Little Man...

we have longed called Blake "little man," and whether it is a direct result of Junior's Giants or not, i cannot remember...

if you haven't seen Junior's Giants (there are currently two movies, we like them both equally), then you should try it, i think you can see some trailers on youtube as well...

anyway, junior is the main character who has to conquer his "giants," i.e. problems in his life or difficult things to overcome...it's a great message.

but junior has a little brother who they just call...little man. he always carries a spoon (because he was denied one during his first birthday cake eating experience and doesn't want to be caught without again), he sometimes hits others with his spoon and he climbs.

while blake doesn't carry a spoon, he does, often, bonk you on the head (especially if "you" are avery...) with whatever he has in his hand...tinker toy, hard plastic bendy caterpillar, mega block etc. and he is a monkey...as previously discussed.

today, he surpassed my expectations and ended up here:

(there are skittles in that candy jar...i shall remember that they are good motivation for him for very far in the future potty training experiences...)

he actually pushed the blue chair over to the bar stools, climbed on the blue chair, then onto the bar stool...and i am prepared to bet he would have been on the counter if i had not intervened. i burned TWO tortillaland tortillas during this little episode...NOT COOL. they are the best tortillas ever! good thing they sell them at costco! (thanks for the introduction audrey!)

anyway, i am seriously contemplating hiding the chairs but how seriously inconvenient can it get? really! i think, like the stairs, we will just need to teach him but i can only imagine what long periods of needing to nurse a baby will do to him if he doesn't calm down with the climbing before baby #4 makes his arrival...he had fallen from heights twice today before 10 am. hello little man....

two's company...three's a crowd...

especially on the powerwheels...

this is another favorite lately...taking Blake for a ride. he, of course, loves it and so do ethan and avery...it's a little crowded though, when all three of them try to ride together:) i just pray the smallest one doesn't fall off!

Dear Crayola,

Today we bought your colored bubbles. They seemed very magical and lovely...what a great idea! But then we actually tried to blow them and I was disillusioned. I wish I would have taken a picture of the park where we tried them out. The pink made it look like a battle ground (really resembled blood), and I am not entirely sure that after a day in the AZ sun that is going to come off the pavement easily. (It did wash off in the bath satisfactorily, and I haven't checked the laundry yet...) The bubble solution is a little thicker than normal and kind of gloopy for lack of a better word...it got everywhere! On my children's clothing, on the ground, the cap leaks when I put it back on, there was green dye on all of our hands, arms (because when you blow little flecks of bubble solution fly off), it was an all around big mess and to cap it all...the bubbles did not even blow well!

I confess myself disappointed...every other Crayola product I've had or tried, I have REALLY enjoyed (Color Wonder markers...amazing and they have saved my carpet!) but this one is a DO NOT BUY in my book. Better luck next time Crayola!

"ice cream"

(really it's sherbet...shhhhh...don't tell them)




i really love sherbet and so do the kids...they don't know the difference between ice cream and sherbet, at least they haven't said anything negative and i love the fruity flavors of sherbet, so light and nice tasting!


we discovered (it was blake who actually found it first) a bird nesting in our tree! how fun...now we all wonder if there are eggs and when they will hatch...


and look who can {finally} sport a full ponytail!!!! so fun! we have been growing her hair out for a while and i am glad to know our efforts are working;)

our favorites {right now}

blake's favorite activity lately is dumping out all the play food...especially if we have JUST picked it up:)

ethan and avery's favorite thing is to ask blake to "make a funny face" and this is a variation of what we usually get...

i didn't get any "before" pictures...it was REALLY embarrassing....Alacey can attest to that...but i finally got my sewing space cleared out and cleaned up...i got the little white cabinet on craigslist for $30 and it helped SO MUCH! books and boxes of ribbon, extra fabric, and patterns are now stored in there instead of on the floor or taking up table space! it's so much better, i just want to go up there and sit and stare around and be inspired:) i have plans for some wall adornment...you'll have to wait and see what that turns out to be:) for now a cleaned up sewing space is my favorite thing!

ultrasound!

i had my ultrasound today!!!

Profile shot

it's a BOY!!!!

little foot...

everything is going well with this little man! another boy...now we just need a name:) got any good ones? send them our way:) also, my date will probably be pushed back (i've adjusted my ticker accordingly, if anyone wants to know exactly), which i thought from the beginning, so now we are looking in the 20's of august...my dad's birthday is the 22nd...so we'll see if he has a grandbaby that day or not...who knows?:)

The Forgotten Garden

i just finished a LOOOOONG book, The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

i liked it.
it was a little confusing for me to get used to the jumps in time. she is basically telling three different story lines at the same time, and the only indication, at the start of the new chapter, is a small line of text mentioning the place and year. probably my inattention is more to blame than anything else, because, while i am a fast reader, some details go by the wayside as a result of a quick pace. i really liked the story line(s) and found the book overall to be very engaging and the writer very descriptive but not overly so. i have been pondering and pondering if there was any way to tell the story in a more linear manner, instead of jumping around, and in retrospect, i liked how all the different parts added up to give information at the needed time, it was just a little convoluted to me, while i was reading it. it's also quite long, five hundred forty something pages...when i expressed a little frustration over length (only because i had a time frame to get the book back to the library) "who writes a 500 something page book really?" kendall said, "yeah especially one that is not about wizards..." you got me there. 700 pages of J.K. Rowling? bring it on!

end wrap up: i really liked the characters, you got to know them very well, the writer is very good at giving enough description and detail that you are able to be "present" in the book, which i love. the story itself is gripping...just notice the little headers at the top of each chapter and remember who is involved in what time period and you are good to go!

another reason we are happy to live in AZ...

conversation between avery and ethan today...

a: "ethan, want to come outside and play with me?"

e: "i'm not gonna say no to that!"

this would be the fourth or so time they have been outside to play today...i love it!

what makes it funnier is that our screen door had an unfortunate accident involving blake pushing on it too much a few months ago and now it's a child-size "doggie door"...**i'll have to get a picture of them using it tomorrow, it's pretty funny!** i now have pictures of blake detailing how you too can use your screen door as a child-size "doggie door"....

in other news...check out my ticker at the top of the page:) baby number four will join us sometime in august...i am actually banking on later than the 16th of august because of the lateness of previous children...but we shall see:) i am finally not feeling nasty sick...about the time the nausea was dissipating i got a sinus infection and that is finally going away now as well so hopefully i can enjoy this next part of the pregnancy thoroughly and try not to act as a human balloon:)

inventor...

ethan comes up with lots of ideas everyday that he wants to do "when he's a scientist" or that he actually puts into action. he's very creative, he's always thinking of interesting ways to gain his objective....

like today, we've had this red heart mylar balloon (dollar store...) for over a month and it's still floating! he was trying to figure out how to get it down where he could reach it today...

that's logical:)

the other day the tinker toys and blake met the stairs...he was chucking them down the stairs faster than anyone could pick them up so i decided to take pictures of him instead:)



ethan's arrows that came with this boy all broke (like $5 walmart toy) and so he improvises now quite well (see what i mean...creative and resourceful!)

and i am ridiculously excited about this sheet i found at goodwill today....

our ward is doing a service project until september making pillowcases for a local children's hospital...and i know they don't always have a lot of "boy" pillowcases so i went looking today and i found the transformers! (there were also cars (but not Cars), and spiderman, but i opted for the vintage transformers!) it's just so awesome. you don't see them drawn or made like this anymore. i think i like it so much because it's from "my" 80's you know? i also found a blue sheet with white clouds (a la Andy's room in Toy Story) and some flowers for girls...it's going to be some good pillowcase making fun! i am excited to use sheets because it's a lot of fabric and it's also reusing...i'll show 'em when they are done. and...we may even keep a transformer one for the enthusiast at our house;)