Happy Birthday Marcus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marcus turned three on Monday. I can't even believe he's three. He is such a spunky little addition to our family!! He is the life of the party and is always making us laugh. We had a great day together - he was loving all of the attention. He got to choose what we ate all day and of course for breakfast he chose doughnuts and chocolate milk. Then after Justin got home he wanted to eat at Chick-Fil-A. When we got home a couple of the neighbor kids came over for some cake and ice cream. They were so cute to him all day - they kept making him cards and bringing over some of their old toys to give him. He was thrilled!! Here are some things about my Marcus that I don't want to forget

1- He absolutely loves spiderman

2- His imagination is incredible

3- He still sleeps in his crib and never climbs out because he is too afraid he will fall. My favorite part of the day is when he wakes up and calls out to me "I'm ready to get out!"

4- He loves to beat up Kade and does a pretty good job when they are "boxing"

5 - He tortures Kenley to no end just like a little brother should

6- He says that "Miles is my best friend I ever sawed"

7 - Thanks to dad he frequently reminds us that he is the "only golden child in the family"

Justin seriously gives Marcus anything he wants - it is really pathetic!

8 - He looks sweet and innocent, but is the most mischevious one in the family!

9 - If I beg him, he will sit on my lap and sing me songs - it just melts my heart

10 - If he thinks he is in trouble, he looks at me with his big blue eyes and says " I love you mom!"

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point - we love this kid!!

I love you Marcus, I honestly love you!!!

Here are some pictures from the day.

We have been busy busy busy! I swear time goes by so fast these days. We are now just recovering from a lingering cold/flu bug that has finally cycled its way through all six of us. Marcus got hit the worst and had to have some neb treatments. He actually thought they were pretty awesome, so that worked out nicely. Not so nice- sitting in the doctors office for two hours with four sick kids. No- they weren't terribly busy- they forgot about us.  The doctor showed us back to an exam room and said she be right back. Really two hours later she comes back and asks if he is feeling better after his treatments. What treatments? Are you kidding me? All four of them were screaming their heads off and I'm sure I did a little screaming myself and no one heard us? I don't buy it for a minute!  

This seems to be a frequent scene at our house. DIRTY FEET!! No one likes to wear shoes so we get the wipes out and get to work. I guess its my fault, I never have shoes on either!!!

Miles had his late 9 month appointment. He and Marcus both weigh 25 pounds. At least he is now on the charts, that's a first!! Look at the difference in these two. It cracks me up!

He is pulling himself up to everything! It is so much fun ( and work) to watch this guy discover and explore every square inch of our house. He is so much fun to watch. 

And of course everyone is willing to help take care of our little beast!!

A few updates on Miles. He can now do the army crawl. He drags his big body everywhere - including down the stairs twice!! OOPS!!!! He is a maniac and into whatever he can get his hands on. He is such a happy guy, but he sure keeps me busy!! He literally is out of breath when  he moves around - I would be too carrying that kind of weight around :) He also is now taking bottles. After an incident that involved new teeth, nursing, and blood I decided that we better move on to formula for my sake!! The kids love to feed him and are all such great helpers. 

We are coming to Utah in September for about 10 days. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!! With me working now, and the kids starting kindergarten I am afraid the trips home will be even fewer and farther in between. Can't wait to see everyone!!!!

Bashed up foreheads and gardens, oh my!

I have been telling my mom for a while now about this garden that we planted. We have no experience whatsoever, but it has been really fun! The kids and I love to go out every day and check on the progress. Here are a few pictures.

The start of our tomato plants

Peas!!

This is one of the watermelons 

The garden

The only flowers that we have planted this year! We are hoping to have more landscaping next year :)

What is it with summer time and constantly bruised foreheads? This is after he took a face plant on the neighbors sidewalk and then again the next day in a parking lot

This picture does not do the injury any justice!! Kade was swinging on the swings that we have from our deck and ran smack into one of the wooden supports. I have never seen something so big in my whole life. The bump was 5 times that big right after it happened. I must admit that I panicked pretty bad! I didn't even put pressure on it because I thought it would just pop! After a couple of minutes it started to "deflate" and we put a cold rag on it.

Lucky for us the exact same thing happened to Marcus two days later. Not as big, but just as traumatic! Hopefully all wounds will heal in time for us to have some family pictures in the fall, or maybe some wedding photos? Who knows? Erin - do you? Her missionary just got home this week :) 

An eventful week!

This week has been interesting for sure! First of all, on the way to work a 30 hour shift, Justin's car broke down on the freeway. So we went to get him and took him to the hospital, which is an hour away. We had the car towed home and kept our fingers crossed that it wasn't too bad. Having one car really stinks!! Especially since we both had to work that weekend. Our friend was nice enough to let me take her car since she was stuck at my house watching our four kids the whole weekend!!! The dryer broke the next day and it was three days before someone could come and look at it. A lot of laundry had piled up and we were running low on clothes!!! Well, all is well and we have a working dryer and our car needs a new engine. Still having one car is really a pain, but we are getting by. 

Here are some pictures of each of the kids. They are getting pretty tan (well, tan for us :))since they practically live outside!

Kenley is my little helper! She thinks she is the boss, so sometimes I just let her have a turn!!

Kade really has the cutest smile, but if you tell him to smile for a picture - it just doesn't happen! This is the best we could get.

This is Marcus for you - mischievous. He loves to cause trouble lately. This is after eating a doughnut. We were stressed out and needed a treat!

What a happy baby!!! He is such a fun boy to have around!!

We went to the zoo on the 3rd since Justin would be working on the 4th. The kids had a blast and couldn't get enough of all the animals. For a non animal lover I actually had a great time too!

They let you go in pet and groom the little goats. No way in heck was I getting in there, I offered to take care of Miles outside of the gate!!!

We have a picture of the kids on this lion from last year, minus Miles. Hopefully it won't be a tradition to add another kid each year to the picture!!

The kids before we left for a BBQ with friends on the 4th. Miles, as you can see, was not thrilled about having his picture taken. Justin ended up working all day and didn't get to join in on the festivities. The kids weren't sure about the fireworks at first, but by the end they loved it! Hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July!!!!

New goals

I have a lot of catching up to do! The reason I even do a blog is so that everyone back home (wherever that may be) can see what we are up to. Well, that really doesn't work unless I actually keep this thing updated. So, I am going to try and do a post a week. I would like to print this out as a journal/scrapbook someday so that the kids can remember this adventurous time we are having. I don't want to just skip to present time, because a lot has happened. Mom, make sure you scroll down to see all the new posts, I know at least you will appreciate it if no on else does!!!! Hold on and enjoy the ride! 

Happy Birthday part 2

Here are some pics of the kids opening some of their presents. We had a fun day, despite the fact that Justin was on-call and gone the whole day. He got home in time for us all to go to Chuck E Chesse. Lucky him! They had so much fun and could spend all day there. They got bikes, and were having a blast riding them in the driveway. I know I could ride a bike without training wheels before I turned five, but I guess better late than never! They were so nice to even let Marcus in on the action! I can't believe that my babies will be going to Kindergarten this year. The time has flown by and I'm just trying to enjoy the summer with them before they are officially "grown up."