Handsome Boys

My handsome boys...

Tummy time anyone?  This baby loves it!  I've never had a baby that even remotely liked it before...wow!

These two love to hang out!  If I put Alex down anywhere, I can depend on Logan to lay down next to him and chat.

Josh's Graduation

Last week my brother, Josh, graduated with his Master's degree.  He is the first person in our family to accomplish that level of education. 

Once again, the zoom on my camera allowed me to get a picture; it was a difficult shot though!  (He's the one who is waving.)

This is how far away we really were; he was on the second row on the lefthand side of graduates.  I'm amazed he was able to spot us!

I took pictures of everybody watching the graduation.

Alex was watching the wall behind us; I will admit that I didn't watch that much of it either.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I only listened to about five minutes of it: when Greg Mortenson spoke (he's the guy who wrote "Three Cups of Tea" and he was there to receive an honorary doctorate...very cool guy), and when Josh walked across the stage.  After Josh cleared the stage, Sarah and I left to find and decorate his car.  It took us about an hour (because there were a lot of cars and we didn't know where he'd parked), and by the time we got back they hadn't quite finished calling all the graduates!

We were able to come down to the floor for pictures and hugs afterwards.

The empty diploma cover...

This cute little girl gave me a scare while we were down there among the swarms of people.  My family was helping me keep track of the kids because Jim had stepped away to congratulate a friend, so I wasn't paying as much attention to Annie and Logan as I would have otherwise.  At one point, I realized that we didn't have Annie!  I asked my family where she was, and no one knew.  Thankfully, some people nearby heard me and asked if I was missing my little girl.  She'd walked passed quite a few people, all of whom had taken notice of her and had continued watching her because she seemed to be on her own!  She was on her way out of an exit when I caught up to her!  Phew!

Congratulations Josh!

Smarty Pants

A few days ago, Logan came into my room at 5:30am.
"Mom, I'm awake!"
"Honey, it's not time to be up yet.  Go back to bed."
"But Mom, the earth turned!"
Indeed, it had turned and the sun was peeking up over the horizon, but I sent him back to bed anyway.  What a smart kid!

My Chunky Monkey

Okay, I will admit that he's really not that chunky.  BUT he does have a double chin, and he is pretty solid, and he has monkeys on his outfit.  Besides, it rhymes.

Alex had his two month check-up today, and he's following the same pattern as the other kids so far: he's growing fast.  He was 12 pounds 5 ounces (75th percentile), 23 inches long (50th percentile, but I think it's inaccurate because his knee was bent and his head was turned funny; new nurse!), and 16.5 inches around his head (90th percentile).  I'm curious if this will finally be my child who keeps growing fast enough to stay on the charts, or if he will drop off the bottom by the time he is 18 months old like the others. 

My Garden

I've been wanting my own garden for a few years now, but it hasn't been a real possibility considering our living arrangements.  So I'm pretty excited about my flower "garden".

The purple one is a pansy that I received for Mother's day from Annie.  I now understand why someone is called a pansy when they are acting wimpy; that flower doesn't seem to have any strength.  The daisies came from my visiting teacher.  And the last two are the same plant, but I don't know its name.  I brought it home from Liz's wedding last June, and it sprouted a new plant.  All I know is that it is a tropical flower, and I believe it was shipped from Hawaii to California where it was purchased.  If anyone knows the name, I'd be interested since I haven't been able to figure it out.

Soon to come will be pots with parsley and cilantro.  We helped some friends plant their vegetable garden last week (they are letting us share in the joy all summer) and we decided the herbs would be safer on our patio.

Story Time

Everything is quiet now because all my kids are asleep...at the SAME TIME!  Woohoo!  So, since I have no children to tell stories to, I will tell them to you.

Story #1

Building a Tower

Once upon a time in a land far away, two children decided to build a tower...

The first child climbed on her tower, and declared at the top of her voice, "lkueoichksnliojfkldj!"  (Actually that's not what she said, but it certainly wasn't in a language I've ever heard.  This might be the tower of Babel.  Their language was confounded right?)

The second child climbed on his tower and proclaimed at the top of his voice, "Cars and airplanes and ice cream and hiking!"  (Among other things...apparantly you make your declarations on top of these towers and only one person is allowed on at a time.  This one just might be the Rameumptom.)

The End

Story #2

Big Brother, Little Brother
A Picture Story

The End

Story #3

Smile Chart Swimming

A short time ago, where the water was blue...

Was a happy father fish and his little fishes two.

"Swim!" said the father.

"We swim!" said the two.

So they swam and they splashed where the water was blue.

The End

Siamese Twins?

I have no idea what is going on in these pictures because I wasn't there and haven't even been told about it...but my mom sent these to me and I thought they were hilarious.  Does anyone have any fun ideas for captions for each of these photos?

Alex's Blessing

Last Sunday, May 2nd, we had Alex's baby blessing. 

Here he is all dressed up.

You know how you worry about a baby this age leaking out of his diaper when he's all dressed up, especially in white?  We finally had a baby who exploded while in his blessing outfit!  He did it right before church started and it was a real mess.  THANKFULLY, I'd had some foresight and put a white onesie on underneath his outfit.  The onesie caught ALL of the mess somehow!  Phew!

I finally took a picture of all three kids.

Alex was getting less and less happy about it, so by the fourth picture he was done!

A lot of our family came for the blessing.  Here we are! 

Dave and Sarah; cute picture!

Momma and the sweet boy

Ben, Daddy, and Annie (I don't know why she looks unhappy here; I think she was doing okay?)

Josh and Annie

Grandma and Grandpa with Alex

I actually took this picture before church that day.  Annie thought she'd gotten herself ready for church, and I really liked her outfit. :)  When I took the picture I told her to keep her eyes open because she usually blinks...so she did!

Some of my pictures wouldn't upload, so there may be a few more to come...