Las Vegas

For the last several months we have been telling Roman we were going to go to Las Vegas to meet Spencer as he was finishing up with his conference.  Roman LOVES staying in hotels so just the idea of staying in a hotel made him excited.  The reason we were going to meet him in Las Vegas was just a stop over on our way to Southern California to take the boys to Disneyland.

We decided that the trip to Disneyland would be a surprise.  We would tell the boys as we pulled up.  My parents and sister decided to come with us.  Marla was flying into Long Beach, we found an AMAZING deal for her to fly down. We jokingly offered for Roman to go with Marla.  He didn't even hesitate.  He quickly responded "No, I'm going to Vegas."  She said "If you knew where I was going you would want to come with me."  Again he declined.  We told him "Marla's going to Disneyland."  He thought about it for a second and told her "Maybe we can go there next time.  I want to go to Las Vegas and see the hotel."  He was going to turn down DISNEYLAND to go see a hotel in Las Vegas.  Luckily he didn't have to choose.

The training Spencer had to go to was at The Paris Hotel.  We left on a Tuesday as soon as Roman was done with play group but by the time we stopped a few times for breaks and found the hotel, our room, got settled etc it was already bedtime.  Roman was so upset that we weren't able to go swimming or to even go out and see the Eiffel Tower.  I promised him that we would go to the pool and to see the Eiffel Tower and the Bellagio fountains and all sorts of fun things the next morning.  We were meeting my friend Julie at 9 to go see the conservatory at the Bellagio and to visit with her (and sight see) but I figured we would have time to go swimming before then.  I was wrong.  The pool wasn't open until 10:00 so we didn't get a chance to go to the pool so I made sure that we were able to see the other things he wanted to.

We went down and saw the Eiffel Tower, Roman LOVED that!  The boys had fun pushing the stroller around outside the Paris hotel.

 We walked around the Bellagio fountains, but they don't start the fountains until later in the day apparently.

 Then we met my friend Julie at the Conservatory.  I wish I'd taken more pictures.  It was amazing.  Smelled amazing!  It was a nice break to the normal Vegas strip.  It was flowers everywhere!

 Roman, Me, My mom and Hudson at the conservatory in the Bellagio.

 This picture was amazing, it's made entirely out of fresh flowers.

 The biggest chocolate fountain in the world!

 Julie gave Roman a piggie back ride through Caesars palace as we went to see the fish.

 One of the fountains in Caesars Palace

 We found the fish.  Hudson was fascinated

 Roman didn't want to leave.  He especially loved the sting rays.

Spencer's training was over at noon so we got on the road as soon as he was done and got on our way to California.  We knew Roman would wonder why we had gone to my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Chris' house instead of going home so we told him that we bought a new stroller and had it shipped to there house and we need to go pick it up (we did buy a new stroller, and we did have it shipped to their house, but what a long drive to pick up a stroller!)  As soon as we got to their house Roman was excited to put the stroller together and test it out.  We told him we would try it out the next morning.  We got it all ready and the boys LOVED the stroller. I think he would have accepted the stroller as worth the drive.  They had such a great time and Dennis and Chris' house and would have been happy to go home after that....they had no idea there was more!

A few fun things about Roman

I decided to post a few of my favorite things each of my boys are doing right now so I can remember these days.  They go by SO FAST.

Roman really wants to be big right now.  He is all about being big.  He likes to "watch himself grow."  He'll stretch out to see if he is bigger.  He is counting down the days until he turns 5 and likes to tell me all the things he is going to do when he is 5.


Roman knows he is smart now, which is beginning to be a problem.  On our way to school one morning he told me he is the smartest kid in his class at school, and the smartest kid in his class at church and asked if he was the smartest kid in our family.  I told him that Hudson is smart, he's just a lot  younger then Roman is.

Right now his favorite thing to do is read.  He will find a good book (or a pile of books....or the entire library) and sit down and read for hours at a time.  Sometimes forgetting about the world going on around him.  He also enjoys doing work books.  Learning has always come very easy for him, and he really thrives off of learning new things.

Roman is my extrovert.  He thrives on being out doing things with friends and family.  Going to school, play group, play dates.  Hudson on the other hand would be happy to stay home all day (and play with Roman.  He misses Roman like crazy when he is at school.)

Roman makes friends with everyone.  Young and old alike.  Some of his favorite friends are adults.  


We are still trying to figure out where Roman will go to Kindergarten.  It's a much harder decision then I thought.  Mostly because it's not just my decision.  We applied to 10+ charter schools.  I assumed by applying to so many we would be accepted to at least one.  When it was all said and done Roman didn't get into a single charter school.  I felt frantic and started looking at other options.  We applied for permits to several local public schools that are closer to our house then the school that he is supposed to ride the bus to and I applied for a job at one of the charter schools, but it looks like it might be right before schools starts before we know where he'll be attending elementary school.

Conversations with Hudson

I thought I would do a post all about the things Hudson says too.  I need to write more down.  He has started saying some VERY cute things now too!  :)  Here are a few that I found on Facebook.  

Hudson - enough. Off.

Roman - Hudson, you say 'thats enough, turn it off please.'
Hudson - lots. Bubbles.
Roman - its 'lots OF bubbles."
Hudson - lots bubbles.
Roman - you forgot OF AGAIN! (Getting angry) 

One morning Hudson was getting upset with me.  He started counting for me to do something. He kept saying "7, 8, 9, 10. Do it NOW! Count again....7, 8, 9, 10. Do it NOW! Count again...." I am not sure what I was supposed to be doing though..... 

One night as I was cooking dinner the boys were supposed to be cleaning up toys for dinner.


Hudson singing - clean up, clean up, buddies, everywhere


Roman singing - clean up, clean up Hudson has to do my share. 

Hudson had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease and we had a miserable week and a half giving him medicine constantly to try to help him feel a little more comfortable.  One night I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he answered "medicine." 

One morning my kids were being "kissing monsters." Its not as sweet as it sounds....they lure you in with kissing sounds then try to bite you!

Quotable Roman

I haven’t done these in a LONG time.  I've posted most of these on Facebook, but I want to have them in their memory books so I remember all the fun things Roman said.

Roman – Maybe I have kidney failure like Brodie because I pee all the time.

Me – I don’t think you have kidney failure.

Roman – Why not?

Me – Are you sick all the time?  Do you eat?  Are you losing weight?

Roman – No.  Is Brodie sick all the time?

Me – She feels better now that we give her her medicine.

Roman – Yeah, she ate all her breakfast this morning too because she wants to be big and strong like Grandma Signe’s dogs huh.  (Grandma Signe has a chocolate and a black lab, I don’t think our 10 lb Dachshund will ever be big and strong like them.)

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Roman pretending to drive the car, hudson in the passenger seat..Roman says to Hudson:

"We're going to California. It's going to be a long drive, but you will be happy when we get there because we get to see Donovan and Joey."

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Roman told me that the "guys" (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, etc) at Disneyland weren't real because one of their suits was "drifting" and he could see it was just a guy underneath. 

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One night the boys were supposed to be cleaning up toys for dinner.

Hudson singing - clean up, clean up, buddies, everywhere

Roman singing - clean up, clean up Hudson has to do my share. 

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Spencer drained the water out of the tub.

Spencer - Look it's a whirlpool!

Roman - Dad, whirlpools are like tornadoes under water.

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Roman was tattling because Hudson was pushing the buttons on a book that Roman was trying to read so it was making noise. (It is a Cars2 book that makes car noises)

Roman - Mom, Hudson won't stop pushing buttons so I can't hear the book.

Me - You are reading it yourself there is nothing to hear.

Roman - I can't hear the voices in my head.

Me - You have voices in your head? What do they sound like?

Roman - They are sca-a-a-a-a-arrrry voices. 

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Roman's question of the day "what would we need to do to be able to live on another planet?"

 And a follow up question "If there isn't air on the moon, and it doesn't hold you down...can you fall off the moon?  Where do you fall if you fall off the moon?  All the way to another planet?  

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Roman - are there stores that sell rockets?

Me - no, i don't think they have stores, but there are companies that make rockets.

Roman - do they sell them?

Me - yes, but they cost a LOT of money.

Roman - hmm, I'll have to start saving so i can get one when I'm 16. 

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Mom i know what all the cotton in the sky is from. Its coming off the clouds and falling down.  (It was actually from the cottonwood trees)

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 One morning Roman and Hudson were being "kissing monsters." Its not as sweet as it sounds....they lure you in with kissing sounds then try to bite you! 

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Roman - mom, what are you doing?

Me - making a jet pack for brother.

Roman - what is that thing you are using?

Me - it's called a hot glue gun.

Roman - is it a REAL gun?

Me - its a real glue gun.

Roman - i thought you didn't like having guns at our house?

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One morning I asked Roman what he wanted to do while I was cleaning upstairs...he thought and said "Can I pretend I'm doing my homework? But I don't want to do my workbooks, that's just coloring, can you get me REAL homework." 

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Roman was just watching a commercial on PBS. On it Big Bird went to the moon. 

Roman - You know how I know that's not real mom?

Me - How do you know it's not real?

Roman - Because they aren't wearing space suits. They couldn't breath without space suits. 

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I just became that parent that said " there are starving children that would be happy to have your lunch. We are not throwing it away!"

Romans response, "We can send it to them. But we should send a letter first to say ' what is he allergic to?'"

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Overheard from the other room

Roman - Hudson that's not a toy.

Hudson - *laughs*

Roman - Hudson I already told you. That is not a toy. If you touch it one more time you are going to be in trouble. Oh, fine, you're in trouble. Your hand is in time out.

a few minutes later...

Roman - Hudson does my hand smell good? Do you want some? Open your hand flat. Open it flat. Open it flat. Open it flat. Hudson do you not understand English?

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I was about ready to yell in to Roman to get stop playing and get ready for school when I heard him singing. "If you're happy and you know it put on your underwear."

My baby is growing up too fast

**I started this post over a month ago, I've been compiling things that I want to remember and decided it's time to share!**

I was looking at my cute baby boy and I realized he isn't a baby. He is growing up. No matter how much I want to deny it, it's happening. He is speaking more clearly and his words are changing from his words to real words. A few of his words I don't want to forget:

Monka - When he wants you to come he says Monka. Then if you don't he starts repeating it which turns in to mon come on come on come on.

Buh-ee or Buh-buh - This is what he calls Roman.

Monk-a-monk - Any monkey. He loves monkeys. He sleeps with monkey blankets, a bed full of monkey stuff animals, hisi favorite pajamas have monkeys on them. He LOVES them.

He now calls me Mommy instead of Mama, I just noticed this week and I am a little sad, and he has started saying Mom now sometimes too. It's adorable when he says Daah-deeeee. He can say Roman, but never when he's wanting Roman. He calls all dogs that we hear or see Bro-ee.

Hudson's language has really taken off over the last 2 months.  He is using more sentences and trying out new words all the time.  He is a little mimic.  He says everything we do.  We had my brother-in-law and sister-in-law over to play games one weekend.  My brother-in-law messed up on the game and said "Dang it!"  Hudson immediately started saying "Dang it!"  At that point my Brother-in-law said "Oh shoot!"  Now Hudson keeps running around saying "Dang it!  And "Oh Shoot!"  At least it was the better versions of the words....

A few of my favorite words he says right now

(In this picture, Spencer is edging the lawn, Hudson wanted to see it, 

but was scared if the edger, so he hid behind the garbage can!)

Uh hun - for Uh huh (or  yes)
he says Come on now instead of monka, I really liked monka.
I note no - I don't know
Showuh - Shower.  The boy LOVES showers.  He begs to take showers.
Milk - Any drink he calls milk.
Thank you - Hudson is so sweet and remembers to say "Thank you" all the time.  It's hard to be frustrated at 2 in the morning when you hand him his drink and even though he's half asleep he says "Thank you"
He sings Twinkle Twinkle it goes something like this "twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle" But he sort of has the tune down.

He can count to twenty and backwards from 5 down to one (and he always says "Blast Off" when he gets down to one.)

He knows most of the ABC's but usually gets stuck at H because he likes to say that the H says Huh.  He sang "The H says Huh" for about 30 minutes while we were driving to California.  He LOVES the letter H.  We try to get him onto another letter, but he always goes back to the H.

(For some reason my boys both think my sitting room is the perfect place to dance naked!  

They get their clothes off then run for the sitting room!)

One day as I was putting Hudson down at the table for Dinner he said "Mommy."  Without thinking I responded "What baby?"  Hudson said "Not baby, Name a Hudson."  He is growing up so fast!  I think the fact that he is almost 2 is making me realize we are almost past the baby stage (okay, we probably are and I am just in denial about it) to the toddler stage.  I love all the new things he says and does, but it makes me so sad that he is growing up.

He wants to do everything Roman is doing. One morning I got them bowls of cereal and cups of milk for breakfast. Hudson would eat a bite every time Roman did. When Roman walked away from his cup of milk, Hudson picked up both cups and took Roman his and said "dink...dink!" And tried to put it into Roman's mouth for him.

When Roman picks up a book to read it, Hudson wants to do the same thing.

If Roman is playing cars, so is Hudson.

They are becoming such little buddies.

4 year old e-mails with his birthmom

Have you ever wondered what a 4 year old would say if they could e-mail?  Well....I'll show you.  I started an e-mail address for Roman so he can e-mail, mostly with his birth mom.  He has so much fun writing e-mails to her, he has e-mailed a few other people also.  He insists he has to do it himself so I usually leave the room and let him do it.  He is painfully slow, but loves every second.  Here's the thread of e-mails between Roman and his Mommy Katie.

Roman

Apr 10

I LOVE U

LOVE
ROMAN

Katie		Apr 10
Hey Roman!!! I love you too! It's so fun that you have your very own email address. I am excited I get to talk to you more. Love, Katie

Roman		Apr 12
I LIKE TO SEND EMAILS.  I GOT SLIME FOR EASTER FROM MARLA.  LOVE ROMAN

Katie		Apr 13
Dear Roman, What is slime? What do you do with it? Love, Katie

Roman		Apr 13
I DON'T KNOW BUT IT IS SLIMY AND I PLAY WITH IT. LOVE ROMAN

Roman		Apr 22
I MISS YOU AND I WANT YOU TO COME TO OUR HOUSE. LOVE ROMAN

Katie		Apr 22
I miss you a TON! So does Betsy. She is big enough now that she would love to play with you and Hudson.  I don't know the next time we'll be able to come visit you but when we do it'll be so much fun! Love, Katie

Roman		Apr 22
OK I LOVE BETSY TO. HUDSON IS 1 LIKE BETSY. CAN BETSY WALK? LOVE ROMAN

Katie		Apr 23
No Betsy can't walk yet but I think she will soon. She can stand up and walk if she's holding onto something but she can't walk all by herself yet. I think by the time you see her again she'll be walking.  That will be fun!  I am so glad you love Betsy. Love, Katie

Roman		Apr 25
how old are you love roman

Katie		Apr 26
Haha does your mom know you asked me that? I'm 31. That's OLD. Just kidding.  Your mom is older!  Tell her I said that.  ;)

Roman

Apr 26

wow my mom is big

love

roman

First trip to the zoo in 2012

Today was beautiful.  We went to the zoo right as they opened which was such a great idea.  We got out of there before it got too crazy!  There were 3 buses that pulled up right as we were leaving.  The playground was getting so busy as we left too.

As always we let the kids take the lead, and it was nice to wander through the zoo visiting with my friend Heidi!  We haven't seen each other in a while, and our kids get along so well.  Roman and Aubrey were inseparable, we knew if we could see one, the other was nearby.  The problem with at....when one ran off...the other was right behind!

I forgot that I had my camera until we were to the monkeys and there was a cute tiny baby monkey.  It was so cute and little.

The kids always insist that we ride on the carousel.  Hudson was so sad when it stopped.  He didn't want to get off.  He had so much fun.


We first saw the tigers lounging quietly on their ledge and  napping by the fence, then all of a sudden they got up and started pacing.  At one point there were two pacing by the door...I think it must have been lunch time and they knew it.




And we can't ever leave the zoo without stopping at the playground. Roman ran off to play with Aubrey, Kaylee and Gabby, I was with Hudson so I got a few pictures of him playing.

He went down the big snake slide...a few times. He laughed the whole was down.