The joys of being 2 and a few randoms

So Tavita has been maximizing on the whole two-year old thing. This ranges from the old saying of "terrible twos" (lots of mishcheif and fits), to learning new things (dressing himself, talking more, exploring), to just doing some darn stinkin cute things (he's very excited about his new shoes, was out riding his wiggle rider and scrapping his shoes. I told him he had to lift his feet up while he rode. He proceeded to stick his feet up as far in the air as he could get them to the point of just about falling off and yelled "help, push"). It's like a constant roller coaster of emotions whenever there's a two year old in the house. One day he completely emptied our toilet paper roll, then took off outside with his stick to go hunting (instant frustration to laughter). A little later he got a hold of my gum and was begging for some. I told him no and put it up. A few minutes later I couldn't find him anywhere. I looked all over, finally I opened the door to Janessa's room and saw a big lump in her covers trying hard to lay still (again, do I strangle or laugh? Decision: grab the camera, take some pictures, laugh, then scold). We were BBQing for the missionaries and some friends that night and he kept insisiting on helping me, back on my good sideyet frustrating because he kept licking his finger and sticking it back in the food "I lick, I lick". Just as everyone was supposed to get there I run upstairs to find an empty spray bottle that had been full just minutes earlier. I go on a hunt to find where the contents of the bottle wound up. I found all sorts of stuff piled in Kalie's bassinet and the floor wet between the bassinet and desk. He had put out a candle by dumping the water on it but then proceeded to tear apart a little wood box I had with some pictures in it (3 pics were wet, one of which was a picture of Junior and his brother when they were young and one of our wedding), and fill our cup that had pens, change and a few other odds and ends. Now I'm ready to strangle him. I'm cleaning that up, ran downstairs to get some things to finish the clean up and find Tavita covered in ashes (I had just cleaned the BBQ and had a bucket of ashes sitting next to it) and there were ashes on Kalei and all over the floor. He's sitting there spreading the ashes all over the floor apparently drawing, looks up at me so proud and exclaims, "Look". This kid is knocking on deaths door but I can't be too mad because he really thought he was making a piece of art, no idea what he was doing was wrong. Luckily at that moment, he was "saved by the bell" as our friends showed up. We got everything cleaned up, the pics dried, luckily the only one that was a loss wasn't that important anyway. When I went to check on him before I went to bed and watched him sleep I decided despite all the frustration and work a two-year old is, they are too darn fun and cute not to want around.
Dressing yourself can be so frustrating! Yet he insists on "no help"

Success! They may be on backward but he did it!

The little sneaker!

He so proudly showed me his gum and thought he was home free! Once the camera went down and the lecture started he wasn't so happy. I probably confused him going from laughing to lecturing but I couldn't help it.

Tavita has started a habit of constantly climbing in and out of his crib after we put him down for the night. He always comes with this innocent smile and says "Mommy" in a pathetic tone in hopes of being able to stay up. Little did we know the amount of exploring he does when he get out of bed before he comes down to us. Last night when we went to check on them, we found Jr's phone in with him. Too bad for him he couldn't figure out how to get it out of it's case.

Brotherly Love
Some of my absolute favorite moments in life is watching Brayden and Tavita play together. They are at that fun stage where they're often in their own little world, oblivious to anyone else around them, all they care about is the current adventure they are on. Bryaden has developed an amazing ability to understand Tavita when most of us are struggling to make out much or what he says. Although it's insanity at times, I'm glad these two are close enough in age they can be such good buddies (They'll only be a year apart in school).
Who needs two wiggles. Their new favorite thing is to ride tandem!

We had the fire truck come visit our circle two days in a row. They were checking fire hydrants and the boys were in HEAVEN!

The escapee
As most of you know Kalei has learned the art of rolling over. However, I have been a little slow to always remember to barriacade her when I lay her on the bed. I laid her down for just a second to go grab something from the other room. I came back in and found her wedged between the bed and cedar chest in the upright position. She wsa beaming from ear to ear looking around. You could tell she thougth she was such a big girl. I'm just grateful she got wedged that way instead of coming in and finding two little feet kicking in the air.