Lazy Friday

After a busy Thursday, today was our lazy day. In fact, we are all still in our pjs at 6pm, except Myann, but that is only because she pee'd through her clothes this morning, so she is wearing a 12 month outfit out of Anders closet, because Anders was still asleep in the crib, which is the room where her clothes are. Yes, our kids do not have defined rooms, and that won't change any time soon, unless we hire a contractor to remodel, and since that is not going to happen, we are just making do.

Here are some cute photos of Anders I took this evening. I like to say that Anders has a mommy crush, but truth be told, I'm the one with the crush. How could you not love this boy!

Anders flicking his lips to make that noise, you know the noise when you drum your lower lip. He loves doing this.

I love Anders!!!

Really Anders is pure joy. I feel generic always using the word joy to describe Anders, but there is no better word for him. By the way, he spreads joy to those around him too. We were in line at the post office for 30 minutes today, don't get me started, but since I had Anders to entertain me, I did not mind as much. I think my fellow patrons minded the line less too since they were treated to constant baby giggles for 30 minutes. Yep, my precious joyful boy just giggled at EVERYTHING. Did you know post office forms were hilarious, apparently they are to a 10 month old. You can touch them, drop them, put them on your head, throw them at mommy. Then there are the people in line, Anders thought it was funny to make other people laugh and the more they smiled the more he laughed. Then there was good old fashion mommy, zerberting his neck and belly, tossing him in the air, tickling him, and even talking to him made him crack up. It was wonderful and all I kept thinking was that this amazing little boy, who was entertaining a line full of people, was my baby boy and how blessed I am that God entrusted him to me.

The whole reason I decided to blog about Anders tonight was because he said "uh oh". He was playing with toys and dropped one. I said "uh oh". At which time Anders smiled and said "uh oh" back. We repeated it several times just to be sure. I know, this is not high level vocabulary, but it is his first cute phrase.

And these two pictures crack me up. This is from our Texas trip and my friend's daughter trying to baby Anders. I love their opposite faces in each picture.

Doing the Potty Dance

Myann pee'd in the potty today...twice...or so I was told. On the way to preschool today we had a long conversation about her being a big girl and using the potty. I even put her in a pull up which I had given up on months ago. She has been taking off her diapers every chance she gets and complaining about them hurting her, so I thought she was showing signs that she was finally ready. Well, she is all about no diaper, but has no problems peeing all over the house too. I am just not in the right state of mind for that right now. Also, Myann does not like to even sit on the potty. Shane used to sit on the potty for an hour. He was only allowed to watch tv if he sat on the potty, so he would sit there all day if I let him. Bottom line was that he got used to using the potty and had no problems peeing on the potty. Myann will gladly sit on the potty and announce that she pee'd and wanted her treat, and then hops off with nothing to show of. We do this countless times per day and often in public. Despite getting really annoyed, I feel that I must indulge her an go through the motions. We have been going through the emotions for months. But today, she did it. Again, or so was told. I am not 100% sure she went or if she just told her teachers she went and they believed. Because I need to feel we are progressing, I am going to choose to believe she pee'd in the potty. And to tell you how awesome their preschool is...when she pee'd they went and got Shane out of his classroom (on the other end of the school) and brought him back to her classroom to congratulate her on using the potty. Shane was so proud of her and was more excited to tell me about it when they got home than Myann was herself. I am pretty pumped and hope that we continue this success tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today my daddy is 59 years young!!! I say young because he looks much younger than he is, but he also thinks he is much younger than he is. Sorry Dad, but it is true, you need to take better care of yourself. I wouldn't be me if I didn't nag my dad about something. Dad, you are a worker and quite possibly the hardest working government employee. I hope you one day retire, but not sure that you would be capable of an idle life. You would then have an even more amazing garden than you do now, if that is even possible. I love you daddy and value each year that I have with you.
Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Danielle!!!

Today is my sister-in-law Danielle's birthday!!! They are spending it in the car driving to our grandparents in Huntsville, Alabama. What a trooper she is. And really she is. Danielle is AMAZING!!! She has persevered through more in the 1ast 12 years than any person should have to and she does it with grace and a smile. We love you Danielle and the kids love their Aunt Dani.

Expect a month to catch up

I know, horribly behind on blogging. My hubby is probably harder on me than anyone, so I will try to spend the next few weeks catching up. Thankfully I have pictures to help remind me of our busy month.

Date Night...with Shane

We, rather I, have been wanting to start date nights with the kids, but weeks go by and there are so many things to get done that we have never gone through with my good intentions. That is, until my friend Jamie invited us out on her date night with Jameson, one of Shane's best buddies. We met them for a movie, Ice Age 3, followed by ice cream. Also on the date were our friends Linda and Susy, and then Amber, Thomas, and Joshua joined us for ice cream.

Despite Shane's lack of interest in taking a picture with his mom, we had a good date. It was some much needed one on one time. And he enjoyed having his friends to play with. I really enjoyed having one child and NO DIAPER BAG!!!! Shane also enjoyed the "you can have whatever you want because it is a special night". He took full advantage and ordered popcorn, sprite (the horror for me since I am anti-soda), watermelon sourpatch kids, and then Ben and Jerry's ice cream after the movie. I was seriously concerned he might get sick, but he didn't and passed out as soon as we got home.

Obviously Shane was not interested in the camera


Before the movie started


Linda and Susy, who are sadly moving to Seattle


Posing, shortly before Shane tried to lift a chair over the railing


Eating ice cream


Me trying to get a picture of us on our date, Shane not cooperating


Jameson and Shane hugging, they got in a fight over who got to push the elevator button, so they were making up

Week of activities

This week was one of those weeks I usually am vehemently against. Shane had sport camp every morning from 9 to 12 and Shane and Myann both had swim lessons in the evenings. I did not plan them together, but the swim classes kept getting bumped until the 2 activities landed on the same week. And as it worked out, Brian had to be out of town and Grandpa Jo and Grandma Anne were leaving. Thankfully, I had Tina to help with the crazy week, so in the end it was not too bad.

Shane is really enjoying swim lessons and finally dunking himself under the water. Yea!!! Myann is enjoying her swim class, thought I am not a fan of the silly games in the pool, I'd rather skip the games and just teach skills, but I'm sure that does not work for 2 year olds. Myann used to be fine dunking her head, but on the first try of lessons, she swallowed water and threw up. So now she is a little nervous about putting her head in the water, and will only do it when I dunk her.

Because you must look cool at the pool


Miss No Fear jumping into the pool


Shane's 1st day and not so sure about playing tag with 7 year olds.


Myann was all too happy to run the field too - sadly I didn't capture her running up to every person to lift her dress and show them her dolphin tattoo on her belly


My fearless child was a bit shy at the beginning of every class, after seeing this, I realized why - she would snuggle them until they were ready, after I took this picture, 2 more boys came over for love time with the coach


Shane hitting his homerun - Brian was not happy to hear they were making sure all the kids hit a "homerun" - maybe not a real homerun, but it was still a good hit - I was proud



Shane's last day of sport camp with his coach - think there may have been a bit of a crush.

Shane's Reward

For about the past 4 months we have been maintaining an online chore and reward system. Shane is responsible for feeding the dogs everyday, putting his toys away every evening, being our helper (like getting the newspaper, helping with Myann and Anders), and picking up the pine cones in the front yard every week before mowing day. Shane is awesome about feeding the dogs, so so on putting toys away, an excellent helper most of the time, and 50/50 on the pine cones. Every Sunday, Shane and Brian sit down and go through what chores he did that week and what points he earned. Well after all these months, he finally earned his first reward, which was a new video game. Coincidentally, he has been begging for wii play (which he calls the tank game) because he plays that game with Papa and loves it. He played it once at Christmas in Texas and has talked about it since. We reminded him that if he did his chores, he could earn the game. While we were back in Texas this summer, he played tanks with Papa again and has not quit asking for the game. Again we reminded him that he could earn. So as soon as we returned from Texas he wanted to see how much longer until he had enough points. Well, he was just a few shy, so after that week's chores he had enough points. I printed out his certificate and he insisted we go to the store that day to get his game. He was so proud and told me he was going to pay for his new game with his certificate. The thought of him handing a piece of paper to the store clerk to pay made me chuckle.

While at the store, he quickly found other games he wanted, so I told him he had to start over earning his points and maybe in a few months, he could earn another game. Needless to say, he has been pretty good about doing his chores. We really hope this helps teach him about saving up and working hard to get the things he wants.

I had to add this part too. When we told Shane he had earned his reward, he graciously insisted that Myann should get a reward too because she helped him pick up the pine cones in the yard. And she does, they are hilarious in their garden gloves, loading up pine cones into the back of his jeep. BTW, I don't remember pine cones hurting and ours are the most prickly things ever - very painful to touch without gloves.

Grandma Anne hit the Wall...on the Hiawatha Trail

Today we did the Hiawatha Trail bike ride. 17 glorious miles in Montana. Glorious is probably a poor word choice, better described as scenic, bumpy, hot in the sun, freezing in the tunnels, and exercise. We had a really good time, total trip time about 4 hours, but we all enjoyed it. Well, until the end, when Grandma Anne hit the wall inside the final tunnel. I was behind her and saw the whole thing. I was half trying to not crash into her, and half see if there was anything I could do to help. With moderate biking experience and pulling Myann in the trailer, I helplessly watched. Fortunately, Grandma Anne is rather graceful and caught herself, so that slamming into the wall saved her, she was pretty bruised the next day. Once we met up with Brian and Grandpa Jo, and explained to them what happened, Shane asked, "Mom, did you try to save her?" Sadly, I had to say I did not.

Grandma Anne - what a good sport


The bumpy ride wore him out.


Myann pointing out the tunnel we just biked through.

Cherry Pickers Trot

We left the Texas heat, only to come home to hot hot hot in Spokane. We went up to Greenbluff intending to pick cherries, but we were a day early. So we just bought cherries - super yummy! Then we headed over to the Tot Trot and 4 mile race. The Tot Trot was a bit crazy. Myann was less than interested in running and Shane was full speed ahead. Then Grandma Anne and I did the 4 mile race. I had a terrible race, felt bad, but enjoyed the view while running.

Playing at Richard's

The kids have had a lot of fun at Richard's, he has a pool and they get spoiled with attention. What more could a kid want.







This is the money shoot. I will forever love these thighs.


Perfection!

Grandpa's 90th

Brian's Grandpa decided to celebrate his 90th birthday in Houston. We went to a Brazilian restaurant and had a wonderful time celebrating this amazing man. Grandpa or Woody is an impressive man who gives his grandsons a run for their money. I love that my kids have gotten to know their Great Grandpa and that he really enjoys being around them, even when they can be a bit overwhelming for this bachelor. Brian and his Grandpa have a wonderful relationship, more like buddies, which is rare in a grandparent/grandchild relationship.