The boys turned 8 & 2!

Written 2.5 years ago...Garyn and Layne will be 8 1/2 and 2 1/2 this week so I figured it was time 

for me to post about their big day! Obviously, life is busy 

and thats even more the reason I want to write about it as much as I can! 

These boy's are growing and changing too fast for me to keep up!

Garyn has gotten so tall in the last year and I still do a double take sometimes! 

At 8 years old, he was 4'6.5" tall and now, 6 months later, he is up to 4' 7". 

His weight has also gone from 76 lbs to 81 lbs now. He is also wearing a
size 6 shoe! Like, men's sizes! Makes it hard to find shoes. All this growth 

has caused some lankiness and clumsiness. He'll grow into himself, though! 

He played upward basketball and was doing so much better than last year! 

He is loving baseball and basketball right now.

Opening his Nintendo 3DS on his birthday

Garyn also loves board games and just plain competitions. We have been playing 

Monopoly and Risk, a lot. Also, likes to do cooking competitions. 

One thing that hasn't changed is his love for swords!

You can often find him outside playing with the beloved swords. 

We offer to play with him and he just wants to be alone! 

He does let Ansley and Layne play swords with him sometimes, too. 

Other interests of Garyn are Star Wars, K'Nex and movies! 

His Wii U, Xbox1 and Nintendo DS keep him occupied, too.  

He has started reading Magic Tree house books and really likes them! 

Speaking of reading, he is doing great in school. He recently got a 

math and reading award at school. He reads on a level O now which is two or three 

levels higher than he needs to be. 

After breaks, he will complain about going to school but otherwise loves it. 

On the flip side, one character trait Garyn has acquired since turning 8 is some attitude.
Still very mild, but for our sweet Garyn that typically rarely complains, its different. 

We have seen more huffing and puffing, more pouting, and even voiced frustration

 over the simplest of things. Now, these aren't things we have never seen. We are just 

seeing them more often! 

Layne also took on the terrible two's with full force! The little stinker has begun 

the tantrums over just about anything thats not going his way. 

In between those tantrums, he is still a cuddly, quiet little boy. 

And by quiet, I mean talking wise. He hardly says a word but can 

speak in full sentences if he wants. Not long after his 2nd birthday, he yelled for me, 

"Momma, where are you?" and I about fell out! So we know he can talk and are always 

trying to make him use his words. 

Layne loves movies, too. All 3 of them do, just like Daddy. Layne particularly likes 

to watch Disney Jr. on our phones and IPad. He knows how to get to netflix, too, 

and watches power rangers on there. He will sit still watching as long as you'll let him. 

I have found him numerous times in an empty room with my phone trying to hide! 

Layne also loves to run around hitting us with swords and shooting us with nerf guns. 

Small little character men can keep him entertained for awhile, too, 

knocking them over in battles. 

Layne has, of course, grown a lot, too. He was 32 lbs and 2'11.75" at his 2 yr checkup
and now is 35 lbs and 3' 0.5" at 2 1/2. That's about where
Garyn was at 2 yrs old, just over 3 feet. Layne's just a little shorter.
Layne is now wearing 3t/4t and size 8-9 shoes. He wears 6 diapers
but we have tried potty training recently. He goes pee-pee most of the time
we take him but will NOT tell us when he has to go. I got discouraged
and haven't been taking him much lately. We will try again this summer!

Layne's breakfast pan"cake"

We have recently switched him to a twin bed and he has done really well!
He started climbing out of his baby bed
in December and it worried us that he'd fall in the middle of the night.
Plus, he was 2! I was hanging on to my baby as long as possible!
We switched the bed and had a couple nights of him getting out.
Once we threatened a spanking and then did it the next time; he doesn't get out now.
Occasionally, he'll get out once in the middle of the night but it's few and far between.
Oh! And we got rid of the pacifier way back in June, just before he turned 2.
He started biting them off and us finding the piece in his mouth! It wasn't a bad transition, either.


We had a mixed birthday with Star Wars and Mickey mouse.
Garyn got to have a game truck come for the big boys to play in. That was a hit!
We also tried our first ice cream cake and Garyn says he wants those from now on!

Garyn chose cookies and cream with cherries