Just Kind of Funny

I was wasting some time on Pinterest and saw these pictures.  When I finally stopped laughing I thought I would add them to the blog so some of you could have a good laugh too.




I had better stop procrastinating go to bed now because no matter how long I stay up tomorrow will still be Wednesday.  I hope you had a good laugh or two.

Wednesdays are the Worst!

Jonathan on his balance bike.

Okay, no day is as bad as Sundays are right now but Wednesdays run a close second.  My friend's son will ask her what day it is every day.  She finally asked him what day he wanted it to be.  His reply was any day but Sunday.  Can I get an Amen to that!!!  It seems like every Sunday is a bad Sunday.  My mom taught me her trick -- she would take all of our temperatures to see if, by some chance, one of us could be sick and we could stay home.  We were a church-going family so without a valid excuse to stay home we went to church each and every Sunday, even though it was a day of tears... mostly my mom's.  She was a single mother of four ages 4 and under so I guess I really can't complain too much about my situation.  She also taught me the trick of raising a church-going family and that is going to church every week... unless someone happened to be sick.  I guess we will continue going to church.

As for Wednesdays, they are hit or miss and yesterday was a huge miss.  Jonathan was perfecting his terrible twos and I had misplaced my patience.  I thought if we could just make it to nap time we would all survive, not the case at all.  When Michael finally made it home I checked out.  I had a total of 60 minutes to regroup before Michael left for his bishopric meeting.  After Jonathan and I had cleaned up dinner and put Aaron down for a nap we decided to head outside to ride his balance bike up and down the street.  We couldn't go very far since we needed to be close enough to listen for Aaron but that didn't stop us from having a great time.  After over an hour or so we came back inside, read books and then off to bed.  (He didn't go to sleep for an hour after going to bed but he was in his room so I was happy.)  We made it through another Wednesday, only 200 or so to go... crossing my fingers.

Aaron, just because he seems to be forgotten sometimes.

I'm grateful for...

• Jonathan's balance bike.
• The great neighbors we passed and passed and passed all night long.
• A baby that always seems to know the right time to sleep.

So Grateful!

Our Garden Tomatoes

I have had a chance to see so many blessings in my life lately that I figured it was time to start writing them down.  I think I will start trying to add a few to the end of my blogs every time I write a post.  Life has become a bit more difficult lately but I can see the Lord's hand helping me out so it's time I start showing my gratitude.  Here goes...

I'm grateful for...

• Garden tomatoes.  I would hope I'm grateful since we planted 11 plants this year.  I can't always enjoy them so I'm really grateful when I can.
• Institute for mothers with itty bittys.  I need this and I'm so glad class starts again tomorrow.
• Immunization shots.  I'm sure my boys would not agree but it is so nice we don't have to worry about all of the diseases our parents and grandparents had to worry about.

Aaron - 4 Months

So kissable!!!

We have loved having Aaron as the newest addition in our family.  I'm not sure how we end up with perfect babies but somehow we do.  He has just entered the smile/giggle phase and it melts my heart.  I love sitting with him and Jonathan and just laughing to pieces.  He loves his brother so much and is always looking around to find him and see what he is doing.  It has been so fun to see their relationship develop because I think Jonathan loves Aaron just as much.  Aaron is a great sleeper other than he thinks he needs to wake up a six every morning.  (I guess I should be grateful he has slept through the night since he was about 2 months old.)  Our day consists of eating, sleeping and lots of smiles and giggles.  I guess there is also how I try to keep him out of harms way with his two year old rambunctious brother around.  We love Aaron so much!

Stats:
Length - 26.5 in -- 94%
Weight - 15.82 lbs -- 72%
Head - 16.5 in -- 45%

Such cute brothers!

Things Aaron loves to do these days...

• Laugh and smile at everyone and everything.
• Jump in his jumper seat.
• Kick and wiggle.
• Dance!!!
• Listen to good classical music.
• Drool and spit bubbles.
• Grab onto his elephant attached to his car seat.
• To talk.
• Watching the ceiling fans go around and around.
• Being outside and going for short walks... it's too hot for long ones.
• Taking baths.

Things he doesn't like as much...

• Having his hair scrubbed.
• Loud noises when he's tired.
• Having things tossed at his head by his brother... can you blame him?
• Pacifier or anything to help soothe and calm him... he works it out so I can't complain.
• His shots... big ouch.

I am so grateful for my beautiful healthy little family!  Not sure why I'm so lucky but I'll take it.

Our Extra Roommate

Too long! (And this picture was taken back on July 12th.)

After Jonathan uses every blanket, pillow and toy to fill the Pack and Play
he jumps in and wants Aaron to join him. 
Give him a few more months.

We have loved having our extra roommate Aaron stay with us but a couple of weeks ago he grew too long for his bassinet.  We keep going back and forth on whether we should put him in the crib with his new roommate Jonathan.  Jonathan can climb into the crib but chooses not to but who knows if that would change once Aaron is in there to entice him.  The thing I worry about more is what is pictured above.  Jonathan loves to toss every blanket, pillow and stuffed animal into the crib.  I finally set up the Pack and Play and this is what happened.  I think we will have a roommate for a bit longer... it's a good thing he's such an easy roommate.

The Twins

Zack left, Aaron right.  (3 weeks old)

I don't think I have introduced the twins yet on the blog.  Well here they are.  My sister-in-law Nikki (married to my brother Eric) was due the week before me.  The best part isn't that these two were born two and a half days apart but that their personalities are very similar.  It has been fun to watch them grow together.  These cousins will be best friends.

Zoo Days

The zoo train. We view the train more than we ride it.

This year is the year of the zoo.  At the beginning of the summer we decided to buy a zoo pass with my Sister-in-law Nikki.  I figured we live so close and Jonathan loves animals.  It has been one of the best investments of my life.  We seem to head up to see the Roar Agua (Polar Bear) at least once or sometimes twice a week.  Because we have a pass I don't feel like I have to stay long.  We go up and see a couple of animals, wear Jonathan out and head home.

Today Jonathan woke up grumpy so what did we do after we were ready for the day?  We headed up to the zoo.  We stopped by the monkeys, then down to the elephants, had to stop by the rhinos (this is when Jonathan snorts and snuffs), pass by the river otters (who we have only seen once), then to the seals/sea lions, a visit with the polar bear and then the grizzly bears.  After all of that it is really whatever we feel like.  Today we made our way over to the giraffes, then up to the tigers and over to the bird show.  (Jonathan has seen the bird show three times and loves it more every time we go.)  We stopped by the train on our way out and headed home with two very sleepy boys.  It is the perfect outing for a mom who doesn't have the energy to deal with a cranky pants all day long.

Michael and Jonathan waiting for the seals to come around.

The boys showing off their giraffe necks.

Jonathan watching the sleeping tiger.

The crocodile.  Please note the dead rat floating in the foreground.

A couple of fun stories from the zoo.

The first time Jonathan was able to get up close to see the polar bear he was more than impressed.  The polar bear loves to swims and will swim right up to the glass and push off.  He does this over and over.  Jonathan was up there with another little friend Cadence and as the bear came up out of the water they both screamed and broke into tears.  Later on Cadence started yelling for cousin Chloe to back away from the tiger.  We all got a pretty big kick out of these reactions.

Here comes the roar agua. That is Jonathan up by the glass... he loves the polar bear now.

The same day as the polar bear interaction was the grizzly bear encounter.  We were watching the three grizzly bears playing in the water when the mom next to us threatened to throw her toddler into the bear exhibit and the bears would eat his brains if he didn't listen to her.  Jonathan looked over at her and said, "No, No, No!" while shaking his fingers at her.  She didn't hear him so he tapped her on the shoulder to tell her again.  I apologized for the tap and quickly walked away... even though Jonathan was clearly in the right.

We love the zoo!!!