Visit

The boys have had a nice week with Grandma and Grandpa visiting us, and I know that they're going to be bummed when they wake up in the morning and realize that they're not here anymore. Soon enough they'll be back though! They're going to come back and watch the boys at the end of August while Mitch & I go to Jessica & Erik's wedding in Tahoe (and we're also going to spend a long weekend there with the jet ski - fun!). They have really had fun this week, and the definitely love their grandparents a lot. We went to the pool a couple of times for swim lessons, but we skipped it one night because it has just been too smoky and hazy here with over 800 fires burning in Northern California. Hopefully they'll be able to get it under control soon because it's really starting to make me feel kind of funky breathing all of it in for days at a time.

Sawyer and Sutton got their new play kitchen yesterday after some serious assembly work from Mitch & Bruce. Today we went to ToysRUs to pick up some more play food, and Sutton spent most of the afternoon joined at the hip with his new pal "Mr. Play Hot Dog." Heh, go figure. The kid LOVES food and eating, so I guess it's only natural that he'd make friends with the plastic food. I can't seem to figure out how to open this video so that I can edit it, so sorry if you find it long and boring! :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

We went to visit Aunt Jolie and the triplets on Saturday to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. We took the kids swimming in the big pool, and I learned that my kids actually don't really care for a pool that they can't touch the bottom of. Next time I will definitely remember that I need a floaty toy for each of them in a regular depth pool. Even the life jackets, arm floaties, kickboard and pool noodles didn't seem to cut it. We tried to take some pictures of all Grandma and Grandpa's grandkids outside, but trying to get 5 kids to sit still didn't exactly result in stellar portraits, but we had fun trying! Aunt Jolie gave Sawyer the most awesome thing to bring home...a rainbow parachute! I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be popular at playgroup now that I can bust that out for the little ones (you hear that, Hattie? We've got a parachute to play with now - yay! Come over!)!




Sutton & Grandma in the pool


Lots and lots of boys (and we're still missing one in this pic!)


Ryland, Rachel, Jonathan, Sutton & Sawyer


Saw & Rachel



Sutton coming face-to-face with Tallulah (he LOVED her!)

We came home and the landscapers had planted our trees and laid down our sod, so we finally have a backyard that looks decently respectable. It's still going to be almost 2 weeks before we can actually walk on it, but I'm SO excited to finally look out my door and see something other than dirt! Grandma and Grandpa are staying here with us this week, so I'm sure I'll be updating later with even more pictures as we take the boys out and about. Stay tuned!

Meet Your New Cousin, Part 2

Today Sawyer got to meet Stella for the first time. This morning he told me he wanted to watch the "Baby Stella Movie" and then got Cinderella out of his movie case, so I think he's convinced that she is related to Cinderella at this point - hey, they DO both end in "ella!" At first he was a little timid and kind of disinterested since she was asleep, but as soon as she woke up he wanted to help feed her, tickle her toes and change her diaper. He was surprisingly gentle with her, and I think he's going to be a really good big cousin to her.

We skipped swim lessons tonight because the boys skipped their naps today, and I wasn't sure they were going to last too long at the pool. When we got home from seeing Stella there was a "scoop tractor" in our backyard, so the noise and the commotion made an afternoon nap impossible. We've spent the last two nights at the pool, and the boys are absolutely loving it! Instead we cleaned up the muddy mess that the landscapers had made of our front yard, and since Sutton looked like a champion mud wrestler after we were done, we let them test out the octopus sprinkler that Grandma Ardy got Sutton for his birthday. Needless to say, this Mommy is exhausted, and I'm really glad that tomorrow's plans actually don't include the pool or water play for once. I could use the day off!

Happy Father's Day!

We celebrated Father's Day today with some good old-fashioned Daddy-Kid-together-time at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. We met our friends, Darcie and Teddy, and their two boys, Walker and Jaxon, there - their boys are each a couple of months older than Sawyer and Sutton, so they play together really well - and we spent the whole day enjoying the freezing cold break from the Sacramento area heat wave we've been having. There wasn't a single area of the museum that didn't capture their full attention (seriously, they even had a blast playing in the area devoted to African tribal history), but (naturally!) they were especially enticed by the gravel pit full of tractors (Sawyer) and the tide pools and all the different ships wheels (Sutton). It was a long day and an even longer drive, but it was definitely well worth it! We all had a really great day, and it was nice getting to spend it with friends that we don't get to see too often.

After we came home, Sawyer gave Mitch a special collage card that we made the other day, and Mitch fired up the grill and made us a filet mignon dinner (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for that surprise delivery from Omaha Steaks!). It looks like the landscapers were here rototilling the yard while we were gone. Everything looks nice outside, and I anticipate that we'll have a nice grassy yard before the week is over - yay! Tomorrow Sutton and I are going to hit up the water park for a lunchtime playgroup with some of his little pals, and then it'll be back to the pool in the evening for Sawyer's first swim lessons...the start of another busy week! Hope everyone had a great Father's Day!

Hattie's Birthday Party

Sawyer & Sutton went to their friend Hattie's 2nd birthday today, and they played themselves silly until they were completely worn out. It was a really cute party, and the boys loved all of the food they served, especially the fruit salad (we discovered that Sutton LOVES kiwi!) and the rainbow cupcakes (nice job, Holly!). Naturally, Sutton spent most of his time playing with the wheel on Hattie's slide climber...I'm starting to get the feeling that he's going to be one of those kids that tries to convince you to let him drive the car around the block when he's only ten years old. He would probably spend all day "driving" if you let him! We took down the boys' train from the living room and put up their inflatable jumper again since they can't really play in the backyard while it's being landscaped right now. Sutton is really liking it a lot this time around since he's got much better balance. Tomorrow we're going to spend Father's Day meeting Darcie, Teddy, Walker and Jax at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Hopefully the weather there will be a little cooler than it's been here the past few days (near 100!). As promised, I took a few extra pictures of Sutton since I've posted mostly Sawyer pictures these past few entries. Enjoy!



(ignore the drooly face! He's still working on cutting those last two molars!)

Busy Days

Yesterday Sawyer & I went to the most awesome playgroup! We went to Amber's house (where she also runs an amazing preschool - wish we could go there, but it's probably a little too far to drive all the time) where we got to meet her new pony, Sparkle, and see a big turtle, fish, chickens, goats and baby ducks. Sawyer loved seeing the horse up close while I was holding him, but as soon as the other kids started to take turns riding the pony, he looked at me like "dont' you even start to think I'm going to do that too!" Amber also has a really nice play area with swings and a teeter totter that the kids were loving. There was also a sandbox with trucks and tractors, so naturally Sawyer wanted to spend most of his time there.






We came home and took a rest, and then it was off to Mitch's softball game. I was worried about braving a softball game with both kids by myself, but I lucked out, and they were both on their most perfect best behavior. It was actually surprisingly easy! The boys are starting to play together really well, and they loved swinging and making sand castles together while we watched Daddy play ball. Sawyer kept yelling "Go Daddy! Way to go! Good job, Dad!" and was SO excited when Mitch could actually hear him and would turn around and give him a little wave. Sawyer is getting really into baseball, so we'll probably put him in t-ball next summer since he'll be old enough. He tried on all his friend Colbey's t-ball gear at playgroup today, and he was ready to play ball. After such a busy day, both boys crashed out into a quick deep sleep last night and slept in a bit this morning. When Sawyer woke up, the first thing he said to me was "Mommy, I'm tired again. I take a nap at Traci's." Hopefully he perked up a bit, but I'm sure he is probably having a great naptime there right now while I'm working.






The landscapers are working on our backyard right now, and we're hoping to have grass really soon. I can't wait! I promise I'll post more Sutton pictures next blog...hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures of him tonight or tomorrow!

Meet Your New Cousin!

Sutton got to meet his new baby cousin Stella today. At first he was distracted by her teddy bear mobile and didn't even see her in the bassinette, but as soon as he looked down and actually saw her he got the HUGEST smile, and he said "baby" clear as day! Actually, it really sounded like he was trying to say "Hello, baby" but it was more like "he ow baby." Too cute! He looked like a giant next to her! I sent Sutton to stay with my mom for awhile, and then I helped Jessica give Stella her first (sponge) bath. I always thought people were so strange when they would tell me that they loved my newborn baby, but now I'm totally on the opposite end, and I keep saying "awww, I love this little baby so much!" I'm really excited for her to grow up so close in age to our boys. Sutton and Stella are almost exactly the same distance apart in age as Sawyer and Sutton are, so it's going to be really interesting seeing how they all interact with each other.

The air conditioner in the rear of my car went out (again!), so tomorrow it's off to the dealer's repair shop. Luckily it's still under warranty...I'm just hoping they won't keep it there forever since it IS a warranty repair. I've got tons of work to catch up on since I slacked off a little bit while I was sick...if anyone needs to find me over the next few days, I'll probably be sitting here chained to this computer!

Sunday

Today we had a low key day, and spent the morning lounging around the house and cleaning up the place. We spent a good chunk of the early afternoon grocery shopping at Walmart - that place is PACKED on weekends! The boys played with all of the neighborhood kids outside with Mitch while I attempted to make cupcakes-in-an-ice-cream-cone, and by the time I went back outside, Mitch had somehow gotten all of the older kids to wash his truck for him. Nice! Suddenly we've become the cool house on the block because the older boys have discovered that Mitch has an abnormally large collection of skateboards, and he's more than willing to let them all ride around the neighborhood on them. Just wait until they see how all-out we go decorating for Halloween...then we'll REALLY be cool!

Tomorrow is the start of another busy work week, which actually kicks off about a month and a half of already having plans every day of every weekend. We've got a few of birthday parties, a couple of trips to the Bay Area, Grandma and Grandpa are coming up to visit for awhile, and I'm hosting a Moms Night Out party here for my moms group (not to mention my Big 3-0 birthday next month!). I'm already exhausted just thinking about it! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Loads of Photos

We went to the hospital today to see Jess & Stella...she is SO cute (seriously, I have some funky pictures that don't do her justice at all!), and she looks a lot like Erik. She has fuzzy blondish brown hair, really light eyebrows, and a perfect little round head. I swore I wasn't going to hold her since I'm still getting over my cough (Dr. said I'm not contagious anymore though), but that idea lasted about three minutes once we got there. I seriously didn't want to put her down...it was crazy how light she felt since I'm so used to picking up the boys (who are currently weighing in at 29 lbs for Sutton and 34 lbs for Sawyer). So, because I'm a proud new aunt, here are a bunch of pictures from our hospital visit today...enjoy!

Stella Jade!

She's here, she's here, she's FINALLY here! I only have minimal details right now, but Erik just sent me a text message and photographic proof that she made her grand entrance at 11:57 p.m. (missing a 06-07-08 b-day by only 3 minutes!). She was only 8 lbs 10 oz, so not quite as big as they were estimating. I'll update more later as I get more info. Hopefully I can go see her in the hospital tomorrow. Until then, I'm going to get no sleep because I'm SO frickin'excited!