Nate bought Jansen and Natalie each their own pair of binoculars. I was a little taken aback at how much Jansen's cost, but Nate assured me this was something very, very important to him. To help me fully understand just how significant it is that they have their own binoculars, he said, "If it was my own birthday, the gift I would want most would be binoculars for the kids." Fine, fine. I guess if it's THAT important. :) Can't say I'll be wishing for the kids to get any gifts on MY birthday.
They need to get out and use them now. Nate was going to take them camping and birdwatching this weekend, but it didn't work out. I guess Angry Birds (what they are playing in the picture below) will have to do until then.
I can't always explain why certain things really get me laughing. But for some reason this really struck me funny. I think it's probably just the fact that my cupcakes would totally turn out like the ones on the bottom.
***I have to edit this post and say these are not mine. (They very well could be). A friend texted me telling me her whole family was laughing at them. Had to set things straight. :)
They built a Michael's close to our house and that makes me so happy. There are always a few things I need from there, and I hated the drive and location of the other one. If we have no plans for the day (all too often), I usually look up a project for the kids and work on that to stay busy. This was the project I choose a few days ago:
Of course things never really turn out the way you envision them. :)
And now the "transports" keep getting moved from room to room in the house...since they don't really belong anywhere...the plan is to wait a few more days till the kids forget about them and toss them. Not because they weren't fun and worth it, but I just can't keep all that kind of stuff!
A little cottage cheese never hurt anyone. Not even Emmy.
And dang that Wild Kratts show. My kids LOVE IT. But that means we end up building dams in the family room. Behold the beaver dam.
Christian and Julie (Nate's brother and his wife) were driving home from a fun packed week in California and they stopped at our house for a break from the car. It made for the perfect Sunday afternoon. We got home from church at 12 and they showed up a couple hours later.
I'm always grateful for a chance to see Ryder.
I guess we adult-folk are not interesting enough to take pictures of. I never regret taking a picture. But I often wish I had taken more. Note to self.
It's amazing...my ability to recall things I did as a child and force my children to try it too. Have I blogged about this before? Sending Cheerios careening down a cardboard tube into your mouth? A great way to eat cereal. We prefer the without-milk method. Cardboard gets too soggy. It's a joke.
It's amazing...my ability to judge which size tupperware to choose to store leftover food. This one should be just about right... Also a joke.
It's amazing...my ability to get Natalie ready for a princess birthday party. Sure I had to send a text or two to borrow a dress. And the dress didn't really fit so we made it fit. Such a pretty princess.
You know, Emmy was a tough baby. But she has been so healthy. One runny nose, that's it. A couple minor diaper rashes. No ear infections. No coughs. Nothing. You win some, you lose some. We sure won in the health category.
At 10 months Emmy is standing for a few seconds. She loves to push her highchair around the kitchen and can walk when she has something to push.
She takes a morning nap at 9 and another at 1. Still goes to bed around 7 and wakes up at 5 to have a bottle (just a bad habit that I haven't the heart to break right now) and is up for good about 6:15. The kids love to go see her when she wakes up and sometimes all 3 of them are in her crib at once.
She does that thing that it seems all babies do where they scrunch up their nose and breathe in and out noisily.
Some favorite foods right now are grapefruits, strawberries, prunes (yes), and cinnamon toast. She rips her bib off and I have no idea how to make her wear it. She also does not last long in her highchair before she is screaming to get out. To buy some time I will put a handful of Sonic ice on their to keep her occupied.
She loves our backyard. If she sees the kids out there, it's all over. She MUST join them. She loves to just hang out on the cement and suck on dirty sponges.
I can never tell if she knows what she is saying or not, but she says mamamama and dadadadada a lot.
I still haven't put any gates up. Mostly I'm just lazy and I just prefer to keep a close eye on her. She knows not to go down, but I can see her trying it just once and taking a tumble.
She loves outlets and I am constantly moving her from them or unplugging things.
She is a squirmy worm for sure during diaper changes. A lot of times I will just do it while she's standing up.
She loves to drink from water bottles. And she likes it cold. She looks so stunned when she gets it in her mouth, but then she wants more.
She is all over the place in the bathtub. She crawls all over and pulls herself up and tried to steal Natalie's toys.
Nate and I decided that she does not hold still ever unless she is asleep.
She loves baby dolls. Natalie wasn't like that, so this is new for me. It's adorable.
Today was our last swim lesson. I felt like the instructor was excellent and my kids made a lot of progress. We have a long way to go, but it feels good to have started the process. I had a great time chatting with the other moms each day. I took them swimming yesterday and realized it's really not so hard to take all 3 as long as there is a shallow area.
That's Natalie working with the teacher.
Miss Janette (their teacher) told Jansen that she hopes he is as cautious when he's a driving teenager as he is now. He was very reluctant and scared at times.
We had a great afternoon with the Comin kids a few days ago. The boys battled the afternoon away (with no issues/pain/crying even!)
And Natalie and Maizie gave me a million reasons to smile as they played pretend together.
Jansen has really been into music lately. He has created a playlist in Itunes. Actually 2. They are titled "Jansen's Favorites" and "Jansen's Most Favorites". He loves Zac Brown Band and because of his sudden interest in weather, he also loves "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks. This love of songs creates some contention in the car when he insists on absolute silence while a song he likes is playing. Natalie of course pretends to comply but makes small random noises that drive Jansen crazy.
On the actual 4th of July we went to Copperton Park and celebrated with Nate's family. We had pizza and homemade ice cream and tossed the ball around. Here are some pictures from the day:
We spent the second half of our 4th of July weekend in Salt Lake with Nate's family. I feel like Jansen and his grandpa have a very special relationship, and they even have similar interests despite the age difference. This weekend "weather" was all the talk...Jansen has a weather facts book that he has been reading and sharing with all of us. I'm glad we live in Las Vegas while he is so fascinated with weather because as much as he loves it, it also scares him. No weather to worry about in Vegas! Except a heat wave as he will tell you.
Have you ever seen Emmy's hair so under control? I submit you have not. Not sure what dastardly plans Jansen has with that empty paper towel roll.
Jansen is displaying his dirt. He and his cousins were hard at work planting things at Grandma Nye's house. Or perhaps un-planting things. I hope not.
You'll have to get better at hiding the evidence Emmy. Clearly you just ate dirt.
This photo was taken at Nate's grandma's house in South Jordan. We had a big family BBQ there on Sunday afternoon.
Could there be a more perfect picture? I thought this one turned out darling.
I think we have been incredibly spoiled that during Nate's intern year we somehow managed to go home for Thanksgiving, Easter, and the 4th of July. Sometimes it's daunting to make the 5+ hour drive and pack for our family of 5, but it always turns out to have been well worth the effort. We drove to Orem on Thursday and spent two nights there. Friday morning we hung out in Robin's front yard and watched the kids roam around the neighborhood. So simple and relaxing and so much fun. Nate took off later that afternoon and hiked Notch Peak with his dad, brothers, and a sister in law.
Utah is gorgeous. I kept thinking that as I drove the streets. I kind of like living away...simply because I love coming home. I think the kids stained every shirt they brought, but that is a sign of some great times being had.
Amy and I are so excited for Emmy and Ella to be little buddies in a couple of years. They are about 6 months apart. Check out Emmy's huge-gantic ankles compared to Ella's.
Lexi and Brennon have a dog now, and the kids loved having a couple pooches around to play with.
Written by Jansen: somehow emmy got into the water almost eating it! holding something by her mouth ( whatever it is called.) with the big water toy ( now it is put away.)
The trampoline is always a hit, but it drives mom (me) nuts. For some reason the tramp turns their feet and bodies black.
On Friday night we went up to Don and Robin's cabin. We ate. And ate. And talked. And ate.
There is a grass field near the cabin where the kids played and everyone tossed the frisbee around. Grandpa and Grandma drove up to say hi for a little bit.
One reason we try to make it to Utah whenever we can is so that the kids will have memories of their extended family and be able to remember their names. Evie and Jansen are cut from the same pattern in many ways and had a ball together.
Not sure how to describe this little situation. Scotty thought maybe Emmy would like him if it appeared that he was providing her food.
Jansen and Natalie started their swim lessons today. This is a first for both of them. The lessons are in the instructor's backyard, and there 5 kids in their session. Jansen is the oldest, probably by a couple years, but he struggled the most. The morning started off wrong when Jansen slipped on his way to the backyard. He cried for a few minutes, but we finally got that taken care of. When Jansen and Natalie got in the pool to start their lessons and "swim" for a minute, Natalie pushed off from the stairs and tried to swim. She can't of course...at all...so I panicked and kind of stumbled my way into the pool about waist deep to grab her. The instructor was telling me, "I'll get her, I'll get her," but in the seconds in happened, I just reacted. It was embarrassing. Jansen had a tough time through the lesson and does not want to do it anymore. I think I've worked it out and will be able to convince him to finish, but this may be a long 2 weeks!
Here's his version of today: somehow my swimming lessons were worse! ( just for me!) well i think just for me. it happened at miss, whatever her name was.i had to do: chickin, scare crow, person! about five times for each. and go hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! and floating out on the water, sortove!
