Gabe’s first loose teeth

Last Friday night we were getting ready for bed, and the boys were, once again, best friends.  When it is time for sleep, all the day’s conflicts are forgotten  as they unite against Mom and Dad in a hyper, last-ditch battle to stay awake.  Colin was on the top bunk, Gabe was on the bottom bunk, and was apparently trying to pull Colin’s blanket down with his teeth, when he let out a cry of pain.  I went over to investigate, and found that not only were his two bottom teeth loose, the adult ones were already cutting through behind them.  Tears were immediately replaced by giddy Gabe grins.

Gabe has been so excited to lose his first teeth, an excitement that had only been building since his cousin Elizabeth, who is four months younger, beat him out a couple of weeks ago.

He had plenty of time the next day to show off his lose teeth at Rae’s birthday party, and the next evening, the first one came out while we were having dinner at my parent’s.  Exciting times!  The second one then came out yesterday.                 

                 

Two teeth gone and kindergarten later this month.  (sigh)

In other Gabe news, he is selling homemade balls (made of masking tape). Any takers?

          

Keepin’ It Real Wednesday

 

Yesterday we stopped by my parent’s house to say goodbye to my sister Ashley, who had been visiting with her family from Missouri.  I brought my camera to snap some pictures of Carina with her cousin Claire, who is one month younger than her.  We said our goodbyes and went home, where we had a fairly uneventful afternoon – rest time and a trip to the pool.  As I was getting out of the pool, I realized my arms felt very weak holding Carina.  Then my whole body started to ache.  Within a couple of hours I was laying in bed, aching all over with the chills and some other “womanly” pains. Mastitis. Oy.

I went to bed early only to be woken by a very fussy baby.  Her nose was so stuffed up that she couldn’t catch her breath lying down.  We shuffled around the darkhouse, looking for the bulb syringe, and she screamed as I cleared it out.  It wasn’t enough though, and I ended on the recliner downstairs so that she could sleep upright.  Me with my achy body, her with her stuffy nose, waking up sweaty every couple of hours to nurse and reposition ourselves.  After one such session, I lay awake, listening to her wet breathing, and these pictures kept skating across my mind.

 

I had laughed as I lay Claire on top of Carina and snapped away, but in my sleeplessness last night, all I could picture were the germs oozing off of Carina to Claire. 

  Sorry Ashley!  Here’s to hoping Claire is immune to the results of her Aunt’s foolish photography whims and fancies.

4 Months Old

Length: 25 inches, 75 %

Weight: 13 lbs. 5.8 ozs 50%

Head: 42 cms 75%

This first photo was actually taken by Ollie.  It really cracks me up!

 

I think she looks so much like me in this picture.

 

   

 

Martha Rivers Park and Mary Jo’s

I wanted to do something with my mom and the kids, so I decided we would try out a park that I saw on my friend Shyann’s blog.  Martha Rivers Park is a bit of a drive from our house, but the kids sure did love it.

I had to steal a picture from the city website because I forgot to put my memory card back in my camera before I loaded it up.  It was a little warm this morning, but the kids stayed happy, running around all the staircases and discovering all the fun different details in the castle.  My mom, Carina, and I got to sit in the shade while they played in the sand.  Carina was passing out her best, wide-mouthed, drooling  baby smiles for my mom and me.  Again, no pictures:o(

 

After the park, we hit up Mary Jo’s, which is an incredible fabric store not far from the park.  The first time I went there last summer, I was completely overwhelmed.  You walk in to rows and rows of just about every time of fabric your heart could desire.  I don’t actually sew much at all, but I want to when I go there.  A hundred possible projects spring up in my head and I slowly meander through.  (sigh).  Anyway, can you believe I took three boys and a baby girl there?!!  They were pretty stinkin’ good in the beginning, because I let them each choose some fabric for pajama pants.  They were completely fascinated by the idea of this fabric being eventually made into a piece of clothing. Gabe had question after question….”Oh, so is fabric like cloth?”  “How do you get the holes in?” (meaning arm holes and leg holes) “Why isn’t the fabric shaped like pants?”  After the chose their fabric they got restless and tried running up and down the isles and I had to pull myself away a lot more quickly that I normally would have.

So, here is the fabric they each chose.  Can you guess which fabric belongs to which boy?

To the brothers, who sometimes forget

My dear boys, here it is.  The proof of your love for each other.  Last week, Oliver was sick.  With him in bed, you realized you actually missed that mischievous grin.  During one of Oliver’s little naps, we decided it was craft time, and surrounded by paper scraps, Gabe had the idea of a get-well card for Oliver.  The idea was seized and a gigantic six page card was created, beautiful and thoughtful enough to have your mom grinning all afternoon.

Deciding that he needed further cheering up, you put together a little puppet show that was silly enough to have the sick little guy grinning all afternoon.  Gabe and Colin, the happier you made him, the happier you also became,  and it was a boyish little love fest. 

 

 

And me? I took pictures.  For proof, of course

 

(and yes, Ollie is wearing pink pajama pants.  all three boys have worn them, I will have you know )

Sunday Afternoon – through Ollie’s lens

Sunday Afternoon- through my lens

 

Keepin’ it Real Wednesday

This pretty much sums up the day we are having over here.

More 4th

We had a very relaxing 4th of July.  Trip to the gym in the morning, naps for the youngest two, and then Cars 2 with my mom.  It started to get cloudy and windy as we were walking out of the theater which was just lovely because we had chicken marinating to serve to my parents.  By the time Chad got out to the grill, he had to do so with an umbrella.  We all got a good laugh out of it. 

We lit some sparklers after dinner but decided to forego any big fireworks.  The kids had been up late on Saturday for the stake celebration and were still recovering for that.   Chad and I did get a free show from our neighbors after the kids were fast asleep. 

Chad says I am a dork for taking pictures of fireworks, but I think it is fun to figure out how to, plus when he teases me about stuff like that I take it as flirting, so…….

Happy Fourth of July

Pictures from our Stake 4th of July Celebration

 

 

  

                 

              

Blackberries in my own backyard

The sun was setting, my kids were asleep, and so were all our backyard pests.  I ventured out onto the cooling lawn to see how many blackberries had ripened since my last trip out there.  It had been a few days, so there were handfuls of juicy berries ready to fall off the bush. 

After just a few minutes I had a whole bowlful, and I looked down at all that pleasant plumpness.  I thought about my kids  eating them all tomorrow- how the image of sticky purple fingers would probably pop into their minds for years when they heard the word “summer.”  How these blackberries were their cantaloupes.

And that made me smile all night long.