Random

One day Daddy taught Quinton and Clara about growing things and they planted seeds. Clara ended up eating the dirt, but they were fascinated!

Here's a random picture of Quinton and Clara eating bananas. They sure do like fruit!

Eating Suckers

Going "night-night" in Mommy and Daddy's bed

Sleeping Angels

Clara's first hair accessories

Jumping

Quinton and Clara absolutely loved jumping on Grandma and Grandpa Jenks' trampoline. The played nicely with each other for a very long time. Might not be a bad investment...

Daddy's Happy Day

The weekend of Barry's birthday we went to Oakley and spent some time with Barry's family while he and his sisters pitched in with their parents' garden.  After a day of hard work we celebrated Barry's and his nephew Gage's birthdays with a wiener roast. It was nice to get away and see family for a weekend.

We also had a picnic and went bowling, but I forgot the camera! Happy birthday honey!

Barry's Graduation Day

The day finally came and Barry was hooded a Master of Counseling. We're all so proud of him and his hard work to get through school after years of tests, papers, and dirty diapers. He still had some internship hours to finish up, but he got to walk with the rest of his class on May 8, 2010.

A few nights before his actual graduation his department had a nice dinner that our parents were able to come to.

I didn't get a good picture of him walking on stage, but I'll blame that on the Holt Arena's fabulous lighting.

Barry caught this enormous fish that week!

Second Chance Prom

My sister Jeni talked us into going to Second Chance Prom, a mock high school dance for those of us who are post-grad. It was awesome to see people of all ages (the best couple must have been in their 80's) getting their groove on. Barry and I aren't big into dancing, but it was fun to get dressed up and go to our first dance together.

Josh, Shari, Trent, Sheryl, Brian, Teresa, Barry, Heather, Jeni, and Nolan

Mommy's Happy Day

 Mommy turned 24 at the end of April and was thoroughly spoiled by Barry and family. Barry took me out shopping, to dinner, and to Fiddler on the Roof on Friday night. He even made me the most magnificent ice cream cake out of everything good and right in this world. Then on Saturday he, along with my mom and sisters, surprised me with a party at Krupp Scout Hollow. We braved the wind and had a fun Easter egg hunt for the kids and a hot dog roast afterward. It was a wonderful birthday.

Quinton loves birthdays and he has taken to calling them Happy Day. He gets really excited whenever it's someone's turn for a birthday and even told a complete stranger, "It's Mommy's Happy Day!" His favorite part is the Happy Cake. I think that's what we'll call it forever.

Clara loves collecting and putting things away and probably picked up the same Easter eggs 5 or 6 times. She just loved it more and more each time.

Bring on the Happy Cake!

Clara and Connor chowing down.

Why you should never separate a girl from her ice cream cake.

Easter

First of all, if you hadn't heard, Clara loves to climb. She finds all sorts of ways to get on the table, beds, and couches. I think she just likes to see her mommy's heart beat frantic.

We were able to go to Oakley for Easter and General Conference this year. On the way we stopped and visited Great Grandma Jenks in Rupert and she hid some eggs for the kids.

Quinton and Clara had a blast with their cousins. Quinton LOVES to color eggs. Mommy and Daddy can't wait until he can do it on his own in a year or two (clothes aren't meant to be Easter-colored). In the picture is Aunt Sarah and Lincoln.

Clara tried to figure out what everyone was doing with the eggs and tested a theory by licking one.

Finding eggs filled with candy was even better than turning them colors! Of course, we had to wait for the snow to melt that day.

The young kids got to go first - Quinton, Clara, Elisha, and Nolan.

Then the older ones had a go at it - Jeran, Rowan, Emily, Ammon, Lincoln, and Camden.

Conference was wonderful and we really enjoyed being with Barry's family. Quinton and Clara loved playing with Grandpa and showed their love with lots of stickers!

Boise Trip

Barry had Spring Break last week and we started it off with a trip to boise.  We stayed with his friends Sam and Heather Rodriguez and had a great time. It was nice to finally get away for a little while.

One day we went fishing at a pond right in Boise and even though we didn't catch anything, the kids sure enjoyed being outside. Poor Clara fell off a step and banged up her eye, but otherwise had a lot of fun.

Quinton loves fishing with his daddy.

We also did a little shopping and even found a couple garage sales. The kids behaved really well on the trip and in the car. They slept for 6 out of the 8 hour round trip! Most of all Quinton and Clara just enjoyed having our attention all day.

Clara is a little dare-devil climber. She tries to get up anything and everything and makes it a lot of the time. We had a great weekend with friends and away from the stresses of home, school, and work.
This week we're back to it, but a little more refreshed.

The Long Week

On the Sunday before last we took Quinton to the hospital because he was breathing really hard and his breathing treatments weren't helping. We decided to take him to Blackfoot because we thought their ER would get us in quickly. Unfortunately we were in the waiting room for 2 1/2 hours. After waiting another half hour for the doctor come in, I finally flipped out and yelled at the staff for neglecting my little boy for 3 hours. I demanded that the doctor come in and treat him right then. He came in 30 seconds later and eventually Quinton was admitted to the hospital for RSV and to help treat his asthma. We got to come home Tuesday morning and Quinton got better really fast. He did a lot better in the hospital than I would have thought. I think he liked all the attention and being able to watch cartoons all day long. Clara got sick the day after we got home, and though she was pretty miserable, her oxygen stayed high enough that we didn't have to take her to the hospital.
Two sick babies made for a very long and sleepless week. We needed about 4 extra sets of arms to be able to hold them all day long. I also had a scare when I found Quinton in his room with an empty bottle of children's motrin. I called poison control and luckily the max amount he could have taken in would not have been toxic. On another day Quinton was in time out for licking the electrical outlet and decided to strip off his diaper and poop on the floor. This morning Barry was giving Quinton a haircut in the bathroom while Clara was in the bathtub. Apparently it was bad timing because Clara started climbing out of the tub after she pooped all over in it. We're still getting over that mess. Life is never boring with two toddlers in the house!
Things have gotten better the past couple days. Quinton and Clara are a lot happier and warmer weather has allowed us to get outside and play a lot more. Hopefully now that it's Spring we'll all be healthier!

Not Eggsactly What I Wanted to See...

I found these two conspirators in the kitchen today trying to whip up some breakfast. They managed to get about half a dozen eggs cracked before I saw what they were up to!

More Winter

The kids were sick for pretty much all of January and Barry and I had our share of it as well, but I think we've gotten over the worst of it now. Clara is growing up fast and has such a fun personality. She likes running and climbing now. Quinton has been talking really well and suprises us with 6 or 7 word sentences that actually make sense. We're still working on the sleeping in his own bed thing, but I suppose that's a battle that won't end too soon. Sometimes he even sings songs or goes the extra mile to help his sister with something. We have our many moments of toddlerism (like when Quinton strips off his clothes and diaper and poops on the floor) but many moments of joy as well. They especially like to be cute right before going to bed at night by giggling and giving each other kisses, which I'm sure they do just to avoid going to sleep.

Before we put a safety latch on this cupboard, Quinton and Clara loved to get in the cereal and dump it all out on the floor.

Quinton LOVES stickers lately.

Ah, to be free and naked.

I wanted to get pictures of Clara getting messy eating spaghetti, but she was more excited about having her own plate to eat off of.

Clara gets a little protective of her bottle sometimes.

Milestones

We no longer have any babies in our house. Quinton has reached his terrific twos and Clara her wonderful ones. So now we have reached a whole new territory that I as a mother have no idea how to handle. Here are some of the new things my kids have learned.

Clara
1. Clara has been walking for about a month now. She is feeling very comfortable with her toddling abilities, which means she is also very comfortable with getting into the cupboards, the dishwasher, and the garbage can. Put her in another room and her lightning-quick speed will bring her back in about 3 seconds.

2. She walks the walk and now she is talking the talk. Her communication skills are increasing with words like more, up, and Ahh! She likes to remind us over and over too. Mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-mo-mo... up-up-up-up-up... Ahh!

3.Finally, Clara has learned how to defend herself from opposing forces, namely Quinton. She is very adept at hitting, biting, shoving, and yelling. That's our little princess.

Quinton
1. Quinton learned how to climb out of his pack and play over Christmas break, which led to climbing out of his crib, which leads now to climbing out of his toddler bed 43 times a night. My sweet son who used to be in his crib from 8 pm to 8 am and for 2-3 hours for a nap is now our alarm clock that bursts through the door at 5:30 in the morning singing, "Hi, Daddy!" Which leads Mom and Dad with little hair left to pull.

2. Yesterday Quinton started opening the fridge. We have yet to see all the possibilities that could come of this.

3. Quinton has developed quite an extensive vocabulary and we can even understand about a third of it. This is pretty cute most of the time when he holds conversations with us, but not so cute when he gets into a debate with us about needing a band-aid for his toe. I think our kids are almost as stubborn as we are.

4. Lately Quinton has sometimes found joy in hiding from his Mommy when he doesn't want to do something. All of a sudden he just disappears and is quiet long enough for panic to rise in my heart. I run around the house in a mad frenzy (or occasionally our apartment complex) screaming his name until I finally find him grinning in the closet or he pops out of seemingly nowhere. I'm sure I'll laugh in the afterlife at the scene that is played out from this talent of his.

I have been overwhelmed chasing Quinton and Clara lately. So I'm venting with a little sense of humor to relieve some of the stress. I love my children dearly and I know they won't stay toddlers forever. I will try to enjoy them for now but also hope for a time when my biggest concerns aren't naps and diaper rashes.