two years old

vivian sophia tullis

turns two today!

she adds so much happiness to our home.

one of my favorite things vivian does lately is say, "shane shoo, mommy!"  she tells me thank you ALL the time for the simplest things i do for her.  it makes me smile!  not only to hear her cute, cute little voice, but that she recognizes the little things and thanks without hesitation. 

..................
terrific two's, here we come!

follow-up

i dropped abe off to school this morning and drove away....then i realized i was still smiling.  i love our ten minute drive to school.  it's my time with abe.  some mornings we are quiet and some mornings we laugh the whole way.  this morning we both went away smiling and i thought how grateful i am that he is still here.

a couple weeks ago, we had his follow up appointment and even though deep in my heart, i knew everything was going to be perfectly normal, it was good to talk to the doctor and see the results.  his heart looks great.  it was the same cardiologist that worked with us at primary children's hospital and i was grateful for the chance to talk to him again and thank him for all that he did for us.  so many amazing people that helped us!

a lady in our ward bore her testimony in sacrament meeting about miracles.  she bore testimony that miracles happen and mentioned abe specifically.  i could tell abe felt something during her testimony.  i took that moment and told him how many people prayed for him.

for family night, we each shared something-- either a scripture we recently read in our personal reading, a time recently we felt heavenly father's hand in our life or a time we felt the spirit lately.  it was a good family night.  i think we were all crying by the end and i decided we need to do that more.  kai was so sincere and tried to share, but both times started crying so hard he had to stop.  i think we will do this once a month, so the kids can start to watch for times they feel the spirit.   i hope it gives them purpose as they read their scriptures and apply them to their life.  i feel like it will help us think about and also get used to talking about spiritual things.

abe talked about the lady that bore her testimony.  he said it really hit him when i told him how many people prayed for him and he hadn't really thought about that before, but he had no idea who the lady was and he could feel how it affected her.   i think he saw his experience in a different light and felt the spirit when this lady spoke about it. 

one thing i have learned this last year is heavenly father wants us to be happy.  right now.  whatever is happening in our lives....to watch for the good and happy-  i know i can do this because i have faith in the plan of happiness.

anyway, i'm glad i caught myself smiling this morning -alone in my car!

birthday morning

 max turns SEVEN today!!!!!! 

he took jolly ranchers to share with his class and hopes they sing to him at 12:40, the exact minute he was born.  jolly ranchers because there are twins in his class that are allergic to most things, but he knows they can have jolly ranchers....that right there sums up my max.  the most thoughtful, sensitive, happy boy who added so much to our life seven years ago.

this little look made my whole morning!!!

(it made staying up until 2am to get it all ready totally worth it.)

 lovin' his birthday table!

it made me realize traditions are important, even if it's just a decorated table.

max is having a few friends over tonight for a birthday "late-over".  

we will watch his favorite movie-RIO and do a few bird activities...

hence the bird themed birthday table:)  

i love these little miniature birds in his "tree".

 sadie wanted a picture with the two of them- 

(vivian, in the background,  helping herself to the birthday table treats.)

 max opened two presents and then will wait until dave gets home from work this afternoon to open the rest.  my mom always said anticipation is half the fun. 

present #1 

from: kai

FISH!!!!

we are going to set up the aquarium in his room.  wish us luck!

 present #2

from: sadie

 vivian loved the bird!

i appreciated that sadie and abe happily got ready with a few minutes to spare so we could

 celebrate max this morning. 

water guns!!!

more festivities coming soon!

WE LOVE YOU MAX!!!

birthday bracket

we have brackets on the brain!!!

it is max's birthday this friday.  

the boys were so thoughtful to make up this great bracket to help him decide 

what gift he wants most for his birthday:)

march madness

this is our sad set-up to watch march madness. 

kai watches the games on our computer.  he follows his brackets and everyone else's brackets REALLY closely.

he gives me updates on complete strangers.

if you are in our family bracket, your choices have been carefully analyzed and i'm sure i've heard about it.

kai's brain is wired for math.  

the other day he told me he was going to try to get a scholarship for soccer and if that didn't work out, then he would get one for math.  

he gets way into march madness....and  i realize more and more it's because he loves the competition AND the overload of stats!

when he was just a little guy, i showed him a calculator.  he got so excited so i told him he could be an accountant when he grew up because they work with calculators for their job.  he looked at me and  with a serious voice said, "can i go there?!"

hope you are enjoying march madness as much as we are!!!

happy

spring soccer has begun!

our life suddenly gets more full.

abe had his first game.  he scored four goals!  he was ripping it up.  

and i took no pictures because i was trying to keep vivian off the field:)

kai also had a game and did awesome.  he wanted to score and he did!  

they both played so well and it makes me so happy to think that spring is finally here!!!  

it was a beautiful day.

...AND abe got to practice his newly trained ref-ing skills. 

we had to leave by 7:30 am to get to abe's game.  

i forgot shoes for vivian, so in-between games we visited the store.  shoe shopping is a favorite!!  vivian LOVES shoes.

she dubbed these her "HAPPY SHOES!"

spotlight burn

kai's grade was having "career day" and any parent could come and tell about their job....ironically, dave had to work.  

just plain stinks when your career gets in the way of career day.  

kai was disappointed.  

 his teacher was so nice and set up an earlier time for dave to talk to kai's class.

 cinderella and i went to watch:)

when dave goes into a classroom he makes it so fun for the kids.  he always brings his doctor gear puts a cast on someone. 

kai wanted dave to pick him so badly!

dave was planning on having kai come up but at the last minute found out the first helper had a twin so he picked her twin instead of kai.

he was devastated.  dave felt so bad, he ended up checking kai out of school for the rest of day to do damage control and shower him with love and attention.

dave and i talked after and decided it was a good reminder that 

kids want to be their parent's spotlight!

vivian was thrilled to have kai spend the day with us!!!