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!

Puppies, Cousins and Siblings

I've been REALLY bad about taking pictures lately! However, thanks to my trusty iPad, there has been some documentation! 

Life usually seems to be about the same around here, but when I look back on these pictures, I see how much things really have slowly been changing!

This probably deserves its own post (and maybe I'll get to it), but last month, we gave our dog Cooper away. He was just jumping on the kids (and me) too much and we kept feeling guilty for not giving him the attention he deserved. He was such a good dog and we knew if someone who took the time to train him right and give him the right amount of attention had him, he'd be better off. We took Grant with us to meet his new family and we asked Grant if he was sad we were giving Cooper away. He replied, "I get sad when Cooper jumps on me". I guess we made the right decision...only time will tell I guess! 

Hard to believe we were able to say goodbye to that face!

At the grocery store a while back, both kids said they wanted to walk instead of ride in the basket. I told them they could if they would hold hands. I had to get a picture because it was so cute!!

This shirt describes Remi perfectly! And I love that she always picks to wear it when I let her choose what she wants to wear. I also loved that on that day, she chose to wear the pink tutu because she spends the rest of the day following her brother and uncle around, dressing up like army men or superheroes!

Remi LOVES her brother! She's spunky and hard to pin down, but whenever he wants a hug, she always obliges! She also HATES seeing him sad and will always come around to try to make things better when she sees him upset. She also always makes sure she gets to sit by him when we say family prayers.

Last month, my brother's baby girl (who's the same age as Remi), unexpectedly had a cluster of seizures. We were all SO worried and praying that things would turn out alright.  It was so scary! I can't imagine what Brian and Mel had to go through, up all night, hoping she would make it through the night okay and that they'd find a way to figure out what was wrong and be able to fix or control it. They are such great examples of patience and faith! She hasn't had another one, and we're all praying she won't have another one again.

The week after everything happened, the kids and I went and stayed with them for a few days. We had SO much fun, and as always, after being around Mel, I came home with a better attitude about being a mom and a wife. She's such a good example of those things!

Brig and Grant

Remi and Emy. They're the only two girls so far, and they are spunky!

We made popcorn one night and watched a movie.

The whole gang (minus Zacky, who was at school). 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but Remi is a Daddy's Girl! She LOVES Mike! The second he walks in the door, she's attached to him! She'll do anything with him, as long as it means she gets to be around him. And she loves listening to him play the guitar! This picture of them is so fitting!

I've wanted to have sort of a personal separate blog for a while now to help me keep track of different goals I'm working on and ways I want to improve myself. Also to maybe vent things that don't really have a place on our family blog.

Anyway, I finally started one, and along with it, I'm hosting a "Goal Weight Competition".  I'm so excited about it! It's been a lot of fun keeping in contact with friends and having a common goal to try to get healthy! The competition is already about halfway done, but if anyone's interested in still following along with what we're doing, you can read the blog or even just get the menus I'm making here.

Grant and Chase helped me with some pictures for a post I was trying to make about green smoothies one day and they were SO cute! I'm glad they thought it was fun and hope they're always such willing little helpers!

Lately, Remi's hair has been a little out of control... 

So I finally (very stupidly) took matters into my own hands and after a few hours over a few days, I think the end result is pretty good! (The problem is it only lasted a few weeks, and now it looks more like the above pictures again...I guess I need to just be patient and let it grow out!)

Isn't she darling though??

She's apparently been watching Grant go to the bathroom lately, because I keep finding her in here trying to go like he does. She's been mimicking him a lot lately. Good thing he's such a good kid!

They are the BEST little helpers! And mess-makers! They spilled birdseed all over Grandma Velda's floor and they insisted that they be the ones to clean it up!

 Mike is SUCH a good dad! Do I say that enough? He's always thinking of the kids and always tries to make the most of the time he has with them when he's home. He surprised them with the "Hungry Hungry Hippos" game the other day when he got home from work. Grant was in HEAVEN and has been obsessed with it ever since! He ALWAYS wants to play it and lights up whenever anyone else suggests playing it. We found an app for it that he's also obsessed with, and when he's not playing one of those, he wants to watch the old commercials for it on YouTube. I tried to get a good picture of his face when Mike brought it in, but it came out pretty blurry.

These past few weeks have been kind of tough, with irregular schedules for various reasons and a sick bug that we can't quite seem to shake. On this particular night, Grant was the sick one and had been running a fever all day. He went to bed WAY before any of the rest of us and Remi struggled with some insomnia for most of the night.
When I was about at my wit's end and decided that she WAS going to go to sleep, regardless of how much she fought it, she stood by her door and kept saying "baba, baba". I asked her "Do you want a bottle?"
She'd shake her head all frustrated like and yell "Baba! Baba!"
After this went back and forth several times, Mike came in and figured out she was trying to say "Bubba". When we asked if she wanted "Bubba", she excitedly nodded and ran back into our room and laid down by him. It was SO CUTE, I told Mike to take a picture. As soon as he got the camera out, she pulled out her pacifier and started giving us all these cheesy smiles...I think it's one of my new favorite pictures though! These two make our lives infinitely better!!

Fashion is a Faux Pas

Remi's ensemble of choice today (really, she insisted on wearing this or I wouldn't think it were cute and be posting a picture of it!). Striped shirt, Christmas PJ pants (that will fit Grant next year), cowgirl boots and ratty hair (the bow she was wearing was dramatically eliminated). But don't worry! She still chose to accessorize with a pink paci, a Mac mouse and a few dabs of chocolate on her cheek instead. 

She wouldn't let me get a good picture because she was on a mission to get to Grandma's house. She's been escaping there a lot lately without permission. As soon as the front door opens, that's her invitation to bolt!

Some days, I really don't know where this crazy little girl with all her spunk and determination came from. We're SO grateful she's ours though! She makes our days SO much brighter and full of life! I don't know how we survived those boring days before our little Lizard came along! 

January Favorites

I've REALLY been a slacker about getting my camera out for events lately, but I did manage to get a few pics of some of my favorite moments last month.

Our New Year's Resolution for our family this year is to hold a planned FHE EVERY single Monday, without exception!

At our first FHE, I came up with some lame activity, so Mike suggested we do a puppet show instead to help the kids get a little more excited. 

Good choice, Mike! Check these guys out:

Remi kept coming up to give the "muffet" kisses.

It's not often anyone gets to hold Remi for more than 2 seconds (she's SO BUSY!) let alone fall asleep with her! But she LOVES her daddy!  I took like thirty pictures of this (and it was literally like the SAME picture thirty times because they're asleep and not moving)! I couldn't help it, her sweet little face and fists kill me! Her dad's alright too! ;)

Did I get an iPad for Christmas??
Because I'm pretty sure Grant and Remi think THEY did! It's actually pretty useful to have it to distract them (that is, until I need it and they won't give it back or when they start deleting my apps!). Either way, when I see them playing together and Grant helping Remi figure out "her" apps, it melts my heart!

And again, another picture of Spaz Face giving me a smile! She's too much!!

We Have a Three-Year-Old!!....?!!

Grant turned three last month and in true Mike fashion, he ensured that Grant got a little boy's dream party!

We did a Ninja Turtle theme, since Grant was pretty into them at the time and we think they're cool! :)

We had pizza...(just like Michaelangelo, Grant says)

Then the boys had to eat the "green ooze" (green Jello) to become Ninja Turtles

Then they went to ninja training where they karate chopped and broke "boards"

Then they had to punch through a "green barrier" to find out which Ninja Turtle they were going to be.

Then they got their "weapons"

Some good-lookin' Ninja Turtles!

Mike made this city scape so they could jump over it and take pictures. It didn't work as well as we hoped, and we had a few accidents, but they still had fun!

Getting ready for their big fight scene!

They had to fight off the "foot soldiers"

Then they had the ultimate challenge-defeating "Shredder" and his Goon.

This is a really pathetic picture of the food, but oh well! It's documented!

I can't believe our little man is 3!!  He's so smart, we've been telling him for several months now that when he's three he couldn't go to sleep with milk anymore and we can't believe how on his birthday, he just quit cold turkey and never even asked for it! He told us several times that he couldn't have it, and wouldn't even let his babysitter give him milk with his PB&J.   We LOVE this boy!!

Then Grant got to sit on his Ninja Turtle chair and open all his gifts

It was a great party! Thanks so much to everyone who took time out of their Saturday to come!  We all had a lot of fun!

I told Biz to smile and here's what she gave me.  She's such a ham! She had fun following all the boys around trying to get involved!