I Wish I May, I Wish I Might...

...get my boys to sleep all night!

I've been dealing with a bit of guilt. You see, we have found that Ryker will sleep soundly if placed on his stomach, like 7 hours....and will sleep for maybe 30 minutes if he's on his back. So we have to ask ourselves, sleep or no sleep? That is the ultimate question.

Although all the pediatricians and scientific medical masterminds everywhere are saying that babies must be placed on their backs to sleep, we have decided that since a) Ryker can lift his head and move from one side to the other, and b) he will actually sleep, we now put him to sleep on his stomach...all the time. And yes, I still wake up multiple times in the night to make sure he is okay....and he has been, every time. Besides that, Brian and I, and about everyone else older than 12, was put to sleep on our stomachs and survived. So I feel a little bit better. Jaxon continues to baffle us. He has no problem falling asleep. Period. Bed, couch, shopping carts, the car, at the table, at basketball games....you name it he can sleep there. What's the problem, you ask? Staying asleep. It is a rare moment that Jaxon will stay in his bed the entire night. He doesn't need anything from us besides company. He simply gets out of his bed and walks into our room and crawls into bed. In fact, most mornings we don't even know he is there until we wake up and see him. So besides locking him in his room (which I could never do. Imagine if there was a fire or something? Oh, I can't imagine how terrifying he would feel knowing he was trapped!), I don't have any answers. And from the books I have read, neither do the so-called experts. So I ask you, my faithful readers, who have children of your own or have at least been a child at one time in your life, any suggestions on how to give my boy a good nights sleep?

Schools Out

It's official. I've turned in my keys and my badge. I've packed all my teaching supplies into 6 computer boxes and a file cabinet. I've said goodbye to my students and my friends. I am now only responsible to teach the two cutest boys on the planet. One day I'll go back to the classroom....but not for a while. It's such a big part of me, I can't imagine that this goodbye is the final one.

Here's a look back at all my classes....and my different hair styles!

Student Teaching...6th Grade

(These kiddies are now high school graduates!)

First Year....2nd grade

(These kidlets will be entering 8th Grade)
Year 2...2nd Grade

(Soon to be 7th Graders)

Year 3....2nd Grade

(6th Grade here we come!)

Year 4...4th Grade

(If you look closely you can see 3 of the same kids from year 2)

Year 5....4th Grade

(This year there were seven students from year 3....so fun!)

Year 6...4th Grade

(This year I did a job share. I worked every Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday)

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

THE GOOD
A story about a young rodent, Rodney Rat, who can't say his r's. All the rodents in his class make fun of poor Wodney...until his speech impediment saves the day. "Wodney says wap your paws awound your head....Wap wap wappity slappity slap"

THE BAD

This story takes place in a city called Sam-sam-sa-mara, where everyone is named Sam. One day the boy, Sam, and his parents, Sam and Sam, go shopping for new clothes. "Sam looked at Sam. Sam shrugged. Sam shrugged back. Sam nodded. Sam nodded back. Sam and Sam looked at Sam and nodded together. Sam grinned." Sam runs into Tigers on the way to school and they take all his clothes. In the end the Tigers run so fast they melt into butter. Sam scoops up the butter and everyone eats it (the butter tigers) on pancakes. Need I say more?

THE WEIRD
600+ pages about an alien that has taken over a human body and fallen in love with the humans boyfriend and brother. As much as I didn't want the alien to be assaulted by the angry humans, I couldn't like her. She was, after all, an alien who stole a humans body. When faced between choosing humans or aliens, I have to cheer for the humans every time. That just the way it is. My dreams have turned weird. I'm afraid to run into a cat at night...with the glowing eyes and all. I don't know that I really loved it. A little too weird for me. It would make an excellent movie, though. The whole "Earth's being taken over by aliens" bit has done well in the box office.

Ryker @ 2 Months

• 8 pounds 4 ounces


• loves to be held


• prefers being on his tummy rather than his back


• sleeps a lot... if he's being held


• loves his big brother


• likes being held


• eats every 4 hours
  
• spits up A LOT
  
• is happiest when he's held



• the perfect addition to our family

  

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads in my life.

I must start with my amazing husband and father of my sweet boys. As parents of a newborn sleep is fleeting, but I get more sleep than most new-moms. Brian eagerly gets up in the night with Ryker and Jaxon and takes care of them for me. He is so patient with me and the boys. He works hard, plays hard, and is a great provider. But most importantly, he loves me and his boys and would do anything for us. We love you! We are all so glad when daddy comes home!

I asked Jaxon to tell me some things he loves about his dad. This was his list:
"We wrestle. I like to work with him, and play jets, and ride his motorcycle and play with him. We go to football games. I like him to rub my back. I like to play baseball with him. I like going to the mailbox with him. Oh, and play cars with me too!" His daddy is truly his best friend. There is nothing sweeter than to see Brian playing and taking care of Jaxon and Ryker.

Father's Day card
(We made a card like this for the grandpas as well)

My father-in-law, Scott is a wonderful father and grandfather. From the very first time I met him, Scott has made me feel so welcome and loved in his family. Every time I see him he gives me a hug and says "How are you, my dear?" He loves his grandsons and loves to do special things for them. He makes it a point to have chocolate milk in the fridge if he knows Jaxon will be coming over. Brian has an exceptional dad that taught him how to be the great dad that he is.

3 Generations of Vincent Boys

My dad is such a great example to me. He always has at least a dozen projects going on at a time, and they are usually for someone else. He cheers for the underdogs in life and goes out of his way to help people. My dad has taken us on a lot of adventures: hiking, rafting, fishing, skiing, backpacking, without tents because then we couldn't see the stars. He carries scriptures in his backpack and teaches us on the tops of mountains. He loves to learn and share his knowledge with others. He is the greatest dad I could have asked for.

Jaxon & Ryker with Grandpa Anderson

Hit The Road, Jax!

It's official. My little boy isn't so little anymore. Jaxon has mastered (mostly) the riding of a bike. We are still working on the stopping part. Right now he just lifts his feet off the pedals and coasts until he stops. I don't know why, but he's afraid to push the pedals backward and use the brakes.

The Finished Product

After learning the very basic skills in layering (thank you Josh!) I have successfully finished my first photoshop project....

National Doughnut Day

In honor of National Doughnut Day I thought I would take a minute and reflect on these scrumptious treats....

Favorite doughnut moments

• Making homemade doughnuts on a Sunday afternoon as a kid. Hmmm, I wonder if mom still has that doughnut machine? I might have to give her a call....
• Eating doughnuts for breakfast on Saturday General Conference.
• Buying Crumb Doughnuts before choir in high school. Gotta love the vending machines!
• My boss bringing my paint crew doughnuts and juice on my last day of work.
• Eating doughnuts with the student council kids after our morning meetings.
• Anytime I eat a doughnut Ü

Favorite doughnut places

• Tasties
• My mom's kitchen
• Any place that sells fresh doughnuts except.....
• Call me crazy, but I really don't care for Krispy Kream doughnuts

Favorite doughnuts

• Packaged: Crumb Doughnuts. Yummy!
• Bismark....cream filled with milk chocolate frosting
• Apple fritters
• Blueberry cake doughnut w/ blueberry frosting
• Old fashioned cake doughnuts
• Chocolate cake doughnuts

To all my friends everywhere.....Happy Doughnut Day! Have a yummy celebration!!

Photoshop of Horrors

I've decided to make my own birth announcement for Ryker. Sounds simple enough, right? After a much needed crash course in photoshop by my brother-in-law Josh, I felt confident that I could make it happen. I took over 100 photos and spent at least 8 hours creating the announcement. When I took it in to be printed I thought I had better print just one first....just to be on the safe side. Good thing. The print came out and the pictures looked pretty good. The text, however, was pixely (is that a word?) and some of it was even cut off. Great. Hopefully I can get it fixed, printed, and in the mail before Ryker's changed too much.

I really love pictures of Jaxon with Ryker. It's hard to show in words how much Jaxon adores his baby brother. I think some of the pictures capture a portion of the love these brothers share.

Squeaky Clean

Jaxon went to the dentist for the first time today. Yes, I know I am a slacker. He should have seen the dentist a long time ago. Better late than never, right? So finally I made an appointment and we went. We aren't 100% on getting his teeth brushed every night....but we do try. I also have too much candy in the house. When Brian got home from work Saturday 11:30 morning he asked Jaxon if he had had breakfast yet.

Jaxon: "Yep."
Brian: "What did you have?"
Jaxon: "A sucker."

So sad to say that it was true. That's all the boy had eaten. I was busy trying to get Rykers birth announcement done so Jaxon took it upon himself to get something to eat. Good thing dad came home to fix the boy a bagel.

Waiting in the waiting room prior to seeing the dentist.

Having some "pictures" taken of his teeth. He didn't mind the x-rays at all.
Waiting for the cleaning. The hygienist was really cute. She told Jaxon that if he clapped his hands he could make the chair go up. He didn't mind the flossing....nothing new there. He was very nervous to have his teeth cleaned with the "spinning toothbrush". She offered to wait until the next visit, but I knew that it wouldn't make it any less scary. After trying to reassure him that it wouldn't hurt, I basically just forced his head down in to the chair. (Mean mom, huh?) As soon as the hygienist touched the first tooth he laughed and said, "That's not too bad!" He let her clean all of his teeth without a problem and let the dentist look without complaint.

The dentist said his teeth looked great (whew!)
He was such a brave little soldier. Hopefully in 6 months he will remember how easy and pain-free this was. For his braverism he got a sticker, toothbrush, sugar-free gum (which he hated. I told him to get the bouncy ball. Maybe he'll remember that next time as well.), and a trip to the dollar store where he purchased a Space Gun.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Brian's parents have left for Sweden to pick Uncle Brady up from his mission. Before they left they tried contacting their sprinkler guy to fix a couple of broken sprinkler heads. When they couldn't get in contact with him, they called Brian to see if he would fix them. No problemo. Saturday after work, we headed up to Perry to work on the broken sprinklers.
Brian and Jaxon got right to work but soon encountered numerous problems.

• Problem #1: Tree roots. Quaking Aspen, though sturdy trees and very pretty to look at, have an excellent root system that makes quite a mess....especially with sprinklers. Cottonless Cottonwoods have very thick roots that are also a bear.
• Problem #2: Cable line. What Brian thought was a tree root ended up being the cable line. Luckily, he only cut the protective sheathing and left the cable itself exposed....but not cut.
• Problem #3: Hidden pipe. This by far was the biggest problem. As Brian tried to expose the end of the funny pipe to fix the last of the heads, he took a pic to carefully remove the dirt around the sprinkler lines. What he didn't know was that directly below these lines was another line. Ryker and I had just sat down outside to watch the boys work when Brian hit this hidden line. What we then experienced was nothing short of Old Faithful. Brian had hit the water main. Crap. We all ran for cover as Brian worked to get the water shut off.
• Problem #4: Dirt + Water = Mud
• Problem #5: Mud + Boy = Mess

Jaxon taking a break from all the work to play with his transformer Brian's expression pretty much sums it all up, doesn't it?
The muddy boy
The boy that slept through it all.