The Lyon's Den

I can't believe you all really thought I could name my baby one of those awful names. They either had a body part in them or just simply, "Yo-Anne, what's up?"
It just doesn't work. ;) My mom and I were trying to come up with baby names and got a little carried away, so we wanted to see what you all thought of our creative names. Glad to know I have your support though!

I go in for another checkup today to see how everything is going with baby. I have to wait another two weeks for ultrasound though. Baby seems to be growing now, which causes me to be more uncomfortable, but I'm getting really excited. We've had a hard time coming up with baby names, so that's why I keep putting all of them to a vote. We're not set on anything yet and are up for suggestions. I think Analise was the winner of the last set of names, so I'm curious to see what the winner of this set of names will be. We're up for any suggestions as well.
I'll be posting some pictures soon. We had a great time with the Runyans last night, celebrating Sara's 10th Birthday. We went to John's Incredible Pizza and it was WAY better than any Chuck E Cheese. THe kids all had a great time and we were very tired when we got home. I think everyone fell fast asleep quickly. I'll upload pictures soon.

I don't have any pictures to post right now, but I thought I'd give a little update. Things are going pretty well with the pregnancy now, other than some excrutiatingly painful kidney stone attacks a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if I've passed the stone or not, but I'm feeling better for now. Not a whole lot longer to go now either. We're getting very excited.
On the potty training, Carter is all potty trained. He has an occasional pee pee accident, but only about once a week or so. Brechin went 5 days without any accidents, but the past 3 days, he's been poopin' his pants. Not quite sure what to do at this point, but we'll see.

Now something funny I wanted to share. I found this interview that a friend did with her five year old. I decided to try it with my boys and I got a kick out of it. I think you all should try it with your little ones.
The first interview I did was with Kelman, age 5. Then I asked the twins the same questions, individually.

Kelman
1. What is something mom always says to you?
Be good
2. What makes mom happy?
When I hug her
3. What makes mom sad?
When we be naughty
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child?
I just don’t know
6. How old is your mom?
13
7. How tall is your mom?
I’m gonna need a tape measure for that
8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Play games with me
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Goes to the movies
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Trophy… (then he said), being rich
11. What is your mom really good at?
Playing games
12. What is your mom not very good at?
You don’t always go in the attic
13. What does your mom do for a job?
Postman, like Postman Pat (on Qubo) (I don’t know where he came up with this one)
14.What is your mom's favorite food?
vegetables
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Taking care of me
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Mary poppins
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play games
18. How are you and your mom the same?
While studying my face and squirming around he said, I don’t know
19. How are you and your mom different?
I have pictures of Totem Tribe (a computer game), and you don’t
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Cause she gives me kisses
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
When daddy gives you flowers
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
The mall

Now Carter, age 3 1/2 (a very intuitive child)
1. What is something mom always says to you?
I love you
2. What makes mom happy?
A kiss
3. What makes mom sad?
When her belly hurts
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child?
She would play trains
6. How old is your mom?
First he said, “how old are you?” then he said 15
7. How tall is your mom?
big
8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
I want you to like to play Hullabaloo
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Click on the computer
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Being a magician
11. What is your mom really good at?
Playing games
12. What is your mom not very good at?
Not watching movies
13. What does your mom do for a job?
Make pudding (which we had for dessert tonight)
14.What is your mom's favorite food?
A taco
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Tickle me
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
With uncontrollable laughter , he said Bob the builder
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play games together
18. How are you and your mom the same?
stinky
19. How are you and your mom different?
You have different hair
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
I really want you to kiss me
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
You don’t want him to be mean
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Taco bell

Now Brechin, age 3 1/2
1. What is something mom always says to you?
Something that I like. If I poop on the potty two days, I get to watch my superman movie.
2. What makes mom happy?
Um like, putting shoes away
3. What makes mom sad?
From going outside
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
By tickling
5. What was your mom like as a child?
A girl that is in a parade
6. How old is your mom?
3.… no 6
7. How tall is your mom?
bigger
8. What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Clicking on the computer
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Click around
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
For clicking
11. What is your mom really good at?
Making playdoh
12. What is your mom not very good at?
From nothing
13. What does your mom do for a job?
To click on the computer
14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Carrots…vegetables, and corn
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Like kissing
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Something that I like.
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Sit on the chair
18. How are you and your mom the same?
Um good
19. How are you and your mom different?
Like a cartoon or something
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
By talking and kissing
21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
You like him….something that you like
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
To some place that is burger king

I don't blame you if you didn't read it all, but it was so cute and funny that I had to share. It was very interesting to see how the three of them responded differently, especially the twins.

I can't believe we are the middle of February of 2009 already!! This year already seems to be full of projects and activities. We've been working on the whole potty training bit once again before baby comes. Brechin was doing very well and hardly having accidents, until we had some visitors and his routine got a little out of whack. Since then, Brechin and Carter have once again reversed roles. Now Brechin is back into part time diapers and Carter is doing the undies bit. He won a new "blue" batman a couple of days ago for having poo successes on the potty. He seems to be doing well now. Needless to say, I am exhausted from the constant pantless boys. It wouldn't be so bad if they could completely dress themselves after pottying, and if they didn't try to clean up poopy messes by themselves. Brechin clogged the toilet yesterday with WAAAAY too much toilet paper.


Moving on.... Aaron's parents came for a visit at the beginning of the month. The boys sure enjoyed having someone to constantly push them on the swingset in the perfect weather we WERE having. We appreciate Aaron's dad helping out with installing some new fencing we are putting in the front yard. That is another project we have been working on. Aaron's company is remodeling a Burger King in Salinas, and they had an outdoor dining area they needed to get rid of. All of the black ornamental fencing got delivered to us! Yay us!! I have been wanting to do a courtyard in my front yard for quite a while now, but it was going to be an expensive project. Then all this free fencing just fell into our laps. It needs some sanding and repainting, but so far it is looking great. I will post a picture when it's finished.

Just before Aaron's parents came for a visit, I decided to paint baby girl's bedroom. Aaron helped of course. I think it turned out really well. I then found some perfect bedding at target for the baby's crib. Matching polka dots and everything. The pink is a little off, but we'll see.
The polka dots go around the whole room.



After the Lyon's left and my parents returned from Iowa for a baby blessing, we all took a bus ride. The boys have been begging to take a bus around town so we finally did it. We watched a video on youtube of the Doodlebops singing, "Goin on a Bus Ride" before we went. The boys had a great time and can't wait to do it again. We told them once they were both completely potty trained, we would go.

Brechin is the cheesy one


A dark Kelman


Mr. Carter pants

Now on a baby update. Things are looking pretty good with the baby, but she is falling behind in her growth. We don't know if there is anything to be concerned about yet, but my Parinatologist wants to do a follow up ultrasound every 4 weeks from here on out. He just wants to follow her growth. We're hoping and praying that everything will be alright.

Lastly, for Valentine's Day, this morning I made the boys some special Love toast.
Here is Brechin posing with his breakfast. Sorry no good pics of Kelman this time.

I don't even know where to begin since it's been so long since my last post. I guess the last thing I posted on was Halloween so I'll start from there. I'll try to keep everything brief so it's not a LONG read, just lots of pictures. November was fairly uneventful except for our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. We stayed with my brother Micah and his family. The boys all had a blast playing with Jackson, wrestling with Jackson, and jumping on the airbed with Jackson.


The drive home however was VERY long due to Holiday traffic,(which happened to be on my birthday). Aaron and I also celebrated our 6th anniversary in November.


December started off with Christmas decorating of course.
Carter and Brechin getting ready to put ornaments on the tree.


Kelman putting an ornament on the tree.


Me, of course decorating the tree.


The boys in front of our finished tree.

Kelman's 5th birthday party was next. Unfortunately none of his preschool friends showed up, which I half expected, but we were bailed out last minute by our church friends to make a successful party. Our next door neighbor Devan also came. We even rented a Scooby Doo bounce house; which was also a last minute decision.

My boys in the bounce house.


The kids playing red rover in the backyard.


Kelman blowing out his birthday cupcake, which was a snowman.



Kelman bouncing once again in the bounce house.


The cupcakes I made for the party. I made snowmen and Rudolphs.


Kelman chose to have a Jack the Pumpkin King cake, from Nightmare Before Christmas for his actual birthday, which we celebrated a week later, on his actual birthday.


The Nightmare Before Christmas figurines


Pirate legos which Kelman got from his Grandma and Grandpa Lyon. He plays with them almost daily.


Grandma and Grandpa Stubblefield got Kelman Star Wars dress ups. So here he is Darth Vader.


I had my 18 week ultrasound the day before Christmas Eve. I was very nervous and excited all at the same time. I went to the Perinatologist for this visit just to be on the safe side. So far everything looks great with the baby, which is a huge relief. I am still nervous though, and I think I will be until this baby is born. We did however find out that we are having another little girl. Yay us!! We're very excited and I've got friends and sister passing along all their girl clothes. Thanks everyone for your support. ;)

I don't have any Christmas morning picture because my parents took those with their camera. I think this was the boys' best Christmas ever. Carter and Brechin obviously got Batman and Superman EVERYTHING, including big wheels. Kelman got a variety of fun things. It was a great holiday and it was nice having Aaron home from work for a few days.
This last weekend we decided to get a hotel in Sacramento for fun. Saturday morning we went to the Discovery Science and Space Center. Kelman loved it since he is recently quite interested in space. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Kelman in a space suit.


All the boys, including Aaron, in space.


Carter and Brechin loved the dress ups.


The boys in their true form.


That's everything for us for now. Sorry for the huge post. My fault for waiting so long to update you on everything. I really just wanted to wait until after my ultrasound when I had some peace of mind, which I think I am finally STARTING to get.
We hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!

You can see more pictures of us from Christmas Eve on my Mom's blog. http://mapastubz.blogspot.com/

Sorry everyone it's been so long since I've updated. I hope you're prepared for a marathon of pictures. A lot has been going on, but my camera has only been taking blurry pictures so I was waiting to get pics with mom and dad's camera. Here's what's been going on.
We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, like every other year. This year they made big improvements and there was more to do; including watching piggy races. They were so cute! The kids enjoyed the goats and petting zoo, jumping in hay, the train ride, climbing on huge tires and tractors and trains, and of course sharing a pumpkin spice cake. I did take pictures, but unfortunately it was with my blurry camera. Bummer.
For family night that next week, we painted the pumpkins the kids had picked out. Because of my blurry camera, I wasn't able to get a good picture of them until yesterday. Some of the paint had started chipping off because we forgot to spray them afterwards, so they're not quite as good as they once were.
Kelman with his "Jack the Pumpkin King" pumpkin, from Nightmare before Christmas

Carter and his Batman pumpkin of course

And Brechin chose an M&M


Kelman has been doing well with school still. However, getting him to let us leave him at the beginning has been a struggle. Once we're gone and he's warmed up he is fine. The teachers have been bribing him with stickers. He does enjoy it and has made some good friends, whom now are talking about play dates. I can't really fathom having another little kid at my house right now though with how crummy I've been feeling. A very nasty bug went around the whole family, but of course hit me harder with my pregnant immune system being down. I think we are pretty much over that; now it's just headaches and nausea. It will pass, and hopefully soon. I'm still happy to be pregnant, but it's not been as easy as I had hoped. Lots of mixed emotions into the batch this time that I've never experienced before. I just can't wait to hear this little one's heartbeat in another two weeks.
Next up would have to be the twins' birthday! It was on the 28th of this month, but we celebrated it on Saturday due to the fact that their Grandma was going to be out of town on the actual day. They didn't know the difference. They awoke to a family room full of Red and black streamers (representing batman and superman OF COURSE; which is who the twins think they are), and yellow and blue balloons with the batman and superman logo on them. I hand drew them all and I think next time, I will try to buy premade ones! They were excited none the less. We took them for their first time bowling and I think they enjoyed it. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of that. They were pretty cute though. After bowling, we went home for lasagna and cake and ice cream. Just to clarify, Brechin is Superman, and Carter is Batman. After dinner the boys were surprised by their nursery leaders, who brought them some brooms to be their quidditch brooms. They told us a story of one week in nursery when the boys wanted to play quidditch, but didn't have a broom. So they improvised. They grabbed their tiny pretzel rods from snacktime and stuck them between their legs and proceeded to fly around the room. Sister Sannar and her sister Joene got a kick out of it and found them some brooms online. They were thrilled to receive them.


Carter is in green and Brechin is in blue

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Lyon for the cool sweatshirts and books!

Just talking on their new cell phones that we surprised them with from Disneyland

Superman/ Brechin getting ready for flight

Batman/ Carter is flapping his wings I believe to prepare for takeoff

I will be taking some pictures soon of them in their new cowboy boots that Grandma and Grandpa Stubz got them.

Oh yeah, the night before we celebrated Brechin and Carter's birthday, they all got to go trick or treating at the Courtyard (the assisted living where my grandparents live). They loved it. Because they didn't get their Halloween costumes (batman and superman jammies) until their birthday, they had to dress up as something else. Kelman was Buzz Lightyear, Carter was a cowboy, and Brechin was a pirate. I think that's about it for us for now. We will take pictures tonight at the Trunk or treat at church and of course tomorrow on Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween.
Kelman - To infinity and beyond

Brechin, little pirate - Argg

Carter, my cowboy - Giddyup

The three little musketeers

I just got home from running errands and noticed my "Vote Yes on Prop 8" sign was missing from my yard. I got inside and had a message from the man in our ward who has been helping campaign, asking if our sign was stolen too. Apparently they are being stolen all over town! And these are the kind of people that we have backing up the "No" on Prop 8...criminals. We are simply stating our belief and our vote; not tearing anyone down. Then they come and steal off our property. This only makes me even more for Prop 8. I don't want to be associated with a group of people who will stand up for stealing just to get their point made. Bad point to make. I think it's very sad for the gay community that the type of people backing them up, are thieves! Anyhow, I just wanted to vent a little. I'm getting a new sign and possibly borrowing my parents' surveillance camera to catch the thieves stealing everyone's signs.