Murphy's Law

Tonight I wish to post on Murphy's Law. I think that when you have children, Murphy's Law turns into Murphy's Law times 10. Our lease is up tomorrow on our apartment, and being the procrastinators that we are, we waited until tonight to do our final cleaning. So, I'm cleaning the kitchen when I hear Todd say, "Riley, what...is that blood?" I come running out into the living room to see Riley sporting a bloody nose and blood on the nice WHITE carpet. Great. I clean Riley up when I hear Todd say, "What is that on the floor?" I go to check it out and hope beyond all hope that it is just beans from Riley's bean burrito dinner. Well, good ol' Murphy had other plans. It was poop...from Riley. Nice. Perfect time for a blow-out. So, into the tub Riley goes. We of course didn't have any bath towels at the apt, so he used a kitchen towel that we brought to use as a cleaning rag. I go back to cleaning the kitchen. Todd gets Riley out of the tub and dried off, and then Riley makes a bee line to the kitchen so he doesn't have to put a new diaper on. He shuts himself in the closet and when I open the door...he had peed on the floor!!! Ahhh! Murphy's Law at it's finest. Needless to say, it took a very, very long time to clean that teeny-tiny apt. We love our life. :)

Sweet Boys

We were all a little bit sick yesterday and enjoyed a nice day at home lounging in our underwear...well, at least Riley did. Little Tans is getting his teeth and was pretty miserable all day until we got the Tylenol. So, Tanner is drooly and Riley is in his diaper, but here are some pictures we took anyway. :)

Giddyup

On our sojourn around Liberty and Independence, we stopped at the LDS Visitor's Center. They had a cute little play area for the kiddos. Pay close attention to a special guest appearance from Aunt Em! :)

Farmstead Fun

We had a lot of fun playing at the Farmstead with our Aunt Em and Cousin Na-Nate. We especially loved the goats!

Riley LOVES to feed the goats. He's feeding them goat food...not pretzels. I promise!! :)

Trying to get both boys to smile at the same time while looking at the camera was impossible!

Aunt Em and Nay-Nay with the cute little goats in the petting zoo at the Farmstead.

Goats...

And more goats. We couldn't get enough of the goats.

The Truman Library

Well, here we are in Independence, MO, home of Harry S. Truman. We went on a little historical romp while my family visited; it was pretty fun. The Truman museum was one of the neatest museums I have been to...I just wish that Em and I could have gotten into it a little more instead of traipsing after the 3 kids. :) The kids actually were pretty good. Riley absolutely loved the phones that you could pick up to hear bits of Truman's life. He of course picked up the phones to talk to Sir Topham Hat...it was pretty darn cute.

We started out watching a short 15-minute video of President Truman in this auditorium that was pretty full of people. The video started out with some old video footage of a train coming into a station. Well, you can imagine that Riley thought it was the coolest thing ever. He immediately says, "Oh, train! Choo Choo! Look-a train!" Then the train blew its whistle to which Riley emphatically replied "All aboard!!!" I was dying. And just TRY to keep our little conductor quiet while a train is on the screen...near impossible! :)

The museum also had a replica of the Oval Office as it looked in Truman's years. Riley kept wanting to go outside, so I told him that we were going to go and see the Oval Office. Immediately he started saying, "Oval Office please!" Who knows, maybe this means that our little guy will one day be...President of the United States. I think his first order of business would be to have everyone in the White House wear train conductor outfits and have name tags that said "Thomas", "Percy", "Cranky the Crane", "Gordon"...and of course his would say "Sir Topham Hatt, the fat controller."

Finally...a video clip!!!

Well, I just finished digging through every box in our garage to find the bedding to the guest bedroom for my mom to sleep in tonight and am now exhausted. So, what better way to relax than to post a video clip? This was at dinner last night. Tans had already eaten his rice cereal and was as happy as could be.

Don't forget Tans

Today Todd came home for lunch, and before lunch we said a prayer on the food. We have been teaching Riley how to say his prayers, so he often repeats what we say. Today however was a little different. I was saying the prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for being able to eat lunch with Daddy, to which Riley added an emphatic, "and Tans!" It was just really too cute for words. :)

"I can tell by your voice..."

So, last night as I am sitting on the back deck holding Tans and watching Riley play in the backyard, the phone rings. This is the conversation I had:

"Hello?"
"May I speak with Alicia?"
"She is no longer at this address"
"Uh, huh...well then may I speak with the adult of the household?"
"You sure can, that would be me"
"Listen, I can tell by your voice that you are not an adult!"
"Are ya sure?"
click...dial tone

He hung up on me!!! I had to laugh.

Now, about a month ago as Todd and I were buying chairs for our dining room, the sales associate saw that I had Tanner and Riley and said, "Excuse me for saying so, but you do not look old enough to be having children." I asked her how old she thought I was and she guessed 17!!! So apparently I neither look nor sound like an adult...I think I could get used to this!!! :)

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I thought I would post this super yummy dinner that I made the other day. I think you'll like it.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust
Chicken, cooked and shredded
BBQ sauce
Ranch dressing
Mozzarella Cheese
Bacon, cooked and crumbled
Green onions
Cilantro, coarsely chopped

Cook the pizza crust according to instructions; take out of oven and spread with ranch dressing (I used home made dressing and made it with a little bit more powdered ranch and a little less mayo/milk to make it more flavorful); Mix shredded chicken with BBQ sauce and put on pizza (I let the chicken and BBQ sauce sit for a few hours before I actually made the pizza); sprinkle the crumbled bacon, green onions, and mozzarella cheese. Bake pizza according to instructions. when pizza is done, sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve. It is really yummy.

The BBQ sauce I used was this highly recommended Kansas City brand that was a little bit spicy and full of flavor. (Apparently Kansas City is known for its BBQ...yea!) Anyway, a good BBQ sauce I think could make or break this pizza.

"Down Please"

So, this morning I woke up to Riley saying in a slightly crying-type voice, "Mamma, down please". I thought that he must have gotten up out of his bed, went to the dining room and climbed into Tanner's high chair and gotten stuck...which by the way happens on a daily basis. So, I dragged myself out of bed and into the dining room...no Riley. Then I went to his room, opened his door and he looked at me from his big-boy bed and said, "down please". How cute is that? He could get out of his bed anytime he wanted to, but I'm sure not going to tell him that. :)

Brothers

Okay, so I have gone a little crazy with the postings today, but really, can you blame me? :) This is my last posting though for the night.

I love it when the boys are "getting along". Riley loves to play with Tanner and loves it even more when Tanner "gets him"...i.e. touches his face, hair, shirt etc... Riley thinks it is absolutely hilarious. Riley will sit right in Tanner's reach on purpose and just hold really still until Tanner grabs him and gives a little tug, and then Riley just cracks up making Tanner smile really big. Note to self, get some video of that to post.

Okay, so I need to get to sleep. I hope I have made up for lost time here on the blog. I have just LOVED being able to post today. Yea!!!

Little Tans Pics

Just some pictures we took last night of little Tans. Isn't he just the cutest...and I'm not biased or anything?!?! :)

Hey Dude

Well, I gave the update on Tans, so now it is big brother Riley's turn. Riley is officially sleeping in his big boy bed in his new bedroom. I have been dreading this day since his naps are most likely going to go extinct. Oh well, he loves his big boy bed and is ready for it so I guess it's time. Riley also loves his little brother Tanner and is always trying to give Tanner his binkie or bottle or some toy or another. It gets a little frustrating at times having a little helper always at my side. Riley is constantly getting into trouble. He loves to destroy anything he can get his hands on: books, food, you name it. He loves church with a capital L. It is quite amazing actually. He is a totally different child than the one the poor Wilkes-Barre Ward had to deal with. Go figure?!?! Well, that's about all my overly-tired brain can think of at the moment.

Our Address and Number

For those who are interested, here is our new address and new phone number:

15310 W. 150th Terrace
Olathe, KS 66062

913-254-9814

A Nightmare...I mean "A Day Out With Thomas"

Well, as most of you know, we took Riley to "A Day Out With Thomas" in June. We thought it was either going to be so much fun and Riley would love it, or it was going to be our worst nightmare. Unfortunately, it was the latter. Riley did LOVE riding on Thomas and he LOVED playing with the many train tables...it was sharing the trains and the tables with the dozens of other children that was the problem. We ending up staying for only 2-hours before we had to drag him away (literally) kicking, screaming, biting, and scratching to the car. It was pretty bad. We felt really terrible because we know how much he loves and adores Thomas the train, but his little two-year old self just didn't have the emotional capacity to deal with everything that was going on in the train yard. Poor kid. Anyway, it makes for a good story right?!?!

Oh, the last picture is of the "Assistant Conductor" (yellow shirt) who was in charge of telling our passenger car the rules of the train. As soon as he started talking I turned to Todd and said, "Hello, I am Dwight Shrute, Assistant Conductor...(Assistant TO THE Conductor)...on this train and I have few rules to lay down before we begin so listen carefully or your very lives will be at stake." We were dying of laughter when in the midst of his long list of "rules" he stopped abruptly and started CLAPPING really loudly at this poor volunteer who was seating a passenger apparently in the wrong spot. Then he started yelling at the passenger while the volunteer was telling him to relax and that it was okay. I kid you not, this is exactly what Dwight said: "It is NOT okay. I have the responsibility of keeping this train and everyone on it safe from harm and I will not calm down (As he is yelling angrily). Rules are made to be obeyed and I take them VERY seriously." I am cracking up just thinking about it. Oh, I can't wait for my beloved Office to start again. Hee! Hee! Hee! (The man in the white shirt is who he was yelling at. :) )

Is anyone still there?!?!

So, have I lost all of my bloggie family and friends?!?!? I hope not because we FINALLY moved into our new house, and we FINALLY have the Internet!!! Can you even believe it! I'm still not sure I believe it myself. So, I figure I have a lot of catching up to do in my long absence. Here it goes! First a Tanner update. He is a little over 5-months old now and is sooo close to sitting up on his own. He eats a TON and is quite the large little kiddo. He gets beat up quite a bit by his older brother but loves him anyway...sweet boy. He has got to be getting some teeth because all he ever does is drool up a storm and chomp away on anything he can get his little chubby hands on. Currently he is sitting in his little chair, talking away while gnawing on his thumb. :)