Happy Birthday Blaine!

Blaine turned 2 on June 13th. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! He is such a big boy. For Blaine's birthday, we did a monkey theme. We just had family come to his party. He got a wadding pool, hat and swimming suit from us. A bubble lawn mower from Nana and Papa. An Elmo stuffed animal and book from Justin and Emily. And some clothes, a bowling set and pool toys from Grandma and Grandpa.

Opening presents.

Modeling his cute hat. He loves to wear hats.What a sweet boy!

Mowing the carpet.

Blaine had burned his finger REALLY badly a week before his

birthday so he was a little afraid of anything hot.

What a mess!

Happy Birthday Blaine! We love you so much! Ü

Monkey cup cakes

Blaine is a monkey. So I decided to make monkey cup cakes for his birthday. I think they turned out pretty well. They look a little bit like President Obama. Oh well.

Here's what you need.

Frost your cupcakes.
Cut the top fourth of the Nilla Waffers off. Cut the Mini Nilla Waffers in half.

Stick the Nilla Waffer on for the mussel and the Mini Nilla Waffers on the side for ears.

Make little black dots for the eyes and nostrils and red smiles.

Ta da!

What are we making?

These are the ingredients for Blaine's Birthday Cupcakes.

Trip to the Zoo

A few weeks ago, the boys and I went to the Zoo with my mom, grandma, SIL Emily and niece Emma. It was a lot of fun! I haven't been to the zoo in years. It has changed a lot since then. It was fun watching Blaine. He called almost every animal a puppy. Ü He LOVED the giraffes! He kept saying he wanted to play with them. He couldn't keep his eyes off them. He also had a lot of fun playing at the little play ground. Here's some pictures.

Blaine and Emma in the wagon

Sweet Emma

In front of the giraffes.

Still checking out the giraffes

Inside the giraffe house.

In the gofer holes.

Mommy and Eli.

Eli really enjoyed the Zoo.

By the way, Blaine did wear shoes to the zoo, we just can't get that boy to keep his shoes on for anything. He did wear them on the play ground though. Ü

My Song

It's been kind of rough lately. Tyson has been working 80 hours a week and just finished his Intermediate EMT course. (Congrats on passing your state test babe! I'm proud of you!) Blaine has entered the terrible twos and doesn't sleep at night. Eli is up a lot at night. He thinks night time is daytime and wants me to keep him company all night long. With Tyson working so much, I have pretty much been on my own with the boys. It's been rough. This is my new favorite song. It helps me in two ways.
1: Things may be rough right now, but it will get better. This won't last forever.
2: My boys won't be little forever and I will miss it someday, so I need to enjoy this time while it's here.

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This has also helped me.

"If you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn't appreciate that time of life as much as you should have. Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.
If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly." - President Thomas S. Monson