Life Right Now

I keep getting after myself for letting these times go by without documenting them! I was looking back at some old pictures on my iPod last night and I can't believe how fast things (especially these kids) are changing!

So here are some random things I'm not wanting to forget...

REMI continues to be our interesting, rambunctious, spunky little girl! She's accumulated even more nicknames (Blitz, Rembo, Bizu, Riz, Rizzo, Lizzy, Lizard...) and doesn't seem to mind that she's always surrounded by a pack of boys, she just tries to keep up. I'm wondering if she's going to start deciding to potty train soon. The other day, Grant and Chase were lined up to pee off the sidewalk outside. Remi waited her turn in line and when she was up, she was so frustrated that once she got her pants down, she couldn't get her diaper off to pee standing up like them. She's always wanting to do everything they do, and she's usually allowed to because she's SO tough! She LOVES to jump on the trampoline with them, even though she spends about 80% of the time trying to recover from falling down from their bigger jumps. Despite her spazzy attitude, she's actually very obedient and loves to be a helper! Anytime she sees me start to do anything in the kitchen, she immediately starts pushing a chair over to come help. She loves to help clean up and patiently sits still now whenever I do her hair (so although it's super cute, I think we'll let the pixie cut grow out).

Mike is still her favorite person ever and it's pretty much a legitimate celebration every day when he comes home from work. For whatever reason, she calls him "Nana". She can say "Daddy" and will point to him when we ask who Daddy is, but then we ask her his name and she gets this mischievous little grin and exclaims "Nana"! (Grant, who can't stand nicknames always tries to tell me she's asking for a banana) She also loves my mom and has to go over to see "Dama" at least once a day. She loves to look at my mom's huge collection of kid movies and usually convinces someone over there to turn one on for her, even if we're only going to be there for a few minutes. (Watch out if you don't put a movie on that she wants, she's been known to throw several movies at people if they don't oblige!)

GRANT seems to be growing up every day! He seems much more like a little boy than a toddler now and is still the sweetest kid I know! He's so smart and is always impressing us with the things he notices and seems to understand. He's pretty shy and usually has to have the security of Chase, Remi, Mike or I in social situations. I'm surprised by his bravery though! Even if he has to be coaxed a little, he'll usually be the first of the kids to go down the big slide or jump in the water. He's been watching Scooby Doo a lot lately and I don't understand why he likes it so much because he stands there literally biting his nails and jumps when the ghosts pop out. But he won't let me turn it off! He must definitely get that from Mike!

We were SO stoked that he got to play tee ball this year and had so much fun going to his games to cheer him on!

That's him waving his hat, number 3 ("because I'm 3!" he said)

He was the littlest guy on the team and we're not quite sure how much he understood...he could TELL you what he was supposed to do, but he seemed to struggle when it came to actually doing it in the excitement of the moment.

He definitely seems to understand that he has a little brother coming and, just like he is very protective of Remi's name, he is adamant about the fact that this baby's name is Sawyer!

He insists that he works with Mike at Little Colorado, and when I asked him what his job was, he said, "pickin' up toys", which he does earn quarters for so I can see how it makes sense to him! When asked what Remi's job is, he says, "makin' messes"...which tends to be true as well!

In their Easter clothes

Can you tell they don't like to look at the camera very well??

Mike played City League Basketball again this year and he had a fun team and they did pretty well! Last year (and at the beginning of this year), I was extremely naggy about Mike playing. I thought he was gone too much and it forced me to have to get the kids settled in alone for two additional nights a week. One of the more supportive wives convinced me to bring the kids to one of the earlier games this season and lo and behold, we all ended up having a really good time! We ended up making really good family friends with some of the other team members and I ended up looking forward to Tuesday and Thursday nights as good family time for us. Thanks Kara for convincing me to go! We're already excited about next year!

The downside of city league was that Remi took her first big spill down the bleachers at one of the last games and ended up in the ER with stitches. She is SO tough and handled the injury better than I did! She sat SO still while they stitched her up. The doctor let Grant get up on the stretcher with Remi while he "put the string in her eye" and Grant was so eager to be a "helper" to Remi and entranced by the whole thing. They both did so well and we left the ER super proud to be their parents!

She got pretty spoiled after the incident, but just kept going along as usual. She really could've hammed it up and gotten a lot more out of us!

Ever since I can remember talking about having kids with Mike, we've always thought it would be cool to get them each their own tree. It seems cool to have it "grow up" with them and be able to show their kids and grandkids "their" tree. We FINALLY bought a couple for them this year and Mike's been so good about having them go out twice a week to water them.

Grant's Tree

Remi's Tree

 We're (meaning Mike) still making progress on the rest of the yard and will hopefully have some nice before and after pictures to post by the end of the summer!