Campfire with old friends

Our Ohio State friends were in town for a few days so whoever lived closeby from the old neighborhood got together for dinner up AF canyon. It was our first fire of the season and it was so much fun! We loved living close to this group of people and definitely miss the long days outside, the long nights out in the camp chairs with Jamie in her sweats ( when it was 90 degrees!), all those makeshift dinners in the grass, and the playground.
The kids had such a great time being back together and some of the kids that weren't around back in those days got to play together too!

of course, Tyse was obsessed with the fire and roasting things in it. Kent was happy to pass on the torch...or the roaster!
Jadi and Tyse were the best of buddies in the old days. It was nice to see that Tyse hasn't become too anti girl to hang out with her and have a great time- just like the good old days!

Emitt and McCord are only 2 days apart and the same height, but I think McCord has a good 5 lbs on Emitt- at least! They were so cute playing together!

Look how they have changed!
Then....
Now...Marshmallows and dirt haven't tasted that good in such a long time! Thanks for the fun night!

Trip to the lake

On Saturday we took the boys up to the lake for the first time this year and had a picnic dinner and hoped to take out a canoe for a trip. Unfortunately, we didn't know you can't check out a canoe after 7, nor did we know that you have to be over 2 to ride (makes perfect sense, just hadn't though about it), neither of which was going to work. SO.... we just had PB&J for dinner and then let the boys throw rocks for a while before taking a walk and letting Tyse ride his bike. One of the things we love most about our neighborhood is all the sidewalks that we can walk and ride on, as well as the lake for boating, fishing, and throwing rocks. Boys just can never throw too many!

With superheroes roaming the house, I must be one, too!

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 85% Robin 67% Wonder Woman 63% Spider-Man 60% The Flash 60% Green Lantern 45% Iron Man 45% Supergirl 43% Catwoman 40% Hulk 30% Batman 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Tagalong

My kids LOVE their "taggies." Tyse was given one by my aunt when he was born and I didn't have any idea what we really received- it still is what he wants any time he is tired, hurt, etc. Emitt has one, no wait, he carries TWO around anytime he can find both (he has a backup).
If you haven't seen one, it is a square piece of fabric- most often fleece- with ribbon tags poking out all over. My kids love to rub the tags as they fall asleep or sit in the car or whatever. Anyway, I got so many comments about them that I started making them and selling them at local boutiques and to friends and family that ask. I have LOVED doing it and I think they are just so great. Anyway, I made one for Ollie before he was born, but his is a little different. It hgs minkydot on one side, and silk on the other, along with the tags over the edge. This week he finally is old enough to notice it exists and play and suck on the tags. I was so excited and took some cute pictures of him with it.
If anyone needs a cute and unique gift, let me know! :)

Why do you sleep with a pillow over your head?

Many of you know that I sleep with a pillow over my head. It has always been that way, and makes for some great 'do's come morning. It stems from a traumatic event from my youth involving the neighbor girl (she WAS older than me) and a story about aliens. Enough said. But how many of you know that Kent has also taken up the practice? Since we had kids, he has always slept that way- providing a great excuse as to why he didn't hear the kids screaming in the middle of the night. So I guess it isn't all that strange for this to happen the other day.
We got some new pillows because Emitt is going to get the boot from the crib to make room for Ollie. We got bunkbeds and so now he just needed a pillow. Tyse asked for the extra one that came in the set. Why? Well, I asked, and he said "because I want to sleep with one on top of my face just like you and dad." And sure enough, I went in to check on him before going to bed the other night and found this...

I bet that neighbor never thought she would have caused a family of pillow covered sleepers! You all wouldn't want the tradition to end- what would Tyse's friends wonder about during college if there wasn't a pillow story?

Just another day in paradise...

Emitt has decided it is time be potty trained. I feel lucky that my kids have had so much ambition on their own to do this deed- I am truly blessed when it comes to this. I told Kent when we got married that if he would handle the poop, pee, and puke, I could handle the blood, guts and gore. So potty training is something I have somewhat dreaded. Tyse was so easy that I was sure that Emitt would be terrible- but he has been asking for a couple months now to use it, and I kept telling him no because I wasn't ready to drop everything to take him. Well, we have gotten down to a half box of diapers remaining and it occured to me that if I went along with this, maybe I won't have to buy him diapers ever again, so we have been starting to accomodate his 4 or 5 times an hour requests for "poo poo". He has been doing so great- up until yesterday I hadn't changed a stinky diaper from him in 5 whole days! (poor kid now has nasty teething poo)
Anyway, sorry for the long intro and on to the main event....
The other day he had to go "poo poo". So I went in and sit him on the toilet and then went back into the kitchen (10 whole steps) to take some meat out of the freezer for dinner. Came right back- less than one minute later- and found him off the toilet, with the pee trap removed from the potty seat (the one covering the family jewels in the above picture), dipping it into the toilet and filling it with water, and then drinking it. MAN, I love my job.

Cousins are so great!

We were so lucky to have kent's sisters come up from Cedar for Ollie's blessing! Ollie has a cousin, Mallory, that is only 2 months older than he is, but she dwarfs him! Ollie better learn to hold his own because she was already trying to help him out! She is so cute and we are so lucky to have another cousin close to one of our boy's age!
Poor Emitt was feeling a little left out of the cousin action- he doesn't have any close to his age on Kent's side, so we took pity and took his picture, too!
What a fireball he is turning into!