Tanner @ 18 Months

Where has the time gone?!? Our little Tanner is 18+ months old already. It seems like just a short time ago that we found out that we were expecting him. Then we were holding him for the first time. And now we can't keep up with him!

Tanner is a very happy, healthy, energetic, mischievious, loving, giving little boy. In case you can't tell from the picture, the pics I snapped of him tonight are taken with him smack-dab in the middle of the dining room table, with his favorite blankets, a book, and a snack. Three of his current favorite things. The table is his new favorite place to play (no matter how hard we try to keep him off.) He has two blankets that Grandma Applehans made him that are his absolute favorites. He gets so excited when he seems them, he drags them all around the house, he chews on them. He loves to read. I love to hear him "read" books to himself. Tanner is ALWAYS good for a snack. Always! If he hears someone rustling a bag, he comes running so he doesn't miss out. If he hears the fridge open, he's right there almost immediately. We have only found two things so far that he simply won't eat: tomatoes and olives. Everything else is a go! He is a very giving, sharing little boy. He loves to share his snacks with Mommy and Daddy. His little fist is usually covered in slobbers when he shares a morsel, but how can one resist such a thoughtful gesture?! :) He also is very polite, always saying "thank-you" when one is warranted. It sounds more like "da-do", but we know exactly what he means! He's starting to talk a lot lately! Much is spoken word, but he also remembers most of the sign languare we taught him as well.

We are very blessed to have this special little boy in our family. We love him with all our hearts!

FHE - Planting our Garden

It was Jesse's turn to plan Family Home Evening this week and we started our garden. The missionaries came over earlier in the day and shared a spiritual thought on faith being like a seed and things we can do to "water and nourish" our faith. So this was a very fitting FHE.
We planted carrots, cucumbers, radishes, peas, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, okra (okay, didn't know hubby liked that stuff, yuck!), and some flowers. Our FHE was on Friday since Jess works Mondays, but get this - our plants are starting to sprout already!! :) Andrew thought that was pretty cool!

I found these really cute, foam construction hats at Michael's. Apparently the planting of the garden goes much better when wearing a construction hat.

And this is what kind of mischief Tanner got into once he was bored with planting the garden - dumping powdered sugar ALL over the livingroom/playroom area! (Okay, so you must know that he and Andrew got into the powdered sugar the other day, too, and I found them licking if off the floor!!! Ewww!)

I'm really excited about planting a garden this year - I hope it turns out well! Yummy, yummy, fresh grown veggies!

This Week

Jesse had his spring break from school this past week. It was nice to have him home a bit more and we got a lot done! He detailed my car for me one day (including taking out the seats and shampooing the carpet). We went to Spokane for our monthly temple trip. We had a little family get-together with my Mom and siblings who live close enough (you know: good food, great company, some games, visiting).

The biggest thing he accomplished though, was this:
For a year and a half, we've had this space ready for a built in entertainment center, but hadn't got around to do anything with it. Last Saturday, Jesse decided with spring break coming up, it was time to tackle it. Immediately we headed to the building supply store, picked up the necessary supplies (he'd created the plans quite a while ago), and started. It's not quite finished yet, but you get the basic idea. He still has to put the finishing trim on it, and it will have a drawer and cupboards where you currently see the big, white space at the bottom. This picture really does it very little justice - it looks awesome. AND he designed and built it himself. I feel very blessed to have such a talented, motivated husband (and a new entertainment center)!!!

Okay, next pictures - the boys. Tonight Tanner found his church tie on the floor and decided he needed to wear it around the house. So he did. And he found a hat to complete the outfit. He looked so cute and funny all at the same time! He's such a little character! We love him to pieces!

Andrew decided that playing dress up with Tanner would be fun, so here he is, too! Who said you have to have girls to play dress up??? We sure love our little Andrew-man!

Here are the boys, sporting their new outfits from Grandma Applehans. They were so excited to get their package in the mail and even more excited when they opened it and found new shorts and shirts, animal crackers, Easter candy, a new movie, and Andrew got new pjs. (The new pjs came because Andrew "complained" to Grandma that his blue jammies and his red jammies both had holes in the toes. Grandma told him she'd send him some new ones and for the week and a half after that, everytime he put jammies on he asked when his new ones would be here.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (A few days late)

For St. Patrick's Day this year, I decided we were going to do a little celebrating. Jesse had to work, but the boys and I ate a green dinner and made green cupcakes with LOTS of green sprinkles. (Andrew had a lot of fun with the sprinkes!) Yummy!

Andrew also had a lot of fun with the frosting of the cupcakes.
Tanner had a lot of fun with the eating of the cupcakes. By the time he was finished, he had green cupcakes, frosting, and sprinkes everywhere!

Feeding the Ducks

We took the boys to some ponds in Lewiston last week to feed the ducks. It was a huge hit - they LOVED it! At first Jesse wasn't so sure of the idea, but once we were finished he informed me that we would be doing that again soon! I think Andrew would agree with that because the next day he told me the ducks were hungry and needed bread - as he pretended to throw an invisible piece of bread to some invisible ducks in the living room. Tanner, being a ham as usual! His favorite part of feeding the ducks was throwing the bread, running over to the piece he just threw, picking it up, and throwing it again. He also liked stirring up the gulls that landed trying to get their share (ie, chasing them!) Andrew went through piece after piece of bread rather quickly. He really got into feeding as many ducks as possible. We even caught him picking up a piece of bread, blowing it off, then feeding himself! EWWWW!

Mommy and the boys. Look, short sleeves! (Short lived spring-time feeling though, as we got a couple inches of snow just two days later.)

Daddy and the boys. We love our family time together!

Jesus Wants Me for a... Nursery Boy!

Today was Tanner's first day in nursery!!!! He LOVED it! Now, some of you may be wondering how this could be already, since he's not 18 months old until March 18, and the 18 month mark is the golden one for nursery. Well, it happened something like this... We finished sacrament meeting and while we were gathering our stuff, visiting, etc, Tanner disappeared. Gone! No where to be sighted. Since I'm in Primary, I go directly there to help kids transition, set the tone, etc. So I leave Tanner in Jesse's hands. He later informs me that he FINALLY found Tanner in nursery (the classroom is right across the hall from where we meet for sacrament meeting). He'd made himself right at home! The nursery leaders told Jesse to go ahead and leave him since he was only 18 days from the mark anyway. So, our little guy is now a Nursery Boy! He did so well. Bro & Sis Garrison said he was so good (relief), he folded his arms during prayer (we've been practicing a lot lately, since he tends to like to run around like a crazy boy), and played nicely with all the other children (yeah!). He's growing up sooooooo fast!