4 yr. & 18 mo. Check Ups Today

So today we had Jonah's 4 yr check-up (better late than never) and Alli's 18 mo check-up. It was more convenient to have just one visit for both of them. Jonah really liked the Dr. because he was making him stand on one leg at a time, put his arms out and close his eyes to make sure he could keep his balance, hop on one foot at a time, and talk like a monkey.

Well, the verdict is that Jonah is still a "little" dude. He's in the 25% on everything. Sorry buddy! I'm pretty sure those genes came from me.

My already 4 year old boy is:
39" tall (or short, however you look at it) and 35.1 lbs.

Allix, on the other hand, wasn't all that crazy about the doctor. Come to think of it, she's not too crazy about anybody she meets. So just a little FYI, when you meet my "sweetheart", don't think it's you. It's just how she looks at everyone. If looks could kill, she would be the only one alive. But, I would never give her up for anything.

Allix (a.k.a. "Bug") is:
30" tall and 21.11 lbs.

Everything was going really well, until the shots came in. I always knew Jonah was strong, but I was greatly mistaken on how powerful that "little" man is! First it took me a couple minutes to get him semi-calmed down. Then as soon as I would try to lay him on the table he would FLIP OUT!! He honestly was never this bad at getting shots before. I had no idea what had come over this sweet little boy. The nurse and I had to put all our weight on him just to hold him still. To make matters worse, as I was holding his tiny hands in mine, his tear filled eyes looked into mine and said "Please mommy, don't do this." Then tears started welling up in my eyes too. I didn't want to do this to him. If I had it my way, these "shots" would be in some kind of candy form. I'm sure there are other mothers out there that feel the same way, but I HATE it when my kids have to get their immunizations. I am always so emotional when it comes to my children feeling any kind of pain.

Allix was next and she, of course, didn't know what was coming. Then she gets stuck by the needle. Their reactions are always a little delayed, she looks at me like "what the heck was that??" and then starts crying, along with me and Jonah. So here we are, the nurse has left the room, Jonah, Allix and I are sobbing and holding each other. That's also the time when i decided that we are never doing this again..............until next time.

At least Jonah doesn't need to get any more until he's 11. Won't he be so excited!!

As we left the room, the nurse offered the kids a sticker. Jonah looked at them for a minute, still sniffling after the meltdown, and found an.........."IRON MAN!" sticker!

Thank you Iron Man!! You have given joy, hope, and instant amnesia to my son! Everything was all forgotten in an instant because Jonah saw the infamous Iron Man! Great! Now let's go have a fun filled day at IKEA!

Gotta love my babies!!

Flaming Gorge

Ok, so this first one isn't from Flaming Gorge but I just had to put it in here! I love love love this little face!! She makes me smile every single day!! I am so blessed to have the children that I do. They are my life!!

The Drake's have a family tradition of going to Flaming Gorge every year. We go hiking, boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, sky skiing, tubing (tube wars!! so fun!), etc. Celeste and I had a tie this year (more about that later). Each year is different with the people that come. This year, the only ones who made it were Tim, Celeste and their kids, and Danny, me and our kids. We had so much fun!!

Here is a GREAT shot of Danny really taking control of that Sky Ski!! WoooHooo! Love you babe!

The sunset was so BEAUTIFUL this night! This was actually the opposite side that the sun was going down. It's so gorgeous in Flaming Gorge I wish we lived closer!

I have many more pictures to post of Flaming Gorge, but for now enjoy these.

Reason to SMILE #2 & 3 of 365

Ok, so I know I wanted to post something every single day that my kids do to make me smile, but going out of town for a family reunion for a week doesn't help.

Well, we're back and we had so much fun with everyone! I'll be posting some pictures of it soon. It was very sad leaving everyone. Especially the ones that we don't see all the time because they live in either Washington, New Mexico, or Ohio ;( But we love you ALL and can't wait till the next time we get to be together again!!

Back to the main point for this post, Reason #2: SPIT!

Jonah's cousin Jake plays on a bowling league and Tara (Jake's step-mom) had asked if Jonah would like to sub today. Of course he said "YES!!" Well, like always, I can always count on myself running late and so we were leaving the house in such a hurry I totally forgot to do Jonah's hair. Oh well, I guess I can just lick my fingers and try to spike his hair. So I did. As soon as I put my fingers in Jonah's hair, he looks at me with this DISGUSTED expression on his face and says, "Did you just SPIT on me?!"

Of course the SPIT didn't work very well, but it ended up making me smile the rest of the day!


Reason #3: WOODY!

The other day Jonah was playing with his little friends in our living room. They were having so much fun & sharing their toys. They were passing them around every few minutes. Jonah's toy of choice was his favorite Sheriff Woody doll from Toy Story. I was just starting to think how proud I am that he's FINALLY sharing his toys. As soon as the thought came into my head Jonah yells out, "WHO WANTS TO PLAY WITH MY WOODY?!"

Not so sure I want him sharing ALL his "toys". ;)

365 Reasons to SMILE ;-) (1 of 365)

This is the start of something new for me. I'm very very forgetful and there are things that my husband remembers about what Jonah used to say and/or do when he was little. It makes me sad that I can't recall some of those things about my boy that were so funny or just melt my heart.

So here is my promise to myself that I won't forget and also to remind me of how much these little angels are two of the BEST BLESSINGS in my life!! I am going to (try) to write down something said, something done, or something out of the blue that each of my babies do every day that make me SMILE and love them as much as I do!!!

Reason #1: CHEESE!

We are a family that LOVES cheese. Our favorite is shredded. When we do have it (able to afford it), we like to put it on anything and everything that we eat (even mac & CHEESE).
But, BEFORE we put this delicious topping on our food, we ALWAYS take a pinch-full of it and put it into our mouths.

So, as soon as this bag is seen coming out of the fridge,



this is what I get from Allix:

No matter how many times a day she does it, it still makes me laugh!!
(don't mind the messy hair)