Growing up Fast!

Well the boys have had a lot of fun playing lately. Rykkar is enjoying Bentley's new found independance. I can't believe how much Bentley has grown up this month. He is doing everything. They love to play in the tent together.

Bentley's newest talent is climbing. He has discovered that the limbs hanging from his behind are actually good for something.... Climbing! He is finally using his legs to do everthing. You can't leave him alone for a secong or he will be climbing up the stairs...............................

Or the gaming chair.............

Or off the gaming chair.....................................

Or his favorite, the dishwasher! I love my boys. They are such a joy to watch play together. I hope that they grow up loving eachother and that they can be best friends.

Christmas Party

We had the Charlie Battery Christmas party on Friday night. It was a lot of fun. Just a casual dinner where new comers could meet everyone. There was a lot of good food and fun people. Rykkar had a lot of fun playing with Izzy and Lilly and all the other kids that he met. Sant Clause even mad an appearance. I wish all of you could be there to see Rykkar's reaction. Santa came in the door saying HO HO HO and Rykkar's face just lit up like a Christmas tree. Santa was saying hi to all the kids and Rykkar was stuck in the croud and Santa missed him... So Rykkar followed Santa and just climbed up on his lap the first chance he got. It was hilarious!!! Everyone was laughing at how determined Rykkar was to see Santa, and to make sure that Santa saw him. When Santa asked Rykkar what he wanted for Christmas of course Rykkar replied, "A gun" It was so cute. Next Bentley got his turn to sit on Santa. Bentley was in amazement to what this man with a white fluffy thing on his face was doing holding him... He loved it. We were so afraid that he was going to pull Santa's beard off and put it in his mouth. But he didn't. Here are some pictures of the night. Lilly and Rykkar had a lot of fun playing on the piano as you can see.

Christmas Tree

We finally broke down and put our Christmas Tree up today. It's only a few days before we normally put it up so I figure it's not too early. We are really excited for the Holidays this year but we have a lot of mixed feelings about it. It's a lot of fun because this year we have 2 boys so 2 times the fun. Rykkar is older and is annoyingly excited for Santa Claus lol. Apparently Santa is bringing him everything in his toy magazine.... It's so fun to see Rykkar so excited. Then we are sad to spend the holidays alone. No family for the holidays is definately an adjustment. We have always had so much family to visit that it was near impossible to visit everyone in one day. This year we will have a lot of family time to ourselves. We miss you all so much and can't wait to be living in Utah again... Only 2 more Christmas's then we will be back in the states February 2012!Hope everyone is having a great time. Love you all!

An Update

It's been a long time since I've updated the blog. I feel so bad because I haven't written about Rykkar's birthday or posted pics. Our desktop crashed and just a few days ago we downloaded something on to our laptop and now it is swimming with viruses and we can only use it on safe mode. Rykkar had a great birthday. We invited some of his friends over and had a BBQ, cake and opened presents. He had a lot of fun. I can't believe he is already 3! Bentley is finally crawling which is insane because he gets into everything!!! You turn your back for one second and he's in the other room lol. Batman is sadly no longer with us. He was beginning to be to much for me to handle. I wasn't looking forward to standing out in the snow so he could go potty... So we decided to try a kitty. We got Ayla our little girl kitten when someone abandoned her at 4 weeks old. So sad! We are also getting another girl kitten the second week of November. Another girl, Mia. Ayla is a lot of fun and we are looking forward to Mia coming and giving Ayla a friend. It's official, Josh's Battery will be deploying for a year next year leaving between May and July. I'm really sad about the deployment but I try not to think about it too much. Other than that not much is happening. It's really cold here, we get snow every once in a while. Germany is beautiful!

Kids say the darndest things...

So because Rykkar is about to turn 3 we have been teaching him things such as counting numbers, ABC's and saying his full name. He is so cute saying Rykkar Jonathan Clements. Of course when he says Rykkar it comes out as "Cracker" lol Because his nickname is Cracker that's how he says his first name. Whenever anyone asks "What's your name?" he always replys "Cracker" That's my boy haha. And he tottally butchers the rest of his name, Jonathan Clements. But it's so cute and he gets so proud of himself. Yesterday when Bentley woke up from his nap Rykkar and I went up the stairs to get him. Rykkar goes into his room and stands up on the bottom of Bentley's crib so that he can look in. I asked him if he could say Bentley's full name and he said yes. So I pronounced "Bentley Coupe Clements" Then Rykkar pronounced back "Bentley Poop Clements" hahahaha so freaking funny. He can't say coupe for the life of him. I can't believe how funny it was. When Josh got home he said it again and Josh couldn't believe his ears. For about 15 minutes Josh was determined to teach Rykkar to say Coupe. He kind of did it but when you ask him to say Bentley's full name it is still "Bentley Poop Clements" Rykkar can put a smile on your face just by being himself what a cute boy!

Pictures of the boys

I guess you're supposed to introduce a sippy cup to your baby around 6-8 months. Bentley is 7 months old today. So the people from wic gave us one to try. He absolutely loved it! He's obsessed with cups. If you are holding him and drinking you better watch out because he will try to grab it away from you.
The boy's fall clothes finally came from Gap and Old Navy. It was decent shipping. They got here in 9 days. Not too bad. Bentley looks so studly.

I was so worried about the clothes fitting but they fit great. They are a tiny bit big which is great, just enough room for growing. Rykkar is so beautiful. I think he looks just like Josh. He is a little boy now, sad tear tear :(

They are such cute brothers. They are looking more a like every day.

Awww brotherly love. I'm hoping Josh's friend can take some pictures of the boys and family pictures for us soon. There are some pretty places that we could do them.

Growing up

I can't believe how fast the boy's are growing up. Rykkar will be turning 3 on September 30th. I swear it was just yesterday that I had my chunky little cracker. And Bentley is 7 months old on the 12th. He has been getting very chunky ever since he started eating his Gerber #1 fruits and vegetables and his rice cereal ond oatmeal. He loves all of them. He can actually sit up now. He'll lose his balance if he moves too much and he kind of slouches still. But it's better than it was before. I can tell that his muscles are stronger because he can hold himself up

.

Fall

Wow this fall is going to be a cold one! It has already started and it's freaking freezing. Our days are now 51 degrees instead of 71 degrees. I can't believe how fast the weather changed. I thought it was just a fluke but it's proving to be permanent. I am so glad I ordered the boys cold weather clothes instead of waiting. If the weather stays this way they will definitely need them...

Another One?

Wow, so Bentley had another one of his days like on Sunday. And lo and behold another tooth has broken through!!! Now he has his 2 front bottom teeth sprouting. Haha so cute! Poor guy I bet that's annoying but I'm glad they've broken through... The worst part is over for him for now. Until another tooth decides to come out and play.

What's happening here

So Sunday Bentley woke up on the wrong side of the crib. He was cranky and seeming tired but all day he wouldn't take a nap. All he would do is scream in his crib. Then when you went to get him he would just rub his eyes and snuggle into your neck like he wanted to sleep. We were going crazy trying to figure out what he needed. Then when he was crying I thought I saw something white on his gums, I thought it was spit up. Then when I got him to open his mouth I saw that it was a little white line of a tooth that had just broken through on the bottom right of his mouth. LOL That explains his crankiness. I was okay with him crying then. I felt so bad for him. I bet it hurts so bad to have those little teeth come in. It will be fun to see it come out more. Haha I love babies little teeth they are so cute. I was a little surprised because Bentley is only 6 months, and Rykkar didn't get teeth until he was like 9 months. Then again Rykkar could sit up by himself at 5 months, and Bentley is 6 and a half months and still can't sit up by himself... He can kind of slouch :) Also the weather here is starting to cool down. I am so ready for fall. It's freezing in the mornings and nights here. I hope it gets cold by the end of September. We actually ordered the boy's fall/winter clothes. I love Old Navy and Gap. I hear they deliver relatively fast. It's annoying ordering clothes. but that's all the choice you get here. I tried ordering some boots and they said they wouldn't get here until OCTOBER 21ST! I cancelled that real fast and ordered some from Zappos, which only takes a week... Much more realistic. I guess we will just have to wait and see if they arive on time. I will post pictures of the kids soon. Oh and of our amazing couches. Josh is amazing for getting them for me. They are the most comfortable couches I have ever sat on. I love you babe!

Happy 4 Year Anniversary...

So wednesday was mine and Josh's 4 year anniversary. It's crazy how time flies by. It feels like just yesterday when I met Josh at Landon Webster's house with my best friend Cassie (Hansen) Webster. Now, 4 years later we have 2 kids and are living in Germany serving in the US Army. I love Josh so much and I don't know what I would do without him. Today we went and bought some new couches, I guess you could say it's our present to eachother... Truth be told we both actually forgot about or anniversary. I guess that's what a busy life and 2 kids will do to you.

Taken Advantage Of

Wow I love how people can just take advantage of you and not even care. So I did a weave and color inbetween on my neighbor about a month ago and a haircut and she said she would go get the money at the atm and bring it over... She never did. Then yesterday she asked if I was busy and wanted to know if I could take her hair a little darker. I told her that I would charge her and she said that she would pay me for last time and this time. So yet again I did a weave with color inbetween, without gloves! My hands look nasty. And then she said she would go home and wash it out and then bring the money over becaus she "left it at home" Well I waited until after 10 pm and sent her 2 text messages seeing if everything was ok. She totally ignored me but had time to daddle on facebook. Some people have a nerve!!! I can't believe how annoyed I am. I didn't pay thousands of dollars to gain my skill as a hairdresser and then have people use me. It took a lot of time and effort to be able to do hair that looks good and I don't just hand that out. She got a deal anyways she would have paid way more at the salon on base. Let's hope she can explain when I talk to her today....

Fall is coming!

The time is coming for fall and the weather is starting to get colder. You know what that means... Time to buy fall clothes for the kids. It was no big deal to drop money down for one kid to get a fall wardrobe but 2 kids is a differen't story. I can't imagine buying 3 or 4 kids new clothes. For anyone who is interested, kohls.com is having a big sale lots of cute baby and toddler clothes for way cheap!

6 Month shots :(

The time has come for Bentley's 6 month well baby check up and imunizations. He turned 6 months old August 12th. I can't believe my baby is already 6 months old. Crazy! His appointment was at 8 this morning which means we have to be there at 7:45 for his scanning. He weighs 15 pounds and is 26 inches long. He is so tiny lol. He was so sad when he got his shots. Once the first needle was in the binkie fell out and he started screaming... Then he had to endure 2 more shots. So sad. After some good cuddling into my neck and shoulder and a few sniffles later he was ok. We walked home from the clinic and he fell asleep on the walk. It takes so much out of him to get shots. Anyways when we got home he didn't want to eat he just wanted to sleep. After a few hours I wen in to check on him and he was so cute all snuggled in his blanket with his hand up on his head. What a doll!!!

First time for everything....

Bentley had his first encounter with eating some rice cereal. He was a little unsure of it at first and kept pushing it out with his tongue. But once I left the spoon in his mouth for a bit he would suck on it and swallow the cereal. We made quite a mess. Then we played peek a boo with his messy cereal onesie. What a cute little boy he is!

Mickey Mouse Club House

You guessed it, Rykkar is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Club House. He loves watching it in the mornings. Grandma Huntsman has been sending him surprises in the mail and now he has 4 of the 6 characters. And yes, they do have to snuggle with him in the mornings to watch cartoons.

Yay for me!

Yay, I am officially back to my prepregnancy weight! Now it's time to lose 15 - 20 more pounds so I can get back to my weight before I started having babies... It actually wasn't hard, which is motivating to me to think about the rest of the weight I need to lose. I am starting the master cleanse lemonade fast this weekend. It's not a starvation diet, it's actually a very healthy cleanse that detoxifies your body of all the waste and toxins sitting in your body. I am hoping that this will help me with starting a new lifestyle and only putting good things into my body. They say that these cleanses are what's missing from western medicine. They can help in curing your body of infections and disease as well. So here it is. It's The juice of half a lemon, 2 Tbsp of Grade B pure maple syrup, 1/10 tsp of red cayenne pepper, and 10 oz of purified water. You drink this at least 6 times a day up to 12 times a day. No food, this has everything you need in it. You can drink purified water though. You do this for a minimum of 6 days and a max of 40 days although not that long if it's your first time. I am doing it for 14 days. Coming off the cleanse is very important. You need to drink several 8 oz glasses of orange juice to prepare your digestive track for food. 1-2 days before beginning food (1st and 2nd day after fast). East raw fruit during the day and a vegetable salad in the evening. Start a vegatable soup 3-4 days after the fast No bread or crackers! Around the 4th day you can return to eating normally.
* The first 3 days are the hardest. After this your body is adjusted.
* You can lessen the amount of Maple Syrup for those seeking weight loss as well. The average person will usually lose around 20 pounds anyways. Depending on your body and if you are overweight to begin with.

Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Bentley

Poor Bentley... He has hit the teething stage. I can't see any teeth trying to come out, but his gums are definately bothering him. He is chewing on everything and drooling like crazy. When you rub his gums he gets aggitated like it hurts. And if he can grab onto your finger it better be clean, because he will put it straight into his mouth and go to town on chewing it. He has finally discovered how to roll all the way over. He's been able to roll over for a while, but his arm underneath always gets stuck under. This morning he woke me up at 5 to eat and he was screaming. So I made a bottle, went into his room and he had rolled over all the way onto his tummy and he couldn't get back over. I am trying to teach him how to sit up by himself. He has no balance so far. He will sit up alright if I am behind him. But with no support he will fall instantly. I hope he gets the hang of it by the end of August. We are going to try and get family pictures done but I want him to be able to sit up so he can be sitting in this own pictures. We will just have to wait and see.

A little on Rykkar, he is fully potty trained! Yay! He doesn't wear diapers at all. He doesn't have accidents at night or bedtime and he always tells us when he has to go. All I can say is thank goodness for flushable wipes! Toliet paper does not do to well for wiping... Got to make sure we get it all lol. Because Rykkar was such a big boy he got a special surprise in the mail from grandma. He loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so Gradma sent him a big stuffed Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, he loves them. Thanks Grandma!

I am doing well just missing Utah and our family and friends. Trying to get used to Josh having to go out in the field. Josh has been working non stop. His battery is preparing for their deployment to Bulgaria. So Josh has been out in the field every day. We also have a few overnight stays out in the field for Josh. That's gonna suck. I don't know what I am gonna do when he is in Bulgaria for 30 days. Makes me wonder how hard Afghanistan for a year is gonna be. I know I have a lot of support, and we'll be in Utah for 3 months at a time twice so we'll only be alone for like 6 months. We'll just have to take it one day at a time.

Hoorah for Rykkar

I am so proud of Rykkar he is now officially fully potty trained. He will go by himself, recognizing when he has to go. He also sleeps in his underwear, no diapers at all! It's nice only changing 1 bumb...

What's happening here

A little update on what we have been up to out here in Germany... We had a nice 4th of July. It would have been much funner in Utah with our family but we made due. We had a bunch of soldiers over and had a BBQ and everyone just hung out in the backyard. Rykkar did some swimming in his froggy pool in the backyard and Bentley just hung out. Fireworks are illegal to sell here so we couldn't even have sparklers. But the Army was allowed to put on a firework show for us. They set off a bunch of big fireworks around 10:15. They were nice and Rykkar liked them until they started to get loud and huge. Then he just clung on to Josh saying "I want daddy". It was cute. Bentley is getting huge and is really putting on the chunk! Rykkar is really cute with Bentley. Now that Bentley is getting older and he's not so fragile Rykkar likes to play with him and snuggle him. He brings him his toys and addresses him when he's talking to him. Rykkar is doing very well at potty training. He will now go poopy in the potty. He does great and will go by himself, but Mommy isn't allowed in the bathroom. He shuts the door and tells me "No, Go out!" It's so funny... But whatever works. He loves to flush the potty and wash his hands by himself. Rykkar is really in to coloring right now. He loves the color wonder books and markers by Crayola. I like them too because he can't ruin anything with them. Rykkar also loves playing with the "kids" Savannah and Mckenzie that live 3 doors down from us. They love to play in his room with all of his toys while a movie is going on on the tv that grandma gave him. Bentley can roll over but no sitting up yet. He loves to chew on anything he can find. His favorite is the front of his onesie. He puts his thumb under his onesie and lifts into his mouth. From there he will suck and chew on it until the entire front of him is soaked... Josh is doing well, just living the life of a soldier. The Army is not as fun as life as a civilian but we're hoping that once our 3 years are up we can move back to Utah and Josh can get a job as a police officer. We have started to meet some decent people which is hard to find over here. I'm am doing well. Basically just being a mom to 2 beautiful boys and a wife to an amazing man. I am very proud of myself for actually losing weight. I am only 5 piunds away from my prepregnancy weight and from there I plan on getting down to my previous weight before I had Rykkar. I never realized how easy it is to lose weight if you do it the right way. Eating right and small portions is the simplest thing. I go on little walks with the boys and that's the extent of my work out. I'm sure if I worked out harder the weight would come off even faster. Cutting simple things out of your diet like soda and sweets makes a huge impact on your weight. Doing these simple things allows me to lose between 1 and 2 pounds a week. On another note, It gets hard every day knowing that I am one day closer to Josh deploying to Afghanistan, but I try not to think about that too much. We like to look at these few years as a stepping stone to Josh's career as a police officer and an experience to enjoy. We really miss Utah and our family and friends. Civillians really take their lives for granite. Before we were in the Army I never understood the sacrifice that soldiers and their families give. Now that I live the life it's so much more clear what we really give up.

Mommy and Bentley in the morning

Here are some clips of Bentley this morning. He was quite chipper!

Some fun Pictures

So here are some fun pictures of the boys. Batman and Rykkar are best friends. Here they are enjoying a little game of tug a war with good ol' "Cars Gippy"





Here's the best picture we got of the boys together this weekend. Bentley is practicing sitting, more like leaning on his brother, which I'm sure he will do a lot through out his life. I am so lucky to be blessed with 2 wonderful boys, they are so beautiful.

This weekend we were relaxing on the couch when Bentley decided to suck his thumb for the first time. We grabbed the camera and got a quick snapshot! So sweet.

Batman

How could you say NO to a face like this? He is so dang cute. I'm so glad we got him. He now sleeps in our room on the floor in his bed, as opposed to the laundry room where he use to sleep. I'm surprised how fast he learned to potty train outside. He puts his paws up on the back door and gives a little bark, that's when you know. He's almost 6 months old. Everyone should get a Morkie (Yorkie-Maltese) they are such good dogs.

Growing Boys

So we went to an appointment yesterday and they measured Rykkar and Bentley. In just 11 weeks Rykkar grew 2 inches and gained 2 pounds. He's turning into a little skinny string bean. He use to be my fat chubby little baby, sad he's growing up. Bentley now weighs 14 pounds and is 28 inches long. It's so crazy to watch your children grow before your eyes. I bet it's even crazier for my mom because she hasn't seen them since February so in pictures they probably look huge.

Congratulations Josh

Yay! Josh got his promotion moving him up to a Private First Class (PFC). I am so proud of him and I love him so much. Josh has put so much effort into the Army. He has grown so much as a person and I know he's learned so much about himself this past year. He wakes up everyday at 5:30 to go to PT and then has the rest of the day doing duties in his battery until 5:30 that night. He has so much endurance and is always going up and beyond. We love you so much Josh and we are all so proud of you. We are all so greateful that you are serving our country and that you are willing to put your life on the line. MUAH!

The cutest son

Rykkar is such a doll. He is so concerned about everyone. If he sees that you have a "Boo Boo" he gets very upset because he thinks it hurts you. The mosquitos out here are out of control and I have bites all over. The bites are so itchy that I scratch them until they bleed and scab, grose I know. This morning while I was feeding Bentley, Rykkar happened to see a bite on my foot and said, "Oh no you have a boo boo, can I kiss it?" And then he bent over and kissed it. So dang cute! Every time he gets a boo boo he asks you to kiss it. I gues kisses make it feel better. I swear this child has a mind of his own.

3 and a half months!

This boy is so adorable! I can't believe how blessed Josh and I are too have such beautiful children!

HAHAHA

This is the cutest thing I have ever seen.... Rykkar like to catch up on his Mens Fitnees reading material while he uses the "Potty" What a guy!

Finally my stroller is here!

6 Weeks of waiting and finally my stroller is here. It is a thing of beauty. I am so glad I decided on this one. Rykkar absolutely loves it and Bentley seems very comfortable. I can't wait to try it out.

Model Babies

Who doesn't think their kids are the most beautiful children in the whole world? The boys and I did a fun little photo shoot. Rykkar is quite the model, he loves being in front of the camera. And I don't think Bentley minded too much either.

Potty Training

Yay! Rykkar has decided to potty train. I don't use pull up's, I hate them. They are just fancy diapers. We put Rykkar in his big boy underwear and after a few accidents he knows to go pee in the potty, and to wash his hands after. Lol he is a little scared of going poop in the potty so he has held it in. I guess it will eventually come out and he will see that pooping in the potty isn't bad. Oh and a great insentive is 2 m&m's everytime he goes in the potty. Hopefully we will be accident free in a month or so.

Cutting my own hair

Oh the joys of Germany.... So there is one salon on base and if you've been on a base you'd inderstand how ridiculous that is. There are so many women on base you have to make an appointment a month in advance. Of course you could go to a german salon, but all german stores close by 5, sometimes 4. So what's a girl to do? Of course I cut my own hair. It looked awful and needed a cut. I'm not afraid to lose some hair and I wanted to cut it really short anyways. Here's the end result.... Not to shabby if I do say so myself!

Scary Reality

Deployment is never a fun subject but I guess it needs to be talked about so here are some details. We just found out that Josh will be deploying to Bulgaria, most likely September 29th for 25 days. It's not combat deployment, but none the less it's a deployment. It's so that his battery can go and shoot their weapons and play war. Now the other half..... The reason why they are doing this, is to prepare for their combat deployment to Afghanistan in June 2010. I'm terrified for that time to come and I really don't know what I will do but keep trucking and praying until my knees bleed. In a weird way this short deployment will be good because it will give me a sense of what a long deployment will be like. A little taste I guess you could say. A cool thing for Josh is that he will have the opportunity to go the Black Sea. We will keep everyone updated as to what happens with all of it.
On another note, we are very excited that we are being given a family retreat to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in the Bavarian Alps. Here is their website if anyone wants to take a look: http://www.edelweisslodgeandresort.com/home.html May 15th-17th we will drive to Garmisch to begin our fun little vacation. The Army pays for the hotel, breakfast and dinner. All we pay is lunch and site seeing. We will be visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle and the Linderhof Palace. We will post pictures when we go!

Colored Eggs

We colored eggs today with our neighbors and hung outside all day. It was such a perfect day. I don't know what the weather is like for anyone else but lately it has been 75 degrees and sunny. We BBQ hamburgers and the kids played in the pool. we turned our heads for 2 seconds and even Batman took a dive in the pool all by himself haha. We let Rykkar choose the colors for his and Bentley's eggs. He chose green for Bentley's and pink for his lol. Here are a few pictures. Happy Easter everyone.

Happy Easter spoiled boy!

On Rykkar's 2nd birthday he got a puppy, Harley, and shortly after we found out that we were going to be stationed in Germany. We didn't bring Harley with us because it was such a hassel to get him over here. Rykkar has been wanting a dog since and so Josh and I began a search in Germany. We found a cute Maltese-Yorkie mixed puppy and I guess we caved in. We took Rykkar to pick him up and he was so excited. He's such a cute puppy and doing pretty well with the housebreaking. We let Rykkar name him because it's his puppy. Yep, you guessed it, he named his puppy Batman! lol. He is so cute.

Colorful Sunday....

So Josh and I bought a grill a couple of weeks ago and we have had a lot of fun cooking on it . Our latest creation turned out very beautiful and colorful. We made lemon pepper chicken kabobs with bell peppers and brown and wild rice with pina colada's on the rocks yummy!

Turk look a like

Josh calls Bentley Turk because he looks like Turk from Tarzan. Here's a picture of both of them!

Some pictures

So here are a few pictures. Rykkar nice enough to share his Cars pillow for his little brother to lay on to make his gassy tummy feel better. What a nice brother!

First smile!

So I just happened to have the camera right by me when I was talking to Bentley. I was trying to get him to smile and maybe coo.... It worked. I actually caught his first smile on camera and it was huge! He even cooed and and started talking to me. It was adorable.

Also, here is a picture of Rykkar. I love my BIG boy sooo much! He is so cute. He calls everything his gun so that he can be like his Daddy. Here is a picture of his air rocket launcher "His Gun" he is ready to shoot bad guys.