Ward Family

Children's Museum of Manhattan

2009-09-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Children's museum of Manhattan was a great activity for the boys, it was hard to get them to go home, they had a blast exploring all the diferent activities there. It was 4 levels of fun learning, playing and exploring activities. Needless to say, the part with Dora and Diego was their favorite. They got to get to Dora's house by following the directions on the map. They had stuff for kids of all ages, I wish we could have gone back there a second time before we came home.

Top of the Rock

2009-08-30T17:06:00.001-07:00

We chose to visit the top of the Rockfellercenter instead of the actual tallest building in the City, The Empire State. The Rockfellercenter's observatory is called top of the rock, it was my first time there, I had only been at the top of the World Trade Center in the past. It was a great choice, the builing is a lot more modern, with faster elevators and a much more pleasing experience than the crowded slow moing lines which the empire state is known for. It's true that it's a much shorter building but once you get to a certain hight, going higher is not going to change the beauty of the view. We had a great time there. We decided not to take the kids becuase it's hard for them to wait in lines and we didn't know how long we'd have to wait for, it turned out that we got there right as they opened and there was no line whatsoever. I wished we had taken the boys to enjoy the experience with us, they would have liked it, but they also had a great time playing at home with Isabel and Magali. Thank you Magali for taking such great care of our boys while we toured the city.

Rockfeller Center

Beautiful Views from the top of the rock.

New York is trully a beautiful city.

Central Park Zoo.

2009-08-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

The Central Park Zoo is really small but fun for the kids. Our original zoo plan was to go see the Bronxs Zoo, which is a huge one, but after all the walking we did in NY we were so worn out by the end of our trip. We finally decided to just see the little one. Our visit to the zoo was on the day before we came home.

We didn't take a whole lot of pictures there but it was sure fun!

Entrepid Museum

2009-08-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

The Entrepid museum was a fun activity, it took all day for us to get there and see all the displays, they had lots of hands on games and flight simulators. Allen and Chris also got to go into a submarine, we had a lot of fun!

The part of the museum that had hands on exhibits was the boys's favorite, they got to sit on the little boat, helicopter, all sorts of fun things.

The Statue of Liberty.

2009-08-22T07:29:00.001-07:00

The trip to the Statue of Liberty was one of our favorite activities in NY. Chris really enjoyed seeing the statue and so did the boys. I had been there a few times before but loved the little trip once again. The whole thing was fun, we got there fairily early so that we didn't have to wait in line for very long. The boat ride was really nice and we had lunch over there then walked the grounds taking lots of pictures. The only hard part was the looooong line to get back on the boat to the main island.

just having fun!

Allen and daddy with Lady Liberty.

Silly boys!

Me!

Some good shots of the Statue.

In the boat on the way to the statue.

The Boat!

This was part of the World Trade Center and it got damaged by the fall, it's now on display in this park just in front of the place where we take the boat to go to the Statue of Liberty.

More of ou family vacation

2009-08-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Times Square

2009-07-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

Our train's terminal was right at Times Square so we were there a lot, either to get on/off the subway or just to walk around, eat cheesecake and have fun. Here are some pictures!

You can see how much this little guy loved Times Square!!

A family favorite

2009-07-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

Us in the ferris Wheel inside Toys r Us.

It was a nice ride

Allen loved the Transformer's aisles!

For the dinossaurs lovers: make sure you watch the video.

During our stay in NY we walked around Times Square a lot, but the one store that had us going back every time we were there was Toys r us! That may seem silly since we have a toys r us close to us and avoid taking the kids there unless we are ready to spend money! But the Times Square Toys r us is the biggest one in the country and it has so many attractions that we can easily spend hours walking around and leave the store with happy kids without having to buy anything.

More of our family vacation

2009-07-24T19:11:00.001-07:00

The bull, symble of the strenght of wall street.

Lady Liberty from a different spot.

Right behind us is the construction site for the freedom towers, old world trade center spot.

The statue of liberty seen from the bridge.

All of us on a city tour, at the brooklyn end of the brooklyn bridge.

Still by the bridge, behind the boys is where the world trace center used to stand. They were my very favorite thing in NY.

In front of the building where Jhon Lenon lived and was killed.

Strawberry fields at Central Park, it's a memorial to Jhon Lenon made by his wife after his death.

We went on a city tour which quickly showed us the main touristic attractions helping us decide what places we wanted to go back and visit on our own.

Our family vacation

2009-07-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

In the subway on the way to Manhattan

The boys riding the subway for the first of many times. To get from Queens (my cousin's place)to
manhattan we had to take a bus and a train.

We got to go on a family vacation to visit my cousin in New York City this summer. We left on the 30th of june and came home on July 11th. I had been to New York 4 times before but it was Chris' first time over there. I was so excited not only about going on a trip, but about going to a place that is really dear to my heart. The very first time I left Brazil, was my first experience when I was on my own for a few months and it was in New York City. Ok, I wasn't completly on my own, I was staying at my cousin's house, she gave me all the support I needed and helped me figure out how to get around, but after all, she had to work and I got to be on my own on most of my activities. Anyway, my experience in NY when I was 18 years old made me fall in love with the US and that's when I decided I wanted to study English. Thanks to the fact that my dear cousin still lives there, I have been able to visit her throughout the years.

Well, we had a great time during the 11 days we spent there we got to see a lot of fun places and we got to spend time with my cousin Marcia and some dear friends, Magali, Aline, Mayra, her husband and their dautgher Isabel. Because we visited so many places and took so many pictures I'm going to try and space it out in several postings. As we all know I'm not very good at finding time for blogging so good luck to all of us, maybe in the next several months I'll post all of our trip!

Our new baby boy!!

2009-05-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

brothers!!!!

So I've decided to try this blogging thing again!! Who knows how long I'll last this time but I'll do my best to update it often!! I've been getting some complaints from friends who don't do face book because I haven't posted any pictures of our new baby on my blog, so here it goes, now that he's 3 months old!!

Justin Dourado Ward came into this world on february 22nd at 7:45 am. He is such a wonderful, sweet little baby boy!

He's been our baby that looks the most like his daddy. He's been healthy and growing fast. He loves to he held by mommy, daddy, nana, his brothers and his aunts.

He's a pretty good sleeper and a really easy going baby.

Allen and Christian love him to pieces! They are such big helpers always willing to go get his binky, spit up cloth or whatever he may need. They also love to hold and sing to him.

Justin has a beautiful smile which most of the time is gone as soon as he sees a camera. He loves to talk and has started to grab on to toys and be entertained by them.

Recently he made it through a full bath without any crying. He just enjoyed the warm water and relaxed.

We are so thankfull to have our new little one!!

First month in Brazil!!

2008-10-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Now we've been in Recife for just over a month. People around here can't belive how dark I am. They keep joking saying that Chris is going to say that somebody took his family and sent some black kis and wife back to him... hehe!! The boys have really enjoyed playing at the beach and swimming pool. They love to bury their toys in a sand cake and then destroy the cake and start all over. They've grown to really like the ocean even when it's high, I take one, my mom takes the other and we go in the water and jump high when the "giant waves" come, They laugh so much!!!

They have adjusted a lot more to most of the people here, the family and relatives that they see more often, they know their names and even ask about them when we don't see them for a few days.

They have thankfully slept really well since we've been here, but they like to stay up till about 11 sometimes, specially on days that they had a nap late in the afternoon, those days used to be really hard for me because by 9 I'm ready for bed, but now, they have learned to go to sleep with their grandparents, so I can go to bed when I feel like it and they stay up and have some more fun. When they fall asleep my mom and Joao Pedro put them on their bed.

At the malls here there is a little play area where you can check you kids in while you go shopping, or you can stay there and play with them, either way, we pay by the hour and there is lots of toys and friends for them to play with. The boys really like to visit those places, they have dress up clothes, including their favorite: Spiderman suits! Allen is always asking to go dress up like spider man. They get to jump on a kids size trampolin, among other things.

Their Portuguese is coming really slowly. They can say words but not sentences yet. They can understand a little more than before we got here but hopefully it will get better. I'd put them in school if it didn't cost about $300 per kid a month. Can you believe that?

About my pregnancy now... Everything is going well, I can feel the baby move a lot and had an ultrasound done about a week ago. The sex? Oh yeah, you probably want to know!! It's another boy!!! It won't be easy to pick another boy name, but we're happy to know that the boys will have another best friend! Allen has decided to name the baby Harry, but I don't see that really becoming his name, we'll see...

For those of you who have been anxious to know when I'm going to Trindade, I finally have a date, we're taking the bus with my dad on the night of the 28th, we're excited.

Love and miss you all,

Heidi.

Our first couple of weeks in Brazil

2008-09-24T06:21:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything, I had planned on trying to cacth up with some of the happenings in the last few months but since now we are in Brazil and the pictures are already accumulating, I've decided to forget the past and move on to our vacation Blogging!!!!!

Unfortunately Chris couldn't come with us at this time, he is currentely in Missouri going through his military tech school. He's been kind of borred there and we've been blessed to be able to talk on the msn daily. He loves to see the kids and their funny doings!!!!

The boys and I decided to take the chance, since we couldn't be with our sweet daddy, and visit our family and friends in Brazil.'kkkk,mm.kllb m mv mvm that was Allen's contribution to our post!!

We've been in Recife for 2 weeks now, we've really enjoyed visiting with our family and playing at the beach. The beach is definetely our favorite activity, the boys love the ocean, they like the big waves but they specially like it when it's down, with the rocks forming little swimming pools where they can safely play without any worries. They also enjoy digging on the sand and builind "sand men".
We have also been fishing since we got here and Allen was lucky enough to catch a fish, he was the only one on our party of 7 to catch anything that day.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Springville Canival

2008-07-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!!

Several weeks ago we had a little carnival here in Springville, I could pass the chance to take the boys to have some fun!!! It was their first time on a carnival, I was sure that Allen was going to have a blast, but due to the experience we had at the zoo when I tried to get Christian on the carroussel and he got really scared, I was afraid he wouldn't like. But for my great surprise, he totally loved it!!!!! He loved all of the rides and got really mad because I didn't let him go on the roller coaster with Allen! Maybe next year!!! They had a really fun afternoon playing together and laughing!! It was great to see!

Oi pessoal!!!

Algumas semanas atras um parque de diversoes veio a nossa cidade e eu resolvi levar as criancas! Achei que seria um passeio legal e divertido pra eles. Foi a primeira vez que eles foram a um parque desse tipo, eu sabia que o Allen iria adorar mas nao tinha certeza se o Christian iria gostar tambem, pois alguns dias antes, eu tinha tentado coloca-lo no carrossel no zoologico e ele tinha ficado com medo. Mas pra minha surpresa ele simplesmente adorou!!!! Os dois curtiram bastante todos os brinquedos, o Christian so chorou quando eu nao deixei ele ir na montanha russa, achei que ele ainda era muito pequeno! O Allen gostou muito da montanha russa, foi 2 vezes!! Foi otimo ve-los se divertindo e brincando juntos!!

Playing at home

2008-07-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

The boys just love to play together, they love to paint as well as play outside in their sandbox and their little swimming pool. Here are some pictures of a regular day at home!

Os meninos adoram brincar juntos, eles gostam de pintar e adoram brincar la fora, com areia e agua! Aqui vao algumas fotos de um dia normal em casa!

Trip to Cabela's

2008-07-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

So Chris had never been to Cabela's so we decided to go over there for the kids to see all the fish and the animal displays! We took Nana with us and we all had lots of fun!!
Cabela's e uma loja de coisas para acampamento, caca, pesca, todo tipo de atividades que chamamos "outdoors", eles tem la um aquario bem legal com peixes de todos os tamanhos, cores e tipos, tambem tem um monte de animais empalhados que a criancada adora ver, nos fomos la pra uma visita!!

Another trip to the Zoo!

2008-06-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

The Zoo has a new Carroussel so we had to go check it out!!! They had a member's night last week and I thought it would be the perfect chance to take the boys over there! They had fun crafts and the boys got to ride on the train as well as on the carroussel! They also loved to see the animals again!! Their favorite part as usual was the discovery land, with all of the fun swings, bidges, slides and clibing toys shaped like animals they could play there for hours!!!
Resolvi comecar a escrever no meu blog em portugues tambem para que minha familia e amigos no Brasil possam aproveitar melhor!!
Levei as criancas pro zoologico mais uma vez! O Zoo teve uma noite so para membros e eu achei que seria a chance perfeita pra levar as criancas pra conhecer o novo carrossel. eles se divertiram bastante, fizeram alguns projetos de arte, passearam no trenzinho e como sempre brincaram muito no parquinho. O Allen adorou o carrossel, mas o Christian nao quis nem saber de sentar em nenhum dos animais, ficou apavorado, entao eu fiquei com ele no colo.

Check City barbecue

2008-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a U220 &U80 barbecue at Linda's house. We had a really good turn out with most of the 2 stores employees and our families attending. The kids all got along really well and had lots of fun playing together. Everyone contributed with side dishes or desserts and everything was delicious! Linda walked the kids across the street to see the llama, goats and ducks that her neighbor raises. The kids all loved to see the animals. Thanks Linda for hosting this great gathering and thanks everyone for coming!

Allen went fishing

2008-05-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

So Allen's preschool went on a field trip to a fishing place, it was Allens first time fishing and he had so much fun. Julie said that he was so excited when he caught the fish and as they took it out of the hook it feel on the ground and he got down as fast as he could and grabbed the fish with his hands. When I picked him up from preschool he was so excited to show me his fish and very proud of it too. When we got home we took some pictures on with the fish is already gutted. And he helped me cook it. He also thought it was really cool when I was eating the fish and got the bones out of it. He didn't even want to try it.

Mini Golf again

2008-05-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Chris got home from his last TDY on a friday night, just over a week ago), the kids were already asleep so they were so happy to wake up in the morning and find daddy home. When we talked about what to do to celebrate daddy's return Allen asked to go miniature golfing. It was lots of fun and we actually got pictures this time.

playing with cousins

2008-05-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Chris went four wheeling with his brother-in-law, Nate, a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd spend some time with Anna so that the kids could play together, Allen had been asking to go to Nic's house since Nic's baptism day. He also really enjoyed coloring and doing some crafts with Kortnee. He really loves playing with his cousins. Thanks Anna for letting us take all of your time that morning.

More Sand Box

2008-05-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

The kids just love to play in "the big giant sand box" by our house so we try to go there a couple of times a week whenever the weather is good. So I got some pictures of the boys playing there! They are such cute boys!!! Enjoy!

Zoo

2008-05-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

So Chris had to go out of town again for military trainning. He was gone for a week and I was able to take pretty much the whole week off of work and enjoy some quality time with my little ones! I was able to go to the gym every morning and the kids got to play at the Gold's Gym day care for an hour each day while I exercised. They sure did well and enjoyed having other kids and different toys to play with! I just hope to be able to continue to go to the gym on a daily basis once I go back to work. Anyway, among the many activities we had this past week, one of the best one was our little trip to the Hoogle Zoo. The kids had so much fun looking at all the different animals. We got to see an Elephant show, which was probably Christian's favorite thing!

He also loved the Giraffe. Allen's favorite things were the train ride and the park area, they had a lot of fun!

Heidi's Birthday!!!!

2008-05-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

So it's time to celebrate me!!!! My birthday has always been a big deal to me, my parents always celebrated it with a nice party with lots of kidsm, foods and games, just as I try to do for my kids. But now that I'm all grown up and have my own kids's birthday party to celebrate I should just stop celebrating my birthday right? Wrong!!! I'll always celebrate it as much as I can! This year is a special one because I just turned 30!!! I still can't believe it! I don't feel like 30 (most days)! So Chris, my wonderful husband, decided to surprise me with a little going away celebration. He arranged with our Friends Fernanda and Taylor Fisher to have our boys over night so that we could get away for a romantic celebration. We dropped the kids off around 4 and headed to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner: Olive Garden. Chris doesn't really love it so we don't get to go there very often. Our meals were wonderful but it was just the beginning of our party! From there we went to our final destination, The Anniversary Inn on South Temple. He had reserved the Savanna Nights room. For those of you who don't know the anniversary inn bed and breakfast, it's a beautiful and romantic inn in Salt Lake (it has a few other locations) they have theme rooms that are really neat, their website is http://www.anniversaryinn.com/ .

We had such a wonderful time, we watched movies and had cheesecake. They also bring breakfast to our room at the time we schedule it for. They have a selection of movies that we can pic from and watch them for free. We had a balcony in our room with a beautiful view and a very relaxing jetted tub. It was the best birthday ever!! I did miss my boys a lot, but I was happy to know that they were in good hands and having fun with Talan and Ariel. They had their first sleep over! They slep through the night, which doesn't always happen and when we got there to pic them up we got big hugs, kisses and smiles but Allen still wanted to stay and play more!! Thank you Taylor and Fernanda for taking such great care of our boys and allowing Chris and I to enjoy some quality time together.

Sand Box and more

2008-05-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

This week we had a couple of really warm days and as usual I tried to get the kids outside to play as much as possible! We have a sand volley ball cort in our condominium and the kids like to use it as a "big giant sand box" so we walked over there with some beach toys for the boys to enjoy the nice day. We played there for a while untill some other kids started coming outside to play too. Allen had a shovel and so did Christian, along with some other toys. As other kids came around they Christian dropped his shovel to go run around with them a little girl came over and picked up the toy Christina had left behind, as soon as Allen saw the little girl he run after her and said: "Hey, that's Bebe's toy!" It was so funny to see his face defending his brother's belongings! I told him it was ok to share because Christian was done playing with it and he then said: "Ok, you can play with it now!" and became best friends with the little girl! That kid makes friends like nobody else! Next time we go to the send box I'll take some pictures.
As some of you know Chris has been out of town since sunday, he went on a TDY to Seattle. It's been a hard week without him, we miss him a lot but we have been blessed with wonderful help from Mindi, Angela, Jill, Nic and Julie who have been kind of taking turn watching the boys so that I can go to work. All of them also work full time and have been spending all of their free time with the boys. Thanks a lot to all of you!!! this trip was kind of last minute and Chris gladly accepted it. His work has been great at giving him time off for his military duties!
The boys are having a great time at the JAM's household and Allen has a new best friend: Nic. He is all Allen talks about since he spent some time with him yesterday. Nic knows the spider man song that Allen had only heard a little part of it and he was so amazed to hear the whole thing. Yesterday he had his Preschool program and only left Nic and Minna with the promise that they would be coming to his program, as we drove off he kept looking back and asking where is Nic? I told him they would come meet us at the school in a little while. We got some food at McDonald's and as soon as he got out of the car at the School parking lot he looked around and asked: Where is Nic? It was funny!
Unfortunatly during the program when he noticed the room gettin full of people he didn't know he called for me and said he didn't want to sit up there. We were able to keep him up tehr ebut he wouldn't sing or participate, he was extremely tired and intimidated by all the "strangers". For what I've heard, he was kind of following on his daddy's footsteps who took part of this same program a number of years ago and cried like a baby before deciding to participate!! Anyway, there is always next time! The program was beautiful and I got a couple of pictures of him sitting up there with his friends. I'll post them soon. We also got to see a self portrate he had made at the beggining of the school year along with one he made now, at the end and we could see great improvement! He has for sure learned a great deal since he started preschool. Thanks Nana and Miss Linda for the wonderful job you both do at Achiever Preschool!

Allen's birthday party!

2008-04-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Allen is now 4 years old!! I can't believe how fast he's growing up! He's been such a joy in our lives, he's a sweet and loving little boy who loves to play with mommy and daddy and loves to make us laugh. He's also a wonderful big brother who takes good care of his little brother Christian. To celebrate his 4th birthday we did as on previous years, invited his friends and family to a little brazilian party! We had coxinhas, pasteis, paes de queijo, brigadeiros, moranguinhos e uvinhas! The theme for this year's party was Spider Man, one of his favorite action figures, we had little spider man masks for all the kids along with spider man stickers, pencils and a cool spider man cake! The kids had fun playing together and we really enjoyed visiting with our family and friends! Thanks everyone for coming! Allen really understood this year that it was HIS birthday party and that everyone was there for HIM! He also really loved all of his presents, thank you! Pictures coming soon.

The Circus

2008-04-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Circus came to town and I couldn't miss the chance to take my 3 boys to the circus for the first time!!! We were all so excited! It was a small circus with simple presentations but it was worth it, Allen really enjoyed the animals, specially the elephant, the malabarists, clowns and the bikers. I couldn't believe on the 10 year old boy riding the bike inside the metal ball with three other bikers in there! It was a fun day! The boys got to eat cotton candy and Allen even got to ride on the Elephant! It was the ride of a lifetime!!! After the Circus we went to get some dinner at the boy's favorite place: McDonald's! They love playing on their playground!

Mini Golf

2008-04-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

So we decided to take the kids to play miniature golf, we had so much fun at trafalga! Allen really enjoyed the game while Christian had fun just running around! Allen got really good at hitting the ball with his club at the starting point and then picking it up and placing it right by the hole where he'd once again hit the ball and win!!!! Christian on the other hand didn't want to have to hit the ball at all so he'd just walk right to the hole and place his ball in it and celebrate!! We all had a good laugh! It had been a long time since we'd been there. Trafalga was actually where Chris and I went on our very first date after having enjoyed a delicious japanese meal that he prepared. I wish I had not forgotten to take the camera with us! Sorry...

Joke

2008-04-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

So, Chris called me at work yesterday and said that Allen had just made a joke! Allen told daddy that he needed something (Chris couldn't remember what it was) and Chris said: Me too! Allen then said: Me three daddy!!!
It was so funny! Our little boy is getting so big! I can' t believe he's going to be for in just 2 1/2 weeks!
Christian is also growing so fast, he is talking so much! He repeats everything Allen says or does! He now loves to watch Diego, it's really the only TV show he enjoys so far. He talks back to Diego and helps him in all his missions! He's also a really good eater, I can't believe how much that little one can eat! He's such a daddy's boy, anytime daddy sits down to eat anything he climbs on his lap to eat from his plate. Allen on the other hand is a big mommy's boy, he has certain things and times that only mommy is allowed to help him with, he makes us laugh!

We love Las Vegas!

2008-03-31T14:22:00.001-07:00

Our Trip to Vegas

2008-03-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

So we finally had a weekend where both Chris and I were off on Saturday so we decided to go on a little trip. It was short because Chris had to be back to work sunday night but we had so much fun! We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel on the 19th floor, from where we had a great view of Las Vegas. We left our house Saturday at 5 am, and the boys slept most of the way there. Our first stop was at the Air Force Base, where we went into the BX, did a little shopping and got the boys out of their PJ's and ready for the day! We also changed from our winter clothes into our shorts and flip flops!! From there we went to see Uncle David who was at work, we got to visit with him for a little while and he gave us some directions and tips and we went on to our activities! Our first visit was to the Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, where we got to see 5 beautiful dolphins, we were all in love with them! It was hard to tell which one of us was the most excited every time they would swim towards us! We had a lot of fun and took lots of pictures! I think Heavenly Father must have been really inspired when he created those beautiful animals! We also got to see some pretty tigers, lions and leopards. The boys had lots of fun and just that alone was woth the trip to Vegas! From there we went to check into our hotel and got ready for the pool where Allen was the only brave one to get into the water. He had a lot of fun playing in the pool. At night we were all so tired we decided to eat dinner at the hotel and enjoy our jacuzzi tub and just relax in the room. On Sunday morning we had a late start, enjoyed the swimming pool for a couple of hours and then got back on the road. We wanted to have some time to stop in St. George and visit with Aunt and Uncle Barchi and Uncle Geore. It was fun to see them and visti for a little while. The boys were in their best behavior and impressed them all. We were so proud of them! The drive back took a little longer since the boys were awake we had to allow Allen a few potty brakes and we also drove through some rain, snow and fog. But we got home safely and with just enough time for Chris to have a quick shower and head to work.
Thanks Nana for watching our dogs while we were out having the time of our lives!

Easter

2008-03-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

The boys were so excited for Easter, specially Allen who got to do an easter egg hunt and to color eggs at preschool a few days before easter! On Saturday night we had our good friends, Sena's, over for dinner. We had an egg hunt and the kids got to color some eggs, it was lots of fun! On Easter moning the boys looked for their baskets as soon as they got up and they were so happy with what they found! They got to go to the MTC with mommy and played quietly as she interpreted a relief societ meeting. Afterwards they got to play on the Temple grounds for a little bit while waitting for daddy who had to go in to work for a couple of hours. In the afternoon we went to Nana's house for a family barbecue. We had fun with another easter egg hunt, and enjoyed playing with Nana, Grandma Payne, Angela and Mindi. We were sad to miss Jill who had to work and Anna's family who came over after we had left. Hopefulle we'll get to see them sometime soon. Thanks Nana for the great day!

Spring Time!!!

2008-03-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

As spring comes around and the sun comes out the kids have been able to play outside a lot! They have been having so much fun running after bubbles, playing ball and riding their bike and tricycle! They also like to draw with chalk on the ground in our backyard. They planted a little seed during class in primary and we have been watching it grow into a little plant. They love to see how much it's growing, Allen says that it's growing just like him!

2008-02-25T15:09:00.001-08:00

Let's see what's new.... Nothing really! The boys are doing great, they've been cold free for over a month now which is great for this time of the year. We are anxious for Spring to come around so that we can play outside, Christian constantly asks to go outside play with the snow, which he calls bubbles. He has been talking so much, with new words every day! He has also started saying two and three word sentences like: I want juice, and he always says thanks after he gets it. He has really grown to love to color, the only problem with that is that he wants to do it all over my walls, doors and cabinets! He is also a very sharing little boy, he shares with Allen very well, but he also loves to share his food with the dogs which makes him trow half of his food on the floor and then ask for more. The biggest problem with that is that he doesn't care what kind of food it is, so we end up having to clean up all sorts of sauces and yogurts from the carpet. What a fun age!!!!
Allen is my super-hero big boy!!! He loves to save mommy from big bad dinosaurs that come into our house! He picks them up trows up in the Air spinning like a pizza and trows them on the ground one by one and then he tells me: mommy I saved you!! He loves to help me do everything, it doesn't matter what it is that I'm doing but as long as he sees me in the kitchen he runs in and says I want to help you mommy, and he holds on to my arm to be part of whatever I might be doing. He has quadrupled his vocabulary in the last few months, I can't believe how much he talks. But he's still a calm and quiet kid, who can play quietly of hours without disturbing anyone. He loves having friends to play with and his favorite thing in the world is to go to preschool. he loves it even more when he gets to go no Nana's house after school, Which he's going to do a lot next week. Chris is going to Pennsylvania for some training through the Air Guard, he's really excited about that. I'll be working only 4 hours a day during that week and Julie (Nana) and Fernanda (my dear friend) will help me out by watching my kids while I'm at work. I don't know what I'd do without them!! Thank goodness for friends and family!!!
I guess this is everything that's going on with our family... I'll be back when I have more news!!

2008-02-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

Allen playing with his aunt Mindi, he had so much fun trowing snow balls at her! Mina, thanks for being so much fun!!!! But after playing it was time for working!!! Allen helped daddy to clean up the snow from Nana's side walk and driveway. Such a big helper!!!

Fun in the Snow!!!

2008-02-05T15:47:00.000-08:00

These are some pictures of Allen and kiya when Chris took them to Play with the Wadley's! It was Allen's first time sliding on the snow and he had a blast!!! Thanks Wadley's for inviting us! By the way, mommy missed out on the fun because she was at work and Christian stayed with Nana because he was sick.

2008-02-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

On our way to preschool today I asked if Allen was excited to go to school and he said that he was, I asked what he was going to do at schoo and he said: "I'm going to see my friends" I asked if he had a lot of friends and he said: "lots and lots of friends". I asked if he knew his friends names, he thought about it for a couple of seconds and said: "boys!!" I had to give a good laugh! He comes up with the funniest answers for everything! Christian decided today that he was going to stay at preschool too. He quickley went into the play room and made some friends, and then he went into the learning room and pulled up a chair and sat down, ready to help a little girl who was working on a puzzle! He will love to go to nursery now that he's going to be old enough for it! He has been talking so much, learning lots from his big brother! His newst words are "tickle" and "nana". Oh, a while ago we were at Julie's house and Chris called for her "Mom" and Allen looked at him and said, "no, that's Nana daddy!" we had a good laugh and forgot about it, but the other day I guess he figured out the difference and the looked at me out of nowhere and said: "you are mommy, nana is mom!" Anyway... these are just some of the thousand of cute things the boys have done in the last few days! Hope you enjoy!

2008-01-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

My little Christian is growing up so fast!! Yesterday Chris came with the kids to pick me up at work and he said that as he pulled into the parking lot Christian looked up and said: "mamma!!" I was so surprised to see that he already knows where I work! I love my little boys and every little thing they do or say means the world to me!

Little Stinker!!

2008-01-30T19:19:00.001-08:00

So today when Chris got to Allen's preschool to pick him up found him sitting on the time out chair, as he inquired about what our little one had done, he was told that the little stinker kicked his teacher's leg when he noticed that his school bag didn't have anything for him to take home. I guess he really enjoys coming home and showing us everything he did at school!! He finally said he was sorry and was able to get out of timeout! I just couldn't believe how mad he got for not having anything to show mommy and daddy at home! I felt bad but had to laugh about it when he wasn't watching. The art activity today was coloring on snow outside, that's why he didn't get to bring any art work home.

2008-01-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

Let see... I don't really have any big news, the boys are doing well, just getting over a mean cold that they had for about a week and a half. Christian has come to understand that mama is a very powerful word since he ends up getting just about anything we wants when he looks at me with his cute little eyes and says "mama?" He has started his love for trains, just like his big brother he goes around the house talking about "tchu tchus" all day long. He is a lot more talkative than Allen used to be at his age, he is always going on and on about things, it's so funny! He has also missed vovo e vuvu a lot (Portuguese for grandma and grandpa) he points to the computer and calls vovo? vovo? He has been responsible for several calls to some of our friends whose numbers are on our phone memory as he manages to find our phone no matter where we put it and accidentally call people. He loves the phone!!! He has started to watch a bit of TV here and there, specially when there is music involved on the cartoons, he absolutely loves to dance! He also really enjoys to help mommy, no matter what he is doing or asking for, if I'm busy with house work I ask him for help and he immediately stops everything and puts his shoulders to the wheel!! He is a hard worker already! So is my big boy Allen, who constantly changes his name from Allen to red power ranger over drive and back to Allen. He has recently learned that he was named after his Papa and he loves to say that his name is Allen like Papa's name! He is such a sweet boy, always willing to help me care for Christian, ready to run and grab me a diaper or patiently wait until I'm ready to do whatever he needs at the time. He is very smart and is learning so much in Preschool. Yesterday about half hour before it was time to take him to school he looked at me and said: "mommy, I'm ready for school!!" I asked what he was going to do at school and he said: "I'll see Nana, my friends and play in the toy room!!" He loves to read and is always bringing me books so that I can read to him. Christian also loves story time. Whenever I'm reading a book Allen will put his head between my face and the book and start pointing out letters that he recognizes, it's so great to see! His favorite letters are the "O" and the "A". He gets really excited when he sees his name written on something. A couple of weeks ago, at church the primary sang during sacrament meeting and it was his first time going up to the stand to sing, he had not practiced because it was his first day in primary too. But he stood up there so tall and smiled to big, really proud of himself! I loved it!!! His first day of primary went really well thanks to his friend Talan who took him by the hand and made him feel very welcome.
I guess I better stop, I can talk about my boys all night because the are so wonderful and they bring me so much joy everyday, but I only have 10 minutes before I have to close the store so I better start getting things ready. I hope you all enjoy this post and as last time I'll have to load up some pictures when I have a chance at home.
Heidi Ward.

So I finally decided to adopt the "Blog" thing!

2008-01-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

Christian finally said "Mama" for the first time yesterday!!! He was really tired and ready to nurse and go to sleep while I insisted on trying to get a few more things done before retiring. So he looked at me with a sweet face and said mama? Like who asks will you do it if I say what you've been asking me to say for weeks?!!! It was so funny! He said it several times in the few minutes while we're getting ready for bed. His vocabulary grows daily, it's so cute to see him saying his little words like Lala (that's what both him and Allen call our dog Bella), ball, vovo (grandma in portuguese), let's go, bubble, goal (as in soccer score), daddy( he said that a few times but hasn't really said it since the first couple of days), juice, eat, bye bye, yes...
His very favorite thing to do is to play in the bath tub, he can do that for quite a long time. Sometimes the water starts getting cold and I refill the tub with warm water because he's still not ready to come out. He loves to play with Lala but Allen is his very best friend! He likes to do any and everything he sees Allen doing. He follows him every where and loves to play ball or tickles with him! He is going to be 18 months next month and will finally be able to go to nursery at church, we're really excited about that because he always wants to stay there when we drop Allen off for class.
Allen is a little over 31/2 now, he is as sweet as always and is growing like crazy! Today I took him to play in a play ground and another little boy who was playing over there said he was his very best friend, it was so fanny!! Allen loves to play with friends, his favorite thing to do is to go to Preschool where he gets to be around other kids and also gets to spend time with Nana. He has been learning so much in Preschool and he talks a lot! He can say everything now. And he repetes everything he hears too so we have to be very carefull with what's on TV and things like that. He's also on that what and why pahse. He needs to know the why for everything and when we answer he asks right back, but why? And it can go on forever! He says that Christian is his best friend, but he still calls him bebe (baby in portuguese). We've been going to reading time at the library, that's something we used to do in AR and just now I started taking them to the one here in Springville. His new favorite TV show is Power Ragers, he loves to go around the house acting like one of them. Not just one of them but The Red Power Ranger Over Drive!!!! He also loves Spider Man, Super Man and Diego.
Chris is now working at US Sintetic on the midnight shift, allowing me to work at Check City during the day while he's home with the kids. Chris is also still in the Utah Air National Guard, which he loves. We are both happy with our jobs and completly in love with our little family! Life is great and the only thing that can make it better at the moment would be to sell our home in Arkansas but I don't think that will happen any time soon. For now I guess just renting it out would be nice! I'll try to post some pictures when I have a chance. I have to do that from my home computer which makes it a whole lot harder than just writing which I can do from work.
Hope you guys enjoy our blog, I'll try to update it often!