Happy Birthday, Trevor!

Trevor's 3rd birthday was last month... I can't believe my baby is 3! To celebrate his birthday, we had family over after church the Sunday before for Dutch soup, muffins, and birthday cake! Trevor was SO excited to blow out those candles -

probably more so than he was about opening the presents...

At 3, we are STILL working on potty training, but we're doing potty training bootcamp this week and last, so no more diapers or pullups (except at night)! And, we are making progress.

Trevor talks a lot (sometimes he doesn't stop!) and is getting a lot easier to understand, too. He loves fruit, but it's hard to get him to sit still long enough to eat a complete meal. If he had a choice, he would would graze all day long.

Kinda funny, the last week or so, he insists on climbing IN to his crib at night, but has yet to climb OUT of it! I'm not complaining, moving to a bed is one thing I don't have to worry about just yet. Probably sometime this summer we'll tackle that. He can now make it through the day without a nap, which is also nice if we need to be gone or have stuff to do...

Trevor is (generally) a pretty happy little guy, and very sweet. Every once in a while, he'll just say, "Mom, I love you." Awwww... how can I resist the little bugger!?

Brothers...

I love finding creative discipline tricks... and a new one I found recently has worked quite well! When the boys start fighting and arguing, I make them sit on the couch next to eachother and hold hands for a few minutes. While they do that, I talk to them about a time when they played nice together and how much fun it was, or some other positive or fun time to get them happy again. I don't even remember where I found this idea, but so far, it's working great!

There were two on the couch...

Both boys love this spot on the end of the couch. Sometimes they fight over it, and once in a while they can get along well enough to be there together. They did this the other night and I couldn't NOT take a picture! It's so fun to hear them playing together. Sometimes they fight like cats and dogs, but more and more lately they love to play together. This is what I had really hoped for when we found out Trevor was a boy, and what I was afraid wouldn't really happen when we found out Jaylen was autistic. But Jaylen has come a long way. At his parent-teacher conference in November, his teacher said last year he wanted to spend more time showing the teachers how much he knew academically, and not as much time playing with the toys and other kids. This year he is much more into playing with the toys and learning to play with the other kids the way he plays with Trevor. He started Awana this past year, and for the most part really likes going. He was chosen to be the Cubbies helper a few weeks ago, and boy, did that boost his self-esteem! He was so excited to tell me about it! And Geoff (who got there early to pick up so was watching him through the window) said he did so good at the front of the class, handing out papers and doing whatever they asked him to do. We still have our "bumps", but overall, Jaylen is making great progress!

Still kickin...

So I thought on the off chance that anyone still checks my blog, I would do a little posting today... :) Since my last post was- ok, this is ridiculous - in October, a lot has happened! I had a birthday, Thanksgiving, went on a train ride with the kids, got a new niece, the Christmas parade, Christmas parties and Christmas presents, and oh yeah, Christmas... And now Jaylen has had another birthday, Wendy and the kids came for a visit, and now we're about to start planning a party for Trevor's 3rd birthday. So let's get some pictures on here of a few of the things that have been happening...

In November, my mom and sister and I got a chance to walk through the house I grew up in (I lived there until I was 15!). This is a picture of the boys in my old room... When I lived there, the room was pink and the carpet was bright red. Jaylen kept asking where he slept. :)

On December 21 came the arrival of my sister Trischa's little baby Addison... so precious!

Then it was Christmas! It was really a fun Christmas, and busy as usual. Lots of family to spend time with, lots of presents to open, and trying to make sure our kids understand that Christmas isn't just about getting stuff, it's about Jesus being born so He could die for US! Sometimes I wonder if we're getting through to our kids, then I hear things like this morning Jaylen said to Trevor : "Hey Trevor, you know what? Jesus is in heaven making a house for you, and one for me. And they're going to be really big houses. And you'll get to live in yours all by yourself! Doesn't that sound cool?" Well, at least some things are getting through. :)

Here we are at Jaylen's birthday party at the Jump Around Fun Zone. The kids got to jump in the bounce castles for a while, then we had cake and presents in the party room. Jaylen is plugging his ears in this picture (he always does this when we sing "Happy Birthday"), but he really didn't plug them for long . We sang a little quieter for him, so he was able to take his fingers out. :) And yes, I'm actually posting a picture of myself. Lovely double (or triple) chin, no less. Guess I forgot to employ my "push-your-toungue-to-the-top-of-your-mouth" strategy for this picture. So Jaylen is a big 5 year old now, and Trevor will soon be 3. Jaylen told me last night he doesn't want to grow up. I agree a little, because sometimes I want him to stay little, but I do want to see him grow and mature and become his own person too... So I'll just try to enjoy each stage while it lasts. :)

Swimming again...

After much deliberation, Geoff and I joined the Y last week. I'll be going to water aerobics Tuesday and Thursday mornings (while the boys are at school) and we'll go together on Wednesday nights (while Jaylen is in Awana and Trevor stays with Geoff's mom). I couldn't believe how horrible I did the first few times trying to swim some laps! But, now that I'm getting used to the whole turning-my-body-to-the-side-to-breathe thing again, I'm getting a lot better. My goal the other night was to swim 16 laps (which is about a half a mile). We both did it! I won't lie and say we did it without stopping, but we did do the 16 laps. My next goal will be to swim a mile (33 laps) but that's going to take a while. Part of the problem is it's hard to get to the pool at the times they have lap swim only. So then the problem is, if we go during open swim, there are no lanes set aside, so we risk t-boning people (since you look down and to the side, not in front of you). So we don't always get a big chunk of time to swim... But regardless, I'm really excited to be back in the pool and getting a little bit back into shape!

Seaside!!

We spent the week before Labor Day with Geoff's family in Seaside, Oregon. It was beautiful! We were very fortunate with the weather (the guys couldn't even fly their kites most of the time because there wasn't enough wind). We stayed in a condo with Geoff's parents (his brother Kevin and his family, and his Grandma stayed in a condo down the hall). It was right on the beach, and had a great pool and hot tubs. We had so much fun... we're talking about going every year, or every other year, to the same spot. We visited Cannon Beach, and went to Camp 18 (a logging-themed restaurant that is our favorite!). Did a little shopping around Seaside, played a few games with the kids at the arcade, and Geoff and I got to enjoy the hot tub most nights from 9-10 (adults only at that time) while Geoff's parents stayed in the condo as the kids slept. Perfect arrangement!

Jaylen was ready to get right into the freezing Pacific Ocean! (He's with Geoff

and Geoff's dad, Trevor is closer to shore)

Playing at the arcade - Jaylen driving a Kenworth

Trevor LOVED the sand!

Building sandcastles at Cannon Beach

Woodland Park Zoo

On our way down to Seaside the end of August, we stopped by the Woodland Park Zoo. We all had a great time, and the kids especially loved the Zoomazium (it's an indoor play area for kids). Geoff's mom wasn't doing so hot after the knee replacement, so she had to spend some of the time in a wheelchair, but the kids loved riding on her lap all over the place. :) After the zoo, we headed down to Tumwater (near Olympia) where we spent a couple of nights in a hotel. We took the kids to Cabela's, which was fun for all of us. Of course, Jaylen and Trevor's favorite parts were the fish, the elevator, and the escalator. I think they would have spent hours on the escalator alone had they been given the choice, but we wanted to see more than just moving stairs. :) I didn't get any pictures at Cabela's, but here are some from the zoo...

Geoff saw this sign and thought it was all too appropriate.

(Not for his family, but mine, I believe!)

So tired after a day at the zoo!