Henry

Henry Theodore was born April 18th at 8 something in the morning. Here is a stinking cute picture of him!

And then there was his big brother and sister at the hospital!

The continuing adventures of a 4 yr old

Is there something suspect about a little boy who wakes up at 7:30 shutting all the bedroom doors and goes outside? I think so. I don't really know why he did it. But by the time we got dressed and followed him outside he had rescued another rabbit from the cats. He was holding it by the ears! This one was bigger and in a bad way. There was no letting it go to scamper off and survive. So we had to get V back in the house so M could return the cat's meal to them. I just don't know about him. I think it is super sweet that he is so caring of animals. Which is funny because he won't touch turtles, alligators, or lizards. I like that!!!!!

He thinks he is just like the grown up boys. He wanted to help poor cement so bad he sat there telling everybody who would listen to him that he was ready to work. He finally was able to go up by the cement truck by my dad to help tell the cement truck where to go. Then in between trucks he got to get a shovel and try and move the cement.

Here is one of my favorite things that he has done rescently. NOT! He got ahold of a pocket knife and stuck it up his nose. Yep you guessed it he sliced his nose. You can see it. But he didn't need stiches. Thank goodness! I do not need a hospital trip every year around his birthday. I told M lets not have anymore boys. He has way too many scars and owees.

In dropping off the kids so I could do birthday shopping for V he informed me, while holding his sleeping bag, that he was having a spend the night at grandma and grandpa's house. Poor kid. That was unable to happen. The grandparents had to get up early and go to work and Reno. At least there is going to be more cement pooring today.

All About V

Can I tell you that V is a very funny boy? Did I tell you that he punched Daddy in the groin? That was funny. Ask me about it sometime. He has been keeping us on our toes thats for sure.

Exibit A. He caught a baby cotton tail and brought it in the house. It was squiling I thought it was the show I was watching. Then I thought he was torchering? one of the cats. No he had a babby bunny in his hand. And I quote "It was in big cats mouth and I took it away and it is my pet baby bunny." So I go back to the bedroom where M is at and we take them both outside where we release baby bunny. It promptly runs up M's pant leg.  V was very conscerned he wouldn't get baby bunny back. I convinced him that the mommy bunny would miss her baby. Sooooo...

Exibit B. He finds a birds nest in a tree where he wants me to get it down so the bird egg will hatch in his hand and he can sleep with it at night. Ummm NO!

Funny story! He spent the night at Nama and Papa's house. While there Papa shot a badger. A badger right out there in the middle of the field. In the desert. Well the next day at church Roger Sorensen got up and bore his testimony with music. I leaned over to M and said his name. Well V heard that and informs us that Papa had shot a Roger!!!! I thought I was going to start laughing right out loud!!!!!!

Exibit C. He cut his hair. Just one snip. Right at the front of his hair. His bangs if you will. Right in the middle of his forehead. At the scalp. I ask you what am I supposed to do with this boy? Ah but he is sweet.

July and August 1st!

I was just outside and I realized that it is August already. It feels like August. You know? It may not be any hotter temperature wise than July but it is just hotter. There is a change in the air. Today feels like a get out there and do something summery kind of day.

Things we have been doing...
Going to the outdoor swimming pool. V loves jumping off the side into the water. He also doggie paddles. He thinks he is big and should go down the big water slide. It is cute. Need to go as a family so Mike can take him down.  E likes to walk back and forth across the shallow end of the pool. You have to hold on to her or she slips and goes down under the water.

We had a family reunion a month ago and it was busy!!!! My brother and his wife stayed at my parents house for about month so there was lots of cousin time.

We have ridden in the dump truck with daddy. Until E gets tired and fussy. But she is happiest when she sits on daddy's lap and can stear. She even got to ride with grandpa in a tractor. The whole time she was hitting the shifter button making it go faster. Took dad a while to figure out that it was her that was causing it speed up.

We spent an evening out at Sand Mountain. V went up and down up and down up and down. Even I made it to the top. M was good and kept on eye on E and made hotdogs for all the other kids. Which by the way E loved crawling around in the sand. She likes to pick up dirt and set it on things like chairs and wood and your leg and shoes.

We haven't done any big things. I would like to take the kids to grimes point though. Climb around the rocks and see some hyrogliphs.

We had some friends in town this last weekend. They where on their honeymoon. So M did up the best ribs I have ever eaten. Yummy I will share what he did later.

Then there was cousin's birthday. Let me tell you V wanted to keep the present he had picked out. A lego blocks loader. We had to go back to wal-mart so V could get his own. Only he got a combine. Yeah I am that kind of mother! But we had ice cream cake and a good time talking.

Lets just say that there have been several nights this summer where the kids have been out till past 10!!!!!! So they fall asleep on the way home and all we have to do is transfer them to their beds.

Jen left for Guatemala. Sad times. But she is have a great time. She loves it. The next year and a half will fly by. Next week she will have been out for a whole month already.

Ok something I have discovered with the two children. They love playing together for the most part. V is good at making E laugh. But boy is she jelous! If V is on my lap for any reason for any amount of time she comes over and starts pushing on him to get him to move. It includes yelling at him and sometimes hitting. I can see this as a problem when we add a third one into the mix (eventually! No this is not an announcement! Sheesh people contain yourselves.) E has started to walk. She really did it at the family reunion. She had to keep up with the older bigger kids. She can drink out of a cup by herself. She usually does pretty good. There is still spilling. But she doesn't just tip it up as far as it will go which causes her to get soaked. She loves popcicles. But then who doesn't?

Side news. We went to reno and picked out a bigger car. We needed it. We now are the proud owners of a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer. Equivelent to a Ford Explorer. Like excactly alike twins. But we can fit 7 people at a time. Yay!!!!!

V is constantly coming up with new things. He is always asking to go to the dairy cause he needs to work. He has his work shoes and then he has what he has dubbed his going to reno shoes.  He has even refused to wear certain pants because they are work pants. Who knew? His favorite color is orange and his favorite letter of the alphabet is U but he gets the h's and the u's mixed up. And if he writes the letter u it turns out more like an n but that is ok. We are just starting to work on it. For his birthday he will be getting workbooks. Then this next year he will learn to write his name and recognize the alphabet and at least be able to write some letters and numbers.

He has had grandma as his sunbeam teacher and loves it!!!!! Unfortunately she has been called as the stake primary president. Hmmm.Well change is good and it happens to everyone.

BBQ Spare Ribs ala Mike!!!! (I just came up with that.
Thaw out ribs. Cut off the back side fat and trim the sides and the one long side. It helps trust me. Season with salt, pepper, onion and garlic salt. You can also use a rib rub if you have one you like. Do both sides.
grill for about an hour on medium heat. Not cooked all the way. Take off the grill. In tinfoil combine brown sugar, honey, and butter. Actually Mike just dumped them one on top of the other. Place rib rack on top wrap with tinfoil. Place back on grill on low heat. Letting it cook for about 2 more hours. If you want unwrap the tin foil and spread bbq sauce about 1/2 hour before it is done. These ribs didn't need any sauce. And man where they good. They were crispy and sweet. Oooh my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

We had potato salad, killer dip, and Grilled corn salad to go with it. Let me know and I will throw in the killer dip and grilled corn salad recipes too!!!!!

Baby turns 1

The baby girl turned 1. I couldn't believe it. I really think it was a just yesterday that she looked like this. We had all her living grandparents that are local come over. Her two aunts from Reno also joined us. She had her cake but was scared of the candles. She tried to get farther away from the candles. She ate it very delicately too. She would touch it and then look at us asking us if it was ok.  After the cake came presents. Lots of cute clothes a few toys and even a few that V wanted. A truck to play with and a bucket and shovel. It was lots of fun and I can't believe how grown up she is. Happy Birthday Little One. We love you so much.

Health

Is it just me or does everyone experience weird things with their children's health? For me it has to do with E's weight. She was a big baby almost 9lbs. And then she dropped weight drastically. So then it was trying to get her weight back up. And she was doing great. Until 6 months. Then she had a cold for almost 2 months. Then she got an ear infection. So her weight was 16lbs. So we went back a month later and she had gained a pound. But while we were there a man, an grown man had pertussis. aka whooping cough. Well neither child was up to date on thier shots. So we went and got them. And I learned that symptoms can take a few weeks to show up. Well E started showing signs of whooping cough. I took her into the clinic and it was nothing. But then V had a lump show up on his groin. So a few weeks later aka two days ago we went back for another weight check with E she gained another 12 oz. yay. She now weighs 18lbs. But I also had the Dr. look at V. She sent us to the hospital to get an ultrasound on him. STAT! I loved it we where in and seen in about 10 minutes of walking through the doors. Luckily it was lymph nodes. I was concerned that it would be a hernia. That would have taken surgery. So now after all of this E has a runny nose again. I realize that kids are almost always sick. But I don't like it. Let them be well. I am just very greatful that they are minor things and nothing too serious. We are truely blessed that way!

Menagerie

I don't live in a house. I live in a menagerie. Inside and out! Cows, birds, and rabbits. Inside there are kids, dog, and cats. I don't want to say I am overwhelmed, but boy do they keep me on my toes. E is growing so big. Her favorite games are peek-a-boo and smacking daddy on the forehead and then pulling his hair. Cracks me up! She is learning to blow kisses but will only do it for daddy. Or with daddy. She also likes to clap if people are clapping on t.v. E also loves to hang upside down. Her favorite person in the house besides her daddy and brother is the dog. In fact she just loves dogs period. She will pat her leg and say dog at the same time. She loves to hold your hands and walk around.

V has discovered birthdays and birthday cakes. It doesn't help that lately I have been watching Cake Boss on Netflix. So now he keeps talking about his castle cake. Oh BOY!

They both keep us laughing all the time. And if they aren't tired or hungery they are both really sweet. I am so glad that sunday will be mother's day. Even though I know I won't get a present from them I still know that without me my family will be lost. Oh speaking of family. I had an epiphany the other day. I thought it was clever. "I put the Mily in Family." Love that.