Week in Review #2

I'm not planning on making this weekly thing a habit, but we'll have to see. My mom's birthday was on Wednesday. We had a fun day of eating, swimming and playing.

smile!

angry faceme and my momma

We swam every day this week. On Friday we switched it up and went in played in the yard while my mom flooded it. And I remembered my camera this time! We also had a great relaxing Father's Day, just the way it should be

Week in Review

Hopefully can finally get caught up on all that's been going on. On Monday I took Ethan to the Dr for his 9 mo. checkup. Everything looks great and I know it may come as a shock to you all, but he's huge! He weighed in at 25lbs 7oz and is 29" long. He's not quite crawling but definitely moving around and starting to creep along furniture so I'm guessing his weight is going to start level out. It better or I won't be able to carry him around any more! He loves playing peek-a-boo, is finally taking a bottle and is starting to be able to communicate through "words". Obviously not real words, but he is using baby versions consistently for different wants. When he is hungry he say "naum-naum". It's like a cross between num-num and ma-ma. He calls his papa "ba-ba" and me "mmmaaammm". Super melt-my-heart cute. His new favorite game is dropping a toy/food/bottle and waiting for someone to get it. He gives the best "kisses" (he basically just slobbers all over your face) and is definitely a momma's boy.

Brayden and Tawny also went to the dentist on Monday for a checkup and neither one of them had any cavities. Yea!! I was way more excited about this than they were. While on the subject, Brayden lost his two front teeth this week. They had started loosening up, but still had quite a ways to go. On Tuesday Brayden and Tawny crashed while playing ghost (running around with sheets over their heads. Yea, it's as unsafe as it sounds) and her head knocked them much looser. By the end of the day Brayden had pulled both of them himself, which was pretty surprising to me. Did you know the tooth fairy pays a bonus for a matching set? Greg's been calling him Toothless (from How to Train a Dragon) and Brayden thinks that is pretty funny.

Tawny has had a hard time adjusting to Brayden being home all the time. She had a very rough week. She like being the big kid around the house and doing what she wanted, and Brayden likes the same thing. So they have butted heads quite a few times this week. But I'm hoping they'll work it out because I am tired of playing referee! On a complete sidenote, Tawny calls Gatorade "Ater-gade" and I love it. It makes me want to keep them around just so she'll say it all the time. So cute!

We spent the rest of the week swimming and having fun around the house. On thursday morning we went out to my mom's and helped pick plums. When we were done we let the kids play in the front yard which was being flooded (on purpose. It's how she waters her front yard) I didn't have my camera but they all had so much fun. It was a walk down memory lane for me. That was a typical June day growing up. Sometimes it would be apples, peaches or apricots, but we spent a lot of time in that orchard, and most the time it was a lot of fun.

On Saturday morning we went to the park. Brayden and Tawny loved everything while Ethan stuck to the swings. I hope the rest of the summer is just as fun and low-key.

Last Weekend

There is so much I need to catch up on. We've just been having too much fun! Last weekend two of my brothers and their families came down. So we were all together except for Clint who is still on his mission. There was a very important reason why we were all there. On Sunday my dad was called as the Bishop of our ward. As you can imagine, he is very nervous but I know he will do an incredible job.

It was so great to spend the weekend with family. We packed so much into three days. On friday we hung out in the morning and spend the afternoon at the pool.

The boys played three flies up while the girls watch from the side. The water was seriously freezing! I've been swimming in my pool for a while now, and it's a little cool but completely manageable. We were at my aunt's pool and I swear there ice cubes floating around. It's also possible I'm a pansy about cold water.



We spent the evening in the backyard playing in the sandbox with the kids. I wish I got a picture of the entire sandbox. I'm not sure it can even be called a sandbox. It's huge! I'm not sure exactly how big it is, but I know it's somewhere around 1,700 square feet. And it's full of all kinds of toys. The kids could spend hours out there. Ethan loved eating the sand, but I'm no fun and kept him in the swing instead. He seemed to love that too. What do you think?
We spend Saturday at the river. Again, Ethan loved the sand. The kids buried him and he thought that was pretty fun.Not a lot of context to the pic, I just thought it was funny. (that is root beer, by the way)

This is Jordan, Steven and Ashley's daughter

This is Tyler, Brian and Kaylyn's little boyBrian and Papa

Ethan and daddy sharing lunch

They loved the watermelon!Brayden and papa played frisbeeI went out with the kids on the tube. Brayden took a turn too, but I didn't get any pics with him.

Later that evening after grilling ribs outside. My dad has this killer strong ginger ale he loves and they decided it would be fun to see who could drink theirs the quickest

Surprisingly, Greg won! He really doesn't like carbonation so I didn't expect him to win.

Saturday evening was out in the sandbox again.

Sunday was obviously a very busy day. My dad spent most of the day at the church and all just hung out at my mom's. It was a great but very exhausting weekend. So exhausting that Ethan couldn't even make it though a meal without falling asleep!

Family and Last Day of School

We had some of Greg's family visit over Memorial Day weekend: his brother Brandon and his wife Megan and Megan's brother Montana and his wife Brittany and their little boy Beckett (did you follow all those family connections? Whew!) Ethan wasn't so sure of all the new visitors and spent the first day or so with this look on his face.

...but he eventually warmed up and thought it would be fun to play steamroller with Bennett. I'm not sure how fair that was since Brayden outweighed him by a good 7 or 8 lbs.

It was so great to get to spend the weekend with all of them. True to form I didn't get many pictures. I don't remember at the time to grab the camera.

Tawny went to a birthday party last Thursday. It was Disney themed, and she looked so cute I couldn't help but snap a picture.
Friday was the last day of school. They had a graduation ceremony for all the kindergartners that was really sweet. They made them shirts that said class of 2023 with their hand prints on them. The idea was to keep the shirt until his senior graduation as a reminder of where he started. Brayden is excited for summer break, but it was also a little bittersweet. He really loves Mrs Conrad and she is an incredible teacher. She will be sorely missed. I am afraid Brayden and I have been spoiled this year. She kept him engaged academically and was so diligent with his allergies and medical issues. I know it's only kindergarten, but Brayden worked really hard and tried his best to excel in every area. Mrs Conrad comment on his final report card was:

"This has been a stellar kindergarten class and Brayden has been its shining star. It has been my honor and pleasure to have been Brayden's kindergarten teacher."

Mrs Conrad read a poem at their graduation that I really loved. She was very emotional as she read it. It showed how truly invested she was in her students. She gave each student a copy of the poem, but wanted to include it here as well:

Your Flowers

I've worked with your flowers and helped them to grow

I'm returning them now but I want you to know

These flowers are precious and dear as can be

Love them, take care of them and soon you will see...

...what I saw:

I saw bright new blooms every day

That grew and blossomed in such wonderful ways

In September just buds, but in January blooms

Now lovely blossoms I return to you this June.

Remember these flowers, as dear as can be

Though rightfully yours, will always in part, belong to me!

I am so grateful for dedicated teachers who work so hard to teach our children. I'm also looked forward to having Brayden home all summer. There are so many fun things we're going to do!