Birthday Boy!

Tuesday was Jason's third birthday. Justin's family came over that evening for a little Mexican fiesta/ birthday party. As Jason’s birthday approached the only reply he ever gave about what he wanted for his birthday was "tars" = cars. He was not disappointed.

I suggested to my mom that she send some little plastic animals so Jason would have some figurines to play with his cars. They were a huge hit.

I was a little disappointed with Jason's birthday cake. The egg-free cake recipe we've discovered tastes best with chocolate icing so decorating a fun character cake wasn't really an option. Of course Jason couldn't have cared less if it was a fancy cake and loved his make-shift car cake.

This morning Jason had his three year checkup with our pediatrician. Here’s his stats:

Weight: 37 pounds (93% percentile)

Height: 40 ¼ inches (97% percentile)

Fun Facts about Jason

Nicknames include: J, Bud and Buddy

Jason refers to his family as: Daddy, Mama or mommy, "Aba" has evolved into "aba-dale", "Esa" has long since been replaced with "la-lee", And his baby sister is fondly refered to as "tae-tee"

Jason still takes naps nearly every day (see post below)

Has zero interest in potty-training; however he did go #2 in the potty a week or so ago - but we have a LONG way to go. I'm totally fine with that though, I always say, I'd much rather change a diaper than clean up any sort of accident.

Is starting to understand that certain foods he's allergic to will make him sick. Thankfully (and quite uncharacteristic) he never gets upset when we tell him he can't eat something.

He'd still eat a nut or cookie though if it was offered to him so we still have a long way to go.

Didn't even get close to qualifying for pre-school through the county, which in reality is great news.

He will get speech therapy this fall; however it's no longer from the convenience of our house.

Has quite the growl which he likes to use when chasing his sisters

Our loudest two year old yet - we're hoping three is a little more toned down

Is very territorial and claims any place he wants as "my spot"

Usually gets his way, likely because he's the loudest when he doesn't

LOVES to say prayers, with help of course

Has recently learned how to do somersaults

Dora the Explorer has replaced Curious George as his favorite show

If asked to sing something, 9 times out of 10 he'll sing, "that's Elmo's world."

Can count from one to five and from eight to thirteen

Does really well singing along with the ABC song.

Has all of his teachers fooled into believing he is the most easy-going, sensitive and selfless boy around (as split personality as it sometimes seems, I'm grateful his more difficult side only comes out at home.)

Thinks he's as big as his older sisters and should be able to play outside without adult supervision (I'm not budging on this one)

Apparently he has quite the crush on a tiny little 18 month old in nursery.

Is talking a ton! Really, just enormous improvements in the last few months. Since we didn't get the video camera out on his birthday I decided to video tape him yesterday. Here's his lengthy interview:

LOVES to ride the scooter and thankfully is clueless that he shouldn't be riding a princess scooter

Has many battle marks from said scooter, but he's a tough kid and gets right back on

Would much rather bleed than get a band-aid

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Classic

After Jason and Katie went down for their naps today I headed outside into the heat to finish staining our patio furniture and do a little yard work. A few hours passed when I heard Katie on the baby monitor. This is what I found as I started upstairs to get her.

He must be comfy cause it’s been another hour and he’s still sleeping soundly.

Summer Hours

One of my favorite things about summer time is sleeping in and I take advantage of the opportunity any chance I get. Over the course of last Wednesday morning one-by-one each of the kids found their way into my bed. Despite the look on Jason’s face he was actually quite happy to be snuggling up with his four favorite girls.

Oh, and notice Carly’s smile? I told you she would wiggle out more teeth.

3 Months Old

After having three amazing and overall easy, well-behaved kids I remember thinking we might be pushing our luck to have a fourth. Like what are the odds we would get four of the very best. But we did. I just don't get tired off this girl.

There are times I am going somewhere when it's best not to have her with me, but it's never about wanting to be without her. I'm so grateful I feel that way. I’m not the only one who adores Miss Katie…

She is such a good baby. She and I, we've got each other figured out.

Katie is still figuring out her daddy (actually I think it's him figuring her out) but thankfully she isn't giving him as much gruff anymore when he's in charge.

Katie has been sleeping in her own room for the past month. She seems so tiny in that great big bed.

She stills ends up sleeping with me sometimes after her early morning feeding which I don't mind (I actually really enjoy that part)

I’m finding it a little more difficult to get her down for a nap during the day. If she had it her way I'd just hold her all day and never get anything done. I’m starting to doubt that she’ll be as great of a napper as her big brother. She just doesn’t want to miss any of the action around here.

Unless it's bedtime, she'll usually wake up if I try to move her while she's sleeping. Who would want to disturb this?

Carly was the first one to get Katie to laugh – she has an adorable little giggle.

Katie fell asleep in the swing for the first time a few weeks ago. Doesn't it seem strange that it took 2 1/2 months? Of course she conked out 5 minutes before we had to leave so she couldn't enjoy it.

Katie smiles even for complete strangers. I think she may be my most smiley baby.

Continues to burrow herself to sleep. If someone didn't know better they would think she was extremely uncomfortable, but it's just her unique style. Here she is nuzzling with Abigail:

I went to a baby shower last night for a friend and as she was unwrapping all those little newborn clothes it made me a little sad. Although I LOVE the stage Katie is in, I already miss that newborn stage and wish time would just slow down a little.

Saturday in Seattle

We decided to spend the day in Seattle on Saturday

First stop was the Ballard Locks

We saw lots of fish making their way up the fish ladders.

Jason once again found the volume of the water too loud for his liking

Covering his ears (ear) even while holding daddy's hand

This is Jason’s “take picture of me Mommy” face

It's not very often that we find ourselves near my favorite Italian restaurant (Macaroni Grill) so it was the perfect spot for lunch

After little shopping at University Village we made our way through traffic and detours to Coulon Beach. We finally found a parking spot just in time for dinner at Justin's favorite fish house, Ivar's.

In January we found out that Abigail and Jason could both eat fin-fish (However, Abigail is still allergic to shell-fish). This was the first time either of them has tried fish and they both loved it.

Abigail was actually so shocked/embarrassed that she liked it that she wouldn't let me take a picture of her.

The big kids played at the beach and park after dinner while Katie and I hung out in the shade at a much quieter end of the park.

We had a fun day together and it was great to get a break from the yard work that has occupied most of our Saturdays lately.

Happy Half-Birthday Abigail!

Okay, so we’ve never celebrated someone’s half-birthday before, but I’ve been wanting to try a new egg-free chocolate cake and since Abigail is officially 8 ½ today - it sounded like a great reason (not that I ever need an excuse to make dessert).

The first thing Carly said when she was saying the prayer at dinner tonight was “we’re thankful that we are able to celebrate Abigail’s half birthday today.” Sounds like I may have started something…

And in case you're wondering… this was the best egg-free cake I’ve found yet.

Twitterpatted

Can you blame me?

Happy 4th of July!

For those of you in Utah let me just say, celebrating Independence Day in Utah is the best. Every town has a parade and they throw out candy, movies, toys, and t-shirts. You have the choice of several different amazing firework shows within minutes of your house. If the 4th actually falls on a Sunday I think it's pretty safe to say that most festivities would be held on Saturday for all us Mormons. All the festivities are free and entirely family friendly. And although I don't love your 90-degree weather, it actually feels like summer on the 4th of July.

Justin's parents have been trying to get us to their ward 4th of July breakfast ever since we moved here. It only took nine years, but we finally made it yesterday morning. After a wonderful breakfast and a few patriotic songs the kids were able to participate in a little parade. The owners of the barn where the activity was held also own an old fire truck. Jason and the girls got in the front seat and Jason immediately started to "drive". When the real driver asked Jason to slide over Jason decided against riding on the fire truck and opted to ride with Justin and his cousin Hannah on the back of a trailer.

In the past few months Jason has started holding his hands over his ears when something is loud. Here’s his reaction to the siren on the fire truck:

After breakfast, our whole family went to the theater to see Toy Story 3 with Justin’s mom. Knowing we wanted to take the kids sometime this weekend they watched the first two movies during the past week or so.

Funny how I can sit right in front of four children watching a movie, taking picture after picture and still not compete for their attention.

Taking an infant to a movie was a first for us; in fact I don't think we've taken any of our kids until they were at least 2 years old. Thankfully everyone did awesome and the movie was great.

Last night we watched the fireworks from the local racetrack. We learned our lesson from last year and arrived early enough to upgrade our seats from a slopped gravel spot right next to the busy railroad tracks to a solid piece of concrete on the other side of the street. The show was pretty good, the traffic afterward pretty crazy and 9am church came very early.

I think our high yesterday was 68 degrees – instead of a cute summer romper, Katie wore a snowsuit

Summer has arrived!

School is finally out for the summer - yippie! I'm glad that even a simple day at home is fun for the kids. The sun is cooperating which makes playing outside that much more fun.

A little swinging action:

We picked the first strawberries of the season from our garden:

Our peonys are also in bloom:

Carly climbs this tree in our front yard every chance she gets:

With the help of Abigail's gymnast friend, Abigail has gotten really good at cartwheels and headstands this year. Of course if one person is doing them everyone else wants to give it a try:

Dance Recital

Carly has been anticipating her year-end dance recital for months. Not so much out of excitement for performing, but excitement that she will no longer have to go to dance class every week. It’s not that she hated dancing, but she had a hard time not being able to play outside with friends on Thursday afternoons. Saturday was the big day.

Thank goodness she’s had two friends in class with her or she never would have wanted to go to class.

Justin was in charge of videotaping Carly’s performance; due to technical difficulties he missed most of the performance. Thankfully, I videotaped their dance at the rehearsal the previous evening.

Finale

Maybe Carly will pick up dancing again after she’s had a little break… but for now she’s looking forward to a summer filled with outdoor fun.

Teacher for a Day

Abigail was one of two students in her class to reach 300% of their AR (Accelerated Reader) goal this year. As their reward they were able to be “Teacher for a Day” last Thursday. Abigail was so excited for this day that she said she couldn’t sleep for days before it.

As part of their day they had to be to school early to get the classroom ready.

Here’s Abigail changing the date on the whiteboard

They greeted the students as they arrived at school

Abigail thought it was pretty awesome that she got to sit at the teacher’s desk several times throughout the day

They performed all the tasks that their regular teachers do including giving the students their spelling tests, teaching math, etc… Abigail also had 20 minutes that she was able to teach her class any concept she wanted to. We ended up coming up with a lesson about coordinates with a fun game to test whether the students learned the concept. It was new to most of the kids and Abigail said she was asked lots of questions, but she enjoyed every minute of her special day.

Today is her last day of school and this morning she was recognized in the school assembly for earning academic honors.

She had a great school year and enjoyed being in the 2^nd/3^rd grade split class with two wonderful teachers and she’s VERY excited that she will be able to keep her same teachers next year for third grade.

2 Months Old

Katie is now 2 months old. She's gotten so much bigger in the last few weeks. Her cheeks have filled out once again and her scrawny little legs have been chubbified.

She had a visit with our pediatrician last week and here are her stats:

Weight: 12 lbs. 3.6 oz. (84th percentile)

Height: 24 inches (95th percentile)

Here's a little more about Katie these days:

• I still swaddle her at night

• likes to be held as she sleeps (during the day) and it's getting more difficult to lay her down without waking her up

• her favorite place to fall asleep is burying her face in my forearm

• Does great in the car, in fact she likes her car seat so much that when she's asleep I have the best luck setting her in her car seat without her waking up

• takes a binkie and a bottle (yeah!)

• prefers her bottles nice and warm (room temperature tends to be too cold)

• Is starting to smile more often, no laughing yet but I'm sure it will be soon

• is starting to outgrow clothing (so sad)

• doesn't mind tummy time (surprising because she rarely gets any)

• very strong, she's doing great holding up her head and has started putting weight on her legs

• typically wakes up just once during the night (around 4 or 5am), then goes back to sleep after eating - she's always been such an awesome sleeper

• still sleeping in our room (if the binkie game is necessary she'll occasionally sleep in our bed, she pops it out of her mouth, we pop it back in... repeat until she falls asleep)

• has grown long beautiful eyelashes

• gives her daddy a hard time, I think she senses his fear

• Is beginning to develop a nice little bald spot on the back of her head, although her hair is still the longest at the nape of her neck

• her eyes are still blue

• Has started cooing... so sweet!

• is always perfectly content when I'm vacuuming or blow drying my hair

And just a fun picture from yesterday morning