Big Brother and Little Sister

Bryce loves to lay down on Clara and talk to her. He loves to ruffle her hair. He is borderline too rough with her but the second she mades the slightest whimper, he says, "Oh!" and pats her head to say sorry. Basically, he adores his little sister. For example, tonight I had to cook dinner while monitoring (and intervening between) Bryce and Clara's playtime. Bryce kept trying to sit on her bouncer while she was still in it. Eventually, I wasn't quick enough to respond and I turned around to see this adorable scene...

 Sweet brother and sister! He finally got to sit next to her, haha!

 Awww... sweet loves!

Bryce trotted off to the backyard to play after Clara had had enough playtime. He finally discovered the cows in the back pasture. He stood at this fence watching them at the watering trough which is mere feet away from the fence. He then proceeded to walk home, as best as I could tell, like a cow. Personally, it looked more like a drunk cow or a cow trying to pretend it was a dinosaur. Nice.

Nuts for Nutella

 Oh this kid.... I couldn't find Bryce, so I walked around calling his name. Derek chimed in and ran upstairs to check the media room. All of a sudden, I hear Derek yelling, "Mom! He's up here! Come quick!" My first thought was that Bryce had somehow figured out how to open the one window in the house that doesn't have a screen door, but I found this on the landing instead. Phew!

Unashamed!

First (and probably last) Trip to the Pool

Now, before you freak out and call my kids deprived, we have a decent sized blow up pool at home. Austin and Liz invited us to their community pool today and we were excited to go. Mitchell was coming with me so I figured we'd have the kids covered between us. 

All three loaded up and ready to go - even Clara's tiny feet in the bottom right corner.

We got to the pool and all four adults were busy shuttling kids and supplies from the van into the gated pool. Isaac, Andrew and Derek were in the six inch deep kiddie pool without floaties but I made eye contact with Derek and told him sternly NOT to get in the big pool til we got his floaties. He responded in the affirmative and I went to make one last trip to get the towels. As I came back into the pool probably 90 seconds later, Liz pointed to Derek splashing in the big pool. No, not splashing - drowning. He was in water that was slightly too deep, so he was bouncing up and down on his toes so he could gasp in little breaths. I jumped in and lifted him spluttering and coughing above the water line, spun him to face me and yelled in his face, "NOT WITHOUT FLOATIES!!!" As we climbed out of the pool, the "security guard" casually walked up to me and remarked that it was a good thing I saw him because a kid in his apartment complex and drowned and died the day before. Really? REALLY?! If ever I wanted to punch someone, that was the time. Apparently, he'd been sitting on a lounge chair 10 feet from Derek playing with his phone. 

So, floaties on, swim diapers on, everybody in the water. I grabbed the wrong size floaties for Bryce, but I had him in my arms, so I felt ok with it. Mitchell had Clara and Derek was fearless with the floaties. All set. I had Emeri and Bryce for a bit trying to get Emeri to laugh (she was so not liking the water, even with her super floaties and chest floatie) so we went into the lazy river part of the pool (yeah, cool pool). Bryce wanted to walk in the foot deep water, but Emeri wasn't having any of it. As I'm trying to adjust Emeri, Bryce trips and is struggling to get back up above the water. I ended up accidentally knocking Emeri on her back while grabbing for Bryce and she promptly decided she was so done with the pool. Bryce was ok, but my nerves were fried. So yes, we're done with big pools for the summer.

Facetiming with Danny

We went to visit Nana, Aunt Bella, Aunt Amy and Aunt Val this weekend in Keller. The aunties were awesome and took the kids in the morning while I slept in this morning, but last night Bryce discovered pictures of Danny on Amy's phone. Anyone who has seen those two together knows how attached they are. Bryce carried Amy's phone around showing Danny's picture to everyone and anyone. Amy eventually got her phone back long enough to Facetime with Danny which resulted in another round of Bryce showing the phone to everyone and trying to say "Danny!" He was kind of mad when he couldn't press buttons on the phone while he was Facetiming with Danny, though, so we quickly put an end to the screaming. It was super cute while it lasted though!

Trying to talk to Danny's picture on the phone

Aunt Amy broke out the Facetime

Real-Life Treasures

We found real-life treasures at Goodwill today! I've been looking for a not-creepy baby doll for Clara for a while. I found the baby Disney princesses, but they were pretty expensive brand new..... but not at Goodwill! Clara was a little skeptical of the doll at first, but she warmed up to it after a quick taste (see photos). I let the boys pick out a board game and Derek chose this Dinosaur board game. The boys love the movie and, sure enough, the board game was an instant hit. It's simple enough that Bryce will be able to play it without help as soon as he can tell his colors apart, but Derek (and Isaac and Andrew) will be able to play with no problem. Bryce is just fascinated with moving his dinosaurs all over the board and Derek insists he wins the game anytime he rolls a red. :)

Just as we were leaving Goodwill, I realized I had dropped Clara's binkie (she was strapped to my chest so I could have my hands and the cart free. As we were walking around the store trying to find it, we passed an older gentleman and his wife. He held a child's guitar in his hands and, when he saw Derek, held it out and told him to be the next Beatle. Derek was thrilled with the guitar and refused to put it down. When I realized it was a real instrument (and only $4!!), I told Derek he could get it. Again, he was thrilled and ran off. I asked him if he had thanked the gentleman who showed him the guitar and he said, "No. Be right back, Mom!" He ran over to the gentleman, threw his arms around his thigh and said, "Thanks for the grit-ar!" The man's face went from surprise at the sudden physical assault, to surprise at the sweet, unfeigned gratitude of a child. He smiled and we moved on. These little kids are my true treasures. I'm so glad I have Derek, Bryce and Clara in my life and I can't wait to watch them grow up. They're doing an outstanding job of it.

 He loves to show me things and always puts them right in front of his face.

 Two happy little clams!

 Putting all the dinosaurs in the starting pit

 Baby Princess Clara meets Baby Princess Belle!

 "Hmmm...tastes ok to me!"

 Two little princesses!

 She loves this doll already!

 Sometimes he just cuddles his "grit-ar" like this. It's cute!

He's figuring out how to strum it.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Colton!

Happy birthday, Uncle Colton! Normally, people GET presents on their birthday, but Colton GAVE presents to the kiddos - Batman cotton candy and Pop-Its. The kids were in heaven when Colton pulled out the cotton candy and started divvying it up between all the grasping hands. Then he topped it all by taking them outside and showing them how to throw the Pop-Its against the ground (or toss them in the air) to make the loud CRACK. The kids really got into that one. Colton is more of a brownie person than a cake person, so we had brownies and ice cream to celebrate his big 2-3. Here's to hoping the next year is just as awesome!

BATMAN CANDYYYYYYYY!!! AHHHHHH!!

 Lift off! Katelyn must go, her people need her!

 Winding up for the pitch... to the concrete. The kids really got into this part.

 Even Bryce threw some of the Pop-Its on the ground. Emeri eventually warmed up to it, but they were pretty loud.

 Now that's creativity. Courtesy of Liz.

 Nathan, Andrew, Katelyn and Derek were excited for brownies and ice cream.

 Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy BIRTHday, Uncle Colton, happy birthday to YOOOOOOU!!

Art with Mommy

I had the cutest art assistant today - Clara! She sat in her bouncer watching me set up my canvas and prep this airplane spread I'm making for the boys' room. Clara was a little upset that she didn't have my undivided attention at times, but it was nice to have some time to sketch while the boys were playing outside. Awesome!

 She's our pretty pretty princess!

 Close up of the airplane art. It's going to span four 16 x 20 canvases. Whew!

I really need an art studio.

My Funny, Funny Boy

"Mom, look! I'm an ankylosaur!"

Little Bits of Joy

We've been hanging out at home most of this week, so there really hasn't been much to blog about, apart from the sweet little moments. Here are a few I got on camera.

 Watch out, she's starting to push up! Our sweet princess turned six months old a few days ago. She dropped to the 2nd percentile in weight, put on only 11 ounces in 2 months and didn't grow a single smidge of an inch. Hopefully solid foods will help her bulk up. She's happy and healthy though, even if she's a teeny tiny princess.

 Contemplating the workings of the washer

 Fascinated

 I love seeing these two interact. Derek loves his two younger siblings so much.

 So cute!

This kid loves jumping off the stairs onto beanbags

Picnic Party, Clara's Finished Mobile and Switching Trees

 Derek insisted on having a picnic breakfast with Bryce

I think they enjoyed it


 This is the "cool" way to drink milk. :)

I've had Clara's mobile hanging in the garage and I finally decided to finish it last night. I had to hot glue the flowers to the wire wreath which was problematic til I sacrificed my Riverdance shirt to provide something for the glue on the flowers to stick to. So, I glued the shirt scraps to the wire wreath, and the flowers to the shirt and it turned out better than I expected. Well worth the time, effort and money. Now, Clara has something that I hope she'll keep in her room til she has her own little girl to pass it on to. :)

 I loved having some quiet time to work on this pretty thing

 ...Ta-Da! It's more gorgeous than I anticipated. Can't wait to hang it up!

Tammy had a couple trees that she wanted the boys to move, so they spent an hour this evening digging up and replanting two of the trees in the backyard. Derek and Bryce darted outside to alternate between watching them work in fascination and happily playing in the golden sunshine. Clara was content to sit in her bouncer and watch from the patio while I took some pictures.

 Replanting the spruce tree where the maple was

What to play with first?

 No filter. Love my oldest boy!

 Derek and Bryce were excited about the mud hole Uncle Colton was making

 I caught Derek and Bryce trying to drink from a leak in the hose, so...

... I helped. Behold, Derek's first drink from a hose

 Mitchell and Colton had to dig up the sod to place the maple

 Batter up!

 Bryce loves playing with bouncy balls

 Replanting the maple

We love this backyard. The space, the view, everything.