great-grandmother. I love this sweater. I looked up the photos of him wearing it from last Winter but they weren't extremely different enough to post. He's a lot taller and the sweater fits tighter after one whole year though. We had ward conference today so the stake leaders taught Primary instead of the normal teachers but TMac was really good anyways. When I picked him up the lady said that he was so well behaved and reverent and that she wished that all of the kids were that way. I was SO PLEASED. That's what we love to hear. T is a joy and really understands the scripture stories that we read every night. His mind is so fun to work with.

You can tell I am holding the camera out in front of us. I need to wear bangs. I had some cut at my last haircut in December but I am too lazy to style them and they get in my face and bug me. Aaarrgggghhhh. At least Heavenly Father gave me red hair and curls because he knew I'd be lazy in the primping department. :)

CTR 5. Why do kids have to grow up so fast?

TMac started his new primary class this year. He is now a big, huge, grown up CTR 5! He has been really enjoying it so far and is especially excited that they combined the 5 and 6 year olds into one class so his older friend N is there and his first "girlfriend" C. She used to come to playgroup before she started 1st grade and they were the cutest couple. During sacrament we sat in front of her family and she drew TMac a picture of a train and gave it to him. He taped it onto the wall above his bed. He is so happy to be back together in a class with her again.

Why does my little man have to grow up? I guess if he didn't I wouldn't be enjoying the things we do now like preschool, soccer, reading books, his help with shopping and grocery shopping and nightly games of Go Fish. Sigh.

Hooray! Blog milestones, etc.

Our blog has hit some milestones recently! We had our 100th post right before Christmas and I didn't even know since I had so many drafts in progress. That's a cool milestone and sad at the same time because if I actually had blogged all of the events and news of last year there should have been about 400 posts! Maybe if I get a faster computer I'll be able to drone on more often! :)

Then this morning we went over the mark of 3,000 visitors! (Although a lot of the hits are me signing on to our page). I am so glad that people have been enjoying our blog. We have really been enjoying every ones blogs also. Tracy used to ask how I found out info. when I would tell him so and so had their baby or other things but he doesn't ask anymore. He knows its all from blog land!

The above photo is one of my absolute favorites of TMac at Disneyland when he was 1 1/2. It was taken on Tracy's birthday and we were there as a family to celebrate. I thought a firework picture would be a good way to represent hooray!

Happy continued blogging everybody! Thanks for visiting.

Clean and sweet boys.

I love how a good, long bath can turn boys into relaxed, clean, fresh and sweet smelling boys. I love to cuddle them and smell their hair. I wish I had time to take a nap with them today because that is the best! I love when their faces are so clean and look so soft from the lotion and when their damp hair is combed into place but not dry yet.

We were trying out gel in TMac's hair. We've been trying a few different styles but I'm not a fan of this one - it makes him look too old. He's a cutie though!

My cousin Rachel and our kids.

My favorite cousin Rachel and her kids were down from Utah for a quick visit in October so we went and spent a Sunday afternoon/evening with them. My Aunt Jan always has cute seasonal decor around her house so of course I had to do a photo shoot with our kids. Cousin Julia was down too but I never got to hear her newest guitar songs. :( We were able to help celebrate E's birthday which was fun. The birthday cake was so pretty and had white marshmallow frosting. So delicious!

The above picture is my youngest and Rachel's youngest daughter whose birthdays are only a few months apart. Tot is handing out the loves.

The two of us. Why do I always give the camera to Tracy when he is sitting in a chair and he takes the shot looking up at us? Almost all of my photos with Rachel are like this and it is not flattering for my body!

TMac and his cousin. He always wants to go see her in Utah.

Not a great shot but it is all 4 kids together.

I wanted to bring these soft, stuffed pumpkins home. My Aunt wouldn't notice right?

I will kiss you!

It was a great party at Steve and Jan's. They always have great food, we laugh and hang out. The kids run around. My parents and my Aunt Carolee, Uncle Alton and cousin Kelsey were able to come hang out too. It was a nice night.

Our boy is crazy for Madagascar 2!

TMac has been so excited and can not wait for the movie Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa to arrive in theaters. He started seeing commercials a few months ago and came running in the bedroom one day yelling about Madagascar 2! His favorite movie right now and for the last few months has been Madagascar. He wants to watch it all day long, every day. I finally allowed him to learn how to use some of the buttons on our Dish DVR remote because he wanted me to rewind the very end of the movie a billion times. He likes to move it, move it! I've never allowed him to use the remote because I was resisting what would happen once he learned it but I finally caved because hey - dancing to the end credits 20 times is exercise after all! So, he knows how to use some remote buttons now. He wants to know them all but I refuse. It is super cute to see him and his little brother dancing, shaking and movin' it! They'll happily do that song 20 times just giggling and dancing the whole time.

It's ironic that this is his favorite movie right now (and has been for months) because I rented it from Redbox for him about 2 years ago and he didn't ever pay any attention to it. Now he quotes it and rewinds or forwards to his most favorite parts.

We also discovered the website for the new movie this weekend so of course T has been loving playing around on it. He just laughs and laughs. He wants to make a calendar and paper chain to count down the days until November 7th when the movie is released. He also wants to do jobs to earn money to see the movie right when it comes out which we never do. We're not movie going people unless it's the $2 theater or $1 Red Box rentals. I'm going to try and take him to see it at the IMAX which will blow his mind!

Oh, and T wanted me to put the above widget on our blog. He saw it on the movie website and said,"Hey - let's put this square commercial on our blog." Kids are so smart! I made the mistake of saying, "Oh, you want to post that widget?" So we had a conversation about what a widget is which he understood quickly and he is standing right here by me watching me type - so excited to see the end result on his blog!

Someone's going savage! You maniac! You burned it up! Darn you! Darn you all to heck! Can we go to the fun side now? Excuse me! You're biting my butt!

All of those quotes and more are what we hear around here! We all love it. Even Tracy has favorite parts. We are looking forward to November 7th!

The Bain cowboys!

Howdy! Here are the Bain buckaroos! It has been killing me to wait to blog these photos but I had to wait until after I gave these photos to my mother-in-law as one of her birthday presents. She reads my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Tracy's parents made the rocking horses and each of Tracy's siblings has one. I LOVE my rocking horse. It is one of my most favorite gifts ever.

We did this photo shoot the first week of August on one of the hottest days of the year! It was only 9:00 am in the morning but so hot in my sister's backyard. She is prego and was sick so I had her sit in a chair with an umbrella and work the camera while I was the propmaster. Tot hated the sun in his eyes and was persnickety. TMac hated the bandanna but did okay. We have been trying to arrange this photo shoot since March and calendars and problems just kept getting in the way so - hooray - it's done and it's super cute!

Yes, I am aware that in some of the photos TMac is wearing pink boots. My sister digitally changed them to brown in most of the photos and the others we printed out sepia colored. We had to borrow my nieces boots because I had been to 6 stores in the weeks before the photo shoot and no luck for boots for TMac. Wal-Mart was driving me crazy because they had sporadic sizes of boots but all too small. If they had had a bigger pair I would have gotten them out of desperation. Yes, I did go to Boot Barn. Their kids boots start at $30 for really ugly ones and go into the $100's and I didn't want to break the bank. We now own great boots for both boys that I got on clearance at Wal-Mart - they finally had some sizes I needed.

The little rocking chair is the one that my Grandpa Mac was rocked in as a baby and the two wooden candy barrels are from the Joseph Smith red brick store in Nauvoo, Illinois. My sister's husband was such a trooper when she and I each wanted to bring one home from our trip two years ago. The airline staff were not amused! My husband would have forbidden the chaos but he wasn't on the trip! The rope was made by TMac in Nauvoo on a hand-turned rope making machine.

I was a little sad to replace the river hug header with this new one but I'll get over it! They are both the cutest photos ever and I'm so blessed to have such gorgeous little boys. I am so glad that I had two boys first that are such great brothers.

Thank you Heather and Mom and Dad Bain for the horse, help and digital work!

Little helpers.

TMac was so excited about the job jar he received in his Sunbeam class today at church. It has job cards with ideas for how little kids can help at home. Once they do they can have a candy. I know that I need to let him do more and I'm not a control freak, I'm just lazy and don't always want to take the time to let him do things. He asked for jobs a few times and I asked him to wait until after I got dinner served. This evening in the backyard he happily cleared all of the leaves and weird tree nut things from the 5 chairs by the pool which was actually hard because the chairs are made of little diamond shaped metal pieces that the tree junk gets stuck in. It was so cute to watch him be so happy to be doing a job. I love how easy it is for little ones to want to follow the lessons from Primary. Tracy made smoothies tonight and when he brought the pitcher and cups to the living room TMac wanted to help set the table which is one of the job cards. He's sweet. He got a new Sunbeam teacher last week and he likes her and says that she is pretty.

Tot heard me tell TMac to say cheese so he came running in pushing his toy and was yelling cheese. Then he kept on doing it and throwing his hands in the air.

Tot had his own little helping session at Winco yesterday. He decided it was his job to lift the little cantaloupes out of the cart and onto the checkout stand. He would not let me help him and he was grunting and lifting away. He was really entertaining the people behind us in line. He lifted out 5 cantaloupes!

CHEESE! Ooh, I just thought of a job! We're getting ready for bed right now and Tot had dropped a bunch of toys in his bed today so I caught myself just now before unloading them myself and TMac is doing the job as I type. This will be good for me and T both. Thank you Sister H! TMac has always been a naturally helpful boy but it is fun to have him asking for jobs and saying, "How can I help?"

Hidden Jedi fighter!

A Jedi fighter was hiding in my rocking chair! Last week TMac was calling me to come find him. He has had the cloak and lightsaber since his 3rd birthday and he plays with them often but lately he has played almost daily thanks to the new movie commercials and Happy Meal toys. My Mom made him the cloak for his 3rd birthday and he and his cousin both have them. The first time we went to the Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland he refused to go up into the show and be a performer when picked but he has informed me that he is practicing so we'll see if he goes up next time. He watched some of the old, original Star Wars movies again this week and of course those bring lot's of questions that I don't always have the answers to. I suppose I should get a refresher course from Mr. Ronnie. I also need to work on better teaching TMac the proper use of "May the force be with you." The other day I asked him to keep an eye on Tot while I went to the restroom and of course he said, "Sure, and may the force be with you." Yeah...thanks son. :)

S'more maker - lame - but cute photos.

Tracy brought home a free and unused S'more "machine" from work. It looked lame and it really is. But, as my Mom would say...it kept the kids busy for awhile. The machine is just a glorified marshmallow warmer but it takes 5 minutes to warm up and then another 5 minutes or more to just warm the marshmallows. TMac is bummed that it is going to be thrown away. But even he said the machine was dumb and that fires are better. He likes his marshmallows with the "black"! So, we knew this machine would be a waste of time but ever since Tracy brought it home TMac has been asking to try it out. We hung out in the backyard this evening after church and dinner. Tot made a complete mess of himself and his hair but it made for some cute photos. If you purchased this machine I feel bad for you!

The BIG day!

Get ready for the super cutest photos and a lot of them because I do not like slide shows! I also haven't figured out how to rearrange multiple photos so that they are listed in the order they occurred so they are all mixed up. :(

The above photo is TMac and his friends doing their GO TEAM chant. So adorable!

At the "Welcome to the Soccer team!" party after the first practice.

More party - I heard the boys saying that they were eating like soccer players!

Tot making a huge mess of his piece of cake. He does not want to be fed at all anymore. He insists on having his own fork.

After all of the work and practice the boys played freely for awhile and they all took turns wearing this puppy costume. It has nothing to do with soccer or preschool but it is cute!

Some partner soccer work. I didn't get photos of the whole scene because I was trying to keep Tot out of the way. He would not stay inside in the play room. I tried to close him in the playroom by shutting the door and he did that sad, break your heart crying like his feelings were hurt. He wanted to play with the team so bad!

Tot is actually really good at soccer and always has been. He was running around like, Yeah - I'm 4, what of it? He was not afraid of the big boys zooming around him at all and got super ticked every time I removed him from the play area. Toddler soccer team anyone? Katherine's son of the same age was doing really good as well.

Pink cheeks and a thirsty boy!

GO TEAM huddle.

The definition of cute!

Snack time break in between preschool and soccer.

The "welcome to the team" soccer cake.

Here they are! The fab 5! Us Moms are tossing around team names but one of the top choices is "The Strippling Warriors". Yeah - that's right - we're Molly. That is a benefit of running your own team. When we were done taking the soccer photos I told all of the Moms - hey, we just saved $200 a piece by doing this ourselves!

My big man. That smile just kills me. This pose was his doing completely.

Tot the great. His hair has bleached in the Summer sun to even more of a white blond. I love that my boys are not redheads! Thank you to the genes of Tracy and my Dad!

Doodle board letter writing time.

TMac in all his backpack glory.

Class photo!

Say backpack, say backpack! Use your Dora map voice!

Snack time. They were already talking about their mad soccer skills that they were planning on bustin' out. I guess boys are just born knowing how to talk locker room talk!

The very first preschool activity - find the letters to build your name.

The smallest and best behaved class I have ever worked with.

Reading time and the matching books.

Worksheet and math time. We did two pages and the rest they take home for homework and practice during the week.

Counting and pattern sequencing.

It was a great day. The boys were really attentive and good. The smiles were so cute when they were proud of their achievements. They of course each got a Thomas the Train sticker on their shirts and lots of high fives and praise from their Mommies. I really immensely enjoyed myself. It was so fun preparing all week and looking forward to it as much as TMac. I have really great girlfriends and TMac has great friends. I do miss teaching but I do not miss working and all of the bureaucracy and parent politics that come with being a public school teacher. For me this preschool is a perfect outlet. Only five students and a Mom helper for each child is amazing. We were able to get a ton of activities accomplished in just one hour! Also our other children are with us and having fun in the play room so it's great.

TMac and I finished the day by getting a Happy Meal at Wal-Mart and some desperately needed work T-shirts for Dad, swimming of course, watching a Star Wars movie and a little of the Madagascar movie together at night. What a great day! Thursdays will be fun.