so many pictures

Potty = meh. I don't really want to potty train Colin right now—that darn Kate just demands too much attention. Silly baby. It feels to me like Colin isn't ready yet, but he loves to use the potty when he wants to. He gets really excited and wants to try to pee in the potty and get his prize, but then he doesn't care much about it the rest of the day. I would like to just pack everything away and try him again in a few months, but I have a hard time telling him, "No, you can't go potty right now." That feels like a step in the wrong direction. So for now I'm not bringing it up, and I'll work with him when he wants to.


And in Kate news, Kate cut her first tooth on Friday. Huzzah! She's been a little fussy at feeding time, but really this whole teething thing could have been a lot worse. Kate's also getting ready to crawl. She pushes herself up on her hands and knees. And she can scoot backwards and forwards (with the aid of her head). She's a very happy and smiley baby, but no one seems to believe me because she gets mad when other people hold her. But when she's with me all day she's a joy, so there.


On Saturday Nate's family came over and helped us get our garden planted. Nate and I have a huge area set aside for a garden, so we're doing a bit of community gardening with the rest of the family. We're growing the bulk of the veggies, especially the ones with the big, vine-y plants. I'm even going to plant a pumpkin in the backyard so that the kids have their very own to harvest this fall. I think that will be fun.


Mother's Day was great. Nate let me sleep in till 8:00 on Saturday morning, and he made me pancakes (which he brought to me in bed) while he took care of the kids! Awesome! (We have early church on Sunday, so this kind of thing really had to be done on Saturday.) Then on Sunday I got to wear my fancy new shoes (my present from Nate) to church, and then we went over to Granny and Papa's house for dinner. Nate and his siblings made alfredo and garlic bread and spinach salad. It was so nice to eat a dinner that I didn't have to prepare or clean up afterward. The only regret I have from Mother's Day is that I didn't get a picture of me with my kids. Boo.


Well, on to the other pictures...


This is what Colin did when I asked him to show me how happy he was.

Also, he is quite the monkey these days. He climbs on everything! Sometimes I feel like I'm impeding his abilities by telling him to get down all the time.

Colin sitting on the potty, so proud.

And so intent on watching "Potty Power!"

I think he was dancing...

Kate just chewing away on whatever she can get in her mouth.

Colin thought he was being so funny jumping on the couch. When I told him to get down he would pretend to sleep on the "pillow."

And then he would start jumping again.

Colin still likes to play the piano. I have a video of him telling me what songs he was playing. He likes to look at the primary book, and he knows the name of the song by the picture.

On Thursday Hannah and I took the kids to Jumpin' Jacks in Springville. Me and my kids were free, so that was pretty awesome. And it wasn't too expensive for the others. Before the cousins got there Colin just wanted to play with Big Bird. I actually had a hard time tearing him away from Big Bird once the kids showed up. There are about a billion pictures from that afternoon, so if you aren't the mother of one of my nieces or nephews you will probably want to skip down quite a bit. (I thought this would be the easiest way to share the pictures.)

Rachie Roo coming down a slide. I think this is the only picture I have of her. She was "injured" pretty early on, so she took a turn taking pictures after that.

Mr. Mason.

The kids going up the BIG slide.

Bry Guy.

Hannah looking like a  goof.

The pictures of them actually coming down the slide were all blurry...

But here's Kaylee!

Yikes!

Mason looks like he's doing the luge.

What a handsome child! Who does he belong to?

Colin wasn't a fan of the slides, but he loved this little 5 and under play place. He kept telling me that he was pushing the snail down.

Kaylee is such a poser.

Okay, my kid is too.

I believe this is brought to you by Photography by Rachel.

Rachel also took this picture of me and Kate.

But her favorite subject was Kaylee, who obviously wasn't willing to pose for her at all.

Hi Hannah!

Headless Hannah is my favorite.

And this picture of Bry cracks me up.

Mason was so good at playing with Kate. He had her laughing so hard! I believe they were playing "Hookah" in this picture. (Others of you might call that game "Peek-a-Boo.")

Who is this wonderfully beautiful child? Why it's my Kate, all dressed up for shopping at Sam's Club. She looked so dang cute in this outfit. It's what she's going to wear when I take her in for her 6 month pictures.

And here are the gardening pictures from Saturday that I was commanded to take. Everyone worked really hard, and we got it all done in record time. (I assume it was record time. No one was actually keeping track.)

Caleb was the Till Master.

Hannah helped keep the kids occupied. They played with hula hoops and a croquet set.

Colin helped Granny plant the potatoes. He kept trying to pull the sprouts off of the potato pieces. 

Nate was the Rake Master.

In this game you had to stand in the hoop and throw the croquet ball toward another ball. 

Best face ever. (Hannah's.)

Kaylee and Rachel helped Granny plant the green beans. 

And Papa was the Hoe Master. (Is that inappropriate to say?)

Kaylee was nice enough to pose for a picture. What a shocker.