Saturday Chores and BYU Stadium

Our boys are generally pretty helpful (as helpful as a 3 and 2 year old can be). In fact one of my favorite new things Brayden does every morning when he wakes up is to come running into my room and exlaim, "Mom, come look at my bed". I go in and you can tell he tried with all his 3year-old might to make that bed perfect. After beaming with pride he proceeds with, "Now I'm gonna get dressed all by myself." Tavita obviously isn't quite to that point but he takes great care to put his dish in the sink after each meal, and loves to through things in the trash. We've decided they're old enough to have more structured chores. I'm still working on getting a little job chart going so they have a visual of what's expected of them as well as a goal to work towards (i.e. one I really like is a family in our ward takes the kids on a mommy/son or daddy/son date when they get a certain number of stickers, another is they both really want Transformer/Cars sunglasses but we want them to realize they can't go to the store and buy anything they want, if you want an extra, earn it). Anyway, until I get the chart I've started telling them the chores they need to do. They really enjoy it. In fact certain ones, such as dusting fans, becomes a fight over who gets to do it. Today I said we needed to go inside so I can clean up and not only did they come running but Brayden was asking, "What job do we need to do." I'm documenting this for proof later on when help doesn't come quite so eagerly!Here's a few pics of our little helpers.
Vaccuming the stairs (followed by a long game of suck-face!)

Dusting the fans (I think it was more work for Daddy!)

Helping Daddy clean up after the big storm destroyed one of our trees

How many Shum men does it take to mow a lawn?


BYU Stadium
So for preschool this week we were learning the letter Y. What better place to go for a fieldtrip than to the Y! Normally we only have 6 boys in our group but combined with siblings and cousins that wanted in on the action our numbers were up to 15+. We were quite the crowd (we did have 6 adults, but 4 of those adults had babies in carriers or strollers) Luckily our bishop is the head of concessions so we got to go on a fun tour watching them shred cheese and vaccum seal it (had the kids mesmorized!). Than we got to be the very first group to lay eyes on the brand new football field. They just barely finished a huge project of digging up and laying a new field. We even got to see it before the football team! Imagine the minor heartattack our Bishop Black had when one of the boys tried sliding through the rails and onto the field. I think he say his job flash before his eyes! He was great with them though When we were walking from the concessions building to the stands he had them looking all over for sleeping cougurs, ran to the top of the stadium with them (not an easy task for someone 38 weeks pregnant but I did it) then he had them run the spiral ramp down. I don't think he realized the danger of it until he said "Who thinks they can make it to the bottom first." There was a sudden thunder of 2-5 year old feet racing full speed down the ramp with Bishop, me and another mom racing after them just waiting for a fall. We all managed to make it unscathed and the tour was finished of with BYU cups and beanies for all. The kids had an absolute blast and couldn't stop talking about it. We finished the day with a trip to the creamery for ice cream. I managed to grab a few pics but my card filled up so I didn't get many.
THe boys in the group (the girls didn't want in and we didn't bother with attempting with the babies, as you can see just the boys was hard enough!)

Shreddin some cheese

Watching the magic machine seal the cheese

Getting ready to go searching for cougars

Introducing the brand new field!


Our boys being brainwashed into cougar fans!


And to end this monster blog just a few random pics, as you can see warm weather is finally coming! And yes, we convinced Brayden to cut his hair (he got sick of people thinking he was a girl and more importantly hated enduring the task of having his hair combed out every morning so he didn't look like a fuzzball)
Our Little Garden

Haricut at Last!

Bedtime Stories

Boys will be boys (watching the buggies go about their business)

Pausing for a drink!


Well, that sums up our life over the past two weeks. We've been enjoying the weather and trying to get our yard up and going. It has a long way to go but a huge improvement from last year. Baby is due to come in 2 more weeks. We're excited but can't believe the time is already here. She's showing signs she want to come early but we're hoping she holds out til Wednesday morning when Grandma gets here.

You know you're getting big when...

So up to this point Brayden's attitude about the pregnancy has been nothing about excitement. He's always talking about his sister Rowbie, asking to feel my stomach, insists on going to all doctor's appointments etc. However, yesterday things took a turn from excitment to concern. We were getting ready for the day and I saw him staring at my stomach. He soon asked, "Mommy, when is Rowbie going to come out?" I told him not too much longer only about 5 more weeks. He got a very upset/concerned look on his face and said, "No Mommy, that's too long. I don't want your stomach to break." Throughout the day he kept repeating his concern over my stomach breaking. Apparently in his mind there is no possible way my stomach could possibly get any bigger. No matter how many times I tried telling him my stomach has been bigger than this or that mommys' stomach are made to stretch really big, he continued to be concerned. I don't know if I should be flattered by his concern for my or offended by his disgust at the size of my stomach! ;-)

Daddy's Helper, Easter, and Spring Weather

Daddy's Little Helper
Just had to post these pics. I love watching the boys "help" their daddy. They are both so facinated with tools. I think all the work we are doing on the house is rubbing off on them!




Easter
Our Easter was quiet but fun. Mom kicked off the weekend by totally blowing it. Brayden was so excited to go to the Samoan ward Easter Egg hunt. For some reason I got it in my head the activity was from 1-3 (had the flyer but did I bother to look at it, of course not!). We got out the door 10 min late cause Tavita wasn't wanting to wake up from his nap. As we were driving I called my friend to see if they had started and she replied like I was a little stupid, "Ummm yeah, we're finished." I was dumbfounded, since when did any Samoan start right on time let alone finish within 10 minutes. She then continued, "It was from 11-1." OOOPS!!! Needless to say Brayden was pretty let down and kept asking for the rest of the day why we missed the party.
We came home and dyed some Easter eggs instead. Both the boys loved it and lasted a lot longer than I expected. I don't know what it is about 2 year-old but they always have this need to drink the dye. Brayden did it when he was Tavita's age and sure enough when we put the dye in front of Tavita he immediately started a taste-testing of all the colors. After the dying, we had a little lesson on why we celebrate Easter. The next morning we went to church and came home to find out the Easter Bunny had come. The boys had the time of their life doing an egg hunt (luckily the weather was nice enough cause we'd been having a TON of rain the day before). Everytime Brayden found an egg he'd let out this evil sounding laugh then continue running exlaiming how, "This was the best Easter ever!!!" Tavita would find one and yell, "Egg!". He was really into it for awhile until he realized there was candy in the eggs and his desire to find the eggs was quickly overcome by his desire to eat!
The boys got bubble guns in their baskets and they were an absolute hit.











Spring Weather, Yeah Right!!!
Like most people when I picture Spring I imagine nice moderate temperatures, flowers blooming, and rain showers. We have had very few days thus far you could consider nice fair weather ideal for hanging out outside. We've been having a lot of snow and rain storms, but yesterday was the winner. Yesterday we left for my ob appt in a pretty chilly rain storm. When we walked out of my appointment it was an absolute white out! You could barely see in front of you. It continuted on all day and night and this is what we woke up to this morning. I'm sorry, but I am NOT okay with a scene like this in mid-April. There is so much snow it's crazy! All the beautiful blossomed trees are sagging to the ground from all the snow and the tulips are flattened. If you look at the 2nd picture you can see a huge branch on one of our trees snapped and out neighbors had an entire tree fall over. Warm weather PLEASE come soon!

All in the life of boys

It was a really slow day at work on Tuesday so I gladly volunteered to go home. I was really excited because it was the first nice (actually gorgeous) day we have had after weeks of rain and snow. I went home with the sun still shining, Junior and I loaded the kids up and headed to one of our favorite parks. The boys were shouting horray and jumping up and down they were so happy to be out at a park, and to have bread to feed the ducks was an extra bonus. We headed over to the duck pond and starting throwing in the bread. The pond is surrounded by large rocks for people to stand on as well as to act as a barrier from kids making a beeline into the pond. The boys were both standing on a rock and Junior and I had our eyes on the ducks. All the sudden we hear a sickening thud. We look down and Tavita had somehow lost his footing on the rock, went head first into another rock and was stuck upside down in too much shock to even cry. As soon as Junior scopped him up he started sobbing. At first we thought we were good to go because we didn't initially see any blood. I was shocked because it was such a hard fall I thought for sure he would have gotten a cut. I lifted up the hair on his forehead and saw a trickle of blood. Bummer but no big deal I thought because when Brayden split his head open (yes, he too has had staples in his head, last September) the whole side of his face was covered in blood. Tavita wouldn't let us look to closely so we carried him to the car to clean him up. As soon as we held him still and got a closer look we quickly discovered it was not just a little cutting, he had a huge gaping gash in his head. We hurried him to the after hours doctor (same place, same doctor, same room as Brayden's incident). She kept saying how gaping the cut was (thanks for helping calm the nerves. She numbed it up and put 5 staples in his head. Poor Tavita was sobbing through it all. I think it was such a hard fall that even with the numbing, he was so bruised up and sore it really hurt him. He still walks around pointing to his head saying, "owie, owie". So now both of our boys can proudly say they have had their heads stapled and I just sit and anticipate what other adventures my two active boys have in store.
List of incidences since Tavita has gotten his injury:
-Immediately after we were walking through the waiting room and he begged to go play in the little playhouse. We let him down, he stood in the door way and had a sudden urge to jump. Cracked his head on the top of the door way and melted right back into the tears that had just stopped.
-The next day he was chasing Brayden down the stairs trying to get a toy, slipped and fell down the last few stairs and hit his head.
-The next day I was about to get in the shower and heard him saying "owie, owie" I glance over at him, he has the pair of tweasers pulling at his staples.
let's just hope he makes it to Friday when they remove the staples.
We tried getting a picture of the injury but everytime we tried to move his hair out of the way he'd start wailing. This is the best we could do.




Just a little added pic. I made these for Brayden's preschool party. They were really easy to make and kids LOVE them. Just an idea if you want a fun Easter treat.

You've Had a Birthday, Shout Horray!

Our baby turned 2 yesterday! I still can't believe it, time has flown by. Whenever a milestone comes and goes I can't help but look back in shock as to how fast time goes. Anyway, Tavita had quite the funfilled (and sugar-filled) birthday. It started Friday night with Daddy and my Uncle Dale taking him and Brayden to a Utah Grizzlies game (hockey). I was so bummed I couldn't get off of work to go with them but they had fun just the same. The boys loved watching the players "push eachother into the glass really, really hard." Tavita also loved the loud music that was blasting.
On Saturday we spent the morning relaxing and watching conference. Brayden and Tavita ate nothing but sugar (sugar cereal, carmel corn, the frosting for the cake, more carmel corn etc). After the 2nd session of conference we had a little get together with a few friends. Obviously they know Tavita all too well because he got all Tonka toys. He was in heaven being surrounded with his new trucks. We then ate pizza and had cake and ice cream. Tavita was so cute with his cake. When he went down for his nap I was just putting on the base layer of frosting and when he woke up I had just finshed putting all the cars and planes on. He looked at the cake and said, "Wow!" and immediately tried to drive the cars on the road. I had a dump truck full of "dirt" and he dumped it all over the road. Junior moved the cake into the room, we let him play with the train track going around the cake then took him out after he tried eating the cake. He kept begging and begging to be let in the room to play. When we took the cake out to sing he was so excited. We cut a few slices off to eat then let the kids go to town. By the end all the adults were laughing beacuse it seriously looked like the scene of an earthquake. Broken roads, sunken cars, hills where there weren't hills etc. But hey, that cake entertained the kids for FOREVER and Brayden and Tavita have been playing with it all day today as well.

Chillin at the hockey game

Playing/Eating his cake

the big #2!

Opening presents

Tonka...

and more Tonka!

Blowin out the candles

Cutting the cake

The aftermath (this pic doesn't do it much justice, havoc had been had)

Hours later, still playing!
Top 5 Reasons I'm so glad we're blessed to have Tavita in our family...
5. His moves. This kid loves to jump and jive. You put on music and he can't help but to bust out a move or two. Even when he's snoozing on our shoulder, if he hears music he'll start kicking his leg soon he's fully awake a jammin out!
4. His sensitivity. He's so intense the majority of the time you would think him to be sensitive but he always manages to sense when you need a big hug or a cuddle session. If he sees you have an "owie" he becomes very concerened and follows you around the house with a pair of tweezers or anything else he thinks will fix the problem and pokes and the injury.
3. The way he goes to bed and wakes up. When we lay this boy down to sleep he gives us a cute wave and rolls over with his book until he's asleep. When he wakes up there's never crying he just sits up in bed and calls "Guys, hey guys!" If we take a while we'll hear him jumping around in his crib. No matter what, when we walk in we're greeted with a huge grin.
2. Curious, curious, curious. I have nver met a child more intrigued with his surroundngs or more set on discovering the world around him.
1. That contagious laugh and smile! No matter how hard of a day it's been or how much mishchief he gets into, he just needs to flash his smile or let out a giggle and I can't help but to smile back.

Our little garden, new snacs and more!

So, the Shum family is trying to go green. We officially started our garden for FHE on Monday. We're not doing anything too big since we have NO idea what we're doing and we're also going to have a new born which means our time will be little. Since it's STILL snowing outside we are starting the seeds inside. Brayden is SO excited he's been begging and begging to plant so seeds so we can pick vegetables.




The boys have discovered two new favorite snacs this past week. The 1st is mangos. I had sliced 3 of them up for dinner on Monday and they snacked on them while we were planting seeds. By the time we actually went to eat dinner there was 1/4 of one left. The 2nd was discovered by Tavita (who absolutely loves it) and I can't say any of us are at all tempted to try it. He'll go to the fridge pull out the grapes set them on the table turn around and grab the ketchup. That's right he LOVES grapes thickly coated with ketchup. I have to be honest, it makes my stomach turn a little everytime I watch him eat it.





The other day Junior turned some music on and it turned into a dance party. The boys love to dance and it's so cute to watch them. Espically when they start doing their "head-spins" and flipping around.