gus-to: (noun). enjoyment or vigor in doing something; zest; a relish or liking

As I jumped on the computer last night to go through some photos, I could hear Van in the next room over singing "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!" at the top of his lungs. It's almost 11:30pm, he's singing in the dark, Lila's chanting "mooooommy, daaaaaddy" alongside him, long after they should both be asleep, and all after no less than 3 trips to go to the bathroom since we said goodnight over 2 hours ago. And I could not keep myself from smiling.

Part of me has to keep reminding him to be patient because he still has a week until it's actually his birthday. But part of me secretly loves him even more for how excited he is about it. Because it's so Van. One hundred percent excited about everything like it's the. greatest. thing. ever.

Which is why he can't wait for his birthday, and thinks every day must be the day. "Mom I don't want to be two, I just want to be three!" And he can't wait for Halloween, and thinks any time he dons his costume, candy should magically appear. "I put on my costume and now I get candy, Mom!" And after a recent FHE lesson on baptism, he now can't wait to be baptized and thinks it must happen when he turns three. "And when I'm three on my birthday I get to splash in the water and be baptized! And it will be great!" Luckily we've got a few years to work on the whole 'splash in the water' thing.

Granted, strong excited emotions are accompanied by strong upset emotions from this kid, but the guy's got gusto. And even at 11:30 at night, gusto makes me smile.



We may or may not be getting nervous that all that gusto's starting to rub off on the younger crowd, but wow. They wear it well.




Similarities, anyone?

fall days on the deck

These guys love having our very own deck out back, and so do I. It's so nice to open the door and let them run around on the slide, ride their bikes, and enjoy the beautiful fall weather without having to load up in the car. The day's never complete without a few bumps and bruises from outside to show for it!

And these two make me want to eat them right up. LOVE these photos.









look who's getting hair on top! We call her Cindy Lou Who when her hair's up like this, well deserved. :)






Oh Lila, these two photos make me want to kiss her to pieces over and over. LOVE THEM! Her "o" face is the face we see when she's making a doggy sound. SO CUTE, she gets so excited for dogs! Good thing she has stuffed animals to fulfill her fuzzy animal needs!


And this kid, he's growing up so much lately! I love his sweet little boy voice and his cute little smile and can't believe he's getting so big...just 2 weeks until he's 3! Please let this looking-at-the-camera-for-me phase last, I'm loving it!

Van the communicator

This is less than a tiny glimpse into what we've been up to, considering I now blog once every four months or so, but I had to document some things Van is saying before I forgot them!

During the last couple of weeks, we've been consumed with potty training Van (don't leave yet!!! This is not a potty training post!!), and without derailing onto that topic completely, suffice it to say that I've never been so sick of saying the words pee, poo, and potty, I've never done so many small loads of laundry, and I've never been so happy for dry pants or Van's independent attitude. So Van's been pretty excited to tell the world about his new "thing," and as a toddler, he of course has no boundaries for when or where he should talk about it. Which makes it that much better. :)

Jon was on a softball league at work this summer, and last week I packed up the kids and took them to their last game of the season. Jon likes it when we come so he can show off the kids to his coworkers :), and I like to go so we can all see Jon before 8 at night.

I'll admit, I've been a little hesitant to go out the past couple weeks with the whole uncertainty of how Van (and his underwear) will do away from a bathroom, but sometimes the value of getting out is higher than the safety of the potty chair at home. ;) So we went to Jon's game, which the kids love because they can climb the bleachers, distract the umpire, and wander around at their will. Van at one point said he had to go, so I picked him up and ran up a hill to the woods, staked out the closest tree and told him it was his. He was so excited for this new trick, especially when it proved successful and accident free. We ran back down the hill, and when we got back to the bleachers Van asked where Daddy was, and I pointed Jon out to him in the outfield. Without hesitation, Van yelled as loud as he could,
"Daaaad! I peed on a tree!!"

Yes Van, yes you did.

Later when Jon got up to bat, Van was standing right behind the chain link backstop, and he said, "Dad, it's getting late."

Jon always calls Van the informer. True to his name, he had to let Jon know it was getting dark outside and was almost time for bed, which is what "late" means in our house. Later when the game just ended and Jon was out with the team talking on the field, Van was trying to get his attention, but when Jon didn't hear him, Van turned to me and said,
"Mom, Dad's busy."

The informer.

One more Van story. Today Jon and I had dentist appointments back-to-back and took turns watching the kids. Afterward, we were going to have lunch together, so since my appointment was last, I went and picked food on the way to meet Jon and the kids at the park. When I pulled into the park, the kids came running with Jon and climbed into the car. I was in Jon's car, which means no carseats, and the kids were climbing all over in the backseat. Van said,
"We love it mom! We just love this car!"

When we told him it was time to get out to go eat lunch, he opened the back door and then totally ate it while he was trying to climb out by himself. The poor kid scraped off a healthy portion of skin on his elbow and he got a goose egg on his forehead. When I rushed to scoop him up after he fell, I tried to calm him down and make sure he was okay, and then he said,
"I just want to cry for a little bit."

I kind of laughed a little and said sometimes I just want to cry for a little bit too, and then it feels better, and he concurred.

We're LOVING how much he can say, how well he can say it, and what a big boy he's becoming. He keeps saying how much he doesn't want to be 2 anymore, he just wants to be 3, and he can't wait until "Nobember" when he'll be 3. I think communicating is making him happier, which has been nice for us!

Lila is growing right up too, she started walking the week after her birthday, and started throwing killer tantrums the week after that. :) She's a fiery one like her brother, but still such a sweet little thing somehow. More on her to come soon!

We're crazy about these two!





Sometimes I stare at this kid's face and can't believe how beautiful he is.




Love this girl. And love those eyes!


She loves her daddy.


What Lila does when she sees an airplane.