So soon

I've known for a long time that this day would come- Logically I knew it would, but I still hoped it would never come. Ever since Eli was born, I've tried to prepare myself for this, but I really didn't think it would happen so fast...Yes, Dallin and Eli are wearing the same size diapers.

Really, it's kinda funny- Eli could be in size 2 for a little longer, but I'm not gonna open a box of size 2's when I know there's no way he'll make it through the whole box.... and Dallin fits into size 4's, but 3's still fit okay and you get more in the box.... so.... I guess I'll only need to buy one size of diapers for a while- that'll be a little easier... well, until Eli grows into size 4 *grin*

Totally Legal

I am addicted to family pictures. I think I get them taken more than anyone I know. Not that I particularly love the experience, but I love having the pictures in the end... unfortunately, more kids = more difficult time getting a good family picture. And with these pictures, posting them here is totally legal... we bought a CD with all the rights to do whatever we want with them *grin*
This is the picture we're putting in Nathan's phone book ad.... it's the best one where everyone is looking at the camera- Dallin kept looking at the white umbrella thing where the flash is, yelling, "light!!"- as if he's never seen modern electricity before.

Pretty much the only other decent family shot we got. In fact there is one family pose where Bryson is pulling a goofy face in every single picture. I guess when there's only two good shots, it makes it pretty easy to know which ones to order!

We tried getting some shots of the three boys together propped up on their bellies, but Eli would have nothing to do with it- he was tired. So we let him have a little nap while Bryson and Dallin had some individual shots.... when it was Eli's turn, he woke up and did great for his individual pictures... we got some of him on his belly and he was doing so good, so we put his big brothers on either side-- Nope. Apparently they were Eli's problem in the first place. Can't say I necessarily blame him either. This picture was too funny not to post.... it sooo describes what it's like trying to get three young boys to cooperate for pictures.

Christmas in July

What can I say about this picture? He picked the outfit out himself. Who am I to explain the many many many fashion rules it is breaking?PS No, his lack of fashion know-how is not making him vomit in this picture, he's eating cheese.

Good enough to eat

Nathan's sister Emily, who lives here in Spokane, just had her 24th birthday- she wanted to have a little party, so we hosted it here at our house. Her favorite is coconut cream pie, and her mom makes it for her every year... rest assured mom, she was still taken care of in your absence! I think it turned out pretty good considering it was my first (and that there were several typo's in the recipe!!)

I have no idea how it actually tasted... Emily and Nathan both said it was good, but I lost my sense of taste (and voice!) with the icky cold I had, so I didn't really taste it. Bummer.
I also made this 'Mile High Turtle Pie' ice cream cake/pie I'd been drooling over for a while- I froze the leftovers and had some last night when I finally got my taste buds straightened out.... it was very yummy.

Oww-ee

A few mornings ago we were outside blowing bubbles when Dallin tripped and fell. He skinned his knee ever so slightly, but he didn't notice, so I didn't draw any attention to it. A few minutes later, we were back inside having a snack when he suddenly did a double take at said skinned knee. He pulled his knee up, examined it quite closely for a moment, looked up with one of those "Eureka!" expressions and then immediately turned his face into a sad one and started fussing, saying, "oww-ee" and pointing to his knee. Stifling back laughter, I asked him if he needed a band-aid, to which he emphatically nodded his head yes as he continued his unrecognizable babble in which I'm sure he explained quite eloquently just how badly his knee hurt. Once the magical band-aid was in place, he was all smiles once again... and very proud of owie.

5 months old

Pretty much every single month since March I've wanted to start a post on the first day of the month stating, 'Where has this year gone?? I can't believe it's [enter any month from March to now]!!' Really though? How can my little baby be five months old already?
Eli has been a little, shall we say, challenging, the past few weeks.... his schedule has been all messed up from traveling and camping and then he got the icky cold I've had and I've really been working with him the past few days to get him back on a schedule so I can have my happy boy back! I'll take him not napping during the day, so long as he's happy again!

Five months old- Eli love love LOVES peek-a-boo, in fact, his brothers get him to smile so big when they play it with him. It makes my day to see them trying to calm him down if he's fussing or just trying to get a smile from him. Eli also loves his feet (case in point: the photo above)- he sucks his toes when his paci isn't available and just generally likes to pull on his feet and kick them around. He has very little interest in learning to sit up, instead, he wants to go straight to standing. He is really close to being able to sit up by himself, but when I try to work with him on it, he arches his back and straightens his legs and wha-lah, he's standing- and proud of himself too! We still haven't tried any solids yet- I'm not quite ready to have to feed another mouth.... well, to have to prepare food for another mouth anyway... maybe when Bryson starts preschool up again...

Creative

I don't really think I'm that creative. I DO however think I'm a good copycat... I see something I like and do a really good job imitating it. Whether it be a birthday cake, or decorating or sewing or whatever.... but coming up with an idea on my own? Not so much.

So the other day Bryson cut a big ol' hole in the middle of the front of his favorite Cars shirt. He wears that shirt all the time and I couldn't believe he had done that.... I think he's wearing it in at least 1/2 of the pictures on this blog. Anywho, so I ask him (very calmly) why he did that... his response? As he sticks 1/2 his arm in the hole, "I just need it so I can do this." Whatever. I then explained that really the shirt is ruined now... we don't cut things with scissors without asking, and we never cut our clothes. He gets a little worried now, understanding the ramifications of what is transpiring and asks, "do we have to throw the shirt away?" Sensing his fragile emotional state, I gently tell him that, yes, we do.... He was pretty upset at that, and started crying- pleading with me because 'McQueen is his best friend(!!)' Maybe I should have let him keep it you may think, but I let him get away with a lot of fashion faux pas out of respect for his 'independence', but there is NO WAY I was going to let him walk around with a big hole in his shirt, even if it IS his best friend. I know he didn't really understand the permanence of what he was doing, and I wasn't trying to punish him, so enter my creative genius (ha ha!) we struck a deal... I told him we would make some new McQueen shirts... My sister had given us some plain white T's that she'd bought for her son that were too small- I printed out some pictures of McQueen on iron on paper and presto! New favorite McQueen shirt.I don't know WHAT his deal was in this picture- I told him to smile, and he said that he liked to make this face instead... It looks like something stinks.

Dallin had no trouble smiling though! He hearts his Dinoco McQueen shirt and constantly looks down at it and babbles Lightening McQueen as he points... The fact that he's pointing is the only reason I know what he said...

Speaking of Dallins language development- he has started talking so much more.... much of it is totally unrecognizable as the English language, but two words in particular are very clear: NO! and MINE! Not exactly what I was hoping for.

A little game

I stole this from my friend Katie's blog-

Memory Game:
1. Add a comment to my blog by leaving a memory that you and I experienced together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little, or A LOT. All you have to do, is simply, remember.
2. When you've done that, post this to your blog, experience the memories from your lifetime, and I'll return the favor.

Remember me?

So my 10 year high school reunion came and went. I'm always thinking that people won't remember me... or worse yet, that I'll think I remember them, but then call them by the wrong name or something. We had dinner Saturday night at Luigi's- as we were walking in, I was pretty sure that it was Doug ahead of us, but I just couldn't bring myself to say his name for fear I was wrong... (it did turn out to be Doug after all...) I really did have a good time and was glad we went- it wasn't like most 10 years you hear about- it was really very relaxed. Me and Nikki- we were cheerleaders together *GO SCOTTIES!!*
(that was meant to be read in a very cheesy cheerleadery voice)

PK was one of the only guy friends of mine that showed up- well, at least that I got a picture with anyway... the rest of them were lazy bums and didn't show up.... you know who you are (even if you have no idea I have a blog and am talking about you).

Thanks Holly for planning the reunion- even with only 68 people in our class, I'm sure it was a very big task to undertake- you did a great job.
(Holly was also a fellow cheerleader... *GO SCOTTIES!!* - Again, read in cheerleader voice...)

Hit It!

When we were camping over the 4th, Bryson went wakeboarding with my brother Dan- after it was all said and done and Bryson was back in the boat, he was soooo disappointed because he realized that he hadn't yelled, "HIT IT"- the universal phrase that signals to the driver you're ready... he was quite sad that he'd choked *grin* I was upset too... but not because he didn't yell 'hit it'... because I couldn't find my camera. So when we went out on the lake Saturday with my sister Kim and her family, I was SURE to bring my camera. This time Daddy took Bryson wakeboarding- And he yelled "HIT IT!" like a seasoned pro...

Can you even see him? He's there!!

It was all quite exciting... it wore Dallin out!!

Too close for comfort

Last weekend we had a little scare. Our neighbor called us and asked if we'd looked out the front windows... this is what we found...There was a wild fire burning in Dishman Hills which is not too far from our house. To make matters far worse, it was one of the windiest days I could remember. The winds were blowing due east for a while, and the fire was obviously slightly northwest of us... and then the wind shifted... south...

Within a matter of a few minutes, the clear blue skies to the south of us were black with smoke, and the skies north that had been black were blue- it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. At one report the fire was burning at 400 acres an hour! It was getting late and the evacuations kept extending and once evacuations were extended to across the street from my neighborhood, we packed up our pictures and important stuff (ie: kids) and went to my parents to stay the night. Once night fell, the winds died down and the fire was contained rather quickly... such a blessing because years ago there was a wild fire that burned for days and days and claimed well over 100 homes.

As we were getting our stuff together to evacuate, it really made me consider the things that are most important to me... almost everything is just stuff, and can be replaced- while I'm SO glad I don't have to go through the headache of insurance claims and replacing and rebuilding, really, I'd walk away from all of it if it meant that my family was safe. But I'd like to salvage all our pictures too.

Caught up

I'm pretty much caught up with my posting now. Yes, I did it during my kids waking hours, but they were playing so good with each other and their traintracks, which is what got me going... I took a picture of their tracks............

All Aboard!

I love to rotate the boys' toys, because they have so much fun with them all over again when I get a different box out of the attic.... Bryson asked for the train tracks today- they'd been put away for a few months so I thought it would be a good idea- it's amazing how much kids change even in how they play in just a few months time. It used to be that Bryson would just connect all the pieces in whatever order he pulled them out of the box- there was no hope of the beginning ever connecting to the end. But today when I got them out, he methodically planned what pieces would go where and he made his first real train track-

He was very pleased with himself.

Even Dallin was putting pieces together... but in a little more of a hap-hazard way *grin*

A boy and his bike...

Bryson asked me for some soap, a wash cloth and the hose the other day. What for? To wash his bike. It was too cute... today it's his bike, tomorrow it'll be his car *sniff*sniff* He's growing up so fast!

Buried Treasure

I want to have a garden... a really beautiful garden that I can enjoy working in, and enjoy the fruits of my labor- both visually and edibly... In anticipation, I started digging up the areas I want the flower beds to be in so we can mix in good compost and sand and such to make it better for growing- my mom suggested I go at least a foot down... no small feat considering that our 'soil' is pretty much rocks... pretty much...
You really can't tell how HUGE the pile of dirt is off to the side of the trench... it was a lot of work, and I was proud that I had dug it out all on my own- actually some was dug out twice thanks to Dallins 'help.' When I rounded the corner of the deck, I hit something hard 4 inches deep... clunk- definitely not a rock by how it sounded when the pick I'd been using to break up the earth hit it... I went a bit further down the bed, hoping to work around it... clunk again... further still, clunk still... all around in every direction clunk, clunk, clunk... So I decided to go under it.... clunk. It was definitely metal and definitely large. I tried wedging the pick axe under it to pry it up... this thing was getting bigger and bigger.... I admitted temporary defeat and waited for my hubby to get home to enlist his help.

He dug... and dug... and dug some more. I watched- tired and sore from my earlier attempts. We talked about all the things it might be- maybe it's a lost bomber from WWII... I don't really think they lost any over Spokane though. Or maybe it's a mint condition Model-T Ford that drove in to a sink hole. Or maybe it's at least something we can bring in to Antiques Roadshow and sell for an insane amount of cash, especially considering that we'd have no sentimental attachment to it whatsoever. Whatever it was, we couldn't leave it there in our flower beds, lurking four inches down and polluting my yummy soil. It had to come out. Deeper and deeper he dug... until at last *gasp*
A lawnmower. A rusty old piece of trash lawnmower, buried on its side in my backyard. I wonder what other 'treasures' are lurking out there. I can do with never finding out.

Bathtime

After 4 months, Eli finally enjoyed a bath... it was touch and go there at the end, but he never actually cried...

The ONLY pictures from our camping trip

I was pretty lazy on our camping trip and didn't take very many pictures.... wait, no, I was busy chasing three kids.... or at least holding a fussy baby. I was so sad when I couldn't find my camera to catch Bryson wakeboarding with Uncle Dan, but for this, I HAD to get a picture...

a dad and his boys-fishingeven though you can't really see the fishing pole

2 & 4 year check-ups

Dallin and Bryson had their yearly check ups the other day. I don't know why I continue to be surprised by their differences in growth, but I do. Dallin at 2 years weighed in at a whopping 23 lbs, 3 oz and 32.5 inches. Bryson at 4 years was 41 lbs even and 41.25 inches. They were both quite astounded at the nurse when she gave them shots that someone would dare doing something like that to them. I was put at ease about Dallins development... really, it's only his speech (and physical growth) that I worry about- but I was pleased to find that he's comfortably within the norms for his age and actually meeting all the basic requirements for a three year old.... the basic requirements- that's not to say he's doing what 3 year olds do, but that which if a 3 year old isn't doing, they'd be worried (did that make sense?? Oh well, it does to me) Bryson is doing the basic requirements for a 6 year old.

Funny though because at one year, Bryson weighed 24 lbs, 8 oz.... yes, at one year Bryson weighed more than Dallin does at 2.... and if you pay any attention to the old adage of doubling a childs height at the age of 2 to predict their stature as an adult, Dallin will be all of 65 inches.... errrr, 5 feet 5 inches- just like his daddy *grin*

I should be in bed

My kids are in bed- and I should be too. I'm tired. But Nathan is playing B-ball and I want to blog. I'll regret it tomorrow. Oh well. I've just got to get some things posted so the voices in my head with quiet down *grin*

So Eli had his 4 month check up last Thursday. He weighed 13lbs, 11 oz and was 24.5 inches long-- which falls nicely between where Bryson and Dallin were at the same age... I guess pretty much any baby would fall between their stats though considering that Bryson was at the 90th percentile, and Dallin was less than the 5th. For reference, Bryson was 16 lbs 4oz, 25 1/4 inches and Dallin was 12 lbs, 5 1/2oz, 22 3/4 inches at 4 months...

We went camping with my fam the weekend of the 4th. It was as great as it could be considering Eli got his 4 month shots the day we left and thus didn't want me out of his sight the entire weekend. He slept great though, so I shouldn't complain... We really did have a great time- the campsite was very nice- grass and a wonderful hammock and great decks and docks- Dallin even had two dirt patches to choose from. Bryson went wakeboarding with my brother Dan (who is quite the wakeboarder) and he had soooo much fun- he's still taking about it several times a day- and for some reason thinks he and daddy are going to make him a wakeboard- ya, I don't think that would work out very well.

On a completely different note, here's some random pictures... I have been taking so many pictures of Dallin recently- he's just been so darn cute! Bryson is at that awkward pull-a-weird-face/pose-anytime-the-camera-appears phase, and Eli is darling, but lets face it, not doing much that makes me think, "I've got to get a picture of that!!".... It seems like I'm constantly thinking that with Dallin right now though- he does the funniest things in his own little la-la land that he lives in.

What can make a kid happier than an oreo cookie? Smearing it alllllll over his face.
Dallin at home in the dirt- ghetto style in just a diaper and sandals. He loves the dirt patch we call a backyard, and now that it's completely fenced, he gets to play in it a lot more.

That's all for tonight. Mama is going to bed.

Excuses, excuses...

Seriously, it's hard to blog when you're REALLY trying not to blog while your kids are awake... After reading an absolutely heart wrenching blog about a mom who recently lost her 1 year old in a drowning, my perspective has changed.... these are the good ol' days and I'm trying to make them count- my house has never been messier, that's for sure!!

I do want to get this updated... I have much to blog about, but I have three precious kids who are growing sooo fast! Maybe I'll get up early to blog.... naaahh-