What the girls will fight over...

That's right, the girls will fight over broccoli, fresh, raw, or steamed.  I don't find it strange, but Eric does.  He would prefer to eat broccoli with a cheese sauce or some sort of creamy dip, but that's not how they eat it. They eat it plain. They eat it all. They will fight for the last small bunch of broccoli.  I love our kids!

Excuses

Here they are, my excuses for not blogging more lately.....

We've been busy

I'm tired

It's hot hot hot outside

I couldn't find the cord to charge up the camera....okay I didn't really look too hard either, once I looked I found it in no time

Wait a second, I am blogging without obligation, I don't need excuses.  I will try and be better, but hope you're ready for a big update.

 

First off, last Saturday I got a really fun girls' night out with my sister and friends.

 

Waving hi, okay not really, but this guy is sitting so big, and is drooling like a tooth should be coming in.

 

Sweetness, seems to be getting over some of her separation anxiety, we may be able to get a real sitter soon!  She also starts dance on Saturday, she'll be in creative movement and I'm sure will have lots of fun, the tap shoes, may drive me crazy.

 

Acroballet is the dance class that CJ will be in, and I think it fits her perfectly!  The instructor asked her if she could do a handstand, CJ said no, then CJ proceeded to do a handstand, turns out she didn't know that it was called a handstand.

 

Last night at family night at church, CJ won/picked out this ugly shelf during white elephant bingo.  She immedately started discussing how she could paint it and decorate it...she may have a creative gene in her.  Now it is white and she would like to put (stamp) butterflies on it.

 

Like I said, it's been hot so we all have been laying low!  Thankfully Eric moved the ceiling fan in the great room, and now we have 2 ceiling fans in the room!  So nice.  Now to get the recessed lighting finished off, we'll be able to read in the great room too! (Currently we must turn them on and off by climbing up into the attic, it's about 150 degrees up there, so we're managing with the ceiling fan lights for now, which is twice as much as we had before.)

Cowboys

 

Cowboys never die....they just sleep on their horse, in a parade.

My Big Girl

CJ started Pre-K yesterday.  I really love the program and her teacher!  She is only going 3 days a week for 3 hours a day...but she is already having lots of fun, says she made 60 new friends, and is ready to go back today.  Here's to a great school year!

Backyard campfire

Our "summer vacation" is over...CJ starts Pre-K today!  That post to come later.

We have been busy squeezing fun activities, like a trip to Chuck E Cheese and pool time.  Last Sunday we took the kids to the movie Up, it was really cute and the girls laughed all the way through it.  Bonus, it was inside and a cool activity!

We have had one campfire.  It has been really too dry to consider having one until we started getting the monsoon rains.  We still haven't had a ton of rain, but we have had great thunderstorm, lightning shows, and rainbows to end our day.

 

These are the largest jumbo marshmallows I have ever seen!

 

this picture does not adequately show CJ's excitement...she had been waiting all day, and was not happy she had to wait another moment.

 

Daddy the hero.

6 month Check up

Kjetil had a very early morning check up today.  While 7:25 doesn't sound too early, add a 45min drive, and one non-morning mommy, and it is a very early start to the day. 
He did not manage to gain a pound since his last visit, May 27th, but he is up to 15lbs and 15 oz...couldn't quite tip the scales to 16lbs. He was 27.5inches long and overall healthy.  I couldn't remember what the girls weighed at 6mos so I looked up Laurelei's and she was 16lbs 13oz and like Laurelei, Kjetil fell asleep waiting for shots.  He is healthy and doing well, so no concerns.
I find it amazing that he started out a pound and a half heavier than the girls but has not kept pace with them.  CJ and Laurelei both were 7 lbs 8oz when born and hit about the same growth points at the same time, through 9 months, then Laurelei had 2 rounds of RSV, strep throat, ear infection and the flu all between 9 months and 12months and has only gained 6lbs in the past 18months.

When I was asked today if he went to day care or was cared by others it made me laugh.  I said he has 2 big sisters that act like 2 little mommies to him.  Kjetil has started to develop some separation anxiety, I love the cuddles, but it is hard to just sit all day holding him.  He sleeps through the night, most nights, and loves to eat like a big boy.  Tonight we tried apples, and it was a hit.

I believe tomorrow's high is suppose to be about 111...we're planning on heading to the pool.  I will admit, that after years of mocking "dry heat", hot is hot...but it is much more tolerable here in the dry heat than the humidity + heat of Corpus Christi.  Even in the shade here, one can find a bit of relief...not so in TX.

The Zoo

We took Aunt JoJo to the zoo, it had been awhile since we had been and it is a great, relaxing way to spend a morning.

Once again Laurelei was so joyfully happy from the center of her being.  Stopping and enjoying each animal along the way.  She could have stayed much longer petting the snakes, lizards, and hedgehog if we had let her.

CJ once again had the attention span of a gnat.  It always catches me by surprise, since she has always done so well at various places that we visit.  The zoo just doesn't hold her attention.  She did enjoy feeding the giraffes though.  Next time she'll go hiking while Laurelei goes to the zoo.

Good ol' small town fourth!

We headed over to Benson today for their parade this morning...and what a fun one!  The first 10-15 minutes consisted of fire trucks.  5 local communities were represented and I think each one brought ALL of their trucks!  The parade also featured the VFW, motorcycles, tractors and the state vehicle --Jeeps!  Each one had an article listed on the side, what a great reminder of our wonderful constitution.  The Jeeps took another 10+ minutes to pass by.

Now I ask you what is better than candy being thrown at a parade?

Think hard, this is Arizona.....


But WATER of course!!

This float was a big 18 wheeler filled with water and the riders were using their hands and buckets to "bail out" the water!  But first, the front of the truck tossed candy, to get the kids closer, then soaked them with the water.  So fun!  Pictures do not do justice of course.

Kjetil managed to take a cat nap as we walked from the parade down to the park to watch the fire fighters' water fights.

We managed to stay on the edge of the water line, getting cooled off a bit, however others had planned accordingly and rushed the water when it started.

Tonight we'll head back for the music and fireworks.  Came home to cool off and take naps.

Please be safe and watch out for others!

Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Please be safe and have a great holiday.

ALL BOY!

I have been struck this week at HOW BOY Kjetil is.  He is ONLY six months old, and I cannot believe some of his reactions!
First of all last Saturday I needed to clean out the van.  Laurelei and Jo were helping me, so I put Kjetil in his bumbo chair facing the van and the street.  I figured that he would be more interested in our movements and cars going by.  I.WAS.WRONG!

I took a peek at him, and saw that he was twisting around in his chair so that he could look at the garage -which was full with Jo and Tyson's stuff.  He looked like he could twist right out.  So I turned him, and he sat very happily gazing at the garage full of stuff. Only a boy/man could be so content gazing at such stuff.

Then on Tuesday afternoon we were making plans to go to Home Depot.  I do not remember who said it first, but when the name Home Depot was spoken, Kjetil began to squeal in delight, again and again, whenever the words Home Depot was said.  He also seems to love the color orange.  If anyone needs a gift idea for him, he would really like a gift card to Home Depot.

And I was asked about my magical high chair.  While it has only happened a couple of times, he has fallen asleep while sitting in the magical high chair.