Quote of the Week

"Yes I will tell my wife I pooped on the sidewalk."

~Jonas

Background:

So we were just sitting outside enjoying our snack. And we started having a conversation about . . . poop. Jonas has been fond of saying it lately and we have been fond of telling him to stop. And, yesterday or the day before, somehow and someway Jonas' poop ended up on the sidewalk out back. I don't know what happened - did he poop on the sidewalk, did he dump out his poop from his diaper there? I don't know. Luckily I was busy in the kitchen with Emmy and Ben was the one who discovered this mess. Ahhhh, I love those tender mercies of the Lord.

So, anyways, today Miles was asking me if, when I was a kid, I pooped on the sidewalk. I said no (correct me if I'm wrong, Mom). He then asked if Ben did - I again said no (correct me if I'm wrong, Diana). Then Miles started saying, "When Jonas is a daddy his kids will ask him if he pooped on the sidewalk." I chuckled and said, "Well, what will Jonas have to say?" Miles laughed a "yes."

Then Miles started talking to Jonas:

"Jonas when you are big (Jonas - "I am big"), no when you are a daddy, will you tell your mommy, not our mommy, that you pooped on the sidewalk?" Me - "tell your wife." Miles - "Oh, when you are a daddy, Jonas, will you tell your wife you pooped on the sidewalk?"

And, as I have already stated, Jonas' reply,

"Yes I will tell my wife I pooped on the sidwalk."

One day I am going to miss these conversations. And one day Jonas is going to wish I hadn't recorded such conversations. . .

What a Day

I guess this is becoming a tradition in our family: decorate the birthday kid's door with crepe paper. Nothing fancy as you can tell. Well Emmy just stood in her room for 5 minutes not wanting to come out and walk through the paper. It was funny. No amount of coercion worked, so I finally asked Miles to go and carry her out. She wasn't too happy about that. :)

Emmy's birthday adventures next landed us where Emmy first entered the world one year ago - the hospital. I frantically called Ben early this morning to come back home and watch the boys while I took Emmy in - luckily he was able to that. Emmy has croup - she sounded so awful with her "stridor" wheezing with every breath and looked awful to me with her sternal retractions and obvious labored breathing. Anyways, long story short: went to ER, received some nebs and a shot of decadron, stayed a couple hours, then came home. I think she felt okay the rest of the day - not her silly chipper self, but not cranky either. (notice her lovely birthday bracelet in the picture.)

Presents

A cute birthday chair from Grandma Dixie and a funny-looking "thing" made by me. She liked them both.

It is not a cliche for nothing: truly, boxes entertain and amuse just as much as "real" toys.

Here she is getting the "hang of it" in terms of opening her present. (yes, that is yellow duct-tape used to wrap her presents. my mother-in-law will be so proud)

The pictures say it all. (sigh)

Pretty much her favorite toy, though, turned out to be the baby's "milk" bottle. I think she really wanted milk to come out. She sucked and walked around with that bottle forever. (why couldn't she learn to suck on a bottle at 2 months of age???)

Cake

A pretty cake (?) for a pretty gal.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. . .

Emmy was a little hesitant at first and unsure what to do. But she quickly got the hang of it and stuffed her mouth pretty fast - too fast, I think, as she was unable to eat much more after her first "stuffs."

Doesn't she just say "Yummy" all over her - literally, too. We love you Emmy dear, Happy, Happy Birthday!

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby. . .

Wow Emmy. One year ago you entered our lives. You came on what your parents deemed would be the "perfect day." Not even born yet and you were already trying to do all you could to please us. I hope that continues - especially during your adolescent years.

I could just say that we had no idea how much we would love and adore you and leave it at that. But I won't. Your dad and I knew we'd love you - we just didn't realize we'd be so completely smitten by you. We don't really know why we are smitten by you so much, frankly. I mean, you are just as cute as your brothers, you basically did all the baby things that they did, but there is just something. . . different with you. Is it all that pink? I don't know. Is is the possibility that you might be our last (especially if your dad has his way)? Perhaps. Now, now, don't go off and think that we love you any more than your 2 bros - because that just ain't true. As you'll hear many, many, many times from the many, many, many questions you'll ask, "We love you all the same." And you know what, it's absolutely true. But, Emmy my dear, you can claim that your parents were and are completely smitten by you and all your crazy, silly first-year antics.

I love, love that you look so much like Jonas did as a baby. When we look at the screen saver pictures on our computer whenever Jonas sees "baby Jonas," he always says, "Emmy." That's one reason I have to dress you in pretty clothes -so I can tell who's who in the pictures someday. You look so much like Jonas and I am excited to see if you'll have beautiful straight hair like him . . .

Or curly hair like Miles. I love, love how suck on your arm just like Miles did as a baby, and continues to do this day. And you both don't even really suck on your arm, you just bring your arm to your mouth and do this little sucking motion. Miles did (and does) it all throughout the day - whenever he was tired, etc. You don't do it until I put you on your changing table and then put your arms through your bunting - then you start sucking. You don't start the sucking until your arms are through a bunting. A bunting I said. Because just any normal sleeper just doesn't do it - it has to be one of the few buntings we have for you. So before every nap and at bedtime, you suck on your arm. Love it.

As I have already mentioned your dad and I adore you. Well we are definitely not all who does (do?)- grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all think you are adorable. But your brothers, your dear, dear brothers, adore you. They do. And I hope they do forever. It is amazing to see how much they love you and dote on you. They love you. They want to share their food with you. They want to tell you about things, anythings. They want you to see them being silly. They want you to be happy. They think you are cute and tell you so, often.

Alas, though, your brothers are not perfect. Miles likes to pick you up and carry you around. He especially likes to pick you up when you are coming close to his toys and he doesn't want you near them. Jonas has found a fondness for . . . uh, doing naughty things to you. Pushing you over and taking your toys comes to mind. I'd be more worried, however, if your brothers didn't do things like this to you. (My brothers had my sister and me boxing each other - with real boxing gloves on!) At times you will detest your brothers, but I know there will always be a special love that will exist among you three.

You are a girl. You like girl things - like dolls. (Gasp.) The first "doll experience" you had was at Grandma Diana's and you were just thrilled and delighted when you saw that doll - you giggled, squealed, talked, etc. It was crazy - but natural, I suppose.

But, thank goodness, you also love getting dirty in the sandbox and even wrestling with your brothers. I've got the best of both worlds with you, Emmy Girl.

You started out as a pretty mellowed and calm baby. Pretty relaxed and chilled. You were our first child that would actually fall asleep for any reasonable amount of time at church. But that has passed. You are not so mellow as you once were, nor do you fall asleep at church anymore. You demand more pleasings and more attention now. But that's okay - well, okay, sometimes it's okay. Your personality is shining more and more through and you are not passive about things. I think that's a good thing. I hope it will be a good thing.

You love to cuddle. My first baby that will cuddle beyond the age of 3 months. WAHOO. I never thought I'd have a "cuddler." So Thank You. You are funny about it, too. You love coming up to me and your dad, backing up and scooting into us, then you sit down. It's adorable. You do it A LOT to me and your dad, but you also do it to inanimate objects - like chairs, teddy bears, books, paper towel rolls, etc. So cute, Emmy.

I've already said a ton, but haven't even scratched the surface. I am sure I am missing about 10 million other things that I love and adore about you. Of course there are the fun big things we loved about you this past year - learning how to crawl, eating food, walking, etc. But it's the little things, the unique, little things that we especially love about you. Like your cute birthmark; the funny faces you make; how you love to just wear a diaper - or nothing at all; how you love walking down a step, then back up, down the step, back up. . .; how you just jump in when your brothers are playing and even wrestling - you truly think you are just "one of the boys;" the very distinct "talking" you do when you want a treat that everybody else is eating; putting headbands on you; buying adorable dresses for you; having sweet dresses made for you; all the pink you've brought into our house; how you like to climb up under my skirts; and when you say "Doghee."

Happy Birthday Emmy. I love you so much.

Love, your mama.

Miles and his Grandpas

Miles loves, loves, loves his grandparents. His middle name is after his 2 grandfathers' first names: both of them are James - how perfect is that? And it just so happens that he talks about how he wants to be a pilot (oh help me . . .) like his Grandpa G.

. . And the other day he was really, really into taking photos - a photographer, just like his Grandpa Max. Here are a few (he took about 80) of his, ummmm, art:

Jonas.

Inside our fridge.

Emmy.

Wilson's barf spot (one of several on our carpet).

Headless Emmy. When looking back through his pictures, Miles just busted out laughing when I said, "Hey, it's headless Emmy."

Miles' "new" winter boots.

Quote of the Week

"No, you can't say that to me."

Miles says this, but lately Jonas has been saying it too and more often.

It usually happens when I say something like "Jonas put your toys away," or "Jonas you're going to have to go to time-out," or "No, Jonas, don't do that to Emmy," or "We don't have Cheerios."

And Jonas will often reply, "No, you can't say that to me." (Really emphasize the can't to get the full Jonas-effect.)

Kids just say the darndest things. I wonder where they come up with them. . .

Emmy

Emmy just wants to say that if you feel like life is dragging you down, check her out:

So You Think You Can Dance?

Or in Emmy's case, Walk?

Yep, she's a Pro.

Our very own American Idol

Cute Cousins

Taking a picture of 4 kids 4 and under is quite challenging:
hand in the face, crying baby. . .

tilting babies. . .

yawning boy and no-face boy. . .

i think these ones turned out pretty cute. our boys (and emmy, too, i'm sure) love their cousins. miles talks a lot about katie, emily, and melanie - and now rhett, too. i have great memories of many, many fun times with my cousins and i can only hope the same for my children.

The Round-Up

So we just got back from Utah and really had a great time - of course. We were not only able to hang out with my folks, but also my sister and brother-in-law as well as the cutest new member of the family, baby Everett.

Here are pictures highlighting the trip:

Swimming was a lot of fun. Although no-fat-on-his-bones Jonas tends to get cold no matter how warm the water is.

The boys loved eating and playing out on the back deck.

What darling boys - dare I say pretty boys? We all enjoyed and love little Rhett - he is such a good baby with great parents.

Miniature golfing. The kids were pretty much doing their thing the entire time, but I had fun golfing with my folks.

Me (with Emmy of course), Natalie (cousin), Erin (with Rhett), and Chuck after our race. We ran the 8K 1/2 trail 1/2 road race up in SLC. Due to some confusion as to where the race actually started, we ended up having to run - all uphill, mind you - 1 1/2 miles to the start off the race. We were late, but still ran it and even beat some people. I loved the race - the trail was so fun and the canyon so beautiful. We ended up doing 8 miles, not 8 kilometers. Ha. I'm still sore from the steep climbs and fast downhill.

We went out to dinner and Jonas got butter all over him.

Jonas had a fever on Sunday, but it was short-lived and by Monday it was gone.

Other adventures included a long walk with Grandpa around the marshy area, going to Cabellas (how could we not when Miles specifically prayed that we would go there?), attempting to go on the Alpine Slide in Park City (we stood in line, took the 20-minute ski-lift to the top, when we got there we were told we were on a hold due to rain, then it started lightning and so we couldn't do the slide, so then Ben and I put the kids on our shoulders and hiked down the wet and muddy mountain - ha!), Ben golfing with my dad and Chuck, watching Olympics, eating yummy food made mostly by people other than myself, etc.

We haven't even been back 12 hours and we're already missing it all.

Zucchiniitis

Do you have a garden? If so you probably have a plethora of zucchini. Check out Foodees for the latest recipes I posted there (which I got all from my SIL). However, if you have eaten zucchini in cakes, muffins, bread, sauteed, steamed, and grilled and still have zucchini sitting on your counter, then this might be a fun idea: Zucchini Boats. I got the idea from a Family Fun article and our family, indeed, did have fun:

Oh the excitement!

Here they come!

Jonas and Miles launching their boats.

This is what happens when I ask Jonas to put his arm around Miles. Love it.

Silly goofs. Jonas' zucchini broke once we got home. Miles' boat is still sitting on his dresser. . soon to be in the compost bin (when Miles is not looking, of course).

Like Mother, Like Daughter?

We came across these photos of me as a baby and saw a lot of Emmy. So we tried to create the effect on Emmy - complete with her wearing the exact same dress as me 28 years ago and even smearing brown stuff on her face (Emmy lucked out, however, because my brown stuff came from me eating dirt from a potted plant; Emmy's brown stuff was oh-so-delicious chocolate smeared on lovingly by her dad). We didn't get the exact facial expressions from Emmy to really show the similarities, but they come close:

But Emmy is definitely Emmy and marches to her own drum:

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters. . .

Indeed, a "cheers" out to my sister on her Birthday! She is definitely my favoritest, prettiest, nicest, bestest, coolest, funniest, smartest, and yes, tallest sister. She really is great and is also really old (a whole 19 months older than I am). Happy birthday!