Easton::3 Months

 Happy 3 month birthday to Easton! I said to Rand today, "The hardest part is behind us!" To which he said, "Ready for another one?" There's a part of me that thinks I could maybe handle it. Or maybe I'm just getting a little overconfident because I got a lot of sleep the last 2 nights! ha!! :)

Our boy Easton is awesome. By now you've probably heard, or seen for yourselves, that he is topping the charts in his size. He is chubby as can be and incredibly heavy for me to carry. I'm anxious for him to get a little more muscle strength and hold up a little of that weight on his own! He's still sleeping by me at night but having more frequent long stretches without waking! Hooray for sleep! He is almost always holding his own hands which is really cute and he is sucking or chewing on his fingers if he isn't holding them. He is just now starting to reach out for things, but still with a closed fist or with his hands clasped together. I told you, he loves holding his own hands! He can't get enough of Brendan, Wyatt AND Rand. He is the smiliest little thing! Brendan can get him laughing real good, and he is already a pro in the door-way jumper! He's starting to talk a lot and I'm pretty sure he likes the sound of his own voice. He's getting real fun!

The Game Must Go On...

...Despite the weather! The temps have been creepin' up and threatening 110. Ugh! I actually think that having experienced an East Coast humid summer I can actually tolerate this a little better. Like they always say, "It's hot, but it's a dry heat." Seriously. Dry heat is better.
Well, we live across the street from this big park. Originally we thought this was better than it is. Turns out there is a Frisbee golf course over there and TONS of people use it all the time. You could seriously get injured in my driveway if you aren't watching out! Despite the constant flow of poor-men golfers, there are a few patches of park that are safe from the flying discs. I usually opt out of the baseball trips to the park, because for me and the babe it is just too hot. So what do I do? I decide to go yesterday...one of our hottest days yet! It was late evening and there was shade, and I brought a spray bottle full of water for me and the babe, which I emptied in about 20 mins. :)

I realized it's been a while since I've watched the boys play baseball. They have gotten a lot better. I seriously can't believe how far Brendan can hit! And Wyatt is hitting like a champ without the tee. It was pretty awesome.

These top ones are of the boys doing their favorite drill: PICKLE. 2 bases, 1 runner trying to make it back and forth between the bases without getting tagged. They're good at it, but I'm terrified the little runner is going to get hit in the back of the head with a wild throw!

That, my friends, is Rand's Biola U. hat! My boy has a big head. He might be about ready for a bigger glove, too!

There's Wyatt runnin' the bases. You can kind of see our house in the background. That's Rand's white work van parked in front.

Looks like he might have missed that one! Hmm, I think he took his eyes off the ball from my observations. He likes keepin' his eyes on the deep outfield. :)

This is a Wagner smile, right here.

And this little guy enjoyed the outing and especially liked getting sprayed (even in the face) with the water bottle. He is sooo one of the boys.

I brought the little guy back early for a dip in the pool and jammies (just bottoms). He slept like that until 5:30am!!! Maybe we'll go to the ball field more often!

Snack Packs

I can't remember where I heard this idea from. I thought it was from my mom who probably heard about it somewhere, but nobody can remember. So someone deserves the credit because I did not think up this idea, although I can't believe I didn't because it has solved a MAJOR problem for me!

My kids have been driving me BONKERS asking me for food ALL. DAY. LONG. I know they are hungry. I know they need food. Don't you remember how starving you would get after swimming as a kid??? They do this every day!

So in the morning after I've given them like 3 breakfasts, I pack them "snack packs". I fill their buckets with all sorts of food: applesauce, bananas, blueberries, crackers and cheese, cookies, granola bars, goldfish, fruit roll-ups, etc. Then I tell them, "You both have snack packs in the pantry. I will make you lunch and dinner and you may help yourself to your snacks anytime you want. When they are gone, there will be no more and if you don't finish them I would like you to stop eating snacks by 4 because I will be making dinner and I want you to eat it." They LOVE it. I am soooo incredibly happy to not be listening to the constant, "I'm still hungry. Can I have a snack? Can I have another snack? Is it snack time? I'm starved!" And I don't have to think about what else to make. Should they keep having snacks? How much more food do they need? What now? Am I just being controlling or lazy every time I say 'NO MORE!'? The first day I did this I thought Brendan was going to eat the whole bucket in one sitting. But he didn't. He rationed in out and finished his last snack at about 3:45. I heard him say, "perfect timing." :) Wyatt, of course, ate his cookies first and only ate a few of the things in the bucket. Fine with me. I figure if they ruin their lunch I'll just bag it and put it in their buckets. So far, it's working like a charm.

Problem solved. It's hard to keep up with the snack packs, but it's easier than keeping up with the little piranhas. They are just hungry, active, growing boys...getting bigger by the day. Soon there will be three and I honestly don't know how I am going to afford to feed them!!!!

More to the Story

There is a story that goes along with this picture, but I'll let your imagination run wild! :)

Kaylee Quotes::Vol. 2

Unfortuneately, it's the same one again.
But there's a picture to go with this time! :)


Me: Umm, why does the baby have a lightsaber???

Wyatt's Picture

Nana and Papa welcoming Brendan, Wyatt and Cousin Jayden to the Lake House with open arms and lightsabers. I love this picture! Gonna have to try and make this one come true!

Changing Art

I'm finding this very sad....

...no more scribbling.
Instead, StarWars paintings, drawings, pretending, lego ships, etc. All things Star Wars right now. I really was surprised when I put out the paints and came back to this. The StarWars theme wasn't surprising, but I couldn't believe they didn't just take those paints and smear them all around like they usually do. I guess it's been awhile since the paints have been out.
I have to say, though, I'm liking the flowers that are gracing the StarWars worlds. :)

Little Wannabe Farmers

For a fun outing we went to the pet store yesterday. It's gotten too hot to do much outside that doesn't involve being in copious amounts of water, so we are looking for free indoor fun! And I happened to find some at this "not-your-average-pet-shop" pet shop! This pet store doesn't have puppies, or kittens or even fish. Instead they have chickens, goats, bunnies, ducks and other small farm animals.

The bunnies were sooooo cute!!!

they had lionhead bunnies that look like they have fuzzy lion manes.

Baby chicks!

And baby ducks and geese!

I didn't take many pictures outside because it was hot and my phone battery was almost dead, but I did get one of the potbelly pigs! They are so ugly they're cute. I really like them! I hear they are a lot like dogs. Friendly, fun and trainable.

So the kids were really excited and they were sad we couldn't take anything home. It was hard to explain that even if we could afford to buy the animal we still needed to know how to take care of them and have the equipment before we could bring anything home. So on the way home they had me make a list of the animals each of them wanted.

Wyatt's List: a tortoise, a cow with horns, a potbelly pig, a regular pig, a baby duck and a baby viper.

Brendan's List: a kitten, a baby duck, a guard dog, a baby goose, a baby rabbit, and a baby turtle (notice the baby theme!)

They both decided, too, that they wanted a farmer hat since they were going to be farmers. I asked them if they knew what farmers did. They said, "Take care of animals!" Alrighty!

So we went to the library and got some animal books (Wyatt's are mostly about lizards) and are dreaming about our Hobby Farm. Maybe someday! :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 18

I think my Kid Quotes are getting heavy on the Wyatt side. He's 4. He says funny things.


Wyatt: I didn't really want blueberries with my lunch, but thanks.
--pause--
Wyatt: Was that polite?

I suppose he wanted to say, "There's no way I'm eating these blueberries."

Me: Yes. Yes it was.

3 Things

First of all I must brag about Brendan. He finished his math this week. We aren't done with all of our school work yet, but Brendan was bound and determined to finish his math ASAP. The last day he did 3 lessons including a 4 page test (which he aced! 100%). He is very proud! :) I'm proud of him too, and I LOVE looking at what he has accomplished this year.

He went from simple addition using a number line:

To double digit addition carrying the one, triple digit addition and double digit subtraction without the number line amoung other things like counting money, ones/tens/hundreds place, and beginning fractions:

Bring on the second grade!!!

Way to go Bren! You are one super smart kid!

Second. Easton is awesome. He is rounding that hard newborn corner and heading on his way to a little dude with a big personality. We are figuring out how to make him smile. When to leave him alone. What he likes and doesn't like, etc. Everyone gives him (or maybe it's me) a hard time for how big he is. And I'll be the first to tell you. He. Is. Big! But sometimes I just cuddle him and think how little he is, because an almost 7 year old and an almost 5 year old are much, much bigger and I wish it would all just stop for a sec.

And third. We found a REALLY big bug in our pool. I think it is some kind of a cicada, but Rand doesn't think so. Whatever it is, it is way too big and gross to be sharing the pool with us. Right now his wings are drying out under a clear bucket. Despite its grossness none of us could kill him. Hopefully he'll fly away and never return. (((shudder)))

You Gotta Read This

Most of you know my friend Jessie, but some of you don't. She's over there to the right on my blogroll. I've been waiting and waiting for her to post this particular story, but since she had some blogging difficulties and took 3 days to finish the post, she's not popping up to the top of my blog list. So I'm putting her on the front page here. :)

In case you don't know my lovely friend, our parents went to high school together and so Jess and I have known each other since we were born. Grew up in little ol' Shelton (as did our parents) and graduated in the same high school class. After college, marriage and moving back to Shelton, Jess and I ended up living just blocks from each other. Her daughter Bella was born 10 months after Brendan and I babysat her 4 days a week for the first 2 years of her life. Oh I painfully miss them!
Anyway, Jessie's husband Dale, just about got taken out by the avalanche on Mt. Rainier last weekend. You should read about it.

You can click on her link to the right or check it out here: Dale Is Crazy! (he's really not but this story is)

Love you, Jess. So glad this story has a happy ending!

Sleepjumping

I love when babies are big enough to do stuff (like jump!) but still little enough to fall asleep wherever!

poor little thing!

Bath Time

This is a mild version of what Easton does in the bath every night. It just makes me laugh because throughout the day he is mostly so laid back. But put the kid in water and he goes crazy. He had already spent about 25 mins in the pool so he was getting tired. Normally he is doing furious kicking of the legs and punching his stomach like a punching bag. It's pretty hysterical. While you're watching...just try to count his rolls. :)

Papahold

My dad grew a beard. Easton and I think it's pretty cool. :)

Oh, and I figured out how to take pictures with my broken camera. The button came off when I was fiddling with it and so I just use a paperclip to shoot. It's a temporary fix.

Easton::10 Weeks

How sad is it to not have a picture. :( This was one of the most recent though and it pretty much captures his 10 week wonderfulness. I believe Rachel snapped the shot! Looks like he likes her. :)

Easton, aside from obviously being a good eater and tipping the scales with his more than 17 lbs is doing lots of things.

-He is trying to laugh...it usually comes out more like a squeal.
-He LOVES watching his brothers
-He fusses after he eats, but only until his first big spit up. :(
-He is trying his darndest to be a thumb sucker. He REFUSES the binki and is constantly sucking on his hand or knuckles. It's just a matter of time before he figures out how to stick that thumb out at just the right time.
-He LOVES when his brothers get right in his face and sing to him. (Favorite song: Daisy, Daisy..)
-His favorite place in the house is the changing table
-His favorite thing to do in the whole wide world is take a bath (He goes nuts!!!)
-He sleeps just okay, but I'm not complaining...I'm also not going anywhere so limited functioning is working for me right now.
-He LOVES when Rand gets home from work. I think to him it feels like Rand just magically appears in his face and it is such a refreshing change from what he has spent the day looking at.
-He spends a lot of time getting pushed around the house in the carseat/snap n go stroller.
-He's got more rolls than I can count.
-He likes spending his nights sleeping by me...and I like it too.
-His big boy hair is coming in, but he still has a little tuft of baby hair on top that is always sticking up and the baby hair mullet in the back. I've been tempted with scissors several times.
-He looks like a 6month old, but can't do anything 6 month olds can do! ha! He's still working on gettin' that head of his to hold still off my shoulder.

We all really love him.

Lack of Blogging Due to.....

..technical difficulties. Booo. My camera won't take pictures anymore. I think I will eventually take it to get fixed because I think it is just something with the button. It just doesn't push down anymore. But I can barely blog without my darn camera. I guess I don't like reading much without pictures. Immature, I know, but let's face it, the pictures make the blog...at least for me they do.
So I'm having all kinds of anxiety about it because I really can't take it in to get fixed right now and I feel like I'm missing stuff....like Easton turning 10 weeks..hello!? It's funny how the camera has kind of become like an additional limb. It's a lifeline between me and a whole lot of people who don't get to be in our real-life here in Arizona. So I'm taking a whole bunch of pictures with my phone hoping maybe I can capture something blog worthy with it. But I tell ya, holding the phone over the bathtub trying to capture the craziness that is Easton during bath time is not only tricky, it's plain old not smart. Don't worry. I didn't drop it! :)

I may try to dismantle my camera button myself and see what happens, but until then, picture absent blogs is what ya get!