fine, I'll update the blog: part two, june

And now June.

The big kids were playing under the blanket and Gray would squeal with delight when he lifted the blanket and found them. He really does love him a game of peek-a-boo. He also loves flopping down and giving the blankets some love.

There was a free admission day to This is the Place Park in SLC one day at the beginning of the month. My mom and I braved the throngs of people and took the kids up. It was hot, crowded, and super fun. This is the Place had really changed from when I went there as a kid.

We started the day off by watching the Native American dancers and eating snacks.

The costumes were amazing.

I can't remember for sure what her dance was called, but it was something along the lines of the Fancy Fringe Shawl Dance.

There was a section of the park that had miniature houses/cabins. The kids liked looking around, but not so much going inside.

The favorite part of the day—free ice cream cone!

Gray went to town on mine/his.

Riding the mini-train.

Best group picture I could get on the train.

We had a lot of fun at the park. We listened to some stories from the descendants of early pioneers, played, and rode all the different trains/cars/strollers/etc.

My kids love to play Mowgli. Some days it's difficult to keep them clothed.

All the kids love Seth. They are in heaven having him unemployed and living in the basement. And while Seth loves playing with them, I know he wants a job. Let us all pray for Seth.

Aww, Sweet Kate.

Going on a walk one day. We do that a lot. And all 3 kids think they need to ride on the stroller. I shouldn't complain, because it's pretty much the only exercise I get pushing them around. Gray has to be tied down tight to keep him from escaping and trying to leap from the stroller. Yes, Kate is wearing pajamas.

I hope this doesn't offend anyone. It's just Gray sporting a (clean) nursing pad as a yarmulke. It's cute, right? Anyway, it made me laugh.

Colin and Kate get in to the strangest outfits. They both love to dress up so much.

Kate isn't wearing anything under that apron. Silly.

This is their favorite way to watch shows.

And now to Colin's birthday. His birthday is the 29th, and we celebrated on the 30th so a few Iowa cousins could be there with us. Also in attendance, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and his best friend Tracy (and her husband Jeff). Colin loves superheroes, and when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he said, "Superhero." He wouldn't (couldn't) be more specific than that, so we had a generic superhero birthday. I made felt masks and rounded up some capes for everyone to wear. Tracy and Jeff were awesome and dressed up, but I couldn't find my camera for the first half of the party. We also had Tootsie Pops with capes and masks, a Superman cake, and ice cream cones. (Ice cream cones are a big deal in this house.)

Here's Cousin Mason all decked out in his superhero finest. I threw together a game for the kids to play that consisted of using squirt guns to fight their way through a group of ninja balloons where they then had to squirt water on Batman and Wonder Woman to free them from blocks of ice.

Also, if any family members have pictures of this party, I would love to get a copy of those.

Gray chillin' with Granny and Papa.

Yay food!

"A Clayton gun!" That was his dream present. He's been waiting like 4 months to get a cool big gun (like the kind the bad guy, Clayton, uses in Tarzan).

Giving hugs after opening presents.

And that does it for June. Thanks for playing.

fine, I'll update the blog: part one, may

The longer I put off updating the blog, the harder it got to motivate myself to update it. But here for your viewing pleasure are pictures of my family from the second half of May.

At some point Gray decided he liked people food. He liked to eat it and he liked to wear it.

He also likes to play peek-a-boo.

This is Gray's favorite place to play in the kitchen.

We went to the splash pad in Spanish Fork with Brad and DeAnna. Kate didn't want to get wet this time, though in general she loves to.

Colin never has a problem gettin gwet.

I built a sweet Lego tower that went all the way to the ceiling. It used almost all of our Lego pieces. I yelled for Nate to come and hold it for me so I could take a picture. (He also had to put the last few pieces on because he is taller than I am.)

And that's all the pictures I have from the end of May. I'm pretty sure Brad and DeAnna came to visit and it was awesome. Right? Was that in May? My brain hurts.

Walker, Baby Gray

Gray is walking now. He took his first steps a week or so ago, but he's walking more and more now. He's getting pretty good, too. I both love and hate this milestone, because it means my baby is quickly becoming a toddler. Gray took his first steps right at the same age as Colin, a week before he was officially 11 months old. (Kate walked a little more than month earlier.) Well done, my boy. Well done.

mispronunciated

Words Kate mispronounces that I find adorable:

family—flamly
goblin—globlin
butterfly—blutterfly

Notice a pattern? I'm sure there are more. She's so stinkin' cute. I love her.

imagination

At my house right now Dash (Colin) and Elastigirl (Kate) are running through the house fighting the little monsters to take the secret message to the Queen. Elastigirl likes to pick up the little monsters and bring them to me. Gray and I are the helpers. Oh, now I'm Violet and I have to go on a treasure hunt to look for bears. Got to go!

mothers day, etc

I thought I had better blog while Colin was at Joy School so he couldn't stand behind me and read what I'm typing over my shoulder. He's been doing that lately. I'm amazed at how much he learns and how quickly he retains new information. It's hard for me to remember that he is only 3 when he acts so much older sometimes. (Most of the time he acts like a 3-year-old, what with the craziness, disobedience, and general naughtiness.)

Gray's high chair was taken outside for a good scrubbing, and then it was left outside to dry, and then it rained during the night so it was still wet in the morning. So Gray got to sit at the counter like the big kids. He was pretty excited.

He looks so little, which is kind of a new thing for him since he's such a behemoth.

I love this shirt, even though you can't really see it in the picture. It says Li'l Stinker. Also, Gray has the most beautiful dimples in his fat face.

Colin puts together some of the best dress up outfits. I can't tell if he was a pirate or Prince Phillip or a Star Wars guy or just a cool dude. His look has elements of all of them.

Gray likes to chew this squishy football. I believe Kate was poking him in the face while I took the picture.

Another classic Kate sleeping pose. What a weirdo.

Gray LOVES the curtains. He will play in them forever. He also likes to stand against the sliding glass door and look outside. He also likes to smash his face against the door and blow raspberries.

After a bout of mastitis, I decided to take the kids to the park for a picnic to remind them that I really am  a nice mom and I do like to play with them. We had a great time. This was Gray's first time in a swing at the park. He might have played in the swing at Granny's before, but I don't know.

They stayed in the swings forever. They were having such a great time.

Here is a picture of my Mothers Day present from Nate. We played Deal or No Deal. There were 20 prizes that ranged from 1 penny to a complete bedroom makeover. Some of the prizes were a Twix bar, 2 Twix bars and a Redbox movie, dinner at Zupas, a tent and sleeping bags, a Silhouette machine, a Bosch, a shopping spree, an iPad, a new bed, and a fancy Amish-made bed. Nate made a spreadsheet and randomized the numbers. With each round Nate had a website that told him how to calculate the offers for me. I ended up taking an offer, but if I would have held out with my original pick I would have gotten a new bed (assuming Nate actually paid up). Oh well. Maybe next year. Nate had a lot more fun than I did, because I had anxiety over winning a good gift and not a crappy one. Nate just laughed and laughed. I think we'll have to play again for Fathers Day. Sunday evening we ate dinner at Caleb's house with Nate's family, and it was delicious. Nate made smoked salmon that was awesome, and I don't even like fish. We had a great time visiting over there, and then we came back to our house to play games with my family. I had a great day. I love Mothers Day. And I love my sweet husband for being extra nice to me. And I love my sweet kids for continuing to let me be their mother. They are terrific.

We found a cool huge machine on our walk to quilt group the other day. Colin loves him some huge machines.

Kate rocking the the side ponytail. She looked so adorable this morning. What a sweet girl.

The end. I'll try to blog again before another month goes by.

the rest of april

Oh blogger. I wish I could say that I have missed our time together, but I really haven't. And when did the posting format change? Where have I been? Oh, right, taking care of 3 little kids. Anyway, here's what I can remember from April.

On April 6th it snowed. It was weird.

On April 8th Kate did her own hair and bit the Connect 4 game. It made me laugh.

Blurry Instagram Gray. Still adorable.

Gray rocking a pair of shorts that Hannah bought for Colin back in the day. They are really cute, and so is my boy. Speaking of my boy, he's been crawling on his hands and knees for about a month. Once he turned 8 months old it was like a switch flipped and he decided that he was a big boy. Yay for Gray! He also signs a bit, loves to eat people food (NOT baby purées), babbles, spits, wags his tongue, cruises along the furniture, bites when he gives hugs and kisses, smiles constantly, wrestles with his brother and sister, gets up to eat once during the night, and he is my constant companion and buddy. I love his happy, easygoing nature.

Bucket head!

Awww, I miss his crazy-long hair. We cut it last week.

Gray is a super climber like his sister. He crawled up onto the bed after I took this picture. Then I made him get down.

Kate sleeps in the strangest positions. She fell asleep half standing up, half folded over her bed. She's done this several times.

Light sabers! I'm an awesome mom! Best $2 dollars I've ever spent. The kids love these so much.

I asked Kate to put some clothes on before she went outside, so she put on shoes, a jacket, and a hat. She neglected to put on pants or a shirt. I let it go.

easter

For Easter we were all sick. We didn't hunt for eggs. We didn't have Easter baskets. We didn't go to church. We didn't get new clothes. The end.

good news!

So, today Gray crawled like a big boy, for about 5 paces. But still! Way to go, son! Keep on keepin' on.