You Know. . .

You Know. . .

Your kindergartner had a long, exhausting first week of school when he lost privilege after privilege this weekend. Poor kid. Poor parents.

You Know. . .

You live close to your child's school when you hop out of the shower at 2:45, braid your hair, get dressed, wake up your other 2 children, change one diaper, get the kids in the stroller, walk to school, and have time to spare to pick up your child at 3:00.

You Know. . .

You and your husband are poor grocery-trip planners when 1. husband goes to the grocery store in the AM for worms (for fishing) and Sure-Jell (to make his annual plum jam), 2. wife goes in to same grocery store to get some more sugar for said jam, 3. husband has to go immediately back in to buy more sugar since he didn't think what wife had gotten was enough (it was), 4. later husband and firstborn (who had lost a privilege to watch a little show and had just finished cleaning up the toilets) go to same grocery store and pick up a lemon for said jam, 5. after kids go to bed wife runs to same grocery store and picks up a can of cream of chicken soup for Sunday dinner. holy annoying.

A 2-year old in the house - Oh boy! (errr, girl)

Waking up in the morning - finding her door decorated and her first present awaiting her.

Getting the cake ready. . .

A little treat for the birthday girl (and the birthday brothers). Yum.

So lady-like! She loves her little "bike." Super fun and super cute.

Isn't she a pretty little 2-year old?

Jonas' school involved sorting the skittles by color and then his "craft of the day" was helping me decorate Emmy's cake.

Yea! I loved how the cake turned out and was super pleased. I got the idea from here.

Emmy "sang" the birthday song to herself as well as we sang it. It was real sweet.

Isn't that cool?

The Kitchen. I think Emmy likes it - but I know that Miles loves it. :)

There she is with a new hat on, new squeaky shoes (I so love these - as does Emmy), feeding her new Monkey (Tutu, I think will be the name), with some new tea-set cups. Spoiled.

I thought this picture a little goofy looking, but Ben loves it. So I put it here for him.

It was such a fun day. I really love birthdays and the chance it gives to focus some extra attention and love on just one child.

And just in case I didn't show enough pictures, here are 2 videos:

Such a big week in our family. It was a lot of fun. But. I'm tired.

You're Crazy

I'm sorry babe but that is what comes to mind when I think of you: "You're crazy." Because you know what? You are. You're crazy beautiful, crazy silly, crazy fun, crazy dirty, crazy clingy, crazy for treats, and also crazy cranky. Sorry 'bout the last one - but it's true. But we love you all the same you crazy.

Crazy beautiful. Some moments I just stare at you and love you to death. Your sweet, sweet cheeks. Your adorable little legs. Your growing hair. Your blue eyes. You are a beautiful girl and don't ever think otherwise. Please. As the quote goes, "God don't make no junk." Believe it. We still haven't had to give you a hair cut. You've got some slight, ever so slight, waves in your hair - so I'm still not sure if you'll be curly like Miles or straight like Jonas. You probably will end up being Like Emmy. Go figure. Your hair is the darkest of the kiddos. I painted your toenails for the first time a few weeks ago and you adored it. I adored you adoring it. Your daddy thinks you are the most beautiful little gal under 30 (I win it for the "over 30" group).

Crazy silly. Oh my, Emmy, are you ever silly. You sure know how to have fun. You hop, hop, hop, spin, spin, spin, hop, and fall all over our floors. All the while giggling. It's too cute. You used to make a "scowl" face just to be funny - it always made me smile. Even if you were trying to be more serious. You love trying on your shoes, as well as your brothers', your father's, your mother's, and your grandma's. You put them on, walk around, then take them off. When your brothers are being funny (or at least when they think they are being funny), you just laugh and laugh - I'm not sure you really think they are funny, but you just like laughing and being silly. It cracks me up. You love to swing on our basement swing and have a silly time doing so. You learned it from your brothers I presume.

Speaking of your brothers. . . they still adore and love you. But I think you rattle their nerves a little more. You are more able than ever before and that scares them. And it should. Sometimes they shut their bedroom door so you can't come in. Miles tells me, "Mom, don't let Emmy outside because I don't want her to ruin our sandbox." You can be quite destructive, little girl. But the boys also love playing with you because you jump right in. When they play monkey, you play monkey. When they wrestle, you wrestle. When they climb ladders, you climb ladders. When they jump in puddles, you literally jump right in. You fit in very well in this house.

Crazy fun. There is just something about you that is. . . fun. I'm not sure what it is. Your dad and I just have fun watching you. You make us smile, often. You are not a dull girl, oh no. You are always up to something. Falling over on the couch, doing somersaults on the floor, or headstands - which you are quite good at. In fact, you have signs of being an excellent gymnast. Your brothers got to take a gymnastics class together this year and you were so upset about not being able to join them. But, frankly, I think you learned more than them. :) Your skills are amazing for a 2-year old. You have little fear.

Crazy dirty. Wow, Emmy, my boys don't compare to you when it comes to dirtiness. It's like I roll you in honey and then the mud each and every day. I don't, I promise. You're just messy. You like to make messes and get messy, I guess. You make a mess when eating. You paint yourself when you're suppose to be painting paper. You draw on yourself when you are suppose to be coloring pictures. You put hand soap in your hair. Or pasta sauce in your hair. Dirt sticks to you like dog hair on a black couch.

But, in almost a direct contrast to this, you can't stand if you have a teeny-tiny itty-bitty piece of crumb on the bottom of your foot. I call you the "Princess and the Pea" because of this. You whine and whimper like you just stepped on a 3 inch nail. Most of the time I can't even see what the problem is - I just brush your foot and apparently it gets whatever it was off. You could solve this problem by wearing shoes, or even socks - but you don't like wearing shoes or socks in the house.

Crazy clingy. You don't get too far from me when I'm home. And if I'm gone, you stick pretty close to your daddy. It's endearing. It's annoying. It's both. I love that you love me, want me, and "help" me out. But I really wish I could go to the bathroom by myself. Or make a phone call without you having to be right up to the phone as well. But I do love it when you "help" me make bread or "help" me do the dishes. It's fun having you around. Most of the time.

You're still crazy clingy to your "boo." Your bunting. You used to wear them to bed and as soon as we'd put it on, you would "suck" on it. Now you don't fit it, but we still have to have it close by you if we want you to be happy for more than 2 minutes. You take the cuffs and tickle your feet, your face, your tummy, you hands, etc. At bedtime and naptime I get to do the tickling. You're a mess if your boo is not near you. I like that you have something to soothe you, but I do feel somewhat slighted when you get hurt and you cry for you boo. Not your mom who gave you birth, but your boo.

Crazy for treats. I think your second word (or close to it) was "cookie." You love sugar. Oh do you love sugar.

Crazy cranky. Man can you throw a fit. The terrible twos started about 6 months ago. I truly think you picked this up from your brothers. So blame them. You throw tantrums wherever you are - including Main Streets in both Moab and Silverton. So fun. You scream and wail. You thump your head on our floors (including our hardwood floors and even the tile floor). You even bite yourself. Hard. Ouch, I hate it when you do that. It makes me so sad that you do that to yourself. I hope it is a "phase." If you are not being held, you are usually cranky about it.

Nonetheless we are 100% Crazy In Love With You. Seriously Emmy.

We love you.

love, mommy (and daddy)

oh and p.s. Happy Birthday!

Jonas' First Day of Mommy 'n Me School

Oh I love my Jonas boy. He is so completely different than Miles and so it will be fun to be able to work and play with him and understand him a little more.

He just

LOVED,

LOVED,

LOVED

the notebook I bought for him for "school." He wrote little tiny letters on it all during our school-time. Then after snack. Then before dinner. You get the idea.

He kept telling me, repeatedly and repeatedly,

"This is my notebook. Just mine. Miles does not get it."

So I would say Jonas' "first" day went very well, too.

Miles' First Day

some tid-bits: his teacher is in fact a Mister. the teacher is brand new to teaching. miles' classroom is in a portable class. miles told me 2 names of kids in his class - like i had assigned him to (remember that mom?). there are only 10 (!) kids in his class - one benefit of choosing half-day. he loves his whale backpack and was super excited to show it to Mister James. he got to see the "P.E room." he even got to go to "recess!" but when asked what his favorite part of kindergarten was, his reply:

"Everything."

I would say things went well.

Very well.

Twas the night before school. . .

Weekend Wrap

Our friends invited us to go out with them, just them (i.e. minus our kids), 4-wheeling. Very out of my comfort level, but that's not always a bad thing, right? It was a fun time and great hanging out with friends. I was pretty tepid on the way up but was okay. I had moments that I could relax and enjoy it. :) The way down was much better for me and even fun. Then when we got to the smooth part of the trail on the way back, I got to take over and drive and that was loads of fun, too!

Here we are. I squeezed Ben a lot. Ha.

The handsome men. I actually decided to hop off at this point on the trail after watching Tori do a wheelie as she was going up. But I'm proud to say it's the only time I got off. :) (I'm a wimp when it comes to off-roading.)

That nite the boys got to go to the local drive-in movie theater with Ben. How cool. They saw the movie Up.

They loved it. In fact, it was Miles' 2nd movie at a theater and Jonas' first time going to the movies. How special. (I was at home with sleeping Emmy.)

But seeing as it ended in one of the worst going-to-bed nites for us EVER, I think we'll hold off going again for awhile.

Alright, now it's Back To School. . .

Harvest Time

at least for our carrots.

My kids think I'm great

when I give them this for snack:

i wish everything were this simple.

Sniff, sniff (updated)

I just dropped Miles off at school. But I'm not counting this as his "first day." Perhaps I should have? But I didn't, I didn't even take any pictures, and I didn't even send him with a backpack. But today is a very short day and is really an "orientation" day. A day of testing and introduction to his school.

His school decided afterall to offer one session of half-day K. So that's what we'll do. After all that agonizing, fasting, and praying. But I did find out 2 things today: 1. His half-day will be in the afternoon and 2. He has a brand-new teacher - A Man. I think I caught his name as Mr. James. Interesting. Good, too.

Anyways, tons of pictures and more tears to come Monday. Stay tuned. . .

(UPDATE: We picked Miles up. He had some great pictures to show me that he drew. In fact, "coloring" was his favorite part of today. I think he loved it all. I know he loves Savanna. The cute girl he was walking out of his class with - holding hands. She even gave him a picture she drew. He told me, "I think I am going to marry Savanna.")