Pretend Drinks

We are trying to get Mason potty trained at NIGHT. Quite a task. So he isn't allowed to drink water before bed at night. This is REALLY hard for him. He is one thirsty little fella. Last night we were trying to get him to bed and he was crying that he was so thirsty. I told him we would trick his tummy and he could have a pretend drink.

Me: OK Mason, here is your drink! (Handing him a pretend drink.)
Mason: No Mom! It's not real!
Me: SSHhhhhh!! Don't tell your tummy it's not real and it won't know!

This same conversation was repeated over and over and over as we were trying to get him to fall asleep without a drink. A few minutes later, he got off his bed and got a drink.

Me: Mason, did you just take a drink? (A little angry at this point.)
Mason: No Mom, it was a pretend drink!

I guess that one bit me back huh??

October at our House

Here's a taste of last months happenings at the Ballantyne residence. What a fun crazy busy month. We are looking forward to the holidays and Spencer being home more now that football is over. (Although he has to start his administration internship for his masters so he will still be gone a lot.) We are going to be gone almost every weekend in November so hopefully we survive and our house doesn't deteriorate from the inside out with no Saturday cleaning sprees!



And of course no Mommy blog would be complete without the Halloween Costume Pictures!
We had a really fun Halloween. We all ran a 5K that morning, (Which I have no pictures of. . . What the heck?) including Mason. It was really fun. We really want to make running a fun thing our family can all do together. Then we all took a nap, went to our ward's trunk-or-treat, trick-or-treated a little more in the neighborhood, and came home to watch the Utah football game. Carter didn't understand exactly what was going on, but he would not let go of his bucket, so I think he at least grasped the fact that it was full of treats! Mason wasn't as into it as he has been before and now we know it's because he wasn't feeling well! He's been sick ever since. (We are sick of being sick!!) All in all, it was a fun day and we have a sack of candy that should last us quite some time! Happy Halloween!!

A few of my favorite things! (Ten Actually!) In no particular order.

1. I love listening to music while I'm editing photos. It seems to help the creative juices. I started a new station a few weeks ago that I LOVE LOVE LOVE!! It has a lot of Ingrid Michaelson, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, and Sara Bareilles. I love that it's FREE and custom and great. I had to pay this month because I listened for more than 40 hours, but it was only .99 no strings attached! What can you get for .99 these days?? Not much.




2. I love a clean house, but I hate cleaning house. My Mom was here last weekend and gave me this for my birthday. Love it. With kids getting crumbs everywhere all of the time it is a lifesaver! My whole kitchen, dining, living room area is one big wood floor. It is a workout to sweep and mop!! No more brooms and dustpans for this family. You can walk through the house without crunching for the first time in a long time!




3. I love living in Saint George! The weather is perfect, the people are nice, the size is ideal, we have beautiful scenery and recreation, I could go on and on. I'm glad Heavenly Father helped us decide this is where we need to be. We couldn't be happier!





4. Just looking at this picture fills my heart with gladness and my mouth with saliva. I LOVE smoothies. They make me feel a little healthy and besides that they are super tasty. The Orange Peel has about a million different flavors and I haven't tried one I didn't like yet. And besides that, they have cool vacuum sealed lids and super big straws. I honestly could eat three a day and be very happy. The budget would not like that as much as I would though.






5. I actually tried this mouthwash and found it quite disgusting, BUT Mason seems to like it! Last time we went to the dentist he had a few little cavities. Not big enough to be filled this time, but big enough to be concerned. SO we had to find a way to make brushing and FLOSSING fun for a four year old. Ha. Every night our family has a "Toothbrush Party." We all brush and floss. THEN we use this (And the Crest adult version for Mom and Dad.) When you spit it out, there are little chunks of plaque, food, or whatever. We call them "cavity bugs." We all look at eachothers' spit and see who has the most cavity bugs. Sick I know, but it gets the job done without a fight and that is worth it!!





6. I love hot chocolate and I love that it's getting cold enough to drink it. YUM.






7. Healthy Sexy Hair's Moroccan Oil Rocks. When the seasons started changing this year, my hair got static-ier than it is EVER been!! I couldn't stand it. It was in a bun everyday. UNTIL the ladies I'm in primary with suggested I try this and it has made a HUGE difference. My hair is super soft and dries really fast and smells Oh so delicious! Definitely worth the 19.99 I paid for the little bottle. (I hear it lasts FOREVER. That had better be true!)






8.Of course.





9. These. Are. Heavenly. There is a little cafe here called 25 Main. They make the best cupcakes you have ever had. ever. I can't describe it. They are just perfect. My personal favorites are pumpkin chocolate chip and chocolate raspberry. Oh my word. No wonder I can't lose weight.







10. No I don't like to eat babyfood. BUT I have found I way of administering it that has saved me lots of stress and heartache. As you read earlier I love smoothies and so does Carter. And I mean he LOVES them. It has always been a struggle getting him to eat babyfood though. What is babyfood?? A shelf stable smoothie. So one day I poked a small hole in the lid of one of these tubs of babyfood, stuck a straw in it, and wala!! Baby smoothie. Carter sucked it down in about 17 seconds. No messy face and hands, no trying to dodge flailing fingers to get the spoon in his mouth, no more fighting. And he eats a "meal" in a matter of seconds. Can I pattent this idea??

A little last of what we've been up to. . . .

Life has been so busy for us! Spencer is coaching football and working on his Masters while still teaching, plus he is the Cub Master now. I am doing preschool and photography and piano lessons and I'm in the primary. All of us have had colds and the flu. Mason is playing soccer. Needless to say, I haven't been posting much on the blog like I should. Here is a peek into our lives the last few months. We are excited to have a day off tomorrow to just be with each other and recharge.

Video Overload

So I just barely got all of the pictures and videos off of our point and shoot camera for the WHOLE year! Like since January. I use my big camera most of the time now. There were some funny videos I want to post, mostly for grandparents sake, but everyone else is welcomed to enjoy them also! I sure love my boys!


Carter and Daddy making funny sounds!





One of Carter's early bath experiences.






Mason and Carter Playing Cars








"Hey You Guys"
(If you haven't seen the movie Goonies you will not get this video.)






That's what you get when you play a country song backwards
My boys both LOVE music. They are really into classic rock and pretty much will dance to anything. This is one of Mason's many "favorite" songs. Videos never give his dancing justice. And Carter always stops dancing once he is on camera. I wish you all could be a fly on the wall during one of our family dance parties! It is a good time!! ;)




The next 3 videos were on a really fun night. We were "putting the boys to bed" and they were being so funny! Mason was dancing and Carter was trying to copy everything he did. I just caught a little bit of the funniness. Once again, I wish you all could've seen the whole experience! It was so so so funny!!










Happy Sunday!

Happy Birthday

I really feel bad for all of you who read this. The reason I feel bad is because you will never have the opportunity to be married to this amazing person. Some how I lucked out or she lost a bet. Jenny is the best wife in the world and the best mom to our boys. We all love her so much and appreciate all she does to help us get along. It is so much fun starting and ending businesses with her. It is a blast watching her take pride in her photography, she does such a great job. It really amazes me at how talented she is. I love watching her play with the boys and it is fun as we try to get Carter to realize that he can walk. Every day I wonder how miserable life would be with out Jenny. I cannot imagine a time in my life when she was not a part of it. She truly is my better half and I would be nothing with out her. I hope your birthday brings you happiness and the fun you deserve. I love you more than anything. Happy Birthday Babe!

I have to apologize for the pictures that are being posted! They are the only ones I have on my work computer.

An update on the boys

Mason has been saying funny things lately. Well, he always does, there are just a few that REALLY hit my funny bone the last few days.


Remember Hunny? (Mason's imaginary girlfriend.) The other day he hadn't mentioned her all morning so I asked him about it.
Me: Mason, where is Hunny.
Mason: I don't know.
Me: You don't know?
Mason: No. I broke up with her. (No. I didn't even know he knew the term "broke up.")
Me: That's so sad! What happened?
Mason: (In his angry attitude voice) She called me Todd.

Don't be alarmed. They are back together. I'm not really sure what happened, or who Todd is for that matter, but he doesn't seem too concerned about it.

Also, I got the planet earth videos for Spencer for his birthday. We are weird and like watching Discovery Channel type shows. Mason and Spencer were watching it the other day and a Tiger chased an elephant and ate it. Mason was very concerned and said to Spencer, "Dad! He didn't even say prayers before he ate!"

Okay, one more from him. We were watching that same show and Spencer and I started talking about how animals won't eat each other in the millennium and we were talking about whether or not we would be able to eat steak. Then I said we probably can, it will just be made out of soy beans. Spencer said something like "You can make anything out of those beans." Mason had been listening the whole time and piped in, "Ya! and bacon!" So if you were wondering, yes we will have steak in the millennium, it will just be made of bacon. We laughed so hard! He was really embarrassed and didn't know why we were laughing. It made total sense to him!




Carter is pretty funny lately too. He likes to burp. He fake-burps all of the time. It cracks me up. He also LOVES to dance. His current favorites are ACDC and Queen. He head bangs, claps, and waves his arms around in his carseat where ever we go. He will NOT fall asleep in his own bed at naptime anymore, but if I put him in the highchair he is out in minutes. So, every day I put him in the highchair while the big boys are eating lunch and move him to his bed when they are finished eating. He calls everyone (including himself) Dada. His favorite word (and pretty much the only word he says besides Dada) is "that" and he says it all day and points at things. He still WILL NOT walk. Whenever we try to help him he either sits down immediately, or if we are holding on to his arms trying to get him to stand up he just hangs there with his legs curled up. We have caught him standing by himself and taking a few steps accidentally, but if he's thinking about it, he just won't do it. He still loves Mason more than anyone else! Currently his favorite playtime activities are emptying the pans out of the kitchen cupboards, eating crayons, unrolling all of the toilet paper, and eating the windowsills. (Yes I really mean EATING them. There are gaping holes all along the windows.)



Wow our kids are funny. There is never a dull moment around our house!
I love my crazy life!

Another Day In The Life. . . . .

It has been a rough couple of weeks for me. I feel like I shouldn't complain because I have it so much better than so many others, but life has been very overwhelming for me the last month or so. I have been overwhelmed with being a wife, a Mom, keeping up on housework, earning extra money. . . . the usual. This morning was no different. I have a vinyl order that I have to get finished today. There is a small window from about 9:00 to 10:30 in the morning that both of my kids are usually happy and playing, the boy I tend is at kindergarten, and it's not quite time to start lunch. That is the only time I have to get extra things done during the day.

Today was no different so I headed back to get started. The program I use has an external hardware key that has to be plugged in to the computer for it to work. (It looks like a little thumb drive.) It is always in the same spot on my desk, but it wasn't there. I knew I had used it on Monday, so I began the search of all of the places it could've been. I even called Spencer at work to see if he'd seen it. He asked if I had said a prayer and I told him not really. (Who prays about a dumb thing like a missing hardware key?) I kept looking and finally at about 11:00 Carter could NOT wait any longer to be fed and put to sleep. I finally got him to sleep and was feeling really frustrated. I went back into the office and not knowing what else to do knelt down and told my Heavenly Father I really needed to find that key. I kept looking for a few seconds and Mason came in.

Mason: Mom, where is Carter?
Me: He's asleep.
Mason: So he can't mess up my trains?
Me: Nope.
Mason: Oh thanks Mom! You are the best Mom in the world! (Gives me the BIGGEST hug ever! Love him!)
Me: Mason, you know that little purple thing Mommy plugs into the computer sometimes? Have you seen it?
Mason: No Mom.

He goes off to play in the next room. He was in there for a few minutes and I hear him gasp and whisper, "The purple thing!" I went in to see and sure enough, he had found it. Two and a half hours after the search began. I had gotten it yesterday to work and on my way to the computer the kids were fighting in the toy room and I set it down in there.

Carter only slept for about 15 minutes and now he's eating crayons. I'll have to get him BACK to sleep now. The boy I tend just came home from school. I have to feed kids lunch, get Mason down for a nap too and teach piano lessons, so no time for finishing the vinyl. I'll just have to hurry and get it done tonight after dinner, but at least I found the key so I won't be stressing about it all day!

It makes me stop and think. I know the Lord isn't really concerned about my dumb hardware key, but He IS concerned about me. He watches out for me and I need to rely on Him more. He is always there and wants to help us we just have to ask Him to. So here is my new resolve: To rely on the Lord and let Him help me do the things I need to do and feel okay about not getting everything else done. I am so grateful to have someone I can go to ANY time of the day, ANY place I happen to be, with ANY problem I'm facing, and he will ALWAYS be there. He ALWAYS knows what I need and how to help. Sorry for the churchified post. I promise we will be back to our regular programing soon. ;)

What Love Is.

A good friend of mine. . .(Who doesn't read this, but "Thanks Caroline!") sent me this link the other day. It talks about what love is and ways we can show it. Reading it got me thinking about what love is to me. Read on if you wish.

Love is holding hands across a king sized bed under the pillows so that the two children in the middle don't know. (They wouldn't have it!)

It is dropping by someone's house just to chat for no reason, talking about nothing, and leaving that person feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the day.

Love is leaving money under the milk in the fridge and a dollar bill on a little boys pillow. Even more, it is the screech that escapes that little boy when he finds the dollar bill on his pillow.

Love is holding someone while they cry even though you can't fix it.

It is a boy with 4 little teeth grinning up at you immediately after he sprays you with the bite of strained peas you just fed him.

Love is spending your birthday money on dinner and a movie for your family instead of on things you need yourself.

It is looking at someone with an unshaven face, just-woke-up hair style, worn out jammies and stinky morning breath and STILL getting butterflies.

It's a phone call, a thank you, a nice note, and a smile.

It is seeing Mason get so excited when Carter wakes up and hearing him say, "Hey Carter! You're my best friend! How was your nap?" when he doesn't know I'm listening.

I have just been grateful to people in my life that help me get from one day to the next. Thank you to my sweet husband who I love more than ANYTHING and to all of the great people who make me feel loved.

"It is something we all know when we feel it, but words simply are not adequate enough to define it. Love is so many things, a feeling, an intention and a thank you. It is compassionate, it is generous, it is funny, it is serious, it breaks our hearts and yet it heals all things. Love is expressed in a trillion ways, it is found in a smile, blowing a kiss, a wink, a song, a poem, a word or even a batch of chocolate chip cookies. There is so much to say about love, but the heart of the matter is, we all want to be loved and we all want to love."

One.

Carter is such a good baby! Ever since he was born he has been very happy and easy going. He hardly ever cries and he's content to just hang out in the same room as everyone else. He is very busy and loves getting in to things. He puts everything in his mouth and has eaten at least 3 bugs that I know of. He LOVES his big brother. When Mason walks into a room Carter laughs and gets so excited! He loves to play with whatever toys Mason is playing with and loves to copy whatever he does. He loves to wrinkle up his nose and snort! It is the funniest thing with his little teeth poking out. I think he likes it so much because he gets so much attention when he does it. Carter loves to be outside. He loves to ride in the baby carrier and go hiking with the family and he loves hanging out in the pack-and-play when we are camping. He has the curliest hair! Especially when he gets sweaty it goes into little ringlets!
Carter has just barely started to eat baby food. He wouldn't eat it for the longest time and is still a little on the picky side. He hasn't started walking yet, although he totally could! He is just not interested. I think one of these days he will just decide he's ready and take off! He LOVES music! Whenever the radio or a song on TV he dances and really gets into it. He also loves to play the piano and gets so mad when I'm teaching piano lessons and I won't let him join us. He is a great singer and sings himself to sleep sometimes. He sings really load in church and it cracks everyone up. When Spencer gets home from work, Carter gets so excited and says, "Hi Dada!" It melts my heart! He can say hi, Dada, Mama, and Bubba. Carter is so loving. He loves giving his toys "loves." He has even been spotted hugging a toy hamburger patty. When he gives hugs, he pats the person on the back because that's what people do to him! ;)
Carter loves to laugh and play and is a JOY to have in our home. I honestly don't remember what our life was like without him.
We love you Carter Bug!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Four.

Mason at 4 days old.
Mason at 4 years old.

My little boy is four years old today! He is the light of my life. Seriously. I can't imagine being without him. He has learned and grown so much in the past four years. Here are a few things I love about Mason:

-He can play by himself for hours with his great imagination.
-He has so many "friends" no one else can see. The girls, the football guys, and Hunny just to name a few.
-He loves watching the Food Network. Ever since he was just little he has watched "Good Eats" before bed. He loves "Iron Chef," "Diners Drive-Ins and Dives," and "Chopped."
-He is so happy all of the time.
-He is very caring and loving to his family and everyone around him.
-He loves Las Vegas more than any little kid should! He loves seeing the lions, going to the M&M store, and playing ski-ball.
-He doesn't know all of his numbers quite yet, but he does know 3, 7, 8, 9. Why? Food network is channel 39 and Nick is channel 78. He can turn on the TV and go to those channels all by himself.
-He loves his little brother and is so good to help take care of him, play with him, and he always watches out for him. When other people are holding Carter, Mason gets really nervous and upset. He doesn't want anyone to take him.
-He always wants to help.
-He loves cars. He loves trains.
-He is all boy.
-Mason LOVES classic rock and can sing the words to many songs I don't even know! You can often find him in the back seat dancing and singing to the radio. When he gets excited about something he says, "Rock and Roll Coochie Coo."
-He has so much personality! You never know what he is going to come up with next.
-He loves orange. Everything he colors is orange and a lor of his clothes are orange.
I could go on and on there are so many neat things about this little boy. I am so lucky to be his Mom and watch him grow and learn. He is a great kid and I love him so so much!

Happy Birthday Monkey!

Dear faithful readers,

I am sorry that I have been a blogging slacker lately. Life gets so busy sometimes. Here is a little taste of what we have been up to the last few months. I may not have blogged, but we did do a think or two!! I would promise that I will do better, but I probably won't! ;)

Memorial Day

Okay, so most of these pics are on facebook, but there are a few people out there, ahem, DAD, that aren't on facebook. So here they are! We went camping in Pine Valley with my Dad's older brother and sister. It was beautiful and we had so much fun!! Mason had lots of little cousins to play with, it was cool, and we ate lots of yummy camping food. It was fun to see all of my cousins and hang out with my Dad, Kenzie, and Scott. Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Carter LOVED sitting/playing in the pack-n-play the whole time! He is definititly a camper.
Mason and my Cousin Justin's little boy Bodie are two peas in a pod! Best buddies for sure.
We had fun taking "ghost" pictures!

Boys being boys!

The whole crowd. It was so fun to see everyone!
Scott and his "manly" beard.





Mason loves dirt and dirt loves him. He had too much fun!!