an eye story

Colin has had a bit of a rough week. Last Sunday he was in nursery, being a little crazy, and he fell and hit his nose on a chair. It swelled up and started to bruise a bit. He was sad. Last Monday he was at home, being a little crazy, and he fell and hit his face just below his eye on the bottom of his bed. He was very sad. Then on Wednesday he was at home, being a little crazy, when he fell in the hallway, rolled, and smacked his head on the floor. He was sad. I'm guessing he is either destined to be a terrible klutz, or he is going through a growth spurt and is a little clumsy right now.

This was taken Tuesday morning when he woke up. I would have taken a picture Monday night, but it was too traumatic. I had to let him watch a show and snuggle with me just so I could put an ice pack on his face for a while.

Later on Tuesday. It was really hard to get good pictures thanks to crappy lighting and flash.

He rediscovered his Princess Unicorn, and he was playing cowboys with it.

Then the kids were just being adorable playing in my laundry bins. Naturally they were incapable of smiling and looking at the camera at the same time.

This is later in the week. Colin is funny. He keeps getting super excited when I want to take a picture of his eye. He also loves to tell people what color it is.

And here's tonight, almost a week later. It's more green than anything now.

Ethan gave his homecoming talk in church today. He did a great job. One of the best returned missionary talks I've ever heard. My contribution to the festivities after church was the dessert. I made approximately 167 mini cupcakes. It took a long time. I also tried making cake bites for the first time—about 4 or 5 dozen. They must have turned out well, because they were gone almost instantly. Nate snuck a few, put them in a baggie, and hid them away to eat them tonight. They were pretty easy to make, just time consuming, or I would have made more of those too. We played the Game of Things with Ethan and his friends, and it was fun. I tried to tell the boys to remember that it's Sunday and to keep it calm, and then I wrote down something about b****—slapping the Pope, so there you go.

Also, today is Granny's birthday, and we love her.

fun in the sun...and in the rain

The weather here is still super annoying. We get one or two days of sunshine, and then a week straight of crappy cloudy rainy weather. Grrr. But we've been enjoying our sunny days when they come. And I've been enjoying a sunburn every time it is sunny because I forget to wear sunscreen. (Don't worry, I remember to get the kids, but somehow I forget myself.)

Colin loves his workman hat, and he loves to be outside digging in the dirt. He helped me weed last week, and he had such a great time using the tools and seeing the bugs. When we'd find a worm we'd cover it back up with dirt. I told Colin the worms needed to go back to their homes. He then told me, "The worm needs to go home to get his shoes and socks so he can play with me." Okay, sure.

He did a little work on his truck, all manly-like.

Kate was just happy to find random objects to put in her bucket.

And both kids played with sidewalk chalk. I finally have to go any buy more now. The bucket that I bought when I was like 15 is finally gone. It's a real shame.

I left Colin unattended for a few minutes. I came back to find him making himself look pretty with my makeup. I was not impressed. It could have been a lot worse though.

My brother Ethan came home from his mission on Tuesday. Against my better judgment, the kids and I went to the airport with everyone to welcome him home. (I wanted them to stay home and nap so they wouldn't be so grouchy.) Isn't that a lovely sign? The kids decorated it themselves. (I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to darken up all the letters.) I mostly took video since my sister-in-law had her camera out too, so these are pretty much the only pictures I took.

This is probably inappropriate, but I thought he looked so funny sitting there in just his bib. It will probably be one of those pictures that embarrasses him as a teenager.

These two little scalawags thought they were so funny putting their feet up on the counter. I took video of this too because they were just giggling away.

Kate with her hair pulled back. She sits nicely and lets me do her hair now—as long as I give her the spray bottle to hold while I do it. Works for me! Too bad her hairstyles only last about an hour before they completely fall apart.

Colin wanted Kate to take a picture with him. Kate had other plans.

He did something that necessitated a time out.

I guess that pleased Kate.

And all was forgiven moments later.

In other news, Nate and I went out to dinner on Saturday. This is news because it's the first time the two of us have been out alone in months and months and months. It was nice and a little weird.

Nate and Colin also went on the Boys Outing (aka the Father and Sons campout) Friday night. Colin had a great time. Nate had a pretty good time. I don't have any pictures of it, but Nate reported that Colin's favorite activities were playing in the tent, sleeping in the tent, climbing on the rocks, and throwing things in the fire. Most of the planned activities were for older kids, so Nate and Colin didn't stay long. I think Colin would love to go camping again when his cousins are out visiting this summer. Whaddya say, Cousins? Should all of the boys go camping together and leave the girls home to play?

Our garden is coming along, and if the weather will cooperate for any significant amount of time then I'll get out there and finish planting.

Kate is becoming quite the chatterbox, and she's getting pretty good at speaking intelligibly. Colin is a handful, but he's very sweet and imaginative and helpful. I'm getting bigger and bigger, and I assume that the baby inside me is doing the same. My next doctor appointment is next week, and it includes the dreaded glucose test. Bleh.

my weight loss regimen

Step 1: Be pregnant and nauseated 90% of the day.

Step 2: Have 2 active toddlers to chase.

Step 3: Allow those toddlers to wake up ridiculously early. (I find around 6:00 works best.)

Step 4: Have your 2-year-old son tell you he needs to poop only to discover that he already did in his underpants.

Step 5: Clean up diarrhea underpants mess.

Step 6: Vomit profusely.

Feel free to try this at home! It works like a charm for me! (Actually, the first 2 or 3 steps are all I really need most days.)

paper coterie

I ordered these journals online last week and they just arrived today. I love them! The website was having an open house special thing so there was a $40 credit and you just had to pay shipping. (I think it's still going until the 13th.) These little beauties ended up being $4 each, shipped. Huzzah! You can't get a journal for that at Walmart. They were packaged in the cutest boxes, and they came with a cute necklace too.

I'm really excited to start writing down the hilarious things Colin says in his journal. I've been posting a lot of them here, but I want to have them written down as well. And I'm really excited for Kate to start talking so she can say hilarious things too!

mother's day

I had a great mother's day. My sweet husband made cold cereal for all of us for breakfast. (My sensitive stomach can't really wait for anything else when I wake up in the morning.) Church was also pretty great—my kids chose to sit with other families for most of sacrament meeting so I got to listen to the talks. During Sunday school Kate blew out of her diaper, and Nate took her home to clean her up, and he kept her for the rest of church, so again I was able to sit and listen. After church the kids took a nap, I read a book and took a nap, and Nate made dinner and cleaned the kitchen. My brother brought over some homemade ice cream and played with the kids before bed. A great day.

The kids won't smile normally for the camera anymore. They always get all up in my face and want to see what I'm taking pictures of and want to help take the picture and all.

And here's the outcome of our latest blizzard, April 30th. Ridiculous.

Cheese!

Granny and Papa came over and planted potatoes with the kids last week. Next step, tomatoes and green beans.

Colin even found some tasty carrots left over from last year. Delicious.

Kate let me do her hair on Friday, and it looked cute for about an hour. Then it looked the way it usually does. Kate still rips the bows out of her hair regularly, but she loves to wear them and pick them out. This is her pointing at the bows and saying "bow." Also, she's talking a lot more and can say just about any word that begins with b. Those seem to be her favorite. She can say other things too, but most words seem to start with b.

Yep, pigtails. Her dad would have been disgusted. Also, her ruffle-y shirt was so cute I could hardly stand it.

Colin being a weirdo on the bed.

More snot-nosed Kate.

We celebrated mother's day with Nate's family on Saturday. It was nice to get that out of the way so Sunday was calm and relaxing. The cousins had a lot of fun playing outside together. They played tag for a while, but Colin didn't quite get the concept. He just chased after Bryant whether he was it or not.

Kate liked the slide. She climbed up the back all by herself (only falling once), and she even went down all by herself (landing flat on her back once) (which led my father-in-law to calling me a bad parent for videotaping her instead of helping her) (also she was fine and didn't even cry despite my neglect) (also I picked her up right after; it's not like I left her lying in the grass).