Happy Campers

All of our kids have been camping before they were four months old. Cru was a month overdue. So we jumped on the chance to go camping out on the Kaibab...even though it was only for one night.

Cru was such a champ!

Seth, Lee Ann, McKenna, and Cambria. I didn't take this picture. I was SO bummed that I didn't see this little cottage...that old wood would have been PERFECT to take pictures against. Oh well, my kids looked like orphans anyway...

The place we like to camp is right next to this big natual "bowl" The kids love to run through the meadow and look for fossils. My niece took these pictures of the kids...I "stole" them off of facebook!

Katy would not allow us to call her boots "cow boots." They were her "camping boots."

Her face cracks me up. Nicole said it was a pretty heavy rock.

Cru was fascinated by Daddy's LED lantern. This thing is SO COOL! It doesn't get hot at all, and you can turn it on and off from as far as 30 ft away with a remote control! Totally slick!
Missy MaK wanted nothing more than to go on the four wheeler. We have video of Seth riding the four wheeler when he was not quite two. He was a significantly better driver than MaKaty is. But what she lacks in talent, she makes up for in focus.
Serious business. The little for wheelers are equipped with a kill switch at the back, attached to a rope. If she was heading a little off road, or going too fast (she has sort of a lead thumb)...all Rick had to do was pull the rope, and the engine died.

Bentley is just the cutest. Even with a dirty face!

My sister, Marcie had found these tie dye kits on clearance, and brought them out for the kids to do. Hannah and Seth made t-shirts, while MaKaty made a handkerchief.
Hannah thought of her design all by herself. It turned out super cool! Seth added so much dye to the shirt sleeves, but they look awesome! McKenna tie dyed her hand. Hanging out to dry...My cute parents, cleaning up from breakfast.
Here's Cru doing what Crus do best...looking cute!

Nicole took this picture of my dad talking to Cru. I love it.

Sweet Kate, with bed head.

So I did her hair...........and then she did Chloe's. And Chloe let her.

I stayed at camp with Katy and Cru, and Rick took the big kids and went off on another adventure with my dad. This observation tower houses some weather equipment, and is a look out for wildfires. It was 125 ft tall, and had 151 steps. Had I known that my children were up that high, I might have had a heart attack, but I was blissfully unaware. They climbed a similar tower last year when we came camping, but somehow this one was so much scarier! At any rate, they survived, and were very proud!

Seth and my dad...

A view from the top...

My dad had the brilliant idea to drop his hat off the top of the tower, and let the kids watch it fall all the way to the ground. It fell about 20 feet, and lodged in a tree. Oops.

Just so you know, the stairs are completely encased in chain link, so it would be pretty hard to fall, but still...

Oh Hannah, you make terrified look so cute!

Back at camp...I was getting a little annoyed at Seth...he was wild and crazy, and wanted only to stick stuff in the fire, so I was looking for something to occupy him. I sent him and Bentley on a scavenger hunt into the forest. They were to find a walking stick, a red rock, and the biggest pinecone they could find. Here is Seth upon his return.

And Bentley came announcing that he found the perfect walking stick.

For a Giant, maybe. Cute boy.

In the interest of full disclosure...it was not all happy camperific. It was quite possibly the longest night of my life. Lets just say that our "6 man tent" does not translate into "1man, 1woman, two kids, one portacrib, and our Human Tornado named MaKaty." And poor Cru caught some kind of virus. He cried the entire drive home, and spent the next 3 days with a fever. Poor guy. Still, it was a lot of fun, and I am always glad that we did it!

False Advertising

She is a wolf in sheep's clothing...just so you know.

In one week she managed to:

• fill her cow boots with cheese. Yes, cheese.
• paint her toenails with purple nailpolish...all by herself. Then she proceeded to paint her toes, then her feet, her shins, all the way up to her knees.
• oh...and paint a door and doorframe, too.
• oh...and being so thorough...dump out the whole bottle of finger nail polish remover...every.last.drop.
• give herself a refried beans facial while sitting on the table...which was set for dinner.
• fill the battery compartment on the remote control with macaroni and cheese.
• feed her baby brother toothpaste.
• the goldfish incident.
• dump an entire box of Kix onto the pantry floor.
• jam a video and 3 dvd's into the VCR (yes, we still have a VCR, it's part of our DVD player)
• scale the garage shelving so that she can reach the garage door button. over. and over. and over.

I know that there are some of you who are thinking..."Oh, she just needs to be monitored more closely..." and to you I say this:

"I hope you someday have a child like her...and if/when you do...I may laugh, but I will not judge you."

The Obligatory First Day of School Post

Ah...the much anticipated first day of school. Hannah was so sad last year when school ended...so she was happy to be heading back. She had a few first day flutters, but when it came time to go, she was beaming! (I know this pic is extremely overexposed...I am trying to learn my way around my camera in manual mode...it doesn't always work out so well as you can see...but she's adorable anyway!)Her backpack was VERY full. She took a bunch of school supplies for her classroom, plus her lunchbox was in there. I don't usually have her this loaded up!

These shoes were a great find. Hannah loves them. They are made out of recycled materials. The soles are literally car tires. Tread and everything!

She looks so old. Even for a second grader. (I have a second grader. I'm not sure if I'm Ok with that yet...it makes me feel old!)

This is not the first day of school, but it's the best picture I had of her getting on the bus. This is from the day that Seth first rode the bus. She's the one in the pink and black striped outfit. She is excited because her classroom is in the "portables" behind the school. It is a small room, but also a small class, which suits her well. She loves it so far.

Remember Mr. GQ from the other day. Well....lest you worry that his first day was a serious affair... This is how the majority of the shoot went...Have you ever seen a child who had the mischievous look down so well?On the first day we attended a "treasure hunt" where they learned how to get around the school, find the bathrooms, the playground, their cubby, etc. When we arrived, Seth had absolutely no worries. I love the paparazzi shot of me in the reflection...Finding classroom #3.With his teacher. He said the cutest thing about her after he met her. He said, "Mom, she's almost like a Grandma. She's sort of like one of those humans who is older, but not a grandma yet." So cute. He made the most adorable list of rules the night before. He was a little shy to give it to his teacher...but she eased his fears. She loved it, and told him that it was a treasure to a teacher to see things like this. In case you don't read "Seth"...it says, 1. No spitting, 2. No coloring on others, 3. no hitting, 4. no potty words, 5. be nice, 6. smile, and 7. listen.

On the back he drew a picture of our house, the road leading to the bus stop, and then the road leading to school. Love it.

He was VERY excited to start riding the bus on Monday.

I love this picture of Hannah and Seth walking up the street to the bus. Hannah was getting him all psyched up.

The last thing I said to him before I bid farewell was, "When you get to the bus, turn around and wave so that I can take a picture of you."

You can see how well that went over. Ah well.

After his first real day of class I asked him what his favorite part was. He replied. "Everything is my favorite part."

So I suppose that's a good sign.

And finally, here is a video of Seth reading. He made HUGE leaps this summer. It was like a little light bulb went on, and he's cruising now! Go Seth!

All I Wanted Was a First Day of School Picture...

I wasn't quite ready for a flash forward. What happened to my toddler with a mohawk? Pretty soon he'll be asking for the keys and coming home late...

(I promise I got some of him smiling...they will come later!)

What Summer Is All About

A photo journey through our summer...

Summer is all about:

Bugs:

Birthdays:
Laughing:

Thunderstorms:

Wearing whatever you want:

Being glamorous:

Backyard baseball:

Blowing Bubbles:

and Accessorizing!

Summer is all about Splashparks:

and target practice:

Home School Experiments:

And Adventures:

Summer is about wooden ramps in the road:

Trying to be just like Big Brother:

Ice Cream:

And popsicles:

Loads and loads of popsicles:

Summer is about chilling by the pool:

Blowing dandelions:

and the Summer Reading Program at the Library:
Summer is about casual chats:
sidewalk art:
Goofing off with friends:

and growing up too fast:

Hope your summer was a blast!

Life is good.

Five Months Old

Oh my goodness, how we love this boy! He continues to be the sweetest thing. I can't help but think that he is going to be the child who will someday blow up the garage, and he's just preparing us for that by making sure that we love him unconditionally first. Seriously, he sleeps through the night, hands out smiles without hesitation, and tolerates all the chaos our little family hands out. We must be being prepared for something, right?
He is sitting up really well now. I can even walk out of the room and leave him sitting. Even when I walk back in and he has fallen over, he rarely complains about it. He rolls from back to tummy almost immediately. He seems to have forgotten how to roll the other direction. Thankfully, he's pretty tolerant of his tummy, too. In fact, he has started spinning around on his tummy...and even pushing off with his toes and moving around on his tummy. It won't be long before he's (as Rick puts it) "a fully operational battle station."

His little cankles are adorable. As are the dimpled hands and wrist rolls.
And those blue eyes...
Cru loves to be read to. But does not like to be Moo-ed at. He loves his rice cereal now. But he does not like having his face washed afterward. He likes attention from his siblings. But he doesn't like too much attention from his siblings.
At his four month appointment, he was 18 pounds, 13 ounces. So I would guess he is nearing 20 pounds by now. He is just as long as he is heavy, though.
He reaches out and grabs for toys now. He puts everything in his mouth. And he charms just about everyone he meets.
Some things I love about Cru are:

• how he snuggles into my shoulder and lets me smell his baby-ness
• how he laughs when he's tickled
• how he makes sucking motions in his sleep
• his expressive eyebrows
  
• how he laughs when Seth, Hannah, and Katy jump around and be silly
• how he grabs his toes when he lays on his back
• his bright eyes
• his baby babbles...he says, "a-ga" and "oooooh" most often
• he tries to blow raspberries, but it doesn't always work out
• how he reaches out and touches my face while he nurses
• how he tolerates being awakened from naps and being dragged around on errands
• his smiles

We love you, Cruzer Cruzer.

Goodbye Pants

From now on, it's all about the Market Skirt. I plan to make one for every day of the week. Not for me, for Katy, of course... I have been itching to make this ever since I saw it on Dana's blog. I am not a terribly competent seamstress, by any stretch of the imagination...if that gives you any idea how easy this was. Her instructions are perfect! I got too impatient to actually make it to the store and buy fabric, so I just used scraps that I already had. I think it's adorable! I will be making more.

And yes, I did have to bribe her to let me take her picture. A 1$ bag of mini marshmallows works many miracles at our house. It has been quite the week with that Little Miss...but that's another blog post entirely...

What to (and not to) feed your baby...

With the first three kids, I started them on rice cereal right at 4 months. They were all acting ready. They could sit up well. They watched every bite of food as it traveled to our mouths. And they always acted hungry. And now there's Cru. He is almost five months. He sits up unassisted. He watches every bite of food, just like they did. But there's been something about moving him on to solid foods that just made me hesitate. I think it's because he's the last baby. I am not ready to let go in a lot of ways. But finally, this week his sad little face as he watched us eat just became too much for me, and I caved and started him on rice cereal.
He thought it was a great idea. Look how excited he is!And then he got his first bite.

Whose idea was this, anyway?

And finally catching on.Until he was looking like this.He's a champ at it now.

But I want you to note his bib. It says, "I love my big sister." It's just ironic, considering how a mere couple of days before, Miss MaKaty had nearly killed him. With these:

It.Was.So.Scary.

I was loading the dishwasher in the kitchen. MaKaty was watching a movie in the front room. Cru was rolling around on the floor. Suddenly, I heard a choking noise. I turned around and could see Katy hovering over Cru. I ran into the living room, and by the time I got to him, Cru was no longer able to make any noise. His eyes were bulging and he looked terrified. I picked him up and flipped him onto his tummy, sort of shoving my fingers under his ribs. Thankfully, the fishy crackers came out the first try. I am lucky that I didn't break his ribs or anything. I'm pretty sure that proper baby Heimlich technique calls for a firm banging on the back, and not a stomach thrust, but it worked. And he just looked up at me and smiled. Typical Cru. I was shaking for hours. I have to stop myself from thinking about what might have happened had I been in the laundry room, or upstairs. I have to stop myself from picturing his little face, all panicked and silent. I am so so grateful that I was close. MaKaty knew she had done a bad thing. As soon as Rick walked from work that night, she looked up at him, and then hung her head and said, "I feed Cru fishies, No No." So at least she knew it was bad. But I still have to watch her closer than ever.

So hug your babies. Be grateful for them. And remember. Rice cereal is a good first food. Goldfish crackers...not so much.