Kids are crazy

Brady continues his love of buckles... the chest strap in his carseat being his very favorite. If we're playing outside, he'll ask to get in the car to do buckles and stay in there for quite a while as long as I'm around to keep unbuckling the strap. 

The other day, we were outside and Christopher, for whatever reason, got something out of my car, and left the passenger door open. Two minutes later, I walked by the car and noticed Brady in his carseat doing his buckle. Apparently, he climbed in the car and over the armrest to the backseat and into his carseat. I thought it was hilarious. 

Also funny is that this guy tries to say "Abigail" when we ask him too but he knows he can't, so he basically just spouts off a different sounding bit of gibberish every time. I am thrilled though that he's at least making an effort instead of our "say Abigail!"  "SOUSIE!"  But I will say though that yesterday he was consistently saying "no" all day which is new because he normally just shakes his head with a squeal. No is definitely cuter than that mess. 

My favorite thing that Abigail has been doing lately is falling out of bed. Chris and I will be downstairs cleaning up dinner or watching tv or something when he hear a big THUMP upstairs. This happened two nights ago and I ran up to check on Abigail. She looked like she was having a slumber party on the floor. I always put her quilted pillow on the floor next to her nightstand (to keep it safe in case she throws up red candy or something again like at Easter) and her head landed on it perfectly and she sleeps with her little fleece frog blanket and it stayed on top of her while she fell. She was perfectly situated right there on the floor... Still asleep. Because when she falls out of bed, it doesn't wake her up. This girl is such a heavy sleeper during the night. I'm still so upset I didn't get a picture of it because my phone was being its usual self and telling me I had no memory when I wanted to take the picture. When I came back upstairs a few minutes later with the problem solved, Abigail had already climbed back in bed and gotten snuggled in and was still fast asleep. Yesterday I tried to ask her about it.

"Did you fall out of bed last night?"

"When I was at the cabin?" 

"No, that was a different time... I mean here at home in your white bed."

"No, I didn't. That's because I'm always so careful when I sleep so I don't fall out!"

Anyone else love that she has no recollection of this whatsoever?  I'm never putting this kid in a bunk bed. She'll probably break her body in half and CPS will take her away because she'll be all "no, I never fell out of my bed..."

Kids are so entertaining. 

The inevitable

Monday morning, Abigail lied to me... Repeatedly. We had to have a talk about what lying is and what it means to tell the truth. 

Tuesday, Abigail played with friends all day long. Within 10 seconds of her coming in for dinner, she got upset with me (I asked her to put her bike helmet away instead of just chucking it out the door into the garage) and she yelled "you're stupid!"  

So really, we're just all excited for what today will bring. ; )

Lucy all day

Abigail's first words to me this morning were "can I go play with Lucy?" as she walked into my bedroom. I didn't even have time to open my mouth because she kept going. "I'll got potty and wash my hands and get dressed and eat breakfast. I can eat a banana. If I do all of that, can I go play with Lucy?  I see her playing on the driveway in her jeep. Can I?"  

Well, I said yes... She ran to the kitchen and ate a banana (actually only half like he told me later and I found the rest in the trash. We never throw away good like that so I can only conclude that she must have been cleaning up her spot at the table) and ran upstairs. And then the doorbell rang and i got out of bed to pull on sweats and open the door to behold... Lucy!  Wanting to know if Abigail could play. And then I heard Abigail answer from the screen window of her bedroom (it's the bay window on the second floor) that she was finishing getting dressed. I helped her spritz her hair (she still gets the craziest bedhead in back) and she was off. Now I know why Disney tv shows never have involved parents. Quite frankly, these kids don't really need us at all. 

For breakfast, Brady insisted on this pack if cheese he found in the bottom drawer if the fridge. We have several so I just let him have this one to himself. And he had eggs too. Of course. 

After lunch (which they ate at Lucy's) I watched all of the kids while Lucy's mom got ready for work. And Abigail is wearing Lucy's swimsuit... Because these girls love wearing each others clothes. Especially they love when Abigail wears Lucy's clothes from her never ending, super cute wardrobe. 

Abigail surfing and admiring her swimsuit. Brady drinking the pool water. 

Brady upset because I asked him to stop drinking pool water. 

Brady, continuing to defy anything that comes out of my mouth. 

We had snack time (at our house) of grilled cheese sandwiches and snap peas.  And we spent some time hanging out in the garage watching the rain and hail and eating otter pops. 

While honey caught gutter water and tossed it in our grass. We are resourceful and thrifty. 

But then Abigail (wearing Lucy's new dress), slipped on the rain puddles of the slick floor and slid a few feet across the garage on her back. I was not thrilled (since two minutes before, I'd told her she had to change clothes as soon as she got inside. Feels naptha to the rescue and laundry day happened a day earlier than I'd planned. All while the girls watched strawberry shortcake and decided they needed to put on Abigail's coordinating Sofia jammies. I think Abigail's had been worn once before and were a little stretched because the shorts look huge on her... and like biker shorts on Lucy. ; )

I love their expressions in this progression of photoss.

And they played non stop all day til it was time for dinner and bedtime. Summer somewhat lives on! 

I had a spider incident last night and was super jumpy and on edge today. So honey came home from work early today around 2:30. He said he just needed to be home to help me with whatever I needed. It's not the norm, but today he had amazing compassion for my spider phobia. 

We did laundry together, spent time watching all the kids, hung out... And honey searched out the basement for more spiders and sprayed down there for me. 

Anyways, it was just a wander around and do stuff sort of day... That ended infinitely better than it began. 

basement progress: the hoarder corner

we've been chipping away at this corner of stuff for a looooong time.  lots an lots of time spent down here going through all of these boxes and determining the fate of the treasures inside.  last night, we cleared the floor of the last of this stuff, most of it going in our favorite bin that we've lovingly named "lanyards."  even abigail likes to make jokes about that bin.  anyways, as always, i still have some stuff to put away and things like this are always a work in progress and require maintenance because life happens and our needs change, but this is a huge, huge milestone for me.  

before:

after:

and

our stuff seems to have multiplied.  not just in our basement, but in our entire house.  i walk around our house and can't believe how much more stuff we had than just three years ago when we moved in.  and i look at pictures of our house that i took just even one or two years ago, and am stunned at the difference.  this can't just be me, right?!  do other people experience this?  and will it keep getting exponentially worse with each kid that we have?!

anyways... progress.  we're making it happen.

Saturday

Today was

Hanging out, a super stressed honey, going to the library, playing with Lucy, and a family movie party watching frozen.

I took zero pictures

Mom left this morning. It seems so long ago I was thinking it was yesterday. I took her to the airport at 6:30 while honey stayed home with the kids. Honey left when I got back at 8:15 and they were still sleeping. So glad he was able to reschedule the meeting he originally had planned. It would have been Ricky bringing the kids that early. ; )

Eventually Abigail woke up and we did puzzles while we waited for Brady to wake up. I had some of that coconut chia cereal from Costco... It's delicious. The kids had oatmeal when Brady woke up and we all guy ready for the pool. I took a smoothie and veggies and hummus. The weather was great. We hung out with Elle and Jodi and then janel and Sarah showed up with their kids and really it was just awesome because the big kids are all in school so it was sparse and we knew almost everyone there. 

Abigail went to Elle's for an hour afterward and I fell asleep while putting Brady down for nap. Whoops. I didn't even feel it coming. And so I was asleep when Jodi came to drop off Abigail. I suck. 

So then I got ready to mow the lawn and Brady woke up literally one minute before I could start the mower. Deep breaths. Luckily though, he and abigail sat happily in their strollers and watched me mow. And then I trimmed bushes until it started storming. I love being outside right before a rain storm. Brady was hesitant about the thunder but relaxed some when he saw that Abigail and I weren't spooked. When it started raining, Abigail ran around to the garage and Brady followed, but when I went in the sliding kitchen door, only Abigail was there. So I ran out through the garage and it was raining pretty hard and the wind was blowing it sideways and I couldn't see Brady. Well, he'd run back around to the back of the house and was just confused and looking for me. It was the saddest and cutest thing ever. And amazing that he wasn't screaming since it really doesn't take much to make him cry. 

Then the three of us showered while Chris finished up work stuff and we all returned stuff to the library, got some half off frozen yogurt at swirls, and then went to kohls to use our $10 off coupon. There were a million things I almost got but ended up going with a swim coverup. There weren't any amazing deals, just a whole lot if moderate ones. Oh well, swim dress for $1 is fine. 

Came home, ate some leftovers, and put the kids to bed. Can Brady just fall asleep already?  This whole post has been written while I lay on his bedroom floor. And now he's singing "let it go" again. Awesome. 

Model homes

Chihuly

Chihuly exhibit at the Denver gardens with my mother and mother in law and cousin Sara and her mom and mother in law. And Brady and Abigail of course!

More pictures to be added later. It was amazing.

And we made this for dinner. It was delish.

And I'm convincing mom to have her and dad help me landscape our yard. And to book flights to come visit again before and after conference. I can't ever get enough time with my mother.  Mark my words, our next house will have an awesome mother in law suite and I will convince my mother to live there part time so we can play all day. It will be bliss. 

Summertime

A picture of my dining room wall/ceiling. 

I started eating scrambled cheese eggs on toasted French bread when I was in my first trimester with Brady... Over two years ago. I still eat this pretty much every day. Except now I have to make six eggs to have enough for Abigail and Brady too... And throw in a bowl of oatmeal just to be safe. 

Both kids skin their knees all day long. Brady fell and skinned the same knee three times at the pool today within a 20 minute time frame. And Abigail's knees are just going I be scarred because she keeps skinning her knees before they can fully heal. And the tops of her feet. Brady somehow got his knee and shin on this leg. That's summertime for you. 

As is hanging out on the driveway with some carrots and hummus. 

And playing with our favorite neighbors. 

I put Brady in the wagon with Abigail and Lucy literally just took off sprinting. Where do kids get all of this energy?!

I'm not sure if it's connected, but Abigail has been playing with friends a TON since we got back from Atlanta. Not play dates but just neighborhood friends and whoever we find at the pool. And her nail biting (and her everything else biting) has dramatically decreased.  I cut her nails today for the first time in months. Woohoo!!!  Although this could also be a timing coincidence or that I told her princesses don't bite their nails. Whatever it is... Hopefully things continue! 

Brady loves playing with "sousie" and all her toys. They have every toy on the planet. 

And for some reason, the kids love to stand on the sofa like this and look out the window. Bonus points that Brady was still nakey from bath time. They are such good friends, I seem to find everything they do together just amazingly adorable. 

Plus that bum/belly combo. 

So despite honey not getting home until after 9:30 tonight... It was a good day. 

The best news as of late is that Brady hasn't  been waking up at 6:45 anymore.  Last Wednesday and Thursday, he slept in til 7:20. And on Friday until 7:55. And Saturday I had to finally wake him up at 12:30!  Although I did go in his room at 11 to make sure he was still breathing. Sunday I had to wake him at 8:30 for church. And this morning he slept til after 10:30. Now if I could just get him to fall asleep without holding my hand and get his naps back to how they were... Baby steps. 

Best news of all: mom is coming to visit!!!!  I'm literally counting down the hours. Of course.  

Tuesday