Fun with Family for the 4th

For the 4th of July we wanted to do something fun. We decided to go to my brother's house in Boise. My little sister and hubby came up from Provo and we had a party!

We stayed up too late, ate too much, and had a blast! Friday evening was my brother's dog's birthday party. We roasted hot dogs and ate dog shaped sugar cookies and hung out in the back yard while the kids and dogs played like crazy. Saturday we went to the zoo. They have a great zoo!

Kids awaiting fruit snacks at a stop.

They have this new exhibit called the Wallaby Walk-about. You get to go in with the wallaby's. There were 7 little wallaby's just hanging out while you walk through on the path. It was really cool. You can see one of the wallaby's just above the post in this picture.

Michael was tuckered out before the end.

Mike splurged and spent 50cents on goat food. Definitely one of Isabelle's highlights.

Jill and Tommy snuggled the kids during movies, read stories, and played. The kids remembered just how much we miss them.

We spent lots of time hanging out in the backyard. Kids and dogs running around like crazy, adults visiting.

After church the kids immediately ran straight to the backyard. I was changing my clothes and heard Isabelle, "NO MICHAEL!!" I headed out to see this....

...yeah, that's shoes and all. Apparently, he was hot. We had a great bbq at my Aunt and Uncle's home that evening.

On Monday morning, we headed to a park and splash pad before we had to drive home.

Jill and I are a week apart both with baby boys. We wanted to take a cute pregnant picture. Of course we wait until the last day, hot and gross at a park.

Having to say good bye....My brother and his wife have a daughter just older than Isabelle, a son just older than Michael and a dog a year older than Jake. Our families play perfectly together. We didn't even see Isabelle and Sydney almost the whole weekend. They were just off playing with this rope, usually dragging Tony and Sarah (dolls) behind them. We had a blast with my family!

We got home Monday evening and debated on finding fireworks. We were pooped. We decided to go check some out in a little town just north of us. It was AWESOME! The city fireworks themselves weren't all that great, but everyone was lighting all sorts of stuff all around. We couldn't even stay pointed in one direction for more than about 30 seconds. It was panoramic. We were glad we went. The kids had fun. Isabelle didn't like the big ones, but loved the rest and keeps asking for fireworks. Michael was struggling to stay awake by pointing and saying "wow" every once in a while. We had a good time. Yet another fun 4th of July weekend.

Happy 4th!

What Can't She Do?

Isabelle can just about do everything now. She wanted to watch a movie. I told her no, it was time to play. A bit later I realized it was really quiet. I went upstairs and found this...

"Michael needed to watch the Monster Movie, so I turned it on for him." was the response I got when I asked Isabelle what was going on.

How many Goldfish does a box hold?

This many...

Of all the ridiculous ideas....

Last night Mike and I smelled something terrible while watching TV. Turns out it was something with the couch. So, feeling like a million dollars last night, I rip all the couch cushion covers off and throw them in the wash, Febreeze the entire couch and head to bed, thinking to myself, "Tomorrow I'll vacuum the entire couch really well, get all the dog hair off and clean under it etc..." It's gonna be great!

Well then today, NOT feeling like a million dollars, sitting on the floor looking at my cushion-less couch thinking, "Boy that was really dumb of me. I kinda want to watch a movie with the kids this afternoon." I did manage to get 2 covers back on and clean up 2 pieces of the sectional and was done. What have I learned from this? Nesting is AWESOME when you can actually finish a project before you lose your steam. Nesting gives you ideas you have NEVER come up with on your own. After almost 8 years of having this hand-me-down couch, I have never, ever, had the stupid idea to take the covers off and wash them. That is what Resolve, Febreeze and other such things were made for. You also can't put freshly cleaned covers on a not freshly cleaned couch! Not only are the covers near impossible to get off, they are even worse getting back on. Oh, and one of the zippers broke on one of the covers. Oh, and now the cushions are a different color than the arm rests and back thingies. Not horrible by any means, but enough that the cushions look awesome, while the rest of the couch looks well-loved and 20 years old. Brilliant, Julie, Brilliant.

What do kids play with when the couch cushions are out of commission for fort building for an entire day? Yes, that is a big deal at our house.

PACKING PEANUTS and a big BOX! I got a package yesterday and after pulling everything out, I thought, "The kids will have a blast with this." Sure enough, they didn't miss the cushions today. I DID.

What else did I learn today? That box really holds A LOT of packing peanuts. It takes a good 30 minutes to clean it all up. These kind of peanuts are better than the styrofoam ones. They don't break, they just squish making the mess stay the same size and not getting exponentially larger. Kids can play with this amount of peanuts and this large box for a whole afternoon and never get bored and laugh hysterically the entire time.

Camera Antics

I've gotten lots of comments on how different Isabelle looks. I wanted to get a cute picture of her where you can see her cute curly hair and just how much she's changed. Who would have thought Mike and I would have gotten a girl that needs mousse?!

Why is is SO hard to just make a normal face every once in a while for a camera? In an attempt to capture what she actually looks like right now, I got this....

So I tried again today, and got this....

Of course trying to get a cute one of just Michael, she jumped in and we got almost decent ones.

She wanted a picture holding Kitty. She has a pretend cat named Kitty. She comes pretty much everywhere, the grocery store, church, all car rides, Gym Care, etc, and it's great. She never gets lost. I don't have to feed her or clean up her poop. There is no extra hair anywhere. Pretty much it's the best pet in the world. Oh, and Kitty is blue....who would have guessed?

(Yes, she's in sweats. It was 53 degrees and raining today)

And then I got ONE, still can't quite see her hair, but it's a cute face, so I'll take it!

Isabelle's New Trick

A week or so ago, I was laying on Michael's floor while the kids were playing around me (yeah, I'm tons of fun these days) and I said, "Alright, nap time for Michael." Isabelle said, "Mom you look tired, can I do it?" Of course I'm not going to say no. So I sat and watched. She climbed into the rocking chair helped Michael up. She read two stories to him. As soon as the stories were over, she flipped his blanket on her shoulder, and muscled him around until he had his head on her shoulder. She patted his back and sang and rocked. It was all I could do too keep myself for laughing. When she was done, she said, "Ok, now it's bed time." They crawled down and she helped him in his bed, tucked him in. He laid right down and we left as she said, "Good night, Michael. Sleep good." They both loved every second of it.

As we walked out, all I could do was laugh. She is so observant! She copies me exactly. I don't know what's funnier to see so many of my mannerisms, or to watch them depicted by a 3 1/2 year old. She has asked to put Michael down every day this week. I really love putting kids down for naps and bedtime about 6 days a week, so I'm not going give it all to her, but man on "those days" it will be nice. :) Tonight as I was leaving for Young Womens, (the kids are rarely in bed when I come home) I asked Isabelle if she could put Michael to bed for me. She lit up like a Christmas tree. "Of course I can mom!" Sure enough, Michael was in bed when I got home tonight. BLISS!!!!

A Perfect Weekend

Mike's best friend from high school, Derrick, and his family went through the Portland temple this weekend. We got in on Thursday evening. Friday Mike and Derrick worked a half day and Missy and I got everything ready to go. Missy arranged for some babysitters for Friday and then again for my kids for Saturday. We did the endowment session Friday night. Saturday morning they were sealed with their three cute kiddos, McKall, Trevin, and Ainsley. It was a beautiful sealing. We went to breakfast with everyone that was there. It was just us, one other couple, Missy's good friend and the missionaries. We went home, had naps, and headed to the river for some boating. That night we had smores on their new fire pit and sat around visiting way too late.

Isabelle loved tubing! She took a ride with Mike and Derrick and Kally, then Missy and I took the girls. Isabelle and I ended up in the river and it was only 53 degrees. It was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!! Isabelle was crying and I kept telling her to kick and she would warm up as we waited to be picked up. It was so cold! We got back in the boat, and she did NOT want to go again. Mike got her to go back out on the tube, but she blames me for the spill. "I like tubing with Daddy. Mommy makes me go in the water." We went to church with them Sunday morning and then headed home after an early dinner. We were all exhausted, but it was such a fun, perfect weekend with friends.

Face Painting

We loaded up to go swimming yesterday. I got Michael buckled while Isabelle danced around the garage, put her in and left to grab the swim bag. I went to put it in the back seat and opened the door to this...

What, you ask, is this? Apparently, there was a squished piece of blue chalk on the garage floor and that's what Isabelle was "dancing" in. It was still caked all over the bottom of her shoes, so she decided to make the most of it. It is also all over Michael, just harder to see in the picture. What made it funnier was the looks we got at the YMCA as we walk in with two smurffed children. Of course she had to add her sunglasses and cheese smacking. I love this nut!

All Grown Up

Michael turned 18 months this week. I swear in the last month, he has turned into a such a little boy. I gave him a real hair cut, not just a trim over the ears and mullet control and he looks SO grown up. He went from 9 month clothes to 18 month clothes overnight, grew out of his soft bottom shoes and and now he looks like a boy. This is kind of long, so read on if you really want to know, but I've been shocked how often I've referred back to Isabelle blogs to see when she was doing things and what she loves, etc.

He loves basketball. We've been watching the NBA playoffs so basketball has been on alot. He wants to watch it and brings me the remote, "Bah Ball." He's adorable. He even noticed the folded up backboard in the cultural hall in sacrament meeting and then started yelling "Bah Ball" of course right when it was dead silent. He was in the 3rd percentile for height and 10th for weight. Poor kid needs to start loving hockey or soccer. He does love any kind of ball and loves to throw things and jump off of things.

I have loved watching the gender difference. At this age Isabelle was the perfect little mommy. Michael has a sound effect for everything. Isabelle STILL can't make a gun noise, but Michael sure can. He is intense. He loves to head butt and even when giving a hug doesn't just give you a hug, he goes crazy. I can't even describe it. Rocks, cars, puddles and balls. I love watching my little boy.

He recently has become quite the daddy's boy. He will just randomly start saying "Da-deee."

He gets sad when Mike leaves and comes to me "Da-deee?" After explaining he will be back, he brightens up. Mike now gets attacked by both kids and Jake when he walks in the door. You think I exaggerate with attacked...you haven't seen it.

He had to help Dad change the brakes on the car.

He sticks his tongue out just like Dad when he concentrates (you can see it in the picture above).

He's obsessed with Toy Story. Woody and Buzz action figures are his best friends. He plays with them ALL the time and carries them around. If you look in the collage (click on it to make it bigger), he even uses Buzz to scratch his ears for him. He can spot Buzz a mile away in stores. Then he screams "Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" and is completely out of control for a good few minutes as we pass by. I can't help but laugh every time.

He can now say so many words and is talking a TON! Last week, most of the things he could say started with D or B. Dog, drink, daddy, bubbles, bath, Buzz, basket ball, banana, and more I can't remember but this week he's started saying everything, water, milk, cheese, shoes, hot dog, Matthew, Walter, Jennifer (people and dog that live around us), the list goes on and on. He's also moved on from telling me after he's gone potty to telling me while he goes potty.

He still LOVES his nightly bath. I can get him to stop doing anything including crying if I say bath! He's also a great helper with cleaning up. If he spills water in the kitchen he gets a towel and cleans it up. He loves to help vacuum and clean up his toys. He LOVES to read and is obsessed with books.

He will eat just about anything. He doesn't love most fruits and veggies especially if they are cold and slimy. He'll eat bananas and carrots, corn on the cobb and apples, but other than that, it's usually squished and thrown. He doesn't like to drink out of sippy cups and gets mad when he asks for a drink and you are holding a cup and get him a sippy cup. He'll throw it at you.

We've moved him out of the crib this week in preparation for baby brother. He's done really well. The best thing is he is too short to reach the door knob. Isabelle did awesome until she figured out the door knob 3 days after her transition. Michael has a few months. I've been making sure to hit bed time almost perfectly and made sure to wear him out all week for both nap and bed time and that helped too. He's so tired he crashes quick. Ahh the things you learn with experience. I'm sure I'll have a few new tricks for #3 too.

You can't quite see it very well, but he's laying on the return air vent. Most nights when we go to bed this is where I find him. He even has the lines in his face.

My grown little boy.