Too Big For Her Britches!

Hannah is way too big for her britches and is growing up way too fast-I know I say this alot, but it is true! Last Sunday she turned 5 months old and on Monday as we were eating dinner, she was in her bumbo and kept arching herself to try and reach my cup. So I put the straw up to her mouth thinking she will just try to bite on it, but she sucked the water right up, like she had sucked out of a straw a million times before. I couldn't believe it! I remember with the boys I would sit there with them and make myself look like a goofball trying to teach them how to suck out of a straw. I can't remember exactly how old they were, but definately older than 5 months.

Then about 2 weeks ago I was sitting on the floor with her and had her sitting up playing with toys and she seemed to do pretty well, she tipped over a few times, but I thought for a first-timer she did great. So I kept at it everyday and now she is a little pro and can I just say my world has changed! The girl LOVES to be held, and would cry almost instantly when we put her down, but now that she can sit up, play with toys and see what is going on in our little world, she seems to be cool with not being in our arms all the time. It is so fun to watch her learn and grow, but sometimes I wish I could stop time in it's tracks and keep her little forever.

4th of July Week In Utah!

The week of the 4th we were fortunate enough to spend the week up in the beautiful mountains of Utah with Wade's family. Wade's parents rented a huge cabin (8 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, hot tub, pool table, foosball table, built-in home theatre room, flat screen t.v.'s, the list goes on) for the whole family. Everyone was able to be there at some point during the week and we were able to do lots of fun things with everyone! Wade and I got there Monday evening and just hung out and checked out this emaculate cabin. (I am still in shock that something this nice was out in the middle of nowhere-but I guess that's what happens when you have too much money-we'll never know what thats like!) Then on Tuesday we spent the day in Park City at the outlets with Wade's sister, husband and 4 kids (you can imagine how much fun it was to take 7 kids shopping). Wade and Geoff were nice enough though to let the kids play at the playground there, while Monica and I shopped-Thank You! Then on Wednesday we drove a little further north to spend the day at Lagoon. We went there last summer, but it was much more fun this time around to have cousins to go on rides with! The kids had a blast and Wade and I actually got to ride some rides together-usually we either ride alone or don't ride at all-so that was really nice. On Thursday we woke up and got the kids dressed in their cute 4th of July clothes Grandma bought them and attempted pictures, some of them turned out really cute, I didn't get too many of my kids because Mason decided to be a little stinker and throw a fit through the whole ordeal and then afterwards told me he hates taking pictures-I wonder where he gets that from-maybe his Dad? Then we took the kids to a pool in Park City that had a slide and a little whirlpool, again the kids had sooo much fun together and talked all the way back up the mountain about how they wanted to go back again tomorrow! On the 4th, we kind of all just hung out. The boys went on Rhino rides, the kids got in the hot tub, painted t-shirts, provided by Aunt Gerilyn (thank you, that was fun!), and my sister-in-law, Lara, and I played cards for about 2 hours and when we finally decided to quit, realized that we had been playing the game wrong the whole time-oh well, it was fun anyway! That night Wade's parents barbecued some yummy steaks and then we headed back down the mountain to watch some fireworks in Heber! We all had a good time and as we were packing up Saturday morning to head back to the heat, Jakob asked if we were going to do this every July-he had sooo much fun spending the week with his cousins! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for everything-it was fun!

It's A Jungle In There!!!

Mason and his imagination have gone to the wild! A couple of months ago we had a bear living in the closet of the boys room. Every night, for about a month, Mason didn't want to go to bed because of this bear. So Wade and I would have to make sure and tell the bear every night to go back to his home in the forest and then make sure that the closet doors where shut all the way. Sometimes that bear just didn't want to listen and would wake Mason up in the night and make him cry-he would get so scared he wouldn't even get out of his bed and come in our room. So finally, Wade had to get mean with the bear and tell him if he didn't go back to the forest he was going have to get his rifle out and that was enough to scare the bear away and we haven't heard from him since!

Then earlier this week, I woke up in the middle of the night to Mason tugging at my arm. I asked him what was wrong and he told me there was a mouse in his bed! At first this alarmed me and caused me to sit straight up and think, "What am I going to do-Wade is at work and I am TERRIFIED of rodents?" Then I remembered quickly who I was talking to-Mason and his imagination. So I said it's okay, just get in bed with me. When Wade got home from work that morning he carried Mason back to his own bed and as Wade was going to lay him down, he woke up out of a dead sleep and told Wade there is a mouse in here. Wade quickly came to the rescue again and told Mason that he squished the mouse and put him in the garbage. That satisfied Mason enough and he fell back asleep and later that morning after he woke up and we where having breakfast and talking about this darn mouse that kept everyone awake in the night, he went as far as to tell me that the mouse bit him on the tummy and even showed me where (there was really nothing there) and told me that he also bit Jakob on the back of his knee (there was nothing there either). So to get back at that mouse, he told me that he squeezed him really hard (while telling me, he was also showing me with his hands how he did it) and told the mouse to go to sleep. Mason told me he was a nice mouse, but was glad that Daddy put him in the garbage! Little does he know-Mommy was glad too! Who knows what is going to be next in our secret jungle, but whatever it may be, lets hope it's like the mouse, a one night only occurrance, because that bear hung around for way too many nights!

Jakob loves, loves, loves gum! The other day at the store he asked if he could get some Hubba Bubba and I was feeling nice, so I said sure. He couldn't wait to pop a piece in his mouth and of course Mason had to have some too, so I shared a piece with him. When you chew Hubba Bubba, you can't help but blow bubbles, right? Jakob just keep staring at me and trying to pop my bubbles, so I told him to try to blow his own bubble and tried my best to show him how to do it. To my surpise and even more to his, he got it! He was so excited and for the next 3 or 4 days, (until the gum was gone) he would wake up and want to hurry and eat breakfast (very unlike him) so he could have a piece of gum! The simple joys of childhood!

Blogging Around The World

Most of you know that my mom is from Germany and most of her siblings and their kids still live there. I have been keeping in touch with my cousin, Bettina, through e-mail and she has my blog address, as well as my sister-in-laws, and keeps in touch with all of us that way and loves to see pictures of our families. Last week I thought to myself, I would love to see more pictures of her family and keep in touch with her on a more regular basis and what better way than blogging! So I sent her an e-mail and gave her the blogger website and asked her to try setting up a blog-I wasn't sure how it would work. So she gave it a try and it worked! It's really cool because everything is in German. If you would like to check it out, go to www.bettinafamily.blogspot.com. I am so excited to be able to keep in touch with my family who is halfway around the world-isn't technology a wonderful thing? Thanks again Bettina!

Hannah's 4 Months Old

Why does time have to go by so fast? On Monday I took Hannah to the doctor for her 4 month well-check. She now weighs 15 lbs. 4 oz. and is 26 in. She was in the 75% for weight and again, off the charts for height. To put her length in perspective, she is already to long for the infant carseat carrier! Hannah has started eating solids and loves it so far. She is still such a good sleeper, but during the day she has realized that if she cries when you put her down, someone will be right there to pick her back up. Babies are smart! She has started playing with her little piggy's and it is sooo cute! She has also learned to roll from her back to her front. She is very active, I am kind of dreading the day she starts crawling and walking because I fear she will be a little busy body! She loves to talk and gets really excited when you talk back to her and when she watches her brothers run around like crazy monkeys. She is such a sweet baby and we love her to pieces!

The Party That Never Ends!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jakob's best buddy, Garrison, from kindergarten was moving to Oregon the day of Jakob's party and wasn't going to be able to come, they were both pretty sad about it, so we invited Garrison over on Thursday after school to have an unofficial birthday/going away party for just the two of them! As I was making cupcakes for the official party, I made a small cake for the unofficial party. Jakob has always wanted to dig into a cake with his hands and stuff his face, so I let them. You would have thought I handed them each a million dollars-they had so much fun getting all dirty and gooey from the cake! Then they had a squirt gun and water balloon fight, I took them swimming at our neighbors and we finished off the night with a sleepover! They had so much fun and we are really going to miss Garrison.

Then the official party. I was so stressed about have a party at a public pool with a bunch of kids mostly 6 and under, but it turned out really well. I think most everyone's parents stayed, so that eased the stress a ton. The kids had so much fun swimming and going down the slides-it was hard to break some of them away to eat, do presents and have cake, but somehow we managed to squeeze everything in in the 2 hours we were alotted for the party! I think Jakob had a great time with all of his friends and cousins and is already ready looking forward to next years birthday! (We did have to inform him though that next year it would just be a little family party-I am taking my sister's idea and only doing parties every other year on their even birthdays-it just gets too expensive and now we have 3 kids to do parties for-so I think it is a great idea!)