Back in Action!

Now that I've located the blogger app on my phone I'm back to writing. I can always find time to write a bit on my phone. ;).

So where do we stand?? Connor is just shy of 29 months. He's been talking more...and making a bit more sense too. He is in the 3rd toddler room at daycare and loves all the friends there. Zoe is his bestest friend. They've been close for the last year or so. Now they fight like brother and sister. ;). He's not potty trained yet...and had absolutely no interest in it. I'm hoping by Disney he's done with diapers. Peyton was just shy of 3, so I'm not pushing Connor. I'll let daycare do that!
Peyton is 4 1/2 and getting ready for kindergarten in July. They start July 22nd because they do more of a year round school. He is so excited about going to big boy school. I'm probably more sad about it...but just another step forward. His best friends are Asher and Collin...they've all been buds for the last year or so too. The three musketeers! I'm not sure they realize that next year they'll be going to different schools. Luckily they will see each other at breaks. ;)

Our new house is just about done. We do the final walk through on the 4th and are closing on the 11th. Then we'll be residents of Gilbert, AZ. I'll make sure to post pics and videos when we get the keys and moved in!

Ok, for now about all I have for now. I'll write later!

Race for the Cure 3-Day

In November I will be taking a weekend to walk 6o miles to bring awareness and support to breast cancer. Although no one in my direct family has been touched by breast cancer, I feel that it is important to raise awareness to this cause.

Starting this summer, yes in the 110+ degree heat, I will be training for the walk. I have already started working out and getting in some sort of shape, but I am far from ready for 60 mile over 3 days.

To join this walk I need to raise $2300. I know that not one person can give all that money, but with everyone pitching in to help with whatever they can give, I will be able to meet that goal with no problem.

My personal website is listed below. You can donate whatever you are comfortable with. I appreciate all pennies and I know that the women this money supports appreciate it too.

Thank you in advance for your help!!

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2012/General?px=1178818&pg=personal&fr_id=1760

Happy 2012

So it has taken me an entire month to welcome everyone to the new year. Hey, I still have 11 left right?? :)


So what is new with us for this wonderful year?

Becky:
Well, I've decided that I am going to do the Breast Cancer 3-day walk...60 miles over 3 days. Not really sure what has prompted this need to do this walk, but it seems so inspiring and for such a good cause that I didn't want to miss out. So I am not working out to get ready for this event in November. I have a lot of months, but after having two kids, I am not at all ready to take this on, so slowly but surely I'm working up to it.

Ryan:
Still working and earning the money. :) He's looking forward to Spring Training this March with my brother. They should have a good time collecting autographs and watching baseball games. Just more stuff to add to his already crowded office. :)


Peyton:
He is still really liking his new daycare. He is friends with all the kids (alright, almost all the kids) and really loves his teacher Ms. Barbara. She is a great lady and expects the kids to be well behaved and learn a few things. It's been great. He has been learning his numbers and letters. He has learned how to write up to number 18 and letter R. He knows most of them from working at home, but hasn't practiced them at school yet.
Peyton is going to be 4 in May, so he's excited to plan his birthday party with his classmates. It is nice to have a daycare closer to home so his friends can come celebrate with him. I just can't believe he's going to be 4. My little boy!

Connor:
Connor is going to be 18 months on Friday (the 3rd)...and he is all of 18 months! He is not afraid of anything, he climbs up on chairs, goes up and down the stairs like a pro, and beats up his brother as needed. He will be moving out of his crib soon so he can get used to sleeping in a big boy bed. Should be interesting.


The biggest thing we have done so far this year is starting the purchasing process on a new house. Our current house is worth about 1/3 what we paid for it, so we are going to rent it out and move to Gilbert, AZ...closer to our families and civilization. We are getting a one-story house, about 70 sq ft bigger for about $40,000 less than we paid for this house. It will be a very good move for us. As the market recovers we will finally get some equity into our house instead of being underwater. We will se where the market goes to decide what we will do with our current house when the time comes.

Luckily we are also enrolled in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, so we are learning how to budget and save money. We will need to get our down payment for our house by November. So far we're on a good path...but we have lots of months left before we get there.

So far 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty good year. I hope everyone else's is just as good!!

Our House

Since so many of our friends and family will never get to see our house down here, I thought I would give you a video tour of what it looks like. Please understand that this was just an spur of the moment idea and i didn't have a chance to clean everything up. Our house is lived in!

Peyton

Peyton is now 3 years and 5 months. He is a crazy kid and such a wonderful little boy to be around. He speaks very well and is always continuing to amaze us. We often times are looking at each other saying "did he really just say that?"

Three weeks ago he was lucky enough to get his first pair of glasses. Takes after his mother this way! They just needed to fix his astigmatism before it got bad. He may grow out of it, but my thought is that he will have them like myself and his grandma. He has actually been really good with his glasses and keeps them on all day long. Sometimes he gets tired of them, but most of the time he is really good. I think it makes him look so much older and so darn cute!!

He has started at a new daycare that I absolutely LOVE!! They are doing all sorts of preschool activities at this school and I am happy to say that he is right on track with the other kids in his new class. Thanks to his previous daycare up by my old job. They all have a place at their table with their name and picture. They sit and do art, write letters, cut paper, etc. Here is an example of one of Peyton's first scissor practices. He's missing a sleeve, but did really well on the other one's. I think this is honestly the 3rd time he's ever held a scissors. So I'll take it as a good job!

Peyton is a busy little boy and doesn't really like to sit down for very long. He is always throwing a ball to someone, hitting a ball, jumping off of something or tormenting his brother. He is a very good kid and we have very few problems with him and his behavior. As long as you can keep him busy constructively, he is good to go! I am yet to figure out how to wear the boy out yet. :)

We have a walker!!

At 14 1/2 months Connor is officially walking. (Same age as Peyton for those who were curious). He still uses his crawling to get to places quickly, but will walk around much more now. He can stand up on his own and begin walking from anywhere. He is getting steadier on his feet every day. Peyton doesn't seem to like it, so he just pushes him down anytime he gets going. Ahhhh, brothers!

Along with this great new movement to walk, Connor is able to go both up and DOWN the stairs by himself. Granted he's not usually by himself, but he can do it. He knows to turn around and go down on his belly so he doesn't fall and can climb up the stairs faster than I can get up there, so instead of carrying him, I usually let him do it.

He can also climb off of the couch, bed, chair, etc. by turning around and falling to his feet. He's not afraid of ANYTHING so he just goes for it. He learns it from his brother because Peyton will jump off of just about anything too. We are going to have lots of bruises and broken things in our future.

Connor is really starting to "talk" as well. He can say boy things like, baseball, Elmo, Daddy, he roars like a lion, and hisses like a snake. He knows that when you sing the charge song you need to put your hand up and say "charge". We went to the zoo yesterday and did lots of animal noises, so he is learning moo as well. He likes to push things off the table and say "uh, oh" a lot too. Granted you need to know what he is looking at to understand that the word is what he means, but he is giving it a good try.

He LOVES his brother and tries to do all the things that Peyton does....good and bad. It is so fun to see their relationship growing. Connor adores Peyton and Peyton secretly loves having his little brother around. When he thinks that no one can hear/see him he will give him little kisses and talk to him all sweetly. It is great. But as soon as that is done, it is back to pushing and screaming. :)

Oh the years ahead will be wonderful!

Connor's Walking

Connor's first real attempts at walking. He would always do a few steps between pieces of furniture but this is the longest distance he has walked and been excited about. Looks like we'll have a walker sooner than later. YIKES!!!