Snapshot: Brett

Brett is quite the kid.  He has a great mind and a sensitive disposition.  One of my favorite things to do with this boy is to cuddle up and read with him when the little kids are napping.  And then I usually fall asleep too and he plays quietly around me!  He doesn't read yet, but he has a couple books memorized and it is so fun to hear him recite them.  He gets super excited about anything that only he gets to do, like going to a party or going on a date with Dad.  He also gets excited about new clothes. He's a warm kid, always has been.  Even in the middle of winter he sprawls out on top of his blankets at night.  He rides his bike super good and is getting a lot more coordinated with sports.

He has an incredible mind.  He asks the most profound and deep questions.  He amazes us every day with the things he comes up with.  Usually he asks us about what's going to happen when he grows up, or what different natural disasters there are and if they happen where we live.  He's very concerned about volcanoes and tornadoes.  Also, he wants to know how EVERYTHING works.  He's good at figuring things out and gets frustrated if it doesn't.  He's really good at making things with paper.

"Oh, no!  Where'd my body go?!"

Charging up his glow-in-the-dark "bone jammies" with Grant.

Sitting next to his best bud during primary on Pioneer Day.

His hat was so big on him and every time he'd look down it looked like his head was gone.  :)

Fresh haircuts.

Brett sure is a hard worker.  If he's bored, it can easily be solved by giving him a bottle of cleaner and some paper towels.  He's cleaned the sliding glass doors a million times now I'm sure (and they can always use a good wipe down)!  He's a kid that needs a task to keep him busy and help him feel fulfilled.  He's a lot like me that way.  Except when it comes time to clean up a mess he made or tidy up his room.  All of the sudden he falls apart and the task seems impossible to him.  It's a daily challenge that we're working on with him.

He's so good with Tyler.  He likes to call him "Tire."

He has a great imagination!

We were watching the Olympics one night and I look over and Brett was trying to build the tallest tower.  Let's look at that tower.  There's blocks, candles, toilet paper, a wood box, more blocks, and coins.  Ha!  :)  He cracks me up!

He just started his last year of preschool.  I think he really likes being in the older class now.

Here he is with his buddy on their first day.

He put his water bottle in the freezer one day and couldn't get over the fact that the water really did freeze.  He played with that thing for quite a while.  

He's really been into coloring lately.  He usually has a stack of pictures laying around in the kitchen or shoved under his bed.

These boys made so many pictures this day!

Brett LOVES to help in the kitchen.  He's fascinated with mixing everything together and knowing how things work.  Every time I put baking powder in something he says, "Baking powder helps it rise!"  Yep, it does.  :)

Pumpkin seeds ready for planting.

Brett makes a lot of awesome faces for pictures, like here.

He got pushed off the kitchen bench by Grant and busted his chin open.  I ended up taking him to the ER where I found out that he was just shy of needing stitches.  They put on some glue and sent us on our way.  He was super brave, even when he thought he was going to be getting stitches, because I told him if he was brave I would get him a toy.  I've never seen a kid more excited about the prospect of getting stitches than this kid was.  He still got the toy.

Cruise'n around on his bike.

Brett with his "treasures."

Brett likes to do things like this with his toys.  :)

He's so great at hopping in the crib with Tyler to cheer him up!

Brett has a killer smile, but he can also pout with the best of them.  And when he's in one of his moods it is nearly impossible to crack a smile out of him.

Almost got a smile!

Grant tried to cheer him up.

Nope!  Not going to do it!

Here we go!  Isn't that a great smile?!  We sure love to see it!

We're happy that Brett is in our family!  He adds a spice that we would sure miss without him!  

Snapshot: Tyler

At five months now, our little Tyler isn't quite so tiny any more.  At his last check-up he weighed in at just over 17 pounds.  His hair was getting crazy so we buzzed it off in June and a couple times after that.  Now it's starting to grow in evenly.  He can roll over from his back to his tummy and is getting good at lifting up on his arms and looking around.  He is such a happy boy and really only cries when he needs something.  He's also very chill compared to every one of our other babies!  (Thank goodness!)  He loves to snuggle.  He loves his siblings, but especially loves his Mom and Dad!  He has the cutest belly laugh and a big happy smile.  Here's some pictures starting with him in June and going to a few days ago.

A family on Grant's baseball team gave us a cute sports themed pack of onesies.

Snuggles with Grandma.

Every now and then he'll find his thumb.  

Rolling over!

His new toy!  He is a super kicker, like Grant was.  We knew this would be the perfect toy for him.  He loves it!

Hanging out with Dad.

Swing time.

Fun time with Dad.

Watching a show with Grant.

"Hi!"

Super smiley boy!

Fresh from the tub.

This is what he looks like when he's sad.  It's pretty adorable!

Yum yum!

Cuddling with Brett.

Brett's good at hopping into the crib with Tyler and keeping him happy if I can't get to him right away.

We gave him some watermelon a couple weeks ago.  He thought it was great!

Getting bigger!

Big enough for his jumpy thing now.  He plays in it for a little while, but mostly likes to suck on the edge of the red seat cover and get it all slobbery.  He is a very slobbery kid lately!

We all love this little guy and are so happy to have him in our family!

Snapshot: Camille

***It's been so long sine I've had regular posts here on our blog and I really like to have a record of our family kept here, so I'm going to do a little snapshot of each of our kids and then of Keith and I.  These pictures are all from the past month or two.  We'll start with Camille.***

Camille is two and a half now and full of fun!  She's strong (at her 2 year checkup the doctor called her a "specimen" because she's all muscles!), and she's tall and looks and acts more like a three year old.  One of my favorite things about her is how she calls oatmeal "oat milk."

Lately she's been learning how to do this.  Oh, potty training, how I dread you!

She's becoming a little mommy to her babies and animals.

She's been having fun "painting" the playhouse.

Camille likes to gather up toys and take them around with her all day.

Some days she gets a nap and some days she refuses.  And if she gets too tired she either gets really crabby in the late afternoon or sacks out somewhere in the house.

She's been pretending to be a dog lately.

And she'll stick her hands out (like above) while saying, "Oooooooooooo...." and try to scare us.  It's pretty hilarious!

She's been really cute lately and our mother/daughter relationship has become really fun.

Often, when I'm feeding Tyler, she'll come in and plant herself somewhere in his room.  She likes to be where I am.

What would a trip to Costco be without visiting the giant bears?  She really gets a kick out of these guys!

She still loves the swings.  Especially when Keith is there to give her an underdog!

And she loves to run around with the boys on the playground.

Camille wants to go to school too and loves to wear her backpack around.

Playtime with her kitchen.

She plays with the toy tools a lot and likes to wear the safety goggles.

Silly girl in a box.

Silly girl in the baby jumper.

She has had two haircuts from Aunt Kristy so far, just to even things out.  It's fun that her hair is getting longer and we're starting to try new hair-do's.

Camille likes to tease Brett a lot.  And then Brett whines and screams.  It's all pretty obnoxious.  But here they are getting along and reading books in Tyler's crib.  It gives me hope!

Camille still loves her daddy, but can handle being away from him better than she could a year ago.  

She still loves to play with play-dough!

We love this fun girl!  She's sure full of personality and she makes our home a happier place (usually)!  :)

Back to School 2016

Grant started school the first week of this month.  Isn't that crazy early?!  I felt like our summer got gobbled up so quickly!  But I will admit that it is so nice to be on a schedule again.

We held our traditional Back to School Feast the night before school started (I need to remind myself next year to hold this feast the Sunday before the first day of school and not the actual night before because it felt a bit rushed).  As per tradition, I decorated the dining room really fun and we talked about our theme for the year.  This year we chose to talk about Choosing The Right (CTR) and got our boys each a CTR keychain to put on their back pack to remind them about the importance of making good choices (last year we talked about courage and put a little "courage" thing on their backpack).  Then Keith gave our three oldest children a father's blessing.  He does that at the beginning of each school year.  

Grant lucked out to get the best second grade teacher at the school.  I thought she was great from the moment I met her and kind of wished that I could be in her class too!  She's been teaching a long time and taught all of our next door neighbor's kids when they were little (they're all grown up now).  He also lucked out with having a bunch of good friends in his class.  When I ask him to tell me about his day, he always says, "It was AWE---SOME!"  And then I ask him how he liked his lunch and he says, "It was AWE---SOME!"  Apparently everything is awesome in second grade.  And then I start singing the Everything Is Awesome song and he laughs!

Brett followed up with his first day of school two weeks later.  He and his little buddy ride their bikes together around the block to go to the house directly behind us.  We joke about wanting to just throw them over the fence, or put in a ladder, or better yet, put in a gate!  

He missed his great preschool teacher over the summer and is so glad to be with her again.  She does the funnest, most creative things!  She also taught our next door neighbor's grown up kids when they were little.  We're feeling so lucky to be getting these great teachers!

We're off to a good start!  And EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!