Painting Time

So when we got Nate the easel for his birthday, we got him an art pack that came with everything he needed to enjoy it to the fullest. Up until now I have not been adventurous enough to get out the paints. Nate actually did a good job of it, and we even kept things clean. I am kind of anal about Nate's toys. I inventory all of the pieces regularly to make sure that we have all of them. I also like to keep things clean. This is a problem with art paraphernalia. We did make it through the experience with the easel no worse for the wear.
We thought that today would be a good day to try out the paints so that Nate can make some pictures for my dad who is going to undergo surgery for a tumor pressing on the nerves in his neck. He has been battling cancer for a while now, and we are confident that he will get through it, even if the doctors are not so sure. It is one of the times in my life that I am so glad to have the gospel in my life. I don't think we could have gotten through this without the Lord's help.
Anyway, I get to go down to the hospital and sit with my mom while she waits for my dad to be out of surgery. It is an 8 hour thing. I won't be able to be there the whole time, but I will come down for the second half of the day. My sister-in-law Cammi is going to come and watch the boys for me so I can go. She really helps me so much with the kids, and I am so glad to have her close.
So that's it. Kind of a disjointed entry, but my thoughts are a bit disjointed today.

Camping

So this weekend we had a tiny camping excursion. We went with our friends the Vandres. It used to be when we first got married and moved out here, that if we said we were with our friends, that we meant the Vandres. The happened to be our only friends. It turned out that Jesse and Dessi ended up being related on both sides of their family, like 3rd or 4th cousins or something. Anyway, that is not really the point. The point is, they have been our friends pretty much the entire time we have been married.

So this is our third time to go camping with them. The last 2 times we have gone for 2 nights, and the Vandre's have joined us on the second night. This year we decided that one night would probably be plenty for us as well. There is a nice little State park not too far from our house, so we went there.

We got there on Friday a little before lunch and had some time to play in the lake. Graham got a little tired, so took a nap on a blanket. What a good boy.

After the lake we went and set up camp... Well, after the torrential downpour. That happens this time of year, late afternoon thunderstorms. But it did it's thing, and we waited it out, and then it was done, and we were able to set up camp, and still make dinner. We always do this yummy dutch oven chicken dinner. It is always a winner. We always have way too much though, so since we were right across from the camp host, and we had gone over to borrow a can opener, since for the third year running we forgot to bring one (and by "we" I mean "me") We asked him if he wanted to have some dinner and cobbler for dessert. So that saved us from throwing a delicious dinner out, since we didn't think to bring Tupperware camping.

The kids all did pretty well. Nate enjoyed running from one site to the other, and running around in the tents. The only problem was that he had to take his shoes off inside the tent, and then he could never get them back on. So we did that all day long. He went barefoot for a while here and there. He is turning into a barefoot child. He certainly didn't get that from me.

It's always just a little difficult to camp with kids, just because of bed time. Nate stayed up way late, so he went down pretty easy, but it wasn't so with all of the kids. Graham ended up in our bed once we went to sleep because I didn't feel like him waking up every hour in the pack and play and wondering where he was. He did sleep pretty well once he was in bed with us. Just up a few times to eat and that was it. Of course, when we put Nate to bed, he thought that it would be much comfier to sleep on our air bed instead of on a sleeping bag on the floor. Smart kid. I told him that he would have to get into his sleeping bag when we went to bed, and he was fine with that.

Saturday we got up and made pancakes, sausage and hash browns for breakfast. We eat pretty well while camping. We were supposed to go back to the lake, but the sky was a bit overcast, and some of the smaller kids were losing it since there was no good nap time on Friday, so we skipped it and just came home. We were home in time for lunch, and naps in our own beds.

So that was our overnight camping trip. Nate has been asking to go camping for 2 weeks (I know, who is the idiot who told him so early?) And as we were getting into the car to come home, he started up again with the "I want to go camping" So this could be something he asks for regularly. I guess we'll see.

And finally, funny story- true story- I totally forgot to pack a bra. We wore our swimming suits up to the lake, and I wasn't thinking about that when I packed, one thing led to another, and well, let's just say I wore my swimming suit more than I had planned on.

The End

Happy Birthday Nate!!!

So on the 2nd, Nate turned 3 years old. In addition to the number of fun things that he says, he is turning out to be a great little boy. We had a great birthday for him. We had a large party the Saturday before his birthday. We invited pretty much everyone we knew, and surprisingly enough, most of them came. We BBQed in our back yard. It was supposed to be at a local park, but it was a bit rainy that day. Fortunately it cleared up a bit before the party was supposed to start, so we could let the kids run around outside.

Nate loved his birthday cake that Grandma White made for him. It had cars on it, and a number 3, both things that Nate loves.

We tie dyed shirts at the party, and Nate now loves his new shirt. Unfortunately, I could not find the camera while the party was going on, so no pictures of the festivities. I'd say thanks to all of you who attended, but I think that only like 4 people who came read this blog.

Nate loved all of his new gifts, but he especially loved his new pool thanks to Grammy and Grandad Markham. He has been playing with it a lot lately.

Graham also loves the pool once I figured that he could sit in the float, and he figured he could push himself around all by himself.

On his birthday we had our own little party. We got a giant cookie from the store, and Nate loved that. Unfortunately he kind of got too close to the candle the first time he tried to blow them out, but he managed to get it eventually.

He had some fun presents from us, including a brand new easel.

So happy birthday little boy. I love you!

Happy 6 month birthday Graham

At the beginning of the month Graham hit the half year mark. The sad story is that last week at church I thought, just one more year until we can go to nursery.

But I do enjoy my little baby. I am coming to terms with the fact that he is never going to sleep through the night. He has only done it twice so far. He is a much better sleeper during the day though. He has started to sleep for a few hours in the morning. That sometimes makes it a little more difficult to run errands, but we get by.

At his doctor appointment he weighed in at 17 lbs. He is staying around the 50th percentile in most everything. He's a pretty healthy little boy. He has had some drooly rash on his neck, but that has been going away since his new favorite position is on his tummy on the floor. He gets around pretty well for a baby who is not crawling. He rolls all over the place and pivots and even has started scooting. He has been experimenting with getting his knees underneath himself, so we'll see where that leads us.

He is working hard on his bottom two teeth. I hope they come through in the next week. He is not sitting up well on his own, but that is mostly because whenever he sits he wants to reach for something and would rather be on his stomach for the added mobility.

And lastly, for a baby who does not really know what a hug is, he gives the best huggs in the world. I love getting him up from his nap, because I know there is always a great big hug in it for me.

So there you have it, happy 6 month birthday Graham.

A Sampler

So here are some random pictures from the last few weeks.

We have Nate and I looking out over Frederick at an overlook that Jesse found on a bike ride with a friend.

Some cute pictures of my baby.

And a little light reading. I walked into my room one day to find Nate and Graham like this. Yes, the book is upside down.

In Honor of Father's Day

So am I the only one who has a husband who allows the children to do questionable things? You know, things that you would not let the kids do, he just doesn't even think about? Since Nate is so quick to pick things up (see previous post) I try to be quite conscious of what TV he watches. We mostly watch PBS- I love it, no commercials for Sponge Bob or anything. Well, when Daddy gets home it is a different story. Jesse wants to unwind and he does that with the TV on. So sometimes they watch motorcycle racing or drag racing or stuff like that since Nate loves cars. Recently Jesse decided to take Nate's love of cars in a different direction, and put on Pimp my Ride. This morning Nate woke up and the one desire of his little 3 year old heart was to watch Pimp my Ride. There is nothing like hearing your little boy say, "pimp my ride man!" So thank you daddy, for starting your legacy. The cherry on the top of this story? When I told Nate that he had to wait until Daddy got home to watch the show- he started to sing "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home."

One weird kid

Well, we have tons to catch up on, but I don't have the time right now, so I'm just going to tell you some of the weirder things that Nate does. First of all, he has been a little snotty this morning, and I think it is funny that whenever he wipes his noes, he always crumples the kleenex up into the smallest ball possible first, and then wipes. I have no idea where he learned that.
Also, he has been picking up on everything that we say. He loves the Bee Movie, and at one point they mention "making out" and now Nate will just randomly say, "I wanna make out!" Then on Sunday Jesse was looking at my phone and he said that it was about to die, and so Nate chimes in with: "I wanna die!" So whenever he says this I now try not to laugh too much in hopes that he will quit saying it. Also, the other day we were saying prayers, and I was telling him what to say, and instead of "thank you for this day" He said, "Thank you for Nate" Of course, Jesse and I laughed, so then after everything that I said, he said "Thank you for Nate." instead of the real thing.
So there is my kid. At that age where he is keeping me amused every day.
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