Bunk Beds

Knowing that a new baby is coming and that he will need a room of his own in the not too distant future I've kept my eyes open for a bunk bed for Vance and Tanner. Well, I find one for a good deal this week and so we bought it. Vance has been so excited to put it together which is pretty funny since he has loved the bed he has been sleeping in and still talks about how Grandpa put it together. Anyway, at first we figured we would wait until we were ready for "Baby Porter" (as my boys call our new baby) to move into a crib before we put the big boys in the bunk beds, but then I decided I would rather deal with the adjustments of Tanner switching rooms, both boys sharing a room, and all that jazz before there is a new baby in the house needing to be fed at all hours of the night so we went to down putting the bunk bed together (great Sunday activity, no?) Vance wanted to be Dad's big helper and so he was. First we had to take apart Vance's bed and put it in our garage until it is needed again.

Of course, we needed to play in it as the pieces were taken apart.
The boys still wanted to be part of the action, but we needed them out of the way so they watched "Finding Nemo" on the laptop.

Here is the finished product! They were so excited about their new bed! We made Vance practice going up and down the ladder many times before bed and then he practiced a few times on his own after we'd said good night to him... Tanner had a rough time falling asleep in his new bed (shocker), but anytime we asked him if he would rather sleep in his old or new bed he said the new one. I realize that most kids his age are just starting out in a toddler bed and we have been there down that and moved on to a twin bed. Oh well. He made the transition to a toddler bed very smoothly and really never fell out of bed so I'm not worried about that happening in a bigger bed. I'm more worried about those two keeping each other up at night. ;) Wish us luck!

This makes me smile...

I couldn't decide which video to post because I like them both so you get two videos of Vance singing. He loves to sing "I Am A Child of God" with his Dad before bed at night. He also likes to sing it to Tanner before nap time. Oh so sweet!

P.S. Tanner likes to sing too, probably more than Vance, but he's not as cooperative when the camera comes out as Vance. In fact, you may notice in the first video he volunteered to sing. I was videotaping him doing something else.

This is a common sight at our house

Vance playing on the Nintendo DS while Tanner watches.

Vance's check up

I finally got Vance into the doctor for his 4 year wellness check, only a month after he turned four. I told him last night that he'd be going to the doctor this morning and he was so excited. I'm not sure why. That excitement lasted until the nurse took his blood pressure. Then he got really nervous and quiet which is how he remained the rest of the time. He was good though. In fact he was quite the trooper. He had four shots and got a flu vaccination. Thank goodness that one was the spray so he didn't have to get poked five times. He cried a little when he got his shots, but he didn't fight it too bad. Now he has all the immunizations he'll need before going to kindergarten. For anyone interested he is 41 pounds and 41 1/4 inches tall. That puts him just above the 75 % for his weight and just under the 75% for his height. Vance is at a really fun age right now. We enjoying all the fun, laughter he brings to our house and comments he comes up with. He is learning to be polite by saying please, thank you, and I'm sorry often. Although he still has the honesty of a typical 4 year old as my dad found out when Vance told him that he had a big belly. We also are learning to be nicer in the things we say around here. For example, on Sunday I was telling Stephen that my primary class would not shut up and Vance instantly reprimanded me for saying "shut up". I love my that kid!

Spring?

It's the middle of January however, it has felt more like the beginning of Spring the past few days. Despite that Tanner has a bit of a cough we have just had to go out and enjoy the weather. We were all out there in our jackets and didn't even get cold!Tanner is still getting the hang of his scooter. Vance is a pro now, but Tanner hasn't quite got the steering down yet.

This is Vance's spider that he created. I told him to crouch down in the picture and that is the result I got.

The last picture had to be taken as proof that at least one time when I told the boys it was time to go in neither of them cried, pouted, or ran away. It helps that I told them they could have a snack and play with their trains when we got inside.

Sunday

Our ward moved to 11 o'clock church time this year. I really wish we could have stayed at 9. We're still trying to figure out a Sunday routine. Here are the boys playing before church.

And of course we need to get our Sunday paper reading in.

Digital Scrapbooking

Vance just turned four last month and I am celebrating on getting his first year of life scrapbooked this week. Yeah, I'm a little behind especially since kid number three will be here in around 2 months. If I hadn't decided to go digital I would probably still be in Vance's first month so that's a plus. I thought you might like to see a few pages I've done. Just remember I am learning as I go how to get around Photoshop Elements and so these pages are nothing extra fantastic, but hey one year down!

No Cookies

I was making No-Bake Cookies tonight and Vance was a little confused on the name so Stephen was having a bit of fun with him.

Quick Trip

The past month or two we just seem to be going from one thing to the next. I suppose that is pretty normal for the time of year it is. This past weekend we were able to make a quick trip to Utah for my niece's blessing. It's the first time Stephen's been given a day off since started working last January. It was nice because we were able to see Stephen's parents, two of his sisters, and a nephew, as well as all of my family. My poor boys were thrown off their regular schedules with all the traveling, time change, and visiting. Tanner fell asleep on Holly's couch for a bit. Here is Chloe in her blessing dress. She wanted nothing to do with a picture because she was hungry. I know she is bawling in this picture, but I still think it such a cute one.
We were altogether so my aunt took a picture for us. Our family is just getting bigger and bigger all the time (I mean by the number of people, of course). I think Rose better marry a very tall man so Stephen doesn't stick out so bad. Just in case anyone is curious left to right we have Sean, Jillian, Glen, Vance, Eric, Stephen, Tanner, Heather, Mom, Chloe, Holly, and Dad.