Adam is potty trained!!!!!! Oh, the battles that have been faught over this. We finnally have success. I owe our triumph to 3DayPottyTraining.com The author of this e-book has the magical formula to potty train any child.

Edward Cullen's Hair vs. Adam Engstrom

Adam woke up with the greatest hair ever and it reminded me of Edward Cullen's hair. When I put the pictures next to each other I was surprised by the similarities.

Ferry Ride

We went on a ferry ride to Ellis and Liberty Islands and that would have been enough for Adam but then we got off... Major melt downs. You can tell by the pictures that we had a good time. Ha ha. No, we really did have a good time it was just very dramatic.

Halloween!!!

If you can't tell Zachary is a spider and Adam is Spiderman. We got some friends to come over and go with us. The older boys had a great time running form house to house with each other and inbetween houses throwing webs. Zachary loved the candy!

Adam was all spiderman out. He was so stoked that he got to ware his costume to school. He come home with a huge bag of goodies and lots of stories to tell me. I love pre-school. I sometimes think that we should have put him in for three days a week instead of two.

Grandma E is in town take II

So to finnish up on Grandma E's visit. She made us cinnamon rolls which were the best I have ever had. The boys absolutly loved them. I love Adam's faces in these pictures. He looks like he is in a place of pure bliss. Adam really likes to blow out candles (I think that he just likes the fire) so we made it a party. We sang a little song about Grandma and blew out candles. There's always something to celebrate.

The following day we went to Sandy Hook (most Northern NJ shore). The view was great. You can see NYC and a lot of the burrows. There is a light house, old WWII guns and the beaches are nature reserved (BEEEautifull). We went to gunnisen beach. Oopps! It is a nude beach. Yes, we got a show and it was horrible. Zachary had a great time playing in the sand. I think the shore is one of his most favorite places to go.

PICU

For the last three day were have been in the Pediatric ICU with Zachary. He started having problems breathing on Wed. night and through the night it progressed untill he was really struggling to breath. His whole chest would concaved as he stuggled to inhale. I took him to the ER close to us and when the Dr. saw him her eyes widened and she started calling out orders quickly. This was pretty alarming to me. They started him on breathing treatments and did a bunch of tests. When there were putting the IV in Zach really didn't move, he just went to sleep. Again the Dr. explained to me that this wasn't good and tried to wake him up. We then were rushed to St. Peter's hospital in New Brunswick (30min away) in an ambulance during rush hour traffic. It really helped that the driver was from New York City and drove like it too. That was an exciting trip.

Once we were there in PICU they put tubes under his nose and give him a mixter of helium and oxegen. they did a bunch more test and hooked him up on a lot of machines. Every limb had somthing on it. Every time he woke up he was frightened. It was hard for me to see my baby that way. After a day and night on these treatments he improved greatly and by Friday they took him off of the heliox and that night he was up and eating. Saturday they took the iv out and we were able to bring him home this afternoon.

This experience has really holed us realize what we're are thankful for. How fragile life is and how fast things can change. I'm glad that Josh chose the more expensive insurence plan.

I'm thankful for preisthood blessings, friends that care and help, family for their concern and prayers, hospitals, meds, doctors, and nurses.

Thanks

Grandma E is in town

Grandma came in town for a visit. We had a great time. The whole time that she was here Adam kept tabs on her. If Grandma wasn't visible he would ask..."Where is Grandma?" We had a

Backyard Fun

I just love my boys. They are really starting to interact with eachother a lot more and it is so much fun for me to watch. They are really cute with eachother.

Before and After

So some friends of ours were getting rid of their dinning room set. It is a great set solid wood, nice detail but I just didn't like the color and so...............

some stain, supplies, material, and several hours later.......

We have a geat dinning room set. I'm really excited to have a functioning dinning room and have a place for people to sit down when they come over to eat.

Dress Up

Check out Adam and all of his fun costumes. He is at a really fun stage where he likes to get in to character. Halloween has been especially fun to get ready for. there is not a day that goes buy that Adam doesn't get into his new Spiderman costume. Zachary likes to join in on the fun and put on a few hats. Becca, thanks for letting us barrow your chaps for so long. We loved them.



Looks at how cute Zach is in his army helmet.

When we got Zach's spider costume in the mail Adam just had to put it on. Anything that has to do with Spiderman is automatically cool and that includes spiders.

This is his favorite and best costume. Adam puts his spiderman suit on everyday. It is the first thing that he looks for in the morning (besides breakfast). He goes to the park, store and every where in it. He gets a lot of attention from the neighbors, which is a lot of fun. He totally goes into character when he puts on the mask, and when he takes it off he says to me "look mommy I'm Adam."

I'm Back

So I haven't posted for a long time as you can see. I realized that my last post was right before I was called to be the Young Women's President at church. http://www.lds.org/ Ever since then I have been either out of town on vacation (our summer was awesome) or doing YW stuff. I am so thankful for my new responsibility with the YW. They are great! I love being with them and the other leaders. It gives me an outlet and I feel my life being enriched.

Our boys are doing great. We have been having fun this Autum going apple & pumpkin picking at the local farms. We are in a great part of NJ every where we turn there is another farm to visit or park to go to. Here are a couple of pics of our recent adventures.

Climbing the tree was by far Adam's favorite part of our family outing.
Yes, that is a cape that Adam is wearing. We often go out with Adam in character. He likes to put on his cape and pretend that he is Prince Philip fighting the dragon in Sleeping Beauty.

Hacklebarney State Park

We went to Hacklebarney state park this last Saturday and it is our new favorite place in New Jersey. We had a great time! there were parts of the hike that followed the river and the trail was boulders. Adam had a great time pretending to fly over the rocks. He would climb the biggest rock with the furthest drop on the trail and jump off of it while I tired to ensure his safe landing. It was loads of fun.

Sandy Times

I whipped out the turtle sand box and plopped Zach in. It has been hours of fun ever since. Notice the ugly above ground pool in the back ground of Adam's picture. Well, it will be gone with in the next week. I can't wait!!!! Every time I look out my back windows I hate that humungous space taking, money drain even more. I sold it on craig's list! I'll be postin before and after pictures of our backyard when it is all gone.

Sunday Fun

Adam had a great time sword fighting the bubbles and Zach loved feeling involved as he hung on to his bubble wand. The best part of beinga mother of 2 is watching them play together and hearing their laughs.

My Birthday Party

My b-day was a good one. Thanks to everyone that remembered me and posted and e-mailed me. Check out my totally rock'in party.

Brothers

Man!!!! My little men are sooooooo good looking.

Spring Time

Spring here in the garden state is gourgeous!!! All of our trees out front have bloomed. Check out Zach under our tree.

The weather has been so wonderful and a couple of weekends ago we went to the beach to fly kites. Adam's favorite things to do at the beach are: dig in the sand, try to build castels, chase a friendly dog, find any thing and through it in the ocean, and run. Zach's favorite things: eat the sand. I love being there too. I'm so greatful that we live only 30 min away from the shore.

Washington D.C.

Thanks to this blog one of my good friends Dana Carver Bohen found me. She now lives in D.C. and with D.C. only 3 hours away we went on a little trip. Adam LOVED the mall. He saw the wide open grassy area and went for a run. He ran through the crowds tagging everyone that he could. What a free spirit. We had a good time catching up with friends. As we drove back to NJ we wished that the Bohens lived much closer. We had a such a good time with them.

9 Months

How cute is Zachary!!! He is 9 months old now. I can hardly believe it.

At the Park

The day was cold but the sun was shnning so we took advantage of the pleasant weather.

Adam is not afraid to bust out the moves. Super Adam to the rescue.

I wish I could take credit for the photagraphy. I love the framing.

Climbing

Adam loves to climb so when he saw some older kids at the park climbing this tree he had to have a go at it. He is so cute!!! He did a pretty good job. I believe all of that practice on our furniture is paying off. Ha Ha.

Oh Zachary is cute even when he is grupy. I love this age for him, not so much for Adam. Right now it is a fight to do anything: put shoes on, get out to he door, get in the car, get out of the car, change clothes, change daiper etc... All of these everyday activities are a chance for battel. So he is at the let's make everything difficult stage. I wonder why I'm tired at the end of the day?