Life, Love and Livingstons

For My Grandpa

2012-02-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

I lost my grandpa this morning. He would have been 95 in March so it wasn't entirely unexpected but it always leaves you with a sense of loss to know a loved one is no longer with you in this world. I have so many memories and tender feelings about my grandpa that I thought it would be right to put a few to paper, so as never to forget and to hopefully keep his legacy alive for future generations.

He was truly an incredibly person. He was unmatched in his devotion to faith and to family. It's interesting now to look back and remember that as I child, I was scared of him. He was pretty stern and intimidating to me and always giving me lectures about how to be more lady like. As I got older though, he let down some of that authority figure presence and started to treat me as more of a friend. I saw more and more of his tender side the older we both got and I also learned that he had a great sense of humor and a quick wit.

He had a wonderful singing voice and used to sing to us in German, 'Du, Du Liegst Mir im Herzen' (You, you are in my heart). He spoke German due to a mission he served in Brazil as a young man. He returned to serve 4 more missions in Brazil with my grandma and sacrificed so much to be able to do so. He learned Portuguese on those subsequent missions and there was always a lot of Portuguese spoken in their home as well as Brazilian traditions that carried over into the lives of all of their family. Portuguese was his love language.

The love story he had with my grandma was a great one. They loved to dance and danced a beautiful Samba together. One of my fondest memories is the Christmas where he took me and my sister aside because he had always wanted to do something for my grandma but 'didn't have the G-U-T-Z to do it'. Her eyes were a beautiful blue and he had always wanted to buy her a necklace with a blue stone that matched them. He feared she would be angry if he spent the money but he wanted to do it anyway and asked if we would help him pick something out. We told him if he wanted to do this, we would do whatever we could to make it happen. So, my parents, my grandpa, my sister and I all met at Fashion Place Mall to shop for some jewelry. He showed up dressed impeccably and distinguished (as he always did) with his overcoat and his brown fedora and as a man very much in love with his wife. As he shared the story with the shopkeepers, I don't know how they kept from just giving the jewelry away. He examined every piece carefully and finally decided on a matching necklace and earrings.

We got together on Christmas and he gave her the jewelry and she put it on and thanked him with a kiss. I will never forget this whole experience. It stands out as one of my most vivid memories.

I was able to spend a lot of one on one time with him when my grandma got sick as I went out to care for her for a while. We'd get up and eat breakfast together and he would mock my skim milk...told me he felt sorry for me drinking that stuff. We'd go out on walks to get him out of the house for a bit and we'd go nice and slow as at the time he was struggling for breath. He showed such love and compassion to my grandma at this time and I believe it was a tender mercy that I was allowed to be there during that difficult but tender time.

I love my grandpa dearly. I wish I could have been there to give him three kisses on the cheek one last time. (A Brazilian tradition signifying 'amor para sempre' (love always) and the way we always said good-bye.) I admire his selflessness, his service, his capacity to love. There are many tears being shed for him today and the world has lost one of the greats. But I know he is in a better place with all his youthful energy and I hope that he had the most joyous reunion with my grandma this morning. Eu te amo vo. Ate logo.

My grandparents mission story is contained in a film at this link. If you are interested, take a look. It really is a wonderful story.

http://www.brasildocelar.com/film_trailer.html

One Wedding and Two Turkeys

2012-01-11T19:56:00.001-08:00

As you may know from my previous post, we spent Thanksgiving in Utah with my family this year. My brother was getting married that weekend and we wanted to be there to celebrate with him and to welcome his wonderful wife to the family. What's more, my mom was flying home from Argentina for the occasion and was going to meet Camden and 3 other grandkids (not to mention her future daughter-in-law) for the first time.

With Thanksgiving, a wedding, sick kids (we're talking the throw up kind) and a house full of people, it was like running a race. But, as always, it was wonderful to be with everyone and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I left a week before Kyle did so I could help out with details and have more time with my mom. That meant I was on my own on a plane with all three of my kids. Ethan was awesome. Traveler extraordinaire!! Leah was....well...Leah. And she's also three. So pretty normal. Camden was one miserable soul and cried and cried and cried and cried. When we finally landed in Utah, I wanted to fall to the ground and kiss it. We made it though and the pain was shortly forgotten. I must add that people were incredibly kind and helpful all along the way. I concluded that the world is full of very good people despite what you hear on the news.

My brother and his then fiancee picked us up and we headed for home. My mom was out grocery shopping and when she returned we had a wonderful reunion. And then we got to work. The first couple of days we spent doing yard work. Lots of leaves to rake and a garden to pull up. It was a great chore to do with the kids.

My kids and my sisters' kids enjoying the autumn leaves. I love Camden's face!

Pulling out a stubborn tomato plant.....with some over the top dramatics.

Leah is never one to hold back!

The cousins had lots of fun just hanging out and being together.

Here's Leah with her cousin Addie making designs with colored corn syrup.

Camden and his cousin Evelyn honing their musical prowess.

The third day we were there, Ethan caught a bug. It was one that ran through several of the grandkids and it was a doozy. There was fever, vomiting and other such issues. He was so miserable! One of those nights as I was getting ready to go to bed, I heard crying coming from the room we were staying in. I went in to see what was going on and there was Ethan, Leah and Camden all crying their hearts out. Ethan had thrown up everywhere....including all over Leah. And Camden was upset because everyone else was upset. I took the two covered in barf to the bathroom to clean them up. My brother Matt took Camden and tried to keep him calm in the meantime. My mom helped me with the other kids. And my youngest brother Josh went to the room and cleaned up the barf...washing out the sheets and all. It was one late night and I was very grateful to my willing family members to lend a hand in the face of grossness.

On a happier note, before the fateful night began, the girls from both the bride's and the groom's family got together to get pampered with manicures and pedicures. I was hesitant to go because of the sick little boy I had, but my brothers insisted he would be fine and they would take care of him. And they did and did a great job of managing the dirty work while I took a little breather. Leah enjoyed herself to the max and it was a welcome break for everyone.

Grandma and Leah living it up!

Leah learning the fine art of manicure. She was so into this.

Sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters and nieces! Love them all! By the way, we found out shortly after this trip that my sister-in-law Melanie (the one in the front of this picture) is expecting twin boys in June! She was suffering some serious morning sickness that week but was a total trooper.

All the ladies! Love a girls night out!

The night before Thanksgiving, we were able to attend my niece Averie's baptism. She was so beautiful and I'm so glad my kids were able to be there for it. She and my mom played a sweet piano duet for the occasion and they did such a wonderful job!

My niece with my brother (her dad) and her American Girl doll in a matching dress.

Kyle arrived Thanksgiving morning and he was a wonderful sight to behold! We celebrated Thanksgiving with around 240 people. Just kidding. But it was one very full house. There was plenty of food and plenty of family.

Before dinner.....

....and after.

My mom brought a little something for each of us from Argentina and we had a fun evening getting to know a little more about Argentina and showing off our souvenirs.

The grandkids in their Argentina t-shirts. Camden was at the end of his rope but I know he loved his shirt!

All the girlies with our matching socks. The guys all got matching socks too but I guess it's not too manly to pose with your bros and your matching socks.

And now for the reason we were all together in the first place......

....these guys

It was a beautiful day and they are a beautiful couple! The ceremony was wonderful and we were so happy to be a part of everything! We sincerely missed having my dad with us for the occasion. You really felt like something was missing. Love you Dad!

Wedding Luncheon! It was held at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We shared our table shared with my sister Amy and her family.

The newlyweds!

The groom with his sisters....

....and the groom with his brothers.

Our little family in our gray, gold and blush.

All the ladies! I've decided that men don't gather for pictures together as readily as women do. Hence the lack of pictures of all the guys together and the abundance of pictures with all the gals together. I hope the male constituency is not offended by their lack of representation.

Golden girls! They looked so sweet! (They are so sweet!)

First Dance! I loved the venue they chose for the reception! And the doughnut buffet served with ice cold milk was definitely a crowd pleaser!

We had a couple of days after the wedding before we left for home. We celebrated my older brother's birthday and also made a trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights with said brother's family, my youngest brother and my mom. I love doing this even if it doesn't always prove to be the perfect outing.

And after a wild and wonderful two weeks, it was time to say our tearful good-byes. I flew out with Ethan and Leah but since Camden wasn't a ticketed passenger, he was able to fly with Kyle. I felt like I was as light as a feather travelling with just the two. Camden, however, had contracted Ethan's bug and was in the throes of it for the return flight. By some miracle, there was neither an incident of vomit nor poop on the flight home. Someone was really watching out for Kyle.....and for all the other passengers on those flights.

The little travel bugs passing the time during our layover in Denver.

And this concludes the Thanksgiving travelogue. Kudos to anyone that made it to the end.

One Heckuva Hiatus! But I have lots of good reasons for that.

2012-01-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

It is time to play catch up. I've got a move, Thanksgiving, a wedding, Christmas, and New Year's to cover. So I'm going to start with the move and work my way down the list. Hopefully I'll make it before I'm even further behind.

So...the move. Last year, Kyle and I put an offer on a home. It was a short sale so we knew it might take a while to go through. Little did we know it would be a year before it happened. So at the end of October, we closed on a new home! Let the good times roll!! Our to do list was extensive. We had lots of work to do on the home we just purchased. We had to figure out what to do with the home we were living in and once we figured that out, we had lots of work to do there as well.....among other things.

So I started spending my nights at the new home cleaning. I learned a lot of great cleaning tricks and managed to get things clean I thought would never come clean. And I had a lot of help from friends and family who sympathized with my plight. Thank you good people!! Once the new house was clean, it was time to start packing up the old house. Kyle's mom came up and helped us with that part. But part way into the packing, I packed up all my kids to hop a plane to Utah. My brother was getting married and we wanted to be there! Plus, my mom was making the trip up from Argentina and we wanted to spend some time with her as well. She had never met Camden after all.

We figured it would be okay since having the kids out of the way would make the work go faster. Perhaps it did, but it was still a lot of work and Kyle and his mom worked like crazy to get things moved as best they could.

Now, you might be wondering.....where are the pictures of this new house? I would like to see this thing. We've been asked and asked but we have yet to take a picture of the place. I will add one to the post as soon as we do it...maybe tomorrow?

Worst Halloween Ever!

2011-11-09T18:08:00.001-08:00

To begin with, I had a 4 day migraine that I just couldn't shake and it was taking a toll. I couldn't sleep well and I couldn't eat well and my nerves were a little more frazzled than usual because of it.

I know Halloween can bring out some ugly sides in kids so I was expecting it would be kind of a tough day. The afternoon didn't disappoint. There was a lot of destructive and defiant behavior going on. I finally sent Ethan and Leah outside so I could get dinner going and still get out to trick-or-treat on time. So...while making our annual Halloween chili dinner I looked out the window to see dirt clods flying through the air. I ran out to see what was going on and both kids were covered in dirt. Kyle reseeded some areas of our lawn about a month ago and I came out to find every last bit of our new grass pulled up and dirt all over the yard. They have both been told (but especially the older one) that they needed to leave the grass alone. Ethan had messed with it a few times and he definitely knew this was an absolute no-no. And although he knew it was wrong and that I was mad, he ran around laughing and running away from me.

I hauled the two of them to the shower and while they rinsed off Kyle and I tried to figure out what to do. We really didn't feel like letting them trick-or-treat. It just didn't seem right to have so much blatant disobedience going on and then capping it off with a fun night filled with candy. But, on the other hand, Halloween only comes once a year and a year is a loooong time for a kid, so I really felt like maybe we should come up with something else. I couldn't come up with anything else especially with the pounding mess my head was. So I earned the title of the meanest mommy in the world on Halloween and my kids didn't trick-or-treat. As a side note, for the Halloween carnival at church my kids were begging me to dress up in my witch costume. I was so pressed for time that I really didn't want to but they were so excited about it that I had to indulge their request. When we got to the church and I put on my hat Ethan was so thrilled that he was jumping up and down and asked me if he could now call me 'Mommy the Witch!' He doesn't know that has a negative connotation but I think if he did, he'd feel like I had lived up to the moniker.

I felt terrible about the whole thing but we really didn't know what else to do. I still dressed them up and told them that they could sit outside and hand out candy but that we weren't going to go to anyone's house. Ethan was not a happy camper. Leah was just happy to be dressed up like Rapunzel and loved the attention she got from everyone. And frankly, I think she was happy to be safe in her driveway with all the creepy costumes coming around. And Camden was his adorable self, happy to be outside and eating a Milky Way all on his own.

I did take them for a walk around the block so they could see all the decorations and walk through the spider web tunnel one of our neighbors sets up. They put a black light in it and so everything glows and that was the highlight of the night.

When our neighbors came back from trick-or-treating to show us their haul, they asked Ethan if he got a lot of candy. And he firmly responded, "No! I did not!" Everyone got a piece of leftover candy when trick-or-treating finished and that was the night. Thankfully they had already had their baths earlier thanks to their shenanigans and bedtime wasn't too late because I had HAD it. I guess the grass fiasco did have a bright side. I hope we did the right thing and have not permanently scarred anyone.

Fair warning, a couple of these pictures are tragic.

Ethan....oh poor, poor Ethan! His face tells it all.

Camden ready to take on the night!

After getting his first treat....a package of goldfish from the neighbor.

Our Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman and the friendly neighborhood dragon enjoying a minute together.

Fair maiden Rapunzel...who was going to be Tinkerbell until a couple of weeks ago when she decided she wanted to be Rapunzel. I didn't think much of it until last week when she came into our room two different nights crying about how she didn't want to be Tinkerbell. She wanted to be Rapunzel. I figured if it's keeping her up at night, it must mean a lot to her. So Rapunzel she was!

In Full Costume!

The Gang....whose favorite activity is NOT posing for pictures.

My Littlest Pumpkin.

Getting ready to go for a spooky walk

Happy Cam!

Plumply Dumply Pumpkins

2011-10-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

So we grew pumpkins in our garden, we picked pumpkins at the pumpkin patch and you could pretty much say we had pumpkins coming out of our ears around here. Pumpkin carving was not for the faint of heart this year. Kyle was busy refinishing the deck and I desperately needed to keep the kids out of his hair, so I decided to go for it and see how far I could get. I used those pumpkin carving patterns for a couple of them, had the kids draw a carving pattern for others and then free handed the rest. I got a little tired at the end. The grand total was 6 carved pumpkins and I've still got 4 more that will serve as November harvest decor.

Here's where it started....well it actually started with 3 little pumpkin seeds. But here's Leah with part of the crop before we picked them.

Scooping the guts...which really ended up being more of a seed flinging event. They tired pretty quickly and I took over. If there's one thing I can do, it's clean a pumpkin lickety split. Too bad there's not much money or prestige in that line of work.

Ethan showing off the face he drew. It carved up pretty nicely and he was super excited and proud.

Leah could have drawn designs on her pumpkin and several other pumpkins for the rest of the day and been very content. Her whole pumpkin had quite an elaborate design so we improvised a face when carving time came.

And voila!! 16 hours later, we finished! Just kidding. It only felt like 16 hours to my weary hands. Can you see Ethan's?

Hopefully all the little trick or treaters will find our home a little more friendly with these lighting the way.

Pumpkins and Potatoes

2011-10-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of fall, last Saturday we went out to a farm to enjoy the harvest season and pick some pumpkins. This is the 3rd time we have gone to this particular farm since we moved here. We were introduced to this place by an old neighbor of ours who, was a family outing genius, and invited us along when there were a couple of extra spots with her preschool group. We have returned two other times since then and Saturday was one of those. I really like this particular farm because it's so hands on and educational plus you go with your own small group so there's not a huge crowd contending for all the activities. It's also an organic farm so I find it very interesting to learn how they grow things and the different crops they plant at different times.

We went with a few families with kids of similar age from our church and also with Kyle's parents. It was a little chilly that morning but the sun was shining and it seemed the perfect fall day.

The first stop was the sweet potatoes....

We picked the greens for the sheep and pulled up an occasional potato along the way. They let us keep any potatoes that we picked. We came home with a couple of white sweet potatoes. I'd never seen them before and I am not exactly sure what to do with them. Anyone have a good recipe?

Ethan and Papa enjoying the ride as we head off to feed the sheep.

As we approached the sheep pen they told us that the sheep were pretty timid this year. They had a terrible coyote problem and had lost something like 55 sheep to the vermin. I'd say that's a reason to be timid! So they told us we would have to get down low to appear non-threatening and wait for the sheep to come to us.

Here we wait.

A few of the sheep were brave enough to come feed, but most of them kept their distance. Everyone got plenty of face time with the willing feeders though.

The next stop was the pigs. He ate a few of the greens but LOVED the pumpkin we got to feed him. Ethan did a great job being gentle.

The final stop was the much anticipated pumpkin patch. And oh what a patch it was this year. They had an abundance of pumpkins and where they usually just let the kids pick one, they wanted all of us...including adults...to take one home to help us take them off their hands. I'm sure The Great Pumpkin would have approved of this patch's sincerity. I better tell Linus.

Ethan found one that was the perfect size. It became a jack-o-lantern with triangle eyes tonight. His request.

Leah favored the smaller pumpkins. They now decorate our mantel.

Nana, Ethan, Me and Camden in the patch finishing our harvest.

And here's the whole gang boarding the hay ride for the final ride to our cars. Where was Kyle you might ask? He was there manning the camera making sure we captured our memories.

It was such a great day and I think the best year we've ever had at the farm. Hopefully we can do it again. Thanks to all who joined us to make it such a fun experience! Happy Harvest!

Camden's One Year Photo Shoot

2011-10-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

As far as photo shoots go, Camden was the best one year old subject I have ever seen! I couldn't believe how he sat there smiling and being the perfect kid. Oh....and we decided to just have Kyle do the shoot this year. He did a great job don't you think? Here's the finalists...

....and a few of the outtakes...

Even Ethan and Leah wanted in on the action and they rarely cooperate for any photo ever! Cutie patooties!

Camden's #1!

2011-10-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Camden, our littlest monkey, celebrated his first birthday at the end of September. We went with a jungle theme for the occasion and kept it pretty low key with a few family members. That doesn't mean we didn't live it up though.

We started with a fancy dinner of pigs in a blanket and mac and cheese. Camden eats hot dogs faster than I can cut them up so I thought we should go with a favorite. The first picture and the following picture are from dinner. I love this shot because you can see his little eyes smiling....as they often are. He's such a happy little camper.

And here's the cake before the damage.

Following the tradition of my parents, our kids get their very own cake to dig into on their first birthday. We've had mixed results in the past.....

Ethan went whole hog. It was like watching a dog dig for a bone. He tore through that cake faster than any kid I have ever seen and didn't stop to eat a thing.

Leah only got as far as touching the cake a couple of times. She was waaaay more interested in the people around the table and being the center of attention than she was in the cake. (That changed on Camden's birthday by the way.)

Camden was much more methodical. Here he is prepping for the event.

He dug into the frosting a little bit and had a couple of tastes. Nothing too crazy. Leah couldn't stand it and was waiting the entire time with her fork in hand ready to help him out.

Then he went for it....stuck his entire fist in as far as it would go.

However, once he pulled it out, he didn't like the mess his hand had become and wanted it washed off.

He was much more content with his own little piece of a more manageable size.

A little about Camden now that he's hit the one year milestone. He's a very good walker. He was my earliest walker starting to walk, not just take steps, at 11 months and now he can't be contained. He loves being outside and LOVES to swing and go down the slide at the playground. He's a very adventurous eater and out does his siblings by eating his dinner every night. I hope it continues. He LOVES balls. Throwing a ball, kicking a ball, carrying a ball, bouncing a ball. And if he seems inconsolable, the best thing to do is give him a ball and he forgets all about it. He's very happy and enthusiastic about life and loves to play games. He is soooooo loving and loves to snuggle up with either Mom or Dad. He gives lots of kisses and shrieks with delight when we do our five way kiss at the end of the night. We are so blessed to have him and we are so grateful for the ray of light he is in our home. Happy Birthday Mr. Cam!!! We love you like crazy!!

How'd You Like Them Apples?

2011-10-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

It was Camden's birthday and the weather was perfect! We had planned to go apple picking the next morning but there was rain in the forecast so we made a change to our plans and head out after Ethan got home from school. We stopped for lunch in Blanchester at Subway and then hit A&M orchards in Midland. Two of my children had a great time. One of them was suffering from a case of bad attitude. In the end, we brought home a huge load of apples for a very cheap price and we are still enjoying every bite of them. Soooo worth it!

Leah stretching to get the apple of her eye....hee hee.

My little apple dumplings!

Ethan humoring me with one action shot before stomping off telling me "I'm done with this!" He won the rotten apple award that day.

A couple of poses by the barn after we had finished our harvest...all my little apples who didn't fall far from the tree! Ha! (Yes, I know I'm a dweeb. But after apple phrases for all the other photos, I didn't want to upset the apple cart and not include one in this caption....I'm really on a roll!)

It was a pretty fun afternoon when all was said and done. Ethan was even back to his cheery self by the time we got to the car. Don't ask me why the sour apple attitude while we were in the orchard. Next project....finding an expert to help me make some applesauce. Volunteers?

The Jackson Hole Reunion! Gird Up Your Loins for This One Folks!

2011-09-19T19:39:00.001-07:00

Jackson Hole is definitely one of my favorite places on this planet and I have so many memories vacationing there with my family when I was younger. We used to go every year, but it has been a long time since the last visit. I was pretty stoked when Kyle's family decided to hold their reunion in Jackson this year and it certainly didn't disappoint. We stayed at the Spring Creek Ranch and we had a wonderful time! I met so much of his family that I hadn't yet met and those hosting put so much time and effort into making it such a memorable trip. I have to give a huge 'Thank You' to all those involved!

So....that being said....a few thousand pictures later, I'm trying to conjure up a blog post to sum it all up. Not an easy task my friends! But here we go....

We left our reunion in Utah about noon and started the drive. We made a pit stop here.....

....and actually ran into some of Kyle's family right there on the side of the road. The fun was beginning! We arrived in Jackson and went straight to a pizza dinner with the whole big extended family. The kids took about 3 seconds to warm up to everyone. My mother-in-law and I continued the party by doing some late-night grocery shopping. Gotta do what you gotta do.

The next day, we kept it pretty chill and took the kids out to a park in downtown Jackson. They played for a while and had a great time as usual.

Here's the sisters-in-law and the littlest cousin, Holland, enjoying a little down time.

That evening we had another group dinner all with a western theme. I've said it already, but I can't believe the detail that went into the planning of the group activities. There were cowboy hats and cap guns for the kids. Everyone received a bandana, there was a cowboy singer....and tons of grub.

I loved this picture because not only does it picture one of my favorite people, but I just think it's funny to see her carrying around her beloved baby....and a gun.

Afterward, they had a bonfire outside where there was also a teepee for the kids to explore. Here's our little tribe:)

The next morning, Kyle and Ethan head out bright and early. Now a trip down the Snake River is generally a memorable thing to do. This trip definitely fell in the memorable category. It rained. Hard. The whole time! And everyone was freezing.

I think this photo tells it all....

It's one of those things that they'll look back and laugh about for years to come.

After the river, they all hit the hot tub. I think it more than made up for the cold morning.

Tuesday we decided to head out and give the alpine slide a try. It's been ages since I've been on this thing and I was pretty excited to take the kids.

On the ride up. Leah is so tiny I was a little nervous about the gap in the back of the chair lift. We all made it safe and sound though.

Here we are ready to ride!

Ethan and Kyle. I think they had fun. What do you think?

Me and Leah.

Ethan taking a turn with Papa. This was nothing for a Papa who used to jump out of planes for a living.

Tuesday night we head out on a chuckwagon dinner at the Bar-T-5 Ranch, complete with a covered wagon ride.

Two little rustlers.

Ethan enjoying the ride with his Nana and cousin Mason....doesn't that smile make you enjoy it too?

They gathered the children up front for one of the numbers. There were all these well behaved children participating....and then my two little outlaws throwing rocks.

Wednesday, we decided to make the trek to Yellowstone to see how much we could take in in one day. We snapped this shot on the way....

Don't the kids all look thrilled to be in the natural beauty that surrounds them? That sun was super bright!!

We came into the park at the south entrance and stopped for lunch at Lewis Lake. Cam took a break under a tree.

With the fam at Lewis Lake. It's too bad that mountain water is so frigid because it sure does look like a refreshing place to swim!

The first big stop was at Old Faithful, and although it's been a lot of years since I've been there, it was all very familiar....the crowds, the smells and the steamy heat.

Here's Ethan with Dad towards the end of the eruption. We arrived at the perfect time to catch it without much of a wait.

We then took a steamy walk around the geyser basin and took in the sights and smells.

By the end of it all, we were ready for an ice cream break at the souvenir shop.

After refueling on a little ice cream we were ready to continue the journey. We hopped in the cars and head out with the destination of Upper and Lower Falls as our goal. We stopped at Gibbon Falls along the way.

Here's Ethan being a perfect tourist.

....and here he is at the next stop showing us what NOT to do.

Here's the boys taking it easy while waiting to make the trek over to Upper Falls.

We made it to Upper Falls and talk about a 'take your breath away' experience. It was spectacular but so unnerving to be so close to water rushing that hard and fast with small children. I was clinging to Leah as if her life depended on it....and I think it sort of did.

Sadly we missed seeing Lower Falls due to a map reading error by yours truly. Hopefully I will be forgiven someday. After leaving Lower Falls, we hit a major traffic jam coming into Hayden Valley. We were told this would be a great place to see some wildlife and that was exactly what was going on. Hundreds of bison were crossing the road to get to the river on the other side. Once we got up there we got a close up look at tons of buffalo and tons of crazy people getting out of their cars to get close up shots of them.

Here's the bison making their way down the hill towards the road.

This one came right up the road next to our cars. Kyle's brother took this picture and that's our car on the left hand side. Kyle was in there trying to convince me to roll down the window to get a great shot of my own. Ummmm....no way! That thing was huge and would probably win Mike Ditka in a fight.

Once we got past the buffalo herd, it was pretty late. We followed Garmin's advice and unfortunately took the long way out of the park. The kids were all sacked by the time we got home.

The next morning I head out with the kids to take a swim. We were joined by my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law Andrea....who took this picture. It was a nice, lazy morning.

After the swim we head home to get ready to go to Jenny Lake and hike to Hidden Falls. Leah was all ready in her new Yellowstone garb she received courtesy of her Nana and Papa.

Kyle was thoughtful enough to take us up through Teton Village to get to the lake so that I could see the old resort I spent so many summers at. Kyle joined my family for a couple of those vacations. It was a fun trip down memory lane. We hit the lake in the early afternoon and got our ferry passes.

The kids were pretty pumped about the boat ride over to the trail and something obviously caught their eye.

Taking a rest on the way up to the falls. The kids all proved to be very adept and sturdy hikers. I was pretty impressed with their little legs. I figured I'd be fine carrying Camden up. It was a short hike after all. After about 30 paces, I was ready to turn him over to Kyle.

Finally at our destination. That cool mountain air with the mist from the falls felt sooooo good. Camden was obviously not as impressed as the rest of us.

We ended the day the way it began with a party at the pool. Check out Ethan catching some air courtesy of SuperDad!

Friday was our final full day in Jackson. We started it with a horseback ride. Since the boys all went on the river trip, we decided to make it a girls outing so my sisters-in-law and Leah all geared up for the ride.

Me and Leah waiting to mount up.

Once I got up on that horse, I couldn't believe how high I was. Once again I was clinging to Leah and trying to ensure the horse stayed calm. Our horse's name was Uno and he was not the calmest horse of the bunch.....and he was HUGE! We started the ride with the horse in front of us making Uno mad. Uno in turn decided to buck up and then head down the mountain. We just had to keep our distance the rest of the ride and Leah was very good at saying 'Whoa Uno!', when it looked like we were getting a little too close to Mr. Bad Horse.

The scenery was AMAZING!! Man I love those mountains!

After horseback riding, we had to clean up for family pictures. That was a major event! Getting 76 people together for a group picture and then individual family shots is no easy task! Kudos to Kyle and his brothers for taking it on. (And kudos to their wives for managing the kiddos while they took it on.)

Here's our little family....(the wind was a bit of an issue, as was the hair pulling the little stinker in back of me was doing)

...and the extended family.

That night we had our final group dinner. As with everything, it was a wonderful event. They had a 50s theme for the night to honor Kyle's Aunt Camille and Uncle Bob who had recently celebrated birthdays. There were numerous door prizes for everyone, wonderful food and fond farewells for everyone.

Leah doing a good job of playing with her food.

The set up at the dinner. We played a game where we had to guess what on all the tables was NOT around in the 1950s. A couple of folks actually guessed right and came away with $100.00!

A huge thank you to everyone that made this reunion possible. We will never forget it!

Saturday morning, we checked out of the resort and went into Jackson to do a little shopping. I bought a sweatshirt for Ethan and Kyle bought a new cowboy hat for me. He picked it out on his own and I love it! So sweet!

We stopped in Logan on the way home to see some of Kyle's old college friends. We went to dinner with one of his old mission companions and stopped by the home of a former co-worker. It was fun to see them again and to see Kyle in his old college town. We made it back to Bountiful pretty late that night and we were completely pooped. (I wonder why?) The next day, we went to the old home ward and saw old wonderful friends and then got packed up to leave for Cincinnati early the next morning. We took a little time out to take this photo....

Camden decided to keep the cowboy alive when we got back to Utah and tried on one of my dad's old hats. He makes quite a little buckaroo!

....and to play a few final rounds of Boggle. It was a wonderful, wonderful vacation! And that has to be everything you wanted to know.....and some of what you didn't want to know about our Jackson reunion and then some. If you read this entire post, you are truly a courageous person!

I figured it would be another year before we'd end up back in the mountain west, but my brother got engaged to his sweet girlfriend the week after we left. Looks like we'll be back in November. Crossing my fingers there's some snow in the mountains by then:)

My Annual Ode to Summer

2011-09-10T19:34:00.002-07:00

Every year, I go through this little sadness as I see summer come to an end. It's my favorite season and has been for as long as I can remember. I also hate the cold. And so as much as I love fall, it always brings with it the reminder that winter is around the corner. So once September starts, and kids go back to school, I find myself looking in the rear view mirror for a couple of weeks wishing for a little more summertime. So, to help me bring closure to summer 2011, here is my annual ode to the season. Here's to the...

splashing....

...the posing

...the swimming..

and the soaking.

Here's to climbing...

...to tuckered out fairying...

...and to giant popsicle eating!!

Here's to lounging...

....and swinging!!!!!

....to discovering....

...to growing...

...to slipping....

and to sliding!!!

There you have it! Summer is sweet! Summer is sassy! Summer is....what's the word? FUN!! And you know what....tomorrow it looks to be back into the mid-80's. I may have to get the sprinkler out one more time after all!

Kings Island 2011!!

2011-09-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Kings Island on the last day it was open to the public for the summer....Labor Day. Not a great day to plan on going to Kings Island especially if you live anywhere near the park. But we had a good reason. Ethan LOVES Kings Island! I can't emphasize that enough. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the place. So, at the beginning of the summer we were trying to find something that was motivating enough to get him doing more tasks independently....like cleaning up his toys, putting his dirty clothes in the laundry, brushing his teeth, getting dressed....you know the drill. He worked all summer long with this carrot dangling in front of him and he was pumped as he watched the stickers get closer to the end.

As August started nearing a close, I decided I better check out the park's website to find out when they shut down for the season. Turned out, they had already shut down but would reopen for Labor Day weekend. I had no idea they closed before August was over! I looked at the weather forecast and both Friday and Saturday were going to be scorching and I just didn't want to drag my family to the park to endure that. We probably all would have had heatstroke by the end of the day. The only day left was Monday, Labor Day, when the temperature would take a 30 degree nosedive. There was no way I could tell that little boy we couldn't go this year after all the work he had done so we hunkered down and tackled the park....on a holiday. Turned out, it wasn't too bad. It was pretty packed for a few hours in the middle of the day (and we did have some grumpy faces among us during the packed hours) but by 2:00 the crowds cleared out and we got in PLENTY of rides. We were all ready to head for home by 7:00.

Ethan has grown 4 inches since last year and could go on not only everything in Planet Snoopy (kiddie land) but also some of the big rides and the kid is afraid of nothing. Faster..Yes please! Higher....Better views! Leah, on the other hand, can't quite make it to 36 inches which means she can't ride hardly anything. It was kind of sad when kids half her age make it on the rides and she can't. She and Camden could ride all the same rides so we tried to make the most of it. So here's the day.....

The first ride of the day was this coaster....The Flying Ace Aerial Chase. We went on it a couple of times, once with Mom and once with Dad, because the crowds hadn't quite arrived yet. This is the biggest coaster Ethan had ever been on and he was pretty impressed with the speed.

Taking it down a notch for Leah's sake. They both think the Beetle Bugs are pretty fun though.

And taking it down another notch for Camden's sake. His first ride at Kings Island and he thought it was pretty cool. Similar to but just a little more exciting than the car shopping carts at the grocery store. I took Camden and Leah on this a couple more times while Ethan was riding the bigger stuff with Dad.

Camden and his sweet little face on the carousel. Always a crowd pleaser.

And Ethan taking a ride with Dad on Shake, Rattle and Roll. They rode it a couple of times together and had a blast!

We ended the day with me taking one lonely ride on the Vortex while Kyle stayed with the kids. He opted out of any of the big coasters this time around. It was a good day so I'm glad we braved it. The excitement beaming from Ethan was well worth it as was the pride he had in getting his stickers all the way to the finish line. Good job little man!

First Day of School!

2011-09-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

I've still got the Jackson Hole (family reunion #2) update in the wings and I will post it when the photos are ready to go. In the meantime, there has been other exciting things going on and I don't want to get too far behind.

First, Ethan started school! He's doing another year of Pre-K instead of going to Kindergarten this year. Since he is a summer birthday and one of the younger kids, we felt like it would be great for him if he had another year to prepare before he's in school ALL DAY! I'm really excited about his new teacher and he's really excited to be riding the bus! He's been asking for a long time to be able to ride the bus to school and I decided it would be a great way for him to feel a little more grown up this year. He's been so excited about it that I was surprised when the weekend before school started he began asking me if I could just drive him like I always had. I finally told him that I thought he should try the bus for a couple of weeks, and if he didn't like it I would start driving him and he could wait to take the bus when he started Kindergarten. So we got ready for school that first morning (Kyle was in Detroit so it was just me and the kiddies) and walked up to the bus stop. Leah was so cute because she wanted to put on her backpack too and go to school. That girl's got a lot of spunk!

Here's the happy school boy!

And now with Leah who was ready to ride!

We waited quite a while for the bus. They still were trying to figure out where everyone lived and it was pretty mixed up that first day.....scared me a little.

Here's the musketeers waiting away.

Ethan got on the bus, and Leah followed him on ready and willing to go with him. The second he got in that seat his face lit up like the noon day sun. He was so pumped! It seemed he was going to like riding the bus after all and without the commute to school, I have over and hour freed up that I didn't have when I was driving. Not a bad deal. Anyway, I got off the bus with Leah and as the bus head off I had a moment of panic as I saw my little boy riding away with strangers. I really wanted to chase it down screaming "STOP!!!". I restrained and the panic passed. Another milestone in the books. He's had a great first week and I hope this year is very good to my little but growing boy.

Update! When Kyle returned from Detroit, he came out to the bus to get some action shots. Ethan was an old pro by then!

The Eden Adventure - Family Reunion #1

2011-08-28T19:02:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 this saga begins. My family arrived from their various corners of the country and we all met up in Ogden, Utah to attend the Pioneer Day Ogden Raptors baseball game.....complete with fireworks. It was interesting that we were all randomly meeting there, but on the walk to the ball park, so many of us ended up running into each other.

Here we are en route to the game...

After the game, we head up to get settled at the house in Eden. It was a great location with 8 fairly large bedrooms so we all had a little space to ourselves. Since the next day was Sunday and since so many had just spent a whole day traveling, we had a low key day. My sister-in-law Sarah prepared a lesson on service and talked about how Jesus served his apostles when he washed their feet. The kids then had the opportunity to wash the feet of someone they loved.

Leah was totally into it. It was adorable.

The rest of the day we caught up with each other and played games.

Ethan really bonded with the foosball table.....here he is artistically holding the ball.

Just Dance on the Wii.

We wrapped things up with a home fireworks show that night. Nothing like those cool mountain nights for activities like this. Here's the gang anticipating the show. This was before the automatic sprinklers came on and chased us off the grass.

Monday we kept it low key again. With so many small kids, it's tough to keep up too fast of a pace. We decided to head to the park to play tennis and let the kids run free for a while. We were hoping to cool off in the pool when we got back but it was threatening rain. So, instead my brothers launched water balloons at each other and shot bottle rockets off. The rockets got some impressive air. (BTW, how old are we now?)

Rocket launch

Ethan just hanging out with the quakies. Cutie!

Rock climbers!

Our kids capped the night off with an awesome bubble bath! The tub in our room was pretty awesome! I actually took a couple minutes to enjoy it our last night there. It was brief but I just couldn't leave without trying it out.

On Tuesday, we head back to the park for a game of kickball. We played boys vs. girls and the girls came away with the victory.

Here we are deciding on a strategy.

My kids lost interest in the kickball pretty fast and came up with their own activities in the dugout.

Ethan is ever my climber.

Leah just looked so sweet in this picture, I couldn't stand it. Leah and two of her cousins insisted on wearing their tutus to the park that day. It was pretty dang cute....or should I say tutu cute:)

Wednesday we head out on the water at Pineview reservoir. Ethan is a HUGE fan of boat riding and was in his element. He did decide to brave the water and take a ride on the tube with his two cousins and Kyle. Well, they hit an accidental wave and the tube bucked everyone except Ethan. He held on with all the determination anyone has ever seen, but it freaked him out. I think he was happy to stay on the boat after that. Kyle got in the water to wake surf and I took a turn on the wake board. Once is about all we can handle these days.

Here's the kiddos....and some random feet. Check out Ethan's grin.

Camden the Seaman

Kyle channeling his inner Hasselhoff.

Leah the Grace!

Such a fun day! Thanks to my brother Jonathan for taking care of the details.

Thursday, the big activity was swimming at the pool. This is ever a crowd pleaser for the kiddies. To be honest, we could probably just do this everyday and they would be happy.

Camden splashing away!

Taking a break with my sister-in-law Megan.

Leah and her cousin Addie.

Ethan with his Uncle Josh who he is pretty crazy about because Josh answers all his questions about how stuff works.

That night we threw a birthday party for all the August birthdays. My sisters came up with some slightly disgusting games. (I'm talking about the blindfolded taste test for the birthday kids which included spoonfuls of butter and ketchup.)

Here's the kids holding up the birthday banner they made.

Friday we were really slow getting started for the day. We had plans to go up to North Fork Park but we didn't get as early a start as we wanted to. Lots of activities and lots of late nights were catching up to us. This particular campsite has a lot of memories for us because we used to do church campouts here. It was fun to go back and make some more memories.

My sister-in-law Melanie got the royal beauty treatment from my nieces.

Kyle with Camden and my brother-in-law Jason with his daughter Evie.

Me and my sweet Cam. Just look at that skin! (His, not mine.)

My brother, Jason, sharing hot dogs with the angry bear.

My niece Madi and my nephew Ty. This picture was too sweet to pass up.

Ethan and Leah and their hot dog faces.

My sister, Amy, and her little boy Emmett. This picture was so beautiful of them both that I had to share it.

My nephews Xander and Brendan with Ethan. It was pretty funny to watch the progression of these photos because you could see Ethan's grip around Brendan's neck getting tighter and tighter as he became more and more enthusiastic. This was one towards the beginning of the series.

The campfire scene.

Three beautiful September babies. They will all turn a year old in September, but this was their first meeting.

We finished the night with s'mores by the campfire and various family members shared talents. All very impressive....some more serious than others. It was a great evening. We came back to get the kids in bed and then most of us adults stayed up playing 'The Newlywed Game' till the wee hours. We learned a lot about each other and our laugh muscles got a work out. We actually spent several nights playing games ...Scattergories was a favorite....and eating cookies. I loved it! It was so wonderful to be together and with our family spanning the entire country, these times are so cherished.

Saturday morning, my little family had to pack up and head off to our next adventure...a reunion in Jackson, Wyoming with Kyle's family. The rest of the gang stayed another day, but we decided to get some family pictures before we hit the road. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law Paul and his kids are missing in these shots. But other than that, this is everyone.....

All the adults. The sweatshirts were my brother, David's idea. We don't really own a collection of autumn hued fleece just for family photo ops.

Just the sibs...showing the family resemblance.

And all the cousins.

Whew!!! That wraps it up. Did anyone make it this far in the post? At least I've got it documented for my own journaling purposes.....and I've also made myself a little homesick. Love all you guys! Miss you always!

The Pre-Family Reunion

2011-08-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have 3 weeks worth of two family reunions to blog about and it all just seems so overwhelming. Especially with my shutterbug husband providing me with several hundred photos to choose from. So I finally decided to break it down. We start with the pre-reunion phase. We went out to Utah a few days before the official reunion started so that we could get the shopping and other prep taken care of. Since we don't all fit in my parents house any more, we have rented a vacation property the past few years to contain us so we wanted to be ready to go once we could check in.

So I had a few days to hang with my sistas and gain a new respect for my momma. (My parents are missionaries right now and we certainly missed them.) Holy cow did we do a lot of shopping! And not fun shopping....grocery shopping. We had to figure out shopping lists for 28 people for a week. As we were leaving Costco with our 3 carts full, we got several comments that we must be going to Girls Camp. Ha ha! And amid it all, we still had to take care of our little scallywags. This picture cracked me up. That's cousin Evie and she must have decided Camden's grub looked pretty tasty!

So with all we had to do the morning after we arrived, I decided to stick my finger in an immersion blender that I use to make baby food and nearly sever it. Taking the time to get stitches all the way around my index finger was NOT on the agenda. But let this serve as a caution. Do not ever stick a body part into anything with a rotary blade to clean it out! If it is jammed, once you clean it out it will start spinning again even if you've cut the power. The nurse told me they see this with lawn mowers and snow blowers all the time so I was lucky I wasn't using my foot to clear out the mower. Yikes!

Despite the long work list, we took some time out to enjoy the old home town. It was Pioneer Day weekend (which is a pretty big deal in Utah) so there were plenty of festivities. And I can't believe how many old friends I ran into at the old haunts. We took an afternoon to take the kids to the carnival at Bountiful Park.

Leah and her cousin Addie with matching face paint.

The three September babes. The boys are only five days apart. Evie (the girl) is just 3 weeks older.

Swings!

Snow Cones! Yum!

My life if Camden was a triplet. I love those babies, but that would be a big 'yikes!'

In the same Pioneer Day spirit, my aunt and uncle had us over for dinner and fireworks that night. It was so fun to see them and also see my sweet Grandpa again.

Kyle and Cam taking in the fireworks. Camden pulls at his hair when he gets sleepy and he was very sleepy.

Tuckered out at the end of the night.

We also joined Kyle's college buddies for dinner one night which is always a lot of fun. We took in all the good eats we miss when we're away....Cafe Rio, Dick's bakery, Pace's Dairy Ann. And my kids were thrilled with the automatic sprinkling system. Doesn't take much to keep them happy!

Ethan's 5th Birthday...complete with Partaaay!

2011-08-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Ethan's 5th birthday with the first ever friend birthday party our household has ever seen. Fifth birthdays seem to be a popular year for this and when so many of his friends from school were having parties for their 5th birthday, he assumed that's the way it worked and started talking about who he was going to invite to his party several months ago. So, what the heck? 5 is the year of the party around here now.

I thought I would try to have a science theme for the party since Ethan is into all things gadget, gizmo and all their relatives. I brought in the illustrious Professor McGadget to lead us in a few experiments and to entertain the troops.

Here's the kids awaiting Professor McGadget's arrival. They all were chanting, "Professor! Professor!", until he was ready to make his big appearance.

And here he is! When he finally arrived on the scene Ethan exclaimed, "That crazy professor is my dad!" No fooling that kid:)

So we started by making some slime. We had the kids mix it all together complete with the magic slime ingredient (Borax detergent) and then they all got to take home a sample.

Then Professor McGadget led them in a Pop Toob demonstration and showed them how they not only stretched out but also made whistling sounds if they whirled around.

It was then off to the rocket fuel experiment. Each mini scientist had a chance to test a sample of rocket fuel to see if it would actually blast off. (a.k.a. Mentos into soda pop. We used diet so it wouldn't be sticky) Turned out we had some pretty potent fuel and some pretty delighted kids!

Off to the backyard again for our physics experiment....determining the angle and velocity of a water balloon so that it hit a target. Several of the kids were impressed with this because it was like a real life 'Angry Birds' game.

We wrapped things up with cake and ice cream and this was hands down the favorite activity of the birthday boy. His face was just priceless and there was no doubt that he felt pretty special being sung to by all those people....and that was the whole point:)

Make a wish!

On Ethan's actual birthday we decided we still needed to do a little celebrating so we started the day by opening the gifts that we gave him. Sweet little faces!

With his new bike! (Well, at least new to him. The bell was specially requested though and that was brand spankin' new!)

And because it was a day for celebrating all things Ethan I let him choose the activity for the day. He asked that we go to Sharon Woods to play in the water. A good choice because it was HOT!

Here's my little banshees living it up.

We also let him choose where to go to dinner and he selected Wendy's....

....and then UDF for chocolate malts.

To cap it off we head up to the Y to let him climb the rock wall. It all made for a simple but fun day-of celebration.

I must say that five years with this boy has been nothing short of a great adventure. His energy seems endless. His mind is constantly working. His questions force me to look at the world in a whole new way and I'm grateful for that. He truly has a special and unique spirit that has blessed us and challenged us.....and we love him like crazy!!! Happy birthday Ethan! Love you long time!

Happy 4th!

2011-08-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

I thought I had more pictures of the 4th of July, but it turns out that most of what we did, we captured on video and I don't quite have that available yet. So....the pictures I do have are all of food. That's our flag cookie pizza that I think will become a 4th tradition now...fun, festive and refreshing!

Since the 4th fell on a Monday, we did most of our celebrating over the weekend. We had our friends Eric and Sarah over for dinner with their family to kick the festivities off. After dinner, our friends Tara and John came over with their family and joined us for dessert......and since it's the only thing we took pictures of, here it is again....this time with our favorite dessert munchers.

After our feast, we met our neighbors and got ready for the fireworks show at Kings Island. While we see these fireworks every night from our house, they do an extra big show for the 4th and it has become a tradition that we go out on a field to watch it. The kids ran around with glow sticks doing Pop-Its and sparklers while we waited for things to start. I thought that was the highlight! They were having such a good time and I hope their memories of their holidays are filled with times like that. We then cranked the Sousa (well, as best as we could on my teeny tiny phone speaker, a tradition inspired by my Aunt Robyn), and took in the show. Good day and a good night.

On the day of the 4th, we attended the church's breakfast together. And to cap off the food pictures, here's another one of the wonderful pancakes we ate.

The kids had fun playing in the water and then we got a great workout walking back to the car. The streets were packed for the parade in Montgomery and we (of course) arrived somewhat late but our hearts are thanking us for it! Love the summertime!

Not Much Has Changed

2011-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

We have been on a blogging hiatus because we have been dealing with technical issues at home that have made it impossible to access our photo files. I felt like I didn't have much to say without the pictures to add to the story. But, we're up and running again and I'd just like to let you know that life is very much the same around here and this is the picture to prove it....

This is Leah, my little domestic princess, making herself a peanut butter sandwich. I'm proud of her initiative, I just wish she would have used real bread. If you look closely you can see she has chosen the wooden bread and knife from her play food. Ahh, the lack of boredom around here is a constant I can depend on with my creative and independent minded crew!

Preschool Grad!

2011-07-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the end of the preschool year at the beginning of June with a tear and a smile. Ethan had a great year at school and he was surrounded by such great teachers and staff that have supported him in every way. His teacher, Mrs. Clevenger was such a patient and loving person and we're so grateful for all she did. Ethan is moving on to another year of preschool next year. Having a summer birthday, we decided to delay starting kindergarten to give him a chance to prepare a little more. The class he will be in is taught by another wonderful teacher and his classmates are all kids that are kindergarten age but also delaying their start another year. I think it will be another great year for him!

I was able to attend the festivities and a friend of mine watched my other two kids while I went. It was nice to be able to focus my attention completely on Ethan for a little while. Thank goodness for helping hands!

Here's our little man receiving his diploma!

Ethan and his sweet teacher. We will miss her!

My Little Pixie and Her Pixie Party

2011-07-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Leah turned three years old this year and wanted to celebrate the occasion with her family, friends, and Tinkerbell. She's such a little thing that I find it totally fitting that she's into Tinkerbell right now. So we did the best we could to bring Pixie Hollow home and make her day a special one. We had a fairy treasure hunt and finally found that the Frost Fairies had hidden the treasure in the freezer. We also had to pin the second star to the right to find our way to Neverland. And then there was the usual birthday suspects....

Here's the whole gang ready for some Happy Birthday singing.

Blowing the candles out....

Anyone that knows Leah knows that she won't sit still for a meal very easily (thus her pixie stature)....but she will always take time out for dessert...anytime and everytime.

Our two little compadres.

After all the festivities, the party deteriorated into a giant water fight. The boys went nuts outside but the two little gals stayed inside and away from the madness. Everyone seemed pretty happy to be doing what they were doing.

I can't even tell you what a bright light Leah is in our lives. She definitely brings sunshine to our home and injects fun into everything we do. We're so blessed to have this little pixie and grateful to celebrate three wonderful years with her.

We waited till Leah's actual birthday to open gifts. Here she is with her stash. She was pretty excited!

The water table was what was waiting in that big package. It was a gift from her Nana and Papa and I love that they all can play and enjoy it. Thank you Nana and Papa!

The Cam Man and his winning smile tell it all!

Ode to the Zoo

2011-07-03T13:48:00.001-07:00

Our zoo membership expired the end of May and throughout the month Leah had been asking to go. I bought a membership last year when my parents were in town and didn't intend to renew it so I knew the clock was ticking. But between rain, other commitments and the fact that it is hard for me to get out of the house for an activity like that with all the kiddos, I just didn't get around to it. Finally, on the day of her birthday, even though it looked like rain, we braved the zoo. And I'm so glad we did. No crowds. No rain. And we all had a blast. So here's to the last hurrah at the zoo....

We hit the elephants first and caught them putting on a pretty good show. Here's my budding zoologists....

And here's one of the super talented elephants showing off her skills.

And then saying goodbye...If they were humans, they'd be mad this was on my blog.

Then off to the monkeys that the birthday girl was begging to see. Although the only monkeys I see in this picture belong to me. We're on a real Curious George kick right now. That fourth child of mine is actually my neighbor. She came along for the fun of it and to help me keep track of the kiddies.

Leah up close and personal with a lion.

Many animals later we took a break to eat, play and ride a couple of rides. The carousel was pretty much all ours so we just stayed and rode it three times picking a new cool animal each time. It was Cam's first carousel ride. He was really sure what to think.

Wrapping things up on the train....which we also took two rides in a row on without ever having to get off. Sweet because we were all getting pretty tired.

Ethan was able to get pretty up close and personal with a peacock on the way out.

Neither one of these guys even made it to the exit with their eyes open. I think we sufficiently tired them out. It was a quiet ride home.

The Random May Post

2011-07-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

So there were a lot of things that went on in May that I only have one or two pictures for and I didn't want to write a separate post for all of them. So from, birthdays, to Mother's Day, from special trips to Tennessee to the everyday good times....this is the post that covers them all!

Camden's Sweet Wheels! I love this thing. Makes carting him around outside much easier and he's pretty content in the driver's seat.

Little Leaguer Leah! Too bad Mom's hair was blinding her.

Ethan enthusiastically showing us the power of his bubble fan!

Wake up call on Mother's Day.....and pretty much everyday for both Mommy and Daddy. But for Mother's Day you take pictures of it. That's one lucky Mommy if you ask me!

Along with flowers, May also brings my birthday and I get to face the reality of how fast I seem to be getting older! It was a great day made very special by all my favorite people. Here I am with three of them....the other favorite is behind the camera but he was the driving force behind making the day a memorable one. We ate cake (a phenom of a chocolate wonder cake), sang, and...

.....made sandwiches. Makes one feel okay about being an old lady! :)

To wrap May up we took a trip to Tennessee for Memorial Day and visited Kyle's parents. Kyle worked hard while we were there but we did take a break to enjoy the pool. Cuties!

And here's everyone that dared to brave the cold water.....I'm not too brave if there's cold water involved. I'm a big time wimpy kid!

The Latest Photo Shoot

2011-06-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Here they are! Ethan at almost 5, Leah at 3 and Camden at 8 months. How in the world this woman managed a picture with all of them looking and what's more....all of them smiling, I'll never know. I was a little worried she'd be able to conjure anything out of Camden since she was and obvious smoker and her gruff voice made him a little nervous. The other two were totally enchanted though.

I was not sure how taking three exuberant kids for portraits would go over, so I decided to see if my 10 year old neighbor would come with me to give me an extra set of hands. I think that's what helped keep them so happy. Mom wasn't such a basket case and I was able to take my time deciding what to buy instead of hastily buying a crazy price package with way more photos than I needed just to get the heck out of there. Thank heaven for helping hands!

Easter 2011

2011-05-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

I guess now that we've covered Christmas we can move on to Easter. Easter was rainy and cold and I seriously feel like every Easter we've had since we moved here has been rainy and cold so it never feels right wearing your springtime Easter duds. I colored eggs with the kiddies in anticipation of the big day. It was fun because they're so enthusiastic about this kind of thing, but I feel a little stressed out until the dye is dumped down the sink. No dye catastrophes and I had no reason to bring out my Totally Awesome cleaner.

The little egg artists.....

....showing off their work!

Easter morning was so fun this year! Just like Christmas, they're at such a fun age where everything is so magical and exciting. The Easter Bunny left eggs all over our house and baskets on the table and the kids had a heckuva time with the egg hunt.

Full Easter Baskets = Happy Kiddies

This sequence of pictures made me laugh so I had to share them. Here's Camden finding something interesting in Ethan's Easter basket. Just so you know, this thing started out in Camden's Easter basket and Ethan obviously thought he should have it. So Camden is just taking back what is rightfully his.

As soon as Leah saw what Camden had, she took it from him. Look at that sad, concerned look on his face.

And this was the result. An Easter morning tragedy! Camden has really started to stick up for himself lately. He doesn't let the other two take advantage of him without letting him know how he feels.

We haven't gotten a great picture of the kids in their Easter best yet, but we did try that morning The kids were so excited about taking a few pictures before running off to church! And this was probably the happiest shot of the bunch.

We enjoyed Easter dinner after church with some friends of ours. It was delicious and laid back and fun. And that was about it. Keeping it simple is the name of the game these days.

Christmas!!! Seriously, this post is really about Christmas and yes I know it's almost May.

2011-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

I was going to just forget about the Christmas post, but since it was Camden's first, I felt bad not saying a thing about it and so here it is nearly halfway to next Christmas. Have fun looking back!

The annual Christmas card photo shoot! Every year we wonder why we do it and then once it's done we're glad we did. This was the one that went out....

....and this is the way most of the rest of them looked.

Here's the Christmas cookies.....Santa seemed to enjoy them.

And here's the lone surviving picture of our Christmas outings. This one was shot at The Beach Waterpark in front of the toboggan ride. Kyle and Ethan took a couple rides together. After this picture was taken, my camera died. The kids rode ponies and we went to the petting zoo as well. It was the last hurrah for our Beach season passes.

We also went to see the Zoo Lights but when Kyle went to take some pictures of that outing, he realized his flash card was at home. So sad! The lights were pretty cool though and we had fun....well, most of us had fun. Ethan took a tumble and fell into mud and animal gunk. I brought a change of pants, but there was no hope for the mittens and he was MISERABLE the rest of the time.

Merry Christmas! We all got matching Christmas jammies the night after Thanksgiving. And when I say all I mean ALL. Kyle's matched Camden's. You couldn't find Camden when Kyle was holding him wearing their matchy matchies. Camouflaged completely. You won't see any photo documentation of the fact that Kyle owns a pair of red fleece polar bear pajamas though. You have to draw the line somewhere. They are pretty cozy though....like putting on a hug.

Loving times! Leah enjoying a hug a little more than Camden enjoyed it.

Mommy and Cam. Social norms dictate that polar bear fleece jammies are more acceptable for women so I'm okay with the pic.....other than the fact that it's first thing in the morning. But what would Christmas be without a few unflattering morning pics?

Christmas morning was really fun with the kids this year. Ethan was especially fun to watch. He's at the perfect age for Christmas magic. Kyle's parents were with us as well making it even more festive. He was thrilled with everything he received...musical instruments, an addition to his marble run, and a motorized gear set...all of which he still plays with. Leah received a new doll (which she didn't love as detailed in a previous post), a Buzz Lightyear (she's a HUGE fan of his), and a play ice cream set which she loves. Camden received a push buggy to ride in for when the weather warmed up and he got a little bigger. It has and he has and that's how he rides around outside these days. Must have been good kids for sure!

Showing off their Christmas best...Ethan Michael....

Leah Grace...

...and Camden James.

Now for the New Year's bash! It was a raging scene for sure! (That was a seriously sarcastic statement.) Kyle was pooped because he'd been traveling all week for work and just wanted to go to bed. I was pooped too but refuse to let a holiday pass without celebrating...so I forced him into it. And guess what, we had fun and kept it simple. Keeping it simple has been my motto since Camden arrived.

We kicked it off with a dance party. Ethan's musical instruments (the only thing he asked Santa to bring him) took it to the next level.

See?! Look how much fun we're having! (To be fair to Ethan, he was having a good time for the most part. I just thought this was funny.)

We counted down the New Year at 8:30 p.m. Banged our musical instruments wildly when it happened and then ran out side to throw some Pop-Its in the street. It was such a warm night! It was incredible weather for that time of year around here. After the Pop-Its, we came back inside and enjoyed some sparkling apple juice. Looks pretty scrumptious, no?

Happy New Year 2011!

My Life's Soundtrack

2011-03-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

A lot of the time I wish the soundtrack of my life was a little more mellow. It can be pretty loud and chaotic as anyone that has had a recent telephone conversation with me can attest. There is a lot of crying, screaming and fighting that I hear on a daily basis. But, there are a lot of pretty awesome things too and last week as I was driving home after picking Ethan up from school I was delighted by the soundtrack that I get to live my life listening to....

There's this kid...who in this pic is experiencing the joy of surprise colors in the Valentine's Junior Mints even though this particular one was white...

Anyhoo, he can ask more questions in a minute than you could ever imagine...actually, some of you can probably imagine. I know sometimes I zone out mid-questioning after the 5th follow up "Why?" that he asks, or after the 985th question he throws me while watching Finding Nemo. Then I find myself telling him that we can bring a dragon home to live with us and I have to catch myself before I realize what I'm doing. If I actually take the time to focus, I am completely entertained and amazed with his take on the world.

Speaking of his take on the world, we gave him an old camera of ours to use to his heart's content. This is one of his self portraits. Very profound.

Then there's this little pixie....

...who is almost three and talks in the cutest way that only almost three year olds do. She has a charming way of saying 'okay' instead of 'yes'. She tries her best to sing along with the songs in the car and is chuck full of laughter. Her little munchkin voice combined with those expressive brown eyes of hers capture the attention of anyone she tries to talk to. She is also a big time mimic which is sometimes flattering and sometimes scary when you see what I must sound like through her eyes. And then there's that baby of hers adding to the charm of Leah sounds. You always know she's coming because you hear the rattle in the baby as she makes her way to wherever you are. It tugs at my heartstrings every time I hear it even if it is 3:00 a.m.

Here she is with both of the babies in her life.

And lastly, there's this little bundle of pure sweetness...

He coos, gurgles, laughs, squeals and is quite the baby conversationalist. I love these little sounds so much and they disappear so fast that you really have to take them in while you can. And while I wish he'd get over the phase where he wants to suck on his fingers and nurse at the same time, I really don't want to wish a minute of this sweetness away!

Passing the Time

2011-03-09T13:18:00.001-08:00

Oh it seems like it's been a long winter! Some days I'm surprised the house is still standing with all the rowdiness it has to contain. Here's a little glimpse at what we've done to pass the time.....

Getting ready to celebrate Dad's big day. Kyle turned one year older in January and it gave us an excuse to plan a little party. All the sickness going around made it a small, simple affair but a celebration nonetheless. Here's Leah doing her part to get ready.

And here he is with some of his favorite people....which, by the way are some of my favorite people including that birthday boy!

Oh the blessed bounce house! What would I have done without it this winter? They can wrestle, bounce and burn energy like crazy without much concern for injury or property destruction. We've had lots of good times in there!

Part of the reason we have been so house bound is not just the weather, but also this little guy. I don't want to get him out in the cold much or around a lot of germs. Plus, outings with all three are still a little overwhelming for me. We have made it out a handful of times despite the obstacles. This is Camden's first park outing on Martin Luther King Day. We fed the ducks, played on the climbers and went for a walk and this is how he enjoyed the whole experience. Looks cozy to me!

The rest of us warmed up with hot cocoa when we got home. Little cuties!

Artsy Fartsy! We tried all kinds of mediums to express ourselves throughout the winter. Here with crayons and coloring books.

Here with paint and stamps to make some Valentine's cards. Both kids prefer paint and markers to crayons. Crayola Washables make it so it's not such a disaster as does that packing paper covering the table. All that packing paper comes courtesy of Amazon with our diaper orders every month. If you buy a lot of diapers and haven't checked out Amazon Mom yet, you really should. Huge money saver......and you get all that bonus packing paper making your entire table a canvas! (Although I think Ethan would rather be rolling around in it than coloring on it most of the time. That comes later.)

Leah making a few more Valentines. She absolutely loves to color. She's my little artist!

Ethan....well he's more of a builder.

Afternoon bath times have been a big help when those p.m. hours are proving hard to fill, and it's one less thing to do after dinner. They stay contained, but get some of that sensory input that is so beneficial for everyone but especially my oldest boy. The shaving cream just took it to the next level. They had a blast! And clean up is a snap compared to any other finger paints. (Although the shaving cream can make things slippery so use caution if you try this at home.)

Our Valentine celebrations! It was missing only one important thing....my Valentine. He was at dinner with a colleague having a much more extravagant dinner, but missing out on pizza and our our annual Valentine's Day treasure hunt. The kids love this tradition and love treasure hunts in general. Running through the house, looking for clues that eventually lead you to treasure....who wouldn't love that! Each child received a book as a Valentine this year and we had a heckuva time!

My little puzzler...a boy after my own heart! He is so quietly engaged when I get a puzzle out for him to do. It's one thing that keeps him occupied if I need a minute to get something done and he's becoming quite the pro!

One of our sick days. Despite the sickies she was feeling, we still dressed up and had a little tea party in her room. I just love this picture!

There's also been plenty of movies, baking, play-doh and other such things. I'm ready to get outside on a little more regular basis though. Fresh air is good for the soul for both mommy and kiddies!

Sacked Out!

2011-03-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

When you've had it, you've had it.....and it appears they've had it!

It's All My Fault! I Really Should Know Better By Now.

2011-02-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

This post might prove to be a bit of a rambler. It's an indication of the state of mind I live with these days. I have extremely creative kids. They can always find something to do that will entertain them. Do I always approve of what they come up with? Rarely. Today, I disapproved big time...but it's really all my fault.

It was a pretty laid back morning. School had been canceled for Ethan and I was still in my pajamas. Abby's Flying Fairy School had just started on Sesame Street and I can usually guarantee myself a good 10 minutes of peace while that segment plays. So I decided to take advantage and go in the office to take care of some things I needed to get done. I took Camden with me and left the other two happily entertained by Abby. Well....I should have known better. I've lived with these two long enough to know that even taking a bathroom break is a huge risk. It was quiet all while I was away and when I heard Abby end, I came back to check on my kids. As I came I said, "So, what kind of disaster are you going to have for me today?", expecting maybe some spilled cereal or something like that. I was not prepared for their answer.

Food coloring! While quietly watching Abby, they were also quietly painting themselves and the kitchen with food coloring! And it's really ALL MY FAULT! Not only did I leave them unattended, I also introduced them to food coloring a couple of days ago when I was trying to come up with activities to fill these dreary winter days. We colored water with food coloring and then went outside to paint the snow.

Seemed like a good idea at the time. Before that day, they would have had no idea we even had food coloring or where to find it. Now they know and they must have been impressed with the concept.

So off we went to the shower...

On a side note, you'll notice neither of them is wearing many clothes.....thank goodness!! How did I get so lucky? Well, Leah seems to think that wearing panties means you don't wear anything else and she won't leave clothes on at home unless she also has a diaper on. Who knows what that's about? And if you leave Ethan to get dressed on his own without a time frame, it takes roughly two hours to complete the task....a sock here, another one a half hour later, etc., etc., etc.

I was hoping they would cry and wail and feel bad for what they had done. They knew I was pretty upset but ohhhh...watching colored water drip from every part of your body is extremely exciting for a couple of kids. Even their pee turned black when it hit the tub Ethan gleefully exclaimed to me. Instead, I was the one crying and wailing to my mom who I happened to reach by some miracle down in Argentina and she kind of chuckled as she heard the exuberant children shrieking "It's green! It's purple! It's blue!" She said maybe I should get in there with them and it would probably make me feel better.

After cleaning the little angels and the bathroom, I put them in their rooms praying they could actually play with toys as the toy manufacturers lead you to believe kids do. I then stripped to my underwear so as not to ruin my jammies and addressed the mess awaiting me in the kitchen. Too bad I didn't capture the floor in this photo as well. It was more of a splatter kind of artwork.

I must say, despite the heinous appearance of this mess, I've definitely had worse. And it was made much easier thanks to the miracle cleaning product my mother-in-law gave me. Here's your commercial interruption....

It's totally awesome just as the bottle says. Look what it did to my counter and my toaster with virtually no elbow grease involved! I even used it to get Sharpie out of a couch cushion the other day...and it worked! (I had been labeling boxes in the basement and Ethan was with me. I ran upstairs to get more labels and neglected to take the Sharpie with me. You can pretty much guess the rest.) I don't know if Sharpie would come out for everyone (it was very fresh) and I don't know that your couch wouldn't be discolored by it, so don't go putting this stuff on everything in your house based on something you read on my blog. That being said...it is still totally awesome.

So there you have it folks. By the way, I did actually get done what I needed to do in the office. Camden stayed asleep the whole time I was dealing with the disaster. And when I went to get my children after cleaning up the whole mess, they were actually playing with their toys! No disaster at all! They even put them away before coming back downstairs. I did say they were little angels didn't I?

It's Cammer Time!

2011-01-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

Bath time is definitely one of Camden's favorite things in the world and these pictures were just too precious to pass up. He looks like he's getting the finest spa treatment around!

I can't believe he's 3 1/2 months old. He's such a happy camper and smiling all the time. He giggles when I change his clothes because he's so ticklish. Just pure sweetness! He's a big boy weighing in at nearly 15 pounds now and as strong as he is big. Oh how we love this sweet baby boy!

Dolly Drama

2011-01-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Leah has a doll that she has been extremely attached to for pretty much her entire life. That's her in the picture. Her name is Baby Brooke but Leah has always called her simply 'Baby'. She received it as a baby shower gift from one of the Young Women I served with at the time and it has been her constant companion. We've lost her on occasion but have always found her a day or two later. However, in the middle of November, Leah lost her for good....or what I believed was for good. The last evidence I had of Leah with her baby was in these pictures:

She had been outside with her dad while he was raking leaves. I thought for sure her precious Baby had gone out in the trash with all the leaves. I had scoured the house and the yard. I'd checked the lost and found at church. And meanwhile, my daughter was asking me every night where her Baby was. I was so sad for her and I was also sickened to lose it because that dolly represented such a huge piece of Leah's early life.

So I finally figured, maybe it's time to move on. This is how Leah moved on....

She started falling asleep in the hall or in the bathroom with a whole collection of comfort items.

1. The blanket her Grandma made for her.
2. Her ladybug nightlight.
3. A small pillow that Ethan received in the ER a couple of years ago.

I moved on by deciding that Santa needed to bring her a new dolly....so he did. It wasn't the same doll. It was still soft so I thought she could still cuddle with it at night, but it was a doll that I thought would be more age appropriate that she could dress and undress and grow with. This is her. Her name is Stella.

Well, Christmas morning arrived with high hopes but I believe there has never been a Christmas gift more despised in the history of Christmas gift giving. She wanted nothing to do with the new doll. I thought it was an adorable little thing and that Leah would warm up to her eventually. No way Jose! If I tried to put her in bed with the new doll, she would fling it back at me. She HATED it! Poor Stella!

So on to plan B. Since Baby Brooke is tough to find anymore through regular retail avenues, I turned to Ebay. There I found a brand new Baby Brooke and promptly bought her. The following day, we were out doing our grocery shopping and we walked past the clearance bins with all the Christmas stocking stuffers. Leah spotted something and started shrieking and saying "My baby! My baby! It's my baby!" I looked in the back of the bin she was pointing at and there it was! A miniature Christmas version of her original baby. I pulled it out and held it in front of her and she snatched it from me, started kissing it, squealing and even told the doll 'I love you Baby!' I wish I had a video of it. I couldn't believe it! Here Leah is on the way home from the store with Baby, The Sequel.

But the drama didn't end there folks. The next day, I was feeling especially bad about the original lost Baby thanks to my 32nd viewing of Toy Story 3 and the plight of lost toys. I hoped that this poor, precious, once-so-loved baby doll wasn't suffering in a landfill somewhere. (This is sounding a little psychotic, I know. I think the amount of Toy Story viewing in this house is causing me to live in an altered reality.) I went outside to do one more thorough search of the yard. And...you guessed it....laying face down in plain sight on the lawn was Leah's original Baby! I promise that doll was NOT there before. I spent a lot of time looking all over the yard and there was no way I would have missed her in the middle of the front lawn. My only guess is that she somehow ended up in the neighbor's yard and when the snow melted, they found her and threw her over into our yard. There was also definite evidence that a dog had been spending some quality time with Baby. So I sanitized her and she washed up to her beautiful ragged self. The ebay doll was returned. (You're probably thinking I should have kept it just in case this happens again but Leah was offended by the sight of that one too.)

Now, Leah still goes to bed with her collection...blanket, pillow, nightlight...but she also clutches two babies. One in each arm. The old, ragged, beloved doll and the new, mini Christmas doll she discovered. Oh the travails of having a much loved, irreplaceable toy!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving with Kyle's family this year down in Knoxville. Ethan had been counting the days till we could go to Tennessee and was thrilled to finally hit the road.

Ready to roll! Look at the excitement on that face!

Leah always travels in style. Those sunglasses are an essential part of her wardrobe night and day. She's soooo fabulous!

We ended up heading out much later than anticipated the night before Thanksgiving making for a 2:00 a.m. arrival, but it wasn't all bad. The kids slept pretty much the entire drive...including Camden and the traffic was minimal. (No such luck on the drive home. The interstate was at a standstill.)

As always, it was a wonderful weekend and it was wonderful to be together.

The kids all "helped" Papa rake the leaves. Arming themselves is probably a better description of this photo.

Let the games begin!

Leah didn't stand a chance!

Beautiful and super tasty dinner. This picture didn't come very easily which makes me really appreciate that you can see everyone's face in it. I love Leah's hair.

The boys got their game on playing a little XBox Kinect.

But no one got air quite like Kyle. More impressive than the air is the face!

Mommy enjoying a little down time with Leah. She still doesn't hang out with me easily if Daddy's around so I have to catch her when I can.

Camden and Papa enjoyed quite a bit of quality time together over the weekend. They became pretty fond of each other. It seems Papa has a way with all the babies. Here they are playing....

...and resting from all that fun. So sweet!

Sunday, before we head out, my brother who was on his way home from Birmingham, passed through Knoxville and we were able to meet up for a little breakfast. He and his family are the first from my side to meet little Cam. Plus, it was his birthday so we put a candle in his bagel. I'm so glad we could meet up given the directions we all are flung.

Our little fam and my big bro.

My nephew Brendan with Camden. It's good practice since he'll have his own new baby brother in a few short months.

Thanks for another wonderful Thanksgiving Nana and Papa! We love you!

More Camden

2010-11-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

I know people have wanted to see more of Mr. Camden James, so I browsed my photos for some recent pics of the little guy. He just turned two months old on Monday and has become so much more interactive and social. He smiles if anyone talks to him and seems to enjoy the attention. He is also quite the conversationalist and babbles and coos as if he really has something to say. (And he probably does!) It is completely adorable.

He still wakes up two times a night but that's improvement from a couple of weeks ago. His reflux still bothers him and so he's decided to eat small and frequent meals to minimize discomfort. That keeps him waking fairly often to eat. He is a pretty mellow baby though and can be consoled from just about anything if you hold him. Love the little guy to pieces!

Just chilling before bedtime.

More in his blessing duds.

Hanging out with big sister watching a movie....for about a minute.

My Little Bruisers

2010-11-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a month when it comes to injury around here. I've already detailed Leah's visit to the ER a few weeks ago. For her, that was just the beginning. Leah is in a bit of a clutzy phase right now and it's going to give me a heart attack. She climbs all the time and runs around like a maniac which inevitably results in her falling off something or running into something...she is seriously accident prone. And anyone that has known me my whole life knows it could very well be an inherited trait.

The bump on her head is the result of her walking into a table. The eye was actually her brother's doing. She took a squeegee to the eye in the shower. Ouch!

Ethan took his turn in the ER a little over a week ago. It was a Sunday and I had gone out to move the car seats back into the same car so I would be ready to hit the road to get Ethan to school in the morning. Ethan came out with me and his friends from up the street showed up shortly thereafter. One of them was riding a scooter. Ethan ran out to join them and they were running around the cul-de-sac as usual. Somewhere amid the fun, his friend Matthew did a trick on his scooter and in the process hit Ethan in the head with it. One of the neighbor girls picked him up and ran him back home with blood streaming out of his head. I was so afraid she was traumatized seeing all this.

Anyway, we got the blood washed away and knew we were going to be back in the ER. He received 4 staples and was pretty weepy the rest of the night. He felt a little betrayed by his friend even though it was an accident, but they were back playing together a week later so hopefully all is forgiven.

Here's Ethan showcasing his staples. Kyle took some other very close up shots of the wound but they seemed a little graphic for the blog.

As a side note, on Monday we removed the staples. Ethan was pretty excited even though he was scared. He told me, "Now I won't have metal in my head anymore and I will have a nice and soft head." Well, 2 of the staples came out just fine. Upon removal of the 3rd, blood erupted like a geyser out of his head and Kyle and I were both freaked out that the wound had reopened. Ethan was freaked out because he saw blood dripping from him and wanted to know why blood has 'hurters' in it. Well, we cleared the blood and the wound looked great. There was just the holes where the staples were. That particular staple must have been stapled through a blood vessel and removing was like opening a pressure valve. It proved to be too much for us all and we decided to leave the 4th staple for the next day just in case the same thing were to happen. The 4th staple came out easily and without event and now Ethan has his nice, soft head back.

My nerves are a little shot dealing with all this, but my little kiddies haven't let it get them down. All smiles! (I, however, am currently looking into body armor for the two of them.)

Blessing Camden

2010-11-22T20:20:00.001-08:00

Camden was blessed by Daddy two weeks ago. Kyle gave him a beautiful blessing as he always does although I couldn't hear some of it in the beginning as Camden decided to loudly protest what was going on. He calmed down about half way through and was perfectly quiet the rest of the time. Kyle's parents came up from Tennessee to attend and his oldest brother and his family also came. I missed having my family around for this one, but life has taken us in so many directions that it's hard to make it to all these events.

We had Kyle's family over for dinner later that day and had a pretty laid back evening celebrating our newest addition. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have this little guy as a part of our family. Despite the craziness of having 3 kids 4 and under, Camden has brought a special kind of peace to our home and I think especially to me. I'm so grateful and humbled that Heavenly Father has allowed us to have three unique and special spirits as a part of our family.

Here's the star of the show looking completely angelic...

Halloween!

2010-11-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

We trunk or treated. We trick or treated. We ate chili. We had a great time. And we've been on a sugar high ever since. I felt like the weekend of Halloween was so busy. There was a lot going on besides Halloween and I felt like we spent the whole weekend running around like crazy people. I was a sweaty mess by the time the kids were out the door and in costumes. One of our friends from church came over with her little boy to trick or treat with us and thank goodness she was here. I really needed the extra hands that night. Here's a few pics we managed to get of our little spooks.

Gearing up for the candy collecting.

My little jungle cat.

The happy, handsome Sheriff Ethan. He knew what Halloween meant and was pretty excited to get out there.

Leah wasn't sure what was going on when we first dressed her up and she was pretty ticked off. Once she realized people were giving out candy, she was one happy little lamb. This is the second year in the lamb costume for Leah. It still fit.

The lion sleeps tonight. Happy Halloween everyone!

Blooms and Berries

2010-10-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we made our annual trip to a pumpkin patch as our first family outing since Camden was born. We chose Blooms and Berries because it was close and we had heard good things about it. We needed to keep things simple and we had to keep the visit short and sweet but it was worth the effort.

"Soup's On!"

Howdy Folks!

Hiding in the sunflower field.

There were lots of caterpillars in those sunflowers and the kids had a great time finding and exploring them. The caterpillars likely weren't having as great of a time.

Taking time to feed the goats. My kids really seem to love doing this. No fear!

Leah with her pumpkin. She has been so obsessed with pumpkins this fall that there was no way we could skip the pumpkin patch. She was pretty pleased with her selection.

Owie!

2010-10-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Kyle went out of town for work. I was a little nervous about the whole thing as I wasn't sure what to expect on my own for three days. It was pretty uneventful for the most part and we managed just fine. The night he was due to arrive, I was getting the kids their dinner and had already put Leah in her booster chair. In an effort to keep herself entertained, she stuck out her legs and pushed of the table saying "Wheeee!" as she flew backwards. However, once the chair hit the grout space in the tile floor, the chair tipped over backwards and Leah went down with it.

There was screaming and crying and I ran over to get her out of the booster to find the back of her head all bloody. Head wounds can really be bleeders though and so I wanted to see the actual damage before I panicked to badly. Once we got the blood washed away so we could see the wound, I knew we would be heading to the ER. Kyle wasn't due to arrive for another 3-4 hours so I called my sister-in-law to see if Ethan could hang out while I took Leah and Camden with me to the hospital. I then called Kyle to tell him to come to the hospital instead of coming home when his flight arrived. About 10 minutes later, Kyle called me back and said he was 20 minutes away. He had caught an earlier flight! Kyle was able to take Leah to the ER while I stayed home with the boys. I was pretty relieved and grateful that someone must have been watching out for me.

Here she is at the ER, sweet as pie, but still scheming to somehow get out of the inevitable.

After several hours at the ER, Leah came home pretty giddy. She was freaking out pretty bad when they tried to put stitches in her head and so the doctor gave her some Versed to calm her down. She was pretty chill. She couldn't stop laughing and could not walk without falling over. Life is never real boring around here.

Here's Leah showing you where her owie is.

And here's the actual owie all stitched up.

One Month Down

2010-10-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

I've been the mother of three for a month now and I can honestly say that I don't think another month of my life has passed so quickly. It's been busy around here but I thought it would be a lot worse than it really is. Camden is growing like a weed and I've sadly already packed up all the newborn clothes and diapers. Despite feeling wistful about seeing that stage end I'm also very grateful he is a hearty eater and growing like crazy. He still wakes up about 3 times a night which can leave a mommy pretty tired...especially with the energy of the other two to keep up with. But I honestly enjoy our nighttime feeding sessions because it gives me some quiet time with my baby. The quiet can be hard to come by during the day so I'll take it when I can get it.

Here's a few highlights from the month. Conference weekend, Leah came down with something that was very similar to the croup but I don't think that's what it was. She had a fever for several days and at night was kept awake by a hacking cough. Kyle managed Leah at night while I managed Camden. Those were some sleepless nights. This is how the kids ended up watching General Conference....swaddled just like Camden....their dad's design. (He is one of the best swaddlers I've ever known.) Leah was pretty miserable and needed the TLC. Ethan just thought it was fun.

And this is how Mom must have watched Conference. I don't think I realized I was so out of it.

Ethan has proven to be quite the big brother. He can be rough at times, but for the most part he really wants to be gentle with Camden and wants to help me do all kinds of things. In general, Ethan really craves the companionship of his younger brother and seems to really want to make life comfortable for him.

Handsome brothers!

Leah has turned into a complete Daddy's girl with the changes that Camden has brought. She seems pretty ticked off at me. When she's upset, she looks for Kyle to console her every time. If I lay down by her at night, she pushes me away and says "Go away Mommy". Not my favorite thing in the world to hear, but I guess it comes with the territory. And she rarely will go near the potty for anything so we're back in diapers full time. Nevertheless, we do have our sweet moments every day and so I know there must be some fondness for me left in her little soul.

Leah has also not taken a nap in a couple of weeks. I don't know how I feel about that, but what can you do. I think it has something to do with moving out of the crib and into her big girl bed. She just doesn't settle down as well for naps even though she's great to stay there at bedtime. The Curious George movie has been my salvation. Both my kids love it and nap time has turned into movie time with Curious George. (Yes, I have been sitting my kids in front of a movie every day since Camden arrived. Try not to judge.) I need another movie queued up for when they finally get sick of it.

If only they were all in there to take a nap together. A girl's gotta dream!

Introducing Camden James

2010-09-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

On September 22, our newest addition Camden James made his debut. It was a smooth and speedy delivery and he pretty much pushed himself right out. It's scary to think what would have happened had I delayed very much getting to the hospital.

Camden weighed in at 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. So far he has been such an angel and is a great eater which is a huge blessing. We are so grateful to have him and already can't imagine our family without him. These babies grow so fast so we are doing our best to enjoy every minute!

Kyle took the picture above, as well as these the week before Camden officially joined us...

....and then the big day arrived!

And finally, our first family photo! The other two kids have been so good so far. We do have some occasional unnecessary roughness but for the most part, they've been an excellent big brother and sister!

Minnesota Viking Voyage

2010-09-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

Every year, Kyle's brother and his wife make the trek from Minnesota to see the rest of the family. This year, they drove all night to meet us over the Labor Day weekend and we enjoyed many fun filled days together. After catching a nap the morning they arrived, we all head out to Kings Island. This was my 3rd trip of the season and once again I observed all the happy riders and loved watching their thrilled expressions

Here's my token photo from Kings Island. Here I talked about the happy riders and their thrilled expressions, so Ethan and his cousin just crack me up with the looks on their faces here. I swear they got happier once the ride got going. They're riding with their Aunt Jen and Aunt Andrea.

The following day, we all head up to Young's Jersey Dairy which is a working dairy farm where they make all kinds of things but the most popular would have to be their decadent ice cream. And don't even ask them if they have anything low fat. Ethan and Leah had a great time with the goats. No fear whatsoever. They're a lot more fearless when it comes to animals than their mommy ever was.

Ethan making friends.

Leah feeding an eager eater.

And this is just a sweet picture of a goat....why not post it?

Ethan and Leah checking out the tractors with their Papa.

Ethan on the tractor ride that Nana treated them to. He looks like a natural!

Leah exploring the play area.

We wrapped up our time together with a visit to Sawyer Point and then over to Newport on the Levee. Sadly, my pictures ended with the trip to Young's Jersey Dairy so you'll just have to imagine all the great fun we had. Thanks for making the trip you two! We know it's a pretty good hike but we're always happy to see you!

The Latest

2010-09-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, our baby boy hasn't made an appearance yet. He must be pretty comfortable in there or scared of what awaits him on the outside. I'm not due till Friday, but I've become accustomed to having my babies early so I may have anticipated he'd be in a bigger hurry.

In the meantime, we've been up to a few things worth noting. I took the kids to the zoo a couple of weeks ago where we had another snake encounter with a much larger snake. Ethan of course was thrilled with the whole thing and interestingly enough, so was Leah. You can't get her to go near a butterfly, but a snake she likes!

Here's Ethan with his new buddy....

...and here's Leah getting a piece of the action.

This picture from the carousel isn't the greatest, but I was struck by how grown up Leah looks. Where do these babies go so quickly?

We have finally tackled the basement finishing project again and with much happiness, I can say that it's pretty much done. So...needless to say, we've spent a fair amount of time at Home Depot where Ethan has discovered the Trane air conditioning display. And guess what they have.....FREE BROCHURES! I've never seen a kid so happy! He's been eager to show his brochures to anyone he knows and the folks at Home Depot have been more than happy to indulge him.

That's his latest brochure as he fell asleep perusing it.

This is the state of my living room lately. Ethan has taken to fort building (although dad helped him with this one) and Leah is not opposed to his new hobby.

And to wrap up, last week we went on an apple picking expedition with our neighbors. We went last year as well and it was just as wonderful this year. It's called A&M orchards and it's up in Midland. I recommend it if you're looking for a place to go. We picked 21 pounds of apples! I've made pie and apple butter with them and we still have plenty to snack on.

Here's Ethan taking it in.

Leah and her little pal Sloane taking a break from all the picking.

Resting in an old apple tree at the end of a "fruitful" day! Such cute kiddies!

From the Keystone State to the Buckeye State

2010-09-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since one of my siblings joined us for a visit here in the Queen City. But my sweet brother made the trek with his family at the end of August and although we never managed to show them the actual city of Cincinnati, we tried to make the most of the few days we had.

Day 1 we head to the Air Force Museum in Dayton. Here's the gang minus my brother and husband in front of the famous Bockscar....the plane that dropped the A-bomb that ended WWII.

The kids exploring the interior of one of the planes.

My bro and Ethan testing their piloting skills.

Leah and my niece, Emma, in the cockpit.

The next day we head over to Kings Island where Kyle and my nephew Brendan braved every coaster they could and the rest of the gang took in the rides of Planet Snoopy.....and I watched them all enjoy it.

Ethan and his cousin Xander testing out the skills they learned at the museum the previous day.

Taking on Woodstock Express....Ethan's favorite!

After a long day at Kings Island, we decided to take a leisurely canoe trip down the Little Miami river. It felt so good to get my sore feet in that water!

Dad with the kiddies!

Ethan captaining the boat!

My niece and nephew getting ready to take the plunge from that tree.

Mommy and Ethan. This pic made the cut for the benefit of those that have wanted to see more of my pregnant self.

Sweet little sailor Leah!

I'm so glad we were able to have my brother and his family with us for a few days. We all really enjoyed the visit and Ethan keeps asking when they will come back from Pennsylvania. Thanks so much for making the effort to come out guys! We love you and miss you tons!

Catching up.......

2010-08-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA for a while on this thing. It's not that there hasn't been anything to blog about, it's the fact that I've just been totally unmotivated to do it. I know I'll regret it someday because it's been a crazy couple of months. It all started the night of Ethan's birthday. He'd been saying for a long time that he would stop wearing diapers when he turned 4. So on the night of his birthday, we packed up both his and Leah's diapers and left them for the diaper fairy to take. The next morning, they awoke to gifts left in place of the diapers with a note from the diaper fairy. Ethan received a fan for his room and some shark underwear and he was pretty stoked. Leah received a new toy dinosaur and the smallest underwear I could possible find for her tiny hiney. Ethan was pretty thrilled and Leah was thrilled because Ethan was thrilled and she knew there was something to be happy about.

So we started our journey. It was rocky for the first 2 or 3 weeks, but as long as we were home Ethan faithfully peed in the potty. Leah was slower to catch on to the peeing part, but eventually did and is doing great. Poop was another story....as were public bathrooms. Ethan has a HUGE aversion to pooping on the potty. I hung in there for a month fighting the good fight. But after dealing with poopy underwear at least once a day for a month, I gave up. I called the diaper fairy and she kindly returned the diapers, but took her fan back. Ethan was pretty heart broken about that, but still didn't want to poop in the potty....or use a potty anywhere but home. He's Leah's biggest cheerleader though and is very proud of her every time she goes. He even fetches a potty treat for her. She still has her accidents but for the most part, she has going "poppy" down pat. I figure Ethan will get there soon enough. He knows what he has to do, we just have to work through the anxiety.

One of the happy potty moments. Such a sweet face. As we were fighting the poop battle, that sweet face told me he wanted to be a dog with floppy ears and sweat and poo in the yard....which he did do on several occasions and must have found it preferable to that blasted potty.

Here's Leah in her favorite turtle panties. I should mention that potty training has also inspired a nudist phase for her. If I'm not paying attention, her clothes are off in a flash.

In other news.....it has been seriously hot! I don't have pictures of most of what we've been involved in the last few weeks simply because it seemed to always involved playing in the water. Our passes to The Beach have saved our lives during this heat wave. The kids love it and it is seriously one of the only ways we could stand playing outside. The backyard has been set up with all kinds of ways to cool off as well and I've taken my share of being doused by water guns and other such things by both my children and my husband. I'm not complaining. Did I mention it's hot?

Some of the kids favorite antics lately. Ethan builds a fort every day out of the couch cushions and hides inside with his slinky.

Leah has taken to wearing a bucket on her head and wandering the yard. I don't know what it is, but it seems to be TONS of fun. She laughs the whole time and I have to laugh right along with her. Little does she know that long ago in a business school far, far away, her mom was placed in a section dubbed the "Bucketheads"....don't ask what it meant....and now I've got my own little buckethead!

And lastly, I decided to try my had at canning. I brought some of my mom's peach jam home from Utah and after blasting through the jar in no time, I decided I needed to learn how to do this on my own since waiting to go to Utah to eat home canned goods wasn't much of an option. So I tried it. The cans all sealed which I think is good sign. I'll let you know if we end up with botulism later.

Other than that, I'm still pregnant and looking forward to meeting the little guy in about five weeks. Although, most days I'm scared out of my mind at how I'm going to manage my little brood along with the rest of life. It seems you always adjust though.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

2010-07-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Not only did we get to celebrate Independence Day on the 4th, but we also had a bang-up party to celebrate our little Ethan. His birthday isn't until a couple days later, but his Nana and Papa were in town so we partied a little earlier.

Ethan is now 4 years old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone and how fast it seems he's grown. He is such a special part of our lives! His smile and enthusiasm continue to make each day a fun adventure, while his unique genius and stubborn will keep us on our toes at all times. We love you little guy and are so grateful for each day of these four precious years! Happy Birthday!

The kids enjoying the birthday dinner...hot dogs at Ethan's request.

Nana and Aunt Jen enjoying the festivities.

Ethan getting ready to launch his new Stomp Rocket.

Wow!!!!

Making a wish! When I asked Ethan what kind of cake he wanted, he replied, "An ice cream cake, because it's delicious!" It's not too pretty but he did seem to think it was delicious.

After the birthday festivities ended, Kyle, Ethan, Leah and I went over to a nearby field to take in the Kings' Island 4th of July fireworks. It was a pretty sweet show and we had a great view! After these fireworks, we went back home and did sparklers and Pop-its. The kids were willing to play with the sparklers, but were cautious, which is a good thing. Ethan thought the Pop-its were pretty awesome and I had a lot of fun watching him get a kick out of life.

Over the Rainbow

2010-07-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

We spent a wonderful two weeks in Utah for our annual reunion with my family. It was especially significant this year because my brother Josh had returned from his mission the day before we arrived and my parents were preparing to leave on a three year mission to Argentina days after we left. Needless to say, I've been looking forward to this for a long time and as always happens, it went by way too fast.

After the hullaballoo of my brother's homecoming and my parents farewell parties, we took off for Eden, Utah to enjoy a week away from it all. When we arrived, we were greeted by this sight out our front door....

I don't think I had ever seen a rainbow in it's entirety like that. I swear you could smell the leprechauns. So....as always seems to be the case with these travelogue type entries, I find it easiest to let the pictures do the talking...and I had over a thousand to talk with thanks to my wonderful husband. (Don't worry. I didn't post them all.)

Our first morning at the house. All the cousins chilling out with a movie.

My sister, Amy and I spent most of the first day getting ready for a shower we were throwing for our youngest sister who is pregnant with her first baby. Since we wanted everyone involved, we had to find a theme that would encompass a diverse crowd. My brother, Matt suggested a pirate theme and we rolled with it. They were kidnapped and welcomed to the pirate ship Parenthood where they had to pass a series of tests or walk the plank. So here they are just after the kidnapping.

And here's Ethan participating in one of the tests. When we told him he needed to get his sticker as close to the "X" on the map as he could, he really couldn't understand why he would put a blindfold on to do that. You can't see the "X" that way! Needless to say, he was right on.

Collecting their pirate booty!

The following day, we head back down to Salt Lake so my parents could be set apart as missionaries. Here we all are outside the church administration building just after the setting apart. I think the experience brought us all a lot of peace.

And for those of you that don't know, I have two sisters and all of us are pregnant and due in September. My youngest sister Melissa is due on the 6th, me on the 24th, and my sister Amy on the 27th. Pretty crazy but pretty fun! And yes, two of us are wearing the same dress. That was completely unintentional but great minds think alike I guess.

And my brother, Jason, joining us with his own precious cargo.

The next day found us back in Eden where we enjoyed the day at a nearby park. Ethan had a whale of a time spider swinging with Mommy and Daddy.

Leah enjoyed getting a push from whoever was willing.

Leah hanging out with Uncle Matt. We left him with our kids a couple of days after we got there so we could go out with friends. Leah was somewhat wary of him after that. He eventually won her over again.

The next day, we attempted a hike to a waterfall, but as is great tradition in our family, we took a wrong turn and ended up on a trail that was way too long for the little ones and the pregnant ones. We had to turn around before we made it wherever it was leading us. But here we are, at what we called our summit.

And just the four of us.

After the hike, we built a fire....with an incredible amount of help from lighter fluid....so we could have a hot dog/marshmallow roast. Here's Leah and Grandma enjoying a sweet moment together.

Me and Ethan trying to get a perfectly roasted hot dog ready. He was so hungry he could hardly stand it. Waiting for that fire to light up was tough!

We spent our final day in Eden at the lake, which was initially supposed to be Pineview but ended up being Willard Bay. Pineview was pretty frigid. It had not been a warm summer up to that point in Utah. Here's Kyle proving that he still has what it takes.

My nephew and brother hanging on for dear life.

After a full day on the lake, we still broke out our party hats to celebrate my dad's 65th. It was a great way to end the week.

Perusing one of the gifts he received with my niece and nephew looking on.

The next morning, my oldest brother and his family were off and then one by one we all made our departures. Kyle and I were actually the last of the out of towners to leave and it wasn't a whole lot of fun telling my parents good-bye. It's bad enough without being pregnant, but add the hormones and it's really not a pretty picture. Hopefully we can make it down to Argentina in the next three years to say hello. To all my wonderful family, I am so grateful for all of our times together, and this one was no different. I love you all and, thanks to this post taking me down memory lane, I'm missing you like crazy.

Memorial Day 2010

2010-06-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

We've made a tradition of going to see our Nana and Papa in Tennessee each Memorial Day. They always make the visit so fun and laid back for all of us. We had a great time swimming at their pool, playing in the water in the backyard, watching movies, and just generally enjoying each other's company. My husband wasn't his usual shutterbug self on this trip. He was taking it easy! Why not? So I don't have much to show for it in the way of pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it.

By the way, we did learn that if you add 3 cups of sugar to a pancake recipe instead of 3 tablespoons, no amount of cooking spray can keep them from sticking to the pan.

Enjoying breakfast on the porch....you'll notice Ethan is already trying to make a break for it.

Leah eagerly anticipating a batch of Nana's cookies. The past few posts have painted a pretty clear picture of the monster sweet tooth that girl has.

Leah Turns 2!

2010-06-06T19:57:00.001-07:00

Our sweet Leah turned 2 years old at the end of May. Although she's about the same size as kids a year younger than she is, her personality makes her seem larger than life. She is a firecracker! She has such a sense of humor and is always trying to be funny or laugh her little fake laugh just to start some fun. She prefers to be barefoot outside and can cover herself in dirt faster than any kid I've ever met. Such antics have lovingly earned her the nickname 'Mowgli' by a friend of ours. We love the sparkle she brings to our home and feel so blessed to have her beautiful spirit as a part of our family. We love you Leah! Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Opening gifts with cousin Danny's help. She loves her cousins!

Leah taking her baby doll and constant companion for a ride on her new trike. I wanted to get her a smaller trike that she could actually reach the pedals on. This one worked.....barely. And she can only completely reach the pedals if her shoes are on, which, as we established, she doesn't comply with much when she's outside.

Digging in to that cake. Yum!! She actually dug in before anyone else and that's when we knew it was time to sing and serve the cake. (She's making a habit of helping herself to any kind of dessert she can spot.) Love those beautiful brown eyes!

Time Flies When You're Getting Older

2010-06-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

We put one more birthday in the books for me in May. Kyle and I went out the night before to celebrate. I was craving Mexican food, so we decided to try a place we'd never been before. It was not what I would call Mexican food. They didn't even use real avocado to make the guacamole. It was more of a green paste the consistency of something you would see dumped on someone's head on Nickelodeon.

The next day we had some family over and celebrated with a yummy ice cream cake from Graeter's. Can't go wrong there.

Apparently Leah didn't quite get her fill and decided to help herself to another serving.

Our Final Adventure

2010-05-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

So Tuesday was our last full day with my parents and we decided to hit the Cincinnati Zoo. Kyle captured so much in pictures that I'll just let them do the talking.

Feeding the giraffes. Can you believe that tongue? There was no getting away from that thing as long as you had a wafer in your hands.

Leah was a little more wary, but she still got a nice lick from the giraffe.

Mommy and Me

All the happy campers....minus our fearless photographer.

I'll just call this the snake series. One of the keepers was out with a snake letting people get a close up. Ethan still would like to have one for himself, and was so excited to see this thing. It was awesome. I told the keeper Ethan has been asking for a snake for a while and the keeper was so great to let Ethan hang with the snake as long as he wanted. These few pictures capture the range of emotions we saw.

The little model

These lorikeets had no fear when it came to humans and seemed to have quite an affinity for my parents. Must have been the soap they used that morning. One landed on Ethan's head for a split second and he was not crazy about that. A snake is okay but a bird on your head is a whole other story.

Wrapping things up with a train ride.

As a grand finale to the whole visit, we all enjoyed brownie sundaes that night. It appeared that Leah enjoyed hers most of all!

My parents flew home on Wednesday and we were sad to see them go. It's always an adjustment after company leaves to get back to the everyday. And my kids always take a couple of days to adjust to the absence. We loved every second of the visit and we look forward to seeing them one more time before they're outta here. Love you guys! Thanks for the wonderful week!

A visit from Mom and Dad

2010-05-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

We've had such a fun week. My parents have been making the rounds to all their out of state children for one last visit before they're off to Argentina, and last Thursday, they arrived in Cincinnati for our turn. We made the most of it and it felt like we were having a mini vacation ourselves for all the fun we had.

Our first stop was Kings' Island. My mom has wanted to get inside the gates for a while and the weather that Friday was awesome so we decided to do it. I couldn't set foot on many of the rides, but I had so much fun watching everyone else that it didn't really matter. The first two rides were a total bust. The carousel went over like a lead balloon and then I took them on the old Scooby Doo ride, which is not Scooby Doo anymore and is totally freaky. Not the best idea of my life. We hit Planet Snoopy after that and the mood shifted to a much happier place.

Ethan taking it easy on the helicopter ride.

Ace Pilot Ethan...he obviously was taking this very seriously.

Ethan has been asking if he can ride a roller coaster for a while now. And after a couple of rides in Planet Snoopy, I asked him what he wanted to do next and he replied, "I want to go on a roller coaster." I thought for sure he would back out when he saw how loud, fast and big they were up close, but that was not the case. So we started with the smallest coaster to see how he did. Here he is with Grandpa gearing up for his first ever roller coaster ride! And he absolutely loved it! They went again.

Ethan and Leah in typical photo poses.

Since the first coaster was such a hit, we decided to take it one step further...and taller....and faster. Ethan barely met the height requirement for this ride, but I sent him nonetheless completely convinced that it was going to be a little traumatic for him. Absolutely not the case. He was grinning for ear to ear the whole time and loved that he got to scream while he rode. I'm not sure how many times he rode this thing, but I wish you could see some of the pics that the coaster camera took. The face was priceless! We've got a thrill rider on our hands.

We broke the day up so the kids (and the mom) could rest a little. Then Kyle joined us for the second round. Here's the gang at the entrance for take two.

Ethan and Leah taking on the speedway together.

And this was the ride I thought would traumatize Leah, but I took my chances. Doesn't look like anyone is traumatized. I underestimated my kids big time. They love a good thrill!

Superman style! Ethan doesn't even look big enough to be on that thing. But he was and he loved it....and Kyle was happy to be the riding partner.

I couldn't have enjoyed a day at Kings' Island more, despite the fact that I was on the sidelines. Kyle managed to get my dad on the Diamondback (which is the newest and biggest coaster in the park). We wrapped the night up with a trip up the Eiffel tower, ice cream cones and fireworks. I thought for sure Ethan and Leah would be crashing and burning but they were enthused and happy to the bitter end.

After our big day on Friday, we took it easy on Saturday running a few errands and then going out to dinner at PF Chang's. It was yumm-o! Ethan tried desperately to use the chopsticks and finally nabbed himself a shrimp. He was pretty pleased.

After a low key Sunday, we were ready to hit the pavement again and head out to see the Butterfly Show at the Krohn Conservatory. I wanted to take Ethan to this since he is so enamored with bugs right now and when I told him about it, he got pretty excited. Leah is not a fan of anything creepy or crawly, so I wasn't sure how she would do. She didn't want to get near the butterflies but was pretty happy just the same.

Ethan admiring two of his catches.

This was about as close as Leah would get.

Taking a break from butterflies to admire the fish.

Ethan was dying to catch a butterfly on his finger and finally did it. He was so still and so gentle and it seemed to be easy for him to keep them around a while.

After the show, we went into Eden Park for a picnic and then I took my parent to Mt. Adams for a view of the city. This is the view from the Immaculata Cathedral. We were also able to go inside and take a look around. It was pretty cool.

Since this post is getting a little long to manage, I'm going to continue our final adventure in another post. And since Kyle was with us for that one, the pictures are abundant.

Little Tidbits

2010-04-19T20:12:00.001-07:00

There are so many little things that I've wanted to document about my kids that I've decided to devote a post to it.

Ethan has started to show me more of the boy in him of late. He has taken a real liking to bugs and creepy crawlies of all types. In fact, in an attempt to find some sort of something that might encourage him on the potty training road, I asked him what he would want me to buy him if he could have anything in the world. He enthusiastically replied, "A snake!" Mmmm boy! I think I'll wait and see if I can't find something else to entice him that doesn't require me to feed it live mice.

He spends a lot of time digging in the dirt trying to find bugs and worms of all sorts and then happily comes over to display them for me. I think he's been inspired by the movie "A Bug's Life" (his current fav). The neighbor girl behind us loves his new hobby and is always asking him to find bugs for her too. It's so funny to watch their exchanges through our backyard fence.

Of course, he still likes exploring all the workings of the house and finding out how they all connect together. This has been and still is one of his favorite spots in the yard....

Fans are still top notch in his book, and with spring comes pinwheels which are pretty much a fan you can take anywhere. Grandma scored big points when she treated the kids to a pinwheel while she was here.

And this is just a sweet little shot. I showed him how to turn his nose yellow with a dandelion and he's been experimenting with the abundance we have in our yard right now.

As for Leah....she doesn't sit still for much. She is wild! She's always looking to turn any activity she can into a game, even if she has to do it all by herself. You should hear the giggles coming from her room at bedtime. She thinks she's pretty hilarious. She has such a bright spirit and can really light up a room (and her Daddy). Despite her rough and tumble ways, she manages to stay so loving and sweet at the same time.

She is also fiercely independent. She knows what she wants and how she wants it done. The other day she was having a hard time getting up on the bed, so I gave her a little push. She was so mad at me! She immediately climbed back down and climbed back up again just so she could do it herself. That's my girl! Here she is up to her antics...

I've had to find new places to do Leah's hair lately since I can't lift her up on the sink. (I'll explain that later.) She used to sit so quietly and brush her teeth while she looked in the mirror and I could take my own sweet time with her hair. No more my friends. I haven't found a way to contain her without my trusty sink method and we've had some interesting times in the hair department because of it. Poor tortured soul!

And here's the sweet shot of Leah. You'd never think anything mischievious could be going on behind that sweet little face. She's turned into a little bookworm and reading with her is one of my favorite things to do. And just like her brother, she loves Superwhy. Bless the creators of Superwhy!

And making his Blogger debut.....Baby L III!

Here he is, making his presence known at 16 weeks (about 2 1/2 weeks ago).

It's been a wild ride since this little guy (yes, it's a boy) joined the scene. There was those first 3 months where you really don't feel much like yourself. And then just when I was coming out of that, we were scared to death when I started having some heavy bleeding. According to the ultrasounds, it's either being caused by a clot in between my uterus and placenta or some early placenta previa or both. But until both issues resolve, I've been ordered to take it easy...including no lifting kids, pushing strollers, shopping carts etc. The baby is growing great and all seems perfectly normal with his development, so we just wait for the next ultrasound to see if I can get the all clear.

Leah has figured out that Mom can't pick her up and the little stinker just goes limp and lays on the ground whenever I want her to do something she doesn't want to do. Ethan has turned into my right hand man and has taken care of the vacuuming and helping me with the laundry since all this happened. This is where having a child with a huge affinity for vacuums and washing machines has really come in handy.

This little one is due September 24th, so we're about half way there and I can't believe how fast it seems to be going by. Three in diapers? Hopefully not. Thrice blessed? Definitely!

Easter

2010-04-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

So does anyone out there remember Easter? It really wasn't that long ago was it? Easter was pretty laid back for us this year. We've been keeping it laid back around here lately. Here's some of our celebrating....

Easter egg coloring! Oh my goodness, it sure is fun for the kids but can leave the parents a little stressed out with kids this age. We had a few dye disasters through the process but it all cleaned up nicely (albeit with some elbow grease) in the end. My mom was with us the week before Easter as well. That made it that much more fun!

Leah basking in the moment.

Ethan's pure satisfaction with what we accomplished!

Easter morning we were happy to find that the Easter Bunny made a stop at our house. Leah learned the ropes pretty quickly.

Reach!!!!

Leah was pretty taken with her hopping bunny. I love how excited kids get over the simplest things. Makes life so sweet!

Ethan with his happy haul! (And his goofy mom. Ack!)

Leah's basket included a baby bottle and she knew just what to do with it. She was such an adorable doting mommy.

My favorite little Easter bunnies!

The Easter wardrobe! When Kyle saw Ethan's vest he told me I was going to get him beat up in church dressing him that way. I guess lavender argyle isn't real manly, but I loved it. I figure I'll get away with it while I still can. He may protest wearing the same colors as his sister before long.

When we told Ethan to put his arm around Leah, this was the intial result....

He figured it out though.

We also enjoyed a yummy dinner with some neighbors and friends later that day. Once again, we failed to bring out the camera so Easter dinner 2010 will just have to live in our memory.

Surprise!

2010-03-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

My mom turned 60 last month and we wanted to do something to show her how much we loved her because she's one heckuva stellar person and deserves to know how special she is. Seriously, I lucked out in the mom department. Of my parents' eight children, five of us live no where near our childhood home, so we decided we'd come into town, make sure she knew nothing about it and surprise her for her birthday. (Minus my youngest brother who is serving a mission right now.) Well, it worked...

That's my mom's face when she first realized each of us was there. Doesn't really get more priceless than that.

After the initial shock, she started to count us off, just to verify what her eyes were seeing and then it was hugs all around.

And of course some "Happy Birthday to You" along with a few birthday pies.

We all flew (or drove) in on a Thursday and left on a Monday so it was a magnificent long weekend for everyone. The night after we arrived, my dad treated us all to a wonderful dinner to honor my mom. It was a most special night and one of the sweetest family times I can remember. A little swimming at the rec center, skiing by those who could and the family together at church rounded out the weekend among other things. (We were not the best picture takers, so I don't have much else to show for the whole weekend. I feel badly about that now, but seriously didn't think about it at the time.)

Kyle, among an army of others, including my parents-in-law who made the trek from Tennessee to help out, stayed home with the kids while I was away and took care of things on the homefront. I missed my own little family dearly, but must admit it was pretty wonderful to be able to fly without the kiddies for the first time in a long time.

These gatherings have been made even more special since learning that come June, my parents will be leaving to serve a 3 year mission in Argentina. They will be awesome missionaries, but sometimes I'm not so sure I want to share them. I'm so glad we were able to pull the whole thing off and so grateful to everyone who pitched in to help make it possible.

Summoning the Courage

2010-03-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

There has been so much I've wanted to blog about and I have failed to do it. It's just been one of those months where the business of life has taken so much time and energy, I can't even bring myself to turn on my computer at the end of the day. I apologize for my slow response to all emails.

So, since I last saw you all....

We have celebrated one birthday! Happy Birthday to Kyle who celebrated one more of his thirty-somthings, although he still looks way too young to be celebrating thirty anything.

We saw the most snow fall that I have seen since we moved to Ohio. Ethan managed to get so many snow days he didn't go to school for almost two weeks! I say that if it has to be winter, it might as well snow. It gives you a good reason to go outside and enjoy the fresh air.

The Fearsome Threesome.

Mr. Blue Eyes getting ready to quench his thirst by lapping up some ice.

Tubing on our teeny-tiny hill.

Leah's favorite part of the snow was icy cold snacking.

Snow Banks. Happy Kids.

We tied a rope to the tube and these kids took a lot of rides together as mom or dad towed them around the cul-de-sac. It was one heckuva workout.

We enjoyed a couple of outings to the children's museum....

I rarely get a picture of myself with the kids on our outings, but this little old man who was getting quite a kick out of me chasing the kids offered to take one. He was really sweet.

Ethan's favorite part of the museum has always been the water. And lately he has really gotten into constructing these pipelines. He does some cool stuff.

I love the concentration on his face.

Leah, on the other hand can always be found carrying around a naked dolly. They're all over the museum and if there's one to be found, she finds it.

What a charming little mommy....complete with a fashionable tutu.

It's really fun to see how much more involved they are in the the activities in the museum. Ethan has gone from being afraid of several things to wanting to try everything. He's really a lot of fun to explore with. And Leah....she's gone from babe in arms to little miss daredevil since we bought our passes last year. Seeing them learn and grow is definitely one of the greatest parts of my job. I love it!

The great big huge event since I was last here was my amazing long weekend in Utah. Kyle held down the fort while I was away and many others also stepped in during the days he had to work. More about that in the next post. Hopefully it won't take me another month to get to it.

Keepin' it Real

2010-02-03T19:57:00.001-08:00

Here's a glimpse into the everyday......

I swear I get this chica's hair done every morning....sometimes multiple times a day. But she honestly spends most of her life sporting this hairdo right here. I get about 10 minutes of a gussied up gal each day. I loved that she was on the potty. It made it that much better.

Bathtime Buddies. Dad got creative with the shampoo.

This one was partly my fault. Leah spilled smoothie all down the front of her shirt and I tried to pull off the shirt while trapping the smoothie inside it so it didn't make a giant mess. It didn't work....obviously....and when it smashed out of the shirt and all over her face, she was sure to let me know that she was MAD!

And just like that, she was over it.

The Big Day (Christmas Day that is)...and the aftermath.

2010-01-20T18:46:00.000-08:00

So when I left you all, I'm sure you were dying to know how Christmas Eve ended. Did Santa Claus come? Did he bring anything besides coal? So here's what went down...

Big Bath before the Big Night. Two fresh clean kids from Santa's nice list.....and their bath giver. Kyle has been a very dedicated bath giver since Ethan was born. It gives him some bonding time with the kids and gives me a break. I think he deserves a spot on the nice list as well!

And afterward, the token photo in their Christmas jammies. It all started so sweetly...

....but Leah soon let us know how she really felt.

"Twas the Night Before Christmas". Such sweet kiddies! This wasn't planned, but they all gathered round when they saw the book...and Leah grabbed one of her own. Too many words in my selection for her taste.

And now for Christmas morning with the kids!!!!! Not really though. Can you believe I don't have a single picture of Christmas morning? It was all captured on video. So imagine our joy and surprise at the plethora of gifts. Ethan was (and still is) thrilled with his marble run. Leah was excited about her new doll (but only after we got home). I loved my new watch and Kyle was stoked to get a new computer monitor picked out by him.

Even with all the new toys, you still need to get crafty with the rugrats. That's my sis-in-law Andrea in the apron. Can you tell she was a pre-school teacher?

Here's Ethan with the finished product. His very own pinecone birdfeeder!

The Sunday after Christmas, the kids humored us with a little photo session. I love the matching vests. They look like little yuppies.

My two little Christmas cuties. Leah was not happy about this. We were lucky to get a picture without her crying.

We stayed until the Monday after Christmas. That day we went with the kids to the children's museum in Knoxville, as well as to a train display. Kyle stayed behind to work during the day and we left for home after we returned that afternoon. It was a wonderful Christmas and it was hard to see it all come to an end. January can be such a bummer of a month. Merry Christmas everyone! Better late than never, right?

Christmas Eve at the Zoo

2010-01-14T19:04:00.001-08:00

We spent our Christmas Eve a little unconventionally this year and made a trip to the Knoxville Zoo. It ended up being a great decision. Not only did Santa Claus greet us at the gate, but we pretty much had the place to ourselves. And the weather was warm enough that we didn't even need our jackets. Can't ask for better than that. We shared are Christmas cheer where the wild things are and would definitely do it again.

Living in a giant corrugated pipe is pretty much paradise.

Caged Beasts

Little legs, strong will.

Admiring the Elephants (I think Ethan is licking the fence here. I about died seeing him do that.)

Dad showing Ethan the ropes.

This lioness seriously was looking for a way out and had us in mind for her lunch. She was pretty menacing. It made us so nervous that we had to get out of there.

Waiting for us to make up our mind about where to go next and thinking about making a break for it if I know my Ethan.

Rhinos!

In flight. That sure is a strong dad and a brave boy!

Tortoise jockeys.

The Talented Miss Leah!

So happy after a perfect Christmas Eve at the zoo! Time to go home and get ready for Santa!

After all the comments about the photos, I should let everyone know that my brother-in-law Brett is the one with the keen photographic eye. I didn't take a single picture that day. So the kudos go to him. Sadly, I am not so talented.

Getting Down to Christmas

2010-01-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

So I'm still overwhelmed with the prospect of blogging Christmas, so I'm just going to take it a step at a time and see what happens. The main reason I'm so overwhelmed is the sheer number of pictures to sort through before I can attempt to sum it up. Dang digital cameras. So anyway...

The weekend before we left for Christmas, we had a mini-celebration and opened the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Since we were going to be traveling for Christmas, we knew these big gifts would be tough to take and we wanted the kids to have a few days to relish them before we took off. And it was a happy time indeed. Thanks G. & G. S!!

Leah couldn't be more thrilled with her Cozy Coupe. It's her little hideaway.

And here's Ethan with his new race track and wearing his favorite "all the dinosaurs" jammies that Grandma sent. He asks to wear them every night.

Snow.

2010-01-11T20:12:00.001-08:00

So when I left, you found out that Ethan started pre-school last week. Well, due to snow, his class was cancelled twice, so we're off to kind of a slow start. Snow days are real easy to come by around here. It just has to threaten to snow and they cancel school. I figured we would be going to school till July at this rate, but I guess they build 5 snow days into the year. Amazing!

I remember intently listening to the radio in the morning as a kid hoping they'd announce that school was cancelled. It took a pretty major blizzard to get a snow day where I grew up. Two feet of snow or not, you strapped on your moon boots and hiked through the drifts with your black garbage bag in hand so you could use it as a sled during recess. I sound like an old bird, don't I? "When I was a girl, we walked uphill both ways to school in 5 feet of snow while it was still dark!"

And while I'm reminiscing....Back when I was in third grade, I forgot that we were going to have a sledding party. I had forgotten to bring my trusty garbage bag. (I know the whole garbage bag sounds like I was a little match girl or something, but it really was what everyone did. It was lightweight, we had a pretty serious hill at my school and the bag worked great!) I was a pretty shy and very guarded kid. I was so embarrassed that I had forgotten about the party but I summoned up the courage to talk to the teacher so she would let me go upstairs to the fourth grade rooms to see if my brother had a sled/garbage bag for me to borrow. She allowed me to and Mr. Thomas (my brother's teacher) came out to see what I wanted. I told him the situation in my shy third grade way and he went back in to ask my brother if he could help out. My brother didn't have anything either and Mr. Thomas came back to give me the news. I was so embarrassed and disappointed at that point that I started to cry. Mr. Thomas was so sweet with me trying to make me feel better. He took the situation just as seriously as I did and he wasn't even my teacher. I don't know why in the world I'm sharing this. The snow just brought it to the front of my memory and I thought I might want to remember it again. I don't remember a heckuva lot from elementary school, so it's probably good to write down the few things I do remember.

So without any more ado, here are my own kids living it up on our snow days...

Kyle tied a rope to this tube and took the kids for rides in our cul de sac before the streets were plowed. The next day, they were begging for more of the same, so out we went. It was a workout!

Leah's disposition improved after she got moving. She HATES those boots.