Advantages of your kids getting older

#1 - They can do some of the work! And at this age, they still think it's fun. In fact, they even ask to do it - as if I'm ever, ever, ever, going to say no! Sir I on the other hand, just keeps jumping through their hard work. Which is pretty adorable though. And we've found a new way to make him totally happy!

#2 - They can help teach the younger kids right from wrong. Too bad this was too little, too late. Not to mention the fact that the criminal doesn't know how to read. But good intentions nonetheless.

Disadvantage #1 - They don't stay where you put them. Miss G is a-moving and proud of it. And as of yesterday, it's even starting to look slightly coordinated, instead of the jerky, downwards-facing dog to donkey kicks to face plant thing she had going on!

Name my baby

Here's 5 pics of my 3 girls in the same darling overalls. Who's who? Seems crazy obvious to me. How is it that they've always looked so different? Is it just me? Can you tell? Sorry Isaac. No pink embroidered overalls for you.

For extra fun, look at these two redheads growling! Can you tell here?

M's world

I get a version of this drawing home from school practically every day. Love the baseball caps on the boys. Also on the back, she wrote, "Myt sisr The bist tn my fameey I <3 fameey="fameey" my="my" p="p">

Kissy Kissy

 This is what M did during Stake Conference. She drew a diagram of our universe. See how much you can read. I LOVE her writing right now. I'll help you out on one. At bottom right, upside down she wrote "space storm." She's very worried about space storms lately and has informed us she will never go into outer space because how would she get away if a space storm came?

 M's drawing of the princesses.

She's getting quite prolific these days. We are drowning in papers of her drawings and such and the biggest problem is that when they're this cute, how can I just throw them out??!

What J got out of Stake Conference

 Apparently that's what she heard. She drew one for every speaker and amazingly, they were all saying the same thing! And below, it took me a bit before I noticed what all the yellow is. Can you tell?

Self portrait:

 In case you were having trouble differentiating between the two, I just found this taped to the wall:

Ms. Rolly-Polly Bumcheeks is finally sitting on her own!

"I know," she says, "I'm just as surprised as you are!"

"But come to think about it, I'm pretty cool for getting this down. It makes me quite happy to be off the ground."

"Oooooh dear. Momentary loss of concentration and I get a face full of carpet. Ouch. Happens every time."

"Hey! You're down here too! How fun! What's that silly thing in your hands? If you'll just inchworm a little closer to me, I'll see how it tastes!"

Fun with Grammy and Papa

Back up a little to, oh say, August 25th ... we had visitors! Grammy and Papa came to visit and it was as good as Christmas. They brought a minivan full of things we hadn't been able to bring when we moved, such as bins of clothes for G that were too big then but ready to roll now, tools that were still in our old shed, a basketball hoop, lots of frames and other things, and 200 lbs of fresh-from-the-tree Oregon fruit for canning. Oh how I miss Oregon orchards in the fall. I could've cried over all these beautiful fresh pears and apples. With all that, they barely had enough room for themselves, but somehow they made it halfway across the country and we had a blast! Dude took a little bit to warm up, as is to be expected of the little stinker, but he finally did and then asked for them for days after they'd left (actually funny story, the morning they left he had been following Papa around like a little shadow. Just happy as could be. When he understood they were leaving however, he got mad at them and wouldn't pay them any more attention. He wouldn't even look them in the eye or wave goodbye. Serious stinker). Of course we took them over to Medora to see the Badlands:

Chasing grasshoppers:

And played at the fantastic playground in Medora, where each of the kiddos had a grand time no matter how it may appear:

In between the fun and games, Grammy and Papa were hard at work helping us design and fill our front yard! It's been such an eyesore, but naturally Grammy worked her magic. The girls had a blast helping her out, constantly asking what they could do next and watering their hearts out (of course the day after we bought all the plants it was over 100 degrees! Yikes!). Now we just have to help it survive the upcoming winter and freezing temps that are already descending at night!

Dude has started jumping in front of any picture being taken. He wants his 10 minutes of fame.

We miss having them around for sure (the grown-up company, free babysitting, and all-around help was so so nice)! We loved the time we got to spend with them while here! Come back soon!

Officially terribly 2!

Our little man had his big day on Sunday and is now 2 in name and in deed (He has been acting 2 for awhile with all the fun stuff that goes with it, but now he's no longer pretending. It's for reals). We considered inviting people over to eat cake with us, but then we thought about how he doesn't really like people. Since it was his birthday, we decided not to stress him out (we did bring cupcakes to nursery and as if to prove me right, when they sang to him there he sat on the other side of the room scowling at them all, refusing to make eye contact!). So it was just us (and family on Skype), singing and eating pink firetruck cake.

Some of my favorite things about our mini-Man:

~When he's excited he gallops.
~Whenever he tackles anyone or is tackled by someone (happening more and more frequently), he yells, "FOOTBALL!"
~He loves his sisters. Nothing makes him happier than making them laugh. Which, increasingly, he thinks is fun to do during family prayer time.
~Despite usually being on the go, he has always loved snuggling and reading books.

His favorites:

~The colors pink and purple. They're the only two he consistently identifies. Think he has big sisters?
~Dinosaurs. So cute how he says that!
~Cereal. It is quite literally all he ever wants to eat.
~Otay. It's the word he says more than anything else, so it must be his favorite. Though my favorites of his would be otopuh (octopus), taint oo mama (thank you mama),  and eh me, i see oo (it's me, I see you).
~Mama. I don't mean to sound egotistical but to this little guy, I am all that.
~Old McDonald Had A Farm. Jesus Want Me For A Sunbeam. I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
~His blankie and binkie. Those rank just under me on the scale of importance in his eyes. He couldn't survive life right now without them. So much so that when I was putting Baby G to sleep the other day, he ran up two flights of stairs to bring me one of her blankies. Without me having asked. So cute!
~His new train set and table is his new favorite thing! He loves pushing the trains over the bridge and down the hill. It's just so exciting he can rarely keep from jumping!

Happy Birthday Bud! We love you!!

Frustrated circus ambitions

Today I was outside talking to a friend while the girls played about 20 feet away. I noticed, without thinking anything of it, that they tied two jump ropes together and tied one end to the playset and the other end to a branch of the tree. I was vaguely overhearing talk about wanting to be in a circus, again without thinking anything of it. I glanced over at them and saw M standing in the tree with one foot out above the rope. As I looked away, warning bells suddenly went off as I put everything together and yelled, "M! Don't you dare step out of that tree. That is NOT a tight rope! That is NOT safe!!!" "But MOOOOOMMMMM," they both whined. "We want to practice being in the circus!" "Yeah! Not okay. That is ... just so far from being safe. You can't do that!" As M continued protesting, J thought for a second and then brightened as she said, "But what if we hold an umbrella while we do it? Then we can, right?" Oh sure. No problem then. Don't know why I didn't think of the umbrella in the first place. Clearly that would make it all okay. "No."