Two steps forward...one step back

I am still trying to play catch up and have not gotten as far as I would like. I am trying to put together our week of family vistors and other events of late...and hopefully I will get totally caught up soon. I just had to document yet another day in the life of Ethan. I had mentioned recently that we are seeing the glimmer of hope of him moving out of the terrible twos and hopefully not fully entering into the terrible threes...he really has gotten so much better. But as with many things we had just a slight step back in time the other day...those glory days resurfaced. It actually was a bit funny and we are getting better at laughing at the "small" things he does. You just have to document these kind of days so as to see the progress you have made and let your kids see as they get older they should be grateful they lived as long as they did!!! Ethan has been the biggest sweetie lately...but I am not sure if the mischieviousness will ever leave him.

Ethan unrolled a very large portion of a box of tin foil and layed it nicely down the floor all the way from the kitchen to the living room. Of course in true Ethan fashion he tried rolling it back on the roll and instead we now have a very large square of tin foil we are slowly trying to use.

Ethan had helped me make Jello on the same day he made the tin foil red carpet...he loves Jello. Well he does not enjoy waiting for the Jello to set so he is constantly trying to check it to see if it is hard. Marc went out of the kitchen only to return a minute later to this lovely mess...Ethan had stuck his hand in the Jello to test it and obviously it was not quite done.

Ethan trying to wash his hands of the "evidence" before he got caught for the crime...gotta love that grin!

Tooth Fairy are you really there?????

So I had one of those great mom mess up moments last night...one that you find yourself totally lying to your kids to get out of (maybe I should not assume all of you have had those). Brandon lost yet another tooth...the kid almost has a mouth full of adult teeth at the age of 10 (is that normal)? Anyway, we did the ritual of putting it in a baggy and sticking it under his pillow. Well tonight as he is getting into bed and settling down he sticks his hands under his pillow to stretch out a bit and lo and behold he pulls the baggy out...with the tooth still in it. Well after he brings it to me and asks why the tooth fairy did not come I say well she must have just been very busy last night and might not have had time to stop by...or maybe she might have even been confused which one of you lost the tooth since lately it seems there are three of you putting teeth under your pillows. (Ok I realize that is about the lamest come back one could make, but somehow Brandon accepted that excuse). So we replaced the tooth under his pillow with the hope that for sure tonight she would make the big stop. Thinking the situation was under control I move into Trystan's room to say good night. Next thing I know here comes Brandon with a question and this is how the conversation goes:

B: Mom are you the tooth fairy?
Me: Uh no Brandon why would you think that?
B: Well why would the tooth fairy not take my tooth if it weren't you? (not sure what he was implying there...like I forget things or something)?
Me: Brandon remember I knew the tooth was under the pillow so don't you think if it were me I would have taken it since I knew it was there?
B: Well yes I guess so...I just read a book called My Daddy is the Tooth Fairy and I thought that maybe it could be you.
Me: I understand...but no I am not the tooth fairy (and dad kindly chimed in and said he was not either).
B: Ok it was just a thought (and he turns around and heads back to bed).

So I am hoping that kind of forgetfullness will never happen again at the same time wondering when the "real" truth will finally come out. One more reason to be a bit sad at my kids growing up so fast. I guess I also worry that once the oldest catches on it is history for the younger ones...unless serious bribing really works. I wonder what the next question will be...mom was that you kissing Santa Clause last night?

Tower of....????

OK so I still have a lot of catching up to do but I just thought this was to cute to pass up. The other day Ethan took a whole bag of paper towels and decided to build a tower out of them. It was fun watching him try and get each one on just right so it would not fall over and then to have him stretch to put the last two on top (of course he ended up asking for help). I think one of the best parts about this tower, besides his creative genius, is the fact that he left the paper towels all in tact. Normally I would have found him unrolling the paper towels and then either leaving them as a decorative feature of the room or attempting to roll them back up, which of course makes the roll completely uneven and enlarges it by four times. I was thrilled he just did something cute and left well enough alone...could we be seeing a glimmer of change in our little monster man?!

Swimming is awesome!!!

I am now trying to catch up on all my posting as I have fallen very behind...as they say better late than never. I had the kids (Trystan and Ethan) in swim lessons this summer like most people do when summer hits. I have to say I was really wondering how much could be accomplished with them in 8 days...my only real goal was for them to be able to save themselves if they fell in a pool. Well when you have a teacher like they did not only were my expectations met they were far exceeded. We went to a lady in our ward who is amazing in all aspects of the word, including swim instruction. After watching her teach I have to say I came away extremely impressed and would recommend her to anyone...you better sign up quick though as she goes fast. Anyway, both of the boys are able to swim now (even little Ethan) and love the freedom of not having to wear a life jacket...not to mention the new found freedom I have. Thanks to Shelly for doing an amazing job with my kiddos and for letting us come swim at her amazing pool!!!!!

"THE BEGINNING"

This is Trystan trying to console Ethan on the first day of lessons...and then Ethan crying the entire time asking if it was time to get out yet

Although you cannot totally tell this is Ethan hanging on for dear life and expressing how much he really had no desire to do this.

Shelly giving Ethan a little help with putting his face in the water...she did not let "no I don't want to do that" deter her.

"THE END...TRYSTAN"

Trystan's favorite thing was to jump off the diving board and swim the length of the pool.


"THE END...ETHAN"

Way to go boys...you did AWESOME!!!!

Think again

Can we just say this is what Ethan looks like when he is locked in a room with his dad during sacrament meeting after making some poor choices. Our kids do not get the luxury of running the halls if they choose to leave sacrament meeting...so they get the classroom with one of us and nothing fun to do. Marc said Ethan did not enjoy a minute of the experience. I am hoping maybe this will make Ethan think twice about leaving sacrament meeting...then again it is Ethan so maybe not.

Fourth of July

Well this was the first year that we actually ventured out to watch fireworks. Usually we have our kids watch them from the windows or on TV or just head them to bed at their normal time. Last year Marc promised the boys we would brave the heat and go out and watch the fireworks like most other people do...of course he forgot to mention this to me. I was not totally thrilled to go out and sit in the heat but knew he had made a promise to the boys we could not go back on. So off we went.

Admittedly the heat was not as bad as I had invisioned once we got out. Of course the boys could not contain themselves that they were actually going to see "live" fireworks. Well in true Muhlestein fashion things did not go quite as planned. We arrived at our destination and picked out our spot in the parking lot along with many other excited spectators. After waiting for what seemed like forever and hoping the windstorm that was brewing would not cancel the show they started...and then a few fireworks later they stopped. After staring at a blank sky for awhile I thought really that could not possibly be it. After waiting for now what really was forever people started packing up and leaving. Are you kidding me... the year we finally get out for our big family 4th outing and we get 5 minutes of fireworks!!!!! Of course kids being kids did not totally understand that all the falling embers from the fireworks that began blowing all over were probably considered a fire hazard and they would have to stop the show. Next thing you know the great family outing turns into lots and lots and lots of complaining. After waiting a bit longer I was ready to pack it in and call it a night, but not my hold out be positive husband. He wanted to wait just a bit longer to see if things would improve. Well after hearing from people who were closer to the fireworks that they did in fact stop the show as embers were landing on children I was ready to go...not so fast for my hubbie. Once again he wanted to wait just a bit longer and see if the show would start again...um ok what's a few more minutes of complete fussing and complaining. Well much to our surprise they did start again. It ended up being a pretty good show and the finale was well worth waiting for. The kids ended up loving the whole night and other than being extremely tired the next day had nothing but good to say. Thanks dad for sticking it out...if it had been up to mom we would have bailed! Next year I think we will head up north where it is cooler and from what we hear the fireworks are great!!!!

Here is our one picture of the whole night with our kids sitting on the top of the car...from a cell phone no less.

Update...

It has been forever it seems since I last posted anything...and things are starting to pile up. It is all thanks to the entire family having one sickness or another the last two weeks. We have had ear infections, sinus infections and pink eye...not to mention those coughs that just seem to linger with no other symptoms but are just annoying. We are grateful to say we are back amongst the living and are finally coming out of it all, and not a minute too soon. I am totally done with all things that go along with sickness...and hope to not have to see another bottle of pink eye drops for a LONG LONG time. I do count my blessings though as our family rarely gets sick. It certainly helps one appreciate the health they enjoy and not want to take that for granted. I did not even take pictures of the last couple of weeks to document the misery...probably for the best.

I did take some pics of our family game day we had the other Sunday. Since it is so wonderfully hot here now and we cannot get out for our normal Sunday walks or bike rides we try to find other appropriate entertainment for the Sabbath...with four boys that can pose quite a challenge at times.

We built different shapes with dominoes and then knocked them over, Ethan helped daddy build his very first Lego tractor and of course what family is complete without a game of Twister. We love family game day!